Nyan Koi

These three shows are the final shows that I plan on reviewing for this season and I figured lets to them all together so I can be done already.

The Scores

Tatakau Shisho

Average Rating: episodes 1-6 – 6/12 B-
Anticipation Level: 2/5 – Below Average

Seitokai no Ichizon

Average Rating: episodes 1-6 – 6/12 B-
Anticipation Level: 1/5 – Low

Nyan Koi

Average Rating: episodes 1-7 – 7/12 B
Anticipation Level: 2/5 – Below Average

Nyan Koi - In America, male fan service is considered art

The Story

Tatakau Shisho aka Armed Librarians is set in a world where a record of an entire person’s life is created in the form of a stone tablet and appears after the person has died; this tablet is known as a person’s book. These books get stored in a large repository and are guarded by the Librarians and they need to keep a careful watch on things because a religious cult has sprung up and it takes offense at the Librarians’ mission and the library itself.

Seitokai no Ichizon is a comedy show set around the daily lives of a high school’s student council. The four office holders are all female and each contain a set of character quirks that add to the comedy of the show and work against the natural desires of the fifth council member – a visual novel playing boy who earned his seat by being the top student in school and sees the four females as members of his personal harem.

Nyan Koi is a comedy show built around what happens after the main character disturbs a cat god’s shrine and is cursed to either help 100 cats or get turned into a cat. To help him out, he now has the ability to talk to and understand cats.

The Fine Print

Tataku Shisho has one of the most interesting premises this season and as a result I really want to like it. Sadly, I can’t say this show has been a great success because it does have it’s problems but it’s done just enough stuff right that it could end up in the good show pile. The show definitely has the pieces to be a good show but so far it’s storytelling hasn’t impressed me. It’s hard to describe exactly what I mean; I could point out that the first four episodes seem pretty unconnected to the later episodes or how the show kinda feels like a person is clicking between different programs and the programs doesn’t quite mesh well together but that doesn’t really explain what I mean – maybe the best way is to say it feels like the person putting together the story still needs to learn how to transition. I intend to continue watching because like I said, it’s different and I could use some variety this season.

Watching 40+ episodes of Hetalia lead me to the conclusion that Studio Deen can’t quite do comedy shows and Seitokai no Ichizon has confirmed this. It’s close to being a great show but it isn’t quite there. As a result, I find myself only mildly amused when I watch this show – maybe laughing once an episode. This level is fine for Hetalia because those episodes last 5 minutes but it doesn’t work when a show runs 22 minutes. I think part of Seitokai no Ichizon’s problem is that it’s too aware of the supposed formula this type of show is supposed to follow to ensure success and it slavishly follows that formula even if that means it becomes a lesser clone of another show, never finding something to make it unique. Or to put it another way, the show has no soul and will never become a real boy. I’ll continue watching, hoping to see some real creativity, but I’m not expecting it.

Nyan Koi shares something with To Aru Kagaku no Railgun – it’s getting progressively better as the season unfolds. I was all set to like this show because I love talking cats but a couple episodes in and I was moving this into the pile of shows that I might drop. Episode 4 was this show’s last chance and it was in this episode that Nagi – a very masculine girl who appreciates the beautiful femininity in other girls that she lacks – gets introduced and it’s been quickly moving into the “I like this show” category. Add the new characters that get introduced into the show in episode 6 (who know about the curse and have enough power to protect themselves) and it suddenly feels like the show’s working with all it’s gears and the comedy just flows easier. I still could critique the show a bit, for example, the main character has been rather lazy about helping the cats and I’d like to see the curse in action, if only to make him more serious about ending it. At this point, though, my critics are relatively minor compared to some of the other shows this season and who knows, if the show can sustain the quality that episode 7 displayed – it might just earn a spot on my top shows for the season. (And Jeff Lawson likes it too.)

Miracle Train

Trudging on with these anime impression posts, next up is a trio of shows The Sacred Blacksmith, Miracle Train, and Trapeze. On first glance, this is a very diverse set of shows which would make it difficult to talk about them all at the same time but they all happen to share something in common that’ll make it easy to talk about them.

The Scores

The Sacred Blacksmith

Average Rating: episodes 1-6 – 5/12 C+
Anticipation Level: 0.5/5 – Very Low

Miracle Train

Average Rating: episodes 1-6 – 4/12 C
Anticipation Level: 0.5/5 – Very Low

Trapeze

Average Rating: episodes 1-5 – 2/12 F
Anticipation Level: 0/5 – None

The Fine Print

I tried to be patient and give each show a fair shot but I can’t take it anymore. The thing they share is that I’m dropping all three and it feels liberating to say so.

