Bokura no, is the second series to finish of what I’d like to call the “big three” of the spring-season, along with Toward the Terra and Kaze no Shoujo Emily. For me, these three series stood out like no other for the past two seasons, and they just kept delivering quality over and over again. While Toward the Terra had its character-development, fast pacing and production-values, Bokura no shines not only through its well-written storyline, memorable characters and a rock-solid concept.
As soon as I read the concept, I knew we had something very special here. Revealing it entirely would be too much of a spoiler for the early episodes, but basically, this comes from the same mangaka as Narutaru. This time, however, a bunch of children are given the control not over monsters, but over a huge mecha. Bokura no shows what really happens when children get such a heavy burden placed upon themselves.
But don’t expect this to be a continuous angst-fest like Narutaru. The beauty of Bokura no is that the children involved aren’t special in any way. They’re just random and could in fact be your neighbour if you live in Japan. Each of these children is so incredibly different, and one of the many delightful elements of this series: every two or three episodes, the entire mood of the series changes for something completely different, while remaining logical and realistic. Sure, some children freak out, but that’s only one or two of them. Each of the children has his or her own problems and wishes, and that’s what makes this anime so brilliant. I could go more into detail, but I refuse for the sake of spoilers.
Then there’s the plot. Manga-readers should be aware that halfway through the anime, the director decided to go into a totally different direction when compared to the manga. Whether it improved or not, I can’t say, since I haven’t read it. But I can say that it has some definite competition with the storyline the director came up with. The pacing is very fast yet nothing feels rushed, and yet there’s a different and shocking plot twist nearly every episode.
Perhaps one of the few lesser points is that some episodes decide to focus on politics, instead of what this anime is really about: the children. But even this contributes to an overall mood of believability of the series. A giant robot has just appeared. Of course the military is going to react, and yet I see so many anime where mechas can just walk over the street without anyone noticing it. Also, when buildings get destroyed, they really get destroyed, and don’t magically disappear from the screen without any traces left. This really shows the impact that those giant robots can have on the societies.
If I had to mention a bad point… well, some plot-twists are a bit too coincidental, but that describes nearly 90% of all other anime as well. According to the manga-readers, the first half of the series also left out a few parts of developments for the different characters, but that’s probably in order to make it to air on tv, since the manga has a reputation to be rather gruesome at times. Still, I prefer this down-to-earth style of storytelling.
The character-designs are also perfect. Well, that’s what I think at least. The beauty of them is their simplicity: this really shows that the characters are just normal people, dragged into the story, instead of busty schoolgirls with hair in every colour of the rainbow and overly large pupils. Gonzo has been animating them, and it shows: when the animation is at its best, the characters look beautiful, despite their simplistic designs. One of the few elements of this series that isn’t outstanding is the music. It’s just good, but there are enough series with a better soundtrack.
Overall, while it isn’t the most popular anime out there, I absolutely loved this series. It’s delightfully different and unique, and quite possibly one of the most thought-provoking series of the year. While a few of the characters could have used a bit more development here and there, the rest of the series totally made up for it.]]>
Author: psgels
Bokura no – 24
What a magnificent and absolutely incredible ending!! Okay, others may disagree, but there’s a very good chance that Bokura no has the best ending of the year for me. Obviously spoilers are going to follow this post, so this bit of text is there to fill up space for the blog-aggregators, in particular Animeblogger Antenna. So, this should be enough.
Let me start with saying one thing: NONE OF THE CHILDREN WAS REVIVED!!!! THE DEAD REALLY REMAINED DEAD HERE!!! The thing the director said in his blog, about reviving the children was all just one huge bluff!!!!
Sure, there were a few things that lacked, but in turn, they all have their own charms. In the end, we never get to know who’s behind everything, but I actually think that was a good thing to do. It’s like the previous episode said: Bokura no is about the children. Not some interdimensional space-complot. I also absolutely loved how the grown-up Kana ran into Daiichi’s siblings, the ones that he left behind. It may have been too much of a coincidence, but it was such a beautiful choice for an ending, to give the three of them a last bit of development.
And the battle! Seriously, it was one of the best fights of the series. Not because it’s the longest, but because it was so delightfully different. Usually, when the final episode of the anime ends, it’s standard fare where two titans duke it out, though Bokura no adds so many fine details that make it awesome to watch. First of all, the development that Jun has gotten turned him into an amazing and sympathic character. And most importantly: I loved how he actually fought alone. I loved how he talked to himself while fighting, despite nobody being in the cockpit. You don’t often see shy persons relax while they’re alone, do you?
