Image via Wikipedia

Dennou Coil is a Seiun Award winning series that I’m currently watching.  After eight episodes I’m roughly a third of the way through and liking it a lot.  Despite having a completely different setting ^[1], it feels like a darker, edgier, Card Captor Sakura.

The main characters are kids being kids, and the episodes where this is captured well really sing.  The baby sister of one of the leads is priceless to watch.

The clumsy, sort of romance between two characters with absolutely no idea of what is going on is a trope that I often find annoying in older characters, but one that I am enjoying with this bunch. Episode 8 was just sweet in an awkward way but didn’t over do it.

The growing network of relationships between the transfer students and the natives to the school is at the heart of this series so far, and this is where the Card Captor Sakura feel comes in.

However, in between the fun, the kids are facing some fairly serious threats ^[2] and this has added a much darker overtone to the series.

One aspect of WordPress that I’ve been liking is browsing the Anime category ^[1]. One thing I’ve been seeing recently is an image of an anime broadcast calendar for Spring 2012 (example here).

On it is a remastered Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water (aka Fushigi no Umi no Nadia).

Oh dear.

Given my generally low opinion of Gainax, my first reaction to this is to wonder if Gainax are flogging a dead goose in hopes of extracting one more golden egg.  If so, the execrable island episodes will also be remastered to extend the run and maximise the advertising revenue.

It is, I suppose, remotely possible that this is due to overwhelming demand for an updated edition, sans the island episodes.  In which case the possibility of a Western re-release in remastered form is actually pretty exciting.

But I’m not holding out much hope of that.
[1]I have to skip most of the entries that spoil current season shows, but that is where I’ve been picking up some of the wordpress blogs that I’m currently following.

Image courtesy of Kirstyn McDermott

We are now halfway through the nominations period for the Chronos Awards. Nominations close on 18 March 2012.

Please remember that to make the ballot works require 4 nominations in the professional categories, and 2 nominations in the other categories.  Please refer to the Chronos Award rules for more information.

At present a relatively small number of works have passed these thresholds, and most categories do not have more than one eligible work. 

Wide distribution of this post is encouraged but please acknowledge the source and provide a link back.

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L to R: Student Council, Black Rose, Apocalypse Sagas + Signet Ring

Back in May I was really pleased to see Shoujo Kakumei Utena get listed by Nozomi for re-issue.  I only had the first 12 episodes from the original release, and missed the rest along the way.

As with my reactions to the 5.1 remix, maybe I shouldn’t have been so eager.  I now have three very impressive box sets, and a rose signet ring, sitting next me and very little idea as to what to say about them.  As such what follows is more of a ramble than a review, so enter at your own risk.

The look, and sound, of Utena remained stylish and impressive all the way to the end.  If nothing else Utena is always fun to watch, and fun to listen to.

The increasingly abusive relationships revealed as the series wore on were much less fun.  Enough so that it nearly moved the entire cast into the Eight Deadly Words ^[1], with at least a couple in the Eight Deadlier Words ^[2] space.

Granted, as one commenter pointed out in the previous post, showing a relationship is not the same as condoning it.  To that extent it is clear that Utena is fighting against the nature of those relationships even as her own somewhat questionable relationships deepen.

In a way Utena needed to experience the darkness herelf in order to understand the darkness well enough to fight it.

To that extent the ending works well in that it shows Utena’s sacrifice leaving a healthier environment behind her, not to mention liberating Anthy from the trap of being the Rose Bride.

The ending is also appropriately heroic for what was set up as a tragedy in many ways. 

From the shadow plays (effectively a Greek Chorus) to the doubts about Utena’s ambition to be a Prince in the openings, Utena was always being set up for a bad end. I suspect that the primary purpose of the Black Rose saga was to foreshadow that Utena would be forgotten in the aftermath.

However the ending is not without hope: Anthy clearly believes that Utena is out there somewhere and is last seen leaving Ohtori to search for her. 

