Hige vs. Otaku

The Anime Review #1

Ooh, can anyone smell a thinly valed attempt to catch up on all the shows I've neglected to blog? Me too, and it smells like SUCCESS.

Incidentally, NHK has been dropped. Not in the brutal, you-digust-me way -- rather, I fell behind after episode five and never caught up. In many ways the apathy I feel towards it speaks more than any embittered rant. Shame, really. Hopefully the manga will be more essential, whenever Tokyopop get around to releasing it.

Honey & Clover (episode 12)
Bless it, I should really give the final episode of one the most important anime for years its own entry, but no. Ultimately there's not much more to be said. This second series was something of a tour de force in terms of heart-breaking resolution and I'd happily rate it equally with the first, though both are quite different in intention and execution. Even the more bothersome aspects like Hagu's injury felt legitimised with this final episode (it serving to underpin the need security and stability in her winning suitor). I'm still slightly confused over the nature of Hagu and Shuuji's relationship. If it was nothing more than platonic, why can't Hagu have a boyfriend and Shuu as her guardian? It's a hard nut to crack, so to speak, because there hasn't been any sexual interest from Shuuji relating to Hagu, apart from that infamous blush I guess, but then when has there ever been anything overtly sexual in Honey & Clover (bar Miyama and Rika in II)? Tricky, and the creepy implications keep the resolution in murky, grey waters. Maybe it's for the best to avoid sullying an otherwise beautiful, affecting series. Also, I still think Shuuji was gay for Harada. Either way, a solid ending. My only regret is Takemoto's seeming unimportance towards the end. He and Yamada were my favourites.

Gunbuster 2 (episode 6)
Another finale to a series I've thoroughly enjoyed. I want to rewatch all six episodes in relative succession to get a more complete opinion, but generally Gunbuster 2 has had the air of an enjoyable, if flawed, epic. This, its conclusion, felt surprisingly focused and informative considering it's been quite confusing for most of its run. It kept up the ridiculous flamboyancy that made it so charming and had enough excitement to honour the whole ethos of a finale. I'm not going to pretend it was the perfect OAV, not even the all-hallowed FLCL can claim that, but the Tsurumaki-Sadamoto effect is in full-force enough for me to yield like a loyal fanboy. Fun!

Kemonozume (eps 3 & 4)
The visual style of Kemonozume has gone beyond the initial novelty now and turned into something more fundamental. It may seem superficial to suggest (and obvious), but Kemonozume wouldn't be as distinctive without it's unique visual style. Not just aesthetically, but the direction and atmosphere it banks on for most of its impact. It's hard for the discerning viewer to decide what makes it such an enjoyable show to watch: the pretty pictures, or the more respectable aspects like writing and direction. I'm inclined to think something successful would need both to be of a decent standard and the more I watch the more secure I feel in calling Kemonozume a Good Show. This was only strengthened by episode four's flashback history lesson, which was fantastic and immensely entertaining. I think having that as a foundation to build on will only benefit future episodes. Plus, it adds a bit of intrigue and mystery to proceeding, which I heartily support.   

Right, that's enough for now. Lots of things left unsaid, but such is life. Hopefully more protracted blogging coming soon when university stops bludgeoning me violently with, like, schoolwork. It's just a bit rude, really.

Welcome to NHK Ep. 5 Review

Thank the myriad of kami-sama for that. NHK pulled itself back from the brink and we get a solidly entertaining episode. I even watched it all in one sitting.

Welcome to NHK Ep. 4 Flash Review

If it weren't for Senpai's appearance at the end of this episode I would have dropped the crap out of NHK after this disaster.

Satou and Yamazaki's pilgrimage into Japanese otaku culture had little to no merit. It wasn't particularly funny (satire or otherwise); it gave no insight beyond the obvious depravity and it did nothing to increase the pathos for these two characters. And most importantly, it was boring. As with episode three, I watched this in two parts after realising I could be wasting my time more productively. I genuinely hope this whole ero-game plot thread concludes very soon and NHK delivers on its potential as something beyond cultural self-analysis. It's the characters that carry the show for me, not the bland explanations of otaku culture. The Internet is more than capable of doing that.

