| Episode 19 I think part of what's bothering me so much about this series is how the degree of seriousness doesn't match the circumstances. This happened with the boxing match, which felt like we were suddenly stepping into a shonen anime (that's fine, they're shonen characters anyway), but somehow trying to evoke the stakes and gravitas of this shows seinin base. This is actually worse because, at least in that case, the stakes were at least somewhat proportional to what you would expect for a boxing match. No one was threatening Mario with physical violence (well... more violence than the match itself) if he took a match against an American boxer. But man, did the stakes ever rise fast in this arc. Dude just wants to sing. Yes, to some degree, he's competition for this other band, but Joe's singing career shouldn't be threatening enough to warrant starting a gang war. It's nonsense, and it makes the decision to back off out of fear of this gang backing Joe's manager seem almost goofy in retrospect. The fact that this just happens to be the one opportunity for Meg to see her brother again in concert adds some melodrama that could be touching if they didn't beat us over the head with it. So, for whatever reason, these goons decide to rough up Joe instead of just killing him like they seemed poised to do at the end of last episode. It's made all the sillier by the fact that the dude isn't even doing this for his band anymore - he's just really mad at Joe and crew for... trying to make it without him? Yeah, it's a dumb motivation and his reveal that he was ready to kill him all along just makes this even dumber. And, luckily for him, the child he sent to get Mario just happens to run into him, Cabbage and Turtle on the street. What are the odds?! No, seriously, this seems impossible. Wasn't Turtle at the concert? They later explain what happened, but it still seems silly that he found his way from the concert to them. And why are Mario and Cabbage just wandering around together with him? Oh well, whatever excuse you need to get a fight scene, I guess. Also, since when did Cabbage become immune to led pipes? Dude would have killed it in Clue. Once again, this scene is made all the more ridiculous by the central villain's sporadic willingness to brandish a gun, and his decision to only do so at extremely close range. Does he want them dead or does he just want to set himself up for failure? Anyway, they win, and the gang backing Joe's manager arrives just in time to... throw them the keys to a car so that they can get Joe to his concert. Priorities, right? Dude's definitely not suffering from internal bleeding. More cheese from the narrator: "we're always getting in messes like this, but at disciplinary school, we never learned to give up." They arrive just in time to see that the festival has long since finished and... the manager blames Joe for missing it. Seriously? You were in the room, held at gunpoint by the same guy, but it's Joe's fault? I guess this could be her tough love way of just getting him clear of danger, since she's partially responsible for getting him into this mess, but it comes off as just being a dick. So, because he's a shonen protagonist, Joe decides to sing one last song in front of his friends in the otherwise "empty" concert hall (with the clear implication being that others will be listening through an open door). Can't imagine who that would be... oh, hi Meg [insert Family Guy reference]. So, he gets what he wanted all along. It's kind of touching, but this was a long and weird walk to this moment. And then they all thank Bro for... creating the miracle that was impeding Joe's singing career and reconnecting with Meg. Seems like a weird set of events to attribute to the ghost of your dead friend, but yay for divine intervention, I guess? Joe resolves to keep singing with his sister who is now just... here. And this is another one of those things that bothers me. The one thing that was interesting about Meg is that she had chosen a path for herself, one that she had worked hard to make possible and that might just come at the exclusion of her brother. Now that she's seen him sing, all that seems to be behind her, so I guess it was all just for her to survive up to this moment? Or maybe they'll explore it later? At least for now, seems pretty anticlimactic. |
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| Episode 17-19 It really seems to be that each of the 6-2 boys gets his mini arc, this time: Joe. And after this, the gentle giant Cabbage. Each arc so far was too short to develop it's protagonist (leave alone side characters) even near caring for them. Reading your comments "More melodrama that I don't care about." and "I think part of what's bothering me so much about this series is how the degree of seriousness doesn't match the circumstances." sums it up. I feel reminded of another show I didn't care about anybody, btw: Durarara - more shounen in seinen roles doing melodramatic nothingness. Joe and Meg both have exotic and obviously erotic traits from the perspective of a Japanese, both are constantly abused because of their physical appeal. Meg is a professional, and Joe