Three young yakuza members screwed up really big, causing their boss losing millions. Contrary to yakuza traditions, their boss did not want their little fingers chopped off, for doing so would not bring his money back anyway. Instead he sent them to Thailand for extensive plastic surgery (transgender included) and then promoted them as an idol group. Their careers become so successful that most of their fans know absolutely nothing about their true identities. On the other hand, the three often feel frustrated for having to live two lives on and off stage. – ANN
Episode Summary: A conflict between two rival factions of the Yakuza goes very wrong, and three young members of the organization are to blame. Rather than demand a more traditional demonstration of atonement, their boss gives them one option that doesn’t involve death or dismemberment: travel immediately to Thailand, undergo sex reassignment surgery, and make back the organization’s lost funds by forming an idol group.
Though the three turn out to have the right “look” upon their return, their inner attitudes still need some fine-tuning before making prime-time strides. They undergo brainwashing by watching hour upon hour of idol performance videos, and their boss hires a famous manager to whip them into shape. Considering their origins, the manager’s typical tricks don’t work to inspire his new charges. Once he identifies their rough origins, though, a few choice words and they’re able to get into character. Still, their former lives manifest from time-to-time; perhaps this is just the fate of the Gokudols.
Those of you who know me know that I’m certainly a fan of anime simulcasts, since they’ve made anime accessible for many more people around the world. One aspect of the viewing process, though, is learning about and adapting to each outlet’s specific aspects and quirks. Funimation has primarily done simul-dubs as of late, meaning there’s a slight delay in the episodes that they’ve chosen for that process (I’m frankly surprised that there’s not more of a delay – they certainly have the process optimized at this point). HIDIVE’s player has a few quirks (I wish I could figure out how to make it stop defaulting to Portuguese subtitles every time I log in!) and the way it’s set up makes it a bit more difficult to take good screen captures. Amazon Prime doesn’t have a great way to access their anime in one place – you have to know what series you’re looking for ahead of time and search for it. It’s an interesting process learning how to adapt and keep track of your watch list if, like me, you’re watching anime at many of these sites at one time.
Retsuko is a 25-year old red panda who works in her dream company’s accounting department. But it turns out that she is forced to keep doing more and more impossible tasks by her superiors and co-workers. She doesn’t talk back to them, but she still has to let off steam, so she ends up going to karaoke by herself and singing death metal. – ANN
Copyright 2018 – Sanrio/Netflix
Streaming: Netflix
Source: Original
Episodes: 10 (15 minutes apiece)
Review: About two years ago I caught wind of Aggressive Retsuko, a new Sanrio property debuting in two minute chunks on YouTube. The concept really tickled me – a twenty-something OL who puts up with typical office politics during her day job, lets out her many frustrations in the evening by growling death metal into a microphone at her local Karaoke parlor. A bit of a one-note joke to be sure, but one that hit me the right way and provided some decent belly laughs. I never watched much of it because it wasn’t that easily available, but I definitely indulged in some of the merchandise when it started popping up in my local Hot Topic and other Asian pop-culture shops. When this sequel appeared it actually took my by surprise; I only caught wind of it after reading Jacob Chapman’s preview of the first couple of episodes the most recent Spring Preview Guide over at ANN, and initially questioned the choice to make the episodes longer than their original two minute format. I doubted that one gag, even a pretty good one, could sustain a longer episode, much less make it entertaining.
As they say, boy was I wrong. While Aggretsuko is still primarily what I would call a comedy, it’s also a fairly robust critique of some Japan-specific (but still widely-relatable) office issues, especially as they affect women in a workplace setting.
One of the series’s many successes is how Retsuko is presented as a character, because despite her cutesy, merch-ready appearance her situation feels so genuine. She’s a cute, earnest person who feels lucky to be working at one of her dream companies, but her accounting job is anything but satisfying and her situation is greatly complicated by the fact that she doesn’t interact well with some of her coworkers and doesn’t have the personality that helps her to play games and suck up to the right people. She tries to lay low and get through the day, but this only turns her into a dumping ground for others’ work and, unsurprisingly, she’s unwilling to tell anyone “no” and spoil the office harmony. While my work situation is leaps and bounds better than depicted in this series, I’m fully sympathetic to the idea that it’s just easier to become a “yes man” and take on more and more work than to speak up and potentially make someone else’s life more difficult. Maybe it’s due to my problems with social anxiety or my poor handle on how to maintain human relationships, but I can see how the idea of “harmony over all else” can be desirable while also ultimately harmful.
Mr. Ton is a literal chauvinist pig.
