Ah, where to begin? Such a scope really begins to overwhelm me, sort of like how power (and revenge, and table-humping yuri urges) did to many of the characters in Code Geass. And I’m only halfway home so far – somehow I imagine the brokenness level only to exponentially increase from here on out.

In case the stage is not properly set, I have just completed a near-marathon run-through of the first season of Code Geass, watching 20 episodes in 2 days, broken up into shorter stints by such trifles as sleep, meals, and being locked out of one’s room.

And now, I’m here to explore my feelings regarding the show, much in the way a Renji (ef) or other dramatic VN character monologues regarding affection they hold or others hold toward them, and whether they are ‘right’ or not.

Code Geass is rather funny in that it probably doesn’t make very much sense, viewed in retrospect. We keep bouncing from one topic to the next, chasing after cats with masks one day, fighting drug addictions another day, and the next thing you know you’re watching high school girls threaten the military with nuclear bombs and you’re wondering what went wrong.

Whether such a thing is ‘wrong’ or not probably lies to the judgment of the viewer. Certainly, maybe some of the week-by-week viewers – and god knows how they could stand some of the plot twists, especially of what I have heard in R2 – had time to exercise common sense and judgment, but in a marathon, you’re getting slammed from one side to the other fast enough that sometimes you just accept things and hold on to the roller-coaster.

Certainly, my hindsight is not perfect and I tend to be very forgiving in regards to plot ridiculousness, so Code Geass worked, somehow, in a sense. Maybe it’s because all my cheese radars are trained towards the harem, so that while the slightest bit of ‘tripping and falling on top of someone’ makes me twitch, things like an off-kilter joke leading to the complete eradication of a stadium full of people doesn’t even register on the non-believability radar.

I’ll admit that my implausibility meter bumped up a bit, but was quickly slammed back down by the raw voices in my head screaming “WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT”, drowning out any logical reasoning with sheer emotional reaction as if millions of metaphoric baby seals were being clubbed.

Certainly, Code Geass was a bit of a shocking show even in its stupid moments, due to my soft background. In a sense it, and probably most mecha, trivializes even trainwreck kingpins like School Days, by dealing with problems on a much larger scale than school life drama. When you screw up in Code Geass, you screw up in real life. A tearful apology scene isn’t going to bring back all those people.

So it’s almost fitting that all the characters in Code Geass are almost gripping in their sheer outright insanity. Somehow it feels like the application to star in this show features categories for 1) extreme outlooks on the world, 2) dead people important to them, and 3) more power than their body has room for. 2 out of 3 for most characters isn’t that bad.

And on a wider scale, the passive people naturally get affected by the powerful such that, as I found, ninety-nine percent of the characters in Code Geass are either screwed up or just outright screwed. (You may decensor those words as needed.)

You can almost imagine the Shakespearean collapse of mentality and of character that occurs to Lelouch and Suzaku (among others). It transcends levels of angst achieved by that even of the most unfortunate of harem leads. You break down inside until you can’t anymore, and then you convince yourself that you’re a giant siscon, the ends justify the means, and the world be damned if it gets in your way.

Somehow it works, simply because like most of the main characters I do cling on to the few innocent or not-completely-insane people we have left (which I imagine is a losing proposition), glancing desperately around the proverbial green room of characters, hoping somebody has some sense left and can knock that sense into others.

Perhaps it is because of the amusing way in which Code Geass establishes everything as a series of shipping relationships in the beginning, firing off an initial squad of three girls all targeted on Lelouch in one way or the other and pairing off other people as we go. It’s a direction that one doesn’t expect from a show like this (at least, I didn’t), and in the end CG skips a lot of that melodrama of falling in love, and just sort of accepts it, in a whirlwind romance of boy meets girl, later on they realize they get along well, ok, now kill one of them.

It’s cheap, it’s easy, and it’s brutal. One wishes for someone not to get mind-broken horribly in this anime but the ranks of the candidates are slimming faster than a girl on a crash diet and heavens knows Nunnally is a priceless vase just asking to be broken.

The other angle one can take is to hope for some sort of justice on a macro level. The ol ‘how are they going to get out of this one now?’, except by they I mean ‘the world’, and by this one I mean ‘being launched into war and turmoil by a siscon and his squad of tragic heroes’.

It’s a simple wish and one that a lot of dramatic roller-coaster shows take, and the more interesting question here is whether Code Geass in its second season is going to roll more towards being a ‘good end’ story or a ‘moralistic’ story. And I say this knowing just what happens in the last minutes of R2 (well, y’know, I have been around the otakusphere in the last year).

Is Lelouch too crazy to be a good person any more, or too bishie to fail? That is the question.

So the appeal of Code Geass is half shock value, half shipper action (slash the ever-old tradition of fourth wall moe), half pew pew machine guns mecha-ballet, and half tragic. Does that sound about right? It’s appeal would mathematically be 200%, but what use are numbers and logic in a show like this? It seems like a big number but the next thing you know, you’re excavating a bigger number with wings and pew pew laser cannons out of some mysterious island and 200% is pitiable.

Code Geass is a pseudo-futuristic show where a small quantity of people have unusually shiny eyes that allow them to do particularly crazy things. If I were feeling particularly philosophical I’d bring something up about the “great men” theory and how Lelouch has pretty much been granted that position (as exemplified in the episode where he forgets that leaving his army to go save his sister isn’t exactly a morale boost). It seems cheating to just say “oh, it’s unrealistic, so it’s OK”, but I’m thinking it’s right that my standards for plausibility are set pretty low here.

After all, we’ve been to this point probably a couple dozen times, but it’s not about whether something is realistic or not, but whether you can empathize with the characters in one way or the other. And on that front, I suppose Code Geass wins because I still pray for Nunnally, shift alignments on Lelouch and Suzaku constantly, and want to kick Nina in the face. (Oh, yes, I can shun a meganekko too.)

The characters are at least to some extent interesting and Code Geass manages to run the spectrum of Exciting Genres well enough that my attention is kept. It could have fallen into a pit of angst but managed to save itself, at least by throwing itself into the pit of insanity or the pit of exploding things. It got a bit gratuitous in its Bondiness or JUST-AS-PLANNED-itude, what with all the Sakuradite bombs and games-of-chess bombs and nuclear bombs and … uh … bombs, did I mention that … but one derives a source of pleasure and entertainment in alternatingly wanting to adore and abhor Lelouch and the plans that constantly surround him.

You should know from my grounding in GARmbling that I like thinking games. Code Geass perhaps doesn’t wield its Checkov’s guns very well but it keeps one drawing up new possibilities and constantly recoloring everything and everyone (or at the least, readjusting the upper bounds on how much can hit the fan), and I appreciate that in a show.

If you go to a theme park and ride roller coasters, you expect a ride. I slammed down that safety bar over my lap and held on, and I got a ride. That’s all I really ask for.

Perhaps due to its ’short’ duration mentally (as opposed to a weekly anime viewing) it doesn’t get a crowning moment of awesome, or leave much of a mark on my mind or heart, but I’ll still be covering my right eye with my left hand in an awkward pose for weeks to come and gratuitously wielding my Nerf gun regardless.

It’s difficult in the end for me to truly discuss Code Geass because there was hardly much to discuss – at least until I get to that moment in R2. Character motivation, tempting, but either not clear enough or too clear. Plot twists, what use is there out than shouting in disbelief and shock? The point of a review like this is to recommend whether a show is worth watching or not and I don’t have a good gauge for Code Geass.

I feel like it was a good use of my time and on my completely irrelevant scale it got an 8 (which is quite above average). There’s no real reason for such, other than it kept me interested. Therefore, I say to you, without question, if you can accept an action, strategy-packed show mixed with a half-tragic, half-manic collapse of Shakespearean size and a dash of pseudo-romance, Code Geass will be a lot of fun. Perhaps why it works at least on some basic level, is because it does a lot of things.

It’s a melting pot of genres, a jack of all trades, and while it fumbles a few of the balls it juggles, no one is paying attention because there are still six other balls in the air, one of which is shiny enough to appeal to you.

Well, now for me, it’s just a matter of seeing how this legendary second season changed things…

-CCY

(Finally, a protip: if you want someone to die, shoot them in the head. Not the stomach. The stomach does not work. OK?!)

It would consist of a girl (and obligatory male protagonist fawning over her) surviving numerous dangerous, dramatic perils over the course of a day, the D.N.Angel Domestic Deathtrap so to speak, only to die to something random and trivial.  ‘Angst’ ensues.

After imagining such a thing, it’s somewhat ironic, then, that, when stuck at the airport, I decided to turn to this title out of the few visual novels backlogged on my DS.

For the main plot of Narcissu is essentially set up with all the bluntness of the title She Dies At The End; such ‘anticipation’, if I can call it that, has worked in the past for longer works like Shuffle or School Days, where I was spoiled of the ending is advance. But such a thing is unintentional in those cases, whereas here it is probably quite such.

In a sense it reminded me of an hour-long Aozora scene, except Misuzu marches over 900 kilometers to go die in some ocean.

Such a tactic, I wonder, if it’s really effective; yes, many of us may read a visual novel to cry or whatnot but such a goal is often secondary to others, such as becoming endeared to super-moe characters or, dare I say, reading a good story. A good story can make you cry but crying does not always make a good story.

And so I’ve probably set myself up to tear up Narcissu fairly hard, which is probably a bit far from the truth.

I will say for the most part I was nonplussed by the actual characters in the story. Rather, the undertones intrigued me, the search for meaning, a sort of existentialism in life. I know the feeling and I’m experiencing such a thing in the frame of this review, as I search for the point to Narcissu, so I can’t help but give it props there.

Likewise, I didn’t feel particularly moved by the ending to the story; it moved forward in a fairly linear fashion, and again, I must say that a strongly choreographed story does not equal a bad or uninteresting one. But for me, it must work much harder, since it does not have that shock value to work with.

Perhaps it’s a bit slice-of-life in nature, albeit more dramatic, in how the two in this story live a relatively low-key life, with little intrinsic value to anyone but themselves. Ye old paradox, whether you would rather be one to the world or the world to one; large value in small things, and whatnot.

It stirred me a bit, to see the two in this story strive to make what little mark they could, if not on the world then on each other, to creak open the door to a rusty heart. The existentialism behind it all is welcome by someone of my mindset, although it didn’t hammer me partiucular hard.

But, although I will probably forget the story after I write this blogpost, the fact is still that I’ve written a fairly substantial blogpost about Narcissu, one that’s had to be moved off MAL and onto the main blog because of that, and I think that speaks something for it.

As the writer’s note says about Narcissu, “no matter what it is that you felt, as long as you felt *something* … that is the *all* of this piece”. Since this work has made me feel something – feel a bit contemplative, feel a bit like writing, feel my creative and emotional gears churning in step – it can be considered a success.

