Month: January 2013

Senran Kagura

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

A modern-day school of ninja. Also, boobies.

(Adapted from some fighting game.)

Characters

Asuka, our feather-brained protagonist. She’s coming back to the school after some training and “exam” away (which she narrowly passed). Presumably there’s a reason for her being the focus of the show despite being overshadowed by all of her classmates, but it’s not apparent yet.

Said classmates include the serious one, the pervy one, the deadpan-one-with-an-eyepatch, and the childlike one. All girls, obviously : the only major male character in sight is their old teacher, who tends to abuse smoke bombs a bit too much. (In a rare bit of equal-opportunity fanservice, he gets to eat suggestively one of those cylindrical cucumber things like everyone else.)

Homura, a random girl from another school that Asuka makes friends with. OR IS SHE ? (Come on, she’s so obviously evil it takes all of Asuka’s density not to see the obvious assassination attempt.)

The plot of the week involves a random assignment to subdue some delinquents, which turns out to be a trap by Homura’s schoolmates. Not that any of our girls is perceptive enough to notice them, though.

Production Values

Very fanservice-heavy, from the pervert camera to the what-were-they-thinking costumes to the that-must-be-causing-some-back-pain mensurations. If you’re willing to overlook that, the fight scenes are actually quite nicely done, dynamic and never confusing.

Overall Impression

Oh, look : crap. It’s far from the worse of its ilk (the tone is quite pleasant and fun), but there’s just nothing of any interest there. The characters are one-dimensional and terminally dumb, while the plot is beyond generic and an obvious excuse for action sequences.

Don’t bother with this one.

via [In which I review] New anime, Winter 2013 – Page 4.

Bakumatsu Gijinden Roman

What’s it about ?

Robin Hood in the end of the Edo period.

Characters

Roman, our protagonist. By day, he’s a lazy bum barely making a living as a helping hand around town. By night, he’s a Robin Hood figure, robbing the guilty rich and distributing it to everyone else, through crazy schemes, “high-tech” devices, and raw nerve.

Koharu, his little sister. By day, she’s the one actually paying the rent with as a bizarrely-specialized craftswoman ; by night, she helps him out on his adventures.

They also seem to have a dog, who helps them out on their cons. It’s that kind of show.

Production Values

Character designs come courtesy of Monkey Punch, aka the Lupin III guy. It really shows. This looks quite good, but decidedly old-fashioned.

Overall Impression

Yawn. This doesn’t seem to be a bad show by any objective criteria, but there’s something about it that just made me tune out. I can barely remember anything about it, and I really don’t care to try watching it again. It’s not really my kind of thing, anyway : way to old-fashioned to hook me.

via [In which I review] New anime, Winter 2013 – Page 4.

Absolutely Lovely Children: The Unlimited – Hyoubu Kyousuke (Zettai Karen Children: The Unlimited – Hyoubu Kyousuke)

What’s it about ?

A spin-off show about anime!X-Men’s Magneto figure.

This seems to be original material, after a 2008 TV series that was a semi-close manga adaptation.

Characters

Kyousuke Hyoubu really does share a lot of traits with Magneto at his best : charismatic, confident, more than slightly creepy, ridiculously over-powered (there’s a reason the show is subtitled “the Unlimited”), and a body count in the dozens in this episode alone. Despite this being his show, he’s actually positioned as a bit of an antagonist. As he should, really.

Andy Hinomiya is our real protagonist and point-of-view character. He’s a prisoner in an mutant esper detention facility set in some south-american-ish island military dictatorship. His powers are said to be kinda crap (some weak telekinesis ?), but he’s a very good fighter, and there’s definitely more than meets the eye. He catches Hyoubu’s attention, and eventually gets to join the Brotherhood of Mutants his group of esper terrorists PANDRA by the end of the episode.

Yuugiri, a young (?) girl hidden in the depths of the prison. She’s the real reason Hyoubu lets himself get “captured” : his plan was to rescue her from the get-go. Destroying a lab performing evil experiments on esper prisoners doesn’t displease him either. Anyway, he calls her “Queen”, which is quite intriguing. (Has he moved on from Kaoru ?)

