R1 Round 2: AIR Volume 1

Long long ago, in a time far removed from now, I wondered what the hell 'gao' meant after seeing it brought up on a message board.

The answer, as things always tended to be at the time, resided at Youtube, where I found out that 'gao' had something to do with stegosauruses and something to do with some show called AIR. With nothing better to do on a January weekend, might as well watch it and see what it's about.

12 days, 12 episodes, and a few manly tears later, anime, to me, was back for good.

Although in really pixelated, low-res Youtube quality. Ironically enough, the licensing of AIR was one of the factors spurring me to begin watching fansubbed anime the 'real' way, through downloads and torrents.

However, I'm not stupid enough to do something blatantly illegal (only gray area, eh, but that's a different story) and brag about it on a blog, and so I often turn to the anime market in the U.S. to support the industry and rewatch shows that perhaps I don't have backed up.

For those reasons the arrival of the first volume of AIR in the mail was a sentimental moment, something that really worried me about watching the series again.

Being the first anime series I watched since D.N.Angel in 2004, AIR set the bar for all the other shows to come. And it set it high.

But undoubtedly, there were shows that came along and knocked over the bar like it was nothing. Shows that went beyond 'really good' into, well, 'defining'.

As such it worried me that, coming back to AIR, the 'first love' period would have worn off and what we'd have left is a very rushed, emotionally blunt (i.e. "cry now plz ;_;") anime. And if there's one thing I could say about the first four episodes, it's that I sure criticized them a lot.

But that's not always a bad thing, as has been hinted at before by myself and my commenters. Being critical is an important thing, as it allows both for the brighter aspects of the show to shine brighter, and for a balanced view of the anime as a whole. (Although, there is always time for a "oh god Shiori is moe" interlude.)

And there's always the other kind of critical, better known as 'being snarky'. Like a lovers' quarrel, sarcastic-ing an anime into the ground isn't always a bad thing and can show that you enjoy the anime enough to make fun of it.

Until, of course, it becomes actually so bad that making fun of it is all you can do.

Anyway, the first four episodes of AIR, the second time around, are pretty much how I'd expect the first four episodes of any visual-novel to be. You sit there and you laugh at the funny parts of the show (and at some of the cliches, and at Akira-Potato, etc), and then you get serious at the serious parts, and then the show ends and you move on.

First Arc Syndrome is something that plagues a bunch of shows of this type, in that the first girl featured, in one way or another, doesn't make as much of an impact. It makes logical sense, in that you don't lead off with your strongest act. Certainly it can catch you off guard, in the case of shows like Kanon, but it's usually more of a prelude of things to come than the main event.

Otherwise, you'd get some real whiplashed audience when you go from 'happy intro' to 'omfg plot'.

And, in the case that you actually like the character/arc that comes first, then you're bitter that they don't get more screentime, because they get shoved off in favor of More Important Things.

At any rate, the first part of AIR, being composed of said first arc, is kind of...there. Kano was never a character that did it for me, especially compared to characters with more 'M''s in their name. While none of the aspects of AIR are truly magical-plot-free, Kano's arc is really sort of out there.

The closest to a connection one could make is Kano's whole "my mother is dead" deal, except for the fact that I have two living parents and that nonexistent parents in anime have become more of the norm rather than the exception.

Perhaps more could have been done if Kano got more than 40 minutes of screentime, but she didn't and as such she's in and out the door quick enough that she doesn't linger long enough to either be endearing or annoying.

But, the emotional Minagi and Misuzu arcs still are waiting in the wings, so there's still plenty to look forward in AIR.

Not to mention, the comedy parts in AIR still are pretty solid; Michiru running over Yukito in Matrix slow-motion, the Haruka and Misuzu comedy show, and Cooking With Misuzu still are smile-inducing, so it's not like AIR is substandard or average at any rate.

Looking at the show for the second time, a few other things become apparent: AIR certainly has more of an 'anime' feel to it that other KyoAni shows. It uses a lot of sound effects from the Lucky Star bin (yes, the wrong way chronologically), there are sweat drops and overdramatic food-spitting out and all. It doesn't detract from the currently-light feel of the show, but it's certainly a change from the (mostly) realistic Kanon.

Also, the show doesn't seem to be pulling out as much foreshadowing compared to...yeah...Kanon. While in the latter pretty much every line, even the insignificant ones, could hold deep meaning (Akiko's "Look out for cars" or Yuuichi's "Didn't the school used to be a wheat field?" in episode 1) , AIR isn't as quite a treat for second-time viewers.

Probably because of the lack of plentiful childhood friend, although, there certainly are a few tip-offs of future plot developments, like Michiru being afraid to approach Minagi's mom, or Misuzu wanting to play cards, or...well...Misuzu having no friends.

Presentation-wise the release of AIR Vol. 1 is very bare-bones, with the only extras being creditless OP/ED sequences, and with no scene select offered for the four episodes. Still, it's AIR, it's in the U.S., it's good looking and it's cheap (yay, RightStuf sales), so it's still good as long as the content isn't too bad.

So far it's looking that way still. I look forward to Minagi's arc as the pivot.

-CCY

The Meta Effect: How Anime Blogging Messes with Anime Watching

(except less serious-sounding)

Sometimes anime blogging can not only change your reader's perspectives but also your own.

Not even only from the commenting, or the discussions. Writing about a hobby, somehow, can manage to change how you view it as a whole.

It's kind of similar to the age-old discussion of "going pro" in a sport or other passion, touched on by shows like Doujin Work. You can enjoy doing something, you can be good at doing something, yet somehow things just shift dramatically when you actually start doing it for a living.

Anime blogging may not be the same since there are not really huge rules to abide by, or money to be made from it, but those who feel a certain need to provide content for an audience certainly are aware of that creeping feeling of "If nothing happens in this latest episode, what the hell am I going to write about?"

Not to say that it's a bad thing or a good thing that I'm beginning to look at anime in a different way; just more of a statement. Pretend it's Lucky Star, or something, just something where you feel that need to say "Y'know what I think?"

And, then, y'know, devolve into some random geek-topic related rant. As proof, here's one of the inspirations behind this post:

"This is one of those screenshots that is just dying to be taken out of context and posted somewhere for epic lulz."

Although, that might just be a fault of the internet in general.

I think one of the biggest changes that writing about anime, or anything, is that one develops a much larger 'critical eye'. Again, it might just be the fact that I've expanded my plate of anime from one simple-formula harem series to more than ten simple-formula harem series, but after a while one starts hearing an almost Mystery Science Theater-like voice in their head:


"So I suppose someone's going to come along, misinterpret this as a budding relationship, and go all depressive again."


"Hello, my name's Hinako and I'd like to file a change-of-harem request."


"I really wish I could play guitar as well as they do without moving my hands."

It's all in the name of good fun but sometimes it just seems kind of sad that some supposedly serious moments just can't be taken serious anymore. Part of this can be blamed on the whole "Oh look, another overly moe girl who's probably actually in a coma" effect of the same genre over and over, but I think a large part of it is also because of the want to have something to talk about on the blogpost days.

And of course, everyone knows, taking things out of context and making funnies are the easiest way to write things. There's only so many metaposts out there.

On the other end of the scale, when one is trying hard not to just write another post in meme-speak, there's an amusing effect of trying to find depth in where there is just really none. Or even, digging too deep into established pools of depth.

There's depth, there's meta, and then there's just messing with heads. It's really something to look at a show like Aria and go "I need to write something other than 'It's a relaxing show. I like relaxing. I also like water. Thus, Aria = good. Also, implied yuri'," or, to look at a show like Kanon and ponder, "I wonder if the teacher's two-second line about Schroedinger's Cat has anything to do with the similar paradox of Ayu's Backpack."

