Cruel Angel Theses

Now that the two main first impressions posts are over, I guess I can start to slack off or something. There isn’t a whole lot that I’m expecting in the shounen, action-packed side, but that might be due to how I don’t carry a lot of expectations with me when I watch new shows, unless it’s been hyped to death before its debut. Between you and me, though, I’d take this over the overtly romance/harem stuff I’m due to watch next.

Dragonaut -The Resonance- was concentrated awesome, like Code Geass all over again. It’s one of those anime that you immediately hate or love, and I’m falling hard for this little gem. Dragonaut has everything — a fairly original premise, a hero you can’t help but feel for in his wretched state, a heroine that will have feminists everywhere giving their unanimous approval, and a cast that doesn’t scream “clich�” as much as you’d think those well-endowed girls would be prone to.

Or that muscular, chest-baring guy for that matter, in case anyone’s accusing me of being sexist, which is something Dragonaut couldn’t be found guilty of. To my mild annoyance and amusement, the guys have gone naked more often than the girls have so far (2-1), and as the picture below might indicate, it isn’t the guy that’s brimming with natural, world-changing powers in a bid to save the poor damsel in distress; rather, the inverse is true, which made for hilarious role-reversal when Toa (the girl) carried Jin (the failure guy)to safety before having an epic fight with that Berserker clone.

helpless guys never had it so good

On second thought, I take back what I said about it being concentrated awesome. To be honest it’s more of like concentrated concentrate awesome for doing all of the following a mere two episodes later, with goodness knows how much more to come:

1. Three characters dying in the first episode
2. Childhood friends coming to a dramatic face-off (without the need for a cocktease of a season finale cliffhanger like C*** G**** did, cough)
3. First kiss (again, it didn’t take them till the last episode)
4. A significant chunk of info (for all those who whined about Darker than Black not giving answers, someone must’ve heard you)
5. Bypassing the “guess who?” game (through a spoilerific, yet subtle OP/ED)

In explanation of #5: IMO, the staggered introduction of new characters bores me to tears, since I’d rather not have to get to know a couple more every week. Episode 2 left me in a state they call “shat bricks”, and not without good reason, too, because not only was my guess correct with regards to Toa’s true nature, it immediately explained the whole “Dragonaut” thing in a manner reminiscent of Fate/Stay Night, despite it not being elaborated on.

I personally think it’s obtuse to write off this off as just another Autumn anime right now by judging from appearances alone. Wow, so the women have big breasts and the guys look gay. Big deal. Wasn’t that called Code Geass? Since it’s a Gonzo production the animation is flawless, pretty, and fluid; the soundtrack lush, quirky, and with loads of character if you’re a sucker for good music (watch out for the mellow woodwind insertion during the highway battle). No thanks to that Dragonaut’s now a Tier 1 anime for me alongside Clannad and Shana II, and I’d recommend it highly — at least try it till episode 2 before passing judgement.

To top it all off, Sekai Fansubs have been doing a commendable job with the subs, and I thought I’d just highlight the sheer effort they’ve been putting in to get those subs out quickly. Their high quality, natural translations have definitely made me enjoy the series a lot more, considering how the other alternatives were either .mp4s, which my computer can’t watch, or a group famous for taking their own time, complete with unreadable hideous fonts.

Night Wizard was surprisingly attractive, and I’m not sure if the resemblance to Nanoha or Mushi-Uta caught my attention, but it worked — a school-going, powerful protagonist who’s given missions from time to time? Check. A girl who does beam spam, complete with circular magic seals? Check. “Wizard” is really pushing it, but I guess that given the inherent superiority of magic in that world, there are melee wizards, sniper wizards, support wizards and so on.

Guess it’s a quirk that comes with the transition from a video game. According to the Wikipedia entry, practically every class, despite their abilities, are called wizards for reasons I can’t really tell, but who’s complaining? There’s a downside to its roots in that there’s a possibility that random, low-budget battle footage might be included in every episode just for the sake of its existing fanbase (the first episode had two of those), and I’m hoping that doesn’t turn out to be the case each week.

