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Nov 15, 2017
Washio Sumi's Chapter is a prologue to Yuki Yuna is a Hero that serves as both a redefining experience and as a unique universe addition. Its goal was to sit somewhere been essential world-building and narrative, or simply being an extra story to flesh out the main series.
I say this because there's 2 ways to experience the Washio story. Released originally as a light novel, chapters were coming in between episodes and thus were made in such a way as to not spoil the original series and should probably be watched (or read) alongside the original series... to a certain extent. If you haven't already
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seen Yuki Yuna is a Hero or plan on rewatching it, then I absolutely recommend the watch order detailed here https://tinyurl.com/yajt5dz9
It gets even more confusing to recommend the best way to experience the Washio Sumi story, as the series was originally adapted into a theatrical run of 3 45 minute movies, that were then condensed slightly into a TV format.
It's awfully complex, considering it's for 2 hours of content. But it's a very complex and worthwhile 2 hours of content.
Overcoming the short runtime is an efficiency of focus. Almost no time is wasted, magnifying solely on 3 things: the 3 leads' lives, the battles and the world.
The condensing of material into just 6 episodes was surprisingly smooth. The introductions were fast but powerful, and the singular slice-of-life episode used a skit-style method to push all of its various ideas, including the leads lives but also to alter our perception of the world they live in, and foreshadow the rest of the series and the original series. It's creative; it's fun, and when it comes down to it, utterly distressing.
The leads go through a lot of development. They realistically and touchingly go from barely even being aware of one another to the best of friends; they heartbreakingly go from being society's outcasts to its heroes, and find something meaningful, something beautiful, along the way to fight for.
"Do your best no matter what" in the original series becomes "make sure to come back", and considering the meek lives these girls have had, and the courage they employ in spite of that, is truly heartwrenching to watch. A particular scream from Washio herself in episode 5/movie 3 is thoroughly spine-tingling, and I dread that the battle following that, with its infinite aggression and rage, may just stay with me for the rest of my life as one of the most distressing breakdowns in anime.
Make no mistake: The Washio Sumi Chapter, like its sequel series Yuki Yuna is a Hero, is one of the darkest magical girl shows around. Yet somehow, Washio Sumi's Chapter manages to eclipse the original series in how far its willing to challenge its leads, while still pushing the unique sense of tear-forming melancholy rather than stomach-churning dread.
Downsizing from 5/6 to 3 heroes makes a big difference, and the girls learn how to put their unique skills together to best fight the very specific, creatively designed vertexes, without becoming video-game technobabble or cheesy.
The movie isn't necessarily subtle about where its story is going, but I'm forever impressed by the subtlety of the world-building. Peppered throughout is a distinct idea of an entirely different, dystopian and apocalyptic world, but these are restricted almost entirely to the convention of the world - there is no idiot-dumping to get you to realise the world they live in is hell, it simply is, and everybody is finding a unique way of coping.
Perhaps in part due to its theatrical run, the visuals are gorgeous... aside from the ever-present fanservice which is just unneeded. It continues to smear the transformation sequences in an overly sexual way, and permeates even into the script as the reference Washio's breasts 2-3 times. It's a reduction compared to the original series, but it's still there and one of the biggest barriers into the franchise.
The music is typically excellent as it was in the original, and the final ED (Yakusoku/Promise) is possibly the greatest tearjerker I've heard in years (seriously, do not read those lyrics once you've got context).
I can't write a review without mentioning the excellent performance from Kana Hanazawa as Nogi Sonnoko. "IT'S KAGAWA LIIFEE" is perhaps one of the most funny, grounded, slice-of-life sequence that will forever be a top-tier meme for its honest self-awareness. "We're friends forever, you see," on the other hand, is one of the most tearjerking monologues in anime history.
(just writing those words down is bringing tears to my eyes. I'm not strong enough for this series)
In my honest opinion, unless you are going to watch the watch order I recommended earlier, and plan on watching the series as a standalone after finishing the original series, then I would recommend the Washio Sumi Chapter movie trilogy over the series. The 45 minute movies are just that little bit better at execution, most notably in the final, though there are very few differences other than the OP/ED breaks.
