Steven called this week the lull week and that so fits; the old season has just about totally ebbed away and the new season is still rushing towards shore. I never look forward to this week in the season but I can’t deny that it presents a good opportunity for a little change of pace. So with this abundance of time I have, I wanted to share what anime-related things I’ve been doing this week instead of trying to watch 17 different anime.

I finally had the time to marathon an anime series and I had a couple in mind. The first was the first season of K-On!.  I’ve mentioned in the past about how I fell into the very small group of people who neither rabidly loved or rabidly hated the first season of K-On!. I wanted to see if I still felt like that or did my feelings change after watching the second season and falling completely head-over-heels for it. If I was a betting man, I’d’ve guessed that I would like it more; much like how the start of Lucky Star was so much more enjoyable the second time around because I could draw from the empathy and love of the characters that developed later in the series.

Imagine my surprise, then, when I still liked the first season of K-On! about the same as I did the first time. I originally found it very difficult to really get into the show because it felt like it couldn’t decide which type of show it was. The pacing was too fast for K-On! to be a relaxing, slice-of-healing anime but a lack of focus on really trying to make it as a rock band made it near impossible to take it seriously. This inability to decide what type of show it was still intruded on the enjoyment of the series during the rewatch, even with all the love the second season added to the franchise. The pacing also muted the best part of the series – the characters and their friendship. For example, I remember not really liking Mugi in the first season and being shocked how much I got to like her in the second season. Rewatching the first season I realized the sole purpose of having first-season-Mugi in the show was to have a walking ATM machine that could advance the story along rapidly with the use of her magic money and connections. It was only in the second season that Mugi becomes  real,  she’s a sheltered girl looking for friendship and to stuff as much fun into her high school life as possible. She quickly becomes one of the best characters of the show int the second season.

If I was scoring the first season, which I’m about to do, I’d give K-On! season 1 a Final Series Score of 8/12 B+ with Rewatchablity: 1/5 – Low, Ending: 2.5/5 – Average, Animation: 4/5 – Excellent.

With that mildly disappointing experience under my belt, I went to the next show on my rewatch list – Sora no Otoshimono. I wanted to see how well it would hold up the second time and to make sure I remembered the important parts for the second season that is about ready to start. Last time, I gave Sora no Otoshimono an 11.5/12 (Near Perfect) for expertly cultivating an absurdist, over-the-top feel that repeatedly surprised, delighted and entertained. For the rewatch, it no longer had the element of surprise so it was going to have to work harder to earn the same level of success and I anticipated that it just couldn’t meet the much higher expectations. So, no surprise, when Sora no Otoshimono didn’t live up to being a 11.5/12. I still really enjoyed it though; the comedy was killer, I liked the characters even more, I could still appreciate how intelligently put together it was, I still got sucked into the plot and Icarus’s crowning moment of awesome was still just as awesome. Upon finishing, I still felt like the show really needed a sequel and this time I only need to wait about a week to see it.

Since I’m in the scoring mood, Sora no Otoshimono Season 1’s amended Final Series Score is 11/12 A+ with Rewatchablity: 4/5 – Medium to High, Ending: 4.5/5 – Sublime, Animation: 4/5 – Excellent.

The final anime that I marathoned was completely by accident. I wanted to check one little thing out in Asobi ni Iku Yo! but I found myself popping the next episode in as soon as the previous one finished. This one was definitely better the second time through much like Lucky Star was. If I had to summarize the difference in viewing experiences I’d say Asobi ni Iku Yo! was just easier to enjoy the second time. I liked the characters from the moment they were first introduced and the early plot twists made much more sense this time around. I was also able to better catch and enjoy the references to science fiction that infused the series this time as well as see how the fluffy exterior hid a rather well thought-out story of first contact between two cultures. I’ll forgo the grading Asobi ni Iku Yo! here since I plan on rating it in my seasonal anime top pick award posts that I’m already starting to work on. I hope AIC Plus+ decides on doing a sequel since I think there’s plenty of interesting ways the story for this can go but it’s, probably, really up to DVD/Blu-Ray sales as to if we see Asobi ni Iku Yo! Season 2 or not.

The other thing I did this week was spend time excited over the new anime announced.

I know there’s always been anime movies but doesn’t it feel like lately they’ve become even more popular? Don’t get me wrong, word of a Sengoku Basara movie and a K-On! movie leaves me feeling very excited, especially if the K-On! one will feature all new material like the Sengoku Basara one will have. The two seasons of Sengoku Basara have been fun but they could have been really fun if they had been paced better and more fighting was involved. Which is why I think a movie might just be the perfect form for Sengoku Basara – they won’t have the time to draw the talking and angsting out.

I’m really curious about the K-On! movie. The second series ended absolutely perfectly but since this is a slice-of-life series there’s no reason the story needs to end with them graduating high school. I’d like to see what happens to Yui, Mugi, Mio, and Ritsu when they go to college and I want to see what happens to Azu-nyan, Ui and the light music club. Can one fashion a good, super laid-back, slice-of-life movie or will the movie be more plot focused – maybe on the college version of Afternoon Tea Time making it big or Azu-nyan’s efforts to save the light music club. I hope more details are forthcoming soon!

The third newly announced anime project that got me excited is Berserk. I’m not a fan of Berserk, per say, but I’m curious about the franchise after learning my one sister (the D&D playing one) loves the manga and the original series. When I first heard of a new “animation project” for Berserk, I started thinking about who I’d want to work on the project from my limited understanding of the source material. The name I kept going back to was Madhouse. They have the animation quality and the experience with darker series like Mouryou no Hako, Rainbow, Death Note, Paranoia Agent, Blue Literature, Kurozuka and they have many of the best anime production people in the business working for them. It appears, after a couple of days, that Studio 4˚C will be doing the animation and my guess was completely wrong  . This is a very interesting choice; on one hand I’ve been very impressed with all the works of Studio 4˚C  that I’ve seen but on the other hand they don’t seem very prolific and I wonder if they have the expertise to plan out and execute a long running series (which I’m hoping the announcement is for). I guess we’ll just have to wait a few more days for more information.

That’s how I spent this lull week, what did you do?

Filed under: anime, anime news, general anime interst, series review

The fall season of anime has already started, which means that the summer season has come to a close. Of course, most of us watch more shows than we could – or care to – write about, and here are our brief thoughts about what we watched this past season.

High School of the Dead

Things started strong, with an engaging set-up, good action and a great sense of fun. Later, the series showed that while it could definitely be dark at times, it also revelled in the ridiculous; what went on wasn’t always to my taste but kept me laughing and coming back to see what would happen next. The downsides? I didn’t feel as though I connected much with any of the characters. More than that, the series felt directionless and incomplete, and, in the end, unsatisfying.
It was a fun ride, but man, was the ending bad. I know, story hardly matters to this show, but I did get invested in these characters and hoped things would go somewhere. Some crazy action and most Jello-like boobs ever, but overall left me with a bad taste in my mouth.
Saeko wearing an apron, and only an apron, was the only noteworthy moment of this show.

Seikimatsu Occult Academy (End of the Century Occult Academy)

I wanted so much for this series to turn what seemed like an obvious conclusion right on its head.  It didn’t do that, but I still thoroughly enjoyed the series.  Great characters, and shoot, great facial expressions.  It used the character art style really well to assist the comedy.  Then we’ve got Smile and his wrench, who need one of those 3-5 minute anime shorts time slots.
The last few episodes aside, I felt this series continually put me to sleep. While Maya’s begrudging acceptance of the occult provided for some interesting moments with Fumiaki and her friends, it seemed as if these character developments had no connection to the three episodes that actually focused on the main plot.
Anime no Chikara finally delivers! It started off hilarious but got mired in side stories in the middle, before the main story returned with a bang. The last 3 episodes were just wild, good fun. The ending came as a genuine surprise and delivered a powerful, heartfelt message.
To say the least, this was a wild, crazy ride. The series was continually hilarious, though, and it generally struck an excellent balance of silliness and seriousness. The main leads were also developed very well, and, while the first and last few episodes of the series were filled with much more energy than the middle ones were, I was always engaged and looked forward to the new installment each week. The ending, too, was probably the most satisfying of the season.

