[Anime] Shinsekai Yori Review

"[People are] forgetful that they themselves perhaps tolerate...inequalities under a mistaken notion of expediency, the correction of which would make that which they approve seem quite as monstrous as what they have at last learnt to condemn." - John Stuart Mill

Shinsekai Yori – 9/10

Shinsekai Yori is an engrossing tale that merges the intimacies of a coming-of-age story with the grander narrative of a future society molded by the necessities of humanity’s new powers.

In the future, every member of society is telekinetic.  It is more than being able to move large objects with their minds: humans are able to affect the subtle structure of the world around them with subconscious desire.  It is a level of control over our surroundings that far surpasses anything humanity has ever experienced.  On the surface this sounds like a utopia, for humans no longer need fear the world around them.  However, this immense Power has brought forth a terrifying reality: humanity’s greatest threat is now itself.

The strange truth is that the description I gave above is surprisingly close to the current state of affairs for humans in developed nations.  Almost all of our stress and want come from the actions of other human beings, not the environment.  If we lack it is not because of the inability to provide, and more than ever our fate is in our own hands.  This verisimilitude to our current state is what allows SSY to surpass being a simple supernatural-themed series about telekinetic children and cut to the heart of what makes society tick when it moves beyond the subsistence level.

"All the problems we face arise from the human mind."

The Good:

The strongest parts, if it was not already made clear, are the setting and exploration of themes using this futuristic society as a model.  It is world building at its finest, taking real principles and exploring their implications in a novel setting.

Foremost, there is the moral logic behind their community.  Killing children is generally considered wrong.  Yet early on we are presented with a situation in which this society watches them so closely, and judges their actions so harshly, that they can be disposed of on the basis of seemingly minor transgressions.  How is it that this “advanced” society can see this as justifiable in any way?

To understand, we must take a step back and examine morality in light of human society.  In biology, cooperation is a delicate balance between self-interest and group wellbeing.  Humans are no exception to this.  We give up some of the autonomy of living singly for the benefits of living socially.  Our moral structure reflects this, with a mixture of individual and group values that are often in conflict with one another.  Our modern concept of “rights” is an attempt to formalize the line which societies cannot cross; rules of thumb rather than laws of nature.

In our 21st century democracies we have come to prize individualism more than any other group of humans in history.  We have this luxury due to the immense improvements science and technology have wrought; there is little need for any of us to sacrifice to ensure the whole survives.  But this was not always the case.  In tribal cultures, infanticide is commonplace.  This isn’t due to callousness or misguided superstition.  It is a response to necessity: if the tribe cannot support more people, then it risks starvation by supporting too many mouths that cannot feed themselves.  The needs of the whole must outweigh those of a single life, regardless of what “rights” they have.

A distant mirror.

The world of SSY bears a greater resemblance to the tribal condition than our own.  In this situation a single child with dubious qualities may result in a catastrophe.  Even a single failure can result in the annihilation of their society.  It is a risk that their own history has shown is not worth taking.  As repugnant as their behaviors seem to us, there is a strong justification for why it must be the way it is.  It is we, as 21st century viewers, who are misguided by our long acquaintance with individualism.  For the elders to pursue a sort of hopeful carelessness, praying that the worst does not happen, is far more inexcusable than the policies they pursue.

The presentation of this moral structure is another of SSY’s strengths.  The narrative pursues a purposeful misrepresentation of the situation through the eyes of the children.  We are so easy to trick, falling into the trap that surely the children must be the ones in the right.  After all, who doesn’t assume the little trip up the river, beyond the barrier, was nothing more than harmless fun?  Or that when the censorship of the past is discovered, that it was clearly unnecessary and malign?  And of course, we are all hoping that Maria and Mamoru escape the town and live happily, away from the vile clutches of the Education Committee.

Yet as it becomes clear later: these events are what directly led to Shun’s mental disintegration, the Monster Rat rebellion, and the Messiah fiend.  The adolescents, rather than seeing things in a clearer fashion, were dangerously ignorant of their world.  Their well-intentioned fumbling was the catalyst for disaster.  It was a testament to the quality of the series that it causes us to sympathize with the protagonists while having them in the wrong.  However, blended with the true faults of the society (its dehumanization of the Monster Rats, the miscalculations on the part of the committee) it is not a simple message about trusting authority, but a more nuanced insight into what drives them to do what they do.

Something's not quite right with this...

Finally, I want to end this section with a tribute to my favorite character of the series: Squealer.  Squealer is not a likable character.  His appearance is unattractive.  His behaviors are a mixture of servile groveling, cowardice, and vindictive anger.  Even his name is pejorative.  Clearly he is inferior, we think.  And yet, just like how we are misled about the nature of the society, so are we placated easily by our assured superiority.

Squealer is both intelligent and cunning.  He is not a brave warrior like Kiroumaru, but a driven and idealistic rebel who cares deeply about his cause.  More disturbing to us, his beliefs are not without merit: he and his race are subject to gross inequalities, both under their own queens and the lordly “true” humans.  Seizing the opportunity presented to him, Squealer hoped to better the lot of all Monster Rats.

