Review #116 – Saber Marionette R

Before this review goes on a few relevant points.  1) This review is a guest review done by Tenjobito, who you may remember from the joint reviews from last year;  Antispiral is a bit behind on reviews and asked me to help catch things up.  2) Despite the Saber Marionette series all tying together nominally, each part will be getting a seperate review.  This is thanks to each part largely standing alone in some ways, not to mention each featuring completely different voice actors, animators, and companies involved.  So reviewing them together really works poorly.

With that out of the way, on with Saber Marionette R!

• Published:  97 (JP),  98 (US)
• Episodes:  3

Junior, the heir of Romana, and his battle sabers Cherry and Lime, are enjoying their peaceful life in Romana.  Lime and Cherry are special battle sabers with Girl Circuits, special mechanisms that let them think and feel the same way humans can.  Suddenly, the evil Star-Face and his sexadolls attack Romana in order to take over so Star-Face can become the next High Official. In order to truly become the next High Official and ruler of Romana, he must first eliminate Junior. This begins a battle for, not only Junior’s life, but for all of Romana.

Supposedly taking place 200 years after the events of Saber Marionette J to X, there is really nothing to suggest this runty predecessor to the Saber Marionette series is tied into the rest in any meaningful way besides a few shared concepts;  The Mesopotamia is never mentioned, the other nations aren’t mentioned…  Even the fact that there must be females around now thanks to the rescuing of Lorelei in J never comes up, as we’re back to exclusively men that are clones.  The similarities themselves use different terminology too:  girl circuit instead of maiden circuit, battle saber instead of marionette.

So ultimately, with the fact that R was witten before any of the J series were, we’re left with what feels kind of like a pilot episode or beta to the much more popular predecessors.

How does the pilot hold up then?  Decent, I suppose.  It’s definitely more serious than the J series, with Star-Face and his sexadolls being truly cruel and humor being mostly absent.  The art is certainly closer to a more manga type style as well, with simpler rounder characters and more chibiness.  The story is simple to a fault to fit into three episodes, but even then there’s not much to say about it above the blurb from the start of the review;  One interesting twist that really isn’t all that interesting, but otherwise it’s just three episodes of Star-Face hunting Junior until Junior fights back.

Ultimately my impression of Saber Marionette R is forgettable.  The Saber Marionette setting is half about the unique setting, and R barely touches on that.  The other half was the core plots about the Mesopotamia and reprecusdions of the crash that reverberate throughout the J series.  And without those things, all we’re left with is a three episode assassination plot with an uninteresting main character, still irritating Lime and Cherry (even if they’re different), a cornilly evil villian (even if he’s more edgy), and none of the humor (even if it was flat).

So you take out the good from the Saber Marionette series and replace it with a pinch of drama and violence…  Frankly, it doesn’t work for me.  Still, it could be interesting to some as a stand alone movie of sorts, if you liked late 80’s/early 90’s low budget psuedo-scifi movies like Vampire Hunter D or Armitage Ill, though it’s definitely a step down from those too.

 

Review #115 – Saber Marionette J to X

Before this review goes on a few relevant points.  1) This review is a guest review done by Tenjobito, who you may remember from the joint reviews from last year;  Antispiral is a bit behind on reviews and asked me to help catch things up.  2) Despite the Saber Marionette series all tying together nominally, each part will be getting a seperate review.  This is thanks to each part largely standing alone in some ways, not to mention each featuring completely different voice actors, animators, and companies involved.  So reviewing them together really works poorly.

With that out of the way, on with Saber Marionette J to X!

• Published:  99 (JP), 03 (US)
• Episodes:  26

While Saber Marionette J Again follows on from Saber Marionette J, the events of J Again are more or less absent from the start of Saber Marionette J to X.

Instead, we once again find the peace of Terra 2 threated as Faust reappears, this time sending an army of attack drones to threaten Japoness.  Thus Otaru, Lime, Cherry, Bloodberry, and the tagging along Hanegata find themselves fighting against Faust’s own Marionettes.

But why has Faust given up his peaceful ways?  The plot only thickens as they find the answer to that question.  Soon secret agendas from the country of Xian embroil the group, and ultimately all of Terra 2, in their grasp.

Once again though, like J Again, the first thing one notices if starting J to X after the other two is we once again have a whole new art staff and voice acting crew.  ~Unlike~ J Again, however, this time it was unequivocally a downgrade this time.  I won’t mince words here;  The English dub of J to X is bad.  It is REALLY REALLY bad.  It is so bad that Antispiral literally could not bring ourselves finish the series without changing things over to Japanese plus subtitles. Those of you who follow this blog know how much Antispiral luts on watching dubs when availible, even if they’re subpar like Brain Powerd or Lost Universe’s were.  But this was so distracting, it made the series impossible to watch with any modecrem of seriousness.  Frankly, the animation at times was almost as bad, especially during action scenes, with distorted limbs or screwed up faces.