Giant Killing

The one show I consistently looked forward to week after week.  It might not be the best anime to ever air, or even the best sports anime, but it kept me consistently entertained.  I don’t think I’ve sat on the edge of my seat so much for a game where I knew how it had to end.  It had a lot of really good characters too, even the minor characters on the opposing teams.  I want a second season of this, and I want it soon.  I need to see them go all the way. (Editor’s note: Rakuen blogged/is blogging the entirety of this show)

Seitokai Yakuindomo (Student Council Officers)

Good raunchy fun. The hectic, ADD style of filling each episode with short gags worked very well, in the tradition of other 4-koma adaptations like Azumanga Daioh. The story heavy episodes were nice asides as well, connecting the random gags with a common theme. Suzu and Yokoshima-sensei are awesome, and Kotomi is the best imouto ever.
I really wasn’t keen on this at first, but I’m so glad I stuck with it. A week rarely went by without a few good laughs out of the series; its rapid-fire jokes weren’t always hits, but there were always at least a couple or so that were fantastic. It took a little while to get used to the show’s sense of humour but I’ll really miss it and its characters, who had awesome chemistry with one another. This was a lot of fun.

Sekirei ~Pure Engagement~

This season of the series focused on developing relationships between Sekirei and their Ashikabi. This was done well. Otherwise, there wasn’t much going for the show, with things seeming geared almost solely towards setting up a third season. There was a serious lack of forward momentum and, in addition, pretty much all of the characters lacked depth. I was hoping for a larger focus on battles (what few took place were excellently choreographed and animated) but they rarely eventuated, and antagonists tended to run away instead of finishing fights. Frustrating.

Strike Witches 2

Best show of the season! I write that without a hint of irony – for me, it was either this one or Seitokai Yakuindomo. I actually watched both seasons of the show this past summer, and couldn’t be happier that I did. It successfully told a heartwarming story of personal triumph and friendship, and the second season had some of the best directed action scenes I’ve seen in non movie anime in recent years.
This was actually a pretty good show. I was a bit upset that they pretty much went away from the plot of the first season, of which there was little, from the get go, but that is a minor complaint. I am hoping for a season three.

Shiki

Frankly, there are a lot of reasons why this show should really suck. From the stubbornness of the villagers, most notably Ozaki, who seems incapable of asking for outside assistance to the ridiculousness of practically every character’s hair style, though I admit I have a thing for Ritsuko. However, the last few episodes have provided an ever increasing level of tension which has made this my favorite show of the summer season.
The highlight of the season. There’s a fascinating and constantly shifting cast of characters, a tension-filled storyline that keeps you wondering, and some utterly amazing atmosphere. Not much is black and white, and things are constantly kept interesting. I was initially concerned about the unusual art style, but Daume have shown that they know how to make it work. I can’t wait for the show’s hiatus to end, and I’m very curious to see how things continue. (Editor’s note: Raph blogged the first 3 episodes of this series)

Rainbow

This whole series has been a love hate relationship for me.  I know a lot of people thought the first half of the season was far stronger than the second half.  I disagree.  I always had the feeling the characters were constantly getting hit in the head by the idiot ball while in the detention center.  The camaraderie was good, but some of the decisions just left me scratching my head.  I liked it a lot better once they got out and tried to find their own place in the world.  I’d say they matured up nicely.  Well, maybe not Cabbage, but he’s the lovable big guy, what can you do? (Editor’s note: Rakuen blogged the first 4 episodes of this show when it started in Spring)

Ookami-san and Seven Companions

Mediocre is the word. The show had a lot of potential, and when it had fun with its flexible premise, I had fun too. Unfortunately, it consistently disappointed at big moments, almost always managing to squander build-up or suspense – the ending in particular was a massive anticlimax. Similarly, the characters could have been the series’s saving grace, but most remained undeveloped. All that said, though, the show shone in its less serious moments, held my attention for the right reasons, and was a mostly enjoyable addition to my week.
The biggest issue I had with this series is that it never knew what it wanted to be. Almost from the get go, it seemed as though every episode attempted to form a weak, half assed link to a fairy tale for its plot to its detriment. In my opinion, if the show continually employed a lighter tone that focused on character development and helping people via the bank, things may have gone better.
As much as I enjoyed watching the series, I have to agree it was pretty mediocre.  It never pushed itself far enough in any one direction.  It seemed like it could do one thing well for an episode, but it would fall flat in other areas.  It leads to this roulette situation where you never quite know what you’re going to get, and that’s bad.  I think the cast could have used a little more work too.  Really, I think a lot of things, and I’m not terribly sure which would improve it because it’s just so middle of the road.
This is the one show I blogged every week, if you’ll recall. The word that I keep turning to is “disappointing.” It started off with promise, introduced some interesting ideas, then squandered everything it had. You can read my final thoughts on my last post.

Legend of the Legendary Heroes

You would think that after blogging this show for almost three months I would have formed some sort of a definite opinion, but I haven’t. For a non comedy (though it does have some comedic portions), this show does have the somewhat surprising ability to keep me fully entertained for 22 minutes and it has enough of a story for me to blog about. On the flip side, I feel as though this show spends a lot of time going nowhere and there are some animation cincerns. That said, all signs point to the pace picking up in the second half.

Sengoku Basara 2

Yeah, I started off covering this series… and it kind of fell off for me.  I loved the first season for the consistently over the top characters and battles. The second season had more of that, but it also attempted to tell more of a story to go with it.  I thought it might be something I wanted.  After all, strong characters with a strong(er) story must be a win-win, right?  I don’t think it was.  I guess sometimes all you want is to see a bunch of larger than life characters beating the tar out of each other.

Amagami SS

I dropped this show after the second episode of Sae’s arc. While I understand that many people need to exercise their knee kissing, feet sucking, or furry fetishes satisfied, I have better things to with my life.
Comeback story of the season; you can read my full thoughts in my posts. In short, started off hilariously bad, then got painfully bad before turning it all around at Sae’s arc. Ai’s arc looks to be a return to normalcy and complacency, unfortunately. There’s news of a possible imouto arc, too.

Asobi ni Iku yo! (Let’s Go Play!)

Probably one of the biggest surprises of the season, this really didn’t take itself seriously and managed to deliver something fun, humorous and self-aware. The series seemed to really enjoy both making fun of and embracing the cliches that come with harem/magical girlfriend comedies. It also knew exactly what it wanted to do, and it did that well. Things were bizarre and entertaining, and my low expectations were very much exceeded.

Mitsudomoe

In my opinion, this show just keeps getting better and I am looking forward to season 2. Though the comedy is by no means high brow, funny is funny. The only problem is that a few of the jokes fail to hit the mark. The show’s success, as many have pointed out is due to its misunderstandings, which why some of the scenes that dealt with bodily fluids seemed out of place and unneeded.

Digimon Xros Wars

Ah, my childhood.  Yes, I watched both Pokemon and Digimon, and I liked them for different reasons.  Pokemon had that constant adventure, while Digimon had an actual storyline week over week.  Watching Xros Wars is like going back to those days, in a way.  Yeah, it’s definitely nothing to write home about, but it just has that ridiculous (and stupid) fun factor.  I do kind of wish they could come up with something more creative for their digivolutions, besides tacking on a new number after Shoutmon’s name…

 

Phew! That’s quite a lot of shows we watched these past 3 months. And we even had time to write each week about some of them! We’re still deciding on our fall lineups, but I’m currently committed to Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru – Yet the Town Keeps Going (Shaft show starring Chiaki Omigawa with music by Round Table and OP by Maaya Sakamoto? Yes please!), so look for that next week.

For what it aspired to be, Highschool of the Dead was a fairly successful anime and one that I mostly enjoyed. Every so often, though, it felt like I was being asked to accept a completely illogical piece of plot development or character decision because the author didn’t want to step up and make a better, more plausible story. I didn’t want these problems to get in the way of liking the show so I held off from my complaints till later but later has finally arrived with the end of the show.

I could have gone the tried-n-true way and just listed every problem I saw with the show but I decided to try something a little different and, so, the idea of doing a couple of top 5 lists came to be. These lists will just cover the anime, I’ve yet to read any of the manga so I can’t comment about the manga.

Number 5

Homemade Flamethrower

In episode 3 we saw that zombies could be killed with fire. This should have led someone to the idea of using a flamethrower. I did a quick look online which yielded a variety of easy ways to make a homemade flamethrower. My favorite was using a pump water gun but I also saw people use pump sprayers designed for fruit trees or even just an aerosol canister with a lighter. All very dangerous things to play with normally but in case of zombies, these could be a valuable weapon.

