Anime reviews galore!
Didn't work on the con report today but finished up the latest batch of review. Got Angelic Layer, D. Gray Man (first season), Honey and Clover II, Romeo x Juliet, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (first season), and Toward the Terra. So, shonen, shonen, josei, action, moe, and sci-fi, something for almost anyone!
Angelic Layer
ANN page
The Good: Upon re-reading the manga I noticed that the manga is waaayyyy more out there than the anime. I already liked how they spent a bit more time in the anime on Misaki missing her mother but it’s just glossed over in the manga. Plus, some of the characters are stranger in the manga than the anime, and not strange in the good way!
The Bad: Still like the manga though, Misaki feels like she wins too often. And the reason given, because she’s a really good observer, ehhhh, even if you see a move performed once you won’t know how to replicate it. And I do like the ending to the manga a little better than the anime, pretty much for the reasons stated above. Also, Misaki’s mom. She had a reason for being absent in the manga, and either the anime producers didn't know or thought it was lame and decided to change it. But then, not only does she have her anime reasoning for avoiding Misaki, they throw in her reasons from the manga and it’s still pretty lame.
The Art: In the manga it seemed like a lot of the tournaments were after school so it made sense for Misaki to be in her school uniform. But here it was just strange, all of the characters really needed a costume change or two. The anime-only angles suffer from standard shonen “anime-only-designs-are-crappy,” I know it’s not the original creators making the designs but they always end up looking so half-assed. I do like the style of eyes used here, it’s a bit different from usual and I haven’t seen that kind of coloring used anywhere else, shame because they’re kinda cute.
The Music: The OP was a bit cheesy but I liked both of the EDs pretty well (if I had to choose, the first one over the second one, again emphasizing a bit of sadness that was glossed over in the manga).
Overall: 7.5/10 and I’m not sure if I want the thinpack or not. I’ve got all the manga and I’m not sure if I’d want to re-watch the anime later. It’s streaming subbed on crunchyroll for those interested.
D. Gray Man
ANN page
The Good: Unlike many shonen anime series which involve a lot of the main character yelling “I want to get stronger!” there is little to none of that here and the main characters start out fairly strong (not at their strongest of course, what kind of shounen would that be?). The leads are likeable characters as well and Allen seemed to grow even in these 26 episodes so this is one of the better done examples of a shounen series (plus, no endless training sequences!).
The Bad: I’m a bit jaded by now, but I’ve seen a lot of stories recently that take place sometime in the late 19th/20th century, in Europe, involving some sort of demons. If you haven’t seen any or not many of those stories before, awesome, but I’m getting bored by the premise by now. Not only that, but the first 26 episodes of the series don’t seem to accomplish much. It covers the first 3/4 arcs in the manga which serves to introduce the main cast (one section of it anyway, DGM has a lot of side characters in various locations like a lot of stories in the genera) and a few filler arcs so it barely gets to the real plot of the story (since we all know, when was the last time that a story about collecting things stayed true to that idea to the end?).
The Art: I saw this on a DVD a friend lent me and watched it on my computer and I think I’m starting to see what a lot of people complain about Funimation DVDs. They just don’t look as sharp as HD videos I find on the internet (and maybe that’s because these shows weren’t made in HD admittedly) and it’s annoying. It may be different on a tv, it might be different if I was using a PS3 as a DVD player instead, or it could be that I’m just a tad obsessed with having my pictures being clear and totally focused. Whatever the case, the art is fine but I think I’m going to be messing around with my settings soon.
The Music: By the last episode we’ve had 2 OPs and 3 EDs, none of which really caught my fancy. I do like the first OP a lot (but usually skipped through it so the episode would take less time) but neither the new OP or any of the EDs got stuck in my head and I just watched the show. I watched the show subbed and I’m just not in love with the Japanese VAs. They aren’t horrible by any stretch, but they didn’t seem to click (didn’t try switching over to English because I’ve heard some less-than-positive things about it, mainly the fact that there is a lack of British accents in what is clearly 19th century UK).
