So here's something a little odd, an anime series that draws from the works of Shakespeare. Perhaps that's more common than I realise, but this is the only one I know. Anyhow, it's a loose adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. And by 'loose adaptation' I mean 'the characters have the same names'....well most of them do.
As the story opens, the floating city of Neo Verona has been ruled for 14 years by the tyrannical Duke Motague, who acquired power by overthrowing the rival Capulet house. The only survivor of that house was Juliet, who was rescued from the coup when the royal knight Conrad intervened and spirited her away. She has lived the past 14 year pretending to be a boy named Odin, under the care of Conrad, two other knights Camio and Francisco, and her best friend Cordelia. She spends the bulk of her time running around the city dressed all in red acting as an odd Zorro-like figure called the Red Whirlwind.
Meanwhile, the Duke's son, Romeo, is fast maturing and finding out that he really doesn't like the way that his increasingly insane father is doing things. Along with his friend Benvolio, he spends more and more time out and about. Eventually he bumps into Juliet on one of the few occasions that she has her hair down. Needless to say, the two fall in love and go through many happy adventures trying to keep that love alive while Juliet is trying to avoid being killed by Romeo's father.
It may seem like I'm mocking the plot, but this is a really good series. The plot is well paced, and has several points where it actually raises real questions. How far can you go in persuit of justice? What's the correct response to collective punishment? Can collective punishment ever be appropriate? How can you balance your freedom against the suffering of others? The show tries to make you think about all these and more, and for the most part it succeeds without being preachy.
The graphics are good. The lines and colour are crisp and clean, although somewhat lacking in shading. The music is without exception superb.
The characters are also pretty well done. Even the insane Duke Montague is in some respects a sympathetic character. There are a few who are less so. I couldn't get my head around the slimy coutier Mercutio, he seemed to have no redeeming features whatsoever. I'd have to say my favourite is the tragic lover Hermione. She seems to have Romeo in her grasp, before he's snatched away by Juliet. She convinces herself that Juliet must have wickedly seduced him, and is unable to handle it when she finds out the Juliet is actually a quite nice person!
The voice acting is all very good, but props have to go to Kazukiko Inoue (also Kakashi in Naruto) for his work portraying a character who is basically Shakespeare himself. Portrayed as quirky, effeminate and somewhat philosophical, his dryly humourous comments and annoyed barbs steal the episodes in which he appears.
All in all I would recommend this series. It's 24 episodes of fantastic action and romance. Go watch it now, if you're at a loss for what to do.
Showing posts with label Reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reviews. Show all posts
Sunday, 10 February 2008
Saturday, 9 February 2008
Review: Advance Wars: Dark Conflict
WARNING-SLIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD!
The Advance Wars series has always been a beacon of excellent design and storytelling on the GBA and DS. Turn-based strategy is a niche market even on the PC, and on consoles there are very few that are well known, unless you count things like Final Fantasy Tactics. So it's to the credit of Nintendo that they've managed to get this series right. They combine an excellent story and character driven single-player experience with a truly addictive and limitless multiplayer.
Dark Conflict brings a lot of new stuff to the table. Firstly, the world and characters from the last few games are completely gone, and the game itself has gone post-apocolyptic. I loved this, but they I love anything post-apoc. In the ashes of a world devestated by a cataclysmic meteor shower and dust cloud, a few survivors live on, scavenging for food and continuing old hatred. Ed is your first Commanding Officer, and is the only survivor of the Laurentian Military academy that he studied at, and is then rescued by the First Independant Laurentian Batallion under the command of Captain O'Brien and his subordinate Corporal Lin. I rate the story as one of the best in the series, partly due to it's post-apocolyptic nature, but also partly because it's less obvious who the bad guys are. In all three of the others, the answer was always 'Black Hole did it.' The characters also get better development through various cutscenes, and it's the first time in the series that I remember them killing major COs off.
The game, like all the others, is heavily mission-based, and you can gain points for completing each mission based upon your speed, power and technique (basically: how many turns it took, how many things you destroyed, how many of your things were destroyed). I was a little upset to see that the system that you could use in Duel Strike to spend points on upgrades for your COs was taken out, but it means that the focus of the game shifts to the units themselves as opposed to the people commanding them, making for a slightly different style of gameplay. On that note, the power differences between units has decreased slightly. In Duel strike, a Mega Tank was incredibly powerful, and could take repeated batterings from bombers and live. Infantry were next to useless against it. Now, the differences are still there, but less pronounced. Infantry have a role to play besides captures, which is good. Indeed, you can make a coherant strategy out of an infantry wave. This is something they tried in previous games with COs like Sami and Sensei, but never managed because of the focus on the CO themselves. I still bemoan the lack of infantry with decent anti-air capabilities, but there are enough anti-air units to go around.
The role of COs in this game has been dramatically scaled back. CO powers are far rarer and are no longer as game-ending as they could be in Duel Strike and the GBA games. The individual abilities of COs are also less pronounced. Of note is the ability of COs to command particular units. For example, you can plut your CO in a tank, and they will generate a command zone. In this zone the attack and defence of all unit is somewhat increased, but make sure to protect that unit. Leave it exposed and you might just lose. This is a nice touch, but doesn't come into play all that often.
The unit roster hasn't changed dramatically. What were fighters are now interceptors, and the unit called fighters are a sort of hybrid of battle copters and the old fighters. There are missle-boats which basically act as landers with a single attack, meaning that transporting of troops across large bodies of water is significantly easier. There are motorbike units, which are basically fast-moving infantry, and various units have small tweaks in how much damage they can do and how much punishment they can take.
Basically, if you're a fan of the Advance Wars series, this is an addition that I heartily recommend. It has all of the creative storytelling and tactical gameplay that has made the series great so far.
The Advance Wars series has always been a beacon of excellent design and storytelling on the GBA and DS. Turn-based strategy is a niche market even on the PC, and on consoles there are very few that are well known, unless you count things like Final Fantasy Tactics. So it's to the credit of Nintendo that they've managed to get this series right. They combine an excellent story and character driven single-player experience with a truly addictive and limitless multiplayer.
