| Yup. It's Sunday. Time for another "What Did OC Subject Himself To THIS Time" copy-pasta. Jigoku Youchien I have this really peculiar affinity for fundamentally awful anime. Not the "Oh, I hate this genre so it sucks." awful. Not the "just another moeblob so it sucks" awful. Not even the "Insert-character-here sucks so it sucks." awful. And especially not simply the "lol everyone sit around and circlejerk and be edgy anime fans lol" awful. I mean absolutely completely and fully bad in every possible aspect. And Hell Kindergarten was definitely one of those. It made absolutely zero sense. The characters were just thrown together with no purpose. There were exactly three backgrounds for the entire show. The character design was pathetic. And, being a Flash-based show, the lips didn't even move. There is no saving grace to this anime, and it shouldn't ever exist in this world. Then again, that's probably what Japan would say about some of our Flash-based animation experiments. Score: 3/10 Recommendation Level: I really wouldn't. Gatchaman Crowds This one was on my radar due to my faint childhood memories of the old USian adaptation of Kagaku Ninja-Tai Gatchaman, because Battle Of The Planets was absolutely mindblowing to me at the time. Yes, even moreso than Macross was. So something based on the same universe as that would be an absolute must-watch for me... ... and I'm kicking myself for not getting to this one sooner than this. I really am. Because it was incredible, and with wonderful characters from top to bottom. The plot took a long time to get to the point but, once it did, it was a roller coaster ride all the way to the finish. And, even better, they've set themselves up for a sequel that is already on my will-watch list when it comes out next year. Yet the slow start is the Achilles heel of the anime. Between the feeling of "Where the hell is this going?" and the overly genki-girl MC being annoying as all hell, this one will lose people in the first episode. Yet, in a Madoka-ish way, everything picks up briskly after the third episode. So even if the first episode falls a bit flat for you, maintain that 3-Episode Rule. This is a title that is worth it. Score: 8/10 Recommendation Level: BIIIIIIIIIIIIRD, GO!!! Sidonia no Kishi An old friend of mine called last night and told me that she was going to cancel her subscription for the next month or few and wondered if I wanted to watch anything. She had to go work an extra shift last night, so it wasn't like she was going to be able to do anything with it. And I, being the greedy bastard that I am, graciously accepted a free night of entertainment. So after knocking down a couple of Hollywood blockbusters, I finally sat down and went through Knights of Sidonia. And it had some problems. First off, the animation itself. CG works wonders for mecha titles like Sidonia, particularly for the combat scenes, yet it leaves the characters washed-out and bland. Multiple times through the series found me wondering exactly which characters were talking in a given scene, as Same Face Syndrome ran rampant throughout almost every single character model. And, just as the character models were indistinguishable from each other at times, the characters themselves were thinly-veiled trope machines all the way across the board. At no time was I actually impressed with them. Even worse, I was able to sit and predict exactly what was going to happen and how the characters were going to behave given the setup of the scene. I absolutely hate it when that happens. The saving grace of Sidonia? The worldbuilding. The seed-ships, the mecha, the Gauna, the society itself: they were all wonderfully filled out with little sprinkles of history and subtle details that brought a different kind of life to the series. It's not what most people look for in an anime, but I positively love it when it happens. (Quick aside: The final episode also had a few callbacks to Gunbuster, the great mecha anime that brought a number of tropes to the forefront of the genre. I love it when I see anime influences like that.) Score: 7/10 Recommendation level: If mecha is your thing, you've probably already seen it. If mecha is not your thing, there's nothing special to drag you in. On-deck: I'm still trying to figure that out, as nothing in my queue is jumping out at me just yet. |
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OffColfax said: There is no saving grace to this anime, and it shouldn't ever exist in this world. Then again, that's probably what Japan would say about some of our Flash-based animation experiments. I have yet to encounter any Flash-based animation, American, Japanese, or otherwise, that I would ever be in a hurry to watch again. It's hard enough just finding Flash animations that don't look like the characters were drawn by children, and then the actual animation capabilities of Flash itself are so limited on top of that. I just watched the first episode out of curiosity, and sadly this is one of the better-looking attempts at a Flash animation show that I've seen. |
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| Yup. Sunday again. So you know what's coming. RDG: Red Data Girl It was on my Dropped List for ages. Then, in my drive to clear my Dropped List, I simply moved it to On-Hold because I couldn't be arsed to finish it just yet. So finally, after years of not finishing it, I've finally done so. And then I made a cake. Because my dedication to not dropping shows deserved a damn reward for this one. With chocolate. LOTS of chocolate. The plot was convoluted and made zero sense. The characters were exceptionally bland and uninteresting. The supernatural connection felt like a gigantic ass-pull. The art and animation were just kinda there with absolutely nothing available to make it memorable at all. RDG was the first title by P.A. Works as an independent studio, and it is surprising to me that they remained viable after this bomb came dropping all over Japan. This was the most forgettable thing I've watched since... Umm... I actually can't remember what was more forgettable than RDG, so it had to be bloody awful. Score: 5/10 Recommendation Level: Worse than Glasslip by a mile. Megane na Kanojo Really, it's not that special of a show. A quick 4-episode OVA telling the stories of four girls, their struggle with love and relationships, and their glasses. So of course I had to watch it. Why? Because it's my fetish, that's why. Honestly. Do I really need to explain it further? Score: 6/10 Recommendation Level: For megane-girls and the guys who love them. On-Deck: Abenobashi Mahou Shoutengai, and maybe I'll finally get around to Usagi Drop this week. |
OffColfaxDec 7, 2014 5:36 PM
OffColfax said: Because it's my fetish, that's why. Such as mine, so I should give it a try. MEGANE FTW! @^@ P. S: Wanna join the club? (Sadly, Not very active, though, to say the least) http://myanimelist.net/clubs.php?cid=26201 |
HapposamaDec 10, 2014 11:11 PM
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| Hmmm... Is it just me, or am I taking over this section of the club board? Because it seems to me that I'm taking over this section. I don't exactly mind, mind you. I like being able to humbly brag about how I'm clearing more and more titles. But I also really enjoy reading about what other people are watching, as that's really how I get the chance to expand my PTW List in new and interesting ways. That is, after all, how I found out about... Abenobashi Mahou Shoutengai I've been trying for a full day to figure out a way to describe this anime that doesn't involve the phrase "fucking weird". Unfortunately, I'm utterly failing in this task. With pokes and parodies of everything from TTGL and GaoGaiGar to campy USian television, from bishoujo games to... Well, there are times when I'm not exactly sure what the hell is being parodied, but two things were absolutely certain. 1. It was fucking weird. 2. It was fucking hilarious. And I really can't describe it any further. Not without spoilers. It's just one of those weird anime where anything and everything involved will be mentioned at least three times more throughout the show. It's complicated as all hell, but presented in a way that is fairly easy to figure out while your brain is being shocked repeatedly with cattle prods. The closest thing I can think of to help me describe this would be a cross between FLCL and Kyousou Giga: it's a coming of age story with two kids that are just trying to figure out how to get back home. And, just like those two titles, it is exceptionally and exhaustingly weird. Score: 7/10 Recommendation Level: Yes. It doesn't matter what you say you like. The answer is yes. |
OffColfax said: Hmmm... Is it just me, or am I taking over this section of the club board? Because it seems to me that I'm taking over this section. I don't exactly mind, mind you. I like being able to humbly brag about how I'm clearing more and more titles. But I also really enjoy reading about what other people are watching, as that's really how I get the chance to expand my PTW List in new and interesting ways. That is, after all, how I found out about... Abenobashi Mahou Shoutengai I've been trying for a full day to figure out a way to describe this anime that doesn't involve the phrase "fucking weird". Unfortunately, I'm utterly failing in this task. With pokes and parodies of everything from TTGL and GaoGaiGar to campy USian television, from bishoujo games to... Well, there are times when I'm not exactly sure what the hell is being parodied, but two things were absolutely certain. 1. It was fucking weird. 2. It was fucking hilarious. And I really can't describe it any further. Not without spoilers. It's just one of those weird anime where anything and everything involved will be mentioned at least three times more throughout the show. It's complicated as all hell, but presented in a way that is fairly easy to figure out while your brain is being shocked repeatedly with cattle prods. The closest thing I can think of to help me describe this would be a cross between FLCL and Kyousou Giga: it's a coming of age story with two kids that are just trying to figure out how to get back home. And, just like those two titles, it is exceptionally and exhaustingly weird. Score: 7/10 Recommendation Level: Yes. It doesn't matter what you say you like. The answer is yes. I would agree with everything you said about Abenobashi, except the TTGL parody part. Abenobashi came out in '02 and the manga for TTGL didn't start until '07. Otherwise, spot on! If you enjoyed that one, you may enjoy Azumanga Daioh and Paniponi Dash!. Both are rather on the wacky side. Paniponi is best viewed with every subtitle available used and on the screen (unless you can read kanji). A lot of anime references are made in the background that can add to the enjoyment of the moment of the episode. Not as good as Azumanga, but still a good series. |
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| Pfeh. I should've caught that TTGL bit, but completely slipped past my editorial readthrough. OrlahEhontas said: If you enjoyed that one, you may enjoy Azumanga Daioh and Paniponi Dash!. I've got Azumanga Diaoh on my PTW List, and will get around to it eventually. I'm finally watching Usagi Drop and happily sobbing my way through it as we speak. Err. Type. Well... You know what I mean. So I'm thinking I'll get started on either Hana Yori Dango or Bokura ga Ita after this. |
| Alright, my turn. [url=http://myanimelist.net/anime/3088/Tokyo_Marble_Chocolate]Tokyo Marble Chocolate[/url] is a sweet love story, perfect for those times when you feel the need to add a little bit of romance to your anime diet. It is a pretty realistic snapshot of some of the issues couples face in the overly codified and inhibited world of Japanese dating, yet it plays like a fairytale, due to the meddling of one really bizarre miniature donkey. The art is stunning, a mixture of watercolor and soft shading that gives the streets of Tokyo an ephemeral quality and the internal monologues add just enough depth to the characters for you to care about them. The best part is that it's so short, there's really no reason not to check it out. |
