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Sep 27, 2015
Hey kids! Did you ever want to see what goes on behind the scenes of your favorite anime? Well...last year we had Shirobako, which I haven't seen, but seems to have had a higher budget. Even so, Sore ga Seiyuu might do in a pinch, although it only focuses on the voice acting aspects of anime production instead of the whole process.
I guess I'm showing my "power levels" here now when I say SgS is only the second manga I've read first before it was made into an anime; in this case a doujin by seiyuu Masumi Asano. I actually heard about it before I'd
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heard about Shirobako...and yeah, I have to admit I've become a bit of a seiyuuwota during my time in anime fandom. So this was one anime I was really looking forward to at the start of the summer season. Was it worth it? For the most part, yes.
The SgS manga is a four-panel, and plenty of reviews have complained that a lot of anime based on four-panel manga tend to fall flat since the producers often seem to base their storyboards around the short jokes, leading to a somewhat disjointed flow. In the case of SgS however, while they did leave in some gags from the manga, the writers actually built some compelling, largely original stories into each episode giving details about all the different facets of voice acting in Japan (from anime to dubbing foreign films to recording video games) while reminding us that yes, the people who breathe life into our favorite characters are rather normal folks. Perhaps more normal than viewers unfamiliar with the realities of the seiyuu scene would know; in one episode self-proclaimed Princess from Planet Strawberry Ichigo Moesaki is unable to pay her electric bill...right after losing her second job at a frozen-food warehouse after her seiyuu job starts conflicting with hours there. Meanwhile main character Futaba Ichinose also works a second job at a convenience store. The show never states it outright, but the implicit revelation here is that even in Animeland, voice acting doesn't pay all that well. Part of me wishes that they had gone into this a little more (and, heh, maybe discussed how many seiyuus actually do hentai material just to put food on the table; of course then they probably would've had trouble getting sponsors). At the same time, though, so much anime lately has been laying on the darkness and edginess rather thick with minimal subtlety (usually not anime's strongest point) that it's a bit of a relief to only see some of the harsh realities implied (they do talk about saving money by having meatless curry for dinner; a gag imported from the manga). And surely not EVERY female seiyuu in anime history has ended up on the "casting couch" at some point, have they? Considering that an actual seiyuu wrote the original material, I'm going to assume that what we see here is pretty true to the reality.
In the last few episodes, I wish the show hadn't switched so much to our girls' new idol unit group and away from voice acting. Again though, that seems to be a common trend among many female seiyuus these days, and often to supplement their incomes. (You may have looked at pictures for various seiyuus and thought they look more like models than people who supposedly only use their voices for a living; the old joke "You've got a great face for radio" isn't necessarily true anymore, at least not in Japan, mainly because, again, a lot go into gravure and such to keep the lights on.) Or maybe I'm overthinking it and they're just doing it because idol anime are all the rage these days. Or for that matter, it could be both (some of the more cynical types will say especially women just see voice acting as a stepping stone to real-life acting, modeling, or singing). Again, it still somewhat fits in with reality in how the girls' producer somewhat pushed them into becoming idols rather than them deciding it on their own.
Even so, the first half of the show does offer a good inside look at the workings of Japanese voice acting and how unstable the life actually is, sometimes with no role offers at all coming in when you really need them, sometimes so many that you need to run through busy streets to get to the studio. At the end of the day you're left with quite an appreciation for these people, which was doubtless Masumin's intention. Those who watched the higher-budgeted, likely better-animated Shirobako first (SgS was produced by the beleaguered studio Gonzo, but I thought the artwork was decent enough for a studio still recovering from near bankruptcy) might not be as impressed, but I'd still advise anyone with an appreciation for voice acting to check it out.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Sep 23, 2015
I don't consider myself a hipster (I don't have enough of a social life, plus I have a cowboy hat instead of a fedora), but there are quite a few popular anime (and other media) that I don't like. Most of the time I can understand their popularity (SAO is an energetic battle shonen romp that appeals strongly to all the gamers; Nisekoi appeals to those of us who can't get enough of love dodecahedrons, and features Shinbo and co. dressing things up with Shaft eye candy; Kiniro Mosaic can ease the stress of a long day at work or school with good clean yuri
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cooing).
