Tag Archives: Anime

Arakawa Under The Bridge is my kind of weird

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9

I’m not an Akiyuki Shinbo completist as I am with some other directors. As dazzled as I was by Petite Cossette and Bakemonogatari I was never tempted to watch Maria+Holic or Dance in the Vampire Bund for instance but his signature style has led me to respect him enormously. Following the two seasons of ef, in which his influence crept in quite noticeably, I realised how those wonderful ‘Shinbo-isms’ are as immediately recognisable as the trademark quirks of Hideaki Anno.

Arakawa Under The Bridge is very much in Shinbo’s comfort zone: it reminds me a lot of Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei with its pun-riddled wordplay, sketch-based storyline, zany characters and of course that artistic obsession with colours, composition and geometry. The source material of the two shows doesn’t share the same writer so I wonder whether the production team are being selective with the projects they take on. The similarities go even further, and mostly in a good way too.

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Reading stats: 1063 words, 4 images; estimated reading time 4:15 mins

Careful with that axe, Yui

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23

As difficult as it is, I have to admit that I’m enjoying K-On. Not because it’s intelligent, thought-provoking, original or a work of art. I’m enjoying it despite it not really being any of these things, mainly because something that’s so intentionally dumb is undemanding and therefore the perfect thing for unwinding with at the end of a long day.

Yes, it’s shallow, commercialised and derivative but truthfully as long as it makes you smile, who the heck cares? I’ve done at least three drafts of this post before wiping the whole lot off the screen and starting over; this is by its very nature a show that’s difficult to write about because there’s not much to it beyond the obvious observation that it’s cute, undemanding fun. That was before my word count began to mushroom…

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Reading stats: 1045 words, 3 images; estimated reading time 4:11 mins

The Wings of Honneamise: still reaching for the stars after twenty-three years

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10

I guess films are like the studios that create them: some are still going strong year after year, some enjoy a resurgence in popularity long after their big break, some fade into obscurity while others try to last out on reputation alone. Although I’m a Gainax fanboy I wondered how the their debut production, Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise, had stood the test of time.

Is its reputation deserved? Old-school fans can be fiercely loyal to the stuff they hold dear after all, especially when it’s seen through the soft-focus rose tint of nostalgia. Some titles are popular for popularity’s sake but others, such as this one, are enduring simply because they’re good.

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Reading stats: 1004 words, 4 images; estimated reading time 4:01 mins

Sora no Woto: goodbye blue sky

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12

If I said that the opening theme tune to Sora no Woto wasn’t part of the reason I watched it, I’d be lying. I recall that I started watching ef -a Tale of Memories because of the music too, so it’s hardly the first time. I’ll admit part of me just wanted to see the K-on! comparisons crash and burn in front of the fandumb’s eyes but more than anything the premise was one of the best I’ve read in ages.

As I read down the staff list I realised that none of the K-On! staff were involved in this at all; hell, it’s not even a KyoAni production! I stand firmly corrected on that point then. The background artwork was still stunning though – even when not much was happening there was always something nice to look at and let my imagination fill the gaps in the narrative. I still got a sense though that the series was suffering from some sort of identity crisis.

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Reading stats: 1144 words, 3 images; estimated reading time 4:35 mins

On wartime anime and re-watchability

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9

Being the dutiful fan I am I prefer retail copies of DVDs over downloading as long as they’re available in English but when I’m paying for something I want to be confident it’ll be worthwhile. Keeping the receipt is the easy answer but when shelf space and money are at a premium I want series and movies to be ‘rewatchable’. I’m kinda elaborating on this comment, at any rate.

I can watch some stuff, such as The Place Promised…, Laputa and Paprika over and over; I’ve watched others once but they’ve sat gathering dust ever since. There are one or two purchases that I actually regretted, despite the titles themselves being very good. Actually, they were…too good for their own good.

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Reading stats: 1183 words, 3 images; estimated reading time 4:44 mins

A feelgood hit for the summer

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4

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time came pretty much out of nowhere. I had no idea who Mamoru Hosoda was and I’m unfamiliar with Yasutaka Tsutsui’s ‘Timeleap’ franchise so didn’t know what to expect from it at all. It’s not a luxury that Summer Wars enjoys though because the fans, me included, were impressed with this newbie director and were expecting more wonderful things from him and his team. Summer Wars is indeed a wonderful thing: not as personal or introspective as its predecessor but makes up for this on the fun factor and sheer spectacle.

I can’t bring myself to say it’s ‘better’ or ‘worse’ than Tokikake because they’re quite different in themes and storytelling approach so I probably shouldn’t place much value on direct comparisons. And yeah, this is The Post I promised I’d write (thanks in no small part to the excellent pieces from Gaguri, Chaostangent and Ghostlightning); now the high-def version is online I hope there are finally enough people to share my thoughts with.

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Reading stats: 1272 words, 5 images; estimated reading time 5:05 mins

How Shinkai reminded me that the earth is not a cold dead place

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5

A few days off work have eased a bit of the writer’s block but I must admit that my K-On! post stubbornly refuses to leave Draft Rewrite Hell. Anyway. A little late given that Global Shinkai Day was last weekend, I feel the need to hammer out more strings of words to mark the event. It’s pretty neat to have a special time set aside to raise awareness for a filmmaker…we should have a Global Kon or Oshii day sometime in the year too.


Given the context, “What she said.”

I’ve rewatched the various bits of the Shinkai back catalogue but it was nice to have an excuse to marathon them all in one go (She and Her Cat, Voices of a Distant Star, Place Promised in our Early Days, 5cm Per Second and Neko no Shuukai, in that order). This time the anchor point for my scattered thoughts was a truly stellar AMV (link after the jump).

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Reading stats: 1293 words, 5 images; estimated reading time 5:10 mins

I’m not dead, I was rewatching Darker than Black

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If there’s one thing I love about Darker than Black it’s the ‘rewatchability’: the sense that it’s more rewarding the second time around. The fact that the dramatic and comedic moments still hit the spot are proof of its quality but when there’s so much to think about that you can’t catch it all on the first sitting, you have to admit that it’s damn well-written.


Because it’s Caturday

I can’t help but attribute this mostly to the director Tensai Okamura. The show benefits greatly from an art department who whipped up such a cool film noir atmosphere and the nuances in the dialogue suggest that there were some gifted script- and screenplay writers on board too; nevertheless the sensibilities and devices that have made previous works of his so enjoyable are very much in evidence here.

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Reading stats: 1154 words, 2 images; estimated reading time 4:37 mins

And here’s to friendship, I guess

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8

I’ve not been exactly filled with an overwhelming urge to write anything lately. In all honesty I’ve not been watching much either. There’s something about the time of year that makes evenings slip past and leave me with no time to watch, read or write a thing before I have to get ready for the next day.

Maybe it’s a surprise that Kimi ni Todoke is one of the few shows I’m currently following: there isn’t much that’s compelling about it. It doesn’t scream “Watch me!” It’s shoujo, it’s derivative, it’s uneventful…the flipside being, it’s undemanding and easy to digest on a regular basis when my get-up-and-go has got up and left.

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Reading stats: 864 words, 1 image; estimated reading time 3:27 mins

Fifty noughties animu speculation (second half)

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18

While it was relatively easy to whittle it down to fifty the individual order was a last-minute hurried effort so don’t read too far beyond the general place they have relative to the others. I know certain names are cropping up a lot but that’s more to do with my admiration for certain directors and writers than studios and genre boundaries.

I hope the short descriptions speak for themselves; the awesomeness of the titles themselves certainly ought to. Before the word count becomes too excessive then, here’s the final ‘cut’…

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Reading stats: 2083 words, 2 images; estimated reading time 8:20 mins