Review: Umineko no Naku Koro ni (うみねこのなく頃に)

Posted by ranpha on 23rd March 2010
Posted in: anime review. Tagged: , . 2 comments


The spirited main male protagonist and one of the best characters in this series.

This review of Umineko no Naku Koro ni marks the beginning of an avalanche of, well, more anime reviews that will come in quick succession. It has been quite some time since I last done this,and this should be a good thing for this blog that needs more new contents. Umineko no Naku Koro ni is a 2009 title, therefore it will compete with Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei for the ‘Anime of the Year 2009’ title. Read on to see whether this anime managed to do so or not.


And this is the uncultured main female antagonist, also one of the best characters in this series.

Story:-
The head of the wealthy Ushiromiya clan finds out that he has only 3 months to live, therefore he arranged for a family meeting to select a new successor to be held at his private mansion located on a private island, far-far away from civilization. All of his sons and daughters attended the family gathering, and so are nearly all of his grandsons and granddaughters. In the first night, a typhoon comes, cutting all communication lines to the mainland. Then, the brutal murders started… Written by the same people who wrote the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni series (referenced sometimes in this anime), the story is eerily similar to any of the homicide cases in Kindaichi Shonen no Jikembo that happened in similar settings (quite a few of them). I compared this anime to the Kindaichi series rather than the likes of Meitantei Conan because the main male protagonist is also similar to the protagonist in Kindaichi series. Just like the latter, the former will have to face a formidable foe a.k.a. the main female antagonist who is a high-ranking witch. The main male protagonist here doesn’t have even a quarter of Hajime Kindaichi’s abilities though, or else he would have made short work out of the witch. The witch is also not the brightest criminal ever unlike the cunning and cruel magician in the Kindaichi series, or else she would have reached Golden Land in less than 13 episodes.


The battle of wits between these two is what this anime is all about.

Just like the Higurashi series, the anime (based from a visual novel just like Higurashi is) is divided into several arcs. This anime has 4 of them, and as of now, the game is now in its 6th arc. So it is almost certain that there will be a second season at least. The first arc introduced the story, the island setting and almost all the characters that matters (more of this later). The second half of the last episode of this arc is very important, because there is one easily missed important fact about the nature of the witch that will be revealed to you. The second arc is where the battle between the two main protagonists started, and this arc concentrates mainly on character developments for many of Ushiromiya family members. In the 3rd arc, the witch concocts an elaborate offensive move with the help of her magical powers which caught the main protagonist unaware until far too late, but he was rescued by a new character that comes out from nowhere. This is where my first complaint about this anime come, which is the introduction of an important character (the character is the main male protagonist little sister) far too late into the series, without any hints or warning whatsoever. Some of you may argue that the new character is similar to Hanyuu a.k.a. Oyashiro-sama in the Higurashi series, but in her case there are plenty of hints about her existence even from that series’ first arc. In this anime, the first two arcs doesn’t even have a hint about her, and there is only one off-hand mention of her by the main male protagonist in the third arc.


A familiar remark I have read in a certain Japanese manga…

My second complaint is, because of her dramatic entry into the storyline, a significant chunk of the 4th arc were spent on the character introduction and development of one single character (read: 2 consecutive flashback/flashforward episodes, plus many more of them after that in the 8-episode 4th arc). This took the focus away from the main male protagonist, and to a lesser extent, the main female antagonist. With these two characters out of the spotlight, the steam is taken out of this arc. The inconclusive yet dramatic showdown between these two main characters in the second half of the last episode doesn’t manage to salvage the 4th arc from the mire it found itself in. Well, the ending is set up nicely for a second season, that’s for sure. Character developments in this series is uneven, and happened depends on what arc is playing. There are plenty of them in the 2nd arc, while, due to the nature of the plot, none of them happened in the 3rd arc. The 4th arc concentrates on the newly minted character and to a lesser extent, another two of the Ushiromiya family members. The best characters in the series is definitely the two main characters, and there is plenty of room for their (and others too) developments in the next season, which in my estimation, should happen in 2012 at the earliest (assuming of course, if there are 8 arcs in the whole game).


