Category: Ani-Mania

AniMania: MY BRIDE IS A MERMAID

It would be a disgrace to all Seto Mermaids if you don’t read this review, because “Honor among thieves is honor under the Seas.” You will hear the main female lead, Sun Seto, say this signature line at least once per episode in Funimation’s new romantic comedy, MY BRIDE IS A MERMAID.

The basic plot of the story is that Nagasumi (our hero) is saved from drowning by Sun Seto (the mermaid). However, Mermaid Law states that if a human sees a mermaid the mermaid (and/or the human) has to die. The solution to this problem is of course to have them get married!

Admittedly, from reading the plot summary, and just from the title of this series, one could assume that this was just another run of the mill harem show with a contrived plot that does not matter. While you would be right about it being a harem show, this is way more than just another boy has to marry fish girl to avoid death anime. Imagine The Little Mermaid combined with a Japanese yakuza family and a little dash of Azumanga Daioh, and you would have My Bride is a Mermaid. This review is for the first 13 episodes.

Nagasumi is visiting his Grandma at the Seto Sea and is being teased by his dad about not being able to swim. In the next scene, he’s screaming for help in the ocean, and sinking below the surface, where the last thing he sees is what seems to be a… mermaid? When he comes to, his dad is kicking him saying they’ve been searching for him for four hours, only to find him sleeping. Nagasumi tries to no avail to tell his dad he was almost drowned and was saved by a mermaid. His dad laughs and ignores him because we all know that mermaids do not exist!

He continues to try to persuade his parents, until the girl in question walks out of the shadows and asks Nagasumi to take responsibility for what happened between them. She asks him to marry her. His dad gets upset (since his son apparently has attracted a cute girl, while he’s stuck with his wife) and busts out his left hook. Then Masa (a dandy who’s a hit man), comes to “invite” them to the Seto home. Nagasumi’s mom instantly lusts over Masa. Then Nagasumi and his parents are pushed off a cliff into the ocean, in an apparent attempt to kill them. When he wakes up, Nagasumi pretends he is unconscious, which prompts Masa to give him mouth to mouth, taking his first kiss. This ends up being another running gag, for whenever either Nagasumi or his mother see Masa, they both go goo goo eyes for him. They meet the head of the Seto Gang, who just happens to be Sun’s father, and does not like the idea of a human marrying his sweet daughter (which happens to have been his wife’s idea), and tries to kill Nagasumi at every opportunity. And this was just the first episode!

From there the comedy ramps up even further as the attempted assassinations get even wilder. Poor Nagasumi cannot even take Sun on a date without worrying about his life (chocolate covered gun, anyone?). If that was all he had to worry about, he would have his hands full. On dry land a mermaid has legs just like human’s, but if they get wet (bad pun completely intended) their legs turn into fins. Turns out, Sun is a total water magnet. She’s clumsy and is always in the way of water. Nagasumi goes all out to try and hide her secret, and ends up buying her a ring, which she promptly loses, and her father finds. It’s amazing that Nagasumi makes it through the evening with just a full body cast! At this point not even half the characters in the show have been introduced yet!

Later we meet Maki the conch, a tiny assassin who shoots an unlimited supply of water bullets, and who’s also out to kill Nagasumi. Then in comes Nagasumi’s childhood friend, Mawari Zenigata, who unbeknown to her has a crush on him. Then we get the pop idol, Lunar, who is sweet to the public but is not very nice (and talks about herself in fourth person), and who is also a mermaid and childhood friend of Sun’s. Lunar wants revenge for being beaten by Sun in a kindergarten singing contest, so she sets out to take Nagasumi as her man servant. Throw in a cast of a walking Shark named Fujishiro, a boy named Chimp, an octopus named Nakajima, parents who blame him for everything, and you’ve got pure insanity. Will Nagasumi even survive to the wedding day?

The cast has some new talent while also having the backing of veteran voice actors. Nagasumi is voiced by Todd Haberkorn, who will be recognized as Watanuki from Holic and Death the Kid of Soul Eater. Sun Seto gets her voice from new comer Alexis Tipton, who plays Emi Kizaki in Linebarrels of Iron. Masa is Chris Sabat, a veteran actor who played Vegeta and Piccolo of DBZ fame. Maki the Conch is played by the ever insane Monica Rial, who is also the voice of Momoka in Sgt. Frog. Mawari gets her voice from Cherami Leigh, who was Tamaki in Bamboo Blade and Setsuna in Negima. Then top it off with the show being narrated by Linda Young who voices Genkai in Yu Yu Hakusho. This show has a ton of veteran and new talent, which brings out the best of both its comedy and emotion.

Don’t let the title or summary of this series put you off, like it did for me at first. This show is one nonstop comedy ride, the jokes never stop and this is only the first half! It also shows more heart than a normal harem series. I give it 7 octopus tentacles out of 8 (if you watch what Nagasumi’s mother is eating in episode 2 and what’s missing from Nakajima later, well, you get the idea).

If you do not watch this show it will be a disgrace to ALL Seto Mermaids, because as we now know: Honor among thieves, is honor under the seas!

AniMania: X – Complete Series

For some reason, the future always seems to be a few decades away.  1984 was published in 1949.  Terminator, which appropriately enough was released in 1984, set 1997 as the date for the apocalyptic “Judgement Day.”  It seems strange now, after the turn of the Millennium (which happened rather uneventfully, with little more than an endless repeat of an old Prince song to mark its passing) to look back on things like Mad Max, Y2K, or the still older imaginings of such retro science fiction classics as Fahrenheit 451 or Soylent Green, but for decades, sci-fi imagineers alternated between the chills of gloom and doom and utopian fever.

Anime and manga embraced these themes with series like Akira, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Vampire Hunter D.  X 1999 represents CLAMP’s foray into the dark future.  Perhaps better known for their recent hit sister series, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle and XXXHolic, the all female manga supergroup are no strangers to science fiction either, having produced the darkly futuristic Chobits, but X represented an even darker take on what that future might hold.

The manga began its run in 1992, with a feature film coming in 1996.  Titled simply, “X”, it shared the same pitfalls as the NGE films, End of Evangelion, and Death and Rebirth in that it was artistically beautiful, but so woefully compressed that it had little chance of catching on with anyone who wasn’t already a diehard fan of the series.  Unfortunately, unlike the Evangelion movies, which had the benefit of being made AFTER the TV show, X the movie came first, so unless you had read the manga and bought the Cliff Notes, the effect was more like viewing an entire museum of fine art on fast forward, without much hope of piecing together a coherent story.  The OVA made things worse, and by the time the world first got to see the expanded anime re-telling, it was 2001, and the apocalypse was already two years behind schedule!

After being caught for a time in the same limbo that mired so many titles after the sinking of Geneon, X’s TV version has been picked up by American distributor Funimation, who released it as a box set on June 15th.  Titled X — The Complete Series, it sports the anime’s 24 episode run, plus the aforementioned OVA.

The plot for X revolves around a young man, Kamui, who upon his return to Tokyo is sought out by two groups of mystical warriors, the Dragons of Heaven and the Dragons of Earth.  The Dragons of Heaven (aka the good guys, to the extent we can apply such labels), are out to save the earth, and prevent the apocalypse.  The Dragons of Earth, in spite of their name, are out to destroy it.  Kamui must choose between these two sides, but unlike NGE’s wavering anti hero, Shinji, Kamui has tons of attitude, and plans of his own.