The Sacred Blacksmith is set a bland medieval-style fantasy world where our heroine ends up getting a super-sweet “Demon Sword” that is so powerful that it can cover-up the fact that she completely sucks at fighting and is only in the town’s military because of her family’s name and/or because the male soldiers have a thing for women dressed in metal bra armor who don’t mind comments about how big she’s gotten in that department. Even when she has this super awesome sword, she still needs help staying alive and a mysterious boy keeps saving her with an awesome sword known as a “katana” which is so much better then the swords of her town. As for the story, an evil person is set on doing evil things which for the purposes of this show include forcing people into contracts with devils which turns them into monsters. For what reason, I don’t know or care. So for lousy characters, weak character development, bland world-building and poor storytelling – The Sacred Blacksmith is dropped.

Miracle Train takes a recently opened subway system, anthropomorphizing it’s train stations into pretty guys who’s personality and likes represent the area around each train station and this pack of guys help women with their problems. The heavily episodic nature of this show means that every problem these women have can be solved within ten minutes of show time which is a good thing for these women because they’re not allowed to decline the help offered by these guys or return to their lives until it’s decided that the problem is solved. The most interesting part of the show is the trivia that’s inserted into the show about the history and local flavor around the different train stations but I’m here to watch an anime not a documentary so Miracle Train follows The Sacred Blacksmith and gets dropped.

This guy is the best part of Trapeze, too bad he has 30 seconds of screen time per episode.

Trapeze is another heavily episodic show about problems being solved but this time it’s a trippy psychologist treating people’s mental issues and it has even less going for it then Miracle Train does. It starts with the characters whose problems make up the reason for the show – I just don’t care about them. At least with Miracle Train, I felt something for the women with their problems; here, for example, I don’t care if a baseball player is having trouble throwing a baseball because the team has drafted a younger, handsomer player. This alone, is pretty much a death sentence but I also find the show’s absolute mess of an animation style to be just plain ugly and wholly lacking any redeeming qualities so Trapeze follows Miracle Train and gets dropped-kicked to the curb.

The wallpaper making bug bite me again (writing series impressions of mediocre shows is so much fun ). For awhile I’ve been wanting to figure out a way to make wallpapers out of screen shots that could be used at all three sizes that I make wallpapers for and I think I hit upon a simple yet nice design. I hope you like them and I might have more wallpapers for other shows in the near future.

1280 x 1024

Kimi ni Todoke

Natsu no Arashi

Kobato

Sasameki Koto

1600 x 1200

Kimi ni Todoke

Natsu no Arashi

Kobato

Sasameki Koto

1920 x 1200

Kimi ni Todoke

Natsu no Arashi

Kobato

Sasameki Koto

Sasameki Koto

I’ve been ready to write my impression post of Kimi ni Todoke for some time now but I felt that I was lacking some sort of needed angle to best describe how I felt. I wasn’t quite sure what it was, I thought maybe I needed another show to compare it to, like I just did for Kampfer and Sora No Otoshimono, but nothing really fit until I finally sat down to watch Sasameki Koto yesterday. This was exactly what I was looking for and so here’s my impression post for Kimi ni Todoke and Sasameki Koto.

The Scores

Kimi ni Todoke

Rating: episode 1 – 10.5/12 Strong A
Rating: episode 2 – 9/12 A-
Rating: episode 3 – 8/12 B+
Rating: episode 4 – 8/12 B+
Rating: episode 5 – 8/12 B+
Rating: episode 6 – 7/12 B
Anticipation Level: 1/5 – Low

Sasameki Koto

Rating: episode 1 – 9/12 A-
Rating: episode 2 – 10/12 A
Rating: episode 3 – 9/12 A-
Rating: episode 4 – 10/12 A
Rating: episode 5 – 9/12 A-
Rating: episode 6 – 10.5/12 Strong A
Anticipation Level: 3/5 – Average to Medium

The Story

In Kimi ni Todoke, our main character is named Sawako but everyone calls her Sadako after the creepy girl in The Ring – mainly because she’s weird and creepy (in the awkward socialization sense that makes people weird and creepy) – but in reality she’s a very nice girl who dreams of finding someone who understands her and will be her friend. She also likes the most popular boy in her grade but doesn’t realize that its love she’s feeling. The story follows how Sawako opens up to people and finds friendship and what happens when a not-popular girl likes the most popular boy and, presumably, what happens after they hook-up. (That the two will become a couple is apparent before the end of the first episode.)

