People, it’s been weeks and my busy schedule of working on my own creative works, school, and work has kept me away from this. I’ve been meaning to post more briefs, but it didn’t really work out that way. I’ll try to put more up (I totally won’t).
Mirai Nikki (The Future Diary)
Plot Summary: Yukiteru Amano is a loner who never really interacts with people and prefers writing a diary on his cell phone with his only companion being an imaginary friend named Deus Ex Machina, the God of Time and Space. However, Yuki soon learns that Deus is not a figment of his imagination but real when Deus makes him a participant in a battle royale with eleven others. Within this "Diary Game", the contestants are given special diaries that can predict the future with each diary having unique features that gives them both advantages and disadvantages.
The show starts off with the God of Time and Space, named Deus Ex Machina, giving our protagonist, Yukiteru Amano, a diary that tells him the future. Shenanigans ensue, as you might imagine.
Watching the final episode wrapped up the series nicely and, really, gave everyone a happy ending. You learn that the show was really a story of growth, through a very unique and interesting way. The growth of Yuki, Yuno, and Uryu Minene, the terrorist also known as Ninth (you see, each of the diary users are given numbers, Yuki is First and Yuno is Second, and it goes through Eleventh).
The biggest flaw of this series is that there’s not really a likable character through a big middle portion of Future Diary. I didn’t have much of a problem with this, as the concept and plot of the series kept me in enough suspense to keep watching. But the antics of Uryu Minene and her growth into an anti-hero rather than crazed terrorist by way of a policeman named Nishijima was pretty brilliant.
Through you have to expect, with a character named Deus Ex Machina, that deus ex machina will play a part in the series as a whole. And it does in a multitude of ways. I’ll decide not to spoil it, but if you are not a fan of deus ex machina, then maybe this show isn’t your show.
The best part of this series happens at its end between Yuki and Yuno. You grow to love them, then get a little weirded out at them, then kind of hate them through the progression of the series. But in the end, you really do like both Yuki and Yuno and you know that both characters, with a little push in the other direction, would have gone off the deep end (and Yuno did go off the deep end for a time).
Overall, this is one of the most interesting concepts in an anime I’ve ever seen, but the emphasis on so much death and killing for these junior high kids is very out there. I went with it, since it’s anime, but I would have much preferred if the diary users remained adults. Despite that, it was an entertaining show with a lot to offer in terms of plot and concept.
Anyway, the Winter 2012 anime season is winding down and I’m not ready to write a comparison of X-Men and Fairy Tail and/or One Piece. So this time around, it’s a review of the shows that are ending. I’ll exclude the on-going Fairy Tail and Hunter x Hunter and something is showing up here that I never really thought would. At least not this soon.
As per always, plot summaries are stolen from Anime News Network, with the exception of Milky Holmes, which was stolen from Wikipedia.
Ano Natsu de Matteru (Waiting in the Summer)
Plot Summary: While testing his 8mm camera at night, Kaito Kirishima is caught amid a mysterious explosion in his small town. Strangely, Kaito wakes up the next day perfectly fine, but with no recollection of what exactly happened the day before. Unfazed by what seems to have been just a dream, he heads to school not giving much thought to the incident. Discussing with his friends about the camera, they decide to make a movie during summer break. They invite two upperclass students to participate in the project: recently arrived Ichika Takatsuki and the odd Remon Yamano. In a strange twist of fate, Ichika starts living with Kaito as his sister has to work overseas. Summer days are about to get exciting for the small film crew.
Unlike some of my contemporaries at Anime News Network, I enjoyed the alien aspect of Ano Natsu up until the last two or three episodes. Then I started to agree with them. This show would work just as well (maybe even better) if Yoko — er, Ichika was being…I don’t know, controlled by her overbearing family or something. The Japanese do that, right?
I don’t know how to improve the story to not include alien elements, but the whole, “Oh no aliens. Thank god my best friend’s sister’s husband is literally in the Men in Black. Oh, and so is my other, shorter, less attractive, senpai.”
The fault here is that anime oftentimes wants to do something grand and big and selling when you just don’t have to. A good show can be made without the flashing lights and boobs. Ano Natsu did not fail to entertain, but I found it hard to suspend my disbelief to the point that Ano Natsu was taking it.
Overall, I liked the love stories with Kaito, Ichika, Kanna, Tetsuro, and Mio. Kanna definitely was the most likable character in the series. But I enjoyed Tetsuro’s mischievous, yet helpful, …er, advice? The point is that there are high points and low points and, while the low points are pretty low, I think the high points make up for those lows sufficiently enough for me to want to recommend this show on a case-by-case basis.
