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Spring anime wrapup
Jul. 10th, 2014 08:38 pmAkuma no Riddle eps 8-12: So, apparently they were saving most of the actual plot (not to mention about 80% of Tokaku's characterization) for the last few episodes.
( spoilers )
Atelier Escha and Logy eps 7-12. Fluffy and cute until the end, though I wish it'd been a bit less normative with gender roles. I think this may become a go-to series when I want a relaxing, laid back thing, with bonus steampunky-medieval-lite clothing and setting. I didn't care much for the very last plot development, but I suspect they intend to adapt more of the Atelier games, so that may be why.
Black Bullet eps 8-13. Probably the lowest ranked (for me) of the season's anime, but I liked it, and am glad someone's doing fantranslations of the light novels.
( spoilers )
Still the World is Beautiful eps 7-12: Sadder to see this one go than any of the others, I think. Guess I should hunt down the manga.
( spoilers )
Now to check out the new series before spending time with my nephews next week.
( spoilers )
Atelier Escha and Logy eps 7-12. Fluffy and cute until the end, though I wish it'd been a bit less normative with gender roles. I think this may become a go-to series when I want a relaxing, laid back thing, with bonus steampunky-medieval-lite clothing and setting. I didn't care much for the very last plot development, but I suspect they intend to adapt more of the Atelier games, so that may be why.
Black Bullet eps 8-13. Probably the lowest ranked (for me) of the season's anime, but I liked it, and am glad someone's doing fantranslations of the light novels.
( spoilers )
Still the World is Beautiful eps 7-12: Sadder to see this one go than any of the others, I think. Guess I should hunt down the manga.
( spoilers )
Now to check out the new series before spending time with my nephews next week.
anime catchup
May. 19th, 2014 11:02 pmI pretty much accidentally gave up on all the media I was supposed to be consuming for WisCon because I got distracted by 2 very long anime series (Fairy Tail, and A Certain Magical Index, both of which I should comment on once I catch up), but I did manage to catch up with airing anime. A victory is a victory?
Akuma no Riddle eps 3-7: This show is still so into its concept that it's almost adorable.
( brief spoilers )
Atelier Escha and Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky eps 1-6: I don't often watch anime based on video games, but this sounded interesting. Escha and Logy are young alchemists working for the local government branch. Escha is a local and her mother was also an alchemist, and so she's both well known and well liked in the area. She uses a cauldron to create things. Logy, who combines his alchemy with a forge to disassemble things and figure out how they work, apparently comes from a much larger city, and thought being an alchemist for the local government meant that he and his sword were going to dash around the countryside, slaying dragons. Instead, he and Escha go around finding out why a village's river has dried up, what's poisoning the crops, helping to create new medicines, etc. (It's ok, though. Sometimes their missions means that Escha has to dart off into the wilds for a rare plant, and then he gets to fight wolves and such.) Logy has the markings for an angsty anime male lead with a mysterious past, but there's been very little of that so far, with the focus being slightly more on Escha (who has Dead Mother Angst, though it isn't overdone at this point) as they run around fixing things and eating alchemy-produced deserts and gathering an oddball collection of friends.
This is based on the 15th game in the "Atelier" series, though familiarity with the others (of which I have absolutely none) isn't needed. Looking things up, I see that 4 of the female supporting characters are carryovers from the previous game in the series, and one, Nio, is the younger sister of the protagonist of that one, and is looking for her sister. The plot apparently involves the older sister searching for Nio, who disappeared pre-game, so now I kinda want to see an anime adaptation of that.
You can tell it's based on a game-there are "character cards" for everyone, a few events that clearly started out as a goal the player had to achieve, and various backgrounds and scenery shots appear to be directly lifted from the game. It's not overly intrusive though, and I find it to be a relaxing, enjoyable series with low stress and enjoyable characters and animation.
Black Bullet eps 2-6: I'm not overly interested in the "post-acopalyptic action/conspiracy" stuff that's going on (I mean, there's nothing wrong with it or anything, but...) am looking forward to the increased focus on the cursed children, and the mystery of what really happened to Kisara's family. There isn't a whole lot to set it apart from all the other "futuristic world with monsters and superpowers" anime out there, but I like it. I really wish, though, that there was an explanation for how civilization and society are still functioning fairly normally (by modern standards) when most of humanity was wiped out by monsters and the survivors have to live in closed off cities. Just saying.
Also in the "just saying" category: There's an evil scientist named Ayn Rand. I thought some of you might want to know.
How is Rentaro still alive, much less fine, after episodes 3 and 4, anyway?
The World is Still Beautiful eps 3-6: The first few episodes of this series were "This is very good, but I don't feel a just drive to watch it this very second," but I think it really kicked off around the middle of episode 4. Assassination attempts will do that?
