Upcoming: Supernatural: The Anime

I can't tell you how excited and nervous the official trailer for Supernatural: The Anime makes me. I love Supernatural...I am an addict. So, when I heard that they would be reimagining the series as an anime, I was stoked. The latest news is that the US Release is scheduled for July 26. I will be saving my meagre dollars. Supernatural is a series that could lend itself well to anime...long story arc, monsters, complex characterization.
The only things that concern me are:
1) The animation of older brother, Dean Winchester, is not exactly what I would have envisioned (then again, I am a fan of Dean Winchester) and younger brother, Sam, seems to be getting the brunt of attention...he might be the lead, which is offputting to me. They are a duo, plus I just don't think Sam is as interesting (or complex) as Dean is.
2) Someone covered "Carry on My Wayward Son" as the themesong. It plays a prominent role in the live-action series, and is a good classic rock song...I happen to like Kansas (it is one of my favorite state-named bands). So, the cover seems weak.
3)Jared Padelecki (Sam) voiced the US episodes, but Jensen Ackles (Dean) only did a select few...who is doing them? Does anyone but Ackles sound like Ackles? I don't think so. I like his voice. He was awesome as Red Hood in Batman: Under the Red Hood, so he CAN do voice work. (Plus his dad is a voice-over legend). The choice is odd.
4) It may be drawing too much from the storyline in the live-action series. What I see from the preview is most of an episode called "Roadkill" from season two. (Yes, I am that much of a geek.) I hope that there are new plotlines, otherwise I'm not sure what the point of redoing the series in animated form might be.

Concerns aside, I am (pun intended) geeked! I look forward to viewing and then reviewing the series here on Squeefinity...it will give me something to do during the summer hiatus of the live action show. And new ways to oogle Dean.

OURAN update

Now, I know Ms. Shakespeare doesn't follow the manga of Ouran High School Host Club, but I do...and I have to admit my smitten-kitten-osity. The lastest issues of Ouran and the latest (hush-hush) fanslations of the newest chapters from the Japanese Magazine LaLa are heartnumbingly fabulous. The love and family conundrum is being brought to a head, and the characters keep getting more and more interesting. For chapters through 78, go visit SpectrumNexus, or wait (more patiently than I can) for the US releases. I am doing both. I read chapters as fast as I can, but I go out an purchase the manga as well.

Nothing makes me feel half my age half as fast as Ouran.

Vampire Knights and Kyo Kara Maoh (Manga)

Long time, no squee, but you'll forgive me. Right, dear reader?

So, what have I been reading? Vampire Knight of course, in English and horribly in Japanese. Seriously, you cannot go wrong with teen vampires, high school, and angst.

Cross Academy has two classes, a day class and a night class. Watching over them are Professor Cross and his adopted children Yuki and Zero. Professor Cross used to be a vampire hunter, but now he is a self described pacifist who wants unity between humans and vampires.

Zero is a vampire hunter who is also a self-hating vampire. Yuki is just a regular girl; well, her entire family was slaughtered by vampires, but that was years ago.

Also in the mix is Kaname, a powerful pure blood vampire who is president of the night class.

There is a bit of action, but the main tension exists in the "love triangle" between Zero, Kaname and Yuki. Zero wants both to die and to live to protect Yuki. He also commits the forbidden act of drinking her blood and later Kaname's blood to keep from falling into the madness. Unlikely vampires are tortured souls and Zero is the most tortured of them all. Contrast him with Kaname who was born a vampire into a pure blooded vampire clan. He's pretty damn swass.

In the center is Yuki, who lost her family to evil vampires but is in love with Kaname and Zero. Kaname wants to make her into his vampire lover. Zero would rather die than see that.

What choice would I make? Hmm. It's like the choice between loving free market capitalism in all it's glory or throwing your chips in with a depressed junkie who will die a horrible death. Hmm. Zero has an awesome tattoo on his neck and a neat vampire hunting gun. I guess I would take him.

What I like about this manga is that it has adequate amounts of wind and angst. No angsty manga is complete without wind. It sweeps through everything perfectly framing all of the characters.

***

Kyo Kara Maoh is coming out slowly in manga form. It's great fluff, and of course I love it.

