Valwin's Blog

Anime Relations: K

WARNING! Possible mild spoiler ahead.





I might as well jump right into the point.

K is... well.. meh.

Some potential for enjoyable action series was fairly involved.. or rather loused up, to be more precise.
For the most part it's all matter of subjective preference, it may even turn out that K was pretty pleasing, if we were to look at it from pure entertainment value perspective.
However.. few elements that add up to the whole experience lack in this or other fashion.

The most prominent shortcoming of this anime, for me, was.. the whole ending, basically.
I suppose, there's more to it, since K's story was firstly introduced (if I'm not thoroughly mistaken) in light novel's and manga (which tend to focus more on the background of the plot in terms of storyline as a whole compared to anime, which is somehow limited with defined number of episodes that can be aired during one season).

Whole setting, possible past events (history of each King, Kuroh's past, and.. everything actually) seems to have more to it than we were able to actualy experience, which is acceptable. Although, I had this returning feeling that viewer's were thrown into a certain moment in K's story timeline.

Is it a downside? From a certain standpoint, yes it is.
I'd rather see K being presented in more consistent manner. I dont's despise flashback narraton, I'm actually a enthusiast of it, as long as it's presented properly.
If K's plot, or rather chain of main event's that are of any significance to the setup of storyline were construed with more care, and possibly with more focus on background as well, K would be that much more likable.

The idea on which anime is built, alone, is formulaic and rather average - which doesn't mean that show, can't improve along the way. And to be fair, till a certain point, it does. I guess it was around 10-11 episode that K went downhill and never went back.
Ending was screwed up. Big time. Solution to main mystery, which caused all the uproar is even worse.

To go a little off-topic here.. I believe that this issue is something that preserves supernatural genre to truly "spread it's wings".
They have nice setup (not story-planning-wise.. but whatever), flashy characters, overall enjoyable artistic and musical design, and so many choices in regard to storyline (it's supernatual, after all), and somehow, they resolve the whole commotion with something so generic, and ordinary that it covers any positive aspects anime had in the first place. Many shows suffer the same weakness.
K is a gracious exaple of that.

I'd rather see K focus more on Kings and their clans trying to.. well actually, what IS their goal? Why was Suoh or any othe King blessed/cursed with this power? What's the origin of it? I could go on, for a long time. I guess, it's all a set-up for second season, but if K was less flashy and more.. collected and composed, I suppose I'd enjoy it much more.
Rivalry of clans, more tactically, and polytically oriented in this urban setting (which is a great choice by the way), more focus on clan members and their individual reasons would make it for me. Also, I'd add more sense and rationalisation behind it all (Suoh's actions were somewhat understandable.. but I'd like to see a wider picture).
To be more exact, K can still turn out to be interesting universum, but if I'll narrow my perspective, to only K consisting of those 13 episodes.. I can't say it was anything better than an average anime of same genre. The funny thing is that, I suppose, second season of K (if done well) can make me like the first one more (which is possible, but considering the prevailing trends in nowadays anime I guess the second season will be the same as first, or even more flashy).

Humour was somewhat tolerable, but I couldn't get the point of Kuroh's and Shiro's clowning around early on. Like I said, I'd rather see less-flashy version of K.. but it's just my humble opinion.

What was spot on is the setting. City looks gorgeous, and I'm all about urban/action anime.
Well, not really, but it was really great choice. City feels alive, fresh, different sections of it were presented, but still school Shiro attends is incredible from visual point of view, as well as the atmosphere, and so.

I must praise the score of this show as well. Background music contributes to this anime remarkably.
Not every song is to die for, but even so, it's striking when it comes to action sequences, and pleasant when it comes to more introspective situations.
'Friendship' is by far, the best track featured in K. I have a sweet tooth for this kind of background music in anime. 'Suoh Mikoto', 'Shiro #1' 'K's theme ~piano version~', 'Kushina Anna', 'At SKool 1', 'TosuKA Tatara' - these are more prominent examples of the general audio vibes of this show.
Audio aspect of K is actually it's biggest upside.

Visual presentation is rather pleasing - being very colorful, fresh, sharp and electric. Especially backgrounds, which can be quite stunning.

One thing I noticed is that action or strictly fighting scenes, are not as energetic and fast-paced as you'd assume. There's nothing wrong with them.. but to be fair, they're uninspired, Suoh's just setting everything on fire, and sometimes they even relied on still picture being shaken in a familar to any anime viewer manner, to create an illusion off action, rather than actually showing it.
I didn't saw it as a disadvantage, but if you're into fast-paced action/fighting scenes.. K may be seen as dissapointing.

I wanted to post my few thoughts on K and I almost ended up writing a regular review..

K is one of those shows that do some things right and, at the same time, do some things wrong. I'd even say that more important aspects that make up the whole anime are lacking in some way or the other. Those minor things (presentation, music, setting), on the other hand managed to leave a positive impression on me.

