Fall Preview 5

     Disney and I have a long-standing hatred. I think their works are piles of garbage and most of it is ripped off, sometimes out right pirated (Kimba the White Lion). Disney probably doesn’t like me because I don’t give them money, well much anyways. I do have children and they do like Disney, which I’m ok with. There is, however, one Disney title I really enjoy, the Lilo and Stitch franchise. When I found out that a purely Japanese production of said franchise was going to be airing in the fall in Japan it made me a bit happy. I could have my kids watch a kick ass Disney title that continued to expose them to Japanese. This we have Stitch. In this adventure the genetically created destruction machine is stranded on one of the islands in south end of Japan, presumably the Ryukyu Islands. His ravaging hunger brings his presence to the attention of everyone in the small town and soon a spunky young girl, Lilo’s replacement; named Yuna is hot on the mysterious, ravenous blue monster. When she catches up with him they spar like a kung fu movie and both end up in the water, Yuna ends up having to save Stitch, who can’t swim, and they end up calling a truce. Yuna chides him about being bad, which he flat out denies. Soon Yuna’s grandmother finds them. Typical of old wizened Japanese people, she is unmoved by the fact that a bizarre creature is talking with her. They soon pass a large sacred boulder and when Stitch asks about it they explain that it is a magical rock that can grant wishes to those who are god and virtuous. Stitch perks up to the ability to grant wishes and sets on his way to get home by being good.

     Ok, so it’s still Disney, it’s drawn like the other Stitch titles and has all the same basic ideals. The Japanese voices are pretty decent for the regular characters. Aside from that it is trying to replicate the formula from the Lilo and Stitch TV show. The spunky girl Yuna is somewhat of a lone wolf. Her father is away for work and she lives with her grandmother. She also runs a karate dojo, where she teaches the weaker, geeky kids how to stand up for them selves against the gang of bullies. The bullies are a bit annoying, especially the girl of the group, complete with blond hair, weird glasses and the personality of a nail. The show will have goofy fun but lessons to be had, usually light hearted ones. If you enjoy the other titles in this franchise you will probably enjoy this one. My kids have already watched episode 1 3 times.

     There seems to be no short supply of harem anime this season but Kemeko Deluxe, would probably be one of the weirdest of them. I think the best way to sum up this annoying series is by relating it to a harem version of Potemayo crossed with an obasan version of Nuku Nuku all written by a gaggle of untalented teenage otaku. Here's the quick premise, a weird, squat cherub like hyper robot, Kemeko, comes into atypical high school student Sanpeita’s life, saying that she is his fiancé. During school Kemeko has to fight off robotic attackers from the evil Mishima Corporation. After the battle Kemeko’s pilot, MM shows her self to reinforce that she is Sanpeita’s fiancée. So now all of a sudden a tall and beautiful girl is throwing herself at the atypical student. When she announces that she is moving in with him the other girls that are after him go crazy and the fight is on to get his affection. Oh yeah, MM with the assistance of Kemeko are protecting Sanpeita from the evil Mishima Corporation that is trying to get something from him.

     So this is really annoying, but there are some pretty funny parts as well. Kemeko is squat and goofy, like Potemayo, and there are a number of odd slap stick comedy routines that reminded me of the oddity of Potemayo, but those brief glimpses of entertainment are lorded over by the rest of the show. It actually doesn’t seem to be able to make up its mind about what kind of series it wants to be; mecha fighter, odd ball comedy, slice of life comedy or fan-service laden harem swill. The art is so-so, with Kemeko’s design being quite glaring. It’s like the evil kabuki doll version of Asuka if she were a short and fat old woman who works as a Mama-san in Kabuki-cho. All of the female characters fall into eroge categories. There is a fan base for this kind of show, it’s the same type that enjoys Negima and Kateyoshi Hitman Reborn, I don’t fit that category and will not b watching this show anymore then I’ve had to, to write this.     I am always on the look out for new and exciting space anime that have nothing to do with mecha, or at least little to do with them. Last year a great series aired that was just that, Heroic Age. This fall season brings us a new space anime that is devoid of mechs and full of battleship combat and political maneuvering. Unfortunately, the show, Tytania, is lacking in pretty much everything else. This epic space military series is based in a universe where the aristocratic authorities, resembling those of the renaissance era, wage battles for control with both their armadas and in person. I couldn’t get myself to watch enough of it to find out the plots and twists and who’s trying to backstab who and why but it’s a pretty familiar dramatic political intrigue series.

