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.