I've already mentioned my history with Anne of Green Gables in my previous reviews of both the books and the Before Green Gables anime, so I won't repeat myself here. But I will gladly go on and on about how much I love the World Masterpiece Theater and their adaptations of various Western children's literature every chance I get. Several of my favorite anime come from there, and sure enough, Anne of Green Gables was one of many books that Japan decided to adapt into an anime in the year 1979. Anne as a series actually has quite the history when it came to being
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brought to Japan, which this article here (anneofgreengables. com/blog-posts/how-anne-became-popular-in-japan ) goes into great detail about. Not only that, famous anime director Isao Takahata was head director of the series, with Hayao Miyazaki doing layouts and scene designs for a good chunk of episodes and animated the opening sequence. If you're interested in a deep-dive history behind the anime's production, I highly recommend you read this article about Anne on AnimeTudes (animetudes. com/2022/05/08/anne-of-green-gables). There's a lot of interesting things in there, such as why anime Anne looks the way she does, behind the scenes woes, and additional history on why Anne as a character was so fascinating to a Japanese audience. Anne of Green Gables has had many adaptations across its lifetime, from the earliest movies, the 1979 anime, the famous 1985 Ken Sullivan mini series starring Megan Follows, Netflix's Anne With an E, and a new trilogy of films from 2016-2017 (Which from I've heard, that film trilogy is...not very good).
The story centers on two adult siblings, Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert, who live in a farm on the beautiful Prince Edward Island in the late 1800s. Matthew is getting on in years, so they decide to adopt a boy from an orphanage to have him help around the farm. Yeah, this was apparently a common practice in late 19th century Canada. But a miscommunication has them wind up with a girl, instead, and this girl—Anne Shirley—isn't any ordinary child. She's an outgoing, talkative, energetic red haired kid who loves to imagine things and is a romantic idealist despite the bad life she had up to this point. Although Marilla and Matthew do their best to bring her up, they can't contain her wild energy, and Anne finds herself in a variety of situations, like making friends, dealing with boys, learning things in school, wishing she could follow current fashion trends despite Marilla's distaste for anything extravagant and fashionable, and so on. One thing's for sure: Avonlea won't be the same with her around, and maybe this will prove to be a good thing for everyone involved.
For an anime that was made in 1979, Anne of Green Gables looks absolutely amazing. The hand-painted backgrounds are a feast for the eyes, using earthy tones and soft colors that really make Avonlea come right to life. You could take a single screenshot and put it in a frame, they're that good. It helps that the team that worked on this anime took care to do all the research they could to depict everything from the house architecture, the rolling prairies, to life in 19th century Canada as accurately as possible, even visiting Canada itself to really get the details right. On that front, they succeeded with flying colors. Of course, the actual animation is no slouch either, with equally down-to-earth, realistic motion that favors naturalism over exaggeration (With the exception of scenes where we get to see Anne's imagination go into overdrive), with the character designs also reflecting this. I've heard some reviewers complain that Anne looks weird here, but that's the point. She's described that way in the book as well, so it makes sense that the character designers would make Anne look gangly and not pretty like her peers. Then again, there were plans to make Anne look more like a shoujo anime protagonist, in line with translator Hanako Muraoka's interpretation of the character, as detailed in that AnimeTudes article I linked, but that idea got scrapped because Takahata wanted her to look more realistic, a decision I feel was the right one.
Speaking of realism, Anne of Green Gables is a series that lacks much in the way of conflict and is mainly a slice-of-life series. The characters actually behave and feel like real human beings, whose problems and daily lives feel real and down-to-earth rather than exaggerated just for the sake of milking drama like in a soap opera, and engage in all sorts of situations that people can relate to. I mean, what kid hasn't experienced dealing with the antics of rambunctious boys, trying to convince your parents to let you go to a late night event like a concert, dying your hair for the first time, or playing games involving daring people to do ridiculous things? Takahata and his team did an amazing job in developing the characters and showing them changing and growing as the series goes on, like with Anne going from an energetic, talkative kid to a more mature, restrained 16-year-old at the end of the series. Though because the series is 50 episodes long, and what few conflicts it shows are very far apart from each other, it can be very easy to dismiss the show as being boring and dull. You really need to be able to enjoy slice-of-life if you want to enjoy this series. But overall, the character development and writing here is master class.
Even the soundtrack is quite lovely. Both opening and ending songs by Ritsuko Ohwada are all beautiful, swelling orchestral numbers that manage to both encapsulate the series' tone and Anne's moments of whimsy. The insert songs and background tracks are nice and have their own unique, rustic charm, whether it be soft oboes, bouncy violins, or even Japanese renditions of actual Victorian era songs like Nelly In The Hazel Dell. Every piece of music fits like a glove, and there were never any points where it felt out of place. The voice acting is also stellar and wonderfully down-to-earth when it needs to be, with Anne's voice actress, Eiko Yamada, making her voice acting debut here, which would cement her career for years to come. Don't expect Anne to sound like a high pitched cutesy moe girl here, because this isn't the series for that. I admit I still find it hard to believe that Kazuhiko Inoue plays Gilbert here, as you would not be able to recognize him whether you're familiar with his work or not.
If you're interested in watching this adaptation specifically, the series has received complete fansubs twice, so it's not hard to watch in its original form. But one interesting thing about this series is that back in the eighties or nineties, it actually received a complete English dub which was produced in, of all places, South Africa, using an all-British voice cast. You can read more about its history here. It was posted on YouTube a few years back, and later someone spliced the English audio with higher quality footage from the Japanese blu-ray. I've been watching it quite a bit, and...surprisingly, it's a LOT better than I initially thought it'd be. Considering how dubbing was still a new concept, especially in other countries, most dubs from that era tend to...not be very good, especially ones not specialized in their native language, and I was honestly worried that this dub was going to be terrible. While I do question why the dub decided to hire British voice actors for a series that's clearly set in Canada, the dub itself is really good. All the actors put on fine, down-to-earth performances fitting their assigned characters. Even the narrator sounds like he wouldn't be out of place doing stuff for National Geographic. The only noticeable problems it has are the lip sync being slightly off at times and getting some names wrong (Anne's imaginary friend Katie Maurice is referred to as Kathy Morris, and the song Nelly In The Hazel Dell is referred to as Nelly In The Hazelnut Bush, though those got rectified in later episodes), though I've heard the latter is because the English dub used the German dub as its basis and not the Japanese version.
Overall, I really love this series, flaws and all. The only real complaint I have with it is that when Anne is 15 years old, she comes off as a little too perfect, but that doesn't last for very long. The 1979 Anne of Green Gables anime isn't just a fantastic adaptation of Lucy Maud Montgomery's novel, but an amazing series that truly understands what it is and isn't afraid to be what it is, a quiet, wholesome, down-to-earth coming of age tale about a girl's life on a Canadian island. I know most people generally prefer the 1985 Kevin Sullivan movie, and I like that one too, but I find myself gravitating towards this series for its willingness to expand on the source material and truly make the most of it. Plus, Anne is becoming relevant again in light of the fact that there's going to be a new Anne of Green Gables anime adaptation due to air in spring of 2025. On one hand, I'm really interested in seeing how that adaptation tells the story, as there have been multiple anime adaptations of Western kids books before (Little Women and Dog of Flanders being two examples), but on the other hand, I really hope the staff on that series don't screw it up somehow, and there's already debate on whether it'll even live up to the legacy that the 1979 series established, or even respect the original book. I'm going to watch it regardless and see what it's like on its own merits. But whether you're an Anne of Green Gables fan, a World Masterpiece Theater fan, or somebody who is just sick and tired of all the isekai anime that get churned out every season and want something to watch that has more meat and substance to it, check this series out if you ever get the chance.
