Category: Other:

Bishounen-series are in a way much like bishoujo-series. It’s just too easy to just treat the fanboys or fangirls to a lot of fanservice and get things over with, but of course the real challenge is to put them in interesting situations, develop them properly and flesh them out like real characters, otherwise you could just as well start selling paper bags. Antique Bakery is an example of how to do this right, although it’s rather unconventional.

I’ve said this before, but the series of the past spring- and summer season often had theme of fooling the viewer. Quite a few series defied expectations by focusing on something different from what you’d expect them to. Antique Bakery for example, looks all the way like a yaoi-series. Instead, it’s just an iyashi-kei series with a bit of mystery, where one of the characters just happens to be gay.

It really knows how to handle its cast of characters. At first, it starts out like a rather cheesy series, but very soon the cheese turns into genuine drama. Every character gets enough attention to show what he’s got. Because the series deals with such an original setting of a cake-store, the characters really have the ability to move away fro the stereotypes, and develop in the way they want. There’s this strange bond that develops between them as the series goes on, and it just seems to fit perfectly.

The mystery-part of the series is also delightfully unpredictable. How often do you see a guy with a trauma, because he had once been kidnapped in his past by someone who forced to make him eat cakes all the time? At first, it might seem like a bit of good cheese, but interestingly enough as the show goes on, this develops into genuine drama, with an actually very nice ending that prefers logical progression over a sensational ending, and yet puts a satisfying conclusion to everything.

There’s one character who feels a bit out of place in this series. This series is mostly about adults, but there’s one teenager amongst them, but he just doesn’t feel as part of the cast as the others. All attempts to flesh him out feel a bit shallow, and the moments that focus on him are mostly the less exciting of the series. An ex-boxer who loves cakes may sound good on paper, but the creators just didn’t use his character well enough.

This also isn’t a series for everyone. The fact remains that one of the characters is gay, so if you hate gay people with the intensity of one thousand suns, then you’re not going to like this series, even though the fact that the guy’s gay is used very nicely to symbolize the anxieties of gay people in the modern society. There’s also one particularly wrong scene where the guy carries his fantasies a bit too far, but apart from that the creators nicely balanced his feelings, to prevent the shounen-ai tones from getting too big of a focus.

Overall, though, Antique Bakery is another example of why Noitamina rocks. It comes with the most unconventional premises that actually work out somehow. It’s an inspired series that’s sometimes relaxing, and sometimes it shines with powerful drama, and the creators showed that they knew exactly how to use their limited time of 12 episodes. While it’s not going to break any records, it’s another good example of a nice quick watch.

Storytelling:	9/10
Characters:	9/10
Production-Values:	8/10
Setting:	8/10

Well, it’s time to review the latest Gonzo-series. It really is a production-studio with its ups and downs: some of its series are amazing (Bokura no, for example), while at other times they screw up completely (Dragonaut). Strike Witches is a very strange combination between those two extremes.

Basically, this series follows Sky Girls in the mecha musume franchise, but it did put some more effort into creating its setting, both in the good ways and the bad ways. To start with the latter: for some unfathomable reason, every girl in the show doesn’t wear any pants. Throughout the entire series, everyone walks around in panties, without any explanation whatsoever of how this came to be. After one episode revealed that all these girls only have one single pair of panties, you have to wonder what those creators were smoking when they came up with the concept for this series.

However, there are a lot of good things about the setting of this series when you look at the cultural aspects of the series. It attempts to put the traditional Japanese concepts of kemonomimi and mecha-musume in a European setting, with a lot of references to European war heroes and machinery. Basically, the series attempts to unify the east with the west, and succeeds pretty well at it. The cultural references from both sides are very interesting to watch, much more than I expected when I started watching this series.

Through the series, our heroes need to take care of so-called “Neuroi”, which are wreaking havoc and threatening to destroy the world. Overall, it’s not that special and often boring, with a rushed conclusion, but what it does is give enough support for the cast of characters, which thankfully is much more interesting. There’s quite a large cast of major characters for such a short series, and the most impressive is that they’re surprisingly genuine throughout the series. They often say what they think, and never really feel forced.

It’s just a shame that there seems to be one guy on the production-staff who kept yelling “I WANT FANSERVICE” over and over again, which resulted into a bunch of very questionable fanservice-episodes. These episodes don’t only ignore much of what makes the series enjoyable, but the general stupidity of the characters increases ten-fold in these sorts of episodes, so that it becomes even embarrassing to watch. And frankly, this happens way too often.

