So yeah, I made it to the quarterfinals of the Aniblog Tourney. Thanks everyone for voting so far.
This time I’m up against Impz and his posse. Be sure to check it out before voting, but chances are that you already know about it.
Anyway, for the THAT groupies who have come to check out this site: welcome to Star Crossed. I’ve been blogging series weekly for about four and a half years now. I also write series reviews and first impression, all of which you can find in the sidebar below.
The fact that a series is slowly subbed doesn’t mean that it can’t be excellent. Really, with Yojou-han immediately subbed, this was by far the hardest one to translate by fansubbers, and therefore it didn’t get the coverage and attention that it should have gotten. Night Raid is a special series, and much more series should share the utter guts that it displayed. Be sure to support it when it eventually does come out in English!
But first and foremost, let me respond to the naysayers out there: no, Night Raid does not rape history. As a series about a group of Japanese people in China, in the 1930s. This could have been the most historically insensitive series out there. The problem is that, if I understood things correctly, there is this habit of the Japanese to really ignore anything they did around the second world war, and instead of accepting that they did a lot of things wrong and move on, there seems to be this air of not wanting to talk about it and learn from it at all.
This series, it seems to me, wanted to be a response to statements like this. While we follow a group of Japanese spies in the middle of China, it makes sure to cause no misunderstanding: the Japanese did some horrible things, and they consciously chose to do these things. In fact, a huge part of this series is about them, making these decisions, considering the alternatives, and act based on what they believe is right. Self-righteousness is a huge theme in this series, and the way this series explores them makes it a very thought-provoking series. Sure, some of the tropes it uses have been used a number of times before, but never in this context.
Now, as for the actual execution, this one could have been a bit more solid at times. The result is a number of plot-holes that are there to just keep the plot from going further. With thirteen episodes, it also doesn’t exactly have the time to give the characters a lot of background, though it definitely does try.
The acting department is a bit of a mixed bag. Some characters put down very convincing performances, like Yukina and Airi. Others, like Aoi, sound a bit too immature and unrefined. Especially in the first few episodes does this get tedious to watch.
Which is especially annoying because the first half really exist to just set everything right. It’s episodic in the way that it introduces all of the concepts, and fleshes out the setting. I think the most notable here is the infamous fourth episode, which is only dedicated to fleshing out the characters and nothing else.
If you’re interested in this series however, I do urge you to watch until episode seven before passing judgment, because it’s there where the series shows its true feathers. The thing with Night Raid is that on the small picture, it is indeed a bit inferior to its predecessor Sora no Oto. In the big picture however, I really believe that it surpasses it.
| Storytelling: | 8/10 – Knows its priorities, knows how to build up and most importantly: knows how to be subtle with its drama. |
| Characters: | 8/10 – Good depth for the short length of only 13 episodes, some are well acted, others could have been done better. |
| Production-Values: | 8/10 – A-1’s best artists were at Ookiku Furikabutte this season, but nevertheless solid enough, plus a very good soundtrack also helps. |
| Setting: | 9/10 – The guts it has with its subject material as a medium of anime surpasses even Zipang. Very daring and thought-provoking. |
(On a side-note: I really wish that I could rate this one higher, but unfortunately I can’t find an excuse for it. It unfortunately had a few too many faults, but the advantages really made up for it for me.)
Suggestions:
– Zipang
– The Cockpit
– Mobile Suit Gundam – War in the Pocket
My only real issue with this finale is that Kazura changed his opinion a bit too quickly too often. But really, this was a surprisingly good finale with a number of very interesting ideas put into it. On top of that, you could also see it play around with a number of very overused ending tropes.
The biggest surprise by far was the sudden death of Isao, but it’s also a brilliant move. There was no death speech, no overdramatic rise of tension before his death and most importantly: he died really fast here. It just shows how everyone can just die here, and that even though he was the main villain, his death doesn’t have to be over the top, or saved for the end.