OffColfax said: Hmmm... Is it just me, or am I taking over this section of the club board? Because it seems to me that I'm taking over this section. Nah, I'll be matching you post-for-post most weeks, so at worst it'll be two of us. I didn't post last week because I hadn't watched anything worth commenting on, but this time I've got a couple of movies to share. First was the Rurouni Kenshin movie. No, not the recent live action ones (though I really enjoyed the first one and I’m looking forward to seeing the second). This was the 1997 movie known to the English-speaking world as Samurai X: The Motion Picture. And how was it? Eh, pretty good. It’s your typical shōnen spinoff movie, which means two things are guaranteed to be true: one, it’s blatantly aimed at fans of the franchise, with little or no attempt to attract newcomers. And two, it can’t alter the series continuity, so no matter what happens, status quo must prevail by the end. Fortunately I am a RuroKen fan, so the first did not apply to me. And while the second can become an issue when plot armor meets a hack script, in this case it wasn’t an issue because the story found other ways to generate some decent tension and drama, largely through a cast of genuinely sympathetic secondary characters. The story’s pretty good for being non-canon, and it fits very well with the tone and themes of the RuroKen universe. There’s some good action here too. My only significant criticism is that certain animation sequences got re-used far too often. That’s not normally something I pay much attention to, but when they’re recycling the exact same clip for the fifth time, even I’m going to start noticing it. Verdict: 7/10. Nothing spectacular, but a solid 90 minutes of entertainment. If you’re a Rurouni Kenshin fan and haven’t seen this yet for some reason, it’s definitely worth your time to track it down and watch it at least once. If you're not, you can safely skip it. Second, as I mentioned in the conversation thread earlier this week, was the new movie Expelled From Paradise, which is currently playing a limited engagement in some US theaters. I saw it at the Angelika in DC on Saturday, along with a pretty full crowd of anime fans, and it was absolutely worth watching. I will have to agree with the reviewer who described it as "Ghost in the Shell meets Trigun meets Gundam," but that's no bad thing here. I liked the soundtrack and the characters (the male lead is a dead ringer for mid-1960s Clint Eastwood), and while there are a few good action scenes, the story definitely tilts much more towards the cerebral/GitS side than the action/Gundam side. It actually tended to pause for reflection and debating the main characters' competing philosophies maybe more often than I would have liked, but it all fit the message of the story so I can't complain too much. The one thing with this movie that's going to be a dealbreaker for some people is the animation, which was all done with the latest 3DCG technology (although the characters themselves are still drawn to look 2D). While they had a few hiccups, for the most part I thought it looked attractive and pretty smooth, but unsurprisingly I've already seen some people complaining about it. And needless to say, if you're an old-school type who hates CG, you probably won't want to watch this. Verdict: 8/10. This is a movie with something to say, and overall it does a good job of getting its message across while still managing to be pretty entertaining. I wouldn't say there's a whole lot that's terribly original about it, nor do I think it's destined to become a classic someday, but it does offer some interesting ideas and a good story that's generally executed well. If you like thoughtful movies like GitS and the animation style isn't a barrier for you, then you should give it a try if you get a chance. |
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| I know, I know. I usually do this on Sunday. But it's either get it out of my fingers now or start to have the words fade on me and have not nearly enough to say in a couple of days. So I'm going to get this one out of my brain and into yours before it is too late. But first, a prelude. ----- I used to have a little girl in my life. She was a bundle of energy and I was her favorite playground toy. She was a gigantic smile with legs attached, and that smile only got bigger once I stepped through the back door. She wasn't mine by genetics or by marriage or anything like that. She was the niece of my best friend from college and, as I was over at her place on a regular basis, I got slapped with the appellation of Unka. By the age of four, she had already had some hard times in her life. Her asshole father, an alcoholic. Her idiot mother, a crack addict. Her sister, born with defects due to her damn-fool mother not putting down the pipe while she was pregnant. Child Services had pulled them from the home twice and was about to do so a third time when her grandmother (whom I still call Mom to this day) stepped in and yanked them out herself. I still remember that day, as this scared little smile came up to me and asked me to help her read a book. It was almost 18 years ago when I suddenly became an uncle, and it was one of the most blessed times of my life. And that's all I could think about when I watched... Usagi Drop This is an anime that people get the warm fuzzies about even while they have no direct emotional connection to the situation. So for me, it was super effective. The entire emotional range, from Daikichi's determination to do things right to Rin's exceptional happiness, plucked at my tear ducts from the very first episode until the very end. Their struggle to become a family, regardless of how they became that way, resonated so well within me that all kinds of wonderful memories came flooding out of my mind and into the screen. Normally, I'd spend a paragraph talking about art styles (similar to Hourou Musuko and Isshuukan Friends) or music (delightfully subtle, designed to support the script rather than overpower it) to the amazing voice acting work. But that would cheapen my experience too much. This wasn't a title to analyze and pick apart while holding each facet to the light of criticism to find out what was good and what wasn't. This was a title to simply take as a whole and appreciate for what it was: that family means family, regardless of how or why it came to be. This past Sunday, my delightful smile turned 22. And, as she was leaving the bars after a 32-hour-long party to celebrate her birthday, she got a phone call from her favorite uncle so that I could tell her I loved her and to thank her for being in my life. Sure, she calls me all hours of the night as one boyfriend after another acts like a damn idiot. Sure, she pokes me on Facebook 848 times in a row just to hear me roll my eyes about it on Skype. And sure, she tells me way more than I really wanted to know about the trouble of having two girlfriends that hate each other's guts... And I wouldn't have it any other way. Because long ago, I chose to let a little girl into my heart. She's not my daughter, but she's as close as I'm ever going to get. I'm not her dad, although I was definitely the most stable father figure she had as a kid. But we're still family. And, just as between Daikichi and Rin, that is all that matters. Score: 10/10 Recommendation Level: Awwsome. |
| Ushinawareta Mirai wo Motomete I liked the music and the characters, actually I even liked the setting. It's a school club and they go about pretty leisurely doing their thing after school. The main character lives with this chick who is his childhood best friend, and his other bloke friend is a really loud foreigner, Kenny. The rest of the club are rather hot chicks. Anyway, there is a point to the story and it's a bit of a mess involving time travel and parallel universes. In my opinion, it never quite gets wrapped up properly and the sci-fi clashes with the otherwise relaxing slice of life moments Still, I enjoyed spending time with the people and living vicariously through them. 7/10 |
| Okay. I already took care of my thoughts about Usagi Drop on Friday night. So here's the rest of last week's back-catalog. Canvas: Sepia-iro no Motif Amazingly enough, it was exceptionally forgettable. And, for some reason, I'm very very glad I've already thrown away all of these memories. Score: 3/10 Recommendation level: Avoidance. ef: A Tale Of Memories - Recollections It was an hour-long recap of some of the less significant parts of ef: A Tale Of Memories, interspersed with little commentary moments by Chihiro and a suddenly crossplaying Renji. Only a couple of the more significant spoilers are in this, but they're all presented in a way that actually cheapens the season as a whole. Score: 6/10 Recommendation level: Even if you've seen the ef: series, there's no reason to watch this. And if you haven't, there's even less reason. Tenshi no Tamago It... was... interesting, I suppose. Angel's Egg was a strange movie with long spans of time without any spoken words whatsoever. It was just long pan after long pan of weird scenery and strange events, some of which were never really explained. That will probably make a lot of people pan on Angel's Egg. But the artwork is the real story. Many viewers will be reminded of Vampire Hunter D and its very gothic feel. It shouldn't be surprising to note that Angel's Egg was released the day after the first showing of Vampire Hunter D. Score: 6/10 Recommendation level: Art film night. Little Witch Academia There isn't a lot of analysis you can do to a title that is only 22 minutes long plus credits. It was meant to be just a little cute story about a normal girl that goes to a school for witches. But the thing is... It worked. It was a cute little story, and it packed an exceptional amount of worldbuilding and plot details and character development into such a short running time. It's no wonder that this was one of the most exceptional pieces to come out of Anime Mirai 2012... and I'm already ready for the sequel coming out later this year. Score: 9/10 Recommendation level: If you have a spare half-hour one day, watch it. You won't be disappointed. Death Billiards Speaking of Anime Mirai 2012 and upcoming sequels, Death Billiards is definitely the crown jewel. No spoilers. No lead-in. No nothing. Just go and watch it. Immediately. And then put Death Parade in your queue for the Winter 2015 season. Score: 9/10 Recommendation level: STOP READING AND WATCH THIS! For fuck's sake, dude, it's text. Come back to this later. I promise that this comment isn't going anywhere. Piano no Mori I was leafing through the recommendations page of MAL Graph, just to see if anything interesting had popped up rather than the standard action shounen titles that have been plaguing it for a long time. And, amazingly enough, something new did pop up. And, even more amazingly, I watched it. Piano no Mori is a beautiful movie about a boy, a sudden friend, and an abandoned piano left out in the woods. From the backgrounds to the music, it is a treat for the eyes and the ears alike. It does have some problems, particularly with the characters, plus some really friggin' weird detours that made absolutely zero sense. And those problem did heavily impact my enjoyment of the movie as a whole. It isn't entirely unworthy, however. Music anime of all kinds are welcomed by their fans, and Piano no Mori is no exception. Score: 7/10 Recommendation level: If you're watching Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso, you should have this on your PTW List. |
OffColfaxDec 21, 2014 9:03 PM
| Finished with When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace, after the last episode aired this afternoon. Overall I liked it, found it funny and entertaining, although I felt like it had the potential to be much better than it was. It's a 7/10 for me. I've posted a full review that you can find here on my review page, if you're interested in my in-depth thoughts on the show. |
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| Finished Walkure Romanze yesterday. Imagine the movie A Knight's Tale, but with a bevy of cute and busty girls wearing form fitting armor and jousting, fun stuff indeed! Nothing deep or meaningful, but I found it enjoyable nonetheless. |
 May the DESU be with you! Always! |
