Anime review: Space Dandy

In the vein of Cowboy Bebop and Outlaw Star, Space Dandy is the most recent anime to see a small crew scour the stars for the purposes of both work and adventure, though this series places emphasis on wacky comedic scenarios more so than its predecessors. Within the first episode, viewers are familiarized with Dandy’s line of work (an alien hunter seeking out new and rare species to cash in at registration), his crew mates (the cat-like alien Meow and vacuum cleaner/multipurpose robot QT), and the general nature of the show. As Dandy and Meow head planetside to search for unusual creatures, they find themselves swept up in the chaotic food chain of the world, and ultimately are pronounced dead by the time the credits roll. But when episode two begins, Dandy and Meow are back at it, as if nothing had gone awry in the first episode.

Such is the nature of Space Dandy – characters turn into zombies, spend weeks chasing down sentient life forms that have the ability to alter a person’s memories, and even find themselves transported to an alternate dimension via a wormhole within one ramen noodle restaurant. In between their misadventures, Dandy, Meow, and QT frequently pay visits to Honey and the other servers at the Boobies restaurant chain, an interstellar parody of Hooters. Space Dandy plays out more like a western animated work than a typical anime, due to the fact that viewers could theoretically jump into the series with any given episode and still be able to grasp the story just as well as if they had started with the premiere.

While Dandy and crew are scouring the stars, the mad scientist gorilla Dr. Gel is ever-vigilant in his pursuit of the titular hero, albeit for unknown reasons. Gel oversees the completion of one invention or superweapon after another, and – as it is revealed during the second half of this first season – does so for the sake of military purposes, as two factions have been at odds with each other for an unspecified amount of time. Much to the disappointment of Gel’s superior, a flaming skeleton with the most underwhelming name of Admiral Perry, Dandy, Meow, QT, and the aliens they cross paths with often inadvertently cause the destruction of these inventions.

Space Dandy’s comedic stylings provide a well-balanced blend of zany scenarios, pop culture references, dimwitted plans, a bit of crude, and a few instances of characters breaking the fourth wall. Yes, there are exciting action segments, an intense race across the galaxy, and even a few philosophical questions presented (most of which fly right over Dandy’s head), but the series never strays too far from its comedic core. That said, there are a few episodes that opt for slower pacing in order to better flesh out an alien culture, and these episodes typically prove a bit less fun to watch than the rest.

The animation styles vary slightly from one episode to another, namely when Dandy and gang are traveling to stranger locations in space and time, though the majority of the series is handled with animation that is pretty typical of contemporary anime. Dandy’s hairdo may be a bit exaggerated, but aside from that, the most standout elements of this anime’s presentation factor come from its bright and psychedelic color palettes, as well as its upbeat and jazzy soundtrack. Space Dandy proves a quick and easy watch, though it does well to craft an identity of its own while still paying small tributes to its sources of inspiration.

My rating: 8 (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.

Anime review: IGPX (season one)

One of the most fresh and interesting spins on the mecha anime genre from the 2000s is IGPX, a series that pits teams of three racers in giant bots travelling at mach speeds down a twisting, careening course. The mechs travel with graceful motions, alternating between a flat vehicular mode and an upright stance where their metal bodies seemingly skate down the track. While the primary focus of the race is to see one team cross the finish line before their competition, there are also fight segments that add an extra level of entertainment and danger to the competition, thus requiring teams be as fast as they are furious. Most important, though, is that teams be organized and strategic – an element that proves the largest focal points for this first season, as Team Satomi’s young up-and-comers are as ambitious as they can be reckless.

The three lead characters are Takeshi, Liz, and Amy, and they could not have more different personalities – a factor that often leads to them beating heads and occasional falters in their strategies on the raceway. Takeshi is the team’s lead who is in it to win it and wants nothing more than to prove himself against the likes of longtime hotshots such as rival Team Velshtein’s poster boy pilot Cunningham. While he generally carries a positive attitude, Takeshi can be blissfully unaware of the greater challenges he and his teammates need to overcome at times, which – coupled with Liz’s brash demeanor and short temper and Amy’s soft-spoken personality – leads to their first season being filled with many important learning experiences.

IGPX is a rare breed for its genre, as there is as much (if not more) time spent exploring the characters, the tech, and the culture of the series off the track as there is in the midst of the pulse-pounding raceway action. Each character gets ample time to develop, and the tendency the genre has to pull as ‘character of the week’ routine by featuring one character prominently for an episode and then sweeping them off to the side for the better part of the remainder of the season is avoided. Team Satomi’s crew proves as prominent as the racers, receiving nearly as much screen time. Even the rival team members are explored to a decent extent, offering viewers with case studies on what makes them tick to better set the stage and amp up the tense atmosphere of the races. Team Velshtein is well-known as the favored veterans, Team Skylark consists of three lethal beauties, and Team Sledge Mamma is notorious for their rough and tough tactics.

