02.29.08
Posted in Anime Tags: Batman Gotham Knight, co-production, shorts, バットマン ゴッサムナイト at 5:59 pm by reversethieves
The new Batman movie is getting a lot of buzz for both good reasons (like it’s awesome trailer) and bad (like the death of Heath Ledger). Well, we are on the Bat-train too. I love the caped crusader, as many do, so when any new media is coming out involving him my ears perk up. An article was in Wizard not too long ago about a new series of animated Batman shorts. They are going to supplement the new movie Batman: The Dark Knight that is coming out in the summer. That is not too far away!
Well my dad is a huge Batman fan so by extension I have a rather healthy familiarity and fondness for the Caped Crusader. I really liked Batman Begins for a variety of reasons. First of all, most people felt the series needed a reboot after the last few horrible Batman movies. You need to start fresh after hearing, “Holy rusted metal Batman!” and Arnold Schwarzenegger saying, “Chill Out.” The Batsuit with nipples did not either. That and I have to say that Ra’s al Ghul is one of my favorite Batman villains. I feel he is the only Batman villain that is Batman’s equal. Any movie with him is just sure to be good. That being said I have decently high if somewhat guarded expectation going into the new Batman movie.
It is being done ala Animatrix-style so all the pieces are wrapped together in one long movie. Six different writers with six different takes on Batman. The stories are by American writers and the studios animating them are: Josh Olson, David Goyer, Brian Azzarello, Greg Rucka, Jordan Goldberg, and Alan Burnett with the help of Studio 4°C, Production I.G, and Madhouse. And the best part is Bruce Timm is directing! Each short is using distinct, and at times abstract, art direction to give different tones and flavors to the stories.
I would not be at all surprised in the success of the Animatrix is what made this collection of movies happen in the first place. There is a whole big push now for everything to have multiple layers of interactivity and spin-off products. You have to have the interactive web page with added back story, the game that ties into the movie, the novels with side stories, and the animated prequel. I’m not saying I don’t like it. Done right it can give a movie added layers of depth and strength. Heck, some of my favorite series do it and do it well. When Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith came out they had those Clone Wars cartoons that were far better then the actual movies they bridged.
And with a franchise like Batman, it is not nearly as hard to come up with tie-in products.
The fact that they got together such a good mix of anime studios and American comic writers gives me hope for this project as well. I know most people I know who are into general animation have a distinctly soft place in their hearts of Batman: The Animated Series. Like most anthologies, I expect some stories to be far more pleasing to my tastes than others. I guess that is the greatest strength and weakness of groupings of works.
I like how dark they are taking Batman with this, I mean he was always dark but I think they have really been raising the bar as of late. Gotham looks move like hell on earth in the clips. And although we do get a very pretty Bruce in at least one short, the overall tone seem to be darkness and violence.
I would disagree in the fact that I feel the dark hardcore Batman comes and goes as the times change. The original Batman was very dark and pulp detective character. I mean the Dark Knight Returns and the The Killing Joke graphic novels famous for getting Batman on a version track. Even Batman: The Animated Series had to often fight with senors of what could and could not be cartoon. There were two different versions made of the Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker. Batman has also had his share of silly incarnations in including the old Adam West series and anything even remotely to do with Bat-Mite. Batman has played the range from dark as midnight to pratfalling silly and everywhere in between. That being said I too prefer a dark and gritty Batman. If we are going to get any animated Batman that gets a twisted Gotham like in the Killing Joke it’s going to be Batman: Gotham Knight.
I didn’t say Batman was never dark. Any comic book reader knows Batman has always had that edge to him. But I think it sometimes gets lost when tying him to mainstream media. Because everyone is always looking for the largest appeal possible, some things about his character are glossed over. I loved the animated series because it was dark in both design and story but a lot of it was subtle. I don’t see this up and coming animated feature being subtle in the same ways. I think it’s screaming.
I assume this is sort of supposed to be like, “what the hey was Batman doing between Batman Beings and the new movie?” Although, as I was writing that I remembered that one of the villains is Scarecrow. And he dealt with him in the first film so it’ll be interesting to see how it all ties together.