In Sasameki Koto, the main character Ushio happens to be a girl who likes girls – though only cute girls. She wasn’t smart enough to get into an all-girls school so she’s stuck going to a normal co-ed school and has had no luck finding a girl who meets her requirements. It’s revealed in the first episode that Ushio’s best-est and truest friend happens to like Ushio in that way but hasn’t said so to Ushio yet (probably because Ushio has stated that her best friend isn’t “her type” because she’s taller and not cute). The story follows the pair’s not-so-normal school life as Ushio continues to search for Ms. Right while her friend tries to be a true friend and help her even if it hurt’s her own chances.

Kimi ni Todoke

The Fine Print

I might as well start off by saying it bluntly – Sasameki Koto is a better show then Kimi ni Todoke.

By no means do I dislike Kimi ni Todoke but it has it’s problems. The primary one is that it lacks a compelling story and has no dramatic tension. By the end of episode 1, we know she likes him and he likes her and there’s nothing really impeding them from getting together – certainly nothing that’ll take at least another dozen episodes. This isn’t Romeo and Juliet where they can’t be together because their families are feuding. This isn’t Toradora where the boy and girl both like the best friend of the other and so they plan to help each other get the one they like but end up liking each other. This isn’t even Sasameki Koto where one character is Ushio’s “best friend” but wants to be more but can’t because she’s too tall and not cute enough to be the right type for Ushio. And another character knows the “best friend” likes Ushio so he starts cross-dressing to get the best friend’s attention because he’s fallen for her but the best friend is not interested in the boy – even if he looks cute (and incidentally catches Ushio’s eye). In each of these three stories, there’s a reason to continue watching which is lacking in the case of Kimi ni Todoke. It’s like watching a football game when the winning team has put the third string people in because the score is 48-3 in the fourth quarter – it’s boring for everyone so they all flip to the game where it’s 16-14 and the outcome is very much in doubt. Or to put it another way, it’s like how Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 had to really work at filling up it’s episode count because there was nothing to do when the story was just “and they walked home after an earthquake”.

Kimi ni Todoke

Another problem with Kimi ni Todoke is that the pacing is glacially slow which only reinforces the first problem because it makes one impatient that they’re drawing out what should take 2-3 episodes max. I think it would have been entirely possible to squeeze the first three episodes into one episode and then take the rumor arc (or whatever it’s called) and condense that down into a maximum of 2 episodes.

On the other hand, Sasameki Koto has built up a story that leaves enough questions that the viewer wants to come back to see how these questions get answered. Maybe the best friend will stay a best friend and decide that she likes the boy who’s willing to cross-dress for her to like him. Maybe Ushio will fall for her best friend or maybe she will fall for the cross-dressing boy, even after she finds out he’s a boy or maybe she ends up with someone else. I don’t know so I want to see how the story ends.

Another thing Sasameki Koto has going for it is that it knows when to be funny and knows when to be serious (and more importantly, the funny parts are funny and the serious parts are touching and interesting). Which is a tough thing to pull off, convincingly. Watching just the first episode would make one think the show is a serious show only – making it somewhat similar to Aoi Hana – but later episodes work in funny parts that play off of how people in love do silly things like how does one practice for a first kiss without actually kissing. So the result is almost Key-esque, namely Sasameki Koto might have you laughing one minute and feeling serious the next (luckily we haven’t gotten to any sort of Key style tragedy yet).

Sasameki Koto

There is one area that Kimi ni Todoke beats Sasameki Koto – production values. Production I.G. does Kimi ni Todoke and it really shows. The animation style has that watercolor feel (without it looking like they copied J.C. Staff) which is perfect for this show and makes the show look lovely and the animation quality itself is very good. Great OP/ED as well as good background music. The voice actors all really work with their characters; in particular Mamiko Noto does a great job as Sadako and I couldn’t help but notice that Yuuichi Nakamura who did Tomoya from Clannad is voicing the guy sitting behind Sadako and he is my favorite character. On the other hand, there’s nothing really wrong with Sasameki Koto’s production values but it’s apparent that AIC isn’t working with as large a budget. It’s nothing that really detracts from the show but it is apparent when comparing the two and I wanted to mention it because I feel bad about talking so harshly about Kimi ni Todoke.

(As a total aside, is it just me or does some of the background music for Sasameki Koto use an accordion? It kinda sounds like it does but I don’t have much music knowledge.)

And I almost forgot another thing that Kimi ni Todoke does that I like – they use chibis. You can never go wrong with using chibis. So, with that, I’ve said pretty much all I wanted say about these two shows. In case anyone is wondering, Sasameki Koto became the sixth show that earned itself a folder this season and Kimi ni Todoke still has not. I don’t plan on dropping Kimi ni Todoke, though, so if the second half of the show really picks up I will make a post up to help counter this largely negative post.