Un-squeee-lievable! Ouran High School Host Club (Anime)

Kiss, Kiss Fall in Love...Squee, squee squee...

I'm re-watching Ouran High School Host Club, for the first time since it came out in Japan. I guess that was like three years or so ago, when I lived in Michigan and M lived there, too. Every week she would come over, and we would gather around my stolen internet and watch fresh fan subs. We were so rabid for this show that we would sometimes watch it in Japanese and then find some blog or another with breakdowns and screencaps. We would both freak out if our favorite fansubbers were quiet for a while. We could not live without the antics of Tamaki, Haruhi and the rest of the club. From episode ichiban, I put this in the best of the best anime catagory. It is a great, thoughtful comedy with some sad moments peppered in.

So, why am I writing about it now? Hrm. Well, I haven't updated in a while! And, I've been rewatching the show, this time, in Japanese without subtitles, and I'm catching a lot! That's not to say I know much at all. But, there are times when I'm kind of dinking around with something else and this is on in the background and I realize, Oh, I just understood that whole conversation.

The show has a ton of words and phrases that any beginning Japanese student can pick up on pretty easily. So, I'm reccomending it for the learners in our audience (of one or two...it's lonely here at Squeefinity!).

Seriously, though, this is a great story and full, full, full of laughs. With so many cute bishounen it's made for fangirls. But, hah, it is a show that KNOWS it is made for fangirls, and it takes every opportunity to break down that wall. Large portions of episodes are devoted to showing how stereotypes feed fantasy. The boys know their roles and they play them well.

Yet, the show itself is unique and lovely.

I know I'm not really sharing any details here. I think because it's just better watched. JUST WATCH IT.

M. I think, loves the Manga. I'm not such a fan. I think it's too hyper, and goes on for too long, but I'm sure she can speak to that.

Enjoy.

Proposal--Ouran v. Ouran : Anime v. Manga

Ouran High School Host Club is not only adorable, more complicated than one might expect (it hits on some very profound psychological and emotional issues in very subtle ways), and worthy of watching/reading, it's also very dear to my heart in a very specific way. Ms. Shakespeare and I bonded over the anime of Ouran High School Host Club; as soon as the fanslation of Ouran hit Youtube one of us would call...our voices full of squee! It was usually a Thursday afternoon, when the dedicated fansubbers of the world appeased our growing desire for the SNAFUs of Ouran High School's wealthy harem of charming young men (and one girl in disguise). I have never seen such dedication and speed in translation; Ouran ran very late on Tuesday nights in Japan, and by Thursday (with some exceptions) we would usually have a fresh episode to watch...just a few days after our squee-filled Japanese peers. When Ouran went live we ran home after school/work met at Ms. Shakespeare's house and huddled around the small, laptop monitor...nearly bouncing out of our chairs at the kitchen table. We chain smoked (something we have both ceased to do), drank diet sodas, and paused often to comment on what was happening on the screen, as the sun went down over our oddly eclectic Michigan neighborhood. When Ouran ended, we cried (we cry a lot), and squeed (we squee a lot) and praised Bisco Hatori for her utter cuteness while lamenting that this was the end of our love affair with the characters who populated the 3rd Music room of Ouran High School.

Ouran was our obession for twenty-six episodes. When the series ended, I started in on the manga, ongoing in Japan and in it's 11th issue in the U.S. I'm a big fan of both versions of the story (and they are very different), but I'm focused more on the manga version right now, because it allows me a little more time and depth with the characters I love. Ms. Shakespeare is a big fan of the anime version, because it has a very tight and effective story arc and seems very self-contained.

I propose a debate...Ouran v. Ouran, Anime v. Manga! But first, an overview:

The series (summary from For Richer or Poorer (FROP)," an Ouran Fanclub Website, courtesy of VIS):
In this screwball romantic comedy, a poor girl at a rich kids' school ends up working for the school's swankiest club—and gets mistaken for a boy!
One day, Haruhi, a scholarship student at exclusive Ouran High School, breaks an $80,000 vase that belongs to the "Host Club," a mysterious campus group consisting of six super-rich (and gorgeous) guys. To pay back the damages, she is forced to work for the club, and it's there that she discovers just how wealthy the boys are and how different they are from everybody else.