Retsuko is also exposed to some of the most blatantly awful chauvinism I’ve seen depicted in media in a long, long time. Every interaction with her boss, Mr. Ton, is a tension-filled exercise in suffering through off-color comments about women’s place in the office and what jobs they’re meant to perform. Each time Retsuko got caught in the cross-hairs I could feel myself welling up with frustration. I’ve luckily never been in her exact position or had a boss so profoundly terrible, but I have been made to feel like an outsider and I’ve heard my share of casual sexism, so subtle and insidious that it doesn’t register even with people who otherwise have a handle on those sorts of things. It’s exhausting and defeating, and even several days later I have to marvel at the ability of this series to capture that and bottle it for consumption. I’m reminded a bit of Hataraki Man, another workplace series that follows the trials of several women working for a magazine publisher and examines their specific hurdles and ways of coping with unjust and unequal treatment and expectations. In that case, the protagonist is hyper-competent and admired for her ability to “work like a man,” when the men around her don’t put in half the amount of work that she does. Both series are very telling about what we expect of men and women in the same setting, and those concerned with workplace equality will likely be similarly frustrated by both.
This is supposed to be a comedy anime, right?
Gori and Washimi help to mentor Retsuko.
If the series were nothing more than a string of upsetting circumstances for Retsuko to deal with via death metal therapy, it’s likely that it wouldn’t be upbeat enough to maintain its own sense of humor. What helps immensely is that the show allows Retsuko to get by with a little help from her friends, as well as with some personal mentorship from a couple of high-powered working women in her company who have seen it all and lived to tell the tale. Retsuko is by no means a loner and often gets support in one form or another from Fenneko, a snarky fennec fox who survives each workday through pure cynicism, and Haida, a hyena who’s an everyday normal guy nursing a crush on our heroine. There’s a good sense that these three have been in the trenches together for a while and the others do a decent, if flawed, job of talking Retsuko out of some situations. Fenneko in particular was a real source of entertainment for me just because of her deadpan delivery and ability to see right through the world’s fakery. She’s not a character who would work well as a protagonist, but in small doses she was hilarious. As Retsuko connects with Washimi and Gori, two women who she has only admired from afar prior to their meeting in a yoga class, she learns that there are opportunities to get things done even when the system seems rigged and unfair. There is a lot of depth in these interactions, especially when Washimi and Gori attempt to help Retsuko directly with her management or try to guide her towards making good life decisions, and I think they really elevate the show.
My one complaint, and it’s a relatively minor one, is that the series attempts to insert a sub-plot of sorts near the end and isn’t able to devote enough time to it for it to fully mature. In her desperation, Retsuko starts to believe that her only “out” from her job is to find a partner and get married so that she can live as a housewife. She ends up falling for a guy with zero personality whose only real distinguishing quality is his low-key lack of consideration for her. She grins and bears it for a while until she’s forced to face reality. The lesson, of course, is that we tend to tolerate so many things when we feel that our lives are hopeless, and in doing so give up our chance at happiness and dignity. I really loved that message, and only wish that the show had been a couple more episodes long to allow it to unfold more gradually. As a sentiment, it was absolutely right on the money and just another way in which the series surprised me.
In the couple of weeks that the series has been available I’ve seen the amount of fanwork for it blow up completely, so I doubt that my giving it a glowing review is somehow going to inform anyone who isn’t already aware and interested. But in case someone does randomly stumble across this anime blog (or, more likely, discover the show while adding dozens of things to their Netflix queue), I hope maybe my words or their own curiosity will give them the push that they need to give it a try. And then, maybe we can continue to try to dispel the myth that cutesy-looking cartoons are only for kids.
Pros: The protagonist is very sympathetic. Portrays Retsuko’s tough situations in a way that feels real and relatable. The character relationships and interactions add a lot of depth.
Cons: The late-game romantic subplot could have used a couple more episodes of exploration.
A certain point in time, in the continent of Telesis. The great war which divided the continent into North and South has ended after four years, and the people are welcoming a new generation. Violet Evergarden, a young girl formerly known as “the weapon”, has left the battlefield to start a new life at CH Postal Service. There, she is deeply moved by the work of “Auto Memories Dolls”, who carry people’s thoughts and convert them into words. Violet begins her journey as an Auto Memories Doll, and comes face to face with various people’s emotions and differing shapes of love. There are words Violet heard on the battlefield, which she cannot forget. These words were given to her by someone she holds dear, more than anyone else. She does not yet know their meaning but she searches to find it. – ANN
Review:This review contains minor plot spoilers for the TV Series.
I don’t like to get too hyped-up about upcoming anime because it’s so exhausting to be disappointed when the final production doesn’t live up to what was promised. I like to let anime happen on its own terms rather than measured against my often incorrect expectations. But I ask you, as one anime fan to another, what am I to do when Kyoto Animation releases a teaser trailer that’s such an incredible fever dream of flawless animation and the interplay of light and color? There was no possible way for me to ignore what I had seen and start with a completely blank slate once the series was finally posted to Netflix. Rather than try to fool myself into believing that it was possible for me to be impartial, I decided to embrace impartiality and read other reviews of the show, both episodic ones and those focused on the series as a whole. I prepared myself for possible disappointment by arming myself with information.
