Anime Review: Kaiba

Anime has a reputation for being strange and off-kilter, and there is some truth to this reputation. Anime like FLCL have long been the pinnacle of "Japan, why so weird?", but anime like FLCL aren't really the norm for anime. Looking at anime nowadays, a lot of it tends to look the same: giant moe eyes, bland male leads meant to be an avatar for the otaku fanbase, and safe marketable art designs tend to be the norm. The most stunningly different show of the year was Flowers of Evil, which went over well with critics but was panned by otaku due to not resembling what they thought to be anime, and rumors of low video sales suggest that we won't be seeing anything like Flowers of Evil again for some time.  It's understandable; anime is a commercial product first and foremost. As much as it pains me to see artistic achievements not reach the widest possible audience, this is the norm. That doesn't stop me from seeking anime out that boldly tries to be different, and more importantly succeeds in that regard.

Enter Masaaki Yuasa, an anime director whose work goes completely against the grain of "commercial anime". None of his character designs are conventional, his stories are told in complex and somewhat messy ways, and they're full of ambition. He's been getting more attention lately with Kick-Heart, a short film that was funded on Kickstarter (I contributed some money to the project), and if you want a quick crash-course in Yuasa's style, watch Kick-Heart. Super flashy, characters look super-fluid and cartoony, and at the heart of it all is an unconventional love story. Those same words could be used to describe Kaiba.

Ah, that romantic first date where you both get drunk and pass out.

I'm convinced that discussing the plot of Kaiba is an exercise in futility; the first half of this 12 episode series is essentially a bunch of vignettes with vague hints toward the greater story, and the second half which does focus on the overall narrative is messy and twisty. It's best to just describe the starting point of Kaiba and then experience the rest of the plot for yourself; in the world of Kaiba, memories can be stored in chips and placed in new bodies in order to prolong lives. However, only the rich can afford new bodies, and at the start of the series there are now more chips than bodies, meaning some people have no bodies. The story beings when a man named Warp wakes up with a hole in his chest, a locket with a blurry picture of a girl inside, and no memories of his past. What follows is several adventures across the galaxy with Warp ending up in different bodies and the memories of other people.

Although the meat of the story is in the second half, I feel like the first half is the strongest part of the series, or at least the easiest to comprehend. The world of Kaiba is pure science fantasy; new technology, characters, and planets are introduced to the audience at a rapid pace and it takes awhile to adjust to how alien it all seems. However, once you adjust to Kaiba's alien environment, you can fully appreciate just how much thought was put into this series. From the very beginning a class system, which is at the heart of one of the show's conflicts, is introduced. The exchange of bodies is extremely important in this universe; those with the cash can upgrade to better bodies or even modify their memories to be more pleasant. The planet on which Warp wakes up literally has the poor underground and at the mercy of devices which steal bodies, while the rich live up electronic clouds. As strange as the locales may seem, the conflicts are universal.

Even perverted sheriffs have hearts.

The other huge theme of the series is memories, and how much memories define a person and what they mean. In one of the most heart-wrenching episodes of the series, a woman trades away something dear to her to regain her memories, only to realize how horrible the thing she done is once she has her memories back. In fact, the best stories in the series I feel are the ones where Warp is an observer character and not the focus. Masaaki Yuasa and the rest of the staff manage to write some really sweet vignettes in this world, which range from strange to touching.

While I take issue with the second half of the show, it's not actually bad at all. Rather, the problems with the second half have to do with how messy and confusing things become. A rewatch of those episodes helps clear things up, but on your first go you're likely to be gawking at the screen asking yourself what just happened. I think the confusion is partly intentional, as characters have their memories altered and become unhinged, but with so many things happening at once it might have been nice to have an extra episode to explain things better. However, the love story involving Warp and the girl in the locket is delicately handled, and it's clear that Yuasa has a thing for love stories given it takes up the majority of his oeuvre. Who knew a man who created a scene where a woman blows up during sex could be such a romantic?

Seriously, this is messed up.

As neat as the sci-fi conventions are and how touching the story gets, the immediate thing that sticks out to the viewer is the visual style. The character models look like they've come straight out of a 70's Tezuka cartoon, and the color pallet varies from dark and dingy to colorful and psychedelic depending on the episode. Sometimes the animation looks really off-model but intentionally so, particularly in episode five where the entire world looks nightmarish and unnatural. In short, it looks like nothing else in anime. If the unique look of the show wasn't good enough, the soundtrack for this series is honestly among the best I've heard in anime, full of ambient electronic music that ranges from tense to comical to gorgeous. The opening and ending songs will not leave your head, as not only are they beautiful, they're sung in pretty good English!

Not sure who finds this sexy, but I know they exist.

Rarely is the anime industry blessed with titles as refreshingly unique as Kaiba, and I feel as though I could recommend it based solely on its style. Thankfully, Kaiba goes the extra mile and tries to tell a huge sci-fi story with varying themes and ideas relating to love and the importance of memories. Sometimes it's too confusing or disturbing, but it's easy to overlook those flaws when something is this visually and emotionally engaging.

Sadly, Kaiba is not licensed in America for streaming or physical release. Your only options for watching the series are to import the DVDs from Australia or to track down fansubs. I highly recommend you go out of your way to see this series if you can and need a break from "normal" anime. I also recommend you check out the rest of Masaaki Yuasa's work, such as The Tatami Galaxy which is actually available for streaming on Hulu.

MOVIE REVIEW: Pacific Rim

Normally I don't write movie reviews for the website. The focus of my posts has been and always will be anime. However, I do love film as much as I love anime, and Pacific Rim happens to be a special case where anime and movie fans definitely overlap. Pacific Rim has been hyped up as a love letter to mecha anime and kaiju films, so basically this film was made for people like me, but more importantly, in a summer full of cynical bloated blockbusters, Pacific Rim manages to be the most fun and hopeful.

The movie begins with a prologue explaining the origins of the Kaiju, giant monsters who have risen from a portal beneath the Pacific Ocean, and how they laid waste to the major coastal cities of the world. Humanity is able to kill some Kaiju, but it takes them days just to kill one Kaiju, and the Kaiju continue to appear. Unable to stop the Kaiju from coming and in desperate need of new weapons, the Jaeger Program is born, and what the Jaeger Program is is giant robots that kick ass. For awhile, that's exactly what happened; the Jaegers kicked Kaiju ass and became heroes, until the Kaiju started to get smarter. This is where our main character, Raleigh Beckett, comes in. He's one of the two pilots of the American Jaeger known as Gipsy Danger. Jaegers are so big and complex that they require two pilots to mind-meld in something called the Drift, which is basically like having your memories jump into a pool with someone else's memories. Raleigh's co-pilot is his brother Yancy; they're considered to be among the best Jaeger pilots, which makes it all the more shocking when a Kaiju manages to kill Yancy in combat. Raleigh manages to kill the Kaiju, but the loss of his brother while being in the Drift with him is enough to keep Raleigh from entering a Jaeger for five years.

This all happens in about fifteen minutes. All of the backstory on the world that we need to understand the story is told in a small yet effective amount of time, and on top of that we get the first of some of the coolest robot-monster fights to be shown on the big screen. When Raleigh is asked to join the Jaeger program for an assault on the Kaiju portal so as to end the Kaiju War, we understand his hesitation to get back in the game; he doesn't want to suffer that same experience of losing someone again. But rather than drag out the film by having him ponder whether to fight or not, he re-joins almost immediately. The film understands the point of urgency and pacing, and to never let the film be bogged down in moodiness for too long, but it allows its characters to have emotional moments and never skips over them. For as much as a spectacle as the film is, and that is the best part of this film, underneath the spectacle is heart and humanity which is just as important.

Pacific Rim has a culturally diverse cast, fitting the theme of "all of humanity vs monsters"; there's a team of Chinese triplets who pilot a three-armed Jaeger called the Crimson Typhoon, Russian pilots with a rusty tank-like Jaeger, and an asshole Australian and his dad who own an adorable bulldog. There's also Idris Elba who plays the stern yet cool commander of the whole operation and his assistant Mako Mori, who plays a key role in the final fight for humanity. We don't get to know all these characters all that well, but even characters with limited screentime manage to leave a good impression with their memorably distinct looks and personalities. The main characters are simple, but to the film's credit it's a good thing; the film isn't aiming for a complex character piece, but instead a story about all of humanity banding together to take down a threat that's bigger than them all. There is conflict among the human characters, mostly between Raleigh and the hotshot Australian pilot who sees him as dead weight, but at the end of the day it's not a movie about how humanity is flawed and awful, something very refreshing. The biggest problem with the human characters is that you want to know more about them, but if the biggest problem is wanting more, then Pacific Rim must be doing something right.

