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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.

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

Review: Yumekui Merry (夢喰いメリー)

Posted by ranpha on 3rd July 2011

Posted in: anime review, STOP THAT BLURRY ANIMATION TECHNIQUE NOW!. Tagged: Yumekui Merry (夢喰いメリー). 1 comment

The main male protagonist.

The audition to choose the inaugural winner of the ‘Anime of the Year 2011’ title continued with the review of Yumekui Merry, the seventh title in the audition. It has a beach episode in it, therefore the question is can this anime challenge the best ever beach episode ever seen outside hentai, which is also the current front runner in the audition, Highschool of the Dead OVA – Drifters of the Dead?

Story:-
The main male protagonist who has this strange ability of predicting what kind of dreams someone will have when they sleep at night, has a chance meeting with the main title female protagonist when she fell onto him from a tree. He then found out that she comes from the realm of dreams, and offered his help to send her back to where she belongs. But there are many of her brethrens that prefers to come to the human world instead, and they have to deal with them first…

The storyline isn’t exactly an original or even a spectacular one, but at least it (the storyline) is solid and has no apparent weaknesses that I can see. It is less predictable then other titles in the audition such as Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica and Dragon Crisis! and is better in quality too than the latter and also Infinite Stratos. I have heard this anime deviates quite a lot from its source manga, but IMO this anime doesn’t really become crappy as a result.

BTW, the beach episode in this anime is basically just the same as they are in countless other anime titles. It advanced the story a little but nothing revolutionary like the one you see in Highschool of the Dead OVA.

For presentation, the flow of the storyline is flawless but the pacing is a tad too slow for my liking. The ending is just your cliché-laden typical shounen ending though (with powerups coming out from nowhere), but it is written to accommodate a second season at least. There are plenty of loose ends remaining, and the main goal for the two main protagonists haven’t been attained yet.

Character developments understandably has mixed results, considering the way the story unfolds. Only the main male protagonist has visible character developments, especially near the end. The main title female protagonist just has a little bit of developments, while other characters simply none of them. If a second season comes out, there is plenty of room of more developments. As an example, surely that guy who wrote poems all the time isn’t written in just for comic relief isn’t it? I call first dib for him to be the vessel for that Pharos guy!

Unfortunately, the beach episode in this anime is nowhere as good as what you can see in the Highschool of the Dead OVA.

Character Design:-
Character designs in this anime, while decent, is just your standard cookie-cutter shounen design. Black hairs are rare, of which I think it shouldn’t be.

Voice Acting:-
Voice acting in this anime is surprisingly good most of the time though. Another thing I have noticed is that those characters on the evil side has much better voice acting gigs than the characters on the good side. That home room teacher, his dream demon and the other dream demon with plenty of cats are good example of this phenomenon. The main title female protagonist has also done well, but the main male protagonist is just average. Even that poem writing guy is better than him. A positive aspect for this anime.

Music:-
The OST is decent, but not so for the OP/ED themes.

This anime features the best ever fire animation I have ever seen. Mainly because those fires are real.

Animation/Direction:-
This title is the fifth consecutive title that employs the usage of the blurry animation technique that I really don’t like. Therefore, as usual, I will dock one point off the final evaluation. And in the case of this anime, that animation technique actually make another problem that this anime has become even worse.

That problem I mentioned is the very poor character animations quality, especially in fast-paced scenes. By the way, I want to stress that general animations are OK, even fast-paced ones. Basically, anime characters (whether humans or dream demons) in this anime are very poorly animated, just like it is in Mayoi Neko Overrun. This applies even in normal scenes, which I can tolerate a bit, but with the combination of the blurry animation technique above, it makes fast-paced action scenes basically unwatchable. At least Mayoi Neko Overrun (also afflicted by the blurry animation technique too) doesn’t have action scenes that it can mess around about.

Titles like Infinite Stratos may also use the same blurry animation technique, but that anime’s animation quality is actually good in fast scenes which make those battle moments watchable. That isn’t exactly an ideal scenario, but I will accept it than seeing that garbage seen in this anime. I think if this anime doesn’t use that technique, I probably can still see what really happening in those fighting scenes, especially the one at the ending arc.

2D and CGI animations are not seamlessly integrated unlike Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica, but I have to give two thumbs up for that real-life fire animation usage as shown in the screenshot above. I actually paused on that scene, rewinding it a few times just to see whether I need to visit my optometrist or not. This anime may have choreography sequences that surpassed Avatar: The Last Airbender, but I for sure I cannot comment about them because I cannot see it properly. The directing is decent, using some good camera angles but need to improve on the presentation if a second season is coming.

Conclusion:-
6 out of 10. Yet another anime title being short-changed just because they are using that blurry animation technique. I think it is hard for newer titles to be able to get a perfect score if this trend continues. Even as of today, there are no 2010 titles that managed to get one. The current ‘Anime of the Year 2010’ title holder Katanagatari would have succeeded if it doesn’t use the said technique.

To end this blog post, I want to announce that I plan to replace either Fractale or Moshidora with Gosick in this audition. I haven’t decided which title I will remove though, you will know about my decision in the next blog entry.

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