IMHO. 'Kino no tabi' ~ don't try to imitate, these stunts were performed by professionals

How do you know the show is good? When do you realise it is?
It took me half-an-episode to know 'Kino' is good. She comes to a city where all locals avoid her, but finally one decides to welcome her.

 

It's a story about a city where the citizens had all drank a potion enabling them to read each other's thoughts, so Kino becomes the first companion without this effect, because she's a traveller.
Wait, does the cause lie in the potion?
Each episode there's something in every city that reminds us of important things to think about in a very indirect, and stylish, way. I don't know about you, but I call this art.

How do you decide something is good?

I do a lot of comparison. And 'Kino' offers a nice chance to compare, being released as anime series twice, with different staff. If I had any doubts whether the old 'Kino' is nicely done or not, they were cleared by my attempt to watch the second installment.

How do you know the show is good? When do you realise it is?

It took me several minutes to realise what's wrong with the new 'Kino'. Everybody there sounds like I'm on a Japanese speech contest where participants have to deliver their speech in a clear, understandable way with predetermined, acceptable intonations. I was greatly disappointed to hear the new team of voice actors pronounce their lines as if they were machines following certain instructions.

My only grief is that the old 'Kino' didn't have any memorable soundtrack or theme songs, because the OPED songs were just average, Mikuni Shimokawa being just herself, and Ai Maeda having maybe just a bit better song, which, nevertheless, was not memorable, and background music mostly consisted of occasional disturbing synth chords. But if you ask me which OST created more atmosphere, my answer would be still - the old 'Kino'.

I tried, I did try to watch the new one. But there are black-and-white movies that needn't be coloured, and old cartoons that needn't be broadcast with new voice recording, and there are stories like 'Kino' that needn't be brighter than they are.

If it states that 'the world is not beautiful; therefore, it is', then it has to be not-beautiful, or this statement won't be properly conveyed.

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.

'Ginban Kaleidoscope' ~ one more figure skating thing

spoiler alert

When you're 10 years old, Sailor Soldiers, who are just in middle school, are perfect adults for you. When you're 15, you gather a big harem of anime-guys - bishounen, macho, ikemen, cold and cool or nice and shy. When you're past 20, you start looking at those shoujo stories from the angle of judging whether you could recommend it for your cousin, or niece, or your friend's daughter.

story and characters

Some people say, the anime version of 'Ginban' only tells the story of the first 2 volumes of the original light novel. Some say, all 9 volumes are packed into this 12-episode series. I say, the hell I care.
Well, we have a story about a girl who's into figure skating, and she's serious because she'll go to the '06 Olympic games.

Her rivals are girls of different types, who never fail a chance to demonstrate their personalities. Even at international competitions.

 Well, our heroine is not less bold, either.

Her main rival among Japanese sportsmen, however, is a modest girl. She even doesn't bother to change clothes and always wears the same costume that shows her maturity, apparently.

The creators made a feeble attempt to make the story more humorous by making the Heroine's coach behave like an idiot, and her younger sister - the opposite, behave like an adult, even though she's obviously in primary school. Sometimes the popular trick of 'stop-frame as if from a different genre' was used, but it didn't save the story from being boring.

The love interest of the Heroine - a ghost that possessed her and was to go back to Heaven in 1000 days - was just a good guy, but did not show much of a personality to count as an attractive character, though certainly he was supportive and kind.

Though I would probably say thanks to the creators that they did not make it a usual happy-ending story, the ending was nevertheless very sweet and plain.

graphics
On one hand, here you'll see eyes showing through thick forelocks

On the other hand, move movements of figure skaters were created with love and scrupulously and looked very naturally.

And there were a few attempts to create an atmosphere with the means of visual image.

In general, I would not say the graphics was bad, but if you look at the light novel covers by Hiro Suzuhira, you'll find them much more attractive and appealing.

voice acting
Among voice actors I would not really name any particular person who impressed me, but I cannot say there was anything odd or unsuitable. For the goal set before them, I guess they all did a good job. Saito Chiwa was probably the only one whose voice was at least interesting.
It was embarrassing, though, to hear Maaya Sakamoto struggle to pronounce "authentically" the English phrases of her American figure skater.

music
Music in shoujo anime was good in 90's. Take 'Rayearth', for example - opening and ending themes and background music and character image songs alike, all tracks were composed with style and with love. Since then the trend changed and now it's a rare thing to find anything decent in shoujo series. Mostly they just compose a cute easy-to-sing song and either give it to the seiyuus or invite some random girl to perform it. Music in 'Ginban' was almost unnoticeable, and OPED songs were so plain and mediocre that I payd no heed to them.

conclusion
I won't say this was a waste of time, oh no it wasn't. However to say I gained anything or enjoyed anything particular in this anime would be an exaggeration. I guess, that's the fault of the creators that they mostly made it a comedy than a story about relationship with a person who is destined to die soon. This theme could be emphasised more and make the story a real profound drama. Instead, it was not properly shown until late in the series and thus, was not developed enough to make a spectator sympathise and cry together with the Heroine.
But well, I guess, as a short shoujo story it's not bad.

