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2centsoframblings · 5 months

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Two cents of ramblings on: “Watashi no Shiawase na Kekkon” (Anime)...

...and why I think people might enjoy it (if they don't expect too much).

GENERAL DATA

Title: Watashi no Shiawase na Kekkon (わたしの幸せな結婚 ‘My Happy Marriage’)

Media: Anime television series

Adaptation of: Watashi no Shiawase na Kekkon (わたしの幸せな結婚 ‘My Happy Marriage’) Shōjo light novel by Agitogi Akumi

Genre: Fantasy, Romance

Directed by: Kubota Takehiro

Written by: Satō Ami, Ōnishi Takahito, Toyoda Momoka

Studio: Kinema Citrus Co., Ltd.

Original run: July 5, 2023 – September 20, 2023

Episodes: 12

WARNINGS: There’s bullying and abuse in quite large amount.

The plot in short: In an alternative version of the Taishō era in which magic and spirits called Grotesqueries (異形, Igyō), are real Saimori Miyo, who was born without supernatural talent, is abused and forced into an existence of servitude by her family and, especially, by her stepmother and stepsister. The family then decides to have her marry Kudō Kiyoka, rumored to be a cruel and abusive man. Her husband to be, however, proves to be a good person and they slowly start to fall in love.

HOW DID I STUMBLE INTO IT

Commercials mostly. They showed the anime had a really pretty graphic and the plot seemed mysterious and dramatic enough to interest me.

THINGS YOU MIGHT WHAT TO KNOW BEFORE TACKLING THIS

The anime series covers only the first 2 volumes of the light novel series. Things are cut or simplified so to fit them into the new media but, what’s more, while the series gives a sense of conclusion to the romance, the plot regarding the mystery concerning the Grotesqueries and other things are left completely unfinished. So if you were here for that, prepare yourself to feel disappointed.

MY TWO CENTS ON IT

THE SHORT VERSION… or what I can tell you about this while trying to keep spoilers at the very bare minimum.

Opening & ending: The anime uses as opening “Anata no Soba ni.” (貴方の側に。 ‘By Your Side.’) by Riria and as ending “Vita Philosophica” (ヰタ・フィロソフィカ) by Itō Kashitarō. The opening is very pretty, from the sweet music to the beautiful images which match well enough with the music. I liked how young Miyo went to old Miyo but found particularly cute to see the two cherry petal overlapping as to symbolize Miyo and Kiyoka’s love. The ending is equally pretty, although it has a rougher edge and the images are deliberately moving in a stilled way. Neither is so impressive you’ll be amazed but both are really pleasant to watch and cute.

The plot: The plot of the romance overlap with mysteries regarding the Grotesqueries, Miyo’s mother’s family and Miyo’s lack of power and the plotting of people seeking power. While the ideas are all interesting… in the end the anime focuses mostly on the romance, maybe because since it wasn’t going to cover all the volumes, it just couldn’t focus on the rest. The romance plot is very cute and sweet so if you’re into love stories you might totally enjoy it.

The characters: They’re cute, pretty and you might like them but they felt very one-dimensional to me. They’re either very, very nice or they’re very, very bad.

The visual: Oh, I love it. Everything is so pretty and detailed. And those beautiful kimono the characters use… oh, that’s the best part, really.

The musical background: The music is very nice and sweet. Evan Call made lovely compositions for this anime. They can be relaxing and giving a good atmosphere.

Overall: The fact that the characters are so one dimensional and the mystery plots are a bit neglected due to the story stopping earlier on are two important downsides… but the love story is so lovely and cute it’s still a very sweet series to watch.

THE LONG VERSION… or what I loved and hated about this with, of course, TONS OF SPOILERS.

Miyo and Kiyoka are a couple overwhelmingly cute, with Miyo not properly appreciating herself (she goes so far as to think she has no right to be happy because she has no supernatural abilities) and Kiyoka trying to act cold but then slowly warming up and becoming protective and Miyo also slowly gaining confidence.

I also love Tatsuishi Kōji, who is forced to become the fiancé of Saimori Kaya, Miyo’s abusive stepsister despite clearly loving Miyo. He’s such a good, kind person and he’s always striving to improve himself, you can’t help but love him.

And other characters came out as cute and lovable.

The problem comes with the characters who aren’t meant to be lovable. They’re just represented as so evil and disgusting it’s like watching “Cinderella” and having to deal with the stepmother and stepsisters but without the fun parts of the Disney movie (well, the story has quite a lot in common with Cinderella, to be honest). The bad people is just bad, overwhelmingly so (I mean, not only her family abused her but they even threatened to kill her if she weren’t to turn down Kiyoka’s proposition!), and this generates such a sharp contrast with how instead the nice people is just SO VERY NICE the story really feel split into good characters and evil characters, which ends up making characters look too fictional. In truth the good characters are a bit more than just good as they’re more developed than the evil ones, so it’s possible that the evil ones came out as just evil because there was no time to develop them but it still feels like the story is presenting an overly simple good vs bad view of people, fitting for a child story more than this genre of story.

Long story short, I think developing more the antagonists would have benefitted the story.

The whole supernatural abilities with the Grotesqueries and the bad guy in the shadow part of the plot is also way too neglected, which is a pity because it’s actually interesting but… it feels really sidelined to the love story. It still exists and you can still enjoy it but… it’s just too little.

So to sum it up this is a cute, cute, cute love story one can definitely enjoy, but it would have benefitted from having the other parts of the story developed more. Still, I think it’s pretty and enjoyable enough so it’s nice to watch it.

And now let’s end this with an AMV about this series I recommend watching: Eyes off you

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#Watashi no Shiawase na Kekkon #My Happy Marriage #Kinema Citrus #Fantasy #Romance #Recommended #Shoujo #2023

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2centsoframblings · 2 years

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Two cents of ramblings on: “Yami no Matsuei” (Anime)...

...and why I recommend it.

GENERAL DATA

Title: Yami no Matsuei (闇の末裔 ‘Descendants of Darkness’)

Media: Anime television series

Adaptation of: Yami no Matsuei (闇の末裔 ‘Descendants of Darkness’) Shōjo manga by Matsushita Yōko

Genre: Dark fantasy, mystery, supernatural

Directed by: Tokira Hiroko

Written by: Amiya Masaharu, Horii Akiko

Studio: J.C. Staff

Original run: October 2, 2000 – December 18, 2000

Episodes: 13

WARNINGS: There are gruesome murder, paedophilia, rape, human experimentation, demonic possession, humans turning into monsters, suicide…

The plot in short: In the world of the dead, Meifu, the Jūō-chō takes care to judge the sins of the deceased. A sub section of this institution is the shōkan-ka (summoning division), specialized in dealing with troubles in regards to the dead and whose employers are called shinigami. Among them there’s Tsuzuki Asato, in charge of the Kyūshū area who, along with his new partner, Kurosaki Hisoka, is called to investigate on some mysterious deaths happening in that area and that are all connected with surgeon Muraki Kazutaka.

HOW DID I STUMBLE INTO IT

Surprisingly enough, in a time in which everyone was watching the anime, I started with the manga instead, and since I loved it, I decided to watch the anime as well.

THINGS YOU MIGHT WHAT TO KNOW BEFORE TACKLING THIS

Most of the background of the story is a fantasy version of Japanese myths and beliefs so it’s probably funnier/easier to watch it if you’re aware of what’s the Meifu, who’s Enma, what are the Shinigami and Shikigami, onmyōdō, how Tsuzuki’s shikigami match the ones of Abe no Seimei and so on. You can still enjoy it though, taking those ideas just as a fantasy concept but you might go into overload at how many are introduced.

MY TWO CENTS ON IT

THE SHORT VERSION… or what I can tell you about this while trying to keep spoilers at the very bare minimum.

Opening & ending: The anime uses as opening “EDEN” by To destination and as ending “LOVE ME” by The Hong Kong Knife.

I love, love, love “EDEN”. The music is beautiful and the imagery is symbolic and well fitting the slow melody. I think it’s a bit of an odd choice to always open it with a voice giving ALWAYS the same explanation of what’s Meifu and so on but whatever, since not everyone might be familiar with those concepts it might help. “LOVE ME” is not bad though not something I would call my fave, as it plays we see illustration for the manga which are clearly beautiful but, overall, this montage doesn’t tell me much.

The plot: Since it’s solely 13 episodes, the anime decided to focus solely on 4 manga arcs which were, at the time, the most meaningful in the story. Even if the series ends with an open ending, the result is still a coherent enough story that focuses mostly on the main characters but manages to give them story arcs so that you can appreciate their evolution.

The characters: Due to the many arcs cut, some side characters were left out or received little developments. The main one though are well enough developed and interesting to watch as they go through their arcs. It’s easy to end up loving them.

The visual: In the manga the character design changed often as the author’s style evolved a lot, the anime went for one that made the characters slender but still pretty. The characters’ faces are expressive and there are some nice shoots. I like how, although colours aren’t generally bright, the eyes of the characters and magic effects always seem to be brighter.

Byakko for example, despite technically being just white with some black stripes, seems to shine.

Suzaku too...

The scenery isn’t impressive but accurate enough...

...and when it involves Sakura it can get very pretty.

The musical background:I love it! There is music which is extremely sweet and some which is pretty evocative. I especially love “Tozasareta Kokoro” and “Kaeru Basho” but also the version of “Akuma no Trill” (or, if you prefer, “Il trillo del diavolo” by Giuseppe Tartini) used is awesome or the song “Amethyst Remembrance”, oh, they’re really too many, really, kudos to Saitō Tsuneyoshi for creating them.

Overall: It’s a good series, that despite cutting so many parts of the manga manages to still stand up alone and deliver a story, something that can’t be always said for more recent works that cut a lot and end up losing the story they were meant to tell.

THE LONG VERSION… or what I loved and hated about this with, of course, TONS OF SPOILERS.

So… two more words about the opening which I really love. I said the imagery is symbolic, but you don’t get how much until you watch the whole series and realize IT’S ALL IN THE OPENING. Basically the opening tells you all that’s going to happen and you don’t even realize until you don’t watch the series and connect all the dots. It’s AWESOME.

Going on with the story. As I said this story is born as a Shōjo. The three main characters all had, at some point, a female love interest or so it seems. The anime instead preferred to be more Shōnen ai, focusing on and empathizing on the male relations, mostly cutting out the females one so that, back in 2000, this anime was considered a Shōnen ai one and fans would get furious is someone were to suggest the characters had female love interests.

It’s not a praise or a complain, it’s just a choice… and in insight not even a bad one as, even in the original story, the male relations were more interesting than the ones the male characters had with the females they met.

On the downside sometimes this ended up tying characters to the stereotypes of the Shōnen ai more than they were. For example Tsuzuki in the manga can be pretty feral and strong (with a punch he breaks bulletproof glass)… but in the anime he’s more ukefied, his strength lying in his Shikigami more than in himself. They also remark his cute/puppy/childish side even more as well as his propensity to cry. Still Tsuzuki remains a wonderful character and one of the most beloved, if not the most beloved.

On the other side Muraki comes out as even more of a pervert and sadistic (and that’s saying A LOT as Muraki is pretty terrible in the manga too), obsessed with Tsuzuki, with having his attention and his body and jealous of Hisoka.

I said they had cut arcs from the manga… but to make up for it they had, in some points expanded the ones they decided to use and, since the manga at the time was ongoing and hadn’t developed yet the relation between Saiki and Muraki, they gave Muraki a reason to hate Saiki so that the story would feel solid.

The emotions of the characters are well developed, the evolution of the relationship between Tsuzuki and Hisoka is very good… but also very good is how the respective traumas are handled.

The themes of the story are intriguing.

They play on the idea of immortality, if it’s a good or a terrible things...

Tatsumi: It’s like a small ship sailing off into the sunset. The cherry trees bloom here all year long. What a relazing place... Tsuzuki: You think so. I think it’s because we know blossoms die so soon that they’re beautiful.

... if it’s right or wrong to sacrifice others to survive...

Tsuzuki: What are you doing? Young Tsuzuki: Caring for the roses. The best way to make pretty roses is to cut off the extra buds. It’s something all gardeners do. Tsuzuki: But don’t you feel sorry for the buds? They’re trying their best to become flowers, too. Young Tsuzuki: You have no right to speak that way. Asato. You are a murderer! Like these roses, you have survived nipping people’s lives in the buds!! Tsuzuki: No, I just... Young Tsuzuki: Then how do you explain what’s behind you? Tsuzuki: No, I didn’t want to kill them!!

... the fact that the characters are rejected from society because they’re perceived as monsters...

Tsuzuki: Hey, Hisoka. Muraki said I’m not human. Then, what AM I? Hisoka: Tsuzuki... Tsuzuki: If I’m not a human, then I... What AM I, anyway? Hisoka: What do you mean? Tsuzuki: Now I remember, when I was a kid, everyone bullied me. I was different... different from everyone... They accused me of being a monster.

How they can find a place to call home where they’re accepted...

Hisoka: ...is this Tsuzuki’s past? Discrimination, persecution, loneliness... and hatred of his own existence... Tsuzuki: I knew just what it was that made me different... Hisoka: They treated you so horribly... Tsuzuki: But... I wanted to be with them... I wanted to be a human!! Hisoka: You ARE a human! I guarantee it! Tsuzuki: Hisoka... Hisoka: You've always been a human! So don’t cry anymore!

...and...

Hisoka: Up until now... Tsuzuki has rescued me other and over... When I was unable to trust and open myself up to others even after death... he gently held me in his warm arms. He always watched over me with a smile!! Now that Tsuzuki... is in trouble... I want to rescue him!! This time... I WANT TO BE THE ONE TO CONFORT HIM!!!

...and...

Hisoka: The first time I found a place to call “home”... Watari-san... Tatsumi-san... the members of the shōkan-ka... You are all family to me... And it was Tsuzuki who lead me to accept all of you... Because he was near, I had a place with everyone else. I fight... to rescue Tsuzuki!

... the inescapability of fate...

Muraki: Tsuzuki-san... Even if you kill me you will not be freed from your deep sadness. Those born in the chaos of darkness are doomed to wander eternally through the darkness. There is no escape. Neither for me, nor for you. For we are both descendants of darkness!!

... suicidal thoughts and what helps you to cling to life...

Hisoka: Tsuzuki! Let’s go! Tsuzuki... Tsuzuki: Let me die, Hisoka. I’ve already lived more than my share... I... I’m just tired. I can’t exist anymore. So, godb... Hisoka? Hisoka: THEN STAY AT LEAST FOR MY SAKE!! I don’t want to be alone anymore!! Where I belong... is by your side!! I... I need you!! Tsuzuki: Can I... stay with you?

I love the way they handled Hisoka’s problems at connecting with people due to his sad past and his empathy (since he can perceive other people’s feelings he has been labeled as a monster by his family and kept imprisoned by them) but also how they handled Tsuzuki’s sense of guilt and fear of being a monster due to the unnatural colour of his eyes.

The series make a good work at capturing the contrast between the two, so that were Hisoka is withdrawn, standoffish and finds hard to make friends, Tsuzuki is extrovert and friendly and extremely caring and warm… but also where Hisoka manages to stay psychologically strong despite being weak physically, it’s were Tsuzuki instead break despite being on the outward extremely strong (only magically in the anime, although in the manga he was also strong physically).

And then there’s Muraki, the bad guy you love to hate.

Muraki is a sadistic killer who rapes a teenager and then kills him slowly, after making him live in pain for three years, murders left and right, manipulates young women and even turn one of them into a monster, obsesses and sexually harass Tsuzuki and might have raped him as well.

But Muraki is a surgeon who’s supposed to save people and also depicted as charming and looking like an angel, he’s basically all white with white hair and silver eyes and white clothes, and all this contrast with Tsuzuki, who’s a Shinigami and therefore supposed to kill people and dresses all in black, with dark brown hair and unnaturally purple eyes (which are associated with demons) but who’s also genuinely a good person, who wants to help others and is tormented due to the nature of his work.

The visual plays a lot on those two, on how they’re basically yin and yang and it’s great.

And Muraki and Tsuzuki aren’t the only two on which the anime plays on contrast, there’s also Hijiri and Hisoka, Hijiri being open about his feelings while Hisoka guarding them or Hisoka and Tsubaki, Hisoka hating Muraki for what he has done to him while Tsubaki can’t help but love him despite how he used her.

Should I also mention how the mystery and the drama in the story are excellent but the funny moments too are overall very nice?

And yeah, I said there are gruesome murders but the anime, differently from other animes, present them in a tasteful manner, the gory scenes are implied not shown for the sake to gross us out. You get the horror of the deaths… but you don’t get the stomach turning visual.

And what about the use of the music? The music is beautiful and it’s really well used to underline the mood of each scene. Here too they did a great work.

Really, it’s an old anime and not as good as the manga (despite the manga being still unfinished) but it’s still a good transposition of the manga and a story that can stand on its own.

If you can stomach what a horrible person Muraki is I wholeheartedly recommend it.

And now let’s end this with an AMV about this series I recommend watching: Possession

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#Yami no Matsuei #Descendants of Darkness #J.C. Staff #dark fantasy #mystery #supernatural #anime television series #Shoujo #Recommended #2000

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2centsoframblings · 2 years

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Two cents of ramblings on: “Umineko no naku koro ni” (Anime)...

...and why I STRONGLY DON’T recommend it (read the novel or the manga instead, they're AWESOME!).

GENERAL DATA

Title: Umineko no Naku Koro ni (うみねこのなく頃に“When the seagulls cry”)

Media: Anime television series

Adaptation of: Umineko no Naku Koro ni (うみねこのなく頃に “When the seagulls cry”) shōnen dōjin soft visual novel by Ryukishi07 and 07th expansion.

Genre: Murder mystery, psychological thriller, supernatural horror

Directed by: Kon Chiaki

Written by: Kawase Toshifumi

Studio: Studio Deen

Original run: July 2, 2009 – December 24, 2009

Episodes: 26

WARNINGS: There are gruesome murders, psychological and physical torture, nakedness, abuse.

The plot in short: On October 4, 1986 for the annual family conference, the Ushiromiya family gather on Rokkenjima island, a small island owned by the family head, Kinzō, who also reside there and whose health is declining. Among the family members there’s Ushiromiya Battler, one of Kinzō’s nephews, who comes back after a 6 years absence. A storm traps the family, the servants and the family doctor on the island, while a letter from the Golden Witch, Beatrice, challenges them to solve the epitaph so as to find Kinzō’s secret stash of gold or die according to the epitaph.

HOW DID I STUMBLE INTO IT

As I watched “Higurashi no naku koro ni” and “Higurashi no naku koro ni Kai” I thought I might enjoy this series as well.

THINGS YOU MIGHT WHAT TO KNOW BEFORE TACKLING THIS

This story is filled with murders which are gruesome in nature and depiction (and I’ll show some images of them). The TV version censors them by blurring/covering the scenes but the dvd version shows them in all their gory nature. You might not feel like stomaching them. The anime also covers only the first part of the story. A second anime covering “Umineko no naku koro ni Chiru” was never realized so the only way to see the end of the story is to either read the Visual Novel or read the excellent manga transposition. This series is also split in 4 arcs, each of them proposing a different version of what happened on Rokkenjima on those fateful days. Also I reference “Higurashi no naku koro ni” and mention “Golden Kamuy”.

MY TWO CENTS ON IT

THE SHORT VERSION… or what I can tell you about this while trying to keep spoilers at the very bare minimum.

Opening & ending: The anime uses as opening “Katayoku no Tori” (片翼の鳥 ‘One-Winged Bird’) by Shikata Akiko and as ending “La Divina Tragedia: Makyoku” (la divina tragedia～魔曲～ ‘The Divine Tragedy: Diabolic Song’) by Jimang from Sound Horizon.

I love the opening, the mixing of Italian text and Japanese one, Shikata Akiko’s voice so perfect as she sings this. Although the opening is the same through all the episodes, the visual changes 4 times, so that in a way the 4 arcs all have visually different openings, though sometimes the differences aren’t that radical. Although the visual might remember the opening of a visual novel (but this series had birth as a visual novel so it’s fitting) the images often well match with the rhythm and the words of the song, creating an iconic opening many love. The ending also has a beautiful music, through the visual, after a quick panning of a long chessboard, is mostly of scenery which don’t really match the song in any way. The only noteworthy bit is the one at the end that shows two empty chairs, then Battler and Beatrice on them, then they disappear from them. Still, the most of the anime viewers who also know the Visual Novel and the manga, agree that the opening and the ending are one of the few great things of the anime.

The plot: Now the plot of “Umineko no naku koro ni” is intriguing, deep, mysterious, elaborate, psychologically and socially well studied, in short, AMAZING! Too bad the anime cuts it so much it’s barely understandable. It feels more like watching a messed up summary, the changes affecting the mystery parts so that the solution of some mysteries becomes impossible.

The characters: Although this story has a VERY LARGE cast (Just the Ushiromiya family counts 12 members plus there are 5 servants and a guest, the doctor, for a total of 18, plus there’s Beatrice and all her magical underlings and let’s not forget Ange, Bern and Lambda... yeah, as I said a VERY LARGE cast) the characters are well studied from a psychological point of view, they’re deep and intriguing and well characterized… or better, they are as such in the visual novel and the manga. The many cuts of the anime, the poor adaptation of scenes made by cutting dialogues or changing them or changing expressions or not showing them or generally making a mess of things made pretty hard to get to know most of them and will mislead you on who they are or how their character is. In short, a mess.

The visual: Let’s start with the ‘up’ side. The anime improved Ryukishi07’s art so the character design is kind of better than his own. Not great, I’m not even sure I’ll call it good but… it’s better. And that’s the only nice thing I can say because, for everything else, the visual is poor. Scenery, shots, characters’ expressions, characters’ position, quality of the graphic… You name it it’s a mess that drags in even in some illustrations for the anime and in the dvd version. Even the Pachinko game is better than this mess.

The musical background: Actually this one is one of the few very good things. The people working on it where mostly the same of the ones making the music for the visual novel so they keep the same atmosphere and, hey, the visual novel had beautiful music so this works for the anime too. This is a BGM you can enjoy to listen.

Overall: Someone might remember I had no flattering words for the “Golden Kamuy” anime adaptation. Well, the “Golden Kamuy” anime adaptation is a masterpiece compared to “Umineko no naku koro ni” because, even though they share many flaws, at least the visual is, despite not being great, way better and there’s not all this interest in showing breasts and backsides in place of what we need to see.

THE LONG VERSION… or what I loved and hated about this with, of course, TONS OF SPOILERS.

I started my “Umineko no naku no koro ni” experience with this anime and, after finishing it, I didn’t want to hear anything else about it. It wasn’t like “Golden Kamuy”, a poor adaptation but that still was good enough it encouraged me to read the manga. It just discouraged me from having anything to do with the story. If it wasn’t for a friend who insisted and persuaded me to give the visual novel a chance, assuring me it was good and the anime messed up, I would have never known how AWESOME the source material was.

This adaptation lacks direction, it’s as if Studio Deen picked up hoping it would sell as “Higurashi no naku koro ni” did but then they felt confuse by how the story was different and had no idea how to process it.

They put hardly any effort in the visual.

There’s a senseless abuse of creepy/deformed faces (mostly with Maria)...

...but, apart from this, compared to the visual novel where the characters have an EXTREMELY LARGE range of expressions, here they have a rather poor one, often not even showing them. The scenery is not so great and all the anime seems to love showing are gruesome scenes,

creepy faces and… giggling breasts and waving backsides or characters in inappropriate poses (when George cries over his mother’s body, the scene seems to focus more on how he rubs his face in his mother’s breasts than on his grief),

the changes of scenes are poor and, often abrupt. Some shots are simply horrid, the proportions of the characters messed up...

...some movements are so weird they seemed comical when they aren’t meant to...

and the shoots are often bad, cutting heads...

... or being rather weird...

...or focusing on breasts and backsides (sometimes placing the characters in uncomfortable poses to have a better shoot at their backside) instead than on what characters are doing or on their expression in a way that’s not even sexy in such circumstances.

Characters often don’t react appropriately (When George is griefstriken and supposedly unable to support himself Battler and Jessica hold him as if he were a sack of potatoes, apart from Nanjō no one seems to care Jessica is coughing her lugs out...)

The cuts from a scene to the other are a mess because, often, too abrupt, with characters’ dialogues ending up being mistaken for the continuation of the previous scene.

They had no interest in having us solve the epitaph, which gets barely any attention… which okay, I can partly understand but still…

They actually had no interest in us solving the mystery either. Ryukishi07 said he would work with Studio Deen but somehow communication should have been lacking because the anime adapted some scenes in such a way that the intended solution becomes impossible (Nanjō taking care of Kanon’s wound in front of everyone so that they would see there’s no wound, Natsuhi also being shoot in front of everyone so for Beatrice it’s impossible to hide the letter Natsuhi had with herself...).

They hardly made an effort to characterize the characters. Where they were complicate people now they’re AT BEST given a character trait and that’s it. Sometimes not even that and they just loom in the background (episode 1 even forget to show Nanjō’s name).

This comes especially bad in regard to Beatrice and to the one character who’s the true identity of Beatrice, but also in regard to Battler and Ange’s feelings.

We’re talking of main characters here, not of side characters, those at least should have been well cared for.

They cut a lot, indiscriminately, but then they were totally capable to waste time for things that weren’t needed like random shots of the weather worsening, or of the clock when they could have just showed it in the background behind the characters.

Now, credits when it’s due, the visual novel is a massive work.

It was impossible to transpose its first 4 arcs in 26 episodes, 26 episodes are barely enough for 2 arcs, not 4. So if it was just the cutting… I guess I wouldn’t be so negative.

But here it’s more than just cutting, here it’s lack of care.

I’ve seen fans animating the final sequence of the dialogue between Battler and Beatrice way better than the anime did. I’ve seen the Pachinko game make the characters way more expressive than the anime did, with the tiny bit they animated with jerky animation being way better transposition than the anime one.

I don’t know why things went so bad with the anime, why they missed the good spots of this AWESOME story (the characters’ dept, the social themes, the mystery) to focus just on gory scenes (which are drawn in that sort of ugly way that doesn’t impress you, more like disgust you not for the gory scene but for the animation), breasts and backsides and creepy, almost insane faces as if they came to believe this was what made “Higurashi no naku koro ni” good and, in order to make this series good as well, they would need to recycle those plot elements and nothing more. Because yeah, they had ”Higurashi no naku koro ni” in mind as we have extra scenes showing Maria watching some random scenes from the “Higurashi no naku koro ni” anime.

To sum it all… read the visual novel or the AMAZING, AWESOME manga adaptation which, in the “Umineko no naku koro ni Chiru” part contains improved scenes but watch the anime solely after them… if you really have to watch it, because boys… it’s ugly and messy and misleading and really, it would seriously need a remake but I doubt they’ll even make one since the fact this mess was a commercial flop apparently discouraged Japanese producers who missed the fact that if the anime was a flop it was solely because the anime was poorly done, not because the story was lacking.

And now let's end this with an AMV about this series I recommend watching: Dolls of Rokkenjima 2.0

youtube

#Umineko no naku koro ni #Umineko when they cry #murder mystery #psychological thriller #Supernatural Horror #Studio Deen #anime television series #Shounen #Strongly not recommended #2009

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2centsoframblings · 2 years

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Two cents of ramblings on: “Monster” (Anime)...

...and why I STRONGLY recommend it.

GENERAL DATA

Title: MONSTER

Media: Anime television series

Adaptation of: “Monster” Seinen manga by Urasawa Naoki

Genre: Crime, Mystery, Psychological thriller

Directed by: Kojima Masayuki

Written by: Urahata Tatsuhiko

Studio: Madhouse

Original run: 7 April 2004 – 28 September 2005

Episodes: 74

WARNINGS: There's murder, child abuse, racism, child experimentation, torture

The plot in short: Despite the director’s wishes, Brain Surgeon Dr. Kenzo Tenma, believing ‘all lives are equal’ operates Johan Liebert, who was admitted earlier in the hospital, instead of the mayor, who arrived later, and saves Johan’s life. Little he knows Johan, despite being a kid, is a dangerous killer, who resumes murdering as soon as he’s better. Tenma ends up being suspected for Johan’s crime and has to escape. He then starts hunting for Johan.

HOW DID I STUMBLE INTO IT

“Monster” is the sort of classic manga/anime one has to see and I waited even too long in watching it so, as soon as I had some free time, I decided digging into it.

THINGS YOU MIGHT WHAT TO KNOW BEFORE TACKLING THIS

I mentioned “The Fugitive” an American movie directed by Andrew Davis dated 1993

MY TWO CENTS ON IT

THE SHORT VERSION… or what I can tell you about this while trying to keep spoilers at the very bare minimum.

