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All posts for the year 2011

Review: Kore wa Zombie desu ka? (これはゾンビですか？)

Posted by ranpha on 15th July 2011

Posted in: anime review, STOP THAT BLURRY ANIMATION TECHNIQUE NOW!. Tagged: Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? (これはゾンビですか？). 2 comments

The main male protagonist, also the best character in this anime, wielding a personalized melee weapon that is popular in that zombie apocalypse multiplayer game Left 4 Dead 2.

In the last post, I’ve implied that Gosick is going to be the penultimate entry in the currently running ‘Anime of the Year 2011’ audition, but I’ve changed my mind and watched Kore wa Zombie desu ka? instead. I’ve heard good things about Gosick, especially from my family members, so let’s wait until the final entry of the audition to see whether the hype it has is really justified.

An apt title-defying description for the main male protagonist. Zombies? What zombies?

Story:-
The main title male protagonist was murdered by a serial killer when he tried to play hero to save a potential victim, and was reanimated into a zombie by a necromancer so that he can have his revenge. While searching for the serial killer, he inadvertently stole the magical powers from a monster-hunting magical girl. With his newfound abilities, he has to fight monsters too while biding his time for his revenge.

The storyline in this anime is surprisingly solid, especially for the first 6 episodes. The plot then peters out somewhat after that (the regression isn’t as bad as Fractale though), but the next 5 episodes will still make for a decent watch. The best parts of this anime comes when the main title MALE protagonist become a mahou shoujo. Despite the title of this anime, the zombie part of him is less important than his mahou shoujo part. In fact, his magical powers is his best trump card in battles, not the superhuman strength and immortality that zombification offered him. He doesn’t really accomplished anything with his zombie abilities alone, he usually has to transform to combine his zombie abilities with magic to achieve his goals. Note that his weakness to sunlight suddenly goes away after he switched modes.

His mahou shoujo mode is much more powerful than his zombie abilities.

Oh by the way, he has his own full transformation routine too, which even Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica doesn’t have. This title may have more similarities to the mahou shoujo genre than the latter. This series has 13 episodes (I watch the unaired episode too), but the final 2 episodes are just fillers and you should probably skip them. This really applies for episode 12 which is just awful.

This anime truly ends at episode 11, and I feel that it is just average after the anime peaks at episode 6. The ending is structured to accommodate a second season, with some thing has been left unresolved. The presentation in this anime is excellent, if you ignore the final two episodes. The pacing is spot on throughout the first 11 episodes, and the flow of the story is seamless within the same time frame too. The final two episodes really tarnished the otherwise good overall package this anime would have had if the two final episodes doesn’t exist.

Unfortunately, unlike the presentation, the character developments in this anime is only mixed bag at best. The main title male protagonist is the best character in this anime in this regard, and actually I do think that he has more potential left unexplored. He only use one (grossly misleading) magical technique throughout the series after all. To a lesser extent, the same can also be said for the girl whose power the main title male protagonist has stolen. If this anime will ever have its own romantic moments, she and the main title protagonist has the highest chances of being paired up. The main female protagonist’s character development is static throughout the series (and to think her airtime is quite large too), while the two vampire ninjas performed only a little teeny bit better than she is.

One of the things he does in battles while in mahou shoujo mode.

Character Design:-
Character designs in this anime is typical for the genre, and black hairs are rare in this Tokyo-based title. It is just me who think that the main title male protagonist’s hair become lighter and lighter as each episode goes by?

Voice Acting:-
My main beef with the voice acting in this anime is the different voice actresses used for nearly each episode for the main female protagonist. She may be mute the way main protagonist of Shion no Ou does, but the difference voices used in those delusional fantasies of the main title male protagonist are too inconsistent for my liking.

Otherwise, in general, voice acting in this anime is decent, but there are no outstanding gig(s) by any of the voice actors. At least no one does a sub-par job here though.