So I shall call it as such.

-CCY

This is obviously a sign that these types of posts, reviewing old anime no one else would normally touch, are the next big thing, a new recession-proof bubble for the otakusphere to post in (helpful for when old, wizened blogs are collapsing left and right)

As such I am promptly pulling all of my money out of the Bank of Editorial and Analytical Writing and investing it all in old sucky anime which I can sarcastically review to great success and profit.

First up was Lamune, one of a great pile of many visual-novel slash eroge conversions, chosen for being the first anime on the Great List of Anime People Have Mentioned Once In Their Life I could find download links for. I promptly grabbed the whole series, stuffed it onto my portable media player of choice, and bought a ticket for the closest 6-hour train ride I could find.

After attempting to execute my brilliant plan, however, I found that Lamune presented me with a bunch of problems.

First off, I still like to watch new anime (mostly to suck and/or lick the genitalia of popular animation studios), and I still like to write long eloquent fanboy-rave-filled editorials.
Secondly, my train ride was only 3 hours long, so I had to split it into 2 halves – one for the trip down to my weekend getaway spot, and one half for the way back.
Thirdly, I never really have time to marathon shows, so I can’t make this into a feature.

And fourthly, Lamune didn’t suck.

So this is probably going to end up being a rather ordinary review of a rather old show with no cool pretenses or anything, and probably lacking in sarcasm and attitude as well.

This is mostly because of the type of harem-alike anime Lamune is, for better or for worse. I’m beginning to imagine a sort of categorization among the vast, vast field of visual-novel-conversion anime, into one of four separate groups:

1) Dramatic. The harem aspects of the show are played off mostly for tension or drama. Conflict between two or more characters is common, if not required, in these types of shows. Logic and sensibility is frequently thrown out in favor of shock and an intense feeling. Examples include School Days, Higurashi, KimiNozo, and H2O.

2) Emotional. Could also be termed a ‘crying anime’ most of the time, these anime are meant to induce a large emotional response from the viewer, by presenting many different stories about many different cute girls, and the often-depressing things that happen to them. Usually the conflict here is internal, or not between main heroines. Examples are any Key work, and parts of Tsukihime or Da Capo.

3) Healing. A gentle story that is meant to warm a viewer’s heart, often through liberal applications of moe and a general upbeat mood. Conflict is minimal here, with a typically straightforward storyline where the core group of characters gets along well. Examples here would be Nanatsuiro Drops, Tokimeki Memorial, and – a non-VN example, but harem-like – Haruka’s Secret.

4) Perverted. The easiest category to explain – it’s a mostly lighthearted genre with the emphasis on shoving a lot of improbably beautiful women in various stages of undress into your face. Any hentai OVA will fall into this category, as well as some of the dirtier adaptations with little in terms of plot.

And while there’s often a lot of overlap between said categories, in the case of works like ef (emotional-dramatic), sometimes it’s quite easy to see where an anime is coming from, and that case today is Lamune.

Lamune couldn’t be any more healing-type if you set it on an aquatic city in Mars and made the lead girl, Nanami, a naive, shy but self-confident ojou-sama otaku, and actually, those two statements are kind of true.

A small, rural town by the oceanside is the setting for Lamune, which gives it a very peaceful atmosphere, and a close-knit cast with a strong bond between them all. And Nanami herself isn’t too far off from a certain Haruka Nogizaka, being very spacey and naive, having a kind heart, and generally being very adorable in nature.

And this is quite a good point to start from for Lamune. After the first episode I was already getting the vibes of another Haruka’s Secret, except plus true harem aspects. It had a fairly obvious ‘end girl’ with a pleasant relationship, and a fairly strong supporting cast.

I figured that if it stayed on a peaceful path, instead of devolving into pointless waffling and drama, that it could perhaps knock Haruka’s Secret off the spot of “best romance-type healing show in recent memory”. Not particularly a hard feat considering how Haruka crashed hard in its latter half.

Unfortunately, as the show progressed it was easy to see Lamune’s roots in a multiple-route game, as we devolved into To Heart 2 / Da Capo II territory, spending needless time developing side characters for a single episode.

My problem with this is not the spread of attention amongst characters, which seems justifiable enough. I know I wouldn’t be happy if a series I loved as a visual novel (or manga, etc) totally blew over characters, and in Lamune, the main relationship between Kenji and Nanami was kept in the frame at all times.

The larger issue is the standalone nature of all the episodes, how none of them really feel tied to each other. In a sense, although it doesn’t lose sight of the end pairing, it doesn’t do anything in that regard, nor does it advance much between Kenji and the side heroines as well. In all senses it is basically a zero-sum episode, and this is something that I find hard to swallow for a good half of the show, composing much of the middle half.

This is something that I frequently find myself butting heads with in ‘healing’ shows like this, their frequent nature to have very little happen. They’re not quite amusing enough to be good as stand-alones, and not continuous enough to bring interest from one episode to the next. I have a feeling that episodes like this are meant to be the defining point of ‘healing’ shows, and so my issue here is less an issue with Lamune and more an issue with the genre as a whole.

Still, it goes to show that Lamune is perhaps not that conducive to a drawn-out, marathon sitting, and my point still stands that there could have been at least some acknowledgment of previous events.

At this point I was nearing the three-quarters mark of Lamune, watching it go back and forth between the upper bound of Haruka’s Secret and the lower bound of To Heart 2, and really not forming much of an opinion on it, beyond “Nanami is modestly moe,” with modestly defined as “not as world-melting as other renowned moeblobs, but otherwise worth noting.” On par with the middle-tier Clannad girls, approximately.

Luckily, something very good happened in the form of Sakura’s arc.

Sakura seemed to be another stereotype in a crowd of mostly stereotypical – therefore, cute, yet forgettable – characters, from the tomboy-slash-tsundere, to the kind sister (actually blood-related, for once, I think), to the gentle onee-san.

Being the shy girl, she had a sort of natural appeal to me that I couldn’t deny, as overdone as that type is, but I didn’t expect her to amount to much more than the other characters.

Of course, I underestimated the power of a longshot confession, the shy character’s specialty, a sort of emotional bomb strapped to their chest (to be particularly incorrect, political-wise) meant to turn the world upside-down.

And while I was initially worried that her arc would cause a lot of unnecessary drama, it actually turned out quite pleasantly, and so I found her part the most touching and memorable part of Lamune, even more than the finishing arc.

On the finishing arc, while we are there, it drew to a satisfactory conclusion, but not an outstanding one. I was left rather nonplussed by it all, and found myself more affected by Sakura’s crying and emotion than Nanami’s outburst, which bordered too much on that overdone line of “can’t live without you” that the feeling of moe is all about.

Maybe it was something about Sakura’s maturity that surprised me. Desperation drives people to do many things, but Sakura composed herself through a tough time quite well, for such a shy, weak-looking person on the outside.

Perhaps during the second episode of her arc she did too much hiding and running away from herself, but watching Kenji – and most importantly, Nanami – understand her true feelings that she couldn’t convey, culminating in a final conversation on the train tracks at the end, really meant something.

It’s probably because, if anything, it led to one of those brilliantly quotable lines, “You can’t always think ‘that’s fine’,” which deserves to be quoted in the Romance Motivation Lines Hall-of-Fame, and poignant scenes with a strong finisher line are always extremely memorable for me.

And ‘memories’ are something that I find to be in shortage when it comes to ‘healing’ shows, distressingly so. I’ve found very little reason to think about this genre of shows when it comes to looking back and reminiscing; perhaps this is because since they lack conflict, they often don’t grab my attention in a way that leaves a mark. Rather, they tend to do the opposite, acting as a sort of visual drug to clear the mind for a short period of time.

As such, ‘healing’ shows work reasonably well for rewatching, during stressful times to relax and soothe the soul, but when you’re as behind on anime on as constant a basis as I am…it really never happens.

There are a lot of anime like this out there, that just don’t stick to the mind or the heart for long, and as natural a process that it is, I still feel a tinge of sadness every time I let go of one forever.

Especially for shows like Lamune, which make a grand leap from the large pile of mediocre anime towards the promised land of the greats and the eternal, only to fall short into that purgatory, too weak to be loved, but too strong to be forgotten.

I suppose my posts like this are a countermeasure to that, Chihiro’s diary of sorts, so that I can flip back one day when I’ve lost hope and remember something about a show I would have otherwise forgotten.

One day, I will remember the charm of a simple, modest show set by the sea, with a lovable lead couple and a strong secondary cast, and I will look back on it fondly, and I will remember the sweet taste of Lamune.

That’s my wish.

-CCY

What we haven’t heard as much from, though, is the fact that other, less pizza-induced shows still exist, and still ended around the same time frame.

Perhaps Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu (Haruka Nogizaka’s Secret) doesn’t have the benefit of being wildly popular or in-depth, and perhaps the ending did not leave us wondering whether Yuuto bit the dust or not, but still I can find there’s a lot for an anime fan to emote about, for I’ve gone through the aforementioned emotion spectrum with regard to Haruka’s Secret.

For those who dismissed Haruka’s Secret as a generic guys’ moe-moe-romance show, you’re … pretty much right. But there’s one part in where you are wrong – Haruka’s Secret is a heart-stealing guys’ moe-moe-romance show.

It’s torn through the community and left more than its share of anibloggers dazed, confused, and lovestruck, something that this crude genre often fails to achieve. It’s tough to describe the almost base level on which Haruka seems the same, yet so much different, as any other show, almost like it is to accurately identify the reason for one’s deep affection for any person, 2D or 3D.

At least, that’s what I really want to think about Haruka’s Secret. It’s cute, sweet, great for cuddling with at night, will never put a step wrong, and just has that little bit more … until that one fateful day where all of a sudden my rating of it plunged 700 points in 25 minutes.

Now what to believe?

(I reveal Haruka’s Secret within. Beware of spoilers.)

As you may have noticed, over the last few days I’ve been slowly drawn into the dark, mind-rending world of Higurashi. As such, it seems rather fitting that I open with the messy, stomach-churning conclusion of this show, as described above, before snapping back towards a more linear descent into hell.

Therefore, I will start with the better points – and what good points they are! – of Haruka’s Secret … but do note that it will end with me bashing my head against a knife while the anime laughs maniacally in the background.

Equally fitting, Haruka Nogizaka and the anime as a whole are hiding a secret – albeit not deep and dark – that makes them not quite what they seem. Haruka Nogizaka is, deep down, an anime otaku and moe powerhouse extrodinare, and Haruka Nogizaka’s Secret is actually quite the well-balanced lighthearted romance.