The artistic direction in IGPX is akin to that of Blue Submarine No. 6, albeit much more colorful. While everything is digitally animated, the character models are drawn in 2D while the mechs and the raceway and rendered in 3D models. However, due to a higher level of detail in the character designs and environments, better lighting/shading effects, and a light layer of cel-shaping over all the 3D assets, IGPX manages to pull off this look significantly better than Blue Submarine No. 6 – as it should, considering the two shows aired more than half a decade apart. Interesting camera angles increase the fun factor for this ‘F-Zero with robots’ creation, further aiding in the show’s noteworthy degree of visual immersion. The soundtrack is comprised of a surprising variety of tunes, many of which are in keeping with the unique brand of techno that has long graced the promo segments and returns from commercial breaks on Cartoon Network’s Toonami block. Some songs are funky in a Jet Set Radio fashion, others mellow with emphasis on piano to help cultivate a scene focused on Takeshi’s personal struggles outside of the cockpit. Of course, the most interesting listens are the fast-paced, mildly repetitive tunes that accompany the action on the track, be it Liz’s mech bashing into a rival racer’s, or Takeshi’s mech experiencing technical troubles due to suspected sabotage.

As mentioned above, IGPX’s first season is largely focused on Team Satomi learning to work together and overcome their individual weaknesses to better their strategies and relationships. This leads to a methodical somewhat predictable formula, as every time Takeshi gets himself into a pickle, it will take another episode for someone to talk some sense into him and for Takeshi to subsequently draw whatever lesson he needs to from that exchange. Nonetheless, the races are a blast to watch, and the series is a bold and successful journey into territory outside of the traditional (and stale) super-powered combat mecha formula.

My rating: 8.25 (out of 10)

Anime update: Row, row, fight the power!

This year, I have been focused primarily on video game reviews and haven’t posted much that relates to anime… yet. Whereas last year I tried to keep a more consistent schedule by posting at least one video game review and one anime review each month, I’ve opted for a more free-form schedule in 2013. That said, there are a few anime films I viewed last month and the month before and simply have not yet written up a review for due to my busy schedule as of late. But I hope to write up the majority (if not all of these) reviews in the next few weeks, making June a month more for anime reviews than video game-related posts. The list of anime I’ve already finished is as follows:

- Cowboy Bebop: The Movie
- 5 Centimeters Per Second
- The Wolf Children Ame and Yuki

In addition, I’ve nearly finished viewing Steins;Gate, and am a little less than halfway through my viewing of Gurren Lagann. I also have Tekkon Kinkreet in my collection, and have simply neglected to pop it into my DVD player as of yet, so there is a chance that film may be reviewed early this summer as well.

As for the Toonami block, I’ve grown a little frustrated with their insistence on altering the schedule to accommodate earlier time slots for Bleach, Naruto, and One Piece, three anime which I have neither patience for nor any interest in. However, I have found Soul Eater quite entertaining, and I plan to follow it through to its finale. I’m really hoping that Toonami picks up some new shows this summer to present greater variety – at the moment, I’m really only tuning in for Soul Eater and IGPX, as I’ve already seen Thundercats, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, and Cowboy Bebop through to completion. Inuyasha (while enjoyable enough) is on far too late for me to stay up and watch, and Eureka Seven really isn't my cup of tea.

Admittedly, I am a bit behind with Unicorn Gundam and have been meaning to catch up on everything that has been released since episode four (where I last left off). I plan to return to watching Victory Gundam before the end of the year, and I’d like to give another old anime, Space Runaway Ideon, a shot, as it is another of Tomino’s works and is apparently something of a spiritual predecessor to both Zeta Gundam and Neon Genesis Evangelion (two of my personal all-time favorite anime).

Toonami - week two impressions

As most of Toonami's shows were carried over from the Adult Swim anime lineup, I'm going to be focusing primarily on the two new ones with each of these Toonami-related posts. Those shows are, of course, Deadman Wonderland and Casshern Sins. Both have a notably darker tone than any anime previously run on Toonami, as well as a generally darker tone than the other shows currently in the lineup. With Deadman Wonderland, this is due to the fact that the show takes place in a creepy and rather messed up prison facility where the prisoners can earn money for food by participating in events viewed by the public. Deadman Wonderland also happens to be rated TV-MA. Casshern Sins, on the other hand, has a dark atmosphere because the story is set in a world where the humans have long been dead, and the robots that remain face an inevitable doom. Apparently this is all due to something Casshern did, though he does not seem to recall what exactly transpired.

Although only two episodes of either show have aired, I'm already partial to Casshern Sins over Deadman Wonderland. Casshern Sins has done a great job thus far of creating this post-apocalyptic world (which looks hauntingly gorgeous), as well as giving us an idea of how life operates with all the robots knowing they face extinction. Many of the robots have adopted human emotions, though they themselves are not entirely certain how or why. Viewing this second episode, I got a clear sense of how fragile these robots can be, both physically and emotionally, as many of them became violent during their final moments. Now that Casshern has seen the decay and destruction that has come as a result of whatever it is he did, I will be very curious to see what he does with his own remaining time (assuming he faces the same countdown as all of the other robots).

