Tag: heroic-fantasy

Insect Magistrate (Mushibugyou)

(25ish episodes)

What’s it about ?

Shounen heroic-fantasy show, set in a vaguely Edo-ish Japan.

Characters

Jinbee, our protagonist. His father, a renowned samurai, was summoned to work for the Insect Magistrate’s office ; but since he got disgraced and maimed in an infamous incident, the son has come in his place. He’s eager to prove himself, although he’s not exactly too competent.

A pair of boobs, who may be attached to an inn waitress called Oharu who helps Jinbee out before becoming a damsel in distress.

The Insect Magistrate’s office is made of a stern-looking guy who’s in charge, and a variety of elite fighters with various specialties (the bomb expert, the berserker…). Their job : fight the giant monstrous bugs that are randomly attacking and eating people all over the place. The implication is that a good chunk of the population died before the authorities set this squad up. (Apparently at the people’s suggestion, because there was no obvious need for it… /facepalm)

Production Values

Bright and shiny, which stands in sharp contrast to the grittiness of the scenes involving the bugs. I’m not really sure the juxtaposition works, though. It just looks like a bit of a mess.

Overall Impression

A textbook example of how you can make elite samurai warriors fighting bugs utterly boring. The complete lack of depth of the characters makes this a very shallow watch indeed, and it’s really hard to care when they get caught up in danger. It’s a parade of annoying clichés, and it just doesn’t work.

Don’t bother with this one.

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2013 – Page 10.

Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyoujin)

(25ish episodes)

What’s it about ?

Dark heroic-fantasy.

Characters

Eren, our kid protagonist. He really wants to join the Recon Corps and explore the world beyond the gigantic walls humanity is confined in, but most people think this is a very stupid dream. (Well, Daddy, who’s somebody Important, acknowledges that’s it’s pointless to try and dissuade him.)

Coincidentally, the Recon Corps have just come back from their latest expedition, and they’re far fewer than when they left, those who did come back are in a sorry state, and their commander openly recognizes that they’ve accomplished nothing of value, ever. No wonder most people think they’re a stupid idea.

Mikasa, Eren’s childhood friend. She too thinks that joining the Recon corps is a stupid idea, and I get the impression she’s sabotaging his efforts for his own sake. She’s always looking out for him when he gets in trouble ; bullies run away when they see her, and considering she can lift and carry Eren without breaking a sweat, I can see their point.

Armin, their friend. He holds the not-very-popular opinion that humanity pretty much has to go outside the walls anyway, and that people are just kidding themselves when they think they’ll be protected forever.

He’s instantly proved right when the wall is breached by what everyone’s so afraid of : the Titans, gigantic humanoid monsters that prey on humanity. For a hundred years the 50-meter-high walls have been enough to keep them out so that everyone can live in “peace”, but now there’s one that’s taller than the outer wall. Crap. The city near the wall immediately falls.

Hanneth, a city guard, who was liking it better when he was a glorified wall repairer and drunk “parasite on society” ; but fuck it, this is his job, so he’s going to attack the nearest Titan. Then he realizes that he’s facing alone a 5-meter-tall monstruosity, reconsiders, and starts enacting Eren’s mother’s dying wish : get him and Mikasa the hell away from the slaughter.

Production Values

Holy shit, budget ! The soldiers in this setting use grappling hooks to scour the cities and the forests like they’re Spider-Men, and boy do the few snippets we get of this kind of action look impressive. This is a show with gorgeous animation and attention to detail… except in those few jarring scenes where they’ve ran out of money and it’s just still images.

Overall Impression

Was someone asking for non-generic, non-terrible heroic-fantasy ? Well, the jury’s still out on whether this is actually good, but at least it builds a distinctive atmosphere and avoids most of the old tired clichés. And it does pull off the visuals needed to back its ambitions, as the Titans are depicted with a sense of scale and weight that sells them as a monstrous, unstoppable threat, despite just being tall dudes who advance slowly.

Now, if there’s one thing I’m a bit wary about, it’s that this is a dead-serious show whose high-strung melodrama sometimes devolves into bathos ; most of the time the atmosphere works, but there are times when it gets a bit too overdone and silly. Hopefully it’s going to find the right balance soon ; probably once humanity start striking back.

This is clearly one of the few shows with ambition this season, and I’m looking forward to see where it goes from this kick-in-the-gut start.

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2013 – Page 8.

Zettai Bouei Leviathan

(13-ish episodes ?)

What’s it about ?

Heroic-fantasy with cute girls.

Characters

Leviathan, who’s probably supposed to be the protagonist given that her name is in the title, but doesn’t really do much. Water magic caster. Slightly awkward and bumbling. She has one objective : finding out what happened to her brother. Which means that she’s “investigating” places like the local tavern and that she’s not leaving her hometown.

