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Dec 12, 2018
Let me start this review by providing a fair bit of context in how I view stories of this genre. One thing I’ve noticed a lot in Anime Western Medieval Fantasy is how common it is to see them employ video game tropes and game-like mechanics. They’re ridiculously proliferate in the new Isekai fad that now grips the medium but they’ve also been present in non-Isekai stories like “Goblin Slayer”, “Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash” and Ichiro Sakaki works like “Scrapped Princess” and “Chaika the Coffin princess”. These stories often portray things like "partys", "classes", "stats", “guilds”, “dungeon crawling” and other such elements all of
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which have roots in RPGs. More specifically those are elements that have been used to translate classic Western Medieval Fantasy book concepts (e.g. Lord of the Rings) into a game system. I’ve always pinned this phenomenon down to cultural differences: When we think of Western Medieval Fantasies we'd usually think of classic stuff like “Lord of the Rings” which pre-dates video games. Other Western Medieval Fantasy writers in the West who came afterwards have generally followed a traditional route of being influenced by other books (many authors cite “Lord of the Rings” as a huge influence). In Japan it's different though: most probably know what “Lord of the Rings” is but for the most part, the Western Medieval Fantasy genre was imported into Japan through games not books. “Lord of the Rings” led to “Dungeons & Dragons” which then ultimately led JRPGS “Dragon Quest” and “Final Fantasy”. Japanese writers are less aware of writing classic Western Medieval Fantasy settings without game tropes because they're more exposed to game versions than book versions. And now it's come full circle where elements that were originally designed to translate book concepts into a game system have now been transitioned back into books and similar media (Light Novels, Manga and Anime). I tend to view this as a pitfall because you need to be from a particular niche to understand these game tropes. They won't really make much sense to anyone who isn't familiar with RPGs and it shouldn't really be in a story if it's not a game. Storylines often end up relying on them to make sense and it all contributes to a world setting that will never feel as immersive as classical versions filled with rich history and lore. Instead they often comes across as cheap and inferior derivatives by comparison. And arguably one of the most important elements of the Medieval Fantasy genre is its world setting.
The reason I mention all of this is because Western Medieval fantasy is a genre that I hold very close to my heart. I've loved them since I was a kid. Tolkein, Robin Hobb, Kate Elliott, Robert Jordan, George RR Martin etc. To me the differences between their works and Western Medieval Fantasy in anime in terms of world setting/building is as clear as night and day. The only anime I’ve ever seen to avoid this particular pitfall are “Berserk” and “Rage of Bahamut”. That was until now.
This film is one of the rare few Western Medieval Fantasy anime that avoids this pitfall completely. The only thing potentially game-like about it are the aesthetics thanks to the influence of long-time veteran fantasy artist Akihiko Yoshida, but I have no issue with that. The film’s approach to Western Medieval Fantasy isn’t generic by classical standards either. There is no evil overlord or empire looking to take over the world. There is no chosen hero destined by fate to save the day. It’s a down to earth story about a boy and his mother of a different fantastical race set in a low key fantastical world. It reminds me of the type of Low Fantasy in the vein of Robin Hobbs works (one of my favourite Fantasy writers). In her “Realm of the Elderlings” series, the magic in that setting is a largely forgotten art and a shell of its former glory. Robin Hobb also puts a strong focus on character relationships as opposed to the epic adventurers more common of the genre, or even the political drama more common to Low Fantasy in general e.g. “A Song of Ice & Fire”. Speaking of ASOIAF, I wonder if Okada (The director and writer) was inspired by that franchise. The destruction of the Iolf homeland in the beginning does bear a passing resemblance to the destruction of the Stark House, particularly in the way the focal trio split up and went their own ways and especially in the way Leilia’s situation emulated Sansa Stark’s (with Izor acting as a more simpler and straighter take on Sandor Clegane). I also liked the how the fantasy elements/races were a slowly dying element in this world. That said, one thing I didn’t like was how awfully rushed the political element of the setting was. I get that the film format is a limiting factor though.
The film actually started off quite rushed and the beginning could’ve been a lot better fleshed out. Events started happening way too fast and explanations were a bit too “blink and you’ll miss it”. There were so many things I would’ve liked to appreciate better and it wasn’t just events like why the whole Iolf homeland needed getting sacked or what happened to Ariel’s real mother but also some the little cultural elements too. For example it took me a long time to understand that the tapestry that the Iolf weave is their actual form of literature and that’s why they spend all day weaving it. I didn’t click the two and two together until halfway through the film, but it’s such a cool and imaginative element that I wish they gave it a little more focus. There was a cultural element to it as well with the belief in “Hibiol” but I was never able to fully connect with the Hibiol and partings subtext. I think I got, but not enough to resonate. The pointed use of different terminologies was also kinda unnecessary to be honest: Just call them Elves and Dragons. If you don't have time to explain it, use more familiar terms.
