The Anime snob: Kaiba

So there I was, living out my humdrum existence. Sifting through the sea of generic 

shonen tournament fair and bland moe harem fair. When it came into my life. A transhumanist sci-fi series with an interesting premise and quirky art style. The honeymoon period was grand. It seduced me with it's offbeat art style, great music and terrific setting. However as time when on something changed. The show changed. Gone was the show I knew and loved, instead replaced with something that looked similar but lacked the charm that made it so special. It was like I didn't know the show anymore. We grew more and more distant from that point on. 

Eventually, we parted on a slightly sour note, leaving me nostalgic for the better times.
I will never forget that show. And that show's name is Kaiba. (No relation to the Yu-gi-oh character of the same name.)

Sorry Kaiba boy.

Kaiba (Which incidentally is the Japanese word for Hippocampus, the part of the brain heavily involved in memory) is a 12 episode science fiction anime from director Masaaki Yuasa, whom you may know from the short “Happy machine” from Genius party. The protagonist is a young man called “Warp”, who starts the show on a strange planet with no memories, the only hints are a strange triangle mark on his body and a pendant with a picture of a woman. In his quest to find out his identity and that of the strange girl, he is taken on a body swapping journey throughout the galaxy.

The world of Kaiba is, in contrast with the somewhat “cartoonish” art style, a rather grim one. As the opening exposition explains, the ability to copy, store and alter memories is now possible. Memories are stored in a chip, which can be transferred from body to body, making the person effectively immortal. Bad memories can be removed and be replaced by good ones. However, this is something only the very wealthy can do. The gap between the rich and poor is very stark; the lowest of the low are forced to literally sell their bodies and memories in order to provide for their families, whilst the rich live in a utopia where they can alter their bodies and memories on a whim.

Oops.

The first 7 episodes of the series are a series of self contained episodes exploring different planets and the inhabitants thereof. The series is very reminiscent of Kino's journey at this point. Through this you get a good look at the setting, and the setting is the best thing about this series. It is a great piece of sci-fi, taking one technology and seeing how it changes society, touching on areas like: consumerism, class, identity, transhumanism. The show is at it's best when it focuses on the core technology and how it affects the world and the people therein.

However from episode 8 onwards, the series sticks to one planet and switches to a plot about a conspiracy to overthrow the “King of memories”, the elusive monarch who is also responsible for inventing the memory technology. The focus now is on characterisation rather than setting, which in this case is to the series' detriment.

The last couple of episodes feel rushed, it introduces too many new characters who don't get enough time to flesh out there motivations. It has the feeling of a series that was meant to be longer but then they found out that they only had 12 episodes to work with.

The series spent so much time world building that the main characters are fairly bland as a result. Even though they get multiple episodes of characterisation, they are no where near as interesting as some of the characters you meet in the first half. And you only spend one episode with most of them. This lack of focus is really the main problem I have with the series. I mean the premise lends itself to some pretty weighty topics, and the series is at it's best when the focus is on exploring that, rather than just using it as another magguffin to advance a plot.

On a more positive note, one of the most unique bits about the series is it's art. Anyone familiar with Masaaki Yuasa will know that his work has a very distinctive look to it. It's like a combination of Osamu Tenzuka and the underground American comic artist Robert crumb, it has that slightly disney-esque tinge to the main characters with a rough edge to it.

Of particular note are the opening and ending sequences, which are some of the best I've ever seen. They are a perfect mix of sight and sound which produces something ethereal and beautiful. Uplifting and bittersweet.
The soundtrack is almost exclusively electronica, from fast paced dance music to more melancholic vocal tracks. The songs always do a good job of reinforcing the mood of the scene and it also pretty good on it's own merits.

In the end, Kaiba is one of my favourite series, despite the fact that I only really like 7/13 parts of it. The series had really great potential, and while it has some really great highs the second half makes it hard for me to whole heartedly recommend it. 

