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December 19th, 2014

2012 Retrospective - The Best and the Rest

Anime Relations: Planetes, Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror, Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu, Nasu: Andalusia no Natsu, Bubblegum Crisis, Kekkaishi, Byousoku 5 Centimeter, Dennou Coil, Mononoke, Piano no Mori, Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor, Nasu: Suitcase no Wataridori, Mad★Bull 34, Getter Robo, Redline, Highschool of the Dead: Drifters of the Dead, Usagi Drop, Hotarubi no Mori e, Usagi Drop Specials, Natsu-iro Kiseki, Uchuu Kyoudai, Wasurenagumo, Natsu-iro Kiseki: 15-kaime no Natsuyasumi

While spectacles like "Redline" will often deliver a disappointing climax that doesn't quite live up to the expectations set in the earlier part of the show, "Redline" doesn't disappoint, conjuring up something more ridiculous and more awesome than anything it showed before. It was a great moment, but much like the film itself, it didn't have that emotional connection with me that would have bumped it up among the finalists.

The Final Cut:

"Bubblegum Crisis" episode 1 opening sequence
That opening scene is so good I've decided to enter it in here too.

"Five Centimeters Per Second" ending scene
Spoilers follow.

Spoilers for "Dennou Coil" follow.

"Dennou Coil" episode 18 ending -

"Hotarubi no Mori e" - the embrace
Spoilers follow

Spoilers for "Kaiji" follow.

Spoilers for "Legend of the Galactic Heroes" follow.

Winner: "Five Centimeters Per Second"

--- Favourite 2012 anime (that I watched) ---
The pickings are rather, uhh, thin on the ground to say the least. Here's pretty much a list of everything from 2012 that I've completed:

The final (and initial) cut:

Natsuiro Kiseki + OVA
A thoroughly pleasant slice of life that defies the general rule that cute-girls-doing-cute-things anime are all shite.

Wasurenagumo
I think I've said enough about this already, so I'll just move straight on.

Usagi Drop Specials
"Usagi Drop" the main series was a lovely slice of life anime. So, what can we expect from its shorts that lasts only a couple of minutes each? Probably nothing beyond cute snippets-of-life stories that makes us smile. And that's exactly what these specials deliver.

Winner: Wasurenagumo

Before I reveal my favourite anime out of everything I watched in 2012, here are some miscellaneous awards:

--- Miscellaneous Awards ---

First up, the "So Bad It's Good" award, which goes to "Getter Robo", justing edging out "Madbull 34". The latter had some shockingly bad scenes, but the painfully outdated sensibilities of "Getter Robo" ensured a more consistent supply of amusingly bad moments.

The other miscellaneous award goes to "Space Brothers" for having such a great opening episode. Unfortunately it didn't qualify for any of the main awards because I only watched one episode as part of a new season preview marathon. However, since then, I've been having these previews nearly every season and I've yet to come across anything better. The "Planetes" vibes I anticipated prior to watching it turned out to be accurate: it was funny but simultaneously moving, goofy but simultaneously mature. For me, it quite simply pushes all the right buttons required for a great opening episode.

--- Favourite Anime I Watched In 2012 ---

First of all, honourable mentions goes out to the beautiful, wistful "Five Centimeters Per Second", the underrated and under watched "Piano no Mori", the almost-great "Dennou Coil" and the genuinely great "Mononoke" that was unfortunate in its association with the less great "Ayakashi - Samurai Horror Tales". But there was one anime that stood head and shoulders above everything else I watched (other than "Mononoke"); it's an anime that went from strength to strength before blowing me away with its shocking conclusion.

Winner: Kaiji

And there we go; it's taken more than a year, but I'm finally done. As usual, I've shot myself in the foot by trying to make the project too large and comprehensive, so I don't think I'll be repeating this again any time soon. That said, there were certainly parts in this long, drawn out process that I've enjoyed, and I'm quite pleased with some of the things I'd written, in the very least. But I think it's about time I put my reviewer's hat back on, as I haven't posted anything for a long time now.

Posted by kekekeKaj | Dec 19, 2014 12:42 PM | 0 comments

August 18th, 2014

2012 Retrospective - The Musically Gifted

Anime Relations: Monster, Rekka no Honoo, Genshiken, Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror, Otaku no Video, Ergo Proxy, Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu, Macross: Do You Remember Love?, AD Police, Bubblegum Crisis, Bubblegum Crash, Kekkaishi, Byousoku 5 Centimeter, Dennou Coil, Mononoke, School Days, Mazinkaiser: Shitou! Ankoku Dai Shougun, Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor, Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu Gaiden, Getter Robo, Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu Gaiden (1999), School Days: Valentine Days, Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu (2009), Getter Robo G, Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha: The Movie 1st, Tentai Senshi Sunred, Denpa-teki na Kanojo, Tentai Senshi Sunred 2nd Season, Aoi Bungaku Series, Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica, Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai Specials, Ojiisan no Lamp, Usagi Drop Specials, Natsu-iro Kiseki

Not all the episodes of "Bubblegum Crisis" have opening themes, but the ones that do have unique ones, coupled with their own stylish visuals, and they might have all made the final cut had the competition in this category not been so fierce.

In contrast to the movie-esq openings of "Bubblegum Crisis", "Bubblegum Crash" follows a more conventional series format: it has the same opening sequence and music for all its episodes. Though not quite reeking of the decadent high production values of "Bubblegum Crisis", the "Bubblegum Crash" opening holds its own, showcasing a strong theme characterised by leaping melodies and decorative shards of electronic notes, with occasional bursts of heavy guitar punctuating the musical phrases. The visuals are also rather nice; I especially like the shot of Sylia staring through the window at the cityscape with cigarette in hand, her image being reflected in the glass looking unbelievably cool (the character designs look so much better in Crash than in Crisis).

"Ergo Proxy" OP [ "Kiri" - MONORAL ]

"Ergo Proxy" has one of the best OP/ED combination I've come across in 2012. Here's a "spoiler": the ED didn't make the final cut in the ED category, so I'm going to touch on both songs here. The ending theme is notable because it's one of the very few that uses a song from a western band, and not just any band or any song from the band either. Specifically, the band is Radiohead and the song is one of their signature hits, "Paranoid Android"; both the band and the song are far more famous than the anime itself. Interestingly, I never really liked "Paranoid Android" as a song until I heard it as the ending theme to "Ergo Proxy". The dark and oppressive atmosphere of the song fits the mood of the anime so well that I actually gained a lot of appreciation towards the song as a result. I guess it just goes to show how important context can be. The OP, "Kiri" has a more "general" sound to it that makes me think it wasn't written specifically for the anime. I like how the song sports a low key verse and then really takes off when the chorus kicks in. But if anything, it does make the song perhaps a tad too uplifting for the show, even if I do prefer it over the ending song-wise.

"Getter Robo G" OP [ "Getter Robo" - Isao Sasaki ]

When I was a wee lad, one of my favourite cartoons on TV was this show called "Force Five". It aired five days a week, and was made up of five independent anime (most if not all involving giant super robots), each airing one day of the week. My favourite was "Starvengers" which aired on Wednesdays (you can probably sense how fond of it I was from the details I remember), and in addition to being a kick ass show, it had a kick ass opening theme that stayed with me over the years. A few years after I got into anime, I found out that "Force Five" was just five different anime cobbled together and edited for English-speaking audiences, and that "Starvengers" was just an edited version of "Getter Robo G", and "Starvenger"'s opening was just the vocaless version of the "Getter Robo G" opening (which, in turn, was just the original "Getter Robo" opening with newer animation). Although I do love the theme, I'm not sure it is improved by the bombastic vocals and lyrics ... but I figured I'd throw this entry in here anyway for nostalgia's sake. Also I'm thinking that a theme I remember so clearly for well over a decade must have some qualities, right?

"Legend of the Galactic Heroes" OP 3 [ "Sea of the Stars" - LISA ]

The LoGH franchise amassed quite a number of opening/ending, and a fair few of them are memorable. They're memorable not just for the strength of the melodies, but also for their meaningful visuals. I found the opening themes to be less consistent in quality than the ending themes though, and the only OP that made the final cut is this one, the opening for the 3rd season in the main OVA series. The song and its lyrics has a certain poetic romance about them, but unlike the other three openings, doesn't cross into the sappy/corny territory. It's sung in English, but unlike the 4th OP, it's proper English and not horrible Engrish. The visuals may not seem like much initially, but after I finished watching season 3, it seems to take on new meaning.

Warning: Spoilers for LoGH 3rd season follow.

"The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (2009)" OP [ "Super Driver" - Aya Hirano ]

The second season of Haruhi might be a bit of a stinker because of you-know-what, but the OP is certainly one of the best I'd come across in 2012. It's catchy from start to finish, and the energy levels seems to climb higher and higher as it went on. In fact, both the song and the video are bursting with the same kind of energy that the franchise - as well as Haruhi herself - is renowned for, which makes it one of the most appropriate OPs around. Oh and the shot with Kyon's sister holding up the cat and the two of them both shaking their head is just so cute!

