[Anime Reviews]
13 Jan 2008
Posted by Martin [Tags: Mokke]
Ah, Mokke. The Pleasant Show That Nobody Else is Watching. As sleeper titles go, this one is practically comatose: I genuinely feel like I’m the only one on God’s green earth who’s still watching it. Hell, even Shinsen Subs seem to have forgotten about subbing the series, which is a shame when they were making such a good job of the encoding (although if it frees up their time to continue Ghost Hound though, I don’t mind too much). The problem with Mokke isn’t so much that it does anything wrong - I’m just hard-pushed to list many things it does right. As much as it gives a therapeutic warm fuzzy feeling, this is a show that drifts into your life, brightens half an hour or so and leaves with little in the way of a lasting impression.
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[Anime Reviews]
26 Nov 2007
Posted by Martin [Tags: iyashikei, Mokke]
I feel like I’m fighting for the underdog here. Even halfway through the season, Mokke has received comparatively little attention from the blogosphere while I’m finding it disappointing that so few of us have noticed its subtle charms. Maybe it’s because its charms are so subtle, it’s slipped quietly under the radar without any fuss. I feel a bit responsible in calling it Mushishi-lite, although that was intended as a compliment on Mokke’s part; there are similarities thematically between the two (aside from the Afternoon serialisations of the original manga series) and both give me a similar vibe. While Mushishi was dark, powerfully profound and deeply atmospheric, Mokke however is a much lighter and more harmless take on the idea of certain people attracting and/or being able to see spiritual beings and portraying how they affect the lives of humans.
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[Anime Reviews]
11 Oct 2007
Posted by Martin [Tags: First Impressions and Retrospectives, Mokke]
The daily flood of posts is going to ease up a bit now as I sort out some ‘real life’ stuff and work on the Wordpress 2.3 upgrade (which is going to take a bit longer than you might expect, for reasons that will become clear when it eventually does happen). As I pessimistically predicted, this season offers slim pickings for shows that revolve around sci-fi, drama or a sense of maturity or seriousness. Be warned that I may be a bit judgemental and scathing with some of these - it is after all a mere ‘first impressions’ effort rather than a bona fide review, so don’t take it personally, ‘k? Anyways, here’s the first part of the run-down.
Myself;Yourself
Not sure why I checked this one out…maybe it was the first to go online or something. Either way I was *hoping* for some wistful slice of life/nostalgia stuff; sadly the truth was disappointing. It certainly looks pretty enough - if the production values are maintained later on it should be alright. The problem is what seems to be a harem setup with the stereotypes that go for ticking all the fanboy fetish boxes - it just smacks of writing that is at best formulaic and at worst downright lazy. I don’t mind the harem genre per se - I read the Love Hina manga from start to finish and really enjoyed it - but it’s so busy in pandering to the stereotypes that it forgets there’s a story in there. After the lead guy returns to his old home town he sort-of meets an old friend who glares angrily at a distance before walking away, who is presumably the token tsundere; it gets worse when he meets another old friend who he scarely recognises - namely because she now wears glasses and has enormous breasts. Yep, it’s the meganekko with the infuriating high-pitched voice who falls over a lot. Yawn.
Not a good first impression
Things didn’t bode well with the predictable hide-the-removal-box-full-of-porn gag either, but the last straw for me was when it failed to take the nostalgia idea and run with it. I was actually quite optimistic when he started wandering around, noticing how things had changed because it felt like a lead-up to something touching and meaningful…only to realise that this isn’t geared to viewers like me at all (who are, to be fair, in a minority anyway). Next!
Blue Drop
An odd one, this - it combines themes of invading aliens, Mysterious Pasts™ and, oddly, an exclusive all-girls high school (complete with the obligatory yuri overtones). The overall piece didn’t quite ‘work’ straightaway for me, and it took some thinking to figure out why. The ‘mystery’ aspect is a common one so there’s the risk of guessing ahead and spoiling it for myself when the big revelation comes; the lead character isn’t too likable either. The problem is, we don’t learn enough about her character for her less engaging traits to be justified.
Mysterious girl…with seagulls, obviously
Still, it’s the most intriguing of the bunch if you discount the yuri subtexts and potential problems with Gonzo’s handling of the visuals (if the first ep is anything to go by they should be fine but that’s not necessarily a guarantee). I think I can stick with it for the time being, as long as it doesn’t overdo the ‘deep and serious’ thing without a decent storyline to back it up.
Mokke
A lot of my hopes were riding on this one, what with it being adapted from a manga serialised in Afternoon (home of Genshiken and Mushishi) and the promo art promising more Studio Madhouse gorgeousness. The comparisons with Mushishi are fairly justified actually, plus I detected echoes of My Neighbour Totoro too - you have your two sisters, the rural setting and the folklore side of things, although the supernatural creature this time around is anything but fluffy and harmless. It’s a nice mixture actually - the whole look to the show is very picturesque with dashes of comedy, but it goes really serious and quite scary with absolute ease. Fascinating.
When you find the one you’ve been looking for
There’s the mild frightening stuff but it also hints at a sadness-tinged background, which I’m hoping will be followed up in subsequent episodes. Overall the whole affair is really sweet and often whimsical, fortunately in a good way; I really enjoyed watching the way that the bond between Shizuru and Mizuki was portrayed, and even the music is pleasant (the op theme is a bit ‘meh’ but there’s a fair chance it’ll grow on me). It’s not going to be an earth-shattering piece of action or drama but it could be a surprise hit. It also proved to be a really therapeutic way to unwind after a rough day. I think I’m going to really like this one.
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