Category Archives: Anime

Jacquie’s 2012 Year in Review – Top 10 Anime

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My favourite anime shows of the year, selected from the titles I watched which finished airing in 2012:


#1.  Fate/Zero – This dramatic telling of the events of the 4th Holy Grail War was a far-superior prequel to the awful Fate/stay night anime. The grand storyline, epic cast of characters, and impressive action scenes made for a thrilling watch.  I found myself being very engrossed in the characters and the story, even though the final outcome was already known.  It was always an agonizing wait between episodes, tempered by the dreaded anticipation that any episode could be the last for characters that I’d come to love.


#2.  Chihayafuru – Endearing characters, great storytelling.  I really cared about Chihaya and Taichi and their team.  The anime even managed to make the old-fashioned card game of Karuta seem exciting.  Needless to say, I’m looking forward to the new season in 2013.


#3.  BEELZEBUB – Consistently funny, creative, and good-natured.  There were some duds during its 60-episode run, but they were remarkably few and far in between.  It’s a real shame that this is no longer airing.


#4.  Chouyaku Hyakunin Isshu: Uta Koi – The sort-of companion piece to Chihayafuru, UtaKoi featured the stories of the 100 poems from the Karuta game told in a way that was reverent and irreverent in equal measure.  The mature, bittersweet love stories really resonated with me.  I didn’t even mind the cart-race/talk-show episode.  Although I did find a few of the stories at the beginning of the second half to be weaker than the rest, the series came to a strong finish at the end.


#5.  Aquarion EVOL – I didn’t have any intention to watch this anime at first, due to the fact that I hadn’t seen the preceding Aquarion works and because I had seen supporting character Zessica’s fanservice-y get-up.  However, I was already watching the other 2 space operas (Moretsu Pirates and Rinne no Lagrange) to varying degrees of enjoyment, or not, respectively; and EVOL was often mentioned alongside those two.  EVOL turned out to be a blast!  Very over-the–top, with humorous fanservice and sexual innuendo (see, I don’t always hate on fanservice; I enjoy it when it’s funny) and a lot of heart.  And Zessica?  She became my favourite character.


#6.  Hakuouki Reimeiroku – I watched this because I also enjoyed the two previous Hakuouki series, of which this is a prequel.  It was a treat to revisit the Shinsengumi members and learn of the events of their early days.  The story as a whole may not have been amazing, and the new insert character was as useless as Chizuru from the original series; but the art, the recurring characters, the setting, and the way the events were based on actual history made the show really appealing to me, and I looked forward to watching it every week.


#7.  Kuroko’s Basketball – Watching this semi-fantastical sports anime reminded me of how I felt when watching the early seasons of BLEACH.  New characters were constantly being introduced as potential rivals for the main team, but they were interesting people, each with distinct personalities, and not necessarily “enemies”.  A new season was recently announced for 2013.  Looking forward to that too.


#8.  My Little Monster (Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun) – Ostensibly a romance, but this show was really more about the interactions between a group of friends.  Every episode managed to be entertaining.  Although every character had definite flaws, they came across as likeable people that I wanted to root for.


#9.  Jormungand – A bloody, thought-provoking, action anime about a group led by Koko Hekmatyar, an arms dealer and visionary who dreams of world peace.  The mostly serious subject matter was balanced out by just the right amount of levity to make it an entertaining watch.


#10.  KIDS ON THE SLOPE (Sakamichi no Apollon) – If I never loved this show, I did respect it for the convincing portrayal of its 1960s setting, the jazz music, and the friendship of the lead characters.

Special Categories:

  • Best Comedy (intentional):  BEELZEBUB  (runner-up: Daily lives of high school boys (Danshi koukousei no nichijou))
  • Best Comedy (unintentional):  CODE:BREAKER  (runner-up: GUILTY CROWN)
  • Best OP or ED:  “Gekkou symphonia“, by AKINO & AIKI from bless4 (Aquarion EVOL ED1)

Notable Drops: Because I like to complain, listed below are the otherwise well-reviewed and popular anime series that were not considered for my year-end list because I couldn’t finish them.  Number of episodes watched is in brackets.

