Category: Anime

The rumors are false: actually, there’s plenty of good anime to watch this season. We just had to wait for the anime oysters to sift through the crap.

I’m going to start the season out watching six shows, and possibly pick up more as I go. Here’s what i’m reviewing for Anime News Network, and what I’m watching just for fun (though keep in mind, I self-selected my ANN reviews).

What I’m reviewing

Kuroko’s Basketball

We’re at the third freaking season of Kuroko’s Basketball but, dare I say it, things are just getting good. Currently, Kuroko is narrating an extended middle school flashback to his Seirin teammates, a section of the manga known as the Teiko Arc. We all know it’s going to end in Shakespearean tragedy in order to set up the events of Kuroko’s Basketball in present day, but it’s impressive to watch the storytelling get increasingly fragmented, erratic, and dark.

Where I’m watching it: Daisuki

Gunslinger Stratos

I can already tell this futuristic story is going to be hit or miss. The anime has been adapted from a video game by Gen Urobuchi, the creative mind behind Psycho Pass and Madoka Magica… but also Psycho Pass 2 and Aldnoah Zero. A mediocre first episode gave way to some fascinating questions about alternate universes and doppelgangers, which I hope will become the nugget of originality that this science fiction story needs most.

Where I’m watching it: Crunchyroll

RIN-NE

I’m exactly in the age group to have discovered Rumiko Takahashi back when Ranma ½ and Inuyasha were still fairly new, so I felt a twinge of nostalgia when I watched this first episode. It doesn’t hurt that I’m a huge fan of “person inexplicably can see the supernatural” plots as in Natsume’s Book of Friends. Sakura Mamiya is the perfect straight man to Rinne, her shinigami-ish transfer student classmate, and I can’t wait to see what they do next.

Where I’m watching it: Crunchyroll

What I’m watching for fun

MY love STORY!!

One of the things I liked about Yowamushi Pedal was the variety of body types. I love how Takeo looks nothing like the typical shoujo hero, and yet this is his story. The entire synopsis that I’ve heard takes place in episode one, so I’m looking forward to seeing how the story develops from a typical love story into something more.

Where I’m watching it: Crunchyroll

Baby Steps 2

As big a sports anime fan as I am, I have no excuse for not watching this show sooner. Ei-chan is an unusual sports protagonist because he 1) is not part of a school sports team and 2) he actually loses—a lot! I’m not saying it’s a realistic story by any means, but it’s certainly a different take on the sports anime narrative.

Where I’m watching it: Crunchyroll

Blood Blockade Battlefront

When this many people tell you to watch a show, you listen. I tried out BBB because pretty much every anime fan I know was watching it. It’s a fast paced science fiction story with characters I’m already starting to love. I don’t think there’s anything brand new here, but as my friend Grant says, there’s something to be said for executing the basics well.

Where I’m watching it: Funimation

The Heroic Legend of Arslan

This is shaping up to be your typical high fantasy, with the added bonus that it’s being adapted by artist Hiromu Arakawa of Fullmetal Alchemist fame—and you can see that clearly reflected in the character designs. Given that this is the fourth time the Arslan novels have inspired an anime, I’m expecting a powerful storyline.

Where I’m watching it: Funimation

What are you watching this season?

Turn A Gundam is my favorite Gundam show of all, but this is my first time recommending it to other fans. Because until now, the only way to get it in English was to pirate it.

Late last week, that major sticking point finally was remedied when Right Stuf put episodes 1-25 up for pre-order, to be shipped this June. It’s the first time it’s actually been available for purchase in North America.

I theorize that Turn A Gundam never made it to America because, despite being written by the same director of the original Mobile Suit Gundam, Yoshiyuki Tomino, it has a number of differences from a typical Gundam show, all of which make it great. Here are some of the reasons I love this show and think you’d like it, too.

It’s the dieselpunk show of the Gundam universe

By dieselpunk, I’m referring to the aesthetic that takes its influence from diesel-fueled technology during World War I up to the post World War II era. Turn A Gundam features airships, wooden airplanes, and early 19th century clothing styles. It’s a novel era to set a science fiction saga, and the show pulls it off beautifully.

