Joining the list of shows that consider a single exclamation point inadequate to convey their delirious enthusiasm, Working!! is an unlikely comedy set in a restaurant staffed by an eclectic and offbeat selection of characters. Favouring wry humour over slapstick, the first three episodes of the series have a wide stable of jokes and though it wears its four-panel comic strip heritage on its sleeve, the pacing is solid and it stays away from wildly exaggerated scenarios, instead sticking with the ongoing tribulations of the cast's idiosyncrasies. All of the enthusiasm may come from the diminutive pixie Poplar, but the series has all the hallmarks of a supremely competent comedy ready to fill its entirety rather than expend its energy all at once.
a self-assured and capable comedy that may not aim high or burn fast, but sticks to its strengths
Poplar works at the Wagnaria family restaurant in Hokkaido and has been tasked by her surly manager to find a new employee to help with the increasing work load. After exhausting her options, she begins soliciting strangers on the street, finally asking Souta who mistakes her for a wayward middle school student. Beguiled by her size and demeanour, he accepts the job offer and is introduced to the menagerie of characters that make up Wagnaria's staff. There is the manager, Kyouko, who does little work and subsists on a diet of parfaits, most of them served by Yachiyo who, as well as carrying a sword around, has a long history with the manager. Poplar is small but sprightly and quite the opposite of Mahiru who has a ferocious phobia of men, much to the dismay of Souta who ends up on the receiving end more often than not. Souta himself isn't bereft of his quirks and despite his initial qualms, quickly settles in to the staff's continuing misadventures.
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.
