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Jun 18, 2016
The Lost Village is a rather unique show. Featuring a large cast of thirty named characters, acclaimed director Tsumotu Mizushima (Shirobako, Girls und Panzer, Dai Mahou Touge) and a similarly acclaimed writer Mari Okada (Ano Hana, Toradora, Nagi no Asakura); to call The Lost Village ambitious would be an understatement. In this review I intend to explain what makes The Lost Village brilliant whilst also explaining what makes this show as polarizing as it appears to be.
The Lost Village presents itself as a horror show. A bunch of kids and young adults board a bus to a mysterious village in order to rebuild their lives.
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On the way large there are constant references to suicide, cannibalism, and torture. An incredibly generic thriller horror opening. Typically this kind of show with a large initial cast fall into that brand of horror where most of the cast is 'spent' in either a gorey or a psychologically unnerving manner. That would normally be what draws people to the show initially, for example Higurashi. At the start of the season that is very much what I expected from The Lost Village: an over the top horror show with some incredibly silly deaths, basically Another. I couldn't have been more wrong.
The Lost Village is a comedy show. It is a comedy show set in an amateur studentish horror show. Most anime comedy revolves around overt gags. You have a show, be it a comedy show or merely a show that utilizes a comedy, and in it a joke is presented to you. The joke is then commented on by the cast, usually a 'straight-man character'. Obviously this varies, from Key adaptation's very single skit focussed approaches to comedy, to Jojo's Bizarre Adventure's approach of having ridiculous things be ridiculous but playing it entirely straight within the show itself. However, none of these is how The Lost Village approaches comedy. The humour in The Lost Village is instead more meta-structural. Playing with genre or anime-in-general expectations by 'looking' at the 'correct way' of doing things and then doing the opposite.
All thirty-something characters are all one dimensional flat characters with maybe one or two traits to each of them. You have the meowing gun fan, the earnest execution lover, that incredibly thirsty boy, and that's a joke. In a lesser show this would be atrocious. An entire cast of unlikable bland characters. Yet the show constantly draws attention to not only how ridiculous the cast is, but also how genuine the cast is. That meowing gun lover will always be meowing, always will be in love with guns, and that is just their character. No tragic backstory, even when brought up, will explain that away like a traditional horror thriller would. The meowing gun fan isn't meowing because she was bullied as a kid, nor is the execution lover into execution as some form of vengeance over abuse. Instead, The Lost Village's tragic backstories exist merely to poke fun at tragic backstories. To poke fun at itself, and to bring genuine laughter to it's audience.
Almost everything in the show revolves around taking it's horror thrilling premise and ruining it. Any tense moment will be butchered by traditionally bad shot composition. All movement in a scene being off camera, the focus of a scene being completely absent and the 180 degree rule being ignored, or just putting props in the way of the character talking for the sheer purpose of taking all tension that 'should' be in the scene away. Or perhaps, instead of using bad shot composition, what will ruin a scene is the cast just getting bored. Rather than grouping together, or splitting up in order to find the plot the vast majority of the time the cast state that they should be doing that and then immediately get bored and distracted. The show is completely consistent in it's contrivances. It's running jokes continue running and even reach climactic highs as the cast accidentally run across and have Plot happen to them.
The Plot in The Lost Village is a Plot of nothingness. Since it takes so long for the cast to actually 'get' anywhere what could typically have been a hamfisted appreciation of trauma instead takes an entire season to get going and then get's 'resolved' in bored characters speaking verbal shitposts at each other. These conversations about nothing, or about something important before getting distracted account for around half of all that happens in the show. It's ridiculous.
Yet, even with all this ridiculous nothingness going on, The Lost Village has some genuine moments. These genuine moments, whilst laughed at in some form of another most, but not all, of the time, are well done. A character dealing with or coming to terms with their trauma is not laughed at. The traumas that the Plot of the show explores are not the jokes in and of themselves. The Lost Village cares deeply for it's cast of sometimes absurd archetypes, and sometimes oddly genuine people. In caring for them it cares deeply for it's audience. Genuine struggles are treated genuinely. There's no gratuitous abuse, and the only violence that's a joke in and of itself tends to revolve around The Big Bads being CG and terrible.