Despite the negative aspects I still enjoyed the series overall, and the last couple of episodes are very well paced. Utena may rely too much on the soundtrack to carry it through the weaker moments, but that was the case from the first episode anyway.  As I’ve said elsewhere ^[3] I will forgive a lot of anime sins if they are at least committed with style, which Utena never lacked.

I’ll probably rewatch it sometime, but unless I’m prepared to pick it apart episode by episode I doubt I’ll manage a more coherent review.  That would take a full year, and it probably won’t be a priority any time soon.  To leave on a slightly more positive note I’ll end with the fabulous opening, which remains one of my favourites.

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Image via Wikipedia

I have just watched The Romance of the Dancing Girls, episode 32 of Revolutionary Girl Utena. Twitch. Twitch.

At this point there are only seven episodes left. However I’m suddenly wondering if I want to see them.

Utena has always been surreal, but never quite this abusive in the relationships involved, not even in the episodes where Nanami was the designated chew toy.

Granted that the series has been implying more than it shows, but the implications have been disturbing enough.

It is possible that I’m overreacting, and having come this far I will finish the series.

But at this point there is a very real chance that my end of series review will be more rant than anything else.

For all that it is set in the future the storyline of Freedom Project has a story that hearkens back to the shipwrecked sailor, the face that launched a thousand ships, and the message in a bottle.

It is set in a Lunar colony called Eden with fragmentary references to a Freedom Project.  The highly regimented life of Eden is based on the belief that the Earth is uninhabitable due to a disaster and sundry wars. 

The story is driven by what happens when the lead character Takeru finds a photo of a beautiful young woman, Ao, in a place that can only be a green Earth that shouldn’t exist.

Although there are technical aspects that simply defy belief ^[1], I just don’t care.  By the time they came up I cared enough about the characters, their hopes and dreams, to let it slide ^[2].

I will admit that the distinctive character designs of Katsuhiro Otomo, and the initial scenes of juvenile delinquents engaged in slightly illicit motorcycle races, are far to reminiscent of Akira for my taste.  I was somewhat disconcerted by this in the opening episode, but there was enough interesting worldbuilding to overcome my reluctance.

That said, Freedom Project settles down quickly into fascinating tale full of shout outs to both the historical space program, and the other visual imaginings of it that I have always adored.  Add in a resolution that adds up to a full on coming of age for Takeru, and the ending just works.

The locally available Bluray release looks and sounds great.  I quite like the opening credits which have an interesting mix of manga style artwork and live action footage of abandoned buildings.

Overall Freedom Project is a strong OAV that plays well to a topic I love.  I thoroughly recommend it despite the seemingly endless Nissin Cup Noodles product placement.

Image via Wikipedia - Otonashi, Yuri, Tenshi

Angel Beats is a 13 episode TV series, supplemented by a OAV in the bluray release.  Visually stunning, with a fabulous opening song by Lia, it is weighed down by too many characters and by mythologising the “happy high school life” it was attempting to deconstruct.

In some respects Angel Beats covers similar ground to Haibane Renmei in that it is an afterlife of sorts for high school students who had a short or unfair life.  The object is apparently to give the unhappily departed a chance to overcome their issues before passing on.

A bunch of the disturbed souls are, unsurprisingly, unimpressed and are fighting back for a chance to confront God. Equally unsurprisingly there is an “angel” on scene to force them to behave.

Mayhem and hilarity ensue (especially since death tends to be temporary in this afterlife).

There is a nice twist that shakes up the allies and enemies about a third of the way through.  However around episode 10 I was looking at where the series was and thinking either Angel Beats needs many more episodes, or many fewer characters.

To deal with it there is yet another twist, but one that feels like a desperation move to wrap the series up and dispose of the extraneous cast members.

The central characters are (mostly) fairly sympathetic and reasonably well fleshed out, but this simply wasn’t possible for the large supporting cast in the time available.

As a result the ending is OK I guess but it certainly lacks the depth or resonance of Haibane Renmei. Then again perhaps I’m not (and never was) the target audience that it would resonate with. 