"Macross: Do You Remember Love" OP ["Prologue" - Kentaroh Haneda]
This one is a rather unconventional entry, because generally movies don't have opening themes. But the piece being played in the few minutes of the show near the start - including when the title came up - is a piece from the OST, and it's also listed as the opening on the ANN page for the anime, therefore it qualifies. The music in question, "Prologue", is itself an unconventional theme, because it's actually a mash up of several different OST tracks with perhaps some strains of original music thrown in for good measure. But while this does mean the piece lacks a consistent tone, it's also able to conjure up a variety of different moods to complement all the different scenes in the sequence. It opens with ominous tones accompanying the fading out of the prologue scene featuring the Zentradi, then a flowering melodic transition from minor to major key as the SDF Macross is revealed in the blackness of space, and then back into minor key for the grand main Macross theme to kick in just in time to the title coming up on screen. And just as the iconic Valkyries are being launched, the string instruments comes in with a soaring melody that sent tingling feelings down my spine, before it finally fades into innocuous background music as the scene switches to people on the ship going about their daily lives. The reason this OP made the final cut is because of how it enhanced those opening scenes, and how it managed to invoke wave after wave of nostalgia within me. Shame the movie itself failed to live up to the promise of those first few minutes.

Winner: "Bubblegum Crisis" ep. 1 OP

It came down to toss up between the first opening to the "Bubblegum Crisis" and the opening to "Bubblegum Crash". In the end, I felt the "Bubblegum Crisis" opening had the edge, especially since it was played in full as part of the iconic opening sequence. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a youtube video that had the actual animation accompanying the song, which isn't too surprising considering it was meshed into the episode itself.

--- Favourite ending ---

Picking a favourite ending turned out to be much tougher than the opening. When I made a preliminary list of all the endings that I liked, I found it quite a bit longer than the one for the opening, more than can be explained by the fact there are more ending themes than opening themes (a lot of movies and OVAs only have ending themes, for example, and even TV series tend to change their endings more than their openings). Narrowing them down was a tough job, and after much head scratching and watching the EDs over and over again, I still ended up with a final cut larger than what I would have liked. It's certainly longer than the openings list, but I guess that's a fair reflection of the depth of quality found among the candidates for the endings.

Amidst those that didn't quite make the final cut, some had themes which are a bit weak in sections, like the Aoi Bungaku ED, some I really liked, but the melodies feels a bit *too* conventional and familiar, like the OreImo OVA episode 2 ED and the "School Days: Valentine Days" ED, and finally some didn't make it even though there weren't much wrong with the themes - I just didn't like them as much as those that did make the cut, like the "Five Centimeters per Second" ED (the instrumental one during the credit roll) , the "Electromagnetic Girlfriend" ED 1, the "Dennou Coil" ED, the 2nd ED to "Flame of Recca", and the infamous Kalafina Madoka ED. It really pained me to cut some of those, but anyway, here are the ones that did make it.

The Final Cut:

"AD Police Files" ED 1 [ "What a Fool I Am" - Lou Bonnevie ]
"AD Police Files" ED 2 [ "Love Me Tonight" - Lou Bonnevie ]

Anime seemed to go through a trend in the late 80s and early 90s of using themes heavy in western pop/rock influences, and the "AD Police Files" ending themes really embodies that trend. Its endings were all performed by Lou Bonnevie, who, from what I'm able to find out, seems to be a Philippino pop/rock star mostly active in the 80s and 90s. She sings in good English, with that classic sounding rasping rock vocals that reminds me very much of Bonnie Tyler, a similarity that runs through to the power ballad style songs they both seem to like to sing. I really like Bonnie Tyler, and I really like power ballads; anime themes or not, these Lou Bonnevie songs stand among the best power ballads I've heard.

"Astro Fighter Sunred" ED [ "Tori Dango Nabe" - Kumahachi Morino ]
"Astro Fighter Sunred 2" ED [ "Mizo no Kuchi Forever" - Kumahachi Morino ]

The two Sunred EDs are in the final cut for very different reasons. The first season ED is here mainly because of comedy value. It's a tango-style song sang with bombastic conviction, and the punchline is that the lyrics are actually the recipe for chicken dumpling casserole. The second season's ED gives the impression of being sung in a Karaoke, with its deep bass and echo-ey effects. The screen would often show costumed version of the characters from the show standing with those who are presumably fans of the show, all singing and swaying from side to side. It all fills me with a snug, homely warmth that enhanced my fondness for the anime and its characters. It's the perfect song for a comedy/slice of life show.

"Ayakashi - Samurai Horror Tales" ED [ "Memento of Spring" - Chitose Hajime ]

Rather fittingly, the ending theme for "Ayakashi - Samurai Horror Tales" has a very classic Japanese sound to it (not that I'm an expert on the subject, so I could be wrong). Atmospheric and distinctive, the theme never fails to draw me in immediately with its heavy opening tread of drums, its often-breathy vocals and breath-taking melody. The spin-off anime, "Mononoke", may be the better anime by far, but the ending theme of "Ayakashi" is easily the best theme the two series has to offer between them.

"Bubblegum Crisis" ep. 7 [ "Never the End" - Maiko Hashimoto ]

In the 7th episode of "Bubblegum Crisis", a popstar with the stage name Vision goes to Megatokyo. Leading a double life, Vision is in Megatokyo in order to settle a score. Along the way, she is helped by Knight sabers and AD Police, and the episode's ending animation and song is Vision performing a concert in the aftermaths of the story. She sings a really nice ballad, and her elegant voice that soared upwards after the first few notes reminded me so much of Minmei from "Macross" that it had me scrambling to check whether she was voiced by Mari Iijima (she wasn't). The song itself also could conceivably have been Minmei's, albeit it's far above the average quality of her usual offerings. At one point during the concert performance, the words "THANKS TO KNIGHT SABERS & AD. POLICE" flashed up behind the singer, which I thought was a nice touch.

"Kaiji" ED [ "Makeinutatsu no Requiem" - Hakuryuu ]

The anime "Kaiji" is quite heavy on the social commentry. It's a series focused on the social outcasts and the down trodden, who have found themselves in the downward spiral of life, exploited for their mounting debts and with seemingly little chance to get out of their predicaments. This is reflected in the ED, a somber vagabond's theme featuring lyrics about desperate struggles and last chance saloons. But it's also empowering at times, for the lyrics also gives encouragement to these people, telling them not to give up and to make a stand. The melody works in perfect tandem with the lyrics, at times plodding wearily and at times stirring depending on the lyrics being sung.

"Kekkaishi" ED 2 [ "Sekaijou doko o Sagashite mo" - Aiko Kitahara ]

This is the best of the "Kekkaishi" themes, a jaunty ED which, rather unusually for an anime theme, has quite a strong latino-pop flavour to it. I particularly like the infectious chorus and the distinct sound brought about by the combination of flute and accoustic guitar (or is that a mandolin?)

"Legend of the Galactic Heroes" ED 4 [ "Uchou no Kakehashi" - Kei Ogura ]
"Legend of the Galactic Heroes: A Hundred Billion Stars, A Hundred Billion Lights" ED 4 [ "Aurora's Adagio" - Kei Ogura ]

Spoilers for LoGH follow.

Usually, when the ED kicks, in, I'll alt-tab out to another window and do something else while the theme plays. For these particular LoGH themes however, I ended up watch through pretty much every time, because in addition to the great songs, there are things on screen worth watching too. Before I go on, I'd like to give an honourable mention to ending animation for the 3rd season of LoGH. It was one where a bunch of old photos were being shown, and then you see that it's Julian looking through the photos. The ones at the end were of Yang Wenli, and the scene shows Julian's face looking very gravely at these photos, as though remembering someone dear who was longer there. And of course, this is the season in which Yang dies, and the ending animation was foreshadowing that event. The reason that ED wasn't in the final cut is because the song wasn't strong enough.

The ones that do make the final cut had much stronger songs. After Yang's death towards the end of season 3, Julian Minci, who was Yang's ward, took over the leadership for his faction, doing his best in this role with everything he'd learnt, and with the help of friends and loved one. The animation for the season 4 ED essentially reflects this. It shows Yang Wenli gathering a palmful of water that glitters like the stars, pouring it to Julian's hands, and then disappearing. Then various other people Julian knows appear, all similarly emptying the glittering contents of their hands into Julian's. At the end, as the singer sings "This life you live with all your might is a bridge between the ages. Let us cast its brilliance past the rainbow and its colours", Julian casts the star-dust like substance he'd collected into the starry space background where they settle and takes the form of the Milky Way. It's a poetic scene, backed up by a quiet but inspiring song with meaningful lyrics ... this ED pretty much has it all.

The strongest ED in terms of song power that LoGH has to offer though comes from the 4th ED of LoGH's first series of side stories. "Aurora's Adagio" is a beautiful piece which starts off delicate and unassuming, but gains a unshowy strength as the chorus kicks in. At this point, the beats become just a tad firmer, a group of backing singer joins in, and the main singer's voice also gains in strength. The overall effect is that the song takes on the feel of a slow but determined forward march into the unknown - the feeling is quite Star Trek-esq.

"Grandfather's Lamp" ED [ "願い灯す頃へ" (I couldn't find the translation for this title) - Takefumi Haketa]

Though not listed as the ED theme as far I found, I nevertheless included it because it was the song playing at the end as the song drew to a close. "Grandfather's Lamp" had quite an emotional closure, and this gentle and graceful song goes a long way towards making it so.

