Season 1 Episode 1

Updates–5/16/2012

2012-05-17T01:51:30Z

The Dregs – Spring 2012 has been updated with my impressions of the new Queen’s Blade season.

Also, just as a reminder, the re-launch of the anime book club is coming up fast. If you want to participate, be sure to acquire or gain access to Gankutsuou and watch the first 2 episodes by June 3rd (Sunday).

Mysterious Girlfriend X–First Impressions

2012-05-16T03:13:00Z

Mysterious Girlfriend X (Nazo no Kanojo X)

Number of Episodes: 13

Production Company: Hoods Entertainment

ANN Encyclopedia Wikipedia Crunchyroll

Brief Overview: Akira, your average high school kid, is minding his own business when a strange girl transfers into his class. Mikoto sleeps during the school day and laughs out of turn. One day, Akira is compelled to taste the drool left behind on her desk, an act which affects him more strongly and permanently than he could have imagined.

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Episode 1 Summary: Akira lives the normal life of a teenage boy, which includes having a blossoming interest in sex. Like many other boys his age, he wonders what type of girl will be his first sexual partner. That becomes the last thing on his mind when he meets Mikoto, the bizarre transfer student who shows up in class one day and stuns everyone with strange behavior. Mikoto's habitual sleeping during class and her inappropriate laughter quickly drive everyone else away. After waking her up from an after-school nap, Akira notices a puddle of saliva left behind on Mikoto's desk and he's compelled to taste some. That night he's visited by strange dreams.

As the days go by, he comes down with a fever that can't be shaken. His doctor calls it a common cold, but with each passing day Akira grows more worried that it might be something much worse. A visit from Mikoto sets him straight, as another dose of her drool calms his aching body. Their relationship progresses quickly from there, and Akira confesses his love to Mikoto by tearing up a photograph of his previous crush in front of her.

Thoughts: I've been watching anime for a long time, and despite having seen some pretty foul activities perpetrated in the name of entertainment, I think this marks the first time that I've ever felt physically ill to the point of gagging while watching something. It may seem counter intuitive, then, that I watched this episode twice; I spent so much of my energy trying to keep my lunch down that I didn't really pay attention to the other aspects of the episode the first time through. Unfortunately, despite having a fuller picture, I've found myself even more befuddled than before.

What I can say for certain is that I truly love Urabe Mikoto's voice. I'm not a big follower of Japanese Seiyuu, partly because my enjoyment of anime is more focused on the story and conceptual elements rather than the acting. I do have Japanese language experience, but not nearly enough to judge any but the most obvious of performances. In this case, however, the first-time actress who portrays Mikoto is such a departure from what I would have expected that I'm actually quite charmed by her performance regardless of the show's subject matter. Actress Yoshitani Ayako brings a deeper, almost boyish tone to the character, which helps to accentuate her "uniqueness" as a person. I certainly wish that this type of casting were more common, because it's much easier on the ears than the typical chipmunk chirp of many female characters.

This episode manages to do something that's quite uncommon in anime, which is to portray sexual subject matter in a way that's not attempting to be sexy. Teenage sexuality, at least what I remember of it, is neither the sparkles and roses of shoujo entertainment, nor the bouncing breasts and panty shots of shounen romance series. Instead, it's a parade of unexpected bodily expulsions, awkward boners, pimples and embarrassment. It's also the cacophony of authority figures telling you not to do with your body what your body is telling you that it really, really wants to do. As disgusting as the whole drool element is, I think that using it as a metaphor for this time period in a teen's life is especially perceptive. It's relatively easy to comprehend the nuts and bolts of "getting it on" with someone else, but hardly anyone speaks truthfully about the messiness of what it all entails. Conceptually it all makes sense, but in reality even the act of kissing someone can seem like interacting with an alien being. If nothing else, this show's dissonant mood does a great job of pulling that to the forefront.

As I mentioned, though, this show often seems to do too much to emphasize the... viscosity of sexual interaction. The way that the saliva is animated makes it appear more like other bodily fluids, as I'm sure is the intent. Drool puddles on flat surfaces as if it were honey (another visual metaphor that's used more than once during the episode), making the scene in which Mikoto chokes up a whole mouthful of it (out of happiness, no less) all the more grotesque to watch. I very nearly gagged the first time that I watched it happen.

Follow-up Episodes:

"Why do you have scissors in your underwear?"

"Because that's just how I am."

The subsequent couple of episodes retain the first's strangeness, and I continue to be mystified, disgusted and intrigued. The second episode introduces Mikoto's "Panty Scissors," which are the scissors she keeps stowed in her panties, believe-it-or-not. The scissors appear to come out when she's feeling threatened; if Akira wraps his arms around her without asking, for example, she's quick to whip them out and put an end to her discomfort.

I can see both positive and negative aspects to how things are unfolding in this show. On one hand, there's a strong emphasis on having the relationship progress at the speed Mikoto wants, which is unusual. Every baby step in their relationship seems contingent on whether or not Akira is able to perceive what it is that his Mysterious Girlfriend is attempting to tell him. On the other hand, I can see how the placement of Mikoto's scissors could be interpreted as representing both society's unhealthy relationship with what exists between women's legs, and women's need to be hyper-vigilant in protecting their bodies from assault in a world where their autonomy is continually threatened. It's the sort of truth that's important to understand and come to terms with, but not really the type of thing one wants to be reminded of while watching what's ultimately not that great of an anime.

After the panty scissors are introduced, the amount of traditional "fanservice" - a term which I use loosely since I continue to believe that someone would be hard-pressed to become titillated by the extreme awkwardness of these situations - increases, though in many cases camera shots that would normally be employed in upskirt ogling actually aren't. There are a couple of nude or near-nude scenes that are actually pretty chaste (though in those cases I'm still trying to wrap myself around the context and understand why there were necessary).

I'm having a lot of difficulty deciding whether or not I like this. The drool angle is almost too much; I'm positive that I can't knowingly recommend this to others because that aspect of the series is frankly gross and difficult to accept as anything but literal. The optimist in me thinks that it might be enjoyable just as an alternative interpretation of the all-too-common shounen romance. I'm glad that the story seems very focused on having the protagonist listen to his girlfriend and learn from her quirkiness, even if the lessons he's given are absorbed via shared drool-induced dreams. If anything else, the show has certainly touched on a very unique fetish to portray.

Pros:

The show really captures the messiness of adolescent romantic relations.
The story seems focused on having the protagonist learn to respect his girlfriend's boundaries.

Cons:

The first episode in particular is likely to make many people sick to their stomach.
The way the saliva is animated isn't realistic.
The fanservice, if you can call it that, increases slightly in subsequent episodes.

Recommended: In general? No. I do think that fans with strong stomachs and people like me who have a tendency to seek out meaning in things that appear to have none might also be able to draw some parallels to real life, but generally? I don't think most people would get a lot out of watching this.

More:

Women in Anime–Kaname Madoka

2012-05-10T04:12:44Z

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.

I'd waffled back-and-forth about the order in which to present my thoughts on this series' characters, especially as far as Madoka and Homura were concerned. It's Homura's presence in the narrative that really ties it all together for me, and I love how her transformation from "quiet and ineffectual" to "intensely determined" in some ways mirrors the one that many magical girls (of other franchises) undergo as a result of being blessed with superhuman power. On the other hand, Madoka is the titular character of the anime series, so to talk about her last seemed the more appropriate (though admittedly more expected) choice.

Madoka was originally the most difficult character about whom to find something meaty to say. Normally, as the primary protagonist, she'd be the character with whom the viewers would feel the most sympathetic and with whom they'd be able to connect. In truth, though, that's far from the case; we experience the life cycle of the magical girl through Sayaka's character progression, and Homura becomes arguably the most sympathetic of the characters due to her back-story. Throughout the bulk of the series, Madoka is merely an observer, one whose primary role is to react to each dark plot revelation through her emotions. She also serves as something of a figurehead or idol to Homura, whose friendship with her grows more abstract and symbolic as the timeline repeats. It's as a symbol that Madoka serves her primary purpose, I think; her metamorphosis from normal teenage girl to goddess helps to outline and reinforce a lot of the series' primary ideas and themes.

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It's Madoka's relationship with her mother that I initially found interesting about her. Anime (and fiction in general) has so few examples of great mother-child relationships, and even fewer examples of positive or fleshed-out mother-daughter ones. Either the protagonist's parents are entirely absent, they serve as antagonists, or they're so irresponsible that the children end up parenting themselves instead. Not so in Madoka, where one of the only non-traditional nuclear families I can think of serves as an anchor for the main character. Madoka's mother, a career woman, doles out advice and serves as breadwinner for the family. Her conversations with Madoka help to elaborate upon certain truths relevant to the story, including the importance of telling someone something that they might not want to hear in order to be the best friend possible. Madoka's father is nurturing and supportive in the non-traditional role of househusband. And gosh, Madoka's little brother is an adorable little kid (which you won't hear me saying very often).

In one of the very earliest scenes, Madoka's mother puts on the makeup that serves as her "armor" in the daily battle she fights as an employee of what we can assume is a typical Japanese company. As a morning routine this isn't something that's out-of-the-ordinary, but it's very thematically-appropriate; almost any magical girl that I can think of dons magical "armor" comprised of beautiful clothing (and occasionally makeup) in order to face whatever demons, either real or imagined, that harass those they know and love. The placement and momentary emphasis of this imagery helps to reinforce the concept that's introduced later on that ordinary girls all over the world have put on the "work uniform" of magic, ruffles and lace to help shape the direction of humanity's development, just as businesswomen suit up in companies all over the world (and deal with the demons of sexism and harassment while also getting the job done). This apparent sensitivity on the part of the creators to matters that are so often ignored (or made light of) in anime was one of the initial reasons why I was enthusiastic about seeing it to the end, in spite of some of the more average early episodes.

I, like many other viewers, was initially confused and intrigued by the fact that Madoka, despite appearing as a magical girl in the show's somewhat incongruous title sequence, takes 11 episodes to actually become one. Though I'll probably save lengthy discussions of all the show's themes for another time, I think it's worth mentioning that her story arc has strong religious undertones to it. Madoka could be described in a certain sense as a "Jesus character," a character who's made to (or chooses to) sacrifice a great deal in order to bring about the salvation of others. Throughout the series, she watches friends die horribly or waste away emotionally, and while I wouldn't go as far to say that Madoka is a fully fleshed-out character in the traditional sense of the idea, the acts that she witnesses help her to formulate (believably) the wish she makes to become a magical girl and the reason why she does so in spite of all the strong evidence telling her to step away from the contract. She trades her corporeality for the ability to exist outside of time and to change the laws of the universe. In short, she trades her mortality for godhood and the ability to right the inherent wrongness of the world.

Though her actions do appear Christ-like (she sacrifices herself so that all the magical girl souls throughout time are saved), Madoka's story arc could also be interpreted as the tale of someone attaining a more Buddhist-based form of enlightenment. In Buddhism, one's actions influence the form one takes in one's next life. The cycle of death and rebirth continues until the soul has reached enlightenment, at which point it can escape the bounds of existence as we perceive it. Madoka has been living an exaggerated version of this death and birth cycle as a part of Homura's repeated time line. While we might perceive her as starting over from square one at the onset of each iteration (without her direct knowledge), Kyubey infers that the latent power he senses within Madoka is a result of her being at the center of these different branches and cycles of reality, and it's in the role of this crux that she gains the experiences that she needs to undergo her final metamorphosis.

I think there is something to be said here about the interplay between active and passive roles as they're demonstrated in this series. As a self-described feminist anime critic, I often find myself longing for examples of female characters who do not only exist, but "act" and "do" according to their own will and to drive the story. For the longest time, I was frustrated with Madoka as a character because of her passivity and lack of action in the face of events that would prompt many other heroes to act much sooner and with great force. As a protagonist, she seems much too passive; as the world she knows crumbles and her friends die one-by-one, she can only weep and retreat helplessly inside herself. It's Homura who, as we discover, spends the bulk of the series planning and taking action. Interestingly enough, I find that their relationship itself is an interesting expression of active and receptive (often defined in the more pagan religious circles I walk as "male and female") energies that come full circle as the series unwinds itself. As Homura expends her energy to protect Madoka, Madoka receives that energy. The wheel turns, and Madoka manifests and harnesses this power, becoming the active agent from whom Homura then receives blessing and salvation.

This turning of the wheel, this divine give-and-take, is such a foreign concept to most that I'm surprised to see it presented so vividly here. To see it become a reality through the relationship of two women is an even greater and pleasant surprise, considering the ingrained misogyny and unwillingness to acknowledge divine femininity that is still so present in certain areas of religious thought.

As Madoka reaches goddess-hood, one might see fit to comment on moe as anime's new image of divinity, and that connection may not be as far from the truth as some of us might like to believe. The amount of worship being laid at the feet of certain fictional characters by anime fans (who in some cases even make otaku "pilgrimages" to the homes of these characters) could definitely be compared to religious fanaticism in some extreme cases. While this is an interesting thought, I instead choose to interpret this as an, unintentional perhaps, acknowledgement of female power and the ability of women throughout time to suffer injustice and somehow help shape the fate of the world in spite of it. The fact that so many consumers of traditional moe series have jumped on this show's bandwagon leads me to believe that the symbols and tropes of moe entertainment can indeed be used to examine and promote concepts that may otherwise seem unpalatable to these fans. As a reflection of the idea presented within the show that women throughout time and primarily in the background of society have shaped the very world in which we live, this form of benign deception feels extremely powerful.

Beyond the bickering about fandom labels and the addressing of social issues, though, I think that Madoka's transformation demonstrates that those of us labeled as "too emotional" or who might feel to shy or too small to make a difference have the power to transcend our limitations or turn them to our advantage and the benefit of others. At this time and place in history, when I'm reminded daily that there are people in positions of power who see me and other women as cattle, incapable of making our own decisions or knowing what's in our own best interest, I grasp and hold tight to series like this which, like quietly ringing wind chimes in the choking darkness, present heroines who defy the smallness of corner of life into which they've been placed. Even in the midst of this systematic stripping of our power, we still maintain the capacity to aid, to heal, to encourage our friends, to fight and win against our feelings of powerlessness. Our wishes may be small or they may be unfathomably large, but they are all transformative. Our sacrifices mean something to someone somewhere. There is something of this goddess power, the power to receive and to transform, to love and to fight, in each and every one of us.

