Animation Revelation's Animation Blog

DISCLAIMER: Let me make perfectly clear that, contrary to popular belief, I do not hate every anime ever made. In fact off the top of my head, there are about twelve shows this year I enjoyed to a large degree. It just seems that I do, because as of late pretty much 90% of what Japan churns out every cour is bound to be shit on some level. Whether it be bad writing, bad animation, and/or overall indifference from a production oversight role. However it is the former that weighs the most on me, so much that I am willing to overlook the other two on occasion. Case in point: From The New World, a wonderful story that overcame the fact that A-1 spent all of five bucks on it (one guess where all the money went…). So if the show looks great but the writing is garbage then odds are I’m not going to like it, and you can complain all you want but that’s the curse of being a critic (except that if you flaunt your love for a certain visual novel where they had sex and sex made babies, then go fuck yourselves, you have no taste.)

Whew… now where was I? Oh yeah… Valvrave…. ugh.

When last we left our beloved poor sap Haruto, he had managed to turn into a sex-crazed space vampire, got caught in a bizarre love triangle with the VVV-tan and L-Elf (who may or may not be his son from the future who has traveled back in time… …no… really!), quasi-dumped his not-girlfriend Shoko, raped his OTHER girlfriend/fellow space vampire Saki in a bloodthirsty act of unromanticism, unwittingly killed Shoko’s dad, managed to get a marriage proposal cockblocked, and finally stood slackjawed as the enemy commander turned out to be Green Lantern!

…However none of that matters because TIME JUMP! (facepalm)

Two months after Dorssia’s desperate last ditch attempt to blow up New JIOR with gigantic waffle irons ended with them getting their asses kicked by a slightly more lucid Akira in VVV6 and Traditional Sunrise Eyepatch Guy (aka Cain) running off with the final lime green VVV2 and its own weird on board computer, our motley crew of former high school students has finally reached the neutral zone on the moon and received flashy new military uniforms. Prime Minister Shoko has become incredibly popular due to her own personal (and somewhat self-induced) tragedy. Saki has successfully relaunched her idol career amongst the refugees. And L-Elf is now firmly ensconced as the kingmaker pulling all of the strings behind the scenes. Haruto on the other hand…

Well actually Haruto has finally done something smart, pulling a Jotaro Kujo and locking himself behind bars to keep the Diabolik Lovers-reject side of him in check. Even Saki can’t get through to him despite flashing her breasts in his face. Unfortunately it appears his urges also had to a heretofore unseen necessity. The Valvraves apparently run on a fuel called Runes, and how is that generated? Why Haruto’s need to suck blood and have spur of the moment date rape of course! And apparently two straight months of him refusing to do so has caused the VVVs to finally run out of gas.

This comes at a rather inopportune time as Shoko’s plan to smuggle JIOR refugees past the still present Dorssia blockade gets rejected by ARUS for being too much of an expenditure. Naturally the only way to get through is to deploy the currently phase-shift downed VVVs and the only way to get them to work is for Haruto to go crazy. Being the bro that he is, L-Elf sticks his neck out literally and we’re off to Earth for the first time. Oh and there’s something about those space wizards we saw at the end of last season turning Dorssia Emperor Gio Blando into a space vampire of their own and Cain supervising develop of new Valvraves based off the stolen VVV2, but who cares about those guys.

So basically its more of the batshit stupidity we saw last spring, and if you were hoping the time away would lead to an immediate increase in quality for Valvrave in terms of brain cells, you’re outta luck. Actually that’s not entirely true, the first 8 or so minutes wrapping up the cliffhanger are actually pretty high quality and give us an exciting action scene without Haruto acting like a confused idiot or crazy Akira’s desire to visit a supermarket finally forcing her out of her antirape dungeon. Even the bit after the timeskip (which is the most conservative one to date at only two months as opposed to half a millenia) is fairly decent, with Shoko (who is surprisingly the most improved character this season due to her growing detachment from Haruto) and her attempt at a Berlin Airlift getting smacked down by the ineffectual (and secretly corrupt) ARUS. Its only when we get back to Haruto that the episode goes back down the silly toilet never to return. In this case Kyuuma whoring VVV4 out to an energy drink company for corporate sponsorship, and the aforementioned “violence and sexual assault will save the universe”-gimmick. It never quite reaches the level of head against the wall-idiocy as Shoko’s now legendary YOLO campaign speech from Episode 10 but lord is it cringe inducing.

A lot of people love this show for that so retarded its funny-feel its plot has taken ever since Saki recorded that “We Are The World” pop single in episode 5. A lot of people hate this show for the same exact reason (if they didn’t ragequit after the infamous Valvrape). Me? I’m somewhere in the middle. Like SAO, it’s a trainwreck you can’t turn away from. Utterly horrid yet bizarrely entrancing due to that horridness as well. Not “so bad its good”-quality (that’d probably be Hyperdimension Neptunia for this year) but definitely one of the the guiltiest of guilty pleasures. There are 11 episodes to go and the only light at the end is the car slamming into you.

3/10 (7/10 on a Valvrave slope).

Arpeggio of Blue Steel: Ars Nova

20 years in the future, humanity has fallen into utter disarray due to ecological disasters and the appearance of the Fleet of Fog, mysterious boats that have cut off all communication and sea transport in most of the Pacific. Enter Gunzo Chihaya, captain of a stolen Fog submarine and his crew of Gecko State and Final Fantasy X-2 rejects. Also on-board (literally) is Iona, a strange cold aloof girl, who just happens to be a projection of the boat’s on board AI. Naturally her “sisters” (ie: the other Fog boat avatars) are not thrilled about the decision Iona has made to betray them and as such are drawn to her like magnets. There’s also something about an experimental warhead being developed in the States but that’s just a McGuffin. You’re only here for the moe vocaloid boats, right?

Basically Ars Nova is, when you boil it down, Rozen Maiden on the high seas. Artificial girls trying to kill each other with Iona as Shinku and Gunzo as Jun. The plot, what little there is, is pretty damn generic, spending much of the 24 minute runtime of Episode 1 on a flashback to how Gunzo got the sub that only accentuates how bizarrely suggestive the whole situation is (“board me captain!”). Its dull, its contrite, its pretty darn forgetable.

If anything, what the show does best is its naval battles (what few there are). Studio Sanzigen made a name for themselves for fast paced action animation with Black Rock Shooter and it carries over to Ars Nova rather well. However there just isn’t enough of it and the rest of the show elicit the same level of interest. — Lord Dalek

Second Opinion!

So, in keeping with my ‘give a fair share’ policy when it comes to current anime, I decided to check out Arpeggio of Blue Steel, the all (cel-shaded) CG anime of the season. Now, granted I have yet to read the manga, but from what I’ve heard its some good stuff. Anyway, opening scene: Thrill at the explosions!

In a future where Al Gore’s pipe dreams happened and Earth is practically a whole ocean world leaving the survivors of humanity adrift with a mysterious ‘Fleet of Fog’ patrolling the waters. The focus of the series is on Submarine I-401 and its bridge crew of about 4-5. This submarine has a computer android avatar named Iona, who looks like a Vocaloid; in fact every female character in this remind me of Vocaloids for some reason.

I love the battle sequences and backgrounds, where the CG work is actually impressive. However, it is slightly less successful is the rest of the animation, especially with the characters. Granted, it is still ambitious that they went this way with it, given the visual shortcomings. Characters are jerky in motion and rather uncanny valley at times. I am sure that this was great in concept, but falls short a bit in execution, which is surprising that the production studio Sangaizen has been known as the to-go team for 3D CG work in anime for the past few years. This is exemplified by several moments where I have to remind myself that this isn’t video game cut-scenes that I am watching.

The story rather amounts to a ‘in media res’ with an extended flashback. The main character is Gunzo Chihaya, a top student at a Japanese naval academy.  He awakens the I-401 and its avatar Iona one day when on a tour of its facilities. Iona, driven by the plot mainly, goes to see Gunzo and implores him to become her captain. He agrees to this and helps Iona to escape with the submarine, though the cost is that they are fugitives. Then, it cuts back to the present with Gunzo and Iona reaching temporary safety, and the bridge crew revealed to be some of school friends. Interesting, so far….

The episode ends with the introduction to several other ships in ‘The Fleet of Fog’ as they have been sent to track down Iona. They include: Takao (blue-haired babe), Kongou (elegant ojou-sama) and Maya (impatient loli) among others.

Overall, a rather good introduction to this story, and I am intrigued to find out more. It makes me want to check out the manga for sure. It will take some time to get used to the cel-shaded CG but its not too much of a bother. — The Eclectic Dude

BlazBlue: Alter Memory

Anime based on videogames tend to be a mixed bag. Oftentimes they’re overglorified commercials for the game(s) they’re based on and are only really entertaining if you’re familiar with the source material beforehand. In the case of fighting game anime, instead of doing the smart thing and making an adaptation of the games’ events and storyline told in a more cohesive and comprehensible fashion to compensate for their source materials lack of a sufficient method to tell a consistent plot, they tend to only take the most basic premise of whatever stories their source material has and take huge liberties with both the story and characters, often alienating fans and newcomers alike. But what happens when a fighting game that’s very much an anime in spirit and tone, that’s known for its in-depth  story finally becomes an anime?

This premiere episode follows the generically cool protagonist with the ridiculously awesome over-the-top name of Ragna the Bloodedge, a notorious outlaw with a large sword, an even larger bounty, and an axe to grind against the world order known as the Novus Orbis Libarium (N.O.L) oh, and he has a mysterious right arm that slowly drains the life out of anyone who touches it, that’s gotta be a pain.  After destorying one of the NOL branches, he heads out to destroy another branch in a city known as Kagutsuchi at the suggestion of  mysterious loli vampire Rachel Alucard. His venture in Kagutsuchi lead him into encounters with clueless yet well-meaning catgirl Taokaka, -An NOL officer with a startling resemblance to his long-lost younger sister who goes by the name Noel Vermillion, and a battle with his brother and rival-Jin Kisaragi. The episode ends as Ragna comes face-to-face with a mysterious armored samurai who introduces himself as Hakumen, who then unsheathes his sword and draws in to put an end to our anti-heroic protagonist as the episode ends on a cliffhanger. Oh, and timeloops are invovled and Ragna got killed by an eyepatch-wearing psycho loli in an earlier loop.

Viewers new to the Blazblue franchise will no doubt be very confused as to what the hell is going on. Other than establishing the main characters and setting, and a small bit of Ragna’s backstory, almost nothing is explained or elaborated upon. Terms such as “Azure Grimoire”, “Cauldron” and “Ars Magus” are thrown about wily nily as if the viewer would already be familiar with them. While this was the case for many first time players back when Blazblue was new, Alter Memory doesn’t have the novelty of prose text  to explain what any of these things are. Not even the backstory of the Blazblue world, which could have easily taken the place of the OP or ED, is given any detail. It’s more than likely they’re saving the exposition for the next episode, but it would be nice if the anime at least told newcomers some backstory before throwing out in-series terminology.  However, it should be noted that this was the case for many first time players who started with the original Blazblue. The fact that they’re going for a similar approach for the anime, when the story of the first game already has a retelling that would’ve have been much easier to adapt included in an upgrade to the sequel puzzles me, especially since the methods the game used to help players figure out the story wouldn’t work as well in an anime. Speaking as a fan of the games, the pacing felt way too fast and disjointed, even more so than the first game the anime is (supposedly) adapting. One minute Ragna is startled by the appearance of someone who resembles his sister, and the next he’s walking inside a large base without any proper transition. Likewise character introductions felt rather flat, with little to no fanfare. As a result, characterization suffers, and the charm of their game counterparts is largely missing. Dialogue also felt bland, lacking the wit and humour of the source material, no Ragna barging in on enemy territory while shouting out “Pizza delivery!” here! Granted some of this may be just be on Funi’s part, so I guess I can let it slide.

Despite how overly critical I may sound, the anime still has a fair amount of good points. The art and animation are decent looking, Prior to Alter Memory, Blazblue had anime openings and cutscenes done by different studios over the years, from Production I.G (who’s cutscene and opening animations were very good), to GONZO (who’s cutscenes and animation were…not that good). TeamKG and Hoods Entertaint are somewhere in the middle, a lot of room for improvement, but still preferable compared to past embarresments. The voice acting was pretty good, with all of the voice actor’s from the games reprising their roles here. The anime also didn’t  make the common mistake of trying to cram all of the cast into a single episode, which would have made the premiere feel more cluttered than it already was. And when all is said and done, the first episode managed to do one of the most important things a first episode should do: It made look forward to the next episode.  One thing of note is the soundtrack, which is mostly comprised of music from the games remixed by doujin-group Arte Refact, is excellent, and was easily one of the biggest highlights. If there’s one thing about Blazblue that I reccomend, it’s the soundtrack, and Alter Memory’s OST shows a lot of promise. If nothing else, the anime is already a contender for the best OST of the year.
Being an adaptation of a fighting game, the fights are obviously going to be important. There were only two fights in this first episode. While the first fight with Ragna and psycho loli was underwhelming, the fight between Ragna and Jin was decently animated aside from a certain brief moment, and easily the other big highlight of the episode.  Given the crazy things the Blazblue cast can do, one can only hope future battles will be more spectacular and over-the-top.

Overall, while I can’t say if Alter Memory is ultimately going to be a good adaptation or not, I can say that it’ll  be faithful to the source material. The screenshot pictured above shows that they at least want to try making a good adaptation. And hey, if Alter Memory’s success leads to more faithful fighting game adaptations over more haremshit light-novel adaptations, then that can only be a good thing in my book. If you’re a fan of Blazblue like myself, then you’re probably gonna stick around to see where this goes. If you’re a newcomer to the franchise who wants to get into the games, or just another anime watcher, I suggest giving it a couple more episodes before making a final decision on it. — Rynnec

Galilei Donna

Three of Galileo Galilei’s descendants are being hunted down by some mysterious organization, and this trio just happens to look like Asuna’s hellspawn. Pardon for being a dullard, but anytime anything vaguely futuristic appears combined with the familiar art style makes me think this is Sword Art Redux. A redhead appears late in the episode to rob the family, and I’m confused as to why Klein’s a burglar. Maybe the character designer is having Hirai syndrome. The art for the mecha is much more interesting though. Something about mecha resembling marine life makes the fight scenes look like fishes dancing in the water. It sucks that these scenes only appear for about a tenth of the episode though.

