Review #59: Welcome to the N.H.K.

Final Score – 8/10

Sato is a hikikomori (a shut in that never leaves his room, a condition prevalent in Japan), a freeter (a person living without a job, in this case off his parents), and a NEET (“Not in Education, Employment, or Training”). Whatever the term, Sato is a man with nothing in his life. No goals, no friends, barely any family contact. All he does is sit in his room, watching TV, sleeping most of the day away. For 4 years he lives just like that, dropped out of college, his place a mess, his life going no where.

That was until she entered his life.

Misaki is a young woman that shows up at Sato’s door one day alongside her aunt, who tries to convert Sato to religion to save him. While Sato turns the aunt away, Misaki gives Sato a contract, telling him that he’s her special project, and that if he signs the contract agreeing to counseling sessions with her in the local park, she can cure him of his hikikomori status. Reluctant at first, Sato decides finally that he should give it a try, signing the contract and starting meetings with Misaki on a weekly basis.

At least that was the plan. First, Misaki isn’t a very good counselor, reading right from psychology and self help books, something that doesn’t work and clearly bores Sato. To make matters worse, Sato’s life becomes a lot more full of other things quickly. A confrontation with a noisy neighbor leads to a reunion with an underclassmate from high school Sato tried to save, Yamazaki, an otaku that’s going to school for computer game production. To impress Misaki and trick her that he has a job, Sato convinces Yamazaki that he needs to make a game to show her, something that Yamazaki embraces, going so far to actually make a game with Sato, something he keeps putting off. Yamazaki also turns Sato into a little of an otaku himself. especially for gal games (hentai games).

To make matters even more complicated for Misaki in her quest to try to save Sato, his schemes to help Yamazaki keep having him get wrapped up into more and more things and more and more people. He meets his old crush and sempai (senior student) Hitomi, a woman that’s always strongly believed in conspiracy theories. He also ends up running into his old class representative, Megumi, who gets him wrapped up in a work scheme. Sato’s introduced to a suicide pact, gets addicted to online gaming to do gold farming only to fall in love, even tries to go back to school for scenario writing to help the game. Even as things get better, they get worse. As Misaki gets closer to Sato, she shows more and more her own messed up emotional state. As Yamazaki gets more and more confidence about his game, family and love matters bring his life crashing down. As Sato gets better and better about going out of his apartment, his money situation gets worse and worse.

Welcome to the N.H.K. is an anime of softly depressing reality. No one in Sato’s world is perfect, no one is even close… and yet, somehow, life goes on. No problem comes with an easy, happy ending fix, but things get solved. Sadness, loneliness, fear, pain, anger, and depression all move through the narrative unapologetically,  not for their own sake but for the sake of showing a world of shut ins, introverts, otaku, the clinically depressed, and the just plain strange, a world all around us. On my first watching, the story seemed a little heavy, even with the humor peppered through it all. By the second time however I appreciated the view shown and the detail and thought that went into it.

There are a few things to knock on NHK. It seems to spend too long on some things and not enough on others, the mood can be a little random, and the ending isn’t fully my sort of ending. That said, all those are minor matters around a very detailed world, both graphically and sound wise, including voice acting. For successful people with fabulous lives, NHK is a view into a world they will never know or understand, a world to shake their head at and wonder if it’s real. For those that have suffered depression, loss, sadness, shyness, reclusiveness, a feeling of detachment, or even suicidal tendencies, NHK is an anime that shows an understanding of what a world is that has people that have feelings just like that. It’s not pretty, and it can even be a slap to the face of what people can be, what we can fall to. But there’s also hope. Not a lot, but a little. And it’s enough.

• Episodes: 24
• Published: 06 (JP) 07 (US)

 

Review #58: Chobits

Final Score: 3/10

Hideki is a young man that lives in the countryside up in Hokkaido. Trying to get into college, he gets a rejection letter. Determined that NEXT year he’ll get in, he decides to travel to Tokyo to study hard in a preparatory school, living close to the university he wants to attend as incentive. He moves into a small one room apartment run by a young woman named Chitose with a neighbor named Shinbo, a man that’s attending the same preparatory school as he is. Hideki’s grades are horrible, and he has little money to his name, but he goes on with hope.

