Anime Review No. 99 (From the New World)

‘A Bloody History’

From the New World (2012-13 TV Series)

Studio: A-1 Pictures

Director: Masashi Ishihama

Script: Masashi Sogo

So the core of speculative fiction, of which science fiction rests in, is centered around a rather simple question: What if? Of course, if one takes a look at any story in sci-fi or fantasy it is never simply What if but includes more information certainly, be it Star Wars, Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, etc. That is part of the appeal, to make us wonder about other worlds and places that reside in the imagination. Today I will discuss From the New World, an amazing anime piece of speculative fiction.

These poor children.....

From the New World, or Shin Sekai Yori, is an anime based on a novel of the same name by Yusuke Kishi released back in 2008. It tells the story of Saki and her friends that reside in a quiet village Kamisu 66 about 1000 years in the future. Oh but that’s not all, for she and her friends (Satoru, Maria, Shun and Mamoru) and in fact the whole village have psychic (PK) powers, of sorts. But that’s the least of their problems, besides dealing with that they also have to deal with enemies both out in the wider world and within their own secluded communal village.

Given the context this shot is very striking

I won’t go any further than that, because I am of the opinion that this is a show that must be seen and experienced first hand. That is the best way to describe SSY, as an experiential story. The speculative question at the core for this story is this: “What if human society as we know it went backwards?’ Part of the show is exploring the why and how of this question and a lot of the implications that stem from that. It is the future as reflected from the distant past and informed by the present. The future presented is so compelling in part due to how very possible it could be, and that is a scary and terrifying fact. It also dwells on the iterative nature of history and make approaches to the conceptual notion of infinity, but doesn’t quite get there due to the inherent limitations of humanity.

Opening Scene of Shin Sekai Yori

The opening scene is in fact one of the most striking and sudden moment in anime history ever. Slowly and surely this future Earth is presented to us and also the deep and dark secrets of humanity of this future. I like the slow burn pacing and the nice use of gradual world building. Small events have big ripples, as things that occur in first few episodes end up being very important down the road. Now there is a reason I am not talking about the characters and that’s aside from really two characters that have a story arc (Saki and Squealer) over of the course of the 25 episodes, the rest of the cast is developed just enough for the story itself but nothing beyond that, which does make them come across as slightly under-developed. But at the end of the day it is all about the experience, which is helped by a great sense of mood and atmosphere, which definitely enhances the experience.

Ohhh...pretty background 

Of course, what doesn’t help this story is the animation production, which is spotty at best and inconsistent at the worst. A-1 Pictures handled the production and they clearly only gave the minimum of budget for the show and it shows painfully at points: off-model moments, obvious CG, sketchy art, etc. This isn’t helped by the fact that A-1 Pictures was working on SAO at around the same time and that show has slightly better production values despite it being not too good. Granted at times, it works well but the show is barely functional given the somewhat low production values. There are also times when it does become visually impressive.

Wow, Saki, u be having some fecked up dreams 

That being said, the soundtrack is quite great, one of the best I have listened to. It is full of ambient sounds and noises which enhances the mood and atmosphere of the piece. Most of it is soft strings and woodwinds mixed with ancient tribal chanting-like music and musical silence. The titular theme is something familiar to me even before I heard of this show. It is the opening bars and initial theme from the Largo (second movement) of Antonin Dvorak’s Ninth Symphony, which subtitle has the same name as the novel. This theme has a special place for me as that symphony was the first one I purchased back in my youth and introduced to other symphonic classical music. It fits the themes, mood and feel of the show to a tee and becomes more poignant with every repetition. On a side-note, the sound design is quite exceptional.

SSY OST1 SSY OST2 From the New World Theme

Now onto the english dub. Now I did watch this initially subbed back in summer of 2013 and the acting in the original Japanese is well done. But then I heard that Sentai Filmworks had picked up the show for release and were giving it a dub, which I was excited about. Christopher Ayres helms this dub, and its my second favorite dub of his that I like right behind the Ef series, if not greater than that dub. He assembles a great main cast consisting of Emily Neves, Monica Rial, Greg Ayres, Clint Bickham and Blake Shepard. Bickham also wrote the dub script and proves that he is capable of writing both comedic and serious shows, complementing the nice and well-done direction by C. Ayres. The dub is good to great overall in terms of performances, but there are 2 standouts in my mind. First is Emily Neves as Saki, who gives a full sincere performance throughout and does a good job on the narration as well. The other is John Kaiser as Squealer, the other main character of sorts. He is a little known character actor who has popped up here and there in a few ADV and Sentai Filmworks dubs. Here he gives one of the more interesting character acting I have seen in a dub in a while. There are some highlights in the dub that are exceptional, be it the near theatrical duo between Neves and Bickham in one episode or a particular moving monologue by Rial in one of the more heartbreaking episodes in the series. There are some amazing supporting cast performances by David Wald, Carli Mosier, John Swasey, David Matranga, Allison Sumrall, to name a few. In fact the last 8 episodes offer some of the best dub work out here and makes this an exceptional dub.