  • Rinne no Lagrange (12) – unnecessary fanservice detracted from the story; I just didn’t care about the characters enough to continue watching.
  • Tsuritama (5) – unlikeable characters; it was about fishing.
  • TARI TARI (5) – too sentimental, bad storytelling, bad music.
  • SWORD ART ONLINE (15) – so much wasted potential; wish-fulfillment pandering written with the mentality of a child.
  • Say “I Love You” (7) – irredeemably cliché-ridden; most of the characters were not the sort of people I would want to associate with; seemed to imply that sexual harassment/assault is okay, desirable even, as long as the offender is good-looking and popular.  (Maybe I’m overreacting and this is often sadly true, but I raged.)

Mid-Autumn 2012 Anime Ranking

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How I feel about the anime on my current watch list.  The most recent episode watched is in brackets.  The order of the first four is kind of arbitrary…


01.  Shin Sekai Yori (From the New World) (ep.11) – I’m liking the dark, dystopian future setting.  It took me a while to tell the kids apart, but now that I know them better, I’m really interested in their actions and what the consequences of those actions will be.  There’s a lot of artiness and intrigue, and it remains to be seen whether things will come together or make any sense at the end.  For now, I’m happy to be patient and see how things unfold.
(streaming at Crunchyroll)


02.  Jormungand (ep.21, or PERFECT ORDER ep.9) – Not many anime will reference quantum physics and super computers, but that’s what the current arc of Jormungand is about!  So far, the show is doing a really good job of fleshing out the members on Koko’s team.  We didn’t get to know them much during the first season, but now their backgrounds are getting some good attention.  Ep.19, about William Nelson’s past, achieved a near-perfect balance between dark, violent material and lighter, comic relief.
(streaming at Funimation)


03.  PSYCHO-PASS (ep.9) – Another brainy anime.  The storytelling is good and I’m enjoying the dark, psychological themes that are being presented.  However, the indignity-to-a-dead-body stuff makes me uncomfortable.  It is meant to be horrifying, but I just have trouble reconciling it with “entertainment”.
(streaming at Funimation)


04.  My Little Monster (ep.11) – This shoujo anime has its share of the usual tropes, but it works because the characters have believable, well-defined personalities.  Also, the textured backgrounds are some of the nicest I’ve ever seen.
(streaming at Crunchyroll)

05.  Blast of Tempest (ep.10) – The characters are interesting, as are their interactions with each other.  The show works best when the characters are not quoting Shakespeare, and the music is not overwrought.  Some episodes have been overly expository.  They’re also throwing out a lot plot threads and it remains to be seen whether things will come together or make any sense at the end.  As with Shin Sekai Yori, for now, I’m willing to give it the benefit of the doubt.
(streaming at Crunchyroll)

06.  IXION SAGA DT (ep.10) – Deceptively stupid, but actually quite clever, this show often displays more common sense than some of the serious-themed anime that I’m watching.  So far, my favourite character is the villain, Erecpyle Dukakis (yes, ED for short).  Although, after having had his ass kicked twice already by the main character, he’s somewhat more of an underdog than a villain now.
(streaming at Crunchyroll)


07.  MAGI (ep.9) – Nice animation; the characters are likeable, complex, and genuinely strong.  Morgiana is a so-much-better female role model than Asuna from SAO, for instance, and new character Sinbad is awesome.  The current story arc is surprisingly balanced and thoughtful, especially considering that the anime seems to be aimed at a younger audience.
(streaming at Crunchyroll)

08.  Muv-Luv Alternative: TOTAL ECLIPSE (ep.23) – Looks like the meat of the story is happening.  I won’t mind if there’s less attention on Yuuya’s multinational harem now.
(streaming at Crunchyroll)

09.  K (ep.10) – Stylish and nicely animated, but the quality of the story is questionable.  Many of the large cast of characters are not very interesting.  Still, I’m curious to see where they’re going with this.