Was this the right tactic? I’m not entirely certain, but what I can say is that going into the experience expecting to be frustrated by certain aspects of the story left me feeling pleasantly surprised by how the series was not nearly as flawed as I had been led to believe. This sounds like faint praise, but I really did enjoy the show more than I had expected to and I’m left wondering why others were more disappointed.
The series is comprised of two concurrent story arcs – one about a country at war which has at this point reached an unsteady truce, and one about Violet Evergarden, the titular character, who comes from a place of darkness and must reacquaint herself with the subtlety and full range of human emotion. The former story is the weaker one of the two; it works well as a backdrop and helps to establish who Violet is and where she’s come from, but when it comes further into focus as part of the primary conflict it feels forced and uninteresting (one might even describe it as kind of “tryhard” if one wanted to be a little snarky). The latter is where the more meaningful and satisfying developments happen, and while Violet’s story occasionally gets a bit melodramatic, viewers like me who have a tendency to get emotionally-invested will likely eat this right up.
Violet’s scars from the war are both internal and, to the surprise of others, also external.
It does take a few episodes for Violet’s story to get moving, and as I commented to some friends after I’d watched the first three or so episodes I was concerned that the series felt overly-manipulative in its storytelling. Several of the early episodes feel like one-offs that serve to build the setting and put Violet where she needs to be, but don’t quite achieve the emotional highs they try to wring from the viewer using beautiful music and imagery. As a veteran of war remembered both for her youth and her emotionless brutality, Violet is clearly out of her element as an Auto Memory Doll. The Dolls are women who compose eloquent letters for paying clients by interpreting those clients’ feelings into written language. Violet, as an orphan who has seen (and committed) countless horrors as a child soldier, is more adept at reporting facts and taking people’s words at pure, functional face value. She may have emotions, but they’ve been so blunted by her tragic experiences that it creates a wall between her and others. Likewise, the first few episodes of the show where Violet stumbles through an ill-fitting civilian existence, feel like attempts at forced emotionality that are unsubtle and unnerving. I can’t say whether this was intentional or not, but looking back it’s interesting to me how much the structure and feel of the show mirrors Violet’s evolution.
As Violet becomes more accustomed to her work and begins to allow herself to feel and empathize with others, the show capitalizes on this to tell some of its most memorable stories. My two favorites were one in which Violet helped facilitate more genuine communication between a couple of soon-to-be-wed nobles (ignoring the squicky age difference between the two), and one in which she composed a large volume of letters from a mother to her daughter. Though both stories are still what I would qualify as one-offs, they also provided great snap-shots into Violet’s progression towards not only understanding others, but also understanding herself and the relationships that she values.
Violet returns to remember a painful moment.
I’m what I would call an empathetic viewer and I generally pay less attention to plot and continuity than many others, since I find little value in picking that stuff apart. I find more value in thinking about broad themes and considering how I was made to feel. This is the perfect example of a series that I think was made for that mode of viewing, since I recognize that there are some issues with the structure of the show and feel like it could have benefited from some reshuffling of priorities. As I mentioned earlier, possibly the weakest aspect of the show is its sub-plot revolving around the tenuous peace between its setting’s warring factions. Violet herself obtains a kind of personal emotional climax a few episodes from the end of the series, and much of the remainder of the show is devoted to a sort of shoehorned-in plot about a rebellion hell-bent on mucking up the signing of the peace treaty. The last two or three episodes of the series feature some great action pieces – an attempted bridge bombing, Violet parachuting into a war zone, a fist fight atop a moving train… all things that are cool to look at, but which feel as though they come from a completely different series (though they also provide a poignant resolution to the loss of Violet’s father figure that plagues her throughout the series, so it’s not all fluff). They’re ostensibly there to prove that Violet is no longer a cold-hearted killing machine (as she eschews using her strength and speed to actually murder anyone despite the fact that it would more easily resolve the situation), but we’ve already been shown so much evidence of her evolution that the reminder is unnecessary. The series as a whole easily made it into my good graces on its other merits and I could look at these last couple of episodes as mostly-extraneous, but I can see how many people would find this much more irritating.
The way in which Violet reaches a resolution in her troubled relationship with the Bougainvillea family is one of the high points of last few, weaker episodes.
As emotionally moving as many episodes are, they’re matched or exceeded by Kyoto Animation’s cinematic visuals and animation. If I’m being truthful, being able to watch characters move in front of gorgeous backgrounds is one of the bonuses of watching almost any Kyoto Animation series (and the main reason why I’ve pushed on through more episodes than I’d like of shows like Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maidand Amagi Brilliant Park) and this series is perhaps their most striking, detailed effort to date. It was the original commercial for the show that captured my attention, and while the series doesn’t quite sustain that exact look throughout, it still maintains a visual lushness that’s so far above and beyond what I’m used to as a TV anime viewer that I can’t rightly complain. I can only really fangirl in a basic way over how the show looks, but if you’re interested in some more educated commentary, check out Sakuga Blog’s series of production notes on the series.
