Anime Review No. 87 (Dead Leaves)

‘I kinda hate myself for liking this’

Dead Leaves

2004 OVA

Studio: Production IG, Director: Hiroyuki Imaishi, Script: Takeichi Honda and Imai Toonz

Well then, its time for a blast from the recent past. Yeah only a decade has past since this OVA has come out, but 'recent past' still counts. Also, its the debut as director for Hiroyuki Imaishi. So yes Dead Leaves it is.

Umm yeah it is about a duo of anti-heroes of sorts and their wild adventure in the far off future. They are Pandy, a buxom babe and Retro, a dude with a TV for a head. The movie starts up stranded on a wasteland both with memory loss, and very much in the nude. They team up for a bank robbery which leads to a rather disjointed manic car chase action sequence.They are however caught by the police and sent to a prison on the moon, which is a disfigured crescent in the sky. This in turn leads to the most glorious sex scene ever in anime outside of a hentai though our duo escape along with some other prisoners, leading to more shenanigans. I won’t spoil any further as this has to be seen to be believed.

Dead Leaves is a weird and surreal mess. me trying to recount the plot much less the story is hard to do even after watching it half a dozen times over the course of many years like I have. I was constantly screaming WTF and laughing my butt off often at the same time.

In many ways, Dead Leaves is a perfect display of Imaishi style even for a debut feature. Be it the fast kinetic direction and pacing or elaborate storyboarding. But this stuff is at the expense of sense or logic, its animated insanity. Of course this is looking at it as a standalone work, isolated from a historical perspective. Looking at it from a historical career sense, Dead Leaves becomes a step in the evolution of one animator’s style over time.

Imaishi started out as an animator on Evangelion back in 1995. He continued with work on other Gainax series in late 90s/early 00s (notably episode 19 of Kare Kano, FLCL episode 5, and Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi episodes 3 and 12). Then he did this as his first outing as a director and it certainly feels an effort from a first timer, a good effort if a little uneven in parts and places. After that, he directed Gurren Lagann and later Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt. In fact, PSG feels like a more refined version of Dead Leaves, which both in turn are lovely tributes to the schlocky era of bloody violent and vulgar OVAs from the late 80s/early 90s. Heck Kill la Kill, his most current TV show and 2nd collaboration with Kazuki Nakashima, this OVA gets a nice mention (by that I mean ‘spot or you’ll miss it’) in the very first episode of that series.

Also the release history of this OVA is rather interesting. The original Japanese release dates to January 2004. It got a release here in the States on DVD and UMD (remember those? yeah me neither) within the next year by Manga Entertainment. It also got a TV broadcast on Sci-Fi Channel Ani-Monday block in Jan 2008 which is probably one of the early times that I watched it. The dub was done by Gaijin Productions, the ADR company Amanda Winn Lee and her husband formed after leaving ADV and moving from Texas to LA. They have done only 4 dubs: this, the Read or Die OVA (arguably the best out of the bunch in my humble opinion), and Evangelion Rebirth and End of Eva movies. Granted Amanda Winn Lee is still somewhat in the voice acting business, recently showing last year in the Persona 4 The Animation dub. The dub is OK and rather apt for such a cartoony and insane short movie, in a way harking back to the early ADV Films catalog of dubs that the Amanda Winn Lee was very much involved in. Although the only actors notable here are Amanda Winn Lee and her husband Jason C Lee playing the main duo but that’s about it.

I’ll end this review by saying yeah Dead Leaves is a wild crazy but fun movie. Lucky for you all, Manga Entertainment has the whole thing up on Youtube so you can see and watch it for yourself and decide on your own.

Next time, well its time for an actual blast from my past.....

Later, my dear readers.

Anime Review No. 85 (Problem Children)

Problem Children are coming from Another World, Aren’t They?

Director: Yasutaka Yamamoto

Script: Noboru Kimura, Hideki Shirane and Yasutomo Yamada

Studio: Diomedea

Well, August closes out with a show that I picked up on a whim around my birthday when Rightstuf was doing a sale on Sentai Filmworks releases. I got this along with two other shows I will be covering in good time, but since the August schedule had an open slot, I decided to place it here. The show in question, is Problem Children Are Coming from Another World, Aren’t They?

Problem Children or Mondaiji Long Freaking Title, is based on a light novel series by Taro Tatsunoko and illustrated by Yu Amano. It tells the story of 3 young individuals: Izayoi, Asuka and Yuu who are pulled from different times of human history by a mysterious force to another realm, “Little Garden”. However, this turns out to be done by Black Rabbit, a rabbit eared hostess that wears a skimpy outfit, acting as an attendant for the ‘Problem Children’ as they engage in Gift Games and helping the No Names (a community consisting mostly of young children) regain their proper place in the Little Garden.

The story is a basically a ‘Alice in Wonderland’ but done in a fantasy RPG/video game-esque setting. You got 3 MCs that become rather OP as time progresses, and have an aide NPC (Black Rabbit). Little Garden is a world governed by games, The Gift Games, various competitions similar to what one does. Heck the first episode plays out exactly like the tutorial and first level of a video game, mostly set up and establishment. But once it starts moving past that, its a fun and fantastic ride. But that’s all it got going for it. Now why’s that? Let me explain.

