What We’re Watching – Nov 6

November 10, 2009 at 7:10 pm | In anime | Leave a Comment
  • Astro Fighter Sunred 29
  • Cencoroll
  • Bakemonogatari 8
  • Chebrushka Arere 3
  • Nyan Koi 5
  • Health with Little Red Riding Hood
  • Eve no Jikan 6
  • G.A. Geijutsuka Art Design Class 6
  • Kinnikuman 2
  • Sora no Manimani Special 1
  • MnF Kaiketsu Zorori 5

This looks like a lot, but there are many short pieces.

Cencoroll was a nice surprise. It’s a 25 minute movie about a boy (and a girl) and his combat blob. I’d heard people complain that it’s unintelligible, but while it doesn’t spell everything out in excruciating detail it seems fairly understandable. It’s nice not having everything explained ad nauseum for once. And the art is quite nice.

Health with Little Red Riding Hood is a strange little 5 minute low budget piece which takes place entirely within the body of a depressed wolf.  I’m not sure if this is an actual PSA or just a student piece that looks like one.

I should probably save the Kinnikuman for when we don’t have any Kaiketsu Zorori available.

What We’re Watching – Oct 30

October 31, 2009 at 7:46 am | In Weekly Showing, anime, winter 2009 | Leave a Comment
  1. Astro Fighter Sunred 28 (S2-2)
  2. Eve no Jikan 5
  3. Sora no Manimani 10
  4. Bakemonogatari 7
  5. Kobato 4
  6. Chebrushka Arere 2
  7. Aoi Bungaku 1
  8. Nyan Koi 4
  9. Higepiyo 22
  10. Geijutsu Art Design Class 5
  11. Majime ni Funifuni Kaiketsu Zorori 4

This looks like way too much, but a lot of these are very short. Chebrushka Arere continues to be cute enough that at only 3 minutes I’ll throw it in.

Aoi Bungaku is a new entry, and is very interesting – it’s basically the classics of Japanese modern(?) literature, animated.  It starts with Ningen Shikkaku, which is a fine, fine choice. The animation is excellent, as you’d expect from Madhouse, but unfortunately the adaptation doesn’t live up to what I remember and makes it a bit too much Catcher in the Rye.  I’ll let MoeSucks elaborate, since I’m too lazy.

I’m still quite happy with Sunred, Eve no Jikan, and Kobato (which rides that really fine line between cute fun and schlock hard).  Bakemonogatari is still my favorite – so much so I don’t even care if the other people appreciate it or not, though this ep was extremely accessible.  Arararagi-kun is such a deer in headlights.

What We’re Watching

October 24, 2009 at 8:24 am | In Weekly Showing, anime, winter 2009 | Leave a Comment
  1. Cheburashka Arere #1
    Kids’ show about an alligator who gets a mutant monkey/mouse/koala(?) in a box of oranges and names it Cheburashka because it falls a lot. When it falls over it says ‘Arere?’. And that’s pretty much it.  Cute designs, but this is probably skewed too young.
  2. Eve no Jikan #4
    Very good ep about an ugly first generation robot in a world of too human androids.
  3. Nyan Koi #3
    Still okay high school comedy romance but now it’s really starting to veer too much into harem.
  4. Bakemonogatari #6
    Still my favorite show. Senjogahara is amazing in this ep as the psycho girlfriend, and the ending is quite an unexpected pleasure.
  5. G.A. Geijutsu Art Design Class #4
  6. Spice and Wolf 2 #12
    End of series 2. Well at least Lawrence said it, but since this is 4 of 9 books of course things are left stupidly unresolved. And as this goes on Lawrence gets more interesting and Horo gets less.
  7. Kobato #3
    Visually great, still fun. The good deed feels less forced this time, some plot is actually kicking in.
  8. Kinnukuman #1
    Since there’s no new Kaiketsu Zorori I threw this in this week. Real old school Stupid (with a capital S) gag anime that had everyone laughing since it’s just so ridiculous (and dated).
  9. Higepiyo #21
  10. Sora no Manimani #9

Bakemonogatari

October 18, 2009 at 12:48 am | In anime, best, comedy, harem, nothing happens (and that's ok), tsundere, winter 2009 | Leave a Comment

Summary: Supernatural Waiting for Godot
Based on: 5 eps
Series Info: at Anime News Network

Everyone in Bakemonogatari is damaged and some kind of supernatural being (hence the name of the show, which you could translate as Monster Stories), but this is not as glamorous as you might expect from recent fiction and anime. This is the best writing I’ve seen in an anime for years and the best visuals since Mononoke. The Blu-ray sales for the first collection are through the roof, and I’m not surprised at all.

It is also very tricksy – it puts up a front of the usual cliches then subverts them. This is technically a harem anime with a nebbish male and plenty of fanservice. In addition, the guy is a (ex-)vampire, which is the most glamorous of all supernatural beings, right? Let’s take a look at these.

