romance Archives - Page 8 of 12

Sword Art Online Season 1 anime review (spoilers)

Sword Art Online is one of those anime shows you watch just to see if it lives up to the hype. And there is a LOT of hype about SAO, both positive and negative. The bad seems to outweigh the good, but having watched it for myself I can say it’s neither as bad or as good as fans and haters try to make it out to be. The first arc of the show is pretty good, the second half is pretty bad and together you get a decent show that is worth a watch, at least.

Premise (taken from Amazon): In the year 2022, a next-generation game known as “Nerve Gear” has been developed, making Full Dives into a virtual dimension possible. “Nerve Gear” The world’s first true VRMMORPG. “Sword Art Online (SAO)” has generated worldwide buzz, and on its official launch day, one player, Kirito, immerses himself in its virtual world. But Akihiko Kayaba, the developer of SAO, proclaims the following to all players. This game is inescapable unless all levels are cleared. And in this world, “Game Over” is equivalent to death in the real world.

That’s a description of the first ‘Aincrad’ arc, the best part of the show simply because of the tension created by the “death is final” condition in the game. As time passes in the game you get genuinely worried for the bodies of the players in real life, and many of them do indeed die from starvation or because a well-meaning parent takes their VR equipment off without knowing it will fry their brain. It’s actually surprising more of them weren’t lost to carelessness, but we’ll let some things slide for the sake of fiction.

People say Kirito is a boring Gary Stu, which I do see later on in the show, but in the beginning he doesn’t come across all that badly. In a game where the weak die for real, of course your main character has to get strong in a hurry. He’s bit colorless, yes, but a good sort just trying to do his best in a bad situation. I was rooting for him to make it out alive.

The problem began, as it always does, when he got involved with a girl. Asuna. For the record I like Asuna too. It’s just their “romance” that was hard to stomach, both from a moral and a regular viewer point of view. It’s not that surprising to see teenagers jumping into relationships with each other, and in a world where you might die at any second it’s not that strange that they’d jump for a little human companionship, but still! The more SAO tried to portray the Kirito-Asuna lustfest as “sweet” and “romantic” the more I cringed within.

I still finished the show, though, because the ‘romance’ aside it wasn’t that bad. I was especially pleased by the unexpected ending to the Aincrad arc, which I suppose I won’t spoil for you even though I’ve already spoiled everything else. I heard people complain that it came out of nowhere, but that’s precisely why it’s so good! It’s an RPG world so you expect things to go the RPG way, then boom, something out of left field. Really cool.

After that the Elfheim arc where Asuna is a damsel in distress needing to be rescued was a bit of a letdown. More than a bit, it was just bad. That’s where I started to see the Kirito as Gary Stu thing in full force, because even though he was in a new world, somehow he had all his skills and all his abilities and he was so cool and he was saving everybody and everybody thought he was so awesome etc etc blah di blah. Yeah, that was boring. The villain was also so comically evil and incompetent that I thought for sure someone more capable was pulling the strings behind him. But no, it was just poor writing made worse by one of Takehito Koyasu’s hammier performances. And the awkward “romantic tension” between Kirito and his cousin only made things worse.

In a nutshell, Sword Art Online is good when it’s portraying online RPGs and their battles, tensions and mechanics. The action sequences are fairly exciting in the Aincrad arc where one wrong move spells death, and battles are still quite interesting later on even when we know there’s no chance Kirito will lose. When it comes to any kind of human relationships, though, the writing just sucks and is flat-out painful to watch. It’s still a decent show which wraps everything up well enough that I feel no need to watch Season 2. I’d give it 7/10 for the first half and 4/10 for the second arc. That’s 11/20, just slightly above average, which is about what the show deserves.

It would have gotten a higher score if they had spent more time exploring the world and thereby exciting my imagination about how things actually work and what it would really feel like to being in that virtual world, but the months and years just pass away at a blistering pace and before you know it Kirito is level 99 or whatever, before you know it he’s in love with Asuna (or thinks he is anyway) then this, then that, it’s all kind of sudden. A watchable show nonetheless, but not quite worthy of all the fuss it’s gotten. Or worthy of all the hate, as I said earlier. You won’t go wrong watching it, just don’t expect too much and you’ll be fine.