If I had the ability to remove my memories of the second half, leaving only the good memories, would I?
No, as I can appreciate it for what it tried to be. A show that aimed high and failed is still better than a show that just went for “good enough”.
In the end, all we really have is our memories.
Sexy sexy memories.

Unnng, Stupid sexy Kaiba!

Something I've Read: CLAMP Month Introduction

When I was a kid, there were three cartoons that really got me drawn in and made me not want to miss any episodes. The first was Pokemon, the behemoth of advertising for the games, the king of the status quo. The second was Digimon, in particular Digimon Adventure, the first series.

The final one was Cardcaptors, the dub of a show called Cardcaptor Sakura in Japan, about a young girl who finds, and accidentally releases into the world, a set of magical cards known as Clow cards. I really loved the characters, and the creative uses of the cards, and the mix of action, friendship, intrigue and everyday life that made up it. But, like all good things, it came to an end. I later managed to pick up some videos of it, though those became useless when the VHS player for my TV died, so it wasn't until my family got broadband internet that I actually tried searching for it again. Did it hold up?

Something New I Am Reading: Husk Eden

This is less a full review, since the series in question has only had two chapters released, and more of a quick, first impressions statement on the new series Husk Eden, written by Kisaragi Yoshinori. It is set in the abandoned capital of the world government, which was given up due to rebel activity. Now, the only people who live there are the soldiers, most of whom are very young, teenagers or below, who protect the huge tower in the centre.

Only two chapters have been released so far, and I highly recommend you track them down and read them before continuing below the break.

Something I've Read: Bleach

 Bleach. Oh Bleach, Bleach, Bleach. What should I say about Bleach?

Well, I was shown the anime by a friend back in...year 10 or 11 I'd guess, so getting on for five or six years ago now. It was one of the things that really got me in to the genre as a whole (Next month I'll be focusing on one of the others). I still read it when it comes out, but I wouldn't say I'm so much a fan, as I am a reader...

Something I've Read: Bleach

Cleverly Titled Column: Brain Powerd review

Yoshiyuki Tomino is quite a prolific anime director, being the driving force behind series like Zambot 3, Aura Battler Dunbine, and most notably the original Gundam series and many of its sequels. In this week's Cleverly Titled Column, I'm taking a look at the 1998 anime Brain Powerd, one of his more recent works, which I think serves as good example of some of his characteristic flaws and is probably my favourite mediocre anime.

Something I've Read: Claymore

Claymore (written by Norihiro Yagi) is an interesting manga series. It is filled with intrigue, spectacular fights and pretty interesting characters which, despite the number of them that are juggled around by the story, feel like they have enough page time each to justify their existence, which I like. At the same time, the entire thing feels almost low key, despite the superpowers and giant monsters….but exactly why that is so is difficult to explain without looking at what it is about.

Cleverly Titled Column: Kamen Rider Fourze review

 Cleverly Titled Column is my weekly (honest) column, where I'll be talking about anime, manga, and tokusatsu (live action special-effects shows) that catch my eye. My main focus will be on the mecha genre, tokusatsu hero shows, and romance manga, but I might branch out into other things if I feel strongly enough that I need to rant or rave about them.

Okay, so this isn't exactly anime or manga, but hey, it's close enough, I'm just expanding your horizons. What I'm reviewing this week is Kamen Rider Fourze, a tokusatsu (live-action special effects) hero show. If you haven't heard of this stuff before, think Power Rangers (or Masked Rider, which was used footage from Kamen Rider series). I assume most people in the society haven't heard of tokusatsu, or if they have then they've probably not watched it, but that's why I'm reviewing a show that's both a lot of fun and quite accessible.

Cleverly Titled Column: Sweet Blue Flowers review

Cleverly Titled Column is my weekly (honest) column, where I'll be talking about anime, manga, and tokusatsu (live action special-effects shows) that catch my eye. My main focus will be on the mecha genre, tokusatsu hero shows, and romance manga, but I might branch out into other things if I feel strongly enough that I need to rant or rave about them.
 