So the story is good, the themes are positive and uplifting, but the big question on everyone's mind is how are the giant robot fights? They're great. They're easy to follow. There's a real sense of impact behind every punch, every plasma cannon shot, and every sword slash. Most importantly, they're creative; the Kaiju have a certain uniformity to them to show that they're from the same world, but at the same time they're all unique and have different ways of attacking the Jaegers, making sure that not every fight is a simple beatdown, though the beatdowns are a hell of fun too. Fans of movies like Godzilla and Gamera are sure to notice homages to past creatures in the Kaiju and fans of mecha anime like Giant Robo and Evangelion will notice similar homages in the robots, but the film doesn't settle for homages; the creatures and robots are clearly their own things. Director Guillermo del Toro directly channels the past, but by channeling that past and infusing it with his own sense of fantasy he has created something distinctively new, something that will represent science fiction movies of the current decade and not the past. There are little surprising moments in the fight scenes that have been forever scarred into my mind because of how visceral and impactful they are, and a film that leave a distinct impression on you is a sign of quality.

I saw the film in IMAX 3D. The giant IMAX screen is definitely a good way to see a movie that is intended to be as big as possible, but I don't think the 3D improves the movie. There were moments when it looked a little blurry and moments when the water looked like it had extra depth, so I guess it balances out. If you're fine with 3D it's not a bad way to see it, but if you hate 3D you're not missing out on anything by seeing it in 2D.

So is Pacific Rim the giant robot film we've always wanted from Hollywood? Yes, but more importantly, it's a summer blockbuster that remembers what summer blockbusters can do, and that is inspire a great sense of thrill and imagination in its viewers, something that has been woefully lacking this summer (Star Trek Into Darkness and Man of Steel, I'm looking at you!). It recalls the days of the Harryhausen, the days when movies like Independence Day made it cool to enjoy dumb simple popcorn movies. The Independence Day comparison isn't a negative one at all; there is a place for movies like Pacific Rim, a place that lets kids and adults alike remember how fun movies can be. Sure, The Dark Knight was a really good movie, but it's time to let go of that and not force every summer blockbuster to be a cynical piece about how flawed and hopeless humanity is. It's time to let some light shine back into the cinema, and Pacific Rim is that light we've been craving.

Some quick notes:
- The score is full of great orchestral pieces that harken back to the Godzilla films.
- The scientist characters were a bit annoying at first, particularly the British professor stereotype, but they grew on me by the end.
- I wish Ron Perlman got more screentime.
- IMAX is giving out some nice posters to their viewers. The amount they have is limited, so if you want one go see the film ASAP.

Crunching the Numbers: End of Spring 2013

Hey, I didn't forget about finishing this series. Sorry about taking awhile to update Crunching the Numbers, but I underestimated how much time it takes to follow 13 shows, or rather 8 shows as you'll see I dropped quite a few shows since the last time. I'll briefly talk about the shows I dropped and why I dropped them, but first I want to discuss the future of Crunching the Numbers.

There won't be any Crunching the Numbers after this. Don't worry, I'm not stopping the season reviews just yet. Quite simply, Crunching the Numbers will be receiving a new name with some new rules that are designed to make it so that following every show will be easier on me. I won't be revealing the name change and new rules just yet, but you'll know about them eventually.

However, you're going to have to wait until the fall. I may or may not do some summer previews (though at the time of this writing Free! is the only new anime I'd say is worth anything), but I won't be doing any extensive coverage of the season. Instead, I'll be focusing on a new weekly anime project which I will be announcing next week. Look forward to it.

So with that out of the way, let's crunch the numbers one more time!

Spoiler Warning!


1) Flowers of Evil

Flowers of Evil embodies both the best and worst traits of this season. The good definitely outweighs the bad in this case, but let me talk to you about the biggest problem of this season: pacing. You might not think that's such a big deal, but bad pacing actually killed what were once good shows for me as we'll see later. Pacing is what dictates the flow of a story and consequently the mood, the character motivations, and most importantly the audience's reaction. Flowers of Evil is a slow burn of a show, which sometimes really makes the creepy mood of the show even better (the tension of Kasuga entering Nakamura's room for the first time for example), or sometimes the mood will become blissful and ethereal (the amazing classroom sequence in episode 7).

Oh yeah, episode 7. You might have heard people lavish praise for this episode in particular. It's not even the best episode (episode 10 takes that spot for me), but episode 7 completely justifies the use of rotoscoping, not just for the show but as a tool that can be used in any animated work. The show has been building up the rocky relationship between Kasuga and Nakamura up to this point. Nakamura's goal has been to expose Kasuga as a terrible deviant, possibly because she needs someone to justify her misanthropic look on life. It results in a beautiful little piece of destruction and awe-inspiring visual direction. It's up there with the Green Bird sequence from Cowboy Bebop as one of those moments that makes anime totally worth watching.

Let's get back to the pacing problems I mentioned earlier. As amazing as moments like episode 7 are, the earlier episodes have the problem of not much actually happening in them. The slow pacing is intentionally done, but it does test your patience. The worst offender of bad pacing has to be the first 8 minutes of episode 8. Yes, right after that amazing segment of animation I was telling you about, the show decides to show you 8 minutes of Kasuga and Nakamura walking home. In theory this would work as a nice cool-down moment after the insanity of the previous episode, but 8 minutes of just walking is overindulgent. Luckily the pacing picks up again afterwards, but the show never shakes off that feeling of being a little too slow.

Episode 10 feels like the real climax of the show to me, with the last three episodes wrapping up some of the fallout nicely, but episode 10 feels like where the show finally makes its point about the characters of the show. Is Kasuga this smart person who understands a book as difficult as Baudelaire's Flowers of Evil? No, he's just some lonely kid who is empty inside, and doesn't understand Flowers of Evil any more than Saeki understands it. Kasuga is truly pathetic and no one cares. It's a harsh message, but extremely refreshing for an anime to say. Too many times have we been treated to stories about kid protagonists who are special, who might be misunderstood but are good down deep, or completely awful characters who are justified by having a tragic backstory. No, Kasuga is awful because he hasn't grown up yet. He holds onto these childish and creepy fantasies of Saeki being a pure angel. It's an extremely unhealthy way of thinking, and yet it's biting because there are people like Kasuga out there. Hell, the idea of sexual purity is one that is disturbingly common among Japanese otaku. You needn't look any further than any idol fan to find these ideas. That Flowers of Evil has the balls to make statements like this makes it truly special and worth watching.

One last thing I have to talk about, and no it's not the rotoscoping because that's been talked about before, though I will point out that as the show goes on, the direction and rotoscoping drastically improves, though are a few hilarious moments where a character played by Oshimi Shuuzou (yes THAT Oshimi Shuuzou), is obviously wearing a fake mustache. What I really want to talk about is the ending and how it makes Flowers of Evil less of a standalone story than it should be. I was expecting that I'd want to read the manga afterwards because I knew that the anime wouldn't cover the whole story, but with the direction it was heading in I thought it'd pick a good point to stop and make the whole thing work as its own smaller version of the manga. Sadly, the ending teases future events that happen in the manga and ends with the words "Part 1: END". It's a horrible tease that really doesn't need to be there when the rest of the ending works fine and there's no guarantee that this show will get a second season. If it does, I'll definitely watch it, but given the backlash this show received it has a snowball's chance in hell of getting that second season.

Fortunately, that tease is not enough to diminish the quality of this show. We need more anime like Flowers of Evil. We need more anime that are bold enough to make something different and refuse to pander to audiences while sacrificing artistic intent (though given the anime I'll be watching this summer this is really ironic). Flowers of Evil is one of those anime that proves why anime can be special, and that's why it's a must-see.

2) Chihayafuru 2 (second half)

SEASON 3 PLEASE!