Anime blogging also makes you do a lot of funny things, like compare everybody to everybody else's sister's osananajimi's stalker's robot's fluffy thing. Whether it's one of those awesomely random lists like "The top 50 reasons why Nagato is awesome" or one of the more general comparison posts like "Why Myself;Yourself is completely unlike any other anime ever, except the twenty before it", comparisons seem to be a way of life around some places, if only because 1) they're fun, 2) comparing things helps make them more concrete (i.e. yay, order!), and 3) they're great for getting people to counter-post just why you are wrong.

Likewise, one starts getting things mixed up in the anime you're watching. Flip open to any slice-of-life and the first thing most people will do is bench it to something like Azumanga. Harem watchers begin smoking out the childhood friend, the dead girl, the strong and silent.


And sometimes I just wonder what Nagato is doing in Myself;Yourself with a large chest. (Purple hair, yellow eyes, glasses, likes books, you tell me I'm wrong.)

Above all, to end on a light note, anime blogging makes you crazy. Not only the scrutinizing the details, and the comparison charts, but the Mystery Science Theater and the random references to sports/memes/whatever it is when you try to write a funny post littered with in-jokes catering to an anime community. Certainly writing about a passion really awakens you to a lot of things about it, both serious and non-serious.

-CCY

Melty Blood Act Cadenza Sequel Confirmed!

For a while it was up in the air between the previous news (broken in the preview for the Novemeber issue of Japanese magazine Tougeki Damashii) of a possible sequel to the hit 2D fighter and the consequent removal of the title from the preview page, but now it's confirmed:

Hot meido-on-unlucky-osananajimi action is back, baby.



OK, maybe that is a bit of a stretch for the purpose of random innuendo but the fact of the matter does remain that the Tsukihime universe does contain a lot of seemingly-cliche characters that actually are pretty in-depth and have emotional storylines ... which is why we're having them fight to the death. Or something.

I'm sure there's some sort of reason that could be understood if I could read Japanese but the point still remains that Melty Blood remains one of my favorite 2D fighter series if only because it's one that leans more towards the pick-up-and-play end, with only 3 attack buttons and a shield to worry about.

As such 90% of the attacks can actually be pulled off by someone with little experience to the game; the movesets are relatively simple and as always the combo potential is still very complex, which is evidenced by the fact that I get completely wiped whenever I try to play someone over the age of 10.

Still, 2D fighters have always had sort of an appeal since they are one of the "cooler-looking" genres; if you've ever seen some of the special moves in Melty Blood, you know what I mean. (Sacchin's Blood Heat Arc vs. Shiki, or Ciel's Seventh Holy Scripture)

Or, maybe I like this game because it is with established characters, and it is always win to see and hear Hisui & Kohaku being Hisui & Kohaku.

And now, Hisui can actually moe people to death. Almost.

Rant aside, here's what's new in "Actress Again", from what I've read:
- 2 new characters, Riesbyfe Stridberg (she shows up in one of Sion's Arc Drives, the rest is Japanese to me) and Roa (Far Side version)
- New character select art
- Some new "Guard Crash/Crush" system (this is probably why I keep losing)
- More than one playing style per character
- "5 buttons;" whether this includes shield / heat activation buttons, I don't know.
- More Nasu-tastic storylines

Sounds good so far, although a lot of it is lost on a casual player like me. Look forward to more news on this sequel coming to arcades in 2008 (and hopefully to a home release too.)

-CCY
(Thanks to Beast's Lair for the news.)

Through Three, Fall 2007

Oh no! It's the dreaded but ever-popular "here's what I think about all the new shows in a season that I've barely seen an hour of" post!

Perhaps it's one that can be considered overdone in the anime blogging world, but it certainly serves a purpose. A blogger's watchlist can say a lot about their tastes and passions, something that can be helpful when getting a concept behind the words. Not to say to form massive stereotypes on bloggers, but at least once you know the general viewing pattern of a person you can know where to turn when you need your fix of genre-specific fandom.

The seasonal review posts that pop up around the first few weeks of a show are also helpful to those of us who actually don't have the time to watch every first episode individually (major props to those who can; it's some serious effort just handling half) and need to gauge popular opinion to see what are some of the unknown shows that went previously under the radar.

As such, it's a little late but it's time for one more take on what shows suck, what shows don't, and why you should listen to me instead of everyone else. Most shows have gotten three episodes in by now (look at the title. Ooh, alliteration, exciting, I know) and that seems a fair enough time to get a reading of the series, especially with the projected 12-episode length of many of this season's shows.

I don't plan on directly ranking the shows against each other but rather putting them on an overall barometer of just how much hype a show can build in me; whether it's more likely that I'll crash the servers looking for the latest release or whether it'll pop up months later to remind me that it still exists.

If you're looking for a take on all 30+ shows I would reccomend one of the excellent summaries from somewhere else, but if you want overly biased harem / romance comparisons (plus one or two oddballs; 8 in total)...welcome home, master.

Yeah, I can't stand that line at all.


Da Capo II
Concept: Popular harem show / eroge adaptation Da Capo (a musical term for return to the very beginning) repeats itself, except this time 50 years into the future.
Why Watch It: It's Da Capo all over again; also, a fast-paced first 2 minutes with a confession before the first episode is through.
Why Drop It: It's Da Capo all over again; also, a slow-paced last 2 episodes and 23 minutes with not much relationship buildup.
Judgment: Take 10 episodes and call me in the morning. Not worth watching week-by-week.
As you may surmise, D.C. II's greatest strength and weakness is its brand pedigree. It's what keeps me watching the show, and leaves hope that the slow start will lead to a strong ending, but on the other hand, none of the really good aspects from the original have carried over...yet.

All the characters from the original show, bar maybe Sakura, have moved on (naturally, it's 50 years later), and we're left with a bunch of newcomers who are close but not exactly like the old cast. The problem is, this semi-derivative formula really, for me, hurts the longtime fans: either you'll be dissapointed that the characters have changed, or you'll be dissapointed that they haven't changed enough. They still have the school idol Shirakawa, but now she's more towards the popularity-manipulating end rather than the maturely playful side. They still have sisters as love interests, just split into two separate, almost opposite personalities. And there's still a weird banana-innuendo-loving robot, except more annoying.

Oh yeah, and no Yoriko.

The D.C. series has always been one of the more unabashedly harem harem shows out there, and as such perhaps it's quite old inner workings by now are beginning to show against tougher competition. It's still a decent show, per se, it's just that there's not much of the happening going on. It's probably better marathoned.

Bonus Harem Show Prediction: Siscon ending seems inevitable (probably with Otome, the more Nemu-like of the two), but the Chris Berman in me wants Koko to...go...all...the...way! ...but not in that sense, you perv. Nanaka, as always, loses to the Shirakawa curse by default.


ef - a tale of memories
Concept: Eroge-like adaptation romance with two parallel stories; one male lead deals with a girl with extreme short-term memory, while the other gets to know an outgoing, mysterious girl. Also, the plots are connected in some way through family relations.
Why Watch It: Novel Shaft animation is unique and good-looking; intriguing characters and plot.
Why Drop It: Novel Shaft animation is confusing and annoying; a bit too complex to take week-by-week.
Judgment: Come back when it's over and I can make sense of it in one sitting.
ef is one of those shows that I feel bad putting on the shelf for a few weeks, if only because it does have some very interesting characters and concepts.

While a lot of the ideas feel like they should be Sad Visual Novel 101, with the memory loss and the random girl coming on to you and all, it really doesn't come across as such; the interactions between the characters have a decently believable feel to them.

The problem is is that ef is one of those shows that is hard to understand, especially with a week gap and 7 other shows in-between. The Shaft animation style is a bit trippy, and even though it's toned down from Zetsubou Sensei, the random cuts and silhouettes don't help in making the siutation better - although, they are good looking. But one has to wonder why a character will random seem to glow, float, or do something out of the ordinary.

The second factor contributing to the confusion is the multiple plotlines. I think there are at least two; one revolving around mysterious girl Miyako, the other around amnesia girl Chihiro, but with the AnimeSuki forums giving three plotlines, and AnimeNewsNetwork talking about only one lead guy in the show, I found out that I really have no idea what's going on here.