What perhaps endears Haruka’s Secret the most to my heart is that it’s got all the warm, fuzzy, and fluffy cotton-candy appeal of a simple romance story, with minimal guilt from pandering. Unlike most guys’ romance anime, Haruka’s Secret seems to give a nod either to women or to the second-lowest-denominator in, for the most part, not resorting to hacked, cheesy cliches, nor fanservice abuse.

This is evident most in our protagonist Yuuto, who seems to have learned a bit from his harem-style brethren of the past. True, he comes from the same roots, being a plain looking glasses guy who happens to stumble upon two and a half women…but somehow, his sanity and his conscience seems better placed. Maybe that’s why the collective female otakusphere (and by that I mean a sample population of two bloggers) seems so approving of him.

Especially when dealing with matters involving his beloved, Yuuto is remarkably strong and sound of mind, standing up for himself, and, admittedly, striving a bit too hard to be the knight in shining armor. But isn’t that preferably to the standard sack of flesh, too often driven by hormones or lost by indecision?

Accolades extend down to the rest of the cast too, in various degrees. Haruka, the female lead and moe girl extrodinaire, falls a bit on the pandering side, being essentially a Konata / Kotomi / Sayuri crossbreed, but somehow, it feels like it works here. Maybe because she doesn’t go out of her way to praise Otaku Reference Here, or because she has a few moments where she stands on her own as well – or maybe it’s just because her situation as an isolated idol feels natural, as she learns to take her own steps.

Haruka’s little sister Mika fills the token loli mode, replete with the dirtiest mind in the show, but it’s not too bad. She does have a redeeming episode which fills out her character a bit, so she’s not too dislikable. The dual maids of Hazuki and Nanami are mostly on the lighthearted side, but I can at least say that they’re lock candidates for SaiMoe next year (and for megane power rankings rev. II if I ever get to that). Yuuto’s annoying relatives are … annoying, and a bit amusing … but they know not to appear for more than 30 seconds an episode.

Shiina, however, is where the utopia starts falling apart.

It’s tough to say whether Haruka’s Secret had too much ambition or too little time, but the overloaded aspect of its story nature is pretty apparent through how the endgame played out … namely, with the near-entire lack of the third wheel in the love triangle.

After a few moments which hinted at her defeat in episode 10 – although never mentioned explicitly – Shiina, who enjoyed a pretty lofty status in the show, pretty much dissappears. Now, this is naturally preferred to creating false drama by having Shiina cling to Yuuto – in fact, she does almost the opposite, letting go of her own accord – and, if we were going to just focus on Haruka and Yuuto’s relationship in the last few episodes, it would be a great move.

However, this is all thrown out the window for a sharp flight away from reality and into bizarro world, where one-shot gaijin Romeos suddenly become credible competition for Haruka’s heart … without even laying a hand on her.

It’s clear to see that Haruka’s Secret shouldn’t be judged in any frame that is considered realistic; there’s a patent insanity to the show with all the chainsaw-wielding maids and yakuza mothers and all, but for most of the show there was at least a link to reality, the sense that an ordinary, confident boy and a shy, upper-class girl could fall for each other … that was almost Hollywood-like in nature.

But then we package the show up and ship it off to Haruka’s private island, with people lining up to give Haruka 500-carat diamond dresses and garages of Ferraris and more land than probably half the states in the U.S., and then where is our “realism” as defined? In what world does ignoring the main romantic contenderm to make way for a weaker one of the opposite gender, make for a more compelling finish?

Perhaps a sign of the unavoidable shonen roots of Haruka’s Secret is that it takes on more than it can handle, flipping from one storyline to another in a method that hardly resolves any of them, not even the one most vital to the show.

We start with the aforementioned shameful otaku secret of Haruka Nogizaka, whose concern about being discovered leads her to befriend Yuuto. After the first episode, it was possible this anime could evolve into a lighthearted Welcome to the NHK spin on otaku life, but after a few episodes, the otaku element is reduced to just something that makes Haruka happy without any repercussion.

Fine, maybe she accepted her otaku roots and maybe the entire school did, too. We still have the sweet story of the her and Yuuto falling in love. Only in this case, it’s like an old 2D platformer or something because they fall and fall and never hit the bottom of the pit.

There’s a finite level of enjoyment – albeit a very large finite level – one can derive from watching two people stumble over words and over each other at the slightest implication of a relationship. Yes, for the most part, down to the last minute, I was standing on my chair abusing JP’s quote of “F*** YES (SLIGHTLY ROMANTIC ACTION HERE)”.

When I lost faith in the last arc and its unnaturalness, I was still reaching out for one last shot at redemption. Maybe Yuuto, instead of falling to the cliche of getting hopelessly demoralized by a trash talker (to only gain faith through an otherwise irrelevant side character), would suddenly show his knightly side. Maybe Haruka would break through and declare that all the solid-gold Ferraris in the world were worthless compared to her Dojikko Aki-chan doll or Yuuto himself. Maybe it would all just come together, in one wonderful moment, that kiss hinted at in the OP, a confession, anything, something.

This was the kind of desperation you would feel if you were a pointy-nosed character in a Madhouse show, hoping for a miraculous draw to avoid losing your life.

And sure enough, it wouldn’t come.

One word, one action, nothing, as we get shot down by the combination of a fish-block and a Typical Shonen Romance Moment where all the eavesdroppers stumble in and ruin the moment. It’s nearly unforgivable.

I say nearly because there is, admittedly, another way to read this show. Sure, there was nothing ever shown or ever said between Haruka and Yuuto, but in reality, what sort of relationship is judged only by the explicit actions? Sometimes, it’s easier to fall in love without the official constraints of a relationship, and certainly Haruka and Yuuto were doing things as a couple already … any words at the end would just be the icing on the cake.

But for a more simple-minded viewer like me, who is sitting on the edge of his seat waiting for the final results to become official, who saw a kiss obscured in the OP for ELEVEN episodes, there’s just something … missing … like the animators wanted to leave content open for a second season. Certainly, if merchandise has been anything, Haruka’s Secret has been popular enough to have such an option.

I just get that feeling though, that Haruka’s Secret could have done better, not as a longer anime, nor as something extended to two seasons, but something that had focused better on a single point, on providing a fully encapsulated experience, something that is hard for an adaptation to do, especially one with potential for cash-cow abuse, or for one with a lot of content, which seven light novels might attest to.

Is Haruka’s Secret still a good show? For the most part, yes. It is above average, the first nine-odd episodes for sure. Either way it’s still good cotton candy, but you get the feeling it could have been more than that.

It had the characters, the songs, the potential to bring something memorable out of a weary genre.

I don’t understand!

It could’ve had class!

It could’ve been a contender.

It could have been somebody, instead of just another fluffy, sweet yet forgettable shonen romance…

…which is what it is, let’s face it.

-CCY

There’s one of my groundbreaking review ideas out of the bag. Well, not groundbreaking since it’s a rip-off of one of the larger video-game-culture phenomenons of late of Zero Punctuation, everyone’s favorite fast-talking fast-insulting Australian guy who rambles on about video games while ironic images appear in the background.

I figured I’d do my best to bring such a wonderful thing to the otakusphere by banging out my own ripoff parody homage to this style of reviewing, and my first topic would be Kure-nai, simply because if I did something silly like this no one would notice that everyone beat me to discussing this show, even Baka-Raptor and otousan and apparently another one by Karura showed up on the aggregator today.

(Yeah, I’m half-linkwhoring, half apologizing for not commenting on the other reviews because I was expecting to talk about it in mine. Additionally, becuase I was listening at the ABC channel last night about how there’s not enough interblog chatter. Thus, link-whoring.)

Of course somewhere between here and there the motivation ran out and the review admittedly ran horribly, horribly long and so I decided to scrap this script as a Zero-Punc script and just post it up as an actual review.

This is mainly because, aside from the fact it took me 7 minutes to read, I didn’t believe that it really captured the feel of Zero Punctuation. I managed to write a bit snappier and cracked a few more jokes than usual but it wasn’t laden with hilariously graphic metaphors and, as usual from me, was a bit too serious.

So you can judge for yourself whether it would have worked or not; although it might be a bit tricky because there’s no ironic stick-figure images that contrast the text to make the writing a bit more amusing.

Oh, and don’t forget, there is a review of Kure-nai in there somewhere too.

I was always taught in English class to begin with a shocking statement, and so, here it goes: If you watch anime, you are probably a lolicon.

OK, OK, before you break out your pitchforks and torches (or nod disturbingly in agreement), let me tell you: that’s not a bad thing. Not everyone who is attracted to little kids is going to grow up and be a church pastor or Michael Jackson, and really, the sense of the word ‘lolicon’ I’m using is simple.

Not every ‘attraction’ has to be one of sexual desire; quite often it’s closer to real life where people like to rub the heads of little kids and scream in obnoxious voices “You’re so kyuuuuuute!” where one is simply very, very moe-moe towards anime kids.

Now granted, if you start liking the little ones more than the big ones (DFC notwithstanding) or if you’re starting to get off to your favorite magical girl anime, then that’s a different topic I won’t be discussing.

But for the rest of us we’re brought to a show called Kure-nai. It’s a show that features a 7-year-old naked in a public bath, and really, that’s all you need to know to pass judgment on it.

*cue music*

Oh for the love of – the problem with shows prominently featuring little kids is that they’re frequently tossed into the ‘lolipedo bin’ without a second thought; perhaps this because many of these shows do actually contain a unhealthy level of fanservice limited only by the Japanese censors and giant rolling ‘no’s. Kure-nai is a bit smarter in that it shies away from physical porn and gives you some mental porn instead.

After all, part of the reason people like little kids aside from awkward complexes is that they do, after all, say the darndest things and so we come upon a sort of intellectual fanservice present here in Kure-nai and many other shows, where Murasaki says a lot of things that are half inappropriate, half out-of-context, and fully hilarious. It fully fits our image of the naive little kid and that’s what makes her so likable.

Continuing on this, the other thing about Murasaki is that despite the fact that she’s seven years old, when she’s talking about adult things is the only time she really acts it, something that will make or break Kure-nai for you. Quite frequently she spouts the most mature lines and speaks the most truth of anyone in the show, mixing that childhood naivete with the intelligence of a grown woman, something that will again leave viewers dazzled and probably hating the real world where all kids do is babble about nonsense and Barney.

Murasaki really makes Kure-nai a treat to watch for everyone, because her truths about love and the world will make analytical types froth at the mouth, and when she’s not talking about that she’s busy innocently talking about something inappropriate, which makes dirty types froth at the crotch.

Still, this brings me to the first problem in Kure-nai – and do remember, as a knock-off of fast-talking review series the world round I am contractually obligated to tear anything vaguely popular to shreds – in that it’s horrible at keeping a sense of believability.

