Anime Review - Listen to Me, Girls, I'm Your Father!

Listen to Me, Girls, I’m Your Father!

I’ve come up with a system for reviewing, now! But for anime, I think I should at least try to be consistent when I watch a whole series, especially such a short one. What I mean to say, is, I should watch it all in a good amount of time to bust out a good review with all of my opinions fresh in my mind of all of the episodes. So here we go!

Oh, and as usual, there will be **SPOILERS**, so if you plan on watching the series, don’t read this (unless you don’t mind spoilers).

Little girls don’t care about no spoilers.

Animation/Art: 7/10

Although the art was pretty standard, most of the scenes have something or someone animated in it. I mean, it’s nothing special, but it does look good for what it is. Obviously, as you’ve seen, the little girl is adorable, indeed, but I feel like the character designer made the older girls, like the ten-year-old and the fourteen-year-old, to be overly exploited as fanservice girls. There are countless scenes in the anime that try to emphasize that these girls are attractive, but it’s very off-putting when they’re so young.

Good thing I found a nice, safe picture of the girls. Believe me, there is some pretty inappropriate official artwork…

I learned through TV Tropes and some research that legal consent laws in Japan are different than they are over here in the States, though, so it’s definitely a cultural discrepancy here that I cannot wrap my brain around, but a ten-year-old is still a minor… Anyway, what I’m getting at is that the art direction tends to be slightly disturbing in the sense of treating depictions of characters who are underage to be sensual. But that’s harem anime, for you, sometimes (or most of the time)… Either way, it’s off-putting for me, but I’m sure some other guy would be fine with it…

Despite this, the characters are all appropriately designed for their personalities, from the eldest girl with unrequited love problems for her uncle (not related by blood, thankfully) to the offensively bland uncle-main-character-guy and his dense and dull personality, to the hilariously stoic and serious college girl the main character likes, and so on and so forth—you get the picture. You also get a picture:

Of course, it contains fanservice. Try to find a picture of this girl that doesn’t.

Still, despite the crazy fanservice this series has, the character designs fit, and most of the animation wasn’t left to be stark and devoid of motion, thankfully. You see a lot of anime series, especially slice-of-the-life anime, that all use pretty much the same standard non-moving, horrendously still-image of background characters or events taking place, often used to establish location, the mood of a scene, or even both. This series is so animated that even extras have moving faces and dialogue, so props to the animators for being thorough.

Characters: 5/10

Instead of having a voice-acting section, having a character section would work a lot more nicely, so I’ve taken the liberty to do so. And there is a lot to say.

So, if you’re familiar with anime, then you probably know (virtually) about the only two types of male protagonists: the cynical jerk who may or may not be a pervert, and the overly innocent, dense, optimistic, and above all things, dull guy, who may or may not be a pervert (which may or may not be on accident on the character’s part).

The protagonist, Yuuta Segawa, is the latter of the above-mentioned male protagonist types. He is a well intentioned, yet definitively boring guy who makes a very risky decision in taking his orphaned nieces in under his care, and gets into hi-jinx involving him accidentally seeing his nieces changing. Nearly on a regular basis. Although a good guy with impulsive decisions, I felt like he was a very flat and uninteresting character, so much so that, right after watching the entire series, I still had to look up his name so I could get it right in this review. That’s sad.

This is the face of someone who is forgettable. It is also the face of pretty much every protagonist in a harem anime or harem visual novel.

I did, however, like a few things he did, and a few of the things he stood for. For instance, his sister had taken him under her wing after their parents died, so when she dies, along with her husband, he follows in her footsteps and takes her girls under his wing. That’s impulsive, and even daft, but it makes for a strong character. The problem with him, though, is that, no matter how strong and stubborn he is made out to be, aside from specific moments in the series, I am not convinced that he is. Yuuta displays a very sweet and tender affection to his nieces, but it’s kind of boring how bland and generic he seems.

The Girls, or Yuuta’s nieces, are actually quite interesting in contrast, and probably for good reasons, as they are almost the main focus of the series, as well, even though Yuuta is the one most viewers would, by an assumption, connect with.

From left to right: Sora, Hina, and Miu. Please note this is an “eye-catch,” and not an image of what the series is about.

Sora and Miu are both from two separate mothers, and Hina’s mother is Yuuta’s sister, justifying all of their genetic differences.

(There was no adultery involved, so don’t worry.)

