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All posts for the year 2012

Review: Nisemonogatari (偽物語)

Posted by ranpha on 8th July 2012

Posted in: anime review. Tagged: Nisemonogatari (偽物語). Leave a Comment

The main male protagonist, still escaping the full wrath of Japanese law!

The audition for this blog’s ‘Anime of the Year 2012’ ends with the only sequel in the line-up, titled Nisemonogatari. This anime is the only sequel in the audition, being the follow-up of Bakemonogatari, which I have reviewed here before. This sequel has to be better than its flawed ‘8-out-of-10’ predecessor to prevent Another from becoming the first winner of the audition today. Read on to see if this sequel can actually achieve that feat or not.

Story:-
In this new season, the sex predator that is our main male protagonist now has chosen to expand his horizons from targeting underage ghost girls to include more underage girls with ‘blood’ relations, such as his own little sisters and that blond loli. Of course, to avoid detection and subsequent arrest, he is doing those crimes in the pretext of ‘helping’ them goes through their troubles, in the name of ‘justice’ and ‘goody older brother’s name’. All of these happens while he is doing the bare minimum (UNENTHUSIASTICALLY to say the least) to keep his girlfriend of legal age satisfied on bed. Under duress to say the least.

Before you continue reading this review, I have a public service announcement to make. If you have watched Bakemonogatari, but not yet watched this sequel, you should stop any plans to watch this sequel in the near future. From my observation, this sequel is best watched only after you watched not only Bakemonogatari, but also the prequel movie OVA that should come out in the theatres later this year. This is mainly because some of the peripheral characters in the first season has made their grand entrances in this sequel, and I feel that it is better to watch this second season after knowing more about the background of a certain character here.

This 11-episode sequel still keep the same multi-arc format seen in the first season, but there are only two of them here. Overall, the quality of the arcs in this sequel is inferior than the ones in the first season. As a recap, the first season has 4 arcs, with the last one being the weakest of them all. Then the second season continues from where the first season left, but unfortunately, the first arc of the second season is even worse than the first season’s final arc. The second arc in this anime improves considerably from its predecessor, but not achieving the high attained by the best arc in the first season (which is the second arc). If you expect that this anime will outperform its predecessor story-wise, then you will be in for a disappointment.

But this sequel almost compensates for the loss of storyline quality by putting more emphasis on character interactions and developments, heavily aided by the two best characters from the first season; the main male protagonist and also his original sex assault victim, the snail girl. The scenes where these (still) two best characters interacts are the best moments of this anime. The interactions between the main male protagonist and some of the other characters is also noteworthy. As mentioned before, some of the peripheral characters in the first season also has huge amount of meaningful airtime in this sequel, allowing them to have significant amount of character development. A couple of the more mainstream characters in the first season has their airtime cut severely in this sequel though, probably because of the lower episode count compared to the first season. If this regression doesn’t happen, the loss of quality in the storyline could have been compensated fully.

My only complaint about the main male protagonist is that he is inching toward a certain character type best embodied by the main male protagonist of Index.

The presentation method, pacing and the flow of the storyline in this sequel is relatively trouble-free, unchanged from what you can see in the first season. Just like in the first season, this sequel also make external references, but none of this sequel’s references is as good as the first season’s ‘reaction guys’ parody. The ending indicates that a third season will come out in the future, although I have not seen any news about one for now. You have to settle with the prequel OVA movie them for the time being.

A truly apt description for the main male protagonist.

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

Voice Acting:-
In general, the quality of the voice acting gigs for the mainstream characters from the first season is practically the same in the second season (the two best characters are still outstanding in this regard). Surprisingly, there are no regression at all in this regard. As for the first season’s peripheral characters that has suddenly found their voices in this sequel, only the loli blond, the first arc’s main antagonist and the main male protagonist’s younger sister who wears that Bruce Lee suit has managed to keep the high standard set in the first season. The rest of the new characters are average at best, especially that wannabe poser familiar whose voice actress failed hard to actually bring her character to life.

Music:-
You can definitely hear improvements in the sequel when compared to the first season in this aspect. The good quality of the first season’s OST has been carried forward to this sequel, and the OP/ED themes are actually good, except for the 2nd arc’s OP theme.

Animation/Direction:-
Unbelieveably, my comment from the same section of the first season’s review still applies. Every single word of it.

