anime: Shangri-la
Set around the end of the 21st century, CO2 emission is forcibly regulated in an attempt to regulate global warming, and an earthquake has taken out much of Japan, and destroyed Tokyo, the remains of which have been overrun by vegetation that absorbs the over abundance of carbon monoxide in the air. A new city named Atlas has been built in the rubble, but entrance is restricted, with the majority of Japan's citizens living in districts that are little more than slums, only allowed to enter Atlas if they win a lottery and Atlas's government controls the other districts.
The main character, Kuniko, is the granddaughter of the leader of a group called Metal Age that operates in the district of Duomo. Metal Age believes that Atlas should allow more citizens in and opposes Atlas's control over the lower districts, and so are considered to be a terrorist roup. Kuniko is considered to be the future leader of Metal Age, but isn't actually a member, and isn't sure she always agrees with them. Regardless, because of her connection, she was put in jail for two years, and is released in the first scene of the series. Her Found Family includes her grandmother, Nagiko, who may or may not be biologically related to Kuniko, Momoko, a whip-wielding transwoman (and former owner of a burlesque bar) who is kuniko's surrogate mother, Miiko, Momoko's best friend, a transwoman who used to be a sumo wrestler, and Takehiko, Kuniko's gruff uncle-figure who is Duomo's electrician and leads most of Metal Age's missions.
When she returns to Duomo, Kuniko immediately gets swept up in Metal Age's conflicts, mostly against her will, and becomes curious about what Atlas is really up to, and how hard they're really trying to relocate the people in the lower districts to better housing. Meanwhile, a group of youths known as Carbon Traders are manipulating the global economy, and Ryoko, the leader of Atlas, is waiting for the Inheritor of Atlas to emerge, which will allow her to gain more power. The identity of the Inheritor of Atlas is tied to an old dagger that Nagiko wants Kuniko to accept (with leadership of Metal Age tied to it.) Mikuni, a little girl with a mysterious illness that makes sunlight deadly to her (and can psychically sense lying and kill you with your brain if she's annoyed with you) has an identical knife, as does Kusanagi Kunihito, an Atlas soldier who is too nice to be part of an evil corporate government. (This is actually a plotpoint. At one point, he's told he's too nice to have an epic destiny.) Kunihito and Kuniko try to kill each other and shout ideology at each other the first time they meet, which causes Monoko to figuratively shout I SHIP IT (and possibly name her hypothetical grandchildren) every time they share a scene after that. The series pretends Kunihoti is a possible contender to be the Inheritor of Atlas, but it doesn't put much effort into it, focusing mostly on Kuniko and Mikuni.
It's a Gonzo series with designs by Range Murata, so the aesthetic is something of a bleaker (and not quite as imaginative) Last Exile The metaplot is loosely based on Japanese mythology with a bit of Greek mythology tossed in. The "ZOMG! Environmentalism!" element you'd expect from the plot, but not as much so as some other series, and the ending holds up better than the endings of some other Gonzo series (I'm looking at you, Romeo x Juliet and Last Exile). My big beef with it is that it chooses to use sexual sadism to emphasize that the two main villainesses are eeeeeeevil. Because, you know, nothing else they did would get the point across. I was going to say that male villains don't get the same treatment, but there actually aren't really male villains. While the male/female ratio of named characters is probably fairly close to equal (I haven't actually counted), the male characters are largely in support/underling roles. Even Takehiko and Kunihito, argueably the two main male characters, get considerably less screen time than the major female characters, sometimes less than the supporting female characters. I mostly liked it, and especially liked Kuniko and Momoko, though I went "this is...a very Gonzo series..." a lot, and I'm not even entirely certain what I mean by that.
Also, Kuniko has a collapsible boomerang that sometimes seems to be able to do literally anything. I spent a lot of the series thinking about how excited Sokka from ATLA would be if they met.
The main character, Kuniko, is the granddaughter of the leader of a group called Metal Age that operates in the district of Duomo. Metal Age believes that Atlas should allow more citizens in and opposes Atlas's control over the lower districts, and so are considered to be a terrorist roup. Kuniko is considered to be the future leader of Metal Age, but isn't actually a member, and isn't sure she always agrees with them. Regardless, because of her connection, she was put in jail for two years, and is released in the first scene of the series. Her Found Family includes her grandmother, Nagiko, who may or may not be biologically related to Kuniko, Momoko, a whip-wielding transwoman (and former owner of a burlesque bar) who is kuniko's surrogate mother, Miiko, Momoko's best friend, a transwoman who used to be a sumo wrestler, and Takehiko, Kuniko's gruff uncle-figure who is Duomo's electrician and leads most of Metal Age's missions.
When she returns to Duomo, Kuniko immediately gets swept up in Metal Age's conflicts, mostly against her will, and becomes curious about what Atlas is really up to, and how hard they're really trying to relocate the people in the lower districts to better housing. Meanwhile, a group of youths known as Carbon Traders are manipulating the global economy, and Ryoko, the leader of Atlas, is waiting for the Inheritor of Atlas to emerge, which will allow her to gain more power. The identity of the Inheritor of Atlas is tied to an old dagger that Nagiko wants Kuniko to accept (with leadership of Metal Age tied to it.) Mikuni, a little girl with a mysterious illness that makes sunlight deadly to her (and can psychically sense lying and kill you with your brain if she's annoyed with you) has an identical knife, as does Kusanagi Kunihito, an Atlas soldier who is too nice to be part of an evil corporate government. (This is actually a plotpoint. At one point, he's told he's too nice to have an epic destiny.) Kunihito and Kuniko try to kill each other and shout ideology at each other the first time they meet, which causes Monoko to figuratively shout I SHIP IT (and possibly name her hypothetical grandchildren) every time they share a scene after that. The series pretends Kunihoti is a possible contender to be the Inheritor of Atlas, but it doesn't put much effort into it, focusing mostly on Kuniko and Mikuni.
It's a Gonzo series with designs by Range Murata, so the aesthetic is something of a bleaker (and not quite as imaginative) Last Exile The metaplot is loosely based on Japanese mythology with a bit of Greek mythology tossed in. The "ZOMG! Environmentalism!" element you'd expect from the plot, but not as much so as some other series, and the ending holds up better than the endings of some other Gonzo series (I'm looking at you, Romeo x Juliet and Last Exile). My big beef with it is that it chooses to use sexual sadism to emphasize that the two main villainesses are eeeeeeevil. Because, you know, nothing else they did would get the point across. I was going to say that male villains don't get the same treatment, but there actually aren't really male villains. While the male/female ratio of named characters is probably fairly close to equal (I haven't actually counted), the male characters are largely in support/underling roles. Even Takehiko and Kunihito, argueably the two main male characters, get considerably less screen time than the major female characters, sometimes less than the supporting female characters. I mostly liked it, and especially liked Kuniko and Momoko, though I went "this is...a very Gonzo series..." a lot, and I'm not even entirely certain what I mean by that.
Also, Kuniko has a collapsible boomerang that sometimes seems to be able to do literally anything. I spent a lot of the series thinking about how excited Sokka from ATLA would be if they met.