Next time I'll wrap up my series on Puella Magi Madoka Magica by taking a look at the series as a whole in light of what we've discussed about the characters.

Kuroko’s Basketball–First Impressions

2012-05-10T01:11:47Z

Kuroko's Basketball (Kuroko no Basuke)

Number of Episodes: TBA

Production Company: Production I.G.

ANN Encyclopedia Wikipedia Crunchyroll

Brief Overview: Tetsuya Kuroko is an ordinary boy who plays for the Seirin High School basketball team. The thing is, Kuroko isn't any good at basketball - it's the fact that he's able to blend in amongst everyone that makes him the master of passing the ball unseen to his teammates.

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Episode Summary: Seirin High is a new school with hopes of hitting the big time with their basketball team. There are some good prospects, including a massive first-year student named Kagami who spent time in the United States before returning to Japan. There's one potential team-member who slips in unnoticed, however; Kuroko Tetsuya is an average kid who doesn't seem to have more than just the most basic of skills. He was a member of the "Generation of Miracles" middle school team, but no one can believe it, least of all Kagami.

As it turns out, Kuroko has barely-average skills when it comes to most aspects of the game, but he excels in one specific area - he's a great passer. So great that he can slide into the background and foil almost any defense effort by the opposing team. This skill earns Kuroko a smidgen of respect from Kagami, who otherwise has little nice to say about his teammate's efforts.

Thoughts: Any time a new sports anime is released, I get lost in a thorny logic spiral related to the genre's lack of popularity in the US versus most of the rest of the world. Despite the fact that sports (including basketball) are very popular around these parts, I doubt that most sports fans would be caught dead watching an animated portrayal of their favorite pastime. Likewise, I know a lot of anime fans who consider sports to be too "pop-culture" to care about. The origins of these attitudes might be too complicated to discuss fully, but my impression has always been that there area lot of geeks who dislike professional sports, because they're a reminder of the kind of attitudes that made growing up a hassle.

Professional sports in America could be seen as a macrocosm which reflects the high school microcosm as experienced by those of us who are awkward, uncoordinated or unpopular. When I think of some of the most famous, highest-paid professional sports stars, I see people who make a ton of money and who have terrible, dare I say un-sportsmanlike, attitudes. They're beloved for their skills, but so much of what I see seems like grandstanding and entitlement on their part rather than behavior worth celebrating. How many sporting superstars avoid punishment for criminal behavior simply because of their influence while Joe-schmo with no money goes to jail for the same offense? All of this is just a reflection of teenage life, where some people are good looking and deal in the currency that is social status, while others of us flail around like the geeks we are and get stuffed in lockers for it.

(If anyone ever tells you that, by age thirty, you should be over all of your adolescent emotional trauma, you can send them my way for a chit-chat).

In any case, in American sports, we don't seem to have many heroes anymore. So many people tarnish themselves by using their privilege as a "get out of jail free card" that there's really nothing left to admire, and yet they're admired even more than people who cure diseases or travel into space.

On the other hand, my (outsider's) perspective of Japanese sports culture tells me that the atmosphere surrounding professional sports in Japan is quite different. It's not as if there aren't big Japanese sports stars, it's just that they seem to lack the overwhelming egos that define the culture in parts of the West. Without those huge heads getting in the way (and due to an ingrained cultural predilection), teamwork seems to be a much more prominent concept in Japanese sports. Thought I'm sure that Japanese kids still have every opportunity to act terribly towards one another (if the bullying featured in various anime is any indication), the culture of sports appreciation doesn't seem as much a mirror of the "popular/strong" versus "weak/nerdy" dynamic. Players are celebrated for their ability to help their team rather than their ability to promote themselves.

While Kuroko no Basuke may not be the most compelling sports anime I've ever sampled, I can say this: it's probably one of the few I've seen that so clearly demonstrates the differing ways in which America and Japan approach sporting culture. The two main characters, Kagami and Kuroko, embody philosophical polar opposites - Kagami is a point-scoring powerhouse team of one, and Kuroko's skills are so reliant on there being a team to take advantage of them that he seems unremarkable otherwise. It's an interesting dynamic and I find that most sports anime don't bother to examine it in any major capacity. There may be a token brash character whose American-style antics and skill may set them apart from their teammates, but often enough these characters are meant for laughs. In this case, there's specific mention of Kagami's stint in America and it's clear that this has influenced his attitude towards the game. I would like to think that this is a series about these two opposing philosophies meshing to help make the team better, but sometimes it's difficult to know whether or not potential will pan out - this is meant to be a fun sports series for kids/teens after all.

As much as this show seems compelling in the abstract, it's sort of bland in its execution. It doesn't have the distinctive visual style or more grown-up tone of Giant Killing, nor the immediately-endearing protagonist of Slam Dunk, and its one "superpower" doesn't have the over-the-top stupidity of something like Prince of Tennis. In the vast pool of sports anime that "do it better," this series seems kind of lost at sea without a memorable hook. It may be that its characters and story take a while to get going, but the first episode doesn't do much to suggest that the tension will ramp-up anytime soon. If Kuroko's talent were shown to be less gimmicky and if his job weren't always to be the stealthy ninja in the background, I think this would go a long way towards making the show feel more interesting.

It's still troubling that so many geeks won't give sports anime (even some really good ones) a chance, but there are most like many reasons why this is so. This probably will not be the show that changes anyone's mind, but the fact that it seems partly-aware of the cultural divide that forms the attitudes we have towards this sort of entertainment interests me even if the show itself seems forgettable.

Pros:

The main characters form an interesting contrast of philosophies that transcend the series itself.
Kuroko's skill is unique as far as "super powers" are concerned.

Cons:

Despite having some good points the show doesn't feel very memorable and there's not a good hook.
A lot of other aspects seem very "by the book."

Recommended? I don't think that this is the great argument in favor of sports anime. Some of the other series I mentioned (namely Giant Killing and Slam Dunk) may be more in that vein. This isn't bad, but it's not particularly interesting, either.

More:

The Anime Book Club Returns!

2012-05-03T01:10:52Z

Everyone probably thought that I'd completely forgotten about my plans to re-launch the anime book club. Well, that's not exactly correct, but it's certainly been on the back-burner for a while. After creating my previous post about anime on Netflix, though, I decided that I really wanted to restart this column and watch/discuss some interesting anime with everyone. I went ahead and picked the next couple of series we'll be watching, based in prior feedback and availability. Without further ado, here are our selections:

Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo

Why this was chosen: The primary reason I chose this is that it's just a really great series and stands on its own despite being an adaptation of a classic novel. I've wanted to re-watch the show and haven't had a chance to do so. I'm hoping to get a chance to read the novel at least part way before tackling the show again. We'll see if that actually happens.

I also picked this one because it's widely available. Not only is it on Netflix as previously noted, it's also available in full (I believe) on Funimation's YouTube Channel (subtitled), Funimation's website (subtitled and dubbed), and it's relatively inexpensive to buy. I already own it, so it was a no-brainer for me.

We'll be starting this series in June, and watching 2 episodes per week. The first discussion post will go up sometime in the early afternoon on Sunday, June 3rd.

The Skull Man

Why this was chosen: This series seemed to have a similar amount of interest as Gankutsuou, but it's a completely different type of story. The show is jam-packed full of plot, and while I watched it over a couple of sessions, I feel like I missed some information that a good discussion might help reveal. I wouldn't quite put it at the same level as Gankutsuou in terms of quality, but from what I remember it's definitely solid entertainment and it has some nice Studio Bones animation to smooth over its rough areas.

This isn't quite as widely-available as Gankutsuou, but it's still pretty easy to get. The DVD set is currently only 6 dollars at Rightstuf, so I'd suggest picking it up if you're not into streaming the show. It's also available in full (subtitled in kind of crummy quality) from The Anime Network's YouTube channel, and at The Anime Network's website (via Hulu).

Discussion of The Skull Man will commence the Sunday following the Gankutsuou wrap-up post, which is Sunday, September 9th. We'll be watching 1 episode per week.

In order to help everyone keep track of what we're watching/discussing when, I've set up a public Google Calendar. This will be updated in case of any changes to the schedule. You will notice that there's a Sunday off in July; I'll be a convention that weekend and most likely won't have time to post anything. We'll be nearly halfway through Gankutsuou at that point, so perhaps I'll set it aside as a general discussion week.

Great Anime on Netflix Instant Watch

2012-05-02T02:43:38Z

As part of an effort to get more people excited about anime, I’m planning a series of posts based around good anime that can be obtained easily via means most people are familiar with. Netflix has become the go-to service for both DVD rental and streaming video. The service is available on almost any platform including most gaming devices, computers, and internet-to-tv streaming devices. It has a fairly extensive selection of anime available at the click of the button, but like the menu at a Chinese restaurant, the number of choices can sometimes be daunting to those unfamiliar with what they’re looking for.

These selections are my choices for some of the best quality anime to be found on Netflix Instant Watch, based on series that I’ve seen and enjoyed. Since this list is by no means comprehensive (some series are only available upon directly searching for them, and I know I haven’t watched all of the awesome series there are to see), feel free to add your own suggestions in the comments!

Note: These selections are accurate/available as of 4/29/2012. If there are any changes in availability or any additions, I’ll update the post.

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Baccano! – 16 Episodes

Genres: Action, Historical, Comedy

This series takes place in Prohibition-era New York and Chicago, and follows the manic, intertwined stories of a group of immortal alchemists. One of the primary storylines takes place on the Flying Pussyfoot, a train where several different factions with entirely different (and often conflicting) goals meet by chance and end up butting heads.

The title comes from the Italian word for “ruckus,” and considering the structure of the story this is entirely accurate; the viewpoints and their respective time points (the bulk of the stories take place between 1930 and 1933, with brief forays into the Eighteenth Century and the modern day) are presented in such a way that it can be disorienting at first. This series’ gangster-era antics are fairly unique as far as anime goes; its Western setting makes it more approachable for viewers who aren’t familiar with Japanese culture. The English dub captures the era well and manages to be amusing without being over-the-top.

The first thirteen episodes wrap up most of the primary storylines. The three bonus episodes are decent enough, but I didn’t find them as interesting. If you like this one, check out Durarara! which is based on a novel by the same author and involves a lot of the same animation staff. The series is available for free on internet streaming service Crunchyroll.

Violence: High – There’s quite a bit of blood, but the fact that the characters are immortal mitigates the physical damage they endure.

Sex/Nudity: Low

Japanese Cultural Knowledge Required: Low – This takes place primarily in the United States.

Casshern: Sins – 24 Episodes

Genres: Sci-Fi, Action, Drama

Hundreds of years ago Casshern, a cyborg being, was sent to assassinate Luna, the “Sun called Moon.” When he killed her, he triggered the Ruin, which attacked both robotic beings and humans alike. Casshern no longer remembers what happened that day, only that he’s being pursued and that he must seek redemption.

This series, a reboot of a more straightforward action anime from the 1970’s, is a great example of “love-it-or-hate-it” entertainment. Its morose tone and focus on death and dying certainly isn’t for everyone, but its willingness to tackle difficult issues, like the human preoccupation with mortality (and obsession with immortality), makes it worthwhile for fans who enjoy analyzing life’s big questions. Its structure and themes are heavy with Biblical metaphor and its story could be construed as critical of most religious thought, so a general familiarity with those ideas is a definite plus going into the viewing.

Aside from that, it’s a beautiful show that makes great use of scene framing and color. Its director, Shigeyasu Yamauchi, went on to direct 2011’s Dream Eater Merry (a nice-looking but emotionally-empty TV series), as well as episode 18 of Mawaru Penguindrum, both of which feature a similarly strong and unique visual sense. The animation varies in quality, but there are some spectacular action sequences that make this often slow series worthwhile to fans of animation (Casshern’s fight with Dio in episode 6 is absolutely spectacular). Your mileage may vary, but I loved this show. Bonus: it looks even better in HD.

Violence: High – There’s quite a bit of fighting and dying in this series, though much of it involves robotic beings rather than fleshy ones.

Sex/Nudity: Low

Japanese Cultural Knowledge Required: Low – The shows themes, as I interpret them, are fairly universal but skew towards more Western modes of thinking about religion.

Darker than Black – 25 Episodes

Genres: Sci-Fi, Action, Drama

Ten years ago, an impenetrable field known as “Hell’s Gate” appeared in Tokyo, and certain individuals called “Contractors” gained the use of telekinetic abilities in exchange for their human emotions and consciences. Hei, a contractor, and his associate Yin, a “doll” with the ability to psychically communicate through water, work for an agency hoping to unlock the mysteries of Hell’s Gate.

This series is perfect for people who like to watch things in small doses – most of the story arcs are resolved in two episode chunks and the series’ overall plot arc isn’t too complicated until near the end of its run. Despite its grim-sounding title, the show has a fair share of occasional comic-relief episodes thanks to a couple of amusing side-characters. Speaking of which, one of Darker Than Black’s other strengths is its diverse cast of characters who hail from many different countries and are visually distinct from one-another (which can sometimes be a rarity in anime).

The high-quality action animation is definitely one of the more appealing aspects of the show – there’s a good action sequence every couple of episodes and the character animation overall is very good (check out some of these scenes animated by veteran animator Yutaka Nakamura). The story itself has its cliché moments and the resolution isn’t entirely satisfying (there’s a second season and a short OVA series that bridges the gap between the two), but overall this is a solid series that doesn’t require a whole lot intense scrutiny or thought.

Violence: High – There are some fairly bloody and/or gruesome battles that take place between contractors, and the fluidity of the animation can sometimes enhance the shock level.

Sex/Nudity: Low – There are a few episodes that involve a character who can transport individuals between different points, and one of the side-effects is that when they appear at their destination they do so without any clothing on (kind of like time-travel in the ‘Terminator’ universe).

Japanese Cultural Knowledge Required: Though most of the action takes place in and around Tokyo, the cast of characters is fairly international and there should be very little that’s confusing to people who aren’t familiar with Japan.

Eden of the East – 11 Episodes, 2 Movies

Genres: Action, Drama, Thriller

Saki Morimi decides to spend the remaining portion of her graduation trip in Washington D.C. While she’s standing in front of the White House, a naked man approaches her waving a gun. What she eventually learns is that this man, a mysterious stranger calling himself Akira Takizawa, may very well be the terrorist responsible for the disappearance of several thousand Japanese “NEETs.”

