Anime Pilgrimage

Anime Pilgrimage DX live!

2005-09-24T09:49:00.000+10:00

While it is still a work in progress, Anime Pilgrimage DX is now online at Batrock.net.

Now, blogger shall sleep once more.

Tide-Line Blue - episode 8

2005-09-18T13:40:00.000+10:00

"Reunion - Reunite"

Crises of conscience make for great drama! Teen! Aoi! The ostrich! (no, seriously, the ostrich).
Tide-Line Blue really is working hard to regain my trust. The set up of this episode is highly conducive to rocking.

Directly taking off from the previous episode, Joze takes Aoi hostage. Keel wants to save Aoi, and the ostrich doesn't want Teen to be shot, and then some varieties of Hell break loose.

What this means is that the new team of Keel, Joze and Teen is formed. The difference is that, over eight episodes, Joze is still an "icy bitch", but Teen has developed into something more akin to a person.

I'm actually sensing something of a role-reversal here, with Teen uncertain of himself and Keel being more commanding. Teen is naturally uncertain because his time in the New UN has shown him that problems can be resolved using something other than violence.
Teen, of course, now knows things that Keel does not: the map, and news of their father. This sense of context gives him much more to live for than he ever had before. I have to wonder if the twins had not, before the events of the first episode, seen each other for seven years.

The scenes that Aoi spends lamenting that she has never been able to balance her roles as "mother" for Keel and the General Secretary of the New UN was effective indeed, as seeing a character lose her composure for good reason always works. For whatever reason, the ostrich has become an object of sympathy and this works well against all odds. This is probably just an excuse for Chen Reishi to come across and talk to Aoi.

The final scenes of the episode showed the supreme difference in the attitudes of Joze and Keel. Joze seems far too distrusting and fatalistic, and I desperately wanted Keel to be right. What this series has shown, and quite well, is that the moral option is not always the most effective - that which is repugnant might get the job done far better. This is depressing, but all too true.

I have been meaning to mention the ED for a long time now, and as it turns out this is the perfect episode do so. The song itself is an excellent piece that just smacks of "pretty boys". Like so many things I love, I love it for all of the wrong reasons.
The animation itself changes every couple of episodes and in this capacity acts as a preview. The lyrics for this episode accompany what looks like some very good Teen and Keel cooperation and drama. It also implies that they'll get out of this current mess, but I've no idea how they plan to do so.

The last point before the conclusion is this: despite the fact that Teen and Keel are twins, how could you confuse one for the other? Keel is dressed in purple Gravitation clothes, while Teen sees fit to get sorted out as a military man. It's easy to decide which one to shoot.

All in all, an episode of excellence. Emotion lends weight to proceedings and makes everything eminently more watchable. Yet Joze's still a bitch, and I don't think that will change anytime soon.

Angel Heart preview

2005-09-15T01:49:00.000+10:00

Thanks to Garten, I procured the preview of Angel Heart, an anime that had me really upset one Friday night.. I had thought it was starting many months ago, but it's actually starting in October. The English internet fan reaction ... subdued ... to say the least, outright hostile to say the most. I really hope that someone will pick this up to sub it.

I was most surprised to see how closely the animation resembled that of City Hunter, considering both that it's fourteen years since the last City Hunter TV series and Hojo Tsukasa's aesthetic - at least his cover aesthetic - has vastly changed. Yet here we are again, with Kamiya Akira back in the saddle as Saeba Ryo. I can only hope that Genda Tessho has reprised his role as Umibozu, and that Ikura Kazue will be Kaori once more.
All of the important players from City Hunter still work in anime, so I can see no compelling reason for them not to converge here. Sure, Ikura may not have much of a role, but that's not the point.

At only 3mb, the trailer reveals very little, but it gave me a good deal of hope. Angel Heart is directed by Hirano Toshiki, who worked on quite a lot of iconic eighties anime, as well as teaming up with his wife for the superlative Vampire Princess Miyu. Hirano is a sensitive director when he wants to be, and Angel Heart is billed as a drama. From what I understand, Ryo is still something of a playboy, but more than ever that's a smoke screen and coping mechanism.

Please, friends of the internet: sub Angel Heart. I will thank you for it and shake you warmly by the hand.

Progress report: Batrock goes to the taffy pulling machine

2005-09-15T00:58:00.000+10:00

At the moment, I'm working on making the new and improved Batrock fit all of the images well. I'm going to keep the "one splash image" pattern I've been doing. Because I have to reupload every article I have written since the initial move to Batrock, I will hopefully be able to do this for every article along the way to create marvellous uniformity.
I'm far from King Code, though, so not quite sure how well it will go or how long it will take. I hope to just take a big chunk of time on the weekend and get through it.

Due to the whole different appearance of Bell-chan, I've actually edited things out of the finished Batrock versions, as of Honey and Clover 21. So there'll be more exclusive content on the proper Batrock when it comes around. I know, it's exciting.

Honey and Clover - episode twenty-one

2005-09-14T11:45:00.000+10:00

"When I was younger, I used to ride my blue bicycle and wonder how far I could ride without turning back ..."

Essentially, Takemoto gets a job. On the same day, the company goes bankrupt and he loses it. While this straight up sucks, you also have to consider that Takemoto has been looking for work for more than a year now.
This is so disheartening that he goes riding, trying to figure himself out. Shuu makes it clear that a soul-searching journey is not something that should be interrupted, as contact does not allow the searcher to find himself.

This episode is excellent and, as Garten says, quite reminiscent of the first. For the first time since then we are given the opportunity to bask in the watercolour scenery of Honey & Clover. So emotive were so many of the shots that I almost gave up and went for the twincest that featured as a pendulum of this episode.

