Review -- Durarara!!

I need a new title for this blog. Any suggestions?

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Brain's Base, Takahiro Omori, and Ryohgo Narita, you have done it again. I adored Baccano!. It's one of my new favorite series of all time. Jacuzzi and Nice are one of my favorite pairings. Right now, I'm tempted to say Durarara!! is one of my favorites, but only a few weeks and a new series will test that. While DRRR doesn't have any new favorite pairings--something very odd for any "favorite" series of mine--it has one of my new favorite characters, Celty Sturlson.

My first impression was that Mikado and Kida were not the main characters, merely a way to introduce the series. They are the main characters, especially in the second half of the series. They aren't the strongest main characters at first because they have no apparent skills. Mikado never left his hometown before the start of the series. Kida spends the first episode showing Mikado around Ikebukuro and introducing him to all the characters. Durarara!! is very character-driven, moreseo than Baccano! DRRR is also chronological. It's less straightforward plot and more just people interacting with each other. Mikado, Kida, and Anri are seemingly ordinary high school students. Kadota, Walker, Erika, and Togusa can basically just be lumped into "those people with Kadota", because they always appear together. Shizuo Heiwajima is a bartender with super-human strength who really hates Izaya Orihara, a twisted information broker. Izaya is behind most events in the series. Our "main" character is Celty Sturlson, a dullahan. There's another bunch of people, Simon, Seiji, Harima, Namie, Shinra, but you'll meet them in the theme song.

Animation is superb, with extreme detail to the setting as far as I can tell, but I've never been to Ikebukuro. Character designs are distinctive, and I had no trouble telling people apart like I did in Baccano!. Celty's effects get a special mention. She has the power to manipulate a smoke-shadow-like substance at will, and black smoke stuff constantly comes out of her neck, all of which is animated well. She cannot speak, having no head, so communicates with a PDA. I am super excited to see Kari Walhgren play her in the dub, because Celty is just about the coolest character ever, and not just because she's a motorcycling headless Irish god of death. She lives with Shinra, a mildly eccentric underground doctor. They met when he was 4. Celty doesn't age. She's 200ish, and immortal-ish. Her wounds heal, and as we've established, she has no head. It is in Ikebukuro somewhere, and she's trying to find it. That's about all the plot we get. Mikado's just living in Ikebukuro. Izaya is up to something undefined until late in the series. He is also one of the most infuriating villains I've seen--infuriating in a good way. He's twisted, all-powerful, and has no redeeming qualities at all. He's nothing but villain.

The first half of the series (episodes 1-12) spends a lot of time developing characters and setting up for the second half, since there's no real plot right away. The first 7 or 8 episodes can drag because of that. While Celty's backstory is fascinating and unique, it's backstory. The second half of the series (episodes 13-24) hits you with all the things it hinted at in the first 12 episodes.

I watched DRRR subbed because that's all we've got so far.The dub will be released by Aniplex America around January 2011. Here's the English site, where you can check for more casting announcements. Mikado, Celty, and Shizuo are up, and respectively are Darrel Guibeau, Kari Wahlgren, and the very appropriately cast Crispin Freeman. Masaomi, Izaya, and Anri will be announced tomorrow. The entire series is subbed and legal on Crunchyroll, free in 360p. If you sign up for a paid account, you can watch in HD (720p).

Opening and ending themes beat Baccano! because "Trust Me" is my new favorite ending theme. I never even got through Baccano!'s ending theme. Second DRRR ending theme isn't as strong, but both opening themes really hit on the mood of the series, and have the familiar helpful character reminders. The first opening, "Uragiri no Yuuyake", is a little more classic rock and orients the series more towards the action side, while still staying a little mysterious--basically, Mikado's view of Ikebukuro. A fun, action-packed city that he knows nothing about. "Complication", the second theme, has a slightly melancholy feel to it, and is a little more mellow but driving pop-rock. The second half of the series matches that melancholy, as it strips our main trio of their innocence while the city wages war on itself. I didn't like "Complication" at first, but now that I do, I'm crazy about it.