It’s through Shinbo that Hideki is introduced to Persacon, or personal computers designed to look like humans. Shinbo’s own model, Sumono, is a small chibi girl that’s meant for mobile use, but Hideki dreams of having one of the human sized of his very own to help him out, mostly with looking up pornography. Still, persacon aren’t cheap, and with Hideki being as poor as he is, he gives up his hope of getting one. Just as his hopes for getting a persacon seem to be given up on for good, he finds a persacon thrown into a trash heap.

Dragging the persacon back, Hideki fumbles about trying to see if it still works and finally turns it on with a switch at her groin. The persecon works, and despite being quite cute, all the girl can say is “chi”. After giving the persacon the name Chi, Hideki decides to try to teach his new apartment all about life, from words for things to emotions. Chi slowly learns things from Hideki, as well as others in his life, including his prep school teacher Miss Shimizu, as well as a friend of Shinbo’s named Minoru, an expert with persacon.

Hideki ends up finding more than a few problems however as his life goes on. His money problem gets partly solved when he finds a job at a bar on accident after being splashed by the bar owners daughter, Yumi. Hideki’s grades also stay rock bottom despite his work at the prep school, a matter not helped by all the time he puts into work and Chi. School, work, and Chi give Hideki a lot of reasons to miss a lot of sleep as well, causing no end of troubles. To top it all off, Hideki finds out little more about Chi’s origins and abilities (other than that she might be a Chobit, a mysterious persacon with amazing powers),

Through all these ups and downs in Hideki’s life, relationships keep trying to weave their way in. Yumi seems to show interest in him and Miss Shimizu spends the night at his apartment, but Hideki’s main thoughts are given to Chi. Even as people all around him have problems from relationships between persacon and humans, Hideki finds himself drawn more and more towards Chi. Does he love her? Should he? What about her feelings?

Slight spoiler here, but the Chi and Hideki end up together (though I won’t reveal all the “fun” details how). Chobits is a story that seems to want to be on a mission, but not only am I not sure what the writers intended that message to be, but the one I got out of the series took a lot of any enjoyment I might have had with it away. I’ve had a debate before about how sentient Chi is supposed to be, and how similar robots (persacon in this case) and humans can get, but at the end of the day, Chi looks designed to be young and acts far too young as well, to the point that she seems to lack and sort of relatable understanding of her feelings. Right up until the end, Chi expresses lack of understanding of emotion, and with only really Hideki in her life on a constant basis, it’s hardly a surprise that she ends up deciding she loves him.

There are interesting characters in Chobits, I won’t say otherwise. I also had more than a few laughs. That said, the over arching story of Chobits is about Hideki and Chi, and despite any efforts the writers made to try to make the relationship seem legit, or to make both of the main characters seem to really want what they end up with, Hideki seems obsessive and pushed into things by others, while Chi seems to be as much a loyal puppy as anything else. The middle of the series has an interesting look at the problems that the persacons cause in human relationships, but all the warnings to Hideki earlier on soon get swept under the rug and Hideki gets not only a green light for his relationship, but in many ways shoved into it.

As I said before, I’ve had talks with others about the message of the series before, and I don’t doubt that others might take it differently, or like the series more as a whole. What I saw myself was a message about love that made me feel more than a little uneasy and uncomfortable, and for those that might see things the way I do, there are more than enough other good anime in the sea that you don’t need to watch this garbage.

• Release – 02 (JP) 03 (US)
• Languages – Japanese/English
• Episodes – 26

 

Review #57: Michel

Final Score – 7/10

A girl named Kim and a group of thieves called the Black Hammer Gang end up crashing onto an island called Seatel after Kim chases the group into a storm cloud while trying to get her father’s flying saucer back from them. The island ends up being inhabited by faeries, as well as a young boy named Michel, all of which are the protectors of the Tree of Life, a tree that helps support the whole world. While Kim meets and befriends Michel and the faeries, the Black Hammer Gang decides to try to steal the beautiful tree. Instead, they steal all the faeries of the island, leaving the tree to wither and die, thus leaving the world to the same fate.

