Cruel Angel Theses

The problem with this season’s that once the more well-known series have aired, the others that didn’t get as much publicity or hype are ignored as a result — which is a pity, seeing how I struck gold (and shat bricks) when I least expected to. In an attempt to not trigger Animeblogger’s series-detecting algorithm I’ll tick off my choices for Spring in wordfilter:

• Not Brighter than White
• MOE DANCING ANIMU
• Shakespeare’s spinning in his grave
• They grew up and now sleep together ;_;
• Fate x Saber’s lovechild with big sword
• “Our” mecha is slower than Ultraman
• the sky, THE SKY. The sky…

But is that all there is to it? After catching Toward the Terra and Sisters of Wellber, I think I’m going to have to make a little space for my now expanding list. Probably not so with Over Drive, but I suppose it’s due to the relatively dated graphics and storyline that seem atypical of every other sports anime out there. Mildly NSFW screencaps after the cut.

Toward the Terra, or Terra e, is simply beautiful, something of absolute mind-numbing brilliance — to put it bluntly, it was like watching the best parts of (wordfiltered) Not Brighter than White and Shakespeare anime combined. When I was in my final year of high school I remember reading this short story; it was set in this dystopian future, where teenagers at a certain age had to go for an intelligence test as a sign of their coming of age. The catch was this — it being a sci-fi short and all — your IQ couldn’t exceed a certain level or you’d be killed by the government. Inevitably, the story ends with the death of the protagonist, and his parents mourning.

our heroine ponders upon the merits of a rhinoplasty

It was a powerful piece of writing for many reasons, one of them being the stifling presence of impending tragedy that could be felt even in the opening passages of the text. Toward the Terra is like that — not only does it bear many similarities to the story (too many actually, and I’m wondering), towards the end it springs on you the trappings of a world so terrifying that you’re hooked, immediately. The storytelling definitely leant towards Whiter than White’s show-not-tell style by inviting the reader to ask more questions, and only answering them indirectly — on the other hand, it resembles Shakespeare’s anime in the sense that the world, while seemingly familiar at first with its slick, futuristic sci-fi overtones, suddenly springs an Orwellian surprise onto you towards the end, just like The Minority Report did.

Among numerous reasons why I’m rating Toward the Terra as a must-watch — that’s been ignored so far by almost everyone on my blogroll, hint hint — is due to the character designs. According to ANN here, the character designs are done by Nobuteru Yuki, who was responsible for, among others, Mushishi, Noein, Paradise Kiss, and more importantly, the Escaflowne movie and TV series. Yuki’s character designs are a much-needed break in the age of “moe”, disproportionately large eyes, non-existent noses and general design that non-otaku usually find to be somewhat of a turn-off. For those of you who like your characters to look Japanese despite their ethnic origin, you might have to get used to it.

That aside, it’s all up to standard. UVERworld, who I last heard in Bleach’s 2nd OP (which was also the last OP I ever saw before I quit) has one of the best OP songs of the season — despite sounding like a Japanese Chris Carrabba, it doesn’t fall to either extreme; there’s not much angst or hope present here, and it’s neither lighthearted nor depressive. The music, while not exactly Yoko Kanno, fits the mood of the show like a glove, never stealing the spotlight but rather supporting it. Last but not least, the animation is clean and crisp, with well-detailed backgrounds, and Kanon ’06 standard sunsets — it definitely enhanced the experience of the show, although that’s not to say the story would be worse off without it.

I’ve been trying to keep this spoiler-free for one reason: the twist during the second half of the episode that sets things into motion has simply to be seen to be believed. When the true nature of the awakening was revealed and everything suddenly fell into place I finally felt the truth behind the term “shit bricks”, and I hope you do, too — that scene totally outclassed every surprise I’ve seen so far this season. Cinnamon Ass has a summary available with spoilers if you can’t be bothered, though.

Sisters of Wellber, or Wellber Monogatari, delivered on many counts.

according to BluWacky 2ch went “breasts? BREASTS!!!”, and I don’t blame them.

No, not that one, LOL J/K. The premise is reminiscent of Scrapped Princess, only this time her highness brings it upon herself because she’s done something very naughty on her wedding night. No, that’s not a spoiler, you read that right. Production I.G. seems to hit all the right notes for one reason — like Terra e, the world isn’t what it seems. Despite its medieval trappings this show has swords and guns, and even a surprise sword-gun (gun-blade?) appearance somewhere in-between that makes a farce out of every sword fight anime has ever done.

BluWacky didn’t like Sisters of Wellber all that much due to the music apparently, but what’s wrong with a little deviation from the norm now and then? The other anime currently airing that’s named after a sword uses techno for battles, and while it’s true that the music in Wellber wouldn’t go amiss in an RPG, it’s a lot better than having a mundane, horribly clich�d repertoire of a soundtrack that doesn’t really do much.

The animation is top-notch, as would be expected from the studio that made GITS:SAC. Nothing much to say here. Story-wise, of noteworthy mention here would be how the female characters aren’t dependent on a guy for their survival. It’s seriously annoying to have a one figure present in a story that doesn’t need one for the sake of male chauvinist norms ingrained into minds everywhere, and this turns the tables quite a bit. Not only can this princess do judo throws (again, bricks, shat), it’s also been ages since the ladies actually participated as equals in a face-off. And surprisingly, the sentient tank didn’t annoy me as much as I thought it would.

Over Drive, by the way, sucked. Crappy animation, painfully amateur character designs, and a protagonist so annoying I would remove every tooth in his mouth with my fist if he wasn’t an animated character. It’s like someone decided to make this GUY “moe” and give him character traits that would be sickeningly adorable in a girl — since he isn’t a trap or anything like that, however, the end result made him into a wimp. One of the worst shounen fags to grace anime.

Going back to Sisters of Wellber — I believe this is the new queen of desu.

Not only is she in a state of perpetual nudity for bonus points, her -beru isn’t even half as annoying as -desu was. And she’s actually useful to boot. I believe we have a winner!