The myth of a “happy high school life” that Angel Beats simultaneously satirises and yearns for holds no attraction for me. I’ve mostly forgotten high school, and happy to have done so.

That said Angel Beats is enjoyable enough overall, with few openly disagreeable elements, but is not good enough to rate a rewatch any time soon.

I’ll end this with the fabulous opening but note that there are 17 named characters in the opening for the first episode alone:

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The current rule for a collected work is:

4.4.1 Collected Work: A collected work is a sf/f/h collection or anthology, magazine or journal, ezine or webzine which must pay contributors in other than contributor copies and incidentals, or the editor/s of which declare the work to be professional. To be eligible the collected work must have been produced in Victoria, or at least one of it’s major editors must have been a citizen of Victoria for the relevant calendar year. At least one edition of a collected work must have been issued in the eligible calendar year.

The query has been made in respect of collections of stories by Victorian authors that were edited and published in another state/territory.

The Committee will accept nominations for these collections.

The intent of the rule was to ensure that editing performed by Victorians could be recognised by the Chronos Awards.  There was no intention to disqualify stories by Victorian authors that happen to be edited elsewhere.

To avoid this issue in future the second clause of the rule will be amended as follows:

To be eligible the collected work must have been produced in Victoria, or contain a story by a citizen of Victoria, or at least one of its major editors must have been a citizen of Victoria for the relevant calendar year.

Any queries regarding this clarification may be sent to awards@continuum.org.au.

As noted previously nominations will close on 18 March 2012, and a typographical error in the original post referring to 2010 has been corrected.

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Characters correctly scaled. Yes, the high school girls are giants in this world.

Strange Dawn is a 13 episode TV series from 2000, of which only 7 episodes appear to have been translated.  Naturally, the borrowed DVDs cut out just as the story is getting interesting.  

The trope of the high school student(s) summoned to another world to be saviours is a well trodden path ^[1] that Strange Dawn takes to some new, and often disturbing, places. 

For a start the girls Yuko and Emi do not embrace the world they find themselves in, or become instant friends. They are more of an odd couple: staying together out of necessity rather than choice.

Yuko is brash, Emi is shy, and both are struggling to deal with the world, each other, and their apparent status as “Great Protectors” in the middle of a war.

The summoning of the “Great Protectors” was justified by a nasty civil war that was either in progress or looming at the time.  This means that there are a host of factions trying to manipulate or use the more than slightly confused Emi and the aggressively disinterested Yuko.

This aspect was more than a little off putting in truth: very few of the little people ^[2] are all that nice.  Some are downright evil.  In episode 7 being openly told that they would be deceived until it became true ^[3] was possibly the closest to honesty that Emi and Yuko had seen for a while.

Strange Dawn also addresses other aspects of the Trapped in Another World trope that are usually overlooked such as being unsure of the food, lack of toilets, and not having spare clothes.  Doing the laundry was a significant part of one episode.

Another unusual aspect is that as of episode 7 the plot coupon needed to return home appears to have been shredded.

Strange Dawn has the potential to be a strong series, depending on how it ended. It had some novel elements and was moving in an interesting direction.

However I was watching it not knowing that it was a 13 episode series and so the sudden stop is incredibly frustrating and I won’t be in a hurry to ever watch this again.

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Cover Art. Sourced from: http://www.darkhorse.com

Oh My Goddess! Volume 10 is a fun read, and unfortunately the last volume I have to hand ^[1].  It also proves that Fujishima is at his second best when he mixes some serious character studies into the comedy.

Second best I hear you cry? Fujishima’s best has always been his beautiful art, and the colour frontispieces of Urd, Belldandy and Skuld with wings in this volume are just wonderful.

Chapter 58 Let’s Have Fun features Megumi in trouble again, this time over softball.  The baseball club have kicked them off the practice field despite a verbal promise not to.  Megumi has been having trouble getting members of the club, and this leads to a challenge match between the two, with the prize being the winning club taking over the loser.

