Category: Other:

Mind Game has been on my to-watch list for quite some time now, as it was both produced by Studio 4C and I heard good recommendations about it. Well, now that I’ve seen it, what do I get? Well… good question!

I’m not sure how to describe Mind Game. The closest I can think of is Robinson Crusoë who’s been smoking dangerous stuff. This really is one of the more absurd movies I’ve seen. Even Eikyuu Kazoku seems like an ordinary walk in terms of strangeness. We’ve got a guy, who’s much like a loser. He’s got a girl he likes, he confessed to her, though he keeps getting too scared to take initiative. Until she gets a new boyfriend. So far it’s normal, though this is where every possible connection with the word “normal” ends. The main character, the girl and her new boyfriend sit the restaurant of the girl’s family. A very dangerous guy comes in and starts causing trouble. He then sees our main character, who can’t move out of fear, and he kills him.

Our main character then has a talk with god, after which he starts to freak out because of his own foolish mistakes. He runs away from god and turns back to life. In there, he kills the guy who killed him and runs away with the girl and her sister. In the end, they end up in the belly of a huge whale, along with a strange old man. That’s where most of the story takes place, believe it or not.

I’ve got a hate/love relationship with this absurdness. On one side, there are times at which it really works. We get to see a very creative car chase, and the characters work good with all of the chaos which bursts out of nowhere. At other times, however, the show gets a bit annoying. We often get to see useless fanservice, and some chaotic scenes drag on for a bit too long. I believe that this movie could’ve been more successful if it had been trimmed down to the length of one hour, instead of the 1 hour and 40 minutes it has now.

The graphics are again drawn in the typical style of Studio 4C. Still, for some reason, it didn’t really appeal to me in the way Mahou Shoujotai, Eikyuu Kazoku, Beyond and Comedy did. The animation, then again, shows that this is a big budgeted movie. Overall, it looks pretty creative and fluid. Something you can expect of a normal movie. The background art, however, is where this movie does excel. Things look as creative as ever, though Studio 4C has always been excellent in this department.

Overall, it was a nice watch, but it was definitely not Studio 4C’s best work. I’m suggesting you to check out Mahou Shoujotai, Eikyuu Kazoku and Comedy if you are trying to see some of their stuff. Still, I have to admit. The beginning of the movie, aka before they got into the whale’s belly was worth the watch.

Interlude is a dating-sim mystery anime. It’s an OVA, containing three episodes. It’s really one of these anime you need to think about in order to fully understand it. We’ve got our main character, living his everyday life. Until he meets a strange girl, alone at the station. Starting from that moment, he’ll learn that something huge went on in the past. Especially the first half is covered with small flashes in which our main character, along with his girlfriend lie mortally wounded next to each other, which is enough to keep you excited.

The mystery-part definitely was worth it. Especially in the first episode, when nothing is revealed yet. The background story slowly gets unravelled, and it’s full of creativity. In just three episodes, the storyline gets told, revealing a bit more every time. I have to say, though, regarding the flashes mentioned above. When their meaning gets revealed, it sortof lacks impact. It’s the case with most other revelations as well. Together, these revelations form a great concept, but individually, they aren’t really that exciting.

When the anime turns to the dating-sim-part, however, it goes nowhere fast. In a bad way. A large part of the second episode just consists out of our main character, trying to hit on a girl, and the first and third episode also contain rather boring romance scenes which didn’t really move me in any way. The creators also somehow found it a nice idea to throw in lots of useless fanservice, which didn’t really do this anime any good.

The characters themselves, however, are a major plus in this OVA, though not in the way you’d expect it. I have to admit, while watching the third episode, they became a bit annoying at times. But when the episode was over, and I began to think about the characters a bit (especially the side-characters), only then I realized what they’ve gone through. Only then I realized the horrors they experienced. That’s the strength these characters have. Especially Tama got my respect at that point. Still, this effect could have been bigger if some unanswered questions were answered. Some things just are never explained, which sortof hurts this OVA.

The character art used in this anime is most of the times very high-quality. Most of the characters have interesting character designs. The creators also liked to play with lighting effects, which gives an interesting result. Still, I’ve got one complaint. The main character just looks ugly.

Overall, I’m glad I’ve seen Interlude. It was a very interesting watch, which really requires you to think in order to fully enjoy it. A good example of an anime which has more than just what we see on the surface. Still, it could have been much better executed at certain points.

Seriously. I’ve seen Comedy for ten times now already, and I’m still drooling. This ten-minute short by Studio 4C really is a piece of beautiful art. Not just the drawings and background, but the story and the characters themselves as well.

Just for the record, it may be named Comedy, but the short itself is everything but a comedy. It’s a story, set in Ireland in the middle ages. The English are about to invade a village, and one of the villagers, a five year old girl, searches for a black swordsman in order to defend the village. The movie is just ten minutes long, so you’d wonder how such a story would fit in such a short amount of time. Well, the creators knew exactly how to use the time given to them, and they somehow managed to do this.