Still, let’s leave quality issues aside a moment.  The actual plot of J to X certainly is the most exansive of the three main Saber Marionette series;  With 26 episodes to work with and much less time devoted to establishing characters needed, the plot really does go places.  Starting in Japoness like the other two (thus the titles J and J Again, btw), things soon move to Xian in this one (thus J to X), where the meat of the plot takes place.

As to the quality of the plot here, I can’t say it’s much better or worse than the original J’s, probably not surprising since they at least had the same writer/creator.  So once again we have irritating characters, corny inexplicably evil villian, flat humor… But once again all the filler and nonsense actually kind of comes together in the end for a decent if not good climax.  Followed by a nonsense ending.

Honestly, even with the good parts to the story here I have an really hard time recommending Saber Marionette J to X to anyone, unless they really liked the original J and have to have more, but 6 episodes of J Again wasn’t cutting it.  Which is too bad in a way because it’s a touching little plot if you strip away all the nonsense.

But in the end JtoX takes a series already teetering on the edge between mediocre and all right and just dumps more of the same on so it starts getting old;  The same irritating characters, the same glaring plot holes, the same facepalming character actions, the same flat humor…  And then it tops it all off by the worst English dub in the history of forever.  And and, even if you wanted to listen to the Japanese audio to begin with, you still need to put up with the large step back in art quality.

Frankly, I don’t know what happened here;  Lack of skill, lack of budget, lack of time, lack of motivation… But whatever happened, Saber Marionette J to X is a mess, and I can’t recommend it.  It has almost nothing going for it, not even the things the previous two series had, apart from its unique setting and decent story.  It’s cheap if you’re desperate for more Saber Marionettes or can look past all the negatives for what little really good story there is at the core, just don’t be surprised if you leave more dissapointed than expected.

 

Review #114 – Saber Marionette J Again

Before this review goes on a few relevant points.  1) This review is a guest review done by Tenjobito, who you may remember from the joint reviews from last year;  Antispiral is a bit behind on reviews and asked me to help catch things up.  2) Despite the Saber Marionette series all tying together nominally, each part will be getting a seperate review.  This is thanks to each part largely standing alone in some ways, not to mention each featuring completely different voice actors, animators, and companies involved.  So reviewing them together really works poorly.

With that out of the way, on with Saber Marionette J Again!

• Published:  97 (JP), 01 (US)
• Episodes:  6

A direct sequel of sorts to Saber Marionette J, Saber Marionette J Again picks up after the end of the war.  A more contemplative Faust orders his three marionettes to stay in Japoness and learn manners and life skills from Otaru and his marionettes.  Otaru and his marionettes are now the heroes of Terra 2 for stopping the war and the Mesopotamia’s rain of destruction, as well as rescuing Lorelei.

Things have barely begun to settle in when a mysterious bandit starts plaguing Japoness.  When the marionettes look into it, they find the thief is also a marionette.  And not just any marionette, another one with a maiden circuit!  Not remembering anything except the sound of the sea they give this girl the name Marine and give her a home.

But who is Marine really, and why is there a seventh marionette with a maiden circuit?  This short OVA explores the story surrounding this mysterious marionette and her origins, as well as her purpose.

Right off the bat, the first thing one notices jumping from Saber Marionette J to J Again is the art and voice actors are all different;  Despite being created by the same person, the company that produced SMJ could not be convinced to to SMJA, so this happened.  It definitely took some getting used to going from one to the other.  Fortunately the art certainly isn’t any worse and might actually be a bit better.  The voice acting might err on the slightly worse side of things, but not by too much.

That out of the way SMJA, while taking place between J and JtoX, is really more of a short side story than anything else;  The plot and characters unique to this OVA aren’t brought up again in JtoX, so simply come and go over these quick six episodes.

For a large part though, J Again is an enjoyable little side trek.  The new character, Marine, slides seamlessly into the existing cast and offers an interesting story for the Saber Marionette universe.  The characters are just as irritating as they were in the original series, but if anything they might have more character growth in these six episodes than in all twenty-five of J.

What else is there to say really?  In some ways, I think I enjoyed J Again more than its predecessor;  Its improved visuals, compact story, and increased character growth were all refreshing after the sprawl that was J.  That said, it doesn’t exactly reinvent the wheel for the series, and the new voices did little to help already irrtitating characters.  And the lack of tie ins and short length leave little room for something truly memorable.