Thankfully, the Tree of Life can be restored, but only if all the faeries are brought back to Seatel Island. Kim, Michel, and the spring faerie all leave Seatel to get the faeries back. Unfortunately, the Black Hammer Gang finds out how to turn the faeries into monsters to help with their heists, meaning that every step of the way, the two kids must restore the faeries back to normal before they can go back to the island. They’re aided by the fact that Michel can merge with faeries and be given a part of their powers, while Kim is given an Arrow of Light to shoot from her father’s blaster, an arrow that can restore a faerie back to normal.

As the Black Hammer Gang look for treasure, and Kim and Michel travel to find more faeries, they go all over the world, from the arctic to the desert, from the tropics to the big city. The get wrapped up in the troubles of many people, sometimes because of faeries, other times because of the thievery of the Black Hammer Gang. There’s no rest for anyone though; for Kim and Michel, there’s always another faerie to save, and for the Black Hammer Gang, there’s always more treasure to steal.

Michel is a show that feels like a cross between Digimon and Nadia, the faeries adding an aspect of “friendly monsters” that Michel counts on, while the Black Hammer Gang’s hijinx set against a world of wondrous new technology and planetary danger rings of Nadia. It’s overall fairly campy and childish, without death, blood, or any swearing, and combined with the bungling of the Black Hammer Gang and the fate of the world resting on Michel, the ending ends up being quite predictable. While the tameness and predictability of the series are certainly bad things, it’s also not dislikable overall.

I suppose that’s the best that can be said for the series; it’s hard to dislike, even if it’s pretty standard. There ARE things to like, such as interesting faeries and faerie monsters, good music, and and interesting world, as well as an all star voice acting cast of familiar names. It was definitely a good enough series to want to finish it, and keep watching more. That said, by the end it wasn’t very memorable, like a breath mint dissolving on your tongue. Michel is a series most have never seen, and few more have heard of, in part because of its Korean origins. I won’t say it’s not worth a watch because I think there’s a lot of good to it. Don’t think it’ll change your life though.

• Languages – Korean/English
• Episodes – 24
• Published – 03 (KR), 06 (US)

 

Review(s) #56: Animation Runner Kuromi & Animation Runner Kuromi 2

Final Score: 8/10

Mikiko Oguro (nicknamed Kurumi) is a young woman that’s dreamed of working in anime since watching a show in high school. After going to Anime School, she gets a job at an animation studio called Studio Petite as an animation runner, someone that runs key animations to the director and makes sure to help keep the artists on track. Unfortunately, when she arrives at the studio, the outgoing manager tells her the anime the studio’s working on, Time Journeys, is severely behind schedule with a fast approaching deadline… just before he has a collapse, leaving Kurumi in charge of things.

The first anime features Kurumi learning how to motivate artists to get their best work. Each of the artists has their own personal quirks, from a lack of confidence to a stressful married life. With the help of the director, Hamako Shihonmatsu, Kurumi gets all the artists to the studio and motivated to get done just in the nick of time for Time Journeys to be finished.

In ARM 2, Kurumi and the staff of Studio Petite are back, but this time with an even tougher challenge. Instead of just one anime series, the crew is given 3 animes to work on all at the same time, each with a completely different style to it. Along with the deadline for all 3 falling at the same time, it seems an impossible task. Add to that the presence of a new producer, Takashimadaira, a man more interested in deadlines than good work, and the office almost falls apart. Thanks to a few more animators though, the will to do the in-betweens in studio rather than ship the keys overseas, and with a lot of motivation from Kurumi, and the crew barely gets it all done in time with the quality that matters.

