Tekkaman Blade 2009-04-07

Plot Summary

In the not-so-distant future, Earth has become beset with an alien species of insectoid monsters called the Radam, who seem bent on destroying humanity in order to colonize the planet. Humans keep fighting a losing battle against the Radam, until one day an amnesiac human makes landfall on Earth. He seems to have some mysterious power which allows him to transform into a techno-organic suited warrior called Tekkaman, with weapons and abilities that make short work of the Radam. He is swiftly discovered and welcome into a team of the military who have taken it upon themselves to discover how to rid humanity of the Radam.

Although D-Boy (which is the new name given to the amnesiac man) manages to tip the scales in the battle against the Radam wherever he goes, he is presented with various difficulties. When in the form of Tekkaman, the grip on his conscience is tentative, and he is afraid that the transformations slowly make him lose his humanity. As if to confirm that theory, enemy Tekkamen start making their appearence, comprised of humans in full and willingful service to the Radam. D-Boy meets with various Tekkamen throughout his travels, enemies and friends alike, and they are all driven by people belonging to his close family.

Eventually it is revealed that D-Boy (in reality named Takaya Aiba) and his family were the crew of an expedition spaceship which met with the Radam mothership on its way to Earth. Incapable of fully developing without a host body, the parasitic lavrae of Radam latched on the crew and started mentally converting them to obedient and powerful servants. For Aiba, the process was unfinished, so he retained his identity, but in siding against the Radam he brought himself face to face with his possessed brothers and sisters. In the end and after taxing his body to the limit, he managed to defeat all the Tekkamen and stop the Radam invasion, although he was heavily hurt and lost his memories in the process.

Review

Tekkaman Blade contains all the trappings of a mecha anime of its era. The warriors throw a yell in order to begin the transformation sequence (which uses a stylized crystal as a catalyst), and activate the special abilities of their suits with similar yells. And female pilots always ride mechas with high heels. There is no attempt at pretension or self-parody; all such elements used to be commonplace and played with a straight face back in the ‘90s, after all. And yet, I think the series manages to remain charming despite such infusions of cheesiness. The dark mood definitely helps very much to up the ante. The setting of the series is post-apocalyptic or, more accurately, set during the apocalyptic event itself. There is a general sense of delapidation and abandonment, as much of the population has died and the survivors have left their old habitats behind in order to gather into tougher and more protected settlements. This gives lots of areas full of ruins or wasteland where the mecha battles can take place to great effect. There are also some pre-conflict settlements and constructions shown during some episodes, and those serve as a familiar link to our world. The Aiba family manor especially, with its general state of ruin and partially run over by Radam pods, evokes both familial and haunting feelings, as a token of what has gone awry with the state of humanity. In contrast to all the ruins of the past, there are ultra-futuristic military bases, replete with laser rifles, supercomputers and fashion-forward sunglasses. The setting runs the whole gamut from struggling pastoral life to Dyson-esque space stations, and is convincing on most fronts.

The plot goes through a whole range of motions. There is an initial phase of wonderment where the series takes its sweet time to introduce the various primary and secondary characters in the context of the ongoing conflict; fortunately, the plot picks up the pace after the initial arc. For the most part the series does not exhibit secondary plots, instead preferring to bring one thematic unit to its end before moving on to the next one; there are some exceptions of one-shot episodes pausing the ongoing plot in order to explore other events and characters in more depth, but those are relatively few and far in-between. As far as the main arcs are concerned, there is a little bit of everything: some are more esoteric and deal with the characters’ inner conflict and personal relationships; others display a sense of urgency concerning the fate of humanity and are heavier on the battle scenes. There is a set formula involving at least some dialogue and angst and at least some mecha fighting, which is implemented in almost every episode. But in spite of this formulaic approach on an episode level, on a greater scale the series presents much variation in the sci-fi themes it explores, so it avoids stagnation (even though the series is longer than what modern viewers are accustomed to). There are some plot elements which are out of place or don’t make sense in the context of the general plot, and sadly there is no effort made to reason with them or explain them away, but I don’t think that those detract much from the quality of the story.

Personally I found most of the characters to be very enjoyable. I especially liked the villains and the time taken aside in order to develop their characters (including the use of many flashbacks) to the point where it is shown that their actions are the result of bitter and human sentiments that everyday people harbour, driven to an extreme. Although only a handful of villains have more than a couple of episodes’ worth of screen time, they show great depth of character, and they viewer can empathize with their struggle. The members of the earthbound military group also show much depth and variance, from the stoic leader to the travestite engineer; there are even some standalone episodes dedicated to exploring their past and present them as more well-rounded characters, so there are no complaints there. One point which did nag me was the origin stories of some of the supportive Tekkamen; the protagonist’s origin is very deliberate and limiting as a unique exception to the general process, and having additional characters also appear as exceptions stretches credibility a little.

Designs are definitely at their best when dealing with the techno-organic; the human houses and other constructions run over by alien fauna have a sense of haunt about them that feels as if taken straight from a horror film. Almost as good are the space battles; admittedly there are only so many ways one can draw explosions and laser beams against a starry background, but they are nicely choreographed. The rest of the graphics varies from mediocre to good. Animation is handled by studio Tatsunoko, which used to have the annoying tendency to intermittently botch their own designs. In the case of Tekkaman Blade, there are various examples where the proportions and perspective angles of characters and objects are messed up, making the scenes appear lopsided. It doesn’t happen often, but it is annoying where noticeable. Fortunately the studio improved considerably in the following years; among the DVD specials are included some outtakes where episodes or scenes are redrawn from scratch, and the designs there are richer and more detailed.

What I liked best about the music was the fact that each character party had its own musical theme, which could be heard in most scenes depicting them; in fact, there were themes even for some specific characters! Some of those were very good, and the whole attempt complemented the experience very nicely. Voice acting was very competent, with no real surprises or let-downs. At times the dramatic dialogue sounded a bit sappy, and the war cries had a certain amount of camp in them, but I suppose that it is the lines themselves, rather than the actors voicing them, which are to blame. Finally, the OP and ED alike are very well done; although not memorable, they are pleasant to listen during the course of the series.

