Originally posted on the Anime Guidepost blog, February 6th, 2008.
See! I can be consistent.
I
don't know how I'm going to go forward from here, except to weekly keep
you posted on what I'm watching and what I think of it. I finally
finished Escaflowne and Azumanga Daioh, but Magic Knight Rayearth may
have to wait because I've picked up Death Note again. I may finish that
before anything else. I'm also finishing the first season of Tsubasa
Reservoir Chronicle and I've picked up the Escaflowne movie, so we'll
have to see what I can get to for next week. I may also take a few
moments and reminisce about titles I've enjoyed in the past. Let's
begin!
Azumanga Daioh (26 Episodes)Animation: ***
Story: ****
Music: **
Overall: ***
Azumanga
Daioh is a title that seems so simple when you watch it, but when you
try to explain it to other people, it gets rather difficult. Really, its
a comedy about the misadventures of six high school girls, but they
aren't the general misadventures you'd expect. Conisdering that it was
first a comic strip, it really is more comparable to Calvin and Hobbes
than shoujo anime. And perhaps we're getting an idea of what it's about.
I
had actually read the manga and loved it, so I anticipated the anime
version to be as much fun. While there were moments were I was laughing
out loud, sometimes there were things that were a little awkward. I
don't know how to describe it, but I guess it's the difference between
manga and anime, especially with comedy.
At
first, I didn't like ADV's dub. I've always had issues with using
Southern accents for the Kansai dialect because it's not a fair
comparison. But over time, I got used to them and rather liked it by the
end. Osaka ended up sounding stupid rather than southern, and that is
much closer to her character.
The
one thing that really got on my nerves were the theme songs. They have
got to be the weirdest theme songs in all of anime, and that makes them
hard to watch. And the rest of the music, though fitting at times, was
pretty lackluster.
Azumanga
Daioh truly is a strange show, filled with strange characters doing and
saying some strange things, but somehow it works and is a comedy
classic. It may not be one of my favorites (Kodocha beats the pants off
of this) but definitely worth seeing and reccomendable to anyone looking
for good comedy.
Escaflowne (26 Episodes)Animation: ****
Story: ***
Music: ****
Overall: ***
Escaflowne
has become a classic on its own. Now that we have shows like Glass
Fleet and Aquarion coming out, using the name of Escaflowne as one if
its selling tactics, Escaflowne is now the standard for fantasy/sci-fi
epics. It's such a shame that it ends so horribly.
Now,
don't get me wrong. There are a lot of things done right in this show.
The Guymulefs are cool and the battles are very well done. Being a mecha
fan, seing these massive suits of armor battling it out with massive
swords is really sweet. There is also a lot of great atomsphere and a
good sense of character depth. The music is also considred classic, this
being one of Yoko Kanno's best works, and I agree that the tones really
help set the epic mood this show needs.
However,
I also feel that the story is a bit disjointed. We're suddenly flung
here and there with seemingly little reason. The love triangle kind of
takes a lot of the center stage, which is to draw in a female audience,
but there are parts where I think it drags too much. And, of course, I
have major issues about the ending where Hitomi and Van have to stay
apart for absolutely no reason. Why can't Hitomi stay? Why does she go
back? What kind of love is that?
Escaflowne
definitely deserves its place in the anime hall-of-fame as one to look
back on, but I guess it just quite isn't perfect. I haven't gotten to
these newer titles yet, so maybe they'll work out al the kinks I didn't
care for in this one.
Spiral (25 Episodes)
Animation: ***
Story: ****
Music: ****
Overal: ****
I'm
just kind of throwing this in. I haven't watched it in a while, but it
really has a special place in my heart. And now that the manga is being
produced by Yen Press, I'm finally going to find out the answers that
were left unresolved from the anime series.
Spiral
is a very different kind of anime. It starts off a handful of
mysteries, but as the secrets of the blade children are revealed, it
becomes a kind of battle of wits, episode after episode. Maybe because
it is so different (from standard DBZ, Naruto shonen style action) that I
like it so much. The further you get into the series, the higher the
stakes become.
However,
when you finish the 25 episodes, there are a lot of unanswered
questions. While there is some resolution and Kanone is, essentially,
defeated, you still wonder what the deal is with the blade children and
why they are cursed.
There
are still a lot of highlights with the show. I personally like the
music quite a bit, and the adventures are a lot of fun to watch. Also,
Funimation really does great work with the dub, hitting all of the
characters on the nose, giving Eyes a british accent and everything, is
rather brilliant. Again, we have a southern accent for Kansai, but it's
forgivable. And, as a side note, the DVDs have an outakes section that
just kills me. Now, I've always been a fan of outakes, like from Toy
Story and Jackie Chan movies, but anime dubbing outakes seem a little
odd. However, they way they were presented for Spiral, I think, was
brilliant. Instead of just showing the scene they're supposed to be
dubbing, they made a bit of a montage, mixing up the lines with images
and music.
Spiral is very recommendable as long as you can
tolerate a bit of a cliffhanger ending. Everything from Hiyono's
terrifying ability to get information to the interactions between the
blade children, especially Rio and Kousuke, is very entertaining. It's
good to see how something different can come out as something
interesting.
My
life has succeeding in making me busy, but I'm still going to watch
anime and be a guide to what (I think) is good. Leave comments and lemme
know what you think.
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