Gurren Lagann: First Impressions

So, I recently downloaded the anime Gurren Lagann from the iTunes store. I've only watched the first two episodes, so this is going to be my initial impressions of the anime instead of a full fledged review of it. (Full review will come when I finish the series.)

Gurren Lagann seems to have pretty much everything a good anime needs. There's giant robots; sexy, busty, scantily clad girls; men who get way too excited about little things; men who seem like cowards on the outside, but are really brave once they get motivated; cute, cuddly animals; villians/monsters that you can actually grow to like; and extremely effeminate men who get hot and bothered by the giant robots. It's also got all the required "inappropriate" moments. You know what I'm talking about: men falling face first into a girl's cleavage, women falling cleavage first into a man's face, men crawling up a tunnel mere inches away from the scantily clad woman's butt... I'd go on, but you get the point.

The story seems to be well put together (just going by the first 2 episodes) and the characters are, for the most part, easy to like despite their quirks. (Yes, even the extremely effeminate man is somewhat likable after you get used to him.)

Usually, for me, an anime has to grab my attention within the first few episodes, otherwise it's unlikely that I'll ever finish watching it. Gurren Lagann succesfully pulled my interest and I do plan to finish the series, after which there will be a review on what I thought of the anime in it's entirety.

First Impression score:

4 out of 5 (This will probably be higher in the final review if the anime continues to be like it has been.)

Kanon

Kanon is an anime based off of a visual novel of the same name, developed by Key. The anime is of typical length, being 24 episodes, and unlike the original release of the game, it is meant for all ages. There are two versions of the anime; this article covers the second, and more widely-known version.

The story focuses on the main male character, Aizawa Yuichi. He moves to the town where his aunt and cousin live so he can go to school there. He last visited seven years prior to when the story begins, which that previous visit (and ones before it) is the central theme to almost every story conveyed in this anime.

The main girls of the story: Kawasumi Mai (top left), Misaka Shiori (top middle), Sawatari Makoto (middle), Minase Nayuki (right), Tsukimiya Ayu (bottom left).

Each of the five girls has a well thought-out story. The anime covers most very deeply. Regrettably, Nayuki's story is barely covered, and is tied in to Ayu's story and adds only to serve a point to it. Additionally, each girl's story involves Yuichi's past, with the exception of Shiori, who only met him for the first time on his first couple of days back in town, while wandering with Ayu.

Characteristics of characters is very unique and they all blend near-perfectly. Their personalities remain consistent throughout, and deviate only within reasonable means; for example, Yuichi is "friendly and outgoing... [and] constantly teases the main cast of girls throughout the story which varies in severity depending on the girl" (via Wikipedia). He consistently helps out the girls when they are in need, however, and this is shown throughout, side-by-side with the teasing, and is even shown very prominently in the clips of Yuichi's past.

A particular characteristic of a character, Ayu, who is the central female character, is shown at almost every scene she is in. Whenever she is sad, scared, mad, depressed, and other emotions along the lines of those, she says "Uguu". The word is the common catch-phrase of the anime, and is even used on the box set as a selling point (though only known to those who have actually seen the anime to catch why it would be a selling point).

Ayu saying her catch phrase "Uguu~" after being teased by Yuichi.

The transition between stories is very smooth. All the characters are introduced within the first two episodes, and the only time most do not show up in any episode is when a story involving a particular girl reaches its climax. Additionally, when the story resolves, it is not entirely forgotten; references are made periodically to each of the preceding stories.

The stories all have sad or disconsolate undertones. Each girl, though little known or not known at all at the beginning, has something that they are going through that is affecting them, regardless of whether they show it or not. The characters, however - unlike many, many other animes that share similar tones - do not show it until their story reaches its highpoint. They act happy and actually seem happy because they all feel there are more things worth living for that outweigh the sad things that are in their lives.

The story of Kanon revolves around several themes. First and formost, which is prominent for more than half of the anime, is varying forms of magic. Makoto, for example, is actually a fox that Yuichi had come to know and befriend when he visited seven years prior who magically turned human to see and be with him again when she saw he had returned.

In contrast to the sad undertones, a main theme is that of miracles. One character points out that "miracles are called so because they don't happen", but all of them believe that they exist on some level or another.

Memory is another central theme. Yuichi remembers nothing of his prior visits to the city at first. The girls who have a history with him have varying levels of memory of the events themselves, but they all remember that he was there and all want him to remember each of them as well. Most of the entire anime and the stories revolve around not being able to progress until certain things are remembered by Yuichi.

Yuichi and Ayu seven years prior.