It would be easy to look at what The Lost Village does and compare it to check lists of good and bad writing and decide it is definitely of the former. But to consider the show bad because of this would be doing it a disservice. The Lost Village takes traditionally bad writing and direction and instead makes it good. The Lost Village uses the implicit 'joke' in stuff like The Room or Birdemic and makes it explicit. If you buy into the inconsistent consistency of it's premise The Lost Village is a precious show. An unmissable and unique experience. However, such an experience may be hard to get into, for by using traditionally bad techniques can be a major turn off making it impossible for one to get immersed in the fun.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Sep 20, 2015
Ranpo Kitan is a mystery show homaging the biggest influence on the Japanese mystery scene: Edogawa Ranpo. Ranpo Kitan doesn't just adapt his works, instead it blends the themes, narratives, and characters from many of his works. Unlike more orthodox mystery shows, Ranpo Kitan isn't about solving the mystery of a crime. The who, how, and why dunnits are unimportant and given little focus. Instead Ranpo Kitan asks 'what'. What is this crime scene presenting to us? Its gore and horrifying violence aren't just shocking images. They're artistic pieces created as a response to troubles of society. But are the troubles of society as seen
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by an early 20th century man still relevant a century later?
Our primary protagonist of Ranpo Kitan is Kobayashi. Kobayashi is a young child who is dragged into solving a series of serial killings after he is framed for the murder of his teacher. Kobayashi is an interesting protagonist, in the ways he opposes the other, far more Sherlockian, detectives we follow. We are shown Kobayashi's world view through the show's very controlled aesthetic. It depicts all unimportant characters as empty silhouettes, or as mannequins. By 'unimportant' I am not talking about unimportant to the plot, mystery, or narrative of the show. These characters are unimportant to Kobayashi (Or whoever's viewpoint we're following at that moment). Kobayashi only seems interested in the broken, rotten, and perverse aspects of the world. His classmates, teachers, and even police officers are all blank until they do something to interest him. Things like having scars hidden on their wrists. Talking about new parts of the serial murders. Or by having unique capabilities such as Akechi being above the law. Kobayashi's twisted outlook is something Ranpo Kitan makes explicit from the very start. It is this twisted nature that is the main focus of the show.
This visual story telling is what Ranpo Kitan is best at. Rather than aiming for realism, Ranpo Kitan depicts dialogue and exposition through fantastical 'stages'. These stages have a variety of different styles and designs, reflecting the character who's mindset they are depicting. Sometimes, they have bubbly and happy music and dialogue. Even though this happiness is often clashing with exposition of how the victim died, and the dark empty visuals. Sometimes they show us the crime scene. At which point the stage is full of grotesque, gaudy and rich colours. Off putting not in a gorey fashion, but in a more disconcerting fashion all together. This enables Ranpo Kitan to address more intimate issues than it otherwise could through a more traditional depiction.
The crimes in Ranpo Kitan are reactionary crimes. The culprits have all been intimately wronged by the victim, and society cannot or will not help them. These crimes thread together an overarching narrative of a war against the parts of society that allow these wrongs to exist. This corruption is unfortunately of an aged, privellaged, and surreal type. Such as the police being unable to punish people due to abuse of mental health laws. If someone pleads insanity, they 'get away' with murder so to speak. Women having sex, or homosexuals are sexual perversions.
These corruptions in a modern setting are all very reactionary ones that are fighting against the changes in society. However, these reactionary responses are where our protagonists quirks stand out. Our protagonists are not straight, able people. They are queer in many aspects and a variety of ways, even if the show rarely treats women well at all. Many parallels are drawn between them and our culprits. Be it in how similar their ideals are, their queer gender and sexualities, or in just being neurodivergent. Our protagonists are often the very thing the crimes are lashing out against. Yet, not once are our protagonists treated as being wrong. The narrative is firmly on the side of Kobayashi and his friends, even when the various arcs would suggest otherwise.