"Otaku no Video" ED1 + ED2 [ "Otaku no Miyoimichi" - Toshiharu Sakurai & Kikuko Inoue ]

I'm including both ED themes of "Otaku no Video" here because they're essentially two sides of the same coin: they're pretty much the same song, with the only difference being the lyrics. The song, for the most part, is a nice duet, even if the singers come off as rather amateurish, but the main reason it's in here is because of how amusing it is. In the ED to the first episode, the male vocalist sings about his otaku passions while the female vocalist berates him over it. The dialogue goes something like this:

M (male vocalist): In the middle of summer, around Harumi, I walk around carrying the magazines. Before I know it, you fade and I can't see you.
F (female vocalist): You tacky, unsightly person, even an eternal love would fade with you. I love you, but I don't think I can go your way.
...
M: Cosplay is my reason for living.
F: I guess we can't go back to the way things were...
etc.

In the second ED, however, the female vocalist shares his enthusiasm, dropping constant otaku references:

M: Near Makuhari, where the snow is falling, I walk around with you. Even the cold ocean breeze feels gentle.
F: You, with your dazzling smile, your Char cosplay is wonderful too. Hold me tight, just like Lalah.
...
M: Let's spend the night in line.
F: Anime is the best.
etc

This tickled me so much that I had to include it in the nominations.

"School Days" ED 3 [ "Waltz" - Kanako Itou ]
"School Days" ED 6 [ "Namida no Riyuu" - Minami Kuribayashi ]

"School Days" is a bit shit as an anime, but as a source for nice ED themes it's pretty handy. My favourites are the classy "Waltz" and the heartbreaking ballad "Namida no Riyuu", but really, had the ED scene been less competitive I could have listed a few more - they were all good! If only the anime was anywhere near as good as its EDs.

"Usagi Drop Special" ep. 3 ED [ "Odekake" - Matsutani Suguru ]

Similar to the ED for the "Grandfather's Lamp", the track played at the end of the 3rd episode of the Usagi Drop specials isn't classified as an ED, though it counts in my book since it's the track that's played as the episode closed out (admittedly, because the specials are so short, this "closing out" is actually about half the episode). This ED is actually taken straight from the background music section of the "Usagi Drop" OST, and it's one of my favourite tracks from it, one that encapsulate perfectly the theme of a man in his early 30s taking a young relative under his wing. The piece starts with the bouncy, frolicking synth as a base. Soon the harmonica joins in, its reedy tone giving a fragile, childish air. Then the accoustic guitar takes the centre stage, playing out a lovely melody that lends a sense of maturity to the proceedings. The way the different instruments comes in and passes the melody between them is just delightful.

Winner: "School Days" ED 3

This was probably THE hardest decision I had to make in this retrospective. To be honest, I really wanted to give this to LoGH's season 4 ending for its beautiful lyrics and thought-provoking ending animation. However, when watching it with the other top candidates, I realised that its music is just too weak in comparison, and this award is meant to weigh more heavily towards the music. There were a lot of other good candidates that had things in their favour: the "AD Police" endings, representing the cream of 80s power ballad music, had the advantage of being played in full; the "Bubblegum Crisis" ending "Never the End" had a killer verse, but the chorus dragged slightly in parts; the "Ayakashi" ending was also strong, and brought with it a distinctive style. In the end though, I opted for the 3rd ending theme from "School Days". With its compelling instrumentals, darkly delicious melodies and the skillful build up of drama ... it's not just a great song in parts, it's a song that leaves me with no nit to pick.

--- Favourite soundtrack ---

This is probably the main reason why this retrospective came so late ... because it took such a long time to track down and listen to all the soundtracks. If I ever do this again, I might think about ditching this award as it's so much trouble. Even by the end, I still didn't get to listen to all the sound tracks: a lot of them don't seem to exist, or if they do, they're impossible to track down. For example, the only place I could find the soundtrack for the Trigun movie was youtube, and even then, not all the tracks were available for me to listen to.

Let's get the elephant in the room out first: the "Legend of the Galactic Heroes", with its soundtrack comprising famous pieces from famous classical composers such as Mahler, Mozart and Bach, is not amongst the finalists. While I do like me some classical music, and have found myself liking it more as I get older, I still find a lot of it to be inaccessible. I also think LoGH's use of them left a lot to be desired.

Moving on, there were a fair few soundtracks which I expected to be amongst the final cut, but turned out not to be as good as I though they were going to be. "Dennou Coil" was one of them. I liked what I heard while watching the anime, but the soundtrack didn't turn out to be as strong as I anticipated. Then there's the interesting case of the "Break Blade" movies, which not only sounded epic during the anime, but was featured in Anime Instrumentality's best of 2011 article. The soundtrack turned out to be a bit odd though. There were tracks which at points sounded like the components weren't all pulling in the same direction, as though they comprise two or more tracks superimposed on one another. I think they might have been going for a more chaotic feel that made sense in the context of battle music for the anime, but turned out a bit too experimental to listen to as standalones. That said, the OST does contain some really good tracks. Like the anime, when it's epic it's REALLY epic, but there were also some nice nocturnes thrown in as well.

In the not-quite-making-it pile were also some soundtracks that had more than one album, but not all of high quality. For example, "Natsuiro Kiseki" has an exceedingly pleasant image album, but the main OST is less than ear catching ... turns out it was done by a different composer.

The real shame though, is the Mononoke OST, which is simply stunning. While mood-setting tracks for horror/thriller type shows are often effective as background music, they tend not to be the kind of music I would listen to on my iPod - "Monster" is a classic example. But the "Mononoke" soundtrack isn't just haunting, it's hauntingly beautiful. They can be so creepy they make my hair stand on end, but boy are those melodies enchanting. So why is it not here? Because the "Ayakashi" soundtrack dragged it down: though similar in style to the "Mononoke" soundtrack, it was unfortunately full of the aforementioned mood-setting tracks that don't make for very good independent listening. I can't resist leaving a sample from the "Mononoke" OST here though - it's such a beautiful and unique sounding album that it'd be a crime not to.

The Final Cut:

"AD Police Files" [ Lou Bonnevie, Rene Novelles, Identity Crisis & the Gold (themes); BGM composer unknown]
"Bubblegum Crisis"/"Bubblegum Crash" [ Kinuko Oomori, Yuiko Tsubokura, Knight Sabers, Maiko Hashimoto, Bluew, Ryooko Tachikawa, Nanami Hayase (themes); Kouji Makaino, Michihiko Oota, Takehito Nakazawa ]

I did not lump AD Police and Bubblegum Crisis together in the list of anime I watched because though there is a link between the two, it's not a very strong link, and do not stop the two shows from working very much independently: the two share a single character, who wasn't a main one, and who wasn't really portrayed in the same way between the two anime anyway. However, I've decided to group the two OSTs together in one section since they have a very similar style. They are both full of 80s goodness, full of synths and power ballads and the like. The main strength of these soundtracks lies in their songs rather than BGMs, and there are A LOT of songs. What's more the songs sounds like they have a much higher production value than normal anime songs.

"Five Centimeters Per Second" [ Masayoshi Yamazaki (theme); Yuuki Mizusawa, Lindberg (insert songs) Tenmon ]

The visuals in 5cm/s were so breathtaking that I was only vaguely aware that the music was rather pleasant. I didn't realise just how pleasant till I checked out the soundtrack. It turned out to be the only sound track that I can remember to have a 100% retention rate. That's right, I kept every single track, and what's more they were easy decisions - there weren't any tracks which I was undecided on: that's how consistent the quality of the tracks are. Admittedly, it's not a soundtrack that gives you a lot of variety. The style of the tracks are monotonously soft and wistful, but this is in line with the mood of the anime itself. Some of the tracks are stunning in their beauty, but boy do they feel cold and distant at times - again, not unlike the anime. The way the ending theme (the vocal one) was used in the anime is a bit grating, but the song itself ain't bad at all, and comes with a few very beautiful instrumental arrangements that slots seamlessly alongside the rest of the instrumental soundtrack.

"Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica" [ Eri Kitamura & Ai Nonaka, ClariS, Kalafina (themes); Yuki Kajiura ]

Although Yuki Kajiura's sound tracks all seem quite similar, a lot of this is due to her having a very distinctive style - if you hear the same distinctive style over and over again, it's natural to feel that it's all the same. The Madoka soundtrack does sound a bit different to most of her other works, though I can't quite put my fingers on why - maybe it's a bit darker and has some heavier instrumentals or something. Anyway, while watching the show, the music didn't really catch my attention, so I didn't think this had chance of of winning this category (although I did figure it would at least get a mention, it being a Yuki Kajiura soundtrack and all). Soon after I started listening to the soundtrack though, I knew I had to re-assess. For a 12 episode show, Madoka has a huge soundtrack, easily enough for a show twice its length. What's more, very few tracks failed to make it into my "to keep" category. A lot of the tracks weren't just good, they were so ear catching that they often made me pause in the middle of whatever I'm doing and take note. It goes without saying that there's plenty of variety in the tracks too - Kajiura's style maybe similar when you compare between her soundtracks, but it's certainly not limited within a soundtrack.

"Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha: The Movie 1st" [ Yukari Tamura (theme); Nana Mizuki (theme/insert song); Hirokaki Sano

*spoilers on film plot follows*

This was certainly a dark horse entry I wasn't expecting. The movie had great visual production value, and when I listened to the soundtrack, I found that a lot of effort was put into the music too. While the well hyped Nana Mizuki contributed to a number of generically energetic main themes as she often seems to (which led to me still not really understanding all the hype), I did enjoy most of the rest of the vocal pieces, despite their often moe-overloaded vocals. Some of them are incredibly infectious - once I heard the likes of "Love Sign", they stayed in my head for days, as much as I cringed at the cutsy singing/mewing.