Okay, I'm getting ahead of myself, but I really hope we get at least one more season of Chihayafuru because it's so good. Like many other shows this season, Chihayafuru 2 had pacing problems; it covers less ground than the first series by having most of the season focus on one tournament, and some of the karuta matches go on for one episode too many. However, Chihayafuru still shows what it needs to show, that being the emotionally satisfying triumphs and losses that our characters go through. Arata finally feels like a proper part of the show now, and the issues of the love triangle Chihaya has been involved in from the start have been mostly resolved in one scene where Chihaya basically admits who she loves to the audience (though not her love in person). Season 2 ends on a good note; like season 1, it leaves room for more, but it's a nice reflection on all that has happened before and shows just how far our characters have come since first forming the karuta club.

Maybe one day I'll do a full review of Chihayafuru in general, but for now I feel as though I've already said as much about the show as I can. I've seen 50 episodes of characters playing a card game I've never heard of before, and I loved nearly every bit of it.

3) The Devil is a Part-Timer

If Flowers of Evil didn't exist, this would be the most surprising anime of the season for me. An anime about Satan working at McDonald's (named MgRonald's in this show)? That sounds really dumb, it can't be that be good. Cut to me laughing for 13 episodes. Maybe this says more about my taste in comedy than about anime comedy in general, but there hasn't been an anime that has made me laugh this much in a long time.

What makes The Devil is a Part-Timer stick out from other anime comedy is that it doesn't fall prey to most of the same mistakes those shows make. Too often will anime comedy rely on overreactions, prat-falls, and yelling as jokes, when those aren't jokes at all. Devil's comedy comes from its natural character reaction and dialogue. You've got this great ensemble cast of demons, heroes, angels, and humans that all have really funny interactions with each other, whether it be just how well Satan adapts to working at MgRonald's or how budget-conscious Ashiya is or how Lucifer becomes this NEET, they all work. I ended up liking nearly all the characters due to their well-written personalities and quirks.

I mentioned earlier that most of the shows had pacing problems this season. Even my two favorite shows of the season couldn't avoid this, but Devil is a Part-Timer? Never feels too fast or too slow and the progression always feels natural. The action is actually somewhat good, though obviously not as good or important as the comedy and characters. There are a few moments in the show where Satan gets to let loose his powers, and those fight scenes are a ton of fun to watch. They border on being too serious for the show, but again, the characters are so likable by that point that the audience will be willing to let them be serious for a moment. Also, because I think it's fun to point this out, Satan saves more lives than Superman does in Man of Steel. Don't go see Man of Steel, watch The Devil is a Part-Timer instead.

However, like Chihayafuru and Flowers of Evil, the show does end on an open note. Will our heroes get back to their homeworld or be stuck in our world forever? The show doesn't say, opting to just end after an episode about Lucifer getting swindled by a door-to-door salesman. There's no real ending for the show, and I'm not sure it needs one, but some resolution for the characters would be nice. I've heard there was more material in the light novels that the show could adapt, so there's hope for a second season, but the amount of The Devil is a Part-Timer we got is still really good. It's that rare anime comedy that's actually funny.

4) Attack on Titan (first 13 episodes)

What do I need to say about Attack on Titan? What can I say about Attack on Titan that hasn't been said before? You've probably already seen the show at this point, indulged in the countless Attack on Titan opening parody videos or possibly made your own, or at least heard people talking about how awesome this show is. With all the hype behind it, Attack on Titan can't possibly live up to those expectations, right?

No, this show is really good. Oh, it's far from perfect. As cool as the idea of humans zipping around like Spider-Man and killing titans is, it drags its feet in the later episodes. I cannot tell you how sick I was of seeing "Battle of Trost" in the title card for nine episodes straight. It takes 3 episodes just for Eren (who now has the power to summon a titan body for him to control) to move a rock to stop the titans from getting into the town. It's a problem that persists in many shonen fighting anime adaptations, and there is a reason for it (writers don't want to overtake the manga storyline), but the chapter-per-episode pacing near the end of the first half does grate a bit.

Despite the pacing problems, the show's still a ton of fun. Earlier on it was a little hard to connect to the characters, but by episode 13 I found myself liking them much more. Mikasa is the stoic badass who pretty much needs no help when it comes to killing titans, and while this is a personality type I'm not often fond of, it's refreshing to see a female character like this in a show where the majority of human characters will die. Jean started out as something of an asshole rival to Eren, but through the Battle of Trost he's become a likable guy who feels guilty over losing his friends in battle. Surprisingly Armin has become my favorite character. Yeah, the wimpy blonde kid who you'd think would be among the first to die, but he's become an invaluable part of the Survey Corps thanks to his tactical intellect, and after he stood up for Eren and Mikasa  in episode 10 he really won me over. I don't see much love for Eren, and it's easy to see why. He's a little archetypal "main character" for my tastes, the kind of guy who succeeds through sheer determination and heart. He's not a bad character by any means, and his titan abilities are responsible for some of the best action scenes in the series, but eh, he's not a great character.

The real reason this doesn't place as high as you'd think it would is not just the pacing problems, but the animation problems. Attack on Titan has some of the coolest looking fights, but more often than not the animation looks unfinished and the show resorts to still-shots, flashbacks, and camera pans and shakes to hide that fact, but it's still really obvious. Still, that shouldn't deter anyone from enjoying this show. It's incredibly entertaining, and I'm glad that it'll still be on this summer.

5) Valvrave the Liberator

The more I watched of Valvrave, the more I loved it. It's not good in the traditional manner; the story is honestly quite stupid and Haruto isn't the most likable or relatable protagonist in the world, but each episode makes you think "oh there's no way this show can get crazier", and then it proves you dead wrong. It's entertaining trash at its finest.

And then Haruto rapes Saki.

There's no getting around this. Valvrave has stirred up an enormous amount of controversy by having its hero rape another main character. Yes, I know Haruto was under the influence of his vampire powers at the time, but that doesn't take away the fact that the writers thought this series needs a rape scene, and a really tasteless one at that. How the show handles the rape afterwards is even worse, uncomfortably tiptoeing around the issue for an entire episode which culminates in Haruto PROPOSING TO MARRY SAKI. She doesn't accept the issue because Saki knows better, but what the hell Haruto? The rape scene leaves an uncomfortable aura over the entire series. As fun as the rest of it is, it'll be impossible to forget just how badly the show handled it.

Valvrave will be coming back for a second season in the fall, and after much debate with myself over the issue... I'm still going to watch it. Say what you like about how tasteless or bad the show is, it's great at getting you to come back for more because of how unpredictable it is, and that last episode was kind of fun, although the final Valvrave is a brat who will have to work hard to earn any sympathy. I halfheartedly recommend Valvrave the Liberator. I wouldn't call it good, but there's a fanbase for fun trash like this, and I'm among them.

6) Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet

I bet you're really tired of hearing me mention the word "pacing", but my god does the pacing murder this show. What was once a show I had high expectations for became one of the more trying experiences I had this spring.

I'll get the good out of the way first: the first four episodes are a great fish-out-of-water tale with a sci-fi bent. The color design is phenomenal. There are some really good ideas behind the Galactic Alliance and Gargantia's differing philosophies on life. That's pretty much what I liked about Gargantia.

And then episodes 5 and 6 exist solely as fluffy fanservice. In a longer series, this might have been more acceptable, but they're still pointless and deter from the story. Even when the story comes back in episodes 7 and 8, the damage is still done; the plotting still feels too slow for a 13 episode series, and we spend way too much time on the funeral of a supporting character. But I still held out hope. Episode 9 takes the story away from the Gargantia and brings Ledo face-to-face with the true history of the Earth and the Galactic Alliance, and admittedly the story works at making the Hideauze important again. But then the series decides "oh, you thought we were being slow? Well now we're going to be as fast as possible! Screw your pacing!" The final 4 episodes show Pinion becoming the dictator of his own fleet, Ledo questioning Chamber's and the Galactic Alliance's motives, a cult that worships another robot like Chamber, and Amy and the rest of Gargantia no longer matters until the very end.

All this stuff comes out of nowhere and ends just as quickly, and thinking about it, I could see the show going in this direction had it been a 24-26 episode series. The fact that all this happens in the last 4 episodes makes the character motivations seem way off and the whole thing rushed, to the point that the emotional beats just feel hollow. All the plot threads are quickly resolved in the space of two minutes. I don't know what went wrong here. What was once the story of a soldier trying to find a new life in a strange land became a jumbled mess that doesn't know what it wants to be.