This confusion over what Ranpo Kitan is trying to say is not a small thing. For one thing, it brushes over pedophillic grooming as a love story. Only demonising it later on when kidnapping is involved. When one arc is great another is often terrible. Even when the actual storytelling methods are just as phenomenal in both. Sometimes the show is addressing and exploring real relevant horrors that are present in modern society. Sometimes its exploration is just another story scared of people who are always used as scapegoats for real issues. Its aesthetic carried it through its weaker moments for me, but that may not be the case for everyone. As no matter how stellar its style and tone is, it is rare the content of the arcs lives up to similar standards.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Sep 23, 2014
Fate can often be a cruel word. To ascribe someone's life as being merely the flow of fate, takes away from that which a person has done on their own. It takes away from their achievements. In a similar vein, it 'okays' the shit they've gone through as having some purpose; rather than condemning those who cause horrendous shit in the first place.
Fate can often be a kind word. To ascribe someone's life as following the flow of fate, can give purpose to someone who doesn't know where to go next. It can fuel further achievements. In a similar vein it gives hope to someone
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as they go through tough times; as everything happy and everything sad happens for a reason. Nothing is wasted.
Mawaru Penguindrum is a 2011 anime that explores this dualism; created by Brain's Base (Baccano, Natsume Yuujinchou, Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun...) and directed by the creative genius that is Kunihiko Ikuhara (Sailor Moon, Revolutionary Girl Utena...). Penguindrum is a psychological, and philosophical drama that asks us about the costs of fighting fate. Even if to fight fate is the right thing to do.
The Takamura twins, Kanba and Shou, live happily in a quaint colourful house with their little sister Himari. At least they wish to. Himari is terminally ill, though stable enough to live at home and enjoy her remaining time with her brothers. Whilst doting on her in an exceptional display of adoration, she collapses at her favourite aquarium. Dying tragically, but at least happily. However an odd hat that she was bought at the aquarium brings her back to life with a call of "Survival tactics.".
From there on, the plot follows this family as the twins scramble to find the elusive 'Penguindrum' to ensure the continued survival of Himari. Both twins have different lengths they will go to to reach this goal; from focussing on this mystical hats demands, to making deals with the mob. Everyone in this show will do horrific things. Everyone in this show will do amazing things. The consequences of both actions may seem unfair. Life is not fair. Your efforts are rewarded, or not rewarded, without a care for what sacrifices you may have made. It is a struggle to deal with this, and it is this struggle that plagues the Takamura household and those they come into contact with.
Deceptively colourful is a good way to describe this show's aesthetic. Adorable mascot characters are juxtaposed with themes of terrorism, sexual assault, and child abuse. Some of these themes may have a risk of being highly problematic, however I feel the show treated it's characters quite well; in that nothing was used badly or just for gags. The varying sexualities, genders and social standings of the characters, whilst not being the focus, were relatively well portrayed. That isn't to say you won't ever be hurt by this show. No no no, this show is painfully sadistic. Thriving on and relying on the punishments it allocates to the cast. You will feel for and care about these characters. You will love them and they will be hurt. Life isn't something you can cheat, and Penguindrum is certainly a commentary on real life. You may not realise it at first. You may find some characters to be extreme. That noone can be like that. But they'll grow on you. The cast are awfully realistic in their extremes, noone acts inhuman. By the end of the show it wouldn't be surprising for you to be in a puddle of tears over these fictional characters in this penguinny anime.
Ikuhara is not a director who tells you everything you need to know in dialogue. He uses symbolism and metaphors almost to an extreme. To follow everything the show has to say you will need to actively watch it. Even then you probably won't pick up on everything, I certainly haven't. Despite this, the earlier episodes can be extremely fun and watchable without too much effort. These enjoyable comedy moments also continue throughout, though the further in you get the more they contrast with what else is on screen. Penguins that mirror the central trio provide this. Their actions mirror their 'owners'. So whilst what they may be doing could be considered comedic, they also express underlying meanings to what the scene is about. In a similar vein certain scenes are portrayed as humorous fantasies. However what they show may be more than what initially meets the eye.
