Boob-tastic. That’s the word. For those of you not in the know, Queen’s Blade is a card game turned cultural phenomenon known for lots of scantily clad ladies fighting each other for control of a kingdom. There’s art books, figures, and now, an anime series. It just started airing in Japan, so I can’t give a full series review, but I figured I should say a few words as this is the next Ikki Tousen, only better because it’s not based on what is to most of us westerners obscure Chinese history. I have seen the first episode and some of the second, and odds are if you were even slightly intrigued by my opening word, you are going to want to watch this series. You may have to wait until it hits stateside, as some distribution companies are already sending out cease and desist letters to fansubbers for this series. I suppose they’re trying to keep a lid on it until it can reach the US.

Anyway, about the actual show: Queen’s Blade, as I mentioned, is a medieval style tournament show where the prize is leading the kingdom. From what I’ve seen, most of or the entirety of the cast is female and either scantily clad or um, beaten naked. Unlike Ikki Tousen, the clothing doesn’t just magically shatter or anything, it just gets damaged. Or melted by that pink blobby girl with the acid shooting boobs. Yes, you read that right, acid shooting boobs. See, what I thoroughly enjoyed while watching this show was not the copious amounts of nudity (your first boob is like three minutes in) but the writer’s ability to not take it too seriously. Blobby girl (who is made of pink and sometimes transparent jello but is really skinny and buxom) is defeated when our heroine Reina gives her a bear hug so her armor prevents Blobby girl from squirting her acid until she explodes. It is both hilarious and ecchi. I have to say I appreciate the fact that they don’t tease us with the nudity, instead just putting it all out there and letting the inherent sexiness of the series speak for itself.

Queen’s Blade isn’t all fluff and boobs, though, there’s a real story behind it. Since I’ve only seen 1.5 episodes, I can’t say too much, but it’s interesting enough that I’ll actually keep watching it. It’s shaping up to be a fun romp with enough character development and plot to keep it from suffering the fate of other terrible fan service series. There’s angels, demons, and humans all in the fight for power. The approach the creators have to this series really pleases me because it sounds like they are in it for the same reason I am, to have some fun while telling a story. I have a couple worries, though.

Queen’s Blade has a couple obstacles to overcome, but I think they can manage. The animation in the first episode was a bit rough at points, but from what I’ve seen of the second episode they cleaned it up. I just hope they can keep it up during the series. Speaking of keeping it up during the series, I hope they don’t lose sight of the story or the fanservice; they are aiming to walk a fine line here but it’s like hanging a pair of shoes from a wire by the laces. Lastly, while this isn’t a concern per se, this series is going to be pretty dirty. As I say that remember this is Japan, home of the tentacle monster. By the end of the first episode our main character wets herself in fear, blobby girl’s boobs explode, and in an earlier fight our main character is stripped naked in battle and left helpless. In other words, this series is probably just on the other side of good taste. I suppose I should say that this series has something for everyone in the 17+ crowd, either that or try not to let your parents catch you watching it.

~Whim

PS - To try and show that I’m not horrendously outdated, and possibly as a cynical attempt at getting more readers, I have written this review of one episode. One measly little episode. This series is going to be big, though, just you wait and see.
PS2 - I still can’t figure out if I actually want to watch this series…

Original text at the nekoheadz.org forum

Now that Frostii finally released the fansub for the last episode I can review this series like I’ve been wanting to for two weeks now. The title for this series is what got me to start watching it. There are all sorts of things a series called Ride Back could be about. A motorcycle riding ballerina is not the first thing to spring to mind. Oh, there might be a spoiler there. Well, there’s always spoilers, sorry. I’ll keep it mild, which is rather fitting given what I have to say about the show.

Ride Back is a series about Rin Ogata’s first year in college and global revolution. Mostly it’s about Rin, with the politics more or less happening as an aside. Some years prior to the start of the series, a cunning political organization called the GGP (Global Government Project) came to power through a few shocking military victories with the aid of ride backs, or “glorified motorcycles with arms” as one character puts it. Ride backs are pretty much as the guy puts it, only the wheels can swing under them to become legs; in fact, their name comes from the way a person rides on the back of it while it is standing (similar to the way a parent carries a young child). Meanwhile, little Rin was working hard to become a ballerina as great as her mother, neither of them paying any attention to the politics. Rin’s mother dies from illness, and at one of Rin’s landmark performances she tears a ligament and has to retire from dancing, haunted by the fact that she could never be as good as her mother due to the injury. That brings us to the start of the series, where Rin starts college. Through one of those marvelous coincidences, Rin finds herself stuck on an out of control ride back named Fuego. Years of ballet training and natural skill lead Rin down a path of action and daring as she inadvertently gets caught in the crossfire between the GGP and a terrorist organization that opposes it.

The music for Ride Back is dramatic and well-used, a rarity for an action political thriller. The first episode starts with Rin’s injury in the minutes before the opening rolls, and it’s pretty potent for it, mostly because of the music and the fairly stunning internal monologue by Rin. I don’t know the name of the piece off hand, but it’s a rather famous musical piece that accompanies Rin’s final moments on stage. Then we get the opening; that awesomely awesome opening. It’s a rock techno thing with some fantastic imagery and sets up the series pretty well. I was fond enough of it to watch it for every single episode and each time I ever repeated an episode. The series has a lot of dramatic music that complements the events on screen pretty well. The action moments are pulse poundingly scored and the quiet tones for the more reflective scenes add a nice breath of fresh air. The ending is also quiet and uses a lot of imagery of Rin and her mother to give us a chance to reflect on the images displayed. Well, you can reflect on it, I only watched the ending a few times as it’s a little slow. Sound effects and dramatic pauses earn a special mention for being both well- and over-used. While I wouldn’t buy the soundtrack, you will probably catch me with the opening and possibly the classical piece Rin dances to on my Ipod.

Ride Back is a very pretty anime with lots of CG shine. The ride backs and nearly all of the other vehicles are actually 3D computer models blended pretty well with the traditionally animated characters and backgrounds. There was one moment where if I had been watching it with the animator, I’d have patted him on the back and said “nice.” See, Rin was riding Fuego around and bend with the camera panning in and they drew Rin actually moving with everything else instead of looking like she was cut and pasted the whole way through. Unfortunately, as happens with a lot of CG bits, it totally pulled me right out of the scene. Thankfully, I got used to it later on and the CG distraction wasn’t as strong. Anyway, the traditional animation is styled a bit like Nodame Cantabile, but with more detail and sharper lines so it meshes with the vehicles more. Everything moves really smooth and there is a lot of attention to little details like bits of debris, tire marks, and clothing movement that all really tickles my fancy. I really enjoyed the act of watching this series as it was pretty and flowed really well. Watching Rin dance using Fuego was pretty awesome. While the visuals are enough to make the series pretty stand out, the story is the real driver for Ride Back. And no, I did not intend any pun there.

Ride Back’s story is great, though a bit hollow feeling. It’s a real shame, too, as the series came so close to perfection I was left a bit disappointed. Rin is the star of the show by and far, with Fuego playing second fiddle and everyone else just blending into the ensemble. Well, save for that terrorist with the Sephiroth complex. It’s a good thing that the other characters aren’t that crucial, because for as every bit unique as Rin is, everyone else is all the more stereotypical to make up for it. Rin is one of the few more recent characters I’ve seen that is truly unique and yet completely relatable. I can identify with Rin a lot, particularly that whole recovering from epic failure thing. I find it ironic, too, that Rin came so close to greatness as a ballerina only to fall short permanently just like the show as a whole did. See, most of the politics happen off-screen, with important events being related to us through media clips or bits of story directly relating to Rin and to a lesser extent the ancillary characters. The big political events are mostly related through news clips. This series gets big bonus points for having a realistic depiction of political terrorism mixed with a grim look at a world governing body. Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite deep enough with it to be satisfying, I think due mainly to the fact that it got a little too involved with our wonderfully stereotyped characters and letting us see the world as they do, which is almost identical to how we view our world. What I mean here is that some larger perspective might have been useful. I may be spoiled from other robot anime, but it’s hard for me to see revolution or change when it’s implied. As a mild spoiler, the series presents us with terrorists we can relate to and can even empathize with to a limited extent. I mean, they are terrorists and they do bomb a news building at one point, so it’s hard to be like “yay, for freedom” when you see innocent people die. Anyway, Ride Back is surprisingly realistic with wonderful character development for Rin and not much else.

I think Ride Back was trying to be revolutionary. While it’s different, I don’t think they got the depth needed in the series for it to turn the robot pilot genre on its head. They came so close, though. I mean, they saw all of the normal story pathing and clichés and completely ignored convention for genius pilots and such. The robot is also not a Deus Ex Machina and Rin cannot solve all of the world’s problems with it. As I mentioned before, I think pulling back once in a while for a larger perspective of what was going on would have really helped give this series the last little push it needed for greatness. I also would have liked to see more of Rin riding Fuego and getting that sheer joy she got as the pair gracefully weaved about (I think it might have been a budget issue as CG is expensive); I feel like there was a lot more to be flushed out for Rin and her reborn ability to dance. Also, one of the images from the closing credits shows Rin riding on her mother’s back, and while it would have been less realistic, I think that theme could have really pushed this series over the edge into perfection. No, I don’t mean like that Evangelion mother is robot thing, but just using that caring and nurturing position for better characterization and dramatic effect. This series does everything right and it was a really fun show to watch, but it just wasn’t quite there. I wholeheartedly recommend it, but it may leave you a little wanting. Of course, I adore Rin and am probably a little biased; there’s just something about her…maybe that whole fallen ballerina turned robot pilot.