Call me a sucker for steampunk, but I’d give this one a shot. Who would say no to sky pirates, anyway? Yeah, the “Galileo’s descendants” plot sounds pretty dumb when you think about it—implying the Galilei bloodline never branched out for the last four centuries—but it’s as good a reason as any to make the main character a tinkerer. I know I shouldn’t judge a show purely on aesthetics, but a goldfish mecha is something that undoubtedly raises a show from okay to brilliant. All right, I can’t say it’s brilliant just yet. But as far as season premieres go this fall, Galilei Donna was one of the better offerings.

Also, I like the show avoids the dead parents cliché by making it a bit of a family drama between everybody. The mom’s established as stern while the dad’s more of a pushover, and I appreciate the anime for establishing them right off the bat instead of turning them into saints who were unjustly taken from their children’s lives too soon. Too many anime use that trope where the parents have to be the best people to ever exist on the earth, while having the downside of being buried beneath the earth. To me, that limits character relations and makes things too black and white. So having the daughters take issue with their parents as well as Galileo’s legacy can hopefully offer some nice tension.

And I could have liked the villain of this episode if not for the fact that he’s voiced by Araragi. His voice is so identifiable now that I keep associating him with endless introspection and spinal contortions. He has great dialogue though. Maybe I’ll like him more if I kill the part of my brain that remembers Monogatari. — Bloody Marquis

Gingitsune

I didn’t really care to know what to expect when I watched Gingitsune.  The only thing that stood out for me was that it would involve a Shinto priestess, and other than that it didn’t seem all too intriguing.  Then once the episode ended, all I can say is colour me surprised.

Most of the premiere revolved around establishing the dynamic between our two protagonists Makoto Saeki, the aforementioned Shinto priestess and Gintaro, an anthropomorphic silver fox she can only see who serves as a herald to the gods at the shrine Makoto and her widower father maintain.  Makoto listens to other people’s issues, fortunes, or what have you while Gintaro divines what may or may not happen and advises Makoto on what to say.  Judging from the events of this episode, involving a missing cat and botched relationship advice, it serves admirably in establishing the setting and tone for the show: one mystical, unequivocally sweet and lacking in cynicism.

Makoto and Gintaro come off as a markedly engaging pair, not so much as a set of mystic lovers but moreso a divine deity uncle looking after his favourite niece.  The former means incredibly well, is inordinately sweet-natured, while being flawed like regular people.  The latter while quite powerful is markedly lackadaisical and brusque, but maintains a strong sense of friendship to the young lady because of events that happened long ago.  They play off each other really well and you can tell their relationship is one of genuine trust and understanding.

That genuine trust and understanding helps permeate the show with the aforementioned sweetness and lack of cynicism.  There is a very distinctive Totoro-style vibe, where faith and the supernatural are present and not frowned upon, and that there is an innate goodness and innocence in human nature despite people’s flaws.  It may seem a bit saccharine and artificial, but based upon the performances of the seiyuu and the way the story is handled, it never comes off that way.  It will be interesting to see where this turns in later episodes, especially if the opening and presence of heralds in other shrines are any indication.

Yeah sure it lacks the peculiar bleakness of Coppellion or the over-the-top flair of Kill La Kill, Gingitsune’s gregariously good-natured attitude is endearing and makes me eager to watch more.  May good fortune smile upon this show indeed. — The Juude

Gundam Build Fighters

So we’ve finally come to it at last, the Gundam show about Gundam toy commercials. HOW COULD THEY DO THIS IS TO US?!? Thirty years of teen angst and apocalyptic mass destruction and what Sunrise give in return?!?

… a surprisingly entertaining, funny show that realizes its just selling toys and doesn’t care about it.

Not kidding, I liked it.

Our blue haired hero is Sei Iori, son of the legendary Gunpla Fighter Takeshi, who once wasted a Psycho Gundam with a single RX-78. Sei builds models that are as screen accurate (yes we’re in the real world here where Gundam is just a tv show) as the ones in the ads, but he’s terrible at actually using them in Gunpla fights. Things begin to change when he meets a strange foreigner named Reiji who gives him a leg up in battles despite not knowing what a Gunpla or Gundam is for that matter.

Oh and Ramba Ral shows up! No really!

Gundam Build Fighters is something I should hate considering its basically just Bakugan with Gundams. But… somehow… it works… it really works. The storyline is literally nothing yet its fun. Remember when Gundam was fun? Seems like soooo long ago… if ever (AND DON’T SAY SDGF!). Considering the mire the apparently now ended MBS-era fell into, we could use a little fun to usher in Gundam’s new home at TV Tokyo (I tend to divide periods of the franchise’s existence by what channels they were running on at the time). So turn your brain off and just take it for what it is. — Lord Dalek

Second Opinion!

Build Fighters is the most daring thing to come out of Gundam since Turn-A (AGE and SEED Destiny could’ve counted but don’t because the former fucked itself over big time and the latter because it’s Gundam SEED Destiny).   I could not help but feel a bit of joy while watching this.  You’d think Bandai/Sunrise would kinda skimp on budget, concept, etc., but the first episode was a very competent package with a lot of genuine love for those garish, aesthetically pleasing, marketable robots.

Iori Sei provides a nice change in the typical Gundam protagonist.  For all his passion for Gunpla, plus a dad who was 2nd place in the International Gunpla Battle tournament, he’s not at all good at the sport.  That changes when a strange boy named Reiji aids him in not only winning his first Gundam battle, but provides mysterious assistance whenever Iori needs him.  How this will develop I’m not quite sure.  The only thing I’m really worried about is if Iori doesn’t develop his skills and keeps utilizing Reiji as a deus ex machina in order to win.  That would not be cool, seeing as how the most awesome Gundam heroes eventually realize themselves in the best possible way.  Hopefully Iori ends up the same way.

Here’s to hoping the same joy I got out of this episode permeates throughout the rest of its run.  Also give us more awesome classic mobile suits in glorious HD.  Wing Gundam in HD?  Amazing. — The Juude

Koroshiya-san: The Hired Gun

Hoo boy another anime with nobody interested in streaming or subbing it for Western consumption.  I’d avoid but… it was only three minutes.

Wish I had those three minutes back because yegads.  Based on a 4-koma by the same name, the anime apparently revolves around a killer and his relationship with a number of other people.  Within that span of 180 seconds we waste it on a minute of intro, a minute of him faffing around cleaning up after a kill and chastising a boy for calling him old.  Then there’s about 30 seconds of him getting a haircut, then a promotion about possessed bento.  Then it ends.

This anime requires a termination of services for wasting its three minutes.  Don’t care if it’s based on a 4-koma, the Hired Gun needs to be fired. — The Juude

Magi: The Kingdom of Magic

Picking up where we left off from Labyrinth… The two Al’s (-addin and -ibaba) and ex-slave/tsundere Morgiana are back in Sindria, home of smooth guy and uber king Sinbad. Princess Dunya is also arround but dying a slow painful death due to the presence of the dark metal fragments she impaled herself with back in the Dark Djinn storyline. Aladdin tries to cure her with the wisdom of Solomon but it is all for naught. Depressed at his failure, Aladdin makes a surprise announcement to Ali and Morg that he is leaving, bound for the magician nation of Magnostadt.

Not wasting any time with any sort of recap, Magi 2 may actually be the biggest challenge for newcomers this season. True its only episode 26, but if you haven’t seen the previous 25 then A-1 isn’t giving you a life preserver with its in medias res approach to shonen show storytelling. This is especially complicated by the fact that Daisuki is now simulcasting this show despite never having run the first season at all (then again the dub is coming out in a couple weeks on Neon Alley which may explain the absence) so if you want to watch this show, then Kingdom of Magic seriously is not the best place to start.

That being said, its still Magi and Magi was one of the most popular shonen shows of last year for a reason. It manages to balance such lighthearted elements as Aladdin’s bizarre eating habits and sexfiend nature with moments of sheer utter hopelessness. A textbook example coming in this episode where Aladdin goes from fondling Dunya to fighting an ultimately futile battle to save her life. The setup for this season also has a darker feel with the dungeon clearing gone and the original trio broken up, perhaps for good.

I liked the first season of Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic a lot and the fact that it hasn’t lost much of a beat from the original series is a good sign that I’ll enjoy Kingdom too. Shame though that owner Aniplex seems completely disinterested on getting it a decent response in the US though. =/ — Lord Dalek

Meganebu!

Five young men who apparently shop at the same place as the Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure cast and go to the high school down the street from the Baka and Testers love their glasses. They love them so much that they have created their very own Glasses Club to extol the virtues of glasses not as a fashion item but as an important commodity in modern day living. To that end they spend the episode trying to build a pair of X-ray specs to look at naked women without taking their clothes off….this is a classy show people.

So basically Meganebu is what you get when a bunch of head honchos at Studio Deen see Animation Do’s infamous Sexy Swimming trailer and decide “Hey! KyoAni will never make Fujoshi bait this blatant! We’ve got this!” Then Kyoto Animation actually does make Free! and that show turns out to be actually good, which only highlights how bad Meganebu! is (and lord is it bad). The cast is basically two shota’s, one tsun, one sempai, and the leader is pimp-kun. This being Deen, they’re all idiots and they’re basically just spending the episode wasting time and their lives away. Hooray!

Visually the show is a clusterfuck. Everybody wears bright neon colors which the “artistes” at Dean can’t seem to fill in completely, so you end up seeing rectangular splotches all over the place in 1080p. Backgrounds are similarly inconsistent switching from that polka-dot shading motif popular in moe shows a couple years ago to just regular ones. Oh and the soundtrack somehow manages to rip off Gatchaman Crowds. No really!

I never thought I’d see a -bu show worse than Going Home Club but Meganebu! comes damn close. Let us never speak of it again. — Lord Dalek

My Mental Multiple-Choice Power Is Completely Ruining My School Romantic Comedy

This… is amazing.

No, not Noucome (a.k.a. Ore no Nōnai Sentakushi ga, Gakuen Love Come o Zenryoku de Jama Shiteiru/ My mental choices are completely interfering with my school romantic comedy), God no.  It is the fact that I have never seen an anime just turn in quality moments after the opening ends.  It just…  Wow.  I cannot believe what I saw.

Apparently one Amakusa Kanade, is beset by a mysterious malady that forces him to make one of two absurd choices lest he be beset by pain.  BEFORE the opening, it involved an amusing choice that felt right in establishing the rather absurdist tone of the show.  Then, after a weird two-minute spiel about the magic of choices which baffles and amuses, the gimmick just wears off…

…No it doesn’t wear off as so much as it… dies.  The entire premiere involves nothing but classroom banter between him and two weird girls who he’ll definitely share screentime with, and then he gets into that choice dilemma three times or so and makes an ass out of himself in front of the class.  They all were incredibly forced, without context, and doesn’t propel anything forward.  “OH!  HE HAS TO PICK THE LESSER EVIL SO HE WILL AND MAKES ASS OF HIMSELF!  FUNNY!!!!!!”  seems to be the idea of the day, and it’s a bad idea since… it feels like it’s done for sake of being done and not at all establishing a deeper relationship dynamic with anybody of note (except the not-Becky Miyamoto who knows of his condition.  Best character of the show?  Possibly).

Then it just ends with him having to choose between having a girl fall from the sky and apparently getting crushed by a fat lady.  Obviously he chooses incorrectly, and now we have an elegant gothic Lolita blonde as part of the cast.  If anything he probably should’ve chose death, but the anime throws you another set of choices between continuing to watch Noucome or not.

May I suggest the latter five times over, and consign it to some dark recess of hell. — The Juude

Non Non Biyori

As quirky recorder music fills your ears with the nostalgia of youth, you’re introduced to a menagerie of girls.  Each girl is with their own quirks and personalities, and each play off each other with a modicum of intrigue and amusement.  Add a girl from a faraway place trying to adjust to life in a new setting, and you got a recipe for something swell.  It’s eccentricity within the banality of school life, and it gives rise into something that you can’t help but be sucked into as—

Wait…  That was the first episode of Azumanga Daioh.  Non Non Biyori’s first episode is NOTHING like that.  The anime about a quintet of girls living in the countryside is actually quite boring and inoffensive.  There lacks a certain self-induced kinesis to their day-to-day lives and none have much of a screen presence in its bucolic setting.  Not even the new kid provides a light of brilliance or intrigue when she enters into the fray.  The only real highlights of this first episode are that one of them has a tanuki, and the girls led the newcomer to a nice spot with a blooming cherry blossom tree.  That’s… pretty much it.  I do not really have much faith that things will pick up.

As I said in my Aikatsu review, you can do better, you can do worse, or you can just do.  This series just does in spades, and it’s a shame since Non Non Biyori looks and sounds nice.  However that can only go so far, and it only makes it out the doorstep with barely a shuffle across the floor.  Wouldn’t say avoid but… wouldn’t say tune in so… dites-vous “Non Non” a Non Non Biyore. — The Juude

Samurai Flamenco

So a cop named Goto finds a naked kid in the alley. Then this scene plays again after the opening because the intended audience has razor-thin attention spans. After that, most of the episode is just the two main characters talking about wanting to be heroes in the middle of watching toku. Whereas that might sound a bit boring, seeing two guys watch people in spandex kicking each other while relating it to their own lives feels quite bittersweet. And be honest, I know some of you people have done that a few times recently.

Since the show is so intent on allusions to a certain Japanese superhero, I’ll talk about its spiritual forefather of sorts. The reason Kamen Rider is so grounded in modern Japanese culture is because of how he overcomes adversity. The first guy Takeshi Hongo gets taken by terrorists and turned into a cyborg, while having to duke it out with other unlucky victims of his adversaries. And despite that, he’s not a grim anti-hero, but a symbol of hope in ever increasing darkness. The idea that the lowest of us can become heroes is something that I suppose keeps the franchise going to this day, and Samurai Flamenco knows that. When Goto and his friend watch their show, they admire what it says no matter how outdated the fight scenes look or how cheesy the plots are.

I’m also intrigued by how the show contrasts the Showa type of hero with the modern, pretty boy version. While the latter is shoved into a world of photography and gravure idolatry, the main character genuinely wants to be a hero of the old days. That scene where he gets beaten up by a bunch of teenagers for his efforts really shows that contrast, especially when his words of justice get answered with a blunt kick. While both eras are heavily stylistic, the show argues that the present era yearns for the substance the past had. This is far from an alien opinion, but it’s odd for a show to actually say it out loud. Though it appears the show’s trying to say that trying to be old school is no match for the genuine article, I foresee a more optimistic tone in future episodes proving that old ways can still be passed on to new generations. — Bloody Marquis

Tesagure! Bukatsu-mono

I’m perplexed nobody wants to stream or sub this show for official release.  No, I do not really want to watch it raw, since unlike Gaist Crushers there probably isn’t much visually for me to glean the plot, never mind I’m rusty on most of my Japanese to decipher it, and yet…  watch it’s opening.