With each side having seven Dragons respectively, for a combined total of fourteen, plus side characters, plus Kamui, the cast is huge, and much of the early episodes deal with introductions, at first general, then more specific.  This makes X a grand dame of a series, who moves along at her own pace, and hurries for no one, though with plenty of action scenes, the show could hardly be considered boring.  The plot is measured, and in an age where many shows seem to be made up entirely of parody and homage, X spends the time to build its world, its characters, and their story.  This is a high point of the genre.

In many ways, X is a product of its time.  It’s difficult to watch and not be reminded that this was anime state of the art in the 1990’s, in the days of what I personally have dubbed “the Blockbuster canon”, when it was possible to watch almost everything most other anime fans were likely to have seen by renting it from your local Blockbuster Video — on VHS (unless of course you had the cash to spring for a laser disc player, in which case you might also have had the dough to spend on other rare toys of the era, such as the SNK Neo Geo).  For older fans, this is in no way a bad thing.  CLAMP’s shoujo art style was as beautiful then as it is now (and just as thin and noodley), and in X, it is wonderfully translated into animation.  I’d dare to say that the quality of the animation on X surpasses that of Tsubasa and XXXHolic (and that’s a lot from me, seeing as ‘Holic is one of my favorites).  The characters and settings are exquisite and the attention to detail is simply amazing — even mundane things like the folding door of a phone booth, or the hot water machine used to brew a cup of tea are wonderfully rendered.

This kind of sophistication is rarely met with today in a tv series, where the demands of production and economics generally dictate that things be drawn simpler and cheaper.  Still, the art looks like a product of its time, and that could prove to be a double edged sword with younger fans, some of whom may be turned off by its dated, though beautiful appearance.  Personally, I’m hoping they’ll see things in a different light, and view this as a chance to discover a classic.  Time — and sales — will tell.

The new release preserves the original voice cast, with Steve Cannon as the voice of Kamui.  Apparently his involvement with the end of the world didn’t get in the way of his career; you may recognize Cannon as the voice of Bleach’s Hitsugaya, or Kadaj from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, where he was credited as Steve Staley.   Fuuma, Kamui’s friend and one of the Dragons of Heaven, is voiced by none other than Crispin Freeman.  Freeman is prolific, with credits for major roles such as Alucard in Hellsing, Alex Rowe in Last Exile, and Kyon, the sarcastic narrator of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.  Given the importance of Kyon’s ability to convince Haruhi not to destroy the universe, his time hanging out with Kamui must have been well spent.

While Freeman certainly has plenty of major leads to his credit, he has also done some wonderful supporting roles, such as the quirky Straight Cougar from S-CRY-ED, or Big O’s insane Alan Gabriel, where he got to harry another X cast member, Lia Sargent, who was the voice of Big O’s surly android heroine, R. Dorothy Wainwright.  In X, she plays the no less charming Hidden Shrine Maiden, Arashi Kishuu (which means she has been both an android and a miko, and is, therefore, perfect.)  Other notable (android) roles include the Cyberdoll May in Handmaid May, and some human appearances as Miyabi, Aoi’s keeper in Ai Yori Aoshi, and Milly in Trigun.

The list of notables could go on, but to mention just a few more, Sorata, Arashi’s self-proclaimed love interest (he didn’t bother to ask her feelings on the matter) is voiced by Rafael Antonio Oliver, who’s had an extensive voice acting career with roles such as Lancer in Fate/stay night and Hibiki in Vandread, but also has equally impressive writing and directing credits with titles like Eureka Seven, Gankutsuo, Gurren Lagann, and Mahoromatic.  Kotori, Fuuma’s kid sister and Kamui’s childhood sweetheart, is voiced by Michelle Ruff, the same talent behind Ai Yori Aoshi’s title character, Aoi, Rukia from Bleach, and Chobits’ Chi.  Ruff also appears in Haruhi, as the voice of otherworldly alien, Yuki Nagato.

The score and ambient music for X is, well, X-cellent.  The opening, “eX dream”, by Myuji, is vintage j-rock:  an eclectic mix of edgy guitar and soft vocals, and a few random lines of English thrown in for good measure.  The more soothing sounds of Kohei Koizumi’s “Secret Sorrow” close things out.  The packaging is four discs in two cases, reversible covers, and a cardboard sleeve which sports some especially handsome box art and gold foil lettering.  As thin packs go, this one is very nice.

Overall, X – The Complete Series is a great title.  It shows its age, and it will be up to fans to decide if that gives it a fine patina, or makes it simply old.  If you like anime from this period (which personally I do), this is a real treat.  If you’re a more recent fan of anime who likes serious plot lines and wants to sample something of an earlier vintage, X is a great place to start.

AniMania: DRAGON BALL Z KAI

Most people who are familiar with anime (and many who aren’t) probably already know a thing or two about Dragon Ball, one of the most popular family of anime titles to ever grace our shores. But for those of you who don’t, a quick synopsis may be in order. A rough breakdown of the series would go something like:

Episode 1: Goku (charging energy fireball attack) KA —
Episode 2: ME —
Episode 3: AH —
Episode 4: ME —
Episode 5: (releases massive wave) AHH!!!
Episode 6: AHHHH!!!
Episode 7: HHH!!!
Episode 8: !!!
Episode 9: Piccolo (sees approaching fireball) Oh crap —
Episode 10: (is hit) YAAAHH!!!
Episode 11: AHHH!!!
Episode 12: HHH!!! (end of season 1)

Seasoned fans will get the joke — Dragon Ball, while much beloved, is not exactly known for its breathtaking rate of plot development. Whole episodes, heck, whole SEASONS go by as the characters punch, kick, taunt, charge up and blast one another with super powered special attacks. On the one hand, its funny, but the fact we all get the joke is a tribute in its own right. If you’re an anime fan, DB is a part of the landscape, and Dragon Ball Z Kai marks a re-versioning of one of the most popular arms of the DB galaxy.

If you’re already a fan of DBZ, then you’ll know the plot of Kai. At the start of DBZK (I’d like to buy a vowel, Pat), we learn about the great warrior, Goku, who with his friends collected the magic Dragon Balls, and saved the earth from alien invasion. Goku has since been enjoying a more or less normal life with his wife, Chi-Chi, and their son, Gohan. But then, one day, the evil alien, Raditz, shows up, and makes a shocking revelation: Goku is descended from a line of space warriors, called Saiyans, and he was originally sent to Earth to destroy all of its inhabitants, and Raditz is his older brother!

Goku, being of noble heart, wants nothing to do with his long lost brother’s evil plans, but he isn’t strong enough to stand up to him alone — in part because a major source of a Saiyan’s power is in his tail, and Goku lost his tail long ago (if you in any way doubt the power of tails, I’d suggest you ask any self-respecting cat girl about their importance). At any rate, to defeat Raditz, Goku teams up with his arch rival, Piccolo. Together they are able to overcome the evil Saiyan, but their victory comes at a terrible price, and the dying Raditz gloats that two more even stronger Saiyans are on their way to earth. They will arrive in one year. With the fate of the planet at stake Goku embarks on a journey from which few ever return, while Piccolo takes on the responsibility of raising Gohan, who even as a child shows the capacity for tremendous power.