Sora is the girl with a crush on her step-uncle, Yuuta (which, for once in an anime I’ve seen, actually makes sense and isn’t disturbing at all), and her character is interesting for a multitude of reasons, including this fact. She is what I’d like to refer to as a moé-playing-tsundere, a character archetype I’m coming across more frequently in anime, nowadays. This is basically when a rather cutesy/innocent girl plays hard-to-get on one person she likes, for those of you unfamiliar with those terms.

She must have been watching a lot of Haruhi.

I generally like characters like this, and Sora is no exception, but I feel like she didn’t really “play her part” as truly as she could have (or should have). Usually, when there is a romance such as hers, especially when her love interest has become an adoptive father figure to her, a very important and sometimes life-changing conflict arises. No such conflict occurs in the series, even when Yuuta makes some very shocking decisions and declarations, right in front of her face.

For example, at the very end of the series, Yuuta asks his college romantic interest (a girl named Raika) to “be his wife.” Sora is given a small reaction shot after the declaration, but that’s all we see. Something like that should have snapped something inside of her, and the animators should have shown some sort of earth-shattering look of horror on her face, but they didn’t. Even as Yuuta, the college girl, Miu, and Sora watch Hina’s daycare performance, she almost playfully grabs Yuuta’s arm to “protect” him from the college girl, but the motivation for the gesture seems very off, and even out-of-character. Honestly, a whole episode after the final episode, demonstrating any of this happening to Sora psychologically would have satisfied me, but there was no such thing, as far as I know.

Hina is Yuuta’s adorable, blood-related, three-year-old niece. She is the embodiment of the innocence and life of a dandelion seed floating happily through the wind, and all of the characters, in-universe, also find her to be utterly adorable. In essence, she is a modern, Japanese, three-year-old Pollyanna.

Good. Now go eat that somewhere else while I criticize you.

One thing I hated, though, was the recurring use of the song, “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,” which I’ll get to later, but for relevance’s sake, Hina sang it the most, so this is the only reason why I would need to shut her up every once in a while.

Miu is the middle-child of the nieces, and seems to be one type of character, but then she seems to be another type of a character, and then she seems to be something else, entirely. I have a feeling that she is one of the main fanservice girls (besides Raika), she is the most ambiguously flirtatious and teasing to pretty much everyone (so one can imagine why she’s popular with the boys at her school), and she is too much of “the perfect girl” that something just seems wrong with her.

Oh, and she had just polished that shoe.

Oh, right, there is.

Miu is such a poorly presented character, in my opinion, because she doesn’t really seem to act like a sister to the other two girls—she seems more like a confiding best friend to Sora—she seems like a very flat character whose only personality is a façade, and she ultimately doesn’t seem to develop anything with her personality, as very little is revealed. She is basically a pretty doll I could care less about.

She does have her moment in the limelight when she goes on a “date” with one of Yuuta’s friends, and it is revealed that she doesn’t want her classmates to worry about her because of her difficult, now parent-less lifestyle, and that she’s worried about Yuuta, who is very busy.

And that’s about it. She is a character who could have been more fleshed-out, and could have had more of a personality to relate to, rather than the stereotypical “good girl with good grades who is good at sports.” I honestly see too much of that.

Raika was probably my favourite character in terms of unique and interesting individuals in the series. She doesn’t have nearly as much screen time as the girls, but every time she is on the screen, I expect hilarity to ensue.

Raika actually says “Stare” when she awkwardly and emotionlessly stares at you.

Hilarity always ensues when Raika is on the scene. She is a god-awful actress, shows little-to-no emotions, and likes cute girls. Not in a dirty way, though, you sick fool, you. It’s a big sister instinct, from what I’ve gathered while watching this series. This stoic yet determined, supportive, and sweet young woman is my favourite choice when it comes to Yuuta’s romantic life.

Sora, jealous of Raika’s involvement in Yuuta’s life as a romantic interest, shows something other than character development for her relationship with Raika—Sora admires the buxom beauty and finds her to be very relatable, down-to-earth, and even funny, herself. Despite this, when it comes to Yuuta being close to Raika, Sora gets so territorial and possessive over him that it’s like she had never met Raika in the first place. So all of that character development I sat through seemed like it was pointless and irrelevant.