To fully understand Comedy, you should actually watch it at least twice (you’ll understand when you do ;)). The little girl and the black swordsman are surprisingly likable. In only ten minutes, Comedy shows that the two of them have very versatile, strong and interesting personalities. Something most anime can’t even do in an entire season. The little girl, coming up with such an idea and having the bravery to actually execute it (remember, she’s five and the English are about to invade) was extremely cute to see. The black swordsman also was given a friendly side in his obsession with books. The combination of these two characters works surprisingly well.

The character art in this short is unique. Characters have extremely white faces, with black clothing. Their faces are drawn rather messy, though the style this gives off only contributes to the overall quality of the movie. The animation shows that a lot of effort has been put into it. You can especially see this in the action scene. It’s a short one, though it’s extremely creative coordinated. Throughout the entire movie, an operatic voice takes care of the background music. It greatly contributes to the scene, but it also doesn’t drive the attention away from the really important parts.

Still, the fact remains that this short film is short. There is a little bit of background info given about the swordsman, though it isn’t enough. I’d love to know more about him and the little girl. I’d love to see more of this. But unfortunately, that’s impossible. Overall, while there isn’t really any tension or angst in this short, it keeps fascinating me. I just have to see it over and over again.

The Place Promised in our Early Days is a 90-minute long drama/romance. It features three middle-school kids (two boys and a girl). The boys are building their own airplane, in order to fly to a huge tower. This tower raises from the earth, into the sky with no apparent end. They’re planning to take the girl, who they just met and got interested, along with them. One day, she disappears. The two boys then quit building the plane, go to different high schools and split apart. Three years later, the story continues.

The story has been well written. The key parts always return, keeping this anime on track. It could basically have been done in 30 minutes as well, though this anime chooses for a slow pacing, giving enough space to show characters interacting, and doing the things they usually do. Because the show takes its time, no really rushed scenes appear, and strangely enough, no scenes really drag on, as plenty enough happens on the screen.

The characters also are likable. They receive a healthy dose of character development during the progress of the movie, and the 3-year time-leap shows quite some changes in both of the boys. The approach of and climax itself felt very sincere, ending in a rather predictable, yet somewhat touching ending.

Still, there are a couple of things wrong with this movie. In the end, this movie remains a damsel-in-distress, who has to be saved by the knight. While it has thrown in some creative events which give this concept a couple of twists, I couldn’t help but get annoyed at this fact. At some scenes, it features some annoying technobabble. We see a couple of screens and graphs, which don’t mean anything at all. Some events in the movie also don’t make any sense (why didn’t the tower explode when the girl was still awake?) and the movie leaves an awful lot of things behind unexplained.

The graphics are interesting. Despite being produced in 2005, the creators decided to keep the character art simple. If you combine this with fluid and natural animation, creative and stunning backgrounds and details, the result becomes quite interesting to watch. Overall, the graphics for this movie were very enjoyable to see. Except for one little detail. The creators liked to heavily abuse the lens flares. Every time when the sun goes down, one appears, asking way too much attention by being overly bright, big and centred. The musical score stays original, though consistent through the entire movie. You never really know it’s there, but it does give this movie something extra. When the music stops, it contributes surprisingly well to the scenes.

Overall, this was a good movie, with some flaws. Still, while it was a good watch, it’s nothing really special. Nothing really is outstanding in this movie. In the end, this movie kept me from getting bored, but it also kept me from getting excited.

This was probably one of the most neglected shows to air in the fall 2005-season. It’s imaginable why. After all, it’s a shounen-series featuring dogs battle each other. Most people wouldn’t even bother checking out such a stupid concept. Still, this anime definitely didn’t deserve this incredible lack of attention. Because yes, believe it or not, but it’s actually quite good. Some of the scenes it featured were amazing.

I have to admit, I laughed myself through the first couple of episodes. I just kept comparing it to Excel Saga, with hilarious results. The scenes were just too incredibly overdramatic to be taken seriously. We’ve got the son of the legendary leader of a pack of dogs, who’s been living with his mother ever since their homeplace was invaded by a huge bear. Now, one year later, Weed, our main character (appropriately named after a patch of weed), must go back to this homeplace, as another huge monster has invaded it. It indeed seemed like the standard pattern of a shounen-series, in which our main character would fight enemy by enemy.

But then I suddenly caught myself actually enjoying some of the scenes which were shown. The prediction at the previous paragraph was smattered as the series progressed. You see, this is an anime about fighting a war, with our main character as leader. Weed actually assembles an entire army of dogs, creating a huge cast of side-characters. All with their different story and motivation. We get to see some very interesting war tactics, which show that it isn’t that simple to just win a war. The creators also managed to create a number of very interesting bad guys. Who not only have interesting backgrounds, but also look scary at certain times.

