Getting around to watching Zeta Gundam part 1

Why haven't you watched this by now, God

You know how if you ever consider yourself an anime fan for any significant length of time a collection of shows that you mean to watch eventually but never have the time to watch seems to accumulate? Well as it just so seems to happen I have gotten the chance to start cleaning up that so called pile of shame and the first piece of anime that I decided to get around to is the most classic of mecha anime shows, Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam. This article covers my thoughts on watching the first ten episodes of the show. 

But without your glasses people will know who you are

First thing I noticed about this show is that it is clearly a show that lives in the sizable shadow of the first Gundam show. There is a noticeable amount of name dropping and references that people who haven’t seen the first show wouldn’t understand. This isn’t all bad as Zeta Gundam has clearly better animation than other anime shows of the era and my guess is that Sunrise had a known property that they were willing to throw a good sized animation budget at. I found the fight in episode eight to be especially well animated and fun to watch.

For those of you asking, yes I am going on a date with Madlax tonight

The main premise behind the show is that a few years have passed and the Earth Federation and especially a splinter group called the titans have become so corrupt that they are basically the bad guys now. If it wasn’t obvious by their actions the fact that the Federation now flies zaku lookalikes called hizaks  cemments this.

The story centers around the angtsy teenage hero of the day this time being anime’s very own boy named Sue, Camille Bidan. After managing to steal a gundam during a Aueg (this show’s underdog freedom fighters) raid on a colony Camile hops aboard a ship called the Argama and ends up fighting the titans every episode and loses his parents in the process. While the show for the most part feels fairly episodic there is some slow progress with each episode so most of the episodes don’t feel pointless. 

As of this point I consider this show to be a good one to pass time with. I plan to watch all fifty episodes so this is only my preliminary thoughts on the show but I am glad that I have finally gotten around to it.

Z/X Ignition files part 2

 

 So it has been a few weeks since my last installment of Z/X Ignition files and given that there is a second article about this show you are probably guessing that this show isn't all that awful, after all Jeckyllgeek is still watching it. Sorry if you think I am the anime equivalent of Mikey from life cereal but my interest in this show is one of irony and the odd fact that no one else seems to be watching this show so I figure I might as well do so to cover some hole in the anime blogosphere.

 

I'm never going to get a rack like that

In episode five we turn out attention to Aina Mikage, the maid friend of the show's protagonist. If you can't tell who she is the show has decided to remind the viewer of the names of all the characters every episode as though it thinks the viewers have some form amnesia. But back to Aina, she is a member of a most tragic type of character, namely the would be normal girlfriend of the protagonist of a magical girlfriend show. However we soon learn that we shouldn't have any sympathy for her as she is quite bigoted toward the Z/x to the point of turning on the rest of the cast when they save her from a rogue Z/x ends up seemingly making some sort of pact with the monster that tried to kill her so she could kill the people who saved her and would be her friends. Let it never be said that revenge and bigotry are good fodder for logical thinking.

 

You wouldn't believe the cleaning costs

Episode 6 More formally introduces the the rest of the cast. They are Sera, Chitose and Mikado, as well as their Z/X partners. Sera and Chitose primarily exist to bring the loli count on this show to three and given how this show isn't targeted at little girls it is almost surprising that there isn't more hue and cry from the usual suspects for maybe they are just distracted by My sister is unusual. Mikage is supposedly some great general but looking at him he looks like he was created so the shows three fujoshi viewers could slash him with Asuka. The only Z/x of the group that is worth noting is Alexander who takes up the space of the powerful jerk looking for a fight from nearly every shonen fighting show but mostly closely in the vein of Zaraki or Vegeta.

 

Asuka, tank watching with the entire harem

Episode seven for the most part is a continuation of episode five with Aina continuing to be a racist jerk while some black world Z/X starts attacking everyone. Episode eight brings both halves of the cast together even though Mikado and company just invaded the place with the military everyone is just friends now (except Aina of course). There is also some focus on one of the little girls of the show but it mostly serves to make her pitiable but that is somewhat expect from your cute little girl types.

 

Minds out of the gutter yuri fans

So should you watch Z/X Ignition? probably not. The show seems to be living up to it's initial reputation as a soulless collectable card game ad and looks like it will be getting a tin rating from me if things don't improve.

Review First Squad Moment of Truth

 

the sad truth is not even zombies can save this movie

The conflict between the Germans and Russians was perhaps the bloodiest of World War II. In order gain the upper hand in the war the Germans plan to call back the spirit of Baron Von Wolf, a seven hundred year old knight with a grudge. The only people who can withstand this supernatural nazi assault is the Soviet supernatural corps also known as the sixth division.

 

The lesson of this movie, bring swords to a gun fight

First squad is a short movie (It is only a little longer than an hour long) about super natural action. It tries to pass itself off as something of a war film but it has way too many supernatural elements to really take it all that seriously. On the other hand it is far to dark to really pass itself off as anything vaguely campy or as a light action movie. The movie is really two different tone elements warring with each other which produces a rather jarring movie as a whole.

 

This movie tries to be historical but fails, see zombie picture aboce

The other problem with all of the supernatural elements in the movie is that it crowds out the character development. So what we are left with is an amnesiac heroine with a cast of cardboard allies and generic villain. There are some other characters in the movie as well but they are little more than props themselves. Overall there is no one in this movie worth caring about.

 

In short this is a rather bland and boring movie that has some action but little worth caring about. This is a movie not worth watching clear and simple. 

 

Rating the Tin Chevalier, because even if I am loath to use First Squad and Le Chevalier D'eon in the same sentence that's the only other period piece anime with supernatural elements that I can think of.