But once the first time skip happened it started getting progressively better. The exploration of motherhood and the general difficulty of single parenting was done really well. It’s kind of worth contrasting this to another film called “The Wolf Children” which had a different take on the same thing. In “The Wolf Children”, Hana the mother is basically supermom and it was inspiring to watch her as a result. It was pretty much outside forces beyond her control that conspired to leave her with a bittersweet end. Maquia is a bit more complex: It doesn’t just have an external fantasy element causing issues but the fact that Maquia herself wasn’t perfect either. There was a very real and grounded element of dysfunction to Maquia’s motherhood and her relationship with Ariel (presumably inspired from Okada’s own experiences which she’s detailed very frankly in her autobiography) and the result was something more low-key tragic than inspiring.
The timeskips themselves were generally poorly transitioned and certain side characters aren’t handled all that well. It’s a shame that the film format leaves them and the plot with such little time for focus (and explanation). If it were a TV format and they had equal focus then we might have really had a great anime version of “A Game of Thrones”.
Overall a really good film. There were a few issues and I still don’t rate it as highly as “The Wolf Children”, but as a huge fan of Medieval Fantasy, this was a great experience.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Dec 11, 2018
I was a bit apprehensive about how I would perceive this film. It’s been almost two years since Sound Euphonium Season 2 ended and since then I’ve found myself losing all tolerance of the Cute Girls Only fad that remains endemic in anime. To make matters worse I knew this film would be a side story about the one pair of characters who were, in my opinion, responsible for the weakest arc in Season 2. But I was glad to find that the story had so much depth in its storytelling that I was able to look past that. And generally speaking I find that
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Cute Girls Only stories feel a lot more genuine when they’re actually written by women and it shows here too.
The film itself puts me in mind of shows like "After the Rain" and "SSSS.Gridman" where the story itself is actually pretty simple but it really excels in providing so much subtext into everything so much that such a simple message can resonate so strongly. There was a particularly strong focus on body language by the animators in order to illustrate characters emotions (show don't tell) but I also liked the way the story uses its background music to provide subtext in creative ways. For example, the beginning features a noticeably broken, half done piece when it shows only Mizore but once Nozomi enters the scene the track becomes complete and “whole”. On a side note I also liked that “Military fife”-esque music that always played when that endearing underclassman(girl?) put a brave front to befriend Mizore.
And of course the whole storyline itself was basically about subtext specifically with the story of Liz & The Blue Bird and how it applied to the relationship between Mizore and Nozomi. I don’t want to get into spoilers but I will mention that there is a twist to this that I appreciate although it is not one that caught me by surprise.
If I have a complaint it’s that I don’t think it gave enough focus to Nozomi. There’s not really much indication to suggest Nozomi was that enamoured with Mizore and The Liz & The Blue Bird analogy loses its edge when you remember how easily Nozomi left her the first time as shown in Season 2. I also don’t know what to make of the fact that Mizore’s infatuation with Nozomi pretty much looks like romantic love but that’s an issue I’ve always had with this franchise and the way it portrays friendships. I’ve been told that this phenomenon (where the line between romantic love and friendships is blurred) does exist among certain Japanese schoolgirl environments and that there’s even a specific term for it (though I can’t remember the name) but I’ll never know for sure if these are accurate portrayals or just “Hollywood-ised” portrayals overdramatising what actually happens in real life. If I also have another nitpick, it’s that the world around Mizore is far too forgiving towards her self-inflicted acts of social exclusion. People don’t jump through hoops to include you: If you exclude yourself, you’re pretty much done for. That's a downward spiral that I'm all too familiar with. Not that I think Mizore would deserve it but that is what normally happens. I think a similar film "When Marnie Was There" gets that better.
I did like how colourful and relevant the side characters were and not just that underclassman that tried her best to befriend Mizore. Leave it to Kousaka to use that long established no nonsense attitude and cut through the bullshit. I'm also pretty confident that Library Girl's gonna flip a lid at someone someday. It's gonna be a massacre I tell you.
I wasn’t blown away by this story and it’s always going to be an uphill battle getting me to empathise with highschool girl problems (myself being a 27 year old male who only sees teenagers as try hard brats), but I do appreciate the absolute truckload of creative and varied subtext throughout the film from a storytelling perspective. It’s really impressive from a technical point of view.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Apr 4, 2011
The second season of To Aru Majutsu no Index continues from where the first season left off. Based on the popular Light Novel series, the story takes place in Academy City: a City where 80% of the population are students trained to develop superhuman powers through scientific methods. These students are known as “Espers”. But outside this city exists a religious fraction that can use Magic to counter Esper abilities. This fraction strongly detests the Science side and the two sides have been plotting each others destruction. Kamijyo Touma, the protagonist of this story, possesses a right hand that will negate all magic and esper
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powers (as well as his own luck) and has been dragged into their plots against each other.