So overall: this series shines when A) there’s not much focus on the story and instead on the characters and B) when it manages to take its mind out of the gutter and stops focusing at fanservice. At these times, it’s a real gem. Whenever it’s not the case… its quality decreases drastically, though. It’s a real series with its ups and downs. If you can stomach the downs, then the ups are well worth it.

Storytelling:	7/10
Characters:	8/10
Production-Values:	8/10
Setting:	8/10

For the past summer-season, Sekirei was one of the series I was least looking forward to. I mean, the premise was a guy who collects a bunch of big-breasted girls (or Sekirei as they’re called in this series) who like to show off their goods, and these girls fight each other. It just had a premise that sounded so much like those other shounen-fanservice series. Now that it has ended, I must admit that it turned out to be much better than I expected.

As it turns out, the series tries to explain the fact that every single female falls in love with the male lead through its concept: Sekirei naturally fall in love with the ones they form a contact with, and so if you can collect a lot of these Sekirei, you can create your own harem. I admit, it’s much better than your average harem that has females falling for the male lead for no possible reason, but at the same time, it does feel a bit lazy.

Thankfully, the series makes up for it through its characters. There’s a wide variety of them in the series, and the creators succeed in actually making the viewer care about them. This is also the biggest strength of this series: it knows how to tell its story (which turns out to be much more complex than I originally expected) and keep the viewer interested. Overall, it was a very pleasant surprise.

Some of the main characters do have the ability to get on your nerves pretty fast, though. Especially some of the main characters: Kuu and Tsukiumi, who are a bit too eager to express their love, and feel a bit too 2-dimensional. The series also plays around with coincidences a bit too much, and especially the beginning has too many people coincidentally meeting the right people, in order to set up the story.

The big flaw of this series, however, is its ending. Sekirei is part of a much larger manga, and at one point, it just stops, while the manga goes on. This of course isn’t such a big problem. There’s room enough for a second season, which will most likely get announced. The problem, however, is that the final episode is downright terrible. This series worked so well at building a nice story, and it threw everything down the drains with a bunch of horribly blatant Deus ex Nachinas (and not just one, there’s a whole BUNCH of them), that try way too much to end the series on a happy note. In terms of plot, I can understand how these twists had to happen, but please: make at least an effort to build up for these twists. Don’t introduce them at your own convenience because the plot needs them.

While it’s nowhere near a great series, my faith in bishoujo-series that got pretty much blown apart by Kanokon and To Love-Ru managed to get restored by the past summer-season. Sekirei is a nicely written series, which may focus a bit too much on its fanservice, but underneath it’s got a charming cast of characters to boast.

Storytelling:	7/10
Characters:	8/10
Production-Values:	8/10
Setting:	7/10

Time for another OVA from the nineties. There are a lot of rumours about Golden Boy. The two most notable ones are that it’s supposed to be hilarious and chockfull of fanservice. Well, at least I can agree with one of them. Whenever this OVA has the chance, it shows off its female “assets”, often taking fanservice to the extreme (we’re talking about women who hump motorcycles here).

And in terms of humour, it just disappoints. I did get a few good laughs out of some of the episodes, but it wasn’t really side-splittingly funny like some reviews I’ve read about it seemed to suggest. The jokes either work completely or miss the mark entirely. Fortunately, Golden Boy does manage to set itself apart from all other fanservice comedies with a solid and creative script.

Basically, it follows a guy who travels around and takes on random part-time jobs, while meeting and charming sexy women in the process. Every single episode ends with said woman falling in love with Kintarou, but what happens around that is the interesting part. Kintarou, the main character, is an incredible pervert, and yet at the same time he’s one of the most versatile and interesting perverts I’ve seen in anime (not that that bar is particularly difficult to pass, but okay). His obsession with toilets may be a little too played out, but his obsession with learning becomes downright adorable over time.

He also chooses some interesting places to work in, and the creators actually did some research on what working at such a job entails (I never thought that I’d see references to FORTRAN and COBOL somewhere in anime), ranging from a simple noodle house to an anime production company. Compare that to your average fanservice-series, which often can’t get more original than a beach episode.

In terms of production-values, Golden Boy is very much a mixed bag. The animation ranges from standard to incredibly fluid (especially the fanservice-scenes have a lot of the latter), and the music consists of a bunch of random cheesy J-pop tunes, which really felt like the sound producer found them somewhere in a bargain-bin at a local garage-sale.

