romance genre standard

Titles under this category is a romance anime, that will always be handicapped.

Review: Myself, Yourself (マイセルフ；ユアセルフ)

Posted by ranpha on 4th May 2008

Posted in: anime review - reposted, romance genre standard. Tagged: Myself, Yourself (マイセルフ；ユアセルフ). 2 comments

The best character in this series, the ten-year old Mochida Hinako and the main male protagonist.

The final review in this wave of supposedly 2007 anime reviews (I really need to check the date for all anime that I will review next time) is the promised Myself, Yourself. Similar to kimikiss pure rouge but inferior, this anime will be judged with the higher standard all romance anime title is subjected to in this blog. This anime will not win the Anime of The Year 2007 title for sure. Getting this anime out of the way is my main priority here so that I can look at the future within more positive outlook.

The main male protagonist realized that the best character in this series is infinitely better than the moody and emo main female protagonist, thus he jumped on her to do his evil deed.

Story:-
Five childhood friends were reunited after 5 years when one of them returned from another city. Each of them has to deal with their own separate romantic stories, which will eventually merge themselves into the whole main story.

This recycled synopsis of mine lifted straight from the kimikiss pure rouge review is indicative of how similar their story can be, and also how two similar stories can has the difference that can be likened to between heavens and earth also exist.

Now let me answer the question why I dodged reviewing this anime for months. The reason for that is this anime has 5 things going against it; first being how crap the story is, second being how predictable the story is in addition of being crap, third being how the story being laden with clichés in addition of being crap and predictable, fourth being how corny the storyline is in addition of being crap, predictable and cliché-laden and the fifth one will be how this anime has one of the most annoying characters (that emo wrist-slitting main female protagonist) I have ever seen since la corda d’oro primo passo.

The third and fifth reasons are the initial main causes why I paused watching this anime right after one episode, and the others surfaced during watching the rest during the past 2 days. The first four reasons explain how nauseating this anime’s story is, a far cry compared to what I have seen in kimikiss pure rouge. But still, this anime is better than the substance-less Hayate no Gotoku anytime.

Character developments are unevenly done. Some characters received more of it than others (example: main male protagonist), and there are a few who are left behind with their characters prematurely aborted (example: the megane girl with big breasts). Blame it on the large numbers of cast in a series with low episode count. Contrary to what you may think, the annoying main female protagonist is decent despite being… well, annoying. The best character in this series is the love-struck elementary school kid which actually is a bad thing for this series. Consider this, if this anime’s filler episodes (there are a couple of them here – which she has a prominent role in) is vastly better than the main story, how does that reflect on the quality on this anime as a whole?

The ending is also one of the lamest I have seen in quite some time (more often than not, a time-jump plot device will ruin everything). It made worse when coupled with the second reason outlined above. Still, this anime has an ending that you can identify. Can you say that about Hayate no Gotoku?

The moment after the main protagonist satisfied his lust, pondering how to hide his crime.

Character Design:-
Actually a positive point of this anime, the character design in this anime was done very well. The two main characters actually have black hair, which can only be good, exemplary even. Hoping more anime will follow the examples Myself, Yourself has set.

Voice Acting:-
The voice acting in this anime is good, but no outstanding character(s) can be found here.

Music:-
The OP theme is good, but not the OST or the ED theme.

She doesn’t seem to be fazed by that horrendous incident, taking everything in her stride.

Animation/Direction:-
The animation in this 2007 anime is typical of others that have been reviewed before, and better than the previous anime reviewed which is H2O Footprints In The Sand. It is good enough in fast scenes, but no comment about choreography in this type of anime that did not need it. The directing is good, at least in technical aspects like camera and scene control but not the aspects of the storyline.

Note to self: If a release is labeled BakaWolf or m.3.3.w., I might as well get the regular non-upscaled version and do the upscaling myself. Still, this is slightly better than H2O Footprints In The Sand though.