Now I'll be the first to admit that the To Aru Majutsu no Index series has been less than brilliant but I still found the first series enjoyable. Pretty much every arc would have roughly the same shell: Touma meets a nice girl who is a victim of a horrible plot. Touma then finds out about said horrible plot. Touma confronts the antagonist behind the plot. Said antagonist gives a typical “Good intention but wrong method” excuse before Touma gives an idealistic speech and punches him in the face. Rinse and repeat. Not that I didn't enjoy it the first few times but it does get old and fast. Even so, the first season did make up for it by filling up that shell with some creative stuff and I was still intrigued with the dark mystery behind the Magic and Science sides. I also fell in love with the comedy and the character interactions which were just priceless.
All of that is mostly done away with in this new instalment. Any creativity the previous arcs had is thrown out the window leaving behind that empty shell I've grown to hate, with the only difference being that Touma is now punching girls instead of guys. I think the biggest problem is with the exposition. For example in the second arc, they pretty much throw you into the deep end of plots between churches and a whole load of techno-babble and if you can't make sense out of it in the first five seconds, well then good luck because they won't dally around. The comedy is sorely lacking in creativity as well. Let me give you an example of how that contrasts with the first season. At the beginning of one arc in the first season, Touma (who has amnesia) stumbles upon a very oddly dressed little girl. Touma being Genre Savvy enough to realise that anyone who dresses that strangely is someone he must know, decides to greet the girl. Except the girl in question immediately considers Touma an enemy just for greeting her and holds him at knife point. It's not that he wasn't exactly wrong in his deduction. It's just that he's an incredibly unlucky guy. In this season that type of comedy was mostly replaced with an insufferable amount of Accidental Pervert moments only two of which had any sort of creativity to them. There were some funny moments here and there but nothing like the first season and without that comedy the series loses much of its charm.
And now that you're left with that empty shell you have the opportunity of realising just how ridiculously irritating Touma can be with his annoying speeches. In one arc, I noticed that when Styl was taken down by the antagonist if you actually notice, the pool of blood coming from Styl gets slowly bigger and bigger whilst Touma spends some precious time preaching to the antagonist about how wrong she is. Not only that but one problem is that anyone who knows even a little about how to argue would know just how terrible his debating skills are. It mostly just consists of throwing a lot of general idealistic principles. And that's not even the worst thing about his speeches. No, the worst thing is that it's only ever so far been used to break down incredibly weak motives. This was particularly egregious when the second to last antagonist Touma faces gives what has to be the most retarded antagonist's motive I've ever heard, not just in the To Aru series but in anime generally.
Oh and don't count on Index to become more important in this series like I did. She doesn't. Oh she serves as a good plot device in certain key moments but that's about as far as it gets. She's far more important in the first season, even when I thought she was being shafted. I wonder why they even call it “Magical Index” anymore.
That said it's not all bad. The series picks up in the last quarter and that would be mostly due to the introduction of Accelerator as a more central figure. A much more interesting character that provides a more cynical route for all those already irritated with Touma. But even then the last quarter had its flaws so it's nowhere near enough for me to overlook the poor quality of a whole three-quarter of this season. The soundtrack is at least as brilliant as it's always been (something I think is largely underrated) with each piece always providing the perfect atmosphere. The animation though has become a lot more inconsistent this season. It's great in many places but in others I notice a lot of odd and jerky movements and the inconstancy has been a notable pain for me throughout the entire season.
Overall it's only because I'm a fan of the series that I'm not giving it an even lower rating. But even though the second season was a bitter disappointment, I still look forward to the third season (which although hasn't been announced yet is still a forgone conclusion). I’ve been promised by several Light Novel readers that the story really does get much better after this. Pushing aside the obvious problem that it would have to take 48 episodes to finally pick up, if season three does reach my expectations then I will simply consider this season a part of the story that bridges the gap between season one and three. So in conclusion, if you’re a fan of this series and you’re willing to watch 24 episodes of mostly mediocre stuff, all for the sake of understanding season three when it finally picks up then go for it, but make sure to lower your expectations. If you’re not a fan and you’re not in the least bit curious about what happens (even though you’re reading a review of it) then don’t bother.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Jan 25, 2011
Admittedly, I was never much of a fan of the series. In fact I don't particularly like Haruhi all that much. I watched season one and she really rubbed me the wrong way, but I decided to give this film a try since it was getting so many positive reviews, and I’m glad I did. Simply put, this film is brilliant.