Ultimately though, if you’re going through with getting Saber Marionette J, I think you should get J Again as well, if you can find it cheap or bundled together.  Even if it doesn’t really fix a somewhat mediocre series it does improve on some things and offers a well done little sequel of sorts.  If nothing else it was fun and offered some closure to some things from SMJ, so I definitely felt it was worth my time.

 

Review #113 – Saber Marionette J

Before this review goes on a few relevant points.  1) This review is a guest review done by Tenjobito, who you may remember from the joint reviews from last year;  Antispiral is a bit behind on reviews and asked me to help catch things up.  2) Despite the Saber Marionette series all tying together nominally, each part will be getting a seperate review.  This is thanks to each part largely standing alone in some ways, not to mention each featuring completely different voice actors, animators, and companies involved.  So reviewing them together really works poorly.

With that out of the way, on with Saber Marionette J!

• Published:  96 (JP), 01 (US)
• Episodes:  25

Some time in the late 22nd century, Earth developed the means to colonize other planets, building colony ships and sending them towards distant habitable planets.  One of these ships, the Mesopotamia, arrived at its destination only to suffer a serious catastrophe while still in orbit.  Almost all the colonists in stasis were killed, with the only known survivors being one woman still in stasis and seven men who crashed on the planet in an escape craft.

Unable to get back to the Mesopotamia, and without any women, the seven survivors see no choice but to use their scientific knowledge of cloning to inhabit the planet, each of the suvivors founding a country and making citizens containing their DNA…

Saber Marionette J starts some 300 years after this incident.  The seven nations of Terra 2 are thriving, each ruled by genetic duplicates of their founders, while the citizens are more diverse clones.  There are still only men though, and over time some of the roles of women have been taken over by robots in the forms of women called Marionettes.

In the nation of Japoness, our hero Otaru Mamiya is a simple labourer, peddling fish and living in a small one room apartment.  One day, after almost being run over by his friend, Mitsurugi Hanagata’s, car, Otaru gets into a fight with him in which Otaru falls into the river.  Washing up down stream near an old museum, Otaru decides to check it out, accidently stumbling on a strange marionette who calls herself Lime;  The strange part being that Lime acts nothing like a robot, expressing emotions and free will like a normal human.  Lime is soon joined by Cherry and Bloodberry, two other marionettes with this amazing ability to feel emotions, and all three resolve to move in with Otaru, whom they seem utterly devoted to.

The main bulk of the series is sparked when the neighbouring country of Gartland invades the country of Petersburg, setting its sights on Japoness next.  The ruler of Gartland, a man named Faust, seems to feel the world needs a strong leader, and has built up a large high tech army.  But in addition to his tanks and soldiers, he seems to possess three marionettes who can also experience emotion, due to something Faust calls a Maiden Circuit.

What exactly is the secret of the maiden circuits?  Why does Faust want to take over the world?  And what secret lies above Terra 2 in the wreck of the Mesopotamia?  These questions drive the plot towards an exciting conclusion, after some side plots and character building at least.

The Saber Marionette series is one of those seeming “classic” series from the anime boom in the late 80’s and early 90’s that we’d never gotten around to watching, much like Ranma 1/2, Project A-Ko, Sailor Moon, DNA^2, or etc.  And J has always been the flagship part of the series.

I went into J expecting a very similar experience to All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku crossed with Slayers, and in some ways I wasn’t too far off;  Like the aforementioned series, Saber Marionette J has a mix action and humor, all wrapped up in simple but colorful early 90’s style hand drawn animation.  Saber Marionette J does keep it’s unique style from its manga though, with its dramatic hairstyles and pronounced cheeks.

But what about how good it was though?  Well, SMJ is a mixed bag in the end;

PROS

• SMJ, while not exactly a visual feast, at least has clean charming art that fits the series aesthetics.
• The storyline, while starting weakly, does end up pretty interesting by the end.
• The setting and premise are interesting and unique

CONS

• Almost none of the characters are likeable;  Otaru is kind of a meathead, all three of the main marionettes are irritating in their own way, Hanegata is doubly irritating, and Faust is mockishly evil.  More than that they’re incredibly one dimensional, with only Faust and his three dolls truly ending up somewhere different.
• The story really does meander until the war, and the character growth and filler episodes just aren’t that entertaining, with little character growth and flat humor.
• The very ending is one of a few glaring plot holes and wtf moments that really take you out of the story and leave you scratching your head.

Ultimately, the goods and bads kind of reach an equilibrium with this series for me;  The characters are irritating enough, the plot holes are glaring enough, and the humor insipid enough to keep me from calling the series good… But I can’t deny the series at least possesses unique and charming qualities to it.