The ending of the series brings closure to the whole saga, while leaving ample room for a sequel. However, the series itself is self-contained and can be watched without any knowledge of sequels or alternative versions (which is a nice way to say “please don’t watch the sequel, it was bad”). Overall I found that watching Tekkaman Blade was an surprisingly pleasant experience. It sounds like a banal story of yet another mecha anime of the ‘90s, but in truth it is amongst the best of its kind.

Stats

Type: Series
Length: 49 X 20 min

Rating

Production: 7/10
Plot: 6/10
Setting: 6/10
Characters: 7/10
Overall: 7/10

Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto 2009-03-28

Plot Summary

Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto takes place at the cusp between the Edo and Meiji eras of japanese history, when the xenophobiac isolation of the country was finally brought to an end, and groups of foreign people started to factor in japanese affairs. At this delicate time, an ancient mystic artifact called the Head of the Conqueror reappeared after being dormant for a long time. Its effect is to affect people’s minds and drive them to war and conflict, as a way to progress and shape history. This means that whoever possesses the head can guide and rule the country’s destiny, so there are many people seeking it out for themselves. A lonely mercenary named Akizuki Yojiro is included among them, but for a different reason; he is the so-called Eternal Assassin, and is mystically bound to track the head down in order to destroy it.

In Yojiro’s journeys as he wanders in search of the head, he meets various key people of the history of Japan, and many aspirants who try to stop him in order to claim the artifact. There is also a theatrical troupe which traval across the country, with a hidded agenda to exact revenge for the murder of the parents of the troupe’s leader. Interestingly, this goal has the often cross paths with Akizuki.

Review

The series takes place during the Bakumatsu era of the Edo period – and if you don’t know what that means, you are at an immediate disadvantage. Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto is an historical anime in a very literal sense of the term, having historical fact as its core and support. The plot is constantly beset with historical figures and events or battles which actually took place in the regions visited during the series. In fact, the historical references quickly multiply to the point where the setting becomes absolutely sprawling, and it is perhaps difficult to identify and absorb all introduced characters and events and their significance. This would probably not be a problem for the initial intended audience of the series in Japan, as I imagine that most of the events being referenced are part of the japanese educational curriculum. For the rest of us, having a history guide or encyclopedia handy to look up names and battles would be extremely useful at clarifying the setting. Understandably enough, this need for book keeping or knack for history greatly affects the viewers’ opinion of the series. Personally I think that finding such a nicely interconnected historic fantasy anime is very rare, so I welcomed it openly.

On the other hand, the fantasy element is much less interesting. Having a severed undying head mystically affecting people and armies into making war sounds like a plot taken out of a cheesy  of a war god movie. In a series with so much attention to historical truth, having such a weak hook for the characters to follow seems like a cop-out. The writers could have instead conjured an overreaching political intrigue as a menace, or something equally secretive and foreboding; the supernaturally preserved head feels shallow in comparison.

The series follows two sets of characters, each with their own agenda. One the one hand there is a young samurai nicknamed the Eternal Assassin, who chiefly follows the mystical head and downsizes those that it has managed to subvert. On the other hand there is a theatrical group who roam the country displaying their show while on the same time plotting revenge against the death of some former members of the group. These two plot threads are not initially interrelated, but they eventually meander around each other and are tied together by common agents. What is more, Akizuki’s battles are very nicely paralleled with the kabuki performances of the troupe, which offer some much-needed variance in the environment of a mostly loyal historical adaptation. The screen time is divided in such a way that the two converging plots complement each other nicely, to the benefit of the viewer.

The kabuki troupe is also where most of the character development of the series takes place. Especially two of the staff, the leader and Sotetsu-sensei (the playwright) develop greatly throughout the series. Their advancement is not sudden or explosive; instead they gain more depth as they roam the country and gain new information and character interactions. By comparison, Akizuki remains mostly stable in terms of both character and fighting technique. The rest of the cast are more or less unnoteworthy. There is also some attempt to flesh out the characters which correspond to historical figures, but they are not given much screen time, so the result is a bit cryptic; one ought to read a biography in order to properly understand their context.

At their best, the graphics are breathtaking, with very nicely choreographed battles and very detailed backdrops. Being a series set in an era of historical transition, the character designs show great amounts of variation, from traditional feudal era garments to western three-piece suits, with some fantasy elements occasionally thrown in some characters’ designs for good measure. Unfortunately, the design quality is not consistently great, and often shows obvious signs of being a rushed job. The backdrops becomes dull and unfocused, and character designs vary according to the presence of fill-in artists. The variance is not extreme, and the animation succeeds in being sharp and vibrant whenever it needs to (i.e. during action scenes), but I think that the series could have been much better with consistent art.

The sound score, on the other hand, is at least very good, with epic riffs complementing the historical backdrop, which show great variance according to the events being depicted. The OP stands out as it is very appealing and it suits the tone of the series well (the ED is less successful but not actively bad). The character voices are consistently competent, with no great surprises even though there are some nice voice actors being involved. Personally I expected more from Namikawa Daisuke (Akizuki’s voice actor), as I was impressed by his work in Beck, but Akizuki is a bit on the stoic side so we don’t get to see his talent in parlay.

It is not easy to recommend this anime series. Much of its attraction is to (japanese) history buffs, who will thoroughly enjoy the deeply embossed historical references. For the rest of us, it is a blend of history and fantasy with some nice action scenes, some kabuki eye candy, and detailed but obscure cultural information; it remains watchable, but it loses much of what would otherwise make it memorable or unique.