Re-versioning has become something of the new norm in the anime world, with Evangelion 1.01, Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, and Negima!? being cases in point. It makes sense, when you consider that these are tough economic times, and that Japan, anime’s native home, is struggling with a flood of moe titles and near saturation of its domestic market. Under such conditions, studios and fans alike are inclined to wax a bit nostalgic, and reach for names that are known and loved. Adding in the fact that DBZ is having its historic 25th Anniversary makes this the perfect time for Kai’s release.

Dragon Ball also has a special place here in the states. For the North American anime distributor, Funimation, DBZ is something akin to sacred ground. As the property that in many ways launched the studio, the title is intricately bound up with the founding of the company. Put another way, Dragon Ball Z is part of Funimation’s origin story. The cast from the original series reads like a who’s who of prominent voice actors. In a sense, it’s the Mad Mad Mad Mad World of the anime industry. It launched the careers of many veteran VA’s, and when asked if there is one title they WISH they could have worked on, many younger voice actors will point to DBZ.

Most of that cast returns for Kai, with Sean Schemmel reprising his role of Goku. Schemmel could have made a career out of his appearances as Goku alone, which include Dragon Ball, DBZ, GT, a handful of specials and over a dozen movies! He’s also appeared in anime cult titles like the Outlanders OVA, and tried his hand at directing several series, including one of my personal favorites, Midori Days. Christopher R. Sabat appears as Piccolo, Vegeta, and Yamcha (remember the good old days when it seemed the entire cast of every show was voiced by the same four people, and die-hard fans cursed you for watching anything other than subs?) Sabat has been a household name in blockbuster titles for decades, with roles like Kuwabara in Yu Yu Hakusho, Armstrong in FMA, Kurogane in Tsubasa, and Giroro in Sgt. Frog. For the record, I’m still rooting for Giro and Natsumi to get together.

With a series like this, it would be virtually impossible to shine the spotlight on every member of such a storied cast, with appearances from actors like Justin Cook as Raditz (Yusuke in YYH, Haru in Fruits Basket), Mike McFarland as Master Roshi (Goemon Ishikawa in a host of Lupin III movies and specials) and John Burgmeier as Tien (Burgmeier wrote the script adaptation for Fruits Basket, in which he also voiced Shigure, and gave his talents to the voice of fangirl favorite, YYH’s Kurama).

The cast list also includes four new names: Colleen Clinkenbeard, the voice of XXXHOLiC’s sultry Yuko Ichihara, provides the new voice of Gohan. Monica Rial, who plays Sakura in Tsubasa RESERvoir CHRoNiCLE and Tsubaki in the recent hit, Soul Eater, is the new voice of Bulma. Doc Morgan is Kai’s Narrator, and spicy wolf Brina Palencia appears as both Chiaotsu and Puar.

The re-versioning itself is done with a gentle hand, more on the order of Evangelion than a full blown retelling as with FMA Brotherhood. The animation has been cleaned up, re-mastered for HD video and audio, and also sports updated opening and closing sequences. It looks great, but does not call undue attention to itself, leaving one with the conclusion that this is Dragon Ball Z as it was meant to be — truly “as the master intended.”

Dragon Ball Z Kai Part 1 should be available in stores today, May 18th. The two disc thin pack contains 13 episodes, and comes in a cardboard sleeve, with gold foil highlights. The DVD release is expected to retail for $49.98. The price bumps up slightly, to $54.98, for Blu-ray. DBZ Kai Part 2 is slated for a release of September 14th, later this year. You can preview the series with information on characters, episode summaries, and video at www.dragonballzkai.com.

AniMania: VANDREAD

In the world of giant mecha and space opera, it’s hard to find anything genuinely new.  The genre is so defined, there are few trails left to blaze, and so a new series will most likely develop along one of two routes:  it can either ride the coat tails an already established franchise, and present itself as a sequel/prequel/reversioning (the new — and EXCELLENT — Evangelion titles are great example of this), or a show can strive to be a parody, preferably a really GOOD one, such as Galaxy Angel or Martian Successor Nadesico.

Vandread is in this latter category, and it doesn’t take long (approximately five seconds) to find out that this is space mecha action with a twist — forget aliens or angels, this is boys vs. girls!  Men are from Mars, and Women are from Venus, but after decades in deep space, the two don’t even know what each other LOOK like, much less how to make friendly conversation, so they’ve decided to shoot each other instead.  But what will happen when the space suits come off, the artificial atmosphere gets thin, and the hormones get thick?

Vandread is, in many ways, exactly what one might expect.  It follows the script — if wackiness can ever be said to have a script — with all the usual elements of your average science fiction space harem show (yes, we just said that).  Our underdog hero, Hibiki, starts off as a “third class citizen”, who works in a factory, but dreams of a better life.  Those dreams — and Hibiki’s big mouth, get him into trouble when he vows to bring back one of the giant combat mecha his factory makes parts for.  Joyriding space combat vehicles is a bad idea for a lot of reasons, but things go from bad to worse when the launch date for mankind’s date with destiny is stepped up by a few hours, and the ship takes off with Hibiki inside!

The ship was SUPPOSED to be on its way to confront man’s age old enemy:  women, but like most plans, good or bad, all that goes out the airlock on first contact.  It seems the girls are a lot cuter — and TOUGHER — than anyone remembered, and Hibiki finds himself running for dear life after his close encounters of the feminine kind.  But when he and the girls are accidentally sucked into an inter-dimensional space portal, they come face to face (the eyes are up here!) with a new, even deadlier enemy.  Will they work together to survive?  Or will they fight to the death over the proper position of the toilet seat?

While Vandread is a spoof, the staff sports some pretty serious artillery.  Script writer Natsuko Takahashi has worked on some of the sci-fi legends, including Akira, part of the Gundam universe, and Guyver.  Script writer Atsuhiro Tomioka has also written scripts for Glass Fleet and wrote the screenplay for a Space Battleship Yamato movie.  And with mecha designs from the likes of Kanetake Ebikawa (Mobile Suit Gundam 00), Shoichi Masuo (Akira, Evangelion 1.0, 2.0) and Yoshikazu Miyao (The Big O), Vandread stands in good stead with very high production value.

The stars are definitely out in terms of the cast.  Lowly Hibiki gets his voice from the laudable Tony Oliver, who has appeared in Robotech and Tenchi Muyo, two cornerstones of the genre.  Oliver also has some very respectable staff credits to his name: he has directed and written script for Eureka Seven, Gurren Lagann, and both seasons of Mahoromatic.  Dita, the perky young cadet who makes first contact with Hibiki, is voiced by Julie Maddalena (Ghost In The Shell SAC, Chobits).  Meia Gisburn gets her voice from Julie Pickering, who was also the talent behind Sohpia in Last Exile (a decidedly more serious space drama) and Rozen Maiden’s Souseiseki.  Femme fatale Jura Basil Elden is voiced by Melissa Williamson, whom you may recognize as none other than Ghost In the Shell SAC’s Motoko Kusanagi!!   In addition to her portrayal of the famous Major and quite a few other anime roles, Williamson also has a prodigious career in the gaming industry, and a slew of directorial credits, including GITS, Naruto, Wolf’s Rain, and the movie for the legendary space epic, Cowboy Bebob.

