Synopsis: Morimi Saki has just graduated and is on an overseas trip with her friends in the United States. A detour from her group to see the White House, a place which she sees as the centre of the earth because of its influence on world affairs, gets her involved in an incident with the police and a strange naked man wielding a gun and a mobile phone. This man, Takizawa Akira, has amnesia, and his phone holds the key to a mystery… one that relates to a spate of recent missile attacks on Japanese soil.

The Highlights
Animation: Maintains Production I.G.’s reputation for quality.
Character designs: Umino Chika’s character designs complement a unique style.
Music: A typically excellent soundtrack from Kawai Kenji.
OP and ED sequences: Unique and creative, like the show in general.
Themes: An analysis of the interplay between politics, society and technology.
Characters: Akira is enigmatic and sympathetic.
Romance: Stalls a tad in the latter part.
Ending: Not yet… wait for the movies.

When it’s done right, the mystery genre can produce some of the most absorbing and unique stories in anime. Eden of the East is a fine example of the mystery genre done right, and it’s utterly captivating from its first few minutes. However, as the story evolves, it not only becomes more intricate, it also strives for relevance, making commentaries on politics, society and the corporate structure in Japan. All this is done with production values that are simply gorgeous: the animation is technically proficient, but Umino Chika’s character designs also lend it a quality of sweet charm and charisma. My only major complaint can almost be seen as a good thing: with the hanging ending, comes confirmation that there’s still more to come.

There’s so much polish to the aesthetics of this anime. Production I.G. have a remarkable history of pushing the limits of animation, as can be seen with an extensive catalogue of visual feasts like FLCL, Blood: The Last Vampire and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. Eden of the East is similarly visually delightful but rather than trying to outdo its predecessors for motion and vibrancy, Eden is more concerned with forging an aesthetic identity to call its own. Combined with rich and colourful backgrounds are character designs by Umino Chika which are patently moe and instantly recall memories of Honey and Clover. It allows director Kamiyama Kenji to add both humour and humanity to his characters (for example, he often employs the somewhat antiquated technique of giving his characters visible emotion bubbles), making them both more sympathetic and intriguing.

This is offset by Kawai Kenji’s solemn soundtrack, which does a great job of keeping up a serious and mysterious atmosphere. On the topic of music, even the OP and ED complement Eden’s aesthetic sensibilities in a unique way: the ED sequence, set to School Food Punishment’s “Futuristic Imagination”, is a paper stop motion animation featuring pencils as missiles and a symbolic summary of the story, while the OP sequence, filled with vibrant, fast moving images, words, colours and patterns and the music of Oasis, leads us to the inevitable conclusion that someone’s thrown serious money at this anime (but that’s hardly a first for Production I.G.).

Barring a slightly off-putting obsession with “Johnnies”, the script is excellent. The mystery throws up its fair share of memorable curveballs, particularly towards the end, but its strength is in the relevant commentaries that come from its themes. At several points an analysis of public opinion in the face of terrorism, crisis and political and technological upheaval, Eden is at its strongest when its denouncing the rigidness of the corporate culture in Japan, and its requirements of loyalty and, ultimately, identity, and how many of the most creative and innovative individuals are stifled and eventually cast off by the established system. There’s also an analysis of the pros and cons of concentrating power in the hands of few, and how this influences change on a local and national level.

Unfortunately this is a story that’s far from over, with numerous questions, especially surrounding the “Supporter” and Mr. Outside, still remaining. This incarnation has built up my expectations for what has to follow, but what I really want to see is Saki take a more active role in the story. Initially an interesting character, by the end she falls into the role of a normal person observing a world beyond her comprehension. More romance between her and Akira would be nice too; they share one incredibly romantic moment about half way through, but after that their relationship stalls. Akira, fortunately, offsets this by being an incredibly captivating and enigmatic character, one of the real strengths of this show. Eden makes the point that he is a prince, and the TV series documents his rise. Fortunately, with two movies promised already, it won’t be a long wait before we see his reign.

The Rating: 9

Reviewed by: Sorrow-kun

Synopsis: Hirasawa Yui has never joined a club before. Through strange circumstances, she finds herself enrolled in the light music club. There, she meets the three other members, Tainaka Ritsu, Kotobuki Tsumugi and Akiyama Mio and forges an odd but solid friendship with them. Together, the four of them face the ups and downs of school, adolescence and music.

The Highlights
Plot: What plot?
Animation and art: Vivid and consistent.
Humour: Inconspicuous.
Characters: At times humorous, other times irksome.
Music: Not as much as there should be.