Takemoto has always done the most narration, due largely to his introspective nature. Now that he is alone, everything that he does is internalised, a journey alone both on the ground and in the mind. Getting in touch with his inner feelings always makes Honey & Clover more personal, and personality is what I love about this series.
Compounding this sort of emotion is the reaction that the rest of the group has to Takemoto's departure. You may remember that, when Morita left for a year, Hagu-chan was quite amicable to this decision. Hearing about Takemoto, who has proven much less resilient than Morita, Hagu was genuinely concerned for his welfare. While I'm looking for signs wherever I can find them, I really think that Hagu and Takemoto are destined to be. Whether they'll be destined to be within five episodes remains to be seen.

On an entirely different note about this episode, Nomiya leaves. Although Yamada probably doesn't realise it, she is affected by this news. Since he stopped being a total bastard, Nomiya is quite nice. Mayama lowered his guard and made this storyline much easier. I can even begin to see the two together, although all of these characters should start looking for love that can be requited.

The Snow Queen - episode 3

2005-09-11T13:25:00.000+10:00

"Fragments of the mirror"

At last, The Snow Queen shows its literary roots.

The Snow Queen's mirror shatters and a fragment finds its way into Kay's eye. Historically, the fragments of the mirror corrupt the world, making those that they touch see everything as ugly and evil. As a result, Kay becomes something of a bastard.

Lamentably, The Snow Queen anime gives no context for the mirror, despite featuring both a narrator and a snow queen who could explain it. This will be made clear to the audience in the fullness of time, I should hope.

The Snow Queen is a sufficiently interesting character, represented here for the first time in an extended capacity. My personal Hans Christian Andersen collection credits the character as "the wicked Snow Queen", so it is nice to see her portrayed as someone who is trying, despite her heart of ice, to do something right. The fact that she ends up doing it entirely wrong is immaterial.
It will be good to see just how the Snow Queen and Kay interact over the coming episodes.

The sometimes dodgy quality of the animation makes very little sense considering the cinematic techniques that Dezaki frequently and gleefully applies. Moving scenery, zooming, animated establishing shots and frequent use of metaphorical perspective make for an interesting program, almost experimental considering the 7:30 AM time slot that it boasts. If only they could be more seamlessly executed.

The preview for the next episode looks quit egood: the journey of Gerda, the very basis of The Snow Queen, is about to begin. Now, if only I could understand the talking statuary, I'd be set.

Tide-Line Blue - episode 7

2005-09-09T21:34:00.000+10:00

What did I say about Keel being in his element? Well, with a trip to Tibet for some hard gambling, we are given an example of exactly that. This episode is pretty good for most of the characters involved; even the frequently insufferable Joze gets some good comedy and drama in.

In this episode Keel and Joze arrive in Tibet, just as Aoi, Teen and the ostrich do. While Keel and Joze need to gamble for fuel for their mini-sub, Aoi has important issues to discuss with Chen Reishi, an intense woman who wears robes, and has premonitions in an other worldly voice.
It’s all pretty good.

The best scene of the episode, and perhaps the series, was Angie and Keel on the docks. Their reminiscences of Sunshine was a fairly moving scene, acted perfectly by Daisuke Sakaguchi who has simultaneous laughter and tears down pat. It was a great example of a character temporarily falling apart while trying to "stay true" to themself - in that Keel probably would not want people to see that he has been affected. People that he considers friends, that is: around Gould and Joze, he wears his heart on his sleeve.

The other unknown quantity is Joze, a character I really hate. I think I'm supposed to, so that's okay. For once we get to see an air of vulnerability about her, but any sympathy this generates is very quickly disposed of. Joze is genuinely off-kilter, and much more of a "villain" and harder person than Gould ever has been. It will be interesting to see her with Teen, but it would be hard for her to be any more unlikeable than she has already been depicted as. Sure, she might have a reason for being a total bitchmonster, but there is something definitely off about her.

The funny thing about Tide-Line Blue is that I inherently understand that threatening to use nuclear weapons against people is an immoral idea. Problem is, Gould makes it seem stylish.

Honey and Clover - episode twenty

2005-09-07T23:27:00.000+10:00

I don’t normally include personal experiences in my reviews, but this episode of Honey and Clover almost made me fail a university test. Somehow, it was worth it.

It almost certainly was based on the strength of the impassioned Morita scenes alone. Nomiya has actually come around, and Mayama … oh, Mayama. Once more, Takemoto is a support character for Hagu, but this episode is packed as it is, so that’s okay.

Herein Nomiya realises that he has little chance with Yamada – he is older, so he can understand hopeless love better than she – and Mayama realises that he doesn’t really have that much against Nomiya, that the reason the two don’t get along is because each is very close to the other.
Meanwhile, Takemoto has been discussing the future with Hagu-chan, and her plans depress him. Morita decides to take action after Shuu has revealed his own history with university and it is realised that his attitude towards his niece is affected by that.

I really get the sense that Takemoto and Morita are brothers in a way, Morita being more unhinged and proactive, both of them caring deeply about the people around them but being too shy to really express this about themselves in a proper fashion. Since Morita came to understand that Takemoto cared about his departure, he seems to have gained courage. I really loved the scenes wherein Morita completely dropped his airy façade and became entirely serious and impassioned about what his friends are doing wrong.
He wasn’t even being judgemental; his actions were completely rational, and even admirable.

I can personally identify with Shuu, because he gives his reason for becoming a teacher in this episode. Shuu perfectly understands art theory, but he can not produce art to save himself. When he realised the joy that he got from helping Rika and Harada(?) understand concepts, he decided that he should become a teacher.
I was always good at theory myself, and this is not exactly depressing. Still, the expectations that Shuu places upon Hagu-chan are, without him even realising it. By the end of the episode, Hagu-chan is in a heartbreaking mess.
Don’t blame Shuu; blame the industry.

