First Look at the New Titles for the Winter of 2015

2015 starts off a bit slow with shows that I am interested in watching, many of them are recent favorites returning to the fold.  Here are my thoughts on them after watching the first episodes.

Aldnoah.Zero 2: The original 12 episode run ended with a bunch of people possibly being dead, main characters.  So the return of this show was highly anticipated.  The story picks up 17 months afterwards to find the Vers military still waging, and succeeding in, a war of conquest over Earth.  Slain, the Earthling defector, has been knighted due to his noble duties and is helping to lead the conquest of his home planet.  Meanwhile the Terran forces have regained composure after the initial attack and are working to slow the advance of the invading armies with the hope of ending the war or even regaining lost territory.  The one thing that could have put an end to the conflict was Princess Asseylum.  Something has changed in her since the incidents of 17 months ago and she is now working as a champion for the conquest of Earth, broadcasting propaganda from the orbital castles.

    I am really happy to see the return of this show.  I enjoyed the original 12 episodes, including the cold, calculating, personality-lacking Inaho.  I really enjoyed the background of the story and all the events that led up to it.  The mech designs on both sides are enjoyable and interesting.  Yet there is one big point of contention I have with the shows return as exhibited by this first episode; the sudden hero shaping of Inaho.  Regrettably, but welcome anyways, Inaho is alive and still just as badass.  The fact he has some cybernetics now makes him ever more awesome in my book.  I wasn't happy with the way the introduced his return in this first episode of season 2.  Too much fanfare, too many things that smacked of traits used in shonen battle shows.  Pegging Inaho as the unlikely, and unassuming hero of the world, more than previously done.  This time they heralded his return as the savior of Earthlings like some mythical being.  Buy, maybe that's what he has been this entire time and I didn't pick up on it.  Some things seem to be reactions to much of the internet criticism of the original season, criticisms dealing with Inaho and his abilities and personalities.  Now he had/has the ability to affect the Aldnoah Drive's through a single drop of the Princess' blood entering his body?  Come on...that's stretching it a bit too far, don't you think?  Either way, I am excited for more adventures of Egg-kun.

Saenai Heroine no Sodate-kata: Another otaku for otaku-sake story.  One boy has ambitions to make a popular galge and recruits 4 girls to help him in this effort.  The girls, some of whom are otaku themselves, go along with his scheme for soon to be revealed reasons.  The first episode expositions all of this information while providing gratuitous fan service and slamming fan service and otaku for otaku-sake stories at the same time.

    I am torn with this one so far.  Just the same was I was torn with My Mental Choices...  The show presents its self as lambasting and criticizing otaku over reach while at the same time sticking with the things it calls out.  It’s hard to tell what the real intentions are going to be but the rampant dialogue destroying played out tropes in the moe industry are mildly entertaining.  I will give this one some more time to prove to me that it isn't a moe trap and is instead a smart and critical destruction of moe.

Koufuku Graffiti: Machiko Ryou is an independent high school girl who lives by herself after her beloved grandmother passed away.  The biggest thing Ryou took away from her upbringing was the need to be the best cook she can in order to be a desirable bride.  She doubts her abilities and is ready to resign herself to a live alone, perhaps collecting cats or something.  That changes when her cousin Kirin decides to live with her on the weekends in order to attempt to go to school in Tokyo.  Kirin is also using this as an opportunity to escape her parents, particularly her oblivious mothers horrible cooking.  Much to Ryou's surprise Kirin is instantly smitten with her culinary prowess.

    Man, it’s not as lame as I thought it was going to be but there is still a lot to not like with this one.  It’s a moe cooking show that may or may not be a cover for a yuri story.  There is some definite sexual tension/innuendo going on in this show.  The scenes of food being consumed and reacted to are quite...erotic in exposition.  Its jam packed with stereotypical moe/slice of life scenarios but there is something about it that as semi enjoyable.  Even with her pathetic personality and character design the main character is actually likeable.  I love cooking too...thought I don't think this show will really get into cooking like it was some battle cooking series.  So it stays in the cue for now...but tenuously so.

Durarara!! x2 shou: Taking place 6 months after the end of the original series and things in Ikebukero haven't changed at all.  All of its colorful personalities are continuing on as they always have.  The first episode deals with Celty mostly and ends with her being a bit more of a celebrity than she wants to deal with.  Someone has put a $100,000 bounty on her.  What new things are afoot in the wild streets of Ikeburuko? 

