Review: Ghost in the Shell: Arise - Alternative Architecture 1.1
Ghost in the Shell: Arise was originally animated for the screen as a set of four OVA's. Alternative Architecture is simply the release of those OVA's
Ghost in the Shell: Arise was originally animated for the screen as a set of four OVA's. Alternative Architecture is simply the release of those OVA's (originally released from 2013-2014) with the addition of two more episodes which will tie into the third movie in the Ghost in the Shell franchise, which comes out in Japan this June. This review is a review of the first OVA of the original Arise series of episodes, called "Ghost Pain." Prequels are a bitch: just ask anybody involved with Star Wars or Lord of the Rings. Ghost in the Shell is a similarly iconic series, although certainly of smaller scale than either of the aforementioned nerd behemoths. But what GitS might lack in the overwhelming mainstream appeal of other series, it makes up for in consistent quality; one episode in, and Arise is no exception. Though it will take all of the episodes of the series to really bear this out, Arise might be the most successfully executed prequel of a well-known series I have ever had the pleasure of watching.
"Ghost Pain" introduces us to a re-designed (or I guess, "pre-desgined") Kusanagi, prior to her time as a Major with Public Security Section 9. I had very few worries, since I went in with high expectations, but I was skeptical of the show possibly revealing too much about Kusanagi's past. A constant theme of this series, after all, is the uncertainty of human memory, especially when that memory is tied to a mind anchored to this world through prosthetics. Beyond the philosophical intrigue that this series manages to frequently cash in on, it's just a fact that a lot of successful Japanese anime and manga rely on story gaps to give a certain degree of weight and mystery to the world which is being presented (Cowboy Bebop is the paramount example of this).
Not only did "Ghost Pain" not disappoint by revealing too much about Kusanagi, it actually leveraged the very same themes as more familiar iterations of the series in order to present its plot effectively. Memory and its relationship to our friends, our families, and our duties is front and center in this episode. Sure, it sometimes makes the plot get extremely cerebral, forcing the viewer to do a teensy bit of hair-pulling to figure out what's going on; but, I would rather have my plot be smart than vacuous.
Aramaki is his wonderfully stoic self (albeit with no gray hair), Batou bursts on the scene in true Batou fashion, we get to see a proto-tachikoma with all of the charm of the later models, and Kusanagi is sharp as ever. The success of this prequel, other than the bare minimum of not being a failure, lies mostly in two things: the fact that it nails familiar characters while still weaving a palpable thread of immaturity through all of them, and the fact that it introduces new characters who do not feel forced or alien to the world of Ghost in the Shell.
Production I.G can be a hit or a miss for me in terms of putting together a tight anime. It always nails Ghost in the Shell, though, and Arise was no exception. Voice work was obviously top notch as well: even the English dubs of Ghost in the Shell feature phenomenal voice acting, although good dubs are increasingly becoming the norm, which is super exciting for people who don't like reading subtitles (I personally don't mind it).
I think this is a must-watch if you're a Ghost in the Shell fan (especially if you're a fan of Stand Alone Complex), and an obvious must-re-watch for others, in order to get back in the swing of things for the additional episodes. Of course, the curse of a successful prequel is that it fits into a particular niche of the overarching narrative of the series, and thus owes a great deal of its charm to its interpretation of characters which have already been established. But "Ghost Pain" kicked ass, and I can't say it was anything less than awesome if it's only fault is being later in the viewing order.
Score: 5/5
Ghost in the Shell: Arise - Alternative Architecture 1.1 Official Website
Review: The Heroic Legend of Arslan 1.1 - The Glory of Ekbataana
The Heroic Legend of Arslan will come out of the gate seeming formulaic to some, but benefits from incredible production value and humanizing character work.
The Heroic Legend of Arslan will come out of the gate seeming formulaic to some, but benefits from incredible production value and humanizing character work. Arslan has a long history in the form of novels, manga, and anime. The newest iteration of Tanaka's fantasy epic is being rendered in manga form by the incomparable Hiromu Arakawa, of Fullmetal Alchemist fame. Arakawa's manga version of this over twenty-year-old tale is now being rendered as an anime, and it looks good: really good.
First off, some will recognize a lot of the character designs from Arakawa's work on Fullmetal. Just off the top of my head, the titular character's got an Edward Elric thing going on, the main antagonist of this episode has an Alphonse thing going on, and Daryun has a Kimblee/Greed mash-up thing going on. But focusing on this is a small quibble, particularly when Arakawa's specialty is designing characters that look human and react in a human way.
Which brings me to my next point: this series has already proven to me that it is going to get things right that Attack on Titan constantly screws up. (I will try to set aside too much bashing of AoT: buy me a beer sometime and I will rant about this for hours.) Both of these series have timid lead characters. Both of these series are going to feature the tumultuous times of an empire and what the young generation can manage to do about it. But where certain protagonists (*cough* useless Eren Yeager *cough*) swap back and forth from timid to angry then back to timid and back to angry, Arslan is just a little rich spoiled piece of shit who thinks he understands the world.
And that's fantastic.
Why? Because, as this episode did a great job of showing, Arslan is a young, spoiled prince who has a budding concern for justice; but, he has absolutely no concept of what justice really is. Other series that follow this formula of "oh no crisis and only kids can save the day and we need to time-skip and the main character is being a little bitch about everything!" constantly fail to plant this seed. If the main character is hard to like, a great way to develop that character is to flip what is shitty about him on its head. Arslan's Siddhartha-like encounter with the dead slaves at the end of this episode is prodding the viewer and letting them know that his naive sense of justice is about to get blown to pieces.
And the production value of this show is top-notch. Other than one awkward shot of some soldiers marching where the digital effects made it seem a tad robotic, the music, colors, movement, and-- well, everything about this anime gorgeous.
I thought that this episode was so good that it made me want to go read the manga. If that doesn't warrant a perfect score, I'm not sure what does: I honestly think the series could only go downhill from here, so let's set our expectations high.
Score: 5/5
The Heroic Legend of Arslan 1.1 - The Glory of Ekbataana Official Website
Review: Re-Kan! 1.1 - I Can See Them
While I enjoyed Re-Kan! I was confused by it at the same time. The opening was great as it showed a young high school girl, Hibiki, getting ready for her first day at a new school. I was instantly tired of that trope, but whatever. On her way she comes across Narumi who goes to the same school.
While I enjoyed Re-Kan! I was confused by it at the same time. The opening was great as it showed a young high school girl, Hibiki, getting ready for her first day at a new school. I was instantly tired of that trope, but whatever. On her way she comes across Narumi who goes to the same school. They cross the street together, but for some reason Hibiki begins freaking out and dancing around as she crosses the road. Narumi helps her across since she’s just sitting in the road. When they get across she begins to scold her, but Hibiki explains that it’s not “his” fault. Suddenly Narumi looks up in a mirror and sees a fucking Juon little boy attached to Hibiki’s leg!! Fuck me it was scary and caught me off guard.
From there we flash forward a few weeks and meet Hibiki’s friends and learn that she’s still weird as shit, but everyone is used to it. Basically she can talk to the dead and they’re sometimes assholes because she can talk/interact with them. Meanwhile Narumi avoids Hibiki like the plague because she doesn’t believe or like anything occult. Hibiki asks for Narumi’s help one day and they kind of become friends.
Hibiki can also talk to cats. It’s random and it’s only purpose is to introduce a cat character that’s a total pervert. It was probably my second favorite part of the show. Picture an adorable little kitten with a deep voice and totally perverted.
My thing with this show is I’m not sure if it wants to be a comedy, dark comedy or just a horror. Maybe I wasn’t supposed to laugh at those other parts… no I definitely was supposed to, but it really does come across as genre identity confusion because of it. When it’s going for comedy that’s all it’s going for. When it’s going for horror that’s all it’s going for. The two don’t overlap and so it makes for sharp shifts in the style which isn’t the best thing for the audience.
It also comes across a little like the “Monogatari” series… which if there’s one thing is shouldn’t try to be or go for it’s the Monogatari series because it simply won’t compare. The animation isn’t as good, the characters are nowhere as original or interesting and the supernatural element is at best a poor man’s version. It might not be what they were going for, but there’s a setting that looks extremely similar.
