Reviews - Animefangirl!

Tonari no Seki-kun anime review

Tonari no Seki-kun is an episodic 24-episode anime about a girl named Yokoi and the inventive boy named Seki who sits by her in class and constantly distracts her with his games. And I don’t mean Nintendo games either, this is far more interesting than that. In episode one he builds an intricate domino setup using more erasers than any schoolboy should normally possess. In several other episodes he plays his own unique versions of chess, shogi and go.

In the early episodes Yokoi always trying to stay aloof from his games and focus on her lessons, only to find herself drawn in against herself. By the end of the show she is an active participant more often than not and seems to get into the games more than Seki himself does. It’s a convincing little bit of character development, where Yokoi learns to be a little less uptight and more playful and imaginative. Or you could look at it negatively and say she has been infected with Seki’s lack of seriousness and has lost sight of what she really goes to school for etc etc but I’m going to look at the bright side for once.

Because the games Seki plays vary with the episode, episode quality tends to go up and down as well. Some of them, like the robot family and the shogi pieces, show up a couple of times so they stick in the mind easily. Others are pretty forgettable and are a yawn to sit through even though each episode is only about 13 minutes long. I’d list some examples, but I’ve forgotten them. The funny episodes are funny, the heartwarming episodes are heartwarming and the boring ones are just meh. At least they’re over soon.

The ending theme is funky, the opening theme is catchy and the background music doesn’t get in the way. The art is rather simplistic compared to other contemporary shows and there isn’t much animation to speak of, but it’s not a very ‘action’ kind of show so it isn’t that noticeable. There’s almost no objectionable content in this show except in the feverish imaginings of one side character who only shows up once or twice. It never made me laugh or cry, but it was an above-average show in general. The endless inventiveness of Seki always kept me on my toes, at least.

I recommend you do like I did and watch just an episode or two a day to keep things fresh. Otherwise Yokoi can get a bit annoying as she just keeps panicking and won’t shut up. A good but not great show.

Outlanders volume 3 manga review

Okay, I’m out. The whole Battia-Geobaldi casual sex thing was my turning point. Yeah, it is a fanservice kind of manga, but there’s fanservice and there’s promiscuity and this has crossed the border. Besides, volume 3 wasn’t particularly interesting, and the appeal of the unusual warship design has long since worn off and the ‘romance’ between Kahm and Tetsuya has gotten tedious. I get bored easily, which is why I usually read only shorter series and watch shorter anime, so most likely Outlanders never stood a chance to begin with. I was going to skip to the last chapter of volume 8 to see how things ended, but maybe I’ll just read spoilers instead. I’m done here.

Outlanders volume 2 manga review

All right! Volume 2 of our not-all-that-romantic space opera! If you need a quick summary of Outlanders story, I provided one a few days ago when I talked about volume 1 a few days ago. It’s the story of the unlikely rivalry->friendship->romance between an Earthling photographer and a scantily-clad alien invader princess. I’d like to add “hilarity ensues” but the body count is a little too high for that.

And it only gets higher as the alien forces launch an all-out assault on Earth. Europe in particular suffers catastrophic damage. But the day is saved thanks to Tetsuya’s boss Aki, who has uncovered the mystery behind the secrets of the world. Said mystery turns out to be magic. Witch magic, to precise. And Aki herself is the reincarnation of the witch Jilehr and she’s now helping Great Leader Neo repel the invaders and get revenge on the aliens for persecuting witches all those years ago.

I must say, that kind of shadow government isn’t really what I was expecting. I’m not quite sure what exactly what I was hoping for, but Witches! Magic! Reincarnation! wasn’t quite it. I guess I wanted the human race to fight back using its wits and resilience and maybe a super-weapon born from said wits and resilience. Magic is just a little too easy, you know? I dunno, I’ve kind of lost interest in that side of things now.

