Reboot

Through a contrived number of events, they have led me hear, and with the understanding that for no reason whatsoever, this blog has actually been viewed much, much more than I would have thought. Despite my lack of updating several galactic sweeps. I'd apologize for my absence, but the view count on this site isn't that much.



Life basically got busy and during this, I lived in Japan for a year with a wonderful host family while studying abroad. Living in Kyoto, traveling to Tokyo and Sapporo and Kyushu have done wonders for my understanding of the Japanese context that often overlays animes (particularly the ones I tend to watch and review). I will be attempting to do some maintenance on some of the older posts, clean up reviews to more accurately and critically assess materials, and simply adding some content to catch up with the anime I've been watching the last few years.

Kino's Journey

Kino's Journey is a 13 episode "closed" series (there are a few movies too) that focuses on the travels of Kino and her motorcycle which converses with her over the course of their travels. I would place this series in the same regard as I have for Mushi-shi in that it is a lovely minimalist take (this time in both sound and art style). For as short as this series is, and the simplicity of the over all idea, it really has been flushed out amazingly well to incorporate both light and dark sides of the world. These travels to other countries are so full with lessons that I feel like I need to watch this series over several times in order to understand more.


Through her travels, Kino experiences the many customs, generosity, dangers and absurdity of the outside world. There is an interesting overlaying arch that is touched upon in the series, but is extremely episodic and one could probably jump in at any episode with very little back story to get caught up. That being said the dialog is spot on and needs to be paid attention to. Everyone is just trying to get along and make it their own way, or how they have lived.

On the aside; I recently showed this as the weekly anime movie. I, frankly, am running out of movies that I have so I opted to show Kino as a beautiful segway into next semester. It was after this showing that I realized that nearly all of the anime I'm reviewing on this blog should be watched in either silence, or devoid of humorous anecdotes. This series in particular needs to be watched and experienced on an engaged level. Without that, you're robbing yourself of amazing moments that only happen the first time you watch them. Go ahead and be loud the second time, or after it's over.

I can't express enough how well this series finds accurate parallel situations to portray the underlying questions to systems and how one should either act or perceive the world around them. There is a to take in all at once and I would suggest spacing episodes in order to think them through before moving on to the next one. There is so much potential in personal growth by suggestions and posed questions.

"The world is not beautiful. And because of that, it is. "
-Kino's Journey

Listin'

Good news everyone! I've just finished my latest invention: a profile that contains within it the most comprehensive list of anime I have watched to present in the universe(myanimelist.net).

This site is rather useful in either finding new things, or perhaps what you should be watching. I have my suspicions of many of the things rated as being popular, and there are alot of series or movies that don't quite get ranked up as far as they maybe should, but that still doesn't detract from the usefulness of lists, recommendations, other reviews, and some insight to other animes. I am going to continue updating this blog, hopefully more often in the coming months, but be aware that the most current list (complete with stats and numbers) will be here

What this will help me do is deliver some better critical analysis to some of the series that I will throw up here as well as give more numbers people an idea how to quantify things. I should also note that this blog and my other lists will not be identical. Not everything that I've watched meets the criteria to be put onto this blog. While I'd like to think that I just watch good anime, there is definitely a line between entertaining and the anime that is beautiful by design, story, art, characters, and potential for gleaning lessons which will be appearing on this blog.

Clannad

Clannad and the second season of the series Clannad After Story are two remarkably well put together Slice of Life story arcs. While the story gets just a little confusing as to how everything ties in at the very end, this is one of the best series I've watched this summer by far.

The story's first season follows its main character Tomoya Okazaki through his senior year at high school, while After Story picks up right where the first left off and continues the story over the next ten years. I'm not going to touch on After Story's arc at all because it is so closely related to everything in the first season and any insight into that would taint the experience. That being said, I also feel as if After Story deserved its own post, but decided against it when I realized I wasn't going to be able to write too much without giving anything away.


