Dexter Downfall

Dexter used to be a good show, a show I looked forward to watching every week, a show that kept me on the edge of my seat. The first two seasons were extraordinarily entertaining. Season four was thrilling. Even the much maligned season five had its redeeming factors.

But Dexter Season 6 just went to an irredeemably bad place, and I don't know if I can forgive the show for it. This season has already been horrendous, but this episode, the writers took my favorite (and possibly the only interesting) relationship in the show: Dexter and Debra as brother and sister and FUCKED THAT SHIT UP.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Debra is wondering whether she is in love with Dexter. This isn't Cersei and Jamie Lannister, of course -- they are not biological siblings. But . . . why d'you have to go there? They are BROTHER AND SISTER.

Arrrrrhghghghghg.

Naoki Urasawa's Monster: Season 1 Review

All I can say is . . . wow. This anime is worth every one of its 74 episodes. Naoki Urasawa's Monster was thrilling, well-written, well-executed, well-paced, consistently good, and the story chilled me to the bone. It alternately made me smile and hide beneath my blankets. In either case, I was never bored, and never felt like an episode was there only as filler. I haven't been watching anime for very long, but this is the single best series that I have seen thus far.

STORY

Monster is excellent, first and foremost, because of its story or, rather, because of how well the story was executed. It's a simple premise that serves as the engine that drives the entire series: Dr. Kenzo Tenma, a brilliant neurosurgeon, chooses to operate on a boy that was brought into his hospital first instead of on an important mayor that his boss wants him to save. That single decision sets off a horrifying chain of events as Dr. Tenma discovers that the boy he saved was, in fact, the titular Monster - a mysterious and terrifying manifestation of evil in the form of a beautiful, blond boy called Johan. Dr. Tenma spends the entire series traversing across several countries in pursuit of Johan and finding out more about how the Monster came to be.

The concept itself is not particularly groundbreaking. The good-doctor-as-accused-murderer slant is reminiscent of Harrison Ford's turn in The Fugitive, down to and including the top-notch-detective-in-pursuit. The single-act-sets-of-chain-of-events conceit, too, seems familiar, although I cannot place the idea in any place other than that movie Sliding Doors. But the vague familiarity of the premise does not detract at all from the enjoyment of the story, because Monster executes the premise so damn well.

Like Hansel and Gretel dropping bread crumbs in the forest, Naoki Urasawa leaves something in every episode for the viewer to follow that ties in, somehow, to the main story. Even seemingly unrelated tangential story lines feed back into the search for Johan and the revelation of his origins. All of the details are unfolded at an appropriate pace - not so fast as to unveil dark secrets too quickly, and not so slow as to allow the audience to forget why we cared about the secrets in the first place. The result is a tightly woven narrative that keeps the audience keenly interested from beginning to end.

Of course, along the way, there are a few too-convenient plot turns and other ones that didn't seem as logically coherent as the rest of the story. (But what anime doesn't have some of those, I ask? This one had fewer than others.) And Naoki Urasawa treads a little too heavily on a few themes and tropes - for example, I think we see the Good Doctor Tenma treating the downtrodden and comforting crying children a few too many times. But these are faint complaints that pale in comparison to the deftness with which Monster relayed its story.

I will not spoil the details of the story, but suffice it to say that the search for the Monster, both in terms of geographic location and of origins, is immensely rewarding, and not something to be missed. I usually like to spoil myself on major plot points on Wikipedia and whatnot, but even a handful of episodes in, I could tell that Monster was going to be something special, so I resisted the urge to read spoilers. And boy, was it worth the wait.

ANIMATION

The animation was very nicely done, with dark, muted hues and beautifully rendered cityscapes and landscapes. The anime felt very much like a film in the way each shot was framed to emphasize certain shadows, or highlight certain angles. It all felt very cinematic. Although there was not very much straight-out action to show off technical animation skill, what scenes that did grace the screen were pleasant to the eye.

I'll also note that I greatly enjoyed the character design on this show, which featured realistic, generally plain-looking faces with normal body proportions (non-top-heavy busoms!) and appropriate clothing. What's more, the characters change and develop over the course of the show, as time elapses in the story. I loved that the primary antagonist, Johan, was a beautiful blond boy/man with porcelain skin and sky blue eyes, which up-ends the Ugly Character Must Be Evil trope that plagues anime -- nay, television.

SOUND

I loved the opening theme - the angel-like choir voices floating on top of the strong beat, combined with the dark, muted images of Dr. Tenma lookin' all shifty. It just worked in every way; I never skipped over the opening theme. The ending theme was haunting, but not as memorable in terms of the music, although the images - which were gibberish to begin with but later took on awesome meaning as the story unfolded - were interesting.

I also thought that the musical themes used during the show were quite effective - lots of use of foreboding suspense music and dramatic chorus music to highlight game-changing realizations (e.g., when a character was having a horrible flashback). Monster also used its fair share of horror sound effects during scary moments to perfectly complement the show's creepy images and occasionally terrifying cinematography.

Lastly, the voice acting was superb. Of course, I was lucky this time in that Netflix had the subbed version, so I finally got to hear Japanese actors, and boy, they were excellent. Johan was the standout - the actor managed to convey charisma, intelligence, and evil all in one silky smooth, never wavering voice. However, I also enjoyed Inspector Lunge's deep, methodical voice and Eva Heinemann's bitch-tastic, bitter voice - vulnerable and yet interspersed with explosive anger.

CHARACTERS

First, I will comment that this show has the lowest quotient of Annoying Characters of any show that I have encountered, which just goes to show anime makers that no, you don't need an squawking kid sidekick or a Simpering Anime Woman with Giant Breasts to carry the burden of the show.

Second, I note that Naoki Urasawa took extreme pains to develop almost every character that graces the screen. Even the minor characters got a delicious treatment. The show did more with one-episode or minor-arc characters like Dr. Schumann, ex-detective Richard Braun, and bodyguard Martin than other shows do with their main characters over the entire series run.

All of the main characters were fleshed out with exquisite care. From the initially-passive, later-determined, always-brilliant, and essentially-good-hearted Goody Two Shoes Dr. Tenma, to the bitter femme fatale, Eva Heinemann, to the combo Inspector-Javert-from-Les-Miserables/Tommy-Lee-Jones-from-The-Fugitive character, Inspector Lunge, each came off as a real, flawed character with human motivations and character growth.

However, as nearly every reviewer has commented, the crowning achievement of the show in terms of characterization was Johan Liebert, the antagonist, the "monster." In Monster, Naoki Urasawa gave a veritable workshop in how to effective build up a complex, multi-dimensional, and utterly terrifying villain. Urasawa used not just images, and not just Johan's words or actions but also the reactions of other characters to even the mere mention of his name to create this near-mythical, terrifying being. He combined fear of the character himself with the fear of the idea of the character. On screen, Johan himself pulls the trigger only a few times - he's not your average Tommy-gun-wielding villain. He works in far more subtle, insidious ways. The body count is just as high, but the terror factor is multiplied because you can't quite put your finger on how exactly he does it.

All I can say is . . . after watching Monster episodes, I not-infrequently went to sleep with my head tucked underneath the covers and clutching stuffed animals for the fear that anime Johan struck into my cowardly heart.

OVERALL

As should be obvious by my review, I have nothing but awesome respect for Monster. This show had compelling characters and a well-executed story. All the rest - the excellent voice acting, the haunting opening theme - was just icing on the cake. I didn't watch this anime for the longest time because I was deterred by the length (which, at 74 episodes, is not insubstantial). But I am so glad that I overcame that initial shyness, because Monster rewarded in every way.

Pixar

[updated 11/6/11]

There have been 12 Pixar films to date. I refused to see Cars 2 (and it got <40% on Rotten Tomatoes) but shall rank the other 11 below. I've changed my mind a little since my last ranking of the films:

1. The Incredibles
2. Wall-E
3. Finding Nemo
4. Toy Story
5. Toy Story 2
6. Toy Story 3
7. Ratatouille
8. Up
9. Monsters Inc.
10. A Bug's Life
11. Cars

____

[old post]

It was really hard to rank, but here's how I would rank the 10 Pixar films to date. I avoided cop-out ties. (Otherwise #s 5-8 would all be just #5.) But it totally pained me to rank Ratatouille and Monsters Inc. so low, 'cos I really loved both! Man, I love Pixar. (Sorry, this is a random aside, but I really like to rank things.)

1. The Incredibles
2. Up
3. Wall-E
4. Finding Nemo
5. Toy Story
6. Toy Story 2
7. Ratatouille
8. Monsters Inc.
9. Cars
10. A Bug's Life

Apparently another Hayao Miyazaki film is coming out soon, though. Exciting!

