Hey guys, it’s me again with this week’s anime. Last night we watched Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi, Kore ha Zombie Desu ka?, and Golgo 13. It wasn’t a bad night, going from some entertaining moe-cancer comedy to what Gene called MANIME, a refreshing change of pace in the middle of all of the other shows we’ve been watching.
I’m feeling kind of lazy tonight, so expect this post to be short unless I end up discovering I had more to complain about than I thought I did…
That’s enough intro, I think. If you were there, feel free to read on. Or don’t and just comment with your own thoughts–that’s cool, too!
Ookami-san to Shcihinin no Nakamatachi
I like these hero shots.
Ookami-san I actually kind of enjoyed. While it’s not some masterpiece of anime, it consistently made me laugh and I kind of like the animation and art style. Though episode 3 disappointed me somewhat since it focused less on Ryouko and Ryoushi, it was still an entertaining show and I wouldn’t mind seeing more.
Oh, and then there’s the narrator. While I didn’t really like the narrator at first, the interjections and whatnot definitely grew on me, sort of how I would look forward to the ending narration at the end of every episode of Katanagatari after awhile. At first I thought the voices might be the same, but this doesn’t appear to be the case. I admit I was a little lost at everyone freaking out at the voice, though… someone should probably fill me in, and I’d be grateful.
Anyway, yeah, Ookami-san was funny, looked good, and had a kind of charm to it that’s honestly enough to make me consider watching some more of it (kind of the way it was with Amagami-SS; I guess a certain kind of ‘charm’ goes a long way with me). We’ll see, though!
Kore ha Zombie Desu ka?
Because everything's better with zombies.
On the other hand, Kore ha Zombie Desu ka? was a comedy that I didn’t enjoy quite as much. I had seen the first episode with Gene a while back, and remembered thinking that–even if it wasn’t good–it was at least entertaining. In a way, it still was, but by the third episode I was already tired with the formula.
It sort of felt like Zombie was using the same sort of gags over and over again–the only repeat joke I found consistently funny was Zombie’s (I forget his name) fantasies about Eucliwood Hellscythe (lol name) calling him onii-chan and whatnot.
I still can’t say Kore ha Zombie Desu ka? was an awful show, but it certainly wasn’t good, and it’s definitely leaning towards ‘bad’. In a way, I feel like this show is a decent representation of what modern anime should be less like–less fanservice, less moe (well, maybe not less moe, but less trying so damn hard to make everything moe), and less trying to oscillate between serious and comedy.
This was actually a problem Ookami-san had, too. They both got dangerously close to turning serious (Ookami-san almost getting raped, and Zombie getting all serious when it comes to searching for his killer) when they really shouldn’t. I do believe comedy and tragedy can mix pretty well, but there are a lot of shows that it just won’t work for, and I feel like Kore ha Zombie Desu ka? is a good example of a show it will never work with. Shows like this need to find a side of the spectrum (comedy or supersrs) and stick with it.
Golgo 13
Togogolgo
So last night I heard Golgo 13 being compared to the likes of Monster, Black Lagoon, and Cowboy Bebop, all of which are GREAT shows. Even though I admit to only having seen three episodes of Golgo 13, I wouldn’t really rate it above ‘okay’, nowhere near the level of entertainment that the other three shows brought me.
Still, even if Golgo 13 isn’t exactly what I would call a great show, it was really nice to watch it after shows like Ookami-san and Kore ha Zombie Desu ka?, though it was about as excessively ‘manly’ and trying-so-hard-to-be-mature as Kore ha Zombie Desu ka? was excessively typical moe-cancer.
The pseudoscience accompanying each way Golgo 13 got his target was also kind of silly, but I don’t exactly have a huge issue with it. Because Golgo 13 wasn’t actually bad, and it was definitely entertaining even if it was predictable and had an obnoxious art style.
I can definitely see the appeal, at least, and I should probably congratulate it for being a show that has almost no interest in cute girls. It doesn’t seem like my thing, but–like with Ookami-san–I wouldn’t mind watching a few more episodes to see if it changed my mind.
That’s really all I have to say tonight. For last night’s shows, I’m actually very curious to hear what other people thought, so please don’t hesitate to post!
I could just see her sitting with her feet propped up on a chair delivering every line with that goddamned look on her face. Needless to say, it made it virtually impossible for me to take the show seriously. KugiRie loli didn’t help. Otherwise, it was a decent (if somewhat lackluster) show.
I watched the first couple episodes of Zombie with Gene a while back, and I wasn’t any more impressed this time than last time. I kinda applaud it for getting as ridiculous as it got (cross-dressing zombie guy with a chainsaw fighting a giant prawn in midair), but generally it was pretty bleh. Too much fanservice, pretty one-dimensional characters, and lolDEEN. Although I kinda want to watch Episode 7 to hear the Jellyfish Megalo (more Arai Satomi). Also, apparently, Eucliwood’s VA changed in virtually every episode (including Satoko’s VA in episode 2, nii-niiiiii~).
Golgo 13 was patently ridiculous, but that’s okay. It’s kinda fun to watch someone who is so invincible he can bullshit his way out of anything, even it results in bad storytelling. I doubt I could sit through 50 episodes of it, but I wouldn’t mind watching one now and then.
Grant Walker · May 3, 2011 at 1:08 pm
I suppose knowing that would definitely put a different perspective on things, yeah… That’s interesting, haha.
Maybe I should be glad I didn’t have the pre-exposure, though.
Grant Walker · May 3, 2011 at 1:08 pm
@Chris
I suppose knowing that would definitely put a different perspective on things, yeah… That’s interesting, haha.
Maybe I should be glad I didn’t have the pre-exposure, though.
Jack · April 29, 2011 at 10:37 am
After watching Railgun, it’s impossible to imagine Arai delivering lines with anything other than a perverted insinuation. Straight up impossible.
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Ookami-san is a solid 5/10 show. It’s short, midly entertaining, and manages to pack in all the Japanese High School Hijinks you’d expect to see, but otherwise doesn’t have much going for it. It is somewhat remarkable how they manage to reference so many different fairy tales without it coming off as too ridiculous (it is, of course, ridiculous at some level). The Three Little Pigs parody is probably the best one JC Staff pulls. Speaking of JC Staff:
ZombieDesu starts off (IMO) as rather “eh,” drops into “bad,” then promptly wraps back around to “lolwut entertaining” for about an episode and finally settles back into “eh” territory. As you point out, it tries to be serious but it just falls on its face as it tries to shuffle between that and comedy.
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I didn’t stay to watch Golgo 13, but the first hit on Youtube is an episode where he slides under an armored car and shoots through the muffler or something to kill the guy inside. Lulz.
