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 Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 1:56 pm
Title: Irresponsible Captain Tylor Type of media (movie, game, show, book, etc.): Show - Anime Other extraneous information (genre, platform, etc.)...Review: I honestly can't decide between calling this " awesome" or " crazy awesome". To start, we'll cover the basics. Good, old fashioned animation. None of that CG or overlaid image stuff you find in the more recent shows, all of this is hand-drawn cell animation from characters to backgrounds. No overly dark scenes that make it hard to see, lots of bright colors on everything from wall decorations to uniforms, but the most notable thing about the quality of the animation is that despite not being overly detailed, it's entirely expressive. There's no use in having a beautifully drawn character if all they do is stand there in a single pose reciting lines like a cardboard cutout. The characters all move like you'd expect a person to, from their footing to their faces, rather than just having the mouth size change on an otherwise static character drawing. The first time when it really struck me, and when I really appreciated that quality in it, was when Azelyn sniffled. I thought to myself "they just don't put in the effort to do little things like that anymore". The music... is entirely appropriate. Whether it's the lounge-singer type of ending theme while watching Tylor sway drunkenly with a martini in hand, or the bubbly, cartoonish background noise when he's making an idiot of himself again, it always fits. Not a soundtrack I'd ever consider grabbing a copy of, but there's no mistake that it adds to the mood in a way that background music should. The characters are all comedic, with the exception of Harumi and Ru Baraba Dom (AWESOME name, by the way). All of them have their own specific styles, personalities, and jokes that go along with those. Even "Jason", the guy who never takes off his hockey mask. Tylor and Yamamoto are the most severe in that respect... being the irresponsible slacker and overly-strict straight man, respectively. However, despite the rampant comedic aspects of the characters, they do develop throughout the series in understandable ways. The girl-phobic Kojima has to get along with the twins, the strict Yamamoto has to accept that his superior is the most irresponsible person in the world, and so on... Though Captain Tylor never does learn to act responsibly. It wouldn't be the same if he did. As far as the storyline goes, I'm entirely conflicted based on phases. The first few episodes are hectic, crazy, and full of that laid-back charm that is Tylor being his base, charismatic self. For around the second half-dozen episodes it gets kind of boring, because plot advancement seemed to have taken a complete hiatus and it was just a series of circumstantial occurrence episodes that were mediocre at best. However, from around twelve to around twenty-one they just kept getting better and better... the "dumb luck" that Tylor is so famous for returned to that mix of luck and nonchalant charm that he'd shown in the opening episodes, and there were many large steps forwards in overall plot advancement. The downside is that the momentum picked up by this run of great episodes stops just short of the series ending and the last two or three episodes turn to boring introspection, which is not the series' strong point. At the very least, the last half of the last episode brings back the charm we were all craving, and goes out in a blaze of glory... ...despite leaving a few things unanswered. Like what happens to the clearly evil Wang, and where things are going with Azelyn. I could care less about the other storylines, I just want closure on those two. Rating (X/10): 8/10 Spectacular most of the time, kind of dull some of the time.
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Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 2:12 pm
Title: Claymore
Type of media (movie, game, show, book, etc.): Manga and Anime
Other extraneous information (genre, platform, etc.)... Action?
Review: I'm not entirely certain what I can say about this that hasn't already been said about so many other things.
It's a setting of men vs. monsters, or something like that. Yoma are monsters that eat human flesh and disguise themselves as people to hide among them. Claymores are an organization of half-human half-yoma fighters that kill them off.
As you can expect, there's a good deal of 'crazy demon powers' involved in the fights once you get past the first few segments, and nine times out of ten everyone in a fight gets impaled but survives. The good news is that as of yet there are no 'crazy demon powers' that do more than give extraordinary melee ability, so you won't be seeing any GIGABLASTS or things like that.
The early story follows the setting closely enough. Claymore goes to place A, kills monster B, has conversation C, and then leaves for point D. The later story is where it gets interesting... where it's slowly revealed that the organization has many hidden and ulterior motives for doing what they do, countless skeletons in their closets, and the Awakened One hunts begin.