Dark Conflict brings a lot of new stuff to the table. Firstly, the world and characters from the last few games are completely gone, and the game itself has gone post-apocolyptic. I loved this, but they I love anything post-apoc. In the ashes of a world devestated by a cataclysmic meteor shower and dust cloud, a few survivors live on, scavenging for food and continuing old hatred. Ed is your first Commanding Officer, and is the only survivor of the Laurentian Military academy that he studied at, and is then rescued by the First Independant Laurentian Batallion under the command of Captain O'Brien and his subordinate Corporal Lin. I rate the story as one of the best in the series, partly due to it's post-apocolyptic nature, but also partly because it's less obvious who the bad guys are. In all three of the others, the answer was always 'Black Hole did it.' The characters also get better development through various cutscenes, and it's the first time in the series that I remember them killing major COs off.
The game, like all the others, is heavily mission-based, and you can gain points for completing each mission based upon your speed, power and technique (basically: how many turns it took, how many things you destroyed, how many of your things were destroyed). I was a little upset to see that the system that you could use in Duel Strike to spend points on upgrades for your COs was taken out, but it means that the focus of the game shifts to the units themselves as opposed to the people commanding them, making for a slightly different style of gameplay. On that note, the power differences between units has decreased slightly. In Duel strike, a Mega Tank was incredibly powerful, and could take repeated batterings from bombers and live. Infantry were next to useless against it. Now, the differences are still there, but less pronounced. Infantry have a role to play besides captures, which is good. Indeed, you can make a coherant strategy out of an infantry wave. This is something they tried in previous games with COs like Sami and Sensei, but never managed because of the focus on the CO themselves. I still bemoan the lack of infantry with decent anti-air capabilities, but there are enough anti-air units to go around.
The role of COs in this game has been dramatically scaled back. CO powers are far rarer and are no longer as game-ending as they could be in Duel Strike and the GBA games. The individual abilities of COs are also less pronounced. Of note is the ability of COs to command particular units. For example, you can plut your CO in a tank, and they will generate a command zone. In this zone the attack and defence of all unit is somewhat increased, but make sure to protect that unit. Leave it exposed and you might just lose. This is a nice touch, but doesn't come into play all that often.
The unit roster hasn't changed dramatically. What were fighters are now interceptors, and the unit called fighters are a sort of hybrid of battle copters and the old fighters. There are missle-boats which basically act as landers with a single attack, meaning that transporting of troops across large bodies of water is significantly easier. There are motorbike units, which are basically fast-moving infantry, and various units have small tweaks in how much damage they can do and how much punishment they can take.
Basically, if you're a fan of the Advance Wars series, this is an addition that I heartily recommend. It has all of the creative storytelling and tactical gameplay that has made the series great so far.
Wednesday, 18 April 2007
Review-Final Fantasy XII
It's a month to the day since I last posted, mostly because I have been at home, where the internet is....sporadic at best. However, a few other things have been in the way of posting.
1. I have read pretty much every manga volume I own over again.
2. I have watched the entirety of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Yeah, all seven seasons. And yeah, I don't have a life, get over it.
3. I have been practicing my kendo a lot. My strikes are so much better now than they were a month ago.
4. I have done a lot of reading for university.
However, the thing that has taken up by far the biggest time, Final Fantasy XII, is what I want to talk about today. My initial suspicion was that I would call it a great game, but not as good as VII, and I think that's pretty much true.
First things first, the plot: Constant tension between the Archadian and Rozarrian Empires has led to annexation of many of the smaller kingdoms between them, including the Kingdom of Dalmasca, from where our hero, Vaan, hails. Two years before the start of the story, Dalmasca was invaded by Archades and put under military rule. The king was assassinated by the top general, Basch, and the princess Ashelia committed suicide. Thinking to get back at his oppressors, Vaan breaks into the palace on the night of a celebration welcoming the new consul from Archades in order to steal things. Here he meets not only the sky pirate Balthier and his companian, the Viera Fran, but also a member of the Dalmascan resistance calling herself Abelia.
This leads to a grand, epic quest, which I won't describe for fear of spoling the game for you.
The plot is, in my opinion, the weakest element of the game. It's fairly linear, and has few of the twists and turns that characterise other incarnations of the series. The bad guy is clear from the start, yet rarely shows up once the game has really got started. What this often leads to is the player having no clear sense of what they are doing or why they are doing it. It doesn't help that the characters, while fairly well fleshed out, have none of the style or memorability of characters from FFX or any of the others. The setting is also not as memorable as it could be. Spira from FFX was a vast, well-designed world with original and imaginative customs, religions, sports, groups. The world of FFXII, by contrast, seems shallow and underdeveloped. This is something that could easily have been rectified by making the game a couple of hours longer in order to showcase such things.
That's the extent of the bad, however, and even those problems really aren't as big as I have made the, seem. The thing that everyone knows about, the new battle system, really shines through as a positive. In my opinion, the best FF battle system so far is FFX's conditional turn-based one, but this one comes a very close second. They have stealthily hidden a turn-based battle system behind active-time feeling with a clever use of wait bars. This means that you watch the battle unfold in real time, while still being able to have turn-based control. The potential downside of this is that the player might feel overwhelmed by the whole thing, but that is mitigated by the clever gambit system, which allows you to set up what a character automatically does in any situation. For example, I could use gambits to make my white mage character cast Esuna on anyone with a status-ailment, then cast Curaga on any critically wounded party members, then cast cure on any party membe on less that 60% health, then cast protect on all characters, and then finally attack the monster with the lowest HP. All of this will be carried out automatically, and with a few second of adjusting, I can change the order in which they are done or remove some of them altogether. If you have an order for a character, outside of this system, they will always perform it first, so you never come into conflict with your characters.
