Tag: conspiracy

Galilei Donna

(11 episodes)

What’s it about ?

“21th-century steampunk” is the best description I can come up with, however nonsensical it sounds.

Characters

Our central characters are the three “Galilei” sisters, apparently direct descendants of the historical figure :
– Hazuki wants to become a top-class lawyer, but is clearly dropping out of her law college.
– Kazuki is a high schooler whose main interest seems to be martial arts, and who hates interacting with her classmates.
– I’m not sure Hozuki even goes to school ; she spends most of her time tinkering in the basement. I love her jet-powered foldable scooter, which can somehow be transformed into a portable rocket launcher.

Mom spends a lot of time blathering on and on about the great legacy they’re carrying, and failing to measure up to (not that any of them care) ; Dad is a lot more easygoing. You can see why they’re separated.

Cicinho is a stylish and charismatic Italian villain who’s after the Galilei inheritance (whatever that is ; Mom and Dad claim to have no clue) and kicks off the plot by having his MIB try and capture the three kids. After the first “subtle” attempt fails (Hazuki’s saved by a college friend of hers ; Kazuki martial-arts her way out ; and Hozuki has a portable rocket launcher) and the ‘rents call on the police to get some protection, he barges in with a lot more men and firepower, and captures them all.

Wait, not all. Hozuki manages to sneak into the basement, from which she launches a giant goldfish-shaped flying ship. Sure, Cicinho has a bigger flying ship, but the goldfish’s got better weapons and AI.

The rest of the family have no clue what the heck. Neither does Cicinho, who exits stage left.

And it turns out that Hazuki’s college friend/rescuer possesses an agenda of her own. Of course she does.

Production Values

Very impressive. Lots of CG for all the flying vehicles, but it’s integrated into the main animation rather smoothly.

Overall Impression

Well, this is certainly a show that knows how to make an impression. But for all the storm and thunder, it’s obviously going to be a story about a broken family reconnecting in face of adversity. While flying around the world in a giant mechanical goldfish.

I can get behind that.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Fall 2013 – Page 13.

Beyond the Horizon (Kyoukai no Kanata)

(13ish episodes)

What’s it about ?

Self-aware urban fantasy.
Very obviously adapted from a light novel series (if you’re familiar with the tropes).

Characters

Akihito, our protagonist. He tries his hand at Kyon-style sarcastic narration, but doesn’t quite have the charisma to pull it off. And I can’t quite call him a generic high school student, since we learn very quickly the twist : he’s immortal, due to being half-demon.

Mirai, a new student at his school. He first meets her as she’s about to commit suicide… wait, no, that’s just a trap to lure him in so that she can stab him with her blood-sword. She’s the last heir of a demon-hunting clan with that special technique, you see. She tries again several times in the following days. He’d very much like her to stop : it doesn’t work, but it still hurts like hell. Especially as he’d find her cute if not for the stabbing thing.

Misaki, the other member of the Literature club besides him. Also the heir of the local demon-hunting group, who have an understanding with him and instead focus on the people-possessing demons who actually do some real damage. They also seem to include one of their teachers. Anyway, they don’t see the new troublemaker’s arrival with a good eye.

Production Values

It’s KyoAni : of course it’s gorgeously animated.

Overall Impression

Am I so jaded that I have a hard time enjoying any of this ?

Part of the problem is that it often feels like the main characters suffer from acute chuunibyou. Yes, the supernatural stuff is real, but it feels so off-the-shelf and generic that it’s hard to get too invested in it. The constant snark and self-awareness doesn’t help one bit : sure, it’s mildly funny, but it completely undercuts any gravitas the plot might have.

I’ll give it one more episode to try and make me care, but it’s not off to a good start.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Fall 2013 – Page 4.

Tokyo Ravens

(24 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Oh, look, another rural fantasy show !

Characters

Harutora, our protagonist. He’s part of a branch of a powerful mage family, but doesn’t feel he’s talented enough to undergo mage training. He’d rather stay in this little town with his “normal” friends forever.

Said friends include Touji, the usual perverted best friend ; and Hokuto, his tomboyish not-girlfriend, who’s really pushing for him to become a mage.

Natsume, his cousin, is the actual heir of the family, and poised to become the super-mage. They’re still somewhat on good terms, but have grown apart, especially as she usually lives in Tokyo. Harutora assumes she’s in town because it’s summer vacation, but that may not be the whole story.