Which is a shame because I have this sneaking feeling I would really, really like this show if I knew what was going on, since it's relatively good-looking and the character personalities are pretty likable. Chihiro's story in particular seems like a tear-jerker, or at least one that will be very captivating.

Bonus Harem-Type Show Prediction: I'd tell you if I knew how many guys there were open. Still, I think Chihiro and Miyako are pretty solid 'win' locks, since it's not really a harem but more of a multi-thread romance.


Minami-ke (Through 1)
Concept: Three-girl slice of life, humor ensues.
Why Watch It: Tsuyuri (Doujin Work), Tomo (Azumanga), and Alicia (Aria) all in one place. Also, sexy camera work.
Why Drop It: Y'know, you've seen all three of those before. Slice-of-life is kinda a hit-or-miss genre as well.
Judgment: A keeper, but I'll get to it when I get to it.
That works better with the relaxing mood of slice-of-lives anyway.

Minami-ke is a slice-of-life (as you may have surmised), and that combined with the fact I've only watched one episode of it so far means there's not really much to say about it so far.

It has pleasantly surprised me in that it has pulled off two things I've haven't seen before, or at least in a while; 1) some great camera action (like the psuedo-Matrix scene) and 2) a girl-on-girl kiss that wasn't meant for fanservice.

Somehow I feel that people won't believe me, but in that case I've won a few converts for Minami-ke already.

The good part about this show so far is that it has excellent character interaction, in that comedy way. The super-energetic, attention-craving middle sister and the quiet, secretly-manipulative younger sister bounce off each other quite well for some great laughs, whether it be the aforementioned kiss scene or the Mysterious Love Letter.

The content doesn't feel overly stale either despite the personalities that we've seen before; although they were entertaining personalities, I must admit.


Shakugan no Shana II
Concept: Supernatural girl and mildly less supernatural guy meet and fight off bad guys, while shy girl comes in for some love triangle action.
Why Watch It: Easy to watch; has both action and romance elements; teaches you that melon-pan isn't just an innuendo for 'breasts'.
Why Drop It: Almost painfully obvious with some elements.
Judgment: At the back of the longest 'must-watch' list in romance; weekly for sure, but no hurry on a day-by-day basis.
Let me qualify my post by noting my previous Shana experience consists of solely the movie and one volume of the manga and light novel. As such, it's a bit harder for me to jump on the 'Shana, Oh God, hot, etc.' bandwagon right away.

Still, Shana is an enjoyable show, if only for simple reasons. Most of the show can be figured out easily (i.e. Kazumi has no chance in hell, Ike has less than no chance, Shana and Yuji are going to pwn whoever come their way, so on so forth), but some of the aspects could prove to be interesting on how they play out; such as the aforementioned love quadrangle, or just how the Obviously Evil Villians are going to obviously lose this time.

I'm not sure at this point whether it would be a better show as a romance-slash-action or an action-slash-romance show, as it seems to be blending the two in relatively equal amounts, although there could be a tilt towards lol-romance-drama in the next few episodes. For the sake of sanity I hope it stays away from that, as the whole "I am obviously jealous of that Not-Hecate girl but am too shy / tsundere to act on it" thing just rubs me the wrong way. I think a goodly focus on more interesting action scenes punctuated by romantic elements here and there would work well.

And does anyone else feel talked down to by the omnipresent announcer recapping the previous episode at the beginning of the next one?

Bonus Romance-Type Show Prediction: I'd only lay about 75% odds on any relationship getting resolved at all; for all we know the second season might not be the end of the adventure, so they wouldn't want to tie Shana up with Yuuji yet. Ike has nearly 100% chance of confessing to Kazumi, though, while he has a 0% chance of going anywhere. The Shana-Yuuji-Kazumi triangle is going to outlast time.


Myself; Yourself
Concept: Same old ren'ai / harem formula, same decent taste. Now with 500% more childhood friends!
Why Watch It: Chiyo's VA voices a hyper girl with breasts, glasses, and an addiction to reading, and the lead male gets slapped.
Why Drop It: Been there, done that.
Judgment: Best consumed within a few days of release.
Myself; Yourself is the opposite of ef; I should be groaning with disgust at the raw derivative-ness of it all, but I'm finding myself enjoying this series quite a lot.

Perhaps it's that the characters, as cliche as they are, still are entertaining. While the raw amount of standard moe elements that Aoi contains is staggering, she's still a very appealing character, and, failing that, obvious candidate for the Nayuki Award for Losing Osananajimis Who Are Awesome. Nanaka fulfills the tsundere quotient, Asami's the relatively normal yet cute random acquaintance, and Shuri can be a Mayumi-alike. You've seen it before, but you still might enjoy seeing it again.

M;Y has a bit of a fresh feel to it as well; the amount of initial coldness Nanaka had towards Sana was surprising, the overwhelming cast of childhood friends effectively negated that cliche, and they seem to be going in an interesting direction in hinting that Sana cut himself. Even the typical Aoi fanservice is novel, which I find amusing in the "what will they come up with next?" manner.

Or maybe it's the entirely awesome OP as well, which seems to have some interesting aspects to it beyond the music as well; what's with all the clocks?

Myself; Yourself comes across to me as a 'greater-than-the-sum-of-it's-parts' anime. It might just, though, be that the simpler, 'lower denominator' style of the show (while not stooping to, say, Ninomiya level) is easy to digest and enjoy.

Bonus Harem Show Prediction: Aoi might come close with the raw power of the fanbase pushing her on, but Nanaka's got this one in a lock. Asami will probably take second.


Clannad
Concept: Moe sad girls in spring interact with witty male lead (and incompetent male runner-up) in plot-tastic fashion. Also, some family overtones.
Why Watch It: It's Key, it's KyoAni, and the male characters are nothing short of awesome.
Why Drop It: It's KyoAni, it's Key, and the female characters are mostly incompetent or overly moe.
Judgment: Still sold on the formula, although I'll cut back the dosage. Watching it week-by-week for sure, but it just doesn't have that 'same-day' power.
Clannad is surprising, because while I'm not quite drawn to the female cast as much as past Key works, the male cast is by a mile the best and funniest I've seen in a long time.

Perhaps it's because, this being the third Key game, the girls are beginning to overlap a bit, and you can start describing one in terms of the other:
Nagisa equals Shiori's courtyard stalking skills minus her resolve and ice cream addition, times Misuzu's social incapability.
Fuuko equals the mental age of Ayu times the maturity and gullibility of Makoto.
Ryou equals Shiori plus Tsukasa. (OK, that's Lucky Star, and actually not too bad of a combo)

I've ranted about most of the female characters of Clannad before as unrealistic, which may be harsh, but the point stands that, well, I don't like them that much. There are still a few out there that are good - like the aforementioned Ryou, the badass Tomoyo, or even the Kotomi who has a shard of possibility; but it's not like the choices in Kanon that seemed like having to pick between a Ferrari and a Lamborghini.

On the plus side, Sunohara is a hilariously stubborn male runner-up that makes for a great butt end of a lot of jokes or running gags, Nagisa's father lives in his own macho mental world, and Tomoya Ethanol is pretty amusing himself without being a carbon-copy Kyon.

There's not much to say about the plot of Clannad yet; there seems to be some great (and grounded) family aspects, some decent supernatural aspects, and undoubtedly a million plot twists that will leave us in despair again, but I can't say for sure.

One thing for sure about Clannad, is that, being a KyoAni work, it will recieve a lot of attention both positive and negative (look at the size of its entry); not to say it's undeserved, but Clannad is dangerously leaning towards the overhyped side despite being still a very good show; just not a great.

Bonus Harem-Type Show Prediction: Nagisa wins, if she lives. Joking, joking; she will. I'd be worried about her family, but they seem too comic to lose. Something about the wheelchair shot in Tomoyo's OP segment seems ominous.


Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji
Concept: Down-in-the-dumps delinquent goes aboard a mysterious gambling cruise run by yakuza in a last-ditch attempt to save his life from the gutters of poverty.
Why Watch It: Great yet simple mind-games, and some brilliant human emotion and interaction.
Why Drop It: Typically scary art quality, gives itself away sometimes.
Judgment: Like a gambler, always greedy for more. Watch within a few days for sure.
To compare Kaiji to other shows with stars and cards in it like Yu-Gi-Oh almost feels insulting; although that may have just been the power of 4Kids and time corrupting my memory of that show.

But Kaiji is a show more than the gambling, but about the emotions as well. The game is so simple (and decidedly, ahem, not open to deux ex machining) that a lot of the show relies on the human interaction, the playing of each other like a fiddle. It's how Kaiji gets snookered out of two stars, and how he manages to win 2 more back later with 4 scissors in a row.

If it was just straight rock-paper-scissors, where everyone selected randomly and the only tension was who would win, Kaiji would be very boring. But since there is a mild degree of strategy, in trying to outthink your opponent and trying to talk him into submission, Kaiji works very well with its semi-mind-games.

It hurts that the announcer gives it away half the time - we'd like to think that Kaiji has the possibility to lose - but the way in which Kaiji pulls off the seemingly impossible still isn't always obvious, so there is a little bit of possibility to try to think ahead of the show without being spoiled.

Kaiji is more spiritually like Battle Royale than any ordinary card game, in that it's a relatively simple, yet complex - and very deadly - game.

Bonus Competition Show Prediction: I don't think Kaiji has the potential to lose completely, given that this show seems to be slanted in his favor (as opposed to being neutral in position), but he'll probably legally "lose" at least once, only to make a comeback.


KimiKiss Pure Rouge (Through 2)
Concept: A bunch of people fall in love with each other.
Why Watch It: The ordinary tone makes it very believable, more than one main character for each side, potential to be unpredictable.
Why Drop It: Ordinary tone may turn off those looking for escapism, gets a bit confusing and even shoujo-like with its storytelling.
Judgment: Infatuated so far. See if it can keep that 'day-after' viewing appeal.
The plausible nature of KimiKiss is probably what has kept it near the top of the list so far; all the characters seem like the type that you could reasonably see in real life - even Mao doesn't stretch the disbelief box too far, surprising for an osananajimi.

The female characters have a decent charm to them, whether it be the oh-so-adorably-shy girl, the genius delinquent, or Mao herself, and I'm sure there are two or three more to be added into the equation.

And none of them seem to be too typically over-the-top in character; they all seem built pretty sensibly, with a lot of possibility to them. Like the genius girl; is she really hot for Kazuki, or just messing with him like she says? Was Kouichi the reason Mao came back, or will she be content playing on the sidelines? Will Kouichi's shy-girl crush last (and vice versa)...or even ever come to fruition?

It's these kinds of questions that, while you think you know the answer to, leave an opening for alternate solutions that could really turn the show on its head. Perhaps the largely gender-ambiguous audience of the show (it's not orientated towards one specific genre) may turn some people off, but I'm looking forward to seeing more of a romance vibe in this show than an unrealistic harem aspect.

I suppose, two leads are better than one.

Bonus Romance Show Prediction: Mao's got good odds on Kouichi, being an osananajimi, but I'll go on a limb and say shy girl might be able to pull it off, with any luck. Kazuki's a question mark whether he will end up with anybody at all, but I doubt that it is genius girl.

-CCY

Rolling the Dice on Kaiji (01-02)

If there's one bad thing I can say about Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji it's that it didn't cause me suddenly grow hair from my chest and give me urges to stand on my chair and utter primal screams.

On the flip side, it didn't send me fleeing into a corner, shaking and quivering and searching for Shiori pictures in order to replenish healthy moe levels. In fact, my first guys'-orientated show in quite a while was refreshing and quite enjoyable.

This is probably due to the fact that Kaiji isn't a "guys" show in the typical sense of the word, which conveys the image of shows with random action, filler, and over-9000 episodes length. Kaiji is more of a thinking show, a mind game; I'd liken it to Battle Royale, except instead of playing with physical lives, they are playing with figurative (yet still very real) lives.

It's not a mind-render in any case, being still mostly predictable, but one can derive a certain joy, perhaps in a slightly sadistic manner, by seeing the expert interaction, or, more likely, manipulation, of characters.

Even, or perhaps, especially, for one whose typical plate of character interactions consists of 'blush', 'stammer' and 'fall on floor in provocative position', the playing of characters like a fiddle in the free-for-all world of Kaiji is quite refreshing.

Still, Kaiji shouldn't be expected to leave a good first impression, at least during the first few minutes. Kanon 2002 can finally breathe easy that another show has come along to usurp the title of 'Faces Most Likely to Point an Eye Out', and the rest of the art of Kaiji is, to put it one way, ugly.

99% of this can be chalked up to the character design, from extremely thick faces to huge lips to noses the size of small third-world countries. There's not really a looker, or, surprisingly, even a pair of X-chromosomes in the bunch.

Yet, somehow, the art style almost fits with the show. Kaiji (the show) deals with a lot of bums down on their luck (like Kaiji, the guy) desperate for one last shot at life, and one wouldn't expect the crowd to be filled with handsome, good-looking people.

It's not like the characters are exaggerated ugly either, like a lot of 'not good looking' characters in other shows filled with bishonens and bishoujos. They're just kind of there, a little scruffy, a little beat-up, worn out mentally and physically. Their crude look matches a crude personality; none of these characters have been treated kindly by life, and as such they pass on the seeming disregard that the world has shown them.

The ways that the characters adapt to the situation, and the quite large amount of straight emotion that they show is a great strength of the show. Kaiji is a very plausible character who acts in a realistic if not stupid manner.

He acts like most people down on their luck in clinging on to any last shard of hope that is offered to him; whether it's the phony alliance with the Ten Million Yen Man, or going to hold tight to his last star in the Break Room of Despair, he's alternatingly a follower and depressive, showing both naive hope and an inability to hold strong under pressure.

Yet Kaiji doesn't have that air of 'loser' to him. Perhaps it's the 'anti-hero', delinquent personality built up in the first episode, but he feels like the kind of person who just got tossed a few bad breaks, that really could work their way out if they just tried.

Sure, he whines when he gets two stars conned out of him. But like a good male lead, he gets his resolve up to work out of the corner; with his back to the wall he finally unleashes the determined side of him. It's better than the usual near-flawless character that pwns everyone into the ground.

The game of Restricted Rock Paper Scissors is surprisingly intriguing as well. It's beauty lies in its simplicity and complexion at the same time. It's not a game that lies on luck, or even skill, but on sheer cunning.

It, more than any other game, is a game of wits, of out-smarting and conning your opponent. Analyzing what cards your opponent has or doesn't have, trying to think whether your opponent will counter the 'logical' move, or counter the counter, and just trying to talk your opponent into slipping up like Kaiji had happen to him, it's a deep game hidden beneath a shallow surface.

How much of this meta-game we'll see will be pivotal to the series, as I look forward to seeing Kaiji connive and master his way to the 5 stars his coalition needs to make it to round 2. Certainly if he can do it in a plausible way rather than deux ex-ing his way through the Power of The Paper-Scissors-Rock or whatever, or if the Mastermind Plot by the boss yakuza works its way in the situation, it could be a very intriguing cruise.

If the storytelling keeps up, this simple game, and even simple show,could turn out to be a captivating story of the sheer amount of nearly sadistic entertainment that ensues when a hundred desperate humans are let loose against each other in a direct battle for financial survival. I'm betting on it.

-CCY

Emotional Weakness vs. Emotional Dependency

Anime girls are apparently the polar opposite of superviruses. They don't evolve resistance to disease but rather become more susceptible to it as they go on.

The disease today is, moreso than any harem lead, a lack of an ability to stand on their own, a sort of AIDS affecting the brain. Perhaps it's too much of a blanket statement to say that all anime girls are affected by such an affliction, but certainly in some harem anime it seems we're getting less and less real believable female characters and more and more one-legged props.

