Tag Archives: Revenge

Before I begin the review, you must know of the two ways to watch Gungrave, depending on what type of story you prefer. If you start at episode one, you will witness a flash-forward before the plot rewinds to the beginning. Or, you can begin at episode two and have no idea of what is yet to come. With the first method, you will be wondering how things went so wrong; with the second method, you won’t know what goes wrong. It is up to your preference. Both are equally great, though I will write this review on the assumption that you skip episode one to avoid spoiling for method two. (All trailers spoil too much, so I settled for the opening above.)

After the murder of their friends by a rival gang, street punks Brandon and Harry join the largest crime syndicate, Millennion. Brandon seeks to get closer to Maria, the Godfather’s ward, while Harry wishes to make something of himself. Brandon is quiet, disciplined – the muscle – and loyal to a fault. He barely talks, but he projects tons of character in his manner, in the tone of his expression. Harry, on the other hand, is a leader, too charismatic for his own good, a smooth talker of great ambition and intellect.

Gungrave is the story of how these two friends climb the mafia ranks, putting character, morals, and love on the line. Gungrave’s roots in gangster films are obvious – the notion of ‘loyalty to the family’ is a recurring theme throughout. It is a blend of Scarface and The Godfather with a touch of science fiction (only anime would take such down-to-earth films and add the fantastical).

Brandon and Harry, supported by a larger cast, are the heart of Gungrave. Their character arcs are something to be studied at length for how well and believably the characters evolve by the end. It’s rare to see a story that doesn’t treat friendship as an all-binding law. I enjoy a ‘power of friendship’ story as much as the next viewer, but it’s always a pleasure to see a story that questions if friendship really is all-powerful. And Gungrave manages to convey all of this without resorting to long conversations. Most stories can only manage such depth by sitting the characters down for long dialogues to explain their motives, which is rather dull, even if insightful. Brandon’s restriction as a silent character forced the writers to express thought without word – that look in his eye, that moment’s hesitation. Gungrave conveys development through actions, choices and consequences, never resorting to extended conversations where characters tell us where they stand.

Brandon, not the best phone support employee.

Despite the serious gangster story and unfettered violence, there are moments of well-timed humour to give the audience time to breathe. If you have seen the famous gangster films, you will know that despite the many guns, action occupies only a small amount of screen time. Guns in mafia films aren’t about delivering action, but as tools to convey character emotions. Gungrave is no different. The syndicate isn’t about killing. It’s about control and family, understating how humans work and what makes them comfortable, makes them unwilling to defy you, or better yet, work for you.

The action, when present, is excellent and doesn’t drag for episodes on end. That said, when the action does dominate the final third (also like most gangster films), it isn’t as good as preceding episodes. An unfortunate side effect of having such powerful drama come first – a real first-world [story] problem.

Gungrave still keeps me glued to the screen after several viewings for its subtlety in character and is my favourite anime. Can you believe this is based on a video game? It’s amazing that a simple action game spawned such an excellent series. If only movies could manage such adaptation quality.

Art – High

Gungrave looks great for a pre-HD anime with a Trigun and Cowboy Bebop-esque art style. The action looks fantastic and cinematography works overtime to amplify characters’ emotion.

Sound – Very High

The cast couldn’t be better for Gungrave’s Japanese track. Even with the European-dominated naming (some Engrish), I recommend sticking with Japanese. Tomokazu Seki, once again, delivers the perfect quiet character. The music consists mostly of slow jazz and solo violin. I like the lyric-less OP.

Story – Very High

A mafia story of power, greed, family and loyalty. Characters and development of excellent depth.

Overall Quality – Very High

Recommendation: A must watch. Gungrave is an exemplar is subtle characterisation and uncensored human nature. Remember to start at episode one or two depending on your preferred story type.

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Positive:

Negative: None

Action, Adventure, Anime Reviews, Fantasy

Claymore – Anime Review

30 April 2015 Nefarious Reviews 3 Comments

Japanese Title: Claymore

Similar: Berserk

Attack on Titan

Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works

Watched in: Japanese & English

Genre: Fantasy Action Adventure

Length: 26 episodes

Positives:

Brutal action with interesting abilities and monsters.
Unnerving soundtrack.

Negatives:

Bloody hell, will someone kill that kid already?
Poor exposition techniques.
Animation shortcuts in the action.
Unfinished threads.

