Tag Archives: Action

Record of Ragnarok would be the worst anime I have seen of 2021 if not for Ex-Arm. So bad is this anime that I started it before my previous eight or so reviews and couldn’t finish it until now, when forced to.

The premise of Record of Ragnarok is the decision on the fate of mankind. The gods, which comprise Norse, Hindu, Greek, Christian, and more, have decided that humanity isn’t worth keep around anymore due to all of the conflicts, so they want to wipe everyone out. However, the Valkyrie Brunhilde busts into the assembly and proposes to give the people a fighting chance in a tournament against the gods, a series of 13 one-on-one battles. The gods agree.

The structure for Record of Ragnarok is straight into a tournament arc with backstories slotted in. And here we have a core pillar of what makes this anime so terrible. Each fight follows the same routine. The two contestants step up to much fanfare and commentary (none of it useful), they fight for a minute, pause, go into one fighter’s backstory, unpause, followed by another minute of combat, pause, now time for the other fighter’s backstory, unpause, one more minute of combat. If the fight isn’t over at this point (i.e. we need to drag this out for another episode), go into backstory part two and repeat proceedings. It’s astonishing how little action there is in this action series.

Not that the action is anything to write to your parents about. Pacing issues aside, these fights have no real tension despite the humanity ending stakes because we don’t know these characters, their abilities, nor how they fight beforehand. As such, each new technique feels pulled out of thin air. Need this guy to win? Well, he has this new almighty attack. But wait, the other guy is meant to win? Well, he now has a new attack he should have just started with. Ragnarok could work if it were a proper story with character arcs, build-up, and an actual narrative. With what they have here, it would be better to do a series of two-minute animations show casing “what if” fights – Thor versus Lu Bu, Zeus versus Adam (of the Bible), and so on. Give them flashy animation with references to the lore. Short and sweet.

Animation. That reminds me. Did I mention that the backstory segments are almost entirely slideshows? You might assume this is to save the budget for the divine action. Well, you’d be wrong! The action is barely more than a slideshow outside of a few cuts. The amount of time opponents spend staring at each other is creepy.

Accompanying this flat action is the worst sideline commentary I have heard in a battle anime. It isn’t easy to make expository commentary engaging yet I wager anyone could do better than this. The dialogue in general is bottom of the sceptic tank. Episode one has Brunhilde swear. Her assistant – worst character in this shitshow – comments on the swearing and Brunhilde replies, “I said what I said.” That’s where you should drop Record of Ragnarok.

Now we arrive at the characters. I don’t care about changing these mythological beings. They can be whatever you want. However, if you are going to deviate from the common expectations, then you have more work to do to establish their new personalities, ideologies, and philosophies. As seen in the God of War games, for instance. These in Record of Ragnarok aren’t characters. They’re nothing. They may as well not base them on mythology. Aphrodite is the perfect example. The camera makes a big deal of her from the beginning – of course, you and I know the real reason for this – but she does nothing throughout. The camera keeps cutting to her and on occasion she might make a pointless comment such as, “Oh my,” or, “I like the look of him.” Worthless.

Record of Ragnarok is rubbish. No simpler way of putting it. Sure, the manga might be better, though unless the story, and structure, and characters, and combat flow are different, I can’t see it being anything more than pulp action.

Overall Quality – Very Low

Recommendation: Avoid it. The manga must surely be an improvement if the premise interests you.

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Awards: (hover over each award to see descriptions; click award for more recipients)

Positive: None

Negative:

Action, Anime Reviews, Fantasy

Yasuke – why the mechs?

23 September 2021 Nefarious Reviews 2 Comments

Japanese Title: Yasuke

Similar: Ninja Scroll

Afro Samurai

Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit

Watched in: Japanese & English

Genre: Action Fantasy

Length: 6 episodes

Positives:

Great animation
Lo-fi beats you can study to

Negatives:

Thin on character
What’s with the robots?