tries to sleep his way up in the music industry. I think in his 3 episode story a lot of background of the author's thirty year career in the Yakuza shows. Not only are they kind of the cavalry / good guys. Also the portrayal of Megs work, blackmailing, corrupt music industry managers etc. feels amazingly real as a backdrop. The plot itself, as were the previous ones, are overdone and beyond even remote realism. As has been analyzed in detail already. The clear message is that delinquents can't trust anybody, will be abused by anybody, and only have themselves. Once again if the pathos is removed a rather credible statement by an ex-yakuza who certainly has been in shit like this. Maybe not personally, he comes from a rich family, but certainly a lot of people he met. Bro in Heaven once again gives the whole thing a pseudo-religious note and personifies the idea. One word on Meg: I agree with @whiteflame55 that she was the most interesting character. And I definitely shed a manly tear when she reunited with her onii-chan. So let's see what misfortune waits for Cabbage. And please: kill Turtle in cruel and unusual ways, because nobody likes a smartass. |
inimFeb 17, 2023 12:16 PM
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| Episode 19. @inim I get the same 'don't care about these guys' feeling from Rainbow as Durarara, but for me Durarara had the mysterious Celty and the super strong Shizuo who were both interesting and cool in a way that Rainbow failed to make Bro. I also agree that the setting of yakuza run music industry and shady gang wars (I had no idea what miss manager meant by 'half-breed' so it was interesting to learn that they were half mobsters preying on the public) is a good one, but the duff characters and as @whiteflame55 succinctly put it "degree of seriousness doesn't match the circumstances" just ruin what could be decent settings and situations. From this episode; the kid suddenly bumping into Mario, Cabbage and Turtle, why did the 5 Lemons manager suddenly want to kill Joe, seemingly out of nowhere just for "making me look a fool", then miss manager dumping Joe and calling him trash (as if she hadn't been sharing a bed with him for months) when she knew he didn't blow his chance but was stopped from attending, she was there being held with Joe for heavens sake! Then Meg hanging around well after the concert finished, this one might be plausible but still feels forced. These are just today's melodramatic moments. Then we have the guys all asking Bro for a miracle and revering him like some deity. Have to say though I really like the OST, the Japanese 50/60's version of rock was pretty cool, didn't like Joe's singing as much. Character designs are also neat. |
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| Episode 20 Here comes the comedic relief we all waited for! Cabbage thinks every 6-2-boy found his career path, just talentless him is left behind. Thus Turtle and Uncovered try to train him as a snake oil salesman, with little success. Cabbage neither can memorize the con man routines, nor has he the acting talent. He remembers the yakuza who helped them in Joe's arc, and decides to join them. He starts his organized crime trainee career with cleaning and shoe polishing, and manages to mess up even those jobs. One night, he spoils an assassination attempt on his direct superior who survives. Once again he messes it up, because as a result police raids their HQ, "fortunately" without lasting consequences. Out of gratitude, the gang's second in command spares him (and his fingers) and puts him on a career path as a wrestler. Cabbage the muscle man found his call, and can now always eat as much as he wants. The happy end. It's a bit weird to see comedy this late in a dead serious story, but why not. One thing I thought about Cabbage all the time is that he looks a lot like the Buddha: fat, meaty ears, and this oddly formed head. Maybe that's the message, don't care and just believe in good and fortuna will help one day. Next in line for his arc: Uncovered and the ladies. Remark "organized crime": The setting of the show is very interesting, Japanese post-war society and yakuza of the 1950s. My dad is almost the same age as the novelist, and there are quite a few parallels between Japan and Germany. So it's interesting to have a "second version" of stuff he told me, which includes the impact "Jazz and Rock" music had on young people. He was 10 years old when WW2 ended, and had seen nothing but Nazi education and their paleoconservative social values. In a weird way, organized crime always had some "rebel" image, goes with their business. I'd guess in the 1950s this resulted in a unique blend. If only the writer was a little more gifted when it comes to story telling and characters, his world building isn't that bad. Finding a good mobster anime (other than Akiba Maid War, nudge nudge wink wink) isn't easy. Either they are parodies, soft porn or pulp fiction. Best I can think of is Gungrave (2003) first half, before it turns supernatural. Rainbow adds to my list (I like the genre) in the midfield I guess. |