Opening & ending: The anime uses as opening “Grain” by Haishima Kuniaki and, as ending,

- for episode 1 to 32 “For the Love of Life” by David Sylvian.

- for episodes 33 to 74 "Make it Home" by Ingrid Fujiko Hemming.

I’ve mixed feelings for the opening. “Grain” is an instrumental music but that gives a fitting atmosphere. The visual however seems more fitting for the second part of the series, as it kind of spoiled it. I mean, after the title we see a wasteland and then Tenma into the city with the look he’ll had later in the story, when he’ll be a fugitive without even Dieter with him, his shoulders hunched over as he keeps away from people or escapes. So it’s not like it’s bad, but when I watched it with the first episodes, it just felt spoilerish and gave me the wrong vibe.

The two ending basically shows images from the story “The monster with no name”, a tale told in the story. The idea is interesting because at first you don’t understand what they’re showing, especially considering they don’t show the whole tale but just a bit of it, but then you notice that, after a while, they change and show the next part of the tale, and then the next, and then the next, and you start getting curious with the story that’s being shown… then you get familiar with the tale and figure out what you’re seeing and it’s intelligent and interesting. So, while at first they might not make much of an impression, as the anime progress, you start watching them with interest.

The plot: “Monster” was inspired by “The Fugitive” but it’s much more than just Tenma escaping and trying to prove he’s innocent and chasing the real culprit. The story digs into complicate themes like ‘if all the lives really are equal’, what’s the sense of self and identity, social relations and how they affect people, trauma and how it destroy them, what makes happiness, if people want to die or not, the fact that different choices can bring to different results and so on and it’s all so damn good. I love how also some themes are delivered by paralleling the stories of the characters with the tales of child books. Really, this is a great and complicate story.

The characters: The characters are amazing. They’re different and well constructed, realistic and intriguing. They make you feel for them or they make you hate them but they’ll hardly leave you indifferent. With some you can empathize really hard, with some is more difficult and Johan is an enigma we try hard to unravel and we’re probably not fully meant to but still it’s all so good and even minor characters feel so real so yeah, it’s great.

The visual: “Monster” isn’t something that makes me think ‘oh this is so pretty’ but this doesn’t mean the visual doesn’t have its charm. The character design for each character is very different and well constructed. They’re often not meant to be pretty but to feel real, to feel like the tons of people you meet everyday, not like the bishōnen/bishōjo of manga tales. The colours aren’t bright but they fit the mood of the story. There’s still a care for the scenery, a realism to it so, although it’s not pretty, it’s good. The characters come out as expressive and nuanced so yeah, it’s a good work.

The musical background: Haishima Kuniaki gave this series a rather fitting BGM, which can very well get you unsettled when the story needs you to be. It might not be something you’ll want to listen on a happy day, but it fits very well the mood of the story.

Overall: It’s a great and complicate story that will make you ponder a lot about many things. Yes, it takes time to watch it all because it’s 74 episodes and many of us have gotten used to series of 12 episodes but that time is well spent. Without rushing this series will lead you through its plot and its themes, offering you emotions and points to ponder in an amazing travel through plenty of important topics so really, spare some time to try it out.

THE LONG VERSION… or what I loved and hated about this with, of course, TONS OF SPOILERS.

There’s so, so much to love about “Monster”.

I love, love, love the way this story digs into the psychology of the characters, how it focuses on their ideas but also on their growth, how it forces them to face ‘the other side of the coin’, challenging their beliefs and their determination to pursue them.

Let’s pick Tenma, for example. He tries to stick to a noble idea ‘all lives are equal’ and then… he sees this ideal challenged when he discovered not only that he has saved a serial killer who also killed people he knew merely because he overheard him saying they were better off dead. Tenma’s travel through the whole story is amazing, how he decides he has to correct his mistake of saving Johan by killing him yet how he can’t make himself do it because he still values human lives, how he stop himself from helping whoever he meets, how he blames himself when he believes he killed Roberto in self defense, his fear, his determination, everything is good, relatable, solid, down to how he ultimately manages not to kill anyone and even decides to save Johan’s life.

But Lunge’s travel too is interesting. This man, persuaded he’s always right and that, therefore Tenma has to be the culprit and that he’ll arrest him and have him executed, comes to realize he was wrong and, ultimately, although he knows Johan’s role in the mess, makes it so that Tenma will have a chance to save him.

Or what about Eva? At the start she’s a terrible person, then she sinks into despair and further ruins herself and worsen her character… but then, thanks to her meeting with Martin and his efforts to save her, she manages to pull herself out of her misery, both her anger at Tenma and her grief for Martin, drop drinking and start a new life as interior decorator.

And what about Doctor Gillen, who first has a low opinion of Tenma, due to having been envious of him in his university years and believing Tenma caught him as he cheated during the final exams and looked down at him, things he hated... so he wants to hand off Tenma to the police, but then discovers that Johan is real and therefore Tenma is innocent and tries to help him.

Or Verdemann, the lawyer who’s plagued by the idea his father was a spy and therefore he can’t trust people… but by starting to work to help Tenma learns more about his deceased father and manages to reconcile with him.

Or Grimmer, a former subject at 511 Kinderheim, who’s a really nice man but, due to what he went through at 511 Kinderheim, has troubles connecting with his emotions… who in his death finally manages to connect and express with his own pain for losing his son.

And then there’s Johan, who’s an enigma, characters constantly theorizing on him and on what turned him into a monster and they’re all on something but no one seems to even grasp the full truth because a person is just that complicate.

But this is just the tip of the iceberg in a story who has plenty of interesting characters.

Also, the adaptation does it’s best to be faithful to the manga Urasawa Naoki demanding everything in the manga was adapted and giving directives during its making.

“Monster” is an amazing story on trying to discover what turns people the way they are, on what saves them or sinks them and on how humans are actually so very complicate that often it’s not possible to find those answers because although everything contributes into turning us “US” it’s actually quite difficult for us to find the exact point in which a path derailed in a way or another.

Long story short, it’s for adults and it’s not what I would call a series for someone who just want to pass a fun time without thinking at deep stuff but I TOTALLY RECOMMEND IT as it’s deep and intriguing and make you ponder and it’s mysterious and well constructed. Yeah, it’s long but just watch it, you won’t regret it.

And now let's end this with an AMV about this series I recommend watching Running Up That Hill PT. 2 - Johan Liebert & Anna Liebert

youtube

#Monster #Crime #Mystery #Psychological Thriller #Madhouse #Anime Television Series #Seinen #Strongly recommended #2004 #2005

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2centsoframblings · 2 years

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Two cents of ramblings on: “Bungō Stray Dogs” (Anime) - Season 1...

...and why I recommend it.

GENERAL DATA

Title: Bungō Stray Dogs (文豪ストレイドッグス “Literary master stray dogs”)

Media: Anime television series

Adaptation of: Bungō Stray Dogs (文豪ストレイドッグス “Literary master stray dogs”) Seinen manga written by Asagiri Kafka

Genre: Action, mystery, supernatural

Directed by: Igarashi Takuya

Written by: Enokido Yōji

Studio: Bones

Original run: 7 April 2016 - 23 June 2016

Episodes: 12

WARNINGS: There’s death, mafia (or should I say Yakuza?), human objectification, suicide attempts, murders, terrorist attacks.

The plot in short: Nakajima Atsushi, a teen driven out from an orphanage, rescues Dazai Osamu from drowning. Due to this meeting he learns he has a supernatural ability which transform him into a berserker white tiger in the moonlight. This lead him to join the Armed Detective Agency, an Agency of supernaturally gifted people and to fight other groups of supernaturally gifted men.

HOW DID I STUMBLE INTO IT

Back then I saw the promotional video and it seemed interesting so I decided to try it out.

THINGS YOU MIGHT WHAT TO KNOW BEFORE TACKLING THIS

You might enjoy more the series if you’ve some knowledge of Japanese literature as each character is named after a famous writer and their supernatural abilities are named after their works or something that happened in them (hence the ‘Bungō’ in the title) because characters and abilities are actually inspired by writers and their works.

MY TWO CENTS ON IT

THE SHORT VERSION… or what I can tell you about this while trying to keep spoilers at the very bare minimum.

Opening & ending: The anime uses as opening “Trash Candy” by Granrodeo and as ending “Namae wo Yobu yo” (名前を呼ぶよ ‘I'll call your name’) by Luck Life. I loved both. The opening well work to introduce both the Armed Detective Agency members and the Port Mafia members with some very smart shoots and a good dose of dynamism. The ending also has some clever shoots but focuses mostly on Atsushi, Dazai and Akutagawa, playing on the contrast between Atsushi and Akutagawa and their relation with Dazai, assigning to Atsushi an azure colour while Akutagawa has red. It also plays a lot with the theme of books as it starts with Atsushi reading a book and then we will have various shoots in which we see a book or pages floating in the air. Overall both are very good.

The plot: “Bungō Stray Dogs” is a still ongoing manga, so the series focuses mostly on introducing the main characters and the setting in a series of episodic plots which results in covering the first 4 volumes of the manga… and it does its work well as you easily get how that world work and start to know and like the characters. The mood well alternate from amusing to dramatic to action filled so this is also something worth praising in this series.

The characters: We get to know around 20 characters in 12 episodes, some well enough to find them worth of our love, some instead are just introduced, but they’re all recognizable enough and feel interesting and make us want to know more about them.

The visual: The visual is good, the backgrounds are detailed and well cared for, there’s a good use of lights to create atmosphere, the animation is fluid, the effects when the characters use their special abilities are good. This series as an interesting quirk of using boxes that feel like pages in which one would write a novel to deliver information, writing them as if someone was just typing them inside the boxes. As they don’t fill them with too much info they aren’t annoying. The colouring isn’t bright unless someone is using a special ability, which draws even more attention on it. The character design makes each character very recognizable. Overall it’s all good.

The musical background: Iwasaki Taku created an interesting BGM for the series, but, as far as I’m involved, it’s nothing I really came to love or be impressed with, although it had some good moments.

Overall: It’s an interesting start for a series that’s clearly meant to continue. I think you enjoy it even more if you can get the references between the characters’ name and abilities and the writers and their works but, even if you don’t, it’s still a good work that will intrigue you ad make you long for more

THE LONG VERSION… or what I loved and hated about this with, of course, TONS OF SPOILERS.

Personally I loved Atsushi’s struggle to find a place to belong and his own self worth. He’s a kind and naïve soul but one who can be very capable when put to pressure but, due to his unlucky upbringing, he holds no love for himself and he’s sure he has no worth. Despite this he’s a surprisingly nice person. When we meet him, even though he was starving and homeless, he saved Dazai from drowning. Later, he threw himself on a bomb to protect the others. Then despite being scared and warned of the danger Akutagawa presented, he faced him to protect the Tanizaki siblings. Then, even though he was told not to, he fought Akutagawa again to try to save Kyōka, whom he perceived as similar to himself as she can’t control well her own ability and would like to die so as not to be used as a killer anymore. And when Atsushi decides to give his all he can be a surprisingly good fighter, he’s not skilled just because he uses the power of the tiger but also because he uses his brain when fighting. Long story short, although Atsushi seems weak, he has a great inner strength he uses to help others and is overall awesome.

And of course I love how Kyōka too gains a sense of self worth through her connection to Atsushi and stop wishing for her own death but tries to find a way to live.

Dazai is also an amazing character. He’s amazingly capable, mysterious, funny, suicidal, intelligent, dark, merciless and kind at the same time, his personality having so many facets, so he’s pretty similar to a diamond in a way. He’s complicate and intriguing and make you want to know more about him, a lot more.

Akutagawa is also an interesting character, with so much rage inside him that hides how filled with pain he is, how desperate he is to prove himself to Dazai to the point he’s beyond jealous of Atsushi and fixates on Dazai failing to realize around him there’s people who cares for him like Higuchi. He clearly need to be explored more, as we only seem to graze his own surface but he sure feels interesting.

Special mention for Mori Ōgai, the leader of the Port Mafia, who in the last episode seemed a harmless guy searching for little Elise, and even manages to pass for a good person when he advises Atsushi during his fight with Lucy.

Mori Ōgai: No, boy. Your enemy lies that way. I wouldn’t advise running away in this particular case. Er, that is, if you trust the words of your local neighborhood physician. If you were to believe her words, you’ll forget everything once you leave through that door. You’ll remember neither the enemy’s subterfuge, nor your colleagues in danger. And the enemy will continue to press her attack. I’ll teach you something of use. In game theory the optimal strategy is to launch a total counteroffensive on an enemy who has attacked you. Crush the enemy. Nakajima Atsushi: But how? Mori Ōgai: An arrogant enemy who feels invincible is the most vulnerable opponent of all. And did I hear right, that the ones beyond that door are the very ones who desperately tried to save you when you were taken?

Sure, differently from Atsushi, we could clearly tell he was suspicious as hell when interacting with him and then there’s the fact he scared Lucy to death with just a look, but he still came out as interesting and he even advises Atsushi short after his fight has ended.

Mori Ōgai: Boy… A logical, optimal solution exists in any wartime situation, no matter how difficult the challenge. You must not forget that, especially in times of confusion when you might feel inclined to recklessness.

…and it seems a good advice but… if we scratch at the surface a logical, optimal solution is a cold matter that doesn’t keep into consideration emotions or human lives, which fits with how he is the Port Mafia leader and previously, when he ‘motivated’ Atsushi to fight, he actually manipulated him into doing so.

So yeah, he’s an interesting guy. Well, actually everyone is interesting and I could talk about all of them a lot but I think it’ll be better if I’ll let you discover them.

Overall “Bungō Stray Dogs” is definitely a series worth watching that will give you fun, drama and lot of action as well as a dip into literature. It work well if you want to get into the manga or can be just enjoyed as a stand alone or, maybe, you can move to the next series as this one is just the first series and there are 2 more series (a 4th is also planned), an OAV and a movie. So if you’re just an anime person and not into manga you still have a lot to watch.

And now let's end this with an AMV about this series I recommend watching: One Way Or Another

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#Bungou Stray Dogs #Action #Mystery #Supernatural #Bungo Stray Dogs #Bones #Anime Television Series #Seinen #Recommended #2016

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2centsoframblings · 2 years

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Yes...

...the anime does a really good job at making you question the framing.

Everyone babbles about the empire being evil but... they were the ones invading it in the first place.

Rerugen complains about Tanya being a monster but... they turned a 9 years old little girl into a soldier and sent her on dangerous missions in the frontlines. In her first mission they ordered her to delay a company while she was ALONE as reinforcement will arrive in 10 minutes. She asks to leave the battleground and they tell her ‘nope’ stay there and fight.

And even with Anson the anime remarks all this.

Anson could have remained outside of the battle that ultimately killed him, instead he’s so moved by vengeance he doesn’t even contact his family and is so determined to join the fight they believe he could barge into it alone. He’s so taken by the idea of killing Tany that he’s willing to make himself self explode to do so which mirrors how Tanya faked self destruction to actually escape alive from their first meeting. He instead doesn’t care about surviving, he just wants to destroy her. He’s a fanatic on a personal crusade against her, paving the way for how his daughter will act in an even worse way under the cover of pretty and high moralistic words.

This series is really great at this, at making you think at those sort of things, forcing you not just to listen and swallow accusations but at THINK if those charges are legittimate, if the person shouting them is really speaking from a higher moral ground or not.

So, again, this is a great series.

Two cents of ramblings on: “Yōjo Senki - The Saga of Tanya the Evil” (‘The Military Chronicles of a Little Girl - The Saga of Tanya the Evil’) (Anime version)

GENERAL DATA

Title: Yōjo Senki - The Saga of Tanya the Evil (幼女戦記 The Saga of Tanya the Evil “The Military Chronicles of a Little Girl - The Saga of Tanya the Evil”)

Media: Anime television series

Inspired by: Yōjo Senki (幼女戦記 “The Military Chronicles of a Little Girl”) Seinen light novel series written by Carlo Zen and illustrated by Shinobu Shinotsuki

Genre: Fantasy, Isekai, Military

Directed by: Uemura Yutaka

Written by: Ihara Kenta

Studio: NUT

Original run: January 6, 2017 – March 31, 2017

Episodes: 12

WARNING: ADULT SERIES.

The plot in short: In a parallel universe, a little girl, Tanya Degurechaff, is a mage fighting in a war for what looks like a parallel WW1 German Empire. But the truth is she’s nothing else but the reincarnation of an atheist salary man, who, one moment before dying, was confronted by an entity which claims to be God and rejected him, labeling him ‘Being X’ and that reincarnation is nothing else but God/Being X’s attempt to force Tanya to finally have faith in him as the salary man said people would have faith only if they were weak and in dire straits. Still Tanya refuses to believe and declares a personal war to ‘Being X’, doing all she can to survive as, if she were to die this time, there would be no reincarnation.

Keep reading

#Youjo Senki

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2centsoframblings · 2 years

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Two cents of ramblings on: “Saint Seiya Kogane Tamashī - soul of gold -” (Anime)...

...and why I recommend it to who enjoyed “Saint Seiya”.

GENERAL DATA

Title: Saint Seiya Kogane Tamashī - Soul of Gold - (聖闘士星矢黄金魂 -soul of gold- “Saint Seiya Golden Soul -Soul of Gold-”)

Media: Anime television series

Spinoff of: “Saint Seiya” anime based on the “Saint Seiya” manga written by Kurumada Masami.

Genre: Fantasy, Martial arts, Mythological

Directed by: Furuta Takeshi

Written by: Takeuchi Toshimitsu

Studio: Toei Animation, Animation Services: Bridge

Original run: April 11, 2015 – September 26, 2015

Episodes: 13

WARNINGS: There’s possession, manipulation, murder.

The plot in short: The Gold Saints who died in order to destroy the Wall of Grief are revived in Asgard. In an attempt to discover why it happened they end up involved in a battle against a foe threatening Asgard.

HOW DID I STUMBLE INTO IT

It’s “Saint Seiya”! It’s the Gold Saints! I love them! I could I not stumble into it?

THINGS YOU MIGHT WHAT TO KNOW BEFORE TACKLING THIS

I’ll reference “Saint Seiya” manga and anime version and the second “Saint Seiya” movie, “Saint Seiya - Kami-gami no Atsuki Tatakai” (聖闘士星矢神々の熱き戦い “Saint Seiya: The Heated Battle of the Gods”).

MY TWO CENTS ON IT

THE SHORT VERSION… or what I can tell you about this while trying to keep spoilers at the very bare minimum.

Opening & ending: The anime uses as opening “Soldier Dream” by ROOT FIVE and, as ending, “Yakusoku no Ashita e” (約束の明日へ ‘To the promised tomorrow’) by ROOT FIVE. Now… “Soldier dream”, sung by Kageyama Hironobu, was the old “Saint Seiya” opening used for the Asgard saga… which okay, is iconic and awesome but… I wish the anime has just gotten his own opening. The visual is not bad… but it’s nothing special either and it spoilers the series a lot. It immediately implies Aiolia is the main character/hero of the series, that he gets a ‘love interest’ and that his main opponent will be Gullinbursti Fródi, that Hylda is not well, that Miro and Camus fight, and that the Gold Saints, despite having died in order to destroy the Wall of Grief, are somehow revived in Asgard, that Saga, Dohko and Mu will do the Athena exclamation, that Athena will give her blood to turn the gold cloths into god cloths complete with visual of them, that there’s Yggdrasil and let’s not forget Andreas’ scar. Really, all we miss is a shot of who’s behind all this. There’s plenty of shoots of the Gold Saint. Well, at least the Gold Saint aren’t depicted as thin as the Bronze Saint while being in Asgard… The ending song is pretty nice. Visually it doesn’t show much, just the Fire Clock of the sanctuary, the gold cloths and then the Gold Saints standing in front a giant Athena but I like the touch of having one of the flames on the Fire Clock to extinguish in each episode until all are extinguished and the series has ended. It’s worth to say in the last episode they replace the panning on the gold cloths with scenes from the series… which okay, makes sense but it’s not great.

The plot: Credits when it’s due “Saint Seiya” never had this complicate of a plot, it’s just battle after battle racing against time because Athena got herself in troubles but here they tried to toss in also mystery and other stuff and… and they made a mess, there’s plenty of plot holes. However, what’s really good is instead that they tried to close the Gold Saints’ character arcs in a satisfactory manner and they nailed this one correctly.

The characters: Well, let’s see. The Gold Saints are definitely mostly well developed in this one, they all get a role, something to do and a good characterization. I loved them.

Lyfia… is not that impressive as a character, but she works. The God Warriors… they tried to give them some character and dept but they are a lot less impressive than the old God Warriors of the anime. Still, they aren’t bad. Andreas has no character and the real bad guy behind all this is… just evil and that’s all he is. Freya and Hylda? Oh yes, I caught a glimpse of them. They don’t do much beyond being in the background occasionally.

The visual: I love the shining colors used for the cloths and the attacks, the dynamism, the fact the Saints here don’t seem about to drop dead of starvation (yes, decades have passed and here I am, still hung up on how “Saint Seiya” made the Saints progressively thinner). The animation quality isn’t always great but it’s still nice and, although the background aren’t extremely detailed, they’re still well cared for.

The musical background: “Saint Seiya” BGM has a history of being good (Yokoyama Seiji made really epic music!). This might be not as epic as the previous BGM for the Asgard saga but it’s still a pretty good one so kudos to Mizutani Hiromi.

Overall: It’s a “Saint Seiya” spinoff about the Gold Saints. To enjoy it, it’s required to know “Saint Seiya” and it has all the sins and all the virtues of a “Saint Seiya” story, meaning you’ll love it if you like “Saint Seiya” and the Gold Saints and you might end up disappointed if you hate them or have no idea who they are.

THE LONG VERSION… or what I loved and hated about this with, of course, TONS OF SPOILERS.

For once I’ll start with the weak points of the series so…

Okay, as the series started my first thought was: “Asgard AGAIN?!?” because it’s not like they hadn’t already milked Asgard in an original movie and in an original arc of the anime, right? Do we need even a spinoff placed in Asgard? Isn’t there some other places with Gods in which they could place the story? I don’t know, Egypt had cool Gods, why not to use it just for a change of pace and of climate?

But yeah, it’s Asgard again, and they even fished up 7 new God Warriors that never showed up to fight Saiya and Co during the Asgard saga because… they weren’t created yet… same as Lyfia, this new character who, had she appeared in a fanfic, would have surely be accused to be a Mary Sue.

Officially she’s just a maiden of Valhalla Palace, but it’s clear she’s put in the story to become the love interest of Leo Aiolia (poor Marin, previously SHE seemed to be the one for Aiolia), the main character of the series. At first she kind of seem to have the role that belonged to Freya in the anime, asking for the Gold Saints help, falling for one of them despite having a special connection from childhood with the God Warrior Gullinbursti Fróði (Freya didn’t quite fall for the main character but for Cygnus Hyoga and has a special connection from childhood with God Warrior Merak Beta Hägen) while Freya basically exists but has a nonexistent role in the story since she gets imprisoned again but that’s not all Lyfia does. She also gets Polaris Hylda’s role as she gets controlled by the main enemy so as to resurrect the Golden Saints and it turns out she’s actually Odin’s representative on Earth… all while Hylda lies sick in bed, confined in her room and does nothing beyond putting all her faith in Lyfia, so as not to steal Lyfia’s chance to shine.

Note that if Lyfia wasn’t such a blatant rip off of two previous main characters she wouldn’t be bad… and the fact she’s a rip off of two main characters is… well excusable because it’s part of how the “Saint Seiya” animation works.

I mean the anime only “Asgard saga” was inspired by the 2nd“Saint Seiya” movie which was inspired by the special one-shot from the manga “Kōri no Kuni no Natasha Hen” (氷の国のナターシャ ‘The Chapter of Natasha, of the Lands of Ice’) so well, why should I be surprised if now the “Asgard saga” became the inspiration for “Soul of Gold”?

Well, at least the Gold Saints don’t have to save Athena, but just to stop Yggdrasil from bearing fruits and, in order to do so, they’ve to go into the 7 chambers of Yggdrasil and shatter the 7 Mammoth Pillars… pardon, the 7 statues in there. Yeah, no originality here either.

Of course the God Warriors are provided with Odin new Sapphires, though this time their purpose is just to let them get even more power from Yggrasil… and, surprise, surprise, Andreas Lise is actually also possessed by the new enemy… a God who was closed into a amphora… yeah, like Poseidon.

Should I also mention that, although the series tried to explain why Grani Sigmund, brother of Dubhe Alpha Siegfried and someone who knew Polaris Hylda was being possessed, never showed up in the Asgard saga (and the same can be said for the other 6 God Warriors) the explanation don’t really hold up very well… and they didn’t even try to explain why Fróði, who’s from a family who long served Odin, never showed up either… and yeah, it’s probably worth to mention the 7 God Warriors aren’t that well developed or original either… and it gets kind of ridicule how Odin always has to count on Athena’s Saints to solve Asgard troubles and give them his cloth when he actually should have his own God Warriors.

And let’s face it, Loki is definitely underdeveloped, he’s just there to be the bad guy and that’s it. Okay, it’s in the myth that Loki wasn’t actually an Asgardian but a Frost Giant but the series doesn’t even explain this, just calls him a false God.

So, after all this you might wonder… then why should I watch “Soul of Gold”?

Because, let’s face it, originality was never “Saint Seiya” stronger trait but this series has some very good things. Although Andreas and the new God Warriors aren’t that developed and the new enemy is just evil and that’s it, this series take care to develop the Gold Saints, which is the main reason for which it was done. It gives all of them a chance to shine but also digs into either their past or their inner conflicts.

Deathmask finds back his good side and rejoin with his cloth, Aphrodite gets to show his connection with plants, Aldebaran and Mu’s psychology gets developed, Saga and Aiolos confront (remember? Saga tried to kill Athena and Aiolos had to protect her), Aiolia gets to confront with his feelings for Shura, the man who killed his brother, but also gets to work with his brother, and Camus shows us he used to have a friend in Asgard.

What’s more, Libra Dōko gets some development and… well, this younger version of the old master is interesting as a character… even if he feels pretty different for how I was used to him.

And hey, didn’t we all want to see Aiolos in action?

The episodes, more than plot driven, feel like a character study digging into them and giving them space to shine and this is SO GOOD!

It’s literally gold if you’re a Gold Saint fan, and should I mention the battles are well done, and you get to see all their special moves, and how they get those cool God cloths?

And, although I criticized the lack of originality in the plot, to be fully honest they tried to develop it a bit, even making it ‘mysterious’ as they kept the secret about who and why resurrected the God Saint and around Lyfia and Garmr Útgarðar, so they made an effort to make it more than just, let’s crash the 7 statues and beat the new bad guy who possessed someone…

It’s also worth to mention that, even if the God Warriors aren’t that well developed, especially compared to the God Warriors of the “Asgard saga”, let’s remember the “Asgard saga” counted 26 episodes, versus the 12 of this series and could take advantage by how Athena’s 5 Bronze Saints were already well developed so they didn’t need any character study. This gave the “Asgard saga” the time to take care of the development of the God Warriors and their backstories (they were awesome by the way), a time this series doesn’t have as it has to develop the Gold Saints.

So yeah, this is a good and enjoyable spinoff for the fans of the series, one I definitely recommend.

It might not work for people who don’t know “Saint Seiya”, they might feel lost and confused or just not being that impressed due to its flaws, but if you’re a fan is definitely a MUST SEE.

Also, even if it’s not something that touches me that deeply, I should probably mention it gives a lot of space to Aiolia, making him the new main character (in place of Pegasus Seiya) so, all the more, if you’re a fan of his, you should see it.

And now let's end this with an AMV about this series I recommend watching Black and Blue

youtube

#Saint Seiya #Saint Seiya Soul Of Gold #Toei Animation #Fantasy #Martial Arts #Mythological #Shounen #Recommended #2015

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2centsoframblings · 2 years

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Two cents of ramblings on: “Yōjo Senki - The Saga of Tanya the Evil” (‘The Military Chronicles of a Little Girl - The Saga of Tanya the Evil’) (Anime) - Season 1...

...and why I STRONGLY recommend it.

GENERAL DATA

Title: Yōjo Senki - The Saga of Tanya the Evil (幼女戦記 The Saga of Tanya the Evil “The Military Chronicles of a Little Girl - The Saga of Tanya the Evil”)

Media: Anime television series

Adaptation of: Yōjo Senki (幼女戦記 “The Military Chronicles of a Little Girl”) Seinen light novel series written by Carlo Zen and illustrated by Shinobu Shinotsuki

Genre: Fantasy, Isekai, Military

Directed by: Uemura Yutaka

Written by: Ihara Kenta

Studio: NUT

Original run: January 6, 2017 – March 31, 2017

Episodes: 12

WARNINGS: Well, it’s a story about a war so of course there’s war and death and also politic and realpolitik. Also there’s a child fighting and killing, as Tanya is pretty young (she takes part to her first battle at 9 and the story moves up to when she’s 11/12). And of course, there are references to religion as Tanya is an atheist in battle with a being defining himself as God.