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Number 4

Stun gun

In a couple of places zombies were shown to be affected by electric fences.  Theoretically, then, this should work as a weapon. It would only be a weapon of last resort but it might just mean the difference between infection and life. Cattle prod or a Taser would fall under this category as well.

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Number 3

Duck Tape

I watched MacGyver growing up and Mythbusters; I know the awesome power of Duck Tape. I’ve seen it used to pick up cars and molded into a workable cannon. In the case of a Zombie Apocalypse the ways to use Duck Tape would be endless. One application could be to create lightweight armor that zombies couldn’t bite through.

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Number 2

Molotov Cocktail

I almost included this in with number 5 but the increased ranged capabilities of a Molotov cocktail are enough that it deserves it’s own spot. It’s a quiet delivery system for the humans and it increases the distance someone could burn the zombies to a crisp. Off the subject, but speaking of not giving your position away to the zombies, can anyone remember the characters using silencers on their guns?

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Number 1

Snowplow

We saw in episode 12 and elsewhere that the living used vehicles to mow down the zombies but they never took it to the next step. A snowplow is better designed at the task of zombie mover/killer. Assuming Japan isn’t that different, it should be relatively easy to find one without breaking into the local highway department. If the snowplow isn’t good enough at killing and a construction site was near-by, one could always augment the process by using a roller to squish the pile of zombies that the snowplow would create. Actually many construction/demolition machines would be great at zombie killing and I’ll include them here .

Filed under: anime, anime rants/views, general anime interst

This post contains vague spoilers for the Bungaku Shoujo movie.

As lolikitsune and Ryan have said in their excellent posts about the Bungaku Shoujo movie, this is a film about Konoha Inoue. Despite being the lead, though, Konoha is not a character who drives events. It feels more as though things are happening around him, and he is merely reacting to them; while these events centre on him – they push him to both act and look inside himself – he does not force them to happen. (Perhaps this reflects his mostly passive personality.) Instead, the drivers of the film’s plot are Miu Asakura, and, more subtly, Touko Amano.

[ナツ]

The first of the two girls, Miu, is aggressive, possessive and divisive. She is content to lie to and manipulate others, and is also willing to risk extreme harm to herself to get what she wishes. With her comes a mess of emotions and drama and, of course, forward momentum for the film. She is behind almost all of the events that push the plot along, and her cryptic messages and strange behaviour are what force Konoha to go on something akin to a quest. In the middle of this all, she attempts to pull Konoha closer to her while simultaneously pushing others away from him. Miu is a bit of an enigmatic character in the sense that, despite the degree of calculation she employs, her reasons for doing the things that she does are largely immature. She’s clearly intelligent, but throughout the film she’s frequently presented as little more than a child.

Now we turn to Touko, the literature girl herself. Touko is often not aggressive in an explicit way, and yet she drives the plot almost as much as Miu does. Because of her, Konoha joined the Literature Club, and the story began. He wrote for her, and their relationship blossomed. She helps, supports and guides Konoha on his journey throughout the film, proving to be both a constant in his life and a true friend to him. And yet Touko is also at least partly responsible for the drastic actions Miu takes; seeing Konoha and Touko together stirred immense feeling in her, causing her to set some of her more drastic schemes in motion. It’s almost strange how someone as wonderful as Touko is able to (in part) provoke something so horrible in Miu. But, then again, it’s also Touko who is able to heal Miu so much. I think this is incredibly fitting; Touko has a phenomenal ability to soothe, through her presence and her words. She is otherworldly.

[ウルエ]

Touko is full of warmth, compassion and beauty, and she has an extraordinary capability to make things right. On the other hand, it could be argued that Miu represents the darkness people face. She displays jealousy, rage, sadness, greed. All of these emotions, too, are responses to Konoha (or, rather, to her feelings for him). One could say that Miu is dark and (sometimes) immoral, but also juvenile. She is very able to hurt people. Touko, meanwhile, is light and pure, and remarkably wise. She is able to heal people. Miu creates drama, Touko resolves it. Miu is human, while Touko is not.

I love that the two people who drive the plot are so very different, and also that they’re two people who mould Konoha into who he is and who he becomes. At the end of the movie, I felt as though I had seen Konoha grow, change, and find himself, largely because of Touko and Miu. I felt as though I had seen Miu come to a revelation and begin to heal because of Touko, and I felt as though I had seen Touko having a truly positive impact on Miu’s and Konoha’s lives, with Konoha also leaving a lasting impression on her. In my eyes, it was this – how the trio of Konoha, Touko and Miu affected each other – that made Bungaku Shoujo special.

With the Summer season all but over and the Fall season starting within a week, now is a good time to start getting excited about the new anime shows that will take the baton from the Summer shows and attempt to win the hearts and minds of anime fans around the world.

If the Fall series succeed will only be answered in the course of the next few months but that doesn’t stop some, including myself, from trying their hand at prognosticating the results now. My gut tells me that this season will be a strong one, maybe even on par with this past Spring season (which was probably the best season for the last couple of years), and I want to get my somewhat educated guesses written down to see how I did later as well as push the adventurous souls out there to try an anime they probably wouldn’t otherwise.

Therefore, below are my picks for the Fall 2010 season, sorted by how good I think the show will turn out and broken into 4 broad tiers. Platinum Tier shows are those anime that I believe have a virtually 100% guarantee of being good. Sometimes I’m wrong like with last fall’s Natsu no Arashi 2 and when that happens it’s always very disappointing. The next level is the Gold Tier. This level contains those shows that I think have a very good chance of being, at a minimum, “good” shows. Anime at this level usually miss out on being Platinum Tier because I don’t know enough about the source material or the studio animating it has been known for doing variable work or some other small thing that makes me less then fully certain. Silver tier shows still have a lot going for them but bigger potential problems start showing up. The problem might be in the source material, animation studio, or director and it’s a big enough one that I think the show could go either way. Bronze tier shows have something that makes me think it possibly could be a decent show but I’m not holding much hope. Sometimes there’s a surprisingly good show from this group, last fall I had Armed Librarians – The Book of Bantorra, Sasameki Koto, Sora no Otoshimono on this level and all three turned out great but that same season saw Kampfer and Miracle Train also start at this level but finish very poorly.

If you want a second opinion about the upcoming shows try out the previews by Ani no Miyako, Simplicity, The Deathseeker, That Anime Blog and Rabbit Poets and if you want the most complete coverage of all the new Fall anime, including OVAs go to hashihime’s most excellent preview.

The final item of business before moving to the Fall preview/watch list is the anime that are continuing into the Fall season that I’ve been watching and plan on watching in the upcoming season. The first is Katanagatari; it’s been awhile coming but we’re now down to the last three episodes and I’m excited to see how it ends. Next is Shiki. I love the atmosphere of this show and the animation quality but, so far, it’s been more build-up then anything else, though this season will finish the series so the plot should be getting good shortly. Amagami SS continues with three more stand-alone story arcs covering three different female characters. This show has been strangely watchable and I’m kind of looking forward to see what new weird scenes they can cram into this show. I was so sure that Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu (The Legend of the Legendary Heroes) was a comedy that I was really disappointed to find that it’s actually a straight-up medieval fantasy series. I’m not really a fantasy person but it’s been able to keep me mildly interested in the story with the vocal work being the thing I enjoy most from it.

Platinum Tier

Arakawa Under the Bridge x Bridge

Director: Akiyuki Shinbou
Studio: SHAFT – Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, Maria+holic, Hidamari Sketch, Bakemonogatari

The second season of the anime that was my favorite of the spring season definitely deserves to place in the platinum tier. Arakawa Under the Bridge 2 gets top spot because it’s quirky mix of comedy and reflection on the important things in life was a perfect match for Shaft/Shinbou’s talents and I’m ecstatic over the chance to revisit the characters and setting. If making a person wish he could live under a bridge with Nino isn’t a good enough marker for a great show, I don’t what is.

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Sora no Otoshimono: Forte

Director: Hisashi Saitou
Studio: AIC A.S.T.A. – Bamboo Blade, Tentai Senshi Sunred, Sora no Otoshimono

The anime that completely surprised me by being both a fan-service show and an intelligent, inventive, fun show is getting a sequel and I’m positively giddy. If it can hold up to the first season, it’ll be one of the top shows of the season; if it can somehow surpass the first season, it’ll be one of the top shows of the year and probably “break” more then a few anime fans. It’s secret (which I wish more shows would pick up on) is that it works on many different levels. Heck, even the plot about the “heavenly” creatures that create the all-powerful angel servants pulls one in, if only because we want to see the main character defeat those the decadent and depraved “higher” beings.

