Review: The Sky Crawlers (スカイ・クロラ)

Posted by ranpha on 28th October 2009
Posted in: anime movies, anime review. Tagged: . 3 comments


The main male protagonist.

It has been quite some time since I last watched an anime movie, so voila, here is a review of one, titled The Sky Crawlers. Directed by the director of Ghost in the Shell series and catered towards an audience who enjoyed the Dogfights series in the History Channel, can this 2008 movie challenge Wolf and Spice for the ‘Anime of the Year 2008’ title?


The main male protagonist in daylight.

Story:-
In an alternate version of our world, apparently the field of genetic engineering has advanced so much; there are young boys and girls will never age (and can be revived too in the form of another clone if they died). The immortals then was put into a never-ending war which was broadcasted worldwide, kind of like Starship Operators.

The story in this movie is good but not great, but what this anime excels at is the storytelling. The story flows in robot-like precision with good pacing as the viewers gets to know the movie’s world setting, the characters themselves, who are the immortals really are etc. in between the sporadic air battles actions. The vague relationship between the main protagonist and his superior is also another interesting story arc, which will keep you in suspense whether he will get into her pants or not. Hmm… looking back at this movie, that arc is probably the central theme of this anime after all. Or else you should explain the lack of dogfight actions in this movie that should have more of them.

Character developments in this movie is good, at least for the two main protagonists. Focusing only on the two protagonists is a good strategy because of the limited airtime, but there are no character(s) here that I think are outstanding in this movie. The ending is good, although somewhat predictable in its outcome.


The main male protagonist's pet dog.

Character Design:-
The character design in this movie reminds me of the designs in Naruto after the time-jump. In fact, when the main male protagonist first appeared, the first thought that comes to my mind is how similar the main male protagonist is with Sasuke. Another glaring similarity that this movie shares with Naruto is the incapability of the character designer of creating beautiful female characters, but maybe the directors wants things to be that way anyway. Black hairs are uncommon here in this fictional setting of Europe’s 19th century. The designs of the airplanes in this movie are decent too.


And here is the dog, taking a dump on a pristine green lawn.

Voice Acting:-
The voice acting in this movie is great, with the main male protagonist being the best amongst the small cast. Spoken English in this anime is much better than the crap you can hear in Koukaku no Regios. Definitely a positive point for this anime.


Here is the dog's reaction when he was chewed out for that filthy act.

Music:-
This movie has good OST, but not so for the ending theme.


As the punishment for that filthy act, the dog and his master has to stand on the runway so that they can repent and atone for their sins.

Animation/Direction:-
The animation quality in this movie is excellent, even in fast-paced scenes. Just like Princess Lover!, this movie also used plenty of high-quality pretty backgrounds. And just like that anime, the backgrounds are not animated. Mamoru Oshii should take a leaf out of Makoto Shinkai’s playbook in his future movies. There are plenty of CGIs in this movie, and they integrates seamlessly with the main 2D animation. Choreography is excellent, but as a casual watcher of History Channel's Dogfights, I knew many of the maneuvers executed in this movie are beyond the boundary of law of physics. The director has done a fine job in this anime, except for the static background issue.


The dog is not impressed with his master's littering ways though.

Conclusion:-
8 out of 10. A good score, but honestly speaking, an anime movie has to be extremely good for it to capture an ‘Anime of the Year’ title. At least, it has to achieve legendary status to do so, which is probably only achievable by directors like Michael Bey Hayao Miyazaki. Therefore I declare that Wolf and Spice is still the best 2008 for the foreseeable future.


Regardless of the shenanigans of the master and his dog, the fact that this movie is a very gorgeous title should not be forgotten.

Review: Shangri-La (シャングリ・ラ)

Posted by ranpha on 27th October 2009
Posted in: anime review. Tagged: . Leave a Comment


The main protagonist in this anime, and just like the anime itself, she not in a very good shape.