The Washio Sumi Chapter's addition to the franchise makes the already-impressive Yuki Yuna series even more enticing. There's significant depth added in a strongly executed string of 6 episodes, and it widens the perception of the original series in a very unique way. It helps that the Washio story itself is excellent, but it's not quite self-contained enough to be seen as a standalone. Even though it is fantastic as an additional story, it's hard to recommend the convoluted watch-order to truly experience its universe-altering story.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jun 22, 2017
It's been 3 years since I last watched Simoun. I remember it being exceptional, and I've considered it my favourite since not long after watching it. But as I went through my rewatch, I was ready to nitpick and find as many flaws as I could. I now realise that there are few shows that even come close to Simoun's level of quality throughout, either as a character-drama, a war-drama, a sci-fi or the subtle social commentary peppered throughout.
Ah yes, I suppose I should mention that Simoun plants itself heavily within the war-drama category, with a heavy emphasis on its characters and set in a
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bizarre world (that admittedly takes a few episodes to get comfortable in). Despite how much time is reserved for the characters, the war is always at the forefront of every action, and the character subplots are always moving throughout, at steady intervals. It really is quite amazing how, in 26 episodes, it never once deviates from what's most important while building up 7 or 8 extra subplots naturally, and letting them simmer until they boil without ever being forgotten.
The war is more impressive than I remembered. There's a real sense of organic leadership and genuine hierarchy within the complex world of Simoun, throughout each of the factions (Simalcrum, Argentines and Plumbum). Intense strategies are formed and vary to the whims of the characters - comparing the strategies of the Arcus Prima's Captain to Chor Tempest's Regina to its standin leader during a crisis is incredible in itself, and that's before the battles even occur.
The battles are generally straightforward, but often twist and turn. I won't mince my words - this is an anime from 2006 that probably doesn't have the most amazing budget, even if it looks very good for the time. While there are no real art or animation hiccups (which is impressive), some of the sky-battles can be quite visually refrained. The designs of the Simoun prayers - or lines in the sky drawn by their trails - are very creative, and their effects equally so, but they sometimes feel a little copy-and-paste.
That's not to say the battles aren't tense. Far from it. The line between life and death is drawn many times - for both sides of the battle. "Don't look into their eyes," one Sibyallae (a Simoun pilot) says to another in their first battle, "you won't be able to kill them if you do." Early on, one pilot must cut up a hardened corpse to get back into their ship. Simoun is nothing if not full of surprises.
And those surprises continue into the most important aspect, the cast.
Simoun has an unusually large cast, but somehow manages to develop and change 10+ characters more than shows with double the amount of episodes could only dream of doing. Picking a favourite character is difficult as one will probably change down the line, or you'll see them in a different light.
What's more, each character is refreshingly human, unique, and are so well-rounded in all of their actions. There's a leader who actually has traits of leadership, there's significantly varying levels of maturity in different ways, there's a surprisingly real bitchiness, romance or lack thereof, friendships and problems. Everybody gets the spotlight all the time in Simoun, even when seemingly nothing is happening, or when everything is happening.
As the show goes into its latter half, that beautiful character development pays off. Many of the characters are pushed into decisions they never would have been able to make at the beginning of the show, and fail tests they earlier would have passed. They become totally irrational in the most rational of ways. They cling to what they believe or they lose it along the way.
The setup of Simoun, that is, a world where everybody is born sort-of-female initially, sets up for an incredibly subtle, yet also incredibly brave discussion of gender (even if it is offputting that every character, including male, has a decidedly feminine voice). It's almost hilarious to think that there is still a patriarchal society at work in the background of the show (one character even alludes to becoming male for "job prospects"), but it's also harrowingly real. The show portrays a sort-of innocence of youth alongside the gender struggles of the world - including considering nonbinary genders, transgender issues and intersex controversy. Few anime is willing to even consider these ideas, but Simoun takes them as if they are real, but not ever overbearing.
I am forever impressed by the refrains from fanservice throughout (in fact, considering this and the intense character drama makes me consider Simoun is probably aimed at a female demographic). Despite the fact that initally powering the Simoun requires its two pilots to share a kiss and then to kiss the ship's core after, most of the kisses in the show are just that - ritualistic, and mean nothing. The other kisses in the show are really very beautiful and convey more meaning than words every single time. The romance in this show is definitely among its strongest subjects, and maintains its high level of writing for a good 5-6 relationships with multiple sexualities (even if most of this show is 100% yuri).