Phantom: Requiem for a Phantom: Season 1 Review

Phantom: Requiem for a Phantom is essentially Gunslinger Girls: The Teenage Years, where the assassins are gun-totin' invincibles that wear tight black body suits and a less cool version of Hei's mask from Darker Than Black.

STORY

As in Gunslinger Girls, here, we have main characters, Ein and Zwei, that are forced into becoming ruthless assassins for an organization called Inferno. Inferno's aim, as far as I can tell, is to take over the entire underworld of gangs, mafia, and other criminal organizations. To facilitate this, Inferno has a bunch of fear-inducing assassins, and the top dog is anointed with the title "Phantom."

The story revolves around Inferno's machinations at world domination and the internal scheming and rivalries that set the screen afire with bloodshed. The scheming, etc., is not particularly interesting, and most of it is nonsensical, but then again watching anime always requires a suspension of disbelief for maximum enjoyment.

Slightly more interesting are the character's storylines. The viewer gets to see how Zwei is recruited by Ein, the first Phantom of Inferno, and turned into an assassin worthy of the Phantom title himself. We see how Zwei, in turn, sets in motion a chain of events that leads to another young person getting turned into the third Phantom of Inferno. Those were the more interesting stories to follow, rather than the random plotting and scheming.

I hated when the setting shifted from the criminal underworld to a random high school in Japan toward the last third of the series, but I suppose that can't be helped. Where there are teen anime characters, they must attend a school with a bevy of annoying female characters -- isn't that written in the anime rule book somewhere?

ANIMATION

The animation was quite good. A few cinematic choices annoyed me. First, I was frequently annoyed by the long, drawn-out action sequences (e.g., Cal vs. anyone when she was using that watch) and the even longer, drawn-out death scenes.

Second, many of the random quasi-naked and sexual scenes bothered me. I'm no prude, but I feel strongly that nudity and sex shouldn't be used solely for eye candy or to appease fan lust; I prefer when they are used to further either the story line or the character development.

For example, I found the scenes of Scythe Master's oiling down of Ein's young, mostly naked body and of Mio's clothes being ripped off disturbing. Ditto to the constant shots of Clo's cleavage or the scenes of her feeling up Zwei. And I didn't think they added to the dynamic between the characters in a productive way.

By contrast, I didn't mind the obviously sexual positions that the directors occasionally put Zwei and Ein in -- not because I "want" them to "get together" or anything, but because their physical body language illustrated something about their characters that their words did not. In other words, in that case, the sexual cinematography added something to the story.

Third, I must declare that I hate scenes where characters scream "Nooooooooooo!!" or some character's name at the top of their lungs. So much more might be said with a scene of quiet agony. Not everyone reacts to strong emotions by screaming "Caaaaaaal" or "Errrreeeen!!!" (or, for that matter, "Steeeeellllllaaaaa!!!"). The screaming-when-upset/grieving motif is overused, ineffective, and, quite frankly, irritating.

Other than that, I found the animation to be pretty good overall. Nice, dark colors.

SOUND

The music for this series was below average, in my opinion. The ending theme to Phantom has got to be one of the more annoying songs I have heard in anime. The angel choir musical interludes were a bit too... obvious for me, I think, though I must admit to enjoying the hilarious "badass sexy" musical theme that accompanied Zwei/Reiji's succession to the Phantom title. The song so obviously screamed "I'm now a badass sexy assassin wearing a sexy suit" that I just had to laugh.

As for the voice acting, I wasn't the hugest fan. I found that the English voice acting from our leads, in particular, was kind of wooden -- especially Zwei/Reiji. I can remember only one line where Zwei's delivery really stood out for me in a good way (the scene where he yells at Cal that she'll be "fucked up too"). Ein/Eren's voice was a little too "I am a robot, and so my voice is flat."

And, of course, young Cal's voice annoyed the hell out of me, as young anime girls are wont to do. (To be fair, I enjoyed older Cal's voice a lot -- it had a nice grit to it that reminded me a little of Angie Harmon's work as Barbara Gordon in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker.)

CHARACTERS

The characters were a mixed bag.

Phantom attempted to develop some characters, but fell short of building an emotional connection between the characters and the audience. Clo and Lizzy, for example, never resonated with me as characters on any level. Neither did the gaggle of high school girls near the end of the series. The series tried really hard to flesh out Clo beyond her breasts -- they gave her some flashback scenes to her days on the street with her brother, for example, but it felt like a haphazard attachment of emotional baggage rather than something that truly motivated her character. Likewise, Phantom made a half-hearted attempt at carving out a space for Daisuke Godo and his buddy, Shiga, but it was exactly that: half-hearted.

As a villain, Scythe Master was too much of a caricature to make be truly great, but his pale white hair and awful suit and sunglasses made for an easy man to hate (oh, right, and the fact that he turns young people into killers). NOTE: For an example of a deliciously fantastic villain, see Azula from Avatar: The Last Airbender.

As for our main characters...

Reiji/Zwei had the standard pretty boy design -- he looks similar to Light Yagami from Death Note. His transformation from the inexperienced boy (dressed in plain clothes) in the first half of the season into the badass Phantom (complete with gold chain, longer hair, less baby fat, and a sleek, sexy suit with PINK dress shirt) was pretty blatant, but hilarious. His character development did take some nonsensical turns -- why did he rejoin Inferno after being beat up a bit? why did he go ballistic when going after Scythe Master? But overall, Phantom did a good job with fleshing him out as a character. But I would have loved to see Reiji attempt to go home to his family and watch that interaction, rather than just see him make one phone call. A missed opportunity.

Eren/Ein looked a little bit like Rei from Evangelion. She was too frequently unclothed or half-clothed. And she was almost too robotic, too brainwashed to make a compelling character. When you create a character whose primary character traits are 1) lack of memory; 2) lack of free will; and 3) complete obedience, she becomes hard to care about as a lead. Of course, this made her ultimate face-off with Scythe Master meaningful. But it was a long way to wait for a payoff at the series end. I suppose Ein's shell started to crack as Reiji/Zwei ascended in Inferno, but Phantom didn't really let the viewers see any interesting character emotions from Ein's descent. Another missed opportunity.

Lastly, I will just say that young Cal = Annoying Anime Girl Archetype. Older Cal was pretty interesting, though 1) the use of the watch that Reiji gave her was gimicky and overdone and 2) how did she grow so tall (and how did her breasts grow so large) in the span of two years?

OVERALL

It took me a while to warm up to Phantom: Requiem for a Phantom, but I ended up enjoying it. From the guns a'blazin' to Reiji/Zwei's "badass" Phantom song, there was a lot to enjoy. There was a lot to dislike as well, but overall, I found Phantom to be worth the time investment.

Tokyo Majin: Season 1 (Parts 1 & 2) Review

I picked up Tokyo Majin for two reasons: (1) It was available on Netflix and . . . I thought the guy on the cover was cute (yes, I admit it), and (2) A reviewer on Anime Planet mentioned that it reminded him of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, one of my favorite TV shows.

I really wanted to like this show, and in some ways I did. But it was also painfully bad in many other ways. I explain below.

STORY

The story line in Tokyo Majin was completely disjointed and nearly incomprehensible. It seemed like the writers were throwing everything together randomly and trying to make it feel coherent. It wasn't.

The season started out with monster-of-the-week episodes, but then grew into longer story arcs that were supposed to be connected in some way, but weren't really - not naturally anyway.

Even if the main plot had been coherent, it didn't turn out to be very interesting. Superpowered bad guy wants to destroy Tokyo, and he's manipulating people to help him do it! Good guys want to stop him! And they do! Wow, really? That's it? Basically, the story sucked.

Also, the "big reveal" at the series' end about the "vessels" and "deities" lacked any meaning because of the problem I describe in the "Characters" section.

ANIMATION

The character designs in this show were decent, but kind of weird. Tatsuma had his adorable sweatshirt and trademark finger-less gloves. But then they made another guy, Kareha, that basically looked just like him and robbed Tatsuma of his unique glory. All the girls had hairs sticking out in random directions, which was weird. I did enjoy the design of the first major baddie, Kozuno, as well as Marie Claire, the fiery bug-eyed girl that hung around with him. The Gigantor Nurse was also cool. Other than that, nothing special about character design.

I also didn't particularly enjoy the animation in the series. First, the supernatural elements tended to have a hazy, washed-over feel to them. Second, the action looked stilted and not particularly smooth. Third, the cuts between scenes were really abrupt, which made the show hard to follow and quite confusing.

SOUND

I loved the mix of music in this anime. The opening theme was a kickass heavy metal song by ACID that was reminiscent of "Howling" (the theme from Darker Than Black). It really set the tone for the anime. What I really appreciated was mixing in classical music - in particular, the dissonant chords followed by the fast 16th note violin passages (a modified version of Vivaldi's "Winter" from the Four Seasons, perhaps?) - during the action scenes. The use of strings really complemented the action on a screen in a unique way - not your average heavy metal action scene accompaniment.

