| Anime
NOW! volume 1
So,
let’s start out this column with a frank admission:
I find the online anime world seriously lacking.
Helluva
statement, right? How can anyone find an industry that floods
the web with advertising, flash games, video downloads,
and virtual stores —ONLY
to be one-upped by their fans' constant rants about which
girl Naruto will end up with or the greatest possible Pokemon
tag team match on thousands upon thousands of forums, blogs,
fansites, and chat rooms-- how, how, HOW in the name of
all things holy can any rational person say ‘eh, needs
more’?
Breaks
down like this: Anime is animation from Japan. Basic definition.
Also the main reason for this article. You see, being made
in Japan, it’s done in Japanese. Until recently, it
took months, years, and even decades for an anime series
to make it to the moneyed American devils.
But
here in the future (where we have jetcars and self-cleaning
children), your favorite show will appear subtitled in English
within days of their first airing in Japan. Great, huh?
So where
are the friggin’ reviews to separate the good from
the crap? The Me Generation has no time for your ‘distribution
rights’ and other impediments to seeing our favorite
shows without a 3 year delay. Dammit, we need our Anime
NOW.
The
Rules:
1. Just because a show opens with a great mystery, it doesn’t
mean they will solve it. Example: Neon Genesis Evangelion.
2. There is never an excuse for a fight scene to last a
month. Example: Dragonball Z.
3. Every anime gets 5 episodes to prove itself. If you can’t
hook us by then, you don’t deserve our time.
Eden
of the East #1
Synopsis:
Eden of the East opens with a cryptic voiceover
as a girl named Saki goes through the pictures on her cell
phone. “He decided to be a prince in this world without
a king…” She ends on a picture of her with the
young man in question, in front of a smoking rubble that
looks eerily similar to 9/11 Ground Zero.
What
follows is probably the best opening credit sequence this
year, flooding our brains with text and images: Multiple
missile strikes in Japan. A quote from Shakespeare’s
Julius Caesar “The abuse of greatness is
when it disjoins remorse from power.” Rotating cell
phones and urban decay. “The King has come! To save
us from the dark.” “Selecao System: 12 persons
selected in Japan.” “GAME.” The Oasis
song “Falling Down” plays in the background.
We then
join Saki in front of the White House in Washington DC,
where she tries to throw a coin, long distance, into the
fountain on the front lawn. The cops pounce on the naïve
tourist, but find themselves in a pickle when a preternaturally
charming Japanese man steps up behind them, naked, with
a cell phone in one hand and a gun in the other.
Oh,
and it’s the darnedest thing, but he just can’t
seem to remember who he is.
After
a quick run from the cops, he returns to Saki, who obliging
gives him her coat as thanks for keeping her from getting
arrested. He then sets off to find out what’s with
his amazingly advanced cell phone that is charged with 8.2
billion yen in digital funds. Or why he’s running
around naked with a gun, for that matter.
Saki
would be okay not having either question answered, but then
she remembers her passport was in aforementioned coat’s
pocket and her flight back to Japan leaves in a couple hours.
Analysis:
This show comes to us from IG Productions and Kenji Kamiyama,
the same people who made Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone
Complex and Cartoon Network’s recent acquisition/loss/reacquisition
Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit. A notable difference
from those more action-genre shows is the character design
by Chika Umino of Honey and Clover fame.
The effect is something like a slice of life show that finds
itself rudely invaded by The Bourne Identity. Akira,
as the main character comes to refer to himself upon finding
his secret safehouse with a bundle of passports, guns, and
assorted currencies, is the first one to note this similarity.
It really
is mystery rather than action that draws us in, however.
Unlike Jason Bourne, Akira is a nice, lovable guy who doesn’t
have any natural tendencies towards jabbing someone’s
nose cartilage into their brain. So what’s up with
all this terrorist stuff he seems involved in? Where did
he get this phone? How did he get hooked up with the “handler”
on the other end of it who can make anything he asks for
happen?