The License board system is nothing special, it's basically the Sphere Grid from FFX but with a lot more freedom of movement, so you can make your characters what you want them to be. Wheras in FFX you characters all had defined roles (Yuna= White Mage, Lulu= Black Mage, Auron= Heavy hitter etc), in FFXII you can basically choose which character fulfills which role.
One thing that I think deserves a lot of praise is the Quickenings, which basically replace limit breaks. Each character can have three Quickenings which are hidden on the License Board. Each time they gain a quickening they get a Mist Charge. Different quickenings use different amounts of these charges (the 1st one a character gets costs one charge, the second costs two, the third costs three). When a character launches a quickening, other characters can follow up with their own quickenings, and you will sometimes get the option you gain mist charges anew, thus continuing the chain. Get a sufficiently long chain and it will result in a concurrence (a finishing attack which does massive damage to all enemies in range.) The better your mist chain (ie, the longer it is and the more high-level quickenings used), the better the concurrence you will get. However, your mist charges are linked to your mana, so the more you use, the less mana you will end up with.
Altogether, Final Fantasy XII is a great game, but sometimes marred by the desire to go for style over substance. The mechanics and graphics are great, but the story suffers as a result. Since Squaresoft merged with Enix to become Square-Enix, this has happened a lot (where do you think X-2 came from?), and it needs to be rectified. None of this stops XII from being a praise-worthy game, but it does have a slight could-do-better feel to it.
Score: 9/10, well worth it.
1. I have read pretty much every manga volume I own over again.
2. I have watched the entirety of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Yeah, all seven seasons. And yeah, I don't have a life, get over it.
3. I have been practicing my kendo a lot. My strikes are so much better now than they were a month ago.
4. I have done a lot of reading for university.
However, the thing that has taken up by far the biggest time, Final Fantasy XII, is what I want to talk about today. My initial suspicion was that I would call it a great game, but not as good as VII, and I think that's pretty much true.
First things first, the plot: Constant tension between the Archadian and Rozarrian Empires has led to annexation of many of the smaller kingdoms between them, including the Kingdom of Dalmasca, from where our hero, Vaan, hails. Two years before the start of the story, Dalmasca was invaded by Archades and put under military rule. The king was assassinated by the top general, Basch, and the princess Ashelia committed suicide. Thinking to get back at his oppressors, Vaan breaks into the palace on the night of a celebration welcoming the new consul from Archades in order to steal things. Here he meets not only the sky pirate Balthier and his companian, the Viera Fran, but also a member of the Dalmascan resistance calling herself Abelia.
This leads to a grand, epic quest, which I won't describe for fear of spoling the game for you.
The plot is, in my opinion, the weakest element of the game. It's fairly linear, and has few of the twists and turns that characterise other incarnations of the series. The bad guy is clear from the start, yet rarely shows up once the game has really got started. What this often leads to is the player having no clear sense of what they are doing or why they are doing it. It doesn't help that the characters, while fairly well fleshed out, have none of the style or memorability of characters from FFX or any of the others. The setting is also not as memorable as it could be. Spira from FFX was a vast, well-designed world with original and imaginative customs, religions, sports, groups. The world of FFXII, by contrast, seems shallow and underdeveloped. This is something that could easily have been rectified by making the game a couple of hours longer in order to showcase such things.
That's the extent of the bad, however, and even those problems really aren't as big as I have made the, seem. The thing that everyone knows about, the new battle system, really shines through as a positive. In my opinion, the best FF battle system so far is FFX's conditional turn-based one, but this one comes a very close second. They have stealthily hidden a turn-based battle system behind active-time feeling with a clever use of wait bars. This means that you watch the battle unfold in real time, while still being able to have turn-based control. The potential downside of this is that the player might feel overwhelmed by the whole thing, but that is mitigated by the clever gambit system, which allows you to set up what a character automatically does in any situation. For example, I could use gambits to make my white mage character cast Esuna on anyone with a status-ailment, then cast Curaga on any critically wounded party members, then cast cure on any party membe on less that 60% health, then cast protect on all characters, and then finally attack the monster with the lowest HP. All of this will be carried out automatically, and with a few second of adjusting, I can change the order in which they are done or remove some of them altogether. If you have an order for a character, outside of this system, they will always perform it first, so you never come into conflict with your characters.
The License board system is nothing special, it's basically the Sphere Grid from FFX but with a lot more freedom of movement, so you can make your characters what you want them to be. Wheras in FFX you characters all had defined roles (Yuna= White Mage, Lulu= Black Mage, Auron= Heavy hitter etc), in FFXII you can basically choose which character fulfills which role.
One thing that I think deserves a lot of praise is the Quickenings, which basically replace limit breaks. Each character can have three Quickenings which are hidden on the License Board. Each time they gain a quickening they get a Mist Charge. Different quickenings use different amounts of these charges (the 1st one a character gets costs one charge, the second costs two, the third costs three). When a character launches a quickening, other characters can follow up with their own quickenings, and you will sometimes get the option you gain mist charges anew, thus continuing the chain. Get a sufficiently long chain and it will result in a concurrence (a finishing attack which does massive damage to all enemies in range.) The better your mist chain (ie, the longer it is and the more high-level quickenings used), the better the concurrence you will get. However, your mist charges are linked to your mana, so the more you use, the less mana you will end up with.
Altogether, Final Fantasy XII is a great game, but sometimes marred by the desire to go for style over substance. The mechanics and graphics are great, but the story suffers as a result. Since Squaresoft merged with Enix to become Square-Enix, this has happened a lot (where do you think X-2 came from?), and it needs to be rectified. None of this stops XII from being a praise-worthy game, but it does have a slight could-do-better feel to it.
Score: 9/10, well worth it.
Monday, 12 March 2007
Review: Now and then, here and there
This is another series that I watched very recently (meaning the last couple of days). To be honest, I wasn't expecting much of it, given that 'boy falls into another world' plots usually turn out to be brainless action pieces. This one however, quickly shattered my preconceptions.
