My Ordinary Life (Nichijou)

(26-ish episodes)

What’s it about ?

High school slice-of-life surreal comedy.

Characters

Mio, the blue-haired “central” character. A bit of a straight man to everyone else.

Yuuko, our Tomo clone. Loud, obnoxious and clumsy.

Mai, the quiet glasses girl, who gets to do outrageous things as punchlines.

Hakase, whom we only ever see at home with her long-suffering robot servant Nano. You can tell Nano is a robot thanks to the huge winding key sticking out of her back. (Not that it serves any actual practical purpose – Hakase put it there because she’s a jerk.)

A couple other girls and teachers show up, but I’ve already forgotten about them.

Production Values

Very disappointing for a KyoAni series. “Minimalistic” would be the charitable way to put it.

Overall Impression

Oh, dear. A comedy series that is barely funny at all.

Now, I did laugh a bit to Mai’s hijinks and most of the Nino/Hakase scenes. But there’s a lot here that I just didn’t care for.

(If I really wanted to be mean, I’d say that this is KyoAni trying their hand at the surreal SHAFT-ish comedy… and completely failing. But that’d probably be a bit unfair.)

I’ll probably try one or two more episodes to see if it gels together, but I’m not optimistic (and this is a busy season anyway). I’ve watched the OVA, and it’s basically more of the same.

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2011.

Hare + Guu (Jungle wa Itsumo Hare nochi Guu)

(26 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Hare is a normal boy living in a quirky jungle community… and then an albino girl called Guu crashes into his life. Cue SAN loss.

Characters

Hare, our 10-year-old protagonist. He’s got a tendency to ramble endlessly at times… but considering the constant assault on his sanity in this episode, that’s a normal reaction.

Weda, his single mother. (And my, doesn’t she look a bit young to have a 10-year-old kid ? Oh dear…) Routinely comes back drunk from village parties, and overall ascribes to the “tough love” school of child-raising.

Guu, the albino girl Weda came back with one night (“she’s got no parents”, which should have raised some warning flags). At first she looks diabetes-inducingly cute… but from the next morning on she drops the façade in front of Hare. But she’s not merely sarcastic : her shtick involves eating stuff whole (including Hare himself twice). Her stomach is a bizarre fantasy land with tons of weird stuff… including two perfectly normal high school students who don’t bat an eyelid about being there.

Of the rest of the jungle community, we only see the one neighbour yet. This is obviously the present day with modern technology (Hare plays videogames in an hilarious RPG spoof sequence), but on the other hand there are some very weird local fauna and flora. Also, “shopping” apparently involves picking bananas directly from trees, and Weda’s “work” seems to be hunting.

Production Values

While the budget’s not through the roof, it makes some nice use of it, with appropriately psychedelic visuals. The background music’s a bit MIDI-ish, but surprisingly effective (there’s some awesome comedic timing there).

The OP is a thing to behold, with a very catchy tune and even the vegetation dancing to it.

There’s a weird prologue sequence, as a pregnant Weda melodramatically leaves a mansion under the rain. It’s a complete mood clash with everything else (especially the OP just after).

Overall Impression

Well, that’s certainly different. The sheer weirdness of it all is overpowering and makes it a compelling watch. (It helps that I share some of its sense of humour.)

I’ll be honest : I’ve already seen the whole series and the first set of OVAs (I need to track down the second set at some point). While it never really goes anywhere (the more serious turn it takes with the eventual disclosure of Weda’s background doesn’t feel like much of a climax), it’s still a pretty good gag series that understands perfectly well that it should never explain Guu.

Oh, it's just a pokute.
Oh, it’s just a pokute.

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2001 – Page 3.

Dog Days

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

In a parallel fantasy world, war rages between the kingdom of Biscotti and the Galette Knights. A surprisingly PG war, with no casualties whatsoever and announcers providing step-by-step colour commentary. Oh, and they’ve all got animal ears and tails (Biscotti are dogs, and I think Galette are cats). Anyway, Biscotti are losing, so they call upon a hero from Earth to save them.