Your Lie in April (Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso) anime review

I liked Your Lie in April, more or less, though the lie turned out to be very stupid. I’ll be writing my full thoughts including spoilers so here’s the spoiler-free gist before I start: you should watch Your Lie in April if you like classical music, love triangles and long drawn out tragedies and avoid it if you don’t like any of these. Any spoiler you read after this point is your own responsibility.

Plot (according to Amazon) Kosei Arima was a piano prodigy until his cruel taskmaster of a mother died suddenly, changing his life forever. Driven by his pain to abandon piano, Kosei now lives in a monotonous, colorless world. Having resigned himself to a bland life, he is surprised when he meets Kaori Miyazono, a violinist with an unorthodox style. Can she bring Kosei back to music, and back to life?.

So basically it’s a romantic slice-of-life coming-of-age show all in one, about growing up and letting go of the past and embracing ones emotions etc etc. That sort of thing. TBH I was mainly watching for the awesome classical music sections because some of the plotlines were a bit hard to swallow:

Somehow it’s okay to physically and mentally abuse your son if you’re dying and only want the best for him. After all you’re his only parent (not true) and he’ll starve otherwise (not true) and there’s no other path for him in life except music (also not true).
No matter how much you beat and abuse your son, once he meets the right cutie-pie who forces him to play the piano again he’ll be right as rain. Not only that but he’ll also be better able to face the violent, crazy young ladies who will fall in love with him later down the line.
Love fixes everything including grief, parental neglect, long-term abuse and lasting mental trauma. If you have a problem it’s because you just haven’t met the right person yet.
Play enough music and everything will be all right with the world.

But still the concert/contest episodes were excellent and the characters weren’t too dumb (plus they’re only fourteen), so I tried to move past the facile way everything was resolved in the show.

The love triangles were a bit ridiculous because from the perspective of the viewer it’s blatantly obvious Kaori liked Arima and wasn’t particularly interested in Watari as a romantic prospect. It’s also clear Kousei doesn’t like Tsubaki that way and that Tsubaki herself didn’t see him romantically until a potential rival showed up then she’s all like “He’s mine!” So that part just had me rolling my eyes non-stop. But in a way it’s natural for 14-15 year olds to worry their heads over that kind of thing and miss the woods for the trees.

TBH I thought Your Lie in April would have been better off as a 13-episode series instead of a 22-episode one. It was obvious by the 10th episode that Kaori was dying and that, as a Japanese show, they were definitely going to kill her off instead of miraculously saving her. So go ahead and kill her then. Why stretch it out 12 episodes past its due date? Because they just wouldn’t end it, they ended up having to find things to fit into the space the show would have been better off without (yes I know it was originally mangaka Naoshi Arakawa’s fault, but it’s the anime I watched so it’s the anime I’m reviewing).

The whole sequence with Kousei helping his rival’s little sister find herself was really not necessary to the show (except to show us who will be filling Kaori’s shoes when she’s gone, sorry Tsubaki!). If Nagi had to be in the show her arc could have been done in one episode, one and a half at most. The stretching out means that key characters like Kaori (!!) and Tsubaki and Watari all go out of focus for long stretches during the eps 14-22 gap, making it appear forced and unnatural when they suddenly show up again like they’d never left.

The stretch also means there’s a lot of meandering and repetition. Does Kousei want to go see Kaori in the hospital or not? Sometimes he does, sometimes he doesn’t, sometimes he goes, sometimes he doesn’t. Is she dying or not? She’s dying, no she’s not, she’s dying, no she’s not. Over and over again. A shorter, tighter series would have left a bigger impact on me.

Well anyway, long story short, power of love and all that, Arima Kousei finally regains his piano-playing skills and learns to play pieces that powerfully move his audience by channeling all his emotion into them. Btw, it was never resolved whether he could hear himself play or not by the end, but it doesn’t really matter because LOVE IS EVERYTHING. Even if your mother beat you and verbally abused you, it’s okay because she loved you! And in the end Kaori FINALLY died like she’d been telegraphing for the past 12 episodes. Her death was quite tastefully handled in a beautifully symbolic way, almost worth the long wait (well not really).