Yeah maybe my Japanese is a bit rusty but that minute-long opening is fairly accurate in its lyrics.  Nobody’s intrigued with a show so damn honest about what it is all about?  I reiterate that is perplexing.  Does it betray our expectations and the show is actually boring/obnoxious/stupid as hell or something?  Let me know.  Just… let me the fuck know, because this opening…  This opening! — The Juude

Tokyo Ravens

Ho boy, here’s an anime with a mysterious Japanese governmental agency who specializes in stemming the tide against dark magic and a reluctant protagonist with a complicated relationship between two girls.  Sure sounds like a real success story, I say with a hint of sarcasm and uncertainty, but Tokyo Ravens seems to do quite well with itself, despite not doing anything TOO spectacular from the get go.

Instead of throwing the viewer into the thick of things, Tokyo Ravens focuses on getting us to know the hero, Harutaro.  He fits the role of the reluctant protagonist to the T, for despite his connections to one of the biggest families in the onmyo mage business (what with this promise to be the ‘familiar’ to his childhood friend Natsume), he says he doesn’t have the skills or the wherewithal to be such.  However, despite this he thankfully is not that “Oh I don’t care”-style of character but an “I’m content with where I am so why change that”-style.  He interacts with his thankfully supportive friends very well, and… doesn’t really do anything to insult but doesn’t do anything to REALLY impress either.

It is hard really to have an opinion for this other than it has… potential.  Things get intense near the end where the onmyo mage battles arrive at his hometown, and it turns out one of the top mages is on the lam, but other than that I cannot really make a definitive on whether it should be worth anybody’s time.

Come back to me after Episode 2 and maybe we’ll talk. — The Juude

Unbreakable Machine-Doll

I can’t say I really like the world-building in this show. It’s very barebones and relies on the viewer already having seen tons of supernatural media beforehand, which only hurts the show by being unfavorably compared to probably better works. I mean, the “guy goes to wizard school” plot has been done to death and then to being undead until after being reduced to some form of irreparable entropy. There are some interesting parts like the Joji Nakata dragon, but that’s not because of the writing but rather because it’s Joji Nakata. Everything is just bland and does nothing to entertain a fantasy fan. I couldn’t imagine why people would want to watch this…

Oh yes, the girls. You bastards will watch this for the girls. And they’re not very well-defined girls, with the blonde one talking to Kirei the Magic Dragon about how she can’t find a boyfriend who will lovr her. But that’s just progressive in comparison to Yaya, who always muses about her love for her master while speaking in the third person. Overall, it’s trash. Only works like these would have some poorly-handled fantasy story while peppering every element with fanservice antics. This show is for people who are too lazy to read Harry Potter fanfiction. Really, this reads exactly like those stories where Harry is some doormat self-insert while all the girls are interested in him. I can’t wait for the moment where he goes to the bath and meets the resident tsundere so will-they-or-won’t-they-but-probably-won’t fun happens between the two. I also savor for the episode where he falls and grabs someone’s boob, causing the dragon to light him on fire while he struggles to make an excuse. — Bloody Marquis

Valvrave The Liberator Second Season

The first season of Valvrave is memorable only for one thing: it’s by far the stupidest anime of the year that also brought us Sparrow’s Hotel. To summarize the “plot,” Space Nazi vampires are using giant flying waffle irons to attack a country run by mentally challenged children. To combat them, the kids use mechs powered by the protagonist’s sex drive. These robots will only work if he ingests another human being’s blood or has violent sex with them. I wish I was joking.

In the first season, Haruto (our “hero”), raped the only semi-intelligent character not named Eru-Erufu, and then they got married. Now, Saki, a once domineering go-getter, has become Haruto’s submissive waifu – her only wish is to be a dumpster for his angry vampire semen. That Elf guy aside, none of the other characters have intelligence quotients higher than 70, and are therefore not worth talking about. No amount of flashy, well-done space battles will change the fact that Valrvave is both insultingly stupid and disgustingly offensive. This show is only worth watching ironically, and even then you’d be better off with something that doesn’t think it’s being edgy. — Foggle

Voice Actor Force Voicetorm 7

This isn’t actually an anime, it’s more of a motion comic. A competently-made motion comic, with hilarious voice overs and music, but a motion comic nonetheless. The characters blink sometimes (at a stupidly fast rate), but that’s really about it as far as movement goes. As far as I can discern with my limited knowledge of Japanese and the lack of subtitles, this episode is about a bunch of voice actors hanging out at a bar who are convinced to become sentai heroes by the janitor when a sentient doujinshi-eating tree attacks Akihabara. They stop it with little effort and then there’s some weird live action part where the male cast talks to the audience. The end.

Even without being able to follow the dialogue, this series seems like it could be a bit of fun. It’s nice and colorful, and a lot of the artwork and audio are silly enough to be enjoyable on their own. That said, I can’t really recommend you check this out unless you speak Japanese (it will probably never be subbed), but there are worse ways to pass the time, I suppose. — Foggle

Walkure Romanze

Before watching this show:
I am the kind of dude who at least likes to give shows ‘a fair shake’, even if they turn out to be mediocre or just plain terrible. Well, when this show landed in my lap, I wasn’t exactly thrilled but eager for a challenge. Made by the creator of Princess Lover (another get-gal game adapted to anime) and produced by the same studio that is doing Infinite Stratos S2 this season (a get-gal LN adapted to anime which had a lackluster first season), so my expectations are uncharacteristically low to non-existent. Which is a shame, as the premise shows some promise: Guy goes to a school (Winford Academy) that specializes in jousting. The twist is that most of the knights are girls, or maiden knights, which should be evident by the title, roughly translated to Valkyrie Romance (cus anime has to have random german in it sometimes). So, I shall go into this with no expectation at all; let’s see if it can surprise me….

After watching this show:
Well, that wasn’t as bad as I thought. The opening scene with the jousting match is brief but amazing. To this show’s credit, the animation is rather solid for this kind of show and the music is quite good (i.e. Its at least noticeable and not wallpaper like most music in other harem series). The faint praise ends there as with the story and characters, it essentially boils down the episode to an introductory piece for the story and characters. First, there is the typical bland male main lead: Takahiro or Mr. Blandy McMehPants as I like to call him as he does next to nothing in the episode. There is some backstory on him” He ended up winning a tournament, but got injured at some point so had to switch over to other curriculum, being a begleiter akin to a squire of sorts.

Next, the harem of 5-6 girls appear with a few scenes what flimsy characterization they got. They have names, but I don’t bother to remember except as nicknames, which I shall list off here:
Pink meido carrot obsessed ditz (main girl to get on this route no doubt)
Gorgeous Student Prez Blondie
Dark-haired Lesbian handy with a sword (best kind of lesbian imho)
Sly Tomboy Brunette
Self-Confident Blonde Beauty (the haughty ojou-sama)

They are or will be competing for him to be their squire or something (begleiter cus it’s German lol). There is fanservice (plenty of T&A shots) to be sure, mostly caused by a rather antic-ridden horse, and certainly will be a mainstay for this show. The episode ends with Self Confident Blonde Beauty challenging the Pink ditz to a jousting duel: EHHHH?! (Said pink ditz is total noob it would seem). To be fair, it was a brisk first episode.

Overall, Walkure Romanze is OK: average and barely competent, light-weight fare. It certainly follows the cliches and tropes of almost every harem series from the past 10 years, but I think the romance along with the jousting (in more ways than one) will go hand in hand as opposed to being separate elements within the series. It has certainly some good animation and music, though I can dream that they can use some Wagner. With harem fanservice show like this, it being OK is a good thing. You could certainly do a lot worse in this genre. I shall see if this show can maintain my interest. — The Eclectic Dude

Wanna Be The Strongest In The World

Huh, a series about women’s wrestling… I guess that could be coOF COURSE IT’S A FUCKING FANSERVICE SHOW. No one’s watching this for the plot or an authentic representation of the sport, they’re watching it to see scantily clad women grope each other and moan a lot. Like, a lot. Seriously, this episode alone probably has more sexual moaning than most porn. The camera zooms in from the absolute worst (or best, depending on your POV) possible angles, making it look like the girls are about to eat each other out or something. The story is as stupid as they come (a pop music idol wants to become a pro wrestler just because, you know?) and there are no characters – only hentai archetypes. It’s not even sexy, just dumb and tasteless. If you’re legitimately thinking about watching this show, well, go ahead… just know that I’m very ashamed of you. — Foggle

Yozakura Quartet: Hana no Uta

I have no idea what to think about Hana no Uta, a 2013 remake of a 2010 remake of a 2008 anime based on a 2006 manga named Yozakura Quartet (or so I hear). I found the first two-thirds of the episode an absolute struggle to watch, groaning many times at the characters and dialogue, but I enjoyed the last part quite a bit. What’s good is certainly great; the animation during the action scenes is fluid and energetic, the background music and sound effects are amazing, and the abject silliness of having a superhero team fight giant bouncing fish as their first on-screen villains definitely hit the right notes for me. The show is very attractive due to its expert usage of color as well, though I can’t say I cared much for the actual human designs. Unfortunately, I did not like the characters at all – they were too “kawaii” for me, or something to that extent. I found the majority of their voices, mannerisms, and dialogue try-hard cute to point of being grating. There’s also that one enigmatic kid who does nothing but grab his maid’s chest and lay down on her lap. No idea what the point of that scene was other than to make me roll my eyes.

The world of Yozakura Quartet is inhabited by both humans and “Beasts.” Beasts have crazy awesome superpowers like the ability to create any object just by imagining its physical form and saying its name. Of course, no superhero is complete without a supervillain, so there’s some weather wizard guy attacking the city because that’s just what supervillains do, y’know? He turns all the fish at the summer festival’s fishing game booth into monstrous meat blimps since obviously that’s the best way to exert your dominance over the weak and innocent. Our heroes defeat the uber fisch without breaking a sweat, and then a new bad guy is revealed in a stunning plot twist that will likely surprise no one.

As much as I thought I’d hate this series at its outset, the final act really redeemed the episode for me. It’s goofy and fun with little in the way of pretense. It’s also worth noting that I quite enjoyed the previous OVA series, Hoshi no Umi, in spite of similar grievances, so there’s a good chance this one will turn out well too. I’d say Hana no Uta is probably worth a look for any action fan able to tolerate a few cringe-worthy moments. — Foggle

Remember the episodes where Aang didn’t appear, and we focused on somebody else like Zuko and Appa? Remember how those were probably some of the best episodes in the show, depending on how you viewed The Beach? This feels like one of them. It allows for the side characters to stretch with the lead out of the way. The show did a nice job focusing on how the North-South conflict was affecting everyone else, such as Bolin’s film career and Mako’s policing gig. And Asami gets to do something for once this season. That’s nice. Sure, she gets dicked around by romantic tension rearing its ugly head. But it’s something, at least. Still, other characters have been getting more to work with.

I know this has been overstated, but Varrick’s role this season has been more entertaining than the actual main characters. So finding out his real role in the last few minutes came off as an interesting twist. Like, we get an entertaining villain who’s been effective at working behind the scenes and playing tricks on the characters. You think he’s this Willy Wonka type of guy who’s helping Asami out with her business, but then he uses the Water Tribe conflict to reap profits while attacking targets so he won’t have to give any of his share to Asami. And by attacking places like cultural centers and ships while blaming it on the North, he can keep the war running indefinitely as an impromptu arms dealer. And if he ever gets caught, Varrick already has substantial connections with both Republic City and Future Industries to make Asami look like the main culprit instead. He’s the antagonist Unalaq should have been.

Really, it feels like the Korra writers have a wonderful plot in front of them, but they push it to the side in order to focus on Korra’s family being assholes to each other. It’s like with the original show where I sympathized more with characters like Iroh than the main cast. The staff seems more adept at writing characters I like when they’re not in the limelight. It’s almost feels like the writers have wonderful plots and ideas in front of them, but push them aside to focus on the boring main story. Though I guess that’s how I feel when having to deal with the worst Republic City cop of all time.

Even though he and Asami had something decent this week, Mako still acted remarkably stupid. You’re going to ask gangsters for help by offering them giant robots. And then you don’t have anyone guard the giant robots you currently own. Throughout all those scenes, I wondered exactly why Mako was hired to be a cop if he’s going to do stupid things like this. He just gives so many options for him to be screwed right in front of known outlaws, and expects them to help him as if they’re buddies. That’s something the goofy cop in every dumb police comedy does, not a character in a show where terrorism occurs in the first scene of an episode. The writers want to make the show seem mature by introducing that along with the spiritual extremist element, but they don’t blend with how the characters aren’t acting smart to go along with that shift.

I think that’s a key reason to some of the more inspired opinions on the show. Characters are expected to act like adults, but use kid logic in their plans. And while I could always use the “well, it is a kids’ show” excuse, that’s too dismissive to the audience. If you have terrorism, religious zealots, mid-life angst, politics, and murder in your show, you’ve given up the kid excuse. Your show is clearly trying to appeal to a wider audience outside of the Dan Schneider and Spongebob feedbag, but only on the outside instead of internal elements. Because of that, you have Bolin acting like Simon Belmont from Captain N than an actual human being. Elsewhere, Asami gets all of her stuff stolen based on a hindsight flaw anyone would’ve at least tried to avert. And someone we all know and love gets easy amnesia. What made for a clever Saturday morning show is becoming an elementary primetime series, in that it feels like a big fish has been thrown from a pond into an ocean.

Apparently Ryuuko’s outfit is not a Goku Uniform, it’s actually something called a Kamui. Please forgive my ignorance when writing last week’s article.

Episode 2: So Sexy She Might Pass Out or So Sexy I’m Going To Faint or whatever the hell

Going into this second installment, I was somewhat worried that Studio Trigger would not be able to keep up the sheer amount of energy, humor, and badassery that characterized the series premiere, but thankfully those fears were unfounded. The animation is a bit more limited this time around (though it still flows smoothly where it should), yet that doesn’t bother me too much since it most likely means they’re saving up money to make future episodes look as amazing as they deserve to. As long as Kill la Kill remains vibrant and filled with spectacle, I can’t rightly complain… especially since this is Trigger’s first television production.

