2000 – Page 3 – Blog@Jhiday.net

#27 : NieA_7 (NieA under 7)

(13 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a doujinshi manga by Yoshitoshi ABe (Serial Experiment Lain, Haibane Renmei). It seems a lot of the Lain staff worked on this to cool off.

Characters

Mayuko, our protagonist, is a teenager who can barely make ends meet. She lives in the attic of a bath-house she works a bit at to pay the rent. She’ll spend much time and effort looking for discounted food. And that’s why she’s more than a bit annoyed by the antics of…

NieA, the freeloading alien who lives in her closet. (Aside from the pointy ears, she’s mostly humanoid.) She’s one of the many aliens whose mothership crashed on Earth some years ago ; most of which are now living in ghettos. Obviously they have no clue of how to get home, although NieA is technically proficient enough to scrounge together a working small flying saucer out of scraps… It’s just too bad it needs to be connected to a ground line for power.

Chiaki, a classmate of Mayuko’s. Now, the latter’s not big on socializing (even having a drink is a luxury she can’t afford), but Chiaki is persistent enough not to care. She’s an UFO nerd who’s delighted to learn about NieA.

Production Values

Despite being subtitled “domestic poor @nimation”, this looks great ; tons of little details in the animation and the background that makes everyone look like real people. Yes, even the aliens.

Overall Impression

This is a great little show. It’s clearly a blatant metaphor for “immigrants are just people, too !”, but there’s nothing wrong with carrying a strong positive message. Especially when the series is built on fun characters whose hijinks have great comedic timing.

This is every bit as good as I was hoping for given its pedigree, and I’m definitely planning on watching it in full soon.

Source: [In Which I Review] Anime series from 2000 – Page 7

#26 : Ceres – Celestial Legend (Ayashi no Ceres)

(24 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of an urban fantasy manga series, by the creator of Fushigi Yuugi.

Characters

Do you know of the tale of Ceres, the angel who got captured by some guy and was forced to marry him ? How romantic ! And totally the kind of story you tell a girl when she’s just a toddler.

Aya, our protagonist, still starts off as a perfectly normal high school girl. She’s got generic friends, goes to karaoke, and so on. Sure, a kooky old fortune teller predicts her doom and she’s been having creepy dreams, but that’s teenage life, right ?

Aki, her twin brother. They bicker quite a bit, but it’s clear they do care for each other.

There’s a mysterious dude who miraculously saves her from being run down by a car after falling from an overpass. And of course by the time she finds her wits to thank him, he’s already disappeared.

Then, on their 16th birthday, Aya & Aki are suddenly brought to a huge family gathering. Every single distant uncle and aunt is there, looking grim and saying nothing. It’s more than a bit spooky, and looks more like a cult than a birthday celebration. A box is given to them… and suddenly Aya gets shivers and just can’t open it. Aki opens it in her stead… it’s some mummified hand that explodes and shlashes him, drawing blood.

Gramps announces that AKI is thus the True Chosen Heir of Ceres, and the now useless Aya must die.

… Okay, I did not see this twist coming.

Production Values

Oh, hello again, studio Pierrot ! I see you’re still having trouble putting any actual animation in your shows.

… Which is a shame, since there’s some actual directing skill at work here, trying its best to extract tense and moody atmosphere out of a lacking budget.

(Also, no fanservice worth mentioning.)

Overall Impression

Hmm. The crappy animation is very distracting indeed. On the other hand, I’m quite intrigued by the premise, and the seemingly effortless way the show quickly builds up an oppressive and eery mood. As such, I’m curious on where this is going.

I’m a bit on the fence here ; I guess a lot depends on whether the anime got a proper ending resolving the plot. There’s a decent chance of that (it started to air just after the manga concluded), but I wouldn’t be averse to some confirmation.

Source: [In Which I Review] Anime series from 2000 – Page 6

#25 : Love Hina

(24 episodes + various OVAs & specials)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of one of the now “classic” harem romantic comedy manga series.

