Anime Review: Aria the Animation

Nozomi Entertainment/Right Stuf is still uploading more and more of their shows onto youtube for limited streaming and the latest title to catch my eye was the first in the Aria  series. Years ago I read the two volume prequel to Aria, called Aqua (the new name for Mars which the series is set on) and a few volumes of the series itself but it was too slow moving for my taste. So I was hoping that approaching the series from a different angle, watching one episode a week and having it on in the background as I worked on knitting or other crafty endeavors.

Aria the Animation

Summary: Aqua, formerly known as Mars, has been terraformed so that the majority of the planet is covered in water so that in many places, including the city of Neo-Venezia, boats are required to get around. Akari is a trainee gondolier who will one day show clients all around the charming city but for now she's still learning about the city herself.

The Good: There's a very small sub-genre in anime of  "healing shows," ones that are so simple and charming that you feel better merely for watching them (and the director is almost always the same as this one, Junichi Sato) and that description fits Aria to a T. You can watch it to cheer up or to relax, with it's simple and charming stories it doesn't demand a lot of it's watchers and lets you settle into the mood.

The Bad: The show doesn't start with the material from the Aqua prequel and assumes that you are already familiar with some of the characters, which I was, so fans who are completely new to the series might want to give the wikipedia page a quick glance over when new characters appear. The other real issue with this show is not that it's slow paced but rather that not much actually happens. I can enjoy a plot light show if the character grow and develop but there's very little of that actually going on here, only one side character got development and that was simply to make her a bit less shy. I generally don't enjoy shows where you can watch the episodes in any order and honestly there is so little change in the show that you could do that fairly easily.

The Audio: The show doesn't have a set opening sequence but has a rather lovely song that gets played over the first few minutes and the sound is well-mixed too, the character's dialogue and the song never compete with each other and generally the first few minutes are set up so that nothing on screen competes with the song as well. The ending song is less memorable but still fits the mood well. This series does not have an English dub but the Japanese voices work well enough that it doesn't seem like a big loss.

The Visuals: The show doesn't need to have spectacular visuals to make the series work but it does have some rather nice ones. The backgrounds look lovely, and make Neo-Venezia's connection to the original Venice more aparent, and I've heard a story of how the production team went to Venice, realized they had animated all the sculling the gondoliers were doing backwards and reanimated all the scenes they had already done to fix it. Everything looks nice and clean and it does help add overall to the feeling.

So, not the show for me but, since I don't hate it, I think I will continue watching it. Nozomi is currently streaming the first couple of episodes and has started streaming the sequel, Aria the Natural, and I'd recommend people checking this out, you can probably start watching with the Natural and not miss tons of stuff.  

Manga Shorts: Letter Bee

Letter Bee is one of those series where the anime was pretty good, the original ending was even decent, but as soon as I read past the point where the anime and the manga diverged I was unhappy that the anime hadn't gone the same way. Again, the anime is hardly bad and I think above average, but the manga is just superior in terms of storytelling and tearjerker moments (thank you Viz for licensing it).

Letter Bee (Tegami Bachi) by Hiroyuki Asada

  In the land of Amberground, there is no sun and only the elite who live in the capital of Akatsuki get the full light of the artificial sun, for residents of the farthest regions the sun is never brighter than the full moon. And not only are people restricted from crossing between areas of Amberground but Gaichuu, giant metal bugs, attack anyone who dares to travel and eat their hearts which makes being a postal carrier (a Letter Bee) the most dangerous job in the country since they carry people's hearts in their letters. Lag Seeing has just become a bee after being inspired by Gauche Suede, a bee who delivered him when he was a child, and is crushed to discover that Gauche disappeared years ago and no one knows where he is or even why he vanished. Despite all of this the manga manages to be upbeat and heartwarming at many parts, even when more and more of the backstory comes to light, and, as strange as it sounds, I love how this manga almost makes me cry so often. By this point it's hard to tell who is going to live, who's on what side (never mind their motivation) so, even though I do believe the story will have a good ending, I have no clue how it's going to get there or what is going to be sacrificed for it.

