Wakaranai

 

This episode of the Sacred Blacksmith swings back from the light and fanservicey heights of last week’s maid episode and ramps up the action again, providing an abrupt and dramatic conclusion to Charlotte’s Empire quandary. I say it was an abrupt resolution because I kind of expected these guys to hang around a bit longer and end up intertwined with the central story of the series, but instead they were on their way again after a bit of self-pitying and a good healing beating from Cecily. For a 12 episode series, Charlotte-and-company’s plot has been a pretty long tangent, essentially stealing the focus for three episodes, or a quarter of the show. I will be annoyed if they don’t show up again to contribute to the final climax. For that reason, this episode annoyed me a little. But its main problem was that, despite all the blood, sweat and tears being flung about, and the veritable storm of emotions that followed the Empire’s threat, I found myself pretty disconnected emotionally from the whole affair. Perhaps it was just a bit too cliché and predictable to have much resonance with me, but I didn’t feel a tinge of empathy for the girls throughout the episode. The lesson on life and family was just too forced and simple to be very engaging, and I was personally off-put by the girls’ stubborn rejection of the defection offer – if it’d been me I would have accepted happily!

The drama component may have been a bit weak but the action sequence that made up the climax of the episode was really awesome. The subbers, known for their, err, personality, seemed to revel in Cecily’s admission of her own stupidity, but for a Cecily fan like myself, I was more impressed by the fact that she actually got the chance to be awesome! There’s been a fair bit of harsh criticism hurled her way, along the lines of “she’s the most useless heroine of the year!”, but if anyone has the guts to call her useless now then they must be the stupid ones! She fought really well against Charlotte’s three loyal defenders. To their own demise, they opted to attack her one-by-one, but, even still, Cecily beat them down without hesitation or remorse. The fights were animated really well, adding yet another scene to The Sacred Blacksmith’s impressive action repertoire. In fact, the production quality all-round has been good. This may not have caught my fancy the same way the last episode, with its maids and bath scenes, but it was good for its fantasy battles (if not for its plot or dramatic impact).

● Man, Lisa and Luke sure have been sidelined lately. I always kind of figured that the show would primarily feature the four characters it shows on the OP and ED, but none of them have been getting much attention lately, with the exception of Cecily. But I liked Doris, Penelope and Margot so much that I can’t say I missed them much.

● I’m going to miss you Doris! ;_; You were so pretty and valiant..

● So Siegfried set the girls up to get a hold of Aria, huh? What is his goal, I wonder? If he just wanted the demon sword I’m sure he could have found a much better way to obtain it.

 

Darker than Black season 2 plows ahead with another stellar episode, again leaving its competition behind in the dust. Although there are anime I haven’t seen, so I can’t say this definitively, there’s little doubt in my mind that this series is the pinnacle of the season, with its fast pace, depth of character, thrilling action sequences and polished production values. And for once I’m not alone in my pick for the season: 2ch recently ranked it as the most entertaining show of the fall lineup! I think the show’s success can be attributed to the fact that it finds a really great position somewhere between being pretentious and overly deep and being too shallow; it is both easily accessible and emotionally captivating. I feel really sorry for those with this misfortune to no have already seen the original DtB. Even though I complained about that series a lot it was sure worth it just for this follow-up season.

The last two episodes have dealt with some really confronting and fascinating themes as Hei continues to emphasise the anti in his new anti-hero role by perpetuating a tyrannical and absusive relationship with his young charge, the sympathetic and multi-faceted, Suou. His physical abuse of Suou was a shocking change of tone for the series. Even though the series never lost its ability to entertain, it gained a much more emotional spin that really gave my heart a good tugging. It’s not as though the violence directed at Suou was particularly graphic or serious, but rather than the physical distress of being kicked and slapped, it was the crushing of Suou’s once sprightly and innocent spirit that made for such distressing and riveting viewing. When she told Hei to hurry up and hit her to get it over and done with, my heart was just broken!

Suou’s character has now reached a point where she has not only been pulled into a life of grey morality, but is also at odds with herself. As she is dragged deeper and deeper into the world of contractors, of killing and solitude, her struggle between her lingering human emotionality and the cold indifference that seeks to possesses her as a contractor is intensifying. Suou’s character is a perplexing and gripping juxtaposition of a young girl with a strong, loving heart and soulless killing machine. I find it impossible not to sympathise with her and root for her as she tries to find herself in this harsh new existence. I think she’s probably one of my favorite character of the last few years.

