Shakugan no Shana: B
Shakugan no Shana II: B+
Shakugan no Shana III: B
Shakugan no Shana III (also called Shakugan no Shana Final) just finished last Friday, so this is a very timely review, however, as I am reveiwing the series in its entirety, this is a very different review than if I were reviewing the three series separately.
Shakugan no Shana, at first glance, could be a High School Fantasy: a normal High School boy is suddenly killed and finds what remains after his death thrust into an invisible world of bizarre monsters who devour human existences and those who fight them, "Flame Hazes," long-lived humans empowered by entities not unlike the ones they fight.
Shana, however, despite the entire first season feeling like it could fall off balance and descend into becoming a shonen fighting anime, instead spends the first two seasons establishing and developing the relationships surrounding the high school boy and the Flame Hazes that come to be his friends, both to learn of and teach them how to live and how to love.
The third season builds up to a massive, world-shaking conclusion which is nevertheless both satisfying and personal, though many and more supporting characters on both sides of the conflict are introduced throughout the series, which can make following the action somewhat odd. In the end, focus remains primarily on the main characters, and the ending is satisfying, the final confrontation well-executed, though many beloved supporting characters do not get their fair shake in the final season, a chief reason for why I have rated the second season highest of the three.
The design of Shana's cast is overall excellent, the humans are believable and the monsters are eerily inhuman, while often appearing as delightfully creepy semi-humans. The extended romance plot and love triangle is well-orchestrated and ends well, the supporting relationships are emotional and fascinating and the story as a whole continues to call back to events of the past, giving a great feeling of cohesion and rewarding the observant viewer.
Shana has a lot of elements of interest: magical battles, emotional development, clever plans, a sense of wonder and mystery. If I had to criticize it, it does tend to jump between these, and while the series is well-executed it is not mind-shatteringly brilliant. However, if you're interested in a long-haul series that does not fall into the traps of filler or unnecessary extension and has an interesting and thorough resolution, Shakugan no Shana is quite a beautiful ride.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Slayers NEXT
Slayers Next: A
Where Slayers' original season suffers from poor pacing and some slow moments, Slayers Next has precisely one section (episodes 14-17) which is four non-plot filler episodes in a row (and all of them are memorable), and is otherwise perfectly-paced, with excellent characterization, superior animation, and, to its benefit, the party staying together, allowing us to watch their interactions and co-evolution.
Slayers Next is colorful, funny, dramatic, adorable and intelligent in its plot and execution, with an excellent musical score. It strikes a perfect balance between humor and drama and stands out as one of the best fantasy series of all time.
Where Slayers' original season suffers from poor pacing and some slow moments, Slayers Next has precisely one section (episodes 14-17) which is four non-plot filler episodes in a row (and all of them are memorable), and is otherwise perfectly-paced, with excellent characterization, superior animation, and, to its benefit, the party staying together, allowing us to watch their interactions and co-evolution.
Slayers Next is colorful, funny, dramatic, adorable and intelligent in its plot and execution, with an excellent musical score. It strikes a perfect balance between humor and drama and stands out as one of the best fantasy series of all time.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Slayers (Original Series)
Slayers: C
It's really hard to give a rating to a series like Slayers, which was another anime that I watched very early in my life watching anime, and even harder to admit that, by my modern standards, it isn't the stunning and beautiful jewel I treat it like it is.
The truth is that Slayers was very good when it first came out in 1995. It was an original, slapstick high fantasy story that didn't take itself seriously but was still capable of some genuinely moving drama when things got serious, with an interesting and delightful cast of characters.
However, seventeen(!) years later, the animation, while not horrible, looks poor next to modern works, and, most damningly for the rating I gave it, the pacing of the original series is shakey: an epic confrontation deciding the fate of the world takes place before the halfway mark, and then the series falls back to hijinks for another ten or so episodes before getting into the meat of the final arc, which runs a little slowly at times despite the sense of urgency and threat that the story maintains.