Seriously, Bokura no couldn’t have ended better. If there was anything that was needed to make this show even more amazing it was this episode! It’s so sad to see one of the best shows of the year gone, but it’s definitely been an awesome ride.]]>
El Cazador de la Bruja Review – 89/100
This may be one of my more biased reviews, simply because I’m such a large Bee-Train fan. Their particular style of storytelling may aggravate some, but I personally love it. Still, there’s one thing about this series that nearly nobody can deny: the soundtrack is awesome. Yuki Kajiura is behind it, and some of the tracks are among the best of her works. But what about the rest?
Well, El Cazador is the final instalment of the girls-with-guns trilogy of Bee-Train, with Noir and Madlax as its predecessors. One thing that you should know before watching is that while Noir featured some excellent gunfight, El Cazador… err… doesn’t. Believe me, you do NOT want to watch this series for the action, because quite frankly: it sucks.
Luckily, the director realized this quite early on, which leads to a change-of-focus in the middle of the series. The first half is basically a case-based series. Ellis and Nadie basically travel, and as they travel they meet people and explore their cases. These cases are definitely interesting to watch and thought-provoking, and in the meantime the story slowly develops, with nearly every episode brining a small bit of new information to keep the viewers on their toes.
The second half, however, is where El Cazador really starts to shine. The change of focus I mentioned above basically means that the different cases for each episode get abandoned, and instead the characters start developing. Because they already had been fleshed out by the first half, the results turn out absolutely amazing, with an excellent Shoujo-ai relationship if I say so myself. This continues up to the point where Ellis and Nadie become amazing characters, no matter what they do. When the final quarter began, I found myself not caring about the plot anymore, as long as the characters were on the screen. Now that’s a sign of good development.
But yeah, the plot does move awfully slow. The creators chose a very original setting of rural Mexico for this anime to take place in, and it manages to really show this throughout its storytelling, though the plot remains very simple, and just a tool for the characters. I liked how it was so incredibly down-to-earth, though, and how we finally don’t have such a huge plot deciding the fate of the world and stuff. This series is just about Ellis and her strange powers, and the few people that get caught up in her story, nothing more, and nothing less.
The simple storyline does have another advantage: the ending, while cheesy, is finally another one of those endings that isn’t rushed at all. There’s probably only one character (Lilio) that needed more development and background, but apart from that the final episode closes off the series perfectly, without any bad feelings.
Regarding the graphics, well it’s Bee-Train, so the character-designs look great, and the background-art doesn’t look as impressive as with other shows, but it really gives off the feeling of Mexico, when compared to nearly 90% of all other anime, which are set in Japan. About whether you’d like this or not depends on your patience, whether you find the different guests of the first half interesting and don’t mind that at a few times, the show delves into cheesiness. If that’s the case, then you’ll get rewarded with some amazing characters in the second half.
(On a side-note: with Shoujo-ai, I really DO mean Shoujo-ai. There is no yuri in this series.)]]>
El Cazador de la Bruja – 26
Now this is what I call a terrific ending! It manages to flawlessly combine both the feeling of the first and the feeling of the second part of the series, and it still gives enough closure for each character in the series. One of my main gripes with Noir was how the final episode was so incredibly rushed, and it seems that the director realized this as well and learned from it, because there are no signs of rushes AT ALL in this series. This episode was everything a final aftermath-episode should be!
Okay, there were a few questions left unanswered. Most importantly, we never know what’s up with Lilio, and the cat and the guy in the mask we see in the ED actually don’t appear anywhere. Something tells me that somewhere in the beginning, the director changed one of his plans for the outcome of this show and decided to focus more on the characters than action and a huge plot. This could explain the huge change-of-focus of the middle of the series. Ah well, I’m not complaining, because I absolutely loved the second half of El Cazador.
In any case, Ellis and Nadie indeed settle down in a small town and start to work at a local inn, complete with different outfits and hairstyles. Of course, they end up travelling at the end of the episode, but what makes this episode stand out is when Nadie starts talking about staying at the inn forever, it just feels weird somehow. I could somehow tell that both of them secretly longed to go back to their days of travelling, even though they never really said anything about it.
