Impressions for winter 2009 ~ Steel cans, Traps and a whole lot of other things.

What has Klash done to me~~areee~~~

*Coughs* Shamefully this really shouldn’t be tagged first impressions since the trail period should have been way past that but I figured it would just be overkill to make a new impressions tag just for this one post. Alright then, after opting to do things  later rather than sooner (as a part of my usual tradition that has been going on and off)  I will be writing some thoughts on the series I am currently following this season which frankly isn’t many, thankgod. Though rather than giving each series a grade so far since it will be entirely unfair based on my ever fluctuating rating scale depending on how high the moon is up in the sky I will just stick to writing short thoughts for each of the titles (in alphabetical order for your reading enjoyment).

MS Igloo 2 Episode 2 (Forward, King Of The Land!)

Oh man, it’s been far to long since I’ve seen that monoeye flash and heard that sound.  Getting goosebumps already

It’s been a long time getting from their to here.  It’s been a long road, but my time is finally here.  Yep, MS Igloo 2 Episode 2 came out last week and I got my hands on a really fuzzy and medicore RAW with which to do a picture summary.  This episode takes us to July UC 0079 and right into the thick of Zeon’s push towards total domination of the Earth’s surface.  The Federation is finally making some headway in putting up a resistance, but they are still on the losing end of the war against Zeon thanks to the seemingly unstoppable Zaku II Mobile Suit.  The Federation has pressed the Type-61 tank into full use as it’s mainstay counter to the Zaku II nonetheless and it’s a huge step up from those anti mobile suit teams of the kind that Barberry lead agains the Zaku’s last episode.  Will it get any better for the Federation?  Let’s have a look.

It Had To Happen Some Time (Addressing The Lantis And “Sunrise” Debacle)

Oh Noes I’m Using A Screenshot From A Sunrise Anime!   Good Thing They Aren’t Actively Sending Out Cease And Desist Letters Like Lantis Is Or I Could Get In Trouble. Eeeeeek!

It was around this time in a 25 cour season shows run that a famous interview broke regarding a certain director’s belief that he had let the fans of his show down.  Alas the interview was misquoted and yay fans suddenly believed that what they had received was not what was intended for them.  By the time the mistake was corrected the damage was down however and turneth on that anime they did, for now it was viewed as but a false prophet.

All of this was happened before and alas all of it seems destined to happen again.  Lest I be called back into active duty to try and hold fast the darkness of falsehood and confusion and to bring forth the light of truth and confirmation.  For it is now at a similar time that history repeats itself, and the threat comes anew to tarnish that which I hold dear.

Tales of Abyss episode 17 ~ great avalanche!

Moments later the great avalanche happened

Trust Jade to do something so extreme as to set off an avalanche facing an enemy attack. It just goes to show how much faith he has in his party but somehow Luke still manages to miss the protection bubble by Tear, strangely enough his insane luck level was enough to keep him alive whilst the God generals are assumed to be dead…like as if that will ever happen to them because of something so minor…*laughs*

Tytania Episode 14 (Fraternal Fragdown)

When A Character Starts Drinking Red Wine In The Vampire Style You Know They Are Up To No Good

This was kind of a strange episode, but it’s the first one I’ve really been able to get into for a long time.  Perhaps it was because there was so little Fan Hulic stuff going on (although he does put in an appearance as we’ll see in a moment), but as if to “make up” for that there was a bit of crazy on Tytantia’s side this time around.

CLANNAD ~AFTER STORY~, Episode 11-13

My apologies for such belated and condensed entry. Due to many circumstances (holiday, exams, umineko patch, etc), it was difficult to bring myself blogging again. Obviously, I didn’t drop Clannad at all (I won’t guarantee this for Chaos head, however…). Here is a quick entry for episodes 11, 12, 13. Since the time lapse is quite huge, I assume you are all already done with these, so a digest pack of screencaps and comments will do.

Tales of Abyss episode 16 ~ Killings, old people and fonic mumble

Don’t mess with her

*Rants*Now I should really start picking some new series and all but since the exams are here and I feel like a lazy bum for now it is just Tales…I’ll probably pick another series to talk about but for the moment my hands are full, and it definitely won’t be from episode one anyway…sigh…*/rant*
Getting on topic I was rather disappointed with this episode mainly because the “epic fight” that should have been shown (and was hinted from the previous preview) turn out to be nothing more than the average “what you would expect” bombshell being revealed then the subsequent suicide. Depressed youths.

Explaining The Retro And Old School Visual Style Of Anime

Okay, I said I’d be gone for a couple of days, but now I’ve got to take a quick second here to explain something because twice now I’ve seen somebody mistakenly label the visual style of Munto TV as retro/old school.  I’m not trying to ridicule or anything, but I feel that I should be the one to point out that:

lol…..this is not retro, neither is it old school.  The first Munto OVA came out in 2003 and it is less than 6 years old.  It’s artstyle makes use of the now standard computer animated drawing style and the character designs that are instantly distinguishable from the hand drawn styles of the 60’s-late 90’s and the overall visuals are very much akin to the kind we see everyday in modern anime.

