FunBlog

“Author” is puzzled by a Japanese graduate student at an American university who lets his children watch American cartoons, but not anime. I don’t think that’s very surprising.

Assuming that the kids are under 10, then the vast majority of the anime available here is not appropriate for them. Unlike the American cartoons, they are just not intended for that age group.

Japan actually makes a lot of kodomo anime which is aimed at young children, but it is rarely licensed in America, mainly because it is of no better quality than the stuff you see on Saturday mornings on American TV. It does tend to have a distinctly Japanese flavor though.

Example: Zenryoku Usagi (The “Give it All You’ve Got” Rabbits.) The rabbits are construction workers. They have great company spirit. They work very hard. They should have the rest of the country paved over in a matter of months.

Have you ever wondered what X-Men would be like if it were a shoujo manga? Me neither, but I think we have the answer here anyway. It would still be about young people with mutant powers, but it would be cute and whimsical, and just a little dark.
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Fans of xxxHolic will want to check out episode 17 of Kobato. for an interesting 30-second cameo. What follows is sort of spoilerish, so I am putting it below the fold:
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Here’s an off-the-wall idea. I can’t help wondering whether the floppy hats that Kobato always wears conceal the fact that she actually has puppy-dog ears. (Sort of like Holo in Spice and Wolf.) That would go a long way toward explaining her puppy-like personality.

The sequel continues the story begun by the first season of Clannad, adding a lot of depth to what started out as a fairly lightweight story. That does not mean that everyone who liked the first season will like the second. Some fans of the first season will really love it, and some may not.

As the characters leave high school behind and encounter the joys and sorrows of adult life, the tone of the story changes. The emotional highs of the second season are very high, and the emotional lows are very low. There is ultimately a happy ending but it is one that not everyone finds satisfactory, for reasons that I discuss in my spoiler notes.
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The recession has hit the anime industry pretty hard. There are only about 20 new shows, so according to Sturgeon’s Law we only have the right to hope for 2 good ones. It’s too soon to say whether any of the new shows will really turn out to be good. Many a show has had a promising start and a train-wreck ending. Still I’ve noticed 4 or 5 that seem to have potential.

Durarara seems the most promising of the new crop. It’s a dark but funny crime drama involving some high school students who like to hang out after dark in a crowded Tokyo shopping district, and some of the district’s odder inhabitants. Many of the latter have violent tendencies and some seem to have supernatural powers. So far the show has mostly focused on introducing the large cast of characters, but it has been quite entertaining.

SORANOWOTO is hard to pin down. It might turn out to be really good, or it might be one of the aforementioned train-wrecks. It is an oddly cheerful show with a strange and rather dark setting: an alternate version of Europe that after decades of war has regressed to an early 20th century level of technology. (This version of Europe seems to have had a large number of Japanese immigrants in the past. The local language seems to be French, but more than half the characters have Japanese names and some of them have retained significant elements of Japanese culture.)

The story involves a girl who joins the army hoping to learn how to play the trumpet. She is issued a bugle and sent with little or no training to join an all-female platoon in a frontier outpost. Their main weapon is a broken mecha that they don’t know how to repair. Frankly they don’t look like they could withstand an attack by 5 drunken rugby players, let alone a professional army.

This show has been compared to K-ON, Aria, and Strike Witches. The comparison with K-ON seems very misleading. The character designs are very similar but this seems a totally different kind of story. It also seems different from Strike Witches in that it is not over-the-top ecchi nonsense, and the animation quality is much better.

Strangely, the comparison with Aria seems more apt. The show so far has a sweet, gentle slice-of-life feel to it, though oddly juxtaposed with the rather grim setting.

However I can’t help similarities to Simoun. So far we have a bunch of girl soldiers left in an exposed position by a high command that is either unwilling or unable to give them the support they need. This could easily turn into an overwrought anti-war fable with a sad ending. It wouldn’t even have Simoun’s tragic virtues, since the warriors of that story were at least capable and well-trained.

