Hi folks,
Just wanted to pop in on my vacation and wish you all a happy holiday to all. No matter what you celebrate during this time, I hope you have a good one.
Kimagure
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Archive for December, 2006
Last part of the mid season reviews. I’ve got four good ones in here. Originally this was going to be split in two, but I like all of these shows too much to split them up.
Death Note
Without knowing a ton about this show, aside from the obvious hype it had before it aired, I’ve really been surprised with almost every episode. All around, it’s a solid show that I never would have thought jumped off the pages of Shounen Jump. I also now hold my cell phone all goofy, and I sit like a frog, and I bite my nails, and I have the sudden urge to play tennis. Oh shi- I’m not that smart. Oh well.
Sumomomo Momomo
This show is so funny, it makes me smile with delight every episode. Putting aside the chauvinistic nature of the reason that Sumomo is out to bed Koushi, her attempts at love are a riot. Add to that the “I want to be rocked senseless” Iroha, and the “I wish I was normal, and not a dominatrix martial arts master” Sanae, and you’ve got a recipe for harem goodness. I don’t care much for the rest of the characters in the show, but the girls more than make up for it. The plot of the 12 sided war is also not really fleshed out as far as the fansubs have gotten, but I don’t care. Funniest show of the season, at least out of what I’m watching…how many comedies am I watching? I might be a little biased, but it’s alright. The show’s animation is also pretty decent with just the right sprinkling of fanservice. Uma Kamen is a bit higher with the service, but that’s alright.
Now on to my two favorite shows this season:
Asatte no Houko
This is a slice of life show. By default, I will likely rate this show highly. I love it. Really love it. One of my favorite things about slice of life shows is the attention to detail of the whole of the production. Character designs are well detailed, backgrounds usually look like someone loved a canvas thoroughly, and stories are simple and easy to follow. After a long day at work, losing myself in someone else’s life is a grand prospect that I can’t wait to do. Asatte no Houko is no exception. What usually suffers in these types of anime is the animation itself. Movement is a little choppy in places, but it’s not so bothersome when you’re engrossed in the story. With Karada and Shouko switching places as they did, it lends itself to a wonderful story of a little girl that has to grow up in a hurry. From learning how to use a bank to dealing with the crushed feelings of the girl left behind, it’s an experience that’s believable even if she didn’t suddenly become a 20 something. Asatte no Houko is one of the finer examples of this genre. Highly recommended if you enjoy slice of life with a dash of drama.
Kanon (2006)
This show ties with Asatte no Houko with my favorite show of the season. Between Kyoto Animation, Key’s tug-at-my-heartstrings storytelling, and the gorgeous production values, you have a clear front runner on almost any list. I’ve said before, numerous times, that the 2002 TOEI version of this show didn’t do it for me, and like Yuuichi, I forgot almost everything about it. So like him, I remember more and more of the comings and goings of this story every week I watch it. Because of this, I feel connected to Yuuichi more than I thought I would. What has surprised me is that I’m laughing a lot more than I thought I would, and that I’m enjoying this much more than I expected to. As fun as dramas can be, they’re still drama and they can get saddled in a ton of muck. I’m happy to see that the slower pacing of the show, combined with the production design has lended itself well to this remake. With one sad story completed, I look forward to the rest of the resolutions as they come.
Continuing with the reviews:
Otome wa Boku ni Koi Shiteru
Hello chibi Mizuho-chan. How are you today? I hope you’re well, and that school is going well for you.
School couldn’t be going better for our little trap. She/he is the elder of the school, everyone looks up to him/her, a hyper little ghost is following him/her around. And with his/her sweltering good looks, and excellent sense of femininity, she/he’s managed to even melt the school ice queen’s armor.
Mizuho’s settled into her role at school so well that may bloggers have forgotten she’s a guy. Secrets be damned, this is flat out denial. I can’t watch this show and forget that. It’s too easy to animate a guy acting like a girl, if this were live action, it’d be a tougher sell, but who am I kidding. A live OtoBoku? Too much Asahi tonight. I wish there were more awkward moments of Mizuho doing guy things that a proper young lady wouldn’t be doing. I think that would bring up the entertainment a bit, but from what I’ve read about upcoming shows, they replace awkwardness with admissions and truths that will likely force Mizuho to re-evaluate her position. Awkward always brings the comedy, but the drama would not be missed either.