This is in some sense a harem anime; everyone but the lead nebbish male (Koyomi Araragi) and the detached  sensei-figure are cute girls with the usual buffet selection (princess, loli, tomboy, class rep, exotic blonde…).  But they’re all so damaged it’s hard to feel there’s the usual shallow competition for the hapless doof.  The beautiful princess-like lead girl, Senjougahara, confesses  soon enough, but she’s so emotionally damaged and scary that this makes poor Araragi-kun more wary than happy even as he lusts after her. She’s beyond tsundere and into yandere, so ‘I Love You’ is more a declaration of war.

There is plenty of fanservice – the series starts out with a panty shot in the first five seconds. But it seems to be smirking at you – here you go, how do you like this, you shallow bastard? Happy now? Here’s the beautiful girl naked, but what she’s saying is making your manhood wither.

The lead nebbish (Araragi-kun) is a vampire, which is the most glamorous of all monsters, right? Well no, he’s an ex-vampire. And his single talent is wanting to rescue other monsters. But he’s not a pushover, even though he’s not too bright – he’s perfectly willing to punch a schoolgirl in the guts and knock her out. He lusts after Senjougahara, but it’s not the mere idea of sex that frightens him unbelievably as it usually does with the emasculated lead, but the fact that she really is a very scary girl.

Finally, this series isn’t afraid to spend an entire episode in a (visually arresting) park with two and three characters just talking.  This is where I can’t recommend it to just everyone – if you need action you are going to be disappointed. It plays with various visual effects and angles you won’t see in other anime, but it may still be too boring for some people just because it really is just people talking, like Waiting for Godot.

That’s why I’m currently a little torn about including this in the weekly showing, because while it’s visually stunning and has plenty of fanservice and uses various tricks to cover up the lack of action I wonder how much it still bores some of the other people – but I love it. You owe it to yourself to at least try a few episodes.

Winter 2009 Anime

October 17, 2009 at 11:38 pm | In anime, winter 2009 | Leave a Comment

This is the winter of our discontent…  I’m actually going to fold Fall 2009 in to here, because while I think Winter is generally better than Fall was, Fall had two decent shows including one of my favorites.

So far so good:

  • Bakemonogatari – This has the best visuals (reminiscent of Mononoke) and easily the best writing of any anime in the past couple years.  It will bore anyone who can’t appreciate those to tears.
  • Eve no Jikan – Neat little six episode show about the possible societal impact of humanoid robots, and what if you couldn’t necessarily tell humans from robots? This is obviously a more polished followup to Mizu no Kotoba.
  • Kimi ni Todoke – Your shoujo romance for the season. Like Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge (The Wallflower) but not so stupidly over the top. More believable and more touching.
  • Kobato – A CLAMP anime in the Angelic Layer and Card Captor Sakura style. This is just flat out adorable if you can handle them shoe-horning some touching scene in at the end.
  • Tentai Senshi Sunred Season 2 – I loved season 1, and this carries right on in the same style. It’s based on a 4 panel gag manga about a superhero and the evil organization he’s fighting. Completely tongue in cheek examination of what life as a superhero or evil villain is like when you have day to day concerns to worry about. And it’s written for adults.

Could be Worse:

  • Aoi Bungaku – the classics of Japanese modern(?) literature, animated.  It starts with Ningen Shikkaku, which is a fine, fine choice. The animation is excellent, as you’d expect from Madhouse, but unfortunately the adaptation doesn’t live up to what I remember and makes it a bit too much Catcher in the Rye.  I’ll let MoeSucks elaborate, since I’m too lazy. Will watch ep 2, though.
  • Higepiyo – fun little 5-minute shorts about a very manly chick by the Ebichu author.  Not nearly as risque, and the same sense of absurdity. The little moments where Higepiyo gets a dumb blissed out look on his face and makes this utterly content ‘Huuuuuuuu’ sound just make it for me.
  • Nyan Koi – Okay, this is mostly standard high school romance, but while the opening animation would make you think this is just fanservice there’s almost none of it in the actual anime. High school boy gets cursed by a cat god and can suddenly speak to cats, who abuse him mercilessly. The lead girl is too oblivious for this to really be harem anime, which is a plus.
  • Seitokai no Ichizon – High school comedy.  Closer to Pani Poni Dash than Azumanga Daioh.

Forget it:

  • Kampfer – I was expecting Canaan, but it’s Ranma 1/2, Sekirei, and Kashimashi in a blender and puree. Boy who turns into a big-breasted combat maid – and of course the girl he loves is in love with his female form and doesn’t know they’re the same person. The usual harem cast.
  • Kiddy Girl-and – As far as I can tell this is just a Kiddy Grade sequel.
  • Seiken no Blacksmith – Generic fanservice fantasy. This season’s Zero no Tsukaima.
  • Sora no Otoshimono – Big-breasted compliantly dumb wish fulfilling angel falls into life of nebbish loser and fulfills all his fantasies. Sounds familiar? This actually has a moment of promise when she obeys his wish to be ruler of the world by killing everyone else on the planet, but then they call a mulligan on it. I would be very surprised if second ep didn’t have another dark skinned angel showing up.