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Feb 2, 2025
Akage no Anne
(Anime)
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I've already mentioned my history with Anne of Green Gables in my previous reviews of both the books and the Before Green Gables anime, so I won't repeat myself here. But I will gladly go on and on about how much I love the World Masterpiece Theater and their adaptations of various Western children's literature every chance I get. Several of my favorite anime come from there, and sure enough, Anne of Green Gables was one of many books that Japan decided to adapt into an anime in the year 1979. Anne as a series actually has quite the history when it came to being
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Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jan 25, 2025 Mixed Feelings
Man, Digimon Adventure 02: The Beginning has me so conflicted. I've grown up with the series and have a strong attachment to it, even though I do feel Digimon Adventure 02 is one of the weaker seasons for a variety of reasons. I will admit that I've only seen the first two Tri movies and haven't seen the Kizuna movie, mainly because I hear those movies really screw around with the lore that the TV series established, made the cast act really out of character, and didn't treat the 02 cast well. So when it was announced that the 02 kids would get a third
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movie dedicated to them, Digimon fans were pretty hyped, seeing it as the producers apologizing for how badly they shelved the 02 cast when the Tri movies were being made. But I started to get worried when it was announced that the movie would focus on a new character who is apparently the actual first official DigiDestined. How would that even work? Didn't Tri already do that? But Digimon Adventure 02: The Beginning was released into the wild, and...it's better than I expected it to be, and I did enjoy it quite a bit, but it's really held back by really questionable decisions.
After the events of Kizuna, the cast of Digimon Adventure 02—Davis, Yolei, Cody, TK, Kari, and Ken—are going about their lives and following their passions. One day, a gigantic DigiEgg appears at the top of Tokyo Tower, and a mysterious message appears all across the world: "May everyone in the world have friends. May they each have a Digimon." Other than that, it doesn't do anything over the course of the week, so the public considers it pretty harmless. Later, a mysterious man tries to climb Tokyo Tower to make contact with the egg, only to slip and fall. After he's saved by the kids and their Digimon, the man in question, Lui Ohwada (Yes, his name is actually spelled that way), explains that the giant DigiEgg is actually his old partner Digimon, Ukkomon, and that he is apparently the very first human to ever officially partner with a Digimon. The revelations and potential crises that follow will put everyone's relationships with their Digimon to the test, especially since Lui doesn't believe that humans and Digimon can ever truly be friends after what he himself has experienced. Okay, I'm going to get the positives out of the way first, as I actually did enjoy this movie quite a bit. Way more than I expected considering all that I've heard about both Tri and Kizuna, so don't take this or my rating to mean that I hate this movie, because I don't. Even though 02 isn't one of my favorite seasons, I did enjoy seeing the cast again, and it helps that Davis has become a lot less obnoxious and actually develops in this movie! The animation is great and I really appreciated that ExVeemon and Stingmon's DNA digivolving sequence—which had always been done in 3D in the series—was done in traditional 2D animation here. The music was really nice too, and even though I haven't heard the 02 music much since I haven't seen that season in Japanese yet beyond Hurricane Touchdown, it was used to great effect. And I enjoyed Lui and his story! I liked that The Beginning wasn't about saving the world from getting destroyed by a Saturday morning cartoon villain and that the villain in question isn't even a bad Digimon, just someone who didn't realize why their way of going about things was bad. I loved all of that, I liked Lui's character writing and his backstory, and the psychological and horror themes were also really well done! Seriously, I want to rate this movie so much higher than I am, so much higher...if it wasn't for the fact that The Beginning seems to be on a mission to completely ignore/retcon every single rule that the first two TV series established in regards to its lore! For one thing, Ukkomon is somehow able to give Lui one of his eyes, and this should not be possible because Digimon are not flesh and blood beings, just packets of data, and if Digimon die in the real world, they cannot be reborn. This was already established with Wizardmon's death in the first Adventure anime! But my biggest beef with The Beginning is that it claims that Ukkomon alone is responsible for not only the creation of Digivices, but the existence of DigiDestined as a whole, which is also not true. One of the episodes of Adventure established that a group of humans created the Crests and Digivices when Homeostasis scanned the data of the children who saw the Greymon/Parrotmon fight years before the events of the series. Hell, there was a group of DigiDestined that came before the Adventure cast, two of which were prominent characters in Tri, yet this movie tries to claim that Lui is somehow the very first DigiDestined, which completely goes against continuity! Like...why ignore the series' most basic lore? Why couldn't Lui just be a regular person who just happened to have problems with his Digimon, like with Willis in the Golden Digimentals movie? Willis didn't need to be made into this super special DigiDestined kid in order for his story to be compelling. Say what you will about Golden Digimentals' own continuity issues, at least you can chalk that up to having different staff from the TV series that didn't realize certain events in the movie would conflict with the TV series. Seriously, the whole movie could have been just Lui asking the 02 kids for help with Ukkomon and it would have been better off. It sucks that I can't like this movie more than I do, because there is a good story in there that has a lot of potential, but it's completely bogged down by the creators' attempts to completely ignore already established lore and continuity to make Lui more special than he really needs to be. Not to mention poor Angewomon gets completely nerfed and she doesn't get to do anything for the rest of the movie. My only other issue with the movie is with its English dub, which for the most part is good...but who the hell thought it was a good idea to make Robbie Daymond give Armadillomon a voice that makes him sound like Donald Duck?! I don't know if this was their attempt to be more faithful to Armadillomon's Japanese voice, but it really doesn't work here, and I say this as somebody who is a huge fan of Robbie Daymond! It really says a lot when Wayne Grayson of all people somehow manages to do a better take on Armadillomon than this English dub did, and Grayson's only in the recent re-dub of Golden Digimentals! Poor Robbie Daymond, you deserved so much better. Overall, Digimon Adventure 02: The Beginning is an interesting experiment that I actually did enjoy to an extent, but again, its complete lack of interest in respecting its own lore and established continuity results in it being a very flawed experiment at best.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jan 16, 2025
Natsume Yuujinchou Shichi
(Anime)
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(According to MAL, this is my 600th completed anime!)
Hell yeah, more Natsume Yuujinchou! You guys know by now that I absolutely LOVE this series, and will gladly inject more of it into my veins like heroin any chance I'm able. And finding out that a seventh season of the show was going to be made? You bet your ass I was hyped as hell! Unlike with seasons 5 and 6, where I was deep in anime burnout and didn't get around to watching them until this year, I actually watched season 7 as it aired this time, and am gonna watch the dub when I ... have the time. All of this was awesome in and of itself, but it was just announced that Bushiroad is making a video game for the series set for consoles such as PC and Nintendo Switch! I hope to God that gets an English translation (And a good one at that!) or a physical release in the US, because I will eat that shit up! Man, we Natsume fans are eating like kings and queens! Like with my review for seasons 5 and 6, I'm not gonna go into a plot summary, as you already know by now what Natsume Yuujinchou is about. Why belabor the point? The animation and soundtrack are great as ever, a testament to how consistent both have been since the series' inception. There's really not much I can say about them that I haven't already said in my previous reviews of the last six seasons. I do like both the opening and ending songs, which are well sung and do a great job of conveying the series' atmosphere and aesthetic. Like I mentioned in my previous reviews of the series, Natsume as a series has always put a lot of focus on its characters, but it's only recently that it's started doing more with already established ones, like Taki, Nishimura, Kitamoto, and even Natori. Episode 7 reveals that Taki has an older brother (Who honestly looks like he could be her twin) and is focused on his issues regarding his relationship with their grandfather. The episode after that is told entirely from Nishimura's point of view and shows him dealing with a shapeshifting yokai disguising itself as Natsume while examining what their friendship means to them. Remember that mustache yokai with the big head who's always hanging around the Dog Circle? Episode 5 is an entire episode dedicated to him, giving it a surprising amount of character considering he's normally relegated to being the comic relief. In my opinion, this season's absolute best episode is the second-to-last one, where one prominent character gets some much needed background: Reiko. The series always established her as being a loner who made the Book of Friends, jump-starting the entire plot, but fans like myself have always wondered just how Reiko even started collecting yokai names, or why her modus operandi is challenging them to games or fights. Not only does this episode heavily expand on Reiko as a person and show how a misunderstanding caused her to become the person she was, that single event singlehandedly started Reiko's whole crusade of collecting yokai names and making the Book of Friends. Not only is it an absolute masterclass in terms of writing and character development, it actually made me tear up quite a bit, on par with earlier episodes like Hotaru's episode in season 1, or the episode in season 3 showing how Natsume came to live with the Fujiwaras. Consistency has always been Natsume's strong point, and even after almost two decades, it never lost its subtle touch and "less is more" philosophy. I mean, what other anime can you think of it that manages to make you care about an origami spirit? If I could name one issue I have with this particular season, it'd be that it didn't follow up on a pretty big reveal at the end of season 6. I won't spoil what that reveal is here, but if you're going to drop a big revelation like that, at least follow up on it! Though this season did make up for it with explaining why Reiko decided to gather youkai names in the first place. Plus, there is going to be another episode bundled with a blu-ray volume that's due to come out this April. But come on, you know me, that's not enough to kill my love affair with this series. I've been a Natsume fan since 2008, and that's not going to change any time soon. Although now I wonder: Is the series ever going to have a definitive end? The manga's been running since 2003, and from what I've researched, there's still some material left to cover should the anime decide to greenlight an eighth season. I'm more than happy to have my fill of more Natsume's Book of Friends, but as much as I adore the series, I don't want it to be one of those series that just goes on and on forever and overstay its welcome, even with the breaks between anime seasons. And again, you can't jump into this season without having seen the previous six, as it continues to build on what those past seasons established, so you'll be lost if you jump into the middle or end. But I'm not here to be a negative Nancy, and I still love this series all these years later, this season included. If there's ever more Natsume on the horizon, you can bet I'm ready to chow down!
