The Longest Road

While I consider myself a somewhat knowledgeable, well-rounded anime fan, I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to sports anime. This is normal; sports shows don't tend to get released very often in America, and have a history of selling poorly when they do. Nevertheless, it's a hole I've been meaning to fill, so at my sister's urging (much better-versed in the genre than myself) I picked up two shows over the last year or so: cycling anime Yowamushi Pedal and volleyball anime Haikyuu!!. Haikyuu!! I recently finished the first season of, and enjoyed a lot. Yowamushi Pedal I petered out on a long time ago.

The biggest reason for my disinterest would be Yowamushi Pedal's glacial pacing. Over the twenty episodes I watched, the main characters never take part in an official competition. Okay, so there is actually a lot of racing; the characters usually spice up their training with plenty of informal competitions to keep things fresh. An early episode where the hero, Onoda, and his friend are determined to catch up to a littering driver is great. And we glimpse the end of a qualifying race that some upperclassmen take part in. But despite how they spice things up, the fact remains that we spend seven episodes on a training camp that only matters because everyone keeps insisting that it matters.

In contrast, Haikyuu!! keeps things moving briskly along. Over twenty-five episodes, three official games are played start to finish, as well as two practice games, training camp, and bits and pieces of games played by other teams are touched on. That pace is just easier for me to go along with, especially after I found out that Season One of Yowamushi Pedal ended on a cliffhanger, and Season 2 spends almost its entirety on a. Single. Race. Tell me that doesn't sound like a punishing watch. Maybe they should have added a few exclamation points in their title to speed up the pace . . .

But length is meaningless if the characters are lovable, right? Well, here again I found Haikyuu!! the stronger of the two shows. Not for its lead characters; naïve, enthusiastic Onoda and cold, haughty Imaizumi are almost carbon copies of --- and --- from Yowamushi Pedal. It's the team that sticks in the memory. Everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses, but is basically a good, well-rounded person in their own way, maybe even with goals and interests that extend outside the volleyball court. The upperclassmen are helpful and supportive, never holding themselves above their juniors, in one case sacrificing their own time on the court for the greater good. This kind of teamwork doesn't happen as often in Yowamushi Pedal; the seniors; idea of support is “make the underclassmen bike one thousand kilometers after we let some air out of their tires.” Tough love, indeed. We unfortunately don't even have any rival bikers to shake things up because, you know, there haven't been any actual races yet at this point. These are problems I hear got fixed later, but of course I didn't stick around to see this. When so many basic elements haven't fallen into place twenty episodes in, Yowamushi Pedal kinda fails at being a compelling sports drama.

That's not to say it does everything wrong, though. The animation and music are both top-rate all the way through. Better yet, the show goes into the basic tactics of cycling enough for a novice like me to respect it as a serious sport. And it's not like I actively hate all the characters; they're fine, except for some upperclassmen. Like the guy with the constant rapeface.

No, not that one.

Gah! Okay, he has one too, but I didn't even get to his character introduction before dropping the show!

Yeah, he's who I was thinking of. Look at those hungry eyes.

But the way I see it, Yowamushi Pedal doesn't do well at two vital components of sports anime. I'm not invested in the races because there aren't any, and I'm not invested in the characters because there aren't enough truly sympathetic or engaging ones. It focuses too narrowly on the sport itself, while Haikyu!! is more about the drama. Characters grow and change on and off the court, and a steady barrage of new situations (read: actual games) keeps that growth constant; it's just more compelling than watching --- learn a new stamina-saving technique that's . . . nice, I guess, but doesn't affect the team dynamic or his psychological growth in any meaningful way.

If you love Yowamushi Pedal, awesome. I can't call it an outright bad show by any stretch. But this is one sports ignoramus who thinks Haikyu!! beats it on every level. Now, can anyone offer advice on how to get this face out of my nightmares?

In Harm's Way

With a name like Harmagedon, what kind of movie would you expect? Probably a crappy one, unless you've heard that famous director Rintaro was attached. While this guy has a notorious hit-and-miss track record, even his bad stuff tends to be at least competent. And this film came right on the heels of his excellent Galaxy Express 999 movies, so it can't be too bad, I reasoned to myself.

It was. Harmagedon turned out to be an unexpected so-bad-it's-good classic.

