Oh, screw it. I was going to blog Dance in the Vampire Bund instead, but its second episode was so underwhelmingly generic that I see no point in it. It was just another chance for Shinbo to draw more naked little girls and while the first episode was an interesting enough spoof on a Japanese TV-show, the second episode degenerated into a generic teen-aged love story in high school where the lead characters have generic superpowers (you can’t really call them vampires anyway: they’re just another one of these lead characters who have superpowers and who just “happen” to have spiky teeth. Catgirls have those too!). Nothing whatsoever caught my interest in it and I’ve gotten really sick and tired of Shaft and Shinbo at this point.
So yeah, why not? Kobato is definitely in need of more love at this point. It started off a bit iffy, but it has evolved into a surprisingly likable series. Amidst all of the melodrama, moe and stereotypes of this season, it’s good to see such a simple series with genuine drama. It’s a great thing that there are 24 episodes in this series, and at this point the series has really grown on me.
The problem with a lot of stupid characters like Kobato is that it’s very easy to make just stereotypes of them: make them always clueless, limiting their development. But Kobato turned out to be such a lovable character. Sure, she’s an idiot but there’s a lot more to her character than just that. What many people seem to forget is that she also is someone who takes action, and has a lot of passion for helping people. I can respect that of her.
Compare that with the idiots of Baka to Test to Shokanju: The characters are either too “smart” to fit in the characters or just blind sheep who follow behind the smart ones. Beyond one or two quirks, there’s nothing else that defines them. That will remain fun for a one-episode OVA, not an entire series. Series like Kobato on the other hand definitely have an uneventful start, but in the long run they amount to something much more worthwhile.
In this episode, we probably see Kubato at her best so far. Most of the episodes so far have presented some case that would always amount to a happy ending, however this time it’s different. The tree in this story was sick, it was being a nuisance to the neighbours, the people in the neighbourhood found it impressive, but at the same time didn’t support Kobato while she tried to save the tree, and she actually got nearly crushed by it.
Also, as for the thing s that happened earlier in this series: I love that bear. A black bear that has his own Baumkuchen shop as a punishment of some sorts. I have to give Clamp credit for such a great idea. But seriously, even the creators, even though they’re not particularly the best that Madhouse has to offer, did a very good job of bringing these characters to life.
And of course, what also rocks about this series is that it’s not necessarily a show about teenagers, but it’s one of those rare series that’s about people of all sorts of ages: there are little kids, middle schoolers, teenagers, college students, young adults, adults and even the elder. It’s got a bit of everything, and Kobato is actually one of the few teenagers here, without making it seem that the world revolves around them. While from the outside, you’d never suspect it, but this series has a lot of things that other anime can learn of.
Rating: ** (Excellent)
wow what a surprise pickup in the form of Kobato. need to catchup on this one as well
Lolicongatari got you down, eh? The manga seemed rather undirected when I looked at it, but I think they may actually be making it worse. The bits they seem to be picking from the source material are the fetish material and the otaku bait. It’ll probably sell boatloads.
Great to see you blog kobato again, i was a bit dejected when you decided against it.
Yet another is sick of Shinbo, I see? Other than Natsu no Arashi I haven’t been at all impressed with his work.. and even Arashi was sloppy, almost like it was just a test-run for Barelyanimatedgatari.
yay for blogging Kobato. I is very efficient at being charming and sweet without being sugary cute to the point nausea and does build characters adequately in contrast with a lot of moe shows.
Thumbs up for choosing Kobato over Dance on the Vampire’s Grave.
what did you expect from Baka to Test? It’s a slapstick moe comedy that boasts nice shaft rip-off visuals and voice acting. You really think the creators are going to focus on creating non typecast’d characters?
Kobato and Baka to Test are two completely different types of comedy (frankly it seems like no one ever acknowledges different genres of comedy). Baka to Test isn’t trying to say anything, have serious drama or beat around the bush. It is made for entertainment (and frankly I think it’s pretty clever in its delivery). If you weren’t looking for that kind of show in Baka to Test, just say so instead of dismissing the show/saying it’s characters are carbon idiot copies.
It boggles the mind how a comic I really enjoy can be adapted into an anime that’s almost unwatchable. Pointless fanservice, dramtizing and completely altering the story build-up apparently do the trick.
I guess there is still time for it to redeem itself but my expectations are already 0 after 2 episodes… amazing.
Tchhh I dropped Kobato around ep 7 or something, dont remember… Tired of how stupid Kobato is and every episode being the same thing ( I cant stand episodic series because they lack character/plot development)
– Kobato does some dumb stuff
– Ioryogi spits fire at her
– Kobato does more dumb stuff
– Kobato finds someone who is sad/has a problem
– Kobato does dumb stuff again
– Ioryogi yells at her
– Kobato helps person and gets candy
I probably just summarized the whole anime right here unless it stops being episodic near the end to focus on actual plot, which is something alot of animes seem to do (Casshern Sins being the prime example of how you should do it)
Goddamn it, you have no idea how happy I am that you decided to pick this up again. While not the best CLAMP series in my opinion (that belongs to Clover, Tokyo Babylon, and Holic), it’s still a good one.
so, I read what you wrote just before watching Dance Vampire Bund ep 2, and I was thinking for most of the episode, ok, psgels is really just being too picky this time, this is pretty decent stuff…then comes the shade-gel scene and my stomach turned, yeah, shinbo has some serious pedo issues after bake. I was/am a huge huge fan of natsu no arashi, its probably the perfect balance of comedy/drama/slice-of-life in my opinion, but most everything else shinbo touches turns to shit
That scene was originally in the manga. And yes, the first few chapters of the manga was loli-fest. Don’t blame Shinbo for it.
I was half-expecting you to blog Baka to Test, it really is a fun series. Compared to Kobato, meh.
AKI: my problem with Baka to Test was that it already started recycling jokes at the second episode. To me, it looks like it delivered its best material right at the first episode, and while that one was awesome, I just don’t see any potential for it in the long run.
A) Shinbo certainly has some say in what shows he’s going to animate, so he could turn down all these shows with the pedo content.
B) It was the portrayal of that scene, the use of slowing and stopping camera pans, the tone of voice used, and a lot of other things Shinbo definitely had control over that made that scene so icky, not just the nature of the scene itself.
So, yeah, Shinbo at least gets to take a share of the blame, even if some of the shame belongs to the mangaka.