Personal metrics part 1 The Akarin problem

 

The real menace

One day while looking over my blog I realized that the majority of the articles that I write for Jeckyllcast and Blog are reviews of various anime shows and movies. One thing that is important to realize about reviews are invariably subjective as any review requires an opinion. Even a review that says Princess Monoke is good or Akikan is bad is actually just a subjective opinion. Thus for another topic that I can blog about I have decided to write about what I consider to be good in terms of anime which will hopefully make reading my reviews more worthwhile.

 

One of the most enduring debates in the field of visual media (anime and beyond) is the importance of characters versus plot in a given work. There are even arguments about how some people who prefer one thing over the other determines one's quality as a fan (see more here). In truth both of them are important as all stories are what happens to the characters and if you don't care about either the characters or what happens to them the story will fall apart for the viewer.

 

One thing that I think it is important is that all of the main characters are important to the story. If there isn't a character who has a significant impact on the story then they shouldn't have a significant presence in the show. I find this problem is particularly common in slice of life shows as they are often about the lives of four school girls and for the most part the show might as well be about the lives of three girls, a manzai comedy pair and a viewpoint character. It has gotten so bad that this phenomenon has been lampshaded in Yuru Yuri in how Akari is the odd girl out who has no real place in the show.

 

So how does this affect my reviews? I look for how tightly the show is constructed regardless of genre. Unless it is a biography the details of a show are entirely up to a writer and dangling elements should be cut out whenever possible. This does not mean that I dislike the slice of life show. In fact I have seen slice of life shows that can adhere to this principle and they are among my favorites of the genre. It just means that slice of life shows have to deal with the same standards as other genre's of anime when it comes to my reviews.

Wolf Children Review

 

Hana was just another college student until one day she met a mysterious man and fell in love. This man was in fact was the last of the  shape shifting wolves. This does not deter her and the two end up having two end up having two children, a daughter named Yuki and a son named Ame. However the father ends up dieing in an accident leaving Hana to raise the two children, who have inherited their father's ability to change into wolves, on her own.

 

half wolf all cute

Wolf Children is a movie that might have a slightly strange premise which is used amazingly well. I have heard of some people voicing concerns of being a show about furries but I found this to not be the case. The father is actually a somewhat minor character in the movie and the wolf transformations in the children are mostly just metaphors for the nature of children although it does have it's plot uses as well.

 

It's not like I am helping you to adapt to rural life because I like you or anything

This movie is something that fits between drama and slice of life. While it usually has the laid back nature of a slice of life movie it is different from most works of art in the genre is that it lacks the frivolity that many slice of life works have. Instead Wolf Children is the story of the life of a woman and her children in it's entirety with it's ups and downs. It is a story of subtle drama like is rarely seen in anime and well worth watching. Also the movie has a clear message to it and it manages to tell it without being overly preachy and heavy handed (the fact that there are two children in the movie helps this).

 

The use of nature in this movie is wonderful

Overall I found this to be a high concept art movie that lives up to the promise that high concept movies have and can easily be one of the next great movie classics. 

 

Rating the golden wolf, this movie is one of the best anime movies I have seen 

Review Gestalt

You see this even in the dub version.

It is forbidden for priests to visit the continent of G or even speak the name for which it stands. Yet in his quest for the truth father Olivier has decided to leave the holy order and do just that. One night he stays at an inn and the greatful innkeeper rewards him with his own slave girl. He tries to refuse the offer but both the innkeeper and the slave girl are obstinant. As it turns out the girl is much more than she appears to be at first.

 

No Whitney Houston isn't in this Oav

Gestalt is a two episode Oav that is based off of the manga of the same name just like many Oavs made in the Oav boom of the eighties and nineties. From my experience with said type of Oavs is that they Oav boom was a time when anime companies would produce an Oav for just about anything and many of these Oavs only work if you have read the material that the Oav was based on. At two episodes long expecting it to cover even a decent part of the manga is laughable.

 

Tears that aren't that manly

As for the material in the Oav itself, first of all the animation is the typical garbage you you might find if you watch late nineties computer drawn anime. There isn't much development to the characters but there is only two episodes to deal with and there is also the plot and premise to deal with as well. The problem is that unless you are planning on reading the manga there is no point in viewing this.

 

Overall Unless you feel the odd need to watch all of the Gestalt related media in existence I suggest you give this Oav a pass.

 

Rating The tin MD gheist armor because even if it isn't a cpm release it is just another bad and forgettable Oav.

Review Shakugan non Shana Movie

 

The pendent on her chest can talk so I guess there is a reason to have your eyes down there

Yuji Sakai is your average high school student until one day while walking down the street he runs into a giant doll monster who starts eating people and is quickly stopped by a girl with flaming hair and a sword. It is then that Yuji learns that he not a normal human but a torch, temporary spectral replacement for the real Yuji which was devoured by a denizen of the crimson world. Yuji or what is left of him has to come to terms with his new mortality and find out what is plaguing the town where he lived.

 

minor characters go poof

The Shakugan no Shana movie is a retelling of the first story arc of the series (first four episodes of the anime show or the first light novel). This is to say that this movie requires no previous Shakugan no Shana experience. There are a few changes from how television series or nevel went so you might want to still see this even if you have seen Shakugan no Shana in some other form. No matter what your experience with the franchise this is a generally good supernatural action movie.

 

spoilers, this movie is different

So what this means is that if you watch this movie you will get several decent fight scenes connected by some scenes with average character development for an action movie with some perfunctory thoughts on the meaning of mortality.

 

Overall I would say this is a great movie but if you are looking for either a starting looking at the franchise or simply a way to waste an hour and a half this movie will certainly fit the bill.

 

Rating the bronze Haruhi for being a decent movie adaptation of a light novel. It's not great but it is entertaining enough.