June 2012 Archives

The Shorts, Sequels and Stuff post for Spring 2012 has been updated with impressions of Eureka Seven: AO and Kore wa Zombie desu ka? Of the Dead. Both are episodes that I�d intended to give their own separate reviews, but for various reasons (comprehensibility for the first, quality level for the second), I decided to roll into the summary post.

Thanks for being patient with me this season. I�ve been very busy lately with non-anime stuff and I have another convention coming up about a week from now, so I�ve been engrossed in a lot of preparatory work for that. Summer 2012 looks like it will be a pretty light season, both in the total number of series as well as the number of series I�ll be interested in watching on a week-to-week basis, so hopefully I�ll be able to do some good catching-up.

Medaka Box

Number of Episodes: 12

Production Company: Gainax

ANN Encyclopedia Wikipedia Crunchyroll

Brief Overview: First-year student Kurokami Medaka is elected president of the student council, and immediately institutes a suggestion box. She makes it her goal to solve the problem of any student who puts a request in the box, no matter how far-fetched or difficult.

"There's a demon lurking in in Tokyo." So begins this tale which, unlike many other manga, deals not in literal demons but in the figurative, personal ones which haunt the lives of young, directionless adults. The star of this story is Meiko, a twenty-something college graduate working as an office lady at an average, unremarkable company. She's the breadwinner in her relationship; her live-in boyfriend Taneda works a low-paying part-time job as a visual designer. Meiko's life has stability and her relationship with Taneda is adequate, but she begins to feel haunted by the sense that there's no passion in what she does on a day-to-day basis.

Read the rest at The Fandom Post ->

Space Brothers (Uchuu Kyoudai)

Number of Episodes: TBA

Production Company: A-1 Pictures

ANN Encyclopedia Wikipedia Crunchyroll

Brief Overview: When they were children, brothers Mutta and Hibito witnessed an event that led them both to become interested in going to space. The younger Hibito succeeded... but Mutta ended up working for an automobile manufacturer instead. Having lost his job, Mutta makes another try at his dreams.

One thing that keeps being driven home as I re-watch this series is just how good it is. I actually have a confession to make; I've owned the DVDs for several years (the original Geneon releases as opposed to the Funimation re-release), but it was only last week that I actually took the plastic off of the second volume. Why it's taken me so long to watch this show again is beyond me, especially considering its quality relative to the bulk of anime.

Previous Discussions - Week 1 Week 2 Week 3

Act 7: The Secret Flower Garden

Albert and Franz retreat from the opera performance, and Maximilian makes preparations to share his true feelings with Valentine. Albert manages to defuse a potential conflict between Maximilian and Franz over Valentine's affections, and promises to help Maximilian arrange a meeting with Valentine. As a result of his machinations, the Count introduces himself to lady Villefort, Valentine's stepmother, and takes steps to ingratiate himself to her and her young son. The Count's underlings help to arrange the release of a criminal, though his reasons are a mystery thus far. Valentine's home life is revealed to be less than perfect, and she is frustrated by the fact that no one in her life appears to be concerned with what she wants.

Act 8: A Night in Boulogne

The Count invites his new friends in the nobility to a dinner party at his new villa, a dreary mansion in a dark forest. Most of the attendees are put off by the building's dark atmosphere, but two party-goers in particular - Lady Danglars and Crown Prosecutor Villefort - seem especially unnerved. The reason for this soon becomes clear, as the two discuss the love affair they had several years ago and the child that was born as a result. The Count invites his guests to tour the mansion and look for the room that serves as the source for the unsettling atmosphere, and his attitude implies that he may know more than he lets on about what happened there so long ago. Albert also learns about The Count's mysterious illness that he contracted in deep space. The Count formally introduces Andrea Cavalcanti, an attractive young noble who recently came into his inheritance.

This entry is a bit late due to how busy my weekend was, so apologies to anyone who was kept waiting to share thoughts on the show.

Previous discussions - Week 1 Week 2

Act 5: Do You Love Your Fianc�e?

Albert and his companions enjoy the Count of Monte Cristo's hospitality, and admire the opulence of his his home while taking a boat ride in his basement. They meet Haidee, a mysterious woman who would do anything for the Count. The group begins to discuss relationships, specifically how most relationships among the nobility are initiated out of convenience and financial gain rather than love. This rubs Maximilian the wrong way and he and Albert enter into a duel. Albert falls into the water, only to be rescued by the Count, who seems to have a greater purpose in store for him. Albert leaves the Count's abode, only to begin wondering about the state of his parents' relationship and why his mother has been acting unusual lately.

