Anime Review No. 94 (Love, Chuunibyo and Other Delusions)

“The Power of Imagination”

Love, Chunibyo and Other Delusions (2012 TV Series)

Director: Tatsuya Ishihara

Writer: Jukki Hanada

Studio: Kyoto Animation

So, here’s a show that I have waited about a year to talk about and almost didn’t. This is a show that I find to be something truly special. This is based on a recommendation of my esteemed colleague Ramo Zemog, who covered the series last year, and I must say thank you good sir. It is certainly a worthwhile recommendation. The show in question, if you couldn’t tell, is Love Chuunibyo and Other Delusions.

Love, Chuunibyo and Other Delusions, based on the light novels by Torako, is quite an interesting story. The core of the story revolves around the notion of Chuunibyo also known as 8th grader syndrome, a disease of the adolescent mind. Linked to delusions of grandeur, it involves individuals with very active imaginations to the point where the line between fantasy and reality are blurred. Center of focus is on Yuta Togashi, a young man who is a former chuunibyo ‘patient’ who is entering high school. He tries to get a new lease on his social life in high school but is haunted by his own embarrassing antics of his youthful past as the Dark Flame Master. One night he meets a mysterious girl with an eyepatch. Rikka Takanashi is a current chuunibyo patient who holds power via the Eye of the Wicked Lord Shingan. As it turns out, she lives in the apartment above his family’s with her older sister Toka. The show takes some wonderfully funny and dramatic turns throughout the 12 episode run as they find new friends and learn quite a lot from each other, as well engage in fantastical fights from another dimension.

What I love about this show is how well it handles characters. This features a wide range of characters, all more or less integral to the overall story. Be it the comical straight man Yuta, the kooky double act of Rikka and her middle school twin-tailed shorty minion Dekomori, Nibutani the popular girl or the adorable sleepyhead senpai Kumin Tsuyuri. Granted the focus is on the development of the relationship between Yuta and Rikka, but the show does explore the other character dynamics of the main group of characters in a nice, fun and refreshing way. And yet like most of the cast, we aren’t meant to feel sorry for them, but more as a point of relation. I do relate a lot of Yuta, as I did some quite silly things in my youth.  My favorite character in the show is Kumin Tsuyuri, the sleepyhead senpai. She is so kind and nice it is almost like she is a pure innocent hnng. My second favorite is Nibutani, the popular girl who has some secrets of her own and that’s mainly due to having known girls like that in high school.

Another aspect this show nails is the combination of serious drama and light-hearted school comedy. I love the variety of humor and slapstick present in the show, from the deadpan to LOL jokes its all here in abundance. The physical slapstick comedy is also quite enjoyable as some compilation videos on Youtube can attest to. Yuta’s various reaction faces are a treat to behold.

But then around the halfway point, as the story takes a quite serious and dramatic turn.I kind of did expect it, but it makes the show more interesting when it changes up the formula a bit. Not to spoil too much, let’s just say that the fun daydreaming is the result of some truly heartbreaking stuff. Seriously, the loose 2 parter near around the halfway mark is some of the most heartbreaking and emotional family drama I have seen in anime in a while. This leads to complications and sulking surely, but it ends with the sublime episode 12 which in my mind offers a very summation of the show while allowing for a continuation to occur. The core message I feel for this show is this: Live for yourself, and do the best you can in life now what difficulties and hardships befall and that is perfectly fine to dream a bit every now and then. There exists a strong theme of love and acceptance permeate the show which flowers in the finale, but how well you will have to check it out yourself. As an extra note, the OVA Special is probably the best Christmas special I have seen in an anime since Read or Die TV.

In terms animation production, this show rocks. Kyoto Animation (or KyoAni) is a top notch Japanese animation studio and it shows up in this entire production, so fluid and full of life and energy. KyoAni is one of the few recent  studios that hit a gold mine early (with Haruhi and Lucky Star among others) and thus has oodles and oodles of money to spend on their productions and it certainly shows.in Chuunibyo in yards and spades. The fantasy fight scenes are amazing and a sight to behold. The show is beautifully shot overall with nary a bad or sloppy shot/frame anywhere.