Claymore is set in a world of bloodthirsty youma and warrior women who roam the land hunting these demons. Clare is the newest and lowest ranked of these warriors called Claymores – named after the giant swords they wield. Claymores are half-youma themselves; they live in constant danger of the youma half taking control, though it always happens eventually, at which point another Claymore sister will hunt them down.

The Claymore lore is the most interesting element of this anime. Claymores follow a strict code. They have little human about them and are cold by nature, which makes it unusual when Clare picks up orphaned boy Raki on a mission after a youma ate his family. That was her first mistake. Her second mistake was not running him through in the first episode. I hate that kid. He is a whiny, useless brat, who claims to be her cook, but he only cooks once, and most ironic of all, Claymores barely need to eat. His true purpose is to question Clare’s every action and motivation as if that is any of his business. Clare should decapitate that brat and put his head on a pike as a warning to other writers on what happens when you write such a terrible character.

Clare has a relentless determination as she carves demons, each fight a challenge for any Claymore – limb dismemberment and bifurcation is a common sight here. Meanwhile, Raki, a human who can’t fight to save his life, fancies himself Clare’s saviour. I almost forgot, another Raki irritation: exposition. The plot finds contrived ways to get Raki into a conversation that exposits lore – why tell that kid anything anyway?

I like the freaky monster designs. Even the Claymores turn demonic in combat when they access their youma side to grotesquely augment strength and regenerate damage. The women don’t suffer from the Beauty Is Never Tarnished trope.

Claymore is all about action, in the end, and you can expect to find plenty throughout Clare’s adventure. She encounters many other Claymores to learn from in her quest to avenge her figurative mother, Teresa (my favourite character), defeated by a former Claymore turned full youma. Each Claymore has a specialty in how they fight and sport some cool abilities, even if the animation quality can’t always supply the illustrations they deserve.

If you search for deep characters, you won’t find them here. If you desire a multi-layered plot, Claymore won’t deliver it to you. However, if you want brutal action accompanied by dark lore and powerful women with just enough to make an engaging tale, then look no further. Sometimes, action is enough for entertainment.

Art – Medium

Claymore has a nice, grim art style, but its battle anime budget resulted in too many animation shortcuts – repeated blur attacks, action flashes, cutaways before impact. Not as bad as the likes of Dragon Ball Z, and the action events are engaging, but a higher production could have gone a long way. Cool, sallow, hardened character designs for the Claymores (they must pluck their eyebrows a lot).

Sound – High

Good acting in either language, though, like most anime of this kind, Claymore doesn’t have the script for greatness. Love the Gothic horror metal (is that a genre?) soundtrack – ED song akin to Attack on Titan’s OP is great.

Story – Medium

Warrior women roaming the land to hunt demons; that is Claymore. Not the deepest premise, but it makes for an engaging action series. I do want to murder Raki, however. Stab him right in the face.

Overall Quality – Medium

Recommendation: For action fans only. Claymore sports better fights than most action anime, so if that sounds good to you, then have at it. I watched it start to end without regret.

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Action, Anime Reviews, Science Fiction

Code Geass – Anime Review

12 April 2015 Nefarious Reviews 17 Comments

Japanese Title: Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch

Related: Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 (season 2 – included in review)

Death Note

Gundam 00

Legend of the Galactic Heroes

Watched in: Japanese & English

Genre: Supernatural Science Fiction Action Mecha

Length: 25 episodes (season 1), 25 episodes (season 2)

Positives:

Deep, intricate plot with many worthy players involved.
Strategic action and power plays.
Interesting powers.
A fantastic soundtrack that amps the action and tragedy equally.
Unforgiving.

Negatives:

Lacklustre resolution to the thread on Lelouch’s mother.
Some nonsense flip-flopping in season 2.

I watched Code Geass by accident. What, I accidentally watched fifty episodes of a show? Yes, more or less. I had acquired several anime from a friend and picked one at random start with, not knowing what any were about. Next thing I knew, it was the end of the next day. Code Geass is exactly my kind of story – anti-hero, small group versus a titan, unforgiving with its characters, and loaded with twists.

We follow Lelouch, an exiled Britannian prince seeking revenge against the Britannian Empire responsible for his mother’s death and crippling of his sister. He resides in Area 11, formerly Japan until Britannia striped the country of its power, resources, and culture. ‘Elevens,’ as the citizens are referred to, live beneath the boots of wealthy Britannians. A mysterious green-haired girl grants Lelouch the power of Geass, enabling mind control through eye contact once per target. Equipped with his newfound power, Lelouch dons the persona of Zero and takes command of the Japanese rebels against Britannia. What follows is a tale of cunning, lies, betrayal, and brutality.