Both Animation Runner Kurumi OAV run at around 40 minutes, so combined together they’re no more than a normal movie in length. Both are short enough to not have a real strong chance for character development or a strong plot, but the anime’s point is to give a humorous look inside the animation process. Perhaps the only points I can give off for the two OVA is that they could have made both a little longer and given more detail. That said, both give a good look into the animation studio process while remaining a humorous, interesting anime that avoids being a by the book, factual documentary.

Combined, the 2 Animation Runner OVA are a cute little two part story, with good animation, a lot of laughs, and an interesting look at the animation process. Neither are revolutionary, and you won’t walk away feeling like your an expert at the process by any means. Still, they’re cute enough that if you can fine both parts on an anime network/site or for cheap on DVD, I highly recommend a watch. They’re good for a smile and chuckle while you do just a little learning.

• Length: 40 min/45 min
• Languages: English/Japanese
• Published: 01/04 (JP), 03/05 (US)

 

Review #55: Dan-Doh! The Super Shot!

Final Score – 4/10

Aoba Tadamichi, called Dandoh by his friends, is an elementary school student that excels at playing baseball. One day, the principle of his school comes to him introduces him to golf. Dandoh becomes fascinated by the sport, along with his two friends, Yuuka and Kohei. The three discover that the former Japanese golf champion, Mikiyasu Shinjo, lives in their town. After begging him to teach them, he agrees and takes them under his wing.

All three kids show a lot of promise on the junior circuit, Yuuka winning the girl’s title and Kohei finishing in the top 3. It’s Dandoh that turns the golf world on its head though with his amazing eye for detail and conditions, a focus and attention that leads to a lot of shots that seem to defy all odds. On top of that, Dandoh shows honesty and compassion, wearing down bitter and angry rivals with his cheerfulness and non-stop energy.

Eventually, this sense of wonder surrounding Dandoh gains him a job as a caddy on a pro tour game where he faces all new challenges. Finally, he faces the former junior favorite in a test of skill and stamina. Through it all, he makes more and more friends, admirers, and even a few friendly rivals. No one seems to be able to hate Dandoh, at least not for long (other than one overly bitter guy).

For those watching the anime, there are a lot of other things to hate before hating Dandoh himself, though his puppy dog innocence and almost druidic ability to see wind and bird spirits grated a good bit on my nerves. That’s actually one of the strangest things about the anime; the almost mystical nature of it, especially by the end. Where one might expect golf to be… golf, with hard shots and lucky rolls, Dandoh slowly but surely becomes about seeing patterns like they were painted there, crazy mystical shots, and a wind that seems to defy the laws of nature.

Dandoh is an anime that, by its very existence, has a primary audience; golf fans. While there is personal drama in the series, it’s still an anime about golf in the end, without a single episode not having some form of golf in it, if not all of it. Despite that fact, the anime’s over the top explosions, monsters, and super trick courses walk away from anything resembling normal golf, without going over the top and becoming some form of extreme golf that could be considered more humorous or a parody. Instead, you’re left with a series that seems to want to show as much real golf as it can before realizing it’s too bored with the topic and sprinkling in whatever it can to be extreme.

Sadly, that’s only the tip of an iceberg of mediocrity. None of the characters are charismatic or interesting, with only a few even being developed enough to care about. The courses, where so much of the action takes place, are bland and for the most part uninteresting. The plot is nearly non-existent, unless one counts Dandoh himself as a plot. Most of the characters aside from Dandoh are introduced then barely developed, other than a few.

It’s not as if Dandoh is offensively bad. For the most part, I found myself more baffled than bored, rolling my eyes more than complaining. Dandoh isn’t for golfers, nor is it really an anime for those looking to get into golf. If you hate sports, especially golf, the anime will bore you all the same. To be honest, I have no idea who I would recommend this to. In the end, it’s an anime I can easily recommend skipping. It’s a confusing pile of mediocre, mystical golf and nothing else.

• Languages: English/Japanese
• Episodes: 26
• Published: 04 (JP) 04 (US)