Fall Anime 2011 Reviews: Part two!

For those who missed it, I did update the first post with my thoughts on Last Exile: Fam (what I'm most disappointed about with it is just how much the fandom for it is complaining, about having a predominately female cast, possibly a yuri hint or two, a bit of fanservice and it's not like the original show didn't have most of that as well) this post should cover everything else I've tried so far this season. Looks like I'll be watching more shows than I planned on which makes me pretty glad that I'm not watching much non-anime stuff right now (Doctor Who is done, Project Runway is almost done, My Little Pony is starting up again but that's not a bit thing, might finish up Legend of the Seeker on Netflix soon), although I do have some older anime titles I'm trying to finish up now as well, balancing all of this and school work could get tricky soon....

Persona 4
In case anyone is worried that I suddenly forgot how the alphabet goes yes I know this should have gone before Phi Brain but I only tried out this show a couple of days ago and didn't want to mess with my previous post any more than I had. In any case, I've never played any of the Persona games so I went in with only a basic knowledge of the plot and managed to keep up and understand everything pretty well. Yu Narukami is sent to live with his uncle and cousin in a small town as his parents work overseas (weird, I thought it was standard for anime characters to live at home by themselves), awkwardly meets some people, accidentally discovers his can now phase through tvs and ends up fighting some monsters with his new friends. The pacing bothered me more than anything else, it felt really choppy in the first episode (as if they were just showing the cut scenes from the game and cutting out the game play parts, I had a similar problem with Toganu no Chi last year) but the pace in the second episode seemed much smoother and felt like a better speed. I've seen some people worried about how the studio is going to compress a 80+ hour game into a bit under 11 hours but I'm going to remain optimistic for the moment. In the US this is being simulcast by Sentai/Section 23 through their site, The Anime Network but it looks like they're using the hulu player so you can also watch it that way. 

Sekaiichi Hatsukoi 2
Starting pretty soon after the first season left off, Ritsu is still working for the manga publishing magazine Emerald and he's now in a supervisor position so there's even more work for him now. More importantly, it seems that in two episodes Ritsu and Takano have made at least as much (if not more) progress than they did in the entire first season, I was rather impressed since I was expecting the story to continue the "will-they-or-won't-they?" story to the very end. Also happy to see they're still censoring out the sex scenes (which is just because I don't like porn of any kind that much*) although I'm sure the hardcore fujoshi fans aren't so happy. The visuals are still below average, this is a Studio Deen work so that shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone and I haven't really noticed the music that much. Next week the story is switching to one of the side couples so fingers crossed that it continues to improve on the first season.
The second season of Sekaiichi is streaming on crunchyroll and you can watch the first season there as well. 

Squid Girl 2 (Shinryaku Ika Musume!?)
Squid Girl also continues more or less where the first season left off but after four episodes I'm just not loving it as much as I liked the first season. I remember that I marathoned a good chunk of the series the first time and maybe that's what I need to do now to get back into the show. It has the same set-up as before, three sketches in each episode, but only one or two of them have felt really funny to me, some were a bit amusing and others just fell flat, the humor just doesn't feel as creative anymore. The show is taking a break in the upcoming weeks (to give the stations that started late a chance to catch up) so maybe a little break is what I need. 
Like it's predecessor, Squid Girl is streaming on crunchyroll.

Tamayura~Hitotose~
I didn't watch the original Tamayura OVAs when they came out since I saw mixed reviews about them but decided to try out the tv series for a few reasons. While I normally have no interest in the cute girls/boys doing cute things kind of plot this was a story about cute girls doing photography, my thing, which was interesting and the show is being directed by Junichi Sato who did the series composition for Croisée in a Foreign Labyrinth this past summer and I really enjoyed that show so I thought I would give it a try. Tamayura just didn't work for me however, while Croisée managed to have a "healing" feeling by being a very low-key, character growth oriented show it felt like Tamayura was trying too hard to capture that same feeling and came off feeling forced to me. Maybe if this series got licensed I would give it another chance but for the moment I'm not going to follow fansubs for any series I don't completely adore.