~Whim

PS – Yes, this review is a little shorter and it’s intentional.
PS2 – Yes, this series is a little less venomous, but that’s because I really enjoyed it, so bugger off if you wanted me to crucify it just because.
PS3 – I write fiction and poetry, ask me about it sometime.

Original text at the nekoheadz.org forum

Good news: early review. Bad news: one review (and mild spoiler warnings). I’ll be out of town for the weekend, hence the early-ness, and I’m also waiting for things to download. And for Frostii to finish subbing the last episode of Ride Back. (C’mon guys, the other groups finished the series, but you do it in such lovely HD I’m actually waiting on YOU.) Also, I need to stop writing these when I’m tired. It took me a while to find Binbou Shimai Monogatari, as I found it on Anime Encyclopedia some years back and was intrigued enough to want to watch it and never got around to downloading it until lately and there weren’t any seeds. I love run-on sentences. Anyway, this week I’ll be reviewing Binbou Shimai Monogatari, also known as Poor Sisters Story or Flat Broke Sisters Story. Frankly, the only reason I have this title in Japanese is that it’s the only way anyone seems to reference it and I have no idea why. (Maybe the English titles aren’t as endearing.) As a general rule I try to use English titles unless it involves rolling up the cosmos. I’ll call it Binbou for the rest of the review, but please try not to imagine the sound of the bell at the end of a Japanese school day; it’s all I can think of. Binbou. Are you going to club? Binbou. I’m meeting the girl I like behind the gym, maybe she likes me, too! Binbou. Oh, I need to get to the market to get the special. Binbou. I need to get to my job or we’ll lose our house…

Binbou Shimai Monogatari is a 10 episode series from Toei dating about 2006. Binbou, as you can guess from the alternative titles, is a story about two sisters who are flat broke. Kyo and Asu Yamada, middle school and elementary school aged respectively, lost their mother to illness not long after Asu was born and their father skipped out on them due to gambling debts not long after that. Kyo earns money delivering papers, tutoring, and doing whatever other odd jobs come her way while Asu takes care of all of the household chores and cooking. They live in a tiny old apartment building (age for certain buildings or items in Japan is a sign of poverty rather than history, for those of you not familiar with some of the Japanese norms for these things; I guess it comes from a primary building material readily available in the stationary aisle) and both attend school. The local shopkeepers, their neighbors, and even their landlord help look over Asu and Kyo in response to the girls’ marvelously sweet dispositions and strong sisterly bond. The series covers only a brief amount of time as the girls make friends, learn life lessons, and grow closer.

Music will only get a brief mention today as it’s cute, clichéd, and keeps the tone light throughout; not memorable but fittingly applied would be another way to put it. The opening and closing theme work well with the series, but aren’t worth watching every time. I’ll touch more on the music for the conclusion, as it works well with what the series was trying to do and I have lots to say about that. But before that, let’s talk about some art.

Let me just say this first: this series is cute. It is so amazingly cute that you could be a steak eating manly man that drives a truck made of steaks and you will still go “aww” at some of the scenes and art in this show. And when Kyo and Asu cry, well, their tears could fill buckets. Not that they cry all that much, as we join them after they’ve endured the most painful, character building hardships, but I’ll come back to that later. The art and animation in Binbou leans to the side of generic, but sickeningly sweet. Everything is cute with a noticeable lack of detail or wear (forty year old apartment my ass, it’s not a day over twenty) and the characters all look pretty standard. Actually, the characters are slightly more realistic wherein all their hair colors are naturally occurring, although the rich sisters that are friends with our not-so-intrepid heroines being blonde by default is a little weird. I imagine that symbolizes something in regards to the class divide, but I’m not really sure and the rich sisters play such a small role I don’t care. Still, blonde is natural and it’s nice to see as realistic a portrayal of real life as they can get with such a cutesy anime. The family picture Kyo and Asu keep with a picture of them with their mother and father is especially cute with the father’s face scribbled out with permanent marker. There is one thing, artistically speaking, that really stands out in this anime: the flower aura. You know how during one of those cute moments for a close-up of a character, a common one being when they eat and go “delicious!”, the background turns to sparkles or flower petals? Well, in Binbou that happens a lot, especially at the I-love-my-sister moments which are nearly constant, and the people behind the show seemed to realize how clichéd and tiresome it gets, as they mix it up a bit by having the camera pull back to show only the sister(s) with the aura while everyone around them just watches like the girls are from another planet. I think at one point a neighboring character has a gloomy aura and it makes for a cute sight gag while showing that the creators didn’t take the cuteness too seriously. Unfortunately, they seemed to not take the rest of the series too seriously, either.

Binbou’s cuteness doesn’t stop with the art, as the writing and story also swell with flower-aura powered sweetness. As it has probably occurred to someone to ask by now, by story I mean the tale the series wishes to tell and by writing I mean application of that story through character development, dialogue and scenario planning. Binbou’s actual story is surprisingly short, covering less than a full spring of the girls’ lives. The goal seems to be exploring a bit of the sisterly bond without getting too bogged down in the logistics of the girls’ situation, meaning that they are both too young to be romantically stolen away from one another and yet too old to be totally lost and helpless in the face of a surprisingly caring world. It makes for characters and situations that are pure and surprisingly feasible. The supporting cast is exactly that: supportive. The landlord even has two full episodes dedicated to him since he works the most in the background to help take care of the girls. The sisters are amazingly well characterized as the most loveable, selfless pair of goodie goodies I’ve seen in anime in ages (a bit of fresh air to my cynically stifled lungs), and the desire everyone has to care for them is understandable. Hell, if these girls lived next door, I’d pay one of their bills or something. I say that in the nice, generous way, mind you; not in the lecherous asking for favors later way. I’d just make sure I intercepted the bill before it reached them so it would always just be magically paid. It would reach the point where the bill itself would have a little flower aura around it in response to my nice gesture.

Anyway, the supporting characters are also fairly complex and flushed out enough to give the series a little depth and keep us from drowning in sisterly love. As a clever measuring stick and potential moral maker a similarly aged pair of rich sisters (mentioned earlier for the crime of being blond) are introduced and become friends with Kyo and Asu, and of course the poor girls are happier and closer than the rich girls could ever hope to be. The rich girls even build a fancy upscale apartment complex next door. Unfortunately, the side plots always run a little shy of the goal and end up rushed to warm fuzzy conclusions, a natural consequence of which is that our wonderful side characters end up with as much depth as a mirror. The rich girls have a forced making-up scene and only make brief cameos later. The woman next door is never explained all too well. See, walking mirrors and measuring sticks make for great characterization but are poor for adding diversity to a series. Save for the landlord, none of the other characters get that close to the sisters, something I’m tempted to blame on the overall shortness of the series, but I think a better job of pacing would have fixed that.

Binbou tries to run the gamut between hope and despair, but given that the major homelessness threat happens mid-series and all of the major conflicts stem from those inherently unimaginative conflicts that drive so-called ‘drama’ in anime productions that lack clever writing. Yes, it’s a mild spoiler but the girls almost end up on the streets for all of five minutes, but it happens so wonderfully smiley that, call me cynical if you like, I can’t help but feel that it would be good as it would be some good character development for the girls as they’d have to endure a little more hardship where we can actually see it. See, all of the hardship they’ve endured before conveniently happened in the time before the series starts, so it’s just sort of implied that life was hard. Being out in the street would be some hardship we could observe for a change. And it would be real hardship instead of those overblown-common-misunderstandings that are used as a gimmick when the writers aren’t willing to do anything serious. I see it happening more and more in anime and either it’s a sign that anime is aiming lower or that Japanese psychology needs to go out and play in the sun more. Good drama occurs when characters have genuine conflict between each other’s values and/or circumstances or when they are forced into situations where they have to fight, compromise, or flee and the internal/external struggle that results. Drama stemming from a dying cell phone battery and a resulting miscommunication are not entertaining or character building. See, hardship builds character; it may sound clichéd but think of what that means in relation to fiction: a character is defined (built) through the suffering they endure. The more suffering, the more we know a character. The Yamada sisters only suffer briefly in this series, and we hardly know them for it. That landlord on the other hand…

Binbou is like a cute little rich girl: she’s cute, shallow, and only thinks she has an idea of what poverty and suffering is like. It’s a wonderful piece of appropriate-for-all-ages fluff that fails to invoke any real emotion beyond “aww that’s so friggin’ cute!” If I were to print this review out and submit it for publishing or something, I’d use pink, fuzzy paper and lots of glitter. This series was that sweet. I mentioned earlier that the music suited the series perfectly: it’s sweet and never too dark or dreary. The music functions for the bit of fluff the series is supposed to be, but I think they missed the mark. Unfortunately, I was under the impression that this was about the lives of two sisters on the other side of the tracks. Never once are they starving (or even hungry). Never once do they freak out about missed work. Never once are we the viewers given that sense of despair that comes from life on the brink. If you are having that much trouble getting by each month, getting sick is one of the darkest specters that lurks behind you. I have to say it’s not very heartwarming when you are watching these girls work so hard, knowing that there’s actually a very large number of people who would take them in in a heartbeat because they are so sweet. You could argue that desperation brings out the best or worst in people (in this case the best), but I never get the impression that they are that desperate. The only real moment of desperation is not even related to how poor the girls our. I actually get the impression that these support characters watch these girls like we would watch small children pretending to be independent: we say “that’s good” as we watch them “earn” money to buy a comic book when we are prepared to step in and pay it ourselves just in case it doesn’t work out. We let them pretend to be grown up because it’s cute and it would hurt their feelings otherwise. And it would totally hurt Kyo’s and Asu’s feelings if all of their hard work was rendered moot by someone stepping in. While the writing really drives the bond between Kyo and Asu, it’s like the writers cared too much to subject the girls to any of the hardships of real life. Well, that’s assuming that they knew what the hardships of real life are.

