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.