Act 6: Her Melancholy, My Melancholy

Eugenie laments her parents' loveless marriage and her mother's affair just as the Count makes preparations to open up an account with her father's bank. Jullian Danglars seems hesitant to accept the Count's credentials at first, until the Count shows some financial force that's difficult for him to ignore. He quickly impresses the money-focused Victoria Danglars, but his motivations seem unclear at the very least. He offers opera tickets to Albert for the purpose of impressing Eugenie, but Albert is unsure of how to proceed with the invitations. Eugenie, for her part, appears exhausted by her obligations and the weight of her family issues. At the opera, Haidee's reaction to General Morcerf seems to indicate wrongdoing on his part.

Hi all. Due to Fathers Day and some other commitments I have going on from this weekend, my post for Gankutsuou will be delayed until tomorrow evening. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Have a lovely rest of the weekend!

Dusk Maiden of Amnesia (Tasogare Otome x Amnesia)

Number of Episodes: 12

Production Company: Silver Link

ANN Encyclopedia Wikipedia Crunchyroll

Brief Overview: Teiichi Niiya is a normal middle school student who happens to get lost in one of his school's old buildings. While wandering, he meets a girl named Yuuko who turns out to be a ghost who's lost her memories. Teiichi decides to help Yuuko by investigating the mystery surrounding her death.

It sounds like people are enjoying Gankutsuou so far, which is excellent! Remember, the series is available online, so if you haven't had a chance to watch this week's episodes yet, you can find them there - Episode 3 Episode 4

Previous discussions - Week 1

Other participants brought up some good points last week, including the use of texture to help emphasize the difference in social status between the characters (the wealthy are portrayed wearing rich fabrics, while the prisoners in the first episode are clad in burlap rags), and there were some great examples shared about the role that the visual framing of the scenes and the layout of certain settings have in elaborating upon the different character roles (Franz, Albert and the Count positioned on a balcony far atop the rabble below, for example.

With those points in mind, onward to this week's episodes!

Act 3: 5/22, Stormy

Albert and his friends take a day to go for a ride and enjoy a picnic in the countryside. In the meantime, the Count arrives on Earth and makes his way to the Morcerf mansion to enjoy the hospitality promised to him by Albert. Albert and company await the Count's arrival, and Albert's companions find themselves put off by the Count's secretive nature. The mystery deepens when Beauchamp, Albert's friend and a news reporter, discovers that the Count's voice doesn't show up on his audio recording of the evening, nor does his image appear in any photographs. The Count finds himself face-to-face with his past when Albert's parents arrive to greet him.

Act 4: A Mother's Secrets

Albert invites the Count to stay for dinner, where significant glances and pregnant pauses dominate the conversation, especially between the Count and Mercedes, Albert's mother. Later on, Albert notices his mother gazing at a photograph of a man he doesn't recognize, and Peppo (who has been hired on as a maid), does her best to sow the seeds of discordant thoughts in Albert's mind regarding the situation. When Albert and his friend's are invited to the Count's home, they are initially disappointed in what they see as an abnormally austere abode... until an elevator ride brings them to a huge gilded room complete with an artificial view of the sky and sea around Marseilles.

This is off-topic for this website, but in case anyone cares to read it, I reviewed the science-fiction horror film Prometheus at my Tumblr blog. The review focuses on one particular aspect/scene of the film (which should surprise no one who reads this blog), but is otherwise mostly spoiler-free for other major plot events.

Nicoletta travels to Rome with every intention of confronting her absentee mother. Her plans are thrown into flux when her mother, Olga, begs Nicoletta to keep herself a secret for just a little longer; her husband, for various reasons, prefers not to be involved with divorced women and might send Olga packing if he discovers the truth. Nicoletta grudgingly poses as the daughter of Olga's friend and takes up residence in Rome, becoming an apprentice at the restaurant owned by Olga's husband. Nicoletta is mystified by the strange requirement that the restaurant be staffed primarily by older men who wear reading glasses, and scoffs at the women who patronize the establishment just to get a glimpse of their favorite waiter... until she herself begins to fall for the sensitive and kind Claudio.

Read the rest at The Fandom Post ->

Lydia Carlton is a fairy doctor, a specialist with the ability to serve as an intermediary between the fairy and human realms. Unfortunately there are few people left who still believe in fairies and Lydia's knowledge and skills are rarely put to use. That is, until she embarks on a trip to London to visit her father, and is intercepted by a certain Mr. Huxley. Huxley claims to be an acquaintance of her father, sent to escort her to his side, but he seems suspicious. Lydia's suspicions are confirmed after a man claiming to have been held captive by Huxley leaps from her room's armoire and begs her to escape with him.