This show is not my favorite this fall, but it still does a good job of entertaining, so I’m not complaining.
Hataraki Man
Just when Megadere was rescued from fansub neglect, Hataraki Man has taken its place. I’m saddened to say that I really want to see more of this show, but cannot. From the three episodes I’ve seen, I appreciate Hiro’s troubles in balancing her work and social life, because I’ve been there before. But alas that is all I can say at this time.
I still like the art style, I still enjoy the music, and the stories are engaging. Even if they did spend an episode talking mostly about ramen.
Others I’ve shown this to have commented on the “chauvinistic” nature of the show. How in order to be productive, she has to turn on the “man” switch. Personally, nothing really offends me, but I can see how this could offend the modern feminist movement. I think it’s rather equal, as Mayu says she gains all of the habits of men, which include things like becoming unkempt. So taking on these negative traits may not be a good thing after all, and what does that say about men. I think it’s a jab that could fly both ways.
Whatever, I’m not sure I like this whole political correctness thing anyway.
Oh and, I’m practically obligated to say this now…needs more subs.
Over the next few days I’ll be posting thoughts on the series that I’ve been following for Fall 2006. It’s easily the largest number of series that I’ve watched ever in an anime season. With so many shows coming out now per season, the pick lists are harder to make, but I’ve enjoyed watching most of the shows I’ve seen this fall. Some, not so much. Some, more than others. I’m going in some kind of order, in that I will be going from least favorite to most.
To start with, let’s look at Yoake Mae Yori Ruri Iro Na -Crescent Love-
You’ll notice that I don’t have any screen caps on this one. To be honest this is the show that I’m “Pot Committed” to. Yes, I just want to see how it ends. I don’t like it, as it’s weak in almost every department. It takes no chances, and piles on the clichés from moment one, which is sad considering the potential this show offered in the beginning. It’s use of SD characters was also somewhat entertaining. But none of that could make up for the lackluster inconsistent animation, or it’s storyline that we can see coming from a mile away. There is little here to enjoy, and frankly in this season of harem anime overload, there is much better fare. I have no more to say about this show, I will watch the ending and revel in the waste of time that it was.
Pumpkin Scissors
I do not dislike this show, but I do not really like it either. In my original post I called this “Action fluff”. Since then there has not been enough action and way too much fluff. We got the requisite big guy character that can whoop ass when he turns his freaky blue light on. Worse than that 10 episodes in, we still have no idea why he’s that way. Episode 11 take some time to start a potential story that would clue us into what or who Corporal Oland actually is. But getting there is grueling. As I mature even farther into Anime, I’m finding that I have less of a stomach for filler material. Episode 9 of this show was one of the largest yawners I’ve ever watched, picking the least interesting character and giving him an even less interesting story to deal with. What I’d like to see is more of the big guy pummeling tanks, taking bullets for his team, and all around getting the action he deserves. It’s a disservice to fill something that has so much potential with stupid fillers. Regardless of whether or not these were in the manga as stories or not, it’s sometimes better to look at that story and just think it might be worth dropping this one. The kicker of this would be the day they give us Mercury the dog’s story and have the episode center around that.
To be fair this show has its fair share of good stuff as well. Coroporal Oland’s life with his cat friends is cute, and gives an insight into his personality. Alice’s bravado is welcome, even if she is naive. And the designs and animation have been fairly consistent for Gonzo. When Oland fires up the blue light, he looks genuinely creepy, and I look forward to them hinting at his past. Since the episode with the baby, the animation team has also treated us with a goofy Alice face in pretty much every episode. It’s not much, but it’s something.
Less fluff and more action would be nice from this property
More to come…
This fall season is one of the most active that I’ve had in both blogging and actually watching. I usually watch 4-5 series a season, and this fall I easily checked out about 15 of them. Not everything gets to stay and I’ve officially dropped two shows from the watch list.
With that said: Sayonara Tenpou Ibun Ayakashi Ayashi and Happiness.
I just couldn’t get into Ayakashi. And to be honest I haven’t been too impressed with any series done by Bones aside from RahXephon. And I figure I’m the only one here that liked RahXephon.
Happiness was most likely too much harem anime in one season, but even with the entertaining Jun, this just didn’t cut it. That, combined with Artland being at the helm of the show pretty much killed it for me.
More on the rest of the stuff that I’m continuing to watch later.
