The Search Continues On: Blake (Kind of) Makes Another List

So as many of you know, summer for me has consisted of sitting around and not doing a whole lot except watching shows, playing games, and reading. Earlier today I was reminded of this post that I made a bit over a year ago now (as a fun note, my prediction of Pluto being the second manga series I'd own came true). Probably because I had to initially make a list to write that post, since then I have actually been keeping an up-to-date list of everything Japanese I have read or watched. After finishing Soul Eater today, I kind of realized how large this list has grown in the past 13 or so months. What was originally 24 items has now

more than doubled its length to around 54 items, assuming I haven't forgotten anything. So ya, considering I did have things like classes and the occasional social life, way more hours of media consumed than I had consciously realized (considering this doesn't include books and non-Japanese shows...). 

My initial plan was to try and re-do a top ten list, but even just re-glancing at my original list, I realized how ridiculously hard it would be to balance the "classic" top-ten list with new contenders. So rather than attempt this challenge, I have decided to go for the easy-out and just go with a top 10 out of the new items on the list (which starts with Abenobashi on the picture, if you're curious). Here goes nothing.

Unending Appetite: Mini-Review Rampage #6

Although I have managed to cause a significant dent in the Beast that is my backlog of things to review, it still remains strong. Thus I soldier on, maintain a brave facade despite my trembling within, and continue to do what must be done. Be warned: the following set contains much more raw emotion that the previous few installment.

You have been warned.

The Beast Hungers: Mini-review Rampage #5

We can't stop here, I'm on a roll... or something. No introduction needed, just more reviews!

The Road (Book + Movie)

I somehow managed to avoid the big craze when The Road became super popular and talked about, and all I managed to hear was that it was "incredibly depressing" and really good at the same time. Thus I decided to finally pick up the book, and after finishing it watch the movie (because yay Viggo Mortensen). It tells the story of a man and his son in a post-apocalyptic world, walking along the titular world while trying not to die. My impression of the book: overall, kind of meh. As a disclaimer, I've never found horror stories actually scary, and while it was kind of an interesting premise, I never felt an emotional tug at any point during the father and son's journey. Perhaps it's because I had just come off reading some much more depressing novels (Song of Ice and Fire anyone?) but I honestly did not find the book compelling at all. Part of it was that it was a little too vague, which I know was intentional, another part is that I really didn't like McCarthy's style in this book. It felt needlessly "artsy," and that he was trying to be different just to be different. Overall it was pretty unmemorable and pretty forgettable.

The same goes for the movie as well. Despite a strong presence from Mortensen, the movie follows the book incredibly closely, and suffers for the same reasons. Overall I think both were overhyped way beyond their actual value; I honestly wouldn't bother.

Spurred Into Motion: Mini-review Rampage #4

Because a certain other Blogger has gone back to blogging daily, plus the fact that I am currently incredibly bored, I decided I should start working through my (scarily large) backlog of things I've been meaning to review.

So once again, we find ourselves facing the jaws of the beast: the start of another Mini-review Rampage. In order to try and post more frequently (but no promises!) I'll probably be restricting myself to 5-10 items per post, otherwise I'd have a 20 item post, not counting the 40+ albums I have listened to this semester and which will probably be receiving separate, music-only review posts. And so, without further ado:

Magical Giant Robots: A Review of Broken Blade

Broken Blade is a 6-part OVA set in the (theoretically) far-future/alternate universe where everyone has "magic" and control "quartz," which is all an excuse for giant mechs fighting one another as our hero country attempts to fend off an invasion. We follow one young man, who is an incredibly rare Squib, and his adventures in a special, old golem that doesn't require magic to operate.

I probably sound flippant with the preceding statements, but that's due to one of my chief complaints about the show: it sets up a very interesting, very different background, but doesn't really explore it all that much, or at least not to the extent I wished it did. This problem is certainly not unique to this series; for instance, I would love to see a complete history of A Song of Ice and Fire, and it's almost frustrating how the past is only alluded to bits and pieces at a time. However, for whatever reason, this problem felt a lot stronger with Broken Blade, and wasn't even limited to the world that was developed.