Murasaki is the first to stretch the bounds when she begins spouting really strange stuff for a child to be knowing. It can be explained, for sure – she had an intelligent upbringing in the Kuhouin family, or perhaps this is that whole ‘hyperrealism’ thing where anime represents the real world being tweaked to perfection in a test tube in some mad scientist’s lab – but sometimes you just get the feeling that perhaps the animators forgot what age she was, or better yet, didn’t care.

There’s probably a life lesson in here somewhere about how everybody could learn something from someone else and that we shouldn’t discriminate against people based on age or anything, and I would admittedly forgive and probably worship Kure-nai if the main problem was just that, but unfortunately there are other holes big enough to drive a orange Jaguar (and later a grey Mercedes) through.

Kure-nai is the rough equivalent of a tsundere in show form. It can’t decide if it wants to be a gentle, sweet slice-of-life, or a dramatic, conflict-filled action anime.

Now the thing that makes everyone the world round melt down at people like Kagami, Akiha, or Kyou is that they, like M&M’s, are hard on the outside and soft on the inside. You get that feeling of having to work for your reward wearing down their defenses, and being able to see a side of a person no one else would.

Unfortunately, Kure-nai is a show and not a person, and so it cannot blush or lock itself in a gym storage room, and only beats up their viewers’ minds instead of their bodies. We have a term for this and it’s called multiple personality disorder.

Maybe I’m just selfish and liked the Murasaki end of Kure-nai too much but every time we suddenly find Yayoi or Benika shrugging off mortal injury and laying the smackdown on a random goon, all I can do is groan. It’d be almost passable except the fighting is even more ridiculous and dumb than asking Murasaki for sex advice.

It’s not really dramatic at all; the good guys are ludicrously broken, with no sense of bodily injury, we know how it’s going to end anyway, and I keep laughing how no one brings guns to a knifefight.

Perhaps my true problem with Kure-nai is that it is the epitome of wasted potential. It is the classic example of the little train that couldn’t: with only 12 episodes it tried to do a little bit of everything instead of focusing on any specific goal. This is a great recipe for a good show, but not a good recipe for a great one.

Murasaki is the only polished point in the show, and even then I’ve given her a paragraph of hate already.

The Kuhouins as enemies are poorly characterized: all of them are insane with little to no motivation and so they just come off as raw evil, which damages the otherwise great way the show doesn’t jump to conclusions about people.

The romantic subcurrents with Shinkurou, glasses girl, and that one other woman, really never amount to anything more than some awkward tension. Episode 7 did a great number on love and I hoped there was more but in the end the only confession we got was from a seven-year-old, and otherwise the romance didn’t even amount to enough to claim, “Oh, it’s subtle”.

The side characters were all over the map. Shinkurou’s flatmates had a good time in the spotlight especially during their musical number, but Yayoi looked to have a bit of a story as well about always being lonely and untrusted, except that never happened, and I already whined about my lack of schoolmate love-love and about the dark black souls of the generic Kuhouins.

The ending drew a lot of flak from viewers for -

WARNING! ENCOUNTERED A SPOILER. NO REFUGE, shmup reference, etc. run away now if you didn’t watch the show yet.

- just handing Murasaki back to the Kuhouin family she began with, but I thought it was done well. It wasn’t dead obvious like the idealistic choice of Shinkurou sweeping Murasaki off her feet, and it was still quite feel-good as well. You got the feeling that the two Kuhouins that weren’t pure evil could change the family, that although Murasaki was going back into the lion’s den, it was for a good reason and the right thing to do. Because nothing can replace true family, not even a guy with a bone sticking out of his arm.

So that’s two good points for the show: Murasaki and the ending; everything else runs the gamut from decent to incredibly, incredibly stupid, but in the end it all averages out to a solid show. Of course, the problem is that in a season with other good picks in the feel-good and analytical department, I found Kure-nai just doesn’t stick around long enough to make a lasting impression.

I’d recommend it to others nevertheless, but overall it’s like a good meal or perhaps a cheap fling: while you’re eating it, it tastes good, but you’re not going to remember it down the line as much more than a short, abstract memory, unless perhaps you do actually like watching 7-year-olds naked in a public bath, then you’ll have that scene engraved in your head forever instead.

Kukuku, full circle.

-CCY

(I’ll get anime-style ZeroPunc off the ground eventually… once I find something that really makes me rage XD)

Ah, everyone, let’s sit down, it’s time for the weekly Theater Club meeting … ah … uh … everyone, we have to talk about the Clannad movie today … could you quiet …

Hold on Nagisa, let me handle this …

Kotomi, stop trying to burn today’s script!
Akio, stop running around screaming manly phrases!
Ryou, stop blushing so much, the visible steam is making too much noise!
Tomoyo, turn down the beatdown on Youhei for a bit!

I’m sorry, was I being too distracting? It’s his fault that he’s screaming in pain so much.

Mei, stop trying to use your loli charm on anything that moves!
…Uh…Sanae…I think those screams of the damned I keep hearing are coming from your cooking.

NO ONE EVEN USED MY IMAGE IN THE LAST TEAM CLANNAD POST! *runs out crying*

I LOVE YOU THEATER! Wait, no…I WILL ALWAYS STAND UPON SANAE! Damn it … hold on, I’ll be right back.

And Tomoya … Tomoya, Tomoya, Tomoya … I’ve got to deal with you personally, you naughty boy.

Hey, that’s not tsun or dere, that’s just being dirty!

S-stupid Tomoya, it’s not like I was trying to come on to you or anything!

FUUKO’S DETECTING AN OBVIOUS LIE!

Whoa, that’s cool, I didn’t know Fuuko had a lie detector built in.

…yes, I got a speaking role!

HERE, HAVE ONE OF FUUKO’S 37 SENSES!

Uh, guys? On topic? Clannad movie? Review? …OK, Nagisa, you’re with me, we’re on our own now.

Hello. Nice to meet you. My name is Kotomi Ichinose, a senior in Class A. My hobby is warning people about spoilers (Huge spoilers, like spoiling After Story, i.e. the second season – I AM NOT KIDDING ABOUT THESE SPOILERS). I would be happy if you could continue to read this post.

Good. Let’s begin this review. Clannad the Movie is a condensation of a seventy-hour visual novel, which had previously been condensed into a twelve-hour anime, into a mere 90 minutes. It’s an ambitious task undertaken by Toei Animation, especially since they had taken a lot of heat for their questionable adaptations of Kanon (2002) and AIR (the Movie).

Still, what’s important is that they try their best! That’s what Mom and Dad always told me to do. Any dream can be accomplished with power and perseverance.

HEY! Does that mean that I might have a chance to -

No, you’re never going to get to bed me in your life, Sunohara, not even in Youhei After. That’s straight SEEN666 right there.

*yaoi fangirl squee*

I was talking about Kyou, not you.

…oh shit.

Anyway, as Toei’s Clannad movie is but an hour and a half long, a lot of … budget-saving maneuvers have had to be made. Consider it a streamlining of the plot. First off, Fuuko, Ryou, you don’t exist anymore.

FUUKO OFF, TOEI!

(Ryou was not available for comment.)

Sis! No! Without you, I only have … Tomoya … all … to myself. Hey, come to think of it…

Second, the only character we really focus on is Nagisa.

DAMN IT!

I mean, uh, s-stupid Toei! It’s not like I wanted to appear in more than one scene as more than a bit character … or anything. Actually…

S-stupid blogger! It’s not like I wanted to have more than one personality as something other than this tsundere stereotype or anything.

T-that’s a lot of pressure, being the only main female character and all. I’ll try my hardest to make everyone happy but wouldn’t it be better if everyone could play a part instead?

Don’t worry about it Nagisa, we’ll be there to support you. And besides, you don’t really appear after the first hour anyway.

Really? Why not?

You’re dead.

WHAT.

WHAT.

WHAT.

EHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH?

I win!

… don’t look at me like that!

Hold on Kyou … apparently then we take a break and switch scripts with the Kimi ga Nozomu Eien studio just down the street. Tomoya’s going to fill in Takayuki’s role, of course, and I’m going to take Mitsuki’s place. Nagisa, you’re Haruka, except instead of being in a coma, you’re still dead.

B-but but, I-I still get to astrally project myself and stuff, right?

Apparently not.

So does this mean I get to have snap-out-of-your-depressed-phase sex with you, Tomoyo?

Although it’s more intriguing than Youhei After … no.

WHAT’S UP WITH THIS THEN? Love of my life, dead; hot girl of my life, chaste; tsundere of my life, irreleva – oh crap dictionary -

YEAH! We’re not going to stand around and let them take our Nagisa away! This goes beyond impossible! We’re going to kick this plot to the curb! If there’s a sad story in our way, we’ll destroy it! If there’s no comedy, we’ll make it with our own hands! WHO THE HELL DOES KEY THINK WE ARE!?

Akio dear you made a Gu**en L**ann reference last time…

I’m happy, though. (Doubly so because apparently now I am the coherent character)

It’s very much what Key has been known to do after it tried to kill the entire cast of Air and Kanon twice over, and after you get over the shock the story is actually really sweet and touching, right down to the reunion between Tomoya and Ushio at the end.

Who’s Ushio?

Your daughter you bore with Tomoya, apparently.

WE HAD KIDS!?

…OK Tomoyo, you’re forgiven.

Wow, I wish I was there to see that happen …

I really wish I was there …

You wanted to be in the hospital room when the baby was born too?

… oh.

Anyway, to carry off what Kotomi was saying, once you get over the shock of Nagisa kicking it, and the fact that it was kind of bluntly done – ‘oh by the way Nagisa’s dead’ and all – Ryou, will you stop crying in exchange for actually being able to appear in this post?

BAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWoh ok.

Thanks. The ‘After Story’ part of Clannad the Movie, shock aside, really saved this film from complete and utter boredom. Maybe it’s because of the excellent (and much longer) KyoAni adaptation of the main arc, or the fact that the Nagisa arc wasn’t flavored with all the other characters, but the Toei adaptation of the Nagisa arc was quite poor, even for a movie cut of the original.

It’s true! I don’t think I’m half as submissive as I was in the movie … I’m a strong person! In the movie, I just came off as weird and kind of weak. Physically weak, maybe, but I try my hardest to be a strong, well-defined person, something that I don’t really think the movie showed.

I’m sorry, was that a bit harsh? I’m just a little angry the dango song wasn’t as well converted either. Dango, dango, dango, dango …

Additionally, I didn’t have enough time to develop my angsty personality, nor have my true character brought out by Nagisa.

“My own heart, UNLOCK!” and all?

I have no idea what you’re talking about, really, I don’t.