If it had ended with her just dying and Arima moving on, well I was still on board at that point. But at the very end, episode 22, the author seemingly realized s/he had to explain why the series is called Your Lie in April. Well it turns out Kaori was lying about liking Kousei’s friend Watari and had actually been interested in Kousei since childhood. But she knew Tsubaki would never introduce her to Kousei and she was too chicken to contact him herself, so she told a single lie: “Kaori likes Watari” and thus wormed her way into his life.

Two problems with this. First, we viewers knew already that she liked Kousei. She didn’t seem that interested in Watari to begin with, or him in her either. More importantly, the backstory Kaori tells about having seen Arima Kousei play at a recital many years ago is almost exactly the same as the backstory for another character, Emi. The only difference is Emi chooses to play the piano to confront Arima while Kaori switches to the violin so she can play alongside him.

This means while it’s an interesting thing to know, it’s hardly an earth-shattering revelation worthy of being brought up at the very end of the show. If Emi hadn’t done it first it would have been amazing, but now it’s like “Okay?” They should have left the story at Kaori’s death and kept her something of an enigma till the end IMHO.

Anyway, those are my criticisms. I still watched Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso till the end and enjoyed it, so take them as the nitpicks of a fan, not a complainer. I already mentioned that the classical music was great, especially for someone who dabbles in the piano (I play Hanon every day too! But I’ve never seen any sunflowers or cherry blossoms burst out when I play. What am I doing wrong?) The whole soundtrack was fantastic and highly enjoyable as a result.

The use of color (to signify emotions) and trains (to represent leaving/going on a journey) was a little heavy-handed and overdone, but also easy to understand. As with most overwrought tragedies the characters are also quite memorable, if only because they’re in your face so much all the time. As an extra plus it was a romance without any panty-flashing or accidental gropes or any other inappropriate content, just a nice, clean all-ages kind of show. It might bore or frighten younger viewers because of the unhappy topics and slow pace, but it’s good watching for anyone else. Your Lie in April is highly recommended for music and romance lovers with a lot of patience and the ability to overlook ridiculous Aesops.

And if you really enjoyed it, also check out Nodame Cantabile (if you liked the classical music+romance side) and Socrates in Love (if you liked the romance+dying aspect).

Gunslinger Stratos anime review (surprisingly enjoyable)

Sometimes it pays to keep your expectations low. As soon as I heard Gunslinger Stratos was based on a videogame, I mentally shook my head a little bit and thought “Okay, let’s see how bad it can get.” Maybe because of that it wasn’t bad at all and I actually enjoyed it more than I’ve enjoyed a lot of other recent shows.

Story (according to Wikipedia): In 2115, the country known formerly as Japan has been split into two parallel worlds: the Frontier S (Stratos) and the 17th Far East Imperial City Management District. When the two universes are starting to fuse into one, the government of each worlds initiates the Operation Stratos, a world-scale protocol wherein a handpicked group of gunslingers, mercenaries, and special individuals, each from the two universes, will be sent in the year 2015 to alter the past by eliminating the other side until only one group survives, erasing a parallel universe in the process.

The story revolves on a group of gunslingers, each from the two universes who participate in Operation Stratos, particularly on a group of four childhood friends: Tohru Kazasumi, Kyōka Katagiri, Kyōma Katagiri, and Shizune Rindo, who all must confront their own flaws and differences when they battle their alternate selves in order to survive.

It’s an action show, but the action was neither very good or very bad, just enough to get the story across. It was easy enough to see at a glance who was doing what to who, and the action sequences had an efficient blend of flash and practicality, i.e. seriously trying to kill the other person, not just firing bullets into thin air.

Deaths are telegraphed well in advance, but at the same time writers aren’t scared to rack up a pretty high body count. This adds a lot of tension to the show because right till the very end I wasn’t sure which, if any of the main characters were going to survive. Would one of the Tohru’s make a heroic sacrifice? Both of them? One of the Kyokas? Would someone get sniped right at the moment of victory? You’ll have to watch it yourself to find out, but Gunslinger Stratos is one of the few shows I’ve watched recently that kept me guessing right to the end.

The characters are perhaps best described as stereotypes with a twist. Hero Tohru starts out as the usual namby-pamby hero, but when he has to step up to the plate he does so with remarkable aplomb, proving to be even tougher than the “hardcore” rival Tohru. His love interest Kyoka, both Kyokas in fact, are both girls of action despite their cutesy looks. They’re not afraid to get down and dirty in action and they’re both quick to do something about their feelings instead of dragging the show out with “Will they won’t they” nonsense. The other side characters are largely forgettable, but when the main cast is this strong they’re enough to pull the show along.

