My collection of short anime reviews

Review: Claymore (クレイモア)

Posted by ranpha on 13th October 2007

Posted in: anime review - reposted. Tagged: Claymore (クレイモア). Leave a Comment

One of the DBZ-esque powerup sequences you will see a lot in this anime.

My third review of a 2007 anime, this one is for Claymore, and read on whether this one can usurp Nodame Cantabile’s provisional position as my Anime of the Year 2007. Do you see the background image of this semi-transparent blog? That comes from the manga version of this anime.

Story:-
Disclaimer: I have read the manga before watching the anime.

Clare (no last name hahahaha) is a Claymore-wearing warrior whose job is to save townsfolk from demons in a medieval world setting in behalf of a mysterious organization. Sound innocent enough in a typical shounen anime setting, but she actually is searching for the killer of her benefactor that died a few years back.

The synopsis may seems lacking, but this anime have plenty of substance in it. She is involved in various situations while trying to find the object of her revenge, from doing covert operation in a hostile land to evading being killed by her own employer. She eventually find the one she wants to kill, but Clare let her away in anticipation of a second season.

This leads to my main complaint of this series. If a second season is in the planning, why the ending part of the anime is twisted heavily from the original storyline found in the manga? It would have been much better if the anime ends just the way the first part of the manga ends and that will build up anticipation for the second season. There is not even an original story at the ending, instead, the Northern Land arc (the ending of the first part manga storyline before the time jump) is completely butchered with major twists and a battle (and reunion) that should never have happened. If there are no plans for a second season, which is understandable because of the pacing of the manga releases, the villain should have been killed at the end. At it now stands, the anime series has no closure at all (a telltale of a impending second season) with almost no chance at all to follow the manga.

That issue above is the main reason why Nodame Cantabile will stay as my Anime of the Year 2007 winner, for now. Just like Claymore, Nodame Cantabile ends up (quite hurriedly) at the first part of the manga storyline, but the story remains faithful to the manga (despite some omissions) until to the end. Claymore is actually more faithful to the manga version compared to Nodame Cantabile, with no fillers at all, but the disastrous alteration of the last story arc ruins everything.

There are plenty of boy-love here….

Character Design:-
The main weakness of the manga version is that plenty of the characters looks way too similar. You have to reread some parts of the manga just to make out who is who. Even worse when it comes to action scenes, which this manga has a lot. This is why the anime is so refreshing because the problem that plagued the manga did not appear here. The design is not exactly that good but the originals found in the manga has been improved to help identification. Maybe it is the colours….

…and some girl-with-girl actions too.

Voice acting:-
Just like Initial D, there are plenty of heavyweights in this anime. From Clare who is voiced by Houko Kuwashima up to Ayako Kawasumi who has only a few lines in the anime, voice acting in this anime are superb all around. Almost on par with Nodame Cantabile, and definitely a positive for this anime.

Ok, someone should be arrested for this!

Music:-
Unfortunately, this section is definitely inferior to Nodame Cantabile. While the OST and ED theme are decent, the OP is not.

Animation/Direction:-
Another major plus of the anime, and the only part that exceeds Nodame Cantabile (mainly because Nodame Cantabile does not have action scenes). The animation is fluid even in the fast scenes. And the choreography of the swordplay scenes is something else, especially between Claymore warriors. Those swordplays are the ones that you can only see from Fung Wan and the likes of it. Even the manga did not really depicts the intensity of the actions portrayed in the anime. Claymore is definitely one of the best sword-play anime I have seen, better than Rurouni Kenshin that is too technical or Samurai Deeper Kyo (which incidentally has the same problem as Claymore, but at least it has a closure).

The directing can’t have it easier, all the director do is to faithfully follow the superb manga storyline, up until the end. He/she can’t go against the producers anyway….

Conclusion:-
Despite the disastrous ending, I will still give this anime 9 out of 10. 1 point docked because of the ending. Claymore would have probably get a chance of getting the award if it follows the manga storyline to the end. Until today, I still did not get it why the Northern Land arc is twisted like that.

Hey you mam at the right. Just let your daughter see another fine young thing carry a head around town!

Review: Initial D (頭文字〈イニシャル〉D)

Posted by ranpha on 10th October 2007

Posted in: anime review - reposted. Tagged: Initial D (series), Initial D (頭文字〈イニシャル〉D), Initial D: Fourth Stage (頭文字〈イニシャル〉D FOURTH STAGE), Initial D: Second Stage (頭文字〈イニシャル〉D SECOND STAGE), Initial D: Third Stage (頭文字〈イニシャル〉D THIRD STAGE). Leave a Comment

Put the sponsors’ logos here.

This is the review of all 4 stages of the Initial D anime, which is mainly the reason why it takes so long for me to watch. read on if you wanna know whether you should waste some considerable time watching this series. This review will encompass all 4 stages into one short review, the trademark of this blog.

