[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]

Saikano review part 2: here is a (last love) song from the wrong side of town

Posted by Martin  [Tags: Over-analysis, Saikano]

In the first part of my She: the Ultimate Weapon appraisal I did a very conventional review on the production as a whole but I would have brought out a tl;dr reaction had I set out my full thoughts regarding the character relationships in the depth I wanted. They are after all the emotional core of the story; the vague and sketchy nature of the political background to the show’s worldview suggested to me from the start that it is intended to be viewed as a character piece above all else.

All you need is love…

The entire concept revolves around Shuji and Chise of course but the supporting cast are, somewhat unusually, given quite a bit of screen time. The likes of Akemi and Atsushi are given back-stories and motives that are of perhaps lesser importance in the outcome of the war but are no less complex and occasionally just as morally or emotionally ambiguous - and important in terms of Chise’s and Shuji’s respective circumstances. Actually this more ‘comment & analysis’-style post is going to be tl;dl again too so if you hated the show or are worried about spoilers, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

[7 Comments]

[Editorials]

Flame Hazes and misanthropic medics: in defence of the tsundere

Posted by Martin  [Tags: Full Metal Panic, Over-analysis, Shakugan no Shana]

I’m not a huge fan of character archetypes at the best of times but if I had to pick one out that offers the most potential the tsundere is possibly the lesser of however many evils there are out there. Unlike the moe personality types and similar stock characters that I’ve grumbled about in months past, the tsundere concept has more going for it than the straightforward aggressive->gentle personality change or sensitivity behind a façade of belligerence. I’ll admit that these two are its main defining features, which is why many of us roll our eyes at yet another convenient blanket term to argue over. Nevertheless, it offers some things that stock characters rarely do: character development and some measure of depth.

You wanna argue with that? I thought as much

The tsundere is an extreme personality type and is somewhat over-used but it brings about effective insight into - and evolution of - a character’s personality when done right. Unfortunately I’ve yet to see the idea used much outside of the teen comedy or harem genres, which is a shame when the possibilities cover a wide range of character backgrounds and storylines (I’m not on about female characters exclusively, either). It’s also a manifestation of a character with depth; someone often suffering from some sort of inner conflict whose thoughts and feelings are, for whatever reason, not reflected in their words and actions. Both of these scenarios are to my mind interesting in themselves, and certainly shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand purely because the tsundere term is used to label a character or fit them into a pigeonhole.

[11 Comments]

[OAVs, Movies and Full Series]

Evangelion: my baptism of fire

Posted by Martin  [Tags: Evangelion, Gainax, Hideaki Anno, Over-analysis, Self-indulgent nostalgia]

On a number of occasions I’ve alluded to my somewhat unconventional (albeit not unique) introduction to anime fandom. While it hasn’t exactly changed my entire outlook on life or anything, it certainly set the course that my viewing and appreciation would take and even to this day shapes my views on many of the aspects that make up the reviews and editorials on this very blog, for better or for worse.

I’m doing this review partly because Neon Genesis Evangelion hasn’t had a full review or editorial here dedicated to it; also it’s a way of putting my current opinions on anime in general into context. Two of these are those of the Apologist and Elitist stances, which hopefully will be accompanying posts in the coming weeks. Everyone’s hobbies and interests have to start somewhere, even if that somewhere is a little embarrassing and inappropriate; this was mine, and I’ll leave it to you to decide how embarrassing and inappropriate an introduction it was.

[5 Comments]

[Anime Reviews]

ef -a Tale of Memories 4-6: memories are made of this

Posted by Martin  [Tags: ABC, ef -a Tale of Memories, Over-analysis]

ef -a tale of memories is already at its halfway point, which means that the premise is well and truly set in place so (I think) I have a pretty clear idea now as to where it’s heading. In my previous two appraisals of the show I never really paid much attention to the events and characters, instead trying to get a general overview of the concepts and ideas. This post is part of an informal mini joint-blogging exercise though, so if my views coincide with those of TheBigN, Demian, Moogy, J.Valdez, JRoxas, DS (in a roundabout way) and Owen S it’s merely a case of great minds thinking alike, ok? ^_^

The story is not taking the ‘intertwining arcs’ approach that I expected, at least not yet. Rather, the three situations are running parallel so while they’re connected in the sense that the characters are in a vaguely-defined social circle, they’re linked in more of an abstract and thematic kind of way. Maybe I’m just glad it didn’t turn out to be a harem show…at any rate, the respective ‘scenarios’ are all different angles on the same core themes.