| Okay. Fine. I hear your pleas. I promise that this will be the last copy-pasta I do this year. Happy? ----- Hatsukoi Limited It follows a group of junior-high girls at the start of their romantic lives. Sure, nothing really major goes on. It's just a lot of brief one-episode arcs that don't start to come together into a coherent story until the 7th episode, giving it an almost omnibus feel to it. Yet after the Christmas episode, it became a nice coherent whole that will satisfy anyone who loves sappy romance anime. Score: 7/10 Recommendation level: Have you fallen in love today? The Wings of Honneamise I'm sort of conflicted here. On the one hand, it was a product of the Cold War: international conflict on a global scale, the game of politics, huge operations run on shoestring budgets... On the other hand, it was a product of the Cold War that doesn't exactly work beyond the Cold War. Unless you've ever joked with friends about how you jump up whenever you see a bright flash of light so that the shadow of your body would make a neat pattern on the wall just in case that was a nuclear detonation behind you, I don't think that the subtext of Honneamise would actually get through to you. It was powerful in the 80s. In the 2010s, it's a relic of a bygone age. Score: 7/10 Recommendation Level: History buffs and old people. Colorful I'd heard wonderful things about this movie in the past, and how it was life-changing and reaffirming and all that wonderful stuff. Unfortunately, I just didn't see that part. The story was certainly compelling and wonderful but, as someone who has dealt with depression and suicide, the main thrust of the story was cheesy and contrived and full of signs that showed me that the director had absolutely no idea what was really going on. It was still a very good movie, even with the directorial flub. But it wasn't the best thing ever. Score: 8/10 Recommendation Level: People who wonder what it's like to commit suicide while having no intention of ever doing so. Gunbuster 2: Diebuster After a bunch of serious things, I needed something brainless and action-filled to kind of let my brain relax for a while. (Plus the events of Christmas Eve really made me want to watch random shit blow up, but that's just personal stuff leaking in to my anime habit again.) And what's better for brainless action than the 20th anniversary sequel of Gainax's great Gunbuster? Story-wise, Diebuster was a lot better than Gunbuster. There weren't a lot of "LOL WTF JAPAN" moments here, with a coherent plot and actual character development almost across the board while not simply pulling things out of the ass for the sake of pulling things out of the ass. Yet action-wise, it wasn't nearly as hectic and balls-to-the-wall insane as Gunbuster; even the craziest of action sequences was, in comparison to other anime, just another day at the office. It's still a fun way to spend three hours. And even though it wasn't as quantitatively over-the-top as Gunbuster, Diebuster has a more cohesive whole than its parent story. So of the two, I'd have to give the edge to Diebuster. Score: 8/10 Recommendation Level: If you love giant robots, you need to watch both of these OVAs. Now. |
| Just marathonned the entirety of Samurai Flamenco, a NoitaminA show that ran about a year ago. It has been panned a bit during its broadcast and afterward due to some of the plot twists, but I found the entire series quite enjoyable. It has a healthy blend of comedy, drama, character growth, and ridiculous antics, and seeing some non-het elements of both persuasions show up without being treated as a joke was refreshing. 8/10. It's a great show to watch for the three main characters Hazama, Gotou and Mari, and if you're a fan of superhero and tokusatsu shows. |
| Just finished Orenchi no Furo Jijou. I don't usually do short episode animes but I made a couple of exceptions this season. And I'm really glad that I did as I thoroughly enjoyed this quirky series. It's not really a show that you can immerse yourself in, but it's perfect if you want to take a break from long anime marathons or if you're just looking for something different. |
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| Putting a bow on four more shows from the fall season, in order from favorite to least: Yuuki Yuuna is a Hero (magical girl/drama/slice-of-life) - Not only was this my favorite anime of the season, it earned a spot on my all-time "favorites" list here on MAL. After the weekly simulcast ended, I went back and marathoned the whole series all over again, and liked it even more the second time. I have a full review of Yuuki Yuuna posted, so there isn't much more I need to say here; I just completely fell in love with it. 9/10, and if you like adult magical girl shows like Madoka or Nanoha, then you should go watch it. Like, right now. Fate/Stay Night:Unlimited Blade Works was what I thought would be my favorite show of the season, before Yuuki Yuuna unexpectedly stole my heart, but it's still been very good, if not quite the masterpiece I was hoping for. Right now it's an 8/10 for me at the break, and I'm looking forward to the second half. Course, this is one of those shows that if you're interested in it, you're probably already watching it anyway. I Can't Understand What My Husband Is Saying (comedy/romance/short) - enjoyable series of shorts about a "normal" woman and her otaku husband.What I appreciated about this one was seeing a show about mature adults who put real effort into making their marriage work; they don't take anything for granted, and you can see how much they care about each other despite their different personalities. 6/10, and I enjoyed it enough that I'll probably watch the second season, which was recently announced for spring '15. Daitoshokan no Hitsujikai (comedy/romance/harem) - This one joins "When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace" (which I covered in my last post) on the list of shows that wasted some really good potential. The premise of the main story actually had a lot of possibilities for generating some intriguing scenarios, but whenever things started threatening to actually get interesting, it kept chickening out and falling back on the same tired harem rom-com stuff we've seen hundreds of times before. Literally, by the end I was basically still watching it for one character, who was more dynamic and compelling than the rest of the cast combined.Totally generic Bishoujo VN fare, and completely skippable. 5/10 - If you're in the mood for a harem show, there are plenty of better choices out there, like the aforementioned "Supernatural Battles." Kaitou Jokerr still has one more episode left to air, and I'm a few episodes behind on Rage of Bahamut, so I'll probably have both of those finished by the time I'm ready to post again. As for the rest of the summer/fall shows I had been watching, I dropped Sora no Method (when the characters weren't irritating me, the plodding pace kept putting me to sleep) and Kokkuri-San (good show, but just not for me). I'm also on the verge of dropping Sailor Moon Crystal - I want to finish the current arc, which only has one more episode, but I'm not looking forward to sitting through 13 more episodes of this thing, which is usually a good sign that it's time to cut bait and move on. |
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| Welp. I've mentioned all the shows not from the fall season I've been watching. So I might as well mention everything I watched during Fall. Anything that is still on-going will not be rated, as I don't rate until at least 75% of the title is completed. Amagi Brilliant Park: Ho-hum. Just another beautiful and occasionally hilarious title by KyoAni. You folks know how it goes. It could have been in the running for Anime Of The Season, but it did falter rather heavily in the middle of the run. Plus the final episode was essentially filler and would have been much better suited to airing in the middle of the season. It still scored an 8 from me, as I mostly enjoyed it, but it was rounded up rather than rounded down. Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon: Crystal: I've actually been enjoying the remake. I marathoned the original Sailor Moon, and Crystal was a vast improvement all the way across the board. So I'll still continue to watch it and enjoy it immensely. Bonjour Koiaji Patisserie: It's a senseless little short reverse harem, but I love them too much to worry about quality. Daitoshokan no Hitsujikai: Probably one of the most disappointing shows of the season. It had an interesting premise at the start, but then fell into a standard ecchi harem trap from which very few shows can escape with any positive result. There were just too many routes to animate to give then any justice whatsoever, and so the full quality of the show fell flat because of it. It didn't quite go into the awful range, but it got close. 5/10 Danna ga Nani wo Itteiru ka Wakaranai Ken: It had everything I look for in a comedy short. Good characters that interact well together, an interesting story to tie things together, and some really good jokes to keep me laughing. 7/10, will rewatch. Denki-Gai no Honya-san: When I first started to look at this title, I pegged it as a cross between Working!! and Genshiken. And I'm glad that it met my expectations. Good comedy, excellent characters, and a fun environment mixed together to make for a very pleasant anime that always seemed to have the ending credits coming a bit too quickly. 7/10, well recommended. Girl Friend Beta: It wasn't anything major. There were no main characters. There was no love interest. There was no romance. There was no yuri. And if you were expecting any of these things, you were setting yourself up for a massive set of disappointment. It was simply a huge cute-girls-doing-cute-things that had more major seiyuu talent in two episodes than most titles have for their entire run. Like cute-girls-doing-cute-things? Then you'll love Girl Friend Beta. 7/10 Grisaia no Kajitsu: Yet another ecchi harem, but with a much more interesting premise and a much better delivery. All but one of the arcs were handled crisply and without any excessive sloppiness. Yet it was the last arc, covering Amane's backstory, that caused me to drop the score significantly as that was simply disaster porn at its most horrible. It eventually had a nice resolution to the whole thing, but I was already disinclined to rate it very highly at all. 6/10 Inou-Battle wa Nichijou-kei no Naka de: Yet another harem for the season, but this one was less ecchi and more enjoyable. It had an interesting premise and an interesting set of characters and an interesting setup. Unfortunately, Trigger acted like it was the first installment of a long series rather than an independent season. So all of the resolution at the end was basically a Haganai-style restatement of the status quo rather than a full conclusion. It was still enjoyable, and with plenty of shipping opportunities throughout, but it could have been so much more. 6/10 Log Horizon 2: Anyone that wants to argue about this show with me better be ready to get rekt by a moe ninja. Swear on me mum. It has all the necessary ingredients and uses them with great skill to provide a much more pleasant environment than a certain other trapped-in-a-video-game series I'll get to in a bit. The only point that I have any real problem with is that damn Database song in the OP, making it still the most obnoxious OP of the season. Mushishi Zoku Shou 2: Technically the third season of Mushishi, it's more of the exact same excellent storytelling and worldbuilding that we have come to expect from Mushishi. It may be a type of monster-of-the-week episodic series, but it is that genre done extraordinarily well. It isn't for nothing that Mushishi is consistently one of the best reviewed series in the database. 8/10, recommended. Ookami Shoujo to Kuro Ouji: This was a shoujo romance that made me seriously question whether or not I should continue to love shoujo romances. I loathed every single main character with a passion not met since Itazura na Kiss, and was constantly cheering for any male in Erika's life to come and sweep her away from one of the biggest assholes ever animated. I swear, if any young woman in my life was to bring home someone like Sata, I'd move out of state immediately and take her with me. I guarantee it. 6/10, still a better romance than Twilight. Psycho Pass 2: There's an aphorism about a bureaucracy becoming dysfunctional once it exists solely to protect its own interests. It is even more true once infighting develops for rank and power within the bureaucracy. And both of these elements were in full effect in Psycho Pass 2. The Sibyl System works entirely to protect its own interest, and Mika Shigotsumi saw every single development as a way to leverage herself into a higher pay grade and more power within the team. Those were the real stories of Psycho Pass 2, and they were sadly overlooked in the eternal whining about a certain favorite character not showing up. An excellent installment of a great series, and I'll be waiting for the movie for as long as it is necessary for the fansubbers to get a hold on a decent copy. 8/10 Sanzoku no Musume Ronja: A touch disappointing for a Ghibli-associated title, Ronja still has an adorable story and fun characters. Unfortunately, the extremely crappy art quality continues to be a major negative for the show. It's worth watching, even for a children's anime, but it doesn't quite hold up to any other Ghibli title you might care to name. Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso: One of my Anime Of The Season selections, Your Lie In April has all the elements necessary for a great romance. A troubled MC, a dedicated childhood friend, a jock to serve as comedic relief and moral support, and one of the more intriguing love interests since Nodame come together against a backdrop of my favorite genre of anime: music. It still has half the story to go, but I'm waiting on the next with a hunger not matched since White Album 2. Shirobako: The other of my AOTS selections, this is an anime about anime. Anime production. Anime writing. Anime drawing. Anime voice acting. Anime music. Anime everything. This is the most meta anime ever created, and the little details are absolutely fascinating. It isn't an earth-shattering title with high drama and battles and romance and all that good rot. It's simply good solid entertainment done right. And that should always be praised. Sora no Method: Another cute adorable title for the season, but this one simply fell flat after an excellent start made me want to pick it up in mid-season. Unfortunately, it took a serious nosedive into senseless melodrama immediately afterward. It did have a nice resolution eventually, with a stronger final episode than the rest of the season really deserved, but it was too little and too late for the vast majority of viewers. 6/10 Trinity Seven: This. Was. Crap. Utter and absolute garbage. Another crappy ecchi harem in a season full of crappy ecchi harems, absolutely nothing worthwhile came from T7. The characters were one-dimensional trope machines. The art was frequently phoned in and half-assed. The plot device selection basically consisted of "Let the pervert grab a boob so we can yell at him" over and over and over again. Avoid. Avoid. Avoid. 4/10 Ushinawareta Mirai wo Motomete: Another harem, but this one had an interesting premise. It had a feel to it as almost a cross between Haruhi and Steins;Gate and, while it often underperformed, it at a certain something that kept me coming back to find out what would happen and how everything would be resolved. And the final episode satisfied my sense of wonder completely. It's a hard title to love, but I'm no stranger to that. 7/10 Yama no Susume 2: Cute. Girls. Climbing. Cute. Mountains. A wonderfully adorable half-length anime that loses absolutely nothing from the first season. An absolute must for fans of cute-girls-doing-cute-things titles, and my favorite short since Aiura.. A word of warning, however... You might find yourself with the sudden urge to walk up a mountain afterward. 8/10 |
| Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood: WOW! What an amazing thrill ride that was! A true masterpiece in every sense of the word. |
| May the DESU be with you! Always! |
| It's just another sleepy Sunday. I wish it was a Fun Day. At least it's not Monday, but it's just another sleepy Sunday... And now that I've massacred The Bangles, it's time for the Sunday Ramble. ----- Samurai Flamenco Honestly, it could have been a much better anime if it could have just decided what it wanted to be. Did it want to be a Super Sentai anime? A Giant Robot anime? An adventure anime? An idol anime? It just mixed everything up in a gigantic grab bag of genres and styles so much that it just became a huge nonsensical muddle of nothing before it ended. It had many good points, not the least of which were some interesting characters and great acting. Unfortunately, they were offset by its failings. And no. It's not that I don't like any anime that doesn't take itself seriously. I love anime that refuses to take itself seriously. You can't be a fan of Nabeshin without loving anime that refuses to take itself seriously. I just prefer that the anime have at least an internal consistency throughout, and SamFlam just never did anything for me. From Episode 2 onward, it left me without a single moment of awe and enjoyment. Score: 5/10 Recommendation Level: Someone not me. Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru Ummm... No. Just no. Nothing worked for me. The characters were dumb. The voices were all wrong. The scripts were imbecilic. The art was phoned in. I didn't even like the OP, and that's usually one of the first signs that I'll hate a title. There was a reason why I stopped watching this show. Unfortunately, it was so long ago that I had forgotten that reason. And simply, the reason was that it sucked. Score: 3/10 Recommendation Level: Might be more fun to people who like getting stoned and watching anime. Little Busters Progress: 10/26 I first put it on hold because I was kinda bored with it. I had just gotten done watching simple SOL after simple SOL, and I needed something a bit different for a while. So now I'm ready to come back to Little Busters, and... And now I'm wondering why it took me so long. Ask me next week for the rest of my impressions. |
| I too finished Mushishi Zoku Shou – although there’s still a movie planned for the summer. 8 years may separate this second chapter from the original but I have to give it to the team behind it: to be able to capture the very same lightning in a bottle twice is absolutely amazing. It is by far my favorite show, so much so that it doesn’t even stand on the same ground as the other anime I love. I know I would have enjoyed it if I had seen it as a child and I know I will revisit it time and again as I grow old. I also wolfed down Shounen Hollywood. Nothing surprising in the fact that I would watch a show about an all-male idol group, except that I didn’t pick it up as it streamed during the summer because the PVs looked way too shabby. But then, I stumbled upon Nick Creamer’s review on his blog and what he had to say about it really picked my interest. Shounen Hollywood might just be the darkest and most gruesome idol show out there (and may very well remain so as I don’t see how anyone could find funding to make something like that ever again). Fame doesn’t last, dreams don’t come true and idols are house of cards built on a bed of lies. And yet, it is also a testament to the insane amount of hopefulness and energy that blindly fuels this particular industry. It wasn’t necessarily a pleasant watch. Actually, it is damn cringe-worthy at times and yet I can’t help but look forward to the next season. |
| I hate being sick. I hate being sick on Sundays. I hate being sick in the rain. So this is just about all the typing I'm going to be able to do today, and it's a copy-pasta from elsewhere. ----- Little Busters It's weird. You'd think that a Key title would be more memorable than this. They are better than this... or at least they should be. But the basic plot of LB! seemed to be "cute boy has random adventures with cute girls instead of playing baseball with his friends". I know it's more complicated than that but, when I try to think about it, the memories all drift away like the thought of a parasol-carrying girl. The MC was simply there, an empty shell for a self-insertion fantasy. The other male characters were empty trope shells, one-dimensional and bland with nothing there to really hold on to and appreciate. The girls were a hit parade of crises and unbelievable problems one after another. It was still a pleasant title, tugging on all of the emotional strings and (mostly) making you care about the situation. Unfortunately, it faded like the memories of high school after it was over. Score: 7/10 Recommendation Level: Those weird people that actually remember high school fondly. To LOVE-Ru That... That was senselessly ecchi. An in-your-face ecchi with all the usual absurd situations that have ever been animated, all distilled into 22 cringeworthy episodes of blandness. From the start, it was apparent that this was a pixelated blur away from a hentai at any given opportunity. And, come to think of it, it might have been a better title if they had gone that route. It wasn't until the final episodes, when an actual plotline appeared, that there was anything coherent at all. The last two episodes were actually fun and entertaining. It was just the entire preceding anime that was too bland to be worth a damn. Score: 5/10 Recommendation Level: in the dark with the doors locked and the drapes pulled. DRRRRRRRRR!! Status: 21/24 I got so close to finishing this last night... I just needed another hour to make it. Unfortunately, my eyes just wouldn't stay open for long enough to make it. So, as normal for me, I'll leave my mini-review until next week's installment. Projected Score: 8/10 On-deck - Sketchbook: Full Color's and Sasameki Koto |
| I've finished three more series since my last update. One of those was not Rage of Bahamut as I posted last time because I got distracted by two other series, but I still intend to finish that soon. Yama no Susume (first season). I need to thank OffColfax for recommending me this one. I watched the first season this weekend and thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s definitely the best “three minute episode” series that I’ve seen to date, and now I’m looking forward to watching the second season (with 13-minute episodes!) in the near-future. 8/10 Kaitou Joker (first season). The most apt description I’ve seen of this series is “Lupin III for kids.” I was afraid that like most kid’s shows it would be too episodic or too repetitive for me, but happily neither of those is true. It’s a caper-comedy series, so there is a similar basic setup to many episodes, but it’s executed very well, and there's enough variety in the scenarios and outcomes that it never feels repetitive. There’s also an overarching plotline involving the eeeevil Professor Clover and the nefarious scheme worthy of a James Bond villain that he's been cooking up. It’s nothing too deep or complex, but it’s enough to keep things interesting and tie most episodes firmly into the bigger story. Kaitou Joker won't be taken seriously by anime bloggers or critics, but it’s well worth picking up if you’ve had enough of heavy drama for a while and feel like taking a break with something light, entertaining, and just plain fun, especially if you enjoy caper shows anyway. This is a split-cour series from the fall with the second cour coming out this spring, and I’ll definitely be watching it. 7/10. Angel Beats. Speaking of heavy drama...I’ve been meaning to re-watch this for a while, but I was finally prodded into picking it up again by how much I enjoyed "Yuki Yuna is a Hero" (both series were directed by Seiji Kishi). Good decision; it was well worth a second viewing. It’s not my favorite Key Visual Arts series (that’s "Kanon"), but I really appreciate its reflections on personal fulfillment and the things we value most in our lives, and the setting of a Catholic-style purgatory re-imagined through the lens of Buddhist philosophy remains a unique and compelling one. There's a good reason why this is one of MAL's top ten most popular series, and if you somehow haven’t seen it yet then you definitely should consider it. 8/10 |
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| After reading a couple of rather enthusiastic reviews, I grabbed Tokyo Ghoul out of the Dropped bin and gave it another spin, and I’m really glad I did. I threw the towel as it was airing last year after the 6th episode because I felt the show was getting too theatrical for my taste. And it’s true that it isn’t particularly subtle, at least in its structure, as a vast part of the show is dedicated to showing each species (humans and ghouls) racking up or loosing points on the moral scale until both become virtually indistinguishable. There are bad apples and good ones too in both baskets and you would be hard hard-pressed to root for one over the other (or at least you should be if the ghouls didn’t look so much cooler than the humans – so much for impartiality). Where Tokyo Ghouls truly shines though is in constructing a complex web of stories that links all the characters together. Blanket statements quickly fall by the wayside as hatred and compassion travel up and down those unique threads. Despite all its gore (and drool and snot and torture – you’ve been warned), it is an intelligent and ambitious character piece. Many people who watched it as it streamed complained about the ending (which is non-existent) but since the second season picks up right where the first one left off without missing a beat, it shouldn’t be a problem if you decide to pick it up now. |
