Video Backlog: Moe-licious!

It's been a while since I've published something. Been to Melbourne for a trip, came back and my PC decided to have a fit, plus I haven't watched a great deal (about one show a week). Anyway, two more down on the backlog;

"Rocket Girls"
Publisher: Bandai Entertainment (USA)
Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Subtitles
Length: 12 Episodes x 24 minutes
Production Date: 2007
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

Because of the pairing of girls and mecha, I mistakenly thought this show was yet another creation of Studio Fantasia. Unfortunately it’s not. It’s actually based on a light novel series that’s published in Dragon Magazine. The story is pretty daft. It’s a little hard to suspend disbelief at times when you have teenage girls as astronauts. Especially with the moe-licious Akane, a screw up in terms of being an astronaut. Even if the only way to launch astronauts was a weight resection and teenage girls were the only option, it’s hard to believe the three girls in this series were the space administration’s only choices. The silliness continues with island girl Matsuri. Her depiction and that of her tribe is, let’s face it, just a tiny bit on the racist side. It’s all very ”unga-bunga” with grass skirts and practically no western conveniences. Totally unlike most traditional island communities for the past 50 or more years. In fact their depiction looks like it came straight of a 1930’s Hollywood film.

Despite the silliness of the actual plot, the show is quite fun. There is also quite a bit of factual science and physics used in the show in relation to space travel and the expense and problems associated with it. However the show is certainly no “Planetes”. There are plenty of times where science is discarded in place of movie physics and bad science. The CG models are generally good (especially the rockets), but the first episode has a really, really dodgy CG forest and Hummer sequence. I did initially confuse this show as a Studio Fantasia show, and it does have a number of similarities between it and “Stratos 4”. However that show is a much more entertaining one than “Rocket Girls”. I was also amused that “Rocket Girls” seems to have a lot more fan service than “Stratos 4”, which is pretty hilarious seeing as Studio Fantasia is pretty notorious in that regard. I didn’t know until, after I saw the show, but apparently Japanese astronaut Naoko Yamazaki, who has been on a US shuttle mission, voices herself in a cameo mid way through the show. Overall, an OK show, not brilliant at all, but quite fun. 6.5 out of 10.

"Toradora!"Publisher: NIS America (USA)
Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Subtitles
Length: 25 Episodes x 24 minutes
Production Date: 2008 - 2009
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

What I dislike so much about those Key/Kyoto Animation shows is the lack of any substantial character development (or even worse, annoyingly overused catchphrases and traits in lieu of any development), overused personality types and the rather forced, emotionally manipulative and stunningly stupid situations the characters get themselves into. Certainly not all slice of life/comedy/romance/drama shows with blatantly moe characters are like this, but a fair few I’ve watched in the last couple of years do fit this description. The first episode of this show introduces us to Taiga, the typical tsundere character (much like Louise in the dreadful “Zero no Tsukaima”). Add in Ryuji’s underprivileged background with stupid parrot and hostess bar girl mum, and I really, really felt this show was nose diving straight into cliché territory from the very beginning. It just seemed it like this show was going to be the same old, same old.

However it turned around rather quickly in the second episode. Ryuji soon proves himself to be the anti-milquetoast boy and actually wants to have a relationship with a woman, shows his feelings and actually acts like a real teenage boy (unlike the weird platonic situations in other similar shows). Taiga also quickly becomes really likable. What I really liked is that they showed that Taiga has a vulnerable side, but she’s still feisty and can stand up for herself. In a lot of these types of shows, the girls are almost like “pets” for the male lead. In that I mean the male gets to look after them and sort out their problems. I find those shows kind of weird. There’s this strange power play going on where the male is always in control. Thankfully that’s ditched here. The story is told pretty much from Ryuji’s point of view, but both Taiga and Ryuji are almost equals. I found that pretty refreshing. Surprisingly the supporting cast and the secondary cast rarely fall in stereotypes and are all really well fleshed out and believable characters. All of the main cast (besides the two leads) have problems which are explored over a couple of episodes. Most of this is done in a realistic and believable manner, with only a scene or two I’d consider to otaku pandering, and only once small sequence I found a little hard to swallow.

The story, while mostly episodic for the first half of the show manages to balance comedy, romance and drama very, very well. Towards the end there is a lot more drama, and in spots it’s quite melodramatic, to point I felt a couple of scenes seemed like they could have been taken out of a cheesy live action Japanese drama. But overall the show is planned out very well and the drama is really well done and complements the comedy aspects really well. It’s blatantly obvious as to what the final outcome of the show is (it is a romantic comedy after all), but the trip there takes a lot of really unexpected detours and there’s never a dull moment. The NIS America release does contain the four “Toradora! SOS - Connoisseurs Banzai” super deformed bonus shorts. I didn’t get into these at all, which I really was surprised about since I really enjoyed the show they came from. The shorts are dull and uninspired mostly.

