.Shorties

Shiba Inuko san

A young girl named Ishibashi Chako suspects her classmate, Shiba Inuko-san might possibly be a dog, but no one else seems to suspect anything.

Spring 2012:Space Brothers: Episode 1

Summary

Mutta, the older brother was born unlucky, while his little brother Hibito was born lucky, On one fateful day, they see a UFO and promise that they’ll one day go into space. Years later, and Hibito is going on a mission to the moon, while Mutta is fired from his job and living with their parents, giving him an opportunity to chase after his childhood dream.

Spring 2012 Folk Tales from Japan Episode 1

Hey guys! It's me again. I know I haven't updated much lately, but it's a new season and I'm excited for this one, so I decided to resurrect the seasonal reviews. So without further ado, see under the break for my first review of the season, Folk Tales from Japan!

First Impressions: Fall 2011

It's time for a new season and a new First Impressions!

Summer 2011: A Look Back

As a new season begins, I look back at the previous season. I did poorly at keeping up American cartoons this season, not even watching the ones I was honestly looking forward too. Honestly, I've been watching stuff online rather than on TV for so long that I can never remember what time shows come on, but I'll try to keep up this season. I also only watched one American animated film, Cars 2, and didn't see Winnie the Pooh or The Smurfs (thank god). I did keep up the anime schedule, and didn't see any of the movies, but none of them have been translated yet.
I watched a lot of stuff this season, a bunch of which I wouldn't have started if I hadn't decided to watch all of them, and I would like to continue to do so if time allows it.

Let's look back at the season and see how it fared:

First Impressions: Nyanpire the Animation

Plot Synopsis: It's about a cat, who's turned into a vampire and lives with a girl named Misaki.

Before viewing: I still think it's really weird that, out of any show Gonzo could make after disappearing for two years, they went with this one. A short (four minutes per episode) series about vampire cats. It's just so...meh. It doesn't look interesting at all. Let's see...

After viewing: That was... mildly annoying. What does it mean when the latest series you release is something so bland and inane?  In many cases, it usually spells the end of something. Will Gonzo be focusing on releasing series like this until they sputter out of existence? This comes from the company behind Afro Samurai, Full Metal Panic!, Gantz, fricking Hellsing! This series is so out of character for them, it would be like a Disney Channel Original series featuring constant blood, guts and sexuality!

On to the actual show, there isn't really a lot to talk about. It's four minutes of a cat whining about how much it wants blood. First of all, I am sick and tired of vampires constantly whining about how hungry they are. You're fucking immortal! You have powers beyond our wildest dreams! Surely you can be hungry for a little while, and surely you can keep your self control in check. It's seriously getting annoying. Secondly, it's just as annoying when the main character throws a temper tantrum because its owner hasn't made its dinner yet. No one's going to like a character who can't wait two freaking minutes to eat! It's not cute; it's just obnoxious. There's not much else to say, aside from the fact that the animation looks like Hot Topic vomited all over a cotton candy machine.

Oh yes...the ending theme. The ending theme is in live action, with a J-pop idol in gothic lolita lipsyncing to a song while maids and plushies of the characters prance around her. It's...weird. And extremely annoying

In short, bland show, annoying whiny main character, and annoying ending theme. Not much to enjoy, just that it's mercifully short.

Ikoku Meiro no Croisee

Plot Summary: It's a series taking place in the mid-1800s about a Japanese girl named Yune who moves in Paris and works as an attendant in an ironwork shop with a man named Oscar and his nephew Claude.

Before Viewing: So far this season I've been utterly bored by Double J and Ro Kyu Bu!, mildly entertained by Uta no Prince-sama, and loved Kamisama no Memochou. Here's another series that I was really looking forward to. First of all, I love historical series. I'm a bit of a history geek, so these types of series always peak my interest. Secondly, I'm very interested in culture, so series where the characters get to experience culture shock interest me as well. And finally, look at those beautiful costumes! I am such a sucker for lovely settings and costumes, and this series appears to have both. This series better be pretty great!