See, one of the most infuriating things in Binbou can be summed up in the words of the one of the youngest rich girl: “so that’s how a poor person thinks.” In Ouran Host Club there’s a scene where the rich boys visit the home of the “poor” heroine and they say “so this is what the poor are like” in the exact same manner: wrong. They got it all wrong. Wrong Wrong WRONG. Whereas the writers for Ouran Host Club knew it was a mistaken leap for those characters, they used it to mock how embarrassingly ignorant those boys were. Binbou, by comparison, is the anime those boys made thinking they knew what being poor is like. I can’t tell if the writers took the teeth out of poverty on purpose to make the series more pleasant or if they really think poverty is simply having to hunt around for sales and going without things like cell phones and meat. Oddly enough, going without meat where I’m from is a privilege for the rich. Come to think of it, I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen a series, movie, or OVA from Japan that accurately depicted poverty. Nodame Cantabile came close with the girl that played the Kontrabass, but I can’t think of a series that really took the concept and ran with it. Again, there’s the possibility that they took it out on purpose. I may not know that much about current Japanese culture, but I do know that there is a strong emphasis on keeping things pleasant and not causing a bother. Maybe mentioning poverty in any realistic fashion is a taboo. Imagine that, a taboo in Japan.

I often talk about what an anime could be, but I don’t always get very specific. Well, I can tell you exactly what I would do with Binbou to make it a better series. First off, I would make it longer and have it cover more time in the girls’ lives. There’s an entire period of learning and hardship that we missed when the girls were more-or-less orphaned and they had to learn to survive. Remember in Full Metal Alchemist when we saw Ed and Al lose their mother and then they went through all of that training in alchemy and wilderness survival? Imagine how much that series would have lost emotionally if it didn’t have those scenes. Second, with the additional episodes I would devote time to flushing out some of the supporting cast, particularly the parallels you can draw with the rich sisters. The side characters in this series are genuinely interesting and I actually feel Kyo and Asu came off feeling a bit flat by comparison. Third, I’d use the longer length of the series to cover more as the girls got older, opening a lot more room for conflict development as they learn to get some distance from each other and function as individuals (but presumably not very much as these girls will probably live either in the same house or next door to each other for the rest of their lives). Subjecting these girls to the pains of growing up and the horrors of the real world would make for a potentially breath-taking spectacle. Kyo and Asu are so pure and so kind that seeing them question those ideals and still cling to them afterwards would make for compelling story-telling and if I were in the anime business I would totally remake this series just for that.

So, to sum things up: Binbou was a Disney-ized glimpse of poverty drowning in sisterly love and lacking any real depth. It’s cute and worth a watch if you want something that’s only going to tickle your warm and fuzzy bone. However, the sugary taste will rot your teeth out if you don’t brush properly and I’ll bet by the end you’ll be searching for something with more depth and taste to drown yourself in like a kiddie pool or a bowl of soup.

~Whim

PS – I’ve got some more shows cued up for you guys. If you have any requests, let me know as I’m sort of taking shots in the dark here. That said, the more distance I get from Windy Tales the more I look back and think better of it.
PS2 – There’s a difference between something that’s great to watch once and great to watch a dozen times. I realized this playing Zelda: Twilight Princess and it totally applies to some anime I’ve seen recently. Namely, as much as I loved Sky Crawlers I don’t know if it’s something I’d wanna watch once a week. It’s like listening to Beethoven’s 9th too many times: it dulls your appreciation for it and everything else you experience will seem lacking for your constant exposure to greatness. Moderation is the key to certain things. Although I can never ever get enough of Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto.
PS3 – So yes, there’s been a lot of slice of life anime for my reviews lately. I like the genre. While I try to be open to everything, my other preferred genres of mecha and romantic comedy have dwindled down to juvenile male power fantasy and harem-esque sex fantasies respectively, both chock full of fan-pandering. Pray I never review Code Geass if you liked that series at all. Also, I had some great ideas on how to make a compelling Gundam series and I hear tell they’ve done that with OO Gundam, so I’ll have to give it a watch and see if it’s any better than SeeD was. Granted, a five year-old playing with legos is better than SeeD. No, I’m not looking for a fight I just thought you should know that some of your favorite series are crap.

Original text at the nekoheadz.org forum

Okay, this will be the absolutely hardest review I’ve done so far. See, I didn’t actually know anything about Sky Crawlers when I watched it. I read a summary on Anime Encyclopedia, but it took me so long to get the thing downloaded that I actually forgot what it was about when I watched it. If I had known, I don’t think I’d have enjoyed it as much. So I’m going to do my very best not to tell you a thing about what this movie is about; makes it kind of hard to review though. Do yourself a favor and just watch it. Don’t look it up on anything, hell, don’t even finish reading this review. Just go watch it. This is the kind of movie that you aren’t supposed to know much about going in. This review will probably be a bit shorter than my other ones because I can’t go into details.

When I give a summary I usually look up one on the Anime Encyclopedia or something similar to get an idea of how far I should go with my description, but AE totally takes the mystery out Sky Crawlers, and if you aren’t sitting there going “what the hell is going on?” for half the movie then you aren’t going to enjoy the reveal. So, I guess I can tell you there’s a war, but the specifics and reasons behind it aren’t terribly clear. Neither is the reason that most of the main combatants are children. It’s similar to World War II with a focus on air combat with propeller driven planes. The story follows a pilot that transfers to a little air base and his relationships with the people he meets and the lessons he learns about life.

The music in Sky Crawlers is phenomenal, not because it’s great, but because the music knows what it’s supposed to do and excels at it, but it also knows when it needs to stay quiet. The audio in this movie was great all around. The sounds are fitting and silence isn’t just a gap between things, but sound in itself to be used for the story. Music, when used well, takes one of two forms: The first is when the music has its own identity separate but complementary to the movie; that’s when we buy soundtracks and remember particular songs and such. The second is when the music is used solely for the effect of the story and to further the experience; that music has no identity outside of the movie but if used properly the movie won’t exist without it. The music in Sky Crawlers is not memorable at all, but that’s because it is used so well that it blends perfectly with everything else in the movie. I can count on one hand the number of movies or shows that used music so well. Since the same amount of effort that went into the music went into the sound, it merits a mention here too. Sound in anime is typically well done and doesn’t need to be complimented, but every piece of audio in this movie was so well-implemented that I can’t help but say nice things. I’d give it a cookie if I could. In trying to think of any particular songs or sounds, the silence is actually the most stand out thing that comes to mind. Silence is an oft-overlooked tool in sound design, but knowing how to use it effectively can make the difference between a tired scene and a gripping scene. Anyway, that’s enough nice things about the music that I can’t remember.

Sky Crawlers has a unique visual flavor to it, merging less common anime designs and computer generated vehicles. The anime style is, well, it lacks detail similar to a style I saw in another anime but I can’t for the life of me remember which one. The designs are sharp, though, and the lack of detail makes everything else stand out in a good way while keeping everything looking unique with a definite artistic sense. By everything else standing out I mean the characterization and the planes. See, the planes are ludicrously detailed, but it gives a subtle sense of unbalance that works at several levels with the story. The plane designs are good (I love the one based on the P-51 Mustang) and the differences between the planes for each side are obvious enough that anyone can tell which planes are on which side in the war. The animation, both CG and regular, is smooth without any errors or slowdown. This movie knew where it was going from day one, and it shows in every aspect. The character movements are deliberate and never wasted with the same emphasis on stillness that there was on silence. The air battles, well, the air battles merit their own paragraph.

Air combat in Sky Crawlers is not the center of the movie, but it’s gorgeous and lots of other nice things. The biggest problem with flight in Last Exile is that they focused too much on the close angles and the dynamic fly-by shots and lost any sense of location. To effectively portray flight you need things moving in relation to other things consistently. You don’t get a sense of distance from a fly-by, but you do when you have a plane racing by a wall of clouds, then looping up and around through them with a camera that stays far back enough to show it in one shot. To show two planes in relation to one another it’s important to keep them in the frame, even when you change angles so you can always see where they are in relation to one another. Sky Crawlers does all this and more, but it does it with a focus on the cinematic elements that takes it beyond a functional level and into the wildly artistic. But since it’s not the focus of the movie, you don’t actually get to see the combat as much. It was done so well I can’t help but talk about it at length. Just so you don’t think I’m thick later, I did pick up on the fact that there’s no sense of freedom in these skies, but it’s war and some other reasons I won’t go into it. Also, it’s nice to see that the people making this movie knew that while the flying isn’t the main thing to watch, the detail needs to be put into it so it doesn’t lose the effect it needs when it is there. All of the flying has a profound impact on the feel of the story and it blends perfectly with all of the thematic elements that pop up.

