Makigumo

Review: Strike Witches

Sat, 28 Aug 2010 22:09:15 MDT

A guilty pleasure for me, maybe more guilt than pleasure.

Score: 57%
Opinion: average
+ the characters are the focal points of the story
+ unique, well-executed visual and sound design
- doesn’t follow through with its story threads, opting for a quick resolution instead of truly exploring its themes
- the fanservice is often intrusive, but your mileage may vary
Conclusion: Strike Witches has a charm and a sense of fun that I can’t ignore. I just wish it would explore its own story a little more deeply.

R.I.P. Satoshi Kon

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 19:52:41 MDT

Satoshi Kon has passed away today. He was one of the anime directors I would really consider a visionary, and with a portfolio containing Perfect Blue, Paprika, and Paranoia Agent, it’s hard to argue.

What makes Kon’s work so great is that he is able to tell a great story while challenging the audience at the same time. His works are full of complex ideas, particularly concerning sanity and reality. Yet they are built on a foundation of great characters and plot structure.

It’s a terrible shame that he should pass away now, not only because of what he has made but because of what he might have made in the future. He never really played it safe, and realized a lot of unique material that might never have seen the light of day otherwise. Announcements of new Satoshi Kon projects are exciting because you never know what he’s going to do. Who else can create a dark psychological fantasy like Perfect Blue, and then go on to do a fictional biopic like Millennium Actress?

I really don’t think any other director can compare. Satoshi Kon was not just a great anime director, he was a great storyteller, period. The anime industry has lost a true, pioneering spirit.

Review: Black Rock Shooter

Thu, 12 Aug 2010 16:49:26 MDT

Full review of Black Rock Shooter

This review was a hard one to write, partly because of the OVA’s simplicity and partly because I wasn’t sure how to tackle the disconnect between expectation and outcome. Black Rock Shooter is not at all like what the marketing and merchandising say, but I feel that it’s stronger because of it.

Score: 75%
Opinion: good
+ matches its scope to its execution by exploring one subject very well
+ good characters and a believable friendship makes the danger feel more real
+ nice gothic lolita aesthetic to the fantasy sequences
- does not expand upon the characters in Black Rock Shooter’s world
- somewhat contrived ending
- the fantasy sequences seem a little too random and pointless until the end
Conclusion: Black Rock Shooter is not particularly ambitious or challenging, but in this case it keeps its reach within its grasp. By seizing upon a single truth and building a story around it, the OVA becomes a rewarding experience with a sentimental core.

Merch: Evangelion 2.22 Blu-ray

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 18:38:24 MDT

It’s here!

It’s not often that I look at merchandise here, not because I don’t buy any but because photography is a pain in the ass. Well, not anymore!

I preordered the limited edition Evangelion 2.22 Blu-ray from YesAsia, and it arrived today after being shipped out two days ago. I just love ordering stuff from overseas. Anyway, this is the Hong Kong version, which has English subtitles. Opponents of piracy say you should import your anime if it’s not available in the US, but anime from Japan rarely if ever has English subs. Thankfully, Hong Kong has your back.

Lovely orange.

The Blu-ray itself is in a cardboard box, which unfortunately got crushed a bit in shipping. The disc is fine but there’s an unsightly fold on the spine of the box. There is also a pamphlet about the movie, and a paper sleeve with the bonus disc.

Booklet with illustrations and... words.

Additional swag from the limited edition includes the booklet that was given to theater goers, containing images from the movie and more information. I’m not entirely Chinese illiterate, but suffice it to say I don’t know enough Chinese to be able to discuss Evangelion. Maybe I’ll show it to my parents, they’ll think it’s a hoot.

I’ll spare you the horror of the handles.

I also got a cloth Eva-01 shopping bag, the kind vegans typically bring to the grocery store. I love Eva, but not enough to walk around in public with this thing.

A keychain light?

The last item is quite strange but I like it anyway. It’s a keychain light, styled to look a bit like Eva-00’s entry plug. One side is marked “EVA-00” and the other is marked “NERV ONLY” though I don’t get why NERV would have restricted flashlights. Upon seeing this, I thought “shucks, I already have a keychain light. This one is less useful in that it isn’t also a bottle opener.” Except when you turn on this keychain light, it projects an image of Rei!

Ayanami projector!

Look at that! If I’m ever in an emergency situation where I have to show someone what Rei looks like right fucking there, I’m covered.

Well it’s got Mari on it so that’s okay I guess.

Getting to the Blu-ray itself, the disc is region A so it will work in players in the Americas, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, and Hong Kong. The picture and audio are good quality, with Japanese Dolby True HD and DTS Master HD options available, as well as a 2.0 Cantonese dub (fairly amusing). Subtitles are available in traditional Chinese and English. The menu is stylish but odd in that the background is a random bunch of trees. Not knowing anything about a bonus disc, I popped it into my PS3 only to discover... nothing. I put it into my PC and found that it was just a blank CD-R. Apparently it’s just one of the extras they pack in with the home video release. Man, there is some rubbish Eva merchandise out there. If you actually want the special features, that’s a separate $15 purchase.

If you do want to import Evangelion 2.22 (and I highly recommend it), I suggest you save yourself $15 and get the regular Blu-ray version. The only reason to consider the $55 gift set is for the portable Ayanmi projector, as I’ve taken to calling it. It’s awesome, but in an insanely stupid way. Otherwise, this is a far cry from the likes of the epic Haruhi Vol. 1 limited edition DVD.

Why I keep watching Evangelion: a tree diagram

Tue, 01 Jun 2010 21:01:04 MDT

All for the sake of enlightenment.

Cinema File: Evangelion 2.22: You Can (Not) Advance

Wed, 26 May 2010 19:37:13 MDT

The best dynamic entry.

Don't worry, no spoilers.

I used that picture as the title graphic not because Mari is hot—okay not only because Mari is hot—but because it in many ways encapsulates what Evangelion 2.22 is: a little bit of heaven, a little it of pain. As you may have noticed, today is May 26, the official release day of Evangelion 2.22 for home video. Through a process I don’t understand, fansubs had hit the internet as early as two days ago. So while the full review can wait until I get my imported copy, I’ll go over my first impressions of this Eva thing today.

The Mythology

The thing I like about Evangelion’s mythos is that it’s only sort of there. Neither the series nor the movies go to any great lengths to explain how every little thing works. You glean it through chatter, small details on the screen, and bits of animation. They only show you what you need to see. So though you get the sense that there are rules (however cryptic) at work, you don’t spend an inordinate amount of screen time learning them. If you wanted to find out more, you went to offscreen sources.

The Rebuild of Evangelion films handle the mythology the same way, showing only what you need to see for dramatic impact. Evangelion 2.22 is steeped in the mythos more deeply than its predecessor, making its changes and revisions more obvious but maybe not clearer. The reasoning behind these changes is not obvious, save for one practical production concern: most fans would have been able to guess what happened next if the writers had stuck to the source. Instead of trying to put a new spin on existing material, they went through the difficult process of creating mostly new material. As a result, Evangelion 2.22 manages to sustain a level of tension and drama that would have been lost had it simply been a retelling of the TV series. Starting around halfway through the film, during one of the climactic battles, it becomes apparent how the revisions have helped the film.

Misato is like a ninja.

A Fan’s Perspective

As a fan, I enjoyed picking out the various differences between the film and the series. I found myself subconsciously filling in many details, which lead to a movie-watching experience that felt longer than it was. To me, Evangelion 2.22 is more, better Eva and it rides on the shoulders of the original work. As such it was easy to lose myself in the excitement and newness from scene to scene.

You can probably already guess that there is a lot of fanservice here, not just in the sense of partial nudity but in the amount of the universe that you see. Eva 1.0 mostly limited its scope to Shinji’s transformation into an Eva pilot. Eva 2.22 brings in more characters, more tech, more Angels, and more of the arcane wheelings and dealings characteristic of the end of the TV series. It breathes new life into old material.

A Non-fan’s Perspective

Still, it’s important to consider (strange as it may be) that there are people who don’t like Evangelion. What’s in it for them? That’s when the structure of the movie becomes a problem. Though the story deviates significantly from the original, the movie is still structured and paced like a connected string of television episodes. Story arcs don’t really span the entire film, so some scenes feel disjointed or rushed. Some effort was spent on developing the characters and building to the conclusion, but I feel it may not have been enough. There is a lot going on, and maybe the movie would have benefitted from cutting back the amount of battles to just one or two big ones.

In the worst case, you’ll have a viewer who hasn’t seen Evangelion at all going into this film. He’ll be able to divine the basic conflict, but the narrative would fall apart for him toward the end. The character relationships so critical to the series were mostly built in Eva 1.0 so the writers don’t repeat their efforts here. And even with a working knowledge of the Evangelion mythos, some scenes more or less lost me. I’m not sure a neophyte would have much of a chance.

Reality TV takes a nosedive.

To Be Continued

Basically, Eva 2.22 is somewhere between George Lucas’s enhanced editions of Star Wars and Ronald Moore’s reimagining of Battlestar Galactica. The fundamental chain of events is the same, and the tone is the same, but many of the details are different. Eva 1.0 built a good foundation for the Rebuild movies to stand on, and Eva 2.22 absolutely needs it. If you have that foundation, the movie is largely successful. But I would like to have a structure and story that acknowledges its cinematic nature. It needs exposition and more of a “big picture” to the script. Treating this like an extension to a TV show is wrong, and short changes the material.

A Descent into Madness: I study the lyrics to Spice and Wolf's ending song

Wed, 19 May 2010 19:50:16 MDT

Hang on to your minds, because you’re about dine at the crazy buffet.

As May rolled in, I found myself counting the days until Evangelion 2.22’s release. I heard that Evangelion 2.22 is so good that in clinical trials, 83% of viewers actually walked away with larger genitalia. In the meantime, I felt a gaping emptiness that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. Then I realized that I was supposed to be writing for Makigumo. I went to work immediately, thinking of quick top ten lists that I could bang out with minimal effort. But that’s not what I’m about. So I did some soul searching, and really dug deep into an issue that has always bothered me. What the fuck is up with the lyrics to the Spice and WolfED??

Spice and Wolf is an anime, one which I like despite the fact that its stories are based on economics (a subject so boring I suspect it was devised by a nefarious government as some kind of PSYOPS exercise). Robert Mugabe believes something similar, but the difference between him and me is that someone actually put him in charge of a country. A whole goddamn country! Anyway, Spice and Wolf is mostly about money, and not in the cool, scandalous way that Wall Street is about money. It’s less about greed, deception, and 80s power tripping and more about a straightforward merchant trying to make his way in life. I guess there’s a little bit of greed and deception, but it’s not as cool without the 80s backdrop and Michael Douglas.

Legend has it that he once negotiated a trade using only his balls as collateral.

Although the series itself is somewhat down to earth, its ending song is absolutely insane. Sure, some people write song lyrics that make no sense, thanks to the magic of hallucinogenic drugs. But “Ringo Hiyori” actually spins some kind of narrative. The trouble is, I have no idea what the fuck is happening in this story. I imagine if Tim Burton went on an LSD bender and directed a movie, Spice and Wolf’s ED would be a pretty accurate novelization. It starts:

Seven apples on a witch’s tree
With seven seeds to plant inside of me

I believe this is a reference to Snow White, which is the first fictional work that came to mind containing apples, witches, trees, and the number seven. The bit about “seven seeds to plant inside of me” is somewhat disturbing, as “seed” used in this manner usually refers to sex. So we can rule out the Disney version of Snow White and go straight to the Grimm version, which probably had more gang rape (I couldn’t be arsed to look it up).

The unrated director’s cut will have the truth.

In springtime I grew a magic song
Then skipping along, oh I sang the song to everyone

This part shows a striking lack of scientific knowledge. I checked the Wikipedia article about songs, and found no mention of any biological components. In fact, songs are completely synthetic—they do not grow from anything, and are instead manufactured by people. However, you should note that the narrator has grown a magic song, which obviously would play by different rules. It’s true that the “seeds” which have been planted inside her were never identified. My assumption was that they were of the dwarf semen variety, but when I googled “dwarf semen” I couldn’t find any relationship to songwriting. I did come across some fairly disturbing pictures, though. Apparently these songs also grew out of the narrator, which leads me to believe there would be serious abdominal wounds, lacerations, and hemmorhaging. Thankfully, the next line implies that she recovered.

I looked at the world through apple eyes
And cut myself a slice of sunshine pie
I danced with the peanut butterflies
Till time went and told me to say hello but wave goodbye

Apples don’t typically transmit light in the visible spectrum, so we’ll chalk that one up to the aforementioned lack of scientific knowledge. There is also little evidence to suggest sunshine can be baked into a pie, so I guess she just cut herself a slice of regular pie. The reference to peanut butterflies is a strange one. I can only assume that, after her ordeal with the seven dwarfs, the narrator discovered a new species of insect in the woods. The last line suggests an anthropomorphism of time itself, which is instructing the narrator to be duplicitous. I think here we have an allegory about a young woman who was gang raped, became delusional, and then became unwilling to trust others as a psychological defense mechanism. Dark stuff.

A thousand sugar stars
Oh put them in a jar
And then whistle round the world
Oh whistle round the world
I’m a little wolf inside a girl, you say
And off I’ll go from June to May
Oh whistling round the world

Here we enter the cosmological phase of the song. For one, stars are not made of sugar. But the primary components of sugar are carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, which can be found in stars. A typical jar wouldn’t even fit one star much less a thousand, so I can only assume that our intrepid narrator is tripping her goddamn ovaries off. “I’m a little wolf inside a girl” indicates the dual nature of the narrator, who has the shape of a girl but was forced to develop the vicious personality of a wolf due to her past trauma. Finally the end of the chorus suggests that she has actually discovered time travel, as it is clearly impossible to go from June to May.

e = mc DEEZ. Also, dwarf jizz unlocks time travel.

Thankfully the madness of the ending credits stops there. But I don’t like to do anything half-assed for Makigumo, so I looked up the full song and it keeps going.

I met a golden swan upon the road
Who was a handsome prince, so I was told
I asked it the way to yesterday
Then I was a sailor, and through the day I sailed away

The part about the swan is a reference to the myth of Leda and the swan. In it, Zeus takes the form of a swan and seduces Leda, the queen of Sparta. Naturally they boogie and, well, it all devolves into bestiality, as most Greek myths do. However in the song, the bestiality is only implied. What is not implied is time travel, which has already occurred once but now our narrator is asking about it again. I take this to mean that time is turbulent and difficult to navigate, so you’d have to stop and ask directions even if you’re only going back one day. Then using her time powers, our narrator is able to complete a naval training course and operate a ship. Whether she sails as a civilian, an enlistee, or a commissioned officer is left ambiguous.

Bluebird seas I sailed
With mermaids riding whales
Oh whistle round the world
Oh whistle round the world
I’m a little wolf inside a girl, you say
And off I’ll go down Wonder Way
Oh whistling round the world

Wait what? I don’t even... huh??

Through apple eyes
Oh there are rose-coloured skylines
Where flying silver spoons
Eat melting marmalade moons
Through apple eyes
I see for millions of miles
The sun’s a diamond shining
In the nighttime of a summer day

This part is just complete insanity, the ravings of a lunatic possibly driven mad by her experiences traveling through time. Spoons eating marmalade? The song ends with the “thousand sugar stars” chorus, leaving me none the wiser as to the events which transpired in this narrative. I can only assume these are the ravings of a delusional mind. Dwarf gang rape might not even have been involved. Trying to visualize this song, I saw things I’d rather not have seen. Let my experience be a lesson to you. Never try to understand the Japanese unless you fully understand the extent of their dementia.

Super Serial: Senkou no Night Raid episode 2

Wed, 28 Apr 2010 20:02:35 MDT

In this episode: sneaky Jewish spies.

Senkou no Night Raid hasn’t really leveraged its historical setting thus far, instead opting to be more like a retro version of Ghost in the Shell. Hell they even do that telepathic communication thing, which looks and sounds like the equivalent technique in Ghost in the Shell. I didn’t find the episode particularly well structured, as it tried to establish the back stories of our ensemble cast without a single line of exposition, and very little context. It would just cut into flashbacks at random times, though I found Aoi’s flashbacks to be most appropriate to the story. The main plot involves the arrival of a Russian musician who is a suspected spy. Our heroes (maybe? I don’t really see the purpose of their counter-espionage shenanigans) have to stop him from getting a message out to... someone. Wake me up when a proper story arc begins.

Super Serial: Cromartie High School episode 13

Thu, 22 Apr 2010 19:45:50 MDT

You are never too far from ramen.

So Hayashida wants to play baseball, except he doesn’t want to play using baseball rules. The gang decides to take a trip to Koshien to realize Hayashida’s dream of playing baseball. And then they get lost in the woods. Bear Grylls would advise finding a stream or river, and then following it to civilization. Since I doubt there’s anyone looking for a group of delinquents (and a robot), that would probably be sound advice.

Super Serial: Cromartie High School episode 12

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 18:47:26 MDT

Having a rad bike is not worth jail time.

The legend of Mechazawa continues. Is he a locker? A pachinko machine? A gas tank? How about a motorcycle? After getting into a self-destructive pattern culminating in a crash, Kamiyama takes Mechazawa’s scattered remains and reassembles him into... a motorcycle. Together, they fight crime and have nonsensical montages. This show... what were they thinking?

Review: Summer Wars

Sun, 18 Apr 2010 22:00:55 MDT

This is what the internet looks like, apparently.

Full review of Summer Wars

Mamoru Hosoda’s latest effort is funny, exciting, and serious when it counts. It shows you don’t have to work for Disney, Pixar, or Ghibli to do this sort of movie well.

Score: 75%
Opinion: good
+ expertly ties together many disparate plot threads
+ uses a modern veneer to make its message more relevant to its target audience
+ the Shinohara family is a hoot to watch
+ good visual production
- some spotty voice acting
- the world of Oz tests your suspension of disbelief
- caters a little too much to kids when the character drama could easily have carried the movie
Conclusion: Like a thoroughly modernized Miyazaki film, Mamoru Hosoda’s Summer Wars is very accessible and meaningful... to your kids. There’s plenty of entertainment to be had for adults, but this is not a grown-up work.

Super Serial: Cromartie High School episode 11

Wed, 14 Apr 2010 18:57:15 MDT

Time zones, guys.

Cromartie continues with quality entertainment. Takenouchi inadvertently aids a hijacking and finds himself trekking across a desert in Nevada (a situation Les Stroud is very familiar with), while the masked “Take” inadvertently assumes Takenouchi’s identity because the Cromartie students are too stupid to notice the difference. Subtlety, as you can see from the screenshot, doesn’t really factor into this series.

Super Serial: Senkou no Night Raid episode 1

Fri, 09 Apr 2010 01:38:36 MDT

Car chases were pretty awesome in 1936.

First, a bit of history. In the 1920s, China was consumed by infighting and civil war, mostly between the Kuomintang (China’s nascent central government) and various other parties (local warlords, communists, etc.). Also during this time, Japan had been acting out their imperial ambitions. Having established themselves as a world power after winning the Russo-Japanese War and the first Sino-Japanese War, Japan was working to establish an empire that spanned all of East Asia. In the early 1930s, they took advantage of Chinese infighting and invaded Manchuria, establishing the puppet state of Manchukuo. Senkou no Night Raid starts in 1936, a few years after the Japanese invasion, and revolves around a group of Japanese agents trying to ensure that Japanese interests are not threatened by the various Chinese factions.

I bring up the history because I want to highlight how ballsy it is for someone to make an anime about this time period. Even today, there is a sort of national malaise in China regarding its occupation by Japan before and during World War II. Senkou no Night Raid definitely sets itself apart by taking on this time period, as even on an aesthetic level it looks unique. Think Kung Fu Hustle except with less supernatural martial arts.

I say “less” because our heroes do actually have supernatural powers. Thankfully the first episode isn’t spent on long boring explanations about what they are, how they work, then they can be used, or any such nonsense. You see what you need to see, and through the dialogue you infer that there is some kind of drawback to using them. By the way, in case you were wondering, this work is fiction and not historically accurate. If the presence of superpowers made you suspicious, there is a completely unnecessary disclaimer at the end telling you that none of this stuff happened in real life.

The episode takes a bit of that cloak and dagger approach to the story, so you don’t fully understand what’s going on. The four protagonists, Aoi, Kazura, Natsume, and Yukina, are working for someone who is (for the moment) helping the Kuomintang maintain order in China. They also speak really hideous Mandarin—probably on the level of a first year college student studying the language. It’s one thing to say they are Japanese and thus expected to speak with an accent. But they try to pass as Chinese near the end of the episode, so those accents would never fly.

Aside from the somewhat confusing plot, we get to see a decent amount of action along with the aforementioned considered approach to superpowers. Aoi’s ability to deflect objects (think of Accelerator’s power from A Certain Magical Index) makes for some cool fight scenes. I kind of wish the personalities of the main cast came out more, since you don’t really get a fix on who these people are. But this first episode has been intriguing enough that I’m looking forward to watching more.

MakiManga: Dogs: Bullets and Carnage volume 3

Wed, 07 Apr 2010 20:27:19 MDT

A train ambush leads to Mihai fighting some crazed swordsmen in a tight space.

Miwa Shirow’s intertwining stories of various eccentric characters continues. The third volume of Dogs: Bullets and Carnage reveals more back story about Heine Rammsteiner (if that isn’t a metal name, I don’t know what is) and shows that he and Naoto may share a deep connection. That is, if they could stop glaring at each other. The attack on Mihai’s train also gives us an opportunity to see that the blind priest (Bishop) does indeed have some fighting skills. This is indeed a case of crouching tiger, hidden dragon.

We also get some adorable Nill antics. I think Nill is a good character because she’s used as a prop. Shirow brings her in, uses her for a scene, and then sends her into the background when she’s not needed. I guess in some ways, that’s a perverse mirror to her life as a slave—use when needed, then put her back in her box. Except, you know, this time it’s in a figurative sense.

In this volume we also see a bit of Badou’s past. He used to have a brother, until he got killed by getting involved in something dangerous. So now, Badou lives a danger-free life of common sense. Except that’s not true in the slightest. Whatever lessons Badou thinks he learned from his brother, he sure as hell isn’t applying them. This, I feel, is a bit disingenuous. Badou’s always talking about not wanting to be involved, and not doing stupid things, but he does them all the fucking time. He could not have picked a worse group of people to work with. So really, he’s just a stupid whiner with a sweet eye patch.

To supplement the quickly developing story, Shirow throws in a good amount of action. I liked seeing Mihai busting some balls again, but he serves no story purpose this time around. Shirow orchestrates his usual visual chaos. Sometimes, I had to go back and study a panel just to make sure I knew what the hell was going on. It also doesn’t help that the majority of the fighting takes place in darkness. On the one hand, it’s kind of interesting to convey the chaos of the low visibility condition like this. On the other hand, it just looks like a bunch of random lines, sometimes thoughtlessly interrupted by text bubbles.

Then we get to the ending, which is a pretty sweet cliffhanger to top off a fine volume. I like the world Shirow has created, and the way it’s getting deeper without becoming too self-obsessed over how it works. Sometimes, an author will just spit out exposition to show you every aspect of the world in detail. Shirow highlights what’s important to the stories, and moves on. Furthermore he pays attention to his characters. They aren’t amazingly deep, but they have personality and that goes a long way. So here I am now, eagerly awaiting volume four.

Review: Queen's Blade

Thu, 01 Apr 2010 01:36:31 MDT

The title card of a masterpiece.

Full review of Queen’s Blade

Easily the greatest anime I’ve seen, I would even Queen’s Blade in the running for the greatest anime of all time. It is a classic hero’s journey with a surprisingly insightful story, highlighting the joys and sorrows of a bygone era.

Score: 100%
Opinion: masterpiece
+ story is pure and simple on the outside, but hides a lot of depth
+ well written characters
+ excellent character designs and animation
- that one woman with the 5-foot jubblies
Conclusion: When I watch Queen’s Blade, I see a metaphor for our lives wrapped in the format of an epic journey and fighting tournament. It is the truest art you can find in anime.

Super Serial: Cromartie High School episode 10

Mon, 29 Mar 2010 19:12:47 MDT

It’s a crazy world they live in.

You know, it’s surprisingly depressing not being able to get my weekly fix of Railgun every Friday. There are a few shows that look interesting in the upcoming spring season, so I’ll try to cover those. But Makigumo is not known for being modern and up to date, so for the time being, I’ll write about Cromartie. Episode 10 draws attention to how weird Cromartie High School is (there’s a freaking alien too?), but also has some more offbeat humor involving nose hairs and looping scenery. I wonder if this ever aired on Adult Swim, as it would be a perfect fit due to its Williams Street humor (except without the reuse of Hanna-Barbera footage).

Anime and Video Games: A Brief Study

Wed, 24 Mar 2010 17:42:18 MDT

There have been plenty of games adapted into anime, and vice versa, but I’d hardly call it cross-pollination. But why is that the case? As games have strived to be more cinematic, it makes sense on a certain level to adapt the stories to the medium of animation.

What Works

I’ll use Valkyria Chronicles as an example of a game to anime adapation being done (mostly) correctly. Instead of trying to capture the essence of the gameplay, the anime series adds new dimensions to the story. The game’s story is presented in an episodic format anyway, so there was already a good base to start on. But the series goes places that the game doesn’t, either because of pacing concerns (the player does have to get ferried from battle to battle after all) or production constraints. The result is something that stands on its own, a unique work that draws from the game but is not a less interactive copy.

What Doesn’t Work

This one has always baffled me: Street Figher II’s anime adaptation. Why? The plot is little more than “a bunch of guys beat the shit out of each other, and there is an evil organization.” It’s rudimentary even for fifth graders. Why make an adaptation of something with almost no story? As a matter of fact, Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie mostly became famous because Chun Li gets naked, and then fights in her underwear. Even the more fully realized story of the Street Fighter Alpha series didn’t translate that well to anime. Then there’s the Tekken anime, which by all accounts is appalling. Why do people keep trying to adapt fighting games into anime (and live action)? It makes no sense. Don’t even get me started on the Fatal Fury and Battle Arena Toshinden movies.

What Might Work

I’m surprised this hasn’t happened already, but why isn’t there a Metal Gear anime? The cinematic presentation of its games and its sophisticated themes would do well as an anime series, plus you wouldn’t have to look very hard for a voice cast. Everything is in place, and Yoji Shinkawa’s art would serve as a great basis for the character and mechanical designs. Of course a Metal Gear adaptation would have to avoid playing it safe, and mess with the audience’s conceptions of the medium in the same way the games did. Across two generations of characters and seven (soon to be eight) canon games, there should be more than enough material to fill a 26 episode series.

Going the other way, there are plenty of shows which would make good candidates for being adapted into video games. One I would like to see is Hellsing, which has a great cast of characters and some action sequences which would translate well to a game. I’m thinking it would pretty much be like Bayonetta except without the game’s clinically insane story. It would be darker, bloodier, and more hardcore while preserving the set piece oriented pacing and dynamic combat system. A Hellsing game could also start the un-sissification of vampires, turning them from emo kids back to what they’re supposed to be: terrifying, dangerous monsters.

Though two of my great passions are anime and gaming, there isn’t a whole lot out there that does a good job combining them. I don’t get it, as certainly Japan is a big mover in both industries. Why aren’t there more anime/game tie-ins that work? I guess I’ll have plenty of time to ponder the answer as I wait in futility for a Metal Gear anime. Normal service will resume after I get a decent night’s sleep.

Review: A Certain Scientific Railgun

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 14:09:42 MDT

The picture says it all, really.

Full review of A Certain Scientific Railgun

A Certain Scientific Railgun does much better than its parent work, A Certain Magical Index, by not insisting that everything that happens is the most important event in the world. It’s lighthearted, fun, endearing, but can also tackle serious issues surprisingly well.

Score: 80%
Opinion: excellent
+ builds on the fundamentals of an action/school life show, but tells a great story
+ focuses on its characters over the workings of the fictional setting
+ deeper themes of the story emerge organically through the narrative
+ the purposeful, efficient use of its plot threads rewards you for paying attention
+ the cast is alive and vibrant
+ excellent visual production
+ good casting of voice actors
- uneven pacing after a well-scripted first half
- one antagonist is outrageously cartoonish
Conclusion: A Certain Scientific Railgun is equal parts fun and sentimental. It rises above the pitfalls of its genre by concentrating on telling a story about people you can empathize with.

Super Serial: Katanagatari episode 3

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 15:39:07 MDT

And what is up with the eyes?

So it took three months, but finally Katanagatari gets some dialogue that isn’t pointless and boring. I have to believe Nisio Isin is in some way aware of how ludicrously wordy his books are, as one of the characters makes a reference to “pointless chatter” and then they actually stop talking and fight! Wow! Imagine that!

This month we have Shichika and Togame visiting a shrine led by Meisai Tsuruga, a reformed bandit who has devoted her life to helping women driven insane by sexual abuse. She keeps them as maidens in the shrine, believing that exposing them to the deviant blade Sentou Tsurugi will help heal them. The twist is that Sentou Tsurugi is not one sword, but one thousand copies of a sword, built with the philosophy that swords are expendable. This happens to fit Tsuruga’s fighting style, which takes advantage of swords scattered around a battlefield. So you know Shichika and Tsuruga’s inevitable showdown will be interesting. You also get the obligatory Maniwa Corps appearance. They seem to exist only to make an annoying speech and then get cut down.

What I like about this episode is that the dialogue feels substantive. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still very wordy, but it sets up an intriguing story with a lot of moral ambiguity. Meisai Tsuruga has dedicated her life to protecting the women in the shrine (who are helpless on their own). She belives she needs the Sentou Tsurugi to do this, as the swords’ unique properties allow the shrine maidens to hold on to their sanity. Togame (doing her best Haruhi impression) simply wants to claim the swords for the bakufu, but would rather do so without a fight. Where it gets interesting is the deal Tsuruga strikes with Togame. Tsuruga wants the two deviant blades that Togame has, thinking they will allow her to help more people. So either one side can surrender their swords, or Shichika and Tsuruga can fight to the death.

Shichika, in this case, claims that he has no purpose other than to do whatever Togame says. I have a few problems with him as a character, but the overall conflict is that you don’t want Tsuruga to lose her swords, but you kind of want Togame to win too. The episode approaches this dilemma without some artificial third option; the resolution isn’t very happy and I like that it chooses to go the challenging route.

I’d like to go back to Shichika, who says he acts as Togame’s sword. This is an interesting concept, as in this episode it parallels the role of Sentou Tsurugi. What I don’t like is Shichika himself. It’s not that he has no concept or right and wrong—the problem is that he chooses to ignore it for a woman who basically ordered him to fall in love with her. What’s worse is Tsuruga’s observation that Shichika ignores his own believes because it’s convenient and he’s lazy... and she’s pretty much right. I mean, are we really supposed to sympathize with a remorseless killer? This guy basically murders three people (two of whom committed absolutely no wrongdoings against him) on the orders of a stranger without ever questioning her motives, or even trying to understand them. He’s about as interesting as a robot with all the personality of a brick, doing whatever he’s commanded to without thinking for himself. The fact that Tsuruga lampshades this makes me sympathize with her, whereas Shichika is just a mindless barbarian with a cool catch phrase. There is a feeble attempt to cast doubt on Tsuruga’s methods, but all through the episode, I really wanted Shichika to lose.

The only reason you’d cheer for Shichika at all is because he’s the main character. Personally I’m not fond of the idea of rooting for a lazy, unethical automaton who doesn’t provide humor or anything interesting to look at (we don’t even see why his fighting style is so good because they cut away at the moment of the killing blow). If Togame is the only driving factor, then her selfish quest to find the swords is a weak counterbalance to Tsuruga’s motivation for keeping hers. So while I enjoy the conflict that the two come in, I think the outcome is bitter and undeserved. Which in its own way is kind of cool, but is also a douchey move on the part of the author. Anime criticism: it only sometimes makes sense.

