Another anime review
One quick thing, didn’t quite fit into the review, but everyone knows that spoilers are something to be avoided but it’s worse with Durarara than normal. It’s not exactly a twist driven story but it’s much more fun to watch without knowing the twists and holy cow, I checked out Wikipedia when there was almost no info on the story on the internet and that tiny little summary was already chock full of spoilers. ANN has a spoiler free review of the first 12 episodes (and amusing synopsis but the review for the second half spoils the first half) and the Wikipedia page is safer now (just avoid the character descriptions). And for the love of cake, AVOID THE FANART sites.
Erm, again I seem to be having trouble making the cuts have more than one word in the title, I'll see if I can fix that later but since my LJ is set in either Italian or Spanish the FAQ is a bit tricky to navigate.
Area 88 OVA
Summary: Set in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the fictional Middle Eastern country of Aslan, Shin Kazama has become the ace fighter pilot in Aslan’s foreign mercenary league. However, shin was tricked into coming into this war-torn corner of the world and has to live with the fact that there are only three ways to get back to his native Japan and girlfriend Ryoko, desert and be shot, survive three years of dog fighting, or earn $1.5 million by killing enemy fighter pilots.
The Good: For being an anime that's half a decade older than I am, the art is fantastic! I’ll talk about that more below but man, that was pretty unexpected. While I haven’t seen many war films this OVA (it’s 2 parts, each about 90 minutes long) seemed to avoid the pitfall of making war look cool. Again, part of it is the art (ie, more than a few really disturbing looking death scenes) but seeing Shin’s change from a young man who hates to kill to a young man who can’t feel alive without the war anymore drives the point home that war is messy, complicated, and that both sides lose so much. I was also pleasantly surprised by how Ryoko did more than I first thought she would and her father’s secretary managed to be pretty important for a side character, not something I was expecting from a mostly male war story.
The Bad: Apparently the photographer from the first OVA, Rocky, rams a tank with a jeep in the tv series, I consider it a shame that that’s not in the OVA (apparently the manga, OVA, and tv series all take fairly different paths). The pacing was off a few times and the mood difference between the end of the first OVA and the start of the second was rather jarring. Understandable and predictable, but it was still a rather sudden change in tone. I’m of mixed feeling about the ending as well, I know what probably happened (and what the writers therefore want us to happen) but it would have been nice to have a definite closure.
The Art: Like I said, the art is pretty good here because of the sheer amount of detail. True the shading isn’t top-notch in some parts (like the zooming over cliff scenes, CG would have helped there) but all of the fighter jets were incredibly detailed and consistently drawn as well. Heck, towards the beginning of the first OVA the credits are shown over flames and, I didn’t even notice but someone else pointed it out, that is entirely hand animated and it does not loop. The art really adds to the story and I like the style better than the pictures I’ve seen of the 2004 remake.
The Music: I wasn’t expecting insert songs but there were at least two (subbed even!) and that seemed to work rather well. I was thrown off how both of them mentioned love in there (although that is a plot line in the story) but the songs certainly worked and sounded well. I watched the sub for the show and I think I heard the dub isn’t too shabby.
Overall: 8.5/10 but I’m not so sure about owning it. Pretty sure it is available on DVD, but I just don’t see myself re-watching this. Recommending it? Sure, if you’re a military story fan, want to see some old school anime, or just want to try something different, but I probably wouldn’t recommend it to most people I know. Also I don’t feel the need to watch the TV version of this either (or read the manga for that matter) except to possily see the aforementioned tank ramming scene. You can find both the tv series and OVAs (subbed and dubbed) on animenewsnetwork.com which has a spiffy new video portal (the screen is a little small but that’s what the full view option is for.
Bakemonogatari
Summary: Koyomi Araragi is used to strange things happening these days, but he’s been running into an awful lot of girls lately who are having trouble with various “oddities.” Despite the risks he can’t help but get involved and try to help them out but even with vampire strength regeneration he’s got his work cut out.
The Good: The various oddities, their causes, and the solutions were all pretty awesome and while some of the dialogue heavy episodes dragged a lot of the dialogue between some of the characters was rather witty. It took getting used to but for a dialogue heavy work it was a fairly good adaptation in that respect.