With the goddesses, Keiichi, and some of the other supporting loons getting involved this is a fun chapter to read, and there are some good gags ^[2].  I don’t know how Skuld’s “automated target tracking bat” didn’t get her booted for cheating, and Urd loosening her “tight” uniform convincingly turns the baseball team into drooling idiots. Obviously this involves a certain amount of fan service but since it is a) Urd and b) in a more or less good cause I’ll give it a pass.

But it isn’t the comedy that really that makes this chapter work.  Desperate to keep her softball club alive, Megumi is facing defeat with despair until Belldandy cheers her up.  This is when Megumi remembers why she loves softball, and proceeds to enjoy the rest of the match.

Right at the end there is an incident with Sora fumbling a ball that, initially, looks like it has lost the softball club the match.  Megumi flashes back to a similar incident of her own some years previously, and Keiichi’s kindness then is why Megumi still loves softball now.

Seeing Megumi pay that forward to Sora is what makes this chapter work.  Fujishima gets away with the slightly ^[3] contrived victory for the softball club because it repeats an error Skuld made earlier.

Chapter 59 Remember the Sad Times is a nicely written example of apparent out of character behaviour being perfectly in character once the background is known.  It starts with Megumi bringing trouble to the temple again, and the way Keiichi lampshades this is worth a chuckle.

This time the trouble is in the form of a lost dog, and the normally kind Keiichi is stubbornly refusing to allow him, or any pet, to be kept in the house.  Keiichi even goes so far as to refuse Belldandy, although he does allow a week to find a home for it.

This feels wrong, and the feeling builds as the dog ^[4] works his way into their hearts.  On a walk Keiichi betrays more knowledge of dogs than you’d expect and his grief for an earlier pet is revealed.  He is afraid to love this dog because he fears the hole it will leave in his heart when it is gone.

The ending with Megumi finding the real owner is again somewhat contrived, but the core message of not letting sorrow for lost loves block the entry of new loves is well presented.  It does make me wonder if this is part of why Keiichi is so reluctant to advance the relationship with Belldandy.

Chapter 60 Karaoke Friend is Mara and Senbei again.  Mara is one running gag that is getting a little old, although I’m mildly surprised that it took Fujishima this long to do a bathhouse chapter.

This is an amusing enough chapter, but only really worth it for what it sets up.  In essence Mara conspires to get the gang to a bath house so that she can get one of Urd’s hairs for cloning purposes. 

This doesn’t come out until the end of the chapter and in the meantime the usual hilarity and hijinks ensue.  Fortunately the fanservice isn’t too bad and, as is often the case with these episodes, most of the action is aroung ping pong, and karaoke.

Chapter 61 Urd Turns 100% Evil sees Mara kidnap Urd to move her demon half from her original body into the otherwise empty clone.  Naturally the evil half goes into the clone, and the good Urd remains locked up.

Part of the set up to this chapter is the relationship between Urd and Skuld.  Urd doesn’t really know how to handle Skuld, but was out buying apology icecream when Mara caught her.  When Skuld finds out she charges off to rescue Urd but gets caught and sealed in a mirror by Demon Urd.

This is possibly the best aspect of the chapter: showing and dealing with awkward sibling relationships.

Chapter 62 Skuld Strikes Back sees Mara and Demon-Urd plotting to destroy the earth whilst offing the other one when the opportunity arises.  Whilst they’re out meddling with Keiichi and Belldandy, Angel-Urd ^[5] awakens and manages to free herself and then Skuld.

Watching Angel-Urd channel Belldandy’s personality is funny to watch, especially considering how much it confuses Skuld.

Meanwhile Demon-Urd has managed to seriously kiss Keiichi, causing Belldandy a fair amount of grief.  Keiichi wasn’t expecting it, and I suspect he is currently unconscious.

As Demon-Urd prepares to attack and seal Belldandy, Skuld counterattacks and the volume ends on a cliff hanger.  The final panel of an angry Skuld with a somewhat passive Angel-Urd behind her is really nicely done.

Overall I enjoyed this volume.  The first two chapters are brilliant, and the latest Mara storyline at least has some new elements ^[6] that is making it interesting.

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