I do not seek to justify his terror tactics.  Like many revolutionaries before him, he views the potential good of his cause outweighing any evil done in its name.  However, the desperation of his situation and the power of his arguments cannot be ignored.  In one of the best scenes of the series, Saki asks him to apologize for all the deaths he was responsible for.  His retort is simple: he will happily apologize, if only she will apologize first for treating his kin like chaff.  The scene ends with no response.  For a more thorough analysis, I would recommend this post.

The Bad:

As excellent as Shinsekai Yori is, it has a couple noteworthy flaws.  The first is the overall quality of the animation, which noticeably dips on several occasions (the backgrounds remain striking, however).  Episode 5 in particular looks to be done by a different studio, and is frustratingly incongruous with the rest of the series.  However, I don’t wish to spend too much time haranguing on this; it simply makes me a little sad that SSY wasn’t given a better treatment.

There are also plot points that feel slightly forced for the sake of the overall story.  Many of these occur in the early episodes of the series while the children are stuck in the wilderness.  I was incredulous about the ease with which they gained access to the wandering library, bypassing all regulations by the simplest of threats.  The explanation as to how the children got all their powers back was equally convenient.  Finally, the odd menagerie of mutants and technology (gas pumps) that the Monster Rats had access to seemed out of place.

The Tokyo segment also has a distinct sense of being unnecessary.  While it does give an opportunity to become more acquainted with Kiroumaru, the series could have resolved just as effectively by remaining in Kamisu 66.  Overall it felt like more of a detour than a natural progression of the plot.  This and other parts don’t individually sink the series, but it does make it feel flimsy at certain points.

However, despite these shortcomings SSY is a marvelous piece that seamlessly links intriguing concepts of social morality with a harrowing story of children growing up in this brave new world.

[Anime] Kekkai Sensen Review

Kekkai Sensen – 7/10

Kekkai Sensen is the psychedelic journey of Leonard Watch in the upside-down world of a monster-infested New York.  Being sane gets you nowhere in this little corner of the world(s), leaving Leonardo (and the audience) to constantly to wonder what will happen next.  With a bit of action, a bit of drama, and a bit of comedy Kekkai Sensen is quite the ride.

Note: unlike usual, I will be using the character design plates when linking a picture of the person in question.  I do this because of the series' exceptional visual design is crucial, and random scenes are not as effective at conveying this.

The Good:

The visual design of Kekkai Sensen is one of its most striking, and strongest, elements.  The world it is set in is absurd, and the style matches this perfectly.  But it is more than simply being extreme or over-the-top: there is a great deal of love put into the details which craft the atmosphere.

First, any listing of Kekkai Sensen's visuals would be remiss if it didn't include the opening and closing songs:

OP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4J8jcI0WtzM

An impressively long shot as the sun slowly dawns over the city, smoothly transitioning into a collage of pictures making up the otherworldly cloud that hangs over the city.  This quickly transmits a sense of scale and detail to the setting - that it is a vast city made of many individual stories, an impression reinforced by the subsequent scenes of the main characters walking through the vast and varied crowds.  While the latter parts were a bit more standard fare, I still greatly enjoyed this OP.

ED: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3SlUmr_T4g

The ending credits take a somewhat different approach, focusing more exclusively on the myriad characters that make up the show.  What is impressive is how effectively the nature and relationships of the characters are expressed in such a short time.  From Klaus's stodgy clapping to Chain's reflexive punches at Zapp, it takes only a second to give us an immediate idea of the personalities involved.  What is particularly telling are the scenes in which Libra attempts to dance together.  Despite their best efforts they're all just a bit too individualistic to work in synchrony, but they get along just the same.

This strategy of efficient visual demonstration extends to the individual characters as well.  From Leo's pedestrian street clothes to Chain's plain suit to Klaus's gentlemanly jacket you can immediately assess the characters just on how they look.  Backing these visuals, each character is idiosyncratic, with a well-crafted set of quirks that easily identify them.  This extends even to minor characters such as Don Arlelelle Eurca Felgouche, who despite only featuring in a singe episode, is memorable.  When it comes to establishing characters through appearance and mannerisms, Kekkai Sensen is second to none.

To round out this section, I want to end with a discussion of a few of my favorites from the series, if simply because of how much I enjoyed watching them:

• White: White was a joy to have on screen.  The attractive simplicity of her design combined with the smooth mixture of humor and seriousness in her personality produced a wonderful female lead.  What is even more shocking is that she is anime-original.  Usually when a character is introduced in this fashion they stand out painfully from the surroundings, a blistering sore on the series.  That White was so effortlessly integrated is a testament to her character.  I will genuinely miss her.

• Klaus von Reinherz: My other favorite of the series, Klaus is the definition of "indomitable."  Typically in trying to demonstrate an unbreakable spirit a character is shown to go through predictable cycles of self-doubt, fear, and final desperate success by believing in themselves.  Klaus would have none of that.  He struggles (as in the “chess” episode), can be worried about the outcome (as when the barrier threatens to break), and can even lose (as against Black).  But each time he gathers his resolve quietly and steps forward again to do what must be done.  He was a perfect choice for the leader of Libra, a rock that everyone else could count on.

• Chain Sumeragi: Chain is unusual in that despite her early introduction, she remains in the background for most of the series.  In spite of this, her essence is transmitted clearly.  Her attire is professional, her visage composed.  She is always there when needed but doesn't stick around for extra duty.  She isn't into heroics if she sees help is useless.  Yet another testament to Kekkai Sensen's ability to craft unique characters with limited cues.