Altogether, K is anime that might have been better. And because of the direction producers decided to follow, as well as some choices along the way when it comes to storyline in general, I'll remember K only as a pretty 'meh..' anime. Unfortunately.

Anime Relations: Elfen Lied

WARNING: Mild spoilers, vile language and more ahead.



Recently I finished watching this popular anime series, which not only stirred quite a commotion among anime enthusiast’s when it was aired, but was actually really well received by a wider audience. At this very moment, the weighted score for this anime on MAL is 8.17 with more than 130k ratings submitted by site’s users. Needless to say, it's also very popular

I figured I might bring up couple random quotes from online review’s to enrich this little text.

This series is often described as : “this anime is something that just doesn't come around that often”, “masterpiece anime”, “this series has completely changed my perception of Japanese anime”, “absolute must-see”, “it’s very well balanced out”, “it’s a true work of art, there is simply nothing sub-standard about it” or “simple, yet, unique drama with something for most everyone”.

Is this one of the best anime to ever exist?

Well.. I guess it’s about time I state my opinion on this series.

How should I put it…

Oh, I know! It’s a senseless fucking bloodbath. Cheap, misleading and pointless disgrace of an anime.

Lovely description, ain’t it?

And yes, it’s ‘this’, you guessed it.


I took notes on what’s wrong with this anime as I was watching it, which is something I’ve never done before. This alone is quite a warning already.

I thought that these notes might be better than standard review. I believe that this kind of form may be like a breath of fresh air..? Or maybe I’m just lazy. But no, really, I think it may be interesting. I didn’t write it in any particular order so.. One time I wrote few words, the other time couple sentences, there’s no chronology, but I don’t think it’s a flaw. Basically, when I saw something I wanted to point out I wrote it down, and when I remembered other issue I’ve done the same. Anyone who watched it will exactly know what I’m addressing. So.. yeah. Here it is. Have fun.

(NOTE: Everything that follows is as I originally wrote it down. No editing allowed. )

(NOTE2: Please forgive my bad jokes and puns if some were to occur. This anime managed to actually put me in some weird mood)