10.  Space Brothers (ep.36) – Good show overall, but lately it’s been dragging.
(streaming at Crunchyroll)

11.  CODE:BREAKER (ep.10) – So bad, it’s good.  And make no mistake, it really is bad: sloppy storytelling and plot developments, annoying and unlikeable protagonists, overdramatic score.  And yet, at the end of the day, it’s kind of fun, even if unintentionally.
(streaming at Funimation)

12.  BTOOOM! (ep.10) – Disturbingly exploitative at times, but otherwise, the battle-royale survival theme works.  This show also has some pretty hard-to-like main characters.
(streaming at Crunchyroll)

13.  Kamisama Kiss (ep.10) – Not terribly engrossing, but fine as a light distraction.  Unfortunately, I thought it was a bit more enjoyable before the romantic storyline began.
(streaming at Funimation)

14.  Chu-2 byo demo KOI ga shitai! (ep.10) – I find this show to be tedious and sometimes overly sentimental.  Maybe I’m too far away from my own eighth-grader syndrome phase to properly appreciate it.  Plus, I don’t buy the romantic sub-plot, even though I knew it was coming.  I do give the show credit, though, for being fairly straightforward about the romance instead of dragging it out unnecessarily.  Supporting character Isshiki is the best thing about this anime.  (Dekomori is the worst.)

Recently dropped:  Say “I Love You” (ep.7) – I tried to give it a chance, really I did; otherwise I wouldn’t have gotten this far in.  But I was complaining so uncontrollably after every episode, my family would probably have to take me out back and put me out of my misery if I were to watch any more of it.  Even now, when I see similar tropes used in My Little Monster, but executed so much better, I realize I’m still not done trashing this anime!  Bottom line: I don’t like Mei, I don’t like Yamato, and I’m not rooting for them to get together.
(streaming at Crunchyroll, but who cares?)

WOLF CHILDREN

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3 stars (out of 4)

Released 2012

A single mother with limited financial and social resources struggles to care for her family.  All the while, she has to protect the family secret, that her two young children are part-wolf.  Early in the film, we see her facing the challenge of finding a suitable environment to raise her son and daughter in.

As they grow older, the kids must come to terms with their unusual situation and find their paths in life.  And their mother finds herself torn between wanting to protect them and allowing them to make their own decisions, their own mistakes.

Despite the element of fantasy, WOLF CHILDREN tells a realistic story that any family can relate to.  The animation is excellent, as expected.  One highlight for me:  the kids were actually really adorable, especially Yuki.  She was rambunctious, and she had a loud and cute voice to match.


SWORD ART ONLINE (Ep. 10-15)

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(spoilers galore)

Ep. 10-12

Kirito fights another guy over Asuna.  This time, it’s the leader of her guild, Heathcliff.  Heathcliff wins and Kirito joins the guild.  He even has to wear their not-black uniform.  But there’s a traitor in their midst (the bodyguard guy who fought Kirito over Asuna in the earlier episode), and he’s trying to kill Kirito.  Asuna and Kirito take him down.  Kirito and Asuna take time off, get married, pick up a stray kid.  Mindnumbing.

Said stray kid, Yui, dies in episode 12, but not before giving Kirito some interesting information about Sword Art Online’s program.  Her grieving “parents” manage to save her core data before she’s fully deleted, and hope to re-create her later.

Ep. 13-14

Kirito goes fishing.  Then Kirito and Asuna get summoned to a big boss battle.  After the battle, Kirito takes a chance and figures out the in-game identity of SAO’s mastermind.  They fight.  Kirito and Asuna die.  Except they don’t die.  Of course.

Although there are plenty, plenty of things I could gripe about, in all fairness, these 2 episodes are not bad.  There’s fighting!  There’s action!  Things happen!  Best of all, Sword Art Online ends!  Well, at least the game is over.

Ep. 15

Regrettably, SWORD ART ONLINE, the anime, is not over.

