#90 - Anime Review: Black Cat.

Title: Black Cat.
Original manga by: Kentaro Yabuki.
Studio: Gonzo.
Demographic: Shounen.
Genre: Action, adventure, fantasy, comedy.
Number of episodes: 24.
Story: Train Heartnet is a feared assassin for a secret organization known as Chronos. His marksmanship and dedication to his work is such that no one who has been targeted by the "Black Cat" has ever lived. All that changes, though, once Train meets a sweeper (freelance bounty hunter) named Saya Minatsuki, who unwittingly convinces him that he doesn't have to kill if he doesn't want to. In his quest to live by his own rules, like a stray cat, he meets another sweeper named Sven Vollfied, a former police officer; Eve, a young girl with formidable transformative abilities; and Rinslet Walker, a professional thief. Opposing Train and the Chronos Numbers is Creed Diskenth, a swordsman and former member of Chronos who hates how "soft" Train has become and detests that Chronos secretly controls, among other things, about one-third of the world's economy. With the help of the Apostles of the Stars, who all wield special powers as a result of the power of "Tao", Creed intends to re-make the world into his own paradise - hopefully with Train at his side.
Grade: B-.

I first got into Black Cat when a friend of mine recommended the manga to me on basis of a good story and great art. As of writing this review, I have currently read/collected up to volume 9 of the English volumes, and was not disappointed. Armed thusly, I dove into the anime series.

Those of you who are already familiar with the manga should be warned that the anime starts out on quite a different track. Whereas the manga shows Train already happily adapted to his job as a sweeper, working with Sven, the anime goes farther back to actually show Train as the cold-hearted Chronos Number XIII meeting with the carefree sweeper Saya Minatsuki. Considering that this is a 24-episode series, I think that this change, while certainly interesting, does a vast disservice to Train's character because within one episode we see him go from Silent McBroody to LOLBlackCat, with nothing but a "OKAY, SIX MONTHS HAVE JUST PASSED..." as explanation. It's an abrupt change that would likely jar a viewer who isn't familiar with Train from the manga. In addition, the way that Train meets Sven, Eve, and Rinslet is different: he's on one side (Chronos) and they're all on the other (Eve is Chronos' intended target, while Sven and Rinslet happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time). While they do all end up working together soon enough, to me there was always this distinct feeling that Train was always set apart from the group, not really belonging with them. Perhaps that's an intentional part of his character, but in the manga I at least was able to associate him with Sven, because the story started out with the two of them. Since the anime introduces Train to us as a loner, that fixes him in the audience's mind as such even if he does gain his little group (or big group) by the end of the series. I suppose it may be possible that Gonzo may have wanted to make Train distinct from Kenshin Himura, another former-assassin-turned-happy-go-lucky-rogue, by showing Train's roots, but if that's the case they needed at least 50-something episodes to make the change easier for the audience to swallow.

The other good guys are likeable enough, at least. Sven is a self-proclaimed gentleman who won't stand by if women are threatened, and wields an endless arsenal of weapons from an innocuous-looking briefcase; Eve, the token Lolicon Weapon of Mass Destruction, likes to read and to compete with Train for Sven's attention; Rinslet loves her work and won't back down from a challenge, and has no problems with using her feminine wiles to get what she needs. On the side of Chronos, the most memorable character from there is Chronos Number VII, Jenos Hazard, who is a flirt that eventually becomes Rinslet's love interest. (Personally I just like his weapon, Excelion, which is a series of metal threads that he can control to either slice through things or to wrap around things. No, it totally wouldn't work in real life, but it just looks cool. I'm also fond of Chronos Number X's hagoromo, woven through with threads of orihalcon metal.) Chronos Number I, Sephiria Arks, is also intriguing - her youthful face belies a frightening determination and conviction in the rightness of her work, and I always looked forward to seeing her kick ass. As for the other Numbers, well, you learn about them soon enough.

The Apostles of the Stars are a more amusing bunch. My personal favorite is Kyoko Kirisaki, the fire-breathing schoolgirl. I was quite disappointed when the anime cut out one of my favorite scenes from the manga, where Kyouko kisses a policeman and thusly incinerates him from the inside out. I could make a joke here about what a hot scene that was, but instead I'll just say: dude, come on. She's a schoolgirl. Who breathes fire. Close behind Kyoko is Charden Flamberg, who can form his blood into monsters and (I think?) weapons. He doesn't really get a lot of backstory, but you usually see him paired with Kyoko, and the two look cute together, so that's enough for me. Other members of the Apostles include Leon Elliot, a kid who hates adults and controls the air; Maro, a descendant of royalty from what is referred to as the "other continent" who controls gravity; Echidna Parass, a former actress who can create gates in space; Durham, who can wield his Tao powers in the form of infinite ammunition in his gun and doesn't get any backstory at all; and Shiki, another person from the "other continent" who control bugs. Yes, the Apostles are certainly an interesting bunch, wouldn't you say?

