Wakaranai

Rating:    

I’m very happy to admit that this series is turning out better than I expected. Manglobe have only done 4 TV anime but my opinions of them have been wildly variable. They have demonstrated the ability to make something fantastic out of a cool concept (Samurai Champloo), something depressingly lame out of an utterly fantastic concept (Ergo Proxy), and now, with Sacred Blacksmith they are trying their hand at making something refreshingly fun out of a decidedly mediocre story. On the one hand, as the sub group gg commented, it’s pretty damn obvious that this is strategically produced by Manglobe with the one shining goal of profit. For once they’ve dropped the pretence of innovation and edginess and are making something shamelessly dressed up to infiltrate the Japanese anime market.

There’s a good range of cute, moe girls, from the headstrong but innocent Cecily, to the cute and bubbly loli-character, Lisa. There’s fanservice, breast-size gags and a whole slew of conventions that sell DVDs. Hell, they’ve even announced the DVDs/Blu-rays will be “uncensored” and feature Cecily’s nipples in their full glory. Hey, it worked for GONZO on Strike Witches. But I’m not about to lambaste them for trying to make money for once in a while, anime studios are business and can’t afford to spend all their time working for the greater good of creativity and artistry (except Studio 4C I guess). The most important thing is that they have put a lot of effort into giving this show shiny production values and a sense of fun that elevates it above its mediocre baseline. For all but the most hardened cynics, this series offers high entertainment value of a consistency that Manglobe haven’t really achieved since Samurai Champloo. It may look shallow pitted against Ergo Proxy or Michiko to Hatchin, but the fact is, this (so far) is one of Manglobe’s most polished works. There are no major pacing problems or faltering animation issues, it just gets the job done and provides a great watch every week.

This episode was certainly the best yet, hitting that perfect note, that ultimate seinen frequency: a great combination of girl appeal (moe/sexy factor), a sense of plot and mystery, and a portion of exciting action. It fulfils the seinen-genre’s triangle of dietry intake quite well, delivering on the full spectrum of fanboy needs. The only element that might need a bit of upward tuning is the fanservice quantities. Don’t stop the Cecily nudity jokes now! Mind you, I guess they can’t squeeze in nudity or panty-shots into any situation without resorting to arbitrary nakedness ala Queen’s Blade *shivers*. But the strong moe charm that Cecily and Lisa both radiate is more than enough to make up for this. And a lot of attention was drawn into her breasts this episode, even if they weren’t shown. It seems Cecily has a lot of fans for her bust, not the least of which is the new girl, Aria, who has already made a habit of sneaking into Cecily’s bed at night and enjoying a bit of gropage skinship. There was plenty of Cecily getting embarrassed this episode, which is one of the biggest draws of the show in terms of moe. There was also an absoloutely fantastic action sequence, topping all the battle’s so far with a mix of sword-swinging and strategic magic action. Despite the air of genericness, this is a fundamentally good fantasy series, with some really cool magic, mysterious demonic plot elements, and knight-based politics. It’s a great world to escape to!

♡ PONY!! PONY!!! *ahem* Yeah Cecily’s ponytail was just so damn cute. Ponytails are so rare in anime it makes their appearance have so much more impact (like Canaan’s ponytail at the end of that series). I really like her usual (Railgun-esque) hairstyle, but the ponytail look is a stunning variation. I think it suits her personality too.

✔ She’s doing actual training!? It might not be the most amazing sight in the world but we’re so used to super-powered shounen training sequences that you could easily forget the fundamental idea of a normal person training with a sword, practising swing and posture etc..

♡ Cecily’s strength comes from the POWER OF LOVE! At least according to Aria. How cute. I look forward to seeing more of her power of love coming out in future episodes. She might be forced to given that she offered her body to Luke in a state of panic this episode. I hope she’s teased about that too!

♡ Cecily evokes my fanboy spirit more and more! The poor girl, she gets teased so often but it’s just too much fun seeing her blushing and embarrassed. I really like the fact that although she is a bit stubborn around Luke, she’s not an outright tsundere. It’s more like, immaturity. Her childishness when it comes to love is a really adorable counterpart to her determined battle poise. Seeing her self-conscious, whether it’s about her breasts or about her relationship with Luke, is a HUGE moe pull for the show. And if they can get fanboys heated up with moe they can really sell fanservice with her. Hell, I’m already looking forward to the DVD-releases .. need to see her revered chest for myself!

✔ They actually made the crowd move in this shot! How dare they? They’re making pretty much all other anime studios look bad. They’re supposed to be stuck in a constant cheering pose. At most they should have just shaken the screen or drawn dashes around the place to represent movement. Tch.

✔ Hannibal is a fucking badass motherfucker. He doesn’t take shit like jets of lethal magical flame. Seriously, I really appreciate his presence on the show because he genuinely is a manly man, and the series needs a bit of GAR to balance the moe overload.

✘ The ending was a bit overly soppy for my liking, which is probably the biggest downward point of the episode. The profession of comradeship between Cecily and Aria was nice but kind of too sappy. And the whole “I won’t forget your name” whatever thing for the crazy guy she killed was a bit over the top (I’ve already forgot his name!). The guy was a freakin psyco criminal from the start. But I guess it fits in with Cecily’s sense of justice.

● What is the relationship between Lisa and Aria? Lisa almost got to finish saying something like ‘Lisa is my ..’. Your what!? Creation? I’m not sure, but it’s interesting. They had a bit of a moment together last episode too.

✔ Again, I have to say the magic effects are truly awesome, definitely the best fantasy magic effects I’ve seen in a fantasy TV anime. I really loved how they portrayed the fact that the monster was literally on fire. The bolts shot at him were fried to dust and it looked really cool when he melted that knight’s sword.

✔ The animation was really impressive in the climax of that battle when Luke charged in for a 3-strike attack on the fire dude. Again, some nice choreograohy, fast motion and really detailed cels. Counter to the norm, the animation and art in this series seems to improve during the expensive action scenes.