Rethice's Blog

Anime Relations: Kodomo no Jikan

Warning!: Spoilers!

Kodomo no Jikan is a romantic comedy drama about the awkward relationship between a parent less, lonely young girl and her caring and foolish teacher. Throughout this story there is a fair amount blatant loli fan service, which would topple the depth of the story completely if the viewer isn't able to either appreciate or tolerate it. I say this, because the relationship between Rin and Aoki is a unique one. To say this story is about a loli trying to seduce her teacher would ignorant - because as the story goes on you come to realize that both characters are having an internal struggle, especially Rin, who in her young and inexperienced state thinks she has fallen in love with her teacher. One thing people are forgetting when they look down on this series, is that while being a child, she is also misguided and prone to mistaking her own emotions. This is evident throughout the entire series when it seems like the way they treat each other is more of a father-daughter love than anything else. Teasing is part of Rin's personality, and even her guardian is victim to her shenanigans occasionally.

The reason I rated this show so highly was because it told a romance unlike anything else I've seen before. A story of awkward, forbidden love - it wasn't the standard shy and stuttering cliches this time. Instead, we were presented with two characters who didn't quite know what they wanted from each other. Aoki, due to his own pureness of heart and gullibility and Rin because of her realistically malfunctioning mental state.

Due to the controversial themes of this series, I decided it was my job to try and defend it, whether it labels me as a lolicon or not. The flaws to this series are clear to see, and it all consists of unnecessary and excessive lolicon fan service. Take that away from the series, and it may have lost a lot of target audience, but it would have been a much more respectable series and the less tolerable romance lovers would be able to appreciate it for what it is.

As for the specifics... I liked the art, it was very cute and pretty. The characters were all drawn in ways that you could never forget, and the style was unique to itself.

The story was the best part; not the story on the surface, but the story of the relationships between the characters... And I think one of the best parts for me was that there was NO LOVE TRIANGLE! Except for the lady teacher, but she posed no harm.

The characters were brilliant - except for Mimi and Kuro who were -okay-. The teachers, Aoki, Reiji, Rin were all well designed with a fair amount of depth to all of them. I loved the way they presented the hate between Reiji and Aoki - yet apart from the part where Reiji "snapped", they both had good reasons to suspect eachother, despite both being good people. A well executed power struggle of fatherly instincts!

Overall, I gave this series a 7 out of 10 - it probably would have been an 8 were the conclusion better. The second season is airing now, but it's only 3 episodes, so I'm not expecting it to go anywhere. I would strongly recommend this anime to any romance fans with high tolerance to loli. Otherwise, if you can't see through that then you'll hate this anime to the core, as many do.

Anime Relations: Furi Kuri

No spoilers!

I recommend FLCL if you have an abstract sense of humour no need for a plot line.

I'm going to put my main point forward first so it doesn't get lost in the rest of the rant. Throughout the entire 6 episodes of this anime I could not stop picturing a 12 year old preppy teeny bopper girl saying "Omgz lolz I AM SO RANDOM!!~~". To all you FLCL diehard fans, an abstract compilation of a child's random thoughts is not a masterpiece. As stated, even a child can do it. In this case Gainax was simply bored enough to show it to the rest of the world

Randomness is fine, by all means I can enjoy the humour when it's executed at least competently, like Excel Saga, but not once did furi kuri's "humour" even make me smile, and as far as I can tell comedy was its true genre. To make a good anime (or a good anything for that matter) you really need to choose between a solid story and good humour... If you have one, it's perfectly fine to disregard the other, but FLCL failed in BOTH aspects.

The manga may be much better, I'm sure, but the anime was absolutely terrible considering the fan base and hype there is behind it. I was recommended to watch this because I enjoyed TTGL, but apart from the animation style I could not see a single similarity. As far as I could tell Gainax got bored and drew a bunch of doodles then put them together. The art quality is that terrible and the creativeness behind it is non existent.

The only good thing I have to say about it is that it had a grand total of about 2-3 awesome moments. All of those involved the BGM "Little Busters" and a focus on Canti.

In conclusion, the art was bad but occasionally cute. The music was okay, a couple of good tracks. The story was non existent, and so was the humour. The VA's were not really notable, and the characters were terrible, except Canti.

Overall 3/10 - Didn't piss me off as much as ZnT but was far more terribly made.

Anime Relations: Great Teacher Onizuka

No spoilers!

My opinions didn't really change from start to finish of this one, it never seemed to really change from a 5 or a 6 in my mind. It was deffinetly refreshing though, very different from any other anime I had watched recently so its originality effected the rating pretty well.

However, it's obvious it was intended as a comedy, with a side of moral influences. Unfortunately, it failed in both respects. Perhaps those that find the more common and immature humour in anime hysterical, you will love this anime. For me however, only a handfull of moments made me snicker, and otherwise the main redeeming factor was its originality and its passion - and it just generally managed to hold my attention pretty well. Some of the "arcs" were unpredictable, some were predicatable, and because it was sometimes one or the other, I never knew wether to expect the expected or not (Code Geass could've taken a note from that), which is probabaly why I managed to watch the whole thing in only a few sittings, as spread as they were.