Symbolism is a central tenant of Ikuhara's directing. From every unimportant character being a warning sign figure, to the large number of motifs throughout; Penguindrum oozes style. Unified colour schemes enhance and often give extra meaning to what a scene could be. Is this elevator ride one of joy? Terror? Or is it stained by long lost memories? All of this is conveyed through music, colour as well as through empty space. A thoroughly cohesive experience is Penguindrum, from style to substance everything builds together to create a feeling that is unique and special. Both openings are representative of this, as they give an insight into everything show is. As well as being rewatchable once you know what various symbolisms really mean.
Looking and sounding good are two things that Penguindrum undeniably has. Any of a large number of vocal tracks add to any episode's ending, either through contrast or exaggeration. These also tie into the very themes of the show, as they are sang by the character group Triple H. Whilst these EDs are not animated for the most part, the variety and feel of them make up for this. Insert tracks from this group are also commonplace in the series, mainly during a repeatedly shown and toyed with scene. Through use of formulaic animation and rearranges of the same riff, the show manages to feel very lifelike and wholesome. This cohesion that the style of the show oozes, is matched in how the show sounds.The OST has a huge variety of tracks. From the piano focussed and more fairy tale like, to more rocky guitar pieces, film noir style pieces, and even pieces that wouldn't sound out of place in a mech show. The main unifying riffs are used appropriately and enhanced with beautiful vocal choirs. Even theatre-esque tracks and classical music make appearances appropriately. Maintaining such a cohesive show whilst having such variety is nothing short of amazing.
Amazing is something I wouldn't hesitate to call Penguindrum. Whilst a bigger world is not present, the depth and breadth of all characters make up for this. The depth and breadth of the ideas that are explored in the show make up for this. The sheer beauty and care that is Penguindrum makes up for this. Not many shows attempt what is attempted here. Not many shows can. There are alot of different shows you can watch, Crunchyroll and Netflix certainly help with that. Yet if you're looking for something special, a show that you can watch countless times. A show that does things differently, that will leave you feeling empty inside when finished. Penguindrum will certainly satisfy, and despite not being on streaming services, is well worth any and all money you can put into it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Apr 5, 2014
I, like most everyone on this planet, like things.
The things that I like come in many different shapes and sizes. One such thing that I like is the Winter 2014 show Noragami, a 'feels' shounen brought to you by Studio Bones, that brings together elements of shows like Soul Eater and Rurouni Kenshin to give you a 'family-centric' journey exploring what it means to be alive.
Or rather I wish it did. At its best you've got tear jerking moments of mortality, family, and the struggles of existence. You have a cast of characters you care about, the voice acting encapsulating each character almost perfectly,
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flowing between emotions and the changing tone beautifully. At its worse you have long 'bouts of 'struggle of the week'. Slow buildup to something with mediocre story telling until the conclusion. And foreshadowing that is either so obvious it hurts, or massively fascinating and never really answered.
This show's strengths are in its characters, mainly Yato - who consistently brings out the best interactions of the entire show, be it his sweetness or his harshness - and are the primary reason that I want more and more of Noragami. Don't get me wrong, the rest of the cast are all better than average. Certainly better than what I expect from a battle shounen. And when the show is being a harsh drama I am utterly entranced, fulfilled and cathartic.
But. When it is not being amazing. It is mediocre beyond belief. Slow pacing, which ,whilst forwarding the overall plot, could easily have been something else more in line with the show at its best. This is further exemplified by the animation quality which just seems disappointing. The art style deserves better than what it got. The art style on its solid and certain 'Phantoms' (The primary antagonistic beings for most of the series) just ooze awesome. Others look about as cool as a blue frog can look. And whilst I couldn't call the animation terrible, for the most part it does nothing good, the creepiness is not exemplified, the sadness is not exemplified, the little details are simply absent. I'm never impressed and at my worse I'm disappointed by how often the shounen “Power up to kill shit” is copy and pasted. Sure it is cool the first couple of times, but with the amount it is reused it loses its power quickly.