Most of the PANDRA members sketched out in the main series are to be part of the cast, obviously. The titular Children aren’t anywhere in sight, although the OP/ED heavily promises that their handler Minamoto is going to show up at some point and be as badass as ever.

Production Values

Quite good. This seems to have more of a budget than the original series, with some impressive action sequences. Overall, the atmosphere is much more serious, with no comedic exaggerations, and character designs of the “noodle people” variety.

Overall Impression

This is a promising start. Hyoubu is an interesting character when he’s not being a lolicon perv, so there’s something to be said for a “serious” spin-off series focusing on his Brotherhood’s action, without the comedy trappings of the main show. (Although, you know, his tsundere telepathic flying squirrel sidekick is still around.)

The good idea here is to have Andy as a protagonist, which gives the series a narrative arc of its own. I really doubt he’ll succeed in bringing Hyoubu down in any meaningful way, but it should be interesting to see him trying against impossible odds.

This is definitely more interesting than I was expecting, and notably better than its parent show. I’m in for the ride.

via [In which I review] New anime, Winter 2013 – Page 4.

My Girlfriend and Childhood Friend Fight Too Much (Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru)

(13 episodes)

What’s it about ?

High school harem romantic comedy.

(Adapted from light novels, as you can guess by the ridiculously long and plain title.)

Characters

Eita, our protagonist. He’s been badly burned by both his parents walking out of his life after finding love elsewhere, and thus doesn’t want to hear about any romance whatsoever. He’d rather concentrate on his studies, thank you.

Chiwa, his very annoying childhood friend. The kind that now stalks him relentlessly and regularly invites herself for meals. I get the notion that he mostly tolerates her because chasing her off would involve too much energy.

Natsukawa, the beautiful and ultra-popular girl in his class. Like him, she has no interest in romance, and she’s getting tired of getting proposed once a day ; her solution is to use him as a fake boyfriend so as to finally get some peace. She’s somehow got her hand on his embarrassing diary, so it’s not like she’s got any say in the matter…

There are two other girls featured prominently in the OP and preview artwork ; maybe it’s related to that club mentioned in the next-episode preview.

Production Values

Perfectly okay as far as visuals go ; the main distinguishing feature is very bright, pastel colours. The score is nearly entirely crap, always slightly out of place and emphasizing the artificiality of the scene breaks.

It’s telling that Eita is entirely absent from the OP sequence…

Overall Impression

Hum. The first half of the episode was very unengaging indeed, with haphazard storytelling (must Chiwa really be the one to exposit to Eita about Natsukawa ?) and the childhood friend character being obnoxiously annoying. However, it changes radically once the “girlfriend” finally gets to speak : it’s Yukari Tamura at her best, cynical, whimsical, and affecting various personae at will. She’s clearly this show’s most (if not only) entertaining character, and its main selling point.

Is this enough to make the series worth watching ? Er, I’ll get back to you about that in an episode or two, once we actually see her interacting with someone besides her beard, and the “plot” gets properly underway (so far, the two title characters have yet to even meet, let alone fight like the title suggests). I’m not too optimistic, but maybe the show will click together then.

In a busier season I wouldn’t have bothered with this one, but I’m willing to give it a bit of rope for now.

via [In which I review] New anime, Winter 2013 – Page 3.

Cuticle Detective Inaba (Cuticle Tantei Inaba)

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

The wacky adventures of a werewolf private detective.

Characters

Inaba, the title detective werewolf. Complete immature goofball. Aside from his (wildly inconsistent) tracking abilities, he can also “power up” and extract ridiculous power from strands of hair. His single point of angst is regarding his missing younger brother, and even that is played for laugh.

The less said about Yuuta, his scarily violent cross-dressing assistant, the better.

Kei, his other assistant, gets the “only sane man” role. Alas, I can’t see his sanity surviving more than a couple episodes of this.

