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Review: Ookiku Furikabutte – Natsu no Taikahen (おおきく振りかぶって ～夏の大会編～)

Posted by ranpha on 12th August 2010
Posted in: anime review, sport genre standard. Tagged: , . Leave a Comment


Still paranoid main protagonist.

The end of the ‘Anime of the Year 2010’ audition is nigh with the eighth review out today, for the 2nd season of Ookiku Furikabutte titled Ookiku Furikabutte Summer Tournament. If not for the customary sport-genre handicap I dished out for all sport genre anime titles I reviewed for quite some time now, this anime would have given the current front-runner of the audition a run for its money. The first season of this anime was favorably reviewed by me here last year. The second season did not actually matched its predecessor in general, but with a caveat, the whole series so far is still a very good watch and deserved a third season.


Quoted for truth!

Story:-
Fresh from their first victory in the prefectural tournament, the team trained for a bit (no training camp this season) then played the second game, which the team won. Then, then is more training before the third round match, of which the team also won. Lastly, there are more training done and then the far more important fourth match come, which will decide the winner for a quarterfinal place. Watch this anime to know the result of that game.

The second season started right off the bat from where the first season finished off, and you will be forgiven if you think you are watching the 27th episode of the first season instead of the first episode of a new season. There will be no recap or flashbacks from the first season to refresh the memory of the viewers. Watching the first season is definitely mandatory to understand what really happened in this newly minted second season.

As far as the story goes, nothing has changed from what you can see in the first season. It is still your typical clichéd sport-genre storyline where there are plenty of positives traits such as determination, never-say-die attitudes, hard work and things like that (and of course, the Koushien). Instead, what have changed in this sequel is the presentation. Taking a leaf from the playbook of the second season of Nodame Cantabile, the pacing in the second season has been vastly accelerated with very minor omission from the manga. This is very noticeable during the baseball team second game, which spanned only 3 episodes. This makes me unable to follow the action in that game sometimes, wherewithal of all of the fast-paced scenes and abnormal amount of dialogues. If the same pacing of the first season applies to that particular second game, it will definitely take two or three times longer to finish. The torrid pacing slowed somewhat in the fourth game, but the damage has been done.

Just like the storyline, character developments in this season continues where the first season left, and this aspect is actually where this anime has improved from the first season. With more games (3 of them, 2 with significance), the members of the team grows almost exponentially compared to their rates in the first season. Just like what I wrote in the first season’s review, this is what I hoped will happen in its subsequent sequel(s). The main protagonist grows rapidly during this season as expected, but so are some of his fellow club mates, like his nagging boyfriend.

The ending is even more awesome in the second season, and I hope a third one will come some time in the future. If the manga is any indication, it will not be anytime soon.


His relationship with his boyfriend can never get better.

Character Design:-
My comments for the same section in the first season’s review still applies.

Voice Acting:-
My comments for the same section in the first season’s review still applies.

Music:-
The OST is still hard to notice at all (hard to blame this anime for this though due to its nature), but the OP and ED themes are good.

Animation/Direction:-
For animation quality and choreography, my comment from the first season still applies. The director screwed up somewhat with the pacing, but apart from that his directing is up to par with what he has done in the first season.

Conclusion:-
7 out of 10. Just a little bit off the track compared to the last season. Durarara and B gata H kei, which one will be next? 


The team shouts this slogan every time the team something good.

Shortlink: http://wp.me/prgSo-fI

Review: Working!! (ワーキング)

Posted by ranpha on 9th August 2010
Posted in: anime review, Former Anime of the Year 2010 title holder. Tagged: . 5 comments


This is the main MALE protagonist. I repeat: This is the main MALE protagonist.

The ‘Anime of the Year 2010’ audition reached its seventh entry today with my review of Working!!, which style is disturbingly similar to Minami-ke, an awful anime I reviewed here before. Comparison will be inevitable, but the former doesn’t waste its time in proving that it is much better than the latter by a million miles. In fact, this anime is currently the best title I reviewed in the audition as of today.


And his manager has some serious and fully legitimate concern about our main MALE protagonist.