Acchi Kocchi, meanwhile, is one of those rare, brain-damaged birds whose popularity I just don't get. I mentioned Nisekoi above. One could argue that such a bland, paint-by-numbers romcom setup NEEDED the Mado/gatari team behind it to offset the insipid story. Meanwhile with Acchi Kocchi we go almost as far as physically possible in the opposite direction, with chibi mode seemingly being the main appearance of the characters; when extra humor is called for, they practically turn into plastic board game pieces, with possibly less definition than your average chess piece. The rest of the artwork isn't much better, with the background being absent for what seems like half the time.
And the story... I called Nisekoi insipid? Acchi Kocchi makes that look like quantum mechanics. ...Okay, it is rather unique to have a shy couple already an item without any drama. But that's the problem. There is almost no drama in this show. Jerry Seinfeld was wrong; slice-of-shows aren't completely about nothing. Each episode of those shows, or one of the in-episode sketches, has a character working toward some goal, however small (ie Osaka in Azumanga Daioh trying to find a hiccup cure; Renge in Non Non Biyori learning to ride a bike). With Acchi Kocchi, most scenes are simply based on a shy boy and girl trying to talk to each other or sneak off only to be interrupted by their one-note, brutally loud "friends" who seem to have been designed based on Wacky Waving Arm-Flailing Inflatable Tube Men and desperately want to watch them make out. Of course, as boy and girl are one-note kuuderes, not even the hardest liquor in Gen Urobuchi's cabinet could convince me that these two could ever so much as hold hands. Except for the WWAFITM's mentioned above, the cast, the general mood, heck, even the BGM all seem to be on extra-strength Valium. Coupled with the bargain-basement animation and character design, Acchi Kocchi almost seems more like one of those five-minute kiddie productions instead of a prime-time television anime. Yes, Kiniro Mosaic's general shtick isn't much better, but at least they put a little more effort into character design and artwork.
So yeah, I really don't get why this bit of...sloth is so highly rated and regarded. Between it, Kiniro Mosaic, and SAO, it makes me a bit worried for the future of Japanese animation.
Reviewer’s Rating: 1
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Jun 8, 2015
Aldnoah Zero, the anime that broke my faith in Gen Urobuchi. Well, maybe just broke in a way that it can be glued back together, not shattered into dust. But yes, it did do some serious damage to my faith in the man and his writing ability (or rather, his plus the dude who wrote everyone's favorite anime recommendation, Boku no Pico.)
I can't remember the last time I saw such boring, uncompelling characters. See, usually there's a reason, usually revealed through backstory, flashback, or infodump, about why a lead character would just mutter, "Oh, a missile's coming" the way you or I would say we
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saw an interesting bird or car while walking down the street, the way our hero Inaho does in episode 1. We see his almost autistic state of mind helps him to keep his head cool in battle and devise Rube Goldbergesque strategies against the invading Martians. But like I said, non-autistic people tend to have some reason for this, and guess what. We're never given any reason why he acts this way. And given his ridiculous plot armor and damn near invincibility against what should be an unstoppable Space Nazi blitzkrieg (and for the first three episodes, the ones actually written by our headlining "FROM THE CREATOR OF MADOKA MAGICA" writer, it actually is) a rather fitting description comes up for Earth's Defender: Autistic Kirito. (And even then Kirito was at least given some justification for why he preferred to work alone.) It certainly doesn't help that after those three episodes have passed, the "invincible" Space Nazis suddenly start acting like typical mutton-headed villains of the week (or, well, like Hitler himself and his high command after Stalingrad), whom you wonder how they could have conquered their own underwear that morning, let alone their hated former home planet.
