Reviews - Animefangirl!

Watched Gundam 00 Season 2 + the movie

Yes, I said I would watch it and I did… and it almost killed this blog. Was it bad? No, honestly I enjoyed most of Gundam 00 Season 2 more than the first season. The ending was highly implausible and a little overly optimistic given the nature of human beings, but it was… serviceable. Acceptable, even. The movie, I shouldn’t have watched. It was exhausting, pointless, aliens? in my Gundam? It’s more likely than you think! And by the end I was all Gundammed out. Not just Gundammed out but anime-d out, it took me two weeks to touch any episode of any other show.

Final thoughts: I marathoned both seasons so fast that they’re a blur now. I want to forget I ever watched any of this stuff. It was such a cheerless, joyless, tedious show. At least I did learn that I prefer the Gundam Seed/Wing-type BOOM POW KAPOW overpowered Gundams to these useless weaklings with their ridiculous ideas and incompetent leadership. So from an anime watcher’s point of view it’s good to know what you like and what you don’t like.

Apart from that, I’ve got nothing left to say about Gundam 00. It’s good to get it off my backlog. It doesn’t mean I won’t watch any more Gundam. And it got me pretty involved when I was watching. But… now that it’s all over… what did I watch it for? It was so crappy, so unsatisfying, such a waste of time… *sigh* I want those 2000 minutes of my life back… <— That’s how I felt when I finished the whole show + the movie.

Oh. I supposed I’d better comment on my wishlist from last time:

The overall story needs to make sense – It did, more or less. I won’t spoil. I don’t care enough to spoil

Better planning, strategy and reconnaissance from all parties but especially the Gundams – NOPE. There were flashes of brilliance here and there, but everything always fizzled to naught. Nobody ever had a backup plan in case the first one didn’t work, it was just ridiculous. And I lost count of the number of battles that turned into skirmishes – you hit me, I hit you, we kill a few grunt pilots, everyone retreat!

More Tieria back story – This we got. Pretty straightforward stuff, and Tieria becomes much less of a jerk and much more of a useful, sympathetic character as the show progresses. This part I enjoyed.

Less Saji and Louise – Ha. No.

Less Setsuna, less Mari-whatshername – Ha. Of course not, Setsuna is the main character. But there was less focus on Marina and she didn’t turn into the second coming of Lacus Clyne, so we should be grateful for that much.

Enough talking about Gundam 00. It wasn’t bad but it made me feel bad. It’s that kind of show. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to hunt for something light and fluffy and actually interesting to clean the bad taste from my mouth.

Classroom of the Elite anime review

Hmm, this is bizarre. I enjoyed it when I was watching it, but Classroom of the Elite (Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e) is rapidly fading from my memory now. That’s bad, isn’t it? Or rather it’s a testament to how badly the show dropped the ball in its second half.

Blurb: In the not too distant future, the Japanese government has established the Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing School, dedicated to instructing and fostering the generation of people that will support the country in the future. The story follows the perspective of Kiyotaka Ayanokōji, a quiet and unassuming boy who is not good at making friends and would rather keep his distance. He is a student of D-class, which is where the school dumps its inferior students in order to ridicule them. After meeting Suzune Horikita and Kikyō Kushida, two other students in his class, Kiyotaka’s situation begins to change.(wikipedia as usual)

Or, to summarize even further, “Emotionless, overpowered main character solves trivial problems on school campus.” Your enjoyment of the show will depend a lot on how much you like stoic, clever characters and how cute you think the girls are.

Where Classroom of the Elite first goes wrong is in not showing what’s so bad about being in Class D. When you’re in Yale, you’re in Yale. It shouldn’t matter whether you’re in class A or B or C. The whole premise of the show is about Kiyotaka teaming up with Horikita to make it to class A, but apart from a matter of personal pride it just seems like a hollow, pointless achievement.

