Because I dunno when I'll be doing anime reviews again

[salinea]

Of the two shows I ended up watching last semester:

Star Drivers ended up somewhat disappointing. It was solidly entertaining through out, with good storytelling, great visuals and likeable characters. On the other end it totally failed to be subversive, especially on the gender front and despite all the shout out to Utena, and has a pretty bog standard narrative overall.

Hourou Musuko aka Wandering Son otoh was great; a lovely, subtle and delicate coming of age story that centers on two transgender teens and their friends. It had great characterizations, very well realised characters and some very deft and gorgeous touches in the animation and storytelling. Due to the necessity to adapt a long manga series in only one cour it ended up a bit uneven in pacing at the beginning an the end; but that didn't really stop it from being awesome. Owe to read the manga to properly assess it as an adaptation though.

Of the new shows of this semester, I'm not yet entirely sure what I'll watch, but so far I've got:

Hanasaku Iroha which I liked much better until the lattest episode which played an adult man doing bondage on our 16 yo heroine without her consent as comedy. Ugrh x_x Then again, it's got gorgeous animation, a main dynamic, romantic yet cynical female character I'm really liking, a secondary intense and overly serious female character whom she's totally crushing on which I'm also liking a lot, and some pretty good dramatic moments so far. Except the lattest episode. *sighs*

The X-Men anime which is.... VERY HAMMY so far, but somewhat entertaining and fun. I'm not entirely sure the storytelling is willing to let its female characters be badass though x_x

Comments

[elle_white]

I thought Star Drivers looked fun and interesting, but it didn't seem like a particularly groundbreaking or unique story. I looked up information about the series and it seemed rather generic in some respects.

I've never heard of Hourou Musuko, but I'm very intrigued by your review. I'll have to check out the manga one day!

[salinea]

Well yo were right, it was really generic in most respect. It's just... the scriptwriter is someone who did some awesome things; and stylistically it was pretty cool, and it kept having a lot of references to utena :3

Wow, you really need to check out Hourou Musuko, it was great! It was one of the Noitemina series, i'm surprised you didn't hear about it.

[scriva.livejournal.com]

I wasn't really able to get into Star Driver so far, but I liked Hourou Musuko quite a lot. My favorite anime from the last season was Level E, whose main character is an alien trickster. It's a sort of episodic show with a couple of core characters linking the different chapters. It's mostly a comedy with some parody elements and some absurd situations. It has pretty cool female characters as well.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

Oooh I hadn't really paid attention at Level E, I thought it was a generic comedy, probably one with too much moe and fanservice for my taste. Do you rec it to me?

[scriva.livejournal.com]

The title is pretty silly, but yes, I would recommend it to you. It's a sci-fi comedy with aliens, it has some men in black vibes, but the manga precedes men in black by a couple of years. It's not always consistently funny, but even those arcs are interesting with regards to the absurdness of the situation or the concepts involved. It's pretty low on fanservice, but it has a few short scenes for all kinds of interests, and those scenes are additions of the anime. The female characters are beautiful or charming, but not moe, not even the hight school girls, and I really like them, because they are just as quirky as the males.

You really should give the first three episodes as trey, they are the funniest, but they also present the central character. If you like him, the rest of the show might be interesting for you as well. The final two episodes are pretty awesome, too, but the pay off is better if you have observed the antics of the MC for a while.

[keelieinblack.livejournal.com]

I kind of want to give Star Driver points for ending with the main trio as a 99% canon OT3, instead of going for the typical "pair one guy and one girl and hook the third wheel up with some other character" resolution. Other than that, though, yeah--it was fun to watch, but the amount of wasted potential drove me batty! I expected so much more from that writer/director combo.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

that's how you read it? I thought Wako admitted to liking both guys, but was basically saying she preferred when she was only in love with one; that hardly felt like a happy threesomely after to me :(

but the amount of wasted potential drove me batty! I expected so much more from that writer/director combo.
God yes!

[keelieinblack.livejournal.com]

Mmm...I guess I don't assume that it's an automatic happily ever after, and Wako might have indeed found it easier to be in love with one or the other instead of both, but given the way the relationships have developed and how things stood at the end it seemed likely that they'll be able to work something out. And since the three of them were explicitly set up against the Tokio/Sora/Ryousuke trio of the previous generation, it certainly felt hopeful that they'll avoid the pain of that kind of relationship trainwreck.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

And since the three of them were explicitly set up against the Tokio/Sora/Ryousuke trio of the previous generation, it certainly felt hopeful that they'll avoid the pain of that kind of relationship trainwreck.
Good point.

It felt like they could make it work, but the show wasn't actually able to show them getting there (too scandalous?) so settled for something utterly vague and non committing instead, I guess.

