Animeciated: Azumanga Daioh

  I've spent many years estranged from the world of wide-eyes, insane hair colour spectrums and robots galore for a while now.  I've grown hungry for anime and now my appetite is being sated.  Welcome to Animeciated.  Where I make up for lost time in the years I've ignored the medium.

Original Manga written by Kiyohiko Azuma
Anime by J.C.Staff

  Where as my last review looked at something recent I thought I'd step back a bit and give my thoughts on one of my all-time favorites from the past.  The show that helped lift me up when I was going through a very rough patch in my life.

  I'm going to start off by saying I don't like the "Cute girls doing cute things" genre.  I often feel that's overly pandering with the same stock characters over and over.  This is indicative of anime as a whole but there are good exceptions where shows break the mold.

  Azumanga Daioh was a show before there was even a mold.  Before we had girls referencing the latest anime to have the otakus giggle at their recognition there were shows like this.  Azumanga Daioh in my opinion the most timeless slice of life high school comedy I've ever seen.

  Best to start from the most important part of any story, the plot and it's characters.  Azumanga takes place in the same generic high school you've seen in a million anime.  There's a pool, there's classes, there's halls.  It's pretty much familiar to most people who have followed this kind of genre.

  It's here where or gang of misfits meet.  There's Chiyo, an unnaturally gifted 10 year old admitted to high school due to her prodigy status.  Osaka, a slow-minded, peculiar girl with a strange insight on the world.  Tomo, a hyperactive sports jock who's best friends with Yomi the stern, studious girl with self-confidence issues regarding her weight.  Sakaki is a tall, mysterious one who's fond of animals (who are not fond of her) who's constantly being crushed upon by Kaorin, the schools resident uhh..  Ask Ellen Degeneres.  Adding to the mix are three quirky teachers.  The childish and impulsive Miss Yukari, her mature counterpart Miss Minamo and the only male (and naturally perverted) teacher Mr. Kimura.

Osaka marvels over the mechanics of Chiyo's pigtails.

  What follows is a series of slice of life escapades about hiccups, vendor machines that don't work properly and failing at volleyball.  I could go on more but this is something you'll have to see for yourself to truly appreciate.  Remember all the issues I mentioned with the "Cute girls doing cute things" genre?  Well what makes Azumanga Daioh work is it's substance.

Yes this is substance, allow me to elaborate.

  Now this is all subjective as different people relate to different things, but Azumanga Daioh to me represents all the doldrums and awkward moments of youth.  So many shows of this genre rely on other forms of fiction to tell a story where this show to me showcases events applicable to just about anyone who's had friends not just Otaku.

  The show puts very little emphasis on the academic side of high school and instead showcase the girls goofing off during break period, making costumes and plush toys for the culture festivals and celebrating their summer's together in a variety of activities.  We've all had a friend who kept to himself or had a friend who didn't know when to shut up and whenever characters do anything (well almost) it makes you think "Hey.  That reminds me of the time..."

Sakaki takes Chiyo's Cat-like father who is also a bulletproof Santa Claus for a walk.  This show does have it's moments of surrealism.

  One thing most endearing about this show is it's fine line between absurdity and grounded human interaction.  Much of this show's best moments come from the slow scenes which allow the audience to soak in a very atmospheric sense of nostalgia.  When the show does lapse into the bizarre it's either through a dream or Osaka's unique way of seeing the world.  Even when this show does get strange there's always something that ties it to the world this show creates.  Not once did I feel my investment get derailed.

  Now for my complaints.  This is one of those shows I saw when I was about 14 and felt like I needed to be validated as an adult.  To me that meant anime with guns, swords, violence.  I watched the first episode and was so put off by my own insecurity that I didn't touch it again for a few years.

  How is this a complaint?  Well despite being a shonen anime (largely marketed to teen boys) the first episode to me features some jarring cases of girly pandering.  I was surprised how often when I rewatched it I skipped the first episode entirely.  Yes we know Chiyo is cute, a goofy cooking song adds nothing.  This show is at it's best when it's just people being people.  I didn't get that vibe till the second episode.  It's a minor complaint really and doesn't wreck the series.

Am I the only one who felt this scene was annoying?

  To some it all up.  It's a really good show.  If you are wanting a slice of life anime featuring cute girls but are tired of the excessive merchandise driven approach with gags and in-jokes you will probably find this show refreshing.  It's a very "feel good" type of show that makes you sad when it ends.

Final Score?