Well at the end of Batman Begins Commissioner Gordon mentions that the Scarecrow is still on the loose so he is definitely someone who should be doing something in between the first and second movies. I found the whole section about Deadshot rather interesting. I did not remember him as a Batman villain but I also don’t remember villains like the Penny Plunderer, Maxie Zeus, and Calendar Man (who sound like a rejected Megaman villain) but maybe for good reasons. It seems they are taking a rather minor character and rebuilding him in an interesting way.
I loved the Batman animated series, it was well directed and held the spirit of Batman. So I am really looking forward to this body of work and seeing Timm’s work in action again. A collaborative work like this is always exciting because you are never quite sure how it’s going to turn out. I have a positive outlook.
I’m mostly curious how much of the series will feel like Batman: The Anime and how much will it be a Batman cartoon with Japanese animators. I would like either one but they are two different products. I felt like the people talking on the trailer has a very odd or narrow image of what anime was. This might be a Batman cartoon with Japanese animators despite all the talk of how they would be incorporating anime’s strengths and fell into the project. I suppose it also comedown to individual pieces as well. O|ne part might be extremely anime influenced where as another might only have the lightest stokes of anime influence. Either way I look froward to what the result is.
But no matter what it can never be as funny as this.
Narutaki Currently!
Watching Ouran High School Host Club
Reading Nagatachou Strawberry
Listening to T.M.Revolution
Hisui (Brainwasher Detective) Currently:
Watching Hayate no Gotoku
Reading Rose Hip Zero
Listening to Seventh Moon by Fire Bomber featuring Basara Nekki
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02.13.08
Posted in Anime, Reviews Tags: overlooked anime, shojo anime, The Story of Saiunkoku, TV series, 彩雲国物語 at 5:51 pm by reversethieves
Alright, we have a double feature of review goodness! We try not to but there isn’t much news to talk about as of late and besides we sped through Saiunkoku. This was mostly my fault as I basically refused to stop watching for most of Sundayand there by forced Hisu to continue as well. But it was totally worth it!
I battled being sick and being sleepy just to finish the last six episodes Saiunkoku but it was well worth it. A delightful fusion of comedy, drama, intrigue, and romance made up for a killer headache and a generally woozy feeling. The Story of Saiunkoku starts with Nabiki … I mean Shurei Ko who is a rather unusual princess. She has taken to doing odd jobs such as playing the erhu and teaching at the local temple to keep her family afloat. A recent civil war has devastated the land and left a great many people in dire straits. Her family has fallen on hard times partially due to the fact that during the civil war they spent much of their money and resources taking care of the needy people in the neighborhood. One day one of the chief advisers of the Emperor offers to pay Shurei as small fortune to tutor the young Emperor into a man worthy of the throne. It seems that since the new Emperor has taken power he has completely withdrawn from interacting with the court. Shurei has to turn the seemingly naive slacker into a proper and strong ruler of a troubled kingdom.
She accepts the offer before even hearing the request fully! But Shurei greatly cares about the well-being of her country and people and is there by very disappointed the Emperor is not taking it more seriously. As she dreams of being a government official (which she eventually succeeds at) she vows to do her best to help and support the Emperor so that he has the good of the people at heart. This stories focus is Shurei but also the kingdom itself with its politics, families, nobles, troubles, triumphs, and romances. If it wasn’t set in a fictional place I would call it historical fiction. I see this series as shojo but also a family-type show, it airs on Saturday mornings. I imagine that is why it is already two season of 39 episodes each. There is a bit of everything thrown into the mix: romance, drama, action, comedy and tragedy. It is one big play with one huge cast of characters.
I remember we were trying to figure out what age group this show was targeted at and we had an amusing conversation about whores. As it turns out, there is a brothel with a rather interesting madame that is the focal point of several stories in the “second arc.” The fan-subs we saw constantly referred to the women who worked at the brothel as whores which seemed rather harsh and vulgar with what is otherwise handled rather delicately in the rest of the series. It’s never implied that the brothel is anywhere but a place where men pay to have sex but it is clearly a high class brothel with a distinct air of class. It was therefore an odd choice for the fan-subber to pick one of the harshest terms for a prostitute in the subtitles. I’m curious if this is just a poor word choice or just a straight but odd translation from the original.