Story:-
Takumi Fujiwara is a daydreaming high school student who broke the traffic law everyday by delivering tofu for his father on a Toyota Sprinter AE86 Trueno, without a license and also no plate number, on Mount Akina’s downhill. Nevertheless, he also drives way faster than the law allowed, with the speed exceeding 100km/h on a 40km/h zone. Takumi still bothered to wear the seat-belt though, which I think is ironic because of his VERY DANGEROUS way of driving. He was then followed by others who also broke the same laws, leaving his best friend above (picture) in the dust.

The subsequent seasons sees some of the drivers repented and started to drive with number plates on, and Takumi also gets his license. Still, they still flout the traffic law by driving way above the speed limit. And I have never seen a single policeman or traffic police chasing after those lawbreakers featured prominently in this series.

Well, that’s what the story is all about, which is about drivers driving fast. The story is decent, but I tell you, all that is important here is the street racing with plenty of that drifting thingy. The first 2 stages or so, the series tried to have some sense of storyline but the producers eventually become wiser and just shove the storyline for more and more racing by the time of the 4th stage. And yeah, the 4th stage is the best stage from all the stages here. Hahahaha.

Sudo Kyoichi is more observant of the traffic law compared to our gas-attendant hero. At least he has number plates.

Character Design:-
Being a classic from the last century, the character design reflects the trend of that era. And the author Shuuichi Shigeno suffers the same flaw Naruto author did, he does not know how to draw beautiful female characters. Definitely not the main point of the series.

Voice acting:-
Unlike the character design, voice acting here is excellent, at least for the main recurring characters. There are plenty of heavyweight here such as Miki Shinichiro, Tomokazu Seki and Wataru Takagi, even Ayako ‘Nodame’ Kawasumi who play a cameo as the hero’s love interest.

Music:-
Another great point of the series. The OST is decent but with plenty of insert songs of the dance variety. Meanwhile, there plenty of good themes; they are the 1st stage first and second OP themes, also the first ED theme; third stage OP theme; and all themes in the 4th stage. Only 2nd stage has fully disappointing themes. Those insert songs really gets you in the mood, especially in the midst of a race when an overtaking move is performed.

The Lan-Evo may be going down, but at least the vehicle has a plate number.

Animation/Direction:-
The animation is decent but the integration of the 2D and CGI scenes is not smooth especially in the first 2 seasons. It does improve as the show goes on. The directing is superb, with all those action scenes, backed up with great camera shots and also the insert songs. One of my favorite scenes is when Shingo Shouji tried to crash onto Takumi but failed. The failure is presented in slow motion with Rage Your Dream insert song start playing in the background. I love such scenes very much!

Conclusion:-
9 out of 10. Definitely a must watch if you are an automobile fan. But even if you don’t, this is still a good series to watch.

Our hero eventually repents and put on a plate number on his 86 Trueno.

Review: Planetes (プラネテス)

Posted by ranpha on 18th September 2007

Posted in: anime review - reposted. Tagged: Planetes (プラネテス). Leave a Comment

English in Japan is still poor even in the future where space exploration is common. Just like mine.

This is a review of another random anime downloaded from KAA, Planetes. The next review after this will be even older than this one. Watch this space.

Story:-
Set up in the futuristic space age, a fresh graduate joins a crackpot team that specialized in collecting space debris, and an epic story that combined the genres of humour, romance, slice of life etc as the crew members deals with real-life issues such as environmental damage, deepening divide between rich and poor, terrorism, biomedical ethics and more. It is almost like the lesser version of another space opera I reviewed earlier, Legend of Galactic Heroes.

The story quality is nowhere near the one Legend of Galactic Heroes has, but other factors helped in making the anime shine. For example, the character development for main members of the team are done very well. The flow of the story is helped greatly by the superb directing, glossing over the storyline even more. Ending is excellent too. The only complaint I have is that the plot comes up relatively late in the series, although earlier episodes serve up as padding for the main dish that only appears in the last third or so of the series.

Character Design:-
It will not blow your mind away, that’s for sure. Although some designs of the spaceships here can be questioned for sanity.

This is the latest model from Motorola RAZR series. Complete with a solar panel for infinite amount of stand-by and talk times. Definitely superior compared to the overhyped Apple iPhone because this baby can use custom ring tones. Contrary to what you may think, this is not a spaceship! Honest!

Voice acting:-
A strong point of the anime. All the main characters of the anime, especially the members of the debris cleaning team, has great voice actors/actresses. Outstanding are both of the leading characters. Not up there with the standard that Nodame Cantabile has set, but nevertheless still awesome!

Music:-
The OP theme is forgettable, but the ED theme is decent and the OST is excellent.

Animation/Direction:-
Another strong point of this anime. The animation is fluid even in scenes that can do with CGI (there is none as I can see). And as I say above, the directing is superb in all areas, whether in story presentation, control of storyline flow, realization of original scenes such as the spacewalk scenarios and last but not least, the action scenes.

Conclusion:-
9 out of 10. A must watch for space buffs who can stomach some serious issues that the anime deals with.

One of the antics that the team members of the space debris collecting team will do for money.