ONA: Kyosougiga

This is one of those weird little categories that I'll only use every now and then, ONA or original net animation which is exactly what it sounds like, an animation that was original released over the web instead of via DVD or TV. Time of Eve is another one, although it was also combined into a movie which is why I labeled that as a movie, other than that I don't think I've seen many ONAs. I really hope this one gets rebooted and picked up as a full series however, it's wonderfully fun and a shame that it's only 25 minutes long.

Kyosougiga (Capital Craze Comic)

 
Summary: In an alternate version of Kyoto (called Mirror Kyoto in the subs) Koto and her two brothers are on the hunt for a mysterious black rabbit and after they find it they will be able to go home. But certain factions in the city seem to think that Koto herself has an important connection to the city and aren't so keen to let her go.

The Good: It's very difficult to tell a complete and satisfying story in just half an hour and while Kyousogiga doesn't pull that off perfectly it does a really good job. It was able to set up a basic plot, establish almost half a dozen characters and generally just be a really cool, half an hour distraction. There is a plot, I had been afraid that it would be a half hour of nonsense accompanying some interesting imagery, and I was interested by the characters and each of the main characters had enough screen time for them to feel at least partially fleshed out. More than anything else I feel like this story has a lot of potential but even in short form it was fun to see.  

The Bad: Earlier in the year a five minute promotional video for this was released and barely any of the scenes were used in the ONA which makes me rather sad since the PV seemed to tell a story with pieces that were missing from the end version. While the story worked for the ONA it did seem like it was missing several scenes, like an explanation for exactly why Koto and her brothers are trying to find the black rabbit/how that will send them home (I'm also curious how they can all be siblings since the brothers are yokai for sure yet Koto seems fairly human). This feels like a story that needs more time to flesh itself out and I'll be disappointed if this is all that ever comes of the idea.

The Audio: There were a number of really fun to listen to tracks that worked great with the crazy visuals. The voice acting also seemed rather solid, no overacting or flat characters, so I was pleasantly surprised to see that not only did this ONA look good but it sounded good as well, it's amazing what you can do with a budget and not have to stretch it as much.

The Visuals: Some people are comparing this to FLCL because of their crazy visuals and the comparison is rather apt. There's barely a quiet moment, there's always something moving on screen and it looked really good even when watching a low quality fansub. Having watched this twice now I'm amazed at the amount of detail put into the scenes, usually there's a main object of interest moving and then one or two pieces of the background moving around as well, and with such a vivid color scheme it simply looks gorgeous.

I've heard that the youtube stream (there are legal, non-region locked youtube and niconico streams, they just don't have subtitles) at the very end has a date in March with an announcement about an announcement so I have my fingers crossed that this will turn into a full anime in the spring or summer season (heck, stick this in the noitaminA slot, at least this would kinda work for it). I'm not sure what else they could announce besides a movie/tv/manga deal so I really hope everything works out!
Also, I don't know if any tropers read this blog but I just created the works page for this today and I'd really love if someone could help out and put some more examples down, I know there have to be more than what I've thought of. 

Anime Review: AnoHana

And with this begins my reviews of anime that just finished up, mostly from the spring 2011 season but there's one that started back in the winter so let's get started!

First up we have one of the noitaminA shows, specifically the moe looking show with an ultra long title. Back when the series was announced I was excited, heck I even started a thread for it on a pretty big forum, but as the winter wore on I got more and more alarmed by the "Fractale debacle" and started getting worried that maybe noitaminA had lost their touch for creating shows that I dearly loved. I mean, not only was this show about teenagers (not adults, the normal protagonists for shows in this timeslot) but it was also an original story so there was no way to check the source material to see if it was any good. So, with some trepidation, I tried out the first episode and by the end of it I was convinced that Fractale was more or less a fluke and noitaminA was still going strong.  

AnoHana (Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shirani or We Still Do Not Know the Name of the Flower We Saw That Day)

Summary: When they were kids, Jintan, Anaru, Menma, Yukiatsu, Tsuruko and Poppo made up the "super peace busters gang" and were the closest friends you could imagine. Then Menma died and that was the first event that eventually forced them all apart and made them what they are today, a mixture of average and yet deeply hurting teens. Then one day Jintan, once the leader of their band and now a shut-in, discovers that Menma has returned as a ghost and in order for her to finally move on to heaven she needs help fulfilling her wish, one that needs the whole gang back together to grant.  