This
is why the opening credits are worth mention and prove themselves
more valuable than the usual fight scene or montage of main
characters. It’s the creators showing you that all
the facts are there and just need to be pieced together.
I don’t even want to admit the number of times I replayed
them, trying to glean what I could.
It’s
a great example of each segment of production coming together
to make the story that much more intriguing. Sure, you could
skip past the credits. You want to chance that you won’t
miss something?
Conclusion:
Eden of the East #1 does everything a first episode
needs to without blowing its load. It loses points for Akira
being so much more appealing than Saki and the strange elevator
music that pops into the score, but this has the makings
of a hit, if they can deliver on their promises.
With only a reported 11 episode run followed by a theatrical
feature, it’ll be a challenge.
Fullmetal Alchemist:
Brotherhood #1
Synopsis:
We open on a State Alchemist drawing a sigil in the steampunk/Edwardian
‘Central City’. Colonel Roy Mustang is charged
by Fuhrer Bradley with bringing this rogue Ice Alchemist
to justice with the aid of Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist.
Edward
and his brother Alphonse quickly track down the rogue alchemist,
and fighting ensues. The ‘Freezing Ice’ Alchemist
makes short work of the soldiers sent after him by using
his special field of study to boil or freeze the water in
their bodies. However, when wrestling with Alphonse, his
spell fails.
You
see, Al wears a massive suit of armor, and not because he
needs to protect his body; it IS his body.
He tries
the same spell on Ed, but instead of finding flesh and blood
on Ed’s arm, he meets the cold steel of an auto-mail
prosthetic. The rest of the fight is cake, as Ed uses his
proclivity toward stone and metal to take down the Ice Alchemist
in moments. Unfortunately, the soldiers guarding him don’t
take as much care on the rain-slick streets as they should…
While
the Elrics regroup and go over their strategy with Colonel
Mustang, we learn about the strange situation that took
away their true bodies. You see, alchemy is the art of changing
one thing into another, all parts being equal. Equivalent
exchange. There is only one taboo: You must never attempt
human transmutation.
They
attempted it.
Of course,
getting their bodies back will have to wait until they can
figure out why the Ice Alchemist is placing transmutation
circles all around the city. Almost as if there were a pattern…
Analysis:
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood was said to be
a more loyal retelling of the original shonen manga that
spawned the instant classic Fullmetal Alchemist anime, so
one can’t help but wonder why the story begins with
an original villain.
You
can’t complain about the art or animation, however.
Studio Bones is giving this one their usual top notch treatment,
avoiding the pitfalls that have made Naruto and
Bleach so hard on the eyes. And the scale of the
Ice Alchemist’s battles really do take the action
to a new level.
I just can’t help thinking that we’re in dangerous
territory, here. The first anime series was great as an
adaptation of an incomplete manga AND as an original story.
This new adaptation certainly has more visual appeal and
takes advantage of recent advances in computer animation,
but it lacks the instant hook and emotional follow through.
To anyone
unfamiliar with the franchise, do yourselves a favor and
watch the first episode of Fullmetal Alchemist.
Or, if you’re REALLY dedicated, read the first manga
chapter. I hesitate to use the word ‘perfect’,
but those versions have the pacing and structure that define
the series.
If Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood keeps moving
in the direction it’s started out in, we could have
another monster-of-the-week show on our hands.
Conclusion:
The production is top notch, Studio Bones and the original
stars are back and in fine form, and it looks like we’re
in for just what we’ve wanted: more adventures of
the Elric brothers. The bad news is it’s got to live
up to the standards set by its predecessor, and there it
falls short.
Let’s
hope the coming episodes either find a way to encapsulate
the events of the old series and move on or find some way
of telling them that will seem fresh and new. The Ice Alchemist
brought great scale to the action, but our story doesn’t
yet have the firm footing it needs.
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