The anime has clean animation and it's voiced well. I'm not in love with the music, and have nothing good to say about the opening or ending themes or the scenes that accompany them. It's moving along at a good pace, though, and considering the hiatus in the manga and the speed the anime is moving at, the animation will catch up to the manga soon enough.
Personally, I liked the manga more than the anime, though the anime has done exceedingly well at sticking to the manga story without excluding or deviating in any real way... so pick up either, you shouldn't miss much.
Rating (X/10): 6/10
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Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2007 11:42 pm
Title: Majutsushi Orphen
Type of media (movie, game, show, book, etc.): Anime
Other extraneous information (genre, platform, etc.)...
Review: Are you looking for a show that always keeps you on the edge of your seat with new and interesting plot twists, stunning characters, and developments that make you think? Well, then stay the hell away from this.
Overall, Orphen is completely unimpressive in every way. The character design is probably it's most notable feature... not the character's personalities, just the art. The personalities themselves are pretty constant and stock, with little to no deviation from what they've been pegged as. You're not watching it for the characters.
The plot goes from Point A to Point B, but nowhere beyond that. There are only really one or two notable turns in the main plot, and they are pretty unremarkable in their own right. Most of the episodes tend to be filler material and don't contribute at all to the main plot except maybe an exchange between characters giving one piece of information or backstory. You're not watching it for the plot.
That said, at least it's good filler. Not great filler, but as far as single-serve episodes and 2 episode arcs go, they do pretty well for themselves. They help to flesh out the setting in an interesting way and make you want to know more about what the story is with the Heavenly Beings. Unfortunately, it doesn't really go much further than 'mysterious ancient magic'. Alas.
So why watch the show? That's a good question... the magic would be one reason. It finds a nice balance between "power word: kill" and magical girl wand waving. There are some 'odd effect' spells used, but the majority of them tend to be offensive magic that ranges from a small effect to a large (but not massive) explosion. What makes it special? Each spell cast has a unique phrase associated with it.
...yes, that's really the best thing I have to say about this series.
Rating (X/10): 4/10
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Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2007 12:23 am
Title: Scrapped Princess
Type of media (movie, game, show, book, etc.): Anime
Other extraneous information (genre, platform, etc.)...
Review: Always root for the underdog.
Scrapped Princess started off slow... very slow. Not in the way of "nothing is happening, when will something start happening" that some tend to, but in the way that the first few episodes didn't really shine at all and it made the series look to be something that would struggle through the finish line with two-dimensional characters and a sore excuse for a plot. Honestly, it gave me the feeling of Grenadier.
However, that didn't last. While the first half of the series did seem to be a collection of single-serving episodes that slowly moved the plot along, it did provide a useful service in the long run: introducing us to the characters that would become important later on, when the plot kicked into real swing.
The early plot was a simple thing. The Scrapped Princess was being chased by hunters and assassins because supposedly she would bring about the end of the world. This obviously leads into several episodes where her two Guardians (right now we'll call them Badass A and Badass B) wail on people and look good while doing it. However, the later parts not only developed the plot into a conspiracy made by the church and beyond that, but it also changed the setting of the world entirely from 'swords and magic' to the ever-popular 'a long time ago humanity had super technology but now they're stuck in the middle ages again'.
Going by the plot alone, the early parts would get a four or five, the later ones would get a six or seven.
What makes plot more interesting? Character. Particularly the interactions between characters. This is where I get to list all of my high points for the series.
High point #1: The main character, a ditzy blonde female, does not fall in love with the swordly badass. In fact, she doesn't fall in love at all, despite being chased around by the clumsy youth character.
High point #2: The swordly badass does not have every wench in the kingdom fawning over his mighty badassery. Yes, that's a word. The closest thing this man comes to romance is sharing an umbrella with an incarnate god that won't stop following him around. The only one in the entire series that seems to hook up is the secondary swordly badass. You go, side characters!
