2008: My Third Quarter in Anime
Oct. 1st, 2008 05:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
krpalmerIt's time to take another look back at the anime I watched in the last three months, which started off with some large and surprising realignments in the North American releasing industry and seem to have rounded out with people complaining about how the re-releases of the titles caught up in those realignments are pitched via collections to the mere "mass market," not to however many of those who were actually buying the series one instalment at a time before. (There are some more positive tidbits of news these days too, though, with even battered companies starting to talk about new licenses and series being available for appealing prices.) Nowadays, thinking about these "reviews" seems to provoke amused thoughts about how what still seems like not that long ago, I was worried that one inevitable day I would burn out on the stuff just like all the complainers I used to keep reading... and yet despite my continued enjoyment, I suppose that nowadays I find myself wondering about how much of the stuff I'm buying, at certain recent times on what might be quite insubstantial whims with minimal expectations, to meet the high "free shipping" threshold at one personable online store. I can afford it in terms of money, but time to get around to watching things seems the limited resource... still, despite similar proclamations to this sort in the past, I think that by now I've indeed ransacked the various back catalogues to the point where there's very little left I want to pick up on sale. (On the other hand, I've been able to assemble some substantial "pre-orders" in the past little while of stuff I'm pretty interested in seeing. Unfortunately, I've dipped into my "backlog" in those recent days not so much because I want to but because some of those orders have been held up by delays of just one or two of the titles in them...)
In any case, I've got into the habit of marking the start of each time period "reviewed" by rewatching a series I've already seen, just perhaps to help prove to myself that I'm indeed not stuck without the time to ever go back to any of the anime I've bought, when I might yet go to the trouble of seeing if it's indeed available through the online rent-by-mail services in operation up here. One part of this that I've been wondering about, though, is how the well-remembered series I've been picking to see again have been getting shorter. I started off gritting my way through a fifty-episode series one more time, experienced a far more integral and favourite thirty-six episode series in a new way, picked my way with careful care through a mere subset of a thirty-nine episode series, reacquainted myself with a twenty-six episode series, returned to the pleasant surprise of a thirteen-episode series, and then I got back to a mere six-episode "OVA"... although "mere" is a far from adequate word to describe FLCL, which might be seen as an entertaining flurry of bizarre occurances and oddball characters or delved into as a new twist on those familiar coming-of-age stories. I chose to watch the series again with its English-language dub, which I've seen receive pretty wide praise and may have helped it show up on cable.
For the next two series I watched from Gainax, the animation studio that made FLCL, English dubs weren't an option. Still, I suppose making a point of that wouldn't do me any good. A while back, I didn't quite lament and didn't quite brush off how, despite my having already seen its "fansubs," I was skipping the North American release of Gunbuster 2, handled by an integral arm of a Japanese company but sold for a considerable premium. Then, after that company had at last retreated into retrenchment, I happened to see an improvised bundle of all three DVDs of the release for what seemed a really excellent price. If not for the good reputation of the comics store I bought the bundle from, I suppose I might have worried a bit more about somehow winding up with a "bootleg" right up the point where I started opening the DVDs and finding the official feedback postcards in the cases. The original Gunbuster's now two-decade old shift from a somehow slightly ridiculous take on "mecha anime" (that I gather amounts to "parody" for those familiar with anime over a decade older again than it) to space opera of enormous scope has wound up with one of those exalted reputations, and I recall that some of the more modern tropes presented in the first episodes of Gunbuster 2 made some of those people holding up "old stuff" to the essential exclusion of positive thoughts towards any new anime who I used to read that much more annoyed. Thoughts have flickered through my mind at times that having to pay through the nose for the new series might have enforced a positive reaction to it from some, but in the end Gunbuster 2 again showed its own pretty impressive progression to enormous scope for me.
Many of Gainax's first series, such as Gunbuster and Neon Genesis Evangelion, achieved popular success (and have been heavily merchandised ever since), fan appeal, and even positive critical attention, but in the opinions of others that I've observed they eventually seemed to have drifted into a rut. FLCL seemed marked at times as "their last real success," Gunbuster 2, even for those who seemed willing to be positive about it, seemed to be interpreted as "a partial return to form"... but Gurren Lagann does seem to be a genuine hit. When I heard that it had been licensed by the North American distributor ADV, I was interested to have the chance to see something buzz was building for. Unfortunately, ADV's rights to the series evaporated just before its release started, in a scuffle of somehow elusive nature... and then it was announced that the rights had gone to Bandai Entertainment. As if acknowledging that time had been lost getting the series to market, Bandai announced an initial inexpensive subtitled-only release, to be followed by a TV broadcast and more DVDs including an English language version. I jumped at the first opportunity to see the show, though, and found what I did get to see quite entertaining, full of frenetic energy and theatrical characters. To me, the show at times has a sort of "post-apocalyptic" feeling to it, although it's only a feeling because it's never shown any "relics of the past" on the barren, deserted surface that the heroes, having dug their way out from underground villages, battle their way across. Although the continuation of the series is held up with the rest of an order, it seemed to be moving into a new "plot arc" when it left off. Partway through what I did see, mind you, I wondered "Don't I usually find fault with something as widely praised as Gurren Lagann seems to be?"... but then just shrugged that off with the thought that the praise was in large part for its own qualities, and the best efforts of some to use it as a stick against the anime they didn't like didn't quite matter.
