For the next round of the aniblog Tourney, I’m up against the Baka Laureate. Good luck everyone, and here is the link where you can vote for the blog you like best:
http://aniblogtourney.wordpress.com/2012/06/25/last-16-part-1/
Aquarion Evol Review – 82,5/100
There is one director out there for which I’m ashamed to admit that I’m a huge tsundere: Shoji Kawamori. No, it’s not Shinbo, because with him there is a well distinct line between his good stuff and his bad stuff. With Kaawamori though, I both love and hate his works. I know his tropes, I know wow he’s a huge troll, and yet I nearly always end up blogging his series. And this time he’s working together with Mari Okada!
The result is a completely bizarre mecha-epic that is chock full of sexual context. I mean, romance and mecha have been done plenty of times before, but this show really takes it up to eleven: everything in this series is about romance: the mechas in this series can fuse by having three characters enter orgasm mode, it’s chock full of love triangles and subplots that all have their own storylines, and there is a ton of symbolism in this series, everything relating down to some sexual context in one way or the others. This series really is about men versus women and the tensions between them and it does all of this over the top.
The result is a really fun and often bizarre and cheesy series that definitely has plenty of entertainment value. It’s got a solid script so everything fits together very well, and the themes connect well with the characters, the plot and vice versa. the plot is well built up, but has a few issues: being incredibly cliched at times, and making no sense whatsoever. The cliches are often played straight with a very conscious purpose, but this does lead to a bunch of cringe-worthy been-there done-that episodes, along with a completely useless female lead who fails to do anything throughout the entire series. The plot has a few nice twists, but ultimately it’s just too stupid and corny to really stand out.
This show will most likely be remembered through some of its bizarre symbolism, though. This show can get completely crazy at times and it has some of the most wtf-inducing ways of introducing new powers or have characters learn something new. There was a slight danger of the creators turning this too much into a formula, but this was neatly avoided with a plot that did keep changing.
A guilty pleasure? I wouldn’t really call Aquarion that. Aquarion knows exactly what it is and what it isn’t. It’s a show that’s heaps of fun to watch as it explored the sparks and chemistry between men and women. And for this, its main plot had to be incredibly corny and it refuses to make any iota of sense. the result is a series that is overall very entertaining, but does have a number of lesser parts when the script is trying to make sure that the plot and characters actually remain strong enough to carry the series. This show has plenty of creativity in any case, but it definitely could have balanced this out a bit better.
| Storytelling: | 8/10 – Silly, corny, creative and strangely enough well built up and really fun to watch. |
| Characters: | 7.5/10 – Mikono… even for a Shoji Kawamori female lead she is useless. This show excels in its chemistry, but the characters remain two-dimensional. |
| Production-Values: | 9/10 – Tons and tons of eye candy, plus a godly soundtrack that is the best of the year so far. |
| Setting: | 8,5/10 – Excels in its themes that are often completely bizarre. |
Suggestions:
– Basquash!
– Ben-To
– Cobra the Animation
AKB0048 – 09 & Aquarion Evol – 26
AKB0048 this week was all about challenging the suspense of disbelief. I mean, the show makes no sense, but that is no reason why it doesn’t have to worry about it. The thing with this episode wasn’t its realism, but rather how ridiculously incompetent it made the people from Des look, which is a pretty major issue for this series. They just barge in with tanks and fail to hit anything, they get outsmarted by a bunch of kids like it’s nothing. The kids who spoke two languages were a nice touch by the way.
Also, the difference between this series and Eureka Seven is HUGE. This stands out, because the two series do sortof touch upon the same themes. However, where Eureka Seven is all about protecting children while using them as a necessary evil, AKB0048 is completely reckless. They send out out girls who are barely able to stand and the competitive atmosphere is so bad that this seems to be the norm, because nobody finds this strange or peculiar.