| So... Yeah. Sunday. Got it... Sketchbook: Full Color's From the same company that brought us the incredible Aria series, this was yet another simple and easy SOL from Hal Film Makers. It wasn't anything major or significant or excessively amazing. It was just a tale about a silly airheaded girl that carries a sketchbook everywhere she goes. Her daily life, her friends in the art club, and a bunch of cats is all this anime ever really wants. And, just like a pocket fan on a hot day, it was just enough to help. If you want something deep and meaningful, this is not an anime for you. Yet if you want something light and fluffy to help ease yourself through a day or two, this'll do. Score: 8/10 Recommendation level: What is your color? Sasameki Koto I was first cued into this one due to it being mentioned in the same breath as Aoi Hana. Yet, in practice, it has as much relation to Aoi Hana as Sakurasou has to White Album 2. Let me explain. Sasameki Koto starts off as a pleasant drama, full of potential and and sweet romance. And then it shifts focus dramatically at the start of the fourth episode, becoming almost a generic romcom in tone (albeit still a shoujo-ai romcom) with all the traditional tropes implied. Yet the problem with Sasameki Koto wasn't the shift in tone from romdram to romcom. Instead, the problems came from the functional lack of romance. Ushio and Sumi were wonderful together, but they just never went to the next level and fully put the rom- in romcom. And, most frustrating of all, it fell prey to the "make an anime only to boost manga sales" trap. It was never designed to give us anime watchers a resolution or a final satisfaction to send us off with a good feeling about everything. It was still pleasant for what it did. Sure, there were a few embarrassing and awkward moments scattered about. Yet they by themselves didn't drag Sasameki Koto down as much as that ambiguous ending. Score: 7/10 Recommendation level: If you like shoujo-ai titles, you'll still like this one. On-deck: Space Battleship Yamato 2199 |
| The only series I finished this week was Rune Soldier, an early 2000s sword-and-sorcery comedy. I picked up the DVDs at a garage sale for like $2 last year, and it's been on and off of my hold list for months as I picked at it. But I finally got through the rest of it this weekend, basically by having it running in the background and listening to it while I was doing other things, while occasionally pausing to watch for a few minutes when something interesting happened. I had many, many problems with this series, but just the fact that I only managed to finish it by NOT watching most of it should really tell you all you need to know. The one thing that redeemed it somewhat is that the ending was actually good, but getting there was a huge slog. 5/10 thanks mostly to the ending, but through the first 18 episodes or so I wasn't going to give it more than 3/10. In short, not worth your time. |
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| I have missed a lot of major titles so far. Part of that is due to me just flat-out not being interested in them. Yet part of that is also due to the fact that there's just so damn many anime out there that I really want to watch. I've had to prioritize somewhere and now, in my push towards 500 completed entries, I'm prioritizing some of the more popular titles I've missed. Last week, it was Death Note. This week, it's... Samurai Champloo I kinda have some mixed emotions about this. On the one hand, it's exactly what Watanabe does best. On the other hand, it felt like a reverse of Bebop in that the influences were just different. Instead of being about space cowboys and jazz, Champloo was a confluence of late-Edo era samurai and modern urban style. And the feel just didn't work for me all the time. A lot of things did well for me. The slow movement towards the destination (derided by some as never moving the plot forward) actually helped bring the point home to modern people that it takes a really long fucking time to get anywhere on your own two feet. After all, in a trip like this, the journey itself is the plot. The action was brilliantly done, with fight scenes that actually felt more like a Kurosawa film than the cheap Hong Kong wire-gig feel that far too many anime have adapted. On the other hand, I really did have some issues. The characters felt really recycled: Mugen is basically Spike with a sword; Jin is basically Jet with hair; Fuu is essentially Faye except with smaller... errr... I mean... in a kimono. Yeah. Kimono. There was really no difference in the cast between Bebop and Champloo, and it lost some significant style points for that. Another problem I had was that it didn't grab the eyeballs. You don't have to be flashy or bright or anything like that, but the backgrounds still need to be more than just simply there. And comparing Champloo to some of Watanabe's other works, like Bebop or Apollon or even Terror, the backgrounds just weren't as detailed or interesting as I expect from a Watanabe anime. And finally, three episodes just flat-out felt out of place for me. The graffiti episode was a complete waste of effort, trying to bring all parts of urban style into the anime and failing miserably. I liken it to the Pierre Le Fou episode in Bebop: it did nothing but fill in 24 minutes of running time. And if the graffiti episode felt forced, then the baseball episode was even more out of place. Because there's nothing that says "samurai" to me like a deathmatch baseball game. And let's not mention the recap episode at number 11, lest I despair entirely. All in all, it was still quality. It just wasn't Watanabe's best effort. At all. Score: 8/10 Recommendation Level: It's a probably-should-watch title for just about everyone. Even grumpy bastards like me. On-Deck: Mirai Nikki |
| Finished the first season of Spice and Wolf. What an enjoyable watch it was! Normally I'm a bit of a sceptic and cynic when it comes to cute girls with pointy ears, but this show completely exceeded my expectations. The characters and their interaction are what makes this show tick.I could write a lot more about the characters, but I won't bore you - suffice it to say, these elements come together in such a way that the conversations between Holo and Lawrence are by far the most refreshing and entertaining part of the series. |
| "Perhaps there is a universal, absolute truth. Perhaps it justifies every question. But that's beyond the reach of these small hands." Mamoru Oshii There is a cult of ignorance (...) nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that “my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.” Isaac Asimov |
| Another week, another popular anime. Mirai Nikki I'm almost conflicted here. On the one hand, I liked it. The stories, the characters, the backgrounds, the worldbuilding... It all came together into a great coherent whole and a wonderful story. It didn't have any real pacing issues or obvious filler, going through a clear and complete story and taking up the full and complete 26 episodes. Sure, Yuno was very uncomfortable for me to watch on a personal level as she dragged up a lot of painful memories. But, as a whole, it was an excellent anime. But it did have three exceptionally glaring problems that dragged it down. The post-credit scenes were more annoying than useful and could have been completely cut with absolutely no loss in quality. In fact, just about anything with Mur Mur short of the final episodes could have been cut completely and I would have liked it a lot more. And, while it is rare for me to knock an anime's score down because of a bad song, the atrocious second OP takes a new featured position as my most hated opening of all time. Score: 7/10 Recommendation level: Yeah... Yanderes? Not that much fun in real life. Trust me. On-deck: Another |
| Bubblegum Crisis Completed it yesterday (for the second time, I think*) and I really liked it - even though mecha is not my favourite genre :-) For me there are two things that stand-out in this anime: music and characters. The soundtrack is one of the best, in the anime I saw so far. Songs from the 80's mixed with action - it was not what I was expecting to see (and hear) :-) As for the characters, each of four main heroines has enough screen time, so we can learn more about them and their thoughts. And once we learn, we will understand why they made their choices. Story and animation is the weakest part but under no circumstances it's bad. Actually it's still very good storywise. Each episode has unique main storyline and all are connected through secrets surrounding boomers and Genom mysterious relation with Knight Sabers' lider Sylia. Animation could not compare with current era anime (like e.g. Kara no Kyoukai) but it aged pretty well. Score: 8/10 Recommendation level: Definitely worth watching. On-dec: Bubblegum Crash - the story continues... * - I don't remember when was the first time I watched it :D |
mozgowFeb 16, 2015 10:52 PM
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| Bubblegum Crash Completed it in one go :-) I would not write what I already wrote for Bubblegum Crisis, as everything is still true. So I will write only about the differences I noticed. The first one is that they changed Priss seiyū. At first I didn't know what to think about it, but after watching all three episodes I liked her more. Her voice is very unique and gave Priss more charm (if it's even possible :-)). The second one is that this series has typical opening and ending. It's not a complaint :-) I was just expecting the same kind of opening sequence as in Crisis. And the third one is that there is continuous story through all episodes, to address some unresolved mysteries from previous series. Score: 8/10 Recommendation level: Obligatory for someone who completed, and liked, Bubblegum Crisis. On-deck: Hachimitsu to Clover - It's time to complete it :-) |
mozgowFeb 17, 2015 10:57 PM
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| Just watched Bubblegum Crisis too in Animeigo's awesome BD release. I agree witht he most part with what mozgow has written above. While not there's nothing about it that is absolutely outstanding (well it might just have one of the very best OP in Konya Wa Hurricane), there's just so much energy and vitality on offer throughout the OVA. I can really tell that the people that did it put their hearts into it. A wonderful child of the 80's. |
| "Perhaps there is a universal, absolute truth. Perhaps it justifies every question. But that's beyond the reach of these small hands." Mamoru Oshii There is a cult of ignorance (...) nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that “my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.” Isaac Asimov |
mozgow said: Bubblegum Crisis Completed it yesterday (for the second time, I think*) and I really liked it - even though mecha is not my favourite genre :-) Good to know that's still holding up - it's one of those classics I knew about back in the day but never got to watch, and it's on my PTW list in the hopes that I'll remedy that someday. Meanwhile, catching up on a few things I’ve finished lately: Redline. Very enjoyable movie about an interstellar auto racing competition: call it “The Fast and the Furious” meets “Star Wars.” Fast-paced, action-packed, and just a whole lot of fun. The story's pretty basic, but you aren't watching this for the story, you're watching it for the action and the animation. Apparently, Madhouse spent almost a decade making this movie, and it shows in the animation, which is very high-quality hand-drawn work, not a single frame of CG in the whole thing. Considering the detail in the racing scenes, that’s really impressive. 9/10 Keitai Shoujo (Cell Phone Girl). Ugh. This ONA might be the most confusing mess of a story I’ve ever seen from an anime. It’s adapting a cell phone dating sim game, but I had to go read a synopsis of the game’s plot afterwards to understand just what the heck was going on. As a stand-alone adaptation, it’s a total failure. Nothing’s explained, there’s no continuity from one episode to the next, characters randomly appear with no introduction and then are never seen again, and one character who’s apparently critical to the real game’s plot only shows up briefly in the epilogue, even though she’s all over the opening credits. At least the whole series is less than 45 minutes, so I didn't have to waste too much of my time on it. Unless you’re a huge fan of this game for some reason, don’t bother. 2/10 Yama no Susume, S2. Loved it. As much as I enjoyed season 1, I thought its 5 minute episodes were a bit too short, but season 2’s episodes are 15 minutes long, and that seems to be the sweet spot between giving us nice character moments and keeping the plot moving. An all-around excellent slice-of-life, and something you should definitely watch if you like that genre. Too bad it has no hope in hell of ever getting a DVD release in the US, because I’d buy it in a second. 8/10 |