For one thing, the characters are mostly broad stroke stereotypes that, outside of external appearance and aesthetic design, are similar to other characters that have been in anime for a long time. Izayoi is practically every brash and clever MMC, Asuka is a dignified rich girl and Yuu is a bandage patch away from being Rei. Black Rabbit is basically the fanservice factor taken to its logical extreme and outside of the villains, everyone else has little to no personality of their own. The villains, as in most video games, are either morally repugnant scumbags or genocidal maniacs that are evil because well they just are. This show operates on ‘Video Game Logic’ quite a lot, where stuff happens because it looks cool as opposed to making sense. Aside from that, the only different thing that Problem Children brings to the table is references to myth and legend, especially in the final episodes.

What doesn’t help this is that the show is only 10 episodes long, as opposed to the usual 12-13 episode run most anime shows get in a season. Though that’s not such a bad thing as it cuts out any excessive padding or filler that tend to pop in 12-13 episode anime shows It also means that this show, like a lot of LN adaptations, ends on a freaking cliffhanger/setup for a possible sequel. Granted this show does have an additional OVA episode, but it is akin to the mini games section of a video game, all fluff and no substance, as well as provide plenty of fanservice. Of course, there is a chance a continuation can occur since it has been about a year and a half.

The presentation, in terms of animation production provided by studio Diomedea, is a nice and solid effort, but a few shades away from unremarkable. So rather like Campione, the previous show I looked at from this studio. There are a few impressive shots and action sequences, particularly the Gift Games. The music is done by Shiroh Hamaguchi and its quite impressive and nice, sounding like an OST of a Fantasy VG/MMORPG. Considering the guy wrote music for Final Fantasy that’s no surprise there. The OP is nice often, though the ED is a funny lil cute chibi dance of the main quartet which is a bit chuckle worthy.

Finally, the English Dub….is some very good stuff from the great people working in Houston. First off no honorifics and no sight of Greg Ayres at all, like really. Its a Christopher Ayres-Josh Grelle team-up (director-writer respectively); Josh Grelle also plays Izayoi and is one of the best things about this. This isn’t the first time Ayres and Grelle collabed on a dub-previous efforts included Magikano back in the late ADV era and the dubs for Majikoi Samurai Girls and Bodacious Space Pirates in the current Sentai Filmworks era. The dub has essentially C. Ayres great casting and well-performed direction combined with Grelle’s much loose Funi-esque writing, Grelle having written for both Funi and Sentai dubbed titles. Emily Neves, an actress whose voice acting career spans back to Clannad, is credited as assistant director and she has gone onto be ADR director for some upcoming/recent dubs like Watamote, Rozen Maiden 2013 and Chuunibyo. I’m sure to talk about her as dub director at a later date. Another best thing of the dub is Jessica Calvello who has experienced a recent renaissance of sorts. Her role as Saori in the Girls und Panzer dub was the gateway of sorts to her getting more work recently, playing roles in Maria Holic, Attack on Titan, Gatchaman Crowds, and this. She does pretty great as Black Rabbit, though your enjoyment of the dub may entirely whether or not you like her particular performance style. It does for me so I find the dub quite good. The rest of the cast consists of nice blend of veteran and new talent that Ayres cast in his dubs (Brittney Karbowski, Nancy Novotny, David Wald, Cynthia Martinez, Carli Mosier, Hilary Haag, Andrew Love, etc) and everyone here does a great job here in the dub.

So, what’s the bottom line on this show? Well, Problem Children is an entertaining little diversion. As one reviewer on ANN stated, “Problem Children is probably the best saved for a lazy afternoon when you’ve got nothing else to do.” And you know what, I got to agree with ANN on that. Its a good entertaining show but probably only from time to time. Granted, when I first watched it, I was partly enthralled but after watching it a few more times, my critical mind started piping up and saying ‘Yeah, I dunno how that happened… eh just go with it” but I still enjoyed watching the show. And if that was their aim, well mission accomplished.

September Blog Schedule to be posted tomorrow.

Anime Review No. 84 (Sound of the Sky)

Sound of the Sky

Director: Mamoru Kanbe

Script: Hiroyuki Yoshino

Studio: A-1 Pictures

Now onto a show that isn’t only great, but I consider it an underrated gem of the decade thus far. That show is Sound of the Sky, or Sora no Woto. In some time fan in the future, private Kanata Sorami, a new recruit for the Helvetian army is being sent to her first military assignment. That being at the Clocktower Fortress, a far off fort on the edge of the frontier, near the frontier town Seize. Kanata is also a bugler, though her instrument playing needs a bit of work but she has the urge to improve. She was inspired by an encounter as a child by a mysterious blond bugler, whose identity is a mystery plot point throughout the show’s run. Although, the fortress is home of the 1121st platoon, though it is more like a squad given the small size of it. It has a varied cast of characters that get their own stories and time to develop/grow, be it the stern mentor Rio, the kind motherly Fillica, the bratty Kureha and the sleepy but stoic Noel.