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Did you know that an African man served under Nobunaga in 16^th century Japan? He arrived as a slave to an Italian missionary before Nobunaga bought him, fascinated by the look and strength of this foreigner. A letter from the time indicates Yasuke was likely the first black person Nobunaga had ever seen, as he had his servants try to clean the “ink” off as if his skin colour was some prank.

The historical character of Yasuke is the basis for this anime of the same name. In this, he is a samurai ronin, masterless after the death of Nobunaga. If you’ve never heard the story of Nobunaga, it is a fascinating one though for another time (I recommend the documentary series Age of Samurai: Battle for Japan to start). Short version: he was one of Japan’s greatest warriors, nicknamed the “Demon King,” and set events in motion to unify the nation. There’s a reason so many anime feature him as a character. As for Yasuke, there is no indication that he received the rank of samurai, but he was a warrior for Nobunaga by all accounts.

Historical accuracy isn’t a cornerstone of Yasuke, which is clear from the opening scene as a massive battle takes place involving samurai mechs and magic. I was disappointed to see these, for I had hoped this anime would be more historical drama and less action fantasy. Yasuke isn’t action fantasy – it is only action fantasy. That fact may be a selling point to some. However, I find it to be the greatest weakness. Let’s explore.

After a brief prologue chronicling the death of Nobunaga, we cut to Yasuke in a quiet mountain village living the life a drunk recluse. He has lost his master and purpose. He keeps to himself as he trades fish and rides on his boat along the river to survive. All of this changes when a local songstress asks for his help in getting her magically ailing daughter to a special doctor in the north. In war country.

On their tail is a group of foreign mercenaries led by a psychotic Catholic priest, including a giant shapeshifting Russian woman, an assassin, a Nigerien shaman, and a robot. From here on, the series is about ninety percent action. While the action looks great outside of the occasional messiness (might be intentional to represent the chaos of battle), there isn’t much more to it. The lack of character is particularly noticeable, further highlighted with every flashback to Yasuke’s past under Nobunaga. The present day will pause – usually when Yasuke is asleep, since most flashbacks are dream sequences – and rewind to a key moment. And just as that moment is getting interesting, he wakes up and we are off to the next fight. The action isn’t spectacular enough to carry.

That historical account of having his skin cleaned is in the story, yet there isn’t enough. What happened next? Can we have more dialogue between Yasuke and Nobunaga to know them as people first, action stars later? This depiction of Nobunaga differs from historical accounts as well, so take the time to convey his ideology and how it became that way. In truth, he’s barely in the show. He’s in plenty of scenes, all of them too brief. The most appealing element of this story is Yasuke’s past, which happens to be the lowest priority. Below is an art piece from the era likely depicting Yasuke versus a local in a sumo match, an event also glimpsed in Yasuke. I wish it were more than a glimpse. This anime seems to pay lip service to the real Yasuke, the biggest draw of the story.

The supporting cast don’t fare better either. The magic girl is little more than a magic girl with a headstrong personality. You won’t care for her as you would a Ghibli child. Her mother dies early to no emotional impact. The mercenaries are a tad more realised though only to the point of action characters.

Speaking of the mercenaries, the robot brings up another issue. What on Earth is with the technology? This world has samurai mechs and a fully autonomous self-aware robot, yet everything else is Edo period Japan. This detail has to be the laziest world building I have ever seen. My issue isn’t the robots in ancient Japan. Couldn’t care less. I’ve read crazier fictional worlds. However, if there is a robot more advanced than any technology in our modern day, why is the rest of society as it was? If I didn’t know better, I would say someone edited him into Yasuke to see if anyone would notice the odd one out. I mean, why?

There is a lack of attention to small narrative details as well. For example, Yasuke is accused of killing the girl’s mother. The villagers he lived with believe it because they mistrust him as a foreigner. Who tells them of the murder? A group of psychotic looking foreigners and a robot. Someone even points out the absurdity of the claim and the story still rolls with it! Come on, I’m trying to find the good in this but you aren’t making it easy.

