It’s taken me a long time to get through Princess Resurrection, for a lot of reasons many of which have nothing to do with the anime itself. However, the fact that it’s a bizarre show that doesn’t seem to know what its audience is has a lot to do with the number of times that I’d go weeks in between viewings as well.
The basic plot is this. Hiro, a kid of indeterminate age (could be anywhere from 10 to maybe 18, thanks art department!) dies trying to save a blond haired hottie from certain doom. She turns out to be the princess of the underworld, and resurrects him out of some sort of twisted sense of… something. We’re never really clear on why she would do something like that. The show takes on more or less a monster of the week format after that, kind of a Scooby-Doo “I’d’ve gotten away with it if it weren’t for your attractive female retainers!” kind of feel, as various supernatural beings try to take over princessship of the underworld. The problem is that it has this juvenile structure with dialogue and execution to match laid over some pretty suggestive character designs and occasional plot elements, like it’s directed at the “18-35 year old male who never matured past 13” demographic. Ok, sure, I guess that constitutes most of the anime fans I know, but still. At points it almost takes on a reverse harem feel for all the women fighting over whom Hiro needs to serve. Add to all this clichéd cacophony some poor animation, and you’ve got an ok show that just doesn’t quite click on any important level.
Bottom line: pretty good idea, should be a solid show, but never seems to figure out what it wants to be. Lots of fun with maid outfits, though.
Obligatory haiku:
Gothic robot maids
Underage slutty cat girls
What does huga mean?
Showing posts with label crazy foreign cartoons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label crazy foreign cartoons. Show all posts
9.29.2009
Return of the Drive By Anime Review!
I just found a bunch of these that I wrote a long time ago, and thought reviving the practice might be a cure for my tendency to either talk too much or not at all. The game goes like this: 200-300 words of anime review (no less and no more!) and a haiku. Forever and ever amen. So, without further ado, here goes!
Il Teatrino picks up more or less where the first Gunslinger Girl left off, but doesn’t really seem to know where it wants to go from there. The first series focused mainly on the relationships between pre-pubescent female cyborg assassins (just let that digest for a second… ok) and their 20-something male “handlers”. It basically asked the question “dude, how messed up would it be if they really…” and came back with the answer “pretty messed up, brah”, and thereby took the entire “girls with guns” genre and stood it on its head.
With most of the meatiest questions already asked (if not necessarily answered), the second season is necessarily less existential, falling mostly into fairly standard action/suspense plots. The main mover is a terrorist group being hunted by the Girls, featuring a “normal” (that is, non-cyborg) male child assassin called Pinocchio who may or may not be too much for them to handle and has a really weird relationship with a guy who may or may not be his uncle. The plots remain serviceable, and the brilliant introspective self-awareness of the first season makes an occasional appearance. There are some interesting “origin” type plotlines; these rarely excite me, but eh, some folks dig them, so whatever. Fanservice. The animation is a bit of a disappointment, and is a downgrade from the first season. The director, however, made good use of his budget, spending the money on action sequences and some neat artistic effects in flashback sequences. I am also pleased to report a reasonable number of views of the underpants of the underage girls, which is to say, none. The music is ok, but nothing really matches the first season’s killer OP by the Delgados. It's mostly standard classical lite stuff, although the one episode centers around Tosca, and actually uses a couple of arias from the opera.
Bottom line: starts slowly, a definite downgrade from the first season, but by the end, a reasonably good successor to one of my favorite series of the last five years or so.
Obligatory haiku:
Oh no he didn't!
Will Triella recover?
We can rebuild her!
Il Teatrino picks up more or less where the first Gunslinger Girl left off, but doesn’t really seem to know where it wants to go from there. The first series focused mainly on the relationships between pre-pubescent female cyborg assassins (just let that digest for a second… ok) and their 20-something male “handlers”. It basically asked the question “dude, how messed up would it be if they really…” and came back with the answer “pretty messed up, brah”, and thereby took the entire “girls with guns” genre and stood it on its head.
With most of the meatiest questions already asked (if not necessarily answered), the second season is necessarily less existential, falling mostly into fairly standard action/suspense plots. The main mover is a terrorist group being hunted by the Girls, featuring a “normal” (that is, non-cyborg) male child assassin called Pinocchio who may or may not be too much for them to handle and has a really weird relationship with a guy who may or may not be his uncle. The plots remain serviceable, and the brilliant introspective self-awareness of the first season makes an occasional appearance. There are some interesting “origin” type plotlines; these rarely excite me, but eh, some folks dig them, so whatever. Fanservice. The animation is a bit of a disappointment, and is a downgrade from the first season. The director, however, made good use of his budget, spending the money on action sequences and some neat artistic effects in flashback sequences. I am also pleased to report a reasonable number of views of the underpants of the underage girls, which is to say, none. The music is ok, but nothing really matches the first season’s killer OP by the Delgados. It's mostly standard classical lite stuff, although the one episode centers around Tosca, and actually uses a couple of arias from the opera.