Super Serial: Cromartie High School episode 9

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 18:59:35 MDT

Of mechs and men

Yoshimitsu—er, I mean Mechazawa introduces his little brother, Beta Mechazawa. And the little guy keeps getting littler. Is he a phone? Is he a tea canister? Is Mechazawa a fridge? Who knows? Apparently Mechazawa has a format button on the back of his head. That’s a bad place for it, almost as bad as Data’s shutoff switch. You could accidentally activate that with a hug. Then you’d have to kiss Mechazawa goodbye.

Let me just reiterate how much short format anime rules. This one is based on a gag comic after all, so it kind of makes sense. Why does an episode of Lucky Star have to be 20 minutes long? Cromartie High School gets twice the laughs in half as much time.

Super Serial: Cromartie High School episode 8

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 18:35:42 MDT

This is what old people think the Geek Squad does.

This was an eventful episode. Mechazawa gets a physical exam, but the doctor, unwilling to admit that he doesn’t know the first thing about this “student”, tells him to see another doctor. This causes concern for Mechazawa, and Kamiyama suggests they go to an electronics repair shop. The excuses Kamiyama comes up with to explain why they’re seeing a “doctor” there are pretty funny, but funnier still is when the technician does what I would have done: reformat Mechazawa and call it a day. The episode finishes on a birthday party for Maeda, which plays out like one of those G.I. Joe parody videos. Who knew an anime would capture so well the lols of the internet?

Super Serial: Cromartie High School episode 7

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:26:28 MST

Poo.

I think if you want the anime equivalent of Sealab 20201, this series is it. Episode 7 features the somewhat meta situation of afro-haired comedic wunderkind Noboru Yamaguchi trying to figure out why everyone likes the (fictional) TV show Pootan. Though Yamaguchi sees it as a lower form of comedy, he feels obligated to understand its popularity. Frankly, I like the show myself, poo. Pootan’s delivery of his lines is dead serious, poo.

Just so we're clear...

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:47:05 MST

I don’t appreciate people on the internet taking passive-aggressive swipes at anime fans. I know I shouldn’t get so worked up over the internets, but I do anyway. Now I see Makigumo as a site that appreciates the art in anime, among other things (mostly dick jokes). So I don’t like getting lumped into the stereotypes that have developed regarding anime fans. Maybe I am overweight, somewhat slobbish, and sometimes creepy, but come on, give me a little credit. I’m employed full time, make a lot of money, am sometimes intelligent, and I don’t watch anime for the titties. Ok I do watch some anime for the titties, but hey, it would be folly to say men never do anything solely for the titties. If you’ve ever made fun of anime for being perverted, and you are male, tell yourself with a straight face that you’ve never done anything just for the titties. That’s what I thought, asshole.

There are of course people who are way too into anime, but in a fetishistic way. I try to find art in anime, and sometimes even succeed, but these guys objectify it. Anime to them is a source of things to obsess over. These people are rightly called otaku, although it should be said that otaku are not exclusively into anime. There are otaku for all sorts of stuff: sports, trains (now that’s weird), pop idols, gardening, Star Wars, you name it. In the US, this term has been appropriated by the anime community to mean “anime fan” and that’s fine, but that doesn’t mean we’re all the same. I draw the line at body pillows.

So we have otaku, who fit part of the anime-fan stereotype: they obsess over the merchandise and the surface elements of the production. Their love is skin deep but... really concentrated. Hell, even that is just one type of otaku but that’s a discussion for another day. Next is the social outcast stereotype, which by and large is not true (at least in the US). The Japanese term is hikkikomori, which denotes a person who withdraws from social interactions. But this is not related to anime, as it has more to do with the difficulties of working life, the competitiveness of schools, and gender relations. The US anime scene is incredibly community oriented; anime fans love getting together and enjoying anime (unless you’re me and think you’re better than everyone LOLJK).

Finally there’s the related stereotype of anime fans being jobless and uneducated. There’s conveniently a term for that, the NEET (not in employment, education, or training), which has been adopted by the Japanese. The acronym says it all, but again, this is not due to anime. It just happens, usually due to the same factors that cause hikkikomori to seclude themselves. Making a living in Japan is hard and some people aren’t cut out for it. Do some of them turn to anime? Yes. But the slew of stereotypes revolving around anime fans actually comes from three distinct sociological phenomena, which is to say they are wrong and stupid.

There is one anime fan stereotype that’s true, which is that most of us are dirty pirates. I joke about this, but it really is hurting the industry. So that’s it for today. I’ll resume my normal posts about anime and dick jokes tomorrow.

Every Tona Jaa movie ever in 4 brutal, bone-shattering steps

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:18:08 MST

Do you like Tony Jaa movies? The correct answer is yes, although the more accurate answer is probably “I’m too afraid of Tony Jaa to dislike them.” Ok, so the title of today’s post is a bit pompous because Tony Jaa has only really starred in three films. But the casualty count of those films has already surpassed those of the Rambo series, all of Arnold’s movies, and hell probably even the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Certainly, Tony Jaa has crippled or killed more Thais than anyone else in cinema history. Tony Jaa movies rule because they all stick to an established formula.

Step 1: Tony Jaa has something important taken away from him.

Tony Jaa fights so hard for lost and missing items, he should work at a video rental store. BA DUM-DUM.

In Ong Bak, it was the head of a Buddha statue. In The Protector, it was a pair of elephants that he was disturbingly fond of. In Ong Bak 2: No Relation To Ong Bak 1, it was his father. One of these things is worthless, one is important, and one is yummy... I’ll let you figure out which is which. In any event, all of these things mean a lot to Tony Jaa. If you take them away, he will come after you with a single-minded determination, not unlike a small Thai terminator who uses mind blowing martial arts maneuvers instead of guns and explosions. This brings us to the next step.

Step 2a: Tony Jaa fights individuals who practice different martial arts styles.

If you’re Eddy Gordo, you might actually land a hit!

Tony Jaa’s movies are a celebration of martial arts much in the same way World War II was a celebration of ballistic science. In order to maximize the festive atmosphere, Tony Jaa will introduce many different martial arts styles, all of which eventually get crushed by the vicious knee and elbow strikes of Muay Thai. If you’re lucky, your favorite martial art might put up a minute’s worth of fighting against him. Otherwise, be glad your guy at least got to be able to do a pre-fight pose before getting punched in the chest while taking a knee to the gut and another punch to the chest.

More like Jeet Kune Don’t.

Step 2b: Tony Jaa dones some mind blowing acrobatics.

OMGWHATTHEFU-HOWISTHATEVEN...

As much as Tony Jaa loves the wholesale slaughter of human beings, he also appreciates insane acrobatics. This often leads to some of the most memorable moments in action cinema. Take this example for consideration. The most memorable moment in Jean Claude Van Damme’s Bloodsport, easily one of the greatest documentaries about underground street fighting ever made, was when he went blind and successfully landed a punch on his sighted opponent. That’s pretty hardcore, right? Well the most memorable moment in The Protector has Tony Jaa running about 8 feet up a glass window, and backflipping over an ATV just before it crashes through the window and lands on the floor a dozen feet below. I don’t know, but I think Tony Jaa slightly edges out Van Damme.

Step 3: Tony Jaa utterly destroys a whole lot of people in rapid succession.

To you Ninjas are the deadliest assassins in the world. To Tony Jaa, they are practice.

Remember step 2a, in which Tony Jaa fights a bunch of random martial artists one on one? Turns out he was just humoring them; he’d rather just fight everyone at the same time and get it done with quickly. He’s a busy guy after all. At this stage of the movie, the big baddie is out of ideas. Clearly, the 19,000 other guys they sent to take out Tony Jaa were just morons. That’s what you get for recruiting henchmen from Retard Academy. This batch of 19,000 will totally be good. In the end, though, we learn a valuable life lesson. Yamamoto Tsunetomo said in the Hagakure that in a thunderstorm, you can run under the awnings of various buildings, but you’ll still get soaked by the rain when you move between buildings. Similarly, you can do everything in your power to stop Tony Jaa from reaching you and ruining your day. But the outcome is still inevitable: you will probably get thrown through a building by a Muay Thai knee strike that seems physically impossible.

Right. So... if it rains, this will, uh, happen to you.

10 Favorite Anime Weapons

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 20:22:54 MST

If there’s one thing that never ceases to amaze me about anime, it’s the sheer creativity when it comes to methods of destruction. Every show (where such a thing is involved) has its own twist when it comes to the dispatching of enemies.

#10: Office Supplies

A stapler is not a frightening object. Hell, it was an object of misplaced affection in Office Space. But Bakemonogatari showed that once it’s your face that’s about to get stapled, it becomes the most terrifying weapon imaginable. Hitagi Senjougahara, our staple wielder, has no qualms about putting tiny metal loops through your cheeks. And she goes through with it! Suddenly, you can’t trust anything you find at Office Max. Pencils? They’ll be awfully hazardous to the eyes. Tape measure? Better not let that get near your neck (not to mention the snapback effect). Right angle tool? I don’t even want to think about what kind of damage you could do with that. The fact that Senjougahara can keep such a huge stock of office supplies on her body, without them being detectable, makes them even cooler/more disturbing. If you get close for a hug, just be wary that she could be hiding scissors anywhere.

#9: Gigantic Sniper Rifles

This is probably the most pedestrian entry, as there’s nothing really special about the weapon. It’s a big fucking gun, sported by a scantily clad lady. FLCL’s Kitsurubami also had one, but Gurren Lagann’s Yoko wins out because hers was in more episodes. If there’s one thing guys love, it’s gigantic guns held by women. Putting them together is like putting peanut butter and jelly together, except way sexier. I wonder why it doesn’t happen more often.

#8: Chain Sword

Tenjho Tenge’s Madoka Mawari is a master of bladed weapons. Her first battle in the manga involves huge knives and a pair of lightsabers, but this chain sword is undoubtedly the coolest of them. Madoka gets bonus points of storing it by wrapping it seductively around her legs (of course leading to a panty shot when the thing is deployed). Unfortunately, she doesn’t seem to have the same bag of tricks as Soulcalibur’s Ivy, so she ends up losing to an Eddy Gordo wannabe whose superpower is rhythm. Yeah the circumstances of this battle are pretty ridiculous, but Madoka’s sword is pretty damn cool.

#7: Canti

FLCL’s Canti is a bit of a puzzler. He is definitely a cool character, and redefined the role of robots in anime. But is he a cool weapon? Well judging by his appearance on this list, yes. I mean look at him. He’s a robot that transforms into a cannon after eating his owner. And then he craps Naota out when he’s done! Without having a single line of dialogue, Canti manages to come alive through hilarious animations and well-choreographed fights. Unfortunately, he only takes #7 on this list because, well, he’s kind of a bitch. The grown-ups have him doing housework, and Mamimi wants to turn him into some kind of pet deity. It makes him an awesome character, but he loses points on the weapon rubric. Plus, what if Naota’s not around to be eaten? Well the answer is: he’d get a royal ass kicking.

#6: Cross Punisher

Trigun has a huge messiah complex, which is utterly embodied by Nicholas D. Wolfwood. Whereas Jesus was nailed to his cross, Wolfwood has the good sense of hiding a huge stash of weapons in his, ensuring that angry Romans, among others, won’t be able to crucify him. For one, this weapon is incredibly stylish, and is used with aplomb by Wolfwood (the coolest character of Trigun next to Legato). But it’s also quite functional, with multiple modes providing contingencies for all sorts of situations. Tight quarters? Use the pistols stored in it. Lots of enemies? Use the giant machine gun. Armored target? It’s also got a rocket launcher!

#5: Paper

Continuing with the office supplies theme, Read or Die’s Yomiko Readman has control over paper, being able to use it for anything from a bulletproof shield to a lock pick. Read or Die is indeed the foremost franchise when it comes to paper manipulation; its televised continuation has paper animal puppets, paper bows and arrows, and even structural elements made from paper by paper masters. Conceptually it’s cool enough, but once you see it in action, it becomes awe-inspiring.

#4: Tachikomas

Crab tanks in general are pretty cool, but Stand Alone Complex goes the extra yard and gives them jubilant, childish personalities along with the ability to spin silk. They work both as combatants and as comedic relief, and their repertoire of abilities is impressive to behold. In the hands of a resourceful pilot, Tachikomas carry out some of the most creative and unconventional battles in all anime. The thing that solidifies their spot on this list, though, is the 25th episode of Stand Aone Complex. It’s all about loyalty, brilliant tactics, and a warrior spirit.

#3: Excalibur

I’m picking this one on nomenclature alone. Excalibur is the famous sword used by Arthur. In the case of Fate/Stay Night, Arthur happens to be a rather subservient woman whose outfit resembles a maid uniform made of armor. In the anime world, the sword is so famous that it would immediately give away Saber’s identity, so she hides it by turning it invisible. When things get bad, though, she unleashes its full power, and shows the sword for what it is: a rank A++ anti-fortress Noble Phantasm. If that doesn’t sound like the most awesome thing ever invented, check out its nickname: The Sword of Promised Victory. How badass is that??

#2: The Lance of Longinus

Named after the spear from Christian legend, Evangelion’s Lance of Longinus is a gigantic alien object with the inherent ability to destroy Angels. Even the A.T. Field is no match, as shown when Rei used it to destroy the fifteenth Angel in the series. In addition to looking like a messed up sex toy, the Lance of Longinus is also the catalyst for the Third Impact, which would wipe out all life on earth. So not only is it visually striking, it’s also one of the deadliest weapons featured in an anime.

#1: The Solenoid Quench Gun

I considered making this article just about the awesome gadgets and weapons you find in Battle Angel Alita, but in the end, this is really all you need to see. Remember what I said about guns and girls? Well this is the biggest gun of them all: a laser-powered coil gun triggered by a superconductor phase transition. It propels a large caliber projectile to extreme speeds, virtually guaranteeing that any target it’s pointed at will become slag very soon. It hovers to absorb recoil, and the origin of its laser power lies in an aircraft floating miles above called Gabriel. Everything about it is bonerific, and it is without doubt the coolest weapon in the anime (and manga) world. Giant swords? Bitch, please.

Things I want to see in the Battle Angel Alita movie

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 20:05:04 MST

That crazy ass 80’s hair has to go, though.

I love Battle Angel Alita. It’s my favorite manga of all time (granted I’m not really a manga afficionado). The story is soulful, the central characters are very interesting and cool, and the setting is just amazing. It has been in the news recently as James Cameron, the man behind some of the great sci-fi films of our generation, has set into motion a film adaptation of the manga series. If you’ve read my review of the Battle Angel OVA, you’d understand why this may be cause for concern. The OVA didn’t give enough context to its story elements, and it replaced the manga’s internalized, contemplative narration with... well, nothing. Now, I’m cautiously optimistic about a live action* adaptation, because come on. This is James Fucking Cameron. This man eats money and shits records and money. He made Aliens and Terminator 2, two of the best sci-fi action movies ever made (and sequels that have been argued to surpass the originals). As far as effects-oriented directors go, you could do worse. It could have been a Paul W.S. Anderson flick.

*I say live action but it will most probably be Avatar-style CGI with digitized versions of real performances.

So with James Cameron’s Alita, you can at the very least expect some awesome visual effects. But here’s my wish list of things I want to see:

The Scrapyard, in detail

Basically, drugs and hookers in every scene.

The Scrapyard should be a seething city full of corruption, violence, and vice. It should be a character, like the respective cities of Watchmen and Sin City. A theme in the first volume involves Alita’s innocence, and how that can be preserved in a world as ugly as that of the Scrapyard. This is embodied in the battle against Makaku, who represents everything that’s wrong with the Scrapyard. In order for this central battle to have impact, we have to be able to feel the corrupting influence of the city. It needs to be more than just a collection of foreboding buildings; it needs to teem with activity. Each shot of the streets should show a destitute bum in the background, or a robber, or a prostitute, or any number of the tiny details that Kishiro drew into each panel of the manga. The imagery was infused with little bits and pieces of stories that you’re never told. That’s what gives the setting so much character.

Panzer Kunst

Ain’t no karate up in here.

This is an obvious one, but I just wanted to say, Alita should not use just any generic martial art in the movie. Panzer Kunst in the first volume was basically an unknown; Kishiro just drew a bunch of stuff that he thought looked cool. Later volumes give Panzer Kunst more definition. It’s an art based around evasion and parrying, where the Kunstler (artist) waits for the correct moment to deliver a large amount of force. It should look a little like Jeet Kune Do, but with some movements taken from Tai Chi Chuan or Baguazhang. A lot of Panzer Kunst’s principles are influenced by Tai Chi, and this should show.

The order of things

Order is a large caliber cannon.

The Scrapyard is just a gear in a larger machine. The first volume did an excellent job foreshadowing what that machine was and what it did. It set up just the right amount of intrigue, giving you glimpses at the world but not fully explaining it until later. There are a few key points I’d like to see in the movie. First is the interplanetary war. Only a brief mention of it was given in the manga, where Ido explains how he found Alita’s replacement body. It’s a small thing, but it has deep connections to everything that happens in the series and Last Order. Second, I’d like to see the various ways Tiphares affects the surface. I’d like to see how it rules through Deckmen and Netmen, how it exploits the factory system, and how hunter-warriors act as the city’s de facto police. Finally, I want to see Tiphares itself. It should be more than just something to make the background look interesting. We need to get a sense of what it is, its mysteriousness, and its oppressive effect on the Scrapyard. Ido, being a Tipharean exile, could be our window into that world.

Motorball

This version will not be directed by John McTiernan.

Producers have said they are looking to put Motorball into the movie. If so, that’s awesome. If you’ve ever seen either version of Rollerball, imagine that, except mixed with The Running Man. I mean, how could that possibly suck? It can’t. Motorball becomes a dominant story element of the third and fourth volumes, so maybe they should save some of it for future movies. But I would certainly love to see a little bit of Motorball action.

Willem Dafoe as Desty Nova

He even has that crazy twitch in his eye. That’s how you know he’s a winner.

Desty Nova gets the briefest of cameos in the first volume of the manga, that’s fine. Even a little Willem Dafoe is better than no Willem Dafoe. He was born to play this role.

Super Serial: Cromartie High School episode 6

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 19:15:41 MST

Not quite the same as James Kirk’s rise to glory.

Takeshi Hokuto shows up to Cromartie, planning to use his father’s influence to take it over for reasons unknown. Unfortunately, Cromartie is a municipal school, so Hokuto has to cook up a series of lies about his father to save face. Kamiyama, Hayashida, and Freddie, being idiots, believe the stories completely and start forming an army to combat Hokuto’s father (who they believe is an evil mastermind). Shenanigans ensue, but there is little justice administered. I am disappointed at the lack of justice, and the gorilla totally isn’t pulling his weight.

Super Serial: Cromartie High School episode 5

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 17:22:19 MST

Funniest scene, CONFIRMED.

We are reintroduced to Yutaka Takenouchi, the leader of Cromartie’s first years who has been neglected for the past four episodes. Though he is a tough fighter (and reliable), he suffers from motion sickness. Which is really not all that funny until he’s forced to climb in a cab driven by someone who must be James May’s Japanese cousin.

Super Serial: Cromartie High School episode 4

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 17:26:25 MST

This series is mostly about people making angry faces while talking about ridiculous things.

Episode 6 introduces Noboru Yamaguchi, the leader of Destrade High School’s first years (who are rivals to Cromartie’s students). His serious facade hides an aspiring comedian, causing him to be misunderstood. More important than all that, though, is the fro. Fro-based humor is sorely lacking in anime, and Cromartie picks up the slack. His rival is Kamiyama, A.K.A. “Honey Boy.”

Super Serial: Cromartie High School episode 3

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 20:07:15 MST

Choir practice, boys.

This is my favorite episode thus far, based on the Seinfeldian premise of a bunch of people trying to recall the name of a tune that everyone’s been humming. The whole episode is basically a non sequitur, with often surreal humor that seems more at home in a Flash animutation. Brilliant.

Super Serial: Cromartie High School episode 2

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 18:29:46 MST

So is he a robot or isn’t he?

Ah Mechazawa. I love it. The main gag of this episode revolves around everybody’s lack of awareness about Mechazawa being a robot. He also happens to be a gang leader of sorts, renowned for his toughness (as in, ability to take a beating). Mechazawa is voiced by Norio Wakamoto, who lends his distinctive voice to Soulcalibur IV’s Yoshimitsu. You also get to see more of Hayashida and his lively hair (reminds me more of South Park’s Butters more than anything else). The 15 minute format means that even if the episode sucks, it won’t last long. Better short than risk being long and crappy, right?

Super Serial: Cromartie High School episode 1

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 19:51:15 MST

I think this screenshot says everything you need to know.

When I first started watching this series back in 2004, I was glad that someone finally decided to show all these tough-guy high school mangas for what they really were: farces. Manga has a tendency to turn high school into serious business, which at best makes for some interesting stories about delinquency (a la Minami-ke) and at worst results in the ridiculousness of Tenjho Tenge. Cromartie High School takes the satirical route and I love it. I love the constant scowls, the nonsensical opening, the machismo, and the overblown histrionics. 15 minute episodes? Fine with me. This is something you need to experience.

The Hidden Art of Beards and 'Staches

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 19:41:14 MST

No matter how you look at it, anime is mostly about young people. The Japanese mainstream prefers young protagonists, as they are less threatening and easier to relate to. This leads to an overabundance of nancy-boys, pansies who would rather talk about their feelings than get on with the business of roundhouse kicking things in the head. They would rather put on their makeup and gossip about Brangelina than pick up a sword and fight for what’s right. But every once in a while, a man with facial hair comes along. That’s when you know you’re about to see some action, because that’s what men with facial hair do. They do... uh... actions. The following photo essay is a celebration of the great beards and ’staches in anime.

Who is he?

You’d damn well better know who he is. For those of you who would incur his Soviet wrath, this is Zangief from Street Fighter 2.

Comments on the beard:

Fuck Chuck Norris, this is the beard against which all others are measured. Zangief is the pinnacle of Soviet engineering, combining hundreds of pounds of muscle, body hair, a mohawk, and the most epic beard ever worn in recorded history. Unlike that sissy Chuck Norris, Zangief’s beard is not the source of his destructive power—that would come from his love for the Motherland. No, Zangief’s beard is a symbol, an idea come to life. It represents the collective might of the people, the proletariat who have united to throw off the shackles forced upon them by their capitalist oppressors. Zangief’s beard does not enable him to conquer all under heaven—it shows that he already has.

Beard rating: 1 million out of 10

Who is he?

Mr. Gentleman from Read or Die.

Comments on the beard:

After Zangief, you can only strive for lesser strata of greatness. Mr. Gentleman’s beard carries with it a history. He is an aged, learned man whose beard has seen the ebb and flow of the world for many decades. What was once undoubtedly a beard of war has now assumed the director’s chair, as Mr. Gentleman conducts the very existence of nations. The volume and frizziness of the beard is slowly decreasing; indeed it will leave our world soon. But it will do so with dignity, respected by many, and feared by even more.

Beard rating: 8/10

Who is he?

General Damon, inept comander of the Gallian forces in Valkyria Chronicles.

Comments on the beard:

Whatever the failings of the man, this beard is art. The precise curls of the mustache, the careful trimming of the beard, and the exactness with which the lower lip connects to the chin, these are all indicators of a man who prides himself on his facial hair. If such a man was commissioned into my army, I would certainly promote him to general right away.

Beard rating: 10/10

Who is he?

Alexander Louis Armstrong, the Strong Arm Alchemist of Fullmetal Alchemist.

Comments on the ’stache:

As you can see, there is no beard here. That’s because the mustache stands on its own. The graceful upward curls emanate a joie de vivre while the fullness of the body brings out Armstrong’s masculinity. Furthermore, when Armstrong speaks, you see his mustache move instead of his mouth. That is the mark of true quality for a ’stache. That’s how you know a man takes pride in everything he does. As much devotion and care as he has given to the art of alchemy, he has given an equal amount of both to the art of the ’stache.

’Stache rating: 9/10

Who is he?

Ishikawa from Ghost in the Shell.

Comments on the beard:

The fullness and body of this beard are commendable, but the definition is not very good. It says “hobo” more than “grizzled outdoorsman” although Ishikawa isn’t really an outdoorsman at any rate. It is a respectable beard, not quite long enough for a beard of war, but a good starting point for most men.

Beard rating: 7/10

Who is he?

Maurits von Borg, Prime Minister of Gallia, from Valkyria Chronicles.

Comments on the beard:

This beard goes to show that Valkyria Chronicles is an excellent source for great beards. European influenced settings in general are great for beards. PM Borg wears a beard of nobility, of exactness and finesse. Indeed, you don’t get to run a nation looking like the hobo above. This man may remind you of a dainty Frenchman, but think about what era of Frenchman. Would you put it around the mid 1600s? Because that was the reign of Louis XIV, when France was the most powerful nation of continental Europe. Laugh at the wig and the goatee all you want; Borg won’t even dignify your insults with a direct response. He will simply have some assassins kidnap you in the middle of the night and make a hat out of your kidneys.

Beard rating: 8/10

Who is he?

Freddie from Cromartie High School.

Comments on the ’stache:

As you can see, once again, we are without beard. And once again, this stache doesn’t need any motherfucking beard to prop it up. Queen’s Freddie Mercury might not have been the manliest man of all time, but I’ll be goddamned if that ’stache couldn’t give women orgasms just from seeing it. Freddie is the toughest, meanest delinquent at Cromartie High School, and has such exalted status that he rides a horse. Even to the bathroom. You know why? Because it’s hard to argue with that ’stache.

’Stache rating: 10/10

Who is he?

Gendo Ikari, supreme commander of NERV, from Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Comments on the beard:

What’s there to say? It’s sinister, majestic, and stylish without trying to be any of those things. Gendo Ikari wears it like a fine suit and it fits him like one. That beard helps him straddle so many lines: military commander, scientist, conspirator, and shitty father. His is a manipulator’s beard, one that literally ends the world.

Beard rating: 10/10

Review: Valkyria Chronicles

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 21:58:20 MST

Full review of Valkyria Chronicles

I think Valkyria Chronicles for the Playstation 3 is one of the best games I’ve ever played. Its story, colored alternately by hope and tragedy, affected me like no other game had before or since. If this was a review of that game, I would call it a masterpiece. But the anime adaptation deserves to be judged based on its own merits, so that is what I’ve done. I can’t recommend the game enough, but for the anime, there is a little more equivocating.

Score: 70%
Opinion: good
+ does not shy away from the more difficult issues involved in war
+ central characters on both sides are sympathetic and well-written
+ the drama hits home when it deals with the war directly
- the love triangle subplot takes too long and throws off the pacing of the series
- sometimes the writing veers too much toward melodrama
- bland use of music
Conclusion: I can perhaps describe Valkyria Chronicles as a work of courage, ditching the usual war cliches to tell a human story. The execution is imperfect, but I’m glad it was tried at all.

Review: Spice and Wolf II

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 18:02:05 MST

Full review of Spice and Wolf II

Score: 62%
Opinion: decent
+ touches on what will happen between Holo and Lawrence when their journey ends
+ mostly maintains Holo’s complex personality
+ Lawrence is built up as a slightly better character
- focuses too much on a guest character who isn’t terribly interesting
- story arcs are too dominated by business deals
- some events of great consequence are forgotten prematurely
Conclusion: There is good dramatic writing in Spice and Wolf II, and Holo is still a wonderful character who chews up the scenery. I just wish the story arcs focused more on what’s good, rather than try to shoehorn in new material.

5 Japanese stereotypes I hope are true.

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 22:34:52 MST

This is what business meetings look like in Japan.

I have suspended my regular serial posts because I’m finishing up Spice and Wolf II. This means I have nothing to write about, so I’ll write about nothing.

All Japanese people fear Godzilla.

I like to imagine that if you brought a large statue of the creature to Japan, it would create a mass panic as hundreds of Japanese people point at it to shout “Gojira! Gojira!” and then run away. I like to imagine that Godzilla was an actual thing that really happened to Japan, and that Japanese respond to it in the same way British people respond to George Washington (in my mind) or French people respond to having to fight.

Japanese girls carry the burden of initiating relationships.

This is a typical scene from anime: the shy female underclassman presents a letter of confession to her senior, after months of stalking and trying to drop hints. Male-female relationships in Japan are... interesting... but wouldn’t it be great if things were that simple? What if I went to Japan and couldn’t take 10 steps without some girl trying to confess her undying love to me? All these schmucks who remain oblivious to their affections, I would just upstage them. Show them how it’s done. And maybe flaunt my American citizenship, because I also like to imagine this is a viable way to attract wives in all foreign countries.

Japanese men still commit seppuku when they are dishonored.

As far as suicide goes, there are few manlier options than seppuku. I’m not talking about the ritualized form, where you write a stupid poem and then some jerk cuts off your head as you reach for the knife that you thought you were going to cut yourself with. I’m talking about the old school, gutting-yourself-on-the-spot-after-losing-a-battle method. Third quarter earnings are down? Time to cut your belly, even if all you have is a dull letter opener. Because that’s how a man dies.

Yakuza wars spontaneously erupt, and are fought with swords.

Okay, real life Yakuza organizations still do some whacky and awesome stuff, such as smuggling porn, running protection rackets, and, uh, pearling. If you don’t know what pearling is, look it up on Wikipedia, but the article is NSFW. But there’s only one traditional activity I associate with Yakuzas, and that’s gang wars. In my vision of Yakuza life, they don’t fight with guns like weaksauce American gangs, or brass knuckles like those crazy British gangs. They fight with katanas, and they do it all the time. It kind of makes sense too, given the feudal origins of the Yakuza and some of their rituals, such as the cutting of a fingertip as an act of penance. Why cut the fingertip? To weaken your sword grip. Indeed, I would love it if I went to a bar in Shinjuku and saw two flamboyantly dressed men get into an argument. Then they settle it outside with swords, and within minutes, the streets are filled with goons taking swings at each other.

Think of any menial activity, and there is a Japanese game show for it.

Actually, this one is pretty much true. The Japanese are apparently very easy to impress. As a result, anyone can get their 15 minutes of fame and be cheered on by adoring crowds and overly enthusiastic TV hosts. Can you jump rope really goddamn fast? Can you ride a bike on water in an extremely straight line? Are you really good at doing a moonwalk while wearing blackface? Well there used to be a YouTube of that but I guess it got taken down. And of course, let’s not forget that Japan is the country that turned cooking into a semi-creepy fantasy/drama with Iron Chef. Anyway, the point is, Japanese people are apparently impressed by any useless talent out there. It’s no surprise, then, that the world record for masturbation is held by a Japanese guy, who used a Japanese product to aid him in achieving that title.

My anime starship crew.

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 20:12:50 MST

The situation is tense. Bleak. Desperate, even. You’re surrounded by enemy contacts all over the freaking place. Half your systems are down. Thrusters are barely responding. In this situation, who would you want on your crew? Who could you rely on to get the job done? Who can you trust to pull that miracle out of his ass, to turn death into a fighting chance to live?

Captain

He makes Kirk look like the entire cast of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.

A captain is, first and foremost, a leader. He has to inspire his crew, command respect, and ensure that they get the job done. He has to ensure that every man and woman under his command will follow their orders, because otherwise the ship is doomed. I searched far and wide for such a person in the world of anime, but that person was surprisingly hard to find. Akira’s Kaneda isn’t a bad leader, but he’s too much of a punk. He’d go in shooting and get his ass killed. Blade of the Immortal’s Kagehisa Anotsu can lead and inspire, but he doesn’t have the compassion needed to get all his men home. I’d want him commanding an army, but not a starship. After considering all the possible candidates, one name kept cropping up. One person could lead and inspire, yet have the kindness and compassion needed to keep casualties to a minimum. That man is Kamina from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, a leader so many yet likeable that you would follow him into the mouth of hell itself because he would bring you back.