The other reason I give the original series a poor grade is because of how much it pales next to its successor, Slayers Next, which is funnier, more dramatic, better paced and more coherent, plotwise, even though both seasons have about the same number of episodes dedicated to fillery hijinks.
Ultimately, the first season of Slayers is fun and entertaining, but takes a while to watch, and the story that it manages to tell with its time isn't particularly amazing. If you want to get familiar with the Slayers as a team before watching them in their later adventures, you probably won't regret time invested in Slayers. If you saw the series when you were younger and want to nostalgia, it certainly isn't bad. If you're just curious and want to know what all the fuss about Slayers is, you're probably better off starting on the superior seasons (in my opinion, Next and Revolution/Evolution-R).
It's really hard to give a rating to a series like Slayers, which was another anime that I watched very early in my life watching anime, and even harder to admit that, by my modern standards, it isn't the stunning and beautiful jewel I treat it like it is.
The truth is that Slayers was very good when it first came out in 1995. It was an original, slapstick high fantasy story that didn't take itself seriously but was still capable of some genuinely moving drama when things got serious, with an interesting and delightful cast of characters.
However, seventeen(!) years later, the animation, while not horrible, looks poor next to modern works, and, most damningly for the rating I gave it, the pacing of the original series is shakey: an epic confrontation deciding the fate of the world takes place before the halfway mark, and then the series falls back to hijinks for another ten or so episodes before getting into the meat of the final arc, which runs a little slowly at times despite the sense of urgency and threat that the story maintains.
The other reason I give the original series a poor grade is because of how much it pales next to its successor, Slayers Next, which is funnier, more dramatic, better paced and more coherent, plotwise, even though both seasons have about the same number of episodes dedicated to fillery hijinks.
Ultimately, the first season of Slayers is fun and entertaining, but takes a while to watch, and the story that it manages to tell with its time isn't particularly amazing. If you want to get familiar with the Slayers as a team before watching them in their later adventures, you probably won't regret time invested in Slayers. If you saw the series when you were younger and want to nostalgia, it certainly isn't bad. If you're just curious and want to know what all the fuss about Slayers is, you're probably better off starting on the superior seasons (in my opinion, Next and Revolution/Evolution-R).
Monday, March 12, 2012
Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt
Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt: N/A
Okay, I promise I won't make a habit of failing to rate shows, but this one stands out as existing outside of my letter grading system.
Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt is a series made in late 2010 by Studio Gainax (of Evangelion and Gurren Lagann fame) which I can only begin to describe as "A x-rated love letter to Jhonen Vasquez by way of the Powerpuff Girls."
The series notably is very western in its sensibilities: its heavily episodic nature, animation style and being set in something which resembles America more than Japan. The series also uses an inordinate amount of Engrish obscenity, in fact, obscenity, innuendo and toilet humor are the order of the day for this highly toxic 13-episode joyride through a series of themed episodes, some referential, some bizarre and some downright gross.
It is not for everyone, but if you are the sort of person with a truly depraved sense of humor who appreciates the humor for the sake of crossing lines that maybe shouldn't be crossed, such as a magical girl transformation sequence which is a pole-dancing striptease, a character who has sex almost every episode, usually loudly just offscreen and a mascot sidekick who is brutally murdered by his masters on a regular basis and spends much of his 'idle' time apparently masturbating a zipper.
PSG is genuinely funny in its dirty, going-too-far sort of way, but the fact is that it is SO much not for everyone that saying it's good or it's bad is very difficult. I loved it, but felt the need to inflict it (not share, inflict) on my friends. Some of my friends I knew would like it, because it's their kind of messed up. Some of my friends I don't mention it to, because it's really not.
Okay, I promise I won't make a habit of failing to rate shows, but this one stands out as existing outside of my letter grading system.
Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt is a series made in late 2010 by Studio Gainax (of Evangelion and Gurren Lagann fame) which I can only begin to describe as "A x-rated love letter to Jhonen Vasquez by way of the Powerpuff Girls."