I’ll be back for the next episode. I don’t know if I’ll like it, but I want to see what happens. I don’t know if there’s more character depth coming, but I hope so. I think that would help the story a lot. Otherwise the horror element might be enough to make it tolerable, but I don’t know for how long. Hopefully the identity becomes clearer as well because otherwise it could really sink what could be an interesting series.
Score: 3/5
Re-Kan! 1.1 - "I Can See Them" Official Website
Review: Gunslinger Stratos 1.1
Gunslinger Stratos starts off interesting, but then quickly becomes generic until delving into something completely different and strange. Strange in the best of ways.
Gunslinger Stratos starts off interesting, but then quickly becomes generic until delving into something completely different and strange. Strange in the best of ways. The opening is a dream sequence, but it’s trippy and confusing in the right ways. It makes you curious as to what exactly is going on as our main character Tohru Kazasumi dreams of a little girl drawing on a sidewalk with chalk. Soon enough though she’s chased away by crows and Tohru is left looking at the intense formulas that she drew on the ground.
After that we follow Tohru to school. He’s all alone in the world and tries to keep his head down and avoid conflict… which of course makes him the love interest of one of the most popular and wealthy girls in the school Kyoka Katagiri. Her brother Kyoma doesn’t like Tohru and so he avoids conflict by ditching Kyoka and heading to class.
Soon enough we’re in gym class and it’s more of a battle training situation than gym. The boys are facing off against each other and so are the girls. Tohru for the most part avoids contact with others, but it comes down to just him and Kyoma. They battle and we see a little of what to expect from this world. We also learn just how good Tohru is at fighting as he could have beaten Kyoma, but didn’t want to be noticed so he throws the fight.
After school though Tohru sees the little girl from his dream, but she’s a hologram… a hologram that can run. Tohru cases after it and Kyoka chases after him and that’s when the show gets interesting.
I’m not going to spoil what happens. I’ve seen spoilers already online in reviews and it’s really makes it pointless to watch this episode because you’ll go in feeling negative towards it. Personally I thought the pacing was perfect for the episode. It set up the world quite well, but left a huge mystery to figure out next time. Hell I don’t think we’ll solve it next time, but we’ll begin collecting pieces.
It’s the third act or so of this series that pushes it out of mediocrity and into a damn good show. Sure Tohru and Kyoka are a little too perfect, but I’m curious to see what happens to them and how they’ll develop as characters.
The art is really good. I know the video game is by Square, so I’m sure the graphics are really good which probably pushed the animators into doing their best as well. It really is one of the best looking shows that I’ve seen in a while.
I’m interested in the story, but I like parallel earth sci-fi stuff and that’s the best way I can sum this episode up without spoiling anything else about it. If you’re not down with gunplay, sci-fi and a thinly veiled love story then you’ll probably dislike this series. If that does sound good then you’re in for a treat.
Score: 4/5
Gunslinger Stratos 1.1 Official Website
Review: Ultimate Otaku Teacher 1.1
Finally an anime with a name that has a translation that is halfway decent am I right? Ultimate Otaku Teacher continues the newish trend in anime/manga in which otaku culture is worked into the story which in my opinion is very meta since people are likely becoming otakus for a series talking about otakus.
Finally an anime with a name that has a translation that is halfway decent am I right? Ultimate Otaku Teacher continues the newish trend in anime/manga in which otaku culture is worked into the story which in my opinion is very meta since people are likely becoming otakus for a series talking about otakus. It’s kind of like when MTV was in its prime and Youtube hadn’t been invented yet and MTV was giving out awards for music videos… something only they were playing. I don’t hate the concept because clearly here it’s executed far better than MTV prime, but it’s something that continues to grow as a trend. To put it another way, it’s like reading a comic book and the characters talk about reading comic books…
At any rate the opening to this episode is terrible. There’s forced exposition and the character introduction is weak. We’re introduced to Jun’ichiro and his sister Suzune. She comes in with a bat that she can barely swing and basically threatens his life if he doesn’t get a job. Meanwhile his room is filled with manga, anime, figures, and posters and basically what’s become the normal “otaku room” shown in stories like this.
Why he needs a job is unknown to us. Clearly it’s not for the money because he can afford his expensive hobby to the fullest. The gist I got was that the sister wanted him out of the house and we needed a story to happen. Also it’s loosely covered that he’s a genius and that he’s given up on his field of study because he never liked it to begin with. That and he developed teleportation in theory, but realized it would take centuries for mankind to make it so… bummer.
On his first day of teaching he hears a girl singing an anime song on the roof and runs up to hear it. He’s impressed and of course goes all Otaku on the girl when she mentions she wants to be a voice actress. Of course they end up in the same class as student and teacher. The only interesting part was when Jun tells the class to play a game so he can get to know them and informs them that if any of them can beat his score he’ll give them a free pass for the year. Here he discovers that the voice actress girl that he calls Face Punch (because she punched him in the face) is being bullied and that the rest of the class has Black Plagued her to avoid being involved.
The story is okay after the opening. The opening is so bad that I nearly stopped watching because it was clearly pulled from the manga and was desperately trying to catch your attention. It did, but in the worst possible way. It just goes to show that you shouldn’t always copy the source material that closely.
Everything about the story is unbelievable in the sense that a genius is teaching high school and basically everything in this world is unbelievable and ridiculous because of that, but I’m pretty sure that’s the point. It’s really just GTO with an otaku teacher and it works. I don’t know where the story can go that will be all that interesting or if I’ll actually stick with it, but I’ll see what the second episode has to offer at least.
I disliked the sister and her character motivation was extremely shallow and I mean that as the depth of her reasoning… as in there is none. “Oh hey brother that never leaves his room because he’s a NEET… get a job you’re bothering me somehow…” It made me want her to leave more than him to get a job. Sadly I think we’ll be seeing a lot of her and if that’s the case then… sign me out.
The animation is okay. It’s not the best overall, but they put a lot of effort into little details which is good. If it manages to get a second season I could see them putting more money into the animation budget, but for now it’s tolerable even if it’s not the prettiest thing on TV.
I’m looking forward to the next episode, but probably for the wrong reasons. I think that episode will really determine if I stick with this show. While it wasn’t terrible, it was pretty generic and wears its influences on its sleeve for all to see and that’s not necessarily a good thing.
Score: 3/5
Ultimate Otaku Teacher 1.1 Official Website
Review: Plastic Memories 1.1 - The First Partner
Plastic Memories takes the cake for the weirdest and yet most interesting anime I’ve seen this season thus far. There’s really only a handful of shows left to premiere that I’m aware of so I think it’s probably safe to give them the belt.
Plastic Memories takes the cake for the weirdest and yet most interesting anime I’ve seen this season thus far. There’s really only a handful of shows left to premiere that I’m aware of so I think it’s probably safe to give them the belt. The opening serves only one purpose and it’s to have our main characters meet each other, before they officially meet each other. It’s rather pointless in terms of story, but they flash back to it several times. After that we follow Tsukasa Mizugaki as he starts his new job for SAI Corp in the “Terminal Service Department.” It takes a while for his co-workers to explain what exactly it is he’ll be doing especially when they mostly say things like, “nothing” or “watching.”
He and subsequently the audience learns about Giftia’s which are androids that have a nine year, four month shelf life. After that they start to break down and their memories corrupt. The Terminal Service’s job is to collect the androids before they get to this point, but of course there’s paperwork and rules to follow. Each human is also paired with a Giftia so half of the characters we meet are androids.
This was actually the only part of the story I had a problem with. Why the fuck would anyone buy an android that they couldn’t keep, knowing they could only keep it for less than a decade? I mean they instantly show us the type of situations; one is a couple that obviously didn’t have kids and had an android son, another is an old lady with a “granddaughter” that is her only family.
If you haven’t figured it out yet, the collecting of these soon to be defunct androids is a painful process and Tsukasa learns that first hand. I get that part, it’s just the catalyst to put the characters in this state that is kind of weak. I mean I guess when you pick out the android you don’t think about the ending, but still it’s a weird business model and an even stranger purchase.
What our main character doesn’t get that we as the audience instantly figure out (or at least you should) is that his Giftia partner who was previously taken off of field work (and who Tsukasa bumps into during the opening), Isla, is approaching her nine years. It’s pretty damn obvious to everyone except the main character, but I won’t spoil it for you in case you’d like to piece it together yourself.
