Jhiday – Page 24 – Blog@Jhiday.net

Aldnoah.Zero

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Gen Urobuchi writing more mecha anime !

And wow, this is a convoluted premise. It’s an alternate universe where the Appolo program went on to attempts to colonize Mars… Except they found “the Vers Empire” already there, remains of an old civilization with advanced technology ; they did not take kindly to the intruders. 15 years ago the conflict escalated to the Moon being partly destroyed (wreaking havoc on the surface), with Vers breaking their Hyper Gate (which allowed fast space travel) in exchange. It’s been a ceasefire by default since then.

Characters

Asseylum, the Vers princess, is an young idealist. Despite the objections of nearly everyone else in power in the empire, she’s decided to go on a diplomatic visit to Earth to try and broker peace. There are a lot of people in Vers who want her to fail, and for some Earth extremists to try something against her.

Slaine is an Earth-born orphan whom Asseylum rescued a few years ago and made her servant/friend/confident. Everyone else hates him, and she didn’t have enough pull to bring him with her. Basically, his life sucks.

Most of the episode is from the point of view of Inaho, an ordinary Japanese highschool student, and his circle of friends. While he’s about as blasé as them about the world’s terrible situation, at least he still pays attention to his surroundings. Also, “ordinary” highschool students now have to participate in drills, piloting mecha in preparation for the rebuilding of Earth’s armies after it got crippled.

Yuki (Inaho’s older sister) and Lt Marito are the soldiers supervising their training. Marito has turned to booze because of their task’s pointlessness. Not because it’s peacetime, but because he has no doubt Vers outclass anything Earth could drum up. He was on the frontlines back then, he knows the score.

There’s a bunch of Mysterious Terrorists who fire tons of missiles at Asseylum’s limo just as she’s passing by Inaho and his friends. And if you believe she’s truly dead, I have a bridge I can sell you.

Vers take the bait, though, and start attacking Earth, doing things like obliterating Manhattan. They don’t even have a cohesive plan of attack : the many houses of the Empire are competing for who gets to “win” first. It looks like they’re going to have more trouble with infighting than with Earth’s pitiful defenses.

Production Values

Fairly nice.

Overall Impression

Wow, exposition overload ! Sure, the premise’s not exactly simple, but boy is there a lot of information to pay attention to on display here. We get every infodump cliché in the book, from TV and radio broadcasts to the students studying their history course. I hope this was just a hurdle the first episode had to pass, and that we’re going to get more time for the characters from now on ; they had very little room to breathe here.

What the show does well, though, are the big action sequences, from the attack against the limo to the Vers attacking. That’s some very impactful massive damage, indeed. On the spectacle front, this doesn’t disappoint. I just hope there’s going to be enough substance to justify it.

Still, I’m hooked, unless the second episode turns out to be a massive disaster.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Summer 2014 – Page 3.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal

(26 episodes, fortnightly)

What’s it about ?

20 years (and change) later, a remake of Sailor Moon as an anime, Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood style.

For those who have been living under a rock, the 1992 series (and its continuations) was a gateway anime for many, and had a strong influence on the magical girl genre as a whole (kickstarting the transition from the “cute witch” subgenre to the now more prevalent “magical warrior” version). It took many liberties from the original manga, including a lot of padding to allow its source material to be produced. This is supposed to be much closer to the original, with some benefit of hindsight (as it left a lot of room for improvement).

Characters

Usagi, our book-dumb crybaby of a protagonist. But hey, she’s only in middle school ; she’s got time to grow out of it. Also, she’s got weird dreams of a moon princess or something.

Luna, a talking cat she stumbles on (litterally) on her way to school. Later on, she reveals Usagi has a destiny to battle evil and protect the princess ! Take this magical trinket, utter the bizarre Engrish catchphrase, and bam! you’re “Sailor Moon”. (Which is totally not copyright infringment on the “Sailor V” superheroine who’s been making the news lately.)

“Monster-bait” Naru is the one member of Usagi’s circle of friends who matters to the plot in this episode : her mother gets replaced by a creepy monster who takes over their jewelry store and uses the lure of insanely huge discounts to gather mindless drones. Our heroine, to the rescue !

Tuxedo Mask is a mysterious dude wearing a mask and a tuxedo who shows up during the battle and lends a hand when she’s in trouble. He’s apparently looking for the “Legendary Silver Crystal”, a macguffin the baddies also seem to be after. Oh, and he’s totally this tall, dark-haired dude Usagi bumped into as he was casing the joint. (Wearing a tuxedo !)

