Tag: anime

Diablo III: Wrath

The Darkness Falls, Heroes Rise promotional page finally reached 100%, which means “Wrath” is now unlocked. I was hoping to embed it here, but WordPress is being lame and won’t let me embed anything. So here’s a link instead.

Overall, I liked it. Even though it doesn’t contain anything new, it’s still a nice treat for fans. Auriel’s a lot more badass than I thought she’d be. In the Book of Cain, her Cord of Hope seemed kind of lame (“Auriel will sometimes drape Al’maiesh, the Cord of Hope, around her comrades’ shoulders to grand them clarity of thought and emotion.”). It sounded like little more than an angelic Ribbon Dancer. Color me impressed when I saw her use it to hack through demons and fetter the Lord of Terror himself!

The city/fortress behind the demon army was also a nice touch. I don’t know if it was supposed to be the Pandemonium Fortress from Diablo II, or if it’s just an unnamed settlement in Hell. Whatever it is, I hope it shows up in the game itself.

When I checked out the fan reaction to “Wrath,” I was surprised to see that a number of fans didn’t seem to like it. Granted, the Diablo fandom seems to have a number of chronic bellyachers, but opinion seemed to be even more sharply divided than usual. The animation in particular received a lot of flak from fans. Many people seemed to hate it just because it was anime (one person on Diablo IncGamers even compared it to Sailor Moon! *rolls eyes*), and I don’t think they would have been happy with anything less than full cinematic-quality CGI.

So what did you think of “Wrath”?

 

What I’ve watched: Samurai Champloo

Last Sunday, the Physicist and I finished watching Samurai Champloo.  Overall, I really enjoyed it, though, like many anime, it suffered from a craptastic ending.

Champloo is set in a fictionalized version of Edo-period Japan that borrows heavily from modern life (e.g. there’s baseball and hip-hop culture).  Ordinarily, the historical anachronism would bother me to no end, but, in the context of the story, they work.  The plot follows a fifteen year old girl named Fuu and the two roving samurai, Jin and Mugen, who accompany her on her quest to find the Samurai Who Smells of Sunflowers.

But the quest for the Sunflower Samurai isn’t actually that important, and most of the series is about the journey itself and the trio’s adventures along the way.  The series is well written and, unlike a lot of other anime characters, the characters in Champloo develop a bit over the course of the series.

My only real objection to the series is the ending.  The writers pulled some random villains out of left field to fight the heroes and the result is thoroughly unsatisfying.  There are also a number of WTF moments that left me scratching my head.  But overall, I really enjoyed Champloo and I’d give it a final grade of A-.

What I’ve watched: NieA_7

I really wanted to like NieA_7.  I really did.  When the Physicist and I first started it, it seemed like it was going to be a lighthearted romp.  The characters were quirky and interesting and the series’ premise of aliens living peacefully among humans seemed like it could be really cool.

Alas, our enthusiasm was short lived.  The characters in NieA_7 manage to be even flatter than those in Wolf’s Rain.  Niea, the titular character, is amusing to watch, but her antics never progress beyond pratfalls.  Her roommate Mayuko spends the entire series moping and sulking like she’s the Queen of Emoland.  The other characters occasionally have funny lines, but, for the most part, they just exist.

Given how flat the characters are, it should come as little surprise that the plot leaves a lot to be desired.  Not much actually happens beyond Niea hamming it up and Mayuko sulking.  Subplots are hinted at: the bathhouse where Mayuko lives is facing financial difficulties and Niea has a difficult relationship with the other earthbound aliens.  But neither of these subplots end up going anywhere and few things about the series’ underlying mythology are ever explained.  For example, towards the end of the series, the wreck of the mothership that brought the aliens to earth disintegrates into a multitude of shining lights.  It’s hinted that this is a Big Deal, but we’re never told what the hell happened.

Also frustrating was the awkward attempt at drama.  After about seven episodes of lighthearted comedy, NieA_7 tries its hand at drama and fails miserably.  Drama only works if you have a compelling plot and interesting characters.

Pros

Funny.

It’s short.

Cons

Flat characters.

Forgettable plot.

Deliberate obscurity.

FINAL GRADE: C.

What I’ve watched: Wolf’s Rain

My Grade: C-

Every Sunday, my friend and I get together to watch anime and have dinner.  Over the years, we’ve watched a number of great series, including Fullmetal Alchemist, Cowboy Bebop, and Avatar: The Last Airbender.  We’ve also watched some not-so-great series, such as Bleach and Gilgamesh.  Recently, we finished Wolf’s Rain and, I have to say, it falls into the not-so-great category.

Let me start out by saying that I had high hopes for WR.  I first became aware of it several years ago when I found its closing theme (“Gravity”) used in some YouTube video.  But I promptly forgot about it until last December when the Physicist and I were looking to start a new anime series.  Much to my subsequent embarrassment, I suggested WR.

Like Bleach, WR gets off to a good start.  The whole premise of wolves masquerading as humans in a postapocalyptic, vaguely steampunk world was intriguing.  But it all goes downhill from there.  Most of the characters are so poorly developed that you don’t really care when they meet their Inevitable Tragic End, nor do you care about their inane subplots.  And the ending manages to be both depressing and ludicrous at the same time.

And then there are the recap episodes.  Despite the fact that the series is only thirty episodes long, WR has no less than four consecutive recap episodes in which the story so far is retold from the perspective of four different characters.  Of course they don’t end up being all that different from one another, so it just gets old really fast.  The whole thing just reeks of a production delay.  The only good thing about these recap episodes is that, in the American release at least, they’re all on the same disc, so they’re easy to avoid.

PROS

Nice Artwork

Nice Soundtrack

Cool Premise

CONS

Hamfisted Plotting

Paper-thin Characters

Pointless Recap Episodes