Now, we’re being introduced to an extreme one-dimensional villain as a romantic rival for Kirito (I laughed at the stupidity).  First, there’s the absurdity that they are fighting over who gets to marry a comatose girl.  Then, Asuna X Kirito is already so well established that I don’t think there’s any risk that anyone would root for the other guy, even if he was flawless; there’s just no need to make him such an unbelievable dick.  I guess I should give the character designers some credit for making his appearance not completely butt-ugly.

But that’s not all.  It turns out Kirito’s own sister is in love with him (I facepalmed so hard).  The show goes to great lengths to emphasize that they are actually cousins, not brother and sister.  Of course.

Lately, it seems as if there’s one or two new imouto/onii-ai (ie, incest) anime series every season.  God knows why.  Anyway, SAO wasn’t shitty enough already, it had to get on the imouto-fetish bandwagon too.

I won’t be watching this anymore.  Stick a fork in me; I’m done.

 

SWORD ART ONLINE (Ep. 1-9)

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Instead of SWORD ART ONLINE, I’d rather be watching…

DARKER THAN BLACK. While the basic premises of the two series are completely different, they do share some similarities, which I’ll elaborate on.

First of all, I’ll state that I’m one of those complainers who has no experience with MMOs. So I admit that I have difficulty comprehending things like why a player would need to have the option to level-up their cooking skills in an action game, but I guess that’s just how it is. Point being: I am not the target audience for SWORD ART ONLINE.

SWORD ART ONLINE and DARKER THAN BLACK each feature an incredibly powerful male protagonist who has dark hair and likes to wear a long black coat. Both guys inadvertently accumulate a harem as they move through their respective shows, since the girls they encounter can’t help falling for them, even though they themselves seem to have no interest in romance.

So why does it work for Hei in DTB and not for SAO’s Kirito? Personally, I appreciate that Hei is an adult. His maturity, skill, and intelligence are portrayed in a convincing manner. And unlike Kirito, Hei actually has faults. His gluttony is played for laughs; and his comrades find him peculiar because he doesn’t always behave in the logical way that a contractor is expected to. Kirito, on the other hand, is just perfect and all-powerful. Supposedly, he’s battling bosses on the front lines in his spare time, but we never see it.

Both series progress in a meandering fashion, where the things that happen in most of the episodes have little bearing on the overall plot. This doesn’t have to be a bad thing. If handled effectively, the mini story arcs can accomplish world-building, show character development and be thought-provoking. Needless to say, DARKER THAN BLACK does it right, in my opinion, while SWORD ART ONLINE fails.

Instead of SWORD ART ONLINE, I’d rather be watching…

La storia della Arcana Famiglia. Like SAO, Arcana Famiglia is another currently-airing anime series on CrunchyRoll. Both start with a promising first episode before heading directly to filler-like material in episode two. Both are finally starting to maybe address their original storyline now, in episode 9.

The difference? I have very low expectations of Arcana. The animation is low- budget and it looks like some crappy reverse-haremy anime about an Italian family whose members are contracted to tarot cards. SAO is the opposite: slick and high-budget with promises of action and adventure. However, it is SAO that manages to offend. Female lead Asuna is supposed to be one of the strongest players in the game, and yet she needs a bodyguard? Wouldn’t she be protecting him? It would be more believable to me if the two characters had simply made a pact to watch each other’s backs instead. And then, she allows two guys to fight over her. At least in Arcana, the heroine intends to fight for herself!

Instead of SWORD ART ONLINE, I’d rather be watching…

GUILTY CROWN. Okay, no I wouldn’t. Nothing’s gonna make me want to watch that piece of crap show over again. But certainly SAO is becoming this season’s GUILTY CROWN for me. It’s nice to look at, but the story is deeply disappointing and the random fanservice shots are always gratuitous and inappropriate.

I’m in too deep to stop now, so I’ll keep watching. As with GUILTY CROWN, I will be hoping that the show will redeem itself somehow, even if I fully expect a train wreck. At least SAO is an adaptation, not an anime-original story, so there’s some reason to hope, right??