Jin-Roh is a strange beast (no pun intended). It's like seeing an amnesiac searching for his identity being strangled and suffocating by Mamoru Oshii's ridiculously overbearing and silly script. Each of the creative minds behind the film are trying to deliver something potent and beautiful, but are constantly thrown under the bus by Oshii to the point where it seeps into each other aspect of the film and makes them decay; the creative dissonance is really felt here.
Let's start with the story and direction. The film begins with an introductory narration over screenshots of fictional news articles in the film's universe talking about some
...
of the politics and chaos surrounding it before we jump into the current turbulence, but it brings up several factions that sound very similar and generic and it keeps jumping between war and economics and their respective rises and plummets, becoming kind of unfocused; by the time we get to the action, the ideologies feel kind of lost and the first skirmish feels rather weightless. As things escalate, we start to hone in on some of the key players and ideas of the film: lead Fuse and his actions in the civil war and the existential conflicts he faces. Fuse is probably the standout component of this film, but I'll divulge on him later.
Fuse meets a girl named Kei visiting the ashes of the young suicide bomber girl he encountered prior, and Kei informs him she's her older sister. Fuse, haunted by the image of the younger sister dying, wants to talk to Kei and make amends, and she holds no grudge for him since he didn't pull the trigger on her. Following this, the story just kind of goes between segments of the Special Unit's training and their dynamics along with some more affairs with Public Security and such and scenes of Fuse hanging out with Kei.
Both portions are largely uninteresting however, as the military relations provide run of the mill procedural events and very basic discussion that hardly amounts to much while Kei is largely an uninteresting enigma, cheerfully and nonchalantly talking about some of the horrific events of the riots without much significance or constantly quoting from Little Red Riding Hood while Fuse just analyzes her and occasionally offers the odd bit of input.
Things just take a rather dull, mechanical progression until some of the twists start to sprout up, but the content prior has been so emotionally muddled and barren that the twists get engulfed by all of the boredom and confusion behind the scenes that any dramatic heft they may possess is nowhere to be found. There's a big sting operation transpiring, but it's played out like any other innocuous scene like everyone was half-asleep while they were making this.
By this time we're also supposed to believe Fuse genuinely cares about Kei and is nearly showing signs of a love interest, but they have next to no chemistry and have hardly expressed more than a few emotions to each other, let alone the whole film. Nonetheless they escape and another table-turner happens, but again plays out soullessly as a big coup d'etat just kind of happens and the film heads to its conclusion which has one final, pivotal dramatic moment to close things off, but sans the actual drama and pathos, being largely alienated by its own creative composition - pining for an emotionally staggering final act, a grand ultimatum to a big existential battle and a thought-provoking open ended political upheaval but instead being a dull nip in the bud with more ham-fisted Red Riding Hood reference exposition the movie was already wrought with.
With all this said, I think Okiura had the intention of making some powerful little piece of cinema with some of its visual guidance, understated emotions and socio-economic glances, but it's more regurgitated than fresh, more inundated than nuanced and more barren and half-formed than accessible and relatable. Being based on a small metaseries by the same man in charge of the script, it felt so restrained by his presence like he was just trying to meet Oshii's demands the whole time that it feels like a manifestation of the complications behind the screen unfolding and some enslaved product as opposed to something free and organic. It seemed like Okiura just made the pacing so slow so Oshii could counter-balance everything and take the reins as director while doing the script, becoming an awkward fusion of an empty, glacial direction and an obnoxiously overstuffed allegorical script.
Honestly, while Ridley Scott and Cormack McCarthy's The Counselor was similarly messy, it had far more hidden strength to it than this. With Scott's slow, but smooth direction, steady composure, great cinematography guidance and rich production values and coordination coupled with McCarthy's layered and poetic prose made things hella awkward with its contrast, it was a spring of potential.
Here, Okiura is trying to create something akin to Patlabor 2, but it just amounts to a really strained replication with Oshii's iron grip. Occasionally nice visuals of dream-like indulgence and emotional turmoil are softened by redundancy, some indifference and a forced sensation behind them all. Constant imagery of wolves and the main two women as Red Riding Hood being eaten by them just jam into the film and is all just eye-roll-inducing.
The world-building is so far removed that the only social commentary that can be pulled from it are incredibly small and underplayed visual cues and contrasts and just comparing the look of the Japan in Jin-Roh to the Japan in real life rather than actually dissecting it. Lastly, any potential the characters (Fuse) have for depth is truncated by general malaise, half-baked focus (no double-entendre intended) and an impersonal, nearing-indifferent care to these characters which only kind of roundaboutly achieves some depth.
On that matter, let's finally dig into Fuse and maybe even the rest of these "characters". Kazuki Fuse is a rather interesting character burdened with a really tumultuous movie on and off the screen - he's a man who has found his place in life and embraces where he is, his life choices and his role in the world and nothing more. He loves his job in the Special Unit as it gives him purpose and direction, and he gets satisfaction from the clarity and straightforwardness his job provides.
He is an aggressor, he has killed people and does his job successfully, so that gives him satisfaction in being a key cog in the machine and fulfilling expectations. Otherwise, he doesn't know how to live beyond that, he doesn't really find leisure in things outside of his job, and there's nothing inherently wrong with that, he's just a satisfied man with a controversial vocation.
However, while he is totally fine with his role in life and is there of his own volition, he questions how others are brought to where they are, particularly when it seems they were forced to become a part of something dangerous against their will as we see when he encounters the suicide bomber in the form of a highschool girl. Why is this young girl, seeking to get an education and make something of her life, on the frontlines with adult revolutionaries risking their lives?
By not pulling the trigger on her and asking "Why?", he essentially allowed that girl to follow through with her plan, the one she was roped into doing and destroy any chance she had to live a more meaningful life, whereas if he had killed her himself, while she would still be caught under a banner of terrorism, she would simply be a casualty of Fuse's job caught at the wrong time which initially meant less harm to Fuse, but both results had their ups and downs even if the outcome was the same.
And so he has his doubts; the man comes out with very insignificant wounds as this girl gave her life for some ideal she wasn't a large part of and it starts to linger in his mind, so he seeks to make amends somehow. Fuse is an interesting character because of his early self-satisfaction and steadfastness, and his existential dilemma is an interesting one as the nature of his ideas of what shape an opposition can take has now changed into something more disagreeable and frightening and as a result, his job has harsher moral implications.
As he meets Kei, he feels a sense of relief knowing he is still forgiven to a degree with his inaction in response to the suicide girl. However, this is also when things start to diminish a bit; rather than a probing analysis of Fuse's ideological changes and self-doubt, the direction just has Kei cloud his mind with all these premonitions of forming a friendly relationship with someone outside the military and Special Unit.
The constant Red Riding Hood and Wolf dynamics and metaphors keep getting pushed again and again and again and just buys time repeating the same ideas instead of adding more dimension to the characters. It's a decent cautionary thing to be sure, but it replaces any other pressing, complex developments with simple messages screamed in your face trying to form this hour and 40 minute movie as one inflated Aesop fable and moral anecdote and it's quite irksome. His relationship to Kei is more a matter of circumstance and necessity for story rather than something genuine, and Kei is far more of a caricature as well, so when half of the core dynamic of the film is a floundering RRH lover and distant person, it really suffers.
The other characters have even less focus really, following the basic Oshii dogma of ideas > story > characters, here they just kind of play their part in the story while providing MORE Red Riding Hood references while the story still has a few small hints of theming unfold. Henmi stages the sting while kind of looking out for Fuse a bit, there's the Special Unit leader who runs the Wolf Brigade and is Fuse's mentor and then a few other officers and politicians who weasel in and make a few moves.