A wholly excellent episode, very little in the way of visual blarghs, although one does have to wonder why the screen had questions and thoughts written across it, ala Evangelion.
Still, never mind; doomed and ambiguous romances have never been this good.

Tide-Line Blue - episode 6

2005-09-04T23:13:00.000+10:00

"K2"

Easily the best episode since the first, Tide-Line Blue six is actually revealing things, giving proper characterisation and some actual emotion.

In this episode the Ulysses takes on the forces of the New UN. Clearly we don’t want either side to die, as Satoyama of the New UN works for Aoi and for some reason we think that Gould is generally a good guy.
In other parts, Joze goes looking for Keel, who is actually behaving in a sensible fashion, and Aoi reveals some huge truths to Teen.

For the first time we are given the opportunity to feel something for Teen as Aoi tells him about what is going on in the satellite orbiting the Earth. Teen has always been the more serious of the two brothers, even as a child. The childhood events of episode two are actually remarkably close to all that happens in this episode, with everything showing itself to be highly relevant. For once I got the sense that this program isn’t wasting its time.

Now I understand that Teen has feelings, it’s easier to be around him. To be fair to both of the twins, they have been out of their elements since the second half of the first episode and should be forgiven for their digressions. Giving Keel a taste of the normal life, working with the villagers, was also worthwhile.

To the action side of the episode: this worked very well because it was charged with emotion for once, rather than being people the audience doesn’t know shooting at each other in the vain hope that someone will die.
Gould was passionate in his defence of the Ulysses, and Satoyama’s animation and delivery was spot on. Satoyama is not a character that we have seen much of before, but his dedication to his job was admirable, which made him much easier to empathise with.

“K2” was an episode full of excitement, revelations and despair. If the writers can keep this level up rather than writing the annoying scenes that they have been up until now, Tide-Line Blue will not have been a waste after all.

Honey and Clover - episode nineteen

2005-09-01T21:26:00.000+10:00

"Time Begins to Move Again"

Booooo Nomiya. Down with everyone who is actively trying to make Yamada feel bad!

This episode is another angsty Yamada Mayama effort, but the Nomiya/Yamada/Mayama triangle is not a convincingly effective one. The problem is that Nomiya is a bastard, and Mayama is also a bastard – but one with feelings. At the end of the episode one might get the idea that Nomiya has some feelings.

On the other side of the fence, Takemoto is glad to have Morita back.

When Yamada is drunk, I don’t think that one should really take her actions to heart: Nomiya accuses her of using him, but this is probably just his unique way of making people feel bad. Mayama’s attitude towards Nomiya is actually rationally explained, which makes him seem a heck of a lot less selfish than previously: Mayama knows the flippant manner in which Nomiya disposes of women. While it is true that one could say Mayama is just thinking the worst, his “if only Nomiya could show a serious side” is perfectly justified.
Still, the balance isn't the same as Yamada/Mayama/Rika, and that throws the whole thing off.

I like Takemoto a heck of a lot more than the others at the moment, and his dinner with Morita "the housewife" was a good example. Morita almost never shows signs of seriousness, so it was nice to see his warmth. I think that Morita really can appreciate that Takemoto is a good friend, despite the fact that it seems that each time they do something for the other, they hurt themselves.
The one scene shared by Morita and Hagu showed that their relationship is on an artistic rivalry platform, but perhaps their adversarial nature is conducive to romance. I just don't know.

The other bad thing about this episode is that it, like the episode that introduced Nomiya, had some really off model shots. Yamada is always hit worst by that because she can look incredibly weird if drawn incorrectly. Extreme closeups that are out of shape are not good for setting moods.

The next episode seems to include a fight between Morita and Kaoru; that should be good. Better than Nomiya giving his "home truths" at any rate.

Progress report

2005-08-31T20:00:00.000+10:00

Seeing as everything's been thrown out of whack this week and MovableType offers the worst tech support ever (at least if you don't pay them), I'm going to go out a bit and digress from the straight up reviews that I do. Put some of the hated word "blog" back in the phrase "anime blog" and lose all of my readers.

I have completed a RahXephon review, but the edited version is lost in the ether and I couldn't be bothered re-editing my draft. You can get that in time, but here I'll editorialise and say that I think that Argentosoma, despite holding more flaws, was an altogether better series - at least on the sci-fi scale.

I've been watching complete fansubbed series on the trains, which strikes me as somewhat against the "spirit" of fansubbing - that is, watching it in instalments almost as if it's real TV. The two series I've watched, however, are so good that I could put that aside. I'm not sure if I'll write about them, though.

The first series was Beck, which had many little storylines I didn't like - such as a stupid bullying exposé - but which I really cared about. The characters were excellent and I wasn't as annoyed by the English as many of my anime compatriots were. Even the whole "Leon Sykes" story didn't annoy me, possibly because I was not watching on a weekly basis. I never found him much of a threat.

Monster is my current train series and, twenty episodes in, it is excellent. By the same team as Master Keaton, both anime and manga, it is just pure rock. It takes a few episodes to set itself up, but there's enough suspense and such great characters that it picks up momentum quickly. The shadow of Johan casts itself over the series and I think that Inspector Lunge's theory is too naff and convenient.
I might get to modern times, do a write up, and then pick it up weekly. Who knows, everything I say is always speculation.

Finally, the DVD series I just finished was A Tiny Snow Fairy Sugar. Entire series take a while to write up, so I'll get back to you on that. I tells ya, I teared up at the end.

I'll watch Honey & Clover 19 and write it up later.

How was that for an experiment?