My reaction face when finishing this up. No joke I just about choked up at the finale

Overall From the New World is an unique, visceral and thought provoking experience of speculative fiction. Its a show that grips you from the first moment and never lets up until the very end. The answer that the story poses to the initial speculative fiction question is an interesting one, that despite all adversity (from within and with-out) and struggles humanity will endure, as we have in the past, as we do now and as we will in the future. As part of my own experience as an anime enthusiast, this is the anime that helped me reignited my interest in more new and recent anime, without it I might not have seen Kill la Kill or Yuki Yuna among others. For that I am eternally grateful.

So remember when I’ve said that Evangelion and Read or Die were the anime that solidify myself as an enthusiast? Well the 100th review is for another anime feature that I saw around that time as well, and that will be Review No. 100, it’ll be really special.

Til next time dear readers

Anime Review No. 98 (Maria Holic)

Maria Holic (Winter 2009) and Maria Holic Alive (Spring 2011)

Studio-Shaft

Directors-Akiyuki Shinbou (with Yukihiro Miyamoto and Tomokazu Tokoro)

Writers: Masahiro Yokotani and Miku Ooshima

Well, here we are, something that I am sure most people would not expect me to cover. I was not entirely sure that I would get around to covering this show, but circumstances brought it back to my attention and so here it is. This is Maria Holic.

Maria Holic the anime is based off a manga series written by Minari Endo between 2006 and 2014. It is about Kanako Miyamae, a new transfer student to a private all-girls school. She is secretly a closeted lesbian hoping to find her first true love and a bit of a misandrist, well more in that respect due to her condition where she breaks out in hives when men touch her. She gains a new roommate in Mariya Shidou a nice and gentle ojou-sama but turns out to be a male sadist who is forced to crossdress due to the wishes of his dead grandmother who was also a former headmistress of the school. Thus Kanako is blackmailed into keeping Mariya’s secret. In the process she ends up in a series of unfortunate but comical misadventures at school.

What I like about Maria Holic is how twisted the whole thing is. The whole breadth of creative decisions for this story are made in the opposite way that they would normally trend. Be it Kanako who is basically a girl with a male pervert mindset, Mariya the sadist disguised as the nice and kind ojou-sama and her maid Matsurika who turns out to be a deadpan snarker. The rest of the supporting cast are like that and all fit a basic stereotype (tomboy, megane babe, genki girl, etc) and then taking them to a rather unexpected places.

This is quite fitting as Maria Holic is a rather black comedy at its core. The humor is prevalently dark and its funny mainly due to that. Granted there are some laugh out loud hard moments, but most of the time the comedy is met with a nice dry chuckle from yours truly..There is the semblance of a story/plot but Maria Holic relies a lot on gags and sketch comedy segments. What story is there is an interesting parody. This is very related to my previous review, OtoBoku. Whereas that was a gentle soothing parody, Maria Holic is a bitterly tinged parody and a satire of not only yuri but school slice of life and otokonoko sub-genres as well. Of course, at times it openly embraces the conventions it is joking about. The second season is more of the same, except it seems to double down on everything from the first season and it is even more strange and ridiculous.

Maria Holic S2 clip

The animation production certainly helps this out in spades. If you can’t tell from the first episode alone, this is a pure Studio Shaft/Shinbou directed show. All his trademarks are here and in spades, and it is oddly fitting for such a surreal and dark satire show. This includes the various off-point references, use of text in scene, head tilt, art shift (this show has 3 main art styles). The 2 non-consecutive seasons came out during what I consider the peak of Studio Shaft/Shinbou productions (same era as the Zetsubou Sensei, Hidamari and Arakawa series). There are the seeds of other Shaft productions lashed in the people involved in the production of this series: Yukihiro Miyamoto, future co-director for Madoka and ED for Season 1 done by the future production designer for Madoka and the OP was done by the guy who helmed the Bakemonogatari series. The main thing to take away is that it suits the story and characters, supplementing it as opposed to recent Studio Shaft productions where those same tricks are employed only the story and characters aren’t as engaging-cough cough Monogatari, Sasami-san, Meh-kaku cough cough, but moving on.
S1 OP S2 OP2
S1 ED             S2 ED