Music:-
The OP theme is decent and the OST is good but the ED theme is forgettable.

Animation/Direction:-
Japan reverts to its newly-found bad ways and used the blurry animation techniques in this anime, although surprisingly, only in slow-paced scenes like just like what is done in Oniichan no Koto Nanka Zenzen Suki Janain Dakara ne!! (long titles like this is another thing Japan needs to cut down in usage – it makes writing reviews harder). It is non-existent in fast-paced scene, unlike the ones seen in Yumekui Merry or Infinite Stratos for example. Still, this anime cannot avoid having one point docked from its final evaluation.

Character animations in this anime is not up to par when compared to some other titles in the audition, like Fractale or The World God Only Knows S2, but general animation is solid, even in fast-paced scenes. Integration between 2D and CGI is seamless. Choreography in action scenes is just average. The directing is flawless, with no problems in presentation.

Being a magical girl is truly a very hazardous job to be in.

Conclusion:-
7 out of 10. The next entry in this blog will be the conclusion for the ‘Anime of the Year 2011’ audition. Gosick will have a great chance to do so if only it avoids using the blurry animation technique, else Highschool of the Dead OVA will become the inaugural winner of the title.

Shortlink: http://wp.me/prgSo-pH

Review: Fractale (フラクタル)

Posted by ranpha on 12th July 2011

Posted in: anime review. Tagged: Fractale (フラクタル). Leave a Comment

The main male protagonist, not really comfortable around naked girls.

The end of the ‘Anime of the Year 2011’ audition is now in sight with Fractale, the 9th 2011 anime title is being reviewed today. Outside the single-episode Highschool of the Dead OVA, this is the shortest series in the audition with only 11 episodes. While being the shortest, this anime do throw a nice surprise for me though. Read on to see what it is all about, below.

Story:-
Far in the future, Earth is now under the control of the Fractale System, a nanomachine-powered satellite system that enslaved humanity in a manufactured utopia. The main male protagonist, who is one of the content slaves living the dream, meets the main female protagonist who were chased by a mysterious group of people. After helping her escape her pursuers, she left him in the next morning, but not without leaving a surprise annoying baggage for him…

This anime gives me the same vibes as Bounen no Xamdou did, and actually start very strong in the early parts of the series. In fact, I do think that the first three episodes of this series is better than the first three episodes in both Level E and Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica for example. After the end of episode 3, I exclaimed to myself that maybe this series can repeat what Bounen no Xamdou has done and actually get a perfect score. Alas, this wasn’t mean to be because the storyline spiral downwards afterwards.

This may have something to do with the main male protagonist’s tendencies to not only make bad decision calls (this hold true throughout all 11 episodes) but also some drastic character changes that seems to have happened somewhere between episode 3 and 4, probably off-screen. It was the character change (which I view as a negative for the main male protagonist) that caused the way the main plot turns out for the worse. If the main male protagonist acted the way he did in the first three episodes in subsequent episodes, the story would have turned out differently instead of the sudden cliché-laden downstream plots that happened right after the main male protagonist re-board the Lost Millennium airship at the start of episode 4.

Nevertheless, while this anime missed its opportunity to become a masterpiece, the plot at least doesn’t become predictable and is worth watching just to see if the main male protagonist will eventually choose Fractale or not. The ending is decent, with everything seems to be settled except of the ambiguous identity of the mysterious man with the transmission towers, but there is no room for a second season as far as I’m concerned.

This anime has a major problem with its presentation. While the pacing in this anime is decent and is actually better than what you can see in Bounen no Xamdou, I cannot say the same thing about the plot transitions that happened mostly in the second half of this series. The arc transition in episode 7 is a good example of this problem. In one scene, the main male protagonist is taking pictures in the Lost Millennium airship, then less than 5 seconds later, he wakes up on a luxury queen bed alongside a very hot semi-naked mature woman. At first, I thought everything that precedes that scene is just a dream, but it turns out that the anime has just started a new arc.