Characters

Shinku, our protagonist and ordinary high school student. He’s actually an accomplished athlete (coming second in the last big sports tournament, and assiduously training for improvement), and a bit of a showboat. When he’s transported to another world and called a hero, he muses that this must be a dream, so what the heck, and dives in with enthusiasm.

Milchore, the kid ruler of Biscotti, who summons Shinku and exposits the situation to him. She doesn’t show much personality yet, to be honest.

We get to see a few more Biscotti characters, including a couple of elite warriors who get rid of scores of enemy mooks in one spell. Er, weren’t they supposed to be losing ?

Although it might be because the top Galette Knights have yet to deploy – everyone says they’re very impressive, but I’ve yet to see any of that.

Production Values

By the makers of Nanoha ! So you get the obligatory OP by Nana Mizuki, bright and shiny colours everywhere, CG runes galore for every single spell, and loli-style character designs for nearly everyone important (except the “villains”).

Overall Impression

I’m not really sure what to think about this one.

I quite like the twist of war as a harmless sports-like competition, and Mamoru Miyano lends tons of his usual charisma to the protagonist. On the other hand, the Biscotti people are dull and sugary as hell, and the Galette Knights don’t show much promise either.

I’ll probably give it a couple more episodes before judging it.

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2011.

X-Men

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

The X-Men disbanded a year ago, due to Jean Grey’s death in the Dark Phoenix incident. But Professor X gathers the band back together when he learns of numerous mutant disparitions in a district of Japan.

Characters

They’ve gone for an iconic line-up for the X-Men, with Professor X as the remote mentor, Cyclops as field leader, Wolverine, Storm and cat-form Beast. (The OP promises Emma Frost, but she hasn’t shown up yet.) Professor X carries most of the narration and exposition. Cyclops is the best at what he does, and what he does is whining over Jean’s grave (seriously, it looks like he’s spending days at a time there). Beast had gone back to teaching college courses, but he’s pretty happy to go back into action and leave his class to his uplifted squid. Wolverine is more tolerable here than in his own series, and Storm plays mother hen.

Hisako (aka Armor) is our token young mutant in distress. She barely shows any personality yet, before captured by robots halfway through the episode. (If you’re wondering, she’s a character created by Joss Whedon when he wrote the X-Men comics six years ago.)

We start with an extended flashback to the end of the Dark Phoenix incident, where it’s clear Jean is manipulated by Mastermind and his Inner Circle (they’re kept in shadows, but I see Blob, maybe Toad, and another prettyboy I can’t quite identify). It looks like she commits suicide, but considering the epitaph on her memorial (“She will rise again”) and the fact they’ve bothered to show us all this, I’m sure she’ll eventually show up again.

The next episode preview suggests that the X-Men are going to face the U-Men. That’s an interesting choice (they’re quite a recent creation), although it makes perfect sense when considering Warren Ellis wrote this story (the man loves his transhumanism themes).

The ED shows some iconic X-Men villains (Magneto, Mystique, Juggernaut) that I doubt will actually show up… and Stryfe, for some reason.

Production Values

I’m not fond of Madhouse’s style for the Marvel adaptations, and it looks especially messy here, but it does the job. I like the character designs quite a bit, to tell the truth.

Overall Impression

I’ve always had big expectations for this particular Marvel Anime series, and it doesn’t disappoint. It manages to perfectly recreate the X-Men experience, especially the sense of a vast tapestry of former continuity that will eventually become relevant. Sure, it doesn’t exactly hit the ground running (the X-Men aren’t even in Japan yet), but that’s the cost of fleshing out the five main characters as well as explaining the gist of the Dark Phoenix incident.

I’m biased, of course : I’m a hardcore X-Men fan. Still, this is by far the best Marvel Anime series, with strong characters and a plot that feels appropriately epic.

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2011.

Rune Soldier Louie (Mahou Senshi Louie)

(24 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Comedic heroic-fantasy. Three female adventurers are looking for a magician to complete their party. A female one if possible, but the only one they find is a classic male lech who ain’t even much good at it.