    I am super excited to see the return of this highly entertaining show.  Not only is the large cast of misfits still active they are introducing a number of new weirdo's to the mix.  As with the original show, it will be really interesting to see the directions this multi-tentacle story takes.  If nothing else, each week Durarara won't disappoint!

Assassination Classroom: Randomly one day the majority of the moon is obliterated and the octopus like creature responsible has told the Japanese government it will destroy the Earth in one year unless a class of 9th grade kids is able to assassinate him.  Now the class has this mission and the octopus thing is their teacher.  Can they save Earth with anti-octopus-thing airsoft rounds?  Who and why is this being doing such a thing?  What secrets abound!

    OK, so this is a semi popular Shonen Jump series so it’s going to have to meet a number of requirements typical of Shonen Jump titles.  The biggest thing I am afraid of and what’s threatening me to drop this as soon as possible; the possibility that it will be a really long show.  The manga is still going, so obviously there has not been an end to it yet.  The entire reason you start reading this is to find out how/when the kids will succeed and what the secrets behind the octopus creature are.  They have set up quite a bit of that ground work in the very first episode.  Suggesting, rather obviously, that the creature is from Earth and has some relation to this school or a similar school and is trying to impart something of value to the world.  I will seriously give this one five episodes.  Then unless it becomes magically fucking delicious it will go away.  I don't feel like being 'shonen battle' lectured to.

The Rolling Girls: 10 years after a great war in Tokyo all of the aristocracy disappeared.  In the vacuum of power groups of individuals have staked out old feudal territories across Japan.  Meanwhile everything keeps going on as normal, with the exception of new rules regarding control and authority.  Each area has a power base that battles the other territories for control in spectacular and somewhat ridiculous form.

    They didn't get into too much of what this series has been pegged to be about, mostly sticking with some introductions of the concept of the world and some of the key characters of the show.  So far I do not like it.  It seems like a dumbed down attempt to tap into the creativity of the guys behind Kill la Kill and FLCL.  In fact it feels like a blended imitation of both of those shows with some Atlas Shrugged thrown in for good measure.  While I am not a fan, I respect and recognize the brilliance of Kill la Kill, Gurren Lagann and FLCL.  This on the other hand seems to be without direction and a hodge podge of ideas with no real intent and purpose.  The animation is a bit odd, the dialogue is all over the place and the amount of suspension of reality they are asking for is a bit beyond me.  I doubt this one will be sticking around in my cue for long either.  I will give it a few more episodes to see if there is some coherent plot in the works, but I don't have any hopes for it.

Death Parade: When people die they find themselves in a high end cocktail lounge.  The barkeep informs them they are to play a game to determine what will happen to their soul.  The games are standard fare but with sinister affects.  They work more to force the participants to come to realizations about the lives they lived more than actually determining their ultimate fate.

    This feels like it’s going to be a by the book psychological tension series.  I don't anticipate there being any long story arcs beyond getting into the backgrounds of the beings who work at the bar.  There really is nothing new with this series that hasn't been done before.  The animation is a little clunky, especially the CG and the tension is predictable.  I am not sure if this will stick around much, I would much rather spend the time I would use on this show to finally finish Monster and enjoy some really well done psychological drama.

The Irresponsible Captain Tylor OAV’s

The Irresponsible Captain Tylor OAV’s are a 10 episode follow up to the original 26 episode TV series.

    Following the end of the TV show the crew of the Soyukaze find themselves on ground duty until further notice.  Some of them are assigned special duty while the others are on rest.  Even though they are not flying through the galaxy they still find enough trouble to keep them busy.  A series of events, while initially isolated, bring together a possible end to the aggression between humans and Raalgon.  The forces at work pushing the war from the original series are still at work and once again the crew under Tylor find themselves in the middle of everything.

    Unlike the TV show, the OAV series is rather humorless.  The focus shifts to a series of side stories that end up being the shows catalyst.  The title character, unfortunately, is scarce in these episodes.  With this dramatic shift from mad cap comedy to pure drama I was a bit disappointed.  I did begin to enjoy it near the end when the pieces of the puzzle started to fall into place.  Before then it seemed like a series of pointless side stories with characters I wasn’t necessarily fond of or concerned for.  These stories also seemed rather rote and uncreative.  It was a nice ending to the series, even if the comedy that made the TV episodes so enjoyable was missing.  It really did a good job concluding the story in a way the TV show wasn’t able to.

    As with the original series the OAV’s have been available in North America for quite some time.  While I didn’t enjoy it as much it is still worth watching to conclude this story.