Plot: Matsutani Shuzo (Shu) is coming home from a kendo session in which he totally messed up in front of the girl he has a crush on. Climbing to his favourite contemplation spot on top of a chimney in an abandoned factory, he finds it taken by a mysterious girl. He only manages to get a name out of her, Lala Ru, before he is attacked by mysterious people in snake-like robots who are after this girl. Trying to stop them, he is pulled into another world with them. (It is never stated in the series to my knowledge, but the opening text of every episode basically tells you that it is Earth in ten billion years time.) He finds himself in a mysterious stronghold, Hellywood, populated by soldiers (mostly drafted children) and overseen by the insane and maniachal King Hamdo. Very quickly, he finds himself drafted into Hellywood's army, to fulfill Hamdo's wishes of world domination.
Review: This is an incredibly dark anime series. If you are watching for action, you'll get what you want, and a whole lot more besides. This is one of those series that tackles real issues head on and never flinches from showing you their horror. Children die, a girl is kept and raped over and over (although thankfully never onscreen), the horrors of war are shown in their totality. What is more, bullets kill people, knife-wounds kill people. This isn't the sort of series where characters can survive any injury because they are main characters. The best and nicest aren't necessarily the ones that live. People who deserve to die, live, and some who deserve to live, die. This could be used to make a really banal point along the lines of 'war bad, un-war good' but it combines showing the futility of war (a point really easy to make), with the self-sustaining nature of war (a much more subtle point). Don't watch if you are expecting a light action series. This series will depress you. However, it will also make you think very hard.
Characters: There are some very good characters. The main character, Shu, is one of those tireless optimists who never fail to try to do the right thing. Usually these annoy me, because directors shy away from making them suffer the consequences of their actions, and equally shy away from ever letting the audience know that they might be terrified underneath it all. This is not the case here. Shu suffers, and gets tortured mentally and physically, he almost gives in, but in the end wins through, and is an incredibly strong character for it. Equally fascinating is the teenage soldier Nabuca, who commands the squad of Hellywood soldiers that Shu is drafted into. He is a character who has sustained himself on the fantasy that one day it will be all over and he can return home, and does everything he can to convince himself that it is true. He follows Hamdo's orders, and does really terrible things, because he just wants to keep his head down and survive. His line, screamed at Shu for shielding some children from orders that they be killed, 'only killing people can end war' sums up both his character and the entire series. Equally interesting is the other boy from the same village as him, Tabool. Tabool is the way Nabuca could have gone, to start relishing in what he does, and allowing it to change him. Where Nabuca eventually deep down wants to be redeemed, Tabool doesn't anymore.
What I love is that almost every character's motivations can be understood, if not supported. Elamba, for example, is another character that does really bad things in his desire to stop Hamdo's machinations, but it is easy to see why he does it, and in his circumstances I would be tempted to do the exact same things.
Visuals: These are pretty good, although the character designs are very simple. The dark, twisting corridors of Hellywood and the open light airyness of Zari Bars are well animated.
Music: Excellent, really emphasises the mood of every scene.
Overall: Not an easy series to watch, this is nevertheless a series that every anime fan should watch at least once. Trust me when I say that few series come close to being as dark as this one.
8/10. Excellent, if difficult.
Plot: Matsutani Shuzo (Shu) is coming home from a kendo session in which he totally messed up in front of the girl he has a crush on. Climbing to his favourite contemplation spot on top of a chimney in an abandoned factory, he finds it taken by a mysterious girl. He only manages to get a name out of her, Lala Ru, before he is attacked by mysterious people in snake-like robots who are after this girl. Trying to stop them, he is pulled into another world with them. (It is never stated in the series to my knowledge, but the opening text of every episode basically tells you that it is Earth in ten billion years time.) He finds himself in a mysterious stronghold, Hellywood, populated by soldiers (mostly drafted children) and overseen by the insane and maniachal King Hamdo. Very quickly, he finds himself drafted into Hellywood's army, to fulfill Hamdo's wishes of world domination.
Review: This is an incredibly dark anime series. If you are watching for action, you'll get what you want, and a whole lot more besides. This is one of those series that tackles real issues head on and never flinches from showing you their horror. Children die, a girl is kept and raped over and over (although thankfully never onscreen), the horrors of war are shown in their totality. What is more, bullets kill people, knife-wounds kill people. This isn't the sort of series where characters can survive any injury because they are main characters. The best and nicest aren't necessarily the ones that live. People who deserve to die, live, and some who deserve to live, die. This could be used to make a really banal point along the lines of 'war bad, un-war good' but it combines showing the futility of war (a point really easy to make), with the self-sustaining nature of war (a much more subtle point). Don't watch if you are expecting a light action series. This series will depress you. However, it will also make you think very hard.
Characters: There are some very good characters. The main character, Shu, is one of those tireless optimists who never fail to try to do the right thing. Usually these annoy me, because directors shy away from making them suffer the consequences of their actions, and equally shy away from ever letting the audience know that they might be terrified underneath it all. This is not the case here. Shu suffers, and gets tortured mentally and physically, he almost gives in, but in the end wins through, and is an incredibly strong character for it. Equally fascinating is the teenage soldier Nabuca, who commands the squad of Hellywood soldiers that Shu is drafted into. He is a character who has sustained himself on the fantasy that one day it will be all over and he can return home, and does everything he can to convince himself that it is true. He follows Hamdo's orders, and does really terrible things, because he just wants to keep his head down and survive. His line, screamed at Shu for shielding some children from orders that they be killed, 'only killing people can end war' sums up both his character and the entire series. Equally interesting is the other boy from the same village as him, Tabool. Tabool is the way Nabuca could have gone, to start relishing in what he does, and allowing it to change him. Where Nabuca eventually deep down wants to be redeemed, Tabool doesn't anymore.
