Random Anime Review Monday #4: Tsubasa Tokyo Revelations
My project: watch and write about the first episode of a series with as little prior knowledge as possible.
"Tsubasa" (wings) and "Tokyo" (Tokyo) being fairly generic words, I wasn't sure whether this had anything to do with the more famous Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles. Turns out, it does. But I haven't seen TRC nor much else in the CLAMP catalogue, and the darned thing finally downloaded, so here we go anyway.
Week 4: Tsubasa Tokyo Revelations
Fansubber: AnimeOne & Diffusion
This is a sequel series, or a second season, or something, so to make up for the fact that I know what Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles is, I'm extra-specially lost by the in medias res action. Doubly in medias res action, because it's a second season of a series that's based on other preexisting series in the first place.
Though I give this one some credit for not filling the audience in, actually. Not that I feel that being incomprehensible is itself a virtue (lots of anime fans do, but that's another story). Because the story is already in progress, and it never makes sense for characters to fill one another in on things they've JUST SEEN in the story. "Hey, that epic battle with the forces from the Purple Beyond was sure something, wasn't it?" That kind of thing strikes me as cheap. Flashbacks to things that just freaking happened also strike me as a cheap way to get the plot moving / show the character's thoughts / whatever, and anime does that all the time.
But anyway. None of that is going on in this one. Our Unconscious Heroine, three dudes, and a mascot that I didn't know could talk (holy crap!) hit the ground running and barely look back. They have dimension-jumped - or something - into a post-apocalyptic Tokyo where a cast of about twenty more characters (I only recognize a few, from X) are at war over their scarce water supplies. They ride around on hoverbikes, take down a couple of sandworms, argue amongst themselves about their motivations, and look for something or other that belongs to the heroine and is very important, for some reason.
And that's it.
I kind of wonder whether watching all anime is like this, for a newbie. Who the hell is that? Why does that little bouncy thing sound like a 35-year-old woman? What's with the forehead triangles? (Wait, I know that one.) You get the feeling that somebody else knows precisely what's going on, and the backstories of all of the Cast of Thousands, and that this series is made for them. Not you.
I don't hold that impenetrability against Tsubasa Tokyo Revelations; it just makes me ponder accessibility, that's all.
First impression: Nicely animated and completely incomprehensible, but only because I don't know what the hell is going on.
Would I watch more? No, but again, only because I haven't seen the first half.
Has this damaged my faith in humanity? No; actually, this is how I'd prefer sequels to be. It doesn't get full Faith in Humanity points - it still revolves around a MacGuffin (the feather), and the heroine is still comatose - but it's not bad.
Sneaking suspicion: I wonder whether the post-apocalyptic characters' designs were largely an excuse to animate capes. Swoosh!
"Tsubasa" (wings) and "Tokyo" (Tokyo) being fairly generic words, I wasn't sure whether this had anything to do with the more famous Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles. Turns out, it does. But I haven't seen TRC nor much else in the CLAMP catalogue, and the darned thing finally downloaded, so here we go anyway.
Week 4: Tsubasa Tokyo Revelations
Fansubber: AnimeOne & Diffusion
This is a sequel series, or a second season, or something, so to make up for the fact that I know what Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles is, I'm extra-specially lost by the in medias res action. Doubly in medias res action, because it's a second season of a series that's based on other preexisting series in the first place.
Though I give this one some credit for not filling the audience in, actually. Not that I feel that being incomprehensible is itself a virtue (lots of anime fans do, but that's another story). Because the story is already in progress, and it never makes sense for characters to fill one another in on things they've JUST SEEN in the story. "Hey, that epic battle with the forces from the Purple Beyond was sure something, wasn't it?" That kind of thing strikes me as cheap. Flashbacks to things that just freaking happened also strike me as a cheap way to get the plot moving / show the character's thoughts / whatever, and anime does that all the time.
But anyway. None of that is going on in this one. Our Unconscious Heroine, three dudes, and a mascot that I didn't know could talk (holy crap!) hit the ground running and barely look back. They have dimension-jumped - or something - into a post-apocalyptic Tokyo where a cast of about twenty more characters (I only recognize a few, from X) are at war over their scarce water supplies. They ride around on hoverbikes, take down a couple of sandworms, argue amongst themselves about their motivations, and look for something or other that belongs to the heroine and is very important, for some reason.
And that's it.
I kind of wonder whether watching all anime is like this, for a newbie. Who the hell is that? Why does that little bouncy thing sound like a 35-year-old woman? What's with the forehead triangles? (Wait, I know that one.) You get the feeling that somebody else knows precisely what's going on, and the backstories of all of the Cast of Thousands, and that this series is made for them. Not you.
I don't hold that impenetrability against Tsubasa Tokyo Revelations; it just makes me ponder accessibility, that's all.
First impression: Nicely animated and completely incomprehensible, but only because I don't know what the hell is going on.
Would I watch more? No, but again, only because I haven't seen the first half.
Has this damaged my faith in humanity? No; actually, this is how I'd prefer sequels to be. It doesn't get full Faith in Humanity points - it still revolves around a MacGuffin (the feather), and the heroine is still comatose - but it's not bad.
Sneaking suspicion: I wonder whether the post-apocalyptic characters' designs were largely an excuse to animate capes. Swoosh!