So would I recommend giving it a watch though?  Ultimately it really depends on how picky you are and how much time you have, because Saber Marionette J is more watchable as a cute, unique little piece of anime history than as a truly memorable good time.  It’s not bad, and it’s charming enough to be its cheap asking price.  But if your anime time is limited or you’re strict on anime quality, Saber Marionette J probably will seem like a waste of time in the end.

 

Review #112 – MM!

• Published: 10 (JP), 11 (US)
• Episodes: 12

(Note: This review is for a DVD with English subtitles only.  There is now an English dub, but it did not exist at the time the DVD was bought.)

Taro Sado has a problem. The high school freshman has a condition self described as “super masochism”, where any violence women do against him makes him feel an intense amount of pleasure and beg for more. It’s a side that many of his classmates have seen signs of and he has a reputation as a strange guy. With that in mind, Taro seeks to cure himself so he can feel right about confessing to a crush he has. And when his classmate Tatsukichi tells him about a club called the Second Voluntary Club, that will help you with any problem you have, he goes there. The head of the club, Mio, seems like a nice girl at first.  But after Taro says he can’t burden her and tries to leave, she beats him up, triggering him masochism, which just causes her to beat Taro up more.

Eventually, she agrees to do everything she can to try to cure him of his condition. Not that things go even remotely right. First Taro finds out that the only other club member, his cute classmate Arashiko, has a phobia of men that makes her afraid of him and causes her to hit him whenever he touches her (which of course just triggers his masochism and makes things worse). Then he finds out that the cute girl he had a crush on was really his classmate and friend Tatsukichi cross dressing, a side that, once unleashed, ends up having a princess complex. And to top it all off, Mio’s cures for Taro usually involve sadistic pushes to try to trigger his defense response, which just results in more masochism from him instead.

Of course, even THAT isn’t the half of it. After all, Arashiko soon develops feelings for Taro, but she can’t even get close to him. Mio might have feelings for him too, not that she’d ever admit it even if she did. Then there’s Taro’s mother and older sister, who both seem to want to marry him, over all his protests. Add in a loli genius that falls for Taro too, Arashiko’s middle school friend who doesn’t want Taro anywhere NEAR her, a Super Pervert belt that gives Taro special powers, the school nurse being Mio’s older sister and a cosplay fan… let’s just say that things are never simple for Taro.

MM! (sounded out, like emmu-emmu) was an anime I went into not having any idea what it was about, something rare for me. After the first episode I felt I had the jist of it. As it went on though… well I won’t say it surprised me so to speak, but it was certainly better than I thought it was going to be. Why? Well, for one, the characters developed and changed. Not all of them, and not a lot, but each showed more than one side, such as Taro’s caring side opposed to his masochism, and Arashiko’s trying to grow and be comfortable with men. It also didn’t take itself down an uncomfortable, serious route with the masochism, instead giving it a much more slapstick vibe, going over the top with super powers, near indestructibility, being hit off into orbit, that sort of thing. It also avoided the more awkward parts of romance and rejection that can make an anime too heavy or serious, like I felt from Please Teacher or Shakugan no Shana.

Really, the list of things I liked in the end far outweighed the few negative things I took away from MM!. The few minor nitpicks included a bit of over-reliance on the masochism for jokes, the high school characters looking younger than high schoolers for the most part, and the lack of an English dub. None of those were major problems for me however. I’m not sure everything together made it something I’d more highly recommend, but I was definitely pleasantly surprised by MM!, and I’d even say I enjoyed it. While it might be over the top for some, if you want an over the top, slapstick filled high school anime, you could certainly do a lot worse than MM!

 

Review #111: Those Who Hunt Elves!

• Published: 96-97 (JP), 98 (US)
• Episodes: 24

Ritsuko, Junpei, and Airi are all from Earth, and they’re all stuck in a world not their own, a world of magic, elves, and more. Accidentally summoned to that world by the high priestess Celcia, the trio wants nothing more than to go home. Celcia tells them she knows a spell to get them there, but as she’s casting the ritual she’s distracted by Junpei, the spell shattering and the fragments of it scattering across the world, imprinting themselves onto the bodies of elves. Celcia tells them that they would need to retrieve the spell fragments if they ever hope to get home, leading the trio to vow to strip every elf in the land to check for spell fragments until they’re able to go home.

Needless to say, this leads to what the series is all about. and the source of the title. Each of the three brings their own talents and skills to the hunt for spell fragments. Ritsuko is a young high school girl from Japan that has a military fetish, making her an expert with all sorts of guns, not to mention the large tank the three drive around that earns the name Mihke after a cat’s spirit possess it. Junpei is a star martial artist from Japan as well, brash and a bit direct, but able to outfight nearly anyone that gets in their path. Lastly, Airi is an American actress who uses her skill with disguise and acting to trick the trio into places they might not otherwise be able to get. Eventually, Celcia joins the group as well, vowing to help them get the spell fragments back, transposing the fragments onto her own body for safe keeping (despite rather humorous results from doing so).

