anime round-up: Murder Princess, Macross Frontier
Macross Frontier
Good: Mostly consistent and likable characters, nice relationship development, an impressive amount of pretty music.
Bad: Poor pacing, slightly rushed ending, occasionally sketchy plot. I would have liked to see the main villain get more development.
My Favorite Part: The way the relationship among Alto, Sheryl, and Ranka was used to reflect the larger themes of the series, while giving both girls plenty of character development and sympathy.
Comments: I feel like I should watch the earlier Macross series now. This wasn't the greatest show ever or anything, but I did enjoy it a lot, especially for the borderline-canon OT3. The mecha fights took up less screentime than I expected, but I guess they had to make room for the jpop. Towards the end I felt like they were glossing over some important revelations, but they managed to make the very end solid enough that I was willing to look past that. In any case, I was never in it for the plot. I was in it because the characters and pairings touched me in my happy place. It was kind of like Gundam SEED that way, which to a large group of bitter fanboys is like saying it was touched by the devil, but whatever. I like my mecha series dramatic, tearjerking, and occasionally sappy.
You should watch it if you...
♦ Like jpop
♦ Enjoy love triangles
♦ Enjoy OT3s even more than love triangles
♦ Like jpop even a little bit
♦ Like space operas
♦ Like the general trappings of mecha/super robot anime, but don't mind seeing them tweaked around a bit
♦ Know how to take a show seriously in one scene and giggle at it in the next one
♦ Seriously, did I mention the jpop?
Murder Princess
Good: Fun characters, the heroine getting to kick all kinds of ass without needing any men in the picture at all, a star-studded cast.
Bad: Fairly generic setting and plot.
My Favorite Part: Did I mention the heroine getting to kick all kinds of ass without needing any men in the picture? Yeah. Plus her ambiguously lesbian vibe with The Chick.
Comments: This was a good series for reminding me why epic fantasy is fun. In another show I probably would have been annoyed at The Chick (Alita/Mirano) being so very much The Chick, but in this series, she was balanced out by the heroine (Falis/Alita) being the yang to her yin, and I didn't mind at all. Their sidekicks were also fun--and there was not the slightest hint of het romance in the whole thing. I like het romance fine, but sometimes it's nice to have a break. Surprisingly, considering the focus on female characters, there was very little fanservice--no jiggling, little in the way of clothes getting ripped off (Falis does rip her dress often, but only enough to help her move more freely), only one or two bath scenes, and only one female character (out of three major ones) whose outfit really shows off her boobs. Despite the shortness of the series, I felt there was really only one plot thread they left dangling, and I can easily fanwank that away into delicious ship fodder.
You should watch it if you...
♦ Enjoy epic fantasy...
♦ ...but are sick of seeing only guys kick ass in it
♦ Would like a short, fun action series
♦ Like seeing girls kick ass
♦ Enjoy Romantic Two Girl Friendships
Next: Kannazuki no Miko, Soul Eater (anime up to about episode 30, then manga), Xam'd Lost Memories.
Good: Mostly consistent and likable characters, nice relationship development, an impressive amount of pretty music.
Bad: Poor pacing, slightly rushed ending, occasionally sketchy plot. I would have liked to see the main villain get more development.
My Favorite Part: The way the relationship among Alto, Sheryl, and Ranka was used to reflect the larger themes of the series, while giving both girls plenty of character development and sympathy.
Comments: I feel like I should watch the earlier Macross series now. This wasn't the greatest show ever or anything, but I did enjoy it a lot, especially for the borderline-canon OT3. The mecha fights took up less screentime than I expected, but I guess they had to make room for the jpop. Towards the end I felt like they were glossing over some important revelations, but they managed to make the very end solid enough that I was willing to look past that. In any case, I was never in it for the plot. I was in it because the characters and pairings touched me in my happy place. It was kind of like Gundam SEED that way, which to a large group of bitter fanboys is like saying it was touched by the devil, but whatever. I like my mecha series dramatic, tearjerking, and occasionally sappy.
You should watch it if you...
♦ Like jpop
♦ Enjoy love triangles
♦ Enjoy OT3s even more than love triangles
♦ Like jpop even a little bit
♦ Like space operas
♦ Like the general trappings of mecha/super robot anime, but don't mind seeing them tweaked around a bit
♦ Know how to take a show seriously in one scene and giggle at it in the next one
♦ Seriously, did I mention the jpop?
Murder Princess
Good: Fun characters, the heroine getting to kick all kinds of ass without needing any men in the picture at all, a star-studded cast.
Bad: Fairly generic setting and plot.
My Favorite Part: Did I mention the heroine getting to kick all kinds of ass without needing any men in the picture? Yeah. Plus her ambiguously lesbian vibe with The Chick.
Comments: This was a good series for reminding me why epic fantasy is fun. In another show I probably would have been annoyed at The Chick (Alita/Mirano) being so very much The Chick, but in this series, she was balanced out by the heroine (Falis/Alita) being the yang to her yin, and I didn't mind at all. Their sidekicks were also fun--and there was not the slightest hint of het romance in the whole thing. I like het romance fine, but sometimes it's nice to have a break. Surprisingly, considering the focus on female characters, there was very little fanservice--no jiggling, little in the way of clothes getting ripped off (Falis does rip her dress often, but only enough to help her move more freely), only one or two bath scenes, and only one female character (out of three major ones) whose outfit really shows off her boobs. Despite the shortness of the series, I felt there was really only one plot thread they left dangling, and I can easily fanwank that away into delicious ship fodder.
You should watch it if you...
♦ Enjoy epic fantasy...
♦ ...but are sick of seeing only guys kick ass in it
♦ Would like a short, fun action series
♦ Like seeing girls kick ass
♦ Enjoy Romantic Two Girl Friendships
Next: Kannazuki no Miko, Soul Eater (anime up to about episode 30, then manga), Xam'd Lost Memories.