Naruto 82 & Bleach 192 Impressions

Quick warning: spoilers for both Bleach and Naruto. So if you haven’t watched these episodes, don’t read this post.

I’m gonna come right out and say it: episode 82 of Shippuuden was beautiful, both in terms of emotion and quality. Man, this is the reason why it seems I’m so harsh on Naruto. It’s because I know they’re capable of much better, it’s because I’ve already seen the good stuff, that I cringe at their budget saving techniques. But oh well, if that’s what they gotta do to dish out these OAV/movie quality episodes, then fine, so be it, because it’s totally worth it.

It’s ironic that the post-mortem episode of the Hokage’s son was far more powerful than the Hokage’s. Perhaps this just shows how mature the series can become (I won’t say has because Shippuuden’s maturity teeteers back-and-forth, especially during the fillers). The beginning of the episode is powerful with excellent direction. You know instantly that they’re trying and that this episode will be a stand-out. We follow Shikamaru’s turmoil as he tries to come to terms with Asuma’s passing and you really get a sense of this series’ ability to completely flesh out character archetypes, turning them into real people. And not just him, but everyone around him as well. When one of the commoners casually spoke of Asuma, not knowing he was gone, and Shikamaru revealed it to her, that was absolutely brilliant and an excellent moment. Things like that flesh out the world and make it seem real.

I’m very very happy that they’ve decided to focus on Shikamaru for the time being as he’s easily among one of the most interesting characters in Naruto. Also, Kakashi’s revelation at the end was awesome. I was like, “Oh yeah!”

So to go from that OAV quality episode to Bleach was, well…let’s just say I was disappointed. Bleach is still on the level of “shonen”, meaning like action hero approach catering to the 10-13 age group, that the original Naruto was, only more campy. The animation was poor, the fight sequence was horrible, the direction was lacking, and using the same high-pitched voice actor for the adult Nel was jarring. The child Nel was really adorable, but I can’t say I have the same connection to this new Nel. We’ll see how she plays out. I really really hope they step up the animation quality for her fight but I’m not holding my breath. It always sucks to see how much cool potential Bleach has yet fail for me for a majority of the time. Bleach has the potential to be Naruto but it never lives up to the same level of quality.

Disappointing.

Bleach & Naruto Canon Resume – Hooray!

At long last! The dead space is over! Both Naruto and Bleach have finally finished their irritatingly long filler sagas as represented by the new openings. If there’s one thing I’m glad for about fillers and their imported characters is that you never have to see them again once their saga is over…..with the one exception being Bleach and those 3 ridiculous muppet-thing characters. I can’t believe they’re still moping around, what disgusting blemishes they are.

Anyways, Naruto restarted its canon a while earlier and I’m very happy that things are finally getting serious and ramping up. Plus, it’s finally caught up to where I stopped reading the manga, yay. Onto the story, I was surprised and pleased at the twist at the end of team Shikamaru’s fight vs the two Akatsuki. Naturally no spoilers but let me just say that the best emotionally engaging stories are ones where the characters actually experience lasting and permanent repercussions/consequences. Think about the new Indiana Jones movie and how Indy survived a nuke and you’ll get what I’m talking about. On the negative side however, Naruto still has the stupidest flashbacks in existence. Are you seriously gonna show me a flashback from five minutes ago? It’s sad but that seriously isn’t a joke or an exaggeration. I can’t believe such a good anime will pull off something as low as that…

For Bleach, only 15 minutes of the rebooted canon have begun so I don’t much to say on that note. One thing I will say is that, so far, I’ve been fairly disappointed with the released forms of the Espada. Not so much with Grimmjow specifically, just in general. This is more of a personal preferrence, but for me, the further Bleach gets away from sword fights and into monster battles, the less interesting they are. I mean, even with the Shinigamis bankai. Ichigo’s bankai is incredibly badass because all it is is a black katana.