Needless to say, no elf WANTS to be stripped of their clothing, so most of the plot involves ways for the group to find elves and see if they have spell fragments. The group quickly gains a notorious reputation as Those Who Hunt Elves, eventually even being caught and standing trial for their crimes against elf kind. Fortunately, they’re freed, get the last spell fragment… only for the spell to go wrong AGAIN, leading them to start the hunt all over.

For the most part, there is one key thing to like about Those Who Hunt Elves, and that’s the fact that the anime is light hearted, humorous, and fun. Like a lot of 90s anime comedies, it doesn’t take itself seriously at all, using slapstick, personality extremes, improbable situations, and one sided characters to make for an easy to follow, easy to predict, but ultimately funny anime. That also touches on the bad side of the anime however, in that the characters ARE all rather one sided and lack any form of development through the anime, just as the plot lacks a real growth.

That duality of the series makes it hard for me to recommend it or not, because what makes that distinction of recommending it or not depends on if the light hearted nature of the series trumps the lack of growth and development for you, or if you’re the sort that can’t stand an anime that’s stale and the same thing over and over. Certainly both sides have a lot to them. On the positive, the characters work well together comedy wise, and each has enough different that they work with different elements for humor. Nothing is ever taken very seriously, meaning that it comes off as very light hearted and easy to watch. Even the most serious part of the anime, the stripping, is nothing more than off screen or comedically over the top clothes flying and flustered elves.

In the end though, there are enough parts that work against it that I can’t really recommend it as a series. I already mentioned the lack of character depth and growth, but the whole series doesn’t grow at all. Through 24 episodes, the group just keeps hunting elves, even taking the end of the first season to SEEM like they’re done, only to have the spell shatter again and for them to go back to elf stripping all over again. Start to finish the plot is the exact same, with the plot a device to see different places and different things, only to have the same goal and same end all over again.

Even without recommending it however, I wouldn’t actively discourage anyone from watching Those Who Hunt Elves. At its heart is a light, funny anime that won’t weigh you down and WILL make you laugh. There are better comedy anime out there though. Don’t go into this one expecting to be impressed.

 

Review #110: Samurai Gun

• Episodes: 13
• Published: 04 (JP), 05 (US)

The place is Japan. The time, the start of the Industrial Revolution. The Shogun still rules with an iron fist, terrorizing the people with murder, rape, imprisonment, and more. Using ruthless men and the newest technology of the times, the agents of the Shogun maintain bloody order with an iron fist.

Enter the Samurai Gun.A group of covert fighters for justice, the group is made up of elite fighters trained to work with precision and speed to covertly work against the Shogun and his minions. Working together under the orders of the orders of a secret council, each Samurai Gun wears a distinctive beetle looking samurai suit and carries top secret, top of the line guns. They do everything from hostage rescue, to sabotage, document retrieval and delivery, spying, and more.

Ichimatsu is one of those Samurai Gun, a man with white hair, an eye patch, and a troubled past. During the day he works as a server at a local bar, staying in a small apartment room nearby. By night however, Ichimaru is given missions as a Samurai Gun, no matter how reluctant he is about the possibility he might have to kill once again. He’s often joined by a few fellow Samurai Gun from the area, including a local teacher named Daimon, and the bar’s resident singer Kurenai.

Unfortunately for the Samurai Gun, the Shogun’s organization isn’t still long. As the rebels begin to inflict wounds on the Shogun’s people and supplies, a group of Anti-Samurai Gun is organized, their only goal the elimination of the Samurai Gun organization. Using the best technology the Shogun has access too, as well as a devious set of evil traps meant to ensnare the moralistic Samurai Gun, Ichimatsu finds more and more that his wish not to kill pushed to the wayside again and again.

As time goes on we meet more and more of the initial Samurai Gun, each of which has a number, a number they were given during their initial training under harsh, and even brutal conditions. Each of the initial trainee’s family’s were killed by the orders of the Council and the children made to train to fight day in and day out for years. Ichimatsu finds out he’s not the only one with a compulsion to kill that he wants to hold back, even as those around him watch his mental state teeter closer and closer to the edge…

Samurai Gun is one of those classic examples of a one season anime that feels more like a pitch than a completed work. The plot paces itself fairly well to start, and even right up until the end things seem to progress at a natural pace, keeping new characters simple and interpersonal relationships the same. The problem comes in when the anime just ends, leaving a lot of plot lines and relationships unresolved in a way that speaks strongly of their being plans for a second season if things went well.