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| Always nice to see someone enjoying my recommendations, WingKing. And, on a different note, it's interesting to see how Moz is appreciating my post format! Yay! Go me! ----- Another week, another set of popular anime down. Ao no Exorcist We have a new leader in the clubhouse, ladies and gentlemen, and it is for the World's Most Boringly Generic Supernatural Combat Anime. The most it ever got from me was eye-rolling of an increasingly painful degree. From the bland characters to the boring plot, I didn't have a single gram of interest in the entire 25-episode run. The only thing that might have gotten more than just an eyeroll out of me was a negative: the traditional Japanese misunderstanding of Western theology. It's not the first time this has come across my path, with Toaru Majutsu no Index being a significant example, but it has to be one of the most glaring examples of cultural misunderstanding in my entire suite. From completely wrong references to Faust, demonology, the Church, and just about everything, Ao no Exorcist failed on every single measure. If you don't know much about those things, then who knows. You just might like this. If, on the other hand, you've drenched your brain with far too much knowledge of exceptionally esoteric subjects, then you probably won't be able to suspend your disbelief for long enough to get interested. Score: 5/10 Recommendation Level: Watch it before you know better. Another I'm not a fan of horror. At all. I have to be in a very specific mood in order to watch anything like this, or else I'm probably not going to like it. Thank goodness I know exactly how to create that mood. Because Another was definitely worth the ride. One thing about horror titles that is absolutely necessary for a successful experience is that the writing must be of high quality. The set-up must be believable in order to suspend the disbelief of the viewer. The twists need to come in just the right order. It has to have a connection to the mundane in order to provide a hint as to how to survive. And it also has to have a few other things that would turn this comment into a philosophy of film thesis, but that would have me typing until next Friday and leave me little time for more anime. And because many of you would prefer that I shut the hell up, I'll go ahead and wind this down. Another worked well on all of these metrics. With exceptional writing and execution, wonderful suspense moments, and a well-designed hook to get to the resolution, Another made all the correct moves at all the right times. Add in some sympathetic characters (always a plus in horror films) and some interesting references to some of the well-done American horror movies (Omen, Final Destination, and Scream were the ones that stuck in my mind.) gave Another just enough to put it into the very exceptional range. Of the "Watch A Bunch Of Popular Anime" experiment I've been doing over the last few weeks, this one has to be my favorite so far. Score: 9/10 Recommendation Level: Yes. Unless you hate being scared. Then no. Elfin Lied Status: 6/13 Only at the half-way mark so far, but I'm liking what I'm seeing. More next week, as I've been typing for an hour already. On-deck: Bakemonogatari and the 500th Entry Celebration watch of Nana. |
WingKing said: Good to know that's still holding up - it's one of those classics I knew about back in the day but never got to watch, and it's on my PTW list in the hopes that I'll remedy that someday. Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex is one of those classics for me :-) OffColfax said: Always nice to see someone enjoying my recommendations, WingKing. And, on a different note, it's interesting to see how Moz is appreciating my post format! Yay! Go me! I hope you wouldn't sue me for using it without permission? ;-) |
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| Elfen Lied This one is a difficult anime to pin down and say "This anime is about such-and-such." It shows the entire range of emotions and interactions, with the display of the inherent and conflicting natures of humanity in full view: kindness and cruelty, deceit and honesty, trust and doubt, hatred and adoration, curiosity and ignorance. Often, these were in full display in the same character at various parts of the story, giving many of them a full and complete feel to their interactions. This interplay between the characters is where Elfen Lied shines brightest. Conversely, it is the characters themselves where Elfen Lied is weakest. While every single one of them is given a major event that shaped their lives, that is the only thing significant about them. Yuka is defined solely by her devotion to Kouta, and everything she does revolves around that one aspect. Kouta is defined solely by the loss of his family, and everything he does is an attempt to rebuild a family structure around him. The various Diclonius girls are defined by how they were treated by the people around them, often as poorly as humanly possible. Mayu is defined solely by... Well. I won't go into that, as some spoilers are too significant to mention. If this is true for the main characters, the side characters are even more one-dimensional and bland. And it is this shallow characterization where Elfen Lied fails miserably. On the one hand, it is a bloody spectacle of senseless gore and destruction; on the other hand, it becomes a lesson on when violence is morally necessary. On the one hand, it depends on the flimsiest of plot devices; on the other hand, it takes those weakest of threads and resolves everything wonderfully at the end. On the one hand, it is an almost scandalous display of full nudity and sexual situations of an exceptionally disturbing nature; on the other hand... Well, on the other hand, "hue hue boobs". ('Cause that's what many of you were thinking at the time. Right? Right.) On the one hand, it relies on some of the most basic shock value imagery in order to make the simplest of points; on the other hand, it was able to hide deep philosophical questions in between the offal and entrails. What Elfen Lied did was try to give a little something to everyone. For those who like to think, it let them ponder the more intricate questions of human nature. For those who just want to watch people get messily killed for no reason, it had a wide array of blood and gore and the occasional sound of a spleen splatting for comedic effect. (Or was that a pancreas...) For those who like seeing two young people flail around while establishing the nature of their relationship, it had an often cringeworthy amount of flailing and moments of mistaken intentions. Yet by trying to be all of these things to all of these people, it overreached itself and wasn't quite able to perform at the highest level. Score: 8/10 Recommendation Level: Best viewed after a survey-level course on ethical philosophy. Or for blood and boobs. Bakemonogatari I can sense a pitchfork-wielding mob gathering together for some of the comparisons I'm about to make for this one. Just let me get to the end before you burn me at the stake. Bake was alternately exceptionally amazing and exceptionally boring. It did a wonderful job at fleshing out the characters and giving them well-rounded personalities. The entire suite of main characters felt like actual people instead of trope-machines, with little details and quirks that made me like them even when I really didn't want to. Senjougahara and Ararararagi... Ummm... Rararaga... Errr... Araragi were based on two of my least-favorite character tropes (tsundere female and brutally honest male), yet they were able to reach past those generic identifiers and do the one thing that is all too fleetingly rare in anime: act like humans. The same thing was true for Hanakawa, Kanbaru, and Hachikuji, although with varying degrees of success. The plot, on the other hand, was an anime version of "A Series Of Unfortunate Events". It was a simple and often boring progression of crises to avert and problems to solve, solely there so that Araragi could white-knight his way into a harem of various females. Combine that with a dialogue-heavy script and voices that rarely changed from a conversational tone, and suddenly you have a recipe for putting a late-night anime watcher to sleep. Which was, come to think of it, precisely why it took me four days to cover a running time that would normally take only a single night to manage. I had to go back and watch episodes multiple times to be certain I didn't miss anything, and that took a lot more time than I was expecting. The other problem was that, even with the reviewing of episodes, it felt incomplete. In this sense, Bake falls short of the standards set by my favorite beginning of all time: Clannad. (Oh good. They lit the torches. I was worried that the mob was getting cold.) Time after time, I was reminded of what Clannad did better than Bake. From character development (Bake had very little, with the characters being remarkably the same from beginning to end.) to storytelling (Bake had miniature character arcs rather than a coherent whole.) to development of romance (Again, it was just disjointed bits and pieces.) to being a stand-alone independent unit (You can watch Clannad without watching After Story and still come to a full stop. You can't do that with Bake.), Clannad had the feel of being a whole story, and Bake doesn't have a sense of that at all. Naturally, this is by design. The Monogatari Series is just that: a series. And Bake is only its beginning. Yet after a bare introduction of characters and the world as a whole, it then jumped straight into a sudden escalation and the final conflict of the season. By the end of the 15th episode, it felt more like an episodic show than a linear story, even though it covered only a few days of linear time. If I didn't know that Bakemonogatari wasn't an introduction to a broader and more detailed series, I'd be giving it an insultingly low rating for that failing. As it is, I'm willing to look at it for what it is: the opening chapters of a long and intriguing book. And one that I'm actually wanting to finish. Score: 8/10 Recommendation Level: Ask me after the story ends. Nana Status - 10/47 I think I'm going to like this one a lot. So far, it looks like I chose well for my 500th completed title. But more on this next week. |
| After 502 days (as stated by MAL), I finally finished Kill la Kill. Why did it take so long? I don't know. It was a very bombastic, plot-twisting...and it got, believe it or not boring. I will lump this in the category as Dragon Ball Z, Lagan Gurren,Needless. A lot of shouting, screaming, MC postering. It's a story built upon the saving the world from a powerful villain and in the process becoming more and more powerful (very shounen) in the process. There seems that each time the MC (and supporting to an extent) became all Supermen all at once. In the end, defeating the villain and saving the world, eliminating all traces of this ever happening again. Yes, it was painful to watch at time; both to the eyes and ears. It seemed that all the characters had to have their spotlight, including having their name taking up half the screen in kanji OR, the best part, the attack they were going to use. I have to laugh, this is the one thing about anime, in some ways, that bugs me. They should up how they are going to attack. I wonder when this began? Could you see Batman shouting, in battling the Joker, "SONIC BATARANG!" or Superman shouting "HIGH TEMPERATURE HEAT VISION!". ROFL. A series like this should only come out once every two years. This is just to much GAR to have on a regular basis. 7/10 I gave this series a 7/10 just because it was badass from beginning to end. Not to mention full of fan-service for all sexes (the men are almost as nude as women...the Nudist Beach rebellion org...ROFL). |
| What if the Hokey Pokey is what it is all about? |
| Its not a serie but a movie: Eve no Jikan (Movie) Its listed as a sci-fi/slice of life, but they should also add psychological drama. Its about robots, androids which are human looking robots. The story incorporates the Asimov's 3 laws of robotics the uncanny valley hypothesis. If you ever read any of the Asimov's robot novels or watched the movie A.I. Artificial Intelligence its a must see. The movie beautifully tells the story of 2 teenagers that decided to find what was doing the female android of one of them that left the house on her own to go somewhere in town and what they encounter... The writer really nailed it, we have the 2 sides: humans trying to understand their androids and the androids trying to understand the humans. 9 |
LestatMajereMar 15, 2015 9:27 AM