All the episodes titles come from famous Chinese proverbs. The proverbs always are critical to some plot point in the series and are often uttered by someone in the cast. I suppose that also shows that this was meant to be a show for the whole family. Often times family shows go out of there way to teach some little lesson or moral while also being entertaining. It just shows that as long as you are classy in your storytelling you can incorporate brothels into your family programming in Japan.
I mentioned this series having a lot of focus on the kingdom and therefore there are a lot of big players in this. Off the top of my head I counted 20 important people (not including Shurei and the Emperor) to the story and that was just thinking about it without looking at a character listing so I know I’m forgetting some. You have the royalty, the nobles, all the government officials, and various other players. I think the cast is really amazing though, almost as if I’m watching a play, I think of them as real people. Their interactions are dead on. And there is every type of person you can imagine all the way from a madame to head of the finance department who wears a mask at all times. The way the characters are folded into the story is done very organically and you know once you see someone they will eventually pop up again.
And it is all those wonderful characters that make the show come to life. If these characters were not so well made, I don’t think the story would be the masterpiece that it is. There are some rather mundane and standard plots in the series. But the realistic characters breath life into them. I was going into the characters individually but it seems a waste for two reasons. The first reason is that all the characters are slowly and skilfully brought into the show. Each new set of characters are added with just enough time for you to learn who they are, but never enough for them to ware out their welcome or reveal all of their layers. The second reason is that talking too much about the characters will spoil their little secrets and quirks. There is a certain charm in learning who everyone is and what their story is. Many of the characters are shown in a light that leads you to believe they are one type of character but later actions or interactions will reveal that they have more going on or different motivations than they would originally seemed to.
Of course there is one character we have to look at in depth, Shurei. She is the pillar of the series in which the show is either supported by or falls apart around. Being the most important character means that your enjoyment of her personality is one of the biggest factors in determining weather or not you will enjoy this show. That being said, Shurei is definitely a character I can get behind. She is a strong female character who can take care of herself. She is both willing and able to support and protect herself but not unwilling or unable to accept help when she needs it. She displays the kindness and softness that many a female character does, while also avoiding being a wilting flower. She is smart partially because she is naturally smart but also backs that up with the willingness to put hard work into study. She is definitely frugal but always in a realistic and often times charming manner. She is the type of woman you would want to marry. She is the type of woman I would want to marry.
Shurei at first glance seems to be a too perfect I-wish-I-was-that-girl type but that quickly dissolves as you get into the meat of the story. She is extremely intelligent, on par with her male peers, and shows little intimidation in the many political situations. In fact, she is much more confident when it comes to facts and figures than her own heart. I think this is a popular theme for strong females but shojo usually sticks with the average girl and so Shurei seems to be a departure from that.
The only cliche thing about her is that she has a fear of thunder. Having seen several shojo series and a lesser number of shonen series where they pick a phobia to give a character vulnerability. It’s not unexplained phobia and when when learn the story of why she is afraid of thunder it gives it you insight into her and several other characters. It definitely was not just added to be added so it’s not a bad mark on the show itself. It did on the other hand come to the revelation that giving a female character some phobia is a common and easy method of fleshing them out. It might be common knowledge to everyone else but it only just clicked in my head. It might also stick out because another character I just read about had the same phobia.
Well, you can’t have a good protagonist that doesn’t have fears and flaws (unless you’re seinen). If Shurei was never afraid of anything she would be completely unrelateable and unrealistic. And I think that is what’s so great about this show. While it lives in the storybook realm all the characters’ personalities are like people you know, it gives a nice kick to the fairytale angle of the whole series.