Overall: 7/10 and I think I’d rather get the manga than the anime. Now, I’ve been relooking at the manga and the art goes really strange at times there (the manga-ka had some arm problems as I recall) and the plot is going really strange right now so I’m not sure if I want even that. Plus, I checked on ANN and there are 103 episodes of DGM, or 8 cours. Funimation has licensed and released the first 2 seasons (or 52 episodes) but I haven’t seen any information about the other 51 yet which is worrisome. They are putting it out on Blu Ray as well, which is nice, but I’m wondering if the first season hasn’t been giving them the numbers they were expecting and that’s why they’ve been quiet (or if they have them all and are just spacing them out, this could just be me reading signs that aren’t there). This is streaming both subbed and dubbed (neither in it’s entirely however) on Funimation’s website and hulu.
Honey and Clover II
ANN page
The Good: One complaint I had about the first season was how the art part of the show got shoved to the sides to make room for the romance. Thankfully the art and romance are much more balanced here and the story moves along faster so it feels less bogged down as well. The characters also seem more motivated this time around, instead of, well, everyone pining around about the love triangles they’re stuck in at least half the characters are working to realize these romances.
The Bad: Not specifically bad, but it’s better to think all 30 odd episodes as one single installment instead of two separate seasons. Otherwise some of the characters that got a lot of development in the first half (like Takemoto) feel under appreciated. Still feel like Moriya’s character development arc came out of nowhere and it was more of his brother’s than his (felt like he was the weakest of the five in the first season as well).
The Art: A lot of the visual symbolism (like the wheel motif) carried over to the second season and some episodes had their own motifs as well. Still had the soft, watercolor like art which I liked because, like the show, it was artsy but not out there.
The Music: The OP still isn’t as insane as the first one but it had a similar arty feel (much like the second OP had). I still wish the Viz would provide translations of the in episode songs since, once again, almost every episode had a song playing in the background and it was annoying to not know how it was supposed to help out the atmosphere. Continued watching the sub since that was how I saw the first season.
Overall: 8/10 and I still want to get both the anime and manga for this series. Probably won’t re-watch until I’ve read the manga for comparison however. Like the first season, Honey and Clover II is being streamed subbed on hulu.
Romeo x Juliet
ANN page
The Good: There are people who like Shakespeare and there are people who yell “OH HURRY UP” during the plays (didn’t mean to do it above a whisper actually). I call this “the version where Romeo and Juliet DO SOMETHING.” Here they both fall in love at first sight and come to terms with who they are and who their lover is, but both have other duties to their friends and family that they do not neglect. Also, this is a good example of how to use a setting well. We know from the opening shots that Neo Verona is a floating city, but all the viewers simply accept, some later than others, that this is just part of the standard fantasy package. So to see that developed and become a major plot point is great and something many writers could take a page from.
The Bad: The story feels a bit longer than it needs to be but I really have no idea where they could shorten it (and it was 24 episodes so it could only be shortened to 13). The story doesn’t drag, but there are parts where you sit back and go, “that was nice and all good, but where exactly is this story going?” And the ending, while not overcomplicated, there was a simpler way for it to be achieved and I’m still wondering why none of the characters realized it (trying to avoid spoilers here but the way the ending happened, I was wondering why a certain person didn’t try it an episode earlier).
The Art: Some of Gonzo’s trademark CGI stands out (and on the flags of all things) but it’s softly colored with action scenes that don’t feel out of place at all. And the promotional artwork (which was done in a colored pencil and watercolor sort of style) grew on me as well, glad that Funi kept a lot of that in the packaging.
The Music: Wish we had heard “You Raise Me Up” in English more than once and I still like the first ED more than the second (but I seem to be in the minority on that one). One or two picky things, I suppose it’s in the tradition of the orignal Romeo and Juliet to call Montague, who is the leader of Neo Verona, Prince, but I could’ve sworn that taicho meant Grand Duke or something similar. Also, on that first ED, the some of the lyrics sounded like they were Engrish saying “wish you out, out the west trail” (then twice more) but it was translated as something like “look, a heartless cry, look a heartless ___, look a heartless world.” Very strange. And when I do another rewatch I believe I will see how the Shakespearean-esque dub holds up, sounds like it was rather good but I only saw the sub.
