Tag: manga adaptation

#02 : Candidate for Goddess (Megami Kouhosei)

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Unfortunately, the protagonist isn’t actually a candidate to become a deity ; that would just be too interesting. This is is instead a run-of-the-mill space opera show, where the mecha are called “Goddesses”.

Adapted from a manga series. In typical fashion, I’m told the anime ends on a cliffhanger and never resolves the plot.

Characters

In the Star Year 4084, the only thing preventing the annihilation of humanity at the hands (?) of the Victim (sic) is a 5-strong team of mecha defending our last planet. Unfortunately, while the current pilots are quite good at it, it’s acknowledged that they won’t last long due to the toll the task entails on their bodies, and so the system needs a constant input of fresh bodies.

Said five current pilots don’t get the occasion to rise above their archetypes : the casanova hounding the one girl of the team (who’s said to be by far the best of them), the nearly-mute one, the philosopher, and the jerkass. They’re all teenagers despite being veteran fighters, because of course.

Zero, our protagonist, is one of the candidates to replace them eventually. He’s lucky one of the main requirements is some genetic predisposition, as it’s certainly not his brains that qualified him. Nor his personality, as he’s more than a bit of an obnoxious twat. As these things happens, he immediately gets lost in the training facility and stumbles into the mecha hold… and then into the first cockpit on sight. Totally an accident, seriously, he’s just THAT clumsy. (Also, sick in zero-gravity.)

There is some suggestion that the Goddesses are somewhat sentient, with this one explicitly leading him to itself (and allowing him to bypass security). The process of synchronisation doesn’t look too pleasant, even accounting for the fact he’s not the official pilot.

Also seen early on are a few other teenagers who are obviously other Candidates : the sullen dude who takes every word as a personal insult, and the guy in glasses who speaks only in exposition. But then, that seems to be a plague affecting everyone in this world, from the jaded instructor who’s seen too many youngsters put to the grinder, or the mysterious figures in shadow running the show.

The OP/ED sequences showcase a much larger supporting cast, with the suggestion that each pilot gets a thematically-appropriate technician partner.

Production Values

The mecha and spaceship scenes might have been the cutting edge of CG work at the time (I have my doubts), but they certainly look clunky and dated by now. And they jar quite a bit with the pedestrian character designs and animation that make up the bulk of the show.

Overall Impression

This was a dreadfully unpromising first episode. (Technically “Curriculum 00”, but seriously now.) It accumulates the mecha & S-F clichés at… well, not great speed, as the constant exposition makes it look even more uneventful than it actually is. None of the characters shown so far are much likeable, and certainly not our protagonist.

There’s literally nothing here that’d make me come back for a second episode : it just feels uninspired through and through.

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

Fall 2014 capsules

Hmm. For some reason Karen Senki wasn’t even on my checklist. I can’t even find any hint it’s actually airing in Japan. But hey, it’s at the very least a Japanese co-production by the creators of Sakura Wars, and Crunchyroll is streaming it, so close enough for a token mention in this thread.

This is quite an odd series. For one, it’s 12 half-length episodes. For two, it’s full-CG. And for three, I can’t tell whether the plot being so disjointed and making no sense whatsoever is intentional.

It follows the adventures of Karen, who wages an essentially single-woman war against robots, who have taken over society and killed her cute young sister. (Or so she claims ; the flashbacks show nothing of the sort.) But the robots’ rule doesn’t seem that drastic, as everyone else seems to be carrying on normally, aside from whenever they have to deal with the collateral damage of Karen’s battles. Her being randomly attacked by killer-bots seems to be the exception, not the rule. One of her associates seems perfectly fine having a robot lover. And frankly, Karen just doesn’t sound entirely sane.

Or this may just be because the series as a whole is an excuse to string along elaborate action sequences. Now, they’re quite well-directed ; the problem isn’t so much that they’re hard to follow, but that they don’t fit with their context. But the real issue here is that the actual character animation is goddarn awful. People don’t move that way ! They can emote decently, but just about anything else about them is awkward. This is massively distracting, and doesn’t help the series’ case.

