Jhiday – Page 43 – Blog@Jhiday.net

Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse

What’s it about ?

Okay, this is a strange one. Muv-Luv, as the name implies, started off as a generic dating-sim game, with an unlockable second storyline set in an alternate world where humanity uses mecha to fight off an alien invasion. Several sequels and spin-offs in other media later, we now have this anime : a straight “mecha vs. aliens” show with no dating-sim elements in sight anywhere.

Characters

Yui Takamura, our protagonist, is the daughter of one of the elite Japanese families in charge of Japan’s defense against the aliens ; so of course she goes to mecha pilot school. So far, she looks mostly personality-free, but then this first episode seemed much more interested in worldbuilding than characterization.

The only of her classmates to get any actual focus is the broody rival-type that I can’t remember the name of, and can’t find on any cast list. Between this, the fact that her rivalry with Yui seems resolved at breakneck speed within minutes of its introduction, and the general contempt of the hardened soldiers against those teenage rookie pilots, I get the horrible feeling that most of them are going to die next episode to free Yui up so that she can interact with the characters who actually are on the cast listings (and have yet to make any appearance).

Did I mention that the whole class of mecha pilots is female ? This, together from the skintight plugsuits, seems to be the only trace left of the franchise’s origins so far.

Production Values

Quite good ; it’s got enough budget to make the mecha battles look good, and the aliens a credible threat.

Overall Impression

There’s no way a mecha show should be this boring, but it is. Maybe because it’s far too concerned with setting up its world to bother with any actual characters, and thus leaves us with nobody to root for. It doesn’t help that a lot of the plot feels recycled from other (better) sources, and the show does nothing to breathe any life into the stock elements.

I’m giving this one more episode to change my mind, but I’m not hopeful.

via [In which I review] New anime, Summer 2012 – Page 7.

Tari Tari

(13 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Slice-of-life high-school series.

Characters

Miyamoto, clumsy and awkward long-time member of the Choir club, who has been clearly told by the club advisor there’s no way she’s performing at the next festival after the fracas she caused during the last one. So she’s going to start her own Choir club ~~with blackjack, and hookers~~. She just needs 4 more members… (And another advisor. And to somehow get through the paperwork and the bureaucracy.)

Okita, her upper-class best friend, is the obvious choice. Never mind that she’s busy with the archery club and has little regard for her own singing voice.

Sakai, the brooding loner who transferred in recently, is suggested by their homeroom teacher so that she can open up a bit. Not that she’s enthusiastic about the prospect.

I’ve got no clue why Tanaka, the lone member of the Badminton club, would want to join, but he’s bound to at some point given all the focus on him this episode. Ditto for the brand new transfer student from Austria, who learned everything about Japan from books.

Production Values

Gorgeous, with impressive scenery porn, detailed background work and expressive body language animation. (Remember Hanasaku Iroha ? Same studio.)

Overall Impression

On the one hand, it’s nice to see PA Works going back to basics after the disastrous experiment that was Another. Slice-of-life is what they’re good at. But on the other hand, this is a really generic slice-of-life high-school story that only the quality of the execution makes rise above the crop. It’s perfectly pleasant and grows on you after a while, but hardly outstanding.

But hey, this isn’t the right season to be picky ; I’ll take it.

via [In which I review] New anime, Summer 2012 – Page 7.

Humanity Has Declined (Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita)

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

The most cheerful post-apocalyptic series you’ll ever watch.

Characters

Our unnamed protagonist lives in a small rural village as a mediator to the fairies, on behalf of the UN. This basically makes her in charge of the female population here, mostly by virtue of having a clue and not being afraid of abusing her authority.

She lives with her grampa, a scientist also studying the fairies. And he’s very obviously calling the shots in the village, for about the same reasons.

The locals seem to suffer from a severe case of the stupids, and are barely able to function anymore. It’s funny until starvation because of their own incompetence becomes a plot point.

Fortunately there’s the fairies… and whoever’s running the mysterious FairyCo that’s been dropping free (awful-tasting) food recently.