The soundtrack takes some interesting steps. Using more electronic and dubsteppy tracks than your standard rocky shounen. I personally found it kind of bland, but I can easily see others enjoying it far more as the tracks are not out of place and certainly match the moods of the scenes. Being unique in this regard should be applauded, but whether it really works or not is something we can question heavily.
However the biggest and most substantial flaw of this show is where the overall plot goes. This is a 12 episode series that does not buckle down and focus. Most of what fascinated me in the earlier episodes was not really built upon. Instead I have a Kenshin-esque fight scene and a re-establishment of the strange 'friend-family-esque' trio, which was only broken up an episode earlier. I want more exploration of Yato and Yukine's character depth and backstory. I want my weird romance subplot between a kinda human and a deity. I want the three main plot lines to be resolved.
But I don't have that. Instead I'm left here waiting and hoping for a season two that takes everything amazing about this show and continues, without the flaws of the first season. Which in itself is an issue, because the ending track is completely and utterly gorgeous. Easily amongst one of the best EDs, based on track alone, that I have had the fortune to listen to in my lifetime. But a single music track alone is not something most people will watch a show for.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Jan 22, 2014
I, like most people on this planet like things.
Things that I like come in many shapes and forms, one of which being anime and manga. One such anime / manga I like is Wandering Son. A character driven narrative that follows the lives of a handful of middle school children as they grow through puberty and the issues that they come up against. All in all this is a pretty standard setting and premise for an anime or manga, all it really needs is me adding on the words ‘fan service’ and ‘fighting power’ and really this description could be about 90% of any anime
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out there.
In actuality, the themes and overall feel of Wandering Son is something that I’ve found to be pretty unique in the medium. The series, and manga, may differ but some things that are shared between them, given that I have read the first four volumes of the manga and watched the entire anime twice, is that they both gently deal with issues of transgenderism, relationships, and gender roles. I say gently because there is really nothing forceful about what is shown. Every character is treated as a human, as a person. There is no ‘role’. For any single character in the show I would have to use multiple archetypes and at least one or two paragraphs of extra text to even get close to summarising them. I can’t just say “There’s the tsundere bad ass pilot” or “She’s the naïve gold hearted moe.”. Instead I’m forced to describe them as people, though of course their relationships towards one and other is another way to point out who is who to those who struggle to tell the characters apart.
The art style of the manga is very minimalistic, a childish aesthetic without actually being badly drawn. This is no Oyasumi Pun-Pun when it comes to art. But, from my aesthetically inclined perspective, the art style matches the feel of the manga perfectly. Utterly capturing childish innocence with maturity. But, the characters can be hard to make out. I haven’t really had that issue except in panels showing the classroom, but Shimura Takako has had letters about that issue from fans of the manga so us Westerners aren’t just being stupid. The anime has this to a greater effect, in that in your first viewing you probably won’t know who is who half the time until around episode four. But, you get gorgeous looking water colours and pretty fluid animation. So it isn’t bad at all, and probably could be argued is due to the nature of most anime to have very distinctive characters aka: Pink haired girl, brown haired guy, that dude with the eye patch, rather than the more authentic colourings and hair styles of Wandering Son.
There is no real over arching storyline in either the anime or manga, at least up to volume four of the manga. And that isn’t a bad thing. Given that this is a mature journey like narrative. These are real fictional people. And you care about them. There is no villain, sure Nitori’s sister may bully him at times, but she genuinely cares for him. The bully at school has much more going on for him in a non-antagonistic way than bully characters normally do. Anna on her introduction is initially shown to be strict and cold hearted, even though she’s a really conscientious and caring character. This narrative is about, driven by, and made beautiful by the characters, and as I’ve already expressed about them they are amazing.