| Caught up on some classics since my last update. I finished re-watching Trigun a while back, for the first time in about ten years or so, and it still held up extremely well for me. I don't think I need to say much else about it. It's one of those series that either you've already seen it and have your own opinion of it, or you haven't seen it and therefore need to see it because it's part of the cultural literacy of being an anime fan. Like if we took anime classes in high school instead of literature classes, this is one of the series that would undoubtedly be required viewing. Fortunately, I found it much more entertaining (and inspiring) than reading John Steinbeck novels. 8/10 On the subject of required viewing for anime fans, one of the biggest gaping holes in my list was that I somehow hadn't seen Spirited Away yet. Well I finally fixed that problem today, and now I'm annoyed with myself for waiting so long. What an amazing, spellbinding movie. I watched it with my parents, and even my Dad, who normally sticks his nose up at anything even remotely involving magic, really enjoyed it. An easy choice for the third perfect 10 on my list. I've also spent a lot of time this week catching up on my backlog of Lyrical Nanoha stuff, as I get ready for Nanoha Vivid's premiere next month: I'm still in the middle of Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS (the franchise's third TV season), so no review on that yet, although I'm enjoying it almost as much as the first two seasons. I watched Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha: The Movie 1st earlier this week, which was quite good. It was basically a re-telling of season 1 in movie form, condensed to a two-hour run time and making a few retcons to fit how the canon's evolved since season 1 first aired. If you're interested in trying Nanoha but don't feel like sitting through all 13 episodes of the first season, this movie is a perfectly fine alternative; it's stronger on the action side than the TV series, but not as good with its character development (with the notable exception of Precia Testarossa). I gave it an 8/10, same as the first season of the TV series. Which one you prefer will probably depend on which aspect of Nanoha you enjoy more: the action sequences (edge goes to the movie), or the character moments (better in the TV series). Finally, I watched Lyrical Toy Box. This is a 3-minute music video released in 2001 that became the prototype for Lyrical Nanoha as we know it, three years later. Back then, Nanoha was still just a minor character from Triangle Heart 3, but this video (originally made for a TH3 bonus disc) turned her into a magical girl for the first time, albeit one showing some blatantly obvious Cardcaptor Sakura influence. This is probably closer to what the Nanoha franchise might have looked like as a traditional mahou shoujo, instead of the action/sci-fi/mahou shoujo hybrid that it ultimately turned into. The song's decent enough, but most of this video's value is as a curiosity item for Nanoha fans interested in the origins of the series; there's not much reason to watch it otherwise. 5/10 |
WingKingMar 15, 2015 12:36 AM
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| Nana This one was difficult for me. Not because of the writing, because that was excellent. Not because of the characters, because those were amazing. Not because of the music, because that was awesome as fuck. Instead, it was because I've seen events like this happen many many times. Dating friends break up. Old friends drift away. New friends drift in. Friends date people you can't stand to be around. And it was this friendship dynamic between the main characters that made Nana truly shine. Because it felt real: messy, complicated, and never easy. This isn't some generic "win through the power of friendship" shounen. This is josei at its best. Score: 9/10 Recommendation Level: Everyone who is looking for an anime that doesn't feel fake. Suzumiya Haruhi-chan no Yuuutsu So yeah. I kinda needed something a bit lighter after that. And Haruhi-chan served wonderfully. While it wasn't quite the Haruhi we all know and most of us love, it was still Haruhi enough to satisfy. Score: 6/10 Recommendation level: http://i.imgur.com/trmSmrp.gif Hetalia Axis Powers Okay. Maybe I went a bit too far on the "look for something lighter" axis. Because this was... kind of annoying, to be honest. Not just because the jokes fell flat most of the time. Not just because Italy was purposefully voiced to be an annoying punk. Not just because of the same-face syndrome that made some of the characters indistinguishable from each other. Instead, the worst thing about Hetalia was that it recycled its animation. Maybe because of the budget being blown on voice actors? I don't know. But time after time after time, you saw the same animation used over and over and over again. For a full-length full-cour series, it's a major fault. For a 52-episode series that only lasts four or five minutes per episode? That gets real annoying real fast. Hetlia did have some pluses. While some of the characters were indistinguishable from each other, the rest of them were extremely interesting and remarkably well-defined. (Hungary is best girl.) Little tidbits of actual historical facts sprinkled around the show definitely kept it from being a complete waste of time. And while the humor was hit-and-miss throughout the 250-minute run, it got pretty darned funny during the rare moments when the humor hit big. Score: 5/10 Recommendation Level: It'd probably be a lot more fun while stoned. On-deck: Onegai Teacher and Yuuki Yuuna. |
OffColfax said: So - not recommended for those who grew tired of the repeated 3 minute transformations on Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon?Instead, the worst thing about Hetalia was that it recycled its animation. Maybe because of the budget being blown on voice actors? I don't know. But time after time after time, you saw the same animation used over and over and over again. For a full-length full-cour series, it's a major fault. For a 52-episode series that only lasts four or five minutes per episode? That gets real annoying real fast. Oh and enjoy Onegai. Took me forever to get around to watching that but I did enjoy it once I did. Twins - not as much. |
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OrlahEhontas said: So - not recommended for those who grew tired of the repeated 3 minute transformations on Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon? It's worse than Sailor Moon. At least with the transformation sequences, you would only see them once every half-hour or so. With Hetalia, they had a few minute-long scenes that they would play in back-to-back-to-back episodes. If I was watching one per week while it was airing, it may not have been quite so annoying. In a marathon, you get sick and tired of it really damn fast. |
OffColfax said: Hetalia Axis Powers Score: 5/10 Recommendation Level: It'd probably be a lot more fun while stoned. Hetalia is extremely popular with all of the teenage yaoi fangirls in my community anime club (the rest of us, not so much). They don't seem to care much about recycled animation if it's giving their favorite boys extra screen time. Hope you like Yuki Yuna! I enjoyed it so much that I'm buying the Blu-Rays (I've already pre-ordered v1 and v2). Unfortunately Pony Canyon's charging Aniplex-level prices for it, so that's going to eat up the rest of what I'd budgeted for Yuki Yuna collectibles - I already bought the soundtrack CD (this was my favorite new anime soundtrack in years), the OP single, and two posters, but I'll have to pass on the figurines I was looking at. |
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| Finally completed Hachimitsu to Clover :-) It took me a while because I got distracted on the way :-) Toki wa Meguru: Tokyo Station How good 5 minutes long anime can be? Well, in this case very good :-) Animation is just outstanding with all those little details (like train's doors signals) and people in background actually doing something (and not being just static background). All this is accompanied by a great music, which creates perfect mood for the story. That being the weakest part but it was to be expected. Again, it's only 5 minutes long. It's very hard to put some great story in such amount of time. Score: 8/10 Recommendation level: It's only 5 minutes long. You can "waste" this amount of time ;-) Computer Kakumei: Saikyou x Saisoku no Zunou Tanjou Another short, this time 10 minutes long. A daily life in near future (2020) Tokyo with sentient robots. How it could look, how would people react to such robots? Spend 10 minutes to find out :-) And as for the anime, there is nothing outstanding in animation, soundtrack, story or characters, but overall it's still enjoyable. Every aspect is made properly and doesn't stand out (not in plus nor in minus). Score: 7/10 Recommendation level: Watch it if you have 10 minutes of spare time. Rakuen Tsuihou: Expelled From Paradise When I learned that Urobochi Gen (a.k.a. "Urobutcher") is working on new anime, I immediately added it to my list of anime I have to watch. I was able to do so one month ago. I started watching it with the expectation that it will be like Madoka Magica. It was not, but I would not say I'm disappointed. Animation is great. I don't remember when was the last time I saw so good CGI in anime. Even the battle sequences were enjoyable for me (as I mentioned earlier, Mecha is not my favourite genre :-)). It's not perfect but close to perfection. Soundtrack and music is what it supposed to be - to create correct mood for shown scenes. It does its job perfectly :-) Characters development is somehow flawed but their interaction is not. It's one of the brightest part of this anime. Score: 8/10 Recommendation level: It's not the best Urobochi work, but still worth watching. Fairy Tail: Houou no Miko - Hajimari no Asa A while back I watched Fairy Tail: Houou no Miko. I found that there is a short prequel story to the movie and decided to watch it. As standalone story it's not so good, but as prequel to the movie it's very good (especially if you watched the movie first). It adds some depth to Eclair character (something that were missing in the movie). Score: 8/10 (7/10 for standalone story) Recommendation level: Mandatory for someone who watched the movie, otherwise you might be confused. Fairy Tail x Rave Crossover of Fairy Tail and Rave. No more, no less. Pure enjoyment for anyone who knows one or both series. Score: 8/10 Recommendation level: Only if you know Fairy Tail or Rave. Natsuki Crisis Mentioned by WingKing in The least popular anime you watched. As it's only 2 episodes long, I decided to give it a try. Animation is typical for early 90's, so nothing very good or very bad about it. Same goes for music and soundtrack. The best part of this show are characters, especially Natsuki, and humour. I laughed a lot, more than I expected I would watching Martial Arts anime. I wouldn't mind if there were more episodes. Score: 7/10 Recommendation level: If you looking for something short, humorous and enjoyable, you might give it a try. Hachimitsu to Clover I have mixed feeling after watching it. There were episodes I could easily gave 10, but there were others when I could barely gave 7. Animation is great, with many tiny details (like dunlop valve on bicycle wheels). Be warned that it's peculiar at times as are the openings (very peculiar to say the least). Soundtrack and music is also great. One of the best I heard so far. And the best part of this anime are characters. Each feels unique and real. Each is imperfect and makes mistakes. All make presented world feel real. But there is also a weak part. Story and the so called "love development". For me it was noticeable weaker than animation, music or characters. Score: 9/10 Recommendation level: A "must" for SOL fan. Definitely worth trying for others. On deck: Hachimitsu to Clover II |
mozgowMar 22, 2015 1:29 AM
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| Onegai☆Teacher What we have here is a fairly typical example of the ecchi romance drama genre. We have a weird premise (MC-kun has rare disease), a lack of direct parenting (aunt and uncle instead), and an odd plot (alien lands directly in MC-kun's life for no apparent reason). We have a secret admirer, a long-time overprotective friend of the secret admirer, the overexcited friend of the MC, and a gaggle of associated hangers-on to fill out a scene. All of the stereotypical boxes on the checklist have been marked, so you should know exactly what you're getting. And you get it. In full. Onegai☆Teacher delivers exactly what it is supposed to. It has a few twists that aren't common at all that can set it aside from the pack, but it is still imminently recognizable as being an ecchi romance anime. What it does better than expected, however, was in some of the allegedly generic characters. Kei is not a simple self-insert-fantasy MC, with a personality that is distinctly his own. The secret admirer doesn't simply lay down and accept her fate blithely, but struggles onward. The overprotective friend has her own little twist, although entirely predictable in hindsight. And, even more importantly, the side characters are shown to have lives and relationships that do not depend entirely on the presence of the main characters. For those factors, Onegai☆Teacher sets itself a bit above the normal generic ecchi romance. Not by much, mind you, but a bit. Score: 7/10 Recommendation Level: People who want a bit of kissing in their ecchi. Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuuusha de Aru Tell you what... Why don't I just copy-pasta my notes from while I was watching it.
