Post number 3 and were back on Anime reviews, next up is Hidamari Sketch.
Hidamari Sketch is about a group of four Art Students talking to each other.......... That’s it.
Yes were back to the genre where it’s hard to really get a grip on a narrative when there’s nothing other than four girls talking to each other, Lucky Star was the same and it was started by Azumanga Daioh but what makes these shows strong is the world around them and the secondary characters they communicate with and the situations they get themselves into, basically life from the perspective of school students and it’s more effective with female characters.
In this story it’s from the perspective of the four tenants of the Hidamari Apartments next to the school grounds, a typical episode would pick a date and see what happens with the four characters.
Our rousing quartet, are as follows.
Yuno: The sweet girl who clearly looks the youngest with a lack of self confidence, most episodes are shown through her perspective and is always the one to start and finish the episode. Start in bed, finish in the bath with a bath bomb.
Miyako: The energy of the group, who is short on money but big on appetite; expect most of the comedy to come from her.
Hiro: The motherly type who never shuts up about her weight. (It’s an outdated trope cut it out)
Sae: The stoic hard worker who has a little bit of a crush on Hiro, but is easily rattled and embarrassed by her friends.
As most of these shows tend to take place in school we need some teachers and they are.
Miss Yoshinoya: An art teacher with an obsession for cosplay and very young at heart but not that professional and has a tendency to play act the sex victim. (No I don’t understand either)
The Principal: An old man who looks like a Moai head, he spends his time pondering the benefits of school life and punishing Miss Yoshinoya for her unprofessional behaviour.
The Landlord: While not a teacher, she is worthy of noting, she brings gifts to her tenants and is a no nonsense hard smoker/hard worker type.
Ume-Sensei: The artist avatar of creator Aoki Ume, doesn’t do much but appear on screen.
The show itself has a bright optimistic feel to it with well timed comedy thanks to the chibi style art used in gags and actually having interesting topics to talk about, the anime’s shining moments comes when the art direction dives into photo realism when switching scenes and completely nails it when we get to Yuno’s hallucination dreams when she gets sick.
I know this genre really has it’s haters but it’s one of those shows that is relaxing to watch; it’s non offensive, it never over blows the characters personalities, it doesn’t let its own universal rules control the show, it focuses purely on the characters, it’s genuinely funny and most importantly it gets rid of stress.
There isn’t a dub for this anime but I don’t think it needs one; there is a season 2 as well so I may revisit this anime in the future.
Final Verdict: Probably the most enjoyment you can have out of such a simplistic plot.
Post number 2, and this one is a top ten on popular franchises everyone loves but I hate; now to clarify, this doesn’t mean these franchises are bad just for whatever reason I just never got on with them.
Dishonourable mentions
Frozen: It’s outstayed its welcome for a good year and we need to move on but doesn’t make this list as it does look like Disney can move on from it.
Haruhi Suzumiya: I’ve always hated Haruhi Suzumiya and the impact to the fandom it brought with it; thankfully it’s faded out of Otaku culture.
Star Wars: Over saturating the market right now but I don’t hate it enough to be on this list.
10. Sword Art Online
Accel World was better and I hated the direction this show went after season 1.
9. Berserk/Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni/Elfen Lied
Having started my anime career in the ultra violence of the 80s, I feel that shows that showcase high violence and gore are only popular because of said gore not some of the deeper meanings these anime shows have which is a shame.
8. Bobs Burgers
I encourage any show that can take on the big three of South Park, Family Guy and the Simpsons and succeed, but not when the art style constantly makes all the characters look stoned.
7. Madoka Magica
I had a hard time warming up to this show and while yes it is very compelling and completely re-writes the genre but then so did Sailor Moon and Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. And while it was very successful in its run, it doesn’t really change the current line up of sparkles, colours and optimism that most current generation Magical Girl shows are known for.
6. Steven Universe
I’ve brought this up before and try as I might, there are too many characters I don’t like in Steven Universe for me to really enjoy the show, again I stress that this isn’t the cartoon’s fault it’s just my taste in characters and the fact that I still think you can have a compelling story with just the Crystal Gems and not Steven Universe himself.
5. Grand Theft Auto
When I play open sandbox crime games I’d rather things weren’t taken so seriously which is why I stuck with Saints Row instead, again its taste and the fact that this game is so overhyped that I just can’t stand it.
