In the first three episodes of Hakuouki - Shinsengumi Kitan, activities are split evenly between: smouldering with masculinity while lounging around in a den of exposed chests, or looking doe eyed and getting saved by gentlemen heroically cutting up other gentlemen. Building on the romance game source, its target audience is plain to see, however the female protagonist at the centre of this bevy of testosterone is so bland that it's tricky not to see her as an empty husk of a character, aimed to cover a myriad of Mary Sue paradigms. To its credit, the swords and scheming is interesting if not entirely unoriginal and the supernatural undertones of the opening scenes are left mostly unexplored. The most telling aspect however is Studio Deen's involvement which despite a solid if lacklustre start, bodes ill for the remainder of the series.
an aesthetically muted, vocally competent but generally uninspiring tale of a young girl with a missing father caught up in a bloody battle for stability in feudal Japan
Chizuru Yukimura is a long way from home, after her father came to Kyoto for his work he disappeared; she followed only to be caught up in a common street scuffle. Members of the Shinsengumi, a local vigilante group, defeat her pursuers and take her into their custody claiming she may need to be killed if she is found to have witnessed their fight. It transpires however that her search for her father, a doctor, coincides with the mission they have been tasked with after his disappearance. As Chizuru begins to ingratiate herself with the group, she becomes involved with the Shinsengumi's battle against a group rebelling against the ruling class; an successful attack is launched on their headquarters in which she plays a pivotal role. Her time with the group may have only just begun but they may be the best way for her to find out what has happened to her father.
The president of Bang Zoom! Entertainment recently wrote an article about how anime releases in the western world, specifically North America, are dying. Manyothers have weighed in on the issue and by and large have come back with bland responses to what is a firebrand and alarmist editorial from a unique position within the release chain. While the president's motives tinge the post with a dubious slant, the core argument is one that has been used before and will no doubt be used again. It's the same argument used by the commercial music and movie sectors, the difference being that instead of companies posting record profits, anime related companies are disappearing, and not simply the upstarts but powerhouses that used to be staples of any release schedule. To summarise the article: fansubs and piracy are killing off the western anime industry. There is no proof offered, no empirical evidence backing up this assumption but it rests upon common wisdom to support the argument. The argument is wrong.
The reason commercial, western anime releases are dying off is because the companies can not offer a competitive, viable alternative to fansubs.
I have purposely refrained from comments on the ongoing anime blog tournament as I wanted anyone visiting my site for the first time to get a feel for exactly what this site is about rather than intimating that some sort of introduction was necessary beyond the about page. In short, I didn't want the first post new visitors saw to be about the tournament. I've also kept away from discussing the tournament on the hub itself, but that is for more complex reasons.
Senkou no Night Raid is ambitions in many respects: it features a selection of spoken languages including Chinese, Russian and heavily accented Japanese and it takes place in a time when Japan's misguided "Co-Prosperity Sphere" idealism was still prevalent. That the series comes from A1 Pictures, responsible for Kannagi and Sora no Woto, and like the latter series is aired within the "Anime no chikara" (The Power of Anime) slot; its pedigree not in question. The first three episodes then demonstrate a series confident in story but shy with characters - a tale of espionage and artifice told using adolescents with super powers. With an estimated thirteen episodes and only the vaguest hints at an overarching plot, like Higashi no Eden before it, the short run could be the worst thing to happen to such a promising series.
straddles the line between demanding political manoeuvring and pulpy action thriller
Set in Shanghai in 1931, a group of four young adults are trying to retrieve a kidnapped company president; their rescue attempt is beset with problems though from an exploding car to a chase by boat turning out to be for a decoy only. After meeting with their handler, they mount another attempt to extricate the hostage, this time from one of the enemy's heavily manned forts. This does not pan out much more successfully than before and is only the first in a series of missions for the group, each of whom is gifted with a special, near magical feat which enables them to perform tasks impossible for others. Investigations into violinists passing information to the enemy as well as a serial bomber exhibiting similarly fantastical powers will test their burgeoning abilities, however their nemesis could well be far stronger than they yet know and is the sibling of one of their members.
A story of incarcerated juveniles trying to survive the horrors of a detention centre in a post-war Japan is not the most obvious or accessible material to construct a series from, but Rainbow Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin does exactly that. Who better then, than Madhouse to craft something thoroughly engrossing out of the dark and violent? With a mostly untested production staff as well, barring the art director from Aoi Bungaku. The thrash-metal opening may jar horrifically against the serene introduction, potentially turning away the indifferent or the apathetic, but a momentary persistence reveals a gripping tale of camaraderie against constant oppression and though the story of the first three episodes may cover some of the most grotesque acts people are capable of, it is a powerfully human story and difficult to turn away from.
gruesomely authentic and provides a voyeuristic glimpse into a time that demands to be remembered rather than avoided
Six masked adolescents are being transported to Shio reformatory, scorned by the populace and beaten by the guards, their punishment for their varying crimes already long begun. Violated and humiliated by the on-site doctor, all six are shown to their cell where a lone occupant, Rokurouta Sakuragi, awaits them. Their confrontational first meeting ends with Rokurouta uninjured and the others unceremoniously pummelled; what starts from there is a spirit of survival, each one enduring the constant beatings and malevolence perpetrated against them while coming to terms with their own pasts. One guard in particular seems to take a perverse, sadistic pleasure from thrashing the inmates - Rokurouta especially whom he bears a special grudge; his duplicitous tendencies threaten to splinter the group when their survival relies on their comradeship.
