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I've been pretty busy for a couple months now. Not much time for recreational viewing, and I've spent a bit of time watching live action movies and TV series as a break from anime. I know. Heresy. So be it. Finally made the time for Tim Burton's
Alice in Wonderland and also got a BD encode of
Farscape, so have been working my way through all four seasons plus the movies for that.
Anyway. The
soundtrack collection for Neo Heroic Fantasia Arion just got a makeover and I've really enjoyed it for several years now, so I finally grabbed the movie off my wishlist for a watch.
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Neo Heroic Fantasia Arion - about 5 or (at most) 6 out of 10.
plus:
- Epic. Clash of the Titans epic. Jason and the Argonauts epic. An epic tale worthy of the gods.
- Exceptional Olde Schoole animation. Really beautiful, glorious cell animation at the peak of its art form.
- Joe Hisaishi scored most of the soundtrack. One of his masterpieces. 10 of 10 for that, at least.
minus:
- Totally fucking batshit insane. Liberties taken with Greek mythology to the point where even the names aren't recognizable or relevant.
Do NOT watch for plot.
- At 1 hour 24 min into the movie there is a monologue that is incomprehensible & insanely incoherent. From there on to the end it's a batshit insane ride of what the fuck. And, not in a Good Way. At times it's so ludicrous that it goes full plaid, laugh out loud, underpants on head retarded.
I should be giving it about a 4 of 10, but it's not too horrible for the first 1 hour 24 min, even if it's not great ...
PLOTWISE. The animation makes it something of a must-see from the standpoint of what a monumental example of the Japanese anime artform it is. But, literally By The Gods ... what a wretched clusterfuck of retarded it ends with.
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Moyashimon, both S01
Tales of Agriculture and S02
Moyashimon Returns. Overall, a weak 7 of 10 for both seasons as a single, contiguous story.
plus:
- Fairly clever and unique concept, which is emphasized enough without overplaying it.
- In general, the animation style and design is good, if not great or inspired.
- Generally nice plot, empathetic characters, some good humor, a rare university setting, so a bit more mature than most high school settings.
minus:
- It never really just "shines." Always seems to be near its potential, but not quite realizing it most of the time.
- The plot and humor is trope-laden, which takes away potential in surprise, humor, and some of the freshness from its unique core concept.
- Given the very interesting idea of being able to see, communicate with and command microbes, it ignores vast potential within its own universe of reality and just plain misses dozens of opportunities ... often at the expense of beating another dead trope and becoming just boring.
I went into this with high hopes due to enthusiastic comments from other anime fans; was actually looking forward to this for some time now. Perhaps my expectations were too high. I did enjoy it and am glad I watched it. However, the plot really did ignore many unique and fascinating possibilities that would have been vastly more interesting than some of the stupid things it did focus on. The soundtrack was so-so. I might download it for completeness, and it's not very large.
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Oda Nobuna no Yabou | The Ambition of Oda Nobuna - sadly, about a 3 out of 10, maybe even a 2.
plus:
- Liked the base premise of time-travel into the past, enjoyed the warring states period time frame. For a while I thought this could be very Utawarerumono-like.
- Animation itself was really pretty to look at, even if not unusually spectacular.
- Actually did feel for some of the characters, liked them, and (of course) most of the girls were very easy on the eyes.
- In the first half or so, at least, some of the humor got a few laughs ... but really dried up as the second half become outright insulting to basic intelligence.
minus:
- Truly sucked shit for plot. The final three or four episodes in particular really went downhill into Full Retard.
- Evil characters are evil for the sake of being evil; shallow, one-dimensional caricatures existing for the sake of mind-numbingly shallow "plot." To be fair, all the characters become more and more shallow as the episodes progressed.
- The world the anime creates for itself is incredibly shallow and ignores it's own fundamental realities; highly inconsistent and just flat-out insulting. Suddenly, half-way through, it turns out that vast, world-shaking magic is "real," after setting the stage that it's an historical sci fi/fantasy.
- Even in the genre of harem anime, this one was terribad. There was no credible reason at any point for why every female suddenly wet herself for the main, other than there didn't seem to be another man in all of Japan as far as the presentation went. Seriously, the main is surrounded by literally hundreds of men who outclass him in every imaginable way.
This is one of the few anime I've ever deleted off my computer with no intention to archive or ever revisit. It's directed at young boys with low levels of both maturity and intelligence, a sugar-coated and shallow fantasy that perpetuates a sociopathic world view about almost every type of person you can imagine, especially women.
Do yourself a favor: find a copy of
Utawarerumono and watch that instead. That is a vastly superior anime with many similar elements to this one, except it's about a 9 out of 10 for a sweeping war-strategy-political plot with elements of mystery and magic. Or, perhaps even better,
Seirei no Moribito | Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit. Both of those would be time well-invested in fantastic plot and animation. Oda Nobuna no Yabou is just ... wasted time.