So, for the story I can’t tell you much. What I can tell you, though, is that this movie has the second most interesting character I’ve ever seen in an anime. To say this movie is character driven would be like saying water is wet. All of the characters are unique and well-written. The way they act is subtle and the dialogue is poignant. Sometimes, though, it’s a little too subtle. It might be the cultural differences showing, but the characters are so subtle it actually took me out of the experience a bit as I had to focus so hard on the meanings of some of their actions. But it wasn’t the simple trying to figure out some subtle gesture kind of meanings, it was the is this how people relate to each other at deeper levels kind of meanings. The only two criticisms I can come up with for this movie are that first, it’s deliberately slow and at two hours it’s a lot of slow, and second, not everything is explained to the level of mind-numbing detail we’re used to. However, both of those complaints fall short when looking at the story as a whole. The story in Sky Crawlers is subtle, varied, and full of symbolism that needs a slow pace so you can soak it all in. It’s best that only what’s necessary is explained as that makes you think about what the parts that weren’t explained mean and eventually the deeper meanings behind that. I have so many things I want to say about this story, but they actually apply to everything as a whole; so, here we go to the conclusion!

Sky Crawlers is an immersive movie full of subtlety, beauty, meaning, and all the other things a good piece of art should have. The music, animation, and story come together in harmony that we don’t often see. The depth of this story and the way it pushes our understanding of the human condition and the nature of children is…well, I don’t think I should type too much more here. I liked Sky Crawlers. I liked it a lot. It was everything I look for in an anime. I can point at this and say this is not just progress, this is art. What was the last thing you saw that made you say that?

~Whim

PS – I watched this movie as a fansub from Frostii.
PS2 – This anime is for mature audiences.
PS3 – I donated a nicely dressed fansub to the club, but it’s high def so you need a computer with some horsepower to play it. Sorry. (The file for the movie is as big as a dvd, took me two weeks to download due to scarce sources.)
PS4 – Yes, this is a very positive review. Yes, it gets a little weird at the end there. Writing these during club showings is the equivalent of staying up all night for me. Yeah.

PS the edit - Alrighty, I forgot one thing. This movie was good enough that I was totally willing to overlook whatever flaws it had, which doesn’t happen very often. That said, there’s a lot of english in this movie, but it’s that weird english like in Beck. Thankfully it was subtitled.

Original text at the nekoheadz.org forum

Review number two (review number one being Sketchbook ~full color’S~) for this week is the computer animated blockbuster Vexille brought to us by FUNimation. Hopefully, you’ve seen Appleseed and Appleseed: Ex Machina done in the same animation style as I’ll be mentioning them in this review (actually, I was going to review the second Appleseed movie, but then I rented Vexille and I think I can kill two birds with one stone, two beautifully rendered cg birds that move like bricks). Just a little history here: Appleseed (the movie, not the OVA) was the first anime to be made entirely in cg. Fairly well received, it was a shiny cyber-punk political action thriller in the same vein as Ghost in the Shell, but not quite as smart or deep. A sequel came out three years later to a similarly warm reception. While the CG (computer graphics, not cute girls) didn’t quite turn the genre on its head like I get the impression the makers wanted, it was a new style for anime and probably helped push more cg into other series. Almost exactly a year and a half ago, the same people that made Appleseed released a new movie, Vexille. As always, consider this a warning for spoilers, but I’ll try not to ruin anything for you like I probably did with one of my more harsh reviews. See, the Appleseed movies and Vexille are kind of the equivalent of the Hollywood summer blockbusters, so they aren’t the most complex things in the world.

Vexille is set in the relatively near future where a ban on advanced robotic technologies forced Japan into isolation. For ten years, Japan was completely closed save for their sole export: combat robots from Daiwa Corporation. Rumor had it that Japan continued on with the forbidden research. Meanwhile, the American super advanced tactical police SWORD, following said rumors, finally tracks down a Daiwa representative at a business meeting in a rather explosive opening sequence. Vexille, one of the squad leaders for SWORD and stereotypical kick-ass female lead like Deunan Knute from Appleseed, takes part in an unsanctioned intelligence mission to break the quarantine on Japan and find out what’s going on. The truth is pretty shocking as all of the dangers of advanced cybernetic technology are shockingly realized.

We’re going to start with the least important aspect for this movie: the music. As a big action packed movie with lots of flashy effects and a dash of human drama, the music kind of gets left on the sidelines. Terrible shame, too, as a better soundtrack could have really driven some of the moments in this movie to sheer mind-boggling awesome. However, the music during the action bits does add all the zest and energy they need, so they hit the mark there. It’s just that, well, a good dramatic moment needs one of two things to give you goose bumps: silence, or appropriate music. Vexille lacked the music to really drive home some of the big thematic elements and the movie as a whole lost some of its impact as a result. As I usually point out, music, animation, and story are the big 3 of anime elements that need to be polished and mesh well in order for a production to achieve greatness. The story in Vexille had some potential, but the ineffective score squandered it all. I guess they put the entire budget into lens flare and cel-shading.

Vexille spares no effort to dazzle in the visual department. The animation is top notch, even by Hollywood standards. In case you haven’t seen the style before, it’s all computer generated with cel-shaded textures and motion capture. In non-tech terms, that means it looks like a bulgy cartoon and the people move like people. Appleseed was pretty groundbreaking since it was one of the first CG anime to come out and not get trashed by anyone who saw it (I like the Final Fantasy movie thank you very much; ooh, that would be a good review). Actually, it reminds me a bit of how the Matrix came out and showcased all of those new advances in computer effects; well, Appleseed did that for anime and while Vexille isn’t ground-breaking in any way, it looks even prettier. The animation is smooth and the motion capture for the people was pretty tight so they don’t move like their flesh is a sumo suit. I only noticed one or two moments where they didn’t render at the same frame rate as the movie, but they were brief little things on the side, which makes me think they rendered the movie in parts and stuck it together later (a common technique for CG animation). Anyway, enough technical stuff: Vexille is dazzling and it better be, as that’s one of the main selling points for the movie. Seriously, how interested would you have been in this movie otherwise? It’s not like the story on the back would have been enough to pull in so many people, especially since the animation likes to take center stage whenever it can.

Vexille has a wonderfully complex story about madness and technology gone horribly wrong, but poor execution and character design took the shine away. Plus, there are a few holes in the plot. See, the animation is so prominent a feature and took so much of the focus on the director’s part that the story was left to fend for itself as it journeyed down been-done-before road. Vexille, our hot American lead who looks identical to the Japanese characters, is married to her team leader (adding to the vibe that this movie might have been better as an Appleseed prequel) and has the same tough-girl suddenly sobbing but will still kick you in the balls if you get too close attitude that’s come out in a lot of the “strong” female leads lately. She’s too dependent on her husband for me to take her seriously and when the shit hits the fan during the covert mission she gets a little flighty while the men take charge. It pisses me off, actually, because I was hoping they would do something different with a female lead…and she’s hot. The lead villain is insane and while I want to say I can’t believe that both the Japanese government and its people would be lead down such a dark road by him, history repeatedly proves such desires futile. While the historical parallels could have been built upon to give the movie some depth, it’s actually just brushed over almost intentionally. I guess for some reason no one wants to draw historical links between the Japanese and genocidal madmen. I WONDER WHY. Anyway, ten years ago, the characters in Vexille would have been unique and ground-breaking, but now they are just formulaic and verging on clichéd. The robot designs are pretty solid and all of the technological stuff tickles my nerd fancy, but I have one major gripe with the designs: the jags. Jags are these partially aware metal assimilating worm things that play a pretty important role in the story and such, but they look boring. Big budget super CG fest and the super metal worms look dull. It’s like they couldn’t decide between the dark menacing mouth and the shiny metal graceful body and we wound up with neither. The sounds on these beasts needed work, too, as they have this really nice jingly sound which makes for some amazing shots, but they aren’t menacing at all. For playing such an important part, the jags were woefully neglected. As often happens in CG works, the technical nature of the production means that those involved are so well versed in the programming end of things that creative art direction can fall through if the staff isn’t up to it. The jags are a casualty of that, but I think the story direction fell victim to it as well. (We need a new paragraph, I think.)