So, as previously stated, things really rest on Fuse's shoulders, and his decisions hold a little weight even while battling and holding up everything else, so there's some intent there at least, but make no mistake, this is no RuroKen: Trust and Betrayal either.
As far as the audiovisual end goes, Oshii's authority permeates into those departments as well as really high end and gritty animation, dense settings with lots of accentuation and minor little ideas to share and a superb soundtrack are diminished by the uninteresting content.
Breathtaking scenes become uninspired and heavy-handed while characters' faces feel a little spare with their rendering and come off as basic, the intricacies of the setting are brushed aside to simply be a place for the story, and the wonderfully composed music pieces are rendered obsolete, typical and there for necessity when placed against uninteresting content trying to elevate it. Truly it's a shame that these people were trying to bring their all and deliver something grand but were left hung out to dry.
As much as I tear into this film, it's still above average; while there may be general ineptitude in its delivery all around, this film still has some modicums of depth to it, heck, pulling off a sting plot is in itself better than a lot of other mediocre anime can accomplish, and the production values--even if mismatched--are exceptional and some of the scenes still look marvelous and lastly the film can probably be watched if even just for those things and an interesting semi-character study in Fuse alone. If those are enough to satisfy you, then you can give the film a shot, otherwise I could say you can skip it.
If you want a more robust political thriller that digs into its ideas more, go with Patlabor 2. Even if Oshii's practice in storytelling mostly just centers around one random philosophical idea expounded by a character in the middle of the film, it's far less grating and more thought-provoking and satisfying than this. If you want to see an avant-garde departure from his normal style and what I'd argue to be his best film, watch Angel's Egg.
If you want to see Okiura stretch his directorial limbs, A Letter to Momo is currently his only other work, and while it isn't for everyone and has its stretches of boredom, it feels far more natural and is a sweet little film.
If you want to see another more visually resplendent and powerful fusion of history, politics, romance and thrills, do watch Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal instead. It's received overwhelming praise and attention for a reason.
Jin-Roh is a stunningly produced but forgettable and strange political thriller that is completely outmatched by various others.
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Apr 4, 2015 Mixed Feelings
Jin-Roh is a strange beast (no pun intended). It's like seeing an amnesiac searching for his identity being strangled and suffocating by Mamoru Oshii's ridiculously overbearing and silly script. Each of the creative minds behind the film are trying to deliver something potent and beautiful, but are constantly thrown under the bus by Oshii to the point where it seeps into each other aspect of the film and makes them decay; the creative dissonance is really felt here.
Let's start with the story and direction. The film begins with an introductory narration over screenshots of fictional news articles in the film's universe talking about some ...
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Jan 31, 2015
School Days
(Anime)
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Recommended
"All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts[.]" --Shakespeare: As You Like It - Act II, Scene VII, Lines 1-4.
I went into School Days aware of its infamous ending having been shown the clip firsthand years ago by a friend. At the time, it looked like a really generic series with a really messed up ending, and that pretty much holds true; it is through and through a cookie-cutter looking series but with content that is quite atypical. Shrugging it off due to the ... notoriety and general widespread notion that the ending was either: "the only good thing about the series" or "only has bizarre joke/novelty value", I let the series slip by for many years until it was announced that North America would be getting a localized home media release. Shortly thereafter, I read the ANN review on the series to humour myself and checked into the discussion only to find several people lauding it. Being the curious mind that I am, I took a chance and ordered the series figuring I could at the very least get a laugh out of it or own it as a piece of anime history. Turns out I find it to be a flat out genius. Make no mistake, this is quite a divisive series (and rightfully so), as aforementioned, it looks like a mass produced harem rom-com romp, the ending is pure insanity, nearly every character is quite reprehensible one way or another and it plays out a lot of its genres tropes straight with quite subtle winks that you have to be patient and alert for. The end result however, is one of the most intense tragedies, one of the most scathing satires, and one of the most twisted cautionary tales of love you can find. While I was watching the series (ending in mind), from the first episode alone I was absolutely awestruck when I probed into what was unfolding. That first love encounter when the world slows down and you are entranced and enchained into your own small little Eden, and both your crush's naughty bits and their face are captured in that brief yet magical moment. The nostalgic first steps onto campus for a new school and the path that awaits, where the crowd fades to nothing and you encounter your fated crush again. School Days captures these simple, almost rote moments with inexplicable grace and naturalism - never wallowing in excess of either poetic monologues or ridiculous fanservice like with the first scene mentioned prior, and these seemingly insignificant scenes would later be reinforced over the series' duration and cement some of its core ideas - the conflict of passionate romance and lustful desire. Such grandiose ideas really came to light in a later conversation in that same episode when lead Makoto is on the roof having a chat with new friend Sekai Saionji, who muses that her first name means "world". As the various characters' interactions unfolded and the sensitive mise en scene kept playing out, Terrence Malick's equally divisive 'To the Wonder' came to mind; that film is also about the sensationalism of love and the nuanced values it means to each of its characters, but contrary to School Days, its narrative is quite oblique and is far more spare with dialogue - streaming through almost empty but blissful scenes like a wistful dream and bearing an understated gravitas for the strong yearning for love and the pain of being unrequited. In that film, its male lead Neil doesn't know how to channel his love - seeking to be a white knight to longing women, but never seeking more than accommodation and remedying their isolation. Makoto is equally as torn, but on the opposite end - he seeks unyielding love and completion of the self akin to Sartre and the complete body, but has trouble meeting the wavelengths of interest Kotonoha Katsura once he begins a relationship with her and feels alienated that he can't form a quick connection as she wants a slow and steady companionship. He is initially quite inept and lost at how to level with her, with their early dates having him either lost in activities he himself enjoys or trying to only meet his desires (the scene at the movie theaters is hilarious and absolutely brilliant). Katsura is akin to the main lover Marina in 'To the Wonder', but like with Makoto and Neil, her resemblance isn't a 1:1 comparison; in the latter half of the series, her pure, almost singular trust and loyalty to the unfaithful Makoto after she alienates him with her restraint manages to give her an ardent drive, but she originally sought love akin to Neil's while Makoto's form of love resembled Marina's and vice-versa. Now where does Sekai come in? She is Neil's fling Alice - a woman who had some independence and was trying to deal with her sole problems by herself while secretly longing for 'human' partnership. Sekai's dialogue in the first half of the series comes off as though she is an otherworldly guide like a cupid or angel of sorts, a messenger of the 'Earth' ("Sekai") who is forefront and helpful, keeps any 'human' problems largely to herself and almost naive to some societal customs or restraints (her "lessons" with Makoto to help him out where she almost nonchalantly gives him her body). Sekai's struggle is with her mortal 'Saionji' self - her trepidation comes in that form of wanting some love herself, and once Makoto begins to seek that part of her while building on their strong friendship, Sekai becomes less impartial to her feelings and finds oneness through Makoto. There are a myriad other brilliant cues loaded in each episode and the contrasting character traits among the cast that make the trysts so intricate and elaborate. Katsura being teased and constantly alienated by her big breasts and the jealousy that causes, partially assuming Makoto may have only been drawn to her that way to begin with and Makoto's beginning to lean on his more romantic spurrings by seeking the smaller sized Sekai for more earnest reasons; visual cues with the whole conflict as Makoto's growing indifference to Katsura capping off episode 