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Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt

Director: Hiroyuki Imaishi
Studio: Gainax – Gurren Lagann, Hanamaru Kindergarten, Evangelion

I think this show is just going to be a really fun and awesome anime. This puts me, sadly, in a very small group of people. Which I don’t quite get, it’s Gainax and it’s the part of Gainax behind Gurren Lagann and, if the trailer is to be believed, it’s going to be high-energy and full of fighting with plenty of humor involved. Actually, I know why; I noticed in the past that if an anime falls outside of what’s considered “anime style” it’s instantly regarded with suspension. Happened with Sarai-ya Goyou, Yojouhan Shinwa Taikei, Kaiba, etc. and it’s happening here which I find funny because there’s always so much complaining about how anime is always the same.

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Gold Tier

Kuragehime

Director: Takahiro Oomori
Studio: Brains Base – Kamichu, Baccano, Durarara, Spice &Wolf 2, Natsume Yuujin-Chou

One of anime’s most consistently great studios is back this season with the latest show to be featured in the Noitamina anime block. The story for this one follows a young woman who’s an aspiring illustrator and lives in a female-only apartment complex. She gets a beautiful, fashionable woman to be her roommate and discovers her roommate isn’t quite what she appears to be. I have a very good idea what that means – “isn’t quite what she appears to be” – and, thanks to anime, I can’t wait to see if a trap is involved. I hope so and I hope there’s at least a little slice-of-life feel woven in somewhere. Brains Base does one of the best jobs with that relaxed, introspective, slice-of-life feel that I miss it when I go a season or two without it.

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Sorademo Machi wa Mawatteiru

Director: Akiyuki Shinbou
Studio: SHAFT – Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, Maria+holic, Hidamari Sketch, Bakemonogatari

The second Shaft series this season features the story of a clumsy young woman that loves mysteries and works at a highly unsuccessful maid café. The set-up sounds like a good fit for Shaft/Shinbou and the trailer really gave off good vibes. I’m also excited to see Chiaki Omigawa (Maka from Soul Eater, Jun from Natsu no Arashi) voicing the main character. The sole reason I left this out of the top tier is because this is the second series that the perpetually under-funded and undermanned Shaft is working on and in the past it’s been difficult for Shaft to do 2 series at once. (Though, maybe, the success of Bakemonogatari has increased the coffers at Shaft which will translate to more help in finishing their work on time.)

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Bakuman

Director: Kenichi Kasai
Studio: J.C. Staff – Hatsukoi Limited, Toradora, Potemayo, Shana, Index, Railgun

One of the most talked about upcoming anime, Bakuman follows the story of two high school friends that decide to try to make it as manga artists with one of the main character’s love life and familial pride hanging in the balance. I was going to leave this in the silver tier except I caught that Kenichi Kasai (Honey and Clover S1, Aoi Hana) is going to help direct this.  That’s a pretty strong guarantee for the quality of Bakuman and enough to bump it up a level.

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Shinrei Tantei Yakumo

aka: Psychic Detective Yakumo

Director: Tomoyuki Kurokawa
Studio: Bee Train – Phantom, Blade of the Immortal, El Cazador de la Bruja

I don’t have a lot of experience with Bee Train but something about this anime makes me think it’ll turn out very good. It could be the premise of a supernatural detective with the ability to see ghosts that’s doing it or maybe it’s because Daisuke Ono is voicing the main character (and apparently doing the opening song) or both or neither. Whatever it is, let’s hope that Bee Train won’t completely flub in the final 30 seconds of the show like they did with Phantom.

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Silver Tier

Iron Man

Director: Yuuzou Satou
Studio: Madhouse – Death Note, Kaiba, Kurozuka, Rideback, Kobato, Rainbow, Tatami Galaxy

The trailer for this looks completely awesome and would normally make me really excited to watch it but I’ve noticed these cross-oceanic projects between the USA and Japan never seem to really work. Look at Heroman, for example. There is the potential for a decent show and, at the minimum, Marvel should have given Madhouse enough money to make the animation look very good. We’ll see very shortly.

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Star Driver: Kagayaki no Takuto

Director: Takuya Igarashi
Studio: Bones – Soul Eater, Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood, X’amd, Heroman

Taking over for Sengoku Basara 2 in the Sunday early primetime spot is an original work by Bones named Star Driver. The placement ensures that it’ll look really pretty but I’m not a big mecha fan and Bones seems to have a problem with how it ends it’s shows. One would think that since they don’t have to adapt something for Star Driver how it ends wouldn’t be a problem but X’amd showed it’s still a problem that the viewers have to worry about.

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Toaru Majutsu no Index 2

Director: Hiroshi Nishikiori
Studio: J.C. Staff – Hatsukoi Limited, Toradora, Potemayo, Shana, Railgun

I really wish this was Railgun 2 instead of Index 2. The first season of Index was a pain to complete and I almost didn’t include this at all because I seriously doubted I could stand more Touma and the child teacher and Index. What saved this is the trailer showed both Uiharu and Saten from Railgun as well as the white-haired good bad guy (which was the best story arc) from the first season. It’s probably getting my hopes up but maybe this time it’ll be a better show.

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Bronze Tier

Kami Nomi zo Shiru Sekai

aka: The World Only God Knows

Director: Shigehito Takayanagi
Studio: Manglobe – Michiko to Hatchin, Samurai Champloo, Seiken no Blacksmith

This is a rare anime where I’ve read some of the manga before watching the anime. It didn’t blow me away but in the right hands, it could a decent show and sadly, I just don’t think Manglobe is the right hands. I’ve liked their high quality anime, Samurai Champloo and Michiko to Hatchin, but when they went slumming with Seiken no Blacksmith it flat-out stunk and TWOGK falls a bit outside of “high quality”. AIC was probably a better fit to squeeze the best possible anime from the source material. I guess it could have been worse, Xebec or Feel or Studio Deen could be the animators.

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Otome Youkai Zakuro

Director: Chiaki Kon
Studio: J.C. Staff – Hatsukoi Limited, Toradora, Potemayo, Shana, Index, Railgun

The story for this one really interested me. Namely, Otome Youkai Zakuro is set in an alternative 19th century Japan where humans and youkai (spirits or monsters) co-exist easily. The humans move to change the calendar to match that of the Western world and upset the youkai. To calm nerves, a goodwill mission is implemented featuring both humans and youkai and we end up with a historical, romantic comedy as a result. I’d’ve ranked this higher but I read that the manga writer for Otome Youkai Zakuro is primarily a BL written and that’s a genre I really don’t like. If the anime has BL elements or not is something that only the watching the anime can answer but for now, I’m keeping my anticipation low for this one.

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Ore no Imouto ga Kannani Kawaii Wake ga Nai

aka: My Little Sister Can’t Be This Cute

Director: Kawaguchi Keiichirou
Studio: AIC – Onamori Himari, Mayoi Neko Overrun, Sasameki Koto, Amagami SS

The story for this one – a H.S. age boy has a younger sister who’s an otaku for little sister ero-games which somehow creates much hilarity  – actively turns me off but I find myself liking the character designs enough that I’m willing to give this show a couple episode chance. I’m probably going to hate it and then pretend I never watched it but there is always the slim chance it’s actually good.

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Hakuouki Hekketsuroku

Director: Osamu Yamasaki
Studio: Studio Deen – Hetalia, Higurashi, Seitokai no Ichizon, Giant Killing

The final show that I plan on catching is a sequel to the spring anime – Hakuouki: Shinsengumi Kitan. It wasn’t a great show by any stretch of the word but I liked the setting (1860’s Japan and the Shinsengumi) and the voice acting. I mention it here for completeness sakes because there are very few out there that are even in the position to give this season a chance. Not that I can really find fault in anybody, Hakuouki: Shinsengumi Kitan was done by Studio Deen and there was so many other good shows to watch.

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There’s my list. If I missed something that you think I’d like then, by all means, post a comment to suggest it. I still remember having Cross Game suggested to me in a comment on this blog and discovering one of my favorite shows of the year. I’d’ve never picked it up since it was technically a sport anime, a genre I don’t normally like.

Filed under: anime, season preview

While I would love to do a mid series review for this show, my focus on my midterms is going to limit this post to just the normal episode review, but this was by no means a normal episode. I would venture to say that more happened in this episode in the past two or three episodes. Though there were many things in this episode that caught my attention, the introduction of the Gastark King, Riphal Edea, and the similarities/differences between him and Sion will be the focus of this post.

