SERIES PREVIEWS
It's a work in progress...
We watch a lot of series here, and sometimes we can't watch them all at once in a neat, 12-hour marathon (because we have lives). Generally, this will be because these are the newest series, still coming out on bit torrent, although it may be because we're just lazy bastards (which we are). So, for now, just consider these miniatiure reviews to take the place of full reviews until the series is finished. So, without further ado...
SLAYERS REVOLUTION
Length: 13 episodes
Genre: Fantasy, comedy
Watched: 1-6, subbed
Comments: Ever since I watched the last scrap of Slayers that I could get my hands on, my life has felt so empty. Now that Lina Inverse and company have been given new life in Slayers Revolution, I have a reason to wake up again. All the characters are back and at their best; if anything, they are even more dead-set and over-the-top in their ways. I’ve really enjoyed the filler episodes I have seen so far, but I am a bit hesitant about the main plot, which seems to be executed with more seriousness than the normal Slayers formula would allow. Other than that, all the elements seem to be present, right down to an above-average soundtrack complete with theme songs by Ms. Dragon Slave herself, Megumi Hayashibara. I haven’t been this excited about a series in quite some time, and I can’t wait to get my hands on the rest of it.
Welcome back, Lina. We’ve missed you.
Preliminary Rating: 8.5/10
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
Length: 26 episodes
Genre: BFR, sci-fi
Watched: 7 episodes
In an apocalyptic future, a young driller named Simon discovers a drill-shaped artifact and meets a flamboyant older driller, Kamina, who yearns to drill up instead of down. Their wish to leave is granted when a giant drilling robot breaks into their underground town, and they encounter a buxom red-head named Yokko. They are thrust into a world of beastmen with bigger and bigger robots again and again and again.
My initial reason for wanting to watch this series was the rabid fandom that’s emerged with respect to the series and the pretty colors that I’ve seen in the few scenes that I had seen. I really should have known that rabid fandom is a double-edged sword, in that it’s both reserved for excellent series, but also for series that are really, really stupid. In this case, the series actually falls somewhere in between, where it’s not outright bad, but the rabid fandom is not really called for. In RP chat-rooms, it is generally frowned upon that people perform the act known as “God-moding,” where a battle becomes exponentially larger, basically devolving into who can make up the biggest thing EVER TIMES INFINITY. It’s not entertaining, and there’s no way to ever find a clear victor because there’s always something bigger. This series feels so far very much like animated God-moding, as the battles have only gotten bigger and bigger, with no end that I’ve heard about in sight other than the end of the series. The series has had scant character development or real pathos, but it has had epic battles and a unique art style. I’m going to finish watching it, if only for the sheer doggedness of it all.
Preliminary score: 5.5/10
Kurokami
Length: 26 episodes
Genre: Action, Scifi
Watched: 3 episodes, subbed
In this world, there are said to be three copies of everyone, called doppeliners. Each doppeliner is given a certain amount of luck, and if two meet, the one with less luck is destined to die the next day. Keita is living a normal life until his friend encounters her twin and dies in a traffic accident. Then, a strange girl shows up claiming to be trying to kill her brother, and he gets drawn into the strange world of doppeliners and what is possibly a quest to create a perfect race.
The first few episodes of this series have been interesting, with a decent amount of well-animated fight scenes and an interesting premise. The artwork in general is reasonable, and the character designs are somewhat uninspired but they’ll do. The music has been okay, but nothing special. The idea of an identical twin seems pretty interesting to me, making me wonder what I’d do if I ever met an identical copy of me. Apparently, I’d only have one day to do it, so I’d have to make it count. I’m going to continue to watch the series, even though some of the writing could use some work.
Preliminary score: 7/10
Neon Genesis Evangelion 1.01: You Are (Not) Alone
Length: 95 minutes (2 of new material)
Genre: Big Fuckin’ Robots, Mindfuck, angsty bitch-fest
Watched: Entire movie
Yeah, it says I watched the entire movie. And yeah, I did. “So, why are you writing a preview and not a review, you hack?” you might ask. Because I don’t want to waste my time writing a full review of this movie, which consists of an almost word-for-word recreation of the first few episodes of the series it’s based on. The fact that people paid record amounts of money to see this film, which is EXACTLY the same as the series, which they already own (and have an unhealthy obsession with) really drains my hope for the future of human-kind. While there is a fair amount of remastered graphics, there is exactly one and a half minutes of new material. At the END of the movie. You could probably find it on Youtube, and it wouldn’t even be breaking any copyright laws (just ask Ben Stein). Matter of fact, just to spite Hideaki Anno, I’m going to make one of its shots the screencap for this (p)review. It’s not worth sitting through 1.5 straight hours of unbridled angst and bitchiness for 1.5 minutes of new stuff that’s not even informative. There are four movies that are going to be released in this series, and the preview for movie 2.0, which will be released sometime this year, implies that it will be much more of a departure from the series, so if I were you, I’d wait for that one to come out. Unless you’re an obsessed Eva fan, in which case, I’d recommend watching RahXephon and taking a Prozac.
