Anime and Manga reviews
The only Ghibli movie so far that I haven’t watched until the end. It was going so well until they introduced Fio. Beautiful visuals as always, a unique protagonist, a bittersweet setting and moderate amounts of action.
I was all set to love Porco Rosso
Anyway, I quit at around the 1:15 mark and watched the last few minutes to find out what happened to everyone. What a waste of potential. Next Ghibli movie I have to watch? Pom Poko
Shnzzzzzzzzzzzzzz *snrk* zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz… Hmm, huh, what? It’s over? THANK GOODNESS. Summary of the movie: Taeko, a city girl who likes the countryside, works on a farm and reflects back to when she was 10. More boring than it sounds. Work on farm, drive around, remember childhood, hang out with country boy, roll credits, the end.
Only Yesterday (Omohide poro poro)
Anyway, it seems like Taeko only idolizes farm life because she grew up in the city. What’s more, it seems she just enjoys it as an occasional break from city-life, and not for its own sake. None of the frequent flashbacks to her childhood show her particularly yearning to live in the countryside, just to visit it from time to time.
Which means once the first glow of excitement wears off and everyone stops treating her like she’s oh-so-special, I won’t be surprised if she falls out of love with farming and wants to go home again. Especially once she wakes up and finds out she’s married to a man she barely knows. The little episode where she was planting rice plus the scene where she makes city-food (cake!) near the end seem to hint at the fact that she isn’t cut out for this kind of life in the long-term. She’s been shown to want what she can’t have (her sister’s bag, the restaurant trip, holidays in the countryside) and to change her mind frequently, and she says she’s grown up but has she really?
Well, that’s her problem, I’ve got myself to worry about. Other people’s lives are boring, which is why fiction and fantasy come in handy so often. I’d like Studio Ghibli to remember that in future. Next up, Porco Rosso. Haven’t heard much about that one, but hopefully it should be interesting. Can’t be worse than this, anyway.
Or, “Boobs and Dumb Women – the Anime.” It’s been a while since I watched something this horrible and yet so compelling. Dragonaut: The Resonance
Then it turned into a stupid rescue romantic farce where the main character Jin chased his lady love Toa for endless episodes, Toa always managing to either run away or get herself captured as soon as Jin found her. It’s revealed halfway through that Toa is directly responsible for the death of Jin’s family, but this is tossed to the side like it means nothing. Hos before even families, huh? Even Kouta from Elfen Lied wasn’t this faithful to his romantic needs.
From that point I was just watching to see how bad the series could get. And boy did it get bad. Toa! Jin! Toa! Jin! I want to see Toa! I want to see Toa! Jin! Jin! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRGGGGGHHHHH! *pukes* Phew, that’s better. You know, the dragon transformation sequences should have clued me in from the start that the creators had no idea what kind of series they were trying to make, but I foolishly persevered. In the end Jin and Toa manage to persuade Thanatos to leave Earth alone by showing her the Power of Love – as if it wasn’t bad enough when Gankutsuou did it – and they go back to Earth to live happily ever after. They’d better, after all the happiness GONZO robbed me of just by making this show exist. I’ll think twice before I try anything from that company again.
Anime about high school kids that function as “armed detectives.” The titular Aria is yet another twintailed tsundere played by Rie Kugimiya *groan*. The twist in the tale is the protagonist Kinji, who goes into super-powered mode when he’s sexually aroused. Feel free to roll your eyes at this point.
I read some of the manga and volumes 1-2 of the Hidan no Aria (Aria the Scarlet Ammo) light novels
I almost liked it for that, mainly it felt like a direct look into Kinji’s head. In the anime I can’t even tell when he’s out of Hysteria Mode until he explicitly says so. Plus in a novel/manga you can imagine that he’s faster and sharper in Hysteria Mode, but when you actually get to see him move in the anime, he doesn’t seem any different at all. It’s like the horrible singing in Beck all over again.
So anyway, the anime condenses three novels into 12 episodes, which makes each arc feel very rushed. I was initially curious about what would happen next for Kinji and co, but Tvtropes was kind enough to spoil all future plots, including who the real leader of the IU is. They also revealed that the story doesn’t end when the IU is defeated but is instead dragged on by having the splintered IU members come back for revenge. That’s another 10 volumes of “XYZ showed me her boobs, which turned me on so much that I went into Hysteria mode.” Enough already, it’s embarrassing. Next series, please!
Well I watched it all right, but I didn’t like it much. After the halfway mark I was just yawning non-stop. Some Ghibli movies are just about admiring scenery, not telling a story, and there’s certainly plenty of nice scenery to admire in Kiki’s Delivery Service
How’s she’s going to find a place to live?
“Hey there!”
Oh. That’s settled then. Now she’s running a delivery service.
*cough cough*
Oh. So much for that. Well at least she made a friend.
*sulk pout*
…Or not. Oh no, she lost her powers!
“Help me!”
…Guess not… And there go the credits… Good riddance.
I always did like the ending theme though, which I heard long before watching the series and which made me a Yumi Matsutoya fan. But the movie itself is pretty, but dull, and I’ll have forgotten most of the characters by the time I wake up tomorrow. You win some, you lose some. The next Ghibli movie chronologically should be Only Yesterday (Omoide Poroporo) but I’ll watch some regular anime before that.