The first thing you notice is the English dub, even if you fully intend to see it in Japanese. I did, but the first scene of a crazy blue lady prancing the moonlit streets of Tokyo got me thinking that the Japanese track was awfully flat. Only by switching over to English was I able to appreciate that “THEY ARE VANISHING! THE STARS ARE GOING DEAD, ONE BY ONE! HALF A BILLION SYSTEMS HAVE ALREADY BEEN CONSUMED! THE HUNGRY VOID IS FOUR MILLION LIGHT YEARS AWAY, BUT EVERY SECOND IT RUSHES CLOSER TO US!” Sadly, no one sounds quite as crazy, but very few deliveries actually fit the given line. Of particular trouble are the single-syllable grunts of assent or denial that Japanese is so fond of, yet the English track doesn't know what to do with. It seems like the dubbing writers had no idea how to handle extraneous lip flaps, as evidenced by a possessed cop's Kool-Aid Man shout of “Oh yeah!” to punctuate his evil monologue. There are some things that just . . . automatically place your movie in the same tier as Battle Royal High School.

Another hilarious aspect is how poorly this film is paced, though being based on a long-running book series, we'll cut it a little slack. But consider: fully half of your huge, epic, globe-trotting intergalactic psychic war is dedicated to the main character discovering he has psychic powers and resisting the call to adventure. The second half introduces about a half-dozen major characters with no backstory given, which is especially infuriating since the first half wasted time with a backstory for a character that never ends up developing at all, explaining plot points in the process that would be explained again later. The climax doesn't feel as rushed as I feared, but it never gets as epic as all the buildup would have you expect.

Also, this might be just me, but I thought some of the character movements seemed a bit awkward in an otherwise well-animated movie. Harmagedon was one of—if not the—first anime film to shoot for realism with its character designs, and while they had a lot of influence down the road, I think you can see the growing pains at times.

Now, I won't deny that Harmagedon was a fairly important work, historically speaking. Not only did it add to Rintaro's impressive resume, but marks Akira creator Katsuhiro Otomo's first foray into animation. Several other future big names can also be found here, like Yasuomi Umezu and Yoshiaki Kawajiri. The generally nice animation certianly reflects this. But Harmagedon fails as an engaging film because it has huge ambitions with a lot of narrative ground to cover, yet no idea how to fit those into its runtime. If you're not going to properly pay off a rivalry with someone's best friend later, cut the subplot out. Don't show Luna's origin story if she's not going to evolve beyond “lead psychic girl”. Focus on the action, maybe, or on showing Genma's galaxy-destroying power, otherwise we'll be disappointed when he ends up being some doctor standing in a volcano.

If you want to see an ambitious work that ends up squarely in the shitter . . . actually, watch Garzey's Wing. With Harmagedon, things never get so crazy that you can't see the potential. But as a result, Harmagedon becomes its own unique cocktail of good and bad that's much more worthy of a point-by-point analysis. Definitely give it a watch if you get the opportunity; you'll at least get the implied epic-ness of the source material, and will probably appreciate its influence on the visuals and storylines that followed immediately after. And you'll get to see Bambi being saved, so there's that, too!

Winter 2016 Overview

Hey, all!  Another season, another barely-squeezed-in-among-a-rare-break review!  Let's get right to it!

Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans

I personally think this cour was an improvement on the last, but understand how a lot of people might not like some of the developments in plot and character. I'm just glad the plot moved forward at all; it looked for a while like very little would happen. But goals were indeed established, characters were pushed to the limit and changed accordingly, and the battles still looked awesome. I'm curious what the reported next season will do to expand on this.

Gate

I'll admit first off that this cour of Gate did more right than the previous one: the episode where they fought the dragon was great, for example, mostly because the heroes were the underdogs just this once. Also, I really wanted to see the villains defeated. But all the tension came from irredeemable assholes doing whatever they wanted for a dozen episodes. “I don't like Japan, so let's work hard to frame them! Now let's throw everyone who disagrees with me in prison! Boy, I'm the best king ever!” The good guys still aren't good; the show just began relying on constant shit-eating grins from bad guys to keep us invested.

Osomatsu-san

Okay, this is officially one of the best comedies in recent years. This cour has been even stronger than the last, with wonderful sequences like the road race and the kerosene heater incident emphasizing how much humor can come out of shitty people. A big hit nobody expected.

