Friday April 29, 2005

Eureka 7 - Episodes 1 and 2

	Eureka 7 features skateboarding... in the sky. Here's our hero Renton doing just that.
This is Renton's hero Holland, of whom he has a poster of in his room	Apperently Renton is also on magazines
The thing is, he's also an outlaw... how does he get on the cover of magazines?	Renton's grandfather
Eureka, the mysterious girl with pale skin and blue hair... although she doesn't talk exactly like Rei Ayanami	On the left is a military officer guy, I think he'll be the 'Christopher Armalite'-type character of this show (Chris from Scrapped Princess fame that is)
The designs in this show rock	The mecha were designed by Shoji Kawamori of Macross fame
The flying trails remind me of Kurau: Phantom Memory	This show features purple explosions much like the much-maligned explosions from Gundam SEED
More awesome design	The mecha in this show can transform into cool cars

Perhaps one of the most awaited shows of the season, the planned 52-episode Eureka 7 is the newest offering by studio BONES which is always known for excellent shows, and some of my all time favorites including Kurau: Phantom Memory and Scrapped Princess. Unfortunately BONES is also known for the very well-executed but ultimately crappy clone of Evangelion called RahXephon, and of course Wolf's Rain which started off amazing only to have four recap episodes in a row and end with a huge letdown of an ending. Still, the studio which created the wildly successful Full Metal Alchemist (I haven't seen it yet) as it's last 51 episode show can't be all that bad.

Definately aimed at the teenager and younger crowd (the show airs at 7:00 in the morning), Eureka 7 brings us Renton, an idealistic 14-year old boy whose father was killed as the war hero that saved the world when he was still young. Renton graces us with such anime quotables as 'I'll protect you' to the first girl he meets, 'I want to prove I exist', and 'nothing's happened to me yet [in my 14 years of life'. Basically he's the sterotypical 14-year old anime character that we've all seen many times before. Renton's older sister went in search of her dream when he was young, leaving him to be raised by his grumpy grandfather, still dissapointed at his son for going off on his wild adventures and not being a good mechanic like himself. Renton lives in a futuristic world where it is possible to board (skate or snow you pick) through the sky if only you believe that you can. In fact in this futuristic world, everything from airplanes to mecha (called LFOs in the show) use this phenomenen to soar through the sky. The LFOs actually ride on a much larger board instead of flying own their own power, which adds a different dimension to the show.

One of the greatest boarders around is the infamous outlaw Holland. A cross between Che Guevara and Tony Hawk, Holland graces the covers of magazines and posters while under pursuit from the military and is also the hero of Renton who wants greatly to emulate his hero. At an age of only 14, Holland was said to have mastered the 'Cut-back Drop-turn', basically a loop de loop in mid-air, this show's version of the Immelman Turn which was mentioned extensively in Last Exile. Other characters include Eureka, a mysterious and quiet blue-haired pale-skinned girl who pilots the original prototype 'type 0' LFO (Rei Ayanami anyone?). Interestingly enough Eurka is voiced by Kaori Nazuka who also voiced Lala-Ru from Now and Then, Here and There who was also a blue-haired pale-skinned girl who didn't talk much. She's part of Holland's group and Renton becomes involved with them as she seeks a mysterious part for her LFO which is under safe keeping by Renton's grandfather, a device created by Renton's father which unleashes the 'true power of the LFO'. Interestingly enough with this part, it is only under the control of Renton does this awesome power manifest itself as Renton destorys the military squad pursuing Eureka and Holland's group using Eureka's LFO powered by the special device. Meanwhile as far as the military is concerned, we're introduced to an information officer who seems to know a lot about the special powers which Renton has now acquired in Eureka's LFO. I suspect he will carry the same role as Christopher Armalite from Scrapped Princess... a military pursuer who turns friendly as he finds out more and more about the 'truth' whatever that ends up being. Episode 2 ends with Renton realizing that much like his father and his sister, he too will find his dream and purpose in life, and will join Holland, Eureka and their gang to whereever their adventures take them.