I’m not a huge fan of Netflix’s delays when it comes to streaming anime series that I’m really anticipating, but I do appreciate the fact that I can watch an entire show (or cour, at least) in one or two sittings, so I suppose it’s kind of a wash in that sense. In this case, I got a chance to listen to lucky folks in other regions post their reactions, and despite the fact that my expectations were high they were also tempered and honed by what I was hearing. As someone with an (apparently) offbeat point of view on how stories are told it seems like I didn’t have much to worry about, as a lot of the complaints aren’t necessarily my complaints, and I truly enjoyed the show as a whole for its primary focus on feelings and human interactions and not as much on its weaker political plot. It’s gorgeous testament to KyoAni’s draftsmanship skills, as well as Netflix’s apparently pretty decent skills at picking anime series to partner with. It also gets a “5” on the Jessi Silver Cry Scale (TM) (I cried/held back tears at least 5 times while watching). If you’re someone who’s more into emotional through-lines in your entertainment, you might have a very good time with this series.
Pros: Visually beautiful. The feel of the story seems to mirror its protagonist’s development in many ways.
Cons: Political plot feels unnecessary. The real character climax arrives around episode 9 and parts of the last couple of episodes don’t fit in with those themes very well.
Review: This review contains some spoilers for episodes 1-4 of the Netflix Castlevania series.
Content Warnings: These episodes contain depictions of extreme graphic violence against human beings. The story also partly involves corruption within the Catholic Church.
The video rental shop from which I used to rent NES games as a kid had quite the eclectic mix of cartridges from which to choose. Along with the typical things like Super Mario Brothers and The Legend of Zelda, they also had less memorable titles like the deplorable Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde stinker, Legendary Wings, and Milon’s Secret Castle (an exercise in frustration, to say the least). They didn’t carry all the entries in the Castlevania series, but they did have the third title, Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse, for rent. My first experiences with the franchise were based around that game; I would call it a formative experience in my gaming fandom.
Castlevania III combined the standard whip-based monster hunting from the first game with unique features like branching level pathways; completing certain stages gave you a choice of multiple paths to take forward. The protagonist Trevor Belmont also had the ability to partner with one of three secondary characters, each with their own strengths and abilities of which the player could take advantage. I spent a lot of my parents’ money renting that game, until I eventually acquired a copy of my own. Even as an adult I still occasionally go back to revisit the game (luckily my cartridge still works!).
Lisa meets Vlad in his imposing home. Copyright 2017 (c) Netflix/Frederator Studios
When Netflix and Frederator let on that a Castlevania animated series was in development, there were definitely a lot of questions. Was this to be based on one of the games specifically, or was this outing planned as a separate, new story set somewhere in the existing timeline of the franchise? It was only within the past week or so that I learned about Castlevania III serving as the source material, and it was very welcome news to hear. Not only is the game regarded as one of the best in the series, it also features elements like multiple characters and a richer, more well-defined setting. It seemed like an obvious choice to adapt. While at this point it’s difficult to tell whether the endeavor has been entirely successful, since the first chunk of episodes released feel like a first act rather than a full narrative, I think the show is off to a good start.
The show takes place in fifteenth century Walachia, a territory inside what is now Romania. A woman named Lisa visits the castle of Vlad Tepes and seems mostly unafraid of the experience despite the desolation of the surrounding landscape and copious amount of skewered human remains lining the path to Vlad’s front door. Her thirst for knowledge and desire to bring medicine and science to the superstitious populace has brought her here, and her curious attitude and lack of fear intrigues Vlad, who is otherwise cynical about humanity’s value as a species. The two begin a relationship, Lisa convincing Vlad to explore what it means to live as a human. Unfortunately, over the years, Lisa’s proclivities towards science paint her as a witch and heretic, and a motivated local bishop acting under what he interprets as the will of god has Lisa burned at the stake. In his pain and anger, Vlad, known also as the legendary horror Dracula, curses mankind, giving them a year to get their affairs in order before unleashing the creatures of Hell across the land. He makes good on this promise, and the cities of Walachia begin to fall under the wrath of the king of vampires.
Sypha Belnades is returned safely to her grandfather. Copyright 2017 (c) Netflix/Frederator Studios
Enter Trevor Belmont, a member of the disgraced Belmont Clan. Excommunicated from the Catholic Church, Trevor has been skulking around the countryside living only for getting drunk and surviving – barely. His travels bring him to Gresit, the last remaining large city in Walachia not to have been taken over by Dracula’s army. He means to pass through and get out of town, but encounters a group of Speakers, a nomadic group who maintain a wholly oral history that predates the advent of the Church. One of their own is missing, and though Trevor would like to leave them to their own devices, he allows himself to become entangled in their affairs due to his family’s connections to the group. He rescues the missing grandchild, a magic-user named Sypha, then chooses to defend the Speakers against the Bishop, who has turned them into scapegoats by blaming the current demon infestation on their heretical beliefs.