Meanwhile Tetsuya and Kahm continue their uneasy relationship, beginning with Tetsuya held captive on Kahm’s ship and ending with the two of them on the run in Germany after their ship is shot down. Along the way they meet a German girl named Raisa who is eager to turn Kahm into swiss cheese for killing her family, but is eventually persuaded by Tetsuya’s charming good looks to help them instead. It never fails – when it come to manga, no matter what kind of far flung location a Japanese man finds himself, the locals are quick to overcome any initial reluctance and then fall all over themselves to help. Manga is pure wish fulfillment. But you knew that already.

Anyway, by the end of volume 2 we’ve found out what exactly the problem is – the aliens lived on earth for a while, they left, the humans (who may or may not have been there all along) took over, and now the aliens want their property back. But the humans have squatters’ rights, basically, so they’re not letting go without a fight. Princess Kahm has proposed that Tetsuya marry her so the two races can live in peace. Tetsuya isn’t entirely adverse to the idea, but just then a few of Kahm’s lackey run into trouble and need to be saved. And that’s it for volume 2!

Outlanders is 8 volumes long in Japan and about the same in English, so we’re long way away from the ending. I have a feeling the number of casualties are going to be huge by the time the series is finally over. Tetsuya will probably end up saving the day somehow or the other (I told you, wish fulfillment, the day must be saved by the Japanese) and then we’ll see whether he gets the girl or not. I’m not in a rush to finish Outlanders, but maybe I should clear it off my plate quickly so I can watch Dungeon de Deai wo Motomeru. We’ll see.

Outlanders volume 1 manga review

I’ve realized that if I don’t write something immediately after finishing a series or a volume, I end up not saying anything at all. Which is fine, I guess, but it does rather defeat the purpose of having an anime blog, doesn’t it?

Outlanders is a 1985 classic sci-fi/romance manga by Johji Manabe. It tells the story of Wakatsuki Tetsuya, a freelance photographer whose world is destroyed – literally – when aliens invade the Earth claiming they were here first. The aliens are led by headstrong Princess Kahm, and by the end of volume 1 she seems to have taken a shine to our young Tetsuya. Calling the manga a ‘romance’ is a bit of a spoiler though, because as of volume 1 she’s still actively trying to kill him. But the author notes at the end identify it as such and so does Wikipedia. If I have to be spoiled, then so do you.

I’d heard a lot about, but never actually read it until two hours ago. I’m kind of sorry I waited so long to try it because I enjoyed it. The story itself is slightly predictable (of course the army is going to fail to stop the invaders, duh) but all disaster movies/series tend to be predictable to an extent. The real fun comes from three things.

1. The designs of the various spaceships and organic weapons the aliens use. All holes and tentacles and protrusions and stuff. It’s all unpleasantly organic at first, but once you find out they’re all alive, they start looking just a little bit cute. They are extremely detailed as well, so I believe Johji Manabe when he says they were a nightmare to draw, especially for a fledgling artist

2. It’s a conspiracy theorist show with a small cast. I enjoy conspiracy theory shows to an extent, but in practice most of them have sooo many different parties doing sooo many different things and new people constantly coming out of nowhere that they’re a nightmare to follow. Here there’s definitely some shadowy ‘Great Leader’ pulling the strings on earth but there are only two real factions – Earth vs. Aliens with Kahm & Tetsuya in the middle, so it’s like conspiracy-lite. I can deal with that.

3. The natural translation and hand-lettering really takes me back. I’m an amateur translator myself, and when I read scanlations and recent official releases I find it quite easy to picture the original line in Japanese. And that’s for those that bother to localize and don’t just use honorifics and Japanese terms wholesales. Those that whine “waah, it’s so hard, waah I caan’t” [caveat: it is hard, and I’m equally guilty] can go back and read these and other releases by Dana Lewis and the late Toren Smith, or just all of Studio Proteus’s work in general. That way you can’t argue that Outlanders doesn’t deal with a lot of Japanese culture and stuff.