• Dog Hummer and Deldro Brody: I found these two genuinely entertaining, with just enough exposure that they didn’t wear out their welcome.  There isn't much more to say on them, except that their story was morbidly funny and their interactions bafflingly effective.

The Bad:

Above I praised the series' ability to match its tone with the general incoherence of the world it represents.  Unfortunately, this extended into the presentation of the plot as well.  In the beginning, when the series is primarily episodic, this wasn't an issue; why things were happening didn't really matter, and it was wrapped up every episode anyways.  Then the Blood Born are introduced, and in one episode go from being non-entities to the Big Evil that Libra has apparently opposing up until now.  This sudden shift is handled poorly, and what is otherwise a serviceable plot is confused by messy implementation.

The other major weakness of Kekkai Sensen was the inexplicable failure to extend its virtuoso character building to key players.  The worst offenders are Steven and K.K.  Like all members of the cast, they have detailed designs that convey their basic nature: Steven is a professional while K.K. is more exotic.  Both are clearly experienced, exhibited by their scars and casual demeanor.  Beyond this they never receive more explanation.

For many characters, this wouldn't be a problem; there are plenty of supporting members who are little more than an eccentric face.  But as the series draws to a conclusion these two receive screen time equal to the primary characters, yet we have nothing to go on.  I can't remember the first episodes they are featured in, their personalities, or their motivations.  Everybody else has blood powers, why are Steven's based on ice?  And where was K.K. for most of the series?  She acts familiar with the entire team, yet we never see her outside crucial plot scenes.  Nowhere are these defects more damaging than in the first encounter with the Blood Born, in which Steven and K.K. fight a desperate losing battle.  These two are humanity's first responders, giving valorous speeches and demonstrating their resolve in the face of this evil scourge.  But just as the introduction of the Blood Born was muddled by its abruptness, the heroics are weakened coming from characters we do not know.

To complete the litany of semi-pointless characters, Femt, King of Depravity, must also be mentioned.  He is the first villain we are introduced to in the series.  His escapades are clearly sadistic.  His background indicates that he is a criminal mastermind with resources, connections, and an audience hungry for more.  Surely he is to play a major role as the excessively-demented antagonist?  Well, I am sorry to notify you of Femt's untimely demise from the script.  He becomes nothing more than a commentator on William's actions.   The complete mismatch between his initial presentation and ultimate impact was dismal.

I was also disappointed in the lack of world-building detail.  Kekkai Sensen's setting is expansive, with a plethora of questions waiting to be answered.  Often a series can get away with leaving these ends open, allowing the audience to use their imaginations to create their own stories.  But in Kekkai Sensen we aren't even give enough to dream on.  There is no exposition of the magic system, the different guilds that operate within the city, the levels of reality, or the other Kings that rule them.  The final sensation is one of frayed ends rather than being elegantly unresolved.

In conclusion, Kekkai Sensen is an enjoyable, if flawed, series.  It was nothing out of the ordinary in terms of its plot or message, but made up for this in spades with its exuberant visuals, quirky humor and detailed character design.  A solid choice for when you just want something fun and entertaining without having to worry too much about the point of it all.

[Anime] The Perfect Insider Review

Subete ga F ni Naru: The Perfect Insider - 6.5/10

"The Perfect Insider" is an anime that is unintentionally self-referential: just like Dr. Magata, it also suffers from multiple personality disorder.  It wants dearly to be a profound metaphysical series while still staying rooted in the practical intrigues of a murder mystery.  Unfortunately, it comes up short on insights, which in turn hurts what otherwise would have been a perfectly good thriller.

In order to understand what the Perfect Insider is attempting to do philosophically, some explanation is necessary.  The story centers on a group of software engineers: Saikawa the reserved professor, Nishinosono his enamored student, and Magata Shiki the unfathomable genius.  Watching the ED you will see that it draws heavily on the imagery of  Conway's Game of Life, which is a program that digitally recreates complex, evolving patterns from simple rules.  This has garnered some interest in the intellectual community.  Some mathematicians, namely Wolfram, have gone so far as to say that this could represent a new way of understanding the world.

The idea then is that these software engineers are, in a sense, plumbing new views of reality in their research.  Dr. Magata is the pinnacle of this detachment from normal reality.  She is reminiscent of the uberman idea, that morals and social trappings are merely fetters for those who are truly profound.  She has committed some acts which are considered unconscionable: sleeping with her married uncle, murdering her parents, and using her daughter's mutilated body as a decoy for her escape.  On top of this, she is additionally removed as she has "taken in" what she valued from the outer reality in the form of her multiple personalities, with each one representing something she lost on the "outside."  And finally, she has cut herself off from for 15 years and has even invented a virtual reality chamber to allow the inner world to be projected as though it were the real one.

However, this is also where the series falters.  The process of revealing Magata's background and inner workings is interesting in itself, and along with the mystery could stand alone as a compelling anime.  But then it tries to take one step further by trying to be just a bit too clever, giving contradictory indications as to what it is trying to express.  On one hand it holds up Saikawa and Magata as unfathomable beings, lost in their deep and moving thoughts.  On the other, it has Nishinosono acting as a normal social anchor and the explanation of how Saikawa supported and raised her in her worst times shows how important normal human morality is. Unfortunately I could not detect any indications that it was using this as a subtle conflict, and so was left simply dissatisfied that it ruined a perfectly good mystery with its quibbling.