The idea of religion is thoroughly tested. Two powerful scenes come to mind; when one character loses faith in his country's ideals, and one character who believes them wholeheartedly enough to give their life in their name in a fantastic inferno. Across the series, everybody considers why they are fighting and who they are fighting for, and consider giving up many times. The non-worldly religions obviously make the discussion leaning towards very atheistic-agnostic (it is amusing when a brief discussion between two opposing priestesses yields that their God is probably the same one or had the same name at one point).
I suppose at this point, I should discuss any of the nitpicks I found.
Floe's voice is very annoying, though it's inherent to her bitchy personality, and her honestly makes her quite likeable in spite of this.
The music is superb throughout. In fact, the most gorgeous soundtracks I've heard, and it's used very effectively for the most part. However, the first 5 or so episodes had some jaunting use of the music, occasionally at ends with the scene. Following that there are no more hiccups.
It's very addictive.
With it's incredible final crescendo, the ending of Simoun is perfectly tied up. Every character's arc is finished along the way, and the universe is at peace, but there is still a clever twist as the ending credits roll.
If there's anything that bummed me out about the finale, it's that I have to bid farewell to my favourite cast.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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May 23, 2017
Analysing a piece of fiction often begins with understanding the author's intentions; specifically, why this piece of work was made. Sometimes this is easy and can be done from the synopsis - for example, Shawshank Redemption is an example of the injustices of the American social system in terms of justice and rehabilitation. Others, it is not so easy, such as is the case for Mawaru Penguindrum or this anime, Himegoto.
Being an anime about a crossdressing girl with heaps of up-skirt dick-shots and short episode runtimes, you roll your eyes and presume the basest of intentions: fetish. You would expect a demographic of trap-fans, right?
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However, we see the show through Hime's perspective, and watch them (we will get onto gender identity later) be teased and sexually assaulted on multiple, hard to watch occasions. This unique view vilifies trap-lovers as perverts and rapists, and it must be quite the masochistic viewing for somebody looking for a quick-fix of up-skirt dick.
So, Himegoto is a poor excuse of demographic targeting and is a failure of a show. Perhaps, or perhaps it's something more complex. Satire, describing the extended LGBT issues of society through their flaws.
The wonderful Hourou Musuko shows a transgender girl coming to terms with her gender identity, and the problems with which she faces in society. Himegoto is not much different, though much more subtle in its approach and using the facets of society that condemn Hime's gender identity to describe it.
There are no words, no conversations to determine an answer. Not once do they ask Hime "are you a girl?", because they find out before they ask each time. Only once does Hime say they are a guy, and it's not a convincing act. It's an interesting question to ask at the end of the series. Is Hime a girl? They certainly look like a girl, and enjoy looking like a girl, they sound like a girl and they act like a girl. In fact, not once does Hime even dress like a guy. There is constant affirmation of their penis, but Hime has plenty of opportunities to revert back acting like a guy, such as at home, and doesn't. Perhaps I should sit down and discuss this phenomenon with some LGBT experts, but from my perspective, Hime is a girl.
And what's interesting, is how that affects the co-cast.
The school-council is essentially a group of perverts that treat Hime like a doll, but most notable of all is their leader, 18 (named as such because, well, she's 18). In episode 1, and several times after, 18 mentions and stresses how attractive she finds Hime, but chooses to punish them sexually and emotionally throughout the series. It is quite clear - 18 is a lesbian (the "Gold Star" variety - she describes Hime's penis as "an evil thing down there"), but struggling to cope with what it means; this newfound attraction to somebody she can't identify the gender of. It's not an uncommon thing to see in the 21st century, either - many people are struggling to understand if they can still be attracted to somebody that their outdated, middle school views of biology tell them that they aren't. Not only do we watch 18 struggling with the fruits of her sexuality, we see her punishment affecting Hime and elicits such sympathy.
Conclusively, the two leads of Himegoto are sending a message:
1) You're perverts
2) It's okay to be attracted to people based on how they act. That is who they are, not what's in their pants.
