The Kawaii Menace

Which is the most overrated anime series? The candidates are drawn from the responses I’ve seen to this meme.

*****

Results of the previous poll: Nanoha Takamachi has the best mahou shoujo costume, according to 28% of the visitors here who voted. This is a bit surprising, because hers is the one with the longest skirt. It’s probably because the first season of Lyrical Nanoha was recently released in region one, and Nanoha is currently the most prominent magical girl.¹ The balletic Princesses Tutu and Kraehe followed Nanoha with 17% and 10%. Others who received votes were Jubei-chan, Kaitou Jeanne, Cure Black, Sailor Moon (both classic and eternal), Sailor Star Healer, Cure White, Pixy Misa and Mew Ichigo. Pretty Sammy and Wedding Peach received no votes.

1. Unfortunately, I found the show unwatchable. I stuck it out for four episodes and realized that if I saw that transformation one more time, I would throw up. [↩]

What I saw of Hare & Guu left me indifferent, but this ending is an outstanding production number. It’s my pick for the best anime ending, at least for today.

http://tancos.net/flv/wp-content/uploads/GuuDlxEd.flv
Jungle wa itsumo Hale nochi Guu Deluxe, “Fun Fun and Shout” by Sister Mayo.

You can see the videos in full size at my video weblog, and you can compare my list with Astro’s.

Number two. Astro and I have very different tastes, but we agree on this one:

http://tancos.net/flv/wp-content/uploads/Maromi.flv
Paranoia Agent, “Shiroi Oka - Maromi no Theme” by Susumu Hirasawa.

Merry Christmas, everyone, and I hope you didn’t get Maromi plushies among your presents.

Now see if you can guess what number one is. Go on, I dare you. I will be astonished if anyone comes close.

Number three:

http://tancos.net/flv/wp-content/uploads/ExcelEnd.flv
Excel Saga, “Menchi Aishou no Bolero” by Excel Girls. I’m not posting the clean version because the words matter, and because some who frequent this corner of the otakusphere might recognize one of the names in the credits.

Number four on my list of best endings:

http://tancos.net/flv/wp-content/uploads/dennocoilending.flv
Denno Coil, “Sora no Kakera (空の欠片; A Fragment of the Sky)” by Ayako Ikeda. (The karaoke is annoying; I hope this is licensed soon so I can post a clean ending.)

Number five on my list of best endings:

http://tancos.net/flv/wp-content/uploads/oedo-ending2.flv
Oh! Edo Rocket, second ending, “I Got Rhythm” by Natural High.

http://tancos.net/flv/wp-content/uploads/oedo-ending1.flv
I like both endings, so here’s the first as well: “100 miles~Niji o Oikakete” by Santara.

I’m going to be away from the computer for a few days. Like Pete, I’m taking Moribito with me, though in my case it’s the book.

My picks for the top five anime endings should appear one a day. As you will discover, my taste is very different from Astro’s, but there is one we both chose. I don’t have time to write commentary on my picks tonight; perhaps when I get back.

When you’re burned out, do something else. You’re not doing anyone a favor by going through the motions. By the time Zac Bertschy quit his “Answerman” job, my sympathies were with the Flakes of the Week. Justin Sevakis’ review of The Sky Crawlers tells me more about Sevakis’ life than about Oshii’s movie. (Sevakis might want to look up the word “obtuse.”)

About reviews: that someone paid for a review doesn’t mean that it’s insightful, and length does not imply profundity. If you want to find what’s worth your time, you can do just as well surfing at random through the otakusphere as at ANN.

I had planned to spend some time this evening rambling on about anime endings, but I’m dead tired. Instead, here are a couple of honorable mentions, plus an extra. The countdown begins tomorrow.

While it was introducing the characters, Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei was fine absurd humor. Later episodes were hit and miss, with misses predominating. (Macademi Wasshoi seems to be following a similar pattern.) The ending is pleasantly nightmarish.

The first few episode of Tweeny Witches left me cold, though I may give the series a second chance when I have time. The ending, with broomstick surfing, flying jalopy and Strauss, embodies all the fun that was missing from the show.

If this had been the actual ending for The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, it would have been number one on my list. The real ending, which is pretty good as anime endings go, is nevertheless frustrating to watch: I want to see all the steps.

You can see the videos at their full width at my video page.

Funimation has been dropping hints about the licenses they’re about to announce. Most of the series guessed are of little interest to me, but a couple of possibilities might be worth my money. What I’ve seen of Soul Eater has been fun, and Oh! Edo Rocket was the second-best show of 2007.

*****

That other dealer is offering a bunch of cheap boxed sets for Christmas. Most of the titles are junk — Princess Princess, anyone? — but several are worth your time: Shingu, Angelic Layer, Fantastic Children, Divergence Eve. Possibly also Witch Hunter Robin (I haven’t seen it, but I’ve heard good things about it from reliable sources) and Kodocha.

Actually, we do see Kirika smile — rarely — during Noir. This screen capture is from episode six, “Lost Kitten.”

Astro is counting down his top five endings. It looks like fun, so I’ll probably post my own list, though it will have to wait until next week. Astro’s fourth choice, incidentally, almost made my list. It will be interesting to see if there is something we both pick.

As Astro notes, it’s harder to find good endings than good openings. Openings are intended to sell the show; often the trailer for a show is the opening. Consequently, producers typically lavish great care and expense on the opening. In contrast, the ending usually just serves to list the necessary credits, and the production is consequently perfunctory. Sometimes the ending tune might be worth hearing, but the visuals are rarely interesting. Nevertheless, I managed to come up with five that are worth both hearing and seeing.