If you liked Nodame Cantabile and Nodame Cantabile Paris Chapter then you will want to check out Nodame Cantabile Finale. Personally I loved the first season but didn’t see the point of the second. The first season told a satisfying story; the second season didn’t really add much to it. Probably the final season will be more of the same. Still it’s a quality production, and a must-see for anyone who can’t get enough of the characters.

Hanamaru Kindergarten is the cutest and funniest of the new shows. The first episode unnerved many viewers with the little girl who insists that she is going to marry her kindergarten teacher, but the whole thing seems basically pretty innocent. (The girl’s mother is nuts to encourage her though. And does she dye the kid’s hair? What’s with that?)

Akiyuki Shinbou is a talented director. Anything he does is probably worth checking out and I really liked last year’s Bakemonogatari. Unfortunately I don’t think Dance in the Vampire Bund is in the same league. The basic premise is that Mina Tepes the queen of the vampires buys an island in Tokyo harbor to serve as a homeland for her people. The loli vampire queen is certainly a disturbing character, but a reasonable one for a vampire story. Unfortunately the other characters, including the werewolf-boy hero, just seem boring. Once I look past Shinbou’s unique visual style, the show seems like a collection of tired old shounen cliches.

The usual caveats apply: I haven’t sampled everything and my tastes are not yours. Series that are continuing into the Spring are not generally eligible, though I am making an exception for one that has no overall story.

The anime industry is clearly suffering from the bad economy. Fewer series were produced. Fan service shows (a mainstay of the second-tier studios) have gotten raunchier. Even if you think that’s a good thing, it has to be a sign of desperation.

Still, the year has to be judged by the best that is produces (remember Sturgeon’s Law.) By that measure 2009 actually wasn’t all that bad.

Outstanding Anime Series of 2009

Amazingly there were 3 series this year that really stood out, each with its own unique visual style.

Bakemonogatari (Ghoststory) Finally a series from Shaft that I can wholeheartedly endorse. Macabre, funny, twisted and solidly entertaining.

Higashi no Eden (Eden of the East) OK, the ending feels a little abrupt, but the show as a whole is brilliant, like nothing I’ve ever seen. A dark story, but funny and clever, consistently surprising and fascinating.

Kemono no Souja Erin (Erin the Beast Player) A great fantasy story, quite long but carefully written with no waste or filler. Warning: the drawings may remind you of a children’s book, but this is not for little kids.

Special Honorable Mention

Ponyo was actually released in Japan in 2008, but Americans had to wait until 2009 to see it. The bottom line: Hayao Miyazaki is back and near the top of his form, at least if you like things like Totoro.

Noteworthy Anime Series of 2009

Aoi Bungaku (Fresh Literature). This selection of stories by noted twentieth century Japanese writers is not for everyone, but I rather liked it. The stories are fairly dark; in an earlier post I half-jokingly said that contemporary serious Japanese literature is mostly about suicide in one way or another. This series did nothing to refute my thesis.

Clannad After Story People who had played the game seemed to like the ending more than those who hadn’t. Still, if you like this sort of thing, this is another solid adaptation of a Key visual novel by Kyoto Animation. Get out your handkerchiefs.

Kimi ni Todake is indeed an angsty shoujo romance, but this one is special. The heroine, who has more than a trace of ASD wonders wonders why she has no friends and tries to reason out logically what she needs to do to get some. The results are a bit strange, but surprisingly successful.

Mainichi Kaasan (Everyday Mom/Mom’s Life) Sure the character designs are horrifying, but this adaptation of the gag manga about a manga artist and her family is the most consistently funny show of the year. However you may need to have kids of your own to appreciate the humor.

Summer Wars. It’s cyberpunk vs. Japanese tradition in this movie. As science fiction it has a few refrigerator moments, but the depiction of the quarrelsome but supportive traditional extended family is priceless.

Toradora Finally–a harem comedy with a decent ending!

Interesting, but Not to My Taste

There were several shows that were worthy efforts, but which for various reasons I found unwatchable.