What I love is that almost every character's motivations can be understood, if not supported. Elamba, for example, is another character that does really bad things in his desire to stop Hamdo's machinations, but it is easy to see why he does it, and in his circumstances I would be tempted to do the exact same things.
Visuals: These are pretty good, although the character designs are very simple. The dark, twisting corridors of Hellywood and the open light airyness of Zari Bars are well animated.
Music: Excellent, really emphasises the mood of every scene.
Overall: Not an easy series to watch, this is nevertheless a series that every anime fan should watch at least once. Trust me when I say that few series come close to being as dark as this one.
8/10. Excellent, if difficult.
Review: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
So here it is, the long-awaited review of this most excellent series.
Plot: On his first day at high school Kyon is surprised when, during the mandatory introductions, the girl behind him announces that she has no interest in ordinary humans, and wishes only to meet aliens, time-travellers and espers. This turns most of the class off, but Kyon talks to her. At first her replies are bored and sarcastic, but a spur-of-the-moment comment gives her the idea to start her own club, with the intention of enlivening peoples' lives by finding the things she is looking for. Kyon is drafted, not entirely willingly, into this idea of hers. It soon turns out, however, that everyone in this club has a very good reason to be there.
Review: I love this anime. I'll say that straight off. It is a wacky, weird and wonderful anime series that balances side-splitting comedy with real drama. The plot is superb. Without giving away any spoilers, I will tell you that this anime plays fast and loose with timing, and the episodes are not aired in the order that they happen chronologically. This could have been used as a gimmick, or otherwise completely screwed around with how the anime flowed, but it does not. What it does allow is for us to gain a really good insight into the characters. It is also strange that, of the 14 episodes, only 6 are directly connected to the main plot-line. The rest are all side-stories that broaden our knowledge of various characters. Again, this works really well. I have to caution though, the first episode in the series is a wacky side-story that puts many people off the series altogether. I found it hilarious, and an apt way to begin such an eccentric series, but if you don't like it, don't worry. The entire series isn't like that.
Characters: Every character gets ample screentime, but they are all overshadowed by the main girl herself, Haruhi Suzumiya. I mentioned before how she fast became my favourite character. She is a character who, at first glimpse, seems like she is absolutely insane, with her cheerful misanthropy and desire to meet aliens. However, it soon becomes clear that there is a certain logic to everything she does. When you finally find out what makes her tick, everything falls into place. She doesn't boss people around because she is naturally bossy, she bosses them around because she beleives that they see things the way she does, that life is boring and that must be rectified. She isn't at all embarrased about dressing up in a bunny costume in front of the school gates because she simply doesn't see the point of wasting time with embarrasment. In her view, the crazy people are running the asylum, and she is the sanest of all. She isn't misanthropic and uninterested in humanity because of any flaw in herself or humanity, it's just humanity is generally so boring to her that she wants to meet any interesting speciman it has to offer, and can't be bothered with the rest. Usually in anime bossy, confident, self-obsessed characters are meant to be annoying, but Haruhi is the one exception, mostly because the things I have mentioned above.
While Haruhi is the centre of attention, the other characters deserve their mentions. Kyon, the deadpan narrator, works really well as a subdued, sarcastic foil to Haruhi. Yuki, the quiet, mysterious girl, was also an interesting character, and her revelation is the first genuine surprise in the anime. Mikuru is also pretty interesting, although shy, timid girls who end up in a variety of compromising positions are a staple in anime. Finally Itsuki tends to be a little annoying, although this is at least partly due to the fact his character is supposed to be an annoying suck-up to Haruhi.
Visuals: Superb all the way through. The lines were crisp, the colours were sharp but not gaudy.
Music: Good, but not outstanding. The music complemented the anime pretty well, but not enough that I would want to buy the soundtrack.
Overall: I love this anime. I love love love love love love love love love this anime. I'm forced to admit that most of this comes from the fact the Haruhi Suzumiya is the greatest anime character of all time. Ever. At all. None better. Whatsoever.
9.5/10 Top notch. If they had created a soundtrack that wasn't merely 'good' then I would give this series a perfect 10.
Plot: On his first day at high school Kyon is surprised when, during the mandatory introductions, the girl behind him announces that she has no interest in ordinary humans, and wishes only to meet aliens, time-travellers and espers. This turns most of the class off, but Kyon talks to her. At first her replies are bored and sarcastic, but a spur-of-the-moment comment gives her the idea to start her own club, with the intention of enlivening peoples' lives by finding the things she is looking for. Kyon is drafted, not entirely willingly, into this idea of hers. It soon turns out, however, that everyone in this club has a very good reason to be there.
Review: I love this anime. I'll say that straight off. It is a wacky, weird and wonderful anime series that balances side-splitting comedy with real drama. The plot is superb. Without giving away any spoilers, I will tell you that this anime plays fast and loose with timing, and the episodes are not aired in the order that they happen chronologically. This could have been used as a gimmick, or otherwise completely screwed around with how the anime flowed, but it does not. What it does allow is for us to gain a really good insight into the characters. It is also strange that, of the 14 episodes, only 6 are directly connected to the main plot-line. The rest are all side-stories that broaden our knowledge of various characters. Again, this works really well. I have to caution though, the first episode in the series is a wacky side-story that puts many people off the series altogether. I found it hilarious, and an apt way to begin such an eccentric series, but if you don't like it, don't worry. The entire series isn't like that.
Characters: Every character gets ample screentime, but they are all overshadowed by the main girl herself, Haruhi Suzumiya. I mentioned before how she fast became my favourite character. She is a character who, at first glimpse, seems like she is absolutely insane, with her cheerful misanthropy and desire to meet aliens. However, it soon becomes clear that there is a certain logic to everything she does. When you finally find out what makes her tick, everything falls into place. She doesn't boss people around because she is naturally bossy, she bosses them around because she beleives that they see things the way she does, that life is boring and that must be rectified. She isn't at all embarrased about dressing up in a bunny costume in front of the school gates because she simply doesn't see the point of wasting time with embarrasment. In her view, the crazy people are running the asylum, and she is the sanest of all. She isn't misanthropic and uninterested in humanity because of any flaw in herself or humanity, it's just humanity is generally so boring to her that she wants to meet any interesting speciman it has to offer, and can't be bothered with the rest. Usually in anime bossy, confident, self-obsessed characters are meant to be annoying, but Haruhi is the one exception, mostly because the things I have mentioned above.