4. Love Live
My hatred for Love Live is quite well known, an idol show that is nothing new, nothing groundbreaking, does everything tried and tested and is far worst in quality than many of its contemporaries is somehow one of the most popular anime in the entire world. WHY!?!?!
3. Transformers
I tried my best with this franchise, when I was young, when I was a teenager and in the last couple of years and I still don’t like Transformers. I only found two out of the god knows how many series in this franchise that I can sit and watch, and my optimism for the franchise has long died since the live action Michael Bay movies.
2. Final Fantasy/Kingdom Hearts
My relationship with Final Fantasy is very much love/hate, I can see myself getting invested in the games but not so much the stories or the overly broody leads they insist on bringing into the games.
As for Kingdom Hearts, I’m not pulling any punches with this one, I hate Sora. I can’t stand Sora as a character and when he’s the main character in an RPG, that’s a problem. I have no problem with the Disney aspect but the Final Fantasy aspect leaves me with a bad taste, it’s not even just Sora, the others are just as bad, in fact the only character I can tolerate is Aqua.
1. Legend of Zelda
20 years I’ve been trying to like Legend of Zelda but every Zelda game I’ve played and I’ve played quite a lot of them, I feel the games are deliberately trying to piss me off; it’s not that I’m bad with them it’s just that whoever designed them has this idea in their head that you’re supposed to already know what to do when you do the numerous puzzles in every game and it can easily add the hours into a game that by the end of the first hour you’re already sick and tired of it and you just want to give up yet every game yields a near perfect score from critics and I don’t know why, it’s like trying to defeat Silver the Hedgehog for the first time, only you have to do that on every god damn quest.
For the next few days I shall be challenging myself to come up with 30 posts, as to why 30, it’s because I will be turning 30 next week, so this is just a treat to celebrate, starting with OVA Anime Fighting Game Variable Geo.
For reference, Variable Geo was a series of female only fighting games released primarily for the hentai crowd but later became a credible fighting game during its run in the 90s on Sega, Nintendo and Playstation. The anime is loosely based on Advanced VG with some connections to the second game.
The anime starts with an explanation that the toughest waitresses in the world do battle for the prize of riches and prime real estate; if you lose you strip your clothes off in humiliation which is where the hentai bit comes from. Yuka Takeuchi is the focus for much of the series as she starts out the OVA fighting against pro wrestler Jun Kubota while being watched by her friend Satomi Yajima and a mysterious man gathering intel on the fighters. Noticing that Satomi has the potential to be a capable fighter and because Yuka is hard to find as she ends up in Osaka fighting Erina Goldsmith and meeting up with Manami Kusunoki not to mention that Satomi is desperate for money for her brother’s operation, the Jyahana Group move in to recruit her into the VG Tournament much to company president Reimi Jyahana’s disgust at her subordinates incompetence as she asks numerous rhetorical questions, meanwhile ninja Chiho Masuda is investigating the Jyahana group for evidence on a potential project in experiments with genetics only to be caught in a battle against Reimi and is then defeated by Satomi, while the other two characters Kaori Yanase and Ayako Yuuki fight in the tournament as normal. Kaori wastes no time defeating a no name maid all the while remembering the defeat she had at Reimi’s hands while Ayako is destroyed by Satomi and left for dead as it becomes clear that Satomi is being saved for a higher purpose, meanwhile Yuka after fighting Erina ends up fighting an overly drugged up guy demanding to be freed from his state by Yuka only for Yuka to have a brief loss of resolve before being reminded by her master the reasons for fighting which allows her to destroy the man who was previously the villain’s right hand man. Yuka then goes off to save Satomi who has already wasted no time taking out Kaori and Reimi but is in fact being possessed by the deceased Miranda Jyahana the main villain of the show who was after the perfect body to take over, basically M.Bison with boobs. Once Satomi is saved the OVA closes out with the two friends Yuka and Satomi clashing fists in a cheesy way.
Did you understand all that? No? Well it’s a fighting game anime, you can’t really have a sensible story and it is very much an even poorer Street Fighter II but to give the anime some credit, the dub is good despite the lack of big name voice talent; the fight scenes are well choreographed and while it is very cheesy there are some hilarious moments to pick out especially from Jun and Erina.
