[Categories: Anime Reviews]
Looking back on 2006 part 2: Fansubs
Ah yes, the bit that people might actually be interested in. How you all find time to watch so much unlicenced stuff I’ll never know but nevertheless I’ve seen some real gems this year that are yet to be licenced. There were some stinkers too but I can’t be bothered with those.
Monster
Clocking in at a hefty seventy-three episodes in length (not counting the mid-season recap), Monster required a certain amount of time and patience to see through to the end. Considering some series manage only thirteen or fourteen eps and still feel the need for filler segments, it’s more than remarkable that in the entirety of its duration not a minute of exposition or characterisation was wasted. There were no supernatural goings-on, no gratuitous nudity or violence; just a stark and chillingly realistic portrayal of the human condition. Madhouse deliver the goods as always but credit must surely go to manga-ka Naoki Urasawa for the source material that is an outstanding psychological thriller. Brilliant.
Top O Nirae 2
Not as good as Hideaki Anno’s classic Gunbuster OAV but nevertheless a really fun piece of mecha action that proves that GAINAX haven’t quite lost their touch yet. More outrageous battles, gruesome monsters, giant robots and combat moves shrieked in eardrum-shredding Engrish. I’d put money on a Western licence withing the next twelve months.
Welcome to the NHK!
Yes, I know it’s Gonzo, I haven’t finished watching it and everyone compares it with the manga, but NHK proved to be a surprisingly enjoyable (if occasionally cringe-inducing) portrait of 21st century pop culture. Nerds, recluses, social misfits and jobless layabouts are all viewed in a sharpy cynical light with humour just the way I like it: dark, dry and painfully reflective of real life. The soundtrack rocks too.
Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
The question “Just how hyped up can a series be?” was answered by a quirky high school comedy with a difference. You might have loved it, you might have hated it but one thing’s for sure: you’d have to be living under the blogsphere’s own metaphorical rock to not have heard about it. A little too gimmicky and fan-aware for my tastes but I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t found it fun.
Future Boy Conan
An early effort from Hayao Miyazaki, this is another ongoing series whose historical significance has kept me watching: many features of the guy’s movies can be found in the episodes of this show. A great adventure for its time, Conan is akin to hearing a hissy demo tape of one of your favourite bands.
Pale Cocoon
A one-off OAV sci-fi short, this was a technically impressive and inriguing tale from rookie director Yasuhiro Yoshiura. Nope, I haven’t heard of hi either but more of the same and I’ll be declaring him the next Makoto Shinkai. Overflowing with post-apocalyptic apathy and backed up by a bleak premise of a lost history, it could be a stark cautionary tale. Or just a short movie with a great industrial aesthetic and nice music.
Mushishi
What’s to say about Mushishi? Favourite show of the season? Favourite show of the year? If anything, this is one of my all-time top ten series, full stop. The artwork was stunning, the drama heartfelt and the ideas imaginative; every episode was a haunting and atmospheric journey through both good and bad aspects of the way in which humans interact with each other and the world around them. I could go on for ages about it but I won’t: suffice to say it’s a shining example of what TV animation could and should be, but often isn’t.
Conclusions
There’s been a mountain of stuff I started before realising that it was merely ‘not bad’ and never got around to finishing. Some I’ll continue with though: Welcome to the NHK is worth seeing through to the end I think but there are too many that fell by the wayside. No doubt it will all start again with the spring season…
Posted on January 3rd, 2007 @ 10:11 pm
You are one of my favorite bloggers, hands down, end of discussion. And posts like this continue to remind me why. It just shows your awesomely immaculate taste in anime. Why immaculate, you ask? Well, because it’s extremely similar to mine, of course. =P
Anyhow, I absolutely agree with every letter of this post, 100%.
“A little too gimmicky and fan-aware for my tastes but I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t found it fun.”
Exactly the same for me. I enjoyed the series but it’s not something that’d make me go gaga over it.
Monster. Well, I don’t know what else to say about Monster that hasn’t already been said. One of my all-time favorites, bottom line. Your comment about it not wasting any time is spot on. Naoki Urasawa is a hell of a mangaka. If you haven’t already, check out his 20th Century Boys manga. If you loved Monster you’ll love this as well. It has nearly the same level of intense intrigue as Monster. It’s supposed to come to an end this year and there’s a live-action movie coming out in ‘08. Hopefully an anime will fit in somewhere between all this goodness. Can’t wait for Yawara to come out here stateside. Should be released pretty soon. I’d like to see Urasawa’s hand at comedy. A series about a fashionable judo girl? Sounds good to me.
Future Boy Conan? In my trek to discover good anime new and old, I found this. Miyazaki did great work here and I wish I could see him work on more full-season TV series. Really, a show like FBC I could see going on for much longer than 26 episodes without ever getting old. It had such a great dynamic with very lovable characters. Conan has such a charm about him and you have to love the innocent relationship between him and Lana.
Aim for the Top! 2 was great stuff and you and I both share the opinion that it showed that GAINAX still has “it” when they want to. Definitely not as good as its predecessor but it’s a great show all its own. The connections with Gunbuster actually worked quite well.
Haven’t had a chance to check out NHK, Pale Cocoon (I have it downloaded) or Mushishi (I should kill myself for this), but they are all on the “soon to watch” list. I’m VERY looking forward to Mushishi.
Keep up the good work and keep being awesome.
Posted on January 3rd, 2007 @ 10:43 pm
Thanks for your kind words!
I’ll have to look into 20th Century Boys, especially since the Monster manga is of such high quality (from what I’ve read so far the anime followed it pretty much scene-for-scene). If your taste in anime is anything to go by, you’ll fall in love with Mushishi just as I did. Hopefully Funimation will settle the ‘have they? haven’t they?’ situation with the licence and get it out on DVD soon.