3) If you're judging people by what's in their pants, you're perverts.
These are surprisingly positive messages that many LGBT activists are trying to teach. It's surprising to see it bundled with so much fanservice, but that's because instead of making children's comics it is aiming straight at the source. Let's go straight to the source of people watching trap-shows - that is, heterosexual men, and teach them the LGBT issues by making them feel uncomfortable with their own actions.
It's like Clockwork Orange with sexual fetishes. Then again, I might just be reading into all of this wrong and Himegoto is actually misjudging it's demographic massively and selling them stuff they don't want to see.
Who knows?
All we can do is ask them.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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May 23, 2017
It's a curious thing, being the 2nd in a trilogy. Too often they get overshadowed as the "middle" chapter, sandwiched between a grand opening and a grand finale with only exposition as its purpose (Lord of the Rings), but sometimes the journey, the character shaping movements and setup for the finale are the strongest elements (Empire Strikes Back). Washio Sumi's 2nd chapter, Spirit, is already leaning toward the latter.
Following the friendship cemented at the end of the first movie, the second movie delves deeper into those bonds. Amusingly, it uses an omake-styled skit setting for the opening half's slice-of-life, giving us a fast-paced omnibus of
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character development, world-building and most importantly, juxtaposition, as the girls have a cutesy Vertex-free Summer to figure out who they are.
The universe of Yuki Yuna means that, at any point, the characters can be expected to be thrust into battle at the drop of a hat, indicated by the world's motion halting except for the main characters. This small ingredient makes the entire series' slice-of-life sequences incredibly tense, forcing you to watch the backgrounds for pauses. Watching the skits sections of this movie is incredibly stomach lurching, as you know at any point their world can be flipped upside down.
The movie isn't exactly subtle about what's to come, with very in-face foreshadowing. In fact, almost every skit can be considered as foreshadowing, either for later in the movie or the next one. But, despite all that preparation, it's hard to be ready for the finale.
The original series always put the girls on the backfoot, and while Washio Sumi's chapter is no different, it's more like they are on their last toe before they even start. The odds are even more stacked than ever before, and the brutality is even greater. It gets real dark, real quick.
Barring one or two of the skits flopping in the first half, Spirit is the finest moment of the Yuki Yuna franchise thus far, usurping the first movie with stronger characterisation and capturing the unique sorrow of Sailor Moon meets Hurt Locker only this universe can bring. Can the third movie do better still?
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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May 22, 2017
Blame!, with its grey ceilings, pillars and story, firmly plants itself within the cyberpunk genre. It even has leather-clad, sexy cyborgs to boot. It looks and feels like The Matrix when the characters aren't in fact in the Matrix. It's an apt anecdote because it's got as much point as that: a franchise missing its hook.
Blame! looks the part, certainly. In fact, it looks and sounds brilliant. Based in a desolate, underground city, it will never look as interesting as Ghost in the Shell's New Port City or the orange hue of Deus Ex. But the mixture of post-apocalyptic dystopia and cyberpunk dystopia come together,
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with a surprising amount of sci-fi technobabble backing it up, and create more than an interesting-enough world to spend a couple of hours in. Perhaps a franchise, if only there was better writing.
That's the crux of the problem here. Kiri is the uninteresting, mildly androgynous man-of-few-words dressed in black that you've seen dug up and refitted for generations, only this time the twist that breaks him from stereotype is... awkward line delivery. Having the lead badass talk a word-a-minute in gruff whispers is bizarre, to say the least.
The more human characters represent the kind you'd see lining filler episodes in a longer running series - that is to say, archetypal. They give us vague subplots such as hinting at an attempted romance with all of three lines and a caring sister, but unfortunately the time just isn't put in to make these stories believable. The subplots are so time-strained that they are meaningless, and robs the film of feeling, and its not like there is even witty dialogue to push it along.
Robotic scripts and cold characters aren't a rarity for the genre. Serial Experiments Lain and Ghost in the Shell get through their runtimes without one-liners and character-drama because they have something interesting to say, but I honestly can't say that Blame! even had a philosophical or thematic aspect. At its best it wanted to be a tense action film, but didn't have the style to back it up, and the story took the most barebones approach to action-adventure that could be mustered up, with inexcusably vague exposition as to why we moved from point-to-point.
