Back at it again with anime, this time with Summer 2019. As it turns out with Spring 2019, I ended up dropping Fair Gone because it was getting too boring. I am genuinely surprised that it received a second season for Fall 2019. Unless there are some rave reviews for season 2, I may consider picking it up. Dororo was really good and Kimetsu no Yaiba remains my favorite series thus far. Kimetsu no Yaiba does have its odd moments of humor, but it's still put together well.
1. Enen no Shouboutai
Episodes watched: 7/?
Alternatively known as Fire Force, the story follows Shinra, a third generation pyrokinetic with the ability to emit flames from his feet, who joins the 8th Company of the Special Fire Force. They specialize in defeating inflamed beings called Infernals that result from human combustion. All if this is set in a future where Japan is now known as the Tokyo Empire and the Fire Force is a combination of the Holy Sol Temple, the Tokyo Armed Forces, and the Fire Defense Agency while powered from technology built by Haijima Industries.
I don't know if it's the way they portrayed the adaptation, but the series became lack-luster over time. Most of it is because you can very easily point out cliches and over used tropes. Cliches are not all bad, but this series has some very blatant examples. Each character fits into familiar stereotypes we see in shounen manga a little bit too easily. Cliches went used properly can effectively tell a story, but in the Enen no Shouboutai adaptation, I think it falls short. There's a tendency to run long speeches and drag the story out when it could have been completed within one episode.
The series gives off some Ao no Exorcist vibes. Both protagonists from both Ao no Exorcist and Enen no Shouboutai are quite similar in design and personality. The have black hair done in a short spiky cut and have sharp teeth as part of the devil-like characteristics. Rin is the literal son of Satan and Shinra possesses the Devil's Footprints. Both aim to play hero to prove that they are not in fact dangerous or evil while being socially isolated by their peers and general crowd. Both love interests' are short, blonde hair girls with gentle and healing personalities and both have flame-like abilities.
The good things about the adaptation however is character design and animation. I do like the drawing styles and the voice acting is really good. While some of the pacing can be adjusted, I wouldn't say this is a terrible series. I do think there is still some intrigue into the human combustion phenomenon that the 8th Company is investigating.
2. Dr Stone
Episodes watched: 3/?
The world was engulfed in a green light one day and everyone turned into stone as a result. 3700 years later, Taiju wakes up from his petrified state and sees that his best friend, Senku, has also awakened. Senku and Taiju are now on a mission to revitalize civilization from the very bottom.
The synopsis alone was enough to lead me to try the series, but the first episode really put me off. Was it all the science I was being bombarded with? Not really. If anything Senku's extensive knowledge on science is the crux of this whole series. I think for me, it was the dialogue. Senku's way of speaking follows the archaic formula of using a particular phrase in nearly any situation kind of similiar to Jotaro's "yare yare daze" or Kenshiro's "Omae was mou shindeiru." For Jotaro and Kenshiro, it's already been accepted as part of their character, but for Senku it sticks out as more annoying. Though it can be argued that it is part of his confidence. Characterization is somewhat problematic because we have two characters acting as foils, Taiju the knucklehead and Senku the genius. Taiju gets on my nerves for playing the dunce, though I suspect he may or may not be aware of certain details like Senku's view of Tsukasa.
It took me a long time to move from episode 1 to episode 2. I had debated whether I wanted to continue or not. For now, I think I'll give it a try to see what other new characters have to offer.
3. Nakanohito Genome
Episodes watched: 1/?
There are many isekai animes produced in the recent years and after the production of Sword Art Online, there was a surge of isekai with game and MMPORG based storylines. I gave the series a try simply based on a screenshot that was uploaded as an anime recommendation. It reminded me of Assassination Classroom and I was hoping for something similar as I had enjoyed the latter very much. Based on the first episode, it does have a few similarities though I wouldn't say it's isolated to only Assassination Classroom. Characters are very young like the cast of students in Assassination Classroom and they're given tasks by a strange moderator like Koro-sensei. In Assassination Classroom, the world faces annihilation if Koro-sensei is not killed while in Nakanohito Genome, characters face an uncertain death if they don't hit a certain amount of views.
While some animes like to use the first episode to serve as exposition, this one forces the viewer into the world immediately. It is a good method to propel the story, but it's too abrupt in Nakanohito. They could have inserted a few more lines of dialogue or animated a few more frames to make the transition a bit smoother. I could be nitpicking at it too much, but with so many isekai stories out there, the creators are up against a lot of competitors.
4. Vinland Saga
Episodes watched: 7/?
Thorfinn at age 6 sees his father, Thors, killed in front of him and his on a revenge fueled journey to duel Askellad. Traveling alongside his father's murderer, Thorfinn grows up to be one of the mercenaries in the pirate horde.
By far my favorite for the Summer 2019 animes. There's not a lot of stories out there specifically on Viking culture and history and Vinland Saga does the job of offering a glimpse into the Viking world. While all of it is a loose adaptation of a history, you get a good idea of the pillaging of villages and the rivalry between the English and the Danes. The story is captivating in a sense that you have a young angry boy traveling with his father's murderer and essentially growing up with him. It's a commonly used trope, but Vinland Saga uses it to its advantage. Thorfinn holds his father's values to heart and it comes to bite him when he has to put survival first before revenge. This was all animated and presented well. I just wish Berserk had gotten the same quality of animation for their series.
There were two series that I didn't put onto this list for reasons. They are Bem and Lord El-Melloi II Case Files. I consider them officially dropped. Bem just didn't interest me at all from episode one. The dialogue was too cliche and it's very easy to see where this series would go. On the other hand, Lord El-Melloi II is part of the Fate/Stay Night series and I jumped into it without knowing anything about it. It's a bit hard to understand since I never followed the universe from before and I don't think I can really appreciate it as a stand alone piece without reading/watching the original Fate series. When I tried watching it, it didn't strike me as particularly interesting.
No comments:
Post a Comment