Category: Anime

Winter 2011 Anime Guide Pt. 1: Cold as Ice

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New season are exciting, no? I like to go in without knowing too much about shows, unless of course I’ve read its source material. But as shows started getting released my hopes started sinking, for whatever reason the earlier shows this season were rather weak as a whole. But things kicked in a little later and I’m happy to say the winter season is by no means a flop.

hisuicon Apparently the formula to the boom and bust of shows getting simulcast is much simpler than I first assumed. Since the Winter and Summer seasons are considered the lesser seasons these shows are cheaper to license so we see far more shows being picked up for simulcast as opposed to the two main broadcast seasons. Now that I know the magical equation for licensing I will reiterate out standard season preview rules. First and foremost we do not watch every show that comes out. We here at Reverse Thieves maintain our sanity and prevent burn out by skipping any show that seems absolutely retched although we on occasion take a risk and will sample something that is probably dire but might have a faint hope of being entertaining. The second is that we don’t review sequels and continuations as you usually know exactly what you were going to get from the earlier iteration. There is one very special exception to that rule this year. We will not be looking at Gosick in this guide because we are going to do episode reviews of the anime every Tuesday. This is hardly our transformation from an editorial blog to an episodic blog but we figured it would be fun to try. (Also this lays the ground work for me to episode blog the Fate/Zero anime when it comes out.)

Fractale

I’m living in the kernel of a rank-one map
From my domain, its image looks so blue,
‘Cause all I see are zeroes, it’s a cruel trap
But we’re a finite simple group of order two

– Finite Simple Group (of Order Two) by The Klein Four

As a Noitamina show, you can always go in with decent expectations. And the way the director was talking about it, there was no way to go in with anything less than high hopes. Luckily, the first episode was incredibly charming with its family show feeling. Clain’s adventure starts when seeing a beautiful girl being chased, he subsequently helps to hide her. She ends up leaving an amulet with him that contains lost technology. Everyone has already made the Ghibli comparisons but I’ll add that the beginning indeed felt like Laputa. I found myself both thrown off and intrigued by the setting, there is future technology, current world technology, and steampunk technology all set in what looks like the European countryside where small markets and normal looking cars are used. There are also priestesses. Where will this giant mishmash go is what I’m looking forward to most.

hisuiconThere are some pretty high expectations for this show considering how many big names are working on it and how much hype this show has gotten. So far I can’t say the show has lived up to those high hopes but I think it has the potential to do so. The world is interesting and has a very odd feeling of being super advanced but somewhat retro at the same time (with the main character collecting old technology reinforcing this idea.) The interplay between Clain and Phryne was fairly amusing although they both seem to have an odd mood swings at points. At the same time the villains distinctly have the feel of the Dorombo Gang from Yatterman. The plot still seems to be as of yet unrevealed so I am reversing judgment of how much you need to watch this but there is nothing that says you should not give this a chance. It has potential to go either way but if it succeeds it might be wonderful.

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Ongoing Investigations: Case #111

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Since the 7th game of Umineko is so game changing I am going to try to just discuss the essence of the episode without giving away major spoilers especially for people who read the blog but are a few games behind. The two new characters seen in the portrait above are Willard H Wright and Lion Ushiromiya. Lion is a fascinating character that is essentially several huge reveals just by existing. Will is the Battler stand in for this chapter and I thought his big entrance was fairly entertaining and cool. Lion and Will’s interaction is playful although all the butt pinching going on has solidified that they will be shipped forever. When we get into the meat of the story we learn Kinzo’s back story, the identity of Beatrice, Battler’s sin, get some hits as to the solutions to some of the locked room mysteries, and the probable confirmation of one of the mostly hotly debated theories in the series. We also get some powerful scenes that I thought were quite moving. Also unless we are being misled there is some seriously twisted relationships in Umineko and the people involved do not realize are as twisted as they are.  It probably makes me a weenie but I found parts of the end of Requiem of the Golden Witch really hard to read. If you have come to love these characters the last chapter is brutal. Although how authentic how authentic that ending is has yet to be seen.  When the last game comes out I will probably do a total spoiler filled review of the series a whole but until then I just have to wait to see what answers 2011 finally gives us with Twilight of the Golden Witch.

I picked up How to Train Your Dragon in a Black Friday sale but didn’t get around to watching it till the Christmas holidays. The animation of the film really stands out, especially from some of the other Dreamworks properties, it was lush and gorgeous; the dragons were very animated and their designs were quirky; plus the flying scenes were breath-taking. The story is a simple one of trying to fit in to your dragon-killing village of vikings (we’ve all been there, right?) but Hiccup is much happier inventing things which often gets him into trouble. After one of his inventions actually works and takes down a rare dragon, their fates become intertwined when he realizes he can’t bring himself to hurt the creature. This story has a classic feel of acceptance, growing up, and having the bravery to do what is right. While I did find the relationships between Hiccup and the other kids a little too easier resolved, it was enough. I found it a very enjoyable ride! After seeing it, I do imagine it will be an Oscar contender this year. Continue reading →

Durarara!!: The Dub

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hisuiconIf anyone reads the blog regularly you will know our general opinion on Durarara!! We both thought that the series was great overall but the first half was certainly stronger than the second half. That said it was a fun ride and I think it has a distinct appeal with a hip vibe and some wonderful characters. So when Aniplex sent us a screener for the first 5 episodes I figured it would be somewhat redundant to  say what we have already said about the show on the blog. What we could comment on was the one major addition to the show that they have added since it was streaming on Crunchyroll, the dub. In an age where dubs are becoming increasingly rare it is a good time to examine one of the few shows popular enough to get a dub that is not coming from Funimation.

Despite how I felt about the second half of Durarara!!, I would still recommend it. And rewatching these first episodes really hits it home how much I liked the characters, the setting, and parts of the show that I did really enjoy (i.e. all the Celty stuff which encompasses the first half, anything involving Shizuo, and these two made up the best parts of the second half as well). And since Durarara!! is full of little hints of its mysteries and characters, it was fun catching little things that explain pieces of the puzzle when you know the answers.

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