As for the voice acting, it was a mixed bag: mostly unremarkable. I was intrigued enough by Tatsuma Hiyuu's English voice actor to look him up. (Okay, fine, I admit, maybe I was kind of in love with him. So sue me.) It sounded just right for the character - easygoing, unassuming. Aoi's voice actor, of course, annoyed me, as female leads are wont to do. And Daigo's voice actor took too much of a "meathead" approach for my tastes. Komaki's actress was decent, if a little unvaried. And Kyouichi's was fine, if not particularly subtle.

CHARACTERS

Good god, it felt like the writers took character crack, because this show was a giant character clusterf*ck. Characters that we were supposed to care about sprouted up like noxious weeds and robbed our main characters of valuable screen time. Which was infuriating, because I quite liked our main cast.

But who were the random drag queens? And the gaggle of guys with scars that hung around with Kyouichi? Why should the audience care about the look-alike Oribe twins, who were randomly introduced and had no personality or backstory whatsoever? Who are all of these old geezers that appear randomly to explain mystical stuff and then don't do anything? Why did they have to make mind-control baddie, Sagaya, a regular character, not to mention the nurse that works at the hospital? I'll admit I was a bit intrigued by the rabbit-feeding teacher (who remains a mystery to me), but was I supposed to care about the blonde female teacher? Who was the random blonde chick that they showed hanging around with the bums under the bridge (I have no idea)? Why did they have to bring in some new, random Alan Claude character to be one of the deities? Why did they devote screen time to the random detective and the autopsy guy? And then in the second season, they added even MORE characters in the form of the Martial Fist assassins - one of whom was just a copycat version of Tatsuma, too! Gah!

I was hoping they would come up with something cool for Kareha, the Tatsuma-look-alike (say, perhaps, Tatsuma's evil twin or something), but instead he was an incredibly boring character. Anyway, I digress.

I don't have a problem with ensemble shows, but when you have such a huge cast, you have to DEVELOP the characters for your audience to care about them at all. Otherwise, when old geezer #1 gets shot up with arrows, or blonde teacher gets her arm blown off, all it elicits is a yawn instead of a feeling of peril.

And **SPOILER** when the identities of the vessels and deities were revealed at the end of the season, I felt cheated because 2 of the deities had barely registered on my radar.

The presence of all of these excessive, unnecessary characters took away screen time from the main cast, who I actually kind of enjoyed. The show took the time to develop interesting backstory for Kyouichi, Tatsuma, and Daigo, which I appreciated. However, I wish the show had done the same with Komaki, who came off a bit one-dimensional. As for Aoi, they gave snapshots of her backstory and tried to explain why she feels such a need to protect people, but it wasn't very effective. She was just a very nice, boring character with little depth and annoying, patronizing speeches. And Kisaragi was okay, what with the family legacy burden on his shoulders, but he also had little depth as a character.

The lack of depth is pretty much a running problem in the show, except for maybe Kyouichi and Daigo.

My favorite part of the show was watching the main cast interact with one another, and watching their interactions change as they fought together over the course of the show. It did remind me of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, in some ways: gaggle of young teens fighting against the forces of evil. Except Buffy explored larger themes through its cast and supernatural storylines; Tokyo Majin, not so much.

I did enjoyed the romantic undertones, though I wish the writers had drawn more drama and created more tension from them. I mean, Daigo loves Komaki, who loved Aoi, who loved Tatsuma, who's basically asexual but is also loved by Kyouichi, who may also be loved by Aoi, who is loved by Kisaragi? Come on, we needed to see some bitchfights out of all that angst and tension!

But unfortunately, the gaggle of extraneous characters - including the annoying Reporter, who was mostly a useless character - dragged the show down and ate up valuable screen time. So there was no time for bitchfight awesomeness.

OVERALL

I wanted to like this show. Tatsuma was so good-looking. And I loved the little "tch" sound that Kyouichi made every time he scoffed. And I thought Daigo's backstory with his troubled teen years was very well done.

But nothing else in this show really worked. If Aoi's power was so powerful, why didn't she kick more ass? Komaki was given one "backstory" with her archery friend, but not much else. Why not? Oh, right, because the show was wasting time on the gaggle of extraneous characters.

Such wasted potential...

Black Butler: Season 1 Review

STORY

This show had such an interesting premise: an orphaned son of noblemen makes a contract to see his soul to a demon in exchange for the demon's help in seeking vengeance for his parents' murder. The demon takes the form of the boy's butler and will obey his every order until the killers are brought to justice. When that day comes, the demon will consume the boy's soul.

Great premise! And a good writer could have done a lot with it. Unfortunately, for me, the execution on the premise fell flat.

Starting, by the way, with the way most of the premise was rapidly unfolded within a few seconds in a montage scene at the beginning of the first episode. There's so much juiciness in the basic concept that I would have loved to have seen it unfolded slowly, like a good mystery. I would have loved to see at least an episode or two from the viewpoint of the other servants, wondering how the hell this creepy red-eyed butler gets all his shit done so perfectly, without the viewer's having had the benefit of Explanatory Expository Montage.

Instead, the show dumped it all upon us at once. Which I might have forgiven it if had something interesting to do. But it didn't. Most of the show consisted of a bunch of aimless, unconnected, useless, uninteresting filler episodes. Most of the episodes followed a Sherlock-Holmesian detective style, with Ciel (for some reason that the show did poorly at explaining) acting as the Queen's guard dog and investigating the supernatural mysteries. A few episodes here and there were interesting from a character perspective, but they were the exceptions.

Even the main plot itself, when it finally got going, felt sorely lacking. It was awfully forced, from a thematic point of view, and mostly incoherent without even satisfactorily resolving the central mysteries of why the Phantomhives were chosen for cleansing.

The season was at its best when it focused on the relationship between Ciel and Sebastien - especially when tension rose between them at the season's end. I wish they had done more with the relationship throughout the series to cap it off with that delicious ending. It felt as if the relationship stayed stagnant for most of the season . . . and then it ended just when things got interesting.

I should also note that the series suffered for its uneven tone. I appreciate that it was trying to mix humor with the dark, but that worked best when it came from Sebastien, and not when scenes of darkness were juxtaposed with sight gags from the Gaggle of Annoying Servants (see "Character" section below).

ANIMATION

Middle of the road. Some of the colors were a bit bright for my taste, but that's just personal preference. Nothing to write home about, although I did appreciate the attention to detail in animating in the Victorian era. The character designs obviously appealed to the man/boy love fangirl crowd, with a dash of Annoying Anime Girl and Androgynous Villain with Boobs for the fanboys. I suppose Ciel's English noble-boy wardrobe changes were fun to watch, but overall there was nothing particularly interesting about the character designs.

SOUND

I enjoyed the music for Black Butler. The opening and ending themes were not memorable, but the music during the show itself was appropriately foreboding and created a dark, brooding atmosphere.

I must also comment on the excellent voice work for the leads, Ciel and Sebastien. Brina Palencia did the English voice over for Ciel, and it was perfect: the way she enunciated each syllable and imbued it with haughtiness and contempt. Sebastien's voice actor also did good work. Even with the umpteenth repetition of "I'm simply one hell of a butler," I never tired of hearing his voice. I can't say the same for anyone else in the English dub, though.

CHARACTERS

The annoying character ratio on this show is off the charts. As in, the majority of characters on the show are extremely, extremely annoying.

Exhibit A: Lady Elizabeth, Ciel's Annoying Simpering Anime Girl betrothed, complete with squeaky shrieky high voice and no redeeming traits whatsoever. That episode where she was turned into a doll was deliciously freaky (and accurate). I was hoping she would die a rapid, horrible death, but, alas, no.

Exhibit B: The Gaggle of Annoying Servants, including Red-Haired Maid, with the awful shrieky cockney British accent, Super Strong Guy, with awful girly voice (a horrendous Jason Liebrecht!), and Annoying Cook, with no cooking skills. Oh, and I forgot to mention Old Butler Guy Who Deflates. Each servant also came with a suitably annoying voice (at least in the English version - sorry, Netflix only has the English dub). Toward the end of the series, the writers attempted to give the servants all interesting back stories, but by then I disliked them all so much that I didn't care. The servants were supposedly used for comedy, but mostly they were just annoying. Later, the servants were used as cheap emotional parlor tricks, but that failed because they were annoying and, hence, conveyed no emotional heft when they were put in peril.

Exhibit C: Red-Haired Scythe Grim Reaper, who was mostly a plot device, and not particularly interesting. Or funny. Fun character design, but that's about it.

Exhibit D: The Undertaker Reaper - also not particularly interesting. Or funny. Creepy, but not creepy enough to be interesting.

Exhibit E: Lau, the Chinese guy, who appeared in random episodes without my ever knowing who he was. It's still not clear to me whether I was supposed to have known who he was before the episode that actually focused on who he was.