Genji Monogatari Sennenki OK, let’s get real. The Tale of Genji, written by Murasaki Shikibu in the early 11th century, is not the world’s first novel. Perhaps it’s the first novel written by a woman, or the first example of chick lit. In any case The Golden Ass, written by Lucius Apuleius sometime in the 2nd century, reads much more like a modern novel.

This anime adaptation of Gengi is beautifully drawn, and the convoluted writing has been cleaned up to make it comprehensible to a modern audience. Unfortunately I can’t make myself care about the endless love affairs of a beautiful but narcissistic prince.

Kuuchuu Buranko (Trapeze) A daring, innovative visual style. I couldn’t make it through even one episode.

To Aru Kagaku no Railgun (A Certain Scientific Railgun) There are many people who really like this, and it clearly has a lot going for it, including fine animation and interesting characters. Unfortunately I find the character of Kuroko so revolting that I just can’t watch the show.

Kyoto Animation Jumps the Shark

Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (Second Season). There was plenty of reason to fear that the sequel would be a disappointment, given that the writers had cherry-picked the best of the source material for the first season, but nobody expected something as bad as this. Stretching what was at most 5 episodes worth of material to 14 episodes had the fans dumbfounded and furious.

Haruhi illustrates the sort of mistake that talented people can make when they get too arrogant, but Sora o Miageru Shoujo no Hitomi ni Utsuru Sekai (Munto) is a work of total mediocrity: an uninspired story, flat uninteresting characters and bad animation with obtrusive CGI.

You may not feel that K-ON belongs in this category. It was a tremendous hit, pretty to look at, funny and fun to watch. However compared to Lucky Star, the same studio’s earlier adaptation of another gag manga about high school girls, K-ON falls short. Lucky Star is just as plotless, but it is funnier with much better developed characters. The main innovation in K-ON consists of cranking the moe factor up to 11. This is no substitute for good writing.

Still Watching

Cross Game. There’s nothing obviously special about this sports/romance anime, except the fact that it is well-drawn, well-written and has lovable characters. It is a long, slow-moving series, but consistently enjoyable.

Kobato. I’m still not sure whether this is going to turn out to be brilliant or a disappointment, but it is rather cute and charming. Charm can only take you so far though. They need to prove that there is a real story here.

Inuyasha Final Chapter. It’s very simple. If you were a fan of the original series, you will want to see the ending. If you didn’t see the original series, the sequel has nothing to offer you.

Millennium Actress is something of an overlooked gem. The movie won all sorts of awards in Japan and was widely praised by critics, but its American release sank without a ripple. This supports the general rule that an animated film that doesn’t even pretend to be for kids has no chance in America. For anime fans it is worth a second look.

The movie is reminiscent of Citizen Kane, though it is less political and more romantic. The basic structure is the same: an investigator explores the life story of a public figure, seeking some key insight that will explain the life and give it meaning.
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This is a bit unusual–an anime based on ballet. The story draws heavily from Swan Lake and the The Nutcracker, with individual episodes inspired by various other ballets, operas and pieces of classical music.

This gives the series the singular advantage of having some of the world’s most beautiful music for its soundtrack. It also features clever and thoughtful writing. However the animation is, overall, only mediocre. It’s regrettable that this was not produced by one of the top-ranked animation studios (I’m thinking of Madhouse in particular.) If it had been this would surely have deserved a full five stars.
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“Robert X Cringely” (Mark Stephens) offers his own design for a “space garbage scow” to clean up all the space junk. It sounds a bit more practical than the approach used in Planetes.

By now I’ve had time to sample everything that looks interesting, and to write individual posts about some of them. Here’s a rundown of my current impressions.

Possibly worthwhile (depending on your tastes)

Kobato.. So far this is my favorite new series, cute and funny but with some dark undertones. The interplay between the impossibly sweet and optimistic heroine and her nasty, violent plush toy constantly cracks me up.