Before we begin, I’d like to talk about the OP. It’s… not very good, honestly. I mean, it isn’t a terrible song or opening animation, but they’re just so generic, like something you’d see in a Gonzo production. You’ve got your inoffensive J-pop-rock, your rapid-fire main character popups, hell, even your genitalia-less nudity (which I really could have done without). While I’d definitely categorize KLK as a parody of anime in general, and want to believe that the OP is part of the joke, I know it’s probably not. I assume this is mostly Aniplex’s doing. No disrespect to their music artists, but Aniplex is always pushing them on their productions, and it really shows here. The theme song doesn’t jive with Kill la Kill‘s “I’m gonna’ be ridiculous and not even give a shit” tone, much like Fate/Zero‘s bafflingly unfitting OP before it. The ED is similarly bland, though judging by its accompanying video, I believe that one’s bad on purpose – perhaps even meant as a parody of the production company-mandated opening.

Anyway, yes, the episode. It’s amazing. I’m still under the impression that Trigger made this show with the express intent of making me – specifically me – feel like a little kid again, and they’re succeeding. There’s nothing better than seeing our loveable hot-blooded shounenjo protagonist beat the bad guy’s face in with a tennis ball and racket after finishing up a couple days’ worth of depression-inducingly tedious work. The genius facial expressions, rockin’ background music, and over the top voice acting once again remind me of why I love cartoons in the first place. Most impressively, the whole experience remains cohesive and understandable in spite of its continued adherence to the entire-arc-of-Dragon-Ball-Z-per-episode pacing. I can’t get enough.

So Ryuuko is now living with Mako, and her family is straight up hilarious. The moments featuring their introductions barrel forward with an intensity rivaling the action scenes and feature a a metric ton of spot on humor. The dog even gets an intro card. I love it. At school, Mako is humorously tossed around and beaten up by the tennis team for missing their last practice (due to being held hostage by the student council, of course) until Ryuuko kindly steps in and rescues her. Unfortunately, she has yet to realize that Senketsu (the name she gives to her battle uniform in a flashback) can only power up when it tastes human blood, so she gets knocked into the sewer by Hakodate, captain of the tennis team.

Saved by the mysterious teacher who dumped her into the basement last episode, he introduces himself via sex joke and then goes on to do a striptease. Truly, sentences like that are why I can’t help but love this show. Ryuuko learns how to properly power up, and returns to face Hakodate in the greatest high-stakes sports face-off since Courage the Cowardly Dog. Their tennis match is a laugh riot filled with intense athleticism action™ and fantastic physical comedy. It’s not quite the beautifully-animated spectacle of the previous episode’s prologue, but it is absurd and compulsively enjoyable all the same. Maybe it was just the tennis poses, but I actually thought Ryuuko’s battle suit looked kind of cool in this scene, though I know no one will agree with me so whatever. On that note, there’s a lot more fanservice in this episode than the previous one, but outside of one glaring cheesecake shot, I still didn’t find it gratuitous or objectifying at all. Plus, y’know, there’s male fanservice now too. And that’s all I’ll say on the subject – check out BlackCatula’s Tumblr for a much better analysis of this aspect than I could ever come up with.

I don’t have as much to say about episode 2 as I did the first installment because it’s just a villain-of-the-week action-comedy right now. However, knowing the crew behind Kill la Kill, I think it’s safe to assume that it won’t stay this way for very long. I’m anticipating insane plot twists and weird experimental scenes to mull over sometime in the near future, along with the creation and discussion of wild theories in regards to the plot. Here’s one I’ve already come up with: what if, every time Ryuuko feeds Senketsu a piece of a Goku Uniform, it grows increasingly more powerful and less risque, eventually culminating in it gaining complete control and becoming the central villain of the series, possibly killing one of the major characters in the process? Think about it. Or don’t.

I can’t wait for next week. From the preview, part 3 looks like another home run, and promises to be the most exciting episode yet.

I would have posted this yesterday, but I didn’t even get a chance to watch the second episode until a few hours ago. Expect most entries in this series to go up on Thursdays!

 

Issue #1 or “The Case of the Gentle Ghost Man!”

 

The earliest episode in this feature is from the first half of the first season and was chosen specifically because it was the first episode to show the full potential of the series. While the six episodes before it are all good episodes well worthy of watching, it was really with “Dawn of the Dead Man!” that the show came into its own with much more going on than most viewers would catch on the first viewing. In this episode a lot happens in such a short time frame, so you’ll really need to pay attention to keep up.

So grab yourselves a bowl of heavily salted snack treats (or veggie snacks, depending on your diet) and let’s jump in to this great episode!

 

#1 – Dawn of the Dead Man!

Written by: Steve Melching

Directed by: Ben Jones

 

Principle Cast:

Diedrich Bader as Batman

Michael Rosenbaum as Deadman

Greg Ellis as Gentleman Ghost

James Arnold Taylor as Green Arrow

Jason Marsden as Speedy

 

There have been many stories about the death of the hero and the world’s reaction to it, some even starring Batman himself. However, ‘Dawn of the Dead Man!” twists this idea about in an interesting direction by starting in a somewhat odd spot.

We first start with an ominous shot of Batman’s grave. What? Batman’s dead already?! But this is the first issue?! Who could have put our hero six feet under so fast?!

Well, hold onto your hats folks, we need to step back a bit to see how Batman got here.

Batman gets the first words of this segment when he tells us what we’re already thinking. “You’re probably wondering who got me. The thing is- I’m not dead. Not yet, at least. But I sure was feeling a lot better a few hours ago.” He says this as his spirit begins to leave his body into the night sky just as the episode finally begins.

Though every episode before this started with a bang, this was the first episode to really push the formula. Batman’s basically dead and someone killed him, but as the show would become infamous for later- there’s a lot more than that going on behind the scenes in such a simple looking show. While the audience wonders exactly how can he be a spirit but not dead it doesn’t take long to find out that there’s much more going on than Batman’s supposed death.

When we are taken back to a few hours ago we see Batman chasing the villain known as the Gentleman Ghost through the streets of London where the story apparently takes place. It turns out that the Gentleman Ghost is looking to raise his army of the dead to destroy the world of the living, and to do so he needs three artifacts. He is currently in possession of two- which means Batman needs to work fast to stop him.

You see, Gentleman Ghost was foiled long ago as a man named ‘Gentleman’ Jim Craddock and was put to death for his crimes. But that’s a whole other story and it might involve Sherlock Holmes so let’s skip to why he’s back now- to take his revenge on the world of course! Craddock had always been more interested in control of the supernatural to control and crush the natural since he was still alive, and it was a curse that followed him into his undead existence.

“I’m the man who haunts YOU, Gentleman Ghost!”

“I don’t scare easy, Batman!”

Unfortunately for our hero, Batman takes a spill in mid-air while in pursuit of the monstrous menace and is dumped into a shallow grave to await his death. The Dark Knight struggles to break himself free of his coffin prison, but it is no use. What can he do to get away from this sudden grave danger? He uses an ancient Tibetan astral projection technique to free part of him into the chilly London night.

His spirit becomes stuck in the netherworld between the mortal world and the afterlife giving him a way of seeking help for his dire situation, but he can’t rest just yet. He quickly takes an air capsule to help his body breathe longer, but it won’t last forever. Because he only has a limited time (two hours) before he dies for real and the Gentleman Ghost is free to unleash havoc on the world.

Lucky for him, help comes rather fast.

The strange spirit known only as “Deadman” comes to him thinking that Batman has actually died, but soon learns the truth that the newly deceased superhero is not actually deceased but in need of assistance in more ways than one. Deadman volunteers to dig up his body by possessing another to do the deed, but it isn’t good enough since the coffin is booby trapped and wired to explode should anyone tamper with it. The Caped Crusader’s fate isn’t looking too good at this point. So both the Bat and the spirit-man leave the graveyard in search of other clues in their limited time before his short life comes to an end.

It is unknown exactly how long the mysterious spirit has been walking alone among the dead, but it is implied that it has been a very long time. Either way, there must be something more to him if he volunteers to help our hero without even a complaint. We’ll learn more about Deadman in due time.

Meanwhile, the Gentleman Ghost runs afoul of a fake psychic who has the final piece of his collection. His comment that his proof that she was a fake is because the one mystical artifact in the store is being treated as window-dressing is a nice touch. Those who profit off the spiritual plain annoy him just as much as those who try to stop him from taking over the physical one. He may be a bad guy, but he is a gentleman after all. He has to have some sense of honor and class in taking over the mortal plain.

“Save your pennies, sir! This woman is a cheap charlatan!”

In fact, spiritual matters are the only thing the ghastly ghost ever appears to take seriously. Mortal men simply bring his long-drained blood to a boil, but put him up against a spirit or a demon and his tune changes fast.

As the Gentleman Ghost saves the day from psychic forgery, Batman and his otherworld escort takes through the darkened skies of London when Deadman informs him of how lonely it is in the world between life and death since nobody can see or hear you. However, somebody does hear Batman when a bright light appears before him that Deadman can’t see. He quickly learns that it’s the way to the other side and that he must make a choice.

This is where the episode takes a bit of a sudden turn.

Deadman states that the light only appears to those who are finally ready to move on and have left all their earthly business behind. He himself has never seen the light, but tells his companion that this light might be his only shot to have a guaranteed spot on the other side because there is no telling what might happen in the future and once he crosses there’s no coming back. What Batman- no, what Bruce Wayne must do is make a choice that can very directly affect the world. There are people waiting for him back home, but there are also people waiting for him in the light.

Keep in mind that we don’t know why Batman exists here. The only hint we are given to his identity is that his name is Bruce Wayne, he’s rich, and he has a butler named Alfred. Why he has a vendetta against criminals is revealed in the sub-plot to “Invasion of the Secret Santas!” because his parents were killed in an alley because of a movie he wanted to see on Christmas due to his parents trying to give him the perfect gift.

We will later learn why he chose the bat mantle in “Return of the Fearsome Fangs!” but for now we only know that he is a hero because his parents died and he wants to make sure nobody goes through that again.

Bruce is told he’s earned a rest and can safely move on, but ultimately decides against it. There’s still more work to be done, and it’s not time for him to go just yet.

It’s at this point where we realize exactly where Batman is in his journey. His parents’ death is no longer the driving force behind his heroism, but is only the catalyst to where it began. He’s long past the days for falling in love with the right person and hoping for a new life (as we will also find out later) and is almost entirely Batman now with Bruce Wayne as the disguise. It’s no coincidence that it takes until a very important season 2 episode before we see Bruce Wayne’s face for the first time. As of right now there is only Batman left.

Either way, Batman decides that he has to stay because it’s his job and Deadman chastises his decision obviously envious that he saw the light before him.

The pair muses about their situation. Certainly there must be a hero around that can help the pair out before it’s too late? Luckily for our floating protagonists, there are just the heroes to help them running through the streets (err, roofs) of London!

Green Arrow and Speedy have been chasing a criminal through twelve cities across three continents (according to Speedy) and have finally managed to catch him when our heroes spot them and attempt to gather their aide. It’s important to mention here that Batman and Green Arrow are direct rivals and remains the one person Batman hates to ask for help. Green Arrow is the very same person always competing with him to be labeled the best frequently comparing criminal captures with him. He’s also the most arrogant of his fellow heroes (aside from a certain Green Lantern) and the first to make a snide comment contrasted with his ward who is always eager to help and is much more modest.

Speedy and Green Arrow share their own tumultuous crime fighting issues, but since they don’t surface in this episode its best to assume this is one of their better nights. No fetching Green Arrow’s bow in the crocodile pit this night for poor Speedy.

What follows instead is Batman using Deadman’s trick and possessing the ever-chipper Speedy to get Green Arrow’s attention. Of course, Green Arrow doesn’t believe his possessed ward until Batman’s trademark intimidation techniques kick in and he finally comes to his senses before his possessed partner beats him to a pulp. He tells the archers to dig up his body at the cemetery before it’s too late (there’s an hour left) and the two take off without further delay to rescue their good friend.

“Hahaha! Golly, you sure sound- Listen to me, you smug jerk! I’m Batman!”

Deadman mopes about when he hears that Gentleman Ghost is involved and resents Batman for getting him involved. Our hero tells the spirit that maybe if he wasn’t busy thinking of himself he would realize there’s a reason he is where he is, and that he can still do some good in the world despite no longer being a part of it. He leaves Deadman alone to sulk while he takes off, but the sour spirit soon joins back up with him and tells him his story.

Batman has a way of speaking sense in this show that always manages to cut through any pretension and bitterness in a way that always follows both his character and the story. It’s a strange balancing act to prevent him from becoming stale and one note, but the show always succeeds at it and Batman’s dry sense of humor always adds just enough wit when needed.

Deadman tells his new friend that he was once a trapeze artist in the circus until he was murdered by a man with a hook for a hand for reasons he doesn’t actually know. His death was such a small event that nobody even talked about it and he was soon forgotten which made him bitter. A man who always brings attention to himself now receives none. It’s quite a pill to swallow for the arrogant acrobat. However, Batman being the smart guy that he is knows exactly who he is and how he died and informs Deadman that he’s been working his case since he died promising that he will find his killer eventually. But first, Deadman must make a decision to writhe alone in the past or help Batman in the present before things get worse.

This is possibly the third time a dead body is shown in this episode, but who’s counting?

“I’m putting a stop to your afterlife of crime!”

“You don’t stand a ghost of a chance!”

While Green Arrow and Speedy try to save Batman’s life, the Caped Crusader and Deadman chase after the Gentleman Ghost who actually can be hurt by spirits just as he can by mortals. Though Gentleman Ghost shows no fear to Batman while he’s alive, he shows plenty more fear now that he sort of-isn’t. The specter flees in terror from the sight of two vengeful spirits though the sewers and the group ends up back at the cemetery as the clock continually counts down. The trio end up in a hidden catacomb under the cemetery where the grisly ghost attempts to summon executed spirits to do his bidding on earth.

The pair quickly finds themselves overwhelmed by the spirits of the underworld and Batman sends Deadman to retrieve the nth metal tools from his utility belt as they are the most effective against the undead. While their enemy amasses an undead army for himself to destroy the mortal world, our heroes both mortal and not scramble to save one of their own before it is too late.

“Tonight, we burn London to the ground!” The Gentleman Ghost cries as we come into the final act.

As we head for the climax, Green Arrow and Speedy rescue Batman’s body from the booby-trapped coffin just as Deadman arrives to take control of his body and direct the two bowmen to their plight. He uses Batman’s utility belt to blow a hole through the ground to help his friend while the Gentleman Ghost rises to the surface and the two archers are left to deal with the oncoming undead menace.