Rating: * (Good)
So Mari Okada has been known for her completely screwed up endings and dark themes; just look at Lupin and AKB this season. Shoji Kawamori meanwhile loves trolling romance endings. But yeah, Aquarion Evol just had to end with a happy ending. This series is all about letting love sparkle. Any other type of ending would have made no sense. And indeed we here have an action-packed final episode that resolves the main romance, introduces a new one (Kagura and Zessica), resolves an eon-old romance. Oh, and Mix got her boobs back… why?
The two planets moving together was definitely reminiscent of Basquash and its huge moon. Beyond that this ending was fairly standard: definitely fun from start to finish, but the only special part was the music. That godly music definitely didn’t disappoint here. I do want to yell at Mikono, though. In the end, she really was a typical Kawamori female lead: never really doing anything and only being important by being the male lead’s crush and having mystical powers that happen to be central to the plot. This episode sealed the deal: she finally tried to actually use her powers (like what she should have done ages ago), and here Amata comes and ruins everything by going “you can’t change him by yourself! Let me help and protect you!”
Rating: *+ (Great)
Mouretsu Pirates – 25
Tatsuo Sato, you are awesome. I didn’t think it was possible, but Mouretsu Pirates just surpassed itself. In fact, this episode was THE proof that there was a really talented writer behind this series. I don’t know whether this stems from the original writer or Tatsuo Sato himself, but whoever it was: someone really spent thought and time into how to make the anime work best. This completely exceeded all my expectations, more than any other penultimate episode this season so far.
The restraint of the creators deserves a medal here. This episode was full of twists that could have been pulled at any other episode, but by saving all of them for just this episode, it made all of them extra sweet. Seriously, I love how many new things we learn about the cast. And what’s even better is how these twist all show that every single cast member has been acting and doing stuff, even when the cameras weren’t on him. I don’t see that often, but in order to bring a big cast to life this is a wonderful trick, and usually leads to amazing results when it’s pulled off correctly.
This episode was a ridiculous amount of fun put together. The new pirates are all colourful and go together wonderfully. the revelation of the twin was hilariously down to earth. In fact, I love how this episode brought back so much that seemed so dramatic, and made it such a simple issue. I’d say that Tatsuo Sato even surpassed what he did on the Secret of Stellar wars with this, and that show also really was quite witty.
The guy who really stole the show was that chef, though. Just about everything is awesome, even though he seemed like an ordinary chef last episode. Here though, he just got so incredibly over the top despite his incredibly tiny posture (I didn’t even realize that, even though he had been in the OP for ages). Chiaki also was adorable when her father played the song she recorded with Marika. Seriously, when I first saw her on the promo material I thought that she’d be your average side-kick and all, but she turned into someone completely different from what I could have imagined.
Also, this whole arc has a fantastic set-up. Sure, it’s about a pirate-killer, but more important is how it’s about forcing everyone to choose a new direction for the pirates: continue with the imperialism, or go back to what pirates are symbolized to be. Seriously, this is one series that turned out to be much better than what I imagined it would be.
Rating: ***+ (Amazing)
Avatar – The Legend of Korra Review – 81/100
Back when I was a teenager and not an anime fan yet, I used to watch way too much American cartoons. I pretty much suffered an overdose from it and all of the incredibly bad stuff I actually sat through back then. I wasn’t going to touch any of those shows anymore unless it had something really good to offer. Enter the Legend of Korra.
The premise of this series just sold me. Instead of going with the usual premises, it instead took things a step further: this series takes a look on what would happen after the world has been saved by an “Avatar”. What would the world look like after someone came along and united everyone? What would the new version of him look like and what would her part be? The result is that the creators stuffed a martial arts expert inexperienced into a big political battle with roots deep in racism and oppression by those who are stronger. It blurred the lines between good and bad by making both sides flawed, and Korra often ends up as a hypocrite due to her inexperience. Add in some terrific action scenes in which in particular the fight choreography stands out (which really was better than any of the other anime that aired this season) and you really have a series that could have become amazing.