This was the first anime release from video game company NIS America. While the packaging is excellent (though a little cumbersome) and the hardcover series book was a fantastic addition, especially in these no frills anime release times, however the video was a mess. It had some strange interlacing going on which made it look like a bad NTSC to PAL transfer. Luckily NIS were really quick to respond and issued a new pressing of the discs for the first set. They even issued these to those living overseas, which was great for me. Overall it’s a fantastic release by a new company. The only downer I suppose is the lack of a dub. I don’t watch dubs at all, but this show is going to get a lot less exposure because of that. It’s far more accessible, more substantial and far more fun and entertaining than the Key/Kyoto Animation stuff. 8 out of 10.

Remaining Backlog: 22 months (it's much easier this way than listing the number of discs).

Video Backlog: Catch Up Edition Part 2

"Mai Mai Miracle"Publisher: Deltamac (Hong Kong)
Format: Region 3 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional Cantonese Dub and English and Chinese Subtitles
Length: 95 minutes
Production Date: 2009
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

I think Studio Ghibli should watch out as Madhouse seems to be gradually taking over the title of the studio that releases the best animated family films. While “Summer Wars”, released the same year as this film, got all the attention, Madhouse’s other family film of that year is no slouch. The closest this film comes to is “My Neighbour Totoro”, especially with its low fantasy elements and realistic setting. However this film is pitched at a slightly older crowd and the fantasy elements are toned down. Like “Totoro”, it’s set in 1950’s rural Japan, but this is probably where the comparisons end. I really liked the contrasts between new girl Kiko Shimazu and her “country bumpkin” classmates. What really impressed me with this film is the fact that it doesn’t wallow in sentimentality or makes out that 1950’s rural Japan was a better time than the present. Suicide, the failure of adult relationships, deaths of loved ones and even the seedy red light district of the town are shown. You’d never see that kind of stuff in an American family film. The thing which didn’t quite work for this film was the sub plot linking the main character, Shinko Aoki, with a princess which lived in the same area a thousand years ago. Possibly there were too many sub plots going at the same time and not enough time focused on this part of the story. Certainly the first half of the film moves rather slowly as we are introduced to the characters, setting and the way of life of the town. Maybe more time should have been spent linking the past and present together. Like most Madhouse films, the animation is just gorgeous. I think it’s a real shame that this film hasn’t received same attention that its sister film has. At least the film has had some sort of legit English release (outside of the subbed film print doing the rounds of the film festival circuit), though the font and readability of the subs leave a little be desired on this DVD. But the subs are great otherwise and I really doubt this film will ever be released in the US. 7.5 out of 10.

"Welcome to Irabu’s Office (Kuchu Buranko)"
Publisher: Siren Visual (Australia)
Format: Region 4 DVD, PAL, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Subtitles
Length: 11 Episodes x 22 minutes
Production Date: 2009
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

About five years ago, most people had Siren written off on anime. We all remember their Manga Entertainment sub licence (only because Polygram Australia didn’t want to follow in Island’s lead – Polygram distributed Island’s stuff in Australia, which would have included their Manga video label) back in the 1990’s which they somehow managed to lose the licence twice and eventually Madman took over. Then Siren released some dreadful quality titles which had most Australian fans clamouring for the R1 counterpart releases. In the last couple of years, somehow they’ve pulled themselves out of mediocrity and have released some pretty quality discs. I really don’t think Siren’s going to break Madman’s monopoly on the R4 market, but it seems that they’re going to give them a good run for their money. Shocking most fans, Siren have gone with a strange model of releasing sub only discs first, then releasing a bilingual version if an English dub is made down the track. This seems to be working for them.

Even more strange is the titles they’ve picked for distribution. Sure, most are rather mainstream, but then you come to this title. This show hasn’t been released anywhere else in the world on home video in English, except here. You can literally count the amount of Australian anime releases with this claim to fame on one hand and have more than a couple of fingers spare. The subject matter is odd; psychologist, Irabu, with three physical presences consults patents in a rather unorthodox manner which includes his sexy nurse giving them a “vitamin shot”. Not only that, but the art design is wonderfully garish and everything is heightened and rather surreal. The show also makes extensive use of its voice cast, all of whom are popular male voice actors (odd, but Irabu seems to have no female patients), but I knew none of them. A lot of the time video and images of the actors are used in the animation, digitised and altered to fit I with the animation. The nurse, Mayumi, played by bikini model and "Engine Sentai Go-Onger" actress Yumi Sugimoto is also seen in live action mated into the animation. She’s mostly there for eye candy, but is also an integral part of the plot in a number of episodes. Also Yumi Sugimoto is yummy. Just sayin'.