Conclusion:-
7 out of 10. The sequel regressed slightly when compared to its predecessor. With this, the horror thriller anime series ‘Another’ will become the inaugural winner of this blog ‘Anime of the Year 2012’ title. At only 9 out of 10 score, the chances for other 2012 titles that is in my queue, such as Accel World, Hyouka, Nazo no Kanojo X et. al., to actually win the title in the future can be considered high, but thene again the 9-out-of-10 Katanagatari has been this blog’s ‘Anime of the Year 2010’ holder for over a year already and still haven’t been replaced.

The main male protagonist, with his rape face on the moment before he indulges on one of his underage victims.

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

Review: Papa no Iukoto wo Kikinasai! (パパのいうことを聞きなさい！)

Posted by ranpha on 23rd June 2012

Posted in: anime review. Tagged: Papa no Iukoto wo Kikinasai! (パパのいうことを聞きなさい！). Leave a Comment

This is the black-haired main male protagonist.

The penultimate entry of the relatively short ‘Anime of the Year 2012’ audition is now here, featuring another slice-of-life series, titled Papa no Iukoto wo Kikinasai! This anime differs from another slice-of-life title in the audition, Daily Lives of High School Boys in some key areas, which will be explained in more details below. Obviously, comparisons between them will also be inevitable.

Story:-
The main male protagonist, who is starting his first year at university, was suddenly saddled with 3 new daughters (all of them are below the age of consent) after his sister and her husband died in a plane crash. Living in a small one-room apartment, each of the members of the newly-formed family has to adjust themselves to new ways of life together.

The biggest difference between the two slice-of-life titles that is this anime and Daily Lives of High School Boys, is that the former focused far less on the comedy aspect and placed more emphasis on a storyline and also character developments. Yes, what I want to say is that this anime has a plot while Daily Lives of High School Boys doesn’t have one. As for the quality of this anime’s storyline, it (the storyline) is actually good overall. The storyline has two weaknesses though, the first one is the fairly predictable plot and the second one being the weak ending (the final two episodes) that probably has a plot hole too.

There are very little amount of comedy moments in this anime; most of them happens within the RORI club that the main protagonist is a member in. The quality of the comedy is also nowhere are good as the ones seen in Daily Lives of High School Boys. This anime has done one thing right though, and that would be avoiding any romantic relationships from evolving from the infatuation stage, especially for the two of the four major characters of this anime. With this, the probable love interest of the main male protagonist was then reduced to be part of the comedic setup of the RORI club. Keeping this anime strictly on the slice-of-life track with very little comedy and zero serious romance moments is an excellent editorial decision many other anime titles out there cannot do.

As mentioned before, this slice-of-life anime has plots in it, therefore character developments is also there. Character developments in this anime is uneven though, partly because of the low episode count (12) and the high number of major characters (4). Only two of the 4 major characters can be said to have major character developments, and they are the main male protagonist and his new eldest daughter. The main male protagonist is definitely the best characters in this anime, and the eldest daughter is actually one of the better tsundere characters you can find in the anime world. Far better than the one in OreImo, but still behind the one in B gata H kei.

The second daughter has far less character developments, and hers seems to only happen near the end of the series. Well, at least she is better than the youngest daughter of the household, who presents her role mostly as a plot device than as an actual anime character. Her plot device’s role in the storyline was executed very well though, and I have no complaints about that.

With a prevailing plot, this anime doesn’t have the 4-koma-style presentation seen in Daily Lives of High School Boys, opting instead for a more episodic type of storytelling technique. Therefore the pacing in this anime is slower than the latter, which suits this anime’s need perfectly. The flow of the storyline is fine in the first half of the series or so, but it deteriorates somewhat in the second half. Obviously, this problem also contributes to the weak ending alongside the potential plot hole I’ve mentioned before, that I will discuss more below.

The two younger siblings out of the three daughters that the main male protagonist has inherited. I don't show the oldest one exactly for the same reason that the president of the RORI club has.

Character Design:-
Character designs in this anime isn’t that different than the ones in Daily Lives of High School Boys, with its shounen-style designs. Coincidentally, black hair is common, and the blonde second daughter is actually a blonde (minus all of the stereotypes associated with one of course). Unfortunately, I think the character designs in this anime is too bland for my liking though, unlike what you can see in Daily Lives of High School Boys.

