CX anime reviews

[CX]

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei
(5 episode OVA)

This OVA is completely pointless and adds nothing to the series at all. In fact, it seems to forget or ignore aspects of the series. So basically this OVA does to Higurashi what Terminator 3 does for that franchise.

I started watching this wondering by wondering what could possibly happen to add to the series and manage to be wrapped up within 5 episodes, because while the end of season 2 has an odd sequel hook, it could basically be ignored since it didn’t make any sense to begin with. The story was over, we saw it end with a nice happy ending that had no losers. Now I was hoping that it might be another mystery/psychological thriller story that added on to the series proper and showed us some kind of consequence of what went down. Naturally, I was disappointed. The OVA is actually three separate stories, and really nothing adds to the series proper. It also seems to forget that Hanyū should have a physical human body now and that the big bad was, you know, the big bad. Instead she becomes the comedy relief for the two comedy stories that serve as bookends to the more serious middle story that takes up only three episodes.

Now, I won’t bash the first episode completely, because it was pretty obvious that it was never meant to be taken seriously even a little bit. I also have to admit to laughing more than once during it, despite it pretty much being the cutesy, slice-of-life stuff that I really don’t care for. Most of the humor for me pretty much just came from the absurdity of it all. I might have even forgiven this as just a fun little romp that didn’t mean anything, except that this wasted an episode of an already short OVA, and the fact that the next episode and the start of the serious story arc made it clear that the main characters’ day at the pool did take place and the absurd events from it did actually happen. I hate you, OVA.

The last episode was also a waste of an episode, and consisted of a story where some magical charm makes one of the main characters fall in love with whoever happens to have another magical charm that goes with it. You know, one of those stories… Yes, I know it’s just supposed to be a fun romp, but by now my patience was at an end and all I saw was a waste of an episode, and to be frank a waste of an OVA. Why? Why, OVA, why?

Okay, so I’ve bitched about it, now for the “good” part. The serious story arc that took up only three episodes of this 5 episode OVA actually does present a somewhat interesting dilemma, in which Rika, the Bill Murray of this blood-soaked Groundhog Day story, must choose between two worlds which each have positive and negative aspects to them. There’s the one from the series proper (aside from the mistakes I mentioned earlier), in which she and her friends fought to overcome fate and now live happily together, or there’s the alternate world she finds herself in. Basically, in this new time loop, the big fight over the construction of a dam that essentially started everything in the series proper never happened, none of the gruesome deaths happened, and none of the main characters have the tragic pasts they had in the series proper. Oh, and Rika’s parents didn’t die. This also serves to complicate her choice, as the key to Rika getting back to the familiar world she knew was trapped in the form of her mother, and the only way to use it would be to kill her mother. And it was also apparent that while initially she was unhappy with this new world, she could potentially be happy in it now, so it was an interesting dilemma, even if the choice she was going to make was pretty obvious.

The downside is that we’re basically cheated here. We started out getting cheated by having Rika act like a complete idiot in order for her to die and end up in what appears to be a new time loop. Her being an idiot aside, initially this is something of an “oh shit” moment, because it looked like she might have to go through everything all over again, and all because she was a dumbass and got herself run over by a truck. We’re then cheated again at the end of the story arc, because we never see her make the choice, we just see her wake up back in the timeline from the beginning of the story arc, apparently having recovered from having a truck run over her face (Hanyū’s doing, somehow, apparently). We then learn that apparently the entire story arc was a cheat, and that the entire point of it was to get Rika to respect and miss her parents again. I think. Thanks for wasting my time, OVA…

So you could definitely say I really didn’t much care for this “addition” to the Higurashi saga. It really didn’t add anything, and the one good part of it was basically a cheat. I can honestly say that even with the somewhat interesting dilemma faced in the three-episode story arc, I wish that this OVA just hadn’t been done. The series already has a decent enough ending and didn’t need this little addendum. 4/10.

[Distracted]

Aha. The old magic reset button ploy. What an annoyance.

[CX]

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
(2008 live action movie)

This is unfortunately yet another example of a good animated series being poorly adapted into a live action movie. I was disappointed, because when I’d heard that there was a live-action version of this series, I was hoping that it would be as good as or better than the series itself. But, that’s not really being fair, because stories that originally took a lengthy series to tell rarely adapt well into movies. I guess I got my hopes up here because the first movie only told the story from the first time loop in the first season of the series, with another movie already having come out and it looking for all intents like this will be a series of movies. And hey, the first story arc from the first season was one of the creepiest ones, so really this movie could have been pretty good. But it wasn’t.

Now, I’m not going to bitch because this movie wasn’t exactly like the anime; I completely understand them taking liberties with the story in order to adapt it to a movie. What’s important is that the main point of the story isn’t lost, and here a rather important aspect of it was, namely that it was already apparent that there was some kind of conspiracy involving a mysterious drug in a syringe, with that fact being covered up by parties unknown. The conspiracy aspect was kept, and the syringe even showed up, but the ending was kind of one of the clues that came up later on, and here it was changed, as was Keiichi’s end, and it doesn’t look like for any real reason, other than perhaps to show that the town’s doctor might know that the nurse who was supposedly burned to death in a barrel was actually still alive. But we don’t actually see that, so having him die in the hospital instead of being found after he’d died doesn’t really add anything to the story.

Really though, the two biggest enemies of this movie are the seeming lack of budget, and the lack of acting ability of the cast. Now, I say seeming lack of budget just because that’s the impression I got – that of a low budget horror movie. It looks like everything was shot on location, and while that does add to the realism of the setting, it also makes the movie look cheap, and leads to some issues with a severe lack of room. You know, for things like wildly swinging a bat around to kill two girls.

Speaking of, I was disappointed that this scene wasn’t actually shown save for a few flashes in the beginning of the movie. That should have made a pretty good hook to make people want to watch this movie, you know, some horror to go with the creepy tone, like in the series. Maybe it didn’t shoot well because of the lack of space on the set, or maybe the special effects didn’t have a budget to speak of.

Anyway, as if the visuals kind of souring me on this movie wasn’t enough, the actors just couldn’t sell me at all on what was going on. I honestly couldn’t even tell you if the voice acting part of it was good or not, because I don’t understand Japanese and had to depend on emotionless subtitles. What I can tell you is that what I saw didn’t really sell me on anything even being creepy, let alone scary. It was like watching a pale imitation of the anime made by some college kids for a film class. As if to rub this in, the ads at the end of the movie didn’t just advertise the next movie, but the DVDs of the anime and volumes of the manga.

This movie was a waste of time, and doesn’t in any way encourage me to want to keep watching this live action movie series. If you liked the series, save yourself from having to endure a more boring, unconvincing version of what you already saw and liked. 1/10.

[CX]

When the Seagulls Cry (Umineko no Naku Koro ni)
(26 episode series)

When I first decided to check this out, I was actually thinking that this was Higurashi because I'd misremembered the title. It turns out the two are related though, going back to their roots as murder mystery games. As far as the anime goes, though, they just have a somewhat similar premise and tone. Oh, and a couple of characters who look and act like characters from Higurashi show up, and in the background at a couple points we see the creepy 9 year old girl watching the cheerier moe parts of Higurashi on TV. They were somewhat amusing nods to Higurashi, along with the title page they used for commercial breaks.

