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Mar 25, 2015

Kiseijuu: Sei no Kakuritsu (Anime) add

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To preface this review, I started watching it with next to no expectations whatsoever, good or bad, and I have never read the manga.

Parasyte: The Maxim has been a bit of a weird experience for me. On one hand, I think it’s a good show, but on the other, I don’t get the massive hype surrounding it. The show’s themes and plot definitely appealed to me, so there’s that bias. And by and large, I enjoyed the show. But there were a number of elements, mainly early on, that I simply couldn’t overlook. These are mainly personal issues, granted, but they bear mentioning. So, ... before I get into the specific sections below, I’ll run through these.

First, I was not able to take this show seriously for the first few episodes. In fact, if I didn’t know better, based solely on the first episode, I’d have thought this show was supposed to be black comedy. Contributing to this is the fact that I couldn’t take one of the main characters, Migi, seriously for about 9 or 10 whole episodes. I tried, trust me, but it wasn’t working. In addition, despite the show really trying to sell the viewer on the whole “the Parasytes are horrifying and threatening” thing, they just looked more silly than scary the vast majority of the time, which made it really hard to get into it.

And secondly, a number of events occurred/decisions were made that I thought were just awful. A certain transformation in episode 5 in particular was so ham-fistedly an homage/rip-off of Peter Parker/Spiderman that I rolled my eyes so hard I almost burst a blood vessel.

Now, on to the main stuff.

Story: 9/10
Easily the best part of the show. The presentation of themes, the way the plot moved and the handling and resolution of most events were wonderful. There were a few plot-related hiccups, and it wobbled a bit thematically near the end, but it righted itself and succeeded in telling a well written, well thought-out and profound story, and for that I applaud it greatly.

Art/Animation: 8/10
The art and animation in Parasyte is very good. The character designs look mostly good (and they actually look their age, which is rare in anime), the animation is smooth and consistent and the backgrounds are excellent. The biggest issue I have with the animation in this show is in the Parasytes’ fight scenes, which have a bad habit of devolving into blade-spam, which can be downright boring to watch. The fight scenes are really only interesting when human bodies are doing the fighting.

Sound: 4/10
Easily the worst part about this show. The soundtrack is heavily influenced by dubstep and electronic music, so unless you’re into that, which I am not, you probably won’t like it very much. Also, it just doesn’t work. It fails in setting the tone for the scenes, which makes many of them have a lot less impact than they would otherwise. What makes this even more unfortunate is that there are a couple (and by that, I mean like three) good songs on the track that are not overly (or at all) electronic/dubstep, which shows that the creators knew how to integrate fitting, emotional, non-dubstep music into the show, but chose not to. I cannot fathom why they would make that choice. Because of these moments, though, I’ll give the show a 4, rather than a 3 or even a 2 for music.

Characters: 6.5/10
This would be the best part of the show… if Shinichi and Migi were the only characters. Alas, they are not, and we have the misfortune of being forced to suffer through laughably shallow, poorly-written side characters. I will give credit where credit is due: Shinichi and Migi are two of the best, if not the best, characters of their respective seasons (both fall and winter). They are awesome, and they are even better together. But just about every other character is a cardboard cutout masquerading as a person. Granted, Shinichi and Migi are the focus, but it was still painful watching everyone else. At times, some of the characters do become legitimately interesting (only towards the end of the show, though), but this leads me to another huge problem I have with this show: it has a bad habit of killing off characters right as they become (or start to become) interesting. If this show handled its side characters even a quarter as well as it handled Shinichi and Migi, the score for this section would jump right to a 9. But it didn’t, so it won’t. Out of respect for the beautiful Shinichi/Migi duo, I’ll give it a 6, but it would be much lower otherwise.

Enjoyment: 7/10
Even with the aforementioned flaws, I found myself enjoying this show each week, liking it and being interested in what would happen the next week. Shinichi and Migi were a treat to watch, and the story and plot were compelling, appealing and deep. For the reasons given in this review, however, I was never able to fully engage with this show, but it was an overall enjoyable experience.

Overall: 7/10
Parasyte: The Maxim is an overall solid, good show. It stumbles, it messes up, and it has some issues that I will never be able to get over, but all things considered, it is a good show and an enjoyable experience.

