Anime Impressions
Here are some of my observations on anime that I've been watching with Gwendel lately. Standard disclaimers apply: These are anime shows, and as such, there may be a series that has 25 episodes of completely G-rated material, and then there's one episode where suddenly there's some out-of-place nudity or ribald humor. I'm not recommending any of these shows "for the kids."
Victorian Romance Emma (completed series):
I like it.
I didn't realize that season one was "Act I." As such, the ending of the first season (and apparently that of the series as a whole) was a bit surprising, and left me struggling as to what to make of the story. I was quite happy to learn that there would be a second season.
Basically, it's a romance, set in Victorian times. No sci-fi, no steam punk, no magic, nothing of the sort you might think should interest me, save for the fact that it's very interesting to watch for the sake of the time period, the attention to detail, and, oh yes, the fact that the characters are interesting and endearing. Some of the fan translators have helpfully included notes at the end of each episode (at least for season one) with some useful bits of context. The storyline is very sedate, so the show's animation budget isn't going into action-packed scenes by any means. There's a lot of talking, a lot of emoting ... but there's also a lot of detail and life going on in the background. The story takes its sweet time over a total of 24 episodes. So far as I can tell from a quick internet check, this series has not yet been licensed in North America, so the entire series is still available on legitimate fansub sites.
For anyone who would enjoy a slow-paced story about life in Victorian England - presented in anime form, but without the usual bits of fantasy or steampunk usually required in such a setting - I highly recommend this series.
Note: Although I would say the bulk of the show is G-rated, there are a couple of scenes that depict incidental and nondescript nudity, in the second season, in ways that seem to be totally irrelevant to the plot. Not that I expect that any little kid is going to have the patience to watch the show for long enough to run into that scene anyway.
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (ongoing series):
Worth watching ... if you can stomach the violence and the potential loss of a few sanity points from the strange juxtaposition of typical anime high-school-kid "hijinx" and wild-takes with ... gruesome, sadistic deaths. This falls under the category of "horror."
Yeah, this one would definitely require some explaining, and unfortunately I can't give that without major spoilers. Gwendel is the one who found this for me (as is usually the case with anime) and we suffered through the first several episodes largely because several of Gwendel's Japanese-speaking friends assured her that the storyline got better, and that there was a mystery here to be worked out.
This series is originally based on a series of computer multimedia novels from Japan. People keep referring to them as "games," but that's a gross misnomer: You don't really get to PLAY. You just have a story that you get to unfold, bit by bit, in a not-necessarily-linear fashion. The anime series can't quite capture that the same way, but it tries - and it's a bewildering experience. Basically, variations on the same story are told, with the same characters, but different things happen - usually with very similar results. Over the course of these different "what-could-have-happened" scenarios, clues are revealed ... and it isn't until the last couple of episodes of Season One that it really starts to make sense.
Once it does, suddenly all of that mayhem and weirdness is worth it, and more so than any other series we've watched recently, this series has spawned quite a few discussions between Gwendel and myself as we try to sort out what might be going on. (We've been having to deal with the possibility that some of the story arcs may be subject to an "unreliable narrator" to further complicate things.)
Whenever Gwendel has some new shows for us to watch, my top question is, "Is there a new Higurashi?" Season One had 26 episodes, and I'm given to believe that the current season will have 26 as well - and we're not that far into the season yet, so there's a long way to go.
Repeat: This is a horror show. Lots of bloody bits and people freaking out and dying in gruesome ways.
Note: I'm not sure on the status, but I believe Season One might be in licensing limbo, and therefore may not be available on the internet for the time being. If that's the case, hopefully it'll be out on DVD soon. Season Two hasn't been snatched up yet, though, and is widely available in fansubs on legitimate sites.
Lucky Star (still airing):
Silly, no story to speak of, but still entertaining.
This show is from the same animators who produced "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya," though it's presented in a more stylized, cartoony form. It is very similar in feel to "Azumanga Daioh," in that it is a "slice-of-life" type of story about a bunch of high school kids. Although there is continuity, there isn't a plot to speak of. It's just silly. I also probably have an unfair advantage in that Gwendel can explain some of the bits (puns, cultural references, etc.) that don't survive translation into English very well.
Although the show is mostly harmless, it is not suitable for children, due to occasional bouts of entirely out-of-place "adult humor" - the sort of thing that seems to plague a lot of otherwise-unobjectionable anime. If it weren't for the fact that I was watching this with Gwendel, I would be too embarrassed to watch a show like this on my own.