After viewing: With beautiful animation, scenery, music and a very adorable lead, this series hits all the right buttons for me. This is moe at its finest, the way it’s supposed to be. No panty shots or objectifying the adorable lead, just a sweet little girl trying her hardest to accomplish something. The series has a very classy feel, although the accordion music in the background is a little much. You’d think people just constantly walk around carrying accordions in France. Yune is almost unbearably cheerful, completely unfazed by moving halfway around the world, and is delighted rather than confused or upset by culture shock. She never whines, even through internal monologue, which is rather refreshing for these fish out of water series, even though it is a bit unrealistic. The only time she ever gets upset is when she accidently breaks something in the shop, to which she responds by selling her most precious possession, given to her by her mother that she’ll most likely never see again, without even a second thought.

This episode is more about atmosphere than story-telling, and it’s a very relaxing enjoyable one. It’s the kind of series that you would watch at the end of a stressful day and feel immediately calm and serene. It’s almost like sight-seeing in an era that you’ll never get a chance to see, so much detail is put into the sights, the art, the scenery. It’s just simply lovely in every way.

The series seem to revolve around Claude and Yune attempting to understand each other’s culture, which is a nice set up. Claude is a bit of a tsundere character, but he’s the type that’s nice to those he knows or intends to know well. At first, he’s irritated that his uncle brought home a little girl to work in their metalworking shop, and he’s a bit culturally insensitive, but by the end of the episode he acknowledges this and apologizes in a Japanese way to Yune, promising to learn more about her culture. He also swears to her that he’ll one day buy back her mother’s kimono, which is very expensive and precious to Yune and very sweet of him to do.

One problem the series does have is that it attempts to acknowledge the language barrier in a very confusing way. Most of the time, in television, books or movies, everyone speaks the language of the audience, and no language barrier is acknowledged, even between characters from different nationalities. This series attempts to acknowledge that the characters are speaking different languages, but they are all actually speaking Japanese. With characters that speak both French and Japanese, it’s impossible to tell if they’re supposedly speaking French or Japanese, and it’s confusing. Sometimes the characters supposedly don’t understand one another, but you can’t tell because they’re speaking the same language. And then the series retcons that and they can have a conversation with one another. Who can speak Japanese, and who speaks French in the series? It’s extremely confusing, and not very well explained or conveyed. This could work in written format, which the series was originally a light novel series, but it doesn’t work in an animated one.

Overall, despite unrealistic characters, a badly conveyed language barrier, and a little too much reliance on French stereotypes, it is a lovely piece of animation, and one that I was glad to have experienced and spent time on.

First Impressions: Double J

At long last, the first available series of summer 2011!

Plot Synopsis:
In a school where after school activities are mandatory among all students, Hajime and her friend Sayo come across a new club that they have never seen before. The club is called "The Cultural Activity Preservation Club." The two enter the room to find all kinds of analog jobs and activities, such as handcrafting mats and toothpicks. This is a unique cultural manga mixed with comedy so as not to bore you, this is Double J!

Before viewing: It's based on a manga by Eiji Nonoka, who wrote Cromartie High School, a gag manga satirizing those ridiculous "delinquent high school series". Judging by this, and the artwork, it seems like it'll be a gag series poking fun at moe archetypes.

After viewing: Well, that was...short. The entire episode was only four minutes long, including the ending theme. And yet, despite the fact that it was only four minutes long, I was still just waiting for it to end. It was extremely boring. Not a single moment was funny, or even cute. Just four minutes of girls blandly talking about toothpicks. The only time I kinda chuckled was when the club president was introduced, and that's only because the way he was drawn was so out of place that it took me by surprise.

The character designs are bland, typical moe fare. The only interesting thing about the art is that the backgrounds aren't animated. They appear to just be photographs. There doesn't seem to be a point to it; it's just randomly there, so I'm chalking it up to extreme laziness.

In conclusion, not a single thing about this episode was memorable or entertaining. The only people I can think of to recommend this to at this point are people who like toothpicks. A lot. Otherwise, don't bother. There are much better short gag series out there than this one.

Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai

Lots of spoilers ahead.

Ano Hana is the story of a group of friends, who drifted apart after their group was struck by tragedy; the death of one of their closest friends, Menma. One day, several years after her death, Jintan, the "leader" of the group, has dropped out of school and become a recluse, and is suddenly able to see Menma. At first he believes she's a hallucination, but comes to believe that she is real, and that she won't leave until her wish is granted, a wish that she herself cannot remember.

