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its Episode #100 of freak n nitro radio! this week, Jimmy TehFreak and Kellen Nitro take a look back at the first 99 episodes. Thank you all for checking us out, and here's to 100 more! Music this week by Queen+VonLichten, Whigfield & B.T.O!
DOWNLOAD HERE!
Freak N Nitro Radio will be taking a couple weeks off for detox, we return Friday April 13th at 5pm Mountain Time (4 Pacific, 7 Eastern)
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
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All right so I promised reviews and I will deliver. To be honest writing these reviews is about 400X better then FORTRAN coding, so certainly a welcomed break.
Tiger and Bunny:
I do not understand why so many people are hating this anime suddenly. This is pure action suspense. Cliff hangers at every episode. Those ending are leaving even its most patient followers distraught for next weeks airing. I can't wait for next weeks episode and I have so many deadlines dates this week that normally I'd be wishing that I could put the whole world in stasis.
So where are we at now? Our protagonist Kotetsu has been ostracized from hero TV. He's been framed for the murder of Barnaby's childhood caretaker Samantha. Not only that but nearly everyone has had their memory of Kotetsu modified and erased. Since they are the only people who know his true identity and considering Kotetsu (not tiger) has been accused of murder he has become a fugitive on the run.
On a the scale of entertaining, I must admit though, this episode falls behind the others. It focused primarily on Kotetsu running from the law, while the audience waited impatiently for him to figure out, at least partially, how he's been set up. Still there were some heavy revelations, specifically concerning Kotetsu's daughter Kaede. The last few episodes have shown that Kaede is developing her own super powers. Upon contact with other NEXT she acquires their ability. So when she hugged her father she gained super human strength, when she came in contact with an unknown NEXT she gained magnetic control (well she couldn't control it but it was there). (Also who is the magnetic NEXT that she came into contact with?). Upon hearing of her fathers dilemma she ran away from home to find him (she is like 12 or something). Who does she immediately run into? Yeah the antagonist. The anime did try to make it seem inconsequential. She was trying to find Barnaby to ask for help, and Albert was leaving the Hero TV administrative building, he is the chief of operations after all. However the consequence of their meeting escaped no one. From what I saw on the forums only one poor poster missed the fact that Albert tapped her the head, thereby transferring his powers to re write memory.
The episode concludes with Kotetsu getting his old school costume back from one of his few remaining allies. Saying he has a plan, he then assembles all the heros on the roof of nearby building and makes epic postures at them. Thus is the conclusion of episode 22.
Here are my predictions for the next two episodes (lets see how close I can nail it)
So far it has been revealed the Lunatic is aware of Kotetsu's true identity and is willing to help, at least partially. It is also painfully obvious that Kaede will get involved in some way or another to save the day. So this is my prediction for the last two episodes. Lunatic makes another appearance, though his identity will still remain unknown (in the anime). Perhaps he will even help save Kaede who will undoubtedly find herself in a position of danger as she tries to help her father. This will however weaken Kotetsu in some way, maybe he saves her from falling debris or something, using up his power. Just when everything seems lost, Kaede will accidentally come in contact with someone, my guess is either Bunny(Barnaby) or Blue Rose (Karina). Memories will be restored, Albert's crimes will be revealed and he will be captured and tried to justice. Before that however, Barnaby might face a moral dilemma. He will probably reach Albert first. There I propose two scenarios, either he will need to battle with mixed emotions and a desire to kill Albert or he will need to save Albert from Lunatic. In any case I hope Albert survives.
I would prefer not to have a the greatest cliche ending of all time. (Of the type, protagonist: "I should kill you right now", protagonists companion, "Stop [protagonist], you're better then him", protagonist "You're right..., well bring him to the authorities and let justice be served". Protagonist then lets his guard down and exposes his back to the antagonist. Antagonist takes opportunity to pull out some concealed weapon or sum his remaining powers and lashes out at protagonist. His life now on the line, protagonist kills the antagonist. He shed's some tears and the protagonists companion suddenly changes he's tune "You did what you had to do". and the camera rolls out silhouetting them against the setting sun, likely on some 'mid construction' sky scraper). I will murder someone if that comes to pass.
Anyways I also predict this will all go down in the next episode, with the last episode being dedicated to post climax cleanup. We shall see.
Saturday, March 31, 2012
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Also approaching the end of its season Yumekui Merry is yet another anime I have been following this year. Its tacky, its cliche but it is enjoyable none the less.
The online plot sysnapses are a bit cryptic and generally fail to describe what this anime is about, but thats understandable, 9 episodes in and I'm not very sure what this anime is about yet either. It bears some striken simularities to Shakugan no Shana. Theres a boy with a unique abilty, by a chance encounter he ends up with a lady with mystical abilties and together they get caught up in a conflict from an alternate dimension no one else is aware of. Yup, been there seen it. Well no point dwelling on the simulairites everything has to be based off something else afterall and this anime has enough of its own character to make for an enjoyable watch.
Now for an actual plot synapsis. Yumeji Fujiwara is the boy with the unique abilty mentioned earlier. he can see auras and from them tell what kind of dream you'll have that night. Meanwhile he's been having nightmares of his own, he is consistently chased and beaten up by cats. Yes cats. Shortly thereafter he runs into the "mysterious lady" Merry Nightmare. She is a dreamdemon from another deminsion with amnesia and who wants to get home. Together the team up to try and find a way to get Merry back to her dimension. The anitgonists present themselves shortly afterwards. Capable of possessing humans they are amasing an army of unsuspecting people by invading their dreams. Yumeji can see when they are possessed and with Merry they are trying their best to rid these people of their dreamdemmons.
Fun stuff certainly, not the best anime to cross my viewing list but enjoyable enough for me to reccomend.
