Review #11: Kaze no Stigma

• Episodes: 24
• Release: 07 (JP) 09 (US)

Antispiral – All right, so we’ve crossed over the big one-o mark reviewing together, time to move on to the future! For our 11th mutual review, Tenjobito and I are going to be reviewing Avatar: the Last Airbender meets Persona.

Tenjobito – Hm… that could be interesting.  Not that Kaze no Stigma isn’t.  Because it totally is.

Antispiral – Oh very much so. I usually try to make the best anime I review on the big, important ROUND numbers, but truth told, Kaze no Stigma really is a very good anime. Want to start us off on the plot bro?

Tenjobito – Kazuma used to be a member of the Kannagi family, a clan of powerful fire magic users from Japan.  However, when it was found he couldn’t control fire his father disowned him, Kazuma running away from home.  Four years later Kazuma returns to Japan with amazingly powerful wind magic at his disposal.  But soon after he comes back, a series of events rock the city involving magic users, and Kazuma finds himself caught up in the middle of them.  Along side his little brother Ren and the red-haired teenage future head of the Kannagi’s, Ayano, he will have to unravel what is happening, what it has to do with him, and just how he will deal with his tragic past, not to mention Ayano’s fiery personality.  It’s a good thing he has the power of the Spirit King of the Wind at his disposal, the Kaze no Stigma!

Antispiral – Is that the blurb from the back of the box or something? Ahem… anyway, yeah. Kaze no Stigma is a romantic comedy action sort of anime, no single part standing out over the others. The humor has over reactions and distorted faces a plenty, the action is over the top and fast paced, and the romance laces through it all. That could all be a bad thing, lacking single focus, but truth told the series does it all fairly well (even very well), and it all works together nicely.

Tenjobito – Yeah, sometimes things can get a bit tropey from the hot-headed tsundere main girl to the megalomaniac villain, over the top powers, etc etc…  But honestly the series somehow keeps all its plates spinning, balancing originality with familiarity, humor with seriousness, cheesecake with normalcy.  It’s a delicate game it’s playing, but it makes the series more fascinating and less one note.

Antispiral – The only big flaws I can look to are the “but they could have” ones. The ending’s a big one, leaving things rather unresolved, something that begged for another season. A lot of the characters could have used a more fleshed out background or personality too, such as Yukari and Nanase, the whole Armagest organization, as well as Catherine and the American magic users.

Still, it’s not as if I don’t realize anime’s have limited budgets, and in the case of Kaze no Stigma, unfinished manga. Allowing for reality (that some things just don’t have the time or money for more), the only thing holding it back would be the somewhat by the book nature of it.

Tenjobito – And perhaps a true lack of remarkability, sure.  One might say the graphics/animation, but even then it’s hardly a major draw.  Overall, everything about the series is above average and is worth saying the series is watchable over;  But it’s a bunch of B+ material with no real A+ parts.  That’s not bad of course, but it keeps it just away from being a true classic and automatic instant recommendation.  Take that how you will.

For me, personally, it’s definitely a favorite for the beautiful women and nuanced story.

Antispiral – Ah, you and the ladies. It wasn’t on my top before, but it’s definitely in the group of “anime I would recommend” the second viewing through. I think we’ll both agree then; if you like a little humor, a little romance, and a lot of mystical action, you could do a ton worse. Go find it cheap, be that DVD or streaming on a pay site, but give it a watch.

 

Review #10: Golden Boy

• Published – 95 (JP), 01 (US)
• Episodes – 6

Antispiral – And here we are folks, finally. The 10th review of the Anime Brothers, Tenjobito and the Charming One, me, the Antispiral.

Tenjobito – ….sure, we’ll go with that.

Antispiral – Yes, we will.

Still, this has never been about US, so to speak. No, this is all about the anime! And for our 10th review… well, nice round numbers are always supposed to be IMPORTANT, so we decided to feature an anime that’s hard to call anything but a well deserved classic!

Tenjobito – Not sure it’s the most well known classic, but if it is I certainly can’t say it doesn’t deserve it;  A very timelessly amusing little series.

Antispiral – You don’t think so? Perhaps it’s not a Dragonball or Evangelion, but Golden Boy has always had a reputation in the anime community at least. For a lot of people that grew up watching anime in the 90s (and even into the 00s), Golden Boy was an introduction into something a little more mature, even as it defined how an OAV could become a success.

Tenjobito – I guess I don’t know the anime community that well.  Regardless, the anime is certainly those things;  A little bit on the mature side, a little bit immature, and probably just the right length.

Antispiral – Well before we start giving away all our feelings on Golden Boy… the plot! Our protagonist is Kentaro Oai, a young man that dropped out of college despite having all the credits needed to graduate, instead choosing to become a wandering student of life. He rides around Japan on his bike taking temporary jobs and leaning all he can, recording down everything he learns in a little notebook he carries with him.

Tenjobito – Student of life and a freeter. Each episode is yet another of his temp jobs: Computer programmer, political intern, noodle cook, swimming instructor, house servant, and animation runner. It makes for great plot points and a method of progression in the series.

Antispiral – It also introduces him to the ladies. Golden Boy is first and foremost a comedy, but just to warn people now; it IS about a young man that is unashamedly out for a hot night with a beautiful woman, and the anime shows breasts and talks about sexual thoughts and themes on a regular basis.