Munto TV (AKA Sora o Miageru Shōjo no Hitomi ni Utsuru Sekai Holy Long Title Batman) First Impression

This Is What They Call A Sudden Scene Transition.  You Better Get Used To These If Your Going To Watch The First Episode Of Munto

I didn’t think it was actually possible for something to pull this off, but I was simultaneously fascinated and yet bored out of my mind by this episode at the same time.  Maybe the former is the result of my natural inclination towards enjoying fantasy stories and the fact that it does seem like the show has some interesting ideas, but my god it couldn’t hold a narrative to save it’s life. 

I found the whole time I was watching it that any time I was starting to get engrossed in a scene to any degree they’d just throw something else random at me or just as randomly switch perspectives from Munto to Yumemi, or Yumemi to the Narrator.  As a result of this in the end it felt like I didn’t get anything of real substance from any of the sides of story other then a few figments of an idea about Yumemi being a Girl of Destiny and that there’s war because an energy source called Akuto is running out.  This is unfortunate, because I also could have gotten that same level of plot exposition by reading the single paragraph plot summary on ANN’s page for the first OVA.  Oh, and that also means almost zero character exposition in the first episode as well since all the time was spent introducing the cast, but none of it on giving us real insight as to their personalities and character traits.  So then….. Yoshiyuki Tomino, you can now hand over your crown for King of Sturm Und Drang plot exposition over to Munto’s director now.  Thank you kindly.

Sigh….anyway, so while I had this nagging desire that I was becoming engrossed in the whole introduction to the world of Munto, I also had an equally nagging desire to say “F*** It!” in really trying to take anything away from it at the end of the day and the latter desire eventually won out at about the 15 minute mark.  At that point my eyes sort of just glazed over while looking at all of the crazy stuff happening, trying to take in what the shows narrative would let me, until eventually the end credits rolled.  I think there might have been a “huh” at that point as I snapped back to full conciousness and wondered exactly what had just transpired.

So the stories a mess at this point, but I did come away with an appreciation for the music among other things which I found to be quite nice.  The animation was also okay, but good animation alone does not a series make and in a lot of places it could be described as simply gratuitous.  The character designs……are a mixed bag for me.  While I am delighted to be freed at the moment from what I thought was going to be an unending parade of that same style of circular facial design with a dot for a nose being used over and over and over in Kyoani’s shows, I can’t exactly say what we got was a welcome departure either since it’s equally as plain.  Overall the character designs are a little skinny for my tastes as well, and this is coming from somebody who liked CLAMP’s designs for Code Geass (The characters in Code Geass looked lanky, but Munto’s look almost emaciated), and Munto, it’s really not a detraction per se, but he just kind of looks like a rejected hero from Nippon Ichi’s Makai series of S-RPG’s.  I do however like Yumemi’s design, even if at some points her blank stare kind of creeps me out.  See the gym scene in particular.

What else…….hmmm not much I suppose.  Truthfully I don’t think there’s anything else that can really be said about this series at this point anyway until they straighten out some of the plot points and actually construct a working narrative for the show.  Time will of course be granted to Munto by me in order for this to hopefully transpire and hopefully what Skyfall tells me about the second OVA (potentially starting with episode 3) being much more structured and focused will turn out to be the case as well.

And that’s all from me for now.  If all goes well I’ll be back Tuesday to say something about the Barack Obama inauguration. 

Ali vs. Halcali (Duel of the Duos)

One of the hot topics in the past couple of days on the Animesuki Forums has been about the new Ali Project sung opening theme for Sora Kake Girl and whether the duo has shown that they are lacking in originality and the ability to refine and vary their (at this point) rather infamous style.  Both sides of the fence have given their views on the bands music from statements such as a critic’s, “Each song they do is like the same beat and off-key notes every. single. time.” and a supporters, “Quirkiness is as quirky does. And in that weird off-key manner, they do seem to have some otherworldly sense of rhythm to it”. 

The band will almost certainly continue to be a controversial one in the future when it comes to their contributions to anime music, but I figure why not present a few of their more recent contributions here and let people decide for themselves whether they are truly rehashing or if it’s all  just a part of our imagination.  Then I would like to invite comparison and contrast of Ali Project to another female duo that I have been following on and off in Halcali.  I’ve found that Halcali shares a comparative style with Ali Project in how they like to rap their lyrics (and not to mention a little in the type of wardrobe they like to wear), but that they also provide a stark contrast to Ali Project’s own style in terms of the duo performance.  I won’t offer up any more words or take any sides in this debate from here on out, but instead I will let people decide through a poll what they think of the two bands and their respective styles and whether one or the other, both, or neither are in need of an image overhaul.  Play them over each other, compare, contrast, do whatever you like….