Guillotine

After reading comments and praises of Gantz for awhile now I finally decided to check it out… And have to admit I’ve come away with some mixed feelings on the show. The plot does sound very interesting… People die and wind up in an apartment with nothing but a large black sphere only to discover that to get out and back to “normal” life they must hunt aliens. They also get cool weapons and suits that give them superhuman powers. At this point it sounds pretty good, and I’m totally in.

Unfortunately… The show is also burdened with some major flaws (in my opinion). First being the insanely long drawn out dialog scenes that seem to go nowhere. And I’m not talking a few scenes here and there… There are whole episodes made up of seemingly pointless dialog, or long drawn out explanations of things the audience has already seen and likely figured out for themselves. I found my self yawning and my mind drifting to other things during many of these scenes, and there were a few times I thought about quitting watching the show altogether. Seriously… People joke about A Certain Magical Index and Touma’s monologues, but they have nothing on Gantz’s insanely long dialog scenes.

Another issue I had was looking forward to the action scenes, and then finding them to be more “action-less” scenes. Rather than fighting the monster these people are… Still just talking… Do you really have a ten minute dialog about whether you should save this guy being killed by an alien while watching him being killed? There were a few good action scenes in the show, but for a show that is essentially a repetitive monster battle show you would expect more. The creators could learn a few things from other repetitive battle shows like Yu Yu Hakusho, Inuyahsa, or even Pokémon. These battles seem like they would be more suited to still frames on a page than on screen.

And finally… The Evangelion style wtf?! ending. I’ve read some comments that suggest that the show follows the manga up until around the last few episodes at which point a rather unintelligible end was tacked on. It just makes very little sense and nothing is really resolved. Aside from the fact that the manga was still ongoing it made even less sense to give the show a rather definitive end. Many fans have commented that the show should have just stopped at the last story arc that followed the manga and left it there. I rather agree. It was actually a nice spot to stop, was no more wtf?! inducing than the ending they made up, and it still left the series open to future series. Unfortunately this happens when the animation companies stray completely from the original material. It is never a good thing. I do understand that the show ending rather abruptly might seem awful, but anyone who wished to continue the story could simply read the manga to find out what happens next.

So my points listed above aside the show was somewhat entertaining. The concept of the show is really awesome, but the execution was poorly done. While I have not read the manga I have heard that it is vastly superior to the anime, and the fact that the manga is still ongoing after 11 years tells me that this may be true.

Now for the technical details… The show is animated decently, although there are points where the CG is blatantly obvious. But it still looks pretty overall. The English dub is pretty good, and Chris Ayers does give a great performance in the lead role. Since it is an ADV dub it can be fun picking out the usual suspects in the supporting roles like Luci Christian, Monica Rial, and Greg Ayers. Also one of the redeeming points of this show is that it has really great OP and ED songs. The OP song is Super Shooter by Rip Slyme and has an edgy fast hip hop beat while the ED song Last Kiss by Bonnie Pink is a rather sweet ballad.

If you ask would I recommend this show to people??? Yeah I would… It does have some interesting bits, and touches on some very gritty and edgy subjects like murder, rape, and violence. Interestingly there are characters in the show that are more monstrous than the monsters. All in all I think the show could have been great if it had addressed some of the issues I listed, but it’s still a decent show. I would recommend that one might wish to skip the last three episodes… Or actually watch them, but keep in mind that that is not how the real story goes, and then read the manga if you want to find out what happens next.

Oh yeah… I guess I should put a warning here that there is quite a bit of nudity, and some seriously graphic sexual scenes. If these things bother you then maybe you might consider avoiding Gantz.