Thursday, December 01, 2011
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My peoples of the net, I come bearing some sad news but good news as well. I shall start with the good news.
It seems the last four months have been the source of much awesomeness. As of September I have become engaged to be married to my beautiful girlfriend of six years. We are also moving to Brisbane Australia soon. So soon in fact, that we scheduled the marriage for the end of December. That’s right I’m going to be a married man in less than two weeks. Also on the big accomplishments list, as of this moment I am officially done my degree. On Friday I successfully defended my thesis on the subject of pharmaceutical removal in drinking water using activated carbon for decentralized systems. No less than 2 hours ago I handed in my office keys and I am now currently sitting in an airport waiting for plane back to Edmonton (land of Nitro and Freak). I am happy and I am relieved to be done the most difficult undertaking of my life. I am happy to say I now have a Master’s of Science in Civil Engineering.
Now for the bad news. I have been asked by Freak and Nitro to hand in my blogger keys and resign from the site. It saddens me and is not something I wanted to give up on but it is understandable. My last entry was August 28th and since then my page has remained empty. It is now mid-December going on new year’s and the renewal license for the web domain linking to my blog is about to expire. The start and stop nature of my contributions have prompted the site owners to not renew the address. As such the site will be gone on the new years. I am also sorry for the short notice, it is entirely my fault. Nitro told me of their decision nearly two weeks ago but I decided to put it off the farewell until after my thesis defense.
I got involved with this project of theirs back when they were still calling it a “hobby”. I was thrilled to see them put their creative talent to work. I encouraged them to continue in whatever ways I could. So when they asked me to contribute I gladly threw some of my own effort towards the site. That was a year ago though, and since then my efforts have been lacking. Certainly I have had good excuses for deprioritizing the site these last four months but I know from my own experience leading projects, that good excuses still don’t contribute to the success of a project. I am still glad to have had my chance to contribute and have learned valuable skills from this work. Heck the skills I gained allowed me to snag a part time job editing and creating promotional videos for research grant proposals (which got me a free trip to Vancouver to boot!).
The remainder of the site Freakandnitro.com will still be around churning out their superb content and radio casts. If you haven’t yet visited them do give it a chance. Simply click a link up top.
Before I go. If you are to take anything away from site it is that you need to watch “Nichijou”, you need to watch “Tiger and Bunny” and you need to watch “Welcome to the N.H.K”. If you are looking for something from this season may I recommend “Working” for a slice of life title, “Bento” for the absurd and “Mirai Nikki” for a horror.
Well that’s it.
For the last time, this is Not That Guy signing off.
Editor's Note - NTG will no longer be making regular editorials on the site, but will appear periodically over time in a cameo role. We at freakandnitro.com want to thank NTG for all his contributions and wish him and Mrs. New Mexican Ninja all the best in their future endeavors
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
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As promised a review of the 24 episode anime Nichijou. I suspect it is also called "My ordinary Life" Nichijou is an anime of pure situation comedy. If you've read it's manga serialization you should be aware that they are identical scene for scene, with some temporal exceptions (Nano goes to school around episode 11-12 as opposed to at the beginning for example).
It also has had a gaming spin off, "Nichijou: Uchuujin" for the PSP Portable. I found a video preview for the game, watch it, let me know if you can figure out the game concept from just that.
Anyways onto the anime. It's cute. It has its moments. It can also sometimes have long moments of nothing between those little gems of comedy that spring forth. I left this anime with the impression that much of it is aimed at a younger audience then myself (perhaps 14?). That and I suspect much of the high-brow comedy consists of play-on words and culturally related jokes that I do not think translate over very well. None the less, Nichijou is apparently experiencing a wave of popularity out west that surpasses its success in its native land.
Still an enjoyable watch though. I feel two aspects make this anime anime work so well; the characters and the overall perversity of everything else. Every character has some redeeming quality that makes them interesting to watch. Even minor characters such as the Principal and Vice Principal are interesting by their own right. Then there is the plethora of content not related to the primary plot that is exceedingly entertaining. The mid anime sub serials such as "helvetica Standard", "Small Miracles" and my favorite "Like Love" are just some examples. Generally completely unrelated to the anime but a welcomed addition. They are short 15-30 second clips of funny or cute (Helvetica Standard = funny, small miracles, like love = cute). There is also a subplot that occurs whenever one of the main characters, Yuko, falls asleep in class and those are always comedic.
The main plot involves a large cast of characters each with their own plot but all interacting in some manner, typically through the school they attend/work in. The main catch is that, in general most of what goes on is fairly normal per-se but is twisted in such a way as to make it comedic (OMG it situational comedy defined!). The plots can neatly divided by characters. There is Nano and Proffessor. Nano is a two year old robot girl invented by Proffessor, a 6 year old girl. Nano has the maturity of an upper classmen but has to deal with the fact that she is a robot (a fact she despises) a maintain face at school (which she now attends).She also looks after Professor, who although a genius, is still just a 6 year old who likes to play practical jokes, draw pictures of sharks and eat treats. There is Yuko, Mio and Mai who are three friends who each sit on a their own respective place on the scale of energetic (Yuko>Mio>Mai). Together they are almost normal. There is also Manabu and Isumi, two easily flustered teachers with a slight love for each other. Then theres Kojiro and Misato. Kojiro is a farm boy who acts like an aristocrat (he has a butler change his pants while walking and like to ride a goat to school). Misato is a female character that often has to work with Kojiro on school events. She has a slight crush on him but also an ability to pull out heavy weapon stock and fire it off whenever she becomes frustrated with him. So many other characters with their own welcomed contribution as well but I fear I must simply direct anyone interested to either watch the anime, read the mange or at worst the wiki instead.