Trevor and Sypha, somewhat by accident, begin their descent into Dracula’s ever-changing castle. It is within the shifting walls that the two encounter someone who could ultimately turn out to be a friend or foe.
As I mentioned above, this group of four episodes feels much like the first act of a larger tale. While there’s still a self-contained story revolving around the errant Bishop and a demon “mid-boss” of sorts, the fourth episode ends with our intrepid heroes beginning their descent into the castle in earnest. Considering how Netflix typically releases its shows in larger chunks, I was expecting something more like a 13 episode release of the entire narrative adaptation. That said, I suspect that a gritty animated series aimed at an adult audience was farther from a “sure thing” than Netflix would have liked, so in a way it makes some sense for them to dip their baby toe in the water before diving right in. That aside, I’m optimistic about what I’ve seen so far and about where the series might be headed.
Trevor meets with the Speakers, who wish to remain in Gresit despite the Bishop’s promise to execute them. Copyright 2017 (c) Netflix/Frederator Studios
It’s an inevitability that this series will be compared to Japanese animation, so I’ll go ahead and do that without reservation; this animated serial incorporates a lot of anime’s positive traits to its benefit. While serialized stories are no longer a rarity in Western television entertainment, it hasn’t been until more recently with series like Avatar: The Last Airbender and Steven Universe that specifically American-created animation has more often chosen to take that path. But those of us who are avid anime viewers are more than familiar with the technique of depicting limited stories that unfold across a relatively small number of episodes, and this series already has that sort of feel to it. There’s also a fairly obvious aesthetic similarity between the two; while the character designs do tend towards the more obviously Western-style, my partner remarked (having seen some of the screen shots I’d taken) that he wouldn’t have been surprised to hear that the show shared staff with the Boondocks animated series, known for its anime-inspired look.
The series also doesn’t shy away from adult material, though whether some of it is to its benefit or detriment might be up to the tastes of the viewer. There’s no other way to say it; this show can be graphically violent at times. In incarnations of the source material, there’s a lot of demonic death; in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night there are enemies called “Bloody Zombies” that explode into a gush of blood when you kill them, screaming before they disintegrate, and that’s just one of the many examples from the broader game franchise. I expected there to be some of that kind of content in this adaptation, but what I wasn’t prepared for was the extensive depictions of human death; beginning almost right away in the first episode as Dracula unleashes his minions, people (men, women, and children) are torn in half, decapitated, stabbed, burned and bloodied in multiple creative and horrific ways. There are human entrails draped across the rooftops in one unfortunate town, in addition to things like rotting heads on pikes. This kind of content is pretty much par for the course for a lot of TV series that aren’t restrained by the rules of regular television broadcast standards, so I expect that a lot of people will be used to it. However, this is one area where the show really differs from anime; while a lot of anime can be violent, depicting detailed gore is often avoided or at least censored somewhat, and it’s hardly ever the focus of the scene. Castlevania seems to revel in it sometimes, and that’s something I’m not really used to.
Sypha uses her magic to rescue Trevor from the angry townsfolk. Copyright 2017 (c) Netflix/Frederator Studios
Something else that felt a little bit artificial to me was certain aspects of the writing and dialog. There seems to have been an effort to depict Trevor Belmont as a cynical, somewhat-smarmy asshole, and to try to accomplish that he occasionally expresses a bit of nihilistic gallows humor and some “witty quips” in his lines. There’s also a lot of swearing sprinkled throughout the entirety of the dialog, and while I like to swear a lot when I’m speaking casually and can recognize that this is occasionally entertaining to others, oftentimes in this context it feels forced and sort of anachronistic to the particular setting.
On the upside, the animation was generally of pretty good quality, and in some instances stepped over the threshold into “awesome” territory. The creators and animators seemed to recognize where best to focus their resources, and this falls into step with how a lot of anime looks and feels. During dialog-heavy scenes, there’s more focus on atmosphere-building through color choice and the relatively static positions of the characters. When warranted, however, there are some excellent action sequences that are on par with some of the better Sakuga scenes from recent anime productions. I think this is generally a good approach that places focus on the cooler, more memorable scenes in this chunk of episodes without having to put quite as much strain on the animation staff.
