Ikoku Meiro no Croisee - Review

Taken out of context, Ikoku Meiro no Croisee or Croisee in a Foreign Labyrinth is a perfectly charming historical adaption of life during the second half of the nineteenth century. The anime explores cross-culturalism in a manner which is both reverential but also understated. While Ikoku Meiro no Croisee never explicitly crosses the border into racism, it does however paint a rather rose tinted view of the time period, especially considering that racial prejudices were rife during the era – i.e. Social Darwinism.

However the strength of the anime is in its characters, succeeding in a cast that are dynamic and also endearing to behold. Despite the primary emphasis on Yune, she is a relatively unremarkable character. Her concept is one that is often overused in the depiction of Japanese girls in which ‘cute’ and ‘doll-like’ are the only conceivable traits. Fortunately Yune is a little more refined and well-rounded than most and her character is surprisingly well suited. Nevertheless when compared with the scope of the cast, Yune feels flat and one-dimensional, almost an object rather than a person.

On the other hand, the male protagonist Claude is an adept straight-man with a fleshed out backstory and plenty of personal development within a relatively short amount of time. Significantly Alice provides the right balance of annoyance and fangirlism to make for intriguing melodrama. While Oscar and Camille are excellent secondary characters, each adding a sense of stability and insight into the complex constrain of society.

Still when put into context, the plot of Ikoku Meiro no Croisee really falls apart. A young girl travels to the other side of the world with a complete stranger so that she can work as a maid in his grandson’s poorly performing business. The immediate question is why? Was this a regular occurrence at the time? Amusingly Camille points out that Claude knows very little about Yune, not her family status, not her age, nothing. The crushingly disappointing aspect of this series is that it never addresses who Yune is. We never learn why she wanted to come to France, if she did at all. We never learn how she and Oscar met. We never learn how a young Japanese girl became fluent in French. In fact the only thing we ever learn about Yune’s backstory is that she has an older sister who went blind. Granted this is a pretty touching and elegantly told but it makes even less sense. Why would Yune leave her blind sister (of whom she feels responsible for) alone while she runs off to Paris for an unspecified amount of time?

This is the only real flaw of Ikoku Meiro no Croisee. It demands the temporary suspension of reality in that the audience only focus on the moment. If you do, Ikoku Meiro no Croisee offers a heart-warming, slice-of-life tale with a beautiful cultural twist. Just don’t ask it too elaborate…

Rating: 8/10 

For fans of: Gosick, Rozen Maiden, Hourou Musuko

Dantalian no Shoka - Review

I have to admit, this one was a bit of a doozie.

Dantalian no Shoka or alternatively Bibliotheca Mystica de Dantalian (The Mystic Archives of Dantalian) is certainly a peculiar one. At a mere twelve episodes the series is pretty easy-going and fits nice and tidily into the Victorian/Edwardian mystery niche that the Japanese are so fond of. On the other hand, it’s lazy and unsubstantial. It seems to almost pander to said niche rather than seeking expansion or development. And there are plenty of animes that handle this cliché better and manage to have a resolution.

Set in England after the First World War, Hugh “Huey” Antony Disward (voiced by none other than the black butler himself, Daisuke One) inherits his grandfather’s massive estate and underage demon/doll/library-girl, Dalian as well. The plot focuses on the duo as they recover phantom books, objects which offer the reader non-specific magic powers. As an episodic series, Dantalian no Shoka is entertaining enough, through the initial premise – Dalian is a library – is never actually explored or explained. It’s just accepted. Much like Huey and his new role through he really has no obligation to. And yet at no point does Huey display any resistance nor does he ever question Dalian regarding her origins or how her powers work. He just accepts it, which is not how a normal human being would behaviour but there you go. This is a prime example of poor character construction. Sure Huey can get shot in the stomach, bleed out, get up and carry Dalian as he jumps out of window then run away from a pack of hungry zombies but ultimately does that give him a personality? Nope. It just makes him a bland, one dimensional hero archetype. Needless to say Dalian’s character or lack thereof isn’t any better.

Admittedly Dantalian no Shoka reminds me a lot of Gosick – same time period, same moe-girl and older guy couple, same preliminary mystery premise, same sleek animation. It actually surprised me that the two were not made by the same company. Ironically what wore thin with Gosick is what gives Dantalian no Shoka its strength and vice versa. For example whereas Gosick didn’t work as an episodic series and the bigger picture was much more interesting, it’s quite the reverse for Dantalian no Shoka, which seemed content to shoehorn something resembling a main storyline very last minute and I do mean last episode last minute. The effect was pretty disastrous. It felt rushed, half-hearted and completely unintended, like the producers had planned for a longer run but ended up stopping mid-point just as something new and exciting was occurring. Ultimately this pulled the series down.