Riphal’s appearance in the introduction demands that I compare him with Sion. In said introduction, it gives the appearance that the two are sending their forces into action via the same hand signal. Also, I’m sure some you likely noticed that Riphal stated that he always tried to reduce casualties, if only be a little. This is, more or less, the same thing Sion said way back in episode 8 and in regards to putting down the Estabul rebellion and episode 11 in regards to the anti king movement. This was right after Fiole was murdered and Sion was probably still reeling from the emotional aftermath of that event.

Now, it is difficult given the nature of the show to know how much time has passed since that point, but the next few episodes may shed light on to how much Sion has changed since that point. After sending Clough back to the Estabul region with Noa, he and Miran had a private discussion regarding Estabul. To be honest, I couldn’t quite make out what that conversation was about, but the picture below is a screen cap from the end of that discussion.  Putting on my Eric Finch hat, I would imagine that Sion is likely to order something that will force Estabul to immediately integrate with Roland, much like Riphal used his sword to force Stohl to surrender.

Regardless of whether my prediction turns out to be right or not, I’m sure many might want to compare Sion to Riphal. Unfortunately, I think Sion is going to have a much tougher time of integrating Estabul than Riphal will with Stohl. Going back to a comment made by Miran several episodes ago, in which he muttered to himself something to the effect of letting people off to easy now, will only make it harder in the future. Now that Sion, via Clough, is going back into Estabul after failing to fully integrate them in the first place might cause some sort of uprising. Now it is hard to blame Sion for acting like he did in the past, as he can’t solve all his problems with a some super awesome sword, but that might be his problem. Sion is, more or less, bringing a knife to gun fight in that many characters have a legendary relic, but Sion has nothing of note that has been shown so far, save a little magic. Since diplomacy has seemingly only gotten him so far, he may be forced to take draconian like measures in future episodes.

On another note entirely, does anyone else think Kiefer is kind of a sl*t. Stohl was the third nation she was fighting for in this series, and it seems like she has agreed to a booty call with Gastark in the future. All jokes aside, the flashbacks in this episode, while gruesome, seemed a bit too drawn out for what it revealed. I would have much rather seen some longer fight scenes, but beggars can’t be choosers.

A few final notes: Ryner and Ferris are still dragging that kid, who has slept for three episodes, along and will likely fight Sui and Kuu, and perhaps Miran, seeing as how he is also heading towards Runa,  in the next episode.

I have to give Riphal credit for sacrificing a leg, an eye, and his sense of smell in his quest for peace. He has some hard ones. With that said, he doesn’t have limitless power, so I’d imagine that will probably bite him in the @ss.

I’m a fan of the new opening and ending, even though the first OP’s music was finally getting stuck in my head.

I knew going into a rewatch of Rurouni Kenshin it was a bad idea – a very bad idea. It was my gateway anime to becoming an anime fan and one that I hold in very high esteem. I didn’t know how it would hold up this time around but I had a feeling it wouldn’t be pretty, even if I planned on stopping at the end of the Kyoto Arc and pretend the rest of the series didn’t exist.

Rurouni Kenshin

Final Series Score: 5/12 C+
Rewatchablity: 0.5/5 – Very Low
Ending: 2.5/5 – Average
Animation: 2/5 – Sub-par
Pros: The main character, Kenshin, is a very likable hero and the supporting cast is diverse and interesting; the setting and time period is very interesting for anyone slightly interested in Japanese history; the main villain in the Kyoto Arc is a great bad guy; memorable music
Cons: In every meaningful aspect newer anime has far surpassed Kenshin, leaving it feeling very generic and tired

Samurai X: Trust and Betrayal

Final Movie Score: 9/12 A-
Rewatchablity: 1/5 – Low
Ending: 2.5/5 – Average
Animation: 3/5 – Good
Pros: The story of Kenshin the Man-Slayer is gripping, well-done, and full of great character development; more mature and better executed then Kenshin; animation impresses even when considering it’s age
Cons: Fights are better then Kenshin but still don’t impress as much as they should; he vows not to kill again after a tragic turn-of-events but only after his side has won which makes him seem not fully sincere about his resolve and muddles the ending

Story

The Kenshin series takes place a decade after the start of the Meiji era in Japan. It’s a time of cultural flux as Westernization shatters the foundations and traditions that have held the country together for hundreds of years. We meet Kenshin, a wandering traveler, who protects the weak and tries to see that the ideals of the revolution that created the new government are carried out. He decides to settle down for a while and live quietly but his past keeps interfering.

The series touches upon this past of Kenshin but Samurai X: Trust and Betrayal is set when Kenshin was a Man-Slayer and the most feared and famous of assassins during the revolution. We see how he becomes a Man-Slayer and why he eventually sours towards the job.

Thoughts and impressions

As I feared, neither the movie or the series was able to hold up against comparison to newer anime and to my memories. The movie does a better job but it wasn’t immune.

For the series I found that I still really liked the characters (though Kaoru is not the “strong” female character that I remember thinking she was) and was wishing for an improved story and plot for these characters. Which pushes Kenshin into the same category as Lupin the Third – great characters stuck in a show that’s not good for them. I thought the cross-dresser was a lot less abnormal this time around (thanks anime).

I still liked the time period that Kenshin takes place in, it was enough to get me through the more recent anime Hakuouki: Shinsengumi Kitan. (I think I may be the only person that actually finished Hakuoki.) I also thought Hakuouki provided an interesting counterpoint to Kenshin since it told the story from the side of the Shinsengumi.

The part that I thought that kept the best was the music; I am glad that at least one thing didn’t change because of this rewatch. I still got excited when the “hey a fight is about to start” music played. I was still touched when the “dramatic moment for character development” music played. I could still sing along pretty well for most of the opening and closing songs. (I was such a silly noob back then to take the time to memorize them in Japanese. )

The one truly surprising reaction I had watching Kenshin was that I ended up watching the majority of the series in Japanese with English subtitles. What happened was I got curious what the original seiyuu sounded like and watched the fourth or fifth episode in Japanese, just to see. I liked it; it sounded noticeably “better”. So, I started watching it in Japanese, waiting to get tired of it and wanting to go back to English but that never happened.  I wouldn’t think that this was possible since I watched it dubbed in English on Cartoon Network and again dubbed from the DVDs when I bought them, all those years ago, and I remember liking the dub.

I happened to look at who did the dub and smiled when I saw that Bang Zoom! did it. Seems appropriate in light of this post.

It’s much easier to praise the movie; it might just be the best work that Studio Deen has ever done. There’s not much I feel that needs said with the movie. It functions as the origin story of Kenshin and is one of the better done ones out there. There’s happiness, sorrow, betrayal, love and hate woven throughout the whole movie. I thought the most glaring deficiency is how the ending plays out; it’s not bad, per say, just easily improvable in my book. However, I think it remains a work that anyone that fancies themselves an anime fan should watch at least once.

Essential Information

• 62 episodes, movie
• genre: shounen, action, historical
• animation studio: series – Studio Gallop, movie – Studio Deen
• director: Kazuhiro Furuhashi

Filed under: anime, series review

It’s time for yet another entry of finding odd things to enjoy in an anime. This time the target is the final episode of High School of the Dead (HOTD). This time I’m limiting myself to mentioning only two small scenes. Any more and I run the risk of going into full rant mode about the problems and observations I had about the show. (I really, really want to complain about how implausible the HOTD zombies would be at causing the level of chaos seen in this show.)

Several years ago I watched a documentary on the classic Looney Tunes cartoons and one of the most memorable parts was a short discussion about how the animators would often distort how people and animals were drawn to heighten the sense of motion. To illuminate the point they showed a clip at full speed and then showed the same clip going at a much slower speed. I was awed by the technical mastery shown in this art form.

I’ve often wondered how a non-human eye would perceive these scenes. Would their eyes be fooled as well or would they be able to see through the illusion?

I’ve also tried to look for examples of this technique in whatever animated show I watch since first watching this documentary and it fairly frequently, especially in high-quality animated shows. The last really good example that I can remember was in episode 15 of Bakemonogatari. It was a short scene when Shinobu did a series of quick somersaults before sinking her fangs into the shoulder of the cat-spirit possessed Tsubasa Hanekawa. The movement literally felt like it popped out of the screen. I wanted to do a frame-by-frame shot to show how awesome this was done. However, one of my desires when running this blog is to keep it SFW and when I started capturing the individual frames I realized that Shinbou decided Shinobu was fine using a band-aid as a pair of pantsu. So, I had to scratch that post and look for another example.