Sasameki Koto

Kimi ni Todoke

Sasameki Koto

Kimi ni Todoke

Sasameki Koto

Sasameki Koto

Posted in anime, first impressions ]]> http://thenullset.wordpress.com/2009/11/13/fall-2009-anime-impressions-%e2%80%93-kimi-ni-todoke-and-sasameki-koto-%e2%80%93-a-tale-of-two-shows/feed/ 5 steelbound fall15264 fall03990 fall13479 fall11002 fall24685 fall05413 fall28532 fall27960 fall30878 fall13002 http://thenullset.wordpress.com/2009/11/10/top-5-all-time-anime-comedies/ http://thenullset.wordpress.com/2009/11/10/top-5-all-time-anime-comedies/#comments Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:10:24 +0000 steelbound http://thenullset.wordpress.com/?p=5270 ]]>

I’m always leery of writing top all-time posts because I realize that I don’t have the encyclopedic knowledge that a decade long anime fan might have so I always worry about missing obvious picks. And I’d probably skip them all-together if I didn’t realize that such lists give readers and potential readers a large amount of information about a writer (as was pointed out elsewhere just recently). Before I tackle an overall top all-time list, I want to start with an easier list that I’m more sure upon – my picks for top anime comedies.

The reason I’m more confident is twofold. The first is that of all the shows I watch, it’s the comedies that get rewatched the most so I know how well a show will hold up. After all, if a comedy is only funny one time then it’s nothing more than a flash in the pan. And every show on this countdown has been watched at least twice and a few have been watched more than that. The other reason I’m more confident is because I don’t think I’ve missed too many older series that should be on this list. When people talk about comedy animes, I don’t see many titles that I’ve never watched. I’m sure there’s some out there (and if one wants to point them out – please do) but I’m fairly confident that this is a good list and it does reflect what I consider a good anime comedy.

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(5) – Azumanga Daioh

I just know that my ranking of Azumanga Daioh at only number 5 will get a sizable percentage of anime fans out there angry. And I could try to deflect these comments by saying that just getting on this list an honor but even I want to rank this show higher. The problem is that when I rewatched Azumanga Daioh recently, I still found myself laughing at it but at times I felt a bit bored and wanting the show to get to the parts of the story I especially liked. I think Azumanga Daioh might be suffering from the same fate that individual songs sometimes do – they’re overplayed by everybody and one gets tired of hearing that song over and over again. So, I don’t think there’s a flaw with the show itself and it remains funny enough that it definitely deserves it’s spot.

In case there’s readers out there that have not heard of Azumanga Daioh, let me say that you’re missing out on a very hilarious show. The main characters are an eclectic band of high school girls – very memorable as individuals and their relationships are even more memorable. The show follows them through all 3 years of high school life as they tackle the common pitfalls of school life – immature teachers, mean cats, low test scores, and placing first in the classroom athletic competitions. The show was done by J.C. Staff (Hayate Season 2, Toradora, Honey & Clover, Aoi Hana) and remains one of the best shows that they’ve done.

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(4) – Lucky Star

Where a recent rewatch hurt the previous show, a recent rewatch significantly raised my feeling for Lucky Star. And for the record, I’ve always considered this a comedy and not a slice-of-life show.

Controversy, drama, and sky-high expectations have dogged Lucky Star from the beginning and as a result, it became very difficult for someone to just watch the show and react to it as if it was a normal comedy anime. Collectively, I feel this contributed to many people coming to dislike the show and I’d probably be in that boat if I hadn’t stuck it out long enough for the characters to really grow on me (about 8 episodes). Once I hit that point, I liked the show in ever-increasing amounts; I still wouldn’t have had Lucky Star here if it wasn’t for the rewatch. I realized the second time through that the early episodes where just as funny as the later episodes and the lone defect of these episodes was how long it got the viewer to like the characters. Once the viewer gets to know the characters, the entire show is a stellar comedy and is even better the second time.

For those readers that have not heard of Lucky Star, it follows the not-so-typical lives of 4 high school girls (including a pair of twins). Of the four; the visual novel and MMORPG playing Konata is the main focus, troublemaker, and engine that drives most of the show’s comedy. The show was done by Kyoto Animation (KyoAni) and the director of the first four episodes went on to work on Kannagi (which I was disappointed with) and the rest of the episodes were directed by Yasuhiro Takemoto who did the hilarious Full Metal Panic: Fumoffu. (Which almost made it on and speaking of FMP, there really needs to be a new season of that).

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(3) – Potemayo

This is probably the least well-known or more accurately – the least watched show on the countdown because many people looked at a couple screenshots and decided a “moe blob” show couldn’t possibly be worth the time and didn’t stick around. And it’s a shame because these people missed a truly funny show.