Aoi Bungaku. Dark, serious drama in a very high-quality production.

Kimi ni Todoke. Angst-haters beware! But if you like shoujo romance, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a better example.

Inuyasha the Final Act. This has improved since the frenetic first episode, but it is still very fast-paced. If you were a fan of the first series there is a good chance you will enjoy this. However if you are not familiar with the story of the first series the new series will make no sense, and you are better off skipping it.
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This is an interesting and unusual anime series: an anthology of six stories by highly-regarded modern Japanese writers. Each story has a different director, which may lead to an uneven viewing experience. So far it looks very good. The writing is excellent (as one would expect) as is the animation by Madhouse.

Now this is probably not going to be to everyone’s taste. Contemporary serious Japanese fiction tends to be on the dark side. You encounter a lot of alienated people who think about killing themselves to make some sort of obscure political point. Or people who are bummed because their friends or family members killed themselves. Or intriguing fantasy stories whose background is never clearly explained, and which, on closer examination, seem to be a metaphor for how you feel when your friends kill themselves.

OK, I’m exaggerating just a little. But my main point is that most anime is based on manga or light novels, escapist literature about people who hardly ever think about killing themselves. So it’s possible that the typical anime fan won’t find this appealing.

Incidentally, “aoi” can mean “blue”, or “green” (like a leaf), or “unripe.” So does the title mean “Blue Literature”, “Green Literature” or “Unripe Literature?”

The latest fad among anime bloggers seems to be to list your top 5 anime, then try to draw conclusions from the list.

I’m willing to play along, but I’m puzzled by the question: “top 5 according to what criteria?” Should I list the anime I’ve enjoyed most, based on my initial reaction and number of rewatches? Or should I list the ones I admire most, based on overall artistic quality? These are not at all the same thing.

So I’m going to shrug and give both lists:

Most Fun

1. Cardcaptor Sakura
2. Spirited Away
3. Shakugan no Shana
4. Kanon (2006)
5. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (original broadcast order)

Of course, your mileage may vary.

Highest Quality

1. Spirited Away
2. Grave of the Fireflies
3. Cardcaptor Sakura
4. Haibane Renmei
5. Dennou Coil

There would be more overlap if I were doing a Top 10 list. Still, note that in one case I can’t link to a review since I haven’t been able to force myself to watch it again.

So what does it signify? I can’t say. You’ll have to draw your own conclusions.

Angsty shoujo romance is usually something I tune out very quickly (unless it’s played for laughs as in Itazura na Kiss.) Kimi ni Todoke (Reaching You) plays it totally straight, but it still has me watching after three episodes. Maybe it’s true that the genre doesn’t matter as long as it’s done well enough.

Sawako Kuronuma is a girl who is shy, book-smart and overly earnest. She has no friends because her classmates are afraid of her. They call her “Sadako” after the character in The Ring, whom she rather resembles. When she is nervous, which is most of the time, she looks angry and speaks in shaky voice that sounds like something out of a nightmare.

When a cheerful, popular boy shows an interest in her she gradually begins to relax, lighten up and start to make friends. However given the nature of the genre we know that things are not going to be that easy for her.

The OVA turns out to be better than I had feared. It’s a lightweight filler story (which is true of just about every OVA released for a television series, except for those that are total-ripoff clip shows.) However it is entertaining and perhaps gives us some insight into the characters. Fans of the TV show will probably like it. People who hate the show…have probably stopped reading by now, so we won’t worry about them.

The story apparently takes place in the interval between the first and second seasons of the TV series. Show ▼

Yuuji and Shana are rooting around in Friagne’s storeroom. Of course fooling around with unknown hougu is inherently dangerous; a mishap occurs and hilarity ensues. Everything works out all right in the end. Nothing really important happens but there are some nice scenes.

Presumably Yuuji and Shana were looking for something to use against the Balle Masque, which is a nice touch. The second season manages to give the impression that the heroes just waited passively for the inevitable attack, without making any preparations. This story suggests that they did look for possible countermeasures, but failed to come up with anything effective.