This was the best anime I saw from Spring 2011. From the very first episode, I almost constantly cried. I cried because it was painful, because it was tragic, because it moved every fiber of my being. I laughed through my tears, and smiled despite the pain. Every emotion that was felt by the characters, I felt it too. Every tear matched my own.

Despite the fact that it constantly breaks your heart, it is also a feel good series. Yes, it's a story of tragedy, of a little girls death, and the constant guilt over it, but it goes beyond that, moving us through every stage of grief, until at last, we can move on past the pain and smile once again.

Every one of the characters feels responsible for the death of Menma, and they all deal with it in different ways. All of them put up big walls between themselves and others, all becoming very distant from the world. Jintan becomes a shut in, Anaru relies on others to shape how she dresses, expresses herself and spends her time, maybe in order to ignore the massive guilt she feels. Yukiatsu and Tsuruko immerse themselves in studying, and Yukiatsu begins cross-dressing as a way to feel closer to Menma. Possibly the one most affected by Menma's death was Poppo, because he actually saw her die and was unable to help her. He puts on a brave face and travels the world, trying to escape from the sight of her drowning in the river, but he keeps finding himself pulled back to the place he last saw her.

However, Jintan seeing Menma again sparks a revival of the group, even though they don't exactly believe him until near the end of the series. They begin hanging out again, using their old nicknames and realize that they hadn't actually changed as much as they thought, but come to realize that their fixation on Menma isn't healthy, and that they need to move on.

At its heart, this is the point of the series. Menma's mother most clearly exemplifies this, having become so fixated on her dead daughter that she practically ignores her own son. After seeing her is when they most clearly realize how dangerous it is to fixate on the dead, and begin working hard to grant Menma's wish so that she can pass on. Menma realizes that her presence is causing problems as well, and gets extremely upset when they go to see her mother, because all she wants is her mother to move on with her life.

The last episode is one of the most moving moments in anime I have ever seen. From when everyone admits the real reason that they wanted Menma to pass on, and everyone sobs like little kids, to right before Menma moves on and everyone gets one last chance to see her and talk directly to her again, the entire episode moves you completely, and fills you with peace, at finally seeing them make peace with their guilt and move on from their grief.

Yes, it does get contrived at times. It's crazy to think that someone would be in love with the same person from childhood to their teen years. The love triangle at the center of the group gets to be pretty ridiculous, but that's the point. From the death of a loved one, to rejection from the one you love, you need to learn how to move past that. You can't live trapped in a single moment of your life; you have to move forward and have new experiences, love new people and break new hearts. Because that's what makes you alive.

This is an anime I want everyone to see. For every person who's trapped in a cycle of guilt and shame, who feels their life had stopped at a single moment, this series reminds us that life continues on past death, and that we need to accept it. And one day, it won't hurt so much anymore, and will be nothing more than memories, bittersweet memories. And that's okay.

Summer Previews:

American Cartoons
Why is it so hard to find a list of American cartoons that's premiering this summer? Is there just not anything new this season? Here's what I can find: I may update this once I find out more.

Rated A for Awesome (June 20th 2011)
Plot (Synopsis from Kidscreen): Each 11-minute episode of Rated A For Awesome follows Les Awesome and his stepsister Thera, their friends Noam and Lars and cameraman monkey, Mr Twitchy.  The team works together to liven up all things boring and mundane

Thoughts: With a plotline pulled directly from Phineas and Ferb and awful CGI, this one is looking to be a stinker. Here's hoping for a pleasant surprise.

Thundercats (July 29th, 2011)
Plot (Synopsis from Cartoon Network):
After Thundera is attacked by the lizard people, Lion-O leads the ThunderCats on a quest for the Book of Omens, the one artifact that could guide them to victory. But he'll have to face villains like the ancient evil sorceror Mumm-Ra and the dangerous lizard general Slithe. Luckily, he has the Sword of Omens and its amazing powers at his disposal.

Thoughts:  I only vaguely remember the original Thundercats series, so I don't have too much to compare this new series to. But I am pretty pumped about this series! The animation looks great, and I haven't seen any medieval fantasy series in a long time, so it'll be a welcome change from the typical comedy series that dominate cartoons these days.