Overall, I do have to say that Golden Boy is over-hyped. There are quite a few times in which it goes straight against logic or physics. Nevertheless, for a fanservice comedy, it’s among the better anime of the genre. You can see that the creators put a lot of effort into its creation, and the short format helps to keep things fresh, even through the lesser episodes. It’s nowhere near my favourites, but at least I got some good laughs out of it.

Storytelling:	7/10
Characters:	7/10
Production-Values:	8/10
Setting:	8/10

If you’re looking for Real Men, Rescue Wings is the correct place to look. It’s a series about the Japanese rescue force, and it especially follows one of its helicopter pilots as he gets introduced into the team. If you’re looking for the realistic side of mecha (well, helicopters in this case, but you get the point), then this series is one to seriously consider. There are no spiky haired teenagers who instantly know the controls of complex machinery here; there are no overly moe females. This is a series about saving those in real trouble.

The result is one thought-provoking anime. It immediately makes things clear to both the viewer and the main character: a job in the rescue force isn’t something to think lightly at. And that’s where this series is a master at: it knows exactly how to pick out your unconscious thoughts, and confronts you with them. It managed to portray the fact that many people die in this business. After watching this series, I can honestly say that I’ve gained a lot of extra respect for the people who work in rescue forces in real life.

The characters are also a very important aspect of this series. Without proper fleshing out, the viewer wouldn’t be able to care about what happened to them, and the creators manage to succeed in making even the smallest victims count. Whether they survive or don’t make it. The major characters are all developed, in the short time of only 13 episodes as well. I’m still impressed at how much development the creators managed to stuff into such a short time, especially considering that the pacing isn’t really faster than average.

The problems in this series arise with its huge cast, though. As interesting as they were, the creators failed to give an identity to the different characters. Too often, I just found myself thinking “wait… who the hell is this guy?” The big problem I think is that spent too little attention to introducing its characters. They’re just… there, and it’s very hard to figure out whether you’re dealing with a new character or an already existing one. Especially since the very inconsistent animation makes all the characters look like each other. Just take a look at the promo-art here. Who are those people?

That’s not to say that the animation is horrible. In fact, the animation-budget for this series seems quite large. There’s lots of movement; it’s just inconsistent. And with realistic character-designs, where everyone looks like each other, that’s not something you want to have.

Nevertheless, Rescue Wings is a typical series for those who are tired of the standard stereotypes that are associated with anime, because this one has none of them. It’s about actual adults, who have to work for their job, and especially to save the lives of others. JC Staff may be a very questionable animation studio, but they do have a few very talented people.

Storytelling:	9/10
Characters:	9/10
Production-Values:	8/10
Setting:	9/10

I originally wanted to put this among the quick first impressions, until I found out that this OVA just has one episode, which puts this OVA in the category of quick watches. With an airtime of only thirty minutes, did Quiz Magic Academy turn into an OVA to recommend? Well, no.

This OVA is based on a much larger manga, and ultimately, it just becomes a glorified commercial for this manga. There are no really redeeming values, and the episode just consists of the characters (students and teachers of the titular magic academy) having a bit of fun at the school festival. In the end, the entire 30 minutes are pretty much pointless.

Thankfully, it’s not all bad. The cast of characters is huge, so you won’t have the time to get bored of their different stereotypes. The creators manage to keep things fresh in the end. I especially liked the transfer student who is way above the age-limit, and I especially disliked the pink-haired teacher who acts like a mahou shoujo-wannabe. For a minute, I also feared that the spunky main character would take up too much of the airtime, but overall the creators managed to balance the episode quite well, so that each character at least gets half a minute of time in the spotlights.

But yeah, you can’t escape stereotypes with just 30 seconds of airtime, and most members of the cast just remain stereotypes that we’ve seen over and over. On top of that, the writers hardly ever attempt to change the mood: every single scene is semi-energetic, without any quiet moments. There’s just way too much sugar in this OVA.

Overall, I’d label this together with Haru no Ashioto: it’s just a silly advertisement for the original source, but somewhat fun to watch. Emphasis on “somewhat”.

Storytelling:	5/10
Characters:	7/10
Production-Values:	7/10
Setting:	5/10

I’m a large fan of Ryousuke Takahashi. He’s one director who manages to take Sunrise’s love for epic storylines, and adds to that a great sense of realism, politics and storytelling. The same goes for the Pailsen Files, the continuation of a franchise he started in the eighties, probably as a reaction to Tomino’s Gundam. This twelve-episode OVA is very smart, and critical of both itself and various tropes of the mecha-genre.