- Character’s are soulless – the first instance you see them you know everything there is to them. No depth, no thought put behind, they didn’t even try, whatsoever.
- Decisions they make leave me stunned. In a bad way (ex. -> Nana fights to death vs. this robot-arm dude, then they talk, then they’re cool. Even though he almost fucking killed her. *You try to kill me, well I might help you out* Nana’s unbelievably forgiving.)
- It suffers all anime shortcomings possible – meaning – it’s cliché as it can possibly get (ex. School bullying [btw, nobody found it disturbing to have a kid with horns attend regular school,eh ?], dreadful childhood [which is cheapest way to make viewers sympathize with the character -> *aww, that’s so cruel and unfair*], hopeless male lead [seriously, Kouta’s just unbearable] that all female characters can’t get enough [yeah.. there’s also harem aspect of this anime],
- Some worst lines and most awkward scenes I’ve ever seen in anime [ex. scene when Arakawa was shot, finale on the bridge, and many more],
- No character development (few childhood scenes is not enough to make a certain character believeable)
- Drags too long (it could have been 6 episode series, and still it would be horrible)
- 1 episode -> hey, there’s a girl with horns, covered in blood standing naked on a beach [which is only attended by lead and secondary characters for some weird reason, I can’t recall a single scene where there would be some stranger walking along shore] that can’t speak no real language. Let’s take her home!!
- Cheap and pushy fanservice/ecchi scenes (whatever you may call it, it’s perverted, allright). Easiest way to attract attention of male adolescent – creators new this series sucked,
- I like your horns, I’ll take you home (flashback episodes - Kouta and Lucy),
- I don’t know you, let’s be friends (same)
- Shallow excuse for Lucy to fucking slaughter everyone,
- Shallow attempt to have some fucking sense and proper rationalization,
- I’m ashamed watching this, actually (I want to get it over with asap)
- … “Nyuu”?... oh man…
- What do you know.. horns are actually neko mimi’s. That’s so fucking cute.
- Pointless gore and brutal scenes that failed to shock or even make any kind of impression on me,
- Oh, gothic-ish opening (soo original) (do anime creators somehow connect gothic esthetics [soo dark-toned and mysterious] with an excuse to develop storyline which is based on some half-assed pseudopsychological exploration and then analysis of some cardboard’s character dull and defective state of mind which is supposed to be study of dark side of human nature? Does this gothic atmosphere take part in misleading the audience into thinking that all this slaughter has some actual meaning? I think so. Along with the mysterious, highly dramatic and completely meaningless babbling which is supposed to be next episode preview, this opening, and not only that, is one big failed attempt to mislead viewers into thinking that this is some intelligent, a bit avant-garde and highly thought provoking series which is trying to confront audience with some difficult and extremely sensitive matters.
- Some sick fuck wrote screenplay to this, seriously (why’s there so much young girls nudity that might have been easily skipped?)
- Lucy’s thought process -> people are inhuman [eureka!] I can kill them all now,
- Another cliché – parents are non-existent. Bunch of kids living together, ending up in hospital, and there’s no notion of them having any family, whatsoever. There are no parents in Japan apparently. Or they just don’t give a fuck,
- Young Lucy is a metaphor for a lonely, misunderstood emo-kid (I’m sad, alone, there’s no one who cares about me, so fuck, I’ll kill them all),
- I love how Kouta is such a dumbass – he doesn’t even realize that Lucy is a fucking lunatic with split personality,
- I guess I’ll have to address everyone who wrote in their review’s something like that “if you’re too sensitive and don’t like blood, gore, and killing and all that, don’t watch it” or “it’s not for everyone” (as if it’s somehow special, unique in some messed up way). Yup, “Elfen Lied” is pretty messed up and doesn’t even try to cover it. But don’t give me this “it’s not for everyone” bullshit. You should rather say that it’s not for those who don’t enjoy watching lolis being decapitated and humiliated in every possible way. I like being honest. Really. Because if you say that it is “not for everyone” you make it seem as if it is a gem of some sort. Underrated, and not easily understood. That kind of description is utterly dishonest and extremely wrong. It’s a nice dodge, I must admit it. Fans of the series would probably accuse me of being too limited to truly understand the meaning of this “state of art”. By doing that someone may trick youngsters into thinking that this is all about fatalism of human existence, injustice of life or demise of human kind. It’s a fucking sensless bloodbath.
- Wow, Lucy is a tsudere [proof – cute when spending time with Kouta, still not sure how to act around him, but able to massacre whole families without a second thought] (I hate that kind of character, it’s very overused and somehow manages to annoy me every fucking time),
- I hate each shallow attempt this anime undertakes to make me think that everything Lucy does is so tragic and haunting, and most of all so much painful to herself. These scenes when she’s facing her inner voices that lead her to conclusion that it’s ok to kill everyone are extremely cheap and are stripped of any sort of proper rationalization and substance.
- I’m quickly coming to conclusion that everything here was planned is such way, so that gore, and nudity were involved. This is what this anime is all about. Cheap shock. I don’t know how people can praise this and pretend there’s more to it.
- Young girl is jealous of a possible rival (it’s so tragic and heartbreaking) What’s the solution? Kill Kouta. Yeah, why not?
- Such a tragic fate of a tsundere, misunderstood Lucy.. why am I watching this?
- What’s more tragic than puppy being killed in front of our own eyes? (another easy way out – you must have no soul to not be touched by this.. apparently),
- I’m simply astound how brutality and nudity of this anime is supposed to be targeted towards adults but the whole storyline, characters and their motivations lead me to conclusion that it’s targeted towards kids. Who is supposed to watch this?
- I’m different and misunderstood -> I’ll fucking destroy this world,
- Btw. -> arms that are as sharp as blades? How much thought process was put behind this? So uninspired..
- Tear-jerking scenes that make me fell disconcerted,
- It may look as if I’m trying to mock this series and it’s fans, but actually, it’s quite the opposite. I’m honesty trying my best to be as objective as possible, and to do this anime a justice and also to somehow understand it’s popularity (at least among western audience; can’t tell if ‘Elfen Lied’ earned recognition and appreciation amongst Japanese viewers). Though (sorry guys) you have to be aware that some things must be made clear,
- Unaware Kouta.. that’s his nickname from now on,
- Did I see right? Nana used her.. ceramic (I don’t even fucking know..) arms as a weapon and threw them at the opponent? It’s getting more grotesque than I imagined,
- Another irritating anime cliché -> german titles in the background, or any sort of similar things (I mean german subtitles of episodes and such). I’m quite used to the fact that when anime creators want to leave an impression that presented issues, or just simply narration is very intellectual, intelligent or maybe even philosophical, they use this stupid gimmick. It’s obviously recycled, uninspired, and again, it does not raise certain anime’ value, let it be artistic, intellectual or emotional. This trick is outdated, guys.
- ‘we almost killed ourselves, let’s have a dinner together! 'Nyuu!’
- Let’s all live together, why not! (harem, once again -> yes, it IS a flaw),
- Laboratory or some kind of a fucking institute (idk) that’s conducting vile and inhuman experiments -> never seen that one before [and that, my folks, is a joke],
- Some rubbish about human evolution. What’s next? Is God involved?
- Some fucking Sherlock Holmes shit right here -> ‘Diclonius kill humans. Diclonius are enemies of humanity’ 0_0 pure genius right there How did you fucking even.. (reminds me of ‘people die when they are killed’ line),
- Once again brutality in this anime is certainly not contaminated with any kind of thought process. Even when it comes to pure shock value. I’m really unimpressed. Honestly, I’m pretty much disconcerted. I guess it’s a fault of people who worked on character presentation. They’re so believeable and so human-like that I’d feel more compassion towards some stranger being slaughtered by Lucy, rather than if she were to kill Kouta, or Yuta or fucking anyone who is supposed to earn viewers sympathy.
- Do I care about them? You sir, guessed it. I don’t.
- They didn’t even try to make it bearable,
- Maybe I shouldn’t take it seriously. But then.. why does the story try to cover such issues like sexual abuse of children, death, or why does this anime try to have it’s take on humanity in general..? I already addressed this -> who is supposed to be target audience for this?
- After watching Nana being humiliated some more I’ve come to a simple conclusion -> quality over quantity does not apply here (anime has no quality whatsoever, but correspondent number of gallons of blood was splattered all over the place),
- Many tend to praise this anime’s presentation. From the visual point of view, I can’t say much. I have this.. sort of distortion, which makes me immune to influence of graphics on my overall evaluation of a certain series. I’m firmly convinced that graphics and visual presentation in general plays minor role, if none. I can enjoy series that look dull. That’s not the substance of an anime. Therefore I find it awkward to rate looks of an anime. But what I saw later on is that many tend to over exaggerate about graphics in ‘Elfen Lied’. It looks ok, it’s nothing to be excited about. It’s not as outstanding as many claim it to be.
When it comes to sound design I’m a little more definite. Soundtrack leaves a bigger mark on me than looks. Maybe because music may stimulate certain emotional states a bit easier than graphics alone. That’s just my humble opinion, besides, it’s not so clear in some cases. But, reaching my conclusion, I can appreciate music a little bit more that visual design most of the times. And music in ‘Elfen Lied’ is a bit generic. I don’t mean it in bad way.. but in ‘rather uninspired’ kinda way. Some may like it more than others, but still.. it’s pretty plain.
As I’m on the subject.. I have to address some misconception (at least in my opinion). I often heard that ‘great soundtrack may save an anime for me’ and some had ‘Elfen Lied’ In their minds when they mention that. Umm.. ok.. So this means that if some highly offensive, brutal and obscene scenes were involved (let’s say.. extremely brutal rape scene shown with too much attention on the fact of rape rather than just notiyfing viewers that such a thing took place) but the soundtrack was pleasant would it make an allright concept? It’s like having Air on G String played during some fucked up orgy make the scene pretty soulful. Let’s not make that mistake folks, it’s still wrong.
- Cardboard characters,
- Gore and brutality that serves no purpose other than being a distraction tool that tries to cover up for a lack of substance,
- It makes me feel really bad,
- I have no fucking clue what you lot see in this mess of a series,
- Kouta is still a dumbass (Shirakawa guessed in less than a minute that Lucy is a fucking lunatic),
- The reason why Lucy decapitated Kanae is simply fabulous! That sums up this anime sufficiently,
- Harrased scientist is the best ‘Elfen Lied’ can offer in terms of character presentation. It’s this anime’s pinnacle – most established figure. Confused, haunted by his past dealings, irredeemable daddy. This the absolute best they could pull off. For this anime standards it’s the indisputable top,
- Pointless breast scenes,
- Early ‘dressing-Lucy-up’ scene.. dear god,
- How come Lucy is immune to gunfire? Or any diclonius, when you give it a second thought?
- Why Mariko couldn’t pull her vectors out, and then all of a sudden it worked just fine? Was it for the sole purpose of escaping?
- Does the fact that General Director of this fucked up institute is a diclonius himself, alter or anyhow contributes to this series.. worth?
- Humiliation in this anime is not even funny anymore (finale on the bridge),
- Why Kouta grew some balls all of a sudden? Is this the missing ‘character development’? It seems like someone at some point recalled that it would be nice to establish him a little more. Pretty random if you ask me,
- Why are there so much unnecessary shots of young girls naked bodies? Does this actually contributes to something?
- Overall rather blank series, relying too much on shock aspect that fails each time. It’s also pretty plastic, extremely insensitive, insolent and often degrading and shameful. It impoverishes your spirit. This anime serves you some messed up ideas that pretty much may be categorized as intellectual regression. Shallow outlook on life and human existance.. I hope I’ll never again have the displeasure to watch something similar.