The main meat of the soundtrack is instrumental, however, and the composer, Hiroaki Sano, leveraged his orchestral resources to full effect, impressing me not only with the quality of the tracks, but also with the variety of moods and atmosphere found in them. The jewel amongst them is arguably "Alicia Testarossa". It opens grandly, with dramatic, solemn drums offsetting the majestic strains in the strings section. But half way through, it melts away into a more delicate piece revolving around an achingly bittersweet piano-led melody. The track's mood is sombre, and only gets more sorrowful as it goes on, with the few brighter passages feeling more like nostalgia of better times than true respite. I find this a fascinating piece, and it's not just because of the music - it's the title of the track, "Alicia Testarossa". Because I listened to the OST a while after I watched the movie, I think I mistook the title to be the name of one the main character, Fate Testarossa. Fate is the clone of Alicia, complete with all her memories, created by Alicia's loving mother after Alicia had died at the tender age of five, and although Fate acted like Alicia in every way, she's treated harshly by Alicia's mother. The realisation of my mistake got me thinking: why had I thought the piece was Fate's theme? The answer came naturally: because the sense of tragedy in the music cuts far too deeply for it to feel like it's made for a side character who was only briefly shown as part of a plot revelation. Yes, Alicia had died young, but she lived a happy life. Fate's life is the real tragedy of the story: she thought she WAS Alicia, and also had the happy memories of Alicia's childhood. As a result, she couldn't understand why her mother had grown so cold towards her, and she was desperate to reclaim that love. I also noted that Fate does not have her own theme despite being the more important character. Perhaps I'm reading too much into this, but could this be an acknowledgement through the music that Fate, in essence, IS Alicia?

"Macross: Do You Remember Love?" [ Mari Iijima (theme/insert songs); Kentaro Haneda (theme/OST) ]
I was pleasantly surprised by the Macross movie soundtrack: it wasn't just a collection of Minmei's pop songs. There were some very nice, expansive orchestral tracks ranging from tense battle music to ballroom dances to soaring, poetic ballads. Like Minmei's songs, they do get a bit too cheesey at times, but overall, their good points significantly outweigh the bad points.

"Getter Robo" [ Isao Sasaki (themes); Koorogi '73 (theme); Shunsuke Kikuchi ]

Well, I'd like to say this entry is perhaps a bit tongue-in-cheek and nostalgia driven - and perhaps it is - but I have to admit I do rather like the "Getter Robo" soundtrack. It's not a very big one, and, being from the 70s, it's somewhat lacking - some would perhaps say sorely lacking - in subtlety. But there's a rough, almost theatric charm and a certain raw power about the straight forward way with which it conveys its emotions. You can almost instantly tell which tracks are used for what purpose just from listening to it.

Winner: Five Centimeters Per Second

To be honest, the winner was always going to be between the 5cm/s, Nanoha and Madoka soundtracks because they were head and shoulders above the rest, but which one? That was a really hard question to answer. I eventually decided tie break on the unique feat of 5cm/s having a 100% retention rate.

Posted by kekekeKaj | Aug 18, 2014 5:57 AM | 0 comments

May 22nd, 2014

2012 Retrospective - The Things that Matter (to me)

Anime Relations: Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror, Ergo Proxy, Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu, Kekkaishi, Dennou Coil, Mononoke, Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu: Waga Yuku wa Hoshi no Taikai, Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu Gaiden (1999), Musashi no Ken, Tentai Senshi Sunred, Tentai Senshi Sunred 2nd Season, Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica

Musashi ["Musashi no Ken"]

To begin with, I found watching "Musashi no Ken" rather annoying. The reason? Musashi. Eventually I warmed to the series and quite enjoyed it by the end. The reason? Musashi. Like "Hikaru no Go", "Musashi no Ken" is a coming of age anime where the coming of age part really stands out. Musashi started off as a bratty kid. This, combined with his cliched never-give-up attitude made the show excruciating to watch at times, to the point where I was hoping anyone who fought him to give him a good beating. Unlike other shows with annoying characters though, I found to my surprise that "Musashi no Ken" is an anime that's well aware of the annoy-ness of its central character. Musashi's attitude problem was soon corrected as he took on a strict and disciplined Kendo training regime. The story follows Musahsi from when he was little older than a toddler all the way into young adulthood. He goes through an immense amount of development and changed his perspectives multiple times not just on kendo, but on life in general. At one point he even gives up kendo and takes up poetry, and what's more, that was one of the best part of the series.

Vamp ["Astro Fighter Sunred" (both seasons)]
Vamp is an awesome villain. In fact, "villain" is probably the wrong word here. He's only a "villain" by the virtue of the role he plays - that of a leader of the organisation opposing the super sentai hero. As a person, he's absolutely endearing: he's polite, considerate ... just a jolly nice fellow all round. His most fearsome reputation is probably as a chef, and all this just add to the ironic humour the anime is laden with.

Yoshimuri & Tokine ["Kekkaishi"]

I've decided to just go with one description for these two because it's hard to talk about one without the other. "Kekkaishi", as a show, was a bit disappointing, but I still gave it a 7, and I did this almost purely because of the two main characters. While the story in "Kekkaishi" promised much but delivered rarely, the chemistry between Yoshimuri and Tokine is one of the most interest ones I've encountered in recent memory. Yoshimuri is younger than Tokine, and it shows during their interactions: Tokine comes off as the steadier and more mature of the two, and plays an almost big-sister like role to Yoshimuri. Yoshimuri obviously has feelings for Tokine - feelings that aren't completely unreciprocated in the very least - and is always looking to protect her, even though it would often end up the other way round. Oh, and he's also constantly trying to woo her with cakes that he makes himself. It's mainly these refreshing twists on the hero-heroine relationship that kept me glued to "Kekkaishi", even though I often ended up feeling disappointed by the plot's lack of progress.

Winner: Reinhard von Lohengramm
As much as I liked the lead characters of "Kekkaishi", they work more as a pair than by themselves. Reinhard, on the other hand, can very much stand on his own two feet. The force of his personality, his strengths and weaknesses, the conflicts within himself all mark him out to be an memorable, intriguing character. So he's my pick for this year.

--- Favourite supporting character ---

The Final Cut:

Megabaa["Dennou Coil"]
Cyber technology is usually the playground of the young 'uns. The field advances so fast that the younger generation are naturally more up to date than their parents. Of course, where there are sweeping generalisations, there are exceptions to be found, and Megabaa is one spectacular exception to the rule. Megabaa is a grandmother who owns a shop that sells software and other things related to the cyber glasses central to the anime. Despite being two generations older than the children at the centre of the story, she is not only technologically literate, her formidable hacker skills is actually a match for the best of them. If only the strength of her back is equal to that of her hacker skills. she would be invincible. Oh, and she has a great personality to boot. I just wish my own grandma is as cool as Megabaa!

Masamori Sumimura ["Kekkaishi"]

Masamori is Yoshimuri's awesome big brother. Mysterious, capable and daring, Masamori is just one of those characters who are really, really cool. And he forces his way into the prime suspects just with his sheer awesomeness.

Oskar von Reuenthal [Legend of the Galactic Heroes] *spoilers follow*

Usakots [Astro Fighter Sunred]
Usakots, the frankenstein-esq bunny of the animal soldier squad, is probably my favourite character in Sunred. Like everything else in Sunred, Usakots is a treasure trove of ironic humour. Like any honest-to-goodness super-villain, he is constantly thinking about how to bring about the downfall of the sentai hero Sunred, except ... he's just so goddam cute! Perhaps even moe! He's pretty much the main reason I'm always looking forward to the animal soldier sketches in the show.

Kayo Natsuki ["Musashi no Ken"]*spoilers follow*

Winner: Masamori Sumimura
Writing about Kayo Natsuki really makes me want to give her this award, but in the end I've decided to stick to my original choice of Masamori Sumimura, because he's simply one of the coolest characters in anime.

--- Favourite Character Roster ---

Fans of LoGH maybe shocked by its exclusion here, especially since its characters are among the most well represented in the characters sections of the retrospective. The reason for its exclusion is that, even though LoGH has a lot of good characters (some of them, like Wolfgang Mittermeyer haven't quite merited a place amongst the prime suspected, but are good characters nonetheless), it's at least matched by the number of bad, or even terrible characters. The problem with LoGH is that, other than the important characters, everyone else is practically retarded. A lot of them weren't even given enough IQ to act convincingly as human beings, let alone the admirals and the schemers they're supposed to be, and that really annoyed me. They were simply stepping stones to make the more brilliant characters look better, but ironically, their incompetence serve only to undermine the victories those brilliant characters scored over them. One of them even went spastic just cos someone dissed him: it was a hilariously stupid moment. Other more significant characters are also a bit rough and one dimensional. For instance, Admiral Bittenfield is supposed to be one of the most fearsome commanders of the fleet, but he displayed very little tactical astuteness to go with his boarish aggression. Then you have Kircheis, who was practically held up as Jesus - he was that perfect. Anyway, I think I've made my point.

