Tag: manga adaptation

Nisekoi (“False Love”)

(26ish episodes)

What’s it about ?

High school romantic comedy. (Adapted from a manga series.)

Characters

Raku, our male lead, wants to become a honest and productive member of society. That’s a bit hard when he’s the heir of a yakuza gang and there are dozens of henchmen expecting him to succeed his crimelord of a father. (For now, those are family-friendly mobsters whose only visible mischiefs are feuds with other gangs, but that may change later on.) They do respect his wishes for the time being, but they sure hope he’s gonna change his mind.

Kosaki, the nice girl in his class. It’s heavily hinted that she owns the key to the locket he exchanged with his childhood love 10 years ago, and she’s been testing waters in attempts to confirm that… but actually, that’s so obvious I’m expecting some kind of swerve.

Chitoge, the new half-American transfer student. It’s antipathy at first sight ; it doesn’t help that she has a terrible personality and accidentally stepped onto his face while jumping the wall into the school. They do mellow a bit after a while (an evolution nicely underlined by chapter titles progressively shifting from calling her “Monkey Girl” to her actual first name). On the other hand, they’re both taken aghast when their respective fathers order them to (at least pretend to) be lovers for three years, in order to broker peace between the two gangs. Hence the title.

Production Values

It’s impossible to forget Akiyuki Shinbo & studio SHAFT are at the helm here : weird angles for shots, editing used as punctuation, text hidden in the background, the trademark head tilts, some great use of colour… heck, even Kouki Uchiyama often sounds like he’s doing a Hiroshi Kamiya impression.

It helps that the show has enough budget to animate lavishly the rare actions sequences. Nice music, too.

Overall Impression

Let’s not mince words : this series’ key selling point is the presentation. The plot and characters are serviceable, and there are some good jokes, but it’d be instantly forgettable in lesser hands. I’ve seen an interview of the manga creator being delighted that SHAFT would adapt his series, and I can believe it. This is way better than it deserves, if the series is as pedestrian as a quick browse through a few pages lets me think.

But while this is certainly a great-looking (and -sounding) anime series, it doesn’t really add up to anything. It’s still a generic romantic comedy with a formulaic hook. It’s not like, say, Sankarea, whose impressive execution added tons of atmosphere and edge. We’re firmly into well-trodden territory here.

But hey, I’m such a Shinbo fanboy I’ve watched through aggressively terrible SHAFT series (hello, Maria+Holic !) ; there’s no way I’m skipping this. After all, it’s perfectly okay.

via [In which I review] New anime, Winter 2014 – Page 5.

Hoozuki the Cool-headed (Hoozuki no Reitetsu)

(12ish episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a comedy manga about hell bureaucrats.

Characters

Hoozuki, our protagonist, is a key member of Hell’s administration ; more specifically, he’s the guy who’s dispatched everywhere to deal with whatever problematic situations arise. It’s way less glamorous than it sounds, as the complaints are usually petty and/or misdirected. Still, that’s his job, and he accomplishes with imperturbable (but always slightly irritated-sounding) phlegm.

King Enma of Hell, his boss, is completely overwhelmed by all the complaints addressed to him, and is all too happy to offload the whole of them onto his subordinate. He respects his competence, and spends the second half of the episode trying to make some small talk with him.

Momotarou, the Peach Boy, invades Hell in the first half to kill some demons, with his three animal sidekicks in tow. (If you’re not aware, killing demons was his shtick over in his tale.) He thinks himself a man with a mission, but really he’s just embarrassing himself, and his sidekicks are tired of his antics. Hoozuki deals with him with barely any use of violence.

(Apparently, each episode will feature two independent tales.)

Production Values

Well, it’s certainly got a distinctive artstyle, well-detailed and full of background jokes. It’s good at conveying how both alien and mundane Hell is, and that’s key for the joke to work.

Overall Impression

On an intellectual level, I appreciate what this series is doing. It’s got a decent joke at its core, the dialogue is witty, and it looks like nothing else being aired right now. I had every reason to want to like it.

Unfortunately, it’s Very Japanese Indeed : it relies heavily on folklore and pop-culture jokes I have no familiarity with. As it is, I just can’t connect with it, and enjoy it ; I’m going to have to give it a pass.

via [In which I review] New anime, Winter 2014 – Page 5.