A modest clarification may be of some use now so that I can get my point across.. It may seem as if from my point of view this is the absolute worst anime that has ever been released. That would be an obvious overstatement. I’m sure that somewhere out there one may stumble across some even worse series, much more obscure and absurd.

But.. the foremost reason why I decided to write this text is the fact that I’ve never seen something like that before. I honestly want to warn some of you. I bet no one’s going to even read this, but I’d feel even worse if I were to let it be, and not speak my thoughts on this disastrous series. I feel like there’re too few voices of disapproval regarding ‘Elfen Lied’. It should have never been made. It’s a giant taint on whole anime industry. We should be ashamed that such a thing is regared as ‘anime’. What’s worse is the fact that many seem to really enjoy this series. And that is what frightens me the most – the perspective of similar series being created following the success of ‘Elfen Lied’. Popularity of this anime, and the series alone, are in my estimation a dreadful sign of condition of people who are associated with anime industry, let it be developers or the vieweres. It seems the general audience is slowly loosing the sense of distinction between what’s really worthwhile and what is not. I’m not starting discussion on tastes or likings, do not misunderstand. It’s necessary that if we see something deserving disapproval, we say it clear and loud. It’s in interest of all. If we, the audience applaud such mess of a queer, childish-like, pretentious drama that relies on cheapest and most disgusting tricks to draw attention imaginable, it’s what we might get. If we won’t object to such despicable trend, anime may degenerate as a medium. Anime’s such as ‘Ghost in the Shell’, ‘Toki wo kakeru Shoujo’ or ‘Kino no Tabi’ will withdraw under the pressure of series such as the one at issue. And that is what I definitely do NOT want to happen.

