Tag: manga adaptation

Crying Freeman

(6 52-minute OVA, 1988 to 1994)

My previous exposure :
I stumbled on the first three episodes while channel-surfing on late-night TV as a young’un (despite being somewhat under the advised age). It left quite an impression, to the point that I’m now revisiting it properly despite it being quite outside my advertised preferred time period. Oh, well.

What’s it about ?

The assassin codenamed Crying Freeman used to be an ordinary Japanese potter until he stumbled onto proof of the Chinese Mafia’s bad deeds, and was foolish enough to take them on. The organization (called “the 108 dragons”) in retaliation brainwashes him into the ultimate assassin, leaving him the only freedom of crying in despair after he kills someone. (The “Freeman” part is obviously ironic.) Years later, history repeats itself as a young woman called Emu stumbles onto one of his assassinations, and as a crucial witness becomes a hostage between the ambitions of the police, the 108 Dragons and the Japanese mafia. When Freeman goes and tries to assassinate her, she just has one wish : she doesn’t want to die a virgin…

At least, that’s the initial plot of the first OVA. You’d normally expect some standard “having sex breaks Freeman’s conditioning and he rebels against the 108 Dragons” plot… but that’s not what happens next at all. The 108 dragons are a surprisingly accepting bunch, see no problem in sparing Emu, and even promote the two of them to being the new leaders of the group at the beginning of Episode #2. To say that it’s a jarring change of gears is a grand understatement ; and it’s not for the better, as much of the ambiguity and tragedy of the original premise goes right out of the window as Freeman basically becomes a generic 90s antihero.

… Who likes to fight in the buff. Not only is it a very bloody series with tons of graphic violence, but there’s also a lot of nudity and it often veers into softcore porn. Not exactly the kind of stuff young!me was supposed to be watching at that age…

What did I think of it ?

There’s no two ways about it : it’s a trainwreck. But at least it’s an (unintentionally) hilarious one, so I didn’t mind spending a few hours revisiting it.

As stated above, it has the germs of an interesting (if somewhat well-troden) premise, but it then chooses to completely disregard it in favour of something much more bizarre. Shifting Freeman into a position of leadership is just a baffling move (especially since he’s a Japanese outsider in a Chinese organization), and it’s thus no surprise that one of the major leaders balks and betrays the 108 Dragons immediately. (Of course, the dude then allies with the Camora, who immediately backstabs him, but that’s the kind of things that happen.) Even more surprising is the introduction of Bayasan, the obese adult womanchild and black sheep of the 108 Dragons who tries to wrestle the organization’s control. She fails, obviously, but there’s something endearing about her incompetent enthusiasm. And she sticks around as comic relief, which contributes to make some of the latter episodes less boring (if not actually funny – this series can’t really do humour).

The most bizarre episode is probably the third, because of its weird pacing : at its heart, it tries to transition Emu into less of a damsel in distress, by giving her some training and having her pick up a magic evil sword… but then in the middle we get 35 minutes of Freeman fighting a random African crime syndicate (who tries to hijack a plane he just happened to be on), and in the process sleeping with two other women (one of whom permanently joins his harem). And it’s not even the most sexist episode (it’s a toss-up between rape-tastic #4 and evil!self-made-woman-who-spends-all-her-screentime-masturbating-at-Freeman #5).

Another weird thing about the series is that the 108 Dragons are suddenly whitewashed into being a somewhat honourable group, despite all the assassinating going around in the first episode (and the leader of the Japanese Mafia pointing out that they don’t deal drugs, unlike that Chinese scum !). From then on, it’s just a series of rival groups trying to take them over. Episode #6 is the only other one where the 108 are depicted like an actual criminal group (although that’s mostly slander by the bad guys of the day). Mostly, they’ve become passive and reactive, with an incredibly high internal body count for an organisation that was supposed to be so frightening in the first episode. This isn’t a ringing endorsement for Freeman’s leadership… (Although, conveniently, most of the old guard dies quite early on, so who’ll complain ?)