More of the Same:

  • Darker than Black – Ryuusei no Gemini
  • Dragonball Kai
  • Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu – Purezza
  • Queen’s Blade S2

What are we Watching?

October 17, 2009 at 11:03 pm | In Weekly Showing, anime, winter 2009 | Leave a Comment

Friday’s Show:

  • Higepiyo 20
  • Eve no Jikan 3
  • Nyan Koi 2
  • Bakemonogatari 5
  • To Aru Kagaku no Railgun 2
  • Kobato 2
  • Spice and Wolf S2 11
  • Kampfer 1
  • Majime ni Funifuni Kaiketsu Zorori 3

Higepiyo continues to be good, dumb short fun.  Nyan Koi and To Aru Kagaku no Railgun are in there just for the comedy romance quotient and could be dropped at any time, probably Railgun first. Kobato is a CLAMP joint from the Angelic Layer team, and if you can put up with the shoehorning in of a touching bit at the end (like He-man) it’s quite pleasant.

Bakemonogatari continues to be one of my favorites, though I’m not sure if it’s boring the other people. More on this next post.

Kampfer was crap, and not what I was expecting. It’s like Sekirei except instead of big breasted Pokemon, the guy turns into his own big breasted combat maid. That won’t be back.

Finally, Kaiketsu Zorori continues to be lots of fun. It’s emphatically for kids, but a well written kids show is a good guilty pleasure, and often superior to a mediocre show written for teens or adults.

We’re back, sort of

October 17, 2009 at 10:00 pm | In anime | Leave a Comment

I  have to admit, I’ve been fairly burned out on anime lately – it seems to be getting worse and worse, and I’m not sure if that’s just me getting older or anime actively getting more cynical and pandering. I’m leaning towards the latter based on:

http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2009/10/18/queens-blade-sexy-nipples/ (NSFW)
http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2009/06/26/fight-ippatsu-juuden-chan-pure-ero-anime/ (NSFW)
http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2009/10/18/seikon-no-qwaser-breast-sucking-bdsm-ero-anime-preview/ (NSFW)

and then the parade of usual crap like Kanokon and Kampfer.  I’m not opposed to sex, but it’s just boring when it’s the raison d’être of a story (something Laurell K. Hamilton never figured out either).

In short, I can no longer stomach watching the first episode of every anime, no matter how bad, which was the original premise of this blog.  However…  even if the odds are lower you can still find the occasional gem.  I’ve been enjoying ‘Kimi ni Todoke’ as a fairly touching shoujo anime, and next post talks about the good stuff. I’ve moving to a more abbreviated format with shorter summaries, preserving the core mission of ‘what’s the good stuff?’

One Outs

November 10, 2008 at 6:46 pm | In anime, fall 2008, guilty pleasure, ridiculous premise | Leave a Comment

Summary: Baseball as a gambling vehicle
Based on: 3 eps
Info at: Anime News Network (pic from there, too)

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Note: This is a guest review by Brendan Speer.

When found out about One Outs, I was very excited.   ‘Finally’, I thought to myself, ‘An Akagi where I’m familiar with the sport!  This is going to be great!’  Plus I can pretend that the Lycaons are the Cubs.  Thusly, I waited for 2 weeks for it to be subbed; begging and cajoling friends to do it for me.

Then I sat down and watched the first episode.

And I was really disappointed.  I figured out that one of the great things about Akagi is that I don’t know the first damn thing about Mahjong.  I could really follow Akagi play without the little nagging doubt in the back of my mind.   The prospect of an 120 kph (75 mph) pitcher with no breaking balls being able to psych his opponents out that much introduces an element of that ‘This is ridiculous!’ feeling.

And yet, I’ve watched 3 episodes, and will probably watch the fourth tonight.   First off, it’s still compelling to watch.  I _still_ want to see Toua beat his first challenger at One Outs Baseball.  Even if I know the prospect is preposterous.

What Akagi and One Outs do differently from traditional ’sports’ anime, like Hikaru no Go and Prince of Tennis, is that the latter play like ‘Japanese youth introduction to sport <insert sport here>’.   Prince of Tennis will spend half an episode talking about the Buggy Whip Shot, or try and illustrate the difference between an All-Arounder and Baseline Retriever.  One Outs doesn’t do this.  Instead the sport is only a vehicle to tell the story, quite well I might add.  You know what’s going to happen, you always know who’s going to win.  However, between the Narrator, the Music, and the situations, you’re still compelled to keep watching.   How will Akagi play out of this?  Will Toua get hit?  It’s quite ingenious.

As Ron has referenced in his paragraph, the character designed have been tarted up for the female audience.  In Akagi, the character designed were basically ugly.   Distinctive, and stylish, but unattractive.  The unattractive, gritty style fit Akagi well.  In One Outs both Kojima and Toua are pretty-boy anime arch-types, the former being the squared-jawed Japanese traditionalist, and the latter having that punky bishonen going for him.  Even the first opposing team’s pitcher has an Kaneda-like street punk handsomeness to him.