Anyway, since I'd seen Haruhi before I watched this, I couldn't help but be reminded of the episode where they all go to some rich guy's private island to solve a murder mystery, because that's exactly how this series started out. Well, that and by getting the fact that the protagonist, Battler Ushiromiya, was a perv who was obsessed with big breasts right out in the open as soon as possible. I may share his fascination that way, but I'm not into my cousins like he is. But then it's pretty obvious whoever made this series was a perv themselves since every female character except the three loli characters has at least D-cups and dresses like a slut. Kind of makes me think of Eiken, actually...

Moving on, the creepy 9 year old, Maria, just happens to be obsessed with witches and the supernatural and the like, which is handy. After all, she single-handedly moves the plot along at points, and to an extent actually got it moving to begin with. Up until she sees Beatrice the witch and reads the creepy letter she gave her after dinner, the show pretty much consisted of rich people being boring rich people while they set up this incredibly stereotypical scenario right out of the game Clue. For the most part, though, Maria is just there to be creepy and to simultaneously fill the moe quotient of the series.

So the murders start happening, and there's supposed to be a supernatural element to it that makes it creeper or something, and it kind of sort of was, except for the fact that I also found it kind of boring at the same time. The idea is that they're supposed to be figuring out this riddle so they can not only be spared their lives and get ten tons of gold, but they're all convinced that someone who is just a regular old human being like themselves is just killing them and trying to scare them into finding this gold for them, like probably any sane person would. So they spend all their time trying to figure out who the culprit is just so they can all die in the process, as Beatrice finally reveals herself and her magic for the audience and kills them. Why? Because she's a witch, and that's how she gets her jollies, apparently. Or something. Let's just say she isn't entirely consistent with how she's written.

As I mentioned before, this shares the whole time loop premise with Higurashi. The difference here is that instead of the characters just getting a new chance to avoid their fates, it's about Beatrice trying to convince Battler, one last skeptic among the family, that she's really a witch and that she's really using magic to kill people. Apparently it's really important that he believe in her or something so she can kill him and own his soul or something, I don't know. This could have been kind of interesting if it hadn't been basically an excuse to have Beatrice kill of everyone in different gruesome ways using magic, with the deck stacked completely in her favor, at least up until she basically gives up. Also, it's not like any sane person, having just heard that their skepticism is basically all that's keeping them alive is going to admit that they believe in magic so they can be killed. But then, there are a lot of missed opportunities in this series. Like at one point Beatrice puts on a little cannibal feast for the last rich Ushiromiya sibling made out of parts of her family, including her own daughter. This could have been disturbing as hell and actually live up to being a horror like it's supposed to be, but instead it was so over the top theatrically that it just comes off as funny. But I will say that the series did actually manage to have a few moments.

Like this:

That's right. Witch? More like, "Bitch! Make me a sandwich!" (From the cannibal scene, FYI)

Unfortunately these doses of humor are somewhat sparse, and much of it is unintentional. Like say the opening and closing themes, which aren't bad, they're just completely over the top and disproportionate to the "drama" in the actual show. It's not for lack of trying either; it's just that I found the attempts at drama and horror to be much more amusing than any of the humor that was written into the series. Add to that the few interesting moments where it seemed like Beatrice might have lost, even with her completely stacked, messed up game, only to have her suddenly come out of it using some contrived countermeasure, and you could definitely say that I was disappointed by pretty much the entirety of what I saw. Then Battler's sister came along and it looked like he might succeed again, only Angie died and the series ends with an unresolved sequel hook instead.

There's also the matter of the conflict that takes place in the series. Yeah, there's the main one with Kinzo, the paterfamilias, being a complete ass who actually seems to want the majority of his family dead, along with all of his loyal servants and even his good friend and personal doctor, for reasons that are never really rationally explained. Also not really explained is the conflict between Beatrice and the two other witches who look like Higurashi characters. They are established to not like each other and to be engaging in a kind of competition over this matter with Battler verbally sparring with Beatrice about whether witches and magic exist or not, but the reasons for this are left very vague. Basically it comes down to me asking myself why I should care.

I think, aside from being boring, the next biggest problem with this series is that it never really solves anything. There are plenty of questions raised, but none really answered. I suppose I could be wrong, and maybe there's some upcoming season which will explain everything as with Higurashi, but I'm not seeing anything about a continuation. The next biggest thing is the slew of other characters we never really learn anything about, which makes it difficult to care about them as anything other than the tools Beatrice and the other witches use them as. The funny (and annoying) thing is, a lot of them actually seem to have constant heel-face-turns that are never really explained and are simply a plot convenience. Like say how the same seven demon sisters who helped to slaughter the Ushiromiya family in the main 1986 storyline suddenly care about Angie, Battler's sister who they orphaned to begin with not long after this and basically help her to grow up to be a witch herself in 1998, all so she can go back to 1986 (means never explained) and help her brother defeat Beatrice. Beatrice herself tends to bounce back and forth from being sympathetic and kind(er) to being just a monster.

These major weaknesses added to the often slow pacing (especially in the first half), lead me to suggest that even if you liked Higurashi, you might want to skip this one. I'll throw it a bone for trying, though. 3/10.

[CX]

The Irresponsible Captain Tylor
(26 episode series)

This series is basically one big parody of space operas, though in the same kind of light-hearted way that Galaxy Quest is a parody of Star Trek. More than acknowledging the many clichés inherent in the genre, it insists on calling all of them out, always to humorous effect.

What we have here is the very same basic set-up one might see in literally any space opera. We have Earth's fleet of ships, usually flying under the banner of some kind of federation, fighting a conflict of some kind with an alien enemy. In this case the enemy is shown as a worthy foe, with a lead antagonist who is simply an honorable soldier of an empire led by a sympathetic empress, a teen-aged girl with the mantel of responsibility forced upon her by the assassination of her royal parents. We have the "real" enemy manipulating the young empress in a power play. We have our heroes, a band of misfits with the odds against them, including their own devious and power hungry superiors. Actually, considering the effort that was actually put in to the set-up, this might not have been a bad series if played seriously .... just like every other space opera. Oh, it might have been one of the better ones that managed to stand out, but I feel that this series true strength is in the fact that it rakes everything you would expect from a space opera and starts to play it straight, only to turn everything completely on its head.

For instance, we take our main protagonist, Justy Ueki Tylor, who for all appearances is a moron. He's the exact opposite of what is expected of a good soldier, let alone a good captain. He's impossible to upset or get down, even when members of his own crew try to kill him or his own superiors try to get his ship destroyed by sending it on impossible missions. His main strength seem to be dumb luck, though there are moments that he shows at least a certain kind of intelligence, even if otherwise he seems oblivious to anything going on around him. It's just enough to make one wonder at times if he really is just lucky, or if he ever actually plans anything out. In fact, this is lampshaded by other characters all the time.

As for the crew of the Soyokaze, an old, decrepit, run-down destroyer no one wants to be on, they are somewhat more typical of the cast of characters on most other space operas. There are the professional warriors and the bad-ass marines who make their own rules. Except to an extent they all pretty much suck compared to the rest of the fleet, making their assignment to Soyokaze more fitting than they would like to admit. Later, after they get over their depression and that whole trying to kill each other and the captain thing, this becomes a source of pride for them, and a way to kind of stick it to the rest of the fleet, which basically represents the typical space opera.