UN-GO
The other noitaminA show this fall (funny enough, the same two studios, Production IG and Bones did both the shows for the summer block and the fall block, this is Bones' show) and it's adapted from Ango Sakaguchi's post WWII mystery stories, this time set in the near future after a war. Shinjurou Yuuki is "the defeated detective" since it always seems like he makes incorrect deductions and he's accompanied by his assistant, and by far the strangest element in this show, Inga. While the mystery was nothing special (I honestly think it's harder to do a mystery in a visual medium and in serial mediums, keep meaning to write a blog entry on that) I did like how the surrogate audience character was NOT the detective's assistant for once and that she could be an interesting character later on. I didn't really like how Gosick turned out but I've never been able to find out how much of the ending was Bones and how much of the ending was the original work so I'm hoping I'll like a story that's almost all Bones a bit more.
UN-GO is streaming for multiple countries on crunchyroll.

So there you have it, 10 shows, 2 I'm dropping, 8 I hope to follow and who knows, I might even try out Fate/Zero later on when I have the time. Not now though, apologies that this entry is up so late but this week has been crazy for me and tomorrow's entry might be up really late (like, a whole day late) as well. Fingers crossed that everything will go smoothly tomorrow but I'm not counting on it.

*believe me, I've seen hardcore yaoi before, although there's a bit of a story behind that one.

Summer Anime 2011 Reviews: Part one!

In half the world summer is well under way (I swear that where I live summer starts mid-May and then alternates between hot and unbearable through late September) and a new crop of anime is out as well! As with the spring anime, I'm trying out so many that I'm splitting this up into two parts and the second part will go up tomorrow. All of these reviews are based on the first episode (even though many of these shows already have a second episode out) and I was wondering, would you guys like to see me post reviews of the individual shows in the future (like how most anime blogs do the new seasons) or do these giant posts work just fine?

Baka to Test 2 (Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu Ni or Idiots, Tests and Summoned Beasts! Fuimation doesn’t use that translation but that’s what it actually does mean):

Well, Funimation has SAID that they licensed the anime for simulcast (in addition to DVD/BR rights, which is strange since they still haven't released the first season yet) but they haven't said anything else yet so I haven't seen it. Although, it sounds like the first episode was a less-than-stellar beach episode which hasn't made me all that eager to start in on a new season....

  

Blood-C:

To start with, it sounds like people who are already fans of the Blood franchise (especially Blood+) don’t like this show very much but people who aren’t/are big CLAMP fans (like me) are enjoying it more, very interesting. I’ll admit that I’m not as enamored with the show as many other people are, I really want this show to be at least a bit darker (and there are some hints that it’ll do just that) but the high school parts aren’t bad right now (the twins actually remind me of the twins from Otome Yokai Zakuro). So I’m not sold on the show but, since it is streaming on NicoNico, I have absolutely no problem with giving it a few more episodes to see what happens.  

Bunny Drop (Usagi Drop): 

First off, NO DISCUSSING THE ENDING OF THE MANGA. If you don’t know it, DON’T LOOK IT UP, I'M VERY SERIOUS ABOUT THIS. It’s not like the anime can cover 55 chapters in 11 episodes anyway, we’ll be lucky to get through the first four volumes if that much.

Ahem, sorry, the ANN forums have been freaking out enough over that, as for the show itself it’s sweet. The background visuals are gorgeous in a watercolor/crayon style (similar to Aoi Hana or Wandering Son) and it looks like the manga character designs translated well. Rin is an adorable child and it’s a nice choice to have a ten year old voice a child (again like Wandering Son, although there is a bigger age difference here since Rin is just 5). It’s streaming on crunchyroll and I’ll be continuing it for sure!