While Vandread is admittedly a harem show, there ARE guys on board.  Resident badass Duero, complete with hair that covers one eye, gets his voice from the inimitable Stephen Blum, who has played some of the most memorable characters of all time, such as Cowboy Bebop’s Spike Spiegel and The Big O’s Roger Smith.  But what really blew me away was hearing Beau Billingslea as The Premiere.  There’s nothing like the voice of Cowboy Bebop’s Jet blasting away about the evils of womankind.  If only Faye could hear him!

As a complete set, Vandread The Ultimate Collection spans five discs, and contains two seasons, which run 13 episodes each, as well as two new OVA’s, Integral, and Turbulence.  Sadly, these last two are subtitled only, but they still provide some new material for veteran fans.  The cover is double sided, and while not truly reversible (half of it is an episode directory), it sports some spiff art none the less.

There are a lot of sci-fi titles out there, but Vandread stands out, being reminiscent of classics like Cowboy Bebop or Outlaw Star.  The production values are high, the art is beautiful, and the jokes are hilarious.  If you’re a fan of space shows, especially a good space comedy, Vandread has a place on your shelf.   We give it two giant mecha thumbs up!

AniMania: SOUL EATER

“A sound soul dwells within a sound mind, and a sound body…”

Or so Laura Bailey, the voice of Maka, tells us at the beginning of each episode of Soul Eater. While she doesn’t give us any details about the percentages of recommended daily allowances, we can tell you that Soul Eater, the latest hit series from Funimation, is 100% awesome.

If you’ve been to an anime convention in the last year or so, chances are you’ve already witnessed the phenomenon that is Soul Eater. Starting its tour of our shores as a manga serialized in Yen Press, the series went on to be collected into volumes, giving U.S. fans a taste of what the process is normally like in Japan as a title gains popularity. It exploded onto the con scene, with hundreds of cosplayers taking part in some of the biggest photo shoots I’ve ever seen. Truly, the ability of a series to generate this kind of buzz before ever being released here is amazing, and it was hard to go to a convention last year and not run into several Maka’s, Soul’s or Stein’s, or even an Excalibur. Yes, there were Excaliburs, God help us. Now, the anime is here, and it’s poised to take the franchise to new heights of popularity.

The world of Soul Eater is, admittedly, a bit strange, with skull castles, candles as big as sky scrapers, a grotesque laughing sun, and a moon whose teeth drip blood. If Jack Skellington has a getaway cottage somewhere outside of Halloweentown, it’s probably here. Against this darkly whimsical background, we meet our cast.

The first three episodes comprise a Prologue, introducing the main characters, and giving a feel for the offbeat world of the show. Right away, we meet Soul and Maka, who are students at the Death Meister Soul Academy. Soul is a “weapon”. Literally. He can turn into a giant scythe, and Maka is his “Meister”, who wields him. In short order, we learn it is their goal to collect the souls of 99 evil humans, plus one witch’s soul, at which point Soul will become a Death Scythe, or ultimate weapon. At the series outset, they have already managed to collect the 99 human souls. Now they just need the soul of one witch. It seems we will be spared the usual “collect the crystals” motif, but then a mishap with a magical pussy causes them to lose everything, and they have to start over.

Episodes two and three introduce more sets of Meisters and Weapons. In episode two we meet Black Star, a dark assassin, who loves to brag — but really sucks at being a ninja. Black Star’s idea of sneaking up on someone unfortunately involves describing — very loudly — the process of sneaking up on them, then jumping out and shouting how awesome he is to announce his presence. His weapon is the beautiful, long suffering Tsubaki, who can transform into a double sickle and chain, as well as a giant shuriken, and even a smoke bomb.

Episode three introduces us to Death the Kid, Death’s son, who instead of a grim reaper’s sickle uses a pair of matched pistols, named Liz and Patty. The only problem is that “Kid”, as he’s called, is hopelessly OCD, to the point that he’s often paralyzed by his need to make everything perfectly symmetrical, and in their human forms, Liz and Patty are different heights, and have different bra sizes, which causes Kid to lose a lot of time worrying about their boobs, as well as other, much smaller things, like whether the picture in the living room might be crooked, or if he remembered to properly fold the toilet paper.

None of this wackiness is ever explained. We never learn, for example, why some of the characters can turn into weapons, why the sun makes that creepy laughing sound, or the moon drips blood, or why the heck Excalibur is so damn annoying. But in some weird way, it all works.

The action scenes are breathtaking, with fight choreography that would be commendable in the best of martial arts flicks. The art is a bit more polished than that of the manga, which was originally published by Square Enix. I find myself wishing they would produce an anime of Chrono Trigger that looked this good. The style is something of a departure from more traditional anime art, and looks a bit, dare I say, cartoonish (cartoon is a dirty word to anime fans, like saying “shine” in Japanese, which is like saying the f-word in English, but that’s another matter) — but it suits the show well.

The music for the series is eclectic, ranging from rock to hip-hop to classical. The opening theme, “resonance”, is energetic j-rock, and together with the opening animation, perfectly sets the mood for the show. It’s by T.M. Revolution, later known as Abingdon Boys School, who’ve also done themes for D. Gray Man and Darker Than Black. The ending, “I Wanna Be”, is pure punk, from the appropriately named STANCE PUNKS, who sound something like a Japanese version of My Chemical Romance. STANCE PUNKS have also been featured on the openings of Naruto.

The release of a hot title like Soul Eater is obviously a big deal for Funimation, and that’s reflected in the all star cast. Maka is voiced by none other than Laura Bailey, who has become something of a grand dame of the voice acting world, with appearances as Keiko in Yu Yu Hakusho, Tohru Honda in Fruits Basket, Lust in Fullmetal Alchemist, and both Ayaka and Evangeline in Negima. To fans who’ve followed her work on other titles, its quite humorous to hear the voice of Tohru utter lines like, “I’m going to take your soul!”, but as always, the inimitable Bailey turns in an A++ performance.

Her partner and title character, Soul Eater Evans, is played by Micah Solusod, who was also Malek in Blassreiter. While Solusod may not boast a resume as long as Bailey’s (few can), you could never tell from the performance. Soul’s voice is solid, and matches the character perfectly. Loud mouthed Black Star is voiced by Brittney Karbowski, who was Aoba in Jinki and Riful in Claymore. While casting a woman as the seiyuu for a male role is fairly common in Japan, the practice is not quite as wide spread here in the US. Karbowski’s voice is obviously feminine at the show’s outset, which I found a bit distracting, but several episodes in, it was no longer a problem. His partner, Tsubaki, gets her voice from Monica Rial, who thankfully doesn’t suffer from any of the multiple personality disorders she has as Momoko in Sgt. Frog.