The first two episodes were very Akagi like.   Very slow paced, building suspense.   The third introduced another element, of the Owner of the team.  I’ll try not to give away too much, but I like the way this is turning from the Akagi formula.   I suspect when I go back to rewatch something like this, however, I’ll still turn to the Mahjong master.

What We’re Watching

November 3, 2008 at 3:27 am | In Weekly Showing, anime | Leave a Comment

This Friday’s showing:

  1. Zenryoku Usagi 11
  2. Detroit Metal City 9
  3. Yozakura Quartet 1
  4. Natsume Yuujinchou 13
  5. Nodame Cantabile Paris 3
  6. Mouryou no Hako 2
  7. Tetsuwan Birdy Decode 13
  8. Skip Beat 1
  9. Slayers Revolution 13

Three series ended this week – Natsume Yuujinchou, Birdy Decode, and Slayers Revolution.  Birdy was decent adventure and managed a decent not quite happy ending, but Natsume will be missed the most. I’m glad there’s another series coming. Slayers ending was sort of a mercy, since it’s much more fun when it’s just goofing around as it does at the start of a season instead of trying to be dramatic at the end of the season.

Skip Beat was pretty decent. It’s been a long time since we’ve had a good shojo comedy. I’ll show at least another ep. On the other hand Mouryou no Hako totally cratered. It went from creepy horror to relentless padding. Seriously, when you spend the entire second half of the show just driving around lost while dropping names you are doing the worst (and most boring) kind of exposition possible. The entire room was yawning.

To Aru Majutsu no Index

October 14, 2008 at 8:15 am | In adventure, anime, could be worse, fall 2008, fightfightfight, guilty pleasure, ridiculous premise | Leave a Comment

Summary: Action magic/drama in Young King Ours/Square-Enix style.
Based on: 2 episodes
Series Summary: at Anime News Network (picture stolen as well)

Okay, so this one has me conflicted after 2 eps. I’m going to tell you why you shouldn’t like it, then why you should.

First, it’s utterly typical of a style you find in Young King Ours magazine, which I subscribe to, and anything Square-Enix sponsors. An adolescent male appeal with violence, sexual undercurrents, and an emphasis on fighting and sheer coolness over plot. Of course there’s always magic/psychic powers involved, lots of fighting and explosions, and a young guy who’s sort of helpless (but not a totally weak despicable dork, thank god) but turns out to be the only way the world can be saved once his powers can be trained up. World Embryo is the epitome of this. So when I see it my reaction is to go ‘meh’.

On the other hand, given the formula setup, the characters in this are relatively well done, likeable, and believable (minus the loli teacher). It certainly delivers the action. I can’t fault the character design or animation or music. The heroine (?) out-Rei’s Rei for being white-haired autistic savant, but since the hero’s not even slightly romantically attracted to her (so far) that’s tolerable. The most eye-rolling thing here is that everyone believes in psychic powers but not magic, though they have a Justification for this.

So what am I saying? I’m not sure yet, but if Yozakura Quartet drops the ball this could be my action show for the season.

Yozakura Quartet

October 10, 2008 at 5:39 am | In Weekly Showing, adventure, anime, fall 2008, fightfightfight | Leave a Comment

Summary: shojo Bleach
Based on: 1 episode
Series Info: at Anime News Network (pic shamelessly stolen too)

For some reason this starts out with a hugely boring chunk of exposition about how the half-human half-demon town came into existence, which wouldn’t even need to be explained if you thought your viewers had two brain cells to rub together. The basic plot is about a town where humans and youkai (demons) co-exist, and the quartet is a group that hunts down bad guys. Think Geobreeders, Phantom Quest Corp, or Ghost Sweeper Mikami. The setup is pretty standard.

But once you get past that, I rather like this. It continues the trend of merging of shojo (girls’) and shounen (boys’) genres, and reminds me of nothing so much as a slightly more girly Bleach before Bleach jumped the shark. I absolutely love the character designs, especially Kotoha.

This could easily end up in the crapper if it just milks the premise as stated and turns into harem anime, but for now I’m absolutely grabbing the second ep.

Kuroshitsuji

October 8, 2008 at 7:31 am | In anime, fall 2008, ridiculous premise, shoujo cliche, yaoibait | Leave a Comment

Summary: Shojou Hellsing (again)
Based on: 1 episode
Series Info: at Anime News Network (pic shamelessly stolen)

[edit: I reread my initial review of this, and it came off far too harsh - sure, this is formulaic, but it's not as bad as I made it out to be.]

Sigh. It really is disappointing that anime/manga for girls are even more more generic than anime/manga for boys. Aren’t women supposed to be more subtle, nuanced, and intelligent than stupid brutish men? Then you look at Harlequin romances (and shojo anime) and realize this isn’t the case. Women prefer their plots even more formulaic and predictable than men do.