The "plot" of the series is almost exactly as one would expect from a space opera, with an ongoing war between the protagonists' United Planets Space Force against the Holy Raalgon Empire. They have battles, and we do see some characters we never really know die, but that's about where the "typical" aspect of the plot ends. Because really, nothing makes much actual sense. Aside from Tylor and his crew constantly escaping by pure luck in every absurd situation they find themselves in, even the war itself doesn't make much sense in light of the relationship developed between Raalgon Empress Azalyn and Captain Dom. Azalyn in particular doesn't really live up the supposed barbaric reputation of the Raalgan, even if most of her subordinates do. Later on, they actually manage to take a trip to Earth themselves and saw that humans weren't really the horrible enemy they imagined. This after a battle that both sides "won" by simply not firing on one another, making it pretty clear that neither side really wanted to fight each other all that badly.

But again, this pretty much just illustrates the purposeful ridiculousness of the series. If anything, the above is calling out the same kind of illogical plotlines that can develop in serious series. But Captain Tylor is not a serious series. If anything, I would categorize it as a comedy with some "drama relief" because when there is a dramatic moment involving a character death or say the capture and brainwashing of a main character, this is pretty much in leading up to a punch-line of some kind.

Naturally, the series calls out the obvious clichés like all the fan service, a possible relationship between the male captain and his female first officer, and the captain getting sexual offers from practically every woman he comes across, except the one he really wants, naturally. Actually that last on in particular is pretty good, because while Tylor can sweet talk even a female computer into letting him have what he wants, what he wants usually isn't actually sex, and he really doesn't ever have sex, at least that we can be sure of. So in a way, he's both like Captain Kirk's pop culture stereotype, and the exact opposite at the same time.

The series does start off a bit slow at first, even if it does quickly become apparent that this isn't a serious space opera thanks to Tylor, so you'll have to keep that in mind if you decide to give this series a watch. I would recommend that, by the way, and I'm rating this series an 8/10, mostly because of the aforementioned slow start and how at times things could get a bit repetitive. Otherwise, this series is well worth a watch by any sci-fi fan who doesn't take themselves too seriously. So if you liked Galaxy Quest, you'll probably like Captain Tylor.

[CX]

The Irresponsible Captain Tylor
(10 episode OVA)

Whelp, they did it – they done managed to ruin this comedic franchise. The ending of the series proper was perfect for the series itself, with the crew rejecting assignment to a brand-spanking new "cool" ship and sticking with their old Soyokaze, literally tearing their way out of the scrap dump and ramming the shiny new ship out of space dock to take its place. While there was something of a sequel hook, in a lot of ways I wished they'd just left well enough alone.

So is the OVA bad? Well, not really. Actually saying that they screwed up the series would probably be unnecessarily harsh. More, I'm just disappointed. Much like Desert Punk, Burn-Up W and Burn-Up Excess, what started out as a light series, heavy on comedy, turned into something more serious. What makes the Captain Tylor OVA a bit different is that this change was more gradual and didn't involve a lot of character deaths. Instead, things just got more dramatic and less comedic. So basically this fun parody of typical space opera became a typical space opera, and thus effectively ruined the very fitting ending that the series proper had.

What frustrates me more, though, is that the OVA actually starts out with pretty much more of the same as far as the series proper had been. The shooting war between the United Planets Space Force and the Holy Raalgon Empire has ended and both sides are kind of taking things easy. Naturally something new pops up, the Raalgon come up with some new weapon and the Soyokaze has to save the day in some audaciously unconventional way.

But here already there are some indications of the more serious change in tone, just for the simple fact that Tylor actually has a plan, even if it isn't readily apparent what it is. For a while things seem normal, the show actually teasing us a bit about whether or not Tylor actually has a plan, but then things take a more serious turn. Dom beats the crap out of Tylor because he made Azalyn cry for a reason that is explained a bit later, and a bit later on he nearly destroys the Soyokaze and kills Tylor despite orders from Alan to let them go unharmed. Then he abruptly decides to stop and everything seems okay again.

There isn't really much of a mood swing though, mostly because while there is still comedy relief, the OVA never really goes back to the same light tone the series proper had. Instead, things slowly built, with seemingly unrelated stories focusing on different supporting characters and some new threat that has made itself known. And that's pretty much how the show slides into becoming a more typical space opera. There's a lot of political maneuvering going on, betrayals happening, and it all plays out like a show that's taking itself seriously. This made me feel uneasy, and left me feeling disappointed.

The OVA does end on a somewhat light note, and yet at the same time manages to end on a serious one thanks to the drama of the political plotline that got added along the way. On top of that the OVA leaves things hanging, with a much larger sequel hook than before. As this OVA came out in the mid-'90s, I'm not seeing that happening because it probably would have been done already. Actually I have mixed feelings about that, because I actually am somewhat interested in seeing how things turn out. What can I say, I do tend to like space operas, and the OVA is pretty much a typical space opera in a lot of ways.. On the other hand, the much more serious tone the OVA took on doesn't fit with the series, or the point of what Captain Tylor was all about, really, which was to be a parody. So in some ways, I'm actually glad that nothing further has been added in order to continue that trend. But then I'm annoyed things were left hanging ... well, you get the idea. In any case I'm afraid that I'm going to have to rank this lower than the series. 6/10.

[CX]

Last Exile
(26 episode series)

While in some aspects this series somewhat resembles a steampunk sci-fi because of the anachronistic technology it portrays alongside the otherwise Napoleonic era society living on what appears to be a kind of alternate history Earth. There are flying ships which otherwise seem like they'd be very early 20th century battleships, and soldiers who use steam-powered muskets and classic Napoleonic tactics in using them, while even later on there are hand-cranked machine guns. Everyone dresses like it's the 18th century, yet there are wingless flying craft that would look like something from the late 1920s if not for the fact they lacked real wings and a propulsion system that wasn't magic. Nothing is quite right about this world, as even the landscape seems artificial in some places and completely alien in others. It helps to build the mystery and ultimately makes this show both visually striking and very interesting to watch.

The series unfortunately gets off to something of a slow start, but this does allow us to be introduced to the teen-aged main characters, a pilot named Claus Valca and his navigator Lavie Head, as well as the strange world this all takes place on, Prester. We do get our first taste of the long-running war between the two nations of Prester, Anatoray and Disith, early on, but it takes a while for the series to get around to really explaining much of anything. We do get a few basics on what allows both the large warships and the small fighter-like craft called vanships to fly eventually, as well as a bit more of an explanation about Anatoray and Disith. Anatory is where our main characters are from, and it resembles a generic European country circa the 18th century. Disith seems to resemble more of an Eastern country, though to be frank this isn't a very strong resemblance. There is also a powerful third party, the Guild, which oversees their warfare and ensures that both parties follow a chivalric code in conducting their warfare, enforcing this through the use of fantastical technology which shows us early on that this is in fact a science fiction series and not a steampunk series. After all, nothing is really powered by steam aside from the muskets anyway.