This would all be all right if the plot itself were more enjoyable. While there are interesting characters, fine voice acting, and a lovely art style that reminded me of a cross between Samurai Champloo and Lupin the 3rd, the action and plot itself is mostly forgettable. Even now, right after finishing the anime, I can barely remember most of the episodes. The few memorable set pieces were vastly outnumbered by the generic.

In the end, that’s the downfall of the series, despite all I liked about it, and despite the ramshackle ending. A lot of anime’s end early, so that’s something that someone who watches a lot can grow used to. Being generic and forgettable is the true death of a series, making an anime something left behind where even a truly bad series would be mocked years later. Samurai Gun isn’t a series that most will regret watching, and one that many will find enjoyable parts in. I don’t think there’s enough meat on the bones of the series however, and in the end it’s nothing more than a light snack that you forget you had the next meal.

 

Review #109: Twelve Kingdoms

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• Episodes: 45
• Published: 02-03(JP), 03 (US)

Our story opens in Japan, at a normal Japanese high school. Youko Nakajima is the class president, a smart and well behaved girl that lacks friends or warmth from her parents. She tries to befriend and help out the introverted and misunderstood Yuka Sugimoto, and is at least friendly with a boy named Ikuya Asano. Still, other than Youko’s naturally red hair, little seems off in her life or the life of her classmates, and nothing seems too amiss as we are introduced to the characters.

All that changes when a stranger with long white hair shows up and tells Youko she’s in danger. He then kneels before her and tells her she is her master and that he will always serve her. Youko tells the man he must be mistaken, but when the windows of the classroom are blown out by some force and many people hurt, she finally agrees to follow him to the roof of the school. They find Ikuya and Yuka up there, but before they can talk, a giant demonic crow attacks, nearly killing them. The man, who finally introduces himself as Keiki, summons a spirit that takes Youko away to safety, another spirit taking Yuka and Ikuya away when Yuka says she wants to go.

All of them meet up on a pier overlooking the ocean, and Keiki tells Youko she is a queen of a kingdom in another land and that he’s come to take her back. When Youko insists she isn’t and doesn’t want to go, Keiki tells her there’s no time to talk and they are all in danger. Youko kills the pursuing crow monster with a sword with the help of a spirit that goes into her body, just as a giant whirlpool opens in the sea and one of Keiki’s spirits takes Youko away.  Yuka yet again insists she be taken along because she must be the chosen one, not Youko, Ikuya being dragged along with her when she is spirited away.

All three come out of the sea in another world, where the ocean looks nothing like the sea by Japan. More demonic monsters, called youma, attack, separating the group. Youko washes up on shore alone, wandering with her sword, which shows her visions of Japan and her lost friends. Eventually, she manages to find both Yuka and Ikuya, only to find out that she appears to look different now, and that she can naturally understand and speak the language of this land, despite the fact neither of the others have ever heard a language like it before. The three start to wander the land to try to find Keiki, Youko and Ikuya hoping to return home while Yuka wishes to stay, saying this new world is her destiny.

The plot of the Twelve Kingdoms is deeply complex, and the story of the three students from Earth doesn’t end there by any means. Nor is Twelve Kingdoms solely the story of Youko, Yuka, and Ikuya. Over the course of 45 episodes the story mostly focuses on Youko, but there are other stories involving the King of the kingdom of En, the lost Ki-Rin of Tai called Taiki, the princess of Hou called Shoukei, a girl from Meiji era Japan called Suzu… and those are only the main plots. Each of the Twelve Kingdoms has a ruler and Ki-Rin (or is supposed to, though some are in revolt or transition), and though not every kingdom is featured, many are in one way out another.

Because of all the complexity of the world and the myriad of characters, Twelve Kingdoms pulls off something very few 45 episode animes can; It feels too short. I should perhaps say it’s not that the run time feels too brief by any means, and the length has enough time to it to cover the main plot around Youko well enough… But the plot involving Taiki is left entirely unresolved, and many other stories and kingdoms are hinted at and given story time, but aren’t really covered. It almost feels greedy asking for more, but it’s a well told world with a lot to it.

That’s sort of my hint that I really enjoyed Twelve Kingdoms, that I wished there was more. The creators did a wonderful job of making a world that felt full, fleshed out, and real, with an amazing cultural and historical detail to the series. The artwork of the anime is gorgeous: the landscapes are vibrant and detailed, the clothes always feel fit to the people and setting, the cities look fantastic, and all the creatures feel foreign and fantastical. Both voice overs, Japanese and English, were very well done, fitting together with a sound track that is in my top 5 OST for anime, featuring a very classical Chinese sound to it.