HOW DID I STUMBLE INTO IT

I saw a rather good AMV “Night Witches” made with “Yōjo senki” footage, and was impressed by how good the animation was so I decided to watch it.

THINGS YOU MIGHT WHAT TO KNOW BEFORE TACKLING THIS

The anime series covers only the first 2 volumes and a half of the light novel series. Things are cut or simplified so to fit them into the new media.

MY TWO CENTS ON IT

THE SHORT VERSION… or what I can tell you about this while trying to keep spoilers at the very bare minimum.

Opening & ending: The anime uses as opening “JINGO JUNGLE” by Myth & Roid and as ending “Los! Los! Los!” by Yūki Aoi, the voice of Tanya Degurechaff. Episode 8 is the only episode who uses as ending “Sensen no Realism” (戦線のリアリズム ‘Realism of the Front’) by Niina Mako. I’ve mixed feelings for “JINGO JUNGLE” and “Los! Los! Los!”, as they’re not quite my type of music but kind of grew on me. Overall I find them fitting for the anime. The visual is the opening is interesting. With colours that reminds me of an old movie, a recurring theme of gears, which remind us of the operation orb but also the machinations of the war and how the men involved in it are nothing but little gears in a mechanism that’s bigger than them. We see scenes of war, soldiers fighting, mourning, the characters wearing their uniforms or with their flags behind, maps of the countries. In short it really delivers well this is a story that involves a lot of war. But I also like how it shows Tanya as a little girl, and then she starts walking and she’s a soldier in uniform, and in front of her there is the Nutcracker that being X posses to talk with Tanya. She shoots it but she doesn’t hit it by some sort of glass and then we’re shown the salary man she was in her previous life and there’s blood covering his image. It’s as if the glass she has broken is kind of a window to the past, showing us that Tanya’s rage against Being X is due to how she died in her past life. The opening also does an interesting thing as, when we’re shown the images of Kurt von Rudersdorf, Hans von Zettour and Erich von Rerugen, their names also appear, which doesn’t happen for any other character, in an interesting remarking of how those three are basically the ones that seem to be in command. Overall, I think it really works well as opening. The ending instead shows a series of images from the visual novel depicting Tanya. It’s nothing special but, as the anime was probably meant to be promotional for the visual novel, it makes sense they would want to show the visual of the novel (especially since the anime uses a different character design for Tanya…). “Sensen no Realism” is rather pretty as a music and the visual is interesting as it clearly represents explosions as pretty firework.

The plot: It’s complicate, intricate and intriguing. I love the history reference and how it talks about politics and military and psychology. Oh, I really enjoyed it!

The characters: Well, most of the focus is on Tanya but the other characters are interesting too and different enough among them. I can’t say I loved them but they’re well constructed and realistic enough.

The visual: The characterization is very interesting. I can’t say the characters are pretty in the usual way (actually I never saw someone with eyes or lips as Tanya) but they’re all very different and well recognizable in a way that’s pretty awesome. The visual for the background sceneries is GODDAMN AWESOME. The skies are beautiful with moving clouds and coloring, the visual from up there is also so great.

There’s this great cure for details that shows in how they can grow grass between bits of concrete… The fights are awesomely drawn and the scenes in which ‘Being X’ appear are also drawn in an interesting manner.

The musical background: This one is an epic one! Katayama Shūji did a really great work. The music well fit the scenes and give them grandiosity and action and an epic feeling. It’s something you can enjoy hearing even if you don’t watch the anime.

Overall: Oh, it’s good, good, good. I love the visual, the history behind this alternate universe, the battles, the strategic plans, the music, everything. It’s a must see, really.

THE LONG VERSION… or what I loved and hated about this with, of course, TONS OF SPOILERS.

Now, visually, this series is beautiful. I love the realism of the war fighting scenes and how they then put it into sharp contrast with how the mages fight with… well, magic, but I also love how the mages in a way depend from technical things, they use rifles with magic shells, they use Operation Orbs or, if you prefer, Computation Jewels that facilitates mages to compose spells, and they’ve tools to fly which vary according to from which country they are.

I love how the colouring has an odd tinge, as if it were an old war movie.

I love how well they animated the action scenes, so dynamic and fluid, I love the detailed and beautifully drawn scenery, how the skies are filled with beautifully drawn clouds, how they can be a beautiful blue but also other colours according to the time and the weather.

No, really, this is visually great.

Sure, it took me a while to get used to the chara design of the characters. It’s not like it’s ugly but it’s… unusual to say the least, with Tanya having some rather creepy expressions.

Still the characters come out as expressive and one gets used to the oddity of it soon enough.

Now… the story.

I enjoyed this alternate version of the world which is similar yet different to ours.

I love the ‘fight’ between God/Being X and Tanya, how she stubbornly refuses to believe and how he stubbornly tries to force her to believe to the point he forces her to pray if she wants her Computation Jewel to work.

I like the idea of having her consider the army as an organization and war as a work, which makes for a very harsh comparison with how Tanya previously worked for a company as a salaryman.

The idea that, in her past life Tanya’s beliefs were that following the rules one could smoothly rise in ranks but then, by the end of the series, she realized being too rational means missing to see that many men are, in fact, irrational and being lead by their emotions.

Erich Rerugen: What reason is there to continue the war? A modern state uses its military to impose its will via violence. Sacrificing the nation itself to continue the fight is madness. Tanya Degurechaff: You are completely correct. Erich Rerugen: Then why do you say that the war will continue? Tanya Degurechaff: If I may be permitted to give my opinion… General Zettour and General Rudersdorf are logical pragmatists, highly skilled in political and military matters. They are great soldiers. As are you, Lieutenant Colonel. Our Strategic HQ is a powerful fortress of logic and knowledge. And therefore, due to logical reasoning, everyone believes the war is at its end. But it must be said that this rationale is incomplete. Erich Rerugen: Incomplete… rationale? Tanya Degurechaff: The members of Strategic HQ are far too rational. And thus, they have completely missed the point. Rationalism isn't the only thing that drives human action. We are foolish creatures… Erich Rerugen: Are you saying that humans are still beasts, lacking in reason?! Tanya Degurechaff: If I may be permitted to speak freely, then that is completely correct. Erich Rerugen: And what evidence do you have for this statement? Tanya Degurechaff: History. Though I mean my own history. My personal experience. Erich Rerugen: Tell me. Tanya Degurechaff: I have seen the eyes of men, burning with hatred. I have seen the moment when my talented men gave in to anger and lost their reason. I have seen a chain of revenge, driven only by hate. And so, I realized… No, perhaps it's more accurate to say that I remembered. I have personally experienced an insane reaction against rationalism. No matter how much we modernize, no matter how social norms affect us, humans are foolish creatures, who sometimes prize feelings over reason. A human being who's overcome with hatred will keep struggling, without regard for self-interest or reason, regardless of what they may lose or gain. That is why I cannot help but speak up. We should not become intoxicated by a temporary victory! All flames of hatred must be extinguished. [Ep 12]

Tanya’s way to deal with this, would be, of course, aggressive. For her, the enemy you let go, will then be the enemy who will take up the gun against you.

Tanya Degurechaff: Second Lieutenant Grantz, the enemy you let go will take up his gun again. To shoot us. If we let them go, some will become new soldiers who hate the Empire. Vooren Grantz: So… You want us to kill them just for that reason?! Tanya Degurechaff: This is the order from our superiors. We shoot the enemy, or they’ll shoot us. If nothing else, we must shoot until we’re told not to anymore. I’ll pretend I didn’t hear what you just said. But I’ll said once more. This is the order from our superiors. Take up your gun. [Ep 8]

In this bit from episode 8 Tanya paints it as them having to do it more because it’s an order than because she wants to, but, by the end of the series, it’s clear she has embraced the idea you’ve to kill your enemies without mercy or they’ll come back to kill you.

I also found interesting this bit from her.

Tanya Degurechaff: In a cursed world, engulfed by flames of war, there was a nation known as the Empire. With its vast military power, talented strategists, and high mobility, it overwhelmed the Dukedom of Dakia, the Entente Alliance, and the Republic. Treats to its safety were removed, one after the next, and everyone was overjoyed. But that is why they could not imagine how much the surrounding countries feared the creation of a massive power in the continent’s center. The Empire went to such lengths to display the sharpness of its sword, it was incapable of imagining the terror that its sword inspired. Of course, everyone wants peace. So, to protect peace, they take up their guns and thrust themselves into battle, hoping to achieve it. So that this cruel war would end, everyone except the Empire wished for the evil enemy called the Empire to be eliminated from the world. Could there be any greater paradox? Ironically, their desire for peace caused the war’s intensification, rather than its end. [Ep 12]

The part that it’s easy to forget watching the story, due to the similarities between the Empire and the German Empire is that, in this universe, it was the Entente Alliance, the Dukedom of Dakia and the Republic who invaded the Empire first. They all crossed borders first, to which the Empire answered by attacking their forces and declaring war. The Empire defended itself and won and, as a result, gained the land of its opponents… and in doing so gained the hate of the opponents it defeated and scared its neighboring countries, pushing them to join forces against it… in some sort of vicious circle in which people paint as ‘evil’ the enemy and themselves as righteous, regardless of the enemy being really ‘evil’ the way we intend it.

At the end we see how Mary considers the Empire evil because it killed her father, but it was her father who was among the soldiers who invaded the Empire and caused the war and who, with his men, attempted to kill Tanya, who was 9 back then and merely in an observer mission when they attacked, he who chased after Tanya when she was retreating once she accomplished her mission only managing on getting stabbed by her and he’s also the one who decided to continue going after her, claiming God told him to bring her down so that he ultimately gets killed by her.

He’s not a poor victim, but a soldier who got obsessed with killing Tanya and ended up killed in return.

And all this makes for interesting food for thoughts about who’s really evil. The Japanese title of the series is just “Yōjo Senki” (幼女戦記 ‘The Military Chronicles of a Little Girl’), but the English one is “The Saga of Tanya the Evil”. Tanya however is not ‘evil’ in the sense she enjoys hurting others. In fact this is her motive for joining the army:

Tanya Degurechaff: In a time when war seemed unavoidable, I’d thought it would be impossible for a poor, powerless girl to survive. But in that world, the power of magic did exist. And during the orphanage’s physical, my magical aptitude was noted. The army always conscripted those with aptitude as mages. And if I were going to be conscripted someday, it made more sense to volunteer, receive officer training, and attempt to get onto a career path. Of course, war is an unproductive and therefore wicked act. And I hated the idea of killing or being killed. But if I could just get on the military’s rails, my future would be assured. [Ep 2]

Tanya is moved by her self-interest, pragmatism and lack of empathy, but doesn’t have the wish to hurt others.

Her enemies often define her ‘evil’ merely because she’s a dangerous enemy and nothing else, same as they define the Empire ‘evil’ because it is the enemy. Tanya is clearly not good, she’s a pragmatist who totally lacks of empathy and cares only about doing her work efficiently and therefore has no mercy for people who gets in the way of it, which feels even more sticking considering she’s in the body of a young girl, to the point Erich Rerugen views her as a monster.

Erich Rerugen: If I may speak freely… She is a monster in the form of a little girl! [Ep 12]

There’s to say though that the other characters, who tries to paint themselves up as more moral, are merely making excuses for themselves to do the same as Tanya does.

They claim they’re fighting evil but they’re merely pursuing their country’s interests or, even worse, revenge. They genuinely pray God (differently from Tanya who’s merely forced to do it) but they pray God in hope he’ll help them kill their enemies, or believe God tells them to kill them.

Anyway, long story short, this one is definitely an anime worth watching so I recommend it.

And now let's end this with an AMV about this series I recommend watching: Night Witches

youtube

#Youjo Senki #Saga of Tanya the Evil #NUT #Fantasy #Isekai #Military #Anime Television Series #Strongly recommended #Seinen #2017

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2centsoframblings · 2 years

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Two cents of ramblings on: “Ō-sama Ranking” (Anime)...

...and why I recommend it.

GENERAL DATA

Title: Ō-sama Ranking (王様ランキング “Ranking of kings”)

Media: Anime

Adaptation of: Ō-sama Ranking (王様ランキング “Ranking of kings”) Shōnen manga by Tōka Sōsuke

Genre: Coming-of-age, Fantasy

Directed by: Hatta Yōsuke & Fuchigami Makoto

Written by: Kishimoto Taku

Studio: Wit Studio

Original run: October 15, 2021 – March 25, 2022

Episodes: 23

WARNINGS: There’s bullying, abuse of a child, mutilation, suicide attempt, war, death, curses

The plot in short: Bojji is Giant King Bosse’s firstborn and heir. However, due to him being born deaf, weak and tiny, not only he is ridiculed and scorned and, ultimately, his father’s will is ignored and the crown is passed on his stepbrother, Daida as he’s judged unfit to rule. Bojji leaves then the castle, aiming to learn to become a strong king unaware of a dark plot being consumed inside the castle.

HOW DID I STUMBLE INTO IT

While on Youtube the review “The Anime That Broke Me In 2 Episodes | Ranking of Kings” by The Prout Brothers caught my eyes so I decided I would give this anime a try. The fact when I mentioned it to people I knew they recommended the series only worked as an extra incentive to watch it.

THINGS YOU MIGHT WHAT TO KNOW BEFORE TACKLING THIS

I will mention “Koe no Katachi” (2013/14) and the first 3 series of “Shingeki no kyojin” (2013, 2017, 2018/19) as a term of comparison.

MY TWO CENTS ON IT

THE SHORT VERSION… or what I can tell you about this while trying to keep spoilers at the very bare minimum.

Opening & ending: This series has 2 opening and 2 endings, which kind of divide the anime in 4 parts. The series uses:

- for episodes 1 to 11 as opening “BOY” by King Gnu and as ending “Oz.” by Yama.

- for episodes 12 to 23 as opening “Hadaka no Yūsha” (裸の勇者 ‘Naked Hero’) by Vaundy and as ending “Flare” by Milet.

They’re all very cute, both in terms of imagines used and music and music and images well harmonize with each other, with the opening being more ‘realistic’ and placed during day and the ending drawn in an even more cute way and placed by night but for the absolute best one is “Hadaka no Yūsha” both in terms of music and lyrics and visual. It’s a MOVING opening, something that pushes you to feel so much, both the happiness, the love and the pain of the characters so, for me, it’s really great.

The plot: The plot might seem simple at first, a standard story in which the hero trains to get stronger and gain self confidence but, in truth, there’s also a conjure and intricate character relations with each character having his own goal which might cause him to get in the way of the others. Ultimately, it’s a coral work in which everyone contributes.

The characters: The characters are mostly well characterized with their motives and reasons for being one way or the other explored and explained.

The visual: I’ll be harsh, the art in the manga of “Ō-sama Ranking” feels pretty ugly to me, however this anime knows how to take it and turn it into cute although, credits when it’s due, it make each character different, something which remains in the anime as well. The scenery isn’t super detailed but it feels more like a deliberate choice to fit with the character design than anything else as it’s still done with care and anyway the colours are bright and warm and really bring in the atmosphere in many situations. The expressivity of the characters and their movements are really well cared for. Bojji doesn’t need to talk, from his body language you can clearly tell how he feels, what he thinks. The sign language is also supervised so as to be as accurate as possible.

The musical background: MAYUKO’s BGM is really nice and well underlines the scenes.

Overall: It’s a great series. You might be mistaken into thinking it’s a series for little kids because the art is cute and childish but there are also serious topics and lot of emotionally moving scenes and there’s a great care in the characters and in their expressivity and you’re likely going to love it, really.

THE LONG VERSION… or what I loved and hated about this with, of course, TONS OF SPOILERS.

I think I have to give a special mention to the second opening. Mind you, the first isn’t bad but the “Hadaka no Yūsha”… is goddamn great.

We start with seeing shadows made on a wall by someone’s hands.

There’s someone making a bird, then someone else makes a knight and that knight turns into a crown that rests on the shadow of ‘someone’s’ head, said someone being clearly Bojji. At this point the music start and the visual, the lyrics and the music begin to match perfectly in a very emotional piece.

In fact we see Bojji walking on the streets with a smile but he’s ignored and mocked and ends up in the shadows with a sad face, and then we see Kage also ‘walking’ on the streets (moving from the opposite direction compared to Bojji) but someone throws him a tomato and he ends up in the shadows also, crying… the lyrics remarking how there’s someone chocking back tears.

But then the song picks up its pace, flowers bloom as the lyrics talks about power and how we should shake it off when it comes from malice, shadows covering the land a hand offering a diamond and then the image of the people from Kage’s clan being stabbed on spears and knights running.

We switch to an image of Bojji, smiling as he stares at the distance and the song remarks he can’t hear but what an hero needs isn’t just power.

We switch to Daida comforting a child Miranjo while light appears in front of them and then many lights shines on the night before showing us a lantern being carried by Bojji who finds Miranjo’s broken mirror while the song encourages him to let himself be and watch what his tiny hands can do. At this the mirror puts together its pieces showing a young Miranjo smiling.

We then see the Gods against whom Miranjo’s people fought, and then Bosse fighting, then child Miranjo running with child demon, both happy, the lyrics talking of all the things on which he has fallen in love.

Then there’s lot of blood falling in front of someone’s feet (Bojji as his mother died?), Ouken and then we see child Miranjo’s eyes being covered by the child demon and her turning into her adult, sad self as the adult demon is behind her, trying to grasp her while the song mention the curses which has fallen upon people.

We switch to Kade with a sword, to Desha, a tear in his eyes as he thinks to his brother Ouken as he was before the curse, then we’ve Apeas holding Miranjo’s mirror, Domas and Hokuro training, Dorshe and Daida talking fondly to the magic mirror, Bebin caressing a young Mitsumata, Kage’s mom holding him as well as Hiling hugging Bojji, the song talking of all those feelings of falling in love and asking for the light to protect what I adore.

Then we see Bojji ready to fight, Despa’s face behind him as if to remind us he has trained Bojji while the song repeats how Bojji should should shake off the power which comes from malice.

The night turns into day as hands that seemed about to squash a mountain actually shows us the beauty of beautiful sceneries from all the world. Miranjo’s mask break, Bojji leaves the embrace of Hiling to turn toward the shadows but there’s Kage actually hiding in the shadows, offering him his hand, which Bojji takes, the lyrics pointing out how he comes closer to Bojji asking him what he is.

And all this is beautiful, it manages to show all the characters in a way that makes you emotional because it shows their best feelings but also the sad and dark things that happened to them, summarizing a bit of everything while not really spoilering too much.

So now let me tell you about the visual of this story.

The direction is amazing, the shots are beautiful, smart and dynamic, contributing to narrate the story and not just to let you see it, also helping to deliver the characters’ feelings.

For example some shots are taken from Bojji’s point of view, contributing in making him feel small and inadequate… however, when Bojji is ready to fight King Bosse, who has currently possessed Daida’s body, although Daida is a little taller than Bojji, the visual presents them as facing each other at equal height because they’re equal, two amazing fighters, and although, when Bojji visualizes Daida as Bosse, the shot delivers how much bigger Bosse is, compared to him, it doesn’t linger on it but shows Bojji looking up confidently and the next we see of him he’s running on a wall. Basically we don’t get the feeling Bojji is less than Bosse, just that they’re two fighters of different size.

To deliver how the fight’s pace is a lot faster than what we’re seeing but yet keeping it dynamic and fast, they changed the colours to an ‘old movie’ tinge. It’s our clue that both Bojji and Bosse are moving faster than we could see.

The fight between Bojji and King Bosse is so spectacular it seems to watch an episode of “Shingeki no kyojin”, which is not surprising considering they’re done by the same studio… and it also well deliver the theme that strength isn’t everything and that everyone has his own strong points and those can lead him to win.

The characters are super expressive, they don’t need to talk, you can just read what they feel on their faces.

I mean, just look at the various expressions Bojji has when Kage tells him he wants to stay in his corner as his friend.

And it’s not just the face’s expressions. The characters often don’t just stand still and let their face do all the work, but deliver everything not solely with their face but with their bodies as well. This series is super into letting you get what the characters feel by visual, so that if you don’t understand what’s being said you still get the message that’s said which fits SO MUCH with it.

The scenery isn’t always super detailed but it’s still beautifully drawn and bright in colours, it’s vagueness giving it a child fairy tale atmosphere.

But okay, let’s talk of the story.

Another beautiful manga/anime that talk of a character with deafness is “Koe no Katachi”. “Koe no Katachi” is a pretty important manga as the vector of the content made it difficult for publication on any manga magazine until it was picked up after months of legal dispute by the February edition of Bessatsu Shounen Magazine, where it won first place, then, due to the subject matter, the serialization has been reviewed and supported by the Japanese Federation of the Deaf. However, although “Koe no Katachi” includes a deaf character, Shoko, and her struggles, the main character is actually Shoya, a boy who used to bully her for her deafness along with his classmates but then was turned into a scapegoat and bullied in turn when the bullying came to the attention of the higher school authorities. Shoya went into depression, considered suicide but, before doing so, wanted to apologize to Shoko and this leads him to spend time with her.

“Ō-sama Ranking” instead is Bojji’s story, the story of his struggles. Yes, Bojji has a full, well fleshed out cast around himself, but the story is still HIS story, he is the main character along with Kage.

Although Bojji and Shoko are both represented as very kind, where Shoko is characterized mostly by her deafness, Bojji is characterized by his wish to become a great king.

Where “Koe no Katachi” places emphasis in how the bullying of Shoko was caused by the school system that pushed on elementary school kids with no previous ties with her the task, which quickly to them becomes a burden, to help her to their detriment (they are uncomfortable communicating through written notes, to help her they can’t follow the lesson well, they lose a contest, they are asked to spend additional time at school to learn sign language) so that, although the bullying is condemned, the blame on the kids is ‘lessened’ somehow, “Ō-sama Ranking” doesn’t offer such an excuse to its characters.

On the opposite side in “Ō-sama Ranking” the blame is placed on people’s prejudices, not on the system.

Where Shoko has to interact with kids who don’t know her and have for her no affection and don’t even know how to communicate well with her as they don’t know sign language, Bojji interacts mostly with adults, most of them knowing him for years and even holding affection for him and know sign language.

Yet, almost all of them look down on him due to him being deaf and weak. Most of them don’t have faith in him, can’t see his potentialities, don’t want to adapt things in a way that can be useful to Bojji.

Domas is Bojji’s personal sword teacher, he’s there JUST FOR HIM, he doesn’t have any other student to ‘distract’ him, yet, just because Bojji is weak, Domas has no real interest in teaching to him. He doesn’t try a new method, he doesn’t try to see which can be Bojji’s potential, he insists with the same exercise over and over even if it doesn’t produce results and doesn’t even believe it’ll produce results in the future. He has no faith in Bojji nor interest in teaching him.

Hiling loves Bojji but sees him as nothing else but a misfortunate child who needs to be protected and will never be capable to do anything. She doesn’t even realize Bojji can read lips.

Daida used to love his brother but, then he came to look down on him as a pitiable weakling, believing such people shouldn’t just exist or kill themselves.

The people in his kingdom should respect him, if only by virtue of the fact he’s the son’s king, but they just mock him at any turn and expect nothing from him.

And everyone feels excused to say whatever rude thing they want in front of him as if he weren’t present because they believe he can’t hear them but he actually can read their lips and know what they’re saying and so they ARE hurting him.

So it’s not like the cast has excuses when they’re mean to Bojji, they just arbitrarily decided, because he’s weak and deaf, to dismiss him as pitiful.

The story also does a good work at addressing how Bojji is not pitiful by proving when people gives him faith and helps him to find strategies to overcome things Bojji manages to rise to their expectations and do impressively good (Mitsumata teaches Bojji how to read lips and how to avoid being hit and Bojji learns to excel in both things, Despa teaches Bojji how to use a small and light rapier instead than a heavy sword to target his opponent's weak spots and Bojji learn to find and hit them impressively well). It’s Bojji who ultimately saves everyone beating King Bosse.

We also have this dialogue:

Daida: Bebin… Bebin: Yes? Daida: Aren’t they sort of spoiling Aniue, just because he’s a weakling? Bebin: You think Bojji-sama is a weakling? Daida: What, he’s not? Bebin: Daida-sama, it’s been a while, so why don’t we go down into town? Daida: Why have we come to town? Sorii: Perhaps as a change of pace, to do a societal survey. Daida: Pointless. Sorii: Then let’s call it a thought experiment. Daida: A thought experiment? Sorii: Like, let’s say… Daida-sama would you like to live to be 100? Daida: What? Don’t be absurd! Of course I don’t want to live that long! Sorii: Then let’s suppose, Daida-sama, that you were 90 years old. Would your answer still be the same? Daida: Sorii, what are you trying to say? Sorii: Please excuse me. I meant nothing in particular. Bebin: Daida-sama, I found one of the weaklings you spoke of. One much worse off than Bojji-sama. Daida: Worse off than Aniue? Bebin: Not only is this man deaf, he is also blind. Daida: Why do people like that even exist? It’s unfair, but worst of all, it’s pitiable. If that were me, I would end my life in an instant. Bebin: Are you saying… that under the same circumstances, you wouldn’t have the self-confidence to go on living? If so, then he is a strong man to have overcome his plight and continue living. Daida: That’s just doublespeak. I… Bebin: I’m sure he doesn’t even think about it himself. Sorii: The reason he was able to overcome his weakness and go on living is… because the king is strong, and his kingdom is bountiful. Bebin: Daida-sama, we want you to be someone who can give hope to everyone else.

Sure, ultimately Bebin’s view is still that people like Bojji need to depend on the strength of people who have what they lack and places the merit of their ability to overcome their weakness on the king’s strength (Bebin, although helping Bojji, still put his faith and loyalty more on his disciple, Daida, than in him) but it still work to remark how people shouldn’t be looked down regardless of what they can or can’t do.

It’s also worth to spend two words about Kage, Bojji’s best friend.

Kage too, like Shoya in “Koe no Katachi”, didn’t start on the best foot with Bojji. Kage was a thief, after threatening him with a knife he stole Bojji’s clothes and then demands from him more clothes. The difference between him and Shoya is Kage didn’t target Bojji especially because he saw him as ‘different’, but because that was what a thief did.

Sure, Bojji and Kage’s friendship was also helped by how Kage was alone, so he was more prone to accept Bojji’s attempts at making friends than Shoya, who had plenty of friends, was with Shoko. Kage is happy Bojji wants to be friend with him, he slowly doesn’t just sponge off him but even talks with him, expressing curiosity in knowing him even if, at the start, he has a low opinion of him. He then connect with him even more finding similarities between his own tragic experiences and Bojji’s and …

Kage: There’s really nothing to be embarrassed about. I watched your match, and you looked so cool. You won that fight. Take pride in it. No matter what anyone else says, I think your style is just as fine as it is. No, I’m not taking anything from you anymore. You may not know how to take this, coming out of the blue… but I… I want to be in your corner from now on, no matter what happens. I mean what I’m saying. I mean it, Bojji.

Kage reaches out to Bojji out of admiration and a sense of connection… which are the normal basis for a friendship.

Shoya reached out due to guilt and self interest. In the movie is more vague but the manga explains according to Shoya, he went through hell because he couldn’t hear Shoko’s voice (actually because his bullying of Shoko backfired and he ended up bullied as well) and so he wanted to apologize to her before committing suicide and then he let himself be carried by a sudden impulse and asked her if they could be friend. While Shoya’s attempt to make up for what he did is good, it’s also very nice to see, in “Ō-sama Ranking” a friendship that start the way many friendships start… and Kage reveals himself a great friend.

He sure is a BIG help to Bojji but again, he’s not doing out of guilt as some sort of repentance, but because… he’s Bojji’s friend. I just love how that little guy worries for Bojji and tries to help him but, on the other side, he’s also Bojji’s biggest fan. It’s true part of it seems to be tied to the ‘shadow clan’ rule…

Kage’s mom: We do whatever we can to serve the interests of the people who need us. That’s what our light is.

…but still Kage makes for a great and supportive friend and Bojji is equally good for him and I really love the relation between Kage and his mom. She’s also so nurturing and encouraging of her kid, really, she’s a great mom, though, truth to be told, all the moms in this story so far had been loving moms. Even Hiling who’s kind of a Tsundere mom, loves her kid very much and also, in her own way, cares a lot about Bojji.

So now… for the things that are instead not so great.

The anime changed the plot here and there to deliver a lot more emotional scenes but… while the result is great emotionally, it has other setbacks.