A great insight of the Japanese legal system.

Character Design:-
Just like in the Higurashi series, character designs in this anime will be home in any dating simulation from the Land of Rising Sun. Big boobs and big eyes? Hell yeah! Black hair? Hell no. How about blonde hairs? Plenty of them here. Definitely a positive point for this anime.


The child beater of the Ushiromiya family…

Voice Acting:-
Voice acting in this is good overall. The two main protagonists are outstanding, and so are Eva and Maria Ushiromiya. Also a positive point for this anime.


…doing what she does best.

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


Her reason for doing so is understandable though. Even I would do that if I were her.

Animation/Direction:-
The quality of the animation in this anime is flawless, even in fast-paced scenes. Choreography is average though. The directing is definitely better than the one seen in my previously reviewed anime Asura Cryin’, but not that good either.


Just one of the discourses between the two main protagonists.

Conclusion:-
8 out of 10. Due to the nature of the story, there is still plenty of room for improvement. Not good enough to dislodge Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei from the ‘Anime of the Year 2009’ throne though. The next anime reviewed here will be either Minami-ke or Toaru Majutsu no Index. Which one will come next, that will have to wait until the next entry.


Witty lines like this one is one of the reason why the main male protagonist is one of the best characters in this series.

Shortlink: http://wp.me/prgSo-c0


Damn you Chiaki Kon! Damn you!


Adults do say the darndest things.

Review: Asura Cryin’ S1 and S2 (アスラクライン & アスラクライン2)

Posted by ranpha on 28th February 2010
Posted in: anime review. Tagged: . Leave a Comment


The main protagonist.

Since my last review was published about a month ago, many changes has been done on this blog. Two most notable changes are the theme switch and the change of URL to a shorter one. All your bookmarks etc will still work because of the magic of mod_rewrite. To commemorate this occasion, what else is better than a brand new spanking review of the two seasons of Asura Cryin’ (spelled like it is in ANN). Both were aired last year, therefore our newly-anointed ‘Anime of the Year 2009’ winner Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei will have its first challenge!

Story:-
Our main male protagonist was haunted by a ghost of a pesky girl that harassed him every second of his life. Then his life make a turn for the worse when his brother sends him a mysterious steel suitcase that is wanted by many shady organizations. He was then attacked by a demon who also wanted the said suitcase, and after barely escaping alive, his rented house was then raided by those shady organizations. Hounded by a ghost, chased by a demon who will stop at nothing to get the suitcase and also by the organizations with the same aim; our hero finally snapped, called out the dark mecha from inside the suitcase and started to have his revenge!

Strictly speaking, the story in this series is typical of its shounen genre. Not the pinnacle of storywriting, but not too bad either. In the first season this series has done well when it comes to the progression of the story and pacing, although character developments are not done properly. Then the ending of the first season comes, setting up a link for the second season quite nicely. The second season then comes, and this series promptly started to fall apart.

The first thing I do when I finished watching this series is to check whether the director has changed for the second season. The answer is no, therefore I checked the director’s CV to see whether he has directed any other anime titles reviewed here in the past. One entry comes up; Inukami, in which I commented that he has done a very good job. He also directed Sekirei which is in my queue, of which I have only planned to watch after the second season was aired and the DVD comes out. This doesn’t explain one of the biggest directorial cock-ups since Armitage III though.

Right after the second season started, the director seems to feel that suspense is a bad thing and started to show all his cards a.k.a. telling the startled audience (that would be me at least) the key elements of the storyline. This alone make the series very predictable, allowing me to see how the ending will be 10 episodes from the end (more to come about this later). As the director does this in the first few episodes of the second season, this started to affect the pacing of the anime too, where the pacing can become suddenly fast in key scenes. With this, parts of the anime that is important storywise can be missed if you did not concentrate enough when watching the early parts of the second season.

