Animania

I don't remember where I first heard about the anime series Hell Girl, probably the site formerly known as AnimeOnDVD. I watched it via Netflix back in June 2009, and will be picking it up on DVD soon. The 26 episode series aired back in 2005-2006 in Japan, and they have since made a second and third season. The second season was just licensed by Sentai Filmworks, and will start shipping in May. No word yet on the third season. There are also two manga adaptations for this series, the first spanning nine volumes which is currently being released by Del Rey manga (which has released six volumes so far), and a second which was slated to being in 2008 but I could find little else about it other than it seems to revolve around the events of the second season. So for our purposes, I'll be looking at the first season of the anime, and the first five volumes of the manga.

Both the anime and its manga adaptation follow the same basic premise: if you have a grudge against someone, you can access the Hell Correspondence web site at midnight and enter their name to request they be sent down to hell. If she is willing to hear the request, the Hell Girl, Ai Enma, will appear and offer to avenge you, warning though that the deal is a double edged soul. If you accept the contract, the object of your grudge will be immediately sent down to hell, but in exchange when you die, your soul will also go to hell to suffer eternal torment. In most cases, the requestor is given time to think about the request and given a straw doll with a ribbon. If they decide to accept, they pull the ribbon and the grudge will be carried out. Ai is added in her work by three companions: Wanyūdō, an old man who becomes the straw dolls as well as Ai's carriage; Ren Ichimoku, a seemingly handsome young man who can see anywhere by sending his large eye to the location; and Hone Onna, a sultry woman in a half-falling off kimono.

The first half or so of the series is fairly episodic, featuring a new case of someone wanting to send someone to hell. As the series progresses, two new characters are introduced, Tsugumi Shibata and her father Hajime. Tsugumi meets Ai one day, after which she begins going into trances and seeing Ai performing the contractual offers to her various "clients". Hajime is a reporter who has begun investigating the Hell Girl phenomenon. Hajime makes use of Tsugumi's abilities to try to track down Ai's clients so he can attempt to convince them not to seek revenge, but Tsugumi isn't sure if utilizing Ai's service is all that wrong. I think this is really a core theme and one of the best aspects of this series, beyond its beautiful animation and music. Each story leaves the viewer questioning whether seeking vengeance is right or wrong, if this method of revenge is acceptable in the circumstances, and if the price to pay makes it worth it. Some of the cases are truly horrible circumstances, such a victim of stalking whose stalker is ready to kill her, a young man seeking vengeance for his friend's murder, and a girl enslaved by a murderously disturbed woman after claiming the girl's dogs "bit" her. All of Ai's clients are not "victims" though, as is the case where one simply wants to remove a rival for the spotlight.

As the manga adaptation ran in the shojo magazine Nakayoshi, which is targeted at elementary and middle school readers, it has a somewhat different feel from the anime. It is not as dark as the anime, using primarily original stories rather than the more disturbing originals, but it is still considered to be one of the darkest, most serious series to run in the magazine. It adds in a few stories of more everyday occurrences that inspire folks to seek revenge, which I think really make the question of whether using Ai was the only option or the right choice a tougher one to answer. Some of its stories include a girl being bullied by a classmate under threat of losing her reputation and place in a good high school, a student being sexually harassed by her teacher, a high school girl used and hurt by a boy she liked after she surpasses him in test scores, and a seeming best friend betraying the trust of another out of jealousy. It does also include a four or five stories from the anime, though they each have some significant changes, however the entire subplot around the Shibatas is gone (per an author note, it would have been to dark to try to adapt to the manga without ruining its purpose). While it is certainly enjoyable, it is also almost entirely episodic for the first five volumes, with Ai and her companions having less personality and back story. Where the anime frequently shows them at their "headquarters" and interacting, the manga reduces them almost entirely to just appearing when needing and performing the sendings to hell. However, I have seen brief summaries of volume 6 that indicates that it does start exploring the personalities and backgrounds of Ai's companions, and volume three does present a slightly toned down version of how Ai became the Hell Girl. The artwork is well done, with artist Miyuki Eto doing a particularly nice job of incorporating Ai's floral motif into the series and in having a good varied appearance to the characters in each story.