While Haruhi is the centre of attention, the other characters deserve their mentions. Kyon, the deadpan narrator, works really well as a subdued, sarcastic foil to Haruhi. Yuki, the quiet, mysterious girl, was also an interesting character, and her revelation is the first genuine surprise in the anime. Mikuru is also pretty interesting, although shy, timid girls who end up in a variety of compromising positions are a staple in anime. Finally Itsuki tends to be a little annoying, although this is at least partly due to the fact his character is supposed to be an annoying suck-up to Haruhi.
Visuals: Superb all the way through. The lines were crisp, the colours were sharp but not gaudy.
Music: Good, but not outstanding. The music complemented the anime pretty well, but not enough that I would want to buy the soundtrack.
Overall: I love this anime. I love love love love love love love love love this anime. I'm forced to admit that most of this comes from the fact the Haruhi Suzumiya is the greatest anime character of all time. Ever. At all. None better. Whatsoever.
9.5/10 Top notch. If they had created a soundtrack that wasn't merely 'good' then I would give this series a perfect 10.
Thursday, 8 March 2007
Review: Love Hina
This is a review of the manga, seeing as I haven't seen most of the anime. First the details: Love Hina was penned by Ken Akamatsu, who is also known for the manga 'A. I. Love You', which I haven't actually read, and Negima, which I have read 12 volumes of. Love Hina is 14 volumes long and available in English from Tokyopop.
Plot: Fifteen years ago the then-four-years-old Urashima Keitaro made a promise with a girl that they would meet up again at Tokyo University. Unfortunately he hasn't seen the girl since and he has since been rejected from the University two years running. After he decides to apply for a third time he is kicked out of his parents house, and goes to live in the inn owned by his elderly grandmother. He arrives, only to find that the inn has been converted into a dormintory for girls run by his aunt. Of course he doesn't find this out until the usual ecchi hijinks have ensued causing a huge amount of misunderstanding. After a few arguments he is allowed to stay at the dorm when his grandmother passes the title deed to the building to him by fax.
Review: Firstly, I want to go over what I thought of the plot. From the summary I've given you it would seem to be just another harem series. This is not the case. The narrative skillfully weaves several plotlines including Keitaro's desire to get into Tokyo University, his growing relationship with one of the girls in the dorm, and subplots involving most characters. The relationship that Keitaro develops with one of the girls throughout the series is actually rather well-founded. Most harem series tries to confuse you as to which girl the main character will end up with, resulting in a relationship out of nowhere towards the end. Akamatsu takes a different route. By the end of the first volume we can tell exactly which girl Keitaro will eventually get together with, which leaves Akamatsu the rest of the series to develop a believable relationship between them. Many people are put off by the traditional humourous violence that is inherent in the genre, but you have to look past it.
Art: I once read that Akamatsu-sensei used to draw hentai, and the skill with which he can draw the human form makes me inclined to believe it. Because most of the series is set in and around Hinata House (the girls dorm), backgrounds tend to be used again and again.
Characters: The main characters, Keitaro and Narusegawa Naru, are very well developed, although I find Keitaro a little annoying. The other characters start as very simple archetypes, such as the crazy foreigner (Koalla Su), the shy one with a juvenile crush (Maehara Shinobu), the reserved swordswoman who isn't sure how to deal with the opposite gender (Aoyama Motoko), and the money-loving gambling alcoholic prankster (Mitsune 'Kitsune' Konno). All of them are traditional archetypes for the genre (although the swordswoman isn't always a swordswoman, just somewhat reserved!), but the subplots which Akamatsu integrates into the manga mean that they rise above these simple stereotypes. The only exception to this is Kitsune, who is still the same character near the end as the beginning. To his credit, Akamatsu mentions this in the notes included at the end of one of the volumes, but that doens't make up for not giving her more to do. She is most often used to further the plot, often by accidentally revealing information. Again, to Akamatsu's credit, he has a character much like her in Negima who does get the screentime she so richly deserves.
Overall: This was one of my first manga series, so naturally I look back on it with some fondness. In fact, writing this review had made me more than a little nostalgic about it, so I will probably read it again when I get home from University. If, in a couple of weeks, you have a post here rubbishing it, that's why. However, until then, I have very few bad things to say about it. It takes the usual harem genre and completely subverts it and shows that it can be done really well.
8/10: Excellent series that everyone should read.
Plot: Fifteen years ago the then-four-years-old Urashima Keitaro made a promise with a girl that they would meet up again at Tokyo University. Unfortunately he hasn't seen the girl since and he has since been rejected from the University two years running. After he decides to apply for a third time he is kicked out of his parents house, and goes to live in the inn owned by his elderly grandmother. He arrives, only to find that the inn has been converted into a dormintory for girls run by his aunt. Of course he doesn't find this out until the usual ecchi hijinks have ensued causing a huge amount of misunderstanding. After a few arguments he is allowed to stay at the dorm when his grandmother passes the title deed to the building to him by fax.
Review: Firstly, I want to go over what I thought of the plot. From the summary I've given you it would seem to be just another harem series. This is not the case. The narrative skillfully weaves several plotlines including Keitaro's desire to get into Tokyo University, his growing relationship with one of the girls in the dorm, and subplots involving most characters. The relationship that Keitaro develops with one of the girls throughout the series is actually rather well-founded. Most harem series tries to confuse you as to which girl the main character will end up with, resulting in a relationship out of nowhere towards the end. Akamatsu takes a different route. By the end of the first volume we can tell exactly which girl Keitaro will eventually get together with, which leaves Akamatsu the rest of the series to develop a believable relationship between them. Many people are put off by the traditional humourous violence that is inherent in the genre, but you have to look past it.