Hei himself hasn’t reacted well to having to share the limelight with another star. By that I mean he has become grossly unlikeable as the alcoholic, abusive and uncaring hobo. He’s not just a shadow of his former self, but a true wreck of a man, whose competence in battle is just about his only asset as a hero. Another way of looking at it though is that he has become a hell of a lot more interesting. He always bored me as the stoic and unassailable protagonist in the first season, and in this season he is a guy that you just love to hate. And, despite his selfish and unkind attitude towards Suou, he now has a sense of intrigue, clearly caught in a pall of loss over Yin. Most importantly, even though he has a withered demeanor and twisted spirit, I still get the feeling that he is redeemable, and that it’s going to be an impressive moment when his sense of heroism is finally roused. Then again, this series has shown that it’s not totally predictable so far, so maybe things won’t turn out as nicely as that!

With all the moral dilemma and confusion going around, the only thing unequivocally good about this series is the excellent production qualities! Yasushi Ishii has created the best soundtrack I’ve heard for an anime in a long time. It’s unique, creative and textural music that works flawlessly with the series. The animation is slick, again providing an awesome action sequence, and the directing is sharp is effective, helping strengthen the show’s dramatic impact.

✔I think someone on the production team REALLY likes Misaki because every scene she’s in she looks incredibly cool. There must be a whole team of animators dedicated to making her look as suave and stylish as possible for her every appearance. The trench coat she had on this episode probably can’t be topped though. Lookin’g good, Misaki.

✔ What’s this? Gun maintenance? Weapons fans must be delighted. Ignoring the fact that she can spawn the anti-tank rifle and a handful of ammunition out of thing air, it’s rare to find an anime that puts this much thought into portraying guns.

✘ I’m still not really sure what the actual plot for this series is, and this is probably its only major flaw. Sure, there’s plenty of intrigue and important-sounding exchanges of dialogue between mysterious characters, but I’m not really sure what it’s getting at yet. But hey, I never really worked out what the first season was about – at least this series has enough thrills and drama to keep me from worrying about the story.

✘ The rest of the characters (except for Nika who is now thankfully deceased) are all complex and interesting, but for some reason Mao went in the other direction. Maybe he’s just getting into character for the new, cuter animal he’s inhabiting, but he’s been reduced to a pretty lame character who hangs around to make lame attempts at humurous comments.

 

Continue reading Darker than Black 05

 

Oh yeah, this series is really on a run with yet another riveting episode. While it doesn’t have the intelligent tone and story depth to pull itself into the upper echelons of the greatest anime TV series, it’s well in front of the pack in terms of entertainment value. In the first three episodes alone it’s probably racked up far more exciting moments than the entirety of its previous series. I almost feel like this show is wasted as a follow-up series because a lot of people won’t watch it because they haven’t seen the first season. The characters are universally more interesting than they were in the first season, and with the exception of the (now very) minor characters like Tanya and Nika, the new additions to the ‘cast’ are really fantastic. I’ll probably say this after every episode, but Suou has quickly established herself as the heart of the show, and she has transformed Darker than Black into something more tense and compellingly dramatic.

This was another action-packed episode as Suou and Hei continue to flee the pursuit of the Russian authorities and the syndicate, but during a large-scale show down in a train-yard they manage to turn the tables on their enemies when Suou undergoes a mysterious transformation into an anti-tank rifle wielding killing machine. This transformation and the trauma she’s witnessed in the last few days give her character a fascinating and complex morality. Her unquestioning compassion and respect for life is eroded by pangs of hatred directed towards the contractors who have upturned her life. I’m really glad she didn’t remain uncompromising in her naive stance against killing. A young girl saying things like “I’d rather die than kill someone” is believable but it’s an innocent luxury that simply can’t stay afloat in the dark and murky world of the contractors, a world in which she has ironically stepped into. It’s interesting trying to imagine how she feels about having become a contractor after maintaining such a hatred for them - it’s just one of the many quandaries that make up her character, and an example of what makes her so compelling.