Production Values

Well, that’s a good way to make a post-apocalyptic setting very creepy indeed : over-saturated bright colours everywhere, and the more pink the better. And that’s before the headless chicken start showing up, or the action moves to the utterly absurd FairyCo factory.

Overall Impression

Warning : this show doesn’t bother to explain anything about its setting : why has humanity declined ? Is this village typical of the world ? What state is the UN in ? (Our protagonists don’t seem to have access to any technology or outside help.) What’s with the fairies ? Indeed, it seems to revel in the explosive decompression of throwing the viewer into this strange land, even spending a lot of time on pointing out that our heroine just had her hair cut for undisclosed reasons and not being comfortable with it : is there any significance to it ?

Fortunately, we have a strongly-defined central character to latch onto, with enough shrewdness and cynicism to compensate for the braindead villagers. What prevents her from being obnoxious is that she doesn’t really get away with it, thanks to her grandfather’s vigilance.

But what really sets this series apart is the sharp contrast between the sugar-coated presentation and the very black humour at its core (the bleeding bread scene in particular has perfect comedic timing). There’s also a strong sense that it knows exactly where it’s going and the haphazard pacing is deliberate.

Somehow, this looks like one of the most original and refreshing shows of the summer. (Yes, more than that one with the talking yeast.) Very worth checking out.

via [In which I review] New anime, Summer 2012 – Page 6.

La Storia Della Arcana Famiglia

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

The super-powered henchmen of a mafia family having a contest to see who gets to be the new head and marry his daughter… you’ve guessed it : it’s a male-harem shoujo action-romance.

Characters

Felicita, the daughter, at least seems to have a personality (and combat skills), and obviously doesn’t like this “marrying her off to the winner” idea one bit. But hey, she can participate too !

Liberta, the Fool (they all have powers patterned after tarot cards). He’s our “sympathetic” male lead, although mostly he’s a moron with no impulse control. It takes all of Jun Fukuyama’s natural charm to make him not too punchable.

Nova, his natural rival, straight-arrow and humourless. Well, at least he agrees with Liberta and agrees not to marry Felicita if he manages to win.

We get a bit of insight into some of the other guys too : the big bald right-hand man who uses a bazooka as a weapon of choice, the quirky epicurian, the hopeless guy who was in charge of raising Felicita, the smug asshole in sunglasses who’s sure to win if he takes the contest seriously…

And of course there’s “Papa”, a strong contender for the “Father of the Year” award. (Bonus points for being voiced by Fuhimiko Tachiki.) I half-suspect the whole thing is a setup to toughen Felicita up so that she can take over the clan, but I may be giving him too much credit.

Production Values

About okay, with fluid fight scenes (this is JC Staff, after all).

Overall Impression

This is slightly better than I expected. The action prologue suffers a bit by trying to introduce nine major characters in way too small an amount of time, but it flows more naturally later on. Similarly, the exposition about everyone’s power starts clunky and gets a bit better as it goes.

But the most interesting point here is that the show seems intent in portraying Felicita as a character of her own, and not just a stand-in for the female viewer. The narrative has her on an equal footing with the dudes, and I really hope this will keep.

… And then the next-episode-preview had to ruin it all by promising pulse-pounding “our three leads searching for a cat” action. WTF ? We don’t need a breather episode already, and this doesn’t bode well.

via [In which I review] New anime, Summer 2012 – Page 5.

Campione!

(12ish episodes ?)

What’s it about ?

Magical battles set in Italy, with just a hint of romantic comedy.

Characters

Godou, our generic Japanese male lead. He was sent in Italy to deliver a package by his grandfather (who turns out to be a vey powerful mage who really got around). He randomly crashes into…

Erica, who for some reason walks around in a ludicrous “period” red dress. (Even curiouser : for magical battles she switches into something more comfortable and decent.) She’s a witch (with battle maid in tow) who immediately takes an interest in the package, apparently a super-powerful artefact that can steal gods’ powers. Which is handy, considering how there are more than a few roaming around.

