Well, tiredness, bad Internet connections in San Diego, and life got a little in the way–but here’s the Day 1 video diary for this year’s Comic Con! Days 2 and 3 should be ready tomorrow. This episode is notable for having some big names in the video, namely Stan Lee and Samuel L. Jackson for Afro Samurai! (Which IS a real anime–it was conceived and written by a Japanese person, Takashi Okazaki, and animated by Gonzo. Plus, I reviewed the first episode long ago.) Comic Con, in general, has much more liberal film and photography rules–this sort of thing would not be possible for equivalent Japanese guests at AX or at Comic Con either (witness our lack of footage for Tite Kubo).

Incidentally–Paul screened this before I published this so hopefully, no hard feelings. :) He was a really cool guy to hang out with.

Days 2 and 3 will feature a lot more of the usual fan interviews. But this is the celebrity footage edition. Only from Anime Diet. :)

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I’ve been following Hidamari for quite some time now. I know Mike spoke a while back about those simple shows you end up going back to instead of watching “deeper” stuff. Hidamari fills that role for me. It’s a nice, sweet slice of life series with a couple laughs to keep things interesting.

As in most slice of life shows each character has their own quirks. Yuno, the “main” character and youngest of the bunch, tends to forget things and can be a bit naive at times. Hiro is constantly worried about her weight and trying to go on diets. Sae is a bit withdrawn and tries to act older, but it’s often revealed how sensitive she is. Topping it all off is Miya, the goofy, hungry comic relief of the bunch. But like any great slice of life show, these stereotypes are just the basis of the characters. They exist to give you an instant hook to relate to, but the real meat of the series comes later, when you see each character’s idiosyncrasies come out and are built upon throughout the show.

Hidamari Sketch is also notable for how the creators ran with the premise. The four girls go to school in an art school, and the animators aren’t afraid to try new, simple, sometimes off the wall things with the artwork in the show. You’ll see a lot of things the characters are thinking about positioned oddly and colored strangely in the background, photographs of real life objects used for items the character interact with, color schemes, textured backgrounds, and a myriad of other chancy moves that pay off and make this series fun to watch to see what they’ll do next.

In the end though, the great writing outweighs the art gimmick, and this is truly a fun series to watch. I like getting to know the characters, and seeing how they’ll react to each new situation. Dialog is a strong point of this series too. You never feel as if a character loses their voice, and there are puns galore.

All in all I’d heartily recommend Hidamari Sketch if you’re a fan of slice of life, Yon-Koma anime (as it’s based on such a strip), comedy, or if you’re just looking for something fun and easy to put on.

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Impressions

This shot echoes the famous picture of Cosette from the original edition of the novel, which also became the iconic picture for the musical.

It’s now very evident that this is a children’s show, since the focus is so frequently on the lives of the kids (Cosette of course, but also Alain, Gavroche, and Eponine and Azelma). I realize that the subtitle of the show kinda gives away what the creators want to focus on, but I was still secretly hoping to see a more elaborate retelling of Jean Valjean’s backstory, particularly the scene of his redemption by the Bishop of Digne. (Especially since the episode is called “Jean Valjean’s Secret.”) It’s a very powerful backstory and I feel it deserved a little more screen time than it got.
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Impressions

Say what? Yet another version of Les Miserables, and it's actually the second time it's been done as an anime? This series caught my eye anyway, seeing that I'm always fascinated by Japanese takes on familiar western stories (like Akira Kurosawa's Shakespeare adaptations–not to mention the upcoming Romeo and Juliet anime). This one just started, so it's too early to tell, but so far, it's interesting enough for me to continue watching when more episodes are out. It's also been a while since I read an abridged version of the Victor Hugo novel and saw the musical in London, so I needed a refresher of the plot–and this seems good as any. With 52 episodes, they should be able to cover the bulk of the story.

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Impressions (SPOILERS)

And so the most intelligent and exciting action anime to come along in a while closes its most extensive arc yet, with plenty of room for more seasons to come. (Though my hopes that Yukio, the schoolgirl Yakuza boss, might become a recurring character were, alas, not to be.) The reflective dialogue in this and the previous episodes lifts Black Lagoon into the ranks of the more intelligent action genre films like Michael Mann’s Heat or Collateral. This is also a show that isn’t afraid to develop characters very well, only to kill them off –arguably, Yukio is better sketched than mainstays Rock and Revy, though here we get to see a very, very vulnerable (for her) side of Revy. She’s back in character by the very last scene but we get the impression that when she says “If it were anyone but you, I’d have put two or three holes in you” it is as close to a love confession as she will ever come to.

Some of the broader issues Black Lagoon brings up are very interesting. Rock throughout the show, though more at the beginning, represents “civilian” values or perhaps more precisely the point of view of someone accustomed to comfort and unused to the brutally utilitarian underworld. The show, usually through the voices of Revy and Balalaika, works hard to undermine that viewpoint as being naive and arbitrary (though I wonder: Revy, ostensibly a nonbeliever, blurts out in episode 23 that the only thing that saved Rock’s skin was “God’s grace” and Balalaika’s surprising mercy). Eventually Rock adopts many of the values of the underworld, though never without completely losing any sense of compassion. It’s as if he has come to some sort of balance, of a sort, able to act decisively and coldly when necessary, but without becoming a war addict like Balalaika.