Her relationship with the Emperor is interesting because it a unusual mix of storybook romance with realistic angles. They both seem to be able to often see right through each other but at the same time have a good deal of uncertainty about what the other one is thinking. I also really like they they both support the other one’s dreams and ambitions. All too often we have the wish fulfillment fantasy of the provider who asks for and needs nothing in return. They also play well off each other. They have an amusing chemistry that makes you want to root for them. I know that it does not hurt that the Emperor is definitely the type of character that Narutaki loves.
If you looked at my Top 5 couples list, you will see these two on it. They make me all jumpy inside! This series does a fantastic job of creating a fairytale romance that isn’t a fairytale but almost practical. I never feel they are a forced coupling where nothing is explained it just is. All of their feelings and emotions come from a part of their past or personality. But you still have the fairytale because he is the Emperor and she is a princess. Ryuki is in love with her but he never hinders her path. No matter how much he may want her to stay in the palace, he recognizes and wants her dreams for her as much as she wants them herself. He recognizes her strengths and helps her, without doing things for her, even when those things take her further from his side rather than closer. Okay, so I’m totally in love with Ryuki myself. Sue me. He isn’t perfect, even though my description was glowing. But you do see a lot of growth in the first season. He becomes committed and serious about his job, but doesn’t lose all of his silly and sometimes naive thinking. Their relationship is really the driving force of the series for the first ten episodes or so but then it starts to take a backseat to the politics of the country. It is really there to show growth, change, and also to set up a love story that takes place over years and distance.
The director always keeps the pace of the story moving. All too often stories with political intrigue can get bogged down in their own weight of there story but Jun Shishido avoids that trap. That being said, I sort of wish we could have stayed a more focused on the Emperor but the story naturally drifts away from him being the most important character in Shurei’s life. The anime makes it clear that this is Shurei’s story and Ryuki is one of the most important people in her life, but he is not the be all and end all. Love is an important and generally fascinating part of her life but it’s only one aspect of it.
Friendships also play a big role (as do rivalries). They help to give depth to the series and also create a meaningful and rich history. I especially enjoy watching this relationship grow between Ryuki (the Emperor), Ran (a General of the Shaorin army), and Koyu (Vice-Secretary of the Civil Affairs). They have a familial feel to them. They work together but they also poke fun at each other, fight foes, and talk. So as the story moves away from them I was visibly disappointed. However, all the other characters pick up the slack. Such as the bond between Seiran and Ensei which is both mysterious (you find out more as the story goes along) and wonderful because there is trust.
I also liked Seiran’s relationship with Ryuki. It was unexpected and interested me. I would like to talk about it but it is a major spoiler. It really makes me think we should add a spoiler thread to the forums so we can discuss certain things after people have watched the series. In fact, after we post this I going to do just that. I know there is one character that you really want to talk about because you super love him and want to have his babies. Babies of super love.
Women are sparse in this series which only adds to the setting. It is an ancient time when women were not considered on the same level as men. But throughout the series we meet characters that challenge and break-through these ideas to help push the society forward. We literally get to watch as a new era is being born. All of the women that do appear show stature, intelligence, and courage while not losing their femininity. You have women in roles like: head of family, running their own business, and progressing the country. The series also reminds you of the responsibility of being a lady in waiting and not looking down on such roles for women.
I like that Saiunkoku gives women power but does not do it in ways that are incongruous with the setting. Shurei’s rise to being an official is fraught with hardships and massive resistance. They make it clear that she is very lucky that things have come together in a way that she can break the normal restrictions of society. Had she tried as hard as she did at some other point in the countries history, she probably would not have been able to become an official.
I would not recommend that you watch this show sick as I did because it is a show where the little details are important. Little facts, items, and relationships will come up when you least expect them to. There are some very good uses of Chekhov’s gun. You will often wait with baited breath to learn why something casually brought up in one part of the series with effect people later on. Nothing as bad as Audrey’s letter in Twin Peaks but you might wonder when a certain report is going to come into play.
OMG! Audrey’s letter! You saw me, I was practically pulling my hair out for four episodes. I like that Saiunkoku takes these things into consideration because I get obsessed with the little things. Especially since they sometimes come waaaaaaaay later, to the point you almost forgot (unless you’re me). I like that things come full circle because the writer really thought ahead. I think this somewhat stems from them originally being novels. Which incidentally I desperately wish someone would license.