The animation is generally simple in Nichijou though the word generally needs to be stressed. There is a wide variation of animation techniques adopted and displayed throughout the episodes and even what I can only describe as "experimental animation". Mostly they play around with the various types of animations between scene transitions. Some of the more unusual examples included, staring at a printer printing birthday cards, staring at turtles sun bathing on rocks and an bug spray can shooting a bullet at a glass panel. The format for the first two examples (printer and turtles) I found really enjoyable. I might need to make a video example of this to illustrate how it works. Basically each episode follows the characters for a single day (from morning till Nano and Proffessor go to sleep). These cut scenes which a scattered through out the anime follow the actual time of day, and transition as you would expect them to.
Edit: I have put together a short 2 min collection of the transition scenes from this anime.
Then there is the second season OP which I secretly suspect is why I watch this anime. It is entertaining to watch, a bit fast paced and perhaps a bit overwhelming at first. I found I needed to watch it a few times just to get it all in. Enjoy.
Thought I'd share this here. Last night I spent some gruelling hours trying to figure out how vegas pro subtitles work (the answer is barely). But the end result is a resub of the transformation scene for episode 5 of Mawaru Penguindrum. This is the best one yet. It departs from the usual by including Ringo. And man is she pissed. Entertainment and swearing ensues.
I re-did the subbing because almost all of the online sources have annoying video corruption except the raws. I don't know who does this stuff but its clear everyone just cuts and pastes the work from the one source, so the corruption is everywhere.
As always, midway through the season I am directed to other hidden jems through the helpful comments of other anime lovers. This week I was directed to watch Mayo Chiki.
It is a funny anime and worth a watch.
The plot synapse is such:
Subaru Konoe is a high school student and butler to Kanade Suzutsuki a seemingly rich only daughter of the high schools principal. Subaru is also very, this needs to be emphasized, very much popular among the ladies. The crush of most highschool ladies, there is even a secret society devoted entirely to worshipping the hotness that is Subaru. It must be something about the kind manners and obedience to Subaru's "Master" that causes the attractiveness.
Enter Kinjirō Sakamachi. His most note worthy quality is that after years of being a punching bag to his mother and sister he has become rather adept at adsorbing punches, kicks and other types of physical abuse (the ladies of his family are world class fighters and even take on bears from time time). He is mortally afraid of woman as a result however. It is Kinjiro who discovers Sabaru secret, Sabaru is a girl. The explanation is that it is a tradition for the Suzutsuki family to have a male butler. In order to remain the butler to her dear friend Kanade, Subaru must conceal herself as a man for the period of highschool. If her true sex is discovered she will be fired, shaming her family. It falls on Kinjiro to help keep the secret safe. Unfortunately for him half the school thinks he's gay and interested in Sabaru and the secret society of nasty stalker girls are plotting to cut his life short for stealing away their collective crush. That and his deathly fear of girls means this arrangment might just lead to his death.
But enough about the plot. What I can not get over while watching this is all the plot similarities to Maria Holic. Except Mayo Chiki is certainly less perverse and I am enjoying far more. It like they took a blender chucked Maria holic in and then this came out from the resulting paste.
Mariya Shidō
Subaru after landing a punch
Lets start with the secret sexes. Mariya Shidō and Subaru Konoe.
To be the rightful heir of his family fortunes Mariya Shidō needs to go through high school as a woman (his sister does the same as a man in another school). Family honour is at stake.
For Subaru she needs to remain a male if she is to inherit the position of butler to the Suzutsuki family and continue her family tradition. Family honour is at stake!
One notable difference between the two characters is that Subaru (am I the only one that keeps seeing cars when I say this name)... anyways Subaru is generally a nice a respectable person. in fact romance will likely eventually bloom between herself and Kinjiro. Mariya on the other hand is pure evil incarnate.
Then there are the people who discover the cross dressers true identities. Kinjirō Sakamachi and Kanako Miyamae.
Kinjiro
Kanako
Kinjiro is a man mortally afraid of woman, who bleeds from the nose when touched, approached or merely suggested to be in the presence of woman.Since he can lose significant amounts of blood, sometimes leading to unconsciousness he avoids woman. As a result he is rumoured to be gay.
Boils forming from being touched
Blood from being touched
Kanako is closet lesbian who put herself into an all girl catholic school in the hopes of finding her true love. When she drops into her fantasies is touched, approached or in the presence of ladies (albeit only in sexual ways) she bleeds from the nose sometimes leading to hospitalization. Of course because she is in love with basically every lady in school she brings this on herself. She is however mortally afraid of men, and will break out into boils if touched by one (even if he is disguised ;).
Both of them end up recruited, in many ways unwillingly, to keep help keep the secret.
What else? Ah the maid and Kanade. Both kinda dress up like maids. However in one case one is la maid (Matsurika) and the other (Kanade) the master. Both are sadistic.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
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Edit: As I was writting the draft for this Sugimoto has realeased another work. Though not anime in nature it is cool none the less "100".
I came across the work of Sugimoto Kousuke through the recomendation of a now defunct comic "Nobody Scores". At the time Sugimoto had just realeased his animation "The TV Show". It featured a fast pace, colorful and brief story of several different TV channels and the choas that resulted from their combination. I do no know Bbolt came across that little animation. When I first clicked on it, only 40,000 views had been recorded. I'm glad he did find it however, and I'm especially glad that he shared this little gem. Simply put, I loved it.
It has been a year since "The TV Show" was originally realeased. Since then Sugimoto has created a handfull of other animations. Of all his recent work, his 6 minute creation "Sing my Way" stands out. Here Sugimoto again combines fantastic colors, quick action, a compelling story and killer music to make a memorable and catchy little anime. At the time of writting this anime has only gained 60,000 views but I'm sure that number will quickly grow.