Now, onto the english dub, which is a treat especially for those of us waiting for it. The series had its 2 seasons released by Sentai Filmworks (S1 in 2010, S2 in 2012) but sub-only bare-bones releases. But then in late 2013, they announced that they were doing dub re-releases of some of the shows they had done sub-only treatment earlier. I was a bit concerned but then the dub cast came out and I did a sigh of relief. I bought both seasons with the dub in early 2014 and it was worth it. Thankfully Christopher Ayres helms the dub and as usual he doesn’t disappoint. He assembles a great cast with some of his regulars sure but he topped it out with 2 great if not perfect casting choices: Jessica Calvello and Monica Rial. I feel that Jessica Calvello’s career doing more dubs again has its origin point with this dub. She is in true comedic form asa Kanako and I have to say this is her funniest performance since Excel Saga and I can’t imagine anyone else in that role now. Of course she is complemented by Monica Rial who plays Mariya and its the surprise in the dub, always fantastic. The rest of the cast is very spot-on if littered with Ayres’ regulars (Carli Mosier, Brittney Karbowski, Meg McDonald, Shannon Emerick, etc). Another honorable mention has to go to George Manley who does the narration (old ADV fans might know him as the narrator for the ADV redub of Gatchaman a decade prior). The dub script, written by Clint Bickham (who plays a minor role in S2), is nicely done adding in some stuff to punch the already comedic material. Overall a great dub that is highly recommended by yours truly.

Overall, Maria Holic is an interesting high concept comedy show that excels in being fun and entertaining. Granted the flavor of comedy might not suit everyone’s taste but that’s ok. I like it quite a lot and its certainly up there on my list of funniest anime I have ever seen.

So that closes out March 2015 aka Guilty Pleasures Month 2.0. Will I do another series of review like this? Hmm maybe next year, but it will be under a different title for sure. April 2015 marks the release of my 99th and 100th reviews. I am keeping the subject of those 2 reviews a secret but in due time you will all find out. Review No. 99 due out on April 12th.

Til next time dear readers…..

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. 91 (Wolf Children)

‘Give life my best smile’

Wolf Children (2012 movie)

Director: Mamoru Hosoda

Writers: Mamoru Hosoda and Satoko Okudera

Studio: Chizu and Madhouse

So, I close out the year on the blog with another movie from Mamoru Hosoda. I covered Summer Wars this past spring and found it to be a fun, entertaining yet very heartfelt movie. I like it quite a lot, even after watching it both on TV and owning it on DVD. Around the time that I got Summer Wars last time, I heard word that Hosoda had done another film, and that Funimation was releasing it to the States late last year. Then one day, around late September/early October, I saw the following trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SlB-SpDMKI

I knew, almost that instant, I got to have this. So I ordered it along with Girls und Panzer and got it in early November. The movie in question, is of course, Wolf Children or Wolf Children Ame and Yuki as the original Japanese title for the film.

Wolf Children tells the story of Hana, a young college student living in Tokyo who one day meets a mysterious young drifter who turns out to be a ‘Wolfman’. Over time they develop a relationship and later they get to live together and have two children Yuki (snow) and Ame (spring). It’s a bit unclear whether or not they actually married or just agree to a mutual living space, who knows. However a set of varying circumstances force her to move out to the countryside with her two children and she does the best she can to raise them in human society and helping them sort out what their path in life will be.

It is a sort of ‘A fairy tale’ as Yuki points out in the narration, given the dream-like and tranquil atmosphere, punctuated by a few tense and sad moments, one which did give me a few tears. All things aside, Wolf Children is a rather casual and soothing slice of life story and it is charmingly simple and straightforward but it does this so well that doesn’t veer into being dull and rote. The ending is a tad bittersweet but overall a very satisfactory conclusion I must say.