3 is countered by early panty shots and the only uncensored breasts in the series in the following episode and many more. The series' direction is economic, unassuming and understated to make it all the more brilliant, especially considering how it makes all of that silly sounding stuff become so poignant. Yes, the classic romantic triangle between these 3 crafts an elaborate Shakespearean tragedy in its execution, hinted and epitomized in scenes as early as again, episode 1 and the high school entrance board scene where there's a crowd of unimportant shadowy figures as only Makoto and Katsura are portrayed normally. Shortly thereafter though, we see some other clear figures in the crowd - secondary characters that would try to force their way into the stage, with Sekai the foundation herself in the middle of them as the unassuming bridge of destiny to make the wheels of fate spin even more wildly. As I passively mentioned earlier, while the series has many twists and turns throughout its span it is very much a theatrical 2-act story (contrary to typical Malick works that are very cinematic and not as rigidly act-based) and the secondary characters share some interactions with the core 3 in the first half while they go about their romantic threads, they act more rebelliously, almost as if aware of their initial hand in the story to work their way into the core cast's lives more personally with more agency and ideology not normally found in "secondary characters". As episode 7 closes, one of the most vital (and naturally handled) twists occurs to shake the foundation of the story; Makoto's inability to flat out break up with the kind-hearted Katsura who had reciprocated his crush but not met his desires to go on and have affairs with Sekai, the one who had forsaken her role as an impartial guide to all of the "humans'" loves only to cater to the one innate to her human self as well is then directly confronted with Katsura, the one whose trust she had betrayed. As a result of this, Katsura's paradoxical doubting faith becomes twisted denial of Makoto's rejection and relentless devotion, Sekai becomes more tormented and begins to have very frivolous and even more "human" (and/or asinine) thoughts and worries, becoming a bit more distanced with Makoto and splitting their 'perfect being' absolution of love, which in turn, causes Makoto to become detached - desperate for a new fixing and union of love through easy sex. In comes the school fair, and with it, opportunities for secondary characters to act on their feelings more. First is Otome Kato, what would be the "tsundere" archetype for your normal harem (more on that later) who was buddy-buddy with Makoto in middle school but had become alienated by her feelings while constantly berating Katsura and so she finally gets the nerve to act on her true feelings and ask Makoto to go to the fair's special love room and accept her true feelings. Makoto, coming off the heels of feeling betrayed, simultaneously caters to his desires out of spite for Sekai and playing the love doctor for Otome so they both have something to gain out of it. They have sex in the special room at the fair (hint hint: the school is not normal, and that is deliberate) so Makoto now feels gratified with this new potential love interest and seeks to pursue it secretly as well to a degree while bearing with Sekai wanting to cement their relationship through the school bonfire dance (a very "human" or "Katsura-esque" thing to do) much to Makoto's chagrin. Throughout the school festival "arc" is Kiyoura Setsuna (the scarcely emotive loli) trying to serve as Sekai's confidant after the latter comes down to Makoto's level to be in a relationship with him, helping to keep their relationship in tact while keeping Katsura at bay; truly however, she too desires Makoto herself after Makoto came to her aid when she was being bullied while hiding her desires and holding them off for later as she enabled Sekai to befriend him earlier in the year - be it to befriend him and work her cupid magic or actually start a relationship which runs a finely tuned ambiguity. She irrationally kisses Makoto twice under different circumstances, and the second one (when he is conscious) has him come to acknowledge her feelings for him, and as she goes to confront Makoto one last time at his apartment after his second affair with Otome telling him to "commit to Sekai" again, he sees through her ruse and acts on her true desires, having already experienced it in lieu of Sekai, and she embraces him for sex, betraying Sekai in the meantime while rather indifferent to Katsura in the long run. Next is Hikari Kuroda who was initially interested in another character: Taisuke Sawanaga, Makoto's "friend" who is an overt womanizer who wears his vices on his sleeve as an honest guy while making it out to be an exaggerated outcry of his loneliness; Hikari tried to get Taisuke to notice her feelings earlier on in the pool party episode, but he was typically too naive and jaded to notice, later going on to rape Katsura in an act of unhinged passion and desperation for Makoto betraying Katsura and getting so much sex while he is committed but unlucky. With Taisuke's ignorance of Hikari, affair with Katsura (also vaguely reminiscent of 'To the Wonder' with Marina's love fling) and all of the other events mounting together, Hikari's loneliness as her seeking sexually affluent Makoto to get some love herself. Although the school's awareness of Taisuke's act could be called into question, nonetheless Hikari was getting tired and desperate herself, and while she is probably one of the most morally shallow of the cast with her casual flirtation in Makoto's dangerous affairs (going to Sekai's house shortly after and lying through her teeth), her raw and simple drive can still bring some empathy out of her at the crux of what this series is all about. While Makoto is aiding all of these women, he is equally caving to more shallow desires with his lack of commitment and it is nurturing the bad qualities of his character creating steady moral decay intricately handled by his dialogue and reactions and the progression and ideologies of his road of sexual partners. Katsura, still aimlessly wandering and holding onto her hope of Makoto's return, is vulnerable to constant abuse from her peers yet again, and to an even greater degree as she breaks down more and more with how the world is completely destroying her. Sekai, whose relationship with Makoto is several shades or notches stronger than Katsura's, is still tormented by her thoughts of his infidelity while not totally on the brink of surreal insanity that Katsura is. The earthly guide has become a very affected individual while the very pure human girl has lost her humanity. Things reach their boiling point when it is revealed that the "special couple's room" at the fair was being videotaped this whole time; Otome, having just met Sekai, is shown the video in front of a wide audience, and her affair with Makoto is now shown to Sekai who she just met. Sekai confronts Makoto about it in tears and then begins to become more recluse and deal with her feelings. Makoto now having nearly destroyed 2 great relationships, starts to show signs of duress, malaise and withdrawal, getting more sex out of Hikari for pleasure but feeling less satisfied, only for several of his classmates who saw the affair video and hear about his sexual endeavours wish simply to get in the action themselves, having no real connections to the main 3 prior, so Makoto gets into his most impersonal and nymphomaniac-driven outing yet: a 4-way with 3 random girls from school. Later, Sekai begins to suffer some morning sickness and misses her period (the latter part could be a lie), and in a fit of surprise and anxiety unwittingly yells to Makoto about it in class, subsequently reaching out as gossip in the school and having all of Makoto's mistresses cut their ties so he can take responsibility and raise a proper family with Sekai. Makoto, tainted by Sekai's earlier bits of dejection and spurred on by the copious amounts of sex he's had, is reluctant to comply to Sekai's wishes and tries contacting all of the other girls to no avail, until he runs into Katsura, still hysterically clinging to her love of Makoto, calls for him and he embraces her again (strengthened by an incredibly clever Chekhovian plot element). The trinity has now reformed and the stage is set for the finale of the grand tragedy as everything comes full circle and is honed, leading to the infamous conclusion which I shan't spoil to give you the treat of witnessing it in full if you haven't already as it is an absolute powerhouse and the perfect ending to all the madness. As you can see, School Days is a series with which its characters provide a lot of the meat of the story, it takes the tired and true romantic triangle and tragedy story and takes it to explosive new heights. There is such a tempered, natural and poetic direction in its execution that never misses a beat, creating a masterclass work of fiction that is sprawling in its ambitions but deceptively unassuming in its intelligence that it can only be considered a near-godsend creation devoid of pretension but unfathomable in its power. With the constant mention of Terrence Malick, School Days again crafts an odyssey that has such smooth lyricism in its seemingly simple delivery, that it goes down so easily but with such an inexplicable majesty in each and every little scene that--as others have said of Malick--only