Tag: adult protagonists

Blood Blockade Battlefront (Kekkai Sensen)

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a shonen manga series by the author of Trigun.

Characters

Leonard, our protagonist, has the most boring voice ever ; I’m pretty sure his narration put me to sleep at least once. Anyway, he’s come to New York City Jerusalem’s Lot, the City of Miracles, where half the population are aliens because of something weird that happened a few years ago. (By now, everybody’s gotten used to it.) He wants to make a living as a cub reporter, but that’s not really working out.

He stumbles into the secret organization Libra, who briefly confuse him with their latest recruit. They are :
– Mr Klaus, the guy in charge, who looks half-gorilla and may well be. Cool dude, though, and impressive in a fight.
– Zap, an abrasive asshole who of course gets partnered with Leo for half the episode. He uses a smaller version of Mr Klaus’s blood weapons.
– Chain, our token woman, who seems to have super-agility powers that allow her to exit the scene quickly and have nearly no screentime whatsoever.
They’re basically an underground vigilante force working against the likes of…

Femt, a cackling madman who looks more like an opportunity for Akira Ishida to chew scenery than somewhat with a coherent agenda. He takes over the airwaves and warns the city that he’s planted a “gate” that’s about to wreak havoc ; those gates are what made JL so weird in the first place, so that sounds bad.

Fortunately, a previous encounter with a gate (I’m not sure if it’s the big original one or a smaller, later one) has embued Leo with super-sight powers, allowing him to find the real gate (as opposed to the decoy planted by Femt that everybody was running after).

There’s a framing sequence set six months later with Leo’s sister reading a letter narrating all this… Which makes no sense whatsoever since the aforementioned event made her blind. WTF ?

Production Values

This is a show that puts a lot of work into making this altered version of NYC feel real and lived-in, with all the weird aliens looking completely at home. I’m less enthused by the color design, which is drowning in greys and browns until the super-powered action brings in flashes of bright colours ; I can see what the art directors were going for, but that makes most of the show look rather drab.

Overall Impression

Why the heck can’t I enjoy this more ?

On paper, I should love it. It’s got a great concept for a setting, colourful action, some decent comedic timing, and it even tries to do something clever with non-linear storytelling.

But there’s something that just doesn’t quite work. Maybe I’m just a bit tired, but the plotting felt like an impenetrable mess. (I had to watch it twice to get a better sense of what was going on, and Femt’s plan still makes no sense whatsoever.)

I’m giving it another episode to turn me around, but it had better shape up quickly.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Spring 2015 – Page 2.

Plastic Memories

(12ish episodes ?)

What’s it about ?

This is a rarity this season : a show that isn’t an adaptation or a spin-off of anything. Is that even allowed ?

Anyway, it’s S-F exploring the impact of human androids on society.

Characters

Tsukasa, our protagonist, somehow landed a job at the Terminal Service department of an android production company without having any clue of what they do there. He’s heard of the impressively human-like “Giftia”, but never actually seen one ; and he certainly didn’t notice they were three of them in the office.

Ms Kazuki, the sub-manager (whom the actual manager swiftly pawned the newb to) explains : Giftia have a life expectancy of a bit more than 9 years, after which their memories and personality start breaking down, and Bad Things happen. The role of the Terminal Service is to make rounds of all the owners as the time limit nears, trying to persuade them to relinquish the Giftia back to the company. (A later scene shows that they can get either a partial refund, a discount on a new Giftia, or even the same Giftia back, but with a new OS and a blank mental slate.)

Michiru is the co-worker who’s been tasked with his on-the-job training. It’s a bit awkward at first, especially as she’s barely been a year here and is younger than him. Anyway, it’s their partner Giftia (in her case, the kid-looking Zack) who does all the negotiating job ; the humans are there to supervise.

Isla is the Giftia assigned as Tsukasa’s partner, as the only spare one. (And even then, Ms Kazuki was reluctant and trying to keep her off active duty.) She’s got years of experience and a reputation of being very good at it… which makes it all the funnier when her attempts this episode turn out to be entirely inept. Repeatedly. (My suspicions are that either she’s starting to break down, or, more probably, that she’s just been wiped clean.)