First Officer

The meaner and bitchier your XO is, the better off your crew will be.

The captain is the one the men devote their hearts to, but the first officer is needed to keep them in line. He’s the one that makes sure they follow their orders and observe the right procedures. He has to be an unforgiving son of a bitch, because when lives are on the line, that’s the only way to make sure you don’t get everybody killed. As much as I disliked this choice, I’m still going with Ghost in the Shell’s Motoko Kusanagi. With Kamina making up for her lack of charisma, all she has to do is whip the crew into shape. She’s also more than capable of handling herself on away missions, so that’s always a plus.

Tactical Officer

If she had to fight 15 Nazis with 3 bullets, she’d find a way.

A tactical officer must be wily. He has to have a firm grasp of how to conduct a battle, because in space, outsmarting the enemy is everything. For this one, I also looked all over the place. Military types included Full Metal Panic’s Sousuke and Ghost in the Shell’s Batou. But their methods are too direct. I even tried thinking outside the box, considering characters like Bakemonogatari’s Oshino. But really, there’s only one person who has experience conducting the action from a command center. That’s Evangelion’s Misato Katsuragi, who spent her career in NERV HQ observing and commanding her pilots through a view screen. Even in dire situations, she’s been able to pull a few tricks to save the day. With the limited resources of a starship and a hands-off involvement in the action, Misato would be the perfect fit.

Doctor

How could you not want a Dr. Heaven Canceler on your ship?

This one was a fairly easy pick, if not a bit obscure. My doctor would be Heaven Canceler from A Certain Magical Index/A Certain Scientific Railgun. Why? Because he’s gifted with the ability to heal nearly any injury. Bringing people back from the brink of death is another day in the office. He can reattach severed limbs in his sleep. And his froggish face lends him a distinct charm.

Chief of Engineering

Moe engineers are my fetish anyway.

The chief engineer keeps your ship going. If he’s any good, he’ll keep the ship going even if all you have is a paper clip and scotch tape. He has to love the ship, know it inside out, and treat it like his own child. For this post, I looked to Full Metal Panic again, this time taking on Tessa Testarossa. Being a Whispered, she has intimate knowledge of all sorts of technology, and single-handedly designed the Tuatha de Danaan. With that kind of engineering skill, she would be a valuable asset to any starship—hell she might have been the one to design your ship. Putting her as chief engineer would be a bit of a demotion for her, but do you really think she’d be better for command than Kamina?

Science Officer

Well I didn’t say it would be a glamorous job.

Science officers may get overlooked in a fight, but the rest of the time, you’ll want one handy just to deal with all the weird shit you’ll find in space. Say you wander a little too close to a black hole’s event horizon, and you have a few minutes to get out before your ship spaghettifies and all your crew are subject to an agonizing death that literally lasts for an eternity. Well, what better candidate to save the day than a humanoid interface for the Integrated Data Entity? I’m referring, of course, to Yuki Nagato from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Like a good science officer, she is all about collecting and manipulating information. A few syllables from her lips and she can create artificial realities or freeze time. That, in addition to her walking Wikipedia powers, makes her the perfect tour guide for our interstellar shenanigans.

Operations Manager

She may not be any good if the ship doesn’t use Windows XP, though.

The operations manager is highly trained, and is entrusted with basically working the ship. Every piece of equipment is under his control, and he relays orders to the rest of the ship. Otherwise, you’d have your fire control teams running toward the intruders while your security details are diving headfirst into blazing infernos. Desired skills include a familiarity with computers, and the ability to multitask. My pick: Kazari Uiharu from A Certain Scientific Railgun. She can multitask like a motherfucker and is a computer genius to boot. Her job as a Judgment agent providing support to agents in the field would translate well to work on a starship bridge.

Sassy Hotshot Pilot

Spike is also the wielder of massive amounts of plot armor.

This position is pretty self-explanatory, and my pick came fairly easily too. It would be none other than Cowboy Bebop’s Spike Spiegel, who isn’t exactly sassy but you’d be an idiot to deny his coolness. As a pilot, Spike is top notch, showing he can outmaneuver a hummingbird on ritalin as long as he’s in his trusty Swordfish. A good pilot is indispensable, but he’s even more valuable if he’s a force to be reckoned with outside the cockpit. Like all the classic hotshot pilots, Spike is equally at home in a dogfight, fistfight, or gunfight.

Bureaucrat/Admiral

Remember, the admiral has to be just a little bit sinister.

Behind every great captain, there is an even greater mastermind that engreatens. This is, of course, the veteran warrior, someone who has accepted a desk job in order to manipulate on a grand scale. The admiral and the captain won’t always see eye to eye—indeed that’s to be expected. But this seasoned officer’s years of experience will always provide insight into the trickiest of situations. For this role I decided on Eleanor Varrot from Valkyria Chronicles, who has been a veteran of two wars and has already taken a desk job. She whipped Welkin Gunther, green and barely out of his mother’s womb, into a capable front line officer. Just imagining her verbal sparring with Kamina is enough to make me smile.

Redshirt

Finally, we come to this: the redshirt. When it’s time to show that this shit just got real, you will need a sacrificial lamb to drive the point home. The redshirt fulfills the most basic of duties: dying for dramatic impact. And I can think of no finer redshirt than Dragon Ball Z’s Krillin, who exists only to remind us of how weak and incompetent humans are. When the bullets start flying, Krillin will be the one who gets kicked to death. His, uh, picture got redshirted too.

Review: Spice and Wolf

Sun, 14 Feb 2010 22:51:17 MST

Full review of Spice and Wolf

Score: 72%
Opinion: good
+ Holo is an extremely well-realized character, and is a joy to watch
+ the fictional setting moves realistically on its own devices
+ subtle interpersonal drama plays out naturally
- Kraft Lawrence does not serve as a great foil for Holo
- some episodes dig a little too deeply into the mechanical parts of business dealing
Conclusion: Spice and Wolf is an original concept executed in an original way. The subject matter is a bit dry, but the wolf god Holo goes a long way into making each episode worth watching.

Damn you, Railgun.

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 22:50:49 MST

Damn you for manipulating me like this with Uiharu.

Putting BiriBiri in a maid outfit was also a dirty trick. Damn you, Railgun!

Super Serial: Katanagatari episode 2

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 22:15:09 MST

Conjecture: Nisio Isin is sexually aroused by high word counts.

In my first write-up of Katanagatari, I said I was impressed by the concept but the pacing is ruined by the talkiness of the show. The same holds true for the second episode. This time, the adversary is Ginkaku Uneri, a ronin who is the last inhabitant of the Inaba region (no relation to Persona 4, unfortunately). He obstinately guards an abandoned castle, unwilling to give up the treasure he possesses: one of Shikizaki’s legendary katanas. On the way to this inevitable showdown, Shichika and Togame have conversations ranging from Shichika’s struggles in adjusting to the real world, to the use of catch phrases.

One question that kept popping up in my head: is the writer aware of the ridiculous drivel that comes through the dialogue? For example, Togame tells Shichika that he needs to come up with a catch phrase because he’s not a strong enough character, and she’s afraid her readers will stop reading if he doesn’t develop. Indeed, Shichika is kind of boring, even though he is the supposed hero of this story. But is that conversation intended to be so meta? Because that’s tantamount to the show admitting that it kind of sucks. The writing straddles a fine line between cleverness and insult. It’s like saying “we could have made a better show, but instead we’ll just talk about how we didn’t.”

Another thing that stood out was just before Shichika fights Uneri. They basically spend a lot of time posturing, exchanging lines like “I’m ready to go whenever.” It’s like two punks outside of a bar trying to talk tough with neither one willing to actually fight. “I’m ready to go at any time.” “Yeah no more talking, let’s do this.” “All right let’s go.” And such and so forth. All the while, I’m about to pull out my hair because they won’t just get down to the fighting. And then they start talking about other stuff, like how nice it is to have something to protect. I believe this formula was established by Dragon Ball Z: three minutes of poorly animated fighting for every 15 minutes of pointless posturing and machismo. The last move was cool, but the rest of the battle is marred by the fact that Uneri has the ability to move so fast that they don’t have to animate his moves.

This episode was annoying for the same reason the last episode was annoying, and for the same reason Nisio Isin’s Bakemonogatari can be a drag (although for now, Bakemonogatari is by far the better work). Have no illusions about what you’re getting. This is not an epic period action show. Katanagatari is just a long, semi-relevant conversation where the occasional fight breaks out.

10 things that should replace moe anime.

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 20:41:59 MST

More like K-Off right??

First of all, I got nothing against moe anime. I even tried to watch the first episode of K-On! but gave up because it was too stupid. Sadly, the cold hard reality is that the moe bubble has burst. It has left behind a vacuum, and something must take its place. Here are 10 genres I would like to see stepping up to replace moe:

Espionage

Remember Eden of the East? Remember how kickass it was to watch a dude assassinate another dude by using his sweet phone? That should become a thing. I want to watch an anime where the characters face off against each other using mind games, crazy gadgets, gunfights, and the occasional martial arts showdown. They should put a mature slant on it too, by having some characters use terrorist tactics. Nothing gets the heart pounding like a televised beheading. There should also be a lot of scenes with someone running while talking on the phone.

War

The anime adaptation to Valkyria Chronicles did a good job of bringing out the character drama that comes out of a wartime setting, but it didn’t really focus much on the fighting. Let’s have a grittier, more realistic exploration of war, and the infantry experience. This will include strategic and tactical planning alongside depictions of actual military life (Valkyria was basically a high school drama disguised as a war drama). It should also pass on any sci-fi/fantasy elements. Cat Shit One looks like a good start, except for all the goddamn furries.

Manly men

What happened to the days of real men roaming the earth? Men who would punch their problems away? All you see in anime these days are dainty boys, usually teenagers, who solve problems by painting their nails and watching Oprah. Well fuck that. They should make an anime starring Mike Haggar. The entire anime will consist of him punching other, lesser-mustachioed men and possibly eating whole turkeys. I feel that a lot of female roles get reduced to providing fanservice. If that’s the case, there should just not be any females in this show at all.

Science

Science is the hot thing these days. Science gives you iPhones and Xboxes and PSPs. There should be an anime about scientists who are not trying to create super soldiers. Rather, it should explore the consequences of some kind of amazing scientific discovery. Say there’s a fictionalized version of CERN, where the operators of the Large Hadron Collider make a discovery that advances human civilization by 100 years. There should be an anime that details the implications of such a discovery. Mostly, I want to see a world where African warlords fight each other with black market stealth bombers as UN peacekeepers try to subdue them with antiproton lasers mounted on time traveling robots.

Astronauts

As an extension of the previous topic, how about some shows that focus on space exploration? Star Trek has given us many interesting sci-fi scenarios, but I don’t see this exploratory element much in anime. It would be cool to see a ship and a crew traveling through space, encountering strange new worlds. Such a show would have to pay homage to its roots by sacrificing a nameless peon in order to show that the situation just got serious.

The apocalypse

Apocalyptic anime have come and gone, but this topic remains in the Western imagination. A post-apocalyptic world would be interesting to explore through a Japanese lens. Boichi’s Hotel used such a setting to great effect, showing what happens to the planet after humanity perishes. It’s a gripping, deeply moving story and just begs for an adaptation—all it needs is a short OVA. It could also take a look at the last remnants of humanity, and how they face their impending extinction.

Some proper samurai action

Period samurai shows exist, but they usually have a twist. The guy used to be a super assassin, the guy’s immortal, the guy’s possessed by a demon, whatever. How about some old-school, down to earth samurai shows in the tradition of Seven Samurai and Yojimbo? How about an anime adaptation of Zatoichi? Show the story of a guy making his way through a Japan mired in war and political intrigue—without the gimmicky swords.

Being evil

Disgaea was fresh because its main character wanted to be evil. This led to humorous inversions of tropes associated with hero’s journey type stories. I could stand to see a few more proper antiheroes in anime, espcially those as cartoonishly evil as Disgaea’s Laharl.

The age of sail

Fact: Master and Commander is the manliest movie ever made that doesn’t star Arnold Schwarzenegger. What’s so awesome about the age of sail? Well it was a time when men hadn’t tamed the seas, when they couldn’t rely on engines and internal combustion to get them about. It was truly an era of man vs. nature and each other. And you know what? We conquered the shit out of nature.

The Stig

Some say he draws anime episodes in real time...

A filler post about filler.

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:35:23 MST

Whether it’s because of network stipulations, writer’s guild shenanigans, or production problems, almost every TV show is padded out with filler. But not all filler is bad, just like not all story arc episodes are good. Just look at any episode of Dragon Ball Z. Would you watch more than 10 minutes of this?

I’m writing this because one of the shows I’ve been watching, A Certain Scientific Railgun, has started a run of filler episodes since the ending to its major story arc. But something about its filler doesn’t seem very filler-ish. I think, with one exception, Railgun does filler episodes correctly. Even when an episode isn’t part of a story arc, the writers manage to work in some amount of character development that makes it feel essential to the story being told. For example, the fifth episode of Railgun takes a break from the Level Upper story arc, and uses flashbacks to show how two of its protagonists first met.

This filler episode establishes the main characters’ motivations and shows the deep roots of their friendship.

The episode shows how the relationship between Judgment members Kazari Uiharu and Kuroko Shirai began. Outwardly, the episode follows the show’s primary theme of friends working together to overcome hardships. But the episode also plays with a subtler theme—the way people cope with a lack of power. In the flashback, Kuroko is at a bank after having finished her Judgment duties for the day. She bumps into Uiharu, but their meeting is interrupted by a pair of robbers who cause the bank to lock down. Kuroko obstinately fights the bank robbers even though she is still inexperienced, and does not have much mastery over her power. Overlooking the fact that it is absurd to ask an elementary school student to do any kind of law enforcement, these events are valuable in establishing an anchor that the Level Upper episodes touch on.

In later episodes, we find out that Level Upper is a device that some espers have used to raise their level, thus giving them more power. Lower level espers use it because of perceived injustices laid on them by higher level espers. However, you see why this is cheating if you think back to the bank robbery. Kuroko did not back down from her adversary, even though she was weak. She refused to give up even after taking a severe beating, and held out until she was able to catch her opponent off guard and gain the upper hand. Kuroko’s attitude and determination serve as an ethical counterpoint for the events of the later episodes—she shows that true power comes from working hard, not by using a device. But rather than set up a one-sided argument against the Level Upper users, the flashbacks also show the plight of the weak. Whereas Kuroko and Uiharu worked hard to overcome their weakness, the Level Upper users resorted to cheating—they did the wrong thing but thanks to episode five, you can see their reasons are somewhat justified. So although this episode isn’t strictly relevant to the story arc, it’s still valuable to appreciating the series.

The horror/comedy/homage of Cowboy Bebop’s 11th episode makes it unique and memorable.

Sometimes, a filler doesn’t just complement the show, it becomes the show. An old favorite of mine (and many others) serves as an example: Cowboy Bebop. Only a few episodes are part of any story arc; most of the episodes are more or less filler. That fact is what makes Cowboy Bebop so unique. It thrives in the moments, the experiments, the almost-improvisations that make every episode unlike any of the others. It’s very much like the jazz subgenre the series is named for. The shifting moods and textures of each episode have little to do with telling a coherent story; they are simply used to guide the viewer through a long chain of emotions.

If filler is quirky or different, than it can add a lot to a show even if it isn’t really about anything.

Cowboy Bebop’s experimental storytelling was repeated in 2004’s Samurai Champloo. Samurai Champloo was also mostly made of filler, but with one crucial difference: it didn’t offer the same shifting moods and tones as Cowboy Bebop. Each episode was more about the random events that happened to the central trio, and less about how they should make the viewer feel. This, I think, is not a good way to approach filler. Filler shouldn’t offer more of what’s already abundant, because then it would really become padding. I want it to fill in gaps (like in Railgun), or offer something completely different (like in Cowboy Bebop).

Another old favorite of mine is Trigun, whose first half is mostly mediocre filler. Its main story arc doesn’t begin in earnest until the second half, but that half is so good that it completely wipes away the bad taste of the early episodes. In the case of Trigun, the show is mostly sustained by its charismatic protagonist and fascinating fictional world. So even bad filler doesn’t necessarily make a series bad.

In Trigun’s case, the show is great despite the filler, not because of it.

There are also traditional types of filler, as many series will throw in a gratuitous episode of one of these types. The most infamous is the hot springs episode (or a beach episode), which almost every show will work in just for fanservice. These are usually just comedy episodes, and are almost always just a waste of time. There’s also the baseball episode. I’m not exactly sure that is a real trend, but they do appear every once in a while as comedic filler. Samurai Champloo used this to good effect by exploiting the anachronism of having modern day major league style baseball in the 19th Century setting (also, the merciless charicatures of Americans was hilarious). The worst filler of all is the oft-maligned recap episode, and with good reason. By definition, much of it is going to be old material. Recap episodes, which are almost always clip shows too, seem to be much less common nowadays. But even great shows like Neon Genesis Evangelion and Trigun have made use of them. However, recap episodes are one type of filler which seems to be on the decline in recent years, possibly owing to increasing production budgets or decreasing costs erasing the need to reuse footage.

Baseball episodes are probably the least embarrassing kind of filler.

The point of this post is really this: you should judge an episode based on how it affects your appreciation of the series. Filler can be valuable even if you didn’t want a time out from the main story. Take the time to really think about filler, and figure out what it adds to the show or if it’s actual dead weight.

Super Serial: Spice and Wolf episode 6

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 17:58:27 MST

Tonight’s episode: Wolf and Terrified Businesswoman

So this episode does something interesting. At the end of episode 5, Holo and Lawrence jump into the waterways again to make their escape. The Medioh Company goons get wind of this, and begin chasing them around the labyrinthine tunnels. Holo senses an exit, and leads Lawrence to it, but it turns out to be a well that they can’t reach. Cornered, Holo transforms into her wolf form and fights off all the men.

What I found interesting was Chloe. At first, I thought she was kind of an arbitrary choice to have as an antagonist. Up until Holo transforms, I didn’t really buy it. But then I realized Chloe isn’t really an antagonist. She betrayed her friendship with Lawrence and her god, but I ended up feeling bad for her. What does she really stand for? Progress. She represents humanity’s ability to rely on itself and not, in her own words, the whims of a deity. She strikes the deal with the Medioh Company in hopes of getting her village more profit, as the harvest had been poor by Holo’s own doing. Chloe is not wrong to want what she wants—she’s just a bit unethical in getting it. When menaced by Holo, Chloe’s lines say it all: “God is always like this... always... always unfair!” Even though Holo’s actions (reducing the harvest) were for the good of the land, it still hurt the villagers in the short term. Chloe tries to bring prosperity back to Pasroe, by her own power, and is seemingly punished for it. So who is right? God I love complex ethical dilemmas.

This ends my episodic coverage of Spice and Wolf. My impression so far: I see why this anime is special, but I don’t really enjoy the subject matter that much. Still, there are bits and pieces that I find brilliant, like the situation with Chloe. Hopefully the series will delve deeper into the main characters and their relationships with each other, and maybe drop some of the dealings with the faceless merchants.

Super Serial: Spice and Wolf episode 5

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:46:18 MST

After cutting a deal with the Milone Company, Lawrence is able to enlist their aid in rescuing Holo. They are able to infiltrate the Medioh Company storehouse, and Lawrence goes underground to meet with Holo and get her to a wagon. Holo tells Lawrence that she saw Chloe during her captivity, and that she had intentions to join the church.

This episode is mostly about Lawrence and Holo’s exchange in the wagon. What damaged Holo the most during her imprisonment was not her treatment by her captors, or even the fear of death (she can’t die anyway as Lawrence still has some of the wheat that she “lives” in)—it was the fact that one of her followers had betrayed her. Chloe tells Holo that the people no longer need to rely on her, and that she would turn Holo in to the church to cut ties forever. As they say, the worst thing for a person is to feel useless. Lawrence cheers her up by saying whatever happiness or hardships they go through, they’ll go through them together. Being the consummate businessman, he goes on to remind her about profit, money, blah blah blah.

Now I’ve come to a point where I’ve kind of run out of things to say about the story. But I can talk about Yuuji Yoshino’s score, which reminds me of Ko Otani’s work in Haibane Renmei... except less good. Something about Spice and Wolf’s minimal score appeals to me. It complements the art design nicely to help give the show a distinct aesthetic. Also I will fight anyone who doesn’t love the end credits.

Super Serial: Spice and Wolf episode 4

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 22:13:58 MST

I knew this is where that was going.

So the romantic tension finally makes itself clear. It’s somewhat liberating to see that Holo can be honest about her feelings, as she reveals to Lawrence that her greatest fear is just waking up alone. Why can’t she just find any companion she likes? I’m not sure exactly. Lawrence, being more of an anime character than a human being, does not reciprocate Holo’s display of vulnerability. As the episode moves on, we see a plot by the Medioh company to capture Holo as a hostage. This is because Lawrence decided to ally with their rival, the Milone company, after giving them information about the scheme with the devaluing currency.

In this episode we see that Holo is indeed an example of the gods being like us: fallible, emotional, even vulnerable at times. I wonder if she’s truly able to live like a regular human being. Why put up with the alienation and loneliness? Why does she need Lawrence to take her to the north? Did she just take him because he had the wheat on him? Could it have been anyone who took the wheat?

Lawrence will continue to maintain that their relationship is all about business, even though it’s clearly not. I’m not certain that the relationship has grown beyond that level, though Holo clearly wants it to. Aside from letting her know about the shop, he mostly closes himself off in front of her.

The episode ends with a cliffhanger of sorts, with Holo being captured and possibly awaiting prosecution by the church. Lawrence makes it to safety by getting to the Milone company (they should have come up with less similar-sounding names) but realizes that they have no real incentive to help him rescue Holo. Of course, you’re probably thinking at this point that Holo is a wolf god and can tear some shit up. Well, just wait and see in the next episode.

Super Serial: Spice and Wolf episode 3

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:50:40 MST

Currency memorization. Enthralling stuff.

Lawrence and Holo arrive at the rendezvous point to see Zeiren again. After meeting with a currency exchanger, Lawrence determines that Zeiren is indeed not on the level. The currency that was supposed to increase in silver purity is in fact decreasing in purity, which Holo suggests might be part of a larger overall scheme. Someone may be pulling Zeiren’s strings, and I will laugh really hard if it turns out to be Bernie Madoff.

If an economics lesson isn’t your thing, Holo and Lawrence have some antics that are quite funny and do a good job of establishing who they are. Lawrence may not have the wisdom of a deity but he is rather clever, especially observant of the people around him. Holo is not so savvy on economic matters but her vast life span has given her experiences which she intelligently applies to business transactions. That’s one side of her, but the other side is very much about enjoying the outside world: binging on apples, getting drunk on wine, and so forth. We also see a vulnerable side, perhaps best exemplified when Lawrence comments that it’s good that people have forgotten her face (not wanting to draw attention to the fact that she is a wolf goddess). This nonchalance from Lawrence really hurts Holo, shown quickly and effectively in just a short reaction shot. It’s all you need to understand what she feels.

Much of the exposition revolves around currency, and how the fluctuating relative values of various currencies can be exploited to make a profit. Holo has the prescience to suggest that a country should just stick to one currency, but being at that level of development, this civilization hasn’t reached such a point yet. So no, this isn’t edge of the seat stuff here but it does a good job of demistifying economics—something which is probably more topical right now than it was when Spice and Wolf first aired. You begin to understand that the ebb and flow of money isn’t something goverened by arcane laws handed down by angels, but rather by the demands and decisions of people.

Review: A Certain Magical Index

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 18:30:02 MST

Full review of A Certain Magical Index

Even BiriBiri can’t save this disaster.

Score: 31%
Opinion: bad
+ consistently good looks and animation
+ a few elements of the back story are pretty creative
- plot is all over the place with no transitioning logic between arcs
- drama and action are often interrupted or cut out in order to deliver unnecessary exposition
- the tone and action strain credulity, and are inconsistent with the show’s premise
- one dimensional characters
- the cast gets rotated far too quickly for you to care about them
Conclusion: Like some people at a buffet line, A Certain Magical Index tries everything but doesn’t get the real substance of anything. Its scope is too wide, and is managed by a director who lacks the discipline to see any one story through to its full potential.

Super Serial: Spice and Wolf episode 2

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 01:45:43 MST

The teasing exchanges between Holo and Lawrence are very entertaining.

For the second episode, Lawrence and Holo enter another town where they meet Zeiren, a somewhat shady looking guy who tells them about a scheme in which they exchange coins with foreign currency for a profit. Holo suspects that he isn’t entirely on the level, but Lawrence decides to play along. If Zeiren is being honest, they’ll make a profit. If Zeiren is lying, Lawrence intends to find out what his scheme is, and use that knowledge to make a profit.

This episode digs a little deeper into Lawrence’s business sense, which paints him as a cunning and guarded figure. Indeed he’s fairly reserved; you get the sense that he’s studying the people around him all the time. In contrast, Holo is all too happy to share about herself and what she thinks of others. Lawrence is kind of drab as a character, but Holo is very animate.

Once again, I’d also like to heap praise on Ami Koshimizu’s portrayal of Holo. Her varied inflections, and the way she seamlessly moves through them, help define the character beyond just her lines of dialogue. Here we have a great example of using the strengths of the medium. 90% of who Holo is, is conveyed through body language and voice acting. It’s the kind of thing that you wouldn’t get through manga or writing.

So far the pacing is a lot like in the first episode: slow but not entirely purposeful. This does not necessarily mean Spice and Wolf will be a bad show, as even the best productions can have bad pacing (and well-paced productions can lack substance). I hope the episodes pick up in terms of storytelling, but if they don’t, I still wouldn’t mind watching just to see what happens with Holo. She has lived many lifetimes observing humans, so (depending on the quality of the writing) she should have some interesting insights about us. If you’re a fan of Star Trek, Holo would be a lot like Dax from Deep Space Nine. I wonder how the two characters will compare, as one was written by a Japanese novelist and the other by American screenwriters. It’s an unexpected convergence of different media, enough to pique my fan interest if nothing else. Also, Holo’s wheat pouch is exactly like The Doctor’s mobile holographic emitter.

(Monthly) Super Serial: Katanagatari episode 1

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 18:18:58 MST

Pictured: not water.

Katanagatari in eight words: STOP TALKING AND FUCKING CUT EACH OTHER ALREADY. Jesus. You’d think you just turned on a Joe Biden speech. In this show, we have: a self-proclaimed military strategist, a guy who practices swordsmanship without swords (we call that boxing), a quest to find 12 rare swords, and ninjas. Freaking ninjas, and this episode was still 90% boring!

Based on a series of novels by Nisio Isin (author of Bakemonogatari and other x-gatari titles), I expected this one to be wordy. I didn’t know that meant asking a guy to read 100 million words as quickly as he could to fit it into a 20 minute exchange. And since the production staff spent the entire budget on words, you get the great pleasure of watching them recited against static backdrops and slow panning shots. Then they got the most annoying voice actor ever to deliver the speech. Fuuuuuuuuck.

Fuck your words.

All the background stuff about freaking ninjas and evil swords, that was pretty cool. I do enjoy epic journeys set in ancient Japan. The character play wouldn’t be half bad if it wasn’t for the extended dialogue. I like Shichika’s complete ignorance about human affairs, and Togame’s undeservedly high opinion of herself. After seeing these things, I thought, “great, now let's get to the epic fighting.” And it... never... happens.

Super Serial: Spice and Wolf episode 1

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 20:15:29 MST

I’m never getting tired of these end credits.

I decided to get back to Spice and Wolf, which I started last year, because I have nothing else to write about after getting past the halfway mark of A Certain Magical Index. Frankly I’m not really looking forward to this, as what I had seen of Spice and Wolf was a little dry for my tastes. The first episode introduces Kraft Lawrence, a traveling merchant who goes to the town of Pasroe to meet with his apprentice Chloe. Pasroe is a pagan town that used to worship a wolf god named Holo. In exchange for their worship, Holo agreed to provide the townspeople with an abundant wheat harvest. As time passed, the people began to rely on themselves and forget about Holo. One night, Lawrence finds a girl in his cart, who claims to be Holo. After proving her identity, the two make a pact. Lawrence will let Holo tag along on his journeys, while Holo will lend him her centuries of wisdom.

Spice and Wolf is not something I’d describe as being my cup of tea. Usually I go for the stupid action shows, or the dramatic existential ones. A show about economics in a pre-industrial European analogue wouldn’t quite fit in those categories. Still I can recognize what I like. I like the freshness of the idea, especially as the last few shows I watched have been steeped in generic fantasy. Anime is flush with moe shows, fantasy, and fanservice. But an honest to goodness attempt to look at human nature, socioeconomics, that kind of stuff is rare (and probably difficult to pull off). So conceptually, Spice and Wolf stands apart from the noise.

But is the execution any good? To be honest, I found the first episode a bit of a drag until Holo showed up. Voice actress Ami Koshimizu gives her a balanced yet constantly fluctuating amount of sass and sadness, which makes Holo fascinating to watch and listen to. Some lines are delivered to show her haughty, aloof nature while others betray a certain melancholy about the villagers breaking their pact. She is not only a god, but also a supremely lonely one. The rest of the episode focuses on Lawrence and Chloe, who I felt were not as watchable as Holo. Hopefully their characters will be built up in later episodes, but this first one is Holo’s show.

Super Serial: A Certain Magical Index episodes 11 and 12

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 19:48:48 MST

A Certain Magical Index continues with the slow-paced plot development. I imagine it would be like if you took a decent anime and then played it back at 1/4 speed. In episode 11, Toma finds Mikoto’s “sister” lying dead in an alley. He calls Antiskill and takes them to the place in the alley where he saw her, except there is no body. Later he runs into another sister carrying a body bag. Toma finds out that they are all clones of Mikoto Misaka, created for military purposes. Wanting more information, he visits Mikoto’s dorm at Tokiwadai. Unfortunately, she’s not in, but her roommate Kuroko lets him in. The dorm room inspector comes around, and since boys are not allowed, Kuroko tells Toma to hide under Mikoto’s bed. There, he accidentally finds the case files for the Sisters Project, which details the creation and purpose of the Mikoto clones.

Episode 12 takes place almost entirely on a bridge, where Toma finds Mikoto contemplating her situation. The two have a heart to heart, sort of, where Toma learns that all the sisters were created for a top secret project to have an esper reach level 6. Mikoto is only the third most powerful level 5 in Academy City. She provided the genetic template to create a legion of level 3 clones (more than 20,000 of them) so that they could all fight an esper called Accelerator. It was calculated by the supercomputer Tree Diagram that if Accelerator could defeat all the Misaka sisters in combat, he would reach level 6. Mikoto, overcome with guilt that she inadvertently cursed all her sisters to painful deaths at the hands of Accelerator, decides to take him on by herself. Her plan is to lose the battle much faster than Tree Diagram’s prediction, thereby casting doubt on the abilities of Tree Diagram and the Misaka sisters, and causing the project to be abandoned.

The things I would do with 10,000 BiriBiri sisters... that’s one a day for over 27 years!

The story arc involving Mikoto brings some character-driven drama, where Mikoto’s sense of justice conflicts with Toma’s desire to save everyone. Let me just say that Toma, and every goddamn hero like him, has been played out to death. He is Vash the Stampede, Yuji Sakai, Shiro Emiya, and about a million other male leading characters. I’m sick of it. Just stop. I don’t need another heavy-handed debate on whether or not you can save everyone. The answer, 90% of the time, is yes, you can save everyone. I already know where all this is heading. There will be saving. That 10% when everyone doesn’t get saved? That’s Trigun, baby, and that’s why Trigun rules.