And that of course brings you to the given backstory. Alien technology found on the last Apollo mission in 1972, including a stargate to Mars? Hey, it's science fiction. Humans have a (somewhat) functioning colony of several thousand on Mars by the '90s? Perhaps stretching things a bit, but remember those ancient astronauts. (Maybe that's how the Kyubeys got here. Maybe those ancient Martians WERE the Kyubeys, dun dun DUN!) The colonists gain magic powers via the alien technology? Still somewhat okay, I guess. By 1999 the colonists start to think of themselves as a racially superior separate species, including to some of their own living relatives back on Earth? (Even as of 2015, most of you reading this have some relatives who were alive in 1972, right? My own dad was 17 that year, the same age I was in '99! And his dad died in 2006, so even if he'd gone up into space at some point, taken some of that Kyubey tech...you get the picture.) As some other reviewers have opined, I might be able to see situation like that at least a thousand years down the road, but not 27. And then they blow up most of the moon, sending the fragments crashing down and devastating most of the continents (but largely sparing Japan for SOME reason). ...Yeah, we'd all be dead. The moon itself actually formed in a similar fashion, when a planet collided with Earth. It literally blasted off the young Earth's entire crust. Point is, even if the admittedly smaller moon fragmented and collided with Earth, chances are the effects would be much worse than even large bays where Los Angeles and Perth used to be.
But I could've forgiven this eye-rolling setup if only the characters hadn't all been buckets of dishwater, and the villains in the same caliber as Master Butterfly from SAO (IE, cackling obviously evil types whom you almost expect to should "Curses! Foiled AGAIN!" as Autistic Kirito sends them tumbling to their deaths). By the long-awaited end, well, you probably won't care in the least what happens to them, but you may find yourself asking, "how, how in the name of O-Madoka-sama do you go from, well, Madoka to...THIS in just three years?" Even Shyamalan, to whom Gen is often compared these days, had a five-year run before audiences started turning against him with The Village. Well, as Gen's defenders point out, he only wrote the first three episodes and provided a scant outline of the characters and plot points, the same tactic he used Gargantia to somewhat similar results. ...Yeah, you'd have to be blind to miss that pattern. Gen's relatively small involvement in both shows didn't stop Aniplex (and Kadokawa for Gargantia) from plastering "FROM THE CREATOR OF MADOKA MAGICA" on all the promos. It's certainly not the first time it's been done in anime or any entertainment (George Lucas and Howard the Duck, back when Lucas was still widely respected; John Travolta in the Quaaluded Moment By Moment), but it's still depressing as hell to see such a promising writer seeming to make the bait-and-switch his main career strategy (if it's a hit, sasuga Urobutcher; if it tanks, h-he only wrote the first few episodes, anta baka). At Shyamalan writes his scripts in their entirety on those occasions when he can find work.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Apr 7, 2015
I guess it's my lazy nature, but I've always liked "pirates who don't do anything"-type shows where a cast of characters is given superpowers or what have you, and instead of saving the world, fighting crime, or at least government corruption, they just...hang out, as do the literature club members of a certain Japanese high school whose name (the school's) I don't remember.
Meanwhile (SPOILER ALERT) in the background, other superpowered teens are indeed engaged in a Fate-series type magical battle whereby the winner will be able to wish for anything they desire...all for the amusement of a race of sadistic fairies who gave them these
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powers simply out of boredom and curiosity. And despite the efforts of some of these battling students and the fairies to reach our protagonist, Jurai Ando, and his fellow club members and drag them into the battle royale, Ando and company still remain oblivious to it all in the end. I also like the idea of characters just escaping great danger and possible death and being completely unaware in the end.
So having read about those preferences of mine, you're probably wondering why I haven't rated this higher.
Because, unfortunately, from about episode 2 onward it becomes rather obvious that Inou Battle's primary genre is "harem". And if, like me, you don't have much use for this genre, at this point you may get a sinking feeling when you realize Ando is the only guy in the club, and the remaining females all conform to the main stereotypes of this incredibly by-the-numbers genre; the redhead tsundere (who is cast as the likely winner from about episode 3 onward) Tomoyo, the domestic-minded Yamato Nadeshiko (or "ideal Japanese woman") childhood friend Hatoko, the precocious loli Chifuyu (she's an elementary schooler, and OF COURSE she develops a crush on Ando, as well as her same-age friend Kuki. Don't ever change, Japan...), and the busty fujoshi/one-sama whose name escapes me now.
To be fair, the characters are all still likeable. For a harem protagonist, typically one of the most hated character archetypes in anime, Ando is actually pretty cool. He revels in his chuunibyou, or youthful flights of fancy in which he spends most of his energy deciding on spell names and delivering his lines with a pronounced hammy flair, and meanwhile he doesn't care what the "Muggles" think of his behavior. Yes, all the girls he comes across still flock to him like pigeons to bread crumbs, but whereas, say, SAO's Kirito (the Gary Stu by which future Stus will be judged) was a flat blank slate onto which frustrated otaku could project themselves, Ando is his own person.