Even when the hero is facing off against an impressive foe in a ring of flames, with dramatic music blaring loudly and lasers firing off in odd directions, there was no substance. The designs were interesting, with guns shooting spears and the badguys crawling around on all-fours with creepy masks, but I was still scratching my head. I'm not sure why this film got put together. It was quite pointless other than looking for something to watch popcorn to, and even then you could do better.
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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Mar 2, 2017
With awkward silence of Shirou’s inability to comprehend the words of others does the Nausverse return to our screens. Welcome back to the continuation of the story we shrugged off the harrowing inconsistencies to, with gritted teeth murmuring “at least the action is good.”
This time the story opens with that continued intrigue of Archer, of his hidden ideals and subtle character development, and the subplot of Caster’s backstory is fleshed out nicely. Unfortunately, the pitiful romance between Rin and Shirou is returning, with her tsundere tricks all coming to play while Shirou continues to be the biggest idiot on screen. On the bright side, at
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least he says what he’s thinking, even if that barely constitutes to rational, well-built thought that’s more often than not showing his chauvinism. At least more of the cast are calling him an idiot, instead of just Archer. When Gilgamesh says “you’re arrogance is breathtaking” I almost laughed at the self-awareness.
Before long more alliances are attempting to be made and, returning from Zero and cameos of last season, Gilgamesh finally strikes in what would be an epic battle against Berserker and his master, Ilya. I say ‘would be an epic battle’, because three words came to mind throughout the entire episode: “Type-Zero plz nerf.” It actually makes it hilarious that at one point Rin wanted to summon Saber because she was “the most powerful,” when actually she’s failed to do anything except retreat from other servants, watch others get killed and keep Shirou alive once or twice - though, with his near-suicidal tendencies I’d wager that’s bordering on superhero ability. She should be happy she ended up with Archer, because he’s certainly a lot more interesting than anything else in this show.
Speaking of which, I really must commend the poeticism that Archer’s character allows. The deconstruction of his character provides fantastic discussion for the show to take and a brilliant way to test our hero’s idiotic ideals; it gives the kind of fertile writing ground that made The Joker such a brilliant villain. The dialogue is a bit wonky in constantly attempting to allow the universe to handle such a twist, but Archer does provide one of the better monologues of the series. Perhaps if it allowed the audience to suspend their disbelief a bit more, this monologue could have been as strong as Fate/Zero’s finale.
All of this talk of ideals could have made for an interesting, albeit late development of Shirou, and learning to make choices to actually save others rather than throwing himself towards death thinking that gives some sort of purpose. Unfortunately, Shirou isn’t Batman, and has the inability to listen to anything anybody says. He’s probably too busy staring at Rin’s thigh-highs.
These things could be redeemed by the story, or by a good story, but Unlimited Blade Works writes itself into a corner as it tries to come to a conclusion. It makes excuses to save its characters, delaying battles for little reason, and death is not a constant that this universe’s rules abide. It jumps from point to point because the plot demands it, without reason behind why. For all the hype it builds, as soon as you take a step back, you realise the weakness of the narrative, the characters, the dialogue, the symbolism, all relying on top notch action, animation, brilliant music and… fanservice… to carry it. Sounds familiar? Yes, it’s a summer action-blockbuster, attempting to be more. Both series’ constitute a summer block-buster spread out across 25 episodes (24 if you exclude the pointless epilogue), when it really should have been 2-3 2 hours movies and would have lost nothing significant in that trimming.
Despite exploring Archer’s backstory in reflection to Shirou’s own story, despite fighting in a “war” that put him moments away from death constantly, despite all these betrayals and alliances, Shirou’s learned nothing, about himself or his ideals. The only difference between Shirou at the start and at the end is that he’s slightly better at magic and swordfighting.
But at least the action was good.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Feb 26, 2017
Unlimited Blade Works faces the awkward fact of being made in the wake of Fate/Zero, a tightly told, mature story with great action. It mainly differs in that, instead of constant planning, there is a slice-of-life-school storyline, but more than that…
The biggest difference is without a doubt the biggest blow.