Though the story seems to wrap itself up neatly, AniDB says that this is just the first part of a 4-episode OVA series to be released between now and next August.

So far Kobato. (with a period) is my favorite series of an admittedly weak fall anime season. It’s cute, it’s funny and it’s charming. Maybe there’s more to it than that, or maybe not.

Almost 15 years ago there was another anime series created by CLAMP and animated by Madhouse. It was called Cardcaptor Sakura. It was cute and funny and charming. When I saw the first few episodes, I thought that was all there was to it–fun but lightweight. Gradually it became clear that this was a masterpiece, a great classic of animation and perhaps the best example of long-form television writing ever. (It’s not the best-written series ever, but the better ones are all much shorter.)

Since then both CLAMP and Madhouse have gone on to make many other series, none quite as good and some much worse.

This new collaboration is quite different from CCS, but there’s something about it that feels similar. That certainly doesn’t prove that it’s another masterpiece. In fact the odds are that it’s not. But I’m willing to stick around to make sure. At worst, it probably will be a pleasant diversion.
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Perhaps it’s an indication of the overall quality of the Fall 2009 anime season that the show that seems to be attracting the most attention is one that irritates the heck out of me.

Seitokai no Ichizon (It’s Up To the Student Council) is rather reminiscent of Lucky Star with its cute high school girls, fast-paced anime in-jokes, and general lack of an overall story. On the other hand Lucky Star had much better artwork, bigger laughs and much more believable characters.
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I just watched the first episode of Inuyasha–The Final Act on Hulu.

First the good news: the subtitle translation seems noticeably better than the one on the VIZ DVDs for the original series–although they still translate “youkai” as “demon”, a pet peeve of mine.

The bad news is that they apparently intend to cover the final 21 volumes of the manga in 26 episodes or less. Thus, while the original series was arguably too padded and drawn out, the new series is far too rushed.

Anyone who did not watch the original series should forget about watching this one. Even fans of the original series whose memories have faded in the intervening years may have trouble following the action.

Worse, the proper pacing and rhythm of the story is lost. The first episode rushes through several minor story arcs and at least 4 major climactic moments:
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Each of these deserves at least an episode of its own, to allow us to experience the full emotional impact. Instead each is rushed through in a few seconds and is over almost before we know it.

So far it looks like this potentially great but overly-ambitious epic will have a botched ending.

What happens to a high-quality anime series that doesn’t fit the current model for R1 licensing? Specifically one that is more than 26 episodes long, but doesn’t feature named magical attacks and fan service in every episode?

Increasingly the answer is that it ends up on Crunchyroll.com. The latest news is that they are picking up Kemono no Souja Erin (The Beast Player Erin).

If you haven’t seen this, it’s worth checking out. It has a leisurely pace but it’s a great story.

Finally after all these years I got to see a Hayao Miyazaki movie in a theater on a big screen. This mini-review is based on the dubbed version currently in the theaters. When I get hold of the DVD I will probably write a more detailed review with pictures.

Ponyo is a gentle children’s story comparable to My Neighbor Totoro. If you are in the mood for something like that, this is pretty good. The story is supposedly inspired by “The Little Mermaid”, but it has little resemblance to either the Disney version or the grim original story by Hans Christian Anderson.
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The story finally ends, in a suitably anticlimactic manner. It feels like the folks at Kyoto Animation are as sick of it as we are.

So why did they do it this way? I suspect that the real reason, regardless of the rationalizations they may have come up with, is that the production company ordered N episodes and they only had enough source material for N - 7. KyoAni has a lot of talent, including some of the world’s best animators, but coming up with new story ideas is not their forte.

Incidentally, the ending provides the strongest evidence so far for what I called “Theory 4″ in my Spoiler Notes for Haruhi Suzumiya.

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Hayao Miyazaki’s second most successful movie (after Spirited Away) is a dark, exciting adventure story that resonates with the power of myth.
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Click for larger images.

