Top 3 Anime of 2015

While I did manage to start quite a few anime in 2015, I was not able to finish half of them. Part of this was a result of my attempting to juggle too many at a time, part of it was due to personal events outside of the blog that demanded my attention late this year. Despite this setback, I did manage to complete three series that stood as a cut above the rest. I’ve nearly finished two anime properties that I hope will kick my 2016 anime reviews off with a bang. Until then, here are me picks for the three best anime that I viewed in 2015.

#3) Mobile Suit Victory Gundam: Considered by many to be the height of series creator Yoshiyuki Tomino’s ‘kill-‘em-all’ presentations, Victory Gundam carries a melancholy tone - more so that most other Gundam anime projects - which provides a curious but surprisingly effective contrast to the positivity exhibited by young protagonist Uso Evin. The hand-drawn animation still holds up quite well today, and avoids reuse of stock footage whenever possible, only increasing the perceived production quality for its day. The efforts of the League Militaire against the Zanscare Empire mirror the fight that the A.E.U.G. took to the Titans in Zeta Gundam, while also harkening back to the severity of losses during original Mobile Suit Gundam’s One Year War. The mobile suit designs are at their most bizarre for a Universal Century setting in Victory Gundam, with many of the Zanscare Empire’s bearing insect qualities. There are a couple laughable moments of gaps in logic, but on the hole, Victory Gundam still holds up well more than twenty years after its original release.

#2) Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine: A return to the flashy and upbeat action the series is known for, The Woman Called Fujiko Mine also displays a sultry, mysterious side befitting of the titular character. Effectively one of the earliest tales in the Lupin III chronology, The Woman Called Fujiko Mine focuses in part on how the classic cast first crossed paths with one another, but also explores Fujiko as a complex individual – the motivations behind her life of thievery, her sexuality, ghosts of her past, and the image others have of her versus how she perceives herself. While it certainly does not skimp on exciting chase sequences and zany humor that the franchise has become known for, The Woman Called Fujiko Mine treads into darker, more serious territory than most of its predecessors, to a mostly-successful payoff.

#1) Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders – Battle in Egypt: Building upon the already-stellar previous half of Stardust Crusaders, Jotaro, Joseph, Avdol, Kakyoin, Polnareff and newcomer Iggy face their toughest challenges yet from Dio’s Nine Egyptian Gods on their journey to defeat the time-stopping vampire. With each new installment in the Jojo’s anime series, the animation improves upon greatness, with wild color palette swaps, intense Stand battle sequences, and tactfully drawn-out scenes of drama and grief. This second half of the Stardust Crusaders anime adaptation wonderfully brings to life some of the most memorable encounters from the grander Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure storyline, balancing its action, humor, and mild horror elements with absolute perfection. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders is the best anime adaptation of the classic manga storyline fans could have hoped for. The absurd attention to detail and labor-of-love conveyed through this series make it easily one of the best anime of the past year, as well as among the most masterfully-executed anime of a generation.

2015 Year in Review: Anime

Resident Evil: Damnation

My rating: 7.75

Persona 3: The Movie – #1: Spring of Birth


My rating: 7

Lupin the Third: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine

My rating: 8.25

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders – Battle in Egypt

My rating: 9.75

Mobile Suit Victory Gundam

My rating: 8.5

Anime review: Lupin the Third: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine

A recent entry in the long-running Lupin the Third franchise, The Woman Called Fujiko Mine turns back the clock to a time when the now-iconic cast were - at best - mere acquaintances. As the title implies, the story gives Fujiko Mine center stage, but the ins and outs of how Lupin, Jigen, Goemon, and Inspector Zenigata came to cross paths and establish a history with one another does factor quite heavily into the progression of this series. In this regard, the story feels appropriate as an early chapter in the adventures of Lupin and friends, though the fact that Zenigata has already been on Lupin and Fujiko’s cases at the start of the series means that this is not the very beginning of the crew’s wacky misadventures.

This position in the Lupin the Third timeline works largely to its advantage, as it does not feel the need to spend an excessive amount of time explaining who these characters are. Instead, The Woman Called Fujiko Mine prefers to show just how extravagant Lupin’s heists can be as he busts out of an ocean-front temple on a giant rocket-propelled statue, and displays Fujiko using her feminine wiles and bombshell looks to pry information and riches alike from her latest victims. While early episodes may lead viewers to believe that each heist exists as a separate event with the only common factors being involvement from Fujiko, Lupin, Zenigata, and so forth, the truth is that there is an underlying plot that weaves each of the episodes together, though it is not revealed until past the series' halfway point.

It is appropriate, then, that this entry in the Lupin saga is considerably more serious in tone, and darker in atmosphere throughout than most of its predecessors. While Lupin and Jigen often find themselves up against improbable odds, and improvise crazy solutions time and time again, The Woman Called Fujiko Mine sets aside plenty of time to explore just what makes each of these characters tick and why. Most compelling, of course, is the story of Fujiko herself, which is given considerably more screen time than her companions/rivals, but even Zenigata’s obsessions with tracking down these thieves makes for exciting introspection.