Blue-eyes’s visit also was a nice touch to give the closure to the story of Ricardo and Lilio: they’re still travelling with each other, and while it’s still a bit disappointing that we never really got to know about Lilio’s mother, seeing her practice the Boomerang and trying to sing the taco-song was awesome. Blue-eyes also returned to being a business-lady, and got engaged with a guy who looks suspiciously much like Rozenberg. Seriously, that has to say something about the impression he made on her. ^^;
And the two bounty-hunters! I know their huge amount of weight gained is a tad improbable, but it’s awesome to see them back again. They really were some of the minor returning villains and they were really fun to watch while they lasted, and it’s great to see that they finally get a bit of development as well.]]>
Some quick first impressions: Saishuu Shiken Kujira, Kodomo no Jikan OVA and GR -Giant Robo-
Saishu Shiken Kujira
Ugh… I was interested in this series because I read somewhere that it had mystery-elements, despite being only five minutes long for each episode. And fair enough, the first scene opens with the main character, staring at a huge whale that floats in the sky; an interesting start. But then, everything went down the drains when a cheesy pop-tune started playing and, indeed, a cute, pink-haired, well-endowed girl showed up from nowhere. And indeed, the guy is a sudden transfer-student. Seriously, what’s so exciting about transfer students?! Sure enough, the better series can make something good out of this, but Saishu Shiken Kujira spends the rest of its five minutes in pointless blabber, where the girl keeps spooning up to the main character. I’ve got bad feelings about this one.
(Edit: I wrote this blurb a couple of weeks ago, and since then I managed to see three more episodes. Let’s just say that it gets worse with every successive episode. Don’t even touch this with a ten-foot pole!)
Kodomo no Jikan OVA
Well well, the storytelling actually turned out cute. There were quite a few adorable moments and it didn’t turn out in the failure I originally thought it would be. Still, the excessive and blatantly obvious fanservice needs to stop. Like with nearly ever other-fanservice anime, it only hurts the production. Still, it’s not only the fanservice that’s the problem. The main character’s behaviour and obsession doesn’t match her age. I mean, how many 11-year old girls are already ready to spoon up to their loved ones? Overall, this could have become good if it wasn’t so keen on feeding the paedophiles out there…
GR -Giant Robo-
Yes, I know that I already id a first impression half a year ago, but I wanted to wrap up the quick first impressions before the start of the new season. It also gives me a good chance to raise some awareness that this series has finally gotten subbed. It could have been one of the big names of the winter-season, if it didn’t air on some kind of paid channel, and of course it was nice to finally see this with some quality sound and graphics. Anyway, I’ve been looking forward to more news of this series ever since watching the OVA, which aired ten years earlier. Daisaku seems to have turned eighteen, though it’s not yet certain whether it is THE Daisaku. We have yet to see his past, and there was no single mention of the Shizuma-drives. There are also no recurring characters except for him, and even Giant Robo has a different name now, this really was an introduction-episode. Daisaku runs into Elysion (the new Giant Robo, it seems) and the two of them make a contract, and that’s basically all this episode was about. I like the emphasis on diving, though. It’s nice and fresh, and the music really sounds excellent if you’re a fan of metal.]]>
Tetsuko no Tabi Review – 79/100
The summer-season came with a lot of interesting and unique series. Probably the weirdest of them is Tetsuko no Tabi. Not weird as in an extremely strange setting, but weird as in “how the heck did this get turned into an anime!?” Basically, what we have here is one of the very few non-fiction anime: a manga-writer is asked by her boss to accompany him and a travel-writer on a train-journey. The catch is that it really happened: they really did travel with various trains, and the anime is just an adaptation of the manga which records what happens. Obviously, this is never going to get popular. Still, I’d like to write this review, because this anime is really quite enjoyable.
The main reason behind Tetsuko no Tabi’s enjoyability-factor is the characters, or to be more specific: the chemistry between them. The travel-writer turns out to be a huge train-otaku, Yokomi. While otaku-characters are often annoying to watch, seeing his energy and passion for trains (and sometimes girls) is hilarious, but the character that really shines in this anime is the manga-writer, Kikuchi. She has no interest in trains whatsoever, and she keeps getting freaked out by Yokomi’s antics, but most importantly she’s delightfully witty and sarcastic. While most Japanese are often polite to each other, it made no sense for her to remain so, because Yokomi would read her true opinion anyway in the manga. Because of this, she passes the screen ranting against Yokomi to cool down. Her seiyuu is an unknown one (her only other major role was Kate in Red Garden), but she’s someone to watch out for. It really feels like she puts everything she has into her role, while having great fun doing so, and it works perfectly.