I have been away for the week out camping at a summer camp as an "Expert Scientist". Bahaha. I've been catching invertabrates, running water quality tests and building geodesic domes. What I wasn't doing was watching anime. I had to catch up on a weeks worth of anime this morning. It has been a good morning.
First lets start with the animes I hadn't yet reviewed.
Dantalian no Shoka
When I first started watching Dantalian no Shoka, I saw immediate parelles to Gosick. The simularities quickly fade as the episode developes its own character. The anime takes place in early twentieth century Europe, my guess is post world war I. A young man named Disward has inhertited his uncles mansion. In the basement is a curious young girl named Dalian, who, it is revealed, is the key to a forbidden library of demonic liturature.
I am afraid, but hopefully needlessly so, that this anime may not push out any original content. The premise is promising, but after a full episode (the intro to be fair) I saw nothing that really struck me as unique. Still I will continue watching this one for at least a few more episodes.
No. 6
I must admit I am behind with No.6, I have watched the first two episodes only. This anime has gotten a lot of attention. The gossip has focused mainly on the romantic connection between the two protagonists Sion and Nezumi. Yes they are both men, and yes this anime is better for it. Such is the skill of Atsuko Asono, a type of love affair that most of the world remains uncomfortbale with appears natural and beutifull by the end of the first ep.
The art is fine, the plot is fine, though I expect the story will be given much more depth then at present. Overall this is a fine anime indeed.
Mawaru Penguindrum
I am still watching MP and still enjoying it. The penguins are cute as ever and the additional characters introduced are solid. Still do no know where this anime really is going though and many parts of the episodes have me scratching my head. I will continue to watch this no matter what.
The President of the Preservation of Traditional Art Society
Before I get started on Usagi Drop I want to talk about double-J. Its a new very short anime that I suspect is a learning program. None the less I am enjoying it and think it is worth tracking. At 4 minutes long, you will not lose anything significant by tuning in. Two girls have joined a high school club for the preservation of traditional arts, specifically Japanese traditional art. Each episode explains some "traditional" art, albeit very briefly. I certainly haven't left an episode feeling any smarter but it remains fun to watch. The animation is simple but elegant and the backgrounds are simply still photos. Still it is a pleasure to look at. The end credits are some of the most catchy 10 seconds I've ever seen. Give it a look.
The Ed on youtube is flipped horizontally, I suspect to avoid automatic blocking by google.
Now for Usagi Drop.
Usagi Drop is could potentially be my favorite anime this season. Just saying that strait out now. I suspect it may have something to do with its focus on a demographic other then high school girls. Its nice to move in refreshing new directions from time to time. I learned a new term as well, this anime is classified as a 'slice of life'. Probably for its focus on relationships rather then a plot driven story line.
Daikichi a 30 year old bachelor meets with his family for his grandfathers funeral. There he discovers that his grandfather, though passing at the age of 73 has a six year old illegitimate daughter named Rin. When no one expresses any desire to take responsibility for Rin and instead discus disposing of her in an 'instatution' Daikichi intervenes. Though he has no experience with children he takes Rin into his life.
I am unsure where this plot leads and despite there already being a manga and a live film of this I refuse to spoil it for myself. I suspect we will see a plot that is entirely character driven, and that the episodes will focus on the learning and developments between Daikichi and Rin. We have seen hints at humor in the first episode, and so I also suspect this to be a light slightly humorous anime.
The first episode was slow but set up a high potential for the following episodes. I am eagerly awaiting episode 2.
In terms of art, it was often plain. The anime does tend to provide plenty of scene cuts involving flowers and blowing leaves, which was a bit repetitious. On the other hand many scenes were given a look of being drawn with pencil crayons. Though I've heard complaints that this makes the anime look sloppy and poor, I thought it was well placed and gave a nice, although CBC'ish look (see here for a Canadian nostalgia blast, and here for the better example (take your toque off first ya hoser)....okay they are both water pastels and not pencil crayons but if it don't bring a tear to your eye then your a soulless person).
I enjoy reading the viewer comments to animes on streaming websites. Though brief there are always some gems which perfectly sum up nearly everyone feelings to the particle anime and its episode. With the new anime Mawaru Penguindrum I think comment #48 sum'd up what everyone was left thinking at the end of the episode; "Da Fuq?"
Added note: The blog over at The Abandoned Factory did a great job at putting up some great photos for this anime. I think its worth a look.
Mawaru-Penguindrum will surely be the "weird" anime of this season. What got me, at least, was that the anime started off relatively normally (for an anime). In the final few minutes however, the creators chucked the shit at the fan. This first episode was used mostly to set the plot and do some explaining. We meet the characters, we're given an intro to their problems and the direction of the plot is kinda hinted at. I say kinda hinted because not much is really explained in the plot department, the next anime could go anywhere as far as I know.
A fun side animation during conversation
The three main characters are Shoma, Kanba and Himari. They are siblings who live together, two brothers and one sister. Himari, the sister, is very sick. In a flash back it is explained that she has only a few months to live. Possessing this knowledge her two brothers try their best to keep her happy. Today they are cooking her hot Miso soup and taking her to the aquarium to see penguins. Yay! The anime then quickly takes a somber tone. While at the aquarium Himari collapses and shortly afterwards dies.
The hat.
