Spring 2010 Anime at a Glance

[A Black Falcon]

Really? Boring? I think it's quite good... they still haven't matched the first one (Noir), but at least it's an improvement from Madlax.

Have you watched Noir? Maybe you just don't like this style of show, but as I do think it's probably the best of them, it's worth at least a try I think. I really liked it, as I've said. Great, interesting characters (sure they are flawed and merciless assassins, but that is what makes these shows different, the focus on that kind of character...), interesting stories (yes, it's often tragic and sad. Most episodes are like that. It manages to be quite good anyway, I thought.), the music, attention to detail (I actually watched it on DVD, and the extras were interesting -- they had art galleries showing all the detail they put into getting the guns right, etc. Some kind of voiceover there too, I think, saying more about that?), and more... it is somewhat slow paced at times, I guess, but I don't mind that if the show is interesting and has a good story. And Noir doesn't have any of those episodes like Madlax with no action...

I mean, with Madlax, a bunch of the episodes star that girl in the peaceful city. These shows are supposed to be about girls with guns shooting things, and like a third or more of the episodes are mostly nonviolent? It doesn't work. Definitely makes Madlax feel less interesting than Noir or El Cazador. Also, Madlax herself doesn't really seem to fight as credibly as the others... just in the first few episodes she had several of those stupid "I'm just going to stand here and fire at the enemies without moving as I'm so awesome that they can't even hit me even if I stand still" stuff, like you also see in Black Heaven and some other shows. I don't like that, it's kind of stupid. Madlax does have a classic Noir-ish plot in a lot of ways, all three series have a lot of thematic similarities for sure, but it just isn't done quite as well...

As for El Cazador, I'm only at episode three, but so far I'd put it between the two, well above Madlax but below Noir. The plot is interesting and I want to know what happens next, the action scenes rare so far but well done as always, the characters interestingly different from anything in the past two series (as I said in the last post), and more. What the heck is up with that creepy guy following them around, what is the villain's (erm, I'm assuming that the guy who seems evil is the villain... :)) plan, why does Ellis have those powers...

On a related note, the first .hack show, .hack//Sign is by FAR the best. .hack//Legend of the Twilight and .hack.//Roots don't come even close, Legend of the Twilight especially... haven't seen G.U., but as it's a video version of the videogame sequels to Roots, my expectations aren't overly high. It's really too bad, because the first season, Sign, really is fantastic. I've watched the whole series several times, and still love it. In comparison I haven't even gotten through the other series once, Liminality (the four episode OVA included with the first PS2 game series) excepted. Sign has a near-total focus on plot, very little combat, fantastic music (as I've said, like Noir's and no other animes I've seen) and visuals, interesting characters, and more... but then Legend of the Twilight is a lame, silly, and generic show full of fighting, G.U. is okay but not great compared to Sign, with less interesting characters, more generic music, and a much more standard presentation (quite a bit more fighting, that is), and Liminality was alright but short. It's too bad, the franchise started out so well...