Meanwhile Tomoyo, though still an easily riled tsundere, somewhat has her own justifications for being one, as well as some motivations in her life that (gasp!) don't involve Ando. And to the best of my memory, she never said to him anything like "I-it's not like I l-like you or anything..." And Hatoko, though still playing another archetype, eventually manages to break out of her shy bystander shell and try to reach out to her would-be lover. Along the way, though, she manages to command the spotlight in a five-minute (!) speech seriously questioning Ando's "chuuni" philosophy which also somewhat rattled some of us fans and our at-times similar worldviews.
Unfortunately, while that speech led us to wonder if Ando might be led to start questioning his delusional lifestyle (like Chuunibyou Demo Koi Ga Shitai before), by the next episode things are largely back to normal between Ando and Hatoko. Which brings me to my next point; another one of this show's flaws was that it had a habit of bringing up some interesting threads but then forgetting about them in favor of another harem (because Lord knows Japan just doesn't produce enough of those shows). It seemed like it was on the brink of becoming something special, but in the end it was just another harem, albeit with some slightly more dynamic characters. And no hot spring scene with Ando falling on the men's/women's side barrier. Though there were two, count 'em, two beach episodes and a clothes-changing scene. Sigh...
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Oct 20, 2014
Raise your hands if you thought this was going to be a moe yet fulfilling tale of two girls from different cultures discovering each others' worlds, like Ikoku Meiro no Croisee...and not just another K-On/Lucky Star clone.
I was drawn in by the first episode, in which ditzy Anglophile Shinobu participates in a student exchange program and stays with shy, skittish English girl Alice Carteret (OF COURSE she has blonde hair). Despite both girls knowing only the words "hello" and "konnichiwa" in each others' respective languages, they make some sweet memories together and become fast friends. So when Alice comes to Japan to meet up with
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her pen pal, we think we'll see some steadily paced introduction to Japanese culture through gaijin eyes and musings about how we're not really so different in the end et cetera et cetera. Of course, perhaps we should've been tipped off about the reality by the fact that first (and best) episode was largely anime-original; the manga just had the scene of Shinobu and Alice yelling "Hello!" and "Konnichiwa!" at each other.
So naturally, what we get, as I said, is yet another K-On clone, with most scenes built around misunderstanding jokes and very light teasing with plenty of cute shaking, blueface, or blank white (or in Alice's case, blue) eye reactions. There's even an ersatz Azunyan in the form of Aya, being egged on by a Ritsu wannabe. Even their Christmas cake teacher (OF COURSE she is; you know all this by now, right?) acts like her quivering, flighty students. Meanwhile, the whole "innocents abroad" theme is only barely returned to again, even after Alice's energetic "hafu" friend Karen arrives to fill the "genki girl" quota; what we thought would be the focus of the story is pushed to wayside by embarrassed squiggle lines and "EEEEEEEHHHHH" moments.
Perhaps I'm not the proper person to write a review for this anime since, like I said, I was expecting something like Ikoku Meiro in modern times, and with the Japanese/Westerner roles reversed. And while I certainly enjoy some moe moments...c'mon guys, why give up such a compelling start for yet another schoolgirl show? Do we really need yet another A-Channel?
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Aug 17, 2014
"What more can I say about Madoka that you haven't already heard from those who do not lie?"
- John Lennon (paraphrased)
If Bakemonogatari put Studio Shaft on the map, then Madoka cemented it there, and for many of us, it made Gen Urobuchi a household name among anime fans (for better or for worse). It's not completely original (the story has often been compared to Evangelion as well as Princess Tutu), but as has often been said by many an author, there are perhaps somewhere less than 10 truly original stories in the annals of humanity. Good writing happens when you can pick, choose, and mix
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up the best elements from those stories, and Madoka pulls this off with flying colors. Fans still argue whether it falls under the technical definition of a deconstruction of a magical girl show, but whether you consider it a true deconstruction in the Derridaesque sense or merely a dark subversion (see "Subverted Kids' Show" on TV Tropes), one can't deny that it puts some...unique spins on the stories of Sailor Moon and her spiritual descendants.