An original project by director Kenji Kamiyama (Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit and Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex), this series, which pits several characters against each-other in a contest to help “save” Japan, blends a strong political message with social-media-based concepts and interesting mystery elements in a way that ends up being very successful. There’s plenty of excitement and suspense for people who enjoy fast-moving narratives, and there are plenty of fun character moments for viewers who like drama. Though the series has two follow-up films (the second of which is not currently available on Netflix), its initial eleven episodes wrap up with enough finality that those films aren’t a strict requirement (though they are also enjoyable).

The series has unique character design aesthetics thanks to Chika Umino (Honey and Clover) which allow the characters to appear youthful without looking cutesy. The animation is strong and the background artwork seems to be taken from photographs of actual locations, so there’s a certain element of realism here that tends to be missing from many series. This show is one of my favorites from the past few years.

Violence: Medium – there’s very little character-on-character violence depicted throughout the series, but there are at least a couple of gunshot fatalities and quite a bit of military-style activity at certain points.

Sex/Nudity: Medium – Takizawa’s introduction features him naked aside from some (humorous) censorship of his frontal area, and there’s one character who appears in her underwear for an extended scene, but there’s nothing most adults will find to objectionable.

Japanese Cultural Knowledge Required: Medium – while the problem of disenfranchised youth isn’t particular to Japan, the NEET culture that’s referenced as part of the narrative is a current issue for the country.

Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo – 24 Episodes

Genres: Drama, Literature

This certainly isn’t the first example of Japan adapting a work of Western literature through anime, but it certainly is one of the most memorable. Alexandre Dumas’ classic tale of revenge gets an anime makeover that pushes its setting into the future (and into space). If that sounds corny (and I’m sure it will to some people), let me assure you that the original tale is treated with the utmost respect. Its new coat of paint and slightly different character focus only serve to enhance what’s already there.

The first thing that many people notice about this series is that its visuals are stunning (and occasionally vertigo-inducing). The costumes are layered with textures and patterns in a way that almost no other anime has done, and the background settings are rich and vibrant. This is a great example of Studio Gonzo at its peak, before a string of substandard adaptations and bad financial decisions led to its overall decline and near-bankruptcy. If anything else, the show is worth a look based on its futuristic look alone.

More than that, though, the show features some truly excellent characters, the most intriguing of whom is the Count of Monte Cristo himself. His unusual appearance is the result of one of the more spoilerish aspects of this adaptation in particular, which I’ll leave to those who want to watch the series on their own. The decision to frame the story through young nobleman Albert’s point-of-view adds a nice coming-of-age and loss-of-innocence dimension to the tale, which ends somewhat differently than the book on which is was based. This anime definitely stands out among other adaptations of this story.

Violence: Medium – There really isn’t much gore, but characters do fight one-another and there’s at least one major duel.

Sex/Nudity: Medium-Low – While there are several allusions to the different relationships between the characters and one scene which depicts masturbation, for the most part there isn’t strong content in this area.

Japanese Cultural Knowledge Required: Low – This is a Western Tale set in a fantasy setting with very little Japanese “flavor.”

Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex – 52 Episodes and 1 Film

Genres: Sci-Fi, Cyberpunk, Action

In the future, cyborg enhancements are the norm and cyberspace is pervasive. The Section 9 security force works to combat cyber terrorism and crime in a world where the increasingly fluid nature of human consciousness makes such acts all that much more difficult to thwart.

Many anime fans of my era were probably introduced to anime via the Ghost in the Shell animated film, adapted from the manga by Masamune Shirow. This television adaptation takes the themes introduced at that time and expands upon them while offering fewer of the psychobabble derailments (not that there’s anything wrong with that!) that Mamoru Oshii’s film adaptations introduced. The original characters, including the iconic Major Motoko Kusanagi, return to fight crime and, through doing so, reveal truths about human nature when human bodies are becoming more synthetic by the day.

Both seasons of the series contain “stand alone” episodes that don’t advance the overall plot, and “complex” episodes that do. There are alternate releases of each season (“The Laughing Man” and “Individual 11”) that contain only the story-focused episodes, so viewers who are only interested in the major plot arcs can skip over the less-important stuff. Of course, that viewing approach unfortunately tends to also skip some of the character development.

Violence: High – There’s quite a bit of military-style violence in the series and some acts of terrorism are depicted as well.

Sex/Nudity: Medium – It’s been years since I’ve watched the show, and I honestly can’t remember very well, so I figure this is a safe bet. In any case, it’s not an overwhelming aspect of the series.

Japanese Cultural Knowledge Required: Low – While the series does take place in Japan, its themes are universal.

Gurren Lagann – 27 Episodes

Genres: Sci-Fi, Mecha

Young Simon lives underground with the rest of his village, but he longs to see the surface that his long-lost father once explored. When he finally breaks through to the outside world, he realizes that it’s a dangerous place, where beast men battle humans in order to keep them down. Simon and his new-found mentor Kamina, as well as Yoko, a spunky female gunner, work towards freeing humanity and allowing them to live above ground once again.

This isn’t normally the kind of series that I would like; its overly-enthusiastic brand of masculinity is practically a joke. In this case, though, the anime owes so much to older mecha anime that this embrace of bullheaded stupidity is more an homage than something its creators are attempting to pass off as original. The end result is that this manic, enthusiastic tale of humanity fighting for its right to live life on its own terms is fun to watch, even though a lot of what happens is goofy or patently ridiculous.

This is what I consider one of Studio Gainax’s last really great series before all their talent up and left to form Studio Trigger (the other is Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt, which I know a lot of people will disagree with me about), and it features some incredible work by talented key animators and guest directors (check out this short sample by animator Sushio). If anything else, this is a fun series that leads up on an absolutely incredible climax.

Violence: High – Battles are frequent in this series, but this is somewhat offset by the fact that the fighting is mostly mecha-to-mecha rather than directly between human characters.

Sex/Nudity: Medium – As a Gainax series, this show certainly has its share of bouncing breasts and silly fanservice, but it’s one of the very few cases where I don’t find myself overly bothered by it.

Japanese Cultural Knowledge Required: Low – The series takes place in a made-up setting. However, some prior knowledge of the common mecha anime tropes is helpful in getting the most out of this show.

Jyu-Oh-Sei: Planet of the Beast King – 11 Episodes

Genres: Sci-Fi, Action

Brothers Thor and Rai are falsely accused of committing a terrible crime, and are exiled to the prison planet Chimaera. There, multiple factions, segregated by appearance, fight for dominance of the planet, while hostile carnivorous plants and other hazards work against the survival of the humans there.

This anime is entirely a guilty pleasure of mine, though in reality I don’t even feel that guilty. It’s sense of pacing isn’t that great, in that it spends a little too much time with the main characters as children when the time skip into adulthood makes almost everyone much more interesting. Its sexual politics are also a bit too heavy-handed for its own good (it’s very obvious that this anime series is based on an older manga). However, the setting for the show is very creative and its atmosphere gives it the feel of an old science fiction film from the 1980’s, which hits a certain nostalgic sweet spot for me. I also think that most of the male characters in the series are very attractive, which is a shallow consideration but I allow it for myself every once-in-a-while.

This is definitely the type of science fiction series that’s not worth taking too seriously, but it does introduce some interesting thoughts on classism that’s worth some consideration. But really, this show is best when taken as the story of some attractive men (and a few women) battling it out with each-other in order to escape a hostile planet.

Violence: Medium – There’s a lot of combat in this series, and people are killed by giant man-eating plants.

Sex/Nudity: Low

Japanese Cultural Knowledge Required: Low – This show’s setting is complete fantasy, and it’s class system has little to do with anything specific to Japan.

Le Chevalier D’Eon – 24 Episodes

Genres: Supernatural, Mystery, Historical

When Lia De Beaumont turns up dead in the Seine river, her brother D’Eon, an agent of the Secret du Roi, launches into an investigation of her death. This search takes D’Eon, now possessed by the vengeful spirit of his sister, and his comrades across Europe, and reveals several uncomfortable truths about the aristocracy of various nations.

This series draws its inspiration from French history. Several of the characters are based loosely on real people, including D’Eon himself, who was a French spy who lived the latter part of his life as a woman. There are also a few “all-stars” of the French Revolution; if you’re familiar with the history of that time period and feel like a certain person might be out of place, stick around until the end – it’s explained. The supernatural embellishments help to liven up the more factual portions of the narrative, and the show’s incorporation of Christian concepts goes above and beyond what normally occurs in anime (by which I mean, those concepts are actually relevant to the story rather than pasted on because they look cool).

This is a particularly nice-looking series. The character animation is very fluid when it’s required, and when the characters use swords, their movements are exceedingly accurate and well-researched (this is according to some friends of mine who have fencing experience). The English dub is also very good in that the actors pronounce the French language terms accurately and the character acting is mature rather than over-the-top.

Politics, action, history, supernatural flavor… this show has a little of everything.

Violence: Medium – There are several sword fights but the gore level never gets out of hand.

Sex/Nudity: Low – There’s one character shown nude in a stylized way but overall the series isn’t focused on that material.

Japanese Cultural Knowledge Required: Low – You might want to brush up a bit on your European history, though.

Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit – 26 Episodes

Genres: Fantasy, Adventure, Drama

Balsa is a traveling spear-wielder and bodyguard who is tasked with protecting Prince Chagum, who has been marked for death by his own father, the Emperor. Chagum carries within his body the egg of the water god, and the hallucinations brought on by the creature resemble the symptoms of demon possession. Balsa and her acquaintances must learn the nature of the creature living inside Chagum and discover how it can be born without killing its host.

One reason that I enjoy anime is that it tends to feature more female characters in stronger roles, and Balsa is one of my favorites. She’s strong, self-sufficient and acknowledges painful experiences from her past without being ruled by them. She is, of course, the primary member of what’s an excellent cast of characters. This is one of those series that doesn’t have any “bad guys” in the traditional sense of the word - The different factions may have conflicting goals but they’re not purposely antagonistic towards one-another. This makes the drama believable and the climax of the show even more compelling.

This fantasy series, created by an author whose areas of study include anthropology, is rich with the peoples and cultures that have been brought to life at a level of detail unusual for anime. The show definitely has an Asian “flavor” to it but the actual people and places live in a rich invented culture that’s interesting and compelling. This is one of my favorite anime series of the past decade.

Violence: Medium – The violence is mostly bloodless but there are still several conflicts that result in bodily injury.

Sex/Nudity: Low – This isn’t something one would have to be afraid to one’s children.

Japanese Cultural Knowledge Required: Low – This is an invented world and while there are several similarities to historical Japan, they’re similarities that don’t affect the meat of the story.

Mushi-shi – 26 Episodes

Genres: Fantasy, Supernatural

Mushi are primal life-forms that exist both inside and out of the reality humans perceive. Occasionally the mushi interact with humans, and their effects can be both beneficial and harmful. Ginko is a “mushi-shi” or “bug-master” that studies the effects of mushi and helps humans who are affected by them.

This unique series is incredibly difficult to describe. It lacks lengthy story arcs, the protagonist is mostly a mystery (though there are episodes devoted to explaining his past), and there are very few other recurring characters. However, it is one of the most beautiful, affecting anime I’ve ever seen, and I’d recommend it to almost anyone who doesn’t need fast-paced action or goofy comedy to stay interested in something. Most of the episodic stories couldn’t be described as happy or sad; the term “bittersweet” is probably the best way to describe how things often play out.

There’s a live-action film version of this show. I don’t really recommend it, since it attempts to shoehorn in a plot into something that’s better left plotless, and the special effects make the entire thing seem corny. There are certain subjects that animation simply tends to portray much better, and this is certainly one of them.

Violence: Low – This isn’t a violent series, though there’s some disturbing imagery on occasion.

Sex/Nudity: Low

Japanese Cultural Knowledge Required: Medium – While I’m positive that people who aren’t familiar with Japan will be able to understand what’s going on, having some knowledge of the Shinto religion does help one wrap one’s mind around what exactly the mushi are supposed to be.

Rideback – 12 Episodes

Genres: Sci-fi, Political, Mecha

Rin Ogata is a ballerina with a promising future, until an injury sidelines her. Feeling lost, she begins college and discovers a club dedicated to the appreciation of hybrid racing machines called “Ridebacks.” Rin’s natural sense of balance makes her an ideal candidate to race these machines, but she soon finds herself involved in a developing political situation, and she must decide whether or not to contribute her newfound skills to a growing resistance movement.

Though the description marks this series as being full of clichés, its political machinations and gear-head tendencies are all really a means to an end. For all its action and cool computer graphics, this is really the story of a young woman undergoing a major life-change and journey of self-discovery amidst a background of political unrest. It continues to be fascinating to me that this seinen anime has a female protagonist who isn’t turned into a sex object, but there you go.

I absolutely love the way this series looks. The character designs can take a bit of getting used to (some characters have odd head shapes), but the overall artwork is some of the best I’ve seen, and it looks even better in HD (glad I bought those Blu-rays!). Some people might have some complaints about the way that the computer graphics are integrated – all of the Rideback vehicles are rendered in full 3D and then matched with the 2D character artwork - but the effect is managed better than in most series so I have very little complaint about it. This is a beautiful, unique series with a neat message and an original way of incorporating a little something for mecha fans.

Violence: Medium-High – There are terrorist events and some person-on-person combat using firearms.

Sex/Nudity: Low

Japanese Cultural Knowledge Required: Low – The only government body really represented is the fictional multi-national totalitarian one that the characters rise against, and there aren’t really any other cultural references to speak of.

Spice and Wolf – 13 Episodes (Season 1)

Genres: Fantasy, Drama

Lawrence is a traveling merchant. On his way through a small farming village, he finds what he believes to be a young woman asleep in his cart. He discovers that she’s really Holo the Wise, the local wolf deity who helps the fields of wheat remain fertile. Since technology has advanced to the point that she no longer feels needed, she invites herself along with Lawrence on his travels, so that he might guide her back to her home in the far North.