Essentially, the series is a gender bender/male harem situation...the main characters each represent some anime/manga-typical "type" of swoonworthy fella.

---

Main Characters:
Tamaki Suoh--The "king" of the host club, an over-the-top, half-French, prince character with a fragile heart of gold, who despite his intelligence and grace is actually much more of a goofball and klutz than he is debonaire.
Kyoya Ootori--The "shadow king" (or "mother") of the host club, a caluclating, determined high school student from a very wealthy and powerful family. Despite his forbidding air, he has a tender side.
Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin--Twin trouble makers who use their bond with one another to their advantage in order to keep their distance from other people. They see other people as "toys" and certainly tease, taunt and create mayhem, but secretly they harbor deep feelings for their friends and not just each other.
Mitsukuni Haninozuka, "Hunni"--a high-school senior whose outward cuteness ("a loli-shota") hides brains, martial arts skills, and the fact that he's actually the oldest of all of the host club members. He shares a bond with his cousin, and best friend, Takashi Morinozuka.
Takashi Morinozuka, "Mori"--the strong, silent type. He is quick to defend his friends, is very thoughtful and very emotional despite his tough outward appearance and constant silence.
Haruhi Fujioka--The bluntly honest hero/heroine of the group. She attends Ouran on scholarship, is the top of her freshman class, and is brutally oblivious to things a "normal" girl might desire or notice. She is stubborn, androgynous, practical and independant...and she's hiding the fact that she's a girl.

---

So, what makes this story different or interesting, it's the characters, nothing more. There are no evil aliens to defeat, there are no psychic powers, no real love story to speak of (until perhaps the later chapters of the manga)...it's a story about teenagers with obstacles, despite the opportunities their wealth, intelligence and familial power affords them. For some of these characters the obstacles are emotional; for others they are circumstantial, based on family, status, goals, and/or desires. Oddly, although this manga/anime is about a group of friends, what it discusses the most is an idea of family. Other big themes in the series center around individuality, loss, and success. The themes themselves are addressed honestly, and realistically, despite the fantasy world of wealth and priveledge in both verisons of the story.

There are some differences though between the two mediums of Ouran...and if I can get Ms. Shakespeare to agree to a debate, I'd be most pleased.

What manga would you most like to see turned into an anime?

I was originally going to go with Hana Kimi a sweet, gender-bender manga about a Japanese-American girl, Mizuki Ashiya, who secretly attends an all boy's school in Japan in order to be near her idol, track and field star and high-jump champion, Izumi Sano. So, she, as fate would have it, is assigned dorms with Sano, and falls in love with him. Sano, early in the series, realizes Mizuki's true gender and falls for her as well. Neither wants to reveal the truth about the situation, for fear of losing the other person or hurting their close friendship. There are a lot of super cutey moments, a lot of close-calls and a lot of comedic situations. I would LOVE to see this manga made into an anime, but unfortunately/fortunately it has already been televised in two (YES, TWO) different live-action versions. The first version, the one I've seen, is Korean...it isn't bad at all, and Ms. Shakespeare, is quite fond of it. I have not yet seen the second version, the Japanese live-action drama...but, just from the photos of the cast, I have to say: "GOOD LORD!" The super-hot bishonen cast makes me feel a little wrong...because I'm old and lame. Despite the two live action versions of this manga, I'd like to see an anime, but I won't get one...boo. So, I have to redirect my answer to this question in a more likely way.

To be honest, the mangas I'd most like to see turned into animes will not be turned into animes...ever. They're pervy, or too graphic. It's the kind of girl I am. No one is going to make Desire(Too young) or Fake (there was the one episode, mind you)or La Esperanca(too young, and too catholic) into animes...although they should.

So, I feel I must be realistic; the manga I'd most like to see turned into an anime is going to surprise at least one person...I'd like to see the American manga Bizenghast turned into an anime.