In the second season, I also feels that the presentation of the storyline has become worse in the second season. It is kinda like what I have said in my review of Gosyusho-sama Ninomiya-kun. This is evident mostly on the plot twists that happened more frequently on second season than in the first. A good example is the scene where the main male protagonist’s brother finally appeared  and spilled the beans (related to what I have said above); such a very important event doesn’t have any air of urgency when I watched it happening. Even with the fact that that scene heralds the time when the series enters a new phase, it feels that the said scene is no more important than, let say, the episode where the character roster went to a hot spring bath.

Another complaint of mine has to do with some serious scene transition problems throughout the series. This weakness also happened in the first season, but the worst case of this problem happened during the ending of this anime:-

Near the end of the penultimate episode….

Antagonist: I want the ! (said artifact is secure with the protagonist's team) I want to create A NEW WORLD!
Protagonist: I will not give it to you bla bla bla…. (as the protagonist spits out some self-righteous clichéd drivel)
Me: (cut down another point from the final evaluation).
Antagonist: So we see things differently…. (start ordering his mecha to attack)
Protagonist: WARGHHHHHH (his mecha joins the fray)

Ending credits rolls

Me: (Open up last episode in MPC-HC)

Final episode starts with a big explosion from the clash between two big bad-ass mechas. From the aftermath, comes out the antagonist, with in his hand!

Protagonist: Eh? (surprised seeing the taken away just like that).
Me: EHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH?
Antagonist: You're unlucky! (imagine him saying that the way that enchanter in Torchlight does)
Me: (opening Mozilla Firefox to book a ticket to Japan so that I CAN GO POSTAL ON THE DIRECTOR'S ASS).

Attention Japan! Doing an important scene progression OFF-SCREEN is a big no-no! This make an already predictable cliché-laden ending worse. This series is really beyond help at this point.

As I say above, character development in the first season are not done properly, but at first I thought that this will be addressed in the second season. Guess what? It did not happen. Character development in this anime are done half-heartedly at best. For the characters that has plenty of airtime like the main protagonist, their development are done well but those who doesn’t get the airtime, the reverse happened. Example is the 2nd student council president, whose background are completely opaque until it was too late in the series. Her relationship with her sickly friend are not exposed until the ending, unlike the 1st student council president (best character in this series) who have far more detailed character development (has dedicated episodes for him too).


The dialogue that confirms his status as the main protagonist in an anime.

Character Design:-
The character designs in this anime is good. There are quite a number of black-haired characters in this anime too, such as the main protagonist. Definitely a positive point for this anime.

Voice Acting:-
Voice acting in this anime is decent enough, but there is no one standing out from the rest.

Music:-
The OST is good, but from all the OP/ED themes, only the 2nd ED theme from the second season is worth mentioning here.

Animation/Direction:-
The animation quality in this series is excellent all around, even in fast-paced scenes. Choreography in action scenes are ordinary though; you won’t see any good battles in here. I have said plenty of things about the directing above, but hey, from the director’s CV, do you realize that Inukami, Sekirei and this series’ stories are basically the same in essence? Hint: The keyword is ‘contract’. Is this director a one-trick pony? Then again Inukami is a very good shounen anime.

Conclusion:-
6 out of 10. Awful directing is responsible for 2 penalty points. Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei passed its first test as the reigning ‘Anime of the Year 2009’ holder.


Our evil antagonist!

Review: Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei (懺・さよなら絶望先生)

Posted by ranpha on 30th January 2010
Posted in: Anime of the Year 2009 title holder, anime review, perfect score. Tagged: , . Leave a Comment


Our main protagonist, now biting puppy ears.