A friend once commented that this scenario sounded like the setup to some sort of fetish anime, and I’d be inclined to agree if I’d never actually seen it. Holo’s character design seems tailored to a very specific brand of “animal ear” otaku. Like many anime, though, what’s beneath the surface is definitely surprising. Spice and Wolf is a story that’s half medieval economics lesson, and half “are-they-or-aren’t-they” character drama, and the mix between the two is surprisingly satisfying. The often-witty relationship between the two leads is enjoyable to watch unfold, and the ways in which their experiences help us as viewers learn about the act of trading and making a profit are varied and surprising.

There are several examples in Japanese literature and myth of a human being falling in love with a goddess; this is merely a more modern equivalent of such that also incorporates more Western elements, like a church that’s slowly attempting to stamp-out pagan practices. This is a smart series with smart characters and a unique setting. The only unfortunate thing is that only the first season appears to be available at the time of this writing (the second is available elsewhere on hard copy DVD).

Violence: Low – Though there are brief spurts of violence every once-in-a-while, for the most part the plot moves along without it.

Sex/Nudity: Medium – Though this isn’t what I’d call a “fetish” series by any means, the female lead does spend some time in the nude, especially early-on (though it’s non-detailed and meant to be non-sexual, by my interpretation).

Japanese Cultural Knowledge Required: Low – The story takes place in a very European setting rather than in one inspired by Japan.

Xam’d: Lost Memories – 26 Episodes

Genres: Fantasy, Drama

Akiyuki lives a normal life on Sentan Island, until he’s caught in a terrorist attack on his way to school one day. It’s then that he absorbs an ancient power called Xam’d and must learn to control it before it controls him. In the meantime, his home is under attack by competing forces and his friends choose to join the military rather than sit idly by.

This TV anime is often compared to the films of Studio Ghibli. Sure, it shares some aesthetic commonalities with some of them (namely parts of Nausicaa), but more than that, this series’ sweeping scope and population of characters with sometimes ambiguous goals makes it feel like the best examples of cinematic animation. Right off the bat, Studio Bones delivers with some of the best quality animation I’ve seen in a TV series, and while that level isn’t quite maintained throughout, all of the important scenes are animated very impressively. The musical score is also very strong, with orchestral pieces rather than synthesized music.

This is a show with a large cast of characters, and almost all of them get a chance to be in the spotlight. It’s also one of the few anime I can think of that has several adult characters who are important to the story, two of whom are the protagonist’s parents. Since absentee parents always seem to be the norm in anime, seeing both Akiyuki’s mother and father is quite the pleasant surprise. This series has some good things to say about the importance of identity, but overall it’s really just a great story.

Violence: Medium – While the violence level overall isn’t that terrible, there are a couple of very shocking scenes that bump the overall level up a bit. This isn’t appropriate for very young kids.

Sex/Nudity: Low – There’s one scene where the expectation would be that a character clad only in a towel might end up accidentally naked, but the show subverts that expectation.

Japanese Cultural Knowledge Required: Low – The story takes place in a very Japan-like setting, but the sweeping story has little to do with any cultural specifics.

Squid Girl Season 1 Review

2012-04-29T03:30:21Z

Squid Girl (Shinryaku! Ika Musume)

Number of Episodes: 12

Production Company: Diomedea

English Language Licensor: Media Blasters

ANN Encyclopedia Wikipedia Crunchyroll Purchase from Rightstuf

Brief Overview: Humans have polluted the oceans long enough! Squid Girl comes to the surface to invade the Earth and punish humanity for its disregard of the environment. Unfortunately, she isn't equipped to handle the humans she meets, and ends up being conquered by them instead.

This review contains minor spoilers for the series.

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Thoughts: Of all the things that tend to split opinions on anime, humor is one of the big ones. What we find funny depends so much on the peculiarities of our experiences and upbringing that something which is hilarious to one person may fall completely flat with another. Squid Girl is an excellent example of a series with a sense of humor that's accessible to a lot of anime fans; during its initial simulcast run I knew of several people who couldn't get enough of the show's slapstick style and cute main character. It's also an example of a series which ran entirely contrary to my own sense of humor and had several elements that I found needlessly hurtful and troubling.

As far as humor goes, I'm admittedly quite particular about what tickles my funny bone. First and foremost, the root of humor to me is a familiarity with a show's characters and the truthfulness with which they react to various plot elements. I've spent the last few weeks catching up with the American television comedy Parks and Recreation, which has spent a great deal of its last few seasons developing its cast of characters. The characters' personalities are diverse and the interplay between them is often a primary source of entertainment. While the events that occur throughout the series can be over-the-top, it's the believable* ways in which the characters react to those situations and interact with one-another that makes the show so successful at what it does. Most anime doesn't have multiple seasons to spend developing a large ensemble cast, but that doesn't mean that all anime lacks for believable characters or characters who are exaggerated while also sympathetic. Arakawa Under the Bridge, which I watched concurrently with Squid Girl, is about a group of people who are strange in ways that are outwardly unrealistic. However, their one-note quirks are presented in such a way that they became lovable in their strangeness rather than the sideshow of mental illness that they might have become under different directorial influence. Though the protagonist is often baffled by the way the other characters behave, it's clear from context that he grudgingly enjoys being around them. In short, there's a positivity to the relationships even when characters are at-odds with one-another.

The primary problem I had with Squid Girl is that its titular character is treated poorly by many other members of the cast and this sets the tone for the rest of the show. Eiko and Chizuru, the owners of the beach house in which Squid Girl is employed, only seem to act positively towards her when she could be used as an (often unwilling) asset to their business. When Squid Girl reveals that she can shoot ink just like a "real" squid, she's put to work making squid ink spaghetti until she's visibly emaciated (at which point she's frightened into continuing, her health be damned). There are also several situations in which Squid Girl is picked-on, handed-off, or treated like someone's science project, as if she's someone's pet rather than a sentient being. There's even a character, Sanae, whose entire purpose is to act uncomfortably-perverted and sexually-abusive towards her. One of the reasons that I stopped watching the simulcast of this series early on was that Sanae's behavior immediately gave off a very abusive creeper vibe. Squid Girl is visibly terrified by Sanae's presence on several occasions and Sanae, for her part, is inappropriately obsessive towards her. At one point she even dons a giant shrimp costume in order to lure Squid Girl into a "surprise" tryst (because non-consensual groping is awesome you guys). This type of "joke" certainly isn't uncommon in anime, but it should come as no surprise that I find it to be in pretty poor taste and also exceedingly ignorant of the way in which certain kinds of abuses that seem cute and funny to outsiders might be pretty traumatic to the person on the receiving end.

This isn't to say that Squid Girl doesn't dole out her own share of violence and destruction; her goals are based (dubiously) around revenge and she comes up with several schemes that have the primary objective of putting humanity under her command and the secondary intention of making her employers and other humans suffer. Unfortunately all that really means is that quite a bit of the character interaction in this show is based around negativity and the inferred destruction of a character's freedom and/or dignity. It's difficult to laugh along with something that, taken to its logical end, is actually pretty terrible.

A side-effect of this is that the few moments in the show which might otherwise feel more sentimental ring hollow. In one of the segments, a mini version of squid girl is found and raised by Eiko; the two live together until Eiko grows old and passes away. As a stand-alone it works surprisingly well, but it's ruined by the punch-line - as it turns out, this one one of Sanae's dreams, and the episode ends with her complaining about not being present in it. The finale of the show relies heavily on the suggestion that the characters would miss each-other if separated, but there's almost nothing in the rest of the series that suggest that this would actually be true considering how most of them behave towards one-another. The final portion of the episode is a prime example of melodrama being shoehorned-in at the last minute to try and wring some emotion out of the audience. While this can work in some series and can even be comedic in ones that are more over-the-top and self-aware, in this case it's amateurish and pointless.

The series, for all its faults, does have a couple of bright spots. The trio of "MIT graduates" who aid researcher Cyndi Campbell in her hunt for extraterrestrials (and talking squids, obviously) were the one reliably funny part of the show. I have a major soft spot for ridiculous accents and the characters' butchering of the Japanese language, as well as their goofball personalities, almost always managed to be funny. I also really have to hand it to the subtitle translator. In the original Japanese track, Squid Girl ends all her sentences with "de geso," a reference to squid tentacles. The translator spiced up this dialog by transforming her idiosyncratic way of speaking into a series of ocean-related puns. While I'm no fan of puns myself, and seeing references to Squid Girl's "inkvasion" plans grew tiresome very quickly, this was clearly a lot of extra effort that's deserving of some kudos.

There are lots of people who enjoy this kind of show and I don't begrudge them that; part of the appeal of anime to many fans is the fact that anime series are often based on goofy ideas in a way that's completely different from Western animated entertainment, and that in-and-of itself can be worth a few laughs to those for whom the concept is still novel. The main character also has a certain cuteness that most certainly taps into a willing audience for moe entertainment. For me, though, the fact that the series is so mean-spirited towards its cast goes a long way towards derailing it. How am I supposed to appreciate these characters and enjoy what they do if context shows me that they're entirely unlikeable? The show also has a creep factor that, while probably not obvious or deal-breaking for most viewers, made a lot of episodes very uncomfortable for me to sit through. With a different attitude and a different comedic philosophy, this show may have been more successful at what it was trying to accomplish, but on the whole it's very cynical about human behavior and attempts to pass off rudeness and abuse as genuine humor, which doesn't work for me.

*This isn't to say that the show doesn't contain a few caricatures (The Tammys, for example), but the majority of the show's characters are people who feel well-rounded and likeable because of their unique traits and faults.

Pros:

The MIT scientists are one of the more humorous aspects of the show.
The subtitles, while grating to those of us who dislike puns, demonstrate an extra bit of effort put into the translation.

Cons:

Most of what passes for comedy is very mean-spirited.
There's one character whose "shtick" involves what I'd categorize as stalking, obsession and abuse.
The series unsuccessfully attempts to shoehorn in drama.

Recommended? If I were under the impression that the show featured a type of humor that just didn't appeal to me I might be more inclined to recommend it to a certain segment of the fandom, but with all the problematic elements it has I don't feel inclined to recommend it to anyone in spite of the fact that many people will find it more appealing than I have.

More:

ANN Review of the series.

Updates 4/18/2012

2012-04-19T03:15:07Z

The Dregs, Spring 2012, has been updated with three new entries: Sengoku Collection, Shining Hearts: Shiawase no Pan and Upotte!! (the exclamation points are from the official title rather than my own excited emphasis).

Spring 2012–The Dregs

2012-04-14T23:10:27Z

Here I am, having braced myself to tackle the (probable) junk and rubbish this season has to offer. The least I can say about this season is that it doesn’t appear to have quite the volume of outright disgusting material some previous seasons have had to offer. This isn’t to say that some series aren’t gross, but at least the level of downright barftasticness has settled down for the time being. Anyway, on to the reviews, which will be updated as I check out more series.

Update 4/18/2012: Sengoku Collection, Shining Hearts: Shiawase no Pan and Upotte!! have been added.

Acchi Kocchi

Number of Episodes: TBA

Production Company: AIC

ANN Encyclopedia Wikipedia Trailer

Impressions: Tsumiki is a tsundere, and the target of her pseudo-affection is Io, who doesn’t realize how she feels about him. Because the two have a certain rapport, they’re mistaken as being boyfriend-and-girlfriend, but despite strong suggestions on the part of their friends that they act on these feelings, nothing ever really happens in that department. Their days are spent having fun at school, and going out as a group of friends.

Well, this episode wasn’t terrible in the way that I thought it might be, but it was an incredible slog to sit through. I’m guessing I probably paused the episode about ten times in order to read something more interesting on the internet, so the entire experience of watching it must have taken at least an hour, and it felt like much longer. This episode is an exercise in enduring some of the oldest, most vapid jokes that slice-of-life comedy anime have to offer, including the one about the clumsy teacher (she slips on a banana peel, har har!) and the girl who’s super short and needs help reaching stuff. The female lead is an off-brand version of Konata from Lucky Star, minus the biting otaku wit, and her friends are airy stereotypes that do nothing to add to the story besides make unfunny comments about the non-relationship Tsumiki and Io have.

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The show’s design elements only help to emphasize just how bland the plot progression is; each segment is introduced by an interstitial title card that merely states, along with some silly animation, where the characters are (or where they’re going next). There are even cards which tell us when the A segment is over and when the B segment has begun (thank goodness, I don’t know how I would have been able to tell!). It’s like a form of hand-holding for a series that requires it the least, and it doesn’t do much to endear the package to me. Ditto the terrible character designs.

There are times when it’s so easy to tell that a show is based on a four-panel manga, and this is one of those times. Unless the animation studio is willing to go all-out with the material, like Kyoto Animation did with Nichijou, there’s really very little point in animating any more junk food like this (aside from money, I suppose).

Was this episode better or worse than expected? Quality-wise I’d say it was about on-par with what I expected, though its faults were somewhat different than I had predicted. It’s primary fault is that it’s a complete bore. I bet the first Blu-Ray will sell 10,000 copies anyway.

Rock Lee and His Ninja Pals

Number of Episodes: TBA

Production Company: Pierrot

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Impressions: A girl being hounded by creditors is rescued by Rock Lee, a ninja whose traits include determination and a penchant for accidental success, as well as an inability to use ninjutsu. He solves the girl’s problem in an unconventional way. His next job is to obtain a baumkuchen for a client, but Rock Lee’s rival, Naruto, shows up to compete for it. Naruto gains an easy victory through ninjutsu, but Rock Lee has sympathy on his side.

Well, if you weren’t convinced that Shonen Jump properties were nothing more than cash-cows, I offer up this spinoff as evidence. I kid – partly. With the Bleach anime adaptation having ended recently, I’m sure there was a major impetus to get something, anything into the empty time slot, especially something likely to be popular with the type of crowd who’s willing to watching prime-time cartoons. Enter this series, which skates by on the Naruto name but has little of even the very simplistic drama that makes that series compelling to so many.

What this show does right is match its style of presentation with the personality of its main character. Though I’m not very familiar with Naruto, I am passingly-familiar with Rock Lee as a character (he was quite popular as the subject of cosplay for a while, so it was difficult not to be aware of him), and his humorous and dedicated nature makes the perfect fodder for comedy. The problem is that the humor is extremely immature in nature and didn’t really hit any of my funny bones. There’s a repeating poop-related joke that, in spite of my almost uncontrollable reaction to most toilet humor, didn’t really elicit a chuckle, and the jokes that are directly related to the abilities of the characters are probably only funny to people who are familiar with them in the first place. Which is to say, not me.