Kanata is bliss (and also reminds me of some other character hmm)

Airing in January-March 2010, Sound of the Sky was the debut project of Anime no Chikara. This project, translated roughly to ‘The Power of Anime’, was a collaboration between TV Tokyo and Aniplex put together in 2009 as an effort to do original anime productions, free of ties to other works like manga, visual novels and video games. So, Aniplex tapped A-1 Pictures (their own animation studio) with the task of making these productions. The project unfortunately only did 3 shows in 2010, in back-to-back seasons: this, Night Raid 1931 and Occult Academy. No further word on this project, which is a bummer but then again A-1 Pictures is too busy making SAO because it is really necessary for the world.

Yeah Kanata, I don't know why A-1 has some done more SAO then more of this or Zvezda Plot

What is interesting in Sound of the Sky is the unique mash-up of genres. It is basically a Girls Club SoL show in a war zone setting. I like the intricate world building present here. Granted, much of it is based on early 20th century European style (buildings, uniform/clothing, culture, partially names etc). It has a local story focus with glimpses of a wider world. The story has a nice blend of soft light hearted SoL vignettes and serious war drama. In addition, there is quite a lot of legend and lore dispensed within this 13 episode show, the legend of the Flame Maidens and also how that ties into a past catastrophe that is hinted at, but never fully revealed. But that’s ok, since the mystery of the catastrophe is more interesting than the thing itself. This is also a quite solid series from start to finish, never dragging down or going too fast.

The only bit of the omake episode I am showing you xD

My favorite episodes of the show were episode 7.5, 8 and 13. Now while the show is 13 episodes, its technically 12 with 2 DVD exclusive episodes, which thankfully Right Stuf (through their Nozomi Entertainment licensing/distribution label) included in the DVD collection. I got to say its for the best as episode 7.5 is one of the most funny omake/OVA style episode I have seen for an anime yet. Episode 8 is a fine bottle episode, focusing in on one location and letting the situational story that takes place to drive the episode. I won’t spoil what that is, you will have to see for yourself. Finally episode 13 is a quite sublime series finale, hinting at a possible and natural extension for the story to go and yet I feel the story is complete as it is. That, in my mind, is the mark of a great show.

It was at this moment, I knew that this was something special

Sora No Woto OP

Music is a bit of a theme and the power of it in shaping or even improving our lives. The song ‘Amazing Grace’ is the constant song played during the course of the show, and I like that ties into the other themes present in the show, rather than ‘Ode to Joy’ which is plastered on a lot of anime, regardless of whether or not it makes sense (looking at you Gunslinger Girl). Anyway,the animation is quite solid overall but then again its A-1 Pictures they tend to go a good job on certain shows.Music is quite great with some nice sweeping orchestral moments coupled with gentle guitar strumming and haunting strings . If the OP animation looks a little similar to Elfen Lied, then yeah that is because Mamoru Kanbe directed this and Elfen Lied, hence the rather Klimt-esque art style. The upbeat energetic ED.is standard and often a nice respite from some of the more darker episodes.

Nozomi Entertainment’s release of Sound of the Sky is rather bare bones, just some character profiles, clean OP/ED and trailers. There’s an alternate episode 1 but when I watched it the only difference I noticed was that it included the OP. It is also sub-only, so I can’t really speak on the voice acting, but it is quite good. Right Stuf used to, back in the boom (as KO Beast and Kare Kano can attest) they would pick up shows and then farmed out the dubbing to other studios (mostly in New York and LA) as the company is based out in Iowa

Sound of the Sky is available from Nozomi Entertainment (once in 2011, thinpak in 2013). Of course, if you just want to watch it without buying, then don’t fret: It’s up on Youtube (Sound of the Sky episode list) for mostly free of cost. You got literally no excuse to check this out and watch it.

SO yeah, next time, who wants to go down the rabbit hole?

NO NOT THAT HOLE >.<

Til next time, dear readers.

Anime Review No. 83 (KO Beast)

KO Beast (OVA) aka KO Century Beast Warriors

Initial Home Video Release: 1992-93

Director: Hiroshi Negishi

Script: Satoru Akahori

Studio: Animate-Film/Project B4

Well, well, it’s been a while, folks. But I am now getting back into the groove of doing reviews on a regular basis. Also, its my 3rd year anniversary for the blog so this month will be full of special reviews. Now, as I posted before, first off the bat: KO Beast!

Our gang of heroes, everyone ^_^

In the far future or something, the earth has been split in half. By what force that is explained but it makes very little sense. Beastmen roam and have taken over and are in a war against Human technomages as the two vie for control of the planet. KO Beast follows the adventures of Wan, Bud Mint, Mei-Mar and Tuttle as they contend against the villainous V-Darn and V-Sion and their sadistic fairy Akumako, whose boss is Czar Master a mysterious but evil being who wants to, of course, take over the world. Luckily, Wan (a prototype of every shonen protagonist for the next 20+ years) and his band of warriors have some tricks beneath their sleeves. For one thing, they can transform into anthromorphic versions of themselves, being human-animal hybrids. Wan turns into a tiger upon sneezing, Bud turns into a chicken when he gets goosebumps, Mei-Mar and Tuttle turn into a mermaid and turtle respectively. They have Yuni, daughter of Dr. Password who holds a secret power that might be the key to an united future. Lastly, they got these I-Jinn statues which can turn into giant mecha that can combine…..so like nearly every Sentai in that respect. I am going this far because I feel that this is a show meant to see to be believed.