All of the above greatly diminished my enjoyment of the show. The sole saving graces, I suppose, were the main characters, the arrogant and dark lord Ciel Phantomhive, and his black butler, Sebastien Michaelis. The erotic undertones of Sebastien's desire to devour his little lord's delicious soul made each interaction all the more fun to watch, and the show played up on this obvious theme quite well. From the character designs to the random scenes of Sebastien bathing Ciel, to Sebastien seeing Ciel in various states of undress, Black Butler made every detail feed back into and tease out the demon-master relationship. After all, the central premise of the show is that a demon wants to devour a child's soul: the show would have been remiss to not capitalize on the twisted perversions hinted by that premise. As it turns out, this was about the only thing the show did right.

OVERALL

I suppose I enjoyed watching the show, although so many of the characters annoyed me. Every time Lady Elizabeth appeared in an episode, I groaned. I found the mix of dark themes with the supernatural interesting, but the attempt to mix dark themes with humor was not always successful. Again, the central relationship between Ciel and Sebastien was the most interesting to watch - and I say this from a character standpoint, not because I particular enjoy man/boy love anime or found the characters attractive (which I didn't particularly).

But, as always, it came down to the story. Or, in this case, the lack thereof. Black Butler lacked a compelling enough story to support the interesting central characters and premise. The main plot felt thematically forced, instead of unfolding organically from the seeds of a planted mystery. The main villain was weak, one-note, and uninteresting, and hardly the dramatic equal of Sebastien.

Overall, the season was a mixed bag. I will not be watching the OVA or the second season.

Tales from Earthsea: Anime Review

An animated Studio Ghibli film by Miyazaki featuring magic and dragons and wizards! Can't go wrong, right?

Well... first let's clarify that it's not Hayao, but his son Goro Miyazaki in the directorial seat. Second, it's a Studio Ghibli film, so the animation will be gorgeous; that's a given. Third, I'll note that I have never read the series on which the film was based, so I have no opinions whatsoever about the film's supposed deviation therefrom.

My conclusion? Tales from Earthsea a beautifully drawn, breathtakingly rendered, but otherwise terrible film. I initially stopped watching because I found it unbearable. I then forced myself to finish after reading some positive reviews to see if the film's ending redeemed it; it did not.

STORY
The problem starts with a terrible story. I don't know what the books are like, but the film lacked any sense of narrative focus or cohesion, not to mention momentum. It goes something like this (SPOILERS at the end, so beware):

The movie begins with unexplained events that indicate that the world is out of balance. Then, Prince Arren commits an unspeakable, unexplained act of violence for no apparent reason and meets up with the wise wizard Sparrowhawk who, for some reason that escapes me, decides he wants to mentor this random stranger he met in the desert. The duo travel to a town for some reason that escapes me. The town has evil slavers that work for an evil wizard named Cob because, for some reason that escapes me, this is all necessary to the story. Prince Arren saves a girl with a scar from the slavers, but ends up getting captured himself. Sparrowhawk saves him, and the whole incident contributes little, if anything, to the story, except to show that (1) slavers are evil; (2) Sparrowhawk can do magic; (3) Sparrowhawk can and will rescue Arren.

Arren and Sparrowhawk then go to a woman named Tenar's house for no other apparent reason than to embark on a spirit-heartening farming trip. There, they find that ploughing the fields, playing with oxen, and getting in touch with God's green earth rights all that is bad with the world. Sparrowhawk leaves for a day and shit turns hairy when the slavers come and kidnap Tenar on Cob's behalf. Arren wanders off to run from his as yet unexplained demons and gets captured by evil wizard Cob. Cob, the evil looking drag queen, offers Arren a mysterious black-looking drink and claims in a creepy voice that it is no poison; for some as yet unexplained reason, Arren drinks it and then suddenly begins to mistrust Sparrowhawk, the man that saved his ass multiple times and has shown no signs of Saruman and only signs of Gandalf. In the meantime, Scarfaced girl wrestles free and runs to warn Sparrowhawk.

Sparrowhawk goes to Cob's castle to confront Tenar's kidnapper. His magic is useless for some poorly and hastily explained reason. Cob the Drag Queen sics Arren on Sparrowhawk, because he has learned Arren's "true name" and can thus control him, for some unexplained reason. Sparrowhawk is captured and taken to await execution. Meanwhile, Scarfaced girl follows an apparition of Arren--later revealed to be the "light" of Arren (please don't ask me what that means)--to Cob's castle, where she finds a conveniently opened side door and sneaks in.

Scarfaced girl then confronts Arren and asks him why he is acting so fucked up. He whines that no one should bother to save life if it will all just end in death. Oh, woe is Arren! What darkness lies yonder! Scarfaced girl makes what I'm sure was meant to be a heartfelt, uplifting speech about how fearing death means you fear life, and how it's all just one circle of life, mumbo jumbo, life-death yadda yadda. She utters Arren's true name and, voila, he breaks free of Cob's evil spell and values life and is now able to unsheath a magic sword for an as yet unexplained reason.

Arren now kicks some ass with magic sword, saving Sparrowhawk and Tenar from execution by jumping off a high building. Cob turns into some old creepy Voldemort-like thing--he's been trying to cheat death. Arren tries to stop Cob, but Cob chokes Scarfaced girl to death. Except that for some unexplained reason, SHE IS ACTUALLY A DRAGON and burns Cob's sorry drag-queened ass. Arren says, cool, now I have to go answer for the crime of patricide/regicide back in my hometown, but let's hug and hang some time, aiite? Dragon Scarfaced Girl says, yeah, thas coo'.

Yeah. That's the story, or the essence of it anyway. What the eff? Maybe some of these important details were explained, and I just missed them. But maybe I was too busy falling asleep or trying to keep my mind from wandering as one illogical, nonsensical event slooooowly tumbled into the next.

ANIMATION
The character design in this film was very simple--some might say too simple. Prince Arren was a rehashed and far inferior version of Ashitaka from Princess Mononoke, only Ashitaka's reindeer-mount and cloak were gifted to a different character, Sparrowhawk (aka Gandalf from Lord of the Rings, only less high on hobbitleaf). Scarfaced Girl was San from Princess Mononoke with facial scarring, longer hair, dingier clothes, and 10x less spunk and beauty. The characters barely had three different facial expressions throughout the film. But really, the character designs didn't bother me so much.

The landscapes and cityscapes were breathtakingly beautiful, and I found my eyes fixated on the backgrounds rather than the characters. It's good to know Studio Ghibli still knows how to make one helluvan awesome looking film.

SOUND
I have no complaints about the sound. The soundtrack was decent (and somewhat cheesy, but I'm okay with that), but mostly forgettable. I watched the dubbed version on Netflix and enjoyed Willem Defoe's delicious take as Cob, especially when accompanied with Cob's drag queen look. The other voice acting was fine. No complaints.

CHARACTERS
The characters in Earthsea had some potential, but the story did them few favors. So much more could have been done with these characters.

In Arren, we had a prince with a sordid past and a tangle of dark emotions and impulses--the makings of a fascinating character. He needed a coherent coming-of-age and redemption story, or else some clever variation from the traditional fantasy tropes. Instead, we got a mess of confusing dreams with lots of oozy black liquid.

In Scarfaced girl, we had a fierce, passionate foil to Arren that needed to come out of her shell. She does so literally and explodes into unexplained dragon-form, but her more figurative emergence is barely explored.

In Sparrowhawk, we had a wise mentor-figure who could help Arren grow. Except that he didn't really help Arren grow; he just saved him a few times and let him tag along and did some farming with him. And while Sparrowhawk's bout of powerlessness at Cob's castle was necessary for Arren to show what he could do, it was manufactured out of cheap, nonsensical plot devices. Come to think of it, aside from being "the archmage" who wanders around (doing what? I'm not sure), Sparrowhawk is pretty bland as a character.

And in Tenar, we had a warm motherly figure who had no real purpose in the story. Tenar needed to be a character in her own right, as opposed to the bland accompanying mother figure that she was. She needed a better fleshed out backstory, or something to define who she was as a person.

Cob was an acceptable villain, but fairly conventional and uninteresting. He was the drag queen version of Voldemort, except that he was capable of oozing. His goons, including the ugly head slaver, were far worse: totally one-dimensional and, unsurprisingly, evil.

OVERALL
Overall, I was sorely disappointed with Tales from Earthsea. I really, really wanted to like it and was excited to see that it had appeared on Netflix. But I found the lack of coherent narrative to be fatal to an otherwise beautiful, contemplative film. There were characters that I wanted to like, but couldn't, because they were given nothing interesting to do. Sorry, Goro, but Earthsea was a fail for me.

Eden of the East: Series Review

SUMMARY: Fascinating premise, but the execution fell short of what it could have been.

