Darker Than Black

However, there is Darker than Black, and my illness conveniently laid me up in bed to finish the original series. Have to say, it was, uh, “better than it should be.” Light chuckle here because, putting the ridiculousness of that statement aside, it was just about as good as it should be. Tensai Okamura and Bones created something that is, in a way, very typically Bones — think RahXephon,  Eureka Seven and its red-headed stepsister Xam’d — in the way that the story was put together. The method: Create a compelling but mysterious world, and don’t reveal too much about its nature until near the climax. In some ways, it’s a cheap way of keeping the viewer hooked, but I can’t say I don’t prefer it to A Certain Expositional Infodump that a large amount of anime is guilty of to some degree.

It’s not typically Bones in that its characters are distant, sort of unknowable. The warmth you can feel in Xamdou’s most aloof character Nakiami, for example, is far stronger than what I got from DtB’s Hei or even the human Misaki. I suppose part of it comes from the fact that Contractors aren’t supposed to feel emotion (though Hei’s case is a little more complicated). This makes them distant from anyone, so the viewer should be no different. All in all, I liked the story, I liked the action, I liked almost all of the characters, and the “cool” factor was in place. I’m skeptical of the new season, with its lack of Yoko Kanno, but I enjoyed the first enough to make this a no-brainer.

Cowboy Bebop

Speaking of Yoko Kanno and Fonz Factor, I also spent some time re-watching Cowboy Bebop. It’s been a lot of years since I saw it, and my subsequent re-education in anime allowed me to view it with new eyes — which is what second and third viewings are all about. It hasn’t diminished in my eyes; if anything I have even more respect, plus I watched it in Japanese for the first time and was delighted to hear Coach Emperor Wakamoto as Vicious. I’m not going to go on about Cowboy Bebop too much, you could fill a library with what’s already been said. It did get me thinking about something Zaitcev mused a while back about Honey & Clover: “What is particularly ‘anime’ about this anime?” In the case of H&C, I disagree, there’s plenty there to keep it in the realm, but with Bebop, I’m less certain.

For one, romantic drama is kept to a minimum. A mixed-gender spaceship in most anime, at the least, would create some sexual tension or maybe a Naked Misunderstanding or two. But for the crew of the Bebop, romance is a thing that happened in the past. Each of the three majors gets a “past coming back to haunt them” episode chronicling their turbulent experience with the opposite sex, most notably Spike. The present is a time for work — dangerous work with no room for such distractions. There’s only one “baka” from Faye that really carries the typical meaning, and it’s very late in the series.

Secondly… everything else. Really. Why break that out into bullets? Cowboy Bebop skips over almost everything. Teenage characters: One, briefly. Something to protect: Sorry, not really, unless you count cash. Tsunderes, seifukus, people crying a lot, techno-babble, mecha, evocation of moe, forget them all.

What it does have, of course, is an obsession with music and an amazing soundtrack to match. Both the anime and its Kanno music seem overflowing with ideas and hooks, a feeling that’s rare in something as polished and tightly executed as this. But that’s another tired subject when it comes to Bebop. If the series has a significant fault, it’s that we’re asked to take the story’s word on a great deal of things that happened in the past, rather than made to feel their significance. And that can lessen the impact of the otherwise astounding end.

At any rate, if for some bizarre reason you’ve never seen it, you’re missing out on one great example of what happens when some talented people get together and treat anime as a medium rather than a genre.

Planetes

I’ve watched 4 episodes of Goro Taniguchi’s space-junk saga so far, and the jury’s still out, but it’s an interesting take on near-ish future Sci-Fi. I wouldn’t exactly call it “hard” SF but the notion of space garbage getting in the way of progress is a realistic-sounding one anyway, and a lot of attention is given to the technological details and the mechanics of zero-G. A future where astronauts are skilled but un-amazing laborers and the whole of space is mired in bureaucracy, politics, and nepotism is a depressing future, but of course our idealistic naïve lead shoujo is here to brighten the picture.

Oddly, I see parallels to a more recent series, Production IG’s Library War: Cute, short-haired underachiever joins an exotic but ultimately unglamorous job that isn’t quite what she thought it would be, is beset by a tsun-tsun coworker, and tries to foist her wide-eyed idealism onto the world. I’m sure the comparison will pretty much end there, but it’s the kind of story that’s not hard to get behind, even if Ai can be a little shrill at time.