The Good: This show understands that it's really hard to tell a complete story in just 11 episodes so, instead of trying to tell a story that really focuses on a central plot, it instead develops five characters, all of whom are a little or a lot messed up after Menma's death and even Menma herself gets some character growth (which is rather impressive considering she's been dead for at least five years). So it's difficult to say much about the show without giving away it's secrets yet it's also very simple to explain why it's so good, the characters really do grow and it's simply satisfying to see an inherently good yet flawed character become a happier and healthier person by the end of the story.

The Bad: At times there is an awful lot of crying in the story (mostly by Menma which is understandable, she hasn't had a chance to really grow since she died) and it was enough to really irritate some people*. Tsuruko and Poppo never got an episode that was devoted solely to fleshing out them (Tsuruko is fleshed out over a few episodes but poor Poppo only got his right at the very end) and those would have been very satisfying episodes to see, especially when the show lagged a little bit towards the middle. Yukiatsu was perhaps too realistic in that, while he did get better, he was still a jerk to nearly everyone for most of the show and Jintan seemed a bit slow to develop at times as well. So, not surprisingly, the strongest part of this show was it's characters but they were also it's weakest link at times.

The Audio: For a number of the episodes the ending theme (which is a cover sung by the girl's voice actresses) starts playing during the last minute of the episode itself and really adds to what's already a pretty emotional scene. I have heard that the opening song is also a cover, although I can't find enough information to confirm that, but the lyrics match the show so well that I'd be surprised if it was. And not only the words but the melodies of the songs really fit well with the series. In an emotional series you really need strong music, almost more than you need strong visuals, to make it all come together and the music certainly succeeds here.

The Visuals: The show never has a need for extravagant animation but thankfully A-1 Pictures never uses this as an excuse to slack off on their art. The backgrounds have a nice amount of detail (probably because the town is based on a real town) and the characters even change clothes between episodes (or sometimes within an episode, depending on how much time has passed)  which is something that few anime bother to do. Heck, apparently the kanji on Jintan's shirt change to reflect his general feelings as the show goes on and both Anaru and Tsuruko have multiple hairstyles and Anaru even switches between her glasses and contacts during the show. That's a lot of little details that, while they weren't necessary, just felt appropriate for a show that is all about it's characters and the world they now live in.


I mentioned in my Doctor Who review that at first I wasn't sure how I felt about the big, mid-season finale reveal since I had seen so many people predict it and it was just less shocking for me (yet this did mean it had a lot of foreshadowing so the reveal made sense). Menma's wish was the opposite, I didn't see anyone else predict it exactly yet it also made complete sense in the context of the show which, even though her wish wasn't a twist or anything, made me think that this is more of what I want in shows. I want reveals that make so much sense that no one bothers to think of them beforehand (actually, I've heard that that's how the climax of Madoka Magica was), so kudos to the writers for this series. Sadly this series was my one fansub of the season, so I can't point anyone towards any links that would support these writers, but if this series got licensed in the US (which I think it has a decent chance ot) I would be sure to go out and grab it.  




*as for me, I've seen both seasons of Tegami Bachi/Letter Bee and Lag cries in nearly every episode, it's going to take a lot more than what was here to annoy me.

Movie Review: Eden of the East, The King of Eden

As I've said before, I really liked the Eden of the East tv series and was excited to see what the movies would do, although I wasn't sure when I'd be able to see them. I really don't like blind buying (even if it's part of a series I like) plus I wanted to buy the series on blu-ray but I don't have a blu-ray player yet. Sure I could buy the discs now and watch it in a few years but I've gotten bad discs before and really prefer to test them out as quickly as I could. Thankfully Funimation resolved this dilemma for me by putting out the movie in a DVD/BR combo pack plus TRSI had a great sale on it so between those two things (and the promise of a free keychain!) I pre-ordered it, was surprised when it came in early, and then proceeded to squee during the entire movie.