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| I tend to keep these shorter when the episodes are less melodramatic, so this will be a brief one. Episode 20 The boys are offered a job under the Fukumoto gang. Cabbage decides he's interested - dude has gotten almost no development over the course of the series and sees his size as his only winning characteristic. So, Uncovered and Turtle try to stop him by... turning him into a two bit snake oil salesman claiming he can do Viagra? And selling "unbreakable" cups? Uncovered's plan doesn't take into account that Cabbage is pretty dull. So, Cabbage joins the gang. He can't seem to do much right, though. He's given the opportunity to show what he's made of when a dude attacks with a katana. The fake-out that he might have been gravely injured is pretty obviously a distraction to build up hype for his success, and the BS about Mario somehow taking down the entire gang if Cabbage got hurt is pretty silly. Turns out Cabbage is in wrestling now. Makes sense, he's got the body type for it. It's also pretty silly that he somehow got out of being punished for calling an ambulance by becoming a wrestler. Dude, your boss is going to notice that you didn't harm Cabbage in any way despite his explicit instructions (not like being a professional wrestler is lying low), but no, we just ignore that because Cabbage is a nice guy. The Meg situation doesn't really change. She and Joe are considering moving in together, and everything seems hunky dory. So yeah, anticlimax. |
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| Yep, that's another for the short list, also Sanctury and Black Lagoon. There are quite a few more if you count in Edo era mobsters, e.g. House of Five Leaves and Onihei. I haven't seen much from the MAL tag either, e.g. Banana Fish is the rank 3 in it (by score). |
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| Episode 21 Looks like a Turtle/Uncovered episode. The latter invites the former over for dinner, which is a big deal for both of them. Uncovered doesn't do this with anyone, and Turtle lost his family in the atomic bomb, as we learned earlier. Turns out, Uncovered has actual family, including younger twin bothers and a mother. Uncovered is planning to study law after he graduates. Turtle gives him the money for an expensive book. It's pretty touching... or it was, until Uncovered uses the money to pay to sleep with the prostitute from a couple of episodes back, Eri. He does seem to really love her, and she has a sob story about being in debt because of her father. To her credit, she tells him not to come anymore instead of milking him dry. So, that's our central tension. Turtle seems to be suffering from some illness as well. My bet is the long term effects of radiation poisoning. He couldn't have been that far outside the blast radius of the nuclear bomb, and he probably went to search for his family afterward in the rubble. After hearing about the relationship from Uncovered's brothers, Turtle confronts him. Turns out he's been spending a lot of their money this way. Turtle doesn't know that Uncovered has really fallen for her, so when he tries to guide him away, he gets a tongue lashing. Uncovered's in the wrong here, but he thinks he's being righteous. Turtle takes the high road and leaves. Later, Uncovered hits Soldier up for money as well, though this time he's actually trying to get Eri to run away with him. It's pretty clear this isn't going to happen, but she offers for him to wait for her at a temple nearby in a few days. As the narrator spells out (yay for obvious exposition!), the trust he puts in her is obviously misplaced. Dude has blinders on to everything that could go wrong and the harm he's currently doing to everyone else. Unlike Turtle, Soldier doesn't turn a blind eye to all this, beating up Uncovered and saying that he slept with Eri, the aim clearly being to push Uncovered away from her. In doing so, he underestimates how blinded Uncovered is. I actually enjoyed this one. Feels pretty genuine for once, including both Uncovered's view and everyone elses'. It's easy to forget how young these guys are sometimes, but this is a good reminder. |
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| Episode 21. I have to agree @whiteflame55, this was another good episode and reminds me just how young the guys are (19ish i think). Plus relatable, when I was young the one thing that could get me into trouble was a girl, so I kind of get where Uncovered is coming from. There's something tragic about prostitutes who work for family reasons, blackmail etc, almost like you wish you could be their shining knight and save them. I'm not talking from experience here, just observation. As you grow up you realise you can't save everyone (nor does everyone want saving), and Uncovered will have to learn this valuable life lesson. Not sure Soldier was being very helpful, maybe a slap or two but can't see how beating the shit out of him was going to help much. These later episodes are giving me more insight and connection with the characters, slowly but surely. I'm looking forward to Turtle's story as I think behind that cocky swagger he's lonely, sad about not having his family and probably suffering from radiation poisoning. I felt sad for him when he realised Uncovered had only invited him over to ask for cash and not because he was a close friend. |
