Spring 2009 Anime Status Report

I began blogging episodes of the latest anime debuting this spring a few months ago, because, well, I have a lot of time on my hands, and thought I'd give it a try. I've seen it done in other blogs, my favorite being Random Curiosity, where I used to follow Gundam 00. In didn't seem too daunting when I decided I'd only do three shows— Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Dragon Ball Kai, and Shin Mazinger Shougeki! Z-Hen— but when new episodes of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya were announced, I knew I had to follow that show, too. The issue was, however, I never eally announced my intentions or any sort of standards, I just went on blogging and rating each episode (out of a score of 5). Well, I figure, it's been a while, and each series has had plenty of time to strut its stuff, so I'm going to rate each based on the first fourteen episodes, based on Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood moving onto the next "chapter" of its story. Of course, I can't rate Haruhi in the same way, but given the terrible plague of "Endless Eight" episodes, it's best I don't go into it. Title: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood Studio: Bones Debut: 04/05/09 Channel: TBS/MBS Type(s): Adventure, Action, Drama, Fantasy Subbers Used: Shinsen-Subs, Eclipse, Funimation Episodes Aired: 14 Average Score: 3 out of 5 Comment(s): I was hesitant going into the new FMA series, because I was a big fan of the first and thought that this one would overshadow it entirely at worst, or at best stir more shitstorming among the fandom about whether or not the manga or first series was better. While it hasn't done the former, it certainly has done the latter. For the record, I enjoy the first series as much as the manga. The second series? Eh, I still can't tell. For one thing, while I do appreciate their eagerness to get to the manga-only material, I've felt like Studio Bones has torn through the source material at a pace I find uncomfortably fast, not really giving room for the characters to absorb the events, and worse, cutting out a lot of good, even necessary scenes for the sake of expedience. It's frankly pretty disturbing at times, especially during the Dublith/Greed episodes. Not only that, but frankly, I felt that the first series tackled some of the early material far better than the manga or the new series, such as the Tucker incident, and the first encounter with Scar. I even found the Greed arc far less appealing when reading it in the manga, but at least it was more fulfilling than the jobbing he did in this new series. At this point, even considering the filler, the first series had an average of, I'd say, 4 out of 5. Nevertheless, the new series is quite enjoyable. The detail that goes into the art is excellent, it doesn't have some of the head-scratching filler the first series had (like Majahal or the thief Psiren), and it's bound to get even more deep and complex as it goes on. I'm very much looking forward to seeing several of my favorite manga-only scenes animated. Hopefully the pacing will improve. Title: Shin Mazinger Shougeki! Z-Hen Studio: BEE·MEDIA Debut: 04/04/09 Channel: TV Tokyo Type(s): Mecha, Action Subbers Used: Gattai Episodes Aired: 14 Average Score: 3 out of 5 Comment(s): Shin Mazinger is such an excellent show, I'm honestly surprised the show doesn't have a higher average score, myself. Especially given a group of extremely strong episodes involving Tsubasa and the Kurogane Five, which are so far the highlights of the show. Perhaps it's because before then, and since those episodes, the show's been a bit average. It's hard to compete with the Kurogane crew, who are far more interesting than even the central character. I love the production values for this show. The art is sharp and sleek at the same time, with plenty of color and shadow. The animation is vibrant. The music is always perfect, making me long for a OST. It helps make it an extremely fun show to watch. What's more is the colorful cast of characters, both major and minor, almost obscuring the fact it's a giant robot anime with their outward badassery. The main character seems to also pale in comparison with them, but he's a growing character, and is bound to meet their standard by the end of the series, if the first episode is any indication. I also seem to find myself getting really into the villains, too, like Baron Ashura and Count Brocken, who provide many a moment of freakiness and even humor. It's great when a show can be dramatic and comedic in a matter of moments. The direction is a little strange, but with Imagawa, you can expect everything to come together by the end, and I certain expect that and many great things from this in the second half. Title: Dragon Ball Kai Studio: Toei Debut: 04/05/09 Channel: Fuji TV Type(s): Action, Adventure Subbers Used: Suppiido-Fansubs Episodes Aired: 14 Average Score: 3.5 out of 5 Comment(s): Maybe it's a bit of nostalgia (okay, so it's quite a lot of nostalgia) and not a little madness that led to me rating the revision of Dragon Ball Z as the best show of ones I'm following. I mean, it's still a pretty mindless fightan shonen, with secondary characters that are little more than cannon-fodder and main characters that shriek and grunt like conspitated Supermen (or, given some of the deliveries, Supergirls). It's strange that with a program with so little story to it, as compared to FMA or even Mazinger, then, should be so well-recieved. What the hell is wrong with me? Well, for one, the beginning portion of Dragon Ball Z, and therefore of Kai, is probably the best bit. The revelation of Goku being an alien and his fight with his brother, his journey into the afterlife and the training with Kaio, the coming of Vegeta and Nappa and Goku's friends' desperate, futile struggle against them, it's the best material in all of Dragon Ball Z, in my opinion. Dragon Ball Kai gets right to the point in this arc, too, cutting out a lot of unnecessary waiting between the time Raditz is defeated and the time the other two Saiyans arrive. Now, I do have my fair share of complaints with Kai. For one, the music can be unbearable at times, even worse than the Funimation music. I miss the powerful original score by Shunsuke Kikuchi. Another is the stupid cropping and the sometimes censoring of blood. When Goku gets hit by Piccolo's corkscrew beam, it shouldn't leave a mere burn mark, it goes right through him. Now, from what I've read, the DVDs won't have the cropping or the censorship, but why is it that what was appropriate for television so many years ago is now not? And what's the point of cropping if you're just going to restore the full screen later? What was the point to begin with? There are a lot of eccentricities with the program. Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying this all thoroughly, overall. However, don't expect my episode ratings to stay high for much longer. After the battle with Vegeta comes the beginning of the Namek/Freeza arc, which can be both excellent and mind-numbing at the same time. By the time we get to that, the other programs will probably have much higher ratings than this one (especially, I gather, FMA). This is before the long stretches of chases on Namek. This is before the longest five minutes ever. Before androids getting devoured by other androids. Before time travel. Before a retarded pink blob arc boss. Before Mr. Satan. This is where the action is still pretty fast-paced and brutal, without being a parody of itself. It's the best part of DBZ, and so it's probably the best part of Kai, too. After this, who knows how it will maintain quality. Stay tuned (er, linked) for more reviews and features!

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