Hot Macross Buns

Going into this season, one of the series I was most looking forward to was Macross Delta. Although far from the biggest Macross fan, I respect its important place in anime history as a strong work of both romance and science fiction. The most recent entry, Macross Frontier, was good enough that I was inspired to praise it in writing upon my initial viewing last year. Which is why, with a heavy heart, I must admit that the currently-airing show seems to be . . . missing something.

My immediate instinct is to blame the characters, which might not be quite fair in this case. Macross leads have always been on the simple side, from gung-ho pilots to starry-eyed idols to more jaded characters who exist to lighten up by the climax. But Hayate just feels especially bland; not particularly rebellious despite his reputation, not particularly into anything other than flying planes. He doesn't even seem as invested in the requisite love triangle as his two not-girlfriends. Wanna-be (read: soon-to-be) idol Freyja is difficult to relate to because she waltzes right into her dreams, undergoing depressingly few struggles along the way. Other Macross properties at least showed the hardship involved in being an idol, but here I find myself kinda hoping for Freyja to get fired so she can find a real job. Something blue-collar; that'll build her character a little. And Mirage, the military not-girlfriend, is so hilariously by-the-books that you can practically see her character arc laid out in front of her. Hint: it involves acknowledging those embarrassing feelings of her. A few side characters have lately started picking up some of the emotional slack, but it feels like too little too late.

By god, do the villains drop the ball, though. I'm still trying to figure out why the Windermere race is hell-bent on fighting the New United Government, even though it's been explained. So, the Government scarred their planet with a dimensional bomb, but it might have been the Windermere's fault, too? And the Windermere believe the Government is oppressing other planets (even though none of that has been shown to be true), but Windermere themselves are clearly shown using drugs to brainwash the citizens of planets they conquer? Every attempt to humanize this race falls flat, as the copious screentime we spend with their leaders and Aerial Knights proves only one thing; Windermeres are pompous-ass jerks who wouldn't know justice if it burned their house down.

This is a shame because the Zentradi, Macross's original villains, were so interesting. Even at their most destructive, you felt for this race which has never known anything but war, which views every aspect of our culture as frighteningly alien. Their conversion into humanity's friend and ally was satisfying because they struggled hard to comprehend ideas of love and peace before realizing that our races could truly understand each other. The Windermeres, in comparison, act more like a group of rebellious teens that graffitis your house because of some perceived insult. You understand each other pretty well already, but one party needs to chill the fuck out before peace can be achieved. Right now I'm more interested in the Windermere race's historical relation to the Protoculture than what any of its members are going through now, and for a show that barely acknowledges its science fiction ideas (another departure from Macross's original intent), this is really grasping at straws.

The visuals have taken a step up since Macross Frontier; you'll see CGI planes perform aerial acrobatics more fluidly than ever before, for instance. Sadly, there are still issues present, most glaring whenever the idols take part in combat as Macross always seems to require. Far from providing a support role as in previous incarnations, Delta puts them on the front lines with jets under their skirts, flying shields in front, and their faces projected onto every flat surface. Sounds awesome, right? It would be, if we knew what was going on. But the director throws so much flashing, dancing, sparkling shit in our faces that not a single concert impresses. 

At the very least, they don't feel skillfully put together the way similar bits in the Symphogear franchise do, and for Macross to come in second place at a sing-off is just sad. It's like if a film that homages giant monster movies turned out to be better than an honest-to-god Godzlla movie. Oh, wait...

When all's said and done, it's not like Macross Delta is an awful show, or even particularly bad. But it lacks a certain magic that other Macross incarnations have had, that keeps people coming back to this old-ass franchise. Whether it's a matter of skill, ideals, or something I can't quite pinpoint, and I probably wouldn't be so harsh did I not hold this show to high standards. But as one of the great pillars of anime, here's hoping Macross will rise out of mediocrity to make us all remember love once more.

Anime Central 2016 Convention Report

Another year, another Anime Central. This time was a little different for me, however, since there really weren't any guests I was excited about. Usually there's one or two scholars, directors, or voice actors I'm interested in, but much of the effort this time seemed to be spent on staff from visual novel company VisualArt's. That's cool, just not my thing. As a result, my schedule was more up in the air than ever before.

I ended up attending fewer anime-based panels than initially planned. Line and programming issues prevented me from attending some of those “bad anime” panels I love, but at least there were some good substitutes, like “weird video game” or “martial arts” panels. I learned some new things, and that's always cool. Still, it would be cool if the staff could be a little more uniform in how they police the lines; some people clearly didn't care until the “line” was a knotted mass, then arbitrarily selected who was in the line and who could suck it. Not so cool. At least by Saturday afternoon I got a better idea of how early I needed to line up, and even got into a “hilarious hentai dubs” panel I'd missed the year before.