Now, as amazing as I find this series, as much love and affection I may lather onto it, that might mean absolutely nothing to you. You ain’t me? So why should or shouldn’t you watch or read this? If you’re looking for some brain dead, happy go lucky, or witty moe, this ain’t what you’re looking for. If you’re after brutal murder, nope. If you really want to stay away from shows that delve into issues with gender and sexuality in a meaningful fashion, you probably should watch this, but I say that in a “Everyone should experience this.” way, as opposed to “This show doesn’t do that.” when it clearly does. If on the otherhand you want a gentle, meaningful, and thought provoking look at growing up ‘the wrong sex’ or just growing up in the real world with real personal development issues. This could be for you. I have never felt such horror for someone having a wet dream before reading this. Understandably that didn’t get into the anime.
And this was a thing I liked.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Sep 9, 2013
The first thing you notice when you begin watching Myself;Yourself is that of the art style. The long faced style of the characters, simple designs and non-distinguished clothing can be a rather large turn off to the viewer. Likewise the passable animation quality can be annoying to a viewer that wants everything to be a work of art. From simply animating more than just the characters hands clapping, or lip sync the show lacks a lot of what one could find beautiful. This is most aptly shown by the opening of the show, which utilizes a concert scene. Similar scenes in other shows use accurate
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and elegant animation to the music which often astounds the audience. Yet in Myself;Yourself you merely get the energy of the characters movement portrayed, not the actual instruments played. Which as it sounds doesn't make the show hard to watch, it merely does not draw you in as strongly as it could otherwise do.
The music used in the show is pretty forgettable. None of the musical tracks carry any mood badly though, they are just merely there and don't give lasting impressions to the viewer. Despite having small musical sub themes which could lead to disappointment to a viewer that wanted any music the characters themselves play as being truly moving. In a similar fashion the sound assets and voice acting isn't out of place as a whole, but neither is it anything amazing. Overall the production values of animation and sound are completely passable, but nothing amazing, or good.
Luckily, production values aside, the actual characters in this show are quite solidly portrayed. That is, the majority of the main cast act like people, their quirks are understandable and lifelike which makes connecting to these characters, despite the visual lack of typical distinctions, easy. This isn't necessarily true for all the characters in the show, but being as it's a 13 episode series this is to be expected. In fact the brief time they give to some of the lesser characters I would argue is time that would have been better put towards portraying the plot specific characters as this would have strengthened their already well crafted characters and allow the audience a deeper connection to the characters that matter. The characters carry this show, with themes and relationships which are so easy to do wrong either by putting too much or too little emphasis on them, are done wonderfully. Truly drawing the audience in to the main experiences the show has to offer.
The plot of the show is nothing special. That is, there is nothing that happens that is really that surprising outside of maybe a couple of twists. Yet I cannot call this a bad thing as the narrative and characters make sense. They don't tend to do stupid things that a person would not do. The struggles and triumphs shown in the series are fairly realistic and understandable if bordering on fairy tale-like at times. Nothing happens in the show that one wouldn't expect to be possible in real life, no super natural phenomena just people being people. The comedic sides of the show are pretty typical, with gags that one has seen a thousand times before. Yet they centre around one particular supporting character and don't take away from the rich immersion of the actual plot and feeling of the show. The overall tones of the show vary from light-hearted to dark dramatic. This isn't used to it's full potential but it is used well enough that the viewer cares about what happens. This isn't a show that repulses you when you watch some of the gags, but neither is it a show that will make you laugh out loud often. Nor will it send you into crying for hours on end, but it will dabble in both
not dedicating itself to central emotion.
Thus I would have to conclude that Myself;Yourself is a solid drama. Very little in the show is actually done bad, yet very little in the show actually stands out as being amazing outside of it's mature usage of themes and characterization. Whilst it takes about episode three for the show really to get rolling and a lot more feels like it could have been better, in either more time spent on some characters, some plot lines explored in more detail, or even using less obvious foreshadowing to give a more surprising plotline. For a 13 episode romantic comedy drama the show is worth watching if you enjoy that style of show.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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