Durarara!! is a fascinating series. I've never heard of a dullahan outside of anything but the headless horseman myth, let alone in modern Tokyo on a motorcycle. The early episodes of character development really drag the series down, and it took me a while to get through them, where it took me about a week to finish the last 10 episodes. Also, since there's so much time spent developing characters, it takes a while to like characters. Mikado seems pretty useless until about episode 10. Kida gets more points for knowing a lot of people, and for having Mamoru Miyano as a voice actor, but he takes a while, too. Celty and Shizuo are the only really strong main characters early on.

Rating: A

+ Unique! Celty is an awesome character. Animation, voice acting, opening and ending themes are all good. Everything ties together by the end of the series. Second half plot is awesome. All the characters turn out to be really cool. Did I mention it's unique?

-Character development takes a while. Early part of the series drags. Ending doesn't tie up all the loose ends. I hope there's some OVAs.

Review -- Fruits Basket (manga)

Fruits Basket the anime is one of the most boring things I have ever watched. Ranks right up there with "Plan 9 From Outer Space", which had me dozing in 15 minutes. The slow, relationship-driven romantic comedy of Furuba is not meant for the screen. On the page, however, it manages to charm a reader expecting a Mary-Sue in a reverse harem. Tohru Honda should be the epitome of a "Mary Sue", a very badly written female main character, but somehow she is not.

She exhibits many Mary Sue traits including, and not limited to:

-Everyone loves her

-She lives in a house full of pretty boys

-The boys all love her

-She's super nice

-She's clumsy

-Her parents are dead

-The boys are also magic

Her redeeming qualities overcome this seemingly indefeatable list of stupid, boring, badly-written character traits. These are: that she is great at housework, but awful at schoolwork. Being awful at schoolwork is never ever ever a major plot point. (just a very tiny one) She never tries to decide which boy she loves best. She never even thinks about the boys directly. All her thoughts about feelings for the boy are indirect, only shown to the reader when another character specifically asks. While the boys are magic, Tohru is not. Most of all, while everyone likes her, they like her for perfectly believable reasons. She's not super-powered-princess-magic-rainbow-ninja shojo!heroine, she's an empathetic every(wo)man.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. We need a plot summary before I gush about Tohru. Tohru Honda is a perfectly normal high school girl. Through circumstances that involve her parents being dead and all her relatives being jerks, she starts the series living in a tent. Shigure Sohma, a thirty-something writer, and Yuki Sohma, Tohru's classmate, find her tenting on their property, and invite her to live in their house. Tohru then discovers their secret! When hugged by someone of the opposite gender, certain members of the Sohma family turn into the animals of the Chinese Zodiac, plus the cat. Said cat, Kyo Sohma, soon joins them in the house.

Yes. They turn into animals. Fruits Basket is one of those "pfffft, WHAT did you say it's about? XD" series. After a few volumes of Tohru falling into the boys every other page, things get more serious. The cast expands. Besides our core cast of Yuki, Kyo, and Shigure--the rat, cat, and dog, respectively--Kagura, Momiji, Hatori, Hatsuharu, and half a dozen others fill the menagerie. Besides the possessed Sohmas, there's all their relatives, high school classmates, adoptive parents, and significant others to keep track of. Everyone has their own distinct personality, though their designs can blur together. Art improves as the series goes on, and becomes very clear and sharp. While the series seems to have the same number of backgrounds as a below-average shojo series, one every three or four pages, this is usually because a character is having an internal monologue, or another situation where backgrounds are not needed. Takaya does a very good job with backgrounds.

Relationships are what drive this series. Each volume is a little collection of short stories about various characters. They just happen to play out chronologically in 23 volumes. Kagura and Kyo, Yuki and Akito, Kyo and his parents, Momiji and his sister, Hatori and Kaya, Hiro and Kisa, and so on, and so forth. The series has long storylines that keep everything tied together, but each volume usually has some story that could stand alone, and this keep things moving even when yes, Tohru still hasn't confessed her love, and no, they're not out of high school yet. The relationships are all different, and not as cliched as they sound. No one spends too much time angsting, even poor excluded Kyo. Everything remains pretty realistic, save one gaping hole in volume 21.