Death the Kid is voiced by Todd Haberkorn, and in his OCD melt downs one can hear a hint of his tantrums as Watanuki in xxxHOLiC. Sultry Yuko is here replaced by Liz (Jamie Marchi) and Patty (Cherami Leigh). Marchi recently appeared as Chloe in Spice and Wolf, and voices Aki in the aforementioned Sgt. Frog. Leigh is the voice of Tamaki in Bamboo Blade and the fiery Natsumi in Frog (again!) — two very good shows which should be making an appearance in a review coming soon to a column near you. Rounding things out are Chuck Huber (D. Gray Man, Frog) as the crazed Dr. Franken Stein, and Luci Christian (Full Metal Panic, Negima) as the evil witch, Medusa. Vic Mignogna makes an appearance as Maka’s womanizing but well meaning father, Spirit (is THIS how Edward Elric is going to grow up to be!?) and Troy Baker annoys us to death as Excalibur. Looking back on his roles as Gennosuke in both Basilisk and the live action Shinobi, and Abel in Trinity Blood, who could have known? John Swasey lends his voice to Death, who runs the academy the students attend. Swasey is Gendo Ikari in the recent Evangelion 1.01 and the director’s cut of the original NGE series. If you want some especially mind breaking trivia, he was also the Announcer and Narrator of Dragon Half!

If Soul Eater has any downside to it (apart from Excalibur shouting “Fools!”, and demanding five hour story parties), its that the overall tenor of the series is a bit juvenile. The characters all have their own pet words or catch phrases, like Soul saying “cool”, or Black Star talking about what a “Big guy” he’s going to be, and after a while, that can be annoying. Not as annoying as Black Star in general, but then, nothing is as annoying as Black Star (except the afore-mentioned Excalibur). Watching an episode of Soul Eater, I feel transported back to Saturday mornings of old. But then, that’s its strength, too. While cerebral tails like Spice and Wolf harbor a certain “seinen sensibility” to them, Soul Eater is summer blockbuster fun, with lots of action, a touch of vulgar humor, and some fanservice to boot, and coming to us in the chilly month of February, its a welcome winter warm up.

AniMania: ICHI Review

It’s 2010, and while there will be plenty of great anime in the coming weeks and months, AniMania is starting the new year with something a little different by taking a look at the live action sword drama, “Ichi”.

“Ichi” is the latest in the long line of works to draw on the Zatoichi blind swordsman mythos, but with a twist. Ichi, the title character, is a beautiful swords-WOMAN, who travels from village to village in search of the only man to ever show her kindness. Along the way, she meets Toma, who at first comes across as a hopeless bungler, dependent on Ichi to get him out of one sticky situation after another. But as time goes on, we learn that he is hiding a tragic past. There just might be more to this clumsy, would-be samurai than his humorous antics let on.

Live action is nothing new, of course. Whether you think of Bruce Lee’s kung fu classics, or Kurosawa’s masterpiece, “The Seven Samurai”, Asian cinema has long held a formidable niche in the US film market. While anime fans might seem hopelessly bound to the 2-D world, you’d be hard pressed to find a serious Otaku who wasn’t familiar with titles like “Azumi” or “Shinobi”. And in recent years, big productions like “Hero” and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” have brought this former niche more and more into a main stream spotlight. This is a great development because it has helped to pave the way for more titles to come to our shores.

Live action, as represented in the US, spans as wide a range as our own, native cinema. At one end there are fabulous, high end productions like “The Hidden Blade” — a highly awarded samurai tale that is more about romance and drama than hacking or slashing — or the lavish settings of “The Banquet”, which is a Chinese re-telling of Hamlet. At the other end, there are somewhat lower budget, yet wonderfully quirky films like “The Bride With White Hair” or the cult classic, “Mr. Vampire.” And then there’s that live action of DOA, but we won’t go there. So where does “Ichi” fit into all of this?

Somewhere in the middle. Clearly, the story takes itself seriously at least part of the time. The themes of warmth and loneliness are striking, as is the irony of Ichi’s life as a goze, or blind, wandering minstrel. She makes her living by entertaining men, but if she were to ever consummate her love for anyone, she would be severely punished. But some of the scenes are downright campy. When I watched Toma trying over and over again to draw his sword, I got the impression that surely the cast and crew had to know how silly this looked. The action was pretty slick, albeit unrealistic, and one of the villains sported such wild hair, it made me want to cue up “Afro Gunsou” and watch the frogs disco dance. The verdict? If you like flicks like “Azumi” or “Shinobi”, you’ll probably enjoy this film as well.

Haruka Ayase, the actress who portrays Ichi, won the 2008 Nikan Sports Film Award for Best Actress. She has appeared in a number movies, including “Happy Flight” and “Oppai Volleyball”, as well as J-Dramas (Jin, MR. BRAIN), and has the requisite forays into music with her singles, “Period”, “Kosaten Days” and “Hikokigumo”. She also has the requisite insane fan following, that dubious badge of honor that goes along with being a star in Japan, or anywhere else in the world.

You might recognize Shidou Nakamura, who plays the head villain, Banki, from his role in Clint Eastwood’s “Letters From Iwo Jima”, or from his role as the sword expert who faced off against Jet Li in “Once Upon A Time In China”. He has also appeared in Red Cliff I and II, and is the voice of Ryuk in the original Japanese version of Death Note.

Ichi’s director, Fumihiko Sori, also directed the sci-fi anime, Vexille, and the comedy film, “Ping Pong.” Sori was also the producer for the 2004 release of Appleseed.

But what really steals the show is the music. Lisa Gerrard has long had an underground following for her work in the eclectic duo, Dead Can Dance, and that haunting, otherworldly sound comes through in the score for this film. From the moment you hear the first strains of the opening, you know you’re in for something special. Considering Ichi’s life as a wandering minstrel, this emphasis on the music is entirely in keeping with the rest of the story.

“Ichi” seems poised to take its place in the venerable canon of cool live action movies any self respecting Otaku should be aware of, so if you’re needing a break from animation, give this film a try.

AniMania: SPICE & WOLF

Do You Look At the World Through Apple Eyes?

It’s been a long time coming, but Holo is finally here, and despite fan anxiety over name changes, a mix up of release dates, and a dubious choice of cover for the associated light novel, the wolf girl proves to have been more than worth the wait!

I’ve been excited about this series ever since seeing it in fandub. My friend/ Go teacher/ co-conspirator in world domination recommended it to me — more like demanded I watch it or ELSE! So I did, taking in half of the first season in one sitting. It cost me a lot of sleep, and I’ve been thanking/blaming him ever since.

If you missed our preview back in June, or like me, you can’t really remember back that far, or for that matter, much that happened before last weekend, Spice and Wolf tells the tale of a traveling merchant, Lawrence, who dreams of one day settling down and opening his own shop. For now, alas, he is a lowly peddler, traveling from town to town in his wooden cart, with only a horse for company.

Then, one day (these kinds of things always happen ONE day, did you ever notice?) he meets Holo (who was Horo in Japanese, but the fans will just have to deal with it), the beautiful (and naked) wolf girl who has been serving as the resident harvest deity for one of the villages Lawrence visits. Being a deity is thankless work, and with all the recent advances in science and technology, the townspeople don’t really need Holo’s help with the crops anymore, so she decides to strike out on her own by stowing away in Lawrence’s cart.