Another main theme, though not fully portrayed until the latter half of the anime, is as stated in the earlier post about Key, in which one of the characters in this story is in a state of autoscopy. Ayu, due to an event in the past, has a projection of her concience in the present, with her body elsewhere. Her concience is looking for a particular object, and right from the beginning of the anime itself to the end (as that her story is the last one to be told) she is looking for the item in question. She doesn't know at first that the her that everyone sees is not really her entire self. She doesn't find the item on her own, as that due to the parts of her story unfolding slowly reveal to her the dire condition her actual self is in. as her story reaches the pinnacle and plateaus off, she realizes enough and vanishes.

Kanon may not be all that known, and even less actually seen, but it is a very interesting anime nonetheless. It is a adeptly handled story, with ties between main stories and transitions between everything that can be rivaled by only a few other stories in the genre. It may not contain action, but it will still keep you on your seat, making you want to see how each story ends.

~Koubo

Lost In Translation

I've got a question to pose to all of you today. Well, it's more like 3 or 4 questions. First: Are there any mangas out there that you read that you would like to see made into an anime that haven't been yet? What about the other way around? Any animes that you'd like to see made into a manga?

One manga I'd like to see animated is Yotsuba&! It's by Kiyohiko Azuma who was the genius behind Azumanga Daioh. Yotsuba&! is about a little girl and her father (and their friends and neighbors) and the various adventures they go on. No, not big adventures like you would see in something like Full Metal Alchemist, but little adventures; like catching cicadas or going to the store. (Full review coming later.)

Here's another question for you: Are there any mangas out there that you really liked and read every book as they came out, but the company who made them suddenly stopped? Or, at least stopped printing them in America?

I can think of one in particular that I've wanted finished. It's called PhD: Phantasy Degree. The books were printed in America up until book 5, but then they suddenly stopped. It's bugged me ever since. I loved that series. It was very unique. (I'll do a review on it later as well.)

There are a couple of other mangas that I can think of. I'm not sure if it's that they stopped printing them, or that I just can't find them anywhere. A few of them are: Sokora Refugees, Dream Saga, and Yotsuba&!.
Yet another Discussion Time!

I've posed quite a few questions to you, now it's time for you to answer them with your opinions!

Key

Key is a branch of the company Visual Arts, which is located in Japan. Formed in July of 1998, it makes visual novels, and has made some very prominent games of the past couple decades. Its first three visual novels, Kanon, Air, and Clannad (released in that order, starting in 1999), have even had anime adaptations, all of which have had very good success, and are arguably Key's most well-known titles.

Key also has its own sub-section, titled Key Sounds Label, which creates and produces the music used in all the titles they make.

There will be articles on all three of those (ony the anime adaptations only for Kanon and Air will be covered in the respective articles; Clannad's article will include the game as well as the anime), and it will be seperate from this article. In this post, I will talk about things that Key seems to put in all of their products, as well as some differences between them.

(A picture containing all of Key's current products as of May 20, 2009.)

The characters in each of the products are varied in personality and background, as is typical in any story. What is different from anything Key makes and anything else is that although some characters may have horrible or sad histories, the level of effect their past has on them is very little. They are not mopey. They have all moved on for the most part.

The past has different effects on stories between the titles, though. In both Kanon and Air, the past becomes an integral part of the story, where the characters are trying to remember so they can help their future. In Clannad, the only time the past is ever brought up is when an event from the past hinders a path in the near future. In Clannad, though, the hindering past is used only enough to wrap up reasons, then it is set aside so the story can move on.

A particularly unique occurence between titles released by Key is that they use advanced forms of autoscopy. It can be loosely described as an "out of body experience", although autoscopy is a specific case in that experience, being that they acutally projecting their concience into the physical world.

The advanced form that Key does in which I refer to is more of a specifically direct form. Each has a literal physical manifestation of themselves wandering around as they always would, and can interact with objects and people as if they themselves were present.

(The main girls of Kanon.)

There is only one character in each of the titles that experiences the phenomenon. Each has a specific task that they feel must be completed at any cost. As they come closer to completing the task, the realization of their actual medical condition slowly dawns on them in some form or another, and when the task is completed, they vanish.

Differences come down to something quite specific between each of the titles. And those specifics will be mentioned and discussed in the articles covering each title. However, I will mention that the level of knowledge of their predicament, the situation, and how long they are around for varies greatly between the three titles.

(The main girls of Air.)

One thing Key did for the first two titles (Kanon and Air) was that they had adult content; that is, there were some sex scenes in the games. The animes of each, as well as later release versions of the games, have no adult content. And additionally, Key minimalized the amount of said content so that the player would focus more heavily on the stories of each character than the gratuities that come with them.

Clannad was released at the very start as a visual novel for all ages; it was focused so heavily on story that it is currently Keys' second longest game, being only 4000 words shorter than its current longest. The anime, which is by far longer than the anime adaptations of the first two titles released, is also made for all ages.

(The main girls of Clannad.)

Key is currently creating an original anime, titled Angel Beats!, but no new news about that has been released since the announcement on May 27 of this year.

