The Spring 2011 Anime Preview Guide

Tim Maughan

Tim Maughan has been writing about anime and manga for over two years now, but watching and reading it for nearly 20. As well as his running own site – probably best known for it's argument starting list 10 Anime Films You Should See Before You Die - he also writes science fiction, with his first book 'Paintwork' due out at the end of this spring.

After being introduced seriously to anime by Akira in 1991, he became a mecha, and if he did have a dakimakura hug pillow it would be of a Shinohara Heavy Industries ARL-99 Helldiver Paradrop Labor. But he doesn't.

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Steins;Gate

Rating: 4

Review: Okarin is either one of two things: 1) a mad scientist fighting a worldwide conspiracy by the mysterious Agency who is manipulating the flow of time, or 2) a schizophrenic otaku suffering from severe paranoid delusions. The problem is, at times, even Okarin himself doesn't seem sure which is true.

Anime shows based on visual novels often feel inadequate when it comes to story, but Steins;Gate has one of those intriguing science fiction plotlines that instantly has you guessing and theorising as to what is really going on. It throws the audience in at the deep end – there's no exposition at all in the first half, despite several strange events and major plot points. It can be a bit bewildering to watch at first, but this is clearly the writer's intent – it is vital for the show's unique style to work that the viewer instantly questions Okarin's sanity, and the first half's chaotic editing and seemingly random narrative certainly accomplish this. It's not until the second half that characters are formally introduced and some background story are provided – but the latter takes the form of more of Okarin's paranoid ranting, further suggesting this might all just be a figment of his crazed imagination.

In fact Okarin's outbursts and nonsensical rambling could start to get tedious after a while, but at least in this first episode Steins;Gate's creepy, disconnected atmosphere stops that from ever happening – if anything, they become more disturbing. Atmosphere is Steins;Gate's best asset – the combination of its stark, cold art style and minimal soundtrack of ambient noise gives it an uncomfortable but appreciated edge. Combined with some skilfully confusing editing and its questioning of reality and the reliability of memories, the result is a show that is trying to resemble the work of the late Satoshi Kon rather than other conspiracy shows like the slightly wimpy Eden of the East.  Whether it can manage that for an entire series is the big question, but this episode is intriguing enough to make you stick around to find out.

Steins;Gate is available streaming at Crunchyroll.

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Tiger & Bunny

Rating: 4.5

Superheroes. You know the standard set-up: ordinary people start to emerge that have unique and fantastic powers, some of them turn to crime while others turn to vigilantism.  Good vs. Evil and the responsibility of power, it's the basis of every caped crusader story since the time began (well, up until Alan Moore wrote Watchmen, arguably). But what if things didn't work out quite like that? What if, instead, you could only legitimately fight crime if you had the official backing of a corporate sponsor? What if your ratings, celebrity status and performance in front of the cameras were more important than catching the actual crooks? Welcome to the city of Stern Bild.

Tiger & Bunny is so far the most interesting concept for an anime show this season, and may in fact be one of the most interesting ideas in anime for quite a while.  At a time when the industry has to fill every show with product placement and sponsorship deals, watching a story about exactly how those things work is fascinating. For a start, when watching a hero being told how to do their job by a sponsor that is breathing down their neck it's hard not to wonder if the writer or director is relating a personal experience.  Oh, and don't forget that some of the heroes are sponsored by real world companies like Pepsi, Ustream and Soft Bank, presumably meaning that the studio is receiving money actual money from them and making the relationships in the story even more interesting. Likewise when it is announced that the award ceremony song will be sung by one of the heroes - and is also available to buy - its impossible not to be reminded of those god awful OP and ED songs that are on every show these days, bear seemingly no relevance to the story, and are really just there to launch the careers of whatever Z-list pop starlet Sony music are trying to sell this season. Tiger & Bunny seems to be talking about a lot of things – from the commercialisation of the superhero genre through to reality TV – but most importantly it wants to tell you something about the state of the anime industry today.