Verethragna, a super-powerful and super-arrogant kid who’s so powerful he’s going around challenging other gods because he’s curious what defeat feels like (so far, no luck).

… And that’s how, by the end of the episode, Godou acquires god-level power. (That’s not a spoiler, his inner monologue states it at the very beginning.)

Production Values

I watched the eyebleed-o-vision streaming pre-air version of the episode, so it’s a bit hard to judge, but the magical battles feel very generic and uninspired.

Overall Impression

The obvious comparison here is with Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou, and that’s not exactly to this show’s advantage ; the characters feel very generic (Erica in particular alternates between stale charmless antics and exposition mouthpiece), the plot hangs on some very big coincidences and doesn’t flow too well (special points to the first magical battle just stopping off-screen for no obvious reason), and the worldbuilding feels quite by-the-numbers.

(Also, I can’t take Fuhimiko Tachiki’s narration seriously when he uses the same boisterous tone as for Katte ni Kaizou, which was a clear parody of this sort of thing.)

You never know, this might develop some charm later on, but it hardly looks promising so far. I’m not even sure I’ll bother with a second episode.

via [In which I review] New anime, Summer 2012 – Page 4.

Le Portrait de Petite Cossette (Cossette no Shouzou)

(3 36-minute episodes, 2004)

My previous exposure

After the success of Bakemonogatari and Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Akiyuki Shinbo barely needs any introduction, and his name should be reason enough to revisit his earlier works. Especially after stumbling onto The Soultaker last year in my half-joke “Spring 2001 in review”, which showed that his directing skills were already impressive more than a decade ago.

I’ve had mixed luck with Shinbo’s back catalog in the past (Soultaker was impressive, Negima!? okay, but I couldn’t get through more than a few episodes of Pani Poni Dash and Hidamari Sketch), but this is a short OVA series, so why not try it out ?

What’s it about ?

Our generic male protagonist mans his uncle’s antique shop while the latter gallivants the world. One day, he stumbles in his inventory onto a cupboard hiding the portrait of a girl. Also, one of the glasses inside allows him to see the image of said girl… and to talk with her.

From that point starts a very creepy relationship, to the increasing concern of his few friends and the local psychic. And that’s before the bodies start piling in.

What did I think of it ?

With the routine use of peculiar angles, the thoughtful composition of every shot, and the use of editing as punctuation, there’s an hypnotic quality to Shinbo’s directing… and by this I mean it often makes me drowse and lose focus if I’m not quite hooked by the story. In his good series, there’s usually a sudden jolt in the plot that forces me to pay attention (Bakemonogatari‘s sudden child abuse flashback, Soultaker‘s descent into insanity, Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei‘s social commentary, everything in PMMM). Here, it’s the twist about the portrait… but that’s in the third episode. So I’m left with two episodes of creepy atmosphere that I couldn’t make much emotional attachment to, and a very good ending that puts a completely different spin on the previous happenings but still makes perfect sense.

So I’m a bit conflicted about this one. The ending was very good indeed, and Shinbo’s craft shines throughout, but I can’t ignore I couldn’t quite care about the first two-thirds of it.

via [LTTP/WIW] Various anime from the 00s and beyond – Page 13.

Kingdom

(38 episodes)

What’s it about ?

War epic set in medieval China.

The first episode is double-sized, which I didn’t initially notice until the second commercial break.

Characters

Xin, an 10-year-old war orphan who’s housed by the village’s mayor. They don’t treat him well, but then again he’s an annoying little jerk with anger issues. (I’m not sure that scene when he demolishes a wall out of frustration is intentionally funny.)

Piao, his BFF who’s in the same situation but gets better treatment because he’s, you know, not an jerk. The guy has some genuine charisma, so of course he can’t survive the first episode’s halfway point.

The plot here is that a random noble dude shows up one day to pick Piao to serve at the Court. Months later, Piao comes back heavily wounded to the village and dies without having had time to explain what the heck is happening. Xin obviously declares vengeance and starts following the map Piao gave him.