Then the twist out of no where, while the two brothers are grieving next to her, Himari is brought back to life by... well it isn't really explained, uhh a Alien Penguin Queen? (that needs an acronym... APQ!) Yes this is where things start spinning all over the place. Much to the surprise of the doctors, they happily return home, Himari completely recovered from that slight affliction we call death. At home they find three penguins who were mailed to their house. These penguins do not talk, but can do house chores and are universally declared to be cute on the anime forums. Himari, meanwhile becomes possessed by the APQ when she puts on a cute penguin hat, and undergoes one of the strangest transformation scenes I've seen in a while. It is then explained that the two brothers must get a penguin drum as payment for the continued existence of their sister. The anime finishes of on a controversial note, and certainly is what is being discussed the most in its wake. It seems one brother is or has fallen deeply in love with his sister and the possibility of incest is strongly suggested. All this within 7 and a half minutes. uh.. Da Fuq?
Those in the background really stick out.
The animation is fairly clean but very colorful. I would almost venture a guess that the animators have been given extra freedom to experiment. As can be seen from the photos included, the house is a mosaic of bright colors and the outdoors is filled with deep contrasts. Other quirks are present throughout, riding the subway is given its own special animation sequence, the anime often moves its visual focus to strange bright small animations near the characters, they have severely simplified background traffic to the point that it stands out and have inserted brief 100 millisecond photos throughout the entire anime. Individual scenes are filled to the brim with small details and little notes to look at to the point that it would be temping to watch the entire episode in slow mo. The overall effect is enjoyable, they seem to be expertly balancing effects that could easily annoy.
The penguin helps find cabbage.
The transformation sequence needs its own mention, because well, it caught many off guard, especially myself. It was placed in such a weird way, and started so strangely that I thought it was the end credits. Overall if it was an ED it would be great, at least at the beginning. It starts off very colorful, with some energetic singing and a cute rocket ship. Okay not an amazing ED but whatever. Instead it is a transformation sequence, and an exaggerated one at that. Everything is over the top somewhat random and just plain crazy. It really needs to be watched to understand. I have included it below. It starts about 20 seconds before the transformation sequence just to highlight how it came out of no where.
I do not know where this anime is going. Already it has many people squeamish about the potential for incest. Myself, I will watch a few more episodes before I judge it too harshly.
Wednesday, July 06, 2011
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Hello everyone!
Yesterday marks the end of a rather stressful 3 weeks after successfully presenting a sizable portion of my thesis results to my supervisor. So with that done and review on my mind, lets have a look at what went down in the anime world for the summer of 2011.
When we last looked at the summer season, (ei at the start of it) I had listed several promising anime. In fact the summer season looked to be a full fledged smorgasbord of awesome. Here's what I put on the watch list:
Tiger & Bunny
Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko
Yondemasuyo, Azazel-san
Maria Holic Alive
Steins Gate
Well how did they turn out? Lets start with disappointments and work our way up to impressive.
Maria Holic Alive
I only got four episodes in before I caved and gave up on this one. It was to be expected I guess. Season one was built to not have an encore. To put out a season two was unusual. In order to make a second season work, something amazing would have had to transpire, a combination of good writing, interesting art styling, maybe a couple a sacrificial goats even. But by the fourth episode, it was not clear where this anime was going and all the jokes were rehashes. A disappointment, although an expected one.
Steins Gate
This anime had its moments, and I feel bad putting it right next to Maria Holic. Still I only got 9 episodes in on this one before putting it down. Was it funny? At times. Did it have a plot? Yes certainly. So what knocked me off? This anime is a spin off of the Butterfly Effect if instead time was changed with text messages instead of brain hemorrhaging. A group of pseudo scientists make a microwave that sends sms's back in time, and only one of them can remember the changes that occur afterwards. With each time change, things only get more messed up. The inevitable conclusion I fear, will be Ashton Kutcher's fetus strangling himself. I can't bear to watch such crap again, no matter how remote the possibility is. So down with Steins Gate.
Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko
Now into the good. Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko, was a nice and at times cute anime. For those of us familiar with Shaft I can sum up its premise as such:
Take the young boy Yasaka from Natsu no Arashi! (another good summer anime), and add in Nino from Arakawa under a Bridge, make them relatives, mix the plot a bit and voila you have Denpa Onna.
For the rest of us Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko which translates strait to "Electric Wave Woman and the Young Man", but translated for meaning would more appropriately be "The Youthful Man and the Woman with the Tinfoil Hat", is about a high school student who moves in with his Aunt and Cousin in a new town. Theres all the growing up and self discovery that comes with such a move. His increasing maturity is comically referred to as puberty points (which are added up or subtracted at the end of each episode). The catch of course is that his aunt is a bit of a pervert and his cousin Erio thinks she is a space alien. In addition the small harem that Makoto seems to have acquired (Ryushi and Maekawa) are rather quirky themselves. Don't expect a climax or any major resolution to the season, the anime finishes with Makoto being just a little bit more grown up from his new experiences in a slightly strange town. A nice relaxing anime.
Yondemasuyo, Azazel-san
The surprise and quite frankly excellent anime. It had God making dirty jokes... nuff said. My only complaint is each episode is only 15 minutes long, which with a good anime such as this, really flies by. The plot revolved around a young woman working in a detective agency as a assistant/detective (the actual detective didn't do much except provide comedic entertainment... he's a cruel cruel man). To help with the investigations they summon daemons. The daemon Azalzel can for instance bring out peoples lusts, and Beelzebub can make people reveal their true nature, (in addition to forcing them to defficate). There are a whole host of other daemons as well each with their own power as well. This anime spares no one from its comedy, peoples imperfection are exaggerated, the daemons are childish and needy, the angels perverted and porn addicted and God, there is nothing funnier then God. I highly recommend this soon to be classic anime. I am also certain there will be a second season. Too good for their not to be.
Tiger & Bunny
Pure awesome. Every episode was entertaining humorous and action packed. This is the anime that had me waiting impatiently for the next Sunday episode. It too will have an extra season (it just go another sponsor Amazon Japan). I've described this Anime three posts ago, to sum it up; Super heros who work for a TV show called Hero.TV. All their heroic deeds are taped and streamed on live TV for entertainment. I can not recommend this anime enough. It had all the right ingredients, good animation, great plot, great writing and the humor was top notch. By far the best anime I've seen this year.
