{"id":628,"date":"2011-02-12T17:34:55","date_gmt":"2011-02-12T17:34:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sandg-anime-reviews.net\/?p=628"},"modified":"2011-02-24T12:24:29","modified_gmt":"2011-02-24T12:24:29","slug":"winter-2011-anime-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sandg-anime-reviews.net\/?p=628","title":{"rendered":"Winter 2011 Anime review"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Madoka<\/a>
Madoka Magica<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With two of the more interesting series taking a week’s break, \u00c2\u00a0and the season well under way, it seems a good time to look at what’s good and what’s not. \u00c2\u00a0Confounding one’s fears last year that decent anime was about to be history, a number of the latest series have great artwork, interesting characters, and well-crafted scripts with an ongoing storyline. In general they are far more sophisticated than say the anime of the 1960’s and 1970’s.<\/p>\n

Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica<\/strong> is the hit of the season. Many thought this was going to be just an updated magical-girl series, with added magical-trip effects, till in episode 3 the story takes a markedly darker turn. To underline this, #1 and #2 had action playing under the end credits, while #3 onwards have the pounding and distinctly doom-laden ending song. (Those given to re-running episodes will note that it’s previewed at a lower volume during the fight in #2.) \u00c2\u00a0Episode #3 reveals to general shock that being a magical girl can be fatal, and the nightmare continues in episodes #4-6 as further shocking events and revelations continue. \u00c2\u00a0These girls evidently get a huge ‘high’ from the exercise of their powers, and their motivation is not necessarily directed towards the common good. \u00c2\u00a0The cute-faced familiar, Kyubei , urges Madoka and her friend to contract as magical girls with an eagerness more usually met with in drug pushers. \u00c2\u00a0Al in all, a series that leaves the viewer in mild shock at the end of each episode isn’t updating the magical-girl genre so much as demolishing it.
\nEach episode has a hallucinogenic magical-combat sequence, and each one is totally different. Some think it’s worth watching for these alone.
\nHalfway through, the eponymous Madoka still hasn’t become a magical girl. Will she? and what will happen when she does? \u00c2\u00a0Is Kyubei evil? What ghastly thing will happen next? We want to know!<\/p>\n

Yumekui Merry <\/strong>(Dream Eater Merry) : When the real world and the world of dreams intersect, strange things happen. \u00c2\u00a0Yumeji Fujiwara has always been sensitive to other people’s dreams, even before a strange girl falls on top of him. Merry Nightmare has come from the dream world, and she wants to go back there. \u00c2\u00a0Fujiwara has a nightmare of being in the dream world, \u00c2\u00a0chased by cats. \u00c2\u00a0The dream-world intrudes into Reality. \u00c2\u00a0Fujiwara, a kind-hearted youth, decides to help Merry. \u00c2\u00a0The dream demons want Yumeji’s body as a vessel to access Reality. \u00c2\u00a0Initially, Fujiwara and Merry seek out dream-demons and battle them as a means of finding an exit for her to the Dream World, but the perspective changes.<\/p>\n

This series has a warmth to it derived from the characters’ feeling for each other, and the storyline has developing twists and clues that require the viewer to pay attention and remember what happened in past episodes. \u00c2\u00a0There is also some fine artwork in the dream scenes.<\/p>\n

Kore wa Zombie desu ka?<\/strong> (Is this a Zombie?) : Daft and hilarious comedy about a schoolboy who is already a zombie as the series starts. \u00c2\u00a0Errm, there’s a Wiki on this series so I don’t have to explain what it’s about… By episode 5 he has a magically powered girl, a necromancer girl, and a vampire ninja girl living at his house, somewhat against his wishes. He does his best to hold his own.<\/p>\n

This is very funny, and the girls all have quite distinct and unique personalities. It’s the inventiveness that makes it worth watching. Why does the rather jail-bait Haruna insist on making Ayumu delicious fried egg lunches – with no rice? Why does Yu wear armour and never speak? Will the ninja-girl’s ample bosom poke Ayumu in the eye?<\/p>\n

Gothic<\/strong> (\u00e3\u201a\u00b4\u00e3\u201a\u00b7\u00e3\u0192\u0192\u00e3\u201a\u00af): Set in an imaginary European country, in 1924. Token Japanese schoolboy meets a tiny, brilliant and bossy blonde girl who solves gothic mysteries. \u00c2\u00a0Not amazing, but can be quite a gripping watch. The setup is an excuse to pose and solve some Sherlock-Holmes style mysteries, invariably solved with brilliant deductions by Veronique. After an awkward start, \u00c2\u00a0Kazuya and Veronique come to care about each other. \u00c2\u00a0The story arcs, involving a death ship and a thief and a missing heiress, are rather fun.<\/p>\n

Fractale:<\/strong> sci-fi anime, containing obvious\u00c2\u00a0homages<\/em> to Miyazaki movies and Nadia TV series. Much discussed, much anticipated, but proving somewhat of a disappointment. It fails to convince the viewer that its world is internally consistent, and none of the characters are really likeable or admirable. \u00c2\u00a0Some people are continuing to watch just so they can chuck rocks at it.<\/p>\n

Hourou Musuko<\/strong> (Wandering Son) : This was widely anticipated as the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153quality\u00e2\u20ac\u009d anime of the season \u00e2\u20ac\u201c another adaptation of a Shimura Takako manga \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the other being the delicate drama \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Aoi Hana\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. \u00c2\u00a0Not for everyone, perhaps, but HM has outstanding artwork, a solid script and tactful storytelling about gender identity, which affects several of the characters in different ways. Can be quite spellbinding in its quiet way.<\/p>\n

Level E:<\/strong> Earth is infested with aliens, all here for their different reasons, and the humans are the only ones who don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know. This is having some good fun with “the aliens are among us” storylines.<\/p>\n

Kimi ni Todoke 2<\/strong> (Reaching You 2) : Eagerly awaited by those who loved the first series of this\u00c2\u00a0shoujo<\/em> romantic comedy. 2011 episode #0 was a recap. In ep #1, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s chocolate-giving day, and Sawako can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t quite screw up courage to give lovingly-made chocolates to Kazehaya, who hangs about in increasing disappointment. \u00c2\u00a0Give him the chocs already, girl! The characters have moved up one school year but their relationship hasn’t. \u00c2\u00a0Nice, but no need to watch unless you liked the first series so much you want to watch another 12 or 13 episodes of the same.<\/p>\n

The rest? Dragon Crisis<\/strong> isn’t bad, and I didn’t pursue the others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With two of the more interesting series taking a week’s break, \u00c2\u00a0and the season well under way, it seems a good time to look at what’s good and what’s not. \u00c2\u00a0Confounding one’s fears last year that decent anime was about to be history, a number of the latest series have great artwork, interesting characters, and … Continue reading “Winter 2011 Anime review”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sandg-anime-reviews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sandg-anime-reviews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sandg-anime-reviews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sandg-anime-reviews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sandg-anime-reviews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=628"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"http:\/\/www.sandg-anime-reviews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":640,"href":"http:\/\/www.sandg-anime-reviews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628\/revisions\/640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sandg-anime-reviews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sandg-anime-reviews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sandg-anime-reviews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}