Alright, this week’s goal is to generate ZERO controversy with my post. Just a nice, simple post saying how great this episode was, how I love the show, and how everything is hunky dory….well, that was the plan anyways. Unfortunately, this week had some issues. Looks like controversy’s back on the menu!
Yoshitoshi ABe is, or at least should be, a pretty recognizable name. You’ve no doubt seen his work and influence across many series while watching anime. From the illustrations for the original novels of Welcome to the N.H.K. and All You Need Is Kill to providing original character designs for the technological horror series Texhnolyze and Serial Experiments Lain. ABe’s art has a distinctive, gritty quality to it that you don’t often see in modern Moe-fied anime. And for me that begs the question: What kind of stories is he trying to tell with this art? Well it seems we have our answer. Directed by Tomokazu Tokoro, animated by the now defunct studio Radix and created/storyboarded by Yoshitoshi ABe I give to you Haibane Renmei. So without further ado let’s talk about some cute angel girls within a not-so-cute story.
Continue reading “Haibane Renmei Anime Review – 86/100 – Throwback Thursday”
Biwa’s role in Heike Monogatari is a strange thing. Despite having been introduced as our main character, she’s operated mostly as an observer since the third episode, and with her recent banishment from the Taira clan, she’s less connected to the main story than ever. It seems clear that screenwriter Yoshida intends her to be the Tale of the Heike’s author, hence all the parallels to the white-haired lute priest, who has recited snippets of the poem as though it were already written. Divorced from the action as Biwa is, she’ll need to rely on her supernatural eyesight to compile the tale, which explains its inclusion as a character trait. Yoshida has all her bases covered, then, but it still feels odd for our one-time lead character to be such a tagalong. Biwa bookended this week’s episode in the first and last scenes, but apart from those appearances, she showed up just twice. I’d be quicker to criticize the show for this issue if its plot didn’t span 15 years of Japanese history (wherein most potential protagonists died partway through).
Wooper: It’s a solo recap post for your boy this week, which I’m fearing may happen more than once this season (despite my practice of pestering my co-writers). I’m trying to give my impressions on at least one unique anime each week, so titles like PokeToon, Blade Runner: Black Lotus, Super Crooks, and Aggretsuko S4 will likely appear in this column as the fall season stretches on. Even if there’s something new to talk about every Tuesday, though, it helps to have some-one new to talk with me. Know what I’m saying, fellow authors?
There are dozens of full-length anime series, particularly comedies, whose airy senses of humor would work better in short form. On the other hand, most shorts wouldn’t benefit from longer runtimes, as their premises are bite-sized to begin with. Deji Meets Girl is a notable exception to that second rule, because it’s trying to build a legitimate relationship between its main characters – an Okinawan part-time worker and a teen idol on vacation – but it keeps running up against the restrictions of its format. It’s unfortunate that this clash keeps occurring, because I like a lot of things about this show. The thick linework grounds the characters in reality even as they experience supernatural happenings (plus it reminds me of Gal & Dino, which I love to the moon and back). The animation is strong (especially in the premiere), the color palette shifts to match the new phenomena introduced in each episode, and all the teasing in the script is executed in good fun. At just 90 seconds per episode, though, it’s too chopped up to build anything substantial between its two leads. That’s too bad, because if Deji had gotten five minutes to work with each week, it could have fought for a spot on my year-end list.
Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Eighty Six! Apologies for the delay with this, I’ve been busy this Halloween and only got around to watching the episode. I hope you all had as much fun over the weekend as I did. So without further ado, lets dive into it!
First up how about some praise for Eighty Six? I haven’t given it much recently, and I certainly wont after this, but credit where its due: The robots look good, Eighty Six has seriously stepped up their mech game. As far as standard anime CGI goes I think these are some of the better mechs I’ve seen in a good while. Their movements were surprisingly fluid as they ran and bounced around the city in those extended shots and the compositing was, by and large, pretty good. I never felt taken out of the scene by a 3D mech standing on a 2D background nor by MS Paint fire and smoke effects. And on top of all of that Eighty Six still managed to work in some evocative shots and edits, such as glass flying by Shin’s face or his charge. So yeah, good job.
Hello, everyone!
Here I am, back with another late post. This time around though, the delay was not caused entirely by my general laziness. After almost a whole year of exam prep, I decided to take a sizeable vacation, to go see if the world outside the four walls of my room still looked the same. And to my disappointment, it is just so. Hell, even the noisy crowds are back in full force now! (shudders) But hey, on the plus side, I got to be there for a baby’s first birthday and another’s first breath. Riveting stuff, I tell ya!