Eden of the East: The King of Eden

Summary: The first of the two sequel movies to the television series, the movie begins six months after the series ended and in the mean time Saki has been traveling around looking for Takizawa. She's also been helping her group of friends get Eden of the East, the image search and tag engine they developed in college, off the ground and turn into a real business when one day they reveal that they have been hacking Takizawa's Seleção phone and finally have a lead on where he's gone to, New York City.

The Good: During the series the viewer might wonder just how Takizawa acted before he wiped his memory the first time and what his original personality was like. This movie seems to suggest that, no matter what happens to him, Takizawa stays basically the same, although that raises the question of what the point of the memory wipes. The memory wipe does have the unexpected side effect of having Saki be more forward with Takizawa than she was before and it seems like they are creating an even closer relationship this time. Previously Saki seemed a bit too hesitant to get close to him, perhaps scared for some reason, but now she seems more willing and they make a very cute couple. More of the Seleção are revealed and a few leave the game but one of the more exciting moments of the movie explains partially how the Seleção work towards the very end of the movie and hammers home that time is running out in this competition and someone needs to win very soon.    

The Bad: Some have complained that this is more of a talking head movie (although, the original series wasn't jam packed with action either, a lot of that was talking as well) and some have suggested that it would be better to view the two movies back to back instead of having a few month gap. The ending of the movie is unsatisfying in that regard (it feels as if the story is reaching the final chapter and then boom, credits, not what an audience wants to see) and some people have suggested that the movies should have instead just been a second tv series (which probably would have worked if this wasn't the noitaminA time slot which almost never has the time for sequels). This movie simply can't stand entirely on it's own and is probably the weakest of the three stories. But, since in every group their must be a weakest and a strongest installment (and the second book in a trilogy is always the weakest) this is hardly surprising and it's still a solid installment to the series.


The Art: The art remains relatively unchanged from the television series and is about the same quality as well. Only a few new characters are introduced and each of them shows Chika Umino's trademark style (manga-ka of Honey and Clover and March comes in like a lion). While the tv series had some fabulously detailed (and highly accurate!) backgrounds of Washington DC the movie has some equally impressive backgrounds of New York City. The CGI on the cars is still a bit noticeable, they could use some more shading, but other than that the movie looks just fine.


The Music: Oasis, the group that did the opening song "Falling Down" for the television series returns to do another song (complete with trippy imagery!) for the show and the group that did the ending song, School Food Punishment, returns as well. It's nice to have some continunity like that and the songs both worked well within the movie. The voice acting (Japanese)  was still strong and again the English was surprisingly good, even if it's still odd that so many regular people in the US understand the Japanese Saki and Takizawa are using.  




I can't wait for the second movie to come out (I've heard that it should be out in August so I've even held off pre-ordering the second Utena set so I could put them in the same order) and I really liked the DVD/BR packaging. My only complaint is that I thought that the Air Communication prequel movie would show a few events that went on in the six month gap but instead it seems to be a 2 hour version of the tv series with some of the character breaking the fourth wall and talking over at parts explaining what was going on. I didn't have a chance to watch the whole thing (mainly because I wasn't expecting to watch a movie that may have been longer than the main event) but I wish the promo information had made this a bit clearer.

 

 

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!   

Anime Review: Fractale

The first of Winter 2011's noitaminA shows, Fractale is an anime original story (there is a novel being written at the same time but I don't know if it's out yet) and is streaming on Funimation's site. A quick note, some of the character's hair colors were switched last minute (honestly, Phryne and Nessa having purple hair actually makes more sense), ponytails has red hair and the other girl has brown hair, I honestly couldn't find any clean images with the correct colors, sorry!

Fractale

Summary: About a thousand years into the future, humanity is completely dependent on the Fractale system. It provides for everyone’s needs, creates a virtual world around you so perfect that many people don’t interact with each other anymore, and an unforgiving government system. However, there are people who resent this lack of control over their lives and some people who just hate the system and a young boy named Clain, who doesn’t hate the system but does love antiques, falls in with these people and has a chance to change the world.

The Good: The setting, while not completely original, was an interesting one that I wish had been explored more. There are plenty of futuristic stories about supposedly perfect societies having corrupt governments and Fractale did a good job grounding itself there (also, for some reason I just liked the fact it was set in Ireland, probably because I’ve never seen an anime set there so the change was nice).