The Irresponsible Captain Tylor

The Irresponsible Captain Tylor (無責任艦長タイラ) is a 26 episode sci-fi comedy anime based on the light novel series The Most Irresponsible Man in Space (宇宙一の無責任男) by Yoshioka Hitoshi.  The anime originally aired in Japan in 1993.

    Justy Ueki Tylor is a 20 year old slacker living in the far future of mankind’s expansion into space.  One day he decides to join the United Planets Space Force to live the easy life of a military desk jockey.  Tylor's only goal in life is to go through it easily and on his own terms.  After obliterating the militaries recruit AI through innocent coercion and Tylor logic, he is assigned to the pension department.  His first assignment sends him to deliver delayed pension payments to a retired, ill and historically loved admiral.  At the same time the admiral and his daughters are being held hostages.  The captures are an anti-war group trying to stop an imminent war with the alien civilization, the Raalgon Empire.  Tylor, carefree, stumbles his way into saving the admirals life.  In doing so the military promotes him to lieutenant commander and assigns him as the captain of the destroyer, Soyukaze.  The Soyukaze is the reject ship in the fleet, used as a holding pen for the trouble in the UPSF, those not quite able to be discharged.  Trouble starts immediately as various factions in the crew attempt to kill Tylor and his 2^nd in command, Lieutenant Yamamoto, who struggles to deal with the carefree captain.  Yamamoto is a by the book military man, not very bright, but dedicated to the career.  Tylors almost hippy like nature confuses and angers him.

    The ship takes off for its first mission under Tylors command and the crew begins to mutiny; fighting against each other and command.  Tylor tells them to do whatever they want to, enraging and confusion everyone else on the bridge.  Eventually the crew chills out, due in part to Tylors lack of action, and he assumes control of the ship.  Just as he does tension boils between both civilizations, with commanding personnel in both factions itching for war.  The UPSF commanders behind their half of the aggression are equally enraged at Tylors existence and position in the military.  At every turn the try to use him to advance their plans all out war while at the same time trying to kill him.  Quickly the unique captain earns a reputation among the Raalgon, who are intrigued by his unique way of doing things.  Through his laid back attitude, lack of action and insurmountable luck Tylor again and again avoids destruction and begins to garner the respect of his crew.  The Soyukaze, due to commands hatred of Tylor and Tylors’ own bumbling nature, finds its self in the middle of the eminent war to end one or both civilizations.

    Tylor is the penultimate bumbling genius.  Everyone around him is confused if he is truly as idiotic as he seems or some calculating genius.  The truth is a little of neither and a whole bunch of insane luck.  Tylor is the ultimate Zen master, letting everything happen around him, having absolute faith in events to resolve themselves in a desirable manner.  In Tylor I see the template for Oe Kintaro from Golden Boy.  According to Wikipedia/The Anime Encyclopedia Tylor is directly based on the main character of a 1960’s live action movie titled Japan’s Irresponsible Age.  The character in this movie is a slacker, carefree and bumbling salaryman who ends up lucking his way up the ladder of success; much in conflict with his boss’s wishes and plots.  At the same time this series is also an homage to the classic space opera anime of the 70’s, most notably Space Battleship Yamato.  The series encompasses many elements popular in the anime of the 80’s and I see it as an expose on that era of anime.  While mostly comedic the last few episodes become rather melancholic.  The ending is nothing surprising but there isn’t any better way to end it. 

    I really enjoyed this series and have no idea why it took me so long to watch it.  I have been meaning to watch it since about 1999…so I slacked off quite a bit on this one.  But, maybe I was just following Tylor’s way without knowing it!  Anyways, this is an enjoyable and entertaining series.  There are parts that seem to be rote and annoying; such as a ghost story episode, but much like the title character, nothing is as it seems with this show.  For its time the animation is well done and hell, a good portion of the English dub cast works really well for the show. So if you are a fan of a classic fun story with some eccentric and loveable characters this is a great one to see, if like me, you've been asleep.  This series fits in nicely with fans of Patlabor and Dominion Tank Police.

    The anime has been available in North America since the 90’s.  There is also 10 episode follow up OAV series which is also readily available.  It does not appear the light novels are available though.

Lost in Translation

There are many subtleties that tend to be lost when porting manga to European and North American audiences.  Many of these subtleties are culturally based and can he understood through study and experience over time.  

    Somethings are difficult to directly translate such as the vast array on onomatopoeia's that exist in the Japanese language.  To varying degrees of success these can be translated.  But its no wonder why some companies don't bother translating every little sound affect that fills the pages of a manga.  It can be difficult to simply and correctly convey the ideas of some onomatopoeia into languages that aren't as rich.  Sound affects make up a respectable part of informal speech in Japan, far greater than in English.  They are used not only to be descriptive but to help convey mood and atmosphere.

