Waking Dead

HOLY FUCKING SHIT!

When I was a younger man and just getting into anime, one of the few films we got over in the UK at the time was an 18-rated hard-boiled thriller called Golgo 13. The story followed a ruthless hitman caught up in a struggle for his life after the father of the man he assassinated uses every asset at his disposal to track him down.

It was violent, offensive, sexist, and a whole lot of fun. When I heard that they were making a series some 15 years on, I was worried that the content would be watered down to fit the modern anime viewer. God, was I wrong about that.

Duke Tougou is still a supreme bad-ass, finding the time in four hours to get busted out of prison, buy a sniper rifle, have said sniper rifle modified for the shot he needs to make, have sex with a prostitute, get into a firefight in the hotel, fly out to the airport, cap the bad guy, then fly back home. All the while looking like a square-jawed 80s action hero with constipation.

Look, its Godawful, truly, but if you grew up in the decade before fansubs were the primary means of distribution and emo people were called goths, you just might find a place in your sick little heart for this show. It doesn’t promise to be any more than it is, and the animation is cheaper than a Lime Street hooker, but it has its own certain charm.

And seriously, how could you not root for a guy described as having an “amazing penis”?

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Oh my, what have we here? It seems somebody showed Haruhi to the staff at Gonzo; here’s another opening episode that bares zero resemblance to the rest of the series.

Let me point out that although this is allegedly episode one of Tower of Druaga, there is another episode that shows the same events from a different perspective – and I would imagine the true perspective. This particular episode is a real curveball, being a parody of just about every fantasy anime and RPG cliché known to man. And I laughed like a fucking goon all the way through it.

There’s little point in me trying to explain the plot to you because everything changes with the next episode anyway, suffice it to say that our band of not-so-merry warriors are climbing the Tower of Druaga in order to defeat the dark lord himself. This episode, however, distills the entire plot of the series into 24 minutes. And then adds a bunch of random comedy elements, tosses it all into a blender, and serves over ice.

I’ll tell you now that if the letters D and D bring a knowing smile to your lips, and you’ve spent more than a few levels playing a console RPG, this is really going to appeal. Just about every joke they could think of gets an airing, along with one trully inspired hentai pisstake that had me pausing the show so I could stop laughing. The show looks lovely as well, the animation of the final battle scene a colourful pastiche of Saturday-morning shounen crap. I loved it.

But that leaves me with something of a dilemma. I can’t really recommend the show based on the first episode because the rest of the series is a much more straight-forward fantasy action affair. And compared to this moment of genius, it’s probably going to be quite ordinary. Either way, I’ll keep watching it for now because I happen to like straight-forward fantasy action, although I suspect the best way to get a grip on this show is to watch the alternative opening episode instead.

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This is one of the shows I’d picked out as a potential favourite for the Spring season, and I’m really happy with how the first episode turned out.

Based on a series of light novels, Allison and Lillia is basically split into two stories that occur within the same fictional world. The first half of the series follows Allison and her high-school friend Will. Allison is a delivery pilot in the country’s air force, whereas Will is still studying (and occasionally teaching) at college. The two haven’t seen each other for a while, but when Allison pays him a visit his life gets turned upside down.

After going for a bike ride and eventually getting involved with a mysterious old man, they find themselves involved in some nasty government secrets. These secrets pertain to the location of a treasure that could bring an end to the conflict with their neighbouring country. Unfortunately, the old man gets whisked away by Bad Men and our intrepid duo set off to rescue the one person who knows where this treasure can be found.

From the very start, it’s clear that this from the same creative team behind Kino’s Journey. It has the same relaxed pace and gentle narrative, but it also treats its viewer with respect, particularly in the mature way Allison and Will’s relationship is handled. I really like the art style as well, and the world in which the series is set looks like an idyllic 1930’s England.

On the negative side, Will’s voice is a little too high-pitched for me. I’d have preferred a male voice actor for this as it’s clear Will isn’t as young as he sounds. It’s a fairly minor point though as you quickly get used to it. Overall, I’d say this is a very impressive opening episode, and I’m really looking forward to seeing what adventures the pair get involved in over the course of the series.

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Bones doing a shounen fighting anime? With character designs straight out of Disgaea? That would be Soul Eater, the latest of this season’s anime shows to hit my download list.

Soul Eaters are weapons that can exist in human form, tasked with gathering up the souls of demons; in this anime, humans that have gone bad. Each Soul Eater has a Meister in control of it, and the pair must work together to rid the world of said demons, because demons are evil and stuff. The first episode follows the pairing of Maka and her scythe, in human form a young gentleman not too dissimilar to Damon Alban’s Gorillaz character*. Maka’s dad is also a scythe – a Death Scythe – and her Soul Eater is desperate to become one… if he eats 99 souls, he too can become a Death Scythe.