The series notably is very western in its sensibilities: its heavily episodic nature, animation style and being set in something which resembles America more than Japan. The series also uses an inordinate amount of Engrish obscenity, in fact, obscenity, innuendo and toilet humor are the order of the day for this highly toxic 13-episode joyride through a series of themed episodes, some referential, some bizarre and some downright gross.
It is not for everyone, but if you are the sort of person with a truly depraved sense of humor who appreciates the humor for the sake of crossing lines that maybe shouldn't be crossed, such as a magical girl transformation sequence which is a pole-dancing striptease, a character who has sex almost every episode, usually loudly just offscreen and a mascot sidekick who is brutally murdered by his masters on a regular basis and spends much of his 'idle' time apparently masturbating a zipper.
PSG is genuinely funny in its dirty, going-too-far sort of way, but the fact is that it is SO much not for everyone that saying it's good or it's bad is very difficult. I loved it, but felt the need to inflict it (not share, inflict) on my friends. Some of my friends I knew would like it, because it's their kind of messed up. Some of my friends I don't mention it to, because it's really not.
Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS
Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS: C+
So, I haven't reviewed the first two Seasons of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, so a lot of my comments about Strikers won't make a lot of sense from that perspective unless I provide a bit of exposition:
The first season of Nanoha is pretty good. It spends an unnecessary amount of time setting up the premise, but around halfway through the series it kicks into high gear and becomes very enjoyable and creative, a very different sort of magical girl series.
Nanoha A's, the second season, is outstanding. Without having to explain the premise like the first series did, it gets straight to the action. It has engaging characters, well-justified villains and believable emotional conflicts, all run through with gorgeously animated fight scenes. Most notably, it makes very good use of it's time, the story is tight, with nothing more than what it needs.
Nanoha Strikers dramatically changes the formula, taking place on a world that isn't Earth and timeskipping forward about nine years, putting the original human cast around age twenty and introducing a half-dozen new characters who are their juniors and subordinates. This in itself is an interesting twist with lots of possibilities but alludes to the larger problem: with that many new characters, new villains are needed to keep the entire cast busy, and they are introduced too slowly and too late.
Overall, Strikers is not bad, but is a disappointment after A's masterful storytelling. Strikers' cast gets a little too large, a large portion of the villainous cast is introduced too late and not well enough and the pacing is poorly handled. It adds a lot to Nanoha's setting, and if you want to see more of Nanoha, it is definitely worth your time. If you're spoiled looking for amazing shows, you probably want to consider instead just stopping after A's.
So, I haven't reviewed the first two Seasons of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, so a lot of my comments about Strikers won't make a lot of sense from that perspective unless I provide a bit of exposition:
The first season of Nanoha is pretty good. It spends an unnecessary amount of time setting up the premise, but around halfway through the series it kicks into high gear and becomes very enjoyable and creative, a very different sort of magical girl series.
Nanoha A's, the second season, is outstanding. Without having to explain the premise like the first series did, it gets straight to the action. It has engaging characters, well-justified villains and believable emotional conflicts, all run through with gorgeously animated fight scenes. Most notably, it makes very good use of it's time, the story is tight, with nothing more than what it needs.
Nanoha Strikers dramatically changes the formula, taking place on a world that isn't Earth and timeskipping forward about nine years, putting the original human cast around age twenty and introducing a half-dozen new characters who are their juniors and subordinates. This in itself is an interesting twist with lots of possibilities but alludes to the larger problem: with that many new characters, new villains are needed to keep the entire cast busy, and they are introduced too slowly and too late.
Overall, Strikers is not bad, but is a disappointment after A's masterful storytelling. Strikers' cast gets a little too large, a large portion of the villainous cast is introduced too late and not well enough and the pacing is poorly handled. It adds a lot to Nanoha's setting, and if you want to see more of Nanoha, it is definitely worth your time. If you're spoiled looking for amazing shows, you probably want to consider instead just stopping after A's.