For music, both OP and ED songs are nice and worth a listen to. The soundtrack music by Nijine is also a highlight as well, complementing the action be it serious dramatic or the light-hearted funny, making for some nice well-done orchestral music.I’m a sucker for that and wish more anime would do with that more often.

Chuunibyo S1 OP       Chuunibyo S1 ED

Now onto the English Dub and I have to say it is  easily one of the best I’ve listened to in recent memory. No really, this dub alone shows just how far Sentai Filmworks has come since Clannad over 4 years ago in terms of dubbing. First off, great narration work by David Wald to bookend the show, nice touch there. This english boasts a near perfect cast. Leraldo Anzaldua as Yuta does a great job in the leading guy role nailing the youthful tone and energy of the character. Meg McDonald as Rikka, now this has been a bit interesting, She goes for a slightly different take on the character but it works, where she goes slightly deep for chuuni mode but then high-pitched cutesy voice when not. It is certainly a bit more theatrical and over dramatic than cutesy moe but it fits the character. I do like Meg McDonald and I feel that she’s a voice actress whose career is really taking off and I wish her the best of luck and very encouraging to see people of my generation (like her and Caitlynn French) getting into anime voice acting. Keep up the good work you two and others!

Maggie Flecknoe as Nibutani is really good and fitting for the character, always nice to hear her in dubs. Brittney Karbowski as Sanae Dekomori: Yeah, this was a role Brittney was destined to play and wasn’t surprised at all she landed this part as it is right up her alley (her performance reminding me of some of her earlier dub work like Himeko in Pani Poni or Ayu in Kanon 2006). The rest of cast is well done in terms of vocal performance, including Greg Ayres, Carli Mosier, Genevieve Simmons, Monica Rial, etc. Chuunibyo is the the latest dub done by recent ADR Director Emily Neves. She is a voice actress who has been working in Houston dubs since Clannad. She picked up some training in directing from Christopher Ayres while working on the Problem Children dub, which I have previously reviewed and then announced last summer that she got the full time ADR Director position-reason for that I will talk about in an upcoming review. Emily Neves has gone onto direct dubs for shows like Watamote, Rozen Maiden 2013, Dog and Scissors and Maid-Sama!. She clearly is an actor’s director and seems to go for getting the best performance out of the actors. Neves is able to handle the comedic aspects of the show as well as nail the emotional scenes, particularly in the latter half. The dub script done by Lainee Hooks, script writer for Watamote, Prisma Illya and Sunday without God dubs, is a nice and well-done mix of transliteral and adaptative without going too far in either direction as most dubs from Sentai have done in the past. In fact with 2014 and this year so far, Sentai is actually employing script writers (most of them employed voice actors like Josh Grelle, Clint Bickham, George Manley, Nancy Novotny) for their dubs instead of just having their directors handle that. A step in the right direction for them in my book.

The funny thing is that this show was destined for a standard release. When Sentai Filmworks planned to release Chuunibyo Season 1, they planned for a May 2014 release sub-only, no dub on both separate DVD and Blu Ray sets. However the KyoAni fanboys threw such a fit over the show not getting a dub (when other KyoAni shows Sentai picked up got dubs), that Sentai Filmworks changed their minds on that. Still releasing the sub-only DVD set for May, they announced plans to release the first season on a Limited Edition DVD/Blu Ray box set. Now I preordered the day it was available back in late August 2014, for the expected December release date. But then it got pushed forward to February 2015 due to some issues Sentai had with the licensor but I find that the wait was worth it. Here;s the video they put out about the box set, which can be brought fairly easily on RightStuf.  I can’t wait to get Season 2 (Heart Throb) when that comes out.

Chuunibyo Box set video

Chuunibyo is a great show overall, with a wonderful tale of youth trying to find their place in the world. It is a great production throughout and has a truly great English dub. I wholeheartedly recommend this show and encourage others to check it out.

Next time is Strawberry Panic. Til next time dear readers.

Anime Review No. 93 (Sakura Wars)

“With Fiery Passion!”