The character development was really good, and slotted in perfectly amidst the lengthy action sequences - a combo that made for another wholly satisfying episode all-round. The action sequences themselves were very well executed. The animation is well and truly up to the task of pulling off these impressively elaborate and large scale action scenes. I have to say the action scenes are quite ambitious for a TV anime, they are well choreographed and well thought out, and their large scale echoes a Hollywood action film. A general lack of detail in the production annoys me from time to time, like a frequent lack of evident recoil with gunfire, and the complete lack of footprints in the snow. But it’s hard to care about that when train cars are exploding all over the place in a fracas of gunfire! And, to make up for it I appreciate the fact that the action scenes are properly coordinated in terms of time - ie characters can’t give exposition spiels while the villains keep themselves occupied off-screen. Although there were many players involved in this battle, you never got the sense that any of them are being ignored.

✔ This series hits all the right notes when it comes to fun and excitement, and at the same time it doesn’t let itself feel shallow. To compliment the action and riveting characters, there’s even a touch of humour and fanservice from time to time.

● If I was Tanya I’d be pretty damn unhappy with my contractor ability. Of all the super-powers you could obtain, she got “able to spawn a swarm of locusts”. I wouldn’t even call that a super-power, just a regular power. Lame. Although it was pretty freaky seeing Nika getting eaten alive by them.

✘ Thank God Nika is gone! I hated that guy! He was easily the least interesting character in the series. And the last impression I got of him before he died was “wow that guy really is an idiot!”. He already got screwed over by Tanya but he stubbornly follows her again. He died for a school crush - idiot!

✔ Kana Hanazawa is just superb in this role. She could well be my favourite seiyuu now. Suou’s impassioned and distressed rants at Hei could easily be annoying if another seiyuu had done it but she pulls it off to perfection. And her scream on top of the train really gave me chills.

✔ So now we’re already getting some new villains. Bad guys don’t really last too long in this series. More importantly, they’re a cute and creepy pair of twins. Speaking of Hollywood films, I guess it’s time for the shining. Still they were cute .. I wonder if they’ll make out like the twins in Shana? Twincest is best!

● Magical Rifle! Seriously that surprised me - the fact that she was able to summon it magically like that. It feels very mahou shoujo, especially with the glowy-naked moment. I was confused though - is her ability being able to summon the rifle, or is her ability a cross between summoning a gun and being able to use it. It’s kind of an odd contractor power. That doesn’t make it any less badass though! I was impressed with how they depicted her using the rifle. It looked really cool, and the sound effects were very good too.

✔ The music is just superb! I’ve pretty much forgotten what watching an anime with good music is like. I think the last soundtrack I really liked would be Akagi’s… I really can’t wait for the OSTs. I hope Yasushi Ishii does more after this!

♡ I forgot .. Misaki is actually pretty cute! I love her character design. Her hair-style suits her perfectly, and the glasses are a lovely accessory. Appreciated the brief glimpse of fanservice we got of her too. She seems to have good, mature taste in underwear!

 

There’s no real other way of putting it, this episode of CANAAN just took my breath away. When I scoured the forums and saw comments saying it was fantastic I never expected it to be THIS great. This episode achieves what so few anime ever manage to do: it fully exploits the potential of the series, extracts all the tension, squeezes out every last drop of dramatic impact, beautifully interweaves all the emotional stories of its central characters, and does so with a relentless, gripping pace and truly impressive production values. After the disheartening mess that the last few episodes amounted to, this one gloriously redeems the series, grabbing it by the collar and hoisting it out of the mediocre rut it had stumbled into. Forget contrivances and logic gaps, this episode is a tightly-written achievement that single-handedly justifies the show with an emotional roller-coaster of a climax that expertly and somewhat poetically infuses all of the disparate character themes into one profound and explosive culmination.

I’m generally pretty fussy about the way a series caps of the end of a story arc, and this a resounding example of when it’s done right. The two core dramatic stories of the series, the relationship between Canaan and Maria, and Canaan’s history with Alphard and Siam rightly dominate this penultimate episode. The way in which the dialogue in this episode so perfectly recalls every meaningful snippet of character-building dialogue of the previous episodes, and fashions them all into a final resolve for the key players is really amazing. The script for this episode is like a crescendo that hits all the right notes, climbing to an ultimatum for each character. Maria is resolved to find her own way by making a sacrifice, Alphard is resolved to inflict poetic justice by completing what Siam started with Canaan, and Canaan herself is bought forward to finally face her past and understand responsibility (can she transcend the childish naivety with which she previously approached life and death?). It’s like something just clicked and all of a sudden I felt I genuinely understood these characters and that I was really invested in them. And all the poignant character development hangs in the balance of a bomb count-down.

