The Series That Changed Anime

    Neon Genesis Evangelion is widely heralded as an important and ground breaking anime.  The moody and controversial mecha series would go on to make Studio Gainax and Anno Hideaki world famous in anime circles.  That Eva changed the landscape of anime is undeniable, but the way it changed anime and how it did it may be different than what many people believe.  For a review and rundown of the series go here.
 

    Throughout the 90's being an otaku in Japan held severe negative connotations following a series of high profile crimes that the media tied in some ways to otaku culture.  Studio Gainax had been a leader in the otaku world since their debut in the early 80's under the name Daicon Films.  In the late 80's they went on to produce seminal works Gunbuster and Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise.  The first president of Gainax, Okada Toshio, created the iconic mocumentary Otaku no Video, cementing the concept of otaku for future generations and earning himself the title otaking.  Troubles found him being accused of mismanaging company finances and he was forced out of Gainax in 1992, since then he has gone on to lecture at universities regarding otaku culture and is respected for his experience and knowledge. 

 
    Anno, also one of the founding members of Daicon Films, found success directing the TV series Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water in 1991/1992 but suffered from severe depression following the show.  It is speculated that this was partly due to his ideas regarding creative control for the series, which was hugely successful.  The series, commissioned by NHK, was based on a concept by Miyazaki Hayao and surprised the industry by successfully and intentionally appealing to a broad audience.  The series while, immensely successful, left Gainax in financial ruins with the company’s future in question.

    Gainax had been involved in projects outside of animation since early on and learned the benefit of expanding creative output when it came to profitability. A note worthy early successful non-anime venture was the pioneering galge Princess Maker.  The original game, released in 1991, helped them to overcome the financial difficulties they experienced due to their work on Nadia.  From almost the beginning Gainax was also involved in the garage kit model market.  These extra ventures paved the way for the peripheral goods marketing that Evangelion would become infamous for.  

     Anno took the frustrations from his work on Nadia and his own psychological issues and penned the original idea for Evangelion.  Begun in 1995 the series initially aired during daytime broadcast hours, but over the course of its initial run it was shifted to a over night time slot.  The shift was due to the increasingly darker and mature subject matter of the show, which forced TV Tokyo to make this change.  Inexplicably the popularity of the show surged following its shift to the over night time slot.  Anno stated he wanted to bring realism and reality to a younger audience to prepare them for harsh realities of life but ultimately his vision was deemed inappropriate for younger viewers.  He stated that part of his attempt with Evangelion was to hurt otaku culture and the problems he saw within it while at the same time reviving it, breathing new life into it.  The series is seen as a milestone in a new resurgence of otaku, especially outside of Japan and is considered a keystone anime series' for otaku culture, along with the Gundam franchise and Space Battleship Yamato.
 

 
    The series' popularity spawned a vast array of character goods and related merchandise, ranging from cheap trinkets to high end special collection items.  Variety and depth to make George Lucas proud.  Merchandizing was not new to anime before Evangelion but it became synonymous with specifically targeting otaku collector’s weaknesses and releasing a variety of limited edition items, sometimes questionably so.  Many people saw this as nothing more than a way to obscenely profit from the shows popularity.  But it worked and continues to work 20 years later.

    More important than its success at peripheral goods sales was the surge in popularity following its shift to airing over night.  The anime industry took notice and decided that more series could be made specifically tailored for late night viewing.  Series' that would be less restricted in what content they showed.  The fear that the audience wouldn't be there was dismissed due to both Evangelion's success and another series from 1996, Those Who Hunt Elves, both of which has substantial viewer ratings.  Airing during the night time slots came at a price though.  TV stations, due to limited advertising abilities, would sell as much of their overnight time slots to companies to run infomercials.  Allowing the stations to make more money than just selling commercial space in normal programming.  Due to the typical low viewership selling ads would bring in little to no money for the TV stations.  Since they doubted the ability of an anime airing in those same time slots to be able to increase advertising money, they decided to charge the companies providing the anime in the same way they would for infomercials.  This in turn caused many production companies to look at alternative ways to profit from the anime, as broadcasting fee's were now added to the cost of the over all production.  In a pessimistic viewpoint over night anime can be considered nothing more than an infomercial for the related peripheral goods, merchandise and original source material.