The baddies are headed by the King’s younger brother, a classist asshole who has a total innocent executed just to make a point. He’s making a power play, and somehow this led to Piao’s demise. (The first episode doesn’t explain how or why, although the ending cliffhanger gives a good hint.)

Production Values

This seems to be fully CG-animated, with copious amounts of cell-shading to give it a more traditional anime look. The big problem is that the body language very often lurches into uncanny valley territory, as the characters are animated to move in really unnatural ways.

It doesn’t help that the direction is mind-bogglingly incompetent. Remember when I reviewed 2001’s Run=Dim last year ? Well, this falls into the same trap : yes, CG graphics allow the camera to pan over or around the action without losing quality ; but this isn’t a good reason to show it off at every opportunity, especially when this effect actually often hinders the storytelling of the shot.

And then there’s the continuity issues. It’s most hilarious in the early duel scene between the two kids, where the grass grows from merely a texture laid on flat terrain to knee-deep over a few shots.

Overall Impression

Okay, let’s leave aside for a moment the terrible graphics and the laughably inept direction. There’s no helping that the story just isn’t very good by itself, with an annoying brainless protagonist, EEEEVIL villains who can’t even chew the scenery properly, and a general level of unpleasantness that’s just tiring to watch. (Did that guy really need to sword that kid through the balls ?)

Even for the trainwreck factor this isn’t worth 45 minutes of your time.

via [In which I review] New anime, Summer 2012.

Moyashimon (“Yeast Monsters”)

(11 episodes, 2007)

My previous exposure

There’s a sequel airing this Summer, and since it’s on noitaminA it’d have gotten on my radar sooner rather than later anyway.

Beyond that and the notion that it’s about cute microbes or something, I knew nothing of it.

What’s it about ?

Sawaki, our protagonist, is a new student attending an agriculture university. He can see microbes (bacteria, fungi, viruses, the whole lot of them), not as what they look like under a microscope, but as cute inch-tall little critters. He’s not too fond of this talent of his, and tends to keep it secret, but it turns out to be quite useful in the world of agriculture (both with the “good” fermenting microbes, and the “bad” toxic microbes).

But this is mostly a background thread, as the core of the series is a slice-of-life story involving the ensemble cast of Sawaki, his best friend Yuuki, Pr Itsuki (an ineffable microbe specialist who takes them under his wing), angry grad-student Hasegawa, never-do-well second-years Kawahama & Misato, and various over recurring characters.

What did I think of it ?

I didn’t expect this at at all. Sure, it’s very educative about how microbes are SERIOUS BUSINESS in agriculture, and the quirky “Sawaki-vision” does a lot to liven up all this exposition… but mostly it’s just a really good college slice-of-life series. Heck, the high point of the series is that hilarious two-parter with the survival challenge, and that had nothing to do with microbes.

This was well worth watching, and I can hardly wait for the second season.

via [LTTP/WIW] Various anime from the 00s and beyond – Page 13.

2011 Young Animator Training Project

Hey, remember the Young Animator Training Project ? Basically, it’s the Japanese government funding the training of a new animators over a set of 4 one-shot episodes ; the 2010 edition was apparently a good enough experiment for it to be renewed in 2011 ; the 4 new episodes aired in March and are now slowly trickling down through the usual channels.

The first one, Buta, was mostly forgettable. Anthropomorphized-pig samurai in a very generic story that’s perfectly decent but fails to bring anything fresh to the table. Perfectly skippable.

The second one, Wasurenagumo, on the other hand, is a completely different matter. It’s yet another take on the “cute eldritch abomination” meme that’s been going strong recently with the likes of Nyarko-san, but way better at striking the right balance between charming and –ing creepy. It’s a very effective tale, this, and especially well served by direction and animation that sells the big moments perfectly.

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2012 – Page 21.

Spring 2012 capsules

Naruto SD – Rock Lee & His Ninja Friends was better than I expected. It’s thoroughly accessible, providing enough exposition about the setting (“teams of apprentice ninjas get various tasks to perform as part of their training”), the main character’ shtick (“Rock Lee is an apprentice ninja who can’t do any ninjutsu”) or whatever guest star happens to be passing (such as what Naruto can do). For someone like me who barely knows anything about the Naruto universe, this was very welcome.