Syrup, a small fairy who is trying to gather a force to tackle the demonic invasion that supposedly hitched a ride on a recently-crashed meteor, but is completely failing to convince anyone to join. (Nobody seems to believe or care about this invasion, although the local sheriff is quietly sending a small taskforce to investigate.) It doesn’t help that she runs off her mouth a bit too much.

Bahamut, fire magic user with a temper. Has the uncanny ability to stir trouble up wherever she goes.

Jormungandr, who seems to use actual weapons instead of magic. Usually quiet, but do not provoke her.

All of them didn’t know each other and meet in the aforementioned tavern ; predictably, it doesn’t survive the episode… Oh, wait, they actually all met in an earlier scene where they fought a level 1 alien mook and then all walked off without a word for each other.

Production Values

I was bracing myself for a fanservice-fest, but this is actually quite mild. Skimpy outfits, sure, gratuitous transformation sequences, of course, but the camera is surprisingly restrained.

Not that it looks very good : it’s very generic character designs, with elvish ears added to everyone.

Overall Impression

Welcome to the void, where shallow characters in a paint-by-number heroic-fantasy setting steadfastly refuse to engage into anything resembling a plot. This is just incredibly boring on every level.

Don’t bother wasting your time on this one.

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2013 – Page 7.

The Devil is a Part-Timer (Hataraku Maou-sama)

(13 episodes)

What’s it about ?

When his demonic forces are about to get overwhelmed by the human army and their Hero, the Demon Lord decides it’s better to turn tail and flee to a parallel universe, i.e. our Earth. While he’s recovering his strength, he takes a part-time job at the local McDonald’s knock-off. Cue hijinks.

Characters

Satan, the Demon King. After the initial culture shock, he’s actually adapting very quickly to this world. He’s retained a little bit of his magic after entering this non-magical world, but he has no clue how to replenish it and has to use his reserves cautiously, only for emergencies such as obtaining proper papers with low-grade hypnosis or fixing the French fries cooking machine.

Alshiel, his minion. Satan had other generals, but Alshiel was the one who opened to portal to Earth and came with him. Clearly this wasn’t a plan with much thought behind it. He’s spending most of his time at the public library searching for a way to restore their magic. He’s getting a bit worried about Satan going native and forgetting about why they came here.

The supporting cast is rounded up by a couple of Satan’s coworkers : his sardonic boss, and the clumsy cute girl.

Also, he randomly bumps into the Hero on his way home from work. Wait, what ? That’s the cliffhanger, obviously.

Production Values

Wow, budget ! This looks way too good for a forgettable comedy show. The animation is superb, the soundtrack is very good, and the opening 5-minute heroic-fantasy battle scene is a sight to behold.

What did I think of it ?

Well, it’s reasonably funny. It’s a decent joke, sold by characters and direction that play the premise dead straight to increase the comedy value. It’s not a laugh-a-minute riot, but it mostly works.

I’m going to keep watching this one, I think.

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2013 – Page 4.

Hakkenden: Eight Dogs of the East (Hakkenden: Touhou Hakken Ibun)

(13 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Yet another adaptation of the classic 19th-century Japanese epic novel. Supposedly about 8 half-brother werewolves, although only one shows up yet and there’s plenty of other fantasy lifeforms around.

Characters

Shino, one of three siblings who survived a dire accident years ago by contracting with supernatural beings. The younger boy, his body has absorbed a mythical sword that transforms into a talking bird… er, yeah. Anyway, he’s the impulsive brat of the lot.

Sousuke is the elder brother, and contracted with a wolf he can transform into. He’s the reasonable one, consulting with elders about the plot.

Hamaji, the girl, has two roles in this episode : she’s a terrible cook, and she gets captured by the evil Church.

Production Values

Perfectly okay, with some decent designs for the creatures, but very boring human character designs.

What did I think of it ?

As I said before, I fell asleep while watching this the first time around. After a rewatch, I can’t say there’s anything wrong with it per se, aside from very pedestrian execution (and old-fashioned gender politics). It’s just utterly unexciting.

I’ll pass.

via [In which I review] New anime, Winter 2013 – Page 5.

MAOYU – The Dark Lord and the Hero (Maoyuu Maou Yuusha)

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Heroic fantasy mixed with economics.