American Feature Films

Cars 2 (June 24th, 2011)
Plot (Synopsis from IMDb) Star race car Lightning McQueen and his pal Mater head overseas to compete in the World Grand Prix race. But the road to the championship becomes rocky as Mater gets caught up in an intriguing adventure of his own: international espionage.

Thoughts: Ehhh... I never felt like Cars needed a sequel. It was a decent movie on its own, so a sequel coming just feels like a cash in project, especially when they could be working on original movies rather than sequels. But, if I had been older when Toy Story 2 came out, I might have said the same thing. So we'll see how it turns out. But, really Pixar? Spies in a movie about race cars? What's next, Finding Nemo 2, where Nemo gets superpowers? 

Winnie the Pooh (July 15th, 2011)
Plot Synopsis(from Wikipedia): The film is based on the stories "In Which Eeyore Loses His Tail and Pooh Finds One" from Winnie-the-Pooh and "In Which Rabbit Has a Busy Day and We Learn What Christopher Robin Does in the Mornings" and "In Which Christopher Robin Leads an Expotition to the North Pole" (which had also been done in Piglet's Big Movie) from The House at Pooh Corner.

Thoughts: It looks like it'll be very classic Pooh, with traditional animation, musical numbers, interactions with the narrator and literal words of the book, and whimsical adventures. The fact that it's traditional animation and coming out the same day as the last Harry Potter movie probably spells trouble for how many people will see it, but perhaps its familiar faces will help negate those two factors.

The Smurfs (July 29th, 2011)
Plot Synopsis from IMDb:
When the evil wizard Gargamel chases the tiny blue Smurfs out of their village, they tumble from their magical world and into ours -- in fact, smack dab in the middle of Central Park. Just three apples high and stuck in the Big Apple, the Smurfs must find a way to get back to their village before Gargamel tracks them down.

Thoughts:  Ugh, make it go away please! I am so sick of these live action remakes of cartoons! Haven't they figured out yet that it does not work? Superheroes is one thing, but cartoon characters like the Smurfs? It looks awful, and I'm not even a fan of the original Smurfs.

Summer 2011 Anime
Since plot synopsis is up at the link, I'll just talk about my thoughts on each series and film.

• Inumarudashi (June 10th)-Another series that has gone completely unnoticed by fansubbers, but this one makes sense. Shows that primarily revolve around making a five year old boy learn to wear pants in public tend to go unnoticed, especially if they are drawn in an unusual style or made in Flash.
• Appleseed XIII (June 13th)-A retelling of a Shirow Masamune series? Surprisingly, this series seems to have gone completely unnoticed by fansubbers, which is weird for a series by the creator of Ghost in the Shell. You would think they would be all over it. I expect it to be obtuse and pretentious, but I haven't seen the other Appleseed movies or the manga, so I don't have much to compare it to. The animation looks very pretty though.
• Double J (June 28th)- The fact that it's based on a Nonoka Eiji manga is promising, but the plot summary and art are too generic to hold much interest. Hopefully the writing will make up for it.
• BLADE(July 1st)-The final series in a line of Marvel anime, this one looks rather promising. I don't know anything about the Blade comics though, so I can't compare it to anything, but Blade looks pretty frickin rad here.
• Ro-Kyo-Bu!(July 1st)-Extremely generic looking. I've got nothing else to say about it.
• Uta no Prince-sama-Maji Love 1000%(July 2nd)- Extremely dumb title. I find that adaptations of dating games don't tend to go so well, so not looking for much here. Looks pretty generic.
• Kami-sama no Memo-chou (July 2nd)- I'm a sucker for mystery series, so I'm interested, but how exactly does a NEET solve mysteries? Doesn't that go against the definition of a NEET?
• Sacred Seven (July 3rd)- What is this series about? We are given literally nothing about this series! But it's original! Huzzah!
• Nuraihyon no Mago Sennen Makyou(July 3rd)-Second season to a series I know nothing about.
• Natsume Yuujin-Chou San(July 4th)-I need to see the first and second seasons. Apparently this series is amazing.

• Yuru Yuri (July 4th)- Sounds like a K-ON! clone. Hopefully it'll try to be a little original, but I'm not holding my breath. Apparently it was published in a yuri magazine, so there may be some romance here.