A cat is waiting for…

Conclusion:-
4 out of 10. One of the worst anime reviewed here yet, down there with Hani Hani: Operation Sanctuary (but still lightly better than Hayate no Gotoku). I’m glad that I’m able to get this out of the way. I do not know what to watch next and when, so just wait breathlessly for the next one. From all the anime I watched in this wave of 2007 anime reviews, Kaiji is definitely the best and Hayate no Gotoku really disappoints me. Hayate no Gotoku is one year wasted in high hopes of watching a good shounen anime.

…his dinner to be served.

Review: 5 Centimetres per Second (秒速5センチメートル)

Posted by ranpha on 1st May 2008

Posted in: anime movies, anime review - reposted, romance genre standard. Tagged: 5 Centimetres per Second (秒速5センチメートル), Makoto Shinkai. Leave a Comment

The promotion picture that you can also see at the ANN page for this movie.

5 Centimeters Per Second makes up the 6^th anime reviewed in this wave of 2007 anime reviews. Done by Makoto Shinkai who also done The Place Promised in Our Early Days, this high-definition rip is a romance (although an unorthodox one) thus will be judged with the same standard as Clannad.

Spectacular scenery, the hallmarks of Makoto Shinkai is sure to be found here.

Story:-
Two childhood friends were separated from each other as their parents relocated to different places due to their jobs. They wrote letters to each other at first, but as time goes on, the frequency of their exchange faded, and the focus then switched to the male protagonist as he lived the coming years through high-school until he reached adulthood.

Compared to The Place Promised in Our Early Days, which is actually the first Makoto Shinkai’s work I have seen, the story in this movie is so much better. This movie excels in every department; an interesting storyline, more visible character developments (no outstanding characters though), faster and more linear presentation and a good ending too. There does not seem to be any weakness I can write about for this movie, so everything is fine and dandy. This movie is a must watch if you are a romantic bunch, and validates the hype I have heard about Makoto Shinkai.

High details even in mundane places like convenience stores.

Character Design:-
Just like The Place Promised in Our Early Days, the character design is the one of the realistic type and non-stereotypical ones. Yet again, brown is the new black. Oh well, there is nothing more I can say in this matter.

All hairs are brown in this version of Japan. I’m pretty damn sure than real-life Japan has black hairs.

Voice acting:-
This is where this movie loses out to The Place Promised in Our Early Days, because voice acting in this movie is just about decent. It wasn’t bad, but certainly inferior.

Another one of those detailed and beautiful sceneries.

Music:-
This anime has good OST, although the ending is a little bit meh.

The rain effects in this movie is inferior to what you can see in The Place Promised in Our Early Days.

Animation/Direction:-
The animation in this movie is spectacular as ever, and the overuse of beautiful sceneries the way The Place Promised in Our Early Days did has been eliminated. But then again, I felt that the quality of the artworks and special effects in this movie is probably not as good as the one in The Place Promised in Our Early Days. See the screenshot’s caption to see what I mean.

Meanwhile, the directing (by Makoto Shinkai himself) is a vast improvement than his gig in The Place Promised in Our Early Days. The plot flows freely, better usage of camera angles and choices/presentations of scenes, especially the one at the end shows more maturity in the part of the director. Probably still not in the class of the one who directed Steamboy though.

The snowing effect is comparable though.

Conclusion:-
9 out of 10. A great improvement compared to The Place Promised in Our Early Days. The next anime should be H2O – footprints in the sand, as this wave of 2007 anime review is nearing its end.

I want to get my hand on this Windows Vasta OS. If I can’t, Windows KP will also suffice.

Review: Clannad (クラナド)

Posted by ranpha on 29th April 2008

Posted in: anime review - reposted, romance genre standard. Tagged: Clannad, Clannad (クラナド). Leave a Comment

The main male protagonist Okazaki Tomoya and the best character in this anime, the starfish freak Ibuki Fuko.