The 11th review in this month is another 2009 anime titled Shangri-La I mentioned not so long ago. This anime is much better than the previously reviewed 2009 anime Princess Lover!, but not good enough to depose the wolf-girl part 2 off her throne. BTW, I actually have noticed that there is an anime version of the Korean drama Winter Sonata for this year’s fall season. If that anime is just as good as the drama version, the wolf-girl will have a lot to worry about. But then again, Japan’s tendencies to butcher the original work that an anime is based upon is quite disturbingly common too.


Also one of the main protagonist in this anime, she is the best character in this series.

Story:-
In the future where a cap-and-trade system is actually implemented in a world-wide effort to stem global warming (those people in that era apparently doesn’t learn the failure of that system in European Union implemented by the Kyoto Protocol), the people of Kyoto Tokyo has to live in a huge tower called Atlas which was built as a replacement for the destroyed capital. Many of them are still living on the surface though but the forest is slowly taking over the remaining habitable cities on the surface. Meanwhile, the pink-haired protagonist is a de-facto leader of a rebel group that is opposed to the government’s policies and their job is primarily to blow things up anywhere they can, while the blonde-haired protagonist is a George Soros-wannabe who is hell-bent on making plenty of money of the carbon trading system even if it means the world’s economy will be wrecked. Better not say anything bad about the white-haired protagonist or else she will turn me into a pile of dead meat ahahahahaha!

This anime has a somewhat complex but still decent storyline, where you will be able to see several independent characters involved in their own story arcs that will then form the essence of this anime. The story was backed with great pacing and somewhat fluid plot development too, but this anime has glaring problems with scene transitions. This problem is even more apparent than the one exhibited in another Gonzo (that produced this title) anime titled Blassreiter. It become worse as the anime nears the end (see the transition between episode 21 and 22 to understand what I am saying) and this also affect the ending.

The ending is just like the one in Tears to Tiara; lame, ridiculously predictable (even more so in this anime) and unoriginal. As a coup de grâce to the ending, the pink-haired protagonist also spouts the same cliché-laden lines like the one that Tears to Tiara protagonist also used! Well, not the exact same wording, but the gist in both set of dialogues is depressingly very similar. I really fear for the future on Japan’s animation industry if the stakeholders cannot even ensure that each anime has their own unique bad endings. Well, at least this anime doesn’t have an ending scene that compares to Tears to Tiara’s lame rip-off of Lord of the Rings coronation scene.

Character development in this anime is way better than Tears to Tiara’s. The three pink/blonde/white-haired main protagonists in this anime are prominent in this aspect, with the blonde-hair carbon speculator and her virtual less-competent buddy being the best characters in this anime. This anime really has bad luck being reviewed after I have watched Tears to Tiara, or else it is highly unlikely I will savage the ending this much.


The face of the best character in this anime when her investments gone haywire.

Character Design:-
If there is anything Tears to Tiara excels compared to this anime, that would be character designs. Only the white-haired protagonist’s character design can be compared favorably to the ones in Tears to Tiara. But then again, character designs in this anime has seinen undertones within them unlike Tears to Tiara fantasy-like shounen designs.


Her constant creepy screaming in this anime is probably one of the best voice acting gigs in this anime.

Voice Acting:-
Voice acting in this anime is patchy, but better than Tears to Tiara’s. The pink-haired main protagonist is average, the white-haired protagonist fared a little better but the blonde-haired protagonist is better than them by a long distance. A honorable mention should be given to Hiruko-sama too, especially for her horrifying but addicting creepy screams. A positive point for this anime.

Music:-
The OST in this anime is good, but only the insert they used as ending theme for episode 20 is of any good.


Despite low airtime, this virtual character is actually a very interesting persona.

Animation/Direction:-
The quality of the animation in this anime is excellent, even in fast-paced scenes. Choreography in action scenes are great too, with some outrageous and unbelievable action stunts. The directing is badly affected by the scene transition problems mentioned above, and of course, the ending too.

Conclusion:-
6 out of 10. That’s it for this anime, nowhere near of being able to challenge Wolf and Spice 2 for the ‘Anime of the Year 2009’ title.


Contrary to what he implies, this anime is not really that good at the end.