7) Devil Survivor 2 the Animation

So did Devil Survivor 2 break the video game adaptation and manage to be an engaging standalone story? Uh, no. Actually, from what I've heard even fans of the game don't seem to happy, so even as a way to pander to the fans it fails. So what went wrong?

Devil Survivor 2 has a huge cast of characters. Only two characters are truly important, those characters being our hero Hibiki and the villain Yamato, who have one of the most homoerotic rivalries I've seen in animation, and I've seen He-Man. Every other character exists to die. Anytime they have a moment that looks like character development is almost always immediately followed up with them biting the dust, so you never get to know them and their deaths don't register as being dramatic or shocking, just pointless. The show is trying to make a point about it being the end of the world, so some death would be expected, but the way in which the show kills off its characters is a boring pattern. Somehow Devil Survivor 2 made death and the apocalypse boring.

The show deals with big themes such as rebirth, the fate of humanity, and chaos vs order, all themes that have been explored in previous Shin Megami Tensei games, and they feel stagnant here. I think I know what the problem is, and this is a problem that seems to be persistent in anime adaptations of this franchise. The SMT games have always been built around choices; Devil Survivor 2 the game features multiple routes to choose, and your characters can die or you can save them. The power of choice is what gives the story and characters more power, and when stripped of that choice you're left with a soulless husk like Devil Survivor 2 the Animation. Though I am looking forward to seeing the Hibiki/Yamato doujinshi. Get to work on that, yaoi fans.

8) Muromi-san

There's really not much to say about Muromi-san. It's a gag comedy about a mermaid and her mythological friends who are introduced every week. There's no real story to speak of, so the show lives and dies by its gags, and honestly the show is too hit-and-miss to recommend. However, as with all comedy, taste is super subjective. I did laugh at a few jokes here and there (Muromi's relationship with penguins), but then there are episodes like episode 12 where the joke is "hey, how much can we gross the audience out by abusing this big-breasted mermaid?". Had the episodes not been 12 minutes long as opposed to 24, I probably would have dropped Muromi-san long ago. It exists, and it might make you laugh, but it'll quickly be forgotten as is the fate for most dumb gag comedies. Stick to Devil is a Part-Timer if you want some good yuks.

Dishonorable Mentions:

Mushibugyo (dropped at episode 8):

Great color design and humorous character designs can only get a bland tired story so far. I enjoyed the first few episodes of Mushibugyo, but I quickly realized it was going nowhere and the tiresome repetitive shonen fighting cliches got to me.

The Severing Crime Edge (dropped at episode 8):

I thought the relationship between the two leads was kind of cute, but the series quickly fell into tiresome battle of the week cliches and none of the other characters were particularly interesting.

Henneko (dropped at episode 7):

It was cute for one episode, and then AAAAAAAAAAAAAH IMOUTO SHIT WHHHHYYY? Incest jokes aren't funny, and neither are the other countless otaku-bait tropes in this show.

Arata the Legend (dropped at episode 7):

The terrible fire effects were amusing, but other than that? Meh, bland fantasy story.

Karneval (dropped episode 3):

It's pretty, but what's the story? Nothing made any sense and I had no reason to watch any more.

Okay, that does it for the spring! The summer sun is here and there are swimming anime to be watched. Next week I'll be starting my new anime project for the season. I think all of you space lovers will enjoy it. Stay tuned!

Golden Ani-Versary of Anime

So for those not aware, 2013 is the 50th anniversary of televised anime, having started in 1963 with Tetsuwan Atom, aka Astro Boy. In recognition of this landmark, Geoff Tebbets started the Golden Ani-versary blog (which you can find here). A lot of talented writers have contributed to the blog, each of them taking a year of anime and talking about what made that year in anime special. Currently, the blog has reached 1997. Oh, and I may have contributed to the blog in some way. You might want to go read it here.

Also, update on my upcoming articles for the blog. Crunching the Numbers is coming out, but I've been thinking of changing the format, plus I've got some other projects I want to work on. I'll probably put out the last Crunching the Numbers when the Spring season ends, and when the Summer season starts, I'll be replacing it with a brand new title. Don't worry, I'll still be covering current anime, but the format will be different. Thanks for being patient with me, and keep reading. 

First Impressions: AnimeSols

Anime Sols Logo

Hey guys, it's been awhile since I've posted something that wasn't Crunching the Numbers. This isn't going to be much different, but I wanted to make this post in response to recent news; last night, the site for Anime Sols finally went up! 

Wait, what's Anime Sols you ask? Well, if you've been following ANNCast and Anime World Order, both podcasts recently did interviews with Sam Pinansky, who's sort of the face of this project. I recommend listening to those podcasts for more info if you haven't yet, but in laymen's terms, Anime Sols is a combination Crunchyroll/Kickstarter site. So how does this work? Well, a bunch of anime studios basically partnered up, formed a website that streams a few of their shows, and each show has an option on the side where you can pledge money for an American DVD release. Each show has their own goal, averaging at about 16,000 to 19,000 dollars each to get a show licensed on DVD. Watching the shows is completely free, but if you like owning your anime on physical media and there are shows you'd love to own, you have the option of putting your money where your mouth is.

So what are the shows available on Anime Sols? Currently there are 8 series available (1 of which is a remake of another title on the list): Black Jack TV, Tobikage (better known as Ninja Robots to English viewers), Yatterman, Blue Blink, New Yatterman, Tekkaman, Creamy Mami, and a series of Tezuka movies that were aired for 24 Hour Television, which was a special charity program that was started in 1978. It's not much, but there are some good old-school selections that were never released on DVD in North America. Similar to Crunching the Numbers, I've decided to talk about each of these shows and what my thoughts on them are, as despite the age of these shows, they're new to me and probably new to many anime fans. This is going to be more casual than Crunching the Numbers, and I'll stick to talking about the first episodes only. If you have the time, I recommend checking them all out, and potentially putting some money forward for the shows you like.

Recently I've been watching Osamu Dezaki's Black Jack OVAs (I may or may not do a blog post on them in the near future). They're high quality mature works, taking classic Black Jack stories and presenting them with a darker realstic edge and a flair for drama that only Dezaki can acheive. So you can understand that transitioning from the OVAs to the more cartoony 2004 TV series would be a bit jarring for me. That's not to say Black Jack TV is bad, it just carries a lot less weight than the OVAs.

If for some reason you've never heard of Black Jack, he's the master surgeon who was created back in the 70's by manga god Osamu Tezuka. The stories were mostly told in formulaic one-chapter stories: someone has a disease that conventional doctors can't cure, so they go to the unlicensed doctor Black Jack, who normally charges a high price but can fix pretty much anything. There's normally some social commentary or moral buried in each story. Black Jack himself is an interesting figure; from his scarred face and cape to his mysterious motives, he's an unconventional but likable protagonist.

So how does this version of Black Jack hold up based on my first impression? Eh, it's okay. For 2004 it looks kind of cheap, with big offenders like the poor CG houses in the opening and the bold outlines on the character models. The plot of episode 1 (there's an episode zero that I didn't watch but is available on the site), involves a needle getting lost in a patient and then disappearing. Not the most compelling Black Jack story, but given the strength of the source material and involvement of Tezuka Production, later episodes of the show might be better. Tezuka fans might get a kick out of seeing Sharaku as a character in the show. For those who don't know, Sharaku is the main character of The Three-Eyed One, yet another Tezuka manga. I don't know if this Sharaku has a third eye, but the bandage on his head suggests he might. Or maybe it's a tease.

I know Tezuka and Black Jack fans will definitely check this show out, but for the Black Jack newbs, I recommend checking out the OVAs or the manga first. There's nothing wrong with this version, but if you want to be wowed, this is not the one to start with.

LOVE SURVIVOR! LOVE SURVIVOR! Okay, before you read this, check out the opening song for this show. You will thank me later.

