Month: July 2014

Futsuu no Joshikousei ga (Locodol) Yattemita. (“Ordinary Schoolgirls Tried to Be Local Idols”)

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a 4-panel gag manga about… well, you know how some recent anime series feel like they’re a collaboration with some town’s tourism board ? Well, it’s about this kind of thing.

Characters

Nanako, our protagonist, is an ordinary high school girl : she has a generic circle of friends, nags her mother for pocket money, and wonders whether she should join a club. Her gi character quirk is that she’s a bit of a perfectionist : once she commits to something, she wants to do it properly.

Her uncle is a civil servant in a town with no attractive feature whatsoever, and badly bleeding inhabitants to its neighbours. He tries his best to counter the tide, though ; his latest idea : “Locodol”, i.e. local idols. He ropes his niece into putting a show at the newly refurbished swimming-pool. Chaotic disaster ensues.

Fortunately, Yukari, the other girl he hired, has an actual clue on how to do this, and manages to salvage the situation. She and Nanako quickly become friends ; why not keep doing this ?

Production Values

Perfectly okay. Bright and shiny, as you’d expect this to be.

Overall Impression

There’s an interesting idea at the core of this : some towns are desperate to attract (or at least retain) young adults, and seizing on any fad for this purpose. This bleak reality gives an edge to an otherwise very fluffy gag series. Actually, I was kinda surprised Uncle’s plan somehow worked out, as it feels slightly undeserved.

But hey, this is funny. That’s a decent start for a comedy. Can it keep up among the deluge of Thursday shows ? We’ll see. I’m willing to give it a bit of rope.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Summer 2014 – Page 2.

Tokyo Ghoul

(12ish episodes ?)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a seinen horror manga. There are Ghouls roaming in Tokyo : inhuman monsters who feed on people. Once a month or so is enough for survival, but there are some “binge eaters”…

Characters

Kaneki, our protagonist, used to be a totally average high-school boy before he had an unfortunate encounter with a Ghoul, which he barely survived at all. For some reason the surgeon attending him thought it was a good idea to put him back together by sewing in some of the Ghoul’s organs ; which I hope is a plot point, because seriously. Anyway, he’s now half-Ghoul, which means he has all the cravings for human meat of the real thing, but has no wish whatsoever to lose his humanity. That’s tough, dude.

While the police seems to stand clear of all this, there’s some masked dude going around killing Ghouls. He may be behind the “accident” that killed the Ghoul assaulting Kaneki, since he was already on her trail early on.

With that Ghoul removed from the picture, already some others are crawling in to take other her territory. Lots of factions and infighting at play here, it looks like.

Production Values

This is a very striking production, from the distinctive designs to the colour work, to the non-obvious direction. It’s got budget, if only at least for the first episode.

This is not a series for the faint of heart, although the goriest shots are obscured by heavy censorship on the TV version.

Overall Impression

Impressive. This succeeds on every level : a toxic atmosphere, the quick descent of the protagonist into the deep end, striking visuals… The very good use of Kana Hanazawa helps, too. It’s creepy, paranoid, and quite disturbing.

Now, do I want to keep watching it ? Probably, yes. I have some niggling doubts about where it’s going, but it’s an auspicious start. There are many ways for it to fall apart quickly, but so far, so good.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Summer 2014 – Page 2.

Silver Will Argevollen (Shirogane no Ishi: Argevollen)

(24 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Original series about mecha. Well, “original” might be straining it.

Characters

There are two main factions in this world : Ingelmia, on their way to conquering everything, and Arandas, now with their backs to the Great Wall that’s always protected their core territories. Yeah, like that’ll last. (This sound you can hear is the visiting top generals fleeing at high speed from the Wall when Ingelmia starts deploying new mecha.)

Our focus is on a small Arandas mecha unit manoeuvring near the Wall. Just three mechas, their pilots, and at best a dozen support staff in their trucks. The Captain, who knows the score, welcomes the Wall Garnison’s order to fall back inwards like the escape out of this death trap it is.

Tokimune, our protagonist, is the greener out of the three mecha pilots. Still a bit of an idealist, he’s starting to see how war’s not all he thought it was. It’s no real surprise he breaks ranks to save a bunch of “civilians” from an Ingelmia patrol instead of quietly passing by as the plan was ; and of course he gets his mecha half-destroyed for his trouble.

Jamie is the one survivor from those “civilians” ; their trailer was transporting a new top-secret mecha, and she’s doing whatever she can to avoid it falling into the enemy’s hands. She’s got the authorization codes to boot it up and a user manual, so… she’s just going to let Tokimune handle it, as he’s a pilot and she’s not. Good luck ! He’s initially baffled by this new technology, but quickly gets the hang of it : it’s one of those super-prototypes that are very intuitive to pilot, and move like humans.

As they get there, his whole squad are, like, “WTF !?”