The supporting characters are archetype characters that you’d find in any anime so no real surprise there. I mean, absolutely none. What makes them interesting is just how they’re used in this scenario and I have to admit that I became choked up by the end of the episode… until they ruined it with comedy.
This show lays on the drama pretty thick, but it also presents humor and there was only one time that it didn’t work and that was the ending. I get that they probably wanted to bring the audience back up and not leave you sad and depressed, but the attempt here really damaged everything that we had just seen.
The animation has a nice style. The coloring is warm and matches the near future world that the story takes place in. Studio Doga Kobo doesn’t break the model with the character designs and really the designs are as archetype as the personalities, but it works. The focus isn’t the designs, but rather dealing with loss.
And that’s really what this show is about, dealing with the loss of someone close to you. It’s a strange way to approach the subject, but then that’s also why I liked it. And there’s the question of what happens when they don’t get to the android soon enough? I don’t know, but I’ll be following it.
Score: 4/5
Plastic Memories 1.1 - "The First Partner" Official Website
Review: Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign 1.1
Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign has one of the best openings of an anime I’ve seen in a long while. It begins with everyone on the planet dying and me telling you that isn’t a spoiler because you really need to see it for yourself. From there we see these cloaked dudes taking to the streets and you’re like “what the fuck is happening here?”
Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign has one of the best openings of an anime I’ve seen in a long while. It begins with everyone on the planet dying and me telling you that isn’t a spoiler because you really need to see it for yourself. From there we see these cloaked dudes taking to the streets and you’re like “what the fuck is happening here?” After the opening we meet a group of kids and they’re running from something. An announcement goes out overhead and the gist is that humans fucked up the world with a super virus, but it doesn’t affect anyone under the age of 13. Meaning these kids are some of the last bastions of hope for humanity.
And then they’re captured by Vampires.
If you can’t tell already this is one of those shows that’s going to flash forward in time or at least this first episode does. It has that Attack on Titan vibe to it. With that said we flash forward four years and our two main characters Yuichiro and Mikaela, aka Yu and Mika, are on their way to get their blood drawn because they’re cattle for vampires. Afterwards they’re giving a Capri Sun looking thing and Yu doesn’t want it because it tastes bad and of course he hates the way things are. Some Vampires approach and two random kids don’t move out of the way and get their hands stepped on which was fucking awesome. Yu jumps in their face and attempts to beat their assess, but is suddenly hung over the ledge and about to be dropped when a Vampire noble shows up. This noble likes to personally suck Mika’s blood so of course Yu is saved.
Through this scene and a few others we learn how Yu and Mika are different in personalities. Yu will never give up or give in while Mika will do whatever to protect their family of orphans, but only as long as he has Yu’s spirit beside him. Mika’s found a map and gun in the Noble’s home and now they’re going to try and leave the Vampire underground city… too bad the vampire Noble is waiting for them because this is all a game to him. Cool shit ensues.
You may notice I’m talking very causally about this show and there’s a reason for it. It’s an entertaining show and while the formula is very transparent, it’s still fun. It has enough happening to make it new and fresh that I actually really enjoyed it. No surprise, the story flashes forward another four years because that’s all this first episode was meant to do… age our main characters while establishing their backstory and motivation.
And I really enjoyed it. I liked that the vampires didn’t mess around and that when everyone died there were no clichés just death. It was a super virus that did exactly what a super virus would do.
The character types are obvious and maybe a bit too much of the archetypes, but they work for a reason. It’s fairly obvious that Yu and Mika are going to grow up on opposite sides of the war of Humans vs Vampires and that’s okay because it should prove to be interesting. That childhood bond skews the line between black and white, good and bad and likely our two main characters will make decisions that hurt themselves and their cause for the other.
The animation is very detailed, especially for the action. The world looks like its ending and when we see it again towards the end… it’s clearly a different world now. With the Vampire world being underground it wasn’t too interesting to look at. Basically it was a lot of grey rocks and everyone is either wearing white or grey so nothing stands out.
The action is enough to bring me back, but I am a little curious about the story and the mystery that lead to these events. The characters might be too heavy rooted in archetypes to enjoy, but we’ll see. Overall it’s an interesting series that’s caught my attention, but we’ll see what happens with the second episode which will be the true first episode in some ways.
Score: 3/5
Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign 1.1 Official Website
Review: Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? 1.1 - Adventurer
I apparently have an affliction for anime’s with really long titles (see here). Is It Wrong to Try to Pick up Girls in a Dungeon? is one of those properties that’s known by many names. Commonly referred to as just Dungeon or DanMachi or just Familia Myth.
I apparently have an affliction for anime’s with really long titles (see here). Is It Wrong to Try to Pick up Girls in a Dungeon? is one of those properties that’s known by many names. Commonly referred to as just Dungeon or DanMachi or just Familia Myth. Its roots go back to a light novel series which seems to be the norm nowadays and then of course a manga and now an anime. I’m not familiar with the light novel or manga; let’s be honest, not everyone that will watch this is going to be either. If I miss something or criticize something that’s later explained in the manga, well that’s the nature of reviews. I’m here to enjoy the anime and not absorb the entire franchise. I feel like I have to throw that out there sometimes when I see that a properties roots stem past the anime, because then mega fans tend to throw out inadvertent spoilers to defend criticisms and really it’s not needed. Every adaptation needs to stand on its own.
Which I think Is It Wrong to Try to Pick up Girls in a Dungeon? 1.1 does quite well. We’re given a quick set up of the world which is common, especially when the world looks different from our own. It’s a story device that when used properly doesn’t annoy and when it’s used wrong ends up looking like a modern Hollywood Sci-Fi film.
The gist is pretty simple, but don’t get me wrong simple to explain is not simple in execution. The gods have descended to our world and given up their powers and promised not to interfere with our world. But they bless adventurers in protecting the world and also going through the dungeon maze.
We meet our main character Bell as he’s running away from a Minotaur, only to be saved and covered in blood by another adventurer Aiz Wallenstein the Sword Princess. For Bell its love at first site and he goes running off to find out more info about Aiz… while covered in blood. He runs to the Adventurer agency and his friend/handler person Eina helps him get cleaned up, but then scolds him for going to a level of the dungeon he shouldn’t have been in with his level of skills (though we later learn that the Minotaur shouldn’t have been there in the first place).
Through their interaction we get an idea of how the dungeon and world works. Blessed “Family Members” go into the dungeon and kill monsters and collect the gems they drop and then adventurers turn those gems in for money.
After Bell turns in his few gems collected he runs back home to his Goddess Hestia. As it turns out Bell is the only member of the Hestia family and since he’s a newbie and weak… well so is the family. Hestia is clearly into Bell. She brings him food and they have a fun night. They do act like a family even if there’s a brewing love interest in Bell. We also see another part of how the world and adventuring works when Hestia checks Bell’s “Levels.”
This is when the idea became quite awesome to me because it’s a role-playing video game turned into a real world. Bell has levels and everything is stored on a tattoo on his back. Hestia checks his levels and puts it on a piece of paper for him to look at. He gets excited when his agility goes up. He also learns a skill, but Hestia being jealous of Bell’s interest in Aiz keeps it from him. Also I think she’s trying to protect him because clearly she’s lost family members before and doesn’t want him leveling up to quickly and getting killed.
There’s more to the first episode, but really nothing worth going into detail about. There’s a really awkward scene in a pub that serves as some weird motivation for Bell and his puppy love for Aiz. It’s very much forced upon the story and frankly felt too formulaic compared to the rest of the story. As it was the very definition of convenient writing. I get that Bell is in love with Aiz and there will be other love interests for Bell and they’ll never get together. I get it. It’s the formula and it’s not going away anytime soon in anime, manga or light novels. But it really wasn’t needed here. The world was interesting enough that Bell didn’t need to become emotional attached to the first woman he sees in the dungeon.
The world though, is really interesting. I don’t know what the larger story is at play, but for now Bell trying to get stronger and show the cat man that talked shit about him that he is somehow worthy of Aiz is good enough. I just hope they keep it fresh and make the monsters in the dungeon more of a threat. The Minotaur was cool, but the other monsters that Bell faces later were pretty whatever. The worst part of dungeon crawling is facing lightweight bullshit monsters and so hopefully we don’t have to see a bunch of that on the show.
