Year in Review: Sunshine & Kisses Drive to Origination, Shrine Maidens Lost Memories in Coded Euphoric Frontier
Running for your lives.
With style.
Code Geass Stops, Excited and Satisfied Kids Get Off the Rollercoaster
I’m not a big theme park person but I’ve been to a few of them. At one point in my life I used to go every year. In a way, big-budget mainstream anime are a bit like amusement park rides.
At least in the US, where land is plenty and people pay an arm and leg to go to them, theme parks attract goers through new and exciting advertisements of their new (well) attractions. They are aptly called attractions because when you see this single rail that goes up and down like a graph of the Dow Jones Industrial Average in recent years, plus those loopy things, you get this feeling of excitement. No fancy ads or viral marketing necessary.
In a way that is basically the experience of Code Geass, I think.
The first season is a well-packaged, top-of-the-line Sunrise TV anime. I think the story made sense and people liked the sporadic moments of “JUST AS PLANNED” Lulu had. The heroics and scheming were entertaining, even if hollow by more sophisticated standards. And the CLAMP characters are always the rage. The gut-wrenching plot twists towards the end of the first season gives us a taste of what kind of an experience Code Geass was set out to deliver. The non-ending, and aptly announced sequel at the time was just the period (or better, semicolon?) that punctuates the point.
For the most part the second season started out without much issues, but at some point we realized something was different. Goro Taniguchi himself, supposedly, confessed regarding the reworking of the second season due to business constraints that lead to a lot of lost labor in working on the second season. I think the fans would take kindly to that position as Code Geass R2 does look somewhat derailed from the original ride.
But as a packaged experience, in a lot of ways R2 supersedes the first season as long as you don’t look too deep. And for experienced viewers, anime of this type is more of an experience than a work in itself so we’re trained to not poke where it doesn’t look like you should be poking. Looking too deeply just makes you hate it more. It isn’t to say you ought not to analyze Code Geass or shows like that, but that was one of the main ways how R2 fell apart from the expectations viewers had from the first season. It’s safe to say many of us have mixed feeling about Code Geass R2, even if it was highly entertaining.
I guess, to go back to the Goro Taniguchi thing, things are rushed. And it clearly shows.
Unlike the typical rushed production, however, it seemed Code Geass R2 actually has a destination in mind, and a destination that isn’t made of fail. The last episode delivered a reasonable conclusion that few anime of this kind of dynamic amplitude could even hope for. What’s more, it got away with the degree of open-endedness that characterizes the usual rush job, and a fair amount of both plot hole type things and thoughtful, canonical conclusions that will give all of its riders something to think about once they step back onto the platform and head out to the parking lot, elated.
And just for the record, I could care less if Lulu is dead or alive at the end. Color me in for the “Requiem of Nunnally” camp as the heart of the second season of Code Geass, although it seemed easily that Goro wrote the story for the C.C. “good” end. Like UBW or Fate. Maybe. Meanwhile curious minds can listen to the kids as they look up at the telecast replay of their best impression of the emoticon “\o/” while walking down the ramp from the ride and towards the exit.
The Basics of Basics - Mid-Season Update
I’ve been busy lately; and during this time I appreciate my anime viewing habits all the more.
In some ways, as adults, anime is a luxury that few can afford in excess–and it’s not so much a cost issue but a time and effort issue. Thanks to things like fansubbing and lawless digital distribution a person like me can afford both the technical complexity (like, not have to deal with DRM) and easy access to a large library of works. With the help of my anime-watching brethren, bloggers, and like-minded internet peeps, I can even fine-tune my selection with helps of all kinds of review websites, blogs, and old fashion word-of-mouth.
And because my anime watching is limited I treasure the few shows I get to watch even more. It’s lovely how scarcity makes you look at something in a different light.
I wish I also had the time to share all my insights, but why blog when I don’t even have the time to watch the show I like? It’s a puzzling dilemma.
Still, it’s important to sing praise where it’s due, so to get on with it:
Macross Frontier - Amusingly, despite its imperfections, it delivers. Maybe the magic behind Macross is that it is a fairly silly and flawed, but entertaining adventure with drool-worthy toys to sell and the generic aspiration of an (American) idol. And it just happens that idol entertainment is really in these days. Anyways, not complaining about how I love it when a plan comes together. Few franchises that span generations are so unashamed and so blatant. From the get-go we are asked which one to kiss!
Kurenai - Those who have traversed through the magical land of New York City of Red Garden can attest to how you take your weaknesses and forge them into new strengths in Kurenai. Granted we’re no longer talking about walking dead people but some kind of strange and mystical feudal Japan lineage problem, but its unique production style and sharing of artistic designs invariably link the two shows together. It’s even MORE like Gilmore Girls than ever before, which isn’t a bad thing per se. It just makes it no easier to stomach than Red Garden.