Let it be known – ‘Elfen Lied’ is simply horrible.

And sometimes saying ‘horrible’ is not enough.

Anime Relations: Memories

'Memories' / 彼女の想いで (1995) is an anime film from Ōtomo Katsuhiro (大友 克洋). It was produced by Studio 4°C and aired December 23rd, 1995.
It consists of 3 separate stories, each one displayed in rather short episode. It should be mentioned that those episodes have nothing in common, in terms of a content, as well as introduced matter.

In order to keep my review consistent.. here's a little useless staff information scheme:

- 1st episode - 'Magnetic Rose' (Kanojo no Omoide / 彼女の想いで) was directed by Kōji Morimoto (森本晃司) and is based on Katsuhiro Ōtomo own original story (Memories of Her.. / Kanojo no Omoide). The script was written by Satoshi Kon (今 敏).
- 2nd story - 'Stinking Bomb' (Saishū-heiki / 最臭兵器) was directed by Tensai Okamura (岡村 天斎), and screeplay was written by Katsuhiro Ōtomo.
- The last, 3rd episode - 'Cannon Fodder' (Taihō no Machi /大砲の街) Written and directed by 'Memories' creator - Katsuhiro Ōtomo.
- Music by Yoko Kanno, Jun Miyake, Hiroyuki Nagashima, Takkyū Ishino.

'Memories' seem to attract rather sci-fi audiance, with it's flagship story - 'Magnetic Rose'. However, 'Stinking Bomb' may be described as a.. absurd comedy with a touch of a black humour. But the story which is most attractive in my opinion, is the last one - 'Cannon Fodder' - an abstract (or is it?), in some ways industrial/futuristic tale of regular citizens in indefinite war state.


1st story
'Magnectic Rose' (Kanojo no Omoide / 彼女の想いで) !alert![btw. I wonder if anyone realised what was the original title.. 'Kanojo no Omoide'.. that's more like 'In her thoughts' of 'Her memories'.. whatever..]

Basically, plot of 'Magnetic Rose' is something like that - A bunch of astronauts (who are actually space-garbage collectors) receive an S.O.S signal from suspiciously abondoned space station. As they investigate the place, various holograms appears before them, and as they soon realize, they share some sort of a connection with this station's 'ojou-sama' (some lady who owned this place possibly) memories.
As it comes down to it, all sort of weird things begin to happen. Astronauts seem to be entangled into whole situation, and quickly lose sight of what is real, and what is just a dreadful illusion. The finale is quite.. predictable.

I sympathized with the characters, but I was not cheering for them. Diallouges were rather brief, and they only managed to stay on a fairly tolerable level.

Animation and overall artwork are what this episode should mostly be praised for (in terms of a graphic layout, and basically visual aspect quality, it seems that it becomes quite a pattern in 'Memories'). Fluent and sharp, but toned at the same time. Color pallet was properly chosen, friendly to the eye. I have to admit, graphic production value is pretty unique here, as well, as in other stories. It's clear as day, that character design was done with proper care. It applies to each mecha-device-thingy presented. Long story short, it's easily noticeable how producers focused on a visual side of movie.

But, let's get down into bussines.

As I mentioned above, many veiwers tend to appreciate this episode the most. And.. I can't come up with a reasonable explanation why..

Maybe the majority's opinion on this one is driven by the target audience esteem for sciene-fiction manner of story-telling, which includes many inexplicable chains of events, which are surely here.

I have to admit, I was pretty underwhelmed with the ending.. and I'm not talking about how Heintz struggled to save Miguel from claws of our bloodthirsty diva.. who is revealed to be nothing more than a computing device (which is extremely cutting corners way to explain the whole situation).. No, I'm also not talking about how simple and childish role was assigned to the featured opera music - and that was to create a mysterious, disturbing and uneasy atmosphere. I couldn't help but think that it was a bit uncreative. The flaw that seems to be bugging me with this anime is a bit more generic.

I'm talking about how the whole finale didn't manage in engaging the viewer (both in an intellectual and emotional sense).

Remembrances, disability to move on with one's life, toying with human life, his sense of reality, mysterious collision of transient, fleeting strenght of a human culture (European, especially) in the faco of an immensity and infinity of unknown universe, maybe longing for redemption and eternal life, opera theme as a contradiction to a space-futuristic setting and a loss of a loved ones.. In my estimation, this movie tries to capture and define too randomly developed themes, that I saw and felt no artistic vision in, themes that I can't come up with any reason to present them in such manner to begin with, and with no absorbing concept, which is so significant in that kind of production.