The mecha are unique

The Turn A Gundam itself physically puts the “turn” in Turn A. Where most titular mobile suits feature a V shaped antenna on the forehead, Turn A’s antenna is at the bottom of its face, mimicking a mustache. It’s a striking touch of whimsy in a fleet of otherwise streamlined, minimalist models that get back to the very heart of Gundam. Thank Syd Mead, the concept artist behind Blade Runner, Aliens and Tron for this refreshing direction.

Loran is one of Gundam’s most likeable protagonists

Of all the pilots I could almost share a name with, I’m glad it’s Loran. Curious, capable, and upbeat, he’s the polar opposite of the typical angsty pilot with a chip on his shoulder. He may be anti-war, but that doesn’t keep him from remembering there are people he needs to protect. Still, don’t let his earnestness fool you—halfway through the series, he makes a moral decision that not only reveals his true depth of character, but sets the stage for a nailbiting conclusion. And on top of all that, he looks fantastic in drag.

The women are amazing

It was only a few decades ago that Frau Bow chided Amuro, “I’d pilot it if I could!” in Mobile Suit Gundam, a show that never considered the possibility of female pilots. Between then and Turn A, how far the women of Gundam have come! They’re tough soldiers, cunning politicians, and everything in between. They have their own strengths and imperfections—Queen Dianna isn’t a perfect leader for all her intelligence, and Sochie has a decidedly short fuse for somebody so loyal—making them neither fully good nor evil, but decidedly human. Even women in more traditional roles, like grandmother and homemaker Anise Bell, are portrayed as immensely brave.

It’s got a compelling “masked antagonist” character

It’s practically a trope for Gundam shows to feature a man in a mask whose life goal seems to be to defeat the protagonist. I can’t keep my eyes off of Turn A Gundam’s edition, the ridiculous Harry Ord. His fashion victim status—see these casual clothes, bumblebee formal wear, and star print pajamas—juxtapose with his cool, rational demeanor to bizarre effect. What’s more, he’s not hell-bent on crushing Loran at all costs like the typical masked ace would be. He’s as caught up in the confusing circumstances of Turn A as anyone else.

The music is incredible

Yoko Kanno is one of the most famous composers working in anime, and for good reason. While many fans recognize her work on Cowboy Bebop and Kids on the Slope, her unusual compositions for Turn A Gundam often go forgotten. In its twin settings of an Earth that has regressed to the early 20th century and the Moon, Turn A Gundam is a show about the promise of the unexplored frontier, and Kanno’s work reflects that with notes of country and blues. It’s incredibly different from her other work, but no less worth a listen.

It has a very clever time frame

Gundam shows take place in a number of timelines, including Universal Century (Mobile Suit Gundam, Zeta Gundam), After Colony (Gundam Wing), and Future Century (G Gundam). Turn A Gundam is the only one to take place in Correct Century, but it’s fully aware of the rest of the Gundam of the body of work it is a part of, and it’s full of Easter Eggs for fans who are also in the know. Any more would be giving it away, but let’s just say that it pulls mecha design from other timelines for a reason.

Stay tuned for a full, reasoned out review of Turn A Gundam after I get my new copy and re-watch this awesome show. Until then, I’m giving the parts I love best their due.

After I wrote my retort to the idea that “old anime is somehow better” last week, some of you remain unconvinced. I realized this belief goes far deeper than I thought.

“Anime was better before all this moe garbage,” say people who don’t realize that moe, a concept of cuteness that isn’t tied to an art style, has been around for ages.

“Each anime used to look unique,” say people who haven’t been paying attention to the clearly iconic art styles that characterize ‘80s, ‘90s, and ‘00s anime. This viral K-on image does a great job of quickly indicating the way a certain style characterized a decade.

Once again I believe that today, we have more variety than ever before as creators experiment with different visuals and pacing for anime. I asked on Twitter for suggestions for favorite unconventional looking anime, and everyone seriously delivered. Here are 10 fairly recent anime that have their own distinct look and feel.

Space Dandy

Forget anime with a different look. Space Dandy gives nearly every episode a distinct look. Classic Atomic Age inspiration soon gives way to a variety of experimentation. And at the end of each episode, it’s back to the sandbox.

Ping Pong The Animation

Painterly backdrops and organic-looking line drawings give a fluidity to characters’ movements. This anime is overflowing with artistry and pays close and careful attention to motion and form.

Tatami Galaxy

It’s by the same director as Ping Pong but you wouldn’t know by the look, which is all its own. I like the simplistic wood-block appearance the first time I watched it. (Fun fact: I actually reviewed it for Japanator way back when.)