In terms of visual presentation, the movie looks fantastic-being a collaborative effort between Madhouse and Hosoda’s own studio Chizu. There are a few obvious CG shots here and there but that aside its look very good, a high level production to be sure. Lots of visual storytelling with stretches of time with no dialogue abound in this film, which is a breath of fresh air not done often in animated features today. The scene with the mother and children frolicking in the snow is a marvel to behold and a highlight of the film. Narration provided by an adult Yuki as if she is recalling it from the past despite the fact that in the film present the story is being told is a nice touch, lending to the fairy tale aspect of the movie’s story. What is nice is that the story is equally about the mother Hana as well as the titular Wolf Children-about Hana’s struggles and triumphs as single mother (somewhat romanticized) as well as the coming-of-age tale for Ame and Yuki and the paths they choose in life. Music by first time composer Takagi Masakatsu is phenomenal and I hope he gets brought into do more music work for other productions; I just adore full scale orchestral score music.

Now the English dub is very strong effort by Funimation as expected from them nowadays. Sentai Filmworks may be my favorite when it comes to dubbing, but Funimation is the best one in the game presently. Mike McFarland directed, Patrick Seitz written, same team that helmed the dub for Summer Wars and is just as fantastic as that movie’s dub. Colleen Clinkenbeard deserves huge kudos for her performance as Hana and honestly deserves all the kudos for her acting. Houston veteran David Matranga puts in a nice effort as unnamed ‘Wolf-Man’ during that character’s part in the story. In addition, there is some really nice and convincing voice acting for the children, a rare feat these days in dubbing, so kudos to the voice actresses/actors that play the children. In fact there is some brilliant acting from the bit parts as well, especially with the cranky Grandpa Nirasaki, voiced by veteran Funi character actor Jerry Russell-granted he is only in a few scenes but he does a great job with such a small but integral role Sadly he died before the film got its commercial release, and the film is dedicated to his memory though really fitting for a film that explores the many wonders and struggles of life.

Overall, I really like this movie and proves that Hosoda has more the same tricks he showed in Summer Wars and can tackle a film with quite a lot of emotional drama, or ‘the feels’. I hope that Hosoda continue making films of caliber of Summer Wars and this, especially considering Miyazaki and Ghibli are pretty much not doing films as much nowadays. Of course, Hosoda doesn’t have to be the next Miyazaki-he can just be himself, and at least with Summer Wars and Wolf Children proves that he can.

Ok, so that's it for the blog this year. Next year's set of reviews begin weekend after the New Year. Of course, I am doing a review for Animation Revelation for the month of December, to be posted on there around the middle of that month. Here's a preview of that:

Anime Review No. 90 (Mardock Scramble The Third Exhaust)

Mardock Scramble III

Ok, so now time to finish off this film series. It continues from where Part II left off, with Rune Balot and Dr Easter are still at the casino. They are still losing, but its all part of the plan-they have a long game in mind for sure. Meanwhile, Shell is able to track down them at the casino and Boiled still is trying to get back Oefculque. It is clear right from the get-go that this feels like the last third of a larger movie, where everything is coming to a head.

They end up in a card game against Ashley Harvest (some official at the casino who was in one scene near the end of Part II) but the game turns to a draw every time. Of course he tries to get under her skin but she is strong-willed and determined and also gets some advice from Bell Wing, the casino worker Balot met in Part II. Then Shell brings in some heavies to settle the score, however Balot and the doctor get away from the casino. But uh-oh a car chase ensues with Boiled but they get away from that as well. Car chase is quite good, granted that there is some obvious CG in places.

Rune Balot and Dr. Easter then sort out the memories acquired from the casino chips, because Shell’s obsessed with implanting memories into those…..because, there’s a lack of explanation, but whatever. So, Balot dives into Shell’s memories and its quite interesting. Shell’s brutality towards his ‘girlfriends’ is quite harrowing and shocking, and mostly puts his actions up to this point in context. His reasoning…..is both predictable yet still unsettling. I won’t spoil but suffice to say yeah I kind of figured that but it's still shocking.

The trial date is set (yeah remember that from Part I? Yeah it slipped my mind, and the production crew it seems) and Shell gets the conviction. But Rune Balot ends up having to protect Shell for some reason, in part due to the October Corporation (which Shell was part of) has now to decide to detach Shell from them and thus go after him as they are practically mobsters. Balot and Dr. Easter go to his place, only to find Shell’s fiancee murdered in the bath.  

Last bit of it is quite bloody as Shell struggles to get away from Rune Balot who wants to kill him for what he did, but Oeufcoque is her conscience in trying to get her to stop. There is the very tense final fight between Balot and Boiled but had a very satisfying end after all.