The animation is very good. Since it’s a fantasy world there’s a lot of details to the city and backgrounds are full and rich with the exception of the dungeon itself. It’s a dungeon so rocks and dirt are all you see which isn’t visually catchy in the least bit. It doesn’t have to be beautiful, but it’s a really hard shift from the rest of the show.
The character designs are interesting. The woman all have fan service in mind and Hestia has a string that goes around her arms and under her boobs to give them more… definition… or bounce… it serves no purpose other than to draw attention to them. Bell has softer features to give him that innocent boy look and it works. Overall the design captured a fantasy world, but not in a Knights and Dragons kind of way which was a nice change of pace. In fact it has this hint of Final Fantasy VIII to it in my opinion.
I liked this episode. I can see all the tropes and story formulas at play, but the world is interesting enough for me to stick with it. The comedy is pretty light so hopefully it gets better, but the serious parts were decent making a good balance for the series. If you’re not into fantasy worlds, video games or anime tropes then you’ll probably want to pass on this one, but anyone that enjoys those three things should give it a shot.
Score: 3/5
Is It Wrong to Try To Pick UP Girls in a Dungeon? 1.1 - Adventurer (Bell Cranel) Official Website
Review: High School DxD BorN 3.1 - It's Summer break, To the Underworld Let's GO!
The third season of High School DxD has begun and my goodness they didn’t waste any time getting to the fan service. It was almost a little too much even for this series, but hey… it’s fan service so I’m not going to complain.
The third season of High School DxD has begun and my goodness they didn’t waste any time getting to the fan service. It was almost a little too much even for this series, but hey… it’s fan service so I’m not going to complain. After a very long opening of F.S. we see that Issei’s house has been completely remodeled so that basically everyone can live there. It’s ridiculously large and it happened overnight and his parents don’t seem to care because it’s ridiculously large. We learn that school is almost out for the summer and that the “club” will be going to Hell to train for the break. Issei continues to have thoughts about the woman that killed him and put him on the course of becoming a demon and other bad moments in the story like when he almost lost Asia. The Rias’ hang up this season is the fact that Issei won’t call her by her first name like he does everyone else and Akeno is poaching Rias’ turf aka Issei a lot more already this season (which personally I really liked).
There is some action (not like that), but it’s the first episode so it doesn’t mean anything really. The set up for it is predictable as well. Also it seems that our forgotten character Koneko (she was more of a background character last season) is being put in the spotlight this time around and it’s very forced. Very.
As much as I like the fan service of this show I really don’t care if it’s there or not. I get that that’s where it gets a lot of its popularity, but for me I’m more interested in the story of heaven and hell and fallen angels. Something I don’t like that they’ve done each season now is make Issei weak. He’s built up to be this wrecking ball of force and power by the end of the season in which he’ll overcome some huge obstacle and while I understand the formula at play… they just make him too damn weak. Instead of maintaining any strength he comes across as pitiful. With them training at least there’s the hope that we’ll see him level up sooner this season, but they really need to stop dropping him so hard because it makes it makes it less believable each time he overcomes someone more powerful.
As for the storyline I have little doubt that it will improve, but I can’t say that I’m interested in what they’re doing or setting up for Koneko. Frankly she’s been the weakest character since the beginning so unless they’re going to finally give her some form of personality, I can’t say I really care. I don’t particularly care for the “why won’t he say my first name” storyline, but hey it’s a trope. Frankly since the first season they’ve really nerffed Rias’ power as well, but unlike Issei, they don’t level her back up each season. I can’t tell you one new thing she’s learned or that’s been revealed about her powers and the only other character that’s like that is unfortunately Koneko.
The animation is great. I’ll admit that I found an uncensored version (much to my surprise) and it definitely caught me off guard. Though I found it to be a purer version because of it. With as much fan service as this show has, having giant censor “stickers” pop up tends to just make it pointless to watch anything since most of the screen is covered. But even the non-fan service parts were animated incredibly well. I’ve enjoyed the look of this series from the beginning and it only gets better with time.
There’s some hiccups in this first episode for sure and if you haven’t watched the other two seasons/series then you’re going to be lost. There’s no recap and really at this point there shouldn’t be. Fan service or not, I’ll be here for this story and can’t wait to see how Issei transforms this season and when we’ll see him in full on Dragon mode… or doorbell a booby because that’s probably going to happen first.
Score: 3/5
High School DxD BorN 3.1 "It's Summer break, To the Underworld Let's GO!" Official Website
Review: Show By Rock! 1.1 - Have A Nice Music!
With this newest season of anime I decided to just try out anything and basically everything that was new. As long as it wasn’t the second season or a spinoff that I hadn’t already been following that is, I mean no sense in being lost the entire time. Show By Rock! Is not the type of show I would usually watch. In fact I’m not sure why people would watch it outside of the humor and over the top cuteness. Though the humor would be the only thing to bring me back for the second episode.
With this newest season of anime I decided to just try out anything and basically everything that was new. As long as it wasn’t the second season or a spinoff that I hadn’t already been following that is, I mean no sense in being lost the entire time. Show By Rock! Is not the type of show I would usually watch. In fact I’m not sure why people would watch it outside of the humor and over the top cuteness. Though the humor would be the only thing to bring me back for the second episode. We open by meeting a high school girl that’s waiting outside of a club room. Her name is Cyan and she’s really nervous about handing in her application for the club which is a rock band. Not nervous enough to stop singing outside of the club room for all to hear… all but the band, but nervous none the less. After being embarrassed we jump to later in the evening in her room. She’s strumming her guitar and has actual skills with the instrument. At this point I was thinking “so this is just K’On” and I was wrong to think that.
She plays a Guitar Hero style of game on her cell phone in order to boost her courage and ends up with a high score and unlocking a Strawberry Heart guitar… and then is warped into the game… or somewhere… they haven’t decided to tell us yet.
And here’s where it gets confusing and crazy and slightly better.
Cyan is sent flying into this digital looking world and is changed into a cat girl (the costume is quite awesome) and we see a band performing and they’re all animal hybrids as well. Oh and they’re all in “Super Cute” mode or as we call it here in the States “Super Deformed” due to a translation error we’re stuck with that terminology. What’s weird is the show jumps between the CGI super cute and the regular 2-D animation and the switch is really, really random at times. At one point we’re introduced to new characters in 2-D and then back to CGI and then back to 2-D and then CGI, CGI. It was a mess and the CGI/super cute mode was pretty generic and shitty. When the characters look cuter in 2-D mode then you’ve failed at your mission.
Cyan saves a boy band from a dark creature trying to take their music stuff away from them. Honestly the terminology didn’t matter to me as it was super cheesy. Afterwards Cyan is approached by an Egg, no joke a fucking egg, about joining his label and band the Plasmagica which is a terrible name. It’s not even fun to say. We meet the band members and they’re all animal or food gimmicks as well and it becomes clear that everyone in this world will have an animal or food gimmick.
We meet the villain at some point and Cyan joins the band to fulfill her dream and in a very meta way she acknowledges the fact that she doesn’t know where she is, why’s she there and what’s up with the world… but that she also doesn’t care because she’s in a band. It was like, “hey viewer, we know you’re wondering about this stuff and why we didn’t address it… but it doesn’t matter because everyone’s playing music and has an animal or food gimmick and that’s cool right?”
And I was okay with that… maybe not cool, but okay.
Because the story is a mess. It leaps ahead, it doesn’t jump. It’s pacing is frantic when in 2-D mode and hangs out way too much when in 3-D/CGI mode. If it hadn’t been for the humor in the last third of the episode I would have turned it off by then, though I can see the Egg dude wearing on my nerves with his gimmick already. He basically freaks out over everything and goes on a tangent.
I dug the classic anime tropes like the teardrop, the red anger mark and the super detailed face when angry. My favorite was when Cyan would “Meow” and the character Retoree would blush and fall madly in love with her for a second due to the cute factor.
The CGI designs are a real put off. They were so smashed together that it looks like a head with legs and arms coming from somewhere. It wasn’t cute, it looked like Reboot and I mean that. It looked like dated ass CGI from Reboot. You may have liked Reboot back in the day, but I guarantee that you still looked at it and were like, “this looks shitty.”
The 2-D animation was fantastic and if it wasn’t for the CGI I would have loved the look of the show. Unfortunately the 2-D is interrupted so much in the beginning that I didn’t even pay attention to the art until, again, the third act. The character designs are great and they’re appropriate for their age and for younger audiences. It’s cute, not sexy and I was glad to see that given the age of the character and the world.