     In these two ways, that are almost directly linked, Evangelion set the course for the current trend in anime.  A large portion of anime is now produced specifically to broadcast in the overnight time slots and in order to make the anime profitable peripheral goods and other merchandizing techniques are used.  In order to guarantee successful return on investment, many of the anime produced for late night broadcast are based on current or recent products that showed high levels of popularity.  Most notably, anime based on popular light novels and video games.  While Anno was successful in revolutionizing the world of the otaku it has come at a cost that he himself may very well regret.  While otaku are more open about their hobbies the industry, changing top target them heavily, has all but shut out originality and experimentation in the process of guaranteeing profitability.

Shirobako

Shirobako  is a 24 episode original anime written by Yokote Michiko who also worked on Jungle wa Itsumo Hare nocchi Guu and Genshiken.  The series originally aired on TV in Japanese between the Fall of 2014 and Spring of 2015.

    Miyamori Aoi works as a production assistant for a small animation company in Tokyo called Musashino Animation.  The PA is essentially the gopher, task master and errand boy of the studio.  She has to deliver various parts of the animation project to a variety of departments for them to work on in turn.  She is responsible for keeping everyone on task and working to fill in production gaps.  She is relatively new to the industry and is following a dream she shares with 4 other girls she went to high school with.  The 5 of them formed an anime club in school and created a rudimentary anime.  From that project they made a promise to each other that they would all enter the industry and work together once again as professionals.  Miyamori struggles as a PA for Musashino as they work to overcome a series of problems with their anime projects.  She ends up being responsible for keeping artists on their deadlines and preventing the episodes from being delayed.

    The series is broken into two over all story lines.  The first half focuses on her job as a PA working on an anime about magical girls.  The second half puts her in a supervisor PA position as the company begins a new anime about female fighter pilots.  While Miyamori is the main focus of the show a large and diverse cast of characters fill in the gaps, sometimes taking over the main focus of an episode from time to time.  Miyamori has to deal with every aspect of the company and many of the companies they work with in tandem, constantly building her database of contacts in the industry.  Her friends from high school work through their own professional struggles, while trying to reach their shared goal right alongside her.

    Shirobako is a fantastic look at the grueling lives of those who work in the anime industry.  The long hours, impossible deadlines and over all lack of individual control.  When something goes wrong with a process everyone down the line can be affected and delayed.  Some things they don't touch upon, which are currently issues, are the horrible wages and abuse of the workers.  They also don't get unto the amount of work being sent overseas and the implications on the industry in Japan its self with the future of its work force.  The series is good for general audiences but really hits home with deep otaku who want a glimpse into the world of anime production.  It's akin to other cultural exposes such as Bakuman and Genshiken.

    The artwork and character designs are quality and fit with current standards and trends.  Some of the characters look similar and it can be confusing at times who is who, especially given how many there are.  There is some noticeable and somewhat ill generated CG animation though.  The character reactions and facial expressions are well done and add a good level of charm to the story telling.

    It was simulcast in North America on Crunchyroll and a disc release is pending from Sentai Filmworks.  On a side note the series was hit with two realistic problems.  Episode 6 had copyright infringement issues after is broadcast and was edited/unavailable for a while after the first week.  The final episode, which dealt with barely making broadcast deadlines, apparently didn't make its broadcast deadline and was delayed by a few hours.

 

Ronia the Robbers Daughter

Ronia the Robbers Daughter (山賊の娘ローニャ) is a 26 episode anime based on the Swedish fantasy children's book of the same name by Astrid Lindgren.  This anime adaption was directed by Miyazaki Goro with CG animation by Polygon Pictures.

     Ronia is the only daughter of a feared robber chief, Mattis.  She is raised by the caring and loving robber clan who live in the hereditary Mattis Keep, in Mattis Woods.  They make their living by robbing the nobles that pass through the forest and fighting the rival robber gang, the Borka Robbers.  Ronia is a free spirit who has the entire woods as her playground.  Left to her own devices she learns the dangers and bounty of the woods, sometimes coming close to death in her escapades.  One day she meets a boy around her age who is the son of Borka named Birk.  At first she considers him the enemy given who his father is.  But as time passes the two become friends and consider each other siblings.  Their companionship remains hidden until a winter when the Borka Robbers end up moving into a separate part of the castle.  A war is brimming between both robber gangs and the two children decide they want nothing to do with their parent’s lineage and role.  Can the leaders of both gangs overcome their inherent hatred for each other for the good of their livelihood and their children's future?