Characters

The party is currenly comprised of Merril, the quick-tempered short Thief ; Genie, the amazon Warrior ; and Melissa, the not-that-pure Cleric (Kikuko Inoue in yet another of those self-parody roles – at this point I’m not even sure I remember her ever playing the perfect-woman type straight).

Presumably shortly joining them is Louie, our title character. He ain’t much good at magic (he apparently got into the Magic Academy through nepotism, and doesn’t pay attention to the lectures), and spends his time drinking in towns and leering at any girl he sees. His “accidental pervert” tendencies don’t help : he spends most of the episode either on the run or in jail.

There’s also Ila, his fellow student who’d like to be a bit more, wink wink nudge nudge (he’s totally oblivious). She’s prominently featured in the ED, so presumably the writers’ll find a way to keep her around despite her explicitly stating she has no interest in adventuring (much to the distress of the trio, who’d rather have her than Louie).

Production Values

It does the job, but just that. I’ll also note the rather high fanservice level (it’s mostly the “all in good fun” kind rather than anything skeevy, though).

Overall Impression

Hello, Slayers clone !

Okay, that’s a bit harsh. Especially as I find it quite funnier than its predecessor (mostly because I like the main characters more). Still, this looks like a bog-standard heroic-fantasy comedy… including the vague hints that it’ll get more serious once the real plot shows up.

I’m actually a bit curious on how it goes on : it looks like decent popcorn watching.

There's a perfectly rational explanation why Louie has barged into Melissa's "religious ceremony" and looks like he's about to rape her. Really.
There’s a perfectly rational explanation why Louie has barged into Melissa’s “religious ceremony” and looks like he’s about to rape her. Really.

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2001 – Page 3.

Princess Comet (Cosmic Baton Girl Comet-san)

(43 episodes)

What’s it about ?
In the Triangle Nebula (which seems to be in charge of monitoring all inhabited planets) should start the ritual ball where the Prince of Tambourine choses between the Princesses of Harmonica and Castanet… except he’s gone missing. Young Princess Comet of Harmonica is sent to Earth to look for him, but her quest doesn’t start very well…

This is the remake of a 60s live-action series. No, really.

Characters

Princess Comet, our 12-year-old protagonist. She really doesn’t care about all the formalities of her rank, but planet Earth looked AWESOME from afar, so she’s totally onboard for her mission. She’s got some magic star powers, but they’re honestly quite lame so far.

Rababou, her pet-thingy, is supposed to help and guide her, but he manages to get lost within minutes of landing on Earth. Oh, dear…

Her family : her father the king sleeps through half his seen, while her mother the queen is generically regal. There’s also an old chancelor-type dude who just can’t help droning on and on with exposition. (Comet being bored beyond tears by him is one of the most fun scenes of this episode.)

We’re also introduced to rival Princess Meteor from Castanet, although she doesn’t get to really do anything yet.

Production Values

Perfectly okay for this kind of thing. The character designs remind me of Heartcatch Precure, and there are worse standards to adhere to.

Overall Impression

Is this series supposed to be so depressing ?

In a refreshing swerve, when Comet shows up on Earth with no money and nobody to guide her, the shopkeepers refuse to give her any food for free, and she ends up sleeping in a park. Which is welcome, considering how boring the episode had been up to then. One might wonder what her parents were thinking when sending her there, though.

Now, there’s obviously some light at the end of the tunnel, as she eventually meets the mother of two twins she befriended earlier, with the implication that Comet’s going to find a roof to sleep under next episode. Presumably, wacky hijinks will be starting soon… but it’s still a bizarrely sad start for a series.

Not that I mean that the series is really worth getting out of your way to watch (I don’t think it’s even entirely subbed). It’s a kids’ show with some weird quirks, and that’s it.

How many magical girl series end their first episode with their heroine starving on a bench under the rain ?

How many magical girl series end their first episode with their heroine starving on a bench under the rain ?

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2001 – Page 3.

Comic Party

(13 episodes)

What’s it about ?

After an inspirational trip to Comiket, a group of high-school friends decides to start producing doujinshi.