On the whole, I'd have to say that I would highly recommend the original anime. The stories are thought provoking, if sometimes disturbing, and the thread with the Shibatas is well handled. As I mentioned earlier, the animation is just plain gorgeous, and the healthy production budget is easy to detect. The voice characters all handle their respective roles well, especially Ai's voice actress who states the line "Do you want to see what hell looks like" with the absolute perfect inflection. I hope the second season was able to keep the same cast. If you don't mind the more episodic nature, I also do recommend picking up the manga. The original stories are also well written and in keeping with the general idea of Hell Girl, even if they are somewhat tamer.

Anime Rating: A

Manga Rating: B+

Another anime series I recently tried via CrunchyRoll is Skip Beat!. Based on the on-going manga series by Yoshiki Nakamura (currently being released by Viz Media), the 25 episode anime series ran in Japan from October 2008 through March 2009 and appears to cover only the first twelve volumes of the manga (which is currently up to 23). Like the manga, it focuses on teenager Kyoko Mogami, who forgoes high school to move to Tokyo with her childhood friend Shotaro after he asks her to support him in becoming a star. She lives frugally and works to maintain an expensive apartment, while he works to become a big star. However, when she learns that he only asked her to have her continue acting as his maid and that he doesn't care anything about her, Kyoko undergoes a transformation from a mousy pseudo-housewife to a woman-scorned hell-bent on revenge. She joins the agency of his top rival determined to become an actress and a bigger star than him, but his betrayal left her unable to love anybody, a major problem for any actress who must be able to love her fans.

On the whole, I liked the premise of the series as it seemed pretty promising. I'd been curious about the manga and seeing the anime was available on the Crunchyroll, I decided to give it a whirl. Unfortunately, I was sadly disappointed. The animation is top notch at times and the English subtitles had no glaringly obvious issues that I noticed. Kyoko is a great character. I particularly like that she doesn't do the stereotypical crying of rivers over Sho's betrayal and instead goes a little nuts. Her losing her ability to love was a great twist, and well played as she is otherwise an okay girl with a few twisted quirks. However, the series as a whole is fairly predictable and it emphasizes the comedy too much for my taste, to the detriment of the story. A lot of otherwise great scenes are ruined by chibi animation, exaggerated physical gags and facial expressions, screaming, and just plain silliness. This just does not suit me at all, and I found it quickly turned me off to the series.

I also found the series quite predictable, to the point I only watched the first 4 episodes, scanned two middling episodes, then skipped to episode 25, and wasn't lost at all. It because pretty easy to guess how Kyoko would react to situations quickly, such as her stalking of the agency representative, and his coming to grudgingly admiring her (while fearing her) enough to support her efforts. Ren Tsuruga, Sho's rival whom Kyoko is seen cursing early in the series, was the obvious one to become her real love interest (and presumably true love by the series end). Though really, his attraction is hard to understand since he seems to have as much personality as a blade of grass. The childhood connection that is eventually revealed between them was an interesting twice I didn't expect, but left unexplored by the end of the series and largely unknown to them. The anime itself also doesn't really end at all. It stops right in the middle of an actual bit of trouble then just leaves it there without resolution. It also leaves Kyoko and Ren's romance largely up in the air, which is a secondary annoyance.

All in all, if you like over the top romantic comedy with a lot of gags and exaggerations, you'll probably like this series. If you actually want a romance with a little comedy that has the right amount of drama and good story that would go with the stated premise, look elsewhere. From reading reviews of the manga, it seems the same problem exists there regarding the comedic element, so while it appears to have a more fleshed out story-line (and Sho actually remains a rival for Kyoko's affections), I think I'll be skipping it as well.