    My biggest problem with the show, aside for my distaste in the styles of the age of discovery, is the artwork it’s self. I am being picky this season with the quality of what I’m watching. There are plenty of moments were it seems the production staff cut down the number of frames per second to save on cost. This is especially noticeable when the characters are walking. The characters themselves are also lacking in the design area. They don’t really move too much and you mostly see them from two angles, straight on or profile…is that all the artists can draw? It’s a pretty shoddy production all around and very amateur. The space battles are pretty good on the other hand, the ship designs are unique and it reminded me of stuff you would see on Babylon 5. The most disturbing thing with the animation is how the ships come out of warp. At first it reminded me of warping in Heroic Age, with a swirling and sparkly portal that the ship exits from. The comparison ends and the uncomfortable feeling begins when the last bit of the ship pulls out of the vortex and snags a bit, flops around then finally breaks free. Honestly the first thing that popped into my head was that the universe was taking a crap and had to pinch of that last bit…it’s not a pleasant image to associate with a ship coming out of warp, but is pretty funny in a juvenile manner.

    So, in retrospect, this series is pretty unappealing to me, I’m super critical of its animation because it doesn’t have that good of a story, from what I could tell, to really bring me in and forget the bad art. While the actual space stuff is good and the ships are interesting it still doesn’t outweigh the rest of the series downfalls. The immovable characters talking endlessly about their plots. The standard dry political intrigue plots and glossed over policies and atrocities attributed to nations and empires that are barely seen outside of their rulers. You may only enjoy this series if you are a fan of the melodramatic and dry military maneuvering series’.

     Kurogane no Linebarrels is the newest in a long and recent line of uninspiring mecha anime. It’s always about the lone boy who comes from an unassuming background and is mystically chosen to save humanity with the biggest and best mech available. This is pretty much the case with this series, which takes place a little bit in the future of Earth. Since I was quickly turned off by this show while skimming through the first episode, I figured I would post the description form the English version of the series’ website.

     Fourteen-year-old Kouichi Hayase’s life has always been a mediocre one, if not dismal. However, those days of being bullied by classmates and escaping to a fantasy of being a hero are put to an end when a certain “accident” bestows on him a girl and a gigantic humanoid robot called “LINEBARREL”. The extraordinary power that Kouichi obtains puts him and everything around him on a sudden rollercoaster ride of battles, intrigues and friendship! During the course of his adventure, the boy starts to learn what life has to offer; he meets new friends, bids farewell to the old ones, but most of all he now has considerable responsibilities and is forced to confront the world around him.

    Ok, so there you have it, he activates Linebarrels by grabbing the girls, large, left breast and then proceeds to go kick ass. I’m sure everyone can tell my dripping annoyance with this show already, so I’ll get right to it. The animation looks like crap, they skimp, another one, on some of the in-between animation. It’s not as bad of a chop job as Tytania but it’s still pretty bad. The mechs, while somewhat unique, look pretty dumb and they cut corners with them as well. This all in all, seems like a rushed and budget tight attempt to animate something that will just add to the ever large collection of poor and mediocre anime that fill the bad timeslots and end up on in the used DVD bin quickly. I’d say pass on it unless you enjoy living your anime viewing live like its Groundhogs Day for 

    I’m usually not too entertained by bi-shonen romance comedies aimed at the female audience, in fact probably one of the only titles that fits this category that I enjoyed was Ouran High School Host Club. It I still to be determined is Skip Beat will follow the same fate, but it’s got some promise after the first episode. The story follows young Kyoko working 2 part time jobs, every single day, to support her self, only to attain for the dream of being an ugly duckling turned beautiful princess. She left Kyoto after middle school to move to Tokyo with her childhood friend Sho. Sho had a dream of becoming a popular musician and needed Kyoko’s support in attaining his goals. Kyoko works herself to death while Sho’s career begins to take off. Sho’s repayment to her, though, is coldness and distance. Kyoko gets into his record studio one day after work to spend time with him and over hears him talking with someone about how Kyoko is just a tool for him and that now that he can support himself he is going to throw her to the sidelines. In a fit of rage Kyoto attacks him and vows vengeance as she is being dragged off by security. He tempts her by becoming a musician herself and fighting him with popularity. She takes on his offer and completely changes her appearance, ready to meet the world stage in order to exact revenge upon her lost love.

     This is typical shojo romantic comedy. The characters are all thin and tall with pointed faces and luxurious locks. The female lead is self sufficient, street smart but slightly gullible. No mater what she has the undivided attention of the most beautiful and sought after men around her, all there for her to choose from as she sees fit. It’s essentially the jaded Japanese girls wet dream. One thing that I like about this series so far is its comedy. I’m a sucker for goofy anime slapstick and SD routines. If the comedy can keep up this series could be quite enjoyable. However, I feel that the first episode might have been a switch and bait. She was cute, endearing and bumbling but at the end of the episode when she blows 300 dollars on a cut and color, in an attempt to make her beautiful and fabulous, the tone seemed to change. I know that the plot of this series is going to be her rising to musical glory all the while competing with Sho and his rival Ren, while Ren falls for the beautiful girl and Sho begins to realize what he missed, even if he doesn’t admit it to him self. Then again, that’s just judging the book by its cover and I won’t really know until I watch more of the episodes.

     I don’t think there are any other titles that I really need to go over for the Fall Preview, so thanks for checking out the snapshots and wait for more complete reviews.