Four other Sailor soldiers are shown in the OP sequence, but only one of them barely makes a cameo at the very end of the episode.

Production Values

The artstyle takes a while to get used to ; it’s a weird mix of Naoko Takeuchi’s idiosyncratic style, more classic shoujo elements, and modern shading techniques. As a result, character designs appear very busy, but they still can move around not too stiffly. And more importantly, Usagi can still handle the broad physical comedy and weird faces the script throws at her, without looking out of place.

The backgrounds are beautiful, with similar watercolours to the original anime. The roses patterns showing up whenever Usagi pauses to introduce a new character are a bit clunky, though.

The OP song doesn’t quite work yet ; maybe it’ll grow on me. The ED song fits in much better.

Overall Impression

First, a disclaimer : I’m a hardcore fan of the franchise. I’m going to watch this to the end, regardless of actual quality.

What’s really striking about this first episode is that it’s not striking at all. Nothing here feels like a mission statement of its own identity. It follows the manga’s first chapter very closely, down to including nearly every original line of dialogue. Even when that’s obviously a terrible idea. (Why the heck is Mamoru wearing a tuxedo in broad daylight ?) And while no previous adaptation (either the first anime or the live-action series) messed with this first chapter much, that’s clearly not gonna fly in the long-term. If only because this is set to be 26 episodes long, and the manga barely has 14 chapters (and that’s including “Petite Etrangère”, most of which is devoted to setting up the second arc this series is explicity not covering). This series is going to have to stray a bit from the manga’s framework at some point, and the sooner the better. (After all, the manga’s breakneck pace obeyed more to real-life publishing constraints than to narrative necessity.)

There are a few early hints on how this is going to happen. The most obvious is the heavy emphasis on Usagi’s dreams of the princess, which are happening quite earlier this time around. But it’s going to take more episodes until we have a full picture.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Summer 2014 – Page 3.

Rail Wars!

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a light novel series about trains. (I’m slightly surprised there’s not more of these.) The “hook” is that this is an alternate reality where the Japanese National Railways were kept an united public agency, as opposed to the privatised mess of many companies it is currently.

Characters

Naoto, our generic protagonist, just enrolled into the JNR’s training program. For some reason this year every trainee has to go through the security division, but the script never bothers to explain why. Anyway, he’s your usual spineless male lead who keeps getting into compromising positions (yes, it’s that kind of show). The one thing he’s good at is strategizing and leading a small team.

Haruka, the trainee in dire need of a bra. His obvious love interest, and as such the victim of many panty shots. Shy and soft-spoken, she’s very good at memorizing all kinds of data, from schedules to technical specifications. Academically, she’s top of the class. Athletically, it’s another matter.

Shou, the perverted best friend, because you always need one. A bit dumb and something of a slacker, he compensates by being quite strong… except he’s entirely useless in the one chase scene because he has no sense of direction.

Aoi, the man-hater. The kind who wants to shoot all molesters. And she’s a pretty good shot. Takes an immediate dislike to Naoto, which makes one wonder why she stays in this trainee group. Well, aside from the fact that nobody else in this class besides the hardass instructor has a name, dialogue, or screentime.

The episode zooms past their training, from driving a steam train just because, to a way off-script arrest of purse-snatchers for their one day in the field.

Production Values

Crap. Generic character designs, ugly animation that makes all people look rubbery… it’s obvious all the budget went to the CG trains (which are okay). Also, heaps of fanservice.

The ending sequence’s quite catchy, though.

Overall Impression

I have nothing against the premise, but the show struggles to make it interesting. That it’s already resorting to terrible fanservice clichés that don’t do the characters any favours is a very bad sign. The writing is pretty bad across the board, and the dismal visuals don’t help.

Frankly, I have no patience for this kind of crap. Next show, please.

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

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.

Survival Game Club! (Sabagebu!)

(12ish episodes)

What’s it about ?

The title says it all, really ; it’s an adaptation of a comedy shoujo manga.

