I hate coming-of-age stories with their first-love-first-heartbreak developments, their quarrel-and-make-up friendships that only last throughout the high school because, supposedly, adolescence is such a special kind of time in life.
Not only is 'Apollon' that kind of story, but it is also so generic in many aspects that you could make a whole list of cliches used in this anime without a smallest attempt at originality. This slope leading to the school that represents life... This jazz that represents freedom and happiness... This 'unbelievable' combi of a smarty pants and a musclehead...
And I can totally understand why viewers would hate the smarty pants who can't cope with his own emotions, why to many the heroine looks like nothing more than an object of rivalry without her own personality, why people would say Kanno's jazz in 'Apollon' is not the jazz they expected after 'Bebop'.
Many people would dislike this anime and give it a low rating. And if I try to be objective, they would be right in doing so.
Lucky them.
They probably never felt like lonely loosers, like Kaoru. Never had to betray their family's expectations like Yurika. Never felt their lives crashing down when their friends grow apart, like Ritsuko.
And they never went through that acute pain of realising just how much their life lacks a friend like Sen. Or maybe, they just don't make a big deal of these things.
The year of 2018 is coming closer, soon the first two decades of the new century, even of the new millennium will be over, but Japan still cultivates its favourite - your average Japanese schoolboy trying to reach the unreachable perfection in the process which is called art. Doesn't matter that ballroom and Latin dances are from the West. The Japanese will always be able to find a way to turn Western inventions into Japanese aesthetics.
美
'bi' - aesthetics
First, our AJS (average Japanese schoolboy) decides to find a big dream. It doesn't start if he has no big dream, such as to defeat an evil dragon and restore peace to a far planet in another galaxy. Or to begin ballroom dance and become a pro.
逃げちゃダメだ
'nigecha dame da' - I mustn't run away
In pursuing this kind of aesthetics he follows the traditional path of an arts craftsman. He doesn't wait for words, because he's naturally talented enough to pick it up himself by looking at his sensei.
Instead, he trains as much as he can, because perfection just doesn't fall down from the sky randomly, it falls down on those who try hard.
He couldn't be, because it's physically impossible!
But, who cares.
努力
'doryoku' - effort, striving
There are times when he may face obstacles, but this only makes him stronger. While in the beginning of the anime the pace wall well-balanced, the further into the series - the more rise-and-falls, sometimes as much as twice or thrice in one episode. By the end of the series, there was a tiny feeling in me that I got tired of all those 'oh no what am I doing?' changed by 'oh now I see what I am doing'
The Japanese value positive thinking and strong spirit, I'm not even sure if not more than people in other countries, because it helps to maintain social balance. So,
諦めない
'akiramenai' - I won't give up
and
頑張ります
'ganbarimasu' - I'll do my best
But he wouldn't be picked up by so many outstanding people and wouldn't be able to meet so many wonderful people if he were not a nice guy. There are not nice people in this story, but they move forward traditionally, while our AJS is special. 'cause he's a nice guy.
優しい
'yasashii' - kind
Finally, he reaches the level of general recognition, which is usually shown in the face of an artist. Skills are important, too, but it seems the Japanese can read it on the face, first and foremost.
…の顔になる
'... no kao ni naru' - to have a face of ...
All this accompanied by the usual explanation of the situation and the Hero's techniques by other people, just like any decent shounen would do.
With some background information for those who still don't get it, 'cause it's a professional work with respect to the real sport.
技
'waza' - technique
And the main side of a sport anime... the art.
Wonderful. So many muscles on the screen, so many organs gripped and stretched by so many people. I kind of feel uncomfortable. Plus, I've seen real ballroom dance competition with my friend participating. It's supposed to be beautiful, you know?
It's supposed to be beautiful!
Moreover, the director of the series was responsible for key animation in such graphically wonderful masterpieces as 'Wolf's Rain', 'Kaze Tachinu' and 'Paprika'.
It took me several episodes to adjust to this style of showing human body. At last I understood that this is just a hyperbolisation of this sport, so I have to accept it as it is. And you know, sometimes they managed to create something really proportional, stylish and wonderful.
And we must accept it as it is, too, that the budget is not indefinite, so they had to sacrifice some movements for the sake of beautiful stills.
Despite all these shortcomings, I have watched it through and I don't regret. No, this is not enough... I liked it. I loved it, yes! The more I think about this anime, the more I understand I found that rare gem that will shine in my memory for years.