The Snow Queen - episode 2

2005-08-31T19:14:00.000+10:00

“Aurora Town”

I would say that it took them long enough, but I’m in no position to talk. Perhaps there is a reason beyond control for everything.

In this episode, Gerda is making a living in the winter time by doing laundry, while her grandmother Matilde is working hard into the night making tapestries. In nineteenth century Denmark, it was vitally important to be able to pay for winter provisions, so Matilde overworks herself sick.
Meanwhile, the Snow Queen goes about her rounds, and Gerda has to find a cure for Matilde in a blizzard. The episode ends with the original story’s beginning … slightly altered to take care of the troll characters.

The story is presently in melodrama stage, setting the scene for Gerda's character. Her dedication is shown in her trips out into the snow; this will come in handy for later on, as the whole story of The Snow Queen is about facing hardship and having strong faith. I doubt that there will be quite a Christian moral as there was in the original story, but it's possible that I will be surprised.
The highlight for the episode, therefore, was seeing the Snow Queen get around. Suzukane Mayo's character is a woman of few words, but she exudes an air of sadness and her snow song was mesmerising.

While I like a lot of the techniques involved in this program, and that I think the Snow Queen is a semi tragic figure, the secondary character designs leave quite a lot to be desired. The washerwomen were hideous in this episode. Even in the normal characters the eyes seemed off, with Gerda occasionally looking at nothing.
The other factor is that the Red and Blue Trolls simply suck. They look like refugees from bad eighties’ American cartoons contracted to the Japanese for animation. When I was about five, I watched a hell of a lot of that sort of stuff - and it just doesn't cut it for me anymore.

The Snow Queen is good, but not good or fast enough to warrant having to wait two months between episodes. The sudden possession of Red Troll and Blue Troll suggests that there is something evil afoot here – which is important because the Snow Queen is by no means bad, she just doesn’t undersand.
By virtue of its basis in a short morality tale, this anime had to branch out somewhere. Next ~~week~~ episode, at least, appears to be the pivotal mirror fallout.

Tide-Line Blue - episode 5

2005-08-31T11:46:00.000+10:00

"Attack - Offense"

This is more like it.

Teen misbehaves with Aoi and Keel decides that he wants to "help" Gould again. Unfortunately everything that Gould does is vaguely militaristic, which clashes with Keel's pacifistic nature. Keel's a bit slow. The way that things work out, and the realisation that Keel comes to, however, are well worthwhile.

Gould is finally becoming the interesting character that he needs to be for this series to work: his methods may seem brutal, but they are effective. The sheer disappointment that Keel feels when he realises that Gould was right all along is fairly powerful, and all the moreso due to the fact that this episode uses very little in the way of SD shots for once.
That said, Joze is not very sympathetic at all: her grey hair and yellow eyes make her far from trustworthy, almost implying that she is ruthlessly behind everything.

I didn't much like the Teen scenes because that smug bastard look he carries on his face annoys me to no end. This time the Gould side has enough information to make me start caring about them, but the Aoi side is still too mysterious: unexplained contraband communications systems and all sorts of new characters aren't getting me going.

This is good enough, but nowhere near gripping; the characterisation is slightly annoying in Keel, and Teen takes too many notes from the book of Joze rather than Gould.

Honey and Clover - episode eighteen

2005-08-30T20:41:00.000+10:00

“He’s back”

I would say that this was the best episode yet but for two reasons: it’s likely to be surpassed and I didn’t really like the ending.
Honey and Clover is at its manic comedy best when it has Morita in the spotlight. It is no spoiler to say that he’s back, as the end of episode seventeen was blatantly obvious … and he was always going to come back, we just didn’t know when.

Basically this episode kicks off with the group watching Morita win a Mochademy Award for special effects in the hit movie “Space Titanic”. They watch his rambling speech with horror, then realise with more horror that he is in the hospital bed next to them.
What ensues is an excellent episode about graduation and Takemoto’s uncertainness about his relationship with Hagu.

For a minute there, I thought that Morita had really graduated, that he had learned. I can be forgiven for thinking this, as the “finally serious” Morita was very strong indeed, before he went all bowtie and first year.
I loved the sunset feel of the graduation scenes, which is why they were kind of ruined by the dawn feel of the new university year. I understand the necessity of first year Morita, especially after so long in the wilderness for him, and it’s not a ruiner – it just slightly cheapens the emotions.

I think that Yamada must work in the pottery department of the university, because she is still there despite graduating at the same time as Yamada. It is slightly confusing when these characters have to have their majors when Hagu-chan does such a wide variety of work: starting in pottery (where she met Yamada), working in sculpture (where Takemoto became surprised by her skill, and where she showed her desperation), but dedicating herself to painting as well (such as her giraffe experience).
Of course, this is the point of Hagu-chan: she is endlessly talented, but she needs to focus that talent or become distressed - which is Morita's problem and precisely why he's coming back. This is yet another thing to add to the list of comparisons between Takemoto and these two: directionlessness.
However, I could argue that this is common among students.

Overall a strong episode that had to work as it did, even if I didn't quite like the outcome.

Shameful return

2005-08-28T16:39:00.000+10:00

The reason I have not updated Batrock.net's Anime Pilgrimage for a week is because the MovableType system refuses to acknowledge my username.. I said that I would be back on Blogspot in the event of Batrock being hacked by terrorists, and this is close enough.

With my head bowed down low in regret, welcome back to Blogspot. I'm uploading all of my images in the event of a triumphant return to Batrock, but this layout can't really handle such large scale quality images at the low low prices I normally offer!

Batrock Emigration

2005-05-08T23:38:00.000+10:00

The new official home of Anime Pilgrimage is Batrock.net. Please upgrade your links to reflect this.