Such drastic arc changes that has no seamless connection with the previous arc, should have been done between episodes and not within one (not even after an eyecatch) without a restructuring. By doing such an arc transition between episodes, only then the accompanying flashback sequence will have the impact that it should have. In my opinion, if an arc switching like the example I have mentioned above is unavoidable, the flashback sequence should been played first as a present-time sequence before the scene where the main male protagonist waking up on that queen bed comes up. This would then help bridge the new arc and the one that plays before it for a far more seamless arc transition process.

As for character developments, the turnaround of the main male protagonist after episode 3 really damaged his character development, and he doesn’t fully recover from it afterwards. The character in the first three episodes is better than the one in subsequent episodes. Almost everyone else in this anime has better character developments, in varying degrees, but there is no one here that is good enough to be anointed as a best character.

Yet this apt description of him doesn’t really explain his uneasiness around naked girls.

Character Design:-
Character designs in this anime is good, and similar to what you can see in seinen titles like Bounen no Xamdou itself. Black hairs are rare though, but can be overlooked considering the settings this anime is set up in. A positive aspect for this anime.

Voice Acting:-
Voice acting in this somewhat dialogue-heavy title is just ordinary though, with no outstanding performers amongst the characters.

Music:-
The OST is good, but the OP theme is not. The Japanese version of the ED theme is better than the English version (those two has different lyrics, the English version is poorly structured).

Animation/Direction:-
The animation quality in this anime is good, even is fast-paced scenes. Choreography in action scenes is not very exciting though. The director use some excellent camera works in the first episode, but this wasn’t repeated in subsequent episodes. Inconsistency is really a signature of this anime.

Oh BTW, this is only the second title in this audition that doesn’t use the blurry animation technique, therefore the rot is stopped at 6 consecutive titles. Therefore there will be no needless point deduction today.

Conclusion:-
7 out of 10. This anime could have been much better, but in the end it doesn't. Only two titles left in the audition. Gosick next maybe?

Shortlink: http://wp.me/prgSo-py

Review: The World God Only Knows II (神のみぞ知るセカイⅡ)

Posted by ranpha on 7th July 2011

Posted in: anime review, STOP THAT BLURRY ANIMATION TECHNIQUE NOW!. Tagged: The World God Only Knows (series), The World God Only Knows II (神のみぞ知るセカイⅡ). 7 comments

The main male protagonist, still the best character in this anime.

In my previous post, I’ve mentioned that I will add Gosick to replace either Fractale or Moshidora in the ‘Anime of the Year 2011’ audition, with the decision of ‘which one to be replaced’ to be made by the time this post was made. Well, Moshidora is out and not only Gosick comes in, but also the second season of The World God Only Knows series that will be reviewed today. The review for the first season is located here, which you should read before continuing with this post. My motivation for choosing this anime for the 8th review in the ‘Anime of the Year 2011’ audition is actually the same as why I watched Oniichan no Koto Nanka Zenzen Suki Janain Dakara ne!! (that particular animation technique), therefore read on to see whether this second season has it or not.

And the sweet-talking motherf*ck*r ensnared yet another victim in this brand new season.

Story:-
Continuing from the first season where the main male protagonist has to charm his way into the hearts of 4 girls to extract demon souls out of them, he now has to do the same with another 3 girls. Plus, he also has to deal with a brand new demon character that is plagued with crisis of confidence.

Apparently the info I mentioned in the review of the first season that there will be 5 girls in the second season is wrong. There are only 4 girls in this season inclusive of the new female demon. This is definitely a good thing for the second season because it exclude the girl with the worst conquering arc in the manga in the time of writing. There is a bad news though, a third season of this series probably not come, which means that the best conquering arc in the manga will not be animated either.