If you sit back and “switch your brain off” as some like to put it, Yasuke is an alright action anime. At six episodes in length, it isn’t a large commitment. Any longer at this quality and it would rapidly grow thin on me. Want something better in action fantasy? Go for Ninja Scroll. Want more drama with that mysticism of a magic child? Moribito is waiting for you. Yasuke is a watch and forget for me. A drama anime on Yasuke’s life is still open for a studio to adapt, by the way. Anyone?

Overall Quality – Medium

Recommendation: For action fantasy fans only. With nothing but flashy action to recommend itself, Yasuke is for a specific audience. I’m probably being too generous.

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Awards: (hover over each award to see descriptions; click award for more recipients)

Positive: None

Negative: None

Action, Anime Reviews, Science Fiction, Thriller

Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song – The Terminator is a pop idol?

15 September 2021 Nefarious Reviews 2 Comments

Japanese Title: Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song

Similar: Steins;Gate

Violet Evergarden

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

Watched in: Japanese & English

Genre: Action Science Fiction Thriller

Length: 13 episodes

Positives:

Engaging and fast-paced time travel thriller
Some fascinating future world concepts

Negatives:

Wildly inconsistent art can be jarring

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Take Terminator 2: Judgement Day, combine it with J-pop, and you have yourself a lovely old Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song. Sounds crazy, doesn’t it? But it works.

This story is about an AI called Vivy (a.k.a. Diva) charged with the mission of changing the past to alter the future where AI rose up and massacred humanity. A scientist in the future sends the AI Matsumoto to tell Vivy of the calamity and guide her through time. The scientist chose Vivy because is the last of the old AIs and wasn’t affected by the calamity, and as the first autonomous AI, she sits in a museum in the future, unaffected. Her design was to be a singer at a theme park, her dream to bring everyone joy. Matsumoto is of limited physical capacity, residing in either a teddy bear or a cube, but has great knowledge and analytical capabilities with a preference for hacking. And he loves to talk.

What immediately grabs me in Fluorite Eye’s Song is the world design and general atmosphere. The premise hooks me, yes, but we’ve seen similar many times before. I love the grounded feel of this clean near future world, akin to Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex.

We start at the genesis of the AI revolution. AI in the form of androids already exists, but they rarely pass for human. Each has a singular purpose – this AI is a waiter, this AI cleans the streets, this AI is an information guide, and so on, fulfilled with precision. AI do all menial jobs now, leading to a more utopian society. However, as the technology improves, they become more and more human. Thus, the question becomes, when do we treat them as human? When do they get rights? The opening scenario centres on this very question as a politician campaigns to give AIs names, treating them as individuals. Such dilemmas always fascinate me.

Fluorite’s story focus isn’t on these questions though; they are background to inform the main plot, which is the consequences of the answers garnered by these questions. In the future timeline, for instance, this politician dies in a blast setup by an anti-AI group. Unfortunately for this group, his death draws sympathy and support for a bill that few people initially cared about, setting in motion a series of catastrophic events. Vivy’s first mission is to keep him alive.

Funnily enough, the anti-AI group were right.

One change isn’t enough of course. Fifteen years later, Matsumoto returns to Vivy with a new mission, a new event to nudge in another direction. This time, an AI is going to crash a space hotel on a city. Furthermore, the previous change they made didn’t have the desired effects either, as is traditional for time edit stories. You fix one thing and a dozen other problems arise to take its place. This makes Fluorite engaging, for you never know what will happen next. You simultaneously experience relief when they avert one disaster and a sense of foreboding for the consequences of their actions. Fluorite evokes a bit of Steins;Gate in this way.

Each key event in the timeline occurs some years apart, so we get to jump through time and see the evolution of this world influenced by AI. A few human characters also stick around, aging with each time skip. This structure works.