Bizenghast is one of those rare American mangas that has been embraced by Japanese readers, it is published by Tokyopop, written and illustrated by M. Alice LeGrow. It's a strange little story about a "sick" girl, Dinah, orphaned (as many manga/anime/disney characters are) and being raised in seclusion by her aunt (and an especially creepy caretaker) in the abandoned town of Bizenghast, MA. She is troubled by delusions and/or sees ghosts depending on who's interpreting her "fits." Her only friend is the adorably prince-like Vincent. The two come across a mysterious cemetery and mausoleum in the middle of the night after escaping from Dinah's locked room and become accidentally bound into a contract to appease the souls locked in the mausoleum...the price of breaking the contract is Dinah's death. The story itself isn't written very well, but the artwork (something I do appreciate in manga...I won't read a badly drawn manga, it drives me crazy!) is amazing. The style is a very opulent Gothic Lolita style, with a bit of steam punk and Victorian thrown in for good measure. LeGrow's costuming and architecture is gorgeous, and I think it would make a stunning anime. Tokyopop has already created a stop motion, picture-book sort of anime short of this manga.

Is it great? No. But it would be pretty.

But, I feel bad about picking this manga in a lot of ways...why not pick something I'm absolutely in love with? Well, because the things I am absolutely in love with are a bit too much for the general public, and I don't want to back something that would be nc-17.

Other possiblities I considered:

Because it's sooooo cute and sweet. No sex, no violence, just a girl alone in the world.

Two boys working for a drug store/psychic investigation firm. This is an unfinished series by Clamp...oh, I wish they would finish it; the stories are really very interesting and the series ended abruptly after the third volume.
and

Why not? Who doesn't like a good gay-romance, ghost hunt, comedy/drama? I do like this series, and I think it would be cute as an anime...it's not sexually explicit and it is full of funny misunderstandings and sweet moments.

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My suggestion for the next discussion:
Ouran High School Host Club--Manga v. Anime

Kyo Kara Maoh (Anime) The End!!!

SQUEEEEEEEEE! Well, that is how I feel right now. Have you ever finished an anime and gotten little jabs of happiness? Kyo Kara Maoh is that show for me.

From beginning to end, this has been a dorky, cute thrill ride. I loved all of the characters, and there were a ton of characters. The writers/animators made it predictable enough that I didn't feel high anxiety, but exciting enough that I found myself yelling at the screen:

"Yuri! Fight back! Fight back! Don't let the bad guys win!!!!" Do they win? Well, it's Kyo Kara Maoh, what do you think? It's kind of like asking half-way through a Jane Austen novel if it will have a happy ending.

Of course, silly.

Now this show is about 78 Eps long, and it is a 78 Ep story arc. The episodes are not self contained, so if you choose to work your way through this one, you'll want to be committed.

I really should talk about plot here. I believe I wrote before that this anime is weak on storyline. I still believe that. I mean, it did take about approximately 26 hours of running time to tell a very simple story.

One kid from earth falls through a toilet into the demon realm where he is really king. There are a lot of bishonen around. He accidently gets engaged to a boy. He finds out there used to be a great Demon King who fought some superbad guys/things but was able to seal them away in four boxes. The four boxes start showing up and the superbad guys/things start getting strong again. The new Demon King has to go on some adventures, gather the boxes, learn about himself and his friends, fight a lot and have some life lessons. There is a final standoff. The new Demon King wins and all is well.

Pretty simple. Pretty darn simple, but the show does sustain its momentum all along.

Sudden Onset Squee: Fake and (finally) Fake II (Manga)

I had actually planned on discussing an anime, Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit, in my post today, but something happened. Something miraculous and squee-inducing...so, sorry to Moribito--you are a beautiful anime and will be discussed later. Now, on to the very important task at hand:
Fake (1994) and Fake II (2007) by Sanami Matoh.

