IMHO. 'Space Dandy' ~ see you space dandy

If I said that 'Space Dandy' is something from outer space, would it sound like a very cheap pun?

If I didn't, would I ever do it justice?

If the villain's ship did not look the way it does, would 'Space Dandy' be better?

Or would it be better if there weren't those episodes dealing with life and death, 2- and 4-dimensional universes, space and time, love and dreams, other planets and other possibilities?

If you were offered to become a god with no body, live forever and observe the universe, would you agree?

If you met Shinichiro Watanabe in person, would you tell him he needs to stop making these anime series with open endings?

IMHO. Maoyuu ~ problems of modern education

It's sad when an anime turns out to be completely bad and not worth one's time, but it's also sad when it had potential but didn't live up to it.

This is what happens when you try to make a shounen-harem single-season anime series out of a history textbook, even if that history is a fantasy.

The start was almost good, not least because of the funny gap between the seriousness of the main characters' undertaking and their teenage clumsiness.

It also never hurts to have the creators self-conscious of what they do, and once in a century the silly puns and comments typical for ecchi anime sound fun not because they're fun as they are but because they are so intentionally made to be perceived as your typical ecchi comments.

The epic discussion on the fates of the world, philosophical contemplations on good and evil are easily tolerated when punctuated by out-of-the-blue anime-only developments.

The ending by Arai Akino with her ethereal voice, being a nice counterbalance for the generic shounen-anime energetic song with female vocals, also contributed to the fantasy atmosphere.

I even found myself fascinated by how the development of the world is viewed by our main character, Demon King.

However, the further into the story the more the pace of the series is disrupted. It starts when the creators decide to put a whole year of the characters' lives into one episode #3. Then, in the span of 12 episodes we follow, or at least are supposed to be following, several wars and conflicts, both real and economic, developments and deaths of several major poleis, forming of alliances and church dissents, era-changing inventions such as printing and arbalests, all taking place within only several years.

I don't know if the creators meant this anime as a way to attract students not interested in history otherwise, but Maoyuu looks like a perfect ad: hey do you know there's a new version of a history course, this time with boobs and first-rate voice actors.

Maoyuu constantly doubts whether it's a fantasy shounen or a textbook. Where previously shounen characters would be admiring opponents' new techniques, Maoyuu's characters are amazed at...

And when the swaying gets too strong, there's bound to be resonance, which, in its turn it bound to increase the swaying even more. By the last episode, hardly any character gets enough time to be fully presented, new characters and directions appearing even as the last episode is approaching its 20th minute, and the series end up in a peaceful harem interaction while the world's fate stays undecided.

There are cases when I wish a book was made into an anime, but this is the first time I thought I'd be happy if Maoyuu was a proper book rather than a single-season shounen harem.

p. s. Reviving my 'how to learn Japanese' column, I highly recommend to stay away from Maoyuu if you're still in the early stages of learning the language. At least for me, Maoyuu became a source of an infinite despair because of my sheer ignorance of all the Japanese lingo pertaining to economics, politics, warfare and such.

to watch or not to watch, that is the question

with Koshimizu, Fukuyama, Sawashiro, Saitou Chiwa, Touyama Nao and Kamiya in the voice cast and Arai Akimo performing OP/ED, I thought this might be a rare jewel among the sea of commercial mainstream

and then something prompted me to learn about the director

since when am I so interested in directors? I already know that one good anime in some director's list does not guarantee the following would be as good...

but this case is actually vice versa... if Takahashi-san has only made several mainstream series, frequently dealt with harem and ecchi, and is known for two incest stories, what will he make out of 'Maoyuu Maou Yuusha'?