We get to see a few Giftia owners this episode ; not all are accepting of the Terminal Service showing up. Which is understandable, given several of them seem to be using the androids as substitute children/grand-children… or lovers, as implied about the dude who made a runner with his.

Production Values

Good enough. And I commend the director for going out of his way to sell the jokes ; there’s some great comedic timing here thanks to some well-executed shot-to-shot transitions.

Overall Impression

There’s always at least one show each season that comes from nowhere and takes me completely by surprise ; the one that makes this entire project worthwhile just by existing. This amazingly hilarious S-F comedy often had me in stitches, and the premise feels strong enough to be developed over a full series.

Clearly, this is this season’s hidden gem. Even the terrible stinger joke can’t ruin it for me.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Spring 2015.

#42 : Legendary Gambler Tetsuya (Shoubushi Densetsu Tetsuya)

(20 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a shonen manga series about gambling in post-war Japan.

Characters

Tetsuya, our protagonist, is one of the many former Japanese soldiers demobilized after the end of WWII. There are tons of them, and not much work to go around (to say nothing of the desolate state Japan has been left in) ; so he decides his best bet is to enter a random mahjong gambling den and try to make what little money he has left fructify.

He did have a very good teacher back in the army ; an old soldier who was most probably a yakuza, and had nerves of steel, if the flashbacks are anything to go by.

Most of his first opponents are easy rubes ; he reads them easily and can clean them out without cheating, using basic psychological warfare. Er, maybe you’re going too far by becoming physical with one of those guys when it turns out he can’t pay right now ? It’s not like anyone here is swimming in cash…

Boshu, an old man who’s a regular and has noticed the scuffle, decides to intervene and join the table. And he’s a completely different matter ; shrewd enough to destroy Tatsuya (who won’t notice until much too late that the guy can also cheat like a pro).

Production Values

Perfectly okay, if a bit of a retro feel. Considering that this is a period piece that manages to sell the run-down state of post-war Japan, there’s not that much flash to the mahjong matches ; just enough to carry the big narrative beats over without feeling out of place.

Overall Impression

Ah, mahjong. A game I’ve never managed to learn the rules of, and the show is making little effort to explain. That makes it hard for me to follow the games, outside of the general thrust of it ; and thus I just can’t quite care enough. Tetsuya being a bit of a dick doesn’t help ; he really deserved that comeuppance.

Also, I’m a bit suspicious of a competition series adaptating a manga midway through its long run ; I fear we don’t get a real ending. (The fact that it aired in daytime makes me suspect it got cancelled for low rating.)

So, despite a strong period flair, I’m not going to bother with this one.

Source: [In Which I Review] Anime series from 2000 – Page 12

#38 : Gravitation

(13 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a yaoi manga series.

Characters

Shuichi, our protagonist, is the “leader” of struggling rock group “Bad Luck”. Like, it’d be a good thing if he could finally write a damn song that’s not crap so that they can finally debut. He’s your archetypal “uke” : short, a bit effeminate, whiny… the one who takes the “female” role in how yaoi writers imagine gay relationships are.

Eiri, a guy he randomly meets in the street, and who takes a few seconds to give some feedback on the song he’s trying to write (“yup, it’s crap, you should just quit”). As it turns out, he’s a semi-famous novelist. And of course an archetypal “seme” : tall, controlling, and a bit of an asshole.

The plot kicks off when Eiri uses Shuichi to break off with his former girlfriend. So it’s off to a great start, and I’m sure it’s going to be a wonderful love story…

Production Values

For some reason, many early shots (as Shuichi arrives late to a meeting with his bandmates and their producer) are made with heavily filtered live-action footage. I’m not really sure why, especially as it gradually fades away without much rhyme or reason… It certainly contributes to the cheap-lookingness of the show, though.

Overall Impression

Ah, yaoi. A genre I have very little interest in, and it takes a lot of skill to make me watch it. Downplaying the abusiveness of its relationship would help, but this clearly isn’t the plan here. So I’m left with characters I care little for, engaged in a plotline I’m more dreading than anything else. That’s not really what I call a good time.