In this movie it was more of a snap judgment, really, from “this Nagisa girl is annoying” to “ZOMG NAGISA IS SO MOE OVER 9000 I MIGHT DIE and also I love her”, and I wasn’t one for it.

This movie also has a very bad habit of being like a grade schooler and not being able to keep still. There were always random triple pans, or action lines, or funny zoom-ins that made it look like the building was collapsing. Was someone trying to be artsy or something when making this film?

Oh come on, the chicks totally dig the artsy type of animation they don’t understand! Just look at Shinbo!

A girl with a broken memory, a girl who won’t stop leaving you messages on your phone, and an entire classroom full of messed-up stereotypes. See, I’ll take my harem anyday.

Can we stop referencing other anime now? The art direction sucks, and I’m the main girl in Tomoya’s harem, we get it. Anything else to say about this show? Ryou?

W-well, it d-did include a lot of s-scenes that s-somehow w-weren’t in the Clannad a-anime. The e-early section wasn’t a-all repeat, you c-could say.

I feed you a line and that’s the best you can stammer? C’mon, learn from the best:

S-stupid movie, it’s not like you had to include scenes that weren’t -

Thank you, Kyou.

See, she’s totally jealous that I got the eroge sequel and she didn’t.

Wait, damnit. Then what was that scene about getting locked in the gym storage room about?!

That didn’t even show up in the movie …

…sadly.

Alright, with all the off-topicness we’re getting, I’m assuming that no one has anything else to say about the movie, correct?

FUUKO DOES!

Yes, Fuuko?

The movie lacked starfish.

And tsundere power.

And hot girl-on-girl action.

You know, we don’t need any of those to make a good movie -

Hey Tomoyo, want to show Youhei some ‘girl-on-girl action’?

Wait, I thought it was Tomoya that you lik-

I mean ‘do you want to beat the crap out of Youhei’, Tomoyo.

I’m almost dissapointed. Certainly, Kyou.

This can only end badly.

Alright, I’m going to leave them to their own ways. I’m the manifestation of the author again as a random glasses girl, here to summarize all the boring parts of this review.

1) There are no words to summarize the shock of ‘oh, and Nagisa died’.
2) Although there are plenty of words to write about how dull the pre-After Story section of the movie was, with little real conflict or character development.
3) After Story was warm and sweet, and helped develop the Tomoya side of the story a lot. Definitely the strongest part even with Nagisa randomly getting Key’d.
4) Take a drink every time you see a random triple pan, zoom in, or shot of scenery (two drinks if you can guess ahead of time whether it’s the sky, a train, or the river).
4b) Root beer, of course.

Overall, I wasn’t really impressed by the Clannad movie at first. Maybe that’s the fault of having an adaptation of greater length predating it – which would also explain why I enjoyed (and whined about) the After Story section a lot more. I’m worried that after seeing KyoAni’s After Story that the Toei movie will become next to worthless except to Nagisa fans or those who want a more straightforward, arc-less story.

But Clannad is really a work that needs time to be experienced, and so if you just watch the movie to get the whole picture, you’re missing out on a lot of great development, not just for Nagisa and Tomoya, but also for the other important characters. Not to mention, Ryou and Fuuko actually show up there.

As such it’s hard to reccomend the Clannad movie, mainly because either KyoAni’s adaptation will make it look boring, or it will ruin some of the suspense of KyoAni’s After Story adaptation. (Spoiler: Nagisa dies)

It’s not a painful watch on the most part, just not a noteworthy one. I’d say it’s time better spent watching three episodes of the anime proper – or maybe a better, more encapsulated movie. That’s all I’ve got to say.

Ah, that was a good time, wasn’t it, Tomoya?

True, I’d love to do it with you and Tomoyo more often.

It’s always more fun as a group.

True. Beating up Youhei together is almost therapeutic.

Tomoyo … you know what?

You’re no fun at all.

-CCY
(Ah, I wonder what team I should do next … these are too fun to write.

P.S. BAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW goddamnit Nagisa, Key, I hate you all. I love being simplistic and happy.)

So what happened?

I posted numerous times on the show, shoved it to the top of the viewing list over and over, gave it a nine – the highest ranking possible – on the ever-important Scale of Condensing A Complex Anime Into A Single Digit Number (aka MyAnimeList). And yet, it takes until a month later for it to finally push its way out of the review queue, where shows I don’t have much to talk about go to die.

It’s not like I was collecting my thoughts on the show.
It’s not like I was rewatching it.
It just simply passed out of mind for a very long time, and that’s something that worries me, because I really did think I enjoyed this show much more than the average show.

This is because, for the uninitiated, this is nowhere near your average show.

This is a show that goes beyond the forces of moe that some claim poison (or at least, run rampant in) today’s anime. There is no moe to speak of, hell, I could probably count on one hand – probably one finger – how many girls even appeared in the show total.

Rather, what Kaiji is, is a ruthless adrenaline rush, both physical and mental. A show all about a sometimes naive, sometimes genius, sometimes emotional delinquent (named Kaiji) who gets himself in all sorts of shady financial debt, and is forced into a series of increasingly implausible, incredible, and intriguing gambles in order to pay it off.

These gambles are great to watch because most of the time they are at least thrill rides which will leave you guessing as to the outcome – don’t take winning for granted in this show – with incredible moments of raw emotion along every twist and turn. On a good day, they are great introspectives as well, as Kaiji ponders the viciousness of human life while getting whipped in a human-vs-human battle of mind and body.

It’s very much a complete package, one that I think deserves a watch by anyone, just because you’re unlikely to see a show like this often amidst more common show archetypes. It drags a bit at times and the noses are awfully pointy, but Kaiji is an injection straight to the heart, which feeds blood to the brain and the masculine regions of the body.

(Manly spoilers ensue after the jump.)

If you’ve paid attention so far, you probably have noted I’ve already ratcheted up one point on the tsundere-o-meter for first saying that I didn’t really have much to say about Kaiji and then promptly reccomending it to everybody.

This, for me, chalks up mostly to the gut feeling that Kaiji is a mostly action-orientated show, more than it is a profound show.

Yes, ‘action-orientated’ is a bit of a silly thing to call a show which spent an entire 25-minute episode drawing two slips of paper from a box, but the majority of the content tilts towards the ‘manly fluff’ side, the kind of stuff that gets you fired up and ready to go put on your pointy sunglasses and kick people into holes, but wears off a short time later.

That’s not to say that’s entirely bad. A lot of shows are fluffy, but good. Many visual novels are good ‘dramatic fluff’ – Myself;Yourself had a story that got increasingly ridiculous and out-there, but it was still a gripping watch for the time being. ‘Slice-of-life / comedy fluff’ is common too; Lucky Star had some brilliant moments from all walks of life, from the story of Kanata to Tsukasa’s comic clumsiness to Miyuki being Miyuki, but they weren’t legendary earth-shakers in the long term (unless you’re a Malaysian dictator-slash-trap who tries to write longer posts than me).

Fluff is almost kind of natural. The human mind moves on after time, and that applies to anime too. There’s only so much room for really great, legendary moments or shows, and everything else gets condensed into little clips, one-liners, and stored away in a corner somewhere, much like trying to scrounge for hard drive space by burning fansubs onto DVDs. The anime aren’t gone … they’re just harder to access.

And so, I don’t have a huge problem with calling Kaiji ‘manly fluff’, in that there were only a few things I took away from it in the long-term. I think a better simile would be something like a first love – you always look back on it fondly, but more often than not it’s peanuts in the grand scheme of life – or in this case, anime.

Kaiji had one main message to get across, one mantra, and it was a sort of individualist concept. It did this pretty well, hammering it home in many different ways through many of the different gambles.

The way I see it, Kaiji is all about advocating one’s inner strength and relying only on oneself. It’s kind of like what you always hear the rappers going on about; there’s no one else who’s going to really look out for you, so protect your back and invest your faith in yourself.

Granted, Kaiji did have followers, did have ‘friends’ like Ishida, but these weren’t people who really could help him in his time of need, perhaps because Kaiji was the one playing the benefactor most of the time, or perhaps because their interaction mainly took place 25 stories above the ground on a balance beam.

Sahara comes closer, if you remember the somewhat touching, somewhat amusing dialogue of them shouting “I’m here!” at each other during Brave Men Road’s climax, but perhaps this is just a exception to the norm, a bringing of the individualist theory down to reality.

That’d be closer to my personal belief, anyway, that while the most important person is still yourself, and that your strength should come from within and not from relying on others, it’s still silly to try to distance yourself from the everyone else just because you’re afraid of becoming weak (or: less nerdy, more of a sell-out, poor, etc).

But the review isn’t about me (that would make a good joke post somewhere down the line) but rather about the show, and about this social viewpoint with regards to Kaiji, it’s done pretty well. For some reason, it didn’t feel heavyhanded, despite being the pervasive tone underscoring most of the show.

Perhaps it’s because it was demonstrated in many different ways. First Kaiji learns about it the hard way, when he depends too much, is perhaps too naive (or alternatively, gets screwed over) regarding Andou and Furuhata on the Nice Cruise Restricted Rock-Paper-Scissors. He then teaches himself how to control himself and not be so traumatically affected by the plights of others (note difference between ‘affected’ and ‘traumatically affected’) on the Brave Men Road. E-Card is a bit of a different spin, being direct person-to-person combat, and the Tissue Lottery gamble caps it off the most directly, by screwing over Kaiji, not only for getting greedy but for putting faith in God and hoping for Tonegawa to lose, instead of taking action into his own hands and using his sharp senses of observation, like he had done in past gambles.

Come to think of it, that’s probably a secondary if not a supporting moral to the story, in that Kaiji learns to push forward, to never lose hope, and to perservere with a calm head. This is one surprisingly common in a lot of anime – perhaps because of my genre of choice, the dramatic / romantic, where it’s quite easy to see how waiting to act, or getting drowned in melodramatic emotion can really be detrimental.

Perhaps the reason that I’m not as bowled over by Kaiji’s didactic, intellectual side is that what it tries to get across lines up a bit with what I believe, and it’s not quite as heavy-handed as other shows, going for a more subtle mix-in among the adrenaline. The end result is that it’s not as world-shaking or soul-rocking (H2O not withstanding) as other shows like ef or Byousoku 5cm can manage, but is more of an added bonus to the rest of the show, for those who dig a bit deeper.

Maybe this means that Kaiji will be remembered more for his manly moments, the powerful tears cried after watching nine men fall to their doom, the dramatic speeches and reveals of E-Card (”this is the last of their voices from behind the grave!”), but that’s not so bad either. On a lighter analytical level the gambles were quite enjoyable to watch as well.