Winter 2014 Capsules

Double Circle is quite a bizarre project. It spends most of its short screentime introducing its cast of quirky oddballs (that aren’t too interesting yet), until the reveal that they’re actually a sentai hero team. This is quite a gear change, to put it mildly. Apparently this series was produced by Toshiba to promote its clean-energy and environment-friendly projects ; that it’s barely visible in the final product might speak of a core problem. Anyway, it’s fairly generic and the irregular release schedule makes it pretty sure to fall off my radar by the time the next episode is out.

Pupipo! is more conventional stuff. This manga adaptation tells the story of a gloomy girl who’s the only one who can see the many ghosts surrounding her. Presumably they stick around her because she’s the only one who can interact with them ; unfortunately, they’re quite jealously demanding her attention, and she has to fend off any attempts from kids her age trying to be friends with her, lest they get attacked. This understandably puts a crimp onto her social life. This all changes one day when (1) she meets a girl too stupid and stubborn to back off like everyone else, and (2) she finds “Po”, a mysterious creature that looks like a fuzzy pink ball and is scary enough to make the ghosts start behaving a bit.

It’s a standard coming-of-age story, clearly aimed at young girls ; but it’s decently done, and quite good at developing its atmosphere. The gloomy protagonist has a striking design, as well. And it’s short enough not to overstay its welcome ; I could quite see myself sticking with it for the whole season.

via [In which I review] New anime, Winter 2014.

Okay, I tried watching Future Card Buddyfight, but there’s only so much I can stand from a blatant cardgame advertisement. Everyone gushing about how awesome Buddyfight is ? Check. The whole world revolving around it, to the point that this cop offers a criminal a choice between surrender, and duelling him at a cardgame ? Check. School classes that include unpacking new cards at the start of the lesson ? Okay, that’s a new one for me, but whatever. Blatant token introductions for a dozen of bit characters that are obviously going to be featured later on ? Par for the course.

Sigh, I’m just not in the market for this. It actually looks quite fine, and there are some decent jokes, but I just can’t get any enthusiasm into watching this. The two annoying protagonists (good samaritan kid and his new dragon-buddypet that just can’t stop complaining about everything) just get on my nerves way too much.

via [In which I review] New anime, Winter 2014 – Page 2.

I tried, but I just can’t gather the will to write at length about Robot Girls Z. It’s a very gimmicky show (mecha-girls patterned after mecha from vintage shows such as Mazinger Z) that falls completely flat for me. I have no nostalgia for those old series (they were before my time), and the actual machines are what I find the least interesting in that genre anyway ; crossing them with moe girls doesn’t help. And it’s not like these shorts really do anything with the premise aside from pure fanservice.

via [In which I review] New anime, Winter 2014 – Page 4.

Strange+ is yet another of those shorts adapting a gag manga. (Not a 4-panel one, though.) It follows the wacky hijinks of a team of “detectives”, and while it’s far from subtle, it did get a few laughs out of me. It looks terrible, but that’s par for the course for this kind of thing.

I know some of you were waiting for my take on pupa, but what is there to say ? I already had an inkling of what I was in for, and anyway the first episode barely gets anywhere, what with clocking at barely four minutes long. For what it’s worth, it’s a straightforward horror series about a girl who gets transformed into a cannibalistic monster ; we don’t even get to the part where she starts eating her brother. Still, it’s good at building atmosphere, and that’s what really matters. I’ll probably keep watching to see where it goes.

Z/X Ignition is a full-length show, but it was so boring I literally fell asleep halfway through ; and I have no wish whatsoever to try rewatching it to get a better sense of the plot. From what I can gather, a bunch of dark portals appeared all over the world, spawned monsters and “destroyed civilization” ; somehow civilization seems mostly fine a few years later, with some people having somehow domesticated monsters. There’s a lot of impenetrable exposition about monster classification and so on, because of course this is adapted from a card game.

To be honest, I have no clue whatsoever which of the characters I’m supposed to be rooting for. They’re all very generic, I seem to have missed out the part where their motivations get explained. Not even a lead role for Miyuki Sawashiro (whom I’ve surprisingly heard nowhere else this season) can make me pay attention to this crap.

via [In which I review] New anime, Winter 2014 – Page 5.