Stats

Type: Series
Length: 26 X 20 min

Rating

Production: 7/10
Plot: 6/10
Setting: 7/10
Characters: 6/10
Overall: 7/10

Telepathy Shoujo Ran 2009-03-24

 

Plot Summary

Ran and Rui are childhood friends and just became freshmen in junior high. In addition to being introduced to new classmates, Ran also discovers that she has telepathic powers, which initially terrifies her. Most of the telepathic feedback originates from a new transfer student named Midori, who is adept at her powers and had been trying to test how powerful Ran’s powers are. Although initially they cross paths as antagonists, Ran’s kind-hearted nature appeals to Midori and they join forces against their homeroom teacher, who is also a telepath and had been trying to psychically subvert the whole school (said teacher, Momoko Ohara, would later resurface as a a recurring villain).

Ran, Rui and Midori, joined by Ran’s elder brother Rin (on whom Midori has a crush) form an ersatz psychic investigation team, as various mystic people and creatures are attracted to Ran’s ESP. Simultaneously, Ran and Midory keep struggling to come to terms with their powers and how they differentiate them from the rest of humanity. Initially fearing that normal humans would treat them as freaks, their roles are eventually inversed when a great telepathic force of nature converts humans into totemic animals as a means of backlash to all evils mankind has brought to the world. Fortunately, through Ran’s kindness and perseverence, she and Midori manage to stave off the threat and restore the status of humanity.

Review

I had great expectations from Telepathy Shoujo Ran. The detective / mystery genre is one of my favourite, even among anime. And I think that psychic and ESP powers can make a detective story even better, by discovering and explaining elements of the mystery which would otherwise require luck of suspension of disbelief in order to be found and narrated on screen.

Sadly, and in spite of the aforementioned interesting blend of elements, this series falls short in terms of plot quality. All mysteries narrated throughout the series are traced back to supernatural beings and events, which need some psychic coaxing in order to surface and resolve their problems. That itself is not a bad pattern, although personally I think that interspersing some mundane riddles and mystery arcs would have made the series appear more varied. But more importantly, this modus operandi prevents the characters from using their observational skills and deductive methods, as is almost universally the case in detective stories, in order to further the plot and resolve the mystery. After all, the rules of deductive reasoning are not necessarily applicable to the supernatural. Instead, we must patiently wait for one of the protagonists to have a stroke of genius or remember a piece of folk trivia that will help them identify the mystical being du jour in order to defeat it or help it move on.

That basic weakness of the plot could have been at least partially alleviated if the characters were rich enough in order to display a wide range of reactions and behaviours in order to keep the viewer occupied. But that is not true either; the first arc displays some interesting character conflicts and interactions, but those are resolved by the end of the arc, and from then on all the characters devolve into stereotypes. Especially Midori’s character, who is initially introduced as mysterious and has some interesting subplots throughout the series, is summarily loaded with several absurd character traits in order to serve as comic relief. By and large, all of the characters’ actions and emotional responses are predictable to the point of boredom, which makes the various “daily life” arcs and scenes all the more disappointing.

Design is definitely at its best when displaying characters of traditional japanese folklore and other kinds of fantastic creatures, with interesting colour palettes and some fancy auras and animation to spice things up. Likewise, the on-screen effect of Ran and Midori’s powers is fairly nicely animated, even though it’s fairly standard and unvarying by today’s standards (granted, there are only so many ways one can show the effect of telekinesis or telepathy, and it’s better to use a familiar effect rather than have the viewers wonder what is going on). But when the animation returns to the depiction of slice-of-life characters and environments, it is plain and uninspiring. Judging from their recent work, it seems that the artists at TMS are best suited to animating over-the-top battles and events, and for the most part Telepathy Shoujo Ran is too downbeat and plain for them; one can almost imagine their fingers itching to draw swirling auras and blasts of psychic force, and glossing over more mundane scenes such as Ran’s school banters.

The tone of the soundtrack focuses on the “daily life” portion of the series for the most part, with audibly bright and upbeat tunes. There are also some riffs used for mysterious ambience and climatic events, but they are mostly uninspiring. Overall, the score is competent but it never aspires to become more than that. The character voices also get the job done, but they are not noteworthy; the only exception being Midori’s thick kansai-ben, which voice acress Kana Ueda reproduces pretty faithfully and to good (i.e. funny) effect.

In retrospect, the depth of the characters and plot (or lack thereof) make the series more suited to young children than any other target audience. Especially the ending arc, which exhibits some huge leaps of logic and suspension of disbelief, all nicely bundled in a pro-ecological message, seems geared to a much younger audience than the initial arc would have led us to believe. In short, don’t get your hopes up; this series starts out pretty powerfully but peters out shortly afterwards.

Stats

Type: Series
Length: 26 X 20 min

Rating

Production: 7/10
Plot: 6/10
Setting: 6/10
Characters: 6/10
Overall: 6/10

Wings of Honneamise 2009-03-19

Plot Summary

Shitosugh Lhadatt is a lazy dropout who could only find a job in the so-called Royal Space Force, a thinly manned and half-hearted attempt to get humanity into orbit. Initially totally indifferent to that aim, Lhadatt is inspired by the encouraging words of a religious young woman named Riquinni Nonderaiko, and he volunteers as the only passenger in the latest attempt of the Space Force to launch a satellite into space. He undergoes heavy self-induced training in order to rise to the occasion, shedding his laziness and carelessness.

Although there are several obstacles in the construction of the spacecraft, the crew manage to plough on, and Lhadatt slowly rises as a celebrity as the public slowly start to believe in the feasability of space travel. An impending war with a neighbouring country almost causes the mission to abort, but Lhadatt’s resolute spirit inspires the rest of the crew to launch the satellite despite any impediments or orders to the contrary. Thus, his efforts are rewarded, and he manages to broadcast a philosophical and peace-promoting message from orbit.