Now that you're done having your ears pleasured, how is Tobikage? Well, it's certainly an 80's super robot show! In the future, Mars has become a colony for Earth. Like some sort of Space Australia, criminals are sent there to do hard labor. The son of one of these criminals, Joe Maya, has just turned 16 and must now become a soldier or a hard laborer. Or that would be a case if a mysterious army piloting ninja robots didn't decide to invade on his birthday. Luckily Joe finds his own giant robot, which can transform into a lion with laser cannons.

The set-up actually reminded me of the recent anime Valvrave, proving that this plot has pretty much been used forever, though this show is somehow not as ridiculous as Valvrave beyond the cheese-tastic opening. Joe's your rebellious young hero; even before the ninja robots show up, he's resisting the police and doesn't want to join the army, because despite soldiers having it better than laborers, he doesn't want to take orders from them. He's a flawed but ultimately sort of likable guy. There's some good if standard old-school mecha action as well, though seeing giant robots with spears take out tanks and jets armed with laser cannons with ease is a bit ridiculous. Not much else to say other than if you like this kind of set-up and transforming robots, you'll probably dig Tobikage.

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I'm putting both Yattermans in the same boat as they're not all that different from each other. There's some slight character tweaking for the heroes in New Yatterman and there's some more meta-humor, but both shows start out pretty much the same way. Gan is a mechanical genius and son of a toymaker. With the help of his girlfriend Ai, he completes his father dog mecha, the Yatterwan. Using Yatterwan and toy gadgets, Gan and Ai become Yatterman and Yatterman-2 and fight the villainous and comedic Doronbo Gang!

This is pure Saturday morning cartoon flavor, and right off the bat you'll know if you like this or not. Funnily enough, in anime culture the Doronbo Gang is the most popular aspect of the Yatterman franchise. The three villains were the prototype for later bumbling kid's villains, primarily Team Rocket in the Pokemon anime. Most of the show's humor revolves around them screwing up, puns, and fart jokes. As juvenile as the humor is, it's never annoying and always tongue-in-cheek. When the Doronbo Gang first shows up, they don't just explain who they are to the viewers, they SING about who they are. Now that's how to do exposition. The plotting is extremely simplistic; the Doronbo Gang wants to collect Skull Stones (or Skull Rings in New Yatterman) for their mysterious never-seen boss so they can become extremely wealthy, and it's up to Yatterman to stop them every week. It's as basic as Saturday morning cartoon superhero fare goes, but the show's saving grace is the silly humor and the Doronbo Gang.

I could definitely see myself watching each show once a day. It's a fun diversion that doesn't take itself too seriously, and the tropes it employs, while super common now, were new at the time, and it's fun seeing how they were implemented back in the day. But which version should you watch? Well, both are pretty similar, and I can't pick one as a superior version. What I do know is that the original series gets away with some more... risque jokes than the newer version, but New Yatterman employs some bizarre meta-jokes and parodies of real-life people like George Washington and supposedly Barack Obama, so pick your favorite version knowing that.

Before Sailor Moon, magical girls didn't often fight anyone. They would more often use their magic to make their lives easier or more fun, and at it's heart, that's what Creamy Mami does, but it sticks out by being super-creative. A young girl named Yuu gets magic from aliens for one year. Said-aliens come down in a flying ark with two talking cats who act as mentors to Yuu (cats mentoring magical girls? Never happens!). She uses her magic to become an older idol named Creamy Mami and win over her crush. Oh, and she gets to fight aliens as well.

Now this isn't an action show technically, and the focus is still on Yuu using her magic to become a pop idol, but it's easy to see why this is considered one of the classic magical girl anime. There's a sequence in the first episode in which Yuu experiences the memories of the aliens, and in those memories she slays a dragon. The whole scene looks like it was taken from a fantasy epic, and if we get more scenes like that, I'd definitely buy this show. The appeal of a young girl becoming an adult makes perfect sense for a show aimed at young girls, providing them with the fun fantasy of becoming a successful pop star with magical powers.

Magical girl fans should definitely check this show out, and for people curious enough to explore the roots of magical girl shows, this would be a good place to start out. The creative imagery and sense of wonderment were definitely enough to get me interested.

Another Tezuka offering, this was the last show Osamu Tezuka would directly be involved with before his death in 1989. In the same way Creamy Mami enticed young girls with its creativity, I could definitely see this as being the boy equivalent in some respects. Kakeru has a dream of an evil emperor named Gros attacking him on the train, but Gros is just a fictional character in the books that Kakeru's father writes, or so he thought. It turns out Gros is real, and he sends his henchmen out to kidnap Kakeru's father so he can no longer tell the public about the Gros Empire, despite the fact that Kakeru's father had no idea the stories he was writing were real. Luckily for Kakeru, he finds a magical blue pony named Blink who helps the boy chase after his father. Along the way he meets a shady duo of incompetent thieves, a bus driver who can take him to alternate worlds, and fights a flying mechanical mask.

This is pure kid's adventure fantasy at some of its best. All that stuff I listed above happens in the first episode alone, which makes you wonder just else the show has left to offer. If it manages to stay as creative and imaginative as the first episode, this show needs some definite love as we don't get kid's shows like this anymore. There's not much depth to the characters, but they're written competently and have their distinctive personalities. It's not Tezuka's masterpiece, but if this was the last thing he ever worked on, then he went out on a good note.

Another Tatsunoko superhero show, though not nearly as comedic as Yatterman. Well, it is hilariously 70's, from the catchy but dated theme song to the giant blonde afros. Actually, I take it back, it's awesomely 70's in my book. Someone get me the soundtrack for this, it's a great mix of orchestral and groovy beats.

This is going to shock you, but the plot for this is really simple. In the future, pollution is about to kill the planet. Humanity has three years to find a new home before the Earth dies, but to make matters worse, an alien race called the Waldaster decides to invade. Luckily, we have Space Knight Tekkaman to defend us with his mighty space lance and whip.

This is definitely a show I would recommend to someone who likes old-school tokusatsu shows like Kamen Rider, where the fun comes from people in ridiculous costumes beat up bad guys in their own ridiculous costumes and a kicking soundtrack. Lupin III fans will be happy to hear Yasuo Yamada playing the blonde afro dude known as Andro. If that stuff doesn't appeal to you, Tekkaman doesn't have much else to offer. It's a simple 70's superhero cartoon for people who like simple 70's superhero cartoons, and it doesn't have the comedic chops that Yatterman does. Though I'd argue that someone who doesn't like knights blowing robots up in the middle of space while trumpets blare awesome music in the background has an empty soul.

24 Hour TV Specials:

The 24 Hour TV Specials are about 90 minutes each, and there are 3 available on the site: Bander Book, Marine Express, and Fumoon. Due to the length and my limited time, I haven't checked these out yet, but I've heard they're all interesting experimental films from Osamu Tezuka, and having seen a couple of Tezuka's experimental films, I know that means they're special and probably worth watching. I'd like to point out that the films are all split into three separate videos, so if you want to watch all of Bander Book, you have to go to another video every 30 minutes to watch it all. I don't know why the movies were split up like this, but them's the breaks.

Again, these are just first impressions and not full reviews. I recommend checking all of these shows out and seeing which ones tickle your fancy, but I hope I inspired some interest in Anime Sols. While there have been attempts to kickstart anime licenses in the past, none have been done quite like this, and I want to see the project be successful. The site's not complete quite yet, as the FAQ page is empty and the planned articles and forums are empty at the moment, but the site just went up so be patient.

Crunching the Numbers: Spring Fling

Exams are over, the sun is shining, and a slew of brand new anime is out for me to watch and complain about! Actually, there's not going to be a whole lot of complaining this time, because I happened to enjoy most of the shows this time around. See, winter is normally a wash for anime, much like how it is for American cinema. It's during the spring and fall that the anime studios like to put out their A-grade material... usually. Anyway, we've got a much beefier list this time around, so no point in delaying it any further!

1) Flowers of Evil (episodes 1-3)

School can be dull, monotonous, and horrible. This is the life that Takao Kasuga lives, a student with a crush on a girl named Saeki and an obsession with the real-life book Flowers of Evil by Baudelaire. One day, he steals Saeki’s gym clothes when no one is looking, except one girl notices him. Nakamura, an outcast with a dirty mouth, blackmails Takao into making a “contract” with him. No, she’s not asking him to become a magical girl, but she’s just as sinister as Kyubey.

