PinkuBentoBox

Welcome to part one of Nagi’s Animu Spring Break. Yes, this past week was the second half of my Spring Break, and I kinda got serious with the anime watching. I watched so much, in fact, that I feel the need to divide it all into two separate entries. Expect the second one some time tomorrow. For this entry, I will be focusing on the TV series and OVAs I watched over the week, while the next entry will focus exclusively on the movies.

By the way, I guess I should give you a little heads-up that there WILL be spoilers here, as there will be in just about every one of my entries. But I will clearly mark where I discuss each title—and for series, the episodes I cover if I’m not doing the entire series in a single pass—so that you can easily skip those parts you don’t want potentially ruined for you.

Ergo Proxy, episodes 2-3
This series continues to be a tease in terms of what to expect. Things are definitely happening. And they’re definitely important. But damned if we really know just what they are. That’s not a bad thing however, as it’s all just intriguing enough that we’re enticed to keep watching. From what I can gather, this experiment the city was working on has escaped, for whatever reason it’s targeting the lead protagonist, Ril (apparently official sources cite her name as “Real,” but I’m going to wait and see if that has any bearing on the plot to really accept it :|), the government is going to great lengths to deny the story and make Ril out as a Post Traumatic Stress sufferer for her ramblings of “monsters,” and somehow this other bumbling loser named Vincent has something major to do with this same escaped creature, “Proxy.” Or something like that.

Personally, I’m wondering if Vincent might not be one of these Proxy things, himself. He’s a foreigner to the city, apparently, and he has these strange visions all throughout episode three, as well as these eerie, glowing green eyes when he’s escaping the city at the end of the episode. He’s also evidenced as being at Ril’s apartment when she was attacked by the first Proxy (his necklace being found in her shower drain), and though the government of the city seemingly only had possession of one specimen, two were duking it out right in front of Ril. There’s also the fact that, though the one known Proxy is being described as after Ril, it goes out of its way to publicly pursue Vincent, corner him, and yet…Vincent walks away unscathed when he should’ve been conceivably eviscerated. And of course there’s again the end of episode three, where he escapes into the wasteland outside of the city, which is presumably fatal to normal humans. Yet he’s one of the main cast, and will more than likely show up again in the city before too long, suspiciously unscathed again.

As for Ril, I suspect she’s going to rebel at some point for all the bullshit she’s having to put up with. I mean hell, her own grandfather (or at least his group of assistants) is trying to have her made out as an emotionally unstable nutcase, and the city’s even had Iggy tapped to monitor her activities. She’s already showing that she’s not going to take this sort of thing lightly, so I think it’s only a matter of time before she becomes a fugitive of sorts. Possibly joining up with Vincent and his new autorave pal, Pino. And speaking of Pino, I find it slightly humorous how her seiyuu, Akiko Yajima, also voiced R. Dorothy Wayneright in Big O. From smartass comic relief android to cute child android in bunny pajamas. That’s…a helluva stretch, I’m sure.

Fate/stay night, episodes 11-12
Well, this was…sobering, I guess you could say. Though making for a fantastic way to cap off the first half of the series, these episodes also bring around the realization that this series isn’t going to be the genius amalgam of Fate, Unlimited Blade Works, and Heaven’s Feel that we all hoped it would. Though when all’s said and done, we’ll still have an excellent rendition of the original game’s Fate scenario—and an excellent anime overall—for the short term there’s really only disappointment to be had on the part of viewers like me, for whom the Fate scenario was precisely the one we least wanted to see. Though it has some of the best early and mid-series action—battles against Lancer, Berserker, and especially the breathtaking Saber/Rider duel—it also has the weakest character development across the board for anyone whose name isn’t Saber, Shirou, or Rin, as well as arguably the weakest ending. Gilgamesh. Whoo. Why him, when we could’ve had Shirou reciting “I am the Bone of my Sword,” or Black Sakura going all psycho-killer on everyone?

Anyway, right now what I’m most steamed about is the treatment Rider got in the series. It’s not so much lack of screen time, as she’s had just about half the series to herself as the main obstacle for Shirou & Co. to overcome, and she’s had more exposure than any Servant barring Saber will probably get in the entire series. And it’s not so much that she was killed off, which I was half-expecting to happen anyway. But rather, what I’m irritated by is that, despite all that exposure, she got next to zero actual, relevant character development. At the end of the day, when episode twelve was all done and over with and she was reduced to ash, what was she? She was the mindless flunky of a sick pervert. We weren’t even told her true identity (which, judging by a recently removed piece of trivia from ANN’s Encyclopedia, people are going to start thinking is Bellerophon instead of Medusa…). And anyone who’s even halfway familiar with the original game can tell you that Rider was anything but Shinji’s eager minion. She was Sakura’s hijacked Servant, who suffered almost as much from Shinji’s misdeeds as Sakura did. This tragic heroine figure is the Rider that became one of Type-Moon’s most popular characters ever, and it’s a shame that the TV series apparently felt it necessary to deny us that Rider in exchange for one that basically amounts to one-dimensional token villain. What was the problem with using some of that downtime wiled away by Shirou sitting around moping to himself to actually develop these more misfortunate aspects of Rider’s personality? What was the problem with giving fans the Medusa they came to see?

Well, at least her final confrontation with Saber, as I previously stated, was appropriately spectacular. Pegasus vs. Excalibur with all appropriate fanfare. And maybe now that the reality has sunk in that this is going to be almost strictly Fate scenario, I’ll be able to enjoy it as such for both the remainder of the series and when rewatching it in the future. Again, it’s still a very solid series, and a commendable adaptation of Fate/stay night in at least one respect, but it still sucks that so much of the game material fans creamed themselves over the chance to see animated when this series was first announced is definitely not gonna happen at this point.