Suzuka, a girl who shows up out of nowhere, looking for Natsume for nefarious purposes. She’s a big deal enough for a bunch of MIB to try and contain her as soon as she shows up ; she makes short work of them. After the initial confusion where she mistakes Harutora for Natsume, she leaves him with a message for her. And forcefully kisses him in front of Hokuto, just for kicks.

Production Values

That’s some very clunky CG for Suzuka’s summon, and the MIB’s black vans. But overall, this isn’t half-bad looking, if a bit generic.

Overall Impression

I don’t know. There’s nothing particularly wrong with any of this : it’s decently paced, it introduces the characters and the main conflict well, and overall it’s perfectly competent.

But it doesn’t quite grab me ; it’s not a genre I have that much time for, and it doesn’t do anything particularly new or fun with it. And I don’t feel like signing up for six months of it. It’s a busy season where I need to make choices among the many “not loving it” shows, and this one doesn’t make the cut for me.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Fall 2013 – Page 12.

Robotics;Notes

(22 episodes)

What’s it about ?

A high school club dedicated to building a giant robot, in a near future where the tech just about allows that sort of thing.

Characters

Akiho, the club’s leader. Her sister founded it a few years ago, and there was much progress at the time ; since then, it’s kinda floundered, and there’s only two members left (one of which never does anything). Still, she’s very enthusiastic about it.

Kaito, her kinda-boyfriend (I think), who spends a lot of his time playing videogames (so well that he’s been flagged as a possible cheater) and can’t be bothered helping much. He’s vaguely supportive and that’s it.

The vice-principal isn’t too keen on this pipe-dream-club, and is sneaky enough to promise them more budget if they knuckle down do a little something for a robot show. Which is set in a week. Oh, dear.

If the paratext and the brief flash-forward are any indication, the club is soon going to fill out with many more members.

Production Values

Perfectly alright ; the way the tech is portrayed makes the club’s goal ambitious but just within the range of plausible.

I also love Kaito’s augmented-reality phone app, a gimmick which would never look right in real life but is a lot of fun in animation.

What did I think of it ?

Re-adjust your expectations : yes, this comes from the same visual novel studio as Steins;Gate ; no, this doesn’t have the same blurry grit and paranoia-inducing atmosphere at all. This is much closer to something like, say, last season’s Tari Tari : a “save our club” story with a geek-friendly theme.

On this level, it’s perfectly enjoyable, and I’m always up for a series that looks like it’s going to deal with the practical aspects of building and operating a giant robot.

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

BTOOOM!

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Battle Royale with bombs.

Characters

Sakamoto is one of the world’s top players of BTOOOM!, an online FPS whose distinguishing feature is that your only weapons are bombs (of various types : contact-triggered, timed, etc.). The downside to his virtual fame is that, well, he’s a bit of a complete loser : unemployed for two years and spending all his time in front of his computer. Bonus points for verbally abusing his poor mother, who has the audacity to keep trying to find him a job, any job. (He’s got his eye on an opening at the game company producing BTOOOM!, but if he really believes he has a chance, he’s deluding himself.)

One day, he wakes up stranded on a tropical island, without any clue as to how he got there. (An eventual flashback shows that MIB seem to be involved, always a bad sign). His starting inventory : his grocery shopping from just before he got abducted, a starting set of 8 timer bombs, and a jewel incrusted into his hand that seems to work a bit like the sonar feature in BTOOOM! (except a lot less accurate).

The first dude he meets on the island’s beach never bothers to introduce himself, and point blank refuses to explain what’s happening to the n00b. Instead, he just attacks our protagonist with impact-triggered bombs.

Later on, our hero stumbles on another participant, a girl washing herself in a small lake. I suspect she’s his briefly-mentioned in-game wife, although if this show has any sense of humour that was probably the earlier dude. Anyway, she doesn’t even get a line of dialogue yet ; the next-episode preview suggests it’s entirely devoted to her backstory. (Are we having rotating point-of-view characters ?)

Production Values

Perfectly alright, although the girl’s character design is very fanservice-y indeed. Let’s hope she doesn’t poke anyone’s eye out.

What did I think of it ?

How can you hate a show so refreshingly honest about its nature that it’s called “BTOOOM!” ? This is a thoroughly dumb premise that’s fodder for nicely tactical action sequences and lots of explosions. The unsubtle bits of social satire aren’t unwelcome, either.

Ontological mysteries can often get a bit silly, and with only 12 episodes for an still-ongoing manga I doubt we’ll be getting many answers, but so far I’m tentatively enjoying the ride.