At least, it seems so, that many of the haremettes today just aren't capable of standing on their own.

Now I would enjoy being a knight in shining armor just as much as the next guy, but the extent to which characters are becoming socially or mentally, well, retarded, is sort of ridiculous.

It's part of the reason why I'm not getting into Clannad perhaps as much as other Key/KyoAni works, that from Kanon to AIR to Clannad the relationships have become increasingly one-sided. Certainly KyoAni's latest work has some merit in the vast amount of nonstandard (i.e. male) characters and their hilarious antics, but it really feels the harem itself leaves something to be desired.

(yeah, Kanon and AIR get spoiled.)

Now, I'm not going to be the first to call the girls of Kanon anywhere near realistic, but they certainly seemed to have a reasonable level of backbone, in that all of them were able to live relatively normal lives without Yuuichi.

Everyone still had, in classic style, a connection to him, of course, but if we removed him from the equation, it's still relatively plausible that they would still be able to survive. This is likely in part due to a strong supporting cast; Nayuki has Akiko, Mai has Sayuri, and even Shiori can sort of look to Kaori in a sense.

Ayu and Makoto are more questionable, but both their characters aren't complete pushovers. Makoto has the typical energetic tsundere disposition, and while Ayu is certainly a whining taiyaki-munching machine, she doesn't convey what I see in some Clannad characters as a sense of hopelessness.

My main example would be the seeming main character, Nagisa; or even extend it to the whole Furukawa female side. Both she and her mother take criticism in a manner that can be described as 'extremely poorly', with both being reduced to tears (or yeah, fainting) with only the slightly offhand remark.

Additionally, Nagisa is hardly the social type, with a soft voice, a weak body, and a lack out outgoingness so much that one has to wonder if her classmates even know that she exists. As such her meeting with Tomoya is brimming with a ridiculous amount so-called potential for emotional development into an outgoing person, which should be mildly heartwarming to some.

But, the question is brought up that, if Tomoya and Nagisa never happened to meet, what would become of her? Would she still stand under streelights at night, sit alone in the courtyard, and sing random stuff about a Big Dango Family if she remained what appears to be friendless?

It's sort of silly, and taken in that context it almost seems like an act; the standard "oh noes, I am a lonely girl, please help me and make me fall for you, etc" gig that goes down really too much in anime. People like that are really too much of a suspension of disbelief for me - it's just too much of the stars aligning, too much of Chance Encounter Occurs. People just aren't this helpless; either they take care of themselves emotionally, "take care of themselves" physically, or, more likely, have at least a few people they can count on.

Same goes for the childish characters like Fuko as well. Yes, she's adorable. Yes, she's funny. And yes, she makes Ayu looks sane, for God's sake. I've seen her dubbed "retard moe" by many, which is scarily accurate. Her childish, loli-like demeanor may be attractive, but one has to wonder how someone like her got into university in the first place.

Kotomi could go either way, seeming to be the typical idiot savant. An IQ of 190, as typical, has nothing to do with your social competence, as shown by her book-cutting, lunch-offering, uber-spacey demeanor. Again, it's an interesting personality that leans more towards blatant escapism than a plausible character.

Either that, or maybe I need to start going to empty libraries more often.

To be fair Clannad is only in its 3rd episode and I might be missing some of the depth to the characters that will come later, but at this point the characters seem a bit more unrealistic than usual.

Kanon's characters, as mentioned, seem better suited to standing on their own because, while they do have emotional weaknesses, soft spots to speak, these flaws don't overtake the rest of their character.

For example, while Shiori is, yes, "deathly ill" and yes, she does sit around waiting in the courtyard like Nagisa did, it feels like something she did more on her own accord rather than just showing up and moping, "Man, I really hope Yuuichi shows up to make me happy." She goes out and does things, goes out and tries to be strong, tries to make the most of her time.

This sort of attitude is what personally makes the Kanon characters, if not more realistic, more appealing, in that they aren't overly reliant on others, that they fight, they give their all and
they aren't, in a sense, pushovers.

AIR is, as it seems, somewhere in between with its lead character of Misuzu. While she does have a form of Magical AIDS that affects her character strongly (think how she always breaks down when trying to make friends), she is the outgoing type that wants to make friends, that doesn't wait for people to come to them, that pushes herself to the limit to do so.

Sure, there's a large break of disbelief in her befriending of a random, older traveler that she doesn't know, but somehow it seems better than it the situation were the other way around.

Perhaps it is a personal belief but I've always found these characters with the positive outlooks more appealing and more interesting than the passive ones that almost seem like quitters. It may be a lower tolerance for whining and almost manufactured drama, or it may be the inherent appeal in rooting for the 'underdog', the Little Mac fighting against the odds, but there's something about overly weak characters that really rubs me the wrong way.

But now, what about the rest of you; how do you like your haremettes? Is this perceived 'helplessness' in characters something that actually is desirable? Is reading these personalities as such not taking into account the whole situation?

Suddenly I'm beginning to see the appeal of tsunderes, with the hard exteriors and the soft interiors (innuendo not included) that really show they can be characters that stand up for themselves.

-CCY

Series Review: Doujin Work

"Young lady...you dropped your ero-hon."

Chalk another one up for the 'eh' pile.

Doujin Work, contrary to appearances, is not a yaoi show; but this sort of perversion makes up a decent amount of this comedy show about a girl trying to strike it big in the doujinshi (fanwork) industry. The connection should be quite obvious for anyone who's ever been exposed to the dark side of fandom, or, should I say, the internet itself.

But since Doujin Work is a publicly televised show (although that didn't stop other shows which can be deemed questionable) it naturally has to tone down a bit on the dirtier jokes. But the problem is, for those who read the manga, those are also known as the 'funny' jokes.

While the more worksafe content can still manage to be funny at times, and there certainly are moments that will make you laugh, it just seems that these moments are far and few between, even in a short series like this.

And it's epically short, by any standards. Given that each episode only is half-length, and that the series is only 12 episodes in length, Doujin Work is extremely brief and barely has any chance to make an impact.

Given that many of the jokes get almost painfully drawn out already though, it might be a bad idea to extend the length of Doujin Work. But, perhaps, if it was a longer-lasting show, it would've had a large budget which would have saved, in short, a lot of problems with it.

Doujin Work takes on too much and too little at the same time. Likable characters don't get used enough and unlikable characters get all the attention and stale jokes ... when they're not busy introducting a new character.

Certainly the premise and core characters are amusing, but Doujin Work needs to be sent back to the drawing board for a professional makeover.

Doujin Work may be a comedy, but the hints at some vestige of a storyline really are dissapointing when one realizes that really not a lot gets resolved in the story.

Hoshi spends his entire time, as Tsuyuri put it, being "Najimi's wingman" rather than getting the relationship development that almost seemed like it was going to happen. Ditto with Justice, the childhood friend's childhood friend (Protip: Osana Najimi = Childhood Friend) who has something almost resembling a competition with Hoshi...almost.

Najimi's focus on making a bajillion dollars (yen) through the doujin industry dissapears pretty quickly as well; although it makes a reappearance in the final episode, it doesn't really feel like it influences her at all in between.

Maybe this is a good thing, maybe this can be chalked up to character development, but it feels more like they ignored it than Najimi truly changed. Najimi's rivalry-turned-friendship with Nidou can be bought, but the omission of this aspect is just kind of strange.

It's probably because, honestly, the rest of the show is so static.

On to the characters themself, the cast feels surprisingly large for such a short show - it's just a shame that it sort of works against Doujin Work.

The main group of Najimi, Tsuyuri, and Justice work well. Tsuyuri's an excellent manipulator, which combined with her casual outlook on the adult industry makes her one of the series's shining character for comedy; maybe it's because she's so good at eliciting shocked reactions from or messing with the heads of the rest of the group.