Today when I want to write the review for this anime, only then I realized that my previous review for Needless is missing because of the server migration that happened nearly two weeks ago. Therefore it may seem that there are two reviews for today but actually there is only one of them. And that one would be for the third season of the Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei series, which follows the first and second season already reviewed in this blog before. Titled Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, this 2009 anime will then compete with Wolf and Spice S2 for the ‘Anime of the Year 2009’ title. Compared to the first two seasons, this newest installment in this series will throw a nice surprise to you.


Still the best character in this anime, even if her airtime was cut even further.

Story:-
In the third season, our main  male protagonist has completely stopped being suicidal (he is afraid to die even), therefore his (mostly) female students doesn’t have to restrain him from finding the hangman noose anymore. Nowadays all he does is complaining and despairing over many things, and his (mostly) female students followed suit. I somewhat miss the more flexible main protagonist that you can see in the first season.

What you can see in the second season was carried into the third season (each episodes are divided into several chunks), but with some notable changes in presentation. In the third season, there are more long story arcs that are shown to the viewers in non-consecutive chunks (usually in different episodes). This approach was pioneered in the second season but are used far more extensively in this season. But what defines the third season over its two predecessors is that there are more good plots over bad ones. If the first season has 50:50 good:bad plots ratio and with second season may have a 40:60 ratio,  the third season has vastly improved with 80:20 ratio. The third season is definitely the best installment in this series so far.


Epson/HP/Canon/Lexmark etc. business practices thoroughfully explained and mocked in this anime.

As a consequence of that, the outstanding humor in this series (which helped the first two seasons achieves 8 out of 10 scores) has also been improved. I actually think that would be impossible to do, considering my experience of watching the first two seasons in the past. But the humor in the third season does improve over the already excellent humor in season one and two, and that’s a good thing. Parodies and references to other manga/anime/games/TV shows/political events are still there, with diverse references to AKB48 all the way to Rozen Maiden (with a not-so-veiled reference to a particular politician). This anime will surely become a hit in North Korea…


Taking a swipe at North Korea is this anime favorite pastime.

Another presentation changes that are done in the third season is the pacing of this anime. The director probably have heard my complaints about the terrifying pace this series has and toned it down in this season. It is still fast compared to other anime titles, but between the three seasons, the one here is the slowest. Therefore I do not use the MPC-HC rewind combo button as often as I do in the first two seasons. This anime can still be inaccessible to live TV watchers though, therefore time-shifting is a must.


One of the best humor scenes in the entire series.

Character developments was stalled in the second season, and little has happened in the third season that indicates that anything has changed. The only things I have seen is that the main protagonist now fears death (so far apart from the suicidal him in the first season) and the so-called class monitor has permanently become a murderous person. Our mobilephone-toting non-talking best character is still there, her airtime being cut even further. There are no actual ending I have seen in the last episode, just like it does in the second season. Will there be a fully deserved 4th season? Well, we have to just wait and see then.


I hope a new season will come, not necessarily in that timeslot.

Character Design:-
My comment in the first season and second season review still applies. The best design belongs to the main male protagonist. Generally, this series are strong in this section.


One of the many parodies in this anime.

Voice Acting:-
Another traditional stronghold for this series, my comment from first and second season still applies.



HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Music:-
The OST is still great as it is in the second season, but only the OP theme is good. Cannot say the same thing for the 2 ED themes.


This show can be 'informative' too!

Animation/Direction:-
For animation quality and choreography, my comment from the review of second season still applies. The director has changed some of the presentation aspects in this anime for the better, and staying closer with the original manga probably contributes to the better stories and humor in the third season too.

Conclusion:-
Say hi to our newest ‘Anime of the Year 2009’ with its 10 out of 10 score. Simply better than Wolf and Spice S2. I never thought a despairing good-looking teacher with a huge harem he doesn’t take advantage of can take the throne from a beer-chugging wolf-girl. I do expect the third season to do well, but not THIS well.


Quoted For Truth.

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