I like the mecha designs (done by Rei Nakahara who would go on to work for  Blue Seed and Angel Links ), very old school

KO Beast OP

Now, this is a very silly and ridiculous show, to be frank.I mean, the OP pretty much tells you that right off the bat. Especially when I first saw this, I was like ‘what the fudge is this?’ but then as I continued I warmed up to its insanity. That is probably because KO Beast is just so optimistic and full of fun and very earnest. It is a lovely combination of adventure, shonen action, fantasy/sci-fi ever encapsulated in 7 episodes. The 7 episode OVA is split into two different stories: Episodes 1-3 being a shonen style quest adventure while Episodes 4-7 transitioning from that to being a rescue mission story. There is promise of further adventures but thankfully this OVA is relatively self-contained, something not many of KO Beasts’ contemporaries did.

Our heroes have the right things in mind lolz

There is not a serious bone in this show’s body and it is certainly proud of and/or well aware of this fact. Even when it does get serious, it manages to do that and crack a grin in the midst. It had me laughing all the way through, which is most likely the result of the writer and director for this OVA. Hiroshi Negishi and Satoru Akahori, two guys big in the anime scene of the ‘90s, make their debut more or less here. The CV for these two (Negishi would go onto do Burn Up W, much of 90s Tenchi Muyo and Saber Marionette J while Akahori would write for such shows as Nadesico, Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi, Maze the Megaburst Space, Sakura Wars, etc) is quite a sight to behold, even Negishi was responsible for that trainwreck known as Amazing Nurse Nanako, but yeah we all can’t be perfect.

The OVA has some nice backdrops

Hmmm.,.....nah that couldn't be!

Of course, the writing and direction are complemented by an impressive art style and animation, even for the time. Sometimes it does get a bit cartoony and rubbery but hey it fits the tone and attitude of the show. Of course, consider when this first came out, its the early 1990s, as anime was coming out of the gritty, ultra-violent/sexed up OVAs of the 80s/early 90s. Sailor Moon was just out in 1992 on TV for instance and anime that came out in 1992 read like efforts to distance themselves from those kind of material. Anime studios began moving towards a broader eclecticism (at least in terms of the kind of shows/genres/stories they produced adaptations ). Essentially KO Beast came out at a time when more shows geared to genres like fantasy, sci-fi, slice of life, drama, etc which continues to this day. Not to say shows of those genres existed prior, but they were at the fringes of the anime fandom at the time when the only known shows from that era were space operas like Macross and Gundam or ultra-violent schlock like well, anything infamous from that era take your pick. Not to say that KO Beast was a pioneering series for the japanese animation field, but it stands as part of a vanguard of early to mid 90s anime.

Only in this anime does Lisa Ortiz voice a sadistic devil-Navi for the dub lolz 

The English dub, produced back in 2003, is a steady effort from NY Headline Studios, one of the better studio groups from that area. While certainly not their best effort (Kare Kano) but it is not that far off from that in terms of quality. It is somewhat notable for starring early career Liam O’Brien and Sam Riegel as well as NY dub mainstays like Angora Deb, Rachael Lillis, Lisa Ortiz, Jessica Calvello and J David Brimmer. Granted it gets a bit repetitive in terms of the additional/bit parts but otherwise a fine dub overall. Note this is one of a few shows that has both an American and British dubs. But, The British dub was only for the first 3 episodes and seems lost to history though a friend of mine has seen some of it and called it ‘legendary’. The best bonus for the US release is the english dub outtakes which are hands down the funniest I’ve heard. Granted, its mostly the actors flubbing their lines or inserting unneeded references into the scenes as one would expect from bloopers, but one can definitely tell that this was a riot to record, for sure.

So yeah I like this show, its got a special place in my heart when it comes to 90s OVAs, right along with Magic Users Club and El Hazard. It got some good stuff going for it and any sort of shortcoming are forgiven because it is just so darn funny and entertaining.

KO Beast is available by Right Stuf, though only as 3 DVD singles that are out of print but can be found easily on Amazon or eBay.

But you know, things can't all be fun and games all the time.....

Til next time, dear readers.....

Anime Review No. 82 (Yama no Susume)

Yama no Susume

Initial Airing: January 2-March 20 2013

Director: Yusuke Yamamoto (B Gata H Kei, Walkure Romanze)

Creator: Shiro (mangaka)

Studio: 8-Bit (Busou Shinki, Infinite Stratos, Tokyo Ravens, Walkure Romanze)

So, hi there this is the Eclectic Dude and today is my birthday. Also, this is the last review I am doing at my parents’ place. Suffice to say, I am to be gainfully employed starting next month and will be moving out finally on my own. So, I am taking a look at a short series from early last year, one that was somewhat overlooked, that being Yama no Susume.