Kashimashi is Yuri.  If you are unfamiliar with the term yuri, it is Japanese jargon for girl on girl romance or love in manga, anime, or Japanese media.  The 5 volume series tells the story of a young boy, Hazumu, who is inadvertently transformed into a girl by aliens and then continues to live and carry on teenage drama at school and with friends in her new body.  There is a love triangle throughout the series between Hazumu, her childhood best friend, Tomari, and the girl she liked before her transformation, Yasuna.  The idea of gender transformation is certainly not new to manga as it has been put to good use in many titles.  But, if you are looking for serious or deep reflection regarding gender issues this is not the series for you.  It touches on gender issues but maintains a light-hearted feel and humor throughout most of the series.    

The story starts off with Hazumu, a boy that has always had more feminine features and interests, running off to sulk about being rejected by a Yasuna.  He is soft-spoken, loves botany, and I generally a “cry-baby” of sorts.  Whilst sulking in the mountains, the sci-fi-you-have-to-make-a-leap-with-your-mind-because-otherwise-it-doesn’t-make-sense element takes place.  An alien spaceship crashes into Hazumu destroying him and the aliens evidently mistakenly repair him as a female. 

Hazumu returns to his family as a female and the most unrealistic thing happens, they are excited to have the daughter they never had.  I supposed if you can follow the aliens rebuilding him as a girl, you could also see his parents being happy about their son’s sex reassignment.   It’s not like it’s uncommon to have to suspend reality to enjoy a manga series as many seem to make no logical sense. 

Back to the story, so Hazumu is welcomed with open arms from his parents but now he has to play out the role of a girl in school and with his friends.   He finds the role as a female somewhat confusing but it is of course a perfect fit with his feminine features and interests.  There are all sorts of humorous moments that involve bra shopping and gallivanting with the girls of the love triangle, Tomari and Yasuna. 

Tomari is Hazumu’s childhood best friend.  She is a tough girl that sticks up for Hazumu when he was being the said cry baby.  The triangle spins out of control as Hazumu’s new body and the idea of being with another girl is both confusing and a no-no.

Yasuna is the girl Hazumu liked and was rejected by before being rebuilt into a girl.  Afterwards, she begins to show interest in Hazumu and we discover another suspend-reality-and-just-go-with-it moment.  It seems that Yasuna can only see women’s faces clearly (in my opinion making her the true Lezzy in the book) and that is why she wasn’t interested in Hazumu before. 

In volume 4 there is a twist that turns the series from an airy love story to a more intense dramatic story-line surrounding mortality.  The triangle is forced to deal with more important issue than who gets the girl (although that issue stays around until the end).  I thoroughly enjoy this manga series for what it is.  Let’s just say that if you can suspend reality and you enjoy gender issues and love stories you will love Kashimashi.

This Manga Review was written by Mandi Titus, author of @Vermont.

So the Halloween season just isn’t feeling creepy enough yet… How about getting in the mood with some scary anime? I was just thinking that very thought, and decided to find a couple of shows to get me in the mood, and thought maybe others might like some recommendations.

First off… What I’m intending to watch… Soul Eater and Rin: Mnemosyne no Musume tachi Can’t tell you much about them as I haven’t seen them myself yet, but the trailers I’ve seen at Funimation have my mouth watering, and I got a sudden craving for blood. If you haven’t seen them yet be sure to check out the trailers at Funimation’s video portal, and there are 21 subbed episodes of Soul Eater to watch for free. Soul Eater is an action-comedy more than a horror, but it looks to have plenty of creepiness. Rin… Well… Just watch the trailer… From what I understand most video sites won’t even let Funi put the trailer up because of the violent content… Adam Sheehan from Funimation described it as “Saw meets anime.”

So… What shows can I recommend to others… Let’s see.

Higurashi When They Cry is an obvious one. I just recently watched it (and reviewed it here). It will definitely make the hairs on your neck stand up.

Ghost Hunt is another one that I highly recommend… I’m pretty sure I was watching this during last Halloween.

Jigoku Shoujo (Hell Girl) is a must. The first season is available at most retailers, The second and third seasons Futakomori and Mitsugane have not been released in the US, but we’ll just pretend we don’t know about things like downloads and torrents.

Mushi-Shi is another great show… Not exactly scary, but there is some creepiness to be seen.