Potemayo is a cute little thing that appeared one day out of the main character’s refrigerator and took up residence in his household. He didn’t seem to mind, naming her after the potatoes and mayonnaise that where in the fridge, and allowed her to come with him where he went. She had the vocabulary and apparent mental capacity of a year old baby but that wasn’t the only source of humor. For one, the show had a twisted sense of humor that came out every now and again, for instance I still can’t get enough of the scene that shows a bird eating a piece of fried chicken.

Something that separates this show from the others is that it occasionally swings from being a comedy to being somewhat serious. Never for a long time but it’s enough to get this show a slightly different feel. These transitions are always handled perfectly and never feel out-of-place (the wonderful closing song helps). This show was also done by J.C. Staff which makes them the only studio with 2 shows in the top 5.

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(2) – Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei

Take one teacher prone to despairing over anything and everything, mix in a classroom of oddballs, and flavor with “Shaft being Shaft” and you end up with a very hilarious show. In particular, the second season is (to date) the strongest all-around season and was what pushed this up to number 2. That’s not to say the other seasons were bad but the first season had to introduce the show and it wasn’t quite firing on all cylinders yet and the third season had to split time with Bakemonogatari so it’s animation was a bit lacking.

There’s so much to enjoy with this show. I love to see what Mr. Despair will despair over. I love when the item that he despairs over is actually something I despair over because oftentimes it’s things that I thought I was the only one that did so. I love the societal commentary that shows up in the show. I love the students and their quirks. I love the high quality voice work and the unique animation. I love the songs used. I love how there’s a whole layer of comedy in the background signs (even if that means I have to pause numerous times to catch them all). And I love how it’s a perfect vehicle to allow Shaft to be Shaft.

It’s probably the hardest show I watch fansubbed (between having to read the signs and trying to understand the 15% of jokes that are really Japan culture centered) but it’s really worth the effort.

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(1) – Minami-Ke (Season 1)

I needed to call out only the first season of Minami-Ke because production of the second and third seasons was given to another animation house (for some reason) and they were know where near as good as Studio Doumu that did the first season.

This show follows the everyday lives of the three Minami sisters – one high school aged, one middle school aged, and one in elementary school and their social circles. The eldest sister is the mature one, the middle one is the trouble maker, and the youngest is the smart one that can’t stand stupidity. One of the exceptional components is how effortlessly Studio Doumu was able to handle the rather large cast and the various ways the different people added humor to the show. And trust me, there’s so many ways to find humor in this show that I won’t start listing them because I’m sure to leave several out. My favorite single character is Hosaka and his fantasies.

I still hold out hope that whatever prevented Studio Doumu from doing the other seasons will get fixed and we get a true sequel worthy of this season.

Sora No Otoshimono

The majority of the professional, paid anime critics will insist upon putting every single fan service show in the same pile and labeling the whole lot as garbage – their existence being a personal affront to anyone with even just a hint of sophistication much like how English teachers feel about most popular books. They forget that people like Shakespeare ran his theater and wrote his plays for the common folk of the time – not for the intellectually “elite” of the times. If he did, I’d be willing to bet that no one would remember his name today.

The fact of the matter is that it’s possible to create a fan service show that’s entertaining and full of fan service and still displays the creative spark that separates quality shows from the generic shows. One of these shows does a pretty good job of displaying this spark whereas the other is exactly the type of rubbish that many think of when you mention fan service. Can you guess which series I’m talking about?

The Scores

Kampfer

Rating: episode 1 – 4/12 C
Rating: episode 2 – 3/12 D
Rating: episode 3 – 2/12 F
Rating: episode 4 – 3/12 D
Rating: episode 5 – 2/12 F
Anticipation Level: 0.5/5 – Very Low

Sora No Otoshimono

Rating: episode 1 – 9/12 A-
Rating: episode 2 – 9/12 A-
Rating: episode 3 – 7/12 B
Rating: episode 4 – 9/12 A-
Rating: episode 5 – 8/12 B+
Anticipation Level: 3/5 – Average to Medium

Kampfer - I'm still waiting for some character to comment on the dorky jewelery Kampfers have to wear.

The Story

In Kampfer, a typical loser high school boy wakes up one day with the ability to change into a girl. All Kampfers have to female – though no one knows why and the show doesn’t bother to explain it – and as a blue bracelet Kampfer, he has to fight red bracelet Kampfers – though, once again, no one knows why and the show doesn’t bother to explain it. Wacky hi-jinks supposedly occur.