Characters

Keitarou, our hapless protagonist, has yet to enter college despite turning 20. Part of the problem is that he’s applying to the prestigious Tokyo university that’s way beyond his reach. This is because he’s trying to be faithful to a promise he made with a girl as a kid, and this is the place they’re supposed to meet again. (His parents wish he would wise up.)

The plot kicks off when his grandma decides to stop running her lodging house, and brings him in as a replacement. The current tenants aren’t too pleased (especially with the tons of ridiculous misunderstandings before he can even introduce himself), but eventually give him a chance. They are :
– Naru, clearly our lead romantic contender, and already displaying plenty of tsundere chemistry with him. Also trying to enter the same university, except she’s actually good enough to have a good chance at it. (Odds of her being the childhood friend : very high.)
– Mitsune, the one obsessed with money ; her interest perked up when, like everyone else but Naru, she mistakenly understands that Keitarou is already in that university and on the fast track to a successful life.
– Motoko, the tall taciturn beauty with tons of fangirls.
– Kaolla, the weird little tanned blonde who just does random stuff.

As explained by Haruka, his aunt who barely has time to give a bit of a helping hand, there’s little choice here : either the tenants reluctantly accept a male manager, or there’s just nobody left to run the place and it just closes down.

Shinobu, a “normal” girl Keitarou runs into in the neighbourhood. Presumably she joins the regular cast later on.

Production Values

Decent enough. There’s a weird ethereal atmosphere throughout, as not only does Keitarou keeps daydreaming all the time, but also for some reason the town keeps being shrouded in fog, with weird old dudes being a bit creepy.

As the lodging house includes a hot springs, expect a good amount of fanservice.

Overall Impression

Well, this was pleasant enough. All of the basic elements have been done dozens of time, but there’s nothing wrong with using them, provided it’s done properly and with enough energy. And that’s the case here ; I was reasonably entertained.

And hey : it’s Love Hina ; it’s the kind of show so famous I feel like I should have seen them already. And this first episode was okay enough for me to have no qualms with finally getting on that sometimes in the next few months.

Source: [In Which I Review] Anime series from 2000 – Page 5

#24 : Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters

(224 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of that shonen manga featuring a children’s card game… Wait, no. Initially, the manga featured a variety of games, and the 1998 anime series reflected that ; it’s only later on that the “Duel Monsters” cardgame took center stage, and this sequel increased that emphasis even more.

I’m breaking my rule on sequels to give this one a full review, due to its cultural relevance. I mean, I’ve seen enough parody abridged versions of this that it would be silly not to try and have a proper look at it.

Characters

Yugi, our kid protagonist with absurd hair, is really fond of this Duel Monsters cardgame ; it helps that his grampa runs a shop selling it and gave him some rather rare cards. There’s no explanation whatsoever for why Yugi gets a transformation sequence that makes him look much meaner and kick more ass at the game halfway through. Or why he’s got this Mind Crush psychic attack to deal with villains once he’s won against them.

He has a few friends : Jonouchi, who is at least shown playing the game early on (although after that he does nothing but cheer on Yugi) ; Honda, who contributes nothing ; and Anzu, who as a girl gets to make a speech about friendship.

Seto Kaiba, one of their classmates, is definitely Not A Friend : he wants to steal and destroy Yuki’s grampa’s super-super-rare card so that himself will be the only player to own any. Also, he owns a massive corporation that gives him access to goons to back him up, and he’s a technological genius who’s designed a holographic system that makes card battles slightly less boring to watch.

For someone who initially looks like a major deal, Kaiba is defeated quite early on ; a new villain with a fancy monocle makes a cameo at the end.

Production Values

Okay-ish, I guess ; the soundtrack makes a game attempts at instilling a bit of atmosphere and tension early on, but nothing can make the card battles entertaining once they’ve started.