Kyoto Animation has certainly come a long way. With mega-hits like The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya(1,2), Lucky Star and Clannad, KyoAni has definitely proven its mettle as an animation company that excels in slice-of-life comedies.

Employing the same formula of humour, languid pacing and lack of plot, K-ON! appears to be another typical KyoAni production. To a certain extent, this proves correct as K-ON! chronicles the quirky lifestyles of the four main characters in a paradigmatic slice-of-life manner. However, a major element missing from the anime is the humour factor. As a whole, K-ON! never really tries to be laugh-out-loud funny. Rather, it relies on a recycled “entourage” of recurring gags that were initially mildly funny, but became banal and dull after several episodes. There were however, a few scenes that I found hilarious such as Mugi’s affinity for the fairer sex and Sawako-sensei’s history as a heavy metal guitarist.

Ironically, despite K-ON! being a show about music, the music plays second fiddle to the other aspects of the anime. In many cases, the characters would forgo practice sessions in favour of vacations and indulgence in confectionery. To compensate for the lack of music, mini-tutorials should have been added at the end of each episode (as done in Moyashimon), for example tips on alternate picking, choosing a suitable guitar and so forth. Had this been added, viewers would be able to relate more closely with the characters in their endeavours to succeed as a high school music band. Instead, watching the characters perform on stage gave me a strange sense of detachment. Also, Yui’s progress as a guitarist was inconsistent, ranging from nil to inhumanly quick. To be fair, the songs performed by Yui and her band such as “Fuwa Fuwa Time” were infectiously catchy. Often enough, I found myself tapping my feet to the aforesaid tunes.

K-ON!’s colourful ensemble of characters is perhaps the anime’s biggest selling point. Among the characters are Yui, the ebullient, air-headed guitarist, Tsumugi, the effluent but ignorant keyboardist, Ritsu, the impetuous drummer and Mio, the reclusive, punctilious bassist/vocalist . Their contrasting personalities serve as an amusing focal point of the show, perhaps the anime’s sole source of humour. Yui’s indecisiveness and inability to concentrate (provided in small doses) had me chuckling as did Tsumugi’s obliviousness to her own wealth and infatuation for other females. However, Mio, initially my favourite character, proved to be the least interesting as she served as a mere conduit of moe by adopting various personalities (including reticence, cowardice and authoritativeness) in a cheap attempt to up the moe output. This rendered her character paper-thin, sorely disappointing me. The introduction of a fifth main character, Azusa, did little more than increase the already saturated moe content.

The last major element of the anime, namely animation, was consistently crisp and vivid. Character designs, particularly Mio’s, were appealing and very easy on the eyes. However, what really irked me was the reusing of numerous scenes . particularly in the beach episodes. In addition to that, the crude pasting of Azusa into the opening song made me unsure whether I should cringe or weep. These, among other scenes exhibited KyoAni’s lack of effort and general flippancy in producing this anime.

As a whole, K-ON! has its moments but is ultimately an inconsequential anime. Mediocrity at its quintessence.

The Rating: 5

Reviewed by: Fuu

Synopsis: Subaru and her twin brother Kazuma share a dream in becoming ballet dancers, but after Kazuma’s death from a hereditary illness, dancing became Subaru’s only happiness and she yearns to lose herself in dance. Her life takes a dramatic turn when she runs into cabaret owner Isuzu, who recognizes the talent in Subaru and trains her in her nightspot. But to become a professional ballerina, Subaru has to overcome harsher challenges than merely satisfying the cabaret drunkards. Spurred on by her rivals, Subaru enters an international dance competition, to vie for recognition and a scholarship to any top ballet company in the world.

The Highlights
Pan-Asian Effort: Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, oh my!
Kuroki Meisa: Her strong, palpable presence is this film’s biggest selling point.
Pacing: Too fast, too furious.
Direction: A 105 minute-long MTV doesn’t exactly make for compelling viewing.

Based on a popular manga of the same name by Soda Masahito, the live-action film adaptation is unique for being a large-scale, pan-Asian production rather than exclusively Japanese project, directed by veteran Hong Kong director Lee Chi-Ngai, and with Japan’s Warner Bros Japan, Korea’s SM Entertainment, and Singapore’s MediaCorp Raintree Pictures co-producing alongside Hong Kong producer Bill Kong’s Edko Films. And it shows in how Dance! Subaru came off with a very different feel from most other Japanese films; there is an international sheen to the film, but unfortunately at the cost of the “heart” that characterizes the best of Japanese film.