In Sora no Otoshimono, a typical loser high school boy falls into a sweet situation, namely he becomes the owner of an angel that can fulfill any request – money, the ability to turn invisible, to become the world’s emperor, or to create new types of life from women’s undergarments. Wacky hi-jinks ensue and some not-so-wacky hi-jinks as well (with a few veiled hints at some sort of more serious storyline).

Sora No Otoshimono

The Fine Print

Kampfer is a terrible show, plain-and-simple, it’s not funny or entertaining or imaginative and it’s fan service is “service” in name only.

The original creator and the animators of Kampfer fell for the line of thinking that not much is expected from fan service shows and so they don’t have to put much work into it to be successful. It’s wrong thinking, it’s entirely possible to find creative thinking in fan service shows and when it’s done the result is a superior product and when one comes along (Sora No Otoshimono), it displays how big a waste of time shows like Kampfer are.

Another thing that I realized with Sora No Otoshimono is that because the story was well thought-out, the animators don’t have to work at including the fan service. This makes a difference; much like how in baseball, the best players make the sport look easy, the better quality shows make the genre look good. The animators don’t have to continually create contrived situations over and over again – all you have to do is give a typical high school boy an all-powerful wish granting entity and the show can pretty much write itself. And to see the difference in this point just watch Kampfer for how hard the show has to work and strain for it’s fan service.

Sora No Otoshimono

Other differences between the two shows include Sora No Otoshimono having a more interesting set of characters (Eishirou Sugata’s character is worth the price of admission by himself), better production values (so far every single episode ending of Sora No Otoshimono has featured a different song and different animation), and vocal work (Tatsuhisa Suzuki and Saori Hayami to name a couple pluses for Sora No Otoshimono). And on the topic of vocal work, I love Marina Inoue as a vocal actor (I gave her my top female seiyuu award for 2008) but she can’t quite sound manly enough to make the main character on Kampfer sound right. Hayate’s vocal actor, Ryoko Shiraishi, would have been a better pick since she can do Hayate the Combat Butler as well as Arashi from Natsu no Arashi.

In closing, I’m not saying that Sora No Otoshimono is Shakespeare (though Shakespeare makes about as much sense to me as when I try to understand Japanese). It is, however, a good example of how even in a genre not known for creative writing can, in fact, produce quality shows if people are willing to work at it.

Sora No Otoshimono - love the extensive use of chibis

Sora No Otoshimono

Sora No Otoshimono

Sora No Otoshimono

Posted in anime, first impressions ]]> http://thenullset.wordpress.com/2009/11/08/fall-2009-anime-impressions-%e2%80%93-kampfer-and-sora-no-otoshimono-%e2%80%93-there%e2%80%99s-a-right-way-to-do-fan-service-and-a-wrong-way/feed/ 7 steelbound fall0908933 fall0908632 fall0909014 fall0927216 fall0900285 fall0903933 fall0922425 fall0932831 http://thenullset.wordpress.com/2009/11/06/a-memorial-and-some-odds-n-ends-armed-librarians-outlaw-star-bakemonogatari/ http://thenullset.wordpress.com/2009/11/06/a-memorial-and-some-odds-n-ends-armed-librarians-outlaw-star-bakemonogatari/#comments Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:40:43 +0000 steelbound http://thenullset.wordpress.com/?p=5231 ]]>

I’m not sure how many people will care but I figure that I at least owe The Null Set readers an explanation to the whereabouts of it’s author and to offer some anime related content already.

During the last week of October and the first couple of days of November, I was helping my sister to nurse her one pet guinea pig, Lucy, back to health – trying to entice her to eat her food and when that failed, I held Lucy so my sister could force feed her. This ate a lot of time up in the day – not that I minded, in the 2.5 years we’ve had Lucy, I grew fond of her and also because it was the big brotherly thing to do. On Halloween it seemed like she was getting a little better but that turned out to be fleeting and by Monday, Lucy had passed away. Since than I’ve felt sad over the passing and depressed because my younger sister is heart-broken so I haven’t felt like writing.

This is a picture of her. I called her the ninja guinea pig because of her fur color and also because she liked to hide under things and silently move between things.

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So that’s why I haven’t posted anything in a while and also why I didn’t respond to the nice comments I got on my last couple of posts, even though I wanted too (and now it’s been so long it feels weird to). I’m going to try to get myself to finish writing my fall impression posts as soon as possible but before I get to that, there’s been a few thoughts that I’ve had dealing with anime that I’ll mention now so I won’t feel bad about meta-blogging and off-topic blogging.