Overall Impression

So, yeah. There’s no getting around the fact that Duel Monsters is a very boring game, especially as the rules had yet to be solidified and balanced by any kind of physical release ; it’s basically a very boring game of ~~Kamoulox~~ Calvinball where each turn is basically “see the new attack I’m pulling out of my ass damaging you !” It’s immediately tedious, and a chore to watch.

What’s more striking is the total absence of any explanation of Yugi’s status quo. I know it because of popculture osmosis (and having watched a good chunk of Abridged Series), but you’d think re-establishing the “possessed by a Pharaoh’s spirit” setup would have been a priority for this sequel. Ahah, no, the new viewer is left without any clue to this stuff, aside from Yugi’s bizarre super-powers. That’s a puzzling exposition failure.

Since watching paint dry is more entertaining than any Duel Monsters match, I think I’ll keep to the Abridged Series, thank you.

Source: [In Which I Review] Anime series from 2000 – Page 5

#20 : Boys Be…

(13 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a shonen romance manga series… Actually, there seems to have been several iterations of the manga, with the TV series picking and choosing characters and storylines as it saw fit.

Characters

Kyoichi, our male lead, is a high school student with a distinct inferiority complex over his unfitness and “unmanly” hobbies (such as his painting). It doesn’t really help that his hormones are kicking in and making him notice…

Chiharu, his childhood friend, who has grown into an attractive, if athletic and tomboyish girl. Kyoichi thinks he doesn’t stand a chance, especially after her senior in the track team makes his confession. In any event, he’s going to keep quiet about his own feelings. And if this description seems like it’s all about him… well, yeah. We never get into her head, although there are signs she might not be as unreceptive as he thinks she is, and is also trying to test the waters.

Makoto, his lecherous “friend”, who makes a point of mining data about all the girls in school… aside from Chiharu, because he doesn’t do tomboys. He’s a slimy worm and proud of it, and happy to share his knowledge with his pals. (Who look more embarrassed than pleased by his “help”.)

Yoshihiko, the third member of this circle of friends, is a quiet dude who doesn’t leave much of an impression yet.

It seems the series is going for an ensemble/anthology format, as next episode seems to be about Makoto rather than Kyoichi/Chiharu.

Production Values

Quite nice looking indeed ; the characters can act and convey more than they say through their body language.

Due to the content, there’s quite a lot of male gaze in the camera work whenever we’re put in Kyoichi’s position, but it’s more in the angles than actually showing anything. Which is why the eyecatches with live-action ass shots are especially puzzling.

Overall Impression

Let’s be clear : this is a boys’ club series. It shows in detail how teenage boys see girls, with no room for the latter’s experiences. But once that is said, there’s a certain purity to this approach, and it’s not like the script can’t do nuance. The boys clearly have very different outlooks on the subject ; there’s enough variation here to offer proper depth and character development. (And there’s always the possibility of future episodes showing a female point-of-view, although I’m not holding my breath.)

And you know, it’s almost refreshing to see a anime romance show where teenagers’ lewd thoughts are front and center, instead of being shoved aside for their base unseemliness. It’s certainly enjoyable enough to watch, and I’m putting it onto the “to see later” list.

Source: [In Which I Review] Anime series from 2000 – Page 5

#19 : Sakura Wars (Sakura Taisen)

(25 episodes + tons of OAV spin-offs)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of (a series of) videogames, part tactical-RPG, part dating sim. It’s set in an alternate version of 1920s Japan that has gone in a decidedly steampunk route.

Characters

Sakura, our protagonist, is a country bumpkin and a new recruit to the Imperial Floral Division, part of the forces defending the capital against… some offscreen “evil” forces we have no real exposure to yet. Sure, she’s clumsy and has trouble following instructions, but she compensates it with overenthusiasm (which often gets her into more trouble). But she’s completely nonplussed when she arrives at the rendezvous point : why do headquarters look like a theatre ? Why are her new teammates performing a play ? (That she proceeds to make a mess out of, of course.)