Sakura Wars TV (2000)

Director: Ryutaro Nakamura

Writers: Hiroyuki Kawasaki, Kunihiro Okajima, Yoshimi Narita, Katsuhiko Takayama, Kenichi Kanemiki, Gou Tamai, Sachiko Doi, Takao Yoshioka, Tatsuya Suzuki, Ken Abe, Kazuharu Sato, Takao Yoshimoto

Studio: Madhouse

Ok, so now we are at another important title, at least in my development of being an anime fan. Around 2009, I had come across this on the shelf at Best Buy when I was at college in Virginia. This was actually one of the early complete collection sets I gotten, the first one being Evangelion Platinum Edition back around 2006. That show being, as you expect, is Sakura Wars. Please note that I am only really talking about the TV series here. Yes I am aware of the games, manga, OVAs and the movie but my focus will rest with the 25 episode TV series that aired in 2000. So what’s it all about?

Well Sakura Wars (Sakura Taisen in Japanese) is the story of Sakura Shinguji, a country girl who ventures to Tokyo to become part of the Imperial Combat Troupe-Flower Division, a part of the defense force defending the capital from the denizens of evil. Although at first, she is a bit out of her depths when dealing with the other team members, both during and outside of combat and training. Of course, in the process she becomes part of the team both on the battlefield and on the stage. All set with a backdrop of alternative historical 1920s, steampunk-esque Tokyo where advanced mecha technology converges with dark mystical power.

The story of this series rests on the hands of three men: Ohji Hiroi who developed the original manga and acted as creator/producer for the franchise, Satoru Akahori.the head of the writing team (series composition) and finally Kosuke Fujishima who along with Hidenori Matsubara handled the character designs which you tell as the character designs closely resemble those from the contemporaneous Ah My Goddess the Movie. And they managed to succeed in forging a franchise that persists for several years. Sakura Wars is a brilliant meld of Super Sentai, Japanese historical fiction and nice character driven storytelling.

Of course, the series itself is drawn back from being truly great and that is for two BIG reasons. The first reason is that the story takes a very ‘long game’ approach to the storytelling. Which means for one thing it takes time for the show to get really great, like in halfway through I would say. But once it does it becomes easily one of the most interesting and entertaining anime ever. A colleague of mine once told me that he tried watching Sakura Wars but couldn’t get past episode 7 or 8 and I can understand in that leads to my other reason: The cast starts off very unlikeable or very shallowly developed, with a few that come across very stand-offish or straight up loathing. But thanks to the ‘long game approach they do get appropriate development as they are shaped by the events that occur and their interactions with each other and others is really compelling for the last few episodes.

The animation is well, alright and functional. Granted this was done by Madhouse before they were particularly well-known for the quality work that they are known for nowadays. It also falls in that same category of previously reviewed anime like Nadesico and Silent Mobius where the meld of traditional cel animation and digitally painted cel animation/CG. This does make the anime look a bit rough around the edges but by the final few episodes the production look a bit more even. What works great in the show’s favor is the soundtrack, with music done by the legendary Kohei Tanaka. The OP as I have mentioned before is one of the best OPs I have heard-an all time favorite.

Now for the english dub. Oh boy, what an uneven jumble. Of course, this dub is brought by the now long defunct Monster Island Studios, the secondary studio in Austin that ADV ran from 1998 to 2005. This is the same group that dubbed stuff like My Dear Marie (my favorite and only recommendable dub from this group), Eden’s Bowy, Zaion and heck Wedding Peach. What hurts the dub is several things. For one thing, it starts off not really good, sort of directionless with either too much hammy overacting or too little effort put into the vocal performances. Most of the supporting cast sound alright, but the main cast aren’t all that good starting off, no surprise that aside from a few (Larissa Walcott and Samantha Inoue-Harte), this was the one and only project that they were involved with. Worse still most of them employ rather obviously fake accents. Though to be fair, they do grow into the roles by the end, though its too little too late.

So overall Sakura Wars is an example of a rather interesting premise that gets fudged up by production troubles but its still impressive given the effort and work that went into it. I would add that the TV show serves as a good primer for the whole franchise. My opinion of it might have soured against it recently, but the series hold some significance to me regardless.