I’m not part of the audience here. And I get the impression this series is more known for popularizing its genre’s clichés than for actually doing anything noteworthy with them.

Source: [In Which I Review] Anime series from 2000 – Page 11

#36 : Vandread

(13 episodes, + 13 for the second half a year later)

What’s it about ?

Space opera. With a literal war of the sexes ! For a few generations there’s been a complete separation between the Male Empire and its female counterpart, with enough hysterical propaganda to keep the war going for a while.

Characters

Hibiki, our protagonist. A third-class citizen in the Male Empire, his job involves building parts for mecha. He made the foolhardy bet with his co-workers/bullies that he could steal a completed and brand new mecha from the cargo hold of the warship about to join the front ; and he might have gotten away with it if the jingoistic commander-in-chief hadn’t ordered a launch two hours ahead of schedule. On the other hand, he’s resourceful enough for an attack of the female forces on the ship to be enough to spring himself out of the brig. (Into a warship full of female shock troops easily overpowering the taken-by-surprise male crew, but them’s the breaks.)

Other noteworthy members of the crew include the cowardly heir of the Food Company (more interested in shilling his crap than acting like a real soldier), and a tall loner who makes a point of peacefully engaging their captors (“I’m a doctor”) and looks like he’s got an agenda.

Dita is a pilot amongst the female forces who crashes her fighter halfway into the starship (oops). She then runs into Hibiki, whom she seems to be trying to catch as a pet. (The language barrier seems a bit inconsistent ; those two clearly don’t understand each other, and only a few elite female soldiers can decypher male script ; on the other hand, the female troops don’t seem to have too much trouble handling their prisoners…)

And then the male commander-in-chief triggers the warship’s self-destruction (from the half of it that safely detached itself) ; most of the female forces manage to evacuate in time, but Hibiki, Dita and a couple of her teammates get sucked into a space wedgie…

Production Values

Fairly impressive. The CG integration looks a bit clunky nowadays, but it isn’t too distracting, and the traditional animation shows off some good cartooning skills, with tons of little gags always happening in the background.

It’s thus a bit disappointing that, under their entirely sensible and suitably alien-looking spacesuits, the female soldiers wear weirdly fan-servicey clothes.

Overall Impression

Wow. This is a dense first episode, introducing its premise and a good number of characters while still moving the plot along at a brisk pace ; it’s also packed to the gills with world-building. (For example, there’s a throwaway line between male extras that suggests they can somehow have children together ; this is a stark contrast with the female “let’s capture some dudes” tactics, which itself is clearly at odds with the Male Empire’s propaganda that demonizes females so much I can’t see it having the same needs. There’s just so much implied about this universe’s bizarre politics in all this, I’m really curious.)

As a result, the episode sometimes devolves into montage, such as this curious scene where the screens behind Hibiki broadcast a flashback of his as he’s busy infiltrating the warship. It feels like something from a Shinbo anime, symbolic and weirdly surreal… and hey, if it helps making the exposition more fun and visually interesting, I’m all for this kind of thing. You just go along with it ; it’s not as though the show is particularly realistic anyway. I get the impression it’s something of an indictment of modern Japanese jingoistic politics… because like all good S-F, it’s more interested in commenting on the present than predicting the future.

As you can probably guess, I found this lovely. It’s not flawless, but there’s enough going on here to keep me enthalled. And, you know, it’s very funny indeed.

Source: [In Which I Review] Anime series from 2000 – Page 10

#34 : Descendants of Darkness (Yami no Matsuei)

(13 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of an urban fantasy shojo manga series. With vampires !

Characters

The heroes are part of an agency that regulates the undead living hidden in our world. They’re undead themselves, of course. (And nearly all handsome dudes, because shojo.) Most of the time this is just boring paperwork, but sometimes field agents are required to intervene.

Tsuzuki is one such field agent. Apparently so annoying and obnoxious that he just can’t keep partners. Not that he looks so awful in this episode to me, but maybe he coworkers know something I don’t.