Said teammates :
– Maria, the taciturn one who thinks the newbie won’t cut it and thus won’t bother talking to her
– Iris, the creepy kid who talks to her teddybear
– Sumire, the “star” who takes personal offense at Sakura’s bumbling (which gets worse as she tries to apologize)
aren’t very welcoming, to be polite. While they may be overreacting, you can see their points.

The brass, on the other hand, are delighted by Sakura’s arrival. Sure, there might be some initial problems, but she’s from a famous and powerful lineage, we need her… Oh dear gods her aura’s so powerful it made the mecha in the basement randomly activate, traumatizing her. (And of course it’s Sumire‘s mecha that gets trashed.)

I think there are more members due to join the team soon, given the OP & ED sequences.

Production Values

This looks quite good indeed : nice animation, and lots of attention to detail to sketch out this past Tokyo with some good verisimilitude.

Overall Impression

Well, I didn’t expect this : a non-standard setting, with a very weird setup that leaves me more intrigued than frustrated by the lack of explanation for it. The characters are sketched enough not to be annoying, and it does have the budget to support its ambition.

I want to know what’s going on here, and to watch more of this. Mission accomplished, then : I’ll pretty sure I’ll come back to this series later this year.

Source: [In Which I Review] Anime series from 2000 – Page 4

#18 : Transformers: Robots in Disguise (Transformers: Car Robots)

(39 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Do I really need to give an overview of the Transformers franchise ?

As far as this series goes, it’s a complete re-imagining of the concept, divorced from any of the previous animated series ; it got retooled a bit for the US broadcast in 2001. And that is what I’m watching, as I couldn’t find the version that went on Japanese airwaves.

Characters

Megatron, leader of the Predacons (no, not the Decepticons) is an EVIL tyrant from space who wants to conquer Earth and drain its energy. Oh, and he’s a transforming machine, of course.

Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots, is here to show that not all transforming machines are evil ! They’ll fight Megatron and his henchmachines ! (The fact that not only have they infiltrated Earth, disguised as common vehicles, but also set up a secret network of tunnels that allow them to go anywhere in the world, is not creepy at all.)

Dr Onishi is the leading human authority on energy (and archaeology, because one needs hobby) ; he attends some world conference in the US and gets targeted by Megatron. Being a good man, he refuses to cooperate.

Koji, his son, is obviously distressed seeing his dad being captured on live TV. (Er, why are you calling his cell ? And how the heck is he answering ? Is Megatron patiently waiting while the professor takes the call ?) I have no clue why Megatron goes to the trouble of retrieving the kid in Japan and bringing him to the attack’s location, as he’s worse than useless.

Production Values

Decent enough ; I presume the weird background music and the clunky CG transitions were added for the US version, as they don’t fit well.

Overall Impression

… Why does the English dub sounds like it’s voiced by LittleKuriboh ?

Seriously, this is full of terrible acting, always on the verge of underlining on the plot holes, but not enough for it to feel deliberate. And dear gods, are there many plot holes indeed ; it’s hard to take what’s happening seriously.

I have better things to do than spend hours mock-watching this crap, however unintentionally hilarious it might be.

Source: [In Which I Review] Anime series from 2000 – Page 4

#17 : Kaitō Kiramekiman

(26 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Okay, this is a weird one. In the 70s & 80s, Tatsunoko Productions produced a bunch of anime shows collectively known as “the Time Bokkan series” (named after the first of them) ; the most well-known is probably Yatterman, the second one, which is getting a modern remake this year for the 40th anniversary of the franchise, starting… today. (Serendipity !)

None of those shows seem to have much in common plot-wise, aside from having a trio of villains with similar character designs, and being a variation of sentai. This one, 8th in the series (and produced more than a decade after the 7th), goes for a sentai/gentleman thief mash-up.