I hesitate to say that this is meant only for children, but wide appeal and maturity certainly aren’t its strong suits.

Was this episode better or worse than expected? In the grand scheme of things, probably better, though the word which kept popping into my mind while watching it was “useless.”

Haiyore! Nyaruko-san (Nyarko-san: Another Crawling Chaos

Number of Episodes: TBA

Production Company: Xebec

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Impressions: Yasaka is having a demon problem, and the only person who has a chance of solving it isn’t a person at all – she’s Nyarlat-hotep, a terrifying alien being who’s a member of H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulu Mythos. Of course, Nyarlat-hotep, or “Nyarko-san,” isn’t quite the tentacled terror which those stories describe; she appears to Yasaka as a cute girl – and joins him at school to help “protect” him from the alien beings who are harassing him.

If I didn’t already know better, I’d think that the well of creativity had suddenly run dry when this premise was created. My readers will remember that this was originally a web series comprised of five minute long flash-animated shorts about Nyarko-san and Yasaka, but in their infinite wisdom, a production group decided that they were worth turning into an actual TV anime series. For what it’s worth, the full-length episode is better than the flash-animated shorts. There’s the vague sense that the creators are attempting to parody moe romance anime by twisting some of the normal tropes a bit (Nyarko-san makes a bento for Yasaka, the problem being not that she can’t cook, but that the meat is probably from some unidentified, horrible creature). Nyarko manages to be a kook without her voice actress over-acting for effect. The repeated “gag” of Yasaka attempting to stab Nyarko with a fork gets old pretty darned fast, though.

But why H.P. Lovecraft? I’m not such a fan of his writing that I consider this a form of blasphemy, but are these stories and characters even that popular or well-known in Japan? I can understand this from a standpoint of “let’s take this creepy thing and make it cute, lolz,” but the references to the actual mythos are reserved for asides and the titular character is not ever actually portrayed in her more frightening form (in the first episode, at least). This could have been made with any other made-up alien creature as a protagonist and I don’t think that the result would have been much different.

This isn’t so much gag-worthy in its stupidity, but it seems symptomatic that the trend of moe-fication may be reaching its natural limit (of course, since I’ve said that, something else much stranger will get made and my mind will be completely blown).

Was this episode better or worse than expected? Better, at least in that it didn’t make me want to pull my hair out by the roots. The show is still completely baffling to me, though.

Sengoku Collection

Number of Episodes: TBA

Production Company: Brains Base

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Impressions: Oda Nobunaga falls from a burning tower, only to end up in modern-day Japan. She – and yes, the famous unification-initiator is a buxom young girl this time around – meets a friendly (if confused) boy named Ota. He shows Nobunaga around town before reluctantly inviting her to stay in his home. While sleeping, she meets three priestesses that inform her that she can return to her own time – though the amount of power needed to perform that feat means that Nobunaga will have to help seek out a certain treasure.

As I mentioned, this is yet another entry in the COMPLETELY NECESSARY sub-genre revolving around re-casting historical figures as cute, sexy young women. I think that Brains Base has really spoiled me over the last year. I mean, two seasons of Natsume Yuujinchou, Mawaru Penguindrum… heck, even Enma-kun was off-the-wall and silly and Kamisama Dolls had a neat premise when it wasn’t about the female lead’s breasts being larger than her head (or the female lead being a rape target, or the female lead being useless… okay, so maybe that wasn’t such a great example). In any case, I understand that even the best animation companies need to indulge in the creation of a little bit of fluff in order to make their bottom line. This series, for example, seems like it will probably move a lot of merchandise.

What I find frustrating is that the whole concept seems so played-out at this point, and this first episode does nothing to establish the show as any different or more creative than its predecessors. The character wears her personality like a bombastic mask meant to hide the emptiness of her characterization. Her costume, on the other hand, lays bare the fact that the whole show is just some sort of joke; what warlord in any time period would dress like, well, an anime character? Her look is certainly not historically-based. In the episode’s crowning moment of goofiness, the three miko who visit Nobunaga during the night are framed harmoniously within the scene by the decreasing size of their busts. Oh anime producers, never change!

Was this episode better or worse than expected? I expected this to be mostly brain-dead and silly, and that’s what I got in return.

Shining Hearts: Shiawase no Pan (The Bread of Happiness)

Number of Episodes: TBA

Production Company: Production I.G.

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Impressions: RIck is an up-and-coming baker who lives with his three faithful assistants, Airy, Amil and Neris. They wake up early every morning to prep the bakery, and Rick bakes bread that all the people of the town seem to like. During a supply run (to acquire more ingredients), the group encounters an injured silf and they nurse it back to health with bread. While going to return it, they encounter a hostile elf, then later meet his less-hostile sister who becomes their friend. The red moon in the sky seems to portend something sinister in the future, though.

I normally think that it’s a cop-out to criticize something for being “too much like a video game.” There are several assumptions at play in that statement, including the supposed inferiority of video game storytelling methods (not true) or the idea that all video games are so similar that such a blanket statement would even mean anything. This episode, though, is so video-game-like that I can’t help but label it as such; the entire plot of its first episode unfolds like that of a B-grade RPG, complete with a fetch quest and foreboding encounter with scary elves. Even some of the camera angles recall the earlier days of overhead viewpoints and aesthetically-pleasing, symmetrical party arrangements. The characters’ costumes seem to follow the JPRG rule of “form before function.” I couldn’t tell you exactly what the game on which this anime is based is like, but I think I have a pretty good idea judging by how this episode is presented.

I hadn’t originally categorized this series in the lowest tier of reviews, but five minutes in I knew that it belonged nowhere else. There’s complete lack of anything compelling within the first episode, aside from one of Rick’s brief flashbacks. While this show doesn’t seem “bad” in the same way that, say, Manyuu Hikenchou is bad, it’s shoddy in the sense that there isn’t a good plot hook to be seen for miles.

To others who have watched this episode: did it seem as if all three of the female characters had the exact same face?

Seriously, aside from the nun’s slightly different eyes, which might be due to her facing a different angle, these are all exactly the same face. Way to go, Tony Taka!

Was this episode better or worse than expected? It was definitely more generic than I would have thought, even considering its origins.

Upotte!!

Number of Episodes: 13

Production Company: Xebec

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Impressions: The girls of Seishou Academy are all wondering about the new teacher who’s supposed to arrive. Funko meets the teacher, Genkoku, by chance at a local festival, and he learns that the students of Seishou are anything but normal – in reality, they’re all firearms. “Funko” is a Belgian FN FNC. When Genkoku inadvertently insults Funko, she shoots at him, sending him to the hospital. The class decides to make an introduction video so that their teacher will be more familiar with them when he returns to class.

What do you get when you mix gun-fanaticism with moe characterization and sexual assault in its various forms? For some, perhaps a very weird boner (or lady boner). For me, an overwhelming desire to retreat to the safety of more generic garbage, because even Sengoku Collection seems like fine art when compared to stuff like this.

Every season has its share of terrible garbage, and while I believe that Queen’s Blade might give this one a run for its money, there was enough in this little package to leave me feeling royally grossed-out. I’m tempted to simply list everything about it that was offensive, but instead I’ll generalize by saying that the very premise treats teenage girls like objects, and the connections drawn between their actions as firearms (the firing of their hammers, for instance) and their budding sexuality as teens is about as far out-of-line as you can get. When shooting bullets turns out to be a potentially orgasmic act… well, you can see where this is going. Add to that the Haruhi-style girl-on-girl breast molestation that occurs, and you can see why one might be compelled to throw up once or twice.

Oh, and did I mention that the male teacher’s face is shrouded in shadow for most of the episode? If that doesn’t scream “creeper,” I don’t know what does.

If the content were a little bit less risqué I could potentially see this as having some entertainment value for people more familiar with firearms, but as it stands I think almost anyone would feel uncomfortable seeing little girls getting reduced to such a strange blend of “sex object” and “instrument of violence.”

Was this episode better or worse than expected? I found the premise highly suspect to begin with, but in actuality it’s much worse. There’s a whole lot wrong here that has less to do with the actual premise and more to do with the fact that someone wanted to show young girls getting turned-on.

Queen’s Blade: Rebellion

Number of Episodes: TBA

Production Company: Arms

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Thoughts: Claudette has crowned herself the Eternal Queen and abolished the Queen’s Blade tournament. Industry has blossomed and technology has advanced, and since people are no longer working their fingers to the bone, they have time to invent silly crap like huge-breasted automatons who dress like maids and have Strike Witches inspired leg modifications.

Oh, Queen’s Blade, you beautiful tropical fish.

Returning for a third season, this fanservice-laden boob-fest is still one of the most infuriating series I’ve ever encountered. I can see the seed of a great story that really wants to germinate and flourish, but it’s forever stomped into oblivion by the weight of its characters’ enormous cans, orbiting like moons in view of the camera. I’m halfway convinced that Liliana, the pirate character pictured above, is a direct dig at Kato Marika, the heroine of Bodacious Space Pirates (a series with essentially no fanservice). Liliana’s top is torn off within the first few minutes of the episode, her nipples covered awkwardly by little starfish. Her miniskirt is, of course, worth next to nothing as far as coverage is concerned.

The majority of the characters in this season are new (at least to me), and there’s already a character I’d love to see in another series that’s less nasty to women – Dragon Descendant Branwen. She’s definitely got badass potential, but that’s squandered early on by the strange sexual torture at the hands of some nasty little imp man. And therein lies another problem – while both the earlier seasons of this show were terrible, they did have one thing going – they were almost completely lacking in male characters. There was rarely an impression that any of the dissolving outfits or ridiculous camera angles were aimed specifically at any in-universe male character, and most of the female characters seemed pretty blasé about it (rather than ashamed and crying, which honestly would have made it all the more uncomfortable to watch). This season already appears to have more male background characters, and a relatively young supporting character who interacts with a couple of the leads. And with male characters comes the potential for the kind of hornball hijinks that make almost every other ecchi series intolerable. Not that Queen’s Blade has ever been tolerable, but it’s certainly operated differently than many other series of its ilk to this point.

It almost goes without saying that the centuries upon centuries of technological progress that have occurred in the span of a few years (human-like automatons, vehicles not drawn by horse) is pretty unbelievable.

I’ve watched more of this show than I believe is healthy and I doubt I’ll bother continuing with it any longer. This episode demonstrates to me pretty clearly that, even more than previous seasons, there are some major confliction quality issues, especially when these potentially interesting plotlines are sexed up just so someone, somewhere can get aroused.

Better or Worse? The addition of more male characters in speaking roles was a let-down in a show which I already expected to be terrible, so kudos to the creators for surpassing my low expectations and bringing even more stupidity to the table.

Women in Anime–Akemi Homura

2012-04-12T02:58:41Z

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.

It's been a while, hasn't it? With reviews and conventions getting in the way, it's been difficult for me to keep up with some of the items I've really wanted to write, including this column. Though it's fallen on the back-burner a bit, I've really been looking forward to this entry in particular. I've had plenty to say about the other characters in this series, who together help enrich the story and make it into the compelling piece that still has people talking more than a year later. There's only one character, though, whose story I can safely say this story is truly about, and surprisingly that person isn't Madoka; The character whose struggles help comprise the basis of this particular magical girl story, whose imprisonment in a Samsara-like cycle of repeated mistakes and suffering, truly is lone-wolf character Akemi Homura.

I've talked previously about the importance of female friendships and relationships to this story. In Homura's case, her friendship with Madoka forms the backbone of a narrative which has played itself out several (perhaps countless) times to increasing degrees of non-success. Without further examination, this seems to suggest that the ultimate "reward" of trying to do something for someone else is the destruction of that relationship; as with many of the other interwoven character arcs in this series, Homura makes her wish in order that someone else might benefit - Madoka. With each timeline resulting in an increasingly dire conclusion, it would seem to suggest, albeit cynically, that the support offered from one woman to another is an idealized and unattainable concept, one which only leads to pale reflections of success and even more heartache.

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Of course, the real problem is that the wish has unintended consequences that cause it to backfire. Like others before her, Homura's wish is based on a selfish desire - rather than Madoka sacrificing herself during the battle with Walpurgisnacht, Homura wishes for the ability to rescue her, thus keeping her as a friend. There's an element of Groundhog Day here, in that the assumption is that Homura might eventually be able to get everything exactly "right" and save the day while still maintaining the friendship. The unfortunate reality is that her unsuccessful attempts appear only to add to a cosmic burden that transforms Madoka from a confident, outgoing high school girl to one who's more reserved and hesitant to make decisions.

Before I go further, I think that it's valuable to look at the type of character type (or types) Homura embodies. Homura's characterization almost seems like an in-joke to people who are aware of how moe character archetypes operate. Homura begins, as we find out in the tenth episode of the series, as a typical, sweet Meganekko ("glasses girl") who's befriended by the outgoing Madoka. Homura initially lacks will and appears devoid of power, both physical and personality-wise. Her attempts to defeat the likes of a garbage can are cringe-worthy, and her lack of endurance (brought on by the fact that she's physically unwell), only seem to add to how endearing she's supposed to be, speaking in terms of prevailing female character design "wisdom." As she begins to repeat history, the emotional burden of doing so begins to transform her personality from that of a meek, powerless introvert, to someone whose knowledge of the way in which the world works has darkened her personality.

Why I look at this transformation in terms of moe archetypes is primarily because in most other cases, these archetypes are absolute; characters who begin their lives as dojikko or lolis or tsundere remain within those boundaries for the entirety of their existence. This series plays with our expectations, demonstrating that the "dark girl" who doesn't seem to get along with anyone and who has a blunt personality began her life as someone shy and quiet. It demonstrates a logical and, at times, surprising arc of development that once again subverts our expectations of what an anime series which is seemingly based a great deal on moe aesthetic and archetypes can and should be.

The transformative aspect of Homura's character development is important because it describes one aspect of her relationship with Madoka that I haven't really seen adequately examined yet - the way in which the progression of their relationship describes an alteration in the characters' power dynamic. Though many of the actions Homura takes seem to transform her relationship with Madoka in unintended ways, because of each trip through the cycle, Homura herself becomes more powerful in certain respects. She heals the problem with her heart and becomes physically fit, she learns to use firearms in order to enhance her time-stopping abilities, and she becomes more cunning and almost singularly focused on her primary goal. Not all of these powerful traits are positive; in order to convince Madoka not to become a magical girl, it almost becomes a necessity for Homura to become blunt and unfriendly towards her. The implication, though, is that through her devotion to Madoka, Homura has become a person able to make decisions and take action, rather than waiting helplessly in the shadows while something hopeless comes to claim the lives of those she loves.