That said, I still like what they did with Mikoto. She is quiety resigned to her fate, motivated to take what she sees is the last resort. Without knowledge of Toma’s Imagine Breaker ability, and faced against a seemingly unbeatable foe, then it kind of makes sense that you’d take a gamble and try to discredit the data set. After all, if Mikoto, a level 5, shows that she’s too weak to put up a fight against Accelerator, then no amount of level 3 copies can make him reach level 6. Yet, even with the gravity of the situation, she still manages to be all tsundere about it. You have to admit, there’s something admirable about the Japanese’s ability to preserve moe-ness at all costs.

There is a logic problem concerning the plot. When fighting one of the sisters, Accelerator reveals that his power is the ability to alter any vector he comes into contact with (an idea so scientifically nonsensical that it might as well fall into the “magic” camp). This is why Mikoto’s electricity powers would be useless against him, as he can simply redirect the current vectors. But what about someone whose powers don’t rely on vectors... like Kuroko’s? She could ostensibly teleport a baseball into Accelerator’s brain, then presto, fight over, let’s get some ice cream. At this point we already know Kuroko can teleport other objects (she tried to teleport Toma but failed because she didn’t know about his ability), and Mikoto definitely knows since they’re roommates. So why not tap her power? It’s not like Kuroko would refuse, since she’s both an... admirer... of Mikoto and a member of Judgment, sworn to defend the peace and protect Academy City’s residents.

Even when weighing her own life against 10,000 others, Mikoto still has time to be a tsundere.

Since this will be my last episodic write-up of A Certain Magical Index before the review, I suppose I should give some closing impressions—finish with something deep. This anime is frustrating because the amount of time it takes to get through the exposition is not anywhere near proportional to the complexity of its ideas. Not a lot happens in each episode, and only when you add up all the little things from each episode do you get a real story. Even so, this story is not terribly compelling. It has frequent starts and stops, often interrupting or eschewing drama to explain the rules of its fictional world. It’s more of a collectible card game than an anime (this analogy trademarked by Tian Ma). What pisses me off is that this kind of generic fiction litters most of the scene even when anime can be so much more. We all have a finite amount of time to enjoy anime, so why not demand more spirited storytelling, more human characters, and more creative action scenes? We know the medium is capable of these things, so anytime I see an example of unfulfilled potential, I get irritated. Part of this is the reality of running a business, which I accept, but part of it seems to be an overall lack of ambition or passion. This is the feeling I get from A Certain Magical Index. It has the production values, but something is lacking in terms of passion. I could very well change my opinion by the time I see the last episode. I hope I can look back at these posts and eat my words, I really do.

Super Serial: A Certain Magical Index episode 10

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 01:00:01 MST

So now that Aisa is part of Toma’s improbable circle of females, we can finally start involving her in some stories, right? Wrong. Why would you even think that? A Certain Magical Index kicks off another story arc with episode 10, introducing not one but 10,000 new characters. Actually, the main character of this next arc is someone you’ve already met: Mikoto Misaka, my beloved BiriBiri. Toma runs into her again in front of a vending machine, though he doesn’t remember why she has it out for him. On their first meeting, Mikoto tried to pick a fight with Toma, but Toma was able to cancel her attacks with his ability. They talk for a bit until Mikoto’s “sister” shows up, who refers to herself simply as Misaka (that being the family name), and has a bizarre and obnoxious way of speaking.

BiriBiri, my favorite griefer.

The sister Misaka is very robotic, and is usually carrying around a sophisticated set of goggles. You can tell something isn’t quite right about her, given her mannerisms and the way Mikoto reacts when they come into contact. The rest of the cast pretty much stays out of this episode (and indeed the story arc), and we get even more cat-related hijinks. For the record, the only thing I hate more than cats are videos that exploit their cuteness.

Kuroko cameo report: her jumping (teleporting?) to conclusions about Mikoto’s taste in men gives us all the opportunity to hear Rina Satou’s voice at its angriest. Sweet, sweet Rina Satou.

So nothing much happens in this episode, and Aisa Himegami gets completely tossed aside in favor of Mikoto. Which is fine by me, because Aisa doesn’t really do anything to warrant more screen time, and Mikoto is just a really good character. It’s interesting, though, how her personality changes between this and A Certain Scientific Railgun. I’m assuming the events of Index take place before Railgun, so over the course of this series, she lightens up and adopts a more comedic role alongside her junior, Kuroko Shirai. Like Mikoto, Kuroko is characterized slightly differently than in Railgun. Here she’s much less lecherous, and more of a cheerleader type. Her attraction to Mikoto is still pretty obvious, but she hasn’t crossed any lines yet... I do love how easily she gets under Mikoto’s skin, though.

Super Serial: A Certain Magical Index episodes 8 and 9

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 22:56:04 MST

If asinine writing and a religious adherence to genre conventions is your thing, these two episodes of A Certain Magical Index won’t disappoint. The very least I expect from an anime is to not have my time wasted. Enter episode 8, which concludes with the reset switch trope that negates pretty much everything that happens in the episode. But what did happen in that episode? Not much to begin with. We learn that there’s a magical seal around Misawa Cram School which prevents anyone inside it from interacting with anything outside. Sound familiar? Shakugan no Shana has been using that as a safety blanket since 2005.

After about a minute’s exposition about the magical seal, we also learn that someone is manipulating the students inside Misawa Cram School. That bit was pretty cool, as it visually demonstrated what happens when an esper tries to (or is forced to) use magic. Aisa Himegami shows up inside the seal, revealing that she has allied with Aureolus Izzard for a plan involving vampires. Once again, this piece of exposition interrupts the action, grinding the show to a halt so that Toma and Aisa can talk. Izzard himself then shows up, and we cut to Toma and Stiyl on a swing set, unable to remember what just happened (they got CTRL+ALT+DEL’d). Then Index enters Misawa Cram School and gets taken hostage, because of course she does.

This devastating attack causes balls of light to ineffectively chase our heroes, eventually coming to a stop and not hurting them anyway.

Episode 9 reveals the nature of Deep Blood. Aisa’s blood is a lure for vampires, but drinking it causes them to die. Consumed by guilt, Aisa allies with Izzard, who claims he wants to use her blood to save someone. He needs to capture a vampire in order to make Index into a vampire, therefore negating the need to wipe her memory every year. Stiyl and Toma enter the school again (making episode 8 almost completely pointless) and interrupt Izzard just after he makes Index fall asleep. They tell him that Index no longer needs to have her memories erased. Great! Happy ending, everyone goes home satisfied, right? Nope. Izzard still wants to pick a fight, because of fucking course he does. See a pattern? A lot of things happen because damn it, there’s a rule that says it has to happen, plot logic be damned.

Now we get to the cherry on top of this ass sundae: Aureolus Izzard’s power is that he will announce exactly what his strategy and plan of attack are, and then it happens. This particular trope is taken to absurd levels as Izzard gets more and more detailed in his narrations. You know how, when you go to the cashier at a grocery store, you’re not describing in minute detail what you’re doing in real time? You don’t tell the checkout lady, “Now I’m reaching for my wallet. I’m pulling out my credit card. I’m handing you the credit card.” And there’s a very good reason for this—she already knows what’s going on because she can see what you’re doing. Similarly, this being an anime, I can see what the fuck is going on. There is no viable reason for you to be telling your enemy all of your attacks and intentions in a life or death battle.

Hasn’t heard of an assault rifle, I guess.

Still, it gets worse. The plot logic so far is about as rigorous as the logic used in a presidential debate, but then it takes a turn into the makes-no-goddamn-sense zone. Izzard’s power is to will into existence anything he wants... except when he can’t. Why is that? Who cares? They also pull one of those "look he’s dead lol no he’s not" dealies. At one point, Izzard seems to have turned Stiyl Magnus into hamburger meat, only to have Stiyl reappear a few minutes later, intact, with no explanation whatsoever. The injuries Izzard inflicts on Toma are real enough, but Stiyl somehow walks off being vivisected? The fuck? Talk about some ridiculous plot armor.

Perhaps the gravest insult of all is that after all this, the only real consequences are that Aisa gets added to Toma’s harem, and that’s about it. All those dead or wounded espers? Fuck them, who cares. Vampires? Just a big tease. Lasting effects on Index? None at all because she slept through the entire fight (which involved a pair of quintuple handguns by the way—I don’t care how sound a sleeper you are, handguns are freaking loud). What about Toma, living through some seriously traumatic injuries? Well he’s still the same idealistic guy he’s always been, with nary a change due to the memory loss. So to sum up, these two episodes are a gigantic waste of time, don’t advance the story, and make very little sense. This isn’t even incompetence, really—a failure of this magnitude must be a work of purposeful malevolence.

Review: Cencoroll

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 18:03:03 MST

Full review of Cencoroll

In a world... where bean bag/testicle monster thingies must fight to survive...

Score: 49%
Opinion: weak
+ exploits the strength of its animation and voiceovers
+ funky creature designs give you something cool to look at
- the plot has very little context or meaning
- characters are utterly one-dimensional
Conclusion: Atsuya Uki may be a talented director, but he is no screenwriter and it shows. Cencoroll lacks the sort of depth that would do justice to its animation techniques. I recommend a viewing for students of animation, but not to anyone outside of that niche.

Review: Dead Leaves

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 16:44:10 MST

Full review of Dead Leaves

I’m going to try something different from here on out. For each review I write, I’ll offer the bite sized review summary on the front page, which will get published to the RSS. Today we have Dead Leaves, which at the time of this writing, is the lowest rated anime on the site.

Score: 29%
Opinion: terrible
+ unique visual style
+ a few creative character designs
- watching this OVA is an unmatched drudgery
- almost no effort given to storytelling
- bad animation
Conclusion: Dead Leaves is a candidate for the most agonizing 50 minutes of my life, in a contest that includes physical injuries and the deaths of family members. For something that so thoroughly rejects the intellectual high road, it also utterly fails to satisfy whatever primal urges you may have with its tiresome action scenes and laughable sexuality. Production I.G. has put out some crap before, but this is just atrocious.

Super Serial: A Certain Magical Index episode 7

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 18:00:45 MST

On tonight’s episode:

Toma meets a girl dressed in clothes.

She haz’d too many cheezburgers.

Index makes some angry faces.

Angry... face!

Stiyl Magnus shows Toma some paper.

This is how I hand reports to my boss.

And... they get a cat.

Not a lolcat (wwwcat?), though. I can’t stand bad grammar.

Again, not a lot happens. We meet Aisa (the girl in the shrine maiden robes), who Stiyl reveals to be “Deep Blood.” That is pretty much all that happens. Disappointingly, Toma’s memory loss is only mentioned in a few throwaway lines. The scene in the last half of episode 6 was nice, as it really made you feel Index’s sense of loss over Toma’s amnesia (although he put on an act to make Index think it was all a joke in the end). We get no such scenes here but hopefully, they’ll revisit the topic. On another subject, I’ve found that I really like Index’s voice actor (Yuka Iguchi). Her voice sort of reminds me of Minami-ke’s Chiaki. It is a voice that is most beautiful while hurling abuse.

Super Serial: A Certain Magical Index episode 6

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 21:23:06 MST

This episode concludes the first story arc, with Toma getting past Index’s involuntary attacks and deactivating the church’s programming on her. During these events, he is hit with one of the residual powers of Index’s attack (the feathers in the picture above) and suffers a severe injury. The episode ends with Index visiting Toma in the hospital, and a double-Shyamalan ending.

The ramifications of this episode should be deep (although we don’t actually see any in this episode, hence the shortness of this post), as Toma loses his memories from Index’s last attack (unbeknownst to Index). So in a bit of dramatic irony, Toma’s efforts to keep Index from losing a year’s worth of memories ends up costing a lifetime. They said he had bad luck but this is going a bit far, right?

I’m interested to see where Index goes from here. The end of the episode sets up the next story arc, involving the search for something called “Deep Blood.” Sounds ominous.

Super Serial: A Certain Magical Index episode 5

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 19:35:19 MST

“Initiating ultimate attack. Commence describing everything that will happen in exact detail. Target has dodged the attack. Initiating surprised subroutine.”

If you had any knowledge of how the brain works, or common sense, you probably thought to yourself during episode 4 “how can 15% of someone’s brain fill up in just one year?” Toma does the math and realizes, at that rate, a typical person would only be able to survive for about six and a half years before dying. That’s like saying your iPod would stop working if you put too much music on it, and that “too much music” in this case comprises about 15 songs. Not only is this premise utterly retarded, none of Index’s lackeys from the church understand this. Subtle commentary about religious people? Maybe. So clearly, Index is not going to die of a brain overload because that kind of thing just doesn’t happen, and it’s idiotic to even suggest so. Komoe confirms this much to Toma. But Index is definitely in peril—why? Well the answer to that is more interesting: the church made it so that Index’s memories have to be erased each year in order to keep her from power tripping on all her forbidden magical knowledge. As if the epithet “The Church of Necessary Evil” didn’t tip you off to the possibility of Necessarius being less than forthcoming about its methods.

So this development is pretty cool, but again there’s too much talking, not enough showing. Almost all of the episode is spent in Komoe’s apartment, and the story details are given entirely in speech. I might as well have read it in a book. This, I would say, is not an example of using the medium to its fullest. There are also a few other silly things, the silliest being Index’s “awakening.” After Toma breaks one of the magical controls on Index’s brain, she goes into a defensive mode, which involves her describing her exact thought process and announcing all of her attacks before using them. Why anime still clings on to that cliche, I’ll never know.

Lols with site metrics, January 2010 edition

Sat, 09 Jan 2010 13:09:36 MST

This is a metaphor, I’m sure.

Top search queries that led to my site:

“molested”
searches containing “Elfen Lied” with a character from the series
“rin daughters of mnemosyne”
“kemonozume”
“love hina motoko”
“molesting”
“angela miller” (a character from Resident Evil: Degeneration)
“lucky channel”
“shakugan no shana yuji”
“asuka y shinji”

Don’t ask me about the molesting thing. I really have no idea why this site is so linked to molestation. In fact none of the search terms refer to particularly prominent items on the site.

Top keywords:

story
characters
series
makigumo
it’s

That’s fairly unsurprising. Most of my posts are about story, characters, series, and “it”.

Web host’s site metrics:

At no point in the entire hosting history of Makigumo have I used more than 1% of my bandwidth limit (apparently there are no space limits as cpanel has stopped telling me how big my site is).

The countries most frequently visiting:

US
Germany
Russia (might have something to do with all those google searches for “molest”)
Japan
Canada

The robots most frequently visiting:

unknown
Yahoo
Google
unknown
unknown
unknown
unknown

90.6% of all visits last less than 30 seconds (consistent with just about every web usability article I’ve read). 5 visits lasted more than an hour—what the hell were they doing??

I also checked the links to some pages that link to Makigumo. Such sites included:

a spam Twitter account
a Russian blog
an Israeli site with only pictures of Lucky Star
a forum poster who hotlinked his signature to be one of the pictures hosted by Makigumo
apparently a stalker site devoted to Angela Miller, either the fictional character or real people named “Angela Miller” (including what looked to be an Amish person)
some Goth girl’s guro site, which linked to a picture from Elfen Lied that I was hosting

So... the wide world of anime fandom is as diverse as it is strange. And spammy. And it consists mostly of current or potential sex offenders. I’m trying to run a respectable operation here, guys. So here’s an appeal: if you are a child molester, please stop googling up my site. Thanks.

Super Serial: A Certain Magical Index episode 4

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 20:12:17 MST

The episode starts with Toma facing off against Kaori, the one who accidentally slashed Index (thinking Index’s magical garbs would protect her, but not knowing Toma’s ability dispelled the protection). Kaori reveals that 85% of Index’s memory capacity is occupied by her knowledge of the 103,000 grimoires. The remaining 15% is quickly filled up due to her instant memorization ability. That’s why each year, Kaori and Stiyl must... erase Index’s memory! Otherwise she would die! Oh my god!

If the scientific basis of this plot development sounds dubious to you, then you’re one step ahead of the story nudge nudge wink wink. After this is kindly explained during their life or death struggle, Toma and Kaori launch into a bunch of dialogue that makes no sense (or it was a shitty sub job).

Kaori: [After explaining that Index only has 15% of her brain capacity left, and that she has to erase Index’s memory to save her life] We have no intention of harming her. Rather, no one else is able to save her other than us [I guess the church doesn’t believe in neuroscientists]. Could you hand her over to us? [Why didn’t she ask that in the first place??] Before I mention my magic name [who the fuck cares what her magic name is?]. And, by erasing her memory, she won’t remember anything about you, no matter how much you think of her. Saving her brings you no benefit at all [saving her by letting her die of brain overload, or saving her by handing her over for memory erasure?].
Toma: This is wrong! Like this has anything to do with whether she remembers me or not. If you don’t get it [get what?] then let me tell you why. Because I’m Index’s friend! I’ve always been her friend, and I always will be! [He met her literally a day ago.] Even if it wasn’t written in the Bible, at least this is true! I knew something was weird. If it’s as simple as her forgetting things, all you need to do is explain everything and clear the misunderstanding [So why hasn’t anyone done that?]. Why do you leave it as a misunderstanding? Why do you chase after her as an enemy? How dare you just give up on her like that? What about her own feelings?
Kaori: Shut your mouth, you amateur! Don’t talk as if you know what’s going on! [Completely evades the question] What do you think we went through all this time by taking away her memories?! [Couldn’t have been that bad if they never bothered to explore other options] Apparently you see Stiyl as an enemy but do you even know how he felt as he watched you two? Do you even know how much resolve he had when he presented himself as an enemy? [And they had to fight... why, exactly?] Stiyl’s feelings as he dishonors himself [to accomplish what?] for the sake of saving his important friend [How? He didn’t even give Index medical treatment as she was unconscious on the ground bleeding, for fuck’s sake]... would someone like you have any clue?! We did what we could too! We did, I tell you! We spent all spring! All summer! All fall! All winter! We created memories, and so that she didn’t forget them, we made a single promise with her and we gave her a diary and album for her to carry inside her heart! And yet... it didn’t work. Even when we went back and made more memories with her, no matter how many times we repeated that... memories of her family, friends, lovers... they were all reset to zero [well yeah, that’s what happens when you reset someone’s memory]. We couldn’t handle it anymore... we couldn’t bear to see her smile anymore.
Toma: That’s wrong... That’s just your own bullshit logic [Logic for what? She was telling a story.]. You didn’t think for Index’s sake a single moment [I’m pretty sure she just said she did]. Don’t blame your own gutlessness on Index! [What gutlessness? What were they too gutless to do?] If you’re so scared of seeing her lose one year’s worth of memories, if you just give her more blessed memories the next year, if she knows there’s happiness for her the year after to let her conquer the fear of losing this year’s memories... then no one needs to run away anymore! Isn’t that all there is to this? [So why the hell doesn’t Toma just hand Index over if that’s all there is?]. Are you protecting people just because you have power? [The fuck does that even mean?] No, right? That’s not how it is, right?! You acquired power because you have something you want to protect, right? Why did you acquire power? Who did you want to protect with those hands? Then what the hell are you doing here? [She’s trying to get Index back to save her life, you fuckwit.] With that much power, with such a versatile power, why are you so incompetent... [passes out]

The basic idea is that, possibly afraid of losing her memories, Index runs away from the church. So Stiyl and Kaori chase her and pretend to be enemies because... it’s all for lols, apparently. And Toma says the best way to help Index is to explain the situation and have Index and her friends make new, happy memories year after year. Except he won’t hand Index over to her friends. So yeah, that’s some plot logic right there.

Kuroko cameo report: she and Mikoto are shopping when Mikoto notices the damaged fan blade from Toma’s fight against Kaori. Kuroko catches up and notices this, and leaves on official Judgment duty. I hope they get around to showing Kuroko’s Judgment work, as her power is pretty sweet and makes for some imaginative fighting.

Super Serial: A Certain Magical Index episode 3

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 21:36:21 MST

So I says to her, “if you do that again... straight to the moon.”

This episode has Toma’s teacher, Komoe, performing the magical ritual to heal Index. When Index is injured or otherwise threatened, she can “awaken” her Johann’s Pen, which is able to perform magic and instruct others to do the same. Understanding this, Toma takes Index to the only person in Academy City that he knows isn’t an esper, which happens to be his lolicon-fodder teacher Komoe Tsukuyomi. Why exactly she has the appearance of an eight-year-old, and why she wears a pink bunny suit as pajamas, completely escapes me. I think, maybe, some parts of Japanese culture are best left not understood. After Index’s recovery, her usual playful personality returns. We learn that she has lost her memory of all events before the past year, thanks to something that Necessarius did to her.

There’s quite a lot of moe fanservice in this episode, from Komoe squeaking “cute angel” in her squirrely voice to Index making various faces at Toma. The thing about Index’s memory loss might have been interesting back in 1985, but now every other magical girl harem show does it. I think it might be a convenient way to hand-wave any explanation as to why a girl would just show up and attach herself to our protagonist. Anyway, this plot point is a precursor to the next two episodes, and so forms a mini story arc. So expect a lot of melodramatics.

About that Bakemonogatari review...

Tue, 05 Jan 2010 21:59:14 MST

So apparently you can pass for a production studio these days without even finishing your productions. Why do Gainax or Production I.G. even bother with putting out finished series? They can just follow in Shaft’s footsteps, release 80% of the show, say “We’ll finish the rest later,” and then force the viewers into an interminable wait for the proper ending.

I’m not in the business of writing reviews just to have reviews. I want my reviews to represent a finished product. So while I would love to do a writeup of Bakemonogatari, it seems I’ll have to wait until a date undetermined to see the last 2 webisodes. Although the last broadcast episode (12) is not a bad bookend, it still leaves the “Tsubasa Cat” story arc dangling. Actually, episode 12 is more like filler than a proper part of the story arc. It just feels like the producers needed something to wrap the series, so they pulled a rabbit out of a hat and called it a day. Mind you it’s quite an astonishing rabbit (I do like the episode very much), but it does upset the pacing by going in a completely different direction than the viewer expects.

The best analogy I can draw is to French cars. Like Bakemonogatari, French car makers start with some very sharp designs and really good looking parts. Then they assemble them with spit and scotch tape. So anyone who buys one ends up thinking, “why couldn’t they just... do it right?”

Super Serial: A Certain Magical Index episode 2

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 17:52:15 MST

Barcode face tattoo, because only having a cigarette is for pussies.

This episode dishes out more exposition, telling you Index’s talent for memory and a little more about Necessarius. It also tells you a little more about the nature of magic, and how it was created by those who couldn’t use esper powers. And it really is a case of telling and not showing, which is disappointing. Toma, having discovered a bloodied and unconscious Index in front of his apartment, runs afoul of Fortis 931 (AKA Stiyl Magnus). For reasons not entirely clear to me, they have a fight. I mean yeah, if a guy with a barcode tatoo on his face shows up, you’re probably going to want to fight him. But technically he isn’t responsible for what happened to Index, and he even says his job is to protect “it.” So he’s kind of a dick but probably not the guy you want to take your aggressions out on. Toma eventually prevails thanks to a very good sprinkler system, and brings Index to his teacher, who is the only person he knows that might be able to use magic to heal her.

So like, if he jerks off, would the right hand kill his boner?

Again, this episode is similar to a number of other shows in the genre. Take your pick: Fate/Stay Night, Shakugan no Shana, and I’m sure a hundred other series also follow the same formula. It is gleeful in its divulging of rules and terminology, and I’m sure a portion of the fan base will absolutely catch on to that. But the problem is, I was still bored by the exposition. I was still bored by the fight scene. The only real highlight for me is the brief bit of humor for Kuroko’s cameo.

Another Kuroko cameo!

Super Serial: A Certain Magical Index episode 1

Sun, 03 Jan 2010 18:45:05 MST

As I wait for the last episode of A Certain Scientific Railgun, I decided to start watching its precursor series, A Certain Magical Index. Railgun is a spinoff of Index, kind of like how Frasier was a spinoff of Cheers. At first I wondered if watching Railgun first would have any effect on my understanding of Index. Well interestingly enough... no. No it didn’t. I do like that the two series cross over, though. I’ve always been a fan of crossovers for some reason, so seeing the same elements of this universe popping up in both shows is interesting.

Crossover!

A Certain Magical Index, from what I’ve read, will basically become a harem with a twist. Love Hina is an example of the pure harem anime, but there are also shows that are harems with a gimmick. For instance, Elfen Lied is a harem, except the main girl is also a psychotic murderer. Even A Certain Scientific Railgun is a harem of sorts, except the leading man is a woman. If that sounds sexy to you, that’s because it totally is.

Index centers around Toma Kamijo, a luckless student in Academy City who has the unique ability to cancel supernatural abilities with his right hand. I know that sounds like some kind of innuendo for masturbation but it’s not. Although it might be possible to interpret the entire series as an allegory for masturbation. I will look deeper into this. Anyway, one day by complete chance, a strange girl dressed in religious garbs lands on Toma’s balcony (because no one ever earns the company of a girl in a harem). It turns out her name is Index, owing to her having memorized 103,000 volumes on the forbidden arts of magic. She is being pursued for as yet unknown reasons by an organization called Necessarius. Naturally, Toma feels the need to protect Index, so now we have ourselves a plot.

Also, crazy fights.

This vaguely has the feel of Fate/Stay Night to it. After seeing the first episode of Index, I’m concerned that the show will get too caught up in establishing the various quirks of its fictional universe. It’s what ruined shows like Fullmetal Alchemist and Fate/Stay Night for me. They dwell too much on things that aren’t important, and as a result don’t take the time to properly tell a story. Every episode was about rules—how this power can be used against that, how this situation precludes the use of that power, and so on. But what does it matter? It was like having someone read you the rulebook to Dungeons & Dragons.

Having seen all but the last episode of A Certain Scientific Railgun, I can say that show for the most part avoids this kind of self-obsession. There is certainly a bit of that, but it plays into the overall story. Railgun is a lot lighter than what I’ve seen of Index so far. Its overarching themes are friendship and loyalty—qualities that drive its protagonists, and also its primary antagonist in a way. And the rules—the nitty-gritty about who can do what—do not take center stage. They’re used as part of the story, playing into the motivations behind many of the main characters.

I hope Railgun and Index are similar, not necessarily in tone but in how they present their stories. I don’t want to be bogged down by the mechanics of practicing magic or being an esper, because this isn’t a game so that knowledge will never affect me. I want Index to have all that stuff (logical consistency is good after all), but just hidden under the surface.

MakiManga: Dogs: Bullets and Carnage volumes 1 and 2

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 01:52:19 MST

At first glance, you might think Dogs is a manga about a group of people who are too cool to tell a story. But the first volume is surprisingly full of heart. Its cast is colorful, spanning a full range of personalities from tragic hero to comic jokester. Bullets and Carnage opens by focusing on Heine and Naoto, two “stray dogs” with mysterious pasts.

Heine is known to some as “white hair” and is usually paired with Badou. For the first two volumes of Bullets and Carnage, Badou is mostly just along for the ride. While Heine is tracking down figures from his past—particularly a boy named Giovanni with similar regenerative powers as him—he also carries out odd jobs rescuing genetically modified children from human slavery.

Meanwhile Naoto is tracking down the person who killed her parents and left the x-shaped scar on her chest. This leads her to the underground, full of unsavory characters who would like to exploit her, but have no idea how deadly she is with a katana. While searching for information on the killer, Naoto crosses paths with Heine and Badou. Since Badou calls himself an information broker, she decides to follow them around to see what they know.

I gushed about Miwa Shirow’s art style in my post about Dogs vol. 0. It remains intact here, with the added detail that Naoto’s blade is now black. However it all kind of goes wrong when the fighting breaks out. The cinematic angles and Hot Topic character designs give way literally to bullets and carnage. And since these characters don’t really have any special powers, Miwa Shirow isn’t able to get terribly creative with his gunfights. Some scenes can still get you to stop and gaze, but a lot of the time I found myself quickening the pace to get back to the story development.

Another thing I didn’t expect from Dogs was the humor. Though the fictional world is rather drab, you can always count on some hilarious banter between Heine and Badou. I also got a kick out of Naoto glaring at Heine throughout the beginning of the second volume.

Shirow especially draws attention to the duality of Heine, who can be a compassionate liberator of children, but also a terrifying bloodthirsty hound. In contrast, Naoto is always calm and collected. As readers, possibly accustomed to the conventions of cinema and storytelling, we find Naoto’s desire to avenge her fallen parents to be the most natural thing in the world. But she admits to a priest, “I don’t even know the value of what was taken from me.” He replies, “Always remember that there are ways to live without what you’ve lost.” Being blind, the priest’s lines gain an extra layer of meaning—he is giving advice to Naoto and also telling his own story. That right there encapsulates what I find so intriguing about the series. Shirow starts with a revenge story, a fairly common type of fiction, but adds a little spin on it that questions the conventions of the genre. Shirow also used this construction for Naoto’s introductory story in Dogs, leading to a plot twist that I very much enjoyed.

The first two volumes of Bullets and Carnage are just about split evenly between gunfights and storytelling. Unfortunately, the two modes don’t overlap much. However there are enough fresh ideas in the storytelling parts to keep me reading. Plus, the visual designs are something to behold, if you think Dogs has nothing else to offer. As for the characters? I think I want to marry Naoto.

Marry me, Naoto. Please.

Super Serial: Bakemonogatari episode 6

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:39:22 CST

If Senjougahara ever went to a Staples, she could probably destroy the known universe.

After an emotional fifth episode, Bakemonogatari swings back to its oddball style and understated humor. Episode 6 isn’t the most exciting episode, and I can’t help but feel that maybe a little better animation work could have been done if they hadn’t blown the budget on a half dozen credits sequences. All the long panning shots, stills, and “cut to black” frames that were initially quite pretty are now getting annoying. They reek of cut corners.

Story-wise, we get an agonizingly slow start for the next character arc: Suruga Kanbaru. She makes contact with Araragi, apparently to size him up. When Araragi mentions her to Senjougahara, she mostly dismisses the incident until he starts getting too familiar with Kanbaru’s name. Then she sticks a pencil in his eye, which is totally awesome. I love crazy girls. After Araragi freaks out, Senjougahara casually goes back to studying. When bringing payment to Oshino for what he did for Senjougahara, Araragi gets a brutal beatdown by an unknown assailant, except we totally know who it is.

Rainy Devil beat down.

Some of the things I like about this show are evident in episode 6: the understated humor, Senjougahara’s unique brand of crazy, and the love/hate dynamic between Hachikuji and Araragi. But many of the annoying things are there too: cuts to text cards you can’t read, the obsession with collage art, and the slow build toward any kind of story. Probably 2/3 of the episode is spent on idle conversation having little to do with Kanbaru’s past with Senjougahara. That all happens in the next episode, and I really wonder why the ancillary stuff couldn’t have been cut.

Super Serial: Bakemonogatari episode 5

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:00:00 CST

I’m actually past the halfway point for the show, but I felt I should give special consideration to the fifth episode of Bakemonogatari. Although the overall “Mayoi Snail” story arc could have been streamlined, the way this episode finishes the story is quite elegant and poignant. I won’t go into specifics, so as to not spoil something you really should see for yourself, but the story of Mayoi Hachikuji finally starts to make some sense.

At about the midpoint of the 12 episode broadcast run, Bakemonogatari shows that it’s getting some legs. There is a fine balance of comedy and dramatic tension, maintained by a cast that’s colorful enough to keep you watching. The feat is even more impressive once you realize that this episode (and the last two) all take place in the same location, with the same three characters, and with hardly any real action. “Mayoi Snail” is a play put to animation, and while that was somewhat of a knock against in for episodes three and four, it works quite well for this one.