That’s where Lawrence discovers her, snuggled up (and still naked) underneath a pile of furs he is taking to market. Some humorous bickering ensues, and eventually the two strike a bargain. Lawrence will help Holo get back to her old home in the north, and in exchange, she will help him in his business dealings. With any luck, he just might be able to finally open that shop, settle down — maybe even get married. But in the world of shady merchant guilds, intrigue among rival kingdoms, and an oppressive church, Lawrence and Holo are going to need a lot more than luck to survive.

As that description should clue you in, this is NOT your typical medieval fantasy story. Forget sword and sorcery; Spice and Wolf is more about relationships, economics (terrible how the two go hand in hand, isn’t it?) religion, and social theory. Heady stuff from a girl with a bushy tail. And just so you know, Holo considers her tail to be her best feature.

The series has something of a seinen feel, though the term isn’t completely accurate, as it tends to conjure images of bloody samurai action or yakuza drama. The term “boys’ shoujo” has been used to describe romance stories aimed at a male audience. Spice and Wolf would be better described as shoujo for men, or anyone else who appreciates good storytelling. The journey to the north provides a backdrop, and the various subplots keep the action moving, but the real focus of the story is the growing relationship between Holo and Lawrence.

The result is a very well crafted tail (bad pun completely intended) of romance, told in subtle detail. The pacing is slow, deft, wonderfully rich. Many of the themes have a distinctly Japanese sensibility to them, such as the uneasy relationship between the present and the past, or between nature and technology. These are blended seamlessly with a very believable Western medieval setting.

Almost every line in the series is worth quoting — that’s how well written the dialogue is. The art and music leave nothing to be desired. The characters and settings are simply beautiful, and the music boasts such nuance — even the snippets of folk tunes that play on the different DVD menus are worth sitting down to listen to. The opening theme, “Tabi no Tochu”, by Natsumi Kiyoura, is haunting and pensive, as it plays behind scenes of Holo remembering the far north. “Ringo Biyori ~The Wolf Whistling Song” by Rocky Chack, is considerably more light hearted as it closes out each episode.

To top it all off, Spice and Wolf has a very well seasoned voice cast. Brina Palencia gets the star role as Holo, the wise wolf. You may recognize her as the voice of Juliet from Romeo x Juliet, or Rei from Evangelion 1.01, or even Yue from Negima. You probably won’t recognizer her as Tamama from Sgt. Frog, but trust us — it was her. Palencia does an amazing job as Holo. The role demands an incredibly wide range, requiring her to be playful, angry, seductive, melancholy, sometimes only moments apart, and sometimes all at once! Her performance serves to further cement her place as a star in Funimation’s sky.

Playing opposite Palencia, as the “Spice” in the show’s title, is J. Michael Tatum. Holo brings plenty of spice by herself, but Tatum is one saucy fellow. He’s played Nagi Springfield, Negi’s mischievous magic school dropout father from Negima (not to mention Evangeline’s love interest — what a dangerous role THAT is). And he no doubt got lots of requests as Kyoya in Ouran High School Host Club. Tatum brought that same brooding quality to his role as Doumeki in xxxHOLiC. Lawrence is a different character entirely, much more vulnerable and innocent, but one can’t be timid when dealing with Holo, after all, and so Tatum gets to show a lot of range as well. We’re still waiting to see if he uses his ninja skills he learned as Dororo, again from Sgt. Frog.

The supporting cast sports some great names as well. Jamie Marchi, who was smoking hot as Aki Hinata (again with the Frogs — the invasion must be imminent) is no less alluring as Chloe. John Burgmeier, the voice of Shigure from Fruits Basket and Kurama from Yu Yu Hakusho, plays Zheren, and Leah Clark — the inimitable voice of Negima’s Nodoka, voices the shepherd girl, Nora. Another Sohma, in this case Yuki, shares his VA with SW, with Eric Vale playing the part of Weiz.

After watching Spice and Wolf, you may forever look at the world with apple eyes, but that’s okay. Just don’t eat any apples that Holo has her eyes on.

AniMania: Evangelion 1.01 You Are (Not) Alone

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This week, one of the greatest anime series of all time will be revisited. On Tuesday, November 17th, Funimation is scheduled to release Evangelion 1.01. Subtitled “You Are (Not) Alone”, this new chapter marks a major reversioning for the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise.

Eva has been getting reworked from the beginning. The ending for the original series drew a firestorm of controversy, with its lackluster production and anti-climactic conclusion. “Death and Rebirth” and “End of Evangelion”, two feature length films meant to provide a more satisfying resolution, did more to fan the flames than to quench them.

In the meantime, there have been no end of spin offs — some official, some totally fan based — which involve everything from Angelic Days’ retelling of the series from the dream world point of view Shinji imagined in the conclusion to the original series to weird little productions like the “Ayanami Raising Simulator”, a dating sim where the player must successfully bring up one of those many Rei clones. Strange, but come on, who doesn’t want their own Rei clone?

But Eva 1.01 is no mere clone. Described by its creators as a “rebuild”, this is a true reversioning of NGE. Chief Director Hideaki Anno departed from GAINAX to create a new production company for the project. In a stunning blend of old and new, the studio revisited key animations and other material from the original series, reworking them into a genuinely “new” version that still retains the unmistakable feel of its source. The result is breathtaking: You Are (Not) Alone looks and FEELS like the original, only BETTER.

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If you’re not familiar with the plot of Evangelion, I’d really like to know: 1) what rock you’ve been hiding under; 2) do you have wi-fi there; and 3) is there plane or ferry service? It might be a nice place to visit. Eva has provided the basis for so many other works that even if you haven’t seen it, you probably more or less know the storyline, but just in case, NGE revolves around a global crisis which threatens to wipe out mankind’s very existence. Mysterious, otherworldly beings known only as “angels” have visited the earth, nearly causing human extinction. The only thing capable of stopping the angels is NOT armor clad babes with swords (that was last week), but rather, the EVAs: giant, biomechanical robots, which for some strange reason can only be piloted by teenagers. Must be the hormones.

Joking aside, Evangelion isn’t just another giant robot show — a strong case could be made that it is THE giant robot show. But even if you don’t like mecha series, it deserves to be watched. The real appeal of NGE is it’s unbelievably deep character development. A lot of mech series have just enough plot to justify the giant robot battles; with Eva, it’s the other way around. The series is very much character driven, and in that context, the battles, though frequent, don’t seem silly or contrived. There’s plenty for the technophile, too. The nuts and bolts of the EVA’s workings, though not fully explained, are shown in enough detail to give the impression that these are truly functional machines, and not just fantasy with a thin sci-fi coating. And if that wasn’t enough, the series is steeped in religious symbolism and philosophy. All of this combines to make Evangelion 1.01 live up to its claim to be an “experience not to be missed.”

The release takes the form of a feature length film, with a running time of 98 minutes, in which it retells the first six episodes of the old NGE series. With so many great scenes, any cuts were liable to come at the expense of some truly great material, but the editing was judicious. The resulting product feels more like one episode than the better part of two hours. Future releases will take the same format, with Evangelion 2.0 subtitled “You Can (Not) Advance”. And not to worry — Misato promises there will be even more fanservice.