That about covers my recent viewing, aside from Utena and the various things I occasionally watch but will never finish, like Harlock and Legend of the Galactic Large Amount of Episodes. You should expect to see more on that soon as well. As of Fall ‘09 week 2, do you agree with my “alternative” choices or is there anything this season I’m missing?

Well, the holidays got me sick. Not fun. But being bed-ridden was a great excuse to do my first legit series marathon in a very long time. I chose the supernatural action thriller Ga-Rei Zero. There may be minor spoilers, but considering the bulk of the story is laid out within a couple episodes, there’s not a lot to spoil in this series.

Story

Ga-Rei Zero is the origin story of the Ga-Rei manga, showing the path a young girl named Kagura took to become a powerful exorcist in a world full of demons and government “spiritual defense” organizations. Told mostly in flashback, Zero recounts the love she shared for 3 years with her surrogate sister Yomi.

There’s not much way to talk about this series without talking about the bizarre beginning: The non-traditional structure is a make-or-break point for Zero. By starting somewhere near the end, telling in flashback, then finally joining the two ends, writer Katsuhiko Takayama (also series writer for ef) constructed a horrible ode to inevitability that anime doesn’t deal in often, and some people just aren’t gonna go for. I can think of a live-action parallel: In Scorsese’s Casino, Robert De Niro’s character dies in a firey car bomb in the first couple minutes. The ensuing movie is entirely a flashback, and three hours later you remember: oh, yeah. He dies. Ga-Rei Zero takes an even more desperately depressing approach. Scorsese aimed to shock you with your forgetfulness, but this series constantly twists the knife to remind you what awaits.

On a superficial level of motorcycles, government demon-fighting teams, heroes-turned-bad, and depressive mood, Zero strongly resembles Blassreiter. It has a few key traits that separate it, though: half length, devotion to standard anime-“isms,” superior animation, and more personal themes of love and individual destiny versus Blassreiter’s focus on faith and duty.

Characters

I really wish Kagura were a more interesting character, but in truth that goes for most of the characters of G-RZ. Rather than a complex collection of emotions, they often feel like they’re just a product of the things that happen to them throughout the series — can you honestly say there are many people out there who wouldn’t have taken Yomi’s route, given the absolute emotional and spiritual pummeling she suffers?

That said, their generic qualities might serve to make them more sympathetic (same question applies here), and as the climax approaches, it’s hard not to feel for Kagura and, to a degree, Yomi’s erstwhile fiancé Noriyuki.

Technical

There isn’t a whole lot to say here. Nothing animation-wise, or audio-wise, went over-the-top for execution, but it’s appealing and more than solid the whole time. Character designs and overall style project a Production IG vibe, but maybe that’s just because Kagura = Saaya (Blood+) to some degree in my mind and it colored everything else. Fight scenes are well-directed and there’s no slippage in the high quality over 12 episodes.

Themes

Amidst all the standard anime junk — dead mothers and distant fathers, swordfighters in seifuku (not complaining), a world of improbable science-meets-magic — Zero manages to raise some interesting points. It’s really too bad that it spends a lot of time broadcasting those points through viewer proxies, dramatic monologues, and its lovely Engrishy tagline, “Would you kill someone you love, because of love?” Not that I expect the average anime to stop holding its viewers’ hands, but Ga-Rei Zero teased that it was going to give me lots to chew on, then took that away by outright verbalizing almost all of it.

While the show really wants us to ponder the question of whether Yomi overcame the Stone’s power or it just granted her true wish, what’s the difference? Either way, love tragically triumphs over greed and revenge, not that it helps anything. In hindsight, it’s kinda like the Haibane Renmei question of intent, except with damnation in place of salvation as the end result.

The Y Word

If you’ve read anything on blogs about Ga-Rei Zero, you’ve probably heard the word yuri tossed around a few times. In fact, ANN’s page lists “yuri” as the only theme. Glad I wasn’t watching it for that, or the other themes of “senseless suffering,” “inevitable tragedy,” and “sweet swordfighting” would have really distracted me.