Rating: C-

La Corda d'Oro ~primo passo~ is one of several anime series I've watched recently via CrunchyRoll.com, who licensed Aniplex's English subtitled version. This twenty-six episode anime series is based on a romance simulation game for women, so as you might expect, it has a central female character surrounded by a plethora of gorgeous males. Fortunately, its way more than just the typical reverse harem situation. The main character, Kahoko Hino, goes to Seisou Academy, a school divided into a General Education segment, which Kahoko attends, and an elite music department that houses some of the creme de la creme of up coming musical talent. The school was founded hundreds of years ago by a music lover. This main once saved the life of a music fairy named Lili, who in turned blessed the school for music and has lived there ever since. For a long time, though, no one has had the ability to see him until Kahoko, a girl who has never played a musical instrument in her life. Thrilled to be seen again, Lili rings a set of magical bells that signal the start of a musical competition in the school and gives Kahoko a magical violin that can be played competently by anyone. Now stuck in the contest, Kahoko does her best to perform to the high standards set by the various gorgeous men around her, while struggling with her own conscience and to hold her own in the competition.

This series features absolutely gorgeous music and animation, making it well worth the watch to me. It also has some interesting story elements that work well. Usually in this kind of story, where some girl is given a magical ability, she's just happy to have it and uses it to the best her ability. However, Kahoko struggles with feelings of guilt that she is able to play beautifully with no real work or talent, and in doing so is besting those who have true talent and have played since childhood. As she grows to know her competitors, her feelings of guilt increase, yet she also cannot just walk away, give up her new found passion, nor let Lili down by dropping out of the contest. And though the violin will allow her to play, that doesn't mean Kahoko is instantly a perfect violinist. She has to struggle to learn to read music, lear more about musical styles and composers, and practices her violin for hours on in. I really like this element of the series, and the final results.

Against this backdrop, we learn more about the pasts of the various male competitors of the contest, each with their own hardships and pains from their love of their instruments. Of course, being a harem style series, some of them do fall in love with Kahoko, though not always in the ways one might expect. I do wish they had also covered Fuyuumi's past a bit, but for the genre its not surprising that the other female characters as basically background noise. The main characters however are generally well done and well-rounded. I love Kahoko's personality. Even at her low points, she is generous natured and an all around good person, despite her rather lack of ability to notice the obvious affection swirling around her.. Hihara's effusive personality is fun, especially as he grows fonder of Kahoko. Tsuchiura and Tsukimori's clashes were well-played, with just the right amount of balance between personal dislike and respect for each other's talents. Azuma is a downright hoot with his double-sided nature! Also interesting to me is that with the introduction of Lili in the first episode, I expected him to be the annoying "mascot" character, but he isn't. He usually appears most episodes, but only briefly and never in a really annoying fashion, which again is a nice touch.

The ending of this series managed to surprise me in multiple ways, some good, some okay. Generally in these series the girl ends up having to make a choice of who she loves the most, and Kahoko's choice was both unexpected and yet not a total surprise when one really rethinks the series as a whole. The events around the final leg of the contest are also different from what one might expect in this type of series, but also fit well with the story as a whole and actually made for more pleasant viewing. The story does have a two-part special, La Corda D'Oro ~secondo passo~, which quickly introduces a new musician who is hiding his abilities after suffering a set back and to fall in love with Kahoko. It isn't a bad add on, but it doesn't really add much to the series either except to repeat how the others felt about Kahoko's music and to show where she is with her "love". There is also a ten volume manga adaptation which has been published by Viz Media. I haven't had a chance to read it yet beyond a one chapter preview, but I plan to see if I can find it in stores locally to check it out.

As a whole, I do recommend the anime. Despite a few flaws, it held my attention enough that I stayed up till 4 in the morning watching most of the series straight through, and as soon as I woke up I watched the rest. I will caution that Aniplex's subtitles are not super top notch and almost every episode has one or two grammar issues, but it isn't so bad that it kills the enjoyment of the series. All 26 episodes, plus the two episode special are free for viewing without requiring membership, so in the end, it costs nothing but time. Of course, if you love it, you still won't be able to buy it on DVD, which is one drawback.