I will keep this blogspot up as a mirror (with smaller images), in case Batrock gets hacked by terrorists (seriously, that's what happened to my last website). This site will not be updated unless that happens.

Honey and Clover - episode one

2005-05-08T23:10:00.000+10:00

This fan sub lark is fun!
I have no idea what this anime is about. I love it, but I have no idea what it is about.
Honey and Clover begins as a story about a group of university students that live in a big old house. They get up to mischief. But then at the end a freaky little blonde girl who looks like she's four but is actually 18 comes to visit, and now I could not tell you what's going on.

This episode opens with first year student Takemoto talking about how, when he was young, he would ride his bike and see how far he could get without turning back. Now he is learning to be an artist at a university, and is constantly surprised by the new things that he learns about life.
In this episode, Takemoto is charged with the responsibility of waking housemate Morita in time for his lecture. Morita is a sixth year student who has had to repeat many times because of his poor attendance. Not wanting this on his head, Takemoto goes into a wild panic about being able to wake up his fellow man. Wild antics ensue.

As a university comedy, this is pretty hilarious. If only things were actually like this. Kuroda Yosuke, he of the multitude of supreme hits and low misses, is the script supervisor for this series and the randomness of his attitude shines through. The animation is superb, creating a small paradise for wild face fans.
Then at the end of the episode comes the incredibly short, mostly mute 18 year old girl "Hagu". This is where confusion comes in; Why is she so short? Why is she here? Why does Takemoto fall instantly in love with such a scary girl-woman?

Hopefully these questions will be answered, because I'm willing to hang around and find out.

Vandread The Second Stage

2005-05-07T22:59:00.000+10:00

Vandread The Second Stage takes place almost directly after the first series, with the increased danger of that conclusion looming. Where Vandread was a series about but one ship in space, The Second Stage is at once more vast and more personal.

The first major developments in The Second Stage are the birth of Ezra's baby, Kahlua-chan, and the discovery of Misty Cornwell, a teenaged who was frozen some sixty three years ago. She comes from a pre-separation society.

The introduction of Kahlua-chan is symbolic in its bringing together of men and women, but is more importantly an excellent comic foil. Pyoro, the robot who was underused in the first season, comes to the fore as Kahlua-chan's (or, as he calls her, Pyoro-2) father figure. Pyoro now becomes a star in his own right and earns reams of hilarious lines into the deal. The series is more fun than ever before as a result.

The issue with Misty is that she initially strikes the viewer as a victim of "second series needs a new character" syndrome. Misty is a very obvious wedge between Dita and Hibiki, and her charm is not helped by a bizarre little blob thing that projects itself from her earring.
In the first few episodes of the series, she is either bursting out with loudness or completely irrelevant. This is thankfully remedied by certain revelations that make her sympathetic - and understandable ones that are not in the least contrived, at that.
Misty never has a narrative purpose - she's not some convenient solution to all of the universe's problems, an integral part of the series that she might have otherwise been - but she does become a functioning member of the crew of the Nirvana and for that you can be grateful.

Hibiki grows exponentially during the series to the point that he is nothing like the character he was when he started. In fact, the whole cast goes through some massive changes in the name of plot and character development, which is one of the strengths of this series.
This second series is better than the first in that respect with Duero and Bart, the two underutilised men of the first, actually get some interesting material to work with.

The characters are good, with far more appearances of Ishizuka Unsho's Rabat than one might expect, but so too is the plot. To go into too much detail would be to spoil a perfectly good thing to open and discover, but there is a lot of excellent SF on display here, that culminates in one of the best penultimate episodes of anime I've ever seen. You can react to the events shown, and that is always a good thing (Eiken and the like aside). If you liked Vandread, it's more than likely you will enjoy The Second Stage even more. The OP and ED seem a bit dodgy at first, but by the end they're catchy with their hip beats and all.

Vandread and The Second Stage have some sort of stigma attached, but they don't deserve it. This is a Gonzo work of excellence, and much better than so many pedestrian series. A good work of science fiction, but also a good work of anime.

Emma - episode 4

2005-05-04T21:00:00.000+10:00

"Mudie's"

This episode left me in high spirits. Considering that I was preparing to murder the internet beforehand, this makes it a good outing. ~~The Adventures of William and Hakim~~ Emma is one entertaining series.

In this episode, Emma goes to Mudie's library, where Hakim and William are browsing the Victorian pornography. Emma escapes with a blush and a book about a servant falling in love with her master: it's all dreadfully romantic. After having been rejected by Emma, Hakim lets William know that the path is clear. This leads to the least painful William and Emma interaction so far!

This episode wasn't big on plot, being as it was about Hakim's displacement. Eleanor didn't have any reaction to Hakim's presence at all - but she did have a debriefing scene in front of her mirror, except that she has her maid to talk to. What was important here is Hakim's harem. They are pretty much funny in whatever scene they are in. Their immobile features grow on you the more immobile they become, and there's something inherently hilarious about one of them gunning a motorcar.

Also important in this episode is the inclusion of Arthur, William's younger brother. Arthur seems to be the embittered child who actually has to make something of himself. "You're inheriting the family business," says he to William, "I can't just loaf around like you."
It's true; William is the definition of a man of leisure. He has underpaid servants to do his work for him, so he can spend his days being awkward around the ladyfolk. If William did not have Hakim with him, this series would not be as fun because it would likely become apparent he's a bit of a jellyfish. If one is to be a cad, they must have the courage to do it properly!
Did anyone notice that Emma gets very little screen time indeed.

A nice, enjoyable episode with a satisfying ending. But what's up with the vehicles? They don't look near as sharp as anything else in the program.