come off as pretentious when you try to quantify them with just the right words, but I feel with such a magnificent Frankenstein's monster such as this, I must feebly attempt to do some justice. The series tries to be both a meticulous satire and a flat out intense drama as I mentioned earlier that it has to be very careful that it doesn't become an absolute trainwreck, and I think it absolutely succeeds, but almost inherently in playing with such contrary ends, it is understandable that a lot of people would have a problem with it. The cast is filled to the brim with characters that are simultaneously total wretches and distorted plays on harem archetypes and achingly mortal individuals undergoing so much pathos that you don't get a truly clear feeling for them, but School Days doesn't hold your hand and look for easy answers. Makoto is your every-man - he's the blank slate, typically dorky and stupid male insert that wants to get laid and gets his wishes fulfilled fairly easily and in large doses, but on the other hand, he's a lost guy, looking for satisfaction and success in love, especially since he was rewarded a first and reciprocated one, but his mortal coils that trap him in trying to work with so many romance protocols to form a middle ground with your partner is so challenging when you plea so heavily for the complete end that he gets put off by Katsura's mixed signals and gets impatient with her restraint. It is akin to the social commentary in the episode of Kino's Journey where the whole town can constantly read each others true thoughts and isolate themselves as to not harm others and have privacy, meanwhile Makoto, despite struggling with his adolescent male libido, wanted a fantastic union with Katsura but was frustrated that they couldn't understand each other. Katsura in the long run is fully on board but takes her feminine agency and leash on Makoto so steadfastly while burdened with what might be Makoto's superficial desires for her large breasts to her character that she doesn't know how to keep his interest while she pines for the same end result. Sekai--as I've divulged earlier--is torn between the satisfaction she gets from the stability of everyone else in her world (the Sekai side) and her desires as a human woman (her Saionji side) which begins to root her more and more in the latter and ends up being her downfall. Whether Sekai's indecisiveness in itself, her attachment to her other friends to segue their involvement into the core tryst or simply her role on Earth caused things to take even wilder turns is another thought-provoking idea on just how much nature and spiritual forces coupled with morality could have a hand in making things take the route they did. As for their archetypes, Katsura is the central, faithful and sincere girl whose torment and betrayal twists her into a psychotic devotee (a shift to yandere tendencies as well) while Sekai is the best pal outsider who then becomes the center of attention and becomes deprived of her new joy to become a genuinely hurt young woman. The satire elements play out incredibly well through the visuals and plot as well, as normative events found in harem stories become outlets to explore darker outlets of these scenarios almost a la a deconstruction nature. Most obviously for one is the classic pool/beach episode, in which Makoto's dwindling attraction to Katsura, increased feelings for Sekai coupled with the battle between the erotic desires and the romantic - utilizing Freudian psychology with precision and subtlety. Simple quick glances between cleavage and faces (character) again show stunning directorial deftness to elevate the ideas to something more profound. "If it's not constantly and exaggeratedly highlighting the breasts, ecchi and fanservice can't be the highlight, yet the main character doesn't have long-winded faux-intellectual monologues, so it can't be some sappy romance, right?" Right. This is something much more refined. The other obvious occasion is the school festival where romantic pledges tend to come out in full as students profess their love and publicly display it in couple's dances and the like. Instead, we have the dance as the back-burner as the student-constructed festival (I don't even think you visually see teachers in the whole series) has a private love room which ends up being recorded on camera to cater to teen voyeurism ultimately (note that the pool episode is also in the first half while the festival is in the latter) as we realize that these generic harem scenarios can take ominous twists and adolescence isn't as straightforward and clean as it can be. The students' behaviour ends destroying one another as Makoto, Otome and others become further victims of scandal and deceit, so no one is safe from the clutches of these crazy yet initially common scenarios, and every small yet dire turn in morality can have overwhelming chain effects. These broader things are bolstered by lots of minutia and red herrings in the script even from early episodes, there's haunting premonitions buried in some of the more anime-esque gags or slight temperamental reactions and changes of heart that pick things apart at the seams. It is sublimely orchestrated so much so that it again feels like unprecedented skill of writing. The series must be experienced first hand to cover each and every bit, because it is so dense. Notable examples like a line: "What are you doing!? We're in Japan!" Makoto says in response to a strange action at one point. The levels of irony both in Makoto's character saying this along with the very nature of the sentences are mind-boggling. Then there's stuff like Katsura's chat with her little sister Kokoro (meaning "heart") as Kokoro mentions that Makoto will be coming to stay the night some time and that "lots of things can happen" when he stays the night, to which Katsura upstartly retaliates: "It's nothing like that! We're not going to be getting it on!" (paraphrased), meanwhile Kokoro responds: "I meant he will be able to play with us lots and lots!" The characterization and broader implications of even small scenes like this are just astounding. As far as production values go, this series looks and sounds for the most part REALLY generic (it's also called "School Days"), but I think that only further serves to lure otaku in and get the attention it needs to bait and shatter them. Mamoru Oshii tried his hand at a satire of otakudom and spoon-feeding of mass-produced genre fiction devoid of intelligence and originality, however, the problem with Sky Crawlers is largely in its execution and ultimately leaves it lost and not as important and pronounced as it could be. Oshii made a flat out boring film crammed with so much dead air, esoteric Oshii trappings and generally unexciting content of some clean visuals that it would easily turn away all of the people he's directing his criticism at, leaving only the well-minded individuals to indulge in his oblique rant and meditation on how bleak and crappy things are right now. Preaching to the choir Oshii! School Days meanwhile, is involved, committed, deceptive and broad in its scheme. People who want another harem genre will get bits of that, then get their presumptions and ideologies totally annihilated while keen viewers will get a rise out of the blistering satirical nature and richly nuanced and thought-provoking story of love and its disastrous, world-shattering consequences in its many forms. School Days is an uncompromisingly brutal antithesis to the harem genre and the people who gluttonously intake it - presenting how standard archetypes would unravel with callous regards to morals and how unrealistic those expectations for women are to begin with as Makoto indulges too much in the dark side of love and gets his just desserts. School Days is also a beautiful examination of the trials and turbulence of love and those mislead by it; Makoto's desire for the ultimate ecstasy and transcendence out of love (partly factored and nurtured by his demographic) is amiable, but he forgets to regard some of the hanging emotions of those he makes love with and allows himself to become corrupt and chaos to unleash because of it. School Days is a series that has gained a reputation at least, even if it is for some of the wrong reasons, the series is iconic and has a small place in anime culture, but I'm sure with time people will give it another look and warm to it as the wunderkind it truly is. Many may see a sleazy, messed-up and inane harem story with a bunch of unlikable characters. Others, an identity confused mess perhaps. Given the weird nature of the series, all of the stars aligning and points being held positively in such a strange way may be seen as heresy, but I see a masterpiece, call me crazy. I don't think I can cover everything even. School Days is a mis-appraised modern Shakespearean tragedy, a pertinent and important satire and dark and challenging love story of the highest caliber.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Mar 24, 2014
Witch Hunter Robin
(Anime)
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Not Recommended
Ever wanted to see Twilight's central relationship emulated into an anime format tossed in with more gothic crap, dull and formulaic supernatural battles, cardboard characters and bogus revelations and motivations? No? Thought so. Unfortunately that's most of what you are going to get out of Witch Hunter Robin, so if the aforementioned things don't tickle your fancy, I suggest you avoid at all costs.