Being his usual gloating self, he looks down on the two archers who are unaware of what it is they are truly facing.

“Stand aside, fools… or I shall cast your broken bodies into the Thames!”

“Oh yeah, you and what army?”

“Never ask that question, Speedy.”

While Batman returns to the battle with body intact, Deadman sticks around to help against the horde and a knock-down drag-out brawl occurs where the four heroes fight against Gentleman Ghost’s army. It turns out the undead is no match for nth metal arrows and fists (and a possessed ward) leading to him dropping his artifacts.

Batman promptly blows the artifacts causing Gentleman Ghost to quickly lose control of his own horde that promptly turn on him and drag him to his… well, imprisonment, most likely. He’s already dead, after all. He curses Batman one last time as they drag him through the cemetery ground and the army vanishes with him back to the underworld. It’s safe to say this is the last we’ve seen of Craddock.

Maybe.

“No! Help me, I beg you!”

”Your army isn’t as loyal as you thought, Craddock.”

“Curse you, Batman! Curse you!”

The Dark Knight thanks Deadman for his help (though he can’t see him) and vows to find his friend’s killer like he always said he would, though Speedy has no idea who he’s talking to being unaware of Deadman’s existence unlike the older heroes.

The spirit flies off triumphant in saving the world to see the light for the first time staring him in the face. Deadman finally finds what it is he is looking for and smiles as it finally comes upon him giving him what he wanted most of all.

Before the story ends we are treated to an epilogue that takes place three months later. Some bad people have taken Batman prisoner aboard a ship and are ready to kill him when suddenly he is visited by a familiar friend. Deadman takes control of the one who is about to kill Batman and frees him saying that he still has things he can do to help on earth and that maybe there is a reason he has the powers he has. The episode ends as Batman and Deadman take on their confused enemies in a good old round of beat down.

So what we have here is the first episode of Batman: The Brave & The Bold that showed exactly what it can do. In the same story you have a race against time, a choice between life and death, a battle against an undead army, an introduction and redemption of a brand new character, back-story, funny lines and gags, and excellent character moments all packed tightly into one episode. It is quite easy to see how the show swings from action to comedy, from drama to tongue in cheek all effortlessly and without any issue. “Dawn of the Dead Man!” is the first episode to show every side of the fantastic show all in one place both in its potential and in its execution. Pun always intended.

It’s one of the show’s best.

Hopefully that was whetting enough for what is to come in the wonderful world of Batman, ladies and gentlemen. There’s still plenty to go and we’ve only just begun to scratch the surface!

Until next time, Bat-fans! Same brave blog, same bold place!

So it’s come to this… weekly blogging about episodes of an anime. Well, if Dalek and Marquis can do it, then so can I definitely probably maybe! By the way, sorry if my gratuitous Spanish title makes no sense – I just like the way it rolls off the tongue.

It took less than 90 seconds for me to fall in love with Kill la Kill. By the end of the first episode, I was infatuated. It’s probably unhealthy. But I just can’t resist the butter smooth animation or that unique art style. I adore the characters, the action, the humor, the voice acting, the use of color, and pretty much everything else about it. It’s like Trigger made this show specifically for me. If you want my full thoughts on episode 1, I invite you to check out our most recent Clusterfuck. We all worked very hard on it!

Some criticism has been leveled at this series opener on account of two things. I did not mention either of these in my Clusterfuck entry as I personally thought they were no big deal; however, it has been brought to my attention that at least a few people feel otherwise, so I would like to give my thoughts on them, and open up a (civil) discussion if possible. First is the way protagonist Ryuuko Matoi obtains her superpowers. The bad guys in this series are given special abilities by magic school clothes known as Goku Uniforms, but Ryuuko does not have one to call her own, and therefore proves ineffectual at fighting them. After being utterly defeated in her first encounter with the evil student council, she returns to the home of her dead father, and discovers that he’d left behind a unique Goku Uniform in the basement, presumably made for her.

What follows is a rape joke. Well, it’s not actually a rape joke; in fact, the punchline is that there isn’t any rape. The dialogue is written and framed to be suggestive of unwanted advances, but there’s nothing outright sexual about the scene, and Ryuuko is never raped or even in any danger of being raped, which I suppose makes it a “not rape” joke. It’s the only uncomfortable moment in the entire episode, and I would certainly say its inclusion was ill-advised, but after examining the scene and thinking about the context, I do not feel that its intention was to make light of sexual assault.

Let’s take a look at what transpires in this scene. Ryuuko awakens the Goku Uniform – which apparently can move and talk on its own – by bleeding on it. It’s hungry for blood, and wants to be worn by her so that it can escape from its underground prison and be fed more delicious organic spaghetti sauce. She figures it probably wouldn’t be such a good idea to use a homicidal maniac for clothing and thus opts not to wear it, but then the uniform forces itself onto her. Then she powers up and a beam of light explodes out of her.

Now, if the outfit had been forced onto her by another person with a perverted or erotic bent, I would have been repulsed. Something like that would be absolutely disgusting and tasteless. But we’re referring to a talking inanimate object here. Yes, it rips her previous clothes off, but there’s no sexual connotation. It’s not lusting after her body, it just wants someone to wear it, and in my experience, most people don’t change outfits by leaving the first one on and pulling the new clothing over it. I don’t see how this is all that different from the Symbiote latching onto Spider-Man or Eddie Brock against their will. In fact, I believe this scene was actually meant to portray the Goku Uniform in a negative light, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it ends up being a villain later on, much like the Symbiote. Really, this part just seems like a classic superhero trope played for laughs. It definitely comes across as more creepy than funny, but I don’t think it was intended to be offensive or mean-spirited.

I don’t mean to be insensitive. I can easily see why some would find this part of the episode problematic. That said, I’d argue that Trigger is probably the last anime studio who would ever promote rape culture or make light of sexual violence. Their previous OVA – the marvelous Little Witch Academia – is a family-friendly affair potentially aimed at young girls, and my good buddy BlackCatula has written a great piece on how the last show these fellas made before leaving Gainax – Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt – is one of the most feminist TV series out there. These folks consistently produce great work that I feel tries harder than most anime to be inclusive of all demographics (provided they have a taste for the silly and bizarre).

So now Ryuuko is supercharged and ready to beat down the bad guys! Unfortunately, her Goku Uniform looks like this, which embarrasses the boxing club captain:

Some have argued that this undermines her character. I do not agree one bit. Yes, it’s provocative, but why does that matter? Ryuuko has already proven to be a fantastic character, and I’d argue that the show actually does not use this design to objectify her. Hear me out.

First of all, this entire episode has a very satirical bent to it, and her outfit is part of that. I’m not sure how, considering that Kill la Kill is anything but subtle, but a lot of the satire in this show seems to have flown over people’s heads. The story of this first installment alone comprises an entire arc of a standard battle shounen anime – hero shows up in a new place, hero fights villain, hero gets defeated, hero retreats to increase power, hero comes back and kicks the villain’s ass – and here it’s all over and done with in 25 minutes. The student council being an all-powerful fascist dictatorship is most definitely a parody of how student councils are portrayed in most modern anime as being more influential than their respective teachers and principals. The first kid’s dead body being displayed and the way Mako is held captive are references to kung fu movies. And Ryuuko’s battle uniform is a joke about how female superheroes and their ilk are almost always dressed scantily to appeal to a perceived male audience. The characters even comment on this within the episode. Various posters show that her Goku Uniform eventually turns into something more modest, which lends credence to the thought that this is all part of some elaborate joke.

If you’ve seen Gurren Lagann, you may remember a man named Kamina. He was drawn to look handsome and never wore a shirt, but he was an inspiring and loveable character that many anime fans still consider among their favorites. I see Ryuuko in the same light. Her battle uniform is sexy, sure, but that doesn’t change the fact that so far she has proven to be one of the most easily likeable protagonists in any anime. In every scene, she is portrayed as a legitimately good person. Take, for instance, when she steals the delivery boy’s bike to escape from the school. He complains about how she stole his deliveries, so she actually brings them back to him. Now, yes, this is a silly one-off joke, but it also constitutes subtle character building. A more obvious example of her kindheartedness is how she risks her life to save Mako despite only knowing her for a couple hours. She beats the first villain with determination and skill, and avoids any innocent casualties. Even Superman couldn’t do that! The point is, what does it matter what she wears? A woman is not defined by her clothing… she’s defined by her personality, and Ryuuko has plenty of that. She’s a true hero, and a damn good one at that.

Future installments of this series will likely go up on Thursdays or Fridays. I actually wasn’t planning on writing a non-Clusterfuck piece about episode 1 until earlier today. The rest of the entries will probably be more like what you’d expect from episode blogging; I doubt I’ll spend any more time defending controversial elements.

And so begins the first real part of this season’s Clusterfuck. There will probably only be one more unless an anime gets delayed or something.

Beyond The Boundary

So a guy saves a girl from falling down a school, and then he gets attacked for his efforts. Also, he has a not-love interest who hangs out with him out of some sort of pity. But the guy can regenerate his wounds due to being a fusion between a human and a supernatural being, so no biggie. I’d wonder if Golden Week was nigh, but then our main girl Mirai Kuriyama acts like a concoction of moe fetuses with no other desire but to act cute. And there’s no foot focus, Black Scenes, or random shots of dialogue from a novel you can only find on Baka-Tsuki.

But otherwise, this is KyoAni trying to copy its competition. The company that regularly reigns over sales in Japan has to copy Shinbo after doing something decent with Free. It’s not just ripping off Shinbo, but making a bland salute to the latest trend of supernatural slice of life works made in the last four years. It feels like a thirty-year-old guy dressed up as a high school kid, with old hands struggling and failing to copy their successors. Sure, the animation’s good as any other KyoAni work, but it feels phoned in. KyoAni has done the cute moeblob act so many times that they can churn them out with ease. And that’s become their fatal flaw by rendering them unable to do anything else.

By shoving themselves into a corner, Kyoukai no Kanata feels like the worst parts of KyoAni and the latest trends shoved together with no idea of how such a mixture would work. It just feels like moments are slapped together because a successful anime did it a few years ago. And there’s nothing new to the table. Mirai has a bucket land on her head because a cute girl doing stupid things is an old trade from Chuunibyou and Clannad. Mirai can manipulate blood because that sounds like a cool superpower on paper. Mirai has to wear glasses because meganes are what’s in. KyoAni’s proven to be the McDonalds of anime studios. You’re always going to get what you expect, with nothing to savor. — Bloody Marquis

Coppelion

While watching this post-apocalyptic anime, I’m wondering why the three main characters have to be high school girls whose boss is a Vice Principal. I’m further boggled by why the short haired girl and the glasses girl are acting like hyperactive twerps and eating rice balls in the middle of a wasteland. Maybe we’ve gone past the age where post-apocalyptic fiction can be practical, instead subverting elements to make the light moments stand out in the stark atmosphere. It certainly has that effect, quite akin to Gunslinger Girl. Except where Gunslinger Girl mixed nihilism with little girls to create an unsettling, yet unsatisfying effect, Coppelion is watching its steps before doing something with this mixture.

So a majority of the episode is walking. The characters basically walk and talk while either their leader Ibara or the Vice Principal bring out the exposition. While initially slow, it helps bring you into the show’s universe by projecting the absence of civilization. The characters initially come off as slice of life archetypes before the series forces them to realize this isn’t that kind of show. I like how the writers throw a fastball on the characters like that by having a girl more suitable for playing drums in the Light Music Club instead having to inspect an irradiated dead body.

But whether it is a plot point or appeal on the writers’ part, how are they going to explain why the scavengers of society’s ruins happens to be a trio of high-school girls? They aren’t even wearing suits or anything. They’re all wearing regular high school uniforms with skirts galore. Will the show address this? I don’t presume that, but it’d be nice if there was a reason why radiation-immune human beings aren’t Solid Snake lookalikes or something. At least Attack on Titan gave a reason for teenagers in the Survey Corps because they were short on troops.

Speaking of, what’s with the thick lines? The animation was nice otherwise, but the thick lines are quite glaring. Maybe it’s to show how the characters are immune to radiation, or just an oddity on the studio’s part. This might seem like nitpicking, but there’s just something off about that. — Bloody Marquis

Golden Time

An escaped convict from the 90’s, Golden Time is an amalgamation of everything you hated about romantic comedy anime when you were growing up. Unless you’re really young, or really old. But you’ll probably still hate it regardless. There is nothing at all amusing or interesting about this show outside of the poor audio editing (the music and sound effects are much louder than the dialogue) and animation quality that constantly changes from decent to mediocre to abysmal. Even by J.C. Staff standards, Golden Time is unattractive, with awkward-looking character faces and obvious corner-cutting at every turn.

So there’s this guy named Mitsuo and this girl named Kouko who wants him about as badly as I want an English version of Yakuza 5. Unfortunately, Mitsuo hates Kouko with every fiber of his being, so he decided to secretly attend a law school unrelated to the educational path he’d been following since he was a child. Unfortunately for him, and us, Kouko followed him there out of LOVE~, so whacky hijinks ensue almost immediately. Neither of them is the main character, though; instead, we get Banri Tada, a personality vacuum whose name sounds like some kind of drum manufacturer. He makes friends with them both and then other people try to coerce him into joining their clubs and I think I stopped giving a shit around the 13 minute mark.

Make no mistake, this may be a college romantic comedy, but it is no different from any generic high school romantic comedy. Replace all references to universities with ones to high schools and nothing changes. No one acts like a college student, either – one of the girls even behaves as if she belongs in junior high. On that note, none of the characters are likeable. I have no idea why Kouko could possibly be so infatuated with Mitsuo, and I also have no idea why anyone would ever want to be within a 30 yard radius of Kouko. Banri is as bland as the background music, and Chinami’s vocal performance is absolutely grating. Banri’s interactions with Linda are especially cringe-worthy, wrapping up the episode with a thud. That thud being your head as it hits your desk.

If you’re looking for a good romantic comedy to watch this fall, this ain’t it. Search elsewhere. — Foggle

Hajime no Ippo: The Fighting! – Rising

With a handful of a title like that, you know that this series has to be a sequel to something. Indeed, this is yet another season in the highly popular sports anime centered around the up and coming young boxer Ippo Makanouchi and his many obstacles on his path to becoming the world champion of his weight class. With a manga that has been running for over 20 years and is currently just over a thousand chapters long (and still going), it’s no wonder that we get new seasons of this adaptation so irregularly, with the last season having been aired a whole 4 years ago. That said, being that there is so much material from the manga left to work with, the obvious advantage is that we don’t have an anime that takes and entire season just to get one measly fight over with.