High point #3: The swordly badass. He is a high point in and of himself. Despite being a badass swordsman monster-fighting assassin-thwarting slayer of god riding a dragon, he is neither incompetently silly nor emotastically antisocial. He is neither of the faces of Kenshin.
That deserves merit, because he strikes a perfect balance of personality that doesn't vary in any direction of what you'd expect from him. That's not to say that he doesn't develop as a character as the series moves, but it says that his character performs remarkably well at staying in character. From the times he's stuck doing laundry to his "shut up and let me do this" phases, he remains himself at all time. Not an emo self, not an angsty self, not an angry antisocial badass self either. He shows through with personality and complete devotion to what he thinks is important.
He really should be an example to everyone wanting to roleplay that type of character. So if you're watching this series, keep an eye on Shannon Cassul.
They attempt to replicate this unsuccessfully in Christopher Bylaha, and much more successfully in the Shannon-clone character from the later episodes. The other Guardian, Raquel, doesn't quite meet the same level of character depth either though she has her own merits, and ends up being filed into the slot of the eternally cheerful girl.
High Point #4: The idiotic side-character that fell in love with the princess. It's really hard to say what's great about this guy, except to say that nothing is great about this guy. That's the thing... when you first see him you think he's going to end up being the comedic side character... and he does. But the more you see of him, the more it makes you think that eventually he'll 'grow up' and turn into some sort of badass. All the signs are there; an old sword master compliments his form, he's in love with the main character, he has one or two dramatic revelations that completely change his character... but the writers managed to resist handing him a trophy and saying "congratulations, you graduated to badass". In the same vein, he never truly descends into pure comedic territory. Sure, he's constantly made the butt of jokes, but he doesn't exist solely to be laughed at.
I do believe I'm shocked at the masterful level of mediocrity in Leo.
High Point #5: This isn't about characters. It's just a high point that made me watch the intro every single episode... or at least parts of it. Bagpipes! The anime intro has bagpipes!
Alright, high points aside, I think I've said all that I really can about this series without dipping into spoiler territory. It starts off feeling like one genre and ends up being another. All of the characters are well-written, and a few absolutely shine.
I recommend watching it if you're a fan of 'slayer of god' stories, in which church conspiracies to rule the world are overthrown. I also recommend watching it just for the characters, even if you don't like that type of plot.
Rating (X/10): 8/10
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Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2007 12:58 am
Title: Sakura Diaries
Type of media (movie, game, show, book, etc.): Anime
Other extraneous information (genre, platform, etc.)...
Review: I could write an extensive review for this covering every minor detail... but it would be a waste.
If you want a plot that keeps you thinking, this isn't it.
If you want characters that you'll be fascinated with, this isn't it.
If you want interesting twists that keep you involved, this isn't it.
Really... there's just nothing great about this at all.
It falls somewhere between a comedy about a romance and a romantic comedy. If it were either, it would be better. Instead it's just... ech. The first few episodes were so full of lulz that I didn't really care how pathetic the plot was. After that the plot got a little better but the lulz almost completely died off, and without the lulz Sakura Diaries ends up as just a barely passable romantic comedy.
High points... if you can really call them that. Things that made it interesting, at least:
- Despite that it's clearly obvious 'standardized idiot boy' is the on-camera star of the show, considering he's the main focus of attention, the story pretty much revolves around Urara, the 'has no real reason for being in love with the boy' girl and how she manages to get through his thick scull.
- There is no character development in anyone except idiot boy, lovey-dovey girl, and the fox that idiot boy is going after the whole series. Prettyboy gets a little monologue that fleshes him out a little, but too little too late since it comes at the end of the final episode. Strangely enough the most changed personality in a character ended up being the fox... who was pretty off-camera two-dimensional for the entire series.
- Oh god I wish I had a third... Well, at the very least, the idiot boy's reactions to things seemed pretty natural. None of that odd, forced behavior that just screams 'badly written' at you. He may be an idiot, but at least he acts believably.
If you want to pick this up, it's pretty much guaranteed to waste a couple hours. As long as you're not hoping for a work of art, it won't disappoint as time filler.
Rating (X/10): 4/10
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