So whats coming up this season? Well the new anime is streaming in slowly and it looks like we've got a few promising starts. I haven't watched anything yet but here is a tentative list:
The new Appleseed
Uhh... that seems to be it at the moment really. Dang I dunno maybe Kani sama no Memo Chou? I'll get back to everyone on this. Man this season better pick up.
This season contains some superb animes, in fact I'm finding it hard to track them all. Out of all the anime this season though, one sticks out in terms of quality; Tiger and Bunny. If your into anime you are likely already watching this one. Meanwhile for those of us just dipping our feet into the genre; if your going to watch just one anime this season, watch Tiger and Bunny.
Tiger and Bunny has been receiving a lot of praise this season,and for all the right reasons. The plot is top notch, the action is thrilling, the characters are profound and above all that the animation is... well okay the CG needs some work. The theme is a bit recycled too, but thanks to a fresh spin and excellent writing, it well... works.
The anime follows a large group of superheros in the fictional city of Sternbild. In a mix of sportsTV and realityTV the heros are followed and broadcasted live whenever a crime is commited or a disaster encountered. The real audience (ie us) gets to see this from a third person perspective outside the whole system; we get to see snipits of the "live footage", we see the producers, we see the behind the scenes stuff. Upon achieving critical milestones (saving a civilian, capturing a crook) the heros are giving points in a sports like rating system. The ratings effect their popularity, and the brand they represent, yes brand. Each and every one of them are sponsored. Gotta pay the pills right? Here's the kicker though, the brands are real, but more on that in a bit.
The two main protagonist are Kotetsu Kaburagi (aka Wild Tiger, sponsor SoftBank), and Barnaby Brooks (nicknamed Bunny but no alias, sponsor Bandai). The anime will focus heavily on the other heros as well but it will be through these two that the central plot moves forward. So here is where things get a bit recycled. Due to a sponsorship buyout, Tiger and Barnaby are joined together as Sternbilds first super hero Team. Tiger is a veteran hero who acts first thinks later goes by his gut feeling and follows a high moral code. Barnaby on the other hand, is cool, collected and strategic, he is also the first super hero without an alias, everything he says is scripted and his motives are bit unclear. In any event these two get along as horribly as any other police/spy/soldier tag team combo would. and hijinks ensue (I seem to say hijinks alot with anime). I have watched four episodes so far, and every single one has been a hit. I am willing to go out on a limb here and say this, Tiger and Bunny will be imitated, Tiger and Bunny will be the new precedent for action comedy duo's.
An actual scene from the Anime
So, branding. It is very entertaining how they incorporated real world branding into the anime and certainly worth mentioning. Every single brand (save one) is a real world company, some are heavy hitters in truth. I've already mentioned, Bandai and SoftBank (media/game companies) but there is also Ustream.tv (hosted by last years most popular hero), Calbee Foods, DMM.com, the restaurant chain Gyu-Kaku, Fujitsu and Pepsi (the pepsi link takes you to a flash game for the real product they are advertising *much fun*). The brand names, advertising and obvious product placements are so heavily integrated into the plot that I keep questioning whether this is in fact actual advertising. I mean obviously it is real advertising but I keep finding myself thinking "Is this for real?". Not only that but the production studio's have embedded real adverts into the footage. If you are lucky enough to be able to watch this on Hulu.com, or are watching from a "third party *cough* website" you will be subjected to crazy Japanese orange power juice commercials whenever hero.tv calls for a commercial break. It is one of the most seamless commercial cuts I have ever witnessed.
Her outfit reminds me babybel cheese.
So what can I say, watch this one, it is breaking new ground. The whole anime leaves me in awe every single time I sit down to watch it.
In the genre of anime the openings are a serious component. Any anime worth their salt will put substantial effort into a polished opening sequence. While in the American market we treat openings somewhat like a book cover, something appreciated but nothing to judge by, for the anime an opening is often used as the first judgment of a series. It is the chance to not only illustrate the visual appeal and aesthetics but also gives the viewer an indication of the quality of the audio through their choice of soundtracks. In a genre where the visual and audio style can make or break a series the opening serves a vital role of promoting their creation. In many of the examples that I will be covering, you will be left with a strong impression of how you feel about the specific anime just from the OP's. The beauty of this though, is that often, this impression is correct.
In my last post I discussed the production company SHAFT and their tendency to focus considerable amounts of effort on their OP's (and ED's). Arakawa under a bridge is the perfect case example of this tendency.
Currently at two seasons and with a live action on the way Arakawa has received moderate success in the Japanese market. While not considered a classic or even the best anime for it's season Arakawa enjoys a strong following of loyal fans, myself included. The anime centers around an egotistical young male, Ric and a small community of peculiar inhabitants under a municipal bridge. Each community member has their own reason for living under the bridge and Ric is no exception. After accidentally falling off the bridge and nearly drowning, he is rescued by Nino, a blonde hair lady of unusual qualities. Indebted, (a crippling condition for Ric), he agrees to stay by Nino's side as her lover. The series focuses continues by focusing on Ric adjusting to his life under the bridge and exploring his newly formed relationship with Nino.
Despite having played for only two season Arakawa has composed and presented 4 different OP's and 5 unique ED's. Considering the financial disincentives of composing unique music scores and stand alone animations, this stands as an impressive feat. Their is a pattern to the madness however, two of the openings remain the standard stock opening for the entire season while the other two were episode specific. Both of the episodic openings focused solely on a single character and their relationship to the anime.