Despite being a fan of this series, I have to view this season premiere from the perspective of a newcomer, and judge it on its own merits alone. As a stand-alone episode, at the very least, it does fair quite well. The first half of this season cleverly starts with an important flash-back of Ippo’s childhood. For fans of the series this is a great adaptation of a short story from the manga, and for newcomers it’s a great way to introduce Ippo as a character. That said, there was a bit of a missed opportunity for a stronger narrative, here, in that the episode doesn’t really tie Ippo’s past into his present situation as a boxer, nor does it really convey well enough to the audience just how it relates to his motivation to be a boxer in the first place (something which can be attributed to this flash-back being a bit out of place compared to the strategic point that it was revealed in the manga). That said, I can’t judge this based on the manga, so it’s better to consider this to be an episode of two-halves.

The second half of this episode takes us back to the present, where Ippo is about ready to go into a match to defend his Japanese Featherweight Championship title against his 4th challenger. This is where things can falter a bit for newcomers. If you haven’t seen any of the series leading up to this one, you may not particularly care or even get the significance of this title defense match, not really knowing how tough the business is in the boxing world, nor how hard Ippo had to work his ass off to   become the champion in the first place. Furthermore, there is a lot of technical talk about the strategy that the contenders are using in this match, and how Ippo’s opponent plans to destroy his iconic best move, the Dempsey Roll. Unless you happen to be a hardcore boxing fan, or just a fan of this series, you won’t have any clue in just what the hell a Dempsey Roll is (I’d probably think it’s some kind of odd European bread, myself, if I went into this season blind), and wouldn’t give a crap about it’s strategically practical and psychological use in a match. If newcomers will get treated to one thing, though, it’ll be the satisfaction of two muscular dudes Sock’Em-Bopping the shit out of each other!

Unfortunately….the animation quality takes a bit of a cheap turn this season (much like the previous season), and lacks the carefully captured and believable movements of the original anime. For what it is, I think it’s still enough to keep new viewers solidly entertained for at least the first episode, but this probably isn’t enough to get them hooked on the show. In this regard, if you are already a fan of this series and are at least caught up with the first 2 seasons, than watching this premiere (and consequently the rest of this season) is a no-brainer. If you are a complete newcomer, don’t watch to watch 101 TV episodes along with an OVA and a TV movie special, but also still want to check out this premiere if only because it’s current, then by all means see if it manages to peak your interest. As it stands, though, it’s a decent premiere to a series that is more appropriate to watch in bulk rather than with a single episode a week, so take that for what you will. — Ensatsu-ken

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kaku: Outbreak

This is the most baffling piece of Higurashi fanfiction I’ve ever seen. Okay, so it’s probably less baffling than that one where Keiichi gives anal birth to his and Ooishi’s demon child, but still. I have no idea what possessed DEEN to make something like this, but it truly proves that even when any and all pedophile fanservice is off the table, they’re still capable of completely missing the point of Higurashi.

The first thing you’ll notice about Kaku (let’s face it, there will never be a part 2) is that it looks terrible. I mean really terrible. We’re talking worse than the first TV series. Even by DEEN standards, the visuals are ass. The backgrounds are a noticeable downgrade from previous episodes, which doesn’t really make sense as I’m pretty sure they’ve always just reused the same ones over and over. The character models look really off half the time, and only a few scant action shots move with any sort of fluidity; even then, I think they just sped up normal footage to make it look less stilted. To make matters worse, while Kira, the previous OVA, was released in HD on Blu-ray, this one was not. Yep, it’s a DVD-only release in late 2013. You can really tell they had a lot of faith in their product.

The plot is completely asinine. Apparently 99% of the world is infected with different types of the parasite that causes Hinamizawa Syndrome from the original story, and a special branch of the government has been brought in to contain/observe/murder everyone infected. Now, I can kind of see what the production staff was going for with this; it seems like they wanted to create a post-apocalyptic survival scenario in order to do an action/adventure take on Higurashi. But being that this is DEEN we’re talking about here, it doesn’t work. Everyone behaves out of character – Keiichi is hardly fazed when Mion is shot and Rena straight up murders three people in front of him – and the main protagonists are made out to be invincible badasses capable of taking down the bad guys without even breaking a sweat.

I found myself consistently scratching my head at the plot developments in Outbreak. There’s a particularly delightful scene about halfway through where Dr. Irie somehow manages to kill 10+ heavily armed soldiers without being injured and then commits suicide in front of Rika by blowing his brains out. Then there’s the part where Keiichi is saved from death by direct shotgun fire because of Satoshi’s bat. Later on, Hanyuu shows up for a total of no more than two minutes to spout metaphorical nonsense and give Yui Horie a cameo appearance. The OVA ends on a monstrously bleak note; everyone in Hinamizawa is dead except for Keiichi, Rena, Mion, Satoko, and Keiichi’s parents, and they arrive at a nearby city only to find it completely destroyed. Oh boy, a cliffhanger. I can hardly wait to find out what’s next.

Outbreak hammers home the fact that DEEN has no idea what made Higurashi and Kai so good. I suppose they figured that because everyone hated Kira, they clearly needed to take their next OVA in the complete opposite direction. They assume that people only liked the original story because of the violence, so that’s what they give you here. Unfortunately, nobody wants to see non-L5 Rena and Keiichi murder people for contrived and downright nonsensical reasons. Violence for violence’s sake is not what Higurashi is about. This may be more watchable than the last OVA, but it certainly isn’t much better. — Foggle

I Couldn’t Become A Hero, So I Reluctantly Decided To Get A Job

Raul trains hard to become a hero and fight the demon lord, but the demon lord gets killed before he even has a chance to graduate from heroin’ school, so now he has to work a shitty retail job instead. This show’s title and plot synopsis invite inevitable comparisons to spring’s excellent Devil Is A Part-Timer, and this first episode begins much the same way, with a surprisingly cool fantasy action sequence that ends all too briefly. But once you get past the prologue, it’s clear that the two anime actually have very little in common. For one thing, the humor in I Couldn’t Become A Hero (henceforth referred to as Yuushibu) is nowhere near the caliber of April’s hilarious tale of devils and fast food, but more glaringly, this one also happens to be an unabashed T&A-fest.

Yuushibu is probably the most frustrating anime of the season for me. It’s by no means a masterpiece, but I rather liked the main characters, some of the jokes actually made me laugh, and the animators clearly put a lot of effort into making it move as fluidly as possible. A couple of weird faces aside, it’s gorgeous, which I suppose is beneficial to those who are looking for a lowest common denominator fanservice show, but I personally found all the ecchi crap obnoxious. There’s a decent slice of life comedy buried here under all the panty shots and boob bouncing, but Yuushibu shoves them in your face so often and so earnestly that they simply can’t be ignored. I suppose if you’re in the market for something to fap and chuckle to this could be your show, but as endearing as certain aspects of it were to me, I probably won’t be checking out any future installments. — Foggle

IS: Infinite Stratos 2

Oh yeah, Infinite Stratos. That sure was a show, wasn’t it? I guess it’s about mechs or something, but 95% of this episode is girls fawning over some non-entity dude and buying clothes. You know, real hard-hitting drama.

So this guy named Ichika has a harem for God knows what reason, and he invites them all to an amusement park. Separately. So they all assume they’re going to go on a date with him. One of them laments that she “isn’t attractive to the opposite sex”, then randomly gets hired to work at a restaurant with her friend. They immediately beat up some robbers while dressed like a maid and butler, respectively. Then she licks crepe cream off her friend’s face. Finally, they dress up in cat pajamas and her friend sexually harasses her. And the Emmy goes to…

This show looks cheap, and that’s probably because it is. The fanservice-filled amusement park stuff – and let’s be honest, that’s what you really wanted to see – all gets shoved to the back of the episode in a slapped-together clip show sort of way. The other 20 minutes meander about doing nothing of merit and are just generally uninteresting or insipid. It’s kind of like the final episode of Aku no Hana in that way, though I must admit that I’d probably rather watch this since at least IS has some modicum of pacing.

I have a hard time stomaching shows such as this one because watching girls attempt to be cute in order to win over some schmuck’s affections is not really my cup of tea. If you like that sort of thing, then I guess you could watch Infinite Stratos 2, but surely there are other, better options out there. This one just comes across to me as a cynical and halfhearted attempt at cashing in on both harem and mecha fans. It does neither genre justice and truly defines the term “mediocre.” — Foggle

Kill la Kill

Over the years, I’ve slowly but surely grown less and less fond of cartoons that don’t take advantage of their medium. What I mean to say is that if a show consists of little more than talking heads in an ordinary, modern day environment, and doesn’t particularly benefit from being animated, I find myself wondering why the writers didn’t just go for a live action series instead. It’s not that I think more realistic or down to earth anime are inherently bad – some of my all-time favorites fall into this category – it’s more that I’d rather see animators embrace the fact that cartoons are inherently different from their shot-on-film counterparts. In that regard, if there’s one person in the anime industry who has yet to disappoint me when it comes to his work, it’s got to be Hiroyuki Imaishi, director of Dead Leaves, Gurren Lagann, Panty & Stocking, and… this show right here.

Kill la Kill explodes onto the screen with a fast-paced, beautifully animated prologue filled with thrilling action and hilarious slapstick. A visual treat on par with many theatrical movies, the first four minutes of KLK alone gave me exactly what I want from an anime. And while the animation quality does dip somewhat from there (though it’s still ridiculously smooth and polished throughout), the episode only gets better once the title pops up. An incredible sense of style permeates every frame; humongous red kanji pop up to introduce the characters, the camera swoops around to find the most exciting angles, the cast members exude confidence and arrogance just by the way they idle about, bright colors and unique character designs flash across the screen. There’s a lot to take in here, and sensory overload is entirely possible. To call the pacing “breakneck” would be an understatement – Kill la Kill covers more ground in 25 minutes than some shows do in five episodes.

The premise is a bit thin and can be described in one all-too-commonly plot-related word – REVENGE! – but the setting is certainly quite something. It’s become a common anime trope for a school’s student council to be all-powerful, and here it is literally a fascist dictatorship, lording over the students with an iron fist and murdering anyone who dares to oppose them. Oh, and their uniforms give them superpowers. Said school resembles a fortress more than anything, and is surrounded by post-apocalyptic-looking slums. One day, a transfer student named Ryuuko Matoi shows up, and the kill la killing begins. Don’t confuse this series for a Battle Royale-style bloodbath, though; the violence is ridiculously over the top and filled with slapstick, even dipping into some classic Looney Tunes-style humor at one point.

The characters aren’t particularly compelling (yet), but I already love Ryuuko as a protagonist. Her mannerisms, facial expressions, and voice acting all come together to create an endearing hero whose tale is simply fun to watch. The villains are all larger than life, humorously arrogant and lacking in any sort of morals or decency – yet despite their absolutely positively eeeeeeviiiiiillllll ways, I can’t bring myself to hate any of them (though this may change later on). They’re just far too exaggerated and silly to outright dislike. Ryuuko’s friend Mako is an anime-ditzy kinda’ girl (you know the type), but somehow even she ends up being funny rather than annoying. That’s quite a feat.

Of course, not everyone is going to dig this kind of thing. I don’t think calling KLK “style over substance” would be correct, as what it lacks in deep writing and characterization it more than makes up for in sheer creativity, but if you’re the kind of person who usually prefers more cerebral programming and doesn’t like turning their brain off for some crazy action, you probably will not care for Kill la Kill. Meanwhile, those of us who never truly grew up, we who love cartoons above all for the zaniness that only animation can provide, will likely await every subsequent episode with bated breath. — Foggle

Second Opinion!

Where do I begin? Well, Trigger, congratulations, you guys didn’t disappoint at all. Kill la Kill, brought to you by the studio that is made up of former Gainax staffers, if you couldn’t tell from the art style and animation already, can be best summed in a single phrase: feckin’ awesome! Though, the funny thing is that despite the marketing efforts for this series emphasize the link to Gurren Lagann (a strong one no doubt) this first episode reminds me more of Diebuster or maybe that’s just me. Granted, this first episode seems to be a ‘greatest hits’ from other past Gainax productions: fight-of-the-week format akin to Panty and Stocking’s monster-of-the-week, striking visuals from Diebuster and Gurren Lagann, as well as the tendency for over-the-top characters and action scenes; the overseeping passion and creativity that very much permeated Gainax during the 2000s (at least the shows that people remember Gainax doing).

Overall, a very good start for what should be a great series to come, I am sure of that. — The Eclectic Dude

Kuroko’s Basketball 2

Now there’s a consistent title. Fuck completely irrelevant subtitles upon already existing irrelevant subtitles, let’s just call it for what it is. Indeed, this is another sequel season in a trilogy of sports anime that I am reviewing, this time based off of another insanely popular, currently-running, shounen manga. And I swear I got the oddest sense of  “deja view” while watching this episode. Just like another sports anime from this season that I took a look at, this premiere has about half of it’s run-time devoted to a flash-back. Just like Hajime no Ippo, it’s a good and effective flash-back, but unlike the former, it’ll mean nothing to newcomers. That’s OK, though, because this season makes it upfront and clear that it’s a continuation, through and through, and won’t try to change things around to appeal to anyone who is too lazy to just watch the first 25 episodes of season 1 for free on Crunchy Roll.

Ironically, this season does start off on a fresh point in the story-line that seems like it would be a good jumping off point for newcomers, with the Seirin High School Basketball Club getting ready to start training for the year’s national Winter Cup. The episode even cuts just a little bit of slack for people who already forgot most of season 1, by having the introduction cleverly introduce all of the key basketball players who will be participating in the event. And this is of course where some of you may stop bothering to read this entry immediately. Because, as anime fans, who the fuck really gives a shit about basketball? Well, if you’re new to the mix of sports and anime, it should at least be no secret that it is an incredibly popular formula for a popular and successful series in Japan. The reception that these titles get in other countries, though, can range from passing interests to just plain not giving a shit. America and Canada, from what I can tell, seem to fall into the latter. The best way to describe this stuff, though, is that it’s really no different from a typical battle shounen series at its core. You have players basically taking the place of fighters, and you have absurdly exaggerated techniques (mostly based on real-life techniques) taking the place of special powers. Of course, in this world high school students can pull off feats in sports that are so ridiculous that I have to laugh every time they insist that they are not on the level of professional NBA player. I’ve barely watched any Basketball in my life, but I’m fairly certain that I’ve never seen anyone consistently throw 3-pointers from the other end of a court, or casually make in a basket from BEHIND THE FUCKING BACKBOARD! with ease, while in mid-air. Honestly, I feel like NBA players in this Universe would score by chucking the Basketball over a plane (one that was currently flying) or something and then have it accurately land through the hoop as if it were nothing.