I should also mention "Honey and Clover 2", which doesn't make the final cut despite its many flashes of brilliance in characterisation. I think the problem is in the fundamental design of the characters: the episode that gave insight into Hagu's mind is excellent, but Hagu as a character is excessively moe; another high point in the show involved Shinobu's relationship with his brother, but again, Shinobu as a character leaves much to be desired - his strangeness feels forced for the sake of laughs (except I didn't find it funny) and its effect more alienating than anything else. While there are good characters too, like Ayumi and Yuuta, there aren't enough to balance out the flawed designs of the others (and in both the aforementioned cases, their best moments were in the first season anyway).

"Natsuiro Kiseki" deserves a honourable mention. While none of the four core characters stood out enough to warrant their own sections, most of them were well fleshed out, and when considered as a group, they were greater than the sum of their parts.

The Final Cut:

Kekkaishi
"Kekkaishi" featured a remarkable number of memorable characters, as is evident in the numerous mentions it got in the main/supporting character sections. From the heroes to the villains, almost everyone in the show had something interesting about them, whether it be their back story or quirky personality, or even character design. Probably the only disappointing one was Gen, who had little to offer other than his attempt to be cool and detached, an attempt that came across as trying-too-hard and lacking the natural swagger that Masamori brought to the table.

Musashi no Ken
I regard Musashi as benchmark for a well written lead in a coming-of-age story. But to get in the final cut in here, it's not enough to just have a good main character; fortunately, "Musashi no Ken" has no shortage of good supporting characters either. Other than his distinguished parents, there's also Ranka, the fiery tomboy he's known from his childhood days; Akira, his kind and gentle kendo rival; even some characters who featured briefly made a big impression, like the "wuss" teacher who was the target of Musashi's jealousy for attracting the attention of his mother, but who eventually earned his acceptance by opening his eyes to the beauty of poetry and the world around him.

Astro Fighter Sunred
Sunred may have fallen more to the side of comedy than slice-of-life for me, but its characters are certainly as endearing as in a great slice-of-life show. And it's not just about individual characters themselves - though a roster containing the likes of the thuggish Sunred, the model citizen Vamp and the ludicrously cute Usakots is hardly lacking in flamboyance - it's also about the chemistry between the characters. There are lots of delightful moments during the character interactions, like Sunred's chummy relationship with Vamp and his minions in spite of them being enemies in the traditional sense. Like a good slice-of-life show, I felt a little sad after finishing Sunred because I'd grown quite fond of the characters.

Winner: Kekkaishi
Again, "Musashi no Ken" pushed "Kekkaishi" hard here, but "Kekkaishi" just managed to stay on top.

Posted by kekekeKaj | May 22, 2014 8:35 AM | 0 comments

March 30th, 2014

2012 Retrospective - Break down by genre

Anime Relations: Hachimitsu to Clover, Rekka no Honoo, Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror, Ergo Proxy, Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu, Ouritsu Uchuugun: Honneamise no Tsubasa, Hachimitsu to Clover II, Nasu: Andalusia no Natsu, AD Police, Bubblegum Crisis, Kekkaishi, Byousoku 5 Centimeter, Dennou Coil, Clannad, Mononoke, Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor, Nasu: Suitcase no Wataridori, Mad★Bull 34, Getter Robo, Detroit Metal City, Musashi no Ken, Trigun: Badlands Rumble, Getter Robo G, Tentai Senshi Sunred, Denpa-teki na Kanojo, K-On!, Tailenders, Tentai Senshi Sunred 2nd Season, Redline, Break Blade Movie 1: Kakusei no Toki, Super Street Fighter IV, Break Blade Movie 2: Ketsubetsu no Michi, Break Blade Movie 3: Kyoujin no Ato, Break Blade Movie 4: Sanka no Chi, Break Blade Movie 5: Shisen no Hate, Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica, Break Blade Movie 6: Doukoku no Toride, Hotarubi no Mori e, Ojiisan no Lamp, Tekken: Blood Vengeance, Natsu-iro Kiseki

Read the following for an explanation of what this is: http://xss.now.cc/blog.php?eid=743591

Other articles in the 2012 Retrospective:

Overview: http://xss.now.cc/blog.php?eid=743593
Surprises & Controversies: http://xss.now.cc/blog.php?eid=743633
Things that matter (to me): http://xss.now.cc/blog.php?eid=751749
The Musically Gifted: http://xss.now.cc/blog.php?eid=757885
The Best and the Rest: http://xss.now.cc/blog.php?eid=764771

--- The "Adrenalin Pump" Award for Action ---
Not much of a selection here. I'm not sure whether there's a shortage of action anime, but there's certainly a shortage of action anime that got me excited. You would think "Flame of Recca" and "Kekkaishi" and might have had a good shout here, but "Flame of Recca"'s action felt rather flat a lot of the time, while "Kekkaishi" always felt like it was capable of good action, but could rarely be bothered to flex those muscles. "Mad Bull 34" certainly entertained me with its ridiculously over the top action, but it's hardly edge of the seat stuff.

The final cut:

Break Blade
While it was cool action and kick-ass mecha battles that first drew me to anime, I've slowly found myself doing a u-turn as I got older, favouring quiet slice-of-lifes over the mecha/action packed shows which no longer seem to excite me. "Break Blade" really bucks that trend though - it may fail at everything else, but the mecha battles in it had me literally gripping the edge of my seat. The funny thing is, most of the battles are so simple, consisting of a primitive but clichedly-overpowered mecha bulldozing down its enemies, but it's so effectively done that I could almost feel the OOOMMMFFF of the shockwaves from the collisions and creak of mechanical joints as the mechas strain to perform physics-defying feats. And because of its simplicity, you can nearly always tell exactly what was going on, which is more than what I can say for a lot of the fast paced action. Ironically, the least satisfying battle was the long, drawn out one in the last episode which had fancier choreography, so perhaps it should have just kept things simple.

Redline
Does Redline qualifies as action? Or is it more sports? Or perhaps both? These are the philosophical questions that I pondered while compiling the finalists to this category. Since ANN has "Redline" down as an action, and the show itself certainly got my adrenalin pumping, I've decided to throw this one in here. And it would be a crime not to. It's hard to do the batshit-crazy action justice with words. Everything was just so ludicrously over the top. You'll just have to see it for yourself.

Tekken: Blood Vengeance
Perhaps it's not too surprising that anime made from fighting games tend not to be very good, but I'm puzzled as to why the action in these anime adaptations tend to suck as well. I remember the pitiful lack of action found in the "Street Fighter IV" anime, and "Tekken: The Motion Picture" also had very lame fighting sequences. The latter was especially disappointing because I'm such a fan of the Tekken franchise. So you can imagine how pleased I was to find that "Tekken: Blood Vengeance" addressed the problem in style. It's still not a very good anime, but the action really packs a hefty punch (as though they came from an "iron fist" ahaha). Not only do the fighting feel as similarly hard hitting as the action from the games themselves, but they've also incorporated the signature moves of the fighters for the fanboys (e.g. me) to drool over, and incorporated them in such a natural way that they would look smooth and convincing to the uninitiated, and don't come across as blatant as though there's a sign saying "Hey look! I'm doing a special move from the game!" whenever the moves get used.

Trigun: Badlands Rumble
The Trigun movie came out a long time after the series ended, but the movie reproduced such an authentic feel of the series it was like "Trigun" never went away. I didn't think the series fared too badly on the action front, but of course, being a movie, "Badlands Rumble" had a nice budget and the result is a lot of slick action scenes that's a treat to watch. There are plenty of satisfying explosions, and Vash's skills with a gun is mesmerisingly animated. I may not be a big fan of westerns, but I do dig Trigun's blend of anime and western styles.

Winner: Break Blade
For making me get all excited over mecha battles for the first time in years.

--- The "Ultimate Journey" Award for Adventure ---
Another category that's a bit thin on the ground. Pretty much everything I can think of that qualifies as adventure is in the list.

The final cut:

Dennou Coil
Dennou Coil's sense of adventure ties in quite closely with its sci-fi/world building aspect. The characters in the show may not have gone on a journey or anything like that in the physical sense, but they do get up to a lot in the cyber world. Thanks to a core of enthusiastic, likeable characters who are mostly children, the adventures are delightfully fun. But it's not all light fluff, as the darker, more dangerous aspects of the virtual world seeps in during the later half of the series. The two contrasting aspects combines surprisingly well.

Ergo Proxy
Compared to "Dennou Coil", "Ergo Proxy" is much more of an adventure in the traditional sense. While it's initially set in the domed city, Romdo, Vincent and his companions soon begin a journey across a desolate world, searching for answers to ... er, well, everything, I suppose. The carefully obfuscated plot isn't the easiest to follow, but that's hardly the main draw for this particular award category. It's kind of ironic that, in contrast to "Dennou Coil", whose strength as an adventure stems from the characters' external explorations of an environment despite them not going off to anywhere real, the strength of "Ergo Proxy" as an adventure comes from the characters' introspective exploration of themselves even though they do go on a very real journey. They don't really start off as the most interesting of characters, but on their travels, they grow and develop as they are forced to confront and challenge various aspects of the world around them as well as themselves, and that makes the show quite rewarding to watch.

Winner: Dennou Coil
"Dennou Coil" takes this one for its ability to generate a superb range of moods and doing them all so well. It has a greater sense of adventure due to its variety, whereas "Ergo Proxy" can feel a bit monotonous.

