Arpeggio of Blue Steel mid season review

 

The show so cool you have to wear a jacket

As it turns out the fall of 2013 is a rather strong season as I have found there are about a dozen shows than I am following and only a couple of them are shows I am even considering dropping. Arpeggio of Blue steel is one of those shows I am enjoying and perhaps more than I thought I would. Maybe you might enjoy it as well.

 

No one expects the yuri monocle inquisition

First of all I fully understand that the premise of battleship girls is kind of stupid and perhaps a bit pandering as well, with perhaps a lot of prospective viewers taking a look and dismissing it as just another harem show. I have watched the show and about halfway through it I can say that this is not really the case. Even though the female cast has grown It is actually kind of nice that only Takao acts like your traditional lovestruck girl as opposed to most of the cast.

 

The logical conclusion to defeat means friendship

This show seems to follow a pattern of one episode focusing on characters followed by a second episode that is mostly focused on a large battle, with episode eight being the exception so far. I have found these battles to be enjoyable as well.So far there has been two naval battles and  This is where the show's decision to go entirely cg has paid off the most in my opinion.

This brings us to the possible downfall of the show, that the fact that the show is animated entirely with computer animation. In truth I am finding it to be less of a problem than I thought. I think that part of this is due to the fact that everything is in cg thus making it less obvious than when it is contrasted with something else and partially because since everything is in cg the animators are getting more experience with how to make cg work well.

 

Hyuuga is every shipper ever

Overall I have found Arpeggio of Blue Steel to be a generally fun and interesting anime show. If I were to encapsulate it into a simple sentence I would say that it is "Like Infinite Stratos, only with less fan service.I give this show a solid bronze with the possible hint of silver if it gets even better.

Losing your head over Samurai Flamenco

(note this editorial assumes your have seen episode seven)

This wouldn't have happened if I was the star of the show.

This fall among my favorite anime shows has been Samurai Flamenco. It has been a rather fun comedic take on the Japanese super hero genre that can make you think from time to time. I did have one misgiving about the show, the question of where this show is going to go. Episode seven answered this in a big way introducing a villain organization, King Torture and whatever followers he has. However with one answered misgiving another arising, just how does one explain how a man can transform into a gorilla with guillotine in it's stomach.

Moe thinks the show will sort itself out.

In my mind one of the best comparisons to episode seven of Samurai Flamenco is the reveals in Madoka Magica. Both episodes radically changed how viewers think about the shows in question. However there is big possible difference in reveals in these shows. In Madoka Magica only two people knew about the true nature of what was happening before it was revealed to the viewer. In both cases made sense that they would hide what they were saying; with Kyuubey being truthful about the nature of a magical girl would have made his deal a harder sale and in the case of Homura it was shown that she already tried revealing information in another timeline and it didn't do any good. 

I like badguys with more guts.

So the question is who knew about Guilotine Gorilla and when? How Samurai Flamenco answers this will determine how the show will be viewed. There are currently a few factors in the shows favor. The first is than in the previous episodes the world has become slightly more fantastic, especially the heroes armaments. The show has evolved from a man being beaten up by middle-schoolers to a man with office supplies that allow him to mimic spider man. Secondly there is the fact that said gorilla transformation was only able to occur because of police interference. It is fairly understandable that King Torture wanted to keep his organization secret. So if most of the super science can be confined only to his organization some sort of plausibility can be maintained. At least as much as need for a sentai show parody.

See this drove our hero into a despression

Of course at this point all of this is speculation and hope. So far Samurai Flamenco has been a fun exploration of the human condition and morality. I can only hope that the last fifteen episodes. At least it can't be as bad a Coppelion. 

Review Mobile Suit Gundam Movie 1

In the 79th year of universal century war broke out between the Earth Federation and the principality of Zeon. It was a devastating war which cost billions of lives. The movie begins on site seven a space colony which comes under attack because it is holding new prototype weapons for the Earth Federation. A young man named Amuro Ray is caught up in the conflict and manages to save himself by piloting the prototype mobile suit Gundam. However he and the other people of site seven will have to escape aboard the Federation warship called white base.

