Compare and Contrast

I watched those two discs like I said. I'll start with "Now and Then, Here and There" briefly (because it doesn't quite fit into the theme I'll be writing about today): I liked it. The characters' attitudes and the odd situation gave me something to latch on to and want to know more about what happens next. The artwork is otherwise rather simple and there doesn't seem to be a lot of "scale" to it, but I can see it growing on me. I'll continue renting it, and see if Maromi's review from the previous thread holds true for me as well. Stay tuned.

But on to today's theme.

My regular readers may remember that I panned "Kaze no Yojimbo" for being a bit cheaply animated, with not much compelling to keep my interest. The cheapness in fact detracted from it enough to make me not bother continuing with it. "Twelve Kingdoms" is another cheapie. And the DVD looks pretty bad (my setup really amplifies crappy video). It's plot seems a tad formulaic, and the animation isn't anything special.

But the characters were kind of interesting. The mythological elements had me curious. The storytelling had its moments.

Mind you, it's no masterpiece, but there's enough there to overcome my initial reaction to the overall quality. Which "Kaze no Yojimbo" couldn't pull off. So I'll keep this in my rental queue as well. I may wind up finding that it gets tedious later, or it may open up a bit. Don't know. But it's worth finding out.

Now there are two other shows in the current-season's fansubs that would otherwise share the same laundry list of drawbacks, but I'm finding I actually like one but not the other. With "Mai HiME", I said "I really wanted to find it funny, but frankly it's a juvenile quagmire from which no redeeming qualities can escape." You know, all the teen-girl fanservice and panties and nosebleeds and boob jokes and shojou-ai teasing. I dropped that after that stupid underwear episode.

But I just happened upon another one: "Kannazuki no Miko". Again, high schoolers with lots of fanservice and giant robot fights and weird mystical powers. And really overt shojou-ai fanservice at that. Which, of course, I like, but that's besides the point. With this one, again, the characters had something to latch on to. There's not anything particularly groundbreaking or unique about them, and a couple of them border on annoying at times, but there's enough there to make me interested in what they're going to do next.

And maybe, just a little bit, I recognize Chikanake's facial expressions. That sort of "noble martyr" thing. The internal struggle against jealousy. Painfully existing in the "Just Friends" zone. If it were a male character like that, I'd probably be put off by it and chalk it up as another damn wimpy ineffectual anime teenage boy. But in this case it's a girl, and it seems to resonate a lot more with me. I'm way more sympathetic. And I identify with her a lot more closely. Odd.

Again, I may wind up bored with this one after a while. But it seems to have enough to it to keep me following it.

Well, that's enough of that.

BTW, keep your eyes on that ShiFa tracker... I think something's brewing...