I’m giving it the benefit of the doubt, and a second episode. But I dread it’s going to test my patience quickly.

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

 

Anyway, let’s say a few words on I Can’t Understand What My Husband Is Saying (Danna ga Nani wo Itteiru ka Wakaranai Ken). It’s a series of shorts adapting a 4-panel gag manga series. Basically, it’s about a wife being flummoxed by her husband’s ultra-otaku ways. It’s mildly funny, but most of these jokes have already been done to death, and you often wonder why those two even got married in the first place. (That’s actually addressed immediately, but her reasoning is more than a little evasive.) This is a perfectly inoffensive show, but I doubt it’ll hold my attention for long unless it gets significantly better soon.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Fall 2014 – Page 2.

 

As it turns out, I just can’t make a proper review of Fate/stay Night – Unlimited Blade Works. Too much of my viewing experience was influenced by my foreknowledge from the DEEN series & movie, as well as Fate/Zero. It’s not like I can remember exactly who’s a Master (and of which Servant), especially as we’re in a different route and things might change around a bit, but I still know more than a few incoming twists that make it impossible to offer a “virgin” preview. (And I do have doubts on whether the series is aimed at anyone but people who’ve already seen either or both of these previous shows.)

Still, this is a good start. Way less infodumpy than Fate/Zero, and with some actual impressive battles right off the bat in this opening double-length episode. It helps a lot that it features Rin as a protagonist ; as someone who actually has a clue what’s going on, but not the details of who she’s fighting, she offers a more interesting and proactive perspective than Shirou did the first time around.

So far, so good. I was wondering whether I had lost interest in the franchise, but this looks fun enough to be worth watching.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Fall 2014 – Page 2.

 

Mysterious Joker (Kaitou Joker) might be at least partially to blame for my sleepiness. It’s a kids’ show about a quirky Gentleman Thief… and if you’re wondering what’s the difference with Magic Kaitou, it’s the targeted age group : this show aims much lower. All the characters are highly annoying and SHOUTING all the time, the jokes fall flat, and I literally couldn’t follow the plot because I was falling asleep every couple of minutes. Something about the protagonist recruiting a “ninja” fanboy kid ? I don’t care at all, and it really doesn’t help that another show with similar themes which is superior in every way is airing concurrently. Pass.

Also falling flat : The Circumstances in My Home’s Bathtub (Orenchi no Furo Jijo). Now, this type of series of shorts based on 4-panel gag manga often have the problem of only delivering the same joke over and over, never really amounting to anything. Here, the issue is that I can’t even see the joke. Dude brings a merman to his bathtub by mistake, and that’s pretty much it. They don’t even have much banter. I just don’t get it.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Fall 2014 – Page 4.

 

Sometimes I’m baffled by weird gimmicky series of shorts. Such as Hi☆sCoool! SeHa Girls, where anthropomorphic personalizations of Sega’s consoles enter a bizarre dedicated school ; it’s mostly an excuse to string along “nostalgic” allusions that most often fly completely other my head (as I was more of a Nintendo fan). It’s a better use of full CG animation than we usually get for these, but it’s still a niche gag series where I’m not part of the audience.

Oh, and since I’m pressed for time, I’m going to quickly skip over Gundam Build Fighters TRY : long story short, it’s very promising, doesn’t require any knowledge of the first season thanks to a time jump and a different cast (although Mr Ral still makes a cameo), and I’m pleased to see it has the girl as a true fighter and the leader of the team.

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

 

No full review for Ronja the the Robber’s Daughter, as as I fell asleep watching the first episode and don’t care to give it another try. This Ghibli adaptation of a Swedish fantasy book is just very, very dull, and the uninspiring full-CG animation doesn’t help. (Those characters emote way too exaggeratedly for my tastes.) Don’t care, won’t watch any more.