Seirei no Moribito / Guardian of the Sacred Spirit (still airing):
I enjoy this series and recommend it, even though I haven't seen it all the way through yet. (I reserve the right to change my opinion if the ending stinks.)
This is yet another show that reinforces my opinion that anime based on novels - text novels, that is, not manga - are generally of higher quality than the other kinds. ("Victorian Romance Emma" and "Mushishi" would be notable exceptions to this "rule." "Twelve Kingdoms" and "Kino no Tabi / Kino's Journey" are two novel-to-anime series that reinforce my opinion.)
This is a light fantasy story set in some mythic kingdom - the sort of mythic kingdom that feels like it's "somewhere on the mainland" in relation to old Japan, much the same way as the fantasy settings from "Twelve Kingdoms" or "Fushigi Yugi." It's slow-paced, and although there is some action, this is largely about the characters. The conflicts are rather mild, so I doubt it will satisfy someone craving for action and high adventure, and generally if the series has a flaw, it's that everyone is just too nice in this world. ;) (Well, actually, more likely the flaw would be the theme song sung partially in "Engrish.")
It's a nice series, and some real effort put into making the series rather atmospheric at times - in the animated backgrounds and the soundscapes and so forth.
I'm waiting to see how this wraps up - and it seems like the series is getting close to it - but so far, so good. I'd recommend checking it out before it gets licensed, because I think this one is a pretty good contender for licensing.
Claymore (still airing):
I have no quick opinion for this show.
Why am I watching this? It has gratuitous gore, and a bit of that "fighting anime" schtick going on - where every warrior (or, sorry, warrioress) has a special freaky fighting style, and victory rarely seems to come about because of any real strategy or thought that I can perceive. What plot there is feels like it's been done before.
Also, I have zero interest in the wilting, weakling character that I presume is being set up as the "love interest" for the powerful protagonist, though the gender roles have been reversed from the usual cliche. I didn't like it in Fushigi Yugi, and I don't like it here. The guy may strive to become useful, but it seems as if he's doomed, because he just is not a superhero, and in this universe, without magical powers, all the training in the world won't make you on par with the heroines and monsters duking it out here.
And yet, both Gwendel and I are still watching it. It has enough elements of character interest, character development, and continuing plot to hold interest ... and it doesn't have the glacial and infuriating pace of, say, Naruto.
Once the series ends, maybe I'll have an opinion formed. I expect that this series is popular enough that it's probably going to get licensed for North American distribution eventually.
Sola (complete):
Pretty, with interesting characters and interesting moments, but a story that feels somehow incomplete.
There's only one season to this show, and despite my feeling that it's somehow "incomplete," it has a pretty clear arc that comes to a pretty clear conclusion. If you can check it out freely via fansubs, it's worth checking out for those moments when it shines - mainly in some of the interactions between the main characters and some of the "secondary" characters. However, I'm really not sure who is the intended audience for this series.
Shounen Onmyouji (still airing?):
The early episodes are really enjoyable - I especially love the interplay between the main character, his grandfather, and his "sidekick." However, the fansubbers seem to have fallen behind on this series, so English translations are in limbo. It's worth seeing what's been translated, in my opinion - though later on in the series, things start to feel a little muddled. (It's my hope that this is just the result of being in the middle of the story, and that things will fit together again by the end of the series.)
As it's incomplete - and it's not clear when a fansub group will pick it up again - I can't really give a full opinion on this one, but it's one that stands out in my mind as of late.
Edit: Gwendel found another episode. It looks like the fansubbers are still at it, but they're taking a really long time. I just hope they finish before it gets snatched up for licensing.
Sayonara Zetsubou Sensai / So Long, Mr. Despair (still airing):
Skip it.
I love the art style, and the intro music is very catchy. There are obviously some very talented people in Shaft working on this. However, the show feels as if the artist was given too much free rein, as it's plagued by in-jokes. (One "in-joke" that gets old very quickly is this smiling real-life photo of the artist that gets pasted in random places in various scenes - often rocking back and forth just in case we idiot viewers aren't eagle-eyed enough to notice his grinning face practically in the middle of the screen.)