This series is a mess on so many levels it’s laughable. The plot makes no sense (and is inconsistent from one instalment to the other) ; Freeman as a character is stripped of all drama very early on, leaving the “Crying” gimmick as an artefact of a forgotten plotline. The artwork is very much a product of its time, stiff and emotionless. The fight scenes are okay, but hardly worth watching (and they progressively lose in creativity as the series goes on). The sex scenes aren’t as gratuitous as they could be, but they’re not of much interest either (and the sexism of the whole thing makes them all the less palatable).

If you’re ever planning to watch this for a laugh, stick with the first three episodes. The last three are distinctively more boring, as the writers were clearly struggling to find new plots.

via [LTTP/WIW] Various anime from the 00s and beyond – Page 3.

Monster

(74 episodes, 2004-2005)

My previous exposure
Well, it’s an adaptation of a critically-acclaimed manga, so I’d at least heard of the basic premise well before coming close to it. I’ve mostly avoided spoilers, although I did hear of a particular thing Johan does in Prague, which thus didn’t surprise me when I reached it.

I actually watched the first 20 episodes of this way back in 2009, and only went back to it very recently. The reasons why should become clear below.

What’s it about ?

In the late 80s, Dr Kenzo Tenma was a promising up-and-coming Japanese brain surgeon in Germany… until he decided to save the life of a 11-year-old boy called Johan who got mysteriously shot in the head, instead of the mayor he was supposed to operate on. This basically cripples his career… for a few days, until the top management get mysteriously poisoned and the new management give him his status back. Meanwhile, Johan has disappeared…

Flash forward to 9 years later, when Johan re-enters Tenma’s life by shooting one of the doctor’s patients right in front of his eyes. (The man was an agent of Johan’s who was getting a bit too talkative.) It turns out that Johan is a charismatic monster, leaving a bloody trail behind himself, and he’s very thankful of Dr Tenma for saving his life. Did the doctor do the wrong thing by saving the not-so-innocent child ?

Dr Tenma soon finds himself accused of the various aforementioned murders, and is on the run from the cold but very clever Inspector Runge (who thinks Johan doesn’t exist and is an alternate personality of Tenma’s). Can the fugitive stop whatever Johan’s up to before it’s too late ? And is the good doctor really going to kill Johan, however much of a monster he is ?

Secondary threads of the series follow Nina, Johan’s twin sister (who shot him in the first place), who tried to forget it all before Johan suddenly killed her adoptive family ; and Eva, Tenma’s former fiancée who entered a self-destructive spiral after she dumped him during his short disgrace. Another big question involves the investigation of Johan’s past : how exactly does such a monster come into existence ? Who’s responsible ? It’s not an easy question, especially considering how Johan is now being quite thorough in his quest to eliminate everyone linked to his past in any way…

What did I think of it ?

It’s certainly a very strong story… but I don’t think the anime version really does it justice. It’s a flawed adaptation that I had trouble to keep watching because of how much it tries to play it safe. It’s obviously trying to stick as close to the source material as possible, including every single detour despite how inconsequential some of them may be. The pacing is sluggish, with some very obvious padding techniques carrying the series from cliffhanger to cliffhanger (despite not much really happening between them). That kind of thing isn’t suspenseful, it’s just irritating. A third of the anime’s length could probably have been cut without losing much.

I got the impression that this really wanted to be a live-action series, with all the lack of creative use of the medium this implies. The realization is very pedestrian, bringing absolutely nothing in to make the story visually compelling. I’m not asking for Death Note-style flourishes, but at least something should have been done to keep the series from being so boring (which surely a story like this has no right to be !). Compounding the problem is the general grey-and-brown palette, especially for people ; the bland colors dull the strikingness of Urasawa’s angular character designs. Those are not characters with realistic appearances, however much the anime tries to hide that. As a result, the series loses a lot of impact and immediacy.

