[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]

[Anime Reviews]

Saikano review part 1: series overview and warfare as portrayed in anime

Posted by Martin  [Tags: Saikano]

Every now and then I stumble on a series that is so powerful, heart-rending and affecting that it feels akin to a hurricane sweeping through the inside of my head, leaving what’s left as a jumbled, traumatised mess for a considerable time afterwards. She: the Ultimate Weapon, a.k.a. Saikano, is one such show - its unflinching portrayal of ordinary lives and teenage romance shattered by the destruction of modern warfare is one of the most hard-hitting examples I’ve seen to date: I doubt anyone could watch this series in its entirety without feeling somehow emotionally drained yet deeply touched, unless of course the levels of teary angst are too much to handle.

That is to say, Saikano exhibits a monumental level of tragedy and frequent instances of characters crying their eyes out - if an Angst-ometer were available for this blog as a Wordpress plugin, it would hit the top of the scale. The sheer amount of death, destruction and loss inflicted on its pitiable cast of innocent people is quite overwhelming at points; I found it impossible to sit through more than three episodes or so at a time. This aspect of the show is probably quite off-putting for some because ‘entertainment value’ in the ordinary sense of the term is ill-fitting for a production that deals with such heavy and downbeat material. Otherwise, Saikano really is something else.

[11 Comments]

[Editorials]

Valentine’s Day post: zoom lens love vs. wide angle romance

Posted by Martin  [Tags: ABC, Kare Kano, Makoto Shinkai, Random thoughts, Saikano, True Tears]

The mission, should I choose to accept it: write a Valentines Day post without taking the Holden Caulfield-esque stance that I take towards most things IRL. I didn’t want to limit myself to a True Tears follow-up post so tried to make a list of romance anime I’m familiar enough with to write about; this didn’t get very far either. It did throw up an observation that I found interesting though: my limited experience of romance anime seems to show two main approaches which, in keeping with the anime blogging tradition of inventing new descriptive terms, I’ve decided to call zoom lens and wide-angle lens storytelling. Yeah, I know categorising things can lead to all sorts of misunderstandings but I had to call them something.

Cutest. Couple. Ever.

[6 Comments]