Rating: 6 /10

For fans of: Black Butler, Gosick, Rozen Maiden 

Mawaru Penguindrum - Review

There are animes, there are art forms and then there is Kunihiko Ikuhara, the director of iconic magical girl animes Sailor Moon and Revolutionary Girl Utena. Evidently Ikuhara is well versed in cookie-cutter shows as well as breath-taking breaking the mould shows. So you’ll either get exactly what you want or exactly what you didn’t expect. Nevertheless both Sailor Moon and Revolutionary Girl Utena deal with a similar platform (not to mention virtually identical animation); Mawaru Penguindrum takes a fresh and entirely different approach. The concept is a little hard to pin down as the genre(s) is less shojo-romance and more mystery/comedy/sci-fi. And there are penguins. Lots of penguins.

The series centres on three siblings, twins Shouma and Kanba and their terminally ill younger sister, Himari. Initially Himari dies but is immediately reanimated into a penguin princess during one of the most spectacular magical girl transformations I’ve ever witnessed. The new and improved Himari demands a penguindrum in exchange for their sister’s new found health. What is a penguindrum? The princess doesn’t say, nor do we really find out until the very last episode and even then it’s still a little ambiguous.

The characters are all first rate. It’s near impossible to dislike any of them. Shouma and Kanba serve as superb protagonists, challenged with the heart-wrenching task of trying to save a loved one, a task that eventually leads them apart and seeking conflicting paths. Himari appears cute as a button one moment, than high-and-mighty princess the next, both roles are electrifying. One potential problem is the incest, fortunately that is resolved in the most satisfying conclusion, it’s not incest (major spoilers). Even Ringo, who is principally introduced as an annoying, single-minded stalker, has such stark revelations about her past, that the character is renovated into someone relatable and ultimately likable.

Mawaru Penguindrum is very much a character study in the sense that all of the primary cast have a rough upbringing and are in some way scarred, allowing for plenty of growth and development. One minor setback of the traumatic childhood is the over use of the lonely/abandoned child complex. This leads to great effect in some situations, namely the horrendous child broiler scenes which really work to drive home that there is something underlying evil with this society and not so much in others, chiefly the Masako storyline. Despite what I said early, this is one character that we didn’t get to see utilized to her full potential. She and her brother Mario were mostly padding for a shocking plot twist. Interesting enough, but perhaps not quite on par with the rest of the cast.

The storyline is impeccably well-crafted. From the outset, this is set up to be a tragedy. The beginning is (naturally) deceptive as the light-hearted, whimsical romantic-comedy element is gradually lost and replaced with a much colder ascetic. Mawaru Penguindrum is also a masterpiece of symbolism and surrealism that will certainly require several views in order to soak up all the references. Clearly nothing has been left to chance, or fate as is more relevant.

Mawaru Penguindrum is nothing short of magnificent. The sheer level of depth, of detail that has gone into the shows meticulous design is quite frankly staggering and the outcome is simply flawless. The devotion of the siblings as the core motivator is pretty powerful and the ending is incredibly satisfactory if a little open ended. Kunihiko Ikuhara is a true visionary and hopefully this will be the shape of more things to come from this wonderfully talented director.

Rating: 9/10

Recommended. 

Ultimate Spider-man: First Impression

In prior reviews I’ve probably made it abundantly clear that I am a marvel girl, one hundred and ten per cent. However there is one superhero I loathe above all others and he happens to be a marvel creation, none other than Spiderman. The core problem of this franchise is that it is a singular protagonist show, unlike say x-men or the avengers. If (like me) you don’t like the primary character, if (like me) you think the explanation for his superpowers is a little far-fetched/completely stupid, then you probably should avoid the entire product.

And then along came Spectacular Spiderman. The success of this rendition was truly in its character department (ironically enough) and keeping the action as low key as possible. The decision to focus almost exclusively on the teenage life of Peter Parker and his relationship with his peers was to the shows credit, compared with other teenage heroes – x-men evolution, Teen Titans and Young Justice, in which the interaction as regular teens can be limited and sometimes entirely absent. Spectacular Spiderman chose the other rout and ultimately this made the character more likeable, it made his school-chums more three dimensional, it made me rethink my position on Spiderman.

Unfortunately Spectacular Spiderman was cancelled after a mere 24 episodes and we were then gifted with this monstrosity, Ultimate Spider-man. It’s like everything that ever was or ever could be bad about Spiderman has been squeezed into 24 minutes. Peter Parker is an annoying, obnoxious douchebag who blunders about the set, spamming the audience with the obvious and the unfunny. I mean how are we supposed to invest in a character that’s its nearly impossible to like? Take the episode Doomed for example. Spiderman = total douchebag.