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Jan 3, 2025
Kitty to Mimmy no Atarashii Kasa
(Anime)
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So, let's talk about Hello Kitty! Even if you don't know her name, you've definitely seen her at least once in your life. The official mascot of a company called Sanrio, Hello Kitty is the second most financially successful franchise in human history, only beaten by Pokemon. First created in 1974, Hello Kitty has won many hearts with her cute design and wholesome innocence, and even now, merchandise of her and her family, friends, and cohorts continue to line shelves, as she's one of Japan’s most beloved cultural symbols, an emblem of creativity, community, and yes, cuteness, that has joined the pantheon of global pop
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culture. But would you believe that it actually took a while for her to start appearing in anime and cartoons? Many think she made her animation debut in the 1987 American cartoon Hello Kitty's Furry Tale Theater, but that's not true. She did make some non-speaking cameos in Sanrio's early movies like Nutcracker Fantasy, the first Unico movie, and Journey Through Fairyland, but her true animation debut was through a rather...odd stop-motion short film called Kitty and Mimmy's New Umbrella, which was bundled with one of the Unico movies for home video.
I say odd because the summary for Kitty and Mimmy's New Umbrella makes it seem like its titular characters are just spending the episode playing with new umbrellas that their mother buys them. That is a good chunk of the movie's plot...but it also happens to come with weird musical sequences involving talking bugs, flying flowers, puddles that transport the girls into the sky, and scenes involving a mole constantly getting stepped on. No, really. This Hello Kitty movie is weird in the same way that Sanrio's other stop motion movie Nutcracker Fantasy is weird, and I mean that in a positive manner. Then again, the two properties have the same staff working on them, which doesn't surprise me one bit. Kitty and Mimmy's New Umbrella is one half Kitty and her sister just playing around, and the other half is eerie, ethereal, almost psychedelic stop motion animated sequences that I'm pretty sure is a result of the animators being self-indulgent and having fun just because they can. And really, the animation by itself is really good, especially by the standards of the eighties. Sure, the stop-motion isn't Laika level quality, but it does have a lot of charm to it that you can't easily find in most productions like this anymore. The actual animation is fairly smooth, and the musical sequences are lively and whimsical as they should be, even if the sequence with the dancing bugs feels rather superfluous. There's also some neat little details that add to the experience, like how when Kitty cries, her bow randomly disappears and reappears when she makes her cartoony crying face, among other things...though why is there a bell ringing sound whenever their tails wag? There is one point where Kitty and Mimmy read a letter that's written in rather fractured English, complete with Mimmy's name being misspelled. But the set pieces are really nice for what they are, and it's clear that the animators really put a lot of care into bringing these iconic characters to life. Speaking of the characters, don't go into this movie expecting there to be a lot of character development. This is clearly aimed at toddlers and preschoolers, and the movie just consists of Kitty and Mimmy playing around and having weird adventures involving dancing bugs, that's it. The other characters are just kind of...there, not really doing anything besides sing or take up space. Or in the case of the mole, being stepped on by the girls all the time. Poor guy. One character only appears at the very end of the movie and doesn't do much, but with the film being as short as it is, it can't really afford to do more than it really has to. Yeah, the characters are kind of vanilla, but sometimes vanilla can be good once in a while. The soundtrack and songs are very nice too, as is the voice acting. This is the first time Hello Kitty has ever been given a voice, provided by the late Fuyumi Shiraishi before Megumi Hayashibara would be cemented as her primary voice actress. For a short movie that marks Hello Kitty's first full appearance in the animated medium, I say Kitty and Mimmy's New Umbrella managed to hit a home run on that front. It's not going to bring the house down, as it's very clearly a cute movie aimed squarely at preschoolers, and it's content to be just that. I certainly don't mind it, as not only is Kitty and Mimmy's New Umbrella a cute, wholesome, whimsical kids movie, it laid the groundwork for Hello Kitty's animated appearances in the future, so Kitty fans owe the movie that much.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Dec 21, 2024 Not Recommended
Man, it sucks when I can't enjoy something. It especially sucks when it's something you were looking forward to. The subject of today's review, Stories of Girls Who Couldn't Be Magicians, or Mahoutsukai ni Narenakatta Onna no Ko no Hanashi, actually has a bit of a story behind it. In 2018, a company called Project Anima held a contest allowing entrants to submit ideas in the form of novels, scripts, manga drafts, illustrations, and so on, and the winners would have their pieces adapted into anime. MahoNare, as I'll be referring to it for the sake of brevity, took the grand prize for the contest's
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fantasy/another world category, and the anime was set to air in 2021, but for some reason was delayed. Luckily, the show was set to debut in October of 2024. And hey, I'm always down for more cute witch/magical girl stories. Unfortunately, MahoNare wound up not being one of the better ones. This one had the potential to be good, but squandered any opportunity it had to rise above being mediocre.