The Bad:Hey, if it’s a dialogue heavy show then could the subbers also translate all the text flashes? Not that it would’ve helped much, you’ve gotta have good reflexes to pause the screen each time they pop up, especially in the beginning segments. To put this as politely as possible, the show turned out to have a lot more ecchi scenes than I was expecting. I wasn’t expecting the main character to go around trying to grope one little girl and another one to writhing on the ground as a curse is being lifted off her in little more than a bathing suit and in, interesting, positions. Those parts didn’t seem to add to the work and just made me really darn uncomfortable and I felt like I should be watching the series in a room by myself with no way for someone to walk in and see what was on the screen.
The Art: As one review I saw put it, at times Bakemonogatari feels more like a mixed-media slideshow than a proper animation. There are dozens of cuts that are blank, various symbols, real life, or text flashes that weren't always translated in the fansubs. It is a dialogue driven series so the various symbols and text flashes worked but there were a few episodes where Shaft didn’t finish the animation in time (the OVDs kept getting pushed by because of this and by a few months each time too). And it did feel like the more ecchi the shot the more detail it had and that’s just not my cup of tea.
The Music: The series had five OPs and one ED for just 15 episodes (it was supposed to change for each arc but due to animation delays again they didn’t change until the DVD releases, heck they animation for the last OP still isn’t out). All of the OPs fit their arcs pretty well and they’re all pleasant to listen to and I liked the ED as well. Didn’t have any favorites in them and they were fairly forgettable in my mind, but it was amusing to find out where the Renai Circulation videos had come from.
Overall: 7.5/10, if there had been less little girl sexual harassment I would’ve liked it better (and the older female characters weren’t harassed before anyone asks about that). I really don’t know if I want to get this on DVD, it would be nice to have a really good translation and see this is nice quality but would I want anyone walking in on me during some parts?
Baka to Test-Summon the Beasts!
Summary: In an effort to motivate the students, Fumizuki Academy has installed a new kind of technology that allows students to summon avatars and fight the other classes in cyberspace, with power based on test scores of course. The lowest ranking class, F class, intends to use the system and the rules that say the losers trade class equipment (ranging from cardboard boxes to high end furniture) with the winners. But between battles they can be found goofing off, getting dragged into romantic antics, and generally being idiots.
The Good: As crazy as the premise is, if my school had some sort of class warfare you can bet my homeroom would have been totally in on the action. So, while totally unrealistic, the story was still very amusing and relatable in a “wish my life was like that!” sort of way. And the crazy strategies employed to win the battles made me laugh as well
The Bad: The humor in here was hit or miss at points, some episodes I liked while a lot of other people didn’t and vice versa. It’s almost like they’re trying to please an audience that likes plain comedy and another that likes rom-com without finding a really good middle ground. I found the rom-com parts weaker and the general antics around school to be more amusing but that was just me.
The Art: I really want to make plushies of almost all the avatars but the art was fairly generic, moe-blob art. Cute but nothing memorable (except for someone who could be called the best trap in anime but that’s only one character design).
The Music: I’m not sure why they had two separate EDs (one for the more rom-com episodes and then a normal one?) but the one with all the girls in it was the weakest of the songs. The normal ED was a cute song about being an idiot and the OP wasn’t anything special either.
Overall: 7/10 and I’m not sure if I want this on DVD or not. I certainly enjoyed streaming it and I’ll watch the second season when it comes out, but I don’t think I’ll be rewatching the show or recommending it to most of my friends. It is streaming (subbed only and there is no DVD release date yet) on both Funimation’s website and Hulu so check it out if you need some random comedy to brighten up your day.
Big Windup/Ookiku Furikabutte Natsu no Taikai Hen
Summary: Continuing where the first season left off the Nishiura high school baseball team is working their way through the summer baseball tournament. The first team may not have been easy but the rest are only going to get tougher and our brave band of first years is going to find out just where all their weak points are.
The Good: Once again Oofuri succeeds in making baseball and near constant inner monologues interesting and sitting on the edge of your seat gripping. With the shortened episode count it was harder to give all the characters time to develop but the more central characters certainly underwent more development and in a series that relies a lot one inner monologues everyone is going to get a decent amount of screen time. As a side note, and this only works for the non-Japanese viewers I suppose, it’s really interesting to see how high school sports are treated in Japan. I know in the US usually only the football and basketball teams get cheerleaders yet it seems that in Japan they have whole cheer clubs that do more sports
The Bad: Aw, only 13 episodes? And to get two games in they had to cut down the first game some (which did work out with the strategy of the game funny enough but it did feel a bit rushed). And, while I understand why the series ended where it did (manga readers said there is enough material for 13 episodes or so but it wouldn’t be as neat an ending) it was sad since there had just been a whole slew of character development and there seemed to be more to come.