Twelve Kingdoms usually ends up in my lists of top anime, though the unfinished story, and the wish for more, make it sometimes just miss the top. That said, there is so much good that one can easily overlook those small nitpicks. If you want an anime about an epic, grandiose world of kingdoms, kings, demonic beasts, and more, you would be very hard pressed to find one better than Twelve Kingdoms.

 

Review #108: Moeyo Ken

• Episodes: 4 OAV + 13 TV
• Published: 03 (OAV)/05 (TV) JP, 05 (US)

The place is Japan in an alternate world where monsters and spirits really do exist, and the time is the Meiji Restoration, just after Japan was opened up to the influences of the West and began to modernize. Tokyo has started to see many changes, from street cars and western dress to monsters being able to register to be citizens. Unfortunately, for every monster that’s properly registered and become a model member of society, there are more that haven’t registered and cause trouble for the people of the city. Luckily (or unluckily), Tokyo is protected not only by the police, but also by a group of young girls called the Monile Shinsengumi.

The core of the Mobile Shinsengumi are three girls, all daughters of members of the original Shinsengumi. The head of the three is Yuko Kondo, a tomboyish woman with a tendency to get into debt, break her sword, and generally try too hard and get into trouble. Below her is Toshie Hijikata, a taller white haired woman that is logical and sometimes comes off as robotic, changing from using a blade in the OAV to using guns in the TV series. The last member is Kaoru Okita, the youngest member and the resident user of magic, later revealed to be only half human. Over all three girls is the owner, Oryou, a caring woman that can almost be too kind, and that lacks good financial skills. Add to that the resident scientist and inventor Gennai, a maid, and cat monster named Nekomaru, and the owner’s son, Ryounosuke Sakomoto.

Tokyo isn’t without others of course, and there are a few that regularly interact with the Mobile Shinsengumi. The most frequent are a group called the Tsubame Group, composed of the rich and snobby Miki, the handsome swordsman Ukon, and the Chinese cabbage obsessed Sakon. The Tsubame Group’s goals are to allow monsters to be free once more, as they were before the registration that came with being allowed to live alongside humans. Most of the time this ends up coming through in the group causing a monster to go on a rampage that the Mobile Shinsengumi have to stop. The town debt collector shows up at the Mobile Shinsengumi’s headquarters far too often for their liking, there’s a catgirl monster and a homosexual monster that both own businesses in town that get caught up with them, and finally there’s the pretty local waitress Sayoko, who the 3 girls in the group try to help Ryounosuke up with when they believe he has a crush on her.

The OAV and TV series differ a little in the basic plot. The OAV’s 4 episodes revolve exclusively around the 3 girls. The OAV portrays the Mobile Shinsengumi girls as just as bad for Tokyo as the monsters they fight, It also leaves off the plot with Ryounosuke, instead giving a little background on the girls when it’s not busy with their battles against the monsters. The TV series still focuses on the 3 Shinsengumi girls, but the main plot revolves around Ryounosuke. It turns out that he’d been studying in China for a few years now, and upon his return he’s given ownership of the group by his mother Oryou. In part this is an attempt by her to stop him from returning to China to finish his studies, which she feels would break her heart to lose him again. Figuring out the problem, the 3 girls all do their best to help make him stay as well, at first by trying to get him with the waitress Sayoko, and later with Kaoru trying to confess her own feeling to get him to stay. Unfortunately, before anyone can convince him to stay, the daughter of his teacher (and the girl Ryounosuke’s betrothed to), Lan Lan, shows up in an airship to take him back to China, or baring that, to stay in Japan as his wife.

By the same designer as Ranma 1/2 and with character designs by the artist from Inuyasha, Moeyo Ken has a cartoony look and a slapstick feel, with even the serious moments lasting only so long before the humor works its way back into the series. The Mobile Shinsengumi is showed again and again as good hearted but a bit incompetent, usually causing just as much mayhem and destruction as they try to prevent. The bungling nature comes through in everything from the unrequited love, to the main villains being Team Rocket rejects, to the battle with inflation pills. While there are one or two serious points, none really stick, and even the deaths of characters gets made better in record time.

Of the two, the OAV is clearly the less refined. Too short to really develop well, the OAV lacks real substance and is quickly forgettable. Add in the fact that the OAV has bad voice acting, and it becomes a series I really can’t recommend. Thankfully, the TV series fixes both of those problems, having an interesting plot that develops well (especially for a comedy anime), and with much better English voice actors. On its own, I recommend the TV series, even if it’s not the best comedy anime out there. As a whole, the entire thing is worth watching, though I see no reason to watch the OAV on its own, and I think you lose little if you just watched the TV series. Watch both only if you want to be completionist. Regardless, the TV series is a cute little comedy that’s worth a watch.