Fan speculation has it that the entire Class D will be kicked out before graduation, but there is nothing in the show to support it – unless it’s one of those “Read the light novel” deals. So that being the case, the obsession of certain students with getting to Class A and the lengths their teacher will go through to get them there all seem pretty weird. You have all the privileges and facilities available to you whether you’re in class A or class D so why struggle so hard to rise higher?

If you can’t get behind or understand the motivations of the key characters then from the start the anime is in trouble And yet I still enjoyed Classroom of the Elite for what it was worth. Which wasn’t too much, but it wasn’t bad. The characters were interesting. I like pseudo-harems where the girls aren’t actively competing and have lives and objectives outside being the main character’s girlfriend. The inventive methods used to get around obstacles were interesting as well. I hope to see more uses of points to get around problems in the future.

But still, the element of “What am I fighting for!” runs strong in this one. It feels very pointless at times. And what’s worse, sometimes the show itself loses sight of that supposed goal. Episode 6 was a horrendously boring farce dedicated to stopping a peeping plot. Couldn’t they have cut that out? Halfway through the final arc there’s a panty-stealing crime as well, like, is that really necessary? Does anyone care? The studio must be really confident of getting a season two if they’re willing to waste two episodes out of twelves on breasts and panties.

Classroom of the Elite makes for a fun binge watch, but it’s a little too unfocused to make a lasting impression. As I said, they need to explain what’s so good about class A and what’s so bad about class D. The rest of the show is fine, but without that fundamental basis established it’s hard to care. Failing that, they could explain more about Kiyotaka’s history and motivations. Anything to make us invested in the story.

As it is, it’s not that good a show. Great premise, nice character designs, cute characters, no lasting impact. Watch or watch not, you’re not missing anything either way.

Gundam 00 first season impressions

Gundam 00 is the first Gundam series I’ve watched seriously since Gundam Seed Destiny ended. I loved the first two-thirds of of Seed Destiny, btw. How did it fall apart so horribly? But that’s a story for another day.

After Destiny ended, I watched the movies of the original Gundam 0079. Interesting stuff, especially for the similarities and differences between it and Seed. And watching Amuro getting Bright-slapped is probably the most satisfying thing in all anime. So that was fun, but not a full series. I followed it up with Zeta Gundam, but I’d downloaded only 5 episodes. Once I ran out I couldn’t decide whether to continue it or not, so I put it on hold… about 7 years ago. I’ll make it my next mecha project after 00. It had potential and I liked Camille.

After Zeta I tried Turn A. Watched at least 10 episodes but it was slow. Really slow. Too much drama, too many cross-dressing shenanigans, nothing I wanted to watch was happening. I skipped to the last episode but obviously it didn’t make much sense. That was it for me and Turn A. Most recently I watched an episode of Victory Gundam… or was it Gundam X? The one with the little boy. Didn’t catch me but I did mean to try a little more.

What’s the point of this long lead in? Nothing! I just like to write. And it does show that I’m not a Gundam hater, no matter how critical I am of it in this and subsequent posts. I watched Gundam 00 because I wanted to enjoy it, and for the most part I did. It had a lot of flaws (dumb protagonists being number one) but I’m only halfway through. That’s why I’ll save judgment until I finish the whole show. A few impressions plus wishlist for season two.