I mean, for example Hiling comes way too late to heal Bojji in the anime.

In the manga at the end of the fight, Domas claims he has an idea on how to deal with Bojji’s wounds and leaves the place as people talk about calling a doctor. Then, it’s night and we’ll see him in Bojji’s room, Bojji completely bandaged, pondering on how Bojji was never destined to be strong. In that moment Hiling come and from Domas’ comment about how he was going to warn her immediately we can guess when he left he didn’t warn her, and she had to be informed by someone else about Bojji’s conditions but, as soon as it happened, she went there and healed him. At the same time this tells us Domas was leaving to warn her, not to mind his own business. Then Hiling remains with him and falls asleep there. Bojji wakes up, kisses her and then he goes trying to raise a sword but fails and meets up with Kage who says he’ll become his friend. Then Kage leaves and Bojji cries.

In the anime Domas leaves as well at the end of the fight, although he doesn’t comment about the wound. We later see Domas in Bojji’s room and then leaves. At this point, a wounded Bojji tries to pick up a sword and fail and chats with Kage who volunteers to become his friend. Bojji cries then he supposedly goes back to bed and Kage stays with him for a while and then, finally, Hiling comes to heal him, though we won’t be shown it’s her and we’ll discover it only much later.

So… the anime makes the scene in which Kage and Bojji becomes friends A LOT more emotional, because we see a badly injured Bojji left alone and still desperately trying to raise the sword, versus a Bojji who was just cared for and physically fine. Therefore the anime increases Bojji’s drama as well as underlines his resolution and his loneliness. In this setting Bojji’s desperation for failing in what he tries so hard to accomplish is VERY palpable and the fact that Kage came, was supportive and offered his friendship and remained with him for a while makes Kage’s friendship too result even more important.

It’s a GREAT scene, way better than in the manga on an emotional level! On the other side… Hiling seems to come too late and in secrecy for no reason.

Something else that didn’t quite click right for me is how the characters’ actions sometimes don’t seem to make much sense.

Sometimes it’s due to clashing morality, characters who do something pretty heinous, are later presented as cinnamon rolls… but cinnamon rolls wouldn’t have done such things in the first place. Credits when it’s due here and there the story tries to explain why they had a change of heart… but, to me, it often didn’t feel convincing enough. Maybe it’s just me… but it’s as if the evil actions were there so they could be presented as antagonists… and then, once they aren’t anymore, all solved, they’re oh so good people, so that, more than grey characters, they feel like confuse characters, unaware they were supposed to be white ones and so acting as they’re black ones until there’s no need for it anymore. But whatever, maybe it’s just it’s a story for younger audience and so they wanted to keep the transition simple.

Then there’s the fact that not always their actions felt logical. Now, it can be this one is explained better in the manga, I hadn’t managed yet to read it all, but, for example, we’ve Bosse asking Domas to train his son, expecting this would increase his strength, when he know he stole all of Bojji’s strength and therefore Bojji can’t become stronger, or how, when Bojji and the others are facing Ouken, he hit them… and then heal them. Couldn’t he do it without hitting them first?

But whatever, I still think it’s a great anime, both visually and emotionally. Sure, it’s targeted for younger audience, but I genuinely think everyone can enjoy it. Really, a must see!

And now let's end this with an AMV about this series I recommend watching Human

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#Ousama Ranking #Ranking of Kings #Wit Studio #Coming of age #Fantasy #Anime television series #Shounen #Recommended #2021 #2022

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2centsoframblings · 2 years

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Two cents of ramblings on: “Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Gō” (Anime)...

...and why I recommend it.

GENERAL DATA

Title: Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Gō (ひぐらしのなく頃に業 “When the Cicadas Cry: Karma”)

Media: Anime television series

Inspired by: Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (ひぐらしのなく頃に “When the Cicadas Cry”) shōnen dōjin soft visual novel by Ryukishi07 and 07th expansion.

Genre: Murder mystery, Psychological horror, Supernatural horror

Directed by: Kawaguchi Keiichirō

Written by: Hisaya Naoki

Studio: Passione

Original run: October 1, 2020 – March 19, 2021

Episodes: 24

WARNINGS: There’s murder, gruesome murder, murder of minors, murder through torture, suicide, child abuse, violence, literal seas of blood spraying around, corruption, mental illness.

The plot in short: The quiet village of Hinamizawa is again trapped in a loop of tragedy that circles around Maebara Keiichi and his classmates. Furude Rika, who was hoping to have finally escaped June 1983, finds herself back into it. Believing now she knows how to fight fate she thinks she can escape from it again but rules are changed and now someone else is her opponent.

HOW DID I STUMBLE INTO IT

Well… I used to enjoy the “Higurashi no Naku Koro ni” anime, but as “Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kira” and “Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Outbreak” didn’t impress me much, I postponed watching “Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Gō” (and “Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Sotsu”) for a while in fear of a new disappointment and decided to watch them only when positive reviews piled up.

THINGS YOU MIGHT WHAT TO KNOW BEFORE TACKLING THIS

I’ll mention the previous “Higurashi no Naku Koro ni” series and also “Umineko no Naku Koro ni” and “Ciconia no Naku Koro ni”.

MY TWO CENTS ON IT

THE SHORT VERSION… or what I can tell you about this while trying to keep spoilers at the very bare minimum.

Opening & ending: The anime uses as opening “I Believe What You Said” by Asaka and, as ending

- for episode 1 “Higurashi no Naku Koro ni” (ひぐらしのなく頃に ‘When the Cicadas Cry’) by Shimamiya Eiko.

- for episodes 2 to 17 “Kami-sama no Syndrome” (神様のシンドローム ‘God Syndrome’) by Ayane.

- for episodes 18 to 23 as opening “Fukisokusei Entropy” (不規則性エントロピー ‘Irregular Entropy’) by Ayane

Although I miss Shimamiya Eiko’s songs, Ayane’s also are pretty nice. The opening is visually good, it introduces the characters and set an unsettling mood with the camera waving as it moves other the characters, as if to hint their inner turmoils while there are noise effects and a colouring that reminds old movies. I like the characters’ expressions that seem a mix between depressed and worn out. I also liked the creepy glimpse of Eua, who became fully visible only from episode 21 onward. The scene of Rika escaping feels like a callback to the opening of “Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai” but I liked how this time she’s also running for an uphill road and seems even more desperate of escaping. The idea she ultimately reaches the shrine and then we see mirrored in her eye two hands moving to grab her is also interesting. The visual shows us also the places relevant in the story as well as the fragment of Oyashiro-sama’s sword and the weapons the characters used. As a personal preference I like to think of the lyrics as sung by the culprit of the game.

As for the ending, the first one is merely a black background with the credits, its only merit being that the song was actually the FIRST opening theme of the FIRST “Higurashi no Naku Koro ni” series.

The second ending starts with a hand trying to reach for the page of the calendar and then shows beautiful draws of scenes relevant in the series which at first are peaceful, then there’s hands grabbing away more pages from the calendar (which is a scene used in the anime as well) and the scenes starts to turn tragic. We end with tons of days ripped from the calendar in a room which has a lot of blood marks, so this one too well fit with the mood of the series.

The last start with what looks like the wheel of fortune spinning, and then shows images of Satoko and Rika that move from their childhood to their teenager years… and then switch to show Rika and Satoko in the sea of fragments… before what looks like the wheel of fortune but it’s very likely a huge round chandelier fall on the floor in a spray of blood, a reference to an important scene in the anime. So it’s good.

The plot: The idea of taking the old arcs of “Higurashi no Naku Koro ni” and, through small variations, create new arcs (which, at first, was meant to lull the viewers into the idea this was merely a remake, to surprise them when it turns out this is not the case) is interesting, and so is the reason behind this new loop of tragedies.

The characters: The new takes on the characters are done well enough and differences in characterization with the previous series are explained so that they make sense and some of them are well psychologically analyzed.

The visual: The character design is much better than the previous, the funny faces work well as well as well as the creepy ones. The colours are bright, the scenery detailed and Hinamizawa seems really pretty, which is something that’s also relevant for the plot.

There are also some very nice shoots or choices (like for example, in a particular gori scene, paint everything in red so it feels more dramatic and less splatter).

If anything there’s an overabundance of blood… which actually fits with the series but it’s still so over the top sometimes is ridicule. Also they censored the scenes that were too bloody (and they’ll likely remove the censoring dots in the dvd) but the effect isn’t that good so I wish they had chosen to draw the scenes so they wouldn’t need censoring… but I guess that seeing the scenes without censoring is a huge incentive to buy the dvd so I get why this was done.

The musical background: Kawai Kenji’s music is, as usual, good, with many different pieces from the creepy ones to the funny ones with traditional ones as well. Overall they’re really well fitting the story.

Overall: It’s an interesting idea to revisit the “Higurashi no Naku Koro ni” world and a good series on its own. It however comes with the ‘downside’ you’ll enjoy it a lot more if you’re familiar with the old series and the other Ryukishi07’s works but I think you can still appreciate it even if you aren’t (though you might feel a little lost if you don’t).

THE LONG VERSION… or what I loved and hated about this with, of course, TONS OF SPOILERS.

I’ve already mentioned it but I loved the overall visual, from the new character design to the bright colours and the care put in depicting the scenery. Hinamizawa seems beautiful, I loved the way they used colours for the sunset moments, the good moments are filled with light and colour, which really deliver well the message of love for Hinamizawa as well as the daily, ordinary happiness of the characters. The computer graphic for the sea of fragments is nicely done.

The funny expressions can be so very cute and endearing!

Still it’s worth to mention the creepy expressions are very good as well without being over the top deformed.

The bloody rooms are also very nicely drawn, though as usual there’s just too much blood.

I liked quite a bit the use of “Higurashi no Naku Koro ni” when Keiichi discovers the magazines about the murder, it well reminds you THIS IS “HIGURASHI”.

I also liked how they introduced the changes in the storyline right from episode 1, by presenting Rena watching Keiichi and Rika watching them.

The idea of the red eyes to symbolize when the ones who travel in loops are using their powers is nice and I liked how they, starting from episode 2, set Rika’s battle, showing her with the belief she can easily overcome this new set of loops… and it’s rather interesting how her beliefs backfires, how she suggests Keiichi to doubt himself when he feels afraid of Rena, when actually this time Keiichi was right and Rena was being dangerous… or how she basically surrenders as soon as she hears Keiichi and Shion entered the storeroom… and when Hanyū gave her the power to remember who murdered her, she was already considering giving up… but still, I think they portrayed Rika’s drama well.

Rika being forced to say goodbye to Hanyū was a good scene as well as Rika hiding herself, planning to kill herself and the others managing to understand she wanted to find her and keeping on searching until they find her, while Rika is breaking down, crying because she can’t find Hanyū’s sword… and then she finds that fragment of it but decides to postpone and die herself 5 more chances because her friends managed to find her.

Going on, for who saw the previous versions of “Higurashi no Naku Koro ni”, it’s good to see Rena and Keiichi fighting each other… even though, if I have to be honest, the last part, in which Rena crazily stabs Keiichi while he kept on hitting her felt unbelievable.

I also liked how they reduced the pervert fanservice, though the scene in which Shion is asked to clean the clothes of a customer is still pretty gross.

The 5 additional loops are kind of rushed but works well to introduce how Rika wanted to leave Hinamizawa and attend to St. Lucia…

Rika: Why did I begin to hate Hinamizawa in the first place? Teen Rika: The answer is simple. I was trapped here for the longest time. Rika: Yes, that’s why the moment I was released from this curse… Teen Rika: I wanted to get out of this hick town, enroll at a fancy, wonderful school, and live a sophisticated life. Was it so wrong to dream of that? Rika: A hundred years. A century I was trapped here. [She remembers Hinamizawa] What was it I disliked about Hinamizawa? Teen Rika: I didn’t dislike it. Not at all. The tragedies that tortured me, the series of mysterious murders, they were brought about by people, plotting and clashing with one another. Rika: There were times when I was having so much fun, I barely felt time passing. There were times when I was lost in despair, sobbing on the floor. But no matter what happened, Hinamizawa had me wrapped in its warm embrace. Teen Rika: Despite that, when peace returned after a hundred years of grief, and Hinamizawa smiled, knowing I could finally stay here without worry… Rika: I… I… I wished to be rid of this hick village! Why would I want something so stupid?

…as well as why she forces herself to stop wishing for such thing.

I found interesting how Rika, once finally arriving to a ‘perfect’ world, is unsettled by it. It reminds me of another ‘perfect’ world, Saikoroshi-hen, which appeared in “Higurashi no naku koro ni Rei” and Rika rejected that world as well.

I liked Satoko’s definition of happiness with this bit of dialogue with Rika.

Satoko: Perhalps you just haven’t realized the true nature of happiness, Rika. Rika: Huh? Satoko: Painful moments, no matter how small, stay in our hearts forever. But tiny moments of happiness are quickly forgotten. Forget them, and you forget how truly blessed you are, and you instead yearn for a happiness far greater than you can bear. I cannot think of a more unfortunate turn of events. Rika, you’re happy now, yes? What more could you possibly want? Rika: You’re right, Satoko. I’m so happy I can be with you here right now. So happy… …that I can’t help but think something bad will happen. Satoko: Not to fret, Rika. Our lives will be happy and healthy from here on out. After all, this is Hinamizawa. As long as we’re here, Oyashiro-sama will protect us.

Satoko is partially right. She’s right in how we’re prone to forget the happy moments and remember the bad ones, but she’s basically longing for the same thing as Rika, a happiness far greater. She doesn’t realize because her happiness, differently from Rika, is based on things ‘not changing’ (aka Rika remaining in Hinamizawa) where Rika instead wants to change them.

Satoko can’t understand how Rika wants to escape from Hinamizawa, but Rika’s words deliver it in a way. She’s been trapped there for so long that for her ‘tragedy’ feels tied to that place. It’s not Hinamizawa’s fault, she too loves Hinamizawa but, to her, tragedy is tied to Hinamizawa. Her wish to escape Hinamizawa, to her old self, is tied to her wish to escape tragedy.

Away from Hinamizawa she can delude herself tragedy won’t strike her and she won’t have to repeat it over and over.

Rika, in a way, grew while trapped in an endless loop, but she had to keep on acting like a young child because she ‘technically’ didn’t grew. So for her becoming different also probably means finally being free to express that adult part of her.

Plus in “Higurashi no naku koro ni Rei”, more specifically in “Saikoroshi-hen” we learnt Rika, in a different world, would act like a spoiled princess fawned by her entourage and who never did anything for herself, so the act she will put up when she’ll manage to reach St. Lucia fits with her character. And the fact always in “Saikoroshi-hen” she would be willing to reject a ‘perfect’ world, because it’s not the one she liked, to the point she would be willing to kill to go back to the world she chose explains also why she has troubles accepting the new world with no tragedies.

I also liked the Satoko reveal… even if, in truth, it made little sense.

I mean, Rika in “Higurashi no naku koro ni Kai” has learnt people can keep memories of the past loops, Keiichi remembering his past killing. We saw it in this series too, how Keiichi remembered how he killed Rena and Mion or how he attacked Teppei. So really, is it so surprising and suspicious Satoko would remember Rika’s trap?

Sure, it wasn’t a traumatic fact, but who says it has to be traumatic?

Whatever, so now we get to the part which constitutes the big revelation of how those loops came to be and who’s the culprit.

I’ve never been really fond of the whole Hinamizawa syndrome, so the implication it was caused by Hanyū distrusting humans and that once she started believing them again the Hinamizawa syndrome slowly vanished leaves me a little cold, but this is probably just me.

I liked quite a lot how the breaking of Satoko was handled.

Rika pushed on Satoko her own dream, Satoko put a huge effort to fulfill it for Rika’s sake, but it ended up all for nothing. As going to St. Lucia wasn’t Satoko’s dream the burden to remain in that school grew too much while, at the same time, there was no reward for her as Rika became the princess that was mentioned in “Saikoroshi-hen”, cultivated her group of supporters and left her alone. Credits when it’s due, Rika didn’t really meant to cut ties with Satoko but, at the same time, she clearly wasn’t supportive enough. Satoko also, out of pride, didn’t ask for help… but the story will show that wasn’t really the point.

While I find perfectly understandable how Rika might have wanted to leave Hinamizawa and start another life, her mistake was to push her own dream on Satoko too.

Rika: There’s something I’ve secretly dreamed of doing for a long, long time. Satoko: Huh? Rika, do you mean… Rika: And I want to make that dream come true with you, Satoko. Satoko: Huh? A dream? I’m not sure if I quite follow, Rika. Rika: I’ve been thinking about this for a long, long time. One day, when I’m finally able to leave the village on my own… I want to experience a new way of life—one I’ve never known before. I want to wake up in the morning and turn the page of the calendar, wondering just how the day will unfold. And when it does, my new reality will be as I never could have imagined: filled with wonder, splendor, and new surprises. I want to go to a school where I can live that life. Of course, I want to go there together with you, Satoko. I want to experience high society at a fancy school with you! Nipa!

Satoko has to come with her and share her dream… but Satoko is not a pet Rika can take along with her and Satoko has no wish to live such a life. The first time they discuss it, Rika pushes Satoko to agree by hitting on her pride, claiming she doesn’t want to do it because she doesn’t like to study, which is absolutely true and Rika knows it, but she also knows Satoko won’t admit it so Satoko ends up roped in and, while she’s clearly not enthusiast or interested in fancy life, she tries to keep up on studies solely for Rika.

After experiencing how that world wouldn’t work well for her, Satoko tries to change Rika’s mind about it and Rika refuses. While a part of her is entirely legitimate in not wanting to give up on her fancy life in St. Lucia, the way she put things aims at making Satoko feel bad because she was refusing to help her with her dream. However, while a good friend should help you with your dreams, there’s a limit to how far you can ask. Rika could have asked for Satoko’s support and encouragement, not for Satoko to also share her dream because, well, that’s Rika’s dream and Satoko is entitled to have her own. And with the following loops things get worse.

The next time Satoko outright refuses to listen to Rika and makes clear she won’t take part to Rika’s dream.

Satoko: Rika. I’m not as smart as you are. Moreover, I absolutely detest studying. Rika: Yes, so do I! That’s why we can work together— Satoko: Please, stop talking and let me speak. Even if we get into that school, I won’t be able to keep up with the academics. And those ladylike types would never befriend a country bumpkin like me. Though you’ll fit in well, so I’m sure you’ll be surrounded by friends. I don’t want to be all by my lonesome. Rika: Don’t worry! I’m your best friend. I’ll be by your side the whole time! It’ll be okay! Even after we get in, I’ll be your best friend. I won’t let you be alone! I promise! Satoko: You’re lying! You’re lying. You’re a filthy liar, Rika! I know what your idea of “together” is! It’s studying for exams “together” because it’s boring alone. Or going to the exam results posting “together” because it’s sad going alone! Or going to the bathroom at night “together” because you’re scared! That’s all you mean by “together”! Rika: Th-that’s not what I mean… Satoko: Tell me, Rika. Being able to accomplish anything with effort is a talent in and of itself. You tried to learn to walk with stilts or ride a unicycle, but did you succeed? Rika: I… Satoko: I could do both with ease, yet you kept struggling and failing, over and over. Rika: I never… Satoko: Everyone has things they simply can’t do, no matter how hard they try. I’ll put it simply: no matter how hard I try, I will never excel in school. And I don’t want to try! I hate it! I can’t endure the pain I must suffer to help you with your “dream”! And then, when we get into the school, you’ll forget all about me, and instead spend all your time with your fancy little friends! You’ll have nothing to do with your stupid “friend”! I know that’s what happens! Rika: Why are you saying all this…? Satoko: So now, you have to decide! Do you want your fancy school, or me? Pick one and live with it! Rika: Why are you this upset about it? I don’t understand! Satoko: Are you going to live a fun, happy life with me here in Hinamizawa, or abandon both Hinamizawa and me?! Make a decision, right now! Rika: I’m sorry. I can’t pick just one. I want both the school and you!

Satoko is very direct here. She told her she doesn’t want to go to that fancy school, that studying makes her feel bad that it would be too much of a burden on her but Rika just doesn’t listen. She doesn’t understand why Satoko is upset and refuses to accept she has to concede, that she can’t force Satoko to join her in that school, that she has to choose. Rika doesn’t really try to understand Satoko, she just wants to get what she wants. Again she would chose a world built on another’s misery because that world would be one which would treat her kindly.

On the other side Satoko has, at the beginning, compromised for her own sake and tried to understand her point of view. She has accepted to go to St. Lucia with her, she had put up on studying, she has accepted Rika wanted to spend time with other girls who looked down on Satoko. And this probably had made matter worse because all this went unrewarded, becoming additional burden.

My personal speculation is Satoko got to met Eua-san because, when she entered into the ritual warehouse, she committed suicide. She looked depressed and unwilling to go back to St. Lucia after all…

Eua: I digress. By your countenance, it seems you have an unrequited wish. And your longing for said wish has whittled away at your well-being. I can hear your soul crying out in anguish.

…and the fact she sees the horn might actually be symbolic of her seeing a weapon and using it against herself. After all, once she leaves Eua, the time has been reset and Eua said in order to reset time, Satoko would have to die.

Eua: Very well! I will grant you my power! You will become one who lives in loops, repeating through endless spirals of time until your wish is fulfilled. Satoko: What do you mean, live in loops? I don’t understand! Eua: To reset your world from the beginning, all you must do is die.

Though this is just me. Anyway, even if we assume she didn’t commit suicide, afterward Satoko begins to commit suicide over and over and this likely further caused her to break herself.

Satoko: I’ve realized something. Even if someone can live through endless loops of time, they cannot escape the damage done to their mind. Eua: Correct. While this power grants one an endless existence, it does not promise a preserved mind. In fact, it would be correct to say this power does not make you immortal.

So yes, we arrive to a Satoko who’s different from the start, one that’s willing to torture and kill Rika to get Rika to stay with her, to force her own dream on Rika, when the original Satoko basically tortured herself to help Rika fulfill her dream, and sacrificed her own dream for Rika. Satoko got damaged and there was no more turning back.

And I liked how she excuses to herself what she’s about to do, which feels again as a reference to “Saikoroshi-hen”.

Eua: Now, you control whether a tragedy occurs or not, as well as whom it strikes. But will you truly feel no guilt for using this method? Satoko: None at all. After all, there won’t be any tragedy in the world where Rika and I are together. Anything that happens in other fragments never really happens, right? The world I choose in the end is the only world that truly exists. The previous worlds are worth no more than dreams or hallucinations.

Actually this whole new series feels like something “Saikoroshi-hen” inspired, only now we’ve Satoko instead than Rika.

And, although Satoko’s plan ends up like the product of an insane mind, I like her pro-active approach to things, how while Rika hopes in luck when she tosses her dice, Satoko instead works to ensure the dice will pull out a favourable number and the more the anime develops Satoko, and let her interact with Eua (which seems a copy of Featherine Augustus Aurora from “Umineko no naku koro ni”) the more her resemblance with Lambdadelta, who’s also from “Umineko no naku koro ni” becomes visible.

Satoko: How many times must I tell you, Eua-san? Once I decide to win, my victory is certain. I will live with Rika together in Hinamizawa. As long as that is the goal I wish to achieve, then that future is certain to come to pass. Wait for me, Rika! My dear, beloved Rika! Our happy world is within our reach!

Here in fact we can see her references to ‘certain’ (Lambdadelta was the witch of Certainty) and to her mad love for Rika, also known as Bernkastel (always in “Saikoroshi-hen” Rika picked up the name Frederika Bernkastel for herself).

On a sidenote as an “Umineko no naku koro ni” fan I enjoyed the quick cameo of Amakusa Jūza, or better Skylark 13, as this was the code name he used in “Higurashi no naku koro ni”. He wasn’t a big character in “Higurashi no naku koro ni” but he was a beloved one in “Umineko no naku koro ni” so I’m glad they gave him space, as small as it was.

Now for something else… do I buy the narrative that Satoko ‘is’ Lambdadelta? Or better that Lambdadelta is part Satoko part Takano Miyo?

I’ve mixed feelings for this. I mean, Lambda has traits she shares with Satoko and we know Lambda, Satoko and Miyo (as well as Vier and Mitsuyo which Eua-san mentions) can be read as 34 but somehow I’m not really fond of the idea that Lambda is born by both Satoko and Takano.

Though of course this is just me and the whole thing is so vague it can be that Lambda is just a personification of ‘certain will’ that took life with Miyo and was further shaped by Satoko and anyway connections between “Higurashi no naku koro ni” and “Umineko no naku koro ni” are confusing enough (what with Eua being Featherine apparently but her being Bernkastel’s master and no mention with her having a special connection with Lambda?) and maybe I shouldn’t think too much at this or, as Will would say, I would just get a headache.

Still, to sum it up, for now “Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Gō” feels like an interesting story, with a good care for the visual but also for the characters’ psychology, the right amount of horror and blood to allow it to fit in the splatter group, if that’s what you like.

For fans of “Higurashi no Naku Koro ni” it should be a pleasure to watch it, though I don’t know if new fans would manage to follow everything. Honestly I would recommend to watch at least “Higurashi no Naku Koro ni”, “Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai” and “Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei” before watching “Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Gō” so as to better understand the series and enjoy it more because although the anime tried to explain/hint at things that were in the previous series, it couldn’t really cover what 55 episodes. Or, of course, one might read the manga or the visual novels if they don’t feel like watching the old Studio Deen anime showed (and if you really want to make sure you don’t lose a single reference read the visual novel of “Ciconia no naku koro ni” and manga or the visual novel of “Umineko no naku koro ni” and absolutely AVOID the “Umineko no naku kori ni” anime. It’s a horrid mess).

But whatever, it’s a good series and Passione did a good work. Now if they only consider making a remake of “Umineko no naku koro ni”…

And now let's end this with an AMV about this series I recommend watching Toxic

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#Higurashi no naku koro ni #Higurashi no naku koro ni gou #When they cry #Higurashi when they cry #Murder Mystery #Psychological Horror #Supernatural Horror #Passione #Anime television series #Shounen #Recommended #2020 #2021

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2centsoframblings · 2 years

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Two cents of ramblings on: “X -ex-: Yochō - AN OMEN” (OAV)...

...and why I recommend it.

GENERAL DATA

Title: X -ex-: Yochō - AN OMEN (X -エックス-: 予兆 - AN OMEN “X -x-: Omen - AN OMEN”)

Media: OAV

Adaptation of: “X” shōjo manga by CLAMP.

Genre: Action, Dark fantasy, Supernatural thriller

Directed by: Kawajiri Yoshiaki

Written by: Kawajiri Yoshiaki

Studio: Madhouse

Original run: August 25, 2001

Running time: 22:34

WARNINGS: There's murder, torture, death

The plot in short: Dreamseer Kuzuki Kakyō shares his story and some prophetic dreams he had about the incoming battle for the end of the world.

HOW DID I STUMBLE INTO IT

I’m a HUGE fan of the “X” manga so, of course, I wanted to see it.

THINGS YOU MIGHT WHAT TO KNOW BEFORE TACKLING THIS

I’ll mention the manga, the movie and the following anime series (by the way, nowadays you find this OAV sold along to the anime series of which it’s considered the episode 0).

MY TWO CENTS ON IT

THE SHORT VERSION… or what I can tell you about this while trying to keep spoilers at the very bare minimum.

Opening & ending: There’s no opening, the ending is “STRENGTH” by Koizumi Kōhei. The song is nice and its sad music is very fitting with the mood of this OAV. As for the visual… it’s basically a black background on which you see on the top the images of each character in the story and below it the character’s name and his voice actor, then, once they all had been shown it’s just a wall of text with the credits.

The plot: The idea of the plot is good and interesting! They managed to explore more the character of Kuzuki Kakyō and, using his visions, to give glimpses of the characters and the incoming conflicts of the story without spoilering too much the viewers.

The characters: As this is kind of a preview for the series, the only characters who is explored is Kuzuki Kakyō, while we only get glimpses of the others. Still Kakyō’s tragedy is well depicted and the glimpses manages to present the other characters as potentially interesting, especially since they often touch relevant moments of the story.

The visual: I’m not that fond of the character design and I hate they changed the eye colours since they actually were meant to mean something. I found the background poor with the colours opaque and the scenes often dark. In short I’m not really positively impressed by the visual.

The musical background: I enjoyed most of it so I think Satō Naoki did a good work with it.

Overall: Although the visual wasn’t that great I found the OAV intriguing and enjoyable, a great preview for the anime that made me hope the anime would turn out awesome as well.

THE LONG VERSION… or what I loved and hated about this with, of course, TONS OF SPOILERS.

There’s various things I liked about this OAV.