The Art: I still think that Mihashi looks a little strange but I had no trouble telling apart the various characters from any of the teams and all the action scenes seemed well done as well.
The Music: I enjoyed both the OP and ED for this season and wouldn’t mind having them on my ipod (same for previous seasons). Nothing too special but they were good songs for the series.
Overall: 8/10 and I doubt I’ll be able to get these on DVDs even though I want to. Funimation said that the original Big Windup sold so badly that they would not be pursuing the second season (reminds me, need to pick up the SAVE version of the first season). I suppose Section 23 or Sentai might pick it up someday but I won’t hold my breath and will simply bemoan the fact that the manga is slow as well so it’s going to be tough to find out what happens next.
Birdy the Mighty: Decode
Summary: After getting thrown in the way of Federation Police Officer Birdy Tsutomu’s body is destroyed and while it’s being rebuilt using alien technology, his consciousness lives on inside of Birdy and she shapeshifts so he can lead a normal life. But Birdy was on Earth chasing down a planet destroying piece of technology and what are the odds of that getting involved in Tsutomu’s normal life as well?
The Good: While it sounds like a bored and clichéd premise (even though this is the first time I’ve ever come across someone sharing a body with another being for this reason) Birdy isn’t a boring show. Predictable? Yes, but the episodes that focused more on Birdy than Tsutomu were fairly interesting, probably because of the alien setting and characters.
The Bad: The plot is pretty predictable, not just in it’s ending or the “big reveal” but in how the characters get to the reveal as well. Genera changing this is not and it was more of Tsutomu’s story that was boring than Birdy’s. Tsutomu’s story is a fairly standard romance with unnatural issues and, while not deathly dull, doesn’t do anything differently than the viewer would expect. Birdy-centric episodes are more interesting but they seem to clash with the theme of the show, trying to have Tsutomu live as normal a life as possible and what Birdy is doing is anything but normal.
The Art: When I first saw Birdy’s outfit I went “okay, that’s a bit fanservicey but nothing I haven’t come across before.” And then her hair would move and I discovered that her outfit covered a lot less than I expected (and still can’t figure out why it’s normal/no one comments on how little a cop wears). But the art and animation in points (mostly dealing with Tsutomu’s events) seemed downright lazy, characters became a bit off model, less detailed, and generally sloppy. Didn’t notice that as much during Birdy’s fights so maybe that was where all the budget went.
The Music: The OP grew on me a bit but both it and the ED felt like fairly standard j-pop. Nothing ground breaking but there was one arrangement that was made very creepy but that annoyed me since it came from one arc and then got re-used for the next arc. Again, just sloppy feeling.
Overall: 8/10 and I’m going to watch the next season before I make a decision about buying. I know one or two people who liked the second season much more than the first and hopefully then it’ll go from average to something pretty nice. It’s available streaming on Funimation’s site, youtube, and Hulu but Hulu is missing episodes 4 and 5 from the first season so you’ll have to use one of the other sites there.
Durarara
Summary: After having become a bit bored with normal life in the sticks, Mikado moves to Ikebukuro (a section of Tokyo) at the urging of an old friend where life is anything but ordinary. Headless cyclists, color gangs, internet trolls, and some very unusual choices for weapons all come together on a regular basis and nothing ever turns out as expected.
The Good: The first 12 episodes (the first arc) was a whirlwind of seemingly unconnected characters with the POV changing every episode and came together into something unexpected. So, exactly the kind of story I like, add in that later in the series there was miscommunication but it wasn’t of the romantic kind (seriously, if you’re going to have miscommunication it might as well have actual consequences), and “the 4chan side of the internet” and it’s a pretty entertaining story.