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Dec 2, 2014

Byousoku 5 Centimeter (Anime) add

Mixed Feelings

When I decided to watch 5 Centimeters per Second, I did so after seeing, hearing and reading a significant deal about it, almost all of it positive. So, after steeling myself to not be biased one way or another, I proceeded to watch the film. And, unfortunately, on the whole I was disappointed. Now, in this review, I feel that I should analyze each part of the film independently first, and then all together as a cohesive whole. Normally I would try to avoid this, but for 5 Centimeters per Second, I think it works best this way, due to the explicitly separated presentation of ... the film.

The first part, in which the protagonist seeks to reunite with his old friend and childhood sweetheart, was absolutely beautiful, visually as well as emotionally. The backgrounds and set pieces were stunningly gorgeous, and the fact that the majority of the action occurred at night gave the animators a chance to use lighting effects, from street lights, trains, neon signs, etc., to the utmost effect. There was a palpable sense of cold in this part, with the snow and fogging breath, combined with the sense of emptiness and solitude that was achieved due to the quietness and relative stillness of the scenes. It seemed to epitomize the concept of "winter".

This emptiness and loneliness emphasized the main character's longing to meet his friend again, and helped endear me to the character somewhat. This was complemented by the flashbacks to his childhood, with the vibrant springtime colors, as well as the fact that the flashbacks take place during the daytime rather than at night, effectively differentiating the past from the present, and further making the main character relatable.

You may be wondering why I have given such a glowing review so far of the film and yet my score is a 6 out of 10. Well, read on....

The second part of the film was quite good as well, though not breathtaking like the first part. Again, the visuals were stunning, with the focus this time on the wide open spaces of the countryside and the sky in particular. This emphasis was again utilized to the greatest possible extent by setting most of the scenes during twilight, giving the animators a chance to explore the rich oranges, reds and golds of the sky at dusk. This focus on huge, sweeping landscape shots and the vast, open sky contributed to once again producing a feeling of emptiness and longing, which again characterized the main character, who in this part, was not the male lead, but a girl he knows who has a crush on him. This brings me to my main problem with the second part.

I believe that the reason for shifting the focus from the male lead to this girl was to characterize the male lead indirectly, showing his obsession and longing through the eyes of another, and in doing so emphasize his loneliness and detachment even more. However, the actual result of this for me was that he seemed cold, aloof and even alien. Almost all of the characterization that had been built up in the first part was thrown to the curb in the second, which did not bode well for the last part, and alas, my worries were well-founded. I hasten to point out, however, that I actually liked the female lead in this part; my problem stems from the fact that the male lead is the focus of both the the first and last parts, and as such this nigh-ruination of his character has dire consequences.

The third and final part of this movie was absolute drivel. Due to the problems with characterization detailed in my previous point, I was unable to sympathize with the main character in this part. The first two parts had cohesive plots and identifiable primary agons ("meet up with my childhood sweetheart" and "work up the courage to confess to my crush", respectively), but in the third part, there did not seem to be any cohesive plot structure; rather, the film seemed content to simply show us images and scenes with little context or actual meaning. Had I been invested in the character and his situation as I was in the first part, this would have likely stirred various emotions within me regardless, but as I was not, it didn't.

Lastly, even visually the third part was lacking compared to the other two. Previously, there had been a uniting visual theme: for the first part, the fact that it primarily took place at night and the brilliant lighting that was used well because of it; for the second part, the vast open spaces and the sky at dusk. In this third part, however there was no such special focus, and in comparison to the other two parts it felt underwhelming and somewhat boring. That said, it did maintain the high quality of art and animation present in the rest of the film, so there is that.

In the end, I am reminded of the idiom "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts." In the case of 5 Centimeters per Second, I have to reverse this statement, and make it "the whole is less than the sum of its parts." Individually, the three segments are not bad or even average, with the possible exception of the final part. In fact, if the first part was released on its own as an independent short film, it would be my favorite animated short film of all time. It's that good. Unencumbered by the first and third parts, the second part would be phenomenal as well. However, upon putting the three pieces of the puzzle together, the whole thing begins to fall apart. 5 Centimeters per Second is not bad, per se; as far as most anime go, it's slightly better than average as a whole. But it could have been so much more, which I believe for me is the crux of the issue.

Whether you agree with my assessment of this particular film or not, I thank you for taking the time to read my review. The movie didn't do a whole lot for me, but who knows, maybe it will for you.

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