Unlike every single BONES series that I have ever seen aside from Full Metal Alchemist, Eureka 7 has a pretty bland first episode (I only saw the first episode of FMA and it seemed uninteresting to me). In some ways the first episode to Eureka 7 is quite confusing. As to why this is, whether because of bad writing or because it is intentionally confusing is hard to say. Still the show does pick up after episode 2 and it seems like the the story is pretty set out after that point. I hope that is because this show is 52 episodes long so the opening is really two episodes instead of one. The story so far, while set in a pretty original and interesting universe as all BONES anime seem to do, also carries along with it a ton of anime cliches which is regrettable. Renton is the same 'I'll protect you!' & 'I need to find out why I exist' type teenager character that we've seen countless times in anime before. I don't know what the fascination with protecting some girl you've just met, or 'proving that you exist' is in Japanese youth but I've personally grown pretty tired of this trait in main characters. Still if the rest of the story ends up being good, this show still has a good shot (Kira was pretty annoying like that in Gundam SEED, but the show was ultimately quite good in my opinion). Still the plot does have one really good point in that instead of taking time to explain every little detail, it thrusts you into the world leaving the viewer to just understand things as they go along. Surely there is a lot going on even in the background of each scene which I assume on a second viewing after the series is over will be extremely interesting to watch.

The music in this show isn't anything special as I have no particular attachment to the OP and ED which I envision myself to be skipping quite often if I do continue with this show. Finally I've left the best for last. The animation in this show is easily the best part of the entire series. With mecha designed by famed designer/director/writer Shoji Kawamori (of Macross fame) and animation by BONES I knew that this would be something special, and the show definately does not dissapoint. Every battle is fully animated in spectacular full animation which is extremely smooth. It makes all the stock footage battles of Gundam SEED look like it was from the 90s. As always with BONES productions, the designs of absolutely everything is top notch. The world which Renton resides in has just enough of our world to be real, but contains strange landscapes, wonderful cities and amazing mecha. Finally as an extra touch, when Renton and the LFOs are boarding through the sky, the trails that they leave remind me greatly of the Rynax trails in Kurau: Phantom Memory. Perhaps some of the same animators worked in both.

Overall Eureka 7 looks to be quite a promising show. While I am not a big fan of the main character Renton, and while Eureka seems to be a Rei Ayanami clone, the overall plot looks interesting, and the animation is the best I've seen in a long while. While it's hard to say whether I'll definately stick with this show or not, it seems like I will for now and see where Eureka 7 takes me.

Zipang - Episode 3

So the crew save this 1940s officer in a sinking Zero fighter	I like how the military stuff is drawn in very high detail
American sub, dead ahead!	American captain!

After a very long wait, another group (dp) has picked up the subbing for Zipang... which means I can finally get to watch this show. I last saw an episode of this show months ago, but lucky it was just at the beginning so there wasn't much to forget. Just to recap, Zipang is one of the most contraversial shows of last season because of it's political bent. Basically the story involves the crew of a modern Japanese AEGIS crusier making it's maiden voyage which falls into a time warp and gets transported back into the Battle of Midway. Think, The Philedelpha Experiement but with Japanese instead of Americans. It's contraversial because the series makes Japanese aggression in World War II look at least somewhat heroic and perhaps even justified. Then again, the show is about the crew of a Japanese naval ship, so it's hard to make them anti-military and still have the show be somewhat realistic.

Of course this show isn't all bad, as it does a very good job in depicting military hardware. Military otakus must be having a field day with this one, because every ship, every missle, every room of these ships are drawn to exacting detail as if you were watching a movie instead of an anime. This show also features a sort of paradox. While it would have been easy for the show to be completely pro-Japanese aggression and have the ship start out fighting Americans in World War II, the crew visibly struggles to stay out of the way as not to alter history despite some misgivings. Still as the end of episode 3 shows us, the crew is inevitably drawn into the conflict. I wonder what will happen. I hope that this show keeps getting subbed and that eventually I'll get to see it all.