Overall, the cast was unmemorable, aside from a quirk, here and there, but Raika’s unforgettably strange personality took the cake for me. There’s also a guy who reminds me of Itsuki Koizumi from “The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya” (and he’s voiced by the same guy, Daisuke Ono), a voice-actress chick who lives next door and is pretty cool, and a detestable, disgusting, and unfunny guy who is the president of the club Yuuta and Raika attend at their college. This guy likes little girls. In an unsettling, pedophilic way. I feel like this guy should never have existed in the first place because he isn’t a very good comic character, and he also could have been replaced by a less disturbing lolicon. You can look up that term, but don’t look at the images.

Anyway, most of the characters in this show were forgettable, besides a choice few.

Music: 4/10

While I admit the opening and ending songs were somewhat catchy, I skipped them after the first time I’d sat through them. I don’t think I really cared for the background soundtrack, either, because I feel like there was a maximum of twenty songs used throughout the entire series.

But oh, god.

Oh, god, the singing.

The singing of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” in English by four Japanese people who aren’t in any type of key or rhythm is bad. What makes this worse is that this happens almost every few episodes. I mean, we’re talking bad, here. I don’t care how important or unimportant it is to the storyline, because I had to watch it every single time, because I had no idea when it would stop. And then they sang it at the very end, for Hina’s daycare center’s performance. It makes sense, but it’s also something I’d rather not hear, just because it was so bad.

How I wonder why you do this so often.

The soundtrack music was forgettable, and the only truly memorable music from the anime was “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,” which I could have done without.

Story/Execution: 6/10

While the concept is interesting, it seems more anime is beginning to be about adoptive parents who don’t seem like they’d fit the bill, but end up doing so, anyway. I don’t know if anyone is copying anyone in particular, but after watching Usagi Drop, I feel like this one was very shoddy and unoroginal.

There were so many anime clichés I’ve come to think of distasteful now because they’re so overused, and the humour that should come from them has basically run dry. Things like having the protagonist being prone to becoming an “accidental pervert,” having a major female lead feel overly self-conscious about her cup size, and having predictable hi-jinx in which Sora (AKA moé girl) becomes clumsy and ruins everything.

A montage of happy-looking moments. I couldn’t find pictures of them getting news of their parents’ deaths, though, so yeah.

Another thing that bothered me, too, was that, at the beginning of the series, I thought it was going to be happy, and that the girls’ parents were just going on a honeymoon. I jokingly said out loud to myself at that point, “It’d be funny if the parents in this really happy-go-lucky anime series died on the trip. But that wouldn’t happen, because that is like mood-rape. Ha ha ha.”

I’m a good guesser.

I mean, the mood shift is understandable—it makes the circumstances heavier with contrast, and it also evokes more emotion into the viewer, shocking them. I was shocked, too, because I honestly didn’t think my conjecture was the actual concept. That worked out fine for me.

The real problem that got to me was that the girls cried for about a minute, and then the next thing you know, they’re light-heartedly joking with their uncle on a trip to his apartment, where they will now live. Time may have elapsed between these events, but if this was the case, the directors didn’t give me a transition from the sad scene to the light-hearted scene. There should have been at least something in between to sort of soften the stark contrast between the scenes.

Mostly, this mood-whiplash approach actually works pretty well. But for some of the early episodes, it seems like they’re trying to completely forget what happened, or their parents aren’t actually dead, but are still on a trip (which is actually an excuse they give Hina). The feeling for this situation seems inconsistent, and it shouldn’t have been taken so lightly.

Another almost-pointless, irrelevant picture. Enjoy.

Thankfully, the death of their parents is grieved appropriately, but in the last episode. This is actually done spectacularly well, and the scene involves Sora having to tell Hina that their parents will never come back from their “trip.” Hina is understandably upset, and even furious, which is especially heart wrenching, given the optimistic and happy-go-lucky personality she has possessed for the entire series. Sora understands these emotions and holds Hina to her, like any good sister should. Everyone is sad in this part, and it is then that Yuuta goes to secretly pay respects to his sister’s grave, and Sora secretly follows. In the end, despite all of the sorrow, Yuuta and Sora cherish his late sister and her husband’s memory.

More stuff happens, but that’s basically what I felt should have been touched on, earlier. If I missed that this anime had its characters hold in those feelings for the whole series, then I’m really stupid, but I don’t know if that was the case…

Well, I generally liked the story and the messages it was trying to get across, like the importance of family sticking together, and that strength comes from hardship. The comedy was hit-and-miss, but overall, the series was entertaining. I guess I would recommend it to anyone interested in fanservice, little girls, and mood whiplash-y stories. There's also some good comedy here, too, but it's not amazing.

Overall: 6/10

You’re cute, but you’re not that cute. I think a six-out-of-ten is fine, so don’t cry.