While working my way through Gurren Lagann, the thought did occur to me that I had to find another anime of comparable impressiveness to interleave with it, as is my fashion now... and from my "backlog," I selected Black Lagoon. I had rushed out and bought the DVDs of its "first series" when its North American distributor Geneon had its plug pulled, and perhaps in the end spent more than I had really needed to. Still, as I at last got around to taking the price tags off the DVDs, I didn't feel bad about it. Black Lagoon features a youthful Japanese "salaryman" (the obvious "audience-identification character") being captured in a crime-riddled Southeast Asia by a gang of just-beyond-the-law "couriers," only to end up joining them. I did have to admit that with some of the early episodes, it was somehow elusive just how the crew was getting into predicaments, but the real appeal was of course watching them gun their way out. I also happened to watch the English-language dub, which I'd seen a good deal of approval of; it's salted with foul language, but all of it is quite fitting given the characters and their world.
All of the anime I've mentioned watching so far has in fact been recent, and it's pleasant in a certain way to see one counterexample after another to the blanket dismissals of all new anime of those I used to read. Still, I did have a chance to see a new release of one old series, if a release that seems to have come about not through any proclamations of intrinsic quality, but through an attempt to key into nostalgia... the show is Golion, which got turned into "Voltron" in the mid-1980s. I have to admit that a certain part of what interests me about the show is wondering just what gruesome developments in it would have had to have been explained away in the new dialogue or just plain cut to create Voltron... although maybe that's being unfair, and my now-unspecific impressions that Voltron could only claim "robot" thises and "robot" thats were being blown up came from having seen just a bit more of the other Voltron, the one made by stacking up fifteen cars, planes, and nondescript flying bricks. Of course, I'm hoping that the anime that got turned into the other Voltron will also see its own release in time.
As far as other old anime goes, I did decide to toss another rewatch in and saw another old favourite, Gundam 0080. As well, I reached at last the end of the "fansubs" of the baseball and romance drama Touch, which concluded in a satisfying fashion without having to provide an "ultimate victory." It did perhaps, though, leave me at something of a loss for what "fansub" to watch next, beyond continuing with the "side stories" of Legend of the Galactic Heroes and, of course, Macross Frontier. As that series continued, the story picked up and more extravagant villains than mere "space bugs" appeared in surprising places. To be fair, one resonance with the original Macross that I might have done without was that the characters could look "off-model" for whole episodes, but I kept enjoying it... although at times, I could wonder a little about chasing weekly releases just to be able to follow the decision of others. People in the one message board thread I was following had opinions on just how the central love triangle in the series was going to turn out, and it began to seem to me that everything the "designated loser" did was being interpreted in a negative light... and yet, I found myself thinking that I liked all the characters so much that I would feel more sorry for whoever "lost" than happy that one person "won." Among an enormous space battle and the triumph of some of the familiar themes of Macross, though, I did find myself by and large gleeful about a conclusion that managed to surprise me.
In any case, I've got into the habit of marking the start of each time period "reviewed" by rewatching a series I've already seen, just perhaps to help prove to myself that I'm indeed not stuck without the time to ever go back to any of the anime I've bought, when I might yet go to the trouble of seeing if it's indeed available through the online rent-by-mail services in operation up here. One part of this that I've been wondering about, though, is how the well-remembered series I've been picking to see again have been getting shorter. I started off gritting my way through a fifty-episode series one more time, experienced a far more integral and favourite thirty-six episode series in a new way, picked my way with careful care through a mere subset of a thirty-nine episode series, reacquainted myself with a twenty-six episode series, returned to the pleasant surprise of a thirteen-episode series, and then I got back to a mere six-episode "OVA"... although "mere" is a far from adequate word to describe FLCL, which might be seen as an entertaining flurry of bizarre occurances and oddball characters or delved into as a new twist on those familiar coming-of-age stories. I chose to watch the series again with its English-language dub, which I've seen receive pretty wide praise and may have helped it show up on cable.
For the next two series I watched from Gainax, the animation studio that made FLCL, English dubs weren't an option. Still, I suppose making a point of that wouldn't do me any good. A while back, I didn't quite lament and didn't quite brush off how, despite my having already seen its "fansubs," I was skipping the North American release of Gunbuster 2, handled by an integral arm of a Japanese company but sold for a considerable premium. Then, after that company had at last retreated into retrenchment, I happened to see an improvised bundle of all three DVDs of the release for what seemed a really excellent price. If not for the good reputation of the comics store I bought the bundle from, I suppose I might have worried a bit more about somehow winding up with a "bootleg" right up the point where I started opening the DVDs and finding the official feedback postcards in the cases. The original Gunbuster's now two-decade old shift from a somehow slightly ridiculous take on "mecha anime" (that I gather amounts to "parody" for those familiar with anime over a decade older again than it) to space opera of enormous scope has wound up with one of those exalted reputations, and I recall that some of the more modern tropes presented in the first episodes of Gunbuster 2 made some of those people holding up "old stuff" to the essential exclusion of positive thoughts towards any new anime who I used to read that much more annoyed. Thoughts have flickered through my mind at times that having to pay through the nose for the new series might have enforced a positive reaction to it from some, but in the end Gunbuster 2 again showed its own pretty impressive progression to enormous scope for me.