• Ikoku Meiro no Croisee (July 4th) -A series taking place in 19th century Paris? Sounds interesting! Expecting lovely scenery and costumes in this one, plus some great culture clash moments.
• Kaitou Tenshi Twin Angel (July 5th)-Why is angel in the title twice? What's the point? New original magical girl series, with cute costumes that aren't slutty! Could this magical girl series actually be aimed at little girls? 
• Kamisama Dolls(July 5th)- The artwork doesn't go with the plot summary very well, but I'm still hoping for a supernatural thriller from this one. Might be interesting.
• Morita-san wa Mukuchi(July 5th)-Can't say much about it from the plot summary. High school 4-koma manga is pretty popular at the moment, but I feel that 4-koma is hard to adapt into a television series well. We'll see how it goes.
• Nyanpire the animation (July 6th)-What an...odd way to reintroduce a company that hasn't been around in two years. Gonzo is a pretty good company, but Nyanpire isn't the kind of fare they usually release. Seems cute enough, but likely won't get licensed or fansubbed.
• Usagi Drop (July 7th)- Based on a josei? Check. Older than usual cast of characters? Check. A noitanimA series? Hell yes. Definitely looking forward to this one.
• No. 6 (July 7th)-It's pretty unusual to base an anime on a novel, so that itself peaks my interest. And its another noitanimA series, so definitely interested. Come to think of it, haven't seen much sci fi this season either.
• THE IDOLM@STER(July 7th)- What a unusual premise for a video game. Maybe it'll translate over to anime well, maybe not. Looks like a setup for a harem series.
• BLOOD-C(July 7th)- Haven't seen CLAMP around lately, so it's welcome to see their lovely character designs again. Looks like vampires are popular this season.
• Mayo Chiki!(July 7th)- I have a weird obsession with gender bender anime, so I'll be interested in this, no matter how generic it turns out.
• Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu Ni! (July 8th)- I freaking love this series! Excited about the next season!
• Itsuka Tenma no Kuro Usagi(July 9th)- Sounds like a generic fantasy series. Not much of an opinion on this one.
• Nekogami Yaoyorozu(July 9th)-More catgirls and Japanese mythology. Maybe I'll learn some new things about mythology anyways.
• R-15(July 9th)-Porn skills? Did I seriously just read that phrase? Obviously a sex comedy, although the promo art is confusing. Looks more like an R-rated magical girls show. Might be hilarious if done right.
• Manyuu Hikenchou(July 11th)- the URL for this series is Japanese for iloveboobs.com Isn't that charming? Don't think this series is aspiring to be much.
• Dantalian no Shoka(July 15th) Aww GAINAX. Even you guys can't come out with an original series? Still, it looks pretty interesting, if only because it centers around a library. Yes, that is all it takes to spark my interest.
• Mawaru Penguindrum (July 15th)- What the hell is this about? We are literally given nothing about this series, except that it's from the director of Utena, which everyone is excited about. At least it's an original series.

 Anime Feature Films

•  Sengoku Basara film (June 6th)
• Towa no Quon (June 18th-November 2011)-The story of a boy named Quon who wakes up with superpowers. Apparently they're releasing a new film every month, which is a rather interesting way to release a series. Even though the first one's come out already, there doesn't seem to be much information about it.
• Sora no Otoshimono film(June 25th)
• New Fullmetal Alchemist film(July 2nd)
• Kokuriko-Zaka Kara(July 16th) Studio Ghibli hasn't released a slice of life movie in a really long time. Definitely interested.
• 2 new Pokemon films(July 17th)
• New Naruto Shippuuden film(July 30th)
• Alice in the Country of Hearts film(July 30th)
• Mahou Sensei Negima film (August 27th) (So that's what happened to Shaft!)
• Hayate no Gotoku film (August 27th)

First Impressions: Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko

Plot Synopsis:The story revolves around a highschool boy named Niwa Makoto. He lives with his aunt’s family since his parents are away on business. It is there where he meets his mysterious cousin of the same age Touwa Erio — who happens to tie a futon mattress around her upper body and is a self-proclaimed alien. Her staple food is pizza. Erio had been missing for half a year and was found floating in the sea. She doesn't remember anything about what happened during that period of time, but she began to think that it was the act of an alien and wanders the neighbourhood wrapped in the futon.
(Source: AniDB)

Before viewing: Shaft is hit or miss with me. Some of their shows are among the funniest series I've ever seen (Zetsubo Sensei, Arakawa); some of them are among the most wretched (He is my Master, Mahoromatic). I rarely end up in the middle on their series, because they always stand out and do things in outrageous ways. It's kinda their schtick. I am expecting the same for this series, even if the plot summary is generic and bland, and seems to set up a pseudo-incest generic romantic comedy.