Thank you for reading this long-winded article! Make sure you tell everyone you know about Tatami Room, and be sure to leave comments with your opinions, if you can!

Krennthief

RANT #1: Why I Didn't Like the Sweeney Todd Movie and Other Things About Tim Burton I Need to Get Off of My Chest

So I've been thinking a lot about this, and I am wondering why so many people loved the Sweeney Todd movie. And why has it scored four-out-of-five stars on IMDB and 86% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes? Now, I can understand anyone's argument who defends it; Tim Burton's style is fantastic, and Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter are terrific actors. This is what bothers me, though. His style has become cliche to me. And will Tim Burton ever cast anyone other than these two as primary characters?

The answer seems like "yes" by the looks of Frankenweenie, but I digress.

 This dog is also confused as to where Johnny Depp is.

What I'm worried about is that people seem to love the Sweeney Todd movie; sure, the style is beautifully executed, but for me, it's too broody and dark. If you've seen or listened to any production of the actual stage musical, you'd hear that, despite its grim concept, it is actually a very fun and darkly hilarious show.

I did not find the movie to capture any of this humour in an enjoyable way. My argument also goes along with the gradual dread of the idea of another Tim Burton movie coming out, because it all seems the same, even though there are different characters, and different stories, but still, to me, it's getting to be overly repetitive.

I want to be excited for his movies; I really do! I loved his versions of Batman, and Beetlejuice was hilarious! I felt that Edward Scissorhands was extraordinarily beautiful, too. Nowadays, I feel like I know what to expect out of his newer movies, and I just hesitate to even consider seeing any.

What I'm wondering is how he didn't capture my heart with any of the Sweeney Todd characters I had come to know and love from the stage musical when he had done so many darkly comical films in the past. Again I felt that it was overly broody, like a teenager who is depressed because he or she are "misunderstood."

No one understands me. Not even people who are just like me.

I came across a forum post with the topic question asking "Why do you think some people don't like Tim Burton?" An answer I came across by someone with the screen name "i_luv_JDepp" who says, "I think a lot of people really just don't get him. People who don't understand what it feels like to be alone, people who don't stand out, or people who are just normal probably don't understand the depth of his work. I mean, most of his fans are his fans because they can relate to his work, right?"

I think this post is bull on a lot of levels. First, "people just don't get him"? When I was younger, I was fascinated with his work. I loved everything about his dark take on life, and that everything was broody and anything that was optimistic was stupid. I understand, even now, what he's all about. But what bugs me is this: Why can't you just move on from being broody and depressed? Considering that life is a wonderful and fantastic thing, why does it always have to come off as dull and pointless? Is it because he thinks that it is and can't move on to thinking otherwise? If that's what he has in mind, I don't think his work will remain relevant to most people as they grow older.

My second complaint about this post is that the author says that "People don't understand what it feels like to be alone". Really? I'm not going off of statistics, or anything, but I'm pretty sure most people do know what it's like to be alone. Generally, though, most people don't brood about it. I think that may be a good reason why I don't understand Tim Burton, anymore; what good is it to complain about how lonely you are? Sure, people are different and have different tastes, and they could even be outcast. That is lonely. But are people like that forever? I wouldn't hope so... If that's the case, then I'm sorry to them; let them have their Tim Burton movies. But I think people mostly move on. Am I wrong?

For my third complaint, I want to know if I'm "just normal," and that's why I don't understand the "depth" of his work. Honestly, I feel like if I was at either end, I wouldn't feel any depth anyway with most of his new work. I liked Dark Shadows, to be honest, but it was because it felt different. It had an emphasis on family resolving loneliness, and I understood that and its depth. It bothers me that people make these assumptions regarding people who just don't care for Burton's recent work.

My fourth complaint is a minor one, but it is something I constantly see with Tim Burton's fanbase; the girls like his work because Johnny Depp is in it. Now, I try to be tolerant of fanboys and fangirls, but in this case, it has just gotten annoying. I mean, look at her screen name! I feel that people who watch Tim Burton's movies aren't really in it for the art, nowadays, because I feel like they are just in a shallow and weird obsession with Johnny Depp in broody, weird roles.

"Johnny Depp is so hot when he looks sad," said the fangirl in the back, an alleged Tim Burton fan.

