Pascoite gets bored and reviews anime, vol. 8 · 12:28am May 5th, 2021
Last week would have been my normal time to post, but I forgot about it all evening, then same Wednesday and Thursday, so, eh, I just pushed it to this week. The usual quick hits of various things, but the featured items today are Dead Leaves and Dimension W, after the break
What to say about Dead Leaves? It reminded me a lot of FLCL in style and tone. It also seems like Superjail was a spiritual successor to it. Or did Superjail come out first? I don't remember now.
Anyway, a guy named Retro and a gal named Pandy find themselves naked and on Earth with no memory, so naturally, the first thing they do is go on a crime spree. Then they get caught and sentenced to the dreaded Dead Leaves prison on the moon, which is itself in terrible shape. If you've seen Superjail, then the kinds of things that go on there won't surprise you. They decide to stage a breakout amid a mass riot, which of course works, but then they discover the mystery behind what's really going on there and what past they've forgotten, which... honestly didn't make too much sense to me, given how the movie ended. It's kind of implied they're just going to restart the crime spree and loop back to the beginning, except I'm not sure why they'd want to anymore. Unless they've lost their memories again?
Whatever. This is a madcap rush of fast-paced sight gags and over-the-top brutal action, very much akin to Superjail. If you liked one, I have to think you'd like the other. It's not even that long for a movie, and I thought it was a nice bit of insane fun.
Rating: very good
Movie, relevant genres: action, adventure, sci-fi, comedy, random.
Dimension W kind of quietly came and went from Toonami's lineup some years ago, and I've never heard anyone talk about it since. It's yet another one of those shows where a female android character turns out to be some rare or special variety (and of course some fan service will come into play, though it's one of those oddities where that's mostly the visuals during the closing credits, not so much actually in the show), but it was better than most of those I've seen. The main world-building element is that a new plentiful source of energy has been discovered, and for any science or engineering folks out there, the explanation of it in the intro will make you cringe. They state that the normal three spatial dimensions are already known, but a fourth one was discovered that is still perpendicular to the other three, and it can be tapped for energy. Yeah, I'm not going to start into all the things that are wrong with that.
But accept that as a given, and there's a nice story about a guy (Kyouma) who comes across as a bit of a Luddite. He still drives a gasoline-powered car, in an era where fuel is hard to find anymore, and he often has to do favors for people to get it. There's a corporation that has a monopoly on the devices needed to extract this extradimensional energy, though there are people who use unauthorized ones, becoming subject to bounty hunters by doing so. Such is Kyouma's profession.
He encounters a very advanced and rare robotic girl named Mira, who denies that she's anything but a real human girl. She's the "daughter" of one of the corporation's head designers, who is presumed killed, so she tries to find help to keep her safe and figure out what's going on. She's a rather sweet girl, and I thought they did a good job making her a likable character. They play off each other well, and while the plot wasn't exactly something special, I really enjoyed the series for its character work.
With a guy like Kyouma, you just know he's going to have a secret past with a connection to Mira, and while the scale of it kind of gets over the top, it was at least creative, and at its core, the connection they share added a nice dynamic to their relationship.
Rating: very good.
12 episodes + 1 OVA, relevant genres: action, sci-fi
To the rest!
Chobits (26 episodes + 2 OVAs)—what an appropriate series to discuss after Dimension W. I have a lot to say about this one, more so than usual for below-the-second-break stuff. I completely got the wrong impression of this series for a long time. As I've said before, there used to be an anime showcase program on G4 Tech TV called Anime Unleashed that I used to watch. After it, a show came on that just had mood music and visuals from various video games, more to show the artistry of it than anything else. There wasn't even any voice-over. It was kind of cool to watch. I first heard of Chobits there, and the gameplay really gave me the impression she was a pop singer. Then I later learned she was—wait for it—a rare and unusual type of android. So I figured, hey, an android trying to keep her nature secret while making it as a pop idol? Seemed cool. But that's not what she is at all.