Hisoka is a newbie who’s been assigned as his new partner ; it’s mutual irritation at first sight. The fact that he looks 16 (having died at that age) and Tsuzuki often treats him as such doesn’t help.

Our first case of the season involves a vampire serial killer in the area they’re assigned to ; cue their squabbling while investigating it.

Production Values

Decent enough, but those are very “modern shojo” character designs indeed, all angles.

Overall Impression

Hmmm. There’s some entertaining stuff here, especially the quirky premise… but the execution feels slightly lacking ; I can’t quite pinpoint it (the leads not being that charismatic ? the lack of suspense ? the case of the week not being very interesting ?), but it just doesn’t grab me.

Maybe it’s the all-male cast (aside from the baddie) rubbing me the wrong way. I don’t think I’m the target audience.

Source: [In Which I Review] Anime series from 2000 – Page 9

Death Parade

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Remember Anime Mirai / The Young Animator Training Project ? It started as a way for the Japanese government to subsidize the training of a new generation of animators through series of of random high-concept one-shots. But by the third year of it, you could see that studios were using it to test the waters for pilots of longer stories. (Especially obvious was Arve Rezzle, which didn’t have a proper story at all.) Now, for the 2012 edition everyone was focused on Little Witch Academy, to the point of overshadowing the other high-point of the year : Death Billiards. Which is now getting a TV series, two years later.

Characters

The unnamed Barman of the Quin Decim is our recurring host. He’s here to deadpanly lay out the rules to whoever enters what is clearly some sort of purgatory : you must play a random game as though your life was on the line ; and only after that are allowed to move on. He wouldn’t advise refusing to play. (Cue shot of many bodies hanging in a back room.)

Our “clients” this week are a newlywed couple who died in a car accident. As they play a bizarre game of darts (with each hit on the target hurting their partner), it turns out that he’s a jealous asshole who had strong suspicions she only married him for his money, and is pregnant with somebody else’s baby.

There are a couple of waitresses who’ll round out the regular cast, but they barely appear yet.

Production Values

Rather good ; it can certainly sell the atmosphere, and make even a game of darts epic.

Overall Impression

Uh oh. Death Billiards was a perfect introduction to the premise, to the point I’m wondering why they didn’t just re-broadcast it. Instead, they’ve produced a whole new “let’s explain the concept slowly” first episode, and it really suffers from the comparison. It covers most of the same beats with more histrionics and less subtlety (including the bemusing decision of clarifying the final fate of the couple), as well as drastically reducing the screentime of that fun sardonic waitress.

This is a bit worrying. Hopefully this was a one-off misfire, and the next episode will hit the ground running now that the exposition’s out of the way. There’s a lot to like here, but it can’t just tell the same story again and again, with diminishing returns.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Winter 2015 – Page 2.

#06 : Miami Guns

(13 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a comedy manga series that follows a couple of cops in Miami City (a parody of America where everyone has Japanese names and drives on the left).

Characters

Yao, the flashiest member of the force, happens to be the daughter of a super-rich business conglomerate owner. When she shows up late, it’s by parachute-diving from a helicopter. (And bungling her landing, because that’s funnier.) She’s an exhibitionist egomaniac who never thinks her “daring exploits” through. The only reason she somewhat gets away with the collateral damage of her stunts is that she can easily buy her way out of trouble.

Lu, the daughter of the police chief, looks at first sight to be the straight (wo)man of the pair, deadpanly snarking at the ludicrousness of Yao’s antics through most of the episode… Except that when she gets bored, she just charges in with a tank to put an end to this crap.

The Chief hates his life and having to deal with Yao, but makes a valiant effort in trying to do his job properly. For all the good it does to him.

Our Perp of the Week is a a hoodlum from out of town who makes the mistake to try and hold a bank up here. Unfortunately for him, (1) in Miami City every bank customer brings in a gun, and (2) Yao & Lu are on the case.

(Good thing Yao bought the whole building, as it’s not standing anymore by the end of the episode.)

Production Values

A bit dated, but decent enough to sell the jokes. The characters can act and the set pieces aren’t too embarrassing.

There’s more than a bit of fanservice (Yao spends half the episode in a bikini), but thankfully the camera isn’t much in pervert mode (except when it’s funny).