The story centers on a young girl, Kurumi Mirai, who loves magic and wants to be a magician. When she was little, she met a magician who gave her a mysterious notebook, which Kurumi finds out is given to students of the prestigious Letran School of Magic and Magecraft, the only known institution that trains wizards for the International Mage Alliance. Kurumi studies hard so she can get assigned to the Magic Class...only to find that she didn't make the cut, even with her good grades. Kurumi is crestfallen, as she's always dreamed of becoming a magician, but now that that door is closed to her, she's resigned herself to being stuck in the Standard Class, where they study anything but magic...until their homeroom teacher, a strange, tiny woman named Minami Suzuki, announces that she's going to teach magic to everyone in the Standard Class, status quo be damned. But Minami's brand of magic isn't like the magic that Letran usually practices. Is there a chance for Kurumi to finally fulfill her life-long dream after all? Yeah, this show is pretty much trying really hard to be Little Witch Academia. Let's be real here. Magic school, girl who seemingly can't do magic, a stoic rival with a girl posse who at first hates the MC but later becomes her friend, you've seen it all before. The plot of the differences between ancient and modern magic give off High Guardian Spice vibes, while the side plot of gatekeeping magic brings thoughts of Witch Hat Atelier to me. I will admit, one thing MahoNare does have going for it is its art design. The actual animation isn't much to write home about, and it does its job decently, both the fantastical and the mundane, but its art direction is quite honestly beautiful. It's not the most visually striking show in the autumn 2024 season, but it has a style that's all its own, with charming, watercolor backgrounds straight out of a children's fairy tale, full of whimsy and eye-catching vibrancy. The character designs are fun too, done by Lily Hoshino of Mawaru Penguindrum fame. I have less to say about the soundtrack, though...how in the hell did they manage to get Yoko Shimomura to work on this?! I do not remember her working on anime soundtracks unless they were tied to a game adaptation or something, like Legend of Mana. Though if I'm being honest, this isn't one of her better soundtracks. I couldn't tell you the first thing about it, or the ending theme. The opening song is nice though, and it's done by PuffyAmiYumi. Kinda nice to hear them again. What was the last thing they worked on before this? One of the endings for ReLife, which was in 2016? Dang, that's a long time. Good to know they're still active! Unfortunately, that's all the positive things I have to say about MahoNare, because everything else about it is a mess. First off, this show has way too many characters. Not as many as Lapis Re:Lights, but 12 episodes is not enough to handle an ensemble cast this big, and they don't get fleshed out beyond their one archetype, so they all come across as extremely bland and one-note. As a result, the series feels really cluttered. A lot of them feel like they're just there to take up space and not much else. Hell, one girl doesn't do anything outside of translate what Minami's pet frog is saying to Kurumi and Yuzu and just disappears, so she comes off like a random plot device than a three-dimensional character. Even the two main girls, Kurumi and Yuzu, are as cliche and bland as white rice. Yuzu just feels like a knock-off of Diana from Little Witch Academia but without everything that made Diana work as a character, and while Yuzu is the only one who gets any real, noticeable development, her change from stoic alpha bitch to Kurumi's closest friend seems to come out of nowhere, feeling more like the writers wanted to change her character when it was convenient rather than actually showing her changing. Going back to Kurumi, as much as I want to like her arc, she honestly feels like a side character rather than the main protagonist. All throughout the series, she hardly ever does anything on her own and spends a lot of her time being indecisive or angsty. There were so many times where I wanted to smack her because she spends so much time whining and unable to act when it matters most. She doesn't manage to do anything noteworthy until episode 10. A character like her might have been fine as a side one, but she fails to deliver as the main protagonist. In all honesty, Minami feels more like the main character than Kurumi does, because Minami is the only character who really moves the plot forward in any capacity. I wouldn't blame anyone if they thought she was the main character, and I feel like the show would be better off if they focused more on Minami than the kids. Also, some of the characters' names are really dumb. Lemone Juicy? Really? Why would you name someone that? Speaking of her, good God her voice is screechy and annoying as hell! Also, there's one point where one of Yuzu's girl posse gets angry at Kurumi for supposedly stealing Yuzu, but this never gets followed up on, so any development she could have had is just thrown out the window. Though that's not even mentioning how slipshod the story is. MahoNare feels like a longer show that's crammed into one 12-episode season. A good chunk of it just focuses on boring, boiler-plate magic school shenanigans, more interested in meandering and goofing off than actually telling its story. The plot doesn't kick in until a quarter of the way through, but even then its execution falls extremely flat in every way. I have to go into spoilers here because my complaints about the story won't make sense if I don't explain them in detail. *******SPOILER********* So it's revealed that the principal of Letran, Northern Harris (Seriously? Who names their kid Northern?), designed a magic system that makes magic more convient for himself and anyone he deems worthy, but it comes at the cost of their energy and lifespan, and ancient magic is actually magic from nature itself, which he sealed away for...some reason. Yeah, the show never really explains why Northern hates ancient magic, and his evil plan makes absolutely no sense because of it. Honestly, Northern himself is a terrible villain because not only does the show not go into more detail as to why he believes his cause is better, which definitely would have helped, but he comes off more like an entitled brat throwing a tantrum because boo-hoo how dare they hate his method of doing things. He has no charisma, no flair, nothing to make him stand out from your regular Saturday morning cartoon villain. For comparison's sake, I've been playing Metaphor: ReFantazio recently, and I find the character of Louis Guiabern to be a fantastic villain because not only does he get shit done people's opinions be damned, he's actually smart and charismatic, knows how to persuade others to his point of view, has an understandable backstory that informs who he is without excusing his actions, and absolutely owns his villainy, but has enough nuance, self-awareness, and depth to him that the story actually works with a character like him driving it. Northern is just...a mediocre villain who, in the end even when he gets defeated, doesn't even learn his lesson because the show ends on a dumb cliffhanger revealing that he has other stuff going on. I'm sure MahoNare is trying to go for the message that modern conveniences don't always work when the chips are down, but if you ask me, Witch Hat Atelier handled the whole gatekeeping magic for the elite plot better. Actually, beyond Northern being a half-baked bad guy, MahoNare doesn't even bother to answer a lot of questions or resolve its plot threads. Why do most of the staff at Letran turn into animals? The school nurse is apparently a cat, but why does he change into a cat? Is it some kind of curse? And what's the deal with that kid who claims to be Kurumi's brother? Why doesn't he ever talk to her? He spends the whole series just standing around and being mysterious, and he never so much as interacts with her. How does he fit into this whole mess? Does Kurumi even know she has a brother? The show never explains this kid's motivations or what his end game is, and the cliffhanger ends with him getting kidnapped. Like...the show has so many questions that it doesn't bother to answer or resolve, and there's no confirmation of a second season right now, so what was even the point of all this? This is what I mean when I say MahoNare feels like a longer show compressed into a format that's too short to handle it. It sets up these plot threads and characters acting in the background but refuses to really do anything with them. Hell, Kurumi never even finds out that Minami is the magician she met years ago (Yeah, I figured this out in episode one because they're voiced by the same person. Minami doesn't even bother changing her tone of voice), nor that her grandmother was a Letran student too. *******END SPOILER********* Tl;dr, MahoNare spends more time goofing off and on a cliche "stop the machine from blowing up and destroying everything" plot than actually answering important questions, developing its characters, resolving important plot threads. God, I really hate that I couldn't enjoy this show, because it does have interesting ideas. But the staff made to work on this were just not the right people for the job, and there are so many other series that tackle this premise or similar ones better, like Witch Hat Atelier, Little Witch Academia, The Worst Witch, The Owl House, and so on. If you want a short, breezy witch girl series to show to your kids, MahoNare is fine, but has nothing of real substance and has nothing to offer beyond its shiny, sugary frosting. Seriously, just check out the stuff I mentioned above, you'll get much more out of them than Stories Of Girls Who Couldn't Be Magicians.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Dec 18, 2024
Sekai no Owari to Majo no Koi
(Manga)
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Mixed Feelings
Okay, real talk: For all you Little Witch Academia fans out there, I actually haven't watched the TV series for that yet. I've seen the first OVA, but that's about it. Don't worry, I plan on remedying that, as I just watched the first two episodes of LWA on Netflix, with intent to watch the rest. It's kinda surprising I haven't gotten around to watching that, as I've seen and read plenty of other cute witch themed media such as The Owl House, Flying Witch, Mahou Tsukai Precure, Kiki's Delivery Service (Both book and anime), Witch Hat Atelier, Majo to Neko no Hanashi, and as
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of recently, Eden of Witches. Which reminds me, I should also finish watching the Netflix version of The Worst Witch. But why are we talking about witches? Well, today, I finished another witch-themed manga series, called A Witch's Love At The End Of The World. How did I like it? It's...alright. I really wish I enjoyed this more, which is a shame because it has some neat ideas and a very ambitious story, but this is one of those series where its short length and a lack of time to flesh everything out resulted in it being unable to carry the weight of its premise.