Shikabane Hime is more of an action, but I think zombie killing school girls who are themselves zombies can qualify it for a Halloween themed show. It’s opening sequence also still happens to be one of my favorites.

Tsukyomi MoonPhase and Princess Resurrection are a couple of good monster type shows if you’d like something less serious. And by all means if you absolutely want a horror based comedy then you must get a hold of the ADV dubbed Ghost Stories.

Another show that is not scary, but kinda fits in with the whole Halloween atmosphere is Clamp’s xXxHolic. You can watch the entire first season over at Funimation for free.

I know… There are more shows I could have listed, but I am sticking to recommending the ones I have actually seen.  So that will do it for this list.

Now that I finally finished watching the first season I was able to add this to my fall anime watch list. After 2 episodes I’ll say that if you liked the first season you will enjoy the second as well. The storyline is very much in tune with the first season. The new show starts out in Russia several years after the events at the end of season one. Hei looks like a scruffy bum now, and is apparently doing odd jobs for the CIA.

All new characters are introduced with some of the old characters popping in now and then. Without giving too much away… Someone asked Funimation at their web panel recently if they were going to license Darker Than Black 2, and if they would re-use the original voice cast… Well… The way things are going after 2 episodes the voice casting might not be a concern. They might not need many of the cast from the first season. Apparently a lot has happened in the time between stories, and it looks like we will find out about those details in the form of flashbacks. It is obvious from the start that what Hei did at the end of the first season has caused the events that are happening now, and I suspect that deep down he wants to fix everything, but we’ll have to see how things go.

The new characters are quite likable, and there is plenty of action and suspense. A must watch show.

After 4 months of battling between 384 characters who made it into the main tournament the final showdown happened today between Yui Hirasawa (K-On!) and Taiga Aisaka (Toradora). By a margin of 54 votes Taiga Aisaka won the title.

There were a lot of interesting events in this tournament with probably one of the early shocks being that K-On’s Mio and her “moe moe kyun” was knocked out in the first round. Although Asuza and Yui both made it to the 3rd round it was a surprise that Yui wound up being the last character standing in Aisaka’s way if you consider all the K-On popularity polls this year either Mio or Asuza would have been expected.

Another surprise was that all of the Lucky Star characters were wiped out pretty early for the most part especially considering that Kagami won last year’s tournament. I don’t think any of them made it past the second round.

In the beginning it appeared that the girls from CLANNAD, Saki, and Haruhi were taking over the game, but as the rounds went on they slowly dropped away. Probably one of the strangest aspects of this year’s tournament was the fact that Haruhi Suzumiya and Yuki Nagato took each other out in the third round. You kinda figured that one of those two would make it to the semi – finals, but due to ties they wound up in the same bracket in a 3 way battle with Eruruu (Utawarerumono OVA) on the first day of round 3. If either one or the other had been in the round alone then the chances of winning would have been pretty high, but with the fans split the votes were as well, so they both wound up getting eliminated.

The quarter and semi-finals went pretty smoothly, but it became apparent that there were quite a few Saki characters still left with Aisaka and Yui sneaking in quietly among them. While I was cheering for Yui it was pretty much a given that Aisaka would win in the end. You can’t find an anime message board that her name doesn’t pop up on almost daily. The surprise to me was how close the final vote was… 54 votes… Couldn’t 55 more K-On fans vote? The other surprise is that Yui had the most votes over all throughout the tournament with 6515 votes to Aisaka’s 6408, but it’s kinda like the popular vote with U.S. Presidents… Nice to have, but it doesn’t determine a winner.

All that’s left to be done is wait for next year’s tournament. With the new Haruhi episodes and the Disappearance movie announced it looks like the SOS brigade will have at least a couple more years of eligibility for Saimoe. Should be fun to watch.

Thanks goes out to Moetron for their daily coverage of the event.

Links:

Saimoe Official Page (Japanese)

Saimoe English Site