As this is an “experimental” title, there are a number of times where it just doesn’t seem to work. Some of it seems rather formulaic and most of the mental illnesses are variations of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. However is pretty darn funny a lot of the time and the style are really refreshing. All 11 episodes take place around the same time period and are all interlinked in some way. This leads to some really surreal moments which don’t make any sense early on, but as the series progresses everything seems to untangle itself. Siren’s release looks fantastic in the video and packaging departments, but the audio sounds a bit strange at times, as if it was compressed incorrectly or something. Not sure what was going on there. 7.5 out of 10.

"Divergence Eve"Publisher: ADV Films (USA)
Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Dub and English Subtitles
Length: 13 Episodes x 24 minutes
Production Date: 2003
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

Surprise of the month, that’s for sure. I really don’t know why I bought this. I blame Right Stuf and their bargain bin. Oh well. Fan service in lieu of plot really, really shits me. I hate it. I think it’s cheap and nasty. Looking the character designs, with young women who seem to have overly large floppy lemons as breasts, well I was dreading watching this show, especially as it had the same character designer as “Amazing Nurse Nanako”. Oddly there is a lot less fan service in this show than I expected. Sure the show’s plot is the usual alien enemy vs. Earth, but they mix it up here and include a gateway to other dimensions and experiments on the enemy and humans. OK, so that sounds like we’ve seen it all before and we probably have. For some reason I kind of dug this, probably because it’s a pretty dark show. The CG animation is pretty dodgy. The mecha is ugly and gawky as sin and the alien monsters have that bizarre slow motion movement that just looks wrong. Luckily the CG, especially the monsters is used sparingly for the most part. The ending seems like it was cut out of a random mid 1990’s OVA. It’s all rather colourful and sugary and doesn’t seem to belong to this show. The foreign character names are pretty silly and probably some of the worst I’ve seen outside a Yoshiyuki Tomino anime of the early 1980’s. Well Ok, perhaps not THAT bad, but still pretty awful. The plot can be rather hard to follow and some the character motivations and pseudoscience seems confused, but I had quite a bit of fun with this show. The ending is a bit of a downer to a degree, but they had a sequel ready to go. 7 out of 10.

"Misaki Chronicles"
Publisher: ADV Films (USA)
Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Dub and English Subtitles
Length: 13 Episodes x 24 minutes
Production Date: 2004
Currently in Print (as of writing): No

So this is the follow up to “Divergence Eve”. From the start our ever happy little heroine tells us this show is going to have a happy ending. She’s a freaking lair. While the first season surprisingly didn’t have much in term of fan service, this one lays it on pretty thick at the start. So I hated the guts of the show for the first couple of the episodes. To get around the ending of the first season, we time travel and dimension hop. However it’s never fully explained why this needs to be done or how it’s done. I think it’s safe to say the plot and motivations of the characters are even more confused this time around. Some of the episodes are pretty good, while some just stink. Add in the lack of quality control in terms of animation with characters going completely off model, and a wack of unnecessary fan service in an episode half way through the series, it kind of peeved me off. I really though the time and dimension hopping did make things rather confusing and added very little to the plot. In the last third of the show, things do settle down and show becomes a bit better, however strange plotting rears its head again and I was a bit annoyed at the lack of logic with the reappearance of several characters assumed to be lost. Oh, and the CG and mecha still suck. ADV have included a “sexy” mini-poster on the reverse of all three slicks of the series. If your definition of “sexy” includes grossly top heavy girls in dental floss bikinis, then I suppose it’s “sexy”. There was point in time where some creators in the last decade or so have made anime girls so pneumatic that it just becomes grotesque. Surely that stuff should stay in the realm of hentai anime, not mainstream stuff. These mini posters are proof of this. It was an OK show, but it really over stayed its welcome. 6 out of 10.

Remaining Backlog: 22 months (it's much easier this way than listing the number of discs).