But you can feel the sisterly love, and it really has to be ramped up for the horrific result to be felt. In the end, out of 4 hours of series there are about 30 seconds worth of anything that could be called yuri. There is one mouth-to-mouth kiss (a sort of Lady and the Tramp thing with Pocky), but that scene is there for a reason: it’s paralleled later, with horribly sad (if slightly overplayed) results.

So don’t watch this for yuri anymore than you’d watch it for guro — there’s enough blood, bathing, and shortness of skirts to cover your perverted needs, but it’s just not that kind of show. You’d have to be pretty depraved to get your jollies from something so damn depressing.

Bottom Line

Ga-Rei Zero caught me with its surprises in the first couple episodes, but after those were over, it continued to entertain and satisfy with good animation, cute girls with swords, and my ultimate anime fanservice, ludicrous tragedy (geez, maybe I am an extremist after all, clearly some people are not up for that and I guess I can’t blame them).

1990s OVAs full of tits, blood and total apocalypse fed my early fandom, and while this isn’t strictly an update to that it does provide the same kinds of thrills with a little more depth, a lot more heart, and a modern edge. Plus, it’s a lot better than Mnemosyne. Take its 12-episode length into account, and it’s hard for me not to recommend Ga-Rei Zero to anyone who likes their anime dark, action-heavy, and depressing.

Does Pokemon count?

Regardless, I think I could probably write a script for one. Let’s give it a shot. I don’t really know the script format, though, so we’ll call this the novelization.

And now, OTOU-SAN VS. NEEDLESS, episode 1. Read it after the JUUUUUUUMP!

The Year is 200X

Otou-san stepped into the ruined city, which was somehow reminiscent of Fist of the North Star but also somehow kind of lame. NEEDLESS appeared before him in a flash of pencilly speed lines and economic movement ripped straight out of Gurren Lagann. He briefly grated a hard Parmigiano on his abs.

“A ha, SHIRTLESS,” said the cynical Otou-san, “When I saw a guy who looks like a poorly-drawn Kamina fan art, I knew it’d be you. Your reputation precedes you, and shames your studio, Madhouse.”

“That’s NEEDLESS!” shouted the bulky, pointy anime, who was adapted from a manga in Ultra Jump magazine. He dropped the cheese and flexed his giant arms as the camera dove low and some sort of artifical thunder boomed behind him.

Otou-san chuckled to himself because he knew that the viewers would love his humor — after all, calling someone something that isn’t their name is the near-pinnacle of sophisticated jokedom. If he could perhaps misunderstand some of NEEDLESS’s words that didn’t actually sound alike, he would secure a victory for sure. Only falling with your face in a character’s boobies can possibly compete, and he knew NEEDLESS didn’t have it in him — at least not yet.

“Maybe we should get started with this fighting thing,” Otou-san mused, or rather, shouted boldy as if challenging the stars. Perhaps he could in fact challenge the stars, since he was inexplicably flying through the air. But NEEDLESS only laughed a fake-ass belly laugh with his hands planted on his hips.

“I intend to do just that,” said the anime with increasing intensity as the camera zoomed closer over the rough terrain until finally it was in his eye. “But first, I must talk some more!!!”

Otou-san countered. “I don’t think so, cartoon show! EXPOSURE OF YOUR BIBLICAL NAMING SCHEME AS NOTHING BUT A WEAK EXCUSE FOR IMPLIED DEPTH!!” The attack rumbled forth from Otou-san’s stubby claws, and though no one could see — the name of the attack had taken up everyone’s entire field of vision — it cut a huge swath through the urban wreckage. There was no way it couldn’t crush NEEDLESS. Arudoc may be mean, but his assesment here was right. There’s nothing behind the names Adam, Eve, and Cruz. Not to mention, if Cruz’s elder sister didn’t turn out to actually be his mother, Otou-san pledged to himself right there to eat an ATM receipt he found.

But at the last second, NEEDLESS dodged.

“HAHA! KISAMA etc! No one watches these kinds of shows expecting depth anyway, so Adam, Eve, and Cruzchrist are already a step ahead of the competition!”

“NANI?” Otou-san’s eyes widened in fear and surprise.