There are two things that ended up holding this series back though. At first this series struggles with its romance. It’s inconsequential and annoying with a pointless love triangle that only serves to stall for time, rather than just spending time to flesh out the characters. The second flaw is that it’s got a really bad ending. I know that this is only the half-way point of the series, but the ending did try to wrap up everything that this season had brought forth, and failed miserably with a bunch of very blatant Deus ex Machina that render some of the build-up and most defining moments earlier on in the series rather meaningless.
Now, the Legend of Korra does have some very good individual moments and great concepts, they just don’t come together at the end and due to that ending I’m not sure whether I can really recommend it (endings for me are very important on fiction and often ended up changing my view on a work significantly) and my rating for this series would have been much higher without it. For those who don’t want to watch any of the other installments of the Avatar Franchise: don’t worry. This series is actually pretty standalone and an be watched on its own.
| Storytelling: | 7/10 – A bit of a wonky pacing with a bad ending mostly reduces the potential of this show. |
| Characters: | 8/10 – It uses its characters very nicely and the age gap between the different characters along with their backgrounds combines very well. The romance doesn’t really work, though. |
| Production-Values: | 9/10 – This season there really were a lot of series that stood out with visuals, all in their own ways. For Korra, this was the fight choreography that was un-matched. |
| Setting: | 8.5/10 – Great ideas for politics. |
Suggestions:
– Last Exile
– Mahou Shoujotai
– Secret of the Cerulean Sand
Eureka Seven Ao – 10
Sorry for the delay on this episode. But really, do check it out because Eureka Seven Ao just got better here.
One of the many reasons the original Eureka Seven was so great is was how well and inventively it portrayed the mental states of its characters. Even though the plot and themes of Eureka Seven Ao are completely different, this is really the episode I’ve been waiting for. It’s not like this was as extreme as some of the stuff that happened in the first Eureka Seven, but still: the scene in which Ao stood in the middle of all those civilians getting killed was an awesome point for him to break down. Later on in the episode, I also loved how the creators portrayed the adrenaline flowing within him as he experimented with fleeing inside a tent.
The tent parade by the way was also very creative, not to mention how this episode shed more light on what the Secrets are and how they act. Beyond that, this episode had some really good moments for two members of the supporting cast. The chief in particular really made use of his role as the team leader this time.
Rating: *** (Awesome)
Spring 2012 Kaleidoscope – Week 25
#1: Hunter X Hunter – 35: Holy crap! What happened here? Suddenly the fight animation has turned incredible. I was fearing that the creators would put the shading overdose with the Hisoka fight again, like what they’ve been doing many times now when he comes into the spotlight, but the movements were amazingly fluid and dynamic here. – **+ (Excellent+)
#2: Natsuiro Kiseki – 11: Again, this was very impressive. The audition scene in particular showed a completely different side of Yuka, but the rest of the cast also got its share in the spotlight. The rock will probably pull one more nasty trick, which is probably what the final episode will be about and on top of covering the audition, this episode also built up for that wonderfully. – ** (Excellent)
#3: Kimi to Boku – 24: The best romance this season doesn’t come from any romance shows, but instead of shows that happen to have romance in them. Kimi to Boku, I applaud you with such a subtle portrayal of Kaname’s romanc. The implied love triangle with the younger sister was a bit pointless, but Kaname and his romantic interest were really well acted. – ** (Excellent)
#4: Legend of Korra – 10: This episode was meant to show the character development, especially on Korra’s part, as well as starting up the actual climax of this “Book”. The action scenes were still good, even though not among the best, but the plot twist at the end was a big one and I like how far the creators went with that. – ** (Excellent)
#5: Jormungand – 11: The bad guys of this episode were better than usual. Their personalities combined together better than usual, and they were actually built up as a threat, rather than just some more cannon fodder for Koko&co. Valmet’s backstory also helped. – ** (Excellent)
#6: Shirokuma Cafe – 12:: An entire episode dedicated to trolling pandas. Oh dear god, Panda really was more sadistic than usual here to Hand, and yet it again had quite a few hilarious moments, the best probably being the point where they took over the zookeeper’s office. – ** (Excellent)
#7: Poyopoyo Kansatsu Nikki – 24: Amidst random sketches about passing the time while it rains, this episode stood out because of that giant frog. After nearly two seasons, Poyopoyo can stil manage to find new ways to be adorable. – *+ (Great)
