Posts Tagged ‘summer review’

Canaan
Studio: PA Works
Premiere Date: 7/4/09
Genre: Action/Mystery

Some shows just need some extra time to get going…

The Story

In the first couple of episodes of Canaan, the setting opens in a very rowdy Shanghai where a local festival is taking place. Within the city a war is being fought all around the residents without anyone really giving it much thought. Living in the city is an assassin named Canaan who is fighting against a terrorist organization called the Snakes while waiting for the target of her own personal vendetta to resurface. 

Arriving to the city is a journalist, Minoru, after his next big scoop and his impossibly perky and cheerful rookie photographer, Maria. Upon arriving in the city, the two get wrapped up in a very strange situation. People in the city are dying right in front of crowds but no one notices, gun fights between Canaan and the Snakes occur on a regular basis but no one cares. When the Snakes start to go after Maria and Minoru for seeing things that they shouldn’t, more information comes to the surface and more characters begin to be pulled into the conspiracy.

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Tokyo Magnitude 8.0
Studio: Bones
Premiere Date: 7/9/09
Genre: Disaster

The Story 

What if a major earthquake hit Japan? That’s the question asked by Studio Bones in the new disaster series, Tokyo Magnitude 8.0. The heroine of this story is a teenage girl named Mirai; jaded by troubles at home and bored with life she spends most of her time texting friends on her cell phone rather than spend it in reality. At the start of her summer vacation she is asked by her mother to take her brother to Odaiba to see a robot expo. While there a major earthquake hits completely decimating the world around her and leaving her and her brother stranded far from home.

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Princess Lover
Studio: GoHands
Premiere Date: 7/5/09
Genre:  Harem

The Story

After losing his family to an accident, second year high school student Teppei is left alone. Having no one else to turn to, he is taken in by his extremely rich and influential grandfather. On his way there, Teppei runs into and rescues a girl named Charlotte Hazelrink who claims to be a princess (and with a name like that it’s hard to doubt her). After finally arriving at his new home, Teppei is informed that his life is now different beyond what he thought. Yesterday he was a second year high school student, now he is the new successor to the Arima Group, has a new fiancé and will be enrolling in a very prestigious school to complete his education while attempting to ferret out who wants him and his family out of the way to get the company for themselves.

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Bakemonogatari
Studio: SHAFT
Premiere Date: 7/3/09
Genre: Supernatural

The Story

Third year high school student Koyomi Araragi has a secret: not long ago he was turned into a vampire but was saved by a mysterious man named Meme Oshino. After being saved, Araragi starts working for him by bringing people to him who also need to be saved. In the first episode, Araragi saves a girl in his class named Hitagi Senjougahara after she falls over the edge of some stairs discovering the secret that she is hiding: her weight was stolen from her by a crab like creature a couple of years earlier. Promising to help the arrogant but troubled tsundere, Araragi takes her to see Oshino.

Good and the Bad

Bakemonogatari is an odd series in that the first few minutes is either going to turn you off completely or have you absolutely captured with no middle ground. Starting with a very haunting opening sequence that features no vocals but plenty of blood (and the sound effects that usually goes with it), the opening gives a very dark impression which almost feels as though the animation staff is giving you one last chance to back out.

Once the episode begins, it is hard to imagine anyone wanting to turn back though. Filled with stylish animation that is unlike anything I’ve seen in recent memory, the backgrounds and settings are all almost entirely CG. Using very light color palettes and heavy shadows, the animation grabs viewers with a tight grip and never lets go until the end.

You're better off not seeing what's in her hand for now

Shadows and perspectives are where Bakemonogatari breaks boundaries and grabs its audience the most clearly though. Constantly using them to either give backgrounds a sense of never ending depth, heightening anxiety and suspense by keeping characters hidden within shadows or creating a sense of being enveloped by the series via a first person perspective the artwork easily pushes it so far away from the moe herd that has been filling screens for the last few months.