Yama no Susume, or Encouragement of Climb, is about a gang of four high school girls and their adventures doing mountain ‘climbing’,  though its about hiking and camping in the outdoors. Not sure if thats a translation error or something but then again I suppose hiking is one way of climbing a mountain. The main reason I picked up this show was that hiking was a big part of my growing-up, as I was in the Cub and later Boy Scouts and lived at least nearby an area where the outdoors was still somewhat undisturbed. So watching this show was rather nostalgic for me. Of course, I go on the occasional hike or walk outside, but nothing to the extent I did back in the day. I am glad to be moving out to a place where perhaps I can pick up doing that on a more regular basis. Anyway, tangent done.

(L-R): Hinata, Yukimura, Kokona

Now onto the characters, which is your somewhat typical moe girl stereotypes, but have enough dimension to at least be distinguishable. First there’s Yukimura Aoi, the shy and cute one who was once into hiking but a childhood incident scarred her for life and she developed acrophobia. Fortunately, Hinata the genki girl and old friend of Aoi from grade school, helps her out of her fear of heights and to grow an appreciation for the outdoors again. In the course of the show, the two meet two other girls: Kaede Saito, a megane babe who’s a big time camper and Kokona, the young and ditzy cutie of the group.

At least she didnt take a arrow to the....no no not going to finish that xD

This leads into the story, which is one of the strong points of the show. Granted, each episode is 3 minutes with 30 sec ending song (episode 12 has an extra minute). In other words, it took me just under an hour to watch the entire series. So, one would expect a short series to be just random stuff with no cohesion, right? Not so with Yama no Susume, as there is a semblance of a overarching storyline over the series of shortened length episodes. The whole show is rather economical, at least in terms of character and plot.

The animation is cheap and adequate enough for a short series. There exists some quite Impressive background art work of the outdoors and the full-on mountain vistas.

Ooooh pretty backdrop

But you know what, that’s alright, because it was a nice breeze to watch. Its a good-natured, light-hearted, soothing slightly educational SoL (slice of life) show. Also, I am highlighting  this show in preparation of the second season, coming out in July 9. And the good news-its 24 episodes long, each episode being 15 minutes. That fact alone soothes my soul and I can’t wait for the second season. Let the climb continue!

Yesh the Internet, our grand saviour!!!

Yama no Susume is available (legally) through Crunchyroll, not only for free but with no ads woot. Here’s the link for it: CR Link to Encouragement of Climb Watch it and enjoy!

I shall be doing a blip for the tip jar page around 4th of July weekend and then resume with reviews starting August 3rd. See you then!

Anime Review No. 81 (Summer Wars)

“You Gotta Work for an Answer”

Summer Wars

2009 movie

Studio-Madhouse, Director-Mamoru Hosoda, Writer-Satoko Okudera

Well, time for another movie review and this time I figured it’d be something popular. If you watched Toonami last December, they air a few movies, including Akira (which I saw fully for the first time) and Trigun: Badlands Rumble. Of course, the one that caught my attention was, well, Summer Wars.

The story is focused on our main character, Kenji Kosio, a typical nerdy high school guy who works for Oz as a part-time coder. Oz is well like a VR cyberspace hub where communications, government He gets roped in by a older female student Natsuki to come with her to a family reunion event (her grandmother’s birthday) as her pretend boyfriend. So, basically, the initial premise reeks of a plot from a family rom-com. He meets several family members, including the tenacious grandmother Sakae Jinnouchi, jealous cousin Shota, the shut-in cousin Kazuma and various others mostly fitting typical Japanese family types.

Sakae is best granny 

However, trouble comes round in the form of Wabisuke, the black sheep of the family. Natsuki is a little too friendly with her uncle, which is irksome a bit, but doesn’t detract from the movie that much. However, Kenji gets a code that he works out but that ends up causing havoc to erupt in the Oz system with him framed as the mastermind. But the actual culprit is the Love Machine, very much a rogue computer program. So, now Kenji is facing a double dilemma as he must try to clear his name along with saving Oz and avoid getting outed as a fake by Natsuki’s family.

Now, there is quite a lot to like about this movie, starting with the characters. Very standard for anime, but given enough dimension to make us care about them. Kenji and Natsuki are the typical young protagonists and a lot of the family seems like the kind of people one would find in family dramas. Though I will note a few here. Wabisuke might at first be the black sheep who shows up unexpected but he ends up playing quite a larger part in the story. But, the one character I got to admire is the grandmother Sakae. She’s a tenacious but strong-willed older lady and perhaps one of my favorite elderly characters in anime. She’s the one who brings everyone to deal with the problems faced and strive to succeed. But what happens to the grandmother (not spoiling it) is perhaps the emotional high moment for the movie. It unites the family to the common cause. I watched Summer Wars with a friend of mine one time, who had lost his dad recently and got to say he was nearly in tears at that as I was. I too have lost some relatives as well and so it does get to me on a personal level.  

And so the dominoes fall...