Restricted Rock-Paper-Scissors was one of the most wild ones, definitely fitting of the first arc. Both Kaiji and the viewer are relatively green. While we may have been smart enough to see through traps such as the one Kaiji set for himself by giving his stars to Andou and Furuhata, some of Funai’s more clever traps were harder to figure out. Likewise, Kaiji’s excellent back-to-the-wall strategies were a kick to decipher. It also laid out the tone of the show, where Kaiji digs himself a huge hole and promptly climbs out of it (barely) – although this was cleverly subverted in the end.

Brave Men Road was definitely the challenge that epitomized the mental side of Kaiji; there’s not a lot of skill or strategy in “don’t fall off” involved, but certainly a lot of will. Both the first and second stages of Brave Men Road have different discussions about human nature, one focusing more on the interpersonal and one on the intrapersonal, combined with a fair amount of sheer unpredictability that makes Kaiji great to watch – while obviously some of the guys were destined to die, actual named characters like Sahara and ISHIDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA had a reasonable chance of surviving … they just didn’t.

E-Card kicked us back to strategy heaven, a duel between two wits who continually pile strategy on top of strategy in an attempt to out-think the other. Of course, it got a bit ridiculous and a bit messy at times, but it was still a thrill to watch when it was moving a full speed. It really was one of the crowning moments for Kaiji as a character, showing his ability to go beyond the normal and defy the bounds of a regular human, both in logic and in action.

Tissue Box Raffle, as the falling action of sorts, then totally reversed Kaiji, bringing his story back down to human levels. It was pretty clear that Kaiji was destined to fail at the start, given all his (even more than usual) ridiculous planning and cockiness, and seeing his ability to look back and realize after the fact (and minus a few fingers) really clinched the development of his character.

Even though he lost at the end and came out from what was apparently a very stretched-out night in the red (i.e. losing lots of it), technically Kaiji came out a stronger character. It’s one of those good endings that people hate to call good endings, but it’s clear that the fight isn’t over for Kaiji and he’s more determined and more badass than ever.

It’s probably a better ending than what could have been – having him win Tissue Box Raffle through cheating and deceit, and walking out a millionaire, would be tough to spin the right way to feel redeeming. Maybe he deserved it from the past games he won, but 100 million feels like too much, way beyond what he just wants to ’start life over’, for him to achieve. Rather, he seems the type that would win on a deeper level than monetary.

So I’m satisfied with the ending. Yeah, it feels incomplete. Yeah, it sucks for Kaiji to come out with nothing. But it really fits with the tone of the show, its morals, its characters, and I can’t think of another way to get it to work right. And hey, there’s promises of a second season, and for that I’m willing for forgive far too much. At least this way we don’t have to retcon everything and have Kaiji suddenly ‘forget’ what Hyoudou said, and then introduce a random green-haired loli who … wait, wrong show.

On that light-hearted note, let’s gloss over the other more ‘review-like’ stuff that I tend to not go as in-depth on in these reviews.

Yes, the art is ugly, and I’m sure people have to constantly go to the hospital because they get their eyes stabbed out by pointy noses, but it’s a distinct art style, and the dramatic flair (see: zawazawa, facial contortions distortions) is well done. I think it works to drum up the ‘look ma, no moe!’ concept.

The music isn’t exactly something you’d listen to in the car but it is great music to put people in the mood (nice try – I mean for tension), especially when you’re panicked about a test tommorow. It’s background music, in that sense – more focusing than intrusive.

And, uh, no women, except for the one that works at the gas station. Felt like that needed mentioning twice.

So, you can probably guess the conclusion from here. Kaiji. It’s a unique show without a doubt. Definitely at least try it, if you’re disillusioned with the usual fare, and even if you’re not. Hey, if the resident harem guy can enjoy a show about a bunch of guys playing card games … (and walking on balance beams, etc.)

-CCY

(Try to spot the point where I got derailed by #animeblogger.)

Tomoya and her went to go take the trash out by the gym storage locker a long time ago … I wonder if they’re OK?

WHY THOSE~ Uh, Ryou, where did I put my chainsaw?

W-w-weren’t you stripped of your license to use one after the incident with the last thousand fanboys?

Mmm, stripped…

Ah, fine, I’ve got better weapons anyway. I’ll be back in a minute.

(THIS NOT OUT-OF-PLACE INTERJECTION AT ALL INDICATES KYOU IS WHERE NAGISA AND TOMOYA SHOULD BE)

Hmm…the door’s locked. That’s it, then! *clears throat*

S-s-stupid door, it’s not like I wanted to open you or anything!

(Door breaks cleanly in two. Kyou gets duct tape and patches it up cleanly before continuing.)
Ah, Kyou!

ALRIGHT YOU LITTLE HUSSY PUT YOUR PANTS BACK wait what? What’s this?

Look, look! We found this dango farm in the gym storage room and we’ve been entranced with it ever since! Isn’t it just adorable? Dango, dango, dango, dango…

Alright you guys, can we get serious here? We have to do a peer review and we have to get going now. We’re months behind.

Tomoyo? What are you doing here too? (Alright, I get a speaking line!)

Well … I figured … if Tomoya was going to be here so long with Kyou and Nagisa … that I …

FUUKO’S HERE!

No, Fuuko! Go away! You’re killing my deredere Tomoyo fantasies!

(Actual review-like content after the jump … sadly. Also, watch out for spoilers.)

Alright, let’s get this review started. Does anyone here not know what Clannad is?

FUUKO DOESN’T!

Ugh … Fuuko … wait … who’s Fuuko? Anyway, Kotomi, tell everyone – Kotomi, stop trying to cut the definition out of the Wikipedia page! That’s plagiarism!

Ah. Clannad is another Key visual novel adapted by acclaimed studio Kyoto Animation, featuring cute – some might say pandering – character designs, sad stories, and a lot more comedy than any of the previous adaptations, like Kanon or AIR. Overall, it’s a mix of comedy and drama that most shows should struggle to match.

B-but, I don’t know if Clannad is good enough for the viewers … I mean, they wanted a real crying story so much, and to dissapoint them like this, it just doesn’t feel right … it’s j-just so sad, isn’t it?

HOLD IT!

Why are you throwing a dictionary at ME?!

I think you’re giving the viewers too much credit here. If they wanted something that was exactly the same as what they’ve seen before, they could go watch True Tears – not that it’s a bad anime, just a familiar one – or Kanon again for all I care. Key and KyoAni did the right thing by spinning a bit of a different formula into the equation, instead of just doing Kanon v.2.0.

FUUKO DID! My story was pretty much exactly what you would expect from a typical visual novel story. Here, have a recap! I’m a girl, in a coma, who projects herself into the real world to make someone she loves happy. Except, shock! A twist! That girl’s not the lead guy, but her older sister instead! It’s tearful and made Fuuko cry!

M-me too… it really was an example of these kinds of stories done right. Even if it did drag on a bit long, and was a bit typical, it was still really sweet, don’t you think?

Hello. Nice to meet you. My name is Kotomi Ichinose, a senior in Class A. My hobby is burning important papers. I would be happy if you could become my friend.

What the heck!?

Tomoya, you can’t say that. That’s my line. My arc is again a lot like what’s been done in other stories. I’m secretly a childhood friend of Tomoya’s and – what the heck!? I’m a childhood friend? Why didn’t I win?! WHY!?

Oh no! Kotomi’s using her ’super high-pitched Mamiko Noto scream’ attack! Quick, Kotomi, go to your happy place!

*Begins playing the violin. Glass shatters, birds begin to fall from the sky, Kyou stops acting tsuntsun, likewise horrors.*

SANAE I LOVE YOU! Wait … wrong target. Kotomi! Your violin is too good! It’s so good that it’s beginning to make us all jealous of your skills! So please stop! Before … we … get too jealous! Please! Stop!

Ah, I feel much better now. That’s right! I was talking about my arc. I’m a childhood friend type, that suddenly gets massively traumatized by my parents dying in a plane crash. It’s up to Tomoya to be a bad enough dude to save my former self. At least, that’s what these books say. These are strange books.

Kotomi’s arc wasn’t too bad either. I really think Kotomi is a good person after all, and she’s very cute and mature as well. Her story was a bit hard to believe at times, but there have been stranger things in this world, right, Tomoya?

Yeah, like that one girl … who was it?

FUUKO’S BEEN FORGOTTEN!

HEY! How come you talk about all these other girls but ignore Ryou, Tomoya! Have some sensitivity!

Well, it’s kind of like the anime itself. She, you, and Tomoyo didn’t get much plottime after all, being relegated to characters who were cute but didn’t get a lot of attention.

S-s-stupid Kyoto Animation, it’s not like I asked you to give me an arc or anything…

B-but … wasn’t it for the better? T-that other characters got the chance to express themselves? T-the fans adored us anything, perhaps m-more so because we weren’t one-hundred-percent fleshed out.

It is true. The Fujiyabashi sisters and myself are probably among the most popular characters of Clannad. However, I could describe this emotion regarding the lack of an arc as ‘longing.’ Perhaps it would have been better after all to cut short Fuuko’s story.

At least there’s After Story, right? Another season of Clannad, where everyone can get together and have more fun with everybody, and all…

B-but it’s not like we’ll have another chance to get Tomoya, or anything? I m-mean not get Tomoya l-like get him a C-Christmas gift or some g-giri chocoloate or whatever but g-get l-like, y’know, Nagisa, you’re not the only one with eyes on T-Tomoya, Ryou, Tomoyo, and I-I-I… AHHH MOUUUUUU I CAN’T STAND IT ANYMORE BAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

BAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

BAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

H-hey, d-don’t cry or else I’ll … BAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Guys, cut it out! I understand how you feel, it’s not like I wasn’t that way either, but I think it’s important to focus on more important…

BAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Alright … well … you made me.

*INSERT 512 HIT COMBO*

That was INCREDIBLY hot.

S-s-stupid Tomoyo, it’s not like I wanted to get screwed over by Kyoto Animation or anything! … uh … I mean … sorry about that.

Don’t worry about it. I only meant to get you to move along with the discussion here. I understand that it’s very sad that the Fujiyabashis and myself got little attention relative to Fuuko, Kotomi, and Nagisa, but I think it wasn’t a total loss after all. Our characters functioned well without having to have a massively sad story – or only a very slight one – behind them, which I thought was respectable.

That’s right Onee-chan. The two of us were really normal – if not perhaps a little exaggerated in personality – and yet managed to be really cute and enjoyable for the audience. Of course it would have been better if we had achieved a bit more in the spotlight, but there’s no polygamy here, so … there’s always the visual novel, right?

Well, I guess … hold on, let me compose myself.

WHY AM I GETTING A DICTIONARY THROWN AT ME AGAIN?

Just getting back to normal, Tomoya! Anyway, Nagisa, you better take good care of Tomoya, since we’re letting you have him!