My criticisms are that while they do have time for all nine characters to be showcased a couple of them are under used, namely Reimi and Kaori who are considered the two best fighters in the story, heck Reimi is the final boss in the first couple of games yet they never get to show their true potential and we were denied a possibly epic fight between Reimi and Yuka which was implied to be happening when Yuka attacked her in her car but it doesn’t happen and it’s quite disappointing, not to mention the ending finishing on a cheesy fist bump rather than an actual fight but for a game that started as a hentai it’s achieved way more than it’s more popular rivals, other that Street Fighter II and Fatal Fury it’s probably the best fighting game anime.
Final Verdict: It’s cheesy but it runs with it and succeeds where its rivals fail.
Little delayed with some reviews, those should go up later today pending a few things, for now lets look at 90s film Balto.
But first some history; Balto was a real dog, he was the lead dog of the sled team that successfully completed the 1925 serum run from Nenana to Nome transporting diphtheria antitoxin during a major outbreak of the disease in the harshest of winter storms, the successful journey saved the lives of hundreds of people and Balto has a statue in his honor in Central Park.
The film apart from the fact that it's obviously for children doesn't try to sugar coat or cushion the reality of the event albeit with a few historical inaccuracies but again it's an animted film.
Narrated by an old lady at the start, the film centers around a half wolf hybrid named Balto, who is fundamentily a stray dog at the beginning of the film and goes through the typical routine of causing a nuisance just to get a decent meal.
When diphtheria grips the small Alaskan town, Balto attempts to prove his worth as a sled dog in order to save Rosie and the other children from death, however top sled dog Steele isn't pleased with the idea of being beaten by a half breed and sabotages his chances of joining the sled team. But when it becomes clear that Steele is out of his depth leading the team back from retrieving the antitoxin, Balto goes into the wilderness to try and save them and finish the journey.
Like I said, it doesn't try and sugar coat or cushion you from the reality, it's made clear very visually that these kids are going to die; the scenes where it's looking more and more hopeless to the undertaker building loads of coffins are among the most powerful and it really sets the tone for the movie well, it also makes Steele look all the more despicable as he'd rather the delivery fail and have all those children die than lose his pride and position to Balto, Balto even says that he's not here to prove anything or fight Steele for his position he justs wants to deliver the medicine; when you look at it in that context you really despise the villain, also I kind of feel bad for the human rider, he gets thrown off so many times that he's in need of several hot cocoas laced with Brandy just to survive this film.
The side characters and comedy relief are tolerable and never take away the film's sense of danger and reality.
I watched this film when I was young and again earlier this year with my partner and apart from the obivous 90s aethetics it not only holds up well but it's aged very well and you know it could use some spotlight, it's been underrated for the last 20 years.
Not done an anime review for a while, this is Hanayamata.
Naru is an average girl who dreams of one day escaping mundane life and doing something exciting and dazzling but lacks the confidence to really go through with it, that is until a chance meeting with a mysterious American girl named Hana outside a Japanese Dance Festival inspires her to participate in the world of Yosakoi a mix of traditional Japanese dancing with modern day music and styles. Along with her other friends they hope to compete on the stage and dazzle everyone with their dancing.
The plotline seems to follow the pattern of Love Live, energetic girl creates an outlandish club and brings in members who are initially reluctant to join but do anyway, there are constant sceptics about why the club exists or if they can even succeed with suggestions they shutdown, they are aiming for a major festival to participate in, plenty of moments of stage fright, teenage angst, anxiety about a past event, girl working herself too hard and becoming sick and finally one of the members has to leave for another country. Seriously if you’ve seen Love Live this is just more of the same, only the characters are way more mean spirited and drop the drama bomb every single episode which causes it to try and salvage it’s pride by the end as it’s wasted it’s screen time having the characters fight and make up all the time and not enough time for actual Yosakoi dancing and even when you get to the end, the payoff wasn’t worth the trouble as the final dance is pretty much shown in the opening theme, the back stories are rushed and were never given enough time to absorb what we learn about the cast nor do I understand why certain characters have to be a bitch all the time, some of the things that were being spoken really broke the feel of the anime which should’ve been more relaxing, cheerful and colourful but dropping drama bombs all the time has made this anime a bad teen sitcom in animated form.
Dub was fine if a little grating, sub would suit this series better.
Final Verdict: I paid for bright and colourful Yosakoi dancing and the trailer promised me that but all I got was a lousy teen sitcom with too many drama bombs and too much like Love Live which most viewers know I despise.