The 1960s and 70s atmosphere still thrives in this 2012 release, with funky and jazzy tunes accompanying brightly clashing colors. Thick outlines and the impossible lanky proportions of the characters look great with updated digital animation technology, while still echoing back to their classic hand-drawn origins. The characters, meanwhile, remain largely true to their 1960s debut, with slight updates to make them more appropriate for the setting of the story as well as modern audiences. While Lupin still has his eye on Fujiko throughout this latest anime series, he views her more as the end-all prize, one that he is seemingly aware that he will likely never obtain but still attempts to impress/outdo her for the thrill of the challenge. Lupin does not, however, constantly ogle bikini-clad girls, and his heists – utterly bonkers and visually spectacular as they may be – appear to have a decent degree of planning and thought put into them, even when he is forced to improvise or revert to backups. It becomes especially obvious in later episodes that Lupin's constant crossing of paths with Fujiko is for a purpose that is both higher and more selfless than monetary pay - he is perhaps the individual most intrigued with her past, and the series makes it quite clear that he genuinely wants to help her uncover the mysteries that are tied to this, even if it means butting heads with her and engaging in firefights along the way.

In accordance with its 60s/70s sense of style, The Woman Called Fujiko Mine aligns some of its episodes close to real-world events from that era. One episode in particular sees Fujiko travel in the company of a man who serves as a fictional counterpart to Fidel Castro, and her involvement in a subplot to transport him safely to a United Nations hearing while fighter jets tail their plane and the threat of a war breaking out hangs in the balance. It’s a bit more on-the-nose with regards to how it handles the Cold War setting than most other episodes, one of which sees the characters winding down into the dark depths of an Egyptian tomb, while another explores one of Fujiko’s many aliases in the form of a schoolteacher at an all-girl’s academy.

New to this Lupin tale is Oscar, a young police lieutenant who serves as Zenigata’s second-in-command. He bears a short and rather feminine frame, which leads to him adopting a few disguises over the course of the series. While his inclusion does add a greater sense of danger for Lupin, Fujiko and company as they now have two major pursuers instead of one, his dynamic with the rest of the cast only goes so far. Oscar has some obsessive tendencies, to the point where he has to be reminded where the line of duty is and if crossing it is worth jeopardizing his career or the safety of his fellow officers. He also displays a great deal of spite toward Fujiko, as he is jealous of her taking up so much of Zenigata’s attention, a man who he not only looks up to in a professional sense, but is seemingly romantically attracted to as well.

For a modern Lupin the Third anime, The Woman Called Fujiko Mine has plenty of familiar faces and antics to offer, while also presenting characters in new lights. It is a series that builds off what has previously been established as well-received trademarks of the Lupin saga, and adds some darker story elements into the mix. The late episodes in particular delve into strange territory that one would typically not associate with Lupin the Third, yet it pays off in spades. Other experimental content in The Woman Called Fujiko Mine may prove more hit-or-miss, but the core of this series is a strong showing, and plenty of fun to boot.

My rating: 8.25 (out of 10)

Anime update: Stand up to the Victory!

I mentioned in my last update that I had some interest in checking out Space Runaway Ideon, as I understood it was something of a spiritual predecessor to both Zeta Gundam and Neon Genesis Evangelion. However, a brief look into some short snippets of the series has led me to reconsider. I don’t mind my anime being dark from time to time – after all, Evangelion is my all-time favorite – but Ideon looks downright morbid. Young children being brought along onto the battlefield only to have their heads blown off? No thank you.

So with that said, I think I’m going to go full steam ahead with completing Victory Gundam – I have approximately twenty episodes left, and though I do make a habit of taking breaks about halfway through these longer anime, I am quite hooked on it. I’m also all caught up with Unicorn Gundam, and I am happy to say that it got back on track after that brief stint of preachiness in episode four. I can’t say for certain yet, because Unicorn still has one more episode before it is completed, but if the last episode stays on the same track the rest of the series has, it could end up as one of my favorites from the Gundam franchise. Assuming I complete Victory Gundam before the end of the summer, I plan to pick up either ZZ or the original Mobile Suit Gundam thereafter as I move into the final phases of completing my viewing of every Gundam series to date.

Also, I recently powered through roughly two-thirds of the episodes that make up Shin Sekai Yori (aka From the New World), and that series has me very interested as to where the remainder of the story will go. Expect that to be reviewed in the near future, likely around the same time as Victory Gundam. I also took a crack at the first handful of episodes of Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine, and while I have to say it’s even more explicitly sexually charged than older Lupin works, it’s just as humorous and entertaining as the classic series. It’s a series that I don’t plan to work through as quickly as either Victory Gundam or Shin Sekai Yori, but I will certainly get to reviewing it as well once I’ve completed it.

While I’m still a bit frustrated with Toonami’s shift in the programming earlier this year to accommodate One Piece, Bleach, and Naruto, I can say that Sword Art Online has me intrigued. The first two episodes were quite solid, and it seems like an easy enough watch. I think it helps that I didn’t experience the series back when everyone else was on the hype bandwagon for it, because, while I do have decent expectations for it, I don’t expect it to be the most mind-blowing anime of its kind. I expect it to be fun and adventurous, but beyond that I’m simply hoping it’s a solid blend of science fiction and fantasy.

On the note of the ‘bandwagon effect’, I will go out of my way right now to state that I have absolutely zero intention of viewing either Attack on Titan or Free!, the two most recent flavor-of-the-season anime that everyone and their grandma seems to be gushing over. I did try a few episodes of Attack on Titan and thought the writing was subpar at best, while the characters didn’t interest me much and the art style was grotesque and unappealing. As for Free!, the whole sports anime genre doesn’t do anything for me to begin with, and the pretty boys in speedos approach seems very much like a one-trick pony. You’re welcome to indulge in those series all you want if that’s your scene, but I’m firm on my decision not to.