IMHO. Last Exile attempt #3, and Last Exile Fam attempt #1

I've been doing it the wrong way all the time! Epic dramas actually are a source of great fun! 

Frodo leaves his homeland because he's emotionally scarred? Lol! 

Paul Atreides declares he will marry another woman in front of his beloved? Rofl! 

Light learns the real name of L and writes it in the Death note? Funniest moment in the series!

Right, reddit commenters? 

Is it so funny in fact? Or is it that kind of nervious laugh people have when they don't know how to react? 

I was actually wary of watching 'Last Exile' for the 3rd time, but I shouldn't have been. It's no less breathtaking, no less impressive. It has the same depth and scale. Not for a moment was I bored or my attention scattered. Not a single voice actor or soundtrack was out of place. 

Of course, it has its own limitations, especially the last episode, and especially its epilogue, which could become an episode of its own, but works like this - and my keyboard prompt replaces 'works' for 'worlds' - yes, worlds like this are so rare and precious. No recent 'isekai' can offer this. 

And somehow, the more complex and grand-scale the anime is, the more it gets criticised and picked at, even more than questionable titles that obviously have at least 1 dimension less. 

People said the 2nd season isn't as good as the 1st. I was afraid it's not, because people said it's not.

Turns out I was afraid of something different - of seeing life go on after the events of the 1st season.

It was hard to admit it was not the end of the world, but the end of that particularly story.

And when I finally conquered that fear... The first one came to be true. 

Of course, after achieving freedom through all that pain and sacrifice, people from the Last Exile world deserved their right to have fun. It just looks like they're trying to have fun too hard. Like the authors said 'let them go all out now'. 

Tatiana, who refused to become vice-captain of Silvana, suddenly is seen enjoying her own ship. Sophia, always neat and composed, dons a flashy pirate attire. Dio reverts to his childish self and behaves even more childish than before. Instead of Claus and Lavie, who were forced to grow up too soon, we see girls of the same age who aren't even going to grow up despite all the atrocities in front of their eyes. More than that - they casually save the world while enjoying their youth.

Wars look like it's a board game. Warships look like they are from a mobile strategy. 

Is it possible in an anime? Most certainly.

Is it possible in the world of Last Exile? I doubt it.

Instead of Okino lazily humming his 'Cloud age symphony' we have to listen to Maaya Sakamoto trying to make a hit out of her generic j-pop cute song.

The second season was trying too hard. But it's too down to earth both literally and figuratively. 

And I want something different. "If you're going to fly in the sky, I want to be the wings". 

IMHO. 'Tamayura' ~ OVA, 2 TV series and specials, totally made of kindness

When I first watched 'Tamayura hitotose', it was just a short series for relaxed entertainment. What I didn't expect is that by the end it would turn out into such a wonderful coming of age story with the characters so deep and the story so full.

Speaking coolly, I can say 'Tamayura' is a great source for learners of the Japanese language and culture. It brings out many important aspects of the Japanese society such as taking bath together with friends and family members, even if they happen to be of the opposite sex:

gratitude and respect towards parents and relatives:

proper attitude to serving the clients:

and the importance of supporting and inheriting the family business:

But the main idea of 'Tamayura' is that this world is entirely made of kindness. To an unprepared person it will seem saccharine sweet. Especially if today in the morning you had to make your way into the bus with your elbows lest you fail to secure a seat in the bus. Especially when a couple of days ago another suicide bomber killed a dozen of people in some country.

The idea of total kindness and happiness appears the very moment 'Tamayura' starts and does not leave the screen even for a second. Happiness is everywhere, in the head:

in drawings:

 in photos and memories:

 in sweets:

 in fairytales:

Next time you worry about entering a new collective, try to whistle.
Okay, just a bit more happiness

 aaaaand

However, after watching lazily the first episodes about peaceful everyday life of several teenage girls eating desserts and having fun, I gradually noticed myself taking one by one paper tissues to wipe the tears streaming down my cheeks. By the last episode of the specials, I realised how grave the issues in the story had become, and how realistic the way the girls were dealing with them was. If some stories may be called 'bittersweet', this one I would call sweet-bitter, in the order of appearance.