First, the characters were given enough depth to love them, including even the average, ordinary, 100-times-seen-already main character. Now he behaves like a shounen-hero, next moment he is a normal human being who starts to jump like a kindergartener when he receives a phone call from his favourite teacher.
Second, this is the humour for me. I like people who can think of two kids creating a dance while looking into each other's eyes and making a saying on the sand with their movements.
And third - the music, the music!
This is the second song in my life I cannot sing myself because when I start I feel so overwhelmed that my voice doesn't come out, and even when it does I choke with tears because the music is so beautiful. The first one is 'sayonara solitia', if you care.
I've never heard about this composer before, Yuuki Hayashi, but when I checked his works list I felt almost ashamed he wrote osts for mainstream anime like 'haikyuu' and my hate-list #1 'Diabolik lovers'. Wait, was there any music in it?
When I think about the modern Russian music industry, I feel it's a great problem that we don't have good composers, even though good singers do exist. In Japan I guess there is no problem with composers, be it a composer who uses a full symphonic orchestra or a DJ experimenting with digital sound. Even if this anime were completely no good and useless, I'd give a gold medal to the composer.
What a shame he didn't compose the OPEDs too. While background music industry in Japan will never fade, good solo singers and groups seem to be absent. Both Unison Square Garden and Komatsu Mikako may have tried to create something suitable, by giving their respective songs rhythms of two ballroom dances, but as songs those both failed. Not a minute more I would listen to them than it takes to view the opening or ending one time.
But I daresay I have good, discerning ears.
Was it me?
Am I still so weak in listening comprehension that I cannot understand all words as soon as I hear the line?
Or was it the voice actors' level of ability?
It swear it's the latter. It's like the new generation of voice actors have not passed their exams in their voice acting school, at least not the articulation class, even though emotionally they were all very good at breathing life into their characters. And I must confess, even my favourite, my lovely, my dear Okamo-san was pronouncing his lines too lazily. Sometimes I had to stop and rewind and to listen to their lines again to finally hear all the words. Sometimes I couldn't do it even after several times, and gave up. I consider articulation as good when all words are pronounced so clearly that I can hear all of them even if I don't know some. Here I failed to understand the lines not so much because there were new words, but because of the strange manner of speaking.
So, this is not an anime to learn Japanese by listening. But this is an anime to learn about Japanese language and culture, ballroom dance world, but before that - about several people with their interesting lifestyles, principles, dreams and adventures, all of them worthy of admiration and respect.
They are cool
an anime based on an ongoing manga, created by Hoshino Lily who was specialising in BL, and directed by Chiaki Kon, who is famous for the same thing. the previous works influence my opinion very much and I was not particularly happy to know that two main people responsible for 'Zakuro' have worked on shounen-ai - that meant for me that 'Zakuro' would be overloaded with fanservice for girls
especially when the original graphics has FOR_GIRLS written all over its 'face'
however, I was mistaken. 'Zakuro' turned out to be pretty decent, tolerable shoujo, even though it is not a masterpiece
story and characters
are typical, if not cliche. at first sight, we have nothing more than
a type widely considered to be tsundere
a shy but deeply feeling girl
and girls with a positive attitude towards everything and inspiring positive feelings into everyone
coupled with a self-confident ikemen
a cool guy
and a young but serious guy
the characters meet for the first time, devote themselves to common cause, get to know each other better, their feelings grow, they reveal some secrets of their past, constantly save each other, at some point the main Heroine turns out to be a greater existence than she seemed, is captured, the company starts off to rescue her, the Heroine obtains her true power and delivers the final blow to the enemy herself
a very, very boring skeleton it must seem. if there are things that can save a poor framework, than all of them were used in 'Zakuro' to compensate for that
first, the right use of the characters types. those types either become a platitude, or are made into believable characters. the latter happened in 'Zakuro', fortunately. we get to see different kinds of behaviour, different kinds of relationships, different kinds of interactions and reactions, and no one seems odd. moreover, 'Zakuro' offers such likeable characters that I could not follow my usual pattern 'choose one character and forget about the rest'. I used to call this feeling a 'respect', but I am not sure if it does not incline towards 'sympathy', or something else. I am trying to say, even if I was not personally a fan of this or that type of character, I 'could not take my eyes off of them'. the 'shoujo' level did not go overboard either