In a world where sorcery is real, witches were persecuted for years by frightened humans until the eighteenth century. In a bid to survive, witches pledged themselves to the rulers of their countries, and in time, all countries would come to have their own witches working in the shadows. Now in the present day, when the strength of a witch determines the strength of her country, humanity seeks stronger and stronger witches, even establishing a school to train aspiring witches—all while oblivious to the seeds of resentment and revenge that lives on in the heart of every single witch. At Sternenlichtl, a prestigious school where witches learn their craft, Alice Keating is the brightest girl in her year and the descendent of the school's founder. Her world is turned upside down when she is assigned to be the tutor to Mari Muguruma, a strange girl who seems out of place among the other witches. As the two grow closer, they also begin to learn the secrets of their respective worlds. For the sake of brevity, I'm just going to shorten it's title to Witch's Love. If there's one word I can use to describe Witch's Love, its ambitious. Seriously, in just three volumes, Witch's Love goes from being a slice-of-life yuri series in a magic school to discovering a centuries long elaborate plot to destroy all of humanity and trying to stop it, wasting absolutely no time in getting its plot rolling and committing to it. I actually liked the overall story and how the various characters play into it, as Witch's Love has a lot of neat ideas, like witches raising their pupils to focus only on revenge, discarding feelings like love and genuine compassion for their cause, and how falling in love causes a witch to lose their magic. Those are really interesting, though the series doesn't really flesh them out much, other than a few brief reveals at the end. If Witch's Love was longer, it would have had much more room to explore those ideas and the history behind why Sternenlitchtl enforces them with an iron fist. Yeah, let's not waste any time. Witch's Love could have been something amazing, but all of its flaws are due to it being only three volumes long. This results in a lot of things being really rushed, such as character development, pacing, and world-building. A lot of the story's lore is just sort of exposition dumped in sporadic intervals rather than being shown more organically, kind of like how The Heike Story, as a result of only being 11 episodes long, was made to truncate a lot of events from the novel and have a bunch of characters info-dump their backstories and activities to get to the important stuff faster. As a result of trying to rush through its story, the characters and what development they get feel very half-baked. Plus, a good chunk of the story is supposed to be romance between Alice and Mari, but the way the story presents said romance feels extremely shallow in that the scenes that are supposed to establish their budding romance come off less like the characters are genuinely growing closer and more like they're only interacting because the author made them do so. It doesn't help that for a series that proclaims to be a yuri romance, there's nothing to really indicate that they're even falling in love beyond hand holding and admiration, not to mention they don't even kiss or act like a couple, so I question why this even needed to be a romance at all. Actually, the cast of characters besides one also suffer from the book's short length, as again, even their development is rushed, resulting in them coming off as bland and cliche. Alice is the stoic ace who becomes nicer thanks to Mari, the clumsy yet bewildered problem child, and so on. Alice's girl posse is just there to take up space, and while I actually do like what they did with Miriam at first, she gets a rather unceremonious end and not much beyond her role in the plot. Plus, the series makes this huge deal about Mari's mother being important to the plot, but said character only appears in two scenes and has absolutely no impact on the story itself, so why bother making her important if you're not even going to do anything with her? The only character who is actually somewhat interesting is Madam Dolly, the headmistress of Sternenlichtl, and her spotlight chapter is the only one that doesn't feel like it's expected to finish everything under a tight deadline. It's a shame, because, again, had Witch's Love been given more time, the author could have fleshed out her characters even more, and maybe have them relax a bit rather than have the whole story feel like it's being resolved 25 chapters earlier than it should. Which is weird because the author notes in one of the volumes that Witch's Love was originally going to be just two volumes, but was expanded to three. Yeah, this really should have been way longer. As for the art...it's okay. I'm not familiar with Kujira as an artist, but from what I can see, her artwork is serviceable, if a tad underwhelming. There aren't much in the way of backgrounds, but I did like the character designs, with the exception of Alice's reverse mullet that makes her look like someone chopped the back of her hair off. But having been spoiled by the likes of Witch Hat Atelier and Eden of Witches, the lack of attention to detail in everything, from the art to the setting is just yet another example of how bum-rushed Witch's Love feels. It's a serviceable story, and I would very much like to see it be expanded on in every way, because there is potential for something great here. Sadly, A Witch's Love At The End of the World is both too short to carry the weight of its material and crippled by its own ambition. Seriously, it feels like a series that got cancelled even though it's technically complete. If you want a short read that you don't need to think too hard about, Witch's Love won't be a waste of your time, but plenty of other witch series exist that manage to do everything that Witch's Love didn't have the time to do.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Nov 28, 2024 Mixed Feelings
One of the reasons I love anime so much is that Japan is totally okay with allowing any ideas to become reality? Want a story about children bonding with cute monsters and saving the world? We have a bunch of them right here? Want to play a video game about a little boy spending summer in the countryside doing nothing but catching bugs, exploring, swimming, and making fun memories? Sure, go nuts! Want an anime about girls who sing to heal people's injuries and illnesses? Who cares if it sounds stupid, let's greenlight it! So yeah, not all anime, manga, or games just consist of
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shounen series that go on for hundreds of episodes and have nothing but flashy fights. Anime is well known by many for its abundance of ideas, crazy and mundane. But whether you're able to execute an idea well is another story. One such story, The Concierge, completely runs with a fun idea and commits to it, which is all well and good...but one part it doesn't do all that well unfortunately really hinders it from being anything other than just okay.
At the Hokkyoku Department Store, animals of all shapes and sizes can shop for whatever their hearts desire—everything from gifts for family members to gourmet dinners. Extinct animals in particular are considered VIPs deserving of the absolute best of the best in terms of service. Yet, what makes this store so great is not just its wide selection of items but its astounding customer service. Beyond the clerks working at each shop, the department store itself features several highly-trained concierges who strive to make each and every customer's experience a pleasurable one. But does Akino, the newest concierge at the store, have what it takes to help all her animal clients with their myriad of problems, or will she be searching for a new job? Based on the two-volume manga by Tsuchika Nishimura, The Concierge is an equally short one hour movie showing Akino's experiences in her new job at a luxury department store and all that it entails. Not gonna lie, the setting is definitely the most interesting thing about the movie. A department store that caters to animal clients, with extinct ones receiving the VIP treatment is a really interesting idea, one that both tickles your imagination and raises a lot of questions. How were these animals even brought back to life if they're clients at the store? Is this some sort of universe where some kind of science managed to bring them back? How are they able to talk? What's the department store's history with extinct animals? All we really know about the store is that it's run by a Great Auk and that said Great Auk's family founded it around the time of the species' extinction. I really want to know more about this weird setting! The extinct animal angle also adds to just how delicate being a concierge at the store is, as Akino has to be careful not to step on any of her smaller patrons, who happen to be smaller animals like birds or raccoons, and considering how clumsy she is...yeah, she's got her work cut out for her. Not to mention the animation for this movie is just fantastic. While the character designs are simple and only lightly detailed, for the most part, the fluid and expressive animation makes them come alive. Meanwhile, the department store is highly detailed in nearly every aspect, really making it appear as the magical, high-class store it's supposed to be in the eyes of its visitors. One thing I do appreciate about The Concierge as a movie is that it doesn't follow your typical first/middle/third act structure. It's more like a series of vignettes, each of which revolve around Akino helping a customer either find an item they need or just help with their issues. These are cute and enjoyable—relating to things like connecting with family, finding love, and dealing with the lingering pain of loved ones long gone. Moreover, there is a strong animal conservation message woven throughout as many of the animals shown are extinct—and by human hands at that. The soundtrack is also pretty nice, even if it's not all that memorable. I do help this tofubeats person/group (There isn't much info about them) gets to do more work outside of this and ClassicaLoid, as I'd love to hear more of their stuff. So yeah, this movie has a unique setting, great animation, a lovely soundtrack, and strong themes about both animal conversation and what it truly means to provide good customer service. I'd have enjoyed this movie a whole lot more...if every character wasn't a one-note stereotype. Seriously, all of the characters in this movie are either just so bland, forgettable, and uninteresting, or rely on their gimmick way too much. Akino herself is your typical overly kind yet perpetually clumsy girl who can never seem to go a day without messing something up, and is so spineless that she literally lets people walk all over her. Hell, when a monk seal Karen (Yes, really) gets mad at her over the store not having a dress in a certain size and openly expressing that she sees store staff as little more than servants, Akino literally gets on her knees and apologizes to her when the fault isn't even hers, allowing herself to be humiliated just before a coworker steps in. Like...girl, put your foot down! Grow a back bone! You shouldn't have to prostrate yourself to a customer just because they're butthurt over an item being out of stock! Not only that, I really didn't like that Todo guy, as he spends all his time being a ridiculously overbearing micromanaging manager who does nothing but berate Akino for every mistake she makes no matter how small, and the few times he does praise her don't amount to much. Is it any wonder she's always so nervous? Hell, one character pops up in the last third of the movie just to tell Akino she sucks at her job and then disappears. I feel like this guy was just shoehorned into the movie for forced third