Anime Review Roundup

I still have a few unwatched anime purchases that I intend to get around to reviewing, although review copies from distributors are beginning to pick up again. That’s why it’s taken me more than a few months after its release to get around to watching Bungo Stray Dogs: Seasons 1 & 2 + OVA. It’s a fantasy action adventure show that centres on a group of people with special abilities. You might think that would put it in the comic book realm of Marvel and DC, but with its heavy literary allusions and wacky character comedy, it’s much more traditional anime than something like My Hero Academia. There are more than a few comparisons to be drawn with Blood Blockade Battlefront, and it’s a very well put together show. But there are aspects to Bungo Stray Dogs that feel tired and clichéd. Click on the review to read more.

Then again, I can still be tempted to review those unsolicited review discs that I initially had no intention of ever watching when they first dropped into my in-tray. Lady Death is a notoriously disappointing, home-grown animation from what used to be ADV Films. Now it’s expected for companies like Netflix and Crunchyroll to invest some serious money into producing animation, but back during the last anime bubble, companies like ADV put their own money into productions. Given that you probably haven’t heard of shows and movies like Lady Death, you can guess how that panned out. An animation adapting a short lived US comic book, the only notable thing about the IP is the character art. It takes less than ten minutes of watching Lady Death to realise that fan service alone just isn’t enough.

Trinity Blood. There was a time when every other anime seemed to have vampires in. It was common enough for me to actually get tired of the genre. You hardly ever see the bloodsuckers now in anime. I’m almost starting to miss them. Fortunately, watching a show like Trinity Blood is enough to remind me of how bad such anime got. Not that Trinity Blood is unwatchable; it’s just that it’s another in the Gonzo production line storytelling from around fifteen years ago. Create a post-apocalyptic future world, have plenty of characters, a whole lot of comedy, and an overarching plot featuring wall to wall conspiracies. That was the blueprint for shows from Kiddy Grade, Burst Angel, Black Cat, all the way to Shangri-La. Trinity Blood is a forgettable instalment in the ‘genre’ set in a world following an apocalyptic war, and the arrival on Earth of the “Methuselahs”, the vampires. The human civilisation recovered under the aegis of the Vatican, and a state of friction arose between the two civilisations. The combat priests and nuns do battle against the vampires, and a secret society plots to end the world. Our hero is a Krusnik, a vampire that preys on vampires, only we never really see him do this, although his voice does get deeper and his hair stands on end when he goes bad ass.