So far, so predictable. What really works in this show, however, is Bones’ usual flair for combat. The camera zips around the scene as though it were a true 3D space, and the same hand-held motion present in previous shows like Samurai Champloo and the legendary Cowboy Bebop really adds to the action. The plot itself is pretty thin on the ground, but the characterisation is interesting. I like the idea of pairing off characters like this, even if in weapon-form the Soul Eaters appear to contribute very little.

There are three such pairings that the show will focus on and, interestingly enough, each of the first three episodes will focus on one of the pairs. Maka and her scythe are fun to watch, with the scythe trying to be a “cool man” at all times. This obviously sets up most of the comedy scenes in the first episode, particularly when he’s introduced to the witch Blair.

Speaking of comedy, its actually quite funny. Although I was more interested in the action, I did LOL at least a few times during the show. From the episode preview, the next pairing will potentially be a bit more serious, but probably not too serious – it is a shounen show after all. As far as bad points go I’d have to point out the wafer-thin story; you’re likely to get a more detailed plot in your average top-shelf magazine. But that’s not really as much of a critiscism as it may seem; shows like this can work without a really strong story as long as the action is well-paced and the characters are interesting.

Soul Eater is ultimately going to rest on the success of its fight scenes. From this initial episode, it’s certainly going to be worth sticking with until at least episode four.

*Probably no connection, but Maka’s surname is Alban. Perhaps one of the creators is a Gorillaz fan?

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Ooh, shiny. As with most modern Gonzo shows, there’s a lot of very shiny CG in this. For some reason I kept being reminded of BeastMasters whilst watching this episode, and that’s not a good comparison. If you can get past the appaling computer animation (and design, for that matter) there’s actually not a bad little show underneath.

We follow the story of Gerd Frentzen, number one German superbike rider and Die Toten Hosen reject. Gerd and his hair get involved in a bit of a fracas at a local race meet involving a bunch of bikers and a rather angry robotic alien called a Demoniac. The XAT special forces show up to put an end to the killing, but another robot thingy spoils their fun by pummeling the Demoniac before they get the chance.

We then cut to a hospital ward; unfortunately, poor old Gerd has lost the use of his legs in the previous fight. Visited by XAT member and former superbike protegé Hermann, we get a touching scene of male bonding as the young upstart tells his former mentor not to give up the fight. Gerd muses on this for a while, cries manly tears, and before you can say “convenient plot device” some mysterious doctor type offers him a special “get better” pill – with some interesting side effects.

On the plus side, the episode moves briskly and feels tight, focused, and well-structured. Yes, its your standard shounen mecha fare, but Gonzo’s preferred approach of having adult protagonists instead of children always sits well with me. I realise that they’ve made a whole bunch of shows just like this, but they know what they’re doing, and there’s something reasuring in its construction. I appreciate that sounds more like I’m admiring a well-built cabinet, but that’s probably a pretty good analogy.

But there are obviously some bad points – I’ve already mentioned the terrible CG. Also, there’s been more development in Gerd’s hair than in the characters so far – aside, of course, from the brief flashback in the hospital. And you’ll see the plot twist coming a country mile away, but it made me smile all the same. Basically, if all you’re after is a German man with lovely hair wearing an exo-suit and riding a motorcycle while fucking shit up with a laser sword, you can do far worse than Blassreiter.

I’ll be following this at least until Gerd shaves his head.

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The second show of the new anime season to hit my desktop was Vampire Knight. When I was putting together the list of shows I was going to check out in April, this was probably at the bottom of the list. I normally don’t like shoujo anime – not being a girl and all – but certain shows over the years have won me over (EscaFlowne and Chobits spring to mind). Vampire Knight might just be another one of them.

One minor warning: as you can probably tell from the screencap, there’s plenty of hot bishi action in this show. It’s about on par with most shoujo stuff out there, but is thankfully a million miles away from something like Wallflower. Still, if the prospect of the boys being prettier than the girls puts you off, you’re unlikely to enjoy this.

Anyway, onto the show itself. First off, the story is actually quite interesting. The idea revolves around an academy somewhere in some unknown country that has a Day Class and a Night Class. Predictably, the Day Class are all human and the Night Class are all vampires, and two Day Class students have been chosen as prefects or “Guardians” in order to maintain the secret and keep the two apart.

One of these students is a girl called Yuki. She believes that vampires are generally good-natured, and longs for peace between the two races. The other is her adopted brother, Zero. Zero’s parents were killed by vampires, and he’s understandably bitter about it. The only reason he took the job of Guardian is so that he can observe the vampires and find the best way to wipe them out.