A little backstory tidbit before my review (feel free to skip if you so choose to ignore my ramblings ;_;): As a young adolescent male anime fan with a craving for boisterous shonen action and flamboyant spectacles, seeing clips of Witch Hunter ... Robin on the Bionix block of Canada's YTV station, it seemed really boring and unappealing to the young me suffice to say. The colour palette was bleak, the pacing seemed slow, the action - very bland and the tone too brooding and reserved. Cut a few years later and I think back to the series and how with my tastes have refined; maybe a start to finish re-examination may have me ending up liking it, and some positive reviews from critics I trusted helped validate my decision to give it another shot...only for things to end poorly. Contrary to the situation with Kure-nai (see my other review) I ended up hating Witch Hunter Robin EVEN MORE as a young adult, and now every time I hear those beautifully melancholic opening and ending themes, my skin crawls as it serves to remind me what a dreadful series it came from. No more woe, it is time for the RAGIN-I mean, the review. Story: Witch Hunter Robin (Bella) finds our titular character as a craft user (witchcraft -> craft = magic) working for a team of, well, other witch hunters cracking down on witches (this show's jargon for espers; can be either gender) who tend to be out of control and are misusing their crafts. The first 11 episodes follow a basic monster of the week formula where STN-J gets some hints on a witch and chases them down for inevitable detainment with some bits of mystery, slice of life and organizational politics thrown in to draw things out more. The problem is, the cases themselves are boring, and the suspects' powers are really uninspired and redundant - about 80% of them use just use psychokinesis or some spirit channeling stuff with some really lame effects (and subsequently battles) that aren't enticing in the slightest. The other elements, again, are stuffing for each episode; the initial mystery involving the suspects using their powers for some misdeeds drives the conflict for the episode which is just humdrum stuff lacking major consequence later on or any immediate depth, the slice of life and STN-J affairs just kind of balance the capers out to establish the characters, the company and such, but the characters are all one-note and disposable; any attempt at characterization is one smile uttered from them or some purely expository backstory that they try to cram into a few minutes of one episode just to get it out of the way, simply resulting in a general lack of focus and half-baked story elements. On the matter of half-baked, almost each of these 11 episodes ends with a red herring that teases further developments but are ultimately shafted by the finale (more in a bit). You know what has a good monster of the week arc? Bleach. Those were the glory days, back when it was shiek and cool and had some spice in its formula *sigh*. -Back to WHR- In the midst of all this is Bella's rather contrived and stale relationship (or one sided yearning for) Amon (Edward) where she just kind of fawns over him passively and emo-like while he stays apathetic, angry and emo until later down the line. Once we reach episode 12, there's about a 2 episode mini-arc where they investigate some former witch village and some old woman gives a bit of backstory on witches (some of which has some real life historical references like the Salem Witch Hunt and such) and offers the revelation that--*GASP*--maybe not all witches can be generalized as evil! But our incompetent troupe ignores the old woman's apparent ramblings and returns to base before the typical "government is evil" plot twist transpires, putting Edward in question with his disappearance, STN-J shattered and Bella on the run. This leads me to one positive I have about the story: there's this little arc where the downfall of The Hero's Circle is shown as Bella's world is crumbling around her and she has to re-establish herself by way of finding a mundane job without the use of her craft to stay incognito while getting a source of income to afford living essentials and such; it's a rather interesting and grounded outcome to all the mayhem that transpires, but then the former STN-J members begin to regroup and plan their inevitable overthrowing of STN'J's head Zaizen. Edward resurfaces along the way and is given the task of monitoring and protecting Bella but killing her if her powers get out of hand *groan* while showing subtle signs of reciprocating her "feelings". The opening animation alludes to the series focusing heavily on their relationship, but really it's one big ruse; Bella half-assedly pines for Edward, who neglects her feelings through a majority of the series and is missing throughout most of the 2nd half and he half-assedly comes to terms with her feelings slightly, that's it. By the finale (will try not to spoil too much, but I can't help but share how nauseating it is) everyone converges to stop Zaizen's plans, and the 11 monster of the week episodes with red herrings build up to...one really minor twist about the Orbo being made out of witches like the ones in said episodes TO FIGHT WITCHES. Bravo. That sociopathic boy smiling ominously as he was getting hauled away in his episode? Totally ignored along with all the others. Then Zaizen gets foiled ("Whoopee", he says sarcastically), what happens after and what did the gang learn from all this? Nothing. They say: "let's keep ignorantly hunting down each and every witch with Orbo but NOT be Zaizen and therefore, not be evil". The series not only tried to show a grey area of humans and witches through the old woman at the halfway point, but also through the morally just witch doctor (OO-EE-OO-AH-AH) in one of the first 11 episodes, only to completely abandon any moral or thematic purpose it ever had and completely spit on it. It all caps off with a pseudo-ambiguous ending where Bella and Amon's whereabouts are unknown, but you see little glimpses of what could be the two of them in the very end, but I did not care at the slightest at that point; there was no reason for me to care whether they were alive or not and leave it all mysterious because they were irritating characters and the series had thrown enough crap at me that I already hated it. In short, the series is an insubstantial, dry, repetitive, morally-jaded and uninspired trash heap saved only by a short adequate little arc and not being too offensive. I should've just stuck with my pubescent first impressions. 3/10 Characters: Hahaha! What characters!? Oh wait, I should actually try to fill this in? Okay, I'll make this quick. Bella is a whiny lovelorn emo teen witch, Edward is a brooding, conceited jackass (Sasuke fans rejoice!), Haruto is Guy A: the brash newbie, Michael is Guy B: the blunt hacker, Miho is Girl A: the psychometry-using...teammate(? lack of descriptors for her), Yurika is Girl B: the serious ditz and Zaizen the evil corporate guy. There are other characters who I've mostly forgotten, but they are hardly relevant, I guess there was that potentially homosexual cafe owner, he was kinda cool I guess...but yeah, can't say I remember the others. So yeah, 90% of the characters are indistinguishable stone-faced agents who hardly have any souls. Paper thin cast. 2/10 Art & Animation: The art wasn't too bad, it had more of a Western-styling to it; the characters look more comic-esque--but to be more accurate--are rather sleek - a bit conservative but sharply drawn. The palette gets somewhat strenuous for the eyes with how muted and drab it is, but in small doses can look somewhat cool with the aesthetics. Some of the architecture have really eloquent Victorian (or maybe Elizabethan or something; architecture isn't my forte) designs to them that have a peculiar warmth, homeliness and style to them themselves. The animation on the other hand recycles in places, cuts corners, is very sparse and dated and lacks effort and splendour it seems. It all levels out to an okay image for the screen, above the standards of the plot at least thankfully. 5/10 Sound: Best part of the series (which can be rather unfortunate considering how weak everything else is). We got Taku Iwasaki (of Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal fame) doing the score, so that should connote a lot of quality, and Witch Hunter Robin is no exception. The soundtrack has a soulfully resonating and mysterious quality akin to his work on R.O.D (my favourite series, and which also has a lovely soundtrack) that simultaneously has an air of melancholy and grand transcendence; no complaints for music. As for voice acting, I listened to the dub and it was fine, and any poor sounding performances (didn't really find anything out of place) would probably be attribute to the limited capacity of emotion for the characters themselves, so I'll be fair and only deduct one point for the voice acting sounding fine but apathetic for how their actual characters are so one-note, but still spot on if that makes any sense. 9/10 Enjoyment: If you've read my other reviews, you'll know that enjoyment runs concurrent with story for me, so I was not pleased when watching this series. I kept clinging to those positive reviews thinking it would get better up to the very final episode only to be sorely disappointed. Heck, even my PS3 was making extremely loud and unsettling noises when loading each disc; that must have been another sign. This anime was one of the biggest wastes of time--and to an extent, money--to have been sitting on my shelf briefly. 3/10 To potential Canadian brethren who had seen glimpses of WHR on Bionix and were curious about it: ignore it and watch Fullmetal Alchemist 2003, Eureka Seven, or maybe .hack/Sign if you missed those among others (or something else that's great in this vast medium); to everyone else who has come across it: you keep moving along as well, this insipid spew isn't worth your time. It's certainly far from the worst thing ever, but left me totally deprived afterwards, and I wish for most of you readers to avoid the same anguish I went through. At least it doesn't have teenage werewolves falling in love with vampire babies or w/e. Whoops, said too much. *The More You Know*
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Jan 3, 2014
Zetsuen no Tempest
(Anime)
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Not Recommended
There's this common expression: "all bark and no bite." Blast of Tempest is a dog that barks Shakespeare quotes aimlessly, holding little weight and consequence out of the context of its wholesome product. It's like how there's so much Zelda paraphernalia that gradually obfuscates from the point of what the iconic series was in the first place - a large game franchise with a grand mythos of diverse interconnecting core stories and subplots. Blast of Tempest puts up a facade of intelligence and substance by spouting Shakespeare when there's hardly any actual story content to speak of it. Well then, I'll move on to the
...