Adrian Tepes (aka Alucard) makes his appearance. Copyright 2017 (c) Netflix/Frederator Studios
That said, there are a few visual missteps that I think are worth pointing out. There’s some use of 3DCG for a few elements, including a mirror apparatus Dracula uses in the first episode, and some CG demons in scenes where there are large groups flying through the sky at once. Generally the slightly uncomfortable coupling of 2D and 3D doesn’t bother me much anymore, but the frame-rate of the CG elements seems overly-smooth and out of sync with the traditional elements which ends up inadvertently calling a lot of attention to it. There are also some scenes in which the characters aren’t joined well with the background art; it’s difficult to explain what I mean, but it can feel like they don’t entirely exist in the same universe as if they’re floating above a painting. I think part of it is that there isn’t enough grittiness to the visuals; there’s a good use of color and darkness to create a good atmosphere, but it looks too shiny and clean to feel real. Perhaps some different kind of filtering might have avoided this issue in the final product.
The last item that came to my mind and that I thought might be worth mentioning is that the Speakers, the (ethnic?) group to which Sypha belongs, are a pretty obvious analogue to the Roma/Romani people, a persecuted nomadic ethnic group now found all over the world. I don’t know whether this group was depicted this way for a reason beyond that of narrative flair and flavoring (and I have a worry in the back of my mind that the creators might get something wrong in the future), but I found it heartening to see that a group that is still maligned to this day in some areas by some people was used as inspiration in a positive manner.
Overall I would have to say that I’m very pleasantly surprised with how Castlevania has panned-out thus far. Considering the failure rate of properties based on video game source material, I was hoping for the best but expecting the worst. However, it seems like this adaptation is taking what’s there from the game (which is extremely bare-bones, typical for NES-era games) and expanding on that in a way that isn’t slavishly-devoted to its game origin and feels fairly natural. Netflix has already ordered a second season of 8 more episodes, and I’m looking forward to seeing the continuation of the story.
Pros: This feels like a good adaptation of the source material – faithful but not “like a video game.” The look and feel take good parts from Japanese animation and Western animation.
Cons: There are some visual missteps that can be jarring. There is a lot of graphic violence and quite a bit of strong language.
At Hyakkaō Private Academy, the sons and daughters of the wealthiest of the wealthy engage in a unique curriculum geared to teach them to how to read their opponents. Specifically, students have a rigorous curriculum of gambling where the winners live like kings, and the losers are put through the wringer. When Yumeko Jabami enrolls, she’s decides to teach the students what a real high-roller looks like. – ANN
Copyright 2017 (c) MAPPA
Streaming At: Netflix (assuming it will be a late-cast in the US)
Summary of Episode 1: Ryota Suzui is in dire straits. After losing 5,000,000 yen to the devilish Mary Saotome at one of Hyakkao Academy’s after-school gambling sessions, he’s fallen deep into a debt that he’ll be unable to pay back for a long time. For now, his status is that of a lowly housepet, and Saotome-san is taking advantage of that as much as she can. When a kind-hearted young lady named Yumeko Jabami transfers into his class, he can only look on as Saotome strikes swiftly to try and take her out of the equation, but during a specialty game of “rock, paper, scissors,” the entire class discovers that Jabami-san is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Impressions: Several years ago, Madhouse produced an (informal) trilogy of gambling-related anime series that featured characters who demonstrated an almost devilish amount of luck. Akagi featured a teenage mahjong prodigy with a demonic ability to psychologically dismantle his opponents and cheat death when his very life was on the line. Kaijiwas about a hapless debtor whose inherent gambling skill only revealed itself when he was backed into a proverbial corner. And One Outs (which to this day I don’t believe has seen any official release in the US) starred a baseball pitcher whose skill made him rich in spite of sports managers who tried to take advantage of him. All three anime were really fascinating for their examination of human psychology, specifically the ways in which people act when they’re faced with overwhelmingly negative odds in situations where much of the results are left up to the luck of the draw. On the other had, each one was also an unrepentant sausage-fest, with hardly a woman in sight (and sometimes when a woman made an appearance, one wished that maybe she hadn’t). It always left me wondering what the same setup might be like with a cast full of young women.
Saotome turns Suzui into her personal “dog.” Copyright 2017 (c) MAPPA
In both the East and the West, when we think of gambling, we think of smoke-filled mahjong parlors populated by old men, or Texas Hold’em tournaments starring poker-faced and often quirky male players. Women can sometimes be seen as lacking the cunning and guile that it takes to gamble an opponent into oblivion. While previous series like Saki have avoided the discomfort of the situation by moé-ing things up and making the characters at least look non-threatening, or turned the gambling scenarios completely comedic like the awesomely-trashy Rio: Rainbow Gate, it hasn’t been until the moment that I watched the first episode of Kakegurui that I felt like I’d seen something that captured the same sinister tone of the aforementioned gambling trilogy. The show just happens to accomplish this while still inhabiting that most popular of anime settings – high school.