Review

The setting of this movie is, as far as I’m concerned, its major attraction. It is a very rich world, ranging from the familiarly mundane to the slightly otherworldly. The characters are shown in the full range of their daily lives, so we get to see most of the products of their civilization, from clothes and kitchenware to motorcycles and computers. Most of the technology shown is very similar to ours but departs from it on a tangential basis; everything is recognizable for what its usage is, but the details are alien enough to keep the setting from being identical with our era. Even the alphabet used for various scripts and labels is purposedly muddled in order not to look like any earthly language. The most characteristic representation of the world of Honneamise is probably found at the very beginning of the movie, where the protagonist claims to have pursuited the carreer of an astronaut because of his failing grades (which is a ridiculous claim by our standards). Narrated over the launch of a pretty conventional-looking military aircraft, that sentence makes the viewer feel at ease and at the same time pique their interest with a sense of mystery.

The picturesque landscapes and detailed objects add a lot of depth to the progress of the story. Especially the various machines and artifacts involved in the construction and launch of the satellite show an amazing amount of detail. The characters and vessels show an great amount of mobility, with the animation looking smooth and effortless. I also liked the character designs; they are somewhat unconventional by anime standards, but they feel homely and have much variation from character to character; their reactions and expressions appeared realistic, with only a hint of extremeness in cases of comic relief. By and large, the graphics look wonderful, even twenty years after their production. In general, the environment’s warmth and attention to detail is very similar to the works of Studio Ghibli. Only towards the end of the movie, where the scenery expands to dogfights and spaceflight, does the large-scale style of Gainax come into effect.

The voice acting was perfectly fine, with the protagonists’ voices sounding warm and earthly, and the rest of the cast ranging from deep to scrawny. The soundtrack was also very nice, and in a movie of attempted spaceflight it succeeded in being majestic and large-scale whenever the scenes needed it to be.

As a story of Lhadatt’s coming of age, the movie succeeds on every level, emotional, mental and physical. The only pity is that it is too predictable by modern standards. Perhaps the story elements didn’t use to be so commonplace back then, but nowadays an experienced viewer can probably foresee through what kind of hoops Lhadatt will jump in order to reach his goal. The story remains emotionally fulfilling, but it doesn’t really have any plot twists. The only part of it I didn’t like was the very end. Personally I have no liking for 2001: A Space Odyssey (which seems to be the inspiration for that final scene), and the surrealistic pastiche of various random worldly achievements and works felt very anticlimatic. I think that the directors could at least intersperse it with some scenes of Lhadatt’s return and reunion with Riquinni.

Lhadatt’s personality blooms very nicely as the plot moves along. His perspective and composure at the end of the movie is almost the opposite to how he begins, but all his transitions feel very realistic and heartfelt. Riquinni’s character also matures, albeit in a more subdued tone. The supporting cast (especially Lhadatt’s colleagues) are typecast, but they are shown in various actions and environments, so they don’t feel one-dimensional; in the end, Lhadatt’s enthusiasm carries much of the cast forward, so that they show at least a little depth. The only characters with deadpan personalities are probably the spacecraft construction crew, but I suppose that this is excusable, given that they are only introduced much later into the movie. Personally I didn’t like the appearences of Manna; she seemed off-key and maladroite in comparison with the rest of the cast. That was probably done on purpose, but in retrospect there have been young children playing similar roles in other anime with more well-rounded and useful characters.

This movie is very important based on its historic status and significance. But even if judged on its own in a void, I think that it displays fascinating qualities. It has aged very well, and in doing so it has gained some old-school charm. Either way, it is highly recommended.

Stats

Type: Movie
Length: 70 min

Rating

Production: 9/10
Plot: 7/10
Setting: 8/10
Characters: 7/10
Overall: 8/10

Angel’s Egg 2009-03-12

Plot Summary

Well, any effort to make a summary out of Angel’s Egg is doomed to fall short. There is a girl struggling to live on her own amidst a ruined and mosty empty city. She keeps a large egg hidden under her clothes, taking care and protecting it. At the same time she sets around her chores, partly for survival and partly as exploration.

A man appearing in the city all of a sudden breaks her routine. He seems to know some things about the girl and he wants to know even more. He follows her closely and tries to befriend her, but she is very suspicious of him even though he saves her from several dangers. Eventually she warms up to him and lowers her guard. Swooning her with a tale, he manages to get the egg from her and crushes it prematurely, destroying whatever existed inside.

When the girl wakes up and discovers that she has been tricked, she is overcome with guilt and despair and, as she desperately tries to follow the man as he exits the city, she falls into a pool of water and drowns.

Review

It is difficult to gauge, let alone grade, the “plot” of this movie. What scraps of story are there seem to exist purely for the purpose of making the characters move around in order to show the whole setting to the viewers. There is a climax to the story, but no resolution per se. True to its kind, the movie leaves the audience to interpret the meaning of the events depicted, and how they relate to one another and the world where they take place; in fact, there seem to be several symbolic cycles entwined in the movie, merging and departing from one another at different points. Likewise, the characters are only interesting for their symbolic ambiguousness. Their actions and movements are sparse and indecisive, almost ethereal. Their speech is likewise very rare; for the most part, the characters ask questions rather than provide any sort of fact or opinion. There is no character development in Angel’s Egg, and no effort is made to introduce any (even though it can stand as a coming-of-age story). Instead, the characters are presented as blank frames where the viewers can attach their own relations and symbols.

The setting is very abstract. The bare trees, ruined buildings and general delapidation point to a post-apocalyptic setting, but it is difficult to confirm that. There are no cultural references that would help pinpoint the movie in time or space; all artificial structures have a generic design that makes them familiar but at the same time doesn’t tie them down to any particular era.

It is all very beautifully drawn, of course. The atmosphere is very dark, with all surfaces and structures displaying shadows and nooks so as to absorb as much light as possible. The long shadows and overcast sky make the setting at once expansive and claustrophobic. Another major design element is water, drawn in various states and vessels. The artists use water to great effect in order to distort the images refracted through it. The character designs discard any cartoonish notion of anime and instead embrace a more traditional sketch. The details of their design seem to be drawn in equal part from character archetypes and religious references. By and large, Angel’s Egg sets itself apart from any drawing conventions commonly used in anime.