Suddenly, the series turns into a rush operation to prevent the Japanese from getting their hands on the atomic bomb (how’s that for nationalism, huh?). Sakurai turns from this nice gentleman into someone desperate to get his own hands on that bomb, and to use it according to his own ideas. I actually loved it how the creators decided to solve that problem: with that blue-haired guy, who turned out to be a counter-spy. He had no backstory, but at the same time, there was a ton of spy activity at the time. It makes perfect sense for people to also have infiltrated the Japanese army. But really: his voice sounded just weird. Who was that voice actor?
In any case, the trope in which the villain dies, yet leaves some kind of projectile of doom behind that needs to be stopped. It’s been done before, but it’s the context here that makes the difference. Instead of a megablast of doom, we’ve got something very concrete that’s about to destroy a city: it’s something we can relate to much more than your average nuclear blast, because we know exactly what will happen if it goes off.
And there also is the ultimate cliche: our hero faces certain death after the climax finishes. It’s not certain whether he lived. The epilogue starts, and at the end we indeed see him back. This episode averted this in quite an interesting way by having first of all Kazura live, yet not show anything about him. Aoi meanwhile somehow failed to get out of the burning plane in the spur of the moment. I didn’t like how suddenly the creators made his powers extreme enough to be able to blast an atomic bomb into space (or at least hundreds of kilometers far into the sea), however, we never get to see him after that.
All we hear is a crappy violin, but that could have been anyone who was trying to cheer on the troops of soldiers, as they left for the upcoming war. Yes, this series decided to end with anything but a good ending. The war is still going to kill many people, and this series never got bigoted as to think that it could create a plot in which people wouldn’t end up suffering horribly throughout the next decade.
Overall this series would have benefited some more natural actors. However, the intention of the creators here was very good. It’s by far the most down to earth series in terms of character reactions: people cry when they lose a loved one, but there was hardly any overacting, and people remained surprisingly calm for anime, which tends to overreact even the slightest things. There were a number of very good voice actors, like Yukina for example. She pulled off a very convincing performance. Aoi meanwhile could have used more subtlety; his voice didn’t really suit the serious nature of the series. The Chinese girl is up for debate. Oh, she yelled, but girls her age who work at a restaurant… I can imagine them to need a loud voice.
Rating: ** (Excellent)
Yeah, so the result of the match was predictable. But like always with this series, it’s everything around it that made it memorable. The euphoria, the different reactions of everyone,. That made this really into a colourful episode. It’s really refreshing to see another sports series in which it doesn’t mean the end of the world if you lose: in this series, what matters is the long run.
It seemed like everyone had a different way to interpret the match: Murakoshi was simply glad to have another win again. The fans on the other hand were ecstatic that they finally won again, while that one fan of Tsubaki in particular got his old passion back. That Japanese forward meanwhile was immediately thinking how he destroyed himself during that match. The Nagoya coach was more looking into the future (which really fits his professional outlook), while Tsubaki was already seeing more and more opportunities to break through his defence. The football is one thing, but what really makes this series memorable is how it brings all of these different characters together.
Also, I like how the creators handled Tsubaki: he’s really meant to be this future talent who is still very rough around the edges, but yet he’s far from your average shounen hero. He’s really still a rookie and this series knows it. He has the ability to pull these crazy stunts, but that’s all exactly because he just loses himself in his soccer. This episode also stressed very much that football is a team sport by letting Gino score. Also, I loved the way he was at a loss for words when those Brazilians came up to him, and had to answer that interview.
Rating: ** (Excellent)
Luka. He is so badass that even rose petals instantly want to commit suicide by his sword.
Seriously though, I know I often criticise this anime, but episodes like this one really show that it knows how to build up an atmosphere. I really have no complaints whatsoever about that, because this really was an engaging episode to watch. The creators made well use of the background music, characters and visuals to create a bit of a creepy atmosphere that I was able to take seriously, despite the angst and large amount of suicidal themes of this series.
As for the graphics… this episode pretty much showed that we shouldn’t expect too much of the animation itself. The action scenes just consisted out of a bunch of still frames of wounds, and cut a lot of corners. The eye candy here really was in the visual effects, as the creators of this series may not be good animators, but they’re pretty good at CG and blending it in with the rest of the drawings.