With that said, Broken Blade has a lot to offer. To begin with, it's super pretty; very detailed world, well animated, and mechs that actually show the damage they suffer. The actions scenes are fluid and exciting, and intermixed well with non-combat scenes (with the occasional obligatory blatant fan-service á la Sigyn). The dialogue is well-written, the characters decently well-developed, and the plot isn't too straightforward.

All of the episodes worked well as episodes, with the exception of 5. For whatever reason that one felt pretty empty and meaningless to me, and I really didn't enjoy it; with that said, it's been explained to me that some questionable choices were made regarding that episode. And in addition, the final episode made up for the failures of 5, bringing the series back to better standing.

If anything, this show did remind me of why I usually prefer to watch shows after they are complete; it was sometimes easy to forget who was who or what was currently going on, especially during the long break between 4 and 5. Adding to this confusion is that the mechs aren't clearly colored to be one side or the other; they are definitely differentiated, but between the different models and squads, it's not always easy to tell at a quick glance which side is which and this is only exacerbated by forgetfulness between episodes. I'm sure if I re-watched the series as a whole this would disappear to a large extent, but I do wish the mechs' allegiance was a bit more clearly defined.

Again, my chief complaint with the show is it not carrying through with some of its 'promises' earlier on. The show sets up a number of interesting questions at the beginning: a love triangle, and old friend turned traitor, other issues regarding the past, the current political landscape of the world. They're all quite interesting and serve to draw the viewer into the universe quite well. The problem is that by the end of last episode, most of these issues have not even been begun to be addressed. Presumably this is leaving the ending open for future content, but the only thing really resolved at the end of last episode is that the kingdom has repelled the first invasion attempt... and that's it. All the other plot threads and questions about the future are left completely open and ambiguous. It's not bad, per se, but it's kind of frustrating to have a series "done" when it feels merely like a prelude to a greater work. If they do end up making more, I suspect this complaint will seem pointless, but at the current moment it's somewhat irking, especially because of how great a job they writers did setting this up to the point where I actually care.

If you're looking for a good action series, especially one with a Arthurian vibe or giant robots, Broken Blade is an excellent short series to pick up, as long as you're ok with many things being left unclear. It has a lot to offer and I have no serious complaints with the series as a whole (except for episode 5) and any faults it does have are eclipsed by its excellent execution of its other facets.

Oh, and naked girls in bed. Lots of that, as well :-P

-HTMC

Penance for Your Sins: A Review of Pet Shop of Horrors

I'm not quite sure how well-known or popular the manga series Pet Shop of Horrors is. Early in high-school I borrowed the first few volumes from one of my friend manga-sources, and quite enjoyed it, although I never finished the entire series (I think I read about 4 books). Therefore, when I recently completely randomly came across the fact that there was a 4-episode OVA of the series, I was definitely intrigued since I had all but forgotten about the fun little series. After getting ahold of it, I sat down for the hour and twenty minutes the show took to watch.

Unstoppable: Mini-Review Rampage #3

So being summer, I find myself without any way to "productively" spend my time (emphasis added by parents) which results in a majority of my time still be spent in the consumption of media, which once again means I have a large back-log of things I've watched and want to write down my thoughts of.

I keep saying I'll make some posts that aren't reviews... but then I keep losing the motivation. I still have high hopes, though. Until then, though, enjoy my opinions on the following ten works. Pictures provided for your visual pleasure!

Return of Giant Backlog: Mini-review Rampage #2

So now that I'm home on break, I'm ripping through various media and finishing up and starting a lot of series. This naturally means I have consumed a large amount of games, music, books, and shows, and once again I've accumulated a large backlog of things that I want to get my thoughts down about, but don't necessarily feel I have enough to say to warrant a full post on its own (In retrospect, I could do one every other day and actually get in the habit of writing more often, but whatever). I promise more serious posts will eventually be coming around...eventually >_>.