Story:-
One snowy day in Hokkaido, our main protagonist is walking down to his home from school when suddenly he was ambushed from behind by a well-endowed 12-year old girl. The girl asked our hero to work part-time at a family restaurant where she moonlights her services, but he refused, thinking that she is just a jail-bait. But the main protagonist changed his mind after learning that the girl is actually a shorty (and well-endowed) 17-year old high-school student (read: LEGAL IN ALL JURISDICTIONS). He then reports in for his first day at work alongside her new busty colleague, expecting good ’things’, but the fact that the restaurant is no different than that place under the bridge will hit him on the face, LITERALLY!

Just like Minami-ke, this anime doesn’t have a plot. But unlike Minami-ke and just like Urusei Yatsura, this anime was sustained instead by the character strength of the main protagonist. The main protagonist is not as powerful or interesting as the legendary Moroboshi ‘Darling’ Ataru is, but he is not far behind. He is grossly offensive in mannerism and can be very inconsiderate, but is also very snarky and proficient in all kind of humor. I want to call him a lolicon, but then again the main female protagonist is a 17-year old high school student and his senior, so I will leave it at that.



Two samples from the cesspool that makes up the employment of the establishment.

Unlike Hirasawa Yui in K-On!, the main protagonist doesn’t have to work alone at propping this anime up, because he was assisted by most of his new colleagues in the said family restaurant, and to a lesser extent, his sisters at his house . Those characters are unique and quirky in their own respect and are trapped in their own circumstances. The interactions and relationships between the main protagonist and all these characters are what made this anime shines brightly. One-sided crushes, toilet humor and crass jokes, blackmail, gratuitous amount of violence, you got them all.

Character developments is also where this anime has done very well as a whole, with our main protagonist being the best character of the bunch. The only apparent weakness this anime has is the ending, where its chain of events are predictable, lacks in substance and, well, just weak. It is structured for a second season though, but a quick look at ANN website doesn’t indicate that there will be a new one. How on earth Minami-ke has 3 seasons while this blatantly superior series only has one?


A long-distance relationship like the one above is only possible in this restaurant located somewhere in Hokkaido, Japan.

Character Design:-
As mentioned above, this anime is very similar with Minami-ke in style. And just like Minami-ke, the character designer for this anime totally failed at drawing beautiful female characters. Mitigating that weakness is the fact that the main protagonist of this anime is male. And apparently people in Hokkaido, Japan doesn’t have black hairs. Maybe it is because of the cold.

Voice Acting:-
This anime performs strongly in this department, just like Minami-ke did. Outstanding characters includes the main male protagonist and the busty 12-years loli 17-years old female high school student which I presume to be the main female protagonist. A positive aspect for this anime.

Music:-
The OST is good but not used too much in this anime. Meanwhile the two OP and ED themes in this anime are excellent. A positive aspect for this anime.


A delicious amount of violence is available in this anime, like the one that is about to happen above.

Animation/Direction:-
The animation quality in this anime is good, even in fast-paced scenes. While there are plenty of violence in  this anime, choreography is basically non-existent, in a good way. The directing is flawless and conservative, with none of the innovative presentation techniques seen in the previous anime title reviewed here. A positive aspect for this anime.

Conclusion:-
9 out of 10, three times more points than Minami-ke can ever dream of. With that score, this anime has surpassed Hakuouki as the front-runner for the first ‘Anime of the Year 2010’ title winner. Considering that the second season of Ookiku Furikabutte will be saddled by the sport-genre handicap, this anime’s only challengers for the title will be Durarara and B gata H kei. The next review will be for second installment of Ookiku Furikabutte, so that I can finish this audition with suspense until the end.


The main female protagonist, probably the sanest character in the establishment.

Shortlink: http://wp.me/prgSo-fD

Review: Angel Beats! (エンジェルビーツ)

Posted by ranpha on 6th August 2010
Posted in: anime review, STOP THAT BLURRY ANIMATION TECHNIQUE NOW!. Tagged: . 3 comments


The main protagonist of this anime.

The sixth 2010 anime I have chosen for the ‘Anime of the Year 2010’ audition is Angel Beats! The previous anime in the audition has already set the benchmark at (somewhat low) 8 out of 10, therefore the question is, can this anime (and the final four unreviewed 2010 titles listed at the right sidebar) exceeded that score and then become the first ‘Anime of the Year 2010’ title winner?