The Bad: But the second half of the story didn’t seem as strong as the first. I could be that by that point I’d gotten thoroughly spoiled and the story went more linear so all the amusing back stories were absent, but the plots also felt a bit more predictable. Perhaps if they had mixed the second and third arcs together things would’ve been more interesting but I think the corresponding light novels may have been weaker as well. But it just didn’t pack quite the punch the first half did. It still had plenty of amusing parts, just not the same intensity.
The Art: I’m torn on this one. On the one hand, I’ve seen on HD video of the series and it looks really, really pretty. On the other hand, I’ve seen a number of screenshots where the art looked off model (this happened more with the characters than any other part). I guess the two OPs sum this up the best, the first OP had the characters drawn in a sketchier, rougher style but the second OP was all about smooth lines which was very odd. The background art however is amazing when you compare real Ikebukuro to DRRR (and this person has done comparison shots for episode 10 upwards I think) and it’s an inspiration. Ikebukuro is mentioned so many times in the story as being so important, it’s THE part of the city for all this strange stuff, so it’s great to see the anime team go out and show it.
The Music: I loved both OPs and EDs for this series. The first ones were so good that I was worried about the second set (oh, and if anyone has seen any pictures recently that has an anime cast all standing on top of each other, this is where it came from) but the second set also worked well. The music is jazzy which works (even though it does bring Baccano! even more to mind) and fits whatever scene it needs to pretty well.
Overall: 9/10 and hell yes I’m getting this on DVD. For me, DRRR is one of those series where I can forgive the few times it made me facepalm because I’m so in love with it. It’s different, it’s engaging, and it’s crazy. If Baccano! had crazy violent people then Durarara! has crazy awesome people, I ended up liking even the parts of the cast I despised at first. Glad to hear that the DVDs are licensed and I really, reeaaalllyyyyy want the original novels to come out as well. I’ve been reading all the snippets from them that I can and there’s some strange humor in the descriptions and inner monologues that couldn’t translate to anime that I loved (and, more chat room scenes! I’ve heard a description that other anime deal with the smart or experimental side of the internet while DRRR deals with the 4chan/troll side of the internet and I can’t be the only one who went “ohhh, been there and seen that” about some of those chats).
House of Five Leaves
Summary: Masa is a ronin whose down on his luck, while he’s a good swordsman he lacks confidence and finds himself dragged into a gang called the Five Leaves. None of the other gang members particularly want to be part of a gang either but they all have their reasons…
The Good: Holy cow, now this is how you do characterization and in twelve episodes no less! Especially when you consider this is only half of the original manga the characters are very well developed and the story is set over enough time to see the characters grow as well (especially Masa). The plot of the story is also heavily character driven but still manages to produce a few twists.
The Bad: Aw, so we never get to see Masa in a proper fight? Not necessary but it would’ve been pretty cool. While most of the characters got in depth examinations of their backgrounds and motives for being part of the Five Leaves Gang we did have a few who were barely explored and that stood out in comparison to the rest (and I am willing to be that they were explored later on in the manga). And, while the story had reached a good ending point by the last episode the story also felt half told, now we know these characters and how they act, where will they go now/what will become of the Five Leaves since I have my suspicions about some side characters.
The Art: The character designs are strange (even the cat at Masa’s apartment looks odd) but I got used to them after an episode or two. The backgrounds are beautifully detailed and shaded throughout the entire series no matter the location. So if the people look too strange at first, focus on the backgrounds until it’s all better.
The Music: It really threw me the first time I heard the ED since it switches to English halfway through for no apparent reason. Funimation, like the CR simulcasts, didn’t translate the OP or EDs (would love to know the reasoning behind that, separate licenses for the songs?) so I really can’t say if they seemed to fit or not. Sure the music sounded nice but I didn’t have a clue what they were saying which seems to defeat the purpose. And the episode titles were very clever, they were actually the last line in the conversation before the title card and that takes skill to plan out how to have a line that sums up the episode yet doesn’t give away too much right in the beginning.
Overall: 9/10 for a very well executed series in terms of character growth and finding a plot that worked with it without being too predictable. I’d love to see the rest of the manga animated (Masa swordfight please?) but I can settle for reading the manga since Viz has licensed it (little worried however since it just ended and that it may have gotten a cut-short ending). Funimation is currently streaming it in the usual places (although some people report that hulu had low quality for a few episodes for no reason, that may have been a temporary thing however) but no word yet if they plan to release it on DVD (they seem to have formed a contract with noitaminA to stream their current shows but not to necessarily distribute them, if it means timely and well done subs I’m quite happy with it) and I probably would buy the DVDs for this show. Hmm, wonder if it was produced in HD in Japan, I can see this looking pretty slick in Blu-Ray.