The idea of starting with the two Kamuis grabbing the swords, for example, it’s sure one that feels interesting if you never read “X” but that set you well in the mood of the story if you had, even though it wasn’t the first image of the manga.

I liked the idea of using Kakyō to narrate this story as it works well for many reasons. For start Kakyō wasn’t in the “X” movie so finally seeing him feels new and intriguing, then due to his nature as dreamgazer that can see fragments of the future it excuses/explains why this OAV shows us fragments of the future in an intelligent ways.

I liked how they tried to expand Kakyō’s story… even though the expansion didn’t really clear it much, if anything it makes it more confuse… I mean, in the manga it’s clear Kakyō is a prisoner and, when he tries to escape, he’s immediately shoot and then hospitalized.

Here though there’s an old lady, who’s apparently the master of the house, who pities him when she realizes he escaped, and the security is horrible, because Kakyō almost manages to reach Hokuto, so he could escape, but then if the men report to the old lady and the old lady didn’t mean to do him any harm, who shoot Kakyō multiple times?

It seems almost they were protecting him by keeping him jailed and someone else shoot him… so while on a side I want to praise the OAV for trying to give Kakyō more backstory… on the other I wish they had wrote it better.

On the negative notes instead we can already start to see changes on the characters’ characterization or in the story that will also later plague the anime series.

For example Hokuto dies calling ‘Kakyō’ instead than ‘Subaru’, there’s a first hint that Fūma is in the basket club when, in CLAMP’s intentions, Fūma was in the kendō club (though, okay, this is not really shown in the manga, where still we see him playing soccer, not basket, but only in a commentary on an illustration), Sorata’s kekkai, instead than cube shaped is a parallelepiped, Seishirō and Subaru’s meeting takes place on the top of a building and not in Nakano in front of the Sun Plaza, how Kakyō claims what he wants is regain the courage Hokuto gave him when he actually only wanted to die.

But in a short OAV you might miss them all and they aren’t really a trouble. I quite enjoyed how they showed those fragments of future one after the other, the fragments they chose, how well they connected the imagine of feathers to them, the fragments of future seems falling feathers and then, after seeing another feather fall in the water, the image shows us there are many feathers there and Kakyō comments:

Kakyō: Tragedy will repeat just like in the dreams, that is destiny. Everything just goes along its flow. There is only one future. Only but one.

And as he says so feathers starts moving as if following the flow, and then they connect to this scene the bit of Kotori saying the future hadn’t been determined yet and then of Fūma, or better, of KAMUI saying it has.

I mean, although not all the bits are connected perfectly, overall most are in a way that summarizes the series and its themes, so yeah, this was good.

As I already mentioned I hated how they changed the characters’ eye colour because there was a reason for them to be such colour… but this is a talk more fitting for the anime as in the OAV the implications couldn’t be seen yet.

Still, although it wasn’t visually great, I found the OAV pretty enjoyable, something I would recommend to any fan of the series… though I’m not sure if someone who’s not a fan would manage to follow it. But they can view it as a preview, a trailer of the series, and in this case it well works for its purpose and can already start to give you an idea if you’ll enjoy the series or not. So well, I recommend it.

And now let's end this with an AMV about this series I recommend watching Vater Unser

youtube

#X/1999 #Madhouse #Action #Dark Fantasy #Supernatural Thriller #OAV #Shoujo #Recommended #2001

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2centsoframblings · 2 years

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Two cents of ramblings on: “Otome Game no Hametsu Flag Shika Nai Akuyaku Reijō ni Tensei Shite Shimatta…”/“HameFura” (Anime) - Season 1...

...and why I recommend it.

GENERAL DATA

Title: Otome Game no Hametsu Flag Shika Nai Akuyaku Reijō ni Tensei Shite Shimatta… (乙女ゲームの破滅フラグしかない悪役令嬢に転生してしまった… “My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!”)

Known as: HameFura (はめふら)

Media: Anime television series

Adaptation of: “Otome Game no Hametsu Flag Shika Nai Akuyaku Reijō ni Tensei Shite Shimatta…” (乙女ゲームの破滅フラグしかない悪役令嬢に転生してしまった… “My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!”) shōjo light novel by Satoru Yamaguchi Satoru and illustrated by Hidaka Nami.

Genre: Isekai, Reverse harem, Romantic comedy

Directed by: Inoue Keisuke

Written by: Shimizu Megumi

Studio: Silver Link

Original run: April 5, 2020 – June 21, 2020

Episodes: 12

WARNINGS: Bullying and mistreatment of children

The plot in short: A girl dies and find herself reincarnated into Catarina Claes, the villainess of an Otome Game, “Fortune Lover”, when the latter was a child. Aware that all the routes of the game would lead to her being either exiled or killed she desperately tries to adopt countermeasures to avoid her flags of doom.

HOW DID I STUMBLE INTO IT

I was searching a funny anime to watch during summer and this one caught my eyes, probably also due to how I saw the cute Nendo of Catarina so it felt kind of familiar...

THINGS YOU MIGHT WHAT TO KNOW BEFORE TACKLING THIS

If you’re not familiar with the terms an otome game (乙女ゲーム “maiden game”) is a video game in which the main goal is to develop a romantic relationship between the female player character and one of several male characters.

Isekai (異世界 "different world"), is a Japanese genre of portal fantasy that revolve around a person or people who are transported to and have to survive in another world, such as a fantasy world, virtual world, another planet, future/past time, or parallel universe.

MY TWO CENTS ON IT

THE SHORT VERSION… or what I can tell you about this while trying to keep spoilers at the very bare minimum.

Opening & ending: The anime uses as opening “Otome no Route wa Hitotsu Janai!” (乙女のルートはひとつじゃない！ ‘There's More Than Just One Route For a Maiden!’) by Angela and, as ending “Bad End” by Aoi Shōta. The opening is just cute, simple and well match the music and introduces the characters with nice transition effects to show Katarina and the other characters as child and as adults. Maybe it’s not a perfect work of art but it’s well structured and definitely enjoyable so I liked it! The ending isn’t bad but it’s nothing special either, just made by still images of the characters. Honestly I found it unimpressive.

The plot: The struggles of Catarina to avoid her doom are extremely fun to follow! The story is basically split in two, her childhood, which is kind of a prequel to the “Fortune Lover” game and then her teenager years which basically cover the “Fortune Lover” plot. The plot is easy to follow and not that deep but this doesn’t stop you from enjoying the comedy of it.

The characters: The introduction to all the characters is gradual and, while they all are meant to be the stereotypical characters of an otome game… in the end they came out as much funnier and different than just that. They’re all likable and fun.

The visual: The story aims at being very pretty visually, the colours are bright and the background well cared for, even if deliberately a bit vague. The characters’ expression can be pretty fun and chibi-like. If you want the character design is a bit simple but it works well for the story.

The musical background: It’s actually rather nice! Nothing over the top but still enjoyable and fitting the mood.

Overall: It’s a light and fun anime to watch! It will offer you amusement and distraction.

THE LONG VERSION… or what I loved and hated about this with, of course, TONS OF SPOILERS.

So I quite liked the premise of this story in which our main character find herself reincarnated into the villainess and how she has to try to find a way to avoid her doom.

I loved how they depicted how her mind work in a way which reminded me of the movie “Inside out”, in short by having 5 chibi Catarina, each with a different character. We’ve chairmain Catarina, happy Catarina, studious Catarina, fearless Catarina and spineless Catarina and they all discuss among them Catarina’s situation and what they plan to do.

But a big part of what I enjoyed is how they handled the concept of Otome games.

From Catarina’s perspective she’s in an Otome game in which the main character and heroine is Maria, which, in real life, would be a stand in for the player.

But from us viewers’ perspective, it’s Catarina the one who’s the main character, which the game subtly hints as we’ll never learn the name of the person she was before. We’re meant to identify with Catarina, not with Maria and, as Catarina, we play “Fortune Lovers”.

And, by this premise, Catarina and her actions and the effects her actions have make the game more ‘realistic’ in a way.

Both Catarina and Maria are two very good girls, but while Maria is beautiful and has light magic despite being a peasant and a sad backstory and is probably constructed to be a Mary Sue, Catarina has plenty of flaws.

She’s lazy, she’s a glutton, she doesn’t know proper etiquette, despite being a noble she has extremely poor magic, she’s not particularly pretty (often she jokes her face is pretty scary) and so on. Likely this is a jab to how some people play otome games because in real life charming boys don’t just drop at their feet because they’re far from perfect.

However Catarina has her own strengths as well. As said before she’s kind, she’s brave, she’s straightforward and she tries her best and are those strengths what helps her to go through the various ‘events’ of the game in the right manner. Catarina feels she’s stealing them from other characters (mostly the protagonist) but, in truth, since SHE is the main character in this story, she’s just correctly triggering them.

Being Maria is a very hard to obtain goal, but we can all be Catarina (actually Catarina is sometimes so dense we might even lull ourselves into thinking it would be easy to be better than her) so what Catarina does and obtain seems a possible goal.

And there’s another thing this story makes that makes it sounds more ‘realistic’ than “Fortune Lovers”.

In “Fortune Lovers” the protagonist is meant to trigger the events when they’re teenagers. In a short amount of time, by doing some right choices, she radically changes a conquerable character and wins his love. This is a very power fantasy but one extremely unrealistic because it’s not so easy to change people.

Catarina instead triggers those events when the conquerable characters are children and reinforces their changes through the years until they become teenagers and enter the magic academy.

So it’s perfectly reasonable the conquerable characters changed into different people since they had years to do so, and it works they’re so attached to her since she triggered those changes and spent years to positively enforcing them.

Keith has plenty of memories of Catarina supporting him, Geordo spent years with her, learning to know her and growing fond of her, Alan was constantly positively reinforced so that he could accept that he and his brother have different strength and neither was inferior to the other and Nicol could appreciate how good she was to his sister and to him for years.

This builds a strong foundation to their changes and their feelings, way stronger than if they just met her and she made few nice things to them.

Sure, the idea she basically conquered EVERYONE, even the characters that were meant to be love rivals like Mary, when she was still a child, is also unrealistic but the idea behind it is more ‘real’ because plays on real dynamics that can happen with an appropriate amount of time and effort.

Who’s meant to identify in Catarina isn’t, after all, an eight year old but teenagers, and the message is if they’ll work like she did, in time they’ll conquer their love interest. It won’t happen overnight as the game “Fortune Lovers” let its players believe, but with years of work. They would just start later compared to Catarina, which is a nice message.

And while conquering Sirius Dieke/Raphael Walt is the one HARD victory that’s not gained through years of hard work (conquering Maria was pretty easy, all she needed was someone to notice her which is an interesting way to paint the heroine of an otome game who, effectively, easily fall in love with one of the conquerable characters) but just two years spent together, the good part is she didn’t cause him to fall in love with her but that she wins him over by offering him friendship and kindness.

Catarina: That’s what happened? And that’s why you’re in such pain… Sirius/Raphael: You hypocrite! Do you think you can save me like you did all those others, Good Saint Catarina Claes-sama?! Maria: If this goes any further, we’re all in danger! Gerdo: Catarina! Keith: Nee-san! Catarina: I’ll be fine. I know I can’t save you. I’m not the heroine here, after all. I’m just the villainess, here to play the heroine’s rival. Of course I can’t save anyone. I can’t save you from your suffering but I can stay by your side. Just like they all did for me, I can stay by your side, hear you out when you’re sad or hurt, and not leave you until you’re feeling better. Mother: What’s wrong? Sitting out here crying won’t make it stop hurting. I’ll stay here with you. I won’t leave you until you’re feeling better. Catarina/Mother: So don’t cry all alone, Raphael.

And this brings home another theme, everyone needs friendship and kindness, along with how there’s not an easy way to fix people, to save them. Catarina doesn’t go to him saying she’ll save him, just that she’ll basically offer him her friendship… and that’s what give Raphael the motivation to save himself. Because he’s supported by Catarina, he remembers the truth, that he was supported by the person he loved, his mother, who didn’t ask him to avenge her but to live and be happy…

Mother: Raphael… Please… live. Live… and be happy. I love you.

…and so he fights against the dark magic user who was possessing him and manipulating his memories. And, if we want, in this case Catarina is the trigger, but there was one person who had loved him for years and that was his mother.

However, even if one doesn’t care about the message, this story is great just for the light fun it allows you to have. Catarina’s reactions, often over the top as well as her schemes to avoid triggering doom flags are so very fun!

I love all the cute, chibi expressions she has, just watching her it’s fun!

And I love how the story ends with a ‘friendship ending’ of some sort, at least from Catarina’s perception because, in truth it should be a ‘reverse harem ending’ because everyone loves Catarina but, since she’s unaware of it and sees them all as friends, it works well as ‘friendship ending’.

On a fun note the anime kind of messes up a little as, once Raphael joins the Department of Magic we see walking behind him Rufus Brode/Sora Smith, the scene implying Rufus is already in it… but he’ll only join it in the second season… though maybe by the time they animated this series they had no idea they would make a second season so his cameo is just a nice bonus for who’s familiar with the following events in the novels.

I also likes Catarina’s final words.

Catarina: When I was reincarnated as a villainess in an otome game where all routes led to my doom, I spent my days complaining about how my luck couldn’t be any worse. But now, I can say loudly and proudly… that I, Catarina Claes, am truly blessed to have met all these wonderful people. I have no idea what’s going to happen from now on. A new season that wasn’t in the game’s script is about to begin!

Catarina avoided all her doom flags because she adopted a very active approach… and the wonderful people she met became wonderful because she was a positive influence to them (as in the game they were beautiful but, surely, not that nice as characters, except with the heroine).

So yeah “HameFura” is a definitely enjoyable anime, not too deep or heavy but with plenty of fun and cute moments, something that gifts you with pleasurable time, so it’s definitely something I recommend!

And now let's end this with an AMV about this series I recommend watching Electropop

youtube

#Otome Game no Hametsu Flag Shika Nai Akuyaku Reijō ni Tensei Shite Shimatta #HameFura #My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!#Silver Link #Isekai #Reverse Harem #Romantic Comedy #Anime television series #Shoujo #Recommended #2020

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2centsoframblings · 2 years

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Two cents of ramblings on: “Gekijōban Hagane no Renkinjutsushi – Fullmetal Alchemist: Shamballa o Yuku Mono”...

...and why I DON’T recommend it (unless you really, really want to learn how the characters will end).

GENERAL DATA

Title: Gekijōban Hagane no Renkinjutsushi – Fullmetal Alchemist: Shamballa o Yuku Mono (劇場版鋼の錬金術師シャンバラを征く者 “Movie Alchemist of steel: The conqueror of Shamballa”)

Media: Anime motion picture

Sequel of: “Hagane no renkinjutsushi – Fullmetal Alchemist” (鋼の錬金術師 “Alchemist of steel”) anime series dated (2003/2004).

Genre: Adventure, Dark fantasy, Steampunk

Directed by: Mizushima Seiji

Written by: Aikawa Shō

Studio: Bones

Original run: July 23, 2005

Running time: 105 minutes

WARNINGS: There is murder, war, body horror.

The plot in short: The Nazi, believing Edward’s world to be Shamballa, wants to conquer it so as to obtain new weapons. Edward ends up discovering this and having to stop them.

HOW DID I STUMBLE INTO IT

Well, after watching the series, how could I not watch the movie which supposedly ends it?

THINGS YOU MIGHT WHAT TO KNOW BEFORE TACKLING THIS

I’ll reference the series. Also this isn’t a ‘let’s sing praises of this movie’ sort of review, quite the contrary. If the idea of reading a review commenting on its mistakes and weak points bothers you just stop here.

Also some info:

Shamballa or Shambhala is a spiritual kingdom in Tibetan Buddhist tradition. With time Shamballa was identified as the abode of particularly evolved spiritual beings and therefore became a recurring theme of esotericism which also fed Nazi mysticism.

Thule is the farthest north location mentioned in ancient Greek and Roman literature and cartography however in classical and medieval literature, ultima Thule (Latin ‘farthermost Thule’) acquired a metaphorical meaning of any distant place located beyond the ‘borders of the known world’. In Germany, occultists believed in a historical Thule, or Hyperborea, as the ancient origin of the Aryan race so the Thule Society was founded.

Also you might not know it as they aren’t that well known in popular culture but Karl Ernst Haushofer, Rudolf Hess and Fritz Lang, which are characters who appear in the movie, were actually real people.

Longinus is the name given to the unnamed Roman soldier who pierced the side of Jesus with a lance.

Dietlinde Eckhart’s name might have been inspired by Dietrich Eckart who was the founder of the German Workers’ Party which was the predecessor to the Nazi party.

Dr. Mabuse is a character in Fritz Lang’s movie. He is a criminal mastermind, doctor of psychology, and master of disguise, armed with the powers of hypnosis and mind control, who oversees the counterfeiting and gambling rackets of the Berlin underworld

MY TWO CENTS ON IT

THE SHORT VERSION… or what I can tell you about this while trying to keep spoilers at the very bare minimum.

Opening & ending: The movie uses as opening “Link” by L'Arc-en-Ciel and, as ending “Lost Heaven” always by L'Arc-en-Ciel. For what regards the ending there are no accompanying images to it, there’s just a black screen on which credits rolls so I can tell you that the song is good but… that’s all there’s to say. The opening uses scenes from the anime and rather pretty art in a way that reminds me of otome game openings. It’s enjoyable and pretty but… nothing over the top.

The plot: The plot is the real sad note of this movie. It doesn’t really develop the characters, it focuses way too much on Nazi Germany and on side characters I didn’t really care about and that didn’t really get developed that much.

The characters: We see… too little of the characters I’ve come to love and the movie seems to think to make up for it presenting us alternate version of them who lives in Nazi Germany… only they don’t really get explored that much either so…

The visual: Okay, the visual is very good, the background is filled with details and beautifully drawn, the colours have an odd slightly brownish tinge as if I were to be watching an old movie which fit with the Nazi Germany atmosphere while scenes in Ed and Al’s world are in bright colours as to draw a contrast. The computer graphic is not so great although not ugly but this is 2005 and, anyway, it’s way better than what will use “Golden Kamuy” in 2018.

The BGM: Ōshima Michiru continues to do a good BGM, which, if you ask me, is well used.

Overall: The anime deserved a better ending movie. It definitely did. You might watch the movie to see again the characters you loved and because it’s aesthetically pretty but… I’m not sure it’ll satisfy you, plot wise.

THE LONG VERSION… or what I loved and hated about this with, of course, TONS OF SPOILERS.

When I talked about the anime, I mentioned how there were things that it didn’t explain and an ending it left open. So a movie was a great chance to deal with all those loose threads and expand the characters arcs so as to explain them and their motivation better… but no, this is not that sort of movie.

One of the characters the anime neglected for example, is Envy. Well, Envy is in the movie too, we’ve left him going to through the gate in search of Hohenheim in its dragon form and so he’s in Nazi Germany too. He appears in a castle as a dragon because apparently, even if alchemy doesn’t work there, homunculi’s powers work just fine, tries to kill Edward and is easily captured by the Nazi who, instead than kill or take captive Ed who had witnessed the scene, leave him there unconscious and take Envy away. Then they impale him with Longinus’ lances and Dietlinde Eckhart’s uses magic/alchemy on him so that they have him bite Hohenheim, which they had captured, so they can use him to open the gate that leads to Ed’s world and he’ll stay quiet because, hey, biting Hohenheim us totally worth being held captive and used by humans.

Basically Envy is reduced to a plot device.

Hohenheim let himself be bitten because he tried making a passagerway to the other side using the magic and science of this side, therefore cooperating with the Nazi and because he failed Envy, as he couldn’t resurrect him but turned him into a homunculus and then discharged him… and also he took over the life or plenty of people in order to go on living and WHY he should care at this point after 400 years spent pretending it was none of his business is of course left unexplained.

I mean, I get he somehow wanted to help Ed going back home because in the anime he mysteriously discovered, after dumping him and Al when they were small, that he loves them, but if this needed to get developed in the anime but I could still pass over it, here it becomes beyond weird.

So anyway, as he’s been bleeding out like hell by God knows how long yet not dying, he decides he’ll transmute into a gate Envy, you know, the son he has turned into a monster and discharges, something which he now rejects but not to the point he won’t use him to help the son he actually cared for, Edward and his idea of how to transmute him is to force him to bite him to… explosion apparently, as all of sudden he sprays all around a sea of blood by making him clench his jaw.

All this for Dietlinde Eckhart to shoot Edward a moment later but apparently she can’t aim so she actually only scratches Edward’s artificial arm, which… causes Edward to apparently faint and fall from an amazing height and not even get a scratch. So okay, as you might notice I also find the logic on which the movie is based beyond dumb.

I mean there are those huge plot contrivances like Edward seeing Lang, who looks like King Bradley for movie reasons because in real life they didn’t look alike, so Edward forgets there’s just people who looks alike the people of his world despite spending times regularly with a copy of Al, one of Gracia and one of Huges (and I’ll argue Noah might be a copy of Rose but with normally coloured hair) and tails him so that the latter ends up bringing him in the castle in which Envy is, so he’s around for… no real good reason when the Nazi capture Envy.

I mean, Ed decides to do something only when Noah goes with the guy of the Thule society, which she decides to do in front of him instead than leaving him without warning so that they’ll get a reaction from him… and Lang will coincidentally decide that’s a good moment to crash with his car inside the place Edward was in so he can help him escape with a car who doesn’t even have a scratch.

So for now we have no proper development of familiar characters, no logic in the plot, plot contrivances a gogo.

Adds way too much focus on the world Edward is in, which we should already be familiar about as it’s our own only in pre WW2 time so really, why should I care?

Why should I care of the story digging onto how Nazi Germany also wants to invade Amestris as if Nazi Germany attacking something or playing the role of the bad guy were some sort of new idea?

Okay, the movie wasn’t made for me so maybe Japanese viewers likes this but really, there has been already plenty of anime about this so… couldn’t we have a movie about something else? Something new, like the “Fullmetal Alchemist” universe was?

And I’m saying this as someone who loves historical series but I felt zero need to see 1923 Germany take over “Fullmetal Alchemist” because the way it was done it felt more like they were tossing at me real life characters and random real life info just for the sake of doing it.

I could already see the “Fullmetal Alchemist” parallels with my world, the racism, the wars of aggression in the world of Amestris, they really didn’t need to toss in Nazi Germany, especially because it breaks the parallels between Amestris and my world and paint Amestris like the good guys when it’s only four years they got rid of Führer King Bradley (and Dante), who really wasn’t called Führer at random, and Mustang wasn’t rewarded for getting rid of Bradley, quite the contrary, and what about all the people who supported King Bradley? Couldn’t we see how Amestris evolved after Bradley’s death instead?

But that’s not all of the ‘why should I care?’

The movie introduces a new character, Noah, a Roma girl, who’s sold by other Romani girls because she has the eerie ability to read the mind and is saved by Ed and seems to play as ‘romantic interest’ for him of some sort (but not really that much), and tries to push forward the theme of racism that was well depicted in the anime this time using her, which could be interesting if the anime hadn’t done it better. But the real role of Noah in the movie is solely to read Ed’s mind so that she can memorize all of Edward knowledge about alchemy and complete the transmutation circle.

I mean… that’s not clairvoyance, the idea she would learn all of Edward alchemic knowledge just by peaking at his mind or that she could memorize as much as the magic circle… at least I think she memorized the magic circle because otherwise I don’t know what use she had, she just told them there were no incantation and that they had to make circulate the power between themselves and the transmutation circle which means… what for those humans who know nothing of Edward’s alchemy?

But who cares, the gate reacts anyway but Noah can’t open it, maybe because she’s just stretching her hands toward it and doing nothing?

But whatever, what’s her point beyond that?

Express her longing for a place that won’t mistreat her due to her race? She learnt Edward’s knowledge, didn’t she saw what happened to the Ishbalans? Edward left without knowing if Mustang defeated Bradley, as far as he knows they might still be persecuting them, them who has darker skin like Noah, what makes her think she’ll be safe there?

And then we’ve Dietlinde Eckhart, which we can speculate is an alternate version of Dante but who actually knows, who has zero development and it’s just evil and first claims she wants to go to Shamballa to gain weapons then we get this:

Dietlinde: Why?! Why is my magic being obstructed?! This place is a new world, completely different from our world. Edward: It's not at all different. People live, weep, laugh, and die. There's one thing I'd like to ask you. Why did you suddenly attack? Weren't you going to use this world's know-how for your war over there? Dietlinde: I am going to destroy this world! Edward: For what reason?! Dietlinde: Because it is terrifying! Once I learned that a doorway could be opened with the power... ...of the Great Serpent, and that there was another world... ...when I learned that it had power that exceeded our own... I became frightened-- so frightened that I could not stand it. I knew that I had to destroy it! Edward: The people here would never start a war with you! Dietlinde: How can you know that?! Edward: We are humans, like you! Dietlinde: No, you aren't! You may take the same form, but you are monsters from another world!

I mean, this could really be an interesting point to ponder, the idea she waged war merely because scared by what’s different, and would tie nicely with the theme of racism… but it’s all so random!

She jumps from ‘why my magic is obstructed’ to ‘this world is completely different from ours’ with no real logic connection. Then it turns out she has also changed her goals or that was never her goal but since her character development was nonexistent this feels just random.

Edward claiming they would never go at war with her world is dumb considering that people has followed and supported King Bradley who has waged war effortlessly so it can’t all be blamed on Bradley being an homunculus, never mentioning he was lead by Dante, a human, so again this is dumb and Ed should know and the fact he says ‘ah, we’re human like you so we wouldn’t attack you’ actually doesn’t hold ground because humans attack each other both in Amestris and in Dietlinde’s world so really that doesn’t stand.

Besides why is she Dietlinde instead than Dietrich? The movie didn’t shy away from using real people, why turning Dietrich into a woman? Because Dietrich in real life died of heart attack short after the Munich Putsch and wasn’t turned into a monster during it and shoot? Why would the movie care? Is that why she only shoot in the arm Haushofer? Because the latter is not meant to die there? Why shooting him anyway? Why not knocking him out?

And we finish the movie with Ed and Al being stuck into our world so how cool, they’re together but again, they’re not back home and Winry is left in Amestris because Winry’s arc in this movie goes nowhere, she’s only here to provide Ed with a new arm and leg and that’s it.

Besides what about making Hughes a Nazi but not developing the thing at all and then pairing him back with Gracia, who’s actually a decent person instead, as if nothing had happened at the end of the movie? I mean the idea of making him evil could have been very interesting but it’s basically not explored and the same goes for a possible switching side… which we don’t really know if happened. Has he changed just because the Munich Putsch failed? Because he shot Dietlinde Eckhart after she turned into a monster? Who knows?

And there’s more but I’ll stop here.

So everything is bad?

No, actually the action scenes are really, really cool, a real pleasure to watch.

Then they tried ending Wrath and Gluttony arc. Gluttony arc works, Wrath’s arc would have benefitted of some parts that ultimately were cut from the movie because apparently a lot was cut from this movie to give it the length it has and not the 3 hours and more length the original script was meant to have… which means they basically cut half of the movie so maybe it’s not all the movie’s fault if it was so messed up. With so much cut, of course things didn’t properly get developed. But, back to Wrath, although his arc felt a bit shaky because they cut his reason to sacrifice for Alphonse, it wasn’t that bad.

I somehow loved Alfons Heiderich because it’s one of the few characters the movie managed to actually develop and he worked well enough. I love this exchange between him and Ed.

Alfons: Looks like she missed you and hit your artificial arm. “At a speed of over 11 kilos per second, this rocket will punch through whatever phenomena occurs within the doorway, and get us to the other side.” That was Haushofer-san's idea. This one-seater should also put out enough speed. Edward: Hold on! I never said I was going to the other side. Alfons: I want you to go. Edward: Alfons, am I in the way? Alfons: We don't just exist in the middle of one of your dreams. Even as my life is coming to an end, I'm still me. I will definitely be here. Don't forget me. Edward: Alfons! Alfons! Alfons!

And then Alfons dies, shot by Rudolf Hess, but he dies smiling because he has managed to make his rocket and use it to send Edward where he needed to go. And it’s a great moment. Alfons came a lot more likable than Noah, who yes, is mistreated so I feel bad for her, but she’s also solely caring for her own interests ignoring how Edward helped her. Alfons didn’t have to help Edward, he didn’t own him, but he did because he was a friend and a good person. I wish they had given Noah something more likable quality than just the sad part of the discriminate girl (and, as I already said, I found her wish to go to Amestris to escape discrimination, baseless as there was discrimination in Amestris).

I loved the dialogue at the end between Ed and Al…

Alphonse: Another great war is sure to start. That could be something that's unavoidable, huh? I wonder if it's something we should be getting involved with. Edward: We can no longer go on thinking that this world has nothing to do with ourselves. This is our world. There's no difference. This is where we live.