Bonjour Sweet Love Pâtisserie has a completely different problem : it’s a generic shoujo “male harem” romance show that barely gets to breathe in the 5 minutes or so of screentime per week it gets. As a result, all the characters are walking clichés, and the “glamourous baking academy” setup feels completely artificial. Not really worth your time, this one.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Fall 2014 – Page 6.

Your Lie in April (Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso)

(22 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a shonen romance manga.
(Since the manga is due to end simultaneously, there’s a good chance for the whole story to be adapted.)

Characters

Kousei, our 14-year-old male lead. Throughout his childhood, his ill mother forced him to play the piano, training him to public-performance level through much duress. And then he cracked, and she died soon after. That was a couple of years ago ; now he’s done with it. But he still clings to the music world a bit, charting music sheets as a part-time job.

Tsubaki, his childhood friend, will totally deny she’s into him. And maybe they’re really just friends… but come on, this is a romance series. She’s quite fun, though.

Ryouta, one of their friends, is the typical jock : MVP of the football team and serial charmer. Not a bad guy, though.

Kaori, the girl Tsubaki set up a date with Ryouta for. (That meant inviting Kousei as a fourth.) She puts on airs as a charmingly demure girl, but really she’s more mischevious and aggressive than that. Also, she plays the violin.

Production Values

It’s a bit weird how we alternate between super-fluid music-playing set pieces, and much rougher comedic shorthand. It mostly works, but it takes a bit to get used to it.

Overall Impression

On first viewing, I found this a bit dull and unmemorable. After a second watch… well, it deserves a better reception than that. It’s a perfectly okay romance show, with fun female characters (I reserve my judgement on the boys). Kousei’s past trauma is a bit overdone compared to the otherwise light tone, though it’s not too jarring.

But the key issue here is that there’s not much of a hook. It sets up a few budding relationships, but there’s no firm sense of where this is headed. It’s pleasant enough to watch, but I’m not entirely sold yet.

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

Parasyte – the maxim – (Kiseijuu: Sei no Kakuritsu)

(24 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a reputed horror manga series.

Characters

Shinichi, our protagonist, is an ordinary high school student with barely any more quirks than a bug phobia. He’s got normal parents and normal school friends. He’s the epitome of generic and unnoticeable… Until that night where a bud from space (?) invaded his right hand. He managed to stop its progression thanks to quick thinking. The thing didn’t manage to reach his brain, so it starts negotiating.

His right hand is now a being with its own mind. It can talk (after a little time to learn the language). It can sprout eyes. Indeed, it can alter its shape into bizarre forms at an impressive speed. But it’s symbiotic with Shinichi, deriving sustenance from what he eats, so it really wants the two of them to cooperate, however freaked out he is. Frankly, it’s all the more creepy as it rationally explains why its survival depends on his well-being.

Shinichi was the lucky one. A few other people in the country had a similar encounter, except it went to their head. The abominations that were born are truly horrific. Also, they feed by killing people (often their former family), and leave the shredded bodies lying around.

Production Values

This series is a perfect example of how a good horror series doesn’t need to show anything that would require the heavy censorship that mars lesser shows. It opens with somebody’s head being swallowed whole, but with careful enough framing to avoid showing too much gore. The mere depiction of the body horror is enough to be utterly creepy and disgusting. And it’s certainly a show that has way too many ideas on how to twist flesh around in unnatural shapes.

Fun score, too. I’ve never heard of the composer, but he makes good use of dubstep and other genres to instil uneasiness.

Overall Impression

This is a very focused first episode, with Shinichi and his right hand carrying the show. The good news is that it works : they have excellent chemistry, and the visual flair involved in its transformations makes it worth watching on its own. The transformations are just incredible of fluidity and uncanniness.

Now, it’s not quite clear yet where this is going ; and the script takes a non-linear approach that doesn’t add much. But I’m willing to give it a bit of time to settle in. I want to see what’s the right hand’s next move.