The Crossroads in a Foreign Labyrinth (Ikoku Meiro no Croisée or La croisée dans un labyrinthe étranger):

 Well that was cute, and hurray for a series set in a historical period that actually has period correct clothing and architecture! (Looking at you Gosick, and I have seen some people say that all the clothes are from the same decade, I’m not just assuming this). Set in Paris in the 1880s or so, blacksmith Claude is surprised to find that his grandfather has come back from Japan with not only souvenirs but with a little girl whose job is to act as the shop’s signboard. Yune is absolutely adorable (I really want to see someone cosplay her really fancy outfit now) and, after some misunderstandings, it looks like the show will turn into a charming and laid back slice-of-life show. I’ve seen some people worried that there isn’t a lot of manga material for it (two volumes when it was announced back in December so it’s probably got under 20 chapters now) but if it’s a one season show that shouldn’t be a problem (and, since I've seen a member of the French staff post and mention that all the work was done in the show now I imagine it is only one cour). I won’t be watching this since I try to only watch one fansub a season but if this does get picked up for streaming I’ll happily continue with it. 

God’s Notebook (Kamisama no Memo-Chou)

I’m trying out three different shows this season that remind me of Gosick: Ikoku (since they have the same manga artist+historical clothing), Dantalion (it’s the giant library+goth-loli with male sidekick) and this one (goth-loli detective+male sidekick). I had heard that the light novel series this one was based on is pretty well regarded among fans in Japan and the mystery here was better than some of the earlier mysteries in Gosick but the motivations for it basically amounted to person needs a therapist to deal with issues, doesn’t have one and then engages in self-destructive behavior which, well, had been done so many times before that it’s rather boring*. I found myself disliking all the characters (except the lady who ran the ramen shop but she had less than five minutes of screen time) although the episode was paced well (it was longer than a normal episode but I believe that’s only for the first episode). In the end, right now this just isn’t a show I’m interested in but, if the reviews for it are consistently good, I’ll give it another try someday (plus, no simulcast so I have to hunt down fansubs for it, not the show's fault but that is a minus in my book).

Five more reviews coming tomorrow, four of them are already written and I'm just waiting on Dantalion to finally show up. CR has it listed at 12:30 EST so hopefully that's the same time as on NicoNico and I'll be able to grab lunch, watch and get a review written and the next piece up mid-afternoon tomorrow. See ya'll then!

*in fiction anyway, in real life it’s just terrifying

 

Spring Anime 2011 Reviews, part one!

And for something a bit different again, going to give my thoughts on all the new anime from this past spring season that I've tried (so, if anyone really wants to know what I'll be reviewing in three or six months, consider this a sneak peek). Since I tried out eight different series this spring I'm going to split this into two parts and I'll put the second part up tomorrow, once I write in anyway.

AnoHana (Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae Boku-tachi wa Mada Shiranai. or We Still Do Not Know the Name of the Flower We Saw That Day.)

One of the two new noitaminA shows premiering this season, it's an anime original story about a group of friends who grew apart after one of them died when they were kids and are starting to reconnect almost ten years later. The reason they're starting to re-connect is because Jintan, originally the leader of the group and now a hikkimori, has started being visited by Menma (the girl who died) and is trying to grant her wish so she'll leave him alone again, although even Menma isn't sure what her wish is. It's a surprisingly touching show and, while it is paced fast (it's going to be only 11 episodes long so it has to move fast) everything feels like it's progressing at a natural pace, can't wait to see where it goes!

Sadly this one does not have a simulcast and makes it my one fansub of the season, I'd forgotten how annoying it is to wait around for fansubs too.