D-Fragments!

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a comedy manga about one of those high school clubs that don’t do much of anything.

Characters

Kazama, our male lead, is a Delinquent. He’s even got a posse named after him (with an ugly short fat dude, and a tanned hunk who may be partially foreign). On the other hand, they’re way more talk than actual action, and it’s even joked later on that there are far more prominent delinquent group in this school anyway. Really, Kazama is more the straight man than anything here.

Roka is a small girl who’s the head of the Game-Making-Club. Who don’t actually create any games (they just play around), and don’t even have the required number of members for the club to survive. So obviously she’s desperate to find new members, by any means necessary. The joke here is that each of the members patterns themselves after an element ; Roka wields “fire” (read : moe) as a weapon. And when that doesn’t work, she can fall back on her alternate type : Darkness.

Other members : Sakura, who’s Water (read : waterboarding) ; Minami, who uses Thunder (with a taser) ; and Chitose, who’s Earth mostly by virtue of having her hands dirty when she punches people. They’ve actually got a bit more depth beyond that ; I won’t spoil the joke with Minami, but Chitose managed to get elected Student Council President, apparently by beating up everyone else to submission. Why this devious mastermind is slumming it with such a club remains to be elaborated.

Ataru used to be part of Kazama’s group of friends, except he stayed a straight arrow and is now the Student Council Vice-President. Er, the “straight arrow” part shouldn’t be taken at face value : he looks to be as much of a pervert as the lot of them, if not bigger. At the very least, he’s very attracted to Chitose, and it’s obvious what their rivalry is really about.

Production Values

Quite good ; the action sequences are animated fluidly, and the director knows how to set up atmosphere for a throwaway gag.

Overall Impression

Well, crap : I found this hilarious. It’s got some impressive comedic timing indeed, and more than one joke. It helps that it’s got characters with actual personalities, served by some great voice-acting. (In particular, Hana Kanazawa as Roka is a riot.) And it’s just very funny. I have no clue whether it can sustain itself for three months, but I’m game for it.

This is the very reason why I try out everything : it’s a kind of unassuming gem I could have let pass by otherwise.

via [In which I review] New anime, Winter 2014 – Page 4.

Nobunagun

(13 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of an action manga series that defies any kind of one-line summary.

Characters

Shio, our protagonist, is a quirky high-school girl with hints of chuunibyou. At the very least, she’s a military nerd, and has no friends whatsoever. Also, she gets weird dreams where she’s Oda Nobunaga (as a middle-aged dude with a mustache), which she’s completely nonplussed about.

Kaoru is the one girl in her class that makes repeated attempts at befriending the weird loner during the class trip to Taiwan. (Why do I get the nagging feeling there’s more to her than can be taken at face value ?)

A giant monster invader from space, who suddenly interrupts all this riveting high school drama by landing close by and killing tons of people.

“Jack the Ripper”, or at least one of his distant descendants who’s part of Earth’s first response team, and somehow can channel the bloodline of his ancestor to summon a super-weapon. Unfortunately, he’s underestimated the Invader (what do you mean there were hundreds of smaller ones inside ?), and his backup are still on their way. Oops.

Fortunately, it turns out that Shio is a descendant of Nobunaga, and can use Jack’s macguffin to summon her own weapon : the Nobuna-Gun. Witness her glee as she coins that so-terrible-it’s-awesome pun ! She’s going to enjoy this.

Production Values

Very fun to look at ; the first half has scores of random annotations that quickly set the scene and are funny on their own right, and the second half makes some great use of colour to enhance the atmosphere and underline the action.

Overall Impression

Well, this is definitely a series that knows how to build up its rampant insanity. It knows what it’s doing, and how to make it as impactful as possible.

… On the other hand, I have a hard time caring ; I can’t connect with anyone but Shio, and even then that’s not enough for me to stick with the series. I’m sorry, it’s not you, it’s me.

via [In which I review] New anime, Winter 2014 – Page 3.

My Neighbour Seki (Tonari no Seki-kun)

(12ish 8-minute episodes ?)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a gag manga.

Characters

Seki is a high-school boy who does anything but pay attention in class ; this episode, he builds an impressive chain of dominoes with dozens of erasers, and other various stationery.