In a few episodes, there's an over-abundance of "fan-service" accompanied by what seems to be the new mode of operation for such things: pandering presented with this self-aware aren't-we-so-clever "oh, look, it's fan service" delivery, spelled out by the characters (and breaking the fourth wall in the process) in case we couldn't figure it out for ourselves. It's grotesque enough that at points it's unwatchable (and I just tell Gwendel to tell me when it's safe to look again).
I wish the artists would grow up.
Romeo X Juliet (still airing, I think):
Ha. Heh. (Snort.) Har! Hee hee hee heeeee!
This is not your great-to-the-umpteenth-grandfather's Romeo and Juliet. There are characters given the names of characters from Shakespeare's play, and there are token elements, but it feels like a joke when the story is bent to force some tip o' the hat to the "inspiring" story. (There is a balcony scene. It is entirely inappropriate to the original context.) Basically, this is a story set in a Renaissance fantasy setting, crossing various tropes of Romeo and Juliet with a bit of the Scarlet Pimpernel. If only they would give up the farce that this is in any real way related to Romeo and Juliet, and just make their own story, there could be some real possibility here.
However, we've got a few episodes of the series on the hard drive, and we've been struggling to find the wherewithal to actually watch them. Gwendel noted that there were several points in the story where she could have imagined it taking off in all sorts of interesting directions ... but the writers don't take them.
It also suffers from the trope of, "You know I'm a villain because I grin wickedly." All the villains in this series LOVE being evil. Motivation? Who needs MOTIVATION?
This series is a joke. We only watched for as long as we did in a misplaced hope that "it would eventually get better."
Lovely Complex (still airing):
High school angsty romance with humor elements. I'm only watching this, really, because Gwendel likes it.
Tall girl has crush on short boy who is her childhood friend. Wacky antics - and much drawn-out angsting - ensues. It even has gratuitous (and logic-defying) cross-dressing and bishonen. I'm pretty sure this is a shojo anime.
It has its worthwhile moments, but, seriously, it's just so drawn out that it's becoming painful to behold. Victorian Romance Emma took longer, but did it better. I only hold out the hope that it'll be finally wrapping up soon.
Hayate no Gotoku (still airing):
This show thinks it's funny. Sometimes it is. Most of the time, it isn't. The first couple of episodes seemed to hold some interest and promise, but after that, it meanders aimlessly, looking for new gags. I don't recommend it. The low points in this series ... I can't even manage to figure out a way to "politely" describe the scene without being crude.
The show is very self-referential, breaks the fourth wall often, and also makes lots of references to other anime series and Japanese pop culture references, blooped out with enough frequency that the joke gets old and annoying, fast (even if I can guess what those references are). It's a "comedy" that spends far too much time joking about itself.
Waste of time.
Devil May Cry (still airing):
Stylish but unintelligent anime based on a video game. Lots of gore, but most of it belongs to "demons." Remember the "based on a video game" part, and that'll tell you most of what to expect.
And yet Gwendel is still interested in it! And I'm still watching, too. It's mindless, with lots of tiresome cliches, but somehow manages to be fun. (Your mileage may vary.) Has a catchy opening sequence. Maybe I'm just a sucker for the anachronistic setting (some sort of "anachronistic near future" that has lots of trappings of bygone eras).
If you like that sort of thing, can't hurt to watch. I bet it gets snapped up for licensing as soon as the season's over.
Baccano! (still airing):
Watching this series may cost sanity points. We've only seen two episodes so far. It seems like it's set in the United States - or at least the Japanese perception of it - vaguely around the 1930s or so. (E.g., gangsters, general Depression era, but with no particular sign of the actual Depression.)
A large part of the plot centers on a series of events taking place on a luxurious passenger train called ... The Flying Pussyfoot. Everytime someone says that name, I snort and snicker, and Gwendel fusses at me - "Stop that!" Ah well. At least this series feels a little more like America than "Red Garden" did. (Seriously, "Red Garden" could have been set in Tokyo, just that the characters looked like parodies of what "Americans" are supposed to look like. But I digress.)
The show has decent animation quality, but all the recurring characters act over the top. It's like ... whatever defining personality features any character has get ratcheted up to the extremes. No character is nervous in this show, unless he's a total nervous WRECK. No character is gregarious in this show without being so to the point of being insane. And so forth. Subtlety and moderation have no place in this show. If only I didn't have a driving urge to pull out a pistol (if I had one) and shoot out the screen, maybe this show would be worth recommending. I hope it gets better by episode 3.