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

Blast of the Tempest (Zetsuen no Tempest – The Civilization Blaster)

What’s it about ?

Conspiracy action thriller, with a dash of magic.

Characters

Yoshino, our viewpoint character. He seems to be a very ordinary high school student, leading a perfectly normal life (beaten up by the local bullies, etc.). He spends most of the episode being baffled by the increasingly crazier stuff happening around him. Which includes being held at gunpoint by…

“Evangeline Yamamoto, single, 28 year-old and currently unemployed” (one of her actual first lines of dialogue). Whoever she actually works for (she claims she’s just a concerned citizen acting independantly, but if you believe that I’ve got a bridge to sell you), she’s looking for…

Mahiro, Yoshino’s BFF, who disappeared a month ago. He got more and more agitated after his sister Aika got killed some months ago, especially as the police investigation is going nowhere. Which led him to become an apprentice to…

Hakaze, “one of the most talented mages in the world, even in [her] underwear” (actual monologue). One of the heirs of a powerful magic-using family, she was left stranded on a small desert island so she wouldn’t interfere with their plans. (So why not just kill her, especially as you expect her to starve to death anyway ?) She made contact with Mahiro through that old standard plot device, the message in a bottle.

I have no clue what the baddies are trying to achieve, but this somehow involves unleashing a plague upon the city that turns people into metal. (Fortunately, as a magic user Mahiro is immune, Yoshino and Evangeline were close enough to him to be protected too, and everyone Yoshino cares about – his parents and girlfriend – were conveniently out of town.) They also have a giant rock thingie emerge from the sea and float in the air, which somehow sprouts a huge eye.

Production Values

The visuals are quite good, as can be expected from Studio Bones. I’m not fond of the character designs, but they work.

I can’t decide whether the score is horribly misused or just crap ; it tries to be Dramatic! All! The! Time!, which really doesn’t work and makes the narrative’s sudden mood changes even more jarring.

What did I think of it ?

Wow, this is a complete mess. The dialogue is chronically terrible, as nearly everyone talks in exposition all the time. The pacing of the episode is horribly jumbled, with sudden timeline jumps and a general ordering of events which is plain bad storytelling (why have Hakaze narrate her contact with Mahiro instead of just showing it in a quick montage ?). The mood shifts don’t quite work either, with some of the slapstick material with Hakaze on her island not fitting well with the thousands of dead people in the city (not that the show seems to care about them).

And still… there are some intriguing ideas in there, not the least of which being the very well-executed twist at the end, putting a lot of what happened into question. I’m actually kinda interested in seeing where this is going.

Oh, fuck it. It’s got Miyuki Sawashiro (the only reason Hakaze still has any dignity after that underwear line) AND Hana Kanazawa (in full-on bitchy mode as Aika in the flashbacks). Of course I’m going to keep watching this, and complain all the time on how stupid and badly-plotted it is. Let’s this be my token trainwreck show of the season…

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

From the New World (Shinsekai Yori)

(25 episodes)

What’s it about ?

In the future, everyone gets telekinetic superpowers at puberty ! The consequences were so dire that the adults have set up a massive conspiracy (disguised as coming-of-age rituals and education) so that part of those powers get sealed off, and the most unstable kids get “disappeared”.

Characters

Saki, our protagonist. Her powers were late to bloom, so she joined the school-for-powered-kids after all her friends (a handy way to get some exposition out on her behalf). Not much in the way of a personality yet, aside from “somewhat scared”. (Which is a perfectly reasonable reaction in her position.)

Similarly, her friends fall into familiar categories (the quiet top student, the asshole loudmouth, the innocent guy, etc.) and don’t really stand out as characters yet. But then, this is an exposition-heavy first episode, and there’s 24 more for them to develop.

Saki’s parents aren’t really in a position to prevent the “disappearance” of their own daughter (the committee which oversees this is apparently quite autonomous). It really doesn’t help that Saki once overheard them talking about it.

Production Values

Quite good ; for some reason this is set in the countryside (did civilization take that much of a hit ?), and we are treated to some decent scenery porn on and off. The character designs are very generic but serviceable.

The direction is very good at creating a very toxic and paranoid atmosphere. It’s a bit rough around the edges, with sudden flashbacks often coming out of nowhere, but it helps building an oppressive mood. Especially effective is the opening scene depicting the emergence of superpowers in all its horror.

Overall Impression

This is quite promising. The setup isn’t particularly innovative, but it’s presented in such a way that it’s very creepy indeed. While most of the episode is centered about inoffensive-looking rituals, classes and slice-of-life scenes, the paranoia is slowly ramping up over the course of it.

