2012 Q2 – Spring – Page 3

Lupin the IIIrd – The Woman called Fujiko Mine

(13 episodes)

What’s it about ?

The Lupin the IIIrd franchise has been around for decades (that’s where Miyazaki himself got his start), cranking out at least a new TV-movie a year ; this is the first new TV series in quite a while though.

Don’t let that history intimidate you, though ; not only is the franchise continuity-light to begin with, but this series goes back to basics, with the first meeting of Lupin the IIIrd & Fujiko.

Characters

Lupin the IIIrd, grandson of the original gentleman-thief. A thief himself, and so good at it that he’s getting a bit bored, to be honest. He’s now at the point where he’s warning the cops beforehand, because that’s more fun.

Fujiko Mine, Lupin’s sexy new rival. They collide on the same score, and it’s slightly irritated fascination at first sight.

Inspector Zenigata, the tireless policeman always on Lupin’s tail. This series makes a noble try at giving him some credibility, mostly by giving him a whiny sidekick (voiced by Yuki Kaji, of course ! Though he’s less annoying than usual, at least…) so that he’ll look better.

The score of the week involves a depraved cult leader trafficking rare narcotics on their private island… Oh, who cares, it’s just a backdrop for the Lupin/Fujiko interplay and an excuse for elaborate set pieces anyway.

Production Values

This clearly makes a bid for the best-looking show of the season. It’s got an impressive budget for the action set pieces, and a rough, artsy style that makes nearly every shot interesting to look at.

A word of warning : this is a sexy series, and Fujiko regularly gets topless and/or nearly naked over the course of the episode.

I really hope that ain’t the regular OP, because that pretentious voiceover sounds like it’s going to get annoying very quickly.

Overall Impression

Pretty !

But there’s something more beyond the mere dazzle. This is a series with a point to make : Fujiko uses her body as a weapon on every possible occasion, however degrading that may be ; and the OP monologue unsubtly points out she may well be a masochist, addicted to that thrill. I’m not quite sure whether this show is arguing it makes her inferior to Lupin (he outclasses her nearly every step on the way, mostly thanks to his “I can do offscreen whatever the plot needs me to” powers).

Still, they’ve got chemistry, the show is gorgeous, and heist anime are rare enough for me not to be picky. I’m in.

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

ZETMAN

(13 episodes)

What’s it about ?

An underground fighting ring featuring mindless beasts went horribly wrong the day the 13 of them became sentient, killed everyone in the audience and escaped. Oops. Ten years later, they’re still at large, with at least one of them operating as a serial killer. Double-oops. Carnage and ultraviolence ensues.

Characters

Mr Kanzaki used to be a scientist or something at the fighting ring ; he managed to escape with a baby who’s obviously related to the monsters. Ten years later, he’s now a hobo trying to raise the kid as best as he can. Yeah, he was always doomed not to survive the first episode.

Jin, the kid, has a bit of trouble understanding some concepts such as other people not healing almost instantly ; but then it’s obvious “Gramps” dodged a lot of issues. He’s inhumanely strong and fast, and after a moment of intense stress he can transform into ZET, something which looks more like a sentai superhero than the other monsters.

Jin has a couple of friends from a rich family (their daddy disapproves, obviously). He also befriends a “nightclub dancer” after saving her from a mugging, and she’s impressed enough to become his mother figure after “Gramps” bites the dust.

Besides the serial killer (whose body count this episode reaches at least a dozen before Jin puts him down), we see a couple other of the monsters. There’s the mandatory slick dude who works for a conspiracy, but more intriguingly there’s another who seems to work as police (although he doesn’t seem too good at it).

Oh, and there’s a grizzled police detective running around trying to understand what the heck is going on. Good luck, chap.

It seems there’s gonna be a timeskip, with next episode featuring Jin as a teenager.

Production Values

Oh, look, it’s shaky-cam animation, where the editing makes it almost impossible to follow the action sequences around !

Also, the soundtrack’s a bit crap, and that’s even without going into the ludicrously upbeat OP played at the end.

Overall Impression

Urgh. There’s such a thing at taking grim’n’gritty too far, especially when there’s no nuance whatsoever in its depiction of society. (Hobos & night club workers ? Good. Businessmen, and the rich in general ? Bad.) Every single character here is completely one-dimensional, which makes it hard to care about any of them. The plot has no originality whatsoever to it, either.