Whereas the characters in Spectacular Spiderman are what made the show so special, the characters in Ultimate Spider-man are what make it so flat and one-dimensional, regardless of how many marvel cameos we receive. Also neato that we’re back to the one girl per two/three guy’s ratio, talk about progress! Hey maybe we could even have Mary-Jane and White Tiger exchange a single line with each other, wouldn’t try be edgy? And nice job stereotyping Nick Fury as the angry black guy!

As for my understanding of the premise of Spiderman, isn’t he supposed to be a lone hero, a self-taught vigilante shouldering the burden of his uncle’s death? Sure the idea of Shield offering Spidey a job/training is interesting, but so far it only uses this premise to point out what a lame pussy Spiderman is. Fuck it, I’m only watching this for Agent Coulson and the eventual Loki & Quicksilver cameos.

Initial Rating: 5/10 

Tiger and Bunny Review

The core concept behind Tiger and Bunny isn’t exactly new and/or original. The superhero as a celebrity aspect has been paraded around before, most notably in the Iron Man films. Tiger and Bunny simply takes this to the next conceivable consumer level, the superhero as a reality TV star. As a self-confessed marvel geek, this very notion is contradictory to what constitutes as a hero, which is a well-held running theme. What is so controversial about this premise is the notion that the superheroes fight crime in order to win brownie points as oppose to their personal sense of moral justice. In fact the only character that really maintains old skool hero values is our primary protagonist, Tiger which initially results in his low ranking and often become more of a hindrance.

The secondary protagonist, Bunny has a tragic backstory more in keeping with the classic superhero roots, pretty blatantly a Batman rip. Fortunately the writers have the good sense to spin a new angle and make the character mainly concerned with solving his parents’ murder as oppose to becoming a vigilante. However we don’t learn much about the other heroes and when we do it often exposes their all too human motivations, pressure from parents, wanting to stand out or in the case of Blue Rose, wanting to become a teen idol. In the long run it renders the characters human and flawed, which is not what heroes are supposed to represent. Yet by grounding them in a sense of reality, it actually gives them a greater depth rather than having them portrayed as saints taking on societies responsibilities just because they were born with super powers.

Having said that there are a few minor hiccups, the most notable is in regards to Tiger and his conflict as both superhero and single father. While it’s a nice twist to have a single father superhero, in this particular anime which re-writes the superhero genre, it’s never really explained why this division is necessary. Since his identity is kept secret and the rest of his immediate family already know, why hide it from his pre-teen daughter? Doesn’t he want her know? Wouldn’t that make his life easier? Wouldn’t she be more sympathetic with his absentee parenting? Or he could just quit and raise his child full time, which should actually take priority. In all it seems too contrived and too forced, not to mention almost out of context with the show.

What really intrigued me about this show was the collaboration between cultures. The notion of the superhero, the overt commercialization and especially the setting right down to the dollar currency system are grounded in western ideologies. Even the genesis of the superheroes has a lot in common with another popular American franchise, the X-Men. Yet later on when Tiger leaves to visit his daughter we’re transported to a rural Japanese backdrop. This element of harmony is made none the more clearer than between the two protagonists, Tiger is obviously Japanese and Bunny is western, presumably American. Interestingly there is a similar congruence with the futuristic technological advances whilst being set in 1978 (according to the Christmas clock). Overall this blend mingled well with the plot, adding an extra creative boost along the way.

As everyone should know, every good superhero requires a nemesis. While Tiger and Bunny did deliver a big bad towards the end of the series both with an unexpected twist and the potential for a much greater threat, this paled in comparison to the anti-hero, Lunatic. The character was introduced in small intervals allowing the audience to connect the dots while the protagonists remain blissfully unaware. It was almost a shame that Lunatic wasn’t utilized more.  Still, there is plenty of room for a follow up series and even talk of a movie.

Rating: 8.5/10

First Impression DC vs. Marvel

Young Justice Invasion 

It’s no secret that I’m not a DC girl. For me, DC tends to miss the mark more often than it hits it. The same is true for their animation. Aside from Batman the Animated Series which is sheer awesome and the comedic anime-styled Teen Titans, I’ve not given DC a second glance. I do remember watching Justice League, later Justice League Unlimited as a kid and being unimpressed with the level of corniness. Then along came Young Justice and it was finally a show that DC seemed to have the right balance of silliness and maturity. Despite a relatively young cast, the show was surprisingly dark (in comparison to other superhero shows comprising of teenagers – Teen Titans or X-Men Evolution for example). The original season was clever, concise and had plenty of character development. The second series is a different matter.