The new Eva comes with a new voice cast, and as an A-list title, it’s no surprise that 1.01 sports a whole galaxy of stars, with Spike Spencer reprising his role as NGE’s reluctant, self loathing hero, Shinji Ikari. Allison Keith returns as Misato Katsuragi, and John Swasey, who voiced Shinji’s father, Gendo, in the director’s cut of the original series, is as heartless as ever.

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All of these performances are solid, but one of the biggest surprises comes from hearing Brina Palencia as the voice of the enigmatic Rei Ayanami! Palencia’s cool, understated demeanor, which felt so out of place for Juliet in RomeoxJuliet, is perfect for Rei, and even more impressive in light of the sound bytes from her upcoming role in Spice and Wolf, where she manages to make Horo (I just CAN’T say “Holo”) one spicy wolf, indeed. Colleen Clinkenbeard leaves the supernatural world of XXXHOLiC to don the lab coat of the exceedingly scientific Ritsuko. Notably missing is Miss Asuka Langley-Soryu. The feisty redhead won’t be appearing until Eva 2.0. As you read this, Asuka is probably busy giving someone an earful about her lack of screen time in the current release.

Along with the reworked animation and some new additions to the voice cast, the “rebuild”, as the studio has dubbed the project in the mission statement included with the DVD (which, incidentally, reads like it was written by Rei Ayanami) features a totally new ending theme. “Fly Me To The Moon” was getting a little old after so many episodes. As the credits roll, we are treated to the unearthly sounds of “Beautiful World” by none other than Hikaru Utada. You may recognize Utada’s voice from “Sanctuary”, which featured prominently in the soundtrack of Square Enix’s Kingdom Hearts series. Utada, who is coming to the States for a limited tour early next year, also provided a remix of her cover of “Fly Me To The Moon” for an Eva 1.01 trailer. A remix of “Beautiful World” will be part of the soundtrack for 2.0.

If you’d like to see more about Evangelion 1.01, check out Funimation’s web site for the show at http://funimation.com/evangelion/ for trailers, character bios, downloads, and other cool stuff.

That’s all for this week. Next week will be decidedly more low tech, with a review of the kendo drama, Bamboo Blade. What happens when an all girls kendo team must fight for honor, justice, and their sensei’s shot at a year’s worth of free sushi? You’ll just have to tune in to find out.

(Since last time, E. Douglas has acquired not one, but TWO more Rei figures. Classic Plug Suit Rei and Sexy Santa Rei are adjusting well to their new home, and should be ready to pilot soon. But even your humble columnist does not own one of those weird Rei mermaid figures. At least, not yet . . .)

AniMania: CLAYMORE

animania_claymore

I had seen Claymore on the shelf at my local entertainment store for a while, but I had avoided watching it until now, mostly because I feared it was going to fall into that whole “girl with sword” stereotype. Not that I have anything AGAINST girls with swords; I am a HUGE Motoko fanboy, so that should tell you where I stand on the matter. For me, it’s a question of sincerity.

There is a huge glut of shows out there that feature girls with big swords, girls with big guns, but really, these shows are more about girls with big — well, you can guess where I’m going with this. Not that Motoko isn’t sufficiently well endowed — dodges sword attack — but so many of these would-be “tough chick” heroines couldn’t fight their way out of a wet paper bag. They aren’t convincing. Having big boobies is NOT a magical ability, and the fact that your top somehow keeps coming off doesn’t mean you have superpowers. So when I saw Claymore on the shelf, I passed it over, thinking it was just another entry in the long line of boobs ‘n blades. Man, was I wrong.

My first clue that there might be more going on here came when I opened the packaging of the complete box set. Along with the three thin pack volumes, I found not one, but TWO books of art and character descriptions. It would be hard to describe my excitement. In these tough economic times, such extras have almost become a thing of the past. The anime industry was feeling the sting of a major contraction long before the rest of the economy tanked, and one of the sad realities of this was that certain painful cuts had to be made. It used to be that even shows which were only mildly popular came with a whole boatload of stuff. Now, about all you get is the disc and some trailers, and maybe some textless openings and endings. Getting two art books was really something. I popped in the disc, and sure enough, the extra features section was LOADED. In addition to the requisite trailers and opening and ending animation, the first disc also sports an Episode 01 commentary and cast auditions. The other discs include more commentary and staff interviews.

All this boded well. I hadn’t been so excited about a series that I wasn’t already a fan of for quite a while. If this much trouble had been taken in the packaging and bonuses for the show, then something must be up. I watched, and was hooked.

Claymore is set in a medieval fantasy world that is plagued by horrible demons called “Yoma.” The Yoma go on murderous rampages, killing and eating for human flesh. The only ones capable of fighting these monsters are the super human warriors known as Claymores. Giving their name to the title of the show, the Claymore are both respected and feared, because while they are the only thing strong enough to challenge the Yoma menace, their strength comes at a terrible price. A Claymore gets her power from being part Yoma.

Of course, it doesn’t hurt that the Claymores are all beautiful women. Our heroine, Clare, is quite the bombshell. But here again, this show defies the stereotype. The female cast is not at all warm or jiggley. Instead they are cold and remote, wrapped in layers of steel armor that give them a hardened, inhuman appearance, with personalities to match. The art for the series is exquisite, rich in detail that makes the characters and their world look and feel real. It embodies everything that’s good about the comic book aesthetic, where just about every shot could be framed and stand on its own.

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The show shares Clare’s philosophy on violence. The action starts early, and never stops. Thankfully, the same is true of the plot as well. The story opens with a scene reminiscent of Kurosawa, with the villagers desperately trying to decide what to do about the demon which is terrorizing them. The headman announces he has sent for a Claymore, a prospect which is almost as frightening as the Yoma itself. Clare arrives; bad-assery ensues. In the process of killing the monster, she inadvertently takes on the young boy Raki as her charge. Just when things are threatening to get warm and fuzzy, we learn another horrible truth about life as a Claymore.

Because they draw their powers from being part Yoma, all Claymore are doomed to one day transform into Yoma themselves, at which time they must be killed. The usual practice when a Claymore feels she is losing the ability to control the beast within is to send for an executioner to dispatch her before she transforms, so that she can die as a human, without becoming the thing that she hates. The grim task is usually carried out by a close friend. This gives the show a very dark, desperate feeling. Between the action and the drama, the show keeps up a brisk pace. The plot branches out, introducing other elements, and, of course, other Claymores.

If the series has a weakness — and even steely Claymores have a couple of chinks in their armor — it would be its willingness to occasionally indulge in large binges of talkiness, and some really melodramatic dialogue. The early episodes are fraught with long expositions which do an effective but sometimes tedious job of explaining the world of the show. Some of the phrases wear thin from overuse, like the townspeople’s habit of calling Claymores “silver-eyed witches.” Such problems, however, can be overlooked. Language often suffers in translation, and the world of Claymore is filled with moments of such rigid stillness and brooding silence, punctuated at frequent intervals with sudden violence, that any spoken words might feel out of place here.