--- The "Faster, Stronger, Smarter" Award for Sports/Game ---
I enjoyed "Musashi no Ken", but like I said it made Kendo look rather boring - seems like the same two strikes gets used over and over again - so that didn't make the cut. "Tailenders" is notable only as a very much crappier version of "Redline". My musings on whether "Redline" counts as a sport led me to wonder whether martial arts anime like the one from the Tekken franchise also counts as sport - martial arts competitions are also considered as sports competitions after all - but luckily, prior to my brain exploding, I realised that the question did not matter, since even if they did qualify, none of them (at least none from this year) have strong enough sports aspect to make the cut anyway, so the question is moot.

The final cut:

Kaiji
Anime of the mind games genre are all about high stakes, psychological warfare and tension being stretched to breaking point and beyond. Kaiji is a shining example of how it's done: the psychological battles are compelling, the turnarounds glorious, and it's excruciatingly hard to stop watching once you start, with nearly every episode ending on a cliff hanger. The show also has a ruthless streak, and it ups the stakes by making you care about its downtrodden characters.

Nasu
John Higgins winning the 2011 Snooker World Championships was one of the greatest sporting moments I'd ever witnessed. It wasn't just the win, it was the circumstances and the manner of his win. Higgins was coming off a tough year: he'd only returned to the sport a few months before from serving a half-year ban for his involvement in a match fixing scandal - the only stain on an otherwise unblemished character - and soon after his return, he'd lost his father, whose ever present support for him throughout his career was well known. His route to the final of the championship was also arguably the toughest of any participant, pitting him against some of the greatest players of his generation. In addition, in every match from the quarter finals onwards, he had to battle back from being behind for large portions of the match. At one point in his semi-finals match, he was even called a "disgrace" by a spectator for the aforementioned scandle, just as he was about to play a shot. But the heckling only seemed to steel his resolve as he upped his game and took control of the match. After he won the finals, Higgins looked emotional throughout his winner's interview, and at the mention of his father, he finally broke down. That trophy meant far more to him than just another title - even if it was the biggest one in snooker - it was redemption for a man given a second chance, and it was a tribute to the most fervent supporter he no longer had.

But what does all this has to do with Nasu? Because far more than any descriptive words I can muster up, this example illuminates the kind of human drama that can make sports so compelling, and the wonderful thing about Nasu, an obscure anime about cycle racing, is that it managed to capture some of the magic of those great sporting moments.

Winner: Nasu
It's a close one between Kaiji and Nasu, but the Nasu's ability to recreate the great human drama of real life sport gives it the edge.

--- The "Side Splitter" Award for Comedy ---

The Final Cut:

Astro Fighter Sunred
Astro Fighter Sunred doesn't really offer the type of humour that would have you rolling on the floor laughing out loud; it's more likely to plaster a stupid grin on your face. It may be more accurate to describe the comedy as "amusing" rather than "hilarious", but it's intensely amusing. It's amusing because the hero a bit of a delinquent and the lead villain Vamp is an all round jolly nice guy; it's amusing because the Vamp cares as much about matters like putting the right things in the recycling bins as he does defeating Sunred; but most of all it's amusing because of the Animal Soldiers.

Dennou Coil
Dennou Coil may have a darker side that show up later, but the series has a warm sense of humour throughout, and no where can that be seen better in that episode with the beards...

Detroit Metal City
The kind of comedy in DMC is right at the opposite end of the spectrum to Sunred and "Dennou Coil": it's loud, offensive and in your face. But it's also very effective. I think it's a testament to how effective it is that I found it funny even though it's far from the kind of comedy I usually go for.

Winner: Dennou Coil
Though "Detroit Metal City" had some very funny gags, it mainly just uses shock humour most of the time, and when they miss the mark, they are a bit cringy. On the other end of the scale, we have Sunred and "Dennou Coil" which are both warmly humourous. Out of those, I feel Sunred is warmer but "Dennou Coil" is more humourous, so "Dennou Coil" wins it.

--- The "Mahou Mecha" Award for Mecha/Sci-fi/Fantasy ---
I've heard a lot of praise for the world building in "Wings of Honneamise", but perhaps due to me not having enough film buff in me to pick up some of the details, it didn't really wow me. "Ergo Proxy" had some nice ideas too, but I found it a bit too confusing. As for "Legend of the Galactic Heroes", it's a good space opera, but did much better in the "opera" half than the "space" half as its sci-fi aspects left a lot to be desired. For example, what the fuck is this "unnavigable space" thing they keep going on about other than a gigantic piece of plot device?

AD Police
The influence of "Blade Runner" on "Bubblegum Crisis" is well documented. But for the most part, the influences are superficial. "Bubblegum Crisis" doesn't really "feel" like "Blade Runner"; its sibling "AD Police" however, does. Where "Bubblegum Crisis" is bright and bubbly, and full of 80s glamour, "AD Police" is grim and brooding, and full of the dirt, sex and grime that's a feature of the dystopia envisaged in "Blade Runner"; where "Bubblegum Crisis" is rather shallow in its sci-fi aspects, "AD Police" touches on things such as cybernisation and existential themes, not too dis-similar to what you would find in "Blade Runner". For a three episode anime, it certainly produced a lot of food for thought.

Break Blade
This is here mostly for the thumping mecha battles that I've already talked about. The mecha designs are also quite interesting in their focus on mechanical rather than energy weapons, and the reason why the primitive mecha is so powerful also makes sense, unlike some other mecha shows I've seen ... I'm looking at you, "Gundam Wing".

Dennou Coil
I'm sure most who saw "Dennou Coil" thought about it when Google announced their augmented reality glasses. You know the idea's a good one when you see it and think "it'd be so cool to have one of those!" In a way, it's a spiritual sequel of sorts to "Serial Experiments Lain". While Lain featured the virtual reality world of Wired that people can connect to in their home, "Dennou Coil" takes it even further, overlaying the virtual world over the top of our real world. The world of "Dennou Coil" is rich in details; its virtual space has plenty of bugs despite being so advanced, and much like with the rise of the internet, it's the children who have come to embraced the technology the most. Some of the more technical details seems a bit hazy to me, but that's probably to be expected when there are so many interesting ideas crammed in there. And boy would I love to have one of those virtual pets.

Getter Robo
"Getter Robo" didn't exactly hold up well after I revisited for the first time since I was a wee lad, but as far as super robot designs go, the ideas that captured my imagination all those years ago seem interesting and fresh even today. Considering the show is about 40 years old now, this is no mean feat. "Getter Robo" didn't just feature one of the earliest combining robots, it combined the robots in very interesting ways. The three robots don't just combine into something more powerful, they combine in three different ways resulting in robots with different specialties as well as weaknesses. For example, Getter-3 is built for power and is specialised in underwater combat, but is quite slow and clumsy. What other robot shows have designs like this? I certainly can't think of any.

Kekkaishi
"Kekkaishi" is about a bunch of people - called kekkaishi - who have special abilities that can be used to combat spirits. It's here because of the interesting techniques used by the kekkaishi: they erect up an energy barrier called kekkai, often in the shape of a cube, to capture and destroy the spirit. While that doesn't sound exciting by itself, the kekkai can often be used in awesome ways, like creating blocks in mid air which allows the user to go jump up on them and go higher and higher up like in some mario-esq platform game, or alter the nature of the energy barrier and making it bouncy in order to use them to break a fall or something like that.

Mahou Shoujo Madoka Majica
I may think Madoka is pretty overrated, but my problem is it is mostly to do with its execution rather than the ideas and themes behind it. The magical girl system it constructed cleverly subverts the genre and puts shocking twists onto the genre tropes. What's more, the twists aren't just there for shock value - one of the anime's greatest achievement is how convincingly it sells its ideas. Quite a bit of thought went into the design of the witches too, even though visually it probably doubled the risk of me getting eye cancer.

Winner: Getter Robo
You know, when I first started this thing, I didn't imagine the Getter Robo series would be able to win anything other than perhaps a joke award or two. Now that I think about it though, its robot designs were pretty damn awesome, and would be exciting even today. Still, had "Dennou Coil" provided finer details about the various parts of its virtual world, that would have edged it.

--- The "Seat Gripper" Award for horror/thriller/psychological/mystery ---
I think I'm partial to atmospheric, suspenseful shows, which might explain why I think quite highly of most of the shows that qualified for this category. Well, except maybe for "School Days", which was pretty shocking towards the end but is such a weird hodgepodge of crap that it doesn't really deserve an award in any of the 20 genres it spans.

The final cut: Ayakashi/Mononoke

Ayakashi - Japanese Horror Tales/Mononoke
If "Mononoke" was by itself, it'd probably win category easily, but Ayakashi was a bit up and down (though mostly up) and dragged "Mononoke" down somewhat. But let's talk about the good things. I remember first seeing it at a Holloween-thon organised by my local anime society years back, during which we showed episodes from various horror anime (or in some cases horrifically bad anime). "Mononoke" blew nearly everything else we showed of the water that day. With its eccentric style and direction, it generated an unbelievably intense atmosphere. Unlike most horror though, there's more to it to a quick scare and thrill. Part of the reason it's so engrossing to watch is because of the sheer power behind the stories, stories involving themes such as greed, regret and corruption as well as love and sacrifice. All this augments the horror elements of the show to make it more chilling and compelling, because it made me care that much more about the tales that it told and the characters they involve. The best thing that can be said of "Ayakashi" is that it contains one of the best arcs involving the medicine seller featured in "Mononoke". But to be fair, that's selling it a little short. Unlike "Mononoke", Ayakashi comprises a bunch of stories completely independent from one another. The first one is rather good in its own right, with an execution similar to that of "Mononoke" minus the crazy art style.

