Minami anime
Apr. 2nd, 2011 05:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
toothycatThis is a post made by request, as a summary of the anime we saw and enjoyed at Minami this year. The whole con was a good one, in fact, especially the cooking and Akemi Solloway's lesson on the history of Japan. I was, however, particularly pleased to find several anime I hadn't seen before and rather enjoyed :) I did also find some that weren't so good but I can't remember any of them except D-Gray Man. That was a shame since it had promise but failed to deliver.
Anyway, on to the good ones, which I shall put under a cut for the people on here who aren't interested ^^
Top of the list is House of Five Leaves, a very understated, stylised anime about a ronin in the Edo period who falls in with a bunch of kidnappers. Akitsu was let go from his previous position serving a feudal lord because he is perpetually gloomy and finds it hard to perform in front of a crowd, despite his considerable skill in actual fights. He's taken positions serving as a bodyguard since arriving in Edo, but as the story starts he has just been dismissed from the latest one - for his demeanour, again. His next job, offered out of the blue by a somewhat unusual individual, is to protect that man during the exchange of a kidnapped boy for the ransom money - this detail was unspecified at the time of the job offer. Akitsu is shocked to find his new employer is a villain, but nonetheless drawn back to the small band of kidnappers (the Five Leaves) by their friendship with each other and, slowly, with him. The story meanders across the backstories of each character, although it's Yaichi the leader who is the main focus. There's very little fighting for what is technically a samurai drama; it's slow-paced, atmospheric and beautiful, and rather compelling for such a gentle anime.
The Big O is a retro-style anime which is possibly best described as Batman with big robots. I didn't see this at the con, but Moonshadow did and we've watched 8 or so episodes by now (it's 12 or 13 in total). Despite its retro feel it's very clean; it's newer than it looks. The basic premise is that 40 years ago everyone lost their memories (it's unspecified whether that's everyone in the world, or everyone in the immediate locale). Sometimes things from before the event come back to an individual, and these are referred to as Memories (with a capital M). Roger Smith, the main character, is a 'negotiator' in Paradigm City, so each episode is a 'negotiation of the week', but there appears to be more than that going on. I can't say whether this will deliver or not just yet, but I'm hopeful. Oh yes, and there's a big robot. It's Roger's. He lives in a mansion with a butler (Norman) and an android (R. Dorothy - they adoped the Asimov habit of giving robots the prefix 'R.') and whenever he gets in trouble he calls on his big mecha and sorts things out. It's called 'Big O' by him, and 'the Megadeus' by everyone else - nobody knows it's him piloting it. The whole thing has a post-apocalyptic feel to it but it is also unapologetically cheesy and fun.
Jyu-oh-sei is a science fiction story about a pair of twins dropped onto a penal colony planet where the laws of survival are harsh to say the least. So far I've only seen the first two episodes, but I have actually read the manga and it's a good read, so I'm looking forward to the rest of the anime. This was about £7 from Amazon, by the way - for the entire box set. Hard to go wrong ;)
Bamboo Blade is not going to suit anyone in search of something new and edgy. It's a very 'normal' anime about a group of high school girls aiming to take on another school at a Kendo contest. The contest was instigated by kendo teacher's rival, a teacher at another school, and the prize is a year's eating at a good sushi restaurant. Since 'our' kendo teacher is perpetually skint, he's desperate to win. However, at the time the bet was made, the kendo club consisted of just one girl. We've seen a few episodes and it's fun and harmless - no fanservice so far, thankfully. However, if anime featuring incessantly cheerful Japanese high school girls annoys you, stay away ;)
Black Blood Brothers is a cheesy vampire show which started badly but then got more fun. Like Jyu-Oh-Sei, I've only seen two episodes. The story is set in a world where vampires and humans coexist, and follows a pair of vampires, one 'kid' (Kotaro) and one adult (Jiro), who are brothers aiming to get to the Special Zone, a place where other vampires live. From what I've seen, with the exception of the bad start it was amusing and didn't take itself too seriously. It was also only £6 on Amazon ;)