Now, the third installation, which I got back last spring, contains both the Theatrical and Director’s Cut versions. I watched the Director’s cut mainly on a whim. Pretty much the same things I noted in my reviews for Parts I and II can be applied here. Mardock Scramble is impressive looking, with a vibrant and diverse color palette and tense atmosphere throughout this installment. If nothing else, it is visually striking and quite wondrous. Granted the story is a bit rote and hues to cyberpunk tropes and formula but its good enough in everything else that I can give it some slack.  

Now, the English Dub, directed by Janice Williams and written by Josh Grelle, is a very solid effort by Sentai Filmworks. Hilary Haag, David Matranga and Andy McAvin put in some of the best work here in this film series and should be commended for that. The rest of the cast (includes Andrew Love, Leraldo Anzaldua, Susan Koozin and David Wald) is very good as well.

In the end, Mardock Scramble is really good, but not quite great. It is however a remarkable tale of redemption and revenge and the delicate line between the two.The trilogy is worth at least a look if you like cyberpunk and sci-fi action. Of course, I would recommend anyone who wants to check this out, watch all 3 parts in one sitting-its something you can dole out on easy-going afternoon.

So, next review is my last one for the year on the blog, and its a very special movie for me….

Til next time, dear readers…...

Anime Review No. 89 (Another)

“Send the Dead back to Death”

Another

2012 TV Series

Studio: PA Works

Director: Tsutomu Mizushima

Script: Ryou Higaki

Ok, time for another Halloween review! This time, I am looking at something a bit similar to last year’s review, which was over Dusk Maiden of Amnesia, except a bit more darker and disturbing. The show in question, which will no doubt make you shat your own pants, its Another!

A new transfer student Koichi Sasakibara who moved from Tokyo to a small rural town named Yomiyama to live with his grandparents and his aunt. His father is off on travel constantly and dead mother. Everyone at school is quite nice and open towards him, but not so much to a particular student. Mei Misaki is a soft-spoken girl with raven hair and a eyepatch concealing a hidden power. All of a sudden, students in Class 3, same one Koichi and Mei are in, start to be killed off one by one in rather bizarre set of circumstances and situations. Now, Koichi and Mei have to work out the mystery behind Class 3 and why the deaths take place.

To boil Another down to its essentials, its a very effective horror mystery thriller. As such it is very dark atmospheric and moody. It takes quite a number of cues from other horror art pieces, from Munch’s The Scream to Psycho to heck Final Destination. To contrast to my last year’s Halloween review, Dusk Maiden of Amnesia had its moments of levity and hope to balance out the dark elements. Another, however doesn’t have any sort of refuge. It is a dreary show through and through or when its not dreary its rather dry and mundane. The visual presentation is decent if a little mundane at times.  

Death is a rather essential element to this show, and being a horror show it revels in the gruesome and disturbing. They are all varied in terms of setup, cause and execution, all of them unnerving and quite unsettling in one respect or other. Yet at the same time they are somewhat predictable and also laughably implausible instead of being shockingly disturbing which is what they were trying to do, somewhat akin to Final Destination. Granted some of the deaths are met with OMFG Jeezus reaction from me. There exists some brilliant misdirection and second guessing in part because most of the cast are unreliable and those that might, end up dying anyway. But hints are dropped here and there, at a natural pace, peeling back the layers of the mystery.

I like how Misaki and Koichi don’t end up as a couple, just friends then again somewhat understandable. The final reveal is something truly amazing once you stop and think about it. Granted this is accomplished by intentionally withholding some information from the audience right before the end. It is a great twist in that once revealed all the other pieces of the mystery fall into place.  

As a warning, Do not marathon this show, best to watch it in small bursts of 3-4 episodes at a time like I did twice upon getting this series. It allows one to sink in all that happens. Music is equally dark and moody, having been done by Ko Otani, of Shana, Gundam Wing and You’re Under Arrest fame. It is full of ambient and scary but subtle sounds. The OP and ED are quite fitting and good.

Another OP Another ED

Now this being a Sentai Filmworks, of course my favorite dub director Christopher Ayres helmed the dub for Another, and like many of his other dub efforts, its really good as usual. It is packed to the brim with Houston dub regulars: Greg Ayres, Monica Rial, Brittney Karbowski, Jessica Boone, Emily Neves, Chris Patton, Josh Grelle, Clint Bickham, Tiffany Grant, etc. At times it seems to be a ‘Ef series’ dub reunion of sorts, though really it is a testament to the steady stable of actors/actresses Sentai Filmworks has at their disposal. Of course, Greg Ayres and Monica Rial are indeed the standout performances for the dub. Though kudos are in order for the rest of the cast, a really great job by all involved. Christopher Ayres also wrote the dub script as well. His approach seems very transliteral (nearly dubtitles and including honorifics) with a few moments where the script deviate but only really in word choice and structure. Still, worth a listen as its one of the better dubs for Sentai Filmworks.