Characters

Kaitō Kiramekiman are actually a team of two people :
– #1 is actually Lip, daughter of an unaware police chief, and looks like the one in charge
– #2 is Paf, the… manservant at her house ? It’s not clear, but he does stuff like driving her around and repairing the car. He’s the one handling the technical preparation of their heists, including their giant (and sentient) cat mecha.
From the best I can gather, they’re not really bad guys, they’re just looking for some magic stones, and the heists are a cover to appropriate them. If they got it wrong, they’ll just give the precious stones back to the police down the line (and offscreen).

But much of the screentime is devoted to a trio of inept cops, trying to catch the thieves to better their own reputation. Given that nobody takes them seriously and they’re bumbling fools, you can easily see why. They’re :
– a superficial blonde woman who bosses the other two around ;
– A dumb brute who provides the muscle ;
– A smart guy with a big nose who just won’t shut up… and seems to actually have some competence in store, given how he’s built their own giant dog mecha that does manage to capture Kiramekiman for a while until his efforts are thwarted by the ineptitude of his colleagues.

Now, it’s hard to see those three as villains ; at best, they’re antagonists, and they often feel like the true stars of the show. On the other hand, they’re in contact with a Mysterious Boss that doesn’t seem to be part of the police, so I have a strong suspicion they’ve infiltrated the police station to pursue their own agenda (getting their hands on the magic stones, maybe ?), in accordance with the overall throughline of the Time Bokkan shows. But there’s barely any evidence for that, and you often find yourself taking the side of those poor shlobs against the semi-sadistic and unstoppable thieves.

Production Values

Time capsule ! Which makes sense once you learn the show’s history. And hey, those very retro designs have their charm, mitigating the sparse animation where people don’t even walk down stairs properly.

The blond woman is a frequent source of (very mild because kids’ show) fanservice, because of course.

Overall Impression

This is a fascinating show, especially once I did my research. Which helps make sense of why the titular protagonists barely get any character development or backstory, and the trio steal the show ; we’re at the stage where the latter are the most recognizable element of the franchise. Since they’ve got fun chemistry, it’s a sensible choice.

On the other hand, this is clearly a series that relies a lot on Japanese references and puns that the fansubbers who translated the token episode didn’t bother with ; plenty of it flies right above my head. And I suspect the novelty value would wear off quickly, as this looks like a very repetitive show. So while I’ve enjoyed a decent chunk of this, and I’m grateful this project has exposed me to such an oddity, I’m not too broken up over the non-availability of the rest of it.

It does get me more interested in this year’s Yatterman revival, though.

Source: [In Which I Review] Anime series from 2000 – Page 4

#16 : Saiyuki

(50 episodes, + 51 more for the 2003 sequel, + various OVAs…)

Before we start…

This one has been sitting on my shelves for years. I got a Collector’s Edition of it as a gift package from co-workers when I left my job in 2009 (!), and never got around to watching it since then. (I had trouble transferring it to my phone for easy viewing on my commute.) Now, they knew I was an anime fan and there was little chance I’d already seen it, but they clearly valued quantity over quality in their selection. (The package also included Kiddy Grade, Basilisk, a half-naked figure where you can remove the top if you also tear the head off, the whole Mai-HiME manga, a lone DVD collecting a few episodes of No Money, and the Cutie Honey live-action movie. The last of which I actually enjoyed watching, so it wasn’t all crap.)

All this to say I’m not expecting a masterpiece here, but it can’t be worse than some of the other stuff I got.

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a shonen fantasy manga, vaguely based on Journey to the West.

Characters

Sanzo, a monk (with a gun) who receives instructions from the gods to head to a land far to the west where baddies are trying to resurrect an old demon, which has a side-effects of making all the beast people turn evil and attack humans. So get there quick, deal with it, and put an end to this crap.