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| Episode 22 Another good one. This episode ends Uncovered’s arc largely as expected: Eri lied to him about running away with him, instead going to see another man. What he also didn’t know is that she was apparently running away to die, meeting a university student and committing suicide together. Though he’s certainly broken up about it and cannot understand, the fact that she didn’t choose him to do this with seems like an act of love in itself. After his recovery from depression, he works to pay back his friends and family in secret before returning to apologize. Everything largely returns to normal. I like the symbolism of the tree as well, the sign of life on one thought long dead. It’s pretty poetic that Uncovered sees the way forward through something so damaged by the war, seeing an opportunity to spring anew from the ashes. |
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| Episode 22. That was another good episode. Eri doesn't turn up, no surprise there. Instead she meets another guy and they commit suicide together. Then we learn Eri didn't have a sister and had been sold into prostitution by her drug addict mother. My first reaction was "why didn't she just run away", I'm guessing there were no end of guys asking her to run away with them like Uncovered. But then I reflected on how Eri looked when she met that student; she looked gleeful, or maybe relieved and I realised she was tired of life and just wanted to end her existence. Abuse and forced prostitution had taken it's toll and she couldn't see a way to live happily, even though a choice did exist (to go with Uncovered). Pretty sad. For the first time this show I got a lump in my throat when Uncovered returned to his home and apologised to his mum. He was doing as Eri asked, being a responsible man. My takeaway from this episode was 'the will to live', and yes @whiteflame55 symbolism of the damaged tree coming back to life was on message, and didn't feel cheesy or over the top. The latter part of this show has been much better. |
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| Episode 23 A Turtle-focused episode, as expected. Given this pattern, it should be Soldier after this. Everything seems to be looking up for Turtle as he gets the opportunity to move to America with Lily, the woman who gets him his cigarettes from the Americans (the narrator is rather effusive about the opportunity America offers, which is on brand for the time, anyway, even if it was never true). It's not like he's physically unhealthy and collapsing at random intervals, right? The episode confirms our worst suspicions about his exposure to radiation post-bombing. And, see, it's stuff like this that I've been waiting for since the start of the show: for its narrative to draw directly from the consequences of WWII and how it played out. It's been dancing around those consequences from the start, largely relegating them to "I lost family in the war" aside from a few lines here and there that focus on the psychological impact of what was left behind. Even though the last couple of episodes have been good, they wouldn't feel super out of place in other anime taking place in a different setting. This, this is good stuff right here. Earlier in the episode, Turtle gives an old man a cigarette. Turns out, the guy is a bigwig, heading up a loan company that's thriving as peoples' debt spirals out of control. He doesn't seem like a bad guy, even if he's clearly thriving, even going so far as to not write up an IOU for each person, just trusting in them to at least pay the interest. They're small loans, so he's not making a tremendous amount, but 1% interest a day can rack up fast. He offers to take Turtle under his wing. A line in this episode didn't initially make sense. The American general who was planning to take Lily to America asked Turtle to take care of her. It's a weird line when they're all supposedly heading there together, but it comes together later when Lily is told that she was sold a bill of goods. She was essentially a mistress for him while abroad, and upon leaving, their relationship was severed. She's quick to pick herself up, dust herself off and move on, even laughing while she does it, having scammed money off of the general before he left, though the general was two steps ahead of her and took the money she saved. So, Turtle does what the general asked: offering to take care of Lily as though she's family. No way this doesn't end in Turtle's tragic death. |