Voice Acting:-
Overall, voice acting in this anime is decent, and that’s about it. This anime doesn’t have any outstanding voice acting gigs in it unlike Daily Lives of High School Boys, but then again this anime doesn’t have a single one of the bad jobs that can also be seen in the latter.

Music:-
This anime has done quite well too in this department. The OST is actually good, and so are the ED theme. Only the OP theme is way below average of my standards.

Animation/Direction:-
In this aspect, this anime is more comparable to the other entry of the audition, Another, instead of Daily Lives of High School Boys. This can be seen by this anime’s tendencies to use pre-painted backgrounds a lot, and I wonder whether this Princess Lover-inspired trend will become more common in future titles. Animation quality is decent, a little bit behind what you can see in Another. Choreography doesn’t apply in this slice-of-life title, but just like Another again, CGI and 2D animation has seamless integration. A minor complaint about the animation is that people in the background were animated very slowly, as if they are zombies (see the screenshot below).

My complaint about the director is about the potential plot hole in ending arc (the voice actress’ action in the final episode). I say ‘potential’, because that particular scene could also goes nowhere. But if that certain scene really amount to nothing, then it is bad form for the director to compose the musical choir scene that way because it can confuse the viewers. But if that scene has hidden meaning behind it, then it is a failure for the director to not explain what really has happened after the musical choir event. If this anime has a second season, then the director can get away from this, but the ending doesn’t seem to be written to accommodate a second season.

Conclusion:-
8 out of 10. This anime isn’t good enough to challenge Another in this audition for the ‘Anime of the Year 2012’ title. The audition will end in the next post with Nisemonogatari, the only sequel in the audition lineup. Nisemonogatari has to be better than its prequel though to even think of winning the audition.

People in the background scenes in this anime has zombie-like movements. Maybe the president of the RORI club is the same one as a certain gun freak in a certain anime series…

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

Review: Another (アナザー)

Posted by ranpha on 10th June 2012

Posted in: Anime of the Year 2012 title holder, anime review. Tagged: Another (アナザー). Leave a Comment

The two main protagonists. One of them will end up as a murderer at the end of the anime. Want to know who? Watch this excellent horror anime title.

The second entry reviewed in the current ‘Anime of the Year 2012’ audition is titled Another, an anime that belongs to the poorly represented ‘supernatural-minus-superpowers’ horror genre. As far as I remember, the only other anime title I reviewed here before that is similar to this anime is Gakkou no Kaidan, and that anime is more popular for its stupendously ‘awesome’ English dub than its ‘creepy’ storyline. The Higurashi series is probably another similar title to this one, but it has too many superpowers elements in it to be considered as one. This anime is definitely better than the first entry of the audition, but is it good enough to win the audition at the end? That question will be answered eventually in the future.

Befitting the genre this anime falls into, the hospitals in this anime also practiced skipping death numbers for their floors' numbering scheme. I've seen this in real life, but didn't really expect to see it in my anime.

Story:-
Sometime in the 90s, the main male protagonist moved from Tokyo to the rural Yomiyama because of his father’s job. But before he arrived at his new school, he has to be warded at the local hospital instead for lung collapse. At the hospital, he met the main female protagonist, and this chance encounter inadvertently caused a perennial deadly curse to start happening at the school he has not attended yet.

Generally, there are no major weakness in the storyline of this story-driven anime title. While the quality isn’t exactly on par with many of the excellent non-anime horror titles from Japan, it is still quite decent. What set this anime’s storyline apart from many of those Japanese horror movies is that I didn’t get scared at all when watching this anime, but as the final episode’s end credit rolls and I jogged up my memory, I finally exclaimed, ‘Damn!’ as the story finally gets to me. There are no plotholes, and everything seems to be logically finished up at the final episode.

Some nitpicks:-

The plot in the first four or five episodes is very predictable. This issue resolved itself though after that.
The solution to stop the curse is surprisingly ordinary, considering that the class 3 students know exactly how the curse plays out before the solution was found in the tape revelation. All of those horrors must had made them forgot that any given problem can be solved if the source of the problem is dealt with. The solution, while is surprisingly intuitive, is very hard to pull off though. This issue could only be a positive for this anime if it has a second season.
The way the culprit was outed can do a lot of work, and this issue is almost an anomaly considering how the rest of the storyline was presented. The writer tried too hard to conceal the culprit’s identity by blocking the 4th wall as vital scenes and dialogues was presented to the main male protagonist but not to the viewers. Then, flashbacks are used at the end of the series to finally reveal those information to the audience, not as clues to find out who the culprit is, but as evidence for the guilt of the culprit. This is the complete opposite of the ‘my-cousin-is-not-my-cousin’ revelation earlier in the series that was brilliantly presented. The writer should have attempted to hide the secret right in the open, betting that his or her cards will not be flipped over too early unlike what happened in Dragon Crisis! because after all, the culprit has quite a lot of airtime and yet isn’t detected before the culprit’s time is up.