I didn’t need to wait too long; Madhouse (which figures actually) gave me a really good example in episode 12 of High School of the Dead. The scene was towards the end when the mechanic twirled a wrench as he got ready to fight the zombies. My eye caught this, even as my mind was wondering why leaving behind the mechanic was a good idea. So, the first clip is of the scene in question going at normal speed (or as close as I can get it) and the second is the same frames slowed down.

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Cool, isn’t it. I especially liked how when he grasped the wrench at the end they actually make the wrench disappear for a couple of frames and let our eyes fill-in the implied movement.

The other scene tickled the political side of me. I know it’s generally a bad idea to bring up politics online but the last time I did here, I remember being surprised by the civility of commenters so I’ll hope for the same civility. The scene in question is at the beginning when they show the combined effort of Japanese and American forces trying to shoot down the four nukes that were launched in the last episode. I don’t think this scene was originally conceived as a sly dig at Obama (unless it comes from source material done since his election) but I couldn’t help but see it as one.

There hasn’t been a lot of coverage of Obama’s foreign policy but one of the few concrete things he’s done in this arena is stepping back from Bush’s planned nuclear missile defense shield. Why he thinks this is a good idea, I don’t know. The need of a system like this is so plainly apparent that many countries, not just the United States, want to be included. One of these countries is – surprise, surprise – Japan. They worry enough about it they are actually funding a significant portion of the development and I don’t blame them, they live so much closer to North Korea and have had missiles shot over their country.

Like I said, I don’t think it necessarily was a critique of Obama but, nonetheless, that scene only needs a slight alteration, North Korea being the source of the nukes, to be completely relevant to a real life scenario and showcasing the need for a nuclear missile defense shield.

Filed under: anime, episode review, general anime interst, non-anime animation

The third parallel story arc, featuring the shy and quiet first year Sae Nakata as the heroine, finished up last week. True to form, the story was not compelling in the slightest, the characters were typical to a fault, and everything came together far too easily. But by twisting the storytelling formula just slightly, AIC turned the entire ship around and produced what is easily the best arc of the anime yet. In fact, the success I saw in this arc leaves me with hope that AIC is fully aware of how to handle Amagami SS, and it could end up being one of the best high school romance series in recent years. Do I sound crazy? Read on.

What a difference 4 episodes can make! After Haruka’s arc to start the show, my outlook on this show couldn’t have been more negative. Yet Kaoru’s arc had left me even more in despair by providing a story that started with promise before it fizzled out at about the halfway point. To quote myself from the previous post: “I do intend to stick with this show all the way to the bloody end.” I was not optimistic, to say the least.

But Sae’s arc was a complete turnaround, a great chapter of this anime that had been notable only for its extraordinary failings. In fact, the execution in this arc leaves me hopeful about the direction of this show in general, something I never would have predicted just a month ago.

Let’s start with the story: there was nothing about these past 4 episodes that were any better than the previous 4 or the 4 before that. Junichi was as uncharismatic as ever, and a little creepy if anything in how he dominated Sae from the very beginning. I did like how the story started out in the summer, showing just how malleable the formula could be, even if the core elements – Junichi’s rejection from 2 years ago, his star-decorated closet, the finale on Christmas – have to remain the same.

And our heroine Sae was somehow even more boring than our hero, with a personality defined solely by the one characteristic: shy. Especially compared to the relatively powerful figures of Haruka and Kaoru of the first two arcs, Sae’s meek and unobtrusive personality was frustrating at times. Seriously, the girl spent 3 weeks training for an interview to get a job as a waitress because she couldn’t talk to people normally.

Also, her squeaky, high pitched, so-soft-that-it’s-barely-there voice was hard to bear at times (alas, there is but one Mamiko Noto in this world). Her voice was about the same in her ED song, though the animation and art, sometimes reminiscent of Bakemonogatari’s Nadeko OP (Renai Circulation), made the sequence overall better than the first 2.

But none of the story’s glaring flaws ended up mattering in the slightest, thanks to the new approach to the storytelling taken by the show. Perhaps the simplest way of putting it is, the show “got it.” It came in on its own joke and successfully turned into a parody of itself. After Haruka’s awesomely miserable arc, I had decided to keep watching the show out of a macabre fascination, just to see how much it could fall. Perhaps the producers at AIC shared my macabre fascination and decided to make fun of the ridiculousness of the source material instead of simply accepting it and running with it.

“What if Amagami SS turns out to be good?”

Partway into the second episode of the arc, that truly shocking thought occurred to me. It was one of those things that seemed so patently ridiculous that I felt I should be committed for merely entertaining the thought, but somehow, it all made sense, and it still does.

Bear with me, if you will, and listen to the musings of someone who is likely insanely optimistic in the most literal way possible. What would you do if you were a creative, ambitious director handed the responsibility of adapting Amagami into an anime (remember, Amagami SS is directed by Yoshimasa Hiraike, the same guy who directed last season’s excellent Working!!)? A work that is so horrendously derivative, whose characters are insultingly flat, whose attempt at romance is so filled with cliche and misogyny that, well, it makes normal anime look positively feminist by comparison? What would you do?

Wouldn’t you want to make a big “fuck you!” to the original work and its fans? Wouldn’t you want to use this opportunity, to use this adaptation as a platform to criticize the very source material you are adapting? Get a bit of attention by announcing that each of the six stories will get its own adaptation. Then use the first 2 to show everyone just how disastrous straight up adaptations of these typical wish fulfillment dating sim romance stories would be. Next, you turn the tables on the audience. You use the 3rd adaptation to show everyone that you’ve been in on the joke all along. The 4th through 6th? We’ll see.

Anyway, as I wrote above, on its own merits, the story was bad. It was exactly what I’ve come to expect out of Amagami SS. There were times when I genuinely felt like cringing, when I really thought that there was no way that the show could bounce back from such a horrible turn of events (some scenes that pop to mind: ro sham bo game at the end of episode 9, speed changing in episode 10, public tentacoo wape in episode 11, gothic lolita + Engrish director in episode 12, I could go on). But each time, the narrator graciously guided us back up from whatever hole the show looked to be digging for itself.

Ah yes, the narrator. He was not just the most influential factor in turning this terrible romantic comedy into a satire, he was the one and only factor. From the very beginning of the first episode, when he made a small dig at Junichi (to which Junichi actually responded) he showed us that this arc wasn’t going to be like the others. He was there to provide balance to the ridiculous things that would go down, to laugh at them along with us, to affirm our disbelief and awe.

Yet he was not a cynic. His voice was always warm, and he spoke of the destined love story between our two protagonists without irony. He successfully portrayed the wise old man looking at kids experiencing the follies and adventures of youth, appreciating it for what it was, but also fully aware of how silly it was. He rooted for Junichi and Sae, but he wasn’t above making fun of them. In short, he was the proper companion with whom to watch this story unfold.

And again, he kept turning up at just the right times. He wasn’t overbearing or omnipresent like the narrator of Ookami-san and Seven Companions. He didn’t overstay his welcome. There were times when he would disappear for perhaps a bit too long, letting the tension build as the show started to go south. But that made the release during his return all the more satisfying. Prime example being the climax at episode 12, when Junichi and Sae were at the movie theater. The gothic lolita costume, combined with the movie director’s appearance and the tipping chair cliche threatened to put a cringe-inducing cap to the whole thing, but the narrator came back to describe in detail how the cuteness overload “killed” Junichi, putting a decidedly comedic spin on things.

And that really was all that was needed. Tragedy and comedy are two concepts separated by a hair’s breadth. Whereas first two arcs of Amagami SS were tragically bad – the first one was comedically so – Sae’s arc took that tragedy and spun it around to create a full-on self aware comedy. That is why it was successful.

Going forward, can AIC replicate this success with the second half of the show? There is the worry that this self deprecating approach to the storytelling may have been just a one-off thing, and we’ll go right back to the facepalm of Haruka’s and Kaoru’s arcs again. The cynic in me says to expect that. But the optimist in me says to hope for AIC to build on what they’ve done with Sae’s arc. Throw us a narrator who is more cynical, more ironic, more critical. Do that for the next arc, and then use the final 1/3 of the arcs to really throw the fans in for a loop by presenting complete deconstructions of the stories. In other words, instead of merely transferring the source material to a new medium, adapt it while also injecting its own criticisms of the original work. I know I’m hoping for too much. But it’s nice to want things. And the mere fact that I’m entertaining these thoughts is a testament to AIC’s cleverness and nimbleness when it comes to creating Amagami SS.

