Well, I hope everyone is liking whatever anime you’re watching. Because guess what? I am too. Frankly, I haven’t been really disappointed with anything I’ve come to watch from the newest of anime seasons. That’s not to say they are all gems, not by a long shot. However, the ones I’ve been watching have all been tolerable (and two in particular are downright awesome). But we’ll get to that in a second. First, I would just like to get you guys up to speed on why I haven’t written in some time now. Being in Music Education is tough and a lot of work. So at one point, I started to have a bit of an existential crisis about what I should do with the rest of my life. It was that whole “the world is closing in on me” kind of feeling. In spite of this almost crushing spiritual defeat, with the help of my parents, who are awesome, by the way, I managed to overcome it and am feeling a lot better about what I have chosen to do with the rest of my life. So anyway, on to some content.
Just to get this little bit out of the way, GOSICK and Star Driver are my two gems from the season (Star Driver may be from last season, but I don’t care. It’s too good not to mention here). GOSICK is as beautifully and awesomely done as any other show I’ve seen, and it has real promise, whether you’re a fan of Lolita or not. The characters are deep and enjoyable, the mysteries are neat, and there is something about Victorique that just doesn’t always feel right, no matter how adorable she is. Coupled with that is an animation style that is utterly incredible. It was done by BONES, so it should come as no surprise that it looks gorgeous, but the studio has really outdone itself here with vast, sprawling landscapes, incredibly done bustling cities, and character designs that can be fantastically out-there. GOSICK is my pick for best anime of the season, and possibly the year. I doubt anything else is going to come out this year that can top it, and I’d put money on that.
Star Driver is something else I’d like to point out as being against the grain and a deceptively good series. The animation has its flaws sometimes and the story is kind of difficult to get a reign on, but it’s fun and, for Pete’s sake, it’s not a harem/mecha/comedy for once (I’m looking at you, Infinite Stratos). The show is just winding down with its final episode coming out sometime next week, and I can’t wait for the explosive finale. The robot fights in this show are pretty top notch (sure they all kind of end the same way, but they look really good doing it) and I hope they have something awesome in store for the end. Anyway, check it out if you want to, but it’s not always easy for me to find something to like about a show, and this one was good enough to keep me coming back.
(PS, Fractale is also awesome, but I still don’t think it’s as good as GOSICK. U mad?).
For this article, I’d like to talk about the anime Air Gear. There may not be a lot to talk about, but dangit, I’m going to try to fill up some space and just vent a little bit. My problem with this anime is similar to my problem with D. Gray-man: It’s based on a manga but does nothing to finish the story. The only saving grace for Air Gear is that at least it meandered around and didn’t really do anything for only 25 episodes rather than being a jerk and making me stick around for around 100-something episodes. It’s just a shame that D. Gray-man is better than Air Gear, but I digress. Anyway, Air Gear follows protagonist Ikki Minami. He discovers powered roller blades called Air Trecks (ATs, for short) and becomes immersed in the underground Air Treck universe and meets their users, called Storm Riders. He slowly starts rising to the top of the…league??…and people start hating on him and whatever. He starts a team with some of his friends named Kazuma, Onigiri, and Buccha who are, respectively, a whiner, a fat loser, and an even fatter guy who is kind of a meany pants.
Regardless, they start beating dudes and end up in the top tier of Storm Rider teams. Ikki looks toward the top and sets out to start taking down the upper echelon of Storm Riders. Then, you guessed it, the series ends. Granted, I haven’t seen it in a while so I don’t really remember the details and, frankly, I don’t want to waste the bandwidth watching the last episode on YouTube again. I honestly couldn’t even tell you what kept me going through this series. All I can tell you is that I hated it. The animation takes some major dips in quality throughout the series, to the point where I thought some scenes were downright ugly. The music is in the same class as the music from The Social Network…in that it was unremarkable and unworthy of an Academy Award (HAHA!! ZINGER!!!), and, obviously, the story was a hodgepodge of events that all happened to revolve around some people getting way too serious about powered roller blades.
I believe that I know what you’re thinking: “It was based on a manga, so why don’t you go and read that instead of ripping on the anime version?” I have an answer for you: I don’t really read manga. I’m not that much of a fan of it, and because I appreciate animation much more than I do comics, manga, and the like. When you compare Air Gear to things like Fullmetal Alchemist (also based on a manga), it’s barely a contest. While Fullmetal Alchemist was based on a manga, it told a story that had many differences from the manga, but at least it told a full story that was heart-wrenching, funny, enjoyable, compelling, and other nice adjectives. Notice that I used the word FULL. It didn’t tell me half of a story in order to entice me into buying the manga version. It was an independent adaptation and that was it. Air Gear, however, is barely half a story, and neither entertains me NOR makes we want to purchase the manga. It’s pretty childish, and it’s bland, so unless you’re into that sort of thing, I’d stay far away from Air Gear. I’m giving it a 1/5.
Whew. That’s a load off of my mind. Problems? Questions? Requests? Hate Mail? Go for it. I’m always good for constructive criticism. Or destructive cynicism. Whatever you’ve got in the quiver. Follow me on Twitter (@lamperouge98), and I now have Words With Friends on the iPhone (Phil Bonesaw). Challenge me if you dare. I swear, one of these days I’ll play Hexachordal Combinatoriality and really get some points. See you guys later. Keep enjoying, keep reading, keep experiencing. Until next time.
Best,
Phil Bohn