For some of us (well, me) that on its own would probably be enough to make it worth watching, but Tiger & Bunny has a lot more to offer. For a start, it's very well written, with some great dry humour and snappy dialogue.  It also flies in the face of modern convention by making its main protagonist middle aged – he even has a kid to , who he doesn't get to see often enough due to superhero work commitments – meaning that it instantly has a more mature feel, despite the brightly coloured costumes and action sequences. Speaking of which: the show opens with an action sequence that must be at least 8 minutes long – something I've not seen done in a first episode for ages – which cleverly not only introduces the characters but also the setting and concepts without the need for lengthy exposition. If the show does have any setbacks it's on the visual side, sadly. There's an over-reliance on CGI – something that is unavoidable in the industry's current economic climate – and I'm not convinced by some of the character designs, which while clearly meaning to reference mecha and tokusatsu designs, look a little too tacky in places. But to be fair, that is probably the point.  And that in itself is a rarity– an anime show with more than one point it wants to make – meaning that Tiger & Bunny is not to be missed this season.

Tiger & Bunny is available streaming at Hulu, VizMedia.com and here on ANN.

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Hana-Saku Iroha

Rating: 2.5

Review: Ohana is 16 years old and loves to romanticize and over-think her life in the way only teenagers and sexy vampires can.  She is desperate for some drama to come along and shake up her life, and she gets her wish when her horrendously selfish mother runs off with her debt ridden boyfriend and packs her off to live with her grandmother. Things are not quite as exciting as she hoped though, as it turns out granny owns a hot spa inn and expects her to earn her keep, and she seems to get off on the wrong foot with all the other staff. Cue much emotional drama, awkwardness and self-pity.

There's no denying that HanaSaku Iroha is well made; the animation is way above average with some tasteful background art, and the script is witty in parts – well, at the start anyway. The early scenes of interaction between Ohana and her failure of a mother are quick and snappy, and seem to promise a little humorous edge. However by the time she gets to the countryside everything seems a little unrealistic and forced; for a start the way all the other employees seem to instantly hate her seems a little harsh and only there to create the necessary drama. Then again, after listening to her whiny, self obsessed internal narrative for 20 minutes I was starting to think that perhaps they had a point.

To be fair, this is a very well made show, and fans of this material will enjoy it – especially as it seems to be a cut above the rest in of production. It also appears to be, in far as the content and writing is concerned, a sensible show about teenage girls that might actually be aimed at teenage girls - which is always pleasing to see. Unfortunately it is just simply not material that interests me, and I just found it incredibly dull and predictable.

Hanasaku Iroha is available streaming at Crunchyroll.

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My Ordinary Life

Rating: 3

Based on the popular comedy manga Nichijou, My Ordinary Life is at first glance yet another Lucky Star gag show about cute little girls doing cute little girl stuff. That, coupled with an earplug demanding OP that seemingly goes on for about a month, makes it sound like the kind of anime I personally avoid.

However, first glances can be deceiving. Despite it not having the most original of premises, the show feels surprisingly polished and lovingly crafted. The writing is quite good for a start, and genuinely funny in places. Similarly it has a very gentle, warm art style that uses a soft, washed out palette of pastel colors that reminded me of Studio Ghibli's Only Yesterday. The character design might not be particularly innovative, but the calming art style does allow the animators to pull some contrasting and surprising tricks at times – within the first 3 minutes (and a couple more times throughout the episode) there's a literally explosive reference to the movie AKIRA, for example. 

My Ordinary Life also isn't afraid to just pour on the wackiness at times. One of the main girls is in fact a robot with a giant wind-up key in her back, while some of the boys at school sport a selection of great haircuts, including perhaps one of the greatest afros ever depicted in animated form. At one point someone shouts – with grave sincerity – "Arriving by goat doesn't violate school policy!" A personal highlight for me was the mini 4-koma style cartoon that pops up halfway through the episode about a clueless Grim Reaper. All this kind of material is often a lazy substitute for laughs in comedy anime, but here it largely hits the mark – perhaps again because it feels polished and well paced.

An enjoyable first episode, but I'm not sure if I'd return for much more.

My Ordinary Life is available streaming at Crunchyroll.