Speed Grapher - Episode 3

This show can get kind of bloody sometimes	Not really fan service, but then yes at the same time... Kagura dressed up as the 'Goddess'
This picture is a recurring theme... what is happiness? What is freedom?	Saiga with the crazed out Eye of Doom (TM)
Yeah so they have crazy fetish sex, complete with gun and camera	Kagura's mom is a regular Djibril

Episode 3 of Speed Grapher finally introduced us to what this show is really about. No it's not about crazy sex fetishes (although it has a small role as a recurring theme in the series), no it's not about buying people with money (okay well somewhat), and no it's not about Mr. Fantastic from episode 1 (well he does make a 2-second cameo in this episode). What this show is all about is simply 'what Bakuretsu Tenshi would have been if it actually had a plot and a lot less CG'. Yes, I admit that the similarities between the two shows is merely superficial, but it's just gut feeling that I have inside of me. Still, contrary to my opinion in the previous episode, after seeing what the whole goddess thing and the whole 'euphoria factor' thing was actually all about, makes things make a lot more sense in this show and also shows a direction as to where the show is going. Eventually I assume Saiga and Kagura will be fugitives from the Suitengu and his rich and powerful club as they try and destory the club and go up against 'Mr. Fantastic' (the stretchy dancer guy). Interestingly enough, I was reading an interview with the director of this show Kunihisa Sugishima (who incidentally also directed Yu-Gi-Oh! and Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam) who mentioned that he wanted to do a more mature show which focused more on plot, and as such used very little CG or special effects. I guess that answers the question about why the cars in this show move so weirdly and why considering it's animated by Gonzo does it not have CG cars.

Today's link of the day: Animenewsnetwork interview with Kunihisa Sugishima, director of Speed Grapher

Wednesday April 27, 2005

Gundam SEED: Destiny - Phase 27

Gilbert Dullindal you are so evil!	The chess pieces are back in play
It's the Destroy!	Djibril is so evil!
Captain Todaka is one of my favorite characters in the entire show	Finally, someone figures out a way to actually damage the Minerva without Kira's help
Kira you dog you, having Milly in your cockpit! I never knew Freedom's cockpit was so big	Everyone's glad that Milly's back!
Milly is back in her old position in SEED... communications officer	Here she is looking every so kawaii

Episode 27 of Gundam SEED: Destiny was a plot episode that tried to cover too much ground in too short a time. Because it tried to switch between too many competing story lines, the episode itself remained too scattered to be memorable. Still, some important plot events were covered and some loose ends were tied up. We're still unsure whether the chairman of PLANT is actually evil or not, but we now know that he knows about the next new gundam in the series, the Destroy and that he also knows about Kira's existance. As well we also find out that Djibril also knows about Destroy (I'm not quite sure if Destroy is a ZAFT or EA mobile suit) and that Talia was the one that ordered Lunamaria to spy on Athrun in the previous episodes. The episode ends with a battle about to start between Orb and the Minerva and the Freedom and Cagali going to the rescue... very reminesant of GSD episode 23. The only difference being this time, the Orb forces actually smarten up and use artillery shells filled with shrapnel to attack the Minerva, resulting in damange to the Minerva possibly for the first ever time that any EA force has really damanged it since it landed on Earth.

Perhaps the most important event of this episode though was the return of Miriallia Haw. Contrary to my previous morbid prediction, it seems like she's actually back for good and is returning as the communications officer of the Archangel! I'm very happy that the ever-so-kawaii Milly is back in the show and I'm super happy that we'll be sure to see more of her in future episodes. We also learn that in fact she and Dearka actually did have a relationship and that she dumped him. Why the writers thought it necessary to mention this at all I am at a loss. I think it would have been better if they just left her relationship with Dearka as just a friendship of comrades in arms instead of making them a couple. Still I feel sorry for good old mulletman (Dearka) that he got dumped by Milly. After looking up Milly's seiyuu I realized that it was done by Megumi Toyoguchi, who also voiced Meg in Bakuretsu Tenshi, Ayaka in Stellvia and Parfait in Vandread. I've liked the voices of all of those characters so I'm happy that they all actually coalesce onto one seiyuu.