core of the review that I have something to talk about, unlike this very series itself.
Story: Okay, let's start this on a positive note before I start slamming this series for its lack-of-"Story"; the initial episodes have promise at least. We have the Romeo expy Yoshino standing at his girlfriend's grave when a mysterious woman by the name of Evangeline appears asking about the whereabouts of his old friend Mahiro, the Hamlet expy. Mahiro encounters Evangeline and things get hectic. It turns out Mahiro has connections to this missing woman named Hakaze who is a mage trapped on some far off island and she wants to stop her brother Samon from reviving a magical tree that threatens the planet. Mahiro fends off Evangeline with the various magical talismans Hakaze left across the area. Meanwhile giant seeds of the Tree of Exodus Samon is trying to revive are sprouting over the city and petrifying anyone who isn't protected by a talisman. Evangeline suspects it's Hakaze's doing because Mahiro is seen actively using Hakaze's magic himself. Mahiro communicates with Hakaze via this magic idol, and Mahiro is assisting Hakaze on the condition that she finds his sister's murderer, and unbeknownst to Mahiro, his dead sister was Yoshino's girlfriend in secret. Some of Samon's assistants are thrown into the conflict to ensure things go smoothly with Exodus' resurrection, and Yoshino teams up with Mahiro to get him out of the bind and to also find out who killed his lover Aika. The first 3 episodes have lots of action and intrigue, with various sides clashing, a catastrophic plan unfolding and a decent dose of angst...but then it doesn't know where to go from there, almost literally I might add. Mahiro and Yoshino travel around every 2 episodes or so, but since nothing's going on in the present, they just settle in one spot shortly after and show flashbacks of Yoshino, Mahiro and Aika and then one boring fight scene in an aquarium and Yoshino being captured for a short period thrown to mix it up a bit. Once episode 8 comes, things get even thinner; we have not one, not two, but FOUR episodes of a long winded sophistry battle between Yoshino, Mahiro and Samon trying to prove Hakaze still being alive (which was earlier suspected to be all a weird contradiction) involving duplicates, time rifts and other stuff, and the arguments go back and forth with neither party having much evidence or going to much length to argue their stance while the government tries to attack the Tree of Exodus. When the half point hits, the world is stricken by calamity, but there's no driving conflict or urgency in the second cour, so the characters--which, mind you, all villains reconcile with the allies at this point--just meander around and occasionally blow up a tree or two every now and then, because again, nothing is going on. After blowing up enough trees (yeah, take that environment!), the plot starts to head towards some semblance of a conclusion, but not before we find out who Aika's killer is, which happens to be one of the most ludicrous and groan-worthy twists I've ever seen, and it's all uncovered thanks to the magic of a crappy time travel element to put the crap icing on the garbage cake. The remaining events unfold without many bumps in the road, wrapping up in a totally run of the mill happy ending just to nip it in the bud. That's pretty much it. The story is about as thin as a nickel and is littered with many problems, but it has the occasional saving grace like the first 3 episodes, the conflict with society and the media on blowing up the trees fearing worse than the already poor conditions, and a delightfully liberating and refreshing scene where the one sane and logical side character beats the crap out of our far gone angst-ridden protagonists. That's all more than enough to save it from being one of the worst things ever, but it is still a big waste of time. I love Shirodaira's most prolific work, Spiral, so I had some expectations going in, and suffice to say I was massively disappointed, such a shame. 3/10 Characters: Oh goody, the characters. I'll be fair and say that for the most part they started off tolerable in the first cour before the even more dreadful second, but there's still nothing exemplary from most of them, and the second cour does some hefty damage to them. Yoshino is the lovelorn Romeo character who goes from being more proactive and level headed to whiney and self-loathing, Mahiro is the cynical and sharp-tongued Hamlet who goes from a driven avenger to an egotistical bully and Aika is the sadistic princess who played around with both of them. Hakaze turns from a confident and spunky lass to a nagging waifu trying to pine for Yoshino. Evangeline is something of an aggressive Misato-esque warrior woman who stays fairly consistent but is less prominent in the latter half while her assistant Takumi is pretty much just along for the ride. Hakaze's big bro Samon gets some of the worst of it, turning from a stern and headstrong antagonist to...comic relief with a straight face. His right hand brawn, Natsumura, is a ruthless stoic, but he doesn't have much of a hand in the second half, but Tetsuma the brains and voice for Samon has it worse, becoming nothing more than a cab driver for everyone else. Now, the one who is straight up the worst character of the lot the entire time...Junichiro. The lawful neutral who fulfills only that much, just wandering around being neutral; if he ever gets involved, he beats up members of both parties, of which, the fights are omitted to be left to the imagination, making it more dreadful than it already is. He is an absolutely pointless character, and the only time he ever did something with some effect to it is when he tried to share certain plot details which obfuscate details and make things more mysterious. Thankfully though, I'll close things off with the one character who DOES stand out as a good character - better than the series does justice to, which is Hanemura. He starts out as a bit of a spineless but sincere and rational guy who learns to fight under Mahiro's tutelage and gradually becoming more outspoken and vigorous after going through all the physical duress of Mahiro's training and emotional turmoil of all the other characters angsting and complaining around him, leading to the powerful scene of him kicking Mahiro and Yoshino's asses when things get out of hand. He's a stand up guy and he sets things straight when the plot is wrought with too much self-indulgence, anguish and melodrama, making him a refreshing change, ironically he is introduced in the second cour when all else goes to crap, so that in itself is a plus. At the end of the day, Hanemura breaks the series out of its conceited shell, but when leveled with the general character decay and initial merely decent characterization plus Junichirou, I can't give the roster a pass. 4/10 Art/Animation: Blast of Tempest being animated by Bones is a good sign. The very same company known for works such as both Fullmetal Alchemist adaptations, Wolf's Rain, RahXephon and many more nice looking series, and Blast of Tempest upholds some degree of that quality in its appearance. The characters are almost never off model, everything is smoothly rendered, clean and sharp looking and can pull off some more dynamic action scenes well, but those scenes are rather few and far between, and there's still much better out there, so it isn't THAT remarkable. The artwork looks really nice too thankfully, capturing the look of the manga well, with the designs being very sharp to begin with so the series looks cool at the very least. 7/10 Sound: The score is a rather enticing collection of melancholic orchestral pieces with bits of whimsy, mystery, grandiose and tragedy to them. There also happens to be select Beethoven pieces bundled in, so you know there's quality classical pieces to be had in this series, so that music happens to be the strongest department for this anime. The voice work on the other hand, is about average; characters come off as one note a lot of the time and lack a bit of enthusiasm at times, but the voices fit the characters well and performances are still consistent and serviceable. 8/10 Enjoyment: For me, enjoyment tends to run concurrent with story, and even if an anime may come off as "boring" in terms of tone and atmosphere to some, if there is some weighty metatheming or elaborate writing and intrigue permeating over the course of things, I won't get bored personally. However, as my story section dictates, there was hardly anything worthwhile for me to chew on. If Blast of Tempest were a steak, it would be a bland, dry and tough to chew on one. I was bored watching it most of the time because things always meandered and there wasn't much intellectual meat to it, and a lot of it was far below average. Blast of Tempest was just a really stale journey. 