While the main plot is a success, I do wish there was a little more time for the philosophical and moral aspect of AI. There’s a little bit with moments such a human marrying an AI, just not enough. Perhaps they thought it best not attempted if they couldn’t do it justice, as what is included is executed well enough. For those of you interested in the subject, I highly recommend the film Ex Machina and the series Star Trek: The Next Generation, specifically the episodes focused on the android Data (happened to rewatch stellar episodes “Measure of a Man” and “The Offspring” while going through this anime). Seeing those other titles does show how Fluorite could be better and have more depth in several ways. If the whole concept is new to you, then Fluorite will be an absolute ride – then watch the others afterwards (start Star Trek TNG at season two though – long explanation).

My other criticisms are towards the art and music. The art looks amazing sometimes with high detail, textured colouring, multi-layered shading, and fluid animation. Other times it has no detail, flat colours, single tone shading, and two-frame animation. We’ve seen plenty of amazing looking anime and plenty of downright ugly works, but I can’t recall one that is so inconsistent. This isn’t a case of great action and static in between either. It will randomly cut to high quality shots and then seconds later we’re looking at late 90s anime done on a computer. It stands out every time. Hard to describe without experiencing it for yourself.

As for the music, my criticism isn’t that it’s bad. I wish it were more creative. When you consider Fluorite is all about the future, advanced technology, and AI takeovers, I would expect the music to be more creative than generic J-pop. Even by today’s standards, there’s nothing in this music. Give me something wilder like the opera from The Fifth Element, where they used a computer to make the singer hit impossible notes, infusing that sci-fi element.

Inconsistent art and forgettable music aside, I had a great time with Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song. I want to go to that space hotel (with a different fate than in the anime, of course). It’s quite likely the best anime of its season. I have a couple of others I need to complete, though my sampling doesn’t promise anything better than this or Odd Taxi.

Overall Quality – High

Recommendation: Watch it. Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song is an easy recommendation.

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Awards: (hover over each award to see descriptions; click award for more recipients)

Positive: None

Negative: None

Action, Anime Reviews, Drama, Science Fiction

86 (Eighty-Six) – Ethically Sourced Warfare

9 September 2021 Nefarious Reviews 5 Comments

Japanese Title: 86 – Eighty-Six –

Related: 86 2^nd Season (TBR)

Aldnoah.Zero

Guilty Crown

Watched in: Japanese & English

Genre: Action Drama Science Fiction

Length: 11 episodes

Positives:

Visually nice
More focus on non-combat side of war is interesting
Good music

Negatives:

Most characters are nothing
World building needs work
Lacks nuance

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“Ethically sourced warfare.” This is the creed of the Republic of San Magnolia, for in the war with the Empire there are no casualties on their side. Only AI drones die for this conflict. Or so they say. In truth, the zero casualty count refers to the Alba, a silver-haired race that lives in luxury and without worry in the Republic’s eighty-five districts. The others – those of the wrong race – are the front line soldiers. These drones aren’t unmanned. These outcasts are known as the Eighty-Six and when they die, they aren’t human casualties because they aren’t human in the eyes of the Republic.

Vladilena is a rising star in the Republic military, recently assigned to take over as Handler for the “drones” of squadron Spearhead, a unit infamous for driving its Handlers mad. Leading Spearhead is Shinei, a.k.a. Undertaker, a repeat lone survivor of many battles with a special connection to the dead. Vladilena knows the truth of this war, working to keep her unit alive and to spread the message about the atrocities facing the Eighty-Six.

With a premise like that, I’m in from episode one. I like that we see military “service” for the Alba as a cushy desk job. Regulations are whatever as long as you don’t go against the grain. Looking at this city, you wouldn’t imagine there is a bloody war happening not far away. I am also surprised that the “drones aren’t unmanned” fact wasn’t kept as a twist. Generally, the protagonist would get this new job guiding a bunch of AI drones, many of which die in the war – doesn’t matter because they’re just machines, of course – until the mid-point turn that forces her out into the world and she sees the truth. All those drones she sacrificed for the sake of winning a skirmish? Real people, dead, because of her. Now she would work to make up for her ignorance. That’s the normal structure. Interesting to see 86 reveal the information upfront.