Anatoray and Disith are separated by a massive, turbulent gulf called the Grand Steam. We actually get our first glimpse of this as the very first thing we see in the series. Once the plot finally gets going, the focus is very heavily on this Grand Stream. Claus and Lavie both lost their fathers to this area while they were on an important mission to deliver something to Disith, and there is a mysterious force there which both the Maestro Delphine and her Guild, as well as Captain Alex Row and his mysterious ship the Silvana are looking for and hope to control. The key to this is a young girl, Alvis Hamilton, whom Claus and Lavie rescue from a Guild attack which killed the pilot who was originally supposed to deliver her to the Silvana. What follows is an epic story which brings together the warring nations of Anatoray and Disith against the powerful Guild. I really feel bad because I can't really do the story much justice in my review – it's just something you have to watch for yourself.

When it comes to the characters, there are so many good ones, from the main characters of Claus and Lavie, to supporting ones like Alex Row and his executive officer Sophia Forrester, to the background characters, like the Silvana's deck crew. Claus is the young pilot determined to make something of himself and Lavie is his loyal friend and navigator (who wants to be something more to him), which somewhat mirrors Captain Row and his first officer. But whereas Row is driven by a thirst for revenge, Claus is driven by the need to know what happened to his father. Claus also has something of an odd relationship with someone who is essentially his enemy, Guild member (and royalty) Dio Eraclea, who brings along his servant and friend Lucciola for the ride. Dio is a piece of work by himself, and as it turns out, he has as much to fear from the Guild as Claus does, and his ultimate fate is quite tragic.

Tragedy abounds in this series. There really aren't any characters who don't suffer some tragedy in this series, whether they end up dying or not. I can't help but be captivated by the drama of this series and feel for the characters, especially once the series really gets going. This, along with its mystery, and in no small part wonderful appearance and soundtrack are major draws of this series. And while there are resemblances to other works, such as Star Wars, it doesn't really suffer that much for it.

I'd say that the main weakness of this series is its pacing. It gets off to a very slow start, and while it does give us a chance to get introduced to the many characters and the unique world this story takes place in, it moves far too slowly, and this might actually turn off some people from watching this otherwise excellent series. There is also something of a wasteful flashback episode exploring Lavie's past and her relationship to Claus that wasn't really needed and interrupted the nice pacing the series had begun to take on.

The other major weakness is how it treats two of its female characters. Lavie started out as basically a co-star to Claus, but once they get to the Silvana this changes, and she basically becomes something of a moody but supportive cheerleader. Then there's Tatiana Wisla, something of an ice queen with an attitude problem, but an outstanding pilot and a strong character. The problem is, the show tries to hook her up with Claus, and in doing so it's like she becomes not as competent, and she also loses the iron will that made her so good and interesting when we first met her. Even worse, nothing even comes of this, and while Lavie is jealous of Tatiana, it's all for nothing. Okay, this might be considered character development because she has a somewhat negative outlook on life which Claus makes her rethink, but in the end she seems like a worse pilot for it. So basically two of the female characters were brought down a peg because of Claus, which upsets me a little because I never like it when characters are made worse in order to make another look better by comparison.

Actually this show has something of a harem feel to it, because not only does Lavie have a romantic interest in Claus and something hinted at with Tatiana, he actually ends up losing his virginity to the Silvana's first officer, Sophia, so there are naturally some lingering feelings between them because of that. And literally right after that, she reveals herself to be the daughter of Anatoray's emperor. Of course this adds a pedophilic aspect to this series, which is made a little worse by the fact that it is made completely obvious that Sophia only went to Claus for sex after Alex, being obsessed the way he is, turned her down first for the goodbye sex she wanted.

But really, this is a really good series and I highly recommend it, even if I can't really explain all that well why. It does have a slow beginning, but if you stick through it, you'll be rewarded with a really great series which will leave an impression. 8/10.

[CX]

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
(14 episode series)

And this is pretty much one of those shows that manages to both annoy and entertain me at the same time. That and be confusing as hell.

What I liked about this series is that its story was actually kind of interesting. It revolves entirely around an a-typical high school student, Haruhi Suzumiya, who apparently has the power to destroy and re-create the world. She is odd to say the least, and treats people like objects. She also seems to enjoy molesting people, or at least one person in particular. Still, I can't help but laugh at the idea that the world actually would revolve around such a self-centered individual. Then there's the other aspect of this series I like, which is the comedy. There is definitely plenty to laugh at, whether it was intentional or not. The antics of Mikuru Asahina in particular were both funny and annoying, although the whole moe-blob thing was intentional and even lampshaded early on. Her patheticness and cutesy little voice somehow managed to make me laugh and annoy the hell out of me at the same time, and that's something, I guess.

As for the story, as I mentioned, it was somewhat interesting. It wasn't hugely interesting, but it was interesting. I wasn't really interested by the thought exercise that revolved around Haruhi and her mysterious capabilities so much as what was going on as a result of it. I guess I just found the strangeness of it all to be appealing.

Then there were the characters. Kyon, the narrator, was pretty effective as someone the audience could relate to. He was pretty much an everyman, though he probably took all the weirdness that was going on around him and the expository explanation that was given to him by all the other members of Haruhi's SOS Brigade a lot more in stride then most people probably would. He also seems to be something of a ladies man, because it seems like every female member of the SOS Brigade seems to be attracted to him on some level, and the feeling seems to be mutual. I mean, he even seems to have something for the emotionless robot girl, Yuki, and right back at him, I guess. His attraction to Mikuru is kind of the obvious 'ship, being as she's the designated Ms. Fanservice and all. Hell, even the only other male character in the SOS Brigade, Itsuki, seems like he has a thing for Kyon. Then there's Haruhi herself, who also has a thing from him, although he doesn't seem to make up his mind about her until the last episode in a moment I'm sure everyone was supposed to think was cute. I just laughed, personally, the cliché of it all. I will say, though, that Haruhi really wasn't all that interesting herself in my opinion. Her appeal was mainly in her eccentricity. She actually seems like someone who could use some psychological help, but luckily she's a funny kind of crazy instead of a scary kind of crazy. Except of course that she can apparently destroy the world.

That does beg the question, though, why don't they just kill her? I know that she's not visibly a threat, and while she's amoral and likes to treat the moe-blob like she's a doll, it wouldn't really be the most humane thing to kill her, but it would be the pragmatic thing to do if she's really such a threat to humanity. Of course, this is a comedy, and I wasn't supposed to think of that, but I really am a horrible person.

I guess this was an okay series, and while it's not a favorite by any means, it was okay to watch. Mostly it's just fluff with a bit of philosophizing and plenty of comedy. The series was apparently broadcast out of chronological order just to make things a bit more confusing I guess, and that's the order I watched it in. I know there's some argument among fans about whether it's better to show in broadcast order or chronological order, so if you watch this you'll pretty much have to decide for yourself. Either way there are guides online you can look up to help you watch it in whichever order you decide to. I think the main argument for watching it in broadcast order is that it presents everything the way the people who made it intended to have the information in it revealed. Things might make more sense in chronological order, though, so it's up to you which argument is better. 7/10.

