Hige vs. Otaku

Well, that’s a relief. Being a GAINAX devotee can be a sadomasochistic occupation at times. Short of a show having Yoshiyuki Sadamoto character designs and the golden touch of Anno and/or Tsurumaki, it’s very difficult for fans to be dead-cert on the ever-capricious studio’s output. Particularly if they’ve only just recently had a phenomenal success (remember all the dross that followed FLCL?). Luckily, under the watchful eye of Hiroyuki Yagama (make another bloody film, you!), Shikabane Hime: Aka turns out to be a solidly entertaining experience. For its first episode, at least.

The visuals are reassuringly comprehensive. GAINAX have gone with their house style character design – that is to say, mild Sadamoto plagiarism – and made it a touch more angular to compliment the eerie atmosphere they’re aiming for. The animation itself doesn’t necessarily dazzle but maintains consistency and has a lot of surprising creativity during the action sequences. What really impressed me about Shikabane’s aesthetics, though, were the gorgeous twilight cityscapes and the use of light in general. I’m massively gay for lighting in animation and Shikabane has a good handle on it – street lights glow in ways that evoke hazy summer evenings, cities are awash with false neon to fend off the night. Good use of lighting can elevate somewhat average animation and make it look special, and this show is an excellent example of such. It’s typical to have such cautious faith at the beginning of a new series, but if this mid-level quality is maintained throughout the run then Shikabane Hime will be a reliable visual experience.

Story-wise, we’re getting a pretty conventional supernatural horror story here, albeit in a very comprehensive, entertaining fashion. Shikabane doesn’t necessarily do anything unexpected with its story or plot, but more importantly it doesn’t strictly abide by the tropes typical of the genre and offer up bland predictability. Fan-service is present, of course, but not jarringly so. The characters are archetypes but likeable and have potential to develop some emotional depth. No particular scene stood out as a ‘wow’ moment yet my attention was absorbed in a way that didn’t feel like I was wasting my time watching. All in all, as with the animation, I’m cautiously optimistic that Shikabane will develop into a solidly entertaining yarn. Part of me is certainly relying on the GAINAX factor to push it above its current mediocre-to-good existence but I can see myself enjoying it even if doesn’t pierce the heavens with its mighty drill-phallus.

Of course, all this reads like the apologies of a fanboy and I actively admit to such concession making. But that’s not to say that Shikabane Hime: Aka isn’t worth keeping an eye on or that GAINAX have shat out another average filler show. Just keep your expectations grounded and you’ll have a good time with it, of this I am sure.

Hige
I wish Macross F didn’t have the love-triangle element to it

IKnight
But then they’d have to call it just Frontier

Hige
Ha

IKnight
Is it just being poorly handled, or would the show definitely be better without it?

Hige
It’s nothing as directly offensive as either of those… it’s just completely pedestrian
And Sheryl is rapidly turning into a nice character
When she should be a diva bitch

IKnight
Hmm. I tend not to think too hard about how good these shows are, but I suppose F is a bit by-the-numbers all round. Though wouldn’t it be interesting if Ranka turned out to be a bitch and we had a SHERYL END?

Hige
I agree – I’m not expecting Macross to be anything other than itself. The love triangle merely feels unnecessary when other story elements could use the screen time better
Especially when it’s so generic
If Ranka hit it big and developed a coke addiction, it would be instant win
Forsaking her friends and loved ones all the way to the top
Selling her brother’s VF unit to finance the addiction

IKnight
Somehow I can’t quite reconcile ‘Macross’ and ‘coke addiction’ but actually, you’re very right. Ranka Winehouse.
The Frontier fleet must have some equivalent of rehab somewhere.

Hige
I’d imagine a coke addiction in the world of Macross would be a terrifying experience
It pretty much already is a coke-driven hallucination

IKnight
Heh. That’s certainly how the moment in SDF when Hikaru realises he’s been being chased by actual giants felt to me.

I think now, with the perspective of knowing with that the anime and manga definitely will be different, it makes judging Bokurano on its own merits easier. Some of those merits still don’t sit well with me (the washed out colour scheme, the gangly CG segments etc.) but I can’t fault the success of Bokurano’s more domestic-based character development, and episode nine is a good example of this.

The slow burning tragedy of Daichi’s predicament exemplifies the underlying tension of the entire show incredibly well. The kids know they will die after their turn with Zearth is over, and most of the dramaturgy is born from what they do with this remaining time. Some are driven insane and act out, some resign to their fate and detach themselves from their daily woes, and Daichi, forced to care for others above himself, represents pragmatism.