As well as emotions running high, simultaneously dripping with sadness and catharsis, the episode carried over CANAAN’s trademark blend of action and humour. Yun-yun was adorable as ever (probably more so actually), and acts as the perfect comic relief. On the other side of the coin, the episode hits a new level of suspense at every beat, such that by the time Canaan and Alphard finally go at it in a fast, furious and impressively choreographed fight sequence, there is so much at stake and so much dramatic tension it just pulls you into the excitement!

The animation is essentially flawless and of a remarkable standard for a TV anime. The intimate and quick-witted melee between Canaan and Alphard is the action highlight of the show so far. Complimenting the technical excellence of the animation is some really excellent storyboarding/directing work that produces some really awesome visuals. This was definitely the most visually compelling episode of CANAAN yet. The music was also exceedingly good, unobtrusively underscoring and enhancing both the atmosphere and tension that heavily permeated through the episode.

To top off the excitement, the episode left us hanging in an evil cliffhanger. Just as Maria finally gains some real strength and braveness, her life is balanced on a knife’s edge. The ‘goodbye’ tone in her final words this episode were worryingly sad. After this episode really fleshed it out, I’m utterly captivated by the love story of Maria and Canaan (whether you want to call it yuri or not), and I think it would be absolutely crushing to see it end like this.

 
 

。。 I think the yuri side of the force has gained a pretty big power level increase from developments this episode. As they uncover more and more of each other, we’ve reached the point now where they are really coming to terms with what they mean to each other and what the nature of their relationship is. The word love was thrown about frequently this episode, with the Japanese word ‘aishiteru’ being used, which generally implies a great deal of depth to affections, beyond the more stock-standard ‘suki’. Certainly the way in which Alphard was talking about them gave the impression that she saw them as a couple, and her use of that word when talking to them seemed to trigger Maria and Canaan to start considering each other in that light. This, combined with all of the previous sentiments they’ve shared, which I discussed in my Canaan/Maria yuri breakdown, seem to me to strongly suggest that what they share exceeds friendship.

The missing link has been the element of physical or sexual attraction, but there were actually a few hints at that this episode too. Maria suggesting they share a bed at the hotel seemed to be a comfort to both of them. Also, when Canaan was describing what pulled her to Maria she mentions that Maria smells nice, which seems to suggest a physical component to their attraction beyond the broad emotional stuff we’ve already dealt with. And Maria admitting to herself, or acknowledging that she has been ‘longing for’ Canaan seemed pretty well on the money. I think that perfectly describes her attitude in the first half of the series; when she wasn’t with Canaan she was certainly pining for her. Whether you want to call it yuri or not, what they share isn’t merely a strong friendship. I think there’s a spark of non-platonic attraction there. Either way, it’s really interesting!

。。 Much like she used to before the confusion of the last few episodes, Alphard has a really strong presence here. Her unassailable confidence and prowess make the fear she imbues in people really believable. She shares a really charisma with Canaan, and seems to have a fondness forgetting right in her face which makes for some v ery nice screenshots! In a parallel universe there could have been something between them ;p.

 
 

 

 

SHAFT has always been known as a studio inundated with disproportionate amounts of work and time pressures, but they have also made a more positive-sounding name for themselves as a surprisingly profitable small studio, making the best of low-budget series. At the moment, they are working on a host of shows - two currently airing, a couple of upcoming TV anime and the looking Negima OVA series, and it seems that they have really over-stretched themselves too far this time. Whether it’s due to budget miss-handling, ill-planned schedule management or some genuinely blameless twist of fate ( someone bought swine flu into the office?), the studio’s unprofessionalism really showed in this episode of Bakemonogatari, to the point where no amount of animation-shortcuts or Akiyuku Shinbo’s trademark sense of humour could rescue it.