Or Lothos. Lothos will see it all coming a mile away. (Lothos is a reader of this here blog). I don’t think it’s an impossibility for the novels to get licensed. The manga and book market is far healthier than the anime market. I think the probability is directly linked to how well the Twelve Kingdom novels did. If Twelve Kingdoms sold like gangbusters, then this is a sure license. If it sold poorly it is a long shot. It would have a much greater chance if someone saved the anime license from Geneon but I don’t think that is going to happen anytime soon. Prove me wrong Funimation. Prove me wrong.
If anything gives this series away as being shojo it is certainly the character designs. I can honestly say I’ve never seen a series with more beautiful guys, and the cast is 85% male. Not that I’m complaining or anything. And hey most of the guys can back up their pretty faces with fighting skills or cunning. So, hot and useful totally works in my world.
Also I would say almost all of them are very likable. How many times have you seen the pretty boy who is good at everything but you want to beat some positive personality into them? And I think our minds have been tainted by cute male (a place on 4chan) and it makes me sad. There are quite a few scenes that were clearly fodder for countless doujinshi. When you have likable beautiful male characters in compromising positions you know that the fan-girl mind is sparked like a powder-keg to draw and write smut. Nothing in the show is horribly exploitative but anyone who has seen enough doujinshi will know that certain scenes are going to be used.
Look, I don’t want go into this too much. But if cute male has taught us anything, it is this: characters don’t even have to know each other to have smut made about them! So, a series rife with beautiful men is just asking for stories to be written about it. And unfortunately, Saiunkoku doesn’t show up on cute/male very often. Did I say unfortunate? I totally meant fortunate. Yes, that is what I meant.
I will off handily mention there is the occasionally supernatural element to the series. I would say about 90 of everything that goes on is mundane and normal. There are one or two characters, and they are mostly more minor characters, that have blatantly magical powers. They will usually only pop up ever five or six episodes and their powers are usually subtle. Magic seems to be understood to exist in the world of Saiunkoku but it also seems to be very rare. I wonder how much the supernatural comes into play in the second season. I assume they keep the same balance of mundane to supernatural but there are hints that might not be the case. I suppose the only way to find out is for me to watch.
Oh and watch we shall! Probably have to review the second season as well, that is when it’s done. I want the rest of the DVDs that fit it the awesome little case that Geneon made for it! And it had little postcard posters, which are now hanging in my office. Poor Geneon, you were a service to fans! But we had to hunt for it, found fan-subs of it before it was licensed since there was really no alternative. This series is great. We have babbled on about it long enough you’d think. But no, I could go on and on about all the little things that make this series a winner. Let me just say that this is one of the best shojo series to gace television in a long time. That is my final thought.
I really hope we sell people on this series because it is another series that can easily fall by the wayside if people don’t talk about it. I think it is one of the smartest, most entertaining, older family friendly shojo fantasy series. If you watch the series and you like it tell people about it. I really want someone to pick up the anime again. I think it is the best way to get the rest of the related materials. I think that there are some series that do some things better but not as many do as many things very well as Saiunkoku. It is definitely better than Fushigi Yugi. Zing Fushigi Yugi. Zing.
UPDATE: Funimation has picked up this show along with other Geneon titles!
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02.06.08
Posted in Anime, Reviews Tags: Imagawa, music anime, overlooked anime, shonen fighting, TV series, Violinist of Hameln, ハーメルンのバイオリン弾き at 4:50 pm by reversethieves
Imagine there was a director who read the original Slayers novels and said,”This is good. A really good fantasy adventure. I just wish there was not so much goofy comedy.” Then he went and took out all the breast jokes and the eating gags. Then he just makes the whole plot about Lina and her companion’s quest to save the world from Ruby-Eye Shabranigdo and his horde of demon warriors. Then he took all the characters and did not totally rewrite them but he made them all serious business. That is basically what they did with the Violinist of Hameln. It does not make the Violinist of Hameln a bad anime in the least. It just makes it based on the original work but not a direct adaption. The anime reveals itself early to be a dark fantasy epic that hits the ground running. I suppose it is also one of the only ways to tell a 37 book story in 26 episodes.