Now that I think about it, the story in Vexille is actually dark enough and deep enough to rival Blade Runner as far as lessons about future technology and human nature are concerned, but the makers were so thoroughly focused on the shiny presentation they forgot about everything else. Think of the story as a beautiful park on a sunny day. Now think of the animation as the car that drives you to the park. Only now you can’t get out of the car; in fact, the car drives by so fast you can’t get a good look at anything. And the windows are rolled up and the air conditioning is off. Now there’s this unique flaming tree that talks out in the park, but you only get a glimpse of it as you pass over a hill. That’s Vexille. The story was there, but those graphics just blow right by it. It’s just like the big Hollywood productions that stifle the story because it cramps the style. The Appleseed movies were guilty of this as well (which is what almost prompted me to review one of them), but the stories for those movies were considerably less well-done so it wasn’t nearly as tragic when their storytelling got ran over by the animation truck. I know I talk about the potential of anime a lot as opposed to the anime itself, but I’m working with the big picture here: in order for an art form to survive it needs to adapt and change. There’s all sorts of other deep and intellectually and let’s be honest: pretentious things I can say about art and anime and what they mean, but for now let’s just settle with the fact that if anime doesn’t continue to produce new things, people lose interest and it’ll go the way of the musical (movie, not stage). Anyway, back to the story, well, the holes in it. Persuasion of the Japanese government aside, the whole setup for the Japanese isolation is covered fairly well from a political standpoint (yay for that), but the practicality and implementation of it is brushed over to the point where I’m left going “how did no one see that coming?” You know those moments in a movie where you stop and say “wait a minute, don’t try and pull that one on me.” I’ve been told that’s more about the suspension of disbelief, but I’m watching a movie about future robot technology and cops with powered armor that would make the Master Chief jealous (yes, I’m a gamer, and no, I’m not a fanboy so shut it); my belief is already suspended. However, that doesn’t mean I won’t cry foul when you screw up. I saw this Bruce Campbell movie (the guy that was in Evil Dead) where these aliens invaded and due to some epically bad script writing, it was never clarified whether the girl he won at the end wasn’t an alien. It pissed me off a lot when the exact same thing happened at the end of Vexille where one of the characters could have been turned into a robot. They sure aren’t going to take the time to tie up that little loose end because they were too busy working on that beautiful sunset everyone flies off into and we are too busy marveling at it.

Vexille is by no means all bad; I actually enjoyed it a bit and found it hooked me in enough to keep me watching to the end despite some rather annoying distractions. But the experience was far too shallow given the content. There’s a movie you watch and when it’s over you go “yeah, it was good,” and then you go about the rest of your life without missing a beat. Then there’s a movie you watch and you can’t get it out of your head for days. Vexille is the former when it should have been the latter. See, the Matrix was a pioneer for new special effects but it was also a solid movie and deserved most of the hype it got (let’s just pretend those sequels never existed); the movie could stand on its own without the shiny graphics and that’s why when it was so well dressed it changed a lot of people’s expectations for movies (which promptly changed back when the sequels came out; haha, bashed twice in the same sentence). It’s also why so many movies have so much nauseating CG now. Appleseed wasn’t nearly strong enough as a story to push the computer animation into a genre bending tool like the Matrix; while there has been more CG that’s been more of a result of the industry going digital than the viewers demanding it. Vexille is very much another Appleseed in spirit, so the comparisons are more than fair. Pretty animation will only carry a production so far and when you’re the third child of an already lackluster line, I imagine the bar is pretty low. If I had seen this in a theater, I’d probably remember the popcorn more than the movie. Actually, I’d have gone to see Wall-e instead.

~Whim

PS – I watched this movie subtitled on DVD from FUNimation.
PS2 - At some point I’m going to get away from my set pattern and get more free-form with the reviews, but I want a little more practice at keeping things logical before I start getting fancy.
PS3 – I’m debating whether to only post one review a week that way I have a backlog in the event I lose my ability to download or something comes up, but I hate the idea of sitting on reviews for weeks on end.

Original text at the nekoheadz.org forum

Okay, so my review of Windy Tales wasn’t so hot, but neither was I that day. I donated blood, switched over to a nocturnal sleep schedule, blah blah blah. It wasn’t that bad, review-wise, just not terribly entertaining. I’m well aware that I write a lot for these and the only way I expect you guys to actually make it through is by making it fun to read to the end. Also, it’s a lot more fun to write these when I get all pissy and mean. Too bad there isn’t as much to get pissy and mean about again for this review. I need to stop liking some of the stuff I watch.

As you guessed from the title, I’ll be telling you about a little 13 episode series called Sketchbook Full Colors (put your tildes and capital letters where you like). It’s another slice of life series in the same spirit as Azumanga Daioh and Lucky Star. Sketchbook (as I’ll call it from here) is about high school sophomore named Sora Kajiwara, art club member and all around super shy girl. When I say shy I don’t mean that bats her eye-lashes at you from across the room and talks quietly shy: our first introduction to Sora is her hiding behind her sketchbook when a little girl starts talking to her (Sora’s name on the cover serves as her introduction to both us and the little girl). Anyway, all thirteen episodes meander about as we follow Sora and the rest of the club through a few seasons and vacations and such. I think it might actually go right up until just before graduation, but more on that later. The episodes focus mainly on the art club with related bits of the everyday lives of Sora and to a lesser extent some of the other people. And cats.

The animation in Sketchbook is pretty standard, for the most part. However, that’s not to say it’s bad. If I had to describe it, I’d call it a cross between School Rumble, Azumanga Daioh, and Lucky Star. The ultimate result of that is a show that is terribly cute without being nauseatingly so. The animals are cute, the characters are cute, the backgrounds are pretty, and what things need to be animated are done smoothly. There are a lot of cats in this show (five actually, and three dogs and a chicken; not to mention all of the chicken plushies), and they are as cute as they can be without being overly so. There’s a wonderful sense of moderation in the character design that keeps things from getting overwhelming in the cute department while keeping everything interesting to look at. Unlike the other three series I mentioned earlier, there is absolutely no sexual content in this entire series. Well, that’s a lie: there is one tiny little moment of a guy walking into a locker room early in the series, but it’s more comedic than racy and actually the fantasy of one of the girls because she wanted to see the spectacle of it. Other than that, though, none of the characters are buxom (i.e. jiggly), the clothing is actually clothing and not cleverly placed rags and well, you get my point. Actually, there are a couple points where things seem like they might take a racy turn, but then there’s one of the characters with full clothing on under a yukata or a bathing suit on while she washes a cat in the shower, all of which are there as if to say “ha, too bad for you, but this scene is still funny with clothes on.” Sketchbook is cute, pretty, and has no interest in being anything else.

The music in Sketchbook takes a page or two from Azumanga Daioh, with light, fluffy bits of music with the occasionally ill-sounding tones. The opening and closing may lack any of the crazy energy we got in Azumanga or Lucky Star, but they fit the series to a ‘t.’ The music is actually pretty mellow and keeps the pace pretty slow; which is what we want from a show trying to make everyday life look appealing. See, I actually own an Azumanga Daioh soundtrack and sometimes load the songs into my little pink shuffle, but that’s a bit of a stretch even for that. Sketchbook music is considerably closer to lounge music and it suffers a bit for it. The themes are simple with the occasional vocal track. If you ever watch this series at night, you are going to fall asleep. So, yeah, the music isn’t all that and a bag of chips, but it fits the series very well, albeit following Azumanga Daioh just a little too closely without the energy to pull it off. Also, what is with a short series having a new opening exactly once? I don’t mean just the animation changing up a bit, but an entirely new opening theme and animation. There is exactly one episode with a different opening in this series, and while it fits in Sketchbook, I can think of plenty of series where it doesn’t. I just don’t get that.

As I tried to allude to in my summary, the story in Sketchbook Full Colors is pretty standard for a high school slice of life. However the story revolves almost entirely around Sora, with the other characters and events acting as measuring sticks and tools to further her character development. While it’s nice to have a mostly single point of reference, I almost wish they had given us more of a glimpse at a few of the other characters since they were so interesting. That said, some truly unique and great moments emerge, mainly through good characterization. The art club teacher has a thing for chickens, she thinks they’re cute to the point where her car is filled to the brim with plushies of them, she has a live chicken that she keeps with her all the time and sometimes wears as a hat and often jokes about eating. The cats actually talk to one another and have their own sub-plots; the first time they talk was ridiculously funny and the writers did a great job of running with it until the end of the series. Each of the art club members is eccentric almost to the point of absurdity, keeping them interesting in a way I could understand. As a high school slice of life comedy, there’s actually very little high school in it: Exams get a brief mention only as part of the characterization of the main character. The school sports fest and culture fest are left in hanging in the breeze. There’s a summer festival, but only for part of an episode. There are even a few school trips, all of which are actually to the school because of the club’s miniscule budget. Despite all of these wonderfully original things, I can’t help but feel we’ve seen this all before and better. The funny moments are great, but nothing quite as memorable or energetic as some other series I could mention. Sketchbook is above average at what it’s supposed to portray, but it doesn’t excel at it. If it weren’t for the slightly clichéd but interesting characters and some clever writing, Sketchbook would be little more than a clone of some other really popular series.

Up to those last few sentences, you’d probably guess that I was going to be pretty nice to this series for the conclusion. I liked Sketchbook. I really did. But that’s not going to save it. See, when I said Sketchbook was in the same spirit as Azumanga Daioh and Lucky Star, it really just wants to be those series. It wants to be those series so hard, but it can’t openly admit it by giving us catchy dance numbers or anything like that. What it can do is give us characters that are quirky to the point of being not quite realistic and giving them a high school setting and disguising it all with an art club motif and an even slower pace. The entire time I watched this series I couldn’t help but be reminded of Azumanga or Lucky Star, eerily so now that I think about it. To a certain extent, it’s okay as Azumanga Daioh and Lucky Star were fantastic series, and any series trying this hard to be like them and succeeding (for the most part) can’t help but be enjoyable. But as you’ve read in my other reviews, I’m pretty hard on that kind of fan-pandering. However, I can forgive Sketchbook for all of these faults: the slow pacing, the blatant ripping off of other series, the almost-but-not-quite-there music, etc.: I can allow all of these things because the ending was genuinely good and gave us a bit of a unique way to end a school days show without using a graduation. I don’t want to spoil it for you, but the last episode has all of the closure, all of the nostalgia, all of the character growth, all of those things that make slice of life high school anime great. By episode 12 I was planning out just how thoroughly I was going to smash this series with the harsh criticism bat, but most of that desire went out the window by the time I reached the end of the last episode. Sketchbook is more of the same, but it keeps things fresh enough and ends on such a high note that I can’t help but recommend it, even if you haven’t seen Azumanga Daioh. I also can’t get enough of the talking cats.