I've listed them more or less in order of preference, but bear in mind the only one I've seen all the way through is House of Five Leaves - if the others turn out to be dreadful in the remaining episodes, it's not my fault! Anyone living in Cambridge is welcome to borrow them ^^
EDT: Later on in the same day I made this post, we watched all of Jyu-oh-sei. It was good :)
Anyway, on to the good ones, which I shall put under a cut for the people on here who aren't interested ^^
Top of the list is House of Five Leaves, a very understated, stylised anime about a ronin in the Edo period who falls in with a bunch of kidnappers. Akitsu was let go from his previous position serving a feudal lord because he is perpetually gloomy and finds it hard to perform in front of a crowd, despite his considerable skill in actual fights. He's taken positions serving as a bodyguard since arriving in Edo, but as the story starts he has just been dismissed from the latest one - for his demeanour, again. His next job, offered out of the blue by a somewhat unusual individual, is to protect that man during the exchange of a kidnapped boy for the ransom money - this detail was unspecified at the time of the job offer. Akitsu is shocked to find his new employer is a villain, but nonetheless drawn back to the small band of kidnappers (the Five Leaves) by their friendship with each other and, slowly, with him. The story meanders across the backstories of each character, although it's Yaichi the leader who is the main focus. There's very little fighting for what is technically a samurai drama; it's slow-paced, atmospheric and beautiful, and rather compelling for such a gentle anime.
The Big O is a retro-style anime which is possibly best described as Batman with big robots. I didn't see this at the con, but Moonshadow did and we've watched 8 or so episodes by now (it's 12 or 13 in total). Despite its retro feel it's very clean; it's newer than it looks. The basic premise is that 40 years ago everyone lost their memories (it's unspecified whether that's everyone in the world, or everyone in the immediate locale). Sometimes things from before the event come back to an individual, and these are referred to as Memories (with a capital M). Roger Smith, the main character, is a 'negotiator' in Paradigm City, so each episode is a 'negotiation of the week', but there appears to be more than that going on. I can't say whether this will deliver or not just yet, but I'm hopeful. Oh yes, and there's a big robot. It's Roger's. He lives in a mansion with a butler (Norman) and an android (R. Dorothy - they adoped the Asimov habit of giving robots the prefix 'R.') and whenever he gets in trouble he calls on his big mecha and sorts things out. It's called 'Big O' by him, and 'the Megadeus' by everyone else - nobody knows it's him piloting it. The whole thing has a post-apocalyptic feel to it but it is also unapologetically cheesy and fun.
Jyu-oh-sei is a science fiction story about a pair of twins dropped onto a penal colony planet where the laws of survival are harsh to say the least. So far I've only seen the first two episodes, but I have actually read the manga and it's a good read, so I'm looking forward to the rest of the anime. This was about £7 from Amazon, by the way - for the entire box set. Hard to go wrong ;)
Bamboo Blade is not going to suit anyone in search of something new and edgy. It's a very 'normal' anime about a group of high school girls aiming to take on another school at a Kendo contest. The contest was instigated by kendo teacher's rival, a teacher at another school, and the prize is a year's eating at a good sushi restaurant. Since 'our' kendo teacher is perpetually skint, he's desperate to win. However, at the time the bet was made, the kendo club consisted of just one girl. We've seen a few episodes and it's fun and harmless - no fanservice so far, thankfully. However, if anime featuring incessantly cheerful Japanese high school girls annoys you, stay away ;)
Black Blood Brothers is a cheesy vampire show which started badly but then got more fun. Like Jyu-Oh-Sei, I've only seen two episodes. The story is set in a world where vampires and humans coexist, and follows a pair of vampires, one 'kid' (Kotaro) and one adult (Jiro), who are brothers aiming to get to the Special Zone, a place where other vampires live. From what I've seen, with the exception of the bad start it was amusing and didn't take itself too seriously. It was also only £6 on Amazon ;)
I've listed them more or less in order of preference, but bear in mind the only one I've seen all the way through is House of Five Leaves - if the others turn out to be dreadful in the remaining episodes, it's not my fault! Anyone living in Cambridge is welcome to borrow them ^^
EDT: Later on in the same day I made this post, we watched all of Jyu-oh-sei. It was good :)
