pintergreg's Blog

Anime Relations: Shinsekai yori, Uchuu Senkan Tiramisù, Uchuu Senkan Tiramisù II, Golden Kamuy 2nd Season

At this point I finished four anime without writing about them, so this will be a summary post.

1. Shinsekai yori

From some points of view, it is similar to Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita, though Shinsekai yori is much darker, more serious and dramatic. It shows a world of people with psychic power, strict rules disguised as religion, bloody past that is hidden from the most of the population and a group of children who are curious and stubborn enough to break rules.
A pretty rare but really interesting part of the anime that is follows the characters through many years of their life, when they are 12, 14 and 26 years old. The mood is mostly tense and gloomy while it is full of moral and philosophical questions like is it okay to eliminate potentially dangerous individuals to surely keep save the population? Is it acceptable to rule over inferior, but intelligent beings. What is to be human?

It is not an easy anime, but makes one think... I like this type.

2. Uchuu Senkan Tiramisù

I am absolutely not a mecha fan, which might be the reason that I didn't really like this one, even though I have to admit that it had a few good moments. Using mechas for insignificant and personal business could be fun, but this anime as a whole is just silly, slightly repetitive and tiresome. A seven minute episode is enough to watch, moreover even it could be tiresome.

I watched the second season while it was airing, which quite unusual for me, but I wanted to give a try to this weekly watching thing. Well actually it was the second half of the Golden Kamuy S2 that I started to watch weekly, Tiramisù just somehow became the second subject of this experiment hence I didn't really have the urge to watch the next episode. XD

3. Golden Kamuy S2

I really liked the first season, but second one was a disappointment, especially the first half. I do not read the manga, but I was told that several parts was omitted, when I mentioned that things are rushed. I did not like the creepy, aberrant taxidermist either.

Later, things became better, more ainu stuff with some hunting, but the and of the season is a little bit too hectic. I don't also like how Sugimoto was shot, it is too unrealistic. But i got to like Tanigaki and Ogata a little.

As for the weekly watching experiment, I still like to watch things in a few days without waiting to the next episode, but as I was disappointed in Golden Kamuy S2, it was liveable.

Anime Relations: Da Yu Hai Tang (Movie), Mo Dao Zu Shi

After Big Fish and Begonia, I watched another Chinese animation, this time a series. The animation and the graphics is nice, the music is marvelous, the speech and the names still sound weird for me though. And to make it more complicated, every has multiple names. I guess I have to watch much much more of these Chinese stuff to get used to it. :P
But as it stands, I will. The second season of Mo Dao Zu Shi is announced, it will be aired next summer.

Most of the series takes place in the past, we get to know Wei Wuxian, Lan Wangji, Jiang Wanyin (among others) who seems to play important role in the present (according to the two and the half episodes or something that took place in the present). And these characters are good, so as the story.

I'm looking forward to see how the story goes on...

Anime Relations: Da Yu Hai Tang (Movie)

This one was played at Anilogue last year, but unfortunately I did not watched it then. The animation was beautiful, it could have been great to watch it in cinema. I haven't really seen any Chinese animation before, I was skeptic, I haven't expected too much, but the workmanship was exceptionally good.

I guess, I will give a try some other Chinese animation in the near future. In fact, I already have picked one. ^^

As for the story, I'm not really familiar with all the Chinese folklore, but I believe it was heavily influenced by it. On the other hand, it is about love and unrequited love...

I feel it left some unfinished threads regarding the world and the woman managed to go to the human world, but the scene after the credits was important, sad and awesome in the same time.

Anime Relations: Mirai no Mirai

Actually I watched it one week ago during the 16th Anilogue international animation festival. This was the 15th feature film (and the 12th Japanese or Korean) I watched as a part of the Anilogue program in the last seven years.

There is not much to happen in Mirai no Mirai, and the plot is also not something complex, but it's a fine story. With regard to the time travels/visions, this story get even weaker, but as for the child's (and their parents') point of view it seems pretty realistic.

The graphics is nice, but the buildings and the vehicles are animated with CGI. It is not ugly, but noticeable and somewhat irritating for me. The camera handling during CGI scenes are usually unnatural. The escalator scene was terrible in my opinion.

The characters are really nice on the other hand, but Hosuda Mamoru tends to reuse his design. Almost all of them resembled another character from his precious works.

Although the ending theme is not something extraordinary, I really liked its message: "look forward". It was relevant for me...

Anime Relations: Uchuu Show e Youkoso

I finally managed to watch this one. It was not the best idea to start it after a long day, I became pretty tired and sleepy for the last 45 minutes and felt it really lengthy...

The graphics is very nice, the story is complex: it's about a group of children, who get involved in an adventure through space during their summer vacation.

The 'dark' side of the Moon was hilarious, especially the passport tests and the translator jewelries. It reminded me the translator fish from the Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy and the TARDIS. I also liked the idea that wasabi is a really valuable stuff out there. :)

This anime has great humor and characters, though I felt lengthy.

Anime Relations: Kuromajo-san ga Tooru!!, Tonari no Seki-kun

Kuromajo is a childish slice-of-life about a 5th grader who is learning how to be a witch, but she is not really diligent and her instructor likes to have fun about her clumsiness.

This anime is made by the same studio and has the same, 7-minute format as Tonari no Seki-kun, that I watched earlier this year and become fond of. But Kuromajo is not that great, it can be pretty tiresome when watching multiple episodes after each other.

The graphics is really simple, the first opening is better than the second one, but not so well actually. The most funny part of this thing is that Chiyoko have to wear goth-loli costume to practice magic. :D