October 2011 Archives

Chihayafuru

Number of Episodes: 25

Production Company: Madhouse

ANN Encyclopedia Wikipedia Crunchyroll

Brief Overview: Young Chihaya has spent her life living out her dreams vicariously through her older sister. She meets a transfer student who teaches her about competitive Karuta, and she's impressed by the speed and intensity of the game. In high school, she attempts to start a competitive Karuta club so that she and her friends can reunite.

Maken-ki

Number of Episodes: 12

Production Company: AIC

ANN Encyclopedia Wikipedia

Brief Overview: Takeru Ooyama, a normal high school boy, is accepted into a special school where the students practice magic and combat each-other. The problem is, Takeru can't find a skill that suits him. While he's there he reconnects with a childhood friend, a girl who considers him her fiancé, and another who's out to kill him.

C3: Cube x Cursed x Curious

Number of Episodes: TBA

Production Company: Silver Link

ANN Encyclopedia Wikipedia

Brief Overview: Haruaki receives a black cube from his father, and is subsequently faced with the prospect of protecting a nude girl named Fear, who appears in his home that night. It's a good thing that Haruaki has a friend who can transform into a sword to help him out.

I'm starting off the season this time around with a look at some sequels to series I haven't watched, some short shows that don't really hold up to in-depth scrutiny, and series meant for young children. There are a larger number of sequels this time around than I'm used to. While I could probably count Fate/Zero amongst them since I attempted to watch Fate Stay/Night multiple times without much luck, it appears to me that its tone is separate enough that it will most likely get its own entry.

Sequels

Shakugan no Shana: Final

Number of Episodes: TBA

Production Company: J.C. Staff

ANN Encyclopedia Wikipedia Promo Video

There are some long-running series that are relatively easy to step into blindly, like Natsume Yuujinchou. Then there are series like Shana which are so completely full of complicated character relationships and jargon that it's nearly impossible to start watching at any place other than at the very beginning. That in itself isn't necessarily bad, but with the various seasons of the show and its OVA incarnations having been released so far apart, it would be difficult to expect all but the most hardcore of fans to keep everything straight. As you've probably already guessed, I'm far from a hardcore fan (in fact, I've seen 3 episodes of the franchise, and that includes this one).

From what I can gather, the male lead of the series, who was himself just a recreation of a real person who had already died, has vanished from existence. Shana and some of her close companions are certain that he's not really gone, and intend to do what they can to find out the truth and bring him back. Additionally, other factions are... up to something. There's some reference to different worlds that art at war, there are a lot of people in funny costumes wandering about both the real world and the alternate one, and the whole ordeal is incredibly difficult to piece together by a newcomer like myself.

At this late hour I can hardly chastise a show's creators for assuming that the audience for the show is already full of dedicated fans, and this episode is clearly aimed at those people. It's also competently animated and features very little of Rie Kugimiya's shrieking, which is a definite plus. But I'll be darned if you don't have your work cut out for you if you decide you're interested in knowing what's going on; this is definitely not for newcomers.

This series will be streaming at a future date as a result of Funimation's streaming partnership with NicoNico

Blood-C

Number of Episodes: 12

Production Company: Production I.G.

ANN Encyclopedia Wikipedia NicoNico Video

Brief Overview: In this incarnation of the Blood franchise, schoolgirl Kisaragi Saya leads a carefree life during the day, but at night she defends her hometown, friends and family from ancient creatures who prey upon human beings.

This review is relatively spoiler-free, though I do speak briefly (and vaguely) about events at the end of the series.

A few months ago, my husband and I were eating dinner with some friends. At some point in the meal we began to talk about movies and someone brought up the recent film Sucker Punch. My husband and I cringed because, due to having read various reviews from various trusted sources, we knew it to be a movie with a lot of very distasteful, dare-we-say fanservicey elements to it. Our friends countered our general complaints with how excellent they thought the film was, with the woman of the couple commenting about how much she truly loves fanservice and dressing in revealing anime costumes (Clothes don't define who a woman is - or what she deserves - but I do believe that we geek girls tend to internalize some harmful self-image issues in order to integrate ourselves into geekdom - it all comes down to who we're dressing for, ourselves or others, and self-objectification can be a big problem. But this is a discussion for another time). We were scolded for "knocking it before we'd tried it," since, at least in the eyes of some people, watching previews and reading reviews which further illuminate a movie's specific issues are not good enough reasons not to watch the movie (so then, what good are the opinions of reviewers? No snarky answers, please). Knowing me, it should be clear that the only answer to this conundrum was to grab a copy of the movie (borrowed from my husband's co-worker; I would never spend money on this film and I encourage my readers to avoid doing so as well), grab a bottle of hard cider and dive in head first.

First, some notes: I speak about events throughout the film, so there are spoilers; if you're considering watching the film on your own and dislike hearing spoilers, it would be best to avoid reading further beyond the cut. I also screened the home video version of the film, which from what I understand contains some extended scenes when compared to the theatrical release (including a rather unsettling love scene with Mad Men star Jon Hamm). Last-but-not-least, I'd like to offer up a trigger warning for discussion of rape and how it's used in the film, which is often.

Oh, and in case anyone is curious about why I'd be writing about this on a blog primarily devoted to anime and other facets of Japanese popular culture, it should be clear from the trailer that the film draws from imagery (assumed-to-be) common in Japanese animation and video games (though I'd argue that neither can be so easily defined by the visual elements which have somehow still become shorthand to describe them. Forgive me, it's my nature as an anime fan).

Yondemasu Yo, Azazel-san

Number of Episodes: 13

Production Company: Production I.G.

ANN Encyclopedia Wikipedia Opening

This series is unlicensed in the US.

Brief Overview: Private Detective Akutabe uses a rather unorthodox method to help solve the problems of his clients - he summons various demons to do his bidding, even if the results of their actions may be less-than-helpful at times. Akutabe's young protégé, Rinko Sakuma, gets to taste their antics firsthand, and spends a great deal of time trying to keep Azazel and his companions in check.