The artwork is not the only thing about this series that makes it stand away from the pack. Using an incredibly slow pacing and smoothly delivered dialogue, many of the best character moments of the episode happen during times of silence. Never afraid to hold the moment for awhile longer, Bakemonogatari does an excellent job of establishing its own pace and style. Some fans are going to be bored stiff by the slow pacing of this first episode but anyone with a sense of patience will find their time well rewarded as Araragi and Senjougahara begin to have their standoffs both at school and away.

Despite the slow pacing and dialogue, it’s inaccurate to assume that Bakemonogatari doesn’t have a sense of humor. The real truth is that the series does have a sense of humor but it is entirely up to you as a viewer to decide if you notice it or not. Never playing the jokes up or attempting to actually get a cheap laugh from the audience, only one time in this episode will an attempt at comedy be overt. There are certainly other jokes made such as Senjougahara becoming literally and figuratively disarmed at school but they happen with such subtlety that some people may not even notice that they were jokes.

A rare change in colors

Music

Matching the artwork, the music composed for this episode by Satoru Kousaki (whose work you might remember from Kannagi, Lucky Star or Haruhi Suzumiya) is very quiet and low key. In the first minutes for example, almost every piece you hear will be made up of primarily quiet glockenspiel scores. It’s never loud or over the top but you can always feel its presence. And this will be a theme that plays out throughout the entire episode until Oshiro’s theme which kicks things into a much more bluesy direction.       

Overall 

If you have said a sentence that even vaguely sounds like ‘I’m so sick of the moe crap that keeps getting churned out’ within the last year, you need to watch this first episode. While I make no promises on where Bakemonotagari is going to go after this, the artwork and style behind this series has my firm and undivided attention leaving me with no choice but to suggest you get into this series now rather than later.

Kanamemo
Studio: Feel
Premiere Date: 7/5/09
Genre:  Comedy/Slice of Life

The Story

Thirteen year old Kana hasn’t had the easiest life; after losing her parents early in life she went to live with her grandmother who also eventually kicked it. Left alone in her home, the movers come to take away her grandmother’s items. Kana misunderstands and runs away leaving her with nothing but the backpack she takes with her and nowhere to go.

Before long she stumbles across a newspaper office filled with women of various types including a six year old assistant chief, a college student lolicon, a would be college student, a pastry student and others. Left with little choice, Kana asks for a job and thus begins her life living in a newspaper office.

Good and the Bad

Before starting this one, a couple of opinions had managed to cross my path from other bloggers that made it hard to gauge what I was in for. On one hand, there was the opinion that this was the next cute moe title to enjoy while the other found it ‘meh’ at best. I’m finding myself somewhere in the middle of that range.

Kanamemo is simple in a lot of ways but most especially in its story so far. Kana loses her family and starts working at a newspaper office in order to survive. That sounds well and good to start with but what strikes me as strange (even for a slice of life comedy) is that that isn’t a summary of what happens… that is literally basically all that happens to get the series moving. Kana shows up, looks around a little, gets brought back to the office and has a job a few moments later. It’s all very easy, simple and if you think about it too much you’re already way off track.

Early on fans are better off looking at the characters rather than the story for their entertainment. Filling a not very deep range, the characters in Kanamemo manage to do their job of keeping things moving and entertaining if not occasionally humorous. In this episode, most of the comedy centers on the characters personalities. Naturally the problem here is that being that this is episode one, no one really has any idea what the characters are like.

Do NOT Fondle, Grope or Glomp

Solution? Make the most important portions of each character’s personality become as over the top as humanly possible. Thus Haruka spends most of the episode attempting to fondle either Kana or the chief, Saki (and succeeds about half the time), Saki lays down the law in a way that betrays her child frame but is chuckle worthy all the same, Yuuki is lazy, etc. It’s not really that these jokes don’t work or won’t make you laugh. But they aren’t nearly as funny as the staff at Feel might’ve hoped.