The Bad: As much as I liked the setting for this story I really ended up disliking the characters and the plot of this story by the end. Clain and co are caught in the middle of a fight between the Temple (maintainers of the Fractale system) and the Lost Millennium (a bunch of freedom fighters who want the system destroyed) and, even though each side is shown early on to be a bunch of extremists who will kill civilians if necessary, Clain sides with the LM, which I didn’t understand, and if the point of the story was how people are too dependent on technology (which makes it bad) then the story was way too heavy handed with it. As for the characters, I feel that even after 11 episodes we still didn’t really know any of them, either that or they were extraordinarily simple characters that I still couldn’t sympathize with. The show had a lot of filler strangely enough, yet it was devoted to silly antics, not to fleshing out the plot or characters, and the whole story (especially the ending, the Wolf’s Rain ending made slightly more sense) left a bad taste in my mouth.

The Art: The art looked marvelous in some episodes, off model in others (the character’s faces looked off model in all of episode 10, shame because the faces also seemed much more expressive), there were some times were the animation got more jerkly*. Several bits of the early episodes are set in real Irish towns (screenshots here) which I thought was cool and the inside of TOWN looked stunning, a really colorful feast for the eyes.

The Music: I almost didn’t notice at first that the ending song is a Yeats poem sung with a very heavy accent, it’s a nice choice but the singer really does have a very heavy accent there. Funimation didn’t translate the opening song but I found a translation on youtube and it seems that the song is about trying to get closer to people knowing that you might be hurt, like a hedgehog. Since Clain’s struggle at the beginning of the show is to grow closer to others, something he’s never had to do, I thought it was a very appropriate song for the series.  

When I first saw the above image, one of the first promo pieces for the show to come out, I thought that Clain and company would meet, meet the L.M, meet the Temple, decide that both of them have their good points and bad points, steal that airship, and then travel the world looking for a third option that was the middle ground between those two groups and each episode would explore a different take on Fractale and really explore the technology vs tradition, free will vs being completely taken care of aspect of the show. I would have loved that but instead I got an entire episode about how one character wears a fundoshi, that would be annoying enough in a 26 episode show but an 11 episode show? Gah and honestly, this just didn't feel like a noitaminA show. noitaminA actually has a fairly specific audience (josei lovers mainly, like me) and this show just wasn't mature enough to show here, it neither dealt with tough issues (like the other show this season, Wandering Son) or feature older characters (like nearly every other noitaminA show) making this the first noitaminA show that I've seen and didn't like, gaaaaaah.

*and, since I have gotten some crap for pointing this out on some forums, there is a time and a place for changing animation styles and these cases weren’t it. The changes in SD were cool and the animation shift in Birdy the Mighty: Decode 02 were well timed (and I really liked it there) but here it just felt like they were pressed for time and had to make do with less.

First Impressions: Winter 2011

No regular review tonight but, partially to help me build up a buffer again, I decided to post some quick first impressions on the new 2011 winter anime. It's not a bad season for anime actually, winter is usually the weakest season for me (I think last year I was just following Durarara! and Tegami Bachi) but this year I've I'm following six shows and four of them are new ones. So, synopsis taken from ANN/MAL (usually I write my own summaries but, since I've only seen one/two episodes I can't do that yet) and now in alphabetical order:

Fractale (noitaminA)

"The story takes place in an island, where a "Fractale System" is beginning to collapse. One day, Clain finds an injured girl called Phryne under a cliff. She disappears leaving a pendant. Crane sets out for a journey with the girl-shaped avatar Nessa to look for Phryne and discovers the secret of the Fractale System."
Only seen one episode of this so far but I can say that the island mentioned appears to be Ireland which is interesting (I honestly can't think of any other anime set in Ireland and several Irish anime fans have said that it's definetly the setting for sure). The plot of the anime didn't grab me to start with (and I have accidentally gotten into an argument with people on the internet whether it was weird or not that Phyrne strips in the first episode...) but the setting seems part Laputa with a bit of Summer Wars thrown in and that has me interested. I love a show where I don't know the plot and can speculate about it so, unless it turns out to be super crappy, I'm sticking with Fractale. For US/Canada viewers it's streaming at Funimation's site/youtube/hulu.