As I mentioned above, this series is one of the very rare titles in the ‘supernatural-minus-superpowers’ horror genre in anime out there. This means that human characters in this anime will have to deal wit a supernatural being without any divine help at all. The closest thing this anime has to a superpower element is the Kara no Kyoukai-esque eye that the main female protagonist has, and this plot device turned out to be hugely instrumental at executing the solution to end the curse. It would have been better if the concealed information is used to track the identity of the culprit instead of using the eye to do so.

This anime got the presentation aspect just right, with its slow pacing fitting the subdued mood as people starts dropping like flies, and the pacing increased nicely at the ending arc as more people dies left and right. I want to say the same thing too about the flow of the storyline, but while the flow in the story preceding the ending arc is smooth, I cannot say the same thing about the flow of the ending arc itself. The ending arc has a couple of minor scene transition problems, probably caused by the faster pacing and also because of the parallel plots that is running simultaneously during the ending.

Character developments in this anime really take a backseat at the end of the bus in this hugely story-driven title. This is partly the fault of the effects of the curse itself, the huge amount of characters in this anime and also the overall storyline. All of the characters are there purely as a vehicle for the storytelling process, and this holds true especially for the main female protagonist. The final two or three episodes that make up the Battle Royale-esque ending is a total departure to the relatively languid nature of previous episodes, and this is a good thing as the curse was finally stopped by one of the main protagonists. But in keeping to the traditions of general Japanese horror genre, there certainly is room for a second season, with new characters for sure, because the curse will still be repeated in the new school season.

Quoted For Truth! This anime surely can relate to this quote.

Character Design:-
Character designs in this horror anime is just ordinary in general. Normally, this will count as a negative aspect but not so for this anime because of the setting of the storyline that takes place in 90s’ Japan and also the storyline. This is yet another anime where brown is the new black, although the main female protagonist has black hair. I bet the blonde guy dyed his hair though.

Voice Acting:-
Just like the previous entry in the audition, this anime is also a dialogue-heavy anime. But when these two titles are compared in this aspect, Daily Lives of High School Boys edged ahead of this anime in terms of overall quality. I can safely say that ALL characters in this anime (and there are plenty of them) only has average voice acting performance. All of them are bland, and there is no one outstanding in the whole roster.

Music:-
This aspect is another element of this anime where it fails to outperform its rival in this audition. There is nothing at all that goes right for this anime musically. A horror anime like this one could have benefited from a great ambience soundtrack, but unfortunately it doesn’t get one. The less said about the awful ED theme and the meh OP theme, the better.

Animation/Direction:-
This aspect is definitely where this anime has done better compared to the first entry in the audition. The animation quality in this anime is good, even in fast-paced scenes. This anime also take a page from Princess Lover and used beautiful pre-painted background images (see the screenshot below). It would have been nicer if they are animated. 2D and CGI animations are integrated seamlessly too. Choreography doesn’t apply here in this anime, even if there are plenty of deaths. The director has done an almost flawless job for this anime, a surprise because most of his previous works consists of comedy skits. THIS ANIME HAS REALLY FEW COMEDY SCENES IN IT.

Conclusion:-
9 out of 10. A must watch if you like Japan-flavored horror movies like Ju-On and The Ring, although if you expect to be scared shitless, be prepared to be disappointed. This kind of anime is best watched in a single sitting, instead of being watched one episode per week. This is where my policy of watching complete season(s) of anime titles really paid off, because my scoring for this anime will definitely be lower if I were to watch this anime one episode per week. Two titles are left in the audition; Nisemonogatari and Papa no Iukoto wo Kikinasai! Which one will come next? You have to wait for the next review…

The static pre-painted background style seen in Princess Lover is also common in this anime. The only moving parts in this scene is the birds. The clouds are static.