Music

Besides the upbeat and fairly catchy opening and ending themes, there were few parts where the music really stood out from the episode. Late in the episode there is a scene with a flute theme playing in the background. I hate to be the one who echoes the thoughts of others but I’m glad to know that I’m not the only one there who had flashbacks to the music from Azumanga Daioh.

Overall 

The first episode of Kanamemo does its job in introducing characters and making their personalities very obvious. The characters and comedy thus far are cute but certainly nothing worth getting excited about. I will be sticking with Kanamemo for awhile longer but certainly am not filled with an urgent need to see more.

Needless�
Studio: Madhouse
Premiere Date: 7/2/09
Genre: Sci-Fi/Action

The Story

Sometime in the early 21^st century the world will be thrown into another world war. In the middle of all the fighting, Japan will take devastating damage leaving a giant dark spot within the country simply called the ‘Black Spot’. Because it’s just a big black circle on the planet, get it? Besides the ‘Black Spot’, two other things emerged as part of the new world. First is a new species of human referred to as ‘Needless‘. These are the humans living with the ‘Black Spot’ who have gained the ability to use any number of powers and abilities. The second is a corporation headquartered within the ‘Black Spot’ called Simeon which has become an intricate part of the world network despite some pretty evil rumors.

When the series opens, the audience is introduced to Cruz, a teenage boy fighting in the resistance against Simeon with his sister. After losing his sister in battle, Cruz manages to escape just far enough to be saved by a mysterious priest named Adam Blade and his friends, Eve and Gido. Simeon isn’t going to let Cruz get away that easily though and sends out their forces to eliminate all who oppose them… such as Cruz, Blade, Eve and Gido.

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Aoi Hana
Studio: J.C. Staff
Premiere Date: 7/1/09
Genre: Yuri Drama

The Story

After moving away as a child, Fumi has moved back into her hometown with her family. Tall and timid, she is afraid to start in her new school but gets off to an eventful start being saved by another high school girl on the train. She quickly makes friends with a girl in her class who wants her to join the drama club though so she’s off to a decent start. After visiting with her mother’s old friend she comes back into contact with the girl that she had been inseparable from as a child. The other girl, Akira, is starting her first year at a different high school and manages to make friends with a girl from her class. But the important part is the reunion between Akira (Achan) and Fumi as they attempt to rebuild the friendship they once had.

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Umineko no Naku Koro ni
Studio: Studio Deen
Premiere Date: 7/1/09
Genre: Horror/Mystery

The Story

Taking place in late 1986, the head of a very wealthy family has only months to live. Every member of the family has gathered on the remote privately owned Rokkenjima Island to discuss how the vast assets will be divided. It seems that everyone in the family has their selfish reasons for wanting the money and will do anything to get it even trying to bargain a deal before the old man has died. 

What the family doesn’t realize is that family legends exist for a reason. When a typhoon traps the Ushiromiya family and servants together, a mysterious poem starts to come to life. The witch that the head of the family supposedly sold his soul to in order to gain his fortune will return and at least thirteen people are going to die. Eight family members traveling in, three who live on the island, five servants and a personal doctor are now all in grave danger as a young girl says the witch has returned.

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Fight-Ippatsu! Juuden-chan – Episode 1
Studio: Studio Hibari
Premiere Date: 6/25/09
Genre: Ecchi Comedy

The Story

Taking place in a world not entirely unlike ours (actually, it is ours) humans are helped along everyday without ever realizing it. In a parallel world to ours, a group of office ladies are trained to enter our world and help out depressed people. The main character of this series is one of those ladies named Plug (insert your own “insert item A into slot B” joke here). While she’s not great at her job, she still puts in her best effort to go to Earth each night and charge up depressed people using electricity.

One night while searching out a target, she meets a young man taking care of his younger sister while working himself much too hard. This has left his little sister depressed and in need of a charge. He is absolutely not sold on the idea of depressed people being charged up with electricity making him work even harder to thwart Plug’s every effort to give his sister a recharge.

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