Overall, Another is a rather effective horror/mystery thriller with a lot of punch and drive that will creep into your subconscious forever. Another the anime is released by Sentai Filmworks, the original light novel and the manga adaptation written by Yukito Akatsuji is out by Yen Press.

Next review: Mardock Scramble III, to be posted November 9
Til Next time dear readers

Anime Review No. 86 (Mardock Scramble II)

Mardock Scramble The Second Combustion

2011 Movie

Studio: GoHands, Director: Susumu Kudo, Writer: Tow Ubukata

Well last spring I took a look at the first part of the Mardock Scramble. It was a mildly entertaining and a rather good prologue to a dark and bleak cyberpunk action story, a neat homage to the OVAs of the similar genre  from the late 80s and 90s. Anyway, onto the feature!

Part II picks up right where we left off with the first movie, based on my watching the director’s cut version which is available on the disc along with the theatrical cut. Apparently Rune Balot gets in a gunfight with Boiled which is quite thrilling-quick, fast paced and filled with tension and suspense. Luckily she gets rescued by Doctor Easter just in the nick of time and beat a hasty retreat.

Balot end up in a safe hideout briefly, called ‘Paradise’. She meet others like her as well as some other doctors. For instance there is Tweedledee and Tweedledum, a cyborg and dolphin who are homosexual partners. It is a time to recoup and rest, Oeufcoque is rebuilding himself back again after the gunfight with Boiled. This is also where the movie series moves away from the grim and dark atmosphere of the first part into a more tranquil and contemplative mood. Balot has a talk with GOD, though he’s a doctor with just a head.  

Meanwhile, Shell and his lackey Boiled are engaging in damage control. Medium survived with some new enhancements and still quite insane. Boiled is on their trail and gaining fast and then with the help of their allies at ‘Paradise’ Balot and Easter made another hasty retreat.

Once they get Ouefcoque back they plan out their next strategy: Infiltrate a casino owned by Shell in order to receive the records linked to their case. Also so they can win big at the casino as well. In the course of making slam dunk winnings Balot meets a particular casino dealer Bell Wing who gives her some advice and chit-chat, some really good stuff. The second installment ends with an interesting flashback to when Boiled first met Oeufcoque as well as some nice setup for the third and final installment. Nice harp music plays over the credits with another rendition of Amazing Grace plays and there we go.

Like the first installment, it still has some quite stunning production values, though the color palette has shifted away from grimdark and bleak to a more white and shiny brights. Granted it is a bloody affair in the first half, replaced with a nice polished and sophisticated direction and editing. The second half in the casino is just an impressive sight to behold visually. Anything else good about Part II can be copy/paste from my review of Part I. At least it would with the exception of the dub.

The English Dub, produced in late 2012 I imagine since it got its release on New Years 2013. It is just as good as the first installment. Granted the director and writer shifted between installments from Steven Foster to Janice Williams. As I mentioned in my Girls und Panzer review, Janice Williams is regularly Sentai Filmworks’s Media Coordinator for their releases. Though on occasion she’ll step into the directing chair for Sentai dubs, notably taking over the Clannad dub halfway through and doing a few others (Tokyo Magnitude 8.0, tsuritama, some yaoi OVAs, etc.). In terms of the directors Sentai employs, Janice Williams falls a bit in the middle in terms of consistency in comparison to the other main directors Sentai has had like Foster, C. Ayres and KC Jones. Or to put it in simpler terms, she’s an OK director, not bad/inconsistent (like Foster) but not good/consistent (like Ayres or Jones). She does alright here with Part II’s dub, mostly by getting Hilary Haag, David Matranga and Andy McAvin back and doing as good a job as they did for Part I. In addition, there’s some good performances by David Wald as Boiled along with a good turn here and there by seldom used voice talent like Carl Masterson and Susan Koozin.

I will reserve judgement on Mardock Scramble when I look at Part III in November. Part II is a nice middle act feature with an interesting shift in mood and tone, going from a grimdark bloody cyberpunk story into a somewhat typical revenge story. Hopefully Part III will do something big and fantastic for a climax, only time will tell.

Next time, I take a look into the debut feature for one of my favorite anime directors…..

Dead Leaves trailer

Til next time dear readers