Now, is this actually worth watching ? Let’s not get carried away. It’s mildly funny, but some of the running gags were getting tired even before the end of the second of the two skits in this episode. (Even Tenten herself is getting bored of always going “there’s no way anyone’s going to fall for Lee’s incredibly stupid plan… wait, it worked ?”) Also, the first skit relies heavily on poo jokes.

One episode was enough for me.

I was pleasantly surprised by Here Comes the Black Witch! (Kuromajo-san ga Toru!!). I’m not a big fan of anime in short formats, but this is a longer one (7 minutes), and properly paced for it. The premise is simple enough (middle-school occult fangirl invokes a demon by mistake, who’s going to teach her how to become a Witch whether she wants it or not), but it manages to get some good jokes out of it (our heroine MUST clean her room everyday… because leaving any hair or skin behind makes malicious voodoo body control possible).

This looks like a fun little gag show (and it’s not like this season promises many of these). I’m willing to give it at least a few more episodes to see whether it stays funny.

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2012 – Page 5.

Some thoughts on more short series I won’t be making full reviews of :

Gakkatsu (“Homeroom”) is very bizarre indeed. The abrasive class rep organizes a debate about some inane topic (today : “what’s the name of that bump on your arm that’s equivalent to the ankle ?”), except she discards any argument she doesn’t like. It’s rapid-fire comedy building to an utterly stupid conclusion, but I’m not sure I actually find it funny. I’ll need a couple more episodes to decide.

Yurumates 3Dei has no 3D whatsoever, it’s just that there were two OVAs before this series ; fortunately, this looks like a fresh start. Unfortunately, this takes most of its three minutes to establish the premise (a condo house in the suburbs of Tokyo where former high school students go to prepare another go at college entrance exams ; there’sno privacy whatsoever and the place looks a bit run-down) and the characters don’t get much depth. I was vaguely interested in the subject matter, but it doesn’t look like it’ll be going anywhere interesting (and even Acchi Kocchi looks more satisfying as far as 4-panel gag manga adaptations go).

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2012 – Page 6.

Sequel watch !

As it turns out, I won’t be making a full review of Saki: Achiga-hen – Episode of Side-A. It’s more of the same from the original : cute girls with little personality playing mahjong as though it was calvinball. It makes a stab at building drama around the formation of an underdog club, but it falls flat due to the dullness of the writing. And that’s when it doesn’t just go for utter stupidity (actual dialogue : “wait, you’ve been cleaning this unused club room alone for two years on the vague hope we’d come back ?”). Also, given Saki‘s sluggish pace, I really doubt these people can get to the national level within 12 episodes.

Fate / Zero is back after three months’ break, and jumps straight back to where it left. Frankly, there’s no point in starting watching it now, you’ll want the 13 episodes of setup to have a hope in figuring out what’s going on.

Phi Brain S2 didn’t even take a week’s break, but it does go out of its way to reintroduce the supporting cast, the premise and the first season’s relevant events so that it can be a good jumping on point. Since the evil POG organization has been comprehensively dismantled by now, we’re getting a new set of villains to challenge the cast with more stupidly dangerous puzzles. Since they’re already more personality and charisma (hello, Hiroshi Kamiya and Tomokazu Sugita !) than the POG, I’m not complaining. This looks as fun as ever, so I’m in for the ride.

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2012 – Page 7.

Okay, I’ll be using my “no reviews of sequels” escape clause and skip writing a full review of Eureka Seven Ao. Not because I was lost or anything (I didn’t see the original, but that’s no obstacle to understanding the gist of the plot here), but because the first episode bored me to sleep. Neither the flat characters, nor the rather generic events happening to them gave me any reason to care. Sure, it looks good, but I just found it very dull, and thus can’t summon any energy to cover it in any more detail.

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2012 – Page 10.