A few key developments have us finding out why Mayoi was so hostile to Araragi. But a deeper insight, one that will probably have ramifications throughout the series, tells us how damaged Senjougahara has become due to her self-imposed ostracism from her peers.

On the one hand, maybe the material in the episode does wander into cheese once in a while. On the other hand, the attention paid to the characters feels honest. The writers made a real attempt at establishing some personalities, and I think the show is more interesting and likable because of it. “Mayoi Snail,” especially this last part, is an intimate story told with the barest minimum of ingredients. And it works out pretty well.

Super Serial: Bakemonogatari episodes 1-4

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 18:00:00 CDT

Quote: “In the end, standing there was the figure of a male high school student really proud of his victory, after using a real judo throw, after having fought an elementary school student for real.”

I think it’s always good to have an anime where one character mercilessly hurls verbal abuse at another. This worked to great effect in Minami-ke and is also working quite well in Bakemonogatari. To start off, this show is adapted from a series of light novels, although what anime isn’t nowadays. It centers around Koyomi Araragi, a high school boy who accidentally discovers a secret about his classmate Hitagi Senjougahara. She has no weight, as she claims it was taken from her by a crab. So Araragi, takes her to his homeless benefactor, a 30 year old named Oshino, who offers to turn her back to normal. If my summary doesn’t make sense, don’t worry. It makes less sense in the show.

Then life goes on as Araragi tries to weather Senjougahara’s unending hailstorm of abuse and teasing, and they encounter other people in need of “healing.” Bakemonogatari is methodically paced, and whatever filler it uses is fairly well hidden. Some scenes, which I thought would be important, end up being fairly irrelevant. And of course, when there’s nothing interesting to talk about, the writers resort to fanservice. In fact there’s something almost meta about the show’s use of fanservice. In general it’s a very self-aware show, even going so far as to have Oshino call Senjougahara tsundere-chan (and Araragi objects that she is actually yandere). I maintain that crazy girls are hot.

On the character side, Araragi is your typical harem protagonist. He’s a schlep who is irrationally afraid of women, and has no idea at all how to deal with them. Why this archetype is so prevalent in anime escapes me, and frankly it’s annoying. I can just imagine how different the show would be if Araragi acted on Senjougahara’s teasing/seduction. Jam it in, you stupid damn bastard. Senjougahara is voiced by Chiwa Saito, who delivers all her impressively malevolent lines in straight deadpan. Her character’s faint smirk evinces at least a small amount of enjoyment about having fun at Araragi’s expense. Maybe that’s why I’ve taken to the character so much—Senjougahara says the things I wish I could say to Araragi. He is stupid (as in, bad grades stupid), oblivious, and irritatingly unaware of a good thing even when it literally falls in his goddamned arms. Fuck that guy. Senjougahara cuts him down for precisely those reasons, and revels in doing so. God I love that.

Bakemonogatari’s presentation is rather striking, although I hear it’s inline with other productions by Shaft. The last Shaft series I watched was 2003’s Popotan, which looked nothing like this show. The backdrops are rather sparse, evoking a sensation of unfamiliarity. However the lighting offsets the somewhat monochromatic environments. In this respect, it’s really reminiscent of Makoto Shinkai’s visual style. One thing that’s annoying is the use of cutaways to title cards, except they contain way too much info and are difficult to parse. In what I’d imagine is an attempt to up the postmodern meta factor, the show makes liberal use of stylized photography and text which interacts with the imagery onscreen. I guess it kind of makes sense, as the writers love their word jokes.

And just because I’m somewhat of an astronomy nerd, here are the ending credits featuring a song themed around the stars Altair, Vega, and Deneb.

Oh, one final word of advice. The series (thus far) is nowhere near as exciting as the first episode’s opening montage would have you believe.

Persona 4 and the Act of Individuation

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 22:15:00 CDT

Spoiler alert: I will be talking about major plot points from the game and the ending.

So far I’ve written about concepts that are in the background of Persona 4. They are in the makeup of the game and add to its rich story. There is one more idea in Jungian psychology that is central to the game, and in fact may be seen as the whole point of it. In many ways, the act of individuation is the objective of the game. You’re not consciously working toward it, but it is the story motivation behind everything you do. Individuation is described as the process of bringing the various archetypes of the psyche into the conscious mind. The “individual” here refers to a unique person, contrasted with the collective unconscious.

The act is indeed depicted as a process in the game. When a party member develops the strength to face his life’s problems, that resolve manifests as a persona. However, that’s only the beginning. You are then given the option to form a social link with that person. If you successfully help that party member through his problems, his persona changes and reveals its “true” form. This is the symbol of individuation, an indication that your friend has accepted who he is and has grown into a complete being.

The best example of this process is Rise Kujikawa, who struggles with her various identities. At first she insists that there is a “real” Rise who is trying to express herself. This made her turn away from her identity as an idol (Risette), which eventually manifests as her shadow self. For the first step of individuation, Rise realizes that these various identities were also a part of her. But as you develop her social link, she makes the deeper realization that there is no “real” Rise. All of her identities are her. By integrating these archetypes, she discovers that all of them make her true self. At this stage, the social link reaches its maximum and Rise’s persona shows its true form.

Late in the game, the stakes grow beyond a few murder victims. The town of Inaba is threatened with a fog that, as you’ll discover in the normal ending, will turn all its residents into shadows. The perpetrator behind this says that humanity’s true desire is to become a race of shadows, that they may become ignorant of life’s hardships. This is the antithesis to the journeys that you and your teammates have taken. The mastermind manipulating all of these events wonders how the will of so few (your party) can stand up to the will of all humanity.

I took this as a commentary on the human condition. Everyone who lives must endure hardships—that’s a fact of life. But despite whatever desires we have to return to oblivion and ignorance, we keep living. The investigation team has arisen from the murk of the collective unconscious, and through the act of individuation, they understand that overcoming these hardships gives life meaning. The collective unconscious called forth a being, Izanami, who could sweep away the pain endured by the conscious mind. Your party, and their personas, represent the opposite; you face your problems and prevail.

Unable to understand this truth, Izanami confronts your party and the final battle begins. That’s when your character, the protagonist, realizes that his life is defined by his friends and family. This final act of individuation—where his conception of self is no longer separated from the “other”—reveals his persona’s true form. The final attack, “Myriad Truths,” can be interpreted in several ways. I took it to mean the revelation of the real meaning of life. As your teammates say, humanity is not a slave to its petty desires. The ultimate truth is that humans live for a chance at the journey to individuation.

Persona 4 and the Shadow Archetype

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 02:00:00 CDT

Spoiler alert: I will be talking about major plot points from the game.

In the previous installment, I analyzed the idea of the collective unconscious and how it sets the context for the events of Persona 4. Whether by evolutionary pressures or by supernatural means, the humans in Persona 4 all possess a common set of beliefs, desires, and problems, which manifest as various creatures in the TV world. These shared psychological elements are innate to all people in that fictional universe. If they can work up the courage to face them, they gain the power of the persona.

Personas and shadows are explicit references to Jungian archetypes. Personas are described as the “facade used to face life’s hardships,” very much in line with Jung’s suggestion that they are the face an individual presents to the world. In the TV world, the idea of the persona is represented literally as a summoned entity (inspired by mythological beings) used to fight enemies. Shadows were described by Jung to be repressed weaknesses and instincts. In the game they are depicted as generally undesirable urges, manifested in the TV world as monsters aimlessly roaming its corridors. Whereas shadows in psychology are thought of usually as the suppressed, negative aspects of a personality, shadows in the game are shown to be a variety of unconscious feelings and thoughts. Some are even positive—the game reveals that Teddie is a shadow, born out of people’s desire to be loved and accepted.

Interestingly, personas themselves come from shadows. Each member of the investigation team eventually faces their shadows (calling themselves their “true selves”). It is said that psychological shadows are usually projected onto other people, so a weakness in the self may be seen as a weakness in others. In the TV world of Persona, this is once again taken in a literal sense. Each character’s shadow becomes a physical entity representing his repressed desires and feelings. Meeting this shadow self is used as a test—if the character can summon up the courage to acknowledge the shadow as being part of himself, he gains the power of the persona. I will discuss the full meaning behind this in the next installment.

Apart from shadows and personas, other Jungian archetypes are also featured in the game. Two members of the investigation team, Kanji and Naoto, represent the archetypes of the anima and animus, respectively. The anima is the feminine aspect of the personality, which is said to encompass emotion and creativity. The animus is masculine, encompassing strength and rationality. In this respect, Kanji undergoes a classic Jungian journey, struggling to reconcile his persona (one of aggression) with his anima, expressed through a love of crafts and overt emotion. Naoto has less of a struggle with her animus, although her story is characterized by a confused gender identity. In Naoto’s case, her persona is like her animus. In order to gain acceptance in the world of law enforcement—seen as the male’s domain—she builds a facade of masculinity. Her animus is expressed in her sometimes cold rationality. Naoto’s shadow, on the other hand, very much corresponds with what she has rejected about herself—femininity, childishness, and emotional vulnerability.

Rise’s grappling with her various identities is an even clearer exploration of various psychological archetypes. She is burdened by the expectations of others, who see her as the idol Risette. In this way she’s an exhibitionist, and has to always perform according to the public’s perceptions. Deep down, she wants to be just a normal girl, but has no real conception of what that is. As a result she tries many things: being a demure employee of her family’s tofu shop, being an upbeat schoolgirl, and even anonymously visiting the big city to shop. Eventually Rise realizes that there is not one “true” Rise that is hidden away. All of the fragments of her psyche make up the real Rise, which includes her self before she became an idol (who was bullied and teased at school), and Risette as well.

As with the collective unconscious, the idea of psychological archetypes helps to set the context for Persona 4. Indeed they are used as story elements, and for some characters, are primary identifiers for their personalities. For the next installment of the series, I’ll discuss the true importance of these archetypes, and arguably the point of the entire game. All of this builds up to individuation, an act through which one’s unique personality rises out of the collective unconscious.

Persona 4 and the Collective Unconscious

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 00:15:00 CDT

General spoiler alert: I’ll try not to reveal too many plot details but I make no promises.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been spending almost every free minute playing Atlus’s Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4. Makigumo is not a gaming site, but I felt that this game can be best understood through the lens of an anime fan. The game is broken up into days, and this format is especially easy to digest if you treat each day as an episode of an ongoing series. The character and story developments (depending on your in-game priorities) also unfold as you might see in an anime. But what inspired me to do this series of posts is the thematic content of the game, which is uncommon in any game, Japanese or otherwise.

To say Persona 4 draws from Jungian psychology is to say the obvious - like saying Evangelion draws from Judeo-Christian myth. However I have never seen a game so utterly saturated and defined by the psychology of its characters. I’m sure such titles are out there, but they have generally been under my radar. Persona 4 puts you in the role of a protagonist that you get to name (I named mine Cmndr. Riker so that’s how I’ll refer to him). Riker arrives in the small town of Inaba to live with his uncle, Ryotaro Dojima, for the year (starting April 2011). Upon Riker’s arrival, a high profile murder occurs in Inaba, and Dojima is put on the case. After a second, similarly high profile murder, the residents of Inaba are afraid that they’re being targeted by a serial murderer.

Meanwhile, rumors spread across Yasogami High (where your character attends school) of the Midnight Channel. If you stare into a blank TV screen on midnight during a rainy night, it supposedly shows your soul mate. Cmndr. Riker tries this on a whim, and is astonished to find out that the Midnight Channel is real. Furthermore, while reaching out to the person on the TV, he finds that his hand can enter it. After sharing this information with his incredulous classmates, an accident causes him and his two friends to fall into the parallel world inside the TV.

Persona 4’s murder mystery continues on from there, as your character is tasked with deducing the next victim and saving that person by going into the TV world. This reality is filled with creatures called shadows, and is shaped by the thoughts (conscious or not) of the people inside. Furthermore, the TV world is partially shaped by the perceptions of those who watch the Midnight Channel. It’s sort of a literal interpretation of Carl Jung’s collective unconscious. Jung believed that the psyche was not completely shaped by life experience and ideas that are taught and learned. He posited that there are certain psychological constructs that are common to every person, and this is what he called the “collective unconscious.”

Persona 4 represents this in a more literal way, i.e. as a networking of everyone’s subconscious thoughts and urges. Shadows embody various emotions that have been suppressed by the citizens of Inaba, and they appear as monsters in the TV world. They’re named accordingly. The game generally does not go deeper into an exploration of this concept, but it is the basis of the character and story development. Everyone has something hidden that they try to turn away from, another “self” that is a shadow in the TV world. This is another representation of the collective unconscious.

Its impact on the story is subtle but important. As you get to know the members of your party (the investigation team) better, you begin to understand that everyone’s motivations stem from this commonality. Your friends have faced their shadows, and they understand that this is something everyone must eventually do. Helping each victim do the same is what will ultimately save them.

The exception is you, Cmndr. Riker. You are the anti-Jung in a sense - a blank slate who never faces his shadow (well, never really does it). This is a bit of a conceit, as it allows for more varied gameplay and more role-playing, but it also takes away somewhat from the rich subtext of the story. Riker is gifted with a power, and it doesn’t feel deserved. While your classmates Yousuke and Chie have to struggle with their doubts and desires, your ability to access your persona more or less falls into your hands.

As I mentioned, the idea of the collective unconscious permeates the story of Persona 4, even if the story isn’t explicitly about such. The understanding that everyone has their own spin on certain psychological constructs is well-represented in the game, and it establishes believable motivations for the investigation team. I’ve played games which establish the psychology of one or two main characters, but I’ve never come across a game that is so mired in the complexities of the mind. Understanding the collective unconscious, and how it serves as a baseline for the story and characters, is the key to getting Persona 4. For the next entry in the series, I’ll talk about shadows and the use of Jungian archetypes in the game.

Super Serial: Eden of the East episode 3

Wed, 27 May 2009 20:45:00 CDT

The plot of Eden of the East is thickening... with all the speed of a receding glacier. Ignoring for the moment that we are all mortal and have things to do other than sit around and see how a television show develops, you still don’t need 3 episodes to tell the amount of story that has been told thus far. Pacing should not always be quick, but you should do something with each minute of air time. I was intrigued by the workings of the Selecao and the Supporters and all that good stuff. Why not focus on that more?

At least this episode does expand on that story. Saki bows out, leaving Akira with a not very subtly written note that made me laugh. Akira and the detective, Kondo, meet again. Desperate for some cash, Kondo beats the living hell out of Akira and steals his phone, only to find that the money alloted to Akira can only be used by him. Kondo is royally screwed, and has a run-in with his wife that leaves him in bad shape. I like the underlying darkness to this secret society, which (as you’ve seen) will murder bystanders with no hesitation. Sadly the episode ends just as things get exciting. Hopefully episode 4 will pick up the pace.

Quiz Magic Academy is not very good.

Wed, 20 May 2009 20:05:00 CDT

I touched on adaptations in one of my blurbs on Valkyria Chronicles but I’d like to revisit the topic now. I’m not of the opinion that all adaptations are pointless and you should just enjoy the original. Adaptations can bring a lot to a work—just look to David Fincher’s Fight Club. Quiz Magic Academy commits the crime that so many other adaptations have before: it tries too hard to ride on the capital of the original without justifying its own existence. A good adaptation uses the strength of its medium to tell a story a different way. Quiz Magic Academy barely tells a story. It’s worse than being bad, or falling short of fulfilling its intention. It has no intention, no meta-purpose, and therefore provides no reason for anyone to watch it.

I chose not to do a full review on this OVA because there just isn’t anything there. That’s pretty damning criticism in itself. But despite what I write, this OVA will inevitably find an audience. The kind of person who enjoys Quiz Magic Academy is impervious to what critics have to say about anything. They will glide through life blissfuly unaware of the abominations that show up in all media. And they will also be oblivious of those moments when a piece of art connects—when it just works and others know they’ve seen something amazing. Quiz Magic Academy isn’t good or bad. It’s nowhere on the spectrum, which is why I can’t give it a score. It is a commodity product, about as interesting as a washing machine or a vacuum cleaner. Normally I abhor the cynical, deconstructionist view of media, but I will use it here in the most acerbic way possible: this OVA is just pictures on a screen.

As for site stuff, the Boogiepop Phantom review is a ways off as I have yet to wrap my head around the damned thing. I will continue my Eden of the East write-ups but probably stop on Valkyria Chronicles. Rightning Round 6 will begin whenever I finish Valkyria (the game).

Super Serial: Valkyria Chronicles episode 6

Thu, 14 May 2009 20:40:00 CDT

Episode 6 is a comedy/filler type episode. I generally dislike filler, but this one was lively and decently funny. It also helped me to realize that Valkyria Chronicles is not so much about war as it is about repeatedly humiliating Alicia. Bringing Irene Ellet into the mix spiced things up for Squad 7. Irene is a reported with a hankering for some interview time with Welkin, while Alicia is perpetually worried that what Welkin says would embarrass the militia. Of course, she also has to keep Squad 7's idiosynchratic members in line.

I think these light comedy moments are refreshing after a bunch of blasé episodes about combat. It's kind of weird that Alicia has such an antagonistic relationship with Welkin, though. Irene snooping around Squad 7 was entertaining at the least. She isn't a Mary Sue, which is good. And Jann is hilarious. The whole thing about him getting in a fight with men and then enjoying it is coarse and obvious but it still makes me chuckle. The beat with Marina pondering the fate of the anomalous winged pig also made me smile.

I'm not sure if I should go on covering this series, as I'm not sure whether this is the halfway point or not. Anime News Network seems to indicate a 13 episode run, whereas Wikipedia says it will be 26 (but only shows 13 planned). So... if you don't see episode 7 any time next week, wait for the full review I guess.

Super Serial: Eden of the East episode 2

Tue, 12 May 2009 21:30:00 CDT

Eden of the East is takes a little too long to get to the point for my tastes, but the second episode continues to set up a few mysteries. Akira's mysterious stalker appears, a middle-aged man with the same phone as him. Akira and Saki arrive in Japan after a missile attack. They follow Akira's phone to his home. I am interested in this noblesse oblige, and I'm also interested in where the 9/11 references will go, but episode 2 hasn't delivered on these things yet.

I think the problem is that Akira is too lackadaisical, and as a result the story appears a bit too light for the setting. A guy with no memories, who finds out his home was nearly destroyed in a missile attack, would not be so easygoing in my mind. And think about it: what have we really learned about the fictional world since episode 1? Japan was attacked by missiles, Akira has no memory, and is involved in a secret organization... and that's about it. If we are not asked to reflect on any additional plot points (there are none) or imagery, then why stretch these bullet points out into 2 episodes? This frankly should be first act material.

Super Serial: Valkyria Chronicles episode 5

Mon, 11 May 2009 20:30:00 CDT

Episode 5 begins in media res, with Squad 7 and Squad 1 about to besiege an Imperial HQ. Welkin, armed with knowledge of an obscure animal trail, devises a risky plan to draw the main defenses away with the Edelweiss and have a splinter force attack from the side. The rest of the episode is... pretty much just them carrying out the plan. There isn't much context to show where this all fits in the bigger picture.

This is another Faldio/Alicia centered episode. Poor Alicia, people mess with her way too much. She's shown to be a capable soldier as long as she can suppress her fears. Faldio, of course, is not shaken by many things (except his sausage-fest of a squad). Meanwhile, Welkin ducks out until the end, where he orders his forces not to pursue the enemy. I'm sure there's some Chinese proverb about a retreating tiger still being able to bite your head off. The point is, his decision is wise, and we have yet another reason to like Welkin.

I think some continuity between story arcs would be nice. I really want to like this show, but that alone doesn't make up for it not being very well written to begin with.

MakiManga: Dogs volume 0

Tue, 05 May 2009 20:20:00 CDT

I had reviewed this manga years ago, with the understanding that it was just a one-shot. Some time later I found out it was to be serialized, so I decided not to post the review here. And then a lot more time went by as I got too busy to follow Miwa Shirow's Dogs.

Today I headed over to Borders looking for the latest volume of Battle Angel Alita. I was surprised to see Dogs sitting on the shelf. Viz had localized it! This prelude volume was released just last month, and will tie into the main series Bullets & Carnage.

I always felt that as a stand-alone, Dogs was good but ultimately fails to deliver on the complete experience. With no indication that the story would continue, all the events within are out of context. However, as part of a larger series, this first volume works. Each character is given an introductory story, with their personalities fairly well set up (although there seem to be a few too many hitmen with consciences). There is an underlying story that begins to seep through at the end, but the manga ends just before too much is revealed. It's a great teaser for volume 1.

The best part is the flow of Shirow's artwork, which embodies elegance and grace. Juxtaposed against an ugly fictional world, the effect is difficult to describe. Witnessing the brutal violence that plays out is exhilarating; it's just something you can't help but to enjoy. The art style is somewhere between traditional manga and Frank Miller - very similar to that of M.P.D. Psycho. Each panel is exquisitely composed, the lines constantly moving from character to environment to dialogue. Just looking at the pages is a real treat.

It looks like Viz is keeping the edits to a minimum. The book reads left to right, which may be annoying unless you're a manga purist. It's also branded with a mature rating, and I can attest to all the blood, guts, and fun stuff being in there. I read a fan translation a while ago, and the two translation jobs are pretty close to each other, which must mean Viz's work is fairly close to the source Japanese.

This volume of Dogs is an excellent introductory volume to Miwa Shirow's world, and a provides a compelling reason to continue with the series.

Super Serial: Valkyria Chronicles episode 4

Sat, 02 May 2009 21:00:00 CDT

This episode of Valkyria Chronicles mixes some rudimentary comedic situations with a battle... that has no consequence whatsoever on our heroes. Yes, the story here is that Squad 7 gets to not do anything.

Instead of enlisting the aid of Squad 7, the regular army snubs them in an act of ego. So while they're busy getting outmatched by Imperial forces, Squad 7 basically just sits around doing nothing. Alicia has several embarrassing moments with Faldio (Welkin's friend from university). Is seeing a guy shirtless really that shocking? Because she freaks the fuck out.

Overall this episode was more or less filler. Except for the introduction of Maximilian and Selvaria, the plot hasn't advanced much. I still like the way Welkin and Faldio are characterized. It's kind of odd how Faldio would be envious of Welkin, despite seeming like the bigger womanizer himself. And Alicia... well she may be a bit too much of a country bumpkin.

Carmine unboxing and... stuff.

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 22:00:00 CDT

I got Carmine in the mail today. Yoshiyuki Sadamoto's latest art book arrived in a hefty limited edition box. Paying for art is one thing, but at 13,000 Yen you had better be sure you really like Sadamoto's work.

It's been a while since I last bought any anime related merchandise, but being a fan of Sadamoto's art, I couldn't pass this one up. I'm a fan of physical merchandise, and having Sadamoto's works collected in this volume is very appealing to me despite the price.

This package contains the book itself in a keep case, a CD with digital reproductions of the artwork, 2 posters (Rei and Asuka), and 2 prints of Sadamoto's art (Rei and Diebuster's Nono). Having bought Der Mond and Die Sterne, the contents of Carmine were about what I expected - very Evangelion-centric.

This is certainly not a comprehensive collection of Sadamoto's art, but it does contain newer works that don't show up in his other art books. .Hack is well represented here, and Toki Wo Kakeru Shoujo is present but I would have liked to see more. Sadamoto is also working on Mamoru Hosoda's (Toki Wo Kakeru Shoujo) Summer Wars, and a brief glimpse of that is shown.

Yoshiyuki Sadamoto is one of my favorite anime-related artists. His style is distinctive, and has a certain solidity and corporealness - as if his subjects were sculpted onto the page. His compositions are vibrant in hue and his varied perspectives keep the images interesting. If I had to single out one quality I like most, it would be that his art seems to lie somewhere between traditional painting and CGI. You can feel the weight of brush strokes in his lines and coloring job, but the way the colors mix and flow into one another are hallmarks of CGI.

This limited edition of Carmine is probably only going to get more expensive with time. It is certainly more of a collector's item than a collection of fine art. Sitting on the shelf, next to Die Sterne and Der Mond, Carmine is looking pretty good.

Review: Windaria

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 21:30:00 CDT

Synopsis

When the urban city-state Paro attempts to sabotage the dams of the costal city Itha, the two states go to war. Although their respective leaders, Prince Jill and Princess Ahnas, love each other, neither side wishes to surrender. Jill continues to fight out of a sense of duty to his people, while Ahnas fights to protect the citizens of Ithas. Meanwhile Izu, a farmer who dreams of becoming a hero, is recruited by Paro agents to sabotage Itha's dams once again and flood the entire city. He takes on the assignment, hoping to make a name for himself, but is forced to leave behind his lover Marin.

Plot

Windaria does a few things right, but a lot of things wrong. To understand what goes wrong, you have to look at what the movie gets right. I like the basic story elements. The first half is mostly about Paro and Itha's war, which breaks out despite Jill and Ahnas's efforts to stop it. Because of political pressures on both sides, Jill and Ahnas are forced to fight out the war, even though the two are in love. The second half is about Izu, who promises his wife Marin that he'll return to their village after going off to work as a spy for Paro. Izu loses his way and falls to decadence, forgetting about his promise to Marin.

When reduced to bullet points, the story sounds great. The problem lies in the execution. Instead of fleshing out these individual elements into a full narrative, the movie still delivers each major event as if it was in a bullet point. The connecting narrative is almost nonexistent, with much of the movie's run time being padded out by tangentially relevant scenes. Long shots of scenery, a few action set pieces, and seemingly interminable stretches of nothing happening dilute the story ingredients. However, even a tighter edit wouldn't completely save the plot.

The other major problem with Windaria is the lack of story development. The reason Jill is forced to continue the invasion of Itha is vague at best, and what I got out of it was "politics are a bitch." The Jill/Ahnas story is never connected to the Izu/Marin story, and at points it feels like you're watching two separate movies being intercut into one. If one storyline had fed off the other (both branch from the war story but that's about the only intersection), then the resolution to the Jill/Ahnas story would not have gotten lost in the middle of the film. There's also no build up to Izu's descent into decadence - the whole episode feels like he's just being put into random situations to lengthen the film.

I really like the way Izu and Marin's story is resolved, especially since you see what's going to happen early on, but it doesn't hit you until the very end. It was a nice twist, but the characters aren't developed enough to have the impact it intended. There's also a supernatural subplot that gets snuck in throughout the film, but it just feels tacked on and artificial. Windaria could benefit from a stronger focus on characters rather than self-indulgent shots of the fictional world. The subplot with Druid and the captain of the "ghost ship" should have been more prevalent or dropped altogether. This film is a great example of good ideas turned into a mess of poor pacing and lazy writing.

Characters

For a story that hinges on character relationships, the characters are surprisingly underdeveloped. The early film centers around Jill and Ahnas, heirs to the leadership of Paro and Itha respectively. The tragic romance between the two would have been more potent if they had been portrayed as sympathetic human beings. Yet we see barely anything of them, their motivations, their daily lives, or even their romance. When you see them meet on the battlefield, there's an odd lack of context. Sure, it sucks that the two are forced to fight, but the audience has little investment in the result.

Meanwhile, Izu and Marin are portrayed as initially neutral farmers. Izu is motivated by a desire for glory and wealth, but it doesn't explain why he completely leaves his old life behind without so much as checking up on his village. He's always a bit of a self-absorbed prick, so are we supposed to feel contempt for him at the end? Maybe, but that's not how the last scenes are played at all. There's just something disingenuous about crafting a tragic romance when the lead character can leave behind the person he loves so easily. Izu loves his dreams more than Marin, and that makes him less effective in this movie.

Marin herself is barely more than a charicature, someone who is devoted but is treated as little more than an accessory. I like the way her story is developed but again, the character just isn't there. Windaria's cast is woefully inadequate for its plot. This is probably another result of the director's fixation on his fantasy world, which comes at the expense of all the stuff that matters.

Technical

Rleased in 1986, Windaria sports good production values although there are a few reused animations. I mostly like the visual designs. Itha is a well-realized costal town, whereas Paro is a grimier, somewhat militaristic looking mountain city. The character designs have an 80s look in terms of the proportions and the softness of the features, but there's still something elegant and timeless about the look overall.

Super Serial: Eden of the East episode 1

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 20:30:00 CDT

I know, watching two shows concurrently? It's almost like I wanted to be an actual anime journalist. I picked up Eden of the East mostly on Japanator's recommendation, which pretty much consisted of "LOLDONGS." So you know, I had to get in on that.

Sadly, this is not some kind of adaptation of the Steinbeck novel. This is not a towering epic about life in the American west. I don't even know why you'd think that, as this series is about an Eden which is in the east whereas Steinbeck's novel focus on some location to the east of said Eden. No, this first episode, more than anything else, tells us that Japanese women are way too trusting of streakers. If Saki, our Japanese tourist friend, had been an American woman, she would have maced and tasered Akira's naked ass the moment he walked up to her (waving a gun no less). To have it go down any other way would be frankly absurd.

And yet that's not what happens at all. Saki gives Akira her jacket (which contains her passport) and he runs off. The rest of the episode shows her chasing after him to retrieve the passport. Then Akira offers to go to Japan with Saki, because hey that's a good idea. Random naked people you meet in front of the White House are totally fine travel companions, right? Meanwhile we see Akira has a large cache of automatic weapons, ammo, and fake passports, and has a fancy cell phone that connects to a lady who tells him he's a savior and had his memory wiped.

This is yet another case of first episode syndrome. I think the best way to start off a first episode is in media res. To draw an unfair comparison to American television, just look at the stunning first episode of Ronald D. Moore's Battlestar Galactica. "33" endures as one of the best episodes of the series because it skips the getting-to-know-you exposition and just goes balls out into a great, tense thriller. Whether you saw the miniseries is irrelevant, the episode stands on its own. The characters and setting emerge out of the story.

Eden of the East is not unique among anime in taking a bottom-up approach, laying the groundwork of the plot and characters before making an interesting story out of them. Sometimes, it leads to great results like Trigun or Cowboy Bebop. It still doesn't change the fact that this treatment of first episodes can get really goddamn boring.

Super Serial: Valkyria Chronicles episode 3

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 20:30:00 CDT

Now commencing the war in earnest, the third episode of Valkyria Chronicles shows Welkin's commissioning and the formation of Squad 7. Alicia, to her dismay, is assigned to be Welkin's subordinate, and a few familiar faces from Bruhl are also placed under his command. Welkin's speech about staying alive fails to impress some of the more seasoned members of Squad 7 (surprise, surprise). Their first assignment is to retake the town of Vasel, where the Gallian army is locked in a stalemate against the Imperial army. Welkin uses this opportunity to make a pact with his subordinates. If he can take the town in 2 days, they'll have to follow his orders without question.

Some things bother me about this episode, the major one being the insubordination of Rosie and Largo. I mean, this is a formal military during a time of war (with an invasion of the home soil, no less). Their insubordination when they find out Isara is a Darcsen basically amounts to mutiny. Welkin is perfectly within his rights as an officer to kick their asses out of the squad, or even court-martial them for mutiny. Instead he offers to bargain with them, allowing for a serious lack of discipline. It's one thing to not like your squad mate, it's another to outright refuse to fight. Welkin's an officer, and the son of a respected general. He should act like one, or have Alicia chew them out.

Matters of military protocol aside, this episode showcases Welkin's talents once again. He is shrewd and insightful, knowing that if he can't convince his squad to fight alongside Isara logically, he can get them to go along with a wager. Also his knowledge of nature from his studies at the university pays off as he uses the fog, and the unique abilities of the Edelweiss, to his advantage. It's interesting that Welkin isn't just given some unexplained natural talent for command. Rather we see his problem solving process, and his seemingly nonconfrontational personality hides a pragmatic and calculating mind. This is someone with a higher education who's probably going to think his way out of a problem rather than learning from trial and error.