EH!? I didn’t – I – ah – oh yeah. I guess we did get together at the end of the series after all.

Come to think of it, what took you so long anyway? It took almost until the end of the show for the two of you to begin going out. It’s obvious you two would make a good couple. I would have liked to see more of you two as a couple.

HEY! Do you want to shorten our arcs more or something?

Excuse me … I was just reading the instruction manual, and it looks like Kyou has a switch here …

Whoa, I want to try!

S-stupid Tomoya! It’s not like my tsundere demeanor is that easy to flip on and off or anything! *flip* But, I can understand why you would have a curiosity with such a thing … if it’s Tomoya, I guess it’s OK… *flip* HEY! What do you think you’re doing!? Don’t take a girl’s feelings so lightly … *flip* B-but, if you want to try it, I’ll let you do it … *flip* There’s nobody inside…

THERE WAS A YANDERE SETTING!?

Guys! Guys! Back to the script, can we? Thanks. We were … talking about Nagisa and Tomoya, were we not?

Y-y-you don’t have to do that! It’s really embarrassing! I mean … I’m happy and all, but …

I’m happy for you two also … it’s very rare that we get to see a pair of characters like this in anime, where both characters teach each other something. Nagisa seems like a weak character but is emotionally strong in the end, while Tomoya is a bit of the reverse. It’s not as easy as that, of course, but you really get a sense that this relationship was well built and well deserved. We couldn’t have had it any other way.

Y-yeah, I suppose, I’m happy … but… aren’t there more important things in the story than Tomoya and I?

What are you talking about, Nagisa!? The sweet dance of a couple in love is the most rewarding thing in the world! Love conquers all! Believe in the me that believes in you! Kick reason to the curb! WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM! I LOVE YOU SANAE andyourbreaddoesn’tsuck!!

Akio is definitely right that Nagisa and Tomoya’s relationship is one of the most intriguing and one of the best aspects of Clannad, but unlike other Key shows there was another side to Clannad that made it special. And that’s the humor! Simply put, this time around Clannad induces almost as much laughs as it does tears.

B-but at the expense of main characters though … j-just look how Onee-chan and I h-have been reduced to joke characters in this post!

S-stupid blogger, it’s -

FUUKO’S BLOCKING AN OBVIOUS GAG!

But, to make myself sound coherent for once, Clannad has a wide range of humor that everyone should find something to enjoy in. There’s some romantic comedy, some physical comedy, some running gags, a few nerdy or fourth-wall-breaking parodies, even some raw moe moments which will leave even hard hearts smiling. It’s a better mix than other visual novel shows which tend to layer their drama and comedy like water and oil.

Personally, I was left a bit dissapointed with the show that it didn’t live up to the standards of Kanon and AIR from the past, in terms of raw emotional appeal. I prefer a show that can really leave a mark on the viewer, shake their soul and make them truly emotional, and in the best cases make them question life. Kanon did it. H2O did it (partially), ef did it. Byousoku 5cm did it.

Clannad felt like, to borrow a term, a paradigm shift, something that aimed at a completely different target. It seemed more lighthearted in nature overall, a story whose characters will be remembered as archetypes instead of people. Clannad leaves a sweet taste in your mouth, as at least it’s not just cotton candy like some shows; rather, the taste will linger for a short time after the show, but it won’t stick like the true greats in the visual novel / emotional genre have managed to make happen.

It’s more likely Clannad will be remembered for scenes like Kyou’s gym storage moe-packed mind-melter than the touching scenes between Nagisa and Tomoya. I think that’s a shame that Clannad isn’t as emotionally worthwhile as the rest of the things upon which Key has built their reputation; but from any other studio or developer, Clannad would be legendary. So there’s a case of high standards for you.

To summarize it, because you – yes, you – just skipped to the bottom and read this:
1) Fuuko = one of the most emotional arcs, and one of the most dragged-out characters.
2) Kotomi = really cute and her arc induced a little emotion, but it’s oh so typical.
3) Tsundere Kyou is tsundere.
4) Ryou was a personal favorite, but together with Kyou, neither got a lot of coverage.
4b) By the ’side character rule’ I demand more attention for the two, but I won’t complain about the focus we got on Nagisa.
5) Nagisa is an excellent character, covering emotional strength in a moe outer shell. Her family is much the same, but switching out the moe for a comedic gold flavor.
6) Tomoya, who I didn’t talk about at all, didn’t get as much exposition about his father as I thought. His character’s not too bad but I’ve always preferred the sarcastic type.
7) The allegory about the dream world was either played out too little or too much. Perhaps it’s more sublime in nature. It says how much I know about it by how much I talked about it (not at all)
OVERALL) Clannad is a great comedy show and a very good drama / sweet show, but it doesn’t match up to the same pretentious standard as Kanon and AIR. It’s a different kind of show that is extremely enjoyable to watch but won’t leave an intense lasting impact.

Uh, excuse me.

Yes?

Who are you?

A representation of the author through one of the random cute glasses girls (full-time, unlike you) of the show, so that I can say some important stuff in this post.

Kyou? Get your dictionaries. Kotomi? Grab your violin. Nagisa? Get some skewers from your dango-ka-bobs or something. Follow me.

*COMIC SOUND EFFECTS ENSUE*

Hehehe, the author must be a secret masochist!

And Mei, you can grab your brother by the ankles and get over here too…

Hehehe, time for some revenge for almost not getting my picture used!

*OH DEAR GOD THE HUGE MANATEES*

Ah, uh … everyone, thank you for coming. This concludes Clannad: The Series Review. We hope to see you again.

-CCY

(Funnily enough, this was one of the quicker posts I’ve written.)

I’m about as late to the Five Centimeters Per Second party as its main character was to his destination in the first story, so we’ll spin this off into a fancy, deep, vaguely pretentious post.

Five Centimeters Per Second was one of those anime that personally had a hype level that surpassed nearly anything else I’ve heard of. Where as Haruhi was the god (and her anime too) of second-mainstream anime – all the shows a person would be likely to encounter after their initial shonen or CLAMP phase – 5cm was something praised as one of the most moving romantic works in a long time … or at least in as encapsulated a story as movies have to be.

I’m not inclined entirely to disagree, as I was definitely entranced by the story and the visuals (oh, the visuals), but it didn’t quite nail the perhaps implausibly high expectations I set for it.

It was a bit of a tear-jerker but not as much as I first believed, the characters bordered on that line between enrapturing and just plain cheesy, and, well, the ending.

The ending, and, to a lesser extent, the whole progression of 5cm was something that didn’t quite mesh. There were some ‘click’ moments, like when Takaki spoke of his search for a philosophy, but lacking a bit of one myself, his story overall was something that left me stirred, but not shaken. (James Bond would be dissapointed.)

At least during my viewing of it, anyway. After reconsidering and writing out this post, in final revisions I find myself to be quite tsundere, if I shall kick a dead horse, for shows in the vein of this and True Tears. There’s quite a disconnect between feelings from watching it, and feelings from analyzing it.

(Movie spoilers, and possible incoherence ahead.)
Maybe ‘rushed’ wasn’t the word but things just all came together so fast in the end. The ending montage especially with all the flashing of scenes so fast it took a bit to piece it all together. There was always that feeling of being a few steps behind the show, when random glasses girl would show up, or when Akari would suddenly have a ring, and so on.

This is one of those elements that, given a chance, probably is almost meant to happen, as it could symbolize the plight of the male lead, Takaki, who spends a lot of time dwelling on the past (Akari) and trying to cling on to old ideals. It’s a kind of direction to the show that shoves you into the feet of the main character and makes you feel the feelings he feels.

Unfortunately the feelings Takaki feels are often oh so very depressing as he is quite obviously a guy with not the best self-confidence. He is prone to monologues that are one part cheese, one part despair, and thankfully, one part touching.

I guess he grows by the end of the story – although he still hesitates so long at actions – but there a lot more of the ‘before’, and not a lot of the ‘after’, even for characters like Kanae as well.

The big thing that strikes me about 5cm is that it’s a movie that simple uncultured people like me will absolutely detest. On the surface I really would like to bite into this movie for having a weak main character, a straightforward plot, and not a lot of resolution.

But of course there is that feeling deep down that 5cm is definitely more than that, and any action it takes can be explained in a deeper, more profound way.

This frustrates me because of the paradox it creates between the somewhat shallow outer surface, i.e. “Damn it why couldn’t they stay together,” and the complex chocolatey center (where’s my Tokyo Marble Chocolate review when I need it?) of a work like this.

I enjoy being a naive person, and since I have fun viewing the world through rose-colored glasses I find happy endings to be nice and great. The problem with happy endings though is that they are frequently even cheesier than what came before it, and involve a lot of deux ex machina. They are the cotton candy, the fluffy fluff fluff that tastes good but won’t fill you up.

Meanwhile, the meaningful, complicated endings of anime like this, like brocolli, will leave you bitter and perhaps with an upset stomach but in the end are Good For You. Or so I’m told.

The thing about anime as opposed to what I’ve experienced of American fiction is that a lot of anime are willing to take this leap (at least of recent memory) to challenging viewer’s beliefs, to unsettling people, and to building overall character.

As much as we’d like to believe we’d be with our loved ones forever (friends, family, lover, etc), of course it’s an unrealistic belief. As much as we want to believe that confessing your feelings solves everything in a relationship, sometimes it’s better to just let them go. And sometimes, you just have to move on, period.

That’s why Takaki, despite our loudest cries, didn’t turn around to glimpse Akari faster, that’s why Kanae, despite being the underdog that everyone loves to see succeed, held it all in to herself, and that’s what 5cm tells us in a manner that can’t be quite called subtle and can’t quite be called blatant.

I’m sure you’ve already figured that out by now if you’ve watched this movie, and the question is just where to go from here. You’ll notice that this rant has gotten so out of hand that it’s taken to breaking the fourth wall, and perhaps that is something significant about the power of a movie like this.

More than what any post-apocalyptic horror movie can do, shows like this can rock a viewer’s soul (pardon the in-joke). They create that disconnect between idealism and realism that can form philosophies and beliefs. They go for the thought instead of the reaction, inspiring people to contemplate the anime’s events not just in terms of the show but in terms of their life.

Kaiji does it in between the intense mindgame action. True Tears pulls it off reasonably with the ending, and if you took the wrong alleigances in KimiKiss you might just learn a lesson or two. Five Centimeters Per Second is just the same in that you expect a sweet love story, and you get a sweet love story with a bittersweet ending.

It’s a strange love story. It focuses on the moment – there’s not the build-up to falling in love, nor is there a lot of epilogue after the metaphoric shots have been fired. There’s no confessions – rather, even Akari and Takaki in their happier days decide upon actions instead of words.