I don’t know if professional voice actors were used in the movie; in any case they would not be necessary. Scarcely one word is uttered during the first half of the movie, and what dialogue does exist from there on consists mainly of repetitive questions. On the other hand, the music score is a major factor in the movie, with complex melodies and themes, almost creating allegories of its own.

Even though it was made decades ago, Angel’s Egg continues to be a very innovative work. Its inherent abstruction is bound to split the opinions of the viewers. Whether one loves it or hates it, it is a very good example of an alternative approach to anime (and animation in general) taken to an extreme.

Stats

Type: Movie
Length: 70 min

Rating

Production: 8/10
Plot: 5/10
Setting: 7/10
Characters: 7/10
Overall: 7/10

Strait Jacket 2009-03-10

Plot Summary

Most of the action takes place in Tristan, a capital city in world where magic and science have advanced side by side. Magic is widely used for its potency but it has wild and unpredictable results, sometimes afflicting those who use it very often with a curse that turns them into mindless demonic horrors. These phenomena have led to the formation of the Magic Administration Bureau, which regulates and codifies the usage of magic.

In addition to its bureaucratic role, the Bureau also oversees a group of “tactical sorcerers”, who are magic users deployed as soldiers to take out the various demons created by wild surges of magic. There are also some tactical sorcerers that act outside the jurisdiction of the Bureau, and Lyot Steinberg is the most infamous among them. He is also one of the most powerful tactical sorcerers, and a young Bureau officer named Nerin Simmons acts as a link between him and the Bureau, calling upon his aid when things get messy. However, some of the rest of the tactical sorcerers don’t like the appreciation and rising fame that Steinberg gets, so they set out to uncover the secret behind his past and his immense power.

Review

It is very rare to see a well-established steampunk/fantasy hybrid setting in anime, and one should at least appreciate the effort made in this OVA to tackle this. The resulting effect is a mixed bag. The steampunk aspect of everyday life is captured well, down to the people’s fashion and means of transportation. The magical element used by the various cults and sorcerers is also suitably flairboyant and destructive. What the setting fails to show for the most part is the integration of magic into the various daily activities of people’s lives. There are various hints that magic is a major driving force in the world of Strait Jacket, to the point that the Magic Administration Bureau is the most powerful governmental sector; but we are not shown how magic helps or hinders the average layman, and what the majority of people think of its usage.

This lack of cohesion also has a negative effect on the plot of the OVA. Although the premise is that a unit of tactical sorcerers is needed in order to deal with demons who are created by accident during practices of magic, in reality all the incidents shown are of people using magic for greed or downright evil. They are therefore de facto responsible for the taint they bring upon themselves, and none of the sorcerers seem to have any qualms about destroying them. Had the usage of magic been shown as more pervasive, then its practicioners would also include innocent laypeople, and so the work of dispatching the resutling monsters would be much more complex, psychologically and morally speaking. As they stand, the episodes are more of less formulaic, with a magic malpractice creating the monster du jour, and the regular armoured sorcerers trying and failing to contain it, only for the protagonist to arrive and save the day. There is little to no variation in this formula, and even the battles themselves follow a very set pattern; personally I think that there was room for variation in the demons’ intelligence and battle tactics, but perhaps it wasn’t worth it since they would be invariably dead by the end of each episode.

The only differentiating factor across the series is meant to be the protagonist’s plight, which is shown to escalate with time. Steinberg’s mysterious secret that sets him apart from other tactical sorcerers is the only interesting point in the whole plot of the OVA. In fact, it seems that the rest of the characters only display some depth when they interact with Steinberg, otherwise being very one-dimensional. Steinberg himself, although typecast as a brooding mercenary, at least has some modicum of depth.

While the graphics never manage to become exceptional, they vary between average and very good, depending on the scene. Some sections are very well drawn, particularly as far as the demonic monsters and their site of outbreak are concerned. The day-to-day life is much more subdued and mundanely drawn. There is also some CG animation, mostly where the Strait Jackets are in the battlefield and use their magic weaponry. That is also nicely constructed and coloured, but it doesn’t blend that well with the handdrawn designs. In fact, it seems that the artists didn’t want to bother to represent both CG and conventional animation on screen at the same time, so there is some time juggling during the battles; although the fights are close-quarter, and the monsters constantly exchange blows with the Strait Jackets, the camera cuts from the one to the other without showing both. This effect is not immediately noticeable (I only noticed because I rewatched the OVA in order to take some screenshots, and couldn’t get a good screen displaying both the monster and the tactical sorcerer), but it makes the battles seem a little unrealistic and off-key.

As far as the sound is concerned, the voice acting is pretty average, with no events taking place to tax or challenge the actors. The music score is quite suitable for a quasi-victorian fantasy setting. What drew my attention the most was the various sound effects used, particularly as far as the monsters and battles were concerned; their quality was above average and they complemented the action nicely.

Strait Jacket borrows elements from various other, much more successful anime and tries to gather them around an interesting premise. It is a nice try and makes for a good pastime, but the result is sadly forgettable.

Stats

Type: OVA
Length: 3 X 20 min

Rating

Production: 7/10
Plot: 5/10
Setting: 7/10
Characters: 6/10
Overall: 6/10

Kurozuka 2009-03-06

Plot Summary

The series starts in feudal Japan, where the protagonist, a young man named Kuro, is hunted down by a bunch of enemies who seek to murder him. He seeks shelter in a secluded house, where he meets a woman called Kuromitsu. The two appear to fall in love with each other, but while on the run from Kuro’s enemies he is lethally wounded. In order to save him, Kuromitsu reveals that she bears the gift and curse of being immortal, and she shares it with Kuro in order to save his life.

Flash forward a thousand years afterwards, where Kuro roams a post-apocalyptic land. Having mysteriously lost his memories, he seeks help in order to identify and hunt down the woman appearing in his dreams. Unfortunately, he is hindered by an evil organization who want to capture and use him as a test subject in order to reproduce his immortality. There are also people who view him as an abomination and want to put him out of his misery. Kuro struggles against all those obstacles and opponents, and manages to track Kuromitsu down, only for the story to come full circle: she re-erases his memories and sends him on another thousand year journey to track her down, thereby making their relationship endure forever.