Normally, if someone said "you should read this manga about high school lesbians, it's the best thing", I'd assume it was full of pandering to the yuri fanboy audience with no real substance. But Shimura Takako's Sweet Blue Flowers (also known as Aoi Hana) is a wonderful manga with excellent characterisation, really well-written relationships, and absolutely no fanservice or anything of the sort. In other words - you should read this manga about high school lesbians, it's the best thing.

The Manga Snob: Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou.

Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou

“ We are born of the assembly of those experiences that humans savour.
Alpha. We are humanity's children.”

The setting is Yokohama, Japan in the not too distant future. The world is in it's twilight. Many towns have been lost to the rising sea levels of global warming. The population is in a slow decline. Soon all that will be left of humanity is the cities, the strange luminescent mushrooms that look eerily like lampposts and the androids. No reasons are given as to why these things are happening, there is no lecture on the destructive nature of man. Humanity is just declining. So it goes.
Faced with this ecological apocalypse, mankind has decided to live out it's last days in peace.

Something I've Read: K-On!

Slice of life, particularly comedy ones, often suffer because writing funny characters is actually rather hard, without making them overblown, unlikeable or really in need of help. This series falls into these traps a lot. And I mean a lot. But…I still love it.

Something I’ve read: K-on!

Something I've Read: Katekyo Hitman Reborn!

Something I’ve Read: Katekyo Hitman Reborn

KHR (written by author Akira Amano) is one of those stories that tried to go from light hearted goofiness to serious fighting, and failed. Well, mostly.

First Impressions: Autumn 2012, Ben's Week 2

First Impressions is a series where I'll be writing about my first impressions of the anime airing in the new season.

Ben's Week 2: Psycho-Pass, Teekyu, Magi, Robotics;Notes, Wooser's Hand-To-Mouth Life, Little Busters!, Girls und Panzer

So here I go into the new shows I'm trying out this week. I didn't list all the shows I'm continuing from last week above, because I won't be giving more opinions on those until we're a bit later into the season and I give a review of what I kept on with and what I didn't in the end. I didn't have the time to watch all this week's anime this week, so the rest will be coming up when I've watched it.

For reference (again), here's the chart showing all this season's anime.

Something I've Read: Bunny Drop

“Don’t you think this world is better than you expected?”

When the committee were trying to decide what anime to show this term, we decided that we wanted to show a plot based action show and a more episodic slice of life show, and Usagi Drop (or Bunny Drop) was one of the first anime we looked at. We rejected it for reasons that aren’t actually related to the anime itself, but rather the manga’s reputation, in particular, the ending. And…you may see why.

First Impressions: Autumn 2012, Ben's Week 1

First Impressions is a series where I'll be writing about myfirst impressions of the anime airing in the new season.

My Week 1: From the New World, My Little Monster, Kami-sama Hajimemashita, Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai!, Blast of Tempest, Busou Shinki, BTOOOM! Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, K

I'm going to at least try the first episode of every show of the season, except sequels (I haven't watched the original series for anything that's getting a sequel this season), unsubbed shows (I don't know Japanese), and that one show about incest (because ewwwwww). I’m setting the cut-off point for each "week" of anime I cover as when I get back from work on a Saturday, so if I haven’t written about something that interested you and aired or was subbed over the weekend that’s why.

If you want to see a list of all this season's shows, check out this chart.

Something I've Read: One Piece

Around...five years ago now, my brother began to try to convince me to read a certain series about pirates. I was already into some manga, and in particular it was around the height of my enjoyment of Bleach, so it wasn't that big a leap, but I will admit, I just couldn't get into it. While it was sort of fun at the beginning, the pacing of the arcs was pretty slapshod, the art style was pretty dull and all the fights ended with the main character Luffy curbstomping the villain. After about thirty chapters, I gave up on it and didn't read it again for about six months.