Key may be small, but they have produced titles that are very well known, even if they have not been seen or played. The titles (at least the anime adaptations) should seriously be checked out. They are so deep, so well written that anyone would be missing out on some of the best stories ever written otherwise.

~Koubo

A Rare Gem

Ok, so my last article about animes that everyone likes but that you don't apparently went over quite well, so today, I'm going to come from the other side of the argument. Are there any animes you absolutely love that nobody else seems to have heard of? Let's take it a step further and include manga in this discussion.

The one anime that pops into my mind that nobody seems to know about (but is one that I love) is: .hack//LEGEND OF THE TWILIGHT. There have been tons of .hack// animes and mangas, but the one that I love the most is LOTT. It's a great little anime (and manga) that is only 12 episodes long (or 3 books long) but is thoroughly enjoyable. (I'll save an actual review for a later post.)
The one manga series that I love which is still rather unknown would have to be: Junk Force. It's only 3 books long, but has a great, gripping story that pulled me in from the start. It's really pretty hard to find now, but if you can, I'd definitely pick it up. (Again, a review will come later.)
Discussion Time Again!

What about the rest of you? Do you have any gems in your anime/manga collection that it seems only you have watched/read? Share them with us!

Watchmen - review

Due to my computer having sudden problems, my latest post is far from what it originally was, and will instead be a review on the movie Watchmen. It was released on DVD/Blu-Ray this past Tuesday (July 21).

This will not cover The DVD release solely, but will cover the movie in general.

Having read review upon review, for hours and hours, from places like Amazon, Metacritic, and many random forums, This movie can arguably be one of the most controversial ones out there. Some claim it has no plot; others say it has too much of one to watch only once. Some think it was dumb; others herald it as one of the greatest masterpieces of all time. Some say it was a poor book-to-movie rendition; others say it was closer than most other titles in that field. I could go on. but I think you get the picture.

(Current cover art for the graphic novel.)

Watchmen is based of a graphic novel of the same name, which is on Times Magazine's top 100 novels of all time.

The story is set in New York, the year is 1985. Richard Nixon is the current president, being on his 5th term. The Doomsday clock is set to five minutes before midnight, signaling that the threat of a nuclear war is very, very real.

Thanks to an Act passed in 1977, Masked Vigilantes, which were rampant for quite a number of years, Had to reveal their identities or quit taking the law into their own hands. This was due to the typical public switcharound of liking something, then getting used to it, then ending up hating it.

It is interesting that although all of the men and women that wore costumes considered themselves heroes or villains, only one had actually any power. His name is Dr. Manhattan, who by a freak accident on a science base in an "intrinsic field Subtractor", which converted every last atom in his body into something more divine. He was taken in by the military as a tool trained to keep other nations in fear of America. He was also considered to be a member of the Watchmen group.

(The members of the Watchmen team, starting from the blue guy and going clockwise by heads: Dr Manhattan, Nite Owl, Rorschach, The Comedian, Ozymandias, Silk Spectre.)

The story is mainly narrated by one of the 6 members of the Watchmen team, Rorschach. He sees that another member of the former Watchmen team was murdered, The Comedian, and after seeing some clues come to light, focuses heavily on the idea that someone is "picking off costumed heroes." He tries to convince and warn his friend Daniel, who was the hero "Nite Owl," who at first doesn't listen. HE then tries to warn Dr Manhattan and Laurie, Laurie being the Silk Spectre. As the story progresses, it is revealed that someone is indeed trying to get all the heroes out of the way so that the master plan can take place with no interference.

Now the review part.

Watchmen: somewhere between 2.5 and 3 out of 5.

The story is deep. It is a movie that has to be seen more than once to get the entire picture. The movie does follow the novel it is based off of very well, although it does have significant differences that, if you have read the novel as well as seen the movie, affect the entire movie and even the ending.

The flow and presentation of the story is very, very slow. Too slow in some parts. The amount of material covered is impressive (the director's cut of the dvd being over 3 hours long), but the flow makes it feel like it is about two hours longer at some parts. But the flow is very direct and easy to follow.

Character development is almost nonexistent. The only character you really, truly get to know is Rorschach, and that is because his diary entries populate about half the movie, explaining his thoughts and feelings about what is going on as it unfolds.

The gratuitous adult scenes could have been left out entirely. Those did not need to be added in there. It is directly alluded to in the novel, it could have been the same in the movie.

Worth watching, and more than once, but only if you feel you can watch a movie for (what feels like) four or five hours.

~Koubo

Fish-Cake?

Am I the only one in the world who is not completely enamored with Naruto? I've seen a good portion of the anime, both japanese and english dubbed, and I just don't get why everyone likes it so much. It really didn't catch my interest enough, but that's just me. Even the parts that made everyone laugh out loud, only made me chortle slightly.

I can think of a couple of other animes that have a HUGE fanbase that I've seen and that I just don't like that much.

Discussion time!

What are some animes out there that everyone but you seems to like?