And this is the best character in this anime.

Story:-
The main male protagonist wakes up at a high school, and he finds out that he has lost all of his memories. Then a spunky female student appears and told him that he has died, and asked whether he wants to join her terrorist organization. Deciding that she is just crazy, the main protagonist walks away and encountered another female student who has white hair (read: EVIL). The main protagonist haven’t even done anything wrong but the white-haired female student suddenly stabbed him on the chest, killing him instantly. THE END.

This anime starts very slowly as you can listen to some singing, then some sob stories of the week and then some ‘disappearing’. But after a few episodes, the best character in this anime (which is not the main protagonist) takes center stage and this anime actually become more watchable. And funnier too, even if she isn’t in the scene. The anime continues with great pacing and decent story development all the way until episode 10, which focused on the said best character of this anime and resulted on her ‘disappearance’ too. At exactly that point, this anime dies with her too. And this is where my first complaint about this anime will come: the ending arc.

The ending arc is ruined by a usage of a plot device that was written in completely based on the flow of the character developments in this anime, instead of relying on the usual story developments that any other normal anime series do, such as Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. All the plots from the previous ten episodes went up in air just like that, no links whatsoever with the ending arc. This anime can be reduced to 6 episodes and I bet you won’t miss anything major.

Then there is THAT ‘revelation’ in the final 5 minutes of the last episode. Instead of becoming a very good plot twist, the revelation managed to become utterly pointless instead, just like what you can see in the same scene in the penultimate episode of Allison & Lillia. This is a huge opportunity missed by whoever wrote the story of this anime. Think about it, if the white-haired evil female student makes that revelation in the first episode when she fatally stabbed the main protagonist, this anime would have turned out very differently. And highly likely, for the better too. This anime could have become a romance title too.

My second complaint about this anime relates to its atrocious character developments. There are so many characters in this anime whose background still remains a mystery even after the final episode finished playing. Safe to say, if any given character doesn’t have their own sob story of the week, that character simply has stagnant character developments. And this actually applies to two-thirds of the members of the terrorist organization. The best character in this anime has the best sob story of the week, and has episode 10 (best episode in this anime) dedicated solely for her alone. She is basically this anime’s own version of Ibuki Fuko.


The main protagonist attracts plenty of attention from the same gender…

Character Design:-
Character designs in this anime is just average. And there are no black hairs in this anime, but considering the Bleach-like universe setting, I will just probably overlook it.

Voice Acting:-
Voice acting in this anime is great overall. Special mention should be given to the best character of this anime, the main protagonist and that hypnotic guy who has a crush on him. A positive aspect for this anime.

Music:-
This anime has great OST but none of the OP/ED themes or the inserts are any good.


…and this is another member of his same-sex harem group.

Animation/Direction:-
After two headaches-free anime reviews in the form of Nodame Cantabile Finale and Hakuouki, the bad animation technique that plagues the first three anime titles in this audition, amongst others, made its return. To make it worse, just like Arakawa Under The Bridge, this anime also uses it in normal scenes in addition in fast-paced scenes. There, I’m slapping this tag on this anime and docked one point off this anime final evaluation.

Just like Mayoi Neko Overrun!, this anime also has some problems like jerky character animations in both normal and fast-paced scenes. And just like Mayoi Neko Overrun!, this anime has very good general animations. Some of the nature animations like falling snowflakes are really good, almost on par with Makoto Shinkai’s gigs. Choreography in all of the action scenes in this anime are just average. The director employed some unorthodox camera works especially during the terrorist organization’s mission, which is nice. That’s the only good thing he/she has done though.


The main protagonist spends a lot of time together with his captive harem members…

Conclusion:-
6 out of 10. Hakuouki managed to keep its front-runner status for the ‘Anime of the Year 2010’ title. Now it is increasingly likely that the first winner of the title will not be doing so with a perfect score. Now there are only four anime titles left in this audition: Ookiku Furikabutte S2, Durarara, Working and B gata H kei. Which one will come next? You will only get the answer in the next entry.


…but the competition for the main protagonist's attention do get a little bit heated sometimes.

Shortlink: http://wp.me/prgSo-ft

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