Without the CG, this really feels like this kind of retro series that could have just as easily aired fifteen years ago. It’s definitely got its charms because of this.
But really… regarding Shuusei… how? Do we really not get any kind of explanation, other than that Yuki zapped him? I mean, what did the manga artist have in mind when he created him? Having an all powerful character with Yuki, who can apparently heal any kind of wound, while also being able to stop all kinds of powerful magic with his crosses. That’s really hard to balance out! At a certain point the tension will just completely vanish because there’s no reason to fear for any of the characters to die here. Luka with his extreme powers is one thing that still is within bounds, due to his flaws, but Yuki is about to go too far in this.
Rating: ** (Excellent)
Ohohoho, things are getting really interesting now: there’s going to be a third main character. I have a really good suspicion on who it’s going to be, but whoever it’s going to be, new main characters who show up half-way often have a great effect in terms of character development. Both for themselves, but also for the ones around them.
I also want to praise the creators for not giving any shallow hints towards this in prior: it really was this episode that dropped the bomb on a new character, so that the first half of the series would really focus on Tsubomi and Erika, instead of it becoming a sort of waiting exercise for this third character to appear.
Also, Dune has a boss. This is even more of a hint that we’re going to get him taken under the loop somewhere along the line. It does introduce the show to the “bad guy behind the shadows” syndrome, however. You know, those series that might have well developed mid-bosses, but very stereotypically evil end bosses who don’t end up doing anything until the final episode. It’s going to be interesting if this series manages to avoid this.
The main story of this episode wasn’t the best, nor the worst. It clearly was cut a bit short in favour of the third critter that appeared. It’s a nice story about being able to take criticism, but lacked the depth of the previous episodes.
And on a side-note: Kumojacky and Cobraja need to do that ambush trick more often, as it worked surprisingly well.
Rating: ** (Excellent)
Aha, so the creators really reserved the 64th episode for the aftermath of the series. This really was meant to be the climax of Full Metal Alchemist. Interestingly,t he creators chose not to end it with a bang, but rather tone down the action in order to focus on the main characters. Father really was already defeated at the end of the previous episode. This episode was really meant to wrap everything up: show the end of Father, and resolve the plot thread of Ed and Al getting their body back.
As expected, the characters found some sort of loophole in order to get Al’s body back. This time, the loophole was the door. We learn that every character has a door of alchemy, and apparently Ed knew that he could trade that in, instead of offering another of his limbs to get back to Al.
As for the budget, well, the creators were lucky that a lot of this episode was about a bunch of simple shapes (Greed, Flask (as I’ll call him for now, as “The inhabitant of the Flask” is a bit too long), God), so they could really plan the best of their budget to the previous action-packed view. The final confrontation between Flask was a worthy climax for the series, even though he already had been defeated.
One thing I did not understand was Hohenheim, though. Why did he end up dying? Was it because Father sucked all of the philosopher’s stones out of him or something?
Overall though, this has been an awesome series. It’s not among my favourites, but it still was a wonderful ride. I really hope that Bones is going to adapt more manga in the same way in the future.
Rating: *** (Awesome)
And so, after more than three years we finally get to see the continuation of Black Lagoon, and the creators decided to put the focus back on fan favourite Roberta. Personally, I loved that first season. The second season was a bit less, since I found that it lost sight of its big picture, but to be honest, I did have some strange biases back then. As an action-series, it still delivered like hell.
In any case, the third season starts off really well with a clear attempt to give more depth to Roberta, while also going for the most action-packed scenario possible. The real challenge for the creators is to balance them out well: deliver the solid action while at the same time not forgetting that they’re supposed to tell a story and fleshing out a character.
You can see that this really is an OVA for the fans. While this definitely had its own story, it also contains a ton of homages to the first seasons. There’s the obvious as Roberta, but here the creators introduced another maid with awesome fighting skills. And seriously: how many times has that pub been destroyed by now? It’s like there’s some sort of curse on it. And I wonder how the owner manages to fix it up every time again.