Video Backlog: Catch Up Edition Part 1

I’ve been a little busy doing some writing (and not feeling 100% health wise), so I’ve kind of ignored my backlog for the blog. I’ve seen a lot of stuff in the last few weeks. Here’s part one of what I’ve seen;

"A.Li.Ce"Publisher: Artsmagic (USA)
Format: Region Free DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Dub and English Subtitles
Length: 85 minutes
Production Date: 1999
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

Prior to a DVD release, this was screened on SBS TV Australia in late 2001. I recall it was the first anime they’d actually shown subtitled since “Twilight of the Cockroaches” which was originally broadcast in 1993. Anyway this was released on DVD in the UK back in 2003, but for some reason has the last few seconds of the credits missing. Stupidly I bought the US DVD. I fully understand that this is one of the first fully CG anime (think it’s the first feature to be CG in Japan), but it’s kinda bland. The animation has really not aged well at all. The characters really all look like marionettes, and their faces look pretty strange at times. The mecha comes off much better. In fact there are a couple of scenes that were quite impressive looking, which kind of surprised me. However when viewed as a whole, the movie looks like one great big cut scene from a game. The story also is kind of weak and predictable. There’s not a lot of originality in there. Jonathan Clements appears on the disc (like all Artsmagic CG anime titles) talking at a film festival about animation to a small audience. Quite a good additional feature. There’s also a commentary track by Clements, but after listening to his commentary on this film’s sister disc “Blue Remains”, I just couldn’t go through with it. Love his work in anime magazines writing articles, but when it comes to critiquing anime, he’s a grumble bum and a bit of a bore really. The film gets 5 out of 10 for me.

"CLAMP School Detectives"Publisher: Bandai Entertainment (USA)
Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Dub and English Subtitles
Length: 26 Episodes x 25 minutes
Production Date: 1997
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

Let's face it, this is one saccharinely sweet series. If "Cardcaptor Sakura" gave you diabetes, you're going to hate this show. I've read a lot of reviews on "Clamp School Detectives", and a lot of them don't seem to get it. Of course the kids are sickeningly sweet and wonderful. Of course the school they go to is picture perfect and is a heavenly place to be. Of course Nokoru is the ultimate ladies’ man (again in a total platonic way). The show is designed for women. Basically it's unapologetic wish fulfilment for women. CLAMP have created an excellent little piece of escapism and it translates very well into animation. Created a year before the "Cardcaptor Sakura" anime, the animation (by Studio Pierrot) and production values are very close to that series, but are just a fraction below it. Despite using a formulaic plot (practically in every episode, the detectives help out a lady in distress) the situations avoid becoming stale due to the fact new characters are introduced, and we see the complex personalities behind the characters. As with a lot of CLAMP shows, not everyone are what they seem, and some dark secrets are exposed along the way. There are a few slow episodes, but most are pretty entertaining. CLAMP fans will also dig the cameos in this show, in particular Miyuki from “Miyuki-chan in Wonderland” and Kentarou Higashikunimaru, Takeshi Shukaido and Eri Chusonji from “Duklyon: Clamp School Defenders”.

Originally released as "Clamp School", this was one of the initial titles Bandai Entertainment entered the US market with in 1998. For whatever reason, among the initial titles released by Bandai, this one didn't make the leap across to DVD. Finally we now have it on DVD, release some 10 years after it first came out in English. I’m really glad Bandai have decided to release this series again. It even comes with the super deformed “Day in the Life of CLAMP School” shorts which are pretty fun. The old tapes have gone off to landfill now. Fantastic series and one of my CLAMP favourites. 8 out of 10.

"Angel Tales"
Publisher: Bandai Entertainment (USA)
Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Dub and English Subtitles
Length: 14 Episodes x 22 minutes
Production Date: 2001
Currently in Print (as of writing): No

Seriously, this is one of the most bizarre concepts for an anime. Take the old milquetoast hero from titles like “Love Hina” and billion other dull harem shows and add girls. But where it gets extremely odd is girls are his guardian angels and are reincarnations of pets he used to own. Worse is you have a lot of the angels in love with him, so if you think about it, there’s this weird bestiality thing going on. Also the number of girls that eventually show up numbers 12. That’s a lot of dead pets for a person just out of high school. And then you add in some prepubescent girls, and it gets a bit weirder. Yes I understand it’s meant to “cute”. Yes there is no real sexual feelings for the girls from Mr Milquetoast, in fact it’s really, really platonic. The show is just freaking weird and creeps me out. The plot and story are incredibly weak. Nothing much at all happens until the last few episodes, and then it’s pretty bland and predicable. I did like a couple of elements of this show. The designs were really good and the animation was pretty good. The bonus parody animated shorts were quite funny and more entertaining than most of the actual show. I really can’t believe this show two sequel series and a spin off series that also had a sequel. Argg, so annoying! Why, why, why?! This’ll teach me to blind buy heavily discounted discs from the Right Stuf. 4 out of 10.