Pete quotes my whimsical description of Umi Monogatari and adds:

Sounds like Simoun. The question is, if it’s any good as an anime.

Let me set the record straight. Umi Monogatari is nothing like Simoun. Simoun is (or tries to be) a tragic-but-beautiful story about ill-fated warriors. Umi, unless the writers intend a nasty surprise, is a lighthearted adventure story with magical girls.

Both have yuri overtones, but so do about half the anime series being broadcast now. That’s not much of a basis for comparison.

This may be the weakest season ever (or rather, since I started paying attention to such things.) The recession is probably a factor. Fewer anime series are being produced (though still an amazing number by American standards.) Also the studios seem less willing to take a chance on crazy new ideas, preferring to stick with tried and true formulas which are inherently less interesting but probably have a guaranteed audience.

Nevertheless there are a few shows that may be worth a look:

Likely Winners

Bakemonogatari (Ghostory). Probably the best of the lot, distinguished by the arty animation expected from Shaft. Stories of the supernatural, more amusing than scary, enlivened by extensive though mostly tasteful fan service and a sharp-tongued tsundere armed with a stapler.
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About a year ago, when Rumiko Takahashi finally ended the Inuyasha manga, I speculated about whether they would ever do a new anime series to finish up the story. I was dubious. It seemed to me that if anyone wanted to do that, the sensible thing would have been to start it before the manga ended, while the fans were still interested.

Well, it turns out that there will be a new anime series starting this Fall (which probably means they have been working on it for at least six months.) It will feature the original cast and is intended to complete the story. (It will probably take at least 2 years to cover the remaining 21 volumes of the manga–unless, unlike the first series, they do a lot of cuts.)

The big question is, does anybody care? The manga ran for so long that even many of its most dedicated fans gave up on it.

Nevertheless I’m going to give the new series a chance. I thought that the original series was very good in many ways. The problem was that it ran on too long and failed to provide a satisfactory ending.

While it is always possible that the second series will be a disaster, it is also possible that the two series together will amount to a great story, flawed by excessive length. A partial win, in other words. And heck, if I’ve already invested the time to watch 167 episodes, I suppose I might as well give them a chance.

Part of the appeal of Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya as it was originally broadcast was in the uniquely confusing way that it was presented. It created a sort of meta-story in which the original story was further illuminated by the viewer’s own reaction to the way it was presented. The viewers didn’t mind that the show was messing with their heads because the whole thing was so wonderfully entertaining.

Now with the second season Kyoto Animation seems to be trying for the same kind of “mess with the viewers’ heads” effect, but the original inspiration is no longer there. Instead of applauding, the fans are up in arms. Particularly infuriating is the “Endless Eight” storyline which has so far repeated the same episode 4 times with minor variations. This isn’t fun; it’s just annoying.

Probably any possible sequel would have been a disappointment, but it appears that KyoAni may have destroyed the value of the franchise. Furious fans are already vowing not to buy the DVDs.

It seems that the supposed third season of Shana will actually be an OVA, probably with just one short story.

Which actually makes me feel more optimistic about the project. With a short OVA there will be much less temptation to reset and rehash due to a lack of new material. And even if they do mess it up totally, a bad OVA is much easier to ignore than a bad television season.

Clannad is the third in a series of shows from Kyoto Animation adapted from visual novels from Key/Visual Art’s. (The other two were Air and Kanon (2006).)

Kanon is my favorite of the three. It has the most likable hero and the bravest heroine. I admire Air but it’s a bit too grim for my taste.

Clannad is a bit different. It is split into two seasons, the first of which can stand by itself as a gentle, upbeat and very funny harem comedy, though with a rather sad backstory. I’m going to focus on the first season in this review since it can be enjoyed by itself.