When you get into the more outlandish bankais like Renji’s dragon thing, I don’t find it cool or interesting in the least, like I’m watching someone fight Godzilla…but that’s a bad analogy because Godzilla is pretty damn cool. Okay, it’s like they all just turn into random tentacle monsters, that’s how I see them. Grimmjow’s final form has the most likeable design for me and yet his special moves were pretty lame. That’s the other thing. Even if the design is alright, how cool can a “monster’s” special attack be? I would of rather seen him bust out some more sick katana moves or finger lasers. Finger lasers are always cool. Again, this is just a personal preference, one that I have for all anime. The more outlandish, monster-ish characters or abilities get, the less interesting I find them.

On a final word, I do have another review & analysis in the works. I just finished Code Geass, both seasons, so I’m working on a full writeup now. This one is gonna be rather long so it’s taking me a while. I’m also watching the 2nd season of Gundam 00 so I may write a retrospective on the first season. Quick thoughts on that, Gundam 00 has the best mech-battle chereography I have ever seen…but I really I hate retconning. That is to say, bringing back a dead character through the form of an identical twin brother? That’s disgustingly lazy writing.

Pile of shame…for sexist reasons?

These are anime that I purposely and intentionally haven’t gotten around to, despite the hype or critical praise. Why? For a very stupid, sexist reason I will admit.

Claymore

I feel bad, not to mention idiotic, for saying this, but I have a predisposition against anime where the main characters are females. Unless it’s a comedy, it’s very hard for me to want to watch it. It’s silly because it has nothing to do with the anime but it’s just that complete lack of connection to the perspective of the main character puts me off. A lot of anime hook me with the “damn he’s a badass” click. Doesn’t quite work for me switched around.

Also, after watching the first episode, it annoys me how the main character’s sidekick is the wimp-but-I’ll-get-stronger kid. I hate that archetype.

GITS: SAC

I always hear good things about this…but the premise just doesn’t interest me. I tire of the “bad-guy-of-the-week” procedural anime, though I’m sure this series executed the formula well.

Twelve Kingdoms

Perhaps not as well-known among the newer generation, but always talked about in the discussion of anime classics. It’s funny, the only good anime I haven’t seen are likely ones that have girl’s as the main character. I truely am a sexist idiot. I always hear great things about this series, but unfortunately I’d have to know somebody in real life who loved it and they’d have to shove it in my face to get me to watch it.

The truly sad thing about all this is that these dispositions, I know it wouldn’t stop me from liking any of these anime. Despite my bias, it’s impossible for me to not recognize a good anime and if it’s genuine, then it’ll grow on me and I won’t be able to help but enjoy it, girl main character or not. However, what it does do is stop me from even giving these anime a chance to begin with. My loss, I know.

Grade Definitions

I just realized that I haven’t explained what I consider A anime and what I consider B, so here it is. It’s not quite what you may have thought they were. An A isn’t just a good anime, it’s an absolutely incredible one. A B isn’t average, it’s better than most of the stuff currently there.

A = Fantastic, the best of the best

I do not give out As lightly. For an anime to get A, they can’t just be great, they have to be considered some of the best anime ever created. They are classics, must-watch, plateaus of the medium. That’s what an A is in my book and that’s what I mean when I give one out. I have given out more As than Cs but that’s only because these are the anime I mainly cover. I don’t bother writing about C anime and if I find A anime, you can be damn sure I’m going to post about it.

B = Better than average, unique in some way

I will typically only cover anime that rise above the conventions of their peers and succeed in doing something fresh or have good execution, enough to make them moderately memorable in some way. A good anime, worth checking out for sure.

C = Average, run-of-the-mill, cliche, forgettable

In general, I won’t bother talking about average anime. Average anime don’t provoke intellectual thought from me and therefore don’t deserve that treatment. They’re forgettable and should be forgotten. Most anime are Cs, honestly. Like those anime based off some ero-game, they’re a dime a dozen and indistinguishable from one another.