I may be wrong in most of my arguments, but I can make one conjecture that I am at least somewhat adamant about:

When Tim Burton had just started, he didn't know exactly who is audience was, most likely. He made his films to appeal to a more general audience so he could try and generate a loyal demographic, and eventually, he did. Now that he's aware of this fanbase, he's tailoring almost all of his films to appeal mostly to them, alienating me and an array of other people who dislike his work, now. I can't connect to them, anymore. Maybe it's because my personality changed, but I still like the older movies he made. I even like his short animation, "Vincent," because it has charm that a lot of his newer movies do not. So that's why don't I like his newer movies, especially Sweeney Todd. There are more in-depth reasons for that, too.

I honestly feel like he's sold out, especially because he may have found himself a solid audience. I think it's irritating how he constantly uses Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter in predictable roles, and I think his new films lack the charm his older ones did. Excluding Dark Shadows (but wishing it had been cast differently just for variety's sake) and possibly Frankenweenie (when I see it), it feels like he's using the same themes and ideas constantly.

This video explains everything I feel.

Look at Christopher Nolan and how he uses his small pool of actors; in Inception, he uses Tom Hardy and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as very intriguing secondary characters with likeable personalities, and in The Dark Knight Rises, he uses the same two actors in quite different ways, the former as Bane, a dreadful nemesis who breaks Batman's back, and the latter as the no-nonsense loose-cannon Robin guy (executed superbly for the tone of the film). I feel that, if you're going to use the same actors, use them with versatility. Don't cast them as predictable tin-types of former characters.

 Okay, so let's get to the point; I apologize for ranting so much. I did not like Sweeney Todd mainly because of the casting. Being a purist, having seen the show before the movie, I think Sweeney should have been played by an actor with a powerful baritone who could brood, but not in an overdone manner (any picture I find of Sweeney Todd happens to be one of Johnny Depp scowling or looking hesitantly crazy).

George Hearn (on the top with Angela Lansbury) has much more depth on his face. If you know the story, you can feel the anguish of his character. The picture of Johnny Depp on the bottom is a proper depiction of the only face he has in most of the stills from the movie I've found. It's the same scowl. If you look up "Sweeney Todd George Hearn," you'll find so much variation in all of the faces he makes for the role. Hearn is subtle and relaxed as Sweeney, making "Epiphany" all the more jarring, and "A Little Priest" to be all the more hilarious (because you can see that he's lost his sanity). Depp, on the other hand, mumbles through every song and sounds nasally as he sings "Epiphany." "A Little Priest" was too subtle in the film. I wasn't laughing as much as I was for the stage production with George Hearn. Depp just doesn't come off as vengeful to me. He doesn't seem like he craves justice. Hearn had all of my favourite qualities as Sweeney, too. It may be because he was the first actor I saw to play the character, and made Sweeney Todd out to be a deeply-wronged individual I could feel sympathy for, from his bitter acknowledgement of the world around him to the absolute bliss he exudes whilst preparing to murder Judge Turpin, to his frightening epiphany to kill pretty much anyone who comes to his shop, to his utter horror of murdering his own wife. I can remember clearly all of his emotions, and to this day, his performances as Sweeney Todd is one of my favourites because of all of the depth he gave to the role. Johnny Depp was not memorable to me in any way whatsoever, and I honestly had to listen to both renditions of "Pretty Women" and "Epiphany" to get an opinion of Depp's once more. I did not care for Depp's characterization. It was boring, overly depressed, and just didn't display the best parts of Sweeney Todd I had become familiar with.

The same goes for Helena Bonham Carter as compared to almost any actress who has played Mrs. Lovett. She didn't sing as well as I was expecting, but people praise her for "singing fantastically." I know this was a movie and not theatre, but mumbling is still not a technique I would praise when someone is singing. It's like someone who was forced to go up and sing at karaoke by one of her friends and, being embarrassed, mumbled the song. Mrs. Lovett is a domineering and powerful character, who is the one who coins the idea of cooking the people Sweeney kills into meat pies. I'd expect for her voice to be as powerful as her character. Usually, a musical singer's voice reflects what type of character he or she is, regardless of whether the singer is on Broadway or in a film. I was very disappointed with the singing direction of the film, as a whole, and was deeply disappointed at how weak Bonham Carter's performance was in terms of vocalization.

 Compare these two women. In all honesty, tell me which one is more attractive.