Baby's first Zaku kill

The mobile suit Gundam movies are a trilogy that compiles a 43 episode television series into three movies. From what I remember of the television series this first movie tells what happens in the first dozen or so episodes of this show. This movie is very action-packed with about six fight scenes happening in the course of about two hours. It does allow for some basic character development even though it does feel somewhat rushed in points. Still from watching the movie I can understand why it is considered one of anime's seminal science fiction works.

Obligatory Char post

As an experiment I watch this number to view the with my father. He found the movie slightly confusing as he asked a few questions. Overall he thought it was a fun movie and very fast-paced even though he did note that the animation felt very poor.

But MOM I have the cap some guy

This brings us to the main downfall of this movie. The mobile suit Gundam movies were made from television great animation that was made in 1979. The said will be quite poor by today's standards. In fact it is the only thing keeping me from giving this a gold rating.

Overall if you can stand the animation and consider yourself a serious anime fan you need to see this movie.

Rating The Silver mecha because there is little to compare Gundam to even if it hasn’t aged all that well.

Gundam build fighters, I accept this selling out

 

When I first posted about Gundam Build Fighters I pretty much said that it was a pretty bold faced toy commercial. I continue to hold this position but even though I dropped over half of the shows I saw I continue to watch this show rather happily and will probably continue to do so. How can I do this?

 

Come on kid you could try and through the het shippers a bone here

I think it is somewhat important to note that Gundam build fighters is a different genre than most Gundam or even most mecha shows. It is more of a sports show than a war drama like other Gundam shows, even G Gundam. Mecha is a genre that is most definitely on a downturn since 2008 and maybe one of the reasons is that many of the conventions that are staples of the genre have become stale. Even some of the more prominent mecha shows such as Guilty Crown and Valvrave tend to behave like poor copies of earlier shows. Gundam Build Fighters, at least right now is a simple show about a few kids who enjoy playing a game but still has much of the feel of a mecha show. Not everything has to be some sort of artistic masterpiece in order to shake up genre conventions.

 

Ral is buried in no sand zaku boy, no sand zaku

The other thing holding this show up is the amount of references that are dropped in the show. Ever since I living through the Lucky Star Hype I know a show can stand almost entirely on references. Perhaps the idea of references to another show is the show appealing to prospective fan the same way that one anime fan could appeal to another. This is how a show as kiddified as Gundam Build Fighters can appeal to an older crowd of mecha fans.

 

Even with leg breakers the show never steers away from it's genre.

Even though I find Gundam Build Fighters to be fun it is still a rather shallow type of fun. While the right kind of fan might really dig the heck out of this show I know it's not for everyone. Right now this show is a solid bronze for me.

I was too harsh with Log Horizon

 

When I was reviewing the first episodes of nearly every anime show I watched the first episode of Log Horizon and pretty much panned it as a somewhat ripoff of Sword Art Online. It was not an uncommon opinion as the accusations of psuedo plagiarism are thrown about with wild abandon. However if you might guess I have watched the show further and am about to recant my old position. Although to lavish praise upon this show is still a bit premature things are looking up for the show.

 

The horror of cosplay

First of all Sword art Online isn't the best comparison to Log Horizon, Maoyuu is. It may seem a bit obvious given that they are both adaptations of novels by the same Author,  Mamare Touno. This is made all the more apparent in episodes five and six of Log Horizon as the show takes a turn into the social engineering that Maoyuu was so known for. My only real worry about Log Horizon at this point is the possibility that it gets too wrapped up with Shiro's grand plan to make the world a better place ignoring things such as character development and action.