Friday, March 9, 2012
Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai
Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai: A+
The title translates to "We Still Don't Know the Name of the Flower We Saw That Day." It's usually abbreviated to 'Ano Hana.'
It's a story about a girl who died ten years before the story began, and it's about the people who she left behind.
It's about memory, love and regret. It's about things left undone and things left unsaid.
It's about a chance to fix things. It's about learning that fixing things isn't easy even when you know what you did wrong.
It's about what you can't take with you, what you can take with you, and what you can't let go of.
I don't normally cry at anything, but this series had me crying on 4 separate occasions, not including the final, 11th episode, which I was crying pretty much throughout, but it was the cathartic, good kind of crying that I wish I did more often.
I can't think of anything more eloquent to recommend it than by saying that it's beautiful.
The title translates to "We Still Don't Know the Name of the Flower We Saw That Day." It's usually abbreviated to 'Ano Hana.'
It's a story about a girl who died ten years before the story began, and it's about the people who she left behind.
It's about memory, love and regret. It's about things left undone and things left unsaid.
It's about a chance to fix things. It's about learning that fixing things isn't easy even when you know what you did wrong.
It's about what you can't take with you, what you can take with you, and what you can't let go of.
I don't normally cry at anything, but this series had me crying on 4 separate occasions, not including the final, 11th episode, which I was crying pretty much throughout, but it was the cathartic, good kind of crying that I wish I did more often.
I can't think of anything more eloquent to recommend it than by saying that it's beautiful.
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Working!!
Working!!: B
I have to admit, I spent the first five or six episodes of Working!! trying to figure out if I liked it or not.
At its core, it's a comedic slice of life show with romantic elements. However, those romantic elements are almost entirely played for either laughs or cuteness factor. There's also a major subplot of a girl with excessively violent androphobia punching people in the face. So I like to think that my hesitance in embracing it was at least partially warranted.
And then around episode 7, I realized a few things: There was almost no fan service, the main cast is fairly evenly split between male and female characters (3 to 5, though the supporting cast leans in the female direction), and that the show didn't focus on one particular type of gag or drama the way a lot of the samey shows I've seen (and mostly rated C+) have. I was suddenly able to appreciate the series for what it brought to the table, and I started really appreciating it.
By the time I'd started watching the second season (written: Working'!!), I was already familiar enough with the cast that I could just appreciate the humor and the constant silliness that the characters eccentricities generated. And that's really what Working!! is about: watching a group of eccentric individuals interacting with each other and the ups and downs of working together.
If you're looking for a show with a nod toward realism or depth, Working!! won't really satisfy, but if you can get behind plenty of schadenfreude, hijinks and a running gag of situationally enforced crossdressing, it's is cute, catchy and full of giggles.
I have to admit, I spent the first five or six episodes of Working!! trying to figure out if I liked it or not.
At its core, it's a comedic slice of life show with romantic elements. However, those romantic elements are almost entirely played for either laughs or cuteness factor. There's also a major subplot of a girl with excessively violent androphobia punching people in the face. So I like to think that my hesitance in embracing it was at least partially warranted.
And then around episode 7, I realized a few things: There was almost no fan service, the main cast is fairly evenly split between male and female characters (3 to 5, though the supporting cast leans in the female direction), and that the show didn't focus on one particular type of gag or drama the way a lot of the samey shows I've seen (and mostly rated C+) have. I was suddenly able to appreciate the series for what it brought to the table, and I started really appreciating it.
By the time I'd started watching the second season (written: Working'!!), I was already familiar enough with the cast that I could just appreciate the humor and the constant silliness that the characters eccentricities generated. And that's really what Working!! is about: watching a group of eccentric individuals interacting with each other and the ups and downs of working together.
If you're looking for a show with a nod toward realism or depth, Working!! won't really satisfy, but if you can get behind plenty of schadenfreude, hijinks and a running gag of situationally enforced crossdressing, it's is cute, catchy and full of giggles.
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