Review: Kemonozume

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 22:15:00 CDT

Synopsis

Since antiquity, flesh eating monsters who can take human form, known as Shokujinki, have preyed on people. A dedicated group of swordsmen, the Kifuuken, have made it their mission to hunt them. In modern times, the Kifuuken have lost much of their power and influence but the heir apparent, Toshihiko Momota, continues the fight. One day he meets a beautiful woman, Yuka, by chance. Toshihiko can't help but to love her, even after he finds out Yuka is a flesh eater. The two run away, leaving the Kifuuken in disarray with Shokujinki attacks on the rise.

Plot

Kemonozume's story starts out strong but falls apart at the ending. It's a shame, too, because the ending mars an otherwise well-written neo-noir love story. From the beginning, Kemonozume focuses on the relationships between humans and flesh eaters. It does so in a way that isn't self-absorbed in its own universe. The emphasis is on an exploration of the nature of love and trust, and whether people can truly learn to embrace their enemies. All of this is set to a world with a single fantasy element - the Shokujinki monsters - which is otherwise fairly realistic.

The series is at its best when building and releasing dramatic tension. There are several dark, tragic episodes that really embody the best of the series' writing. I love that Masaaki Yuasa has decided to tell a story like this, where people take actions that have irrevocable consequences. The stories also alternate between light and dark, shifting moods from comedy to drama to horror and tragedy. It also sports a twisted sense of humor that emerges during the pre-opening teasers. The series in general is quite well paced, manipulating the viewer into a sense of contention before pulling the rug and having everything fall to hell.

One slight irritant I found is that Kemonozume isn't very strong on plot logic in some areas. One critical area is Toshihiko's devotion to Yuka. The romance between them results in great drama, but it never feels deserved because there's no build up to them loving one another. Yuka literally falls out of the sky and Toshihiko suddenly loves her. Even after finding out she's a flesh eater, Toshihiko remains hopelessly devoted to someone he's only known for days (yes I know Yuka looks like his mother but that doesn't make it any more believable).

Episode five is worth mentioning in particular. It brilliantly sets itself up as a parallel to the love story between Toshihiko and Yuka, and offers a glimpse at one direction it could go in. The concluding revelation is delivered suddenly and subtly, with the director genuinely getting the drop on the viewer. It's deliciously bleak, and the second to last shot is probably my favorite scene out of any anime I've watched.

Where Kemonozume falters is during its conclusion, when it throws away all the rules it has established for its own fictional universe. It ditches its noir love/horror story in favor of surrealist action/fantasy, but does it in a way that feels artificial. It's as if the director just wanted to see how much he could mess with us before we finally stopped watching. I don't have a problem with a shift in tone, as long as there's some internal consistency with the series I had grown to like. The last few episodes of Kemonozume lack that crucial element, as it twists and distorts characterizations to an absurd level. For example the primary antagonist suddenly becomes a ridiculous charicature, a villain more suited for Looney Tunes, though he started out as a great character with a complex set of motivations.

This series does a lot of great things, and after having seen so many youth-oriented, worry-free action adventures, it's refreshing to know that someone out there can still write stories where life just shits on the characters you love. It's a thoughtful, unpredictable exploration of the human condition that is utterly marvelous to behold... until it starts firing off the plot twists at around the tenth episode. Then the story I like is slowly replaced by a nonsensical farce. If I had to make a judgment, though, I'd still say the series is worth watching despite this fault. It's simply too different to pass up.

Characters

The cast is well-rounded in general. A rarity in any storytelling medium, there aren't really any superfluous characters. Each supporting character has a role that matters in the story, and in general the cast is fleshed out and believable.

The Kifuuken consists of Toshihiko, the heir apparent, and his half-brother Kazuma. The two have a rivalry that turns antagonistic once Toshihiko runs off with the flesh eater Yuka. Kazuma single-mindedly hunts flesh eaters, and his resolve is reinforced when one of them (he suspects Yuka) kills his father. This sibling rivalry becomes less prominent in the later episodes, but Kazuma provides a great counterpoint to Toshihiko's love story. Through Kazuma, we can see that Toshihiko's abandonment of the Kifuuken causes real trouble for everyone left behind.

Yuka is a flesh eater struggling to control her violent instincts. Most of the time she's a normal young woman, but she can transform when excited or stressed. When we see the story from her perspective, her persecution by the Kifuuken seems unfair. But when viewed from Kazuma's perspective, the manhunt for her is perfectly logical. Yuka presents a wrinkle in the plot, and shows that the conflict is not as clear-cut as human vs. monster. Certainly there are evil flesh eaters, but some of them consider humans to be just as evil. Yuka acts as a focal point for all this, as she tries to find a place for herself in both worlds.

I don't want to spoil the surprise of who the main antagonist is. He starts as an ancillary character who's slightly shady, and then just becomes outright evil and insane. I don't understand why "The Joker, but crazier" is an archetype in so many Japanese films and anime. The antagonist here is eventually just written to be as crazy as possible. It's a creative cop-out and a waste of a potentially great character.

It's not often that you see a series with such a well-written cast. Barring the blemishes associated with the conclusion, I generally found each character interesting if not sympathetic. Even the ones who seem shoehorned in at first end up having a dramatic effect on the story.

Technical

I think the technical production is the one area of the show that I don't know how to react to. The visuals are expressionistic, distorting the contours and palette of the scene to suit the mood. In one sense, the shifting nature of the art style reinforces the flow of the story. But still I have to say, the designs themselves kind of suck. Character designs are often oversimplified, and it can be difficult to distinguish one character from another. There's very little aesthetic sense, which I suppose is the director's prerogative, but I don't see it adding to the story in any way. I suppose I understand why the visuals are the way they are, but I still don't like them.

The sound design is much more conventional, though the choice in soundtrack does stand out. Voice acting for the most part is solid if unremarkable.

Super Serial: Valkyria Chronicles episode 2

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 18:30:00 CDT

This series seems to lack direction, though I wonder how much of this perception is colored by the fact that I basically know what's going to happen. Episode 2 stil feels like it's going through the paces of the gameplay, giving us a few combat sequences and cutting out. When an adaptation tries too hard to be true to the source, I think it has missed the point of being an adaptation. Trying to capture the feel of Valkyria's gameplay is a fruitless endeavor. When you go from game to anime, you're losing interactivity, and so you've lost some of the inherent substance of the original. The key should be to seize upon the narrative and character building opportunities, to make them more complex and interesting. So far, the anime has not fully embraced this approach.

The character development you do get isn't bad; I particularly like Welkin's pragmatism. "When do we run away?" he asks after joining up with the rest of Bruhl's town watch, as if it's the most obvious and natural course of action. Of course he's right, but the town's watchmen would never openly consider retreat as an option - even if they are facing down a vastly superior enemy force. We also see in episode 2 the prejudice that exists against Isara's Darcsen lineage (basically their version of gypsies). Auxiliary characters are also brought in, such as a pair of children who serve the town watch, and Susie, a young woman whose job is apparently to look worried.

As far as beginnings go, I have seen worse. But Valkyria Chronicles is awfully wishy-washy about what it wants to be. It has equal parts comedy, romance (SO obvious), politics, and action, but is extremely noncommittal. What it should do is abandon the pretense that watching this is just like playing the game. It isn't, and it never will be. It should embrace its medium, and worry about telling a great story because there is a great story to be told. Hopefully the series will find its legs in the next few episodes.

Super Serial: Valkyria Chronicles episode 1

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 00:30:00 CDT

Because of the infuriating industry practice of saving up all the big releases for November, Valkyria Chronicles as a game was lost in the flurry of releases last Thanksgiving that included Fallout 3 and Gears of War 2. As a result, this unique and visually impressive Playstation 3 tactical RPG went virtually unnoticed in the U.S. Thankfully, the Japanese take care of their own, and this game seems to have gained quite a following there. The latest fruit of that success is the anime adaptation of Valkyria Chronicles.

Usually I'm wary of adaptations of video games, but it makes more sense in this case. Tactical RPGs often have complex stories which are told episodically, so the format is rather conducive to adaptation into a TV series. The first episode lines up with the introduction of the game, where we see Alicia (a member of Bruhl's militia) mistake Welkin (the son of a famous general) for a spy. When Bruhl comes under fire from enemy forces, the two set aside their differences and rise to the defense of the city.

There's not much more to be said than that. The opening exposition sets up the war over a valuable resource that Gallia is caught in. As an introductory episode, the story is lean but there was a decent amount of character building. The visuals somehow seem less alive than the shifting watercolors of the game, but still hold up well on their own. The principal voice actors from the game reprise their roles here, including my precious Marina Inoue as Alicia. Hers is a voice that can melt steel. Just about the only thing I'm disappointed with is the score, which sounds less classical and epic than the game's excellent soundtrack (mainly in that the game's amazing main theme is absent here). The use of generic-sounding J-pop in the opening and ending somehow cheapens the production.

Review: RIN ~Daughters of Mnemosyne~

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 23:45:00 CDT

Synopsis

Rin Asougi runs Asougi Consulting, a private investigator's firm consisting of herself and her friend Mimi. Unbeknownst to most people, the two are immortal, and can heal from lethal injuries if given enough time. When they meet Kouki Maeno, a series of events is kicked off that ties their destinies together. Behind the scenes, a mysterious figure manipulates them to get to the source of Rin and Mimi's immortality.

Plot

The story is presented in six episodes, with each episode featuring a different time period. I like the idea, as it emphasizes the immortal nature of Rin and Mimi, and more clearly depicts the passage of time around them. I wish the series would go on longer, as the six episode format causes a lot of abrupt changes in the storyline. You can usually infer what happens between each episode, but a bit more exposition in this case wouldn't hurt.

Mnemosyne has come to be known for its graphic violence and sexuality, and sometimes even skirts torture porn territory. I don't usually know what to make of sexuality in anime. Outright eroticism is one thing, but Mnemosyne does not aim for that. On its own, sexuality is just a basic biological imperative. I see it on the same level as watching someone eat, or watching someone sleep. By itself, it's not terribly exciting. But once in a while, it has meaning to the story.

The way sexuality is used here is inconsistent. Sometimes it's completely gratuitous and cheap, sometimes it's wholly appropriate. However it's almost never depicted as an act of intimacy or love. Mimi uses sex as a tool. Rin is sexually tortured. The "sex" between angels (winged males that serve as the antagonists) and immortals is actually cannibalism. If the writers are going to use sex in this way, they should justify it. What does this say about the world Rin and Mimi live in? What does it mean to the story? Ultimately, it doesn't seem to amount to much.

The primary story simmers in the background until the last two episodes. The sudden increase in exposition makes it a little hard to follow. However each episode is also a self-contained story, and they touch on an interesting assortment of themes. There is a semi-religious subtext to the main plot, but each subplot deals with the ethical ramifications of a particular scientific advance - cloning, AI, the proliferation of the internet, and others. I'm disappointed that these two parallel story threads never meet, but the stories work well enough as is.

Given more time, the series could adequately explore its provocative themes. Still, these six episodes manage to accomplish a lot. The mix of procedural story and action suit the detective backdrop well, and the always-prevalent supernatural elements do culminate into something. Mnemosyne's main weakness is just its fractured narrative - a thirteen episode run time could have patched it up nicely.

Characters

The main characters are Rin, Mimi, and the Maeno family (a few generations of them are shown). Rin and Mimi are mostly shown in their professional lives, which kind of makes them boring. There aren't many sympathetic traits to a couple who simply treat every story as a "case." In one sense, it's important that we see them as immortals. They should be somewhat detached from humanity. Still, it's their own choice to be involved in human affairs, so they should reflect some part of humanity.

I can't put my finger on it exactly. It's not that I don't like Rin and Mimi. They just seem more like plot devices to me than actual characters. The Maenos, especially Kouki, are much better as characters. They struggle with identity, love, and sacrifice. Through the Maeno family, director Shigeru Ueda shows what it means to be human. Maybe in this context, Rin's aloof nature makes a bit of sense. She has experienced all of these things, and what seem like revelations to us are probably trite and obvious to her. One more theme that the Maenos embody is the passing of a parent's legacy to the children. What Kouki starts, his granddaughter finishes. Rin and Mimi, who can't have children of their own, are denied solely this part of the mortal experience. In some ways, this makes the ending more cathartic. But the series is too short to put this idea to the best use.

The supporting cast includes the assassin Laura, who is Rin's nemesis. Laura embodies the idea that immortality is a curse. The primary antagonist is Eipos, a mysterious immortal whose schemes aren't revealed until the very end. These characters aren't utilized very much. Rin's scuffles with Laura seem especially superfluous, and are probably only there to fill some action quota. I wouldn't say Mnemosyne is worse off being a story-driven work rather than a character-driven one. In fact what it says about human civilization is subtly enhanced by the lack of attention on character drama. But the ending twist demands a character focus that just isn't there. Throughout the whole series, I teetered between wanting to care about the main cast and not caring. That probably isn't a line you want to walk.

Technical

Mnemosyne enjoys a solid technical production, and an aesthetic that serves its modern noir story well. Depictions of violence are graphic and brutal, and sex scenes alternate between being distantly sterile and extreme intimacy. I would have liked to see Mnemosyne fully abandon the eroticism in the sex act, as it would have better reflected its role in the story.

The voice cast is led by Mamiko Noto, a prolific voice actress who also played Fumina Konoe in Shakugan no Shana Second. Here she portrays Rin with a voice that wavers between weariness and mild amusement. You can tell she's been around for a while, even without the anime explicitly saying she's immortal. Rie Kugimiya's role as Mimi was probably the most demanding, as Mimi was granted immortality when she was a teenager. Kugimiya has to portray a childishness that has given way to maturity, and she does a respectable job. None of the performances exhibit a wide range, but sometimes an act with more nuance is good too.

New feature: Rightning Round

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 18:30:00 CDT

In retrospect, I had a lot of fun doing my Newtype tribute, even though it was painful and depressing at times. It exposed me to a lot of new anime which I ended up avoiding. And now spring is upon us, so I will take it to a new level. Each week I'll choose a series completely at random. The only condition is that I must not have seen it before. Then I give myself one week to finish the series. You can follow my exploits on Twitter. Hopefully this will lead to the discovery of some decent shows, or at the very least, lead to some amusing microblogging.

Review: Minami-ke Okaeri

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 21:00:00 CDT

Synopsis

The story of the Minami sisters (and their extended cast of friends) is continued in Okaeri.

Plot

This should all be familiar material by now, but Minami-ke Okaeri continues in the tradition of depicting the ordinary lives of (relatively) ordinary people. I felt this iteration was missing the character focus of Okawari and the withering abuse of Kana by Chiaki that I enjoyed so much in the first season.

Mako-chan makes more frequent, albeit more toned down, appearances. Touma also becomes more integral to each story. If they're supposed to be some commentary on gender identity, I'm not getting it. It's more likely that the show's producers just think cross dressing is really funny. Unfortunately we see that it isn't. Comedy's all in the material folks, and in this case there isn't any.

As far as storylines go, what you get is even less than Haruka's meager character arc at the end of Okawari. This season returns to the vignette format of the first season. I'd describe it as one-third mediocre comedy, one-third experimentation, and one-third charming side stories. There aren't many laugh out loud moments but the good ones are usually perpetrated by Chiaki and Kana. So maybe it's time to stop thinking of Minami-ke as a comedy show, and more as a lightweight family drama.

There's something strangely intriguing about Okaeri's forays into surreal fantasy, first demonstrated in the second episode when Chiaki's inner angel and devil manifest. Incidentally these scenes manage to be cute and funny. Seeing a character's thought process play out in such a way adds a layer of depth to an otherwise uninteresting scene. Then there's also Hosaka, whose elaborate fantasies never fail to amuse.

Side stories usually involve Touma in some way, be it her relationship with her inept brothers or how Fujioka keeps thinking she's a boy. The segments on the latter don't particularly rile me up but Touma's brothers can be a comedy gold mine. There's also some measure of artistic truth to their situation - that despite the brainstorming of the three brothers, they still don't understand Touma at all beacause they just won't reach out to her. This is contrasted with the family dynamic of the Minami sisters, who have an innate understanding of each other (and Touma).

I would put Okaeri on par with the first season. I miss Chiaki's relentless verbal abuse of Kana, but am also thankful that Makoto/Mako-chan is more of a human and less of a failed punch line. That said, this season still feels somewhat superfluous. There isn't a progression of the series' style; rather it regresses back to that of season one. Most of the vignettes work, sure, but it's new kinds of stories that I'm interested in. Okaeri turns up a bit short in that respect.

Characters

This season attempts to do more with established characters rather than introduce new ones into the mix. The only new face is Hitomi (Natsuki's friend in high school) but she only has lines in one episode. As for the rest, Touma's role is greatly expanded. It's partly due to her brothers neglecting her, a plot point that's darkly humorous and also leads to Haruka scolding Natsuki. I think the borderline dysfunctional dynamic of the other Minami family is pretty funny, except Touma herself is kind of annoying and selfish - a miniature Kana with less charm.

Mako-chan shows up regularly too, concerned about his fake entry into womanhood (his unladylike physique in particular). You have to chuckle when the original motive for Makoto's transformation to Mako-chan has been dropped completely, and now he must be the best woman he can be simply because it was the identity forced upon him (by Kana, naturally). Less funny is Fujioka's continued inability to woo Kana, although he has been appropriated by Chiaki. Knowing Chiaki, she probably sees him more as a pet than as a friend.

Also returning are Hosaka and his elaborate fantasies. Like Robert Downey, Jr., Hosaka marches into each scene with machismo and gusto, and chews up whatever scenery he's put in front of. The irony of all this of course is that he's almost completely ignored by Haruka, the focus of his affections, even though we viewers are utterly entranced by him. I don't think it's a stretch to say he's the best character of the show.

Our central trio, Haruka, Kana, and Chiaki, spend surprisingly little time together. The last episode brings them together, and I enjoyed seeing that even though Chiaki and Kana antagonize each other all the time, they're still very much attached.

In general it can be said that the character writing serves the dramatic situations. Okaeri does a lot to establish its cast, but not as much to develop. We see each week that Touma is neglected by her brothers, for example, but we don't see the resolution to that problem. We don't see Touma change because of it. Still, this cast has come really far in terms of watchability. Even when the writing falls flat, the main cast is able to prop up the scene.

Technical

Okaeri more or less returns to the art style of the first season, but swaps out the old character designs for lankier ones that are less appealing to me. I don't understand the change in visual design each season. I suppose as long as the characters are still recognizable, it's all right. Otherwise, the sound and voice acting are all the same as before (though I do like Chiaki's angel/devil theme).

Reviews under way.

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 23:00:00 CDT

After a month of inactivity, maybe I should give a sitrep. Minami-ke Okaeri finished over the weekend, so I'll have a review up tomorrow. I also watched Mnemosyne over the last week, so I will do a review of that but Minami-ke takes priority.

Did you have a happy Global Shinkai Appreciation Day?

Sun, 01 Mar 2009 19:15:00 CST

Apparently yesterday was Global Shinkai Appreciation Day. Hayao Miyazaki doesn't even have a holiday, yet Makoto Shinkai does? I like the guy but he's really only done 3 features, unless you count the She and Her Cat short. Anyway I thought I'd do a brief overview of Makoto Shinkai's works, and what I like (and dislike) about them.

Almost all of Shinkai's works center on the issues of loneliness and separation. It's Shinkai's modus operandi, like organized crime is for Martin Scorsese. Unfortunately he never really builds to anything with these themes; he simply broods on them over and over. This is most obvious in 5 Centimeters per Second. But it's ok if Shinkai doesn't do the whole resolution thing. He's still able to make you feel the loneliness of his characters. That affecting quality is why I'm drawn to his work, even if it can get tiresome after a while.

In our world, the real world, we're connected all the time. We have cell phones, text messages, Facebook, and thousands of other social media sites. This is not the case in Shinkai's worlds, where it is incredibly hard for people to reach out and get in touch. Voices of a Distant Star brilliantly addresses this with one of its plot points: faster-than-light travel separates the two friends by enormous distances. It would be perfect were it not for the huge conceit that the characters involved are far too young to be part of a space army. The Place Promised In Our Early Days has the less satisfying angle that Sayuri falls into an unexplained coma, separating her from her friends Hiroki and Takuya. 5 Centimeters per Second simply takes it as granted that old friends can't call one other.

Out of all of Shinkai's work, I think Voices of a Distant Star is his best. It's every bit as affecting as his later 2 movies, but it's all fit into a 25 minute time frame. Editing and pacing are often overlooked in anime criticism, but Voices is masterfully done in both departments. 5 Centimeters per Second shows a maturation of Shinkai's technique, although his storytelling abilities haven't really progressed. Still the evocative imagery is enough to sell most people. Everyone will enjoy the simple tale of love, longing, and distance. She and Her Cat, the director's first independently made short, is significant for that if not much else. If you can call any of his films "upbeat" this would be the one. I'm least enamored with The Place Promised In Our Early Days. Its plot meanders between the personal and the political without being terribly exciting in either respect. Its central mystery is not well explored, and the whole thing feels drawn out and boring. Still, the visuals within are some of the best shots Shinkai ever framed.

So overall, the guy's got a pretty good track record. His eye for visuals is peerless - I will argue to my dying breath that no one does pretty pictures better than Shinkai. I just wish his scripts would mature. If he can't bring himself entirely to explore different subject matters, he should at least be willing to look at his favored themes from a different perspective. So in honor of Makoto Shinkai, go find yourself a copy of Voices of a Distant Star and maybe have a good cry.

Super Serial: Minami-ke Okaeri episode 4

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 18:30:00 CST

This episode deals with Touma's gender identity, Haruka's status as head honcho, Natsuki's new friend, and some scary fucking dogs.

I don't know why Minami-ke is so hung up on the topic of gender identity. There isn't really anything funny about Touma. In fact she's kind of a selfish glutton who exploits Haruka's kindness to get snacks and dinner. What a bitch. The only gender jokes made with Touma and Makoto are basically "she's actually a girl but he thinks she's a guy!" I'm pretty sure this has been the premise of at least 17 Rob Schneider movies.

We're also introduced to Natsuki's friend Hitomi, who was allegedly badass #2 or something. I've devised a few possible storylines for her:

She is actually Natsuki's master, and taught him everything he knows about the martial way.
She is a time traveler from a war torn future who came to the present, peaceful age in order to enjoy an easier life.
She has been sent by a top secret organization to protect Natsuki from terrorists who are after his latent knowledge of advanced technology.
She has been selected to pilot a giant humanoid combat robot to defend mankind from alien invaders. In this story, Natsuki is a supporting character who's oblivious to her status.
She secretly harbors romantic feelings for Haruka, and is using Natsuki to get closer to her.
She turns out to be Natsuki's sister, but the audience has already forgotten that they kissed in the previous movie.

Review: Sword of the Stranger

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 21:05:00 CST

Synopsis

A swordsman with no name (who is named Nanashi despite his no-name status) happens upon Kotaro, an orphan child being hunted by Ming Chinese agents. Nanashi accepts Kotaro's offer to protect him and his dog Tobimaru in exchange for a treasure once Kotaro arrives at his destination. Meanwhile, the Ming warriors continue to track and pursue them, since Kotaro is needed to realize their agenda.

Plot

Sword of the Stranger is very lean on ideas, but it's not really an idea movie. It's a fusion of old-school Japanese action with a Western style hero's journey. In fact there isn't much I can say about the story since it amounts to little more than a series of action scenes strung together with walking.

There are actually two parallel stories going on. One involves Kotaro and his escape from the Ming Chinese, and another involves the Ming and their dealings with a shady Japanese lord. These two threads never really converge. Kotaro's purpose is revealed but it doesn't have much effect on the Ming/Japanese story. For both story threads, the thematic elements are nothing new. One involves the loner Nanashi trying to make up for his blood soaked past, while bonding with Kotaro. Another involves a measure of political conflict between the Ming and the Japanese. The cutting between these plots is clumsy at times but honestly the story is simplistic enough that the editing has very little impact.

What you really want to see from Sword of the Stranger is not necessarily the elaborate action sequences, but the vividness of the production. You feel like you're being taken on a visual journey through feudal Japan. There's a sort of loving attention paid to the setting, reflected through the amazingly detailed backdrops and character designs. You just can't help but to get caught up in the romanticism of the period.

Sword of the Stranger falls squarely on the entertainment side of cinema. But it is very well-done. The story is intriguing but not challenging; it's utterly safe but with enough originality added to keep your attention. The pacing is spot-on, alternating between exposition and action at regular intervals. The last third of the movie is one gigantic action sequence that's difficult to look away from. The fighting is brutal, and gore is used frequently but cautiously. This movie is not high concept but makes no pretensions to be; it simply makes the best use of its spectacle.

Characters

The cast can be divided into 3 factions which are at odds with each other. Nanashi and Kotaro are merely trying to escape the Ming. The Ming are overseeing a large construction project on Japanese land, and need Kotaro to complete it. Finally, the Japanese are represented by Shogen, who appears to have shared a past with Nanashi although this story thread doesn't actually go anywhere.

Nanashi is a charismatic lead, who uses innovative and non-lethal tactics to get through his scruffles. Kotaro, being a child, is mostly helpless although he is protected to some degree by his dog Tobimaru. Though Kotaro is written as being short tempered and somewhat stuck up, he stays out of the way enough so that he doesn't become annoying. Basically Kotaro's sole purpose is to provide a believable reason for Nanashi to participate in the last battle. I did not feel any particular desire to see Kotaro saved - he wasn't that strong of a character.

Shogen and his forces attempt to undermine the Ming in various ways, but ultimately they are just fodder for the final battle. There was no reason to root for them at any point, but they are a necessary element in that Nanashi doesn't present a credible threat to all the Ming agents by himself. The real villains of this movie are the Ming Chinese, who exude a sense of almost otherworldly menace. They are all proficient fighters, and all have an insanely high level of pain tolerance. In this way, Nanashi is similar to them, although Nanashi pursues his own goals and not those of a government.

The main reason the Chinese work as villains is because they're not really villains. They are very much professionals, sent to Japan to do a job and then get out. They're exciting to watch, and the bare scraps of a group dynamic between them leads to some intriguing action late in the movie. Rarou, the foreigner of the group, stands out above the rest as an expert swordsman. His schtick as someone who's only looking for someone strong to fight is probably the only thing I'd change. Throwing a dart at a newspaper probably leads to more interesting motivations than that overused cliche.

Technical

Sword of the Stranger was produced by Bones, which is most notably responsible for the Fullmetal Alchemist series. Some of the character designs are reminiscent of ones from that work, leading to faces that look a bit innocuous for the subject matter. Production values overall are stunning, especially the meticulously realized backdrops. Just sitting back and looking at each shot is a treat. The action scenes are well choreographed, although the combination of quick cuts and shaky-cam obscure some important details at times. This is frustrating, as the fighting is exciting otherwise but really needs to tone down on the quick cutting. You went through all that trouble animating it, let the audience see your work.

The musical selection is curious, as it is decidedly Western. Although it is intended to evoke the feel of an epic journey, the movie doesn't make much of the actual journey. Still, I couldn't help but to be stirred by it. Fight scenes are usually set to a background of drums, a practice which grates on me more the more I hear it being used. Is this the future of martial arts cinema? Endless scores consisting of anonymous drums banging to the same unimaginative beat?

Super Serial: Minami-ke Okaeri episode 3

Sat, 24 Jan 2009 14:45:00 CST

Awkward high school romances: just one is all you'll need. Wooing a member of the opposite sex is never straightforward. Then you wonder, "do they have as much trouble as I do?" Contact is not the most difficult part, though. It's what follows. Rejection? Yes that's possible. Success? Also possible. But the most likely outcome? Friendship. Continual, endless, eternally tormenting friendship. And this brings us to Minami-ke.

You see, I like Minami-ke. And maybe it likes me. But I don't know if it like likes me. Where is this going, Minami-ke? Are you going to keep leading me on?

Episode 3 shows us more of Touma and the other Minami family. There's also a lot of conflict over hamaaaaiiii pudding, and an oddly menacing throwaway segment about apples. We also see Haruka's stern (but maybe passionate?) relationship with Natsuki, who is kind of an asshole.

I suppose it's my own fault for wondering if this is going anywhere. Who am I kidding? These shows never do. But I keep watching, perhaps secretly hoping that it'll make a play for the front of my pants. I secretly hope I'll get another Azumanga. And that brings us to the other thing about awkward high school romances: you never forget your first one.

Review: Shakugan no Shana Second

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 20:15:00 CST

If you're reading the second season review without having watched the first Shakugan no Shana for some reason, be aware that there will be first season spoilers.

Synopsis

Starting with the second semester of school, Shakugan no Shana's second season picks up with the introduction of Fumina Konoe, a suspicious transfer student who seems utterly helpless. Shana and Yoshida continue their competition for Yuji's affection. Throughout all the domestic drama, though, Bal Masque is up to something sinister again.

Plot

I like Shakugan no Shana Second more than the first season. I like a Shana that doesn't pretend to be something it isn't. Although Shana Second is still as insipid as ever with a love triangle/quadrangle/pentangle that spins wildly out of control, at least it does so with conviction. By that I mean the series has gotten over the awkward question of whether Yuji's existence will continue, and whether a Mystes like Yuji can really be a person. The answers to both, as the first season arrived at without much effort, are yes and yes. Therefore I can think of Shakugan no Shana Second as an entity split in two: a school romance/drama and a fantasy/action show.

The action segments involving Flame Hazes and Ball Masque are intriguing, as the series kicks off with a tone that's almost like psychological horror. I enjoyed this reintroduction to the series, which cleverly catches the audience up with a quick rundown of what has happened so far. Unfortunately, the first two episodes are completely disposable, and the real story arc swings into motion when Fumina Konoe is introduced. Of Konoe, I can only say this: viewers tend to react negatively to a character who gets shoehorned into the series and then occupies most of the screen time. Her helpless, spoiled personality didn't exactly warm me up to her. Here we see the major pacing problem with the series. The writers just fawn over Konoe for far longer than is necessary.

Konoe's purpose is revealed mid-series, but you never feel as if the early parts with her actually have anything to do with it. The revelation is too obvious, too quick, and almost completely without consequence. The only real consequence is something you see at the end, and is not surprising in the slightest. The second half of the series is less structured, covering all sorts of events and developing characters. Ike is fleshed out more, and Keisaku and Eita get mini arcs that are rather interesting. The major storylines involve Pheles, a Crimson Lord in search of the Midnight Lost Child, Sabrac, another powerful Crimson Lord who had dealings with Wilhelmina in the past, and the return of Bal Masque.

For all the failings of the first season, at least it maintained a feeling that all the disparate plot threads were winding together. And they sort of did, although they were handled rather clumsily. The second season doesn't have that feeling, but it does make a more earnest effort to make all the story arcs more compelling. The subplots are not interrupted as often in the second half by dumb school drama, the central cast becomes more of a focus, and in general the villains felt more interesting. Once again you get to see Yuji as someone who can reason his way through a battle, and once again this tactician side of him makes each fight more interesting. The show concludes with the Bal Masque subplot, which almost feels like a step back. It covers territory that was already covered in the first season, and the reasoning behind why they must be stopped is specious at best.

I really have to mark this season down for the way they crow-barred in Fumina Konoe, but all the stuff around her is presented in a more focused manner. The writers dropped any illusions of the script being high-concept fantasy, and as a result there are less ideas that tantalize but ultimately get muddled through. There's more emphasis on what can be done well, as opposed to a feeling of continually biting off more than can be chewed. When I watch anime, I look for art but I do not expect art. Shakugan no Shana Second is not art, so I can't recommend watching it for the experience it conveys. But, that said, if you do choose to buy into the experience, it's very easy to become enveloped in it. It is pure escapism, and it's a stronger experience for letting go of the bits from the first season that activated your brain.