Bottom line: starts slowly, a definite downgrade from the first season, but by the end, a reasonably good successor to one of my favorite series of the last five years or so.
Obligatory haiku:
Oh no he didn't!
Will Triella recover?
We can rebuild her!
8.16.2009
Ponyo Ponyo, swimming in the ocean!
Every so often, a small group of us wander off to movies on a weekend night. This past Friday, we had planned to see Star Trek for a dollar (each), but while looking through the paper for show times. Jon saw that Ponyo on the Cliff, the new Hayao Miyazaki movie was playing, which lead to a number of "Who?" and "What's a Ponyo" kinds of questions. But with a little insistence and a promise to go see Star Trek next week, we all went off for a ten o'clock showing of a kids movie! And here, in our soon-to-be-signature symposium style, is our review.
Jon: The first thing that struck me about this movie, right from the opening, was that Miyazaki's art style had changed. Talking to my brother, he seemed to think it made the movie more like a kid's book, which is true. I think it might have owed something to the "superflat" style, emphasizing motion and fluidity over detail. Especially in the way the adults (except maybe the old ladies) are animated.
Lauren: I really liked the children's book style -- I thought it fit the overall theme of the movie, and the interactions between the characters. It would have been strange if the art had been elaborate while telling the story that it did.
Jon: I was impressed at the lack of dynamic tension in this movie. It's like they wanted to make sure four year olds could watch and not have nightmares- but please note, that's not a criticism. It took the innocence of, say Totoro, or The Cat Returns, and cranked it back a notch. I think some people might be going into this looking for Spirited Away or Princess Mononoke, which are phenomenal movies, but come away a little surprised. They shouldn't; they don't call Miyazaki "Japan's Disney" for nothing.
Lauren: Yet, there was still much in the film that adults could appreciate. I definitely liked the little interwoven story about Lisa (the mother figure of the film) and her relationship with her husband and her son, and the way she reacted to Ponyo's sudden appearance in her life. The differing attitudes of the old women at the senior center gave me a few giggles, too.
Jon: That's a really good point. One of the things Miyazaki has always had a good understanding of is children, and how they interact with the world,and especially with adults around them. I loved the scene where Sosuke is signalling his dad at sea, and Lisa is refusing to say anything but "BUG OFF" because she's mad. Sosuke doesn't understand much, except that he wants to talk to his dad.
Lauren: And a lot of the time, I found myself simply listening to the fantastic score.
Jon: The music was interesting. The vaguely Wagnerian part where Ponyo is jumping on the fish was kind of odd. And the song at the end, I guess that's what you get when you try to make a faithful translation! I was not aware that having a round belly was the epitome of the nine year old girlish figure, but ok. I had a lot of fun with the crowd, too, that would come to see an animated children's feature at ten o'clock on a Friday night!
Last thought: imagine this with "Ponyo" replacing "Narwhal", and feel free to complain in the comments section!
http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/Narwhals/
Jon: The first thing that struck me about this movie, right from the opening, was that Miyazaki's art style had changed. Talking to my brother, he seemed to think it made the movie more like a kid's book, which is true. I think it might have owed something to the "superflat" style, emphasizing motion and fluidity over detail. Especially in the way the adults (except maybe the old ladies) are animated.
Lauren: I really liked the children's book style -- I thought it fit the overall theme of the movie, and the interactions between the characters. It would have been strange if the art had been elaborate while telling the story that it did.
Jon: I was impressed at the lack of dynamic tension in this movie. It's like they wanted to make sure four year olds could watch and not have nightmares- but please note, that's not a criticism. It took the innocence of, say Totoro, or The Cat Returns, and cranked it back a notch. I think some people might be going into this looking for Spirited Away or Princess Mononoke, which are phenomenal movies, but come away a little surprised. They shouldn't; they don't call Miyazaki "Japan's Disney" for nothing.
Lauren: Yet, there was still much in the film that adults could appreciate. I definitely liked the little interwoven story about Lisa (the mother figure of the film) and her relationship with her husband and her son, and the way she reacted to Ponyo's sudden appearance in her life. The differing attitudes of the old women at the senior center gave me a few giggles, too.
Jon: That's a really good point. One of the things Miyazaki has always had a good understanding of is children, and how they interact with the world,and especially with adults around them. I loved the scene where Sosuke is signalling his dad at sea, and Lisa is refusing to say anything but "BUG OFF" because she's mad. Sosuke doesn't understand much, except that he wants to talk to his dad.
Lauren: And a lot of the time, I found myself simply listening to the fantastic score.
Jon: The music was interesting. The vaguely Wagnerian part where Ponyo is jumping on the fish was kind of odd. And the song at the end, I guess that's what you get when you try to make a faithful translation! I was not aware that having a round belly was the epitome of the nine year old girlish figure, but ok. I had a lot of fun with the crowd, too, that would come to see an animated children's feature at ten o'clock on a Friday night!
Last thought: imagine this with "Ponyo" replacing "Narwhal", and feel free to complain in the comments section!
http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/Narwhals/
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