Ogino, an actual police detective who knew Inaba before the latter left the force, and brings him new cases too tough (or too bizarre) for the police to solve. His pained attempts to desperately keep the plot on track aren’t too successful.

Our villain this episode (and apparently the long-term nemesis) is Don Valentino, a counterfeiting goat. His minions include a devoted dude with a paper bag over his head, and a dominatrix assassin.

Production Values

Not very good. The animation is basic, and the whole thing looks cheap on every level.

Overall Impression

Let’s not beat around the bush : this is a completely insane and surreal show, throwing more and more weirdness in as it goes. It’s never afraid to be stupid or mind-bendingly bizarre for the sake of a joke.

The problem is that it’s not really funny. Most of the jokes don’t work, either because they’re oversold or because they’re just plain bad. There are some that do raise a smile occasionally, but the majority are tediously unfunny.

I was ready to cry uncle after five minutes of this. The rest of the episode didn’t change my mind, so I’m not recommending watching this. It’s just too painful.

via [In which I review] New anime, Winter 2013 – Page 3.

MAOYU – The Dark Lord and the Hero (Maoyuu Maou Yuusha)

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Heroic fantasy mixed with economics.

Characters

The Hero, champion of the human realms in their war against the demons. He’s in such a hurry to defeat the Dark Lord that he runs towards the Evil Castle, leaving his usual party members behind. He’s very gung-ho about the whole thing until he actually meets…

The Dark Lord, who’s really a gentle young woman, and has no desire to fight whatsoever. She’s sick of the war and would rather they find a way to end it together (well, that, and she’s smitten by the legendary dashing young man). Her death/capture/whatever would solve nothing, as there are way too many vested interests on both sides to keep the war going (cue a comprehensive lecture to a bemused Hero about the subject). They’re going to need to be more clever than that…

(In case you’re wondering, nobody in this show has any name beyond their role ; for example the Hero’s party comprises, beyond him, of the Female Knight, the Magician and the Old Archer.)

Production Values

One could have expected the worst from studio Arms, who have barely contributed to anything of worth since Elfen Lied nearly a decade ago, but did produce the likes of Queen’s Blade, Ikki Tousen and various porn OVAs. Well, while the camera is very interested in the Dark Lord’s huge tracts of land indeed, the fanservice level remains quite tame ; there’s nothing too egregious on that level.

Actually, this does look quite good. The backgrounds are quite good-looking (although the CG scenes look a bit awkward, especially that spinning battlefield one with the Hero’s party left behind), and the animation of the Dark Lord’s body language is very good indeed.

Overall Impression

They had me at “Jun Fukuyama & Ami Koshimizu flirting while talking about economics”, a formula with some pedigree indeed.

Now, this is a rough first episode. The (deliberately generic) backstory is rushed through in a terse narration infodump so that we can get to the one scene that matters, with our two leads meeting. This makes the Dark Lord’s infatuation come a bit out of nowhere, although the episode does manage to eventually sell it by its end. Similarly, the Hero’s final decision feels a bit too quick.

But that’s nitpicking. The two main voice actors make a very convincing job of quickly fleshing out their characters beyond the stated archetypes, while exuding tons of charisma throughout. (I had no clue you could display any charisma while spending the whole episode entirely baffled. Jun Fukuyuma somehow pulls it off.)

Also promising : the economics described here paint a very detailed picture of the human realms (the Dark Lord is more vague about the demon side of the equation) that makes perfect sense and feels impressively real. I’m eager to see what other aspects further episodes are going to explore. It certainly makes the stakes quite high from the get-go, and I wonder what the Dark Lord is planning to do. (The title for the second episode is… most intriguing.)

So. There are bits that don’t quite work. (By the way, why exactly is the Magician spouting the same catch-phrase as her voice-actress’s character in Smile Precure, of all things ?) But there are a lot that do work, including the show’s main selling points (the economics and the relationship between the two leads). So on balance I’m quite happy with continuing to watch this.

via [In which I review] New anime, Winter 2013 – Page 2.