Gosick 

 "GOSICK takes place in 1924 in a small, made-up European country of Sauville. The story centers on Kazuya Kujo, the third son of a Japanese Imperial soldier, who is a transfer student to St. Marguerite Academy, where urban legends and horror stories are all the rage. There he meets Victorique, a mysterious yet beautiful and brilliant girl who never comes to class and spends her days reading the entire content of the library or solving mysteries that even detectives can't solve."
  So far this anime hasn't lived up to my expectations of it sadly. The mysteries in both episodes so far have been ridiculsy easy to solve (I figured out the solution before the situation was fully explained) and for a mystery series that's really bad (I'm told it gets better but at this point I'd really hate to see it get worse). None of the lovely 1920s fashion/architecture so far that I was hoping for (outside of the lovely looking opening song) and I wonder what's the point in even setting the series in the 20s if the characters are still acting like it's the Victorian era. It is streaming on crunchyroll (NA/SA, UK, Africa, part of Europe, ME, Malaysia and the Philippines) and I do have lower standards for what I'll watch legally streamed vs what I'll watch that's fansubbed, so for the moment I'm going to get the most out of my CR trial and keep watching.


Level E

"Tsutsui Yukitaka is a freshman who has finally convinced his parents that he is ready to live on his own. When he arrives at his new apartment, he is surprised to find that someone has arrived before him; A young man who claims that he is an alien and that he is suffering from amnesia."
Despite predating Men in Black by a few years, that and Birdy the Mighty: Decode are the most similar titles I can think of except for the fact that this doesn't involve any alien fighting so far. It's a comedy dealing with the fact that there are dozens of alien species living on Earth and the only people who don't know are the humans. I'm loving the humor so far (which ends up being a two man routine between Yukitaka and Prince, with Prince being far stranger than any of the characters guess) so this is a keeper for me! It's streaming on crunchyroll in the Americas, Western Europe, South Africa, and Australia/New Zealand.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica/Mahou Shojo Madoka Magica

 "Beloved family, good friend, laughs and cries. Just an ordinary life that Kaname Madoka, a second grade student of Mitakihara City Middle School, has lived on. One day, a mysterious encounter has come to her. Was that encounter a chance, or inevitable? She still don't know. An encounter that cause her fate to change, that is a beginning of new magical girl story."
I do like a number of magical girl series and I do like the genre, just not this one. When the story was in dark-what-the-heck-is-going-on mode (complete with trippy imagery!) it was fun but the everyday life parts of the story were rather boring. The show certainly has potential to be really creepy and dark but I'm not that fond of shows by Shaft and since people are calling this the next Nanoha (which I didn't like, side note, never marathon that entire show in one day) for now it's a pass. But I will be keeping an eye on the reviews to see if it ends up being good after all.


Wandering Son (noitaminA)

"Shuicihi Nitori appears to be a shy and quiet preteen boy, when he transfers to a new school he quickly makes friends with the tomboyish Yoshino Takatsuki who sits next to him. It soon becomes apparent that both Shucihi and Yoshino are more than simply a sensitive boy and masculine girl, they both are transgendered. Together they decide to take the first steps toward becoming the people they want to be."
Dear Western YA, why can't you be this awesome? When I think of everything I've read/seen I'm hard pressed to think of more than ten transsexual characters and most of them have been side characters in anime*.  So when I heard this was being made into an anime (and the story is by the same manga-ka as Aoi Hana which I adored) I was pretty excited. The story is starting in medias res (having skipped the first 33 chapters actually) but from all the summaries I've read I haven't felt lost yet but don't feel connected yet either. Not worried about that however, usually it takes a few episodes for an anime to click with me and I can't wait for more! Streaming on crunchyroll in NA, UK, AU/NZ, Brazil, and parts of Europe.



Yumekui Merry

"Ten years ago Fujiwara noticed he had a power to see multicolored auras surrounding the person's body. Ever since then he's been having a weird dream about a war with cats. Then one day a mysterious girl falls on top of him..."I really wanted to like this anime, the premise sounds cool and Merry reminds me a lot of Alice from Pandora Hearts (which I love). However, between the first episode and the few chapters of the manga I read, it's just not as cool as I hoped for. Also, this show isn't being streamed and I try to watch fansubs only when the show is amazing and I'll buy it for sure once it's licensed. Like Madoka, I'll keep an eye on the review but ultimately, if it does turn out to be a good show I'm sure it'll be licensed and I'll check it out that way instead.