By far, it is actress Kuroki Meisa who steals the show; her portrayal of the titular Miyamoto Subaru is a refreshingly headstrong, passionate character whose palpable presence defines the film for what it is. It is not at all hard to root for the young woman who instinctively knows what she wants to do in life, rises from grief and pain to reach for that goal, and meets all challenges in her way with a charmingly bullheaded attitude that would make many want to stand up and say ‘you go, girl!’. Such a strong female character who does not fall into the trap of the tsundere conventions are few and far between, and Japanese media could certainly stand to benefit from more of such characters in their storylines.

Unfortunately, part of what makes Kuroki’s presence stand out so strongly was the fact that most of the other aspects of the film pale badly in contrast. For one thing, I’m not the biggest proponent of Hollywood sequels, but something definitely isn’t quite right when I start thinking at the 1-hour mark that they should have padded out the story up to that point, ended it right there and then, and saved up the rest of the material for a sequel. Events in the storyline not only happen too quickly, they also happen too choppily; it was “snap”, next scene; “snap”, next scene; “snap”, next scene with hardly sufficient transition for pretty much the entire duration. The entire experience was like watching a 105-minute long MTV, and as one might imagine, such would have consequences on everything else in the film.

For one, the MTV effect is especially apparent in the dance scenes; it might be a necessity to cover up the inevitable lack of ability on the part of the main actresses, but the quickfire scene-switching and odd camera angles just end up less than convincing, making any comments about the dancers’ skills feeling like an informed ability more than anything. For another, most other characters apart from Subaru herself tend to end up becoming an afterthought; only South Korean model A-ra’s Liz Park manage to serve as a respectable foil to Subaru, and Sano Miku’s Kureha Mana barely avoids ending up in the “afterthought” group as well. This also makes the melodramatic portions less than convincing as well, as it is hard to feel Subaru’s grief for those lost when they were just there….and then gone. It is not helped by the fact that despite her stage presence, melodrama is the weakest part of Kuroki’s repertoire, making it such that Subaru’s depressive scenes were, again, less than convincing. This also has the effect of making Subaru an admirable, but not a particularly sympathetic character in the end.

Ultimately, the directing leaves far too much to be desired, sacrificing too much character development for excessively-fast pacing. Subaru’s dance techniques are frequently commented on by other characters in the film as “needing work”; much the same can be said about the direction of this promising, but ultimately disappointing film.

The Rating: 6

Reviewed by: Ascaloth

Synopsis: The history of humanity is a sad one, to say the least. With a legacy of endless strife, millennia of meaningless conflict have escalated war to the stars. And yet, while mankind falls into the same pitfalls without resolution in sight, the ambitions of men are not bound by such follies. In the midst of 150 of one such struggle, two brilliant individuals arise. One is Admiral Yang Wen Li, a scholar whose integrity shall inspire the hearts of a failing nation. The other is Count Reinhard vom Lohengramm, a charismatic leader with dreams of conquest that exceed those of his pathetic empire’s. The journey these two are about to embark on is one to make history. And neither are ready to know where that journey will take them.

The Highlights
Pacing and progression: Slow, seamless, and solid
Philosophy: Heavy, but never preachy
Universe: Is observed from every angle with an open mind (theocracy notwithstanding)
Cast: Most will prove their worth by the end
Stage: Grand
Intensity: Doesn’t let up for a second
Plot twists: You may see them coming, but they will blow your mind

I really don’t want to keep this short. If it were up to me, this review would probably span the length of a doctoral dissertation. And even then, there really is no way to give a thorough analysis of Legend of the Galactic Heroes before realizing that I have barely scratched the surface of this virtually unrivaled masterpiece. It would be presumptuous of me to hail it as the greatest anime of all time. But to think of it as anything less than a contender is greatly underrating what LOGH manages to achieve.

Before anyone gets turned off by the cheesy title, it is important to note that the name Legend of the Galactic Heroes is somewhat of a misnomer. For all the heroics the protagonists bestow, they are all merely portrayed simply as men of history. And while Yang and Reinhard are what drives the story, it really isn’t about them. This story really isn’t about anyone. What LOGH is, is a tale of human history, an observation of the philosophies and personalities that change it. Using the framing device of an interstellar war, this anime delves into the concepts that create society, never afraid to question and defend every bit and piece of it. This series is not afraid to admit the merits of autocracy, while never explicitly, or even implicitly, giving it the philosophical upper hand against democracy. Outside of terrorism and theocracy, each system of authority is broken down it its base parts, never overgeneralized, never attacked, never worshiped. After all, this is an anime about contradiction. There is no agenda.