Blue Exorcist (Ao no Exorcist)

Taking over Star Driver's timeslot this is a shonen series based on the manga by the same name (now being published in the US by Viz) and so far I like it a bit. The premise is that Rin is the son of Satan (while his twin brother Yukio is not) and after the events of a second episode spoiler has sworn to kill Satan by becoming an exorcist. While teenage rebellion isn't a new thing in anime (or any media) this is a different take on it and Rin is a pretty likable protagonist. I'll confess that after the first episode I read ahead in the manga (I didn't mean to! It just sorta-kinda, well, happened!) so if the pacing stays consistent this should be a pretty fun ride.

Blue Exorcist is being simulcast by Aniplex and streaming on crunchyroll.com, hulu.com and animenewsnetwork.com not 100% sure what the restrictions are on it but everyone in the US and Canada should be able to see it. Also, I am torn between laughing or being embarrassed on behalf of the ending sequence (animation and song), keep an eye on the tv screens to see what I mean.  

[C]-CONTROL-The Money and Soul of Possibility
FYI, this is another title that has a lot of alternate spellings, I'm fond of calling it C(ontrol) myself but C-Control seems to be the most widely used one*. The other noitaminA show, also anime original, C deals with a Japan a little in the future where everything seems the same except for a mysterious alternate world called the Financial District where people engage in "deals" (battles) with other people's "assets" (anthropomorphic representation of their futures), putting their own futures on the line for riches. Kimimaro Yoga is a full time college student holding down two part time jobs who just wants a stable, normal government job and wouldn't like to be involved in any of this, no thank you, but he's our protagonist and like it or not he's got to continue in these deals now, and maybe he'll learn something about his family in the process.
C is being streamed for US and Canadian residents on Funimation's website (which, now that they changed their video player, let's Canadians watch the videos now) as well as on hulu and youtube. I think that it's also being streamed on ANN for Australia or the UK but I'm not positive. 

Deadman Wonderland
 It used to be that when people in the US thought of "anime" they thought of much darker and gritter cartoons than produced in the US and Deadman would certainly fit that description. Within the first episode our main character Ganta has watched all his classmates be brutally murdered in front of him, been convicted with the murder of them due to some faked footage of him confessing, sent to the only private prison/amusement park in Japan (Deadman Wonderland) which makes all the prisoners put on shows for the customers in order to raise money to re-build Tokyo. Oh, and some of the people there want to kill Ganta before his execution date, if the poison seeping out of his (and everyone else's) collars doesn't kill him first, is that enough action for you yet? I'm a little worried since fans of the manga say that there is no way you can tell the story properly in just 13 episodes and there's a rumor that the series is only planned to be 13 episodes, as long as the story has enough episodes we should be fun.
This one is streaming on crunchyroll.com I can't seem to find out what regions at this time, and it's streaming on Anime on Demand for anyone in the UK. Final note, this one has my favorite opening song of the series so far, the Engrish was so good I had to double check to make sure they hadn't gotten an English speaking band instead.   




Whew, wrote up most of that between exams (gah, I hate double exam Saturdays) and I'll get the other four reviews up tomorrow sometime. Don't have much else to say (except that I have discovered an amusing number of similarities between Blue Exorcist and The Demon's Lexicon^) so see you then!

*actually, when it was first announced it was just announced as "C" prompting a joke or two that AnoHana stole it's other letters. 

^No seriously, in both series we have a set of brothers, one of whom is actually a demon (Rin and Nick) and the other brother (Yukio and Alan) has A) known about this for years and B) is desperate to keep them safe. Add in the fact that both demon's use swords (although sadly Rin does not keep his under a leaky sink in the bathroom) and both of the other brothers use guns, plus even their "allies" would rather use the pairs than help them. So it's not surprising that my mind made that jump, although I am sad that Mae and Jamie (from The Demon's Lexicon) don't have Blue Exorcist compatriots as well, stories need more pink-haired, totally normal yet still awesome girls/boys and more witty gay boys/girls!