At least they were surprisingly honest about their inability to complete the episode, with a whole pile of cuts replaced by black screens with text simply reading ‘cut due to circumstances’. When the cuts did make it into the episode they were often not animated at all. With all the extended periods of dialogue without any movement and black screens disrupting every scene you may as well be reading the novels. Make no mistake, this is a very flawed production effort and I find it inexcusable for this kind of series, which is written to have dramatic impact. This isn’t like the inane and frivolous Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei - serious animation problems interfere with the story and the emotion behind it. I think it’s unfair to the performances of the seiyuu, especially for the star of episode, Kana Hanazawa as the distraught and adorable Nadeko. The climax of her arc, a night-time, school-swimsuit-filled magic ritual could actually have been quite profound and striking, even suspenseful, but instead if just felt cheap and unremarkable. It seems they spent all their cash and passion bringing the tale of Suruga Kanbaru to life!

This was a disappointing end to the Nadeko Snake arc. Animation isn’t everything, and I recognise that the emotional story behind it is quite strong. I found the onii-chan-complex romance of Nadeko particularly affecting and interesting. And Nadeko’s too-shy-shy type character was bought to life with fitting cuteness by the soft-spoken Kana Hanazawa. And I do have to thank both Nadeko and Suruga for the saturation of bloomers and school-swimsuits the last two episodes have delivered. But it isn’t enough to excuse the dead animation effort from SHAFT this time around. I can only hope that the last few episodes of the series will prove this to have been a momentary collapse in ‘quality’ (more like, completeness).

。。 This disaster makes me wonder if the offices of SHAFT are in a chaos state similar to the fictional animation company in Animation Runner Kuromi. The producers didn’t make it through in a pinch this time. Just as long as the same thing doesn’t happen to Negima! Apparently this kind of thing has happened before, when their scheduling caused problems when they were doing Hidamari Sketch. But this is certainly the biggest screw-up from SHAFT I’ve seen.

。。 The character-OP was really great again. Such a cute profile of Nadeko. I usually don’t go for shy girls but this one’s just so sugary-sweet it’s irresistible. ℳℴℯ♥. Actually, from what I’ve heard it’s surprising they can even get these OP’s together:

“The director for Mayoi OP, Itagaki Shin also wrote on his Anime Style article that his OP job “was so sudden he can’t gather many animators” is also somewhat disturbing.”

 
 

 

 

Is psychopathy and general insanity the new trend in anime or something? After being thoroughly freaked out by this week’s disturbing adventures of Beatrice (Umineko no Naku Koro ni), I got an earful of the seriously damaged Liang Qi. Or several earfuls. Seriously, although I otherwise found the episode quite enjoyable, by the time I’d sat through 10 minutes of Liang’s ranting lunacy I was practically shouting at the screen “put a bullet in her head, Aplhard! Put her out of her misery, or ecstasy or whatever the hell emotion her insane tantrum was supposed to represent!”. She did eventually come to her but not before ranting incoherently for a good portion of the episode. It’s sad because, by going so far over-the-top it bought down the otherwise fast-paced and thrilling pace of the episode, diminished the impact of her seiyuu, Rie Tanaka’s fine performance, and also discarded whatever potential her character had left. I initially found her a really interesting character, because I’m an admitted yuri fanboy and I found her onee-sama complex kind of fascinating. Obsession is always fun to explore, unless it results in this kind of mad and incoherent screeching.

On the other hand, I’m not one to say no to smoothly animated swordfights and girls in lingerie. Liang may be a bit annoying in her vocal craziness, but she’s still damn hot. I loved the shot of her packing an uzi, a handgun and a sword dressed in her sexy love-love attire. And just to make her that bit more fucked up, in a sexy kind of way, the fight with her onee-sama had a masochistic bent to it. Who would have thought, she’s even worse than Cummings? The choreography in the fight was impressive, as was the fluid and detailed cel animation. Looks like the producers have banked enough gold to afford a few more pieces of great animation.

But once again the script suffered from a pretty strong ‘lame factor’. I liked the conversation between Alphard and Natsume, and, actually, most of Alphard’s dialogue, but the stuff with Liang was too unconvincing, and the line about Maria wanting to become a cameraman and the suggestion that she take Canaan’s photo when she returns felt a bit retarded. Would real people in that kind of situation say such wishy-washy metaphorical nonsense? I doubt it. And I was also a bit disappointed that this marks the swift end to the ‘home village’ set of episodes. Next time it looks like we’ll be back in civilisation. Initially I thought the climax would have gone down out at the base, with all the characters arriving on the scene. But it seems that arc was just a bit of a sideshow to help explain the backstory and the real climax is going to ambush us out of nowhere.