He is My Master (Kore ga Watashi no Goshujin-sama) - Episode 1

The master - Yoshitaka Nakabayshi... he's such an ass	Misuki (left) and Izumi (right) in their Mahoro-maid uniforms
Pochi 'tasting' Yoshitaka's head...	The alligator and hamster represent the manga's creators Mattsuu and Tsukbaki Asu
Izumi	Mitsuki... notice the weird eyes
Izumi is impossibly large breasted for a 14-year old... oh Gainax	That's Yoshitaka's property... his house is somewhere near the lake in the middle of the greenary

He is My Master (Kore Ga Watashi no Goshujin-sama) is the newest offering by studio Gainax, by the same crew that created Mahoromatic and Kono Minikuku mo Utsukushii Sekai (aka Konomimi aka This Strange and Beautiful World). Unlike the previous two animes created by this crew Ayako Kawasumi was not involved, but Ai Shimizu is back supplying the voice of Mitsuki in this anime. For those who watched Mahoro and Konomimi they might have noticed some important things. First of all, both shows had excellent animation in the form of very well drawn and brightly coloured backgrounds and smooth animation. Second of all, both shows supplied us with two 'sisters', one younger and one older. Third of all, both shows featured similar stereotypical schoolkids anime episodes including 'visit to the onsen', 'walk in the woods' and so on. One thing that was different that most viewers probably realized was that while Konomimi was a rough copy of Mahoromatic in many ways the story and execution were vastly inferior. Simply put, while Mahoro is beloved by many for it's eechi yet ultimately touching story, Konomimi was just crap after the first episode and inferior to Mahoro in every way as it tried it's hardest to emulate it's predecessor. How did He is My Master turn out then? The answer is multifaceted.

He is My Master is the story of two sisters, the impossibly big breasted 14 year old Izumi and her sister Mitsuki aged 13 who run away from home and try and search for jobs in the greater world. As they are about to give up, they stumble on a gigantic mansion which is hiring two live in maids. Apperently the gigantic house is populated by just one person, a high school kid by the name of Yoshitaka Nakabayshi, an orphan who has been left with vast sums of money and a huge mansion by his late parents. While his story may sound tragic, he's actually quite enjoying his situation and ability to live on his own with vast sums of money. Being the rich bastard that he is, he's also an arrogant prick. As the sisters go to ask for a job, he starts trying to convert the girls into his personal sexy maid slaves. Meanwhile Izumi the older sister will have none of that as she continously tries and rebuff his hentai-ness with physical violence. Along the way we also meet Pochi, the alligator pet of Mitsuki who lives in her bag and seems to like 'tasting' new things that it meets by clenching it's jaws completely around it.

All in all He is My Master features perhaps exactly what Gainax has been degenerating to for a while now. Not only is there no longer a pretext for having maids around, they're just going straight to the point and just trying to make this as maid-ful and eechi-ful as possible. I'm not sure if this combination works exactly, but I hear the manga that this is based on is quite popular at least. I'm not really a big fan of the character designs in this show as well. While they look pretty much like the characters from Mahoro and Konomimi, they have weird eyes in this show and the girls also seem to have blush as a permament feature on their faces as part of the character design. As well I never really liked the 'cute' characters that Ai Shimizu played in the previous Gainax shows and this is of no exception - she was much better as Mikoto in Mai-HiME. Finally there's the fact that this show isn't even trying for a plot anymore. I figure we'll have 12 episodes of eechi fun and your standard Gainax anime plots peppered with absolutely no attempt to make the story anything more than it seems to be. But how about the ending? For that I can only quote someone else who has also seen this show: "the main girl makes the guy realize that there's more to life than money... and [then] she dies... or the world will blow up".

I'll give this show an episode or two more before I decide whether to drop it or not, but as things stand it's not very promising right now.

Monday April 25, 2005

Ah! My Goddess - Episode 14

Skuld's kitchen robot	I like this picture
Megumi's cheering (and volunteer worker) squad	Skuld's cheering squad

The 14th episode of Ah! My Goddess featured a robot wars style battle between Megumi and Skuld, pitting younger sister versus younger sister. Each a mechanical genious in their own right, this was mostly an episode about building character, and about showing up how much of a kid Skuld really is (even as she keeps telling those around her to stop treating her as such). The episode was somewhat entertaining and firmly establishes the character of Skuld. We also got a sense of just how great an older sister Belldandy actually is, and are yet again baffled at how Keichii can be annoyed at seeing his sister at the beginning of the episode when she unexpectedly turns up at his house. How can he possibly hate seeing a sister who genuinely loves him, always bring stuff for him, isn't annoying, bratty or unnecessarily needy and seems quite cheerful to be around? The only other issue is that Aya Hisakawa sometimes sounds just too old as Skuld. While Skuld's normal talking voice is as good as ever, there are parts of the episode when she sounds decidedly funny, and possibly much too old for her character (especially when she's laughing near the beginning of the episode).