The downside is that none of the kids really have any depth yet. Heck, Saki’s parent display more character and pathos in three minutes than the kids in the whole rest of the episode.

Still, that can be resolved later on, and at least this episode set the stage properly. I’m curious to see where it goes.

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

Gankutsuou – The Count of Monte Cristo

(24 episodes, 2004-2005)

My previous exposure

I first heard of this one through the president of my college anime club, who was a big fan of the artstyle. I think he even showed us the first episode. I never got around to actually watching the full thing it for ages, though, as I waited until I thought I’d be “ready”.

I’ve obviously heard of the basic plot through cultural osmosis, but I’ve never actually read the original doorstopper of a novel (or watched any of the numerous movie/TV adaptations). So I was mostly fresh on the actual plot twists the series had in reserve for me.

What’s it about ?

It’s the future, but conveniently society is basically the same as early-19th-century France (well, kinda, I’ll come back to it further down). Albert de Morcerf is the young naive heir of an up-and-coming politician, engaged to the daughter of a rich banker, and promised to a bright future… until he meets the eccentric Count of Monte-Cristo on the Moon. Little does he know that his newfound friend is actually out for a (very convoluted) revenge against the three men who wrong him 20 years ago… including Albert’s father.

Let’s be honest, the SF setting is just a parlour game, as one will try and guess how each element is transposed from the original context. But it’s also an excuse for the visuals to go marvellously insane. A duel will become a battle between giant armoured mecha… because why not, after all ? The show revels in its artificiality, using psychedelic images to make its story even more grandiose and baroque, as best exemplified by the use of unmoving elaborate textures to depict people’s clothes and hair. It will either burn your eyes or make you fawn over how pretty it is.

What did I think of it ?

I loved it, as you probably can tell by now. Not only is it gorgeous, but it never sacrifices the clarity of its storytelling. This is a very well-structured adaptation, with my only little qualm being that the Count’s plots take ages to actually go anywhere. But when they finally come to fruition, it makes all the build-up worth it.

It is interesting how little this adaptation cares about the Count’s past life as Edmond Dantès. He barely gets ten minutes of flashbacks very late on, as the strict minimum necessary to explain why he became the implacable vengeance machine known as the Count of Monte-Cristo. (Not the how, though, the series doesn’t care about that at all.) The Count himself is an antagonist throughout, with only token displays of hesitation while he tramples over the lives of innocents to get at his targets.

The focus here is clearly on Albert, which is a bit tiring at times given how much he’s a naive spoiled brat who takes a lot of time to distrust the dude who looks like a vampire. (Or heck, even be aware of how much many of the adults around him are scumbags.) But then, this is not a series for subtlety, and the core goal here is to display how the Count’s revenge wreaks havoc on innocents’ livelihood. Albert, as innocence personified, is the perfect incarnation of collateral damage. The storytelling choice of making the Count’s motives distant (and unrevealed until nearly the very end of the show) only adds to the monstrosity of his actions. Yes, those three assholes probably deserved punishment (not only for what they did to him, but also for their various other misdeeds later on), but the Count’s sweeping retaliatory action was always bound to provoke more future strife in an endless cycle of vengeance.

Perfectly illustrating the pointlessness of the Count’s actions, and looking great while doing so, this is a show well worth watching.

via [LTTP/WIW] Various anime from the 00s and beyond – Page 11.

UN-GO

(11 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Mystery series set in the near future.

Characters

Shinjuuro Yuuki, “the Defeated Detective”. He’s very good at his job, but gets involved in cases so politically sensitive that they tend to get covered up by the authorities (hence his nickname, as his successes never get publicized to the wider public).

Inga, his intense pint-sized sidekick. Or is it Inga, the tall and sexy woman he claims to be his “boss” and who can hypnotize anyone in giving one (and only one) truthful answer ? Obviously there’s something bizarre at work here…

Rinroku Kaishou, elite consultant in Justice affairs (among other stuff). Apparently in the future justice will be privatized and corrupted so that this dude can order the whole system around. Sure, he’s a talented sleuth, solving the whole case despite not even being on the scene (he’s a recluse), but he’s also the one announcing the cover-up in the same breath.

Rie Kaishou, our point of view character so far, daughter of the former, sent to a political gala in his stead because he can’t be bothered. She fancies herself as a good sleuth too (and invokes his authority until he barges in through video-conference), but she gets carried away by the first red herring…

Izumi Koyama, a prosecutor. She’s mostly superfluous in the proceedings (which she obviously seems to resent quite a bit), and is often reduced to helping some exposition along.