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

Trinity Seven

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a harem/modern fantasy manga series.

Characters

Arata, our generic male high school protagonist, just can’t quite shake the impression that something’s off in his daily life. Weird dreams. The sun being black. His childhood friend/cousin Hijiri being clingy instead of her usual tsundere ways. Is that even really her ?

Lilith, a girl with a magic gun, shows up to explain : nope, that’s not Hijiri. It’s a manifestation of a grimoire he somehow got his hands on just as the town got destroyed by a weird catastrophe. If the town doesn’t look destroyed, it’s merely because he unconsciously reconstructed it thanks to the grimoire’s power. Now, please hand over that thing (as well as lose any hope of getting Hijiri back), or die. His choice.

He takes the third option : enroll into her magic school, because the story was in danger of getting remotely interesting. (She’s a teacher rather than a student, by the way.) Oh, and because of the nature of magic wobble wobble better suited to girls wobble wobble he’s the only boy attending. Cue generic hijinks. Also, his reputation skyrockets once it becomes clear he’s achieved feats worthy of the “demon lord” class.

Oh, and to make the show even more boring, it’s revealed that he can take a shortcut instead of actually studying his own powers : he just has to “conquer” the Trinity Seven, aka the seven most powerful and specialized people around. This includes Lilith, a ninja, and an emotionless girl who looks just like Hijiri.

Production Values

Perfectly okay ; it sells the offbeat atmosphere that the script desperately tries to water down, and the various characters have expressive body language and weird expressions that sell their scheming quirkiness. (not!Hijiri is particularly creepy.)

There’s actually less fanservice than you’d expect. Sure, it opens with a boob grab and includes a gratuitous bath scene, but it could be worse.

Overall Impression

The sound you can hear is my goodwill progressively draining away. There’s a semi-interesting premise in there, but it’s completely buried by the magic school nonsense. This is a perfect example of why I’ve come to be very wary of this trope : it’s an excuse to forget about the plot and turn the series into a generic harem series with a bit of fighting.

I don’t trust this show to deliver on any of its mysteries ; after all, it’s based on a still-ongoing manga. So I don’t see any reason to bother with it.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Fall 2014 – Page 4.

Yona: The girl standing in the blush of dawn (Akatsuki no Yona)

(25ish episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a fantasy shojo manga series.

Characters

Yona, the titular 16-year-old spoiled little princess. About a third of her dialogue involves fussing over her (admittedly unusually bright red) hair. Daddy the King has covered her in presents and attention ever since his wife’s death, and the only point he’s being a bit strict on is who she’ll marry.

Soo-won, her cousin and childhood friend, is especially verbotten. He’s grown to be a handsome man and Yona has definitely noticed, but Daddy says no. It’s not really clear why, although his talk of the attackers killing Mommy has convinced Yona that it’s being in the royal family that’s dangerous, and thus Daddy is trying to protect Soo-won. I’m pretty sure something else is going on here.

Hak, young general and friend to both of them youngsters, agrees with me and smells a rat. He doubles the guards around the palace and leaves Yona to Soo-won, because he’s not blind and knows his place.

… Maybe he should have been even more paranoid, as Yona soon stumbles on Soo-won slicing through Daddy with his sword. What. The. Heck ? Hak arrives just in time to protect her, but we’ll have to wait until the next episode at least for an explanation.

The OP & ED sequences show Yona on the run with Hak and a few more attendants, so I guess that’s the direction the story will go with.

Production Values

Quite nice. And all the dudes are handsome because shojo, of course.

Overall Impression

Well, I’m a bit intrigued, but I suspect the answer to this is quite pedestrian (naked power grab by an idiot who should just have waited a few months to get to the throne painlessly), and there’s something vaguely unpleasant in the atmosphere here. It doesn’t help that Yona herself is more than a bit annoying at this early stage of her character arc.