Also, take those three party members with you :
– Goku, the monkey boy with the extensible staff, who’s an annoying brat ;
– Gojo, the half-demon rogue with the bizarre vaguely scythe-like weapon ;
– Hakkai, the “nice”, always smiling mage with the pet dragon (who can turn into a car)

Oh, sure, they’re all beast people, but they’ve got power limiters on, so there’s no way they’ll turn on you. And you’ve all worked together in the past, so this quest is bound to go swimmingly, hey ?

Production Values

Urgh. Studio Pierrot got a bad reputation in the 00s for churning out low-quality shonen adaptations, and this is certainly one of them. Cheap animation, so many shots where only the mouths move (badly), to say nothing of the numerous still shots… Also, the disintegration effect for when beast people get killed looks terrible, which is a problem as it gets used all the time.

Overall Impression

You know, show, if you’re going to have Sanzo slowly realize over the course of the episode that the revival of the Demon King is what makes the beast people go insane, why do you have the narrator state it in the first thirty seconds like it’s common knowledge ? Between this and the bizarrely chosen flashbacks (that don’t really establish how those people worked together previously), you get a very incompetently-scripted “gathering of the team” episode.

Which is a bit of shame, as there’s quite a bit to like in there. Aside from Goku, the characters have charisma (helped by top-notch voice-acting) and get nice little introduction scenes. I could see some fun chemistry developing here, as they spend the whole series having adventures on the way to their goal. Sure, it’ll look like crap, but otherwise it should be inoffensive enough. (As I outlined above, I WILL watch this… eventually.)

Source: [In Which I Review] Anime series from 2000 – Page 3

#13 : Platinumhugen Ordian (Ginsoukikou Ordian)

(24 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Mecha.

Characters

Yuu, our protagonist, is a highschool dropout who’s involved in… gangs ? low-grade terrorist groups ? Between the obtuse exposition and the crap subtitles on my version, it’s hard to tell. (It’s mostly offscreen.) Anyway, he’s aimless and wondering what those strange flashbacks about piloting mecha mean.

Ryo, his “best friend”, has noticed this and invited him into INO, the big military organization around (and the only one to have those top-grade mecha). He’s a squad leader there, but a complete maverick who regularly gets disciplined. To say nothing of hanging around with terrorists on his paid leave, or putting his civilian pal into his mecha’s cockpit for a training exercise. I mean, sure, Yuu does have the skills (somehow), but…

Nanna, a random bridge bunny in INO who happens to be a childhood friend of Yuu’s, and on whom he stumbles as Ryo gives him the tour.

A white-haired dude who ticks all the “rival” checkboxes, including the opening flashforward where he’s in an intense mecha battle against Yuu.

Production Values

Decent enough, but the art director really likes his darkness and chiaroscuro. Good for mood, bad for storytelling clarity.

There are occasional bursts of fanservice, including booth babes for a mecha expo (briefly mentioned on the news) and the all-naked ED sequence.

Overall Impression

I have no clue what is going on here.

I’m serious. This is an atrocious failure at world-building. INO seems to exist into a bubble detached from the world surrounding it… which itself isn’t even sketched out. What are the other powers at play ? Who is INO fighting against, to have so much weaponry on hand ? How’s “normal” society outside it going ? What’s that group Yuu & Ryo were involved in ? Does anyone have any family ? Fuck if I know. And that’s before going into the show’s official mysteries, such as Yuu’s mecha proficiency and white-hair’s agenda.

Show, you have to give me something to get invested in you. Your characters are too busy talking in riddles to get a good handle on, and the stakes remain thoroughly obscure. Even if there’s a big surprise shake-up down the line, you needed to establish some ground rules much faster than this to carry the show in the meantime. It really feels like you learned all the wrong lessons out of Eva.

This is way too frustrating for me to keep watching, even without accounting for my desire to punch the fansubbers for getting every third sentence wrong.

Source: [In Which I Review] Anime series from 2000 – Page 3