Speaking of significance, the next series I am reviewing is also another real important show for me…..

Til next time, dear readers

Anime Review No. 64-Magic Users Club TV

"Can dreams have sequels?"

MUC TV Review
Studio: Triangle Staff, Director-Junichi Sato
Writers: Chiaka J Nonaka, Sasayuki Murai and Michiko Yokote 

Well, now onto the TV Series. For details on Magic Users' Club, see my previous review as that information will help out in this review. So, Magic Users' Club OVA must have sold well as three years later in 1999 the series got a TV show, which ran from July 7^th to October 6^th that year. Junichi Sato returned as director along with Chiaka J. Nonaka doing series composition, which I suppose is a bit like being the head writer/script editor on at TV show. Production was handled by Triangle Staff with help by Bandai Visual.

So, what does this show do? Well, I see it as a very suitable sequel to an OVA that quite frankly is vastly under-rated. It continues the story of the Magic Users' Club, with a lot of earnest charm and fun. Of course, it does take some time to get going. One of the minor quips I have with the series is the first half, where it goes from 'let's wrap the events of the OVA as that is still a dangling plot thread' to 'oh, let's do slice of life stories'. Luckily, the writers decided to, you know, put some actual effort into stories that honestly could have been filler. In addition, some of the first few episodes have some rather interesting ideas when it comes to magic. Yeah, watching this actually makes me pine for more modern anime shows like that where more effort is put in. Granted, those kind of shows still exist, but they tend to be an exception rather then the rule.

Secondly, the characters certainly have grown and continue to do so, especially in the second half of the series. Episode 6 is more or less a turning point of the TV series, where the one-shot type format used in the first half is put aside in doing a definite story arc, sort of along the same line as the OVA. Sae, Nanaka, Akane, Aburatsubo and Takeo get developed to the point where by the end they seem complete. At the end, the message seems to be: be true to yourself.

But, here we hit a bump and that is the animation. The shift from the video/OVA to TV means one thing for most series: severe downgrade in animation quality. Magic Users' Club regrettably does not escape this, as there are several instances of animation slippage or lack of details. It looks a bit on the cheap side is what I'm saying. However, it doesn't deter too much from the charm and fun this series has.

It also doesn't hurt that same voice cast for the English dub returns for the TV series, but that's no surprise since both the OVA and TV Series were released within a year of each other here in the States. Well, for the most part, they somehow replaced the VA for Akane halfway through though the two sound so familiar that is practically a non-issue. Still, its an admirable effort by all involved to be sure.

Overall, Magic Users' Club is a fun and charming series that ought to get more recognition from the anime fandom at large. Great characters, good story, decent animation all sum up to fun time in watching this show. Magic Users' Club is readily available through RightStuf as a bundle with all 7 volumes or through the second hand market on Amazon and eBay. I wholeheartedly recommend this show.

Next time, well, I will take a look at Puella Magi Madoka Magica, and examine it through the lens of 'magnum opus'. This is a review that I have been looking forward to a lot, and for a series that I love very much.

Laterz,

The Eclectic Dude  

Anime Review No. 63-Magic Users Club OVA

"Believe in Yourself"

Magic Users' Club

1996 OVA, 6 episodes

Studio: Triangle Staff; Director-Junichi Sato
Writers: Akinori Endo and Junichi Sato (1), Chiaka J Nonaka (2-6) 

So, now I am doing a run of Magic themed series for the next three reviews, in case that fact escape you from the titles. Why? Because it's my blog, just so there! Anyway, first look is over Magic Users' Club, a 6 episode OVA from 1996 by Studio Triangle Staff and directed by Junichi Sato, who also directed Sailor Moon back in the days.

This show is about Sae Sawanoguchi and her friends in the local high school's Magic Club. Magicians in this world are simply people who can control their thoughts and imagination to make the impossible the possible. However, there exist only a select few. There's Takakura, the nerdy leader; Nanaka, Sae's requisite childhood friend; Akane, glam girl and 'ghost member' and Aburatsubo, the lone gay guy of the group. Together, they seek to blow up an invasion by the mysterious 'Bell' and its minions. However, it isn't just the Bell that they must deal. Be it some curious journalist or a childhood rival, it's all fun and adventure in Magic Users' Club.