But oh, Creed. Creed Diskenth is in a league of his own. Creed is Dist the Rose (from Tales of the Abyss) if Dist ever got the cojones to lead the God-Generals and could swordfight with an extendable chi sword of doom that totally isn't compensating for something else. They both even have light purple hair and the flower collars and the implication of Ultimate Gay and the creepy-ass fixation on their idols! Except that Dist's obsession with Jade can't even begin to compare with Creed's obsession with Train. No, I'm serious. If Dist's obsession with Jade is over nine thousand, then Creed's obsession with Train is over nine gazillion. [small spoilers ahead] Creed freakin' killed Saya because he thought that Saya was bewitching Train to "act against his nature" or whatever. And when Train finally gets to Creed's ultimate stronghold? Creed has a mural of Train (by his side, of course). And a statue. [/spoilers] Holy shit, dude, stop trying to get into Train's pants and start building fon machines or something.

Plot? What's that? Oh, right. There's three distinguishable story arcs in the series: Train starting to fall away from his role as a Chronos Number, Train trying to take down Creed without unwittingly becoming a pawn to Chronos, and something else that I'll talk about below the cut because it's very spoilery (and because I get a little ranty about it). I already talked about the story in terms of Train's character development, so I won't rehash that. The resolution of the conflict between Train's group, Chronos, and the Apostles is epic enough, although I will say that Leon vs. Eve had to be one of the most badass fights in the series, if not the most badass. It probably says something that I thought a showdown between two (admittedly superpowered) kids was more interesting and epic than a fight between a gunman and a swordsman, but I'm not sure what.

Animation and art was pretty good, although the opening sequence gave me headaches. (I can't remember the ending sequence because I never watched it - I always just skipped to the next episode.) The soundtrack had some nice moments, but ultimately didn't strike my fancy, and I didn't care for the opening or (what I could remember of the) ending, either. Still, execution of all the main elements was solid, which is why Black Cat gets a B as a base grade. The reason it got docked to a B- is explained in more detail below the cut. It may be an unfair reason for lowering the grade, but it annoyed me so much that I had to account for it somehow.

( I've come to bring the rantiness )

Random thought: Train's Hades gun looks like a revolver, so how the hell is he able to keep up a near-constant round of fire? I'm not complaining, mind you, because he looks cool while doing it, but the question should at least be out there.

-Reileen
she's a dwelling place for demons

#91 - Anime Review: Romeo x Juliet.

Title: Romeo x Juliet.
Original story by: William Shakespeare. And before him, some anonymous Italian person.
Studio: Gonzo.
Demographic: Shoujo.
Genre: Fantasy, dystopia, romance, drama.
Number of episodes: 24.
Story: Fourteen years ago, on the floating continent of Neo Verona, the Capulets were overthrown in a bloody revolution by the Montagues. The only surviving member of the clan, Juliet, lives life as a boy, swordfighting in the streets of Neo Verona as a vigilante figure known as the Red Whirlwind. Once she turns sixteen, however, she must make the choice to lead a band of loyal Capulet vassals to march against the Montague house, the family of her new love, Romeo.
Grade: B.

For those of you who are familiar with the...wait, what the fuck am I saying, everyone's familiar with the source material! Thus, everyone should watch this series just so you can see Juliet kick ass and essentially steal the entire show. It's only 24 episodes, so we're not looking at Naruto or One Piece or Dragonball Z here. Also, the ending is considerably happier and more hopeful than in the play, even though Romeo and Juliet still both die (nomg not a spoiler!!!1! act five scene three, trufax!!!). It's not a perfect series by any means, but it won't make you want to tear out your hair. Unless you're a Shakespeare fanboy/fangirl, in which case, maybe you should just dig out the original and curl up with it in a plush, dusty armchair, because Romeo x Juliet diverges from the source material quite a bit.

I mentioned before that Juliet is essentially the main character in this series and benefits a lot from this version of the story, so if you read the play and thought that maybe you'd like to see more of her, Romeo x Juliet might be your thing. She gets a good amount of character development, and her initial impulsiveness is demonstrated not only by her love-at-first-sight with Romeo but also when she first takes on her role as the heir to the Capulet name. Romeo, unfortunately, is a little on the bland side: he's likable but not distinctive. Tybalt gets a total makeover, but aside from mentioning that holy hell he's kinda hot, I can't say how he got made over because that would involve spoilers. He could've been really badass if he had more of a chance to show off, but since this is Romeo x Juliet and not Romeo x Juliet x Tybalt (although I was actually kind of hoping for something like that), I can't really complain. (He totally gives off a Sasuke Uchiha vibe, though.) Lord Montague, a.k.a. Royal Asshole of the Year, gets some backstory as well, but by the time you get there you just want him to diediedie so it really just ends up being more of a footnote. Mercutio is Royal Asshole the Second, for more reasons than one, but he doesn't really get that way until the second half of the series. Benvolio is...well, he's still Romeo's friend, at least.