    The story is mostly directed at a young audience and focuses on the fantasy world that Ronia lives in where there is little in the way of real conflict and danger.  The few times that Ronia's life is threatened are glossed over and she does a small amount of reflection on her luck.  The conflict between the robber gangs is mostly for show and there is very little violence.  There is a moment when Birk is beaten quite badly that leads to a turning point in the children's lives and helps to establish the closing arc.  Over the course of the story you get glimpses into the history of only some of the main characters but no real development occurs.  The majority of the characters are there for background and offer a fantastical reality.  The idea that 10 or so grimy men can happily live together as criminals is a bit strange.  Usually one would expect whores to show up every once and a while as the only women in castle are the wives of both robber gang leaders and Ronia.  But, this story is directed at children and creates an entertaining fantasy world filled with interesting personalities and a small if well developed world.  The forest contains a hand full of mystical creatures that offer unique experiences for Ronia, particularly the blood thirsty harpies, who have a thing for wanting to kill her that was begun when she was born.  The plot progresses smoothly, with quite a few jumps in time.  Over all it covers Ronia's live from birth to about 10 or 11 years old.

     The character animation is wire frame motion capture cell shade, which Polygon has been making their trademark style (Sidonia no Kishi).  The character animation can be jarring but they handle it well and add a surprising amount of life into the character movement, particularly the facial expressions.  While CG is not yet to the point of fluid natural movement like cell animation, it’s getting significantly better.  The backgrounds are classic Studio Ghibli natural scenery.  The forest is lush and all consuming, with a variety of tones and contrasts.  The backgrounds do well to smooth out any distaste for the character designs.

    This is a fun and enjoyable series that can be enjoyed by children and adults alike.  I'm not sure what live lessons kids will ultimately take away from it, as the life the main character lives is quite comfortable and fantastical, but it can't hurt!  The opening theme song sounds like it was made on a late 80's Casio though...

    No word yet on this series ever being available in North America.  The original book is available though.
 

First Look at the New Titles for the Spring of 2015

The Spring season is upon us, here is what's entered my plate, waiting to be parsed out or fully consumed.

Comical Psychosomatic Medicine: This gag comedy short started broadcasting earlier this year but was a late addition.  Each 5 minute episode deals, quite haphazardly, with mental disorders and other touchy personal matters.  Its based on a gag manga and is both entertaining, off beat and useful in a nation that shuns discussions on mental health issues.  Being a fan of gag comedy this one works well for me and has been enjoyable for its first few episodes.  I don't see it going for long though.

Re-Kan: The new transfer student is a bit odd.  She can see spirits and interacts with them, generally they harass her,which leads to awkward situations.  Her classmates have to get used to her oddity and decide for themselves if shes telling the truth, crazy or seeking attention.  I will give this one 5 episodes but it doesn't look too good.  The animation is sub par, with weird lighting affects.  The story seems rather rote.  My daughter liked it, so she may keep watching it after I've tossed it aside.

Is it Wrong to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?: Set in a fantasy world were people live their lives as if it was an RPG, the story follows a Level 1 adventurer who's patron Goddess doesn't have any other followers.  He became and adventurer to find a woman and is determined to become strong and aattractive.  Right away he has his eyes set on a sword maiden who outranks him considerably.  So, this is like all the recent crop of harem, fanservice laden MMORPG anime like SAO.  But instead of being about the players its about the actual residents of the game world.  Including things like daily stat and ability upgrades.  This is filled with fanservice and a growing harem.  The plot arc seems pretty predictable and I doubt I will keep watching it beyond episode 5...if it even lasts that long for me.

I Can't Understand What my Husband is Saying 2: The return of the goofy otaku driven short comedy about a hopeless guy who ends up marrying a normal girl.  Initial word of this series return was that the episodes were going to be full length.  Fortunately that was not correct and the 2nd season is still 3 minutes or so in length, which is perfect for the flow of this entertaining show. 

