Author: Penguin Truth

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ANIME TOP TEN (LIST #2) – #9: Patlabor 2 (1993)

 

 

Director(s): Mamoru Oshii Screenplay: Kazunori Ito Music: Kenji Kawai   This is Patlabor at its best. Casting aside most of the comedic elements of the OVA or TV series, this movie is more of a political thriller, commenting on society through the lense of these characters and the world they live in, which is much like our own. More than that, it concentrates on my two favorite Patlabor characters, Keniichi Gotoh and Shinobu Nagumo. In a more sophisticated version of "The SV2’s Longest Day" from the original OVA, a terrorist causes mass panic and political strife through a few actions, using the city and its people as a petri dish to grow his scenario in twisted revenge, and Shinobu has to deal with this old figure of her past, deciding what sort of action to take against this man she loved. I believe this was intended to be the finale for the Patlabor saga, showing the development of the characters and showcasing their abilities and personalities one last time, and it works as both that and with the intended themes of the film as a film all on its own.
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ANIME TOP TEN (LIST #2) – #10: Metropolis (2001)

 

 

Director(s): Rintaro
Screenplay: Katsuhiro Otomo
Music: Toshiyuki Honda
Metropolis is more of an atmospheric movie than a story or characters one. I enjoyed the old-timey looking character designs, the architecture of the city, and the dixie jazz more than anything. Not that the story or characters were slouches, mind you, but less interesting than the visual and audio aspects, the production values. It’s a beautiful-looking film, even the CG is not too bad. It’s got a pretty conventional storyline, and the only characters I was emotionally invested in were Kenichi and Tima, and even then, pretty superficially. The style of the film may hold domination over the substance, but it’s still a damn good ride. 
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Gundam AGE Episode 17 Review

 Episode 17, "Friendship, Love, and Mobile Suits"

*****SPOILERS*****   Synopsis: Asemu keeps secret that he piloted the Gundam. Zeheart is told that the Gundam is likely hidden somewhere at the Asuno residence and joins the mobile suit club with Asemu and his friends. The four prepare for a MS tournament. Asemu invites the team to his house to get information on mobile suits. Zeheart uses this opportunity to look around for the Gundam, finally finding it in the stable. Later at the MS tournament, Asemu in his club MS battles other competitors, winning several bouts. However, Zeheart disappears. A Veigan MS is activated at the Asuno residence and Vargas alerts Asemu. Asemu speeds back home and gets in the Gundam. Zeheart moves in to support his superior, but Vargas activates a smog field which Asemu uses as cover to destroy one of the MS. However, Zeheart pins the Gundam down. The arrival of Romary allows Asemu to get free and Federation MS arrive. Zeheart retreats. The Gundam is moved to a Federation facility.      Comments:   I like the mobile suit competition in this episode and wish there was more of it (maybe making this a two-parter would have worked). Especially the part about Asemu wanting to impress his father by winning. I imagine that Flit could be a bit difficult to impress, since he already built the Gundam and was fighting the Veigans/UE well before he was Asemu’s age. Asemu is only barely able to build a small MS with his friends. He might not have even done as well as he did in the competition had it not been for Zeheart. I remember that in Zeta Gundam, Kamille Bidan was well-known for being a builder of petit MS.    The episode is somewhat a repeat of the previous, only this time Zeheart was in battle, too, and was able to pin down the Gundam. Actually, even before then Asemu was having slightly more difficulty with Zeheart’s contact. Luckily for him the Federation’s mobile suits arrived. But who knows? Maybe he would have been able to recover on his own. Based on what I saw in the previous episode, Asemu can really hold his own.    Is it just me or does Vargas seem a lot more helpful in this part of the show than in the previous one? That smog field was a good idea.     Overall Score:   3.5 out of 5    
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ANIME TOP TEN (LIST #1) FOLLOW-UP

Okay, so I’ve completed list #1, which covers anime TV shows and multi-part OVAs. But before I move onto the next list, I thought I’d give you a taste of what the rest of the list would look like if I did a top 20.

#s 11-20:

11. Bubblegum Crisis OVA – Cyberpunk at its best. Part Blade Runner, part Streets of Fire, the ultraviolent 80s retro-future world of MegaTokyo and the Knight Sabers makes for hours of entertainment. The music and strong voice performances are also to be commended.
12. Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex – Provocative and enriching, this series also kicks a lot of ass. Maybe a little technobabble heavy at times, though.
13. Giant Robo – A fast-paced, emotion-heavy, passionate epic and monument to Mitsuteru Yokoyama’s works. Director Yasuhiro Imagawa’s magnum opus, as far as I’m concerned.
14. Macross Plus – My favorite Macross work, this story of rivalry and love never fails to deliver, whether it’s on drama or action. Yoko Kanno’s score is brilliant.
15. FLCL – This OVA does more with six episodes than most programs with 26+. A fun and worthwhile watch that warns against growing up too fast.
16. Last Exile – Wonderfully immersive, and with a well-constructed world. It’s hard to beat those airship battles!
17. Space Battleship Yamato 2 – An alternate version of Farewell, this is more fleshed out and has a different ending.
18. Turn A Gundam –  While suffering from a few pacing issues, this series is nevertheless beautiful and soulful, concentrating on the characters rather than the combat, and providing an interesting backdrop and unique mechanical designs. It’s my favorite non-UC Gundam work.
19. Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket – Of all the many Gundam productions over the years, this is one of the best written ones. Instead of being about ace pilots, psychics, giant battles, and masked men, this small little slice of the One Year War revolves around a boy’s youthful enthusiasm for a war he knows little about, a war he sees as a game. Instead of many meaningless deaths, the few deaths here mean everything.
20. Mobile Suit Gundam: 08th MS Team – Combining gritty grunt combat with a sweet (if somewhat hurried) love story. It loses focus at times, but remains strong where it makes its points. One of the finest Gundam productions. read more