Review

The animation in Kurozuka is amazing, that much is granted. Most of the focus of the graphics is on the many action sequences, which vary a lot in their setting, from swordfights to firearms. The foes are equally varied, randing from japanese samurai and kabuki actors to zombies and cybernetically enhanced brutes. The choreography is great, and I especially like the colour palette when Kuro slips into some sort of trance; I wish it could have been fitted more often into the series. Naturally, the protagonist being an adept sword user translates into lots of blood and dismemberment being shown on screen, and I suppose that that is part of the allure of the series. The backdrops are also very nicely drawn. The artists were called to shift rapidly from medieval japan to a blasted post-apocalyptic future, but they manage to depict every front beautifully. The atmosphere remains dark and gritty throughout, but each era has its own colours and design details. Which is just as well, because the alternations from one era to the other were confusing enough as it is.

Sadly, all those beautiful scenes aren’t used for anything other than stages for Kuro’s fights to the death. Indeed, Kuro’s path is basically a beeline from one battle challenge to the next. As mentioned above, the action sequences do not disappoint, but the plot to tie them together is mostly absent. The intial episodes showed great promise, hinting at a tale of love which transcends the barriers of time. Instead, we are mostly treated with the protagonists acting in two specific eras: Japan during the 12th century, where Kuro’s plight begins, and a post-apocalyptic city a thousand years into the future. The latter is where the plot, if any, is carried forward, and it has less to do with Kuro’s development and thoughts of his status, and more with evil scientists trying to discover and exploit the secret behind his undying state. Personally I feel that displaying the characters, for the most part, only in the extreme past and extreme future misses some wonderful opportunities for their development. I think that having Kuro and Kuromitsu meet several times throughout history would make both characters much more interesting, and it would be a wonderful opportunity to introduce some all-encompassing direction. As they stand, the two worlds feel disjoined. The post-apocalyptic world, especially, needs much more than visuals in order to become believable. It is drawn as well as it should be, but in order for it to pass as an everyday living environment it would require a backdrop of characters being shown to adapt to such alien circumstances.

And the characters are not actually interesting. The series is so thick with battles that there are only two kinds of supporting characters, the protagonists’ lackeys and their enemies, and most of them have really short lifespans. Other than a handful of adversaries for which we allowed to peek into their history and motivations, all of them are completely one-dimensional. The two protagonists don’t fare much better. Kuromitsu is a woman veiled in mystery, so there no effort is made to explore her thoughts. And Kuro is a stoic amnesiac who likes to yell warcries rather than parley. Trapped by their own nature, both characters are doomed to be nothing more than stereotypes of their kind.

The same could be said for their voices. Kuro and Kuromitsu say little and are required to show little to no emotion for plot and characterization reasons, so there is not much from which to judge the quality of the voice acting. The rest of the characters’ voices are similarly forgettable. As far as the rest of the sound production is concerned, what stood out most for me was the OP, which I hated. A hard rock tune with incomprehensible lyrics has no appeal for me, and it sounds particularly ill-fitting in the beginning of the series, where the action takes place in medieval Japan. The rest of the music score is more capable, and usually mirrors nicely the dark atmosphere of the series.

The very beginning and very end of the series reveal what it could have been: a marvelous story of immortal and unchanging love through the ages. Sandwiched between that is a nearly unceasing string of bloody fights with little heed to a greater picture. In the end, Kurozuka proved to be, at least for me, a gory swordfight anime with only some crumbs of story to fill in the edges.

Stats

Type: Series
Length: 12 X 20 min

Rating

Production: 8/10
Plot: 5/10
Setting: 6/10
Characters: 5/10
Overall: 6/10

Ayashi no Ceres 2009-03-03

Plot Summary

Aki and Aya Mikage are twin siblings who are invited in a special family celebration for their sixteenth birthday. Among the whole of their extended family, it is revealed that a celestial being named Ceres is periodically incarnated in the Mikage family, and the family flourishes by the ritual sacrifice of the Ceres incarnation in each generation. As soon as it is discovered that Aya is the current incarnation of Ceres, she is treated as a pariah and arranged to die for the good of the family. In a twist of fate, she falls in love with Toya, a mysterious man hired out to kill her.

Aya is later saved from her fate and hidden away from the Mikage family. It is revealed that there are other celestial beings who are reincarnated in humans, each with various powers and manifestations. These part-human, part-celestial beings are called “C-Genomers”, with Ceres being the most powerful manifestation. Toya manages to hound Aya down, but her love is reciprocated and he cannot find the heart to give her up to her family. Aya manages to reason with her alter ego and have her spare the Mikage family, whom she wants to destroy as revenge, instead asking only for her “celestial robe”, an artifact that will allow her to leave the mortal world.

The two protagonists, aided by various supporters and relatives, make several attempts to infiltrate the archives and facilities of the Mikage family in order to find the whereabouts of the celestial robe. Their chief obstacles are her cousin Kagami, who is obsessed with Ceres for the purpose of researching and analyzing her, and Ceres’ lover and arch-enemy Mikagi, who has been reincarnated into the body of Aya’s twin brother, Aki.

In the end it is revealed that the reason behind Toya’s mysterious past and amnesia is that he is made of the manifest will of the celestial robe, which has been seeking to return to Ceres. Toya gives up his life to protect Aya from death and, in doing so, the celestial robe is released and Ceres is free to return her realm in heaven (after killing and redeeming Mikagi). Aya, bearing the child of Toya, is now supported by her friends and family and ready to give birth in a world filled with renewed hope.