I really hope the narrative is as aware of how easily Nike could destroy the Sun Kingdom as I hope it is. Many of the people appear to have never even seen rain before, and aren't aware of it or what it means "water comes from the sky and makes it a lot easier to grow crops," without being aware of what heavy rain-or worse-can do, especially to a region that doesn't normally get any rain. Nike, OTOH, seems to know exactly how rain and cycles work, and is well aware of how her powers can affect the kingdom, both good and bad, which is an awareness of power and responsibility for power that I feel we don't often get in teen protagonists. (But someone really needs to clue a few characters in on what a bad idea it is to piss off the person who literally controls the weather.)
I really want to know, though, why it is that a kingdom whose royal family has had the power to control the weather for generations is a tiny country few people have heard of, as opposed to, you know, ruling the world.
And, uhm, I know Livius is 15 and Nike only a couple years older, and that they draw Livius so young-looking to emphasize that he became king when he was 12, but they draw him as 12 and Nike at her actual age, and so the age difference that's actually perfectly fine starts looking a bit awkward the more the series emphasize the romantic aspect.
I'm also still watching Tonari no Seki-kun and Mushishi, but don't have anything in particular to say about them. (Except "wtf grafting episode, Mushishi!") I'm also still watching Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san, which isn't great, but it's entertaining, and has improved now that they've stopped trying to cram enough action for a 24 minute episode into 3 minutes.
Akuma no Riddle eps 3-7: This show is still so into its concept that it's almost adorable.
( brief spoilers )
Atelier Escha and Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky eps 1-6: I don't often watch anime based on video games, but this sounded interesting. Escha and Logy are young alchemists working for the local government branch. Escha is a local and her mother was also an alchemist, and so she's both well known and well liked in the area. She uses a cauldron to create things. Logy, who combines his alchemy with a forge to disassemble things and figure out how they work, apparently comes from a much larger city, and thought being an alchemist for the local government meant that he and his sword were going to dash around the countryside, slaying dragons. Instead, he and Escha go around finding out why a village's river has dried up, what's poisoning the crops, helping to create new medicines, etc. (It's ok, though. Sometimes their missions means that Escha has to dart off into the wilds for a rare plant, and then he gets to fight wolves and such.) Logy has the markings for an angsty anime male lead with a mysterious past, but there's been very little of that so far, with the focus being slightly more on Escha (who has Dead Mother Angst, though it isn't overdone at this point) as they run around fixing things and eating alchemy-produced deserts and gathering an oddball collection of friends.
This is based on the 15th game in the "Atelier" series, though familiarity with the others (of which I have absolutely none) isn't needed. Looking things up, I see that 4 of the female supporting characters are carryovers from the previous game in the series, and one, Nio, is the younger sister of the protagonist of that one, and is looking for her sister. The plot apparently involves the older sister searching for Nio, who disappeared pre-game, so now I kinda want to see an anime adaptation of that.
You can tell it's based on a game-there are "character cards" for everyone, a few events that clearly started out as a goal the player had to achieve, and various backgrounds and scenery shots appear to be directly lifted from the game. It's not overly intrusive though, and I find it to be a relaxing, enjoyable series with low stress and enjoyable characters and animation.
Black Bullet eps 2-6: I'm not overly interested in the "post-acopalyptic action/conspiracy" stuff that's going on (I mean, there's nothing wrong with it or anything, but...) am looking forward to the increased focus on the cursed children, and the mystery of what really happened to Kisara's family. There isn't a whole lot to set it apart from all the other "futuristic world with monsters and superpowers" anime out there, but I like it. I really wish, though, that there was an explanation for how civilization and society are still functioning fairly normally (by modern standards) when most of humanity was wiped out by monsters and the survivors have to live in closed off cities. Just saying.
Also in the "just saying" category: There's an evil scientist named Ayn Rand. I thought some of you might want to know.
The World is Still Beautiful eps 3-6: The first few episodes of this series were "This is very good, but I don't feel a just drive to watch it this very second," but I think it really kicked off around the middle of episode 4. Assassination attempts will do that?
I really hope the narrative is as aware of how easily Nike could destroy the Sun Kingdom as I hope it is. Many of the people appear to have never even seen rain before, and aren't aware of it or what it means "water comes from the sky and makes it a lot easier to grow crops," without being aware of what heavy rain-or worse-can do, especially to a region that doesn't normally get any rain. Nike, OTOH, seems to know exactly how rain and cycles work, and is well aware of how her powers can affect the kingdom, both good and bad, which is an awareness of power and responsibility for power that I feel we don't often get in teen protagonists. (But someone really needs to clue a few characters in on what a bad idea it is to piss off the person who literally controls the weather.)