Shirou.
We follow around a single protagonist, a weak novice mage who accidentally gets puled into the Grail Wars. It’s a fairly typical start for a show with a complex world, allowing lots of explanations for both the viewer and the characters without reducing them to idiots. Unfortunately, this bozo is an idiot anyway.
It’s through him that
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this show bares its ugly teeth. It’s a power fantasy harem with a powerless, weakly characterised fool that can be self-inserted easily, because without that self-insertion, there is very little to go on.
Girls throw themselves at him without reason as he twirls around his harem on his fingers. I genuinely can’t see why they do this - his edginess is painful, he’s standoffish and blunt with his words, he has the inability to listen to anything Rin says and he has the most childish ideals. To top it all off he is constantly, and amusingly, enforcing his sexist beliefs on the female characters who are unimaginably stronger than he is, despite showing him multiple times as such - though, I really must commend the strength of his plot armour, allowing him to dodge unavoidable deaths at least three times. His design even reeks of such, with obnoxiously sharp eyebrows and buzzy red hair that wouldn’t be out of place in Yu-Gi-Oh!
There’s supposedly a romance going on throughout this series, but it’s hard to believe anything. Shirou has no chemistry with standing idly let alone any other characters let alone his love interest and ally in the Holy Grail War, Rin.
Rin is an okay character. Undeniably a tsundere and despite following a few tropes too many, she’s okay. She’s a powerful mage with a lot of independence. Supposedly, she is the strategist, but Shirou has the inability to take in any of these ideas and ruins them. She has great chemistry with her servant, Archer, and her forcefulness and pushiness actually makes for some hilarious moments. Her face is truly expressive, with a door being closed on her at one point genuinely making me laugh in this show that begs to be dark.
Expect to see ribs protruding from chests, limbs cut to pieces and impaling’s beyond niceties. Much like Zero, Unlimited Blade Works doesn’t pull its punches. Alongside its bleak colour scheme and shots of nightfall, Blade Works desperately wants to be taken seriously. But then it shows its schoolboy harem with comic side-characters that fall-flat, there’s a loli commanding a giant from time-to-time and one servant is killed in a bath of BDSM-ish chains. There’s a very specific audience for this show, to say the least of its inconsistencies in tone and pacing.
Aside from all this, I can say for certain that Unlimited Blade Works is a thing of production beauty; an epic soundtrack, industry-leading animation and great sound-editing go into making the expertly choreographed fight-scenes a joy to behold. That and a story that promises some interest, is enough to just about get through this weak season. It’s going to be hard to save Shirou unless he does actually finally (hopefully) die and we continue to follow Rin like in the prologue, but I pray that the second half has some more intrigue, and hopefully explores the depth of Archer’s character and we find out about the other masters.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Dec 28, 2016
Kannazuki No Miko is one of those anime that's so powerful it demands an opinion. When it gnaws at its budget and the impressive writing, it is a truly outstanding anime. But it throws so much into the mixture that it's often hard to focus on these moments of wonder.
At it's heart is a slice-of-life romance; a love triangle that you'll remember forever. Even the show's detractors cannot take away the power of this show's beating, complex heart.
Chikane Himemiya, the grace of Otoachibana academy, the perfection of the town Mahoroba and only daughter to its ruling family, underpins this show with a demeanour few anime
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can claim. Stereotypically, her archetype isn't uncommon: rich, perfect, flawed. Tall, beautiful, dark. However, she is struggling with her sense of identity, dominated by her sexuality.
In the show's most touching moments, we see a girl struggling to accept that she is homosexual; that she's imperfect; that she can no longer blend in with everybody's perception of her.
At the show's most darkest moments, we see a girl broken by her undying love for somebody, that she feels will never see her the way she wants to be seen.
It's heartbreaking seeing a character so easy to sympathise with; so easy to root for.
That's not to say that you root against the object of her affection's male-crush, however. Souma is a brave soul, and shares a cute romance with Himeko. He cares for her deeply, and you cannot stand to see him lose.
It's heartbreaking to see him succeed.
It's also heartbreaking to see the rest of this show.
