This may be me, who hasn’t looked in the right places, but one thing I’ve noticed after checking out various anime movies is that there are nearly no good comedies among them. Most of them are dramas or thrillers, but I’ve yet to see a truly funny movie, despite how the movie-format seems perfect for this, as there’s less chance that the creators will run out of jokes to use when compared to tv-series.
My Neighbours The Yamadas is probably one of the funniest movies I’ve seen in anime, but still the comedic value is nowhere near that of series like Gintama, Excel Saga and Pani Poni Dash, to just name a few examples. Basically, it follows the everyday life of the Yamada-family, portrayed in a quirky way. Isao Takahata is the director, and indeed there’s lots of realism in this movie, and just like Only Yesterday, you’ll be able to find lots of scenes to identify to.
Unfortunately, this movie may have the good elements of a Takahata-movie, it also has the bad ones. Yet again, it goes on for too long, and yet again, I’ve seen no reason to emotionally connect with the characters. For some reason, I just couldn’t get myself to care about the characters. Those who saw Only Yesterday might recall ten minutes, being devoted to a character eating a pineapple; My Neighbours the Yamada’s does this with a banana. It’s realistic, I know; but I just can’t call it exciting.
One thing that also immediately falls to your attention when you look at the screenshots is the unusual art style. It might be a bit awkward at first, but it does work well enough. The animation is better than you’d think, and what you’d expect from a movie. There are also a few Miyazaki-influences here and there, where the surrealistic undertones start to take over and the characters get carried away in their imagination. The music isn’t anything special, though. It’s just simple, and what you can hear on an average tv-series as well.
I know I’ve been encouraging realism a lot in my latest reviews, but realism alone doesn’t make a good movie. Seirei no Moribito understood this, and it created an excellent atmosphere that sparkled with realism and yet had more than enough tension to make you care about the characters. Random antics of a family are fun and al, but the lack of a point becomes more obtrusive as I think about it. Studio Ghibli may have created a lot of memorable gems, for me, this isn’t one of them. If you want to see the antics of ordinary families, a better choice would be to check out Rumiko Takahashi’s Rumic Theatre.]]>
Anime 2 Manga's Blog Master of 2007 Award
I can still hardly believe it, but it seems that Star Crossed has finally won itself an award. The people from Anime 2 Manga have turned one year old today, and with that they gave out an award for the “Blogging Master of 2007”. I must say, congratulations on turning one year old, and thanks for the award. 🙂 I also love the banner, by the way, and how it consists out of some of the screenshots I made in the past. Some of them are actually quite old, and I’m surprised that Darren (who I assume photoshopped it) managed to dig it up. I especially like how the teddy-bear from Master of Epic was included. ^_^]]>
Suteki Tantei Labyrinth – 06
The stories for the different episodes haven’t impressed me so far. They’re a bit one-sided and uninspired, and series like El Cazador and Night Head Genesis were much better at them. Thankfully, the detective-aspect and the main story of this series did turn out worthwhile so far. I like how Mayuki ad the others figured out what happened inside the train, and the cause of the disappearance of Shichiro.
It seems that Byakko used her hacking-skills to switch the final cabins of the train, where Shichiro happened to be in. While the story of the businessmen who want to stop the guy from winning his case in court is rather standard and unimaginative, I like how much detail has been put into Byakko’s plans. We also get some more information about the main storyline. It seems that the two women we saw in the first episode are nothing more than Mayuki’s two maids. Mayuki also finally confirmed that he’s not a normal boy, when he lighted up and all.
But please… that final scene of the episode was just too annoying. Creators, please develop this a bit more. I don’t think I’ll be able to stand 20 more episodes of both Minori and Yaya feeding cakes to an embarrassed Mayuki. Okay, I know he’s cute, but you don’t have to rub it in. I’ve also been wondering… wasn’t Shichiro accompanied by two other guys? What happened to them? Surely they wouldn’t abandon the guy for no reason at all?]]>
Gundam 00 – 05
Wow… talk about a difference with the previous episodes. While the first four episodes of Gundam were about politics and clearly motivated purposes, this episode had one person going berserk and another one went off on his own. I guess the major characters in this series remain teenagers after all, which is in a way a pity. Especially the berserking young girl came from nowhere.