Now, Gravitation was my first real introduction to the wonders of anime/manga I had, of course, seen bad mecha in the 80s as a child, but those things were aimed at boys...still, I couldn't give two shits about battle robots...not two. My co-pilot, Ms. Shakespeare, introduced me to Gravitation fairly late in a lot of ways...I was in my late 20s when, all of a sudden, yaoi (silent squee for boy love); but not just yaoi, complicated adult plots, tensions (my favorite) and yearnings and secret hidden pasts and all that torturous sexuality...romance characters I could relate to because I'm not the kind of girl someone sweeps off of their feet without risking a punch to the face. Romance was never for me...but this yaoi-business, totally my cup of diet coke (tea is for grammas). Although Gravitation was my first squee-inducing experience with anime and manga, what came next always seems to be the most important manga milestone: Matoh's Fake. Fake is hands-down my favorite manga. I am madly and desperately in love with the characters (two NYC detectives in what must be the gayest police force EVER), the long-drawn-out romantic entanglements, the frustrations, the grit, the crime, the surprising humor and flirtations. The series was published in Japan in 1994 (a long time before yaoi really caught on), but because the last issue was released in 2003 in the US, I was able to buy the whole series at once (I couldn't help it). I have read those 7 issues over and over again; I have dreamed of Dee and Ryo (Dee in particular)...I even bought the one single episode of the (look-worthy but disappointing) Anime. Years after Matoh's last issue of Fake she released an art book with a post script to the series...I ate it all up, along with ANY and EVERY fanfic on the characters. There could never be enough Dee and Ryo in my world. When the series ended I cried. When I reread it, I cry. And just this week I was thinking...maybe I should read Fake.

This morning I was putting off work, and thought I would check to see if the new fansub of Ouran High School Host Club Chapter 66 was up yet, because I needed something to break the ennui of grading and the end-of-semester blues. Ouran is at a crucial point very near the end of the manga series, so I'm a bit obsessed and look for new updates every day. There was nothing new, and no news about when the new fansub would be posted. So, I don't know what lead me to this, but I thought..."Maybe I should see if there's anything new by Matoh." I was looking for another series, anything by this funny and remarkable manga-ka. After all, Fake had been on my mind.

Then...SQUEEEEEEE! Just this year, Matoh has taken up the Fake saga again and is working on a new ongoing series: Fake II. It's been almost 15 year since the original series was released in Japan, and now I get new stories, new dramas, and new make-out scenes with Dee and Ryo! Bubbling over with squee, and unable to contain the outpouring, I called Ms. Shakespeare who was posing as a mild-mannered, very red-haired, office worker on the other side of the country (2,200 miles away) to share the news.

So far, I have read the first chapter, 39 pages, and can bring myself to read no more. I am too overcome with squee. It's too much for one girl to handle. I have to say that despite the subtle changes in Matoh's style over the years, these characters are still the same lovely, awkward and quick-to-respond characters from the old series: they have remained true to those "selves" in remarkable ways. So, this fangirl is ecstatic...please let there be more Fake II on the horizon and never let it end. The series, on Mangafox, is labelled ongoing...I can only hope this is true.

In the meantime, although my life cannot be put on hold, I plan to read these cherished new chapters slowly...painfully slowly...in order to savor this new bliss, and preserve that squee for the trying days of composition papers ahead.

Earthian: The Angelic Collection (OVA)

There comes a time in every fangirl's life when Earthian must be watched. I've been putting it off for years now.

Here are my reasons: 1) Yun Kouga is one of my favorite mangakas. I've talked about Loveless here in glowing tones. It's a truely amazing manga and all around story. I don't want to be disappointed by a grand failure. 2) I've heard that Earthian, the manga, is better than the OVA. Nope. I haven't read it yet. I know, I know, I should. How can I call myself a yaoi fangirl if I haven't read such a "foundational" work? Well, like I've said before, I'm more of an academic fangirl with a lot of inner squee, but I haven't quite crawled to the top of geek mountain nor have I fallen off of it yet (and no, I don't expect that to mean anything to anyone). The point is, I've always planned on reading it, but never seemed to find the time...Oi. 3) The OVA animation has always looked terrible to me. Yes, Yes, I do love the crap anime, but I have to be in the mood, and I always seem to be coming off the tail end of some other crap anime. Boy was Earthian lucky though, because last night I found some time to watch the first two of four OVA episodes.

And, here is my biggest observation: they are "the suck." I hate the animation. I find Chihaya to be about the most annoying uke I've ever had to watch onscreen. It's just painful. He's weak and overly "sensitive" to the point of pure stupidity. I can't relate to him.

And, I can't relate to his partner, Kagetsuya, either. He spends much of the first episode acting really annoyed with Chihaya, too, but instead of just leaving him to molder and die (like I would) he continually follows him around on his painfully boring adventures.