The first is that about Armed Librarians – The Book of Bantorra. I haven’t been entirely impressed with the storytelling but I love the setting of the show. After a couple episodes I remembered something that made the idea of people having “books” sound not so far-fetched. One of my favorite science fiction writers, Charles Stross figured that if a video camera was set to record in Divx format using the same resolution as a DVD, that camera could record an entire year of someone’s life for 10 TB. That’s 10000 TB if a person lives one hundred years – an absurdly large number today but probably not so in a couple of decades. He figures that if Moore’s Law continues to the point that we can encode a bit of information in a single atom of some super-durable material like synthetic diamond (using different isotopes of carbon to be the 1 and 0) that it would only take 600 grams (1.3 pounds) of synthetic diamond to record the lives of the entire planet’s population for a year (assuming 8 billion people) and 60 kilograms (132 pounds) to record the entire population for a century. Leaving aside the question if people will want to do this, it’s entirely possible that in the future it would be possible that people will leave behind records that detail their entire life and makes Armed Librarians a little plausible.

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Next, I’ve been making my way through Outlaw Star after seeing it used in an AMV and it’s a pretty good show. In some ways it’s hard to tell the series is 11 years old and in other ways it’s glaringly obvious (think fashion and music choice). The reason I’m bringing it up here is that it has to have the oddest set of ending song animations ever in the history of anime. The people shown have absolutely nothing to do with the series nor does many of the scenes shown fit into the universe of the series. Even after watching 19 episodes, I’m still not convinced these are the actual closings; I still think the greater possibility is that they are some type of troll.

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Since posting how episode 12 of Despair was better than a large part of the fall season, I’ve realized that I could have swapped out that episode for several other recently watched episodes and the analogy would hold up. There was episode 31 of Cross Game when Akane was introduced or episode 40 of Kemono no Souja Erin when all the plot threads get tied together and episode 13 of Bakemonogatari to name a few. In the case of Bakemonogatari this episode definitely did a good job of switching the flow from Senjougahara back to the Hanekawa (it is her story arc afterall). I thought it was an interesting choice to have Araragi’s conversation with Hanekawa take place in the same park that he had that long conversation with Senjougahara back in episode 3. This made it easy to compare the two different relationships and it also allowed us to see how the return of the cat spirit has affected the Hanekawa, namely she’s not the all-knowledgeable person she was. After all, if Araragi has to explain several jokes to you, something’s wrong. Also in this episode was a halfway plausible reason for how all of oddities that Araragi has encountered have been woman so far – this made my sister happy since that’s been bothering her.

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And speaking of Bakemonogatari and Despair, I’ve been wanting to mention for a while now that gg has become my favorite sub group. I like how they just provide the English translation during the opening and closing songs. I also like how they strive to keep the translation sounding natural and I even like how they sometimes keep one of the commercials in their sub of a show. Just today I was watching the latest episode of Kampfer and the only spot of laughter I had while watching it was from the commercial for some sort of microwaveable hotdog that has left in by gg.

Hope everyone that celebrates Halloween has a Happy Halloween today. It’s still light out where I live so it doesn’t feel like Halloween yet. (And a totally old person thing to say is that in America, don’t forget the clocks go back an hour tonight.)

I decided that my sister needed to watch at least one 07th expansion/Studio Deen anime and episode 18 of Umineko No Naku Koro Ni being fresh on my mind (what an awesome episode), we started watched it last night – it also fits into the season. She seemed interested so let’s see how that plays out.

Here’s a picture of the pumpkins my family carved.

Mind’s the one on the bottom right. And here’s a few more Halloween themed anime pics – Happy Halloween.

You can thank Winamp and it’s non-random random shuffling for this post.

I have a super condensed anime music playlist that I like to listen to; it’s only 230 songs long and there’s a handful of songs on this list that when I’m in the right mood will get me to shed a tear. Last night I wasn’t much in the mood but out-of-the-blue Winamp starts playing every sad song on the list in a row and even repeating some more than once so now I’m in that mood.

It’s probably not a good idea to marathon a Key series right now so instead I’ll write this post.

Oh, and there’s some spoilers so read at your own risk.

Natsukage – from AIR

Let’s start off with an obvious show that could generate a tear inducing song – AIR. This anime holds the personal record for the most tears shed while watching it (Clannad is a close second). See, I was a relatively new anime watcher at the time, mainly subsisting on a diet of shounen shows and wasn’t aware of the emotional depths that could be found in anime. It also didn’t help that I had absolutely no knowledge of what to expect and was lulled into a false sense of security by it’s light-hearted start. Therefore, when the story turned tragic, I wasn’t ready for it and ended up crying for just about every remaining episode.

Natsukage is the name of the instrumental track that KyoAni used for many of the emotional scenes during AIR and thus when I hear it, I’m reminded of those scenes.