In the end I saw no regardful thought process in storyline construction. I'm aware that whole situation is supposed to be a metaphor, that requires some abstract thinking. And the sad fact is that it leads to no impressive conclusion. This movie is nothing more than space opera. It's a space-themed nostalgic trip that has nothing more to offer, than throwing out some simple, yet not well explored ideas, for which landmark topic is idea of memories being the essence of a human's identity and also the only effective tool that may help find an efficent way to immortalize our existance.

Based on a quick 'Memories' reviews web research, it seems that my opinion doesn't exactly meet the majority's view on this one.

I hope my thoughts won't be taken as so-called 'hating'. It's not my intention to 'hate' on 'Memories'. I'm frankly trying my best to keep my opinion as objective as possible. In order to do this movie a justice I rewatched most key scenes from it, gave it a proper thought, and still.. 'Magnetic Rose' doesn't satisfy me, as a spectator, who was promised something unique. It might be a bit harsh for someone out there.. but this episode seem to be somewhat overestimated.

'Magnetic Rose' tried to bring up some serious themes, but didn't succed in doing so. It's an empty shell.. It only appears that there's more to it, but there's really nothing intriguing and captivating.


2nd story
'Stinking Bomb' (Saishū-heiki / 最臭兵器)

I'll keep it short with this one.

Generally speaking, it a dark comedy. Your everyday Japanese office-working male in his thirties is fighting his cold. So his fellow advices him to grab a new powerful medicine, which is still under research. That seems to sound reasonable, doesn't it?
When our protagonist wakes up from after-drug nap he comes to realize.. that everyone around him are unconscious. Afterwards, he is ordered to deliver some documents and this medicine (which turned out to be some sort of prototype biological weapon) to some higher-up of the lab he was hired in.

As the action proceeds, the mix of medicines he took to fight off his cold and mysterious pill started to cause some freaky chemical reactions, and resulted in him ejecting and eventually being enveloped in a deadly, hazy mist. Our poor Nobuo has no idea what is going on. So he tries to get to Tokio.

As it goes on.. he becomes a threat to a capital of Japan, and everone want him dead. o_O

So.. yes, it is quite crazy, even considering anime's tendency to shock viewer with insane ideas for a film, this one is top notch.

Well, not exactly top notch.. but entertaining enough. Someone might even find it worthwhile.

In terms of production value 'Memories' doesn't let you down, again. It's very colorful movie, and I like me some colours..!

Music here actually plays a bigger role than in previous episode.. it succeds in creating crazy atmosphere, apparently.

This story is not something that deserves groundbreaking, in-depth analysis. Absurd, and sometimes over the top - 'Stinking Bomb' is a ..ridiciouls film.


3rd story
'Cannon Fodder' (Taihō no Machi /大砲の街) !alert![title translation is messed up, again - it should be 'City of Cannon']

Reviewer's often describie this story as a : 'heavy one', 'less-likeable' or 'monotonous' compared to the previous two.

Because of the fact that this movie actually tries to portray some issue in an infrequent manner?
Or because of it's quaintness and uneasy problem it tries to bring up?
Or because it provokes you to thinking?

This is certainly not an entertaing piece (in a nowadays understanding of a 'entertaining' term). Production value is still high, but this time it succeds in appealing to spectator with a new point of view, with a constant, continious shot that applies to the content and matches harmonically with the brought up theme.

It's a short image portraying one of the most dwelling issues of history in XXth century presented with a slice of behaviourism which makes it's essence even more powerful, and frightening.

It's a critical diagnosis of totalitarian regime, which controls every aspect of one's life, even his way of understanding world, even his dreams and ambitions (last sentence in this episode is more than enough to prove my point).

And in this manner this story is both tragic and hope giving - It's tragic because the one's life is bound by regime limitations, even to a point when he's self-aware slave in a hopeless situation during hopeless times (in both historical and social meaning). However the faint gleam of hope shimmers, because the system will eventually evolve, and then, the new descending life (even though it's contaminated with crumbling ideology) will rise, and will keep on living.

Last scene is very figurative, as the little boy lies down on the bed, and possibly dreams of becoming who he yearns to become in the future.. he doesn't even realize that alarm lights outside flash and light his room for a brief seconds.. as he waits.. I tend to understand this part as an allegory of an expectation for 'wind of change', which may as well be just different political/social/economical situation that may lead to widely understood evolution and historical developement. As life changes, it takes different shapes and forms (both socially and politically) it's still on the same track of evolutionary progress which has it's up's and down's and leads us to unknown future, as we all wait..

People will always find a way to 'exist', no matter the circumstances.

Hell on earth made by none other than ourselves, await, and humanity's abilty to adapt - these are the key terms here.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


To wrap things up a bit.. I should give some kind of an basic overall rating.
If I were to rate each one separately it would be something like this:

'Magnetic Rose' - 5 (average)
'Stinking Bomb' - 6 (fine)
'Cannon Fodder' - 7.5 (good 'and a half')

But 'Memories' is a complete whole.. so I guess I should give it

Anime Relations: Summer Wars

Before I begin, let me have a quick one-on-one conversation. With myself.