*****

Here’s something I forgot to post back in October. It’s from the ninth episode of Denno Coil.

Can you see the mp3 player?

How about this one?

I post a lot of music on my other weblog, and recently I’ve been receiving reports that the music players are not appearing on the page. I wonder if that’s a problem here, too, since this also runs on WordPress.

In a discussion of anime involving classical music, the writer at Transientem included links to several animated versions of Liszt’s second Martian Hungarian rhapsody, including performances by Tom & Jerry

(Read on …)

It looks like there never will be an anime of Yotsuba&! It may be just as well. Movie adaptations of favorite books are invariably inferior to the originals, no matter how skilled the adaptors, and that probably goes for anime versions of manga as well (I wonder if I would like Cardcaptor Sakura as much if I were familiar with the manga). To assuage your disappointment, there does exist a soundtrack for Yotsuba&!, here and here. (Technically, they’re “image albums” inspired by the manga.) The music is by Masaki Kurihara and the Kuricorder Pops Orchestra, the same crew reponsible for the Azumanga Daioh soundtrack.¹ Here’s a suite from the first Yotsuba&! album, titled “よつばのちいさなだいぼうけん” which the Google translator renders as “I stand little risk of saliva.”

*****

While I’m on the subject of music, here are a couple of a capella pieces that caught my ear. The first is from the Kaiba soundtrack. The second you should all recognize.

Update: Actually, Yotsuba&! has been animated, after a fashion:

(Read on …)

1. There is quite a bit more music for Azumanga Daioh out there that has never been released in the USA, including a second OST album that is nearly as good as the first. [↩]

You find the damnedest things on anime blogs, e.g., some very good Klezmer, including David Krakauer, the Amsterdam Klezmer band and the Klezmer Conservatory Band, not to mention a bit of Klezmer Nutcracker.

Those of you who are waiting impatiently for the next episodes of Macademi Wasshoi, cheer up. The translation is proceeding quite briskly in comparison to that of Master of Epic. The seventh episode of the latter has finally been fansubbed, nine months after the sixth.

Was it worth the wait? Not really. The first half showcases Tomoko Kaneda as an incompetent, thoughtless RPG character. Her performance almost redeems the lackluster writing — imagine Chiyo-chan’s hyperactive idiot twin sister in a dungeon crawl. The second half continues the Waragecha Five’s battles with the producer’s giant robots. It’s not that bad, but it’s not all that good, either. The previews for the eighth episode promise the conclusion to the robot story. That should be available around September, 2009. In the ninth episode, due out in late 2010 or early 2011, we perhaps can look forward to the return of the Waragecha Five to proper fantasy.

I came across yet another damned book meme over at Robbo’s, and I thought that adapting it for anime might be a pleasant way of spending a lunch hour.

• What anime are you watching now?

The only current series I’m following is Macademi Wasshoi, and if there are more episodes like the fifth, I’ll drop it, too.

• What is your favourite time to watch?

Evenings, after dinner.

• And your favourite place?

The only available place is the uncomfortable chair at the computer.

• Who is your favourite auteur?

The snap answer is either Yoshitoshi ABe (Haibane Renmei) or Mitsuo Iso (Denno Coil). However, each has really only one show to his credit.¹ Perhaps Junichi Sato or Akitaro Daichi, or maybe Masaaki Yuasa? I think I’ll go with Satoshi Kon for now.

• Your favourite OST?

Still Haibane Renmei’s, though that of Oh! Edo Rocket, swing ripoff though it is, has been frequent listening for over a year now.

• What is the most difficult anime you’ve ever watched?

Serial Experiments Lain. I could also mention Angel’s Egg and Cat Soup, but I don’t think either adds up to much more than what you see. (I read somewhere that Oshii himself doesn’t remember what everything signifies in the former.)²

• What was the first anime you remember watching?

Shonen Sarutobi Sasuke, in the theatre in Brigham City, Utah, on a Saturday afternoon with my girlfriend Gloria a long, long time ago. Many years later came Princess Mononoke.
Update: Here’s a trailer for Magic Boy, as Shonen Sarutobi Sasuke was called in the USA, and here’s a website with screen captures.

• Do you have a comfort show that you re-watch?

Random episodes of Cardcaptor Sakura or Animal Yokocho.

• What is the most erotic anime you’ve watched?

Not Divergence Eve. Nothing much comes to mind; that’s not what I look for.

• Which classic should you have watched?

Monster, I suppose, or Legend of Galactic Heroes.

• Which series did you never want to end?

A good episodic series like Mushishi or Galaxy Angel A could be spun out indefinitely as long as the creators have ideas, but in general, a show isn’t good unless it ends well.

• What is your most overrated anime?

Neon Genesis Evangelion. I watched the first disc, and that’s two hours of my life wasted that I’ll never get back.

• Which character could you have an affair with?

This isn’t the sort of thing I fantasize about lest I end up like Sidney Kugelmass, but perhaps Lexshue from Crest of the Stars.

• Who is your favourite character?

Isako, from Denno Coil.

• Which character do you most dislike?

Kimura, from Azumanga Daioh.

• Which character do you identify with most?

Reki, from Haibane Renmei.

• Which anime changed your life?

None.

Update: Jumping on the bandwagon are Steven, Kiriska, Wonderduck and Mark. And Pixy. And Aziz. And Evil Otto and Nick. And Astro. And Ken the Brickmuppet.

1. Lain was a group effort, and while NieA_7 is based on characters created by ABe, someone else wrote the scripts. [↩]
2. Incidentally, Angel’s Egg is the reason I started downloading torrents. I had read about it and was very curious, but there was no legal way to watch it. [↩]