Review

If it can be considered possible, I think that this anime is both too busy and with too little development. Secondary plots are abudant here, and characters are introduced and then brought to a conculsion (whichever that might be) within the span of a few episodes, never to be seen again. This design produces a lot of secondary characters with little depth or development in their screen time, and sadly they never become interesting enough to make the viewer care for their fate. Their only appeal is that they make the setting richer. The premise of the anime is that there is a metaphysical background to the world as we know it, and relatively few people know about it. Introducing additional characters and organizations with new information on the tennyo makes the whole setting a bit more spherical and believable.

For better or for worse, all this parade of secondary plots doesn’t leave enough exposure for the main story to unfold. Aya and Toya’s first meeting is done in a flash, and she leaves her falling in love with him, for reasons that are neither apparent nor explained anywhere during the course of the series. This kind of love at first sight, against all odds and against any obvious emergencies, obstacles or (killing) intents seems too forced to be attributed to destiny. This relationship between the two protagonists is then shown to bloom slowly if a bit clumsily during the first half of the series. It then picks up momentum out of nowhere, with the characters reaching life-changing decisions within the course of single episodes, with no previous foreshadowing or development leading up to their decisions. This kind of progress seems unrealistic even if the characters are blinded by love; the progress and culmination of their relationship should be a bit smoother, even just for the sake of the viewers. The deepest and most heartfelt displays of care and love are actually made by some of the supporting cast, especially Yuhi, who grows and learns to temper his love throughout the series (even though his eventual reward feels like a cop-out).

It should be mentioned here that any deaths and losses that take place in the frame of the aforementioned romance are almost never peaceful or in silent pain, as in other romantic anime. In Ayashi no Ceres, characters are often found splattered in blood (sometimes their own). This amount of gore ties in with the dark atmosphere present in the anime from the very beginning. Although the mood lightens in some degree as the series progresses, the amount of blood and violence is more than usually found in romance anime.

Physically speaking, the characters are very competent for the most part. On the one hand, the character designs are very nice, with beautiful silhouettes and faces displaying a great range of emotion, from comedy to tragedy. Unfortunately, not much effort is put into making each character’s design unique, or at least distinguishable. In the end, the characters seem like a bunch of dolls whose only differentiating feature are the colour and cut of their hair. Whenever one’s hairstyle changes (over time or for plot reasons), there is some confusion in tracking down the character among a cast of similar faces.

The sound section shares a similar fate. As far as the voices are concerned, about half of them are very well suited to their relevant characters, being able to display varying emotion and setting the right tone. Aya’s and Suzumi’s voice actors are among the highlights. The other half of character voices are more or less plain, with Toya’s voice acting verging on being too monotonous.

The sound score fits well the romance genre, but it is nothing out of the ordinary; the same music could have been used any romance anime.

I honestly can’t find the “catch” that will make this anime an exceptional representative of its genre. It has some nice character designs and a semi-interesting metaphysical backdrop. Other than that, it is starting to show its age, so if you have half a mind to view it, do so before it is buried by other anime of the same genre.

Stats

Type: Series
Length: 24 X 20 min

Rating

Production: 8/10
Plot: 5/10
Setting: 6/10
Characters: 5/10
Overall: 6/10

Afro Samurai Resurrection 2009-02-24

Plot Summary

Afro Samurai Resurrection features the debut of Sio, a young woman bent on taking revenge on Afro Samurai for all the people he has killed and maimed in his journeys, especially her brother Jennosuke who is forced to wear teddybear-shaped life support equipment (really, it is vital that it looks like a bear; trust me on this). To this end, she steals the Number One headband from Afro, taunting him to go find the Number Two headband in order to have the status to challenge her. She also distrubs the grave of Afro’s father and places his remains in a cloning vat, where a mad scientist is able to restore his body and mind.

Eager to fight Sio in order to prevent his father from walking the earth again, Afro begins a wild goose chase to the Number Two headband. He manages to extort the location of the headband from the surviving members of the Empty Seven Clan. It turns out that the current owner of the headband, a ronin named Shichigoro, has hidden it away but is unwilling to simply hand it to Afro because of a promise he has made to protect his step-son. Their duel being rendered unavoidable, Afro is forced to kill Shichigoro and take the headband from him.

Finally having earned the right to challenge Sio to a duel for the Number One headband, Afro makes his way back. In the meantime he is confronted with Sio’s three cyborg bodyguards, who try to protect their mistress by pre-emptively attacking him. He manages to dispatch all three at the same time, but not without sustaining great injuries.

Afro’s delay gives Sio the chance to release the clone of Afro’s father, which has been completely reconstructed other than his conscience. Facing the image of his father, Afro is unwilling to raise his sword against him, and so he sustains blow after blow by the clone, until his heart stops and the clone discards him.

Seeing Afro take a beating awakes Jinnosuke’s memories of their friendship, and he rushes to defend him, Sio running after him to stop him. The clone ends up taking the Number One headband and killing both of them, but in doing so, Jinnosuke’s life support machine short-circuits and jump-starts Afro’s heart. Deciding that the clone has no part of his father’s soul in it, Afro gathers the courage to attack and kill it, finally managing to take back the Number One headband, and apparently having made more enemies in the process.

So how many instances of “resurrection” have we reached yet? Four? Five?

Review

Let’s face it, a movie starring a Black African samurai in Japan cannot possibly be judged with a straight face. If the setting made any attempt to reproduce historic fact, it would clash horribly with the characters and appear extremely out of place. As long as its elements are detached from reality, the viewer has a chance to observe the movie from a distance and actually enjoy it.

The skeleton of the setting is a barebones version of feudal Japan; the similarities go as far as the landscapes, clothing, buildings and some minor cultural elements. From there, the camp factor increases exponentially. The main plot of the movie revolves around using a dead man’s remains to make a clone of himself and reprogram their brain, effectively “raising them from the dead”. There are veterans of war who have fitted sword blades, grenades, jet packs and flame throwers in their amputated bodies. And let’s not forget the mazochistic arachnoid mad scientist cyborg. It all actually seems very fun, as long as it doesn’t take itself seriously.