Classically, it turns out I quit right at the wrong time.

Introduction to the blog admins (2012-2013)

Matthew

I'm a third year physics student who also serves as the society's president. This means I delegate all the actual work to the rest of the committee, take the credit for anything that goes well, and avoids responsibility for anything that goes wrong*.

My taste in manga and anime, although I read more than I watch, tends towards over the top shonen such as One Piece and Fairy Tail alongside slice of life works such as Yotsuba&! and Sketchbook, although I will generally read whatever ends up in my hands.

My favourite anime opening currently** is the ninth opening of the anime "Keroro Gunso", called "Sgt Frog" over here, "Hello Darwin". Aside from the incredible catchy song itself, it is a song about curiosity, studying mysteries and always looking for something new, themes I really appreciate and wish were stated like this more often...even if the examples given are slightly odd. But that's to be expected, given the show it is the opening to.

*Does not accurately represent job of president. I do actually work. Honest.

**I change my mind on things like this. A lot.

Ewan

'Sup nerds. I'm the Vice-president, the president of vice if you will (The vice being anime).
I am not entirely sure what my official job description is, but in reality I run around making sure that everything that needs to be done is getting done.
When not being the vice-president I am a 4th year Mathematics student (i.e. not a physicist).
I am a keen tabletop rpg player and I also play jazz guitar...but you don't care about that so let's proceed to all the tasty animes.

My taste in anime is...I don't know what the word would be.
Imagine crazy moe harem mecha fighting high school, then think the opposite of that.
I'm more of a fan of the likes of; Haibane Renmei, Mushishi, Ghost in the Shell, Serial Experiment lain, Paranoia Agent. Stuff like that.

I also like the Ghibli movies but I feel that statement is somewhat unnecessary in an anime blog.

SEINEN! That's the word...at least the closest word I can think of.
It's still not the best word, I mean K-on! is technically seinen.
How do I say I like grown up stuff without sounding like a condescending ba...

But I digress.

Manga I am more new to. I've only read a few volumes of stuff and I'm trying to catch up as much as I can.
I am a fan of the stuff by Naoki Urasawa (Monster, 20th Century Boys), Junji Ito is also fun for pure "nope" factor. Yokohama Kaidashi Kiko is a series that I'm making my way through at the moment and loving it.
It's a slice of life manga about a robot who runs a cafe...in the future where the sea levels are rising and humanity is in it's twilight years.
Some people say it's boring, some people complain that nothing happens.
I call those people uncultured swines.

Favourite opening? Easy.

COWBOY! FUCKIN'! BEBOP!
It is the coolest thing ever.
Miles Davis may have been responsible for the Birth of Cool, but Yoko Kanno perfected it with this bombastic jazz orchestra opening!
It makes the Fonz look like John Major in comparison.
It's so cool it has been used by physicists to make Bose-Einsein condensate.
It's so cool it's coolness rating can only be expressed in transfinite arithmetic.
It's cool...is the idea here.

...I need to go take a cold shower. (A cool shower if you will)

See you later,
Space cowboy.

Corwin
Hi everyone, I'm a second year Medical Science student and the committee secretary which means I help out the president and other members of the committee just to make things run a little bit smoother (hopefully).

My tastes in anime and manga are as pretty irregular, sometimes I am fine with just watching the generic harem/moe/parody shows just for some laughs (e.g Setokai no Ichizon, Seto no Hanayome...),  and sometimes I will only settle for darker/sci-fi orientated anime (e.g Gunslinger Girl, Zaion...) so it's kinda like two sides of my otaku persona. But I enjoy a bit of Mecha/Slice of life/Shounen as well =)

Let's see... favourite anime openings, well I will mention Gunslinger Girl S1 Opening theme "The light before we land" just because it's one of those opening that managed to use an English song by a UK band and turn it into something quite beautiful.

