Star Driver 25

Star Driver,

Bones, what the hell was this supposed to be? (warning: angry rant) First of all: what on Earth was Sugata trying to do? He got in Samekh just so that he could come out and then put Samekh back to sleep? Is there some subtlety that I’m missing here?

Then we have Keito. They basically tossed out her character and replaced her with a needy, obsessive teenage bitch. Seriously, she wanted Sugata to wake Samekh so that he could become the king of the world? I couldn’t make up crap this stupid if I tried. What happened to the Keito who pulled a knife on the obsessed Sugata, sucked out Takuto’s snake venom and does Karaoke in secret?

Then we have the Hiraboshi, which Head reveals is a silly game that even twelve year olds wouldn’t be fooled by. That part at least had it a long time coming.  But then they all switch sides and decide they should never have tried to bring the Cybodies from Zero Time in the first place. But why were they even trying to in the first place again…? So it’s everyone against the Big Bad Guy (who, by the way, uses some mind control over cybodies which he pulled out of nowhere and gets broken out of nowhere).

As if this wasn’t insulting enough, we have Trans-Am Wako playing the damsel in distress, who resolves the love triangle by revealing that really, she loves them both.

Once Head is defeated, Sugata tries to seal Samekh again (why did he wake him up in the first place again?) but Takuto breaks Wako’s seal. This part was actually pretty decent.

Then Sugata and Takuto go to outer space, and Takuto defeats Samekh. I’ll just say that this ending belonged with Gundam 00 and not Star Driver.

Both the Cybodies are destroyed, and Sugata and Takuto are trapped in orbit. They cannot return to Earth since there is no space elevator. They follow in the footsteps of Sam the squid hunter, wandering the stars. Eventually they discover their true feelings and marry. Fifty years later, they find a way to return to Earth. They go to visit Wako, just in time for her funeral. She has remained alone all this time, waiting for them to return. The End.

I didn’t think that they’d have enough time left to do a solid ending, but I did think they could come up with something better than this. So many questions were left unresolved and there are gaping plot holes. Star Driver came down to a rather generic “unite to save the world” ending, and I thought that it had the potential to be so much more than this. So I’m disappointed, I’ll say, but this wasn’t enough to ruin the entire journey we took to get to the last episode.

Nichijou — First Impressions

Impressions,

A few segments were funny, in particular the dropped food segment and everything with Sasahara-senpai, but most of this episode’s humor fell flat for me. Especially the segments with Nano and the Professor— they’re just walking around being cute, but it isn’t funny at all. The segments with Mio, Yuuko and Mai are much stronger.

I’m not going to blog this, but I’ll probably keep watching it. Actually, my enjoyment of this episode was ruined because I had peeked at the manga already and read most of this episode’s jokes. Except I forgot that I had read it, and thought that this episode was just stealing footage from the OVA (I glanced through the OVA again and confirmed that this wasn’t the case). Anyway, the lesson is: don’t read the manga beforehand if you want to be surprised.

Toaru Majutsu no Index II Review — C-

Reviews,

I’ll confess, the main reasons I’m still watching this are for Biri-biri, to see what’ll get hacked on next to Crystal Dragon Jesus, and to see which girl Touma is going to punch in the face next. Index II has made especially good progress in the last category.

Index II has followed in the footsteps of the first season, maintaining more or less the same quality. It’s good for what it is, a fun action show, once Touma decides to stop talking to his enemies or on his cellphone and punch people. I felt like there were less Touma monologues in this season, so that’s good.

My favorite part about this series is the setting. It’s quite imaginative, and gives a sense that there’s a lot more to it than their showing. Building a world like this is an ambitious project, and the creators are doing well with it. Magic is awesome, espers are awesome, and crystal dragon Jesus is awesome.

The biggest problem is the characters. Not that they’re uninteresting; to the contrary, the characters are very strong. The problem is that there are too many of them and they never get enough attention. I mean, look at that maid girl who sits on the robot— she appeared in the ending credits, but who was she again? Himegami, Komoe-sensei and even Index barely showed up. It would help if they found a way to make more of the characters play a role in each of the arcs, since right now only a few characters take part in each one.