When it comes to Yang and Reinhard, the two act as perfect foils in a rivalry that defines the other’s existence. But more important is those they inspire. The cast of LOGH are people of ideas, and it is these ideas which bring these characters to light in almost unimaginable ways. Granted, not all characterization is significantly profound, such as Julian, who transforms from a humble recruit to perhaps the wisest man in the entire galaxy. While there are those, such as Ruental, who come full circle, many only go as far as Eisenach’s nonverbal quirks. Luckily most characters teeter on the side of heavy character development and analysis, leaving very little time wasted. This is not to say that characters like Eisenach are less important. What matters is that just about every main and supporting character has a valid reason to exist.

For all of its being a study of human history, Legend of the Galactic Heroes is still a space opera. And oh does it deliver. And like any good space opera should, LOGH merely uses space battles as one of many tools to create its rich universe. If this anime was only exciting during deep space skirmishes and the occasional axe fight, this would be a pretty boring series. As fun as these moments are to watch, it is the anticipation of what will happen next that makes LOGH so compelling. What’s important is not so much what will happen, but more why and how it will happen. At a point, it is not so hard to predict the upcoming plot twist. However, knowing where all the pieces are set, keeps one alert for the inevitable, giving rise to an unrelenting sense of urgency, which doesn’t just linger around and appear when necessary. With every scene, the momentum is maintained and crescendos along the way. When two soldiers talking in the mess hall can retain all the energy of a glorious battle, you know someone is doing something right.

But more than anything, what makes Legend of the Galactic Heroes distinguish itself the way it does, is its endearing willingness to better itself. The production team didn’t just stop at already exceptional quality early on. As time goes by, the animation vastly improves. The cast becomes more relatable. Many of whom could be defined as stupid-evil are essentially wiped out by the end of the first season. The impact of each and every story element only gets stronger. And the themes become more and more relevant, all cumulating into perhaps the greatest antiwar message in all anime. I have no idea how it holds up to the original novels; however, that doesn’t stop this OVA from being an outstanding piece on its own. I feel as if I gained much from watching LOGH. And I am certain, that everyone and anyone will find it just as meaningful in their own way.

The Rating: 10

Reviewed by: Kavik Ryx

Synopsis: Sara Werec is a 16 year old pilot trainee of her nation’s most powerful weapon, the Strain. Following in the footsteps of her brother, Ralph Werec, Sara dreams of becoming a professional Reasoner and joining her brother in combat within the deepest reaches of space. Her dreams, however, are quickly shattered when her planet is attacked by her brother who has betrayed his mission, his country, and his beloved sister.

The Highlights
Characters: A rather uncommon setup for an all too common group of clichés.
Drama: The willingness to kill main characters is interesting; the primary conflict is not.

Studio Sunrise is and always has been a standard for the anime industry. Its ideas and innovations have been reused time and time again (most zealously by fellow Sunrise staff members) that they have become ingrained within the very fabrics of the anime culture. For instance, Soukou no Strain is Studio Fantasia’s take on Gundam except with a dash of moe and a ham-fisted attempt at drama.

I suppose changing the lead character from an angst-filled male to a stoic female and changing the primary antagonist from a masked man with a troubled past to said female protagonist’s older brother can alter the dynamics of character interactions and create a whole new product, but the war drama that ensues is at best lukewarm. Pardon the pun, but the creators seem to be strained when it comes to creating those meaningful breather moments where characters can just be themselves. Introspection is either clichéd or forced, and the comedy is completely out of place. Jumping into the main story from episode 1 has its strengths, but with so many characters fighting and dying without proper development, the conflicts feel overly melodramatic and are ineffectual.

To the show’s credit, the anime’s willingness to kill off primary characters makes the show far more engaging than it should be. Even the obligatory, episodic fight scenes come across as somewhat tense since any stray bullet can be a character’s last. Though the animation is generic, the CGI is good enough to make the mecha fight scenes watchable, and the music is decent.

The primary problem I have with the show is its main source of drama: the conflict between Sara and her brother. While the brother/sister conflicts can be interesting, the one presented in Souko no Strain fails to come across as genuine. Sunrise always made sure that their antagonists were something of an enigma, so that when they eventually conclude that destroying Earth with some doomsday device will bring about world peace, there is enough wiggle room to concoct some sort of reasoning behind the antagonists’ actions. Souko no Strain spends so much time showing that Ralph is a loving, caring person who only wanted to give his little sister the world that it becomes extremely difficult to believe that he would become so warped except out of sheer plot convenience.

I would like to say that this anime is a diamond in the rough, a show that could become great with a bit of polish, but virtually everything this series offers has already been buffed to mirror shine by a vast multitude of other shows that there’s no reason to give this that benefit of the doubt. Souko no Strain is a mediocre war drama that tries to and fails at creating a likable cast from its already clichéd characters, which ultimately dooms the production into deserved obscurity.

The Rating: 5

Reviewed by: Shadowmage