'Nishi no Yoki Majo' ~ sweet? sickly sweet?

'Nishi...' is one of the rare cases when I have to criticise almost everything, and still admit I liked it very much. now that I think of it, 'Nishi...' is an anime that has broken many stereotypes and expectations of mine

plot and characters

first of all, this is not a fantasy I am used to. since this is not the achievement of the anime creators, I cannot praise them for making good characters and putting them into the brilliant, fascinating, absorbing fantasy world - this praise must go to the ranobe author, Ogiwara Noriko-sensei. however, I do not know exactly how everything was in the original, and so I judge the anime version separately, and I give it a high mark as a fantasy story, due to interesting interpretation of typical fantasy elements, for example unicorns

another genre of 'Nishi...' is 'shoujo', and for a shoujo, perhaps 'Nishi...' is one of the most tolerable works I have ever watched. it certainly plunges to the most dangerous 'shoujo' depth, but does not leave the aftertaste of disgust, not being a sickly saccharine shoujo. 'tis not common to have a Main Heroine admitting her feelings so quickly and expressing them so bluntly, even though in the end she stays within the frames of a Kind-to-Everyone-and-Wanting-to-Save-the-World type

the story, however, is so lame that I doubt it can be really called a story. most developments are so rash that the spectator cannot catch up with what is going on. in 13 episodes there are at least 3 story layers, none of them properly developed. most of crises are solved with the help of 'a piano in the bush' as we call it in Russian - contrived coincidence

former enemies turn to allies in a couple of scenes. 5 minutes before the end. a mysterious person (whose identity is not revealed and who appeared like a miracle in front of the Main Heroine only two episodes ago) says to the Magic Star

and the wish is granted, and the world is saved. however fantasy this may be, world-concerning disasters are not supposed to be overcome like this
also 'Nishi...' has humour - very strange one. it rather makes you o____O than laugh. especially young Adele who constantly tries to make a yaoi couple out of her brother and Main Heroine's beloved

and an all-female academy where...

in order to maintain peaceful coexistence with other countries
and, of course, I did not expect Main Hero to come there as...

or The-Prince-on-the-White-Horse saving not the Main Heroine, but her crossdressing boyfriend...

graphics
is one of the main points to judge when you watch fantasy. the world may be described in words as beautiful and gorgeous, but it depends on the designers and artists to make it happen. are amulets decorated with ornaments? are castles' architecture striking one's fancy enough? are dresses frilled? do they give the impression of some magic being worked? the answer is yes

however, concerning objects of smaller scale, as much as I was fascinated with 'Aria', the same disappointed I was with 'Nishi...'. even though some close-ups look good

more frequently they do not...

also, beware of lots of fanservice

seiyuus
here, again, I had just the opposite of what I expected. Orikasa, unfortunately, spoiled the whole role. her Firiel was so positive and energetic that when she obviously needed to be sad she failed to sound as such. when Firiel was crying or angry, her voice hardly ever shook. other seiyuus who were not bad but failed to leave any impression were Ishida Akira, Saitou Chiwa and Fujimura Ayumi. they seem to have lost their own voice tone and timbre to the extent I did not even recognise them. maybe those was their true voices, but I like it better when they have those special 'overtones' which made them so distinguished for me in roles of Ayuzawa/Cecily, Aika or Chrno
instead I discover Hirata Hiromi as one more female seiyuu voicing male characters (they are my soft spot...), who brilliantly made Rune (I wonder who decided to spell his name as Roux???) into a living person, hear Saiga-sama voicing a female character, which was truly interesting, and finally get to know how Tanaka Rie's low voice sounds

music
I may sound heretical, since I love Masumi Ito/Nanase Hikaru, but I totally understand why people are not very happy with the ED. before watching 'kanata' performed by Mariaria - which consists of Hikaru Nanase herself and Saneyoshi Isako - one should better be prepared by having listened to at lease a couple of other Nanase's works. however for me, with an experience of 'Haibane Remmei', the song was no surprise. the same no surprise was 'starry waltz' by kukui, as Shimotsuki Haruka's music style and vocals are an unforgettable phenomenon. I might be a little less fascinated with the background music here than I was in other fantasy anime series, but I believe that the OST is also pretty well done - by Nanase-sensei again

conclusion
after some animes with sad ending I cry and feel devastated. after some animes with supposedly good ending I do that too, because I am frustrated with how it ended, like in case of 'Princess Tutu'. after 'Nishi...' I feel almost elevated. I am so satisfied with it that I find myself smiling silently. a strange feeling I cannot get very often, but it literally feeds me
'Nishi...' is one of the examples why anime can become a 'raison d'etre'

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'?

my humble opinion: Bakemonogatari

there is a good way to describe something applying analyses and without boring explanations. 'tis naming good points and bad points one after another. shall I try to use it?

the animation itself

will anyone argue that SHAFT is great in terms of animation? I doubt...