    There is also a fine level of unspoken dialogue and understanding that exists in Japan as well.  To some extent these can be translated through increased dialogue.  These unspoken understandings in Japanese are part of what leads to difficulty doing literal translations.

    The one thing that stands out as being a great loss in the translation process comes with the way names can be understood in Japanese that doesn't really exists in many European based cultures.  For the most part everyone's name; surnames and given names, are made of kanji that individually or together also represent other things and can be literally translated.  These translations are understood by everyone as they are taken from common words, usually.  This can add a level of meaning to a persons name that isn't as prevalent in Western names.  Manga-ka can use this to add extra levels of understanding to their characters.  A characters name can be used as a signal for their personality or to enhance the story, sometimes foreshadowing future development.  Its almost impossible to realistically represent this in translation.  The names would be considered foolish in most regards.  Its easier to accept a character being named Kurosaki Ichigo instead of Black Peninsula One Protector.

    For more and more manga and anime I find myself looking up the characters names to try and understand any suggestions the author put out relating to them.  In doing so I continue to circle back to the psychology that's developed in a society where someones name can and is more than just a way to identify someone.  In many Western societies that's a whole level of thinking that is essentially absent from our thinking and interactions with each other.  Aside from being able to relate to other people with the same name, John Smith essentially doesn't mean much of anything.  Think about that.

(Image from Inugami-san to Sarutobi-kun wa Naka ga Warui or Ms. God Dog & Mr. Monkey Rook' (shogi reference) are on Bad Terms)

A Quick Look at the Winter 2015 Anime Season

With January already a week old, here's a look at the new and returning titles on my radar.  It looks rather dismal.  Spring may have a better list.

Aldnoah.Zero 2: Aldnoah.Zero was a sleeper hit last Spring (at least for me), it's return is highly anticipated.  Especially given the bloody ending.  Many questions will hopefully be answered and many people on the internet will shell out more hate at Egg-kun.  LONG LIVE EGG-KUN!!

Saenai Heroine no Sodate-kata: Romantic comedy about dealing with a boring girlfriend?  There's a lot that could go wrong here but there's some that could go right.  Worth a shot at least.

Koufuku Graffiti: Hmm...a slice of life story revolving around cooking.  This may get the boot sooner than later.

Death Parade: Death/St. Peter is a pool shark?  This show deals with a pool hall that represents limbo as the challengers to the house stake their fate on their ability to win the game.  Meh...but we will see.  The hopes aren't high for this one.

Assassination Classroom:  Based on the manga from Shonen Jump this ridiculous story deals with a bizarre alien who threatens Earths existence but has allowed a group of school children to be trained, by him, to attempt to kill him in order to save the planet.  I watched a bit of the OVA that came out a a while ago for this series and was not really impressed.  This one probably won't make it too far on my playlist.

The Rolling Girls: Post-apacolypse bosozoku girls working for the greater good of a fractured nation.  Uhm...why is this on my list?

Durarara 2: My second most anticipated show of the new season.  I was late to the DRRR game and didn't watch the original series until last Summer.  When it comes to the ultimate action anime, the original was damn close to being that.  A wide cast of memorable characters, excellent balance between many different elements.  I am eagerly awaiting this shows return.

El Hazard The Wanderers

El Hazard: The Wanderers (神秘の世界エルハザード) is a 26 episode retelling of the fantasy/comedy/adventure OAV series El Hazard by Hayashi Hiroki (Original creator of Tenchi Muyo) and Tsukimura Ryoe.  The series originally aired in Japan in 1995 and 1996.

    Mizuhara Makoto is a talented student.  When his science experiment is tampered with by his rival Jinnai Katsuhiko both of them, along with Katsuhiko's sister Nanami and their teacher Fujisawa, end up transported to a different world.  The world they find themselves in is known as El Hazard.  Makoto and Fujisawa are taken in as guests by the royal princess Rune Venus.  Nanami ends up by herself for a while.  Katsuhiko convinces his captures, large bug creatures, to make him their leader.  As Makoto, Fujisawa and Nanami work to find a way to return home they end up having to deal with Katsuhiko's attempts at world domination.