I mean, I like the conclusion they can’t feel uninvolved that they now belong to that world… even if I don’t like how it seems to imply they gave up on their own world and… I’m not sure how they mean to get involved in WW2. I mean, they can’t use alchemy, they’ll be just soldiers like everyone else. And even if they weren’t to be soldiers, if they were just to walk around, they would still be involved in the war because it’s a WW what’s about to happen with invasions and bombing and everything so really, they can’t escape to it.

But whatever, still that bit was good and, as I said previously, the visual was also good. I don’t know why they put Rome’s Vittoriano in Amestris but hey, cool, beautifully drawn.

So, do I recommend this or not?

Honestly it’s not a great movie, but it’s also the only way to see the end of the arcs of some characters so you might want to watch it anyway. Just don’t expect much from it.

And now let's end this with an AMV about this series I recommend watching Your Hand in Mine

youtube

#Fullmetal Alchemist #Hagane no Renkinjutsushi #Adventure #Dark Fantasy #Steampunk #Bones #Anime motion picture #Shounen #Not recommended #2005

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Two cents of ramblings on: “Hagane no renkinjutsushi”/“Fullmetal Alchemist” (Anime) (2003/2004)...

...and why I recommend it.

GENERAL DATA

Title: Hagane no renkinjutsushi – Fullmetal Alchemist (鋼の錬金術師 “Alchemist of steel”)

Media: Anime television series

Adaptation of: “Hagane no renkinjutsushi – Fullmetal Alchemist” (鋼の錬金術師 “Alchemist of steel”) shōnen manga by Arakawa Hiromu.

Genre: Adventure, Dark fantasy, Steampunk

Directed by: Mizushima Seiji

Written by: Aikawa Shō

Studio: Bones

Original run: October 4, 2003 – October 2, 2004

Episodes: 51

WARNINGS: There are serial killers on the loose, murders, war, human experimentation, child abuse, child labor, body horror.

The plot in short: Due to a failed transmutation experiment the Elric brothers lost one his body the other his arm and leg. Now they’re chasing for a way to regain what they have lost.

HOW DID I STUMBLE INTO IT

Everyone knows this story so I got to know it as well… but, although I saw way too many scenes of it, I actually never had the chance to sit down and watch the full series calmly so I decided to just do so.

THINGS YOU MIGHT WHAT TO KNOW BEFORE TACKLING THIS

I’ll reference the manga version and also the movie “Gekijō-ban Hagane no renkinjutsushi: Shanballa wo yukumono”. Also, although I usually call series with their Japanese name, since in the logo they also included “Fullmetal Alchemist”… well, this is the name I’m going to use when I’ll refer to this series.

MY TWO CENTS ON IT

THE SHORT VERSION… or what I can tell you about this while trying to keep spoilers at the very bare minimum.

Opening & ending: This series has 4 opening and 4 endings, which kind of divide the anime in 4 parts. The series uses:

- for episode 1 there’s no opening and the ending is “Melissa” by Porno Graffitti.

- for episodes 2 to 13 as opening “Melissa” by Porno Graffitti and “Kesenai Tsumi” (消せない罪 ‘Indelible Sin’) by itade Nana.

- for episodes 14 to 25 as opening “Ready Steady Go” by L’Arc-en-Ciel and “Tobira no Mukō e” (扉の向うへ ‘Beyond the Door’) by Yellow Generation.

- for episodes 26 to 41 as opening “Undo” by Cool Joke and “Motherland” by Crystal Kay.

- for episodes 42 to 50 as opening “Rewrite” by Asian Kung-Fu Generation and “I will” by Sowelu.

- for episodes 51 the opening remains “Rewrite” by Asian Kung-Fu Generation but there’s no ending.

The openings are all good, both in terms of music and of images matching it. They’re well synchronized with the music and work well to introduce the characters and the mood of the story, implying the journey of the Elric brothers and the fights they’ll have to face. My personal favourites are the second and the forth but the others are good too.

As for the endings, it’s worth to mention although episode 7 still uses “Melissa” the images are changed so that Nina appears in it and that in its other version “Melissa” has kind of become a meme for how iconic it is, and, even if in smaller measure, the same happened to the third and the forth ending. They’re all nice and soft paced songs, with matching images which are more often still images than anything else but, overall they all work well, my favourite being the forth.

The plot: So the anime decided it would go in a way that’s different from the manga and, ultimately, created a different plot from it. Now, you can like or hate the new plot but the key point for me is that they had actually worked to build it, inserting bits of pieces that worked to set up the conclusion they decided on. So well, I don’t love this plot like the one of the manga but it’s still a well planned one, which makes for an enjoyable story.

The characters: They’re mostly well characterized and interesting. They deviated from the canon and some of them are original for the anime but they were still well constructed and there’s a good psychological studio of a part of them.

The visual: The background are filled with details and the direction use the potential of this media well. I wouldn’t call it an anime that strives for prettiness and bright colours but I still think there’s a certain visual beauty and cleverness and that the artistic choices fit with the mood they chose for the story, which touches often heavy topics.

The BGM: I loved the music by Ōshima Michiru and how it was used through the series. It worked really well to underline the various moments and was very pleasurable to listen.

Overall: It’s not the same as the manga, in the end it becomes a completely different story but it’s still a good story, worth watching.

THE LONG VERSION… or what I loved and hated about this with, of course, TONS OF SPOILERS.

So when I started watching this series I savoured a feeling I had almost forgotten… the pleasure of watching an anime who’s gonna take all the time it need to tell a story and isn’t going to make it a speed race against the twelve episode constrain in which it tries to cram as much as possible in 240 minutes of show.

I mean they took 2 episodes, 2! To tell us about what happened in Liore and this is not a complain, no far from it! It’s good to get a story that’s not in a run! I’ve got so used to anime who cut left and right that having someone saying again ‘sit down and get comfortable that I’m gonna take my time telling you this story’ feels kind of amazing!

But okay, this might be just me and the fact back in my youth this was the norm, anime were made not to promote the manga but just to tell a story and their length normally SURELY wasn’t meant to be merely 12 episodes.

So which are the things that I loved in this series and the ones that just didn’t feel that great to me?

Well, for start I enjoyed the attempt at making a continuous story. I mean, there are what you might call as filler episodes, but they tried to make them part of the plot, like how the Tringham brothers will come back into the story or how they build on various parts of the story, expanding them but also explaining them like how Ed starts to get suspicious of what Tucker did and the truth didn’t just dawn on him as soon as he saw the new Chimera he created, the importance put on Rose, how they introduced Marcoh and so on.

Mind you, it’s not that I’m saying that all the filler stuff is good (I hated “Phantom Thief Psiren” despite Aquroya being based on a city I love, Venice) or that it connects well with the story (while I enjoyed a lot the anime only “The Philosopher’s Stone” episode, the ‘Barry, the Chopper’ we saw there hardly resembles the ‘Barry, the Chopper’ we’ll meet later in “The Truth Behind Truths” which is based on the manga) but that they tried and this matters.

There’s plenty of anime in which a filler is just something random they add to stretch the story and that they forget in the next episode. Here they tried to give fillers a reason to be added, they incorporated them in the plot.

I also liked how they put a lot of focus on Ed and his feelings, so that they went deeper into analyzing him.

I’m not overly fond of how Ed ends up causing Majhal’s death (Ed knocks the weapon the man was using out of his hand, which flies into the air and impales Majhal, killing him) but the whole thing left him completely unperturbed and then he’s instead so upset when he kills Greed (although he stabbed him, he had no idea the wound would turn out to be fatal). While yes, Greed is ultimately a lot more sympathetic as a character and, even a better person than Majhal, so I would understand Ed regretting it more, the point is he seems traumatized by how he killed him, as if this was his first kill, never mention I was never really taken in by the idea homunculi had to die because they have no soul and are the result of an alchemist’s mistake/human transmutation.

The series represents homunculi as creatures who has a birth, grow, need to eat, have feelings negative and positive, wishes and rational thinking and who can die. They’re alive.

The idea they have no soul… it’s just speculation, it’s not like they can see it or not and decide the homunculi has less right to live than any other living creature, just because they were artificially created, and what with how Alphonse who’s just a soul in a suit and the security guards of the 5th laboratory are also seen alive, and so are the Chimeras, but not the homunculi?

I would have much preferred if they decided the homunculi had to go just because they are a threat to humanity, after all they want to sacrifice people to create a philosopher stone and don’t hesitate to use and murder people for this sake and some of them are outright malicious and won’t change their mind on this.

But whatever, I still think they did some cool things with the homunculi and with how in the anime ended up with having personal connections with Ed, Al, Izumi and Scar, I loved how they developed the character of Lust and though his role was cut a lot, I still liked Greed.

I think though they could have developed Envy more, the idea behind him was interesting but… it just felt like tossed there and forgotten for the sake of giving him a personal connection with the brothers and the final surprise (as well as, possibly, for the sake of the movie) and I kind of found weird how they made him a dragon like Shenron from “Dragon Ball”. I felt the Leviathan look he had in the manga was more fitting for him but it might be just me.

Even the idea of Dante had a lot of potential… but I felt they should have explored her more.

Still I love this dialogue she has with Ed:

Dante: Equivalence? Don’t tell me you still believe in that naive theory. Edward: It’s no theory, it’s the absolute law of alchemy. No, of the whole world! To obtain anything, something of equal value must be lost! You couldn’t have gotten anywhere without knowing that! Dante: A beautiful story, told to comfort the oppressed and make children do their lessons. The truth is that the law of equivalent exchange is a lie. Edward: That’s impossible! Dante: ‘To obtain something, something of equal value must be lost? Conversely, if you give something up, you will always get a prize of equal worth in return?’ Edward: Exactly, that’s why people work hard at anything they do. Because it pays off. Dante: Wrong. People work because they believe it will pay, for ‘equal effort’ does not always mean ‘equal gain’ Edward: Like what? Dante: Consider the state alchemy exam that you passed with flying colours. How many others took the test that day? Spent months, years preparing, some working much harder than you. Yet you were the only one who passed. Where was their reward? Is it their fault they lacked your natural talent? Or what about the equal value of each person’s life? If I clap my hands, the baby won’t survive. And if I do that, where is the world’s balance in that? Does that mean the baby’s only worth in being born is so that it can die? It’s doing all an infant CAN to survive, breathing, crying for help. But what does it get in exchange? People can say there is a balance, a logic that everything happens for a reason. But the truth is far less desired. No matter how hard you work; when you die, you die. Some spend their entire life trying to scratch their way to the top and still die in poverty while others are born into wealth without ever lifting an arm. It’s a cruel and random world, but the chaos is oh, so beautiful. Edward: That’s enough Dante! Dante: Equivalent exchange is a myth. A contrived order to give sense to a world that has none. Can you accept that now or do you need another lesson?

It’s an interesting point to ponder and one that Dante brings up. In her contempt for humans and her cold logic, she washed away the idealism and forces us to face the cruelty of the world that might not reward everyone the same, no matter how much they paid and I wish it had been explored more… instead… they kind of take it back at the end.

Edward: I had meant to give my own life as the price for transmuting Al. And yet, I’m still alive. Maybe I did obtain something without paying the price after all. Or maybe Al is still there. Hohenheim: You two have been journeying together. The people you met during that time, the things you saw, your pain, your effort, everything that you experienced… That could be the price you paid, couldn’t it?

Basically, they’re countering the idea that not all the efforts get rewarded by saying Edward’s efforts got rewarded and that equal exchange exists and it gets even muddier in Alphonse’s speech.

Alphonse: Man must pay an equal price in order to obtain anything. That is the Law of Equivalent Exchange. At the time, we believed that to be the true way of the world. But the real world is imperfect, and there was no law that could explain everything. Same with the Law of Equivalent Exchange. Even so, we believe… …that man cannot obtain anything without paying a price. The pain that we received must have been the price we paid to obtain something. And, by paying the price of effort, everyone will certainly be able to obtain something. Equivalent exchange is not the law of the world. That’s the promise Brother and I made with each other, until the day we meet again.

This speech doesn’t deny Equal Exchange per se, it just expands it because it now includes pain and effort as trading values, a bit like how Hohenheim said they were also using souls from the gate as extra energy when performing Alchemy. In short the anime ultimately doesn’t deny the Law because imperfect, what becomes imperfect is the understanding of it. Al and Ed didn’t know other things would figure in the equation and be exchanged. But this goes counter Dante’s words that not all the efforts will get rewarded and if that they will get rewarded they might not get rewarded equally.

So… they tossed us a very interesting point to ponder which can be ultimately summarized in ‘the world isn’t fair’ then went back to it and said ‘no, actually the world is fair, it’s just you don’t know all the elements in the equation’. It makes for an optimistic ending but it didn’t really demonstrate Dante’s point was wrong, Hohenheim is merely speculating Ed’s efforts were used to equate the price but there’s no proof of it. Ed might have not paid the full price simply because the world is unfair and chaotic like Dante said… but we like more Hohenheim’s explanation so we take it… but there’s no one to confirm our belief, so we might as well be deluding ourselves, be the children Dante talked about.

There’s also a tad too much of plot contrivances and Rose seems to be taken more by Ed than by her baby as if the anime was pushing to make her a love interest… and speaking of which it kinds of grossed me out how Dante is also interested in Ed. I get she loved Hohenheim and Ed might look like him but still… I would have preferred if she planned to brainwash Hohenheim so as to get him back than consider switching for his son.

Speaking of Hohenheim it kind of felt more fatherly… though it felt a bit random how he ‘discovered’ fatherhood. I mean, okay, no one wants an homunculus baby, we saw it with Izumi so fine, he tossed away his first son, I understand him here, but then he left the family because his body was rotting and okay, I get it but then he randomly comes back, exchanges Winry for her mother commenting on how much she grew when Winry’s mother was probably the same age as Trisha so she shouldn’t have grown up, if anything she got younger, especially when it turns out he had met Winry when she was a baby, and then he seems to blame coming back after 6 years to his lack of sense of time, which okay, but if he left because he didn’t want them to see him root it still doesn’t matter, he shouldn’t have returned. And then he randomly flirts with Ross even though Trisha is the only woman he ever loved but he turns down Dante because he has a wife? The whole thing is rather confusing.

And then there’s the whole gate mess and we’re told homunculi come from the other side of the gate so they can’t use alchemy and, on the other side of the gate it turns out there’s basically our world, so are homunculi from our world/souls from our world? But the reason why they couldn’t use alchemy was that they had no soul?

I mean, I would praise the anime for digging deeper and expanding ideas of the manga in the first part… but when we switch to the second part and we dig into the anime only content… it all gets pretty confusing… even if many ideas tossed in are interesting.

Speaking of which, I really wasn’t fond with the idea of the gate connecting the world of the story to ours and, when I watched the movie, I became even less happy with it because it felt like a decision taken for the sake of the movie (which of course had to involve Nazi Germany because… no, nevermind, this is a rant of another time).

Still I liked the ending, how Ed and Al are now in two different world but trying to find a way to get together again, how Ed is trying to use mechanical technology since he can’t use alchemy to reach his world, I love this dialogue…

Edward: I should have been able to bind his soul and body together, an recreate him. But the next thing I knew, I had come to this world by myself. Hohenheim: Passing through to here was the only way for you to keep from losing your mind and body. You must have done so unconsciously. Edward: But I’ve once again lost that which Al did so much to give me. Hohenheim: We can’t say that everything is perfect. The whole world is imperfect, after all.

…I loved how Ed and All, both on different trains, stretched their hands at the same time and it seems as if they’re stretching them toward each other. It’s not a fully happy ending, but it’s a powerful ending.

I also liked how the theme of racism was handled and while I think the anime kind of forgave Scar way too easily, they still made him interesting.

All in all there are lot of things that are good or interesting in this story… as well as things that would have needed to be explained better or expanded or that felt confusing because they didn’t really made sense but… it’s all right, I had fun watching it, it was engaging and it had parts that were worth pondering over, interesting characters and so on.

On the other side I can hardly call this a transposition of the manga. It’s just a different story, it feels like an alternate AU, a fanfiction the anime staff wrote and, since the manga is SO GOOD, this ends up like feeling inferior by comparison. But if you forget the manga, it’s still interesting enough to be worth watching, so give it a chance.

And now let's end this with an AMV about this series I recommend watching Hollow

youtube

#Hagane no Renkinjutsushi #Fullmetal Alchemist #Bones #Adventure #Dark Fantasy #Steampunk #Anime television series #Shounen #Recommended #2003 #2004

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2centsoframblings · 2 years

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Two cents of ramblings on: “Golden Kamuy” (Anime) - Season 1...

...and why I DON’T really recommend it (but you can still enjoy it... though really, read the manga, it's much better!).

GENERAL DATA

Title: Golden Kamuy (ゴールデンカムイ)

Media: Anime television series

Adaptation of: “Golden Kamuy” (ゴールデンカムイ) seinen manga by Noda Satoru.

Genre: Adventure, Historical, Japanese-style Western

Directed by: Nanba Hitoshi

Written by: Takagi Noboru

Studio: Geno Studio

Original run: April 9, 2018 – June 25, 2018

Episodes: 12 + 12 Golden Dōga Gekijō (ゴールデン道画劇場 “Golden travelogue theater”)

WARNINGS: There are murder, loss of limbs, gruesome deaths, animal killing (for survival purposes), war and a lot of reference to history. There’s also some male nudity, a lot of mental issues with plenty of chara dealing with PTSD.

The plot in short: In Hokkaido a veteran from the Russo-Japanese war, Sugimoto Saichi, discovers a man stoles a huge amount of the Ainu gold and hid it then, once in jail, tattooed on assorted prisoners the code to track down the gold, then had them escape. Sugimoto, in desperate need of money, decides, with the help of Asirpa, to hunt the convicts so as to find the gold but he isn’t the only one who is taking part to this gold hunt. First Lieutenant Tsurumi Tokushirō and ex Shinsegumi member Hijikata Toshizō are also hunting for the gold, as well as the convicts themselves, minorities partisans and Japan government.

HOW DID I STUMBLE INTO IT

I saw the promo for the anime and it got me curious so, as soon as it came out, I started watching it.

THINGS YOU MIGHT WHAT TO KNOW BEFORE TACKLING THIS

I’ve debated with myself if this should cover all the series and OAD or I should just give my two cents of ramblings for each of them. Ultimately I decided to keep everything split. Also this isn’t a ‘let’s sing praises of this anime’ sort of review, quite the contrary. “Golden Kamuy” is an awesome manga but its anime doesn’t live up to its standards. If the idea of reading a review commenting on its mistakes and weak points bothers you just stop here.

MY TWO CENTS ON IT

THE SHORT VERSION… or what I can tell you about this while trying to keep spoilers at the very bare minimum.

Opening & ending: The series uses as opening “Winding Road” by Man with a Mission and, as ending “Hibana” (火花 ‘Spark’) by The Sixth Lie. Honestly I’m not that fond of the first opening. I get the idea behind it but the visual isn’t great, it’s mostly a collection of disjointed images, the focus on how Sugimoto first was alone and then joined hands with Asirpa in this adventure but it’s overall misleading of their characters and doesn’t tell much about them or the story. The music is nice though but I much favour the ending song (possibly my fave “Golden Kamuy” theme)… although the visual of the ending after a couple of images of Nopperabō, is merely a panning on a really long image that shows all the characters involved in the first series until we get an image of Asirpa and Sugimoto looking at each other and then of them looking at the night sky. But still endings aren’t that much elaborated usually and this one has a touch of van Gogh in how it’s coloured so I think it’s very nice, colourful and pretty. I love how they drew the night sky and even the few transitions it contains are done well so yeah, I like it a lot.

The plot: The manga of “Golden Kamuy” has one of the most amazing, complex and well constructed plots. This season covers only a small fraction of it and, sadly, didn’t take its time to do so but went through it in a bit of a rush, with the result bits, sometimes relevant bits, and a whole arc were cut out, never mention things that got changed from the original. Credits when its due, they had already decided the arc cut was going to be turned in an OAD that would be sold with the manga, but the way they cut it in the series is poor and confusing.

The characters: The manga of “Golden Kamuy”, in addition to an awesome plot, has also awesome characters… which the anime felt the need to simplify, cutting also part of the characterization in the process. I think they still managed to come across as likable and interesting, albeit much inferior to their manga counterparts and with their characterizations undermined or changed in some points.

The visual: It’s… not so great when not outright ugly. I don’t mind so much the horrible computer graphic (the bear they animated in the first episode became famous for it) but the fact they preferred to go with long shots instead than focusing on the characters’ expressions, using close up like the manga did, leaving all the job to transmit a character’s feelings to the voice actors… and as a final straw, they favoured still shot so much that even the manga felt more dynamic than the animation.

The musical background: It’s not bad but not memorable either. I still thinks it’s enjoyable, but Suehiro Kenichirō isn’t Kanno Yōko so don’t expect anything big.

Overall: This is a poor anime transposition of an amazing story that would have deserved a much better anime. Still, since it likely was meant to be solely a promotional anime that would end with this season and not go further, it serves its purpose. It introduces you to the story and gives an idea of how much of an awesome manga “Golden Kamuy” is, and it encourages you to read the manga to discover the many things they left out… and since the plot and the characters are still so good, despite its poor quality you might still enjoy it enough to like it. But really “Golden Kamuy” deserved better than this.

THE LONG VERSION… or what I loved and hated about this with, of course, TONS OF SPOILERS.

So… the manga of “Golden Kamuy” is a story I love and when I say I love, I mean I love it with the passion of a burning sun. It has great plot, great characters, great theme, great historical research. It’s awesome really, and I wouldn’t have gotten into it without the anime, as that was my first approach to the series… and honestly the animation was so bad I almost dropped it halfway and if it wasn’t for the story that really hooked me, I would have never gotten till the end nor would I have checked the manga.

So… the good part is this anime has the “Golden Kamuy” story which is so very cool you get it’s cool even despite the poor animation and the cuts… but that it doesn’t really enhance it, actually it makes a worst job than the manga at conveying it.

Now, I’ll spare you mentioning the mistakes in the subs. They happen even in better anime.

I’ll go quickly through a bunch of things that really affect the quality of the animation because visual is important for the enjoyment of a story but here there’s just too much to say if I stop for every single thing it’ll become endless.

1) In many episodes there’s an abuse of long shots instead than the close up that were used in the manga.

A long shot is a cheap choice as you can use the same shot despite more characters talking but it fails to deliver the feelings of the characters. If the scenery or the movements or the placement of the characters weren’t important to see it’s just a bad choice. It doesn’t help in the manga the characters are very expressive so losing this means to lose part of their charm.

2) The sceneries aren’t that great anyway.

I realize Studio I.G and Kyoani and Troyca and Ufotable and A-1 Pictures and some others might have spoiled me but since “Golden Kamuy” is a series also about discovering Hokkaido I think it was important to present us with beautiful scenery. But this is not the case. Except for some nice shots more often than not the background scenery is rushed in and not really detailed. It’s not ugly, far from it, it’s just not something that will make you think ‘how pretty!’ or ‘how detailed!’.

3) The colouring doesn’t really tell us much.

Noda has started recolouring all the pages of “Golden Kamuy”. Even in images which use few colours his colours are vibrant and beautiful. The same can’t be said in the anime. Never mentioning some scenes are just so dark it’s hard to see what’s going on.

4) The computer graphic is bad and, often, unnecessary.

The first bear barely moved. They could have just drawn it and get better result, no need to animate it in computer graphic if they weren’t up to the task. The bear doesn’t feel more ‘real’ it actually feel even more fake. The same goes for the second bear, which actually would move a little more… but moves so poorly and ineffectively they could have just drawn him. I mean in the ancient “Seton Dōbutsuki: Kuma no Ko Jacky” (シートン動物記　くまの子ジャッキー ‘Seton Animal Chronicles: Jacky the Bear Boy’) dated 1977 (!) they animated a bear without computer graphic and they had it move better than this one.

5) It’s animation so animate those draws!

One of the plus sides of turning a manga into animation is that you can finally see the art being animated, as in ‘move’. Not in this anime though, where they prefer to use still images same as in the manga when instead they could actually give us a cool animated scene. Tsurumi talks of how Sugimoto fought like a demon? It’s a great moment to animate Sugimoto fighting but no, let’s place a still image of Sugimoto fighting, an image that looks more static than the one Noda himself used in the manga. And… has someone seen the scene in which Retar slams around Tanigaki? Nothing is shown, just the camera panning on the background and then lines that should imply fast motion because this is way too fast and easy to drawn than a body slammed around. And I get they’re trying to be clever and show us things from Tanigaki’s point of view but don’t even have the courage to do it till the end by having everything turn dark when Tanigaki loses consciousness. This is not how you do a character’s point of view, this is how you try to skip work by not animating a difficult scene.

6) Movements are, here and there, weird if not outright wrong

In the first episode, when Sugimoto gets shot, his body falls backward. When he has reached a 30° inclination from the ground if not less, he stands straight… which is not humanly possible. When the bear supposedly hits Asirpa, she actually seems to jump backward more than being slammed away by the bear. Asirpa, when dropped by the pimp, falls in a more awkward position than the one shown in the manga. Instead than having Prisoner number 1’s tattoo being exposed due to his clothes getting tangled in a bark and pulled, the man, despite being strangled by a cord, drops trying to free his neck from the cord and spontaneously opens his clothes, when pushed on the ground by Ogata, Sugimoto falls too slowly, Ogata wouldn’t have managed to pull out the bolt from Sugimoto’s rifle moving like that and so on.

7) The direction is overall not smart

Noda in his manga takes full advantage of all the visual tricks he can use to drive home a point or a certain feeling or make a transition. The anime is not even trying to either develop the same tricks or use the ones that are proper of its medium.

So yeah, the animation is bad.

In this mess though and despite the cuts, they managed to salvage most of the plot and that one is good. The premise, the adventures in the story, the way the characters are introduced and how their arc connect, all this (which comes straight from the manga) is very, very good. Noda studied an awesome plot and, even though this is only the start of the story, it’s easy even with just these 12 episodes, to see it’s a well studied story. I love it and if you’ll give it a chance you’ll likely love it too.

Now instead we sadly go back to another problem of the anime.

Partly due to the aim of the anime at merely be promotional, partly due to the cuts, partly due to the quality or lack thereof of the animation, partly due to the lack of direction, partly due to how anime tend to be tamer and simpler so as to appease a wider audience, the characterization of the characters is affected.

Now, “Golden Kamuy” has an impressive cast of well studied characters. They aren’t just visually different, they’re well studied and complex human beings with their goals their bad and good sides and zero black and white morality. They’re all various shades of grey which ends up painting them as very human.

The anime ended up simplifying them and trying to fit them in the black and white categories.

This is often a downside of anime transposition, as almost all of them are forced to simplify the characters so as to cut away sides that can affect negatively a wide audience (it happens also in great anime like “Yūkoku no Moriarty” or “Joker Game” for example) but in “Golden Kamuy” it gets even more marked because characterization is changed at random.

In fact one of the big downside of the animation is… they don’t really seem to look at the source material when drawing characters’ expressions with the result the characters seem to react differently in the anime for no reason at all.

I mean, I understand how anime has to tone down violent or gory scenes or scenes in which the morality is questionable… but when you have Sugimoto waking up from a dream with tears in his eyes in the manga for a completely understandable reason (he dreamt of his best friend’s death) and with eyes completely dry in the anime (and the anime makes a close up on his eyes!) you wonder WHY there’s such change as crying for the loss of a friend is not something that’s better to censor.

So what can I say about the characters or, more specifically, the changes made to them?

Let’s start with a general approach first.

The character design is close enough, sure, they changed a bit the eyebrows (in the manga in many cases the characters has some lines, the anime turns them into solid blocks) but it’s no big and the only real sin they did was on placing what the fandom ended up defining a ‘dead animal’ on his chest instead than the hair he had, which were nowhere as much as the ones the anime gave him (hence how what they did ended up being nicknamed ‘a dead animal on Kiroranke’s chest’).

As the anime tends, for no clear reason, to change the characters’ expressions for how they were in the manga in more than one scene, this apparently minor detail ends up affecting our perception of the characters. It might not feel a HUGE change, because when all is said and done, they end up on doing the same things since manga and anime follow the same plot, but still it affects our perception of their character.

Some cuts, some choices in changing expression might also seem an attempt at making the characters more ‘black and white’ than they were in the original.

So I’ll go a little deeper in the comparison here.