Now, I won’t harp on the story too much since well its basically what happened if you took the internet battle sequence from the Digimon movie, and combine into a animated family J-drama. No surprise on the similarities since the Digimon Movie and this one are directed by the same guy, Mamoru Hosoda. Except its more substantive and integral to the movie. It has also some neat commentary on how the interconnectivity of the world via web and internet is a double edged sword, in that it can bring us together quicker in times of crisis or relaxation but also can be used to inflict misery to a lot of people as the movie attests. It also touches on the importance of family in the modern era  I wish that they did more with that, but considering the time length I am glad that these ideas were brought in and used. That, and the finale is pure spectacle which while pretty to look at however its rather inexplicable at points even 'deus ex machinia'.

Excellently executed fight scenes I must say

Now then the animation, which is stellar across the board. It’s fluid, dynamic and full of life and energy. Being a movie its got naturally high production values as expected. Not as high as Ghibli film, but close enough in terms of overall quality. If the character designs might seem a bit 90s Gainax, that due to Yoshiyuki Sadamoto (character design work for Nadia, Evangelion, FLCL, Gunbuster/Diebuster, etc) handled that.There is also a wide range and variety of facial expressions; in fact, the movie is worth watching just for that. Music is utterly fantastic, again very Ghibli-esque. Almost like this movie’s trying to ape Ghibli….. oh wait, heh, that’s for another time….moving on then.

DAT FACE haha >.<

Now, the original japanese language track has been best described by a colleague of mine as ‘a bunch of J-drama actors doing J-drama acting’ so I whole-heartily recommend the dub That’s not hard, since its a Funimation dub, so its top-notch effort here as usual. Mike McFarland and Patrick Seitz handled the direction and writing for the dub and they are a great team. They help to bring out strong and well-acted performances from just everybody involved. Summer Wars boast a veritable list of who-whos of Funi dub actors with a few Houston actors thrown in for the bit parts. Special mention goes to Michael Sinterniklaas as Kenji, Brina Palencia as Natsuki who are very good in the main roles. J Michael Tatum is at his best arguably with Wabisuke, pouring in his own snideness and charm into the part. But Pam Dougherty as Grandma Sakae is overall best and just about steals the entire movie well while her character is in the movie.

Overall, Summer Wars is a good ‘popcorn movie’; great for a watch with friends and a bunch of good fun. There are some flashes of brilliance with a few of the ideas it plays around with, but still a good time to be had.

Anime Review No. 78 (Campione)

Campione

aka Harem Primer 2014   

Studio-Diomedea, Director-Keizo Kusakawa
Writers: Jukki Hanada, Takamitsu Kouno, Hideaki Koyasu and Takashi Aoshima

“The myth is infinitely flexible, capable of endless variation without sacrificing any of
its magic. And it will outlive us all.”

Chris Vogler, A Practical Guide to The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1985)

Introduction

Note: I took this Harem Primer format in part being inspired by Blogsuki’s similar article on Mahoraba (link: Mahoraba article).

I can’t believe it took me this long to actually get around to talk about a harem series in depth at least. For those not in the know, a harem series is where you got a male character surrounded by a bevy of beautiful/gorgeous/cute girls and any romantic/comical situations that occur. Of course, that’s a very simple distillation of the genre.

The harem genre can be divided in terms of genre and type of source material. For genre, they can first off be straight laced slice of life such as Clannad/Key adaptations, Ouran, Love Hina and ToHeart. Or perhaps they can be harems with other genre elements inserted into the story. Examples of this include Rosario Vampire, Is This A Zombie?, High School DxD, Tenchi Muyo, Monogatari series (somehow), TWGOK series and Infinite Stratos.

For source material, harem shows are adapted from a few common places. Usually, its from a Visual Novel (like Princess Lover and Walkure Romanze) and other eroge/otome games where the objective is get the right route so to speak. Manga (like Love Hina and Ranma ½) are another source of adapting. Though fairly recent, Light Novel series like Date A Live and Infinite Stratos have pervaded the scene for this genre.

Granted, the harem genre, much like shonen action, has gotten very overdone to the point where it has become stale. Fortunately, Campione is a good recent entry in the genre. Its a harem show with fantastical elements and based on a light novel series written by Joe Takatsuki, which has been running since Fall 2008. I did purchase this series more or less as a blind buy, though I did watch 1-2 episodes online before making that decision. It came out initially in Summer (July-September) 2012 before getting licensed by Sentai Filmworks for DVD/BD release back in October 2013.

Now, I get to the common elements of a harem show, using Campione as an example. Spoiler warning though there are nebulous at best.

The Hero-Goduo Kusanagi

A 15 year old student who in course of returning a relic that his grandfather had, runs into Erica and gets involved in some mystical affairs. In process, he ends up inheriting the powers of a Campione or God-slayer. He is of average intelligence, but quick to his feet on learning and can be quite confident. Granted, he is not too much of a spineless wimp like other harem leads and does take initiative in his own story. Of course, he knows when to be humble (i.e. even when he gets the Campione powers, he refuses to use them in ordinary life affairs). Generally speaking, he’s a nice guy and the moral counter of the group. However he ends meeting at first….