Kaiba - There’s just as much intrigue with this show as with Kurenai. The difference is that there’s only one-tenth of the dialog and one-half the laughs. It also reminds me I really should buy those Tweeny Witches DVDs. I have to say that I like this more though.
Tower of Druaga - How many people have actually played the original game? I have faint memories of it, but why would anyone evoke random 80s video game names with their shows? Leaving the novel release format aside, the show is a very hearty, non-serious adventure that should charm most viewers. And it is all about charm. For what it is worth I did buy the season pass for the show from Bost TV, even if somehow my home internet connection have problems with that site.
Code Geass R2 - Mai Hime of 2008. Now with more slutbiri.
Soul Eater - I can care less about shounen adventures but I really like stylish visuals and killer animation. Soul Eater delivers this in spades. In fact, it even knows that people don’t really care about shounen adventures.
Toshokan Sensou - If Tokyotosho goes to war, will you pick up your rifle? I jest, but between the great voice acting and the heart warming, but crappy excuse for character drama, I have unconsciously pushed this title on the top of the to-watch pile.
And I have a large to-watch pile. But a smaller pile of praises. So I’ll stop here.
Kallen Eleven
I know why Kallen in episode one of Code Geass R2 was mad cool.
I was never much of a Kallen fan back in Code Geass season 1 days, probably because the show didn’t take her seriously until later on. Perhaps I didn’t take her seriously (as a result, or just because). She always seemed like a silly girl yet she is quite dead serious about her goals and her feelings. Hardly a paragon of competence, Kallen is the contrast to that “JUST AS PLANNED” hook some Code Geass viewers dig about the show, so her popularity is spotty as well.
But why the bunny girl outfit? Well for starters CLAMP can design very sensual, attractive characters. Priming their MID-AGER LAZERS to “lol shounen anime” the results are somewhat annoying if boobs are not your thing. But at the same time CLAMP excels at clothing design, so the combination of a bunny girl outfit, which is a fairly spartan uniform if you think about it, and a CLAMP character in a shounen anime, is just jarring.
All the more that’s why there’s already like, 5 pages of this crunk on danbooru?
Year in Review: The Real Zero
Code Geass is this year’s overall best-produced anime…
It also has this massive cliffhanger, but hey, nobody is perfect.
In no truer fashion did Taniguchi catch up to the 21st century with a big exclamation mark that also, admittedly, marking him fashionably late. But boy, are CLAMP designs always in fashion. It really is a statement about “design sells.” Yea, yea, at the end of the day it’s just another mecha anime, but I think this one would’ve been a huge winner if the ending wasn’t such a non-ending.
But in simpler terms, Code Geass wins because it’s just a well-produced work, with a well put-together plan that included all the “popular” things. Its large cast and diverse personalities ensure no one goes through the show without something piquing his or her attention (even for some it’s just C.C. the whole time). It even provides enough in themes and messages to keep the brainy ones thinking about questions that don’t have right answers.
The pacing is compelling. The scenario writing is solid. There is enough about the plot to keep those that has affinity towards puzzle-type shows like Death Note interested (a large group I imagine), and enough moe and cheese to keep the otaku glued to those … cheese-filled pie crusts? If it means I have to watch in-show product placement to get more financing for anime, I am all for it.
But what does Code Geass have it in for me? I think that is a hard question to answer. I didn’t watch Code Geass back when it was all the rave late last year, and I caught up marathon-style (which is probably the most appropriate way for this show) middle of the year right before the OAVs came out. And yeah the OAVs are also non-endings. What is up with that?
Still, it’s great to remind myself that there are still mainstream-appealing yet personally compelling anime series out there that are longer than 14 episodes. Perhaps I am just jaded, but I think my standards are quite easy to meet and I can enjoy a lot of shows. It’s why I still watch so many anime and I only have the chance to talk about roughly half of the shows I watch on this blog. But yeah, why Code Geass? This was simply just the best overall show that I had the chance to watch this past year. It’s something I would recommend to the average anime viewer without reservation. It beats out shows like Denno Coil because we’re talking about a very different group of viewers than those who would watch NHK on primetime hours. They may overlap in some cases, but generally speaking not at all. Is this like, a mainstream for the underground or something silly?
Anyways. Substantively Code Geass still offers something worthy of review. Seeing that it’s Taniguchi and Sunrise, we should expect violence. And sometimes that’s all it takes to get guys to enjoy a TV show, much like sometimes all it takes is CLAMP to get some sissies (like me?) and girls to watch and enjoy a TV show.