The Good: The actual, honest-to-goodness mystery at the core of its real world story.  I was really interested to find out what had happened in the past and what was actually happening at the laboratory.  I really think this was the strongest aspect of the series and it's what kept me watching every week.

The execution of more sensitive scenes and topics were also very tastefully handled.  Magata is a minor and basically seduces her uncle.  This has the potential to be a very disgusting topic, but the way the narration is done, how it stays far away from any visual depiction, and the general way that it treats the scene as fundamentally negative keeps it from being any sort of voyeurism.  The same applies to the murders.  They are scenes of horror and confusion, not excitement.  All in all, it managed to have a very dark story in places without using the topics to get cheap views.

To support its story, the art is also top notch with its design and pallet.  The style is, for lack of a better word, antiseptic.  If you pay attention you'll notice that everything looks an unearthly level of clean, as though it's not entirely real.  This supports the general themes that I mentioned above, and overall gives an eerie atmosphere that is perfect for both a philosophical and mystery piece.

Finally the OP and ED were both great and I watched them nearly every time.  They were visually very appealing while at the same time connected firmly with the themes and feel of the series.  As somebody pointed out, in the OP they can never actually touch Magata unless she lets them.  Otherwise she is always elusive.

The Bad: As already mentioned, the biggest issue I took with the series was its attempts at being profound.  In particular some of the final statements made really got to me:

In the last episode, Magata has a philosophical chat with Saikawa and has several statements that were just painful.  The one that really got to me was her statement, "Nobody fears death, just the life and suffering before death."  No, I'm sorry, that's entirely and completely off base.  In fact, if anything a crushing sense of mortality is what scares most people into never thinking about it.  I mean, perhaps Magata is expressing a truth for herself because she is so alien, but she was such a poor observer of humanity (she was locked up for 15 years...) that it made me cringe.

Perhaps it's the biologist in me, but in this day and age I consider any speculation on the nature of humans to require an understanding of and reference to evolution and biology.  They don't explain and account for everything about humans (I'm not a reductionist), but the time for baseless speculation of this sort without science has passed.

What is worse is that in order to make room for some of these musings, the series had to cut short some of its story elements.  Basically we're presented with some of the pivotal story realizations in the forms of flashes or Saikawa staring blankly into space while essentially spanning what were plot holes for the audience.  The scene that got to me was when Saikawa finally figures out that the daughter was brought inside with Magata.  Rather than any sort of reasonable cues as to what he understood, we're treated to a deluge of visual images that would confuse even Picasso.  Apparently the image of ostriches represents that ostrich meat is considered good for mothers, but the fact that I had to go research this to even make sense kind of ruins the impact.  A little more time spent spelling out the steps for the rest of us would have gone a long way to improving the story from a practical stand point.

Finally, I found Nishinosono Moe completely insufferable as a character.  I'm not necessarily saying she was a bad character, but the fact that she went into super-possessive mode of Saikawa every time another female so much as entered the room got really old.  The truth is that she didn't understand him in the slightest the entire time, and the fact that she keeps trying to aggressively foist herself on him romantically was painful.  I contemplated that maybe she was important to the series for some reason, perhaps acting as a foil to the more ethereal characters, but in the end I just couldn't make myself appreciate her.

So in conclusion, The Perfect Insider aimed high with its blend of interesting story and philosophical introspection, but became tangled in its own "complexity" and found itself a bit lost.

[Anime] Death Parade Review

Death Parade - 7.5/10

Parade (noun): a procession of people, often in costume, celebrating a special day or event.

Death Parade is a cavalcade of people whose time has come, usually in an unexpected manner.  So shocked are they at the transition that they have forgotten that they are dead, and so they continue to put on their usual face (farce?) until they are apprehended by the inescapable truth of their demise.  It is the purpose of arbiters to prompt and observe this transition, using it as the basis on which to judge the nature of the person.

At its core, Death Parade asks what constitutes a good person and a meaningful life, using the clarity of death to expose people to their essence.  The series begins in a fairly straightforward way, with it being assumed that a good life is one which results in reincarnation and a bad one the void.  However, cracks begin to appear in this narrative almost immediately.  The verdicts rendered often seem strange...misplaced.  What becomes apparent is the judgments of the arbiters are, in fact, flawed.  Or, more precisely, perhaps the very idea of judgment is flawed.

This is where the series comes into its own, with the dawning realization of the conundrum of Quindecim: how is it that judges, lacking empathy, can fully comprehend the nature of the people whose fates they are deciding?  And, more deeply, is judgement even possible after having truly felt as another?

The Good: 

The stories of the people who come into Quindecim.  The way in which the layers are peeled back, exposing people's loves, desires, fears, and hopes is what makes the series tick.  It is the concreteness of the individuals that allows Death Parade to pursue its central themes so effectively.  To merely state that judgement is flawed is one thing.  To see desperate, confused humans struggle against their own weaknesses and mixed motives, is another.  This brings me to what are two of the most diametrically opposed, yet equally powerful, scenes in any anime: the judgement of the murderers and Chiyuki's ice skating.

