Originally posted on the Anime Guidepost, November 11th, 2010.
Well,
it really has been a year since I blogged here. It's been a very
interesting year since then, but I am now finding less and less excuses
not to write here. The amount of anime I've watched in the past year
has left a lot of tittles to be reviewed. While I may refer to the
titles I watched over that lost year, I don't think I'll try to review
everything I've seen and mostly focus on what I'm finishing right now.
However, here are a few titles that I finished fairly recently. Let's
start with the most renowned.
Naruto (220 Episodes)Animation: 3/5
Story: 3/5
Music: 5/5
Overall: 3/5
Reviewing
a long running, shonen/action/adventure series is a different challenge
than simply covering a standard length series, especially Naruto.
Things tend to go all over the place so maintaining consistency for such
a long period of time is pretty impossible. Nevertheless, I have
finished the series (FINALLY!) so I shall try to review it as a whole.
As
for Naruto itself, you'd have to be pretty new to anime to not know
anything about it. Even so, it does have all of the anime formulas in
line. Naruto Uzumaki is an orphaned boy who seeks attention and
approval by committing pranks and practical jokes. He claims that he'll
one day be the Hokage (leader of his large ninja village) and everyone
will have to look up to him. Of course, like any anime action hero, he
has a ridiculous amount of potential, specifically in the form of a
massive demon, the nine-tailed fox, sealed inside of him. As he
graduates from the Ninja Academy, he begins his ninja career going on
missions, fighting villains, and generally being heroic, all the while
getting stronger and stronger. Before long, he becomes the inspiration
of those who meet him with his die-hard attitude and contagious
cheerfulness.
Of
course, you can't get into Naruto very far without also explaining the
main rival. Sasuke Uchiha is about as dour and condescending as the
hero is bright and friendly, and arguably he has every reason to be.
His older brother killed everyone in their massive, prestigious clan,
and he is compelled to avenge them. In the meantime, he is forced to
team up with Naruto and they tackle missions together with Sakura
Kinimoto, a shy but intelligent girl, and Kakashi Hatake, their stoic
team leader and coach. At first, Sasuke's dark demeanor plays a great
foil to Naruto's exuberance, but as the series goes on, he finds himself
moving away from the team and the values they hold. Eventually, he
betrays them and Naruto feels responsible, going out of his way to find
him and stop him.
Based
on a manga from Shonen Jump, all of this feels like Dragon Ball Z all
over again. Granted, I would say that it's better than DBZ, but it
doesn't do anything all that different. It's more like an upgrade, like
DBZ version 1.5. Shonen Jump really has been notorius for taking the
basic formula that they established with DBZ and reusing it in different
contexts (YuYu Hakusho, Rurouni Kenshin, One Piece, Bleach, etc.).
Maybe it even goes back further than that because I find similar themes
and conventions in older SJ series like Saint Seiya and Fist of the
North Star. In any case, Naruto takes an unique ninja spin on it, all
taking place in a fantasy land with occasional anachronistic technology
as opposed to traditional ninja locales like historical Japan.
Then
there's the infamous filler episodes. For 85 episodes, the story
leaves the manga and starts running on a loop like a hamster wheel,
throwing Naruto and his wide cast of buddies into mission after mission,
none of which really advancing any of the established subplots.
They're like the Naruto Movies, except not quite as well written and no
where near as a well animated. However, as I was grinding my way
through them, I actually started to enjoy them. There were some funny
segments and decent action, but most of all it took on a very
old-school-American-comic-book feeling of sending out the heroes to
defeat the quirky villain of the story. It wasn't great but it worked
and I admit I was entertained. Sure, the stories aren't that
interesting or integral to the story and the animation suffers some, but
I would argue that they didn't descend that far because the main story
wasn't isn't mind-blowing anyway and the animation was merely adequate
from the beginning.
There
is one element that I haven't touched on yet and it's the one that got
five stars for me. While it eventually got pretty silly towards the
end, I could still enjoy the music. As I watched the series, the music
seemed to improve for me. Perhaps it simply stood out more as the
series got worse but I'm going to insist that's beside the point.
Naruto's music takes two music styles that would seem to fit and blend
them together in a way that is absolutely incredible. One is tsuguru,
which, if I recall correctly, is based on traditional Japanese music and
uses traditional Japanese instruments, but the compositions are more
contemporary. The other style is 80's rock. By combining heavy metal
riffs with traditional flutes and shamisens, the soundtrack is all at
once heart-pounding, epic, fun, and headbangable. I personally consider
Naruto's soundtrack one of the best in all of anime.
But
music is not everything. Naruto is hard to recommend to anyone because
most anime fans have either seen it or seen as much of it as they
wanted. I would insist that One Piece and Bleach are better, but Naruto
certainly isn't bad. Of course, I've started Naruto Shippuden and,
given how long it took me to get through the first series, it may take
me a while. But I figure that I might as well continue watching the
story.
Black Cat (24 Episodes)
Animation: 5/5
Story: 3/5
Music: 4/5
Overall: 3/5
Another
Shonen Jump classic, I really loved the manga for this series. Its
atmosphere and character interactions reminded me of Rurouni Kenshin
(which is my favorite manga of all time, by the way) so I had been
looking forward to the anime adaptation. I had heard that they changed a
few things but those changes didn't look like they'd be that much of a
hurdle.