As with most KyoAni shows, the character designs are cute and the animation quality is outstanding.
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A horrible shock awaits K-ON! fans as Atarashii Prelude reveals the awful truth:

How To Deal With A Jealous Ritsu

The Fall Of Hirasawa Yui

This may not be Hayao Miyazaki’s most profitable film, but it is probably the most beloved. Totoro toys and memorabilia are perennial favorites, and his image appears on the Studio Ghibli logo. The film is a family classic, appealing to even the youngest children, but still interesting to adults.

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Apparently they are working on a third SnS series. (Probably for 2010. Unless they have been working on it for quite a while in secret, they can’t possibly have it ready for Fall 2009.)

I’m looking forward to this with more trepidation that anticipation. Consider what J.C. Staff has done so far with the franchise:

• The first TV series was quite good in my opinion. (Some disagree).
• Then there was a very lame OVA, which added a pointless onsen episode to the story.
• Which was followed by a movie which was almost as lame. It just rehashed the beginning of the TV series, adding nothing of importance, but playing a nasty trick on anyone who might be intrigued enough by the movie to go watch the TV series. The movie was told in a way that would spoil the ending of the TV series for anyone who hadn’t already seen it.
• Then there was the second TV series which was a mixed bag. The beginning was very weak and rather annoying, but in my opinion the series redeemed itself at the end.

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I’ve argued in previous posts that you as a non-Japanese-speaker can pick up a lot of information by listening to the Japanese sound track while watching anime with subtitles–nuances that are not available in the translation. One of the most useful and interesting things to listen for is whether the characters are using polite or plain speech.

English has different levels of formality. Consider the difference between “Is this Joe’s place?” and “Is this the residence of Mr. Blow?” [1]. They may mean the same thing, but they suggest very different situations. However Japanese goes far beyond English in it’s levels of formality. Polite speech (keigo) amounts to a completely different dialect with its own verb conjugations and specialized vocabulary [2]. Because there is no real English equivalent the subtitles rarely attempt to show that it is being used, but sometimes you need to know when it is being used (or not used) in order to fully understand the characters’ reactions.
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Kemono no Souja Erin (Erin the Beast-Player) premiered last January, and initially I wasn’t too impressed. Recently I revisited it and it’s really starting to grow on me.

It’s an odd series with an unusual drawing style. The artwork isn’t bad (in fact it’s quite good) but it’s rather unique, not quite what we are used to in contemporary anime.

The story involves a young girl growing up in a land where warriors ride giant hairy poisonous lizards. It’s a long series with 50 episodes scheduled, so it won’t wrap up until the end of the year. (I trust they plan to finish in one year–it’s based on two novels, so there shouldn’t be enough material for a second season.)

The story takes a while to get going and the early episodes told me far more than I really need to know about the care and feeding of giant hairy poisonous lizards. However now things seem to be falling into place, and it has become fascinating. It sort of reminds me of the movies of Hayao Miyazaki. The artwork is quite different, but it has a similar sensibility and the same loving attention to detail.

Initially the only available translation was so bad as to be almost unwatchable. However Static-Subs has picked it up, with much more readable results.

The early episodes feel like a children’s story and it might be good for older children–say age 10 and up. It wouldn’t be a good choice for younger children. (There are worse things in this world than giant hairy poisonous lizards, and some of them walk on two legs.)

I’m not optimistic about this being licensed in Region 1. It’s too long for a DVD-only release and it’s probably too unusual for one of the television networks to pick up. Cartoon Network started to broadcast Moribito–Guardian of the Spirit by the same author, then dropped it after a few episodes.

Crunchyroll would probably run it, but they tend to get the cheaper, low-end shows. Though it may be a bit outside of mainstream tastes, this show is a class act, which may mean that the owners will hold out for more money than in Internet distributor would be able to pay.

I don’t rent software. Never have and never will. I buy DVDs, and I’ve bought a hell of a lot of them. But I do this. This is like those computer games which won’t run unless they have an internet connection and can phone home every time you invoke them. Your game only works as long as the company that “sold” it to you feels like maintaining the validation server.

And this Crunchyroll deal only works as long as Crunchyroll exists. Not acceptable.