City Hunter 2 - 46 to 63

2005-05-01T20:48:00.000+10:00

City Hunter has its diehard fans. I would almost count myself as one of them. While it may have taken 100 episodes to get there, there was one truly awesome moment: a moment that I felt.

"Goodbye, Hardboiled City", about a terrorist ring led by the mysterious "Sarah", is one of the best Ryo and Kaori relationship stories there has ever been. It is exactly as if the writers had set out to fashion a heart-pumping City Hunter extravaganza. The action, the music choice ... pure synergetic magic - and now certain things are out in the open, not drowned as in "Kaori has amnesia!".
Even the fact that Ryo disarms a nuclear bomb by shooting a wire and hoping for the best cannot detract from this episode; the status quo doesn't disappoint, either.

What is disappointing is that this is followed by City Hunter's first recap episode, Crystal Prophecy, in which a fortune teller tells Kaori that she always puts Ryo in danger. It's been a long time since I've seen one of these, and this one is pretty lame. The positive aspect is that most of the clips are from season one, so long ago I couldn't remember them, but City Hunter does not work based on action alone; also, the few comedy bits make entirely no sense out of context. Umibozu as Colonel Sanders, sure; but why? The new animation is way off model - particularly Reika - and they try to make up for it all with a sweet Kaori and Ryo moment at the end, but by then it's too late.
Of course, this episode can be summarised by my notebook: "What kind of crappy fortune teller tells the past?"

The issue of Kaori knowing herself emerges in "Reunion After 20 Years", wherein Kaori's elder sister appears. It had been so long, I had quite forgotten that Kaori and Makimura were not blood relatives. The moral of this story (which is not not that Kaori looks good in a dress) is strong: does Kaori know her own truth? Has she forged her own, with which she is happy? Ryo is not the only one with silencers on his heart. On the one hand, you want to scream at the characters for not coming clean to one another, but on the other you can forgive them. Ultimately, it is important to understand that Kaori lives in the underworld through her own choice, not that of Makimura or Ryo.

"Proposal from a 17 Year Old Girl" is another strong episode featuring old people. A girl is made heir to a vast fortune, and attracts many suitors, so she pretends to be engaged to Ryo. Three of her suitors hang around together, and plot murder. Sometimes, you have to wonder about these things; also about where yuppies got grenades from. Still, this episode has one of those heartwarming City Hunter episodes that we strive for; old people always have so much to atone for.

There's even an eighties dance spectacular episode, with some fanciful animation, an episode about Ryo teaching a boy prince what it is to be a man, and an episode in which Ryo protects a male-phobic by getting about in drag. The gay jokes in this series are so innocent and hilarious.

"Good Luck, My Sweeper" is the first City Hunter three parter. Contained within are the details of Ryo's childhood, and the question of trust. Does Ryo trust Kaori implicitly? Does "protecting" her from the truth actually detract from their relationship? It is a comfort to learn that he really can tell her anything, and she will be supportive; yet he still can't tell her what she needs to know. The series ends on a very nice note with this set of episodes.

The fact that Umibozu and Ryo were once enemies, something we have never witnessed (they were not friends before the commencement of the anime, but they had reached an understanding) emerges in conversation, proving once more that these characters have rich pasts.
Yet the question emerges along the way: why are Umibozu and Ryo the only sweepers on the market. Umibozu always turns up as Ryo's "surprise" adversary. This is one of the few things about the series that gets old. Silver Fox has been seen in the past, but no sweepers besides these two? Highly questionable! Not series breaking, though.

If you're the right sort of person, City Hunter rocks. City Hunter 2 is even better than its predecessor. There is a lack of Saeko in these episodes (and to think, what I used to complain about was a lack of Umi-chan), but the amount of character drama and relationship development is spot on. At this point, it is genuinely sad to think that there are only 26 episodes over two series left to watch.

DNA² TV & OVA

2005-05-01T18:16:00.000+10:00

Mixing genres is a favourite thing for anime directors to do. A lot of the time they get something fresh and daring. In the case of DNA², aiming for sci-fi comedy romance time travel drama, they get a mess.

One hundred years in the future, the Earth is in danger of over-population thanks to one man: the Mega-playboy, a man irresistable to women. Mega-playboy (or Mega-play, as the dialogue frequently shortens it to), one hundred years ago, had children to twenty women; each of these children turned out to be Mega-plays themselves, and they continued the cycle. The Mega-play DNA was clearly strong enough to have a 100% success rate.
This brings us to modern day, where pathetic loser nice guy Momonari Junta. Junta is a student who vomits bright pink whenever he comes close to anything vaguely sexual. The future "DNA Operator" Karin, however, is convinced that Junta is Mega-play and shoots him with a DNA bullet. To her horror she realises that she had the wrong bullet and could very well have injected Junta with the DNA that created the Mega-playboy!

This prospect sounds funny enough, but there is something off in the execution of the series. By the second episode, Junta as Mega-play has convinced popular girl Saeki to break up with her philandering boyfriend Ryuuji. Ryuuji, then, hires a gang of punks reminiscent of Fist of the North Star to rough Junta up. Not only do they beat Junta in a café, they then proceed to attempt to rape Saeki right there on the floor. What part of this is funny?! It is not even dramatic in the "plan goes horribly wrong"; it's just sour.

The mid-section of the series is dedicated to a ridiculous concept: Junta tries to cure Kotomi of her embarrassing ailment - she farts whenever in the presence of boys. It is handled almost sweetly, but this story has nothing to do with plot: this would be because Ami, Junta's next door neighbour and obvious silent crusher, is a character who does nothing but look dopey (a fault of design), bite her lip and say "damnit!".
There is entirely no chemistry in this relationship.