“But… at your power level? This should —”

Before he could complete his admittedly banal thought process, NEEDLESS was upon him.

“POWER OF QUALITY SEIYUU VOICE!!”

Though again, only the attack’s name could be seen, it was briefly damaging to Otou-san. Indeed, Takehito Koyasu, Adam’s voice actor, is one of anime’s greats, with a leading role in Macross 7 (Gamlin) to boot. Add to that Initial D, Evangelion, Crest of the Stars, and of course his role as Excalibur in Soul Eater, and he’s a mighty force.

The attack was brief and the damage small, though: The rest of the cast is so highly annoying, especially Eve, that Otou-san was nearly unscathed. Besides, Koyasu was in To Love-Ru, and that was just plain shit.

[OK, maybe I can’t write this shit. So monotonous.]

CUT TO THE FINAL SCENE!!!!

NEEDLESS stumbled backward, pummeled from the force of the mighty blogger’s onslaught, though somehow his cape did not move in the huge wind.

But Otou-san’s eyes widened in fear yet again as a sweeping 2880-degree camera pan landed upon NEEDLESS’s lips, which curled slightly into a menacing sneer.

“This time,” the unrepentant anime said contemptuously, “you won’t escape.”

He raised his hands high, fingers curled into a mangled thorn bush.

“LITERAL INSULT ADDED TO FIGURATIVE INJURY!!!!!!”

The words stamped on the screen with a huge noise, and when they cleared, Otou-san was nearly destroyed.

“You bloggers think you know pandering. You know NOTHING! I would kill you, but I’d rather taunt you for at least 50 episodes and leave a burned scar on your mind, forcing you to re-evaluate everything you’ve ever called ‘pandering,’ ‘cancer,’ and ‘fanservice!’ I WILL TAKE YOUR EYEBALLSS TO SCHOOL AND BEAT THEM SENSELESS OUT BEHIND THE SHED!!!”

Otou-san cowered, for he had heard of this devastating attack. But it was too late.

“ENDING CREDITS BUUUUUREEEEEAAAKAAAAAAAAAAAAA”

And if you don’t know what happens next, read this tweet, then read this tweet, then go watch this if you think you have the stones and are not at work or in the presence of a lady.

And since any good American cartoon always had a moral, here’s mine: Watch that ED. Enjoy it. Replay it. Take your laptop to the bathroom if you must, but I plead: Don’t let it be the reason you come back next week. If you do, the terrorists win.

At least, that’s what happened in the animated world.

In the third dimension, something somewhat less earth-shattering happened: I was born.

Fast forward thirty years. Gundam celebrates its anniversary with a new series announcement, international Tomino appearances, and of course a giant life-size Gundam in Tokyo, while my birthday goes by without so much as an whining post.

I have, however, set out to celebrate my thirtieth year in a truly Gundam-tastic way by finally starting my journey into the grandaddy real robot franchise. I am beginning, appropriately, with the 0079 movies.

Fifty episodes for the series is a bit of a stretch for me these days, and besides — mechafetish and ghostlightning pointed me to the movies with their helpful Gateway Gundam Chooser®.

I’m partially through the second movie, but rather than keep waiting to post, I thought I’d get out my impressions of the first.

War Sucks

The big thing that sticks out in my mind is the grim, unending portrait of war: Even in the spacefaring future, war is a bleak proposition that kills families, keeps you from sleep, and conscripts unwilling civilians by virtue of the the simple fact that everyone else is fucking dead.

Kawamori, as big a hippie as he is, has always been just goofy enough in Macross’s execution that he couldn’t dream of getting his anti-war message across as effectively as Tomino (I’m thinking of Super Dimension Fortress’s portrait of the scorched earth and Macross Zero’s valkyrie attack on Mayan island). Then again, that’s likely the intent — it’s understandable that he’d want to make something of an antidote to Gundam’s incessant darkness.

The power behind Gundam’s “war is hell” message is in how it tests of your endurance. Like Amuro, you’re never given a break from White Base’s endless assault. It is a tiring, interminable thing. That’s not to say it’s repetitious, like a monster-of-the-week thing. The monotony of the fight actually adds to the intensity of viewing.