There is one aspect in which Ginga Densetsu Weed really shines. Whenever a character dies, this anime is just incredible. The scenes are turned into an incredible spectacle, all dedicated to give the end of this protagonist or antagonist an as large impact as possible, and it works perfectly. At times, these really make you think about war ethics. If you combine this with the fact that this show’s got lots of characters, and lots of them die, then you’re in for something special.

Like I said, this anime has lots of characters. Surprisingly, most of them are just adults. Weed is one of the few kids among them. Another interesting fact it that the story likes to focus on characters other than Weed. There are plenty of chances in which he takes a step back, so that the story can focus at some of the interesting side-characters. Because of the huge quantity of diverse side-characters, this works great.

Still, this anime remains a shounen-series. Even though it breaks away from some clichés, it still follows others. We’ve got a young male in the lead. He’s got superpowers. He survives. Characters fight each other for too long. Weed’s whining and desire not to kill anyone can also get annoying at times, just like other parts of episodes, in which the characters are just having some fun.

The creators have tried an attempt to try and draw the dogs at a serious way, though it’s clear that they never tried to be realistic. After all, dogs would never do what was being shown in this anime. Dogs also don’t pant or do other things which is typical for dogs to do. When characters talk, their mouths don’t exactly move synchronic with the voices. Still, the background music does deliver. It contributes greatly to the overall mood.

Overall, the show’s got bad points, though the good and creative points totally make up for it. If you like anime centred around wars, you’ll probably like this, though you have to get used to the fact that the main characters are a bunch of dogs. ^^

A while ago, when I was browsing through AniDB, I ran into a this anime: Haru no Ashioto The Movie – Ourin Dakkan. It was supposed to air at March 31, but absolutely nobody talked about it. It made me curious. Judging by the artwork, you’d think that people would want to see this. After all, it looked very cute. Still, nobody even mentioned a bit of it. I became interested in it, and after a bit of searching, I found an online raw version. A long time of downloading later (very sloooow torrent), I finally got the chance to find out whether this anime deserved this much neglect.

First of all, let’s face it, this movie isn’t going to win any contests. The low budget really becomes clear after the first minute watching, especially when you look at the character designs. The story isn’t very special either: the setting is an all-girls middle-school. One of the teachers, along with some other students have taken over the school, and beaten up the principal. This movie follows three schoolgirls, trying to free the school. Basically, it’s just a couple of cute girls, fighting each other.

Still, I have to admit. It was actually kindof fun watching this. The girls are surprisingly cute, especially in their antics. The movie also featured some pretty funny moments, because of the fact that either the girls keep either screwing up, get distracted or act just plain random. The fight scenes also were very creative. The creators somehow had to find a way to display fight scenes on a small budget. Somehow, they solved this in a very interesting and amusing way.

Overall, this anime needs to get subbed. The characters are interesting to see. Especially in their cute and funny moments. It’s perfect if you’re in the mood for a light watch.

Apart from the amazing Mahou Shoujotai, Studio 4C has produced much more material. The Animatrix, for example. And Eikyuu Kazoku. I just saw it, and it only proves the awesomeness of Studio 4C. This movie just is so incredibly nuts, it actually scares me.

Okay, the concept: take several people, mostly dumped by society, brainwash them and make them think they’re each other’s family. Broadcast their actions on TV, and make money. The members of the family range from a sadistic baby equipped with scissors (and who isn’t afraid to use them) to a daughter who gets obsessive over fire and from a silent girl who uses her puppet to speak for her to a son who likes to play with machine guns. There are also two pets, a chicken and a dog, who only become the victims of the sadistic ideas of each of the family members. They especially don’t like the baby. At the halfmark of the movie, the family actually escapes, and splits up. And even then the fun doesn’t stop.

Eikyuu Kazoku consists out of a large number of small clips, all pasted after each other to form 30 minutes. Because these clips are incredibly small, the pacing in this series is enormous. So many things succeed each other in such a fast pacing. But then again, when there is a quiet moment, you really notice it. That’s one of the few bad parts of this anime.

Another major good part of this anime is that the creators can’t seem to run out of their incredible amount of creativity. So many original elements have been put in this series. The characters remain quirky throughout the entire movie, and new situations just kept amazing me. Also, despite its length, each character also got a healthy dose of character development.

The character art looks different from most anime. I can understand what people mean by the special style of Studio 4C. It reminded me of Mahou Shoujotai, which is always a good thing. The characters indeed look really interesting. The way they’re drawn really makes them unique. The animation also is very interesting, not to mention the choreography of the different action scenes.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed this movie. It really confirmed that Studio 4C is my favourite anime studio. It had me laughing at so many times. Especially the characters were something else. If you manage to locate this movie, I certainly recommend you to watch it. It will be a very interesting watch.