Dennou Coil
Like "School Days", "Dennou Coil" is a kaleidoscope of tones. Unlike "School Days", it handles the tonal shifts seamlessly. Among its multitudes of genre is "mystery", and the anime takes that in its stride much like the rest. The mystery stems from the exploration of the dangers of the new technology as well as the conspiracies to cover it up. Dennou Coil maybe bright and cheerful for long stretches of the series, but it also does the dark and seat gripping side of the story effortlessly as well.

Denpa Teki na Kanojo
It's a shame this anime was only two episodes long, because it was pretty good. In contrast to "Mononoke", this was a more conventional horror, one that goes for a quick scare rather than lasting impact. That wasn't meant as a slight on "Denpa Teki no Kanojo" though; it was simply to point on the difference in style. What matters a lot more is the execution, and while "Denpa Teki na Kanojo" had its problems, when it comes to mystery/horror aspects, it was skin-crawlingly creepy and skin-tinglingly chilling.

Ergo Proxy
I think the kind of shows covered by this award are more dependent on the mood and atmosphere than most. Sporting a dark palette and a soundtrack consisting of tracks that ranges from the eerie to the gritty techno style so suited to the cyberpunk settings, "Ergo Proxy" certainly serves up a very appropriately oppressive mood. Mystery wise, it also sets the scene well, opening up a bunch of intriguing questions from the start. Although ultimately, those questions weren't exactly answered to my satisfaction, the show's sense of enigma nevertheless helped to string me along and keep me interested.

Kaiji
I think I've waxed enough lyrics already about the suspenseful qualities of Kaiji and its psychological warfare, so no need to re-iterate it here.

Winner: Ayakashi - Japanese Horror Tales/Mononoke

--- The "Heart-Shaped Wrench" Award for Drama/Romance ---
I'm quite particular about my drama/romance shows: usually overly dramatic ones like "Grandfather's Lamp" is a no-no, as are really cringeworthy romances. For those reasons, not many of these kind of shows make my final cut, but ones that do tend to have a good shot at taking a special place in my heart. Among the notable absentees in the final cut are Aoi Bungaku, which had episodes of brilliance but was quite uneven both in style and quality, and the two Nasu OVAs, which were good dramas, but felt so closely tied into the sports aspect that it could only belong in that category.

The Final Cut:

Five Centimenters Per Second
Shinkai does seem to like writing melancholy love stories doesn't he? But even though I enjoy the type of story he enjoys telling, just about all of his materials that I've seen prior to 5cm/s have had some major obstacle hampering the romantic narrative from becoming believable. With "She and Her Cat", it was the cat being in love with the girl; with "Voices of a Distant Star", it was the dubious mobile phone communications across space and the random mecha thrown in. In 5cm/s though, he's struck gold with a no-gimmick, down to earth settings. All of a sudden, it's a lot easier to connect with feelings of loneliness, of longing for something that's beyond out reach. Split into three chapters, each has its own appeal. The first one with its endearing puppy love story, the second with its aching tale of unrequited love, and the third with one of the most perfect endings ever.

Honey and Clover 2
I really liked most of the romantic aspects of "Honey and Clover", and while "Honey and Clover 2" had its fair share of engaging romance, it felt weaker than the first season, especially with its outrageous ending. The drama makes up for it though, especially since there's less of the silly comedy than the first season which I felt did little other than dilute the drama. While "Honey and Clover 2" is guilty of throwing in some over dramatic plot lines that belies its slice of life roots, it's introspective drama is as sharp as ever. The glimpse into the mind of a artistic genius; the feeling of being in the shadow of a vastly more gifted and likeable sibling and its parallel across two generations ... these are just some of the many highlights in a second season that took most of what made first season good and distilled them into a potent sequel half the length of its predecessor.

Hotarubi no Mori e
It's astonishing how much warmth and feeling "Hotarubi no Mori" packed into its short 45 minute run. In its limited time, it managed to tell a sweet, achingly beautiful love story and make it fulfilling; it managed to flesh out the characters to the point where they feel real; it also managed to feature one of the most poignantly romantic scenes of 2012. Understated and charismatic, "Hotarubi no Mori e" is one romance that packs a hefty emotional punch without resorting to overblown melodrama.

Winner: Honey and Clover
This was an especially tough one to decide. 5cm/s had its moments, but its characters' lack of personality held it back, so it was mainly a matter of deciding between the other two. "Honey and Clover 2", at times, was up there with the very best drama anime can offer, but they were cancelled out to a certain extent by the directions the plot took. "Hotarubi no Mori e" was probably the opposite: it's so consistently good that I can't really think of anything negative to say about it. On the other hand, due to its short length, it only has one really memorable moment whereas "Honey and Clover 2" had many. Eventually I decided to give it to "Honey and Clover 2" despite of its flaws.

--- The very plain-looking award for slice of life ---
There are couple of things listed as slice of life on a lot of places, which I don't quite think of as slice of life. First of all there's "Astro Fighter Sunred", which I feel is more of a comedy than a slice of life: its mundane situations are set up more for gags than a believable reflection of aspects of every day life. That said, it does exude that kind of fuzzy warmth that comes with a good slice of life. Then there's 5cm/s, which, though often mundane, is also monotonously focused on romance, and I felt it needed to be more than that to qualify for a slice of life.

The Final Cut:

"Honey and Clover II" *Spoilers for the series follow*

Natsuiro Kiseki
I took an instant liking to "Natsuiro Kiseki": the first episode, featuring an angsty spat between school friends, not only allowed the two dominant personalities in the core characters to make an immediate impression, but also walked the line between good drama and melodrama brilliantly with its natural character interaction and flowing dialogue, something that the likes of AnoHana should really aspire to. Despite having a magic rock that can grant wishes, "Natsuiro Kiseki" operates in a remarkably down to earth way, using its supernatural aspects very sparingly as a plot device. Underneath it all is a laid back story of a bunch of friends spending their last summer together before their circle is broken up. The stories are light hearted, charming, but unlike the recently trending crop of "K-On" clones, it's more than just moe fluff: the writing does not devote itself to enhancing the moe qualities of its female characters, it's often nuanced and meaningful, which is just how I like my slice of life shows.

Winner: Natsuiro Kiseki
When "Honey and Clover II" is at its best, it holds its own against the very best slice of life shows. Ultimately though, its dramatic plot lines counts weighed too heavily against it. It's a show that won most of its battles but lost the war: a lot of the minor execution details were spot on, but I felt they made a few terrible decisions with the overall direction of the plot that really hurt its believability. And when it comes to slice-of-life, believability is a crucial factor; despite the presence of the supernatural in "Natsuiro Kiseki", it's consistent low key approach made it the more believable anime, and that's why it wins here.

Posted by kekekeKaj | Mar 30, 2014 4:31 AM | 0 comments

January 1st, 2014

2012 Retrospective - Surprises & Controversies

Anime Relations: Rekka no Honoo, Touhai Densetsu Akagi: Yami ni Maiorita Tensai, Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu, Macross: Do You Remember Love?, Hachimitsu to Clover II, Nasu: Andalusia no Natsu, Kekkaishi, Clannad, Mononoke, Piano no Mori, Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor, Nasu: Suitcase no Wataridori, Ayakashi, Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu Gaiden, Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu Gaiden (1999), Detroit Metal City, Musashi no Ken, Tentai Senshi Sunred, K-On!, Rekka no Honoo: Final Burning, Tentai Senshi Sunred 2nd Season, Redline, Highschool of the Dead: Drifters of the Dead, Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica, Hotarubi no Mori e, Ojiisan no Lamp, Natsu-iro Kiseki, Wasurenagumo, Natsu-iro Kiseki: 15-kaime no Natsuyasumi

Posted by kekekeKaj | Jan 1, 2014 6:28 AM | 0 comments

December 31st, 2013

2012 Retrospective - Overview

Anime Relations: Cowboy Bebop, Tenkuu no Escaflowne, Rekka no Honoo, Escaflowne, Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror, Otaku no Video, Ergo Proxy, Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu, Ouritsu Uchuugun: Honneamise no Tsubasa, Mazinkaiser, Macross: Do You Remember Love?, Hachimitsu to Clover II, Nasu: Andalusia no Natsu, AD Police, Bubblegum Crisis, Bubblegum Crash, Kekkaishi, Byousoku 5 Centimeter, Dennou Coil, Mononoke, School Days, Piano no Mori, Mazinkaiser: Shitou! Ankoku Dai Shougun, Ani*Kuri15, Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor, Nasu: Suitcase no Wataridori, Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu Gaiden, Mad★Bull 34, Getter Robo, Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu Gaiden (1999), Detroit Metal City, Musashi no Ken, Trigun: Badlands Rumble, Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu (2009), Getter Robo G, Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha: The Movie 1st, Tentai Senshi Sunred, Denpa-teki na Kanojo, Rekka no Honoo: Final Burning, Tailenders, Tentai Senshi Sunred 2nd Season, Redline, Break Blade Movie 1: Kakusei no Toki, Aoi Bungaku Series, Break Blade Movie 2: Ketsubetsu no Michi, Mazinkaiser SKL, Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai, Break Blade Movie 3: Kyoujin no Ato, Break Blade Movie 4: Sanka no Chi, Highschool of the Dead: Drifters of the Dead, Yuri Seijin Naoko-san, Break Blade Movie 5: Shisen no Hate, Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai Specials, Break Blade Movie 6: Doukoku no Toride, Otona Joshi no Anime Time, Hotarubi no Mori e, Ojiisan no Lamp, Tekken: Blood Vengeance, Usagi Drop Specials, Space Neko Theater, Natsu-iro Kiseki, Wasurenagumo, Natsu-iro Kiseki: 15-kaime no Natsuyasumi