If handled poorly, this could’ve been as detached and inhumane as the characters who lost their shit, or the ones who gave up because they knew they would die. Characters that sacrifice themselves for the sake of duty often seem like robots and have very little for the audience to identify with. What really maintains Daichi’s pathos, however, is that he never loses his sense of self; of being the responsible, eldest caregiver but equally being a loving brother. He doesn’t allow his impending death to victimise his life. He makes arrangements for his siblings’ futures and gives them as much of his companionship as he possibly can. Daichi’s circumstance initially suggests he has one of the hardest lives of the fifteen kids, but it turns out to be the thing that keeps him strong until the very end.

I really enjoyed this episode. It wasn’t as messy as some of the previous arcs, and the emotional highs and lows weren’t as severe, but it was excellently plotted and the character moments never floundered. One of the highlights of the series so far and exactly what I needed to revitalise my waning interest in the show.

Yeah, okay. Humour those Shonen Jump tropes and be done with it, Claymore. I’m surprised you pulled out ‘tortured past/traumatic current dilemma’ card so soon, though. I wonder if it’s suggestive of a more streamlined approach in comparison to your sister shows?

But enough of the second-person tomfoolery. Claymore remains a pretty watchable show, even in the face of its overt lack of originality and fairly stilted personality. This episode offered some generic backstory for Clare, which I enjoyed but wasn’t especially moved by. It was a nice history lesson, however, and provided light on the Claymore organisation and its members. The appearance of Rubel was suitably sinister and I’d like to know how he factors into the whole arrangement, beyond providing new threads when Clare gets herself impaled and collecting the money from her contracts. Raki’s role remains fairly redundant bar offering a bit of humanity to Clare’s general aura of stolidity. Oh, he can cook, too. Which is nice.

The dip in animation wasn’t too severe; though the grubbiness you find in out-sourced Korean animation is quite apparent. Still, I really enjoy the texture and style of Claymore, and the grittiness feels more intentional than a by-product of some producer’s budget choices. Audio-wise there’s not much to pick out, except perhaps the rather hilarious Yoma voice-acting at the start of the episode. Claymore’s music is also pretty inoffensive and ignorable, which is a blessing and a curse I suppose. Rather that than it being horrendously cheesy.

Yep, Claymore is ticking along nicely for me. I don’t anticipate it like the big three, but it’s nice to have a bit of solid action to level things out.

This was a lovely example of pacing. No overt showing off of capabilities, a standard GONZO first episode practise, but rather a very solid and faithful representation of its source material. One of the main aspects of Bokurano’s manga I love is its seemingly leisurely pace in the face of incredibly bleak prospects, and its anime adaptation honours this approach whilst offering a touch more to legitimise its existence.

Visually, it captures the style of the comic quite well. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing, as I’m not a fan of Mohiro Kitoh’s character designs or the anime approximations, but it did nothing to detract from my enjoyment of the manga and I doubt it will for the anime. The CG for Zearth and its combatants is fine, but I’ve yet to see an anime that can integrate CG and cel animation seamlessly and it still grates, even at the hands of the proficient GONZO. I understand why they animated the fights this way, though; Zearth is a hulking cumbersome thing without much articulated movement, so the heavy, mechanical affect you can get with CG suits it perfectly. The fight itself still bored me to tears, however.

Bokurano, as I see it, is basically a character study with sci-fi window dressing. The manga dedicates the majority of its time to fleshing out the fifteen protagonists and eventually placing them in a battle that will lead to their deaths. The battles themselves never excited me; the real grit comes from the children’s realisation that to fight means their end, and what they do in response to this knowledge. Instigate Lord of the Flies imaginings and you’ve got a pretty idea of what’s to come. The myriad of characters briefly hinted at in this episode means the variety of ‘coping strategies’ is disturbingly vast, as are the moral dilemmas, and I’m pretty damn excited about how GONZO will approach the task. Out of all the new shows this season Bokurano has the greatest expectation to perform and so far I’m not disappointed

Disclaimer: I watched this episode last night after I got in from celebrating a friend’s 21st. I may’ve been a touch inebriated, having indulged in a few cheeky drinks as the kid do these days, so I don’t know how much to trust my shit-faced perceptions of the show.

Still, Claymore is pretty cool (when drunk).