It has been said that purpose of art is simply to create an emotional reaction in the viewer, and in this again Madoka succeeds at all levels. It wasn't the first show to use a simple, candy-colored, child-friendly character design to lull us into a false sense of security, but remember what I said about using the best elements. In this case it works, especially in how it clashes with the otherworldy, Warholian "Witches" (which are often animated with collage artwork and designs by the Russian-inspired duo Gekidan Inu Curry; go watch a film called "Hedgehog in the Fog" to see where they're coming from) that these magical girls are tasked with fighting in exchange for making a wish with a mysterious creature called Kyubey. Kyubey, in terms of design, floats on the boundary between the seeming softness of the "real world" and the eldritch horrors of the Witches, making him at once huggable and at the same time somewhat eerie and off-putting. A good choice, for reasons which will soon become clear. And of course the artwork of the Witches is, after Kyubey, what many people will take the most away from after watching. Resembling various familiar objects such as rosebushes, butterflies, computer monitors, suits of armor, and even classic works of art torn to pieces and reassembled helter-skelter by a mad artist, they could fill an art gallery on their own, and possibly win some awards.
But most important of all, there is in fact a method to this madness; a rather deep comment on the nature of selflessness. Do we ever do things solely with others in mind, or simply as a backhanded way of getting something in return? Kyubey's deep, beady red eyes (like a doll's eye!) are the abyss you'll find yourself staring into to answer this question.
Madoka Magica isn't perfect, of course. It is primarily a plot-driven drama as opposed to a true character-driven story, which seems to be Urobuchi's forte. As a result, the characters, while still quite sympathetic and somewhat believable, are somewhat rushed along like actors in a play as opposed to real people. One of the more glaring examples is how for about two episodes the characters Sayaka (Madoka's best friend and a new "contractee") is fighting veteran magical girl Kyouko to the death, only for Kyouko to try to open up to Sayaka after a minimum of transition. But all in all, you still will be able to relate and hope that somehow, these characters will be able to pull through their horrible travails, and that somehow some sense of hope can emerge from the suffering.
Whether or not you'll think it's a masterpiece, I would still consider PMMM to be worthy of its fame, and recommend any anime fan to check it out at least once.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jan 27, 2014
Warning: This review contains spoilers.
Akitaro Daichi has said he was inspired to write this after hearing about the Rwandan genocide. I think that's something people probably should know before going into this show, and definitely afterward.
I say this because some reviewers have asked of this show "why did (Daichi) make this? What was the point?" One need only look at the ethnic bloodshed there and the use of rape slaves there and elsewhere (as with the more recent villain Joseph Kony) to bring this anime to a shockingly close parallel to our own world. While Hamdo may seem somewhat cartoonish and silly compared with subtler
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anime villains such as Gendo and Kyubey, consider that for the biopic about the Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, "The Last King of Scotland", they actually had to leave some real-life elements out, for fear of making the movie look unrealistic. In other words, this is essentially an allegory for some very ugly events which unfortunately received minimal coverage in most Western press.
That's not to say NTHT is perfect. Shu would've seemed somewhat more believable had he had some moments of self-doubt and depression, which would've made a spring back into his normal idealistic self all the more rewarding. And I can also understand why detractors might say this anime was trying too hard to be sad (deus angst machine, as they say on TV Tropes), although I myself still would like to point out that this was supposed to depict people at the breaking point of sanity and ultimate despair.
And yet, I have to admire a guy like Shu going through this hell and still coming out with a sense that there still is some good left in the world, even if a white Idi Amin with a Moe Howard haircut is in charge of things (and possibly others like him). And Sara...whether or not you think she was written solely to be a victim, as some do, you may find yourself relating to her and all her horrific travails by the end, whether or not you think her treatment in the end was appropriate (for, ahem, political reasons, I'm not entirely decided on that. Maybe that sort of reaction was intentional).
I will admit that, with Hamdo's over-the-top villainy, I was a wee bit disappointed in what I saw in this show versus what I'd read about in previews; but it still comes off as a powerful and yes, overall restrained and sensitive work about bad things happening to good people.