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ANIME TOP TEN (LIST #1) – #1: Cowboy Bebop (1998)

 

 

 

Director(s): Shinchiro Watanabe Script: Akihiko Inari, Aya Yoshinaga, Dai Sato, Keiko Nobumoto, Michiko Yokote, Ryota Yamaguchi, Sadayuki Murai, Shoji Kawamori, Shinichiro Watanabe Music: Yoko Kanno   I’m probably going to seem like a "entry level" anime fan for saying this, but Cowboy Bebop is probably the perfect anime. I think Cowboy Bebop is absolutely a product of genius. I think genius minds conceived and executed the concepts, story, and production of this series.    The show is episodic, yes, but rather than being a bunch of completely unrelated adventures that just feature the core cast in different situations, the episodes are more like a series of short little films that each reveal a little more of the bigger picture, not necessarily of the main underlying plot, but something much more important, which is the world and atmosphere, the environment and attitudes which are pervasive in the show. The very lives of the characters are "episodic", but an episode rarely ends without having made some headway in unveiling more of the tapestry of this world the characters live in.    The main plot, the plot of Spike’s past with the Red Dragon, that’s something that keeps together the threads, but ultimately only exemplifies- well, perhaps more than that, epitomizes- the grander attitude of the entire work. The production values are breathtaking, some still by today’s standards.    The soundtrack, by Yoko Kanno and the Seatbelts, is especially spellbinding. The show is very stylish, and so more cynical folks may be lured into believing the show is "style over substance", but the style becomes part of its substance, much in the way a Tarintino film both indulges in and skewers pop art culture. It’s a show that feels almost as new every new time I watch as it did the first time.    The characters are charming, charismatic, and colorful, the character design is excellent, as is the animation. The music is breathtaking. The action is palpable. The themes are presented fantastically, and you get a real "feel" for what the show is about overall. Perhaps the most representative of what anime can accomplish, it is both entertaining and provocative. It’s a rousing jazzy ballad of the bizarre and the sorrowful. It’s a must see for anyone.
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ANIME TOP TEN (LIST #1) – #2: Legend of the Galactic Heroes (1988)

 

 

 

Director(s): Noboru Ishiguro Script: Akinori Endo, Hiroshi Komishikawa, Hiroshi Toda, Shigeru Yanagawa, Shimao Kawanaka, Takeshi Shudo, Yuho Hanazono Music: Shin Kawabe… and tons of classical composers   Where does one even start to praise Legend of the Galactic Heroes? How do I describe it to people who’ve never seen it? I’ll give it a try. Watching this show feels a lot like reading a really good novel. It’s almost an education. Let’s start with the world-building it does. A fully fleshed-out world where the characters thrive and strive, work and play, live and/or die is spread out before the viewer. It also has a huge cast of interesting characters, from flakes to geniuses (or both, if you’re Yang Wenli), murderers and kings, warriors and politicians. There are discussions of politics and philosophies that are remarkably well-constructed, if a bit simplistic at times. Following the characters’ stories really immerses you in their lives, giving the show a real emotional weight to major events in their lives. Like Yang Wenli says,  "There are few wars between good and evil; most are between one good and another good." It’s 110 episodes of brilliance. Go watch it now. Already have? Watch it again. Already doing it? Not if you’re reading this, you aren’t! Get back to it!  
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ANIME TOP TEN (LIST #1) – #3 (TIE): Fullmetal Alchemist (2003) and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (2009)

 

 

Director(s): Seiji Mizushima (2003), Yasuhiro Irie (2009)
Script: Various (for both… okay, the list is too long to list)
Music: Michuru Oshima (2003), Akira Senju (2009)
Alright, so I cheated here. But both Fullmetal Alchemist series hold a special place in my heart. The first one, though varying from the manga, has such a great focus and powerful emotional punch to it. The story of these brothers who would (and do) sacrifice everything for each other is so moving, it restored my faith in anime. I’m aware of some of the niggling flaws with certain plot elements, but to me the first series is all about emotions, and narrative, while good, is secondary. A fantastic Japanese cast and Michuru Oshima’s soundtrack really help to color this heartfelt epic. The second series, Brotherhood remains more faithful to the manga source, and has a very well-constructed, consistent world and concepts. I may have found certain decisions from the author poor, and Edward (Romi Paku) and Alphonse (Rie Kugimiya) seem to disappear into the background for too long, but the story is still powerful, with its elements of comradery and responsibility played out very well, with solid direction throughout the presentation. The characters are colorful, the action is exciting, the concepts solidly built and themes thoughtful. Fullmetal Alchemist is the my favorite title of the last decade. I can’t choose a favorite of the two shows and you can’t make me. 
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Gundam AGE Episode 16 Review