Another thing that bothered me, too, was that Mrs. Lovett has always been seen by me as a homely or even grotesque-looking woman, and Bonham Carter is gorgeous. I feel like the character was cast all wrong, despite how "good" Depp and Bonham Carter look next to each other. I'd even go as far as to say that Depp was poorly cast, as well. He wasn't strong. Sweeney may have had some crappy things happen in his life, but he isn't weak in constitution. Depp is too much of a "pretty-boy" in my opinion for this part. Sure, Sweeney's supposed to be a somewhat attractive guy (how else would Mrs. Lovett be unrequitedly in love with him?), but Depp just looks like he's too young for the role, or just not powerful enough to impact anything for me.

To those of you who are fans of Tim Burton's, as well as fans of his awfully predictable casting, keep in mind that this is my opinion. I liked Tim Burton films. I thought he was very talented, and he still has his moments. I'm not trying to change anyone's opinion, and I'm not looking for anyone to try and change my own. I just want to get my thoughts across. This is what ranting is about.

So leave some comments; tell me what you think, and if you're defending Tim Burton, please support it with more than just "He's brilliant! His movies are art!" Go into detailed reasons as to why you think that. If you dislike him, give me your detailed reasons, as well.

Krennthief

Digital Film Projects Rock!

If you haven't seen my Twitter feed on the sidebar (for some reason), then you wouldn't know about a project I've begun for my Digital Film Production class! We've been assigned to look for scripts of movies we haven't seen before, read through them, and then watch the film and write a paper on the changes made during production.

What would be more perfect than to review this movie, once the project is finished? Well, a rainbow eucalyptus tree, perhaps. XD

Anyway, the film I will be doing my project on and reviewing will be the first Godfather movie! It'll be fantastic, and I can't wait to see it! It's just that reading through a script takes some time, especially for someone who doesn't do it for a living (yet).

Anyway, I'll let you guys know when I'm going to probably have the review up by, and in the meantime, I may have another anime review coming along, depending on when I'll finish Listen to Me, Girls, I'm Your Father! So hold on tight, and make sure to tell your friends, your kids, your husbands, your wives, your sister-wives, etc.

Oh, and comment if you've read any of my reviews! I like to know if you guys are reading them at all, or just looking at my pages for a second, and then leaving!

Krennthief

Anime Review - Usagi Drop

Usagi Drop

This is gonna be my second official review, and my first official anime review! I watched this a few nights ago (it’s a really short series—eleven episodes in length), and it’s right up my alley! Short, sweet, and light-hearted!

**THERE WILL BE OFFHAND SPOILERS**

Spoilers, you say?

This review is a lot more well-thought-out than my previous one, so enjoy!

Animation/Art: 8/10

I love noitaminA anime series (if you can’t tell, “noitaminA” is “Animation” spelled backwards; a bold name for a Japanese midnight programming block featuring anime). Tatami Galaxy, another series featured on noitaminA, is one of my personal favourites, so upon learning about the connection between these two wonderful series, I can now check out other series this programming block has to offer! But I digress—I’m here to talk about the overall quality of Usagi Drop’s animation.

Anime, in general, lately, has been very good in its animation value. If you were to look back only a few years, the overall fluidity you find this current year is not yet realized. This series is no exception to this influx of fluid and luscious movement—even as a slice-of-the-life anime—and uses unique techniques to boot; at the beginning of every episode, a pastel technique is used for colouring, rather than normal colour methods. It demonstrates a sort of nostalgic feeling of childhood in this way.

Four examples of the pastel-colouring style

As I was saying, about the fluidity, the framerate for anime seems to have increased, and this series uses this nicely, allowing for facial expressions to gradually and subtly appear, and movements to seem more tender and appropriate. It always perplexes, yet amazes me that slice-of-the-life can get fantastic animation, while some shounen even nowadays are still choppy and silly looking (even though this is a gross generalization).

Voice-Acting: 8/10

Being as straight-to-the-point as I can be, the series has excellent voice work (I find that a lot of Japanese-original dubs do), and all of the seiyuu play their roles well; from Daikichi’s young-but-aging tone, with gruff sub-tones and gentle overtones, to Rin’s appropriately childish and curious-sounding voice, which does not seem to stray too far from polite or sweet at any given time (unless she is teasing someone playfully).

His voice-actor is so good that he’s extremely annoying.

Music: 9/10

Like most slice-of-the-life anime, the music is very important to the overall mood of a scene. There are a lot of piano and acoustic guitar compositions, with other instruments, such as strings and reeds/brass/etc. tossed in the mix. Most of the music reminds one of a lullaby, but there is enough variation to give feeling to any sort of scene that may be in the show. It says a lot when you promptly download the original soundtrack after watching only a few episodes, so you could say that the music is good, at the very least. The composer, Matsutani Suguru, is not one I’m familiar with (and believe me, I’m familiar with a few anime series composers),  but they definitely showcase the feel-good nature of Usagi Drop through the wonderfully composed soundtrack.