In addition to those four, I'm also still following Star Driver (still fabulous and I haven't had that much fun speculating about a show in a long time) and Letter Bee/Tegami Bachi Reverse (which has me a little worried now that we seem to be getting into anime original territory to set up an anime original ending, also realized that the scanlations fell behind and looked up the RAWS only to discover that what the manga is doing is way cooler). So expect to see reviews for all of those except Gosick sometime in April! Actually, speaking of end of the season anime reviews, my next anime review is the first end of the fall season anime review I have and I still have a ton more reviews to put up. At this rate I'm going to be putting up a review a day until Feburary so look forward to it!






*Let's see, to name them all, the protagonist's sibling in the book Luna, side character in Tamora Pierce's Bloodhound, a number of sides and one main in Satoshi Kon's Millennium Actress, a couple of side characters in the anime Shangri-La, two mains in the webcomic Khaos Komic, and that's it. Might be able to come up with one or two later but since it took three mediums for me to come up with that many I think my point is made.

Anime Review: Canaan

I don't think I've seen any of the other "girls with guns" anime (been meaning to, just haven't gotten around to it) and since I ended up enjoying Canaan I think I'll move them up higher on my list (and this is another one that goes on my "BR to buy someday" list).

Canaan

Summary: The indirect sequel to the 2008 game "428: In a Blockaded Shibuya"* Marie Owasa and Minoru Minorikawa, a photographer and writer respectively, are sent to Shangai to cover the upcoming anti-terrorist conference. While there Marie runs into trouble and is rescued by an old friend of hers, Canaan, and both of them quickly get tangled up in the actives that Canaan's old rival Alphard is planning.

The Good: I'm not usually a fan of summer blockbuster action flicks but that's essentially what Canaan is and I loved it. It looked good, sounded good, and the action never lets up for very long. By and large the characters were fun (with the taxi driver being the coolest unnamed character ever) and the setting was neat as well (both the parts in Shangai and somewhere in the Middle East). I have a weak spot for characters who are photographers**, even if Marie isn't the most likable character in the series she's likeable enough. Even though most parts of this anime don't stand out on their own there was just something about the composition that made this series work and I enjoyed it for what it was.

The Bad: I was glancing over a review of the series as I was watching it (never a good thing) and it pointed out that Alphard never has a real reason for any of the things she does in the show. And since the majority of this show's plot is in response to Alphards actions that's a big failing. Her backstory fails to explain her current actions and doesn't explain her previous actions as well and Canann's backstory doesn't completely explain how she got to where she was in the beginning of the anime either. The story lives for the moment and, while it doesn't create as many fridge logic moments as you would expect, the plot suffers for it.

The Art: I often don't like watching action movies because either there are too many wide shots where you can't see all the action or the camera jumps around more than a monkey on steroids and it's still hard to see what's going on. The nice thing about animation is the lack of a real camera so the animators can technically draw any shot they want and the action in Canaan looks gorgeous for it. The first episode sticks out the most to me and between the festival and Canaan's fight it's one of the best looking things I've seen all year.

The Music: I actually saw the first half of this series dubbed and the second half subbed and I really liked the dub a lot better. I can't believe that Alphard's VA is a newbie, I really liked her take on the character better than the Japanese one, and I know more than a few people who were alarmed of the fact that the psychotic Liang Chi is played by the same VA who did Chiyo in Azumanga Diaoh. A very good dub and the opening song was very catchy and high energy as well. The closer was less memorable but the show has some very solid voice acting and music in it. 

I came for an action flick and got some very nice action with enough of a plot to keep me happy (although the plot is steadily less and less present as the series goes on and I'll admit that I didn't like the ending but to explain why is spoliery). I do wish the plot was stronger, and that I could find the 428 game in English, but I'm content with how the series is.


*No you don't need to play the game or even know what it's about to watch the anime, I only looked up stuff about it after I finished the series. Sure there were parts where I could tell there was more backstory than the anime was going to tell but nothing that interfered with the plot or characters.
**even if I had to laugh at the idea of a modern day photographer still shooting film and developing it in the hotel bathroom, especially since I believe this is set twenty minutes into the future.