The Alpha Haremette: Erica Blandelli (The One the Hero Ends up with)

She’s a Blond Italian girl (as most Europeans are portrayed in anime). A Member of the Copper Black Cross, she is more of a magic warrior, using Hermetic magic, based on power of iron with her weapon of choice  being a sword. But at her core, Erica is a strong, proud and bold noble young lady. Goudo and Erica don’t really get it on initially but once they do they team up quite nicely. Erica and Godou act as a couple of equals, mutual partners. In addition, she is quite sexy and flaunts it quite openly. She might seem to be manipulative, having a cunning edge at moments, but there is a hinting that she does indeed care for Godou. Even seems to advocate polygamy (when Godou expresses interest in hanging out with Maria and the later harmettes, she’s totally fine with it so long as its clear she is the No. 1 girl in his eyes (always the strategist). Finally, she must have Charisma of over 100+ as she can get people to take her advice, whether or not they want to.

Wolf Whistle ~~

The Gimmick:

Like many harem series, Campione has a gimmick. But unlike a number of them, Campione has an interesting gimmick to go along with the stock standard harem elements, which is high concept battles against mythological beings (Rogue Gods) and other Campiones. The Rogue Gods are more akin to forces of nature, as the cause for natural disasters and the progenitors of conflict. The fights are a mix of armed combat and Godou’s spamming of the ‘Words of Power’ (literally talking his opponents to submission).

Buried deep within the mythic fight sequences, there is something worth taking note of, which I will call ‘Interconnective geography of human mythology’. Its an idea that I wish was explored a bit further, a rather Jungian notion that all human myth is linked together, primarily through word of mouth, you know the oral tradition. Of course, the scope of myth in this show is severely limited to Greek/Roman myth, with some Persian/Middle Eastern and Japanese mythos thrown in for good measure.

It also take beats from The Hero’s Journey. Godou, for instance, receives the call of the journey by Erica Blandelli. He is reluctant at first, but is encouraged by Erica and others. He next crosses the first threshold within the first 2 episodes as he gets used to Erica and the situation he has landed himself in. Godou goes through tests and gets helpers, in the form of harmettes and receive supernatural aid via the kiss of certain maidens, again word of mouth a tad literally.

Going along with this, the story structure is similar to a mythical epic, where mini-story arcs that tie development of the girls in the harem with mythic duels take place of a single narrative that thrusts throughout.

Story Arc I (E1-4) Prophecy of the Starless Night

Story Arc II (E5-7) Duke Voban and His Most Dangerous Game

Story Arc III (E8-10) Perseus, the False Hero

Final Story Arc (E11-13)

And they all want him...... xD

But it also uses tropes of harem shows, but at least with other fantasy/myth elements its not too grating or tired as in other harem series. Erica  goes to live with him and there’s some nice and humorous bits on how that impacts his home life. Godou bothered by the sexual advances of Erica, similar to other harem leads with their leading love interests. Once again, Godou develops friendships with the other charmettes, which I will get to now…

.Harmettes No. 2 and 3: Yuri Maria and Liliana Kranjcar (The Two Blushing Maidens)

Yuri Mariya

She’s the first Japanese haremette and classmate to Godou. She’s mainly a Yamato Nadeshiko: soft spoken, reserved yet nice and kind Hime-Miko (Shrine Maiden Princess). In line with that personality, Yuri seems very formal and traditionally Japanese.But she has some bad past history with the Campiones (tied into Story Arc II). She isn’t too pleased with Erica getting too cozy with Godou, so the two develop a rivalry that at times reminds me  of other rivalries. Like Erica is the leader/head warrior, Yuri is the the healer/support member of the party. Granted, she is not totally useless, as she has a sixth sense ability which enables her to dole out essential information when the story dictates. She is also very willingly to call out Godou on his harem antics, despite the fact he doesn’t have much control over that. Much of her focus is in Story Arc II where she has to get over her troubled past and joins the team thereafter.

Liliana Kranjcar

She is Croatian/Eastern European, given the silver hair. She starts off as a minion of one of the baddies, Duke Voban as well as a member of Bronze Black Cross, rival organization to Erica’s Copper Black Cross. She is a young woman of few words, seems a lone fox at first. A Secondary warrior who uses sword as well, but not as good/polished in combat as Erica. Nevertheless she is innocent and devoted, if a little naive. Though, she seems to be a secret pervert despite coming off as a pure maiden. She writes in her diary the equivalent of harlequin romance stories, but that’s not too surprising considering she’s a teenage girl. Next to Godou and Erica, she also seems to have something of a character arc throughout the series, going from being somewhat of a background character to joining the main cast and overcoming her anxiety.

Harmette No. 4-Erina Seishuin (and the Big Issue of this adaptation)

The final harmette introduced…..in episode 11.  She seems to be a hybrid of Erica and Mariya-shes a Hime-Miko as well, but is good with a sword though its cursed. She, however, introduces the biggest problem/issue of the Campione anime, which is...

Big Issue of Pacing

Most harem shows have an issue with pacing, that is its paced too slowly, they either waste time or the story is so plodding. Campione on the other hand has too quick a pacing, though at first its not really noticeable. It was, to me, noticeable slightly in episode 8, but especially by episode 11. For instance, Episode 7 ends with a preview of next episode (8), with the tag ‘oh beach episode’ and I was like ‘oh ok then, should be a nice break’ then halfway through ep 8, boom, next plot arc-agh what? The cold opener being the closest this show gets to having actual cheesecake, much less mizugi in the show.