The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan: The long awaited alternate story from the Suzumiya Haruhi world.  This story takes place in the alternate world from the Haruhi movie.  From the offset everyone is just a normal human, with the main character being Nagato.  The animation studio is different from the original but most of the voice actors have returned and it is based on the light novel source material.  It will be interesting to see where this story goes and if it develops beyond a mundane LN romance that happens to involve the Haruhi characters.

The Heroic Legend of Arslan: 20+ years ago the interesting fantasy series The Heroic Legend of Arslan came out in a series of OAV's.  Now, for some reason its be reborn as a TV anime.  The story follows the naive prince Arslan who is faced with the harsh realities of the world and how it operates before he is ready.  I rarely like fantasy anime but have always enjoyed the original OAV's and am happy to see it return in a TV format.  Even if it appears to be only for 13 episodes.

Gintama (the triumphant return!): It was bound to happen.  The scatter brain action comedy that defies the normal Shonen Jump conventions Gintama has resurfaced from the dead!  I have never watched all of the original seasons, and who knows if I ever will, I have picked through them and watched maybe half, but I absolutely love Gintama and was happy to see it return.  What better way to herald in its return by having a press conference apologizing for returning!?

Rin-ne: The latest work by manga master Takahashi Rumiko.  A typical high school girl can see spirits and incorporates their ever annoying presence into her reality.  Her mysterious classmate can someone interact with the spirits and works as a shot of shinigami.  I was pleasantly surprised with this one, expecting something akin to InuYasha (of which I was not a fan).  The first episode had an entertaining cadence and good humor.  Lets hope the series never really gets too serious.

Knights of Sidonia: Battle for Planet Nine:  The return of one of my favorite anime from 2014.  Polygon Pictures returns with the continued adaptation of Nihei Tsutomu's mecha space drama.  We see the continued struggle against the alien agressors, the ever lasting search for a safe haven in the universe and the introduction of the alien/human penis waifu.

A Quick Look at the Spring 2015 Anime Season

Lots of stuff to go over and some of it I haven't even started!

There are 2 or 3 reviews needed for shows that just ended such as Sanzoku no Musume Ronja and The Rolling Girls.

Then there's all the new shows starting!  Thankfully everything I was watching has ended (Durarara Shou x2 is taking a break until the Summer).

The Spring brings the return of some recent enjoyable shows.  The second season of Knights of Sidonia.  The 20 years in late return to Legend of Arslan.  A dip back into the world of Haruhi with The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan.  The return of I Can't Understand What My Husband is Saying.  We will see how that series works in a longer format.  A return of Takahashi Rumiko to TV with her latest title Rin-ne.  Plus a plethora of vaguely enjoyable new titles.

Stay tuned!

Your Lie in April

Your Lie in April (四月は君の嘘) is a 22 episode slice of life romance series based on the manga of the same name by Arakawa Naoshi.  The series aired on TV in Japan between the Fall of 2014 and Spring of 2015.

    Arima Kosei was a piano prodigy when he was younger.  He has since abandoned the world of recitals and competition following the death of his mother.  His guilt and regret regarding her death has caused him to develop psychological issues blocking his ability to play the piano.  Considering his life meaningless he accepts his fate and continues living with little purpose.  His childhood friend and neighbor, Tsubaki, is determined to return Kosei to a world of color and hope.  Tsubaki convinces Arima to come with her and their friend Watari to see a violin recital.  He arrives earlier than his friends and stumbles upon a girl who changes his world.  The girl is a violinist who is competing in the event and the main reason Tsubaki is dragging her friends with.  Tsubaki is working on hooking up Watari and the girl, Miyazano Kaori.  Kaori confided in Tusbaki that she was interested in Watari.  Kosei is the first one to see her though and his reawakened emotions stir with conflict.  Kaori hits it off with all 3 of them but is technically inclined towards Watari.  She plays with the attention she sense from Kosei and begins to refer to him as 'Friend A', using him as a companion and sounding board.  She pushes him though and forces him to accompany her at a piano/violin recital.  The more time they spend together preparing for the performance the more feelings Kosei develops.  But his status of friend of possible boyfriend holds him back and he struggles to understand the level of attention she is giving him.  Kaori forces him into the role of pianist once more but half way through the recital it breaks down as the old trauma's return.  The performance is a failure but surprisingly Kaori couldn't be happier.  She demands that Kosei continue with his efforts to return to his former glory so that they can play together again on a stage.