The first season is the more spontaneous and playful of the two seasons. It follows Okazaki as he meets several new friends partly due to his time skipping classes with his fellow delinquent Sunahara. The pacing is fine in my opinion and weaves a great base for characters to push their own story along as well as keeping the stage clear of unnecessary tangents. Okazaki meets Nagisa Furukara who is shy and soft spoken, but is on a quest to recreate the theater club at their highschool. With nothing better to do Okazaki begins to help her on her goal. Their romance throughout the series is extremely well done as both develop the relationship constantly, but slowly. It never feels awkward for their characters, nor does it feel like it is rushed, or held back. It just is. Because of how well the first season nails this key aspect, the second season is all the more deep and.... gives a feeling of true connectivity to things between viewer and character as the real drama starts to take place.

By the end of the series nearly every character has been examined and flushed out, yet all in a way that never distracts from either the main characters or the main arc. The comedy throughout is nearly flawless. It was very refreshing and very..real feeling that you could count on either the main character or someone else to say/do something you'd expect in the situation. For this to happen correctly though, the characters must all form a strong cohesion within the story as well as exhibit a side of realism and consistency.



The second season is what made this series for me.After Story becomes a discussion of simply everyday work life and learning how to deal with the problems at hand. The comedy is still present, but without being in a school atmosphere, it appears a little less. This is so well done that in the last five episodes it is nearly impossible to not cry at some point. The ending, however is beautifully done and all I will say is that it ties up everything.
The art is dazzling throughout every episode with high frame rates, and brilliant animation. Sound direction both in voice acting and in foley effects are wonderful. The Japanese dub is still superior, but the English sub isn't that bad actually.Particularly, there is a scene in After Story in my mind where laying side by side, it shows what must be six seconds of hands finding each other in the dark and eventually meshing together. All the colors are so rich, and again, more prominent in the After Story as everything swells.

The use of the song Dango Daikazoku as well as either opening song is absolutely perfect for the feel of the story. Both have been slowly been stuck in my head the entire time I have been watching this series. I really feel like I should be able to say more on this note, but at the moment I am unable to think exactly what other angle I want to praise this series.

Clannad is a beautiful story that is delivered exceptionally well. Due to the nature of the work, it is told by the characters that act and feel like real people. If any one of them felt too much like a cut out, this series would ultimately fail. Endearing, emotional, and for myself, good for remembering, this is a great piece which certainly adheres to what this blog is trying to deliver.

Oh, as an after though: The second season has only one problem and that's the ending song they have chosen. It ends up ruining a lot of the mood created over the twenty minutes of the episode. On youtube there are a few who have just dubbed over the first season ending in its place. I highly recommend watching those.

FLCL

Paranoia Agent

Samurai Champloo

Samurai Champloo is a 20ish episode closed series anime by Manglobe which is the same company that produced Ergo Proxy. Congruent with most animes Manglobe has been a part of, the plot is completely original and gains heavy inspiration from hip-hop. This is a similar inspiration that can be seen in Afro Samurai which takes heavy R&B/Hip-hop influence.

Set in the late 1800's, the villages are still in their feudal stage, and bandits and gangs run amuck. After a few bandits begin to cause trouble for Fuu, who is rescued by Jin and Mugen, but then sentenced to death for their exploits. Through that afternoon's circumstances, Jin and Mugen must postpone their promise to kill the other for having fallen into debt to Fuu. This launches them off on their journey to find the A samurai who smells of sunflowers.

The result is quite amazing. Characters are developed over the episodic adventure. Voice acting and facial animation are given the utmost care. Writing and dialoge come off completely naturally. This attention to detail produces characters that are completely alive and full of expression.

Fight scenes are well orchestrated, and have a definite flow to them. Action is fast, not necessarily flashy, but completely styled for that specific character. To go along with it is the mix up of soundtrack that is ever present. Nearly always some sort of beat is laid down that does a superb job at mixing with the feel and atmosphere of the story without ever becoming awkward or forced.


The first season of the series is very episodic, generally with no actually contribution to the over all plot other than showing how characters react and grow. With that said, the second season does a much better job at stringing together episodes. There are still a few that just seem a little random, but the way the series wraps up is brilliant.