The main villains are very one-dimensional, and some flashbacks introduced to flesh them out do them more harm than good. Afro, Jinnosuke and Sio are all played straight throughout the flashbacks; it feels like the movie is taking itself seriously there, which would be a terrible mistake. Admittedly the flashbacks are necessary in order to explain the characters’ actions towards the end, but even so they should have come up with something equally riduculous with the rest of the movie.

The rest of the cast are not much better off, of course. Afro continues to be a stoic character completely predictable in his motivations and feelings (or lack thereof). He also seems to adhere to a moronic kind of warrior code which probably wouldn’t hold water in any more serious setting; even in this movie, it stretches credibility to go forth issuing formal challenges in order to reclaim something that he rightfully owned and was stolen from him.

To be honest, it is difficult to understand why first-rate Hollywood actors were chosen to voice the characters in Afro Samurai Resurrection, other than accepting it as a marketing trick. Most of the action goes by in silence, and the dialogues that take place are too short and restricted to make use of the actors’ talents.

Other than my gripe with the voice actors, I think that the attention on high-quality production values was well spent and well deserved. The character designs are suitably over the top to match their ridiculous origins, and their movements and actions are extremely detailed, both when engaged in duels and when resting and talking. I particularly like the various camera angles used, during combat and elsewhere, as it allows the viewer to watch the same characters and environment in different ways and appreciate the details spread all around. This attention to detail is also apparent in the backdrops; from the cyberpunk labs to the traditional japanese parade, there is something to catch one’s eye.

The awesome graphics are nicely completented with appropriate sound effects and ambient sounds. The soundtrack is also noteworthy; although mostly unusual for anime, having a rapper create the score sounds strangely fitting in this case.

Don’t mistake Afro Samurai Resurrection for an anime set into any kind of historic japanese era. Instead, it is choke full of gory battles, over-the-top environs and ridiculous characters. And as far as those are concerned, it handles itself very well.

Stats

Type: Movie
Length: 1 X 90 min

Rating

Production: 9/10
Plot: 5/10
Setting: 8/10
Characters: 6/10
Overall: 7/10

Macross Zero 2009-02-17

Plot Summary

Set one year prior to the beginning of the Macross series proper, Macross Zero depicts the escalation of warfare between U.N. and anti-U.N. forces, with a focus on an alien spaceship which crash-landed on Earth years ago and holds technology hitherto unknown by humans.

Kudo Shin, a young U.N. pilot, get shot down by an anti-U.N. prototype military airplane/mecha model, and he lands onto an unmapped island in the Pacific ocean. He is rescued by a local native tribe whose primitive culture and religious relics are oddly similar to the alien technology uncovered by scientists. Nome Sara, the high priestess of the tribe, and her younger sister Mao, seem to have a genetic affinity to the relics and can cause paranormal phenomena around them.

Shin is soon rescued by his comrades and returns to his fleet, but his arrival at the island has alerted both the U.N. and anti-U.N. to its existence, and both forces race to acquire and uncover the secrets of the ancient tribe.

Sara is digusted by the humans’ rampant exploitation and opportunism, and the alien mecha which is composed of the various ancient artifacts on the island is activated as a response to her emotions and channels its powers against the U.N. fleet. Amidts a dogfight with anti-U.N. planes, Shin manages to reunite with Sara and placate her, and she decides to sacrifice herself and the alien mecha in order to save her island and tribe from a nuclear barrage launched by the U.N.

Review

All right, let’s get the weak points out of the way first: the story, on its own, is not particularly interesting. The premise of an aircraft pilot getting stranded on an island steeped in alien artifacts and natives following ancient traditions sounds very promising. But from the point of Shin’s rescue and eventual return, the story gets needlessly convoluted, with frequent scene and setting changes without much actual progress being made. Eventually the OVA rushes to its climax, but it is an artificial and unforeshadowed climax so it feels like a cop-out, a way to make the OVA end with a bang.

Likewise, the characters initially introduced are interesting, especially the Nome sisters in their interactions and relating to Shin, but they fail to develop during the course of the OVA so they stagnate into stereotypes instead. Especially Sara, which should have become likeable by the end of the OVA in order for the ending to work, does nothing to escape her stereotype of an anti-progressive traditionalist tribe leader. The secondary characters introduced later into the OVA are also heavily typecast, and some of them are completely redundant other than acting as references to the rest of the Macross universe. One of the possible exceptions is professor Aries Turner; although her relation to several characters across the board seems slightly forced, she is one of the few characters, secondary or not, who reacts and adapts adequately to the events around her.

However, the whole point of this average story is that it is wrapped up in delicious eye candy. The various vistas of the tropical island are stunningly drawn, and the designs of the ancient culture presented are suitably alien and weathered at the same time, so their origin and effect is completely believable. The CG dogfights are seamlessly blended with the handdrawn graphics, which is an accomplishment difficult even nowadays. Macross Zero depicts a wide range of environments, from gentle ocean breezes to underwater ruins to aircraft warfare, but it manages to impress on every front.

The characters are also very nicely drawn and display a wide range of emotions, both with their facial expressions and with the help of the voice acting. The musical score also complements the scenery and action very well, with few exceptions (the tribal hymn verges on being slightly annoying).

Of course, the throwback references of this OVA to other parts of the Macross mythos adds to its value for those who have watched or plan to watch the series proper. Much of the OVA is dedicated to exploring the protoculture theory and its effect on human civilization, and the end result of a blend between advanced technology and ancient religion is presented very nicely in my opinion. There are also cameos and secondary roles to characters who appear elsewhere in the Macross universe, most notably Roy Focker, and this kind of fanservice adds to the value of the OVA.

Macross Zero can serve as a good starting point to explore the Macross saga, or it can be faced as a self-contained OVA of rediscovering a lost civilization. Whichever way one uses to approach it, it should be done to enjoy the amazing animation and CG scenes, rather than placing attention in its lacklustre story.

Stats

Type: OVA
Length: 5 X 30 min

Rating

Production: 9/10
Plot: 6/10
Setting: 8/10
Characters: 7/10
Overall: 7/10