[CX]

Moonlight Mile
Season 1: Lift Off
(12 episodes)

The opening to this series made it seem very interesting, and based on the description I'd read of it, it looked like something I could get into. The first thing we see as the show starts is a female astronaut who has crash-landed on the moon and is struggling to maintain a rigorous running pace in the low gravity so she can reach a distant outpost before her limited air supply runs out. That would have been enough to draw me in as it was, but then she runs into some robot soldiers who try to shoot her, only to back down and wait for someone in an EVA suit that hides their identity. The teaser then ends with this person pointing a pistol at the astronaut and pulling away quickly as she screams. Then the awesome opening sequence starts, promising space battles and political intrigue. Unfortunately the series never really delivers on that.

While I was hoping the series would go back to whatever was happening on the moon, it didn't, and I'm not entirely sure if that scene was set some time after the actual start of the story, or if it was meant as an in medias res beginning. I was given some brief hope when things started out in the International Space Station (ISS), with some crew members remarking on a blizzard in the Himalayas. Unfortunately this was only a set-up to introduce the main characters of the series, who are both mountain climbers. This is also our introduction to the fan service and the more immature aspect of the series.

Okay, let me take a break here and say that I actually like fan service to an extent, and if you've read my other reviews, you probably already know that. That being said, I appreciate it when it's more mature and isn't just there for its own sake, though to be honest I still won’t complain that much about being able to see naked women. The reason I call the fan service in this series immature is that it pretty much just is there for its own sake, since the only function it really serves is to show how immature the main characters they are. They both seem to have a "tradition" of a "good luck ****," where they have sex with some random woman before going on a climb or whatever else they have going on. The series actually opens with both of the main characters having a foursome in some tent at the base of Mount Everest. But naturally this keeps up through the entire series, which splits up to mostly follow Gorou Saruwatari, the Japanese climber, and he literally has sex with a woman every time he changes location. Even when he finally ends up on the ISS, there happens to be a female astronaut there who wants to have sex with him.

But I'm getting a little ahead of myself there. After Gorou and Lostman, his American climbing partner, finish having sex, the blizzard that was going on during their introduction is over and they start climbing Everest. They are some distance off when a French climbing team is hit by an avalanche. Naturally, like any decent human beings, they go over to see if there are any survivors, though their conversation during this is our first hint that they're actually callous bastards. They do find one survivor, who just happens to be an attractive woman, and start dragging both her and the three dead men who were on her team back down the mountain. Another blizzard starts and they decide to stop, and this is where I really start to not like the main characters. For no reason at all, and despite having dragged them all that way, Gorou decides to just dumb the bodies of the French team off of a cliff instead of just leaving them on the side of the path they'd been following so they could be found later. As it turns out, one of these men was actually the French woman's husband. She's in pretty bad shape herself, and not long after she wakes up, she apparently hallucinates and sees her husband, and asks for him to "keep her warm." This is where Lostman and Gurou come off as especially callous, because not only have they basically been talking about this woman like she's just a piece of meat they want to **** from the moment they found her, but they've already given her up for dead at this point. And rather than trying to actually keep her warm and alive, Lostman makes a comment to the effect of blowing her off, and suggests that Gorou give her one last pity **** before she dies, which he then proceeds to actually do. Then they just burry her under a pile of rocks and continue their climb. The best part is that when they get to the top, both of them act like they're bored. And at this point I really don't like either of these characters. Later on, Gorou is at least supposed to come off as being somewhat more sympathetic and kind of a nice guy, but really I can't help but think of both him and Lostman as pricks.

Really, though, this has all been a set-up for these two to decide they want to be astronauts and climb mountains on the moon. So they split up and go about it their own separate and equally complicated ways. Lostman joins the US Navy and becomes a pilot, all so he can pilot the space shuttle. Gurou becomes a construction worker and turns down repeated attempts to promote him to an office job, all so he can become an expert at operating cranes and the like, because it just so happens that all the major space agencies have been combined to form the International Space Agency, and the ISA is interested in going to the moon to exploit resources there. Naturally, things work out for the both of them, though the series takes some time by throwing could have been interesting hurdles their way if I'd actually cared that much about either character, and had the pacing of the series not been such to basically just breeze right through all of this. Basically they take a span of years and breeze through it all in a few episodes. Lostman actually ends up getting shot down in a third war with Iraq and becomes a POW for a year, and the episode literally skips over this year during the commercial break. We are then introduced to an Iraqi boy who also appears in the awesome opening title sequence, but he never appears again for the rest of this season.

I'd say that the first season was basically just a set-up season, but I couldn't help but feel disappointed. In my opinion the pacing was actually still too fast for what it apparently wanted to cover, so it either should have started further along in the story, or it should have been a longer season. Of course it also might've helped if I actually liked the main characters, too, or if any of the secondary characters had been fleshed out a bit more. The only other one to get much attention is essentially the series' Ms. Fanservice, and she's a selfish unlikeable character herself, who actually tried to sabotage Gorou from being selected as their company's astronaut candidate for the sake of the guy she was having an affair with at the time. She does this by calling his cell phone to distract the already drunk Gorou, who is right in the middle of a very precise crane operation meant to rescue a man who has been trapped under some fallen girders at the top of a skyscraper under construction. She does this after being told that not only would this man be killed, but the girders would probably all fall, causing millions in damage, and probably taking the crane and Gurou along with them as they fell. Of course this not only makes me hate her (she later goes on to supposedly be a protagonist), but it helps me to not like Gurou that much more, because his reaction to this attempt to sabotage and possibly kill him was to want to have sex with this woman, which he does succeed at, by the way.

I guess you could say that while I wasn't interested in the main characters or their plight, I was still somewhat interested in the story. I liked seeing the different space agencies work together to colonize the moon and some of the different hurdles they had to overcome during this process. I was also hoping some of the things from the opening titles would come to pass, but they never did. Actually the closest the first season got to political intrigue was an attempt by a Japanese industrial boss to stretch out the development of the lunar construction robot his company had been contracted by the ISA to design and build so he could line his pockets, even if it meant the death of one of his divers and the ruin of the best developmental engineer his company had, and a bit involving Area 51 and a secret military build-up in space. Maybe everything that series seemed to promise is in the second season, but since the second season hasn't been picked up by anyone, has no dub, and apparently no one's bothered to sub more than the first four episodes, I guess I'll never find out.

So I guess overall this is an okay series. They do put some effort into being somewhat semi-realistic during the space sequences, though this goes out the window when we're introduced to a space fighter that Lostman gets to fly. The visuals are fairly good, though the CGI that's used stands out quite a bit from the traditionally animated elements. The dub is also somewhat decent, and one of the things I appreciated was the attempt at accents for the characters who were supposed to be from other countries instead of making everyone sound like they are from America with dialog suggesting that they are all speaking Japanese. 6/10.

[CX]

High School of the Dead: Drifters of the Dead
(single episode OVA)

Well, being the nerd that I am, I just had to watch this follow-up to the series. And this is going to be a short review, because there isn't all that much to say about it. You know how in the series review I mentioned that this could have been a serviceable zombie apocalypse story if it weren't for all the fan service and mood-swing-ish comedy? Yeah, the OVA has given up any pretense of doing even a semi-serious zombie story.