Which is not to say that I didn’t enjoy watching the series ; but there’s a lot of tediousness in between the good parts. While I didn’t particularly care for Tenma and Johan remained an enigma till the end, there were lots of fascinating side characters that helped carry the story along the rough patches (ah, Grimmer…). The questions the show asks about human nature and how can evil be born are poignant ones, and the eventual denouement is quite clever. The coincidence level is a bit too high (I raised an eyebrow at the background of Tenma’s lawyer, which is a bit too conveniently connected to the rest of the story), but it mostly works out. Still, I’m not sure the series completely delivers on explaining Johan’s evil (the final crucial part of his background doesn’t feel like much of an explanation to me), and there are large parts of his behavior that I don’t really understand (for example, why did he protect Grimmer in Prague ?).

But what this series really lacks is energy, as well as writers daring enough to cut the chaff out and make the plot much tighter. That’s what prevents it from being the masterpiece of storytelling it could have been.

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

Appleseed XIII

(13 episodes, distributed on streaming and as OVAs)

What’s it about ?

The adventures of a SWAT squad in the future, fighting terrorists and conspiracies.

Characters

Deunan, our protagonist. Trained to survived in the wilderness by her father since her early childhood, she’s the gung-ho rookie of the squad. I’ll give this to Maaya Sakamoto : she’s got enough charisma to pull off her character whining non-stop for the full duration of the episode and still not have her be too annoying. Although she comes very close here.

Briareos, her BFF since forever (or maybe more ?). After a bad accident, he had to be turned into a cyborg to survive. He’s still following her devotedly to protect her (especially from her own reckless behavior).

Dia, an innocent bystander who turns out to be a special cyborg or something, and will presumably be important to the plot later on.

The plot of the week involves a bunch of terrorists (“the Argonauts”) storming the Russian Poseidon embassy to retrieve one of their agents. (Did I mention there’s a heavy Greek Mythology theme permeating everything ?)

Production Values

This is a full CGI series, with some degree of cell-shading when people are involved. To be frank, it looks terrible. The character designs for people don’t quite work, and most importantly the body language looks awfully off. It’s not a problem when everyone on screen is in power suits, but the humans move like creepy ragdolls, pushing them deep into the uncanny valley. It looks like cheap videogame cutscenes (you know, the ones that aren’t pre-rendered), which is all kinds of disappointing.

The backgrounds and the scenes without humans look much more impressive, but that’s only a fraction of the overall screentime.

Overall Impression

Ouch. I don’t know anything about the Appleseed franchise, but this is a decidedly underwhelming offering. The artstyle is a complete failure, and Deunan is obnoxious beyond belief. I think there may a decent story beyond those roadblocks… and then I realize I’ve seen this kind of story done much better with Ghost in the Shell – Stand Alone Complex. Which had the advantage of not making my eyes bleed.

I’ll give it another episode to check whether the heroine gets less annoying and I can enjoy it for the plot, but I’m not optimistic.

via [In which I review] New anime, Summer 2011 – Page 11.

Cat God (Nekogami Yaoyorozu)

What’s it about ?

Slice of life comedy about mini-gods hanging around on Earth.

Characters

Mayu, our protagonist, a mini-god sent down to Earth 4 years ago because she kept skipping curfew and going out gambling. Dad was mellow enough to let it go, but Mom put her foot down. Anyway, she spends a lot of her time playing videogames.

Yuzu, the poor human woman Mayu is rooming with. (I don’t think it’s ever explained how that happened.) She’s mostly there to suffer and be nice to everybody.

We see quite a few other mini-gods hanging around, but they’re all already blurring together in my mind. The plot of the week involves a poverty god wreaking havoc in the city, but the twist is so dumb I’m trying my best to forget about it.

Production Values

Bright and shiny artwork with everyone in super-deformed character designs that make them look like toddlers. Okay for what it is, and thankfully devoid of fanservice.

Overall Impression

Deathly dull and instantly forgettable, if you hadn’t guessed from my pitiful attempts at remembering anything about it mere hours after watching it. It’s another of those comedies that aren’t funny in the least, but it has the good grace of being completely inoffensive, which is better than several shows I’ve reviewed in this thread. But there’s nothing worth watching here.

via [In which I review] New anime, Summer 2011 – Page 8.