"Dan Doh!! (The Super Shot)"
Publisher: Bandai Entertainment (USA)
Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Dub and English Subtitles
Length: 26 Episodes x 24 minutes
Production Date: 2004
Currently in Print (as of writing): No

Golf; the second most boring spectator sport after cricket (maybe third after lawn bowls). I know there is a ton of golf based manga, but why in hell would you make an anime about this wretched sport? As this is show is based on a shonen manga (from Shonen Sunday), you have the typical tropes of the genre; the main character which strives to become an elite player usually from an underprivileged background, you have the rather mean challengers who ultimately become friends with our hero, a sports journalist that sees potential in our hero (only mildly touched on in this show), a coach that also sees that same potential, superhuman feats of sports prowess, a love interest and clueless hanger-on’s who are pretty much there to fill in those watching who have no idea about the rules of the particular sport. Yup, all boxes ticked. This show is a bit different though. The first arc has out hero Dandoh going from complete amateur to winning a title (which is absurd in itself), then the majority of the rest of the show has our young hero (he’s 12), becoming a caddie for player who’s down on his luck. Naturally Dandoh has this superhuman ability to tell the adult professional golf player how to play his shots (despite the fact Dandoh has had less than four months experience playing golf). The final two episodes put the focus back on Dandoh’s career in golf. The pacing is odd. At the beginning it looks like the show is going to be a about Dandoh and his two friends playing golf, then it switches to Dandoh being a caddie for almost the entire show. It feels really unsatisfactory and as if several seasons of the show are missing.

It’s odd that Bandai decided to release this one, but apparently they were looking into bringing more sports anime over. Though the only other thing they released after this one was “Dear Boys (Hoop Days)”. As I said before, this show was an odd choice to bring over to the US. The animation is pretty mediocre and it’s a bit of a chore to watch. It’s a bit of a kick in the guts to those who enjoy dubs that this title was dubbed, yet something far superior like “Cyber Formula GPX” was only given the sub only treatment. How can a futuristic car racing anime sell less than one about golf? The entire English adaptation production was farmed out to Odex in Singapore. Everything; translation, menus, dubbing, DVD mastering etc. As a result you have weird localised stuff in the subtitles like the use of the word “fellas”. They’ve also left in weird Engrish phrases used in the Japanese script like “Green On” which is apparently what Japanese golfers say when they’ve got the ball on the green. Overall it’s a rather poor anime, but somehow it managed to entertain me a bit, especially the arc were Dandoh was the caddie for the professional golfer. 5 out of 10.

"Gold Wing 1.2.3 (Hwanggeum Nalgae 1.2.3)"Publisher: DK (South Korea)
Format: Region Free DVD, NTSC, Korean Dialogue with optional English and Korean Subtitles
Length: 66 minutes
Production Date: 1978
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

The Korean animation industry does make some great looking animation and has done so for more than a couple of decades (check the credits on any anime going back to the late 1980’s). However their own productions (unlike their live action output) are substandard a lot of the time. Now you have to remember that from 1945 to 1998, Japanese culture was banned in South Korea. However this did not stop Koreans using bits of Japanese culture as their own, in other words ripping off Japanese stuff. From the mid 1970’s to the mid 1980’s, various anime were ripped off to create a number of really substandard Korean animated features. In 1978, “Gold Wing 1.2.3” was released. This is mostly a rip off of “Casshern” (originally broadcast in Japan in 1973), but there’s also a bit of “Kamen Rider” mixed in. Unlike a number of Korean rip off animated features of the time, this one is rather competent. But hell, that’s not saying a lot really.

The animation is still rather mediocre and amateurish at times and the camera direction is just strange. The script, plot and acting aren’t exactly great either. However the biggest problem is state of the film. This film was thought lost many years ago, but was unearthed a year or so back. However absolutely no restoration work was done on the film, so we have scratches galore AND missing scenes and audio AND no end credits sequence. It’s pretty dreadful. The film has been released on limited edition BD and DVD with the covers of both stating it’s a “HD Marster” (sic). Admittedly it’s a great transfer, but of a very awful film print. The disc does include English subtitles which are OK, but are not by someone who is a native speaker. Every time someone gets hurt, they exclaim “Och!” instead of “Ouch!”. I was thinking that maybe the entire cast was made up of Scottish people. Or maybe it’s just shitty subtitling. For some bizarre reason Harmony Gold’s 1980 English adaptation “Gold Wing” appears as a bonus, taken from a UK VHS tape. No, I’m not kidding. So you have the choice of either a schizophrenic and highly damaged original print or a NTSC transfer of some 30 year old PAL VHS tape. Hmm, great choices. Still, the disc is kind of fun, in a stupid way. 5 out of 10.

Remaining Backlog: 22 months (it's much easier this way than listing the number of discs).