So, they're angels, these two, and they investigate the good and the bad parts of human/Earthian society. Chihaya claims to love humans, but as far as I can see, he mostly hangs out with humanoids who have been created by mad scientists and junked out rock star Lucifers (fallen angels). These angels don't have any superpowers. They just have wings. And, in what I am certain is the surest indication that an anime will be a crap anime, when they reveal their wings, their hair grows and they get angel outfits. I'm sorry but long hair and fancy outfits don't fight crazy monsters and henchmen.

Whenever these two encounter henchmen, and that is often, Chihaya almost immediately gets captured and starts calling out Kagetsuya's name. Kagetsuya dodges some bullets, punches some people and rescues Chihaya. Yawn. Totally boring, but this seems to be the gist.

I've heard there are some sexy bits, as these two are also gay for each other. And, man or man, do I love gay sex --I'm not being sarcastic at all -- but I've been around the yaoi block enough to not have much patience for a story that lacks payoff. So, I guess there's probably some kissing and stuff. Yeah! I just don't know if I have the heart to sit through the rest of this and find out.

Guess I'll just have to read the manga.

Kyo Kara Maoh! - God(?) Save Our King! (Anime & Manga Vol 1.)

Kyo Kara Maoh!: The Male Harem, a guilty pleasure.

I'm something like a billion episodes into the anime version of Kyo Kara Maoh! -- a show that should be just this side of crappy, but somehow manages to hold my attention none-the-less.

It's basically a "Male Harem" story, which I've come to learn means that most of the characters are good looking dudes, something the manga points out right away when Yuri Shibuya, the story's main protagonist, is flushed down a toilet by some bullies into another dimension.

There is something for every one here. All the squee-worthy masculine archetypes are present and done well (and maybe that's why this show/manga captures my attention so much better than Weiss Kreuss could even dare).

You have some main players: There's Yuri, your (a)typical 15 yr old Japanese high school student with average grades and a love for baseball. There's Wolfram, a blonde haired, blue eyed, high strung, nearly feminine bishonen; Contrart/Conrad a gentle warrior-swordsman with good looks, the very embodiment of honor and loyalty, with a mildly angtsy past that gives him a little bit of an air of mystery and allows for some really dark moments (girls just love guys like him); Gunter who is an ethereal long haired, modelesque type beauty, not openly gay but not shy about his "love" for Yuri; And, Gwendal, a big fellow with a dark demeanor, who also likes to knit cute little animals.

Then there are any number of minor/major characters. And, there are women, too, who play main roles, like the Cecile, the former demon queen and Annisiah and Sussanah Julia (Yuri's former incarnation) to name a few. I like this kind of a balance in a Male Harem anime, because it allows for the fact tht women do exist. The central male characters are often sexually ambiguous, but there are relationships of all types around them. This, I think, lends some balance to the story.

The plot of this anime/manga is pretty much paper thin, which is why I'm so amazed that I am as charmed by it as I am. Basically, Yuri is flushed down the toilet into another dimension full of warring demons and humans. It turns out, he is the Demon King there, and he has a lot of work to do. So, there is some tension with some guy named Adalbert, but he is snatched away to his castle where he gets to know his retainers and staff. He accidentally gets engaged to Wolfram, who isn't absolutely unwilling, and also accidentally challenges him to a duel. Wolfram who kind of hates Yuri at first, plays dirty and uses magic and an innocent person gets hurt. Here we see the Demon King come out full force. He hates injustice. It really pisses him off. His magic uses water, and it's on a large scale. Everyone is amazed. Whoo, hoo. This applies to both anime and manga.

Later in the anime, we see Yuri's power's develop and the "storyline" emerge. There are some boxes that have some bad forces in them that are hidden around the kingdom and the guys need to get to them and reseal them so that everything will be peaceful. Also, Yuri wants peace between demons and humans. This "plot" is basically a vehicle for any number of adventures, flashbacks, comedic, action filled and angsty episodes. I know I keep knocking on the plot, but really, it's a long arc with a lot of detours and it seems less important than the relationships between the characters and the little things that happen along the way -- as in, as a viewer, I'm invested in the characters and that feels like enough. There are some cute and funny moments, but it is basically a dorkish endeavour. Anyhoo, my main issue with the show is that whenever something really terrible is about to occur, Yuri just goes into his super Demon King trance, kicks ass and saves the day.

