Fall Anime Revue: Two Schools and an RPG

So ... I don't really intend for this blog to be only about anime.  Really!  I intend to write about a whole RANGE of topics from religion to politics to culture to video games.  However, it's just that time of year, and I do what I must because I can ... or is that someone else ... anyhow, on with the reviews!

Hyakko:

As I first began to watch this one, I was unsure to say the least.  The only thing the opening titles sequence indicated was that it was about four high school girls.  Not usually the sort of thing I'm into, the notable exception being the AMAZINGLY funny Azumanga Daioh.  However, as I continued to watch, I began to feel that Hyakko might make exception number 2.

The premise of the first episode is actually pretty straightforward.  Nonomura Ayumi (voiced by Hirano Aya, voice actress of Suzumiya Haruhi and Lucky Star fame) is living every high-schooler's worst nightmare.  Not only does she not "fit in," but in-between classes she's managed to get lost in the halls of the expansive private school which she is attending.  While trying to find her next class, she encounters and joins up with three other lost souls attempting to locate the classroom for their next class.  Iizuka Tatsuki (the tall, proper and bossy member of the group), Kageyama Torako (the one who, literally, leaps before she looks), and Saotome Suzume (the quiet and intelligent one) join up with Ayumi to find their next class at all costs!

This may not sound promising, but let me assure you, this one has promise.  It features the sort of every-day situations with not-everyday people humor also found in Azumanga.  And already in the first episode, the chemistry (no, not romantic, but comedic) between the characters is spot on.  The traits of each compliment those of the others, making for an interesting group of misfits.  The animation style is refreshing as well, departing from the clean and uber-shiny animation you see in most anime these days to a style which seems at the same time older and stylized.  It's not really like the animation of Revolutionary Girl Utena, but that's the style which is coming to mind.  In any case, it's different, and in a good way.

Thematically, it looks as if the show is shaping up to be a slice-of-life comedy which still will explore some actual issues of identity, group-dynamics, and fitting in.  Obviously I don't expect it to be an essay on the topic, but already in the first episode, such themes have been engaged, and I will be interested to see how they play out.  In many ways, this show gives off the feelings of the live action film "Linda Linda Linda."  Finally, I have to mention the music, and particularly the ending, sung, of course, by Hirano Aya.  I'm a big fan of Hirano Aya's musical outings, and the ending sequence does not disappoint.

Bottom Line: Is it Azumanga reborn?  I don't know about that.  But it IS mighty funny while still reserving the ability to (lightly) engage real Japanese social issues.

Episode Watched: HYAKKO Episode 1, Subbed by Himatsubushi

Kyou no Go no Ni:

Kyou no Go no Ni, or in English, Today's Fifth-grade Class 2, is another interesting slice-of-life school anime.  Of course, not many school anime deal with fifth graders.  Whether it's an awkward study session with a classmate or a powerball contest gone awry or forming a broom guitar band with your classmates, this show will remind you of that special time when life was fun, girls weren't gross anymore, and goofing off was a way of life.

I've not got much to say about this one.  The animation's straightforward.  The topic is fun.  The writing is entertaining.  Really, this is a nostalgic look back at being a kid, before you encountered "teen angst."  It's just a fun show.

From a cultural perspective, this show obviously offers a bit of insight (albeit stylized and humorized) into what being a kid in Japan is like.  Once again, the things put in the show which Japanese people take for granted prove to be the most insightful for a student of Japanese culture.  For this reason, I'll be watching this one.

Bottom Line: It's fun to be a kid.  It's entertaining to remember what it was like.  This show helps you do just that.

Episode Watched: Kyou no Go no Ni Episode 1, Subbed by Chihiro

Tales of the Abyss:

If you didn't guess from the name, this one's based on an video game.  An RPG to be precise.  And if you didn't guess it from the name, you'll sure figure it out by the end of the first episode.  It's got all the hallmarks of the "tutorial section" of your typical RPG.  You wake up as the main character, who happens to be sheltered royalty with a boring royal life and who isn't allowed outside the palace.  You meet your friends, your family, and it's all okay if you don't know them.  After all, you DID loose all memories of your childhood in a traumatic incident several years ago.  You begin to spar with your sword trainer, learning the battle system, when something goes wrong.  An enemy attacks, you jump in, and suddenly some sort of hidden power within you hurls you and your attacker far, far away from the palace.  Now in the wilderness, you are beset with wild magical beasts (read "random battles") which you must fight to get back the life you just lost.

Yeah ... without the battle system and the interaction, it doesn't really do it for me, either.  It doesn't help, I suppose, that I never played the PS2 RPG, but I'm not really interested in this one.  Looking right now like it's going to feature the overused, "crap, the world's going to blow  up unless we set out on a 40-50 hour quest all over the world" storyline, but who knows?  I may catch a few more episodes, but really, this one is not interesting me at all.

Bottom Line: It's an RPG made into an anime.  If you want to play an RPG without interaction, get Xenosaga.  If you're too cheap to buy it, watch this.

Episode Watched: Tales of the Abyss Episode 1, Subbed by Osu!