A guy named Hideki finds an android put out with the trash. Such androids are pretty common. They're basically personal assistants called persocoms. A friend of his, and then a friend of a friend, have a look at her and decide she's pretty notable, in that she runs fine without seeming to have any software installed, and she can learn already. Hideki names her Chi, since that's initially all she can say. A lot of the series is slice of life as he teaches her everyday living, and it can be fun watching her be naive about things, but there's some intrigue that comes into play as it's revealed that she is in fact one of the rare android types, which begs the question: why was she left in the trash? There's an answer for that. And not a very plausible one. Couple that with a lot of tiresome fan service, and it's not going to climb to a notable rating. Rating: good. Relevant genres: slice of life, sci-fi, comedy, romance, mystery.
Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion (Kodo Giasu: Hangyaku no Rurushu, 25 episodes) and Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 (25 episodes)—you've likely seen this setup before: a privileged kid doesn't like the way the world works and decides he's going to fight for the downtrodden, but be as whiny as possible about it. Certain people can be granted a power, and his is that he can command anyone to do anything, and they are compelled to obey, though he can only use it once on each person. Using that, his oh so vast intellect, and some brave rebels, he works to oust his father's empire from Japan so it can be free again. There are some OVAs and movies as well, plus a new series started recently, but it never held my interest enough to keep up with it. I only watched as much as I did because it was on Toonami, and sitting through it to get to the better show on afterward wasn't too bad. Really, the only thing this had going for it in my mind was the strategy aspect, with how best to employ his power and account for its limitations. A couple turns of that were clever. Rating: decent. Relevant genres: action, sci-fi.
Code Lyoko (97 episodes)—I haven't seen Evolution yet, but I'm not convinced I'm ever going to, so I'll go ahead and cover this. Some kids at a boarding school in France discover a hidden supercomputer nearby, and they can use it to enter a virtual world of adventuring. However, the computer has a sinister intelligence, and it wants to invade the real world. Upon discovering this, the kids have to make forays into the virtual world to stop it, and they discover a helpful girl living in there as well. Is she real, and is it possible to bring her out of the game? Pretty good show, and one aimed at a bit of a younger audience, so it's not surprising that the plots are often simplistic and repetitive schemes du jour, but it was still pretty enjoyable for what it was. I'm not generally into "the game is real" setups, but the intrigue behind what the supercomputer is doing and questions about the one girl's humanity kept it interesting. Rating: good. Relevant genres: action, adventure, sci-fi.
Colorful! (Karafuru, 16 episodes)—this is most definitely not to be confused with the anime movie by the same name. They are at polar opposites of the spectrum. This is... I'll call it a skit comedy anthology? Each episode consists of a number of 5 to 10 minute scenes that often revisit the same groups of characters each time. There's a high school coach who has to keep channeling Homer Simpson and his "think unsexy thoughts" mantra when he's around the star athlete on all of his teams. There's a television reporter who keeps getting assigned stupid stories, but she attacks them eagerly, hoping she can earn her way onto The View. There are a couple of high school students who lust after their English teacher. Really, it's just a bunch of quick-hit random comedy, and if that's your bag, you could do worse. The funniest bit was the reporter investigating why so many men keep running into a particular light pole and injuring themselves, to the point it's become bent. The reason why is pretty funny. This is a love it or hate it thing, like random comedy usually is. Rating: good. Relevant genres: comedy, random.
Cyborg 009: The Cyborg Soldier (Saibogu Zero-Zero-Nain, 51 episodes)—a friend of mine really liked this series. I just couldn't get into it. It's got the potential for some interesting questions. Various people get kidnapped and made into powerful cyborgs by an evil power, but they escape before they can be brainwashed, then form a team to counter that power. They each have a different ability. And some of them are outright stupid. Like the guy who can kneel such that his knee pops open to reveal a missile launcher in his shin aimed upward. And he has limitless ammo, it seems. I liked very few of the characters, everyone's motives were always opaque to me, everyone was such an emo edgelord. The concept of the main character waking up to find himself in a powerful but unfamiliar body, then deciding what he's going to do with it could have been good, but I never cared for anything about this. Plus it got very annoying the way everyone had to address him by his full name, including numerals (Cyborg Zero Zero Nine instead of Double-O Nine or some such). And of course all 8 other members of the squad get the same treatment. Ugh. There are numerous other movies and series of this, dating all the way back to the '60s, but I didn't care to follow up on any. Rating: meh. Relevant genres: sci-fi, action, mystery.
