Winter 2013 – Week 12 Anime Review

This week: appreciating the evolution of Akane’s character in Psycho-Pass, thoughts on how others face anxiety and pressure in Chihayafuru 2, the perspective and surprise of tricks in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, and thinking about the story going full circle in Zetsuen no Tempest.

Robotics;Notes – 22 (Finale)

Robotics;Notes is an anime that progressed through a series of ups and downs.  During its ups, the anime was amusing and entertaining with an ominous mystery and a robotics theme that was both strong and appropriate.  During its downs, the series was a curious and confusing mess with a story that felt disjointed and incoherent that bounced between two very different sides in a ‘Robotics’ half and a ‘Notes’ half.  And though the series cycled between these high points and low points, the second half of the anime saw a general trend downward with its obvious peaks in the first half and its lowest valleys in the latter half.  Just what happened to Robotics;Notes to take it from a promising and entertaining anime to one with an unclear, directionless plot with highly questionable storytelling.

Winter 2013 – Week 7 Anime Review

This week: questions about who the real big bad in Psycho-Pass could be, some thoughts on why I continue to watch Little Busters!, social cliques in character pairings in Senran Kagura, and some earth-shattering omissions in Maoyuu Maou Yuusha.

Robotics;Notes – 4

Presently, GunPro1 resides in an abandoned airport hangar, resting incomplete.  Through anyone’s eyes, the project is nothing more than an unfinished structure of welded steel in the shape of a torso crowned with a masked helmet.  But to the people who are at the heart of this project and those potentially linked with it, GunPro1 appears to be much more than it truly is.  Whether it is the manifestation of a lifetime of dreams, a rational and fully-functional giant robot, or an opportunity for unique corporate advertising, everyone associated with GunPro1 has their own, distinctive vision for this arising giant robot.  However, these conflicting interests and completing influences may ultimately keep this project grounded and forever incomplete.

Sakamichi no Apollon – 12 (Finale)

In an era where ambiguous and open-ended finales are the norm, an unspoken prayer for the chance of a fiscally-successful sequel in the unforeseen future, an anime receiving proper and satisfying closure has become an rare indulgence.  Conclusions such as these leave the audience with a sense of gratification and completeness, as we like to believe we just watched the tale of a beautiful story rather than 12 half-hour segments of some manga/light novel advertisement that cuts off at whatever rushed or broken point seemed to be the best in the pre-planning stages.  No, what Sakamichi no Apollon was able to do with its story, its characters, and its themes is truly refreshing and rewarding.  It’s a shame not every anime can end the way Apollon did.

Last Exile: Ginyoku no Fam – 2

And with that, we pretty much have the main trio set up for this anime.  You figured that’d be the case from the opening but now we have the story of how they’ve come together.  All that remains is the grand tale of where they’ll go and what they’ll do.

Steins;Gate – 15

Despite Okabe being the founder of the Future Gadget Lab, being Lab Member 001, and becoming the father of time travel, among other accolades and accomplishments, he’s never really felt like a leader.  He just seemed like the one who cared too much and bossed others around for his own selfish purposes.  And we know at times, like the past few episodes, he took the entire burden of messing up time and Mayuri’s numerous deaths all upon himself.  But that’s all changed.  It finally feels right to call Okabe a leader, especially after all he did in this episode.