Madoka's transformation is something of a different story, and one that I'll reserve for the next entry in this series. Suffice it to say that, while it doesn't always appear that her half of the relationship is a positive one, Madoka too undergoes a more subtle shift in attitude and power, from frivolous and thoughtless to decisive in the most powerful sense. Her road to that point is simply lengthier, at least in terms of how the series presents it to the viewer.

There's a very clear message here that it's knowledge that ultimately equals power. While the truth is not always kind and the method of reaching it almost never pleasant, it's always better to have all the information at your disposal when making large decisions. This may be why Kyubey is so often seen as an "evil" character, despite his amorality; his deceptiveness is a result of omission and almost none of the girls with whom he contracts have the entire picture when they sign on the dotted line. Sometimes the weight of these after-the-fact realizations are too much for the characters to bear; Sayaka in particular succumbs to depression soon after learning that her body has become an empty shell and her soul an object. Homura, though, takes this knowledge (as well as the information she has on the appearance of Walpurgisnacht and how to defeat it) and does with it what she can in the face of cosmic, opposing odds. Despite her increasingly grim prospects, her love for her friend gives her determination, and she never gives up hope. Perhaps this, even more than her tragic, transformative story, is part of what makes her a favorite character of mine.

Even if she weren't as well-realized as a character, her existence does cause one to question whether that strange individual at work or at school who doesn't engage with anyone or who seems standoffish might not have something going on in their life that makes them that way. As someone who has always been shy and whose shyness is often mistaken for arrogance or aloofness, I can certainly say that the standard of sociability that we have in place does seem to emphasize falseness in our interactions rather than reward the process of getting to know someone. I guess it doesn't surprise me that moe is such a popular concept in anime fandom; it's easier (in the sense that it's literally less work) to love a girl who's cute for a singular reason that's tailored to one's personal preference than it is to deal with the combined messiness of a real woman's hopes, dreams, faults and problems, at least for those people who would rather we sit down, shut up and get back in the kitchen (or simply be 2D waifus).

I think what ultimately endears Homura to me is that, where some of the other girls are emotionally destroyed by the unintended consequences of their wishes, or are forced to become cynical and jaded in order to cope, Homura instead accepts these consequences like a duty she has to her friend. While she does have moments of emotional fragility - who wouldn't? - her maturity and determination define the person who she has had to become. It's the rare anime character who is offered the opportunity to grow in this way.

Next time, Madoka finally gets her time in the spotlight, and we'll talk about the other side of her relationship with Homura, as well as her relationship with her mother and how that helps define her character.

Lupin the Third: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine–First Episode Review

2012-04-11T21:09:31Z

Lupin the Third: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine

Number of Episodes: 13

Production Company: TMS Entertainment

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Links will be updated once Funimation launches their simulcast of the series.

Brief Overview: Thieves Arsene Lupin III and Fujiko Mine have been brought to life in several TV anime incarnations, but this series, which celebrates the franchise's 40th anniversary, tells the tale of how the two met each-other.

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Episode Summary: Famous thief Lupin III travels to a distant island in search of a treasure held by the leader of a cult. When he arrives, he discovers that he's got competition in the matter; an up-and-coming female thief named Fujiko Mine is also after the treasure, and she's willing to go to greater lengths to get it. After seducing the cult leader it seems as if she might end up with her hands on the prize, but things get jumbled when Lupin detonates an explosion, and they both eventually end up imprisoned.

The following day, they're punished by execution - of course, neither thief decides to show up in person, since they'd rather compete with each-other for possession of the island's hidden bounty. Their reward ends up being a cache of the drug the cult leader uses to keep his faithful followers enraptured, in solid sculptural form, and Fujiko fights tooth-and-nail with Lupin to get it. That is, until the object plunges into the ocean and dissolves. The two thieves begin to anticipate their next meeting.

Thoughts: I chose to tackle this Spring 2012 series first since I've already been involved in some very heated discussions about it. There are certainly a lot of things about Lupin the Third: Mine Fujiko to Iu Onna that are worth talking about, and a lot of these subjects are muddied by some prevalent social perceptions of sexuality and the reality that most of anime isn't equipped to (or its creators don't care to) handle the subject in a grown-up manner.

I should probably take this moment to address the elephant in the room because the subject will come up sooner or later, if not in the review, than in the comment section. This episode contains a lot of nudity, the bulk of which is the main character going topless several times (including during the opening animation - NSFW). One of the primary aspects of Fujiko's personality is that she isn't shy about using her sexuality and the way people react to it to get what she wants out of a situation (which isn't new to her character, by the way). It would be easy for me to cry "fanservice!" here and I don't necessarily think that everyone would disagree with me. Sex and sexuality in most anime is, quite frankly, a joke, one whose punch line is nothing more than a nosebleed or a panty shot. I was prompted by this to think of anime where I personally thought that a sexual encounter was handled as an story element or result of a natural-feeling romance (or heck, even a consensual tryst between people whose exclusive commitment to each-other isn't a factor), and I could think of only a few* before running dry of ideas.

Anime (and media in general to a somewhat less unapologetically blatant extent) has spent many years doing a major disservice to women's sexuality, more specifically that of women who, by their nature, personal preference, or inclination, are aggressively sexual or enjoy sex. We're at a point where the knee-jerk reaction is to immediately label almost any depiction of a sexual (or nude) woman as being "for heterosexual men," because that relationship has been cultivated for hundreds (and probably thousands) of years. A sexy woman is talking? Let's use the camera to focus on her breasts or butt instead of her face for the entire time she has dialog, because that's what "the audience" wants to see; what she actually has to say really isn't that important. I think my readers will forgive me when I say that I was originally very taken aback by this particular anime episode's tendency to place its main character in situations where her top was MIA as a matter of course, because to me that technique historically speaks to a desire to address one particular sub-set of the anime audience and to server as a barrier for those outside of that sub-set. This speaks to how rare it is for a female character to exist who doesn't feel particularly undermined by her state of undress (though it could be argued that, in spite of the character's personal attitude about her own nudity, it could still be seen as a method by the people in charge of undermining an otherwise empowered character).

Of course, Fujiko is a character that embodies the idea of "working twice as hard for the same amount of respect," her disadvantage being that she's a woman in a "man's world" of competitive, flashy thievery. In the episode, Lupin comments on Fujiko's willingness to kill in order to achieve her goals, and it's obvious to the viewer from the outset that her body is just one other tool in the arsenal she uses to confound the men who think of her as nothing but breasts atop a nice pair of legs. Lupin has the luxury of doing things a certain way, not only because he has the advantage of fame bestowed upon him as the grandson of another remarkable thief (which could be seen as some form of nepotism in action), but because his sex doesn't put him at a social disadvantage - as wacky as his behavior can be, the default reaction is to take his declarations of intent seriously. Fujiko, on the other hand, plays the sex toy, the victim, and the harem girl and people are fooled time-and-time-again because of their expectations of her. What I realized is that it's not her behavior that I take issue with, and despite the amount of nearly-nude shots this episode has (which would normally have my hackles up), I'm not really bothered by that either. What I find sad, and what's actually very perceptive on the part of the staff in this case, is that sometimes expectations of women are so ingrained in the collective consciousness that it's incredibly easy for a person motivated to take advantage of them.

Part of the reason I've spent so much time reading into this is that I have high hopes for the series based in part on the director. Her name is Sayo Yamamoto, and while she's had a hand in several well-regarded series (primarily as a storyboard artist, sometimes as an episode director), her other work as primary director was a favorite series of mine, Michiko to Hatchin. What's special to me about that series is that it's very woman-focused; its primary relationships are between women and its main character is a woman who manages to couple "sexy" with "capable" in a way that doesn't make her body the primary focus of her existence, a balance that is so, so rare for anime. While I'm aware that these aspects of the story aren't entirely the result of the director's influence, my personal opinion is that there's always something to be gained by having women direct other women (even animated women). This isn't to say that Yamamoto hasn't had a hand in things that I'd classify as "iffy" - in this post at Ani no Miyako, blog author Raito-kun compares the first episode of this series (which Yamamoto also storyboarded) to some of the director's other storyboarding contributions, and her particular vision of aggressive female sexuality is used not only to help embody predictably-oversexed antagonist characters (Occult Academy) but also characters in service to an arguably offensive series known for its downright barf-worthy fanservice (High School of the Dead). Even in these instances, though, there's at least the acknowledgement of another type of female mindset, one which goes against the expectation that women somehow be ashamed of sex in order to be sympathetic (an assumption that seems fairly common in Japanese media, including pornography).

All this talk of sex and nudity might unfortunately overshadow one of the most positive aspects of this episode (and by extension, probably the entire series) which is its visual design. There's a strong focus on animation quality when critiquing anime, for reasons beyond the fact that anime is animation; because the medium is so built on conservation of frames and stylistic shortcuts meant to work around the intrinsic need for static shots, any amount of full animation is worth some kudos. This episode has its share of great animation, and not just character animation; in one of the early scenes, foamy liquid sprays over a large area and the liquid's weight and viscosity is portrayed in such a life-like fashion that it warmed my little animation fan heart. The real draw for me, though, are the design elements that really evoke a particular time period in animation history while taking advantage of all the advancements in animation technology since then. I love the use of textured pencil lines to add visual interest and movement to a lot of the shadows, and the faux film grain that I noticed in at least one scene really added to the impression that this series has its roots in the late 1960s. The background environments continue that design sense, but combine it with a thoroughly-modern use of CG to give dimension to certain scenes. The technique isn't overbearing; I'd compare it to Mononoke in that it's well-incorporated and used in a way that adds rather than detracts from the viewer's immersion. The icing on the cake is the soundtrack which evokes the kind of instrumentation popular in media of the 60s and 70s. All said, the show's artistic elements and soundscape are highly successful at showing deference to the past while also attempting to engage modern anime fandom.

I don't doubt that there'll be more opportunities for this series to test my patience; its whole-hog devotion to its 1960s aesthetics definitely draws from a time when women were even more marginalized in cinema and media than they are now, and I don't see this being completely eliminated or even addressed in a satisfactory way here. The fact that this episode's antagonist (the cult leader) is partly defined by the nasty way he treats women (fondling them, smacking their naked asses across his knee, and forcing their faces to his groin) seems less comical than intended and more like the last resort of people not up to the challenge of full-on characterization ("look at this guy, he's a rapist therefore he's a horrible person whose motivations we don't have to bother explaining").

In any case, I hope that the relationship between the main duo remains comedic and fun, defined more by their continual battle of wits and theatrical one-upmanship than who's being made into a sex object for the camera. There's great potential here and I'd hate to be soured on an otherwise fun, dynamic and good-looking series by being continually reminded that I'm not a welcome part of the audience.

*These include - Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Aoi Bungaku (No Longer Human chapter), and Antique Bakery.

Pros:

The visual design, including both the character and background artwork, is a treat for the eyes.
The soundtrack helps to enhance the series' sense of time and place.
The combination of female director and female main character has a lot of potential.

Cons:

I fear that the question "is she or isn't she being objectified?" will continue to be applicable throughout the series, and might overshadow its other more positive elements.

Recommended? I definitely recommend this. I know that not everyone will be able to stomach the amount of nudity (while a lot of outlets are saying that Fujiko is topless for half the episode, it's actually not nearly that much), and not everyone's interpretation of her character will be as positive as mine, I think that the first episode is definitely worth a look, especially for fans who enjoy really well-designed, unique-looking animation.

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Spring Season 2012–First Glance

2012-04-08T18:48:51Z

Here we are once again, ready to dive right into another potentially exciting anime season. This may only be me, but I’ve felt that the past couple of seasons have provided anime viewers like me with plenty of solid entertainment, but very few series that I’d classify as “excellent.” Whether or not this season aims to change that is anyone’s guess, but there are several series that look promising to me from a glance.

Before I get started, here’s a refresher on the purpose at these pre-season posts. It’s my goal to divide this season’s series into high, medium, and low-priority for the purposes of review. Sequels (to series I haven’t watched), series with short run-times, series meant for children and one-shot series (OVAs and films) are lowest-priority, and will get tackled on an “as time allows” basis. Low-priority series are those which strike me as being the least interesting and potentially most offensive of the lot. Medium-priority are those for which I don’t have a very strong impression or which seem at first glance like they could be entertaining, if not groundbreaking. High-priority are series which I’ve been actively anticipating or am excited about for one reason or another.

One reminder: These are pre-judgments based on what I perceive in terms of potential. I’m willing to entertain quality arguments either way if anyone believes I’ve missed some important information about one series or another. Understand that this isn’t meant as the final word on any of these series, these are just some initial impressions based on limited research and knowledge. People are welcome to discuss this post or offer personal opinions in the comments section.

Links are directed towards My Anime List, since other information (like the ANN Encyclopedia links) will be included in the reviews proper.

On to the post!

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Sequels of the unwatched, Short-form series, Shows for Children, One-shots.

As the header says, this spot is reserved for the sequels of series I haven’t watched, series with short episodes (less than ten minutes), kiddie entertainment (by which I mean series for kids that would be of little value to adults, not all series aimed at childred) and one-shot OVAs that hold little interest for me. Unless their opening episodes are fairly impressive, they will most likely all be included in one large summary post that’s updated as required. There are quite a lot of these this time around.

Koi-ken – This was mistakenly listed in some charts for Winter 2012, but since there seemed to be so little information about it, I assumed that it would be a late-comer to that season. In any case, as a cell-phone animation, it promises to be relatively short, and its subject matter (a school club about the study of romance, populated mostly with moe girls) does not strike me as being very interesting.

Shiba Inuko-san – The part of my brain that enjoys cute things is telling me that this might not be a huge waste of time, but the more logical, down-to-earth center of my gray matter has tempered that reaction by reminding me that this series has two-minute episodes. Two minutes is just about the right amount of time to pull a stupid gag and not much else. The goofy premise screams loudly of “trying too hard to be weird.”