The case of the week involves a businessman who allegedly embezzled money from reconstruction efforts (“as you know, our country was recently at war with terrorists…”), and gets killed halfway through the costume gala he set up to try and clear his name.

Production Values

It’s Studio BONES, of course it looks good. I note that they somehow managed to dress half the cast in period 19th-century garb, eh. The character designs have a bit more style than their usual offerings (especially Inga, in both forms).

What did I think of it ?

Well, this is certainly a fast episode : it burns through a complete mystery plot (including two full-blown red herrings) and some extensive setting exposition at breakneck speed. While you do need to pay attention (in particular, the “description of character” overlays are a bit too fast), it never loses sight of clarity. While it’s hard to try and deduce the solution before it’s given (especially are some crucial data is shown too late because of screentime constraints), it’s still a decent mystery in itself, with some nice pieces of foreshadowing.

I’m a sucker for the mystery genre : of course I’m going to keep watching this. But the quality is quite good, and I’m intrigued by the setting and Inga’s weirdness. It also seems to be fully aware there are only 11 episodes available, and is paced appropriately, which is a good sign.

via [In which I review] New anime, Fall 2011 – Page 10.

Fantastic Children

(26 episodes, 2004-2005)

My previous exposure

Suggested in this thread.

What’s it about ?

Random young children all of the same age have pulled a disappearing act, suddenly turning albino and deciding to wear creepy dark cloaks. And it’s not the first time this happened, as similar disappearances happened every few decades for several centuries… and the children always look the same. Detective Cooks, officially in charge of investigating one of them (but really following up on his journalist grandfather’s investigations a century ago), follows their trace and discovers a mysterious government conspiracy that has figured out the kids are periodically reincarnating themselves, and is now trying to reproduce their death-defying technology. Said conspiracy is of course headed by yet another albino young man…

Meanwhile, the purported protagonist of the series, an athletic boy called Thoma, helps a young girl named Helga escape from her orphanage, and they loiter around on an island for a while. The link between this and the main plot is that the “fantastic children” are looking for Helga (actually another reincarnating-through-the-ages person), but they do such a crap job of it that it takes half the series for both threads to rejoin together.

And then we get the actual explanation for all this : all the reincarnating people are actually aliens, with the “fantastic children” being a team of scientists who sent the princess into Earth’s afterlife in a bid to save her after an assassination attempt, and are now trying to get her back to their princess. The albino dude masterminding the government conspiracy really works with the alien king’s evil brother. And so on.

What did I think of it ?

Oh, dear. How did this series manage to go so horribly wrong ?

Actually, no, I don’t think it went wrong. The problems are so deeply ingrained into the plot that it must have been planned that way from the start. Which boggles the mind, but it happens.

Let’s start with the positive : it’s a gorgeous series, with some spectacular work on the settings and very fluid animation. There are also nuggets of fascinating characterization for the “fantastic children”, struggling between the memories of their century-long mission and their latest upbringing as normal children. (Although having them fight actual monsters from the afterlife whenever their resolution falters is a bit too heavy-handed a metaphor.)

But whatever ambiguity the series had managed to build up in its first few episodes is destroyed by the reveal of the very simplistic backstory (to say nothing of the suspension-of-disbelief-killing decision to make Helga a bomb for the main bad guy to fight over). This is a very black-and-white series (in the sense that it has irredeemable bad guys, and good guys making obviously-wrong decisions that come back to bite their ass later). You’d think the taboo scientific field of exploring the afterlife would provide interesting conflict, but it quickly becomes an afterthought, a plot device for people to fight over (or whine that they should never have become involved in it).

The confused structure of the first half of the series exemplifies what’s wrong with it. Thoma, our supposed protagonist, gets into wacky hijinks with the orphanage escape that seem transplanted from a much more carefree story, and are frankly quite boring. The “fantastic children” do nothing besides running around ineffectively (and it quickly becomes obvious that they’ve been doing so for centuries). Detective Cooks’s thread is by far the more interesting, but it’s mostly a vehicle for exposition and just stops abruptly at the mid-series mark (his few token scenes after it just emphasize how irrelevant he’s become).

Darn, the premise sounded really interesting, but this show clearly had a completely different (and much more boring) story to tell. Too bad.

via [LTTP/WIW] Various anime from the 00s and beyond – Page 6.