STORY
I would call Eden of the East a plot-driven anime. The premise is fascinating: Taki, the protagonist, finds himself naked in front of the White House with only a handgun and a cellphone and he has zero memory of who he is or why he is there. He discovers that the cellphone grants him near unlimited power--for the purpose of being Japan's "savior."

That interesting nugget is the engine that drives the Eden ship, the hook that keeps the audience wondering who gave Taki the phone, who Taki really is, who the other selecao are and what their motivations are.

The story that ended up unfolding was, for me, a wee bit of a letdown, but your mileage may vary. I do appreciate, though, Eden's engaging and thoughtful premise, which cleverly taps into modern-day themes like youthful malaise and activism through technology.

ANIMATION
The animation in this show was good, from the colors to the characters. What impressed me most were the cityscapes and backgrounds, which provided remarkably realistic backdrops for the show.

SOUND
The music in this show made very little impression on me one way or the other. For the most part, it was unobtrusive; it was also not striking in any way. As for the voice acting, I watched the English dub and for the most part, the voices are fine. No super annoying girls, thank god. Also, I should say that I have liked every single dub of Jason Liebrecht's that I have heard (Taki in Eden of the East, Luck Gandor in Baccano--despite the hammed up accent, and most notably Hei in Darker Than Black).

CHARACTERS
The lack of compelling characters and/or character development really held this anime back. Had the same plot been executed with well developed, interesting characters, Eden of the East would have hit a home run.

Let's start with Taki, the protagonist. While perfectly affable (and hence tremendously likeable), Taki doesn't seem to have much substance as a character. Sure, he likes movies, and he's a quick thinker, but . . . there isn't much else to him. His past remains a mystery; he doesn't learn or grow; he just kind of... is. He's certainly someone the audience can get behind, but there doesn't seem to be anything else to him other than that he's likeable.

As for the rest of the ensemble crew, they suffer even more from lack of substance. Saki, while only about a 4/10 on the Annoying Anime Women Scale (10 being most annoying), is a whole lot of nothing. Same goes for the rest of the personality-less Eden crew, whose names I actually don't even remember.

Had Eden of the East spent some more time developing at least the two main leads into characters the audience knows and should care about, the anime would have been far better for it. As it was though, the show relied on the mysterious plot to drive it forward and neglected to fill out the characters on the ride.

OVERALL
Overall, I enjoyed Eden of the East, but I thought it had the potential to be so much more. I wished the show had given more substance to its characters, to give the audience a personal investment in the story. As it was, curiosity about the plot carried the show. It was still an enjoyable experience, but it could have been more...

MOVIE REVIEWS
What was an intriguing and fascinating premise the first time around--Taki erasing his own memory--turned out to be gimmicky in the first Eden of the East movie. And what had been an intriguing mystery that drove the story in the series slowed to a halting, boring standstill in the second Eden of the East movie. Faux-deep social commentary on modern society got packed in via heavy-handed dialogue scenes, alongside a nonsensical plot that plodded to a poor, whimpering close. I enjoyed the series, but found the movies left a bad taste in my mouth.

Baccano: Series Review

I chose Baccano as my first post-bar-exam anime conquest. It more or less paid off in entertainment value and was generally very fun, but the show lacks that special touch, that emotional punch, and would likely have zero re-watch value.

STORY
The storyline in Baccano unfolds in a decidedly non-linear fashion and skips across time and across different points of view. Because Baccano encompasses a cast of over 15 characters, the plot is an ambitious one that tries to tie everyone together in one massive cross-century story. Scenes skip in time, place, and POV, and while I didn't find it confusing, I could see why some might lose patience with the show's slight schizophrenia. The same events will often be portrayed in at least two different ways, creating the appearance of depth and texture.

The problem with breadth, of course, is that in most cases it compromises depth. It was interesting to see the pieces fall into place and the characters' roles get filled out in the plot, but once the plot is all pieced together, it's actually pretty simple. I'm not sure that if the story were told in a linear fashion, it would have been at all compelling (which, to the show's credit, means the writers were smart to jumble it all up as part of the fun). That is to say, Baccano is a show I've watched this once and will probably never watch again.

ANIMATION
Baccano is quite pretty and stylish, with its 1930s backdrop and dark, muted colors. Nothing too bright, although sometimes the faded 'faraway' 1930s look was overdone a bit. I was afraid that I would get everyone confused with the large ensemble cast, but the character designs were unique enough to keep everyone straight. No one character stood out stylistically, though, which in retrospect might have been a good thing. As for the action, while I enjoyed the tommy guns and bloodspatter and knife work, they were nothing special or unique. I also found that some of the scenes on the train (e.g., involving the Rail Tracer) were almost too dark for me to see what was going on.

SOUND
The opening sequence to Baccano is extremely catchy, fun, and also helpful in that it reviews the names and faces of the huge cast of characters. This is the only show that I have watched other than Darker Than Black where I don't skip over the title sequence to start the episode immediately. The music was just too much fun to fast forward through! I wasn't similarly impressed with the ending sequence, but I thought the music throughout the series--all very '30s and jazzy, of course--was well done, though not as cool as Cowboy Bebop or Darker Than Black.

CHARACTERS
Whew, there were a LOT of characters on Baccano. The show, I thought, was an exercise in character definition, not character development. None of the characters were really developed over the course of the series; they stayed pretty much static, with the possible exception of Ennis.

That said, the show did a pretty good job of defining its huge cast of characters, which was necessary to keep them all straight. Well-defined characters don't necessarily translate into good characters, though, and for the most part, I found the characters to be hit or miss.

For example, Isaac and Miria, the two incompetent, stupid, eccentric thieves were kind of funny the first few times they appeared, but then they just got irritating; it didn't seem as if they were contributing anything valuable to the storyline either. Similarly, Eve Genoard and Lua Klein were both meek, subservient, boring characters with no personalities, and Vino/Clare Steinfield and Ladd Russo and the mechanic dude in the OAVs were all pretty much the same character: crazy homicidal maniac. By contrast, I found young Czeslaw quite fascinating and wanted to know more about him and his motives. I wanted very much to like Firo, but I don't think he was developed enough for the audience to really connect with him at all.

...which about sums up my reaction to these characters. They were flashed on the screen, quickly defined so you could tell who they were, but then sort of just plugged in where they were needed. I didn't really have emotional investment in anyone in the huge cast.

OVERALL
I enjoyed Baccano, but it didn't really hit close to home or resonate with me on an emotional level, which isn't to say it isn't good entertainment. Its fun soundtrack and great opening sequence kept me clicking "Play Next Episode" despite the fact that I didn't feel a need to know more about the characters or the plot. All in all, pretty good, but not that great.

Cowboy Bebop: Series Review

Cowboy Bebop occupies something of an exalted status in the anime world, much like Akira and certain Miyazaki films that can do no wrong.

There are a lot of things to like about Bebop, starting with the fact that it is downright COOL and that the music is awesome. But although I really enjoyed the series, there are also a few things I would have liked to see done differently.

Bebop is an episodic, character-driven series that can only be described as... futuristic space cowboy western / noir comedic drama. The concept is simple, yet stylish: we follow the adventures of Spike and Jet, bounty hunters on the ship Bebop, as they hunt down their prey... not always successfully.

There is what I would call a "main" plot involving Spike, his past with the Red Dragon Syndicate, and the storyline with characters from Spike's past (Vicious and Julia), but most of the episodes in the show have absolutely no connection to the main plot and do nothing to advance it.

For me, this was both a strength and a weakness of the show. The episodic nature of the series meant that each of the four recurring characters got screen time and development, even the crazy Radical Edward (who starting out kind of annoying but later wormed her way into my cold, dead heart with her endearing loopy-ness). I loved the episode where bits of Edward's past as Francois are revealed and found her exit from Bebop remarkably... sad! I enjoyed the exploration of Jet's past as a cop and the revelation of how he got his bionic arm.

And, of course, who doesn't love Spike Spiegel--what a sexy, impetuous, cocky badass with a stylish 'fro character design and dark murky past. With his skinny black tie and blue suit, Spike just oozes "cool," especially when his wiry frame is kicking ass and his shot is dead-on.

But I actually appreciated Faye Valentine's character the most. Faye was both sexy and kickass, competent and lazy, and beneath that puckish, sassy exterior, she had multiple layers of loneliness, doubt, and the need to belong and find a human connection. Best of all, her voice was nice and low and normal sounding.

I will also note that the relationships between the characters were very well done as well. Despite Spike's proclamation that he hates women and children, by the end of the series, you see that the Bebop crew has, as Faye would say, become a place a belonging.

I mention the episodic nature of the show as a weakness because I wish that there had been a few more episodes or hints, however, dedicated to moving forward the main Spike-Vicious-Julia plotline. The last two episodes of the show were powerfully done, not to mention brilliantly filmed (with strong, striking images). But I felt that they would have had more emotional heft if the audience had received more . . . morsels along the way. For example, earlier, more frequent flashbacks of Spike with Julia, or Spike with Vicious, or of Spike's time with the Red Dragon Syndicate generally.