Man oh man, that story. I don’t know how long I’ll be able to ignore its flaws and obvious appeal to a younger crowd, but I’ll give it a shot. If the story was tighter and actually tried to explain what was going on rather than making a joke about how they’re not doing that, it would be pretty cool… well if it dropped the CGI it would be even cooler. For now it’s just okay and it’s a shame because elements of the story and art really are great, but they’re held down by the parts that aren’t. Unfortunately the parts that aren’t dominate the episode.
Score: 2/5
Show By Rock! 1.1 - "Have A Nice Music" Official Website
Review: Food Wars 1.1 - An Endless Wasteland
Food Wars: Shokugeki no Soma was made to be an anime, but folks new to the series will probably have to hang around for a few episodes.
Food Wars: Shokugeki no Soma was made to be an anime, but folks new to the series will probably have to hang around for a few episodes. When it was announced that the Food Wars: Shokugeki no Soma manga was going to join Weekly Shonen Jump (which I cover every week), I was excited. It was not a series I had ever read, but I knew that it would appeal to me immediately. I like manga (a lot), I like cooking (a lot), and, in particular, I really like trying new recipes, especially Japanese ones. If I recall correctly, the first chapter serialized in Jump featured a detailed scientific explanation of the qualities that make a fish fresh.
And I've been hooked ever since.
The manga is not just informative and fun. It features a really strong cast of characters, all with their own stories and ambitions. And the lead character, Soma Yukihara, will probably go down as an archetypal Shonen character. When the anime got announced, oh my good golly goodness was I pumped. Because this series has so much potential to succeed in the anime form that it's stupid.
Think about it. We're talking about one of the most internationally successful manga right now, the main theme of which is based on our senses. That a manga based on food in the real world has been able to deliver its topic so successfully in a medium that plays off of only one sense (sight) in a static, often colorless form, is a testament to the depth of the characters and ideas contained within. Surely, as well, the series has received some help from fairly frequent ecchi that gets peppered in for dramatic and comedic effect. Whenever a dish is particularly amazing, a thing called "disrobing" happens to both women and men alike, and it's exactly what it sounds like. It's often incredibly over-dramatic and employs splash pages that take the newly naked characters to some surreal setting.
Take both of those things--the serious, central subject matter of delicious, innovative cuisine, and the contrasting surrealistic, mostly-nude, dramatic reactions of customers and judges--and add 1. color 2. sound 3. and the motion of animation, and holy sweet shit I promise you there is a winning formula. And I'm talking in abstract here: it is very obvious from jump (pun intended) street that this anime has an inherently successful formula that it will have to go out of its way to screw up.
The first episode did not disappoint. Having since read the entire manga, I can tell you that the high points of the first manga chapter are establishing Soma's ambitions, his relationship with his dad, his knack for learning from his mistakes, and the way the groundwork gets set for that disrobing ecchi effect. All of these things were front and center in the anime: it kept true to the spirit of the manga, and then some. The food was a pleasure to look at in full color with steam pouring off of it, and it is completely unfair how hungry the show made me. And, as expected, the disrobing effect, with the power of made-for-television animation on its side, was completely fucking ridiculous.
Rather than being confined to a two-page spread, the anime gets to indulge in its fan service in a way that both increases the fan service but, more importantly for a twenty-something like me who is not really into that shit, increases the hell out of the comedic effect. The thing that I like so much about this series is that it earns its little fan service moments with a plot that has a brisk pace and a lot of meaningful character payoffs.
All that said, I could see how people who haven't read the manga and had the chance to see the balance between the plot and the ecchi probably felt like they were being assaulted by the amount of nudity in the first episode of this show--a show that's supposed to be about cooking. I think that's a fair criticism. The main reason I don't think that it was heavy-handed is because I already have the context of the manga. It remains to be seen whether the potential to indulge in the fan service becomes a hindrance to this anime's success; but, the manga has struck a good balance, and I think the show will be fine if it tries to stick to that same ratio.
I know some people will stay just for the fan service. My concern is that this series needs to embrace its ability to appeal to a lot of demographics. If it can do that, I guarantee you are looking at an anime series that is going to be talked about for a long time.
Score: 4/5
Food Wars 1.1 - And Endless Wasteland Official Website
Review: My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU TOO! 2.1
Whether you call it Oregairu, My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected or my preferred choice of My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU… either way it’s a long ass name. But one that you don’t forget. At its heart it’s a little bit of a harem comedy. In fact it really has the structure of one, but unlike others that have previously broken or changed the mold, no one is in love with our main character.
Whether you call it Oregairu, My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected or my preferred choice of My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU… either way it’s a long ass name. But one that you don’t forget. At its heart it’s a little bit of a harem comedy. In fact it really has the structure of one, but unlike others that have previously broken or changed the mold, no one is in love with our main character. Well that’s not true. No one’s honest in the slightest about their feelings for our main character Hachiman Hikigaya (say that however you want everyone else does). And here’s why… he’s terrible. He’s rude, he’s unkind, and he’s intentionally mean, a loner with a superiority complex and everyone in the school either doesn’t acknowledge his existence or hates him.
And I absolutely love his character for it. Because it’s all a front. Socially he’s the smartest guy in the room. He’s figured out how the world works and has a negative view of it and how can you blame him. Do you hate work, school or social interactions that feel forced? Well that’s society and we all deal with it. We get to that age where we know how to play the game and acknowledge that we are in fact playing it.
Hikigaya doesn’t play the game, at least not like everyone else. He sacrifices himself constantly to make others feel better, but he does it in the worst possible way. He makes people face reality and when that happens the other people around them go into overdrive to protect the societal boundaries we’ve all been duped into agreeing to. To put it another way, he plays the heel (wrestling term for a person playing the “bad guy” when in actuality they aren’t).
Again… I absolutely love his character for it.
The second season started up and I didn’t realize how much I missed this show, though I did instantly remember the thing I didn’t like about it. I needed more. One episode isn’t enough, a fact I can prove by pointing out that I’ve watched it twice and started going back through the first season. I feel like a little kid in an At&t commercial screaming for more, “We just want more!”
The first episode begins in an interesting way. It actually recaps some of the twelfth episode of the first season. Not the last episode, but the second to last episode. This was the episode that really changed the dynamic of the season and so it’s interesting that they start with it here. Almost as a reminder that things will never be smooth for Hikigaya.
The rest of the episode is spent on a service request. Tobe wants to ask Hina out finally. What’s interesting here is that when Tobe and Hayato approach the service club, they’re disrespectful to Hikigaya which isn’t unusual. But both Yukino and Yui tell Tobe to come back when he has more respect which is a shocker to Hikigaya. It’s a strong scene and opened the show well. Then its school trip time and all the tropes that go along with that storyline.
I liked the story for the episode. It brought back every character from the first season in a way that didn’t feel forced and re-established the status quo. The other interesting part is that Hina goes to the service club to get their help maintaining the status quo which seems to imply that the way things are now… will not remain.
The art has genuinely improved, but there’s some things have changed and not for the better. It’s clear that the budget is bigger and don’t get me wrong I love seeing better animation. The coloring is better and looks more natural rather than having a lot of solid colors. It looks more like a movie than a tv show which is becoming the norm for popular shows. What isn’t improved is the changes to Hikigaya’s design. His hair is far more stylish and the coloring doesn’t have that green hue to it. I personally liked that because in a way it reflected his personality on the exterior. Again you want to see improvements, but here you lose some of the charm and visual personality of the characters and that’s a shame.
Talking about this show doesn’t help. I hoped it would, but it only makes me want to see the next episode. If you enjoyed the first season then you’ll welcome this series back with open arms. If you missed the first season then you’ll likely be lost on the main plot line, but still able to follow what’s happening and the gist of the characters. I would just recommend watching the first season though. Now let the countdown to next week begin.
Score: 4/5
My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU TOO! 2.1 "Nobody Knows Why They Came to the Service Club" Official Website
Review: Tokyo Ghoul √A – Ep. 1-4
I’ll be the first to say that I don’t really know what the hell is going on with this season of Tokyo Ghoul. I love the first season even though it ended really awkwardly. When I heard they followed the new trend of renaming the second season, I was just happy that there would be a second season.