This change allows the story to be less action focused, which may put some people off. Instead, more time goes towards conversation between Vladilena in the city and Shinei on the frontline, sometimes bringing in the rest of Spearhead. 86 is about the effects of war rather than the war itself. For the first season anyway. I haven’t read the source material, but I wouldn’t be surprised for action to take up a larger and larger share as the story progresses.

Early conflict for Vladilena is her approach to dealing with these outsiders. She takes that classic well-meaning but actually condescending approach that we see between rich philanthropists and the poor in the real world. She’s so certain of being in the right amongst her peers, is so much more progressive than them that she doesn’t consider perhaps she doesn’t know as much about the Eighty-Six as she thinks. Just because she knows more than the others, it doesn’t mean she can swoop in and tell the Eighty-Six who they should be and how to fix everything. I like that. It’s a good seasonal arc for her.

However, 86 isn’t as good as I had hoped it would be on initial impression. Cutting back on action in a war story is a bit of a risk. Action is much easier to pull off than dialogue is in keeping an audience engaged. When dialogue is the centre, characters become of utmost importance as the driving force of the narrative.

The cast of characters is a problem in 86. When examined, there are only three real characters: the protagonist, her scientist friend, and Undertaker. Everyone else is nothing. The series dedicates two episodes to characterising the rest of the Spearhead crew, as they remind Vladilena that even with her kind words she is still an upper class citizen safe in her palace. She cannot relate to them nor be one of them. In fact, she hasn’t bothered to ask for their real names. And so, she gets to know them better until they let her into their lives – remotely – and grow closer. Despite this, each of these side characters are little more than one line bios in the series’ archive. There are too many of them, for one, that they end up as this singular entity of hive-minded thought. I can’t truly distinguish them in any meaningful way. Those important names arrive in a rapid-fire sequence, many of which are sci-fi names that take effort to remember. But who will bother to remember when they are so boring?

Add to this Shinei the Undertaker. He is of the quiet reserved type, a favourite archetype of mine, which is one of the most difficult to pull off without coming across as bland. Shinei isn’t as strong of a character as he needs to be for such a story. Lean 90% action and he would do fine. The audience wouldn’t particularly care when they attend for the action. His backstory and reason for driving handlers insane is interesting for the future. Right now, there’s not enough to him to make me think, “I care about this guy. I care about all he’s been through. I want him to have better.”

Another disappointment relates to the world building. After a strong establishing episode, the world barely builds. We end up see and knowing almost nothing of this world, which is a problem in a completely fictional setting. Even the social world building amounts to little when, in one episode, Vladilena gives a lecture and announces to a whole class of cadets the truth about the drones. She suffers zero consequences. I get that she is a bit of a prodigy and related to people of high rank but this should be high treason. Isn’t the whole point that everyone is blissfully ignorant and to break that ignorance could undo the fabric of societal order? Even if everyone is aware but chooses to feign ignorance because it gives them easy lives, it should still have consequences. When a story does things like this, it renders the rules of this world meaningless. When everything is meaningless (and your characters aren’t good enough), why should I care?

What started out as promising has end up being an average anime that neither offends nor excites. There is room for improvement though I am not hopeful. I probably won’t be watching season 2, which is all you need to know, I suppose.

Overall Quality – Medium

Recommendation: Try it. If you’re up for a war story by way of anime, 86 is a decent watch.

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Awards: (hover over each award to see descriptions; click award for more recipients)

Positive: None

Negative: None

Action, Anime Reviews, Fantasy

Dota: Dragon’s Blood – does it know how to last hit?

31 July 2021 Nefarious Reviews 1 Comment

Similar: Castlevania

Orphen

Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust

Watched in: English

Genre: Action Fantasy

Length: 8 episodes

Positives:

Quality production
Love the variety of accents
The elven goddess is a creepy and effective antagonist

Negatives:

Feels like it’s missing lore context if you aren’t familiar with the source

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Full disclosure, I know nothing about Dota 2 lore. This review comes from the perspective of someone who doesn’t play the game or read any related lore. I did play the original DotA mod a decent amount and watched a few tournaments, but to be honest, I didn’t know there was any lore to the game. A one paragraph profile per character, sure, though nothing more. As such, if you are a loremaster, your experience may vary.