Sometimes veering from the original is a horrible mistake and sometimes you get two interesting pieces of work that are individually good. As soon as I read more of the manga I can make my call on that one. I became interested in this show a good number of years ago now. I was looking for something in the fantasy realm. And as most fans know, good anime sword and sorcery epics are few and far between. This is one of those obscure shows with a cult following. It has a quirky gimmick with a very serious and dark plot. Although, in the anime the quirks quickly fade as the story progresses.
Hamel and Flute both grew up in the idyllic little village of Staccato. Hamel is an introverted boy man who carries around a rather large violin and has a talking crow, Oboe, for a pet. Flute is his upbeat and cute friend. One day, Flute stumbles upon an injured knight and tries to nurse him back to health. Eventually the Knight brings major trouble to the village and Hamel is forced to protect Flute on her journey to the capital city to meet Queen Horn and where she can be safe. Along the way they are joined by a pianist, Raiel, who seems to know Hamel and a young Prince, Trom, of the Sword Kingdom. We slowly learn that there is more to everyone in this little adventuring party and that they all play a role in much larger events that will shape the future of everyone in the kingdom.
As you can see, many characters and most places have musical names and the ones that don’t use magical music. I really love the character designs, very extreme costuming and a use of bright colors. This is where a lot of its quirkiness lives. It’s a real contrast to the world surrounding them because everything is dark and mysterious. I think the series constantly juxtaposed things this way. Even the way the story is told, it starts off seeming like a simple story about demons and a kingdom and turns into being a look at moral ambiguity.
I still find that fact that Raiel has a huge R on his hat and carries around a mini piano rather hysterical. I really liked Sizer’s character design although her scythe also has a huge S on it and doubles as a flute.
Hamel wakes up one day to find he has sprouted a horn. Odd. He is a very silent and aloof kind of guy, I know hard to believe in a shonen series. His original objective is to protect Flute but as the series progresses it really becomes a discovery of who and what he is and where he fits into the fate of this world.
Not to give too much away, but I will say that no character is exactly what they appear to be at the beginning at the anime. Things that seem like unexplained plot holes or odd character decision are often explained later in the series and actually make sense in retrospect. Okay, maybe Cornet is not hiding dark secrets but that is mostly because she is sort of annoying so no one wants to include her in sinister plans. I also feel that one of the main themes of Hamel is an examination of love in the romantic sense, the platonic sense, and the familial sense. How much can you love someone despite what they have done in the past and might do in the future? How much are you willing to sacrifice to please the one you love? How much are you willing to sacrifice the happiness of another to make the one you love happy? How much are you willing to sacrifice another person to make yourself happy? Everyone in this series has to answer these questions at some point in the story.
The supporting cast is strong and that is where my favorite characters, in all series, frequently come from. Raiel, who we meet is a childhood friend of Hamel’s and a traveling musician. So he actually uses his magical music for more than fighting foes. I think Raiel is a good character stemming from his constant turmoil from loving and hating Hamel. This becomes more prominent as the series progress and creates moments where you really don’t know how he will react. Then you have mostly useless Flute, the female love interest; all knowing Obo, the crusty badass crow; Trom, the high-spirited, sword-swinger; and Clarinet, the one everyone thinks is annoying but I didn’t really find her so. Also you have have Clairi(net) who is a powerful wizard! I LOVE HIM! He works for Queen Horn who protects the kingdom at all costs. Everyone contributes something at some point and therefore makes for a well-rounded cast.