For the first season the OP is going by the name Venus to Jesus. I can see already I have yet another anime OP to sub into english once my main computer is working agian. The music is by Etsuko Yakushimaru, a generally lesser known J-pop singer but after listening to both this OP and next season (she sings for both) it is clear that she is certainly under-appreciated talent. The music is cute and catchy and combined with the coloring for the OP lends itself well to the feeling presented. The animated sequence focuses on the relationship between Ric and Nino, and gives some clues as to the mostly mysterious past of Nino. There is some obvious recurring themes throughout the OP, surely the fish are quite noticeable. This is character reference to Nino, her job and some of stranger qualities. This is venturing into the territory of personal opinion, but the sequence really seems to represent the chaos encountered by Ric in his relationship with Nino, his rebirth, his many failures and of course the ever present support from Nino who always seems to be immune to the same sorts of problems plaguing Ric. Its cute.
As a special treat in the fifth episode we get a custom character OP. The OP focuses on Maria a sociopathic sadist who subtly insults the men of the community for her own personal pleasure. She is an ex-military spy of unknown origins but of great skill and now runs the community farm for the bridge by lovingly raising sheep. Sister, a Brittish ex-military spy, who now runs the church under the Bridge is deeply in love with her but is also the target of her most foul insults. And so the OP is a tale told by Maria along those lines. It is actually sung by Miyuki Sawashiro (the voice actor for Maria) and gives slight props to Maria aholic another SHAFT production.
The second season brings more of the same high quality productions, with perhaps a the exception of the ED's for which the animation style really bothers me. Again, sung by the ever so cute Etsuko Yakushimaru this opening may be even more catchy then the first. Due to some severe copyright restricting going on in youtube for the song however, I can not directly embed the video on the page. Instead I refer you to an external site. This will also make posting a subbed version rather difficult. Go here.
Lets finish off with one of the ED's. Taken from the perspective of a video camera, the first seasons ED goes through all of the characters and scenes around the community.
Well we are already into the spring season of anime and so I must depart from the winter reviews and venture into the new material. Before I close the book completely on the winter season I would like to give an honorable mention for Puella Magi Madoka Magica . I was hesitant to watch this "magic girl" anime but once I got past the first episode its dark and vengeful plot twist quickly skyrocketed it towards my favorite anime of the season. Its not yet done (as of April 13th) so there's still time to catch up.
The spring season has ballooned with more then 25 anime in play. Even better there is a long list of quality anime to follow for those with the time. My current watch list includes:
Tiger & Bunny
Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko
Yondemasuyo, Azazel-san
Maria Holic Alive
Steins Gate
At a minimum I will be reviewing both Tiger & Bunny and Denpa Onna to Seisun Otoko both great looking animes and both deserving much praise so far.
Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko (Electric Wave Woman and Vernal Man)
This anime is produced by SHAFT. SHAFT is a peculiar company, it has both a strong following of devoted fans and large base of haters. Even still being a fan of SHAFT is a bit of love/hate. SHAFT does not make animes for its fans, it does not make animes for money they make animes for themselves and for shits and giggles sometimes at the expense of their audience (See Maria Holic). As such its easy to feel put off, but for those times when SHAFT throws its audience a bone the result is often amazing. Many of my favorite animes have come from shaft, Arakawa under a Bridge, Madoka and Sayonara Zetsubō Sensei are a few.
Three elements make up a SHAFT anime:
Fantastic openings, endings and music
Poetic opening sequences, and vast amounts of visual symbolism's (You see the ET reference in the poster? Yeah? Well that is as subtle as it gets for them they usually prefer to punch you in the face)
God awful endings, that can piss off the best of us (and often done on purpose: see Maria Holic)
Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko has already met two of these criteria and upon watching the first episode it is clear that SHAFT has put some effort into this work. Perhaps they might just be throwing us a bone this time.
First I am going to include a link to the anime preview. It doesn't say anything about the plot but the musics nice and gives an idea of the style that accompanies SHAFT projects.
Next the anime. The anime starts in typical SHAFT style with a Arakawa style abstract monologue. If your confused as to the point, dont worry this is just the SHAFT way. We then hit the OP. I need to include the OP and spend some time talking about this OP. It displays the shear genius of SHAFT work. Never before have I listened to music that has simultaneously causes my ears to bleed in rejection AND then instantly addict myself to its tune. Despite how awful the "moe" singing is; I can not stop listening to the OP. I have embedded the OP at the bottom of the post. Go watch it now.. No subs yet but the translated text is included under the player.
If you still alive to read the rest or perhaps skipped the OP I've embedded then I suppose I must continue and explain the plot. A young boy, Makoto, moves from the country to live with is aunt in the city. Upon arrival he discovers that his aunt has a daughter named Erio whose existence she ignores as much as possible. Erio claims to be an alien investigator and part of an operation for which the earth is targeted. For the most part she speaks only in confusing scientific jargon and except for her legs she is completely wrapped up by a futon. Yes a futon...
The first episode is full of a lot of situational humor focusing mainly on the futon and stays in the region of light humor. Very little else is revealed however. It does not appear as if their will be any kind of actual action driven plot for this anime instead the story will probably be character driven. So far very promising and entertaining. I would recommend following this anime for the season.