Kannazuki no Miko focuses on a complex plot, drawing on ideas of Japanese folklore, rebirth and... mecha.
In short, the priestess of the sun (Himeko Kurusugawa) and the moon (Chikane Hmemiya) must revive The God of Swordsman (Ame no Murakumo) to defeat the Orochi, who will, if unstopped, destroy the world. To prevent this from happening, Orochi chooses 8 necks to kill the priestesses before they can revive Ame No Murakumo.
And the 8 necks use mecha.
It's a crying shame that the series couldn't afford longer to build on these aspects more, because the plot is fairly simple but often attempts to deepen itself and fails. The necks actually have strong chemistry with each other, sharing witty banter - but at times, they fall prey to simply being goons and out-of-place comic relief, and they simply don't get enough screentime to be explained. The mecha are very generic and again, unexplained. The animation is often very average with long-distance shots of faces looking particularly uncomfortable.
But thankfully, the show spends most of it's time at it's strongest points, the slice-of-life aspects. The love triangle, as aforementioned, and the relationship between it's characters which are truly heartwarming to see unfold.
The show seems to have spent most of it's budget on it's strongest points, too. The OP and ED, courtesy of Kotoko, are fantastic. Agony, the ED, features a piano ostinato intro that plays atop the ending of each episode, and sends shivers down the spine as it captures the melancholy perfectly. Bonus fact: the Agony art, featuring a romantic embrace between Himeko and Chikane in their miko outfits and wrapped in red string, is more famous than the show is. I've seen parodies with hundreds of other characters.
Produced by Mina Kubota, the gorgeous classical backing music steals the show. The piano hooks are iconic; describing characters, locations and scenery beautifully. Even when the show delves into it's weakly choreographed mech-battles, you can guarantee that beautiful ballroom music will accompany it. I implore you to watch this show for the music alone.
When Kannazuki no Miko comes to its final handful of episodes, it focuses its sights strictly on the strongest aspects. The script might be a little flowery, but it's poetic to no end, and the ending serves as one of the most beautifully tragic finales that can be experienced in anime. The ending of Chikane's story is more heartwrenching and more touching than I could have ever expected.
But in the end, it's hard to say Kannazuki no Miko is perfect. It could have been, but it needed to either strengthen it's weak aspects or ditch them altogether. Regardless of how perfect characterisation and romance is in this show, it carries a lot of unnecessary baggage.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Dec 23, 2016
Keijo!!!!!!!!, with all 8 exclamation marks being absolutely necessary, is an outrageous show about swimsuit-clad women fighting each other with their butts and boobs in a kind of sumo-wrestling parody. Sounds outrageous, right?
The most outrageous thing about Keijo!!!!!!!! is how touching it can be.
Make no mistake, Keijo is bonkers. But instead of simply filling the screen with butts doing battle, a lot of work has been put into the little things. We follow Nozomi, a somewhat typical protagonist, that is, a ridiculously arrogant yet free-spirited soul, as she attends Setouji Keijo Training School, an academy specifically for Keijo. However, what I was not expecting at
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all was how dedicated she is to improving - almost an entire episode was used to let her explore her weakness in the ring; pulling turnips with her hips to improve her speed.
This aspiration is not unique to her character alone, however. Put into Room 309 with the other expected-drop-outs, the four girls of the room, Sayaka, Non and Kazane, come together to beat the low expectations of them. The group use Kazane’s smartness but must overcome her shyness first, and it’s surprisingly human how they become friends and allow her to come out of her shell. But, unlike some shows where character development is for nought, Kazane continues to use what she’s learned throughout the rest of the show, most notably when she teams up with and leads a couple of Keijoers she doesn’t know to attempt to beat the school’s number 1 Keijo player.
The underlying use of subplots in this show is superb. Sayaka, who is undoubtedly the 2nd most important character of this show, is an ex-Judo champion, even having represented Japan. Quitting Judo to pursue Keijo, she has a lot of expectations to live up to, both internally and externally. Watching her overcome these was inspirational. Watching her father finally coming to understand her dreams conflict with his own and accepting that, was touching. Need I remind you this is a show about clashing butts?