The key, I find, to Code Geass’s success is in its unforgiving nature with the characters. We have a wide cast of characters from every angle of the conflict – rebels, Britannians, students, scientists, citizens rich and poor, foreign powers, etc. – and every single one of them is on the line. People die left and right, including many you expect to go the distance. Furthermore, both allies and enemies are worthy of their roles in the narrative. Lelouch is a smart tactician, and it would have been a dull affair indeed if his opponents were easy to defeat; no, in Code Geass the Britannians bring just as much cunning to the field. In particular, I enjoyed his chess-like battles against half-sister Princess Cornelia and Lelouch’s childhood friend Suzaku, who starts as a sanctimonious prick, one of my most hated character types, but like all great characters in Code Geass, there is more to him than that.

It’s a joy to watch Lelouch try to balance his life as a student, where a girl fancies him and he works on the student council, against his role as rebel leader without revealing his identity or power to anyone – the comic relief comes from school. Normally, I find the premise of high school teens fighting wars and such difficult to buy, but here they sell it by not forgetting the difficulties he would face. More than once, his actions as Zero have dire consequences on his Britannian classmates, which creates some excellent relationship conflict I didn’t expect.

That isn’t to say all is perfect in Code Geass. The strategic plays in battle aren’t as well illustrated as say Death Note (part one) and in the second season, there is some flip-flopping between allegiances akin to Pirates of the Caribbean 3’s nonsense where people switched sides every sneeze. The thread regarding Lelouch’s mother ends so poorly that despite being important to Lelouch, it has little effect on what follows or the ending.

Lastly, as a fan of mechs, I want to touch on their representation here. With studio Sunrise on production, one would expect Gundam-like mecha, but they actually try something different. Here, we have rollerblading, grappling hook wielding mechs with cockpits that jettison when in danger. I liked the urban-focused design in practicality and was a little disappointed when the more powerful mechs enter the scene, pushing too close to Gundam traits.

Code Geass has too many layers and elements for me to discuss in a reasonable review, but it all comes together in an anime I couldn’t stop watching. Just one more. Just one more. Just one more. Just one more. Just one more. JUST ONE MORE! Even for this review, watching a third time, I meant to finish a few per day while I worked on other reviews, but I ended up completing all episodes in three days. Was I commanded to watch all episodes…? The conflict, the tension keeps on rising, destruction and tragedy every step of the way.

Art – High

CLAMP lends its iconic character art to Code Geass (not as hyper stretched as xxxHOLiC) coupled with what studio Sunrise does best – mechs. Love the costume design, especially for the Britannians. Biggest complaint is with mouths appearing on the side of the face when in profile, which gets rather extreme at times. Also, why are there so many skirt wedgies in season two? Seriously, can’t un-see it anymore.

Sound – Very High

Excellent acting in both languages, though I prefer the English, as Lloyd the scientist, one of my favourite characters, has the wrong voice in Japanese. Watching Code Geass again, I was reminded of how great this soundtrack is – many perfect tracks to enhance the scene. Only OPs and EDs let audio down, not because they are bad, but because they are too cheerful. (Season one, second opening is atrocious, though – didn’t anyone tell her she couldn’t sing?)

Story – Very High

Code Geass manages to craft an intense, strategic plot of a forsaken prince seeking revenge against his father’s empire. A few missteps didn’t hinder my ultimate enjoyment, even if a couple of events were eye narrowing.

Overall Quality – Very High

Recommendation: A must watch. Be prepared for sleepless nights once you begin.

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Positive:

Negative: None

Anime Reviews, Mystery, Science Fiction, Thriller

Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo – Anime Review

1 February 2015 Nefarious Reviews 6 Comments

Japanese Title: Gankutsuou

Similar: Gungrave

Code Geass

Watched in: Japanese & English

Genre: Supernatural Drama Mystery Science Fiction

Length: 24 episodes

Positives:

A thrilling story of revenge and corruption.
The Count of Monte Cristo is a multi-layered and fully textured (in more ways than one) character. One of the greats.
That creative art style, that texturing, utterly beautiful.
Manages to take a 19^th century story and place it in the 6^th millennium without feeling out of place.
A soundtrack fit for the style and themes.

Negatives:

Some CG stands out too much.