At the end of episode 9 it has become apparent that the murderers are entirely different.  On one hand is a kind brother who was driven to rage and violence by the assault and rape of his beloved little sister.  With the other is a man who is dedicated to the eradication of evil, but at the cost of allowing it to occur so that he may justify striking them down.  Goaded beyond restraint the brother gives in to his darkness and inflicts heinous suffering on the older man, in vengeance for his inaction.  The sad episode ends with Decim overwhelmed by the evil he has produced, sending both to the void.

By comparison, Chiyuki's ice skating scene is sublime.  A beautiful, wordless review of her life and a potent reminder of its waste.  Set to the lush Moonlight Night, I have found myself on more than one occasion rewatching this scene just to dip into its poignant tranquility.  It is a reminder of how much love went into just one person's short life.

Supporting all these events, the art of Death Parade is on point.  The design of Quindecim is elegant, with its muted ambiance and cool colors falling away into the darkness.  Combined with the silent jellyfish above, it generates a sense of the otherworldly.  The smooth musical score also adds to the calm background.  Also as an outlier, the opening song is incongruous yet extraordinarily catchy; I can't hate it even while feeling it is such a mismatch with the rest of the series.

Finally, as I close out this segment, I would like to make mention of miscellaneous touches that I personally enjoyed:

• Chiyuki's "skin" first comes off at the wrist where she cut herself.  Later as she further degrades it is from the knee, where the wound that precipitated her death was located.
• The visual designs of Nona and the young Chiyuki were particularly enjoyable for me.  The former was diminutive yet imposing, an appropriate stature for her role.  The latter was simply adorable.  When she said her favorite part about Chavvot was her smile, and then mimicked it with her own big grin, was really sweet.
• Spike and Yagami Light making cameos was pretty funny, and both extremely appropriate for their respective series.
• Chiyuki's name means "knowing happiness."  I love that.

The Bad:

Death Parade, for all its grandeur, often stumbles when it comes to the details of its execution.  In particular, the depiction of Quindecim and its inhabitants.

Quindecim is part of an overall apparatus for judgement, which has various departments, overseers, a bureaucracy, and all the trappings that come with a government agency.  This peculiarly Eastern view of the afterlife never sits right with me, because it clearly moves beyond metaphor into a quasi-literal interpretation.  In Death Parade we are given just enough details that the setting is concrete, but with many loose ends that it is insubstantial with many dangling issues.  The most egregious of these is Oculus' comment that God has since departed to leave the running of things to him and the other arbiters.  Wait!  What was that again?!?  This may be slightly important...and it is never touched on again.

Speaking of Oculus, he is a prime example of the type of addition the series did not need.  Quin, Nona, Ginti, and the rest are fine characters in their own right, but are ultimately a detraction simply because they take time and focus away from the better elements.  Their own stories and interactions are just not that important compared to the real people.

Finally, an issue that stuck with me from my particular translation was that the arbiters were continually referred to as having no emotion.  Their depiction was entirely incongruous with this statement.  They display exhaustion, anger, frustration, disillusionment, boredom, and even sadism.  Perhaps this was a translation error, but it was one that nagged at me the entire time.

Even with all these problems taken into consideration, I still give Death Parade the highest recommendation.  It is extraordinarily powerful and moving when it is at its best.  It will make you think over your life and, if you are receptive, remind you not to take its wondrous confusion for granted.

[Anime] Your Lie In April Review

Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso (Your Lie In April) - 4/10

"It was only a hopeless fancy
It passed like an April dye
But a look and a word and the dreams they stirred
They have stolen my heart away"
-George Orwell, 1984

"Shigatsu" is a saccharine middle school drama, centered on the recovery of the Kousei Arima's will and ability to play the piano.  I was drawn in initially by the promise of good music and the setting of two people connecting and helping each other through their passions.  However, what starts as an intriguing premise becomes an excuse to wallow in adolescent monologues and sentimentality.

Before beginning the review in earnest, a discussion on the difference between good and bad sentiment is in order.  All series aim to make us feel something.  To accuse a work of trying to manipulate feelings is to point out the obvious, and we are rightfully disappointed when it fails to do so.  We pay good money for this experience.  The difference is in the intent of the manipulation.

A good series has content that causes the viewer to feel something because of its meaning or impact.  It is confronting a situation which is emotionally evocative, either positively or negatively.  It is legitimately trying to do or say something with regards to its subject.  If executed well, the viewer responds emotionally to the creation.  By comparison, if a series' primary objective is to make its viewers feel, rather than be substantial, then its emotional content is meaningless.  It is put on for show in an attempt to fish for the reaction, but the content is insubstantial.  It's the equivalent of an artificial sweetener: there are no actual calories, but it tastes (mostly) like the real thing.

While I get ahead of myself for "The Bad," I found that Shigatsu fell into the latter category.  It took a collection of emotionally-charged subjects (young life, romance, spring/awakening, music, and sick/dying children) and packaged them together in hopes of getting some easy tears.  This was the inspiration for this review's quote.  In 1984 there is a segment where Winston is visiting the entertainment wing of the Ministry of Truth, and he comes on the music department:

"Here were produced...sentimental songs which were composed entirely by mechanical means on a special kind of kaleidoscope known as a versificator."

In other words, a list of emotional words and phrases are thrown together in a tumbler and the order that they fall out is used to create a song.  Shigatsu has all the earmarks of being produced in an equivalent human fashion: "hopeless fancy," "April dye" (spring rain), "dreams they stirred," and "stolen my heart" sum up much of the anime.  It lacks any real substance, but it's enough to trigger emotions and get the results it wants.

I loved these stills.

The Good:
The production quality of this series was superb.  The colors were very soft but vibrant, giving a gentle look to the visuals.  The backgrounds in particular struck me, as they seemed to stray into an almost pastel range with their presentation.  Character design was also very pleasant.  What impressed me the most was how effective the incorporation of small amounts of color into their cheeks and lips made them feel more alive than most anime characters.

The atmosphere is also supported strongly by the music (which, frankly, it would be an embarrassment if a series like Shigatsu had bad music).  Both the pieces composed for the series itself as well as the classical arrangements played by the characters are well-chosen, and run the range from discordant frustration to serene sadness.  Even as somebody who is not particularly musical I could appreciate the attention given to this facet of the show.

While I was unimpressed by most of the characters, one did stand out to me: Saki, Kousei's mother.  This may seem strange, but for the first half of the series I found her the most compelling.  Saki was a person at the end of her rope.  She was clearly somebody who was always ambitious and in control.  When sickness took her, there was nothing she could do except wither slowly until she died.  In the grip of this, she turned all of her remaining attention to the one thing she could control: her child.  Devolving into an abusive relationship, she pushed him relentlessly as an extension of herself.  By the end she was deranged, and through the sad psychology of abuse her child was manipulated into feeling that he was at fault for things that were never under anybody's control.

Sadly, they completely ruined her character around the halfway point.  In order for Kousei to come to terms with his abuse the series attempts to explain away Saki's behavior.  It turns exclusively to remembering the early days, before she began her long descent.  Using this, it justifies Saki in the light that she simply wanted her child to be the best and that the beatings and emotional torment were only a little excessive.  This is an insulting resolution, glossing over the real damage she did to her child in favor of an easy fix.

I was similarly excited-then-disappointed by the scene in the hospital where Kaori loses her composure.  She lashes out at Kousei, blaming and berating him.  In that moment she mirrored Kousei's mother more strongly than ever.  I hoped that perhaps they would connect the two more firmly: that Kaori's childish forcefulness and selfishness, her impulsive behavior, and her erratic violence were actually natural precursors to somebody like Saki.  That perhaps there is a dark side to living your life on the whim of your feelings.  But then this parallel never manifested itself and the show swiftly moved on.

Finally, I am a sucker for good death scenes, and Kaori's final moments were indeed excellent.  It was a very sweet last duet to have her spiritually playing alongside Kousei, knowing what this meant for her surgery elsewhere.  That the series decided to skip the actual funeral scene would have been brilliant, by making sure the final impression of her was so glowing.  Unfortunately, the gains made by this move were completely lost by the over-the-top 10-minute letter reading at the end.

Dead giveaway what was going to happen.

The Bad: 
I have already thoroughly covered the cardinal sin of the series: that it is suffused with purposeless feeling.  However, there are several other aspects which sink the series into mediocrity.

First is its total inability to keep an even tone.  It raised the art of bathos to such heights that I could only be impressed.  Any serious interaction, if extending for longer than ten seconds, was promptly interrupted by what can only be described as "anime outtake" mode.  If this was a subtle attempt to mirror the rapidly vacillating emotions of its subjects, it was lost on me and served instead to ruin the mood.  There were many satisfactory scenes that became a hash of incompatible impulses under such direction.

Paralleling this, many of the performance scenes were also disrupted by the injection of excessive introspection.  In that moment of performance, all of one's attention turns to the task at hand.  It is a moment of flow.  At that time, conscious thinking actually decreases.  The immediateness of the experience is produced by a reduction in our thoughtfulness.  For the moment at least, we are in the here and now.  It is totally incompatible with "deep" musings about one's self, and the fusion of the two is nonsensical.

The pacing of the series also felt off to me.  It felt like thirteen episodes of content stretched to twenty-two.  The amount of reminiscing and remembering, coupled with frequent flashbacks, padded the series.  This was most egregious where sometimes the flashbacks were of the same episode, now brought back again to lead to another...um...epiphany.  Similarly, while I appreciate Kousei's trauma is real, the scene of him huddling and crying as a child was replayed practically once an episode for the first half of the series.  The introduction of completely unnecessary and unimportant side characters in the latter half of the series also soaked up screen time, extending what was functionally one cour of content into two.

So in conclusion, I had high hopes at the beginning of the series.  The appearance and music drew me in and promised a lush experience.  Unfortunately, its shallow emotional underpinnings and protracted execution destroyed the impact it could have had.

[Anime] Gunslinger Girl Review

Gunslinger Girl - 10/10

The first impression one might have of Gunslinger Girl is that it is another "cute girls with guns" show. The name does not help the series any either, as it sounds cavalier in its use of violence. When I first watched it a few years ago I was not expecting much, but thirteen episodes later it had impressed me more than any series has before or since.

Gunslinger Girl is not an action series, but a drama without plot. The structure is primarily episodic, focusing on each of the individual girls in the organization, along with their "handlers" and back stories. But this does not describe its true purpose. It is profoundly sad, but the sadness is muted.  It isn't about what happens in the series, but the fact that it can happen.  At the core is a desperate questioning of how the world can be so distinctly wrong. The phrase that comes to mind is a title somebody used for an AMV: Expendable Innocence. Nothing cuts to the core better than that epithet.

