Jyu-Oh-Sei and Potential

 Jyu-Oh-Sei is a mess. I've been sitting here trying to think of a catchy hook, but an hour's lollygagging and a pot of a coffee have net me that monolith of a statement. That's what it is though...boom.

Adapted from the 1993 anime of the same name Jyu-Oh-Sei, follows twin brothers, Thor and the other one, who are jettisoned to a prison planet called Chimaera after their parents are killed by the government. Filled to the brim with all sorts of flora and fauna united under the banner of human devouring horrors. Thor must figure out a way to rise to the top of the gladiatorial society and become the Beast King. Only then will Thor gain answers, closure and vengeance.

This anime is all about the peaks and troughs. At its highest, Jyu-Oh-Sei is utterly captivating; BONES quality animation and choreography gives way to action scenes that are made all the better when coupled with a fantastic soundtrack from Hajime Mizoguchi (Vision of Escaflowne, Jin-Roh) and meaningful stakes. Throughout the first half of the series, effort is put into making the world feel alive and dangerous—a kind of back to roots world where humanity doesn't toss wine at the masses from the top of the food chain. This is emphasized by a main character who feels genuinely helpless.

Thor doesn't feel so much like someone who shapes the world around him as he does someone caught in the current of something much greater. For some he matters as much as a grain of sand, and is treated as such, for others he represents a pawn used for some grand ambition, and still others genuinely care about him with an ulterior motive. Even with all his ambitions, Thor is constantly barely eking out victories without some assistance.

All of this meshes together to create a cohesive package that acts as the perfect setup to a grand sci-fi adventure. One filled with warring factions, political intrigue and the gradual acclimation of power...but then it kinda stops. One time-skip later and everything's gone sour.

Thor is suddenly calm, collected, has become an accomplished swordsman,  and used his education to improve the quality of life in his clan drastically. All of this he did off-screen. Thus instead of seeing a young brash ambitious Thor turn into this calm stoic badass, we get the beginnings of that before being spring-boarded into a completely different character. The new Thor looks and sounds to be in his twenties (although officially sixteen) and is perfectly equipped to handle any situation with nary a trace of fear or panic.

                                  Damn good OST though.
It's not just Thor that gets shafted, the plot suddenly takes a dive into the romantic as we are introduced to a character I can only describe as the love vertex. After three episodes of characterization, here's what I got; she likes Thor and Zagi and wants to have her own reverse harem. Of course Thor falls in love with her at first sight and of course she really only exists to create the story more tragic. The anime then makes a suicidal charge back to the plot as though it were Gallipoli. The final two episodes create more questions than they answer and provide a kill 'em all ending without the development to make me care all that much.

Jyu-Oh-Sei is one of those anime/manga that would've benefited from a longer run-time. If the time-skip had been filled and some of the ending re-worked we could've had a hell of a story. As it stands Jyu-Oh-Sei is a story with great potential, but which ultimately never lives up to it.

Thanks for reading, would love a like, favorite etc. Goodnight.

Is Bokurano Worth Watching/Reading?

Bokurano:Ours really is a 'the manga is better' snob's wet dream; not in the least because the director dislikes the series himself. We're talking rewritten characters, reworked plots, and an ending leaves me about one dead character short of satisfaction. Complete with a tone that is 4kids level of lighter and you have quite the conundrum. Yet different doesn't necessarily mean bad, and thus the question is posed—is Bokurano worth watching? 

Bokurano is 2003 manga by Mohiro Kitoh which was latter adapted into a 2007 anime with about four out of the total eleven volumes left unpublished. It follows the tale of a group of fifteen teens who after stumbling into a typical Konami workplace, are instructed to sign a contract in order to play a new experimental game. A game where you and your friends pilot a giant robot and fight aliens. 

 
The twist is that if you lose you die in real life...because this is real life. No worries though since a clean victory also nets you a one way trip to the grave. Realistically, you're less a pilot and more a living battery. A loss means that your entire universe goes tumbling down the drain, so at least there's that. Also not getting in the fucking robot isn't an option; either you're teleported back to the machine or you stall for forty-eight hours and the universe still ends. On the bright side, there's no always-on DRM, but day-one dlc is present—so if you end up with a crapshoot giant mech, you only have yourself to blame.

As well as serving as fuel for the Ferrari F12berlinetta of the giant mech world, the characters are what drive the story. Each has their own reasons to fight in the machine; some do it to protect the ones they love, others use it as a tool of revenge and one doesn't do anything at all. What's so refreshing about the approach is that both you and the characters are completely certain of their inevitable fate. Unlike many other dark series, the work is not about trying to survive in a world where the chances of you not dying a grisly death are right up there with hitting it big with Mega Millions and more about confronting certain death.

When I say that the plot is formulaic I want to stress that I don't mean to a attach a negative connotation to the phrase. Like Eva or Raxephon (to a much lesser extent) the anime is a dark twist on the monster-of-the-week style super robot shows of days past. A typical arc usually begins with the death of the previous pilot after which a voice is heard by the next pilot. Most of the remaining time will be spent letting the viewer/reader get acquainted with the pilot, as well as giving us insight into how this person deals with their fate. While not all of the arcs got me totally invested in the pilot, enough did that I would've cried a river if I wasn't so jaded by Ideon. 