Manyuu Hikenchou

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Ninjas with light-emitting bodies… wait, no, that’s just the censorship.

Ninjas who steal breasts from each other (and from the common people). No, seriously, that’s the plot. Despite being feudal Japan, they’ve somehow got access to advanced enough surgery to do that.

Characters

Chifusa Manyuu, second daughter of the breast-stealing Manyuu clan, and Daddy’s favourite, is our protagonist. For reasons that aren’t quite clear to me, she starts the episode by running away from the village. So OF COURSE she runs into…

Ouka, the poor woman whose breasts were stolen by Daddy Manyuu to give to Chifusa. Before she recognizes our “hero”, she nurses her back to health… and in the end she easily forgives Chifusa for no good reason.

Kagefusa Manyuu, Chifusa’s older sister, leads the hunt against her (she’s a bit bitter about the “Daddy’s favourite” part). For added villainy points, she was the one who captured Ouka for the breast-stealing. Not that she needs that, as she spends the whole episode being gratuitously evil while fondling and/or raping anything female in sight. Somehow nearly every shot of her is censored, which suggests she’s a walking wardrobe malfunction.

Kaede, Chifusa’s sidekick which she abandoned “for her own safety”… Well, if you count “having your breasts stolen by Kagefusa as punishment” as “safety”, I guess. Again, despite having every reason to be bitter against our “hero”, she eventually rejoins her without resentment.

There’s a couple of other characters who get a scene of foreshadowing that leaves me none the wiser about what their deal is. Oh, and Daddy only ever appears in flashback, so I doubt he’s still among the living.

Production Values

It’s a bit hard to judge, considering that there’s heavy censorship in nearly every shot. And we’re talking about “big rays of light obscuring half the screen” censorship at best (there are some shots where we only see one person’s head against a white background).

Then again, it’s very obvious that this is softcore porn, with bondage and on-screen rape every other scene (Kagefusa’s usually the one who inflicts it, of course). Even with the censorship, the fanservice level is already through the roof.

Overall Impression

I’ve had trouble summing up above the full stupidity of the premise. Did I mention that one’s social status depends entirely on the size of their breasts ? That Chifusa’s inherited a secret scroll with a special sword technique allowing to magically steal someone else’s breasts ? (I swear I’m not making this up.) That Chifusa’s big objective is to “transmit the Manyuu techniques to the public”, whatever that means ? (So it’ll be a free-for-all between everyone to steal each other’s breasts ? How would that improve the situation ?) It’s just astounding how bizarrely inane the plot is.

You might consider watching this for the lulz. This would be a mistake : the plot is an incoherent mess that took me a while to decypher, Kagefusa’s RAPE RAPE RAPE behaviour is tremendously unpleasant, and most of the action is rendered impenetrable by the censorship. There’s just nothing to enjoy here.

Well done, show, you’ve managed to be worse than R-15. I knew you had the potential, but that was far worse than my (already low) expectations.

via [In which I review] New anime, Summer 2011 – Page 8.

Bunny Drop (Usagi Drop)

(11 episodes)

What’s it about ?

At a family reunion after his grandfather’s death, a man has parenthood suddenly thrust upon him.

Characters

Daikichi, our protagonist. 30 year-old. He seems to be a bit the black sheep of his family, seen a bit as a slacker (especially as he’s still single).

Rin, a 6-year-old girl, and technically Daikichi’s aunt (apparently Grampa was pretty spry even in his seventies). Her mother having disappeared gods know where and Grampa having just died, nobody in the family’s really keen on taking care of her… except for Daikichi, who’s somewhat hit it off with her and steps up to take her under his wing. Does he know how to take care of a child, especially one as taciturn as Rin ? Of course not, but he’ll learn it on the fly. Hopefully.

We see a dozen other family members at the family reunion/funeral, but none of them leaves much of an impression… aside from Reina, Daikichi’s niece, who’s every bit annoying as any child that age can be at such a solemn gathering (cue embarrassed looks from her mother).