Justice is a solid character as well; he plays the gullible foil quite often to Tsuyuri, and as such gets in a lot of amusing misunderstandings. The best part of his character is just how powerful, in a sense, he is, as well. He's very devoted to the point of insanity to both his work and Najimi (well, not in that sense so much) and so when Tsuyuri can get inside his head, awesome ensues.

Najimi doesn't really rub me either way; she's not a character that's either really likable or dislikable. Her easy embarassment (again, with Tsuyuri's sharp commentary) can lead to some laughs, but most of the time she's just your standard idealistic, hardworking main character.

And then things get hairy.

Nidou, the rival, is equally amusing with Najimi when neither of them can rack up sales at doujin conventions, but most of her character revolves around her love of boys' love doujins; this leads to a lot of fantasies when the male characters get in conflicts. Something that's funny maybe once or twice, but when that boils down to her whole character, it's kind of sad that she takes up increasing amounts of screentime as the show goes on.

Hoshi is Justice's rival in a sense as well as his main purpose is to cheer Najimi on, and to freak out Justice by cheering Najimi on. Like most main males, somehow, Hoshi manages to be incredibly average by being your standard nice, easily flustered guy.

Hoshi's brother is introduced with two episodes left to go; he is the professional manga artist, and spends what little time he has being shocked at the ugly quality of Najimi's drawings, yet still trying to get her to become his artist. He also is a victim of Misunderstandings Occur, but not as much.

And Sora exists to do lolicon cosplay, hug Justice, and say a one-liner at the end of every episode.

None of these characters are horribly fleshed out yet they end up stealing a lot of focus of the show in the latter half. It's not so much adding new characters so much as replacing them, since there just isn't enough time to devote to each character.

It also feels like the Doujin Work team didn't have much time to devote, period. The animation, like the length of the show, was incredibly budget, with a lot of stills and cheap animation. It's not a deal-breaker but when you have nothing interesting to actually pay attention to in long stretches during the show, the animation doesn't really improve the situation.

On the plus side, the show did have a catchy OP and ED theme, which I can't complain about.

But really, the whole show has about as much effort put into it as a term paper finished the day before it's due. As much of a good premise it has, as much good stuff one can say about the beginning, if it's rushed (into, essentially, 6 episodes) and done in a hurry, it's not going to live up to it's full potential.

In that sense, Doujin Work is a show that started with a lot of promise, with some creative jokes, and then it fell into that groove, doing the same jokes over and over, just trying to get the job done rather than really doing anything overly interesting or giving some of the riskier manga content a shot.

It's still a show that could be enjoyed, but only really as a stopgap, a 15-minute break between better fare; not something to be marathoned or watched intensively.

The manga works better due to slightly better content and the larger pick-up-and-read nature of the manga as opposed to almost dragged-out 15-minute episodes. In the words of the manga creator, Hiroyuki, a Doujin Work anime, unfortunately, is not (quite as) fine too.

-CCY

2007 Season of Romance - And the Rest...

And you always thought that was spring...

Adaptation season may be closer to the truth, as pretty much every show I've followed so far is based on an eroge or ren'ai.

This probably says something about the creativity of harem shows nowadays, with probably one completely new romance (Code-E) and one completely new visual novel adaptation (sola) in recent memory, but the content is all fresh to me anyway.

Not to mention, the logistical challenges of adapting premade content still are fairly high, especially with the branching nature of harem-types.

The point still remains that there are a lot of the same shows out there this fall season, and while the moe-bishoujo-hater is probably off cursing somewhere, lovers of either harem, romance, or just general fanservice/moe are having a busy time.

As such it's time for another triple take, taking looks at three more first episodes, bringing the total to six fall anime so far...

ef - a tale of memories is perhaps the most and least traditional of the harem shows so far. The concept is almost blindingly average; there may not be many ways to introduce the male and female "leads" to each other other than a chance meeting, but when you get two pairs of utter strangers united in the first episode, one starts to wonder just how many times you've seen this before, and the mind instead turns to wondering just how are they going to make the established (i.e. osananajimi) characters lose this time.

On the flip side, being a Shaft show the art style of ef was spectacularly nonstandard, with plenty of innovative camera angles, cut-out shots (i.e. black background with the sky background filling in a girl's profile), and more. It was refreshing as always, and yet was sane enough that it didn't really kill the mood of the show at all.

The show features what appears to be a parallel story as well, with two male leads (which took a long time for me to figure out with their similar designs, I must admit) befriending two different girls, with the connection seeming to be through a six-degrees-type relation between some sisters. It certainly seems promising, as more and more shows are moving away from the one-strong (or weak)-male-lead syndrome that gets a bit ridiculous at times.

Overall, ef does a great job at proving that the first episode really doesn't tell much about the series, as it could really go either way at the moment.

The two lead female characters are adorable, especially the eyepatch-girl, but they tread the line between believable and just overly weak, whether it be being ridiculously friendly or emotional around their respective "partners." The male leads don't seem too bad, and I enjoyed their little speech about "wanting to be the knight in shining armor," but really, they're just so nondescript at this point I can't say much about them.

This seems to sum up my opinion of the whole show so far, in that it feels awfully...done before and forgettable. I remember watching this episode, liking it a lot - and forgetting about it. Maybe it's the fault of watching so many shows, maybe it's the passage of time - but ef hasn't made an imprint yet. This isn't to be confused though with a lack of promise; I hope that the second episode will bring back the good memories of...3 days ago, and prove that Shaft can do romance as well as they did despair.

On a final note, any show that features a combined Lucky Star / Touhou reference (and, yes, a Nice Boat) deserves at least a double eyebrow raise.

Next up on the list is KimiKiss Pure Rouge, which gives off the feel that it's more of a romance aimed at girls, or at least at both genders. I say this because of the impressive gender-neutral feel of the show. Again, there are two equally balanced male leads, and the female cast is varied without pandering to any particular stereotype.

It's a different type of show than the other ones airing so far which certainly seem more fantasy-based in either setting or characters; KimiKiss gives off the feel that you're entering a show that has been going for quite a while now. The characters are established, whether it be the three guys, the quiet girl that Kouichi likes, or even the returning childhood friend, Mao. Even the chance encounters between Mao and Rebel Guy, or Kazuki and Delinquent Genius, don't feel overly forced.

As such, KimiKiss is an anime that's a bit harder to grasp onto, especially with a slow opening like the first episode provided. Mao's return and the first half as a whole was admittedly on the bread and butter side but once the school day started the episode picked up in pace, introducing many of the characters above, and probably some more. The sheer complexity of the possible relationships certainly has a girls'-show feel to it (a la Marmalade Boy) compared to most harem show "triangles", where you take all the girls and draw lines to one guy in the center.

All this means though is that KimiKiss will be a noteworthy show if only because it will sort out those who like more 'real' romance than those who just enjoy the simplistic harem romances. I can't claim to swear allegiance to either side yet but KimiKiss will be a test as to how much concentrated relationship-spaghetti one can handle.

It certainly leaves a lot of interesting ends open at the first episode anyway, with the "secondary" male Kazuki getting his first kiss already, the issue of the relationship between Kouichi and that quiet girl he always blushes at, and the reason for Mao's return among others being interesting discussion topics. At which point though this ceases to be interesting and instead becomes confusing, though, is an excellent question.

Shakugan no Shana II is the odd one out here, being of the supernatural action-romance crossbreed variety. The Shana series is a strong one with a wide fanbase and something along the line of 17 light novels, a couple games, a manga, a movie, and two anime series, and I'm beginning to see why.

As mentioned extensively in my review of the movie, Shana isn't a series that's designed to randomly mindrape you, and instead is more of a show that surprises you with the path from point A to point B. It lays out most of the cornerstones for you - time loop enemy, increasingly-complex Shana/Yuuji/Kazumi/Ike love square-type, action happens, but how everything is going to get resolved is the interesting point.