  • Plot / Script – 7 / 10 – Great world-building, but Touma can be talkative and preachy.
  • Characters – 7 / 10 – Strong characters, but they don’t get enough attention.
  • Production – 7  / 10 – Consistent but fairly standard.
  • Overall – C-

Recommendations – Asura Cryin’, Shakugan no Shana, Legend of Legendary Heroes….

Dog Days — First Impression

Impressions,

Shinku, a Parkour master and middle school student from Japan, is summoned to a fantasy world to be a hero in a war between cats and dogs. The dogs are about to lose their castle, and if they do, the people will be……  *wait for it*…… *wait for it*…… disappointed. To prevent this tragic fate, Shinku decides to embrace his role as hero and fight in the war, which is fought as a “be a ninja”-style gameshow with obstacle courses.

I’m almost embarrassed to admit it, but I actually liked this episode. This show is just so unbelievably stupid that it might actually work. With the high stakes war, side-scroller Chocobo races, and ridiculous battles I couldn’t help but laugh. It also helps that our “hero” has no doubts or hesitation whatsoever, which is refreshing. It’s an open question whether I’ll still find this funny in a few episodes, but at the very least we shouldn’t have to worry about the show entering srs bsns mode due to how stupid it is.

This probably isn’t for everyone though: you have to have a certain “stupid” sense of humor to enjoy it, which I (unfortunately?) do.

Fractale Review — C-

Reviews, ,

Fractale is an adventure set in a world where a system of satellites, the Fractale system, runs to maintain a virtual world in conjunction with the real world which satisfies basic necessities and allows people to interact with dopples, virtual avatars. Clain meets a girl, Phrynne, a priestess and Nessa, a dopple, who are the key to restoring the breaking-down Fractale system. The three travel together while avoiding the forces trying to capture them.

The main problem with Fractale is that the use of time is terrible, which really matters in an eleven episode show. The middle episodes were a complete a waste— they added only inconsistent information about the world which didn’t relate to the titular Fractale system, and were more or less long sequences of jokes about how Clain is a pervert. They weren’t even funny. Then, of course, because so much time was wasted, the ending was rushed. The series asks so many questions, but doesn’t look at any of them in detail.

Fractale has an interesting setting, certainly, but it is treated so inconsistently and without lead-ins that it seems fragmented and not like a single world. Initially, it seems that everyone in the world lives alone in trailers, and Clain’s living in a house is a social taboo. But not long after we meet rebels who live in a town. Then there are refugees fleeing from a town destroyed when parts of the Fractale system shut down. Can’t they just pick up and move if they live in trailers? Then we jump to a decadent city run by shepherds, and a secret base with robots and clones. It just seems like the creators didn’t know what to do with the setting and changed their mind every episode. The world of the first episode didn’t seem anything like the world of the final episode, and they weren’t able to build a consistent and believable world.

In addition, the creators don’t really address any of the issues raised by the Fractale system at all after the first episode. Clain’s parents raised an interesting question in the first episode, saying that asking people to live together infringes on their freedom. It’s never mentioned again. There are some references to “data drugs”, but it never plays much of a role. Plus, it’s never explained why everyone is so dependent on the Fractale system. It doesn’t grow food, does it? And you can’t live in virtual houses, even though the refugees seemed to- Clain did fall through the floor of one. At the end of the show, the characters end up restoring the Fractale system, but no reason is given. They came to destroy it and ended up fixing it, but why? It just seems like they’re going with the flow. In general, the show ignored the interesting questions in favor of Clain being a pervert.

Fractale also had a strange mix of a peaceful, beautiful Ghibli-esque setting with acts of brutality. One minute we’re laughing and running through the trailer park, the next we’re gunning down innocent bystanders, getting raped and stabbing people. There’s hardly any transition between the two, and I couldn’t really take the violence seriously due to the rest of the show. It just seemed completely out of place.

  • Plot / Script – 6 / 10 – Too much time wasted on Clain being perverted, not enough time on the Fractale system. Inconsistent world-building.
  • Characters – 7 / 10 – Clain gets annoying because of all the jokes surrounding him, and the main villain is a complete joke, but otherwise interesting (particularly Nessa and Phrynne).
  • Production – 8 / 10 – Great animation, especially when they try, such as the scene with Nessa’s mischief in the trailer park and the town market.
  • Overall – C-

Recommendations – Ghibli Movies, Dennou Coil