Another thing that was really bad about this episode was how Setsuna made a hole in the clouds, just by swinging the arms of his Gundam a bit. And here I thought that the creators put a lot of effort in creating their setting and physics. Blowing a hole in the clouds is just getting a tad too ridiculous. What I also didn’t like was the immense amount of time that was spent on the dull couple of Saji and Louise. WE DON’T NEED YET ANOTHER DATING-SIM THIS SEASON.
So, regarding the good parts… I guess that for this episode, it was Allelujah: the one who went out on his own with his Gundam, just because he wanted to protect a block of the orbital station that was blasted off. Not very professional, is it? Still, I like how the creators realize this as well, by the comments from whatshisname after the operation was finished.]]>
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni – 44
Okay, so Higurashi is still in checklist-mode, but it really has been getting better and better with every single episode. What I especially loved of this episode was how well-scripted the dialogue was. It was elaborate, detailed and yet meaningful, unlike you tend to see in other series, that basically sell off a lot of hot air when the characters start monologueing. Also, it seems like the Matsuribayashi will finally get started off for real in the next episode. Yay!
And it was of course great to see more and more members of the old cast back into focus, and see Takano take more of a background-role. It was nice to see how the creators also used this opportunity to show some more TIPS, back from the first season, like how Rena used to be called Reina, and Keiichi’s father, meeting Rika and Hanyuu. I still would have liked to see Keiichi’s shooting-incident, though.
Also, we finally see confirmed what happened to Satoshi. He killed his aunt, and then went berserk right in front of Irie. He was brought to the clinic, where he died and his body got taken care of by the Yamainu. Should have seen this one coming. What was cute was how he went berserk, only after buying the present for Satoko. It seems that Satoko never got the present, though.
The end of the episode also features a surprising conversation between Mion and her grandmother. I’m not sure whether this all happened in every arc, or that this is because the characters unconsciously get closer to each other with every successive arc, but it was an interesting twist, although it does work a bit anticlimactic for the fifth arc.]]>
Les Miserables – Shoujo Cosette – 44
Oh, that was amazing. This episode concludes the fourth arc of the series. Gavroche unfortunately lives, but to make up for it, we get treated to an outstanding episode. Obviously, spoilers are going to follow.
The definite highlight was the face-down between Jean and Javert. Seriously, that’s what I call an antagonist! Takano from Higurashi just bleaks when compared to Javert and the excellent development the guy’s been having through the series. The way he convinced himself how Jean was pure evil, and how humans can’t change was magnificent, and it was awesome to see how Jean basically let the guy go, so was the entirely different side Javert showed of himself in the process.
And boy, I never expected ALL of Les Amis to friggin’ DIE at the end of the episode! The insert song may have been a tad wrong, but still… whoa. I also loved the conversation between Jean and Enjorlas (I gave up trying to spell his name correctly), and how they think about the future generation. While the current revolution failed, it’ll give inspiration for the future, where the next generation can pick up where Les Amis left and truly change the country. It was also an excellent scene where the drinking-guy (forgot his name! I don’t care!), after having been absent for so long, symbolically saved Enjorlas, before both of them got killed by the incoming policemen.
Jean and Marius are probably the only survivors, as they manage to escape through the sewers. The final arc is going to be a short one (only eight episodes!), but something tells me that the creators have saved a few ace for last: the Thenardiers! They’ve been quiet for the past climax, because none of them but Eponine had anything to do with the revolution, but the fact remains that Thenardier still holds a huge grudge against Jean. He’s going to do something to him… but what…?]]>
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni – 43
Hah! Finally Takano turns into more than that uberevil spawn of Satan that we’ve been seeing for the past few episodes. It really began to get quite tiring to keep seeing her in take-over-the-world-mode with her evil laugh and all. It’s good to see that she did have problems of her own, once Koizumi, the sponsor for her project dies, turning her project into a scapegoat for those who want to succeed him. It’s a bit of a pity that they had to introduce yet another underdeveloped villain for this, but for now I’m happy enough about Takano.