This, unfortunately, is what tears down any semblance of storytelling because there is always, always, always and easy out. Big scary monster attacks town? Yuri goes into demon form. A box is about to be activated, and it will destroy the world? Yuri goes into demon form. Stuff's on fire? Yuri goes into demon form. Wolfram's life is in danger? Yuri goes into demon form. So, you get the picture.

That said. It's a cute anime. I have about 10 more episodes or so to go. We'll see what happens.

Weiss Kreuz: Knight Hunters (Season 1)

Florists by Day: Assassins by Night.

I was really excited about the premise of this anime. Four androgynous fellows run a peaceful flower shop by day. At night they are part of the elite killing squad, Weiss Kreuz. I figured that this was going to be a goldmine of sexual innuendo and angsty imagery.

One thing you ought to know about me from the start is that I have high tolerance for anything that might be considered aesthetically bad, not artful, you know "the suckage." I can sit through almost anything and find some kind of perverse pleasure in doing so...

That said, I made it through most of the first season of Weiss Kreuz and halfway through the first episode of the second season.

Season One's animation is just bad. It's clunky and not really not streamlined enough for an elite killing force. There's little continuity. One thing I noticed is that before a fighting scene the characters suddenly change out of whatever they are wearing and get into their battle gear. I know, when I have a crazed tentacle wielding science freak on my tail, a wardrobe change is number one on my mind. It's annoying, but, I can get past that. I've enjoyed badly animated animated shows, like, like, like...Well, I'll check into that and get back to you on that, Katie...I digress. It's really the plot, or lack there of that makes this my top pick for "crappy anime" this month.

First off, I watched something like 25 or 30 episodes, and I can't remember the characters names. Well, maybe one...Persia, WK's answer to Charley in Charley's Angels. But let's see, there's the tall, waify haunted one, the slightly more muscular and manly ladies man, the soccer star, and the orphan. They are all supposed to embody some kind of Bishonen archetype, but I can't connect with any of them. They all have some kind of dark past and were forced to join this band of assassins to vindicate themselves. No one really explains how they gained such mad skillz or how they were vetted by Persia, the shadowy leader (police commissioner) and Manx (look I remember another name) his lady sidekick. There's also no explanation of why they use the flowershop as cover. And, it's not like they are very low key. There are always a million girls hanging out vying for their attention.

Each character has or had a special lady, and the show dedicates some excruciatingly slow episodes "developing" these story lines, only to end them just as quickly. After all, these men are hardened assassins who don't believe they deserve to settle down with the ladies they love.

Some stuff happens. Really, some stuff, nothing you'll care about. It's kind of monster of the week, well, bad guy of the week and it generally goes this way: 1) Some innocent person is blown up, kidnapped, downs some bad sports drink, or buys a hypnotic CD that makes him/her want to kill people. 2) Manx gathers the members of Weiss Kreuz in the basement of the flower shop. Persia appears on a t.v. tells the boys about the bad things and asks them to assassinate people 3) There are some angsty moments, maybe a couple flashback scenes, 4) The boys go and kill everyone.

You know, I did really actually watch this show, but I can't tell you in detail about any one episode. It's quite forgettable. I got excited for a moment when the show started to get a little science fictiony with some psychic bad guys and some genetically altered chic fighters, but that all kind of went away in service to some plot about a military coup of Japan. The members of Weiss Kreuz reform (they broke up at some point in the show) and solve that problem by killing a lot of people. Then Persia gets killed and everyone is sad. Something else happens, totally forgettable, more people die, and then the season ends.

I realized that there was something wrong with this show or me when I decided to watch it at 2x its regular speed. I figured I could get through the season faster this way. What I realized is that watching this torturously slow and poorly plotted anime in fast forward actually made it kind of normal. However, it was still really boring and didn't get any better.

I tried to watch the beginning of the second season, as I had heard the animation was much improved. I'll give it that. The second season animation gets a thumbs up. The storyline does not. There's some kind of private school on an island where the kids are into mind control and "the orphan" enrolls to check it out. Anyway, it was bad, really bad and exasperated, I finally gave up.

My advice: don't watch it. It doesn't get any better. You don't want to make the mistake I did.