Impressions of Gundam 00 season one

The slow build up was a bit frustrating, but the upside is that it helps to keep all the parties and characters distinct in my mind. You’re never left guessing who is who or who is working for who, it’s very easy to follow.
The story, such as it is, is easy to understand. More questions have been raised than have been answered so far, but the timeline is clear, the general aims and objectives of the different parties are clear as well. It’s very straightforward.
The Gundams aren’t quite as cool as I’d been hoping for. They look decent enough but outside of a few early scenes they don’t act very cool. They get beaten up a lot, which any wrestling fan can tell you reduces your cool factor by 0.1% for every blow. Their weapons are either not interesting (yawn beam saber) or are rarely used even when they should be (Dynames’s long-distance rifle, Kyrios’s pincers).
The Gundams need more strategy. The enemies seem to do a lot of planning and thinking about how to take the Gundams down. The Gundams just rely on luck and their superior firepower and armor. That makes some of the battles hair-rippingly frustrating (episode 15!!).
I can’t decide whether I like the relative weakness of the Gundams or not. On one hand it’s a nice change from the KIRA STOMPS nature of Seed/Destiny and the AIEEEE IT’S A GUNDAAAM nature of Wing. On the other hand, I watch Gundams to see stuff getting blown up, pink explosions everywhere, so 00 is a little dull so far. Ask me again at the end of the show.
It’s great how the enemy combat leaders are seasoned and competent and give the Gundams (a.k.a. Gundumbs) a run for their money. TBH I often found myself rooting for them, especially for Sergei of the Human Reform League. Smart, compassionate, skilled… why couldn’t he be the main character?
Seeing the tables turned on the Gundams in the last few episodes of the season was GLORIOUS. Smarts + firepower trump simple firepower every time. QED.
The last episodes of the season were a huge disappointment. Enemies coming out of nowhere and attacking with very little motivation, unimpressive final boss, ugly mecha, wasted buildups etc etc. But to explain would involve spoiling so I will refrain.

Wishlist for season two

The overall story needs to make sense. They’re doing well keeping things logical so far and I’d like them to keep doing so. That’s my main wish.
Second biggest wish: better planning, strategy and reconnaissance from all parties but especially the Gundams. They approach battle like they’re in Gundam Wing but they have all the might of an light novel protagonist in front of a truck. Their piloting skills are only so-so so they need to compensate with brains. That goes double for you, Ms. “tactical forecaster” Sumeragi.
More Tieria back story. Horrible fashion sense aside, he had the most professional attitude out of all the Gundam pilots. Everyone else got their flashback, now it’s Tieria’s turn.
Less Saji and Louise. Please.
Less Setsuna, less Mari-whatshername. A forlorn wish, I know.
Cooler mecha. I can forgive it in Knight’s & Magic and Aldnoah Zero, but Gundam is the mech show. If the lead mecha don’t make me go “I want all of them!” something is wrong.

That’s it. A very short wishlist because there wasn’t that much wrong with the show apart from the lack of strategy in the battles. Trying to shoot your way out of everything against enemies that are more experienced and better prepared than you doesn’t work very long, which the show illustrates well. And now that they’ve illustrated it, I’d like them to do something about it. Let’s see if they do.

Dropped Ookami Shoujo to Kuro Ouji, Centaur no Nayami, Isekai Shokudou, Keppeki Danshi! Aoyama-kun, New Game!

I’ve been watching some fun and interesting stuff lately, but for every good show I watch there’s at least one that I dropped because it couldn’t hold my interest past the first episode. The latest victims are:

Ookami Shoujo to Kuro Ouji – Another recommendation I got when I asked for decent, recent, complete series. It certainly ticks all the buttons but shoujo is often a hard sell for me. It often has spineless brainless heroines paired up with borderline psychopathic men, but don’t worry the power of true love will help Mr. Jerkbrains overcome his tragic past and find happiness with our hapless heroine. Yeah yeah, I’ve seen it all before. And the heroine in this show is especially dumb so it’s no fun to watch.

Centaur no Nayami – Almost dropped it instantly when the show opened with a kiss scene. I soldiered on for another 5 minutes but it was just boring. I don’t care at all. And they just wouldn’t shut up about the kiss.

Isekai Shokudou – File this one under “A quality show, but one episode is enough.” I should create some kind of tag for such shows, since it’s a common reason for me dropping shows. The food looks delicious and the characters all seem like decent people. But I’m not much for slice of life shows these days. After one episode it’s like “I get it, okay?” So not a bad show, just not that intriguing.

Onyankopon – Terrible. And not even cute. And the dances don’t even match the beats. First time I’ve ever watched a 3-minute anime and paused it every 30 seconds hoping it was over.