Sinister is a great way to describe this show. The score is quiet and subtle, nonexistent at times and occasionally swelling into eerie strings and winds. The plotting is on the slow side; Takao doesn’t steal the gym clothes until the end of the first episode, and Nakamura doesn’t ask him for the contract until the end of the next episode. It’s planned for only 13 episodes, but the manga’s been going on for several volumes now; the pacing could become an issue, but the slow burn only adds to the show’s dark creepy atmosphere.

Okay, there’s no way to avoid talking about this; this anime is rotoscoped. For those who don’t know, rotoscoping is a technique in which the artists don’t create the characters from scratch; instead, live actors act out the scenes, and the artists draw over the live action footage to create animated characters. It’s a technique nearly as old as animation itself, dating back to the Betty Boop era, but it’s rarely used to animate an entire show, and for good reason; it makes the characters look weird. Cartoons don’t move the way people do, and when you see a cartoon moving like a person, it creates the uncanny valley effect. Personally, I’m not a fan of the technique; blame it on seeing Ralph Bakshi abuse the technique in several of his films and never making it work, but here? I have to give ZEXCS kudos for the sheer balls to take a popular manga like Flowers of Evil and completely change the artstyle like this, and yet it’s more faithful to the intent of the manga this way.

Flowers of Evil doesn’t want to portray the idealized moe version of school that we’re so used to in our anime. The characters actually resemble people, some of them even look ugly. Guess what, not everyone looks like a beauty model. It’s refreshing to see an anime attempt a realistic tone such as this. Now, one might ask why this wasn’t done in live action; in fact, the director wanted to do the manga in live action as he thought a typical anime adaptation wouldn’t suit the manga. The compromise of rotoscope was a double-edged sword; it was bound to piss people off for not looking like their moe blob schoolgirl shows or the manga, but on the other hand it’s created a huge reaction in which everyone must see this show for being so unique. I think the rotoscoping works primarily for two reasons: one, it is different, and anime needs variety, and two, it simultaneously creates a realistic and creepier tone for the story, thus enhancing the already realistic and creepy tone of the source material. 

Someone has made an anime that no one else would dare to make, and the very idea of something truly new has excited me. Everyone should see at the least first episode of this show, if only to try something new and see how they feel about it. Variety is the spice of life, and this particular spice was fantastic. 

Flowers of Evil is available streaming on Crunchyroll

2) Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet (episodes 1-3)

Far in the future, humanity has advanced far into the stars and formed the Galactic Alliance of Humankind and a central colony called Avalon. While seemingly a utopia society, the Galactic Alliance is stuck in an endless war against the Hideauze, alien life forms that threaten the progress of humanity. In a battle against the Hideauze, Ensign Ledo and his sentient mecha named Chamber fall into a wormhole that leads them to a strange planet full of life: Earth. Specifically, he ends up on a fleet of salvaging vessels named Gargantia.

Mecha fans have it good this season; they have not one, not two, but three mecha titles to choose from this season, but this is definitely my favorite of the lot. From the first two minutes, I was hooked on the show. A mysterious narrator gives us the details on the Galactic Alliance in a way similar to a propaganda speech, referring to the humans as comrades and praising them while demonizing the hell out of the Hideauze. One might be reminded of the film Starship Troopers (the awesome one by Paul Verhoeven and not the animated films or sequels) with its similar usage of a human-alien war with its fair share of propaganda. However, that’s only a small part of the show, as the focus seems to be on Ledo ending up on Earth, which according to Chamber was supposed to have become inhabitable years ago.

The humans of Gargantia contrast well with the Galactic Alliance’s attitudes and even dress code. The humans of Gargantia tend to wear brighter colors and lack uniforms as opposed to the dark-colored and uniform Galactic Alliance, and they’re more laid back as opposed to the militant and rank-based Alliance. It makes for some conflict between Ledo and the Gargantia when he first arrives. Chamber himself is a pretty cool mecha; his method of propelling himself involves creating an energy orb of sorts above his head, similar to a float.

There hasn’t been much action outside of the opening battle, but Gargantia is so far a good example of sci-fi writing, presenting neat ideas of the future and a great setting and story, and coming off of the recent sci-fi anime Psycho-Pass, it’s nice to know that Gen Urobuchi isn’t repeating himself with his major themes, at least not for now. The visuals as provided by Production IG are stunning; the main colors of Gargantia are bright oranges and blues, which pop nicely among the endless sea and rusting vessels. Overall, Gargantia is a solid package, sure to suck in mecha enthusiasts and general sci-fi fans in.

Gargantia is available streaming on Crunchyroll

3)The Devil is a Part-Timer (episodes 1-3)

Its demons vs knights in a fantasy realm ruled by none other but Satan himself! In an epic battle at his castle, Satan and his loyal minion Alsiel are forced to flee, but they swear to conquer the land once again. Cut to them warping to where else, Earth. Stranded and unable to use their magic, they’re forced to live like normal people and get part-time jobs. Satan swears to eventually conquer this world as well once he’s earned enough money, but has he grown accustomed to his new life as a human?

If someone weren't aware that this was supposed to be a comedy, you might mistake this for a serious show at first with the fantasy war. It only makes the shift to the human world all the more hilarious. The concept of Satan working at McDonald’s (well, they call it MgRonald’s instead, but you know what it is) alone is funny, but the writing and pacing of the show is witty enough to have you laughing every minute. Jokes come and go at a moment’s notice, and the show never slows down. The story’s no slouch either; as of episode 2 Satan (going by the name of Maou in the human world) encounters a hero from his world who’s come to slay him; hilariously she’s lost her magic as well and is working at a phone company, and she’s making a lot more money than Maou. 

The problem with reviewing a comedy is that merely repeating the jokes does the show no service, but trust me when I say this is the funniest show of the season. The art and animation hold up as well; it’s not uncommon for anime comedies to look cheaper than their action and drama counterparts, but it looks just as nice as those other shows; the battle at Satan’s castle in particular looks like it were ripped straight out of a high-quality action show. If you’re looking for a high concept comedy that actually lives up to the premise, this is your show.

The Devil is a Part-Timer is available streaming on Funimation and Hulu

4) Chihayafuru 2 (episodes 14-16) (-3)

Remember last time when I talked about the pacing being a bit on the slow side? Well, the semi-finals lasted THREE episodes. Mind you, by shonen tournament standards this is nothing, but for Chihayafuru, it’s weird to see them take this long to get through one match. It’s a good match, one with lots of tension and a surprise victory for one character near the end, but given the amount of flashbacks used in the match, this could have easily been two episodes instead. Hell, in episode 15, most of the time is spent hyping up the final match, and while it does help us get into the mindset of the opposing team and lend itself well to humor, the show doesn’t have much time left and we’re still at the national team matches. The individual matches haven’t even started yet!

Don’t get me wrong, the show is still great; every character is likable in some way and you really feel their struggles, but knowing that a season 3 is highly unlikely, I’d love to know if the show will end on a satisfying note and not a “read the manga” ending. Also, episode 16 is a recap episode. Yep.

Chihayafuru seasons 1 and 2 are available streaming on Crunchyroll

5)Attack on Titan (episodes 1-3)

Far in the future, instead of reaching the stars humanity lives in a medieval style city surrounded by 100 feet walls. There is peace so long as the humans don’t leave the walls, but this changes when the Titans attack and finally break through the outer wall. Well, I’m sure the titans won’t harm the humans, right? They can be reasoned with, or not, as they try to consume every human in sight.

Attack on Titan was perhaps the most anticipated title of the spring, and I’m glad to say it’s not a disappointing show so far. Thanks to the bombastic direction by Tetsuro Araki, who previously worked on the similarly energetic though not as action-packed Death Note, Attack on Titan aims to please the audience with an overwhelming sense of scale by introducing the titans as major threats from the first episode 1. The designs of the titans are a bit weird; some of them have rather dopey faces, but they become downright creepy when they’re chomping down on a human. Some of the titans lack FLESH, as if it had been burnt off, which is truly unsettling. 

However, that's not to say there aren’t problems. The character designs have thick outlines, a look that normally doesn’t stick out in comics but can look odd in animation, and it’s a bit distracting here. The animation is amazing in places, but when the action isn’t happening the characters are largely static, sometimes relying on camera pans over still images. Also, there isn’t much to the characters yet. Eren’s our protagonist, a young boy who wants to join the Survey Corps and stop the titan, but he mostly spends the first two episodes yelling about the titans and being angry. There’s also his sister Mikasa and his best friend Armin, but they haven’t had much to do yet either. Given the nature of the first two episodes, which is mostly world-building and action, this is forgivable. 

