My collection of short anime reviews

Our main protagonist, now biting puppy ears.

Today when I want to write the review for this anime, only then I realized that my previous review for Needless is missing because of the server migration that happened nearly two weeks ago. Therefore it may seem that there are two reviews for today but actually there is only one of them. And that one would be for the third season of the Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei series, which follows the first and second season already reviewed in this blog before. Titled Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, this 2009 anime will then compete with Wolf and Spice S2 for the ‘Anime of the Year 2009’ title. Compared to the first two seasons, this newest installment in this series will throw a nice surprise to you.

Still the best character in this anime, even if her airtime was cut even further.

Story:-
In the third season, our main  male protagonist has completely stopped being suicidal (he is afraid to die even), therefore his (mostly) female students doesn’t have to restrain him from finding the hangman noose anymore. Nowadays all he does is complaining and despairing over many things, and his (mostly) female students followed suit. I somewhat miss the more flexible main protagonist that you can see in the first season.

What you can see in the second season was carried into the third season (each episodes are divided into several chunks), but with some notable changes in presentation. In the third season, there are more long story arcs that are shown to the viewers in non-consecutive chunks (usually in different episodes). This approach was pioneered in the second season but are used far more extensively in this season. But what defines the third season over its two predecessors is that there are more good plots over bad ones. If the first season has 50:50 good:bad plots ratio and with second season may have a 40:60 ratio,  the third season has vastly improved with 80:20 ratio. The third season is definitely the best installment in this series so far.

Epson/HP/Canon/Lexmark etc. business practices thoroughfully explained and mocked in this anime.

As a consequence of that, the outstanding humor in this series (which helped the first two seasons achieves 8 out of 10 scores) has also been improved. I actually think that would be impossible to do, considering my experience of watching the first two seasons in the past. But the humor in the third season does improve over the already excellent humor in season one and two, and that’s a good thing. Parodies and references to other manga/anime/games/TV shows/political events are still there, with diverse references to AKB48 all the way to Rozen Maiden (with a not-so-veiled reference to a particular politician). This anime will surely become a hit in North Korea…

Taking a swipe at North Korea is this anime favorite pastime.

Another presentation changes that are done in the third season is the pacing of this anime. The director probably have heard my complaints about the terrifying pace this series has and toned it down in this season. It is still fast compared to other anime titles, but between the three seasons, the one here is the slowest. Therefore I do not use the MPC-HC rewind combo button as often as I do in the first two seasons. This anime can still be inaccessible to live TV watchers though, therefore time-shifting is a must.

One of the best humor scenes in the entire series.

Character developments was stalled in the second season, and little has happened in the third season that indicates that anything has changed. The only things I have seen is that the main protagonist now fears death (so far apart from the suicidal him in the first season) and the so-called class monitor has permanently become a murderous person. Our mobilephone-toting non-talking best character is still there, her airtime being cut even further. There are no actual ending I have seen in the last episode, just like it does in the second season. Will there be a fully deserved 4th season? Well, we have to just wait and see then.

I hope a new season will come, not necessarily in that timeslot.

Character Design:-
My comment in the first season and second season review still applies. The best design belongs to the main male protagonist. Generally, this series are strong in this section.

One of the many parodies in this anime.

Voice Acting:-
Another traditional stronghold for this series, my comment from first and second season still applies.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Music:-
The OST is still great as it is in the second season, but only the OP theme is good. Cannot say the same thing for the 2 ED themes.

This show can be ‘informative’ too!

Animation/Direction:-
For animation quality and choreography, my comment from the review of second season still applies. The director has changed some of the presentation aspects in this anime for the better, and staying closer with the original manga probably contributes to the better stories and humor in the third season too.

Conclusion:-
Say hi to our newest ‘Anime of the Year 2009’ with its 10 out of 10 score. Simply better than Wolf and Spice S2. I never thought a despairing good-looking teacher with a huge harem he doesn’t take advantage of can take the throne from a beer-chugging wolf-girl. I do expect the third season to do well, but not THIS well.

Quoted For Truth.

The title protagonist.

From the creator of the excellent Kaiji series, come another proper thriller anime titled Akagi (he actually wrote this one first before Kaiji). Unlike Kaiji which is basically a darker and  deadly version of Wipeout Australia, Akagi is a mahjong anime (kind of like Saki). Therefore, this anime will be subjected to the sport genre handicap. This is a 2005 anime, thus none of the ‘Anime of the Year’ title holders will be challenged this time around.

Story:-
During the era of reconstruction right after Japan’s loss in World War 2, a desperate man is betting his life in a mahjong parlor in a rainy night with the local yakuza. On the verge of defeat, suddenly a drenched middle-schooler barged into the mahjong parlor. Sensing something special about the white-haired student (I told you white-haired people are evil!), the desperate man asked him to play mahjong in his stead, and everything started from there on.