Now, there are several things going well for this series, the OVA in particular. At first, it might seem it would be rather trite and cliched. But once the story develops, it goes off like a rocket, not really letting up much. I believe that's down to the writer they brought for the other five episodes: Chiaki J. Nonaka. For those of you not in the know, he's a writer on several other anime, like Armitage III and Serial Experiments Lain. Of course, I remember him as the writer for Digimon Tamers, the 3^rd series of that franchise which was really quite good. Similar to that series, Magic Users' Club has a nice and even blend of the fantastical and the horrifying (especially the Bell which is a nice spin on the 'detached otherworldly invader' concept which has been done quite a lot over time). Regardless of that, there is also this element of excellent earnestness about the whole OVA.

This earnestness is encapsulated into the main character, Sae herself. Not quite smart, a bit ditzy (reminds one of Usagi from Sailor Moon, no doubt), but she means well and tries her best, which makes her struggle quite compelling in parts. I was certainly rooting for her all the way through the story. Fortunately, the rest of the characters are very well-rounded in their own respect. Takakura might seem at first a hapless nerd, but he turns out to be a nice mentor figure for Sae, despite his conflict between being her mentor and being more than a friend shall we say. Nanaka isn't just a nice, kind childhood friend; she does argue with and try to get Sae to strive for more than what she is, to better herself. Akane, the girly girl/ghost member who wouldn't seem out of place in Sailor Moon much less Cardcaptor Sakura, but she actually does play a crucial part of the story. Aburatsubo is perhaps a standout character, one of the rare gay characters in anime that is written with a measure of dignity and respect, giving a rather subtle performance as the group's voice of reason. Even the minor characters (the teacher, Mizuha, the journalist and his lackey) are given enough time and presence as to not feel unnecessary.

The story is helped by the animation immensely. The production was done by Triangle Staff, which also was involved in the original story for this series. Triangle Staff has mostly done assistance on other shows like Lain, The SoulTaker, Sakura Wars, etc and they haven't done much since the early 2000s. That is a bit of a shame since the animation is very good. There are bits of early CG graphics in there, but thankfully they are used to a minimum, at least here in the OVA, with the majority of the show being very good 90s cel animation: fluid and dynamic, tactile, etc. The characters look like they come from Princess Tutu (sharing the same character designer) with my only quip is that all characters, even the dudes, have thick eyelashes when eyes are closed.

Finally, the english dub is fairly good. Though released by Media Blasters, the dub was made by NYAV Post founded by Michael Sinterniklaas, who also directed and wrote the english dub adaptation for Magic Users' Club. It is actually one of the better NY based dubs that I've heard that I don't hate, thankfully. That's due to some soild performances from some US Manga voice actors, like Jamie McGonnigal, Kevin T. Collins and Lisa Ortiz. But I think that the standout performance for this dub is Misty Daniels, who voices Sae in the dub. She's fantastic and hits the right tone in nearly every scene she's in. Bummer she isn't in any other dubs, as this and the TV Series for Magic Users' Club are her only credits on ANN.

So, the OVA is very enjoyable on a lot of fronts, and I recommend this series (both OVA and the TV Series). Next time, I will be looking at the TV Series made 3 years later.

Laterz,

The Eclectic Dude

Anime Review No. 57-Shamanic Princess

"I Can't Believe It's Not CLAMP!"

Shamanic Princess

1996-98 OVA, 6 episodes

Studio: Triangle Staff, Director: Mitsuru Hongo, Writer: Mami Watanabe

Well, this is the first review looking at titles licensed in the States by Central Park Media, a NY based company that specialised in licensing and distributing anime and manga...at least from 1990 up to 2009 when they went under. Shamanic Princess was released under the US Manga Corps, the main anime distribution arm, a fact made evident by their logo, which has the main character of MD Geist (one of their early releases).