Remember when Cartoon Network made good animated series and not insipid garbage? That far distance time when turning on Cartoon Network in prime time meant always getting an animated show and not an aging, fifth-rate, live action movie. When Cartoon Network executives didn’t mind licensing shows and viewers of all ages were able to watch the best anime coming out of Japan.

I do and I miss it.

Ever hopeful for a phoenix-like return to form by Cartoon Network, when I heard about the new series by Genndy Tartakovsky, Sym-Bionic Titan, I got excited – maybe the long, lean winter is over.

Rating for episode 1 – 9/12  A-
Anticipation Level: 3.5/5 – Medium

The Story

Fleeing to a distant and backwards planet, known to the locals as Earth, is the young princess, Ilana, of a world that’s just fallen to a barbaric race bent on global, if not galactic, domination. Her mission, while on Earth, is to keep a low-profile and stay hidden from enemy forces, if they follow her to Earth. As such, only a single palace guard, Lance, and a robot, Octus (later Newton) of unknown design are sent with her to provide protection.

To fulfill this mission the trio enroll themselves into high school and quickly discover just how alien Earth can be. They stick out immensely, not even the watching of Earthen teenage drama TV series can adequately prepare them, but that is not the reason why the mission so quickly goes FUBAR. The conquerors of Galaluna figure out where the princess has gone and send a huge fire elemental monster to kill her. The logical thing to do is let the American armed forces (or the shadowy Galactic Guardian Group) destroy it but Ilana feels guilty about being the cause and decides she needs to help her new adoptive home planet.

The Fine Print

Over on this side of the Pacific there’s not too many animation directors that I would put in the same breath as their Japanese counterparts but Genndy Tartakovsky is one of them. The creator of Dexter’s Laboratory, Samurai Jack, and the Clone Wars micro-series has earn a lot of respect from a lot of people. This has probably helped open many doors for Genndy but it also increases, for many people, the level his shows or movies need to reach next time to be “successful” and “good”. I fall into this group of expecting greatness from Sym-Bionic Titan which is a tad unfair for it because I normally try really hard not to bring a set of expectations when watching or reading a work for the first time but if anyone can still impress me it’s Genndy.

So, I wasn’t completely surprised when Sym-Bionic Titan didn’t knock my socks off. It still disappointed me that I couldn’t proclaim the epic perfect-ness of the opening episode like I could with say Samurai Jack. Nor was I surprised when justifications as to why started entering my mind. They included everything from my unresolved want for a conclusion to Samurai Jack to it being Cartoon Network’s fault to watching it in standard definition after I’ve gotten use to watching animation in HD because of anime. Most of these were obviously just excuses but I did decide to watch it again in HD, if only so I could see if I liked the show more the second time through.

Maybe it was the HD or maybe it was the second watching but I liked Sym-Bionic Titan more the second time. I definitely think this show has a bright future and will be well worth watching. Though, I’d still really like to see Samurai Jack defeat Aku and return home.

Judging from the first episode, Sym-Bionic Titan looks to be the most complex story that Genndy has tackled so far. Which is a good thing in the long run since it will open new avenues in what the show can do and prolong the freshness of it. It’s not just the story of a boy genius and his annoying older sister or the story about a wandering samurai’s quest to defeat evil incarnate and get back home. What happened in Lance’s past that made Ilana question the wisdom of her father by picking him to protect her? Is there any way to reason with the conqueror of Galaluna and is he really who he says he is? Is the Earth going to be able to withstand the attacks by those sent to retrieve/kill the princess? What is the Galactic Guardian Group (or G3) and why can the leader of G3 order around 4 star Army general? I don’t the answer to any of these questions that the first episode but I do know that I want to catch the next episode.

Character-wise it’s probably too early to say definitively how good the characters in Sym-Bionic Titan will be, but, at first blush, I like what I see. The 3 main characters have good chemistry together (which is the point), even if they don’t always see eye-to-eye. They have distinct personalities and don’t appear to suffer from cookie-cutter, cliché character development. The main villain (for now, he might only be a lieutenant to someone more powerful) is a more nuanced villain then Aku but appears to be up to the task of being the evil villain for our trio of heroes. Which is important, heroes can only be as heroic as the villain is evil. The various third-party groups (the various high school cliques, the US military, the G3 organization, etc.) help make the world feel more real and will help out with story and plot development.

I really want to get to my favorite part of Sym-Bionic Titan, the animation style and animation quality but when I do I’m going to post enough screenshots most people probably won’t finish reading why I liked Sym-Bionic Titan so I’m putting it last.   I liked the tone of the show, it was as serious as it needed to be without being overly serious and it knew when to weave in a touch of humor. The humor was quality humor and didn’t resort to cheap laughs. (For example, I like a fart joke every now-and-again but I don’t want every American animated show to consider fart jokes to be the pinnacle of comedy.) I also liked the wittiness and intelligence behind the show. One can tell the show wasn’t just thrown together.

All-in-all Sym-Bionic Titan is the most impressive animated series created by Cartoon Network in a long time and one of the best I’ve seen on any network in recent memory. It has the potential to be a very good, if not great, series. My hope is that it gets huge ratings and inspires more quality shows from Cartoon Network to get made.

Below is a bunch of screenshots showcasing the very high-end animation quality of Sym-Bionic Titan. They don’t really do a good job in capturing the animation in motion but they’ll all I have.

Switching from watching anime to watching Sym-Bionic Titan I was struck by the difference in the use or lack of use of utilizing the eyes to convey emotions. I found myself confounded, at first, as to why the characters of Sym-Bionic Titan where not more emotionally responsive. Not that I’m complaining, they say variety is the spice of life. Though, at two points I was reminded of 2 different Shaft shows and I wonder if it was intentional or just that I watch a lot of anime.

I loved the style that the people where drawn in.

And how detailed and beautiful the backgrounds where

And the use of lighting

And how the scenes where put together

and the fight scenes where well done

Filed under: anime, first impressions, general anime interst, non-anime animation

I didn’t expect the game to wrap up in this episode, but it certainly made for some exciting action.  I enjoyed how they set up this game as the end result for all the framing they set up throughout the series.  Every character got spotlighted for a while in individual games.  The game against Osaka serves to tie all these individual threads together.  No one player shined too brightly; instead, everyone had their moments with all the focus on themselves.  They’ve advanced from a motley crew of novice and experienced players to a real team determined to seize victory.

The transition from the first half to the second really showed what ETU could do when they finally put their heads in the right place.  Sugie managed to push the indomitable Kubota to the breaking point, removing him from the field.  Kuro didn’t let his disadvantage get into his way, and played such an aggressive game he provoked Hauer into committing a foul.  Dori did his traditionally solid job as the goalkeeper, and the other two defenders, whose names completely escape me now, did their bit to help the team out as well.

On the offensive side, Akasaki finally pulled off a shot without launching it fifty feet over the goal, stalling out Osaka’s momentum with Natsuki’s assistance.  Murakoshi did an excellent job playing the anchor at midfield, despite his more advanced age.  Gino and Tsubaki tag teamed the enemy captain as well, putting Osaka into a dangerous position.  Then we had Sugie fulfilling Tatsumi’s belief that anyone can score a goal, if presented with the right circumstances.  So that covers every player on the team.  Well, every player bar one.

Out of all the players on the team, I feel like Sera constantly pushes himself the hardest.  He keeps up his cheerful demeanor, but it hides his insecurity in his own skills.  Not only does he lack the skill and physical abilities of his teammates, he knows it.  Earlier in the series, his self-consciousness got him to believe Tatsumi would bench him for the rest of the season.  Nevertheless, thanks to Sakai’s help, he pulled through his bit of depression with the determination to keep his spot on the team.  He managed to hold his own, and it leads us to the game’s finale.

Sera has spent the entire second half running his heart out.  ETU’s massive offensive push has kept him in constant motion, and he’s finally starting to feel it.  Yet, he still refuses to give up, in stark contrast to Kubota who collapsed on the field.  More than anything, he wants to stick with the game until the very end.  At that end, he pulls off the last goal with a final, lucky header at great danger to himself.  The crowd goes wild.