- Can I ask you something?
- Sure, but make it easy.
- If it wasn't troublesome, I wouldn't have asked you.. I mean myself.
- Make it quick then.
- Why did you like Summer Wars?
- Well, it was.. umm.. entertaining.
- Yeah I know that much.. tell me what exactly falls under 'entertaining' term in your reasoning?
- I can't tell it this case.. sometimes some things seem to be more appealing to me than other, that's all. There are too many factors to it, and they are not so distinct and clear.

The main issue I have with 'Summer Wars' is the one I tried to bring up in my oh-so-creative (and awkward) introducion.
My uppermost opinion on this anime movie basically circles around one adjective. And it's 'entertaining'. (o rly?)

And that's the point here, I believe.

Anyhow, 'Summer Wars' (サマーウォーズ / Samā Wōzu) (2009) is a animated movie from Madhouse Studio. It was well recieved by the critics and audience, also being commercial succes. Also, movie won several awards including 2010 Japan Academy Prize for Animation of the Year. It's director and person behind story developement is Mamoru Hosoda (who was also director for 'Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo' (2006) - I may mention this one a lot). Screenplay was written by Satoko Okudera (who was also involved in 'Toki...' project). Basically, you may assume that 'Summer Wars' was made by a people previously involved in creating 'The Girl Who Lept Throught Time' film. It's not a movie from exact same bunch of people, don't get the wrong idea. All I want to state is that audience saw this movie as a movie by a 'Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo team'. Not to mention, as I'm not mistaken, this movie was advertised as a 'by creators of 'Toki...'. This leads to a reasonable conclusion - this movie was highly anticipated, and expectations were also high. (Even though this was a different kind of movie, to begin with.. but whatever) So.. how was it?

In my opinion storyline is interesting, and creative in a way. Not always you see a movie in which a eleventh grader is ordered to pretend to be a boyfriend of a most popular girl in his school. Oh, wait it's an anime.. ^^ And, no it's not another school-romance-comedy thing. It's a.. well.. romance-comedy.. Sci-fi romance comedy, to be exact. With superiority of a sci-fi comedy. (* can you stop already? *)

Characters are the ones you can quickly sympathize with. And there'a rather a plentiful group of them (for a 2 hour movie, that is). To name few - Kenji (our bright, genius in mathematics, rather clumsy and somehow amazed by the whole situation he's been caught up in), Natsuki (resolute, fresh, young lady) Kazuma (Natsuki's cousin, bullied in past, rather reserved), Grandma Sakae (almost 90 year old descendant of a great Japanese clan - Jinnouchi which she's head of now), Wabisuke (Natsuki's uncle who's spent his last 10 years in US leaving behind displeased family).

There's something that cannot be overlooked. It's movie's animation which is outstading. It's been some time since I saw such fluent and smooth animation, let alone beautiful background design, with well-balanced colour scheme. Anyone who's familiar with 'Toki...' will immediately recognize similarities in character design, which suits me and I can't say a bad word about. 'Summer Wars' shows that frequently disapproved 3D animation in anime can work pretty well if done with care. Visual aspect of this movie was executed more than correctly.

Music arrange for 'Summer Wars' fits the certain scenes well. I can't remember any particular melody or theme, but I found ending theme quite enjoyable.

Leaving behind the basic overview of the movie I'd like to bring forward few thoughts and observations.

'Summer Wars' is nothing like 'Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo', which personally I regard very highly, and is one of my all-time favourites. But those movies have something in common - they were both developed with great precision, and concern, even though they fall into different categories. 'Summer Wars' managed to carry the burden of being created by so-called 'Toki.. crew'. I was worried that the bar was raised way too high. But I was wrong. And I'm glad.
While watching, I was struck with the thought of how this film keeps me interested in what is about to happen next. Yes, it's one of those films. Not only 'Summer Wars' is unpredictable, but it was somehow able to control and shape my frame of mind. I was absorbed by the events. In a good way.
'Summer Wars' is very energetic, and never stays still. I enjoyed the concept of a OZ world (which is nothing spectacularly creative actually) and it's connection and relevance to a real-life world. It may be interpreted as a warning, but I felt like it was more of a slight suggestion.
Besides this film being entertaining way to spend time it's also able to deliver a delicate notion of a significance and value of a family.

Some may accuse this movie of being a bit shapeless, and chaotic, not clearly classified and by that vague. But in my eyes, it's a bright, vivid, lively and colorful image.

Whole movie is a fun experience, it entertained me in a way I'd expect from an anime movie. Even though I feared it might not be my cup of tea. I'm aware that my opinon may not meet those of others, but I'm sure this movie is worthwhile. I'll impatiently wait for another Hosoda-Okudera collaboration (which I heard draws near).

It's 8/10 (very good).