Sound effects (of war sucking)

Have you ever paid attention to the sound effects in Gundam?

The grinding and creaking of metal on metal, the clink of spent shells falling to the ground, the endless sounds of gunfire and cannon explosions: this too contributes to the grimness of the viewer’s insertion into the middle of a war. Sound effects are an aspect of anime that’s often pushed aside in favor of the more “glamorous” parts of audio, like voice acting or background score. But here, the reality of the sounds (exact opposite would be Macross 7’s awful sound effects which were obviously created on a single synthesizer by a drunken panda, or any anime that uses energy weapons instead of rattling bullets) immerses you further, and helps put the “real” in “real robot.”

Sophistication (with caveats)

Those are only two of Gundam’s traits that, along with superior script, animation, and acting, lead to its status as a truly sophisticated anime. Take a step back: what does sci-fi anime mean pre-Gundam? It means super robots and Leiji Matusumoto. I love both of these, but at their heart they are simple boyish fantasies of running around with pirates or giant robots and saving the world. Sunrise’s animation (which still tends to rise above most others) brings Tomino’s story to life in a way that Yamato and Harlock couldn’t have dreamed of, and when you plop the hard-ass script in there, you have a new generation of animation.

That said, it still feels transitional in a lot of ways, and the biggest is Char. The Red Comet, brilliant as he is in his Don Johnson leisure suit and shades, is basically a super villain, and as a result he undermines the “realities of war” aspect. He’s less one-dimensional than say, Dr. Hell or the Burning Legion of Matsumoto’s Misogyny, but he remains a single Cobra Commander-like target when a more appropriate message would be that there is no head to the beast you fight in a war.

Scope of influence

Well, duh. I knew. To say Gundam is influential is probably the understatement of thirty years. But to really see it in action — the real robots, the unwilling mecha pilot, the works — is to know where the things you love came from.

SLAP

I don’t think there’s much I need to say about Gundam’s face-slap fetish, either. It’s not just the legendary Brightslap. It starts with Amuro backhanding Fraw Bow and doesn’t stop until war suddenly becomes pleasant.

Here’s a further visual aid (courtesy ghostlightning).

Moving on

Complaints aside, the first movie was a riveting watch, and I’ve been more than pleased that I don’t have to watch it as a “well, that’s cool for its time” academic exercise. It’s well-animated (not exactly Do You Remember Love?, but what is?) and sufficiently exciting to watch on its own merits nowadays. I’m stoked to continue on with these movies, and from there, who knows?

I’ve harped in the past on the issue of believability. You might remember that, it still stings. Of course, it’s a contextual issue – believability in one particular style of anime is a totally different matter in another. In the case of Clannad, where character relationships are pretty much the only thing going, I wanted some believable interactions between characters. Is it too much to ask?

In True Mazinger, I only ask for one thing as well. Robots. Giant robots. Giant robots fucking shit up. In fact, I don’t want to believe anything at all. I want to see a bunch of shit that I don’t believe.

Nevertheless, that old demon of realism rears its ugly head in spite of my attempts to quiet it down. For instance… Kouji on a motorcycle, with Grandpa yelling at him? Or Sayaka yelling from the top of her cockpit without any apparent radio to Kouji inside the locked-down Mazinger. Dear God, how do these people hear each other?

And what, pray tell, about THIS?

Where does Ashura get that kind of leverage, regardless of how strong s/he is?

But is that really important?

Of course not.

What’s important is that, while taking screencaps for this post, I watched the ROCKET PUNCH scene over and over again. And I realized that my ass was no longer in the chair. I was hunched over my computer, wide-eyed, with my heart pounding and tiny drops of sweat beginning to form around my hairline.

Somehow, I was transported back to the very first rocket punch I saw as a kid — what’s going on here might be really transparent manipulation, but I don’t care. I’m not going to worry about that either. I’m also not going to worry about, as ghostlightning calls it, “shitting bricks and calling it a post.” Because I am building a brick fortress right now, and by the time True Mazinger ends, I hope to have a metropolis.