Ninensei baka wa hitori koko no machi no sora miageru
A second year fool is looking at he sky of this town sabori gakeuseipajama kiteru natsuyasummi ga koza ni chuutai
A truant student wearing pajamas drops out before summer break chikyuu de uchuujin nante adana demo
My eccentricity is dwarfed by yours uchuu no machiawase shitsu ni was motto hen na anata ga ita no
whom I found in the space meeting room, although I call myself an alien of the Earth jushinshiteru kana to setsuzokushite miru to
When I tried to establish a connection to see if you're receiving minna ga sakeru naka de pachikuri mite iru anata ga ita kara
you blinked in surprise while others sheered away terapahiru kimochi ga denpa ga chiggakutemo
I like you because you manage to get some data Kitto ne nanika tsukande kureteru anata no koto ga suki
even though we use different frequencies for transmitting thoughts jushinshite kureru no kana to shinpai mo shiterun desu
Im sometimes worried about whether you're actually receiving nandanda de soba ni ite kureteru anata ga suki
I like you for staying by my side anyway kitto anata shika jushin dekinai no
I bet you're the only one who can receive
Finally here is an embedded link to the ED for the series which is much softer on the ears. (will also need to get/make subbed version when I get my functional computer back from the shop)
Kazehiku no kazehiku no
Im catchin a cold, Im catching a cold ofuton nakute samui
It's cold without my futon ofuton hagasarete samui
Its cold when they take off my futon yoake ni anata ga kuru
You came at dawn anata ga waratteiru
You Smiled kitto oku ni wa mienai to amotteiru
Im pretty sure that I can't look inside you sotto te wo nobashiteitai
I want to slowly stretch out my hand nani wo suru tsumori
Why do I want to do that? Kazehiku no kazehiku no
Im catchin a cold, Im catching a cold netta furi hoshite sugosu
I pass my time trying to preten tbeing asleep sukoshi dake atatakaku naru
Only slowly it gets warmer tonari de anata wa nemuru
You're sleeping next to me Urusai negoto wa mushi shite
I ignore your annoying sleep talk kasanaru odeko kissu shite
and kiss your growing eyebrows
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
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The anime Fractale produced by A1 Pictures (Aka Sony's Aniplex) is tied with Gosick for my next favorite anime of the winter 2011 season.
It isn't apparent in the first few episodes but Fractale is a dystopian sci-fi. The story takes place in the near future in an area that I feel resembles the Brittish Isles, steep chalk cliffs, few trees, green fields, in other words very pastoral. (Update: wikipedia the source of all knowledge claims the anime takes place in Ireland. Go figure). The main character Clain runs into a young lady who leaves him with an doppel, an electronic representation of a person, of unusual character named Nessa. At the urging of his parents and out of curiosity Clain decides to seek out the lady and return to her the doppel. Clains travels are abruptly interrupted when Nessa and himself are kidnapped by the terrorist group (freedom fighters?) New Millennium. From there his understanding of the world he lives in and the Fractal system is challenged.
I found myself captured quite quickly by this anime. Certainly, it has mastered the art of the cliff hanger. Its episodes my not necessarily be the best ones of the week but curiously it is the anime I wait most impatiently for in between episodes. I recommend it as a good anime to place on the follow list this season.
My Rant about Fractale (Potential Spoilers?)
I am adding the heading potential spoilers out of caution, but the nature of the spoilers is a bit unusual from my perspective. Upon reflection the first episodes do not really conform with anime overall. They start by highlighting the tensions in the relationship between Clain and his parents. The introduction of Phyne and her doppel along with the group New Millennium could be interpreted as plot device to explore and develop a more complete relationship with his family. Instead the anime focuses on the tyranny of the Fractale system (a sort of government / planetary data system). The parents and their relationship with Clain is essentially abandoned completely by episode 4.
The characters are misrepresented as well. Phyne is presented as an innocent but competent Priestest of the Fractal church being unfairly targeted and pursued by the New Millennium forces. Certainly the revelation that she is more complex that initially presented is a fair plot device. However the most prominent misrepresentation is a bit of stretch. I am referring to the dramatic change in the characters of the New Millenium forces. Its reasonable to have them represented at first as the antagonist and then slowly transform into the protagonist as plot details are revealed. Classic the world isn't as it seems plot. However, having them transform from moronic one dimensional characters who are disorganized and unskilled into an elite fighting force with an organized support system and incredible fighting skills is a bit much. By the midpoint of the anime the most prominent characters of New Millennium impassioned, skillful and inspiring. I am not saying it does not represent an improvement, the anime is better for it. In fact the point at which I could no longer stop watching Fractale and the point where the New Millennium characters undergo their reinvention coincide perfectly. I just do not understand the point of presenting them as complete incompetents at the beginning only to have them transform part way through into the extreme fighting force that they become.
Lastly on the topic of anime OP's. This one drives me crazy. When it first starts, it gets me every time. I think, "Yeah this is sounding and looking awesome". Eight seconds later (I've measured it) I am led to complete disappointed as the character of the music completely changes (to crap) and I realize that the entire OP is composed of spiraling geometric patterns. I rather suspect they called the anime Fractale simply so they could save money on the OP by having actual fractales spin around on screen for one and a half minutes.
On a the scale of entertaining, I must admit though, this episode falls behind the others. It focused primarily on Kotetsu running from the law, while the audience waited impatiently for him to figure out, at least partially, how he's been set up. Still there were some heavy revelations, specifically concerning Kotetsu's daughter Kaede. The last few episodes have shown that Kaede is developing her own super powers. Upon contact with other NEXT she acquires their ability. So when she hugged her father she gained super human strength, when she came in contact with an unknown NEXT she gained magnetic control (well she couldn't control it but it was there). (Also who is the magnetic NEXT that she came into contact with?). Upon hearing of her fathers dilemma she ran away from home to find him (she is like 12 or something). Who does she immediately run into? Yeah the antagonist. The anime did try to make it seem inconsequential. She was trying to find Barnaby to ask for help, and Albert was leaving the Hero TV administrative building, he is the chief of operations after all. However the consequence of their meeting escaped no one. From what I saw on the forums only one poor poster missed the fact that Albert tapped her the head, thereby transferring his powers to re write memory.
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Friday, March 22, 2013
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