Production Values

This is a very good-looking series, with more than a little scenery porn, and some very good animation for the mecha. It conveys perfectly the difference between “normal”, somewhat plodding mecha units, and the unreal fluidity of the Argevollen.

Surprisingly for a XEBEC production, there’s no fanservice whatsoever. This is one of their more serious projects.

Overall Impression

Well, it’s nothing you haven’t seen before ; the characters are the usual archetypes of military fiction, and the politics are particularly hamfisted. There’s not a single plot development here that will surprise you.

But there’s nothing wrong with following a classic formula, especially as it’s mainly window dressing for the real star of the show : the mecha fights. They’re just a joy to watch, and worth seeing on their own.

I’m not sure whether I’m in for the long run, but this is a perfectly adequate starting point.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Summer 2014 – Page 2.

Glasslip

(13 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Well, it’s a PA Works original production, so it’s set in a small country town and features a group of high school students. Here, the hook is… glasswork ? Some kind of future sight ? Frankly, I’ve got no clue.

Characters

So, there’s this tight-knit group of friends :
– Touko, our ingenue protagonist, whose family works into making glass objects
– Yuki, the boy who seems to have a jealous crush on her, but does a decent job of hiding it until the episode’s end
– Hiro, the goofball
– Yanagi, the slightly “wilder” girl of the group
– Sachi, who seems to have a medical condition that prevents her from going out as much as she’d want, and sometimes takes her frustrations out on her friends

Most of the episode is spent on establishing the group’s dynamics, through a festival and then an epic quest to try raising chicken. Thrilling stuff.

And then there’s Kakeru, the new guy, who seems to have some sort of psychic link with Touko. They hit it off quickly ; her friends (especially Yuki and Sachi) are way less welcoming.

Production Values

This studio is known for their scenery porn and lavish animation, and this is no exception. There are some weird freeze-frame instants (with non-naturalistic colouring) to indicate that there’s something more going on, which is a nice effect.

Overall Impression

I went into this hoping to learn how you make an anime about glasswork. I come out none the wiser, baffled as to what this show’s premise actually is. This makes the choice of focusing on its characters first, which is a shame because none of them besides Sachi are particularly interesting ; you’ve seen all this before, and better done, including in other PA Works series.

I nearly fell asleep watching this. And what woke me up… was a cringeworthy surge of melodrama towards the end, including laughably overwhelming music. That’s not a good sign.

I’m giving it one more episode to convince me otherwise, but this looks like a dud.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Summer 2014 – Page 2.

Bakumatsu Rock

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

What. The. Heck. Is. This. Thing.

Okay, let’s start with facts. This adapts a PSP rhythm game. It’s nominally set in the Bakumatsu era (mid-19th century, at the transition between Edo & Meiji), but in practice it’s a gleeful anachronism stew. The plot involves the EVIL government enforcing a monopoly on music (only a few selected musicians/idols can play, and only the totally insipid J-Pop-ish “Heaven’s Song” repertoire), and a ragtag bunch of handsome rebels fighting back with the power of ROCK (also insipid J-Pop).

Characters

Ryouma is our red-headed, pointy-haired protagonist. He’s a moron who can barely scrape a living thanks to the generousity of a couple of friends (who do have proper jobs). Nobody cares about his “music”. He somehow was gifted a guitar by a mysterious “master”, and raising enough fuss in his inept attempts at gathering an audience that the authorities are starting to take notice. And because he’s the hero, his music gives him glamour superpowers at the end of the episodes, just in time for the insert song.

“Cindy” (who resents the girly nickname) and “Doc” (who can build stuff like samurai-detectors) are two disciples of the same mysterious master who are investigating the bozo wandering around cluelessly with their master’s guitar. Cue the usual misunderstandings, until Ryouma’s “charm” eventually wins them over.

The authorities are also handsome dudes, because of course they are. While the top echelons are obviously EVIL, several of the rank and file look well on their way to changing sides – they certainly seem to like this new ROCK thing.

There are some female characters around. Aside from that one friendly restaurant owner (who’s voiced by a guy), they’re all idiots, easily fooled by the government’s scheme.

Production Values

Together with Free!, this makes Wednesdays “fanservice for women” day, because there are sure a lot of handsome dudes on display here. And despite having way less excuses for taking their shirts off all the time, they do show off their abs a lot.

This is a shiny and day-glo production, because of course idols. I’m a bit wary about the CG animation for the song numbers ; not because it looks bad, but because the director is resorting to many editing tricks to use as little of it as possible, often using static shots instead. Are we already having budget problems ?

Overall Impression

Well, this is certainly a thing. It’s obviously a joke, and to its credit it commits all the way to it. The problem is that it’s more baffling than actually funny. It certainly isn’t helped by charisma-depleted main characters, and music that’s just bland J-Pop. And I’m certainly not part of the core audience.

As a rhythm game, I can see this being quite fun. As a full-blown anime series, it’s just a bit tedious. One episode was way enough for me.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Summer 2014.