Edit: We've seen four episodes now. It takes place in 1930, 1931 and 1932 ... and keeps hopping forward and back in the timeline. Most of the crucial action seems to take place in 1931, with "flashbacks" to 1930, and the "flash-forwards" to 1932 seem to serve no other purpose than to give us a sense of morbid foreboding. There IS some story to tell, but in episodes 3 and 4, it still suffers from having all of its characters on overdrive. Extremes, extremes. A great many of the regular characters are stark raving mad - or, at least, that seems to be the best explanation for their actions and mannerisms. But then, given some of what's going on in the storyline, this may not be unreasonable.
Warning: The violence in episodes 3 and 4 gets worse than in episodes 1 and 2. There are lots of overly drawn-out, bloody beatings, and while the characters administering the beatings seem to be taking sadistic pleasure in them, I can't help but wonder whether the writers are intending for the audience to take a voyeuristic pleasure in the excessive violence as well. I may not end up watching the rest of this series. Shows like Claymore just have exploding bodies with so much solid-color gore that it's hard to take it seriously. Here, a lot more effort is put into the sound effects and depictions of badly-broken faces - if not necessarily making it realistic. I don't know that we'll actually be watching this one to its conclusion.
Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto (completed):
We're still making our way through the series (26 episodes, one season). It's interesting, a quasi-historical period piece with supernatural elements. (As for "historical," I would say it's about as historical as your average 1960s western TV show. That is, while some parts feel very "authentic" for the period, in others an anachronistic, modern aesthetic has been transplanted onto the characters. The fusion is, nonetheless, interesting.)
The art and animation style is reminiscent of Witch Hunter Robin, only even more stylized. We haven't gotten all that far through the series just yet, so it's hard to give a real "recommendation," but it's interesting so far. There's quite a large cast, and quite a bit of information being thrown about; at times, I feel like I need a score card to be able to better keep track of what's going on in the "big story."
Random gripe: Is it really that hard to find a voice actor who can speak English? It's rather painful to listen to the "Engrish-speaking characters."
Also, it is very, very evident that the audience is expected to understand the basics of this period of history - as the story is set against the framework of major Japanese historical events, and then proceeds to mangle them by presenting a fictitious plotline going on "behind the scenes."
If you can get it before it's licensed, I figure it's worth the watch. I'm not sure it's potent enough that I'd actually want to have to buy DVDs, though, once it gets licensed in North America. (I reserve the right to change my opinion if I get through the whole series and actually like it.)
Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion (still airing):
I don't like it. Gwendel takes offense at my strong dislike of it, so there's a difference of opinion here.
As is explained in the prologue (so I'm giving no spoilers), the setting is the near future (circa 2017), and the evil-wicked United States (now the Empire of Britannia!) has conquered Japan and renamed it "Area 11." Somehow, the Empire of Star Wars comes across as more reasonable than the villains in this show.
Anyway, it has meka - which is why I'm supposed to like it, apparently. (Though, come to think of it ... is there an anime series featuring meka in it that I've ever actually enjoyed? I don't think I can name one. "Blue Sub Six" doesn't really count, since meka don't really figure into it any more than "meka" figured into Aliens.)
It invokes a lot of my pet peeves in "hero-against-the-establishment" storylines. The villains are so over the top, it's a wonder that the Britannian Empire doesn't implode. The hero is the beneficiary of far too many coincidental plot alignments in order to be in a position to "save the day." Oh yeah, and it seems to have all the morals and feel of "Death Note" once it gets going, but without the thoughtfulness of the early episodes.
(My overall reaction to "Death Note" was very negative, by the way. I don't enjoy series with gleeful villain protagonists, no matter how "justified" they feel.)
Oh yeah, and the character designs are by CLAMP. Lots of "pretty boys" with uber-long legs, though at least it's not as bad as "Tsubasa Chronicle" or "Holic."
I understand that this series is immensely popular in Japan right now, and it will probably get licensed soon. I read about previews where the audience would sit in stunned silence, then break spontaneously into applause afterward. Bleargh. Even if it didn't hit so many of my pet peeves, I don't understand why the show would get as much adulation as it seems to be getting.
Anyway, maybe I'm just a rare minority who hates this series because of my peculiar biases ... but I don't recommend it. It seemed like the series was just a mish-mash of tropes from any number of different anime I've already seen before - and not the tropes that I like.