Overall Impression

Let’s be clear : this isn’t subtle comedy at all, as it goes for the cheapest laugh at the first opportunity. But with that said, it’s actually quite funny, with most of the jokes landing. The constant refuge in audacity helps.

It’s not a lost gem in any regard, but it seems short enough to be decent popcorn watching and not outstay its welcome. I’m quite interested in coming back to it later on.

Source: [In Which I Review] Anime series from 2000 – Page 2

#04 : Carried by the Wind: Tsukikage Ran (Kazemakase Tsukikage Ran)

(13 episodes)

What’s it about ?

This is an action-comedy series set in the Edo period, following two drifters who fight their way through hijinks.

Characters

Ran, our lead, is someone everyone mistakes for a masterless samurai. She can walk the walk if needed (and WILL win any fight she’s involved in), but her chief concern is to find nice places to rest, and maybe some food despite being perpetually broke.

Meow, her soon-to-be sidekick, is a martial artist from China who randomly stumbles into the same town as Ran this episode. She’s much more bumbling and naive, but no slouch in a fight either. And she’s impressed enough by Ran to stick around with her.

The plot of the week involves a crime group terrorizing a town, with the previous head family haphazardly trying to hire the two heroines to oust them. Very basic stuff that’s enough to showcase the different ways our two leads react to the situation.

Production Values

Quite good : the action setpieces are quite fluid indeed, and sell both women as badasses.

Also, this is the type of series where you can’t go wrong with an enka opening song.

Overall Impression

I’ve said my piece about this show a couple years ago, when I watched it at OM’s recommendation. In short, I didn’t care much for it : it’s a repetitive joke that got on my nerves after a while. It doesn’t help that I feel Samurai Champloo got much more mileage out of a similar setup.

Still, it’s a decent first episode ; the running gags are still fresh, the main characters haven’t annoyed me too much yet, and it looks great for its time. I could see myself put it onto my to-watch list if I hadn’t already seen it. (And then I see the next-episode trailer for the underground sake brewery episode, and urgh. Drunk Ran episodes were the worst.)

Source: [In Which I Review] Anime series from 2000 – Page 2

SHIROBAKO

(24-ish episodes)

What’s it about ?

Work-com about the animation industry.
(A manga adaptation is also being released concurrently.)

Characters

Aoi, our protagonist, is a production assistant at an animation studio. Basically, this means a lot of running around (and driving very unsafely) to make materials go from a pair of hands to another in something that vaguely resembles the original schedule, all the while managing the egos and the good health of the people involved. Now, while she does have some bouts of clumsiness and uneasiness, she is actually quite good at it (and at least better than her screw-up of a senior colleague, the messes of whom she then has to clean up). And it’s obviously an entry-level position before she moves on to a more gratifying job higher up… or so she tells herself.

The episode opens with a scene set in her high school days, where she and her fellow club members produce an amateur animated film ; they vow to meet back and work together after they end their studies. Which, er, didn’t happen ; Aoi has clearly lost track of most of them. But hey, that’s what further episodes are for ! Hopefully they’ll be reintroduced properly later on, as here they’re all kind of a bit lost in a blur.

The studio’s main members are better defined, despite there being a ton of them. Sure, I sometimes lost track of who’s doing what exactly, but overall their personalities are easy to grasp and they work well one against another.

Production Values

As pretty as you’d expect from studio PA Works. They went to town on the gratuitous crazy driving scenes, but there are worse places to spend budget on.

Overall Impression

This first episode really takes its sweet time to come together. The high-school opener doesn’t really work as an introduction to the characters, and the introduction to Aoi’s job feels a bit off. (The long and gratuitous chase scene doesn’t help.) It’s only when the crisis comes in that it all falls together : suddenly the characters come alive as they stress under pressure, and the domino nature of anime production schedules becomes clearer. The stakes get higher, and it’s better at showing how these people interact that when things go smoothly.

I was quite worried for a while that this could be very boring and filled with flat characters, but the show recovered nicely. If it can keep that up, I’m on board.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Fall 2014 – Page 5.