I think there are a lot of similarities between The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya (TDoHS) and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (TGWLTT). I felt both were trying to give a similar lesson despite the fact that one is saying "aim for the ordinary" whilst
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the other was saying "aim for the extraordinary". The underlying message is simple: You never truly appreciate something until it’s gone. Personally I think TGWLTT is better but only marginally. In TGWLTT, Makoto gains powers that allow her to shape the world around her and only gradually do we see the problem emerging. However in TDoHS, Kyon’s world changes at the start of the story and he has to figure a way out. This means that the story has to focus more on the conflict, so there’s not as much room for comedy. Not only that, but Makoto in TGWLTT learns her lesson in a more subtle manner than Kyon did. That’s not to say to say TDoHS’s way was worse. The moment the entire film is leading to, Kyon’s final decision and the introspection involved was by far the best part of the film and one of the most memorable moments for me. I simply prefer the way TGWLTT did it, since it gave a stronger impact for me.
However, there’s one thing TDoHS had that TGHLTT doesn’t and that’s background. As you probably already know, TDoHS is just one story in an overall series, with the previous stories giving it more depth. It also provides some amusing jokes, even if you haven’t seen the other stories. For example, I have no idea why Nagato has a room that can’t be opened because it contains Kyon and Asahina frozen in space and time, but I sure as hell find it amusing that it’s there. Another thing I think TDoHS has are better characters, partially helped by their stronger background. The two characters that are given the main focus, Kyon and Nagato, are so incredibly memorable with both characters given such significant exploration and depth.
It does take a while to get into, though. It took a whole 40 minutes just to get past the premise of the story with Kyon even lampshading on how long the prologue was, 20 minutes in. The story is, overall quite slow and much of the craziness in the series is vastly toned done. I actually like the upbeat craziness but I can’t complain about the lack of it in this film since this new tone as a serious and introspective story was so incredibly well done.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Apr 1, 2010
Let me start off by getting the more controversial stuff out of the way first: This is going to piss a lot of people off, but...I honestly liked Majutsu more than Railgun. The thing I liked about the ToAruVerse was this whole dark mystery surrounding the Magic world. I honestly didn't care much for the Science side. Touma didn't nearly come across as annoying to me as he did with most people, and I just loved the priceless comedy associated with his misfortune. Whilst there was plenty to lol about in Railgun (most of the comedy coming from Kuroko), the comedy wasn't as funny to
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me. Not to mention that the entire main cast is female. I don't know about the rest of the guys, here, but I need a male character I can connect with. Emotional involvement with the characters is important to me, when watching an anime, and I just can’t get that much from a bunch of girly-girls. Plus Railgun has a lot more 'easy going' feel of things, and I liked Majutsu's "Dark and intense" feel better. So in the end, Railgun was never really going to be better. Not that it wasn’t much worse. I really love the ToAruVerse but I gave Majutsu a 7, because of it's many flaws and I stand by that. Railgun doesn’t deserve anything less than a 7, though as well. So I guess Railgun is merely just a somewhat weaker 7.
The Level Upper storyline was great and all, but it only consisted of a few episodes and relied on a lot of single episodes at the beginning to set the scene. The episodes that followed afterwards weren’t that great and were average at best, except for the last episode which I think ended strongly, despite some clichés.
There are only two things that prevent me from giving this show a 6: Saten and Kiyama. Saten is quite easily the best character in the series for me and is definitely on my favourite character list. It’s not just her warm bubbly and quirky personality. I sympathised with her easily in her struggles in the Level arc thanks to how unbelievably human she was and it produced one of the most emotional scenes I’ve ever watched: her breakdown over the phone with Uiharu and Uiharu’s following encouragement. And what’s more was that, unlike other anime, it was followed up on, even after the Level Upper arc, showing that psychological problems can’t be solved so easily with Epiphany Therapies and the like. Kiyama didn’t win my heart as much as Saten but she came close. Her closure in the end was wonderful.
This comes as a bit of a problem now, because I suspect that if there is a second season of Railgun that follows on to the Sisters arc, we won’t be seeing much of Saten nor Kiyama anymore. Nonetheless, though the science side of the ToAruVerse isn’t my favourite side, it’s still a side I like a lot and it’ll be interesting to see how Misaka become so broken as she did in Majutsu. Kind of irritating how they didn’t announce a second series for either Majutsu or Railgun, but Railgun has proved quite popular so I’m sure it’s bound to happen. Here’s hoping.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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