act drama. Another thing I didn't like about the movie is that all of its problems are solved in ways that feel way too clean and neat. Need a perfume that was discontinued years ago? Well, the former head of the department store oh so conveniently managed to find said perfume after making some calls and reaching out to certain people! Need to actually identify this perfume? Let's have this random bear do it! A kid broke a super expensive ice sculpture that can never be replaced? It's fine, the kid made a cake for the sculptor and all is forgiven! Also, this series seems to believe that a concierge should always strive for perfection and be some sort of magical therapist who manages to solve everyone's issues. I admit, I know little about the hospitality industry and how hard it can be, but there really needs to be some kind of line drawn here. There's showing what it's like to work in the hospitality industry, and then there's idealizing it, and I don't think The Concierge does enough of the former, preferring to do too much of the latter, the aforementioned monk seal Karen notwithstanding. There's also the fact that the movie is only an hour long, and I feel like it would have benefited from being just a bit longer so it could flesh out its characters a bit more. Maybe the manga has more details that the anime left out, I don't know. Man, it's a shame I couldn't enjoy this movie more, as there is quite a bit to like about it. It fully commits to its crazy idea and has fun with it, and the animators did a fantastic job of bringing the manga to life in ways only they could. It's a nice, cozy movie to watch if you want to kill an hour, but pretty animation can't hide the fact that its cast of characters are as bland and dull as white rice, nor fix it. It's a light-hearted look at the service industry that doesn't break any new ground...but that's all it is.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Oct 8, 2024
Atri: My Dear Moments
(Anime)
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Mixed Feelings Well-written
Man, it seems like visual novel adaptations are starting to come back. Not a whole lot compared to the previous decades, but the fact that some are still being made is nice to hear. I previously played and reviewed the original game for Atri: My Dear Moments, a little after an anime adaptation was announced (You can find my review of the game here: https://joyousmenma93 .livejournal. com/710659. html). Short version: While I did enjoy parts of the game, I did feel other parts could have been improved upon, but it was a valiant first game for Aniplex.exe to start with. With the knowledge I gleaned
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from the game, I was curious as to how the anime would adapt it, especially since the game itself is a fairly short 10-13 hours. It's inevitable that long visual novels would need to leave things out in the transition from a game to the TV format, especially a 12-13 episode series. On the whole, I do think the anime adaptation for Atri succeeded in its goal of adapting the game to a TV format, but it did make quite a few changes from the game. Some I liked, some...not so much, and the ones that didn't work are the anime's biggest problems.
In the near future, a sudden rise in sea levels floods the majority of the world and ends human civilization as we know it, forcing humanity to eke a living on what little dry land remains. Natsuki Ikaruga, a boy who lost his mother and his leg in an accident some years earlier, returns disillusioned from a harsh life in the big city to find his old countryside home half-swallowed by the sea. Left without a family, all he has to his name is the ship and submarine left to him by his oceanologist grandmother, and her debts. His only hope to restore the dreams for the future that he lost is to take up an opportunity presented to him by the suspicious debt collector Catherine. They set sail to search the sunken ruins of his grandmother's laboratory in order to find a treasure rumor says she left there. What they find is not riches or jewels; but a strange girl lying asleep in a coffin at the bottom of the sea. The girl, Atri, is a robot, but is so expressive and human-like that she could easily pass for a real human being. As thanks for salvaging her, Atri declares that she'll serve as Natsuki's leg until the end of the summer. The time they spend together over that summer changes the both of them. I won't go into every single change the anime made from the game, as that'd make this review way longer than it needs to be, and I won't belabor a lot of what I said in my review of the game. I'll stick to my usual format before going into the nitty-gritty, starting with the animation. TROYCA, famous for Idolish7, was picked to do the animation, and while they couldn't quite replicate the finer details of Yusano and Moto4's character designs, they make up for that with kinetic character motion and fidelity to said character designs. They did, however, succeed in bringing the game's backgrounds and setting to life without compromising on the details. I also appreciate that the animators gave characters who didn't have sprites in the game actual designs, so it definitely has that going for it. On the sound front, I definitely appreciate that the anime decided to make its own original soundtrack as opposed to just reusing background tracks from the game, with the exception of a few, with one of them being important to the plot. I wasn't a fan of the overly chirpy ending theme, but as someone who usually doesn't like idol songs, I really liked the opening theme, Nogizaka46's "Ano Hikari." I never skipped it every time I watched an episode, it's that good. Hikaru Akao is still annoying when she sings in her squeaky voice, though. A lot of the changes the anime makes is rearranging some events to make them happen either earlier or later than in the game, which does make some sense considering this is a 13-episode anime as opposed to a 13 hour game. The characters and their respective development remain the same from the game, even if a lot of aspects that put them on the path to getting it are either changed, downplayed, or cut out. Unfortunately, a few changes I didn't like were removing huge chunks of several characters' backstories, with Natsuki being the biggest victim of this. While his personality and development are the same as in the game, some really important parts of his backstory are cut out completely, such as leaving the Academy due to a combination of his own arrogance and a teacher being ableist towards him, both of which form the backbone of his development. By cutting those parts out, Natsuki comes across as much more needlessly angsty and mopey potato-kun. On the opposite side, Catherine and another character are made to be much nicer, with their more questionable actions watered down compared to the game. The anime seems to speed-run through the slice-of-life parts just to get to the plot faster, and while I can understand why they did this, as many who played the game complained that the plot should have happened a lot earlier, they kind of diluted the parts of the game that were genuinely good, such as the whole arc about the kids building a generator for the school. There is one change that I definitely liked. In the last third of a game, there's a new character who gets introduced named Yasuda, who hates Atri and wants to kill her. He's universally despised by fans of the game due to a combination of his appearance completely lacking any established build-up or foreshadowing so it feels like he comes out of nowhere, and for being a generic villain whose motivations are really weak and tenuous at best. The anime doesn't change his characterization nor give him more depth and nuance, but it does go out of its way to address the first issue with him in that they add in whole new scenes where he's not only going after Atri multiple times, he even goes after other characters directly and using different methods, whether it be appealing to their guilty conscious or straight up trying to kill them, ranging from shooting them or unhooking Natsuki's submarine to wash him out to sea. While I do wish Yasuda's backstory had been fleshed out more, or given a stronger motivation for hating Atri than what he has, I definitely appreciate the anime's attempts to make him a more constant presence and a genuine threat, and it seems like the manga is doing the same. But there is one addition the anime made that I really, REALLY wish they hadn't. Remember how in my review of the game, I mentioned that I absolutely hated the scene where Natsuki slips and falls into Minamo's boobs because it felt like unnecessary fanservice? The anime removes that, thank God (As does the manga)...but it also adds in new scenes involving Atri being sexualized or offering herself up to Natsuki in what's clearly meant to be a sexual manner, when she clearly looks and acts like an elementary schooler! Like, TROYCA, did we REALLY need a scene where Atri flashes her nude body to Natsuki several times when she's wearing nothing but a bath towel? I mean, it's at an angle where we can't see her nude, but come on! The game at least kept it limited to Atri jokingly calling Natsuki naughty and jumping to conclusions before she gets conked on the head! It's like the show is worried that we won’t care about Atri (and her death flags) unless we’ve been assured she’s a potential sex object, and it does a disservice to the story’s stronger emotional beats. Who thought deciding to openly sexualize Atri MORE was a good idea?! Because it isn't! Basically, Atri the anime traded one form of unnecessary fanservice for another, and it just makes me cringe into a singularity. It's honestly a shame the anime decided to implement a lot of those more questionable changes, because I did enjoy the rest of my time with this show, and I want to recommend it to people who don't want to play the game or are unable to for whatever reason. I like the animation, the music, the opening song, most of the characters, and some of the better changes Atri: My Dear Moments made. But the not-so-good changes leave a pretty big black stain on what on paper is still a fairly decent adaptation of Aniplex.exe's first visual novel. Personally, if you want the better experience, I recommend just playing the game, if you're able. The anime is fine if you're into it or can't play the game for whatever reason, but I really wish I could recommend it more enthusiastically.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Oct 7, 2024
Hotaru no Haka
(Anime)
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Man, I honestly can't believe it took me this long to finally finish watching Grave of the Fireflies in its entirety. I actually did watch this once before, way back in college. I took a class on how modern Japan was formed, and one of our assignments for that class was to watch two movies and compare/contrast them, this and The Flowers Of War. The other movie was about an American guy pretending to be a priest (or something, I don't remember) who was sent to China during World War II and witnesses the Rape of Nanking, but that's all I remember about it. Ironically,
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I actually finished The Flowers of War even though I didn't like it, but liked Grave of the Fireflies yet didn't finish it, though that was more due to other obligations than anything. I missed my chance to get the Sentai blu-ray and now that's both out of print and ridiculously expensive. That's what I get for not snapping it up when it was cheap. Luckily, Netflix put the subtitled version up recently, though neither the 1998 Central Park Media English dub or the Sentai Filmworks re-dub are on there. Why is that, I wonder? Still, I decided to finally sit down and watch it...and man, this movie really holds up in terms of depicting just how awful World War II was for everyone.