After viewing: Oh god, that opening. What the hell is up with all of these helium sucking singers? Is that supposed to be cute? When will anime escape their clutches?

This anime could go one of two ways. It could either end up being a sci fi series about aliens, or it could be a slice of life series about a girl who believes that she is an alien. Personally, I am hoping for the latter, as that would be much more interesting to me, and Shaft has shown before that you can create a very surreal series without one hint of science fiction or magical elements, so it's not new territory for them.

The main character, Niwa Makoto, is a fairly typical no nonsense, practical kind of main character, not uncommon for a genre like this. However, it is obvious that he's not meant to be the star of the show. It's his cousin, Erio, a very pretty girl who believes she's an alien. She is obviously meant to be adorable, but honestly, she's really a pitiful character. She walks around wrapped in a futon, and her mother literally ignores her. When Makoto asks about her, she only tells him to pretend she's not there. It's really sad, and I get the feeling that there's a dark story lurking underneath the surface of a somewhat odd slice of life series. It is possibly the calmest series I've ever seen Shaft work on, and I hope that mood continues, but I do hope that there's an interesting story behind Erio's actions. In other words, I'm interested in seeing the rest.

Weird Taste in Anime

Sometimes you never know what kind of series you'll get into. So far this season I've seen Deadman Wonderland, [C], and Astarotte's Toy. I went into Astarotte's Toy with as low expectations as possible, and watched five episodes in one sitting. I was looking forward to Deadman Wonderland, but ended up slogging through it.

Astarotte's Toy is an anime I would be embarrassed to admit to liking. I literally went into it thinking, "Why the hell am I watching this? I'm just going to watch one episode, complain about how stupid it is, and then drop it and move on to something else. The central premise is so creepy that I can't give a plot summary without sounding like a pedophile. It's basically about a ten year succubus starting a harem. Creepy right?

Surprisingly not as bad as I'd thought. It mostly acts like a family drama, and the male lead plays the role of a surrogate father to Astarotte, which can be creepy or adorable, depending on how you look at it. It feels a lot like Hayate the Combat Butler, if that series had taken itself seriously. The little girl makes it clear that she's got a crush on Naoya, but Naoya seems more interested in his one night love affair who he happens to meet in this fantasy world. For the most part, it barely pays much attention to its central and uncomfortable premise.

In this way, Deadman Wonderland is the exact opposite. Both series start off with a ridiculous and somewhat shocking premise, but while Astarotte's Toy choses to ignore its own premise, Deadman Wonderland relishes it. Deadman Wonderland starts off with an entire classroom of students getting massacred sans one, our main hero, Ganta. He gets the blame for it and is sentenced to death at the worst idea for an amusement park ever, Deadman Wonderland, where all the workers are criminals. Why anyone would want to go to an amusement park where inmates work at is beyond me, but it is a sick, sick place, full of Gladiatorial battles and races, where people die. A lot. It becomes so gruesomely stupid, and appears to be switching to a battle a week format. It's really a shame the plot is so confused and inane, because its extremely well animated and the music is freaking awesome, but the characters aren't likeable and the story is too ridiculous to take seriously. It's just a bunch of excuses to see people get chopped up.

In the meantime, I'm getting through [C] pretty quickly.It's a pretty good sign if the end of the episode takes you by surprise, because it seems to run at a pretty quick pace. I'm not even sure why I like this series. Its about a boy who becomes a member of the Financial District, a place where people battle using economics terms to make or lose money. The plot is like Yu-gi-oh with economics randomly thrown in, and its a a weird combination. Somehow it seems to work, and I like uncommon themes, which economics definitely qualifies as. The animation is also quite lovely, and it balances out CGI and 2D animation pretty well, and the two different styles actually mesh together surprisingly well. The characters themselves however, aren't very memorable, although the character designs for the Pokemon  Assets are very inspired.