Music, Guitars, and Subspace Transportation: FLCL & Scott Pilgrim

I recently watched a show that started by having a mysterious girl from another land show up, and the main character (somewhat immature) fell about in love with but took a while to realize it. The girl was pretty shy about her origins, had the strange ability to pull things from seemingly another dimension, and the ability to engage enemies enemies in close combat with an unconventional melee weapon.

Searching for a Thread: In which Blake makes a Top Ten List

So I recently finished watching FLCL, and when talking to people about how much I liked it. At one point I made the claim "It's not in my top 10--er, well at least not in the top 5" or something very similar to that. This caused me to start considering where my opinions on things actually stood in relation to one another. I mean naturally I prefer things more than others, but I had never really sat down and though what things were absolutely my favorites. It would be hard with things like books and movies, since the sheer amount of things I've read and watched at this point means just compiling a list in the first place would be a lot of effort.

However, I realized if I restrict myself purely to Japanese media, my job gets a lot easier. I thought it might be fun to make a top 10 list of manga, movies, and anime that I've enjoyed over the last few years, partially because I can and partially to see if I can discern any underlying threads why I like certain things.

A couple disclaimers. The first is I left out videogames on purpose. For one, I approach them a lot differently than I do other forms of entertainment, and in addition adding in videogames would add a looooot of titles to the list; for instance, on my desk I have 16 DS games, of which 14 are Japanese in origin.
The second disclaimer is that the following list only comprises series that I've completely finished. There are quite a number of works that I either gave up, couldn't finish since I didn't have access, or the series themselves have yet to come to a conclusion (such as Broken Blade, Hellsing, Hani-kimi, Wallflower, Bleach, etc).

Anyway, without further ado!

Our Angst Is Entertaining: A Review of Clone High

Quite unexpectedly one night a few weeks ago, when contemplating what leisurable activity to pursue next, Max decided quite spontaneously that we should view the first episode of the one-season series Clone High. The premise sounded interesting and Max in general gives very good recommendations, so we watched the show via Youtube.

The first show honestly wasn't a huge hit; I was entertained, but not blown away (as other series have done with their first episode). However, a couple of days later I had a strange urge to watch more, so I went on a whim and found the rest of the episodes and continued on. A few days later I had finished the last of the twelve episodes, and now I am here to give a review.

What About My Star: A Review of Macross Frontier: The False Songstress

As mentioned in the last post, today I was finally able to sit down and watch Macross Frontier: The False Songstress, the first MF movie. It was billed as a synopsis of the show with a significant amount of new animation, with a second film coming next year and serving as a sequel to the show. With these expectations in mind, and a positive review from Rome (who had watched it a few days prior) Max and I set out to see what if it was all it was cracked up to be.

[Many spoilers for the original series after the jump]

It's Long, Long Goodbye: A Review of (Rewatching) Macross Frontier

Although I only watched Macross Frontier for the first time last November, the fact that it almost instantly became one of my favorite series got me to convince Emma that she wanted to watch it this summer, so I find myself about 3/4 year later having finished watching the show for the second time, and figured I should post my impressions of the show again.

In short, the show lost none of its brilliance in a rewatching. The art is still fantastic, the characters deep, the music mesmerizing, and the story compelling. The only complaint I could possibly think of on the first watching was that the show takes about 10 episodes to really get going (but once it does it never stops, in a good way) and while that remains, it's a small price to pay for an outstanding series, and it remains the only flaw.

Things not Keikakudori: A Review of Death Note

When a couple of my friends enthusiastically recommended Death Note to me as a show, I saw no reason to not watch it. It was a relatively short series with a definitive end that was popular (although I knew very little about it) and my friends liked it. With that in mind, I set out to watch through the show.

First the positives. I like the main question posited by the show, namely the morality of using murder to achieve a peaceful society. The characters were interesting and relatively realistic, the art quality was pretty high, the voice acting good. The first few episodes were good enough to draw me in and not cause me to drop out right away, and since I got more than 10 episodes in, I was intent on finishing the show all the way through.