Also, as you may have seen on other Animeblogger sites. Our intrepid hostmaster, Maestro, has hit some hard times. We’re all looking for donations to keep this wonder community thriving. If you’re able to spare a few bucks please either click here, or click the donation button on the right. The donation links go directly to the site and not through a middle-man via PayPal. If you cannot use paypal and would still like to donate, please check out Maestro’s blog for more information. As always thank you for reading.
Today, I’d like to break from the usual anime summaries. While my mid-season reviews are close to what I consider overdue, I have to stop and rant for a moment. I’m about to embark on something futile. Today I begin what I hope will be an occasional series of rants against anime clichés. Like I said, this is a futile effort, but there is only so much a person can take before the pressure cooker in their brain just goes boom. This is futile because there is absolutely no way anything can or will change. People and fans are just way too happy with the status quo, or if they’re not happy they’re certainly okay with it. People flock to the familiar, and like to be warm and fuzzy. I’m not criticizing the people that enjoy these shows, because I’m one of those people. I know what I like and I sit through many clichés usually without flinching. So onto the futility, and I hope to find more shining examples of anime clichés that deserve rants such as this.
Today I will rant about the childhood friend character type. Spoilers ahoy for Gift: Eternal Rainbow, and possibly other anime.
I was recently introduced to Gift: Eternal Rainbow. In this Da Capoesque exercise where it vaguely feels like a blatent rip off of Da Capo (even the school uniforms are similar), we are introduced to three main characters. Amami, our hero and male lead for the show, his non blood-related sister, Riko, who’s the same age as him, and finally Kirino, his childhood friend. For most readers, particularly those who have seen Da Capo, someone in this triangle is about to find they have no leg to stand on. In this case, we don’t have to think too hard about what’s to happen in this situation. Kirino is about to find herself in the all too familiar world of the childhood friend cliché. As much as you love her, Nayuki from Kanon, or even Kaede from Shuffle, you can’t deny they’re all either screwed or about to be. And this is not screwed in the good sense of the word. These lovely ladies have doted on their male counterparts for years, and always seem to lose at the last minute. Let’s get something straight, I’m not here to complain about the situation they set themselves up for, it’s how they handle it that started to bug me.
All in all at some point the main male lead has to break the news that he’s in love with someone else and our childhood friend ends up breaking down and lying that she’s fine. Some go psycho, some take it well, some don’t have time to say much since the show ends, and some continue to fight on provided there are episodes to continue with. I’m here to complain about the last category. When Kaede lost her cool and went nuts after Rin revealed his love for Asa, it was somewhat different and a welcome change. So Kirino in Gift, after finding out that Riko didn’t play fair, basically says that she’s not giving up. Because even though Amami has said multiple times that he’s in love with the lovely Riko, she just won’t take no for an answer.
So Riko and Amami end up looking like this. I want to punch Amami in the mouth. Kasuga Kyouske (from Kimagure Orange Road) taught every anime male that wishy washiness is a good thing. Grow a spine Amami, tell her again that she’s wasting her time, and end it here. I don’t want to see five more episodes of Gift that center around Kirino’s efforts. I want to see Amami and Riko enjoy some wonderful days together in happiness. This is not that much to ask really. Shuffle had a win here as well, at least Rin and Asa had an episode before she got sick. My original negative review against shuffle earlier this year was probably not as fair as it could’ve been. I was again ranting on cliches, but it’s not as bad as I made it out to be.
So now we get to watch more episodes of Gift and it looks like Kirino is going to counter Riko’s gift with something else in the hopes that she will be able to win Amami’s love back from Riko. The reality of this situation is that Amami should have stopped her, but didn’t. Kirino should grow a spine and start living for herself and give up hanging on the crutch that is Amami.
I’ll admit that I’m possibly being premature here. If the writers come back and hand the win to Kirino, I’ll be back and unhappy. If this plays out with Riko winning this race then I’ll go with it. If Rinka-chan shows up and takes care of business then I’ll rescind this whole rant and never write one again.
So what do you think? Please comment and argue if you think I’m way off. I’m just one person, with one opinion.
I’ll have more Anime cliché attacks in the future.
For a final thought, I continue to watch and enjoy my anime even though it’s full of clichés, because to be frank and very honest. Anime is fun to watch. ANIME BANZAI!!!. Apologies to Jeff.