Read the rest at The Fandom Post ->

This piece contains spoilers for several episodes of Puella Magi Madoka Magica. If you haven't seen the series, it's probably best to skip this. The full series is available streaming at Crunchyroll.

Earlier this Spring, I was helping to moderate a discussion panel about Mawaru Penguindrum. The conversation meandered towards direction and directorial intent. I compared Penguindrum, which has strong, deliberate framing and story composition, to Madoka, which is artful but lacks directorial intent, in my opinion. The world needs both approaches; there are fans who take great glee in being able to follow a director's particular line of thinking and having the experience of uncovering the clues he or she has left behind, while there are other folks who aren't in the business of dissecting their entertainment and enjoy series on their surface appeal. Though I usually count myself among the former, I can see the latter's appeal.

Madoka, on its surface merits, doesn't amount to anything particularly special. It has an atypically good story for the type of series it is and its art direction is unique and appealing, but as far as I can tell Akiyuki Shinbo is not really in the business of impregnating the anime he directs with a lot of hidden messages or symbolic meaning. Yet here I am, having spent multiple weeks examining and interpreting the motivations of the different characters as they relate to feminism. Why argue for something that many would say is relatively pointless?

Well, here we are again, about to embark on a wonderful journey filled with longing, betrayal, and eye-popping textures that just won't quit. I hope that everyone was able to get a hold of the series or was able to find a viable stream. If not, here are official links to both episode 1 and episode 2 on YouTube (there are also dubbed versions of those episodes available, if that's what you prefer). Remember, I've created an Anime Book Club Google Calendar to help you keep track of our progress!

I'll begin each post with a link to previous discussion posts on the series, for people who would like to reference them, and then provide a summary of the episodes to jog everyone's memory. I'll then outline my impressions of the episodes and provide, if possible, a few topics to discuss. If you want to participate, simply offer your thoughts, either on the provided discussion points or on whatever you feel like talking about, in the comments section. The key to keeping this alive is participation. I can certainly post on my own every week, but it's more fun if other people are willing to offer their own impressions as well. If anyone out there in reader-land has read The Count of Monte Cristo, I would love to hear some thoughts and comparisons between the book and the anime series, if you're willing to offer them.

If you have any discussion questions to add, I'll amend the post to include them to be sure that everyone has a chance to reply.

I'll keep this post open indefinitely, so feel free to comment any time after the post goes up (usually midday Sundays). On to the show!

Act 1: At Journey's End, We Meet

Young noble Albert de Morcerf and his best friend, Franz d'Epinay, arrive on Luna in time to participate in the annual Carnivale festival. Albert is there to have the experiences which he can't have at home, and to potentially experience the rush of love he's missed since being betrothed in a relationship arranged by his parents. He's soon entranced by a mysterious man calling himself the "Count of Monte Cristo." This Count passes himself off as a noble, though none of the other noblemen or women Albert meets have any idea whether his claims hold any truth.

Albert gets his chance to meet with the Count and is immediately charmed by his hospitality, but Franz senses something is amiss and encourages Albert to stay away.  Albert insists on meeting the Count for lunch the following day, where he finds himself wielding the power of life and death over a group of condemned inmates. Shaken, Albert seeks solace in a beautiful woman, who turns out to be more than she seems.

Act 2: Until the Sun Rises Over the Moon

Albert is captured by a group of bandits and held for ransom. If Franz cannot come up with the fifty-million ducat sum by sunrise, the bandit leader, the notorious Luigi Vampa, will have Albert tortured and killed. Franz spends the night exercising all of his options, until the only one left is to ask a favor of the Count of Monte Cristo.

Albert's rescuers arrive in time, while the Count begins to show some of his true colors. In exchange for his generosity, the Count asks that Albert help introduce him to Parisian society when he arrives on Earth. The Count also does Albert the favor of revealing the true nature of Peppo, the young girl who trapped him in the first place.

Tsuritama

Number of Episodes: 11

Production Company: A-1 Pictures

ANN Encyclopedia Wikipedia Crunchyroll

Brief Overview: Yuki moves with his grandmother to the Enoshima area of Japan. His specific brand of anxiety has prevented him from having an enjoyable school life, so he tries to make a good impression. Then, self-professed alien Haru enters his life and introduces Yuki to the sport of fishing, which may become crucial to save the world as they know it.

Zetman

Number of Episodes: 13

Production Company: TMS Entertainment

ANN Encyclopedia Wikipedia VIZ Anime

Brief Overview: Jin lives underneath a bridge with his grandfather, poor but happy. One day he comes home only to find that his grandfather has been brutally murdered. Unbeknownst to him, he may be the next intended victim. In this story, two versions of justice meet, only to face-off against a greater evil.