As for the shows I’m not going to blog:
– Tonari no Kaibatsu-kun has way too much competition. Beyond the other shoujo series this season, it also has Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo to worry about (I mean: we have a relatively normal lead who falls in love with a character with a huge personality problem, surrounded by a cast of colourful characters, and it’s directed and series composed by two members of the gender opposite of the target audience – it’s pretty much the same premise only shounen!) And with that, it just doesn’t stand out as the most interesting. There is just too little charm for me to keep watching.
– Chuuninbyou demo Koi Shitai is even worse though. With that series, the characters are all trying way too hard to be funny. I know that that’s the premise and all, but that doesn’t make it any more bearable.
Zetsuen no Tempest however is my top pick for this season. Fantastic soundtrack, great plot, great characters, interesting ideas, excellent acting, excellent action, very good animation and the pacing is also pretty damn good. There are more shows this season that have that though. What really sets this show apart is how it manages to bring all of that together. It all just fits, and out of all series this season, it is the best at combining its animation, soundtrack, characters, plot and acting together at the same time for its storytelling.
I really like the characters as well. They are teenagers, but the male lead is quite un-typical in his level-headedness, even quoting macbeth at one point. He’s the center of this story, but beyond that there is much more going on. The action also can be quite smart when it wants to, with the male lead using his cell phone in order to check up on the outside. Okay, it didn’t work, but it was much better than just sticking out his face without knowing what’s going on.
There was one strange moment of illogical decisions though: the point where that woman used gas to smoke out the male lead and drive him to the top of the school building. Her plan succeeds, and he ends up right where she planned him to be… and she just walks right into his trap. Not sure what happened there, but this episode did emphasize human weaknesses a few scenes later. It seems that magic can make anyone superhuman, though anyone without magic still has to obey laws that are more human, as shown from the shock that woman fell in when she nearly crashed to her death, probably also with the help of some G-forces.
Oh, and I still need to gush about the soundtrack of this show. It is just amazing, and this episode showed many tracks that didn’t appear in the first episode, showing that it’s far from a one trick pony.
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)
I like Tonari a lot actually… In fact, Im shocked to say but my 2 favorites this season are both shoujo… Tonari and Sukinayo
Probably because of how long its been since Ive watched a decent one, but Im really enjoying the characters in both
Tempest is okay, but something is missing… Well, for one, I cant believe the fact that the most interesting character in the show is already dead, LOL (Aika)
I dont know, it just gives me the vibe that the whole thing is happening on an island specifically created for the main characters, since you dont see anyone else (I know, they are all turned to stone, but still) which ends up feeling really fake
I like Tonari too. Reminds me a little bit of KKNJ. I think I know why Psgels prefers Kamisama though – Maid-sama meets Natsume? XD
Reminds me more of Fruits Basket, actually. But then I’m not excited by what I’ve seen, and think I prefer Tonari to it as well (though Tonari reminds me of KareKano, and it pales in comparison).
Win! I’m pretty excited about this series too. Excellent art, great cast and performances all around and a compelling story. Although I’m a little bit worried about pacing now with episode 2. I’m not sure I liked how they skipped how Yoshino convinced Yamamoto to work with him. Both characters are still being developed so it may be tricky to read or understand their actions later. Well, maybe they’ll have a flashback later. With all the scenes of Aika, I wonder if they’re going to progress from the past and the present into a common point somewhere.
and she just walks right into his trap.
Mm. I think she was planning on catching and overpowering him through superior experience. I think she could tell he was green. In the end, she did kick his gun away, although he managed to deal the final blow. And I think she was more interested in information about the black iron syndrome and how to stop it than anything else. If what she said was true and she was a freelancer, she’s pretty much the same as Yoshino and Mahiru, except without magic and has no idea about the magic ceremony. I’m guessing Yoshino gave her a talisman in exchange for assisting him to help Mahiru.
as shown from the shock that woman fell in when she nearly crashed to her death
That felt more like the reverse pressure of Yoshino’s magic slowing them down before hitting the though. Painful but not as bad as as a straight fall. She still basically fell on her head but was still conscious so most of the velocity of their fall was neutralized.
Really creepy how many victims there were all over the place and Yoshino’s reaction to them. Mahiru mentioned that most sites seemed to have an average victim count of 10-20 but this looks a whole lot worse. I wonder if the magic can be reversed. And why aren’t butterflies metallicized too? They’re not counted as organic?
I think Tempest isn’t that great as you make it out to be. I feel a bit of a pretentious vibe from it whenever the music (which I feel is, IMO, loud and obnoxious) and quoting Shakespeare who’s works I (was forced to) read were so bland and awful doesn’t help either.
It’s got nice animation and I like the main characters, but I just can’t not notice the pretentious feel it gets. Nowhere as bad as Bakemonogatari’s obnoxiousness though.