Time loops or repetition in general are always a somewhat controversial topic for me in anime; on one side, it's kind of cool to see what you've seen before; on the other, you're seeing what you're seen before. Still, the logical fallacies and the inner desires/conflicts of characters which can be seen in the dream-like sequences in Shana can still generate some interest (case 1: Yuuji jumping off the ladder yet still floating to the top), although, as in the case of the Torch theory, I may be giving Shana more credit than it desires.

A lot of my enjoyment from Shana, and confusion as well, may stem from my relative newness to the series as well; what's old to some people is still new to me. This applies to both canned-ish footage from the first series, and, more crucially, to terminology and characters as well. As such, anyone outside of the core love triangle and (the soon-to-be-defunct, I imagine) Friange are completely new.

Hopefully figuring out just what role the obscurely named villians, Maid De Arimasu and Minami Nagato Green-Hair Girl play in the scheme of things won't be a huge trial by fire. It seems that they're trying to keep things relatively straightforward so far, at least in the romance section, with the apparent recap of Shana's non-confession, Kazumi's obsession, and Ike's challenger entry.

Shana seems like the series that could work relatively well, at least with me, as long as it doesn't devolve too hard into a monster-of-the-week show; there seems to be an overarching plot or conspiracy at least, but we'll find out. It certainly can occupy the status of 'light watching' for now, anyway, compared to all the budding drama/tear-fests that we know visual novel adaptations are. The best way to put it is; I like what I see so far, but I don't know how much of it I've seen.

And, with one more off-hand comment, the Shana OP rocks almost as hard as the M;Y OP. Literally.

So far the fall season has been quite pleasant so far on the adaptation side as a whole. A lot of series have shown a lot of possibility to become great shows; instead of being a huge, breakout show, there's a bunch of solid shows. Clannad and Myself;Yourself are top picks from the old school of harem shows with strong and way moe characters. KimiKiss looks good for the more traditional romance crowd. ef's the Shaft title which could go any way. Shana II is Shana, which I understand means a lot.

D.C. II is the one show that's really dissapointed me so far; the second episode failed to continue with any of the interesting "progress" from episode 1, and the characters aren't anything spectacular. But even with this show, I expect to make it to the end, if only to prove myself that there was nothing there.

With any luck though, this could be a very thrilling fall season...if you can keep your characters straight.

-CCY

An Accelerated Course in Shana, Part II - the Movie

Having read the light novel a few months ago, the manga a few days ago, and with the second season just getting underway, Shakugan no Shana fever is in full fury.

Perhaps curiosity is a better descriptor, since as much as two manga volumes and one light novel can teach you, one can imagine a gaping hole in the plotline, a huge amount of something missing, that can only be found in sinking large amounts of time and, since we are relatively moralistic around here, money into watching the entire first season of Shana.

There's no doubt that a show like this can be easily picked up upon in the first few episodes of the sequel, being what seems to be of the general type 'boy meets supernatural girl, action romance ensues', but naturally there are a few nuances that are missed here and there, some twists, character development, and in the case of the Shana series, confusing jargon.

Now turning to an hour-and-a-half movie may not be the best way to cover what I presume is a large part of the 12-hour, 24-episode series, but as the cliches go, 1) any port in a storm, and 2) watch first, ask questions later.

What follows is an impression of the Shana movie from a relative newbie to the series; it seems to reprise much of the storyline from the first light novel, so I can't claim that it's totally new content, but there certainly will be a lack of comparisons to how the anime handled the same content.


Ironically enough it feels like the movie would have been better off, as a dramatic work, watched before the light novel. Devout Shana fans might have a lot to like about all the plot twists and cliffhanger-type material that they've seen already in the first season, but to one who's just skimmed the light novel and got the gist of the story, it's hard to either be completely surprised or entertained by such content.

It's sort of that gray zone that no place wants to hit; it's not new enough to surprise me, yet it's not familiar enough to endear itself to me. As such, some of the most "dramatic" moments of the film were of the feeling that I should be shedding a tear, but just couldn't bring myself to take it seriously enough.

This may also be the fault of the second season existing, which gave birth to many wisecracks as "Yuuji / Shana can't die, they have to show up in the second season after all."

But then again, a lot of this is my own fault, and besides...who really believes that the protagonist is going to die? That wouldn't be a very pleasant ending (stop looking at me like that, Key series). But maybe, like they said in The Prestige, we want to be fooled. We want to pretend that all hope is lost, just so that when the hero makes a Shocking Comeback, we can cheer and cry happy tears.

To that meta regard the Shana movie isn't too bad, in that it at least shifts expectations from "oh my God they killed Shana" to "how are they going to make her live this time". Shana feels like the type of show that lays out its point A and point B quite blatantly, yet still has a fun time drawing the line connecting the two.

Sure you know Friange is going to get pwned, Busty Meganekko Rival is going to concede defeat, and Shana is going to go all tsundere love-love towards Yuji, but you can't tell quite exactly how it's going to happen or play out.

Unless you're actually intimate with the source material, in which case you'll probably enjoy the movie more for the execution than for the surprise, in the same way that visual novel remakes and adaptations manage to work so well.

In any case the Shana movie probably has something to offer for everyone, although it certainly seems to tilt toward the seasoned viewer more if only because of the high learning curve of the show, or should I say, it's vocabulary.

I'm never any good with keeping up with names (hint: look up 3 paragraphs) and so action shows with lots of fancy terminology and special move names always tend to be extremely confusing. As such a lot of the complexity of Shana goes over my head, but what I did catch was quite interesting.

Moving on to the actual movie, the opening part with the Torch concept wasn't one that I recalled quite well from other work and as such was a very entertaining and piece about existentialism...in a way.

Yuuji's struggle with the carelessness with which Flame Hazes snuff out 'fake' lives, as well as the actual concept of a Torch 'being' someone they're not, someone who will eventually never be remembered, was really almost touching in a way. This was especially so when combined with the slow 'death' of Yukari, the unfortunate Red Shirt who only got to endear herself to the audience for a few minutes.

Isn't it sad, Yukari.

It was a topic discussed perhaps once before in sola and it still hits hard now; one can hardly deny that they want to leave a mark on the world before they depart, especially if they have an anime blog with 100+ posts on it. It's something that I wish could be brought up more in Shana, but naturally going way deep and, one might almost say, depressing, is not something this show aims to be; rather, it's an action/romance with a touch of depth. Best of both worlds, or something.

Although again the movie, being what I imagine is an essential time-compression of a lot of the original series, loses a few of the more basic aspects that I enjoyed in the manga. A lot of the school life / love triangle parts of Shana got cut out in favor of the action and actual plot-line.

It's a sensible decision when you only have 90 minutes to cover an entire light novel, but I really wish that Kazumi had a little bit more screentime; maybe I'm a sucker for blushing, stammering, and moe in general, but Kazumi really was an adorable character from the manga that needs more attention, even if you know she's going to lose, if indeed, Yuuji does ever 'pick' someone.

Even on the less fanboyish side of things, such amusing scenes as Yukari-Shana making herself known in the class by getting one up on the gym teacher, Shana's melon pan proclamation in the store, or pretty much any light-hearted interaction at school really are something I would've liked to see a bit more of. In the end, I guess that's what the anime seasons are for.

But what the movie does, it does in a decent manner. Friange was a relatively well-developed, almost tragic villain; while he does make a couple stupid Bad Guy Moves such as letting Shana / Yuuji go early on with a promise of a later Big Battle, he does have a defined motive, a decent personality, and quite good fighting skills as well with all the varied power-ups (em, treasure tools) he has.

The battles were passable as well; it feels like the characters have a greater sense of mortality than usual. It's always been a sticky point that a lot of characters in most fighting shows can take ridiculous amounts of hits and not really show any signs of slowing, but one gets the feeling in Shana that while Flame Hazes are perhaps more durable than most humans, they don't reach hax levels of defense.

Perhaps Friange did too; usually the ones with a lot of clever attacks have low defense (perhaps symbolic of his whole character type), but of course, we didn't get a lot of time to see how well Friange stands up against attacks, because he got eradicated in quite brilliant fashion by the God of Whatever Fiery Death. That's how you kill villains, kids. Leave no mark behind.