Characters

Kazuki, our protagonist… although given how much he’s yanked around during the first episode, that’s being a bit charitable. At first he’s sceptical about the whole comiket/doujinshi thing, but he does get taken in by the enthusiasm of those he meets there. Has an art background.

Mizuki, his cliché tsundere childhood friend. Absolutely hates Comiket, but given how she gets trampled over twice before being dragged offscreen for most of the episode, I give her some slack.

Taishi, their “friend” who dragged them to Comiket in the first place, and spearheads the doujinshi project. He’s prone to Gratuitous English, loud speeches, and narration. Very, very annoying.

Inagawa is an already active doujinshi artist that Kazuki meets at Comiket. They quickly hit it off, and she’s the main reason he starts enjoying it a bit. She’s from Kansai (with the inevitable accent and paper fan), but thanks to the power of plot convenience she transfers into everyone else’s high school at the end of the first episode.

There are a few other characters that look like they’ll be recurring – a clumsy girl lugging packages around, and the head of Comiket security. Neither gets much development yet, though.

Production Values

Very, very cheap. The animation is subpar, and this really looks like a product of the 90s. The terrible background music doesn’t help.

Overall Impression

Well, Genshiken this is not. This is broad comedy with barely a hint of subtlety (I do like the notion that the “elevator school” setting allows those people to screw around without care for their studies). It’s quite hard to get attached to any of the caricatures calling themselves characters, as they spend most of their screentime screeching annoyingly.

There’s a bizarre dream sequence before the opening credits where Kazuki finds himself in a typical school harem setup (without realizing it), with everyone mistaking him for the protagonist. While it did raise more of a smile than the rest of the episode combined, I fail to see what the point was.

Bottom line : it’s not nearly as funny as it wants to be. Maybe it improves later on, but I don’t care.

Because Mizuki getting trampled over never gets old !
Because Mizuki getting trampled over never gets old !

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2001 – Page 2.

Digimon Tamers

(51 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Digimon is just another fad cardgame… or is it ? There’s an awful lot of critters wandering around in the edges of the city, fighting harsh battles for unknown reasons.

Characters

Takato is our standard-issue kid protagonist. He somehow stumbles on a bizarre Digimon card that transforms his card player into something else entirely… which eventually creates a whole new critter from his handwritten designs. He thinks it’s AWESOME… until the critter starts spouting fire at the scenery. Oops…

There are a couple other kids running around separately that can “see” the critters while they’re moving around digitally… An aloof girl and a technophile boy. They obviously know quite a bit about what’s happening, but they barely get a couple of lines each so far.

There’s also a shadowy organization that secretly monitors the critters for whatever purposes. Their apparent leader is always compulsively clutching on some object I can’t see.

Production Values

Average. The CG sequences are a bit clunky but perfectly serviceable.

Overall Impression

Much better than I expected from a cardgame tie-in. This is the one season that’s actually any good, right ? It’s pretty good at building a foreboding atmosphere, and the conspiracy angle looks promising. There’s nothing particularly irritating, the product placement is reasonable, and I’m positively intrigued on where this is going.

I could see myself adding it to my popcorn “to-watch” list in the near future.

I don't think store-bought cardplayers are supposed to scan random notebooks on their own, are they ?
I don’t think store-bought cardplayers are supposed to scan random notebooks on their own, are they ?

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2001.

Angelic Layer

(26 episodes)

What’s it about ?

In the future, the latest Serious Business fad is a combat through hi-tech dolls sport called “Angelic Layer”. Cue start of your standard battle series. But since we’re adapting a CLAMP manga, all the fighters (and their dolls) seem to be female.

Characters

Misaki, our 12-year-old ingenue protagonist, fresh off the countryside and new to the whole thing. It’s heavily implied that her long-estranged mother (whom she hasn’t seen since kindergarten) is the current Angelic Layer champion. She was brought up by her grandparents, but has come to Tokyo to live with…

Shoko, her aunt. But don’t call her that, or she’ll agressively point out she’s still in her twenties. It’s obvious she doesn’t approve of her sister’s behaviour regarding Misaki.