That's it for this installment.  Hopefully I'll get in a post that's NOT about anime before I do the next set of reviews.

Fall Anime Revue: Casshern Sins, Kannagi, Akane-iro ni Somaru Saka

A few new anime came out over the weekend.  Here's my roundup review.

Casshern Sins:

Robotic existentialism.  Well... sort of.  Titular Casshern is a man in a suit who killed Luna.  For some inexplicable reason, this sin has brought about the decay and ruin of the entire world.  Fortunately not our world (at least, not in the first episode), but a world of robots.  It's unclear whether Casshern is a robot or a human or some sort of cyborg, but what is clear is that he will kill anyone who comes after him ... even though he has no memory of his identity.

This looks interesting.  Casshern's outfit and his fighting giant robots SEEMS like it would be right out of some sort of classic superhero children's anime, but the themes present in the anime are far from being for kids.  Instead the tone is much darker.  The world is going to ruin, and nothing can stop it.  And it seems to be be Casshern's fault.  How is he going to deal with questions of identity and purpose when everyone believes him to be the cause of the end of the world?  Thematically, I think this has real potential.  It helps, too, that the animation style is both clean and classic at the same time.  The character design is like something from the era of G Gundam or even Gachaman, but done with modern and clean drawing styles.  The backgrounds and music fit the theme, and both contribute to a sort of otherworldly feel.

Bottom Line: Already in the first episode, we've got issues of identity and humanity.  Watch this one.  It has potential.

Episode Watched: Casshern Sins Episode 1, Subbed by Shinsen-Subs

Kannagi:

And now for something completely different.  I have to say the opening for this one prepped me for a show about an up-and-coming idol.  The actual episode ... nothing like the opening.  Mikuriya Jin is spiritually sensitive (if I had a nickel ...).  As a kid, he saw a mysterious woman while playing near a sacred tree.  Now he's in high school, and for his art project he carved an image of the woman he saw.  But then the image comes to life.  Turns out the sacred tree had been cut down, and the god who was inhabiting it now has entered into Jin's woodcarving - a woodcarving made from the sacred tree.  Crazy, huh?  Anyhow, the land god Nagi now inhabits the body of a high-school-aged attractive girl who must live with Jin so that he can help her to stop the "impurities" that are now cropping up without the tree's protection.  A lot to swallow?  Yeah, just a bit.

It's the usual setup.  Guy living on his own suddenly has some strange girl appear, and for whatever reason, they have to live together.  Pretty standard stuff (if only in real life, right?).  That said, the first episode has been tastefully done.  No panty shots or boob-grabbing.  In fact, when there was an opportunity to show Nagi's pantsu in an action shot, a leaf was subtly but strategically placed.  That's a good start, right?  In a way, it reminds me of a sort of attempt at a shinto Ah My Goddess! ... sort of.  Based on the opening, I suspect that's not where this is going, but here's to hoping.  That said, I do hope that they keep these sort of shinto themes going.  It'd be interesting in a sort of Spice and Wolf way if they keep weaving in those sorts of elements.  Being a student of theology, I find those sorts of things, even in a show like this, terribly interesting.  Maybe I'll do a post some time about the value in watching anime for religious insight.

Bottom Line: Maybe it's going somewhere new, and maybe it's rehashing old cliches.  I'll be keeping track on this for at least a few weeks out of interest in how they handle shinto beliefs.  I'll have a more definite verdict for you then.

Episode Watched: Kannagi Episode 1, Subbed by Ayako

Akane-iro ni Somaru Saka:

To be honest, I didn't even want to dignify this with a post.  Every season, there's one or two shows where you just know that someone sat down and said, "What moe cliches can we chuck together to make a show that lonely guys will watch?"  This one's got quite a few.  The maid-like and polite younger sister, the mysterious rich transfer student, the tomboy girl, the stuck-up daughter of a prominent family, and if the opening's to be believed, an actual maid and a big-breasted secret agent who wears a rubber bodysuit unzipped down past her navel.  Yeah, a lot of thought went into this one.  (<-- Sarcasm )  The story's just about as uninspired.  Girl harassed by jerks.  Guy saves girl.  Girl transfers into his school the next day.  Everyone thinks they're going out.  And by the end of the series, you know they will be.  And if they don't go to an onsen sometime before the last episode, then I give up.  (Not that I'll actually watch to find out, but still ...)

The only reason I felt it reasonably necessary to post on this one was the fact that the guy plays an Xbox 360.  Now this is very strange.  I mean, he lives in Japan.  They don't DO Xbox.  Nintendo and Sony they love, but Microsoft's Xbox ... not so much.  So you can imagine my shock and surprise when I saw him playing with a 360, power brick of doom and all.  Just weird is all.

Bottom Line: Skip it.  If you've seen one cliche moe show, you've seen them all.  And this one didn't even have any fanservice in the first episode.  Spend your valuable time elsewhere.

Episode Watched: Akane-iro ni Somaru Saka Episode 1, Subbed by Eclipse

Well, that's it for this time.  As more shows come out, I'll let you know what I think.  Later.

Fall Anime Season Begins! - ToraDora!