Pabu & Mojizu – Well, this series is a great mystery to me. My cursory perusal of my normal information haunts has turned up next to nothing on the show, except that it’s 20 minutes long and for children. The animal characters have a cute Animal Crossing look to them, but that’s about all I can comment on.

Gon – Somehow Gon, a small dinosaur, managed to avoid extinction, and how he interacts with mammals and other creatures from the Paleolithic era. I could see this being sort of fun if the show focused on adventure rather than the characters just sitting around acting like goofballs, but I’m not really sure what type of atmosphere to expect from this. I’m also not that big a fan of CG animation, so it’s difficult for me to feel very enthusiastic about it.

Kimi to Boku Season 2 – I actually had somewhat positive feelings toward the first episode of this series, but I was never motivated to watch beyond the first couple of episodes. I’m mildly curious to know whether or not the character dynamics were ever explored much, or whether it was mostly just a lot of nothing about a group of boys doing random things together. I’ll be interested to see whether the beginning of the new season prods me to go back and watch more, or whether I’ll simply lose interest entirely.

Yurumates 3D – The adventures of a “ronin” (someone studying for college entrance exams after a failed first attempt) and the other veteran ronin who populate the home she shares. I’m sort of mildly intrigued by this. This property has gotten a couple of OVA adaptations already, and while I personally haven’t watched them I’ve heard some positive things about them. Of course, once again this is a gag comedy with short episodes, which doesn’t really bode that well for it being able to achieve anything beyond stupid humor.

Zumomo to Nupepe – Hey, another oddly-named series with anthropomorphic animals that doesn’t have any information available! Meaning, of course, that there’s very little likelihood that I’ll end up watching any of this.

Gakkatsu! – A five-minute comedy focused around classroom debates. Hmm. I like that this series seems to have a premise that would work well in the short-form style, and the character designs are stylized in an amusing way. This might be mildly interesting.

Ribbon-chan – Inspired by drink manufacturer Sapporo’s mascot, named Ribbon-chan (imagine that!). I’m very wary of stuff like this that’s so obviously commercial, and I’m not particularly interested in in a show that’s just going to be shilling for a product.

Kuromajo-san ga Tooru!! – A girl accidentally summons a black witch and finds that she needs to put forth extra effort to keep her from getting into trouble. With seven-minute-long episodes, this is definitely on the “longer” end of the shorts this season. I like the character designs and the premise seems sort of cute.

Recorder to Randoseru 2 – Hey look, more uncomfortable antics with siblings of mis-matched appearances! The first episode of this show creeped me out, and the illustration for this season makes me uncomfortable. This does not bode well.

Himitsu Kessha Taka no Tsume NEO – I can’t read the title aloud without thinking of Ke$ha. Another incarnation of the long-running Eagle Talon net animation, about a secret society with plans for world domination. An early-ish example of what I consider to be a plague of crummy flash-animated anime series. I’ve seen at least a couple episodes from this franchise and remember them to have been unfunny.

Jewelpet Kira Deco! – Kids and their magic pets. Like Pokémon, only with several extra helpings of doe-eyed cuteness. Of course, along with that cuteness we also get some heaping spoon-fulls of “obviously selling toys to little kids.”

Baku Tech! Bakugan – And here’s yet another toy advertisement. Gosh there’s a lot of that this season.

Pretty Rhythm: Dear My Future – Alas, if only this were somehow an offshoot of the first Mawaru Penguindrum end theme. Instead, it’s just another sequel of a cutesy idol series for little kids.

Cardfight!! Vanguard: Asia Circuit Hen – It appears that the poorly-animated adventures of Sendo Aichi and his card-playing buds have continued into another year. More toys for kids, this time a collectable card game.

Phi Brain: Kami no Puzzle 2 – I was kind of vaguely interested in this series, but I didn’t go through the trouble of watching it. I think that my shounen sense was tingling too obviously to ignore. I heard that the first season had some rough spots, but that ultimately it turned out fairly well. I personally found myself a little bit bored by the ridiculousness of the puzzles that the main character encountered.

Saki: Achiga-hen – One scene in particular sticks out for me in the first episode of the original Saki series. One of the characters is standing outside in the rain, and the camera jumps to a shot that happens to show the area between her legs. The way the rain poured from her clothing looked a little bit too much like moisture dripping from her vagina, and I couldn’t take anything seriously after that point. I suspect that this follow-up season will maintain its predecessor’s fondness for fanservice.

Beyblade Zero G – You know a franchise is just going through the motions when most plot summaries amount to “the new Beyblade series.”

Inazuma Eleven Go 2: Chrono Stone – Time machines, alternate worlds… I thought that this show was supposed to be about kids playing soccer? It is based on a video game, I guess.

Low-Priority

Low-priority series are those which give me the impression of being offensive or which appear to be largely rehashed or simply “not trying.” Anything that seems likely to make me angry gets tossed into this pile. First episode impressions of these series are also collected into one post that’s updated when needed.

Queen’s Blade: Rebellion – Why is this not relegated to “Sequels of Unwatched Series” you ask? Well, that’s because I actually watched both previous seasons of Queen’s Blade and so I have some idea of what’s going on in the series. I’m not proud of that fact, but there you go. My main issue with this franchise is that it’s just so darned disappointing; the story is actually fairly good and it has nice production values (I really like the soundtracks), there are lots of different kinds of interactions between female characters, and the characters all have their separate stories and goals. Then it all gets mucked-up by the fanservice overload. Since anime tends to keep pushing the envelope as far as T and A is concerned, I fully expect that this new season will outdo its predecessors in the grossness department.

Naruto SD: Rock Lee no Seishun Full-Power Ninden – So we’re at the point now where even long-running shounen anime, many of which I consider to be the pinnacle in “phoned-in” entertainment, are spawning uninsired gag comedy series. It’s always debatable whether an anime series can and should be described as unnecessary, because most of them really are. But this is just so obviously a cash-in that I feel entirely justified in giving the creators the figurative stink-eye. Seriously, just stop.

Acchi Kocchi – School romance stories are a-dime-a-dozen, but there’s something seriously wrong when several descriptions of a show come right out and describe the female lead as a tsundere. When there’s literally no better term for a character than a flat, overused moe character archetype, the likelihood of the production not being completely bankrupt of genuine character development is next to none. On a shallower note, the cutesy character designs make the characters (especially the girl), look like elementary school students.

Sengoku Collection – Because what we really needed this season, after already suffering through Samurai Girls and Battle Girls: Time Paradox, is another show about historical figures from in-and-around the Warring States period of Japanese history turned into pretty young and/or bouncy moe girls. Thank you, anime creators, for proving once again your willingness to repeatedly rip off even the most silly of bad ideas.

Upotte! – Instead of “girls with guns,” we’ve been reduced to “girls who are guns.” I guess that removes the middle-man of the equation. This type of moe-fication seems to be along the same lines as Strike Witches, which essentially turned its characters into personifications of not only notable pilots, but also notable piloted aircraft. I imagine that people who are very invested in studying and appreciating various firearms might be excited about this, but it looks to me like just another premise pasted-on as an excuse to show little girls in skimpy outfits.

Haiyore! Nyaruko-san – Well, a crappy flash anime about moe characters based on the Cthulu Mythos has now become a TV anime about the same thing. Notice how the last couple of entries on this list are variations on the “let’s see if we can inject some moe into this” theme? Right. I think it’s just highly uncreative at this point to anthropomorphize any old thing, especially frightening beasts/demigods from 1920’s literature.

AKB0048 – I read a description of this anime and could barely contain my laughter. What I expected was an idol series along the lines of Idolm@ster, what I got was some goofy sci-fi premise about an idol group putting on “guerilla performances” (of what’s most likely some of the most vapid, brainless music available) in opposition to some entertainment regulation law of the future. Oh my goodness, I can only hope that this will fall under “it’s so bad, it’s good.”

Medium-Priority

Hiiro no Kakera – If there’s something that interests me almost as little as harem anime based on dating games, it’s reverse-harem anime based on dating games. On one level, I’m usually glad when anime aimed specifically at girls and women is produced, but the subject matter and quality of most of these productions leaves a lot to be desired. Though I can’t see this becoming the type of entertainment that’s vile and exploitive (which is why it’s not bottom-tier), its obviously-pandering character designs don’t leave me with a whole lot of hope.

Ozuma – Well, it’s been a while since I’ve watched anything involving creator Leiji Matsumoto (I saw Interstella 5555 a couple of years ago, and before that it was one of the Captain Harlock series), so I’m interested in this primarily as an example of the creator’s body of work. It’s also only 6 episodes, which makes it kind of a bite-sized property, for whatever good or ill comes of that.

Saint Seiya Omega – On the one hand, I’m not all that interested in this property as a shounen series, despite watching and enjoying the first half of Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas. On the other hand, there are those stylish Yoshihiko Umakoshi character designs that might make watching the show somewhat more worthwhile (hey, I watched a good chunk of a Pretty Cure series for the same reason). Eye candy isn’t really a valid reason to recommend a series, except in very specific cases, though, so I don’t really know at this point how much to expect from it.

Zetman – My reserved amount of interest in this series stems primarily from having seen a very cool Manga Music Video (it’s like an AMV, only with manga) that used this manga as a source. Otherwise, I know very little about it other than that it has kind of a dark, violent look to it. It’s also created by the character designer of Tiger & Bunny, which is kind of a plus since I like his art style. My fear, though, is that this series will be full of whiny brooding dudes who are just so sad about having to fight all the time.

Ginga e Kickoff! – I haven’t had a lot of luck with sports anime recently, but I think that the premise of this show sounds pleasant, if not entirely compelling. The downside, as always, is that this is a sports anime starring children, which means that most of the characters will not be all that relatable to me. Still, I suspect that this might be kind of heartwarming, if not stellar.

Kore wa Zombie desu ka? of the Dead – I had some free time at one point and watched the rest of this series’ first season (I think the Crunchyroll license was about to run out, and it wasn’t the type of thing that I expected to want to buy on DVD). The first season, despite at its heart being yet another harem anime, does have some moments that are better than others. I really liked the mid-season climax, which was actually a fairly intense affair and rather dark for this mostly-comedic show. I was not a big fan of the character who became the protagonist’s accidental wife, though, and I’m afraid it’s stuff like that which will become even more prominent in the second season.

Medaka Box – On one hand, this is based on a manga written by NisiOisin, and I tend to like his chatty written dialog (if not all the adaptations of his work – see Nisemonogatari). On the other hand, the titular character, a high school freshman, has a custom school uniform that features a ridiculous boob window. Guess I know who the intended audience is! Unfortunately, having Gainax on for animation production doesn’t really mean much to me at this point, since the company is essentially just a shell of its former self.

Sankarea – Well, part of me expects the very worst from a show about a boy who loves zombies who then meets a girl who’s an actual zombie. Another part of me is mildly amused by a silly premise that could be very amusing if executed in a decent manner. I suspect that the former scenario is how things are going to play out this time around, but stranger things have happened.

Natsuiro Kiseki – I had sort of a knee-jerk reaction when I learned that this series also features the voice talents of a pop group, but unlike the AKB48 anime featured above, this series appears to have a much more down-to-earth story, even if it turns out to be equally silly in the end.

Accel World – Well, the “socially-shunned teenage boy who has secret talents” aspect of the series doesn’t really endear itself to me and the fact that he gets in with the “most popular girl in school” sounds a lot like rehashed wish-fulfillment entertainment, but I’m intrigued by the promo artwork and think that the science fiction elements of the plot might have some potential to be entertaining.

Nazo no Kanojo X – This one is really up in the air for me. My mind interprets the setup alternately as both a dark, quirky romance and a series where yet another form of moe archetype is presented as desirable. Of course, there’s also the “drool factor,” which is literal; the two are connected by the male lead’s addiction to the female lead’s drool. The very thought of this is very gross to me, no matter how the show’s other bits and pieces fare. I’m not sure if it’ll be a deal-breaker for me.

Kuroko no Basuke – As with Ginga e Kickoff!!, I feel like this series might also be too focused on younger sports players for me to be really interested in it, though at least these young characters are older… younger… well, they’re not elementary school students, I’ll just say that. Slam Dunk is one of the best sports anime in my opinion, and that’s about middle school students, so I suppose it matters more how well the story is told than the age of the characters. In any case, the series’ main hook revolves mostly around one player, so I’m wondering if the teamwork aspect will get pushed to the side in favor of featuring one over-powered newcomer.

Tasogare Otome x Amnesia – A creepy school, a mysterious ghostly girl… I would love this to be the spooky series that it sounds like it could be from the description. I am not a big fan of Silver Link’s other forays into animation, but I will say that their production values always seem pretty high, so the visuals could be really nice when applied to more serious subject matter. How “serious” this series turns out to be remains to be seen.

Jormungand – I saw a trailer/commercial for this show, and it looked like it could end up being kind of a fun action series about a black market arms dealer. Shady business deals, a female protagonist… I’m trying to temper my hopes here because I don’t really know the tone of the original work but I’m kind of interested at this point.

Eureka Seven Ao – I’ve had plenty of opportunities to watch the original Eureka Seven series, but I’ve never taken any of them. I’ve heard all sorts of mixed things about the series, including that it’s “Xam’d done right,” or that its pacing is “too slow.” I imagine that, judging from personal tastes, I’d probably enjoy it quite a bit, but longer series tend to be harder for me to swallow. In any case, while this is supposedly a sequel to the original, I’ve heard lots of talk that it would be difficult for that to be entirely true, at least as far as a direct sequel is concerned, so I’m hoping that I’ll be able to jump in here and maybe get inspired to check out the original.

Shining Hearts: Shiawase no Pan – Okay, so this looks like a pretty pointless series, and the character designs feature such mainstays as “cute nun” and “boob window,” but I’m primarily curious to see whether Production I.G. can make a show that’s at least pleasant-looking and well-animated, at least for its subject matter. I don’t expect this to show up on my top ten list or anything.

Hyouka – This sounds like it could be an interesting show about an “accidental” mystery-solving club. I won’t deny that, as with the previous entry above, my interest in this one is mostly curiosity about its technical merits. While I’m not a fan of all of Kyoto Animation’s series by a long shot, I do enjoy watching the ways in which the characters move and articulate in the shows that they animate.

High Priority

Here we are, among the potential elites. As with every other category, series that appear here are subject to change, but they’re all anime I’ve been actively anticipating and which I hope will turn out to be entertaining.