Season two is set five years after the events of the season one finale (which only aired last week). Not that this is made clear as to why, it’s only briefly referenced by Batman. So in the initial episode we learn that Kid Flash, Artemis, Red Arrow and Aqualad are no longer part of the team. Wow, I mean that could be quite a kick to the teeth to their fans. Zatanna and Rocket have also left but we still do see them briefly as members of the Justice League. Replacing them are Robin (Tim Drake), Blue Beetle, Beast Boy, Batgirl, Wonder Girl, Bumblebee and Lagoon Boy. Disappointingly none of these new characters actually makes an impression, their personalities pale in comparison to the original cast. Whereas season one gradually introduced its protagonists and even continued to expand up until the very end, season two completely jumps the shark by creating an entirely new line-up. Of course the biggest frustration is the break-up of Superboy and Miss Martian. During the original series their relationship was crucial to either character in order to gain stability and strength and ultimately to be able to accept themselves. It’s seems almost undignified that they should break-up off screen. Or that Miss Martian should be with Lagoon Boy (already top of the annoying list). I suppose the writers wanted the inevitable Superboy/Wonder Girl hook up to be less complicated.

In all, Young Justice: Invasion sure does have its work cut out. I mean in order to forgive tossing away five freaking years; it has to pull something beyond amazing out of its hat. I feel the need to explain to DC that fans get attached to characters. And fans don’t like change. We like characters with interesting personalities and experiences and we like watching them grow throughout the course of a series. We don’t like them being expendable or interchangeable.

Initial rating: 6/10

 The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.

Much like Young Justice, The Avengers had a killer first season with subtle hints towards an alien invasion in the next season. Unlike Young Justice, The Avengers is smart enough not to uproot its prior cast for an entire new one. Instead new characters/members are gradually introduced, notably Ms. Marvel, making her the second female to join the team, progress!

The second season spares no time in plunging the team into a new conflict with a new villain, none other than Dr. Doom. As well as introducing a new alliance, the Fantastic Four. The following episodes are primarily filler, exploring possible future story arcs, for example Maria Hill discusses superhero registration which would unavoidably lead into the notorious civil war scenario. The strength of The Avengers is in its awareness for what fans want to see. It doesn’t overload us with too many characters resulting in extended cameos, it takes its time to start on a smaller scale and build around the primary cast. This obviously allows certain characters – Iron Man for example more screen time, but more importantly is that it allows other characters the opportunity to develop within their own stories and solo adventures. For instance, Thor has not yet returned to Midgard, yet we have seen him and are aware a big bad Asgardian villain will pop up some time in the future. This is why I think Marvel has the upper hand as the creative staff seem to know less is sometimes more.

Initial Rating: 8/10 

Steins;Gate Review

In terms of plot, Steins; Gate is a remarkable accomplishment. It handles an interesting premise with an original and thought-provoking manner. As a time-travel-theory novice I can’t vouch for the accuracy of the physics involved, nevertheless the context is pretty heavy-going, enough to indicate the writers have a vague idea over the subject matter. Or at least enough to make the utterly absurd sound plausible i.e. the microwave that sends text messages to the past. Unfortunately this is one of the few drawbacks, the overtly technical side. Understandably it can be a bit overwhelming especially in the beginning and factoring in the speed at which things progress, it’s not easy to digest initially. 

Steins; Gate takes it time to introduce the cast, the setting and the science, all done to the anime’s credit, before plummeting full throttle into a magnificent thriller that becomes the focal point. Despite a relatively repetitive sequence of events (literally), the storyline itself does not become repetitive. Quite the opposite actually, it becomes grippingly addictive. This is in no small part due to the unravelling of the complex, multi-layered plot and the fascinating exploration of trying to twist it back together.

For the most part, the characters are crafted wonderfully. Okarin as the primary protagonist and self-proclaimed mad scientist experiences the most character development largely down to the emotional roller-coaster he endures and thus is the most three dimensional. Whereas his immediate companions, Mayuri and Daru are essentially stereotypes or stereotypes, yet are delightful enough. Kurisu the female protagonist and blatant love interest is a little more challenging. On the one hand her interactions with Okarin provide enjoyable conflict and on the other her personality weakens in the context of the backstory. However it’s the secondary cast, cat-girl and the girl-guy who are an eternal source of annoyance. At first I took them for throw away characters and I wasn’t strictly speaking wrong. As plot devices they’re integral, as characters they’re not.

All in all, Steins; Gate is an incredible feat, one that’s rarely seen these days. Yes, it’s not perfect, there are flaws primarily in the character department, but these are so minimal in comparison to the shows ultimate triumph, it practically re-writes the sci-fi genre. High recommendations.

Rating: 9/10