So now that I’ve got that ranting out of the way, if you liked Nabari no Ou this is the your shojo anime for you this season.  Ciel Phantomhive (eye-patched prettyboy) is the heir of the English Phantomhive toy dynasty. His butler, Sebastian, is an ultra-competent ultra-handsome demon lord. Everyone else in the household is comic relief.

I had a brief moment of appreciation for this show when it actually invoked some horror (the oven scene), but then it completely cheapened and nullified it. The best I can say is this isn’t as horribly bad as Trinity Blood.

But, for you people who need your formulaic prettyboys (and I have my own guilty pleasures), this is your show. And the production values are indisputably good.

Kannagi

October 8, 2008 at 7:18 am | In anime, could be worse, fall 2008, miko | Leave a Comment

Summary: Divine love comedy
Based on: 1 episode
Series info: at Anime News Network (picture shamelessly stolen from there too)

It’s hard to tell from only one episode, but given the horrible premise and opening animation this was actually better than I expected. We’ll see. Generally miko are just a rape-bunny fetish, so I’m skeptical, but I’ll be watching the second episode.

Schoolboy Jin (an interesting name in this context that can mean ‘person’ or ‘god’ depending on the character) carves a figurine out of wood from a sacred tree (nageia, a type of conifer). The local land-god, displaced from her habitat, animates the figure and suddenly Jin has a hot divine chick living with him. I’m giving this a chance since even with the obvious harem setup coming, the first ep resisted the obvious panty shot and other cheesecake opportunities.

This could could go straight in the dumper from here, and I suspect it will since it reminds me most of  Ai Yori Aoshi or Seto no Hanayome, but damn it I have some faint hope.

Detroit Metal City

October 8, 2008 at 7:00 am | In fall 2008, guilty pleasure | Leave a Comment

Summary: Low-brow death metal comedy.
Based on: 6 episodes, 5 volumes of manga
Series info: at Anime News Network

This series only has one joke, but I love it and it’s fairly bottomless. Negishi the nebbish just wants to write vapid jpop songs, but to make ends meet he transforms into Krauser II, lead vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter for death metal group DMC.

Negishi is the wussy super-ego, but when he dons the mask (or even lets down his mental guard), his Id takes over and he becomes Krauser II, who can sing ‘ten rapes per second’. Part of the fun here is that Krauser II isn’t just some made up persona, it’s really a facet of Negishi’s personality that he won’t admit exists.

The legend of Krauser says that he killed his parents then raped them then broke out of prison then raped them – then killed them. Got that?

And this is all animated by the super-fabulous Studio 4C in low fidelity Gag Manga Biyori style. The low quality visuals are part of the charm.

Fall 2008 Anime

October 8, 2008 at 6:37 am | In fall 2008 | 4 Comments

It’s that time again – Fall 2008 season. So far this is a much better season than the last one was! Here’s Joe Chan’s List of Fall 2008 Anime.

Updated: Nov 17, 2008

Mini-rant: I guess I need to reprise my mission statement here after some outraged mail. This is not for people who love anime in general. You’ve just discovered it, it’s soooooo much better fthan South Park and you love it all, bless you for your enthusiasm. But this is a list of anime for jaded old people who’ve seen most of this crap a hundred times before, have read Nietzsche and Pollan and  Wolfe, and are desperate for anything truly new and exciting (though we’ll settle for Yozakura Quartet if the world won’t give us more goddamn Moyashimon).  Yes Toradora is cute school romance, but that is no longer sufficient, just as Terry Brooks or Robert Jordan are not a sufficient replacement for Tolkien.

So Far So Good:

  • Detroit Metal City -Low-brow comedy about a Death Metal band. Centers on the disconnect between the lead char’s nebbish persona as himself and his king of demons persona as the lead singer/guitarist of the band.
  • Hyakko – This looks to be the high school girl comedy this season. I like the designs a lot, it’s understated, and nothing happens but that’s okay. Think Maria-sama crossed with Best Student Council. Actually, something does finally happen but I won’t spoil it. Sadly, ep 2 has one of the worst cases of animation degradation I’ve ever seen. Seriously, I could draw better keyframes than that. Ep 3 is back up to snuff – for schoolgirl comedy anyhow.
  • Michiko and Hatchin – This is trying overly hard to be the next Cowboy Bebop, including Kanno wannabe music, but it’s been so long since Bebop I’m willing to take that. Reminds me of Robert Rodriguez as well. After three eps this is still excellent. Imagine Bee Train stuff (Noir, Avenger, Madlax) done by someone with talent.
  • Skip Beat – We haven’t had a good shojo love comedy since Love Complex. It’s a Cinderella story, with hard working plain earnest girl in love with a beatiful, talented(?) dickhead. That would have been hard to take for long (LoveCom was too straightforward), but there is a Twist.  This is definitely our new weekly shojo comedy series.
  • Tentai Senshi Sunred – This came out of nowhere. This is a deranged little half-length gag show about a Sentai character. It’ll fill the gap nicely now that DMC is over.