There’s a quirky scientist dude (introducing himself as “Icchan”) stalking Misaki at the train station, and helping her buy her own Angelic Layer doll (you can apparently buy them at your local mart). He’s kinda creepy, to be honest, although the charitable view is that he’s betting on her to be a future champion (he knows about her mother). He does get hauled off by the cops halfway through the episode, as a store clerk did find him quite creepy too.

The OP and ED sequences suggest that Misaki is going to make some friends at her school and start going into tournaments, but we’re not there yet.

Production Values

It’s a Bones series, so it was bound to look at least good (although this is one of their lesser efforts). I’ve always found their work polished but a bit artistically sterile, and they certainly seem to overpower the CLAMP influence here.

Overall Impression

It’s a battle anime. It’d have a hard time convincing me to continue watching it on any day.

Now, it does quite a lot to sell me on Misaki as a character, and her broken family background does hold some interest. The creepy scientist at least makes the exposition a bit less clunky than usual, and there’s a genuine sense of wonder about the whole Angelic Layer system. It certainly sounds like a fun toy.

But, at the end of the day, it’s a battle anime. Certainly above average, but it’s obvious the series will continue into the obligatory tournaments, with our underdog prodigy quickly moving up the ranks (thanks to her deep connection with her doll) until a cathartic reunion battle with her mother. I feel like I’ve already watched the whole series, and thus I can’t bring myself to really care.

Still, points for trying.

Misaki fascinated by her new toy.
Misaki fascinated by her new toy.

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2001.

Run=Dim

(13 episodes)

What’s it about ?

The year 2052. The world is still recoiling from a huge disaster at the end of the 20th century that wiped out most major cities. A terrorist faction has taken over a space station and threatens Japan with it. The government takes the “wait and see” approach, so the independent paramilitary organization known as “Jesas” (sic) sends in their manned mecha to recover it in a bid to get themselves established. They completely bungle it, but never fear : their new generation of mecha pilots, kids with prescience superpowers, are nearly ready !

Characters

Kazuto, our generic male lead. You know the type : when he falls off his bike, he manages to land watching under a girl’s skirt.

Kanna, our generic female lead. You know the type : she goes changing into the men’s locker room by mistake, and never acknowledges she did anything wrong.

There are six other new pilots, but they don’t show any personality so far. They all attend a briefing given by your typical hard-ass instructor, who has no patience for Kazuto and Kanna’s antics, and is of course voiced by Jouji Nakata. He’s mostly there to deliver exposition.

The Jesas organization is lead by generic council of vagueness, with one woman objecting to nearly everything the others say ; this is presumably supposed to make her look better than her scheming cynical colleagues, but she just comes off as irritating.

The terrorists’ only character of interest is a slightly creepy mecha pilot who annihilates his opponents without breaking a sweat.

Production Values

Oh, dear. Where do I start ?

This series is entirely computer-generated. And it looks terrible. The backgrounds are okay, if the “empty streets of Mainframe” look is what they were going for (after all, the setting is post-apocalyptic). But the characters look horrible, a bizarre cross of semi-realism and traditional anime designs, and their body language being all out of whack doesn’t help them getting out of the uncanny valley.

It doesn’t help that the directing is amazingly incompetent, with long shots where nothing happens and pregnant pauses that only underline the artificiality of these robotic characters. Every third shot has a sweeping camera movement that was presumably meant to show off the smoothness of the animation, but the fixed speed of motion makes it look like someone’s fallen asleep.

Overall impression

This does have some (unintended) comedy value, but the novelty wears off after a while. Mostly, it’s boring, and the cliché antics of our two leads don’t help. There are some major failures of storytelling (I’m still unsure of the sequence of events between Jesas’s first attack of the space station and the various scenes with our protagonists), and it’s just ugly to look at.

You might want to watch an episode to have a good laugh ; but otherwise, avoid it.

Doesn't this give him even more of a show ?
Doesn’t this give him even more of a show ?

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2001.