Characters

Several new characters are introduced in this season, the most important of which is Fumina Konoe. She's timid, lacks common sense, and is barely there in terms of consciousness. Konoe also has an inexplicable bond with Yuji. As I mentioned earlier, I don't like characters who are wedged into a show in progress, and then immediately becomes the central focus for much of the series. It's annoying, because I have no reason to care about Konoe or her helplessness and airheaded antics.

Yuji's character could have been taken in a cool direction as he continues to wrestle with the fact that he is a Mystes. Ultimately the resolution to this is... unsatisfying. But it's a trend I'm beginning to notice more in anime - a step forward followed by a step back in character development. Shana and Yoshida stay more or less static. However, I'm impressed by the increased attention given to the supporting cast.

Wilhelmina was introduced in the middle of the first season. Though you know she cares about Shana and is an able Flame Haze, you don't really know much else about her. In this season, we see more of her suspiciously powerful fighting style, but also get some background story. It brings an extra dimension to a character whose role is essentially to provide a polar opposite to Yuji. Normally Wilhelmina is on the extreme end of the Flame Haze spectrum, willing to do anything to accomplish her mission.

Strangely enough, the character writing I liked most revolves around Margery, Keisaku, Eita, and Ogata. Their subplots are the only real time you feel that the outcome may have consequences. All the other stories make such liberal use of deus ex machina endings that you never expect lasting effects. Yet with these four characters, the writers didn't shy away from change. Eita and Ogata clearly have feelings for each other, and they way Eita acts on them makes him a more watchable character than the meathead he used to be. The same goes with Keisaku's loyalty to Margery.

Technical

Shana Second carries over the art style and animation quality of the first season, and raises the bar in some areas. With few exceptions each battle looks more fully realized, using fancier animations and settings. The sound design and voice acting are both solid - not much more to say than that.

Super Serial: Minami-ke Okaeri episodes 1 and 2

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 20:00:00 CST

We kick(ed) off the new year with another season of Minami-ke, which I think of as a mediocre series that snuck in some great writing. The first episode of Okaeri brings us to the 27th actual episode of Minami-ke, and that's why I'm viewing this series with trepidation.

See, I have this empirical observation: no anime that goes past 26 episodes is good. I don't know if it's a law, or if there's a reason behind it; I just know that I've never seen an anime longer than 26 episodes and liked it. This is referring to planned television runs, of course - not OVAs, theatrical tie-ins, or anything like that. And it's not a 2-season thing either - Vandread went for 2 seasons and both were pretty good. But if a series goes for 26 episodes on TV, then comes back for another TV season, it's usually a case of a show that wasn't very good to begin with getting worse as its run continues.

Minami-ke seems to have bucked that trend. The first series and Okawari were both solid - not amazing, not great, but solid and enjoyable. Okaeri gets the ball rolling again with that same Minami-ke humor that's sort of about life and sort of isn't. Of this first episode, I can say that I'm glad the role of the supporting cast has been cut down considerably. Minami-ke was kind of like Sonic the Hedgehog games of late; you want to play as Sonic but you're forced to play as his shitty friends. This became less of a nuisance in Okawari and hopefully will be a non-issue in Okaeri as well.

Once again, there's been a shift in production values. Minami-ke looked simplistic but clean and consistent. Okawari was downright beautiful. Okaeri feels like a step back, as the character designs are unusually lanky and drawn somewhat crudely. I should commend the opening sequence (which plays in the middle of the show along with the ending - is this the new TV format in Japan?); Haruka casually changing the channel as a man is about to bed a woman made me laugh.

The second episode features Chiaki's inner angel and devil, Hosaka trying to capture the knights, Hayami being insanely hot, curry, and singing. I'll admit it; the sight of Chiaki singing the curry song even melted this grinch's heart. As for Hosaka, I can't really say much. I just keep a picture of him in my wallet now.

Cinema File: Chungking Express (Chung Hing Sam Lam)

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 19:00:00 CST

I haven't done a movie in a while, so I'll go back to an old favorite: Chungking Express. I'm pretty sure I wrote about it a long time ago for import.BOOST, maybe. This is the first Wong Kar Wai film I ever saw, and I have to say the guy is good at making you utterly riveted and absorbed by a film about nothing. I picked up the Criterion Collection's Blu-Ray release just recently. The transfer to high definition does not hurt its raw, amateur look in the slightest. Christopher Doyle's superb cinematography is largely responsible for the distinct look of the film, but Wong's direction is also palpable. The two make a great team.

The story is split into 2 segments, the first involving Takeshi Kaneshiro and Brigitte Lin. Kaneshiro turns in a solid performance as He Qiwu, a fresh faced young cop who isn't ready to admit that his relationship with his girlfriend May ended a month ago. By chance he runs into Lin, a drug trafficker in a blonde wig, and decides to fall in love. The second part features Tony Leung as an unnamed cop and Faye Wong as Faye, a girl working at a food stand. Leung's character recently had his girlfriend leave him, and Faye's infatuation with him leads her to sneak into his apartment.

I know, the story isn't desperately complicated. Chungking Express is more about the ideas that can only be captured visually, and the great characters. Kaneshiro's He Qiwu is charismatic and sympathetic. Lin is probably the weakest link, as I didn't find her stone faced stoicism that appealing. Part of that may have to do with the hideous combination of hair style, big shades, and a raincoat that isn't flattering of her figure. Knowing Wong Kar Wai, this fashion design had to have been intentional.

The real stars are the electric performances turned in by Tony Leung Chiu Wai, one of my absolute favorite actors, and Faye Wong, whose boyish look in this movie add to her innocence and energy. Faye is cute, obnoxious, and possibly even half-retarded at the same time. Leung's "officer 633" appears jaded at first, but also intimates that he's a lonely man afraid of seeking out love. The scenes where he projects his feelings onto inanimate objects around his apartment are hilarious yet heart wrenching at the same time.

The Hong Kong backdrop is a sensual spectacle, bustling with people, cheap food, and a humidity that you almost feel on your own skin. Wong Kar Wai does to Hong Kong here what Martin Scorsese does for New York - he turns it into an infection, something which permeates and saturates every character in the film. To enjoy Chungking Express, you shouldn't really be looking for anything. You just have to let yourself be pulled in by the charming characters and the bleak reality of the story. Because of this, you can't really call it entertainment. It's an examination of the vagaries of infatuation, perhaps even a Zen-like meditation on transience. This movie is something only Wong Kar Wai could have made, a loveless film about love.

A note about the Shakugan no Shana movie

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 23:00:00 CST

I burned through Shakugan no Shana pretty fast, hoping to find something that the series didn't deliver in the end. You can read all about it in the review. It was a carrot dangled ruthlessly at the end of a stick, always promising but never putting out.

The first season was followed by a movie which doesn't extend the story, but rather recaps it. As such I decided not to do a separate review. The movie covers up to the end of the Friagne story arc. Even though it condenses the story into roughly a 90 minute run time, the pacing doesn't feel particularly streamlined. There is less of a focus on the high school drama than in the series, and the action scenes are prolonged. Overall I think it's an efficient replacement of the first few episodes, although I'd still recommend watching the first 4 episodes in their entirety.

Margery Daw shows up but the role of her accomplices Eita and Keisaku are nonexistent. Also, Friagne's relationship with Marianne is fleshed out more in this version. Despite being the antagonists of the story, you still sympathize with them because they're still fighting for something they're entitled to. They're just going about it in an unethical way.

True to the style of the series, the movie ends in a completely artificial, hand-wavy manner. Oddly enough the same battle in the series did not require such a resolution. The movie isn't something I'd go out of the way to see, but it serves as a good introduction to the story.

Review: Shakugan no Shana

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 22:30:00 CST

Synopsis

Yuji Sakai is an ordinary high school student until one day he witnesses a monster attacking the city. Shortly after, he is saved by a girl who calls herself a Flame Haze. Yuji finds out that he was killed that day, and his continued existence is only an artifice. Yuji is a Torch, a stand-in for someone who once existed, but will soon vanish. However, inside him lies a treasure of great power, which attracts the attention of the Denizens of the Crimson World. The Flame Haze, named Shana, decides to stay by Yuji and face the incoming Denizens.

Plot

I set my expectations too high for this series. After a promising second episode, I expected Shakugan no Shana to take some risks. I thought it would stand out, given the nature of its premise. What the series did, though, was play it safe. If there was ever a paragon of taking a great setup, and then utterly neutering it by playing it safe, look only to Fullmetal Alchemist. You can draw a lot of parallels between that series and Shakugan no Shana. I suppose it's a bit unrealistic to expect a TV-friendly anime to be too intellectual. You have to get that second season in, after all (and they did!). But is it too much these days to ask that writers have some spine?

The central premise to Shakugan no Shana is that your existence has power, in the literal sense. It's a resource that can be harvested by fiendish individuals, called Denizens, who use it to shape their reality to their own selfish whims. Of course, this causes chaos in our material world, and it's the duty of the Flame Haze to maintain order. They call it keeping the balance between the ordinary world and the crimson world, although what this "balance" is or how it's achieved is never really explained. The interplay between the ethereal Crimson World and the physical world determines the pacing of the story. However it also tends to divide the series into two equally frustrating modes.

As an action anime about Flame Hazes battling Denizens, Shakugan no Shana lacks a certain flavor. Later on the fighting becomes more competent, but there's a sort of genericity that hangs over the earlier action scenes. You can probably distill the action genre down to two schools of thought. One is to find something conceptually exciting to infuse into the action. In this school, the act of fighting, or conflict, is important in itself. The other school is to help tell a story through conflict. This way, the consequences are the focus rather than the conflict. You're made to understand and care about the stakes and the outcome. Shakugan no Shana is not particularly adept at doing either - well that's not fair. I should say it's just adequate at both. And I promise this is not me being a snob; the action feels sterile and uninspired for the most part. Toward the middle, you begin to see more of what's at stake. You care more about the characters who put themselves in harm's way. But again, the writers just play it safe. There are enough last minute cure-alls that whatever sense of danger there used to be is replaced by the expectation that everything will work out.

The other half of Shana is about high school life, an entity perched so high on mount cliche that I literally predicted every trite rock that tumbled down. Love triangle: check. Secret crushes: check. Inability to express feelings directly: check. Improbably oblivious mother figure: check. Girls in so much emotional distress that they can't run without tripping: check. This is easily the clumsiest part of the series, and it was downright embarrassing to watch. This is the where the play-it-safeness is most obvious. The implications of Yukari Hirai's existence being wiped out are brushed aside. Yuji (and some of his classmates) so casually accept the information he's given about the Crimson World that it nearly trivializes the whole conflict.

Shakugan no Shana teases a lot of interesting ideas, but does not explore any of them in depth. The existential dilemma of Yuji should have been front and center, but it's solved too conveniently. Shana's function as a Flame Haze raises some moral questions as well, using up the existence power of others to repair damage done to the real world. But this too is brushed aside quickly. Instead, the series is self-absorbed, obsessed with its own mythology and esoteric workings. What is the background behind this conflict between Denizens and Flame Hazes? Why did Shana's training have to end the way it did? There's a lot of story to tell, but it doesn't bother to relay some of that story to the audience. Perhaps the most irritating thing is the repitition of things we can infer ourselves - what torches are, what the duty of the Flame Haze is, etc. Of these irritations, what stuck with me was in the very last battle, where Yuji literally waits until everything falls apart before saying to himself "I must do something." Gee, ya think?

Don't think that I have a problem with the low-brow. Minami-ke is nothing more than making fun of stupid people's hijinks, and I liked that show. I have a problem with shows that don't deliver on their premises. Shakugan no Shana has a brilliant premise with great potential. But the director played it safe, and the end result is something I've seen before, with different characters and locations but the same spirit. Why? Why, when you have such a great idea, squander it on rote convention? So many other shows will do that automatically, why not take a risk and stand out? Ultimately, this is an example of anime as a business dampening the impact of anime as an artistic medium. In the real real world, business comes first, and I wish I wouldn't be reminded of that so often.

Characters

The character writing in this series is not the greatest, but it's also not the show's biggest failing. Shana is given a clear, consistent characterization that goes through evident phases of development. We get to see her mature into a Flame Haze, and then regaining some of her humanity as she watches over Yuji. Of course the duty-minded protector falling for his or her charge is not a new story. And to be honest, I didn't want it to wedge itself into the school drama segments. But at least I like the idea of Shana's walls breaking down over the course of the show, and I also like that she has to struggle with the consequences of her feelings. The reconciliation of Shana's duties as a Flame Haze with her feelings as a human leads to some good character writing.

Yuji starts as the transparent observer, someone almost devoid of personality who merely exists so that we have a point of reference through which the story is told. As is typical for these observers, he is improbably optimistic and caring. I found nothing about him that would warrant him carrying a series, though toward the end he is given some interesting choices to make. Is he endangering his loved ones by merely being near them? Is his relationship with Shana a burden on him? These are some tantalizing questions that Yuji struggles with, but given the story's inability to present real solutions to its problems, these threads never go anywhere.

I found perhaps the most enjoyment in watching Margery Daw and her contractor Marcosias. Margery is a Flame Haze, but also a violent, raging boozehound who thinks nothing of taking advantage of others. Whereas the series gravitates on everyone else and their problems, Margery represents a bit of fun - perhaps even self-awareness - and is at least an acknowledgment that the show is just cheap entertainment. Other supporting characters include Kazumi Yoshida, who is paralytically in love with Yuji. She cruises through the series as you'd expect out of an amateurishly written school life drama, unable to say much other than "um" or "hello." But in a way she is a metaphor for the struggle that Yuji is going through. Deep down he wants to know if being a Torch means losing his value as a person. You can clearly see through Yoshida that the writers think not.

Given almost equal importance are the Denizens, a colorful cast of villains who each have their idiosynchrasies. A few of them are rather one-dimensional, but many do have motivations that make them not so simplistic. Friagne, the first major villain, and later the twins Sorath and Tiriel present interesting alternative views on love that contrast with Shana's incomplete understanding of it. Friagne's love for his servant Marianne and Tiriel's love for Sorath are genuine, yet Shana is initially unwilling to accept that she could be like her enemies in this respect. The final story arc involves Bal Masque, a powerful organization of Crimson Lords. Though their characters are not nearly as fleshed out as those of ealier Denizens (mostly to maintain a sense of mystery), they do serve to make the fighting and story a bit more interesting. I would have loved to see more antagonists like Friagne, who you almost feel sorry for, but that probably would not have led to the grandiose conclusion that the writers wanted.

Technical

There's not much that's remarkable about the overall design or aesthetic, but if I had to complain I'd say that Wilhemina's mask getup looks utterly ridiculous. The character designs and animation are of a consistently good quality. The voice work is also good, although Shana's "shut up shut up shut up!" will never sound natural to me. In the technical department, I mostly have to ask about the awkwardness of the translation. "Power of existence" may sound cool in Japanese but it's a clumsy phrase in English that probably could have just been shortened to power or life energy or something. Similarly, "unrestricted method" may sound great in Japanese but is a mouthful to say and process - "spell" would have worked just as well. Other niggling translation decisions pop up now and then but otherwise the production is good.

Super Serial: Shakugan no Shana episodes 1 and 2

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 20:45:00 CST

In all my years, I think I've seen maybe 3 good first episodes to an anime series. Shakugan no Shana's first episode doesn't exactly join that lot, but it did get me interested. It's not often that you get the revelation that the protagonist and almost everyone he knows is dead in like the first minute of the show. But this isn't what gives the series potential. It's the way Shana builds on its premise that's most intriguing.

I'm a big Star Trek fan. In its run of 5 television series and 10 movies, it has explored some pretty deep concepts. The Next Generation episode "Remember Me" is of particular relevance. It examines what it would be like to have everyone around you disappear, not just physically, but from existence. In it, Dr. Crusher retained her memories of friends and even family that seemed to have vanished from history. Shakugan no Shana sets up a very similar premise, although what we see in the first episode is only a teaser.

The story begins with Yuji Sakai starting a new school year, a setup so pedestrian that I almost turned the series off right there. The show rather clumsily tries to build up his school life, showing relationships and even rivals - things I don't particularly care about but continued to watch due to my interest in the introduction. Eventually, he and the countless pedestrians on the street are attacked by monsters, ultimately to be saved by a nameless girl with incredible powers. This is our introduction to Shana (a name Yuji gives), who views Yuji as little more than a bothersome insect.

Shana explains in the second episode that Yuji is dead. He can see flames inside certain other people. Anyone who bears a flame is a "torch," the remnant of a person wiped from existence - devoured by the monsters they were attacked by earlier. A torch is destined to be extinguished, and when that happens, it will be as if that person never existed. Holy shit.

Whereas less able writers would have immediately pulled out the line "let's find a way to stop it!" and then churned out some more monster fighting scenes, the second episode of Shana centers on Yuji's concern for a classmate, Hirai, who is now also a torch. Yuji's ensuing struggle to come to terms with Hirai's fate, to rescue her from a situation he barely understands, is gut wrenching, and certainly not something I expected to see so early.

If Shakugan no Shana continues to take the high road, if the series continues to examine the consequences of its premise, then it can really be something amazing. The Star Trek episode made its story into a procedural, something that was ultimately solved by a deus ex machina - the all-powerful technology of Starfleet. I want Shakugan no Shana to wrestle with the theme of existence. I want to see what effect it has on Yuji, who already knows what will ultimately happen to him. What's the meaning of a life in the context of being a torch? Is it a person? Does it have value? I really hope the writers will tackle questions like these. The premise is far too good to waste on a routine action series.

Review: Resident Evil: Degeneration

Sun, 28 Dec 2008 13:15:00 CST

Synopsis

While returning from humanitarian work abroad, Claire Redfield finds herself caught in another outbreak of the T-virus, this time in an airport. Also caught in the outbreak is Senator Ron Davis, a backer of pharmaceutical corporation WilPharma, which rose to prominence after Umbrella's downfall. They are rescued by Leon Kennedy, and soon he and Claire find themselves in the middle of a bioterror plot that could cause more widespread outbreaks of the T-virus. Together the two have to discover the perpetrators of the incident and retrieve whatever data remains of a vaccine.

Plot

Although Resident Evil 4 was one of my favorite Playstation 2 games, I never followed the series very closely. The impression I got from Degeneration was more or less the same one I got from Advent Children; fans will find themselves obliged to give the movie a pass on its shortcomings, while everyone else will simply pass it up. Resident Evil never had a reputation for intelligent writing; it was more about tension, atmosphere, and the elaborate boss fights. This type of thing isn't hard to get right in a game, but translated to cinema, requires a lot more effort.

We can start with the plane crash, which was surprisingly easy to survive for Claire (she was in the airport terminal it crashed into!). Right from the get-go there are flaws in the story's logic. If bioterror incidents are such a problem, especially in a post 9/11 world (the last time I will ever use that phrase, promise), you'd think people would develop protocols to prevent outbreaks on planes and in airports. Hell the WilPharma building, as you'll find out, can detect the presence of the virus automatically. For the importance of the work that WilPharma is doing, you'd think organizations like TerraSave (which Claire works for) would be better informed of the basic purposes of their activities. The subplot about Senator Davis and WilPharma is muddy to begin with, and then gets dropped altogether. Curtis Miller's story seems like it should be important, but is made mostly inconsequential. There are just too many plot threads for an hour and a half long movie, which were poorly developed and poorly presented. All you see is what appears to be the director's love of unnecessary plot twists.

Following the airport incident, Leon and Claire are thrust into an investigation into the bioterrorists that caused it. Unfortunately, there is very little connecting logic between the airport and the events at WilPharm. Instead of a villain with real motivations, we get some hackneyed exposition about greed and politics. It's not that I didn't understand it, it's just that the whole WilPharma angle is more or less irrelevant to the story.

What you want are excitement and scares, but Degeneration delivers too little of either. The opening is promising enough, with a fake-out zombie and some genuine tension. But once the shit hits the fan, the proceedings are disappointingly pedestrian. This is partly because, if you follow the games, you know that Leon and Claire have both survived worse. If the protagonist of Resident Evil 4 can single-handedly slaughter an entire village of ganados infected with plagas parasites, he could probably take out an airport full of ordinary zombies with a sharp stick. Sadly you don't get to see the sweet moves Leon uses in the games; there's barely any shooting to speak of at all. There's no searching for resources, no zombie dogs, nor any of the tricks that the games pull to force you to stay awake. In other words, there's no sense of danger.

When you can see the enemy, when you understand it and know that Claire and Leon understand it too, you have effectively taken the danger out of the situation. These zombies don't hide, run, or even attack very effectively. In fact they're barely in the movie - the franchise's signature bad guys are dealt with in the first 30 minutes, and the rest of the movie is the same corporate conspiracy fluff that pads out the stories of the games.

Degeneration should have been a tight and efficient thriller. It probably could have taken place entirely in the airport. It probably could have produced real scares and excitement by using a little more atmosphere (dark is not an atmosphere). It might even have had a tinge of irony and allegory. Unfortunately the writing is too jeuvenile, too reminiscent of a string of video game cut scenes compiled into a montage. It would have been infinitely more fun to play Degeneration than to watch it.

Characters

Degeneration's convoluted and mostly irrelevant story features the protagonists of Resident Evil 2, Claire and Leon, but they have very little screen time together. Instead, Leon is paired with Angela Miller, a cop who's probably more emotionally distressed than she should be. I didn't really see the point of her character; her presence might have added something to the story had it been more competently told. Why couldn't Claire just take her place? It's not like she was busy doing anything worthwhile in the movie.

For the most part, Claire is not as you remembered her in the game. She became a member of TerraSave, protesting pharmaceutical corporations because apparently all of them love to develop zombie viruses. Anyway, her story could have had real consequences to the film, but they're all too easily dismissed by a few words from Leon. I wanted to see her toting a gun and shooting down zombies, but she effectively becomes a spectator to the last 2/3 of the movie. Her greatest contribution to the boss battle, apparently, is to vent some air.

Leon isn't much better off. His rock-like stoicism is reflected by the stiff facial animations, and he probably could have been replaced by a floating gun altogether. There's no attempt at characterization. The writing staff bet the farm on Angela, and they lost hard. The remaining cast members are of dubious quality. Apparently even Halo-tards can become cops, as Greg, the film's very own redshirt, proves. The over the top assholery of Senator Davis does not belie a caring public servant. Degeneration doesn't have characters. It has paper cutouts, rendered in 3D.

Technical

The quality of 3D seems like a step back in terms of movie 3D of the past year or so, but overall it's still decent. The cinematic angles, backdrops, and technical detail are all spot on. Character designs are good too, except when they start moving. The uncanny valley has gotten some attention in the gaming press as of late, and these characters have set up a colony in it. In stills, Claire and Leon look great. In motion, their bodies have an awkward stiffness. Leon's face is wooden and unchanging, whereas Claire's head can't stop bobbing. Little niggles like that make the characters seem very unnatural. This kind of problem is abundant in Advent Children as well but at least for that movie, Square-Enix covered it up with shitty edititing and weird camerawork.

The music seemed like an afterthought, with some heavy metal tracks during the action scenes and not much else. It's the type of thing that would be too lowbrow and obvious for Paul W.S. Anderson. Think about that. Voice acting is decent if a bit wooden, but then again the script doesn't exactly give much opportunity for the actors to express range. Alyson Court as Claire sounds great - comfortable, natural and believable. Paul Mercier's performance as Leon is almost entirely mumbled in monotone. Laura Bailey does fine as Angela, but Michael Sorich and Crispin Freeman are almost unbearable as Senator Davis and Frederic, respectively. Freeman's horrible English accent is probably the weakest voice work of the movie.

Review: Minami-ke Okawari

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 21:45:00 CST

Synopsis

Okawari continues the Minami-ke series, telling no story in particular about the lives of the Minami sisters. Chiaki is irked by the new neighbor Fuyuki, Kana continues her selfish ways while oblivious to Fujioka's advances, and Haruka is slowly becoming a slave to her sisters.

Plot

The story continues in much the same vein as Minami-ke, with each episode being a self-contained side story about some event or non-event concerning the Minami sisters. There's actually the slightest hint of a story arc this time, though. One concerns Fuyuki, the mild-mannered neighbor boy who may very well be a metaphor for Superman. The other involves Haruka and her dual roles as a star student and as the caretaker of her family. The former subplot was not interesting to me at first but grew on my by the end. Chiaki's semi-antagonistic relationship with Fuyuki sort of makes up for Fuyuki himself, who was a rather boring character to watch. The latter subplot feels like a wasted opportunity but I'm glad the writers decided to at least feature it. I shouldn't write much more lest I spoil it.

Okawari shares more or less the same tone as Minami-ke, but the focus this season is more on the characters than the humor. As far as story structure goes, most episodes begin with a setup, a problem, and by the end a lesson is usually learned. Sometimes that expectation is defied, and it feels (strangely enough) like you got robbed whenever Kana doesn't get her comeuppance. What Okawari does well is let these life lessons come subtly. Usually you see just a facial expression or hear an offhand remark, and that's it - but you know the character has changed or grown because of that. It's a very Japanese storytelling technique. I like it. You won't get any South Park style "I learned something today" monologues (which in themselves use the lack of subtlety ironically), and it suits the style of the series.

One thing Okawari improves on over the first season is the use of the supporting cast. Thankfully, their roles are mostly cut down in orer to put more of an emphasis on the sisters. Makoto, Minami-ke's Jar-Jar Binks, was toned down to Attack of the Clones levels. I'm thankful for it all, but the stories they do take part in don't really need their presence. Hayami, the senior, makes a few appearances that are particularly shoehorned in. Fuyuki's side story with Chiaki also seemed pretty pointless until the very end of the series.

The biggest problem I have with Okawari is Haruka's brief story arc, which is spread very thinly across a few episodes. It's the biggest missed opportunity of the series. I can't say too much about it, but there was a chance to see her really grow as a human being. Chiaki and Kana mostly hinder Haruka's right to pursue her own ambitions. Although she caters to the others out of her own free will, it wouldn't have been out of character for her to find her own fulfillment once in a while. When Haruka's story is introduced, you think the writers will examine this conflict in earnest, but they almost completely sidestep the question. The resolution was a letdown; you don't get the impression that Haruka gained anything.

Thanks to overall better writing, I'd say Okawari is an improvement over the first season. The balance between humor and drama, and the screen time of the sisters, worked out better. Still, Minami-ke is ultimately a show without a real purpose. It's neither daring enough to live up to its dramatic promise, nor is it outright hilarious enough to satiate as a comedy. What it does, though is affirm the important bonds of family without overly feminizing its underlying sweetness.

Characters

Okawari places more emphasis on the sisters than the first season. The interactions between them maintain the same dynamic from the first season, but lacks that spouts of quick, witty dialogue that I so enjoyed. In its place you get something more nuanced, a method of expressing ideas hidden under layers of tangentially related words. Look to the scenes where Kana talks about her premonitions for examples. That's not to say that Kana and Chiaki aren't always at odds, or that Chiaki's adulation of Haruka is any less forthright than it used to be.

The supporting cast is mostly the same as in the first season, although their roles are more ancillary than they used to be. Their characterizations are also somewhat more distinct, with Hosaka going even more over the top and Uchida becoming more pronouncedly stupid. Some characters really had to be forced into the plot, such as Hayami and Shuichi (although that was a nice self-referential dig). The major new character is Fuyuki, who moves in next door to the Minami sisters. His timid personality doesn't sit well with Chiaki, who sees him as spineless. Ironically, Haruka is much the same way, yet Chiaki worships her. Pairing Fuyuki and Chiaki was a smart choice, at it shows us more about Chiaki and her outlook.

For the most part, Okawari follows the precedent of the first season as far as characters go. Although the side cast is more or less extraneous, I found the sisters more interesting to watch. They embody the complexities of sibling rivalry very well. I just wish their development was slightly more significant.

Technical

Okawari was produced by a different studio than Minami-ke, but pretty much all of the audio assets were carried over, as well as the voice talent. As a result, even though the visuals are different, the second season keeps a strong continuity with the first. The character designs and animation are more polished and consistent this time around, though the decision to blank out most of the extras is a bit weird. The color palette has been given an overhaul too, particularly for sunset and twilight scenes. As with any production, I noticed the attention the animators gave to lighting. Minami-ke Okawari is a surprisingly polished production, and the reuse of assets keeps the new season familiar while the new visuals make it look fresh.

Review: Lucky Star OVA

Thu, 4 Dec 2008 22:15:00 CST

Synopsis

Konata, Kagami, Tsukasa, Miyuki, and friends are back with a new series of vignettes exploring their everyday lives. Words like "adventure" and "whacky" can be interspersed into the first sentence as desired.

Plot

When I reviewed Lucky Star last year (has it really been that long?), I came to the conclusion that it was cute and warm but ultimately just a bit of fluff. There was very little substance to the comedy. But I'll give the show one thing; it is accessible thanks to its format and moe aesthetic. Quite some time passed, and an OVA was released. Fortunately, this work trims away a lot of the stuff I didn't like from the series, leaving behind a product that surprisingly focuses more on character-driven drama than comedy.

The OVA is presented as a string of short segments, basically stuff you'd find in the episodes. There's no overarching narrative or ulterior purpose. The first segment centers around Minami's dog Cherry, which I didn't find particularly entertaining. It suffers from the same problem as the series, which is that the writers' idea of humor isn't really mine. I mean really... is a dog that doesn't respond to speech all that funny?

The next 4 segments center on various activities the girls partake in, and emphasize the friendship of the central foursome. These parts present effective humor driven by some central personality trait of the characters, although it avoids the kind of fish out of water humor that made Saturday Night Live so lame. It's the kind of thing I really like to see in comedy, and dare I say, the Lucky Star OVA nails it. It's not like we really learn anything new about the characters (well, maybe we learn something new about Kagami), but the cast is just easy to identify with, and the situations bring out a little spark of humanity in all of them.

The 6th story concerns a visit to the pet shop that ends in a surreal, frankly disturbing montage involving another Kadokawa Shoten mascot. It's probably the most daring and experimental thing associated with the Lucky Star franchise, and completely uncharacteristic of the rest of the series. I like it for its freshness but honestly, a vignette like that really needs some narrative context. Otherwise, it's just... wrong.

No Lucky Star production is complete without the Lucky Channel segment, and this time we get the whole thing in live action. Unfortunately, Akira is replaced by her voice actress Ai Nonaka, who's too nice and agreeable to be funny. Shiraishi is also back to my delight, and buoys the scene with his natural awesomeness but sadly doesn't save it. What you really want when watching this is a distillation of all the Lucky Channel shenanigans into one long, symbolic shenanigan. Instead, it's a watered down imitation.

I was surprised at how well the OVA worked. There are weak parts but the bulk of it is funny and ultimately endearing. The lack of a connective exposition does not, for the most part, hurt the effect of the skits. But there's still no escaping the feeling that the writers still have trouble discerning what's funny and what's... not.

Characters

I can more or less just skip this section because the characters are all as you remember them. Like I mentioned before, there's nothing new here except for what we learn from Kagami's night out. This time around there's a more honest attempt to bring out the qualities we like in each character. Tsukasa and Kagami's sisterly relationship is explored in more depth, and what we see is true of so many sibling relationships. Here we see life in the art. The concept is simple, but it's something people can connect with, and it makes Kagami and Tsukasa both more relevant and endearing. Kuroi-sensei, the teacher, has also benefitted from her appearance in the OVA. She's the closest thing to a mother figure for Konata, and her materal inclinations extend to the rest of the gang. Her role deepens a dimension of her that we don't see as much in the series.

What's disappointing is that neither Konata's dad nor cousin Yui make an appearance. I'd wager any scene involving either of them would be funnier than the opening segment, but I guess we'll never know. The OVA doesn't fit everyone in but it comes close. However, there's no question that the production is about Konata, Kagami, Tsukasa, and Miyuki.