Overall: 8.5 out of 10 and I already have it. It was my first fansub, took me 3 years to finally finish it and it was still good on the rewatch. I was gearing myself up for it not to be nearly as good as I remembered and, even having three years more experience with plots and clichés, it was still pretty enjoyable. It’s streaming on Funi’s website and hulu for those interested, not sure which as the dub which the sub however.
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
ANN page
The Good: This is only the original first season, I couldn’t find the second season legally streaming at the time. Anyway, I was worried that, since everyone else I already knew quite a bit about the story that I would be bored by it. Just because you know what happens doesn’t mean you know how it happens so I wasn’t bored and it was an engaging little story. And all the blatant anime clichés that were thrown in just made me laugh after a bit, I’m just afraid that some of the anime that came after Haruhi didn’t realize that they were clichés.
The Bad: Maybe it’s because everyone already knows what happens in Haruhi, but I don’t see the point of having the story be out of order. I’m not sure if it was out of order in the light novels to start with but it doesn’t seem to add to the story. And, if they weren’t trying to parody the clichés, wow, I would lose faith in a big part of the anime industry. Less so it they were the instigator of the cliches, but I'd also loose my faith in my fellow anime fans for liking them as well.
The Art: It was moe. Not much else to say
The Music: I always thought the Hare Hare Yuki was the OP for TMoHS, not the ending, my mistake there. And it is a really catchy song, more so than the opening. Also liked the two pop/rock songs they played within the show but again, nice not catchy.
Overall: 7.5 out of 10. I wouldn’t mind seeing it again but only if it was in the chronological order with the new episodes mixed in. Otherwise, pass, I’ll try out the light novels instead. Watched the first season streamed on crunchyroll and, while I believe the second season was streamed with English subtitles on youtube they appear to have been taken down at this time.
Toward the Terra
ANN page
The Good: I’ve been put off by a lot of space based sci-fi shows before but I actually want to see more after this. Perhaps because it wasn’t dramatic, had a lot of characters, or took the proper time to tell a story, but whatever it was I was really intrigued by everything that was going on. The fact that you could say this show covers 4 generations of characters (and a 5th generation seems posed to be the future leaders in a few years) is really amazing. So many shows have one person being the savior to an age old problem and while yes, that does occur to an extent, the conflict between the Mus and Humans still takes at least another decade, more like two, to be resolved.
The Bad: Okay, I shall try to remain as spoiler free as possible, but there were one or two things about the Mus that confused med. Like, how were there adult Mus who evaded detection from the government? We’re clearly shown some that manifested later or, in some case, manifested as a child and didn’t get caught, yet that seems to go against not exactly the canon but the logic in the show. It just bugged me more than anything else, but I also didn’t like Keith and couldn’t tell if he was supposed to be a likeable ass or that guy everyone loves to hate. I think it’s actually the latter, I’ve heard that he was a little different in the manga, but until I read it he felt very flat and the first episode he appeared in gave off a totally different impression from the rest of the episodes (there he appeared to go against the rules if necessary, no signs of that until really late in the show, which by that point you know has to happen anyway).
The Art: While not as old school in style as the movie (which I haven’t seen but I have seen the posters to compare) beware the giant sparkly eyes of, well, everyone whose under 50 years old (and even then some exceptions!). Nice spaceships too, nothing unseen but I’d imagine the designs were even cooler back when the manga came out in the 70s.
The Music: Oddly enough, even though it was released by Bandai over here it has no dub, thought that was worth mentioning. As for the songs themselves, internet video quality wasn't what it is today back in 2007 so I'm not sure if I didn't like the songs or if it was all the noise driving me crazy. Liked the second ED though, that one seemed to fare the best.
Overall: 8.5/10 and I want to get the box set for this soon (looks like it’s a pretty reasonable price). Unfortunately I ended up watching fansubs for this since this was released in that time right before streaming started up and I’ve noticed that other anime licensed around that time don’t usually have streams (I suspect it wasn’t part of the contracts). So no legal links but you can rent it via Netflix!