No review of Bebop is complete without a comment on the amazing music. I can't really explain why it was so awesome. From the second the opening sequences flashes across the screen and the jazzy trumpets blare, Bebop sets the tone of how the series will be: improvisatory and just plain cool. The music is spot on throughout the show, but I noticed its excellence most during the final two episodes. (Angelic choirs, anyone?)

I have a feeling that Bebop will improve with additional viewings, that there are deeper messages and morsels hidden away that I just didn't catch because I watched the episodes so... episodically, for lack of a better word.

This is a series to own! FRIVOLOUS PURCHASE, HERE I COME!

Code Geass: Reaction Post

HUGE DISCLAIMER: This reaction (not really a review) is based on 2 episodes watched.

Code Geass was highly recommended to me from a number of sources / websites. Now, I suppose I could be convinced otherwise, but I just watched two episodes of Code Geass and am finding this show literally UNWATCHABLE. I just could not continue and needed to vent RIGHT AWAY.

REASONS:

1) The annoying character percentage is off the charts. Let's see, we have Lelouch, punk-ass "smart" kid who suddenly becomes chessmaster god. Then there's Lulu's friend with the Indiana Jones-style motorcycle, who seems to be completely useless. And Karen/Kallen (?), the girl rebel with the pink hair, whose only acceptable decibel level is "loud." To her left, we have the entire cadre of rebels who listen to some random guy on a radio link. Across the way, we are briefly introduced to Lelouch's bevy of busty, scantily clad, and annoying schoolgirl mates. Back near the battlefield, there's a random bug-eyed scientist and his meek scientist-girl buddy friend, who talk to Evil Fat General, who communicates with Evil Cocky Badguy with Bug-Eyes in the Knightmare Mecha Machine. And then we have Clovis, the smarmy and remarkably one dimensional evil prince. Top that off with the weird green-haired girl (named CC, apparently) who looks like Amber from Darker Than Black.

Good god, someone please shoot me! In fact, I'm hard pressed to name a single character introduced to me in the first two episodes that I didn't instantly find incredibly, incredibly annoying.

2) Lack of nuance: Oh, really, am I supposed to hate the Brittanians for what they did to poor old Japan? I didn't realize! I needed to be smashed over the head with it. In fact, I think we need another few scenes of Brittanians stabbing Japanese babies with bayonets, just to make sure I get the point.

3) Rushed pacing: Whoa, there's a chess game, whoa there's a country raping another country, and whoa there are mecha robots blowing each other up! And people dying all over the place! And evil people! Whoa, and a school! With babes in swimsuits! And whoa, there's a weird girl with a weird power who gives said weird power to main character! Whoa, now main character is leading a REBELLION!

Um, who ARE these characters? Why should I give a flying f*ck? I'm only just getting used to Japanese people being called 11s!

4) Annoying character design / art: This is just my personal preference, but I hate pointy-chin style drawing. Maybe that's part of the reason I found these characters so instantly annoying. And yes, I know anime eyes are big and often have weird colors and stuff, but this was just color overload. Plus, why does Lelouch have limbs that are like toothpicks? Agh! I wanted to scratch my eyes out.

5) Mecha: Okay, this is another personal preference, but . . . I think I'm realizing that I generally dislike mecha anime. Just as in Evangelion, I just don't find robot fighting to be at all interesting to watch. Maybe I should've known to stay away from Code Geass then, but I think ANY sort of action anime--be they mecha, samurai, shoot 'em ups--can be entertaining to me if done well.

Well, I'm going to drop this anime. I couldn't even stomach 2 episodes without wanting to strangle someone. I'm not sure how I'd make it through ... 20+ or whatever.

Maybe I'm making a huge mistake here and the series gets better and the characters get more developed and the plot more nuanced.

But based on what little I've seen, I doubt it. For now, I'm moving onto something else...

Avatar: Legend of Korra!

I'm drooling all over myself: a teaser trailer for Avatar: The Legend of Korra (the spin-off series following Avatar: The Last Airbender) has come out of Comic-Con.

IT LOOKS SO GOOD. Not to mention the new protagonist, Korra, who is the new [female!!] avatar, looks incredibly kickass! Oh, be still my heart.

The series creators also revealed a bunch of exciting details about the new series, such as the fact that there are metalbending police led by Toph's daughter!

Oh. My. Gah! AND there will be mixed martial arts in the series. Amazing.

I AM SO EXCITED.

Darker Than Black: Review

[/edited, after properly watching everything in chronological order and watching S2 for real]

Another anime to notch in my belt: Darker Than Black Seasons 1 and 2, and the accompanying 4-episode OAV, Darker Than Black: Kuro no Keiyakusha: Gaiden.

Although I did not initially watch them in this order, chronologically, DtB progresses with S1, the OAVs, and then S2.

DARKER THAN BLACK: S1 REVIEW

DtB is something of a cross between Cowboy Bebop and X-Men. Seriously, there's even a contractor whose powers are pretty much just like Storm's. It's cool, mysterious, stylish (I love the noir nods), fun, and there are people with ridiculously awesome superpowers running amok. Some fans call Hei "Chinese Electric Batman," which may be the most hilarious and spot-on fan-name ever.

Plot

S1 of the series largely unfolds in 2-episode arcs, which really gives it narrative drive. How can you NOT click "Play Next Episode" on Netflix at the end of one episode of a mini-arc? As with any arc-based series, though some of the arcs are stronger than the others. Anything involving Mi-6 agents or the Blood Spatter Guy was usually awesome. Episodes featuring Detective Guy Kurosawa were less interesting.

The main plot unfolds pretty slowly, with little pieces dangled for you along the way. The plot is nothing to write home about, and not particularly original. Basically, there are some Syndicate bad boys (apparently a conglomerate of national intelligence organizations or something) playing puppeteer behind the scenes and trying to annihilate all the contractors, and the contractors organize and strike back. And our hero, Hei, chooses a middle path and kills the fewest people by neutralizing the Syndicate's plan. Your classic good guy underdog beats bad guy story, I guess. Oh, and to tap another overdone trope, the bad guy is a large nameless organization with an intimidating name!

I'm making it sound worse than it was. I actually found the plot quite engaging. But for me, this wasn't really a series about plot, although I found the revelations about Hei's past and Amber's plan very interesting. There were no gripping twists and turns; the story was gently and skillfully unfolded before us, but the series was more about the characters. And the action sequences!!!

Characters

Well, specifically, one character: Hei/Li.

For the most part, the other characters in the series were not particularly interesting--as characters. But that doesn't mean they weren't entertaining! In fact, one of the things that kept me hooked on the show was waiting to find out what powers other contractors had, and what prices they had to pay for those powers. I loved everyone in the Mi-6 British intelligence group, for instance. And Amber's time-bending power (and becoming-young remuneration) was awesome. Call it the X-Men effect, but hell, I just wanna see what these motherf*ckers can DO!

The side characters were kind of blah. We had Misaki, the straight-laced strong female cop. While I appreciated that she wasn't a Simpering Anime Woman, she was really kind of a dull character. As was her bevy of police buddies. And the random detective and assistant that were brought in for comic relief were just annoying.

There was some potential for interesting mini-arc characters: I would have liked to know more about Havoc the red-haired crazy mass killer contractor and Nick, Hei's astronomy buddy (I did NOT understand what ended up happening to him). But the mini-arc side characters inevitably died by the end of the arc, with few exceptions.

The other members of Hei's team, though, were for the most part. . . just okay. I appreciated that the show tried to develop each team member's back story, but none of the characters--Mao the cat, Yin the doll, and Kuno the ex-cop--really resonated with me. Their character development was subtle, and also not particularly effective. How do you care about a doll, even one that cries and shows a tiny bit of emotion? Sure, she can cry and grab Hei's hand, but that doesn't mean the audience connects with her on any level.

Which brings me back to Hei. I might be a sucker for split personality characters: Hei/Li is sort of reminiscent of Battousai vs. Kenshin in Rurouni Kenshin, although Hei doesn't have Kenshin's moral qualms and is all the more fascinating for it. I found Hei and his growth over the course of the series really interesting. Human or contractor? Hei or Li? Good or evil? Identity crisis! I would have loved to have seen more development of the 'Black Reaper' persona. I guess I like my characters nice and dark.

The ending of the series--and quasi-resolution of the Hei vs. Li bit--seemed too convenient somehow: it gave a relatively simple answer to a murky question--i.e., that Nice Guy Li is the real Hei, and he only started killing to be with his sister, but it's okay because he can be both nice AND badass! Kind of a copout, but still fun to watch unfold.