How could you not imagine this shot with some sort of stringed accompaniment?

Story/Execution: 9/10

This series is based off of a manga of the same title (translated to “Bunny Drop”), and the concept of the series is actually very realistic and believable in terms of general anime/manga concepts.

Daikichi Kawachi, a Japanese man in his thirties, hears news of his grandfather’s death and travels to attend the funeral services. Upon his arrival, he notices a six-year-old girl at his grandfather’s house that he has never seen before.

I think this is one of the defining shots of the series: Daikichi taking notice of Rin upon arriving at his grandfather’s house.

It turns out that this girl, named Rin, is his late-grandfather’s illegitimate child, and her mother allegedly abandoned her and Daikichi’s grandfather. The family faces the predicament of who will take care of this child, and Daikichi, frustrated with his family making excuses for not taking her in, volunteers himself almost thoughtlessly.

What ensues following this situation is a heartwarming story of a good-natured and honest (albeit clueless) man, raising a child as if she were his own. Thanks to his involvement in Rin’s life, Daikichi meets new parent-friends, sacrifices his full-time position at a large company, and ultimately learns how to be a real father-figure, doing everything in his power to provide for Rin, who might as well be his own daughter.

Daikichi pinky-swearing to Rin that he will try to get off of his full-time job as early as he can so he can pick her up from nursery school.

I have not come across a more refreshingly sweet anime in a very long time, and the only bad thing I can say about it is that the source material goes further than the adaptation—we see that, in the future, Rin, as a teenager, develops an unhealthy-sounding longing for Daikichi and they get married when she turns eighteen.

Now, I haven’t read the manga, but this definitely turns me off to it, and it’s not only because the whole situation goes against all of my values, but it also seems like a lot of stories coming out of Japan lately seem to involve some sort of incest-based romance… Take My Little Sister Can’t Be This Cute, for example; the title says it all. But the biggest difference between that and Usagi Drop is that the former played the concept mainly for laughs (except how the ending is kind of serious about the incest...), whilst Usagi Drop is primarily a dramatic story (from what I gather), albeit the light-hearted humor in the beginning.

Reading about this ending after witnessing the portrayal of the sweetest and most innocent relationship between characters in any anime I’ve ever seen was enough to make me mad, and also enough to become hesitant on lauding this series so much, unfortunately.

Still, I have to say that I loved this series very much. The characters were excellently portrayed, the concept was realistic, yet interesting, and the relationships were engaging and fun. Overall, I now regard this as one of my favourite series, and I like to pretend that the ending in the manga is just some gross fan-fiction. Be sure to check it out! As far as I know, it’s still on Crunchyroll for free!

Overall: 9/10

There's evil afoot! Daikichi... Away!!!

Thanks for reading, and be sure to tell your kids, tell your wife, and tell your husbands, too, ‘cause I’m reviewing all kinds of stuff out there!

Krennthief

Anime Reviews Coming Soon, too!

I've been watching a few new series, lately, and I've decided to review them! I'll get to it later, though, when it's not two in the morning. XD

I will, however, describe my "specifications" of the series that I will review:

• A series will be no longer than thirty episodes in length; ongoing series will definitely be out of the question
• I am not really a fan of action-driven storylines, so I will review mostly character- or plot-driven storylines
• I will also not watch anything that relies on sexual content for the majority of its entertainment; stories can be good without it

If anyone recommends to me a series they feel fits my specifications and tastes, I'll gladly watch it and let you all know what I think!

Anyway, an upcoming review is Usagi Drop, a manga-based anime involving a man who brings his late grandfather's illegitimate daughter under his care. It's one of the sweetest and most innocent things I've seen in a while, so it will be a good start!

I'm also currently watching one called Listen to Me, Girls, I'm Your Father!, which caught me by so much surprise at the second episode that I just have to keep watching it. But god, it kind of makes me angry, and I'll get to that, soon, so you understand why.

For now, goodnight! I'll finish my Usagi Drop review soon, as well as one for Reservoir Dogs!