Score: 6/10
Golgo 13
Length: 50 episodes
Genre: Assassin, action
Watched: 2 episodes, subbed
When a difficult political situation arises that is too much for the authorities to take care of, they will place a call to one man: Duke Togo, or the legendary assassin, Golgo 13. He not only will complete the job, but he’ll do it with one hand tied behind his back, while nailing some nameless woman, and with style. All at the same time. If you’ve seen the movies produced in 1983, and then 1998 (hmmm, 10 years, and 25 years ago), you already know all about Golgo. The first two episodes do absolutely nothing to show you anything new, and the first episode plays out almost exactly like a movie, complete with the random tail break. The artwork is almost unchanged from Queen Bee, which makes it slightly out of date for 2008, and the music is nothing special. I personally have some issues with possible inconsistencies in the writing of some of the plot points, but I’m going to keep watching because it’s Golgo, and he’s a badass.
Preliminary score: 5.5/10
Kanokon
Length: 12 half-hour episodes
Genre: Ecchi, juvenile comedy
Watched: 4 episodes, subbed
Kouta Oyamada is a first-year transfer student to his school, where he is constantly harassed, mainly in a manner that would normally warrant pointing out areas on a doll to a police officer, by a slightly older, significantly better-looking girl, Chizuru Minamoto. One day, she invites him to the music room to “show him something.” Sadly, she only shows him that she’s a fox spirit and possesses his body. The long and the short of it is, he ends up stuck in between (sometimes literally) a hot fox demon girl and an obsessed wolf spirit girl. To be totally honest, I never, ever, ever thought that I would find a series that would succeed at objectifying the female body more than I’ve heard about Eiken. Enter, Kanokon, the series where the 14-year-old’s fantasy of being sandwiched between two beautiful women is lived out almost constantly, generally at the expense of silly things like “plot,” “character development,” or “good taste.” When a series approaches as close as this one does to softcore porn, I know that I am close to meeting my match. I will keep watching it, but really the only reason is because I anticipate awarding a nice, fat ass at the end. Look forward to it! The only redeeming detail so far is the opening theme, which is actually somewhat pleasing to the ears.
Preliminary score: 1.5/10
Galaxy Angel Rune
Length: 13 episodes
Genre: Comedy, sci-fi
Watched: 1 episode, subbed
Black 17's Comments: Our next nominee for the "blood from a stone" award has to go to Galaxy Angel Rune, a spinoff that bears very little similarity to the zany franchise that spawned it, other than the fact that the cast is predominantly female and it is set in space. This B-team cast of misfits share an apartment on the planet Transvaal, a situation that seems like a device to showcase their dysfunction rather than provoking laughter. The original Galaxy Angels, though they picked on each other, always seemed to come together and support one another when it really mattered. This new bunch didn't show one speck of teamwork in 24 minutes, and go for each other's throats like lions among gazelles. Basically, the original Angels were more cohesive, more well-adjusted, and much funnier. Some might say that making such thorough comparison to the original series is not fair, but a show that takes on the vaunted name of Galaxy Angel is bound to be judged by the standards set forht by its predecessor. And Galaxy Angel Rune is not yet even close to living up to them.
Preliminary Rating: 3.5/10
Darker then BLACK
Length: 13 episodes
Genre: Science fiction, action
Watched: 4 episodes, subtitled
M.H.'s notes: Tokyo is apparently very susceptible to alien invasion, judging by how often it happens in anime series. This time, a strange field has surrounded the city, resulting in the birth of a new race of humans, called contractors, which have superpowers and seem hell-bent on using them to commit crimes. Go figure. I’ve always thought that the best way to use superpowers would be to try and get in as many womens’ pants as is superhumanly possible. Anyway, mild-mannered Yin is a member of an organization devoted to discovering the secrets of the contractors, and is a closet contractor himself. To this point, we don’t know much about the plot of the series, as would be expected. However, there have been some very exciting action scenes with very nice artwork. The characterization seems a bit vague at the moment, but I suspect it will become more clear as time goes on. The main draw for this series is that Yoko Kanno is the music director for the series, which gives it 7 points on my ratings scale alone. I’m definitely intrigued, and intend to keep watching through to the end.