I also think Tonari has a lot of charm, but meh.
Haha. I don’t know. It sounds interesting to me. I never read Hamlet so the quotes went right over my head. Plus it’s all in japanese. I wonder if there might be some metaphorical parallels between this story and Hamlet? Do you see any? Or is it just these few quotes that these kids love personally and wind up quoting cos it fits the situation for now? Well, someone did mention earlier that the manga’s storyline becomes something like “dishwash” later so you might be on to something. I’m hooked for now.
The show has some interestingly strong parallels to Hamlet. Two of the biggest themes in Hamlet are sanity(and lack thereof) and revenge at any cost. But Tempest has given each of these themes to one character rather than have them shown mainly through Hamlet himself. This could lead to some interesting play between them or we could get more pretentious quoting while flower petals swirl around.
I don’t have a problem with alluding to other works but at least be doing something, standing around quoting Shakespeare does not make characters deep or interesting.
Well, it’s only the second episode so they’re still introducing the characters and their relationships and the overall setting.
It feels like the biggest mystery in this whole story is what happened to Aika and why she’s still treated as a major character even though it seems she was killed off-stage. May not be a permanent thing since there’s magic that can turn people into metal statues. I’m not sure if it’s not reversible. So there may be some magic that can bring her back. Her murder seems to have something to do with magic too since it’s something that princess mage should have been aware of. Perhaps something necessary for this big ritual the bad guys are performing. Also, I don’t know what to make of the first episode where she describes both Yoshino and herself as liars who hide their true natures. So what are Aika and Yoshino’s respective lies?
“So what are Aika and Yoshino’s respective lies”
That they were going out with each other?
There is that but it seemed like something more serious. I kept wondering about his strange lack of reaction to Aika’s death as opposed to Mahiru’s rage. It was like he was kind of turned off. He didn’t really react much to getting mugged, nor to all the metal people everywhere, even people he knew. He says he doesn’t want to take revenge for Aika cos it won’t change anything but I wonder if he really feels that way or what he would do if he were to come face to face with her killer. Another part of me wondered if this story might have a mindfuck situation where he was the killer, who had maybe assisted Aika in some kind of suicide. It’s just such a big mystery how she died and why. I think that theory’s blown now since it looks like Mahiru and the princess mage learned who Aika’s real killer was and they didn’t react like it was Yoshino. Just throwing out crazy ideas.
I found the “pretense” just the right amount of atmospheric. I guess I could mock it if I would want to, but it it’s also stylish enough that I can still turn my cynicism off get into it. Like Death Note, or Madoka, as opposed to Evangelion or Elfen Lied, where the symbolism is just getting silly.
Even Little Busters is cuing its dramatic music loudly, so I don’t know about this anymore. I’m starting to think that anime that have nice music just like to blare it to show off, not that they’re doing so to cover up faults. Maybe I’m dead wrong. I do find it annoying as well.
I have to say that I find it sad to hear that quoting Shakespeare seems “pretentious”.. Is it because it’s a reference drop to something old, instead of the usual Gundam or Evangelion shout-outs anime give us?
Might need to brush up on your Shakespeare a little psgels, all the quotes are from Hamlet.
I agree, but spare him.. it’s tougher to catch all of the Shakespeare when it’s being heard in Japanese.
Not when the actual characters says “oh, Hamuretto ka?”
And holy shit anime quoting Shakespeare sounds CORNY as hell.
That’s why psgels caught that particular instance 🙂
And yeah, it’s almost always corny no matter where it’s done. Even General Chang in Star Trek 6 was corny as hell (albeit somehow cool).
We’ll be sticking with Tonari and Sukinayo, but we agree, Zetsuen no Tempest is the best of the Fall 2012 series so far…it’s the complete package.
We like the idea of a high schooler quoting Shakespeare whenever he can. Whether or not reading it was part of his curriculum, the parallels to his real-life tragedy are obvious. As long as he doesn’t over-quote, it’s fine!
i am interested to know how much the story will reflect shakespeare, however, I get the feeling it will only be a passing resemblance and the quotes are all empty. I guess we’ll find out sooner or later. The show isn’t really on that level of sophistication.
I highly doubt if there will be a lot of parallelism with Shakespeare unless it’s an adaptation of one of his works. This would seem to be an original work with some references. That’s my hope anyway. I’d like to remain optimistic of a great story that won’t be too tragic or horrific.
Ok, this is the episode where I finally decided that this show is going to be amazing as well. Psgels is right the soundtrack has great variation and expression. The premises the show deal with are lesser used as well such as revenge and magic and the world being illogical mess. The thing is it also does not take the time for the audience to explain everything and that interests me as well. The characters are unique too, having their own expressions, Bones really shines in this department, I’m inclined to think this show is going to have that as well.