[twhitesakura.livejournal.com]

I was just getting back into anime! I finished "Level E," am staring "Gosick" and was just thinking about "Hourou Musuko." I love your reviews!

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

haha sorry for my deserting the reviewing, I just haven't felt motivated to do them lately :(

How is Level E? I do hear some good things about it by some people.

Go watch Hourou Musuko! It is worth it!

[silver-sandals.livejournal.com]

...for a moment I thought you were talking about the old X-Men cartoon, which is AWESOME. I'd forgotten about the anime, but I'd totally watch it, except if the female characters aren't their awesome badass selves... *siiigh* Is there a lot of Wolverine in it? Can't stand him.


I think I've heard of Wandering Son before; that sounds lovely, I'll have to check it out.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

Someday maybe I should try to (re)watch the old X Men cartoon :) I'm scared of being disapointed though.

Well ti's only three episodes, maybe they'll get to be more badass later on! We do have Emma and Storm and Armor, so there is potential. There is a lot of Wolverine though :( he's relatively likeable IMHO but I'm not a hater (or a fan either, I'm kind of neutral I guess?)

Wandering Son is totally lovely. Do check it out!! :D

[flo-nelja.livejournal.com]

Ca parle de quoi, Star Drivers et Hanasaku Iroha ?

Pour X-men, je n'ai vu que l'épisode 1, je ne dirais pas que j'ai trouvé ça bon mais j'étais déjà très surprise que ça ne soit pas abominablement mauvais, je dois avouer...
Dommage pour le manque de persos féminins badass. :-(

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

Star Drivers: dans une petite île du sud du Japon, existe des colosses de pierre qui quand ils sont activés par qqun avec une héritée peuvent devenir des Mecha qui s'utilsie dans une dimension alternative, Zero Time. Une conspiration de certains adolescents, le Kiraboshi, veut "briser" les marques de chacune des 4 Prêtresses de l'île afin d'ammener les mechas hors du Zero Time. L'une des prêtresse, son fiancé (qui a également une des marques), et un autre garçon qui vient d'arriver sur l'île mais a également une marque et qui tombe rapidement amoureux d'elle (ou d'eux) sont nos protagonistes.

*rire* oui c un peu ça.
Ya des personnages féminins badass: Emma, Storm et Armor. C juste que pour l'instant à chaque que l'une d'entre elle fait qqchose d'un petit peu badass (déjà c moins souvent que les mecs), elle a toute de suite besoin de se faire sauvé par qqun d'autre (ce qui n'arrive pas aux mecs). Enfin bon, c trois épisodes, peut etre que ça va s'arranger.

[flo-nelja.livejournal.com]

Dans l'épisode 1, Storm avait une scène de badassitude, mais je n'ai pas pu me réjouir, parce que j'était complètement occupée à être choquée par 1) le fait que son attaque de glace va probablement tuer les pirates, et que ça ne lui pose aucun problème moral, et 2) le fait que tous les gens l'acclament au lieu de paniquer, qu'il n'y ait pas de sentiments mêlés (ce qui d'une part ne va pas avec les réactions standard dans ce monde par rapport aux mutants, et d'autre part, me choque encore plus par rapport au point 1)

Et pour ce que tu me décris sur le rôle des persos féminins par la suite, je suis complètement affligée. :-(
Pour Hisako, je veux bien, parce que c'est une "débutante", mais Emma et Storm, non !!
Bon, ceci dit, ça me donne envie de vérifier par moi-même. ^^;; Tu sais où je peux choper les épisodes 2 et 3 ?

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

http://www.nyaa.eu/

[flo-nelja.livejournal.com]

Merci !
*a avancé*
Houla, ce qui me dérange, en plus du fait que Storm a perdu un niveau de badass, effectivement, c'est que tous les persos sont uniformément nuls en tactique. C'est terrifiant, j'ai sans arrêt envie de leur gueuler dessus parce qu'ils utilisent leurs pouvoirs de façon totalement inefficace et semblent incapables de travail d'équipe.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

*rire* c pas faux. Je suppose qu'il y a un côté pour laisser une progression au cours de la série, comme là ils sont un peu brisés en temps qu'équipe depuis la mort de Jean. Ou alors les metteurs en scène de l'histoire sont juste des brèles.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

et Hanasaku Iroha: l'héroine est une adolescente élevée par une mère célibataire qu'elle considère très irresponsable; sa mère s'enfuit avec son petit amant parcequ'il a des dettes et décide de laisser sa fille chez sa mère (que la fille n'a jamais rencontré) qui est la patronne d'une auberge traditionnelle dans la campagne. Là bas la fille se retrouve obligée de travailler à l'auberge, et elle fait la rencontre de deux autre fille de son âge qui travaille là bas (dont l'une sur lequel elle a un crush immédiat XD enfin ca c'est ma lecture des choses). Donc c'est du slice of life/drama.