#8: Nazo no Kanojo X – 11: This episode was indeed better than expected considerng the build-up. The creators didn’t go into the corny love triangle route, but instead kept tihngs fresh. I do have a different complaint about this episode, though. Nazo no Kanojo is all about the subtle tease: saying a lot with relatively little fanservice. this episode was all “Screw that! Here are naked girls over and over! Let’s have wacky hijinks ensue when the male lead accidentally sees them!”. – * (Good)
#9: Sankarea – 11: I have no idea what to make of this episode. On one hand it had some really good partsand twists, it used a few anti-climaxes nicely and all. and on the other hand there was the really weird decision of the creators to randomly dress up Rea for no particular reason (not to mention the question how these maids managed to dress up Rea when she was in shackles and all), the incredibly silly tone after all that build-up, the return of the cousin with her really bad dialogue and the uncanny ability of the creators to focus on her boobs and ass whenever she appeared. Sankarea: you have potential. Why do you have to be so goddamn annoying as well? – @#*% (?!?)
#10: Saint Seiya Omega – 12: This was watchable fodder in which Kouga shows yet again that he’s the chosen one, though it was interesting to see some more back-story revealed of what I presume was the first season. In order to put the spotlights on the new cast, the creators had to pull some tricks here and there to get the old cast out of the picture, and yeah, I guess being defeated to the point of being crippled for life is a good option. – * (Good)
#11: Medaka Box – 12: And Medaka Box closes off with a return to the mundane “character of the week” routine while waiting for Medaka to heal and the new bad guys to arrive. It had some merits, like showing what the cast would do when the lead character is absent, but this isn’t really the kind of episode you’d want as a mid-season finale while waiting for that second season. And yeah, this one got a sequel. I didn’t expect it, but it does help, considering how little the first actully got done. – * (Good)
Fate/Zero Season 2 Review – 86/100
Fate/Zero was one of the big titles of the past Spring Season. It already had an incredibly solid first season, and this promised to only get better as it fired off. And yeah, the second season indeed ended up trumping the first and using its build-up. I have some qualms with it, but really: this was an incredibly well made series.
In a season with so many series that stood out with their visuals, Fate/Zero stands among the best: its consistency is amazing: characters stay amazingly on-model, even after 25 episodes and there is a ton of eye candy with brilliant use of CG. The director, Ei Aoki is a guy who started in Photography, and it shows: just about every frame in this show looks good. To put this into a perspective: in a season with three Satelight series airing at the same time, this second season alone the eye candy surpasses that of all three of them combined.
The plot continues off where the first season left off and contains a number of very satisfying climaxes that are surrounded by an interesting plot that just keeps taking turns. There are a few issues with this plot, though, most notably that you really need to be familiar with the Fate Franchise, otherwise some plot points won’t make any sense. This series may be just a prequel to Fate/Stay Night, but even then there were events that happened before this series that this series refuses to line out.
Like the first season, this series again does a wonderful job to melt the setting from the European middle ages and the ancient middle east together, putting Chivalry on one hand and conquests on the other. The two mesh greatly as they clash, on top with the Fate franchise’s interesting system of magi and mages.
Now, as for the characters. I do feel that I need to clarify myself a bit after claiming that the emotions feel empty, and things indeed are a bit more nuanced than that. The cast of Fate/Zero definitely has a number of characters that are developed really well throughout the series. The second season in particular contains some really heavy scenes that show many of them completely breaking down and there definitely are a lot of big emotions in this series. What I feel like the creators could have done better is flesh out these characters. This series puts a lot of time into battles and explaining the actions of its characters, but not so much on the touches that make their characters more human or show them in different emotions. Balancing these scenes out could have been done better: when this show builds up, it’s usually very slow (there in particular is an arc devoted to the background of just one character that takes up 2 whole episodes, but in the end is a bit too focused on explaining why he is involved in the story and a bit too little on creating a dynamic character). I feel that this could have been built up a bit better and because of that things don’t come together at the end as well as I hoped.