Each episode has a different woman that catches Kentaro’s eye. Each is revered by those under them, highly talented and skilled, lovely, and usually uncompromising and strict. Each time, Kentaro has to find a way to prove he’s more than a slacking loser… and it doesn’t work out how he wants it to most of the time.

Tenjobito – And yet, better than he could have imagined.  Nothing to give away, but every episode is full of surprises really, both from Kentaro and from others.

The main draw of the series is probably the humor though;  Every episode is full of funny moments.  Apart from that there’s certainly action to be had too.

Antispiral – From a plot standpoint, for sure. The laughs make Golden Boy, and they are REAL good laughs. The series is too short for a deep and thoughtful plot, so it really works off the humor. From a technical standpoint though, there’s a lot more to like. The art work is really well done and blends between humorous chibi to serious drama style with good effect. The voice acting’s really well done too, enough to note. There’s little overall that the series isn’t noteworthy for.

Tenjobito – It’s true;  Golden Boy does everything it does well.  It misses out on a little bit of depth and a true conclusion, but it works.  It probably really stops at just the right length, and the plot and depth don’t feel lacking with how rapid-fire the action, humor, and eye-candy are.

Antispiral – It’s got a lot of rewatch value too because of the humor, it’s easy to collect since it’s so short, and it’s got a lot of quotable moments. If there’s any problem I can say why someone shouldn’t watch Golden Boy, it’d be the mature content of the anime. It doesn’t approach hentai, but it’s definitely more mature.

Tenjobito – There are nipples, moaning, lots of innuendo… no sex, but it’s certainly more “mature” than simple panty-shots or the usual ecchi fare.  Honestly it comes off as mostly harmless thanks to Kentarou’s genuineness and the way the series treats everyone like actual human beings rather than simply eye candy, but it’s still definitely something to be aware of.

In the end though, if that’s not a barrier for you and you’re looking for something funny, you’ll be hard pressed to not like Golden Boy I think.  Heck, it actually comes across as a little heart-warming even.

Antispiral – Yep! If you can find it, buy it or watch it online, get a good laugh. Until next time folks!

 

Review #9 (or 68): Burst Angel

• Released – 04 (JP), 07 (US)
• Episodes – 24+OAV

In the near future, Tokyo is a changed town. Gangs are out of control, everyone has a gun, and even the police can’t keep up. RAPT, a police organization that installs itself into the town, aims to change things with a heavy handed, violent law enforcement, but there’s still more to Tokyo than meets the eye.

Enter Kyohei Tachibana, a young culinary student working to become a patisserie. He answers an add for a part time chef to cook for a small group. What he discovers are Jo, Meg, Amy, and Sei, a group of vigilante justice mercenaries working under the Chinese international group known as Bailan. Sei is the Bailan heir and leader of the group, like a surrogate mother, Amy is a young hacker that Sei took in, and Amy and Jo are two girls that traveled from New York to Tokyo to escape the law. Meg is a spunky, care free girl that loves good food and shopping, while Jo is the fighter of the group, as well as the pilot of the mech called Django.

Kyohei quickly becomes a secondary character in the show as we learn more of the group of girls, especially Jo. More importantly, Sei’s group, along with all of Tokyo (as well as Osaka later), become wrapped up in strange acts of terror and destruction perpetrated by monsters and machines controlled by some sort of glowing brain. The girls, along with the hapless Kyohei, end up discovering what the glowing brains are, and how to stop them, their mission, maybe even saving Tokyo as they do so.

Burst Angel is first and foremost an action anime, and as far as that goes, it works well. The gun fights are almost always fast and furious, and the battles between Django and other large robots and monsters usually works pretty well too. The characters are all mildly interesting, with good voice actors working out distinct personalities. The humor peppered into the series can bring out a chuckle from time to time, the graphics work well…

If I none of that sounds too enthusiastic, it’s because it isn’t. Burst Angel, for the most part, isn’t a BAD series. None of the characters are unlikable, the plot isn’t incomprehensible, and even my usual pet peeve of blatant CGI in anime isn’t that bad. The problem is that little of it stands out. While I remember all the characters, none of them are ones that you’ll pick as long time favorites. I remember the general plot, but the story of the series isn’t anything new or memorable.  The series couldn’t be accused of being totally bland, but at the same time none of it feels like it’s trying to push any boundaries or stand out.

The question then becomes, can I recommend a series that I think is good but unmemorable? In the end, I’d say yes, if you can find it easily and cheaply. I don’t regret watching it, and if someone came up to me and already had it, I’d tell them to watch it and watch it again with them. There are just so many better series out there, ones that try to do more than Burst Angel does, that I can’t say that you should make an expensive purchase for it, or hunt it down if it’s not immediately found. Burst Angel just lacks… burst.

-Antispiral

I have to largely agree with Antispiral on the point that Burst Angel is unremarkable.  It feels like a hodgepodge of early millennial anime… it’s like Full Metal Panic had a baby with E’s Otherwise, if you’ll forgive the reference.  And frankly, if you think about those two series being mashed up, you get a pretty good idea if you’d like the series or not;  IE would you like a series with cgi mecha, government conspiracy, gun fights, and lots of cleavage, then there’s really not a lot more to say.

Personally, apart from the eye candy the unremarkable comment from earlier sticks;  While Sei and Meg show of some rocking bods and the non-cgi is well done, the plot itself just feels like it tries way too hard to incorporate anything it thinks is “cool” and never really goes anywhere interesting.  That’s good enough in it’s own way, but it certainly isn’t anything I’ll be gushing over.

-Tenjobito