2011 Q2 – Spring – Page 4

My Ordinary Life (Nichijou)

(26-ish episodes)

What’s it about ?

High school slice-of-life surreal comedy.

Characters

Mio, the blue-haired “central” character. A bit of a straight man to everyone else.

Yuuko, our Tomo clone. Loud, obnoxious and clumsy.

Mai, the quiet glasses girl, who gets to do outrageous things as punchlines.

Hakase, whom we only ever see at home with her long-suffering robot servant Nano. You can tell Nano is a robot thanks to the huge winding key sticking out of her back. (Not that it serves any actual practical purpose – Hakase put it there because she’s a jerk.)

A couple other girls and teachers show up, but I’ve already forgotten about them.

Production Values

Very disappointing for a KyoAni series. “Minimalistic” would be the charitable way to put it.

Overall Impression

Oh, dear. A comedy series that is barely funny at all.

Now, I did laugh a bit to Mai’s hijinks and most of the Nino/Hakase scenes. But there’s a lot here that I just didn’t care for.

(If I really wanted to be mean, I’d say that this is KyoAni trying their hand at the surreal SHAFT-ish comedy… and completely failing. But that’d probably be a bit unfair.)

I’ll probably try one or two more episodes to see if it gels together, but I’m not optimistic (and this is a busy season anyway). I’ve watched the OVA, and it’s basically more of the same.

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2011.

Dog Days

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

In a parallel fantasy world, war rages between the kingdom of Biscotti and the Galette Knights. A surprisingly PG war, with no casualties whatsoever and announcers providing step-by-step colour commentary. Oh, and they’ve all got animal ears and tails (Biscotti are dogs, and I think Galette are cats). Anyway, Biscotti are losing, so they call upon a hero from Earth to save them.

Characters

Shinku, our protagonist and ordinary high school student. He’s actually an accomplished athlete (coming second in the last big sports tournament, and assiduously training for improvement), and a bit of a showboat. When he’s transported to another world and called a hero, he muses that this must be a dream, so what the heck, and dives in with enthusiasm.

Milchore, the kid ruler of Biscotti, who summons Shinku and exposits the situation to him. She doesn’t show much personality yet, to be honest.

We get to see a few more Biscotti characters, including a couple of elite warriors who get rid of scores of enemy mooks in one spell. Er, weren’t they supposed to be losing ?

Although it might be because the top Galette Knights have yet to deploy – everyone says they’re very impressive, but I’ve yet to see any of that.

Production Values

By the makers of Nanoha ! So you get the obligatory OP by Nana Mizuki, bright and shiny colours everywhere, CG runes galore for every single spell, and loli-style character designs for nearly everyone important (except the “villains”).

Overall Impression

I’m not really sure what to think about this one.

I quite like the twist of war as a harmless sports-like competition, and Mamoru Miyano lends tons of his usual charisma to the protagonist. On the other hand, the Biscotti people are dull and sugary as hell, and the Galette Knights don’t show much promise either.

I’ll probably give it a couple more episodes before judging it.

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2011.

X-Men

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

The X-Men disbanded a year ago, due to Jean Grey’s death in the Dark Phoenix incident. But Professor X gathers the band back together when he learns of numerous mutant disparitions in a district of Japan.

Characters

They’ve gone for an iconic line-up for the X-Men, with Professor X as the remote mentor, Cyclops as field leader, Wolverine, Storm and cat-form Beast. (The OP promises Emma Frost, but she hasn’t shown up yet.) Professor X carries most of the narration and exposition. Cyclops is the best at what he does, and what he does is whining over Jean’s grave (seriously, it looks like he’s spending days at a time there). Beast had gone back to teaching college courses, but he’s pretty happy to go back into action and leave his class to his uplifted squid. Wolverine is more tolerable here than in his own series, and Storm plays mother hen.

Hisako (aka Armor) is our token young mutant in distress. She barely shows any personality yet, before captured by robots halfway through the episode. (If you’re wondering, she’s a character created by Joss Whedon when he wrote the X-Men comics six years ago.)

We start with an extended flashback to the end of the Dark Phoenix incident, where it’s clear Jean is manipulated by Mastermind and his Inner Circle (they’re kept in shadows, but I see Blob, maybe Toad, and another prettyboy I can’t quite identify). It looks like she commits suicide, but considering the epitaph on her memorial (“She will rise again”) and the fact they’ve bothered to show us all this, I’m sure she’ll eventually show up again.

The next episode preview suggests that the X-Men are going to face the U-Men. That’s an interesting choice (they’re quite a recent creation), although it makes perfect sense when considering Warren Ellis wrote this story (the man loves his transhumanism themes).

The ED shows some iconic X-Men villains (Magneto, Mystique, Juggernaut) that I doubt will actually show up… and Stryfe, for some reason.

Production Values

I’m not fond of Madhouse’s style for the Marvel adaptations, and it looks especially messy here, but it does the job. I like the character designs quite a bit, to tell the truth.

Overall Impression

I’ve always had big expectations for this particular Marvel Anime series, and it doesn’t disappoint. It manages to perfectly recreate the X-Men experience, especially the sense of a vast tapestry of former continuity that will eventually become relevant. Sure, it doesn’t exactly hit the ground running (the X-Men aren’t even in Japan yet), but that’s the cost of fleshing out the five main characters as well as explaining the gist of the Dark Phoenix incident.

I’m biased, of course : I’m a hardcore X-Men fan. Still, this is by far the best Marvel Anime series, with strong characters and a plot that feels appropriately epic.

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2011.