Read the following for an explanation of what this is: http://xss.now.cc/blog.php?eid=743591

Other articles in the 2012 Retrospective:

Surprises & Controversies: http://xss.now.cc/blog.php?eid=743633
Break down by genre: http://xss.now.cc/blog.php?eid=748679
Things that matter (to me): http://xss.now.cc/blog.php?eid=751749
The Musically Gifted: http://xss.now.cc/blog.php?eid=757885
The Best and the Rest: http://xss.now.cc/blog.php?eid=764771

No the title isn't a typo, this really is a retrospective on 2012 ... being posted at the end of 2013 (and overflowing into 2014). The Anime Instrumentality blog's year in review usually comes quite late, but I've managed to take things to another level. I've actually been working on these for on and off for over a year now. This is arriving so late partly because I've been lazy, partly because I've been busy with other stuff like blogging the Anime Music Tourney, and partly because there's just so much work that goes into one of these things. Seriously, I can't believe how much effort is involved! It making me have second thoughts about doing one every year.

As far as anime watching went in 2012, I felt like I hadn't watched THAT much stuff, often going through periods averaging less than an episode a day. But in terms of completed entries according to MAL, 2012 has been well above my average (which is about 30 titles a year). This seems to be down to the fact that I've watched large number of short/single-episode anime, a lot of them with friends, and these have kept the numbers ticking over.

In terms of quality of anime I've watched 2012, it's not been great. Even Madhouse's rep took a knock as I watched their sorry excuse of an OVA for "High School of the Dead". It was by far the worst thing I've seen from them, in fact their only output so far for which I've rated lower than a 5. Even the "High School of the Dead" series was pretty good for the kind of trashy show it was going for, but the OVA was just pure fanservice, kinda reminiscence of the "Mai Hime" OVAs.

But the most significant thing I've finished this year was "Legend of the Galactic Heroes". Though not widely seen by the anime fans in general, it's a smash hit amongst the elitists/elitist-wannabies. And how did it turn out? Well it'll get quite a few mentions in the detailed section of the retrospective, and I'm also in the process of writing a review for it, so I'll save my material for later.

On the soundtrack front, I've finally got around to checking out a Yoko Kanno soundtrack other than the "Cowboy Bebop" OST. Though the Bebop OST complemented the show superbly, I'm not really into Jazz. And since I've only heard the odd Yoko Kanno track here and there, the result is that I'd never really caught onto the Yoko Kanno craze (I've always been firmly in the Yuki Kajiura camp in the Kanno vs Kajiura debate). Well, that's changed during the Anime Music Tourney when I came across a lot of really good Kanno songs. Still, songs and OSTs are related but not quite the same kettle of fish. The Yoko Kanno OST I listened to in 2012, the "Escaflowne" series OST, was actually very good. However, going by that OST, I do feel that Yoko Kanno's songs are more ear catching than her instrumental background music. Though there are a lot of good instrumental tracks in the OST too, they didn't quite have the same level of power as some of the other great OSTs I've come across. Unfortunately, the Escaflowne TV series was not one that I watched in 2012, otherwise the OST might have had a shout in the musical section of this retrospective.

2012 is also a year when I started doing these seasonal preview marathons with friends. It involves going through the opening episodes of lots of new shows in one sitting whenever a new season comes around. Those have been pretty fun, and have alerted me to at least one new show that I might not have picked up otherwise.

And that's pretty much a high level view of the anime related aspect of my 2012. Now onto the list of anime that qualified for this year's awards:

List of finished anime:

1. 5 Centimeters per Second [ 2007 movie, CoMix Wave ]
2. AD Police [ 1990 OVA series, Artmic, AIC ]
3. Ani*Kuri15 [ 2007 special, Gainax, Studio 4C , Madhouse, Production I.G., Comix Wave, Gonzo, Satelight ]
4. Aoi Bungaku Series [ 2009 TV series, Madhouse ]
5. Astro Fighter Sunred 1 + 2 [ 2008 - 2010 TV series, AIC ]
6. Ayakashi - Samurai Horror Tales [ 2006 TV series, Toei ] + Mononoke [ 2007 TV series, Toei ]
7. Break Blade [ 2010 - 2011 movie series, Production I.G., Xebec ]
8. Bubblegum Crisis [ 1987 - 1991 OVA series, AIC, Artmic, Youmex ] / Bubblegum Crash [ 1991, Artmic ]
9. Dennou Coil [ 2007 TV series, Madhouse ]
10. Denpa teki na Kanojo [ 2009 OVA series, Brain's Base ]
11. Detroit Metal City + special [ 2008 OVA series, Studio 4C ]
12. Ergo Proxy [ 2006 TV series, Manglobe ]
13. Escaflowne: A Girl in Gaea [ 2000 movie, Sunrise, Bones ]
14. Flame of Recca + OVA [ 1997 - 1998 TV Series + OVA, Studio Pierrot ]
15. Getter Robo / Getter Robo G [1974 - 1976 TV series, Toei ]
16. Grandfather's Lamp [ 2011 movie, Telecom ]
17. Highschool of the Dead: Drifters of the Dead [ 2011 OVA, Madhouse ]
18. Honey and Clover II [ 2006 TV series, JC Staff ]
19. Hotarubi no Mori e [ 2011 movie, Brain's Base ]
20. Kaiji [ 2007 - 2008 TV series, Madhouse ]
21. Kekkaishi [ 2006 - 2008 TV series, Sunrise ]
22. Legend of the Galactic Heroes [ 1988 - 1997 OVA, Artland, Magic Bus ] + A Hundred Billion Stars, A Hundred Billion Lights [1998 - 2000 OVA, Artland] + Spiral Labyrinth [ 1999 - 2001 OVA, JC Staff, Artland ]
23. Macross: Do You Remember Love? [ 1984 movie , Tatsunoko Production, Studio Nue, Artland ]
24. Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha: The Movie 1st [ 2010 movie , 7Arcs ]
25. Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica [ 2011 TV series, SHAFT ]
26. Mad Bull 34 [ 1990 - 1992 OVA series, Magic Bus ]
27. Mazingkaiser [ 2001 - 2002 OVA series, Brain's Base ] + Mazingkaiser vs Great Darkness General [ 2003 movie, Brain's Base ]
28. Mazingkaiser SKL [ 2010 - 2011 OVA series, Actas ]
29. Melancholy of Haruhi Season 2 [ 2009 TV series, Kyoto Animation ]
30. Musashi no Ken [ 1985 - 1986 TV series, Eiken ]
31. Nasu: Summer in Andalusia + A Migratory Bird with Suitcase [ 2003 OVA, 2007 OVA, Madhouse ]
32. Natsuiro Kiseki + OVA [ 2012 TV series + OVA, Sunrise ]*
33. Oreimo + Specials [2010, 2011 TV series, AIC (AIC Build) ]
34. Otaku no Video [ 1991 OVA series, Gainax ]
35. Otona Josh no Anime Time [ 2011 TV one-shot, Answer]
36. Piano no Mori [ 2007 movie, Madhouse ]
37. Redline [ 2009 movie, Madhouse ]
38. School Days [ 2007 TV series, TNK ] + ONA [ 2005, Animation Planet ] + Valentine Days [ 2008 OVA, TNK ] + Magical Heart Kokoro-chan [ 2008 OVA, TNK ]
39. Space Neko Theater [ 2008 ONA ] (Note: Try as I might, I couldn't find out which studio made this)
40. Tailenders [ 2009 movie, Picograph ]
41. Tekken: Blood Vengeance [ 2011 movie, Digital Frontier ]
42. Trigun: Badlands Rumble [ 2010 movie, Madhouse ]
43. Usagi Drop Specials [ 2011 - 2012 OVA series, Production I.G. ]*
44. Wasurenagumo [ 2012 movie , Production I.G. ]*
45. The Wings of Honneamise [ 1987 movie, Gainax ]
46. Yuri Seijin Naoko-san [ 2010 OVA, ufotable ]

* - indicates anime from 2012

Unfinished:

1. Berserk: The Golden Age Arc I - The Egg of the King [ 2012 movie, Studio 4C ]* (Note: I'm counting all the berserk movies as one because the storylines in them simply don't stand independently)
2. Chihayafuru [ 2011 - 2012 TV series, Madhouse ]
3. Darker Than Black [ 2007 TV series, Bones ]
4. Garzey's Wing [ 1996 OVA series, Sanctuary ]
5. Steins;Gate [ 2011 TV series, White Fox ]

Posted by kekekeKaj | Dec 31, 2013 11:44 AM | 0 comments

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