3/10 In closing, Blast of Tempest is one of those series that falls into-nay, EPITOMIZES the cliche of a lot of anime out there: interesting concept, poor execution (in this case, hardly any). It's one of the most sloggish and inflated series I've ever seen that clings to its premise like a pure catholic teen clings to his/her chastity. The series had a cool idea that was rather intriguing, but it didn't know how to expand on it, so they just run around haphazardly with it and start randomly expounding Shakespeare references to try and uphold the air of assured direction when they haven't a clue what they are doing. "Okay, so I've hooked them with the premise and I gotta make a series with this, but I have no idea what to do next...GOT IT! I'll have the characters quote Shakespeare because HE'S intelligent, so that will make them think THIS SERIES is still intelligent! Perfect!" Blast of Tempest is a stretched out, pretentious (I try to use this word sparingly) and unexciting odyssey (if you can even call it that) and it is not worth your time. Don't be fooled by the Shakespeare references, this series is hardly smart at all, don't waste your time on it. Do yourself a favour and just read Spiral by the same author, it's a mystery that's worth it, Shirodaira just dropped the ball here.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Nov 6, 2013 Recommended
Preface: The Kure-nai anime is a truly underrated gem of the medium; it is a shonen that transcends the limitations and trappings of its demographic into something adult and intelligent, and into what I find to be one of the best shonen anime of all time and it also happens to fall into that 1% of "anime adaptations that are better than the manga/light novel/visual novel they are based off of."
*I would go into length about the differences between the anime and manga, but it would be too extensive for this review, so I'll have it on file if anyone wants clarification later* When I ... heard about Kure-nai back in '08 and read up on the premise, my tastes were too underdeveloped at the time and I dismissed it as some dull slice of life (in a laymen sense) story that wouldn't satisfy my adolescent male cravings for boisterous shonen action. A few years later, as my tastes have become more refined and open, I come across a review on the series and decide to take a look at it and seeing that it was a rather favourable review, I decided to check it out under the assumption that it was almost purely slice of life (again, it a laymen sense) which I was more accepting towards. Ironically, it turns out that Kure-nai does have action in it; some of the most visceral, well choreographed and intense martial arts I've seen in an anime that is. With that said, the action was a great bonus, and for those of you at the very least looking for some quality martial arts battles, then definitely give Kure-nai a shot for the fighting and stay for the story. I think that it can serve as a nice entry way into good storytelling in shonen anime and other anime in general. As to why Kure-nai is such a great anime and happens to be my current #3 top anime, let's dig into the meat of the review shall we? Story: Kure-nai, at its core, is a simple story; a young man working as a part time mediator is assigned an additional job on the side to take care of the young daughter of an aristocratic family while trying to juggle his job as a mediator, his school life and his home life where he lives in a shoddy apartment with 2 other eccentric patrons. Our titular "protagonist" Shinkuro Kurenai is the 16 year old mediator in question whose parents were murdered when he was young and he was rescued by his mentor and fellow mediator Benika Juzawa, who left him in the care of the Hozuki family household where he would learn their style of martial arts and get a special bone blade transplanted into his elbow for emergencies. He eventually moved out of the place and found an apartment on his own with the payments from his job as a mediator to support his stay. Then there's the other most important character in the anime, Murasaki Kuhoin, who is seen being taken (rescued) from her family's manor at the start of the series by Benika and her assistant Yayoi Inuzuka, and being entrusted to Shinkuro. She is initially very impetuous and haughty, speaking in a sophisticated yet arguably archaic prose and believing the world around her to be her personal oyster, like treating a bath house clerk like a servant and not giving thanks, expecting to be given treats and such regularly. Shinkuro begins to teach Murasaki about societal folkways and mores that she is not used to due to her sheltered upbringing in a prestigious family and we see the contrasting lifestyles and norms collide. From there, the series starts to take off. Being predominantly character driven, the story focuses on our 2 characters growing their bond, growing as individuals and growing as members of society with all these different scenarios and characters coming into play to help them blossom with things like Shinkuro trying to negotiate with shady figures that usually end up getting rough, Murasaki trying to occupy her time at the apartment while Shinkuro is at school, the 2 going out shopping or on play dates, and many more. We later learn about Shinkuro's tragic past and the reasons for Murasaki's kidnapping. It's all executed so well due to the exceptional writing that doesn't let things become formulaic, allows for balanced tones and conflicts, creates smart, subtle humour and not crude trite often seen (episode 6 is a riot, don't skip it), doesn't become steeped in melodrama and moves the story at a slower, but more enriching pace to its benefit coupled with some interesting cinematography and things like juxtapositions to add value to certain scenes. The action is interspersed over a few of the earlier episodes before becoming the focus in the last third of the series, but I'll refrain from delving into spoiler territory too much. The fights themselves are visceral in every sense of the word; you can almost feel every little contortion of flesh and bone with each blow, the movements are very fluid and expertly choreographed while making the environment feel like it actually has obstacles to it that get in the way. The characters aren't flying around all over and blasting beams at each other, and typically the place they are fighting in isn't conveniently spacious, so a character might get cut off by a chair, get caved in, etc, it is believable and well executed. Overall the story centralizes character growth and living as aforementioned, so early episodes involve some mundane stuff and a lot of conversation, but the mature dialogue, nuanced emotions, solid interplay, refined prose, natural tension and precise timing all culminate to make for a really engaging and really human drama. Whether it be Shinkuro chatting at school with friends, doing negotiations with people, him and Murasaki doing chores, Murasaki doing stuff by herself or anything else, it is all captured with meticulous detail for realism and not a single event feels superfluous or unnecessary. The final arc also happens to be a tour de force, really bringing the themes home, with Shinkuro questioning his strength in an refreshing and hard-hitting way unlike the typical shonen executions of it, along with the morals behind breaking out of an impersonal worker-client in order to make a change which leads up to a battle not of good and evil, but of freedom of expression for man as an individual v.s. punctual tradition for fortifying a status quo, making for a well constructed grey area as ideals clash as well as the morals behind family and the love shown to members of a family unit (trying to be vague to avoid spoilers) and all topped off with an ending that has reasonable goals and compromises for all sides that may be initially bittersweet, but touching in the end, and overall, I found nary a flaw in the whole thing. To conclude the story portion, I'd like to draw up comparisons to 2 anime: Bunny Drop and Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal (moreso the former). I really love Bunny Drop, but I find that Kure-nai balances events better in terms of the child raising, not to say that Bunny Drop is bad by any means at doing its child raising well (quite the contrary) I just find Kure-nai is less linear and is able to show the events of both Shinkuro and Murasaki in an episode where they are apart whereas Bunny Drop will focus on either Daikichi at work or Rin playing in particular episodes besides the scenes where they are together, so I like how Kure-nai is able to handle