The story in this anime is almost non-existent, but the mahjong games in this anime are intense, complex, very deep and mesmerizing. And that’s about it with this anime. The games are more realistic with the players getting more normal hands unlike in Saki where its players gets rare hands far more often. The protagonist especially is really skilled at getting hands that cannot be anticipated by his opponents or getting them to do what he wants, and he usually achieve that using mind games, deceptions (this guy cheats quite often), phenomenal calculating abilities, psychological warfare, abnormal strategies and sheer luck. Add them up to his charismatic, cool and calm persona, the protagonist is a very good template for a manga/anime character specialized in mind games. If only Lelouch Lamperouge has his ability, the Code Geass series would have easily gotten a perfect score. And he is just as good as Kaiji or Kaiser Reinhard or Yang Wenli, probably even better than them.

The flow of the plots during the games are excellent, which more than adequately covered for the lousy story transitions when not in-game. The presentation of the games is top-notch, with gazillion of monologues from the players, the spectators and very helpful commentary from the narrator that explains the strategies used in the games and their ramifications. Because of the narration, this anime is more accessible to mahjong n00bs than Saki (the fansub group also helps explaining the scoring system used in this anime, which differs than the ones used at my localities). Character developments is basically scarce, applies only to the main protagonist, and mostly done before the first time jump. Most of the main protagonist’s developments happened in the games played before the first time jump, with more off-screen developments during the two time jumps this anime before we get the (assumed) final fully developed character for the final game. BTW, the title main protagonist is definitely the best character here (as if you have any other options).

Unlike Saki, there are no metaphorical exaggerations in this anime, and of course far less flashbacks (they are nicely done). Some of them appears during the final game though, see the screenshot below. The ending is neat and tight, with some loose ends purposely left in ambiguity. Although I hoped that a second season will arrive, I do not think one will come.

This metaphor may be ugly, but it was relevant within the context of the scene where it was used.

Character Design:-
My comment from the same section in my Kaiji review applies, after all, the same person is responsible for this anime too. It is also interesting to note that there are virtually no female characters anywhere in this anime, even on the background. Definitely a positive point for this anime.

Most of the dialogues comes from spectators, gobsmacked by the crazy turns the main protagonist is taking.

Voice Acting:-
My comment from the same section in my Kaiji review still applies. The main protagonists in both anime are voiced by the same person, with the same level of performance. The only difference between these two anime in this aspect is that the main character in this anime speak (or being in monologues) far less than his counterparts in Kaiji. In fact, the narrator and some of the recurring characters that acts as the spectators may have far more lines (after all, they like to doubt the crazy strategies the main character deployed in the games he plays). Definitely a positive point for this anime.

Your typical antagonist that is common in any shounen titles.

Music:-
Unlike Kaiji, the OP theme and the hard-hitting two ED themes are excellent. The jazzy OST are sparse, but they are good too. Definitely a positive point of this anime.

Animation/Direction:-
The animation quality in this anime is quite good, even in the little fast-paced scenes this anime has (I will put the blame on camera panning problems upon the shoulder of the encoder). Choreography in this anime is decent in the few fighting scenes this anime has. The directing is good for the things explained in the story section.

And the antagonist will not be complete without evil laughs and creepy hairs.

Conclusion:-
Despite the sport genre handicap, this anime will get a 10 out of 10. Although if I were to compare this anime to Capeta (which incidentally is also a 2005 anime), this anime will come short. Capeta is, after all, is one of the best anime I have ever watched and has far better story than this anime. This anime is good enough to depose Uchuu no Stellvia from my Top 5 Anime of All Time list though, taking the spot number 4 currently occupied by Galaxy Angel series. Galaxy Angel is now number 5 in the same list.

The antagonist would have easily vanquished the protagonist if he have read that website! He should listen to his underlings’ advice more.

The best character in this anime, doing what he does best!

My first review for this month is for a 2007 anime titled Bokurano. This means that Nodame Cantabile will have to face yet another challenger to its throne. Just like Doujin Work, this psychological thriller cum part-time mecha anime is actually a very good title, but is it good enough to unseat the incumbent for ‘Anime of the Year 2007’ title?

Story:-
See the picture below for a succinct synopsis for this anime.

A picture is worth a thousand words, but the video actually tells you what happened. Watch this excellent series yourself to find out how good the story in this anime is.

The story in this anime is excellent, no doubt about it. Definitely better than the one in Nodame Cantabile too. As each pilot take their turns piloting the giant robot as they defend their Earth and their own universe from devastation, the anime take a page from Jigoku Shoujo’s playbook and started to show the anime’s world from the point of view (POV) of the would-be pilot just before their time in the ‘rotating’ hot seat started. Some of them are great (example: the POV of the boy that delivers newspapers and takes care of his siblings) but others is just so-so (example: the POV of the boy whose mom is the researcher at that tower whose name I forgot). But unlike Jigoku Shoujo, these POV plots happened as the main storyline develops quietly but nicely at the background for the first half of the series before it surfaced to the fore later.