If one wants to push it a bit one can see a little of the realization that the pacifistic attitude among many modern Japanese is based less on principle and more on denial. I certainly agree, if the naive pacifism of many an anime is any indicator of general attitudes in Japan. Now I’m not sure the violent cynicism that passes for cool in this show–a very American attitude, I might add, and one which will make this show very easy to swallow for fans of films like Pulp Fiction and The Boondock Saints–is any better, but it certainly has a better claim on reality, I think. (The characters, Yakuza schoolgirl and Revy included, are also self-aware enough to admit that part of them longs for the flabby tranquility that Rock’s Japan stands for.) I also find it interesting that the prevailing attitude of most of the characters in the show is that they are beyond help, beyond any point where they can change their paths. This fatalistic attitude, laden with notions of “destiny,” is what seems more “Japanese” about it; Americans are more inclined to think that “it’s never too late to start again!” But everyone in this show already considers themselves as living in the twilight, as living dead. The Sartre quotations are oddly appropriate; the existentialist despair that pervades this show demands nothing less. There’s nothing left except to make one’s own meaning and go all the way, guns blazing.

More excellent analysis of this final episode is here.

So: Black Lagoon ends fittingly, with a gun shot, with the characters returning to their posts and ready for more adventures. May they go on many more than we otaku fanboys can see. Preferably with her:

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Impressions

The first episode of Afro Samurai, the Japanese-animated and Samuel L. Jackson-voiced Gonzo production, is now available for viewing for free on the Spike TV website. It’s a fairly safe bet that the project rides almost entirely on Jackson’s name recognition (Ron Perlman also has a voice too). But how does it stack up, as an anime? If this were any other anime with standard Japanese voice seiyuu, would this stand out?

The answer is, unfortunately, no. Jackson, for one thing, hardly has any lines in this episode, so those watching who are mainly hoping for him to redo his Pulp Fiction routine in animated form will have to rent The Boondocks instead. And while it’s hard to judge too much from just the first episode, the story feels cliched and unsurprising, a rehash of animes like Ninja Scroll and (you’ll see in the story summary) Jubei-chan and the Secret of the Lovely Eyepatch. (It should be noted that the screenplay was scripted by Japanese then translated into English, so it’s their cliches we’re working with. It’s actually based on a doujinshi by Takashi Okazaki.) We learn very little about the title character other than the facts that 1.) he watched his daddy die; 2.) he’s a BADASS MOTHER (shut yo mouth), but this time I’m talking WITH A SWORD (we can dig it).* In other words, exactly what he appears to be, so far. (And right off the bat, he gains an annoying Eddie Murphy-like sidekick, the Ron Perlman character.) There’s also a Fuu-like girl who works at a restaurant, but she only appears in one scene.

The animation quality is, as one expects from Gonzo, predictably high, with a overreliance on flapping clothes in the wind and a rather limited color palette. RZA’s music is actually decent, or at least fits the scenes.

On the whole, it’s not really anything beyond what one would expect from the title, Afro Samurai. Time will tell whether it will match the greatness of its most immediate competitor, Samurai Champloo, or past greats like Ninja Scroll and the Rurouni Kenshin OAV, but so far…yawn.

* Note: Jackson does not actually swear in the show, yet. I’m sure he will eventually…if they were willing to reshoot “Snakes on a Plane” to add profanity, they certainly can do it to an anime where people’s heads get sliced open.
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When I first watched the show I was only impressed with the fact that there’s a main girl with two large guns IN HER HANDS, a probable high body count, and just about everyone in the Lagoon Co. is bad ass of some sort, except Roc, who’s sort of a wuz.
As time went on, I realized that I was wrong about a few things.
1. The body count in Black Lagoon isn’t as high as I thought it would be. Noir had a high body count.
2. Black Lagoon had great character developments. I mean, I thought bad ass villains are usually just that, bad ass villains. And even if there any reasons, they are usually pretty lame.
Not so with Revy. It wasn’t like her story was a weepy story that made anyone sympathize with her. Her story simply showed what could happen when bad/evil things happen to normal slum people.
3. There may be some touching redeeming points in the show. Again, not so. The world that Roc, the real protagonist is in, is evil without any redeeming possibilities, and we really see that at the end of eps 24. Of course, people smarter than I probably already guessed that, but I never did guess it.
Roc is probably the only person in this show that shed some good light to everyone around him. But his light is dim and weak.
Anyway, for an overall package of great action, plot, character without any cheesy touching emotional moments, give this one a shot.
Oh yeah, and Revy has a deep side that isn’t cheesy or crappily made up at all. A real pleasant surprise.

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