One of the few mizugi pics I could find

But it goes far beyond that, such as leaving out a critical duel between Godou and Salvodore Doni another Campione at some point early in the story. We are told about it but we never get to see it, its ‘Show don’t tell” but luckily the only time this show pulls that trick. Also, the last three episodes are such a crammed mess of story and character parts that if given more time to develop alone, might have work out for the better. In fact, the only part that really works in the final arc is the climax (literal and figurative) of the Erica x Godou relationship, which is the emotional high point of the show. Episode 13 in the end is fitting as a season finale, but leaves on a freaking cliffhanger. This is due in part to the fact that the anime is an adaptation of 5 volumes of the light novels of the same name. They crammed in a lot of stuff to the series so then there’s no breathing room for the audience. Whether or not this was a direct decision on the part of the production staff or a dictate from the publisher who knows. Then again, its a good entry for those shows where ‘oh if you want to find out more, read the book!’ which regrettably are a dime a dozen these days.

Athena (the potential harmette)

A Rogue God who looks like a loli, you know since that’s a thing nowadays. She utters “Lethargy’ and is quite mysterious. She is the baddie of Story Arc I as she seeks to regain her full power. But that get thwarted by Godou and Erica and  yet gets spared by Godou because he is, in the end, a nice guy. She’s a potential harmette but not really as the ‘eek’ factor is a bit much, but overall a serviceable character.

Non-harmettes

There’s Erica and Liliana’s maids though they are mere side characters mainly for comic relief. There’s also Lucretia Zola, the High Witch of Sardinia who despite being in her 60s looks like a hot model in her 20s. Seriously, dayuum…. Also, there’s Pandora a mysterious goddess figure that comes in to give advice to Godou. There are some other characters, but mostly one-note so not much else to comment.

I only included this pic cus the meido is cat-faced, what a minx xD

Fanservice

Aplenty in this, not unexpected from the harem genre. In fact, its quite tame in comparison to similar harems shows (like High School DxD and Freezing). Aside from kissing with tongue (a lot) and one particular make-out session, its mainly sexual innuendo and implications.  

Heh, Erica's meido (girl on the right)'s swimsuit outfit is amusing

Animation and Music

This is a quite solid production from recent studio Diomedea, as in it doesn’t cut too many corners and looks good. It has a fairly even budget from the look of things. Granted they are some stock footage/repetitive sequences but there are quite nice looking. It doesn’t really excels much but then again doesn’t derp too much as well. Also, the music was done by Tatsuya Katou (The Horizon series, Needless, and recently Zvezda Plot) and it is in fitting with at least the mythic adventure aspects of the show. Leitmotifs abound, if you wish to listen for them as well as ‘EPIC’ choral music for the fight sequences. When it gets dramatic and emotional, it does quite well.The OP and ED are quite rocking.

Campione OP Campione ED

Dub and Sub

Perfectly serviceable in the original Japanese, though the original Japanese does butcher a bit of the Italian in places. Surprising, since they had ‘Italian Language Supervisor’ on staff.

But the fact that got me interested in this show was in who was helming the English dub, as it wasn’t by Steven Foster or Christopher Ayres, their more regular dub directors. ADR Director and script was done by Jason Grundy who has mostly done work as audio engineer on ADV/Sentai Filmworks dubs. This is the one and only dub crediting him in both directing and writing, though he has directed a few Funimation dubs (some eps of Funi’s One Piece dub, Sekirei, Rosario Vampire, Sands of Destruction and Master of Martial Hearts(!)).

Its certainly one of the better recent SF dubs not directed by Foster and/or Ayres. Writing is slightly rewritten or reworded dialogue that works to the advantage of the dub actors. Certainly makes it sound natural in English. As an experiment, I watched one episode with dub and subtitles on, which proved to be quite interesting. It seems to me to be almost like a Funimation dub, but with Houston acting cast.

In addition, its well-directed and well-casted as well, probably some of the cast’s better performances. Highlights of the dub for me include Monica Rial as Erica, who quite frankly gives one of her best recent performances, of course it was a bit of a pleasant surprise. Blake Shepard is a good actor in this, though he didn’t really impress me before (The Sacred Blacksmith). Hilary Haag and most of the other cast (Genevieve Simmons, Carli Mosier, John Swasey, Chris Patton, etc) do a great job. Of course, the cherry on top for me was Chris Ayres doing the narration.

Final Thoughts

Aside from the harem elements which are very rote, Campione does have some neat ideas regarding myth and heroes. It has some neat action and characters are far more then just trope-based caricatures. It also has a fair amount of fanservice if you want some cheesecake. Granted, the pacing is very quick and it is open-ended in that way of ‘oh you want more, go check out the novels!’. However, I enjoyed it (unironically I must add), more so then other recent harem shows. Good harem show? Certainly, but there has been other great harem shows.. Great anime? Ehhh, not so much, it misses the mark too often to be great.

Well, what's next?

Its back to the '90s.....

Til next time, dear readers