Brave 10
Plot Summary: A year before the battle of Sekigahara that ended the Sengoku Period, the ninja Saizou Kirigakure meets the miko Isanami as she's attacked by assassins. Her shrine was destroyed by Tokugawa Ieyasu for siding with Yukimura Sanada. Meanwhile, Sanada has been gathering ten warriors known as Sanada's Brave 10, who have the power to change history. As they gather one by one, Nami's own mysterious power awakens.
This is based on the Sanada Ten Braves of the Sengoku period in Japan; a book published in the Edo period written by Sanada Sandaiki.
The big downfall of this series is that it was so short. It would have served much better as a 24–26 episode anime. Probably 24. But the point was that Sanada Yukimura was gathering his 10 brave warriors to serve as his guardians. And you have 12 episodes to do it in. He’s already gathered I think three braves at the beginning, and the two main-er characters are introduced in the first episode. So you’ve left yourself with 11 episodes to introduce five other braves. It leaves very little in the way of plot, and the story overall suffered for it.
Despite that, it was a pretty good series that didn’t fail to entertain, at the very least. Though the big reveal of the Brave 10’s was left for quite a while into the series, which is a move that I’ll disagree with. But the appeal of this show was seeing some cool fights with the braves and a recruiting mission that no one really knows is a recruiting mission.
Overall, I enjoyed the series, but it drug on in the middle (despite me asking for more episodes). There needed to be more story revealed throughout the series rather than just a big reveal near the end with basically no build up to that point throughout the rest of it. So if you want some action, check out Brave 10.
Chihayafuru
Plot Summary: Chihaya Ayase is a frank and ebullient girl who becomes fascinated by the obscure world of competitive karuta, a card game based on Japanese poetry. Introduced to the aggressive style of the game by a quiet and thoughtful elementary school classmate named Arata Wataya, the two quickly become close friends. They start playing as a group with Taichi Mashima, Chihaya's smart and athletic childhood friend, until they have to part ways during their middle school years due to several circumstances. As their high school life begins, they meet once again.
[Note: I realized by the end of fumbling through this that I can’t put into words why I like this series so much. It’s probably because I just don’t know enough about review to know why I like it. But what I can’t do, ANN surely has. So if you want to read a review that does this show, let’s say “justice,” read this. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/review/chihayafuru/episodes-1]
The last anime that wowed me like Chihayafuru was Satoshi Kon’s Millennium Actress. The last series that wowed me like Chihayafuru was either Wandering Son or Clannad After Story.
Chihayafuru does what a lot of anime do, in that it had a crap ton of expository dialogue explaining everything possible. But for an ignorant American like myself, it worked. Because the exposition was about karuta, a Japanese card game that really has no parallel in the U.S. So I got to learn a lot about the game of karuta and I loved every second of it.
At its core, Chihayafuru is a sports anime. It just doesn’t follow the same exciting sports things as tennis or soccer or basketball. But that doesn’t mean it’s not exciting. What drives karuta isn’t the desire to defeat a certain opponent, like it can be in sports anime. What drives Chihayafuru is the characters and their desire to learn and get better. We see Chihaya as an A-class player who seemingly can’t be beaten. But she’s destroyed by the Queen halfway through the season. She realizes that, even though she can beat her friends and peers at the karuta society to which she belongs, there are dozens, maybe hundreds, of others out there that are better than her.
Sure, pretty lame summary. That happens in every anime. But Chihayafuru has that something extra. It makes you want to care about these people through dozens of complex character stuff.
Ok, I can’t quite put into words what makes Chihayafuru so special, but there’s something there and it’s great and I love it. It delves into the main characters (Chihaya, Taichi, Kana, Nishida, and Komano) like series have rarely done before. One of ANN’s reviewers said she was jumping up and cheering for the characters as if she was actually there and, while I’m not that animated, I certainly was jumping in my head and I could hardly sit still while watching it.
Listen to Me, Girls. I Am Your Father!
Plot Summary: College student Yūta Segawa is suddenly given custody of his older sister's three daughters, aged 14, 10, and 3. They're now stuck living together in a 10 square meter apartment. Meanwhile Raika, the object of his affection, has a fondness of cuteness, and his unexpected arrivals may finally offer an opportunity for them to get together.
If this show took 12, 22-minute long episodes of serious material, it would be really, really good. Usagi Drop levels of good. But no. It degraded itself into fanservice and outright creepiness.