Characters

Momoka, our protagonist. She’s just transferred into a new girls-only high-school for the billionth time (because of her dad’s professional obligations), and she’s going through the motions yet again : act nice towards everybody and not make waves. That’s not her real personality (she’s cynical, impulsive and vindictive), but it’s less trouble that way. She certainly doesn’t want to make any actual friends or join a club, because what’s the point if she moves around again in a few months ? Unfortunately, she randomly stumble into…

Miou, the president of the Survival Game Club, who’s by all counts a complete lunatic. She rarely, if at all, bothers with her school uniform, and sometimes even comes to school in full tactical gear. How she gets away with such antics is a mystery, although it helps that most of the student body is madly admirative of her. Anyway, Momoka’s caught her eye, and she’s not about to let go.

Other members of the club include Boobs, who’s also a model on the side (and, er, that kind of model, it seems) ; the cute little girl who’s a bit too possessive of her childhood friend Miou ; and the monotone potted plant who’s in it for the cosplay aspect. I’m also not entirely sure whether the duck mascot is really sentient.

Production Values

It’s a bit hard to judge with NicoNico’s eyebleed-o-vision, but this is a bright and shiny series with distinctive character designs. Animation is average, but it’s good at selling the sight gags, and that’s what counts. The level of fanservice isn’t low, but not too cringeworthy either.

Overall Impression

You might remember last year’s C3-bu, which had a similar premise. Beyond the questionable decision to have the girls fight in school uniforms, it had them wear adequate protection and observe good gun safety. It pushed the realistic approach to have a lead with crushing co-dependency issues, and the havoc it wreaked on the group.

Here, the narrator goes out of his way to make it clear we won’t have any of that angst shit, and don’t care one bit about realism. It’s all about bringing the funny. The good news is that this is from the makers of the likes of Mitsudomoe and Love Lab (different studio, but same director and head writer), and they know about funny. If you enjoyed their madcap approach to comedy, and their precisely-paced slapstick, then you’re in luck, because that’s what they’re doing here too.

This made me laugh nonstop. Of course I’ll keep watching.

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

M3 : The Dark Metal (M3: Sono Kuroki Hagane)

(24 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Mecha fighting eldritch abominations.

Characters

The main “team” assembled in this episode feels so random that even the characters point it out. We have :
– Akashi, a sullen high school student, emotionally crippled by the death of his family a decade ago.
– Iwato, his easygoing best friend. Both of them are quite good at fighting with mecha. (Are those mecha classes ? a club ? It’s not quite clear.)
– Maamu, the creep in another class that keeps muttering exposition at herself, explaining in detail how everyone’s going to die because of the nasties running around, uhuhuh.
– Emiru, the over-eager temp-worker who wants to climb up the ladder. Anything’s better than cleaning toilets, and this is her one chance. Too bad she’s kinda crap at it. Also, the way she latches onto Akashi despite his complete lack of interest can’t be healthy.
– Raika, who used to be a properly licensed mecha worker (although not too good at it), and sees being sent back to training as a demotion.
– Three other members have yet to show up… Wait, there’s this Minashi guy who shows up out of nowhere in the middle of an unplanned op, and that’s totally not creepy.

It’s heavily implied they all were caught in the same creepy event as kids.

Their supervisors range from the utterly bored to the callous assholes.

The cosmology goes this way : there’s some sort of parallel dimension that keeps leaking into our world. It’s populated by crystals that eat the poor people who get trapped in there, and transform them into “Admonitions”, dangerous and nearly-indestructible mindless monsters. Which are then spouted back into our world where they wreak havoc. You’d think everyone would be terrified of the dark, but we’re way past this stage, and most people have just gotten used to it.

There are also “Corpses” ; the one we see looks like a ghost piloting an organic mecha. If you hear their song, it’s rumoured you die within 9 days.

The authorities plan to train the team so that they can explore the parallel dimension, which sounds like a great idea that can’t lead to any sort of disaster.

Production Values

This seems to have some budget, and it pays off in every level : the CG mecha move beautifully, the monsters are creepy, and there’s a dense atmosphere making any night scene menacing.

As a result, the light occasional fanservice is a bit jarring.

Overall Impression

This is the kind of show where you fully expect at least half the cast to be dead by the end of it. Unfortunately, you kind of want them to. Only Iwato’s kinda likeable, with all the other being various degrees of annoying. It doesn’t help that I can’t make head nor tails of Akashi’s flashback backstory, which makes it hard to relate to him.

Still, it’s certainly got some ambition ; I kinda want to give it some rope to see where it’s going. It’d better find its feet soon, though.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Spring 2014 – Page 8.