Art-wise, Claymore has a sharp, lucid style that I really like. Character design is lovely; quite high-brow shonen fantasy stuff with lots of quirky minutia. The colour pallet is fantastically vibrant, fostering a broody, murky atmosphere that goes a long way to accentuate the success of the show’s tone and mood.   

Yet I’m well aware that, while having a solid reputation, Madhouse do suffer from the old ‘tend to tart up their first episode and gradually diminish into passable mediocrity’ (ref: NANA) that prevails in most modern anime. I’m not worried about it, though, because Death Note remained decent and Madhouse aren’t prone to GONZO-style fuck-ups. It’d be naive to expect them to maintain the high quality found in this episode, however, which means no whinging in five episodes time, anime blogsphere.

As far as the non-aesthetical things go, Claymore lingered around Entertaining But Nothing Particularly Inspired, which probably explains why my drunk, thuggish mind had lots of fun watching it. Based on a Shonen Jump manga that I have no experience with it has most of the tropes you can imagine involved with fantasy action anime/manga. To be fair, though, I can imagine that its manga counterpart is wholly appropriate for VIZ’s otherwise patronising Jump Advanced imprint; Claymore’s anime adaptation is definitely more mature and serious than most standard Jump fare. And it works to its advantage, assuming there are no horrible surprises loitering around the corner. If they somehow manage to crowbar an irritating comic-relief sidekick/mascot into the show in the forthcoming episodes, then that’s it: I’m dropping it with brutal disregard.

There’s definite potential for that happening, which troubles me, but I’m giving it the benefit of the doubt for now. Claymore is what I need from anime at the moment: solid production values; interesting premise; mindless violence. Our stoic lead Clare looks to suffer from being too hardcore for her own good, which could get boring, but again I’m happy to give Claymore the benefit of the doubt. Simple, attractive fun.

Ooh, can anyone smell a thinly valed attempt to catch up on all the shows I’ve neglected to blog? Me too, and it smells like SUCCESS.

Incidentally, NHK has been dropped. Not in the brutal, you-digust-me way — rather, I fell behind after episode five and never caught up. In many ways the apathy I feel towards it speaks more than any embittered rant. Shame, really. Hopefully the manga will be more essential, whenever Tokyopop get around to releasing it.

Honey & Clover (episode 12)
Bless it, I should really give the final episode of one the most important anime for years its own entry, but no. Ultimately there’s not much more to be said. This second series was something of a tour de force in terms of heart-breaking resolution and I’d happily rate it equally with the first, though both are quite different in intention and execution. Even the more bothersome aspects like Hagu’s injury felt legitimised with this final episode (it serving to underpin the need security and stability in her winning suitor). I’m still slightly confused over the nature of Hagu and Shuuji’s relationship. If it was nothing more than platonic, why can’t Hagu have a boyfriend and Shuu as her guardian? It’s a hard nut to crack, so to speak, because there hasn’t been any sexual interest from Shuuji relating to Hagu, apart from that infamous blush I guess, but then when has there ever been anything overtly sexual in Honey & Clover (bar Miyama and Rika in II)? Tricky, and the creepy implications keep the resolution in murky, grey waters. Maybe it’s for the best to avoid sullying an otherwise beautiful, affecting series. Also, I still think Shuuji was gay for Harada. Either way, a solid ending. My only regret is Takemoto’s seeming unimportance towards the end. He and Yamada were my favourites.

Gunbuster 2 (episode 6)
Another finale to a series I’ve thoroughly enjoyed. I want to rewatch all six episodes in relative succession to get a more complete opinion, but generally Gunbuster 2 has had the air of an enjoyable, if flawed, epic. This, its conclusion, felt surprisingly focused and informative considering it’s been quite confusing for most of its run. It kept up the ridiculous flamboyancy that made it so charming and had enough excitement to honour the whole ethos of a finale. I’m not going to pretend it was the perfect OAV, not even the all-hallowed FLCL can claim that, but the Tsurumaki-Sadamoto effect is in full-force enough for me to yield like a loyal fanboy. Fun!

Kemonozume (eps 3 & 4)
The visual style of Kemonozume has gone beyond the initial novelty now and turned into something more fundamental. It may seem superficial to suggest (and obvious), but Kemonozume wouldn’t be as distinctive without it’s unique visual style. Not just aesthetically, but the direction and atmosphere it banks on for most of its impact. It’s hard for the discerning viewer to decide what makes it such an enjoyable show to watch: the pretty pictures, or the more respectable aspects like writing and direction. I’m inclined to think something successful would need both to be of a decent standard and the more I watch the more secure I feel in calling Kemonozume a Good Show. This was only strengthened by episode four’s flashback history lesson, which was fantastic and immensely entertaining. I think having that as a foundation to build on will only benefit future episodes. Plus, it adds a bit of intrigue and mystery to proceeding, which I heartily support.   