During some episodes, some guests also travel along with our protagonists. These are of course real people, who read the previous volumes of the manga and asked to join, and there are quite a few interesting people among them. The only downside to this is that the later half of the anime doesn’t feature any guests at all, with one exception, but he leaves quite quickly. But then again, that’s not something you can plan with non-fiction, is it?
The main flaw about Tetsuko no Tabi is that there isn’t much else apart from the characters. They’re everything in this anime. ^^; The story is much of the same. The individual episodes do have their own identity (for example, in one a ticket gets lost, in another they travel to Hokkaido, in another the characters are playing with a digital video-camera), but the series keeps consisting out of platforms and trains, and barely any other setting. The graphics are also very simplistic, especially the background art and CG, though at least the character-designs look simple yet good. The background music also consists out of standard but catchy tunes, and especially the OP is really fun to watch after a few times.
Overall, yes, it’s repetitive. But it’s also fun to watch and a great opportunity to learn a bit about the Japanese culture. Some of the sceneries are quite nice to watch. Still, I can imagine that most people won’t pick this up, and if you hate trains this series will be hard to like as well. At this point, only one episode has been subbed yet, and it doesn’t look like the rest of the series will come soon. I’ve just reviewed Potemayo as well, and I have to say that Tetsuko no Tabi definitely delivered more and consistent laughs for me.]]>
Potemayo Review – 73/100
At the start of the summer-season, I remember predicting that the title of best comedy of the season would go to either go to Sayonara Zetsumou-Sensei or Potemayo. Well, Sayonara Setzubou-sensei ended up winning it. That’s not to say Potemayo isn’t funny, but a in terms of comedies, there are better choices.
The comedy in Potemayo is basically based on timing. You’ll never know when something funny happens. This would have been perfect if the jokes were awesome, but it turns out that they’re hit-or-miss. You’ll never know when a joke lands, and you’ll never know when it’ll deliver. There are enough cute moments, but I’m afraid to say that the best jokes were in the first two episodes.
Basically, the story is about a strange chibi-girl who comes out of the main character’s fridge and starts living with him, and the anime basically follows their everyday activities along with the main character’s classmates. Again, the characters are a mixed bag. The ideas behind their characters are nice, but some of them just don’t get anywhere and keep repeating the same jokes over and over (Mutan and the ones around him come to mind). Other characters were quite interesting though. My favourites were Yasumi and Guchiko, who seemed to be behind some of the best jokes of the series and had the least amount of misfired ones.
Potemayo also has a few serious scenes, as an attempt to get some sympathy with the viewers, but for me at least, it didn’t work well. Most of the drama is annoying and rather lacklustre, and only the final episode ends up somewhat touching, until the ending turns out to be a disney-ending, at least. Potemayo also seems to think it’s a mystery-series by revealing the major part of the main character’s past in the final episode. I think it would have been better for this to have been revealed in one of the first episodes, so that he could have actually used this bit of much-needed development instead.
I may have been a bit too negative with this review, because I enjoyed watching it. Potemaho has got quite a few cute and genuinely funny moments; though don’t expect a masterful comedy here.]]>
Mononoke – 08
Ah, finally Mononoke is back. I’m glad that I returned to the subs, as it’s much easier to concentrate on the mystery here. I’ve stopped to believe that Mononoke can produce a story that’s better than Bake Neko, because let’s face it: the thing that made Ayakashi ~Japanese Classic Horror~ so great was its shock-value. Bake Neko also was much more aimed at horror, while Mononoke goes more into the intelligent direction with unique and original character-studies. While that’s awesome in its own way, it’s not going to be as tense as Bake Neko.
The main theme of this episode: scents. There are three major characters in this one so far, which is more like the second arc. The female heir of a famous school in the arts of scents has to marry, and there are four guys after her hand. The lucky person will be determined by a game, where everyone needs to smell different scents and try to discern which are the same. The game is called Genjikou.
Basically, the fourth guy didn’t show up, the medicine seller takes his place, and later he ends up killed, along with the heir herself. It then seems that the heir possessed something that the three guys wanted even more than the woman herself: the Toudaiji. The clues we have is a strange dog which walks around, a strange girl, a strange stone carrying a kimono and the fourth guy brutally killing himself in the beginning of the episode.