Could be Okay:

  • Ga-Rei Zero – Supernatural action that’s trying way too hard to be cool, but the ending guarantees you’ll at least watch the second episode. Update: Gah. Okay, so the 2nd ep doesn’t exactly cheap out, but doesn’t resolve things either. One more cliffhanger! By ep 4 this has calmed down into pretty standard school stuff. They’ve cheaped out by starting at the end.
  • Kannagi – with the subtitle ‘Crazy Shrine Maidens’ I’m actually quite surprised the first ep was as good as it was.  The big risk is it degenerates into typical Seto no Hanayome domestic comedy.
  • Toaru Majutsu no Index – This one makes me conflicted. The writing and music on this are both great. At its core it’s just another generic Square-Enix anime, but I hold out hope it can escape that.  Better than Shikabanehime anyhow.
  • Yozakura Quartet – Supernatural action comedy.Think a more shoujo version of the early non-sucky Bleach. And I’m good with that. For some reason the first couple minutes are very forced exposition, but then it gets better. Still a little formulaic.

Special Circumstances:

  • Kameko DX – This is your Pani Poni Dash for the season. A non-stop mix of non-sequiturs, fanservice, anime in-jokes (and even a Westworld reference, good lord!) and shallow insanity. Wherefore art thou, Excel Saga?
  • Kuroshitsuji – If you liked Nabari no Ou, this is your token shoujou drama/comedy show for this season. Think girly Hellsing. Not as wretched as Trinity Blood at least.
  • Kurozuka – There’s one of these every season. Loosely based on historical events, high quality dark art, Noh music and stylings, Drama, and injected supernatural elements (to me it’ll always be ‘Gasaraki style’). When the big guy dropped out of the sky and started hitting people with his staff I thought ‘I bet that’s Benkei’ and sure enough. So Yoshitsune with vampires. You know if you like this.
  • One Outs – Baseball, but the (beautiful) players are (reluctantly?) after each others bats and balls. Then it turns into high gambling drama. Brendan Speer compares this one to Akagi with ‘the exact same snail’s pace pacing’.
  • Tytania – Did you like Legend of Galactic Heroes? You must have this, now. If you’re unfamiliar, think giant space battles fought in 2D planes. They haven’t invented 3D space or computer targetting in the future, which is good because the ships have only token shields. The bridge of the Imperial flagship is a Victorian tea room (no, really!), everyone is impeccably attired, and the second thing mentioned about the Empire’s general is is how beautiful he is. Really, you’re in this for the political drama. Update: The LOGH fanatic I know calls this ‘LOGH for Dummies’.

Pass:

  • Akane-iro no Somaru Saka – Not quite as bad as CHAOS: HEAD, but it’s every h-game and visual novel cliche rolled into one.  Complete with an ending ’surprise’ plot twist that makes it even more banal than I thought possible!  And girls whose hair has more personality than they do.  If there’s anything non-cliche about this it’s the fetish it has for girls’ knees.
  • Akiba-chan – stop-motion maid dolls in Akihabara. This is painfully bad pandering. Yes I end up using that word a lot, but a lot of this crap is just so cynically aimed at stupidly hardcore otaku.
  • Bihada Ichizoku – I actually rather liked the first ep of this over the top ridiculous anime about a family dedicated to having the best skin in Japan, but while this recognizes its ridiculousness, it doesn’t manage to surpass it, which would be necessary to keep watching.
  • CHAOS: HEAD – Worst. Anime. This. Season. Porn game conversion. Most pathetic and unlikable male character ever (yes, worse than Welcome to the NHK). Yet all the beautiful girls (who happen to be serial killers) love him and are huge anime nerds. Hint: Even if you know the plot and execution are pathetic cliches, it doesn’t make it better when the hero constantly points out how pathetic they are.
  • Earl and Fairy – This would be the Vampire Knight of the season except there’s already Vampire Knight this season for your generic bishonen action. Girl who can see fairies and dangerous beautiful angsty men with bare chests (add your own fairy joke here). You’d be far better off watching Natsume Yuujin Chou instead.
  • Inazuma Eleven – Digimon meets Shaolin Soccer for young boys. Based on a video game.
  • Kurogane no Linebarrels – So in this anime the huge dork who deserves and encourages the bullying he gets summons the giant robot by touching her breast while porn music plays. This is pretty typical GONZO – awful (meaning hugely obvious) 3D CG plus hi-res backgrounds plus high frame rate but crudely drawn 2D animation which will get progressively worse with each episode.  There’s some hint there might be more to the plot, but ugh.
  • Kyou no Go no Ni (TV) – ’sexy’ fifth graders. No seriously, they took the exact same jokes from the OVA series and uglied up the character designs and pedo-ed up the characters. Say what?
  • Macademi Wasshoi – Magical Pedo Harry Potter Academy. This one reeks of UFO Princess Valkyrie (including the obligatory nekomimi combat maid), so if you liked that you’ll like this.
  • Mouryou no Hako (Box of Spirits) – Creepy, beautiful horror set just after WW II. Actually, it’s a bit hard to tell what’s going on from just the first episode, but I definitely want to see more. Update: wow, ep 2 was one of the worst letdowns ever. No more creepy, and the second half is just them driving around the entire time while name dropping people you don’t know at a half-assed attempt at exposition.
  • Quiz Magic Academy OVA – this is just fanservice if you already like Konami’s game. If not there’s nothing for you here.
  • Rosario to Vampire Season 2 – You know what you’re getting here. Panty shots and bad plots. Amusingly, half the stations that showed the first ep censored it due to the sheer number of crotch shots. Hadn’t they seen Strike Witches?
  • Shikabanehime Aka – How do you fight dead people? With hot dead teen chicks, of course!  Again, well done but absolutely typical Square-Enix setup. I have to admit I love the OP.
  • Tales of the Abyss – Yet Another Forumlaic Conversion of a console RPG to anime. I liked the game (Tear 4 Lyfe) and I still can’t watch this.
  • Toradora – formula school romance about a guy with a mean face (but a heart of gold!) and a tsundere girl who happens to look just like Louise from Zero no Tsukaima. Pass unless you can’t resist sitcoms about misunderstandings or tsundere.