    As with any loved story that doesn't last long enough there comes a double edged sword when your desires are fulfilled.  Usually continuing a story after its original version has concluded results in less than desirable results.  The Wanderers is a case example of that.  The original El Hazard OAV is one of my favorite series' from the 90's.  Shortly after it came out the TV rendition, The Wanderers was created.  Way back then I only ended up buying the first 3 VHS copies, all in Japanese with subtitles, so I never got around to finishing it.  I was used to the Pioneer English dub voices from watching the original series in English dub though.  Right Stuf currently owns the licensing rights to the series in North America and is hosting it all in dub on YouTube.  Why not enjoy this old favorite as my background 'music' while at my day job.  I quickly discovered why I stopped buying the tapes back in the 90's.

    There are some glaring differences from the original story.  Many take away some of the charm and enjoyment of the original that makes it special to me.  The biggest thing is how everyone gets transported to El Hazard.  In the original the demon Ifurita awakens in the school, knowing who Makoto is, and sends him and the others to El Hazard to save it.  Their mission to return home brings them full circle to Ifurita, who has been awakened by Katsuhiko as an ultimate weapon.  Makoto recognizes her as the girl responsible for sending them all to El Hazard and works to release her from the prison she is in.  The OAV ends with Ifurita throwing herself into the Eye of God to save El Hazard, promising to return to Makoto again, it segued to the beginning of the OAV, where Makoto returns from El Hazard to save Ifurita from dying leading to their new life together.

    In The Wanderers, as stated earlier, Katsuhiko is responsible for sending everyone to El Hazard by messing with Makoto's science experiment.  In the original OAV Makoto is convinced to stand in for Rune Venus's missing younger sister.  In The Wanderers she has no sister and Makoto doesn't have to spend half of the show in drag.  Without the sister, they also don't deal much with Aleah's lesbian tendencies, only hinting at it a little when they are initially seeking out the 3 priestesses.  The younger princess was kidnapped by the Shadow Tribe who is trying to use the Eye of God to exact revenge on their status as a hated and shunned peoples, who had been teleported to El Hazard in ancient times.  In The Wanderers the Shadow Tribe is non-existent.

    The time frame in each series is different as well.  The OAV's only cover a short amount of time, days or weeks.  The TV series covers what is probably months perhaps even a year.  This has a dramatic affect on the immediacy of the characters plight and goal.  The TV show ended to set up for a continuation of mindless antics in the Magnificent World.

    Everyone's personality is intact with one glaring exception, Ifurita's.  In the original OAV she was the central catalyst to the entire story, in the TV show she was relegated to the aho character.  Idiotic, goofy but pure hearted, although this does change in the end when she merges with the Eye of God.  To a lesser extent Ura was also dumbed down a bit, to being a barely intelligible animal where she was sharp tongued in the original story.

    One way to look at The Wanderers is as if the entire El Hazard story is a galge and this is one possible outcome, a completely separate scenario.  The series really is disappointing though.  It was incredibly formulaic and tiring.  There are entire episodes that are pointless, only there to build some sort of relationship between Makoto and the Princess, but mostly there to fill out the series to a full 26 episode run.  The artwork, while close to 20 years old, is pretty low quality.  Watching it in English reminded me of the horrible things Pioneer did with recording new OP and ED in English.

    If you really want to watch this, which I don't recommend, Right Stuf owns the licensing rights in North America.  It is readily available on disc and on their YouTube channel.  Stick with the original OAV series instead.  I fear the follow up OAV's may be based on The Wanders instead of the original material.  Time to find out...

What to look forward to in 2015 on Otaku Network

A few days late, but...laziness.  明けましておめでとう!!

    Here's what's in the works for 2015 as I come off of a productive 2014. 

- On December 31st a Twitter account was generated to complement this blog.  Follow it @TheOtakuNetwork for things that wouldn't normally fit the scope of this site but are still related.

- 2015 is looking to be good with a few highly anticipated series returns, such as Sidonia no Kishi and Aldnoah.Zero.  Will it be as great as 2014?  Time will tell, but I have my doubts.

- There are still a number of older series that need to be watched and reviewed but I don't anticipate the quantity of reviews of older shows to be what it has been.

- More manga reviews!  I want to re-read Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou and do deeper analysis' for each tankoubon.  This may turn into a weekly installment to help replace the mostly concluded Moku-yobi Posts which featured short reviews of older anime not previously reviewed.

- As I pick up more books on Japanese society and sociology expect more dissertations on the things that go into the psychology of anime and manga and how those things that are Japanese in nature shape the stories we all enjoy.

- In February I will be attending my first con since 2001 and something may show up here related to it.  Con reporting is something I generally don't want to get involved with but who knows what swill happen.

So with that, welcome to 2015, thanks for sticking around and look forward to more and improved information!

Image from 34-sei Mushoku-san by Ikeda Takashi.