Episode 3 thankfully takes a break from the action to focus on the characters, as they begin training to become soldiers. We’re introduced to more of the supporting cast as well, and already relationships and rivalries are beginning to form, which will no doubt affect the rest of the story. By far my favorite character in the show so far is Sasha, a trainee with an obsession, and no, she’s not just a typical big eater given her backstory.

So far Attack on Titan is looking to be a fun fantasy romp with some grisly imagery for good measure. I’d say the hype for this show has been well-deserved.

Attack on Titan is available on Crunchyroll

6) Devil Survivor 2 (episodes 1-3)

It’s an ordinary day in Japan for our three high school students. Get on subway, get an email video showing you how you’re going to die, a demon attack, you know, another day in Japan. It turns out that a group known as the Septentriones are invading Tokyo, but fortunately our three young heroes receive their own demons via cellphone, and they fight back. A government agency known as JP’s that knows about the demons appears to protect the city and assist our main characters, but not much is known about them.

With a name like Devil Survivor 2, you might think this is a sequel and would thus not qualify for Crunching the Numbers (ignoring Chihayafuru 2 because I love Chihayafuru). However, it’s actually an adaptation of the video game of the same name, which was a sequel but had a standalone story, and that’s the case here. The show is not shy about its video game roots; the monster summoning mechanic is as old as Pokemon, and between commercial breaks it shows off the status and bio of each character much like a video game stat screen. To the show’s credit, this never gets in the way of the plot; exposition happens but it never slows down the story and I never feel like I’m watching a game tutorial. In one episode, a character purchases a demon on his phone through an auction, which seems to be straight from the game, but it casually happens during a scene without exposition and doesn’t slow down.

So far the characters are pretty likable. The main character, Hibiki, fits the hero archetype pretty well, but it’s clear he has a personality unlike the mute protagonists of many RPGs; it helps that he speaks of course. His friend Daichi plays the role of lovable loser well, and everyone else is fine. The animation is pretty good, and seems to be better than previous Shin Megami Tensei adaptation Persona 4. As an action show, it’s very solid and has enough variance in the demon designs to keep you engaged. I should note that the character design is being done by Suzuhito Yasuda of Durarara fame; most of the characters have that thin stylish look to them, and the opening sequence for the show is also reminiscent of Durarara, introducing each character with their name on-screen.

Normally video game adaptations aren’t worth watching (oh hai Devil May Cry), but this one seems to be pretty solid. I haven’t played the game it’s based on, but it does a good job of welcoming new viewers in by not overloading them with info from the game and letting them settle into this setting, and I’m sure fans of the video game will enjoy seeing their favorite characters competently animated.

Devil Survivor 2 is available on Crunchyroll

7) Mushibugyo (episodes 1-3)

Japan is being invaded by giant bugs! Luckily there’s the Edo Bug Magistrate Office, which has the strongest warriors in all of Japan! Our main character, Jinbe, wants to be the strongest warrior ever, and joins the Office as a way to get stronger, but he gets no respect anyone. See, new recruits never last more than week, so there’s an air of elitism among the Office, but slowly Jinbe is growing on them with his tough attitude and need to prove himself!

Welcome back to Shonen Land, where the heroes are hot-blooded and the hairstyles are crazy! Mushibugyo has no pretense about being a dumb shonen action series, but thankfully it’s very competent at being one, a trend that seems to be strong this season. While the characters all fit neatly into their little shonen archetypes, they’re all likable for the most part. In the second episodes, there’s actually a bit of development between Jinbe and the ninja Hibachi, who bond over their mutual like of the Office’s greatest warrior, Mugai; it’s actually kind of adorable.

Mushibugyo’s not going to win awards for plot and character this season, but it caught my eye with its stylish presentation. The opening colors the characters with some thick shading around the outlines, to the point that they resemble characters straight out of Redline, and each episode opens with a preview of a scene later in the episode presented in black and white. It’s as if someone saw Rurouni Kenshin and thought “yeah, I can make that, but I’ll make it look cooler and not go on for 100 episodes”.  This is Seven Arcs Pictures first time doing animation production (to my knowledge), and if this is what they can do, I’d love to see what they could do with a stronger script. I don’t expect much from Mushibugyo, but the stylish direction and unabashed love of the shonen genre definitely put me in good spirits. 

Mushibugyo is available on Crunchyroll

8) Valvrave the Liberator (episodes 1-3)

From Sunrise studios, it’s yet another mecha show! Are you surprised?

While Gargantia is my preferred mecha show of the season, Valvrave has managed to carve a nice niche for itself. The plotting is standard mecha fare; it’s the year TC 71 (a fancy term for THE FUTURE), and Earth has been split into several space nations, two of which are the Dorssian Military Alliance and the neutral nation JIOR. Haruto is a normal high school student living in Jior when suddenly the Dorssians attack in an attempt to annex Jior. Luckily, Haruto finds an experimental mech called Valvrave that allows him to fight back. Oh, and it turns him into a vampire. You know, like mechs tend to do.

So far Valvrave comes across as the dumber but more fun cousin of Gundam. Plot-wise it’s not much different (young boy fights invading army with mecha), but the twist of him becoming a vampire (okay, not really a vampire since he can go into sunlight, but he is essentially immortal and bites people on the neck) is kind of fun. Dialogue and character-wise the show’s nothing special; Haruto has some understandable angst at least, and the Dorssian spies are a bit of fun, particularly the headband kid who’s enthusiastic about killing. The opening promises that there will be more mechs like Valvrave, and the show has set up a decent rivalry between Haruto and a character named L-Elf (yes, only in anime would a person have that name).

It doesn’t have anywhere near the same ambitions as Gargantia, but as a stupid but ludicrous counterpoint to it, it has a reason to exist this season. The gimmicky nature of it could rub off fast, but it’s certainly better than the last mecha show of this season.

Valvrave is available on Crunchyroll

9) Arata the Legend (episodes 1-3)

Have you ever had a friend who turned out not to be your friend? This is how Arata Hinohara’s first day of high school begins, as a bully from his middle school days convinces Arata’s last friend to betray him. Meanwhile, in a fantasy world, another boy named Arata has been chosen to be the next ruler of the realm. However, the ruler must be a princess, so Arata crossdresses to overcome this problem and hopefully avoid detection. The plan goes awry when the current princess is assassinated and Arata is blamed for it. As he runs from the guards, he ends up in a magical forest which switches him with the Arata of our world. As if Hinohara’s day could get any worse.

Based on Yuu Watase’s manga of the same name, Arata the Legend shares much in common with her previous works, particularly Fushigi Yuugi with the normal person trapped in fantasy land plot. What sets this apart from her other work is the intended audience: the pretty boys will probably still get the girls to watch, but this is meant to be a shonen series. The main character’s (we’ll refer to the Japanese Arata as Hinohara to avoid confusion) more active than the female protagonist of Fushigi Yuugi; already in the first episode he’s obtained a magical sword called a Hayagami and managed to fight back against his pursuers. To draw one more Fushigi Yuugi comparison, the fantasy world invokes a magical Chinese look, with ever character wearing elaborate and beautiful robes.

So far Arata is a decent entry in the “trapped in another world” genre. Hinohara’s angst is understandable, and he’s not completely useless as a character, and if you like Watase’s designs then you’ll like the look of the show. It looks a little old among the slicker shows out this season, but you'll live. Not much else to say at the moment, but it’s entertained me enough to keep for now.

Arata the Legend is available to watch on Crunchyroll

10) Muromi-san (episodes 1-3)

Takurou, nickname “Takkun”, is a high school boy who loves to fish. One day, he catches an annoying mermaid named Muromi who can’t leave Takkun alone. She mentions being thousands of years old and being responsible for events such as the Kamikaze that saved Japan from the Mongols. Takkun doesn’t show much interest in her, but she keep coming back, and sometimes with friends.