Anime Relations: Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi

Few days ago I watched Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi / 千と千尋の神隠し) [2001] And.. I need to get something off my chest.

First of all.. I need to remove this movie from it's pedestal.

Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed this movie. I know it's considered as one of the best animated movies ever. I fully realize that. And I believe that high rates it often gets cannot be baseless. But.. when I see so many 10/10 reviews I always feel that maybe some opinions might be under influence of the majority viewer's position which is close to something like 'best anime ever', 'Miyazaki's best' or so. I'm afraid that such situation may somehow distort objective criticism.

I always feel that excessive popularity of an anime is it's burden. Fanbase of a certain franchise or just simply well-wishers of a new anime/manga series might unconsciously force their opinion onto others, not so familiar with the production. In the process anime may lose it's uniqueness, and earn mindless, and ignorant fandom. And ignorance is one of the things I can't stand in the least.

I try not to be influenced by commonly agreed opinions. Let's not deceive ourselves, it's hard to criticize Miyazaki's movies. Mainly because of the fact that it is generally agreed that in so-called 'anime-society' Hayao Miyazaki's, or Studio Ghibli's, movies earned great esteem and are often considered superior in comparision to other productions. And.. even though I did not want to follow majority opinion.. this movie is truly special.

It isn't my intent to argue with that. To be honest, I understand why there are so many prefect reviews out there (at least when it comes to english ones). For many people this anime was a sort of introduction to anime world (actually other Ghibli movies my be seen this way as well). Therefore, Studio Ghibli movies possess this powerful factor - nostalgia, childhood remembrances, that none of us want to get rid of. And here lies the great strength of Miyazaki's movies.

But there's also other thing that makes these movies so much worthy. It's simplicity.

We have to admit, his movies are unique and distinguishable. Even though I watched just few of them, I already can tell. But, being as objective as I can be (I've watched Spirited Away the first time now) I can't qualify this particular movie as a 'masterpiece'. Or at least not in my understanding of a word 'masterpiece'. Maybe because of the fact that I'm no longer a child, and this movie was targeted towards younger audience it's harder for me to just simply enjoy the story.. but I realize it's uniqueness, and I'm aware of it's beauty. Don't get the wrong idea.

As aforementioned, I enjoyed it. Story is interesting, setting is unusual, and characters are the ones you can sympathize with. Music was also great, it fitted in just properly. Very japanese nature of this movie was also very attractive (a lot of cultural references and relations) and that alone made this movie somewhat timeless. I cannot tell if it is the best and most valuable anime in the history. And it's simply because I've just been able to experience small part of anime art. I still need to watch more. But for the time being.. I can safely mark this movie 9/10. It doesn't deserve nothing less.

But there's something more.

It's a journey. A beloved journey to once again recollect and embrace most essential values and ideals that make human life something more than just existence. This movie asks most basic question, that all of us are so familiar with that we seem not to recognize them anymore. It's a movie that may inspire some of us. It has a mystical potential that thank's to some magical and fabulous force will always be as appealing as it has always been.

For me the core of this movie's beauty is it's simple, unrestrained, joyfull and maybe naive belief in most basic truths that I think are forever lost in nowadays society.



I'll surely return once again to this fantastic world, in which a lot of us would like to stay forever.

Anime Relations: Koi Kaze

I've just finished watching Koi Kaze, which took me some time actually. Series takes on one of the most taboo issues, which is incest relationship between main character (Koshiro Saeki; 27 years old), and his younger sister (Nanoka Kohinata; 15 years old). How I felt about it? Well..


I have to admit, I've been prejudiced towards this anime. Mainly beacuse of how I've always felt uncomfortable when it came to such matters. Nevertheless, I gave this series a try. And.. umm.. this is surely one of the most difficul series I've seen in a while.


Firstly.. main theme is basically about two people falling in love, which isn't something unusual. But when they are siblings.. hmm.. not so common, is it? Koi Kaze deals with the matter rather gently. Society disapproves incest relationships. And to be honest I do too as well. However, as I've been watching Koi Kaze.. I felt that even though I cannot understand that kind of situation, these two people found themselves in a horrible position. It may sound silly.. but I couldn't hold back my compassionate feeling towards them. They both knew it was emphatically wrong. And that's when they earned my sympathy. They were aware of what is ahead of them. And they accepted it.


"Don't judge who's miserable and who is not"


I can't say that I liked or disliked the characters. I did not try to understand or justify their feelings. I observed and listened. And.. this anime put me through a lot of different, antagonistic and opposite feelings, which not many animes did. It was an interesting, yet difficult experience.


For me, music plays crucial role in any anime. And in Koi Kaze this aspect was executed very suitably. Arrangements are calm, gentle, soft and tranquil. Piano is main instrument. Opening and ending need to be mentioned as well, because I'm simply astonished by them. I may be exaggerating.. but I like them. Yes I do.


Koi Kaze is an anime for anyone who wishes to experience something complicated and not easily qualified. I still need some time to give it a proper rating..

"I can't wish you good luck, but... Stay well"