Fun bit of trivia, onyankopon is an Ashanti word meaning “Great One” or “God” (reference). So the name is a pun on the sound a cat makes (nyaa) + a god = a cat god that teaches people how to dance. Cultural appropriation, I think it was called? Or more like misappropriation. Incidentally there are cat bosses in Wild Arms 5 called Onyame (also “God”) and Onyankopon, so now you know where the names came from. This paragraph I just wrote is 2000000x more interesting than the Onyankopon anime. It’s the pits.

Keppeki Danshi! Aoyama-kun – Could have been good. Should have been good. They should have picked either a 100% comedic route or a 100% serious exploration of Aoyama’s clear mental illness. The half-hearted approach chosen makes all the characters look like either mean jerks or pathetic victims or both. It’s not funny, it’s not sad, it’s not interesting, it doesn’t feature any good sports action, it doesn’t make me want to watch any more.

New Game! – Same as Isekai Shokudou, I’m not that into slice of life and one episode is enough. If the show had a faster pace it would be nice to see how games are made from the inside out. However as far as I can tell it’s just “cute girls doing cute things” set in the game industry. If there’s a manga I wouldn’t mind reading it, but I don’t have the patience for a moe anime right now.

That’s it for the failures, now back to stuff I find interesting.

Hyouka anime – dropped after 5 episodes but it’s decent

Hyouka is one of the recommendations I got from AnimeSuki when I asked for recent, decent and complete shows. I still haven’t worked through the entire list. I use it as a fallback when I can’t think of anything to watch at all, which happens less and less often as my backlog keeps growing.

Blurb: At the request of his older sister, student Hōtarō Oreki joins Kamiyama High School’s Classic Literature Club to stop it from being abolished, joined by fellow members Eru Chitanda, Satoshi Fukube and Mayaka Ibara. They begin to solve various mysteries, both to help with their club and at Eru’s requests.

I watched four episodes and read summaries of the fifth and that was enough for me. But it’s not that Hyouka is a bad show or anything. For one thing the art is gorgeous and extremely detailed. That’s the one thing even the fiercest haters of the show will agree on. For another thing the laidback slice of life mood of the show is very relaxing. I’ve been watching a lot of action-packed fantasy stuff lately, so the 100% reality-based Hyouka was a nice change.

Despite the high-school romance setting, it is also refreshingly free of the usual melodramatic love triangle do-they-don’t-they time wasting you often get in shows like that. And lastly, it’s nice to have a mystery show that doesn’t involve murders or other gory crimes. The “mysteries” solved in the first five episodes were relatively banal but sometimes it’s nice to have a whodunnit without the blood splatters.

Having said all that, Hyouka just wasn’t compelling enough to get me to watch the whole show. Oreki is your typical “bored with everything” anime genius with a voice like a 40-year old man. His friend Satoshi is an insufferably perky know-it-all. Mutual friend Ibara is just kind of there when she’s not being caustic. Chitanda is the most annoying of all. Whether you like the show or not will depend on how much you can stomach her pushiness and endless nosiness.

But I’ve watched many a show with an even less appealing cast. The real reason why I dropped Hyouka is that five episodes were enough. It’s enough, I get it. They like each other and they hang out and they solve minor mysteries. Okay, that’s fine. It’s fine for 5 episodes but do I really want to watch another 18 or 19 episodes on the same theme?Not really. I’ve seen what it has to offer, it’s decent enough but there’s nothing that makes me want to watch any more. The mysteries aren’t that gripping, the characters aren’t that likeable, the art is beautiful but not interesting enough to stare at all day.

In the end I used Hyouka as a kind of palate cleanser between more active and more involving shows. If you like slice of life, light-hearted mysteries or high school romance you might enjoy it. Even if you don’t, it’s a nice change to try a few episodes just to get a different experience. Whether it’s good enough to watch the whole thing or not depends on you.