K-ON

Pre-airing thoughts: The script writer from Aria, Ghost Hunt, and quite a few other fantastic light-hearted series adapts a musical manga. OK, I’m listening. But when it’s animated by Kyoto animation, whose beloved status comes at least partially from Haruhi’s Super Effective rock concert scene, even more ears start perking up. This information tells me I can expect: Cute girls, animation accuracy in musical scenes, and a solid script. Will it deliver? Dunno.

You get the idea.

First ep thoughts: Holy shit. If you want moe, you got it. Looks like our lead girl is the Ultimate Dojikko, constantly tripping, falling, failing, crying, being afraid, etc. I can’t tell if I want to squeal in delight or shoot myself. The art looks a lot more like Kyoto Animation defectors A-1 pictures than Kyoto themselves, which is interesting but I’m unsure why. I’m also not sure if I hate this or not, but I’ll continue for the moment. I’m not expecting another Lucky Star by any means (I think we have Haruhi-chan for that), but let’s hope it’s just more than “[insert series] plus music.”

Shangri-La

Pre-airing thoughts: Well, I think Range Murata’s designs are great. A weird mix of cute and hot that you can only get in anime. Of course, that goes for the post-apocalyptic setting as well, and the two should add up to the kind of sexy action adventure that Gonzo does best (when they don’t overdo it).

You get at least part of the idea.

First ep thoughts: Gonzo has taken the Murata designs and simplified them, Druaga-style, until they lack most of their imagination. I’m not sure how I feel about it, but the sweeping cinematic style of some of the opener’s scenes and setup is promising. The future based around the extreme but somewhat-logical conclusion of global warming is intriguing, but could go in either the “effective world-building” direction or the “overcomplicated nonsense” direction. A technical note: Crunchyroll shows TV Tokyo’s uninteresting (to me) offerings in 720p, but Gonzo’s simulcasts are in SD. What gives?

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

Pre-airing thoughts: Wait, there’s a new Fullmetal Alchemist?

You get the idea.

First ep thoughts: I seriously noticed this 5 seconds before downloading. Oh wait, Funi’s streaming it? No wonder their video portal site is down. So I was surprised to find that it’s not really a sequel. Is it necessary to reuild FMA as a true-to-the-manga update with slightly more CG and different character design? Don’t get me wrong, I’ll sniff anything Bones shits out, but I’m not sold on this yet. The series isn’t even very old. I’ll continue for a while though, because episode one featured some familiar characters doing their thing, and the action was solid and fun.

Shin Mazinger Shougeki Z Hen

Pre-airing thoughts: So, it’s not a sequel. It’s not a remake. Right. Well, either way, it’s a trip down memory lane for me, with arguably the first robot I ever watched on TV. I’m not certain whether it was Voltron or Mazinger Z (Tranzor Z) but the Rocket Punch will forever stand out in my mind.

HOLY JESUS FUCK SHITSICLE

First ep thoughts: I… wh… um. It just… holy — motherfucker. FUCK. OH MY GOD.

11:14:23 PM otou-san: thanks for writing a half sensible post on mazinger
11:15:00 PM ghostlightning: lol thanks
11:15:14 PM otou-san: I was reduced to sputtering idiocy
11:15:39 PM ghostlightning: i did notice people were just shitting bricks and calling them posts
11:15:56 PM ghostlightning: but i don’t blame anyone
11:16:11 PM ghostlightning: awesome show is awesome

Here I am, calling this brick-shitting a post. Remember a few seasons ago when Soul Eater started? It was an insane ride from minute one of style and action. It was something new, and it was exciting. This, however, is something old and exciting. It drops you, the viewer, into the dead middle of a situation that you can’t possibly begin to handle and then throws as many robots, heroes, villains, explosions, and called-out attacks as it can at you until you’re reduced to a stuttering, drooling, mess of Super Robot lover. Again I’ll invoke ghostlightning, who led me to the conclusion that my beloved Gainax SR beasts like Gunbuster are made to bring about a child-like state, but reward your adult love with cleverness and references. This Mazinger, along with Imagawa’s Giant Robo OVA (which I’m in desperate need of seeing) are actually for the kids. That doesn’t mean you’re too old for it, though. Check this shit out, it’s so brutally amazing. I’m gonna go watch it again.