This series is a bit overhyped, but still, Fate/Zero remains an excellent series. Even though some plot twists come from nowhere if you’re not familiar with the Fate franchise like myself, it’s a big recommendation and there really is nothing like it around. This series pushed what can be done with animation further and the people of Ufo-Table have really grown into a powerhouse of a studio at this point.
| Storytelling: | 8,5/10 – Great action-packed climaxes with many interesting plot twists that are best enjoyed when you’re familiar with the Fate franchise. |
| Characters: | 8/10 – Excellent development and loves to make its characters break down. |
| Production-Values: | 9.5/10 – The consistency of the amount of eye candy in this series is amazing. 25 episodes and it still manages to look amazing with very few weak points. |
| Setting: | 8,5/10 – Great themes, blends different settings together really well. Make this a full 9/10 if you’ve seen Fate/Stay Night. |
Suggestions:
– Kara no Kyoukai
– Berserk
– Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica
Fate Zero – 25
There was only one thing I didn’t understand in this episode: the entire series has been stressing that people die when they’re killed. And here this episode suddenly pulls back Kotomine Kirei back from the dead and turns him into a zombie. How? Did the grail turn him into this weird kind of servant or something? It just doesn’t fit in with the dark and gloomy themes of the rest of this series.
Setting that aside though, this was a very solid ending with a very solid aftermath. It”s very rare to see an ending so gloomy, especially Kiritsugu really worked in this episode. The guy is one of the few to have completely survived the drama, yet his will and resolve were completely broken (which again makes it all the more weird why Kirei pulled that zombie-card). I was also really glad that there was also a minute pulled out for Berserker. that really made the ending work for Saber. Combined, it was all so gloomy and depressing, and this was in a very good way.
Overall, out of all of Gen Urobuchi’s adaptations and series, I’d rank Fate/Zero on the third place, with Phantom still on number one and Madoka Magica on number 2. I’d say that it had two things going against it: the first is the way in which it required knowledge of the rest of the Fate franchise at key moments, and the second is that its emotions felt a bit empty. This final episode was an exception for the latter of those by the way. Emiya showed more emotion than what he showed through the entire series here and I liked that a lot.
Still, Fate/Zero was an excellent series that was really well made with a rare focus on adult characters and struggles and for that I really appreciate Ufo-Table for going with it.
Rating: ** (Excellent)
Tsuritama – 11
Again: Sakamichi no Apollon may have stole the show in its first half, right now I really consider Tsuritama to be the better of the timeslot. This episode was just so much fun, and the build-up just continues to increase and the more I watch, the more I get convinced that the slow build-up at the beginning was totally worth it.
This episode perhaps wasn’t as creative as other episodes of Tsuritama, but everything just came together. I loved how this episode revealed small details that I didn’t even notice yet, Haru’s fixation with red things standing out the most. I also loved the climax of this episode. Usually episodes like this are all about defeating mid-bosses. This episode however saw the cast completely failing in their last-ditch effort to catch JFX, right at the point where the typhoon hits.
This series really understands its own hype: everything about JFX is still filled with mystery: both what he is or what he looks like, along with the absolute doom scenario of what would happen when the typhooon hits Enoshima at its center. That’s all going to be in the final episode. Seriously, the two endings I’m looking forward to the most in the upcoming week are Lupin and Tsuritama, just because of how much they spent on carefully building them up.
Really, I’m trying to think of the last Noitamina series that understood the one-season Noitamina-format as well as Tsuritama. Un-Go overall was better than this (after all, it delivered immediately), but it still was a bit rushed, same for Ano Hana, which brings me back all the way to Yojou-han Shinwa Taikei. Speaking of which, Masaaki Yuasa should show a bit of himself again.
Rating: **+ (Excellent)