The last major character is the vampire Kaname, head of the Night Class dorm. He saved Yuki from another vampire when she was a child and brought her to the academy. Obviously there’s a closeness between these two, but there are subtle hints that despite Kaname’s pacifist outlook, he can’t quite control the beast inside, particularly when it comes to Yuki.

The first episode splits about 70/30 between drama and comedy, which is a good number for me (Firefly is my benchmark). As with most anime comedy, there’s lots of stretched faces, chibi interludes, and plenty of random text flying around. But for some reason it works, even though the drama is actually pretty dark. And I should really mention the ED song, which is awesome. The music in general is actually all pretty good, with plenty of church bells and pipe organs to add to the mood.

I’ll be keeping up with this for at least another few episodes.

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So the new Spring season of anime has started and the fansubs are making their way down my internets. The first show to grace my PC was Kurenai, an interesting mystery series from the same artist as Baccano! and Red Garden.

Kurenai is about a 16 year-old guy of the same name who in his spare time does odd-jobs for a woman called Benika – he is referred to as a “mediator”, someone who solves disputes any way he can. Benika comes to see him one night with a 7 year-old girl in tow, explaining that she’s being hunted by her over-bearing family and that she wants him to look after her. Reluctantly, Kurenai agrees.

That’s about all we get to see in this first episode, but it was enjoyable nonetheless. Plus points would be the excellent character designs and lovely HD animation. The fluidity of movement is great to watch, and the show has a real moody style to it. On the negative side, the first 5 minutes of this episode rush through multiple different scenes very quickly in order to establish what’s going on. First time around this was a massive headache, but on second viewing it made a lot more sense. After this, though, the episode settles down into “real time”.

There are hints that Kurenai has been granted some special powers (Benika remarks at one point that he should be happy with his new body, and we see him have difficulty controlling one of his arms in an earlier scene), and also hints of the role his neighbours will play at some point. Only two have been introduced so far, but one is a mysterious woman with a monkey-skull hanging around her neck, and the other is a tracksuit-wearing blonde socialite.

The relationship between Kurenai and the little girl Murasaki is surely going to be the focus of the show, and already there are hints that its probably going to blossom into a close-knit brother/sister bond. Should make for tearful viewing on occasion as this looks like a pretty dark series. Also, Murasaki’s family issues are explored in the opening of the show, and her father in particular looks like a right bastard (there are hints of abuse in these scenes).

I’ll probably be continuing with this show.

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Last night I managed to catch two of the shows included on this month’s Newtype USA cover DVD. There are actually three trial episodes on the disc, but Best Student Council doesn’t really appeal to me. I’m generally not a fan of shoujo shows most of the time, even worse if they’re slice-of-life shoujo shows. Anyway, you also get episode one of Coyote Ragtime Show and episode four of Utawarerumono – I watched both of them.

Coyote Ragtime Show

From the opening scene, even from the moment I read the title, I had an inkling this would be something like Cowboy Bebop. Not necessarily in style (I think Shinchiro Watanabe’s work really stands apart anyway) but certainly in tone and setting. Essentially the opening episode sets up a far-future civilzation, with some Wild West-style themes, although the main bulk of this episode is set in a prison.

The main character appears to be a master criminal called Mister, although you don’t really get to meet him until about 5 minutes before the end. The other protagonists are a Chief Investigator called Angelica, a young prison official that ends up joining Angelica, and a group of twelve robotic assassin “sisters”.

The good: essentially, this is highly entertaining shlock. The animation is excellent, the character designs tasteful (minimal fan service here it seems), and the action once it gets going is fairly brutal. There’s not enough in this episode to endear me to any one character, but I’m certainly intrigued by Mister and his two cohorts.

The bad: essentially, this is highly formulaic shlock. Really, its not a show to set the world on fire, its not asking any deep questions, and more importantly it isn’t going to win any awards for originality. It feels like some kind of mish-mash of Cowboy Bebop and Outlaw Star, but lacking the former’s style and panache and the latter’s humour and inventiveness.

The ugly: Angelica has a very odd shaped face during the close-up scenes.

Utawarerumono

This may be brief as I only managed to watch about fifteen minutes of this. Actually, that might suggest more about what I thought of the show than a full-on review. In its defence it isn’t too bad, and its actually played quite seriously. The problem is that it looks awful and has a terribly clichéd plot – it all feels so familiar, but a bad familiar, like when you’re not sure if you like Vegimite or not so you have a bite and then it registers that yes, it sucks.

I got a distinct whiff of early-nineties CLAMP without any of the magic their shows always seem to capture. It doesn’t help that its obviously a shoujo show that’s trying to appeal to a male audience a la EscaFlowne. Anyway, your mileage, as always, may vary. This is after all just an opinion, and you know what opinions are like…

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