a good point - both the moving parts and the static views were created for us to enjoy. the colours are vivid, and the scenes are psychedelic enough to make us stare with all our might. white silhouettes instead of furniture or some everyday life objects, strange shapes and angles, just everything one may need to get lost in an artificial word

a bad point - someone might get tired with such a concept. 'tis obviously not for admirers of nature, pastel colours etc (I am not one of them, so I was never tired though)

the music

a bad point - the theme songs are utterly boring. hearing them for the first time I thought they were pretty good, but the key point is - first time. first time is good, but the second time I heard the melody I was already fed up with it. moreover, 'twas such a waste of seiyuus' voices... we have brilliant Saitou-san, Sawashiro-chan, Horie-chan, and others whom I do not happen to have heard earlier, but the voices are pretty good. what spoileth them is the music itself - spoileth by giving them no chance to show their beauty, or cuteness - better to say. the only one that had an interesting part was the theme song of Nadeko ('de mo sore ja dame' line was good). I should say I was especially disappointed in supercell - why so plain? both the melody and the girl's voice. a free indie band should have something more than that...

a good point - the back melodies were great, again - psychedelic, but very nice, always following the mood of the psychedelic images, and sometimes even making the anime more psychedelic than it could be. however, 'tis not the kind of ost I would listen to as a separate piece

the seiyuus' work

a good point - as I already mentioned, we have a whole company of good girls this time

a bad point - they would not consider voicing these characters as one of their best works. obviously... nothing special, nothing memorable, and I even did not recognize them at once - I speak of Horie-chan, Saitou-san and Sawashiro-chan, though I have heard them already in other works

a good point - there were nice lines in the script which were quite funny and the intonation was also contributing to the impression of those parts

a bad point - apart from those funny lines, most of other seiyuus were quite plain and some of the main characters were a kind of epic fail... Araragi and Oshino, for example, were created as quite distinguishing characters, but their seiyuus spoiled everything, especially Oshino's one. but that' already the next paragraph

the characters

so, a good point - Oshino was really meant to be a 'cool, and he knows he is cool' guy type. the same as Sanosuke from RK or Onizuka, for example.

a bad point - what a disappointment, his seiyuu sounded as if he was chosen out of a crowd of amateurs because his former seiyuu's heel was itching and he could not come to work... I want to say, the seiyuu completely ruined the image, though he did his best, obviously

a good or a bad point, I cannot even decide, but Araragi is that typical UJS - usual Japanese schooler, as we call them. of course, he is a vampire partially, so he could not be a UJS precisely, but his behaviour and his 'type' is certainly the UJS one. and that is not my type, so I was simpy enjoying him shouting funny things from time to time. as for his striving to help everyone - that was cool, but I could not appreciate it very much actually... somehow I just did not. I would prescribe it to the manner of the storytelling

the good point - the girls were much more interesting. a harem, but not the usual one, though the types are quite usual. all of them are cute and have their own nice/funny/adorable points

the bad point - none of them was the one I could really like from the very bottom of my heart. at first, Hitagi seemed to be the one, as I loved her swiftness and determination, but to my surprise I got tired with her very soon, and I was not amused very much with her teasing Araragi. I also liked Tsubasa at the beginning of the first episode, as I tend to like calm 'supporting' characters - supporting in terms of their importance in the story, as opposed to the main ones. however, she turned up to be more important than a supporting one, and less attractive than I expected her to be. 'twas not that I was disappointed with her 'problem' in the Tsubasa Cat chapter, but I simply lost the impressing point of hers. finally the one whom I sympathized the most turned out to be Kambaru, though come to think of it - and there is nothing special about her I could take as an advantage

the plot itself

as I plan to end in a good point, I shall start with the bad one - the plot itself is not the plot at all, too illogical and separated - in terms of separation not only into chapters, but also separation of the events. somehow it feeleth as if a lot of things are omitted and we never understand how the things developed while we were 'absent'. moreover, the overall impression is somewhat mixed, so stating that the plot is gorgeous would be a big lie

but the good point - though I have much to complain of, I did not drop the series, and moreover, while my 初心 (I have learnt the word two days ago and I have just recalled of it unintentionally) - my initial intention was to watch 5 episodes a day in order to while away the time before the 2nd episode of Sherlock is aired - as I had precisely three days to wait - I ended up watching 13 episodes in one day. the first ones were passing like an instant. several times the episode ended I was thinking 'tis the break for commercial which is usually dividing the episode in two parts. this meaneth, I was waiting for the episode to last two times longer. no, I am wrong, I was waiting for the episode to develop two times slower - better to say, two times less absorbing. even taking into account I was absolutely bored and I have not watched anything since July, a bad anime just doth not do that, doth not have that effect of making thou stare at the screen without noticing time pass

therefore, the conclusion is

a stylish thing with every element possible being unique - maybe excluding seiyuus only. a nice thing, though not a masterpiece, entertaining and interesting. at least, 'tis good to have such a thing in 2009, where almost all the animes have already become the 'conveyor' type
_____
forgot to mention... beware of ecchi - nothing harmful (even I could endure it), but there is some