That's pretty much how I do these things while watcing. A little peek under the hood, if you will. Was that interesting to anyone else? Probably not. But from that brief little set of notes, I can pull just about anything else out of my memories and shove them into these long and rambling reviews. Score: 9/10 Recommendation Level: Yes. Simply yes. Absolutely yes. No Game No Life Okay. Fine. Whatever. People kept yelling and screaming and hyping about this anime for the past year. So I figured it was finally time for an old man to see what all the hubbub was about. I was mildly underwhelmed. I felt absolutely zero connection to the characters. Sora is two-dimensional at best, with the tendency to monologue excessively about his intelligence being his most prominent trait. Shiro doesn't even have that additional dimension, being completely bland and uninspired. Jibril is exceptionally inconsistent in her personality, switching between modes at the lightest of topic changes. The side characters are either filler or mere placeholders. The only one with anything resembling full characterization is Stephanie, yet she is used more for comedic relief than substantial plot movement. (Although she does have a significant amount of PLOT to move...) The story itself is fairly interesting once the characters get out of the way. With generally consistent worldbuilding and interesting detail given to the games, it occasionally became fun to watch. Likewise, the art and animation were typically stellar for a MadHouse production. As was, for that matter, a particularly awesome opening. And then we come to the cliffhanger ending, which is where NGNL drops yet again. I loathe these types of finales that serve solely as bait for the manga/LN/VN or as a teaser for a second season that probably will never happen. I want a resolution of some sort for the final episode, where the various plot threads are brought to a decent stop, rather than some grandiose end scene that tells you how much more awesome things could get later on... If they ever bother to do anything later on. If a series is planned to continue, such as a split-cour or a confirmed second season, that would be one thing. But to just stop cold when the show is just starting to kick into high gear is one of the biggest faults I can find in an anime. Why? Because I'm not watching the manga. I'm not watching the light novel. I'm not watching the visual novel. I'm watching the anime. And for judging the anime as itself, the continuing source material has absolutely zero bearing on my thoughts and might as well not even exist. (I'm looking directly at you, people who say "Oh, but the romance in Spice And Wolf is much more obvious in the rest of the light novels!" If it's not in the anime, it doesn't matter for the scoring of the anime.) NGNL reminded me of another MadHouse production: Btooom! Excessive monologuing, genius-level MCs that love to talk about how amazing they are, random PLOT moments, and completely unresolved cliffhanger endings are just a few of the comparisons between the two titles. And seeing how much I hated Btooom!, for a show to remind me so clearly of it is a definite mark against it. Score: 6/10 Recommendation Level: Anyone under the age of 20 would love it. Anyone over the age of 30 would probably have the same reaction as I did. On-deck: I'm thinking about a josei/shoujo run... Maybe Paradise Kiss and The Wallflower? Or do I want to get silly again... Decisions, decisions... |
OffColfax said: Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuuusha de Aru Tell you what... Why don't I just copy-pasta my notes from while I was watching it. Heh, yep! Your notes are pretty similar to my own experience, although watching it as it aired I had the additional pleasure/torture of having to wait a week between episodes to find out what was going to happen to those poor girls. I'll tell you what, though, in all my years of anime watching this was only the second series (after Kanon) that's ever succeeded in reducing me to a sobbing mess. Anyway, Yuki Yuna's selling far better on the Japanese Blu-Ray market than anyone expected, including its creators (averaging almost 10k per volume so far), so we have a pretty good chance of getting some kind of sequel. The anime was entirely original, but since it premiered they've started publishing some tie-in light novels (the first covers Togo's backstory and takes place 2-3 years before the anime, the second, which is currently serializing, begins several months after the anime), so either of those could potentially become the foundation for a second season, or even a movie. |
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| And my own completions for the week: Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS Another strong season for the Nanoha franchise. This one gets a bad rap compared to the first two seasons, but I think your opinion of it will depend on what attracted you to Nanoha in the first place. A lot of the supporting cast from seasons 1 and 2 got put on a bus for this season, and StrikerS as a whole feels a lot less like a magical girl series and more like a straight-up sci-fi/military series - part Gundam and part Stand Alone Complex, with a little bit of mahou shoujo flavoring added for variety. So if you wanted more magical girl adventures with the original core cast, you'll be disappointed. But if you enjoy Nanoha for its fantastic action scenes, like me, and are interested in seeing more corners of the franchise's galaxy (this being the first season that doesn't take place on Earth), then StrikerS delivers the goods in spades. Plus, I didn't think they could possibly give me another villain as despicable as Precia Testarossa, but I have to admit that Jail Scaglietti and Quattro in this series came pretty close sometimes. Score: 8/10, same score I gave the first two seasons. It's a slightly weaker 8, but would still be a strong buy...if, you know, I actually could buy it. Unlike the first two seasons, which at least had North American licenses at one time even though they've since expired, StrikerS was never licensed at all. Howl's Moving Castle Not generally considered one of Miyazaki's better movies, and I can see why, as the writing seemed uncharacteristically loose to me. Miyazaki's scripts normally do a good job tying everything together, but there were some things that got left dangling or that went unexplained in this movie that really ended up confusing me. The fact that I read the book about 10 years ago didn't help at all, either, since it was such a liberal adaptation that I didn't recognize much of the original source material besides the characters and the moving castle. On the plus side, the animation and sound were still gorgeous, of course, and Sophie was a delightful main character, especially with her "take no crap" attitude as an old lady. I still enjoyed it, and overall it gets more things right than it gets wrong, but watching it so soon after Spirited Away just made its weaknesses stand out even more in comparison. Score: 7/10. It's still better than Ponyo (the weakest of the Ghibli movies that I've seen, IMO), but nowhere near the level of Miyazaki's very best work. And now I want to re-read the book again, because I know I've forgotten a lot of it. Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso (Your Lie in April) This show just completed its run on Thursday, and since it ended has rocketed up to 13th in the MAL rankings with an 8.9 average rating. Is it really that good? Not to me. I did enjoy it, don't get me wrong. The art and animation are beautiful, so is the music, the story concept is strong, and the very best episodes are as good as anything you'll ever watch from an anime. Plus, the ending was sublime, and nailed everything it needed to. So what's the problem, then? Well, my big problem was with the writing - the concept may have been great, but the execution wasn't. First, there's no variance at all in the tone of this series. Every single plot and subplot, whether it's a main character being hospitalized or a flashback to a secondary character's first piano lesson, is treated like it's the most important, dramatic, earth-shattering moment in the entire show. While KimiUso's best episodes are truly magical, this insistence on giving everything equal dramatic weight turns its worst episodes into scattered, disjointed piles of nonstop angst. Second, the "comedy" in KimiUso is terrible. Slapstick bits got tossed right into the middle of heavy dramatic scenes with no transition or build up at all, so instead of breaking the tension it was just jarring instead. Even worse, a lot of the "comedy" was the girls performing tsundere violence on the male lead, even after we learn that he was physically abused by his mother as a child. After seeing what he went through, expecting us to laugh at the girls beating him up just felt grossly inappropriate. Score: 7/10. It's not a masterpiece, but there's a lot to like here, and if you're thinking about watching it then don't hesitate to put it on your list. KimiUso is beautiful, powerful, inconsistent, and occasionally frustrating, but never, ever boring. There's a winning earnestness and sincerity to the material that makes you want to root for these kids, and the payoff that comes with the show's best moments (and there are a lot of them) makes it worth putting up with its other faults. |
WingKingMar 22, 2015 9:37 PM
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| World Conquest Zvezda Plot http://myanimelist.net/anime.php?id=20973 Just finished this series a few days ago but didn't post right away because I was intimidated by the walls of text on this thread. I doubt I will be as eloquent or complete in my take. Anyways, what an incredibly fun anime, it has been a long time since I enjoyed a series as much as this one. It was light, silly, and fun yet had a dark undertone that was pervasive through out the whole series. It indulged in most anime tropes (school, lolis, blushing large breasted high schoolers, trip to the hot springs etc) but not to distraction or detraction. It flirted with ecchi but never got there, which I suspect broadens it appeal to a larger and even a female audience. Who knew world conquest by what could best be described a cult could be so cute. It is only a 12 episode series and it felt like it left a lot on the table, begged for another 12 episode run but I doubt it is in the works, which left me feeling a little empty but still cemented itself as one of my favorite animes. |
| Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Bunch! I'm always interested in hearing about what other people are watching, even if it's only "Watched xxxx; liked it," and there are plenty of posts in the thread that are short like that - you don't have to use me and Colfax as the models. I liked your review, though. It got me curious enough to check the link and give the show a closer look, so that's a win for you right there. |
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