The scent-game is quite interesting. It’s just like in the second arc, with the fish: a great and original way to develop the characters. Two of the guys are scent experts, and yet they turn out quite differently. Then there’s a samurai who doesn’t know anything about scents, and the best he can make out is the scent of horse dung. He ends up with the conclusion that all scents are the same.
Then there’s the game itself: every possible combination of scents, which refer to a story called the tale of Genji. One chapter tells about a woman with four lovers, though surprisingly the heir decided that all five scents used were the same. Why did she do such a thing? And why did she decide to use the Genjiko to begin with? Also, why did the fourth guy of all people die? Was he special? Did he actually love the heir?
What also should be taken into consideration is the art style: every single colour is washed out, except for when someone smells something and the medicine seller. But not only that: it only happens with scents that move them, and quite possibly make them forget about the Toudaiji. This can be helpful for the next episode: the bright colours simply symbolize something like genuineness or something similar. What should also be noted is that the old servant is also washed-out, just as the heir. The dog however, appears bright.]]>
Les Miserables – Shoujo Cosette – 38
Another building-up episode, but it really feels like the bomb is about to burst: a person, hugely popular with the commoners has died, people are in unrest, the police are barely able to keep them quiet, Cosette is about to head off to England and Eponine FINALLY makes her move again.
While the thing Eponine did (remove Cosette’s letter in which she explains to Marius where she went) probably won’t have much of an impact (Marius has already accepted the idea that Cosette’s better off in England), something tells me that this is only the tip of the iceberg. Eponine now knows Cosette’s new address, and something tells me that she’ll be using that… will she seek the help of her father?
And interestingly enough: she knows that Gavroche is in Paris. I can’t remember when that happened, though. It’s been too long ago, perhaps. Eponine’s confrontation with Cosette was awesome, though. It would have indeed been the best way to get rid of the pity that she’s been having for Cosette, being in love with Marius and all.]]>
Toward the Terra Review – 94/100
Those who’ve been frequenting my blog for the past few months probably have seen me ramble about the “big three” of the spring-season: Bokura no, Kaze no Shoujo Emily and Toward the Terra. While a lot more excellent series have been released in the past Spring and Summer-season, these three form the cream of the crop, they’re all consistently outstanding in their own way and are without a doubt my favourite series of the past half year.
Today the first one has ended: Toward the Terra. It’s an epic science-fiction series about outcasts with psychic powers called the Myu. The storytelling is incredibly fast-paced. You hardly run into an episode that doesn’t have some kind of climax. While most other anime need aftermath- and introduction-episodes for fleshing out the characters, the episodes in Toward the Terra flawlessly combine the quiet moments along with the tense ones, and it works like a charm.
It’s clear that the writers have talent, because not only do they write some of the best action-scenes (which finally are more about the characters than the action itself) I’ve seen the past year, they also excel in the character-development department. If you watch the first few episodes, you might wonder why such a beautiful tale can come from just teenagers, but don’t worry: around episode ten, we see countless of time-leaps, and the real meat of the series happens when around ten years have passed since then. This provides countless opportunities for character-development, and Toward the Terra grabs all of them. Because of this, it features one of the best antagonists I’ve seen in anime, just because the guy gets such an incredible amount of development. Around the middle of the series, the plot-twists become so mind-boggling that you won’t be able to predict them, and watch out for episodes 21 and 22: they’re quite close to the best and most emotionally charged episodes I’ve ever seen for the past year.
In terms of production-values, Toward the Terra also delivers. While it’s impossible to beat El Cazador’s soundtrack in the past season, it easily grabs second place with a bunch of epic tunes, perfect for the fast and slow pacing. The graphics also look awesome, but be aware that the character-designs are different from usual. If you’re used to the character-designs of series like Kanon or Shakugan no Shana, then you’re going to have to get used to the character-designs of Toward the Terra a bit (see the screenshots).
Regarding the bad points, for me the quieter episodes near the beginning and the ending that weren’t as good as their preceding ones were a tad disappointing. I expected to be blown away by the episodes, and while some did with a huge force, others didn’t. The first few episodes also might be a bit hard to get into, due to the fact that the main character gets a bit whiny at times, but don’t worry: he’ll change into someone much better.]]>