What I wrote back, perhaps more angrily than I should have, was: “I ***BUY*** anime, I don’t rent it. I’ll steal it before I’ll rent it.”

Steven Den Beste

Here I have to disagree. I DO rent anime. If I didn’t there are a lot of things I would never see.

Fushigi Yuugi for example. It was fun to watch, but I’ll probably never want to watch it again. The DVDs are quite expensive. If I had to buy them there’s no way that I could justify the purchase. On the other hand, renting them from Netflix was quite reasonable.

Steven is specifically talking about video streaming sites like Crunchyroll, but I think the same logic applies. If it’s not worth rewatching (and face it, most shows aren’t) then why not watch it as streaming video?

Of course there are some shows that I do want to watch more than once. Some shows seem intended to be watched multiple times, with jokes and hidden meanings that no one would be likely to pick up on a single viewing. (Many series by CLAMP for example.)

And after a series has been out for a few years, you may be able to pick up a thinpak on sale for about the same price that you would pay to rent it. At that point, if it’s any good, why not?

Noir sets the standard for anime thrillers. It is often imitated but rarely equaled. There are many shows that are darker or bloodier, but few that are as exhilarating to watch.

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The latest trend in anime is to offer English-speaking fans legal access to subtitled versions streamed on the Internet starting at approximately the same time that the episode is first shown in Japan. (Example: Crunchyroll.)

Now VIZ Media is doing something similar with Rumiko Takahashi’s new manga Rin-Ne, posting English translations of each chapter every Tuesday, more or less simultaneously with their release in Japan. Fans of Inuyasha will probably want to check it out.

Given that some people were predicting that the season would be a total loss, I think things are looking better than expected.

Likely Winners

Cross Game This seems not so much a conventional sports anime but more of a poignant romantic comedy. Very well done so far.

Eden of the East A summary doesn’t really do it justice. An ordinary girl (naive, idealistic, somewhat spacey, vulnerable, braver than she thinks she is, and generally adorable) meets a handsome, engaging super-spy who has lost his memory. So far this is awesome.

Overlooked Gem?

Mom’s Life (Mainichi Kaa-san) Bloggers have been ignoring this one, maybe because of the deliberately horrifying character designs, or perhaps because any summary makes it sound like a 1960s American sit-com. (Specifically it sounds like Please Don’t Eat the Daisies, though with a manga artist instead of a newspaper columnist.) Nevertheless, it’s hilarious.
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Technically this wasn’t made by Studio Ghibli but most people think of it as a Studio Ghibli film, since this was the movie that got the studio started.

Hayao Miyazaki had worked on the 1978 anime TV show Future Boy Conan (director, character designs and storyboards.) This was a lightweight series with a rather simple-minded plot, set in a post-apocalyptic world.

In the early 1980s Miyazaki tried to get funding for an animated feature film that would also have a post-apocalyptic setting but with a more sophisticated story. Unfortunately, no one seemed interested in financing an animated film that was not based on a successful manga or light novel series.

Toshio Suzuki, the editor of Animage magazine, encouraged him to develop the story as a manga, which was serialized in Animage. The manga was a big hit, and suddenly financing for an animated movie became available. The success of the film exceeded all expectations, paving the way for Suzuki, Miyazaki and fellow director Isao Takahata to start Studio Ghibli.

This is one of Miyazaki’s earliest films. I wouldn’t say that it’s his greatest work, but it’s still well worth seeing. Many of the standard trademark elements of a Miyazaki film are visible, including ecological and anti-war themes, dramatic flying sequences, fantastic flying machines and a dynamic young heroine.
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This is interesting. Shibawanko no Wa no Kokoro (Shibawanko’s Japanese Spirit) is a children’s anime in very short segments, only a couple of minutes each. Shibawanko, a serious-minded hard-working talking dog, teaches children about Japanese traditions and proper behavior, assisted by a mischievous talking cat named Mikenyanko.

For someone interested in Japanese culture this is great stuff. Unfortunately I see zero chance that this will ever be licensed.