multiple focal points like that and we aren't kind of left out on certain subplots or events for one side or the other, so it is more cohesive and rounded. As for RuroKen, it is mostly a stylistic thing, but I'd just like to note that Kure-nai's final arc also has a rich, picturesque snow blanketed locale with a very heavy and tense atmosphere due to the content, and things proceed with just as much elegant pacing and tone as Trust and Betrayal, so do be sure to keep going with the series if you are having doubts and/or love Trust and Betrayal to see such a powerful and splendid final act. 10/10 Characters: Again, being a character driven story, it is all about the characters, and the core duo and most of the supporting cast are multi-layered and believable human characters that you will grow on; although there are some hindrances, they are largely subjective. Shinkuro is a timid, humble and self-sufficient teenage boy just trying to get by in life with having to juggle so many things in his rough life; he is sincere and earnest, but can still be adamant and strict with Murasaki. He lacks some personal confidence, but is nonetheless devoted and compassionate. Murasaki starts out as a spoiled and whiny little girl with a brazen attitude, but over the course of the series, she settles down and blossoms into a very considerate, responsible and mature little 7 year old. Benika tends to be a rather reserved, sometimes stern person but also has a sharp tongue and is very optimistic and caring. Yayoi happens to be a tad thinner in personality than most of the cast, being mostly one note, brazen and subservient to Benika, although she does undergo something of an epiphany learning about strength through Shinkuro to help loosen up a bit. Ginko also is a little lackluster compared to some others, but has some subtle little soft spots beneath her blunt veneer and also happens to have a bit of a backstory with Shinkuro. Yuno is very kind upfront, but equally as assertive and strong with her convictions, being a sweetie with a rough side you don't wanna mess with. Tamaki is the eccentric, promiscuous patron living in the same apartment as Shinkuro, she is somewhat like Yuno only more carefree and playful whereas Yuno is more of a quiet yet passionate person, however, while Tamaki tends to wear her pride and flirtatiousness on her shoulder, she still feels some resentment towards herself for being too loose and not willing to settle down or be able to maintain a long relationship. Yamie is...an enigma really, so you could consider that a flaw in that little is exposed of her, but that is also part of her charm as the cunning witch that she is. Renjo Kuhoin is Murasaki's father, he appears to be a tightwad who simply amounts to the principles of the Kuhoin namesake rather than being a real person, when in actuality he cares deeply for his family and feels there is a bit of injustice in his family's system, but he is too fearful of the burden of being one to go against tradition and listen to his feelings. His son (whose name I'm forgetting) is something of a foil to Renjo, he's extroverted and merciless and puts his pride as a Kuhoin above anything else and is very blatant about it. There's also Renjo's wife Kazuko who is one of the most arrogant and vile individuals in the series with that being the only real feature to her character, however if you want to take into account Western beliefs on characterization for villains or those of a similar ilk, having a real backstory for her and demistifying why she is so cruel would ruin a bit of her presence, similar to how people panned Kevin Smith for making a comic about the Joker's backstory. This is also seen in Lin-Cheng Shin, Renjo's son's bodyguard who is absolutely a psychotic nutcase who only desires for a fight, serving as a byproduct and raw exemplification of the son's spite and cruelty, sans the social and political connections to hold her back, making her a devastating individual. Lastly Souju Kuhoin is Renjo's sister who is the anti-thesis to Kazuko as a sweet-natured person and cared far more for Murasaki than Kazuko did, but she isn't shown too much. All in all the characters all serve a purpose and have well rounded personalities for the most part explored sufficiently while sticking to their more prominent traits to make them stand out, with a lot of subtleties to illuminate on them more which you catch onto after watching. 9-10/10 Art: The artwork for Kure-nai is exceptional. The characters don't have super moe, over the top features and their faces all look well drawn and seriously designed to complement the nature of the series. Settings have a diverse palette with rich colours including lots of sensual reds (heck, Kure-nai translates to 'crimson') and other exquisite tones that give it such an alluring feel. There's stellar use of shadows and lighting to accentuate the fantastic palette and make superb gradience. Backgrounds possess a lot of life evoked by the complements of aforementioned factors to make the mundane settings feel alive and lifelike, and then there's the Kuhoin manor's outside with a heavy atmosphere, great texture and an invigorating air to it all with the almost ethereal snow fields caressing the trees in winter and all the leaves and different things in the frame, and the Kuhoin manor itself which touts the most of those vibrant reds with a nicely stylized old Edo-esque aesthetic and all of these vivid designs to make things really pop. Kure-nai has a lot of eye candy, moreso innately with stuff like the Kuhoin manor, but nonetheless is great to look at. 10/10 Animation: The animation for the series is a bit inconsistent, but has a lot of high points, evident by the fight scenes which spare no expense and don't use any shortcuts or stylish standalone frames, everything happens real time, non stop and right on camera. Meanwhile it can sometimes render things with kind of a 'soup-y' quality to them, kind of melting off and not being totally clear. Episode 6 seems to have an abundance of it, but it is more for effect in that case and something of a more comedic episode. Still, at times it can look a tad awkward, like this one scene in the final episode involving Shinkuro, it's pretty obvious when you see it, and it comes off as a bit inadvertently comedic for an instant. Overall it still has great highs with special complements to the fight scenes for how stunning they look. 9/10 Music: I'm no expert on music, but the soundtrack for Kure-nai just sounds lovely, simply put. It further complements the stuff on screen with mesmerizing piano songs that are very romantic and captivating, like going to a ritzy, sophisticated bar or high class outing or cozying by some regal fireplace quality. Refined and relaxing, these songs total justice to the series and are great for savouring and unwinding yourself with. 10/10 Enjoyment: Kure-nai is not for those with short attention spans or those who need something large scaled to happen every couple of minutes, but for myself and others who enjoy anime of a more heart warming and tender nature that's audacity builds gradually, Kure-nai does wonders. The dialogue had life and realism to it, the atmosphere was both enchanting and immense, the pacing was natural, the writing and plot was sharp and investing, the production values were excellent, the fight scenes were breathtaking, the composure was refined, the characters were memorable and the themes were poignant. I have no complaints, Kure-nai was a belly full for my soul. 10/10 In conclusion, Kure-nai is a seductress, or a tamed lion even; it has all the looks, the composure and the atmosphere to make it a captivating creature and it has bite with its bark. Although it may not always speak loudly, when it does, it is ferocious, and when it is quiet, it is beautiful and touching. The manga can't hold a candle to this adaptation; it is juvenile in comparison, although I still must give thanks to the manga creators for laying the groundwork for this liberal, but far superior adaptation. Despite the anime adapting about 1/5th of the manga, it tells it with a much more resolute passion, and quantity should not take precedence over quality, nor does quantity equate to quality. The 2008 Kure-nai anime is quality. Do yourself a favour and watch it, even if you are big on crazy supernatural shonen fests, if you like a good story, give it a shot and you might get more diversity to your tastes while having the great fights to hold onto. I can't recommend it enough, it is an underrated anime gem and one of the greatest shonen anime of all time, and perhaps even one of the greatest anime period.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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