I guess the people who made this decided there just wasn't enough fan service yet, so they decided to throw in a beach episode for the hell of it, as this OVA is just an excuse to get everyone into bathing suits and to frolic together. Oh, that and since this is an OVA they finally drew in some nipples. Still, not much to write home about. Then, of course, there's the reinforced misogyny in the form of all the women pressuring the two male characters into searching for food, just so they have an excuse to play around on the beach and have fun. This is made even better by the fact that when the main protagonist (at least of the series), Takashi Komuro, fails to get anything, the same chick who was basically in charge of getting all the girls out of work gives him crap about it. The OVA tried to say this was funny, but I wasn't amused. But hey, there was fan service, so I guess I wasn't supposed to notice. Naturally the fat nerd character that the audience is no doubt supposed to identify with is the one who gets everyone food.


The expected demographic.

No one gets a chance to eat, though, as the perfect time has come for more fan service. This time, everyone gets to hallucinate so everyone has a chance to make out and/or have sex with each other. Everyone apparently sees their own ideal partner, with the nurse seeing her girlfriend, and the angry aggressive chick seeing her mom. Yeah... And if that wasn't fun enough, it's implied that Takashi made it with a zombie when he thought he was doing it with the psycho chick who got off on the violence during the series. At least they show him managing to keep several bikini-clad zombies at bay while still hallucinating that it's the group of women he's with.

Of course, this OVA just admits that it isn't even trying anymore by expositing all the "important" information at the beginning and end of the OVA, with the characters even hanging the lampshade about it. As you might guess, I'm not going to go easy on it. And before anyone asks why I bothered watching it – to make fun of it. It's not that I was expecting much out of it or anything, and as an added bonus it's only about 16 minutes long, about 3-4 minutes of which is the opening theme. I did kind of think there might be some semblance of story, though, kind of like the series, but nope. 1/10.

[CX]

Murder Princess
(6 episode OVA)

There isn't a whole lot to say about this OVA, I'm afraid. It's kind of fun, but at the same time, there's no getting by the fact that it's pretty much just a typical medieval hack n' slash anime. There is a bit of a twist in that it's made abundantly clear that this is actually a post-apocalyptic setting, with humanity having reclaimed civilization only at the level of Western Europe's Middle Ages. So while there are knights and kings and the like, there are also scientists, androids, and cyborgs.

The plot is still fairly typical, though. Naturally there's some heavy-handed message about how humanity should just die already, since it's just in our nature to be destructive and fight each other, as explained by the big bad as to why he wants to end it all. Of course, one of the characters who ends up sacrificing themselves in the name of saving the world gives the optimistic view that maybe humanity will "get it right this time", not that it has a second chance. The end of the series doesn't really make it look like there's much hope of that, as it ends with warfare and the Murder Princess earning that name. Really this is a case of forgetting the message in favor of making the title character a badass, and I can't say that I much care in this case, probably because I never really took this OVA seriously.

The greatest strength of this OVA was that it was hard at times to tell if it was trying to be serious. At times it did, but at others it was like the OVA was playing up its own absurdness. That's the aspect of it I liked. Then again, even if this wasn't the case and the OVA was trying to be entirely serious, I still had fun laughing at the absurdity of everything. And by that I don't just mean the two main characters switching bodies, I mean everything from the insane hack 'n slash combat to the monocle-wearing scientist villain, not to mention the two cutesy little killer robot girls. The one with the meek little voice and the machine gun arm was particularly funny. Monica Rial also fits well as the voice of the title princess, though I have to admit part of that is the fact she's playing another ambiguously lesbian character, which she's done before.

Which does bring me to another thing I liked about the OVA – the growth of the relationship between Princess Alita and Falis, who have actually switched bodies. It is a little ambiguous as to whether they have romantic feelings for each other, but that's the way I interpreted it. The nice thing here is that it wasn't played up too much while actually being a bit sweet. At least I thought so. Of course there's the weirdness of them being in each others' bodies, so if they do it with each other, they'd actually be doing it with themselves, really. I'm sure that'd still be fetish fuel for some, though.

In any case, the fun I derived from this OVA was mainly that I could just watch and laugh at its over the top nature. It has weird creatures and cute little robot girls fighting with each other or for or against a hot action girl, high pressure blood splatter, and pretty much everything that's fun to make fun of about anime, like it or hate it. That being said, this isn't really what I'd consider a good show, it just isn't really a bad one. It's worth watching once. 6/10.

[CX]

Neon Genesis Evangelion
(26 episode series)

I'm sure some people reading this review are going to be upset, because frankly, I didn't particularly like this series. Mostly it suffers from "too fraking long and drawn out" syndrome, but there's also the fact that there isn't really a single character who doesn't have some form of mental or emotional malfunction, and there's so much whining that I've pretty much decided to call this "Emo-gelion."

Now let's get something straight up front – I do like it when a work goes into some depth to explain things, to set them up, or to give me a sense of mystery. Evangelion does do this, and I liked those parts of it. The mystery about what exactly all the angels were trying to get at inside NERV headquarters is eventually revealed, leading to more mysteries about what exactly Lilith is and what will really happen if an angel gets there, as well as why it's being kept secret. After all, the characters are always complaining about their budget being too small for them to effectively protect this mysterious creature/thing/whatever, and how the world is going to end if an angel ever touches it, so why not just explain this to the bean-counters so they can get more money to do their jobs? Instead, everything is kept secret, even from most of the people working at NERV, including Misato Katsuragi, who is a major and the operations director of NERV. In a way, though, that makes things a little more interesting, because the nature and origin of the Eva units is slowly revealed to us, as well as just what "second impact" is, and why the world seems to be a lot warmer than what it is. There is a bit of a disconnect, though, in that while it's said that basically half of humanity has been wiped out and the above-ground city appears to be in ruins, there seem to be no shortage of people that we see, anyway, and nothing ever seems to disrupt or change the "normal high school" we see various characters attending.

Which bring me to my next area of discussion, the characters. Now most of them might have been somewhat interesting just because they had some rather complex backgrounds, and this usually makes for some complex characters. For instance it was somewhat interesting to learn that Gendo had changed his last name upon marrying rather than following the tradition of having the wife change her family name. Even though Gendo is a complete bastard, it still says something about his character and gives some indication about hoe he felt about his wife, which also goes to explain something about his relationship with Rei Ayanami. Well, sort of. Anyway, the real problem here is just the shear amount of characters who are completely messed up. I like ensemble casts, and this is one, and the series does try to pay each of them some service, but there's just too much malfunction. In the end, that's all that I really got out of this series. Finding out that Rei acts like a robot because she's basically a genetically engineered clone isn't much of a revelation, and to be frank I saw that one coming even without spoilers. Finding out Asuka is a bitch because she had a messed up childhood and a horrible mother doesn't really make her any more sympathetic. Finding out Misato is a slut because she had bad parents didn't really do a whole lot either. The fact that there is just so much of stuff like that kind of cheapens what it might otherwise do for a character. Misato was a somewhat interesting character, even if she was somewhat stereotypical and accounts for a lot of the fan service. The thing is, by the time the series gets to her background, I really wasn't in a mindset to much care anymore, because the series had already gone into so much with so many other characters. Hell, Asuka might have been a bit more sympathetic even if she'd been the only completely messed up one, though she also would've had to cut back on the whining. Then there's Shinji, who is pretty much just completely pathetic. He whines a lot, seems to have no will to stand up for himself, and when he finally gets a bit of development and starts to tell people off, he ends up going right back to being a whiny loser. There were even some indications that Shinji might swing for both teams at one point, but by then I just didn't care and could pretty much only laugh at it.