 Episode 16, "The Gundam in the Stable"

*****SPOILERS*****   Synopsis: Many years have passed, and Flit Asuno is an adult and a Federation commander, still vowing to fight and destroy the Veigans. His son, 17 year old Asemu Asuno, is in a mobile suit club at school with his friends Shawee and Macil. On his birthday, his family, including Emily (mother) and Unoa (sister), gather to celebrate. Flit passes the key to the Gundam AGE to his son. A new transfer student, Zeheart Galette, joins Asemu’s school. One day while working on a mobile suit, Asemu and his friends hear the evacuation alarm and see that the Veigan are attacking the colony. He discovers that his father had been hiding the Gundam for such an occasion, and decides to pilot it. Asemu is able to destroy the enemy mobile suits.    Comments:   This first episode of the new section of Gundam AGE gets off on the right foot.    Flit has become a bit of a hardened man, swearing unending vengeance against the Veigans, still not even considering them human beings. His adjunct makes a note of this when we first see him, now rocking a mustache and beard. He doesn’t seem particularly close to Emily, who is now his wife. I wonder if their marriage was just one of convenience. Their children appear to be well-loved, at least, but Flit has instilled in them his own outlook and wants Asemu to be a soldier so he can carry out his mission in life.    Asemu, for the most part, seems pretty on the ball. He has an interest in mobile suits, but he also has somewhat a social life, even if it’s mostly with his MS-loving friends. He seems perfectly capable of jumping into action when necessary, showing little or no hesitation. He even pulls off some cool moves in the Gundam in his first time piloting it. I’m guessing his love interest is Romary (guessing? It’s blatant!).    Zeheart shares the last name "Galette" with Desil and it’s not shocking when we see he’s working with the Veigans. My question is, will he be an enemy or ally of Asemu? I can envision them becoming friends, but not quite knowing what each other are up to. I can also see Asemu sympathizing with the plight of the Veigans through Zeheart while Flit is angered that his son is "siding with the enemy". These are just guesses I’m making based on years of anime watching, though.    Anyway, so far, so good! This show has been on a roll lately!   Overall Score:

4 out of 5

   
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ANIME TOP TEN (LIST #1) – #4: Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (1985)

 

Director(s): Yoshiyuki Tomino
Script: Akinori Endo, Hiroshi Ohnogi, Miho Maruo, Minoru Onoya, Tomoko Kawasaki, Yasushi Hirano, Yumiko Suzuki
Music: Shigeaki Saegusa
Zeta Gundam my favorite Gundam– no, favorite mecha anime- of all time. Why, you ask? Well, first of all, it outclasses the original series in quality of storytelling and concepts. You get the feeling you’re watching a real, fleshed out tragedy. No Gundam title does as good a job as Zeta does in showing how truly desperate people are in a war situation. All of the characters lash out to fulfill a sense of helplessness or to control the world around them through others’ helplessness. This means the characters are all predators or prey. In a swirl of desperate madness, the characters play outo a tragedy that claims lives and chews dreams, and spits the characters out broken, flawed, but intensely interesting. The characters are tempered in raw desperation, raw despair, which makes some of them heroes and some of them monsters. Now, I know there are flaws. Some awkward, unnatural dialogue, characters who act irrationally with little reason to, plot elements that seem to crop up at inopportune times. But I think the pluses far outweigh the minuses. In the end, you understand the tremendous price to be paid for a better future. 
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ANIME TOP TEN (LIST #1) – #5: Mobile Suit Gundam (1979)

 

 

 

Director(s): Yoshiyuki Tomino Script: Hiroyuki Hoshiyama, Kenichi Matsuzaki, Yoshihisa Araki, Yu Yamamoto Music: Takeo Watanabe, Yuji Matsuyama   Like Space Battleship Yamato, Yoshiyuki Tomino’s Mobile Suit Gundam didn’t fare so well in the ratings at first. It was during the second run that it garnered the great popularity that the franchise enjoys today. In some ways, it’s not particularly surprising that it didn’t do all that well at first. It’s animation is horrible and art is inconsistant. However, despite their simplicity, the characters are all charismatic and have a presence of spirit that separate this series from many of its younger bretheren. An Amuro Ray (Tohru Furuya) or a Char Aznable (Shuichi Ikeda) comes onto the screen with vigor and creates a lasting impression without having to go overboard. There are little moments of humanity that mark this drama about a war, like soldiers helping a civillian try to find her hometown, or a young spy hugging her siblings before going off for a mission. There’s a lot of character to the show, which shows its age easily, but just as well its heart. The movie trilogy probably handled the Newtype element better, however.     
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