Erm, again I seem to be having trouble making the cuts have more than one word in the title, I'll see if I can fix that later but since my LJ is set in either Italian or Spanish the FAQ is a bit tricky to navigate.
Area 88 OVA
Summary: Set in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the fictional Middle Eastern country of Aslan, Shin Kazama has become the ace fighter pilot in Aslan’s foreign mercenary league. However, shin was tricked into coming into this war-torn corner of the world and has to live with the fact that there are only three ways to get back to his native Japan and girlfriend Ryoko, desert and be shot, survive three years of dog fighting, or earn $1.5 million by killing enemy fighter pilots.
The Good: For being an anime that's half a decade older than I am, the art is fantastic! I’ll talk about that more below but man, that was pretty unexpected. While I haven’t seen many war films this OVA (it’s 2 parts, each about 90 minutes long) seemed to avoid the pitfall of making war look cool. Again, part of it is the art (ie, more than a few really disturbing looking death scenes) but seeing Shin’s change from a young man who hates to kill to a young man who can’t feel alive without the war anymore drives the point home that war is messy, complicated, and that both sides lose so much. I was also pleasantly surprised by how Ryoko did more than I first thought she would and her father’s secretary managed to be pretty important for a side character, not something I was expecting from a mostly male war story.
The Bad: Apparently the photographer from the first OVA, Rocky, rams a tank with a jeep in the tv series, I consider it a shame that that’s not in the OVA (apparently the manga, OVA, and tv series all take fairly different paths). The pacing was off a few times and the mood difference between the end of the first OVA and the start of the second was rather jarring. Understandable and predictable, but it was still a rather sudden change in tone. I’m of mixed feeling about the ending as well, I know what probably happened (and what the writers therefore want us to happen) but it would have been nice to have a definite closure.
The Art: Like I said, the art is pretty good here because of the sheer amount of detail. True the shading isn’t top-notch in some parts (like the zooming over cliff scenes, CG would have helped there) but all of the fighter jets were incredibly detailed and consistently drawn as well. Heck, towards the beginning of the first OVA the credits are shown over flames and, I didn’t even notice but someone else pointed it out, that is entirely hand animated and it does not loop. The art really adds to the story and I like the style better than the pictures I’ve seen of the 2004 remake.
The Music: I wasn’t expecting insert songs but there were at least two (subbed even!) and that seemed to work rather well. I was thrown off how both of them mentioned love in there (although that is a plot line in the story) but the songs certainly worked and sounded well. I watched the sub for the show and I think I heard the dub isn’t too shabby.
Overall: 8.5/10 but I’m not so sure about owning it. Pretty sure it is available on DVD, but I just don’t see myself re-watching this. Recommending it? Sure, if you’re a military story fan, want to see some old school anime, or just want to try something different, but I probably wouldn’t recommend it to most people I know. Also I don’t feel the need to watch the TV version of this either (or read the manga for that matter) except to possily see the aforementioned tank ramming scene. You can find both the tv series and OVAs (subbed and dubbed) on animenewsnetwork.com which has a spiffy new video portal (the screen is a little small but that’s what the full view option is for.
Bakemonogatari
Summary: Koyomi Araragi is used to strange things happening these days, but he’s been running into an awful lot of girls lately who are having trouble with various “oddities.” Despite the risks he can’t help but get involved and try to help them out but even with vampire strength regeneration he’s got his work cut out.
The Good: The various oddities, their causes, and the solutions were all pretty awesome and while some of the dialogue heavy episodes dragged a lot of the dialogue between some of the characters was rather witty. It took getting used to but for a dialogue heavy work it was a fairly good adaptation in that respect.
The Bad:Hey, if it’s a dialogue heavy show then could the subbers also translate all the text flashes? Not that it would’ve helped much, you’ve gotta have good reflexes to pause the screen each time they pop up, especially in the beginning segments. To put this as politely as possible, the show turned out to have a lot more ecchi scenes than I was expecting. I wasn’t expecting the main character to go around trying to grope one little girl and another one to writhing on the ground as a curse is being lifted off her in little more than a bathing suit and in, interesting, positions. Those parts didn’t seem to add to the work and just made me really darn uncomfortable and I felt like I should be watching the series in a room by myself with no way for someone to walk in and see what was on the screen.