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Koikogarete Mita Yume – from Cross Game

The show’s first closing is another song that can bring me to tears and was able to from the very first time I heard it, which was in episode 1.

That episode completely blew me away. I wasn’t expecting to see enough character building and tragedy to fill most series all within those 24 minutes and by playing this song at the saddest scene meant that I’d always link this song to that first episode. Nor has that episode and that song lost it’s power to move the viewer, recently the animators essentially reshowed the first episode in it’s entirety for the episode 30 recap.

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Kanon by Pachebel – from Kanon

The wedding standard got repurposed for another of Key’s works – Kanon. This time, the characters actually referenced the song in the show and provided a strong means for the viewers to attach the often tragic nature of Kanon to the song. At least when I hear this song in public it’ll probably be at a wedding and it’ll be more socially acceptable to cry to it.

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“Libera me” From Hell – from Gurren Lagann

I’m convinced that Gurren Lagann is one of the greatest anime ever made and should be required watching for, not only those who profess to be an anime fan, but also for every single kid that grows up watching the insipid tv shows that pass for kid’s shows these days.

This song was used in many places throughout the show, primarily when it was time for the good guys to kick butt which makes it a strange song to cry over. And it would be but for it’s use during one of the best scenes to Gurren Lagann which happened in episode 26. The hero of the show, Simon, was given the choice between the easy way out and the harder path that true heroism calls for. He chooses the path of heroism and as a result is able to break himself and his comrades out of a devious trap laid by the enemy. The whole scene is very emotional, a testament to Gainax’s stellar character development and story telling ability, and having this track play during the entire scene meant that those emotions come back whenever hear it.

And within the entire scene there’s a small part that absolutely gets to me every single time I see it. The trap that Simon breaks everyone out of gives each person the ability to live in whatever dream world they wish for. One of the people trapped is Viral; he’s a beastman which means he looks human but was created sterile and he has a tough-as-nails personality so one would expect his dream world to be some sort Valhalla battlefield but it’s not – it’s living in a little cottage in a country meadow with a wife and a daughter that calls him “Papa”.

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Dango Daikazoku – from Clannad

Yes, another song from a Key/KyoAni anime, this time it’s from Clannad. This was used as the first season ending but it wasn’t until the second season that this became tear inducing. Though in the case of Dango Daikazoku (or “Big Dango Family”), the song brings tears from being linked to the tragic parts to Clannad and also from the happy parts.

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Love is a Flower, You are a Seed – from Only Yesterday

In many ways Only Yesterday is my favorite Studio Ghibli work so I find it an absolute travesty that it’s the only Studio Ghibli movie not released in America.

This is the only song that exclusively makes me shed tears from happiness alone. It’s the end song to Only Yesterday and the animators had it playing while the movie had it’s climatic scene before going to credits. So, like the others, those emotions got transferred to the song and hearing this song gets to me every time.

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Anyone else want to share? Or is everyone too busy getting in the Halloween mood today?

Sure it’s easy to say this is a weak fall season of anime but how do you quantify it?

I could say that as of right now, I’ve seen only 2 shows that are good enough that I would consider placing them on my fall seasonal top anime list when it gets compiled in the future. Which is true, however this doesn’t really enumerate the problem well enough so instead I’ll make the following comparison:

Let’s call the following group of fall shows Group A:

4 episodes of Kampfer +
4 episodes of Nyan Koi +
4 episodes of Armed Librarians +
4 episodes of Railgun +
3 episodes of Sora no Otoshimono +
3 episodes of Miracle Train +
4 episodes of The Sacred Blacksmith +
1 episode of Trapeze +
3 episodes of Seitokai no Ichizon +
3 episodes of Kimi no Todoke

If I take all the entertainment and enjoyment from these 33 episodes of anime and compare them to a single episode – episode 12 of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei Season 3, I find that episode 12 wins. Or to write it a little more mathematically:

Group A < Ep.12 SZS s3

Sadly, I’m completely serious and if I want to rub some salt into that wound, I’ll add that episode 12 wasn’t particularly that much better from the rest of the series. Here’s a recap.

Want deep discussions on science?

Want commentary on current affairs?

Want explosions?

Want chicks with weapons?

Want genderbending?

Want fan service?

I should run a poll: Kaere-sensei or Yoko-sensei?

Episode 12 had it all and it only took 23 minutes to cover all these bases.

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I’ll probably get some feedback about including Kimi no Todoke in group A and because I haven’t written up my impression post let me just say that I do like the show but right now it’s seriously lacking in providing any sort of tension / conflict and I wonder why this show needs to run more the a couple more episodes.