Haru Chika

Those looking for a good mystery show should look elsewhere, because this one relies heavily on the Ranpo Kitan model of crazy. Want to see piggy bank houses, underground radio broadcasts by illegal nursing homes, and high school students running a business that tests whether middle-aged womens' first loves were true? Then this is the “mystery” show for you! At least it didn't have Ranpo Kitan's ego, but my god was this a boatload of wtf.

Active Raid

In my write-up a few weeks back I essentially called this show a piss-poor pastiche of Patlabor. Nothing's changed my mind since then. Are we really getting another cour three months from now?

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu

It's always nice when we get us a historical show like this, because I usually end up learning someone. In this case it was the ins and outs of a very unusual art form, as well as the time period that saw its twilight and gradual decline. While slower-paced and more serious than most shows, the great chemistry between characters keeps things entertaining even if you have zero interest in history. I'd recommend this to someone who wants a series a little bit off the beaten path.

Dimension W

While this show looks as great as one expects from Studio Bones, the characters are a total buzzkill. The main character in particular is such a joyless, angry, abusive waste of a tragic backstory that he negates whatever happiness the side characters could have brought into our lives. Worse, several recurring villains/antiheroes share these exact same characteristics (and dead girlfriend syndrome), so it's like being beaten over the head with EDGY. The plot's generic, too, but I don't see it conjuring any empathy for these characters even were it more ambitious.

Assassination Classroom

The show continues every bit as strong as when it left us. A solid shonen action/slice of life series with some good messages; looking forward to the upcoming finale.

Erased

The standout show of the season, though you may not have heard anyone talking about it because shit gets pretty real. Time travel aspects aside, this is a story about child abuse and abduction, and it does not shy away from showing you what that means. Almost the anti-Dimension W, in that the well-written characters practically jumped off the screen at you. I was deeply invested after only an episode or two because everyone is treated with so much more realism than you'd expect from, you know, a time travel story. As long as you don't mind some dark images and implications, I'd definitely recommend this dramatic thrill ride.

Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash

While not perfect by any means, I really enjoyed this more introspective trapped-in-a-video-game show. It took its characters seriously, know how to show rather than tell the world's intricacies, and kept us wondering if everyone would survive the episode. That's more than many similar shows accomplish, plus it's nice to look at.

God's Blessing on this Wonderful World (Kono Suba)

This show was sort of the hybrid between Grimgar and Osomatsu-san, now that I think about it. While focusing on the least glamorous aspects of a fantasy world, most humor came from how crappy the main characters can be. Though much less consistently good than those other shows, I still found myself looking forward to it, and I plan on watching the eventual second season.

Bubuki Buranki

A fun show, as long as you watch for the crazy visuals and cheesy emotions alone. The plot can some odd directions; it's clearly just a vehicle to show off all those CG character designs. But I wasn't expecting much worse, so it turned out to be a nice little diversion.

Lupin III

Oh yeah, was this show worth the wait. Despite an unusual (for the Lupin franchise) ongoing plot, the best episodes were the stand-alone ones; just a character and a caper. A must-see for Lupin fans, and also a great introduction for potential new fans.

Koyomimonogatari

Okay, even I know these Bakemonogatari-related shorts were superfluous (until the very end; holy shit). But these characters have proven to be entertaining just sitting in a room talking about whatever weird, random idea entered the author's head. I'd still welcome more pointless stories.

Sushi Police

You don't have to enjoy sushi to like this show a lot. Although disliking it may make you feel a little guilty. Regardless, it was nice to see CG animation put to good use; shows that rely heavily on it tend to get a lot of backlash from fans, so maybe shorts like these are the way to go for now.

Oshiete! Galko-chan

Despite being nothing more than a bunch of high schoolers swapping dirty jokes and questions about sex, a fun little show. Probably best it's only seven minutes long, though.

Sekko Boys

This bizarre bit of humor was hit-or-miss for me. Not all the situations were funny, but the laughs came easiest whenever the show tried to act like your standard idol show. I mean, these preening, dysfunctional celebrities are . . . statues. In that respect, I found the credits consistently hilarious.

While this was a pretty good season overall, it still felt like a slight letdown because there wasn't a huge crowd-pleaser to fill the enormous shoes of One Punch Man.  But who knows what next season will bring?  I'll soon find out . . . right after I work through a slight backlog problem!