The pacing of this anime is just about perfect, but it was blemished somewhat by the huge amount of flashbacks that happened in the penultimate part of this anime. This affects the ending too, giving it too little time to unfold. This is very unfortunate because the ending itself is very good, and could do much better with an extra episode for tying up the loose ends. While the main storyline itself has perfect story developments as mentioned above, the transitions between the POV plots could have been better because it degraded after around 10 episodes and continues until the main storyline take center stage.

Character developments in this anime is uneven but very unique in the fact that this series doesn’t have an overt main male or female protagonist. You may want to claim that Ushiro Jun is the hero of this anime, but his impact in the first two-thirds of the series is limited at repeatedly kicking his own little sister as he unleashed his irrational rage upon her. If you want to call that character development, power to you. Almost all the time, characters developments for any given character happened during the said character’s POV episode(s), and the quality depends on what that POV episode have in its plot. The best character in this anime is definitely the very likeable snarky foul-mouthed flying doll who gives very helpful instructions to the pilots who are sacrificing their life defending Earth from the 15 incoming Angels beings.

This method of character design is common in this anime.

Character Design:-
Just like Nodame Cantabile, this anime is also aimed towards more mature audiences. So, despite that most of the characters here are middle-schoolers, their designs are more of the realistic type with plenty of black hairs. Outstanding designs include the supposed bespectacled main protagonist Ushiro Jun, the domestic violence victim her sister, the daughter of the Diet member, Kokopelli and also the girl who wasn’t contracted. Mecha designs are also excellent, no wonder the creator of this series was tasked into doing designs for the second installment of the Evangelion movie. Definitely a positive point for this anime.

The best character in this anime also have one of the best voice acting gigs, used to the fullest to delivers plenty of snarky lines.

Voice Acting:-
The voice acting in this anime with big cast is decent overall, and some nice voice acting gigs comes from the snarky flying doll, Ushiro Jun, his sister and also the daughter of the Diet member. Quite good but not a match for the voice acting in Nodame Cantabile.

Quoted For Truth!

Music:-
The OP theme and the two ED themes which are sung by the same person are excellent. The OST is sparse in this anime (virtually none of them during mecha battles -  only heard when not fighting) is not less good either. Definitely a positive point for this anime.

The final battles is supposed to be epic, but it doesn’t.

Animation/Direction:-
The animation quality in this anime is good, even in fast-paced scenes. There are also CGI animations in this anime which is fluid and integrates seamlessly with 2D animations. Choreography in the mecha battles are great and very variable, and my only complaint is that some mecha battles are ridiculously short (spoiler: One of the battles even includes the enemy committing suicide too). Only the choreography for the final battle is somewhat lacking. The director has done a very good job not only for presenting the story flawlessly (except for the flashback issues), but he/she has also done a good job at framing great camera angles during the mecha battles.

Some of the earliest battles are better depicted and executed than the final battle.

Conclusion:-
An easy 10 out of 10. And finally, Nodame Cantabile has been replaced by this anime as the new ‘Anime of the Year 2007’ title holder, mainly because of the vastly superior story. If you planned to watch this, remember that this anime is more Jigoku Shoujo than, let’s say, Gundam or Evangelion. The direct, dark and overly realistic story about humanity (there are no meticulous mind games here, or comedies either) far trumped the action factors in this anime, and that’s what I like about this anime.

Hilarious dialogue, but very dark at the same time too.

edit – Just read the manga version of this anime, and my observation are:-

1. This anime is a watered down version of the manga. The plots in the manga is far more substantial and more intricate, but I have a feeling that they (plots) are less humanized than the ones in the anime (the anime shows the ugliness of humanity better than the manga). Still, this anime would have benefited greatly if it stays true to the roots of the manga.
2. Plenty of changes happened with the conversion from the manga version to the anime, unlike the more faithful reconstruction in Nodame Cantabile. This applies mainly to the background of the characters, but some key plots was changed too (one character that dies in the manga doesn’t in the anime, the uncontracted characters differed between the manga and the anime, the way some of the characters dies has also been altered etc.).
3. After reading the manga, now I realized that not only the mecha battles in the anime is way too short, they are also very lop-sided like the ones in the first season of Gundam 00. In the manga, mecha battles are longer, has more strategies and more importantly, the pilots in the manga are weaker than their counterparts in the anime.
4. The only thing the anime has done better than the manga is the ending. The manga’s ending is actually better, but the anime’s ending has far more clarity in it (although just like what I have said above, it could do with more airtime) thus making it far less ambiguous. The lead-up to the ending is better in the manga version too, unlike the flashback-laden lead-up to the anime’s ending.
5. Oh and BTW, the flying doll in the anime is better than the one in manga version!