Of course, such ridiculousness is part of this show’s appeal, and can be entertaining in both a hilarious way and yet also a very endearing way as in the best of any battle shounen series. In this premiere episode itself, though, we don’t get a ton of that. We instead get a lot of smart focus on character building. We learn a little bit more about Kuroko, Kagami, and the rest of the team at Seirin and their state of mind for how they plan to dominate their way through the Winter Cup. At the same time we get to learn about some of their upcoming opponents, and in this episode we get to meet an old friend of Kagami’s, as well as Kuroko’s old teammate. The rest of the episode then primarily focuses on Kagami’s history with his so-called “brother,” and while the flash-back itself is interesting enough, I have to be honest and say that the most interesting thing about it was easily the seiyuus’ broken use of “Engrish” that just never fails to amuse me (especially since Kagami’s back-story takes place in America….so there’s A LOT OF IT). It’s not quite as awful as in Black Lagoon, and therefore not nearly as hilarious, but it still manages to give me a kick or two.

At any rate, after we get all of the exposition out of the way, we finally see the two parties get ready for a street-ball showdown, and then….the episode ends. Yeah….kind of an anti-climactic tease that you get used to in shounen series of this nature. It’s a bit disappointing because it would have been nice to see if this season could keep up with or even improve upon some of the stellar and life-like animations of the first season for the basketball games, but as it stands it serves as a great continuation point for those who thoroughly enjoyed the first offering of this anime series. And that’s pretty much where it stands, all things considered. If you liked the first season, then watch this one. If you haven’t even seen the first season, then check that out to see if it’s your thing or not, otherwise you can try this one if you feel so bold, but you’ll probably have a harder time finding a reason to give a shit about what’s going on in that case. — Ensatsu-ken

Kyousougiga

At first glance, Kyosougiga desperately wants to be Gurren Lagann with its neon oversaturated color scheme and Western influenced aesthetics. However… this being Toei, it comes with that usual faster cheaper cheaper fast production quality that somehow makes it look lazier than a Shaft show. The series originated a few years ago as a series of ONAs in colaboration with Bandai’s video game subsidiary Banpresto and I did attempt to watch those in preparation for this entry, however I found myself unable to follow the thing due to the blinding color scheme and the fact that what plot there was made little to no sense.

Alas this is a problem that is carried over to Kyosougiga The Series.

Our story (what little of which can be gleaned from the sheer randomness of the rest of it) concerns fiesty young Koto and her two clingy brothers as they try to escape from The Capitol, a bizarre alternative Kyoto inhabited by gods and demons which is either supposed to be purgatory or some old 80’s RPG (the show suggests both). Soon Koto gets dragged into the internal strife of the Council of Three, a pair of priests and a incredibly posh demon who simply whack each other with sticks. Now this episode claims to be a recap of the original web shorts but I literally do not remember any of it and it goes by so damn quickly that I have even less of an idea as to what the hell is going on with this show. It doesn’t really matter though because next week’s episode looks to be completely different, begging the question of what the hell was the point of this week. At least Rozen Maiden got away with it last season by making the first episode a  legitimate fake-out.

Now as I have stated in the past I am not a fan of so-called “art anime” as they frequently (Madoka excepted) eschew logical narratives and plot structure for weirdness and/or Shinkai-esque “look at me and my pretty screensavers!” Kyosougiga falls into that former category and of course looks even cheaper because Toei. Add to the fact that over the course of the 25 minute run time I could not follow what was going on or even really cared to makes this show a case of style failing to overcome gross indifference. If you like this kind of show then fine but this is where I get off. — Lord Dalek

Little Busters! Refrain

Despite enjoying the first episode of the previous season quite a bit, I have a real love/hate relationship with Little Busters. There are so many things I like about it, and yet so many things I detest as well. One minute I’ll be thinking, “hey, this show is pretty good!” and the next I’ll be moving for the “X” button. The first installment of Refrain showcases this divide perfectly. On one hand, it’s got some legitimately fun slice of life antics to smile at, but on the other, it has terrible metaphorical BS dialogue punctuating every scene. Half the cast are likeable buddies I’d love to hang out with, but the other half are annoying moeblobs. Some of the human drama is legitimately interesting and emotional, but the rest feels forced and fake.

I will say this for Little Busters: it’s a lot more realistic than other Key works like Clannad. Many of the characters in this one actually resemble people I’ve met or could potentially meet, and the high school shenanigans they get into remind me of my own days in the public education system. My biggest problem with past Key stuff has always been that it feels like it was written by someone who had never actually attended high school and was just guessing as to what it was like. I don’t get that feeling here. For a few fleeting moments during the pancake party scene, I caught myself reminiscing on days long past, – “oh, this is just like the time my friends and I…” – which proves that Jun Maeda and whomever else did a good job with the writing there. And while the resolution was a bit silly (though admittedly badass), Kurugaya’s problem in the second half of the episode was shockingly believable and well done.

Sadly, I also found myself groaning multiple times throughout the episode, as usual. Riki’s internal monologues are so self-indulgent and obnoxious that they almost killed my interest in both the plot and characters entirely on their own. Then at the end when his narcolepsy randomly hits him… really? I mean, I understand how the disorder works and that it can practically knock you out at any time, but this is just classic Key forced drama, plain and simple. Clannad, Kanon, et al. are overflowing with stuff like this, and Little Busters!, while better written in other areas, is no different. It is unfortunate that Maeda and co. are still resorting to cheap tactics like this rather than finding more natural and inventive ways to make people cry.

Visually, Little Busters! Refrain is no award-winner, but it’s clear that this is where J.C. Staff poured most of their Golden Time budget. It’s undeniably attractive in a simple sort of way, mostly due to how colorful it is; just make sure not to expect KyoAni quality and you probably won’t be disappointed (and hey, at least it looks better than Toei!).

If you like Key stuff, you’ve probably already watched this episode and maybe even read the visual novel it’s based on. If you don’t, Little Busters! probably won’t change your mind, but if you’re like me, you might think more highly of it than past productions. For everyone else, you could certainly do worse this season. Despite the very big problems I have with it, it’s not a bad series by any measure. — Foggle

Log Horizon

Several hundred thousand players of the MMO Elder Tale go to sleep one night only to find the real world suddenly transformed into that of the game (exactly how and why hasn’t been explained but it may have something to do with an expansion pack). Our focus is on three of them: cleric and lead protagonist Shiroe, swordsman and tank Naotsugu, and ninja assassin loli (and unofficial series star) Akatsuki. Together these three people who associated off and on in the past when the game was simply sprites on a computer screen must partner together to survive in what has now become reality.

When approaching a show like Log Horizon one obviously must bring up the age old question… How similar is this to that OTHER show from last year? Well both Log Horizon and Sword Art Online have similar origins as web novels that got published but the latter predates this work by several years (2002 vs. 2010). That’s actually to Log Horizon’s credit as it often feels more like a response to Kawahara and what he did wrong with Sword Art rather than trying to cash in on it. For one, a lot of the noob tutorial crap that colored SAO’s first episode is just not there. These guys have been playing this game for a while and clearly know what they’re doing (also no beater shit thank god). Also making the cast seem more like an ensemble versus one nigh invincible solo player and various emotionally conflicted girls drawn to him like magnets is a MAJOR step in the right direction. Heck this was actually somewhat entertaining. Can’t even begin to say about Sword Art’s bland first show.

If anything Log Horizon owes a debt of influence to, its probably Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. For those who do not recall that was the one where a bunch of school kids wished their town would turn into the setting of Vagrant Saga and then our main protagonist had to fight the person behind it to get it to turn back. While I doubt Log Horizon will eventually go in that direction, it’s still an obvious sign of what we all thought it was going be: a ripoff. That being said, the fact that the first episode was probably better than it had any right to be suggests it might be worth giving a chance. — Lord Dalek

Miss Monochrome: The Animation

In this season’s edition of The Yui Horie Show created by(!) and starring Yui (what a dirty w)Horie, Miss Monochrome, a Vocaloid worth 16.2 billion yen loses all her cash and her Xanadu-esque palace when her “best friend” takes her for a ride. This leaves poor Monochrome out on the street with only a roomba and a day job at a convenience store to help her claw her way back up to Roppongi. It’s four minutes long and you could do worse, but DD Fist of the North Star still did this concept better and was actually funny to boot. — Lord Dalek

Nagi no Asukara

One day, Mari Okada watched Gargantia. The wonderful first and last episode with a slog in-between convinced the writer that she could do much better. Surely, she can outdo that silly Urobuchi when it comes to writing an anime about the sea and prejudice. And through years of writing cute characters that never react to problems like real human beings; she had the girth to challenge that dummy Gen.  With an underwater setting here and some random land-vs-sea racism there, she was ready to begin her latest work that will surely move the audiences to tears. And that’s where we find the plain series known as Nagi no Asukara.

This show really wants to be whimsical. Every scene has a moment that tries to be otherworldly, but only proves to be a background for some one-note characters going through their teenage angst. Take the underwater setting out, and it’s just boring kids acting like boring kids. The series does make some effort in incorporating the premise instead of relegating it to the back, but those moments are usually for humor instead of anything that could grab the audience. A girl runs away from school because some kids are bullying her, which would be interesting if not for a farting fish knee being the catalyst. It’s just like that moment in AnoHana where Yukiatsu crossdressed to deal with Menma’s loss. Mari Okada’s shows almost always want to be taken like the pristine dramedies she wants them to be, but then she decides to add something eccentric for the sake of melodrama.

And while her style is hackneyed and worse than what comes out of a Key Visual Novel, she keeps on doing it as if nobody’s given her any criticism. Her shows keep doing the same problems, but with no improvement over the years. Mocking this show feels just like mocking Hanasaku Iroha or Fractale. Mari Okada just recycles concepts with a different setting every now and then to give the illusion of freshness. She does do something good once in a while like Fujiko Mine, but those come in a blue moon. — Bloody Marquis

Outbreak Company

HOOOOOOOOO BOY! Where do I begin with this one? Outbreak Company is one the most puerile, disgusting, shameless, depraved collections of ink and paint drawings ever collected in a sequence of 24 minute chunks. Very few shows get as bad as this. Very few shows get even WORSE than this (*cough*Flowers of Evil*cough*). What did I do to deserve this?

THE STORY SO FAR: The Japanese government has discovered a wormhole into a fantasy land where everybody has elf ears and rides on choco-oh fuck it. To maintain diplomatic relationships with this Holy Eldant Empire, they’ve proposed a cultural exchange. Eldant will start getting a load of anime, light novels, and dating sims in exchange for… honestly I don’t know. To oversee this, some random NEET has been dragged off the street and denied a trip home until he makes quota. There’s also some elf girl who’s a maid and some bitch empress, I don’t know.

THIS SHOW IS BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD. Its like they took everything I hated from Dog Days and the Fairy Dance arc of SAO and said “Hey! Lets just have all of this crap in this show!” Its the kind of terrible that makes me wanna fling myself off the top of a very tall building. Now if you excuse me, I need to go drown my sorrows in a Hiroyuki Imaishi TOTALLY NOT RAPE scene. — Lord Dalek

Pokémon Origins

It’s almost hard to believe that the Pokémon franchise has been around for over seventeen years. But with over 60 titles, a trading card game, and an ongoing anime and manga, Pokemon has forever made its place in history as one of the most successful gaming franchises of all-time, second only to Mario. Not bad for a concept that spent years in development hell. And with the sixth generation launching this Saturday, Nintendo and The Pokemon Company have been going all out with promoting it and reminding us why we should continue to throw money at them. Unsurprisingly, one of these efforts includes a four-part animated special. However, rather than focus solely on the upcoming generation or give us a heaping helping of Ash, the focus is on the two games that started it all. And furthermore, and most surprising of all, not only is this special — entitled Pokémon Origins — a wonderful alternate look at the world of Pokémon, but it is also one of the best anime I’ve watched all year (Kill la Kill notwithstanding).

Faithfully following the plot of 1996’s Pokémon Red and Green, Pokémon Origins follows the journey of young Red, as he aims to complete the Pokédex and become one of the greatest trainers in the world. But from almost getting his Charmander killed, to using a Spearow against Onix, it’s clear that he has a lot to learn. But with only four episodes to work with, and a game with a plot that expands at least ten hours of gameplay, how do the writers handle showing all that growth? Montages, of course! But strangely enough, this method of storytelling doesn’t detract from how well things such as the rivalry between Red & Green and the encounters with Giovanni were done. All the moments they decided needed proper attention got that proper attention. The mother Marowak dying. The conversation between Red and Giovanni in a destroyed Silph Co. building. The final fight between Mewtwo and Mega Charizard X. All of that and more channeled the atmosphere of the games to create some pretty heavy character moments and action-packed scenes that make me wish the Origins special could replace the anime proper. Pokémon Origins has an enjoyable story that truly respects the source material and tries to get the most it can out of it in the allotted time.

Thanks to the core of the story already having been written years ago by Satoshi Tajiri, Production I.G. and the other animation studios involved with the project were able to spend more time to make the region of Kanto come to life. Each part of the special has wonderful animation, especially when it comes to the battles, which are fast-paced and cinematic. Every location has a very clear feel just from the colouring and lighting; even the Pokémon Mansion that was only seen in a montage and two flashbacks manages to capture the air of mystery that you were able to get from playing the old games back in the day. The score is filled with orchestral versions of many of Red/Green’s greatest tracks that brought back great memories of playing Pokémon until my cartridge stopped working. And I suppose that was the goal: to induce that nostalgic feeling in the viewer. Many of the people running to watch this special aren’t the younger players after all. It’s the teenagers and adults that grew up with the franchise and remember its heyday and shaky roots that this special is truly aimed at. It’s a reminder of how this whole thing got started…while also reminding us where the franchise is heading, with Mega Evolution playing a major part in the climax of the final episode.