Review: Princess Lover! (プリンセスラバー！)

Posted by ranpha on 23rd October 2009
Posted in: anime review. Tagged: . 1 comment


The main protagonist may have a harem filled with beautiful girls, but deep inside his heart he actually swings the other way.

My review of Princess Lover! today would be my 10th review for this month alone, and I should be able to squeeze another couple of titles before this month is over. Princess Lover! is the newest 2009 anime I have watched, therefore it will have its chance to scare Wolf and Spice 2 off the ‘Anime of the Year 2009’ throne before the wolf-girl trashes its ass and dumped the carcass on the loser heap that also contained the remains of Koukaku no Regios, Tears to Tiara, K-On and Saki.


The backgrounds are nice, but would have been better if they are animated.

Story:-
Our main protagonist loses his parents in an ‘accident’, therefore he has to live with his rich grandfather. His grandfather then made him his successor, and then ships the protagonist into an elite school for the rich and famous. At that school, he then amassed some beautiful girls for his harem, before the story nose-dived in the second half of the anime.

Just like K-On, the story in this anime is crap. Just like K-On, this anime actually started well before tanking in the second half. In fact, the deterioration of the storyline quality in this anime is even worse than K-On; the last three episodes of this anime is painful to watch because the ending is so awful. Of course, just like K-On, this anime has good story development and pacing despite the crap storyline. Actually I want to slap the romance genre tag on this anime but I am truly a very kind man to not do that. You will see why when you reach the conclusion of this review. There are numerous fan service in this anime, but they are too one-dimensional unlike the ones you can see in Saki.

Unlike K-On, this anime doesn’t have a great character like Hirasawa Yui. With this fact, you may have realized that this anime will score less than K-On has. Unlike K-On, this anime has far worse character development strategies. This really applies to that social club president and also the main protagonist personal maid. I was surprised when the former declared that she has fallen in love with the main protagonist, because I haven’t seen any events that can be described as the turning point for her character to change from hate to love. Which one is it? Is it the scene where the two has dinner and the main  protagonist allows her to sell merchandise in his department store? Is it the scene before that dinner where they were interviewed? Is it the hot spring vacation? Or maybe all the above? IMO, even if all three events I have mentioned combined to become the catalyst for her character development, I don’t think they (those events) has enough impact that will justify the character change. For example, those three events combined doesn’t even have half the impact that the scene where the main protagonist saves the princess from the gangsters has.

As for the personal maid, it seems that she has already fallen in love with him by the time the hot spring vacation episode was aired. The number of any discernable turning point events (or positive flags as they called it in dating simulation games – which where this anime is adapted from) that will explain that development is zero. It is possible that the maid likes him from the start due to her position. But if that was true, it is safe to say that her character development is virtually stagnating (just like the main protagonist of Tears to Tiara).


Quoted For Truth.

Character Design:-
Just as you expect from an adaptation of a dating simulation, the characters in this anime basically has hairs that is anything but black (except the main protagonist and the maid), big boobs, long legs and impossible body shapes. This is not a bad thing actually.

Voice Acting:-
The voice acting in this anime is average and not very impressive, just like K-On. But unlike K-On, there are no outstanding characters in this anime that has good voice acting performance.

Music:-
This anime has good OST and ED theme, but not so for the OP theme.


The director tends to use camera angles that depicts people in horizontal position, for reasons inexplicable to me.

Animation and Direction:-
The animation quality in this anime is largely great, even in fast-paced scenes. In some scenes, the animation is not as fluid as it can be though. I’ve noticed that this anime tends to use very high quality backgrounds, kind of like what Makoto Shinkai does in his movies. It would have been nice though if the animation studio also animate those backgrounds, because seeing the main protagonist walking with his woman in a forest where the tree’s leafs are static (as if there are no winds) is very creepy. This anime also has some CGI animations, which are fluid and actually integrates seamlessly with the 2D animation. The directing is just average in general, for all the reasons outlined in the story section, plus usage of some inconvenient camera angles as shown in the screenshot above.

Conclusion:-
4 out of 10. The worst anime I have watched for quite some time. Still better than Macross 7 though.


A parody of an Apple computer, using carrot picture. The one in Doujin Work uses banana picture instead.

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