Based on the 1967 semi-autobiographical short story by Akiyuki Nosaka, Grave of the Fireflies centers on two children, 14-year-old Seita Yokokawa and his 4-year-old Setsuko in the year 1945, when World War II was still raging all across the world. The firebombing of Kobe kills their ailing mother, and last they heard, their Navy captain father is out at sea. They go to live with their aunt, but she isn't too happy with having them around, constantly griping that they don't do enough to help around the house or contribute to the country. Unable to tolerate living under her roof any longer, Seita and Setsuko decide to try living on their own, moving into an abandoned bomb shelter. But no matter what Seita and Setsuko do to make the best of things and survive, they are beset by starvation and disease, met with apathy or cruelty by adults, and death lurks around every corner. World War II is cruel and merciless, even towards the innocent. If you're going into this movie expecting cute Ghibli whimsy, you better throw those expectations out the window. Not only is Grave of the Fireflies down-to-earth and realistic, devoid of anything like magic or supernatural or so on, it's also the darkest, most bleak movie in their entire repertoire. People are shown actually dying or dead on screen without any kind of censorship or sugar-coating, and the movie itself doesn't have a happy ending. Hell, the movie literally opens with its protagonist dead on the streets, straight up telling you that you're gonna be in for a rough time. That said, having seen quite a few war movies, I can attest that Grave of the Fireflies is definitely one of the better executed ones. It's definitely the most well-animated one for sure, and considering this was the third movie Ghibli made, it's honestly a technical marvel even by eighties standards. This is the first movie that Isao Takahata directed for Ghibli, and it's easy to see that he has a strong knack for realism and little details that you won't find in any other movie, like how Setsuko acts like an actual 4-year-old with the way her body moves and how she behaves, or maggots completely covering the body of Seita's dead mother because her burns are so bad. Takahata doesn't waste a single detail here, both in the smaller slice-of-life moments and the harder-hitting war segments. I don't have as much to say about the soundtrack, as I definitely enjoyed it, but it did get a little too sentimental at times. The characters are the most divisive point of the movie, as there's much discussion to be had about Seita and whether he's a good protagonist or not. Some say his actions throughout the film are understandable, while others say he's an absolute idiot who should have sucked it up so his sister could live. In all honesty, I'm of two minds on Seita as a character. Yes, the movie doesn't really gloss over the fact that Seita's actions did have a hand in his sister's death. He's a dumb teenager who made dumb decisions and was way in over his head, probably due to thinking he had to fulfill the role of the protector and the "man of the house." But really, what teenager HASN'T made dumb decisions at some point in their lives, even during war time? There were probably lots of kids like Seita during that era. Not everyone managed to survive World War II after all, and even if they did, they're bound to have been irrevocably changed because of it, whether through their own experiences or the actions they had to take and decisions they made. Desperate times can make people desperate.And while I can understand Seita's aunt wanting him to help out around the house a bit, I do feel the way she went about it was needlessly cruel, even if she might have had her own reasons for her actions. Besides, who's to say she'd treat them better if Seita and Setsuko even did help out more and "contribute to the country" as she kept whining for them to do? I can see both sides of the argument, but in regards to Seita, there's one thing I can appreciate about his depiction: Yes, he's overly prideful and doesn't always know when to give up, but I like that he's never portrayed as being mean. Usually, prideful people are portrayed as being arrogant, selfish, and think they're above everyone else, but Seita never acts like that. Besides, as flawed as Seita is, would you really prefer him being an uber perfect Gary Stu who does no wrong? That'd be super boring. Plus, you have to remember that Seita is a stand-in for Akiyuki Nosaka himself, who wrote the original short story out of guilt over not being able to save his younger sister during the war. All I can say about Setsuko is that she's a good depiction of a four-year-old kid of that era, complete with all the neediness and energy that a kid that age has. And man, props to Ghibli casting an actual four-year-old to play Setsuko. God only knows how difficult that must have been considering how four-year-olds tend to act. My only real critiques for Grave of the Fireflies is that I wish the characters had been fleshed out more. For as much as I sympathized with Seita and Setsuko's journey, tragic as it is, I never felt like I really got to know them as people. I wish the movie had been maybe half an hour or an hour longer so it would have had time to flesh them out more, or maybe give a glimpse of what their lives were like before the war. I do find myself liking Who's Left Behind and In This Corner of the World better because both movies managed to do that, focusing hard on getting you to care about the characters before showing them going through the tragedies World War II brought on. Though that's not limited to just war movies, as I personally prefer everything that does that in general. That, and I wasn't really a big fan of the Setsuko death montage near the end. I found it to be a little overly melodramatic and unneeded. Yeah, I admit, I didn't cry at this movie, and I know you're thinking "What?! You didn't cry at the saddest anime movie ever made?! What's wrong with you?!" I personally found other movies to be sadder, but don't get me wrong, this isn't an indictment towards Grave of the Fireflies. I still really enjoyed this movie, and I'd definitely recommend it to people who love this sort of thing, or war movies in general. It's absolutely NOT for the faint of heart, for sure. And before anyone asks, yes, I'm aware that Grave of the Fireflies as a movie only shows one part of Japan's side of World War II and not everything else about it, including Japan's war crimes. That very same college class I took went into detail about Japan's atrocities during the war and how afterward, every piece of fictional media they made adopted a hardcore victim mentality (i.e. always portraying themselves as the victims) while sweeping all their war crimes under the rug. There's definitely no denying that. But I do think there's value to be had in Japan's war movies, Grave of the Fireflies included. It doesn't try to glamorize the war, nor does it try to hammer you over the head with some kind of message. Many have argued that the movie was made to guilt-trip high school aged delinquents into respecting their parents and falling in line, but that claim has long since been debunked by Takahata himself in a lot of interviews, one of which explained that Takahata was a staunch critic of Japan's societal demand for absolute conformity. The only real message Grave of the Fireflies espouses is that...well, war absolutely sucks for everyone, doesn't give a moment's thought to all that suffer through it, and not everyone gets out of it alive. It's a war movie that you can interpret in any way that you want, and it's one of many that absolutely stands the test of time in my opinion. Grave of the Fireflies definitely isn't for everyone, but it's easy to see why it continues to be so well-regarded even now. I'm certainly glad I finally got around to watching it, and now that it's on Netflix, it might even reach further audiences.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Oct 3, 2024
Kanon (2006)
(Anime)
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Mixed Feelings
Oh, Kanon. I watched the 2006 version of this anime back when it first aired and got fansubs, and while I did get a majority of the DVDs, I never managed to finish the English dub beyond the first few episodes due to other obligations. I wasn't sure if I'd ever go back to Kanon, even though I liked it. But due to...recent events involving the original visual novel, I decided it was high time I stopped putting it off and rewatch it. I wondered if my feelings for Kanon would change in the decades since I first watched it. I liked it back when
...