Production Values

Pastels everywhere ! (Although it’s not as deliberately artsy as Wandering Son.) The animation team seems mostly interested in carefully transcribing every character’s expressions (especially Daikichi’s perpetual frown), which is of course the most important with such a story.

Overall Impression

Well, that’s certainly different from the sound and fury of nearly everything else this season : a calm, laid-back inter-generational drama piece. It’s every bit as good as you’d expect from NoitaminA’s reputation and the buzz from the original manga (which I’ve heard is quite acclaimed).

The nascent chemistry between Daikichi and Rin (and their alienation from anybody else) is carefully established through body language and very sparse dialogue (I think he barely says ten lines to her before offering her to go with him, and she’s been entirely silent up to that point), without anything as clumsy as narration or internal monologue. I like this minimalistic approach.

Obviously it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s very good at what it does.

via [In which I review] New anime, Summer 2011 – Page 6.

Kamisama Dolls

What’s it about ?

A young man tried walking away from his village full of conspiracies and deadly man-controlled robots… but it all comes back to bite him in the ass.

Characters

Kyouhei, our protagonist. He used to be a controller for one of those big mind-controlled robots they call “Gods”… but after a traumatic event, he decided to quit it all and become an ordinary salaryman in the big city. Yeah, like that ever works. The elders let him go, but it’s made very clear they’re still in charge of his life, whatever he thinks.

Hibino, the woman’s Kyouhei’s had a crush for a long time. I’m sure that he going to the same high school and joining the same company is totally coincidental. Not like he ever works up the nerve to ask her out, though (despite numerous opportunities in this first episode). She’s from his village too, although she wasn’t aware of the whole conspiracy/robots thing. He goes to live with her and her father after his flat gets destroyed halfway through the episode (at their invitation), which is totally not awkward at all.

Utao, Kyouhei’s little sister, has taken over his former role as robot controller. She comes in out of the blue, presumably to protect Kyouhei from…

Aki, another member of the village with a God robot in tow, and a complete psychopath (if that flashback with a dozen corpses is anything to go by). He was kept under heavy lock until someone made the mistake of mentioning Kyouhei had skipped town, at which point he escaped and started stalking him (with the “randomly and gruesomely kill someone in an elevator minutes before Kyouhei steps in it” kind of stalking). He’s not actually belligerent against Kyouhei, ranting about how the village elders are the real monsters, and Utao probably overreacted when she bombed Kyouhei’s flat (and Aki inside) to kingdom come. (Not that I believed for a second that Aki’s bodybag handled the village’s MIB was any proof of his death…)

Oh, and there’s a cryptic prologue with a couple of kids fighting off… something… that I can’t make head or tails of. Presumably they’ll explain it properly at some point.

Production Values

Pretty good animation, and the abrupt mood change from “drunken office party” to “oh my god is that a corpse in the elevator” is well handled. I also like the way how the hovering robots sing whenever they move ; it’s a nice way of making them otherworldly.

Is this the first show this season with a decent OP in graphics as well as song ?

Overall Impression

Well, this first episode does a good job of raising my interest in a premise I didn’t quite care for initially. Mission accomplished, I guess. The plot has potential, but it doesn’t grab me as viscerally as, say, Deadman Wonderland did last season. We’ll see how it goes.

via [In which I review] New anime, Summer 2011 – Page 3.

Yuruyuri

What’s it about ?

Slice-of-life comedy about middle-school girls in the “Amusement Club”, who loiter around doing nothing in the Tea Club’s room (which they’ve hijacked after it got dissolved). Surprisingly light on yuri-related content, despite the title and the theme of the magazine publishing the original manga.

Characters

Akari, the butt of most of the jokes. It at first looks like she’d be the main character (including the “late-for-school, slice of bread in mouth” cliché scene), but she quickly fades into the background… to the point that the last half of the episode devoting itself to the girls trying to make her a more striking character.

Kyouko, the hyperactive idiot. She’s also the only of the main girls who’s actively a lesbian (although all her come-ons get brushed off quickly).

Yui, the straight man (er, girl) of the group. Not much to say about her.