Actually, I have to admit that I was somewhat surprised at how character-oriented this series was. I was pretty much under the impression that this was just another giant mecha series, but while in some ways the series did revolve around the mecha, in others it really didn't. Which, ironically enough, makes it like a lot of other mecha series that I've seen, though to be fair they were probably influenced by Evangelion. There were plenty of aspects of this series I liked, which I described above in a bit more detail. I liked the build up of mystery, I liked the ensemble cast vibe, and I liked how complex the characters were, even though this turned out to be something of a double-edged sword.

Which brings me to the main reason I could barely stand to watch this series – the constant whining. I'm already pretty biased against anything that uses internal monologue. To me, having the character mentally explain everything to the audience is a cheat, because part of the fun of a good show is trying to guess what a character is thinking and/or feeling. That actually made Gendo somewhat interesting because he never really had any internal monologue to conveniently explain everything for us. Everyone else, though, had tons of it, especially the children. Whether it was to whine in voice only while we watched them curl into the fetal position, or to enter a strange mental world, pretty much all of it was purely exposition and it all really got on my nerves, in no small part just from the shear fact that 90% of it was to whine about something. Yes, I know that the creator of this series was off his meds and depressed at one point and he put a lot of that experience into making this series, but to be frank he went overboard with it. It would have been a lot better had only a few characters been messed up/depressed instead of basically everyone, but that isn't all. Shinji in particularly is a pathetic loser and I lost all sympathy for him because of it. Characters can be sympathetic because of something messed up happening to them, and Shinji does have a bastard father who basically robbed him of a childhood, but my god the whining. Not only did it seem somewhat disproportionate, but to be frank, I really didn't need to hear all that, and all the time given to have him whine using internal monologue was ridiculous. And making him a complete push-over didn't make things any better. I mean, it could have, maybe, if there had been some development from that point that actually stayed with him, but he pretty much was just always the whiney push-over and nothing else. Another way this could have been better would have been if Shinji had actually interacted with any of the other characters who could have maybe helped him to get over some of the issues he had, even if it was kind of in a messed up way, like they almost seemed to be doing with Misato but never really went anywhere with it. In any case, all the time given to have the characters whine to themselves is what killed my enjoyment of the series. There actually were times I shouted, "do something!" at the screen, and I got more than a few laughs from the rest of the people watching this with me.

Then there are the other aspects of this series that didn't make a lot of sense to me. Like why were children needed to pilot these giant mecha? I mean, they very briefly mentioned an excuse at one point, but I never really felt that it was explained. How is it that the mechas themselves were able to combat the invading alien "angels" when no conventional weapons could touch them? I get that it had some technological reason, but again, I never felt this was explained very well, so all we really got were giant monsters beating each other up, played entirely straight. Occasionally they used guns, too, and I have to admit that this is just an area in general I've never gotten the whole mecha design, because to me any guns should be built into the machines rather than just making them giant guns they can use. In this instance it makes a little less sense because we watched all kinds of conventional military attacks being thrown at these angels by the time NERV steps in, and they're shooting what amounts to conventional weaponry at them. The big laser gun was about the only thing that made much sense as a separate weapon that might do something to these extremely hard to beat invaders, though making it a giant sniper rifle made me laugh a little. Then there's the cause of all their problems, Lilith. It is apparently what touched down in Antarctica and caused "Second Impact" (on another note, was there a "First Impact?") and what is drawing all these alien "angels" to it. If they touch it, it is said all life on Earth will be destroyed. How and why? What is the nature of this threat? If they just shot it into space and away from the planet, would all life on Earth still be destroyed? Would shooting it into the Sun eliminate this threat? If not, why not do either of those and save everyone the trouble? You could still make an interesting show out of that, after all that's basically what Argento Soma was about, except the only reason all life on Earth was going to end had to do with the size of an approaching "angel" and not for any mystical, quasi-religious reason.

Oh, and what was the deal with Pen-Pen? I mean, they mentioned he was a genetic experiment of some kind, and I realize he was basically only there for comedy relief, but did they ever mention what the reason for his creation was or why Misato was able to adopt him?

Which, I have to say, the comedy relief really helped keep this series watchable, and I will say that I think it was fairly well balanced. The show was depressing enough as it is, but the comedy relief made it so that it wasn't completely depressing, you know, like the Battlestar Galactica reboot, which is how this series easily could have been with all the depression that was being focused on as it was. It was also nice that they didn't go completely overboard with the comedy relief, much like the recent in name only reboot of Star Trek, or so many examples of it I've seen in other animes.

So to be fair, Evangelion does have many strong points which I hope I covered. The problems I have with it are the overwhelming negative aspects which I also described. You also might notice I haven't mentioned the original series' ending up to this point either. While I'm going to be reviewing The End of Evangelion separately, I'm hoping that it at least does a better job than the last couple of episodes of the series, which made no sense at all, and frankly didn't even fit with the rest of the series aside from just the general weirdness factor. The only other thing I'll really say is that if the series hadn't wasted so much time with the whining exposition, and the flashback clip episode, they might have had a bit more time to give it a better ending. Having some budget left over to animate it probably would have helped, too, but that's another matter.

I could see why this anime is liked by so many anime fans; I just don't share their feelings for it. I will say that I am somewhat interested in the storyline, to the point that I want to see The End of Evangelion and that I'm somewhat interested in seeing if the Rebuild of Evangelion movies are any better at telling it. But there were still a lot of times that almost made me want to stop watching, so much so that only the fact I was providing the speakers for my local anime club to watch this kept me there. That and the fact I had some friends there riffing it with me helped. I don't want to insult anyone who's a fan of this series, and please don’t be if you are, but I can't rate this series very high. I just wouldn't recommend this for someone who hasn't seen it unless they're just curious to see what the big deal is, and this comes with ample warning of the boring depression aspect of it. 6/10.

[CX]

The End of Evangelion
(1997 movie)

Right up front here I'm going to warn you that this will probably be one of the most spoiler heavy reviews I've written to this point, so if you don't want to be spoiled, just go right ahead and skip this review.

Now that that's out of the way, I have to admit that I really don't understand what this movie was about. I mean, I know it's an alternate ending to the series, and that they are essentially about the same thing. I get that while NERV and SEELE were both apparently working to destroy the attacking "angels" and keep them from reaching Lilith that they were apparently always planning to begin "Third Impact" all on their own, apparently. What I don't understand is why. It's obvious that the people speaking through the black monoliths in that weird conference room were keeping that bit of information to themselves, too, because while they told the Prime Minister that NERV was planning on ending the world in order to get the JSDF to attack it, they apparently left out the part that they were planning on doing the same thing. Actually the only reason they seemed to have it in for NERV, or more specifically Gendo, was because Gendo wanted to do it in a slightly different way so he could be reunited with his wife. And yet they had the JSDF kill everyone in sight. I don't understand that either, but since I was technically in the military at one point I know from experience that most of the people in it would probably pretty resistant to the idea of killing fleeing and defenseless people and children, let alone acting so nonchalantly about it. Of course why Gendo didn't better prepare NERV headquarters when he knew an assault was coming is another thing that doesn't make sense. There was one guard at the entrance and that warship they had in the big lake underground ended up only being used as a big thing for Asuka to throw. Then there's the fact that the SEELE people had all the EVA pilots marked for death when they apparently needed Unit 01 to initiate Third Impact.