Basically what happens is that there is an overall idea and it is ignored; Mega-play is never a danger, and his comedy potential remains unmined. The drama that is introduced is along the lines of deep seated psychosis, and even then there is no threat in the form of Mega-play. Ami is needlessly mean to Junta, so there is no fear here! She will just slap him into place! There are some good what the hell is going on? moments, but they are nothing compared to the bad moments that provoke exactly the same feeling. A showdown in the biggest house in town, western in design, on top of a mountain, in the middle of an area of otherwise Japanese architecture? Talk about dark and contrived.

After the series proper, there's a follow up three part OVA (actually designed for TV, but never broadcast because the show wasn't popular enough). This OVA acts to clear up some parts of the series but, like a lot of OVA follow ups, it feels empty. The main new character is not very sympathetic or well developed and, really, by this time you get the feeling that Ryuuji has been through enough.

The characters overall are too "romance comedy", a genre that has, since Love Hina been widely pilloried and revered. Ami, for her part, is an infuriating character. A lot of these shows have girls who secretly love the main character, won't admit it to that character or themselves
Also, this is close to suffering the great anime disease: in Japanese high schools, there is only one boy that every girl wants. In this case there are only four girls after Junta, but honestly; one can only suspend disbelief about these love battles for so long. The writers can't even accurately balance the female characters adequately, with Tomoko getting far too little time for what she intends to do, and Kotomi forgotten about when her purpose is served.
Junta, at least, has some charisma; he is a nice guy. Unfortunately, Ami has next to no personality, except for liking Junta.
Magic User's Club had it more right than this; there was more than one boy, and very little competition.

Production wise, however, DNA² is largely beautiful. This is a project by Video Girl Ai's Masakazu Katsura, so the characters have his traditional pretty look. Based on the OP alone, one would expect something great from this anime. In action, the characters still look fine - although at times Ami's forehead is far too large, making her look sleepy.
There are little moments of excellent fluidity, and a heck of a lot of fan service for 1994. It would be no exaggeration to say that the greatest aspect of DNA² is its attention to panties. The best moments are those devoted to bra detail - but alas! This is not a panty festival.

The casting is pretty good, with Tominaga Miina as Karin and Koyasu Takehito as unbalanced pretty boy Ryuuji stand outs. Hayashibara Megumi plays against type as the manipulative half-nice Tomoko; she's a little shrill. Not really surprisingly, Kasahara Hiroko is as flat as her character Ami. The best audio experience of the program is definitely the OP and ED by L'Arc~enciel and Sharan Q respectively.

DNA² is entertaining from time to time, but is in no way cohesive. A lot of the comedy is lame, and the drama too out of place (and, honestly, doesn't make a lot of sense). With more focus, this could have been a much better series; as it is, DNA² is simply tragically beautiful and, like genetic modification, just that slightly morally ambiguous.

Berserk - episodes 14 to 25

2005-05-01T15:53:00.000+10:00

The final stretch of Berserk is excellent ... but then there is the matter of the ending.
It can not be denied that the characters and situations in Berserk are excellently realised; I have got a fair bit of mileage from regaling my friends with stories of the exploits of the series, so rich and colourful that people react in all the right spots ("This guy's a bastard!"). This is the sort of anime you could steal and adapt it to tell by the firelight at a hunting lodge or smithy deep in the mountains.

From the battlefield. where Guts and Caska reach an understanding, Berserk bleeds right into court drama. Moreso than on the battlefield, the nature of Griffith can be understood in this context. Griffith is not a nice person; his dream, as Guts realises, takes precedence over all else. One can understand Griffith's charisma, but the audience can see his determined eyes: they are huge and cold; piercing, like a hawk.

Guts, on the other hand, is not as cold as one might think: some of the best moments in this series are the conversations between Guts and Caska. Here it is revealed how well he knows his fellow band members, and that he genuinely cares for them. Guts may be gruff, and uncomfortable in fancy regalia, but he is very human indeed.

So, to the last two episodes: they deliver exactly what is promised in the first. What we get is Supernatural Berserk, which I did not really find enjoyable. Most of the program had nice moments, but the conclusion is completely bleak; it is from these two episodes that Berserk receives its reputation.
The change of gear is not the major issue, however: Berserk ends on the biggest cliffhange ever! Almost never has there been a louder shout from the director of "buy the manga!" than Berserk episode 25. This is very edgy indeed.

While the final episodes may produce nail-biting moments of tension, Berserk was wonderful at what it aimed to be: an account of Guts' life in the Band of the Hawk.

Argentosoma - episodes 15 to 25 and episode EX

2005-04-30T23:39:00.000+10:00

Sequel to this article from two months back.

Despite its clunky start, Argentosoma geared up in its second half to present a dynamic blend of intrigue, twists and drama.

Takuto realises that he is not exactly the nicest person to talk to, through the assistance of Hattie. Watching Hattie lash out and "not shut up" really opens his eyes; she also makes Takuto realise that she is not Maki, and he cannot treat her as such. Their resemblance and shared seiyuu are little more than anime-flavoured coincidence.

The questions of "what are we fighting for and against?" are answered more than satisfactorily, with at least one of the revelations being a true "anime shiver" moment - one where you can feel the impact in your spine (I have had this feeling only two other times that I can remember: once in Nadia, and the other in City Hunter 2). For this reason, Argentosoma graduated to something very special for me.
Adding another layer of excellence is the fact that after the conclusion there is an epilogue episode, set six years later. There is not only the relief of seeing a matured Hattie (she ends up fine, folks - her voice changes!), but also of seeing the growth of the rest of the cast (and Sue's inexplicable makeover).
This is not the kicker; the kicker is that by the end I had come to love Mr. X. In grand anime tradition, he managed to provoke a strong reaction with his final appearance.