Halo 2

Alright, this isn't anime at all but I thought I'd give a review of the game for fun. I recently spent about 18 hours playing Halo 2 over two days where I finished it on 'heroic' difficulty. My eyes took a day or two to recover and as such I haven't seen any anime for a few days now. Halo 2 is one of the best selling console games of all time breaking all records for the X-Box and probably selling as many X-Boxes as the original Halo did many years ago when it was originally launched. While the hype for this game was immense, many of you might have wondered, is this as good as it was advertised?

I've heard a lot of people proudly talk about how Halo 2 is quite possibly the greatest game of all time, and how they spent weeks and months enjoying it. After playing this game I am somewhat baffled. Although I have not tried it in multiplayer (where I believe many of the improvements exist), I can comment quite extensively on the single-player experience. First of all are the gameplay changes. There are a few new and interesting weapons in the new game, and most important of all is the ability to carry two guns at once, one on each hand. This allows for some interesting John Woo/Chow Yeung Fat action blasting away at aliens. As far as difficulty is concerned, Halo 2 is one tough game, and unlike the original I wasn't running through levels on legendary. The levels on the whole are better designed, although they mostly follow the designs from the first game but are just more detailed. Similarily, the graphics while slightly improved are quite similar to the original which was released many years ago. Even the sound effects and music have not changed much, although there is now more use of non-symphonic tracks, which I felt took away from the epic feel of the original. The game is quite similar to the original and as such, playing Halo 2 almost feels as if one is just playing a really long expansion pack to the original game, but with longer cutscene movies. Actually it feels like playing a crappier version of Halo with new weapons and longer levels. Why is it crappier? I'll try and explain.

First of all is the story. While Halo was never praised for it's depth of storytelling, it did well enough to spawn a few novels based on the Halo universe. While I never read these novels, I sorely wished a real writer would have written the plot for the 2nd game. It honestly feels as if I took one hour after a few drinks one night to scribble down some really bad sci-fi on a cocktail napkin I could have written something better. That is about the depth of storytelling we have here which is pretty pathetic. The only high point is that we get to play as a Convent soldier, so we get different weapons to play with and different allies once in a while. Secondly there's the lack of epic battle scenes from the past game. I remember in the first Halo there was an excellent level (level 4 I believe) where you land on the shore and attack a Covent stronghold with your fellow marines. Everyone is running towards the base, there's frantic radio chatter. Marines are getting cut down left and right and behind you is wonderful cinematic music blaring away. It made me feel as though the best battle scenes from 'The Thin Red Line' (a WWII movie about the battle for Iwo Jima) were being replayed in game format in what was certainly one of the highest points of computer game interactivity ever achieved. Halo 2 unfortunately covers no such ground. It doesn't even tie it's predecessor in this regard, as most of the levels are pretty standard fare compared to the original even if they are more detailed.

Finally, there's the ending. If you've ever played the original Halo you would probably remember the end of the last level as quite possibly one of the greatest five minutes of your first person shooter gaming life. I cannot give enough praise to that last level and how absolutely down to the wire it was in every way and how it kept Halo as one of my all time favorites. It was simply unsurpassed. Halo 2 proved that the original's ending is still unsurpassed by it's surprizingly boring final battle. The final battle is basically against an enemy that takes a lot of hits but only whacks you and doensn't have a gun. It takes 5 minutes, but you eventually fire enough bullets to kill him and that's about it. The biggest letdown of all time.

Overall Halo 2 is a mixed bag. The dual-guns, new weapons, more detailed levels and ability to comandeer any vehicle really do add a new dimension to the game. But then the loss of the cinematic epic feeling of the original, the loss of the great interactive battle scenes from the original, and the addition of one of the crappiest stories of all time (crappy for a plot that actually made it into a decent enough game) really takes away from the game. Then of course there's the reality that Halo 2 really is just the original Halo with slightly better graphics and some minor changes. Basically more of the same. The final verdict is, if you liked the original, you'll probably enjoy this game. If you were expecting something better than the original, then you will most likely be dissapointed, but then I guess there's always X-Box live which I hear is pretty fun for Halo 2 in multiplayer mode.