Angelic Layer
ANN page
The Good: Upon re-reading the manga I noticed that the manga is waaayyyy more out there than the anime. I already liked how they spent a bit more time in the anime on Misaki missing her mother but it’s just glossed over in the manga. Plus, some of the characters are stranger in the manga than the anime, and not strange in the good way!
The Bad: Still like the manga though, Misaki feels like she wins too often. And the reason given, because she’s a really good observer, ehhhh, even if you see a move performed once you won’t know how to replicate it. And I do like the ending to the manga a little better than the anime, pretty much for the reasons stated above. Also, Misaki’s mom. She had a reason for being absent in the manga, and either the anime producers didn't know or thought it was lame and decided to change it. But then, not only does she have her anime reasoning for avoiding Misaki, they throw in her reasons from the manga and it’s still pretty lame.
The Art: In the manga it seemed like a lot of the tournaments were after school so it made sense for Misaki to be in her school uniform. But here it was just strange, all of the characters really needed a costume change or two. The anime-only angles suffer from standard shonen “anime-only-designs-are-crappy,” I know it’s not the original creators making the designs but they always end up looking so half-assed. I do like the style of eyes used here, it’s a bit different from usual and I haven’t seen that kind of coloring used anywhere else, shame because they’re kinda cute.
The Music: The OP was a bit cheesy but I liked both of the EDs pretty well (if I had to choose, the first one over the second one, again emphasizing a bit of sadness that was glossed over in the manga).
Overall: 7.5/10 and I’m not sure if I want the thinpack or not. I’ve got all the manga and I’m not sure if I’d want to re-watch the anime later. It’s streaming subbed on crunchyroll for those interested.
D. Gray Man
ANN page
The Good: Unlike many shonen anime series which involve a lot of the main character yelling “I want to get stronger!” there is little to none of that here and the main characters start out fairly strong (not at their strongest of course, what kind of shounen would that be?). The leads are likeable characters as well and Allen seemed to grow even in these 26 episodes so this is one of the better done examples of a shounen series (plus, no endless training sequences!).
The Bad: I’m a bit jaded by now, but I’ve seen a lot of stories recently that take place sometime in the late 19th/20th century, in Europe, involving some sort of demons. If you haven’t seen any or not many of those stories before, awesome, but I’m getting bored by the premise by now. Not only that, but the first 26 episodes of the series don’t seem to accomplish much. It covers the first 3/4 arcs in the manga which serves to introduce the main cast (one section of it anyway, DGM has a lot of side characters in various locations like a lot of stories in the genera) and a few filler arcs so it barely gets to the real plot of the story (since we all know, when was the last time that a story about collecting things stayed true to that idea to the end?).
The Art: I saw this on a DVD a friend lent me and watched it on my computer and I think I’m starting to see what a lot of people complain about Funimation DVDs. They just don’t look as sharp as HD videos I find on the internet (and maybe that’s because these shows weren’t made in HD admittedly) and it’s annoying. It may be different on a tv, it might be different if I was using a PS3 as a DVD player instead, or it could be that I’m just a tad obsessed with having my pictures being clear and totally focused. Whatever the case, the art is fine but I think I’m going to be messing around with my settings soon.
The Music: By the last episode we’ve had 2 OPs and 3 EDs, none of which really caught my fancy. I do like the first OP a lot (but usually skipped through it so the episode would take less time) but neither the new OP or any of the EDs got stuck in my head and I just watched the show. I watched the show subbed and I’m just not in love with the Japanese VAs. They aren’t horrible by any stretch, but they didn’t seem to click (didn’t try switching over to English because I’ve heard some less-than-positive things about it, mainly the fact that there is a lack of British accents in what is clearly 19th century UK).
