X-MEN - Review

Here it is, the third Marvel/Madhouse studio instalment and the one crossover in particular I was eager to watch being a self confessed X Geek. I couldn’t begin to express my enthusiasm with this little project and yet here in lies the problem. Given that I’m already familiar with the comics, I can’t say I was entirely satisfied with the anime adaptation. Despite the strongest offering to date, I can’t help but feel nagged by the little inaccuracies that held the anime back from complete brilliance.

To start with, I found the choice of cast or rather lack there of to be a consistent problem. Considering the vastness of the marvel universe, the primary x-men roster was fairly limited which seemed a real shame overall. While the anime made the correct decision of making Cyclops its lead character, something pretty novel in recent media history, the supporting cast received a mixed reception. Wolverine actually restored my faith in the character, Emma Frost gave a good suspicious sexbomb and first time animated Hisako was your standard tween, slightly annoying but unexpectedly proved her worth in the end. However the likes of Beast and Storm were audaciously overlooked, all but whitewashed into the background.

The villains on the other hand were a colossal let down. The U-Men were incredibly tedious and one dimensional. Fortunately a mutant baddie did make an appearance and Mastermind did a reasonable job if somewhat clichéd, still he was just not the one I wanted. The sheer lack of Magneto really undermined the whole piece, especially with several references and artwork in the credits, nothing more then empty promises. Nevertheless I have my fingers crossed after watching the epilogue, same goes for Rogue, Nightcrawler and Archangel cameos, if there is a second season of course.

I was further frustrated by Japanese versions of pre-existing characters in the form of Yui Sasaki and Takeo Sasaki who were blatantly based on Moria MacTaggert and Legion respectively. Their personas and appearances are all but identical, why not just use the names as well and thereby acknowledge the original characters? Then again this is little more then a personal regret since both Moira and Legion are old favourites of mine.

Another more prominent problem concerns the script. Despite an interesting premise and a rather gripping opening couple of episodes featuring a concept that’s familiar to long term x-fans and self explanatory to x-newbies, nevertheless the main plot took a massive detour about half way through the season when the X-Men hot tail it out of Japan in spite of not having solved the overarching mystery. The lapse in the middle serves to make the plot feel clunky and the literally leaping back and forth reduces the tension in general. Yet once the x-team return to Japan the storyline begins to excel again, making the diversion to New York feel out of place. Honestly the show would have benefited more from an episodic approach.

Nonetheless anime X-Men has some strong advantages in its favour. For one thing, it’s visually stunning, the animation remains true to the comic books while having placed a sleek twist on character designs, giving very striking individual appearances. I have to take my hat off to Madhouse studio, particularly when you compare to the last American X-Men cartoon, which frankly had such a worse animation and flat character designs, I’ve ever seen in an x-related cartoon.

In all, the anime had a lot of squandered potential but that doesn’t necessarily make the series bad. Perhaps the main problem was that the series was an adaptation and therefore open to interpretations. Hopefully there will be a second season and hopefully it can improve on some of these flaws.

Rating: 7.5/10

Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Boku-Tachi wa Mada Shiranai Review

Animes like We Still Don’t Know the Name of the Flower We Saw That Day, neatly nicknamed Anohana for short, are rare to come by. Wrapping up this month after a mere eleven perennial episodes, Anohana is fairly short but definitely sweet, remaining on the mark for the entirely of its run. It was smooth sailing for the most part with a couple of hiccups along the way, in particular the melodramatic minor characters, however strong planning and execution gave the show a greater purpose, more compelling then the sum of its parts.

The storyline focused on the complex relationship between five childhood friends who have drifted apart three years prior after the death of their sixth member, Meiko ‘Menma’ Honma. The primary protagonist, Jinta ‘Jintan’ Yadomi, the group’s former leader, now social recluse, is the only person able to see or communicate with Menma of whom he initially dismisses as a hallucination, a manifestation of his guilt. The relationship between Jintan and ghost girl Menma is both moe-humorous and deeply troubled at the same time, as Jintan struggles to come to terms with the supernatural return of his former friend. In essence Anohana is a coming-of-age drama, which has its characters enthralled with typical teenage dilemmas such as unrequited crushes, depleting friendship circles and social alienation, all the while having to deal with significant childhood trauma.

Anohana not only crafts great chemistry between Jintan and Menma, but also amongst the other four side characters, Anaru, Tsuruko, Yukiatsu and Poppo. The characterization is nothing short of wonderful, each teenager depiction is detailed and trendsetting, while primarily consisting of angst-ridden teenagers, and none come across as annoying, whiny or vastly unlikable. I’m almost impressed. This has to be a first. A primary strength of Anohana is that each character faces their own brand of grief which transpires into very different reactions. It explores the many ways that grief can be felt or expressed through physical escapism, falling in with the wrong crowd to irrational feelings of jealousy and resentment.

Nevertheless this tactic is not without its flaws. Whereas some characters are subtle and realistic in their anguish, others are overplayed. None more so then cross-dressing Yukiatsu, who’s youthful love for Menma drives him to impersonate her, white dress and all. You’ve seriously got to question how sincerely a child can not only comprehend an intricate emotion such as love but also hold a flame indisputably for three years. On the other hand Tsuruko was severely downplayed, while she remained the most ‘together’ member of the group, I couldn’t help but find her primary reason – the unreciprocated crush aspect, rather disappointing since it was already relevant to Anaru.

As a whole Anohana is a fine example of how well simplicity and innovation can bounce off each other under firm direction. The anime might have ended with one of the more emotionally charged climaxes this season, but it didn’t come as wholly unexpected, given the flow of the series. Reconciliation of the group was the ultimate goal, despite the obvious the series reframed from becoming sloppy or derived, and managed to pull of a touching and exceptional finale. Excellent series and highly recommended.

Rating: 8.5/10