and humour - that last straw that can save anything. monsters who only want to scare but not to hurt
silly actions of characters who were supposed to act cool
'childish granddaddy' type of characters
and adorable, cute, almost useless characters like Mamezou
this balance is not something easily achieved, in my mind
天晴れ！
music
is the second thing which saves 'Zakuro' from being a mediocre 'watch-and-forget' anime. the BGM composer is said to be Sugimoto Masaru. however, if you have a look at the OST booklet, you will see another name - Nanase Hikaru. while Nanase is responsible for many beautiful and bewitching songs, Sugimoto is an unknown figure to me, but I am happy to get to know his works
OST is something I would call an OST masterpiece. everyone has his own principle on how to decide whether an OST is good or bad, but what I appreciate the most is when the composer(s) is/are able to create different kinds of music for different situations, and when the music presents some interest separately, not as a background. oh, and one more criterion - though I have a great respect towards experimental OSTs, I am not in favour of replacing analog instruments with a single synthesizer. 'Zakuro' OST uses classical instruments, and even violin is not violated as usual manages to create symphonic sound
OP theme was what I liked the least, though 'twas not bad. ED themes were much more interesting. I remembered 'Sakura Taisen', 'Ikoku' and some other anime where seiyuus sang theme songs
天晴れ！
voicing
seiyuus of 'Zakuro' are a group of the most popular, famous and demanded ones. just look at this list: Nakahara Mai, Sakurai Takahiro, Hanazawa Kana, Toyosaki Aki, Horie Yui, Hino Satoshi, Kaji Yuuki, Okamoto Nobuhiko, Kondou Takayuki, Komiya Kazue, Ishizumi Akihiko, Tamura Mutsumi, Iguchi Yuka, Tomatsu Haruka, Inoue Kikuko, Kotobuki Minako. I guess creating 'Zakuro' was pretty expensive due to such a list. however, they all coped with their roles so brilliantly that I was absolutely delighted. the main characters' seiyuus were predictably good, but Tomatsu-san impressed me with an unexpected low voice. the 'old school' Oohara Sayaka and Inoue Kikuko were just as one would expect them to be. the only thing I could wish for is probably Nakahara putting more effort into training how to portray crying
天晴れ！
graphics
probably some of the pictures were done in a lazy manner, but the extent of laziness was not critical. mostly I liked the bright vivid colours which, independently of whether you admit it or not, always liven up the atmosphere and cheer up the spectators
if only there were more pictures of the city itself... since Meiji, Taisho and Showa are my favourite periods in Japanese history (as well as 19-20 centuries in world history) I wanted to see more views creating the epoch, but I only saw the 'Ministry' itself, Kei's mansion and a few streets
unlike wider perspectives, facial expressions were done very well
which were sometimes contributing to the atmosphere of the moment so that my heart almost skipped a bit
天晴れ！
conclusion
there are anime series that have a strong basis which seems trustworthy from the very beginning. 'Zakuro' was the opposite. however, I have no regrets I risked. right after the start, due to likeable characters, overwhelming music and interesting plot I felt like I finally found the type of anime I was searching for - the one that made me feel like I felt in my early days, when my breath was easily taken away by what was happening on the screen. 13 episodes in one gulp!
天晴れ、天晴れ、天晴れな～！
so, you mean, Japanese women are really happy to listen to something like this, huh?
slightly younger, inexperienced cute boy, at first expressing a wonderful example of tsundere, who is scared of horror movies, worries about his lack of manliness, panics when the girl takes initiative, speaks in high-pitched soft voice when asking the girl to wait for him to become a fully fledged cool man and cries when she agrees
oh, I am sorry, in short I have told you all the contents of the drama
they even pay money to listen to something like this
no, I mean I can understand when they pay money to listen to 'slightly adult tales', but this is beyond my perception
STOP. Eine, 'tis not like you. this is unfair, this is biased. you must concentrate and try to analyse it properly. so... erm...
try to find any message in this... probably the message is that cute younger boys can become proper company employees too?
any virtues as an artwork? well Okamo-san did a good job as a seiyuu
any pleasure I could draw from it? さあ．．．
well maybe there are people who feel lack of cute younger boys in their life...?