Characters

The Hero, champion of the human realms in their war against the demons. He’s in such a hurry to defeat the Dark Lord that he runs towards the Evil Castle, leaving his usual party members behind. He’s very gung-ho about the whole thing until he actually meets…

The Dark Lord, who’s really a gentle young woman, and has no desire to fight whatsoever. She’s sick of the war and would rather they find a way to end it together (well, that, and she’s smitten by the legendary dashing young man). Her death/capture/whatever would solve nothing, as there are way too many vested interests on both sides to keep the war going (cue a comprehensive lecture to a bemused Hero about the subject). They’re going to need to be more clever than that…

(In case you’re wondering, nobody in this show has any name beyond their role ; for example the Hero’s party comprises, beyond him, of the Female Knight, the Magician and the Old Archer.)

Production Values

One could have expected the worst from studio Arms, who have barely contributed to anything of worth since Elfen Lied nearly a decade ago, but did produce the likes of Queen’s Blade, Ikki Tousen and various porn OVAs. Well, while the camera is very interested in the Dark Lord’s huge tracts of land indeed, the fanservice level remains quite tame ; there’s nothing too egregious on that level.

Actually, this does look quite good. The backgrounds are quite good-looking (although the CG scenes look a bit awkward, especially that spinning battlefield one with the Hero’s party left behind), and the animation of the Dark Lord’s body language is very good indeed.

Overall Impression

They had me at “Jun Fukuyama & Ami Koshimizu flirting while talking about economics”, a formula with some pedigree indeed.

Now, this is a rough first episode. The (deliberately generic) backstory is rushed through in a terse narration infodump so that we can get to the one scene that matters, with our two leads meeting. This makes the Dark Lord’s infatuation come a bit out of nowhere, although the episode does manage to eventually sell it by its end. Similarly, the Hero’s final decision feels a bit too quick.

But that’s nitpicking. The two main voice actors make a very convincing job of quickly fleshing out their characters beyond the stated archetypes, while exuding tons of charisma throughout. (I had no clue you could display any charisma while spending the whole episode entirely baffled. Jun Fukuyuma somehow pulls it off.)

Also promising : the economics described here paint a very detailed picture of the human realms (the Dark Lord is more vague about the demon side of the equation) that makes perfect sense and feels impressively real. I’m eager to see what other aspects further episodes are going to explore. It certainly makes the stakes quite high from the get-go, and I wonder what the Dark Lord is planning to do. (The title for the second episode is… most intriguing.)

So. There are bits that don’t quite work. (By the way, why exactly is the Magician spouting the same catch-phrase as her voice-actress’s character in Smile Precure, of all things ?) But there are a lot that do work, including the show’s main selling points (the economics and the relationship between the two leads). So on balance I’m quite happy with continuing to watch this.

via [In which I review] New anime, Winter 2013 – Page 2.

Fall 2012 capsules

I have no clue what all the fuss about Hayate the Combat Butler! Can’t Take My Eyes Off You “not being a sequel” was about, because it’s totally the same series continuing. No reboot, just more adventures in about the same setup. I don’t know where this falls chronologically, but it’s not like Hayate ever cared much about continuity before. Anyway, it’s still a perfectly okay gag series, without the self-indulgence of the recent movie (which nearly made me lose all interest in the franchise).

I’m not sure what to make of the Lytchee Light Club shorts. It’s about a sadistic high school secret society, the joke being that they kinda suck at being sadistic. Okay so far, but can it carry 26ish episodes, however short they are ?

I’m also torn on the Wooser’s Hand-to-Mouth Life shorts. On the one hand, it’s barely mildly funny. On the other hand, I always have time for Mamoru Miyano as a “cute” animal making pompous monologues.

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

Some quick other notes :

The second season of Bakuman had a great opening episode, which was immediately mitigated by the second one jumping back to the tepid and sexist romance the series occasionally features. Well, you’ll be glad to see that the third season skips right past to the sexist bits. Hopefully it’ll go away quickly, as it always does, but that’s not an auspicious start.

I refuse to give a full review for the Teekyuu shorts. It has terrible-looking Flash animation (that seems to go out of its way to make my eyes bleed), and none of the “jokes” work. Avoid with prejudice.

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

I’m not going to bother with a full writeup for Aoi Sekai no Chuushin de. In theory, it’s a fantasy fighting show where the characters are based on classic console franchises (with the main factions being the kingdoms of Sega & Nintendo). In practice, the gimmick stops at some characters’ names, and I couldn’t discern any jokes related to the premise. Or any jokes period : it’s a straight fantasy fighting show that takes itself dreadfully seriously and ends up being utterly boring. It’s obvious the producers have welded the high-concept onto a completely unrelated show just to give it a selling point. If you’ve been planning to check it out for the novelty value, don’t bother.

(Also, the schedule seems to be “one episode every few months”, so you’ll probably have completely forgotten about it by the time episode #2 airs.)

via [In which I review] New anime, Fall 2012 – Page 10.

Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic

What’s it about ?

A fresh take on the Arabian Nights.

Characters

Alibaba is our point-of-view character through most of the episode. At this stage, he’s a snivelling coward barely ekking out a living. (Yuuki Kaji should voice more snivelling cowards, as he’s very good at it.) Still, he’s got some shreds of decency left under the smarm.

One day he meets Aladdin, a strange kid who was eating his merchandise. Kiddo’s got an awesome flute that summons a giant powerful djinn, but he only uses it when Alibaba shows some spine and does the right thing.

Our villain of the week is Budel, a generic evil merchant and slaver Alibaba is initially working his debts off for. Of more interest is his boss Jamil, who exudes more charisma in a single minute of screentime than his underling over the whole episode. Presumably he’s going to be important.

There’s also a redhead slave that our heroes make token efforts to break free throughout the episode. In a dark bit that I hope is intentional, they completely forget about her at the end as they ride towards the sunset.

The overall plot involves “Dungeons”, big inexplicable towers full of traps and treasure that are sprinkled all over the place. Aladdin found his flute in one of them, and wants to “free” more of those djinn containers. Alibaba’s perfectly happy to tag along with the kid, because treasure ! (And it’s probably safer to stay with the kid who managed to successfully infiltrate one of those.)

Production Values

I’m not too keen on the way our heroes’ face contort round when the show goes for comedy, but it can’t be denied that it’s not afraid to use distinctive character designs.

What did I think of it ?

This is fun. It takes a while to hit its stride, but there are some nice gags, the stakes are reasonably high, and Aladdin’s use of his deus-ex-machina djinn feels appropriate enough.

I’m game for more.

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

Ixion Saga: Dimensional Transfer

(24 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Loser gamer is somehow sucked into a fantasy RPG world. The usual jokes ensue.

Characters

Kon, an avid MMORPG player who suddenly gets sucked into the game (or something) after falling for a honey trap. The guy is a despicable moron, and only survives the episode from a combination of dumb luck and dumb luck.

He stumbles upon the adventuring party of Ecarlate, very young princess chased by the baddies ; Sainglain, badass sword-wielding knight ; and Mariandale, gun-wielding maide… wait, that’s a dude ? HOW ?

It’s never properly explained why the baddies want to prevent Ecarlate from reaching her destination and marrying the prince of whatever, but it’s not like this series cares about the details much. It seems much more concerned about making horribly bad puns, such as the Big Bad’s initials being short for “erectile dysfunction”. (Also, the “DT” series acronym is apparently also short for Kon’s virgin status.)

Production Values

Remember how I said before that Brain’s Base bring a baseline of quality to every project they touch ? Well, this is the exception. It looks like crap throughout, and the fact that it’s probably on purpose isn’t an excuse.

What did I think of it ?

Sleep deprivation must be making strange things to my taste, because I don’t immediately want to drop this, despite the shoddy production values, the lame story and the stale jokes. Am I so easily amused by Jun Fukuyama playing a drag-queen with gusto ? Or is it just the basic lampooning of RPG clichés as our “heroes” beat up everyone in sight so that they can take their stuff ?

Despite my better judgment, I’m at least giving it a second episode.

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

The Ambition of Oda Nobuna (Oda Nobuna no Yabou)

(12ish episodes ?)

What’s it about ?

Gender-swapped sengoku warlords, because there must be one of those in every season.

Characters

Yoshiharu, our generic male lead. The narrative wastes no time and has him already thrown to the past (or whatever parallel world this is) by the episode’s start. The gimmick here is that he’s an avid player of videogames set in the Sengoku era, and can thus predict just about everything that’s going to happen. Well, aside from the fact that nearly every single major character is now a girl. Anyway, he stumbles on Hideyoshi getting killed way ahead of schedule, and has to take his place and become the servant of…

Oda Nobuna, our female lead, just starting on her quest to conquer the whole of Japan (and beyond). It’s a bit painful to see her reduced to a generic tsundere.

… But not less painful than seeing some of the other major historical figures now being 10-year-old (at best) girls that can barely speak ye olde Japaneseth. Urgh.

For some reason, Saitou Dousan is still a dude. Presumably he won’t matter beyond this first episode.

Production Values

Perfectly okay ; it’s always a shame to see the budget wasted on those things.

Overall Impression

Terrible. It’s a weak concept that’s been done before, and better. (Seriously, even Sengoku Otome was better executed than this.) None of the characters have any charisma and the protagonist’s gimmick kills any suspension of disbelief you might have (seriously, how the heck do exactly the same events keep happening despite the obvious differences in the setting ?).

Don’t bother with this one.

via [In which I review] New anime, Summer 2012 – Page 11.