It’s crap. Not a kind of crap I’ve seen much of recently in anime, but still crap.

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

Accel World

(24 episodes)

What’s it about ?

In the future, augmented reality is going to be wicked awesome… Oh, wait, it’s a shounen fighting series.

Characters

Haru, our protagonist. Nothing says “punchable loser” like being voiced by Yuki Kaji, but the character designer went out of their way to portray him as a very short fat dude who looks utterly out of place among the other characters. He spends most of his middle school life being harassed by bullies and retreating into virtual reality games, until he meets…

Er, well, I really doubt Kuroyukihime (“Black Snow Princess”) is her real name, so let’s call her Black Lotus, her virtual reality screen name. She’s the beautiful idol of the school, although that’s just a front for her actual personality of a complete troll. She goes out of her way to introduce Haru to the underground community of Burst Linkers, which are basically people who use a program to hack the omnipresent augmented-reality/internet/network to get super-speed. This sounds awesome and addictive until you learn you must play a special game to get more doses of it. The big mystery here is obviously what’s Black Lotus’ angle in getting Haru under her wing.

Haru has what looks like a successful big brother to feel inferior to, and a clingy childhood friend who’s all set for the mandatory love triangle by the end of episode 2. Hopefully they won’t get too much screen time wasted on them.

Production Values

Wow. The real world sequences and characters aren’t much to speak of, but as soon as the augmented reality kicks in it looks awesome. (The virtual worlds don’t look too bad, either.) I really, really want to live in this future world where you have the internet hardwired into your neck. Sure, the Big-Brother-cameras everywhere feel a bit dystopian, but it feels worth it.

Overall impression

Dull characters, including yet another Yuki-Kaji-voiced loser protagonist ? Check. Already starting to degenerate into a fighting tournament series ? Check. Oh, dear, those aren’t good signs. But on the other hand, it’s a series with a killer concept at its core (and the visuals to back it up), and that may be enough for me to keep watching it.

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2012 – Page 3.

Saint Seiya Omega

(?? episodes)

What’s it about ?

Because someone demanded it : a new iteration of the decades-old Saint Seiya franchise. (Basically : Greek-mythology-inspired fighting shonen.) This is supposed to be newbie- (and kid-)friendly material, starring a new generation of protagonists.

Characters

Kouga, our brand new protagonist, and the new Pegasus Saint. He’s a bit of a whiny brat so far, but then he’s got a point : nobody really explains anything to him, and especially why they’re training him to fight mythical stuff for Athena’s sake.

Saori, his mother figure, is especially guilty of this. I mean, not telling him you’re Athena ? (But then, what little I remember from the original series rarely showed her as the brains of the outfit either…)

Seiya, the original Pegagus Saint (and protagonist of the original series), dies in a flashback to protect Saori and infant!Kouga from an attack by new Big Bad Mars. (Wait, a Roman god ?) Well, the flashback itself didn’t look that conclusive to me, but everyone in the present says he sacrificied himself to help seal Mars away. Anyway, being “dead” doesn’t prevent his astral voice from giving some guidance to Kouga now that Mars has resurfaced.

Shaina, the masked Amazon, also stayed around as Kouga’s trainer. And that’s it as far as characters from the original series are concerned. (What, did everyone else die in Hades or something ? No, don’t answer that, it’s not relevant anyway.)

Presumably Kouga is going to gather a new band of other Saints ; the next episode preview makes it looks like the new Cygnus is next.

Production Values

Well, you can see that the Heartcatch Precure crew is at the helm : stylised and colourful character designs, super-fluid animation, a good sense of lighting and colouring for dramatic effect… Frankly, if you’re going to reinvent such a franchise, you can hardly go wrong with them.

It’s been ages since I’ve seen any of the original series, but this strikes me as decidedly less bloody and violent.

Overall Impression

Well, this is definitely a competent, kid-friendly Saint Seiya revival. There’s nothing wrong with it : it looks quite good, this is a logical direction for the story to go for such a project…

But do I really want to watch such a thing ? I don’t have any nostalgia for the franchise, and I find it hard to summon any enthusiasm for this new series. I’ll give it a couple other episodes to see whether Kouga stops being such a wanker and the supporting cast is any fun, but I’m not holding my breath.

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2012 – Page 3.