Art: I once read that Akamatsu-sensei used to draw hentai, and the skill with which he can draw the human form makes me inclined to believe it. Because most of the series is set in and around Hinata House (the girls dorm), backgrounds tend to be used again and again.
Characters: The main characters, Keitaro and Narusegawa Naru, are very well developed, although I find Keitaro a little annoying. The other characters start as very simple archetypes, such as the crazy foreigner (Koalla Su), the shy one with a juvenile crush (Maehara Shinobu), the reserved swordswoman who isn't sure how to deal with the opposite gender (Aoyama Motoko), and the money-loving gambling alcoholic prankster (Mitsune 'Kitsune' Konno). All of them are traditional archetypes for the genre (although the swordswoman isn't always a swordswoman, just somewhat reserved!), but the subplots which Akamatsu integrates into the manga mean that they rise above these simple stereotypes. The only exception to this is Kitsune, who is still the same character near the end as the beginning. To his credit, Akamatsu mentions this in the notes included at the end of one of the volumes, but that doens't make up for not giving her more to do. She is most often used to further the plot, often by accidentally revealing information. Again, to Akamatsu's credit, he has a character much like her in Negima who does get the screentime she so richly deserves.
Overall: This was one of my first manga series, so naturally I look back on it with some fondness. In fact, writing this review had made me more than a little nostalgic about it, so I will probably read it again when I get home from University. If, in a couple of weeks, you have a post here rubbishing it, that's why. However, until then, I have very few bad things to say about it. It takes the usual harem genre and completely subverts it and shows that it can be done really well.
8/10: Excellent series that everyone should read.
Wednesday, 7 March 2007
Review: Stellvia of the Universe
Today I'm going to review a series I first saw almost a year ago. Stellvia of the Universe is an introspective sci-fi series that is really based around characters.
Plot: 189 years ago Earth was devestated by an electromagnetic shockwave caused by the explosion of a star 20 light years away, dying space an eerie green colour. Humanity rebuilt itself and has reached the stars again, and stands united against the threat of the Second Wave, consisting of the rubble of the star. There is a plan for the Great Mission to defend Earth against it. Against this background Katase has entered the Academy in one of the Foundations (Space stations orbiting various planets) named Stellvia to teach her to be part of the Great Mission.
Characters: All of the characters are good fun. They have well-defined personalities which are allowed to develop nicely and the series really tries hard to focus on secondary characters to prevent them from becoming mere plot points. The male protagonists (Otoyama Kouta) is annoying, but that is what his personality is supposed to be like. All characters do get at least some screen time. There are two characters in particular, who develop a very slow, very believable romance, which is finally announced in a beautiful scene in the closing moments of the final episode over a ships radio. Nothing I have said does this relationship justice. Oh, and it happens to be two girls, which puts the icing on the cake. :P
Plot: The main plot-point, dealing with the second wave, takes up only the first third of the series, after which the plot changes entirely. It really takes off, dealing with how humanity, which has been forced to unite in the face of an external threat for almost two centuries, starts to fall to pieces when that threat is removed. There are times when it really seems very close to war between the foundations. I really liked this aspect of the plot.
Visuals: The animation itself is medium-quality. The characters are well designed and there are few mistakes made. However, the space-ship designs are bland at best, and the CGI tends to be intrusive. The spaceship scenes would have been much better if they were animated in the same way as the rest of the series.
Music: The opening theme, a sort of J-Pop composition, is excellent, and the Background music tends to be very nice. However, there are times when the music doesn't quite fit. Nothing particularly out of place, but some of it could have been better thought out.
Overall: This is a good series, but not the best. The animation is not the best, and some of the characters can be annoying. The music is good, and the plot and setting are excellent. I would recommend it for anime fans of any stripe, and it even serves as a fairly good introduction to anime.
7.5/10 Very Good.
Plot: 189 years ago Earth was devestated by an electromagnetic shockwave caused by the explosion of a star 20 light years away, dying space an eerie green colour. Humanity rebuilt itself and has reached the stars again, and stands united against the threat of the Second Wave, consisting of the rubble of the star. There is a plan for the Great Mission to defend Earth against it. Against this background Katase has entered the Academy in one of the Foundations (Space stations orbiting various planets) named Stellvia to teach her to be part of the Great Mission.
Characters: All of the characters are good fun. They have well-defined personalities which are allowed to develop nicely and the series really tries hard to focus on secondary characters to prevent them from becoming mere plot points. The male protagonists (Otoyama Kouta) is annoying, but that is what his personality is supposed to be like. All characters do get at least some screen time. There are two characters in particular, who develop a very slow, very believable romance, which is finally announced in a beautiful scene in the closing moments of the final episode over a ships radio. Nothing I have said does this relationship justice. Oh, and it happens to be two girls, which puts the icing on the cake. :P
Plot: The main plot-point, dealing with the second wave, takes up only the first third of the series, after which the plot changes entirely. It really takes off, dealing with how humanity, which has been forced to unite in the face of an external threat for almost two centuries, starts to fall to pieces when that threat is removed. There are times when it really seems very close to war between the foundations. I really liked this aspect of the plot.
Visuals: The animation itself is medium-quality. The characters are well designed and there are few mistakes made. However, the space-ship designs are bland at best, and the CGI tends to be intrusive. The spaceship scenes would have been much better if they were animated in the same way as the rest of the series.
Music: The opening theme, a sort of J-Pop composition, is excellent, and the Background music tends to be very nice. However, there are times when the music doesn't quite fit. Nothing particularly out of place, but some of it could have been better thought out.
Overall: This is a good series, but not the best. The animation is not the best, and some of the characters can be annoying. The music is good, and the plot and setting are excellent. I would recommend it for anime fans of any stripe, and it even serves as a fairly good introduction to anime.