There are only two episodes of CANAAN left and I’m doubtful it can really wrap things up in a satisfying manner.

 
 

 
Continue reading CANAAN 11

 

When I put on the latest episode of Umineko no Naku Koro ni I have to say I was firmly in my comfort zone - I thought I knew what to expect. Some melodrama here, a bit of UUUU UUU there, a dose of Beatrice laughing cruelly, and another series of violent murder culminating in an “EVERYBODY DIES” finish. The first half of the episode reinforced this, with the deaths of George and maid-cum-lover (sounds like a hentai title), Shanon. I admit I actually enjoyed this particular scene. Like much of the show it was done in a bit of a whacky and awkward manner, but I still have an emotional investment in the innocent love story between these two, and I liked the fact that their love kind of got the better of Beatrice, undermining her façade of unassailable wickedness. I’m not sure if I enjoyed what the episode eventually turned into, but I have to say it was one of the most, if not the most, fucked up and disturbing things I’ve seen in an anime.

Higurashi had gore-a-plenty, there’s no doubting that. And a lot of people reacted squeamishly to some of the gorier moments that the mystery-horror series offered up. Whether it was Rena putting needles in K1’s rice balls, the finger-nail tearing traditions of the Sonozaki family, or a frenzied Rika stabbing herself repeatedly in the side of the head, there was something for everyone to feel queasy about. But what transpires here is on a whole new level. While not as technically gory as those Higurashi moments, the twisted psychology behind it makes it far more unnerving.

Seeing the wholly dejected and crushed Battler paraded around naked by collar and leash was actually a bit sickening as well as depressing. Even if Battler came back 5 minutes later with a fresh resolve to resist Beatrice, that does nothing to repair the damage his image has suffered at the hands of his witch foe. I’ve lost all respect for him ;_;. Keiichi wouldn’t have stood for this shit! Now his only path to redemption in my eyes is to get Beatrice on a leash and collar. Now that I would like to see, especially because I now realise just how warped and sadistic Beatrice is - she deserves a hundred hells of pain and humiliation!

Because what she did to Battler was possibly topped by the sheer foulness of how she tormented Rosa. I have to admit, if this arc has achieved anything it’s an increased fondness for Rosa. She took the role of the shotgun toting survivor from Natsuhi and made the role her own, defeating Battler with her clear-headedness and emotional fortitude. The scene where she goes out fighting by Maria’s side was probably the most touching moment of the show thus far, redeeming her prior loli-abuse misdemeanours. Maria’s elation in this scene was so beautiful! So, with my newfound Rosa appreciation I was petty upset by Beatrice forcing her to eat delicacies of which her dead family members were the prime ingredient. There is no way to put that dinner-table scene into words except “totally screwed up”. And when Maria’s severed head made an appearance and started talking, it gave everything this unnerving surrealness. It was like watching a greek tragedy on psychedelic drugs.

I usually enjoy creepyness and gore, but this episode actually got to me a bit. As a result, I’m not sure if I enjoyed it or not. One thing’s for sure - I won’t be forgetting this anime any time soon! Fortunately this episode did have some very strong character moments (between Shanon and George and Rosa and her daughter) to make up for the debasement Beatrice inflicted on Battler and Rosa. Also, the final tea room scene gave a few hints at a sensible structure behind the loop arcs, as well as some clues to Beatrice’s motivations and a higher level story at work. Such hints are just the kind of thing I’m looking for, and I hope next arc can add to these.
 
 

。。 Genji is still the best character in the show. His stoic, manly presence is much appreciated.

。。 I’m not a fan of Beatrice’s gothic-schoolgirl-cosplay outfit. It might be just me but it’s hard to take her seriously when she’s wearing that getup. It just makes her look kind of desperate and a bit slutty. She’s just too old to make it work!

。。 I like the new witch introduced at the end of the episode! She has more personality than Bernkastel and less of an insane streak than Beatrice. She’s cute when she pouts!