FunBlog

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.

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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Once again it’s time to look back on the past year and pontificate on what was noteworthy in the world of anime. This is not intended as any sort of definitive list. I’ve only sampled a small part of what was available, and of course my interests are idiosyncratic and may not match yours. Also I am excluding any series that began in the Fall of 2008 and is continuing in 2009. These will be eligible for consideration next year.

Outstanding Anime Series of 2008

No Winner. I’m sorry. I just didn’t see anything this year that I would award 5 stars to.

Noteworthy Anime Series of 2008

On the other hand, there were a number of solid, entertaining series that I considered time well spent.

Bamboo Blade. This tale of the misadventures of a high school kendo club was consistently funny and charming.

Clannad. Surprisingly the latest collaboration from the people who brought us Kanon (2006) and Air (TV) turned out to be a funny and upbeat comedy, though with a rather sad backstory. (This statement applies only to the original series. Watch the sequel at your own risk.)

Hakaba Kitarou. A stylish adaptation of the classic horror comic from the 1960s. Not to be confused with Ge Ge Ge no Kitarou, a long-running series that featured more child-friendly versions of the same characters.

Hatenkou Yuugi. Spooky variant on the magical girl genre, with a delightful heroine.

Itazura na Kiss. I could almost imagine this romantic comedy playing on American television–in the 1950s, perhaps starring a younger version of Lucille Ball. The hapless heroine suffers every imaginable humiliation, but always manages to bounce back by the end of the episode.

Kure-nai. Dark, noirish thrillier, lit up by the wonderful character of Murasaki.

Shakugan no Shana Second. This sequel is strictly for fans of the original series, and perhaps not for all of them. It gets off to a very weak start, especially compared to the powerful opening of the first series. Things don’t really start to turn around until about half way through, after which it builds to a suitably resounding climax.

Shugo Chara! A classic magical girl series that is extremely cute and very funny. It’s also very long and noticeably padded in places. It would probably be better if edited down a bit.

Telepathy Girl Ran. I would classify this not so much a magical girl story as a child detective story. “And I would have gotten away with it too, if it wasn’t for those darned kids!” (The comparison is unfair since the writing is about 10 times better, but I couldn’t resist.)

xxxHOLIC Kei. A rare bird–a sequel that’s every bit as good as the original.

Disappointing Anime Series of 2008

I’m going to skip this category. I had a whole bunch of snarky comments saved up, but they mostly boil down to two principles:

1. Most sequels aren’t as good as the originals.
2. Anything adapted from a series of light novels will have a strong start to introduce the characters and premise, but then will probably wander around without ever going anywhere.

Interesting, But Not To My Taste

ef–a tale of melodies. This is not just a sequel to ef–a tale of memories; the two form an integrated whole and should probably be viewed together. Once again the artwork is stunning and the stories are compelling, and it addresses some of my objections to the original series. Unfortunately the explanations are often implausible and some of the answers to the questions raised by the first series are answers that you might be happier not knowing. Frankly, watching this is like being kicked repeatedly in the gut.

Ga-Rei Zero. “I’ve got a great idea! Let’s introduce the heroes, then kill them off at the end of the first episode! It’ll be like a Gainax ending, only at the beginning!”

Kaiba. An innovative anime with a strong European flavor. I really wanted to like this one. Innovation is always praiseworthy and I want to see it succeed. Unfortunately I found that I just did not care what happened to any of these characters.

Kannagi. This series has nice animation and some nice moments, and raises interesting questions about the implications of Shinto religious teachings. However ultimately it’s mostly just routine, uninspired harem comedy shtick.

Kuroshitsuji. “I’ve got a great idea! To show our mastery of dark humor, let’s start the series with an episode featuring cannibalism! The good guys will EAT the bad guy! That’ll get their attention!”

Shigofumi. Dark, beautifully drawn, a searing indictment of Japanese society. This has justly been compared to Kino’s Journey, but you have to imagine what that show would be like with a Kino who acted cold and heartless, and a Hermes who was really irritating.

I’m going to risk making a fool of myself and try to guess the ending of the second season. (If you have read the books and know the right answer, please keep quiet.)
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I’ve had my doubts about this sequel, but at this point, all I have to say is this: Episode 21 rocks!

Since I really enjoyed the Shakugan no Shana television series I was eager to see the movie. Unfortunately it was a bit of a letdown.

The movie turns out to be a retelling of the first story arc of the TV series (the Friagne arc.) I’m OK with that in principle. That arc is a powerful story; some people consider it the best part of the series. I’m willing to judge the movie on its own terms without comparing it to the series–if they’ll let me.
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Steven Den Beste comments on the logical problems raised by the fuuzetsu (“time-stop seals”) in Shakugan no Shana. When time stops inside the seal, does it also stop outside? Either way seems to create impossible paradoxes. Either way no one should be able to enter or leave the sealed area.

Of course these problems also occur with any of the other anime and manga series that use a variation of this concept. It’s a convenient notion. Seal off an area where the good guys and bad guys can fight it out, then clean up the mess before anyone notices. The idea dates back at least to X, and also appears in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Pretear, Kyoshiro to Towa no Sora, and who knows how many others. They all are subject to similar critiques.

However I think that in the case of Shakugan no Shana all of the paradoxes can be resolved rather simply by applying the rules of that fantasy universe. Entering full-geek mode, I will attempt to do so. NOTE: This is going to require some spoilers, so those who haven’t seen the series should read no further.
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Steven den Beste and Ubu Roi have been conducting a spirited debate on their blogs about Shakugan no Shana. (Ubu’s posts are here and here; Steven doesn’t have permalinks for his posts but you can read his review here.)

To summarize and oversimplify: Steven was initially enthralled by the horror/adventure story, but was greatly annoyed by the inclusion of “high school angst.” Ubu agreed that “angst” is bad but argued that the adventure story is only background; the “real” story is about Shana’s character development and personal growth. (I agree with Ubu, but most people are going to watch it for the adventure story. The personal growth story takes extra effort to follow since Shana and several of the other key characters are not open about their feelings.)

But this got me interested in the whole question of “angst”. Practically everyone who writes about anime (or at least every male who writes about anime) agrees that this is a bad thing. But what is it exactly, and what is so bad about it?
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A while ago I praised the quality of the subtitle translation on the Shakugan no Shana DVDs. Given that this seems to be a particularly difficult story to translate they seemed to be doing a pretty good job.

Unfortunately with the fourth DVD the translation seems to have taken a turn for the worse. And my main complaint isn’t even about the difficult poetic stuff; it’s something that should be really simple and straightforward: they’re spelling Wilhelmina’s name as “Wirhelmina”. I know that you could romanize the katakana that way, but why on Earth would you do that? Are the translators unfamiliar with European names? Are they relying on how Shana (Rie Kugimiya) pronounces it? (If so it’s a bad idea since we’ve already established that Shana speaks English with a heavy Japanese accent.)
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I can’t give a good reason it, but this has become one of my favorite anime series. It has a rather dark premise; it is full of bizarre over-the-top characters and the ending does not resolve the central problem.

Still I love it. It is dark-romantic rather than dark-realistic. The bizarre characters are fascinating; the episodes feel like an invigorating adrenaline rush and the ending resolves just enough to feel satisfactory.
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