But ah well, all this chit-chat is not what you come to our blog for. You come here – rightfully so – for the insightful reviews of the hip anime of the season. In this case, the lovely Blue Period.
So, that’s what ye shall receive. Hop on!
Continue reading “Blue Period – 04+05+06 [Where Are We Headed? | I Know What to Do, I Just Don’t Know if I Can Do It | Mental Breakdowns Are no Joke]”
True colors emerge around episode three, and I would say this episode should provide an excellent barometer to determine if you want to continue watching. How does it fare? Let’s find out!
The year is 1181. Not long after achieving political dominance in western Japan, the Taira clan’s power has already begun to fade. Their move to Fukuhara is short-lived, and the capital returns to Kyoto a mere six months after its relocation. Interpreting this return as a sign of aggression, the warrior monks of Nara engage the Heike in combat, but suffer a great loss when their temples (as well as a massive Buddha statue) are burned in the course of the Heike’s retaliation. Kiyomori, who gleefully welcomes news of the burning, is struck with karmic payback in the form of an unquenchable fever, which ultimately leads to his death (and condemnation to the lowest level of hell). His son Munemori, by the anime’s account a rat-faced sycophant, intends to succeed his father and honor his dying wish: to have the head of enemy commander Yoritomo hung before his grave. But provinces to the north, east and west are all allying themselves with Genji forces, painting a bleak picture of the Heike’s military prospects, and indeed, their continued survival.
Welcome everyone to the finale of Haibane Renmei! We’ve made it through another season of Throwback Thursday and you know what that means: Time to vote for the next one. Like always you can find the poll at the end of this post. In the meantime though lets talk about about depression WOO!
So as far as my immediate impressions of the ending go I have to say that I am… satisfied. It didn’t go exactly as I thought it would, I figured it would be more bittersweet. One where Reki forgives herself but it’s to late for her Day of Flight. Or perhaps Rakka postpones her own so that Reki won’t feel alone here anymore. What we got instead was still good though. I feel that with this Haibane Renmei wrapped up and concluded everything important it introduced. We still don’t know much about the Factory or the Renmei and some questions remain unanswered true. But the crux of Haibane Renmei was always Reki and Rakka, and that feels properly handled. Haibane Renmei even addressed my concern about help being the only way out by instead making it about accepting help. That you needed the desire to change rather than stagnation.
So yeah, it was good. Now what about Reki?
Continue reading “Haibane Renmei – 13 [Reki’s World/Prayer/Epilogue] – Throwback Thursday”
Mario: Sherlock goes full Kingsman mode in this second episode (they missed their chance of using an umbrella instead of Sherlock’s walking stick but that’s just me) and yes, he manages to kick all the Lupin team’s asses. This episode is light on plot as it concentrates heavily on action set pieces. Lily is indeed the daughter of poor dead Watson and the last thing she remembers is that Lupin killed her father. Of course this is a red-herring but that is enough for Sherlock to confront Lupin and get his former partner’s daughter out of danger for good. The set pieces are fun and awesome and for that I’m looking forward to more Lupin to come.
Wooper: Most anime PVs are pretty barebones, featuring a few bits of animation and a bunch of character intro stills matched with voicework from their respective seiyuu. A handful of PVs each season are fully-fledged trailers, pulling impressive cuts from a show’s first few episodes and smartly stringing them together to create a picture of how the anime will look and feel. And then there’s Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai, which just dropped an entire ten-minute episode to promote its upcoming third season. As if that weren’t enough, its story revolved around Ishigami and Shirogane’s excitement at their favorite manga adaptation getting a third season; I don’t know what the most self-referential anime comedy of all time is (Gintama? Osomatsu-san?), but Kaguya-sama just gave it a run for its money. This PV was a big surprise, and a very welcome one, given its hilariously authentic look at concealing your love of anime to escape the judgment of your non-otaku friends. The resolution, in which Shirogane proclaimed all people who have ever seen a single anime to be otaku, had a great handle on the sort of comedic hyperbole necessary to sell that sort of breakdown. Kaguya even made a reference to the classic WMT series Anne of Green Gables, confirming her Best Girl status once and for all. Great stuff all around – looking forward to season 3 in April of next year!