Some of the more enjoyable panels: As I said before, the “hentai dubs” panel was a treat. The guy running it was charismatic and professional; check out his work at https://www.facebook.com/vitaminhofficial. “Great anime directors” was another good panel, and you can see an overview at https://mentalmultiverse.com/, along with other panels I missed. It was also interesting to hear from Ed Chavez, marketing director of Vertical Inc, about his little corner of the manga/LN industry.

The dealers' room was a highlight for me, of course, because I'm a mindless pop culture-addicted media zombie. Though I probably spent about the same as previous years on DVDs, I think I was a little smarter with my purchasing. Almost everything at the Discotek booth was $5-10 cheaper than anywhere else, so I loaded up on Go Nagai titles I haven't seen; last year's purchase of Devilman inspired me to check out more of his worlds online, so I look forward to watching Getter Robo Armageddon and Shin Getter Robo vs. Neo Getter Robo. I already know Mazinkaiser and Mazinkaiser SKL are awesome. The Phoenix anime was another good find, since I love the manga yet haven't heard much about the seemingly ambitous anime series. The crown jewel (and main expense) was a 21-disc set of the whole Fist of the North Star TV series. An ambitious undertaking at 152 episodes, but one I'm eager to tackle since it is an anime staple.

And that's my experience, such as it was! A lot of unexpected situations with panels and guests turned into a fun time overall, just like usual.  Sorry for the lack of updates lately, but that's what happens when your Internet dies right after recovering from convention fatigue.  Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a huge fucking backlog to plow through. If you don't hear from me in two months, call the cops.

A Ghost of a Chance

With the release of a single photograph, the live-action Ghost in the Shell movie is now pretty much for real. Film has been shot, makeup has been applied, actors have presumably acted; premature death a la that planned Akira movie seems unlikely at this point. And predictably enough, this great news is accompanied by a grand chorus of bitching.

Most of the gripes center around, also predictably, Scarlett Johansson's appearance, both physical and in terms of casting. It should have been an Asian in the role, this is yet another example of Hollywood whitewashing, scream some. That wig looks dumb and fake, complain others. Many seem to think that this property should be left untouched, or only attempted by the Japanese themselves. I however, think a Ghost in the Shell movie is one of the safest bets if we want a profitable film that inspires future anime adaptations and a good flick overall that'll please fans and newcomers alike.

First off, I'll acknowledge that some of the cynicism is justified; anime adaptations have a poor track record in Hollywood. Despite the Wachowskis' drawing much inspiration from the medium, none of their works even approached the success of their Matrix trilogy, and only the first one is remembered fondly today. Even fans are apathetic regarding Speed Racer and Astro Boy, while Dragonball Evolution is a dirty word. Films like Pacific Rim and Edge of Tomorrow kept the spirit of anime alive while doing pretty much their own thing, but saw only middling financial success. And with a list of indefinitely stalled adaptations including the aforementioned Akira, Battle Angel, Monster, and Cowboy Bebop . . . it's actually kinda a miracle we're getting an anime movie at all.

Of those proposed projects, I think Ghost in the Shell makes for the best choice because it can probably handle the inevitable changes better than other properties. The franchise has shown it can do well in multiple formats, be it manga, movie, long-running TV show, or short OVA series. That's a huge plus; as much as I'd love a Cowboy Bebop adaptation, I don't believe a single movie would satisfy fans. You can't capture the dramatic meat of the Spike vs. Vicious storyline without sacrificing other major character arcs and/or the fun, wacky hijinks that make the show enjoyable, even with a solid three-hour runtime. Don't get me started on the subtleties you'd need to gloss over for an Evangelion adaptation. And who the hell would greenlight a full series of films when even one isn't a safe bet?

The selling point of any Masamune Shirow work is always the world it exists in. There's a reason we keep getting more Ghost in the Shell and Appleseed years after shitty art, plot, and characters torpedoed all his original manga. His futuristic worlds are the perfect playgrounds for other artists to work with. As long as there's a utopia where humans are taken care of by the genetically engineered (Appleseed), or the cyborg-ization of society blurs the line between man and machine (Ghost in the Shell), setting and characters can be and have been tweaked as the story demands. That's why Ghost in the Shell is such a great choice for adaptation; they could put almost anything onscreen as long as it fits the mood, and even surprise diehard fans because there's no real canon the writers are bound to. Okay, I'd love to see a spider tank or two, but I'll be happy as long as it's a good movie, period.