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| Episode 21-22 This arc is about many things, in the framework of Uncovered and his fatal love to a prostitute. First, it's about the value of his loving family, contrasted with Turtle's lack of one and the resulting loneliness. It's also about the rite of passage from boy to man and adulthood. Uncovered goes trough that: from naïve boy blinded by his first love, childishy lying and stealing money to keep his illusion intact. Once it I disenthralled, he goes trough anger and depression, decides to work hard to make up for his mistakes. Then he returns as a grown man, able to understand his mistake and pay back his debt. The romance itself isn't really jaw dropping, the ages old story that love to a prostitute will end in tears. Uncovered falls for one, who lies to him. Not outright malevolently, but still misguiding enough to cause a lot of pain and trouble. She promises him to run away with him, only to meet her real love for a double suicide. Uncovered's heart is broken, triggering the step into manhood and redemption. Turtle is mature beyond his years, probably because he was orphaned at a young age. Despite his genki personality and hyperactivity, he's shown to be very lonely. When he's given just a little love and attention by Uncovered's family, he is overwhelmed and overjoyed. And yea, I agree that his arc (next in line) may be about radiation disease, his hair is probably fake and he always had those spots in his face and circles in his real hair. We'll see. +1 to "show becomes better towards the end". And it's not only Stockholm syndrome. The storytelling still is not very sophisticated, but at least now the emotions are more credible. |
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| Episode 23 Turtle's source of American cigarettes runs dry when the officer he made his illegal business with leaves Japan for home. Also affected is Lilly, the Japanese courtesan who helped Mario in the boxing arc. She lived with that officer who promised to her that he'll take her to America later as his wife. There's a rude awakening when she's thrown out of their shared apartment. Not only he broke his promise, he also stole her savings. Of course the 6-2 boys help her, because "she's family". Is this anti-American? My answer is "no", assholes like that officer exist in any culture. And once again the similarities with post-war Germany are striking, we also had that "Fräulein" phenomenon here, resulting in 10000s of affairs and about 3000 marriages. With 1/3 of the male Germans aged 18-40 killed in WW2, there was a huge surplus of women (=young widows) in that generation who simply had to survive and put food on the table. American soldiers were incredibly rich by global standards at that point. The US owned almost 50% of the global GDP in the 40s and 50s. Not only was their war industry red hot, unlike the rest of the world America was not in ruins and produced stuff like crazy. The show describes the mixed emotions of the war losers pretty well. The scene where a GI pulls his gun and puts an angry Mario into submission sums it all up. I fully understand why the show (and novels) were big in Japan, they express emotions a whole generation went trough. Also the arcs of the characters are probably pretty archetypical for post-war fates. The other arc is that of an old money lender, almost like from a fairy tale. He watches Turtle doing business and then puts him on the test, by asking to buy a single cigarette. Just like some fairy tale magic entity challenges the (often poor) protagonist with the heart of gold. Turtle passes his test and is offered the position of a personal assistant and accountant to the (as it now turns out) rich old man. One of the best episodes so far. The writing is clumsy, but somehow it catches me, invokes emotions, and has power. I've read a few critics and many people say the prison arc was good, and then the show became worse. To me it's the opposite. |
inimFeb 21, 2023 3:05 PM
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| @inim this show has also gotten a +1 or 2 boost from me for this latter stage. It was sitting at about a 3 or 4/10 around the halfway mark but the character arcs have gotten a lot better. It's almost backwards, we're getting the episodes that connect us with the characters at the end of the show. Honestly I think the whole prison arc and Bro could be dropped and have just eps 12-26 and would make a much better show. Episode 23. Agree with you both, the writing was a bit clumsy and cheesy at times "Turtle wouldn't let her solicit on a cold street corner, Lily was family now", but another good episode. I wouldn't say it's night and day between first half of this show and this second half, but as @inim already mentioned I'm finding exploring post war Japan fascinating. |
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| I haven't really considered how I'd review this yet, though I agree, post-time skip has been far more interesting. Rather than just throwing abuse at our characters, we get to spend some time with them and see them grow. Feels like that should have been in the first half, but they pushed it to the second. @inim I can't say I understand the perspective that the prison arc was the stronger one, either. I guess some people are just fans of that kind of show, but I'm not one of them. Episode 24 Turtle collapses and is diagnosed with a cold, though it becomes clear quickly that this is likely radiation poisoning and that they would have to get him higher quality care, which they cannot afford. Lily thinks to bring him to the US army base, not a bad idea, and it ends up