Your nightmare but possibly Ron Paul's dreamland

 

There are some things in anime that seem rather stupid on first glance and only when you get further into a show does the reasoning become apparent. This of course applies to the resurrection scenario in Log Horizon. When I first saw it in episode two I thought it was an utterly stupid idea as it was something that drained the tension out of the show like few things could; for after all when the characters no longer have to fear death there is little dramatic tension to the show. However as the show progressed this helped with the show' main theme, asking if people just wake up when you kill them, what is the real consequence to murder, and thus facilitating Elder Tale's descent into a world of chaos and oppression.  

 

Attack on boars covered in vegetables

Currently Log Horizon is an interesting show that is finally starting to stand on it's own two feet. It manages to have some fairly interesting characters and possibly a good plot. It is hovering around a bronze rating or it maintains it's upward trend of quality I could see giving this show a silver rating. Hear is to being hopeful for this show.

Stella Jogakuin Koutou-ka C³-bu review

Even though Yura Yamato has enrolled in the prestigious Stella Girl's school she is still insecure and unable to make new friends. She also finds that her not appearing in the first episode roommate is some sort of gun fanatic. She is approached by the school's survival game (airsoft gun) group and like almost all anime school clubs pressured into joining so the group could maintain a quorum of members. After some initial apprehension Yura finds that not only does she have some interest in survival games but that her roommate is Sonora, the president of the survival game club.

Sadly you are still just a side character

c3bu is a relatively short anime show about a girl who learns what it means to love a hobby. While it may look like a small arms version of last year's Girls un Panzer this is show is quite different. The comparison is not entirely false however as this show does manage to do action scenes quite well. While I don't want to spoil anything c3bu does take a much darker turn about halfway through the show.

One lesson to be learned, you never go full Jojo

I consider this a rather mixed show. On one hand I consider the main character to be one of the more complex female leads I have seen in a while (see my article survival games and moral choices choice for a more complete rundown of her character). On the other hand the rest of the cast feels like two dimensional foils for Yura. The show's tone does seem to be all over the map, there are several elements (such as the supernatural elements which are introduced in episode four and then disappear until the end of the show) does make this show feel poorly focused in some aspects.

Still you can't hate a show with a good Rambo homage

Overall I consider c3bu to be a rather interesting character study even if it does have it's flaws.

Rating The bronze Charlotte (Madoka Magica) for not being the cute girl show you thought it would be

Survival games and moral choices

You don't get many editorials about your so I would think you would be a bit more interested

 

One of the more common complaints about Stella c3 bu was that it was a show that didn't know what it wanted to be. I think part of the problem is that it wasn't really a conventional anime show or even a conventional experimental anime show (the idea of what passes for a conventional experimental show is it's own topic that I will cover in the future). However it did something so very right in the advancement of gender equality that I think that it deserves mention.

 

One of the main problems with discussions of gender in anime or media in general is that unless some art piece crosses one of a few rather set lines in which interested parties will usually usually offer their almost canned outrage but other than that the wider idea of gender is generally left unexamined and thus little if any real progress is made or understanding is reached and most of our predispositions remain unexamined.

 

Even through there is no real villains in c3bu consider how female villains are often treated in media. Most often they are given the angst ridden back stories and easily end up joining the hero in the end. There is even a trope associated with this the high heel face turn (the link is here). While at first may look like a good thing, usually under some guise of violence against women is wrong or something, but in fact it demeans women by making them look as through they are incapable of true moral choice. What is even worse is that many so called feminists will ignore this because it grants them a type of leniecy for misdeeds.

 

How does this all connect to c3bu? First of all think of the show's nominal villain, Rin. While at first she appears to be a cardboard jerk and is later revealed to be a deeper character the redemption tropes do not apply. The most obvious reason is that she never changes moral positions, her positions are simply shown in a different light. This gives her a sense of dignity that the high heel face turn never could.

 

The character that I really want to talk about though is Yura. Her character is something that I rarely if ever see in any characters, much less female ones. She is a main character who is allowed to be corrupted by her own choices and is only redeemed when she realizes her own faults. This causes her to fail as not only the "strong female character" but also severely undercuts if not destroys her status as an innocent moe character. Given that Yura ended up failing to live up to these standards it is no wonder the show tanked in sales. However that very fact is something that made Yura so very human and unique as a character.