I generally avoid shows like Deadman Wonderland - shows that are violent, bloody, and vulgar just for the sake of being violent, bloody, and vulgar. It's not the worst anime I've ever seen; in fact, there are some elements that I like, most notably the characterization of Shiro. The whole premise of the series gets some points for originality as well. Frankly, this week's episode had more coherence than the premiere (wherein the explanation of what sort of falsified proof that Ganta was capable of murdering an entire classroom of kids was completely ignored). And it does feel like the series is moving forward. But I don't think the story is headed in any direction I'm interested in following. That said, there were plenty of shows aired on the original Toonami that I never cared for - Big O, Blue Sub No. 6, and Gundam Wing to name a few. And I always felt that was one of the things that made Toonami great during its heyday; even though I might not have enjoyed all of the anime that was aired, there was plenty of variety for everyone.

As for the other four shows, I do feel that Cartoon Network is using them as placeholders for the time being. I can't see them ever getting rid of Bleach, since it is still a very popular series. I would guess that they would allow Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood to complete its run from here to the end of the series before they considered getting rid of it. Ghost in the Shell and Cowboy Bebop, however, might be different cases. As it runs later at night and doesn't have quite the large fan following of either Bleach or FMA: Brotherhood, Ghost in the Shell probably has a good chance of being replaced with something new. And Adult Swim has run through the entire Cowboy Bebop series so many times over since the programming block started that I think it's safe to say that will be the first show to be swapped out of the lineup.

I don't have many suggestions for shows that Toonami could pick up - frankly, I'd rather they surprise me. But if I had to pick a couple, I would first and foremost recommend Darker Than Black. It would certainly fit with the more mature audience Toonami is being aimed at. The other would be Gundam 00. Since Gundam Unicorn is not yet finished, and as each episode of that series is an hour long, it wouldn't really make sense for Toonami to pick it up. Gundam 00, however, is aimed at the mid-teen audience and is easily one of the best alternate universe Gundam series around. I know Syfy ran Gundam 00 a couple of years ago, but the series is still relatively fresh and would be a good way for Toonami to carry on the Gundam legacy from days gone by. With all that in mind, I'm sure there more than a few of the Toonami faithful who have already seen Gundam 00, and if Toonami would rather go about airing a different mecha anime, I will certainly give it a chance.

Toonami returns - first impressions

Last night marked the beginning of Toonami's new Saturday night schedule as part of Cartoon Network's Adult Swim lineup. The shows were all new to Toonami - no Gundam Wing or Dragon Ball Z this time around. And while some viewers were upset by the omission of these classics, I was among those who embraced this new direction that Toonami is taking. It's a new Toonami aimed at the Adult Swim audience, and I think the new shows are fitting to that end.

The new lineup consists of Bleach, Deadman Wonderland, Casshern Sins, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Ghost in the Shell, and Cowboy Bebop. Bleach, FMA: Brotherhood, Ghost in the Shell, and Cowboy Bebop are classics, and I'm not at all surprised that Cartoon Network chose to carry them over to the new Toonami block. The other two, however, are brand new to both Toonami and Cartoon Network. Based on the first episode, I was not particularly impressed with Deadman Wonderland. The premise was interesting enough, and the first five minutes or so kept me entertained, but from then on it seemed like the show followed a very cliché path. I'll probably give another episode or two, but the first episode did little to impress me. Casshern Sins, on the other hand, was rather enjoyable for a very dark and melancholy robot action anime. I love the character and environment designs, and I feel like the first episode gave a decent sense about who Casshern is through his actions. There seems to be an air of mystery with both Deadman Wonderland and Casshern Sins, and I expect each one to peel through layers in the coming weeks.

As I have mentioned before, Toonami was a huge part of my childhood and the gateway that led me to discover anime in the first place. After the April Fools airing, I honestly did not expect them to resurrect Toonami, but I could not be more pleased that they did. I would like to see some other shows added to the lineup in the future. I think the fact that they managed to put together a solid programming block this quickly following the April Fools airing is great, but four out of the six shows currently airing were already part of the Adult Swim lineup. I think Cartoon Network would be wise to keep those shows - Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and Bleach are still incredibly popular, and there is no sense in taking them off the air. But perhaps Toonami could throw some other relatively recent action anime like Darker Than Black or Gundam 00 into the mix as the process of rebuilding Toonami continues.

Toonami returns on May 26

In case you have not yet seen this image, it is official - Toonami is back, starting May 26th. It seems the messages many sent along to Cartoon Network (myself included) paid off. Honestly, I was excited enough at the April Fool's programming, and I really did not expect them to bring it back as a full block. As happy as I am that a whole generation gets to relive their childhood before the end of the month, I'm even more hopeful for an entirely new generation who will now have easier access to anime.

When Toonami originally aired, anime DVDs were difficult to come by, and those that were in stores were generally rather expensive. While it is true that many anime distributors host episodes of some of their shows online, there's something great about sitting down and watching the latest episode your favorite show or checking out some entirely new anime you might not have otherwise watched. Toonami is what introduced me to my first anime, Ronin Warriors, as well as some of my favorites like Outlaw Star and Mobile Suit Gundam: 08th Ms Team. The atmosphere of the programming block combined with the variety of shows aired were the major factors that kept me so entertained. I hope that kids young and old find the same holds true for them following Toonami's long-overdue return.