I'm happy with the pacing throughout the series, but your mileage may vary. Like I said, the little stories that get resolved every so often keep things moving, even though the main action is taking a while. Volume 23 is almost entirely unnecessary, and feels like a drawn-out epilogue just to squeeze one last volume out of the series. I have mixed feelings about that--it's unnecessary, but I'm glad Kakeru, Machi, and Ren all got their own covers. Volume 21 doesn't screw up the pacing, but it tests suspension of disbelief too much. Even more than people transforming into animals.

Overall, a surprisingly good series. Realistic, interesting relationships that keep the story fresh even when the main storyline isn't clear and drags. Tohru is a perfect main character to tie everyone together. This review is only for the manga. The anime is boring and a bad medium for this story. Stick with the manga on this one.

Rating: B+

- No plot for the early part of the series, plot drags on when it does show up, some confusing character designs, cliched dialouge, stretches suspension of disbelief, everyone cries entirely too easily.

+ Interesting relationships, short stories help with the pacing, clear background artwork, believable main character, well-measured angst. Emotion trumps believability in this one.

Review -- Shakugan no Shana

For a show that started out so abysmally, I sure do love it. There's nothing all that special about Shakugan no Shana, but it's a nice kind of ordinary show. I like to think of it as comfort food.

My first impression of Shakugan no Shana was that it was another run-of-the-mill shonen series. The only reason I watched episode 2 was because of a plot point thrown out at the end of the episode--Yuji is actually dead. This intrigued me, and I watched again. Episode 2 was too much high school for my taste, but also caught my interest at the very end of the episode. Plus, if he's dead and going to disappear soon, how does this show keep going?

I continued to watch, and while it didn't pack a punch, it did pay off. Shakugan no Shana fit into most shonen tropes, but had little variations here and there that were enough to make for a good watch. Cool Big Sis antagonist showed up right on schedule in episode 4, but her partner was a very unique character, and in the form of a book, of all things. Cool Big Sis, Margery, has a decidedly stereotypical past, but has a unique relationship with a couple of Yuji's classmates, earning the "Big Sis" part of her TV trope. Yuji wants to learn how to fight partway through the series, but he never gets good enough to come close to being as useful as Shana or any other Flame Haze. The show stays decidedly in the genre mold, but there's a reason that mold exists. It works. The most unique concept is the nature of people in the series. Yuji himself is a "torch", a replacement for a person who's been killed. Allowing the person to disappear would upset the balance of the world, so whenever a denizen or rinne kills a person, a torch replaces them and it gradually disappears. Torches are not human. They are only things, a fact that Yuji, Shana, and most characters in the show struggle with. These struggles are not enough to overpower the standard fighting-comedy-romance-drama of the series, but add a nice flavor.

The characters are almost all likable, and that helps a lot. Yuji defines himself in episode 2 when he insists that both he and the Flaming Haired, Blazing Eyed hunter are not "only" a torch and a flame haze. Shana is a good fighter and witty right off the bat, and develops a more human side as the series wears on. Yuji, in turn, makes himself more useful, but is always in the realm of everyman that can be related to. Together, they make a good main character duo.

The supporting cast is fairly good. Margery and Marco, Eita and Keisaku, and Ogata are the best. Kazumi is just to make the love triangle, and Ike, though seeming to be important, eventually only exists to make it a love square. The aforementioned five make up for those two, but it would still be nice to have a less annoying love triangle.

The blond denizen siblings whose names I forget are some of the creepiest villains I've seen in a long while. Their distinctiveness is good for making the series stand out, but man, were they weird. Names are the most unique part of characters. All Flame Hazes and Crimson Denizens and Lords have unique names like "Flaming Haired, Blazing Eyed Hunter"; "Chanter of Elegies"; "Thousand Changes"; "Judge of Paradoxes". Those were pretty darned cool.