Krennthief

Lost in Translation Review

Lost in Translation

This is the first film review I have ever done, so bear with me if I am offensively vague—I swear I will get better in due time…

Okay! So I watched this on Netflix a few weeks ago (unfortunately, it isn’t fresh on my mind), and I enjoyed it! Here are the reasons:

Cinematography: 8/10

The film showcased a style that I was pretty happy to see—one almost reminiscent of some slice-of-the-life anime series I’ve seen lately (I have a feeling this came out way before most of those even started to become popular). The shots focused on the subjects in a way that allowed for their emotions to be easily interpreted, and due to this use of technique, very little dialogue was necessary to convey the feeling of the scene.

 

Bill Murray, holding a stuffed owl. You should know why.

Scarlett Johansson looking all bored.

Music: 9/10

My brother owns a copy of this film’s score, and he claims it to be amazing. I concur with his sentiment, because, as I watched the movie, I almost immediately took notice of the appropriateness of the music. At the end of the film, when Bill Murray’s character, Bob Harris, says goodbye to Scarlett Johansson’s character, Charlotte, “Just Like Honey” by the Jesus and Mary Chain plays the film out to its credits. The choice for this song as a play-out is perfect as a final farewell between the characters. I couldn’t agree more with my brother that this movie’s score is amazing.

Direction: 8/10

Sofia Coppola utilized the seasoned chops of Bill Murray to play a character that seems oddly different, yet somewhat familiar, to other roles he’s played. He’s still very snarky and sarcastic, but rather than being a lively individual, Coppola has him play a more bitter and almost depressed version of his normal character type. Murray pulls this off extraordinarily, as the viewer relates and empathizes with his demeanor. Johansson plays her role of a troubled young wife very well, and the connection the two characters share feels so natural and realistic that you can only appreciate these two leads more for adding so much depth and dynamic with the lenient yet precise direction of Sofia Coppola.

Story: 8.5/10

Bob Harris, an aging actor, flies to Tokyo, Japan to appear in advertisements for a whiskey, leaving his family behind. He doesn’t speak a lick of Japanese. Naturally, this leads to some hilarious sequences in which Harris is snapping remarks to his director during the shoot, turning down a call girl somebody has sent up to his room, and other such hijinks. Charlotte, the wife of a photographer on business in Japan, is left alone during the day in their hotel room. Charlotte and Bob meet officially at the bar in the hotel and hit it off immediately, due to their similar fish-out-of-water situations. They form a friendly relationship that is left in ambiguity by the end of the film, and inevitably go their separate ways.

Many people generally dislike the film because they felt that it had no point, when really, they just did not understand the concept Coppola used. A good story isn’t based on high-action, intense romance, or raunchy comedy—a good story is just an account of important and meaningful events, regardless of the level of action, romance, or comedy. The point of slice-of-the-life is to demonstrate that even the mundane can be entertaining, and that life is full of quirks and surprises.

I understand, though, that a lot of people do not care to slice-of-the-life, so this one is one that I can only recommend with the disclaimer that Your Mileage May Vary. Personally, this is one of my favourites, but I can understand if somebody doesn’t care for the genre. Bill Murray did become one of my favourite actors because of this movie, though… If you’re a fan of him, you at least have to check it out!

Overall: 9/10

TV Tropes

Personally, I always go to TV Tropes after I've seen any sort of movie, finished some sort of anime series, or beaten some sort of game. I find that it helps me remember things about what I had just experienced, and it also helps me formulate opinions (which may or may not be a good thing).

What I'm getting at, however, is that TV Tropes allows one to become aware of the devices and ideas some authors of media use to attempt to make their works successful. I try to take some tropes into account when I write, and even while I'm watching a movie, I'll point particular ones out that I catch.

I'm not going to link you to the site, because that would be evil. If you are new to TV Tropes and find it to be really interesting, you will not do anything other than read and read and read and read and read and read and read and read. There is SO MUCH on that website that it could consume your life if you so happen to take it to your liking. Thankfully, that phase has passed for me, and I limit myself to one film, game, or anime finished a visit.

Krennthief

Welcome!

Krennthief, here, with an all-new blog for my pursuit in filmmaking! In regards to my other blogs, I deeply apologize... Life got busy, and I lost interest in those other projects... I am deeply apologetic to my old friends whom I've abandoned with the Light Novel Brigade, but I had to move on... I'm sorry I hadn't told you guys any earlier. Anyway, I will be posting regular project aspects here, as well as some reviews on films I've seen. I might even post my must-watch movie list here, and use it as a sort of reference for you guys. Anyway, please tell your friends about this blog; I wish to make it somewhere with this passion of film!

Krennthief