So one of the things I intended to do from the start on this blog is talk about anime.  Specifically how it relates to religion and culture ... but not strictly.  Anyhow, the fall anime season is beginning, and so I bring you my initial reactions to the first show subbed and watched: とらドラ! (ToraDora!, for all you non-Japanese-reading types).

Beware.  First episode spoilers follow:

The show so far seems to be a school-based love comedy.  The main character Takasu Ryuuji is a guy with a mean-looking face.  No, really.  He's a normal guy which everyone just thinks is a delinquent because he looks mean.  Of course, he's in love with some pink-haired girl with like 3 lines in the episode.  Whatever.  Enter the Palmtop Tiger.  No, not the latest in Apple handheld technology, but the fiesty, violent, and short Aisaka Taiga (hence the nickname ... sound it out ... yeah, there ya go!).  They get off to a bad start, but things are made worse when a seating mixup has Aisaka putting a love letter in the wrong bookbag - you guessed it, Takasu's.  Long story short, the two end up revealing the identities of their secret loves, and then more or less blackmailing each other into helping to make their feelings known to the one they like.

**END SPOILERS**

It's certainly an interesting start, but so far nothing truly out of the ordinary in this one.  Quirky guy ends up meeting quirky girl, and by their combined quirkiness, chaos and comedy ensue.  There's certainly promise here, but there's also the potential for goofy-school-love-comedy mediocrity as well.  Already overused cliche's have made their appearances: Takasu lives with his scantily-clad-knockout mom who sleeps late and drinks a lot.  His housekeeping skills are also an element which is pretty commonplace.  Don't get me wrong.  There's still potential here for some good (and entertaining) character development/interaction.  However, this show is going to have to do something special in the next few episodes to keep me interested.  That being said, I'll go ahead and keep my eye on this one for the next few weeks, and let you know what the final verdict is.

Bottom Line: Has potential for either hilarity or mediocrity.  Which course it will take, only time will tell.

Episode Watched: ToraDora! Episode 1, Subbed by gg

Happiness is...

My mom had a Peanuts book called, I think, "Happiness is..."  Each page featured a Peanuts character and something which equated to happiness for them.  For example, under Linus was a caption that read something like, "Happiness is a warm security blanket."  I believe the goal was to crack jokes in that dry-humor-kids-acting-like-adults-but-not-like-south-park manner that Peanuts has while giving the reader a warm, fuzzy feeling inside.

I had an entry to add to that book today.

Happiness is ... a new episode of ピタゴラスイッチ (Pitagora Suicchi/Pythagoras Switch) after a long day.

Yes, Pitagora Switch.  The Japanese Sesame Street-type show to help kids learn, think, and read.  It's an amazing show, really.  All the Japanese is pretty basic, so even I, having had no formal Japanese language classes, can understand a lot of it.  The show begins usually with a short vignette featuring two penguin children, a large old-man talking book, a mouse in a small car, and a dog that's actually a television.  (If you're not interested by THAT sentence, I don't know WHAT it'll take.)  The kids have a problem, the book explains a bit, the mouse helps out, and then the TV dog comes in to show a video clip which helps drive the point home.  But this segment doesn't just teach kids the alphabet or to eat their veggies.  No, it often teaches them critical thinking skills.  For instance, the topic in the episode I watched today was how to figure things out about unseen things.  I mean, whoah!  The penguins had a hole in their beach ball, so the book showed them how to find the hole using a bucket of water, since they couldn't actually SEE the hole.  Then the video showed other examples of how things can be deduced about objects even when you can't see any evidence.  I mean!  This is a KID'S show!  For like preschoolers!  Amazing!

Next up today was "Otousan Suicchi" or "Father Switch" where a kid makes a remote control for their father out of a shoebox and a straw, puts 5 buttons on it, and puts a hiragana character on each of those buttons.  When they press the button, the father has to act out a word that starts with that character.  For a language that has an "alphabet" of 40-some characters (arranged in rows of 5, btw), this is BRILLIANT.  And it's something the viewers can do themselves and play with THEIR dads!  Also brilliant.

Then they usually have a fun animation-style segment.  This week was "Juppon Anime" or, roughly translated, "10-stick Cartoon."  These are simple little animations which, I think, are just fun.  One could probably argue that these segments teach some sort of spacial/shape recognition (the sticks combine to form other things, and similar things happen with the other segments here), but I think a large part of it is just a fun, cute animation section.

The last part again is amazing!  It's either the "Algorithm March" or the "Algorithm Exercise."  Either way, it's actually exercises that are meant to get kids watching this show in front of their televisions to get up and move around!  You don't see Sesame Street do THAT.

But perhaps the best part from purely an entertainment perspective are the Rune Goldberg devices that go between the sketches.  These devices (called "Pythagoras Switches" in Japan - hence the name of the show) are elaborate, intricate, and brilliantly executed.  If you've never seen these in action, it is a sight to behold.  And none of it is computer-generated.  Someone actually took the time to set it up in real life - and that's just darn impressive.

All in all, the show runs about 15 mins without commercials, and is just fantastic for a Japanese preschooler or the beginner student of Japanese who wants to do a bit of listening practice and have good, clean fun while doing so.