"I am very happy to be here at the Social Welfare Corporation..."

The essence of the conditioning is what is most perverse.  The girls are stripped of much of their humanity so they may kill, but left with enough to suffer.  Referred to generically as "brainwashing," observing it in action makes it clear what it is. These girls have had their fundamental need to be loved and appreciated turned to the ends of the organization. This is why it works best on children: it is a deformation of the most basic child-parent bond.  For the entire series you can see them desperately seeking the attention and approval of their handlers, and everything in their world is distorted for it. The scene that hit home the most for me was Angelica's trainer watching her on her first mission: she moves through the targets, killing them in rapid succession, then turns to the observation camera with an innocent smile, as if to ask, "Did I do a good job?"

However, it is the final episode that makes the series whole.  For humans, the essence of spirituality is connectedness.  We experience a vibrancy of our being when we feel fundamentally linked to something else, whether this be a higher power, the universe, or other people.  In a sense they all mirror each other.

As the series comes to a close, Angelica dies.  It is a tragedy, but it is not unmitigated.  She has suffered so much, but as she leaves this world she is cared for, appreciated.  Her affection, so long unrequited, has finally been returned in these last moments.  I know it is taboo to use such a word on the internet, but "spiritual" is the only proper description.  It can be said that this does not fix anything, but that is missing the point.

The Good:
The visual design is subtle and exquisitely matches the tone of the show.  The color pallet is subdued, but not dark.  Instead, there is always light, coming from elsewhere, seeming to suffuse through the world.  This approach also acts to heighten the shadows, often creating strong visual cues throughout the series.  This low-key, unextravagant approach is reciprocated by the appearance of the characters.  The girls in particular are well-designed: young, vulnerable, but not "cutesy."  Matching these visuals, the direction of the series is to a slower pace, giving us time to think.  Many situations pass silently, the shots slowly shifting across the scene, lingering on single people or objects.  It is, in a word, contemplative.

Further complimenting this design, the series places great stock in the accuracy of its world.  Scenes take place in well-established locations, such as the Uffizi Gallery, the Spanish Steps, and the Apennine Mountains.  There is also a curiously high level of detail given to the weapons and their technique, which are exceedingly accurate despite being employed by young girls.

Another thing Gunslinger Girl is to be commended on is its restraint.  In a series which features abuse, rape, human trafficking, and the suicide of a child, it stays above utilizing them for vulgar shock value.  What has happened to these girls is something nobody ever needs to see.

"If you ordered her to practice last night, she should still be there."

The musical score of Gunslinger Girl also deserves mention.  Starting off is the OP of the series, set to the haunting, "The Light Before We Land."  Matched with the meaningful visuals and simple introduction of the characters, it is one of the few openings that I never skipped while watching.

Beyond this the series possesses a melancholy Western-sounding classical score, which fits perfectly with the Italian setting.  The score is not just beautiful, but it is applied with great poignancy.  The main theme, Tema I, is sorrowful and captures a powerful loneliness and grandness in its notes.  Another of my personal favorites is Etereo, played when irreparable damage is being done: the training of Henrietta and the dismissal of Elsa.  The confusion comes pouring through in the disjointed notes, fading slowly into a quiet end and a dark last chord.

Finally, Gunslinger Girl ends with Beethoven's Ninth, a song that like "Light Before We Land" is not written for the series but finds exquisite application.  I would like to end this section with a translated section of the lyrics, sung as Angelica dies:

Joy, beautiful spark of divinity
Daughter from Elysium
We enter, drunk with fire,
Into your sanctuary, heavenly (daughter)!
Your magic reunites
What custom strictly divided.
All men become brothers,
Where your gentle wing rests.

The Bad: 
I find no major faults with Gunslinger Girl as a series, aside from the occasional drop in visual quality.  However, I do feel compelled to mention that the anime is slow. It is very slow. In fact the first two episodes are the same day, repeating much of the same content. This can be particularly off-putting for many people. This is doubly bad if the show doesn't really "click" with the watcher, because many of the scenes have no explanation. An example that comes to mind is the moment when Henrietta watches the couple ride past on the motorbike. She doesn't say anything, they don't explain anything; we just track her gaze. But in the context it's her mind obviously trying to understand that existence, as it is so far outside of her. I found it a poignant moment, but it and many others can slip by easily. So I highly recommend that if the show isn't clicking to just drop it, because it won't "get better."

The other thing I must mention is the existence of a second season, which I would normally not mention because it's terrible. Studio changed, VAs changed, tone changed, theme changed, everything changed. Even worse, Angelica doesn't die according to the second season. This is such a horrible mangling of the first season's ending, robbing it of the power that it has. I just pretend it doesn't exist.

Gunslinger Girl is a series that is deeply resonant, subtle, tragic, and beautiful.  It is my recommendation that every thoughtful person take the time to view it.

[Anime] Gankutsuou Review

Gankutsuou - The Count of Monte Cristo - 8/10

"Moral wounds have this peculiarity - they may be hidden, but they never close; always painful, always ready to bleed when touched, they remain fresh and open in the heart." - The Count of Monte Cristo

Gankutsuou is the science-fiction reincarnation of The Count of Monte Cristo.  While it borrows much of its substance from the original there are significant changes to the plot, focus, and pacing. As somebody who enjoyed the original, I found that most of their alterations worked surprisingly well.  However, there were some liberties that I did disagree with and I feel made the series worse for their inclusion.