panning out partially as a result of Mario's prior boxing, which is a nice way for that to come around. Of course, they now need a rematch before that happens. After a short match, someone steps in to stop it, and it's revealed that Mario's right hand never fully healed, hence the glove. Turtle ends up starting his own loan business to raise money for a house for Lily, with the old man first teaching him the tools of the trade. Dude's covered in terrible scars, which all came from people who hated having to pay him back, so it functions as a warning. Turtle has to be willing to put his life on the line for this business, and he is. So, Turtle is tasked with getting someone to pay their debt back to the old man, which already looks like trouble. There's a lot of set up in this episode for what looks like a big fall in the next. We'll see how it goes. |
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| Episode 24. Another good episode albeit with some cheesy narration again "I keep Bro's teachings in my heart", Bro walked into a bullet dude. Mainly set up for next episode I'm guessing, will Turtle get the guy to repay his loan, will he die trying, or die from sickness instead? |
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| Episode 25 So they resolve this whole money collection thing pretty quickly, with Turtle having gotten his way by biting (big shocker). Upon returning, he's basically forced to go to the military hospital by Lily and Mario (not sure why they waited a day, but whatever). Results say there's nothing wrong, which doesn't jive with reality. They've also become aware of the reason Turtle was seeking a loan, which sets Lily and Mario on edge. I did find it funny when Jeffrey starts talking in English to Mario about making it possible for him to box, and Mario just tells him he can't understand him. Yeah dude, it's pretty obvious. Meanwhile, Lily goes to see the old man and asks him not to lend Turtle the money, which he refuses to do. Then she asks that he "buy" her, but he refuses again, and instead hires her on as a housekeeper. Turns out that part of the reason he bought such a big house is that he's waiting for his 3 sons to return from the war, which they almost certainly wont at this point, but it keeps him going. Another good way to utilize the actual backdrop of this story. Nice bit of symbolism at the end as Lily takes over carrying a drunken Turtle home, suggesting that she has accepted him as family and wants to support him as he does her. In general, I like this relationship between the two of them. It stands in stark contrast to Uncovered's abortive relationship, which was the result of blind love and ended so badly because he didn't understand her much at all. The familial bond here is partially borne out of Turtle's desire for a family, having lost his, and partially because he's just that much more mature than Uncovered, wanting to support Lily rather than run away with her. It's honestly my favorite relationship in the series. Part of what I think is working for me these past few episodes is that it's really just nice to have a voice of reason put into the series. The old man is a mentor in a way that Bro wasn't and couldn't be, and it's nice to see our leads getting some direction from someone who can provide some real advice and guidance. They're still shonen characters, but they're having to deal with the world around them in a way that is markedly different. |
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| @whiteflame55 think you're right, the show has toned down some it's over the top hyperbole shounen feel that characterised the first part of the show in the prison and the escape/revenge arcs. Plus we haven't had any in your face humiliation or rape porn in a while, which helps. Episode 25. Another decent episode. When Lily went off to 'take care of some business', given this shows penchant for prostitution I full expected her to go back to being a working girl rather than rely on Turtle's help, but no this show surprised me and as @whiteflame55 mentioned the old man Sugi comes through as a rare voice of reason. The relationship between Lily and Turtle is pretty damn sweet. Turtle is my best boy of the series. One more episode to go and looks like we're back to Mario from the preview, so no Soldier arc, although he's training with the SDF so maybe no drama. |
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| Episode 26 Of course, the anime ends with a focus on Mario and Bro because we have to bring this full circle. I found that underwhelming, to be honest. Even the characters themselves cannot seem to find an appropriate justification for putting Mario under the knife and potentially crippling him further just to make him a viable boxer. To their minds, this is somehow fulfilling Bro's dream (not clear that it was ever Bro's dream to see Mario succeed as a boxer, but I guess since he was supportive, they believe it was) and they really believe Mario wants to do this (he certainly looked more into it when he boxed earlier in the series, but it's not at all clear that that's something he really wants to do now, and the sole build-up they give for his