Many of Gainax's first series, such as Gunbuster and Neon Genesis Evangelion, achieved popular success (and have been heavily merchandised ever since), fan appeal, and even positive critical attention, but in the opinions of others that I've observed they eventually seemed to have drifted into a rut. FLCL seemed marked at times as "their last real success," Gunbuster 2, even for those who seemed willing to be positive about it, seemed to be interpreted as "a partial return to form"... but Gurren Lagann does seem to be a genuine hit. When I heard that it had been licensed by the North American distributor ADV, I was interested to have the chance to see something buzz was building for. Unfortunately, ADV's rights to the series evaporated just before its release started, in a scuffle of somehow elusive nature... and then it was announced that the rights had gone to Bandai Entertainment. As if acknowledging that time had been lost getting the series to market, Bandai announced an initial inexpensive subtitled-only release, to be followed by a TV broadcast and more DVDs including an English language version. I jumped at the first opportunity to see the show, though, and found what I did get to see quite entertaining, full of frenetic energy and theatrical characters. To me, the show at times has a sort of "post-apocalyptic" feeling to it, although it's only a feeling because it's never shown any "relics of the past" on the barren, deserted surface that the heroes, having dug their way out from underground villages, battle their way across. Although the continuation of the series is held up with the rest of an order, it seemed to be moving into a new "plot arc" when it left off. Partway through what I did see, mind you, I wondered "Don't I usually find fault with something as widely praised as Gurren Lagann seems to be?"... but then just shrugged that off with the thought that the praise was in large part for its own qualities, and the best efforts of some to use it as a stick against the anime they didn't like didn't quite matter.
While working my way through Gurren Lagann, the thought did occur to me that I had to find another anime of comparable impressiveness to interleave with it, as is my fashion now... and from my "backlog," I selected Black Lagoon. I had rushed out and bought the DVDs of its "first series" when its North American distributor Geneon had its plug pulled, and perhaps in the end spent more than I had really needed to. Still, as I at last got around to taking the price tags off the DVDs, I didn't feel bad about it. Black Lagoon features a youthful Japanese "salaryman" (the obvious "audience-identification character") being captured in a crime-riddled Southeast Asia by a gang of just-beyond-the-law "couriers," only to end up joining them. I did have to admit that with some of the early episodes, it was somehow elusive just how the crew was getting into predicaments, but the real appeal was of course watching them gun their way out. I also happened to watch the English-language dub, which I'd seen a good deal of approval of; it's salted with foul language, but all of it is quite fitting given the characters and their world.
All of the anime I've mentioned watching so far has in fact been recent, and it's pleasant in a certain way to see one counterexample after another to the blanket dismissals of all new anime of those I used to read. Still, I did have a chance to see a new release of one old series, if a release that seems to have come about not through any proclamations of intrinsic quality, but through an attempt to key into nostalgia... the show is Golion, which got turned into "Voltron" in the mid-1980s. I have to admit that a certain part of what interests me about the show is wondering just what gruesome developments in it would have had to have been explained away in the new dialogue or just plain cut to create Voltron... although maybe that's being unfair, and my now-unspecific impressions that Voltron could only claim "robot" thises and "robot" thats were being blown up came from having seen just a bit more of the other Voltron, the one made by stacking up fifteen cars, planes, and nondescript flying bricks. Of course, I'm hoping that the anime that got turned into the other Voltron will also see its own release in time.
As far as other old anime goes, I did decide to toss another rewatch in and saw another old favourite, Gundam 0080. As well, I reached at last the end of the "fansubs" of the baseball and romance drama Touch, which concluded in a satisfying fashion without having to provide an "ultimate victory." It did perhaps, though, leave me at something of a loss for what "fansub" to watch next, beyond continuing with the "side stories" of Legend of the Galactic Heroes and, of course, Macross Frontier. As that series continued, the story picked up and more extravagant villains than mere "space bugs" appeared in surprising places. To be fair, one resonance with the original Macross that I might have done without was that the characters could look "off-model" for whole episodes, but I kept enjoying it... although at times, I could wonder a little about chasing weekly releases just to be able to follow the decision of others. People in the one message board thread I was following had opinions on just how the central love triangle in the series was going to turn out, and it began to seem to me that everything the "designated loser" did was being interpreted in a negative light... and yet, I found myself thinking that I liked all the characters so much that I would feel more sorry for whoever "lost" than happy that one person "won." Among an enormous space battle and the triumph of some of the familiar themes of Macross, though, I did find myself by and large gleeful about a conclusion that managed to surprise me.