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha
So, fearing the distinct possibility of Negs paddling across the Pacific Ocean, tracking me down, and beating me with his 1:1 scale replica of Bardiche if I didn’t, I finally sat down and watched the first season of Nanoha over the course of an afternoon. It’s not that I didn’t want to watch the series…I was just lazy in getting around to it. Not to mention I was hoping to finish downloading A’s and watch both seasons back to back, but A’s has been downloading far too slowly for that to become a reality.

Anyway, this was a highly enjoyable series. A bit slow and generic at first, but once Fate-chan appeared and the main plot set into motion, things picked up really quickly. It wasn’t nearly as “gratuitous pedo” as many have made it out to be, and was moreso just plain cute, innocent, and even somewhat touching. “Touching” proving especially true for Fate-chan, whose story really was awfully tragic and heartbreaking for a magical girl series. I know I’m just echoing many who’ve watched the series before me in this sentiment, but all throughout the series I just wished someone would give the character a much-needed hug or some other gesture of kindness.

Nanoha A’s is just over halfway through downloading as I type this. Hoping it finishes soon because I really want to see more of this series.

Shakugan no Shana, episodes 22-24
When I heard Shana was only going to be twenty-four episodes as opposed to twenty-six, I was initially worried that the series was going to have a rushed and unfinished ending. Luckily such was not the case, as Shakugan no Shana has actually had a much more solid ending than most other recent series of its genre. Parts of it were a little contrived, yes; the whole “summoning Alastor will kill Shana and Yuji, but oh look turns out they had enough power to weather it, nevermind” thing was a little off (especially considering that the TV series only covered a handful of the Shana novels, and as such the leads surviving was a bit of a given), but that was really the biggest and only relevant complaint I had. I also appreciated that they downplayed the obnoxious Kazumi/Yuji/Shana love triangle for the conclusion, though I suspect it’ll come back in full force in future Shana anime (I somehow doubt the movie will be the end of it). Wilhelmina even became slightly less of an annoyance…even became kinda cool. Her single-minded “must kill Yuji” mindset and lack of development beyond that was what was hurting her character, I think, and these closing episodes almost totally did away with that before long. And of course, my second favourite character behind Shana, the Interpretor of Condolenses Margery Daw, made a flashy re-entrance, which was certainly more than welcome. Always good to have a prominent female character who isn’t mired waist deep in cheesy romance subplots.

I also take it we haven’t seen the last of Balle Masque, and that they’ll be at the center of future conflicts. The movie for example, which I can’t wait to see, will probably have another Bel-Peol-led scheme driving the action. No complaints from me, though. Despite having a bit of a lull in the middle, Shana was a very solid series in the end, and it’s not like the formula of Flame Haze vs. Balle Masque needs any overt fixes to keep working in the near future. Hell, here’s hoping for a season two once the movie’s out.

Kyou no 5 no 2, episode 1
Negs randomly told me to download this, and as I tend to do when Negs randomly tells me to download things, I did. And good thing, too, as this turned out to be quite the pleasant surprise. Basically, it’s a slice of life school comedy with the school day divided into roughly six-minute skits, much akin to Azumanga Daioh. The difference, though, is that Kyou is decidedly less innocent than Azumanga, focusing on a lot of raunchier humor. This is both good and bad. Good in that it’s actually pretty funny stuff. Bad in that it’s sex jokes coming from a cast of fifth graders. Fortunately—I think—the fact that they’re elementary schoolers isn’t really dwelt upon much. The comedy is more in a general sense rather than being the sort of pedophilic humor one might expect, and could probably apply just as well to an older cast of characters as it does here. Hell, the character designs look more like the typical anime depiction of eighth graders than fifth, further disguising the characters’ ages.

Age aside, though, it remains a surprisingly fresh and fast-paced comedy, and I’m looking forward to seeing what the remaining four episodes have in store.

Pet Shop of Horrors
So I picked this up on a whim like, half a year ago, and only now got around to watching it. I wasn’t expecting much, to be honest. Just some generic, graphic horror crap. However, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. Oh, it’s still nothing outstanding, but it was better than I thought it’d be. Just good enough for me to wish it wasn’t only four episodes long. Some fairly good stand-alone horror stories, all focusing on some mildly interesting twists involving people fucking up in caring for some really freaky cursed animals. Again, nothing to write home about (not much to really write about at all, I’m finding), but worth a watch all the same. From what I’m told, the manga’s better, so tracking that down might be worth your time, as well.

Space Pirate Captain Harlock, episode 13
Yeah, not much really happens here to drastically change the situation since the last time I covered Harlock. I just wanna take a minute to talk about something exceptionally stupid the fansubbers did. Three words:

Audio Commentary Track.

Yep, you heard me. They apparently thought their role as video pirates was important enough to the production of the show that we all just had to know what they were thinking as they went through the creatively challenging and show-altering process of picking what colour to make Mayu’s subtitles. Or something like that. If there’s any worthwhole commentary on Captain Harlock, it’s gonna be coming out of the mouth of Leiji Matsumoto, not SSJ6Goku12 or whatever. I mean really, if you have something to say about the show, why not blog it on the website instead of slapping it all over the show like it’s actually relevant?

And what makes this really irksome they apparently thought masturbating their egos was more important than releasing .mkv subs of episodes eight and nine, too. What. The. Fuck?

Anyway, rant over. Expect my commentary on Zeta, XXXHolic, and a shit-ton of Ghibli movies some time tomorrow!