Visually, the animation was peculiar. Not terrible, just inconsistent and gauche. The background work still had a lot of the vibrancy and detail I've enjoyed; just the character design was lazy and had an unnatural fluency to it. It reminded me of some scenes in FLCL, in fact. Maybe it was the same animation director? It certainly felt more like an artistic decision than budget issues. Still, the preview of next week's episode suggests things will be back to normal, so detractors won't have to suffer it again.

Conclusion
Much of what I enjoyed about NHK didn't exist in this episode, except for one or two moments. The quality of the animation was bizarre and awkward (although not as horrendous as some people think). Music was its usual standard - good to decent. Otherwise, dull as fuck. The prospect of Hitomi next episode really felt like its saving grace. She's always been a mysterious factor of Satou's past and one of the few things about NHK that genuinely intrigues me. The show is on probation from this point onwards, however. GONZO needs to try harder.

Welcome to NHK Ep. 2 Review

Okay, so this is a strange occurrence. I actually quite like NHK's OP music. I actually quite like all the music in NHK (bar the awful anime parody which we're meant to hate). It's odd because I find most anime music inherently horrendous. My indie inclinations usually act as a direct antithesis to anime OST, with the squeaky j-pop ballads driving me insane, but the use of guitar music here strikes the right balance between respectability and emotional impact.

In a lot of ways my opinions of NHK are changing for the better. The uninformed expectations from the first episode have disappeared and I'm starting to appreciate the understated melancholy that runs throughout the show. It's not constantly hilarious (although there are a lot of nice subtle touches), but it reflects the human condition fantastically. I think to appreciate NHK properly it'll take a change in perception. This is obviously going to be a lot harder for people who've read/loved the manga than for those who haven't (like me), but I can see myself liking it as a 'serious' show.

Still, it seems the coming episodes will have more opportunity for comedy now Satou and Yamazaki have started their crusade to make the ultimate h-game. At least then it won't reach Evangelion levels of self-pity (as much as I condone such activity *misanthropic high five*).

It was interesting to get a few flashbacks to Satou's time in high school, although there's still no definitive explanation to why he became a hihikomori. The introduction of Hitomi Kashiwa and Kaoru Yamazaki brought some welcome variety to the fairly limited cast of Satou and Misaki. Hitomi seems especially enigmatic and I'm curious to know how her constant conspiracy theorising may have affected Satou's young, impressible mind. Yamazaki's role as hardcore otaku and fledgling misogynist is both amusing and disturbing. He underlines a lot of the astuteness I like about NHK, and how the show couples the tragic realities with subtle, mocking humour. He acted as a nice comparison to Satou, too; demonstrating Satou is actually quite cool when you remove him from the destructive hermit lifestyle he's imposed on himself.

Conclusion
It's still hard to predict where NHK is heading, but the mystery is a good incentive to keep watching. The show is starting to really grow on me and the introduction of more cast members has removed the claustrophobia that bothered me about episode one. Production values are being maintained, with this episode's visuals seeming more attractive to me for reasons I can't quite explain. The music is great and the ED still scares the shit out of me. Overall I'm developing a more positive outlook for the series and a growing curiosity where it's heading. Roll on episode three.

Welcome to NHK Ep. 1 Review

Expectations are strange. Fundamentally, I had no idea what NHK was about before viewing. I read a lot about it on other blogs and liked the vague impression I was developing, but it never amounted to more than 'obsessive otaku and random weird shit'. Funny how nothing's changed 25 minutes on, ain't it. After a particularly bizarre first ten minutes and a pretty awkward second half, I still have no concrete opinion on what the fuck I just watched.