Of course, maybe I missed something. I still don’t get why any of them wanted to end all life on Earth and turn every living creature into Tang to begin with. In fact I was pretty much under the impression that they were trying to prevent that. There was a lot going on, though, so maybe I just missed something. Which, while I appreciate complex stories and all, I just didn't understand this one.

I also don’t get the characters. Shinji is a whiny bitch and I never sympathized with his character. During this movie, he basically curled up into a ball after he'd finished jerking off over Asuka (which the wiki article almost makes sound like it he had no choice in the matter). Misato, being awesome even if personally she's as fucked up as the rest of them, saves his ass, and apparently also has some kind of messed up feelings for him. Why she'd want such a pathetic loser is beyond me, but then he's also still a child technically, and that's a little messed up anyway. But I'm getting of track here. What I was getting at is that he's such a pathetic loser in this movie that I really wanted Misato to pistol whip him, because while she was risking everything and ended up dying to save his ass, he was pretty much just being a whiny emo bitch, crying about how no one understood him and how he didn't really want to live. Then there's Asuka, who's just a bitch, period. And she also apparently wants to die, because at the end of the movie, when Shinji is reliving his weird dream of choking her to death, not only does she not resist, but when he can't do it she calls him pathetic. And then there's pretty much everyone else. In fact, the only people with the will to live seem to be the random supporting characters who have always been there to provide us with whatever technobabble needed to be expositioned to us for the episode. Of course, we did get to see that Gendo was pretty much the same kind of whiny emo his son was, he just apparently held it in better. In the end, though, pretty much the only characters I cared much about as characters were the supporting characters who actually wanted to live. Well, there was that awesome fight scene Asuka had against the "production line" EVAs, that was pretty cool. Especially with as hurt as she was she was able to move her disemboweled and unpowered Unit 02 on hate alone. I couldn't help but think a bit of Khan's death scene at the end of The Wrath of Khan as she reached up into the sky, constantly repeating, "I'll kill you."

As far as the actual end, I can't say I much understand that, either. It apparently had something to do with Shinji's acid trip after he was absorbed by that huge Lilith/Rei ... thing. (Vera!? ) As in the original ending that showed us just how much it sucks when a show's budget runs out, Shinji apparently spontaneously decides to live and whatever the hell was going on ends, and Lilith/Rei literally falls to pieces. Then Shinji, Asuka, and Rei spontaneously turn from Tang back into people, conveniently with clothes. Asuka seems to have gotten the short end of the stick, though, as she apparently has still lost her eye, and apparently her split arm is still split and only being held together why a bandage wrap. Apparently the implication here is supposed to be that anyone can turn back from Tang if they want to, but I'm still left wondering just what it is I watched and don't really understand the vast majority of it.

Actually, I don't really understand why people liked this show all that much. Most of the characters aren’t really what I'd consider likable, which would require being sympathetic or at least being somewhat badass. I know some people probably do find them likable and/or badass, but the only main character I really liked all that much was Misato, even as messed up as she was. Pretty much all the other main characters just grated on me, Shinji most of all. Asuka was pretty much only cool during that short period she was kicking ass before she was impaled and eaten. Otherwise she was a prima donna and a bitch, when she wasn't busy being a whiny loser like Shinji. While the movie thankfully didn't have any extra time to get too boring, most of the series was. I guess there were the fight scenes, but really that isn't enough to carry a show any more than fan service can. I am somewhat hopeful that the movies will be a but better, as the first one seemed to be somewhat of an improvement, but as for the original series and this alternate ending, I really didn't much care for it. The only thing The End of Evangelion has going for it is that it was better than the odd clip show that was the original ending of the series. 5/10.

[Snorpenbass]

A few thoughts...

The Melancholy Of... is actually meant as a bit of deconstruction of the more typical anime romantic harem comedy, which usually has a sci-fi theme. It asks a few questions, those being: if you *actually* gave the power of omnipotence to someone, would that someone be a nice person, or would they by definition be kind of horrible? It also asks, "how would *Insert Anime Cliché Character*-here actually be explainable by means of semi-soft science? As well as "if reality is subjective to a certain person, does that mean everyone in existence only exists because she creates us, or is she only affecting the nearby world?"

And so on and so forth.

A major reason why so many like it is because it actually humanizes even moe-blobs like Asahina (in most harem shows she'd just be a running gag, here it's actually portrayed as somewhat reprehensible the way she's treated, note that Japan is...not very forward thinking about women, so the portrayals you see here are actually fairly revolutionary for their society), and the way it kind of points out that while they play it for laughs, several of the situations in the story are actually kind of horrifying. Being locked in a room with no doors and at the mercy of a completely amoral alien machine that can alter reality and thinks it's funny to torment you first? Ellison wrote an entire story about that premise...

Is it the greatest show ever? Well, no. Also, the show was shown out of order because it actually makes *more* sense that way, and is a bit deeper than a single brief skim-through might suggest. I watched it in broadcast order, and it actually makes great sense (especially since the opening episode is basically a kind-of sort-of recap of the plot of the whole show in a bizarre, badly written high-school kids' version).

As for Evangelion...

Well, first of all, the characters are horrible people due to horrible childhoods, yes. This is not meant to explain *why* they're horrible people. It's meant to explain why they were *chosen* (the pseudo-science energy fields that make them great EVA-pilots is better controlled by insecure ids and asocial superegos). Shinji's dad deliberately messed up his kid mentally in the head to make him the ultimate EVA-pilot. The kid is not meant to be likable, charming, debonair or identifiable with, as a srt of middle finger aimed at those who watch these shows for vicarious living through badass boy heroes. This...is an ex-person. Gendo used and abused the flesh and blood of his loved ones three times (once to activate the EVA and killing his own wife in the process, the second to clone her into Rei using the alien DNA of Lilith, and third to create the best possible pilot for the EVA's by turning his son into a potentially gibbering pile of insecurities and psychoses). A sort of personal first, second and third impact in the smaller scale. In the process, Gendo becomes less and less human himself, and more and more obsessed with the whole Ascension thing.

He's a monster. They all are. Because the point of the show is that anyone willing to fight gigantic battles against mind-destroying horrors from out of space in the middle of densely populated cities must be effing *insane*.

...note that the main writer/producer/director of the show wrote it in the context of his own nervous breakdown.

The whole point of the ending is, in fact, that faced with total ascension personified by erasing of human identity into a kind of biological Nirvana, Shinji finally grows up and goes "f*** that nonsense, I'd rather be human." And Asuka eventually joins him.

First Impact is what killed the dinosaurs, IIRC.

...ironically, I don't even like the show. But I recognize what they're trying to say with it (I just think Martian Successor Nadesico, original series only, said it better first with less hatred for humanity), even though I disagree.

[CX]

I've seen the various arguments for Evangelion, but really what it comes down to is that everything still adds up to the characters being completely unlikable to the point that watching the show became a chore. At least the movies have been a little better so far.