Category: Anime

Kamichu!, Let’s all go to Kami-con!

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I was initially interested in Kamichu! because I heard people describing it as Spirited Away the TV series. That is some pretty high praise so it had a lot to live up to. When I went to Anime Expo I randomly saw the end of episode three and all of four while waiting for a panel to begin. While I really enjoyed it, I will admit to forgetting about it. When I saw it on a Geneon clearance sale later I picked it up. And then I promptly threw it on my unwatched anime pile. I dug it out when Narutaki and I agreed we should review something that was not a robot show. We were pleasantly rewarded for our efforts. This is a well done comedy for the whole family. It is just a warm series that has comedy, romance, and a dash of nostalgia with a fun supernatural twist.

I was initially interested in Kamichu! because Hisui came over and basically told me what she did in that first paragraph. Spirited Away is one of my favorite Studio Ghibli films (as I am sure it is many others’) so anything that even remotely resembles it, I’d need to check out. It also looked very cute. The show ended up being equal parts magical, funny, and charming. It has a lighter than air quality to it making Kamichu! easy to enjoy. While we stay earthbound (mostly) the show transports you to its setting and integrates you into its life. And it certainly has the ability to entertain the young as well as the old.

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Ongoing Investigations: Case #047

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At first it seemed like Cross Game was more of the same from Mitsuru Adachi. Its initial similarities to Touch are quite easy to notice. They are both about boys who start with little interest in baseball and have a change of heart after the death of a loved one. After reading seeing a good deal of Cross Game they are very different shows. Tatsuya and Minami from Touch have a very different dynamic than Ko and Aoba on top of being very different characters overall. Cross Game shows that Adachi has not lost any magic as a manga-ka who blends dramatic romance with sports manga action. His characters are fun and play off each other well and he knows how to stage a scene for dramatic impact. So far we have not really seen anyone play a full game of baseball. Adachi is setting up the characters so that we care about Ko and his team winning before they play their first game. I like how Ko has become the secondary teams secret weapon. It leads to a good mixture of comedy and suspense as they try to keep his amazing pitching skill a secret. So far Cross Game is still on track as a good show to keep your eye on especially if you like shonen romance.

Vertical had mentioned the Shinjuku Shark books a couple of times at conventions and piqued my interest. After all, a detective story is what we have an affinity for around here! So the self-titled first book finally got a look see by both of us. The Shinjuku Shark strikes fear in all that know him and in many that don’t. He is somewhat of a rogue cop who the brass can’t stand. He has no partner to speak of as he prowls the streets of Shinjuku with little fear of the Yakuza and other gang types. While Samejima (The Shark) certainly has a hard-boiled feel, he is humanized through his relationships and by him actually having moments of fear when going up against the villains in these stories. Also after learning a little of his past in the force as well as the reason he has been permanently relegated to the Shinjuku streets he quickly becomes a character you want to follow. Some other notable people are Yabu the weapons expert on staff and Samejima’s boss Momoi who is nicknamed The Cadaver because of his stellar personality. Both of these guys help Samejima out once and a while, so you know not everyone is against him. They make a great team and certainly made me want to see them appear more. One of the things that struck me was some of the coincidences in this book. We aren’t looking at a small pool of suspects, we are talking about an entire city, but it is relatively obvious who is behind things about half way through. Also the final intended victim was rather convenient. However, if I accept these things the story has some well-paced and suspenseful moments.

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Ongoing Investigations: Case #046

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I picked up one of the blind box Gundam 00 Calendar Characters and got lucky! My pick turned out to be Allelujah for May/Children’s Day. There are 12 figures total, one for each month, so each meister has 3 figures. As you can see Allelujah is in his flight suit here, but each of the others has a different outfit. Some look more fun than others. They also come with two accessories related to their month/holiday. Though since the pose and heads are basically the same across the board I don’t have the desire to collect them all. But it is certainly worth having my favorite of. He is quite cute and tiny, and easily worth my $6.

Suikoden Tierkreis is a fine return to form for the Suikoden series even if this is a side story. After some lackluster entries, I am glad to see a very solid renewal of the franchise. Suikoden Tierkreis involves parallel worlds and destiny vs. free will. I won’t claim that it is high literature but it competently handles pretty weighty topics in a competent and entertaining manner which can often be hard for video games. The story starts after some friends who are part of a small village defense force find a book that revels the memories they have are lies. A new organization that believes everything is predestined seek to make a single world where everyone believes as they do. So this rag tag team must rally together to defeat this fanatical organization. I really like that your main allies, the Magedom, are almost as nasty as your enemies in the Order of the One True Way. One of the biggest strengths with 108 recruitable characters is you will always like at least one or two characters. However, many charters don’t get detailed character development. The main charters is sort of the generic plucky never give up shonen hero but at least he has a personality beyond silent protagonist everyone likes for no given reason. The main cast is all enjoyable so you don’t have to cling to side characters in the game. The game play is the standard turn-based RPG battles. Without a doubt the two biggest flaws are the encounter rate and the voice acting. The random encounter rate is really high which makes exploration a pain. Also, there are only one or two decent voice actors making it overall quite bad. Unfortunately, there is a lot of voice acting. I tend to play it on my commute on the subway so it often does not matter but when I do hear it I tend to skip.

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