[Anime Reviews]

Allison to Lillia: the end of the line at last

Posted by Martin  [Tags: Allison to Lillia, Rants]

It’s with no small amount of relief that I’ve completed the epic disappointment that was Allison to Lillia. I feel as though the characters are now put out of their misery: when they are so lively and engaging it feels like an act of cruelty to even watch them go through such an embarrassment of a storyline. Another way of looking at is is that when I eventually reach the end of Code Geass I can sit back with the final episode, safe in the knowledge that I’ve already experienced true trainwreck television. In a very literal sense.

“Oh rly?” “Yes, rly.” “No way!”

Since I haven’t after all actually finished Geass the term ‘trainwreck’ is little more than an over-used buzzword; at this point though I can still understand the feeling of disappointment the R2 haters among you must have felt. On the plus side it means I’m more likely to enjoy Lelouch’s final outing since, with the final two arcs of Lillia taken into account, it probably can’t be any worse than what I subjected myself to this week. How did such a promising show go so wrong?

[5 Comments]

[Anime Reviews]

Allison to Lillia and the Nice Flying Boat arc: why am I still watching this?

Posted by Martin  [Tags: Allison to Lillia]

If you can’t make a good job of something, it seems there is some dignity in being consistent about it: as the series enters its second half with a number of new characters, Allison to Lillia is proving to be consistently laughable in its ridiculousness. The adventures may centre around two different protagonists (the son and daughter of those in the first half) but everything else about it, both good and bad, is pretty much the same. The dynamic between the two leads is also similar, which is I’m sure intentional despite being irritating on occasion; I guess Lillia has inherited her old man’s intellect coupled with an inability to spot the bleeding obvious but at least Treize lacks the clumsy, wet-blanket aspect his predecessor Wil did, beyond being unable to swim. It’s always fun to watch Lillia and Treize go about their adventuring thing though, which is just as well when the infamous A&L Plot Holes rear their ugly heads with astonishing regularity.

These two are cool. Shame about the rest

I guess the leads are still the two main reasons why I haven’t dropped this series already. The artwork and music are still of a high standard of course, so the combination of engaging cast and visual/musical prettiness is still enough for me. Just. From a personal standpoint the aeronautical hardware offers a bit of entertainment value on its own; a shame then that the series gets pretty much everything else spectacularly wrong.

[9 Comments]

[Anime Reviews]

Allison to Lillia and the train arc: the wedding cake is a lie

Posted by Martin  [Tags: Allison to Lillia]

After the fun I had at the show’s expense last time maybe it’s surprising that I’m even watching it still, let alone enjoying it. I can’t be arsed with listing all the faults this time though, but the more amusing ones still need highlighting. If laughing your butt off at a sarcastic critique is your bag though, let me direct you towards Hanners‘ side-splittingly vitriolic posts aimed at the A&L Plot Holes™; lulz aside, it really does openly invite ridicule on occasion. As for the question regarding “Is this a poor adaptation of a good story or a faithful adaptation of a poor one?” I think the light novel sales figures (over a million in Japan according to Wiki) speak for themselves. To that end, if anyone wants some (non Japanese-speaking) assistance in fanslating (sic) them, you know how to find me. I’m only half joking about that too.

Why are you sitting around drinking tea when there are lives at stake? Get on with solving the mystery, dammit!

In fairness though the third arc was an improvement over earlier ones, if only relatively: it stumbles clumsily and good-naturedly through the segue to the Lillia and Trieze half of the series and provides some fun and excitement outside of laughing at the clunky storytelling. The richness of the worldview peeps through at intervals, hinting at weapons industries and civil unrest still lurking beneath the surface, offering plenty of room for side-stories and spin-offs.

The problem is that the show’s flaws are not musical or artistic - it’s still one of my current OP theme faves, along with Kaiba - they’re in the storytelling itself. Furthermore they could be easily avoided, which continues to make the viewing experience frustrating for me. It’s understandable perhaps to suggest that it’s inheriting flaws in the source material but when you’re adapting something from one medium to another, what better opportunity to iron them out and put them right?

[7 Comments]

[Anime Reviews]

Allison to Lillia and the Fiona arc: where I do literary criticism and make fun of plot holes

Posted by Martin  [Tags: Allison to Lillia, Over-analysis, Rants]

I’m so strongly in two minds about Allison & Lillia: on one hand it’s old-school style feelgood entertainment that had me glued to the screen from start to finish; on the other hand the direction and screenplay writing are so amateurish that it was enough to make me cringe in embarrassment and sketch out how even I could do the job better. Be warned that this post is looooong and involves a foray into the theory and structure of narratives to make my point…sorry if it’s tl;dr because I know the likes of IKnight and Sat-kun are much better educated in that literary criticism stuff than I am. I just have to rant about how bad writing is spoiling a great series.

Should have seen it coming?

I actually started to make a short list of plot holes and inconsistencies on my mini-blog, the full version of which I’ll set out after the ‘read moar’ tag. The thing is, although this show sucks noodles on some levels it’s frustratingly good on others. I’m not on about merely the artwork or music - neither can be faulted - because the conceptually this is a really extraordinary show. It’s just that I can’t believe the original novel’s author, Keiichi Sigsawa, would make such glaring mistakes in an otherwise great story.

[19 Comments]

[Anime Reviews]

Allison to Lillia: the treasure hunting arc

Posted by Martin  [Tags: Allison to Lillia]

The structure of this series has taken me by surprise a little since our two young heroes wind up ending a war within an hour and a half of screen time - not bad going by anyone’s standards. I guess this means that we’ll be treated to a number of short arcs like this shown consecutively - those of you who have read the light novels might be able to shed some light on this but I don’t think we’ll be seeing a bigger picture in a over-arcing storyline sense. On the flipside any developments could be purely character-driven but whichever way I look at it, the narrative seems to be more episodic than I expected it to be; I’m hoping this won’t harm the strength of the storytelling.

The op theme is still my favourite of the current season’s (although Kaiba comes close…more on that later) and the BGM is in keeping with the old-fashioned adventure vibe. I really ought to start capitalising Adventure when used in the context of A & L though, since it is firmly set on maintaining that traditional approach to entertainment that the likes of Miyazaki were doing over a decade ago; I guess it could also be thought of as a modern take on the World Masterpiece Theatre vein.

[7 Comments]

[Anime Reviews]

Spring 2008 first impressions #1: Allison to Lillia, Itazura na Kiss, Kurenai

Posted by Martin  [Tags: Allison to Lillia, First Impressions and Retrospectives, Itazura na Kiss, Kurenai]

Emerging caveman-like from Backlog Hell and mindful that one episode is never enough to get a decent grasp of what the shows will be like, my belated spring 2008 first impressions post is intentionally belated. Recently I’ve tried to see the previous season’s shows through to their respective ends and giving the new ‘uns two episodes before making my mind up on them; chances are I won’t be able to follow all of them but there’s no harm in trying. Hopefully I’ll get a better idea than guessing on the first ep alone, this way.

In other words my final thoughts on Clannad, Kaiji and (when the last ep is released) Ghost Hound will be forthcoming this week. I don’t know about you but following so much stuff simultaneously begins to get a bit confusing - there’s a lot coming up this season that promises good things so I don’t know how many more of these First Impressions posts there will be. At any rate, first up are Allison to Lillia, Ituzura na Kiss and Kurenai.

[7 Comments]