The Art: As one review I saw put it, at times Bakemonogatari feels more like a mixed-media slideshow than a proper animation. There are dozens of cuts that are blank, various symbols, real life, or text flashes that weren't always translated in the fansubs. It is a dialogue driven series so the various symbols and text flashes worked but there were a few episodes where Shaft didn’t finish the animation in time (the OVDs kept getting pushed by because of this and by a few months each time too). And it did feel like the more ecchi the shot the more detail it had and that’s just not my cup of tea.
The Music: The series had five OPs and one ED for just 15 episodes (it was supposed to change for each arc but due to animation delays again they didn’t change until the DVD releases, heck they animation for the last OP still isn’t out). All of the OPs fit their arcs pretty well and they’re all pleasant to listen to and I liked the ED as well. Didn’t have any favorites in them and they were fairly forgettable in my mind, but it was amusing to find out where the Renai Circulation videos had come from.
Overall: 7.5/10, if there had been less little girl sexual harassment I would’ve liked it better (and the older female characters weren’t harassed before anyone asks about that). I really don’t know if I want to get this on DVD, it would be nice to have a really good translation and see this is nice quality but would I want anyone walking in on me during some parts?
Baka to Test-Summon the Beasts!
Summary: In an effort to motivate the students, Fumizuki Academy has installed a new kind of technology that allows students to summon avatars and fight the other classes in cyberspace, with power based on test scores of course. The lowest ranking class, F class, intends to use the system and the rules that say the losers trade class equipment (ranging from cardboard boxes to high end furniture) with the winners. But between battles they can be found goofing off, getting dragged into romantic antics, and generally being idiots.
The Good: As crazy as the premise is, if my school had some sort of class warfare you can bet my homeroom would have been totally in on the action. So, while totally unrealistic, the story was still very amusing and relatable in a “wish my life was like that!” sort of way. And the crazy strategies employed to win the battles made me laugh as well
The Bad: The humor in here was hit or miss at points, some episodes I liked while a lot of other people didn’t and vice versa. It’s almost like they’re trying to please an audience that likes plain comedy and another that likes rom-com without finding a really good middle ground. I found the rom-com parts weaker and the general antics around school to be more amusing but that was just me.
The Art: I really want to make plushies of almost all the avatars but the art was fairly generic, moe-blob art. Cute but nothing memorable (except for someone who could be called the best trap in anime but that’s only one character design).
The Music: I’m not sure why they had two separate EDs (one for the more rom-com episodes and then a normal one?) but the one with all the girls in it was the weakest of the songs. The normal ED was a cute song about being an idiot and the OP wasn’t anything special either.
Overall: 7/10 and I’m not sure if I want this on DVD or not. I certainly enjoyed streaming it and I’ll watch the second season when it comes out, but I don’t think I’ll be rewatching the show or recommending it to most of my friends. It is streaming (subbed only and there is no DVD release date yet) on both Funimation’s website and Hulu so check it out if you need some random comedy to brighten up your day.
Big Windup/Ookiku Furikabutte Natsu no Taikai Hen
Summary: Continuing where the first season left off the Nishiura high school baseball team is working their way through the summer baseball tournament. The first team may not have been easy but the rest are only going to get tougher and our brave band of first years is going to find out just where all their weak points are.
The Good: Once again Oofuri succeeds in making baseball and near constant inner monologues interesting and sitting on the edge of your seat gripping. With the shortened episode count it was harder to give all the characters time to develop but the more central characters certainly underwent more development and in a series that relies a lot one inner monologues everyone is going to get a decent amount of screen time. As a side note, and this only works for the non-Japanese viewers I suppose, it’s really interesting to see how high school sports are treated in Japan. I know in the US usually only the football and basketball teams get cheerleaders yet it seems that in Japan they have whole cheer clubs that do more sports
The Bad: Aw, only 13 episodes? And to get two games in they had to cut down the first game some (which did work out with the strategy of the game funny enough but it did feel a bit rushed). And, while I understand why the series ended where it did (manga readers said there is enough material for 13 episodes or so but it wouldn’t be as neat an ending) it was sad since there had just been a whole slew of character development and there seemed to be more to come.