Shakugan no Shana the Movie definitely doesn't feel like it'd be a crash course in Shanaism, with a lot of non-essential, and perhaps thus the most important, content missing the cut, but with any luck a lot of this intrapersonal and lighthearted stuff will either be inferred or shown in the second season anyway.

In a sense it's not going to get you fully up to speed with the series but it will be enough to get the proverbial engine firing if you're a complete greenhorn to the Shana series. But if you're familiar with the current English manga and visual novel releases, you might as well go straight for the anime series.

-CCY

Series Review: Nanatsuiro Drops

"It is a magical story of, 'A seven-colored first love that encompasses you.'"

A Cardcaptor Sakura for the 21st century.

At first glance Nanatsuiro Drops is one of your standard magical girl shows with a target audience age that can be counted on your two hands. In some aspects of it, it is exceedingly sugary and simplistic.

But delve into the origin of NanaDrops, and you'll discover, curiously enough, that it was adapted from an eroge, which would seem to suggest quite the contrary to what one would expect from an anime of this type.

Now of course NanaDrops still looks and acts like an anime that has nothing to do with its ero roots. But this isn't to say that it renounced its background altogether. Somehow it feels that NanaDrops isn't the type of eroge to be a mindless sex romp but rather one with more of an actual story feel to it, which just happens to have H-scenes.

This isn't to say that NanaDrops is a deep anime, or a complex one. But it'd be wrong to call it a simplistic anime. It does work the magical girl formula in an innovative way and quite different than what one might expect.

Rather than being focused on the magic aspect of it, there is a larger emphasis on the relationship between characters. It's a refreshing departure from the "let's take the whole series to build up to a confession" concept utilized far too often by a lot of romance shows.

Nanatsuiro Drops really is a curious show in that it's a magical girl show with very little emphasis on the magic. The magical parts of the show really come across as more of a prop towards the development of the two main characters and their relationship together.

And one can even detect a hint of tongue-in-cheek in the magical elements, in the sense that it really feels like Magical Girls for Dummies at times with a real feeling that given the setting, anyone could have been the magical girl, it's that easy.

It will still be a series twenty times too sweet for someone who can't handle magical girl shows, and maybe even for someone who can; NanaDrops is the ultimate feel-good story that really has the power to bring a giddy, childlike smile to your face.

The plot is something you've probably seen before in some fashion, but the strength in NanaDrops lies in it's power to throw you into the way-back machine to the good ol' days of shows like Cardcaptor Sakura; where the characters are pure, the romance innocent, and a mood shining as bright as the sun.

If that's your thing, Nanatsuiro Drops really is an underrated, seven-colored gem.

The magical aspects of Nanatsuiro Drops were understandably grating for those who don't like having their teeth rotted twice over with all the sugarcoated wand-waving and spell-chanting, but it's not really as horrible as it first looks.

In the beginning parts of the show, it almost seems a bit satirical with the way Nona / Asparas is so insistent on Sumomo being a "proper" Stellar Spinner, and just how furious Nona becomes when she finds out Sumomo is no good at the typical magical girl trade.

Yes, as you might expect, she doesn't know any spells, how to wave a wand properly, or how to act like a magical girl, but Sumomo is going to win you over with the Power of Love and Kindness anyway; which isn't as half-bad as it sounds.

Firstly because the magic aspects are almost completely phased out by the end of the show, and secondly because there is a nice twist to the formula with Yuki, the standard Plush Animal Accomplice, and Haru, the Male Protagonist / Love Interest, being one and the same.

Usually the stuffed animals serve as a sort of combined deux ex and comic relief, being funny until it's time for them to spill all the plot development. But here in NanaDrops, there really is an interesting dynamics in that Haru gets to see Sumomo in both her shy schoolgirl demeanor and her energetic magical girl demeanor, without her knowing.

Not to mention Sumomo's constant raving about her crush on some guy named Haru to "Yuki-chan." Almost reminiscent of Kotori's power in D.C., how Haru knows too much, and so the plot benefits from the switching personalities of Sumomo and the switching bodies of Haru.

Additionally, some of the Rules of Magic, as provided by the deux ex magic book from Kisaragi, allow for some dramatic, if not a tad predictable, plot developments. Yeah, it seems that every magical girl show has some plot twist to do with "loved one forgetting their feelings", but it's still a point that can be executed well again and again.

The "restart" episodes of Cardcaptor Sakura (circa the Yue fight, I want to say around 50-something?) and Nanatsuiro Drops, where one of the main characters forgot who they were, are both very enthralling. If not because of the emotion of the plot itself, because of all the astounding parallelism between these episodes and the early times of the show, in showing how something's just not right with the character interactions. It's something awesome.

It was a bit of a let-down how the magic competition was almost completely phased out at the end, after such a fierce fight from Nona. She still acknowledged defeat in the end in her own way, but kind of as a whole it felt like we could have used more from Nona. She had that sort of "I guess friendship is a good thing" development going on like Yuma in Code-E.

Still, the stronger aspect of NanaDrops is not the magic in the romance sense but the magic in the romantic sense. Seeing the main couple together by the two-thirds mark is always a plus for me; watching the relationship dynamics between characters change after a confession is always much more exciting than watching a blush-fest of aborted confession after aborted confession.

In that regard the interaction between Sumomo and Haru was, like a lot of the show, really sweet and smile-inducing. From the nervous time they spent falling for each other, to the tentative yet confident time they spent as a couple, to the sweetly melancholy last few minutes they spent together in the last few minutes before catching the final stardrop. And of course, the reunion.

The characters themselves were reasonably likable as well. Sumomo, like a typical magical heroine, had strong emotional development; while she may have came off as a crybaby initially, by the end of the series she was fairly self-confident, and always had that bright smile on her face.

Haru was a decent male lead as well. While he may not be as wickedly witty (sarcastic) as other visual novel leads, he wasn't spineless by any means. Perhaps a bit of a loner, but he comes across as kind of a cool guy; and certainly as YUki he was a supportive character who, like Sumomo, always gave his all.

Side characters, aside from the aforementioned Nona, didn't get a lot of attention but none of them were particularly grating. It was nice to see the one other schoolboy in the show, Keisuke, be a nice, social personality despite his geeky look. And it was always amusing to see the nosey nature of Sumomo and Haru's friends trying to push them together.

Nako, Sumomo's best friend, was very similar to Haru in a sense that she supported Sumomo 100% and seemed to always be there for her. Sometimes I wish that there wasn't always so much implied yuri between these kinds of characters (hello, Tomoyo) but this might be my own fault.

Kisaragi took the place of the Adult Who Knows Everything with a typically cool and collected demeanor. Not much to say about him since he's a dime-a-dozen, but he didn't get on my bad side.

Prodution-wise NanaDrops felt strong, with a lot of shiny and sparkly effects; there didn't seem to be too much canned animation for the magic sequences, as well. Not to mention the unique animation style in this show, with at least one random (and adorable) chibi sequence per episode. The music wasn't spectacular but the OP and ED songs were surprisingly catchy; they were just so upbeat and happy that sometimes you just can't help but hum them.

Nanatsuiro Drops would sound by now to be the best anime since sliced bread (which, incidentally, hasn't gotten an animated adaptation yet) and I must admit that's the wrong impression of the show. It's a great anime for those who don't mind being youthful, perhaps childish at heart, and for those who like simple, happy romance stories. Those looking for deeper or more serious fare, or who simply have an aversion to squeaky voices and magical aspects will want to stay far, far away.

But this story should be one that resonates strongly with a lot of fans of both magical girl shows and of romance shows; to that sense it's almost a spiritual successor to Cardcaptor Sakura in points, and while it won't become as big a show as the former, those who enjoyed Sakura's adventure will find a lot to like in Sumomo's sweet tale of stardrops and first loves.

-CCY