Overall: 7/10 and I think I’d rather get the manga than the anime. Now, I’ve been relooking at the manga and the art goes really strange at times there (the manga-ka had some arm problems as I recall) and the plot is going really strange right now so I’m not sure if I want even that. Plus, I checked on ANN and there are 103 episodes of DGM, or 8 cours. Funimation has licensed and released the first 2 seasons (or 52 episodes) but I haven’t seen any information about the other 51 yet which is worrisome. They are putting it out on Blu Ray as well, which is nice, but I’m wondering if the first season hasn’t been giving them the numbers they were expecting and that’s why they’ve been quiet (or if they have them all and are just spacing them out, this could just be me reading signs that aren’t there). This is streaming both subbed and dubbed (neither in it’s entirely however) on Funimation’s website and hulu.
Honey and Clover II
ANN page
The Good: One complaint I had about the first season was how the art part of the show got shoved to the sides to make room for the romance. Thankfully the art and romance are much more balanced here and the story moves along faster so it feels less bogged down as well. The characters also seem more motivated this time around, instead of, well, everyone pining around about the love triangles they’re stuck in at least half the characters are working to realize these romances.
The Bad: Not specifically bad, but it’s better to think all 30 odd episodes as one single installment instead of two separate seasons. Otherwise some of the characters that got a lot of development in the first half (like Takemoto) feel under appreciated. Still feel like Moriya’s character development arc came out of nowhere and it was more of his brother’s than his (felt like he was the weakest of the five in the first season as well).
The Art: A lot of the visual symbolism (like the wheel motif) carried over to the second season and some episodes had their own motifs as well. Still had the soft, watercolor like art which I liked because, like the show, it was artsy but not out there.
The Music: The OP still isn’t as insane as the first one but it had a similar arty feel (much like the second OP had). I still wish the Viz would provide translations of the in episode songs since, once again, almost every episode had a song playing in the background and it was annoying to not know how it was supposed to help out the atmosphere. Continued watching the sub since that was how I saw the first season.
Overall: 8/10 and I still want to get both the anime and manga for this series. Probably won’t re-watch until I’ve read the manga for comparison however. Like the first season, Honey and Clover II is being streamed subbed on hulu.
Romeo x Juliet
ANN page
The Good: There are people who like Shakespeare and there are people who yell “OH HURRY UP” during the plays (didn’t mean to do it above a whisper actually). I call this “the version where Romeo and Juliet DO SOMETHING.” Here they both fall in love at first sight and come to terms with who they are and who their lover is, but both have other duties to their friends and family that they do not neglect. Also, this is a good example of how to use a setting well. We know from the opening shots that Neo Verona is a floating city, but all the viewers simply accept, some later than others, that this is just part of the standard fantasy package. So to see that developed and become a major plot point is great and something many writers could take a page from.
The Bad: The story feels a bit longer than it needs to be but I really have no idea where they could shorten it (and it was 24 episodes so it could only be shortened to 13). The story doesn’t drag, but there are parts where you sit back and go, “that was nice and all good, but where exactly is this story going?” And the ending, while not overcomplicated, there was a simpler way for it to be achieved and I’m still wondering why none of the characters realized it (trying to avoid spoilers here but the way the ending happened, I was wondering why a certain person didn’t try it an episode earlier).
The Art: Some of Gonzo’s trademark CGI stands out (and on the flags of all things) but it’s softly colored with action scenes that don’t feel out of place at all. And the promotional artwork (which was done in a colored pencil and watercolor sort of style) grew on me as well, glad that Funi kept a lot of that in the packaging.
The Music: Wish we had heard “You Raise Me Up” in English more than once and I still like the first ED more than the second (but I seem to be in the minority on that one). One or two picky things, I suppose it’s in the tradition of the orignal Romeo and Juliet to call Montague, who is the leader of Neo Verona, Prince, but I could’ve sworn that taicho meant Grand Duke or something similar. Also, on that first ED, the some of the lyrics sounded like they were Engrish saying “wish you out, out the west trail” (then twice more) but it was translated as something like “look, a heartless cry, look a heartless ___, look a heartless world.” Very strange. And when I do another rewatch I believe I will see how the Shakespearean-esque dub holds up, sounds like it was rather good but I only saw the sub.