I’ll pass, as I just don’t see myself watching 25ish episodes of this.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Fall 2014 – Page 4.

The Seven Deadly Sins (Nanatsu no Taizai)

(24 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a fantasy action-adventure shonen manga.

Characters

The backstory here is that 10 years ago, seven “traitors” turned against their country and killed a big number of knights. Of course, by now they’ve become urban legends : they haven’t been seen since, and the details are starting to get wildly exaggerated. (Do they even look like their wanted posters ?)

Elizabeth is a young woman who’s looking for them… and frankly, with that big clunky armour she kinda looks like someone unsavoury. This show won’t have any of that, so she spends most of the episode in a skintight undersuit that gets more and more cut up as it goes. Anyway, she’s convinced the Seven Deadly Sins are actually great people that prevented the knights from doing something terrible.

She ends up in the Pig Hat, an odd tavern owned by a quite young-looking dude. How odd ? They have a talking pig. (Who gets rid of any leftover or spilt food.) Also, nobody can quite remember the tavern being on this hill for more than a few days. And the food’s kinda terrible.

The twist is that the tavern’s owner is Meliodas, the Seven Deadly Sins’ former leader. He’s lost track of the others, but Elizabeth’s welcome to try and help him find them.

Production Values

If even I can find the animation pretty lacking, then it must be quite terrible.

We’ve also got a bizarre case of Hiroyuki “Attack on Titan/KILL la KILL/Aldnoah Zero” Sawano’s bombastic score being grossly miscast. It’s just not that kind of series.

Overall Impression

Oh, hello generic shonen adventure #1564 ! And bye, because between your one-dimensional characters, your lacking quality, and your by-the-numbers plot, there’s just nothing to make me care.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Fall 2014 – Page 4.

Laughing under the Clouds (Donten ni Warau)

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a shoujo manga series. Several sources claim it belongs to the “supernatural” category, but that’s not really apparent from the first episode.

Characters

We’re in the early Meiji period, and it’s now illegal to carry a sword. Lawbreakers are sent to an infamous lake prison, with a trio of brothers manning the ferry (and troubleshooting any escapees) :
– Tenka, the eldest, is the one who actually deals with the escapees. Very good in a fight, and obnoxiously so.
– Soramaru, his junior, heavily resents this, and often rushes in foolishly to “help out”. Except he’s quite sloppy (tie those bastards up, darn it !) and not good enough.
– Chutaro, the youngest, is annoyingly enthusiastic all the time.

Now, there’s obviously something screwy with the setup. Chutato’s schoolteacher hides secrets behind her nice surface. The keystone kops escorting the prisoners and always letting them escape can’t really be THAT incompetent. And there’s whatever happens behind the prison’s closed doors.

Production Values

Bright and shiny (you can tell it’s based on a shoujo series thanks to the distinctively pretty character designs for the brothers), which kinda works against the atmosphere : shouldn’t the weather be more cloudy than this, after all ?

Overall Impression

On the one hand, it’s quite good at setting up the mystery and making the creepy elements pile up… On the other hand, the three brothers are all very annoying indeed. To the points that I stop wondering what the heck is really going on, and just lose interest.

Maybe they get better rounded later on, but I just don’t have time for them.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Fall 2014 – Page 4.

Wolf Girl & Black Prince (Ookami Shoujo to Kuro Ouji)

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Our token adaptation of a romance shoujo manga for the season.

Characters

Erika, our heroine, is the titular “Wolf Girl”. Meaning, the girl who cries wolf : she keeps spinning out the wildest lies as a desperate cry for attention. As you’d expect, this bites her back in the ass consistently. Heck, even the episode’s title makes it clear from the start (“Liar – Caught in her own trap”).

