Sakugan
Short Synopsis: Deca-Dence (2021)
Armitage: For a show being marketed with the English title ‘Sacks & Guns’, Sakugan’s premiere actually wasn’t that cringeworthy. Rather, it was pretty good. Sure, it’s heavily inspired by a certain show from last year but I don’t think its narrative will ever pull the rug from under the viewers’ feet quite like that one did. It has the artstyle and general tone reminiscent of a Bones show but lacks that kind of polish. And it has decent CGI Kaijuu designs but nowhere near as impressive as something like Godzilla Singular Point. Basically, what I am trying to say is that if Sakugan tries to lean into any of these elements, it’ll most probably stumble and fall. But where it can rise is through its characters.The lead father and daughter duo of Gugamber and Mumenpu compliment each other well and even though they did come off as obnoxiously loud and (hopefully) intentionally irritating at first, they do grow on the viewer. I believe their whole journey is supposed to mirror a parent’s ever-present plight of letting go of their child while also doing their utmost to shield them from the world’s adversities and if Sakugan is able to carry that motif with sincerity through to the end, it might well have a shot at standing out even in an overcrowded season like this.
Potential: 60%
Mario: One of my most anticipated titles from this new season, Sakugan did a lot of things right in this first outing, but isn’t without its deterrents. For a show with such a clear sense of its own setting, the colony depicted in this episode functions as a character itself. From the very first shot, we can see the layers of the underground colony filled with neon signs and steampunk designs. I reckon my favorite is the layers of bridges that connect buildings like ant colonies. Despite that attention to detail, Sakugan is much less about techno-babble and explaining the world and focuses instead on the main father & daughter duo, who can’t see eye to eye in most matters. Memempu begs her father to set out as Markers and her father refuses it outright in consideration for her safety. Their bickering can be over-the-top at times but we can see clearly the insecurities of Gagumber the father when it comes to parenting and protecting his (genius) daughter. So the show’s heart is in the right place.
However, the issues with this episode so far are 1) the pacing is awfully rushed since 20 minutes wasn’t enough time to let the world and the characters set in and 2) there are some “extras” that to me feel like they borrow from other genres/lore and thus don’t mesh well with this material. The prime examples of that are the monster kaijus at the end (why kaiju???), and Linda’s weird outfit that shows her orange undies (again, why? The outfit makes no freaking sense except for fan-service). As it stands, Sakugan has its fair share of highs and lows, but after this teaser for the rest of the show, I sure as hell want to see more.
Potential: 50%
Platinum End
Short Synopsis: A would-be suicide victim is saved by an unscrupulous angel and given godlike power over other human beings.
Lenlo: Ow, fuck, I cut myself on all the edge. I’m talking like… razor blades in your shoes level of edge. We have murdered parents, suicidal teens, domestic violence, mind-control, forced suicide, everything under the sun. It’s almost grotesque the amount of self-indulgent violence and darkness that Platinum End manages to shove into this episode. Coming from the same author as Death Note I want to believe there’s a purpose to it. That this is all some inverse celebration of life, that by the end the MC will grow into a wholesome and responsible person as his actions push him over the brink. In a way that’s what it seems to be going for with the episode’s second half. But this Kyubei-style angel and the inevitable death battle feel like they are going to distract from that. Long story short I’m willing to give Platinum End a shot. Though I fully expect it to crash and burn roughly halfway through.
Potential: 20%
Wooper: I tried to adopt the mindset of a brand new anime fan while watching Platinum End, since that’s what I was when Death Note came around, and came away somewhat successful. I felt the appeal of a beaten-down protagonist being granted supernatural powers; I took notice of some stirring shots amidst the plain early-2010s production; I appreciated the judicious use of choral vocals to accompany the otherworldly drama. But man, this show is such a blatant mashup of Future Diary and Death Note that it’s hard to care about it in 2021. The main character’s companion is an angel named Nasse, a genderbent Ryuk who is, as in Death Note, visible only to other people with winged companions. There are 13 such people in competition for the role of God (rather than Future Diary’s 12), so you know there’s going to be lots of mindgames and murder in the coming episodes. Honestly, the biggest difference between Platinum End and the hypothetical love child of its main inspirations is that these new god candidates can fly. There wasn’t any flying in Future Diary before I dropped it, at least – maybe that happened later on. If you absolutely loved the series that Platinum End is ripping off (or you’ve somehow never seen them) this might be your thing, but personally, I’m too old for this shit.