Yakushiji Ryoko no Kaiki Jikenbo (Ryoko’s Case Files)

July 31, 2008 at 9:23 pm | In adventure, anime, grownup is not a panacea, plot crystalization, summer 2008 | Leave a Comment

Summary: Adult action office romance adventure with some supernatural. Yes, it’s (too?) busy.
Based on: 13 episodes
Series info: at Anime News Network (pic shamelessly lifted from there too)

This one’s a bit strange. It’s obviously written for adults, not teens or kids, which is a good start. Ryoko’s an apparently brilliant police investigor who spends all her time slacking off. Her assistant Junichiro is basically her babysitter. But when the weird stuff starts happening, she’s suddenly in the thick of things to fix it, which is apparently why they still keep her employed. You’ll sometimes hear this one referred to as Ryoko’s Supernatural Case Files, but it’s more Science Gone Mad thing than vengeful ghosts. The Kaiki just means bizarre/strange.

All the women in this show are strong and dominant and all the men are semi-closeted submissives, which is hardly unique in adult anime, but a nice change from the usual teen stuff.  Presumably this appeals to Japanese salarymen, but then they have to undermine it by constantly non-subtly hinting that Ryoko’s fallen for Junichiro, though she’d never admit it. So she’s allowed to be strong, but still weak enough she doesn’t totally emasculate the viewers. In fact, the 3rd episode is pretty much a total waste based on this ‘plot’.

Usually you’ll hear me bemoaning shows for too much action and not enough plot or character building, but honestly in this show the action is much more interesting than the relationship building, which I find fairly awkward and stunted.  But Ep 2 has giant man-eating snakes destroying buildings in downtown Tokyo and a very amusing interrogation scene. I thoroughly enjoyed the Doc Savage vibe in that one, so I’m going to keep watching for a while longer to see what comes up.

Update: I’ve watched it all now. I particularly like how the plot crystalized in the last 5 eps or so for a big dramatic finish that pulled in a bunch of seemingly throwaway plot points from early episodes.  The ending was a little facile, but respectable.

I don’t usually mention specific sub groups, but big thanks to AonE and AnY for following through one of the few respectable anime that’s actually for adults out to completion.

Slayers Revolution

July 8, 2008 at 1:31 am | In adventure, anime, comedy, summer 2008 | 2 Comments

Summary: Comedy adventure. If you’ve seen any Slayers you’ve seen this.
Based on: 1 episode
Series info: at Anime News Network (pic shamelessly lifted from there too)

I’m actually more interested in comparing this to Birdy the Mighty Decode, which is another revival of an ancient show this season. Whereas Birdy embraces the new visuals of the 2000s (oughts?), Slayers Revolution remains proudly 90s retro. The character designs have hardly been updated, the songs are the same, and most tellingly I don’t think there was any CG anywhere in the episode. Unless it was integrated really well, everything, even the bits that you would normally expect to be CG these days like fleets of ships, was hand animated.

All the normal cast of TV characters are back. The overall plot, such as it is, is that Gourry lost the Sword of Light in Slayers Try so they’re looking for a replacement. The plot for the first ep is ‘Lina gets mad and she blows things up as usual’. There are some slight changeups – instead of exploding bandits she’s exploding pirates and though the expected Dragon Slave goes off in the first ep it’s not Lina who does it.

If you’ve never seen Slayers before you might be pretty lost, since this is effectively the 4th season of an ongoing plot. But it’s fairly fluffy harmless comedy adventure series which usually sprouts some Drama half-way in.