I would definitely recommend this to any of Madoka Magica's many fans, as both shows not only depicted people stretched to the limit of sanity and despair, but, yes, the notion that there are still SOME good people out there...and also the notion to spare a thought toward people in the real-life places that inspired NTHT.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jan 18, 2014
Since there have been so many reviews of Madoka by now, and we've all become familiar with Gen Urobuchi, I figured I might as well write a review for one of his post-Madoka efforts.
Enough previous reviewers have pointed out the sundry flaws in the narrative, which, yes, was written by several different writers while Madoka and Psycho Pass were largely written by him alone. The rather disjointed middle (including the "beach" party) and lead-up to the end reflect this. Some Madoka-haters have used this as "proof" that Gen is a bad writer, and fans have claimed he was trying too hard to subvert our nihilistic
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impression of him.
But all that aside, I think he was at least trying there, as were Kazuo Murata (Gargantia's co-creator) and the animation staff. The artwork is gorgeous; you won't see a prettier ocean. The protagonists, though not well-developed (except for Ledo and Chamber) are at least sympathetic and likeable. Even the big plot twist, though somewhat shoehorned in and contrived, raises some thought-provoking questions about humanity, biology, and our fate in the far-distant future, when climatic conditions on Earth may shift beyond anything we've ever experienced.
In short, Gargantia can be summed up as, "At least they tried. And they didn't do SO bad."
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jan 4, 2014
As has been noted in other reviews, the slice-of-life genre has arguably been overused in anime to the point of parody, where it can be difficult to take a new series seriously. After near-saturation of Lucky Star and K-On clones, many anime fans were wondering just what they originally saw in "cute girls doing cute things", with some of the more cynical claiming it's partially responsible for the rash of antisocial shut-in cases in Japan, not to mention the country's drastically declining birthrate.
And then some crew comes along with a clear labor of love like Non Non Biyori, and we're reminded just why we were
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drawn to the SOL genre in the first place.
In the absence of a single driving plot, the key to slice-of-life is atmosphere and character. The girls here are mostly unremarkable as far as anime characters go but relateable, behaving in manners appropriate to their ages (7-14), barring some plot-relevant foibles. Despite city-mouse Hotaru, who's just moved to the countryside from Tokyo, setting the plot in motion with her arrival (and occasionally narrating), the character who will likely leave the biggest impact on audiences is 1st grader Renge and her optimistic yet naïve (and rather bizarre) view on the world. (And while she largely seems to be a relatively satisfied little girl, we still see some evidence of loneliness in her being the youngest in her group, with no friends her own age.) Renge is not the first quirky dark-horse favorite in anime by far, but her deadpan expression and malapropism "Nyanpassu" stand out in this past anime season. That said, I also greatly enjoyed Kaori Nazuka's sleepy, carefree delivery as the girls' slacker teacher.
But where NNB truly shines (literally at times) is in its artwork and sound. The show makes no secret in broadcasting the glories of the Japanese countryside, especially toward the nation's cramped urban dwellers. I have always admired the color palettes of the background artwork in Japanese animation, and it seems like Silver Link spared no expense here. The producers also take wonderful advantage of the rural setting through numerous reflective pauses in the action for the sleepy leitmotifs of the BGM, and occasionally for appropriate sound effects. This is what I mean when I talk about atmosphere.
Speaking of atmosphere, while there obviously is not a real overreaching plot in this show, despite its general good feeling, there is perhaps a small undercurrent of sadness here. This is a real back-of-beyond area, and of course these four girls (and a comic-relief brother) are the only students left in their all-grade school. Japan, like many developed countries, has seen drastic, ongoing population decrease in its rural areas...and of course our heroines only seem to have each other. Now remember what I said about Renge earlier... I'm probably reading a bit too much into things here (I majored in creative writing, after all), but it's just one thing about this show that I wouldn't have crossed my mind with the more standard city-based schoolgirl show.
Now some may denounce these strongest traits as superficial eye and ear candy. Does NNB "deserve" to be put on a pedestal alongside Evangelion or Akira, regarded as one of Japan's best ever animated productions? On some level it doesn't quite; it's obviously not the most ambitious show, but with its lush colors, beautiful music and sound, and reflective, sentimental pace, NNB brings some grace back to the somewhat maligned SOL genre. And if you enjoyed it, as I did, that's all the justification you need for however you rated it right now, even if you won't remember it a year from now (or eventually wonder why you rated it so high).
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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