The main issue at hand throughout the anime is wether or not Onizuka really deserves to be a teacher. As a viewer, you're meant to think yes, becuase he's so damn awesome, and always "works things out in the end" (or not), so you're meant to side with him in all the challenges he comes up again... But quite frankly, I don't think he deserved to be a teacher, and though all of his students are mentally and emotionally challenged, I couldn't help but empathise with the vice principal most of the time.

Anyway, as usual, finishing with the specifics.

The art was pretty bad. I'd like to say it was terrible, but I think the style in all its ugliness was appropriate for the series. As a result, some of the "hot" parts just made me laugh at how much the women looked like men with tits... Then again, it's pretty much the other way round in other art styles.

Anyway, the story was great and a breath of fresh air - it was deffinetly the best part of the anime and it was thanks to that, that the series managed to get above average in my ratings.

The characters.. Well, the teachers all irritated me, I felt sorry for the vice principal, but sometimes he was so stupid that he deserved what he got, and Onizuka all in all just reminded me of an older version of Naruto (a bad thing). However, some of the students were rather cool. I liked Kanzaki and Kikuchi especially, as well as Murai and his gang. All of the parts that focused around them were the best parts for me.

The music? Well, it wasn't a major part of the series, but I did like both of the OP's, especially Rider's High. Also, the song they would play when an inspirational moment started seemed very effective and uplifting, but all in all nothing memorable.

Overall I gave the anime 5.5/10, only a scratch above average.

Anime Relations: Macross Frontier

No Spoilers! Yay!

I think it's safe to say that the soundtrack was the most appealing feature of this anime, however unlike some others who boast the same claim - it was not carried by its soundtrack alone. The animation of the battle scenes were amazing, and the storyline was enough to have me marathon the whole thing in 2-3 sittings.

Firstly, the negatives, as usual.

1. I didn't like the art style much - at first I hated it but I managed to appreciate it by the end, but I still would say its one of the failing points of the anime.

2. Love triangles.. I hate them.

3. It hasn't made a lasting memory in my mind, I think this is because of its lack of real depth apart from the singing scenes.

4. The characters were so-so, and the relationships were terrible, apart from Michel and Klan, if only they got more screentime.

5. Sub-par animation when it came to the dance scenes. Perhaps I've been spoiled by all the high budget anime lately.

And the positives.

1. Amazing musical scenes. Though the dancing moves themselves lacked, the songs and emotion made up for it. A good amount of the songs brought tears to my eyes, which isn't hard to do but still a plus for the anime. I truly fell in love with Ranka when she sang "What bout my star?".

2. The love triangle was very well done. Despite my hate for them, I had to admire the way that both contenders in the love triangle managed to win my appreciation at one point or another. At one moment I preffered Ranka, the next I was all for Rachael. In the end, Rachael won me. I wont say who won Alto though, I promise.

3. Amazing fight scenes - the animation quality here was very nice.

4. Very cool mecha types. Probably fairly close to actually being feasible, realistic and beneficial models.

Overall I gave the anime a 6/10. Above average, but nothing noteworthy in my mind.

Anime Relations: Kanon (2006)

Warning: Spoilers

Yes yes! I know I'm a little late on the buzzer for this classic. XD

Well after knowing about Kanon for approximately 2 years, and constantly avoiding it for one reason or another. (At first I think it was the art, but after watching it the art didn't seem bad at all... Maybe I saw the original Kanon's art and it put me off first.), I've finally finished it.

Anyway, Kanon 2006 was the only anime that my friend Ryuga had seen and I haven't, so I decided to finally give it a shot after much reluctance. I knew a lot about it already because spoilers for something as popular as Kanon is unavoidable, but surprisingly I knew much less than I thought. I knew all the characters were incredibly 2D, MOE and mentally retarded... And after watching it, my opinion on that hasn't changed. The characters are horrible (except for Yuuichi), but undoubtably very cute.

Due to Key's strong belief that mental retardation is the only way to make a character cute, I've gotten used to it however...

One thing I have to say, which will piss off a lot of the Kanon fanboys, is that when I put Clannad and Kanon next to eachother.. No, Clannad doesn't look like a rip off... Infact, Kanon very much looks like a blueprint to Clannad in every way. A stepping stone to what became Clannad.

Now I know people might think "Well nob-jockey, that's because you saw Clannad before Kanon", which is a perfectly legitimate point.. However Ryuga was the first one to put that point forward to me, and he did see Kanon first. :p

Anyway, as for my opinions on the show itself. The art was fine. Mid to low tier, closer to mid. The music suited well, and the scenes that had Pachabel's Canon in D playing in the background made me feel fuzzy. The characters were horribly constructed, but due to sheer determination Makoto and Ayu both managed to find a way into my heart no matter how much I tried to push them away. All that said though, the emotion was deffinetly there, and (I think) that part of the anime was done very well. Infact the only arc that didn't have me in tears was Shiori's... I honestly couldn't care less about her. :p

I think, if I didn't already know how Makoto's arc ended, it would have made me the saddest.