There's bound to be major negativity whenever a new adaptation of something popular is announced, and maybe the naysayers will be proven right on this one. But I'm going to be optimistic right up to the end credits. I'll put my faith in the well-regarded cast and crew to take advantage of this idea's potential. Because even if Ghost in the Shell turns out to be a stinker, I don't want anime fans to be seen as a whiny, unappeasable fanbase whose interests will never be mainstream. I want to believe that the awesome stuff we're used to seeing in cartoons can gain Hollywood recognition to benefit everyone.

So, keep an open mind as March 31^st, 2017 approaches. We owe Ghost in the Shell that much.

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!

It's a Jungle Out There

Mamoru Hosoda is a strangely difficult director to talk about. Although just starting his career, he has a mountain of expectations heaped on him because Studio Ghibli happened to be petering out at the same time as he got popular. Why else would a relative newcomer be called “the next Miyazaki” despite his films being entirely different in message and scope? That's why many were let down by The Wolf Children, and why I walked into The Boy and the Beast with lowered expectations. How did it hold up? I enjoyed myself, but wouldn't call the movie any better than fine.

The story isn't anything groundbreaking. A young boy, Ren, running away from his foster family encounters a bustling society of monster-people hiding in the shadows of our own, and gets taken in by the bear-like Kumatetsu. He's loud, slovenly, and disagreeable, only taking Ren in so that his lord will consider him a candidate for succession. Both characters have a lot of growing up to do, and do it with each other's help. What I realized afterward was that you can split Ren's journey into six parts, and my enjoyment of each part differed greatly.

Part one covered the opening, of course, which I thought was very well done. The first few minutes of exposition dumping was carried by some fantastic music and CG work, and character introductions were effective as well. Less effective was the next part which focused mainly on Ren and Kumatetsu's clashing personalities. They yell at each other and make lots of funny faces directly into the camera, which basically lays the foundation for all their later interactions. The movie's actually quite weak here because not only is this not funny or charming, neither characters' motivation comes through strongly at this point. Why are these two shouting at each other across the table when neither really has a good reason to even sit at the same table? Too bad, because characters like mild-mannered monk Soshi and sorta-antagonist Iozen are introduced here, both of which feel like they'd be more interesting to watch.

Part three I consider to be when Ren and Kumatetsu both get serious about training, and here things pick up again. Realizing that they each can learn from the other, their relationship becomes one of sidelong glances and unspoken words underneath all the bickering. It's pretty cheesy, but it's the closest to human warmth those two get. Besides, training montages! Always a good thing.

And then things get weird with a timeskip of about ten years or so. Without giving too much away, Ren becomes suddenly involved with the human world again, specifically with a pretty young female student, with his absentee birth father, and with applying for college. Now the first one or two plot points I can understand, but all three at once? Out of the blue? This stretch is all over the place with ideas, but none of them stick. Kumatetsu then finds out Ren's been doing things in the human world, gets mad about some part of that for some reason, and the two predictably separate, leaving Ren to question his own identity and place in the world.

Just as predictably, he returns to encourage his father figure in part five, which encompasses Kumatetsu's battle with Iozen for lordship. This is handled well enough; Hosoda really isn't an action director, so the fight doesn't put you on the edge of your seat, but I was engaged enough. Sadly, the sixth and final part rears its ugly head as the fight ends with the reveal of the true villain, in a shocking turn of events only those with eyes saw coming.

Mamoru Hosoda's typically uplifting messages are found as expected in the climax, but boy do you have to dig through a pile to reach them. Plot holes abound as the human world is needlessly brought into the conflict; the villain really has no reason to rampage there for one thing. Also, the laws of passage between realms is casually violated by a group of low-ranking beastmen for the sake of a single line of exposition we already knew. References to Moby Dick, already a bit forced in this film, are hammered in way too hard. The CG looks good, but is overused to the point of distraction. The final battle's pace just drags. And as Ren's not-really-girlfriend clings to him throughout the end, she doesn't feel like she belongs in any of this.

In summary, I enjoyed The Boy and the Beast while viewing it, but afterwards the flaws jumped out at me more than the good parts. I've heard Hosoda lacked one of his usual writers for this film, and I believe it; lots of meaningless plot points could have been cut from the second half for a more coherent feel, and personalities should have been shuffled a bit so side characters weren't more fun to watch than the main duo. This was essentially a clumsier version of Hosoda's previous works, and he'll have to either make better-constructed movies about the importance of family in the future, or do something completely different to hold our collective interest.

You're one of the last well-known directors of original anime films. We're all rooting for you, man.