Technical

Like with the series, there's not a whole lot to say about the technical production. Aside from a nice use of wide angle shots and weird sound in the pet shop story, everything is undeniably Lucky Star. The live action Lucky Channel follows in the amateur TV show aesthetic of previous Lucky Channels and end credits.

It's so hard to make grass that doesn't look like pubes.

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 18:00:00 CST

Fact: if you try to draw grass in a mound shape, it will look like pubes unless it's highly stylized. So, like the new design? I feel I have accomplished my goal of making it look largely like the previous site, except more open. Closed is Web 1.0. Open is Web 2.0.

Makigumo is overdue for a review but I'm having a hard time fitting anime into my leisure activities these days. As a result you'll just have to settle for a Lucky Star OVA review some time this week.

Miscellaneous Tidbits:

Art book: Makoto Shinkai's The Sky of the Longing for Memories. I have no idea what the title means, but this book is sort of like something I've always wanted: a collection of the guy's amazing art. Unfortunately, the pages are very small and the pictures are smaller still. I love the idea of the book; it really should have been presented in high resolution pictures on a CD or something.
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya volume 1: this is the first volume of the adaptation of the popular novel and anime series, but I have to say I'm sick of reading the introduction story. But for the sake of narrative structure I guess it has to happen. The manga looks like it'll tell the story in chronological order.
Neon Genesis Evangelion volume 11: now crediting khara as well for the original concept. Volume 11 is very near the end, and I don't anticipate more than 1 or 2 volumes before the series is over. Sadamoto's take on Kaworu is weird, and I'm interested to see how this would fit in with the series conclusion.

They say time is the fire in which we burn...

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 21:00:00 CDT

They also say I should use one space after a period instead of two, but that just sounds like crazy talk. I haven't updated in a while and you can thank Soulcalibur IV for that. Like god damn. Getting better at Soulcalibur is perhaps more important to me than even my breeding instinct. Yeah I'd rather be pro at Soulcalibur than fuck. See, you just can't get this kind of info anywhere else.

I nerfed the comments section again because I'm not smart enough to figure out a good anti-spam system on my own. So if you want to comment on my posts and are a very dedicated individual, you can mail me. Maybe I'll start a forum for you to not post on, we'll see.

Now I'm told that this is some kind of anime site, and my posts should generally follow that theme. The series du jour is Blade of the Immortal, which is based on Hiroaki Samura's ultraviolent punk samurai manga of the same title. What makes the manga so good is its unapologetic willingness to tackle taboo subjects, which helps to examine a complex set of moralities arising out of feudal Japan.

What also makes the manga so good is Samura's unique penciling, which perfectly captures the melancholy mood of the story and puts violence on the same artistic level as, say, a delicate sakura blossom. Unfortunately, the first episode of the series is an unfocused introduction to Manji, our immortal samurai hero, which feels like it's played more for thrills than for any of the depth of meaning the manga had.

And this is why manga adaptations usually irk me. A production studio has to understand that merely having the characters on screen, enacting the series of events depicted in the manga, is not an adaptation. Blade of the Immortal is at its core about a profoundly injured, almost hopeless man whose sense of justice forced him to unwillingly commit a horrible crime. This feeling of sadness and inevitability was perfectly captured in the first volume, and even though Manji gets a chance to redeem himself, you always felt that this answer he finds only offers a little solace. You might call it a quantum of solace.

The first episode of the anime (after a terrible opening sequence) is not so estimable. The major events of the manga are there, the characters are more or less as they should be, but the episode lacks the psychological punch. It's like a midi recording of music on a computer. The notes are right, but there's a certain amount of texture and expressiveness missing. A few events from late in the manga are also shuffled in, which makes for a confusing second episode as the pace of the story is probably going to be accelerated.

I don't want to call it early, but even without this anime adaptation out I'd recommend buying and reading the manga. There are 19 volumes out in English so there's plenty to catch up on.

Super Serial: Minami-ke Okawari episode 1

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 16:30:00 CDT

The second season of Minami-ke brings about some changes, mostly in the art style. I liked the look of the first series well enough; I'm not really sure why the switch in production studios was necessary. The look isn't that much closer to that of the manga either.

There's not much to say. I'm always appreciative of more Minami-ke. This first episode, while not superbly awesome, is still a good reintroduction to the characters. The quality dialogue seems to be intact, and even the Mako-chan segments aren't unbearable.

Review: Minami-ke

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 18:45:00 CDT

Synopsis

Minami-ke is a slice-of-life anime that follows the mundane lives of the three Minami sisters: Chiaki, Kana, and Haruka. It also gives a lot of attention to their classmates in elementary, middle, and high school. Kana is usually the mischievous troublemaker with Chiaki frequently as her target. Haruka is the responsible older sister who everyone idolizes. Due to their large network of friends and acquaintances, the sisters are always assured eventful days.

Plot

Minami-ke doesn't have much in the way of a story; the most you'll get is some rudimentary background information about the sisters and the slightest hint of a family history. Like many shows of this style, episodes are typically disjointed; they play out like comic strips. This show does a better job of preserving a narrative throughout each episode, but the series as a whole is still very episodic.

Of course, for a sitcom-anime like this, the focus should be on good characters and humor rather than depth of story. Usually I like my comedies to have good drama at their cores. Effectively balancing humor with drama makes the series feel less artificial, and helps to identify with the characters. Minami-ke doesn't do this, and spends most of its time setting up the jokes. Fortunately, the writing is of high enough quality that the humor works, but without true dramatic writing, every episode still has a whiff of the Sunday funnies about it. I should say that this isn't intrinsically a bad thing. But if the series is going to be about life, it should, in some capacity, speak to our lives. Minami-ke does this only slightly, and that feels like a missed opportunity. I would love to have had more dramatic episodes, especially when the characters are so good.

All right, so it's not all serious with this show but the humor works and I love the dialogue. The exchanges between characters are usually sharp and witty, and the themes used are not very culture-specific. The style of comedy is quite Japanese, but that's just the flavor of the show. The essence is very much enjoyable for everyone. A few too many episodes are devoted to side characters, only a few of which are decent. I'd say that's the biggest irritant of the series; it spends too much time away from the characters you want to watch.

Luckily, a lot of other things work. Minami-ke features the greatest video game parody montage ever, and the running gag with Hosaka and his imagined scenarios are over the top but infinitely amusing. My favorite moment would have to be the segment in episode 11 where Chiaki is kicking around a pebble (which she names Yamada). It starts out as a very ordinary yet insightful peek into an elementary student's mind. From there the story becomes an epic journey, showing the bonds of friendship and adversity. Then the conclusion gives us an ironic twist that is Seinfeldian in its execution, heartbreaking in a way, but still quite hilarious. All of this happens in the space of three miutes - it really is an extraordinary piece of storytelling.

Before I move on, I really must complain about the ending. It's not that I didn't like it, it was just very out of form for the series. This character, who you barely see throughout the show, just shows up and hijacks it. By the last episode, you've grown almost posessive of the sisters and their slight naivete, to the point where it feels like they're sullied by what happens. Yes it's really weird and possibly creepy to complain about such a thing, but you know... that's how much I took to the cast.

Characters

I spent most of the plot section blathering on about how much I like the characters, so I'll just reiterate once that the show uses them well. Kana (the middle sister) in particular is deceptively complex. She starts out almost as a cliche; the zany one who has to be that way to serve as a focal point for the humor. She goes through a change by the fourth episode, and you see that she really wants to be a manipulator, but her success rate is inconsistent at best. She's also a bit dumb, but her out-of-touch quality is really the result of her coming up with scenarios in her head and acting them out without consulting anyone. It's a surprising amount of nuance for this kind of show, and as a result, I absolutely loved every minute Kana was on screen.

Chiaki, the youngest, idolizes Haruka. Conversely, her relationship with Kana is roughly analogous to the relationship between Stan and Cartman on South Park. Chiaki is quite detached and almost world-weary, and the way she berates those around her is impressive to save the least. Sometimes, she'll buy into whatever scheme Kana comes up with, and the results are some of the show's best jokes.

Haruka is the oldest sister, and has the unreasonable burden of having to care for the other two while still going through high school. Her innocence and beauty are played up, but we see that she can be lazy or even violent at times. That makes her the most realistic of the sisters, and I'll just use the word "endearing" as a euphemism for "if she was real I'd marry her." I do love that she had a stint as her school's "legendary badass."

The supporting characters are hit and miss, and sometimes copies of one of the sisters to very little effect. Makoto, Chiaki's classmate, is the most annoying for his overblown melodramatics and general un-funniness. He gets too much screen time, and even his cross-dressing as "Mako-chan" quickly becomes an unwelcome gimmick. Most of the others are bland and serve no comedic function. Hosaka, Haruka's senior classmate, is always watchable. He has too high an opinion of himself, and much like Kana, acts on ideas before consulting anyone (or his own common sense).

Giving so much time to supporting characters (especially one as insipid as Makoto) is a serious weakness of the show. However, the relationship dynamics of the three sisters and their characterization are excellent and strong enough that you can mostly forgive the worse parts.

Technical

The character designs tend to look a little uniform, but the cast establishes itself well enough to overcome that. The animation for the most part isn't worth discussing because it's not conducive to the show's purpose. I would like to note, though, that Minami-ke has the happiest opening and ending songs ever.

The series truly comes alive in the voice acting. Inoue Marina nails Kana, complete with comedic inflections and a wide range of moods. Chihara Minori's performance as Chiaki is mostly in monotone, almost robotic, which is odd on its own but really accentuates her more emotive lines. Satou Rina plays Haruka in a generic way but it fits her bashful, somewhat motherly personality. Ono Daisuke, an alumnus from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya along with Chihara Minori, gives a suitably over the top satirical interpretation of Hosaka.

Super Serial: Minami-ke episodes 6 and 7

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 20:00:00 CDT

This will be the last of the Super Serial posts on Minami-ke because I think it's pointless to blog a series to its completion, and then review it. Episode 6 revolves around Makoto, who (like every other male character) becomes infatuated with Haruka and will go to insane lengths to get close to her. I really hate Makoto, and if you refer to my complaints about histrionics in Happy Lesson, you'll know why. He embodies everything that initially turned me off to Kana in the first episode, and his schtick gets old very quickly. Unfortunately, there are a few more Makoto centered episodes to follow, and that is a grating nuisance in an otherwise good series.

Episode 7 introduces some of Haruka's history as a junior high student, who was christened "banchou" by her class. My translation interpreted the term as "badass" with the meaning being something like "gang leader," i.e. a jeuvenile delinquent. I guess Japan has a problem with unruly junior high schoolers, although my personal feeling is that I could fight and defeat an unlimited number of them. From the characters' standpoint, Haruka's appeal is her beauty. I think that's why she has become a great character; we as the audience understand the allure of her beauty, and sympathize with the fact that she's the focal point of all these schemes from which she is powerless to escape.

Review: Samurai Champloo

Sat, 02 Aug 2008 18:00:00 CDT

Synopsis

In a deadly brawl, Fuu meets two fighers - Mugen and Jin - who have incredible skills with the sword. Mugen is an unruly wanderer from Ryukyu who lives by his isntinct rather than his intellect. Jin is a disciplined former student of the Mujuushin school of swordplay, and carries himself with a calm, controlled demeanor. They are polar opposites, but Fuu enlists them to help her find a samurai who smells like sunflowers. Along the way, they get caught up in government intrigue, assassins, bad mushrooms, and everything in between.

Plot

If you're familiar with Watanabe Shinichiro, you probably know about his "storytelling" methods. Samurai Champloo does have a central narrative, but the episodes don't really link together. We get a sequence of events that probably aren't in chronological order, and they each tell a different story. Some are more interesting than others, although only the later ones really hit hard.

The first episode is promising enough, but the subsequent ones are driven more by style and expectation rather than the actual events contained within. This is a major weakness of the series because it boils down to little more than a bunch of creatively done action sequences. Watanabe doesn't really draw the viewer in with that one episode that really lets you know what the show is about. All the great anime series have it, including Cowboy Bebop, the predecessor to this show.

Samurai Champloo could stand on its own through the merit of its style and creativity, combining the disparate genres of samurai and hip-hop, but there simply isn't enough substance to warrant true interest until the conclusion. Everything culminates in the last few episodes, and the continuous energy and plot advancement make for a very memorable ending. But the buildup is weak, a bit too weak, to warrant much investment in the grand finale.

Characters

Fuu, Mugen, and Jin are the central trio of this show. Fuu is a young girl who seeks a samurai who smells like sunflowers, and is willing to travel all across Japan to find him. She has a strong sense of morality and compassion, which sometimes feels a bit artificial. No real person could possibly be as compassionate and sympathetic as she is. You could almost say she's one-dimensionally kind.

Mugen is a ruffian, but eventually grows to care about Fuu and her journey. He doesn't have an understanding of the world around him, nor does he really care. All that matters to him is fighting - when he comes across someone strong, his one urge is to defeat that person in battle. His unique style mixes break dancing and swordplay, which is really awesome to see. As a character, he sometimes loses his edge because, well, we don't get the sense that he wants to be in the series. It's a strange thing to say about an anime character, but there are times when you really do wonder why Watanabe bothered to write him in at all.

Jin is similarly detached, although he is propelled by his own morality rather than his instincts. He can seem cold sometimes, and it's difficult to see if he develops throughout the series. What gives Mugen and Jin life is their interactions with each other. Frequently, Watanabe shows us how they deal with a situation individually and as a pair. This is where we learn the most about the two - their characters are complimentary to each other. It's an interesting mechanic that works well for this show, and should be used more in anime.

Technical

Watanabe has never skimped on the animation, and Samurai Champloo continues his habit of merging unorthodox styles into one. Everything from the character design (note how Fuu's dagger is decorated like a cell phone) to the music and fighting reminds you that hip-hop and feudal Japan can indeed fit together. His sense of humor comes out through visuals as well, and there are a lot of sight gags in the baseball episode.

The music is similarly infused with the feudal/hip-hop fusion. Unfortunately, this leads to one of the worst opening sequences I've ever seen: utterly dry lyrics and a flat beat do not make for an absorbing introduction. Aside from some inconsistent character art, the production values are solid.

Super Serial: Minami-ke episodes 2-5

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 16:30:00 CDT

At last, the beach episode. I was wondering when that was going to happen. Let's get down to it: I wasn't terribly enamored with the first 3 episodes. They spend some time setting up the supporting cast (each sister's respective classmates), but it all played out like pretty standard fare. However, episodes 4 and 5 brought about a change. Kana got toned down, and the relationship dynamics of the 3 sisters got fleshed out more. And I mean it when I say "fleshed out."

Truthfully, I like this show. I didn't think I would, because there are so many others with a similar premise. But the dialogue is sharper than it has any right to be, and the characters are amazingly watchable. Minami-ke is hitting its stride early; the humor is actually funny, and the fanservice doesn't hurt either.

By episode 5, Haruka has become a full-fledged character with her own set of motivations and development potential. We're also introduced to Hosaka, who is the greatest thing I've seen in anime since Lucky Star's Shiraishi Minoru. I'm also glad they pulled back on the pun-based jokes.

Addendum: Bokusatsu Tenshi Dokuro-chan 2

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 19:30:00 CDT

I don't think this is worth writing a full review for, as it's just 4 short segments on top of an already-short series. As you may know, I'm a fan of this crude, idiotic, yet calculatedly so series about a busty and unstable angel living with an ordinary school boy. The cast is back, Sakura is still as terrified ever, and Dokuro is reliably batshit crazy.

Nothing has changed, in terms of the structure of each segment and the characters themselves. The humor might justifiably be called formulaic, but I'll be damned if any other show I've seen straddles the line between sexual tension and terror half as well as Dokuro-chan does. It's more of the same, but that's really not a bad thing in this case.

Full review of Bokusatsu Tenshi Dokuro-chan

Super Serial: Minami-ke episode 1

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:45:00 CDT

"This story is a simple illustration of the three sisters of the Minami household. Please do not expect too much out of it."

That's what the disclaimer says. Whether it's an ironic statement about the humor featured within, or a glib admission of the quality of the show, is something I intend to find out. I'm not sure what it is that keeps drawing me to these slice of life style comedy shows. Is it the cute female characters? Yes, absolutely. Now I'm sure.

There are several ingredients that all such shows have in common. You need to have an impossibly catchy opening tune, which Minami-ke has. You need your central comedic trio: the whacky just-for-laughs person (boke, Curly), the straight and serious person (tsukkomi, Moe), and the 3rd wheel nice person (Larry). Lucky Star has Konata, Kagami, and Tsukasa, for example. This show has the sisters Kana, Chiaki, and Haruka. A pretty standard setup, in other words.

Pretty much everything is standard in this episode: the situations, humor, and voice performances. I do like Chiaki, who is almost android-like in her stolidness. Her voice is suitably mechanical, with a few exceptions. Kana is the hyperactive, bumbling ingredient in our stew of ordinariness. Her antics feel forced and obvious, but hey you have to start somewhere. There's not a lot to say about the oldest sister Haruka, who generally ties the household together (because, inexplicably, there is usually a lack of parents in these shows).

Overall, the situational humor, the audio production, and the characters very much remind me of Ichigo Mashimaro. So, to sum up (this is for you Jerry, you illiterate boob):

+ I dig the art style.
+ Catchy opening.
+ Solid voice work.
+ Chiaki was off-putting at first, but she's funny when she demeans Kana.
- Nothing really inventive in terms of humor.
- Kana's zaniness is forced and a bit hackneyed
? The kissing... don't know how I feel about that.

Histrionic Newtype Tribute DVD: January 2004

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 02:30:00 CDT

Part 16: Happy Lesson

Contrary to popular belief, Happy Lesson is not my educational video about sexual technique. What it is, is a sensation. It's got a manga, 2 OVAs, 2 TV series, a bunch of drama CDs, and even a Dreamcast game. As far as I can tell, it's about some dude who lives with 5 of his teachers who all want to pretend to be his mother. You know, as teachers do.

Hitotose Chitose is our impossibly lucky protagonist, who for most of the first episode does nothing but overreact to things. Look, writers, there's funny and there's overwrought. Learn the difference. Anyway, there's some kind of parent-teacher night at school coming up, and Chitose's 5 roommates compete over who will play mother for him.

That's where it gets a little... weird. Because this is obviously a harem anime, and yet it's so clearly written by an overindulgent perv with a serious mother fetish. They have theme bars in Japan for that; no need to commit it to celluloid. I should also say that the show is extremely unrealistic.

See, I've lived with girls, and yes it was a roller coaster of misery, fun, anguish, sexual tension, and awkwardness. But not once did I ever lose my Steve McQueenian stoicism. And that's what irritates me about Happy Lesson. It's like, every time someone implies to Chitose that he might not live alone, he acts like he'd just been shot in the lung after having been spotted sodomizing a dog. It's just melodrama for the sake of it, and it gets really old after a few minutes. If he's really that miserable about living with beautiful women, why doesn't he move out or kill himself? The answer, you'll find at the end of the first episode, is because he's a spineless little bitch.

Review: Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 21:00:00 CDT

Synopsis

The Wings of Honneamise (hoh-NAY-ah-meez) is set on an alternate earth in the kingdom of Honneamise, which has just begun exploring the possibility of sending a man into space. The general public thinks such an endeavor is fruitless, and the government wants to use it to lure a rival nation into war. Shirotsugh Lhadatt, a directionless slacker, has been part of the space program. After the death of a colleague and a meeting with Riquinni Nonderaiko - a young girl with a strong faith in god - he is inspired to see the space program succeed. However, a series of major setbacks tests his faith in this vision.

Plot

This film premiered in 1987, over 20 years too late to coincide with John F. Kennedy's challenge to America to go to the moon. The lunar landing was done with, and the space race concluded, by then. From an American perpsective, I'd say The Wings of Honneamise is almost a nihilistic story. Unfortunately, I'm not privy to the Japanese perspective. Is it inspiring? Is it optimistic or hopeful?

I find the film's treatment of space exploration odd, and more than a little gutsy. Shirotsugh is a down-and-out bum, basically. The film may be about his struggle to find value in his mission, but it's also about the struggle of an entire nation to do the same. No matter how history has romanticized our own space race, you'd at least think a good portion of Americans believed space exploration was a noble venture. The message I got from the ending was not an inspiring or hopeful one. It felt like a downer. The intention, I can only guess, was to do the opposite. Despite this, Shirotsugh's speech was carefully worded to cancel out whatever sense of triumph he (and his country) should rightly be feeling. Even the ending montage seemed like a condemnation of humanity's history rather than a celebration of it.

So what's the deal? Why should I sit down in front of a screen to be lectured about our civilization's follies? Honestly, I shouldn't. The story being told hinges on Shirotsugh's awakening, which is supposed to parallel that of the human race. Except it doesn't, and I ended up feeling a bit cheated. I appreciate that The Wings of Honneamise tells a different kind of story - a more honest, more mature depiction of the struggles of a downtrodden man in an apathetic world. But in order to succeed, the story has to show that people can rise above their wrongdoings. Without that crucial reassurance, it's all for nothing. That's what I think this movie is: pointless.

As a film about hope and vision, The Wings of Honneamise doesn't hold up. It's much more suited as a work of nihilism. There are two moments toward the middle of the film where Shirotsugh, despondent from a critical setback of the program, acts violently toward his benefactors Riquinni and Manna. These events are brushed aside immediately, and I found that extremely unsettling. The fact that the world can go on, business as usual, no matter what wonderful or terrible thing happens, unnerves me greatly. That, ultimately, is the effect of this movie. I like to think that the entire world listened to Neil Armstrong's broadcast from the moon. It was an event that defined a generation. Now go see The Wings of Honneamise. Could you honestly say the same about Shirotsugh reaching orbit?

Characters

Although the anime features the entire staff of the eponymous Royal Space Force, the three main characters are Shirotsugh, Riquinni, and Manna. Shirotsugh, who volunteers to be rocketed into orbit, is a reversal of the traditional astronaut stereotype. He's not noble, confident, or even very likable. The film is about his journey to find the maturity and conviction to follow through with the mission, and that part is done admirably. Just to be clear, I think Shirotsugh is very bland for the leading role. But he is an everyman in the truest sense of the word, and that's something you just don't see much of in film. His rise from being a nobody to being a national celebrity is interesting, and is treated with care and a sort of frankness.

The motivating force behind Shirotsugh's transformation is Riquinni, who spends her days warning people of god's judgment. She doesn't really believe in the goodness of man, but sees space as the way to a world without boundaries. Essentially, it's big enough for people to leave each other alone. This vision, this optimism for the future, is what ends up driving Shirotsugh to accomplish what he does. The only problem is, going back to my plot evaluation, it ends up being wrong (or at least it's suggested to be wrong). This shows the contrary nature of the movie. Riquinni's hopes are meant to be adopted by the rest of the country, but this ends up having very little effect. Riquinni herself is supposed to be the purity of ideal that spurs Shirotsugh to greatness, yet even she is not immune to the result of his desperation. I could live with these layers of complexity if they had a greater purpose, but they seem tossed in out of the blue and forgotten about.

The last main character, Manna, is an orphan girl who lives with Riquinni. She's mostly mute and isn't very friendly to Shirotsugh for most of the film. I'm not sure what to make of her, but she does seem to share Riquinni's wonder for the cosmos. She is mostly an extraneous character, but at one point is on the receiving end of Shirotsugh's depression. Again, this is an instance of Shirotsugh acting out the darker part of his psyche, yet he never has to pay for it. Why? Manna serves to demonstrate that as a symbol of self-improvement, Shirotsugh is unsuitable. But the event does show that Shirotsugh is right in his thoughts about the space mission: despite the magnitude of this accomplishment, mankind is no closer to shedding its imperfections. The act of leaving earth might have had a momentary impact, but humans can never leave their nature behind.

Technical

What really irritated me about The Wings of Honneamise was the score. It grated on me while watching, as it is a tuneless 80s mashup of synths and percussion. Although it gives the movie a distinct character, I think the sound is hideous. Thankfully, much of the movie is without music of any kind, leaving only dialogue and sparse background noises. I'm not a fan of the sound design but at least it wasn't saturated with that awful music.

The visual production is solid. The alternate earth felt truly alternate, showing an industrialized society just on the cusp of the modern era. The animation is solid too, though most of the on-screen movement is fairly pedestrian. Character designs reflect the 80s style, and it got difficult to tell characters apart at times. I believe the designer was Sadamoto Yoshiyuki, who we all know is capable of great things.

Another area in which the production falters is the voice acting. It's just something about the quality of the recording along with the performances that sounds low-budget. Typically, Japanese voice actors are still pretty solid even on their worst days. This time, a lot of the performances seem lifeless or forced. Morimoto Leo, Shirotsugh's voice actor, sounds especially like he's phoning it in.

Review: Princess Mononoke

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:00:00 CDT

Synopsis

Ashitaka, a prince of a hidden mountain village, suffers a strange illness after killing a monstrous wild boar. He sets off to Iron Town to find out what caused the boar to fall into a murderous rage, and possibly to find a cure for his ailment. Ashitaka discovers that in order to sustain her town, Lady Eboshi is ordering her workers to cut down the nearby forest to power their furnaces. This is making the forest spirits angry, and both sides are gearing up for war. Meanwhile, he also meets a human girl, San, who was raised among wolves in the wild. Her unique relationship with the forest spirits is Ashitaka's only hope of reconciling man and beast.

Plot

This film is rather atypical of Miyazaki Hayao's work. It's much darker than anything he has done previously, and his usual sense of optimism is toned down slightly. Princess Mononoke is definitely not geared toward the child audience, as it contains several decapitations and dismemberments. The themes involved in the story are also slightly more abstract. Through Ashitaka, Miyazaki makes it clear that war and hatred can not lead to anything constructive. Although there are strong environmentalist overtones as well, they are dulled somewhat by the apparent compromises that had to be made. I wouldn't call this a cop-out, though; the story is nuanced enough to convey the need for coexistence.

The audience is sympathetic to the human cause, since the forest spirits are seen as the first aggressors. The inhabitants of Iron Town are constantly in danger of attack by wolves, and the only way they can make a living is by extracting iron from the forest. Eventually, Ashitaka spends time with the woodland critters and we begin to see their side of the conflict. This was an inspired decision, as the situation becomes no longer black and white. It also puts the audience in Ashitaka's shoes, as both sides are built up to be equally likable and equally threatening.

The last act is much too long, featuring one particularly slow scene that is neither suspenseful nor meaningful. Pacing on the whole is uneven, but the middle act is noticeably better than the rest. The violence feels out of place at times, especially when the director isn't quite sure whether it should be scary or funny. Despite a few imperfections, the story generally maintains a level of intrigue. It can get preachy, but the message is complex and, I feel, worthwhile.

Characters

The main character, Ashitaka, embodies the central conflict of the story. He is torn between his love of nature and his compassion for the suffering citizens of Iron Town. He is infected by the hatred of a fallen forest spirit, and it endangers his life. Still, Ashitaka's sense of duty keeps him going. He's watchable enough to keep us moving along the film, and the way he struggles to maintain his allegiances is a good way to help us understand his motivations.

When San is introduced, she and Ashitaka get off to a rocky start. After a while, she begins to sympathize with him as she is reminded of her own human nature. Miyazaki downplays the inherent conflict in San's personality between her upbringing as a wolf and her human nature, but it still plays an important part in defining her. San is very much Ashitaka's mirror, a girl raised by beasts who comes to understand her humanity. It serves to show a differing perspective, though by the time we fully understand her, Ashitaka has already carried out that role. I think perhaps San is not Miyazaki's most empowered female character, but she and Ashitaka together make a fine combo.

Lady Eboshi, probably the closest thing to a villain in the film (aside from scores of faceless samurai), is motivated mostly by her sense of caring for her people. Of course, she is the natural opposite of San, and the two clash both physically and verbally. Eboshi could have been written more consistently, as she turns from a benevolent matriarch into a bounty hunter-esque figure toward the end. What we get isn't bad, but given the consistency of the writing for the others, it is a bit disappointing.

The forest spirits are there to generate conflict, showing that there is no easy solution to their situation. I can appreciate this role, even if they're not given enough time to do a whole lot more. If I had to complain, I'd say a lot of the dialogue is horribly stilted. Part of it is in the delivery, but none of the words sound natural - not even for the period.

Technical

I had the privilege of seeing this in theaters several times, so I can appreciate as well as anyone else the marvelous production here. Miyazaki's films have always gotten the star treatment, and Princess Mononoke features some inventive action sets and superb scenery. The character designs retain the style of Miyazaki's previous films, which works a little against the more mature themes of this movie. The animation, too, smacks of a high budget. As far as the audio goes, Princess Mononoke features a suitably grand score, supported by top class sound effects. Combined with the visuals, you feel that Miyazaki pulled of that Lord of the Rings epic feel before Peter Jackson did.

Unfortunately, the English localization isn't as flattering. Lead actor Billy Crudup is frequently wooden as Ashitaka, and Claire Danes's San is amateurish. Billy Bob Thornton is overly conspicuous as Jigo, unable to tuck away his anomalous Southern twang. Gillian Anderson and Keith David are laudable in their respective performances, though.

Dichotomous Newtype Tribute DVD: July 2003

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:00:00 CDT

Part 14: King of Bandit(s) Jing

I'll be going short form tonight as I gear up to do some reviews. Note to self: Makigumo is a review site, not some lame anime blog about 6 year old shows. Right away, it's not a good sign that the producers apparently failed English grammar. Jing is the king of bandit in the same way I'm the king of anime blogger.

+ The first episode is actually pretty watchable.
+ I like Jing, the main character. He balances cool with confidence without being cocky.
+ The design of the world is desert-like and post-apocalyptic, which is always a plus for me. Not super imaginative, but it works.
- Kir... what the fuck? A lecherous talking bird? Is this show really promoting human-avian bestiality?
- The first episode relies on WAY too many coincidences; more like conceits of the plot.

My take: I'd be interested to see more, but the first episode is so forced and artificial that it makes Pam Anderson look natural by comparison.

Part 15: K.O. Beast

Contrary to popular belief, K.O. Beast is not a documentary based on my kumite days. The DVD happened to contain episode 4, so I had no idea what was going on or what the world was like. The characters established themselves pretty quickly, though.

+ The environment design is pretty cool.
- You know that Japanese kind of ham-fisted slapstick humor? Well this show has too much of it, and it's painfully predictable.

My take: Coming into the middle did not allow me to get situated as well as I had liked. I didn't find the characters terribly interesting, nor did I get the sense that the story was going anywhere.

Humdrum Newtype Tribute DVD: May 2003

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 13:00:00 CDT

Part 13: Samurai Deeper Kyo

Can somebody explain to me what a samurai deeper is? I must have missed the memo on that. It's like the producers picked 2 random English words out of a hat. I tried my hand at it and here's what I came up with: Beaver Taster Kyo, Clam Diver Kyo, Fur Burglar Kyo, Carpet Muncher Kyo, and Vagina Stimulator Kyo. Anyway, Samurai Deeper Kyo is not about fellating ancient Japan's warrior caste (at least, I don't think it is).

The first episode, titled "Road to Armageddon," contains a surprisingly little amount of Armageddoning. It revolves around Mibu Kyoshiro and Demon Eyes Kyo, who through some unrevealed process seem to be inhabiting the same body. That's about all the exposition you'll get out of this episode; there's a side plot featuring the bounty hunter Yuya but it feels like an afterthought. That's a pretty good way of describing the episode. Moments of lame comedy are scattered throughout with little consideration for timing or context. None of the characters are given much potential for development either. It's like the writers never planned out the series before doing the script.

The first episode is really a waste of time. Not only did it not intrigue me, nothing actually happens that you can't deduce from context. Maybe episode 2 is better, I don't know. And I'm not inspired to care.