~Whim

PS – I watched this series as a fansub from Spoonsubs.
PS2 – This series has a lot of potential for awesome icons, avatars, etc.
PS3 – Takino-sensei from Azumanga Daioh and Kasugano-sensei (the art club teacher) are so alike if they ever met I think the universe would implode.
PS4 – I’d like to thank those of you that have read these so far, especially if you’ve read all of each of the reviews.
PS5 – I’m thinking of doing a little mini-review thread where I can post first impressions of things or those reviews of the shows that were so bad I had to stop watching them. If I do so, it’ll probably start with Heroic Age.

Original text at the nekoheadz.org forum

Another Friday, another review typed away in the dark. I don’t really feel like dancing around too much today, so let’s get right to it. I’ll try to avoid spoilers, but there may be the occasional minor one here or there.

Windy Tales is an anime about the last middle school year of a girl and her friends as they discover one of their teachers can control the wind. So can every cat in town. That’s right, all of the cats can fly. Also, it turns out there is a whole village of “wind manipulators.” But that’s not really important. See, this series, as the name suggests, is a series of tales with one over-arching theme: wind. It also happens to involve our main characters every time, but hey, we need something consistent to reference as we go. Anyway, that’s enough of a summary from me, more may or may not come out later.

The first thing that will strike you about Windy Tales, and don’t take my meaning lightly, is the art style. If you’ve seen Crayon Shin-chan, you’ll recognize the rough artwork, but thankfully things are a little more refined this time around. Windy Tales is rough in the same way impressionist paintings lack detail; sure, you don’t get all of the fine lines and lens flare that you do with some of the other series, but you do get a smoothly animated style that fits the wind motif perfectly. You’re either going to like the art in Windy Tales or hate it, but I think you’ll have a hard time arguing with the way they present wind in this series. As Nao, the main character, is quick to point out in the first episode, we never actually see wind: we only see the things moved by the wind. With a traditional anime style, wind would only be seen as fluttering leaves and various bits of debris, but in Windy Tales we actually get to see the wind in the form of sometimes colored broken lines. While not the most elegant presentation of wind, I think it’s pretty intuitive and works well with the art style. That said, the more basic, stylized art works really well to keep us from getting mired down in more common themes we would usually focus on and pushes us right into the story. Instead of using that logical segway to jump into the story, I’m gonna be a rebel and focus on the music (which is all the more rebellious since I’ve done that every time).

The music in Windy Tales is, well, it’s there. Actually, it fits so well you don’t even notice it. I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I don’t have as much to say here simply because the music blended so well with the scenes and was so quiet about it that I forgot it was there. Kind of like a soft breeze, to keep with the theme. Of course, the opening and closing get special recognition for almost making me sleep and totally not fitting the show, respectively. Again, not a show you’ll find me buying soundtracks to, but I can’t help but admire how well the people making the series used it. The music is masterfully used and not repeated to the point of stupidity such that it really adds to the whole of the series.

As you can tell, I like to save the story for last because it’s where I have the most to say about a series. Windy Tales, as I mentioned before, is actually a series of mostly stand-alone tales involving the main characters and the wind in some way. The fact that Nao and her friends can control the wind is less important as it functions more as a way of giving us a different lens through which to see each tale. For example, sakura viewing (the time of year when people go out and watch the cherry blossoms fall from the trees), has an entirely different flavor when a teacher whips the wind around and dazzles our young protagonists and an old lady with quite the show. Another example would be the sheer joy of kick the can in a construction site when all the players can fly. Or in a more subtle manner, the wind a runner feels as she trains. Each tale is pretty interesting on its own with interesting characters and situations to add to the whole of the series. The characters are noteworthy not just for the fact that they aren’t your run of the mill anime stereotypes, but they are in fact down right quirky and will act real enough to remind you of people you know real life. (I would like to point out a certain affinity I have for the main character Nao, as she is something of odd duck and she likes to look at the sky and take picture of it a lot and I can really relate to both of those things.) Also, time doesn’t always go straight, making for some dynamic story telling in a couple episodes. However, the best part is the theme that carries along with the wind. See, Windy Tales is another show about growing up (intellectually referred to as coming of age). While it’s not as violent, confused, or sexually charged as FLCL, Windy Tales captures the same magic of adolescence at an end. Whereas FLCL could be seen as growing up as it happens, Windy Tales is like a calm reflection upon it some years later. While each tale doesn’t necessarily have a related theme of its own, overall the general experience of those years when you realize that you will have to grow up but not just yet is present everywhere. From the old lady reflecting on love under the cherry blossoms to the teacher that hides in the nurse’s office when not telling horror stories, the series is filled with all of the events that surround the border between childhood and what comes next. However, there isn’t a lot of depth here, so if you’re looking for crazy symbolism or sexual metaphor or anything like that, you’ll have to keep searching elsewhere. The story in Windy Tales is elegant and straightforward like a good wind: it’s graceful to watch, meanders a bit, but is reliable and consistent in the direction it’s going.

A note about cats before we reach the conclusion: whoever made this series really likes cats. Cats are everywhere. A flying cat sets the series in motion, cats bring some of the characters together, and the little mid-episode break screens are drawings of cats. The way cats fly looks like it was drawn that way because someone thinks they just look cute like that or that the thought of a cat being spun away in a whirlwind is just too amusing for words. So, if you are greatly offended by cats or by the fact that someone really loves cats and is really intent on letting you know it, take a deep breath before watching Windy Tales. Anyway.

Windy Tales strikes me as one of those shows that people are going to really enjoy or flat out hate, but is ultimately forgotten either way. There’s a certain amount you need to know about Japanese culture, particular in relation to schools, that you need to know before watching this series if you want to understand everything; but I have a feeling if you’re looking at this show then you already know what you need. Also, I think this might actually be a show intended for a female audience, but it’s accessible to both and the only time it’s ever really girly is in the idol episode (which was brilliant, I might add). I was grooving with the art style, but I know not everyone is going to like it and that’s going to contribute a lot to what people won’t like about it. I think, though, that the art, music, and story really come together in the presentation of these stories of wind. Windy Tales doesn’t take the bold step towards greatness necessary to make it stand out in the history of anime (epic story, music, or whatever else it would need, probably a stronger sense of direction and purpose); but whether it really needs to is a question I’ll leave to you. I could ask for more about the wind manipulators, the teacher, or what his relationship to that woman in the wind village is, but somehow I feel that would be getting away from the point. Windy Tales does such a good job of being what it is that it’s hard for me to want it to be anything else. From my earlier reviews, you might think that I expect every series to be groundbreaking or epic or somehow so utterly spectacular I might go blind from the sheer awesomeness of it, but the truth is far more insidious than that: I expect competent execution and progress. Windy Tales is not earth-shatteringly original, but it is a welcome breath of fresh air and good sign of things to come.

~Whim

PS – I watched this series as fansub from Faith & Shi-Fa; good quality but the translation notes could use a little work (especially for that poetry episode, c’mon guys).
PS2 – I’ve got some other fun reviews coming up; I’ll do at least one a week, maybe two if you’re lucky. Depends on how much anime I can get through and whether or not I give in and do reviews of stuff I’ve only partially seen. There are series that were so bad I had to stop watching them, but I don’t think it’d be fair to review them without giving them a full viewing. I mean, if I’m gonna rip a series a new one, I should probably watch it.
PS3 – I swear I write these and post them and I always always always think of something else to add the next morning.
PS4 – If we keep buying the same thing, we’ll never get anything new.

PS extra special super secret – These reviews are written with less emphasis on grammatical structure on purpose. It helps keep that straight out of the mouth tone I’m going for. Also, I like to think it’s ironic.

Original text at the nekoheadz.org forum

I would say sorry for the long wait between this review and my last one, but ah ha, you guys get a bonus review, a really really long bonus review. While reviewing Air (which you should read as it’ll help with the context for this one), I couldn’t help but think of another series I’d like to review that had a bit of the loli-con theme, largely due to the fact that I couldn’t say anything really mean about Air and really needed to pound a series that deserved it. Well, that series is This Ugly Yet Beautiful World. Now, it’s been several months since I’ve seen this series, but trust me, the foul taste it left in my mouth is still vivid enough for this review to work. As usual, I will try not to spoil this series for you, but to fully bash on this series I will need some plot details (namely the ending) and really, there’s not much to spoil for a series this poorly done. Actually, strike that, you’re getting a full run down, so don’t come crying to me if I spoiled anything because this is me, warning you.