Yokoi, our point-of-view character, sits right next to him ; she’s both bemused and fascinated by her neighbour’s antics. And of course it’s always her who gets chastised for not paying attention.

Production Values

Not very good, but it’s well-directed enough to sell the jokes.

Overall Impression

From what I understand, the manga features endless variations of the same basic joke. But it’s a good joke, and 8 minutes is the right duration to give each iteration the room to breathe, without outliving its welcome.

It made me laugh, and I’m up for more of the same.

via [In which I review] New anime, Winter 2014 – Page 3.

Noragami

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Urban fantasy action-comedy, adapted from a manga series.

Characters

Yato, our protagonist, is a god. Admittedly, not one of the big leagues : he’s a vagrant god with no dedicated shrine and barely any followers. But he’s ambitious, so he’s eager to answer the prayers of the rare people calling to him to try and build his fanbase. His “missions” include anything from purging the nefarious ghosts haunting various place, to finding a lost cat.

Tomone, his partner, is a magical blade who’s very efficient at dispatching ghosts. Unfortunately, she’s about had it with her master’s hobo lifestyle, and leaves him without even a month’s notice. How rude.

Hiyori used to be an ordinary high school girl before crossing Yato’s path… no, wait, scratch that, she was already a bit weird even before that. Still, her life completely changes when she’s hit by a truck while trying to push Yato out of the way (not that he even needed the help), and she’s now half-dead. Basically, her soul randomly leaves her body from time to time. Obviously she doesn’t enjoy the situation, but it’s not like Hato has any clue whether she can even be made “normal” again. Still, if she makes the token 5-yen offering, he’ll be happy to look into it…

Production Values

Pretty good, as you’d expect from Studio Bones. The ghosts are creepy as heck, and the action sequences are well-directed.

Overall Impression

This was perfectly okay. It’s got a decent premise, with some fun world-building, and some very good comedic timing. A lot depends on how much you can bear with Yato, who’s a bit of a cocky brat ; but Hiyori is a good foil for him, and they play well together.

I’m probably going to give it a couple more episodes to see where it goes ; but I’m not sure I’ll stick with it, as this is a busy season for me… Oh, wait, Taku Iwasaki is doing the score. Well, that settles it : I’m in.

via [In which I review] New anime, Winter 2014 – Page 3.

Recently, my sister is unusual. (ImoCho – Saikin, Imouto no Yousu ga Chotto Okashiinda ga.)

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

It’s a light novel manga adaptation with an absurdly long title with the word “imouto” in it : you know what to expect.

Actually, no, you don’t. Brace yourselves.

Characters

Yuuya, the male lead. His father has just remarried, and new!Mom comes with a stepsister in tow. Oh, and both parents bugger off to India the next day for work reasons, so the two new siblings will be left alone together in the house. Yuuya’s not thrilled about this, to put it mildly. But since he’s a boring generic guy, he mostly takes it in stride. Forget about him, he’s not really the protagonist anyway.

Mitsuki, said new stepsister, whose behaviour looks very erratic until you start seeing her perspective. No, she’s not randomly assaulting her brother and then immediately backing the hell off due to regret or whatever : those incestuous “episodes” actually happen whenever she’s possessed by a ghost fairy. No, seriously.

Hiyori, said fairy, is hugely attracted to Yuuya, whom she calls “big brother” for some unexplained reason. She comes in tow with a magical chastity belt which is now permanently affixed to Mitsuki, to her great displeasure. (And to her distress, as she wastes her “three-minute-open-per-hour” window just before having to go to the toilet. Cue five minutes of embarrassment “comedy” until the episode mercifully ends.)

There are various other side characters making appearances, presumably to be fleshed out later. You know a series commits to a theme when even the token teacher drones a lesson about the etymology of the world “imouto” and how it relates to incest.

Production Values

Considering how many shots focus on Mitsuki wearing the chastity belt, you won’t be surprised for there to be some heavy (if playful) censorship. Still, there’s no mistaking what happens in the scene where Hiyori sexually assaults Mitsuki (and masturbates while possessing her body), so this is definitely a NSFW softcore porn show.

Besides that, it doesn’t look half bad. I’m not sure what’s going on in the ED sequence, though, as it looks like a completely different show. (Hiyori fantasizing about Yuuya, maybe ?)