Another opening that I'll have to mention would none other than Sousei no Aquarion's opening. Be it just for the super catchy song or the cheesy '12000year' bit in the lyrics XD.

I have really grown to like anisong (anime songs) hopefully you guys will enjoy it too. Look forward to more posts from us, don't forget to comment below! (/・ω・)/

Ben

I'm a third-year philosophy student, as well as the Committee Sidekick... Sorry, I mean Treasurer. My job is basically "Don't embezzle society funds to buy expensive anime toys, don't let the rest of the comittee embezzle either", along with some stuff about actually legitimately using the money or something.

I suppose my tastes in anime and manga can be summed up with two words: Giant Robots. It's certainly not the only stuff I like, but good mecha shows and manga are the thing I enjoy most in their medium, whether they're super robot shows (I adore Gunbuster and Diebuster and there's no such thing as too much Getter Robo), real robot shows (Xabungle's an obscure favourite of mine, and obviously there's plenty of great Gundam) or anything really that features mecha as long as it's good. I'm also a big fan of tokusatsu live-action shows like Kamen Rider and Super Sentai, which aren't technically anime or manga but close enough for me to mention it here.

Now, my favourite anime opening is a pretty hard question and even if I just go on current gut instinct rather than trying to choose an all-time favourite, I can't narrow it down to just one because there's two big components to what makes an opening awesome and I can't happily choose over the other.
From the point of view of animation, my current favourite OP is Metal Armour Dragonar's first opening, Yume Iro Chaser ("Dream-Coloured Chaser"). It's an excellent example of Masami Obari's animation at its finest - beautiful to watch with lots of impact - and the design and shading really scream "This is what's great about 80s anime." Yume Iro Chaser is a really catchy song too.

If I take a more musical focus, there are a lot of competitors - like anything by JAM Project - but right now I'd give the honour to Macross 7's opening, Seventh Moon. I love all of the music that Fire Bomber - the fictional band who are the focus of the show - has produced, and Seventh Moon is no exception. It's an excellent song, and since Fire Bomber's music is so important to Macross 7, having such a good example of it as the opening is really the most fitting thing they could do. The animation is nice too, which is good to see since the actual episodes suffer on that front with a lot of stock footage.

Really, I think my inability to pick one favourite because these are so good for such different reasons sums up a lot of my feelings about anime and manga - as much as I love mecha, I can't say that one genre or one series is "the best" because different series do different things in different ways for different reasons, and that variety is just great.

New Year, New Members and a New Start!

Hello fellow anime and manga lovers, we'd like to welcome you all to our Anime and Manga society for 2012. You've probably seen our plans for the next week on our flyer, the Facebook group, or the mailing list, but if you've somehow missed all those and still ended up here:

• On Monday the 24th, we're going to the pub to get to know each other, have a drink, all that good stuff. We're meeting at the Guild of Students at 7pm. Weather providing we'll be outside by the fountain, otherwise we'll be indoors by reception, either way we'll make sure we're obvious and easy to spot.
• On Wednesday the 26th, we're going on a walkabout, together with the Sci-Fi Society and Tabletop Gaming Society, to show where in Birmingham you can buy nerdy things like anime and manga.

So now that's out of the way, time to talk about this blog. The whole point of this is to provide a place for us to write reviews of series we've watched/read recently, recommend series that not everyone will have heard of, write about our opinions of anime and manga as a whole, rant about the things that annoy us, and generally blog about anime and manga.

And by "we", I don't just mean the committee - I mean everyone in the society. If you'd like to write a review of something - be it a whole series or just one anime episode or volume of manga - or an article about anything to do with anime and/or manga, email it to us at uobanime@gmail.com, and if it passes The Deadly Trials of Committee Approval™ we'll put it up on here.

Also, we sent out an email on Sunday - if you haven't received it, please email us with your email address so we can add you to the mailing list.