graphics

If the first episodes may be simpler in terms of shapes and details of different things including faces, the last specials change very much adding even more lustre to everything. However the backgrounds were gorgeous from the very beginning. That wonderful ability to create beauty in everyday life and notice beauty in ordinary things is probably something I respect the most in Japanese.

music

If there must be a fly in the ointment, it will be music in 'Tamayura'. While the background melodies were good and always fitting the situations, the OPEDs were extremely weak expressing nothing in particular, being just average tender songs performed by average singers. The best songs in all 'Tamayura' parts were 'Yasashisa ni tsutsumareta nara' and 'Sotsugyou shashin', both performed by Sakamoto Maaya with her soft voice, but both being songs of the legendary Matsutoya Yumi. Which proves her legendary-ness once again.

voice acting

Since seiyuus with soft voices will never cease to exist in Japan, there will never be a problem to find proper seiyuus for cute teenagers in Japan. However, I can probably say I am completely satisfied with the performance of the 'Tamayura' crew.

conclusion

As for me, I would never agree that living on memories is enough. Memories will not bring you a cup of hot tea when you catch a cold, will not fill your stomach when you're hungry and will not hug you when you feel blue. However, there's no argument to the fact that just being near each other is not enough. The saddest thing is that not everyone of us is blessed to live in the world similar to that of Fuu - a world full of kindness and of people who would welcome her back whenever she wants to return.

p. s.

and a tint of humour just enough for the story not to become too serious. A funny PE teacher:

 mom's old friends from a biker club:

 and his majesty the Pink Cat

'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.

'Soul Eater' anime ~ so cool so scandalous

There are cases when the story is interesting, but the ending spoils it all. Or when the music is better than all the other aspects. Or when a famous anime director you were having high hopes for does not prove to be as good.

All of it does not have anything to do with 'Soul Eater'. This is a story of coolness.

story

What is the usual result of making an anime based on an ongoing manga which is not going to end any time soon? A poor ending of the anime. The directors either try to follow the manga as long as possible and then suddenly turn everything upside down, or create their own version of 'how it was' and fail to present anything edible credible.

Imagine my surprise when all plot twists in the anime turned out to be interconnected and by the final episode they all came to one single ending with no plot holes or mistakes in the narration. Moreover, even though the story was far shorter 'twas interesting enough.

And now let's forget all the difficult words and phrases I used.

...

This is a true 'shounen' piece, showing examples of brave warriors fighting with evil who know no fear. Oops! They do. In fact, this is the main attraction of the story. You don't have to fight with no fear. You have to have the courage to fight your fear.

In the middle of the series I told +Арагорн Араторнович - tell me my dear friend, why anime is considered to be bad for young people when such pieces like 'Soul Eater' promote friendship, trust and loyalty.

It's the kind of anime series where moments like this remind you that this is 100 times more important than any series created exclusively for entertainment.

Still, SE tries to be something out of the box and overcome the walls created by the 'shounen' genre.

It's not without fanservice, though. Both for guys and for girls.

The characters are abundant, and everyone could find one to relate to, one to respect or admire. Or more than one. Or relate and admire at the same time. Because it's like the first time I felt understood the character's feeling SO deeply.

And despite tons of blood spilled, it is an extremely kind shounen. Because everyone is doing his best to protect his friends, and to protect the whole world. Because even though they explain that they simply want to be cool, or to be greater than god, or to maintain the order, in the end they all fight for peace.

...

......

And still, the biggest merit of this series is...

The humour. The wonderful Japanese humour that rather than simply making you laugh, makes you stare at the screen and say WHA????