There’s always a degree of tension when adapting a famous classic, even more so when to a medium that couldn’t be more different from the source. First, you have the fans sitting in their beds, eyes glaring over the top of novels, ears twitching as they sense someone touching “their” property. At the other end, there’s Alexandre Dumas peeking out of his grave in the Pantheon of Paris. And in the middle, you have the small crew of anime artists. It’s a The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Mexican standoff, each party eyeing the others, wary of disaster. Dr Seuss in the stands screams, “Don’t let ‘em do it, Lex!” waving his ‘I hate The Lorax’ flag. Thankfully, the new team came through.

High up in a private opera box, a man, his hair like rivers of cosmic ink, his skin an ethereal blue, awards a bouquet of flowers to the opera singer. The theatre gasps. Who is this count? The mysterious figure invites young Viscount Albert and his friend Baron Franz over for dinner. He doesn’t eat, though the food is superb. He plays with fate, gambling lives – Albert sets a criminal free. Illusion of choice. The naïve, idealist Albert is enthralled, frightened, by this stranger, yearning to see the galaxy, escape his confined life of arranged marriage. His handshake was cold, like ice.

Gankutsuou is the story of a man out for revenge, adapted from Alexandre Dumas’s The Count of Monte Cristo novel. The narrative doesn’t show the betrayal like in the novel; instead, the anime opens with the first stage of the revenge, using twenty-three episodes to execute every detail of the Count’s plan. If you haven’t read the book or seen the film, this adds extra layers of mystery to the plot; however, if you are familiar with the original, then fear not, as Gankutsuou has plenty of surprises in store. Everything fits to the original, yet feels fresh. They still have duels, only they fight mechs. By setting it in the distant future, the writers could incorporate several new elements like aliens instead of foreigners, some of them supernatural. The Count has a horse for a spy – need I say more?

Though we see through Albert’s perspective, the Count is without a doubt the star. He uses his unfathomable wealth, charm, and guile to play everyone like pieces on his board. The aristocrats of Paris with their decadent lifestyles, worlds of opera, flirtations, and palaces are a feast to his talents. He is a master manipulator. The way he gets into people’s heads without them realising is a delight to watch. He plays on their weakness while charming them as well so they don’t notice his ploy. Rather than outmanoeuvring them on the battlefield, he creates situations where his enemies can’t resist exposing their true natures, where people discover darkness they didn’t realise was there, and they don’t notice it was the Count who set it up.

He has a constant aura of mystery about him (as he intends, I am sure) that is both captivating and frightening. In a world of high tech cars and ships, he rides in a sleek black carriage drawn by black horses – the sort of thing Batman would have. The artists fuse high intensity orchestral pieces of heavy brass, tragic opera, theatre, and literature to create a rich world around him, both beautiful and grim. There are detailed paintings in shots that last a couple of seconds, taking more effort than entire backgrounds from other anime, all to reflect his character and those of his enemies.

A true delight is to understand the Count, or try to, at least. Which actions are manipulations and which are real emotions? Is everything he does part of the grand plan? It’s heart breaking to see a good man so consumed by revenge, as it tore me between my sense of justice for him and wish for him to find peace.

Gankutsuou is the sort of show that keeps me in anime. It reminds me that no matter how bad an anime I have seen, there will always be a few artists who can create something unique and captivating. I leave you with a quote from the Count that illustrates his complexities: “I am now no longer alone in my solitude. For I am now surrounded by the Furies, the goddesses of vengeance. In the darkness, I awaited the dawn. And once dawn came, I cursed my flesh until night fell once more. I even prayed that I would lose my sanity. But those prayers went unheeded. I even strove for death, but the Devil’s cold, pitiless hand held me back.”

Art – Very High

The most unique art in anime. A kaleidoscope of texture and colour. You could take just about any screenshot from Gankutsuou and it would be a piece of art. It’s fun figuring out where you have seen that texture before. Is her hair a thumbprint? While the texturing does blend much of the CG into the scene, some of it still looks out of place when in prominence.

Sound – Very High

The voice work is great in either language; it’s a matter of preference. I preferred English for the use of French honorifics in a French setting. Strangely, they changed the French introductions from the Japanese track to English in the English track – I would have thought they would do it even better with a bilingual English actor. The count’s deep voice is suave yet menacing. Gankutsuou exhibits a fantastic soundtrack. There’s no out-of-place J-pop here, just piano, opera, harp, and a few English and French lyrical tracks. The piece used for mystery makes the heart race with excitement at the unfolding drama.