Preliminary score: 8.5/10
Bokurano
Length: 26 episodes
Genre: Big fuckin’ robots, very likely angst
Watched: 3 episodes, subbed
M.H.'s notes: You want more big fuckin’ robots? You got ‘em! While attending a summer camp, 15 children are playing on the beach and wander across a hidden cave. They wander in and stumble across a room filed with computers and a nerdy guy who calls himself Kokopelli. He tells them that he needs beta testers for a video game that he’s made (and for once, the weird guy hiding in the cave making offers to children *isn’t* a pedophile), and he gets all but one to sign on. He says the game is about a big fuckin’ robot fighting 15 other big fuckin’ robots to save the planet, and that they’re going to be the pilots of the robot. That evening, they look into the sky only to see two big fuckin’ robots appear, and they’re teleported in to fight. Well, it’s been all of a season since the last Eva knock-off, so why not another? And you know if it’s an Eva knock-off, I’ll be there! And this time, they’re even upping the ante by having not two, not five, but fifteen angsty little brats driving the machine! All joking aside (well, maybe not *all*), this series shows promise to become an interesting iteration of the angst-ridden-mecha series. The music of the series is very well-suited, the artwork is very nice, and the writing doesn’t go too far over the top, trying to maintain a balance between slice-of-life and big-fuckin’-robots. I’m going to stick with it, so you might check it out, as well.
Preliminary score: 7.5/10
Negima?!
Length: 26 episodes
Genre: Romance, action, comedy
Watched: 2 episodes
Negi Springfield is a young magi-in-training who graduates from the Magi Academy and is assigned to become a teacher at Mahora Academy in Japan. Seeing as how the school is an all-girls school, his class is understandably compose entirely of middle-school females. Can he keep his secret while maintaining an effective teaching program and find a girl to become partners with? Okay, I’ll level with you. Most likely, you’ve already seen the original series, Mahou Sensei Negima if you’re reading this. As far as I’ve seen, there is very little departure from the first series beyond a change in tone of the story. So far, there has been less mad-cap humor and fanservice jokes, and more emphasis on the action of the series. I’m not quite sure why they decided to just remake the original from the start, although I’ve heard it’s because some fans and Ken Akamatsu (the manga’s creator) were unhappy with the previous incarnation. I personally had no problem with it, besides that it was another in a long line of harem anime series and a 9-year-old was more popular with a bunch of older girls than I would be with younger ones, but I also so far see no problem with this time ‘round, besides the very same prolem. If you’re a fan of the series and want more of the same story, go ahead and pick it up.
Preliminary score: 7.5/10
HELLSING ULTIMATE
Length: Unknown number of 35 minute episodes
Genre: Horror, supernatural
Watched: Preview OAV (Digest for Fleaks)
Craig's Comments: I probably should have waited for the first episode of the actual OAV to be released, but I was really anxious to get a first look at this OAV. Some things have remained the same as the TV series, such as the character designs and overall dark atmosphere. However, some things are radically different. For one thing, the music is handled by a different person, and seems like a defininte downgrade from the music of the series. Also, some of the characters have been adjusted. Ceras seems much more enthusiastic about her newfound vampiric powers, and Alucard seems even more evil, if you can believe that. The preview OAV contains two main scenes: Alucard's fight with the vampire priest in which he makes Ceras a vampire, and Alucard's first fight with Anderson. From what I've seen so far, the cinematography is much more stylized, and the blood content has been kicked up a couple of notches. However, while the fight scenes seem to have upgraded in quality, everything in between looks rougher (in some cases, a lot rougher) than the series. Although, the animation of the OAV seems to keep pace with the style of the manga, so anybody who's read even parts of it won't be shocked. There are parts of it I liked, and parts I would have liked to see improved. I'll have to see more before I develop a concrete opinion, but from what I've seen, it should be very interesting.
M.H.'s two cents: Having seen the first episode of the OAV, I can say that Craig's pretty much right on. One thing I'd add is that they seem to go more in-depth into Alucard's character than the original series, and the pace of the OAV is much faster than the original series. I can forgive this shortcoming, though, because the rest is so damn cool. And yes, the music *is* a major step backwards.
Preliminary score: 8/10
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