This Ugly Yet Beautiful World comes from Gainax, mixed bag studio that it is with the occasional lack of funding, and really promises a lot with that title. I can’t tell you how much I was looking forward to telling you how spectacularly Gainax failed with this series, namely because I was so utterly disappointed with it. This Ugly Yet Beautiful World (from here on referred to as TUYBW) has the kind of name that implies a deep, philosophical story that subtly or overtly changes our understanding of the world around us. If you disagree, I wonder what kind of expectations you’d have for something that says the world is ugly and beautiful at the same time: Perhaps you’re the kind of person that expects a superficial, predictable story about naked underage girls. In which case, you’re looking in the right place. Also, shame on you, you pervert. For the rest of you, you’re going to be sorely disappointed with Gainax. How can the people that brought us such wonderful anime like FLCL, Gurren Lagann, His and Her Circumstances, and the Wings of Honneamise have possibly wasted so much money and time on something some would consider kiddie porn? Hey, I’m all for artistic uses of nudity (I still insist that the only sexy moments in Elfen Lied occur when the characters are fully clothed; the nudity in that series works for artistic and dramatic effect), but TUYBW made me feel dirty with all its naked little girls that wanted the main protagonists and therefore the audience to love them. Getting creeped out just thinking about it. Anyway, loli-tastic nudity aside, there are so many other things to pound on this series for.

I suppose I will try to follow the format from the last review, so here’s a brief summary of the series so you can have a reference point other than Anime Encyclopedia (after that we’ll get animation, music, story, then the conclusion where I deliver the finishing blow). So there’s this mystical being that flies around the cosmos visiting planets and rolling things up into balls called katamaris; there’s another entity that flies around and ends all life on said planets (well, it had some kind of judgment thing going, but this is Earth we’re talking about; we’re screwed). Remember that demon in the first Ghostbusters movie that turned into whatever you were thinking of? Gozer the Destroyer or whatever he was until he turned into the Stay Puffed Marshmallow Man. Well, this planet killing entity does the same thing, but this time it flies through the head of a teenage boy and, surprise surprise, turns into a naked teenage girl. Actually, it splits in two and the other part flies through the boy’s best friend and turns into a naked little girl (he was thinking of his little sister, supposedly). The boys also have some friends/sibling that also get naked at times; it’s a bit of a harem. Enter some convoluted bit about super evolution in the face of the world killing naked girls and voila, both boys get super powers. But instead of using them to defend the earth, they save the girls from the other super evolved creatures (some extinct) while showing the girls all the wonders of life on earth like ice cream and school and friendship and love. Ultimately, the girls (having found some clothes) choose to leave the earth rather than stay and complete their world ending program thing. After a weak closing narrative about destiny and loneliness and connected hearts the end credits roll and we can all go on with our lives. Okay, there’s your summary, you don’t even have to see the series now. Sorry, but I need you to understand what this story is when I come back to hit it with a hammer later in the review. Before I get to that, let’s get all the little gripes like animation and music and such out of the way.

So TUYBW is a fitting title for the animation. TUYBW has a lot of pretty visuals and you can tell all the people involved put a lot of work into polishing it up and really making it shine. Unfortunately, they didn’t do anything to make it stand out. The animation style, the character design, the action sequences; they all look exactly the same as everything else that’s out there. On its own, TUYBW is generic; it’s beautiful in the way all of the other mainstream anime series are and, ultimately, comes across as ugly to the eyes for it. So many of the other Gainax productions always had something new to bring to the table or something special to make them stand out when it in the visual department; I’d list some examples, but I’m going to assume you’ve seen bits of at least three Gainax productions and can think of some examples on your own. The visuals in TUYBW remind me of so many of the other generic series that we’ve been plagued with over the last few years, lots of flashy cg with a lack of definitive style or substance. So, generic is my judgment for the looks. If you disagree, just wait until the end because I’m going to tie this up in a cute little bow.

The background music in TUYBW is exactly that: music that stays in the background. The themes are forgettable, but the music does manage to serve its purpose in accentuating the important bits of story. They (being the creators) harp on a bit with the music and it gets tiresome as they try to smash more deep and profound emotion into the ending with the same themes we listened to throughout the entire series. In my last review you wouldn’t catch me listening to any of the music from Air on my Ipod, well, the music for TUYBW won’t even make it to my computer. The music just doesn’t have the grip it needs for a serious story. Good lesson for all of you would-be anime makers out there: music is not an afterthought and it’s not something you can half-ass; it’s every bit as important in driving the story as the character design and settings. If you’re going to go the cheap route and use one or two themes as the basis for all of the music in your series, make damn sure the themes are good. Not just good, but kick you in the face and leave you asking for more fantastic. His and Her Circumstances had two themes, but they were so good and fit the story so well they never got old. TUYBW music didn’t even stand out enough to get old.

Okay, now for the part I was really looking forward to: the story. As you can see from my summary above, there was actually a fair amount going on in TUYBW. Admittedly, I oversimplified it, but just barely. I can imagine you’re all out there thinking “but Whim, that story actually sounds pretty interesting. What could be so bad about it?” Well, since you hypothetically asked, I will give you an answer based partly on what TUYBW could have hypothetically been. Now, imagine a series with all of the wonderfully convoluted metaphysical nonsense from Evangelion, the multi-level symbolism of FLCL, the sheer kick-ass character development from Gurren Lagann, set it to a deep, moving soundtrack, and make the subject matter how wonderful the world is despite all of the horrors of existence (which will be graphically depicted for all of us to recoil at); then give it an ending that would be somewhat vague but reaffirming as it shows us a new way to see the world. Okay, I can’t quite picture it, either, but I think you can see what I’m getting at. Now, take that awesome series, strip out the deep philosophical implications, take away any attempt at symbolism or subtlety, break the characters down into the most basic anime stereotypes, play some boring music, and end it with a generic “yes the world is good but it’s sad at the same time” and presto! you’ve just made This Ugly Yet Beautiful World now on DVD from ADV Films. I suppose I should explain my harsh judgment a little better for those of you that didn’t quite get what a wondrous anime I just described. See, TUYBW is just like every other anime: The characters are taken straight out of the top 10 anime stereotypes. The story doesn’t take any chances or really force new points of view on us; it just gets a bit lost with the romance between the main character and the first naked alien girl and the parallel bonding-and-implied-incestuous-desires of his best friend and the really young naked alien girl. Also, the whole point of showing the girls how great yet terrible life is kind of fails as it’s never successfully driven across to the viewer. The ending is the same kind of ‘this ending isn’t happy because the world isn’t perfect’ tripe that we get in everything that’s supposed to be contemporary or “edgy.” In a world ruled by political correctness and tolerance, such an ending is to be expected; the truly revolutionary ending will be one that makes a moral assertion or casts judgment on society and thereby expands our own understanding of the world, and it will be considered great for having done it. Obviously, I don’t think TUYBW was great. The story was competent, but generic to a fault. The execution was unimaginative with the only risk taken being that everyone was naked, underage, and in love with one another in more than just the puppy love way; and that ending where the best friend wanted to kiss the really young naked alien girl was really creepy.

In conclusion, This Ugly Yet Beautiful World could have been great, but a lack of innovation kept it from realizing its potential. The animation was generic, the music was generic, and the plot was worse than generic: it was a total failure. Now remember when I said I was going to wrap this up in a tight little bow, well here goes: TUYBW is a prime example of all of the things that are wrong with so many of the anime productions that have come out lately: un-ambitious works that reek of targeted marketing committees and fan-pandering. So much anime lately has come out that only gets luke-warm responses from all of us “anime can be high art” freaks, and this is the reason: You take a good concept for a series, dumb it down, use one of the common anime styles, follow a set plot formula, throw in some fan-service and CG, and then call it a day. Fan-service can count as anything from the usual jiggling or panty shots to using the same old gundam designs and plot points with minor graphical updates (Gundam SeeD is completely without shame when it comes to this); if a story has reached a logical finish don’t make a sequel just because people liked it (*coughFullMetalAlchemistcough*). Sequels are not remakes: there’s a difference between giving a nod to the fans while pursuing new things and leading us down the same path while throwing us the occasional bone. While we have been lucky enough to receive some fresh series (Nodame Cantabile, Gurren Lagann, and some others I have yet to finish but will review once I have), they are getting fewer and farther between. Personally, I feel that there is an unfortunate trend in anime to further adhere to the various genres rather than turn them on their heads. Production companies are bowing to fan expectations and delivering more of the same. Ultimately, the entire industry will suffer when all of our anime has sickeningly generic storylines and productions values, both dressed up with naked underage girls.

Still wound up from this review,
~Whim

PS – I watched this series subtitled on the officially released DVDs.
PS2 – I’m not thick enough to ignore the fact that I am pointedly staying oblivious to the fact that this series could have been a very sophisticated stab at our social norms regarding underage girls, but frankly, I’m not willing to give Gainax that kind of credit and given what the series could have been it seems like a real waste to have all that potential squandered in an attempt to justify pedofiles.

Original text at the nekoheadz.org forum

Hooray, time for another review from Whim! As you have probably guessed from the thread title, I’ll be telling you about an anime named Air. Well, I’m going to try to tell you about it, but really, do you have any idea how hard it is to write a review for people that haven’t seen a series without giving away spoilers? Ugh, it’s so much easier when it’s a second season or something that you can assume your readers will be familiar with… Right, review. I promise this one will be shorter. Also, I will try for some sort of comprehensible format this time: summary->animation->music->story->conclusion; so go ahead and skip to the end if you want to bypass all that. Oh, but still no scores; got to make that brain of yours work a bit, eh?