Also, the scenes that didn’t involve Takano were excellent as well. While I’d still wish that the creators would hurry up and start with the real meat of the Matsuribayashi (I miss Mion and Rena!), I do admit that both Satoko, Irie and Rika received some excellent development. I’m beginning to understand Satoshi a bit more. Especially the younger Satoko becomes a horrible person when she doesn’t like someone, probably helped by the disease. I think that she unconsciously realized this at one point, which is why her older version didn’t retaliate to her uncle. She really blames herself for it, and she’s probably afraid to lose Satoshi again if she creates a fuzz once again.
Rika, meanwhile held a quite touching speech in Oyashiro-mode in front of Irie, how she believed that being examined by Irie would save Satoko’s life. We also finally learn why her parents died: their patience with Takano ran out, so she killed them, blaming it on Oyashiro-sama. Irie, meanwhile also received some depth once he found out that Satoko killed her own parents, and asked Takano to make the Yamainu cover up for it. That’s why the guy likes Satoko so much in the later timelines.
Next episode, we’ll probably find out what happened to Satoshi. Still, it remains annoying how the creators are basically going through a checklist in order to fill up the remaining holes in the story. It seems that the original game did the same, but in this way, the viewer does get distanced from the series a bit.]]>
Shion no Ou – 04
This episode was quite an interesting experience. After watching it, I really have to say that Shion no Ou is going to be one of the best series this season, especially the 12-episoded ones, even though it was quite hard to understand this episode. It’s basically one huge Shougi-match, and for the first time in the series we actually see some strategy, and we’re allowed to see how the game develops.
Even though the only I know about Shougi is the things I remembered from wikipedia (the difference between the king, bishop and rooks and pawns), and I did get a vague idea of how the game developed, and how Shion again got defeated by Ayumi, but still providing a huge challenge for him. I like how the match just took up one episode, and that’s a benefit for the short length of this series: often board-game anime like this tend to drag on for ages but Shion no Ou can’t waste such time because it’s only got twelve episodes.
One thing I also loved about this game was the huge role that was given to the spectators, and how they were commenting on the game. Hanimeji (that was his name, right?) was especially interesting, due to his realistic and expert-view of the game. Obviously, everyone wants Shion to win, but things don’t always go that easy.
And I love Shion even more after this episode. While this isn’t the first time where you see a character pass out after an intense game, the way this series presents it is refreshingly detailed. Shion was basically both sick and she had her period, and the only thing that kept her awake was her desire to win over Ayumi (yeah… the anime explains this better).]]>
Dennou Coil – 23
So, yes. Today’s episode is a recap. Don’t bother hoping for a bit of new content like with episode 14: there isn’t. Every frame of this episode was basically recycled from the other episodes. I really wonder why the creators had to include a recap at this point, so close to the climax. I mean, for a series with 26 episodes, three recaps is just too much.]]>
Saiunkoku Monogatari – 64
Now this is what I call an excellent episode! This arc is finally beginning to shine again after the countless episodes of building-up, and the main plot also finally gets moving into a very interesting direction. This was by far the best episode of the series yet, since the month-long hiatus back in August and September.
There are three storylines that were important in this episode: the one about small Riou, the one about Suou and a new one, which has to do something with salt. If I understood things correctly, then someone is preventing salt-merchants to arrive in the capital, and Shuurei’s going to be busy for the next couple of episodes to try and sort that one out.
The storyline that surprised me the most was that of small Riou, though: he’s big Riou’s son! Not only that, but he just hangs out with Ryuuki in the library like it’s nothing, even though both his brother and father went after Shuurei. I’m still curious about the relationship between big Riou and Ryuuki, as there doesn’t seem to be any hostility between the two of them.
Tantan’s story featured some great build-up in this episode. He basically says his goodbye to Shuurei this episode by letting her play the erhu for him, because he knew that his father was going to drag him in another one of his plans. Could this have something to do with the salt?
On a smaller note: Seiran remains absent in this episode, an Ki Kouki makes his first move towards Shuurei. Oh, and Shuurei and Ryuuki see each other again, and Ryuuki eats some of the lunch that Shuurei prepared.]]>