I really want to know, though, why it is that a kingdom whose royal family has had the power to control the weather for generations is a tiny country few people have heard of, as opposed to, you know, ruling the world.
And, uhm, I know Livius is 15 and Nike only a couple years older, and that they draw Livius so young-looking to emphasize that he became king when he was 12, but they draw him as 12 and Nike at her actual age, and so the age difference that's actually perfectly fine starts looking a bit awkward the more the series emphasize the romantic aspect.
I'm also still watching Tonari no Seki-kun and Mushishi, but don't have anything in particular to say about them. (Except "wtf grafting episode, Mushishi!") I'm also still watching Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san, which isn't great, but it's entertaining, and has improved now that they've stopped trying to cram enough action for a 24 minute episode into 3 minutes.
Spring Anime
Apr. 14th, 2014 09:19 pmAkuma no Riddle eps 1-2: This is the series about the all-girls boarding school where 12 members of a class of 13 are trained assassins and in a contest to assassinate the 11th, Haru, a girls with scars on her body and a mysterious past. The assassins get only one attempt each, cannot interfere with each other's attempts, and cannot involve outsiders. One of the assassins, Tokaku falls in insta-love with Haru decides to protect Haru instead, and goes to war with her classmates. Everyone has a mysterious past (mostly angsty, of course) and this series is so incredibly into its concept (and as a result, I think it's played some of its cards too early) that I half expect a narrator to pop up squealing with glee at times.
Have the OP:
Black Bullet ep 1: A virus has forced mankind to live within cities called "monoliths," but the cities aren't able to completely block out the virus. When it infects someone, they turn into monsters and "Promoter," who use special bullets, are brought in to fight them along with their partners, young girls called "Initiators" who were infected by the virus while still fetuses and have superpowers, and are regarded as being "cursed children." So far, the main character, Rentaro, appears to be the only major male character, with the others being his childhood friend/employer, Kisara, his Initiator, Enju, and a rather morbid coroner whose name I didn't catch. Though Enju regards herself as Rentaro's fiance (Enju appears to be about 7-8 and Rentaro appears to have her pretty firmly in the "little sister" category) it doesn't look likely to turn into a harem-type setup. Rentaro and Kisara have a shared angsty past involving the death of her parents, but it will probably end up focusing on Rentaro, because he's a boy and the main character, but it also looks like it'll have a lot of focus on the nature and treatment of the cursed children.
It has the potential to end up one of those series with a lot of potential that end up disappointing in the end, but I have hopes for now.
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure eps 1-2. My only previous experience with JJBA is reading the first arc ages ago, back in the Scans Daily days. (I can't recall if I actually read JJBA on SD, but establishing the timeframe and all...) I enjoyed it, but the series was way too daunting to even think about reading all of it on my computer. As far as the anime goes, I understand this is the most popular plotline by far. On the one hand, I see why it's popular and the art direction is certainly interesting, but it's taking "sea of men" to the extreme and what women there are exist to fawn over and be insulted by JoJo (including his mother). Except the one who dies to help JoJo learn as lesson about Stands. There's also enough manly posing to give any other shounen action series secondhand embarrassment.
I may just read the one arc of the manga with a female lead and skip the rest unless that blows me away.
Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san ep 1: Shoujo Ai short about a girl named Inugami who likes and acts like a cat, and a girl named Nekoyama who likes dogs. I decided to give it a try because I like Tonari no Seki-kun, the only short series i've watched before this. It was cute and i'll watch more. (I attempted to watch Mangaka-san to Assistant-san, too, but will be passing on it.)
The World is Still Beautiful eps 1-2. Three years ago, the Sun King took over his kingdom, and he's taken over most of the known world since. Shocking everyone, he proposes an alliance with a small kingdom whose royal family is rumored to be able to influence the weather, in exchange for having one of the king's four daughters sent to him as a bride. As the Sun King is rumored to be a lecherous, one eyed ogre, none of the daughters are thrilled with the prospect, but one princess, Nike, is chosen because she loses a battle of rock-paper-scissors with her sisters. Travelling incognito through the Sun Kingdom before her appointment at the royal palace, Nike is surprised to learn that, despite rumors, the kingdom doesn't appear to be oppressed, and has a thriving economy. She's even more surprised to learn that the king, Livius, is a teenager a few years younger then her.
Lots of economics, lots of politics, kidnappings and assassination attempts already, and a lot of Livius being a very intelligent brat and Nike yelling at him to get over himself already and oh, act like a kid already. (Presumably, they'll eventually be love interests. Right now, though, Nike treats him more like an annoying little brother she just acquired, and who she needs to shake some sense into.) I've seen a few people comment that Nike appears to be modeled after Nausicaa, and I agree, but don't think it's a bad thing. (Not that I've seen anyone say it as a negative thing.)