With my red Pokémon special edition 3DS XL in tow, and my pre-order for Pokemon X set, I’m ready to enter the sixth generation of the franchise. But it’s always nice to go back and reminisce about the past, and Pokémon Origins does a perfect job of helping us all remember why we love these crazy Pocket Monsters in the first place. Eight badges. 150 Pokémon caught. Play Time: 35:46. Save and continue? YES. — RacattackForce

Strike The Blood

Several miles off shore from Tokyo lies Itogami Island, where all the nation’s monsters have been collected and dumped (sadly this does not include Godzilla and Rodan). One of these monsters is a “primogenitor” (a sort of super vampire) named Kojou Akatsuki whom the government has decided must be eliminated at all cost. To do this, they have sent an assassin known as a sword shaman to carry out the task….unfortunately for us, said Sword Shaman is a slightly dim high school girl named Himeragi who has Railgun powers apparently. Comedy ensues…or not.

In a season where Coppelion and Kill la Kill are raising the stakes (or at least trying to), Strike the Blood comes off as being… well… typical. Its not a bad show persay but its the kind of anime you’ve seen dozens of times before and will see dozens of times again. The kind where you just find yourself shrugging your shoulders at the end. How was it? It was ok. How are the character designs? They’re ok. How’s the animation? It’s…ok… EXCEPT… For whatever reason Silver Link has employed a weird coloring scheme for this show’s action scenes where red and green bands occasionally appear on the sides of characters’ faces like an old misaligned three-strip Technicolor print or a 3D movie if you didn’t have your glasses on. It is literally the only thing notable in this bland forgettable series.

All in all, while you won’t hate yourself after watching Strike the Blood, you likely won’t remember any of it either. — Lord Dalek

White Album 2

This is an anime from 2004 that someone just discovered, right? The animation and writing look like those melodramatic shows from a decade ago. Main guy Haruki wants to play the guitar for his sweetheart, but angst is getting in the way. Rosy music plays non-stop. Long scenes play out with him talking to his friends like the romantic foils they are while he mutters to himself for the entire episode. And surely, those trends have long since been subverted by now. Someone has genuinely done an accurate job in making an anime from nine years ago. Certainly, I would applaud that effort if this were intentional. You can’t find period pieces as meticulous as this, and I am marveled by how much the show feels like an anime from the early 2000s.

Oh, yeah. The plot. Uh, I guess Haruki dates the boring girl after 11 episodes of being an indecisive doormat. And somebody has dead parents or something. He’ll either reign in the Light Music Club while earning the passion of his love interest. Or he’ll suffer from mediocrity as the girl consoles him and says that it doesn’t matter how well he plays guitar, but how he sings through his heart. Or something cheesy like that. I don’t know. — Bloody Marquis

Gaist Crusher

So I’ve been meaning to wait until Gaist Crusher has been subbed and simulcasted for about a couple of days since it was released.  Yet after two days it had yet to let it happen to him.  So I had to bite the bullet and watch the darn thing raw and figure out if it was worth it.  Then I realized why it hasn’t been subbed in the first place…

Our cadre of armoured heroes with superpowers fighting a malevolent mystical force known as Gaist… have no vaginas.

…NO WONDER THIS HASN’T BEEN SIMULCASTED!  It’s just a bunch of prepubescent dicks flying around in gaudy armour defeating stupid shit.  You can’t sell a $50 figure with unnatural articulation with that cock and balls garbage!

FUCK!  So there’s this kid I think his name is Recca but in the non-existent English dub by Saban he’ll probably be Ricky, is some kid who gets caught up in Gaist Crusher because the main Gaist Crushers are not strong enough or something and he’s apparently the chosen one since the gem chose him.  Then he beats the Gaist, then sleeps.

WHAT IS THIS BULLSHIT!?  Really there’s no faffing around talking about mundane things like Mayonnaise and bath scenes.  Who wants this crap?  I don’t, and neither should you.  Let the stupid kids look into it and buy the cheap $10 toys while we stick with the Vividreds of our age and splurge that $50 on that needlessly articulate action figure.

Honest One-Sentence Review: It’s a dumb procedural kids anime with toyetic armour and enemies that wants to compel your kid to buy it at whatever Japanese toy store is nearby.  But you’re not in Japan are you?  So don’t bother. — The Juude

Freezing Vibration

I watched this anime right after Gaist Crusher.  It’s a major improvement over that due to it correcting the fatal flaw of having main super-powered protagonists brandish cock and balls.  Now THIS is what I’m talking about, superpowered beings with breasts and vaginas (I think they’re called garlz or something, it’s probably French for “superpowered beings with breasts and vaginas”) who hang around naked and volt texture clothing onto themselves but never enough to hide their panties (I think that’s German for “Vagina Shields”).

Unfortunately everything else is just boring as shit.  It’s Counter-Revolutionary Girl Utena with a Eugenics bent where garlz (or it’s Italian variation “wommun”) are trained to magic clothing and weapons onto them to fight evil monsters known as Nova.  Usually at the premiere of a second season, the onus of the show as it begins in media res is to hopefully entice new people, but it’s not so here.  Most of it is just spent on boring battles in the snow and hopeless exposition with the occasional flash of tits and minge.

The title says it’s “Freezing Vibration”, which is true, because it left me really cold and shivering from the lack of any emotional attachment or euphoria to be found. — The Juude

Aikatsu! 2

GAWD COCK AND BALLS!  THEY GET EVERYWHERE I HATE THEM!

THANK GOD THE FINAL ENTRY IN THIS CLUSTERFUCK DOESN’T INVOLVE ANY STUPID COCK AND BALLS!  FUCK YEAH AIKATSU SEASON 2!  FUCK YEAH!  FUCK YEAH!

FUCK YEA—it’s boring really.  Like Gaist Crusher it’s a kid’s show, only it’s directed toward those so-called garlz.  It’s really inoffensive Bechdel Test passing tripe about doing your best, competing as idols, and gathering cheap toyetic cards so characters can dress up and perform a rote pop song with rote CG work.  You can do a lot better, you can do a lot worse, or you can just do.  And nobody likes to just…  do in this regard.  Leave this to the Japanese girls demographic to buy, trade, and sell with each other at whatever Japanese toy store nearby.

But remember, you’re not in Japan are you?  So don’t fucking bother we’ve already been through this.  Did you not listen to me you sack of shit?  Don’t lie to me or else I’m coming home to belt you for once again not listening.  Fuck if you’re not in Japan, and this is not there, and there is not this, don’t bother.  It’s as simple as that douchebag.

It’s as simple as that. — The Juude

Last June, Gatchaman Crowds rolled onto our screens with a potentially interesting if… somewhat bizarre concept and execution. By September it had rolled off my screen leaving me so bloody angry and frustrated with one of the most choppy, inept finales since Flowers of Evil. In between there were several ups and downs. Some episodes were pretty good, others were utter shite. So for this final (and I mean final) edition of Crowds-Sourcing, I’ll be looking at what the show did well (which wasn’t much), and what it didn’t do.

PRO: The action…what little there was. Its no surprise that the two episodes I rated the highest had the most Gatchamaning of the bunch. Episode 7, in particular, was really notable for how dark it got with Rui almost slaughtered by Katze and Jo getting mindraped. When there was action, the show really picked up. Unfortunately, there just wasn’t that much to go around.

CON: Wasting time. Now this is sort of a catch-22 as some scenes I felt were extraneous and just dragged on eventually did amount to something towards the end. Namely Rui’s lengthy conversation with Ueda, and Gatchaman’s visit to the kindergarten. That being said, there was still quite a bit of obvious filler in a show which didn’t have the episode count to sustain it. The critical example of this being the entire first half of episode 11 that was dedicated to a recap… really? This far out in the series?

PRO: Berg Katze. No really, Miyano’s insane overacting was actually the sole thing keeping me from dropping this show. Its really a tour-de-force and rivals his performance as Okabe in Steins;Gate for overall gravitas. The one problem I had was well the way he was defeated, in that he just kinda… left…. then got turned into a handkerchief. Yeah I really hated the ending of this show.

CON: Hajime Ichinose. Can you say “WORST PROTAGONIST OF ALL TIME?!?” Hajime, on top of being the equivalent of fingers on a chalkboard, was suddenly turned into some sort of super savant and was the only member of Gatchaman to have any clue how to fight Katze… even though she’s on the long end of a very short bus. Even the series seems to lose interest in her in the end as she is given absolutely NOTHING to do in the final episode. Nothing! She does nothing! Yeah the final episode really sucked.

PRO: The music. GAT-CHA-MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN! ‘Nuff said.

CON: The character designs. They were ugly when this show started. They were ugly when it ended. So what could have made them worse? Oh yeah, Utsusu’s fucking suit!

IN CONCLUSION. Gatchaman Crowds blowed. While I wouldn’t go as far as saying its a terrible series do to some strong installments, it never did quite click for me. With that in mind…

FINAL SERIES AVERAGE: 4.3/10 (based off all scores received during Crowds-Sourcing plus my original entry for the Summer 2013 Clusterfuck). Median: 4.5 Mode: 5

Now if you excuse me, I have to get back to watching some crappy show about emo space vampire raping fallen teen idols or something.

 

 

Well, this was a 180 from Civil Wars. Cool characters like Lin and General Iroh come back, while a political side is thrown into the conflict between Korra and Unalaq. Plenty of different perspectives are thrown into the fire so don’t we get saddled with teenagers who argue more than they actually bend. I know conflict is the soul of good storytelling, but conflict for conflict’s sake only adds to the tedium instead of avoids it. Thank the Gods that Mako and Korra are split, and I hope to hell there isn’t some subplot that brings them back together. They had no chemistry and did nothing together except add padding and arguing to every scene they were in. You don’t have to be a shipper, or a romantic, or anybody special to realize that relationship did nothing to improve the story. Now with that out of the way, we can focus on how the North vs South debate affects everyone instead of just Korra and Korra’s friends.

The character conflicts throughout these past few episodes have been so tiresome and subtract from what could be an interesting season. Korra’s been so argumentative with every character that you wonder whether her side can ever be considered the right one. She’s essentially the Avatar version of Captain Janeway with her “my way or the high way” routine to everybody including President Raiko. And before you say that there wouldn’t be complaints if she was a man, don’t. Brute force is a vice upon both genders, and any criticism aimed toward Korra can be equally applied if she was a male character. An assertive and violent female lead doesn’t equate to a strong female lead. She’s been stupid by rejecting people who genuinely love her in favor of an uncle she seldom met. She can’t go one second with an opposing force without expressing the desire to tear their throat apart. The writers have forgotten that Korra’s supposed to be the hero of the story. These moments of doubt are supposed to be in-between moments where we know she fights for what’s right, while illustrating why we should root for her cause. The times where Korra comes off as questionable and possibly savage have to be balanced with scenes where she proves to be a good person at heart and earns the title of Avatar. Alas, these moments have been forgotten in favor of a protagonist whose traits would be more at home with Ozai than an Avatar.

But let’s give credit where credit is due. I liked the subplot with Meelo and his horde of lemurs, ending with him realizing that being the alpha male sucked. It would make some neat foreshadowing for the trials a leader takes if the show actually goes that route. And Lin’s return deserves a warm welcome. While Lin may be stern, she has a calm head on her shoulders and knows a bad situation when she sees it. The show seems to handle the adult characters with better care than any of the teenagers, which only furthers how the team has gotten worse as characters without Tenzin guiding them. Varrick may steal every scene he’s in, but he’s not the team support. He can’t be the one who tells them when their ideas might be wrong. Korra and the bunch think that they have the right idea while doing little to bring everyone else’s opinions into the plan. Her idea that she knows what’s best only makes her akin to Unalaq by putting her plans ahead of Republic City’s. She wants a city—that initially had nothing to do with the conflict—to go into a potential war sure to bring costs to all of the participants. And she’s supposed to be the hero?

In many ways the Silver Age is looked down upon these days as a time when comics were moronic, sophomoric, and thought of as lesser entertainment. It was a time when unbelievable heroics and impossible villainy clashed together on an epic scale and when “comic book logic” became fully formed into what it is known today.

But the one thing that held the Silver Age above any other era to this writer is that it was straightforward and it never forgot to be imaginative. It was also fun to read and kept the reader guessing without relying on convolution (most of the time).

I suppose the one modern hero who would buck this trend and encapsulate the opposite of all those Silver Age ideals of simplistic good versus evil and overblown plots would be Batman. The Dark Knight has always been known as the hero that people who don’t like comic books can get into, and was also a bit darker and at times in the grey than any other comic. He was a tragic hero who was made of serious stuff and dealt with villains who were just as tragic. Other than when the Joker showed up, you rarely would crack a smile at a Batman story and admittedly Silver Age Batman was not everyone’s favorite portrayal of the Caped Crusader.

Though I guess one could bring up the Adam West Batman, it was always more of a parody than a straightforward portrayal and it was a portrayal that earned more than enough scorn and mockery to chase anyone away from a lighter Batman for decades.

So when Cartoon Network announced a new lighter Batman series that had more in common with Saturday morning cartoons and the Silver Age than it did with ‘Batman: The Animated Series’ or ‘The Killing Joke’, most people were up in arms. But could you blame Warner Bros. for wanting a different style of Batman show? The next show that came out after the highly successful B:TAS was a cartoon called ‘The Batman’ that for all intents and purposes was the same thing as the former show only weaker in just about every way and had much less of a cultural impact overall. What else could they do? Continuing to make sub-par material that paled in the shadow of B:TAS was obviously not a path they wanted to go down.

The result was “Batman: The Brave & The Bold”, a show that could only have existed because somebody wanted to show that both the Silver Age and Saturday morning cartoons had merit to them and a certain undefinable magic that modern superhero shows simply didn’t contain. It also proved that a superhero show could be as good as B:TAS without being much like it at all and that Batman as a character had more sides to him than just that of a super-serious brooder.

While the show was popular and critically acclaimed throughout its 65 episode run, in this writer’s opinion it deserves more credit than it has received even still. It could be funny and serious, outlandish and simple, explosive yet subtle, and it came with writing and direction at least on par with the best of the legendary Batman: The Animated Series and other top tier superhero and action shows without being much like any of them. And now that Batman has returned to a more standard approach, this writer felt it the perfect opportunity to remind animation fans of a show that does not deserve to fade into the night like the titular hero often does.

This series of blog entries will talk about the best episodes of the animated series and highlight exactly what it is that works so well and why a brighter Batman show gathered the fan base it did and the acclaim it rightfully deserved. So stay tuned to this series, grab a DVD set or two of the animated series (they’re cheap!), and join this writer as we take a look at what might just be the best superhero series ever made.

Yes, you read that right.

Until next time, Bat-fans! Same brave blog, same bold place!