The Art: I still think that Mihashi looks a little strange but I had no trouble telling apart the various characters from any of the teams and all the action scenes seemed well done as well.
The Music: I enjoyed both the OP and ED for this season and wouldn’t mind having them on my ipod (same for previous seasons). Nothing too special but they were good songs for the series.
Overall: 8/10 and I doubt I’ll be able to get these on DVDs even though I want to. Funimation said that the original Big Windup sold so badly that they would not be pursuing the second season (reminds me, need to pick up the SAVE version of the first season). I suppose Section 23 or Sentai might pick it up someday but I won’t hold my breath and will simply bemoan the fact that the manga is slow as well so it’s going to be tough to find out what happens next.
Birdy the Mighty: Decode
Summary: After getting thrown in the way of Federation Police Officer Birdy Tsutomu’s body is destroyed and while it’s being rebuilt using alien technology, his consciousness lives on inside of Birdy and she shapeshifts so he can lead a normal life. But Birdy was on Earth chasing down a planet destroying piece of technology and what are the odds of that getting involved in Tsutomu’s normal life as well?
The Good: While it sounds like a bored and clichéd premise (even though this is the first time I’ve ever come across someone sharing a body with another being for this reason) Birdy isn’t a boring show. Predictable? Yes, but the episodes that focused more on Birdy than Tsutomu were fairly interesting, probably because of the alien setting and characters.
The Bad: The plot is pretty predictable, not just in it’s ending or the “big reveal” but in how the characters get to the reveal as well. Genera changing this is not and it was more of Tsutomu’s story that was boring than Birdy’s. Tsutomu’s story is a fairly standard romance with unnatural issues and, while not deathly dull, doesn’t do anything differently than the viewer would expect. Birdy-centric episodes are more interesting but they seem to clash with the theme of the show, trying to have Tsutomu live as normal a life as possible and what Birdy is doing is anything but normal.
The Art: When I first saw Birdy’s outfit I went “okay, that’s a bit fanservicey but nothing I haven’t come across before.” And then her hair would move and I discovered that her outfit covered a lot less than I expected (and still can’t figure out why it’s normal/no one comments on how little a cop wears). But the art and animation in points (mostly dealing with Tsutomu’s events) seemed downright lazy, characters became a bit off model, less detailed, and generally sloppy. Didn’t notice that as much during Birdy’s fights so maybe that was where all the budget went.
The Music: The OP grew on me a bit but both it and the ED felt like fairly standard j-pop. Nothing ground breaking but there was one arrangement that was made very creepy but that annoyed me since it came from one arc and then got re-used for the next arc. Again, just sloppy feeling.
Overall: 8/10 and I’m going to watch the next season before I make a decision about buying. I know one or two people who liked the second season much more than the first and hopefully then it’ll go from average to something pretty nice. It’s available streaming on Funimation’s site, youtube, and Hulu but Hulu is missing episodes 4 and 5 from the first season so you’ll have to use one of the other sites there.
Durarara
Summary: After having become a bit bored with normal life in the sticks, Mikado moves to Ikebukuro (a section of Tokyo) at the urging of an old friend where life is anything but ordinary. Headless cyclists, color gangs, internet trolls, and some very unusual choices for weapons all come together on a regular basis and nothing ever turns out as expected.
The Good: The first 12 episodes (the first arc) was a whirlwind of seemingly unconnected characters with the POV changing every episode and came together into something unexpected. So, exactly the kind of story I like, add in that later in the series there was miscommunication but it wasn’t of the romantic kind (seriously, if you’re going to have miscommunication it might as well have actual consequences), and “the 4chan side of the internet” and it’s a pretty entertaining story.
The Bad: But the second half of the story didn’t seem as strong as the first. I could be that by that point I’d gotten thoroughly spoiled and the story went more linear so all the amusing back stories were absent, but the plots also felt a bit more predictable. Perhaps if they had mixed the second and third arcs together things would’ve been more interesting but I think the corresponding light novels may have been weaker as well. But it just didn’t pack quite the punch the first half did. It still had plenty of amusing parts, just not the same intensity.