Shibainuko-san

(?? 2-minute episodes)

What’s it about ?

A middle-schooler who looks like a dog. Adaptation of a 4-panel gag manga (if you couldn’t tell by the one-joke premise).

Characters

Shibainuko-san, the middle-schooler who looks like a dog. She’s a bit clumsy.

Chako, our straight-(wo)man narrator girl. She’s there to explain the jokes and be befuddled by the whole situation.

Napolin, their dumb classmate. She’s dumb.

Production Values

This also comes courtesy of eyebleed-o-vision, but it’s obvious there’s no real budget here. Heck, I said it was 2-minute-long, but if you remove the opening song, the advertisement for the Recorder & Randsell DVD, and the announcement about the producers filling time with random internet fanart, there’s less than a minute of actual content here.

Overall Impression

Oh, look, it’s another of those unfunny one-joke no-budget shorts. Disregard with prejudice.

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2012 – Page 2.

Folktales from Japan (Furusato Saisei Nippon no Mukashi Banashi)

(?? episodes)

What’s it about ?

Exactly what it says on the tin. Each episode is comprised of three different (and unrelated) folktales.

Production Values

Very low ; the artsyle is deliberately naive, and the animation takes every possible shortcut.

Overall Impression

Well, this is definitely a collection of Japanese folktales. Perfectly alright for what it is, but I’m clearly 20 years to old to have any interest in this beyond the novelty of the first episode. I’ll pass.

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2012 – Page 2.

A Summer-colored Miracle (Natsuiro Kiseki)

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Er, I’m not quite sure yet, even after having seen the first episode. The big selling point is that the voice-actresses of the four main characters make up the Sphere idol group, but that doesn’t make a story. There are some hints that those four middle-schoolers may be on the way to become idol singers, but it’s way too early to be sure that’s the direction the series is going for.

Characters

Saki [Ayahi Takagaki], the well-bred one. She’s scheduled to be moving away to Tokyo in a matter of days, but didn’t feel like warning her three best friends beforehand. She’s quite a handful.

Natsumi [Minako Kotobuki], the hot-blooded one. She’s rightfully annoyed that Saki, her partner in the tennis club, has just dropped all their plans, and spends the whole episode nursing a grudge.

Yuka [Haruka Tomatsu], the airhead. She’s obsessed about some washed-out idol group, a running gag that fails to be funny however many time the episode comes back to it. Obviously she’s worried about her friend-group collapsing, so she seeks the help of…

Rinko [Aki Toyosaki], the quiet one. Who’s a priestess in training at the local temple. She contrives to gather the four at a wishing stone hidden behind said temple. The thing seems to have worked in the past (they won a singing contest a few years ago), although that’s hardly tangible evidence given the low level of competition.

What is actual tangible evidence is that they somehow manage to fly up the sky after inadvertently all wishing for it. Wait, what ?

Production Values

I saw this through the eyebleed-o-vision webcasted preview, so it’s hard to tell the level of scenery porn yet. It’s alright, I guess.

Overall Impression

I’m not quite sure what to think of this yet, especially as I have no clue where it’s going. Obviously it’s a Sphere vehicle, but those are a decent bunch of voice-actresses, and they seem to have gone out of their way to avoid their usual pigeonholes.

Okay, I’ll admit I’m curious.

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2012 – Page 2.

Space Brothers (Uchuu Kyoudai)

(?? episodes – some sources say 48+)

What’s it about ?

In 2006, two young brothers vowed to become astronauts after seeing an UFO. Flash-forward to 2025…

(Adapted from an award-winning manga.)

Characters

Hibito, the younger brother (29). He did become an astronaut, and is part of an international effort to set up a viable colony on the Moon (as a tryout before they go to Mars). He’s the successful one, then, and thus a bit boring. Fortunately, the series isn’t really about him so far.

Mutta, the older brother (32), is our actual protagonist. He didn’t become an astronaut, instead making a career in designing cars. Which has just collapsed after he headbutted his supervisor for badmouthing Hibito. He’s having a bit of a midlife crisis, to put it mildly, especially as he’s now basically blacklisted from the automobile industry. It’s time for a drastic career change…

We also see their parents, who do let Mutta stay in, but will only let him wallow in self-pity for so long.

Production Values

Perfectly alright. This seems well-documented (NASA is mentioned in the credits) and the near-future feels real enough.