Sugimoto Saichi in the manga was presented as more social right from the start. He talks with Gotō with nonchalance where in the anime he seems a lot more aloft, acting like he wanted to ignore Gotō and pays him minimal attention, a point also made by the opening that depicts him as wandering alone until he met Asirpa. The anime also tends often to give him an angry or serious expression when in the manga he has more natural or even funny expressions. The anime will also completely cut his whole backstory with Umeko (except for the part in which he says he’s doing it for the woman he loves, though since Umeko is cut it gets very hard to connect this sentence to her) or the parts in which Sugimoto implied he wanted to get rich. As his backstory with Umeko is Sugimoto’s reason for being in the gold hunt, the why he would take part to the gold hunt becomes confusing. Overall the anime tried to paint him as a more positive character than in the manga (for example they cut Hijikata commenting there’s violence lurking behind the surface of Sugimoto).

Asirpa is an extremely expressive character in the manga… but in the anime they tend to draw her as expressionless way more often than she is in the manga. The opening also depicted her as a smiling child BEFORE meeting Sugimoto which was untrue as, thanks to meeting Sugimoto she recovered her smile.

Ogata Hyakunosuke in the manga is presented as a capable man and an amazing sniper. In the anime you might still get he’s good at sniping even if the anime doesn’t really explain why, but they cut the explanation on why he rationally decided to escape or how Tamai praised his abilities and didn’t show his expression during most of the discussion with Tanigaki or how he tried to push for the formation of a sniper division so as to reduce casualties in war and his proposition was rejected. Ogata’s reasonings as he faces Tanigaki is also cut (how he warned Nikaidō about the dangers of the binoculars reflecting light or how he figured out Tanigaki’s plan to escape from behind). Then they cut the Barato arc, and therefore most of his role in it, leaving only the start of it and the ending, which ends up on being misleading because it might lead you to think it’s Ogata who single-handedly slaughtered all those people to get the skin and hand it to Hijikata. As a result Ogata ends up losing most of his characterization.

Shiraishi Yoshitake is depicted in the manga right from the start as a great escape king, the narration informing us of his previous stunts and of how prepared to escape he is. He also escapes from Sugimoto and Asirpa despite them being close by. The anime doesn’t bother telling Shiraishi’s past and have him escape when Sugimoto and Asirpa are far, so that he looks less competent. In the manga is Sugimoto who suggests they’ll use Shiraishi to enter in Abashiri, revealing his identity as tattooed prisoner to Kiroranke while in the anime Shiraishi volunteers to help Asirpa on his own, presenting himself as a convict, so it doesn’t really make sense when Kiro asks what his title means and how Shiraishi is scared when Sugimoto explains Shiraishi is a tattooed convict as Kiro should have figured that out from Shiraishi’s speech, but mostly it makes Shiraishi dumb because it makes clear he didn’t want to reveal it to Kiroranke yet he bragged about it in front of him.

Tsurumi Tokushirō is left mostly as he was, they cut how he wanted to turn his soldiers into elite guards but, overall, I can’t remember the changes affecting him that much.

Nikaidō Kōhei (and Yōhei) the twins are more or less like they were in the manga, although the manga drew them more scary so as to better deliver they were a threat to Sugimoto, and Kōhei’s pain as he cried for his brother was better delivered (in the anime he seems more angry than desperate).

Hijikata Toshizō in the manga doesn’t pick Shibukawa for an allegiance at random but because the latter owed him. In the anime this is cut so it seems Hijikata is going around picking up random criminals to help him. In the anime he also make more clear if Shiraishi doesn’t join him, he’ll kill him so he seems a more negative character and they cut the scene in which Hijikata compares Sugimoto to a bunch of Shinsensumi members which Sugimoto doesn’t recognize, so that Sugimoto’s comment Hijikata seems a weird old man feels out of place as Hijikata merely asked if he could hold Asirpa and which was her Japanese name.

Ushiyama Tatsuma remains more or less as he was in the manga.

Nagakura Shinpachi also seems to have been left unchanged, if anything there was maybe a little less emphasis on who he was but this shouldn’t really have affected Japanese viewers who were supposed to know anyway.

Tanigaki Genjirō in the manga is smart enough that, when he believes Asirpa can’t understand him, he gestures what he wants from her and, although he talks with her, he doesn’t expect a reply. In the anime he just verbally repeats it as if expecting although he can’t understand her, she would for sure understand him and continues to talk with her as such. In the manga he also looks scarier when he tells her to drop the bow, so as to prepare us for how, later he’ll use Asirpa as a human shield. Here he doesn’t. In the manga Tanigaki also didn’t get the chance to defend himself from Retar… but in the anime he first protects himself by placing the rifle in between them, which okay, is smart, then, instead than trying to escape he weakly tries to kick Retar away… which is dumb. They also cut Tanigaki referencing his father and, while not big, since part of Tanigaki’s backstory was about his conflict with his father, it’s a pity. The anime doesn’t show Tanigaki being surprised by Nihei’s knowledge and the part in which he tells Asirpa’s group to leave him there to die so that he can die in the wild. In the anime when Ogata and Nikaidō are at Huci’s home he seems to relax when he sees Osoma… when this wasn’t the case.

Nihei Tetsuzō in the manga there are references to how Nihei has daughters and Asirpa reminded him of them. In the anime this is cut and he seems rougher with Asirpa. In the manga she manages to make him drop her after she bites his ear, in the anime he tosses her on the ground. In the manga he grabs her as she tries to stand up and escape, in the anime he seems to press her face on the ground so as to suffocate in the snow her complains.

Ienaga Kano’s male, wrinkled body in the manga was clearly visible but the same doesn’t apply for the anime. They also cut a bit of his past in Abashiri or how she acquired the hotel and remodelled it.

Tsukishima Hajime gets his role cut, as they removed the discussion he had with Thomas. On the plus side though, while Noda wasn’t consistent with his chara design back in this part of the story as he was still working on defining it, the anime instead is consistent so you can easily recognize Tsukishima in each scene he appears and they even added him in some scenes in which he didn’t appear in the manga.

Kiroranke in the manga was fishing when Sugimoto’s group happened to meet him. In the anime he just appears when Shiraishi falls into the river and is captured by a fish so as to save Shiraishi, which makes his apparition look more suspicious. The fact that in the anime they cut all the casual talks Kiroranke had with the group before asking Sugimoto if he’s ‘immortal Sugimoto’ also makes Kiroranke seem more suspicious, especially with how long Kiroranke takes before saying he was not under Tsurumi. It doesn’t help they cut more casual talk and had Kiroranke jumps on relying that Hijikata was searching for Asirpa and that he knew what happened in Abashiri and how Nopperabō is Wilk. Plus they changed Kiroranke’s stance as in the manga he points out how hard it would be to talk with Nopperabō and tells Asirpa it would be impossible to ask him, while in the anime he claims this would be easier than tracking convicts, implying this was what he wanted her to do with his revelation. The scene in which Kiroranke lies and claims he doesn’t know why Wilk tried to take the gold as well as the one with Kiroranke’s family is cut. While cutting Kiroranke’s family cuts part of his character’s background the fact Kiro lied would turn relevant in future arcs. We also don’t see how strong of a fighter Kiro is.

Inkarmat is overall the same, if anything she felt a bit creepier in the manga when she said Asirpa’s eyes are the same as her father but that’s all.

So again, it’s worth to repeat that, if this series were to stop at being a promotional one, the cutting and oversimplifying wasn’t necessarily a big deal, because, although it still makes it a poor transposition, the series goal wasn’t to stand on its own but to encourage you to read the manga, so you could find all the info about the characters. In short this would be kind of like a summary, and a summary wouldn’t tell you everything, would it?

But it becomes a big deal if you want to judge this anime as a transposition, because if we view it as a transposition of the first chapters, it’s not faithful and poor, rushed in and not really planned beyond a general ‘how can we tell this story as fast as we can?’

On the plus side the voice actors do a great job to try to bring to life the charaters. When the animation fails to give the characters an expression because it chooses to go for long shots or similar things, it rests on them to pass the characters’ emotions to the audience and they really do a good job at it.

We reach the climax of ‘this is a promotional work, not an anime that stands on its own’ in the last episode.

Episode 12 starts by presenting us with 1 minute of animation that will be later used as the start of the first OAD which will be sold with volume 15 of the manga starting from September 17, 2018 (episode 12 was transmitted on June 25, 2018). In the manga this is the beginning of the Barato arc which loosely, either took place at the same time as the Ienaga arc or at the same time of the Inkarmat arc.

It’s however a parallel arc to one of the two with evident no point of connection with them.

Well, episode 12, after showing us that 1 minute, completely ignores the Barato arc and fully focus on the Inkarmat arc… to abruptly return to the Barato arc short before the end showing us another minute of it which is basically its conclusion, without really explaining anything of what that had happened in between the start and the ending, so, as mentioned before, it seems Ogata slaughtered all those people single-handedly. Those 2 minutes were completely unnecessary to the story, they could have just skipped them. They don’t serve as a connection with the Barato arc which is a relevant arc, yes, but completely disconnected from the events of the Inkarmat arc. They’re placed there solely to promote the Barato arc… which will be sold with the manga so they work as another big “buy the manga!” promotional message.

And really, there’s nothing wrong in a promotional series but this doesn’t mean it has to be done with such poor quality.

“Golden Kamuy” is an amazing story, they could have made a little more of an effort in animating it so that the quality of the anime would also work into promoting the series. Instead, if we were to judge from the quality of the anime alone, this story is saved only by the stunning plot.

Now, someone might have noticed I skipped commenting on the “Golden Dōga Gekijō”. What are they?

A set of 12 original net animation (ONA) which were released, one after the other, on NBCUniversal Youtube channel as the anime was ongoing and made available only for one week, after which they would be no longer accessible. Now the quality of the animation is beyond bad, but the idea for those less than 20 seconds bits is merely to be a bonus. They add nothing to the plot they just depict in as less frame as possible an omake or even a cover or a short moment which didn’t make in the animation.

They’re an extra, so it makes complete sense their animation quality is lower than the anime (which already has low animation quality) and they’re fun and kind of cute so I’ve no complains here.

And with them I’ll wrap this long commentary up to remark that IT’S REALLY A SHAME how “Golden Kamuy” wasn’t animated better and that I definitely recommend you to read the manga instead than watch the anime but, if you really want a preview or a quick recap, a sample of some sort to see if you can get interested into the story before tackling a manga that’s likely going to be more than 31 volumes long, well, yeah, the anime will work just fine as an introduction.

Despite everything I complained about it’s still enjoyable and covers enough of the story to give you an idea of what you should expect, so if you really want a general idea of the story before tackling it, well, the 1st series of the anime is what will be perfect for you. Just remember that the manga IS SO MUCH BETTER IT’S IMPRESSIVE! So really, READ THE MANGA!

And now let's end this with an AMV about this series I recommend watching: 命に嫌われている。 [Inochi ni kirawa rete iru "Hated by life itself"]

youtube

#Golden Kamuy #Geno Studio #Adventure #Historical #Japanese Style Western #Anime television series #Seinen #Not recommended #2018

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2centsoframblings · 2 years

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Two cents of ramblings on “Yūkoku no Moriarty” (‘Moriarty The Patriot’) (Anime) - Season 1...

...and why I STRONGLY recommend it.

GENERAL DATA

Title: Yūkoku no Moriarty (憂国のモリアーティ “Moriarty The Patriot”)

Media: Anime television series

Adaptation of: Yūkoku no Moriarty (憂国のモリアーティ “Moriarty The Patriot”) shōnen manga by Takeuchi Ryōsuke, illustrated by Miyoshi Hikaru.

Genre: Crime, Mystery

Directed by: Nomura Kazuya

Written by: Zappa Gō

Studio: Production I.G

Original run: October 11, 2020 December 20, 2020

Episodes: 11

WARNINGS: There's murder, drug abuse, mistreatment of minors, discrimination, implication of sexual abuse of minors.

The plot in short: The story is a very loose retelling of “Sherlock Holmes” by Conan Doyle, however this time the main protagonist is professor William J. Moriarty, who’s now represented as a man committing crimes in an attempt to fight the corruption of the English nobles so as to create a better world.

HOW DID I STUMBLE INTO IT

The title got me curious and since Studio I.G usually makes very good series I decided to try it out.

THINGS YOU MIGHT WHAT TO KNOW BEFORE TACKLING THIS

I’ll reference the manga version on which this anime is based, the manga “Fushiji Fushiji” (ふしぎふしぎ ‘Wonder wonder’) by Yamazaki Hiroshi, the manga “Death Note” by Ōba Tsugumi and illustrated by Obata Takeshi, the anime “Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch” (コードギアス反逆のルルーシュ ‘Code Geass: Lelouch of the rebellion’). Oh and the movie “The silence of the lambs”.

MY TWO CENTS ON IT

THE SHORT VERSION… or what I can tell you about this while trying to keep spoilers at the very bare minimum.

Opening & ending: The series uses as opening “DYING WISH” by Tasuku Hatanaka, and, as ending theme, “ALPHA” by STEREO DIVE FOUNDATION. I quite liked both song and I love, love, love, both the opening and the ending. They’re both awesomely drawn and well matching with the songs, the opening is filled with symbolism and foreshadowing which makes it pretty intriguing. The ending, if possible, is drawn even better, even though it’s mostly a panning of still images and it too drives forward an interesting message.

The plot: This first season loosely covers the first 4 volumes of the manga (and a chapter from vol 5). Loosely because they actually skipped 3 arcs and added one. Each arc is a case the Moriarty brothers take, but the structure of its presentation might differ from case to case. This season works mostly an introduction to the characters and the story but we also see an evolution in the situation as the characters start to interact and the Moriarty brothers’ plan begins to unfold. Personally I enjoyed the series both for the overarching plot that it starts and for the episodic plots that it contains.

The characters: As this season covers only a small part of the manga we get introduced only to a part of the full cast and since not all the arcs of the manga are covered Fred and Moran are less developed than their manga counterparts, the anime focusing more on the Moriarty brothers as well as on Holmes and Watson. Still, the characters come out as interesting and likeable and there’s a care in depicting the minor characters involved in the various stories, even though they often get to end up being simplified a bit, often either to tame down the story or due to time constraints.

The visual: Personally I think the anime did a good work of reproducing Miyoshi Hikaru’s work. The character design is faithful enough to the one of the manga and there’s this amazing cure in the background which I really love. Here and there however I feel the quality is a little less than good though it will probably get fixed in the dvd release. There are some interesting stylistic choices too so it’s still very pleasurable to watch.

The BGM: Oh, no doubt I love it. I truly enjoyed Tachibana Asami’s work on this series, the music well underline the mood, stays with you and it’s pleasurable to hear.

Overall: It’s a good, well done and intriguing first season. I would personally wish it had been longer, so as not to cut arcs and take more time exploring the characters but nowadays seasons are mostly short so I guess they couldn’t do things differently. It’s still a good work and a good transposition, even though if you want to know more about the characters I recommend you to read the manga.

THE LONG VERSION… or what I loved and hated about this with, of course, TONS OF SPOILERS.

Let me dig a moment into the opening and the endings as I think they really did a good job here. The opening really get you in the mood of the series and gifts you with little gems of foreshadowing and symbolism.

It starts with the sun disappearing so we find ourselves in the dark side of the day and of London. Then it well introduces the Moriarty brothers and their helpers (Fred and Moran) and then send them walking for the night streets of London.

The scene is interrupted by the nobles entertaining themselves with a masked ball… uncaring of how a lily (usually used as symbol of purity and innocence) lays in a pool of blood. The only one who pays it any mind and picks it up is William Moriarty, which basically foreshadows the whole plot of the story, the nobility is uncaring of other people’s suffering while he wants to help. As the lily seems to redden further in blood we basically get a flashback of a poor girl selling lilies having her flowers tossed on the ground a noble deliberately stepping on them with cruelty while she’s desperate and then disappears in red petals. The lily in William’s hand, now completely red, burns.

I mean, this whole scene isn’t just beautifully drawn and takes care to match with the music in both melody and lyrics but it’s of an awesome symbolism for the series down to how London will burn in the following season.

We’re treated with some more symbolism, fruits which quickly grow rotten, a poor street and a cemetery, a statue of the angel of death then, in a maze of thin threads, Sherlock appears and this too symbolizes how he’ll have to untangle the skein of the Moriarty case. Sherlock runs with Watson and the next we know is he and William are pointing their respective guns at each other head, foreshadowing another scene in the next season.

Then a bird flies above them (birds, I’m not sure if they’re crows or ravens, are used to symbolizes the Moriarty brothers) and, superimposed to it, we see hands being joined and then the other 2 Moriarty brothers and William and Fred, so as to symbolize how they’ll join forces with William.

We get a flashback of the Moriarty house burning down and then of William’s eyes. To better tie him to the bird, his eyes are then covered by bird’s wings and we see 3 birds (symbolizing the Moriarty brothers) fly away. The song’s pace get fast and we’re showing Fred and Moran fighting, Albert smiling (as he basically fights from behind the scenes, using his own power to aid his brother’s plan) and then Louis fighting as well.

William then, in a scene that reminds me a lot of the opening of “Zankyō no Terror” let himself be fall from what we’ll discover is the big bang tower, watching the city as it burns, and foreshadowing how he plans to end his plan. As if this foreshadowing isn’t enough, the scene switches again, William joins his companions in a room and points a gun at his own head. All this is beautiful animation, smooth transitions and intriguing storytelling that well fit with the music and the lyrics of the song which I recommend to read as you enjoy it. And I love it.

And what to say of the ending?

It starts depicting a simple episode of the Moriarty brothers’ childhood. They’re just having fun painting some walls with beautiful scenery (which is symbolism for how they are hoping in real life that, with their actions, they can paint a beautiful world).

I love how they did the colouring, it reminds me of watercolours, I liked how they had bright colours all over the characters, how the clear colouring of the scenery makes it look like as if everything is filled with light. Although it’s made by still images on which the camera pans, it has its own dynamism, the characters in motion and expressive. It reminds me of the manga “Fushiji Fushiji” (ふしぎふしぎ ‘Wonder wonder’) by Yamazaki Hiroshi whose message was just to discover the wonderful beauty of the ordinary all around you.

There’s an interesting contrast between the lyrics and this calm and happy moment, well harmonized by the music that still seems happy and dynamic but it has a purpose.

In fact the hopefulness and the wonder are kind of shattered when, at the end, we have a really clever transition.

The image moves from the brothers looking at the painting they made in front of them, to the beautiful images painted behind them, as if to hint those images, those happy moments will become their past, something they’ll leave behind, and then the image quickly shift and we see the three brothers, now adults, under the rain and among ruins (are those the ruins of the place they painted?). Albert has a bittersweet expression, the corner of his lips are turned up but the rain makes it look as if he’s crying,

Louis keeps his face down, in the shadows and is not smiling,

William is smiling but it’s a smile that doesn’t reach his eyes, which are on the ground, a forced smile.

The rain soaks them like tears, in a way it washes away the memory of the colours that covered them because, despite their beautiful hopes and dreams, what they had to do was dark and painful and definitely not nice, the sad contrast between idealism and realty.

The songs end showing the Moriarty coat of arms on the ground, in a giant puddle (or outright under water) the words ‘Je crois en moi’ (“I believe in myself”) clearly visible as the song ends with “There is no turning back” which fits so well with how the Moriarty brothers can’t return to that time of their childhood… how they can only advance until the end.

So okay, said this let’s move on the story.

As I said the anime starts with an original only episode. Why this choice when they instead cut manga arcs? Why not to animate another manga arc instead than create a new one that’s loosely based on “The hunting of the Baskervilles”? Why not to just animate “The hunting of the Baskervilles” instead? Why did we ended up having “The earl’s crime” instead?

My guess is that the anime was very invested in making sure we would know we’ve to root for the Moriarty brothers, but also that we were aware that, although they want to create a new world, they’re not Yagami Light from “Death Note” but are closer to Lelouch Lamperouge from “Code Geass”.

So what they do?

They first remember us who was Professor Moriarty, the Lord of Crime in Conan Doyle’s tales by starting the story showing us a kid reading “Sherlock Holmes – The final problem” book and, as his father gives the book a look, his gaze falls on a photo of Professor Moriarty (and the image of Moriarty is a copy of the illustration by Sidney Paget which accompanied the original publication of “The Final Problem”) and then we hear…

Narrator: This is the tale of the man who confounded even the great detective Sherlock Holmes… Professor Moriarty, the Lord of Crime.

…and, as we hear so the image switches from the picture of the book to an image of William Moriarty as we’ll see him in the series, all busy writing mathematic expressions on a blackboard, but then everything seems to take fire as he keeps on writing and then everything fades to black.

From this start we might even think the story was going to represent Moriarty as we know him from the books… an evil mastermind… though the story would start from his past, as the Moriarty we see writing on the blackboard is clearly younger.

And this is a device to raise interest. Then the opening starts.

I’ve discussed about how awesome the opening is above, but when you first see it, you might not catch up all the symbolism or only part of it and therefore fail to see the full picture and this too is a good idea.

Then the episode starts and in a nightmarish red atmosphere (as every image is painted with a red filter) someone chases a poor kid, captures him and makes clear he’s going to make something terrible to him.

We don’t clearly see who’s doing this so we might be tricked into thinking it’s Moriarty himself… but then it turns out the guy implied to be a young Moriarty is reading on the newspaper about the kidnapping and this can divide the audience in 2 groups, those who realizes by the glimpses we saw of the abuser he can’t be Moriarty and those who didn’t.

And here the anime does another clever thing with this bit of dialogue.

Louis: It’s hard to believe a human being could do such a thing. William: (smiling) It’s human to think that this could not be the work of a man.

The fact William can smile in such a way for such topic feels suspicious, the anime plays with our pre-existing ideas of how professor Moriarty is evil. Is he bragging when he talks with Louis? Or is he genuinely analyzing the case? Or is he planning to offer his services to the child murderer?

And then, as he studies the case we get this line…

William: People’s fancies do not get taken by that which is out of view. They want what they see.

…and doesn’t all this starts to look like a reference to “The silence of the lambs”?

Clarice Starling: The thing is that Lecter said everything we need to catch him is in these pages. Ardelia Mapp: Dr Lecter said a lot of things. Clarice Starling: He's here, Ardelia. Ardelia Mapp: Is this Lecter's handwriting? "Clarice, doesn't this random scattering of sites seem desperately random - like the elaborations of a bad liar? Ta, Hannibal Lecter." Clarice Starling: "Desperately random." What does he mean? Ardelia Mapp: Not random at all, maybe. Like there's some pattern here...? Clarice Starling: But there is no pattern or the computers would've nailed it. They're even found in random order. Ardelia Mapp: Random because of the one girl. The one he weighted down. Clarice Starling: Oh, Fredrica Bimmel, from... Belvedere, Ohio. First girl taken, third body found. Why? Ardelia Mapp: 'Cause she didn't drift. He weighted her down. Clarice Starling: What did Lecter say about..."First principles"? Ardelia Mapp: Simplicity... Clarice Starling: What does this guy do, he "covets". How do we first start to covet? Ardelia Mapp: "We covet what we see -" Clarice Starling: " - every day." Ardelia Mapp: Hot damn, Clarice. Clarice Starling: He knew her.

Now, child murder is one of those crimes that are considered morally terrible by a lot of people included criminals. If you add to this a comparison between the criminal and the culprit of “The Silence of the Lambs” you create in people’s mind the image of a monster.

And, as William keep on talking, it’s clear he’s not the culprit, but the fact he claims…

William: This may be a case in which we become involved.

…might still make people to wonder on how he would get involved.

Professor Moriarty wasn’t a detective, he was a crime consultant, a lord of crime, so what is he up to?

And there’s also something else that’s incredibly smart, the whole mention of how a victim was an orphan with William discussing the lack of relation between noble men and orphans.

Louis: Still, one of the victims… …appears to have been an orphan who slept on the streets. What of him? William: Ah, yes. Noblemen and orphans—there is nothing quite so far removed as the two worlds in which they live. Assuming that’s the case, it could be the clue that leads us to our culprit.

And at this point the dynamic between the two starts to resemble the one people would expect between Holmes and Watson but there’s more in this line that just that, the foreshadowing William knows personally the distance between nobles and orphans.

And then Albert appears and goes visiting the father of one of the victims, Eden, but who pays attention to the discussion might notice that he’s an earl… and the episode’s title was “The Earl's Crime” so is he the culprit?

Meanwhile as we are introduced to the poor father, we start to pity him. That man is destroyed from pain for his loss… and he’s a nice, humble man, a loving father who lost a beloved child. We sympathize with him, we want justice for him.

Then William approaches a boy… but in case we still have doubt it’s clear he’s merely doing so to investigate on the case… and then William and Louis are joined by Albert and their goal is made clear, provide the poor father with a chance of vengeance.

So, now we know for sure William, Louis and Albert aren’t involved in the child murders and are hunting the culprit… and we all side with them because what he did was terrible… but just in case we need an extra push let’s have Earl of Argleton, aka the culprit, be introduced… and at the same time William confirm what we assumed, that he is William James MORIARTY.

Then William, engaging conversation with the Earl, acting as if he were Sherlock Holmes (to the point even the Earl observes he seems a detective) points out from where the various objects the Earl is wearing come. The Earl is impressed by his deductions but for us, viewers, the scene is a further proof the Earl is guilty because all those objects come from the shops from which worked the murdered kids. And, as William progresses, even the Earl realizes that’s the point he’s trying to make.

And then we’ve William say this.

William: You prefer the meat of young hares, yes? Tender, not yet fully developed, and so fresh that it still drips with blood, which you take your time to savour, nice and slow.

And, as he says so, we see the shapes of young boys running, and they seem naked, and they’re smiling and it’s clear that’s how the earl sees them… Previously we were merely said the killer ‘target young boys for their amusement, and then, after they’re done, slaughter them’.

You might even think the amusement was in the hunt… but now it has been made clear the Earl lusts for those young boys. And if killing a child is considered one of the worst crimes, it pales to sexually abuse a child. The series as now successfully painted the Earl as the most disgusting monster ever.

So why is this so very important?

Because you ends up agreeing with William that this person deserves to be killed, that the world would be better without him. And this means that in the viewers’ eyes the figure of Moriarty despite being called ‘crime lord’ and ‘crime consultant’ will be viewed as someone who bring justice, not something like Yagami Light who forced his own justice to the world, but something we all agreed upon is justice.

The Earl is a monster. He deserves to die.

This episode also becomes a chance to let us glimpse Lois in action. In the manga he would start to be more active much later, ironically exactly in “The hunting of the Baskervilles” while the anime decided to put him immediately at work. While this choice sacrifices part of the character arc of both Louis and William (there was a reason why Louis wasn’t as active at the start), since “The hunting of the Baskervilles” was cut, it made sense to put it here.

There’s also the beautiful artistic choice to show William arriving driving a coach as the scene is completely covered by fog with the sounds somewhat muffled.

It feels creepy, like the death itself is getting on that place. And then it turns out the tables are turned, the coach was likely Earl of Argleton’s one and this time it was his turn to be kidnapped, taken there and tied over as he had done countless times with the boys… and it’s William, instead than him, the one who gets inside the place, his red eyes shining as he gets inside.

And really, the colouring is so brilliant here because it’s mostly greyish brown and white but then there are some colours that shine and are clearly visible.

William’s eyes and tie which are red… his blond hair… Eden’s red tie and his empty blue eyes… the Earl’s fear filled blue eyes…

And then there’s a flashback in which William is shown talking with Eden.

Eden: Are you certain you can grant my wish… …Sir William? William: Mr Eden, what you are proposing to do Is unfortunately categorized by this twisted world as a crime. Knowing this, does your resolve remain unchanged?

We’ve a flashback in a flashback, with Eden thinking at what happened to his poor son before he nods.

William: Very well. Then I, crime consultant William James Moriarty, accept your request.

And with this we go back to the present and to Eden pulling out a pair of scissors. It’s clear what he wants to do and William urges him to be quick about it. We see nothing of the gruesome scene that happened after, just darkness and a scream, but we’ve gotten to a point where few of us would deny a poor father the chance to avenge his own son abused and murdered by such a monster.

Light returns as William lights a match and this too symbolizes how William’s actions bring light in a world filled with darkness. Birds fly away and raven’s feather flutter around him so that we now will get the symbolism in the opening.

Eden joins him and William kindly offers him his tissue so he can clean up before he personally takes care to close the door of the place in which Earl of Argleton was killed. We don’t see the Earl, just some blood but it’s clear it should have been a gruesome mess and this too is clever.

Some anime like to show things up but merely implying is much more powerful because you can actually imagine a scenario as bad as you prefer.

The episode ends showing Eden being back to normal. Although this is kind of a dangerous message to give out (vengeance by murder bringing you peace, I mean) it makes sense.

The ending for this episode is just a black screen on which credits runs but it makes sense to postpone seeing the images in the ending AFTER this episode, when we’ve seen “The scarlet eyes” and got to know the young versions of the Moriarty brothers.