There are quite a few things that stand out in this series. First off is its large focus on politics: especially the first episode will be information overload as it sets up the story for the rest of the OVA. The focus on military tactics is also immense: this series knows exactly how certain small actions can trigger a huge snowball full of consequences, while remaining realistic and believable. Seriously, I wonder what would have happened if Ryousuke Takahashi got assigned for the team of Code Geass.

Then there are the characters, another point at which this series deviates from most other anime. Nearly every character here is meant to be hated. They’ve all got some huge flaws in their personality that makes their company downright unpleasant. And yet at the end of the series, they’re all fleshed out and subtly developed, making for a rock-solid ending.

The only oddball in here is the main character: Chirico. He’s got what you can call the Patlabor-Syndrome. The guy has already been fleshed out and developed in the Votoms-TV series, so those (like me) who haven’t watched it are left out on this. The effect this has is pretty interesting; I don’t think I can recall any main character that feels more like a pawn than he does. He’s more like an observer to the entire story than an actual player in it. It’s something I appreciate a lot, but at the same time there’s so much wasted potential in his character, simply because he’s the least fleshed out of the entire cast.

This obviously isn’t a series for everyone: you have to like politics, or otherwise you’ll be bored for more than 50% of the airtime. This also is a series that takes a long time to get going, and don’t expect to see the big picture within six episodes. It’s not one of those series that’ll jump up and down, screaming “like me! like me!”. There’s also one particular twist about the white haired-kid at the end of the series that feels a bit fake. Still, this is a series worthy of Ryousuke Takahashi’s repertoire, and I’m eagerly anticipating his next work.

Storytelling:	8/10
Characters:	8/10
Production-Values:	8/10
Setting:	10/10

Wild Arms: one of Bee-Train’s lesser known series. Of course, anyone who even remotely knows this site probably knows that I’m a huge fan of said production-company, even though it’s after Gonzo the most hated producer out there. The same goes for Wild Arms: it seems that most of the reactions to this series were rather negative (shown by very low overall ratings on sites as AniDB, MyAnimeList and ANN), and yet I absolutely loved it.

Wild Arms is typical Bee-Train: it’s a travelling series, where the first half is spent on random unrelated stories, with a plot and character-development in the second half. It’s a solid set-up, and Bee-Trian has proven over and over that it works, despite the obvious disadvantages. If you hate fillers with the burning intensity of 1000 suns, then don’t even think about watching series, because there’s no overall plot whatsoever in that first half.

Still, both halves have their own advantages. The first half may not get anywhere in terms of plot progression, but the creators make the individual stories so much fun to watch, that this doesn’t really matter. You often see series struggle when they need a standalone story to fill one episode (with often a rather cheesy result), but the creators know exactly how to make such a thing work. The stories often centre on characters, whose actions are completely against any logical reasoning, and the fun is to see what drove them to these actions. Especially as the series goes on, the creators become bolder, and start to experiment with a number of hilarious plot-twists, with as my favourite an episode that can only vaguely be described as “Baccano: The Abridged Episode”.

The different main characters are all fun and original, from the strange creatures called “Popepi Pipepo” (who for once don’t try to be overly cute) to the big tough scientist to the 25-year-old main character who got stuck in the body of a 10 year old kid. All the characters have many sides and traits to them, making them a delight to watch and they set themselves apart from any stereotypes immediately.

As the series hits its second half, the fun adventures unfortunately mostly disappear, and instead a serious storyline appears. I feared that this would be the point where this series would fall flat on its face, but it actually gets away with its storyline pretty decently as the storyline evolves into an interesting post-apocalyptic mystery setting. Again, the characters can be blamed for making it turn out so well, because they’re all neatly fleshed out and stay far away from stereotypes.

Of course, this series does have some major flaws. It takes a lot of artistic liberties, resulting into a lot of plot-holes. Especially the plot-hole that plagues 95% of all other anime (characters who coincidentally just “run” into each other) gets rather taken into the extremes here when the main characters just keep meeting each other over and over. It’s like the creators were saying: “don’t mind this, we just want to tell our story”. The ending of the series also fails to answer a few burning questions. So yeah, this isn’t really the most solid series.

If you’re wondering whether you’ll enjoy Wild Arms or not, I think you need to ask yourself this question: did you enjoy El Cazador? If you did, then you’ll probably like Wild Arms. There are no lesbians or stalking psychopaths, but the basic set-up is the same, although Wild Arms is more geared to its storyline. Overall, Wild Arms was for me a very enjoyable series to watch with an excellent cast of characters. Oh, and let’s not forget the awesome soundtrack. 😉

Storytelling:	8/10
Characters:	9/10
Production-Values:	8/10
Setting:	9/10