Now, Shamanic Princess is an OVA from the late 1990s that is a bit of an oddball. In terms of story, it is rather straightforward: Tiara is a being from the 'Guardian World' (a world parallel to our own) who is on a quest for the 'Throne of Yord', which is the power source of all magic in the 'Guardian World'. In the process, she discovers that her friends Lena and Kagetsu are in pursuit of Sarah, Kagetsu's sister and friend of Tiara, who has become a person of interest to the Throne of Yord. Along the way, Tiara must face opposition from not just her friends but also from within.

Of course, it is not that simple. The first four episodes follow this story thread, with the last two episodes that serve as prologue rejoinder to the events of the first four. This threw me for a moment when I first watched, but then it clicked that this was mostly an extended flashback. As a recommendation, I suggest that if you do view this OVA, watch episodes 5-6 then go back and watch the first four episodes as that way helps to mitigate any confusion or plot holes that pop up in the main story, and it certainly has some. Thankfully, those don't defer enough from the story to make it bad.

As the title of this post suggests, what got me hooked to this OVA was the fact that it reminds me of CLAMP, even had a quote from Gamers' Republic on the back of the DVD cover giving this 4 stars and saying "a must have for CLAMP fans". Ha, what a gross misinterpretation. The only aspect that Shamanic Princess shares with CLAMP is in character designer (Atsuko Ishida), which shares similarity to Magic Knight Rayearth, a mid 90s fantasy TV anime series. Past that, it has similar aspects but at the same time differing from actual CLAMP series, in this case comparison to Magic Knight Rayearth (a contemporary series to this) is very apt.

First off, let's talk about magical power. In MKR, it is very much elemental in nature, reflecting core qualities of the attached characters. But SP's magic is more arcane and occult in nature, reflecting the rather dark, mysterious and surreal realm the characters reside in. Tiara's and Lena's powers rely on intricate symbols and chants similar to that used in occult magic.

Second, the characters' relationships. MKR would require an immense chart just to keep track of the huge ensemble cast within the course of that series. Luckily, SP doesn't have that issue as the main cast contains about 5-6 characters. An interesting exercise for viewers-try to diagram the various relationships of the characters in Shamanic Princess, that should be interesting.

Finally, the thematic focus isn't too far off from MKR. It deals primarily with how emotions and love can drive our actions more so than exterior forces. Of course, it adds to that philosophical musings on the nature of reality. For instance, when Tiara fights the Throne of Yord, it decides to take on her likeness, which while somewhat expected and cliche, it's interesting nonetheless as Tiara can't really beat herself. How she wins, quite frankly, I shall leave you to find out for yourself.

Apart from that, the rest is not too shabby. The background visuals are rather nice to look at, even in the Throne of Yord scenes, which have a dark surreal atmosphere. The magic battle sequences are very well done, kinetic and quick; just having enough time to run through without being a drag on the plot. The music is very fitting, shifting from battle action to quiet atmospheric moments, all without being intrusive.

Now, to talk about the English dub. Short hand, its not too bad, a rather decent effort. The only stand off voice actor in the dub is Crispin Freeman as Kagetsu. The rest of the V.A.s are only noteworthy of being in other CPM dubs and they do ok. Granted, the dub script is so tied to a straight translation script it's not even funny. Seriously, I watched this with the subtitles and I swear that the english dialogue was fitting to them 9 times out of 10. The only one that felt stiff was the V.A. For Sarah as she seems very monotone, but that's partially how that character is written. Overall, a decent dub and worth listening to; not too bad but regrettably not great.

So. I could recommend this to any fan of fantasy anime series. It is much in the vein of Ruin Explorers or The Sacred Blacksmith, that is decent fantasy fare that straddles the middle in terms of quality. It's not terrible nor it is particularly great, as the DVD cover would tell you. And on a final note, this just shows how desperate CPM seemed in trying to promote this. No really, the DVD cover boasts that this comes from "the director of Outlaw Star". I have a slight issue with this as I find that if you can't market a product on its own merits, then maybe you should reconsider Relying on other products/associations only serve to miff me a bit.

That being said, it is rather good fantasy yarn. It certainly worth a watch at the very least.