The casting, however, is dead on. Stephanie Young does an excellent job of making Clare suitably chilly while maintaining hints of warmth. And if you like femme fatales who know how to use their weapons, you might also like her performance as Mana in Negima. Swords, guns, whatever, as long as you know how to kick ass. Todd Haberkorn, the voice of Allen in D. Gray Man and Death the Kid in the upcoming Soul Eater release, plays as Raki, the young man whom Clare befriends. The rest of the cast contains many talented and suitably deadly ladies, with various other Claymores being voiced by Brina Palencia (RomeoxJuliet, Spice and Wolf), Caitlin Glass (Fullmetal Alchemist, Negima), Christine Auten (Air, Tokyo Majin), and Monica Rial (Azumanga Daioh, Witchblade). If you have the chance, check out the new Soul Eater clips of Monica as Tsubaki opposite Brittney Kabowski as Black Star!

You’ll have to wait until next year for the release of Soul Eater, but you’ll only have to wait until the next column for more AniMania, so be sure to check back soon.

AniMania: THE WALLFLOWER

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A couple of weeks ago, AniMania ran a spotlight on Welcome To The NHK. While NHK is a great series, admittedly, it is aimed mostly at a male audience, what with all the jokes about internet porn and dating sims. In light of this, I thought it would be nice to give the girls a treat (more of a trick or treat, actually) and highlight a series that caters to the ladies.

The Wallflower is a harem show — for girls. The first clue to this is the cover, which features four naked boys, covered only by rose petals. If that didn’t tip you off, the opening animation features the same four boys, still naked, lying in a circle around our female star (also naked). Nudity aside — and there isn’t much of it in the actual show — The Wallflower tells the tale of four young bishounen (impossibly handsome men) who live in a mansion, courtesy of the extremely wealthy and eccentric Auntie. Life is idyllic, and consists mostly of picking roses from the garden and complaining about being swooned over by too many fangirls, until one day their rich hostess announces that she has a challenge for them.

The wealthy widow has a niece, whom she wants to see turned into a perfect lady. If the boys succeed, they can live in the mansion rent free, with all expenses paid, but if they fail, their rent will triple. Being bold of heart, and impossibly good looking, they accept, and wait in the garden to meet their new subject. Enter Sunako.

And Sunako doesn’t just make an entrance — she rises up from the ground like something out of The Ring, terrifying the boys with her appearance, her surly attitude, and her total lack of fashion sense. After freaking out at their radiant beauty, she rudely dismisses them, and shuts herself inside her room. It’s at this point that the fearless foursome realize their little bet might be more of a challenge than they had bargained for.

On one level, The Wallflower is clearly a harem show. Ladies, take your pick. Kyohei is the resident bad boy, as foul tempered as he is handsome, and always fighting or complaining about something, usually food. Takenaga is Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome. He’s also the intellectual sophisticate of the bunch. Ranmaru is the resident playboy of the group, known for his wild outfits and raging innuendo, while Yuki is something of the group pet, a kind of boyish, gothic shota counterpart to the whole goth lolita trend.

The series comes to us from Nabeshin, creator of the legendary Excel Saga, and Wallflower has all of the wackyness you’d expect from that lineage. The show leans heavily on various conventions and stock elements. Every episode, Sunako gets lessons on the so-called “Road To Womanhood”, which is introduced by tribal screams from dancing natives in loincloths beside a giant gong. Episode introductions and previews are given by Hiroshi, who is Sunako’s beloved anatomical mannequin, and quite possibly one of the strangest mascots of all time. Another regular appearance comes from the Goth Loli girls, who look about forty years too old to be considered anything approaching Loli, and lampoon the whole gothic subculture.

But when it comes to being goth, Sunako is the real deal. She makes Winona Ryder look bright and perky (or should I say Helena Bonham Carter, who seems to have become the favored darkling these days?) Sunako’s room is littered with horror movies, skeletons, books on torture and death, and anatomical specimens. Early on, we learn that Sunako turned to the dark side after being utterly rejected by the object of her freshman year crush. Retreating inward, she decided that the best way to insulate herself from more pain was to accept that she was hopelessly ugly and unlovable. Thus excused from any attempts at wordly beauty, she was free to pursue her own macabre interests. But Sunako has a secret. Unknown to everyone, including Sunako herself, she is actually very beautiful . . .

The premise for the show is surprisingly touching, dealing with issues like rejection, self esteem, and questions about the nature of true beauty, as opposed to the purely superficial. Like so many really great shows, The Wallflower somehow manages to reach beyond its initial silliness to strike some really deep chords. But some of the conventions wear a bit thin after a while.

One of the major cinematic techniques that pops up throughout the entire series is that for the VAST majority of the time, Sunako appears in chibi, as a super-deformed little blob. The technique is used to emphasize Sunako’s own sense of inhumanity, especially alongside the boys, who are always impossibly handsome. Only occasionally do we get to see Sunako in her true, full sized form. This technique is taken from the original manga, and while it works, it also gets a little annoying. I would have liked to see a progression where Sunako appears more and more in her true form over the course of the show, until at the very end, she is “human” the entire time. This would have greatly increased the dramatic effect — and been a bonus for male viewers. I know I said the show was mostly for the ladies, but Sunako is HOT. When she’s not a little blob. Which is most of the time. But those rare moments when we do get to see what she actually looks like, however few and far between, are worth hitting the pause button for.

The series’ other weak point is that it suffers from that same second half slump that troubles so many anime titles. The first season is perfect: the jokes are funny; the content is edgy, rife with risque humor that regularly goes over the top. The opening and ending themes, “slow” and “Carnation”, both by Kiyoharu, are suitably brooding and moody, with an authentic gothic rock feel. Unfortunately, things taper off for the second half of the series. While we do get some really nice scenes, like the introduction of Sunako’s parents, or the real explanation of why Auntie is so eccentric, and why she travels so much, the second half just doesn’t have many moments that are laugh out loud funny. The ending is sweet, but hurried, and obviously leaves the door open for the rest of the story, either in the ongoing manga, or for a possible second season. And the beautiful, haunting guitar of “Carnation” is replaced by the sounds of BON-BON BLANCO’s “Changing”, which is a good tune, but feels out of place for this series.

The acting, however, is top notch all the way through, with relative new comer Heather Alacorn (Marin from Magikano) turning in a great performance as Sunako. Josh Grelle (Kaze no Stigma, Venus Vs. Virus) does a perfect job of making Kyohei brooding and ill tempered yet still sympathetic. Vic Mignogna (do we really have to TELL you he was the voice of Edward Elric?) gives a solid performance as Takenaga, and Chris Patton (FMA, NHK) seems made for a role like Ranmaru. And as for Greg Ayers, in addition to teaching magic to school girls in Negima and programming dating sims in Welcome to the NHK, he also voices Yuki. I’m still waiting for the Hellsing remake where they have Greg do the voice of Alucard — I know he could do it! But for now, he’s staying in his usual character.

Wallflower is a lot of crazy fun with the occasional detour into some pretty serious territory, and its just in time for Halloween, so even with a less than stellar ending, I still give it the thumbs up. Be sure to stay tuned for the upcoming Claymore review. Funimation has really pulled out all the stops for this one, including a return of those dearly beloved extra features, so watch for it, coming soon to a column near you.