Okay, on the surface Air is an obscenely cute vaguely harem-like series with a loli-con bent. (In non-anime speak that means it is very cute, has one guy and a lot of girls, all or most of the latter being underage.) It starts out as your typical somewhat older guy meets questionably young girl, then her hot mom, then her also questionably young schoolmates, then their hot caretakers, and then some sort of dog…thing. Well, the guy (Yukito) is actually this wandering street performer with exactly enough magical power to make a six inch tall puppet move (and no, there is no sexual undertone involved). Oh, and the girls may or may not be somehow related to this lost sky girl the guy’s mother sent him out to find as she died. The whole thing takes place in this rural town on the coast in modern day Japan. For some reason, it’s almost always sunset and pretty. Anyway, I call it a harem because it is a single guy surrounded by all of these beautiful young girls and their caretakers, but the girls aren’t out to have sex with Yukito and he is not angsty about how hard it is to not have sex with them. In fact, they all want to be friends like it’s going out of style. Ha ha, in your face most modern harem anime series. Unless you find cuteness itself to be sexy, the ecchi factor of this show is almost nonexistent. And there go half the people who were interested.

Air is one of the prettiest anime series that I’ve seen in a while. The art style is a little strange with the faces on all of the female characters; if you thought eyes couldn’t get any bigger in anime you are wrong; but the character design is otherwise solid if a little typical . The backgrounds are well designed with a nice sense of continuity throughout the town (the buildings always face the right direction and buildings don’t change location from scene to scene or episode to episode). Air does a great job portraying the rustic country coastal town we typically only see in Miyazaki films, albeit without the overwhelming sense of nostalgia. While there’s nothing terribly unique in the overall art style and application, Air is two things: cute and detailed. Air is so cute you just want to pinch its cheeks and hug it and fawn over it until you realize that the story if so much more mature than that and then you have to apologize for treating it like a five year old; then it starts playing with a stuffed dinosaur and you can’t bring yourself to point out how cute it is. Shut up, that sentence wanted to run on. The attention to details, particularly in the way character design relates to the story, is one of the things that makes this series worth watching twice. There’s a richness to the art and character design that really makes the series vivid. Given the title, you can also expect some really dramatic shots of the sky, so if you get vertigo easily you may want to watch this from behind a railing or something.

As you’ve probably guessed from my review of the Paris chapter of Nodame Cantabile, music is a really key element for how I evaluate an anime series. For me, the soundtrack can make a great series terrible or make a terrible series pretty good. Noir, for example, would have been a mediocre series save for the best soundtrack to come out for a couple year span there (well, that and the single best kill I’ve ever seen in an anime ever). Anyway, Air has a pretty good soundtrack. The opening and closing themes are good enough to make it bearable to watch them every episode; while the in-episode music is masterfully used in relation to the story. The only complaint I would have would be that some of the music gets a little repetitive (a complaint I’ll come back to later). Overall, the music does what it’s supposed to, but isn’t something you’ll catch me humming to on my Ipod later on.

Alright, now on to what really makes this series: the story. While Air isn’t earth-shattering deep or revolutionary, it is very very good. The characters are deep, the episodes are varied and complex, and the path the series takes is not easily predictable. I don’t want to spoil anything for you, but just as this series has some really funny moments, you’ll need a box of tissues and a comforting shoulder/plushie at least once while watching it. For a series about the 1000th summer, the feel is both epic and homey and it works well. Unfortunately, Air loses a couple points because it gets a little repetitive at times and the pacing for the story suffers a little for it (not much given that the story is never in any particularly rush to begin with); however, the writing is solid enough to cover for it and there’s even a few points where the series repeats itself in a fresh way.

So, I guess we’ve reached the conclusion of this review all too soon. See, I actually think rather highly of Air and will readily recommend it to just about anyone. It’s solid from top to bottom, from story to music to animation. Air gets bonus points for being pretty, cute, and making me cry; kind of reminds me of an ex-girlfriend when I put it that way. If you’re looking for a solid story and something you can relax and enjoy on a rainy with a hot cup of tea or cocoa, you’re really going to enjoy this. There are some mature and complex themes, so preview this series if you’re considering watching it with children. If you’re looking for a boob-tastic harem love/sex comedy, I don’t know how you even came across this anime.

~Whim

PS – I watched this series as a fansub from Kyo; it is now available on DVD. There’s also a movie that is actually just a condensed version of the series and I don’t recommend it.
PS2 – There’s an OVA covering the 1st summer that doesn’t actually cover any new story, but does deepen the experience a bit while flushing out some of the characters and is worth looking up. Not worth writing a review though.
PS3 – Not enough venom in this review for you? Well, just wait for the next one when I review a series that needs to be roughed up in a dark alley for its mistreatment of underage girls.

Original text at the nekoheadz.org forum

It’s impossible to review the Paris chapter of Nodame Cantabile without having watched the first one, and I imagine you won’t understand much of this if you haven’t watched it either, so go do that. It’s okay, this is the internet, these words will still be here when you get back… Oh, I’ve tried to keep from going into the story details too much, so if you haven’t seen the Paris Chapter you can read with ease.

If you are at all familiar with the series Nodame Cantabile, you know that it’s about one thing: music. Well, music and romance. Err, music, romance, overcoming fear, cross-dressing, more romance, a big paper fan, Puri Gorota, kotatsu, and a mongoose. And not necessarily in that order. But despite all of that, Nodame Cantabile is what many music anime series are not: it is actually about music. The songs take a prominent focus with brief descriptions to relate the viewer to the piece with time to actually listen to the songs. The characters are passionate and motivated in their pursuit of music, or rather Music with a capital M as it is the closest thing these characters have to a religion. Chiaki’s dogged determination to bring out the meaning of a piece and Nodame’s personal quest to come closer to Music are things anyone who’s pursued something in its purest form can understand and relate to. I could go on and on about how prominently music is featured in Nodame Cantabile, but I think you get the picture.

Astute readers will have noticed that I haven’t once mentioned the Paris Chapter. Two reasons for that: 1) I need to establish a reference point so you can see where this review is coming from, and 2) while Chiaki and Nodame have moved to Paris for the second season, the music seems to have gotten lost at the airport. Well, the music, the paper fan, the mongoose, pretty much everything but the romance has been stuck on a flight to Norway while our intrepid main characters are left to make do with their romance and carry-on bags.

The Paris chapter always seems to be in a rush to get back to the romantic focus for Chiaki and Nodame; an understandable need as without it I could get as much satisfaction out of the classical station on AM radio. But the problem arises from the fact that since music is such a pillar in the lives of every single character in the series, once you take the focus away it’s like watching TV through the neighbor’s window; you can see what’s happening but the experience is a bit hollow.

I’m being pretty harsh here, but the first season of Nodame always took the time to let us hear as much of the piece as it could with only a brief amount of dialogue taking place over it to help us better relate to the piece. The selection of pieces used in the show had a lot of thought behind it and nothing seemed to be picked at random. For the Paris chapter the musical segments are much shorter (without the attention to what parts are important to hear) while both the narratives and dialogue never shut up. You can tell me a piece has a frantic quality or is being played poorly, but if you won’t let me actually listen to it how am I supposed to know that? In the first season, it was like reading a Cliff Notes for a piece; the Paris chapter is like reading flavor text.

Actually, that half-assed approach to the music extended out to much of the rest of the Paris chapter: character interaction was rushed and the amount of time that passes is indeterminate. Two new orchestras are introduced but we are never allowed to enjoy any time with the members like we did with the S Oke and Rising Star Oke. Well, there’s that weird guy that can see auras and the bassoon playing mama’s boy, but much like the two neighbors in the apartment building, they really only exist as measuring sticks for Chiaki and Nodame. As if that doesn’t make things feel rushed enough as it is, one minute it’s a few months after Chiaki and Nodame arrive in Paris, the next it’s six months later and the characters seems as out of sorts in the face of this sudden time change as we are. Sure, there’s a brief little interlude about what’s happening, but it’s like being given a picture of a cloud as a description of the first trans-Atlantic flight. The founding blocks for both Chiaki’s and Nodame’s careers are put in place, but it happens so fast and so seemingly unimportant next to this episode’s misunderstanding-turned-relationship-ending-argument. Oh, I forgot to mention: there’s a lot more drama and it’s mostly that annoying drama that would be resolved if someone was more straightforward (yes, I recognize that Chiaki’s inability to address his feelings for Nodame is important; I’m talking about that kind of drama that takes flying leaps out of mild assumptions). I would be willing to cut the Paris chapter some slack since it’s only half as long as the first season, but I feel like if they’d just calmed down and “faced music head on” as the characters in the series do, they really could have pulled it off in 11 episodes.

In short, Nodame Cantabile - Paris Chapter brings us much more of the relationship between Chiaki and Nodame, but at what I feel was an unacceptable shift in focus away from the music. Don’t get me wrong, it’s worth watching if you enjoyed the first season and there are some truly great moments in the show, particularly if you happen to be a romantic sap; but don’t go in expecting the greatness of the first season. Well, with another season and some sort of movie in the works you pretty much have to watch it. If you happen to have a copious amount of free time you want to fill, I suggest watching the live action version. The live action version has a Paris chapter done right and in less time.

~Whim

PS – If you’re wondering where the number based scoring went, I threw it out the window.

PS2 – I watched this series in fansub form from ANBU, A-Keep, BSS, and C1. The live action version was fansubbed by SARS.