personal decision in Cabbage telling him that he enjoys fighting under the lights and Mario I guess does too now). I know the "he's just an idiot" line is supposed to come off as a manly affirmation of him pursuing his dreams, but given that they're trying to sell this as wrapping up a major arc in the series, it's pretty underwhelming and tripping back into shonen territory. Mario runs into Bro's mother who... I guess no one knew was around? I can fathom none of our 2-6 crew knowing about her, but she apparently knows that Mario visits the grave of her son every month and never thought to introduce herself this whole time? But she symbolically gives him Bro's boxing boots, so hey, free boots. Of course, the surgery goes off without a hitch and Mario goes off to box in a professional match, presumably after some follow-up training that would indicate that his right fist now works (though everyone still seems concerned about it, so maybe they're just throwing him in the ring without testing it? Seems foolhardy, but hey, that's the show). It's pretty nice that they play the OP over his entrance into the ring. We only get brief glimpses of his opponent because he really doesn't matter, and Mario goes with the tried and true method of taking a beating before performing a counter at the right moment. Needless to say, with his powerful right now in play, he's a force to be reckoned with. So his debut match becomes a slaughter, and everyone (no, literally, everyone's in attendance here, including the gang members that Cabbage was going to join for... some reason) is shocked and/or supportive. We spend the last few minutes with Mario expositing about how everyone's doing. Meg's fine now, her story ended after Joe found her and all's well that ends well, apparently. I had really hoped for more there, but I guess that was never going to happen. Joe sings still, which I guess isn't causing any more run-ins with the yakuza because... Cabbage is a successful pro wrestler, which is fine - he never got much of an arc. Uncovered is now actually studying to be a lawyer, which makes sense. Turtle's fine now and making lots of money because he just never had radiation poisoning, dude just had a cold and that explained his sudden and repeated collapses I guess. Pretty anticlimactic. Soldier never got much of a story beyond being in the SDF, and he's there and thriving, so yeah. Then Mario practices boxing with Bro's ghost because that might as well happen. A pretty underwhelming end to this series. So, how do I rate this one? I'm having trouble deciding because there was so much wrong with the first half and, though things got better in the latter half, I can't say that much of it was all that great. With a few exceptions (Turtle/Lily, Uncovered's love story and much of Meg's story up to a point), I can't say that many character arcs really worked for me and a lot of them just sputtered to a stop with little fanfare in the end. I like the style of this show, even if the cheese is layered on pretty thick (particularly by the narrator), but it just felt so disjointed and tried too hard to use shocking moments of depravity to invest us. In general, the basic nature of its villains (or their just being incredibly confusing, as with the prosecutor) and the baffling choices of its characters in so many of these circumstances just put me off. Its highs were good, but not enough to counter its lows. 5.5/10 from me. |
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| Episode 26. That wasn't the worse final episode I've ever seen, but the show went back to it's prior M.O and turned the cheese up to 11. Mario gets surgery for his right hand so he can get back in the ring because ...... it was Bro's dream? Also wtf was Bro's mum suddenly doing making an appearance. I thought Bro must not have had any living family as I thought the first thing the guys would do on being released was look for his parents/family and pay their respects. Bit of a disappointing final, but in keeping with the shows on and off writing. I do like the animation and background detail, also the character designs, which reminded me of Attack on Titan. Just like @whiteflame55 the Turtle/Lily and Uncovered arcs were good, but the rest of the character stories were middling to weak, and the revenge arc against Sasaki was over before it started. I did like the OST, good mix of rock (hated the OP though), jazz and boogy pop (in the Joe arc). Plus the Dezaki 'charcoal still' was impressive and looked great. Still the first half of this show was truly awful for me, didn't connect with the characters, Bro just makes no sense, dude walked into a hail of bullets rather than living and helping his friends/lover, plus all the in your face rape and humiliation used for shock effect. I came to the same score, low 5/10. |