As for Wayne Truman’s lettering, well I just like lettering. And after the horrendous fonts and typesetting in Dororo, and indeed in all of Vertical Inc’s releases, it’s so refreshing to see font that isn’t too large and bubbles that aren’t overcrowding and a font that shouldn’t be mercifully put down. Truman’s lettering does suffer from the usual tendency of comic letters to bold seemingly every other word no matter how relevant/irrelevant it is, and it isn’t centered most of the time, but it still doesn’t matter because the overall effect is fresh, open and lively. Computer lettering is so convenient I can’t imagine anyone going back to doing it by now, so we just have to treasure these old comics where we can. I couldn’t find much info about Wayne Truman online, but I hope he’s doing well and lettering more comics even today.

Volume 1 of Outlanders was mostly action, with Tokyo quickly being trashed and plenty of explosions and decapitations. That was gripping in its own way, but now I’m about ready for some explanations. And for some exploration as Tetsuya gets to be my earthling eyes and explore the alien world for me. I wouldn’t mind seeing that spoiler romance finally come to fruition as well. This should be good.

Dororo manga review

Another work by Osamu Tezuka! I’ll get to the bottom of his popularity if it’s the last thing I do… is something I never said, but I am more than a little curious to find out why he’s called the godfather of manga. Is it just because he was the first to get popular or did he actually have something more to his fame? With Dororo I’m a little closer to the answer, because this was actually pretty enjoyable. Here’s the summary:

A samurai lord has bartered away his newborn son’s organs to forty-eight demons in exchange for dominance on the battlefield. Yet, the abandoned infant survives thanks to a medicine man who equips him with primitive prosthetics – lethal ones with which the wronged son will use to hunt down the multitude of demons to reclaim his body one piece at a time, before confronting his father. On his journeys the young hero encounters an orphan who claims to be the greatest thief in Japan.

The greatest thief is the one called Dororo. Our samurai pal is actually called Hyakkimaru, which means something like Hundred Demon Boy, if I recalled correctly. The original manga is 3 volumes long, which is how I read it, but I just found out there’s an omnibus version as well on Amazon, all three volumes in one. That’s probably the space-saving, economical way to get it. There’s a (Japanese-only) video game and a 2007 movie as well, none of which I care to explore, but it just goes to show that this is one of Tezuka’s better known and more popular manga.

Which isn’t to say it’s particularly good or anything, but after reading trashy potboilers like Ayako and amateur dreck like Lost World, it’s nice to encounter something that at least has potential and that might actually have been groundbreaking and exciting 50 years ago.

Right now it’s just a so-so buddy movie kind of story – the hardened veteran and the plucky rookie kind of thing. Hyakkimaru and Dororo build up a nice friendship over the course of the series as they learn to trust each other and work together… which just makes the ending where Hyakkimaru leaves Dororo behind and walks away never to be seen again rather maddening. Especially since it’s been shown time and again what a crappy world they live in where the poor are trampled on repeatedly and everyone falls prey to hungry demons all the time. Dororo was probably safer with Hyakkimaru but, well, the author clearly wanted to stop the series and couldn’t figure out how, so this is the best he could come up with. Remind me why Tezuka is considered a genius again?

Still Dororo (the series) does have moments of excitement and emotion, like when we learn Dororo’s backstory, or the whole adventure on the island looking for the treasure Dororo’s father left behind. It’s never dull either because there’s always some demon-rustling action going on, whether it’s setting traps for demons or luring them out or just plain hacky-slashy action, it’s all good.

There’s a lot of blood splashed around on every page but otherwise the action isn’t very gory (no entrails and stuff). There’s no sex or sexual violence either and not too much bad language outside the b-word, if I recall correctly. I recommend it for: fans of demon-slaying period pieces, fans of ~~cheap tragedy~~ tragic heroes, fans of buddy movies and anyone who likes series where the heroes travel around killing various monsters of the day. As long as you’re not looking for any proper conclusion or you’re fine with filling the gaps with your own imagination Dororo makes a good one-off summer’s day read.