Today's link of the day: If you haven't already seen it... 'so you want to marry an otaku?'.

Friday April 22, 2005

Speed Grapher - Episode 2

Kagura and messed up piano teacher	Suitengu and his boss/lover, Kagura's mother
Here's a new hench(wo)man	You can buy anyone with money

Speed Grapher episode 2 focuses on the life of the 'goddess' figure from the end of the previous episode. Apperently the girl who descended from the ceiling and kissed Saiga is just a normal girl. Well sort of. Her mother is actually the CEO of the company which Saiga was investigating and is in fact Suitengu's boss. The thing is, they secretly use her at the goddess, and the girl whose name is Kagura only has a vague recollection of the events the next morning as perhaps some hideous dream. The purpose of this episode is three-fold. First of all, it's to establish that Kagura is a girl who's being manipulated by her mother and has no freedom of her own. Second of all it's the lesson that you can buy anyone with money. And finally it's to show that this series will go to great lengths to make itself 'adult'. No I don't mean the standard eechiness that you may see in an anime, this is definately going all out into the 'weirdoa European movie' end of sexual escapades.

As for the show itself, it appears as if the animation budget was severly cut back for the second episode. After an excellent Gonzo-worthy first episode, this one is decidedly plain. The cars in this show still move quite weirdly and the animation is not smooth at all. The designs remind me greatly of Bakuretsu Tenshi, although the story is somewhat different (although the theme of a futuristic and corrupt Tokyo is here as well), but the animation is nowhere near the quality from that show. While I thought that the first episode was quite good, this episode wasn't as much. The show's definately established itself as weird and it seems to actually have a long-term plot (rare for a Gonzo series). Because of the possible existance of a real plot I'll keep watching for a bit and see if this show gets any better. Apperently it's quite popular in Japan, at least in the more mature otaku circles.

MAR (Marchen awakens romance) - Episode 1

Ginta a nerd with DBZ hair	But he has a cute girl who likes him
No telephone poles to sit on here, so a large rock outcropping will do for the obligatory 'mysterious person who sits on top of high places' character	They like making silly faces on this show

MAR is a new series about the adventures of a DBZ-haired character named Ginta. Ginta is a junior high school student who lately has been having fantastic dreams of being the hero in a RPG type world full of monsters in the faraway and magical land of Marchen. Unfortunately for him, he's also been havig these dreams while in class, and he has a terrible habit of 'sleep-acting' which gets him into trouble and turns him into a laughingstock at school. Still it's not all bad, as there's a cute girl (who looks a bit like Shinobu from Love Hina) who likes him and listens to his stories.

One day while in class, a portal appears. Apperently Ginta's dreams are actually real, and the land of Marchen actually exists. Leaving his friends behind, Ginta fulfills his dream and enters the strange world. As he soon discovers, in this world he doens't need to wear his glasses anymore, can run without getting tired (unlike his unathletic real life self) and he also has superhuman strength. Soon he meets up with a sorceress who explains to him the concept of an ARM. Basically a ring, bracelet or amulet that one owns that has the power to summon magical guardians or weapons for the wearer to use. With his new travelling companion Ginta sets out into this RPG world, ready to explore and have fun.

Personally I found almost every moment of watching this show painful. I guess when the main character has Goku-like hair it says a lot about what's going to happen in the show. I'm definately not the target audience for this show as I have a feeling it's really dedicated to younger teen viewers. While the whole 'boy goes into RPG world' thing has already been done to death by .hack and it's numerous incarnations, this just takes that basic premise and dumbs it down a lot of notches, reduces the animation quality by quite a bit, uses crappy character designs and uninspiring sound to create a show. I don't think I'll be watching this show again as it was pretty much a waste of my time.

Today's link of the day: I haven't talked about how much I like the new Gundam SEED: Destiny ED (3rd ED of the show). It's probably my favorite song since 'Find the Way' from Gundam SEED, and the ending animation is awesome too. Basically it features a lot of our favorite characters dead or alive from both SEED shows in a montage of pictures. Of particular note is Gilbert and Talia sitting romantically under a tree, and of course Muu being Muu with his arms around a surprized Natarlie and Murrue in a silly group photo. Here's a link to some screenshots of the 3rd ED.

Pre-April 22, 2005

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