Aki & Karin are her new “friends” by default, i.e. the only girls left in her new class who weren’t already in cliques by the time she arrived. So she did as she always does : try and keep up with their conversation, even if that means lying all the time. Unfortunately, they’re “mature” gals who keep talking about their superficial relationships with their boyfriends, so Erika felt compelled to one-up them with this super-cool and perverted boyfriend of hers that she totally has.

Ayumi, Erika’s one actual friend (but unfortunately in another class), would very much like her to give it a rest already. It’s been two months, and it’s obvious Aki & Marin have their doubts about the boyfriend’s existence. At the very least, Ayumi making fake phone calls from him to Erika doesn’t cut it anymore, and her phone bill’s running off quite a lot, so she’s out.

Kyoya, a random handsome dude Erika stumbles on in the street. Here, stay still while she takes your picture, and be utterly confused as she runs away. There, that’ll be enough proof for the gals, right ? Wait, what do you mean he’s attending the same high school, and is famous enough to have gained the “Prince” nickname ? Oh, crap.

To Erika’s surprise, when she eventually comes clean to him, he’s actually fine with pretending to be her boyfriend. In exchange… well, he’s always wanted a dog. So spin around and bark.

Production Values

Perfectly alright for this kind of thing. It sometimes goes a bit abstract, and sometimes giving Erika random wolf ears doesn’t make the metaphor any less strained, but it sells the jokes and that’s what matters.

Overall Impression

In shoujo romance, there are basically two types of stories : either maladjusted shy kids take their time to get together, or the girl falls for an sadistic jerkass who blackmails her into an abusive relationship. We’re firmly in the second camp here.

The good news is that this series is actually fun instead of rape-tastic. Most of Erika’s troubles are self-inflicted, and Kyoya spends more time disentangling her from those messes than really pushing her boundaries. And while her misadventures are hilarious, she really needs to grow up ; if he can be the catalyst for that, then so be it.

A pleasant surprise. (Although I really shouldn’t be ; shoujo romances have often been well worth my while recently.)

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Fall 2014 – Page 3.

Magic Kaitou 1412

(24 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Spin-off of Detective Conan about a kid Gentleman Thief. This already got a few TV movies over the years, but here it seems we’re getting a fresh start from the ground up.

Characters

Kaito, our protagonist, is your average lecherous high-schooler… scratch that, he’s an incredible illusionist who constantly enacts pranks and can still solve complex math problems (as well as look up the teacher’s panties) in the middle of them. One of his signature tricks involves putting on a fake head as he’s standing upside down, and his others are similarly impossible-looking.

Aoko, his long-suffering childhood friend and neighbour, isn’t a slouch in the smarts department either, and she would very much like him to cut the crap. Her father happens to be the kind of caricaturally incompetent police inspector you often see in those series. Kaitou often eats out at their home, as his mother is always on the move (sometimes abroad), and his father…

Well, his father was a stunt artist who “died” 8 years ago in an “accident”. But he was really “Kaito Kid”, a genius Gentleman Thief who also stopped making waves 8 years ago (for obvious reasons). Kaito’s just learned about his legacy, just as a Kaito Kid copycat has started showing up. Obviously, he’s going to investigate the fake and retake his legacy ! (And also follow up on the hints that Dad was murdered.) And as it turns out, Kaito Kid was Aoko’s father’s white whale…

Production Values

Perfectly okay, although there’s no way to make Kaito’s stunts look even remotely credible. The show does try its best, though.

Taku Iwasaki produces the score, and while it’s less wild than most of his recent production, it’s still very good.

Overall Impression

On the one hand, this is a deeply silly show. (Why the heck would Kaito’s dad choose such a revealing stagename ?) And Kaito’s panty-watching antics are quite aggrievating indeed for anyone above the age of 12.

… Still, it does have its charm ; it starts finding its feet towards the second half as the plot kicks in and Kaito gets to be something other than a jerk. And, well, I’m a sucker for mysteries, which are rather thin on the ground in anime ; together with Iwasaki on board, there’s a good chance I’m going to stick with this.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Fall 2014 – Page 2.