Birdy the Mighty Decode

July 8, 2008 at 1:31 am | In adventure, anime, summer 2008 | Leave a Comment

Summary: Curvy alien supercop hunts down criminals on Earth.  Action/Romance. So old it feels new.
Based on: 1 episode (and the original series)
Summary at: Anime News Network (pic shamelessly lifted from there too)

This one is interesting to compare to Slayers Revolution. That show wallows happily in its retro 90-ness, while this one is a retelling of the old Birdy the Mighty series which yanks it visually into the 2000s.

‘Birdy’ is a space inspector tasked with hunting down alien criminals (who for some reason like to hide on Earth) though in practice she acts more like a bounty hunter. Throw in some school romance (due to a silly plot twist that ends the first episode but which is one of the series core conceits) and lots of fighting and action and you have something that’s not really all that adult, but is entertaining.

Graphically this is hugely updated – lots of CG and even the hand-animation is very attractive.  The aliens here are fabulously ugly, even when disguised as human.  But this is still 90s at the core – in fact it’s sort of sad that the idea of a Bubblegum Crisis type ass-kicking female, which were a dime a dozen, actually feels somewhat fresh compared to the submissive big-breasted bubbleheads (or lolis) that tend to populate shows now.  But fighting in high heels still isn’t.

P.S.: I’m not sure if it’s a nod or because he was just perfect to begin with, but badman Gomez looks exactly the same.

Summer 2008 Season

July 5, 2008 at 8:51 pm | In anime, summer 2008 | 1 Comment

This season started a bit weak, but after the horror of Sekirei and Strike Witches has gotten a bit better.

So Far So Good:

  • Birdy the Mighty Decode – Another 90s throwback, a re-imagining of Birdy the Mighty.  Cute, violent, female (of course) intergalactic inspector hunts down alien criminals on earth.
  • Yakushiji Ryoko no Kaiki Jikenbo (Ryoko’s Case Files) – This is definitely written for adults. Supernatural policework (and for once the main chars don’t have magic powers). The first ep is a little slow, but by the second it’s in full gear and you’ve got giant man-eating snakes.
  • Takane no Jitensha - Would you trade your bratty little sister to a fox for a new bike? Yeah I would too. Nice one-shot show.
  • Natsume Yujin-cho – Natsume’s grandmother was a powerful spirit medium who made a hobby of beating up all the monsters in the area and forcing them to write their names in her ‘Book of Friends’. Now they’ve mistaken Natsume for his grandmother, and everyone wants the book back. After 13 eps, I highly recommend this.

Special Circumstances:

  • Antique Bakery – This is gayer than a purse full of wangs,  but gay as imagined by tittering straight women.  Any plot here is all incidental to the baker ‘Demon Lord of Gay’ (the show’s own term) bagging the token straight owner.
  • Bounen no Xamdou (Xam’d) – If you liked Rahxephon or Eureka 7, this is for you. School boy transformed into humanoid weapon in dystopian (but with airships) future. This one is actually growing on me.
  • Mahou Tsukai no Taisetsuna Koto: Natsu no Sora – This low key series, like its predescessor, is for preteen girls, but you might still enjoy it.  It has a interesting art style of using real pictures of Hokkaido and Tokyo as backgrounds for simplistic (but not minimalistic) character designs.
  • Slayers Revolution – If you’ve ever seen a Slayers anime before, you know exactly what this is like. 90s (relatively) Old School fantasy comedy adventure. Dumb fun.
  • Telepathy Girl Ran – this is a cute comedy/school love thing… with battling psychic girls and people burned horribly to death by demon dogs. It’s not bad, but is definitely a kiddie magical girl show.

Pass:

  • Koihime Mousou – Yet another mangling of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but this one tops Ikkitousen since every single character is female. Starts right out with the big breasted beauty and bratty loli just to get things going. Based on a porn game.
  • Nogizaki Haruhi no Himitsu – Pandering to the otaku crowd, even down to the name. The perfect girl at school’s deep dark secret is… she’s an otaku! Watch only if you need to be desperately reassured.
  • Sekirei – 108 girls paired with 108 pathetic losers fight with the power of their breast size. I hope to god this is based on a porn game, because if it’s not there’s no excuse for it.
  • Strike Witches - nekomimi loli girls who turn into planes and more crotch shots than a month of Tijuana bar fights. If you thought Sky Girls was too classy, this is for you.
  • World Destruction – This is every RPG anime ever made, based on a game. Two humans (who just happen to be the main chars) trapped in a world of furries. Cliches ahoy!

Here Comes the New Season!

July 1, 2008 at 8:30 pm | In anime, summer 2008 | Leave a Comment

Well I don’t have much to add to this myself yet, having not seen any of it, so I’ll just point you to Joe Chan’s New Anime List.  But you can bet I’ll be downloading and watching at least the first episode of everything so you don’t (necessarily) have to.

I’m interested in Birdy the Mighty Decode,  Blade of the Immortal, and Ponyo, but other than that we’ll just have to see.

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