After the ending the anime leaves a final bit explaining how the Moriarty brothers went through the trouble of erasing everything so that the death of the Earl and his coachman don’t even make it to the news, so that they successfully created the perfect crime.

With this the episode ends and now the series has successfully created a mind setting in which we know William helps people in committing terrible crimes… but in a way we see him as Robin Hood, as if those crimes were an act of justice because those people were terrible but due to social differences and privileges they were also untouchable and this was the only way to punish them.

William is not Yagami Light, who passed judgement on people because he felt better than them, he really feels a lot more like someone who brings justice were none can be obtained but with terrible methods. Like Lelouch Lamperouge, he took what was helpless and gave him power so that they could obtain justice.

Long story short, this episode exist to make as easy as possible to see William as a good guy despite committing crimes and “The scarlet eyes” couldn’t quite drive to the same result.

It’s not solely just because the anime tamed it down, so that the nobles involved seem less abusive than in the manga, but because that’s what those nobles are. In “The earl’s crime” we have a paedophile murderer, so it’s easy to say he deserved a horrible death but in “The scarlet eyes” we just have abusive people.

They’re bad, mind you, but this could still lead to the discussion ‘did they deserve to be murdered like that though?’ They were Albert’s real family after all. They were horrible but they hadn’t killed anyone yet. And the decision to murder them is taken by three children who all benefit from their death. And what about young William preaching to kill all the bad nobles to a group of children?

Mind you, I’m not saying that the “The scarlet eyes” is bad, in truth it’s a lot more interesting than “The earl’s crime” but it moves on a huge grey area… which is great if you want to think things through but if you’re handling a short anime and need your viewers to immediately stick with the main character… well, it doesn’t work so well.

So yeah, “The earl’s crime” might not be quite as good but it works well as first episode, and it serves well to make viewers understand to what William is referring when he gives his speech about wanting to fight the whole country.

William: Our lives should have the same value… Everyone should have an equal right to happiness… But in this country, that doesn’t exist. This class system places a curse upon people. Because of it, people’s hearts are tainted and twisted, giving rise to devils. In which case, the opposite is also true. Once the devils are cast out, people’s hearts become clear again, and the curse is lifted. The country will assuredly be beautiful.

And if you hear all this and think to episode 1, you see how the unfairness of a class system allowed a man to abuse and murder young poor boys and how murdering him fixed everything. It’s an easy to understand, immediate message and one that can easily be shared by the viewers.

So yeah, it works. It’s not great and morally elaborate like the other episodes but that’s exactly its purpose. To be as straightforward as possible to drive home a concept.

So, yeah, I think they did a very clever thing with episode 1… though, on the opposite side, I hate how, due to the limited episode number, its existence meant to further cutting chapters from being transposed. And it’s not just that chapters were cut… even those that were transposed were often changed so as to make them short and simpler.

Mind you, the episodes still remains powerful and well done but they’re actually a lot less strong than the original.

For example in “A rare breed” which is the transposition of “The one grapefruit pie” all William does is to cause the viscount’s death because he let a child die. In the manga he lowered the rents the townspeople had to pay to live on his newly acquired property, stole the control of the town from an evil baron (in the anime they decided to turn Baron Dublin into Viscount of Belfor), forced him to regret denying to the parents of the sick child a glass of water by causing him to feel sick and desperately needing water, write down a formal apology to the child as well as a testament that, once he were to die, his tenant farmers would inherit his lands and then caused the baron’s death.

It’s a much bigger accomplishment for a more complicate plot which is much more tied to the state of society than the one of the anime, who merely focus on a noble’s wrongdoing toward a poor family… but “A rare breed” is still a very good episode, even if simpler than what gave it inspiration.

Another downside of the cuts is that, as I mentioned before, the characters gets less fleshed out than in the manga, which is something that strikes hard for the minor characters. Moneypenny gets cut off and the same goes for Von Herder and Mycroft Holmes (although they’ll manage to recover the two of them for season 2), while Fred and Moran will get a lot less characterization.

Major characters will also be affected by the cuts, although they won’t have it as bad as the minors.

Still…

William James Moriarty, Albert James Moriarty, Louis James Moriarty, Fred Porlock, Sebastian Moran, Sherlock Holmes, John H. Watson, Miss Hudson, George Lestrade, I loved them all. They might be not as fleshed out as in the manga but they’re still interesting and very likable, especially William and Sherlock. I love those two guys they’re perfect.

Now… for who’s not familiar with “Sherlock Holmes” and doesn’t get why this story involves the ‘Moriarty brothers’ instead than just professor Moriarty, that is because Takeuchi Ryōsuke, the manga author, found an interesting way to solve the contradictory information about Professor Moriarty. Professor Moriarty has no given name in the first story in which he appeared (“The Final Problem”) but gives him a brother, Colonel James Moriarty. However, according to another story (“The Adventure of the Empty House”) it’s said that is professor Moriarty who’s named James and his brother is not a Colonel but a station master. So Takeuchi Ryōsuke decided to interpret all this as Moriarty having two brothers, one of which is a Colonel (Albert) and giving to the three siblings the middle name of ‘James’ so that when they play the role of Lord of crime the three of them can say they are ‘James Moriarty’, which is quite clever if you ask me.

And then, because repetita iuvant, the visual is so very great, from the art used for the background to the way the scenes are framed. Really I love this.

So, to sum it up, the first season of this series is a very good first season and actually I hope the fact that it differs slightly from the manga will also work to persuade you to read the manga because boys, the manga is awesome.

And now let's end this with an AMV about this series I recommend watching: Confrontation

youtube

#Moriarty the Patriot #Yuukoku no Moriarty #Production I.G #Crime #Mystery #Anime television series #Shounen #Strongly recommended #2020

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2centsoframblings · 2 years

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Two cents of ramblings on: “Mahō Shōjo Ikusei Keikaku” (‘Magical Girl Raising Project’) (Anime)

...and why I don’t recommend it (even though it’s not bad).

GENERAL DATA

Title: Mahō Shōjo Ikusei Keikaku (魔法少女育成計画 “Magical Girl Raising Project”)

Media: Anime television series

Adaptation of: Mahō Shōjo Ikusei Keikaku (魔法少女育成計画 “Magical Girl Raising Project”) (2012) seinen Light novel by Asari Endō, illustrated by Maruino and Mahō Shōjo Ikusei Keikaku: Episodes (魔法少女育成計画: Episodes “Magical Girl Raising Project: Episodes”) (2013) by the same authors.

Genre: Dark fantasy, Magical girl, Survival action

Directed by: Hashimoto Hiroyuki

Written by: Yoshioka Takao

Studio: Lerche

Original run: October 1, 2016 – December 17, 2016

Episodes: 12

WARNINGS: There’s murder, some of it a bit goreyish even though they don’t really show much. There are also child abuse and child molestation as well as bullying, violence and manipulation.

The plot in short: Himekawa Koyuki, who really loves Magical Girls, enjoys playing to the RPG ‘Magical Girl Raising Project’, an app for cell phones. Only ‘Magical Girl Raising Project’ isn’t just a game and, after a while, she’s contacted by the game mascot character, Fav, that tells her she’s been chosen to become a REAL Magical Girl. Koyuki starts her life as a Magical Girl trying to help as much people as she can and also gets to know the other Magical Girls of the city. When they learn a 16th Magical Girl will join them though, Fav announces them there are too many Magical Girl and they’re going to half them. At first the elimination process seems simple and painless but then it turns out the eliminated girls will die as Magical Girls are pinned one against the other in some sort of Battle Royal in which only one is meant to survive.

HOW DID I STUMBLE INTO IT

I’ve heard it being mentioned by @silvermoon424, got curious and decided to try it out.

THINGS YOU MIGHT WHAT TO KNOW BEFORE TACKLING THIS

I’ll reference “Mahō Shōjo Madoka Magica” anime (2011) and ”Mahō Shōjo Site” manga (2013–2019) and anime (2017-2018) as terms of comparison. Also mentions of “Ō-sama Game” cell phone novel (2009-2015) (BTW, if you’re interested there are also a manga, an anime and a movie transposition of it).

MY TWO CENTS ON IT

THE SHORT VERSION… or what I can tell you about this while trying to keep spoilers at the very bare minimum.

Opening & ending: The opening is kind of spoilerish, as some images and the lyrics hint of what it will happen. The opening song, “Sakebe” (叫べ ‘Shout’) by Numakura Manami, is nice but the matching between the song and the images is nothing exceptional, more of a following of characters than anything else so as to help us remember them all (they’re 17). To make up for the opening being spoilerish, the ending is soothing and misleadingly optimistic. Again it’s pretty and, despite it too being used to show the Magical Girls one after the other I like the idea moving it more, with Snow White holding a tiny sprout that keeps on growing and the Magical Girls apparently sleeping peacefully. The ending song “Dreamcatcher” by Nano is completely in English and also nice.

The plot: The plot is… “Mahō Shōjo Madoka Magica” meets “Ō-sama Game” but there’s no virus involved, the Magical Girls don’t belong all to the same class but are picked up at random and here we don’t need the girls to turn into Witches/Monster because half of them are conveniently jerks (when not outright criminals) willing to murder the other girls to survive. Also there’s not time travel involved. So, although it introduces new elements, differently from “Mahō Shōjo Madoka Magica” it doesn’t shine for its originality. I don’t mean it’s something you can’t enjoy, I was definitely hooked and the series manages to pull some surprise moves… but the ending feels a lot less satisfactory than “Mahō Shōjo Madoka Magica” where there’s a strong message of hope. On the other side is not purely a pain feast like “Mahō Shōjo Site” and its plot is more solid. Also, it can be that in the adaptation process from Light Novel to Anime things were transposed in a rushing manner, though as I’m not familiar with the original novel I can’t say for sure.

The Magical Girls: They’re 16… which for 12 episodes is waaay too much. For comparison “Mahō Shōjo Madoka Magica” has 5 for the same number of episodes which gives it the time to focus on them as characters. In this series too many of them aren’t developed at all, their back story felt just too rushed so that it’s hard to emotionally connect with them all, never mentioning that some seem jerks for no reason at all, their back story merely an addendum not an explanation which add something to the character to the point we could just skip it. Again this can be a problem of adapting the visual novel as the anime simplified a lot the Magical Girls stories. It doesn’t mean all the Magical Girls aren’t developed or unlikable, some are better developed and some are pretty likable but they’re a minority on 16 characters.

The side characters: They’re basically nonexistent, more mob characters than anything else because we simply have too much main chara to give them a chance to be developed.

The Mascot Character: Fav is… Kyubey… only less intriguing character wise.

The visual: The character design is pretty, the chat-room scenes in which all the characters appear in chibi form are very cute...

...the backgrounds are nicely done with some scenery I really loved...

...the Magical Girls costumes have some interesting ideas behind them… though some seem to be done for male viewing pleasure.

The BGM: It’s definitely not bad. Some BGM kind of reminds me of a video game musical background which is kind of fitting as the series is tied to a game of the same name, others are pretty nice if not memorable and you might enjoy hearing them more than once. Overall Iga Takurō did a nice work.

Overall: It can hook you and it can feel enjoyable but… it’s nothing revolutionary, to me it felt inferior to “Mahō Shōjo Madoka Magica”, even if superior to “Mahō Shōjo Site”. I get the feeling though, if they had more episodes to develop the characters, it could have been better.

THE LONG VERSION… or what I loved and hated about this in random order with, of course, TONS OF SPOILERS.

One of the thing that didn’t quite impress me positively is how much it resembles “Mahō Shōjo Madoka Magica” yet it fails to live up to its same standard.

“Mahō Shōjo Madoka Magica” was surprising, you get into it thinking it’s going to be cute, and, even if the starting scene is Walpurgisnacht, it all seems a bad dream Madoka had and Walpurgisnacht wasn’t at its worst yet so you can think Madoka will have a premonition dream and that she’ll ultimately save the day… when what we were seeing was instead one of Homura’s previous loops.

“Mahō Shōjo Ikusei Keikaku” also start with a tragedy of the past, the one that drove Cranberry to become the person it is…

...and you can even mistake it for foreshadowing of the future… but there’s no clever scene that make it seems as if it was a dream and it’s clear even if the girl involved kill the monster, the slaughtered girls won’t come back to life. Plus, if you re-watch the scene you can very well realize it’s Cranberry and not Snow Hime the one involved and since she grins this foreshadows she’s evil and aware of the situation the Magical Girls will end up into.

Then in “Mahō Shōjo Ikusei Keikaku” we continue with the girls being turned into Magical Girls by a cute Mascot Character who doesn’t tell them he plans to set them one against the other until only one will survive. However between Fav and Kyubey, Fav is a random jerk without backstory while Kyubey is a self serving alien with a completely different mindset, set of values and inability to feel emotions EXACTLY BECAUSE HE’S AN ALIEN. Kyubey is a monster, but he’s not one because he’s a jerk, just because he’s incapable to realize what he does is terrible, and this is due to him being an alien unable to see things in a human perspective. And what makes him even more interesting is how Kyubey doesn’t lie, he just hides crucial details while Fav is a huge liar. Even when Kyubey wants to trigger Madoka’s transformation in a Magical Girl, that’s just because it would be useful. Fav goes against the instructions he had, even going so far as to file false reports because he enjoys seeing the girls murdering each other. Why does he? Because he’s a jerk, plain and simple, with no backstory nor explanation for why he wants to see the Magical Girls die. The only time he seems to have a reason beyond the evulz is when he sets up Swim Swim and Ripple because he wishes for neither to be his master.

However, truth to be told, the characterization of way too many characters is lacking, and if this is due to the adaptation into anime or the original material. Credits when it’s due the anime tried to give additional info about the characters by adapting also the “Episodes” tales but it’s often not enough to give a good feeling of who are the characters.

It’s noteworthy that the Magical Girls, more than for their everyday persona are known for their Magical Girl name. Even in the heroine’s case it’s easier to call and identify her as Snow Hime than as Koyuki.

So let’s look a bit more into the characters and how some of them are not characterized or characterized in a way that makes hard to connect with them.

Calamity Mary, who’s an evil version of Mami from “Mahō Shōjo Madoka Magica” (from her weapons of choice down to the fact she is a senior who taught to other Magical Girls) with the look of Takano Miyo from “Higurashi no naku koro ni” is just this, an evil version of Mami. Even her backstory doesn’t explain her or makes her interesting. As a normal person she was a 39-year old drunkard wife who abused her little daughter until her husband found out and dumper her. As a Magical Girl she helps criminals, keeps on drinking, bullies the new recruits. Basically it seems she was glad to become a Magical Girl only to get a chance to break them and all she seems to teach them is “Don’t cross Calamity Mary. Don’t cause troubles for me. And don’t tick me off” and she abuses them to drive her point. When she decides she’ll fight Ripple, she forces her to fight by shooting at innocent people. So yeah, she’s painted like a villain but beyond that? Who’s Calamity Mary/Yamamoto Naoko? Why did she started drinking? Why did she develop such a mentality? I’m not saying they should give an explanation so as to excuse her behavior because that’s inexcusable but they could have given us an origin story. Instead her sidestory merely tell us she was villainous also prior to turn a Magical Girl but, back then, she had no power.

Even if tamer than Calamity Mary, the Peaky Angels also are merely villains whose unique character trait is being identical twins in look and in character. Because being a twin is a character trait and identical twins also share personality. The twins are vain and have no hesitation in sacrificing people for themselves. Now yes, there’s plenty of people who would sacrifice someone in order to survive but there’s generally some hesitation at play because murdering someone is not something that comes so natural. The same doesn’t apply for the twins.

The same goes for Magicaloid 44 who’s selfish and greedy and has no qualms on allying with Calamity Mary or trying to kill Snow White… and when she kills Hardgore Alice instead she claims she felt nothing at all.

We move then to another villain, Ruler. They gave her a backstory that could be even good… but she’s not really consistent as a character and her backstory is messy as well. We see as a student she was the best one… but she is not happy to be praised by her classmates and believes everyone is an idiot. Why? Who knows. She’s then an office lady trying to propose an improvement plan but her boss only wants her to serve coffee and do copies. This time, when her boss refuses to listen her out, it makes sense she thinks he’s an idiot and we can even empathize with her because that’s unfair… but the story isn’t really focused on making her a victim, more on pointing out how fastidious is her character as she looks down on everyone. It’s as if it’s on her that lies the blame for having been dismissed in such way by her boss… and as she becomes a Magical Girl her traits worsen as it turns out not all as not only she looks down on everyone but wants to rule people. When she’s humiliated by Calamity Mary she choose weak willed people who would be her meat shields and whom she verbally abuses and she’s the one who comes up with a plan to steal all of Snow White’s candies so that she’ll die and again, she feels nothing at the through. So she’s a villain... though Tama and Swim Swim seem to disagree, Tama being positively impressed because, after forcing on her a set of rules, volunteered to explain them to her, while Swim Swim seems to think she would care for them when they were just an usable commodity.

We move to Swim Swim who… I’m not sure what’s Swim Swim problem. She’s actually 7 years old girl who, first, wanted to be a princess’ retainer (and therefore blindly and passively obeyed to Ruler) then Nemurin makes the mistake of telling her she could become a princess herself so she kills Ruler and takes her place. She remembers everything Ruler says and quotes it, modeling her behavior on her words, as if she didn’t have a mind of her own. However she is instead pretty clever as her plan to kill Ruler and her following plans as well as how she uses her powers in the fights are one of the most interesting parts of the anime if not, plot wise, the most interesting. So it really makes no sense someone capable to come up with such plans is this dull and emotionless kid who seems to have no personal ideas about how a ruler has to be and with no backstory whatsoever beyond wanting to be a princess can come up with such plans. Her blind obedience to Ruler’s word lead her to kill Tama after the latter just saved her life because Tama saw her human form. What’s the point of Swim Swim really? That children can be easily shaped by what they hear other people say because she blindly follows Ruler’s teaching and she murders Ruler because Nemurin told her she could become a princess? This doesn’t really explain Swim Swim’s ease in killing. If Nemurin hadn’t told her such words, Swim Swim would have just murdered Snow White by stealing all her candies as per Ruler order with no hesitation. Or the point of her being a child is merely that Cranberry will hesitate when realizing so and Ripple will feel bad for having killed her? Whatever.

Basically this group is a group of people who’re not normal, completely deranged killers. They kill with too much ease, without a second though and with the minimal push. Yes, their life is in danger but they aren’t torn over the idea of killing someone, they’re just ‘fine, let’s do it, where’s the problem?’

I know everyone is wondering why I’m not talking about Cranberry who also seems to be here solely for the evultz… but actually Cranberry was meant an emotional backstory that lead her to become a killer in a logical way… only it’s not really shown/explained beyond the fact she was the only Magical Girl to survive and so she grew a craving for fighting strong enemies to the point she’s actually the one who organized this game which goes against the rules of the World of Magic so she can kill strong opponents and Fav can have fun. Actually it seems Cranberry was originally meant to also have a not Magical Girl design but, ultimately, it was cut and so Cranberry solely exists as Cranberry.

Better fleshed out are instead the not evil characters albeit even here the work is still not great.

They however manage to come out as more likable and relatable.

We start with Nemurin, who’s the first to die. Nemurin is immediately likable and, since she has a minor role, she doesn’t need huge explanations on who she is, what really matter is she’s likable because, even though we, like Snow White, hardly know her, we feel bad when she dies.

Tama is the only person in Ruler’s group who’s not a natural born killer but actually a kind person. Her reaction to death is natural, she cries and is troubled, but she’s weak willed so she doesn’t dare to oppose to others. Her backstory explains nothing beyond confirming that she’s not smart and kind. She’s still likable and caring and I love how, despite being scared she attacks Cranberry to protect Swim Swim and nobody, not even the viewers at first realize that the small scratch she does to her will, due to Tama’s powers, kill Cranberry in a rather gruesome way so this surprise was very well delivered.

Sister Nana & Weiss Winterprison are, in real life a couple and I love how casual the story is with the fact they’re a lesbian couple. Nobody remarks on it, it’s presented as perfectly normal and they’re sweet and happy together and this is really good. However the story does something odd here as it pushes on Sister Nana the burden of trying to solve things pacifically, without killing anyone, while Snow White just torments herself on how Magical Girls shouldn’t be like this. In a way it makes sense, Sister Nana is older than Snow White so for Snow White to be traumatized and feel lost is more logical… but at the same time Sister Nana seems more naïve than her age would require. Also, her idea of Winterprison having to be her ideal prince by being stronger than her and protecting her kind of gets in the way of her supposedly philanthropic character as she basically tricks Winterprison into becoming a magical girl by making her play the game over and over and even giving her magical token which, she believes, will help her lover become a Magical Girl. It seems in the novel she was a lot less philanthropic and more obsessed with playing damsel in distress so her efforts to find a solution were more putting herself in danger so Winterprison could save her. The anime did good trying to suppress this part, even if it came out in the side story they animated as Sister Nana looks more likable if she’s just a well meaning person. On the other side the idea she hung herself over Winterprison’s death comes out as less strong since, although Winterprison died to protect her, in the anime she went there with good intentions and not merely to play damsel in distress. Winterprison… well, she’s a cool fighter but feels kind of similar to Swim Swim in the sense she seems to exist only for Sister Nana, accompanying her, protecting her and, fundamentally, doing what she wants even if she doesn’t trust other Magical Girls.

Top Speed is one of the most likable characters. They tried to flesh her out and one feels for her when she dies but the fact she was pregnant was so easy to guess despite the anime trying to hold this detail secret as long as possible that it feels weird Ripple didn’t figure it out. Still, I love Top Speed, her kind and motherly attitude toward other girls, how she tries to smooth out things, how she accepts Ripple despite her poor abilities at socializing, her slightly tomboyish behavior.

La Pucelle is… kind of a male version of Sayaka, with her knight theme and her ideals and how she protects Snow White, although her look kind of remind me of Altria Pendragon from “Fate/Grand Order” only her clothes are now more revealing. She’s also, same as Sayaka, forced to face how not all the Magical Girls hold her beliefs for noble fights and such when fighting Cranberry. Cranberry though, it’s not Kyoko but much more murderous and there’s no Homura to save La Pucelle so she dies. Now… there are plenty of things that are very likable about La Pucelle. What I’m not overly fond of is how La Pucelle is used to make a gender division. Magical Girls can only be… well, girls, there’s no space for Magical Boys so, in order for Sōta to become one, he has to turn into a female when he transforms. It’s something that could open up a lot of interesting discussions on how gender expectations are unfair (or could be presented as Sōta wanting to be female, identifying himself as female) but the anime doesn’t really explore it, probably also because there’s really no time for it. No one questions the fact that they could have Magical Boys as well, and often the story seems more focused on the ideal of being a Magical Girl than on what’s behind it. I still loved La Pucelle/Sōta too, they were a great friend to Snow Hime and their death is painful.

We move to Ripple who the opening takes pain to hint being relevant and connected to Koyuki… though we never will see it in the series (except a bit at the end) because this is something that’s meant to happen in future light novels in which the two will partner. Still this foreshadow Ripple will survive. Now… they tried giving a backstory to Ripple, but her backstory is so rushed for a character who’s actually pretty relevant that it feels more like they were going for the Tsundere type and weren’t really interested in what made her as such (and her Magical Girl uniform seems more drawn for male viewers benefits than anything else). Although Ripple isn’t bad as a character, in terms of likability she’s completely overshadowed by Top Speed, exactly because they overdo the Tsundere girl type as if this was all there is to her.

Snow White is, supposedly, the main character. She’s very likable and I love how hard she tries to help common people but, despite being the main character she’s nowhere as fleshed out as Madoka (she has a family and friends but we only catch a glimpse of them) and, what’s more, ultimately she doesn’t manage to save a single Magical Girl. It’s not that she doesn’t save anyone, as Calamity Mary is wrecking havoc on the city in order to fight Ripple, it’s Snow White who tries to help the common people, which is great… but her will to help the common people kind of clashes with how she does nothing to help her fellow Magical Girls. When the whole thing ‘who has less candies will die’ started, I was expecting her to think she could share all her candies with the other so no one would be at the bottom as everyone would have the same amount of candies… instead she’s just tormented but agrees with La Pucelle all she can do is to try to survive and this will go on through all the story. Even at the end she’s unable to stop the fight between Swim Swim and Ripple. The story seems to imply Ripple woke up due to her rabbit’s foot but that’s a purely lucky chance caused by her rabbit’s foot which she couldn’t predict. When she tries to destroy the Master terminal she tries to do it by hitting with her hands until they bleed… completely overlooking there’s a weapon near her she can use. Her actions are more moved out of revenge, she’s trying to get Fav in troubles than to protect other people as there are supposedly no more Magical Girls. So… she’s the ideal Magical Girl who helps common people but can’t do anything when other Magical Girls are involved.

Now… if you’re going to tell me Madoka can’t do anything too, think twice. Although she decided to become a Magical Girl only at the end of the series, through the series Madoka was constantly out to try to help others, episode 1 has her trying to save Kyubey, in episode 2 she goes fight witches with Mami and Sayaka, in episode 3 decides to become a magical girl to help Mami, in episode 4, despite now knowing how dangerous it could be, she follows Hitomi when she realizes the latter has a Witch’s kiss and tries to stop a group suicide and so on… while Snow White… she in this battle royale she’s stuck in a completely passive role for what regards the other Magical Girls. We know she helps common people but we only see it being done when Calamity Mary starts targeting random people and, again, she doesn’t try to stop Calamity Mary. Now, it seems all this was to break her so that in other Light Novels she’s more interesting but, for the sake of this anime, she comes out as contradictory.

Last I’ve left Hardgore Alice, another child who, however, this time is on the good side. Sort of because Hardgore Alice has no problems whatsoever in killing Magicaloid 44 with a single blow and is on the good side solely because she’s devoted to Snow Hime as Snow Hime helped her. For her huge tie with Snow Hime (she even constructed her Magical Girl look thinking at how it would match well with Snow Hime) she kind of resemble Homura, albeit she has no romantic feelings for her. On the other side Hardgore Alice has a backstory that’s emotional and makes you empathize with her so a bit of her obsession is understandable. I mean, she was basically on the verge of suicide and Snow Hime gave a sense to her life. It’s natural she would cling to her and I love how what actually Snow White did to earn her loyalty was such a minor thing like returning her keys.

Whatever, this is the whole cast, a cast that could have been amazing if it only was characterized more. Instead there’s a huge focus on their Magical Girls identities (it’s rather hard to remember their human names) and their behavior isn’t really something that seems normal due to how some find easy to kill people for no reason.

The story also seems more focused on ‘how a Magical Girl should be’ than on everything else, Snow White arguing that Magical Girls shouldn’t be like that when it’s people who just shouldn’t go around kill people or how Magical Girls should help people or have a certain character without really discussing how those can be general concepts.

I mean, you don’t need to be a Magical Girl to return a key to a little kid or help an old lady.

Overall “Mahō Shōjo Ikusei Keikaku” isn’t trying to make any deep statement coming to resemble more than “Mahō Shōjo Madoka Magica” the story of “Ō-sama Game”.

It’s a battle royale with no savior (to be honest in “Ō-sama Game” the main character tries hard to save the others… it’s just he fails…) and battles are the really good part. They are good, the strategies Swim Swim comes up with to murder the other Magical Girls are surprising… even though the series made overly clear girls were going to die (in “Mahō Shōjo Madoka Magica” you keep on expecting you’ll manage to save them) and even foreshadows which girl will die by giving you her backstory prior to her death.

It’s nothing deep but it’s not even a pain fest like “Mahō Shōjo Site” in which all the characters were EXTREMELY unlucky girls with extreme levels of abuse who were horribly exploited and put into much harsher conditions… and, since the characters aren’t really well fleshed out, their deaths too don’t feel as deeply moving as the ones in “Mahō Shōjo Madoka Magica” so if you like the idea of people trapped in a death game and Magical Girls you might enjoy this one. I would be lying if I were to say it didn’t hook me up as ultimately I ended binge watching it and if you’re not familiar with “Mahō Shōjo Madoka Magica” and/or “Ō-sama Game” it can feel pretty new… but, despite having lot of potential, it’s not something so deep it’ll make people feel taking a lot of time discussing. Pity, because it really had potential.

To make up for the flaws of this series I’ve heard the following volumes of the light novel are much better so maybe, part of the problems are just this was kind of a test work for the author and that he learnt to improve his own work after writing this one… and since the anime had to cover this part it ended up including its weak points too.

There had been no sequels to this anime for years though, which leaves me with the impressions they don’t plan to make one.

And now let's end this with an AMV about this series I recommend watching Believer

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#Mahou shoujo ikusei keikaku #Magical girl raising project #Lerche #Magical Girl #Dark Fantasy #Survival Action #Anime television series #Not recommended #Seinen #2016

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