This show has at least five minutes of legitimately good and heart wrenching material in its first episode. But the rest of it is just…gah. Bad. Very bad. I kept watching because I wanted to know if they would make me feel like they did in the first episode. It had a few more moments throughout the series, but it was overall a flop.
This is a classic case of the Japanese trying to sell a product by sugar-coating it with fanservice. Well, get with the times, Japan, Listen to Me, Girls. I am Your Father! doesn’t need sugar-coated fanservice. It needs A. A better title and B. Less fanservice and more of the stuff that made me feel. I mean, this is a show about a college kid who takes in his sister’s children because no one else wants to take care of three girls by themselves (and I don’t blame them, that’s a large task to bring upon yourself so suddenly). That’s really goddamn touching. But then little-miss 14-year-old starts getting touchy-feely with her early-20-something uncle by marriage and it’s just weird.
Point being, you had an amazing story here, Japan. But it’s a drama, not a comedy. So make it a drama, and not a comedy. Then I’d watch the whole thing again.
Mirai Nikki (The Future Diary)
Plot Summary: Yukiteru Amano is a loner who never really interacts with people and prefers writing a diary on his cell phone with his only companion being an imaginary friend named Deus Ex Machina, the God of Time and Space. However, Yuki soon learns that Deus is not a figment of his imagination but real when Deus makes him a participant in a battle royale with eleven others. Within this "Diary Game", the contestants are given special diaries that can predict the future with each diary having unique features that gives them both advantages and disadvantages.
The show starts off with the God of Time and Space, named Deus Ex Machina, giving our protagonist, Yukiteru Amano, a diary that tells him the future. Shenanigans ensue, as you might imagine.
Watching the final episode wrapped up the series nicely and, really, gave everyone a happy ending. You learn that the show was really a story of growth, through a very unique and interesting way. The growth of Yuki, Yuno, and Uryu Minene, the terrorist also known as Ninth (you see, each of the diary users are given numbers, Yuki is First and Yuno is Second, and it goes through Eleventh).
The biggest flaw of this series is that there’s not really a likable character through a big middle portion of Future Diary. I didn’t have much of a problem with this, as the concept and plot of the series kept me in enough suspense to keep watching. But the antics of Uryu Minene and her growth into an anti-hero rather than crazed terrorist by way of a policeman named Nishijima was pretty brilliant.
Through you have to expect, with a character named Deus Ex Machina, that deus ex machina will play a part in the series as a whole. And it does in a multitude of ways. I’ll decide not to spoil it, but if you are not a fan of deus ex machina, then maybe this show isn’t your show.
The best part of this series happens at its end between Yuki and Yuno. You grow to love them, then get a little weirded out at them, then kind of hate them through the progression of the series. But in the end, you really do like both Yuki and Yuno and you know that both characters, with a little push in the other direction, would have gone off the deep end (and Yuno did go off the deep end for a time).
Overall, this is one of the most interesting concepts in an anime I’ve ever seen, but the emphasis on so much death and killing for these junior high kids is very out there. I went with it, since it’s anime, but I would have much preferred if the diary users remained adults. Despite that, it was an entertaining show with a lot to offer in terms of plot and concept.
Tantei Opera Milky Holmes Dai-Ni-Maku (Detective Opera Milky Holmes: Act 2)
Plot Summary: The four girls, Sherlock, Nero, Hercule and Cordelia, lose the ability to use their Toys during an encounter with the phantom thieves. Taken away from their rich lifestyle and thrown into an attic, the girls must try and regain use of their Toys or else face expulsion from Holmes Detective Academy.
This show’s first season started off with some promise and ended with some promise. This season had a pretty good second to last episode, which ended with a lot of promise. But at this show’s core, it’s a fanservice show. And that’s really sad, because this could be a great detective story.
The main reason I started watching the first season of this show was the detective premise. I’m a sucker for detective stories. I started Un-Go because it was a detective story and I’m starting Hyoka in this season for the same reason (plus Hyoka is by KyoAni). And while it started off with some setting-up-y detective stories, it ended up just falling into fanservice with no detective stories. I guess I kept watching by fooling myself into thinking that there might be detective stories coming up. Spoilers, there’s not.
I can’t in good conscious suggest for someone to watch this show if they want to enjoy their time. It appeals week to week, but I more dreaded watching these episodes as they came along rather than anticipated them. Especially when Funimation released the early episodes two at a time. I can handle one episode a week of this, but not two.
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