The story was very fast-paced even for a 13-episode show, feeling almost rushed in places. The advantage of that is there were no wasted episodes that made you feel “Well that was a big load of nothing.” The reveals come fast and hard, it’s not one of those shows where a mystery is introduced in episode one and only resolved in episode 95.

When questions are raised they are answered fairly quickly, then new questions come up and those are answered too. The story as a whole was quite satisfying and well-resolved. Everything’s wrapped up in this one show, none of that “Go read the manga/light novel/wait for season 2 to find out what happens next” stuff. Sure there are a few things you’d probably need to play the game to get (like the full role of the Katagiri Corporation and background data on the two worlds) but you don’t get the sense that the anime is made for fans of the game only. It’s approachable to all.

Long story short, you should probably watch Gunslinger Stratos if you like shows where stuff actually happens, and quickly too. Watch if you like action and romance that goes somewhere. Avoid if you’re looking for a deep, involving story or lots of character interaction/dialogue/comedy.

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.

Appleseed (2004) anime movie review

Well, well, what do we have here? A love story disguised as an action movie, eh? We’ll just see about tha– hmm… It’s not so bad… I guess. My Google-fu tells me there are at least 5 Appleseed movies or anime series out there, all loosely based on Masamune Shirow’s Appleseed manga wot I haven’t read and don’t plan to. This particular one I watched came out in 2004. I quite like the art style, which blends regular anime art with CG. It’s not a flawless mix, but it’s a very interesting effect that works well for a faux-gritty movie like Appleseed.

Story blurb: Plucked from the last battlefields of the final war, mercenary Deunan Knute finds herself pressed into duty with the ESWAT, defenders of the Utopian city of Olympus. But serpents beneath the peaceful surface of this apparent Garden of Eden, and new seeds of destruction have already been planted! Now it s up to Deunan and her former lover, the now-cyborg Briareos, to unravel a deadly web of plots that threaten to bring down Olympus from within!

Pros

– I was worried when they started off with all the technobabble and stuff, but the story is very easy to follow. It could honestly have been set in any kind of world, not necessarily this one.

– Everyone gets a happy ending and the bad guys get what they deserve.

– Apart from Hitomi, all the other voices in the English dub were very well done, so much so that I forgot I was watching a dub after a while, only to be smacked back into reality every time Hitomi opened her little mouth.

– As I said, I liked the art style. The music was good too.

Cons

– At almost 2 hours long, it’s a little on the lengthy side. It’s still very interesting, but some parts could have been shortened – like the ultimately pointless war scenes at the very beginning.

– Part of the story seems kinda stupid, like why would humans have a giant tank full of a killer virus just floating above the city? You’d think it would at least occur to someone that hey, maybe we should develop an antidote to this thing just in case, you know?

– Appleseed is a story of love lost and regained and the hope that humanity carries within them, etc etc that sort of thing, so honestly the action felt out of place much of the time. It almost felt like the writers/director had one story they wanted to tell, but then every 15 minutes it would be like “Quick! The audience is falling asleep!” and they would throw in some lengthy action sequence out of desperation.

– Speaking of action scenes, the last one was entirely too long. Once the bad guys had been rumbled and it was obvious that Appleseed is an idealistic kind of movie, the fortresses obviously had no chance of taking down humanity while Deunan was around, so why spend 15 minutes pretending they do? IMO they should have had Deunan face off against the giant robots first, THEN had the showdown with the bad guys, but that’s just me.

Final thoughts

Appleseed will probably disappoint anyone looking for a gritty, futuristic, hardcore kind of action movie. It only pretends to be one, but inside it’s a mushy-wushy I Love You, You Love Me, We’re a Happy Family kind of movie. I liked it, myself, even though the story is rather below-average and contains a number of unexplained points (like if Deunan was there when Dr. Gilliam was killed, why didn’t the killers take her into custody and confiscate everything she possessed, etc). Did I like it enough to watch the sequel (Ex Machina)? Not really, no. But still, it’s a decent enough movie and worth at least a watch if you like romantic action movies.