Also, the OD for this one is....odd. Yes, odd.
I'm watching Mushishi of course, which is about like reading the manga, but with sound and color, and I'm still enjoying Tonari no Seki-kun a lot. I'm very behind on Nisekoi, which is drifting away from being a fake-dating romcom and looks to be turning into more of a straightforward harem series with lots of fanservice. I dunno.
I watched bits of a few other first eps, but wasn't grabbed by them. (Sadly, not even the one with the evil unicorn and the girl who drags along a coffin filled with guns.) I might try Baby Love again. I actually liked the bit I saw, especially the protagonist's obsessive notetaking, but it looked to be too Sea of Men to me.
Have the OP:
Black Bullet ep 1: A virus has forced mankind to live within cities called "monoliths," but the cities aren't able to completely block out the virus. When it infects someone, they turn into monsters and "Promoter," who use special bullets, are brought in to fight them along with their partners, young girls called "Initiators" who were infected by the virus while still fetuses and have superpowers, and are regarded as being "cursed children." So far, the main character, Rentaro, appears to be the only major male character, with the others being his childhood friend/employer, Kisara, his Initiator, Enju, and a rather morbid coroner whose name I didn't catch. Though Enju regards herself as Rentaro's fiance (Enju appears to be about 7-8 and Rentaro appears to have her pretty firmly in the "little sister" category) it doesn't look likely to turn into a harem-type setup. Rentaro and Kisara have a shared angsty past involving the death of her parents, but it will probably end up focusing on Rentaro, because he's a boy and the main character, but it also looks like it'll have a lot of focus on the nature and treatment of the cursed children.
It has the potential to end up one of those series with a lot of potential that end up disappointing in the end, but I have hopes for now.
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure eps 1-2. My only previous experience with JJBA is reading the first arc ages ago, back in the Scans Daily days. (I can't recall if I actually read JJBA on SD, but establishing the timeframe and all...) I enjoyed it, but the series was way too daunting to even think about reading all of it on my computer. As far as the anime goes, I understand this is the most popular plotline by far. On the one hand, I see why it's popular and the art direction is certainly interesting, but it's taking "sea of men" to the extreme and what women there are exist to fawn over and be insulted by JoJo (including his mother). Except the one who dies to help JoJo learn as lesson about Stands. There's also enough manly posing to give any other shounen action series secondhand embarrassment.
I may just read the one arc of the manga with a female lead and skip the rest unless that blows me away.
Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san ep 1: Shoujo Ai short about a girl named Inugami who likes and acts like a cat, and a girl named Nekoyama who likes dogs. I decided to give it a try because I like Tonari no Seki-kun, the only short series i've watched before this. It was cute and i'll watch more. (I attempted to watch Mangaka-san to Assistant-san, too, but will be passing on it.)
The World is Still Beautiful eps 1-2. Three years ago, the Sun King took over his kingdom, and he's taken over most of the known world since. Shocking everyone, he proposes an alliance with a small kingdom whose royal family is rumored to be able to influence the weather, in exchange for having one of the king's four daughters sent to him as a bride. As the Sun King is rumored to be a lecherous, one eyed ogre, none of the daughters are thrilled with the prospect, but one princess, Nike, is chosen because she loses a battle of rock-paper-scissors with her sisters. Travelling incognito through the Sun Kingdom before her appointment at the royal palace, Nike is surprised to learn that, despite rumors, the kingdom doesn't appear to be oppressed, and has a thriving economy. She's even more surprised to learn that the king, Livius, is a teenager a few years younger then her.
Lots of economics, lots of politics, kidnappings and assassination attempts already, and a lot of Livius being a very intelligent brat and Nike yelling at him to get over himself already and oh, act like a kid already. (Presumably, they'll eventually be love interests. Right now, though, Nike treats him more like an annoying little brother she just acquired, and who she needs to shake some sense into.) I've seen a few people comment that Nike appears to be modeled after Nausicaa, and I agree, but don't think it's a bad thing. (Not that I've seen anyone say it as a negative thing.)
Also, the OD for this one is....odd. Yes, odd.
I'm watching Mushishi of course, which is about like reading the manga, but with sound and color, and I'm still enjoying Tonari no Seki-kun a lot. I'm very behind on Nisekoi, which is drifting away from being a fake-dating romcom and looks to be turning into more of a straightforward harem series with lots of fanservice. I dunno.
I watched bits of a few other first eps, but wasn't grabbed by them. (Sadly, not even the one with the evil unicorn and the girl who drags along a coffin filled with guns.) I might try Baby Love again. I actually liked the bit I saw, especially the protagonist's obsessive notetaking, but it looked to be too Sea of Men to me.