I think that’s what will ultimately make Sera a great player, despite his disadvantages.  He might not have the physical qualities of his contemporaries, but he will push himself for the team.  Then, when he’s used every ounce  of energy he has, he somehow finds the little extra he needs.  I think he’s the kind of player who can make a game in the clutch situation.  Sakai criticized him for his stupidity at going for such a dangerous goal.  He might be right, because Sera himself doesn’t believe he’s particularly bright.  However, I think Sera really couldn’t imagine not going for the shot.  If he hadn’t, he wouldn’t have given his all, and he wouldn’t be satisfied with it.  So I say props to Sera.  You deserve it.

No, I haven’t abandoned this blog already.  I have three things I’m currently watching which I’ll hopefully post about soon (Gurren Lagann disc 2 and Now and Then, Here and There are the main two).  However, I did want to make a quick update, since I do administer the site.

For a while I’ve “maintained” (maintained being in quotes because I haven’t really done anything with it for a while other than keep it online) a DNA² Wiki at http://www.dna2.info.  Well, I’m getting rid of the host that that wiki is being hosted on, mainly because I’m not really maintaining any of the sites.  As a result, I’m in the process of moving everything that is on the soon-to-be-delated dna2.info and moving it to http://dna2.wikia.com.  In the process, I’ll also try to add more information and make some improvements to the wiki, though a lot of the information was already there and, given that the series came out something like 15 years ago, hasn’t really changed all that much in the meantime.  However, if anyone wishes to add to what I’ve posted on there so far, feel free to.  Part of the reason I haven’t posted as much is that I’m moving some of the other stuff that I have hosted on the domain to a WAMP server on my computer, since I was really only using the PHP and MySQL database available as part of the hosting for stuff I was personally doing, and that stuff I can do easily enough on my computer.

I’m not really sure how many people care about that, but I thought I would post a note about it anyway.

After the “ending” of the main plot provided in the previous episode, I was expecting one final side story to take advantage of this show’s premise. Turns out, I was hoping for too much, as another main plot thread returned before taking several steps back. It was a somehow fitting way to end this series, which kept raising expectations, only to spend the rest of the time crushing them.

As a stand alone episode, this one had its moments. I took a liking to Machiko Himura, the poor girl with a paper delivery route, right away. Instead of being frail like the character from the original story, she was energetic and someone who took initiative for changing her fortune. By marrying into money, obviously. She was great fun when she was attempting to seduce Ryoushi, being the only one oblivious to how crazy she was acting and how much attention she was was drawing. It’s easy to like a character who is so delightfully delusional.

Unfortunately, things turned too quickly from, “I’ll engineer a situation to make you fall in love” to “Marry me, because you’re rich.” And with that came back to focus the Ryouko/Ryoushi romance story, which was handled shockingly poorly. It was, in a word, typical. That is to say, it was so much like every other tsudere/spineless loser relationship out there that I was surprised, if that makes any sense.

There was plenty of blame to go around. There was Ryoushi, who just let Machiko drag him along, instead of declaring the truth, which is that he already had someone else. There was Ryouko, who just let that happen and, in the end, simply had, “I don’t dislike him” to say about Ryoushi. I thought we had pushed past this phase in the last episode, that Ryouko had come to terms with being the person for Ryoushi. But no, I guess J.C. Staff couldn’t resist spending a full episode showing Ryouko as tsuntsun – that’s what the fans seem to like, after all, character development be damned.

All I wanted was a simple atomic episode to provide some laughs before the door finally shut on this series. But if episode 11 failed to provide closure, this one took a door that was nearly closed and forced it back wide open. My guess? The producers want this franchise to go places and to keep the fans coming back, and you don’t do that by providing an ending when the show, you know, ends. Oh, what the heck, the cynic in me knows that’s exactly why this show ended the way it did.

Series End

So another show comes to a close. I think I’ve written enough this week and last to show my distaste for the way things ended. The ending is, of course, the most important part of a story, though its failings can be excused if the quality of the ride leading up to it was good enough. Ookami-san and Seven Companions is not an example of such a piece of work.

To be sure, the ride had some fun moments. That first episode that had originally filled me with such hope was excellent, primarily thanks to its unique adaptation of the Cinderella story. Along the way, the show shone brightest during such adaptations, and episodes 3, 8, and 9 – ones whose primary content were straight up adaptations of fairy tales were my favorites. Other highlights include the Hansel and Gretel appearances, Ringo’s Three Little Pigs movie, and the Puss in Boots character and his speech impediment.

But in between these flashes of brilliance was content that I would best describe as lacking. Episode 5 introduced a couple of intriguing plot threads: the social engineering experiment formed by the Otogi and Onigashima high schools and Ryoushi’s dark past involving Onigashima’s own president, Shirou Hitsujikai. The former was dropped and not touched upon again, while the latter just fizzled out after a couple of episodes were devoted to building it up while still showing almost nothing of it. As for the romance story between the two main characters, I would have said that they made a cute couple had everything ended in episode 11, but episode 12 brought them back to being just another one of those tsudere-girl-can-never-be-honest couples.

In short, the storytelling was just messy. Which wouldn’t have been a problem had the main plot not supplanted the more entertaining fairy tale adaptation portions of the show.

I would be remiss not to mention the narrator to some extent. In short, she became annoying after about episode 3. Not because her act got old or tired, but because her act changed. Instead of providing the incisive, sarcastic, and occasionally witty nudge-and-a-wink type of commentary from the first episodes, she got relegated to the namesake of her role: she simply narrated what was literally happening, often speaking over the characters in the process. She had no personality anymore, or what she had was forced into hiding.

Ookami-san and Seven Companions was a show with a unique premise, one that carried the promise of something more than the typical high school romantic comedy. And when it embraced this difference and ran with it, it was a great show that did deliver on that promise. Unfortunately, it too often seemed afraid to do so, falling back to using typical genre staples and letting the more interesting, ambitious bits fall by the wayside. I looked forward to a new episode each week, hoping, “This will be the episode which finally brings everything together. This will be when the show finally starts.” I’m still waiting.

For several episodes now, we were led along thinking that the elimination of the nobles was going to be some big event. This episode made it perfectly clear that this show’s heroes have far bigger fish to fry by basically glossing over the execution of some two hundred people in seconds. Instead, events made it perfectly clear that the plot has already moved on to the upcoming conflict between Roland and Gastark. Unfortunately, this upcoming conflict doesn’t seem any more interesting than the last.

As disappointing as the whole slaughter scene was, we at least confirmed one thing. Miran Froaude is one hell of a calculating bad ass. For him to plan the assassination of his family members, from the age of 5, shows that he has ice running through his veins. However, as soon we were led to believe that Miran was all but invincible, the show completely pulls a 180. With the introduction of yet another pink haired character (who we later learn is from Gastark, along with the pink haired siblings), we see that Miran isn’t really all that powerful, and that there is another legendary relic with basically the same type of power as Miran’s ring.

Having Clough save Miran seemed like it came a little out the blue, but it did underscore how the situation in Roland has changed. Up until this point Miran and Clough have had nothing but disdain for each other. But now, it seems as though their proverbial “shit is on hold”, until they deal with a greater foe. While I am still hoping that we will eventually get to see Miran and Clough duke it out mano y mano, seeing Miran having to thank Clough for rescuing him was fairly gratifying. On another note, I got the feeling that there was some strange vibes between the two, but I decided to bite my tongue in this case and not make any yaoi jokes.

With the revelation that Gastark is the nation causing all the trouble up north, and that all these pink haired characters hail from said nation, it feels as though we are watching the wrong show. Kuu and Sui seem like they are infinitely more competent than Ryner and Ferris, and with nothing of note ever happening in Roland it feels as though we are focusing on the wrong characters.

Of particular note, this episode also featured the return of two characters who have been MIA for some time now. While Lucile’s presence is a constant, it was nice to see that he still keeps tabs on Sion. However, the more important character introduction, in my opinion, was that of Kiefer Knolles. From episode 4, we know she has been traveling the continent for some time now. Her knowledge could prove useful, given that much of the main cast seems to have little to no knowledge of the events in the northern part of the continent. Her reemergence may be what this show needs to wake up from a rather dull couple of episodes, as her character was one of the most interesting thus far, despite her limited screen time.

Death by Moe! The only way to die-nyan~! The arc was fun, more than expected thanks to the narration which made it that much funnier. Sae was cute but wasn’t really a fan of her voice, Konno Hiromi, couldn’t even watch the full ED sequence. Which is weird considering I love Satomi Arai’s voice, which [...]