I’ll be the first to say that I don’t really know what the hell is going on with this season of Tokyo Ghoul. I love the first season even though it ended really awkwardly. When I heard they followed the new trend of renaming the second season, I was just happy that there would be a second season. In the first episode the show picks up right where the first season left off which was great. We see a transformed and completely badass Kaneki rocking permanent white hair and in control of his power. However he doesn’t do much other than save what members of Anteiku he can find. Meanwhile the humans from the CCG unveil a new device which is basically a living armor made from a Ghoul. It sucks the blood of the user and gives the wearer enhanced abilities and strength. Eventually everyone clears out of the building their in. The CCG takes a massive blow, the members of Anteiku make it out and for some reason Kaneki goes with Aogiri Tree.
The next few episode just shows him tearing ass with them and rocking a weird one piece leather suit that stops at the knees like leather overall shorts. We meet new CCG members including the daughter of Kureo Mado. There’s also a mess of Ghouls introduced and not all of them are a part of Aogiri Tree.
The real confusion for me comes from the fact that no one is really in charge or at least they’re not showing them. We’re to believe that the Owl is in charge, but I suspect that the Owl is actually a member of Anteiku if you catch my drift. Yet Kaneki continues to go on missions with Toka’s brother… yeah like seriously he’s working with the guy that is partially responsible for his transformation.
Overall the art and art direction remains amazing. They’ve worked around the blood this season toning it down so that they don’t have to resort to a negative image, but at the same time… I kind of miss that. The action is much better and has a nice flow to it. Not that last season was choppy, but particularly the fourth episode had a better overall movement and execution than the first episode of the season. That and the costume designs remain awesome. Other than the leather short overalls.
My one gripe with the Ghouls are the lack of diversity in their powers or their “Kagune.” A lot of the grunt Aogiri Tree members all have the same basic shit and no it doesn’t really matter because they die often and easily, but its visually boring to see so many of them and have them not be threatening and worse be generic.
This season is off to a good start, but it’s definitely not as strong as the last season. With the fourth episode we finally get some of Kaneki’s motivation behind joining Aogiri Tree even if it’s through awkward exposition, but we really need the other shoe to drop if it’s going to have any value to the story. For now though I’ll keep watching even if I hate the four minutes of pointless music that each episode contains.
Score: 4/5
Studio: Pierrot Distributor: Funimation
Review: Assassination Classroom – Ep. 1-3
Having never read the manga version of Assassination Classroom, I found this selection to be the most curious. I refrained from reading the manga (mostly because I knew I’d never have the time) and waited for the anime.
Having never read the manga version of Assassination Classroom, I found this selection to be the most curious. I refrained from reading the manga (mostly because I knew I’d never have the time) and waited for the anime. I was instantly disappointed.
I know that’s a strong statement to lead with, but I was and I don’t want to sugar coat it. The problem I have with Assassination Classroom is that its concept is cooler than its execution.
I love the idea of a classroom of assassins that can’t tell about their mission and their mission is to kill their teacher. Why? Because he’s a weird octopus (not an alien, but totally looks like one) that destroyed the moon and has promised to destroy earth if his students are unable to kill him within a year. Meanwhile he wants to teach them…
Crazy right?
I mean I’m onboard with this. I think it would be better if it was students from all over the world and they had some training, but hey the bottom of the barrel at a super school that downgrades your classroom based on performance will just have to do.
Here’s where it loses me… they already have the means to kill the teacher. They have plastic knives that can harm him, but not people. They have BB pellets that harm him, but not people. They have the means, but they can’t use them because he can move at Mach 20.
So how the fuck did they develop the means to kill him?
I’ve mostly just accepted this because thinking about it too much would force me to turn it off. Its fantasy and I accept that, but I hate that they try to bring up the science of him moving at Mach 20 with no residual side effects of this. It’s just a weird thing to point out when you’re going to ignore everything else like say what happens when you move at Mach 20 and say the air space around you when you do. But its fantasy so I really, really try not to think about it.
So you’d think this would be a show in which each week the kids think of new and evil ways to kill their teacher (oh and get rich because they get paid if they succeed) which it kind of is. But then the teacher has this incredible amount of heart and he actually cares about the students. Each episode so far has focused on one student and the teacher and the student go blows until ultimately the teacher wins and the student learns a lesson and starts thinking of a new way to kill the teacher.
It’s sadly the same each episode and I began to wonder why?
We see in a flashback that the teacher (I really don’t feel like typing his name, it just means unkillable teacher) had some sort of connection with a human teacher that died and basically he promised to teach students… so why the fuck is he going to destroy the planet? What good does destroying the planet do? I’m sure his reasoning involves the nature in which the teacher died, but I’m really not that curious any more.
Because here’s the catch, he says he doesn’t lie to them so if they don’t kill him then he will do it. This instantly removes the possibility of him tricking the government into letting him teach a class that he would otherwise never be allowed to do… and yet that’s what it comes off as. He’s really focused on teaching the students and it almost seems pointless to add in the killing part. That’s where the concept comes in. It’s as if the thought was, “how do I make an alien teacher with super speed interesting? Oh I know the kids are trying to kill him!”
With that I have to point out that I haven’t liked any of the characters other than the newest member of the class that was introduced in the third episode. I won’t say anymore in case you haven’t watched it, but the problem is that they neutered his character by the end of the episode. Which seems to be the norm. Introduce an interesting aspect of a character and then have the teacher fix it by the end of the episode thus changing them and making them no longer interesting. It’s a shame because I saw the new character’s presence fixing a lot of the problems the first two episodes had.
Quickly I’ll say that I get that this is supposed to be a dark comedy. It fails at that too and I have a hard time even calling it that. The comedy is just comedy and only occasionally comes across as dark. Painting someone’s nails is just comedy and the show is mostly like that with the exception of dark moments. They don’t overlap enough making it feel like two shows in it’s tone.
The animation is good, not great, but good and really do you expect it not to be? No.
I’m not really sold on this show. Its concept is great, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. I might give it a few more episodes, but I already know there’s something up with the headmaster and I really just don’t care about an evil headmaster playing some role in this entire story. Overall it’s a lot of hype and could have been a lot better.
Score: 2/5
Studio: Lerche Distributor: Funimation
Review: World Break: Aria of Curse for a Holy Swordsman – Ep. 1
Sometimes I wonder if I’m better off titling these reviews by their Japanese names. It could be my old school nature to call animes by their English titles because that’s what I’m accustomed to having been one of the many that can remember anime on VHS and swapping tapes.
Sometimes I wonder if I’m better off titling these reviews by their Japanese names. It could be my old school nature to call animes by their English titles because that’s what I’m accustomed to having been one of the many that can remember anime on VHS and swapping tapes. Frankly World Break is easier for me to remember than Seiken Tsukai no Wārudo Bureiku, but with the golden age of the internet I don’t really know how other anime fans refer to it. I know this really has nothing to do with the show, but it is a thought that weighs heavily on me as I sat down to discuss World Breaker because I had an overwhelming need to discuss it with other viewers. Two episodes of the show have actually aired (depending on when you read this), but I’m just going to talk about the first. Which is rare. Usually I want to just pull the trigger and watch and talk about as many episodes as possible for a review, but this show really resonated with me.
It could be the fact that World Break (yeah that’s what I’m going with) touched on so many genres and reoccurring themes in anime and storytelling in general that it was easy to be swept up by it, because it did them all well.
The premise is that certain people are able to remember their past lives. Not everything, but enough here and there. Because of this they’re brought to a special school to train and learn about the powers that reside inside of them because of this. Step one is a protective set of clothing called a Plana and step two is ripping your dog tags off in a cool manner and pulling a weapon from your past out of thin air. They do this to protect against giant monsters called metaphysicals.
The first episode actually begins in the future with our main character Moroha Haimura and his classmates fighting an epic battle against a dragon. Out of context this scene was honestly confusing, but I liked what I was seeing and the variety of characters. That and Moroha floats in the air writing a spell for like five minutes before attaching it to his sword and slashing it at the dragon… kind of fucking cool if you ask me. And yes it is a bit ridiculous, but I like a world that does this type of action and magic and doesn’t make a joke about it.
The episode then goes into explaining the world and introducing Moroha at the opening ceremony (I swear I’ve seen enough of these in animes to last a life time). Moroha falls asleep and a girl with pink hair kicks him to wake him up. The result is a great animated sequence of folding chairs flying and being pushed back. I know this is stupid, but they actually moved and looked like cheap plastic folding chairs and so yes I did find that impressive.