D = Childish, silly, or stupid

In my scale, a D is an anime that’s probably average but I really don’t like personally. Maybe I don’t like the characters, mayber it’s the premise, or maybe it’s the theme. An ecchi with a lot of fanservice or some terribly stupid slapstick style humor will get a D from me. I can usually spot these based on summary alone so, thankfully, I’m lucky enough to avoid these series most of the time.

F = Something went terribly terribly wrong, scarred for life

This anime seriously offends my intelligence in some way. Not only am I disgusted by this anime but I’m pissed that I was somehow suckered into wasting my time with it.

Quick-fire thoughts on some old anime

Some short, impression-type reviews of old, but relative anime of interest. I tried to put down what most immediately came to mind what I thought of these anime without thinking too much. If you haven’t watched some these, definitely check them out. It’ll be well-worth your time for sure as a couple of these rank among my all-time favorites. If you don’t know a particular anime is about, check out the ANN links below for the summaries.

Monster: A+
Kino’s Journey: B–
Berserk: A
Code Geass: B
PlanetES: A
Elfen Lied: B–
Black Lagoon: A-

Monster - Rating: A+

I loved Monster, an incredibly unique anime, there’s nothing else like it. The twists are absolutely fantastic, a very intricate, mature story. I watched it to the end of the anime and figured that it didn’t really end there. I guessed right and found the manga’s end. I can see why they ended it there but the manga ending is also very good and neatly wraps up all the lose ends.

Berserk - Rating: A

A fan favorite for sure. Berserk’s awesome but MAN is it dark after the anime. It’s really tough for me to read the manga some times because so much messed up stuff happens in there. I swear I was depressed for like the whole day after watching the ending of Berserk in the anime. Talk about a sucker punch.

PlanetES - Rating: A

An excellent, excellent anime, really surprised me how good it was. I thought it was going to be mediocre from such a simple, mundane premise but the short stories were very engaging and well-told. Just goes to show you that any anime executed well can make anything look cool (even space garbage men). I loved the ending too.

Kino's Journey - Rating: B-

It’s not badly made or anything, I can see why people like it. But I did not like the pacing or the stark contrast of different overtones in the series. It goes from light and easy-going to dark and gloomy and back far too quickly for me. At times, it drags, though clearly it was intentional most of the time to set the style of the series. Usually the type of slow anime I’m used to are ones with a whole lot of exposition; Kino is just the opposite, with a lackadaisical, taking it easy approach. Sidenote, [*SPOILER*] kind of annoyed me how they pulled the old girl guy switcherwoo, my sad explanations for that in an upcoming post.[/*SPOILER*]

Code Geass - Rating: B

A pretty conventional mech soap-opera anime but I really liked it at first because the main character’s an asshole. I always like that. Still, in the second season, the novelty has worn off and I got tired of watching it on a weekly basis. It can get incredibly corny and melodramatic a lot of the time but I’ll stick with it. Melodrama is a part of 90% of anime. It will be better to marathon this type of anime to pull me in better and get rid of my suspension of disbelief.

Black Lagoon - Rating: A-

Excellent anime. One of the very few anime that has an amazingly smart, well-written script. In most anime, the bad guy’s are always talking about how death is life in the most ridiculously roundabout way. Black Lagoon does that too and yet pull it off with superb execution as the characters seem very grounded in reality. I love that. Also, the hyper-Pulp-Fiction-esque world of mercenaries and mafias is pretty damn much all kinds of awesome. Didn’t care for the ending saga in the anime though.

Elfen Lied - Rating: B-

Jesus Christ this was gory! Easily one of the most violently graphic modern anime. Old school anime used to achieve this level of violence all the time, taking cues from Fist of the North Star and Ninja Scroll, but these days it’s a very rare sight to see an anime reach that plateau of gruesomeness. It’s ludicrous to realize that the amount of gore in Elfen Lied is actually at the same level of the Berserk manga. And you completely wouldn’t expect it from the conventional, run-of-the-mill character designs. It’s like watching 7-year olds rock out to some death metal. I give them props for being very unique in that respect.