Chihiro and Renji’s arc seemed a bit contrived to me at first but the tragic explanation as to why Chihiro is the way she is gives an interesting set-up to her relationship with him. It makes perfect sense, really, that he should suggest that she writes a novel to while away her free time; after all, she’s already doing the same thing in order to maintain a grasp of what’s going on in her own life. It’s the most obvious analogy to the idea of memories that permeates the whole show - whenever I’m a bit stuck with understanding a series, I turn to the title for inspiration; in this case I don’t really think it’s primarily a romance per se. Instead, I’m beginning to see it as an observation on, well, memories. Chihiro is trying to keep hold of pleasant memories of the time spent with Renji, as Kyousuke is trying to do in carrying his camera around everywhere in an effort to capture and hold onto a transient moment for posterity. As an aside, I thought naming Renji’s mother Sumire was a nice touch*.

[12 Comments]

[OAVs, Movies and Full Series]

Serial Experiments Lain

Posted by Martin  [Tags: Over-analysis, Yoshitoshi ABe]

My first taste of Ghost Hound has reminded me of an old fave that had led me to it (and Kino’s Journey) in the first place - Nakamura’s Serial Experiments: Lain. It has long held a special place in my collection for being my first experience with ‘arty’ anime and undoubtedly set my viewing on its course that was destined to be littered with headscratcher titles. It was - and in my view still is - a landmark production that leads us to question technology and our perception of reality; at the same time it occasionally gets panned for being obtuse and overrated.

I agree that it’s obtuse but for those of us who dig the whole deep and meaningful thing, Lain is a classic in every sense. A very important aspect to its appeal I think was the involvement of Yoshitoshi ABe in the designs for the characters and other artwork - Nakamura and Konaka provided the cryptic storyline and distinctive narrative structure but ABe’s input added the icing on the proverbial cake. The atmosphere of the show, almost as important as its themes and ideas at times, is largely attributed to ABe’s unique art style; I was so impressed with his skills that I hunted down the recent reissue of the Lain artbook, in hardback no less. His approach evolved independently from the standard methods of learning how to draw and design for anime and manga, which gave an effect akin to a classically-trained musician lending his or her talents to a rock band. The end result is that it’s different, refreshing and it sets itself away from similarly themed efforts.

[8 Comments]

[Editorials]

Love is blind but apathy is myopic

Posted by Martin  [Tags: Lucky Star, Over-analysis]

I haven’t done an editorial in a while I know, but as so often happens inspiration fails to materialise until a flood of vague ideas appear and begin to take some sort of shape. What you are reading is the third rewrite in what was intended to be a more general waffle but turned into an appraisal of Lucky Star instead. It was a productive train journey in the end - I recommend taking your laptop with you on days out too.

[3 Comments]

[Editorials]

Bad journalism has left me in despair!

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

This little gem by a stateside student paper columnist Elon Glucklich cropped up over at the AUKN forums and since no comment I could make on it would either fully express my feelings nor indeed get through to its author, I’ve decided to set them out here. I haven’t edited or abridged this at all: it’s cp/ed from the source and I’ve merely added footnote numbers that refer to my own thoughts in order to keep this monument to journalistic ignorance intact and preserved for posterity. You can either use it as a case study for your own written projects related to misconceptions of anime in Western culture or in a more general sense use it as a reference in How Not to Argue Your Case. Or just laugh yourself silly because I, like A Geek By Any Other Name, suspect it could be written as a April 1-style joke, albeit a weak one. Cheers to Bateszi for the find - click the MOAR tag to read the full madness.

[10 Comments]

[Editorials]

In defence of slice of life, dodgy endings and Japanese storytelling

Posted by Martin  [Tags: Over-analysis, realistic fiction]

The rumours of my death were greatly exaggerated. My laptop’s back. Broken motherboard apparently, but now normal transmission will resume.

I’ve often wondered at the ‘love it or hate it’ reactions to the Slice of Life genre in anime, which had me wondering about its place and relative merits. Ironically I got onto this train of thought by two examples that aren’t anime at all, although they both make use of Tokyo as a a backdrop: Haruki Murakami’s excellent new novel After Dark (go read it) and the Sophia Coppola movie Lost in Translation (which has a gorgeous soundtrack featuring Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine fame). These two stories exhibit some of the features of certain anime shows that I’ve noticed bring about extreme reactions from critics and fans. Some claim them to be masterpieces of real life, while others believe they are dull and lacking in storyline direction or a proper ending.

[5 Comments]

[Editorials]

Headscratchers: My Top 10 Thinking Fan’s Anime

Posted by Martin  [Tags: Over-analysis]

Since it’s late and I’ve already added today’s review I thought I’d fall back on the old Top Ten List idea instead of a proper post that involves screencaps and stuff. This time it’s the turn of the more intellectual fare that gets labelled as ‘pretentious’ or ‘hard to understand’ by some but ‘artistic’ and ‘profound’ by others. The criteria for ‘headscratcher’ is hard to define: the standards I use here go on having to watch a series/film more than once to understand it; the sort where you watch it two or three times and still have something new to think about. They’re also the sort that polarise opinion (read: start flame wars on forums) so if you think there’s anything that deserves to be on this list but isn’t (my viewing experience is limited, I know) or vice-versa, don’t hesitate from saying so in the comments section below. So, on with the list…

[1 Comment]