Deadman Wonderland (12 episodes + 1 OVA)—decent setup, where criminals in prison are forced to provide entertainment, or the poison in the rings around their necks will kill them. The main character is twice the only survivor of a catastrophe, the second one leading him to be considered the perpetrator and sent to this prison. There, he develops a special ability some other inmates have, which forces him into gladiatorial combat. He just wants to find out why he was framed and clear his name, but an opportunity to escape presents itself... and then it ends. The manga keeps going, but the anime was just left hanging in the air like this. I never know whether these are meant as teases to get people to read the manga or if they were anticipating continuing the anime and just never got to. If you want something to come to a conclusion, this will leave you unsatisfied, but the premise is decent enough. Rating: decent. Relevant genres: action, thriller.
Death Note (37 episodes)—I'll wager pretty much everyone has heard of this. I never saw either of the animated movies, just the series. A boy named Light finds a demon's ledger that is a mechanism for people's deaths, so he takes it upon himself to make the world a better place by deciding who gets to live and die. However, faced with this series of unexplained deaths, the authorities start tracking down who's doing it. Light and his main opponent L are exceedingly clever, which results in some nicely intricate strategy. Plus the one in charge of the investigation is Light's own father. However, Light finds someone else who is in the same situation as him, and there's a cult following of people who think he's doing a good thing by ridding the world of violent criminals (anonymously, of course—only a couple of Light's closest allies know he's the one doing it). The ending to this felt overly dramatic, and it didn't feel like it was coalescing into making a point, but the journey there was cool. Rating: good. Relevant genres: mystery, thriller.
Descendants of Darkness (Yami no Matsuei, 13 episodes)—I really don't remember much about this. The main character is a Guardian of Death, and he's supposed to work with a partner, but he's still waiting for one. He starts tracking down reports of vampire-type killings, and from there, my memory gets fuzzy. I think he didn't have much success against them, then some reveal was made about his origins or the origins of the guy advising him, and then it just ended without going anywhere. Obviously it didn't leave much of an impression on me. Rating: decent. Relevant genres: mystery, supernatural, fantasy, action.
Digimon (I don't know how many episodes)—when this first started, I gave it a shot, as I'd been watching Pokemon for a little while. I know lots and lots of people love this show, but after a dozen or so episodes, I found all the characters generic and just didn't care one bit about any of them, so I dropped it. Rating: meh. Relevant genres: adventure, games/sports.
Dororo (24 episodes)—the original show aired in the '60s, but I watched the 2019 version. This is another entry in the oddity of naming the show after someone other than the main character. Dororo is a young thief who latches onto an odd character named Hyakkimaru, who is a fierce fighter but is missing his sight, hearing, capability to speak, arms, legs... just about everything. Turns out it's due to a curse that was put on him when he was an infant, in trade for prosperity in his father's realm. One of the demons refused to participate, otherwise Hyakkimaru would have been dead. By killing demons, he can reclaim his real body parts and become naturally whole again. However, some shifting loyalties and the dangers of seeking revenge threaten to derail his quest. Not too different from any other supernatural ninja show, and while a little on the gory side for me, I liked it well enough. Rating: good. Relevant genres: action, fantasy.
Looks like the next blog will be pretty short, as I'll be hitting a clump of ones I rated "very good," meaning there's not a lot of the lower-rated ones to include.
Seen any of these? Did I convince you to try any of them? I'd like to hear about it in the comments.
vol. 1 here
vol. 2 here
vol. 3 here
vol. 4 here
vol. 5 here
vol. 6 here
vol. 7 here
If Death Note ended with episode 25 it would’ve been perfect.