Space Brothers – A near-future space-based series starring grown adults? Based on those qualities alone, I’m already excited for this. I’m hoping for some excellent character drama to come from the brothers’ relationship and perhaps Mutta’s quest to do right in a life that hasn’t always been as successful as Hibito’s. Bonus: the promo artwork appears to feature a very cute Pug or Boston Terrier. Cute animals, they are my weakness.

Lupin the Third: Mine Fujiko to Iu Onna – Well, the jig is up: I’ve already gotten myself into a spat on the internet while trying to discuss this series elsewhere (I’m “belindabird” in case you weren’t clear on that). The fact remains, though, that the staff of this most recent Lupin III incarnation has got my heart all atwitter, and what I’ve seen of the show so far has me salivating for more, in spite of the fact that some of the subject matter is a little bit too gratuitously sexual for my personal tastes. The fact that the series is directed by a woman (who also directed one of my favorite series, Michiko to Hatchin) helps too.

Shirokuma Café – Not only does this anime feature cute animals, it’s also based on a josei manga. This is a perfect storm as far as “series that appeal directly to me” are concerned. I’m really digging the realistic look of the animal characters in all of the artwork I’ve seen so far. While I don’t really expect anything groundbreaking to come of this, I do expect that it will be delightfully satisfying to watch.

Fate/Zero Season 2 – As much as I didn’t care one iota about Fate/Stay Night, I really enjoyed the first season of this prequel series. I’ll be the first to admit that a good part of that was due to the delicious, delicious eye-candy it featured, but I also liked the serious tone and found some of the characterization really unsettling (in a good way). Now I’m invested and want to see what happens as the story continues.

Tsuritama – “A series about science-fiction fishing,” um… “directed by Nakamura Kenji” OKAY! I’m a big fan of anime-original productions, even more so when the person at the helm is someone with whom I’ve had several good experiences in the past. Even a mediocre Nakamura Kenji series is better than a lot of other stuff that’s floating around out there. The only thing that makes me worry a bit is that I feel like the Indian character might be treated as a racial stereotype (hey, you can’t blame me after watching the first ep of Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere). I hope, though, that this will turn out to be as quirky and charming as it seems.

Sakamichi no Apollon – Watanabe Shinichiro and Yoko Kanno partner once again to bring this story of jazz in the 1960’s to life. I see no way in which this could not be an awesome series. No, seriously.

Well, that took about three days longer than I expected, so you should be seeing some extended thoughts on these series soon. Feel free to talk about what you’re anticipating in the comments.

Anime Detour 2012–Panel Materials

2012-04-04T01:35:57Z

I got several requests from people who were unable to attend my panels for the hand-outs and materials that I used, so I uploaded them for everyone's convenience. All of the hand-outs are available in both Microsoft Office document format and Rich Text format. The zip files contain the majority of the clips that I used (aside from Otona Joshi no Anime Time which I wasn't able to cut into a clip).

I'm providing these so that people who missed the panels can get a taste of what was shown, and so those who did attend but weren't able to get the materials (due to my underestimation of the demand) can have something to help them remember the anime that interested them. I don't mind if these things get passed-around, but please understand that these materials are a lot of work for me to put together, so if you use them in any public way, please provide me with credit (I'd also love to know when/how people are using the things I put together just because it's fun to see how far they've traveled).

These are Mediafire links. If any are broken, please let me know and I'll see what I can do about it.

Anime for Grown-ups - Includes a copy of the hand-out and the accompanying video clips (mostly .avi files).

Manga for Grown-ups - Includes a copy of the hand-out and the Power Point presentation.

Shinto and Buddhism in Anime - Includes a copy of the hand-out and the Power Point presentation (which has video content).

Shiny New Anime - Includes a copy of the hand-out and the accompanying video clips.

For those of you who attended my panels, I welcome any constructive criticism you're willing to offer. I know that I'm not the most excellent of public speakers, but I try my best and I always strive to improve.

ETA: Here's a listing of all the anime openings used during the "Don't Judge an Anime by its Cover" game, in case anyone was curious.

Example opening: Cybertron Banzai - Transformers Victory

Maria's Opening - Arakawa Under the Bridge

Oshiete A to Z - B Gata H Kei (Yamada's First Time)

Jun - Cromartie High School

OS Uchuujin - Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko

Feel Like Our Days - Eiken

Dramatic - Honey and Clover

Unreal Paradise - Kampfer

Kill me Baby - Kill me Baby

King Gainer Over - Overman King Gainer

Kiiroi Vacances - Pani Poni Dash

Shanimuni SHEIKU! SHEIKU! - Ping Pong Club

Kimi to Deatte Kara - Princess Princess

Shinryaku no Susume - Shinryaku! Ika Musume (Squid Girl)

Rulebook wo Wasurechae - Softenni

Ring My Bell - Sora no Otoshimono Forte (Heaven's Lost Property Forte)

Guts Guts!! - Toriko

Pandemic - Yondemasu yo, Azazel-san

Anime Detour 2012

2012-04-04T01:14:34Z

I suppose there might be a few readers out there who've been wondering why the posts have been so sparse around here as of late. To make a long story short, the past couple of weeks I've been feverishly prepping for the Twin Cities' annual anime convention, Anime Detour. I've attended the convention every year (except for the first), and I've slowly transformed from being a consumer to a content-provider; this year marked my entry into the wonderful (stress-filled) world of AMV contest coordinator. Luckily, as under-prepared as I might have felt as I left for the convention hotel last Thursday night, almost everything seemed to work out really well, and just about everything in which I participated turned out better than I could have hoped for.

I had thought about giving a detailed run-down of every panel I participated in, but instead I think I'll talk instead about some of the highlights and leave the nuts-and-bolts content stuff for another post.

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People

I'll get right to it - one of my favorite parts of the convention has to be interacting with various people. First of all, Anime Detour is one of those events where I can find most of my close friends in one place (because they are also on staff), which is rare any other time of the year. We started the con off right on Thursday night by holding a beer-tasting party in our hotel room. It was a great way to diffuse some of the lingering stress I was having about keeping track of everything.

But it's not just old friends that make a con worthwhile, it's meeting new people and checking in with other con-goers from previous years that's been one of the most rewarding aspects of being a repeat panelist. I'm at the point now where my husband and I do a lot of annual programming (such as Shiny New Anime, Anime for Grown-ups, and Manga for Grown-ups), and so we get to reconnect with people for whom those panels are anticipated, and it's really nice. It makes me feel like I know what I'm talking about, for one thing (whereas all the internet trolls I've gotten lately have mostly served to chip away at my self-esteem - though I'm attempting to take a "and no craps were given that day" approach to those interactions), and I feel so blessed to be able to share some of my favorite anime and manga with people who are enthusiastic about it.

Without going into it too much, I've noticed a marked difference between online and face-to-face anime fandom. This isn't to say that I haven't had some great online discussions, but the ratio of "friendly" to "hateful and trollish" is certainly different online than it is in real life. This is one of the things that keeps me coming back to conventions, because even when people are acting disagreeably (when you get large groups of mostly-teens together in one place, they tend to get a little bit over-enthusiastic), for the most part, they're almost always friendly rather than purposefully rude.

Goods and Services

The dealer's room at Anime Detour has gotten steadily better over the last couple of years. The space allotment seems just right, and the traffic flow isn't too bad. Better still, plenty of series that I enjoy have been getting licensed recently, so there are actually items available for me to buy that aren't from just one or two very popular series. To make a long story short, the fact that Natsume Yuujinchou has recently been licensed has been great for my consumer spirit (and terrible for my wallet!).

I also have to give a shout-out to Artist's Alley, because there are some very talented men and women making and selling all sorts of great anime-related arts and crafts. I've never seen one piece of Mononoke merch in the US, but I've been able to buy two beautiful Mononoke fan art prints from the artists there.

I also can't go without mentioning the con's spirit of service. The past two years, the charity auction (along with other donations from members) has raised a great deal of money for Japan relief efforts - something like $36,000 last year, and $28,000 this year. For a convention that's been capped at 5000 attendees, this is an incredible amount of generosity. It makes me proud to be a Midwestern anime fan.

Critiques

My experience was overwhelmingly positive this year. The only real issue I had the entire weekend was the fact that the presentation technology left something to be desired. It's not that things worked poorly, but more that not many of the panel rooms were really set up to feature more than one panelist. There was only one mic in most of the rooms, and none of them really had mic stands, so my various co-panelists and I did a lot of passing the mic back-and-forth which was sort of awkward. A couple of the projectors were ancient relics that had a native resolution of 800 x 600, so that took some working-around as well.

Oh, and I wish some more restaurants would suddenly appear near the hotel. It would be nice to have a sit-down dinner at someplace other than T.G.I. Friday's.

Final Thoughts

As I said, this was an excellent year and I had a great time. Next year is the convention's 10th anniversary(!) so I'm trying to come up with some programming that will take advantage of that as a theme. In any case, I'm sure I'll have a great time once again.

Black Rock Shooter–First Episode Review

2012-03-24T18:19:52Z

Black Rock Shooter

Number of Episodes: 8

Production Company: Ordet

ANN Encyclopedia Wikipedia PV NicoNico Video

Brief Overview: Mato and Yomi meet, and are instantly drawn to each-other's complimentary personalities. In another world, Black Rock Shooter and Deadmaster battle while being watched by Black Gold Saw. Somehow these two realities are connected by fate.

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Episode Summary: Kuroi Mato begins her first year of middle school and meets her quiet classmate, Takanashi Yomi, by chance one day. Mato is drawn to Yomi's bright red bracelet, and can't seem to stop talking about her. When she discovers that Yomi is also a fan of one of Mato's favorite books, she invites herself over to Yomi's house. The potential of their budding friendship is disturbed by Izuriha Kagari, a wheelchair-bound girl who wants to keep Yomi all for herself, and does so by driving Mato away.

Mato spends the following day avoiding contact with Yomi, wondering what she should do. She chats with Irino-sensei, the school's counselor. Afterward, she finds Yomi in the art room, sketching. Mato insists that they still be friends.

Thoughts: So apparently noitaminA's original purpose, that of showcasing non-otaku anime to a broader audience, has since transformed into showing the most otaku of all otaku anime to whatever audience will tune in. I'm not really surprised by this, because blah blah blah the economy and all that, but going from an anime based on the classic novel The Tale of Genji three years ago to an anime based around a character who appeared in an illustration based on a song sung by a virtual idol (now that's a run-on sentence!) represents such an unbelievable narrowing of focus that I don't really even know what to think about it anymore. This isn't the first time I've complained about noitaminA dropping the ball, and it might not be the last. My only hope now is that faint glimmers of its original purpose might show through to throw me a bone now and again.

Despite all this, I'm under the impression that this show might have more potential than your average high-school anime, if mostly for the fact that seems to genuinely tell a tale about the trials and tribulations of a group of female characters. This might not seem like anything special, since one of the things that anime is known for (at least on the surface) is its willingness to include more women in hero roles. Of course, this doesn't necessarily mean that anime as a whole is progressive; creating a physically-capable female character and having her clothing burst off is just another, more complicated way of undermining her presence in the narrative. Sadly, there are very few series that tell stories about women in a way that doesn't make their importance relative to that of a male hero or protagonist (heck, even Mouretsu Pirates, a series that I've enjoyed very much so far, gives the heroine her status as inheritance from her father - it manages to get it "right" by focusing on Marika's drive to distinguish herself on her own merits, as so many of us try to do in real life with varying success). Really, there are very few series I'd peg as telling female-centric stories at all; there's an idea that's been floating around since time immemorial that tales of male heroism, male angst or male coming-of-age have a limitless universality to them. This of course might be true if society treated men and women equally in all social respects... well, I think we can all agree that this isn't the case.

This is the strongest reason why I have hopes for this series. The primary cast is female and the story seems to be centered around the development of a positive female friendship. An older woman (well, as old as women usually are in anime) serves a mentorship role. There are girls of different personality types. These are a lot of things that are missing from most otaku anime (and most mainstream incarnations of any media), and my interest is waxing based just on their inclusion. On the other hand, the character who appears to be filling the role of antagonist is presented in a way that doesn't really bode well for the writers' sense of nuance. Kagari is one of the few examples of anime characters who are presented as being differently-abled, which in itself is a definite plus, but her personality seems misinformed by the cliché idea that girls and women are constantly and consistently jealous of one-another. Whether it's fighting for a man's affections or, as in this case, competing for the exclusive rights to a friendship, this idea of girls being completely evil to each-other doesn't really ring true to me or my experiences. Sure, I encountered my fair share of bullying growing up, but I'd argue that this kind of deliberate abuse happens much more often in media than it ever does in real life, at least in my experience.

I'm also not particularly happy that the otherworldly Black Rock Shooter portions of the show are awkwardly rendered using CG. One of the strongest parts of the Black Rock Shooter OVA was the exciting, dynamic combat animation which was, as far as I remember, traditionally-animated. While the use of CG might be a time-saver (it's difficult to say, since the strange details of the setting might make it more labor-intensive in a different way), it just never quite meshes in look and feel with the traditional animation of the real-world segments, and the feeling of motion doesn't seem as natural when compared to what traditional animation (even the more limited style found in Japanese animation) is able to convey.

I was very skeptical during the lead-up to this series' debut, and I can't claim that the first episode has entirely countered that. I can safely say that my favorite noitaminA series of Winter 2012 has definitely been Thermae Romae (because we all know Guilty Crown, though eye-poppingly rendered, is the very definition of a "hot mess"), but Black Rock Shooter may have just enough substance in the end to distinguish itself as a solid series with some good ideas. I would love to see the themes of friendship stay front-and-center, and for the more cliché elements, especially the exaggerated bullying and unrealistic emotional abuse, to become less of a focus as the show unfolds. With only eight episodes, I hope that the story stays tight and develops the central characters well.

Pros:

The show seems poised to tell a good female-focused story about developing complicated friendships.
It's otaku origins don't seem to be too much of a detriment, even if they don't fit well with noitaminA's original purpose.

Cons:

The CG segments don't mesh with the traditionally-animated portions very well; they're missing some of the spirit of the OVA.
The "antagonist" character is too much of a caricature.

Recommended? I think that this show has a lot of potential and I'm more interested than I once was in watching more.

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