It’s one of those movies where it’s less about what the story gives to you, and more of what you take away from it. With three different stories there are three – if not more – different lessons to be learned. Whether those lessons really connect will prove the true power of this show.

Those less romantically inclined will go “Eh, he didn’t get the girl? That sucks,” and walk away. Those who enjoy their escapist stories – I’ll put myself in this category – will probably deny the message of this story. But for those in the throes of romance … oh, have this got something for you.

It’s very hard to turn your brain off and simply enjoy something like this, is what I can say. If you scroll a short way to the top here you will recall that I was kind of apathetic about 5cm, and now I find myself quite drawn to it and it’s almost creeping realism after mind-dumping my thoughts onto the page.

Luckily since this is just a 65-minute feature it’s something that will lend itself to rewatch, something that I definitely plan on – it’s not the shock value, the emotions drawn by the “unoptimal” ending that will make this great, it will be the underlying messages that it can send, that will draw your heart closer to a movie like this.

-CCY

(I feel very Owen-, or perhaps usagijen-ish after writing something like this. Apologies if it’s a bit more disconnected than usual – let me use being on vacation as an excuse.)

(I wonder, if I got a profound ending where I got things right for once, unlike True Tears, KimiKiss, and this, would I be satisfied. Oh, how awesome being shallow is.)

Of course, that is all pretentious-speak for “I finished True Tears and I can’t decide whether to be angry, satisfied, or moved to tears,” but carry on.

I’ve railed on True Tears a couple of times before for being decidedly normal and unchallenging. It was very good looking and did what it did very well, but it’s kind of like polishing and perfecting a text-only program when everyone had moved on to graphical ones.

Nevertheless I had forgotten that games like Nethack still have their charm, and as such True Tears provides all of the emotion and pendulum drama of a good visual novel conversion.

I could best sum up my conflicting emotions on the superiority of any one recent visual novel show – if you read the recent reviews you will find I waver more than Makoto Itou – by the fact that despite all being in the same rough genre (and a very rough genre at that) all four I’ve seen have quite a unique style to them.

Clannad is two things at once, the ‘crying’ visual novel and the ‘funny’ visual novel.
H2O is the ’shocking / mindscrew’ visual novel.
KimiKiss is the ‘relaxed / slice-of-life / realistic’ visual novel.
And True Tears, is what you could probably consider the ‘normal’ visual novel, everything you’ve seen done before, but done to a high degree of quality.

In the end I will rate True Tears as an excellent example of what to do if you have to do the same thing as everyone else. Would I watch another True Tears? Maybe, despite it all, I’m a sucker for these types of shows – but I’d prefer something with a slightly different flavor.

(Series spoilers, shockingly. Also, this review heavily influenced by the excellent and comphrensive analysis by LianYL over at Riuva.)

Once again, I’ll lead off with my first thought: damn, I lost again.

I tend to have a very bad track record with the character that I think will ‘win’ the heart of the lead male in the end; evident in KimiKiss, KimiNozo, and Shuffle!, not to mention countless shows where I fought insurmountable odds against the childhood friend in hopes of something new.

True Tears adds a wrenchingly close loss to the top of the pile with Shinichiro’s choice of Hiromi in the final episode, and I suppose I should be incredibly bitter that the moe Noe girl that I decided to back got shut down in the end – and I do mean the end.

But like in KimiKiss I’ve found that what the heart and what the mind say are two different things, and while I was swooned by Noe’s unique antics and upbeat attitude, I could easily cite reasons why Hiromi was the more sensible and more logical choice given the flow of the show.

Looking at it objectively Shin has always has sort of a tilt towards Hiromi; the ‘childhood friend’ rule is in full effect as usual, this time in reverse as Shin’s harbored feelings for Hiromi for forever and a half, and strives to express that through his art.

Since of course leaving it this simple as “guy likes girl, time passes, guy asks girl out, fin” would be really boring (or, on the flip side, perhaps impressively unique), Noe comes in to rock the boat like a giant octopus clinging on to a cruise liner (in the best sense of the analogy).

Noe is the counterpoint to Hiromi, the ‘mysterious girl’ who’s open and enthusiastic, and unafraid to speak what she thinks. In a sense Noe and Hiromi, as you would expect, are sort of opposites; Noe is initially outreaching, while occasionally she withdraws inward, while Hiromi is more reserved, yet near the end shows her independent side. It’s not quite as cut and dry as that, but it’s clear to tell that both girls are quite different.

Noe works most as the catalyst of this show, the character that changes people and their outlook. Aside from keeping Jun in the past with her almost repressed-past siscon appeal (reaching out, perhaps, to Jun’s “knight in shining armor” ideal side), she clobbered Shin (and indirectly, Hiromi) over the head with the chicken analogy that drove this show more than any message about tears.

As the catalyst, one would expect her to reap the so-called benefits of this show; quite frequently the heroine that leaves their mark on the male protagonist the most will walk away with the spoils, and yet Noe’s empty-handed at the end of thirteen episodes. Why?

It’s a strange choice if you approach it from this harem-analytical angle – although the character stereotypes that Noe and Hiromi resemble both have strong winning records, Noe’s power in influencing Shin’s picture book and in spurring him into motion in general seemed to have give her an edge.

But in terms of the story, and in terms of Shin himself, it makes a lot more sense for Shin to choose Hiromi – although I will be the first to admit that many of the scenes in the last two episodes hinted at a possible reversal, it never quite panned out.

These scenes were more of a representation of Shin learning to fly with his own wings. As the Raigomaru of his own story, he spent so long gazing achingly up at the sky, wanting to fly, to become something he wasn’t.

In this case, perhaps instead of being a rooster, or a dancer at his family’s traditional festival, he wanted to fly with the birds, and be the picture book artist he dreamed of. Or more traditionally, perhaps leaping off the cliff and attempting to fly represents the age-old problem of attempting to confess to the girl that he liked, to take a step into the unknown and not care about the results.

But, of course, he couldn’t. Whether it was logic that overtook him or simple terror, doing what he believed he wasn’t meant to do seemed illogical and self-sacrificial. He had the fear of the unknown rooted into him, and couldn’t shake it despite his utmost attempts to.

In stepped Jibeta, perhaps Noe in the context of the anime. Jibeta was an ordinary rooster – perhaps a stretch for Noe, but carry on – that was content with their life, that didn’t mind pecking at the ground all their life. Noe’s motives and desire in life is quite unclear, but one thing is certain and that is that she is undoubtedly who she is and never seems to regret it, and this fits in with Jibeta’s character.

Jibeta and Raigomaru spend many days together, perhaps getting along, perhaps not. Raigomaru is the only one who ever walked up to the cliff, that ever visibly dreamed of flying. This, to the viewer, is true again. Noe is surprisingly a passive character, who seems to spur reactions on accident rather than directly interfering in anyone’s life. Meanwhile, Shin is always trying to do something, always trying to reach out to Hiromi, or to interact with Noe at her brother’s request.

Yet one day, Jibeta is standing on a cliff higher than Raigomaru would ever dare to stand on. Jibeta, the rooster who had never tried to fly before, made the most magnificent attempt of all, leaping off the cliff … yet, of course, plummeted to the ground, resulting in Jibeta’s death. But unlike Raigomaru, he had tried.

Noe’s leap in itself is tough to place. Her physical jump at the end of episode 12 is the obvious choice, but one could say her metaphorical leap is when she first really accept Shin as her ‘lover’, after he asks her out. Before that she had never really interacted with the real world, never really cared – ironically, she could be compared to the Mai Kawasumi and Hayami Kohinata-type on the other end of the spectrum, the type that likewise had no contact with the world and with reality. The difference is, Noe fought it with delusion instead of seclusion.

But when she started ‘going out’ with Shin, Noe’s brief moment of flight, Noe changed. She began seeing people (Hiromi) as threats, began realizing the truths of the world (Jun) around her. And eventually, she began sinking like a rock. Her escape from reality was like Jibeta frantically flapping its wings, convincing itself it could fly. But of course, such an escape couldn’t happen.

Shin ended up with Hiromi, and Jibeta ended up face-first on the ground, unable to fly off into the sunset.

Her sacrifice, romantic-wise, was for the better for both her and Shin, however. Shin as Raigomaru, as the story goes, was inspired by the attempt of Jibeta, by Noe’s feelings for him, to set things right and make things clear. And although Jibeta’s story is over in the terms of this book, Noe’s isn’t, as perhaps she can ‘rebirth’ herself into a new persona, a new Raigomaru, not deluding herself with any false acceptance of the truth.

In the end the story is about these two characters, the Raigomaru and Jibeta, Shin and Noe, despite that they didn’t end up together. These two were the catalysts in the show, Noe who inspired others to action through her own actions and Shin who caused a lot of action, both through his own doing and through his inaction.

Hiromi, Jun, everyone else, were all relatively passive characters who had a bit of their own story and motive, but mostly found themselves riding the waves of the plot. They all break free at the end – Hiromi gains her independence from the vaguely oppressive household, Aiko breaks her lingering attraction to Shin, and Jun wrests himself free of his lust for Noe.

I could expound on them as well, but the best way to probably put it is that these characters were stars of their own Raigomaru and Jibeta stories as well, in a sense. There is not one Raigomaru, one Jibeta, but many, and it’s just a choice of which one everyone wants to be.

Perhaps this post didn’t end up being a series review so much as a deconstruction of the show itself, but chances are, if you read this far in the post past the jump, you’re looking for another view of the show, not a standard ‘what was good, what was bad’ chart. That’s something you should have already decided for itself. I just hope to expose another viewpoint (which, admittedly, was helped along by a decomposition on a much larger and much more impressive scale)

In the sake of completion, the visuals of True Tears were indeed quite gorgeous, something that never hurts, and the music was beautiful – if not memorable. Pacing was reasonable (no real filler here, although some character’s stories may not have played as big a role), and the conclusion was satisfying.

But I feel this is a show that has much more impact when viewed through the right lens, a fact I proved to myself by sitting through the ending relatively unaffected, until I read the aforementioned analysis by LianYL at Riuva and began tearing up reflecting on the show.

True Tears is probably a bit of an ironic show in that it takes so little – the bare-bones visual novel concept with the bare-bones typical message of “Be truthful to yourself” – and spins it into quite a comprehensive and worthy story, with a bit of the typical “who’s going to win?” entertainment value as well.

Although I hesitate to call anything the best of 2008 at this point, True Tears is definitely worth six hours if you can take it at more than face value, and maybe even if you can’t.

-CCY

(Also, for more opinions on True Tears, since I didn’t really draw from a lot of other posts, I will link you to IcyStorm’s Metareview of True Tears, where he links a bunch of other final thoughts that might be of interest.)