It’s here that we meet two woman from Moroha’s past life and where it also gets interesting because they remember the past life in which their relationships were different. In this instance our pink haired, one pig-tail girl is named Satsuki Ranjo and she recognizes Moroha as Flaga her one time brother… who she had mad romantic feelings for. Moroha doesn’t really remember her though. It’s this delicate balance of “are you the person I know you to be or someone different now?” that is truly interesting. Especially considering they’re other women from Moroha’s past.
Sure that’s harem through and through, but I liked how he handled it as a character. Of course he was shy when confronted by romantic feeling instantly, but by the end of the episode he showed that he was a bit different from other romantic leads. For the first time in a situation like this I found myself interested more in the male lead than the women he was surrounded by.
I don’t know how different World Break will be in the end. The second female character Shizuno Urushibara that’s introduced seems like a throwaway character trying to appease the genre, but she could end up being a worthwhile secondary love interest. Or it could all go the way of Absolute Duo and become painfully average… but something tells me that’s not going to happen here.
Score: 4/5
Studio: Diomedea Distributor: Funimation
Review: Absolute Duo Ep. 1-4
New anime season is in full effect, but whereas the fall season offered a lot of new shows that I was dying to check out, the winter season has been a collection of shows that are really average or a shining star. Unfortunately Absolute Duo is very average.
New anime season is in full effect, but whereas the fall season offered a lot of new shows that I was dying to check out, the winter season has been a collection of shows that are really average or a shining star. Unfortunately Absolute Duo is very average. The premise is actually the most interesting part, but only because a lot of it has been left a mystery. Since this is my only exposure to the title and have no plans on reading the manga or light novels and will not be reading a wiki to understand the story better. Let the show tell me what I need to know.
The show as I understand it is about special students that are able to pull out a “Blaze” after being given an injection. They’re attending a special school for training and education for a battle we know nothing about yet. We’re just told over and over that there will be death around every corner someday soon and try to achieve absolute duo.
This is basically only touched upon during the first episode which in typical first day of school fashion begins with two students (a male and a female) meeting and sitting together. The school principal introduces most of what I did in the previous paragraph and then informs them that they’ll have their first battle right now… against the person they’re sitting next to.
Hell of a swerve let me tell you.
The battles that are shown are pretty fast and not very interesting. Our main character Tooru Kokonoe refuses to pull forth his Blaze at first until his new friend and some extra danger, force him to. The Blaze is a weapon that represents one’s soul, but low and behold Tooru’s is a shield. This make him an irregular and of course more special than everyone else. The scene and episode closes with Tooru winning and his new friend being forced to leave the school. Though we know that they spent way too much time introducing this character so I’m sure she’ll find a way back into the story somehow… oh wait… there she is on the promo art.
After this the students learn about “Duos” which is partnerships that are for life with another student. I’m sure there will be more to the Duos, but for now it’s a life partner for battles. Tooru ends up with a white haired German student that of course speaks Japanese (because her mother was a translator) named Julie. This is unusual because Duos have to live with each other and everyone else is paired off with the same sex. Yet our adorable teacher dressed like a Playboy bunny has forced them to duo.
This introduces us to the harem comedy aspect of the show because of course Julie is foreign and says things out of context that sound dirty and of course the other girls and class want to make sure they’re not getting busy in their dorm. But who cares right? In fact everyone and their mother could have broken this up and worked it out, but really the only other solution would be for two students to be solo or god forbid the guy who doesn’t talk ends up with her.
Eventually the arrival of our next suitor for our irregular Tooru arrives in the form of Lilith Bristol who is an exception. This means her blaze is a gun apparently and she’s really fucking rich or something because she has a butler that is a girl about the same age as her. This is also when it started to feel a bit like several other animes because her character is from England and is rich and spoiled. Not sure why every character from England is viewed as being mega rich, but I guess you’d have to be rich to know fluent Japanese, have a butler the same age as you and move across the world to go to school for a boy you don’t know.
Really the good part of the story comes from Tooru and Juile’s motivations for being at the school. Tooru grew up in an orphanage and there’s a flashback of a person killing all the students at his dojo. One girl sacrifices herself in order to save him and that’s about all we know. Julie on the other hand reveals that she’s an “avenger” as well and shows Tooru her scar… and naked body. It’s also pretty clear that she too is without her parents.
This show is pretty average. It reminds me of a half dozen shows I’ve watched in the last two years. The characters are to archetype. The art is pretty. The future is bleak. The school pays for everything and there’s plenty of misunderstandings between Tooru and the opposite sex. I mean it’s pretty telling when the promo images don’t even have the main character in them…
But I can’t get over the opening and the fact that we don’t know what danger is coming. Now that could mean that we should expect that to play out pretty typically as well or it could be what makes this show stand out from the typical future school, special powers, my parents are dead and I’m special… harem-esc comedy. Could being the key word there.
Hopefully it reveals more of the threat soon because otherwise I don’t see myself bothering to finish the season, especially when World Break is doing nearly the exact same thing, but making it far more interesting.
Score: 3/5 (Just barely, thank the 1st episode)
Studio: 8-Bit Distributor: Funimation
Review: Cute High Earth Defense Club LOVE! – Ep. 1
If you are an anime fan you have likely watched Sailor Moon or some other magic girl show. If you have ever enjoyed one, watch Cute High Earth Defense Club LOVE! If you thought magic girl shows were silly and needed to be mocked, watch Cute High Earth Defense Club LOVE! If you just need a fun show, watch Cute High Earth Defense Club LOVE!
If you are an anime fan you have likely watched Sailor Moon or some other magic girl show. If you have ever enjoyed one, watch Cute High Earth Defense Club LOVE! If you thought magic girl shows were silly and needed to be mocked, watch Cute High Earth Defense Club LOVE!
If you just need a fun show, watch Cute High Earth Defense Club LOVE!
Can you notice a theme here?
Cute High Earth Defense Club LOVE! is a new magic girl show. With the only catch being that the characters are boys, not girls. Every other rule applies. Weird animal that can talk and knows what is going on appears, this time being a pink wombat. Wonderfully elaborate transformation scenes for each character happen right as the fight is about to begin. And the power of LOVE wins the day. It is everything you would expect in a magic girl show. This makes it marvelous.
So we have five boys who fit a random generality. One loves animals, one is a giant flirt, one is great with money, etc. These boys are in a school club that is built around avoiding being in a school club. They are all generally lazy when it comes to this part of their lives, even though all of them spend a lot of time with their general pursuit. These boys meet a talking pink wombat, who generally harasses them until the monster of the week shows up. The wombat then grants each boy magic powers and the show is off and running.
And that is the episode. Introduce characters. Pink wombat arrives. Monster arrives, powers are granted, and then fights. By the time each boy says their Princely LOVE name and transforms, you will be completely sold on this show. If you are not, please seek immediate medical help. There is something severely wrong with you.
I really don’t want to spoil much here, but seeing the characters reactions to every magical aspect of the show made for so many laugh out loud moments. We always see the protagonists freak out a little when meeting the magic, but this felt like a “realistic” response to it all. Not that the show didn’t move past just parody. There are some good character moments outside of the cliché magic girl plot points. The monster was very well done, and tied into the random conversation the show started off with.
I love this show already and have only seen the first episode. If you need a good laugh, watch it now.
Score: 5/5
Studio: Diomedéa Publisher: FUNimation
Review: Death Parade: Episode 1 – Death: Seven Darts
Madhouse animations tend to be 50/50 with me. Never the actual animation, but the stories themselves. From the get go I didn’t know what to expect from Death Parade. The visuals instantly lead you to think it’s a serious and darker story in tone which is accurate.
Madhouse animations tend to be 50/50 with me. Never the actual animation, but the stories themselves. From the get go I didn’t know what to expect from Death Parade. The visuals instantly lead you to think it’s a serious and darker story in tone which is accurate. The confusing part is the opening song which paints a different picture. Now usually I don’t watch the openings of animes because they are always misleading, but I happened to catch this one and I wish I hadn’t since it gave a far goofier feel to the show and I spent the entire episode waiting for the other shoe to drop. The episode itself starts off with a couple exiting separate elevators and finding each other. They don’t remember how they got there and they don’t know where “there” is. After a long-winded opening it’s revealed that they must play a game with their lives as the stakes. Reluctantly they push a button to decide their game and Darts comes up. They’re then each given seven darts, but just as they think it’s a simple game of darts the twist of the different areas being connected to their bodies comes in to play. For instance the bullseye is the heart and the pain is amplified by the amount of points. The other twist is quickly revealed when the husband throws his first dart and it injures his wife.