The premise of the show is inherently unbelievable in that, while I’m sure elite high schools exist in Japan, I’m almost positive that there are none with such a bizarre curriculum (I hope). But within a medium where there are plenty of series about magical high schools, haunted high schools, high schools with clubs that battle with one another or those that band together to solve mysteries, it’s ultimately not that difficult to suspend my disbelief. What Kakegurui does manage to accomplish with this not-quite-believable premise is to demonstrate a fairly decent sense about how ijime/bullying operates within a classroom social system, even if the type of bullying itself is unrealistic. Jabami-san is picked out as an easy target by the class bully and her cronies, is seemingly turned into a victim to the point where it seems like she’ll be banished to a life of subservience, much like our poor POV character Suzui. Of course, the sick pleasure to be derived from the narrative is that Jabami isn’t innocent whatsoever, and completely turns the tables on her antagonist.
Jabami gets turned-on by the thought of a challenging risk. Copyright 2017 (c) MAPPA
Jabami’s two-faced character is probably where the show demonstrates its biggest issues, however. There’s a problematic concept that shows up a lot in Japanese media but can be found in books, TV series, and films from all over the place, and that’s the figure of the woman who expresses her threatening, violent, or cunning nature via her hyper-sexuality. Suzui is drawn to Jabami when she seems demure and innocent, but is threatened and horrified when she switches into high gear – her eyes gain a sinister gleam, her skin flushes, and her lips plump and moisten. There’s also some “moist” visual symbolism that shows up briefly when she gets the upper hand on Saotome. It’s weirdly uncomfortable in that it ties together the idea of the sexual woman with an evil, aggressive, and cunning woman, and likewise conflates chastity with goodness in a way that places value on women’s state of being. This is something you just don’t see in Akagi or One Outs – when the protagonists of those series go into “battle mode,” they’re threatening and frightening because of their almost supernatural knowledge and their ability to think and manipulate themselves out of a corner, seemingly with ease. Here, Jabami also thinks her way out of her predicament using some amount of logic, but she does so while (figuratively) sopping wet. Our milquetoast POV character is put off by this demonstration, and I feel like we’re supposed to be also. It’s an unfortunately weird sex-negative scenario and a problem that’s much bigger than this show.
That aside (if you’re able to set it aside – it’s likely that many won’t and that’s understandable), this episode is something that I wouldn’t describe as “good” but might be tempted to describe as “awesomely-trashy.” It’s entertaining and problematic, and deals with characters who are awful people. It’s not normally my jam to watch stuff that’s quite so cynical about human nature, but I’m still morbidly curious about this truly strange title.
Pros: It’s a gambling tale with mostly young women as important characters. It does a decent job of demonstrating the workings of bullying in an unrealistic setting.
Cons: In this setting, women’s sexuality is seen as threatening. The fact that our POV character is a personality-less dude probably spells trouble.
“For high schooler Kei -and for at least forty-six others- immortality comes as the nastiest surprise ever.
Sadly for Kei, but refreshingly for the reader, such a feat doesn’t make him a superhero. In the eyes of both the general public and governments, he’s a rare specimen who needs to be hunted down and handed over to scientists to be experimented on for life-a demi-human who must die a thousand deaths for the benefit of humanity.” – Vertical Inc.
Summary of Episode 1: Kei is like many high school kids; he has a steady group of friends, cares about his family, and spends a lot of time worrying about passing his entrance exams. Unfortunately, his current life has come as the result of some sacrifices, namely his close childhood friendship with a boy named Kai. Kei’s mother disapproved of the friendship since Kai was carefree and significantly less studious; in her eyes, the road to maturity is paved in part by the cultivation of one’s relationships, and only those who exhibit positive traits are worthy of association. Kei and Kai still see each-other around town, but their interactions are strictly limited to wordless acknowledgement.
Kei realizes with horror that he is one of the reviled Ajin. Copyright Polygon Pictures.
In school, Kei and his classmates are learning about Ajin, a new species of intelligent life that appeared during a war in Africa seventeen years ago. Ajin are unique in that they can be mortally injured but cannot die. This makes them of great interest to several world governments, and once they’re discovered (generally when they are injured by chance and are able to quickly recover), they’re captured and experiments are performed on them in captivity. Kei seems disturbed by the concept, and as he crosses the street deep and thought, he’s hit by a truck. And then, his mangled body rises up from the bloody pavement and Kei realizes – he’s been revealed as one of the most hated beings on the planet. It isn’t long before the police begin searching the town’s outskirts for him, and Kei calls the only person he can think of who might possibly not try to turn him in to the police – Kai. Kai has already begun setting things in motion, and rushes to save his friend, no questions asked. The two ride away in the dark of night, fugitives for the crime of being other than human.
