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Cartoon reviews
22 Mar 2010 11:51 amSo! It's over halfway through the semester, and that means it's time for me to express my opinions on some of those Japanese cartoons I've been watching.
Tegamibachi: aka Letter Bee: In a weird, super hierarchical fantasy world, people called Letter Bees deliver, well, letters. We meet a kid who's being delivered as a letter, and he's so impressed by the Bee who delivers him that he wants to become a Bee himself. He also wants to find his mother, who was abducted by the top hierarchy. The animation is pretty, but I didn't find anything super compelling about the characters or the story.
Natsume Yuujinchou: A teenage boy can see youkai, and he wants to release the ones his grandmother trapped by returning their names. I still like this. It's episodic, with a slight hint of overarching plot.
Durarara! Weird. I'm not sure I could explain what this is about, but an episode features epic gang warfare that involves one guy throwing a vending machine at another guy. Also, there's a Russian guy living in Japan whose name is Simon Brezhnev.
Brave Story: A boy's parents separate, and his mom becomes ill. He finds a mysterious doorway to another world, where he can get a wish fulfilled if he completes a quest. It's interesting, and based on a novel (which Viz has released in English in their Haikasoru line). Parts of it are clearly condensed. It follows a fairly standard hero narrative, but it isn't dull for that.
Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu: In some weird setup for a shonen tournament show, a high school in Japan has segregated students by test scores into a strict caste system. The top level (smartest) students have a luxurious room, and the lowest have tattered cushions on the floor by broken desks. They can reverse their fortunes by challenging higher classes to a test battle. It's alternatingly hilarious and offensive, but aside from that, fairly typical shonen tournament fare.
Rideback: In a dystopic Japan ruled by martial law (for reasons explained in the first couple episodes that I now forget), transformable motorcycles are the kids' new thing. Our heroine, a ballerina who falls during a performance and sustains an injury that prevents her from dancing, gets sucked into the rideback club, and she's good at it. If you think Initial D with transforming motorcycles and some politics in the background (that start to become foreground in the episodes we watched this time), you've got Rideback.
Toradora: The continuing saga of Ryuuji and Taiga, and their friends. The first season gave me the impression that this would buck the typical shoujo series frame of boy + girl + friend = romance. Some developments in the second season make me concerned that I spoke too soon, but perhaps not. (Shoujo manga really likes to emphasize that boys and girls can't be Just Friends. It makes me cranky.)
Baccano! Weird. Like Durarara, I don't think I can explain what this is about, other than gangsters, black magic, alchemy, and an annoying narrative style which doesn't want to go in chronological order.
Darker than Black: Twilight Gemini: If you liked DTB, but the two-episode plot arcs irritated you because you just wanted there to be some ongoing plot, check out DTB:TG. Hei is back, and he's got a sidekick. It's two years after DTB, and there's some sort of politics involving the CIA, the Russian military, and a new division of the Japanese SDF. If you thought the promo materials showing a teenage girl meant the show would be moe blob anime and ran in terror, it's safe to come out. Coolest bit: Suou Utenas a giant sniper rifle out of her own chest.
Tegamibachi: aka Letter Bee: In a weird, super hierarchical fantasy world, people called Letter Bees deliver, well, letters. We meet a kid who's being delivered as a letter, and he's so impressed by the Bee who delivers him that he wants to become a Bee himself. He also wants to find his mother, who was abducted by the top hierarchy. The animation is pretty, but I didn't find anything super compelling about the characters or the story.
Natsume Yuujinchou: A teenage boy can see youkai, and he wants to release the ones his grandmother trapped by returning their names. I still like this. It's episodic, with a slight hint of overarching plot.
Durarara! Weird. I'm not sure I could explain what this is about, but an episode features epic gang warfare that involves one guy throwing a vending machine at another guy. Also, there's a Russian guy living in Japan whose name is Simon Brezhnev.
Brave Story: A boy's parents separate, and his mom becomes ill. He finds a mysterious doorway to another world, where he can get a wish fulfilled if he completes a quest. It's interesting, and based on a novel (which Viz has released in English in their Haikasoru line). Parts of it are clearly condensed. It follows a fairly standard hero narrative, but it isn't dull for that.
Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu: In some weird setup for a shonen tournament show, a high school in Japan has segregated students by test scores into a strict caste system. The top level (smartest) students have a luxurious room, and the lowest have tattered cushions on the floor by broken desks. They can reverse their fortunes by challenging higher classes to a test battle. It's alternatingly hilarious and offensive, but aside from that, fairly typical shonen tournament fare.
Rideback: In a dystopic Japan ruled by martial law (for reasons explained in the first couple episodes that I now forget), transformable motorcycles are the kids' new thing. Our heroine, a ballerina who falls during a performance and sustains an injury that prevents her from dancing, gets sucked into the rideback club, and she's good at it. If you think Initial D with transforming motorcycles and some politics in the background (that start to become foreground in the episodes we watched this time), you've got Rideback.
Toradora: The continuing saga of Ryuuji and Taiga, and their friends. The first season gave me the impression that this would buck the typical shoujo series frame of boy + girl + friend = romance. Some developments in the second season make me concerned that I spoke too soon, but perhaps not. (Shoujo manga really likes to emphasize that boys and girls can't be Just Friends. It makes me cranky.)
Baccano! Weird. Like Durarara, I don't think I can explain what this is about, other than gangsters, black magic, alchemy, and an annoying narrative style which doesn't want to go in chronological order.
Darker than Black: Twilight Gemini: If you liked DTB, but the two-episode plot arcs irritated you because you just wanted there to be some ongoing plot, check out DTB:TG. Hei is back, and he's got a sidekick. It's two years after DTB, and there's some sort of politics involving the CIA, the Russian military, and a new division of the Japanese SDF. If you thought the promo materials showing a teenage girl meant the show would be moe blob anime and ran in terror, it's safe to come out. Coolest bit: Suou Utenas a giant sniper rifle out of her own chest.