And to be honest they weren't. The story only gets 3/5 for a different reason entirely.
Black
Cat is the nickname of Train Heartnet, an assassin for Chronos, a
secret organization that runs a majority of the world. Known for his
deadly accuracy and incredible fighting skills, he became notorious,
even becoming one of the Chronos Numbers, their elite group of
assassins. Number XIII to be exact, perfect for a black cat.
However,
as he is off duty, he is caught off-guard by a female sweeper (read:
bounty hunter) in a yukata named Saya. At first he doesn't know what to
think of the cheerful girl but before long, she rubs off on him,
changing his dour and hateful disposition of one more laid back and
joyful. Unfortunately, another Chronos assassin named Creed Diskense
happens to be looking on and is horrified by the changes in Train.
In
the meantime, Train takes on a job that gets tangled up by another
sweeper named Sven because of a little bio-android girl named Eve.
Originally designed to be a human weapon, Eve has an unusual run in with
Sven where she begins to appreciate the joys of the outer world (she
having been sheltered most of her life). After seeing this change,
Train decides to leave the girl alone, going against orders and
eventually leaving Chronos entirely, a treasonous crime punishable by
death. In an effort to bring Train back, Creed kills Saya, but his plan
backfires, as the tragedy compels Train to go his own way instead.
From
there Train teams up with Sven and Eve (and Rinslet, a professional
theif) to take on various jobs and enjoy life. However, Creed bungles
up their lives when he declares his own personal war against Chronos by
establishing the organization Apostles of the Star. Creed desparately
wants Train at his side, but Train is only bent on revenge.
While
the changes from the manga are obvious (Train leaves Chronos and
partners with Train long before either meet Eve), they aren't what keep
this series from reaching greater heights. The problem is actually in
the direction.
Let's
talk about the animation for a moment. I gave it a 5/5, and it
deserves it. Full of style and slick fights, Black Cat is one
good-looking anime. But there also lies it's problem. Very little of
the animation actually supports the story, making it visually hard to
follow. It's all style and no substance. As a result, the story
suffers, especially when it decides to have a ending not from the manga
only to make a huge mess of things. The new ending (and any of the
other changes) were good ideas, they just weren't executed very well.
To
go along with the style-over-substance, the music adds all the right
touches, being cheerful and nuts when the anime is, but throwing in an
iconic choir for the more epic moments. It's well done and memorable.
Still,
I can't get over how much it fell flat. It had everything else lined
up but in the end the series is just merely adequate. Even at just 24
episodes, it's hard to recommend when there are other series that do the
same thing better (Trigun immediately coming to mind). I guess it's
for those who like slick animation that doesn't go anywhere.
Requiem From The Darkness (13 Episodes)
Animation: 4/5
Story: 3/5
Music: 3/5
Overall: 3/5
Before
I begin, I must admit that I'm not one for horror. I've only seen a
handful of horror films, and I don't want to see those ones again.
Maybe I'm just a wimp, but I didn't let that hold me back from watching a
series that recently showed on the new Syfy Channel (the less said
about this name-change-stupidity, the better).
Requiem
From The Darkness follows the frightening adventures of a struggling
writer named Momosuke who wants to compile a collection of scary
stories. In his investigation, he runs into a trio of peculiar
characters that have strong ties to the spiritual world and wonder the
world of the living looking for beings that have sinned against their
particular order. Sometimes the writer tries to help the trio find who
they're looking for, other times he's attempting to protect their
target. In any case, as the writer travels to find stories, he keeps
running into the trio and eventually develops a crush on the voluptuous
Ogin.
While
the series is very episodic, it does a good job of creating a pretty
freaky atmosphere, usually involving people doing horrible things to
each other. This series is not very uplifting and each episode usually
ends with several people dead. Sometimes the villain is one of them.
Sometimes.
While
everything else is mostly mediocre, the most memorable part of the
series is its unusual animation style. It's filled with characters half
in shadow and bizarre backgrounds where straight lines have been
slightly warped. Even a simple door frame will be drawn with S-curves
instead of a rectangle. Another interesting trick this series uses is
some computer animation. Those paying attention will pick out fairly
easily, but I still found it fascinating because it coordinated with the
overall style, essentially masking the short-cuts they were making in
an amusing way. One episode toward the end took place on a small
island, so all the ocean water was presented as 3-D graphics, but the
water was made to look weird and iconic enough that the cheapness of the
computer effects was diminished almost completely.
Perhaps
if you're into horror anime, you could kick the overall up a notch and
give it shot. There's very little anime like it as far as I've seen.
It's not going to change anyone's ideals in anime but it is a peculiar
gem that stands on its own.
Not
much else to say, really. However, I'll definitely be able to review
more anime in the near future, especially some big name titles like
Mobile Suit Gundam, Monster, and Neon Genesis Evangelion.
As for
the fall season, I've decided to watch Bakuman, Star Driver, Shinryaku!
Ika Musume, and Super Robot Wars OG: The Inspector (gotta watch the
mecha stuff!). I'm also following Digimon Xros Wars, Dragon Ball Kai,
and I'm catching up to Fairy Tail. However, it looks like none of these
series will finish by the beginning of January, so I don't know if I'll
follow any of the Winter season series. Fractale does look
interesting, though.
In any case, expect another post sometime soon. Hopefully, next week. At least I'm gonna try.
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