Eventually human nature kicks in and this seemingly perfect couple reveals their true nature and a bunch of emotional baggage is dragged out.
Spoilers ahead
The episode had potential, but when the couple began yelling at each other the emotional weight wasn’t there. More than likely that’s due to the fact that we really don’t know these characters and we’re instantly seeing them at their worse. After the wife wins the game (which is still a loss for her) she tells the husband the “truth” that she was using him for his money and that their unborn kid isn’t his. It came off hollow and more like the words of someone hurt just trying to lash out at the person that hurt her. Instead it was meant to be the truth… yeah didn’t really ring true to me given her delivery and the fact that she was fighting back tears the entire time.
After the events conclude they’re put back on to their separate elevators and one is sent to reincarnation stew, while the other is sent to the void. Let me just tell you I didn’t really get the reasoning behind it and probably would have sent both to the void. In all honestly it was a bit sexist in the choice with the logic being that the husband wouldn’t have done what he did if the wife hadn’t done what she did. Which is the dumbest logic ever, but that’s what the show goes for.
The animation is great for what it is. Nothing really happens in the episode other than flashbacks for the characters and darts hitting a board. Overall it was very clean and character designs while still Madhouse influenced weren’t what I’d call their usual designs. They were more reserved and realistic looking if that makes any sense at all.
Overall the episode explains half of the world we’re dealing with, but it wasn’t very interesting nor was it that well executed. It wasn’t the worst anime I’ve seen, but I don’t think I’ll be back for the second episode even if it looks to expand on this world of limbo.
Score: 2/5
Review: Cross Ange - Episode 1
This show somehow ruined the high concept mechs fighting dragons. Yes, that's right, there is a way to ruin giant robots fighting large dragons.
This show somehow ruined the high concept mechs fighting dragons. Yes, that's right, there is a way to ruin giant robots fighting large dragons. It all starts with mecha fighting dragons. Sadly the fight is a bit over done in 3D animation that would have been amazing to look at a decade plus ago but is really just out of place with the rest of the animation. For good measure we get a few random ass shots of the main character while she fights the dragons, to illustrate her strength and poise under pressure. The dragons are defeated and the day is saved.
Flash back to a few months ago, Angelize (or Ange, aka our main character) is playing lacrosse and is bad ass at it. She is so great that not only is her team cheering her on, but her opponents are saying how amazing and spectacular she is. With both sides right behind her, she wins the game and the peasants rejoice.
Besides most excellent lacrosse skills, Ange is also a princess. Tomorrow is the day she will be crowned Princess Awesome Pants and be given a real voice in the politics of her society. On her way back home she runs across a crowd that are in panic. Since they must not have seen her impressive lacrosse game she goes to investigate.
A small child is being imprisoned by a squad of police/military goons while holding back a crying and frantic mother. Ange, being the voice of the people and rationality, explains to her handmaiden (and the audience) the toddler is a norma, an inhuman beast who can't use magic thus meaning they need to be shunted away from awesomeville. Now, Ange is a compassionate woman. So she goes up to the grieving mother and tells her that maybe she can have another child and get it right this time.
I must stop the plot summary and mention this important fact. All normas are female. Probably because men can't wear the thongs and ass-less pants required to fight dragons. Now back to this thing we call plot, already in progress.
That night Ange is narrating why all the normas should be just killed outright instead of the humane treatment they get now, being taken from their homes forever. Just as she is about to go full Hitler, her mother shows up, half naked in white. The two have a bonding moment, and besides the outfit choice, is probably the most humane any character comes off in this episode. We get to the big day finally and Ange's brother pops up, reveals that Ange is a norma and his despicable parents (the king and queen) have been hiding it. Ange escapes thanks to mom, mom is killed, and Ange is sent off to loserville. The brother takes time to give an evil villain speech about repopulating the royal blood line with her. It is super super creepy and beyond creepiness adds nothing to the plot.
Ange continues to bitch and moan about being royalty even though she is a prisoner. She is bound and verbally assaulted. Then some other random woman shows up, smacks her around, strips her, and shoves some kind of tube up her ass. According to Wikipedia, it is done to implant her with devices and such she will need to work mechs and fight dragons. Why we needed to see her get stripped and implanted is beyond me. And why the camera had to be angled in the same fashion it would for a porno, taking time to linger on her exposed curves further escapes me. We end with Ange on the floor naked covered in bruises and cuts crying. The montage of other women is shown, most of them are half or completely naked and none of them seem to be happy about it. Finally the credits roll.
So in summary, the main character is perfect in every way, but also annoying, bratty, and genocidal. The animation is okay at best. The plot is nearly random in its delivery, yet still allows for a few gratuitous shots. The villain is skeevy, plotting an incestuous affair at best and rape at worst. And it ends with the main character we have absolutely no reason to sympathize with being humiliated and objectified in as sexy of a manner as possible.
Just avoid this show. It is trash. There are better shows with mechs. There are better shows with dragons. There are better shows with ass less pants. Have some respect for yourself and go watch any of those instead.
Score: 1/5
Studio: Sunrise
Review: When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace #1-3
When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace. Let that title sink in. It sets a lot of expectations, you expect super powers, you expect fights, and just from how it is phrased, it probably won't all be super serious. This anime delivers on all fronts, and then ramps it up another notch.
When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace. Let that title sink in. It sets a lot of expectations, you expect super powers, you expect fights, and just from how it is phrased, it probably won't all be super serious. This anime delivers on all fronts, and then ramps it up another notch. We start with a normal day for the literature club. Andou, the lone male of the group, acts out a “training exercise” as each other club member shows up. How would they react if his arm is suddenly imbued with magical fire? This short segment teases each character's personality and how they interact with Andou and each other. After everyone is collected, Andou starts to explain how maybe he will have super powers, maybe they all will. Then a huge white light appears and consumes them all.
Six months later, they all have powers, and are completely well-balanced. They are still the same characters as before, they just have powers. Thankfully this is the monthly power check time, so we get a peak at what each character's power set is, and Andou is kind enough to narrate it all to explain the depth of the abilities.
After the danger room scenario is through, the class president arrives and the first supernatural battle is set to begin. What follows is one of the most inventive and logical fight scene I have seen in a long time. Expectations are met and also toyed with, and I can't even remotely do the sequence justice without spoiling it all. Needless to say, it is wonderfully done and is character driven, masterfully animated, and also hilarious. Which really explains the series thus far. The story seems to know what the audience is expecting from the series, and gives you what you are expecting but also tosses curve balls at you.
These curves are subtle spins to the left when it was expected it would spin right instead. The mysterious figure isn't tied to the secret origins of the group, but instead to one individual and understands Andou more than anyone else. Jokes are made at the expense of what one would expect from an anime with super powered high schoolers, yet also some of the tropes are touched upon.
While the cast is one male lead, and four females, it isn't a harem show. And while Andou has been the focus thus far, it is because he fully believed in super powers before they ever occurred, and thus far is the main character. Each other character has a unique personality and set of traits. While they start off as the possible love interest, the naïve one, the stoic but young child, and the tough guy, they are so much more. Tomoyo Kanzaki is also a bit of a chunibyo, but nowhere near as much as Andou. She plays along sometimes, but also takes care of the group frequently. Sayumi Takanashi has two black belts, but also loves reading and there are hints she is a fan of romances. Chifuyu Himeki is the stoic child, who also uses her stuffed animal to talk to Andou when she is upset with him, whining and crying like the child she is if the stuffed animal is taken away. Hatoko Kushikawa thus far has the least growth, but it is only three episodes, she did tell a wonderful tale of her past though which does show there is more than just a polite naivete.
In three episodes the characters have been introduced, a love story has blossomed and ended, and a mysterious stranger with clues to a dark past have appeared. Yet also there has been creative uses of supernatural powers, character based comedy, and just a well written anime. If you are wanting a light-hearted story that is smart and funny, When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace is the show for you.
Score: 5/5
Director: Masanori Takahashi Studio: Trigger
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