7.5/10 Very Good.
Tuesday, 6 March 2007
Review: Haibane Renmei
So I'm going to start this off by reviewing an anime I saw very recently, Haibane Renmai (Charcoal Feather Federation) By very recently, I actually mean earlier today, when I sat down and watch the whole thing in a single sitting. (Nerdy, I know, but who are you to comment?)
Plot: A girl dreams that she is falling through darkness. In the dream a crow is attempting to help her by pulling her upwards, but she tells it not to worry and flies off. When the girl awakens we find that she is in a cocoon, inside a building populated by strange humans with small, grey wings and halos called Haibane. When the girl hatches she finds that she to is a Haibane, as she soon sprouts wings like them. She is given the name Rakka (the infinitive: To fall) as all Haibane are named after the thing they dreamed about while in a cocoon. The Haibane live in and around a town called Glie, which is surrounded on all sides by huge walls, which the Haibane are not allowed to go near. They are only allowed to own second-hand items from the normal people who live in Glie with them (note: This isn't cruelty, it appears to be a rule that the Haibane have imposed on themselves) or things that they have made themselves. The Haibane live under the guidance of a council called the Haibane Renmei, which appears to look after the walls. I won't give any more away for now.
Review: So what did I think of this anime? First off, the characters: These are a mixed bag, Rakka, the main character, and Reki, another main character, are both incredibly well developed and defined. They are both complex, flawed, believable and ultimately human characters. However, in a show only 13 episodes in length, this meant that the development of other characters was a little stunted. There the bookish one, the tomboy, the happy optimistic one, and the somewhat introspective one. They are all good characters, but they fail to develop beyond archetypes.
Next, the plot: It's a very very complex mind-fu*k. The plot is one of those in which loose ends are purposefully left loose, and while I personally like that as it gives me a chance to tie them up for myself, but some people won't like it. While the main plotline is ultimately resolved, giving some sense of closure, what exactly is happening remains a mystery that the viewer is left to puzzle out for themselves. This means that otaku will love it, as it gives us an opportunity to argue endlessly in internet forums about what was up. Casual viewers should avoid this one until they have at least some knowlegde of anime. It really is rife with symbolism and hidden meaning. It's no coincidence that it comes from the pen of Yoshitoshi ABe, who also wrote the uber-symbolistic Serial Experiments: Lain.
The visuals: These were generally very good. The characters were all well drawn and the animation was top-notch. There was some CGI which looked a little out of place, but not so much that you want to smash your screen in.
The Music: Perfect. 10/10 without a shadow of a doubt. The lyric-less opening piece is one of the most beautiful and fitting that I have ever come across. The background music never fails to set the mood of the scene. This series eschews the fast-paced music that you find in many shows for gentle orchestral pieces that are a joy to listen to. I already have the OST on order.
Overall: This series is not for everyone. It moves at a slow, leisurely pace and unfolds the story in its own time. Surprisingly little happens in 13 episodes, and it is mostly a study of the two central characters, Rakka and Reki. However, if you give it a chance this series will delight you with its intricate, clever plot, its astounding music and its central themes of redemption and forgiveness.
9/10. Superb.
Plot: A girl dreams that she is falling through darkness. In the dream a crow is attempting to help her by pulling her upwards, but she tells it not to worry and flies off. When the girl awakens we find that she is in a cocoon, inside a building populated by strange humans with small, grey wings and halos called Haibane. When the girl hatches she finds that she to is a Haibane, as she soon sprouts wings like them. She is given the name Rakka (the infinitive: To fall) as all Haibane are named after the thing they dreamed about while in a cocoon. The Haibane live in and around a town called Glie, which is surrounded on all sides by huge walls, which the Haibane are not allowed to go near. They are only allowed to own second-hand items from the normal people who live in Glie with them (note: This isn't cruelty, it appears to be a rule that the Haibane have imposed on themselves) or things that they have made themselves. The Haibane live under the guidance of a council called the Haibane Renmei, which appears to look after the walls. I won't give any more away for now.
Review: So what did I think of this anime? First off, the characters: These are a mixed bag, Rakka, the main character, and Reki, another main character, are both incredibly well developed and defined. They are both complex, flawed, believable and ultimately human characters. However, in a show only 13 episodes in length, this meant that the development of other characters was a little stunted. There the bookish one, the tomboy, the happy optimistic one, and the somewhat introspective one. They are all good characters, but they fail to develop beyond archetypes.
Next, the plot: It's a very very complex mind-fu*k. The plot is one of those in which loose ends are purposefully left loose, and while I personally like that as it gives me a chance to tie them up for myself, but some people won't like it. While the main plotline is ultimately resolved, giving some sense of closure, what exactly is happening remains a mystery that the viewer is left to puzzle out for themselves. This means that otaku will love it, as it gives us an opportunity to argue endlessly in internet forums about what was up. Casual viewers should avoid this one until they have at least some knowlegde of anime. It really is rife with symbolism and hidden meaning. It's no coincidence that it comes from the pen of Yoshitoshi ABe, who also wrote the uber-symbolistic Serial Experiments: Lain.
The visuals: These were generally very good. The characters were all well drawn and the animation was top-notch. There was some CGI which looked a little out of place, but not so much that you want to smash your screen in.
The Music: Perfect. 10/10 without a shadow of a doubt. The lyric-less opening piece is one of the most beautiful and fitting that I have ever come across. The background music never fails to set the mood of the scene. This series eschews the fast-paced music that you find in many shows for gentle orchestral pieces that are a joy to listen to. I already have the OST on order.
Overall: This series is not for everyone. It moves at a slow, leisurely pace and unfolds the story in its own time. Surprisingly little happens in 13 episodes, and it is mostly a study of the two central characters, Rakka and Reki. However, if you give it a chance this series will delight you with its intricate, clever plot, its astounding music and its central themes of redemption and forgiveness.
9/10. Superb.
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