After this is the budgeted but unbroadcast episode EX. It is chronologically implacable, occurring before key events in the series but relying on the viewer to have knowledge of revelations. This episode deals with giving Sue a depth of history and is quite good, if unessential. It is definitely odd to watch after the series proper, but is worthwhile for the hilarious Takehito Koyasu/Horie Yui omake ED.

If anything, Argentosoma exceeds expectations. Patience pays off, and the ED makes divine sense after all!

Emma - episode 3

2005-04-27T22:35:00.000+10:00

"Confession"

Warning: Meeting Emma may impair your social judgment!

In this episode, William's friend Hakim comes to visit from India. Hakim takes William on an elephant ride through the streets of London, but William gets sick and has to stop off at Emma's house. Emma meets Hakim, who is instantly taken by her; Hakim consults Emma as to her feelings for William, and then confesses his own feelings.

This appears to be the first episode of Emma to actually go for the laughs, with Hakim's tight-lipped harem following him everywhere; William's younger brother is particularly distressed by all of the foreign goings on. William himself is consistently dazed by what's happening around him but is pleased because "I got to see Emma". Nothing goes wrong in this episode, besides the obvious issue of another person vying for Emma's affections (please, people, she doesn't want your gifts!).

On the Emma front (as there is remarkably little Emma in Emma): Mrs. Stownar seems a bit mean to Emma, but I suppose that's what high class people do. Also, Emma does have a moment of reflection in her room, but it is mercifully not while she's combing her hair and looking into the mirror; the consideration scenes in this episode, both her own and William's, are well done.

All in all, a fine episode that even included some nice CG.

Next time: Hakim, Eleanor, Emma and William Battle Royale!

Vandread

2005-04-27T22:04:00.000+10:00

In the future, men and women have had a falling out ... to the point where they have split planets and are perpetually at war. The men live on Tarak and the women on Mejale. Tarak babies are produced in factories, and Mejale babies are produced internally by some scientific process with special words that probably make sense to someone.
This is not their story, but it is the context from which this story springs.

Vandread opens with the Tarak forces launching a new space station filled with new ships known as vanguards. Only moments after lift-off, they are set upon by pirates - female pirates! Realising that the old part of their station has been lost, the Tarak jettison it, leaving the pirates and three unfortunate male stow-aways on board. The Tarak blast the old station with a "Paksis" beam, which does not destroy it but rather fuses it with the pirates' ship. The Paksis also changes several key areas of the ship, including the engine and all of the mech units on board.
Escaping in their new ship, the Nirvana, the pirates keep the men prisoner but realise in time that the unique services offered by the trio are necessary for smooth running: Hibiki on vanguard, Bart as the helmsman, and Duero as doctor (women of the future can make children by themselves, but cannot perform medical checks without machines). They also realise that the new vanguards can combine with the women's dreads to form ultra powerful vandreads.
This is useful, because they also have the matter of attacks from unknown alien forces to contend with!

The story of Vandread is developed fairly well, with this thirteen episode series tightly directed and featuring a cute Christmas episode (beware SF anime with nice Christmas episodes!). The final three are quite dramatic and conclude fairly well, then do that classic "lead-in to a sequel" that everyone loves so much (Second Stage followed soon thereafter). The only point of contention is that the final dramatic push is set into motion on a fundamentally flawed premise that involves wild character irrationalities. Still, this amounts to less than half an episode and can be overlooked; the majority of Vandread is fun with a splash of intrigue simmering in the background.

Much is made of the fact that this is a war of the sexes; while there is tension on the ship, it is not to the extent that one might expect. The men and women featured in Vandread are all atypical of the society they live in: the women are pirates, and the men are all outcasts in Tarak. Standard Mejale and Tarak would kill each other on sight; naturally, this would not make for a great series.
Interestingly, in a society that would by default suggest all of its members are homosexual, there are only a few clearly defined lesbians. Men on Tarak have conversations along the lines of "When this is all over, what say we make a baby together?" "A baby with you? That sounds like a great idea!".

Despite the large cast of women, there are clearly defined important characters: the core Dread team of Jura, Dita and Meia; pirate captain and sole old woman Magno (more commonly referred to as "Old Hag"); and Hibiki. Duero and Bart have important roles as well, but they get significantly less screen time, as does ship mascot Pyoro.
Dita is the old-fashioned enthusiastic, dedicated-to-one-guy girl who cheers the ship with her endless vitality. She also has feelings and is not completely oblivious to those of Hibiki. Meia has her own past and Jura is an excellent comedy foil as well as sometime lesbian.
Hibiki is plagued by class-consciousness, an inferiority complex and an impatience when it comes to women. Yet somehow he manages to have a heart of gold and a stomach of cast iron. He is a character that has self doubts without being a whiney crybaby.

The OP and ED are perhaps too dramatic for their own good, with the ED sounding like the equivalent of an aural drowning. This is a Gonzo program, so it is packed with CG. The amazing thing is that the CG is actually quite good, as TV of this 2000 period really shouldn't have had much CG thrown into it. The action scenes look pretty damned nice; not much TV seems to do the CG kick lately (that I have seen, anyway), and in many cases it seems pretty ... lame ... but Vandread pulls it off elegantly due to its lack of attempts to blend: every scene is either all 2D or all CG. The characters are really quite attractive, and there's quite a bit of bounce going on. This is fan service at the high class level it was before the modern saturation point.

Vandread is the right sort of anime, created at a time before this sort of anime went bad. The level of fan service is just right, the characters are fun and the CG is surprisingly not bad at all. Add in a little bit of drama, and some excellenté discussions of the rights of orangutans in space and you've got a nice series to watch.