The Art: I’m torn on this one. On the one hand, I’ve seen on HD video of the series and it looks really, really pretty. On the other hand, I’ve seen a number of screenshots where the art looked off model (this happened more with the characters than any other part). I guess the two OPs sum this up the best, the first OP had the characters drawn in a sketchier, rougher style but the second OP was all about smooth lines which was very odd. The background art however is amazing when you compare real Ikebukuro to DRRR (and this person has done comparison shots for episode 10 upwards I think) and it’s an inspiration. Ikebukuro is mentioned so many times in the story as being so important, it’s THE part of the city for all this strange stuff, so it’s great to see the anime team go out and show it.
The Music: I loved both OPs and EDs for this series. The first ones were so good that I was worried about the second set (oh, and if anyone has seen any pictures recently that has an anime cast all standing on top of each other, this is where it came from) but the second set also worked well. The music is jazzy which works (even though it does bring Baccano! even more to mind) and fits whatever scene it needs to pretty well.
Overall: 9/10 and hell yes I’m getting this on DVD. For me, DRRR is one of those series where I can forgive the few times it made me facepalm because I’m so in love with it. It’s different, it’s engaging, and it’s crazy. If Baccano! had crazy violent people then Durarara! has crazy awesome people, I ended up liking even the parts of the cast I despised at first. Glad to hear that the DVDs are licensed and I really, reeaaalllyyyyy want the original novels to come out as well. I’ve been reading all the snippets from them that I can and there’s some strange humor in the descriptions and inner monologues that couldn’t translate to anime that I loved (and, more chat room scenes! I’ve heard a description that other anime deal with the smart or experimental side of the internet while DRRR deals with the 4chan/troll side of the internet and I can’t be the only one who went “ohhh, been there and seen that” about some of those chats).
House of Five Leaves
Summary: Masa is a ronin whose down on his luck, while he’s a good swordsman he lacks confidence and finds himself dragged into a gang called the Five Leaves. None of the other gang members particularly want to be part of a gang either but they all have their reasons…
The Good: Holy cow, now this is how you do characterization and in twelve episodes no less! Especially when you consider this is only half of the original manga the characters are very well developed and the story is set over enough time to see the characters grow as well (especially Masa). The plot of the story is also heavily character driven but still manages to produce a few twists.
The Bad: Aw, so we never get to see Masa in a proper fight? Not necessary but it would’ve been pretty cool. While most of the characters got in depth examinations of their backgrounds and motives for being part of the Five Leaves Gang we did have a few who were barely explored and that stood out in comparison to the rest (and I am willing to be that they were explored later on in the manga). And, while the story had reached a good ending point by the last episode the story also felt half told, now we know these characters and how they act, where will they go now/what will become of the Five Leaves since I have my suspicions about some side characters.
The Art: The character designs are strange (even the cat at Masa’s apartment looks odd) but I got used to them after an episode or two. The backgrounds are beautifully detailed and shaded throughout the entire series no matter the location. So if the people look too strange at first, focus on the backgrounds until it’s all better.
The Music: It really threw me the first time I heard the ED since it switches to English halfway through for no apparent reason. Funimation, like the CR simulcasts, didn’t translate the OP or EDs (would love to know the reasoning behind that, separate licenses for the songs?) so I really can’t say if they seemed to fit or not. Sure the music sounded nice but I didn’t have a clue what they were saying which seems to defeat the purpose. And the episode titles were very clever, they were actually the last line in the conversation before the title card and that takes skill to plan out how to have a line that sums up the episode yet doesn’t give away too much right in the beginning.
Overall: 9/10 for a very well executed series in terms of character growth and finding a plot that worked with it without being too predictable. I’d love to see the rest of the manga animated (Masa swordfight please?) but I can settle for reading the manga since Viz has licensed it (little worried however since it just ended and that it may have gotten a cut-short ending). Funimation is currently streaming it in the usual places (although some people report that hulu had low quality for a few episodes for no reason, that may have been a temporary thing however) but no word yet if they plan to release it on DVD (they seem to have formed a contract with noitaminA to stream their current shows but not to necessarily distribute them, if it means timely and well done subs I’m quite happy with it) and I probably would buy the DVDs for this show. Hmm, wonder if it was produced in HD in Japan, I can see this looking pretty slick in Blu-Ray.