Anime Review Roundup

“The anime must flow”, said the Spacing Guild Navigator to Shaddam IV, Emperor of the known universe, or words to that effect, and flow it does, beginning with last week’s review of Fairy Tail Part 18. It’s the part of Fairy Tail that I dread the most, the long stretch of filler, although this time, following a rather dismal standalone episode, Fairy Tail offers what promises to be the best, anime original arc that it has yet delivered. That may be damning it with faint praise, but there is enough to like about the Eclipse Celestial Spirits arc to hold out hope for a decent story.

Next it was time for some retro anime action, doubly retro in my case, as Martian Successor Nadesico finally returned to the UK in high definition Blu-ray form. I missed the original ADV release almost twenty years ago, but I did finally catch up with the wacky, space adventure, mecha war series when I imported TRSI’s re-mastered DVD release a few years ago now. The first time I saw it, I fell in love with the show, as it ticked quite a few of my Star Trek boxes. I revisit it again for its Blu-ray release, and as well as checking out how the show looks in crystal clear HD, I get to evaluate its re-watch value.

It may be a European animation, but The Red Turtle was produced by Studio Ghibli, and it’s well worth watching. A man is shipwrecked on an island, and his every effort to escape the island is thwarted by a large, red turtle. It’s when he takes his frustration out on the animal that things get a little fantastic. The Red Turtle is a stunning animation, made globally accessible as it manages to tell its story without any dialogue whatsoever.

Nabari no Ou. Following on from my recent re-watch of Horizon on the Middle of Nowhere, this is another series that is having its last chance to entertain me. It should have been brilliant, a show about ninja clans set in the modern world, recognisably our world, a hidden clan war going on in the background of everyday life, with writers, teachers, chefs, politicians, students, all hiding secret identities. It’s about a mystical power that is manifested in an unlikely recipient, which triggers a power struggle among the clans. It could have been great, but it’s hamstrung by making its central character apathetic and uninteresting. It’s supposed to be an original way to present an anime character, but it just comes across as tedious. The second, bigger problem is that it’s a story that’s aimed at the older female demographic that invest in young male relationships, so-called BL. So the ninja action will get put on the back burner while the apathetic protagonist and suicidal antagonist make eyes at each other.