Panty, Stocking & Garterbelt

It may not look that different if you watched Cartoon Network in the late ’90s, but it’s definitely a break from the norm for anime. The juxtaposition of American cartoon bodies and crass violent and sexual themes is certainly jarring.

Mononoke

This supernatural horror was the first anime that came to mind. I just reviewed it and noted its “dizzying kaleidoscope backdrop of wild colors, elaborate Edo-period composition, and parchment paper texture.”

Flowers of Evil

This show used rotoscope animation—it animated traced frames from live action film. The resulting choppy realism is unsettling and deliberately slow, providing an ideal medium for a show in which a tense build-up is everything.

Mushi-shi 

A lot of people recommended this one as an anime with a distinct look, more than any other. I think it’s because it also has a very distinct atmosphere, too. Muted colors and watercolor washed backdrops make for a mysterious take on the natural world.

Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo

A little old but I don’t care, because those patterns are like richly colored origami paper. According to Wikipedia, the effect comes from Photoshop textures layered into digital animation, and the result is stunning.

Dead Leaves

There’s a reason people still watch this when the plot is just so-so, and it’s the unusual animation. It’s got a look like graffiti which exaggerated and bright, perfect for its crass, wannabe-edgy, urban future-punk plot.

Redline

This movie looks more like superhero comics than a racing anime. Perhaps that’s because it’s entirely hand drawn in a time where most animation is digital. According to the DVD extras, it took 7 years and over 100,000 hand-drawn frames to make it, and it shows.

Of course, this selection is just scratching the surface. What’s your favorite uniquely animated show?

You’re probably tired of hearing about my love for sports anime. Motivating storylines, passionate characters, and seriously cute boys make titles like Yowamushi Pedal, Haikyuu!, and Kuroko’s Basketball my essentials.

But I haven’t mentioned my husband’s love for sports anime. I didn’t force him to watch Yowamushi Pedal—like you might have assumed given the way I talk about it nonstop—he got into it himself. Now our Monday evening ritual is watching it together.

Still, we’re getting different things out of it. A super robot genre fan, he loves the way Yowapeda dramatizes cycling the way other shows depict mecha piloting. He cares a lot about technique and results. Whereas I savor the character development, relationships between characters, and any of their indications of emotion or vulnerability.

For better or worse, my husband isn’t into dudes. I am though, and to me Yowamushi Pedal is a fujoshi’s dream. He doesn’t see it in the slightest. It’s like a Magic Eye drawing that I can see and he can’t—and now that I’ve seen it one way, I can’t go back.

Until Navy Cherub’s Sports Anime panel at Katsucon, I didn’t realize there was a name for this—the Odagiri Effect. In 2000, there was a popular kid’s show called Kamen Rider Kuuga that starred actor Joe Odagiri as the titular masked rider Yusuke Godai. The live-action show was targeted at kids, but due to Odagiri’s dreamboat status, it picked up an unexpected secondary audience of housewives! Since then, Japanese kid shows have aimed at picking up multiple audiences. Although Kuroko’s Basketball and Yowapeda run in Shounen Jump, it’s impossible to deny the massive adult female audiences they’ve acquired. It’s not just the way the boys are drawn, but the mature way their emotional bonds are depicted.

Sports animes’ multiple audiences were illustrated quite well by the Katsucon panel itself. I got there early and chatted with all the other women waiting. We discussed our favorite characters, our favorite ships, and so on. John had come with me, but he stuck to amassing new StreetPass contacts while I talked about girl stuff. Then, the male panelists came in, much to my surprise. While we talked about kids and women as sports anime target audiences, their very status as adult men indicated a third audience, too. And of course, the world isn’t so cut-and-dry that interests are decided by demographic, either!

The Odagiri Effect sounds like a win-win, since it generates money from a compounded audience, but the downside is that it plays it safe. Negative arcs about injury or lack of sportsmanship are resolved quickly and neatly, and while friendship abounds, romantic subplots are nowhere in sight. There’s no incentive to risk alienating any of the target audiences, so the show stays away from tackling complicated themes.

Either way, it’s nice to know the straight men in my life aren’t just humoring me when they agree to watch Free! with me.

Can you think of a show in which you’ve seen the Odagiri Effect in action?