There's a plethora of new characters involved, and a lot of them are named after various characters from Shakespeare's other plays. Shakespeare himself - or so you may assume based on clues scattered throughout the series - appears as Willy, a struggling playwright whose family ties to the Montague line combined with a secret sympathy for the Capulet cause allow the Capulet vassals to hide under his roof until the time comes for them to rise up against Grand Duke Montague. Funnily enough, the Capulet vassals, save for Juliet's childhood friend Cordelia, aren't named after Shakespeare characters, at least not to my knowledge. There's Conrad, the former leader of the Capulet guard, who was the one who originally saved Juliet and Cordelia from the Capulet slaughter, and is the Grandfather Figure. Francisco and Curio, both former members of the Capulet guard, are respectively the Effeminate But Badass Fighter with a Hidden Intellect and the Spiky-Haired Rude Swordsman with a Heart of Gold. On the Montague side, Hermione is Romeo's intended fiancee, who later becomes jealous of Juliet's involvement with Romeo.

The story is still the same basic Romeo and Juliet - love at first sight, 'til death do us part. The only difference is that you at least get to see more interaction between the two, so even if you're like me and hate that entire "love at first sight" trope with a fucking burning passion, you can at least empathize with the characters. (It helps that Juliet can kick ass.) One of the biggest changes, though, is the addition of a certain fantastical element that I - surprisingly - didn't really like. I'll discuss why under the cut.

Animation and art is great, and some of the backgrounds really are quite beautiful. There's a couple of places where CGI is used, like when there's a shot of the Montague crest banners flapping in the wind, and while it's nicely done it's also seems a little pasteded on yey. The only thing I can remember about the music is that the opening theme is essentially an adaptation of "You Raise Me Up", which is actually sung in the original English at some point early on in the series (episode 8, maybe?). Also, one of the endings is some rock number ("Cyclone" by 12012), which made me go "bzuh"? Not to worry, shoujo fans, they change to a more appropriately romantic piece ("Good Bye, Yesterday" by Mizrock) about halfway through the series, with an equally shoujo animation sequence.

So is this cool? Yes. But not as could as it could be, which is why I gave it a B - a good series, but not good enough to wow me.

( you raise me up, so I can write R&J AU fanfics )

-Reileen
the howls are sending chills down my spine

#92 - To complete my spam for tonight, I bring you music videos!

I don't usually watch music videos, but dantaron was doing his media studies homework and got me curious, so I checked out stuff for some of my favorite songs.

Evanescence - Lithium
This was one of my favorite songs off their The Open Door album, so it's a wonder I didn't think to check this out before. Well, come to think of it, I hadn't been impressed by the "Call Me When You're Sober" video, so maybe I just decided to write off the music videos from that. It has a couple of really fast shots, which is jarring for a slow song like this, but I love the setting.

Avenged Sevenfold - Beast and the Harlot
First heard this song on Guitar Hero 2. Yes, really. Shut the fuck up, I like it. And the concept for this video isn't too bad, although the female character threw me for a loop because she looks like Amy Lee from Evanescence. *points up*

Nightwish - Amaranth
From their new album, Dark Passion Play. Apparently the concept is based on a really famous Finnish painting called "The Wounded Angel".

The Offspring - Original Prankster
There's not much to say except "ewww" at the first prank in the video. Also, the song is awesome and the video in general is awesome.

Yousei Teikoku - Kokou no Sousei (live)
o...omg. *sobs* "Kokou no Sousei" is one of my favorite Yousei Teikoku songs evar. So of course when I found a live performance of it, I was shocked! Amazed! Gleeful! Surely a song made of this much awesome would be even better live, right?

Not so, folks.

This Reileen regrets to inform you that Yui Itsuki is one of those seiyuu who really can't sing but is commissioned to do it anyway for commercial reasons. The video is taken off the extras from YT's new "metanoia" album; there are also videos for live performances of "Ira" and "Shijun no Zankoku". The former is actually passable; the latter happens to suck. WRRRYYYYYYY.

It's late as hell even given that my sleeping schedule has relapsed into a more vampiric pattern, but there's no way I can sleep knowing that one of my favorite bands gives a really sucky live performance. I AM RUINED FOREVER DO YOU HEAR ME MARTEL FOREEEVVVEEERRRR.

-Reileen
and in the end, I guess I had to fall