Also, can I just say that from an action standpoint, Hei is just incredibly badass? Hei has one of the most kickass powers and awesome character designs in the show, with his stylish-yet-practical bulletproof jacket ("doesn't wear it as a fashion statement") and his dark dull unhappy eyes, which reminded me a bit of L from Death Note. Action sequences featuring Hei were always a highlight. Though Hei did suffer from a little bit of Steven Seagal syndrome (i.e., you know he could never lose--he's just that badass), I found that it didn't really detract from my enjoyment of the action scenes. His fighting style is just really, really fun to watch.

Animation

Well done, fluid animation. Nice, dark color palette. Awesome fight sequences. In particular, I enjoyed the fights between Hei and the blood-spatter guy. And November 11's fights. I went back and rewatched fight sequences in a lot of the episodes just 'cos they were that awesome.

Music

Just wanted to comment that the show's opening theme song ("Howling," by Abingdon Boys Schools) is pretty damn badass. It changed in the second half of the season, unfortunately, to something inferior. I also enjoyed the action sequence music. Appropriately heart-pumping. When that electric guitar came on, you knew someone was gonna get fried. This is a soundtrack I plan to download for my iPod shuffle.

Overall

On the whole, I quite enjoyed Darker Than Black S1. Strong forward-moving narrative. Great action scenes with a lot of re-watch value. Creative. Mysterious--the series left open a huge number of questions (such as what the Gates themselves are, what happened to the stars, and how contractors and dolls came into being). It even had the good sense to make fun of itself (and anime, and anime fangirls... like me, haha) in its post-season finale "epilogue" episode (ep. 26).

It's not in the same league as Death Note or Avatar: the Last Airbender in terms of story and character-building. But it was tremendously entertaining. (It even derailed me from going through Cowboy Bebop!) And for sheer entertainment value, I'd say it ranks in the top of the anime I have watched.

DARKER THAN BLACK OAV REVIEW

Although it aired after S2, the OAV actually takes place chronologically between the seasons.

Here's my bottom line on the OAV: it had some kickassingly awesome action sequences, but little of the compelling character work of S1. The opening battle sequence was absolutely breathtaking, and there are many such awesome sequences throughout the 4 OAV episodes.

The problem was that the character work wasn't quite there. The show tried to develop the Hei/Yin relationship, but for me it felt extremely forced--as if they were trying to please shipping fangirls. I was annoyed. It really just didn't make any sense to me, except as a device to suck in a susceptible female audience.

Well, I couldn't stand most of the lovey dovey Hei/Yin handholding scenes. I wanted to see Hei become a leader, develop a plan, set goals and execute them--maybe even take down the entire damn Syndicate. I did NOT want to see him run around aimlessly trying to protect some personality-less doll. Without a narrative to propel the story, I was left clamoring for more Hei-electro-fries-everybody-else action scenes.

I appreciated that the OAV made S2 more comprehensible, but the increasing weirdness of the supernatural plot from the OAVs into S2 just made me go "WTF." Yin turns into some crazy Izanami thing that kills contractors because she evolved too fast out of love for Hei?! And she's destined to join with Izanagi and bring forth devastating change to the world? WTF. Again, my reaction reminded me of my reaction to the end of Evangelion. I guess my appreciation for the supernatural only goes so far.

Oh wells. Anyway, I enjoyed the OAV because of aforementioned kickass action sequences. Black Reaper, so badass. But . . . nothing really lives up to Season 1 . . .

DARKER THAN BLACK: S2 REVIEW

I watched S2 the first time around sort of on fast forward and without having had the benefit of watching the OAVs, which explained a lot of what had happened. I couldn't stand the new protagonist, Suo, or "Hobo" Hei's drastic change of character, or the crazy supernatural plot. I hated it.

But I think I didn't give it a fair chance that first time around. I have now properly watched S2 from beginning to end, and thought it was considerably inferior to S1, but still . . . pretty decent.

Much of my previous critique remains, of course. I still hate that "Hobo" Hei is a scraggly, child-abusing drunkard with doesn't eat anymore. I still hate that he loses his electro-power after episode 2, which sucks the fun out of the action sequences; 10 of 12 episodes without the show's iconic electro-power is just disappointing.

As for the new main character, Suo, I still thought her kind of annoying, although I appreciated her feisty-ness much more during the second viewing. Still, I will not retract my statement about her contractor ability being literally the dumbest thing I have ever seen: she can spawn . . . get ready for it . . . an anti-tank gun with 6 rounds of ammo. Yup, limited ammo. Oh, and the gun needs to be summoned every once in a while for maintenance and repairs. WTF!?!?! It's so stupid.

I did love 2 of the characters introduced/developed in this season, though: (1) Mina Hazuki, aka "Lightsaber Lesbian," who is a kickass wielder of energy weapons whose remuneration is to kiss men, although she prefers women; (2) July, the Mi-6 doll, who joined up with Hei and Suo and is just plain adorable.

Even on the second viewing, and with the benefit of having watched the OAVs, S2's plot was still incomprehensible. There were a million different factions, and syndicate groups, and intelligence agencies, and I still have no idea who Madam Oreille was. There was no rhyme or reason to any of it, and mostly the plot just went off into cuckoo land--kind of like the end of Evangelion.

That said, it was still a decent season of anime. Good action sequences, well-animated. It just fell far short of both the OAV and, especially, S1.

Camelot: Season 1 Review

I was so excited when I heard about this series. I love the Arthurian legend, love knights in armor fighting each other, enjoyed Eva Green's turn as a Bond girl, and the previews looked excellent.

The opening sequence of the show drew me in immediately with beautiful music and cinematography.

Unfortunately, it was a steady downhill from there.

Some time after one too many annoying Arthur-Guinevere scene, I lost interest.

The knights of Camelot? A bunch of character-less faces. The only one with any substance was Gawain. And Leontes was just... boring. Merlin? Overacted and with not much to do. Arthur? Dragged down by weak acting and a weaker script. Guinevere? Please die--I felt the same way toward her as I did toward BBC Robin Hood's Maid Marian after a while. Camelot? Lame. Fight scenes? Meh. Storyline? A frequently nonsensical snoozefest. Characterization? What's that?

The only remotely redeeming aspect of the show was Morgan. I found her relationship with Sybil the Nun mildly interesting. Eva Green did well with what she was given, but unfortunately she really wasn't given very much. I made myself finish watching the series, hoping that it would get better, but it became an afterthought--an "oh, I guess I have nothing better to do" rather than a "I can't wait to watch the next episode!"

To illustrate, Camelot killed off 3 main characters in its Season 1 finale. I was bored, nearly fell asleep during the episode, and said "ho hum" when they died. Contrast that with my reaction to Game of Thrones. I didn't care about a single character in Camelot, so killing them produced no dramatic payoff. In fact, doing anything with them provides no dramatic payoff.

I'm going back to BBC's Merlin series, which at least didn't take itself too seriously. And has Anthony Stewart Head, who is awesome as Uther. Goodbye, Camelot! Even if you scrape by a Season 2, I ain't watchin'!

Where was the magic in Camelot? Well, guess I'll have to wait until Harry Potter 7 part 2 comes out for any magic.

Baelor Thoughts

I've watched Baelor, episode 9 of Game of Thrones, twice now, and it has hit me hard both times. And that was despite having read the book. Such a great story, such a great show.

I'm kind of surprised to hear that a lot of fans of the TV show are livid at HBO/George RR Martin/the world about the rapid exit of the character. Many have threatened to never watch the show again, etc. Apparently many readers who came to that part in the book threw the book across the room and screamed at it. Really? Seriously?

I guess I spoiled myself, so the surprise/holy shit element wasn't there for me, but that moment was when I fell in love with the book, when I knew it REALLY wasn't Just Another Fantasy Story. I loved the ballsy, bold move. I loved that the author was using the Hero narrative to pull the rug out from under his readers. That was what was so bloody brilliant about it. Until the last second, we all kept thinking someone would come save the day, because that's how it always plays out.

But of course, in real life, that's not how it always plays out. The good guys don't always win. Also, there aren't really good guys. The winners write the history. Winning is about power. Maybe we turn to books and TV because we need to be lied to, and maybe that's why Baelor has made some fans so pissed off. We want reality suspended.

But Game of Thrones has the balls to bring reality crashing down on us. And so damn effectively. God, that scene is just SO epic. EPIC. Epic. Epic.

Sex Is Not Evil

This op-ed against teen condom distribution is a load of horseshit and makes me mad.

The writer seems to be equating teen sex with "alcohol use, racism, sexism, homophobia, guns, bullying, or, God forbid, climate change." What a Victorian, negative, Judeo-Christian sex-is-evil, sex-is-sin attitude. At least this author doesn't seem to be clearly making an argument for abstinence-only education, which is about the most obviously retarded thing known to mankind.