Oh hey I was just talking about Death Note with a friend the other day. It's technically not the only one of these I've seen, but the half-ish of Code Geass' first episode I've seen didn't grab me at all, so I'm not counting that one.
"Good" feels about right for Death Note, I think. Probably. It's one of those shows that really relies a lot on the plans the characters come up actually making sense and I've not really thought about them in detail, so the plot could be a total disaster for all I know. I do think it fell off quite a bit towards the end, though. The actual Death Note killings sort of fell into the background and the detective work got more over-the-top and absurd, from what I remember, and so I found it a lot harder to take it seriously. The fact that they ended one "super-smart and eccentric detective" plot only to introduce another one right afterwards certainly didn't do it any favors. I enjoyed a fair amount along the way, and there's a couple of characters I liked a fair bit, but I think I ended up not finishing it the last time I started watching it.
All I remember about Chobits is "Hideki hentai!" XD
Also "pantsu" :B
Oh my god, Colorful was so fucking weird.
I gave up on Death Note when the focus shifted to the evil corporation getting the Death Note. I think the whole "Kira sends himself to prison for stupid reasons" arc just wore my patience thin by that point, and I stopped caring about the rest.
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There are a number of shows that also went on past their ideal point (I'm looking at you, SAO) or got stretched too far in the middle and should have cut out a lot of filler. Agreed, it would have been better to end it earlier.
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Dude. I wrestled with whether to include this in the writeup above, but one of the worst offenders for fan service in this show was right near the beginning. Hideki's hauled her up to his apartment from the trash heap and is looking for the power switch, which is usually on the back of the head or something. So he's looked her over and poked and prodded her everywhere he can bring himself to. No luck. He grits his teeth and gives her boobs a squeeze. Still nothing. Between the legs? Bingo. Given who built her and why, I don't understand why the hell they'd design her that way. Like there's a different point made about that later on, weird but fair enough. But the power switch? C'mon.
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Yeah, like SpitFlame said, Death Note would have been better if it ended earlier. And by dropping Code Geass, you've missed nothing.
I'm one of those people who love this show, and even I have to admit it took its sweet time to get great. The Devimon arc of the first thirteen episodes is by far the most painfully generic stretch of Adventure, as perfectly encapsulated by its painfully generic villain.
It's not exactly a recommendation to say, "Stick it out: it gets better about halfway through", but I find it really does hit its stride there. Each arc is (generally) better than the last, in any case. So the one following Devimon is better in itself - let's just say "generic villain" is not an issue when your next one is an Elvis-impersonating monkey who can still totally wreck the whole place like a boss, and who goes out in one of the most awesome episodes of the season.
But the show goes to a whole other level when Myotismon shows up and starts tearing up the rulebook. Because he's just that badass a villain.
Although the other nice thing about Digimon is that, with rare exceptions, each anime season is basically a different anime: different continuity, different cast, different rules. So I'd at least recommend giving Digimon Tamers a chance, as that's objectively the best and most probing one, with the strongest character arcs and the fewest punches pulled (especially once you make it to the last third, because then it gets insanely intense).
I have yet to to watch Chobits to see if it differs from the manga. It and it's twin Angelic Layer is a pretty good story. A very good choice you picked there.
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I hadn't heard of Angelic Layer. Might add it to my to-watch list. I have at least one other on there with a similar theme (Plastic Memories).
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Basically takes place a number of years before the events of Chobits.
May have to check into that one if it's similar.
Code Lyoko is in my top 5 shows of all time. Ironically, I haven't seen Evolution either -- although what I read of the plot online makes it sound pretty cool.
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It reminds me of Sailor Moon in a way, where the single episode plots are usually just repetitive, but that the overarching plot behind the entire season could be pretty darn interesting at times. I still think Sailor Moon season 3 was one of the most cleverly woven set of subplots I've seen. There was a ton going on. Code Lyoko similarly had a juggle of 3 or 4 threads going on, and they doled out progress regularly instead of leaving it vague all along until having it all resolve at once. They did understand how to shape a plotline well.