I was younger, and rewatching it now as an adult...surprisingly, I still like it, even if I find other shows that came later to be better. The original visual novel from 1999 was Key's first solo foray into the eroge business after they split from Tactics, and it not only became a runaway success, but redefined the entire visual novel format. Toei did make their own anime adaptation of Kanon in 2002, but...I don't recommend watching it. It makes a lot of changes from the game and it did an absolutely terrible job at translating Itaru Hinoue's character designs to the silver screen. Thankfully, Kyoto Animation decided to do their own adaptation, hot off the success of their anime for Air, and sure enough, many consider this to be the better experience, me included, even if this version still has its own share of issues.
So what's the story, you might ask? High school student Yuuichi Aizawa used to visit his aunt Akiko Minase and her daughter, cousin Nayuki, in their quiet little town every holiday, but one year something happened and he left for seven years. When he transfers to Nayuki's high school, his memories of that time remain a blur. Upon his return he encounters a number of mysterious girls from his past who all need his help. Energetic taiyaki thief Ayu Tsukimiya is searching for a precious lost item she cannot describe. Quiet and serious Mai Kawasumi hunts demons in the school after dark. The childish tsundere Makoto Sawatari suffers from amnesia and has no place to go. Elegant, demure Shiori Misaka is estranged from her sister and never present at school due to a sickness. Finally, there's the lonely Nayuki, weighed down by rejection and tragedy. Yuuichi resolves to help them, but as he gets involved, he discovers that there is far more to the girls than meets the eye. Mystical happenings lie hidden in this strange town, tied to Yuuichi's forgotten past. In assisting the girls with their problems, Yuuichi must face his lost memories. What happened seven years ago, and why can't he remember any of it? Do I really need to say anything about the animation here? KyoAni gave Kanon the exact same treatment they did for Air, which is give it the royal treatment in terms of both its character animation and actually translating the series' setting and character designs to the silver screen. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I never had any issue with Itaru Hinoue's character designs, and I still don't, with some exceptions, and that remains true here. Granted, while the original VN for Kanon came out before Air's did, the anime version was made a year after the anime adaptation of Air came out. Though unlike with Air, KyoAni was able to give Kanon the full 26-episode treatment, really allowing them to flesh out the characters and their individual arcs without rushing the pacing. Not only that, the staff at KyoAni clearly did they research when it came to the visual novel and made sure to retain a lot of important details like the characters' birthdays and having them take place at the right time, which is important since the game clearly takes place in the year 1999, the year the VN was made, over the course of about a month or two, I think. This is especially notable because the 2002 anime by Toei was pretty infamous for not only cutting out a lot of content to fit a 12-13 episode run time, but having some serious continuity errors. I don't have as much to say about the soundtrack, as its nice and does its job, and the opening and ending, while not as good as Air's opening and ending themes, are pretty good. Plus, they're the same songs used for the game, so that helps. Now, something to keep in mind about the 2006 remake of Kanon is that the original VN came out a year before Air's, and the anime remake came out a year after the anime for Air was made. It's easy to think that Kanon came after Air if you look at just the anime for them, but you have to remember that Kanon the visual novel was the first truly plot-heavy, character driven VN that became popular. I haven't played the VN yet, but a lot of the game's hang ups have carried over into the anime, including the way the characters are written. It can be easy to dismiss all the characters, especially the girls, as walking talking moe cliches who lean really hard into their individual quirk, and I can agree that the series tries way too hard to make the girls cute, especially with their catchphrases. Ayu and her "uguu," Nayuki with "unyuu" (Which gets cut from the English dub), and Makoto's "auu!" got old after the first three times and definitely feel forced, and if you can't stand cutesy high pitched voices, you'll either want to put them on mute or watch the English dub, which makes the girls sound much closer to their actual age than like five-year-olds. Speaking of the dub, would you believe me if I told you this and Sasami Magical Girls Club were my introduction to Brittney Karbowski? But problems with the characterization aren't limited to just their shoehorned in vocal quirks. There are several characters who I felt could have been utilized more. Poor Mishio Amano is literally just there to be an exposition dump in Makoto's arc and disappears after it's done, never appearing again unless its in the background. I also actually liked Kitagawa way more than I thought I would, and he spends most of the series being the put upon butt monkey even though he has quite a few moments where he really helps people out significantly. As far as the main ensemble goes, I think Shiori is the most well-realized character even though she's neck deep in the "girl is secretly dying from unnamed disease so please cry for her" trope. The main ensemble is okay, though their development is rather predictable and nothing that'll bring the roof down. I do think Yuuichi is the best out of the characters, not because he's a continuous wise-cracker, but because he's a flawed human being who made a lot of mistakes in his life, and Kanon's at its best when he's made to realize what an idiot he's been and learn from his mistakes. He's definitely a major step up from One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e's Kouhei Orihara for sure. What, did you really think I'd miss a chance to dunk on Kouhei Orihara? That absolute asshat deserves all the dunking! For as much as I appreciate Kyoto Animation's efforts to tell the story of Kanon in a TV format, I think the plot suffered the most in the transition from game to screen. Then again, Kanon's plot in general isn't all that riveting. Yuuichi goes around helping various girls with their problems, complete with hearing their melodramatic backstories. I admit I didn't cry watching the show, and Kanon's main problem is that it clings to its harem roots too much. Several times, Yuuichi will befriend a girl and help with her problems, then drop them off at the hospital and move on to the next one, granted since the game's routes are standalone and focus on just one girl each, there'd be no real way to translate that into TV. There are also times when the show just forces drama just for the sake of it, the main offender being Nayuki's mother Akiko suddenly getting into a car crash. I'm sure this happened in the game, but even here, I felt like the creators were like "We need more drama! I know! Let's have Akiko get in a random car crash for extra tears!" There are a few more of these contrived plot twists that feel like they only serve to keep the story on the right track, rather than to get the best out of the characters (Like one character losing her powers after her arc is resolved. You know the one), not to mention the final episode end on one HELL of a Deus Ex Machina that pretty much magically solves every single problem ever. Yeah, Key has always had a problem with wanting their audience to stretch their willing suspension of disbelief to ridiculous degrees, and Kanon seems to be the progenitor of that for them. That's not to say everything about Kanon is bad. I actually enjoyed the lighter slice-of-life segments, I feel Makoto's arc was the best out of them, and the air of mystery was also pretty well-executed, along with all the other positives I mentioned earlier. I do feel Air and Clannad are stronger, more improved versions of Kanon, as their VNs came out after the latter, their anime adaptations also being stronger in terms of pacing, plotting, character development, and continuity. That said, even with the show's problems, I still enjoyed Kanon and found myself nostalgic for it, even if my attachment to Air is stronger. For what the anime adaptation does well, it really manages to succeed in creating a heartwarming romance series, and if you like stuff like this, Kanon will definitely keep you fed. But if you're not into moe stuff or Key properties, with all their quirks and melodrama included, Kanon probably isn't going to change your opinion. Kanon by itself isn't all that ground-breaking or outstanding. It's just a fine series, and one I'm glad I got to go back to.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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