I seem to remember us joking that Mohinder tended to drop the ball less than Flute who mostly seems to wander around with the party and be nothing more than a plot point for quite a good deal of the story. When she is not being useless she is actively making things worse. She does contribute at several key points in the story so she is not a totally useless character. Raiel is an oddly conflicted character and makes him a wild card in the series. I feel that several of his changes of heart that seem to come rather suddenly and at times a tad bit unexplained. I think most of them in part are related to shifts in dispositions of Raiel in the manga. And I wish we had seen a little more of Trom. He was very important when he was introduced and then somewhere near the middle he seems to appear in every episode but does next to nothing other than at the climax. I’m curious if once again he was supposed to be more important but due to the problems that seemed to plague Hameln’s production. Oboe is just made of manly voice and encyclopedic knowledge. The only huge plot hole in the series is that one even bats an eye about Oboe’s existence as a talking crow. You you think he had the same convenient plot invisibility that Andre does in Rose of Versailles. You liked Clairi? Unpossible. It is not like there are legions of fan girls (and quite a few fan boys) for him. I think you summed it up best with, “The most popular doujinshi pairing is not Clairi and a specific character, it’s Clairi and anyone and everything.” As a side note, I felt that Ocarina was thrown into the anime just because she was a rather prominent character in manga. She could have been easily removed from the anime and it would have had no real effect on the plot.
So, what the hell is everyone fighting against in this series? Well, we really don’t get to know too much about them except they are demons and they want to revive their demonking because he is their demonking! Some of our villains have intricate pasts that weave them into the relationships with the characters and some are just plain evil.
Music is of course a huge part of what makes this series unique and a joy to listen to. Like we mentioned there is magical music and that music is classical pieces played by either the violin or piano. Oboe jumps in to tell you the name of the piece and why it is significant to use at that point in the story. So if you know nothing about classical music, which I don’t, then is both entertaining and educational.
I remember the President of the anime club at college loved Hameln because of all of the classical music. The only sad things is as the series progress I feel that the music becomes less integral as it is in the beginning. Anime needs more series with classical music soundtracks other than Legend of the Galactic Heroes.
I think we have to talk about everyone’s biggest complaint with this show. It is a rather unfortunate thing, but it must be addressed. This series is about 50% (maybe even less) animated, the rest being filled in with still and pan shots. I remember people having a similar complaint of Record of Lodoss War: Chronicles of the Heroic Knight, too. Let me tell you, that has nothing on Hameln! I at least take heart that it isn’t poorly animated, it just isn’t animated a lot of the time, haha. While this doesn’t bother me too much, I can see the annoyance. There are times even I am cracking up from the lack of it. Sometimes you wonder, “why did they animate that! Couldn’t you have animated that fight scene more?” So it watches more like an illustrated storybook with limited movement.
Hameln is fine if you go into it with the right expectations. You have to realize that watching Hameln is more like watching a slightly animated manga rather than watching an anime. If you this, you can give in more of a fair shake. There are clearly going to be people who just can’t watch this show. In many scenes they don’t even animate the characters talking; or even try to hide the fact the characters are not moving their mouth’s like in later episodes of Evangelion. This show was obviously not given a real budget but for some reason could not or would not prune down the number of episodes to accommodate this.
This series had me guessing and asking questions from the get go. And I feel a number of things were not fleshed out enough and left me with many more questions but I tend to obsess over minor things that I notice. The over arcing plot and ideas that it was trying to get across were wrapped up with finality but certainly not with the “happy ending.” The play between what is truly good and evil is really explored with compassion. I enjoyed the overall heavy tone of the series that is lightened by its character designs. It somehow made it a little more bearable and less pessimistic. I really do think this series has a lot to offer as a story but as a animated piece it clearly lacks any really luster. So you really have to choose which is more important.
Hameln definitely helps fill in the lack of serious European fantasy anime. Fantasy fans cannot live on Record of Lodoss War alone. I feel the ending would be considered the True Ending or Normal Ending if it were a video game. You finished the game but not everyone got the ending they were hoping for. It was not a BAD END path but not the Good Ending or Happy Ending. All in all I feel that you should at least give the show a shot and see if you can deal with it’s problems and accept it’s original and engaging story.
Oh, and be forewarned that the fan-sub of this show was mediocre and becomes worse as the series goes along. There are even times whole sentences aren’t translated and they use really poor grammar. But it is not UNWATCHEDABLE just laughable at times.
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