However, it’s more of a screwball comedy than Matsumoto’s typical epic style, and is kinda fun.

clearly the audio here says HOMO

If you need an antidote to moe, crying schoolgirls, and magical pregnancies, take a page from Harlock’s Book of Sexual Satisfaction:

I find myself thinking about not touching Tochiro's balls

Gun Frontier can be viewed dubbed or subbed via Gong Anime on YouTube and Joost, even if their translations aren’t always the bee’s knees.

Then get ourselves a prostitutes

Soul Eater has turned out to be a monumentally entertaining shounen action/adventure, with a minimum of the fillers and talk-through-battles syndrome that plague other series of the genre. The characters are good, the humor is silly but spot-on, and of course the action is rad. But when I first saw the opening episode, I had no idea what I was in for, and Bones capitalized on that like no one in recent memory.

The opening episode of Soul Eater will forever stick out in my mind as “the right way to start a series.” Unlike sneaky beginnings like Ga-Rei, Soul Eater doesn’t rely on confusing its audience. Everything’s pretty straightforward, it’s just an incredible rush of excitement. The mysterious opening monologue that segues into an OP that’s made of wild anticipation, the crazy character designs and manic fighting, all the way to the “Ikouze!” closing song — it all added up to a total experience that I absolutely had to watch again to believe. And then I had to show it to mai waifu, who was hooked just as fast.

Soul Eater’s greatest strength may have been its ability to maintain, but its most standout moment will probably always be its first. And yes, I realize that it’s not so much a moment as 22 moments, each a minute long, but it’s my blog, and you go to hell.

Part one in a 12-day Festivus celebration curated by CCY

I’d like to start off with a 12 days moment that’s a bit of a spoiler, although it’s for a show that not that many people seemed to want to watch (despite its gracious domestic release on YouTube and Crunchyroll). I’m starting to get hazy as to which episode it was, but it was probably the second. Don’t read on if you don’t want to know.

In Blassreiter’s first episode, awesome CGI motorcycle German Gerd Frenzen rides his way to victory over some evil-ish and equally CG Amalgams, and despite looking stupid and CG, establishes himself as quite the badass. Then he dies.

Yeah, about that...

And all of a sudden, Blassreiter’s premise and main characters aren’t quite who you thought they were. If that’s not a way to hook my eyes just a little, I don’t know what is. The series went on to feature serviceable action and incredibly bleak storyline, and it was in fact enjoyable. But I never would have gone on without that strange plot development.

The timeline’s very interesting because:

1. We know the beginning
2. We (roughly) know the end.
3. Somewhere along the line, shit gets fragmented.

The unique situation here is that the fragmentation, for us, happens first. We’re presented with cosmic WTF from minute one. After that comes the 1970s series Neo-Human Casshern, in which C-man, Luna, and Friender fight the Braiking Boss and his fiendish plan to take over the world with robots.

We, as viewers, especially those with knowledge of the original series (whether that knowledge comes from an actual viewing of the series, the live action movie, or just, uh… Wikipedia), have a unique advantage over Casshern. Thankfully, the mystery fragmentation element — the death of Luna — keeps us from knowing too much and keeps the truth at bay.

That truth is fundamental to the series. Not just because (glory be to the anime gods of cliché) we’re dealing with some amnesia and discovery of the past, but also because that Truth is the sole means by which we’ll find true Hope.

Some robots find false hope in the idea that devouring Casshern will give them immortality. That’s probably the result of long Chinese Whispers rooted in the knowledge that Casshern was the bringer of their destruction. Other robots, ironically, find hope in the rumor that Luna can restore them. Does their misplaced hope come from the fact that Luna provided hope to humanity, way back in the day — and robots now are the only things that pass for humanity in the world?

Either way, true hope comes in small doses, but it’s becoming more and more prevalent through the episodes. Episode 8’s Sheryl Janis let robots feel hope with her song. Episode 9 especially gave us not only our first true dose of color in a mostly monochromatic animation, but also the obvious picture of the flowers blooming among the ruin.

So what’s next for Casshern? Is Luna still alive for real, or is this all just more false hope? Can Casshern even atone for his “sins,” or is he done with life, living in a robotic Hell that tortures him with visions of his past? And are any of our readers actually watching this nifty-keen show?