What impressed me a lot here was the animation. You can really see that Madhouse paid a lot of attention to it. The character-models may not be the most crisp here, but I hardly spotted any still frames. There really is a ton of movement, along with a large number of creative poses and camera angles that at the same time don’t try to overdo it. The action itself was also really well animated and coordinated.
overall though, an excellent start. I’m not yet sure whether the story will work out, but at least we’re certain of one hell of an action-packed OVA. This episode provided enough hints for that. But hey, there actually was quite a bit of build-up in this episode, so we might indeed be in for something awesome here.
Rating: ** (Excellent)
OP: A remix of the first OP. Again, part of playing to the fans of the series.
ED: Clever. You start with the first notes of the first ED, only to turn to something completely different. works really well.
Oh, and on a side-note: I’m glad that Dutch and Bennie seem to be playing a bigger role again
A very promising start to the climax of this series. Like expected, it’s all about Yaichi and his past, and the creators did a really good job at building up to it so that they can now start dropping hints as to what exactly caused him to shut off his past. By now, it’s clear that certain things have happened that he has yet to digest, and at this point, there are a ton of people from the past, coming back to bite him. And then there’s also Masa, who is getting closer and closer to him as well.
Yaichi in his teens was… scary. He really had this air around him that didn’t care about anyone or anything. While he killed without remorse in this episode, it’s probably something else caused him to break up with his gang. It’s now interesting to see whether the creators will also be able to give this series a good closure. I mean, I know that the creators are able to do this, but the manga it’s based on complicates things by being way longer than something you can just put in 12 episodes. But still, Ristorante Paradiso did it a year ago, so why shouldn’t this series be able to do it?
Still…. I am missing something here, though. I can’t put my finger to exactly what, but the past number of episodes have lacked a certain something, that prevents it from becoming a masterpiece. I wish I knew what that was, though.
Rating: ** (Excellent)
This episode was brilliant, there’s no other way to it. it’s THE proof that this very much was a series that was building up to its conclusion right from the beginning, and now that everything is coming together, it has just surpassed itself. It’s without a doubt my favourite episode of Yojou-han so far. Really, out of all the endings this season, I’m looking forward to the final episode of this series the most.
So in this episode we were promised that finally Watashi would break through the tradition of joining random clubs and pushing reset buttons, but I’m very pleasantly surprised with how he actually did it. Instead of running after a whimsical dream, he just gives up. He spends god knows how long in his own room, and eventually he ends up trapped in a maze full of endless parallel worlds of this room.
I loved how the creators portrayed Watashi and his confusion as he tried to make sense of his situation. It’s interesting how he just doesn’t speak in this episode aside from just one line: all we hear are just some grunts and his inner monologues, which seemed to be wittier and more descriptive than ever here. Especially the scenes in which he just tried to waste time were priceless in how down to earth they were.
In the end, this indeed is a series about parallel worlds: worlds that can change depending on even the slightest decisions that you can make different. Even in the current world, there were aspects that returned in other worlds, like the Castella. Oh, and the cockroach trick “backfired” with some hilarious result. What’s also interesting is that Watashi usually hardly ever was at home. In all of the rooms that the Watashi of this episode crossed, he only came across himself once (also explaining why that weird man with a beard appeared: it wasn’t exactly an older version, just a version of Watashi who refused to shave).
It’s also interesting how Oz doesn’t seem to be the main bad guy of this series after all. This also could be expected after the previous episode, but it seems that Oz is just another characters in all of the universes that Watashi takes place in. This anime really is a journey of self-discovery for Watashi. The main concept wouldn’t be that different if Oz weren’t there, and the biggest difference is that Watashi didn’t have someone to put him down to earth by reminding him what an idiot he is.
Now, this really is a series that’s perfect for the short airtime of 11 episodes: it’s short but focused, and knows what it’s building up to. Those are often the most successful short series, compared to the ones that either just cut off, or try to do just too much in too little time. That will make for enjoyable series, but not the masterpieces like Yojou-han and Kaiba because it can never get really in-depth about its characters.
Rating: *** (Awesome)