The animation’s nothing to write home about, but it gets the job done. Overall presentation was interesting and varied enough to not feel campy at any one point. Special mention goes out to the odd time signature of the ED, which, according to TheBigN, happens to be 6/8. It’s an enchanting and melodic song that, despite the corny lyrics, still manages to capture the eclectic mood of the show. I’ll be sticking with this for now.

Gundam 00 is a first in that I’m finally popping my Gundam cherry, after saving it for the longest time. Innuendo aside, I had minimal interest in Gundam Seed when it first aired despite never getting around to watching it, and maybe it was for the best, too, seeing how any desire of watching it then stemmed from how GSD’s character designs were done by the same person who did Scryed.

thankfully Louise and Liu Ming neutralise this sausage fest somewhat

My thoughts about it are starry-eyed for the most part — it’s very pretty, and I’m not talking about how the four main pilots look like they stepped out of a yaoi doujin, either. I don’t suppose that just intricate mecha designs alone have ensured Gundam’s success for the past 20 years, and while I’m sure that there’s always some grand design interwoven within the complex faction wars and character drama, only time will tell if G00 lives up to that standard.

As far as technicalities go, I can’t really find anything to fault G00 of at this point. The animation and art is, for lack of a better word, flawless. The mecha is befitting of its pedigree. While L’Arc En Ciel hasn’t exactly been known for consistency in their quality of songs, I’m not about to bust a vein out on the OP seeing how the ED’s sung by the back horn, which ranks way lower in my J-rock hall of fame.

It’s been an exciting, if not thoroughly engaging two episodes so far. What’s with the “zero-presence fansubs” thing anyway? While I do agree that it might appear as if people who take their time to churn out releases are really only in it for the lulz and e-fame, there are other groups out there who do it as a service to the community, fansubbing shows with little or no exposure. I’m assuming “zero-presence” means “anonymous”, so please correct me if I’m wrong.

Rental Magica started with a blast. Literally. Car chases in anime are rare, and a truck chase down a closed highway with a ghost hound in tandem while the driver relays a video of the aforementioned hound to someone waiting ahead is even rarer. The scene felt like it came right out of a thriller, and given the formulaic, plodding pace some pilot episodes usually employ, it was quite the welcome change.

I’d call it Negima crossed with Mushishi. My kneejerk reaction was to coin this as “Mushishi meets CLAMP” initially, but the wimpy, helpless, well-meaning and occasionally useful shota protagonist who needed constant help from his female peers reminded me of a certain underage teacher way too much. Despite it sounding rather ho-hum and mainstream, I’d think it has the right mix of traits from both parents like a pan-Asian would: it’s like Negima in that the set of characters, despite their vague familiarity (a megane, a foreigner, an imouto, a kitsune-eyed smiling guy) they’re still likeable and appear to be more than just their archetypes.

Similarities to Mushishi won’t be immediately obvious to those who take the comparison literally, of course. It’s no mono no aware, neither does it have a tranquil feel or a confident, reassuring protagonist who knows what he’s doing. Like Ginko however, he’s only got one real eye. The greater parallel, however, is in the episodic nature of a case, and how the emotional depth of each one allows you to relate to the characters with ease, which is where it scores points with me.

Mamiko Ikeda’s in charge of the series composition for this one, and a brief glance at his ANN entry shows a diverse selection of shows that he’s worked on before, even if they’re somewhat restricted in terms of genre and overall target audience. Is this a good thing? Most likely, since I’m a bit weary of having shows that are either 100% serious or lighthearted; an anime that effectively amalgams both is nothing short of welcome.

Now that I’ve reviewed them all, I’m seeing Night Wizard as the only one I’m likely to bail out on if it worsens, because I’m confident the other three won’t crash midway or anything like that. Call it the otaku instinct. Hopefully the harem/romance ones won’t be all that good…