Overall: 8.5 out of 10 and I already have it. It was my first fansub, took me 3 years to finally finish it and it was still good on the rewatch. I was gearing myself up for it not to be nearly as good as I remembered and, even having three years more experience with plots and clichés, it was still pretty enjoyable. It’s streaming on Funi’s website and hulu for those interested, not sure which as the dub which the sub however.
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
ANN page
The Good: This is only the original first season, I couldn’t find the second season legally streaming at the time. Anyway, I was worried that, since everyone else I already knew quite a bit about the story that I would be bored by it. Just because you know what happens doesn’t mean you know how it happens so I wasn’t bored and it was an engaging little story. And all the blatant anime clichés that were thrown in just made me laugh after a bit, I’m just afraid that some of the anime that came after Haruhi didn’t realize that they were clichés.
The Bad: Maybe it’s because everyone already knows what happens in Haruhi, but I don’t see the point of having the story be out of order. I’m not sure if it was out of order in the light novels to start with but it doesn’t seem to add to the story. And, if they weren’t trying to parody the clichés, wow, I would lose faith in a big part of the anime industry. Less so it they were the instigator of the cliches, but I'd also loose my faith in my fellow anime fans for liking them as well.
The Art: It was moe. Not much else to say
The Music: I always thought the Hare Hare Yuki was the OP for TMoHS, not the ending, my mistake there. And it is a really catchy song, more so than the opening. Also liked the two pop/rock songs they played within the show but again, nice not catchy.
Overall: 7.5 out of 10. I wouldn’t mind seeing it again but only if it was in the chronological order with the new episodes mixed in. Otherwise, pass, I’ll try out the light novels instead. Watched the first season streamed on crunchyroll and, while I believe the second season was streamed with English subtitles on youtube they appear to have been taken down at this time.
Toward the Terra
ANN page
The Good: I’ve been put off by a lot of space based sci-fi shows before but I actually want to see more after this. Perhaps because it wasn’t dramatic, had a lot of characters, or took the proper time to tell a story, but whatever it was I was really intrigued by everything that was going on. The fact that you could say this show covers 4 generations of characters (and a 5th generation seems posed to be the future leaders in a few years) is really amazing. So many shows have one person being the savior to an age old problem and while yes, that does occur to an extent, the conflict between the Mus and Humans still takes at least another decade, more like two, to be resolved.
The Bad: Okay, I shall try to remain as spoiler free as possible, but there were one or two things about the Mus that confused med. Like, how were there adult Mus who evaded detection from the government? We’re clearly shown some that manifested later or, in some case, manifested as a child and didn’t get caught, yet that seems to go against not exactly the canon but the logic in the show. It just bugged me more than anything else, but I also didn’t like Keith and couldn’t tell if he was supposed to be a likeable ass or that guy everyone loves to hate. I think it’s actually the latter, I’ve heard that he was a little different in the manga, but until I read it he felt very flat and the first episode he appeared in gave off a totally different impression from the rest of the episodes (there he appeared to go against the rules if necessary, no signs of that until really late in the show, which by that point you know has to happen anyway).
The Art: While not as old school in style as the movie (which I haven’t seen but I have seen the posters to compare) beware the giant sparkly eyes of, well, everyone whose under 50 years old (and even then some exceptions!). Nice spaceships too, nothing unseen but I’d imagine the designs were even cooler back when the manga came out in the 70s.
The Music: Oddly enough, even though it was released by Bandai over here it has no dub, thought that was worth mentioning. As for the songs themselves, internet video quality wasn't what it is today back in 2007 so I'm not sure if I didn't like the songs or if it was all the noise driving me crazy. Liked the second ED though, that one seemed to fare the best.
Overall: 8.5/10 and I want to get the box set for this soon (looks like it’s a pretty reasonable price). Unfortunately I ended up watching fansubs for this since this was released in that time right before streaming started up and I’ve noticed that other anime licensed around that time don’t usually have streams (I suspect it wasn’t part of the contracts). So no legal links but you can rent it via Netflix!