For those even less familiar with the material than me, Dota 2 is the standalone sequel to the original DotA mod from Warcraft 3. The mod proved more popular than Warcraft 3 itself until game studio Valve hired key developers to make a complete game, independent of Warcraft and Blizzard. The worst business move Blizzard ever made was not capitalising on DotA and they’ve since shot themselves in the foot with their StarCraft 2 and abysmal Warcraft 3 Reforged modding policy. Valve just had to change a few character and item names to avoid direct reference to trademarks, though references are still in place – the burst fire mage Lina the Slayer, based on Lina Inverse from Slayers, is still in the game, for example. Dota 2 has gone on to reach massive heights with the largest prize pools in esports history with its world championships each year, The International.

Dota: Dragon’s Blood brings together a handful of characters from Dota 2’s large cast of “Heroes” for an adult fantasy adventure. The protagonist is Davion the Dragon Knight, who slays dragons for a living only to have the soul of an elder dragon merge with his body during a fight with a demon. He can now transform against his will into a human-dragon hybrid monster (think the Hulk). He soon joins forces with Mirana, “princess of nothing,” to stop this demon from claiming more dragon souls. Meanwhile, the elven mage Invoker plots against the elven goddess Selemene, whose sycophantic followers wreak genocide across elven lands.

The best thing I can say immediately about Dragon’s Blood – or any game to film tie-in – is its disregard for the source material’s gameplay. Unless it’s something like Wreck it Ralph where the game is the point of the story, trying to incorporate gameplay elements in a film/series is cringe inducing (see Uwe Boll films for reference). It finally feels like Hollywood is starting to grasp how to adapt games for screen. Then again, Sony’s upcoming offerings don’t look promising, so perhaps it’s only in the animation sector.

Speaking of animation, Studio Mir (The Legend of Korra) once again makes the art form a delight to behold. The action scenes are fluid and violent, even on the horror side at times. This isn’t a series for kids. The character designs are classic high fantasy and coming from a game that requires distinct silhouettes for visibility in combat, there is variety. On a world building level, again, classic fantasy except for the elves, who are far less noble than the stereotype. Love that most of them are Australian and the actors do a good job for non-natives. It matches their society better than the typical Oxford English. The world grabs me.

However, the characters are a little lacking and this is where I wonder if my unfamiliarity with the source has an effect. I have not looked into the lore since finishing the series either – want to keep my outsider’s perspective. After all, you shouldn’t need outside material to enjoy a good adaptation. Had I been well acquainted with Davion and Mirana beforehand, would they engage me? I’m not even certain if all notable characters in Dragon’s Blood are from the game. I assume so.

Mirana is supposed to be a princess of “nothing” and yet, I don’t have the impression of a princess nor do I feel the shadow of secrets from her backstory. She’s fine though not compelling. The same is true of Davion. His personality does make him entertaining – I’ll give him that.

The more interesting characters are the antagonists Selemene and the not-as-antagonistic Invoker. Selemene is the Goddess of the Moon but more akin to a goddess of lust and obsession, as she forces her followers to pledge undying love to her. She’s psychotic about this. You want a favour from her? You had better be ready to say you love her or off with your head. It sounds mundane on paper yet she is genuinely threatening. She has a much stronger presence than the main villain consuming dragon souls (I often forgot he was in the story). Against her we have Invoker, who is a sympathetic antagonist with a personal story that drives engagement. I want more of the elven subplot over the main plot.

In all, Dota: Dragon’s Blood is certainly good enough for a relative outsider to the franchise, like myself, to find reason to watch this anime. I am looking forward to the next season and that’s worth something. Riot Games has an animated series of its own on the way for their game League of Legends, which I am much more familiar with, so it will be interesting to see how that compares.