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| Episode 24-26 What I have to give the show is that it concludes all arcs cleanly. What is debatable is that each member of the 6-2 boys and even Lily are given a happy end, a promising career and a loving found family. Turtle doesn't suffer from radiation illness (yet ...) and inherits the loan empire indirectly from his Deus-ex-machina mentor grandpa. Lili by the same Deus grampa is given a non-exploitative, well paid job as house attendant. Mario receives full recovery in a risky operation and now can use his hand again to make his dream of becoming a pro boxer true. He also friends with the American military, which should help his career a lot. Joe and Cabbage continue on their respective career paths, along with Joe's little sister. Verdict: One big found family of winners looks into a bright future. Hallelujah. Manly teen melodrama in post-war Japan with plenty of tear jerking, violence and torture porn. 1st half is all about that, 2nd half examines post-war careers and doubles as an interesting period piece. World building is fine, story is too heavy handed. That said, the show is quite memorable in the sense that there are few of it's kind. In the hands of a better writer, this could have been a masterpiece because the world and characters are rich enough. What ruins it is putting shounen "power of friendship" tropes and arcs into a much darker and realistic seinen crapsack world which the "reform school" youth prison is. Villains are over the top for no good reason, less had been more here. (6/10) |
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| @inim @whiteflame55 every week when I watched the new airing episode of Vinland Saga I kept meaning to mention it but always forgot. Vinland Saga gets the vibe and character actions spot on for a gritty seinen setting, in stark contrast with Rainbow. Yes it can be a wee bit dramatic at times, but I'm guessing life in the 11th century was full of life and death drama every day. I just finished GitS SAC and that also has a brilliant and equally gritty world setting, albeit a futuristic one, but again the characters and pieces of info you get as the show progresses cement it's realistic depiction of peoples' actions and motivations, although a lot of people have cyborg enhancements, so sometimes it's a best guess of how real world people would react to such technological developments in daily life, but imho it's a pretty good educated guess at what civilisation will look like once we reach the milestone of prosthetic cyborg enhanced body parts and brains able to wirelessly engage with computers. I agree with you in your review paragraph @inim that this show could have been something decent given better writing. The historical setting was ripe for a good drama, but sadly fell into a shounen trope territory and this clashed with the seinen setting. |
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| @23feanor Good comparison with Vinland saga. In my micro-reivew back then I actually mentioned a similar thought, yet I'd say in Vinland it can be broken down to characters. I've hated Thorkell who is a silly shounen character, and like everybody else loved Askelad. Same for the "young generation" where the same contrast ist between Seinen teen writing in Canute and silly shounen writing for Thorfinn. My actual 256-char verdict from that show reads: Viking action adventure stuck half way between Shounen (Thorfinn) and Seinen (Askeladd). Fairly accurate historically. Mostly character driven, pretty violent. Oddly uneven regarding character depth and story credibility. Mixed shounen / seinen writing is a balance that's often needed, and I'd really say some of the best balance is in Ashite no Joe (probably the most mature shounen of all time for me). |
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| @23feanor I'd also agree that the comparison to Vinland Saga is pretty apt, as is the one to GitS SAC. One thing I appreciated about Vinland Saga was that our main character was basically a shonen protagonist hell bent on revenge and... yeah, by the end of the season (and certainly we're seeing it in S2), that mindset has proven far more of a liability than anything else. I'm fond of how they handled Canute (and how they continue to handle him), and while Thorkell is pretty silly (I'm with you there, @inim), I think his presence has been more interesting in S2 despite him being there in only one small burst so far. |
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| @inim @whiteflame55 agree with you both Thorkell is a bit silly and over the top, but he made some of the action scenes in S1 really stand out with his extreme "come on then if you think you're hard enough" fighting style (if you can call it a fighting style). Through Thorfinn in S2 it's been interesting to watch what might happen to our usual shounen protag if things don't go there way, or if they finally achieve the revenge they seek, what then? In real life there are no clearly definable lines between adolescent/immature (shounen) and mature/gritty/realistic (seinen) and people display different sides of themselves at various times and for various reasons. Hence I agree with @inim's statement that a balance of both shounen and seinen is often required for a rounded story and characters, although as we saw with Rainbow it can be hard to pull off. Hoping to get around to Ashita no Joe later this year after my One Piece binge and Maison Ikkoku. |
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