So is Bokurano worth reading/watching? Without a doubt. The real question is which one to go with. There are a number of factors, but most of them come from my heavy manga-leaning bias (seriously if you are going with the anime, go back and read ch 46-48 for the best fight in the series) That basically boils down to one question; how dark do you want it? On the scale of things, the anime is more of a light roast moccaccino while the manga is more a black dark roast. Some characters are rewritten to make them more sympathetic or lighten things up a little. While the general consensus is that the manga is better, I will say that the fights in the anime are a sight to behold and personally I found them easier to follow. 

Whatever the case, thanks for reading! Here's your reward.Unlike aforementioned mech, I don't run on your lives, but favorites, likes and follows all help stave off the hunger.

Is Strike the Blood Worth Watching?

 Okay let's not bat around the bush; Strike The Blood is stupid. Better than your average stupid, but stupid nonetheless. Don't come here for any kind of philosophical game of badminton, or to see Akatsuki-kun's journey of self discovery and life-changing epiphanies. It's an action harem in almost every sense of the word. However I think that there are a few key distinctions that set it apart from its counterparts.

Okay, honestly I could not spice the premise up with anything less than a ghost pepper. So anything on my part is going to be a reiteration of the wiki article on the thing...here's the link though...

To start with the show really de-emphasizes the school-life aspect of the main characters lives. Instead the anime creates a series of stories that strike a balance between the more episodic style one commonly finds in western series and the more arc based style that many shonnen are based around. The result is a series that has a feeling more akin to the likes of A Certain Magical Index than to other school-based action harems.

Unlike A Certain Magical Index, though, the anime initially makes us think that, as the Fourth Progenitor (Super-vampire of sorts?), Akatsuki is the vampirical paper-weight that will tip the supernatural scale of power, no-one really gives a shit. Therefore there are a grab bag of different arcs included. These can range from battle with ancient mech spider tanks to time traveling dragons.

Honestly it really is the plot arcs that drive the show, the animation is fine, but never jaw-dropping—likewise for the music. Everything has this really weird multi-colored outline around it during fight scenes, which either adds or detracts from the visuals. Y'know honestly I was leaning more towards this show being worth watching than not, but it really is a bog-standard show. The only thing it really has going for is its plot structure. Even then, something like Raildex does the same, but with better characters and fight sequences. It does have a nice OP though.

                                      
 Is Strike The Blood worth watching? I'm going to leave this on a maybe because it is better than a lot of other action harem shows and its attempt to focus on plot-lines rather than harem hijinks is admirable. Admittedly it does follow the beaten path readily on the fan-service side of things... On the whole there are better ways to spend your time with this. Thanks for reading! Likes, favs and follows are nice. Hope to see you next week! 

Note--Sorry for this not going up on time. I'm away on vacation and thought I had scheduled this to be published automatically last Saturday.   

Is Garo The Animation Worth Watching?

The Animation is a phrase that a would've granted the anime coupled with it a trip to the firing squad, a couple of years ago. Of course that was before Ping Pong: The Animation not only escaped the orbit of the phrase but managed to make Ping Pong the most exciting thing since sliced bread. And that's not nothing. But while the advent of Ping Pong left me in a state of pleasure bordering on orgasmic, it was unable to quell my fears completely. So the question remains; does GARO escape from break free from the toxic grasp of its subtitle or will it pull a colony drop? 

With his mother burned at the stake as he was born and being the heir of a set off golden wolf armor that compels him to hunt monsters that feed on humanity's penchant for greed, a lust for power, and the other kind of lust, Leon would be the ideal poster boy for a hug donation drive. Coupled with a father that feels it his solemn duty to produce an heir to his own magical set of wolf armor, Leon should have more than enough reason to be that angstiest teen to have ever angst. Thankfully Leon substitutes than angst with anger and vengeance, and instantly becomes smoldering stare incarnate. Together with his father and allies he will gain in the future Leon will battle the sinister puppet-master of a totalitarian regime while struggling with his inner turmoil and 90's anime haircut.

GARO is kind of a like a fine wine; one that takes approximately 12 episodes to taste like heaven in a bottle. Pretty much everything is improved by the end; be it characters, pacing, stakes or fight scenes. To put this in perspective—it took me half a season to finish the first twelve episodes and half a day to finish the rest. 

Special attention is given to making Leon the most unlikeable dick in the first half, only so they can make the contrast in his character all the more stark by the end. Even his relation with his father, which seems like a vehicle for some needed comic relief is developed to a point where it felt real. The second half brings in a cast of characters that stay around for more than an episode and are able to be developed to the point where they matter both to the viewer and other characters. Which makes it all the more heartbreaking when they die. 

Animated by MAPPA the anime isn't a bad looker, although opinions may vary as to how well the copious amounts of CGI work during the fight scenes. At worst it's tolerable; at best it's this 

With both openings performed by JAM Project, the anime is no slouch in the sound department either with an OST that does its job well. 

So is GARO worth watching? If you can get through the first cour then definitely. With a great cast of characters, some damn good fights, and a world that grows darker with every passing episode, GARO makes me all the more anxious for second season coming this fall.

So thanks for reading! Likes follows and the likes are appreciated and with about fifteen minutes to midnight I've barely made good on my weekly update thing. Hope to see you again!