 

Review #107: Scrapped Princess

• Published: 03 (JP), 08 (US)
• Episodes: 24

There are a few anime tropes that seem to be fairly constant with dramatic plots. A geeky guy getting into a situation with a harem of women is a constant enough situation that it has its own genre name. Many longer anime have strength starting off small and growing over a long time into fantastic cosmic power, most famously with Dragonball (or Gurren Lagann). One of the largest of all however is humanity being punished for its “sins”, be they against each other, nature, or the gods. This can come in the form of aliens finding humanity barbaric or primitive and punishing us for our aggression or arrogance, the planet evolving to try to drive us away (as seen recently with my Blue Gender review), or sometimes a powerful villain or demigod come to punish us his or herself. Scrapped Princess doesn’t really fit into any of those well, even as it fits the mold.

That’s getting well ahead of things however.

At its heart, Scrapped Princess is a medieval fantasy about a world where humanity lives in a world of swords and sorcery in a relatively peaceful world. All that changes when the Church of Mauser, the official religion of the world, releases a prophecy saying that a girl will be born that will be the poison of the world and see its end when she reaches the age of 16. When a pair of twins is born to a royal couple and the girl is declared to be the realization of the prophecy, the girl child is taken to be thrown off a cliff to her death.

The queen won’t let her daughter be killed however, and the girl is caught by an agent and smuggled off to be raised by a family called the Casulls. The girl is given the name Pacifica with the hope that she’ll grow up happy and will bring happiness to others. She’s raised alongside the two Casull children, the sword wielding older brother Shannon, and the magic wielding older sister Racquel. When their parents are killed by agents of the Church of Mauser, Shannon and Racquel take Pacifica and start to travel constantly to stay ahead of those seeking to kill their foster sister. This is where the series itself picks up, with the three siblings traveling the countryside in their wagon trying to make a living as they can and try to stay inconspicuous and safe.

As much troubles as the three siblings have, they end up meeting those sympathetic to the plight of Pacifica, who’d been dubbed the “Scrapped Princess” since she was thrown away. They meet a questing knight named Leopold that falls for Pacifica even though it takes him some time to catch on to her real identity. They meet a girl named Winia working at an inn that finds in Pacifica a friend, just as Pacifica finds one in her; Though they’re nearly separated by a boy that’s a member of the kingdom’s special forces named Christopher. They meet the man that threw Pacifica off the cliff when she was a baby, a man who has lived haunted by what he’d done. Everyone they meet has their own stories, but for the most part, after misunderstandings and trepidation, most seem to see the joy and good in Pacifica and become her friend. It’s during this time that Shannon also meets a being named Zeferis, who makes him a Dragoon.

When the series gets halfway through is when things start to tip on their head. When the trio are taken in (though more captured) by the princess of a neighboring kingdom named Seness the “Beast Princess”, they discover an ancient piece of technology called the Skiff, a leftover from an ancient war called “the Genesis War”. The Skiff has to be activated as a Peacemaker, a servant of Mauser, attacks with a fleet on ships being manned by people under mind control. Thanks to Pacifica’s ability to nullify the powers of the Peacemakers, as well as Shannon and Zeferis merging, the group drives the attack away, only to be told that they must bring the Scrapped Princess to the capitol or they will kill thousands.

I won’t spoil the ending, but needless to say there’s much more to what the Scrapped Princess is, what the Genesis War was, what Peacemakers are, what a Dragoon is, and even who Mauser is. As I already said, humanity is certainly judged and the Scrapped Princess ends up just as much a savior as a curse for the world. Though the anime ends peacefully and wraps up well, it gives a lot of new information leading up TO that end. Who survives, who ends up on which side, and what the world really is all comes down to the last few episodes. It really is a wild ride but a fun one.

The anime is just as fun and enjoyable, though it isn’t without its faults. While the plot makes for a lot of twists, I’d have preferred if things had stuck with the fantasy theme that the anime had started with, even if the anime wouldn’t have worked that way. I guess the ending  was a bit too over the top for me with how simple and character based the start was. Still, I should point out that’s one of the best positives of Scrapped Princess, the characters. Because it focuses on three characters through the whole anime and their trials and tribulations, it allows for interesting character development and gives the audience a good chance to connect with them (and they’re enjoyable enough to connect with in my opinion).

Though there are things I’m not super excited about with Scrapped Princess’ twists, I overall recommend it. It’s a decent length, with an interesting cast of characters and a world that’s a lot more than what it seems. I never found it too slow, never found it inane or offensive, and grew to really care about what happened. Give it a watch, enjoy, and be ready for that sweet 16th.