Overall Impression

Hard SF ? The token series with actual adult protagonists ? There’s no way I’ll skip this.

It helps that it’s actually quite good. Sure, the characters aren’t quite well rounded yet, but I’m willing to give it time ; and Hiroaki Hirata nails once again the dude going through mid-life crisis. And it looks like we’re going to see the realistic process of being selected as an astronaut, which was fascinating when Planetes did it.

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2012 – Page 2.

A Town Where You Live OVA (Kimi no Iru Machi)

(2 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a 18-volume (and counting) romance manga. Obviously, some degree of compression and creativity was needed to fit some of it into such a short format.

Characters

Haruto Kirishima, our generic male lead. Lives in a small country town.

Yuzuki Eba, a Tokyo girl who randomly decided to live at Haruto’s (the flashback is too vague to determine the exact circumstances), to his irritation. Presumably one thing eventually led to another, because the actual story here is that she’s now gone back to live in Tokyo, and they have kept a long-distance relationship over the last few months. Today he comes to Tokyo on a class trip, and they’re planning on finally meeting again.

Nanami Kanzaki, a classmate of Haruto’s whom he used to have a crush on. After presumably months of awkward love triangle, she eventually settled for them being just friends. Anyway, she’s also part of the class trip, and asks him to play the role of her boyfriend while she meets with one of her friends (to whom she bragged a bit too much). There’s absolutely no way for this to backfire !

Akari Kaga, said friend. It’s obvious she’s not entirely fooled by Nanami’s stunt.

Production Values

Perfectly serviceable. Some nice bits of scenery porn, even.

Overall Impression

Let’s be frank : the first half of this episode is fairly dull, as the two leads struggle to set up their meeting in a very boring way. Neither of them come off as particularly interesting here.

But this completely change once Nanami enters the picture. It’s charming how she scrambles to reinvent a happy relationship with Haruto despite things not having turned some well (as some judiciously chosen flashbacks show while illustrating her unreliable narration). There’s some genuine chemistry and drama in this very well-designed scene, even when you can plainly see the inevitable cliffhanger coming from the moment it starts.

It’s always a risky choice to adapt a long-running manga by choosing a storyarc set quite late in the overall story ; you can alienate a lot of potential viewers with convoluted relationships between characters they’ve not gradually grown familiar with (hello, Wandering Son !). This OVA avoids nicely the trap by focusing on the essentials of the relationship between the three leads, and making its particular story stand on its own. While it does matter that those three have a lot of history together (presumably detailed in numerous manga volumes I haven’t read), all you need to know is summed up perfectly in a way that seamlessly builds into the plot. The more I think about it, the more I can’t help by admire it.

Hopefully the concluding episode will live up to such a promising start.

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2012 – Page 2.

Ozma

(6 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Leiji Matsumoto does Dune. Well, kinda.

Characters

Maya, a princess in distress on the run from a generic army of bad guys. Whatever this is all about, she’s not telling yet. (Not that she gets much of a chance, what with getting interrupted all the time.)

Sam Coin, our teenage protagonist, who was originally out to fish for some Ozma (basically, giant sandworms) until he stumbled onto Maya’s chase scene ; he takes advantage of the confusion of an Ozma appearance to rescue Maya and bring her back to his home.

Said home is some sort of vaguely pirate-like sand-ship (that can burrow underground if needed). There are scores of minor characters in the crew, with the most noteworthy being Mimei, Sam’s not-girlfriend (who’s obviously terribly jealous around the new chick) and the Captain, a charismatic and cool-looking woman (until you realize she’s just zoned out).

Oh, and the army of bad guys is led by a Cyclops lookalike who’s obviously important, given his distinctive character design. (Not that they actually do much evil yet ; maybe it’s all a misunderstanding ?)

Production Values

Pretty good on the action side, although the CG elements are a bit too obvious to my liking.

Leiji Matsumoto’s hand in the designs is unmistakable : there are four noteworthy female characters, and they all have the same face ! (It’s all the more grating because some random male members of the crew get very distinctive designs.)

Overall Impression

I’m still not sure what to make of this. There’s nothing particularly wrong with it (my above very minor quibbles aside), it’s got enough energy to carry itself over… But, well, it’s more than a bit on the generic side.

Still, it’s only 6 episodes, and it’s perfectly inoffensive ; I could see myself sticking with it till its end.

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