Animation is standard, except for the cool cinders effect on Shana's hair. That's a nice touch. Voice acting was fine in English. Wilhelmina's "indeed"s are not at all the meaning of her Japanese speech pattern, "de arimasu" (the full form of "desu", "to be"), but the only other way to translate it would to have her never speak in contractions, which wouldn't have the same effect because Japanese Wilhelmina uses "de arimasu" at the end of every sentence. I'm fine with the overused "indeed" translation. It's her name that I'm more annoyed by, the same way I dislike "Kallen" in Code Geass. There is an actual name "Wilhelmina", with an L, but it's translated as Wirhelmina, with an R. I also am not very fond of her voice, but I don't like her character AT ALL, so that's probably why. I can't entirely explain why I dislike her, but I do. The rest of the voice acting is good. Tabitha St. Germian nails Shana's "shut up, shut up, shut up!".

There's really not much else to say about Shakugan no Shana. Overall, a very average series, but in a good way. Not a show I would normally like, but since it followed bizarre shows like Durarara, Baccano!, and especially Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds, anything looks good after season 3 of THAT, it was a nice change, and exactly what I wanted to watch. It may not be outstanding, but it's entertaining if you've got the time.

Rating: C+/B-

+ Good example of a shonen. Uses standard character tropes and plot devices, but does all the right things with them. Shana and Yuji make a good pair.

- Standard shonen-high-school-fighting-drama-romance-comedy. Doesn't really break the mold. Final villains need more introduction. Shana's backstory arc was obtrusive, too long, and left more questions than it answered. I hate Wilhelmina, Kazumi, and Ike.

Opinion/Anime #38 - Dub vs. Sub

I have this argument all the time, and an incident just now on MyAnimeList.net incited me to write about it.

The "dub vs. sub" debate stretches far and wide. It's a topic everyone is aware of, and probably one everyone talks about, but I hear very little of it. It's more an unspoken rule in the anime community that the sub is better than the dub. My impression is, if you watch the dub, you're just a fair-weather mainstream/Adult Swim anime fan, not a "true" anime fan. Only real fans go and illegally download fansubs.

While I love my anime community, we can be elitist pricks sometimes. This goes double for myself, for I have no right to judge those who like to watch subs. I do it all the time. But I get defensive about my uncommon love for dubs. I'll try to refrain from lashing out at fans who have every right to prefer the original Japanese to localized languages.

I am a filmmaker. One of the principles of filmmaking is mise-en-scene, which has many definitions, but basically refers to everything that appears before the camera. Other definitions are worked out by academics, and people who want to sound smart. Anyway, everything you see on the screen. While the audio is what was originally intended by the creators, the subtitles are not. Subtitles distract from what else is on the screen. I prefer to see the visuals as the creator intended, as opposed to listing to the audio as the creator intended.

But isn't the audio just as important? Sure, it is! But I don't know Japanese. I prefer to listen to English speakers. Differences in Japanese and English voice acting have very little bearing on most shows that have been dubbed within the past 10 years. I hate to pick on 4kids, but well, just about everything not dubbed by 4kids isn't that bad. There are exceptions, but English does not equal bad voice acting. Nor does it equal bad translation. Another complaint of dubs is that they don't accurately translate shows. One of the reasons for this is because fansubs (and scanlations) love to throw in stronger curse words than are actually being used. Hiruma in Eyeshield 21 isn't really saying "f***ing pipqueaks!" He actually does say "damn". The stronger word makes it look like they're translating more "accurately".

Finally, watching dubs supports the anime industry in America. There are companies out there that are busting their butts so we can watch this stuff, and hopefully so they can turn a profit. Instead of helping them to earn that profit, and in turn, help them acquire more shows, subs thumb their noses at the system and people who watch them just steal what they want.

Now, I watch fansubs. I'm a big fat hypocrite. I also watch dubs illegally online. Who am I to lecture you? No one. I'm awful. I get DVDs from the library, and I watch things on FUNi's youtube channel when I can, but in the end, if I want it, I'll stream it (preferably dubbed) from Animefreak.tv or the like. But I'll lecture anyway. Whether you give me any credit or not is up to you. I guess my real point here is, should you be one of those people who refuses to watch dubs, try to see it from the other point of view. I'm tired of getting so defensive about my dubs. There's merit to both subs and dubs. That's why we have these debates.