Chinatsu, the newcomer who joined the Club by mistake (she wanted to join the Tea Club) and that Kyouko never let go (Chinatsu looks exactly like the Magical Girl character she’s a rabid fan of).

We get a glimpse of the (of course obstructive-looking) Student Council, as well as a disturbing glance inside Akari’s elder sister’s room (which includes a body pillow of Akari as well as a stalker-level number of pictures of her).

Production Values

The bare minimum of quality acceptable these days. It doesn’t help that we sometimes get random bumps of animation quality (and weird camera effects) in a way that feels inappropriate and distracting.

Overall Impression

Welcome to False Advertising Central ! The yuri content here is minimal, this is really a slice-of-life comedy with heavy meta overtones. And I’ve quite lost patience with the genre : this type of “we’re joking about how cliché we are” humour, especially brought awkwardly in halfway through the first episode, feels like creative bankruptcy. Hanging a lampshade over your flaws doesn’t excuse them, show.

Frankly, there’s nothing to recommend to this cross between A-Channel and Seitokai no Ichizon that manages to be worse than either. Avoid.

via [In which I review] New anime, Summer 2011 – Page 3.

La croisée dans un labyrinthe étranger (Ikoku Meiro no Croisée)

What’s it about ?

A young Japanese girl is brought to late-19th-century Paris to serve as a housemaid. Cue culture clash.

Characters

Yune, the Japanese girl, whose kimono are a complete style clash with the rest of the setting (not to mention somewhat unwieldy to walk around, as the show quickly proves). Apparently going abroad for months as a house servant is a traditional thing in her family (she’s moved to Paris entirely willingly). She’s initially presented as barely understanding any French, but we eventually learn she’s somewhat fluent in the language (which makes her presence somewhat less ludicrous).

Claude, a young blacksmith/sign-maker. He’s not hot on having Yune around, although his objections are perfectly reasonable and he’s shown to be a decent sort of guy. Very good at his job.

Oscar, Claude’s grandfather, retired founder of the sign shop (we learn in passing that Daddy is dead). He’s somehow affluent enough to go on trips to Japan and bring back Yune on a whim.

Production Values

Gorgeous backgrounds, which is actually a problem (see below). The animators also have a decent grasp of body language, which is essential in a series like this.

Overall Impression

Oh, dear. This is everything I feared it would be.

When I think “late-19th-century France”, my mind immediately jumps to the works of Émile Zola, which may be somewhat accurately described as “grim and gritty”. In contrast, this series showcases an immaculate Paris, where even the (barely shown) street urchins look way too clean to be real. As a result, this version of Paris looks fake, like the theme park version of the real thing. It doesn’t help that my mind is in constant nitpicking mode while watching it (shops named after the King ? There’d have been three regime changes since France had a king ; although it’s slightly less outlandish when we later learn that the shop was founded two generations ago – when there just barely was still a King – and that its business is struggling somewhat – but then, how can Grampa afford a trip to Japan ?).

Anyway, this show looks far too artificial to my liking, much akin to the way Paris is depicted in most foreign media. More damningly, there is very little depth to it : the characters are blandly nice and no real conflict looks in the offing. I’ll give it one more episode to change my mind, but I’m not optimistic.

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

Double J

(4-minute episodes)

What’s it about ?

A high school club where everyone is a representative of an inane, this-should-really-have-been-automated-by-now kind of manual labor (such as engraving toothpicks or gluing enveloppes).

Characters

Four minutes is a bit short for anyone to develop beyond stereotypes. We’ve got the newcomer girl, her brash friend, the solemn toothpick girl, the club secretary… and the club chief, a dude who gets drawn in a much rougher artstyle for some reason.

Production Values

By the makers of Haiyoru! Nyaruani: Remember My Love(craft-sensei) ! Which tells you everything about what to expect, really : barely animated sets of talking heads.

Overall impression

Well, on a writing level it’s somewhat better than Nyaruani : the jokes are funnier and the pacing has much more punch to it. On the other hand, it doesn’t have a killer hook like its predecessor… and it’s not good enough for me to care.

Avoid.

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