The battles themselves are exceptionally creative. In fact, the reason I started watching this show was seeing a picture of Kazane’s “GATE OF BOOTYLON” power and giggling so much I simply had to get some context. Power moves are crazy fun, such as Kotone’s Cerberus-butt and “Titty Hypnosis”, and allow for constant surprises in the the tense fights. The use of crazy sounds such as machine guns, explosions, rubber-bands and high-pitched cringing slaps makes you feel the prominence of every attack - and it hurts.
Of the most impressive aspects of this show is the friendship. As each character of Setouji is pitted against each other, every time the will show veer you to root for a certain character, either through prior character development, underdog stories… you name it. But later, you will be rooting for the character you once wanted to see booted off the platform - simply because we’ve seen them change for the better. It’s inspiring, and a little awkward to have my heart tugged from side-to-side by the show’s strong writing, when it draws from women fighting with butts.
The most surprising thing about Keijo!!!!!!!? The fanservice isn’t even that prominent. The character designs are varied - such as their overweight former-champion for a teacher, the body-builder shapes, the overly-defined-hourglass curves and the more regular straight bodies with varying sizes of prominent features. Though, I must say, if you don't like muscley girls, you won't like the girls of Keijo. Perhaps the show lingers for too long looking at a certain angle, but it never feels particularly like camera-angles are decided by a pervert. They feel more like a sports show.
Because that's what it is. A ridiculously good sport show, with a crazy concept, a unique sense of friendship and a hilarious script that you're doing yourself a disservice not to watch. If only for the giggles.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Dec 21, 2016
You've got be in a certain time at a certain place to appreciate Cowboy Bepop. It's sense of cultural mismatch doesn't excuse it's lack of identity. It pushes style over substance because there is no substance. It's constant homage to everything and anything muddies whatever originality it has.
But at the same time, cowboys in space sounds cool right? Freeform jazz is cool too. Martial arts are cool. Are these the reasons the anime became so famous? Or is it because the 90s meant it had to be viewed on television at whatever time the channels chose to air Japanese cartoons, meaning that the sense of
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disconnect was covered up by genuine disconnection? Is it because it was the only good looking anime that could be watched - in English - without cringing?
Perhaps it's my fault I didn't like Cowboy Bepop. Maybe it's because I chose to marathon it, going 3-4 episodes a day? Maybe it's because it's old? Maybe I'm simply not the target audience? During the duration I gave Cowboy Bebop, I was constantly trying to puzzle together why I didn't like it. Maybe it'll get better, I figured.
The thing is that any logical conclusion I could think of didn't make sense. Other 90s anime include some of my all time favourites like Neon Genesis, Revolutionary Girl Utena and Serial Experiments Lain, so it's definitely not my lack of tolerance towards it's age. I've marathoned tons of shows, and if anything, that tends to make me enjoy them more. I love sci-fi.
When I finally came to my senses, I finally rejected the idea that Cowboy Bepop is good. I accepted my own opinion, piercing through the thick armour of everybody else's, fuelled by rampant nostalgia and shielded by being overly sympathetic to the show's age.
With most (x)-of-the-week shows, you figure out quite quickly whether you'll like them or not based on 1 or 2 episodes. I liked Bepop at first, I loved it's sense of style, with a Blade-Runner-like noir universe and fun jazz. But every episode had exactly the same format, with no connections between episode - no hook to make me care. The 20 minute runtime of the show meant that they nose-dived into introducing whoever they chase, they chase them and then they get paid. The action sequences were so drawn out that there wasn't any time for fickle character development or an underlying plot.
Every single list discussing the best characters in anime includes one or two of these characters. After 16 or so mundane episodes, I just couldn't figure this one out. They're bland. Their interactions are cold and sterile with little chemistry. A sense of family was forced upon you, but it only served to remind how stereotypical and cliche Jet's caring side is. Faye's design makes her nothing more than sci-fi modified fanservice, and her character has very little going on inside. Ed is annoying.
And then we come to Spike, who serves as the show's hero. He's a generic Marty Stu, who's too cool to care about.
Cowboy Bepop amazes me, it really does. The aura of perfection is has, built solely on fond memories of small TVs and awkward schedules, is impressive. But if you take it out of context, the facade falls down. Cowboy Bepop is weekly trash and nothing more.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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