    Kosei must battle the demons that haunt him before he can meet Kaori's expectations.  She forces him out of his shell and he begins to find reason and focus to heal his wounds.  Old rivals welcome his return to the competition circuit.  At the same time Watari continues as normal with Kaori being his almost girlfriend.  This brings unneeded stress on Kosei and Tsubaki alike.  Tsubaki harbors deep and hidden feelings for her childhood friend but she wants to help him recover as much as possible.  As Kosei progresses with returning to the world of joy he knew the horrors of his mother continue to haunt him.  Those horrors and feelings of loss intensify when he discovers that Kaori is sick, possibly terminally ill.  Regrets, conflicts of emotion and a strong desire to shut out the world for fear of more pain impede Kosei's progress.  He has to figure out if he will ever be able to overcome his regrets, childhood traumas and the fear of deep loss once again.

    Story-wise Kimi Uso is drenched in self hate, self affirmation and self esteem issues.  The main characters are tragic hero's who would just as easily commit suicide than continue their existence.  At one point the phrase, 'Will you commit double suicide with me' is uttered.  Kosei had a horribly abusive childhood and then had to deal with that never being accounted for on top of parental abandonment following his mother’s death.  His father works overseas, by the way.  Kaori comes from a loving and caring family with the entire world in front of her, but is being held back by an unknown and debilitating illness.  Kosei is an empty shell who decides to try and live once he meets Kaori.  Kaori plays hard to get and teases him the entire time, swinging through moods and emotions with some alarming frequency.  The side characters, particularly Tusbaki grumble in the wings about everyone’s lack of ability to communicate freely.  Tsubaki herself enters a vanilla self destructive mode when she tries to deny her feelings for Kosei.  Her eventual acceptance brings a well done breakdown confession.  Watari...well he's not much more than a puppet that is offered up as a roadblock to the stories completion.  Other peripheral characters come and go, mostly staying and popping up from time to time to change direction of the Kosei's dialog, but don't really offer much more than that.  There are a few moments of over the top shonen style competition between Kosei and a few other piano students, but those theatrics flatten out when Kosei ultimately doesn't care about everyone else's level of competitiveness with him.  Over all it was a bland and predictable story that did deliver some merit worthy emotional moments.  There did end up being too many distractions that seemed to be filler more than anything, even if they were used to show the main characters mental development process.

    Art-wise parts of the character designs were bothersome.  Overbites and large glassy eyes.  The animation was smooth and vivid in its color pallet.  This series really utilized the current trend of erasing portions of characters glasses when restricting the viewer’s ability to see their eyes.  Particularly since Kosei wears glasses.  I want to figure out when this trend really started to take place but I can guess it has something to do with the social issues in Japan with eye contact.  (It's extremely rude to talk to someone in person when they can’t see your eyes)  One thing that stands out is the show tries to break the tension by reverting to some comical art styles.  The young children in the show are shown in absurd and comical ways as well.  Over all the artwork is stronger than the story.  Some of the CG is clunky, particularly when showing the piano being played by a variety of characters.  It was nowhere as smooth or accurate as that from Nodame Cantabile

    Regardless of its flaws I did enjoy my time with Kimi Uso and wouldn't mind reading the manga to see what was left out of the anime.  It ended in a way I enjoyed and was handled beautifully.  It’s not full of fan service, the characters body types are realistic, if their hair isn't.  Little things like that make it more enjoyable.  There are plenty of segments of the story that could have been cut out and seemed to do little more than serve as filler and cheap plot tricks.  The parts dealing with Kosei, Kaori and Tsubaki's feelings for each other are the meat of the show and the best parts.  With its flaws this is still a good series in the ever growing romance anime list.  Worth the time.  This however, is not relatable to the highly enjoyable Nodame Cantabile.

  The series was simulcast on Crunchyroll in North America and is being distributed by Aniplex.  The manga is being released by Kodansha in North America.