'kannou mukashibanashi' (官能昔話) drama CDs are described - by the narrator himself - as 'slightly adult tales'. yeah, slightly
on one hand, the XXX scenes - even if present - are not described in detail, but only mentioned to have happened, so the tales remain relatively decent
on the other hand, scenes which are supposed to be pretty normal turn into something absolutely indescribable
I have only tried to listen to the 8th volume which is princess-themed and contains 'slightly strange' versions of Swan Lake by Morikawa Toshiyuki, Snow White by Masuda Toshiki, Cinderella by Okamo-san and Thumbelina by all the cast. and here is something to think over
why was the prince from 'Cinderella' so eager to assault the poor girl both times they met as if he drank too much viagra?
why did Snow White's stepmother turn into a handsome young guy instead of an old granny selling apples?
why was not Odette replaced with Odile, but Siegfried replaced with Lotbard - who of course did not hesitate to whisper a few hints into what they will do with Odette?
why was the servant sent to kill Snow White in the forest so 'ambiguous' describing his 'sharp knife' with which he was to 'cut her neck'?
why was Cinderella's godmother Fairy made into a male one?
and the last question - can you imagine the Beetle from 'Thumbelina' in the I'm-sexy-and-I-know-it mode?
the first two were tolerable but the Beetle made me laugh so hard I had to cover my mouth with my hand, hide under the blanket and do my best not to utter any sounds since 'twas 4 in the morning
do you understand? a Beetle uttering phrases like 'relax... you do not need to be that tense... can you feel... my vibrations...'
from what I get by reading different reviews and opinions, the Japanese word 'eroi' (エロい) has already been established firmly in the vocabulary of otome-games and drama CD lovers
so, we have like... eroi prince, eroi evil magician, and... eroi beetle
>_________<
p. s.
these all tales are nothing in comparison with Inoue Kazuhiko explaining how to wear ear/headphones. at least I did not pay any money for this... I am not particularly happy when the process of plugging earphones into my ears is obviously related to... erm... well... check yourself if you are not afraid
p. p. s.
but you know, the last monologue by Inoue-storyteller was a speech of encouragement. 'whatever may happen in your life, if you believe in yourself, then you will be able to become happy...' he said. if you have nobody else to say something like this, maybe even a slightly adult style will do?
p. p. p. s.
there is only one thing about 'Kannou Mukashibanashi' I have no doubts in - certainly I want to find normal audio dramas with tales. recital is a great thing
and 200 more for additional scenarios...
well yes I was attracted by Okamoto voicing the main character, but I would not really spend any money on a game if it were simply for this. just the other day I discovered the charm of live2d animation and was interested in how a visual novel would change with this innovation
graphics
oh yes it really changed. I would exaggerate if I said it is absolutely different, but the movements of the characters were pretty smooth and realistic. I might get bored very soon with this, but 'tis true that it livens up the atmosphere
unlike the live2d elements, most stills were just... just awful. not all of them, actually, approximately a half of them were good, but some of the most important ones were a huge disappointment. you see, when I look at this
I have the will to play. and when I seee CGs like this
I feel 'twas not in vain. however when I finally arrive at the necessary happy ending and see this...
'tis somehow... disappointing, you know
story and characters
as simple as 'tis necessary for a 'game aimed at young girls'. on the other hand, this is at least more interesting that numerous 'school-life' scenarios
in order not to forget my full recognition of the fact that otome-games are only a profitable way of entertainment, I have the habit of naming my character like this
both Афоня & Марфа names come from one day when me and my friends were fooling around, as always. oh, Marfa - that is, Martha - is the heroine's name, and Afonya - short from Athanasius - is the name of this cute creature
I actually made it through all the routes and 'conquered' all the characters but apart from the main 'prince' I was not interested in anyone so I skipped most of the scenarios... >____< however, they seemed good to me from what I could gain out of my speedy reading
seiyuus
like I said, I started playing for the sake of hearing Okamoto. to be honest, there are only 4 characters so 'tis not a masterpiece with a wide system of relationship or abundance of voices. however, all the 4 were pretty good. I would say at least none of them was trivial
conclusion
not bad for its price. I mean, I I am willing to pay this amount for a game like this. prices of games for PC and PSP scare me! the cheapest for 1,5k yen, usual - 4,5k yen, some 6k or even twice bigger. if I were a gamer and had any interest in the playing process itself I might feel otherwise, but I am a perfectly sober user and I understand completely what are my primary interests. and I am not ready to pay that much for one more opportunity of hearing my favourite seiyuus' voices in roles equally possible to be likeable or not with a few things really depending on me
p. s.
do you know the meaning of the game's name? 'kokuhaku' is written in katakana. its usual meaning would be 'confession' (of feelings), but the kanji used are 'black' and 'white', which together form the same reading. this refers to the main characters' names - Kurotsuki and Shirotsuki - Black and White Moon. I wonder why the creators named them like this if they are
SPOILER Masters of the Underwater Kingdom?
END OF SPOILER