Story – Very High

This anime is excellence in storytelling with well-implemented science fiction changes to the original novel. To see the Count manipulate people in such cunning ways makes for a gripping tale.

Overall Quality – Very High

Recommendation: A must watch. Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo shows how much the anime medium can achieve when adapting a foreign literary masterpiece, maintaining the core of the source material while making it their own. From the characters to the marvellous art, every facet comes together in an unforgettable series.

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Positive:

Negative: None.

Action, Anime Reviews

Afro Samurai – Anime Review

2 January 2015 Nefarious Reviews 3 Comments

Japanese Title: Afro Samurai

Related: Afro Samurai Resurrection (sequel – included in this review)

Similar: Ninja Scroll the movie

Samurai Champloo

Shigurui: Death Frenzy

Watched in: English

Genre: Action

Length: 5 episodes (season 1) & movie (season 2)

Positives:

Gory, stylised action complemented by bleak visuals.
Great and sometimes unusual voice work, particularly from Samuel L. Jackson.

Negatives:

Poor sound mixing muffles speech under the music.
Not much to the plot, even with flashbacks.
In particular, the anime doesn’t explain why the headbands are worth anything beyond pieces of cloth.
Though the action animations are great, the lip movements don’t match the words half the time.

After seeing his father decapitated for a headband, Afro trains up as a samurai to avenge his father and reclaim the number one headband. Afro Samurai is set in a feudal Japan meets futuristic Wild West world of swordfights, gunslingers, and Mexican standoffs, wind blowing through your afro. Legends say the strongest warrior and owner of the number one headband is a god and only the number two can challenge for that power. Being number two, challengers beset Afro as he works his way to the mountain of number one. He knows no love, no happiness, only the murderous violence the number two headband incites in the heart of every man after the power of number one.

Afro’s father vs gunslinger, the new number one.

Afro Samurai’s biggest draws are its over-the-top action and style. The action is in the vein of Kill Bill with its excessive gore, blood spraying in ludicrous amounts. No shot is standard, not shot is dull. The camera zooms into every unsheathing of a sword, light sparking off the blade, every cocking of a hammer, pull of a trigger.

From its desaturated colours to no-cares-given protagonist, Afro Samurai is sombre anime. The only source of humour is Afro’s chain smoking sidekick, Ninja Ninja (both voiced by Samuel L Jackson). He is the antithesis to Afro, never shutting up and a coward. He doesn’t do much beyond provide commentary to the adventure and say what Afro is really thinking. Ninja Ninja is Jackson at his silliest and quite humorous.

Afro Samurai’s bleakness doesn’t just cover its tone but also extends to its sparse plot. On his quest, Afro meets various characters from his childhood (including a Vader-type samurai with a teddy bear head), which the plot does try to inject personality into by way of flashbacks. However, these flashbacks are minimal in content and depth, and little effort is made to characterise in the present. There is also this brotherhood of monks looking to create a clone of Afro with all his skills to claim number one for themselves. While I found their Evangelical preacher of a leader amusing, the brotherhood doesn’t feel particularly relevant and could have been cut from the show with ease, but then you would have even less to populate the narrative.

What bothered me most were the headbands. They never explain why these mere pieces of cloth have any kind of power. I fail to see how you have to own a headband to be the best or challenge the best. Furthermore, if they are as powerful as they claim, can’t one simply bury the headband in the middle of a forest to stop challengers hounding you? If they don’t know you have the headband, they won’t bother challenging. Hell, if you have to have it on you to gain its power, then stuff it in your sock instead of parading around with it on your head. Misery solved.

If you can look past these logical fallacies and want an anime all about the action and blood, then Afro Samurai is for you. On the other hand, if you want more than ankle-deep characterisation and story, then skip this one.

Art – High

Afro Samurai uses a high number of key frames to bring the gruesome animation to life. Desaturated colouring enhances the bleakness of Afro’s quest. The mouth animations don’t match the words half the time – not just out of sync, but the wrong shape altogether (this anime was drawn for English).

Sound – Medium

Great voice work overpowered by the poor mixing of music, which is an even bigger shame since the music itself is decent – a mix of rap and long whistles for Mexican standoffs.

Story – Medium

The flashbacks provide backstory to the characters, but in the present, the plot doesn’t involve much beyond killing a series of enemies to reach the top.

Overall Quality – Medium

Recommendation: For fans of over the top action. Afro Samurai is worth your while if you want an anime all about the action and with enough backstory to give the characters purpose, don’t expect more than that.

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Positive: