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Meanderings
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Written by maehara
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Tuesday, 09 October 2012 20:52 |
Kon Hokaze's quite the fan of online fantasy games - but he was getting nowhere in his latest obsession until a character by the name of Flora asked for his help in the “real world”. Ever eager to be in with a chance of scoring with a girl, Kon found himself unable to say no - at which point the Earth seemed to open beneath him, and suddenly the game was very real...
I wanted to hate this so much, I really did. World's most generic fantasy adventure setting: check. Stereotypical characters: check. Trap, clueless villains, and permanently bemused loli princess: check, check and check. On the surface of it, there's really nothing here to like - and when you start getting lines like "I'm not dying while I'm still a virgin" and Kon getting to cop a good feel of trap Marian's junk, the writing on the wall really doesn't look good.
But despite all that, I couldn't deny that there's a certain amount of fun to be had from watching it. The show knows that it's a stereotypical as hell and has fun with it - that's really its unique selling point. So while other recent sucked-into-a-videogame-world shows are getting grim and bloody, or dark and angsty (hi there, Accel World, Sword Art Online and BTOOOM!), up pops Ixion Saga, to tell the other shows to cut it out and just have fun. I admire the sentiment, at least.
THE GOOD: Knows what it is, plays for laughs, and has a core cast who are at least fun to watch.
THE BAD: Not an original bone in its body. Or within about 5 miles of it, either.
I stil dunno, mind. Three episode rule applies, again - while this opening episode was fun, I'm not convinced the idea won't run out of steam very quickly. We'll see soon enough.
Ixion Saga DT is streamed by Crunchyroll.
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Shameless Promotion
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Written by maehara
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Sunday, 07 October 2012 13:52 |
Over the past 13 years or so, I've collected a huge amount of anime. Most of it I'm never likely to watch again, and it's taking up space, so I'm having a clearout. Click through to find the full list (which is not yet complete - there'll be more added over the next few days) and see if there's anything that tempts you.
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Read more: AV Clearout
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Meanderings
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Written by maehara
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Saturday, 06 October 2012 20:51 |
Life for Rito continues much as it had last time we saw him - he's got a house full of alien girls, and a knack for finding them naked. Which in Momo's case at least seems to be worryingly convenient. Golden Darkness is still keeping a close eye on him, too - which, since she's supposed to kill him when she gets the chance, worries Rito a lot. So you would think that Rito's life couldn't get much more stressful - bit it can...
It may have been pulled from TAN and all trace of its existence erased (did they use one of Lala's gadgets for that?), but I'll still cover this for the heck of it. Two main plot points here, really: Momo's efforts to get Rito into her pants, and ideally the pants of every other girl who likes him if she can swing it - the future king of Deviluke really should have a harem, after all; and the efforts of an as-yet-unknown interloper to persuade Yami that she's gotten soft after her time on Earth and needs to get back into the assassin game - preferably by getting her finger out and completing the hit on Rito that she was hired to do so long ago. Given the "Darkness" part of the title, I'm guessing that's going to be the main thrust of the season, no matter what other types of thrusting Momo may be interested in.
Okay, it's fanservice++ and throughly trashy TV, but To Love-ru is very much a guilty pleasure - I enjoy one or two of them in a season, and with Darkness happy to play that role and seeming to have grown a plot since the first season (I haven't seen Motto yet) I'd be happy to stick with it. The problem here is that the source manga strays across the border into hentai territory, really - and when you try to adapt that, then come TV broadcast a least you're going to get editflare. And there's a lot of it here - to the point where I was reaching my aggrivation. There are one or two scene where so much is blocked out there's almost nothing on-screen, which makes the whole experience pointless.
THE GOOD: There seems to be a stronger plot here than To Love-ru usually gets, it'll be interesting to see how that plays out. The show's usual sense of fun is stil very much intact.
THE BAD: Editflare everywhere. Crosses even my boundaries of taste in one or two points, which I could do without, thanks.
I'm half-expecting the show to give up on pretensions of ploy before it gets too far and just turn into a fanservice fest. I dunno if that would disappoint me or not, to be honest. But for all that it is trashy anime, I can't say I didn't enjoy this. Now if only the hissy fit over its streaming could be sorted out, please...
To Love-ru Darkness was meant to be being streamed by The Anime Network (US) and Anime On Demand (UK & Ireland), but we'll have to wait for the licensors to get over themselves before that'll happen now...
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Meanderings
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Written by maehara
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Friday, 05 October 2012 21:30 |
Ryouta Sakamoto enjoys nothing more than playing online game BTOOOM!, where the objective is to blow your opponents away using a variety of BIMs - different types of bombs. He's the strongest and most respected player in the game - but while it's great fun to play online, Ryouta wakes one day to find himself on a deserted island with only a supply of BIMs for company. He's been drawn into a real version of the game - and his fellow "players", now playing for their lives, aren't about to cut him any slack...
I’m not ashamed to admit that this is near the top of my list of most anticipated shows for the season, going by the description alone. My hopes going into it were for something that was a bastard mix of Highschool of the Dead, Deadman Wonderland and Gantz. That expectation wasn’t too far out of the ballpark.
Ryouta is a dedicated NEET – he’s 22, determined more than anything to get a job in the games industry – but that’s a goal that has so far eluded him, and much to the distress of his mother he’s got no interest in taking any other sort of job in the meantime. He’s a sponger, and treats his mother with complete contempt whenever she tries to broach the subject with him. BTOOOM! Is his escape from his less-than-successful real-world life – and to be honest, he probably deserves all he’s going to get now that he’s been dumped in the real work version of the game. Not on the level of Kurono from Gantz, perhaps, but getting there.
As for the game mechanic – I like it. There are different types of bombs for different occasions (which the players will have to scavenge from each others’ corpses, by the looks of it), and plenty of opportunities for some tactics and tension if the possibilities are played right.
THE GOOD: Fun. Interesting setup for the game itself, which is different from the usual multi-player shoot-'em-up these days.
THE BAD: Ryouta is not the most likeable of protagonists, and if they follow the manga closely there's going to be some particularly nasty content next week. I'm hoping they tone that down for the anime, to be honest.
Yeah, it's trash anime, but it's fun trash anime, and that's what counts. Still plenty of opportunity to mess up, but a good start.
BTOOOM! is streamed by Crunchyroll.
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Meanderings
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Written by maehara
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Thursday, 04 October 2012 21:56 |
The Kusaribe family is a family of sorcerers under the protection of the Tree of Origins. Their princess, Hakaze Kusaribe, was the greatest sorceress of their family. But Samon Kusaribe, a member of their family seeking to resurrect the Tree of Exodus - a tree that opposes the Tree of Origins and controls the power of destruction - stuffs her into a barrel, and banishes her to a deserted island. Meanwhile, high school student Yoshino finds himself in the middle of an outbreak of 'black iron syndrome', a magical infection that turns all organic matter to metal - he only survives thanks to the influence of his mage friend, Mahiro - who's just been enlisted by Hakaze to help her thwart Samon's ambitions...
Well, after a few shows where my reaction has been "huh!?", Blast of Tempest at least has the good manners to explain itself as we go along. Quest for vengeance meets family power struggle, with the fate of the world at stake? Yeah, I think I can get behind that. There are a few things here that are touched upon but not really explained - the circumstances of Aika's demise, the relationship between her and Yoshino, and Samon's motives (other than just generally being a bastard), but there's enough else covered here that not getting to everything is perfectly fine. I certainly beats making a deliberate effort to tell you nothing. ::glares at K::
THE GOOD: I can understand what happening and follow the motivations of the characters. That's getting rarer these days, which isn't a good trend, so full marks to Blast of Tempest for bucking it. Hakaze could potentially be quite a bit of fun, if she ever gets off her desert island.
THE BAD: Don't particularly like Mahiro, which if he's going to be one of the heroes could turn out to be an issue. Can't really put my finger on much else at the moment.
I have visions of Hakaze still being on her island at the end of the series, telling us for the thousandth time just how good she is, even in her underwear. I'ts not a bad mental image. But there's plenty else going on in Blast of Tempest to keep the attention, so I suspect this will turn out to be a keeper...
Blast of Tempest is streamed by Crunchyroll.
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Meanderings
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Written by maehara
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Thursday, 04 October 2012 21:55 |
Shiri's making the most of his school life -mooching food off his classmates, spending large chunks of the day sleeping on the school roof, and being one of the most popular guys around (even though he never seems to really get close to anyone), he's got it made. But his peaceful days come to an abrupt end when, while running an errand for the Student Council, he's attacked by a group who seem very determined to kill him...
A long pre-credit sequence introduces the two groups that later come into conflict over Shiro. No idea yet who are the 'good' and 'bad' guys - the show's being rather vague on that point - and as soon as that action-packed and rather fun sequence is out of the way, the credits roll (angela OP? I approve...) - and we find ourselves in a high-school slice-of-life'ish thing until Shiro is attacked towards the end of the episode. And in between, we get a brief appearance from a naked ghost catgirl and the possibility that Shiro's a reincarnation of someone rather nasty.
Yeah, I have no idea what I just watched. Shiro's a bit of a goofball and not that entertaining to watch; the rest of the cast have barely had any introduction. For the most part, the show's visuals are pretty impressive, but every so often it slips into a stylized mode (most often used when one particular character is skateboarding) that's offputting. There are some hints at possible BL content,if that floats your boat (most notably when Shiro meets Kuroh).
THE GOOD: Looks good.
THE BAD: Doesn't make any effort to explain itself or give you any feel for the characters, with even Shiro - the star of the show, apparently - getting nothing beyond "he's a goofball".
I dunno. I've seen more hype for K than probably any other show this season, but the opening episode is done in a way that, for me, doesn't really help it or do anything to say to me, "you should watch this". And that's a disappointment. Three-episode rule, and then we'll see...
K is streamed by Anime On Demand (UK & Ireland) and Viz Anime (North America).
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