First Impressions: First of all, it bears mentioning that this series is another of Netflix’s late-casts, similar to Knights of Sidoniaand The Seven Deadly Sins, so it will be appearing in an official capacity at a later date (they’ve said “Summer 2016” but not given a more accurate time frame). Normally it would be my practice to watch an official version of an anime series since I really believe that anime streaming has virtually removed most of the need to watch fansubs (and now most of the sub groups are either ripping official subs and adding stuff like -san and -chan, or their translations don’t demonstrate a clear understanding of English spelling or grammar – I think all the good translators have probably gone legit). In this case, though, I was personally interested in the show from reading the manga, didn’t see a lot of other impressions of it (since it’s not easily available), and wanted to see ahead of time if it was worth checking out in full at a later time (I have a Netflix account but for some reason it’s like pulling teeth getting me to actually use the service that I pay for every month.) I think this is why I never checked out Knights of Sidonia (though I did buy the DVD and will watch it… eventually). I didn’t want a repeat self performance.
As for the first episode of Ajin, I was pleasantly surprised. I’m familiar with the general story from what I’ve read of the manga (I’m not far in but have at least read what’s covered in this first episode), and this is a good adaptation. One of the fears I had going in stems from the fact that this is both 1. the story of a teenage boy who (unwillingly) gets some special (and very violent) powers and 2. the general concept puts the series in the “edgy” category. I’ve had supremely bad luck with this sort of thing in the past – Deadman Wonderland is a good example of something that was really popular and people on the internet swore up and down was really intelligent and edgy, but turned out to be so, so violent and mean-spirited without much of a coherent message. I was worried that this would end up being another “sad teen fights violently with a bunch of people” anime.
Kei finds himself cornered by the police. Copyright Polygon Pictures.
I think what quelled that fear for me, in both the manga and this episode of the anime, is that the friendship between Kei and Kai seems to play such an important role in establishing the plot. Their relationship seems to represent a microcosm of what is happening out in the world – Kai is misunderstood and assumptions are made about his character because of how he looks and the way in which he disregards school, just as the entire world has made assumptions about Ajin and how “othering” them has given society at large an excuse to mistreat them and remove their rights as human beings. In a way it’s a sort of clunky allegory for race relations and the way we have treated almost anyone who is “different” – disabled folks, people on the autism spectrum, trans individuals… the list is extensive. In any case, one thing I really appreciated was that Kai was ready, no questions asked, to help his friend despite the fact that their relationship hadn’t been close for several years. It’s a level of kindness and emotional maturity that surprised me, especially since teen boys in anime tend to be given short shrift when it comes to being given any sort of sensitivity or basic humanity.
I’m betting many of you are wondering about the animation in this series, and it’s definitely worth mentioning. We seem to be entering an age when 3DCG animated anime is becoming an actual thing. I have a lot of mixed feelings about that. Anyone who’s watched the anime series Shirobako (and for those who haven’t, you really should because it’s downright excellent) will probably have a greater appreciation for the role that CG plays in anime and the work that goes into making convincing 3D elements, and I really try to keep that in mind. Unfortunately, I don’t think that CG is yet up to the task of convincingly recreating the look of typical 2D anime, and in many chases the movement of the characters just seems… off. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to figure out why this is and why it’s so difficult to accept that 3DCG anime is probably an inevitability, and I think what it comes down to is consistency. One of the hallmarks of Japanese anime is just how inconsistent it is. When you see characters’ faces from different angles, the mouth positions and how they appear don’t actually make sense a lot of the time, but it’s a type of stylization that we’ve come to expect and accept as consumers of the medium. There are also often vastly different animation styles and frame-rates even within one episode of anime. Important scenes are given more attention and often certain animators are given free reign to go off-model and demonstrate their particular command of movement, and I find that these special scenes really give me a thrill and are one of the reasons why I enjoy watching anime. The use of computer animation removes that unexpected attribute.
Kei makes his escape. Copyright Polygon Pictures.
That said, I think what Polygon has done in this series actually looks pretty good. It took me until a few minutes into the episode to stop being distracted by the 3D models and the cell-shading and such, but much like watching Gankutsuou (which you should also go watch as soon as you have the opportunity if you would like to see why people used to like Gonzo), once your eyes have adjusted the look kind of becomes a non-issue. It’s not my favorite, but it’s admittedly a lot better than watching a show that’s consistently off-model for reasons that have nothing to do with artistic style (side note: people complaining about Ping Pong being off-model need to go educate themselves). I think people who are not married to anime’s particular aesthetic will be even less distracted and will likely not be bothered at all (this is a series I would show my parents, for example – my mom isn’t an anime fan, but she does like horror and thriller-type series so I bet it would be up her alley).
I really liked this first episode. I don’t know if I’ll keep up with it right now since now I feel kind of bad about downloading an unofficial video of something which is going to be released officially, even if the official release isn’t technically a simulcast. It’s funny how your conscience can adjust like that, isn’t it?
Pros: The show takes a concept that could easily be mishandled and injects it with enough humanity to keep it from becoming one-note. The friendship between the two male characters forms a believable core.
Cons: The 3D animation will definitely be an issue for some. It’s a Netflix late-cast, so the official release won’t be available for several months.