(^_^)(^_^)(^_^)(^_^)(-_-;)

                             

                             4/5 - Good

Animeciated: Witch Craft Works Review

  I've spent many years estranged from the world of wide-eyes, insane hair colour spectrums and robots galore for a while now.  I've grown hungry for anime and now my appetite is being sated.  Welcome to Animeciated.  Where I make up for lost time in the years I've ignored the medium.

Original Manga written by Ryu Mizunagi
Anime by Studio J.C Staff

Genre: Comedy/Romance

  Now I'm just gonna out and say it.  I watched this show right after finishing Attack on Titan.  A show very much built on pathos, fear and tension.  I was looking for something more bright, colorful and entertaining.  I did get this from Witch Craft Works.  What I didn't get was a story I had any reason to care for.  This is a show with style over substance but I'm going to break it down why the best way I possibly can.

Our wish fulfillment, I mean "Couple" for the series.

  The best thing that can be said about Witch Craft Works is that it gets how to make a show that's pure pandering work without being overly explicit or dependent on fanservice.  It's a show where "Generic Everyman #1416" or Honoka Takimiya is taken under the wing of a fire sorceress named Ayaka Kagari after they meet in high school.

  What follows is a string of bizzare events that are entertaining to watch, but as the show continues it becomes increasingly ludicrous until it's lost so much footing that your questions begin to dampen any kind of emotional connection you had with the plot.

  Both Kagari and Tamimiya get caught up a civil war between the Workship Witches (His new beau's clan) and the destructive Tower Witches.  Here in lies one of my problems with the series.  When you are going for the whole "Everyman" who enters a world of magic and wonder unlike his own, to make it work you need to establish a sense of logic that can keep the audience connected to what is going on or else the lack of rules breaks the immersion.

  There's two witch clans fighting each other over everything with Takimiya completely oblivious to the whole thing despite everyone in the town seems to know that witches are a thing.  How is this hidden to our protagonist?  It jumps from 0 to 100 way to quickly and it quickly destroys it's foundation before it really gets going.

Want believability in your "Boy finds magic world" story?  Read Harry Potter.

  The most difficult part of giving a brief synopsis of what I just watched is that I'm not quite even sure what it is I watched.  There are several side characters in both witch houses but besides their neat aesthetic and one-note personalities there's nothing to really to say about them besides "They are entertaining."

  This was a very "turn your brain off" show and when I relaxed, enjoyed the pretty visuals and laughed at it rather than with it was a ton of fun.

  I've heard people give this show praise for being a role reversal of the traditional "hero protects naive young girl" situation.  While I don't deny this I feel that isn't as great an achievement as people let on.  If this was better written and was a traditional fantasy story about protecting the innocent and wasn't a comedy I feel this could have really meant something.

  When I really stop and think about it Witch Craft Works is a show that's meant to give the often social awkward and introverted anime fan (including me) a form of escapist fantasy.  If you were to tell an introverted nerd "Hey.  Imagine a busty woman with magic powers would take you away and allow you to live forever in a world of magic.  Just you and her." what do you think would be the reaction?

"It's almost like he thinks this show is silly."

  Now for my praise of this series.  It is really nice to look at.  Very lively, very vibrant.  No shortage of color and attention to detail.  This is a well-produced show.  From Kagari's fantastic fire spells to the surreal nightmare dimensions they often find themselves.  It's obvious that they wanted this to be very entertaining, visually appealing candy.

  That's the word to describe this show.  Candy.  The characters are flat (Definately not in THAT way) and I have nothing really of interest to say about them but their designs are cool and you can tell it wasn't just something they through out with absolutely no thought at all.

I came for a world of magic and wonder and I got witches dinking around with karaoke.

  Despite all my criticism.  The dull characters, the nonsensical plot, the complete lack of any tension I was entertained enough to watch all 12 episodes which says a lot about me as I usually give a show one episode to wow me.  This kept me coming back even when I know this was a dumb show.

  Will I ever watch it again?  No.  Will I look back on it?  Maybe as one of the few shows I enjoyed following my return to anime.

  Do I recommend it to anyone?  Well this show will cater to a very specific type of otaku.  If you want some silly shlock with a bit of fantasy romance it's..  Okay.  I'm sure there's better things out there.  It's harmless and surprisingly inoffensive for a show that could just boil down to shameless sexual fanservice.  They actual had standards in that regard and thus I'd recommend it over a lot of shows out there.

Final Score?

(^_^)(^_^)(^_^)(-_-;)(-_-;)

3/5 - Passable