What’s unique about Muromi-san is that it’s the only anime this season that airs in 12 minute episodes as opposed to the usual 24 minute episodes. This was probably a wise choice on the part of the creators, as the show doesn’t have much going for it. It’s purely a comedy, relying on slapstick and jokes about Muromi’s age and status as a mermaid, and not all the jokes hit home. Episode 1 made me laugh a few times (“don’t ask me, I’m just a starfish!”). Episode 2 was a bit duller, introducing Muromi’s friends and some historical in-jokes, but otherwise not as funny as the first episode. 

Still, in small doses, it’s an okay show. Probably the best part of the show is the opening sequence, in which Muromi and her mermaid friends try to protect the Earth from a meteor. For the few laughs it gave me, I’ll keep it for now.

Muromi-san is available on Crunchyroll

11) The Severing Crime Edge (episodes 1-3)

Kiri Haimura loves cutting hair more than anything, to the point that it’s practically a fetish for him. As if fate were on his side, he meets a girl named Iwai Mushiyanokouji, who is cursed with long hair. Nothing can cut her hair except for Kiri’s scissors, which turn out to be a special item known as the Severing Crime Edge. It seems like Iwai’s problems are fixed, but things only get worse when serial killers who possess similar tools to the Crime Edge known as Killing Goods start attacking her. It’s up to Kiri to protect her with his own Killing Goods.

Okay, first I have to mention that having to say “Killing Goods” over and over again is rather silly, and the same goes for the other made up terms in the show like the Insteads. As for the show itself, it feels like a weird blend of a standard shonen fighting series and Mysterious Girlfriend X (yeah, that one anime with the “romantic” drool fetish). While not as creepy as MGX, it definitely has that same vibe of “does the author have some weird kinks?”. Kiri’s obsession with hair could be considered acceptable, but the level at which he expresses it is borderline psychotic. Iwai is a moe character through and through; innocent, needing to be constantly protected, and appeals to the main character’s interests. Whether this bothers you or not will tell you if you’re the target audience for this show.

As it stands, so far I can’t quite say Crime Edge is good; rather, I’m transfixed by just how strange and stupid it is so far. The characters don’t act like real people, and the premise is incredibly ludicrous and a tad convoluted. It’s definitely more interesting than something like Mysterious Girlfriend X (once you get past the spit in that show, it’s a dull rom-com). The uncertainty of where this show is going is enough to keep me watching.

Severing Crime Edge is available on Crunchyroll

12) Karneval (episodes 1-2)

The first episode kind of reminds me of the first episode of Baccano; it involves a train and it’s really confusing. I got the basics of the show down; there’s an organization called Circus, basically a bunch of superpowered people with a circus theme that combat superpowered criminals and monsters. They happen upon a thief named Gareki and a young white-haired boy named Nai, and due to their special skills, they take an interest in them and bring them aboard their flying ship.

When I first heard of the show, it was described as a josei series, but it honestly feels more like a shonen series based on the set-up. The female appeal seems to lie mostly in the art direction, and I must admit there are some pretty men in this show, but the art should appeal to both genders; the color design is very bright and stands out, the characters are all very distinct, and the animation is fluid where it matters. It makes the first couple of episodes easy to swallow despite their otherwise confusing nature. We’re not really sure of the motivations of the characters just yet aside from their occupations; Nai and Gareki are the biggest mystery of the show. Hopefully later episodes will flesh them out; there’s nothing wrong with being ambiguous for the sake of mystery, but more info up front would be nice.

It goes to show that being pretty does matter when it comes to holding my attention. Had the art design not been nearly as good, I might have considered dropping this early, but for now I’ll keep watching.

Karneval is available to watch on Funimation and Hulu

13) Henneko – The Hentai Prince and the Stony Cat (episode 1-2)

I recall an anime from last summer being about a perverted high school student who was open about his pervertedness. This show takes that one step further by prevented us with a perverted main character by the name of Yokodero Yoto who wants to be able to talk about his pervertedness. Thankfully for him, there’s a cat statue that can take away his mind’s filter, thus letting him freely talk about the things that come to mind. However, this backfires when he starts saying perverted things in front of everyone without any control, and he ends up being labeled “the Hentai Prince”. He wishes to have his façade back, but the cat statue already gave it away to someone else who needed it. Lucky for him, he’s not alone as a girl named Tsukiko, who lost the ability to make facial expressions to the stony cat, decides to help him find the person who has his façade if Yoto can help her get her facial expressions back.

Given the premise and main character, the show is on the raunchy side. The opening sequence features close-ups on the girls’ boobs, butts, and navels, and there are some fanservice shots, but the show’s not nearly as offensive to women as one might think. Yoto’s a pervert and he knows it, and he does like to leer at pretty girls, but on the scale of deplorable perverts, he ranks pretty low. The fact that he doesn’t want to be spewing out perverted things 24/7 shows that he’s not a complete idiot and has a little decency, which is a bit refreshing. Tsukiko’s lack of emotional expression in both her voice and face could get tiring, however. It makes sense that Yoto would have a character who suffered a similar fate to him to talk to, but a character lacking emotion doesn’t sound fun. 

The main problem with the show is that the concept might not be able to fill out a single cour; by the end of the episode they’ve already figured out where Yoto’s façade has gone. Thankfully, there’s enough humor in the first episode to give me some hope for this show. The ending in which Yoto gives a ridiculous love confession to a girl is worth a few laughs. It’s far from a masterpiece; it doesn’t do much to stand out from other sex comedies out there, but the concept is neat enough and the jokes hit often enough to make it onto my list for now.

Henneko is available to watch on Crunchyroll

14) Majestic Prince (episodes 1-3) (Dropped)

So okay, have you heard this one yet? A bunch of teenagers are training as mecha pilots and… oh wait, you have heard this one? Good, I can keep this short then.

If Gargantia is smartly written and Valvrave is dumb fun, Majestic Prince is the dumb mecha show trying to be the smart show. It takes itself mostly serious with some lame comedy thrown in. However, the setting is all too familiar. Our teenage protagonists really not likable; they don’t get along well with each other, and while that could be used for some interesting exchanges, it’s damaged by the generic archetypes. You have the leader, the nerd, the pervert, the cute girl, the serious girl, blah blah blah. It doesn’t help that the character designs (done by Hisashi Hirai of Gundam Seed fame), aren’t appealing. The character have this weird squareness to their faces, often lack noses or have huge noses, and somehow manage to look bland despite not being typical anime designs. Apart from the “what’s wrong with your face?!?” moments, I could barely pay attention.

Look, we’re blessed to have three mecha shows of different flavors this season, because we can pick whether we want something like Gargantia (good science fiction story) or Valvrave (stupid fun gimmicks). With those two shows existing, there’s not much point to watching Majestic Prince.

Majestic Prince is available to watch on Crunchyroll

15) Zettai Boei Leviathan (episodes 1.5) (Dropped)

Yes, that episodes 1.5 thing is intentional. Why? Because I could not make it through the second episode of this, which should give you a hint to my feelings on this show.

Based on a mobile Japanese game of the same name, Zettai Boei Leviathan is the latest show from Gonzo. Man, remember when Gonzo made good shows like Ganktutsuou and Welcome to the NHK? In the magical land of Aquafall, there are three dragon girls who hang out and do cute things, until a fairy shows up and tells them that the world is in danger, and she’s recruiting people with magic to form a defense squad. Naturally, the dragon girls… continue to do to cute things and not care about the world’s safety. But hey, the girls are cute, right?

This show is painfully dull. The fantasy setting is completely wasted on the slice-of-life stuff. I imagine the girls are part-dragon (they grow wings and tails when they want to), probably to appeals to someone out there, and some people might like that the show is nothing but cute girls doing cute things, but there are better shows with cute girls out there, like last season’s Love Live. You know why Love Live was entertaining? There was actually a reason to give a damn for the characters beyond “cute girls doing cute things”. Even K-On, the poster child for the genre, had more urgency than this. There’s far better fantasy shows out this season, no need to watch this one.

Zettai Boei Leviathan is available to watch on Crunchyroll

These aren't on the list, but I also checked out Photo Kano and My Teen Romance Comedy is a SNAFU. The reason I don't talk about them more is that I just didn't think they were interesting enough to talk about. I also did not check out Date A Live because everyone unanimously agreed it was horrible, and I simply never got around to watching Red Data Girl because my list was already big enough.