His evidence? Massachusetts law: "Sexual intercourse and sodomy with a person under 16 is criminal in Massachusetts. Consent is not a defense; a victim that young is conclusively presumed to be incapable of giving it." Ah, right, law as morality, as passed by old white men in the 1800s. Lovely.

Glee: Season 1 Review

This show sounded tremendously stupid when I first heard the concept. But for some reason, it really won me over. I'm a total Gleek!

It's not a good show. The characters and story often don't make sense. But the show is extraordinarily entertaining, what with Sue Sylvester's delicious lines and the fun musical numbers. Well, sometimes the musical numbers are not that good, and I see why people say the Glee soundtrack is overproduced, but the first season of this show has been very fun to watch. Just fun. Maybe a little too fun...

Since When Do I Get Inspired By Images?

Some images and colors that inspired me--firebender colors! Good lord, since when do I get inspired by images? This wedding thing has warped my brain.

The Industry Is Out To Get Us

So you want to tie the knot, eh? Well, hundreds of bridal industry businesses want to jump on your boat and drain you for all you're worth, apparently. Dresses can cost up to infinity. Then there's the veil and the shoes and the reception hall and the food and the flowers and the DJ and the party favors and the musicians at the ceremony and the marriage license fee and then you've gotta cough up $400 just to pay some stranger to say a few legally binding words at your non-religious ceremony because of some stupid-ass state law that requires a state-registered officiant to preside over ceremonies.

There's all this hullabaloo about same-sex marriage. Well, clearly the answer is that THE STATE SHOULD GET THE HELL OUT OF MARRIAGE. But of course, all those marriage license fees and boons for the the booming wedding officiant industry--you can't easily wipe those out...

Grrrrrr.

Favorite BtVs Moments/Episodes

Procrastinating from my paper. Here is a list of my favorite moments or episodes from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

• "Giles, I'm 16 years old. I don't wanna die." in Prophecy Girl, S1 finale
• School Hard, S2 when Spike and Dru are introduced
• Halloween, S2
• What's My Line? (Dru's coming back party), S2
  
• Innocence, S2
• Passion, S2
• Becoming, S2 finale
• "I'm Buffy, the vampire slayer, and you are?" in Anne, S3 opener
• Spike's speech in Lovers Walk, S3
• The Wish, S3
• Buffy saves Jonathan in Earshot, S3
  
• "Class Protector Award" in The Prom, S3
• Graduating class fights together in Graduation Day, S3 finale
• Who Are You?, S4
  
• Willow's spell on Buffy and Spike in Something Blue, S4
• Hush, S4
• "Out for a walk, bitch." in No place Like Home, S5
  
• Fool for Love, S5
• Crush, S5
• Buffy rewards Spike for not telling Glory about the Key in Intervention, S5
  
• The Body, S5
• The Gift, S5 finale
• Bargaining, S6
• After Life, S6
• Once More With Feeling, S6
• Tabula Rasa, S6
  
• Smashed, S6
  
• Xander saves the world from Willow in Grave, S6 finale
• Spike on the cross and his big reveal in Beneath You, S7
• Buffy tells Spike she believes in him in Never Leave Me, S7
  
• Lies My Parents Told Me, S7
  
• Spike's speech to Buffy in Touched, S7
• "Where you there with me?" "I was." in End of Days, S7
  
• Chosen, S7 finale and series finale

Goodbye Borders

The two years between college and law school were some of my most prolific reading years. (Yes, sad and pathetic, I know. During college and law school, I have been hard pressed to find the time (and mostly the energy) to delve into good books. My attention span usually lasts for a brief tour through the day's news . . . and that's about all. ) The 45-minute-each-way commute lent itself to a glorious one-book-per-week tour through some excellent fiction and non-fiction reading.

During those two years, my favorite haunt was the Borders bookstore in Copley Square, across the street from my workplace. The buy one get 50% off deal got me every time. Sometimes I got lulled into buying completely dull reads (an atrocious book called "Winkie" comes to mind). But other times, I came across influential gems ("Mountains Beyond Mountains," "The Graves Are Not Yet Full") that I might never have read had I just been making a beeline for the book I wanted on Amazon. Mostly, I just really enjoyed the physical act of browsing through a bookstore. I filled my tiny little bookshelf and looked forward to the day when I might get a bigger bookshelf and organize all my books like a geek.

I guess this is a lament, a nostalgic sigh as Borders enters its Chapter 11 proceedings. I suppose the age of the physical store is waning (or already over). First music stores. Now book stores. Perhaps clothing stores are next. I think I may be one of a dying breed who still misses the days of CD albums, who still does not own an iPod or zune or whatever they are called, who prefers a dog-eared book to one of those fancy e-reader or iPad things. I certainly did my part in contributing to the downfall of the physical store, what with all the CDs and DVDs and books that I've bought from Amazon, so I suppose I have no right to complain.That doesn't mean I won't miss the traditional bookstore, though. Goodbye, Borders.

Ridiculous Email

XX just received the following email from a "friend" she hasn't talked with for many years. Names have obviously been redacted - he'll be referred to as Solicitor and college has also been redacted to College.

Hi XX,

I hope you’re doing well. I haven’t seen you in awhile, but last I heard you’re kicking butt at *Law School*. Have you and *Solicitor's girlfriend* hung out yet in *City Name*? She is finishing up her last year in Med School, so time is running out!

I think you maybe heard, but *Solicitor's girlfriend* and I are getting married! Chicago in early May of 2011. I'm hoping we get OK weather... This Christmas, I brought my never-traveled-internationally family out to China to see *Solicitor's girlfriend*'s extended family in Beijing for a large wedding banquet. It was one of those awesome cultural experiences, and my dad didn't even throw up at the sight of broiled sea cucumber (XY Note: broiled sea cucumber is actually quite good - squeamish Americans...)

Here’s the ulterior (XY Note: at least he acknowledged it) motive part -- I'm writing to see if you wanted to donate to the 5th Reunion *College* Class Gift. After getting thoroughly jaded by being one of *College* Senior Gift leaders (THANK YOU again for donating to Senior Gift and then again in 2007 and 2010!), I didn't think I'd ever again end up helping *College* solicit donations. (XY note: yet here you are...)

What really has resonated with me over the last few years (and made me want to solicit donations again) is how *College* has DRAMATICALLY enhanced financial aid for families of all levels of means. I.E., families with under $60k in income don't pay a cent. And families with incomes up to $180k get some level of financial aid. That's way better than any other school. It allows parents of all means to put their smart kids into *College* and on track to change completely the opportunities that they can access. I'm pledging $5000, myself, to support this continued sweetening of the pot that's going on only at *College*.

Three housekeeping things -- First, obviously your donation i tax deductible. So if you donate this year you can get the deduction for 2011. Second, for the 5th Reunion Gift you can pledge an amount and pay it off over 3 years. For example, if you pledge $1000 (or whatever), you would get that $1000 counted towards the 5th Reunion Gift but you could pay it off in 2012 or 2013. Third, if you have a company or organization that will match donations, the entire amount (including match) gets counted towards your donation.

Any questions, let me know! There are lots of ways that you can direct your donation only to areas you care about most. The website where you can donate is: *website link redacted*. If you want to do the pledge and then pay off over a few years, let me know and I will get you into touch with *Another Solicitor* from the Reunion Committee who can help you..

Finally, if you have some extra time and the inclination, the 5th Reunion Gift Committee is looking for new volunteers. They just recruited me a few months ago...

-*Solicitor*

On a level of 1-10 how inappropriate is this email? I'll put it at a 7. I guess if you have no shame then just spamming people emails like this (faux catch-up with a huge solicitation attached at the end) isn't a big deal - but I don't think I could bring myself to send this kind of email. Anyways a top 10 list of reasons not to give:

1) tax deductions are meaningless to someone with no income.

2) his preference for giving does not impact your preference for giving.

3) you prefer more global giving (i.e. you donate to global charities) that help the poor in other countries - who almost certainly have a greater marginal benefit from that $$.

4) money is fungible - i.e., your donation is not actually being funneled to the people receiving the student aid. In other words, your donation has absolutely zero impact on *College*'s student aid policies.

5) you don't think that parents with 180k in annual income (which puts them in the 94th percentile of income distribution) deserve financial relief.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_States

6) *College* has a very large endowment and other universities almost certainly need that $$ more than *College* - it actually might help higher education to give to other schools.

7) *College* has had this policy for a few years now (I think since 2008? And I'm sure it was retroactive so existing students received benefits) - so I'm not sure what he means by dramatically increasing student aid - I guess relative to 3 or 4 years ago?

8) don't trust *College*'s investment managers - they got hammered during the financial crisis.

9) don't believe any non profit institutions should have a (*large number*) billion endowment that they are just sitting on.

Last but not least...

10) personal solicitations couched in "catch-up" emails to be very distasteful.