And just like what I have mentioned in my review of the first season, I’ve said that the arcs in this second season will be inferior to the first one. This indeed has turned out to be correct, with the best arc in this season (Chihiro’s arc) is nowhere as good as the first season’s best arc (Shiori’s arc). Well, that’s to be expected if the manga is any indication, but what I found weird is that the extensive improvisation seen in the first season are not duplicated in this season. This means that none of the arcs animated in the second season will be able to improve the way Kanon’s arc does in the first season (the manga arc is just average, the anime version is better) has managed to.

This scene isn’t in the manga.

It doesn’t mean that there are no changes between the arcs in the anime and their corresponding arcs in the manga version, it is just they are very minimal, maybe some changes to some dialogues and minor scene changes or deletions. The first arc in the second season is a testament for this phenomenon, where the differences between the two version are minimal. Unlike in the first season, the conquered characters in the second season doesn’t use their mini-chapters omake, which for me is another part where the second season has regressed from the first one. But what hasn’t changed between the two seasons is the spot-on pacing and also the smooth plot developments within the arc itself. Actually I feared that the pacing may be quickened because of minimal improvisations and lack of omake adaptations, but this isn’t the case fortunately.

Just like in the first season, the second season also made references to other games and anime or manga et. al. as seen in the screenshot below. Plus, the anime also animated some (but not all) of the manga filler chapters that is seen straddling the 4 manga main arcs in the second season. The final episode was capped with a teaser consisting of characters that will never be animated, but then again the ending was structured to accommodate a new season. I heard that there will an OVA, but that’s it. No third season planned.

Character development has improved compared to the first season, even if the prevailing plot hasn’t appeared yet. The main male protagonist (still the best character in this series) has more meaningful character development than he was in the first season, especially in that student teacher arc. The main female protagonist also has more of then compared to the first season, especially during the Haqua arc. The lack of a third season means that all character developments will stop prematurely then, which is a pity because the gains made by the main male protagonist in this season would have been useful in a certain arc down on the road.

A Nintama Rantarou parody. This is a very good comedy ninja title.

Character Design:-
My comment from the same section of the first season review still applies.

Voice Acting:-
The main male protagonist voice actor is more consistent now than he was in the first season, while the main female protagonist has no improvement at all. As for the girls, only the voice actresses for the karate girl and the student teacher are good (the latter is the outstanding performer in this season), while the voice actresses for the other two girls are falling behind them. A regression from the first 4 girls whose performances are uniformly good.

Music:-
The multi-genre OST in this series is one of the defining aspects of the whole series, and it is still as good as ever without any regression at all. Unfortunately, you cannot say the same thing about ALL the OP/ED themes and also the insert songs. At least a couple of songs from the first season is actually good, while none of them is in this second season.

The first season doesn’t have this shit! Why Japan?

Animation/Direction:-
Just like Oniichan no Koto Nanka Zenzen Suki Janain Dakara ne!!, the main reason why I watched this anime (my original plan is to watch it a few months in the future at least) is to prevent a sixth consecutive title being categorized under the blurry animation technique tag. After all, the first season doesn’t use it either, just like the first season of Highschool of the Dead. Unfortunately, as shown in the screenshot above, the second season for this series DOES USE IT. As usual, one point will be docked off the final evaluation of this anime.

Sixth consecutive anime titles and running. When will this madness stop?

Ignoring the regression above, animation quality in this second season is still good, even in fast-paced scenes. Choreography now exists in the second season, but they are just average. The director is guilty of not repeating the great quality-inducing improvisation methods he used in first season, but still managed to keep the presentation aspects okay.

It is just unfortunate for the fans of this series (me included) that we will not see further collaboration of this two characters being animated in the future.

Conclusion:-
6 out of 10. Inferior storyline when compared to what you can see in the first season, and the usage of the blurry animation technique means that the second installment of The World God Only Knows series is going to be inferior to its predecessor.

And it is also unfortunate for me personally, to not being able to see the best conquering arc in the manga version of this series, being animated in the future.