Review Love Lab

Someone is paying attention to us?

In Fuji Girl’s school the most popular student there is no student as popular as the student president Maki Natsuo. She is that perfect and elegant princess of the school. That is until one day that another student Riko Kurahashi finds out that she is really a love struck goofball. Maki swears Riko to secrecy and also has her join in her Love Labs or training on how to find boys. Maki is especially interested in learning from Riko who is a love master or at least that is what she accidentally tells Maki and doesn’t have the courage to admit she is as clueless about boys as Maki.

This pic makes this show seem way more erotic than it really is

Love lab is a thirteen episode comedy series. In my opinion this is a really well constructed show and a general joy to watch. While it is a simple slice of life show on the surface there are several subtle qualities that make it superior to many shows of its kind. A big reason for this is that the characters are not only well constructed but all play off of each other well. Not only is this a show about cute girls doing cute things but there is a delicate web of character relationships. This gives the show a weight and grounding that many slice of life shows don’t have while still having a lighthearted atmosphere. 

Nothing brings despair to little girls like milk.

Another point that I first realized through a post on Fantastic memes is how this show deals with the concept of female sexuality. Unlike many slice of life shows Love Lab actually deals with the fact that teenage girls usually have an interest in boys; this is the demographic that allows Justin Bieber to be popular after all. Love Lab does this without shifting focus onto whatever male characters show up on the screen.

Overall I found Love Lab to be a good little show that just does all of the little things right. It is a fun and underrated show that you should watch. 

Trust me Riko is Awesome

Rating a silver detachable twin tail (Azumanga Daioh) for all around goodness in a slice of life show.

Infinite Stratos is the Guiltiest of Pleasures

 

After the fall previews are over I was left witth figuring out what material I should write for the next two and a half months. I figured that one thing I would rather not do is put on the airs of pretension and attempt to lavish praise over whatever shows appeared to be the most intellilectual or artistic simply to make myself appear to be more intelligent. If there is one thing that I have learned it is that you can learn as much or more from a silly entertainment show as one that is trying to be intelligent.

 

Half of all anime maids kick ass like Laura

Infinite Stratos is one of those shows that is rather popular in Japan but is relatively obscure in the English speaking anime community. I big part of this is that Infinite Stratos a rather decent amount of fan service and this turns off the anime snobs like little else. However I found that even so not all fan service shows are created equal and Infinite Stratos is a better than a lot of them.

 

New girl is totally awesome when it comes to fighting

A big plus for this show is how it can handle action scenes. While including action elements to a show with a different genre is never a guarantee of quality Infinite Stratos is something more Akin to Nanoha or Negima (manga only) being a type of moe show that will bring the action when there is an action scene. In fact I might just say that post 2008 this is perhaps the best mecha show other than Star Driver and Gargantia. Part of this is that there isn't fights in every episode which could allow for the animation staff to concentrate their budget on a few good fights as opposed to mediocre fights every episode.

 

And here is how you subvert the damsel in distress trope

There is also the simple fact that this is a harem show. While I know that this turns certain people off, there is a simple pleasure to such shows for many people. Something that I learned long ago when following Shuffle when it came out is that Shipping is definitely not a female only activity and sometimes it is just fun to watch a show aimed at that social activity among the fans of said show. While there are some shows that can obfuscate the final pairing the general rule of thumb in these types of shows is that the first girl to show up on screen is usually the winner. While there is always some people that will always find a secondary character to be their favorite Infinite Stratos has one rather prominent dark horse in Charlotte Dunois.

I never said this was a particularly classy show

However I am in no way implying that Infinite Stratos is in anyway some work of high art. All I am saying is that it is a show about stupid fun that I enjoy and maybe if you can have an open mind you might enjoy it too.