For me, the best way to find a high rating on my list is from emotional response, whether it be happy or sad, so despite the plentiful flaws in other areas, I had to give Kanon a 7/10.. Though I think a 6.5 would be more appropriate.

Anime Relations: Shigofumi

Warning: Spoilers

Before I go into spoilers I'd like to say, I recommend this one for people who like mysterious and emotional "deep" stories. It's not a romance and deffinetly not an action. Animes I'd compare it to are Higurashi, Fullmetal Alchemist, and xxxHolic.

Alright, so this is a series that I picked up here on MAL, from the recommendation thread funnily enough - can't remember who recommended it for me, but thank you, whoever it was. It was great - it pulled a lot of emotion from me, both positive and negative, and I think that's what makes a truly memorable series.

Having said that, though, there were plenty of things that irritated me about this series, so I'll start with that. Most of those things centered around one main thing - some of the situations, characters, and reactions were completely off.. Illogical and wrong. The masterminds behind some of the directions this anime took seem to have very surreal ideas on mankind. Yes, I know humans are prone to evil and terrible deeds... The world becoming a horrible place and all that rabble, but sometimes this anime had situations which surpassed all logic in their characterisations. Several examples, off the top of my head;

SPOILERS AHEAD

In the last couple of episodes, when the real Fumika wakes up, there's a long drawn out thing about her going crazy from all the attention she's getting over pressing charges against her father. There's two things wrong with this - one, new reporters may be known for invading her privacy - but what's with the spam of school kids tormenting her? If anything, kids, are not that cruel. Secondly, her reaction to it is equally frustrating - so you're getting pictures taken of you? Sure, a worse case scenario you'd get irritated by it and yell at them to stop, and in EXTREME situations press charges - not react to it like a frail princess who's just been raped.

Secondly, there were many "minor" things that stood out a lot for me, which upon the slightest thought makes no sense whatsoever. So this girl comes out of a coma of 3.. 4 years? She's perfectly healthy somehow - fine whatever, but then they bring her home, feed her, love her.. That's all well and good. Then the next day, leave her home alone... This kid was in a coma for 3 years, and you leave her home alone the next day? Yeah, smart... I noticed a lot of "stupid" things like this throughout the anime, and that may be tid-picking, but hey I do what I want. :p

Now.. The main thing, that frustrated me to the point of ranting about it on the anime discussion board. The sixth. fucking. episode.

I heard they canceled it on live T.V. - and I wish I skipped it myself, but for different reasons than for what they obviously took it off the air for... It was the (second) most retarded thing I've ever seen, behind the entirity of NHK. Sorry, directors, but high school bullies aren't serial killers. Yes, there are high school aged serial killers, but they're far from your standard case of high school bullies - and presenting them as such as a comment about society could not be MORE WRONG. I was the kind of kid that was bullied at school, as are a lot of people, that's just the way the world goes round. There ARE cases where bullies push kids over the limit to either gunning down a class, taking their own lives or just those of the bullies, but those are rare cases, and I think you'll find of those rare cases, the bullies WONT do the same thing again to the next kid, as if they were picking off all the students in their class like fucking mass murderers. I'm sorry for those that disagree, but no, mankind is not -that- fucked up - at least not high school kids, and those that are, are a MINORITY.

Alright, I ranted about the negatives a lot for something I rated so highly, huh? Well despite there not being much to say in the positive, the things I did like, I liked enough to make up for that I didn't, and much more.

Though the living humans weren't that great as characters, I positively loved Chiaki and Fumika - aswell as both of their staves... Especially Chiaki - she reminded me so much of Marisa, which resulted in love at first sight. As a result, I LOVED the ninth episode, a sweet episode about Chiaki's life before death - and not to mention a lot of screentime for her... Couldn't ask for better.

I found the general Point of View style to be pulled off incredibly well - with the sort of "multi-story" structure that you'd expect from this sort of show - with every few episode starting a new small story about a shigofumi fumika was delivering, and every story was great to boot. With all this, it still managed to develop Fumika well... She wasn't too close to lose her character, but enough to get to like her - unlike the standard drone characters I love to hate like Rei and Nagato. I feel the show would have done a lot better if they found a way not to involve the two humans so much, whatever their names were.. (Man I'm bad with names), but I guess that was unavoidable.

As for the main details. I loved the art - the character design was great, especially Chiaki and Fumika, they were both adorable. The music was good (I like ALI Project), the plot was good, and the ending was good. I have a strong hate for animes that have "bad endings" just for the sake of making you cry, even when they make no logical sense - like Air. When there's a perfectly reasonable way to give a show a happy ending, why not do it? Fair enough if there's no logical way to make it happy, then I can accept it - but cases like Air irritated me...

Anyway, good anime. I gave it a 7 on my anime list, but I think it's closer to a 7.5, not quite an 8.

-3:05am