Rating: A-

Kimera is a 45 minute OVA released in 1996 by and licensed for English release by ADV Films. It is apparently based on a two volume manga series of the same name, also licensed by ADV. It basically features the story of the nerdy looking Omaru, a cereal salesman, who encounters Kimera, a vampire-like creature encased in an ice capsule. Unable to forget the beautiful feminine looking creature, he along with his friend Jay seek her out at an Air Force where Jay's father works, eventually finding and releasing her. Two vampire brothers, the beautiful Kianu and the deformed Ginzu, are also seeking her, with Kianu trying to kill her and Ginzu wanting to capture her. As the episode progresses, we learn about the past of these three vampires and their motivations for their actions.

On the whole, this wasn't a bad little OVA. In some ways, its a fairly stereotypical depiction of vampires, except they come out during the day and there appears to be some different "levels" though this is never really explained. The art in the series is fairly good, with nicely detailed backgrounds and great character designs. In particular, during the opening sequence a hunting dog is shown and I was happy to see that it was fairly realistic depiction of one rather than the usually cartoony style dogs seen in most anime series. That was a nice touch to me. As a note, it does have one partial rape scene, which is well drawn but borders on the hentai line.

If you aren't bothered by that one scene, it is certainly worth watching once, but I probably wouldn't bother buying it. There are too many plot points left unexplored because of its short length to have it really be a top notch story. I'd be curious to read the manga to see if it goes into some concepts more, particularly the past events.

Rating: B-

For my next excursion in anime rental, I rented the first volume of Full Metal Panic! which seems to always top a lot of "favorite" anime lists and it has high ratings amongst Netflix users. The summary is somewhat innocuous, hinting at a possible dramatic series with some comedic elements. The cover is certainly dark and foreboding looking, promising of mecha battles to come. The first episode certainly fits that image, with a gown-clad terrified girl fleeing for her life through a forest with someone trying to capture her then her being saved by a mecha pilot who injects her with something. She doesn't seem all that happy to be rescued either. We have some dramatic political intrigue between a terrorist organization and some freelance vigilante group called Mithril...then, it goes downhill.

We meet a girl named Kaname Chidori, who is some special kind of person called a "Whispered"-a concept left unexplained in this first disc though it seems obvious she is similar to the girl we saw at the beginning. Irregardless, the terrorist group wants her so Mithril sends three of its troops to protect her, with young Sousuke Sagara going undercover in her school. From there, the series goes from a seeming dramatic series to a complete and total comedy of errors. Kaname is a gorgeous girl, with a bad personality (all guys seem to agree, she's perfect till she opens her mouth). Sousuke is supposedly this elite soldier, but he's so hard wired with ridiculous hair-trigger reflexes and literal minded that he jumps at the least little thing, overreacting to basic everyday things, usually resulting in Kaname thinking he's a pervert or a creep and abusing him for it. Seriously, as quick as he reacts, its a shock he hasn't killed half of his own troops. Towards the end of the first disc, things get more dramatic with Kaname captured by the terrorists after they hijack an entire plane to get her (overkill). By this time, of course, Sousuke's gone from seeing her as a job to someone he likes and wants to protect, making him become emotional the one time he shouldn't.

For me, this series was falsely advertised with its original packaging (the later collection package is a bit more matching to the feel of the first episodes), and it just didn't really meet my expectations. It wasn't bad, per se, but the idea of going through 24 episodes of stereotypical comedy situations and the already overplayed "OMG, you pervert" and of watching Sousuke attempt to pretend to be a normal high school student instead of a soldier just didn't have much appeal. Still, I was vaguely curious about the whole Whispered thing and what happened to that first girl, so I rented the second volume. However, while waiting for it arrive, I discovered this series has two sequels of 13 episodes each, both with the same silly focus of Sousuke trying to hide his identity while romancing Kaname. At that point, I wrote the thing off as just not worth the effort.

If you like lots of comedy and don't mind an overplayed, never ending idea of hidden identities and overly stretched out obvious romances, it might be a series for you. For me, disc two was returned unwatched.