Like, have you ever seen a God of Death who is like

Or a singing Legendary Sword whose favourite phrase is

The level of madness in the series reminded me of King of Bandit Jing. I've never ever seen such crazy ideas, be it the story or the design.

music
Welcome my new record-breaker. The playlist I created out of Soul Eater OST, character songs, opening and ending themes lasted for 6.5 weeks. If there were cases when I listened to an anime OST for so long, it's not hard to count them with one hand.
Taku Iwasaki is a genius in OST-composing. Different bands who lent their hand to creating the album gave the OST an original hip-hop feeling. The tracks just didn't fade away with time. 6 weeks in a row they were inspiring me, or better to say - weren't letting me go.

voicing
I've heard Omigawa in a different anime. Her voice made me want to switch it off. I heard Uchiyama in a different anime. His voice impressed me so much I decided to keep my eye on him.
And it doesn't matter here at all. The seiyuus did such a great job I must confess the manga would not be that interesting at all if I didn't read the characters' lines with their respective seiyuus voices.
Welcome the other heroes - Kobayashi Yumiko, Nazuka Kaori, Miyano Mamoru, Takahira Narumi, Watanabe Akeno, Koyama Rikiya, Sakamoto Maaya, Ookawa Tooru, Kuwashima Houko and Neya Michiko, Uchida Yuya, and of course - mr. Koyasu. And many many others. It's not that they simply did their job. They made the black-and-white world of the manga colourful to the fullest.

graphics
I must confess, even the original manga did not look as attractive as the anime in some moments. Maybe that was because the anime was created when the manga was already moving towards its middle, and the anime designers took a bold step to creating a fuller, 'spaced' variation on what they saw in the earlier chapters comparing them to the later chapters.

conclusion
If I had to explain what SE is in one sentence, I think I could use this stop-frame.

my humble opinion on Maaya's works

let me be honest, I never loved her very much. listening closely to her works did not change my opinion very much, even though I anticipated it could

first, I was surprised greatly when I heard 'empty the pocket' from Escaflowne on her very first album. though I was aware the song is Kanno-sama's work, I did not know Maaya had already become Kanno-sama's pet then. therefore, I never knew 'twas Maaya's voice I was listening to some 5 years ago

however, apart from famous Escaflowne songs, my favourite being 'kaze ga fuku hi' and 'yakusoku wa iranai', the others did not present anything unique or interesting

the only ones I can highlight are those from 'easy listening' album and 'getsuyou no asa'. well, RaXephon osts are also good, not superb, but good at least

considering her voice... the only thing that makes me interested is - how does Maaya manage to sound so differently? sometimes she sings softly and her voice is so touching, but sometimes she sings like billions of other young girls in Japan... and I am left with the expression like o____O

the other fact I should state is that sometimes even Kanno-sama's works did not make Maaya an outstanding singer. I could not imagine Kanno-Maaya collaboration can be that boring...

well, the only thing I have to add does not concern Maaya... Steve Conte, simply great. no disappointments, no regret about hearing his voice... *______*

BTW, simultaneously with Steve singing in the chorus of 'The Garden of Everything' we can hear Maaya humming 'Fly away on the wings of the wind' from 'Prince Igor' opera

me loves finding links

though me was never interested in labels and companies, me happened to open the website of 'Flying Dog'
and me would like simply to list the performers who caught me attention there
first, Arai Akino
then, ALI Project
nothing in common, but for the quality of their songs
then, Chiaki Ishikawa
do me honourable guests get what her presence in the list means? oh yes, we have Kajiura-sama also in 'Flying Dog', therefore Yuuka-chan should also be there, why shouldn't she be? me daresay, the list of artists connected with them doesn't end here, but let us proceed in alphabetical order
Lisa Komine, that's again a coincidence, but she also deserves our attention, eh?
Natsumi Kiyoura is also here, well, counting the previous variety of genres and community of quality we are starting to expect certain persons there as well...
then we see the name of Maaya Sakamoto, and hey! if Kiyoura and Sakamoto are here, then... just wait!
oh yes! me missed the name of Kanno Youko, which was written in kanji, and me was a little absent-minded
then we see the awaited ones - savage genius and See-Saw! if the latter is a simple combination of previously mentioned Kajiura-sama and Ishikawa-sama, savage genius may seem a little odd to some of me honourable guests, but me should remind that Kajiura-sama wrote the 'kaze no yukue' song for them
then we see finally Yuuka-chan's name, of course, as me stated previously, and FictionJunction, of course
and finally - Round Table featuring Nino. again a coincidence, but a pleasant one, eh?