Right, that’s enough for now. Lots of things left unsaid, but such is life. Hopefully more protracted blogging coming soon when university stops bludgeoning me violently with, like, schoolwork. It’s just a bit rude, really.

Thank the myriad of kami-sama for that. NHK pulled itself back from the brink and we get a solidly entertaining episode. I even watched it all in one sitting.

(more…)

If it weren’t for Senpai’s appearance at the end of this episode I would have dropped the crap out of NHK after this disaster.

Satou and Yamazaki’s pilgrimage into Japanese otaku culture had little to no merit. It wasn’t particularly funny (satire or otherwise); it gave no insight beyond the obvious depravity and it did nothing to increase the pathos for these two characters. And most importantly, it was boring. As with episode three, I watched this in two parts after realising I could be wasting my time more productively. I genuinely hope this whole ero-game plot thread concludes very soon and NHK delivers on its potential as something beyond cultural self-analysis. It’s the characters that carry the show for me, not the bland explanations of otaku culture. The Internet is more than capable of doing that.

Visually, the animation was peculiar. Not terrible, just inconsistent and gauche. The background work still had a lot of the vibrancy and detail I’ve enjoyed; just the character design was lazy and had an unnatural fluency to it. It reminded me of some scenes in FLCL, in fact. Maybe it was the same animation director? It certainly felt more like an artistic decision than budget issues. Still, the preview of next week’s episode suggests things will be back to normal, so detractors won’t have to suffer it again.

Conclusion
Much of what I enjoyed about NHK didn’t exist in this episode, except for one or two moments. The quality of the animation was bizarre and awkward (although not as horrendous as some people think). Music was its usual standard – good to decent. Otherwise, dull as fuck. The prospect of Hitomi next episode really felt like its saving grace. She’s always been a mysterious factor of Satou’s past and one of the few things about NHK that genuinely intrigues me. The show is on probation from this point onwards, however. GONZO needs to try harder.

Okay, so this is a strange occurrence. I actually quite like NHK’s OP music. I actually quite like all the music in NHK (bar the awful anime parody which we’re meant to hate). It’s odd because I find most anime music inherently horrendous. My indie inclinations usually act as a direct antithesis to anime OST, with the squeaky j-pop ballads driving me insane, but the use of guitar music here strikes the right balance between respectability and emotional impact.

In a lot of ways my opinions of NHK are changing for the better. The uninformed expectations from the first episode have disappeared and I’m starting to appreciate the understated melancholy that runs throughout the show. It’s not constantly hilarious (although there are a lot of nice subtle touches), but it reflects the human condition fantastically. I think to appreciate NHK properly it’ll take a change in perception. This is obviously going to be a lot harder for people who’ve read/loved the manga than for those who haven’t (like me), but I can see myself liking it as a ‘serious’ show.

Still, it seems the coming episodes will have more opportunity for comedy now Satou and Yamazaki have started their crusade to make the ultimate h-game. At least then it won’t reach Evangelion levels of self-pity (as much as I condone such activity *misanthropic high five*).

It was interesting to get a few flashbacks to Satou’s time in high school, although there’s still no definitive explanation to why he became a hihikomori. The introduction of Hitomi Kashiwa and Kaoru Yamazaki brought some welcome variety to the fairly limited cast of Satou and Misaki. Hitomi seems especially enigmatic and I’m curious to know how her constant conspiracy theorising may have affected Satou’s young, impressible mind. Yamazaki’s role as hardcore otaku and fledgling misogynist is both amusing and disturbing. He underlines a lot of the astuteness I like about NHK, and how the show couples the tragic realities with subtle, mocking humour. He acted as a nice comparison to Satou, too; demonstrating Satou is actually quite cool when you remove him from the destructive hermit lifestyle he’s imposed on himself.

Conclusion
It’s still hard to predict where NHK is heading, but the mystery is a good incentive to keep watching. The show is starting to really grow on me and the introduction of more cast members has removed the claustrophobia that bothered me about episode one. Production values are being maintained, with this episode’s visuals seeming more attractive to me for reasons I can’t quite explain. The music is great and the ED still scares the shit out of me. Overall I’m developing a more positive outlook for the series and a growing curiosity where it’s heading. Roll on episode three.