Overall Impression

Well, this is quite a rollercoaster. Whatever you may thing about it, this is certainly one of the most creative incest-bait show I’ve ever watched. Not only is the premise completely bonkers, but it tackles it headlong and runs with its lunacy. It’s never boring, I’ll grant it that.

I’m almost tempted to keep watching just for the trainwreck factor, but then I remember that I’m already watching too many shows, and there’s plenty actually promising stuff upcoming in the next few days.

via [In which I review] New anime, Winter 2014 – Page 2.

Witch Craft Works

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

You know those light novel adaptations about girls falling into a boring protagonist’s lap, with a generic fantasy setting ? Well, this isn’t one of the many ones we’re getting this season ; it’s actually adapted from a manga series. But it sure fooled me.

Characters

Takamiya, our generic high-school-student male lead. You can see this is adapted from a light novel because he’s constantly narrating or monologuing, when he should really just shut up and let the story happen. There’s certainly absolutely nothing of interest in his commentary. To the point that it’s a relief when a building drops onto him.

Kagari, the girl sitting next to him in class. She’s ridiculously popular, with a humongous fanclub stalking her, and bullying Takamiya when he gets a bit too close to her by accident. She also looks permanently zoned out, never letting any emotion show on her blank face. Also, he learns that she’s sticking close to him on purpose, so as to protect him from magical attacks. You see, he’s Important ; he’s to be her “Princess”. (Yes, you read that right. He has no clue what the heck either.) Also, she’s a Fire Witch, and quite a powerful one.

Kuraishi, the catgirl witch behind the attacks. She deals with illusion magic, so unfortunately a building didn’t really drop onto Takamiya. On the other hand, she can also command armies of armoured rabbit dolls, or whatever those hordes are. Kagari makes short work of those, but they do look quite threatening until then.

The attacker wasn’t actually a student in this school, but she transfers in at the end, together with four others who look just as antagonistic.

Production Values

Wow, there’s quite a bit of budget here ; the fights looks very good indeed. The visuals for the hordes of rabbits are a lot of fun (and there’s quite some attention to detail to give each some personality), and there are also nice visual gags for the bullying shots. The soundtrack is very good, too : the score is very atmospheric indeed.

Overall Impression

Hmm. I was planning to give this a pass, because seriously this story is the kind of generic crap we get several times over each season. But the directing is impressive enough to make me take notice ; it’s a great-looking and -sounding package.

Against my better judgement, I’m going to give it a second episode.

via [In which I review] New anime, Winter 2014.

Yozakura Quartet: Hana no Uta

(13 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Yet another urban fantasy story, but at least it’s more of an ensemble piece than usual.

This seems to be either a remake or a prequel for the original Yozakura Quartet series (that I haven’t seen) ; that allows it to narrowly bypass my usual “no sequels” rule.

Characters

Hime, who may or may not be the leader of this teenage group, and somehow holds the title of “Mayor” of this town (with beleaguered adult attendant in tow). So far, that mostly means being in charge of organizing this festival. She’s a normal human being, although quite good with a quaterstaff.

Kotoha, on the other hand, is half-youkai. She’s clearly the most powerful of the lot, as her voice can make any object materialize out of thin air. Also, she’s voiced by Miyuki Sawashiro, and thus awesome.

Ao is a blue-haired catgirl with not-very reliable divination powers (not much good at giving a picture of a lost little girl’s parents). On the other hand, she’s quite adept at jumping around all other.

Akina is the one dude in their group, and claims to be a normal human (I have no clue whether the light show he can put out is all trickery or actual powers). He’s manning the lost kids desk for the festival.

The plot involves a mysterious guy wreaking havoc on the festival by… making the goldfish gigantic. Apparently it’s a test to take the measure of our heroes.

Production Values

Not too flashy, but with some meticulous care for body language. Cool eyecatches, too.

Overall Impression

The immediate question : does this stand on its own, or is it impenetrable for the newbie ? The good news : it works quite well at establishing the characters, even if I’m a bit hazy about what the actual premise is (besides there being this town where humans and youkai coexist happily). And there’s a very good twist after the credits.

I’m starting to have some sleep issues by now (marathoning these reviews is taking its toll), and this is one of the shows suffering from it. But I can clearly recognize it’s well-put together and deserves more of my time.

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