Potential: 20%
Visual Prison
Short Synopsis: A teenage boy gets caught up in an intense musical battle between two vampire bands and becomes one himself.
Mario: Well, in the season preview I noted the fact that Visual Prison’s credited staff has 8 “theme song performers”, 2 “insert song performers” and 4 “character designers” without a hint of its writer, and that’s reflected very well in this premiere. The show wasted no time to show us a dozen over-designed characters and squeezed 3 entire songs into the span of 20 minutes (4 if you count the ED). I guess the market for this one is clear: if you like the characters, the songs or you found Hypnosis Mic: Division Rap Battle amusing then you can check it out. This is a tamer Hypnosis Mic but it’s still wild. Not all of its content is about music and characters posing elegantly, mind you. Somewhere in the midst of it all they toss you an MC with heterochromia (it’s a great year for MCs with different color eyes) and the voice of an angel (according to these characters anyway), a pandacat that randomly appears onscreen and a scarlet moon that somehow links to music-crazed vampires. At least Visual Prison has the most inventive human-turns-vampire method ever, I suppose.
Potential: Panda? Cat? Panda? Cat? Loaf of bread. SYSTEM ERROR
Amun: So this is a series of music videos and competing vampire bands? I think there was a plot in there somewhere, but the panda thing must have eaten it. I will never again condone the use of foreign words in songs – it just sounds so ridiculous if you actually speak the language. The CG transition from traditional animation was handled as well as possible, but there’s no denying this is more of a music video medley than an actual anime. I guess if you like the music, this is for you, but whatever genre this is, it’s not my cup of tea.
Potential: 0%
Oh, you saw The Mitchells VS The Machines, too? Cool! I think it’s a fun movie, though not the best one I’ve seen.
Visual Prison feels like the “Can I copy your homework?” meme invoked in full here because literally, the entire narrative throughline (rival band members from one once-famous band form their own bands to compete in a tournament) is basically the exact same narrative as HypMic only with visual kei and with vampires, and it’s likely that this show will end up being just as episodic up to the competition just like that disappointment.
Oh boy, you are deeply underestimating the depths that Platinum End will go. It is going to go in all sorts of batshit, and not in a good way, to the point that you’ll start questioning if the manga author Obata was even any good to begin with. Brace yourself, it’s going to get more insane.
I started reading the Platinum End manga after the first anime episode. The moment everybody was using super sentai armor was the moment they lost me as a reader.
But ya gotta admit, the art for the manga is top-tier.
The art is really good, but I wouldn´t go as far as saying top-tier. Otoyomegatari, Berserk and a handful of others are deserving of such a title.
Oh, definitely. But those are more the poster children to show to non-believers how jaw-dropping manga art can really look like. By top-tier art I meant something that’s just really distinct and stylized. I would put the series you mentioned and stuff like Vinland Saga and Vagabond in some hallowed, untouchable pantheon above series like Platinum End, for sure. ^^
And well, as someone who was observing this manga at a glance out of bewilderment over the past few years, it only gets worse from there. Trust me. And yet, it’s of a bewildering decline, full of odd unrelated things being shown, and thinly veiled author tracts about his own nihilistic views, especially in the second half of the series.
I’ve tried checking out the manga for Platinum End two times, first when it was new and only had a few chapters, I just was underwhelmed by it and forgot about it after that.
Later I decided to just check out a random chapter straight in the middle of the story I think, and it indeed seemed like the worst parts of Death Note and Future Diary had a child.
I’ve even soured on Death Note over the years so at this point I can’t help but find it slightly bewildering that Bakuman came from the same creators as Death Note and Platinum End.