The fifth anime in this wave of 2007 anime reviews is Clannad, as promised. This is another anime based on those dating simulations, brought to you by those who make the excellent AIR series. The difference between Clannad and AIR is that Clannad is a romance anime, thus automatically will be saddled with the higher standard that I imposed on all romance genre titles.

Fuko-chan is making fun out of the main character’s ignorance.

Story:-
Our high-school delinquent Okazaki Tomoya hates his school and hates his father, and went through the motions of his life alongside his sidekick, Sunohara Youhei. But one day, as he is going late to the school, he meets Furukawa Nagisa who is also late just like him…

For those who did not see this anime yet, the anime is divided into several story arcs, and this information is important for the context of this mini-review. The first arc which deals with the Ibuki Fuko is the longest, and also the best of them all. In fact, I started to wonder whether Clannad will get a perfect score despite the handicap (which will automatically dethrone Nodame Cantabile off its perch) if the anime continues, but unfortunately the subsequent arcs is nowhere as good as the first one.

It is not to say that the rest of the story arcs did not have good stories behind them, it is just that the first arc is just a magnificent masterpiece; it makes the others look so ordinary. And this is one of the weaknesses of this anime, which will be the unbalanced storyline quality. Another weakness of this anime that has something to do with the story arcs formation in this anime is that they do not merge smoothly enough to make a whole complete package. This scene-transition problem also happened to AIR, and I wonder if this problem is inherent in anime based on dating games.

I also have issues about the storyline of the arc about the genius girl, which requires a significantly higher degree of suspension-of-belief. There are some facts in that arc that is simply hard to believe, for example how the main protagonist can forget a major event like the fire in the genius girl’s house just like that. Considering the context of the anime up to that time, this is simply hard to believe, and the main protagonist has an unusually hard time to remember it back. The explanations given for his ‘amnesia’ is not satisfactory and ruined the arc for me.

But in general, despite of issues mentioned above, this anime has a good story as a whole, even better than the one in AIR although it would have been better if the arcs after the Ibuki Fuko’s can match its (first arc) brilliance. The ending is also very well done, and I wonder how this anime can be extended in the confirmed second season. Which I will definitely watch.

Yet another weakness that has something to do with the story arcs of this anime is the ‘weird’ character development strategies this anime seems to employ. This mainly applies to Furukawa Nagisa, but I think some other characters like Sunohara Youhei is also affected by this to a lesser extent. This weakness caused Furukawa Nagisa to look like different characters depending on what story arc is currently playing. For the rest of the characters, their development is rather mixed, with the main male protagonist and Ibuki Fuko being the best amongst them while many other characters having minimal development especially those who are not main characters of an arc.

She also points out one of the main issues that infested many titles in Japanese anime.

Character Design:-
Coming straight out of a typical H-game. As usual, black is an alien color for hairs, and the obsession with purple hairs is simply unhealthy. Stereotypes are the rage here with big eyes, big boobies and impossible body shapes.

The face that launched a thousand Awws.

Voice acting:-
Overall, voice acting in this anime is just average at best, with no one being better than the rest.

Music:-
This anime has good OST, and the ED theme is excellent. Nothing can be said about the OP theme though.

No matter how many times she does it, it never gets boring.

Animation/Direction:-
A positive point of this anime, the animation quality in this anime is top notch, even in the little fast-paced scenes this anime has. Due to the nature of this anime, there will be no comment about the choreography, although the fight scenes are nothing to write about. The directing is generally good, and I will forgive about the story imbalance problem, but I will not overlook the problems with the genius girl arc.

She is totally awesome even when bashing other people’s head.

Conclusion:-
8 out of 10 (remember the handicap that AIR does not have). If the anime finished at episode 9, Clannad would have taken home the Anime of The Year 2007 title from Nodame Cantabile. Alas, the next 14 episodes ensure that that will not happen. The next anime in the pipeline is 5 Centimeters per Second, in the glory of HD.

She makes the first story arc magnificent in this first place, it makes me wanting to get the game just to pair her up with the main protagonist.