Month: April 2015

#41 : Sci-Fi Harry

(20 episodes)

What’s it about ?

More paranoid sci-fi ! Adapted from a short 1995 manga series.

Characters

Harry, our title character, is a complete loser. The somewhat nerdy guy at the bottom of the feeding chain in American highschool. And it’s not like he has a winning personality to compensate ; he’s the shy dude in the corner who’s a smoldering little ball of resentment and anger.

Catherine, one of the popular girls, has caught his eye… not that he’d ever act on it. She’s way out of his league, with one of the jocks being her kinda boyfriend. What’s more intriguing is that she actually seems to have some interest in the geek (to the bemusement of her “friends”).

John, said boyfriend, seems to be a decent guy. He stops some of his teammates from beating Harry up after he messed up during basketball practice, and he’s genuinely worried for Catherine after a bunch of hoodlums steal his car (with her still waiting for him inside).

What saves her from being raped and murdered, though, is Harry stumbling on them… and having some emerging telekinetic powers he can’t really control. Harry is terrified by the state he leaves the assholes in ; Catherine is fascinated.

There’s no way this can end well.

Oh, and there’s a couple of cops investigating a number of bizarre murders in the neighbourhood that look suspiciously like Harry’s latest outburst. Wait, had Harry’s power incontinence already killed a few random people, or are there other people like him roaming around ? Neither option sounds good…

Production Values

Grey ! Brown ! Because we can’t do paranoid sci-fi without drowning in murk, right ?

Points for the character designer going out of their way to make everyone look American, though.

Overall Impression

How do you manage to make a 20-episode anime series out of a 1-volume manga ? By stretching it out a lot, apparently ; this is far for swiftly paced, and it looks like it’s only going to get worse from now on. Still, at least this allows the show to lay out the atmosphere very thick, and on that level it succeeds. This is creepy and unpleasant, as it should be.

I’m tentatively curious enough to continue watching at some point.

Source: [In Which I Review] Anime series from 2000 – Page 12

#40 : Argento Soma

(25 episodes + 1 OVA)

What’s it about ?

Hello again, Sunrise ! This time around we’re going for the “paranoid sci-fi thriller” brand of mecha.

Characters

Takuto, our protagonist, was an ordinary electronics college student until he tried investigating the disappearance of his girlfriend. Not that their relationship looks particularly great anyway from an outside point of view ; he feels a bit possessive and dismissive of her own aspirations. (Being voiced by Souichiro “K1” Hoshi doesn’t help.)

Maki, said girlfriend, already had made an habit of burying herself into work as the assistant to one of the professors. (Healthy relationship, I said !) As it turns out, she just accompanied him when he went to ground after his research became too hot. They did leave a trail on purpose for Takuto to follow, as they want him on board to complete their micro-team (as they’re bio-engineers).

Dr Noguchi is the kind of scientist who names his resurrected alien mecha “Frank” and shouts “It Lives !” during the reactivation process. (Points to Chafurin for hamming it up to hilarious levels.)

It won’t surprise anybody that the reactivation is a disaster, and Takuto is the lone survivor of this mess.

There’s a coda with a blonde girl finding Frank in the mountains, because obviously we’re not done with it.

Production Values

Perfectly okay ; again, you can’t go wrong with Sunrise doing mecha action.

Overall Impression

Well, this was certainly intriguing. It’s all well-trodden territory, but apparently we’re still early into the setup phase, as the synopsis I can find for the show hint towards something a bit more complex than what we’re seeing yet. Hopefully they’ll find a way to make Takuto compelling enough to carry the show now that the rest of the cast is dead.

What worries me a bit more is that this is a conspiracy show, and those tend to do badly with regards to delivering a satisfying ending. 25 episodes should give it enough rope, but I’m still a bit on the fence.

Source: [In Which I Review] Anime series from 2000 – Page 12