When reviewing this series I attempted to keep the original and the anime separate, but frankly I failed.  I now know how manga readers feel, continually comparing the fidelity of every character and scene.  Below, "The Bad" is principally devoted to the juxtaposition of the two, although I will endeavor to substantiate why I feel the changes were negative rather than simply being disgruntled that they were not identical.

The Good:

Just as in the source material, the Count is the dynamic center of the series.  It's hard to go wrong with such an intriguing character, and he made the transition well.  He is foreboding, charismatic, impressive, terrifying, commanding, mysterious, generous, and dangerous.  Riveting in the original, he continues his dominance into the anime as well.  What makes him so interesting is his mixture of traits.  The original character of Edmond Dantes is gentle, but has since been riven by the events of his life; at this point neither the original or the damaged is the "real him."  Only together do they make up the man that is now the Count.  There is no simple way to separate the two anymore, allowing a single man to visit generosity on some and hellfire on others.  He is not, "A good man that does some bad things" or "A bad man who does some good things."  He is the grey checkered man that he is.

I also want to give special mention to Haydee and the other female supports.  While Haydee's general role and primary scenes are not altered much, the anime enhanced her character and animated it beautifully.  I was captivated by her when she was on-screen.  Her varied expressions of anger, shock, sadness, longing, terror, and complete rage were amazing.  Peppo was also a fun character whose role was significantly expanded from the original, but who also worked quite well (and I still maintain he was FAR too cute to be male).  Even Eugenie is given better development, with her screen time transforming her elegantly from "aristocratic shopping bimbo" to a surprisingly thoughtful personality.

Beyond the characters the visuals are strange, but oddly mesmerizing once I had become accustomed.  They lent a charm and identity to the series that it may have otherwise struggled with.  The surreal aspect worked especially well at the beginning Carnival as well as the ritzy scenes in Paris, where the superficiality found clear voice in the imagery: full of color and glamour, but lacking in depth.  Beyond this, they were simply a treat at many times, even without secondary meaning.

Finally, I want to give recognition to the small details that were forged in translating the series into the future.  The small touches such as the Count recording conversations and the DNA evidence against Villefort felt very natural.  If Dumas had written his book today, these types of details are precisely what I would expect.

The Bad:

My primary charge against the series were two changes that I strongly disagreed with in the nature and fate of the Count.  The first is that the Count dies at the end.  The second is that he gained his power through a contract with a type of supernatural being.

My issue with the Count's death is that it alters the message drastically.  In the original the Count is successful with his revenge: he destroys Villefort's reputation, Danglar's finances, and Morcerf's future.  There is nothing left to do.  The final scenes of the book are now his intent to commit suicide after he's returned Valentine to Maximilien (who act as the innocent inspiration for Albert's character in the anime).  He has nothing to live for.  This is when Haydee impresses upon him that there were those who cared for him and that his life wasn't entirely compassed by revenge.  They depart on a voyage to see the world together, and the book ends.

By having the Count die in the anime, this means that instead of release he is instead consumed by revenge until the end.  While the counterbalance that he did some good (such as saving Haydee) is still there, it loses much of its impact.  This issue is further exacerbated by the elimination of most of the book scenes in which the Count uses his great wealth and power for kindness.  We get a much shallower view of the man: in the anime he was only a destroyer, and destroyed himself in the end.

The second change, that the Count's power is from an outside source, further cheapens his character.  In the original the Count is the World's Most Interesting Man by his own merit.  He was granted immense wealth through chance or fate, but all of his other skills were the result of self-training and his iron will.  He has traveled the world, seen and experienced many things, and is a man at home in any place.  This highlights the essential waste of his revenge: he's learned so much, and done so much, just so he can return to Paris and cause his enemies to suffer.  He has tragically chained himself to his past.  In the anime, all of this is simplified.  Edmond Dantes is good, Gankutsuou that inhabits him is evil.  Most of his strange powers come from this pact.  It lacks the depth of somebody whose good and evil has been twisted together inseparably.

This is especially apparent in how the different Counts are affected by their collateral damage.  In the original the Count is deeply shaken by Madam Villefort's double suicide with her son.  He didn't expect his revenge to accidentally spill over to others, and he is even brought to questioning his own revenge knowing that it has cost an innocent life.  In the anime, Gakutsuou makes light of the death, even going so far as to laugh at the destruction he has caused.  If the original Dantes is in there, he is eclipsed by this evil persona.  Again, it is far less nuanced than the original.

Beyond the Count, I also felt that Albert was simply a weak main character.  As mentioned before, Albert in the anime is actually a mixture of multiple personalities from the original. On top of this, he is given the standard anime whitewash: his primary occupations are to cry the names of his friends repeatedly and break down in helpless tears of regret.  With so many better characters in the series (namely the Count himself), Albert felt like a relatively dull choice.  It was as though being an anime, the writers couldn't resist making the protagonist a teenager with his first love interest.  I guess I am at least grateful that he wasn't attending high school, sitting in the back corner near the window.

Even with these weaknesses, I still consider the series worth watching.  It was enthralling to see the original tale enacted in a surreal future setting, and even with the debatable alterations the quality of the narrative shines through.