IdolM@aster: Cinderella Girls
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Alternate Title(s): When Supernatural Battles Become Commonplace
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Plot Summary:
Kaori Fujimiya is a high school student who gives off a cold and aloof appearance in class. She has no friends and she is uninterested in making any more. Yuuki Hase decides he is going to break the ice and become her friend. As he succeeds in doing so he finds out that Fujimiya has a form of short-term memory loss where she loses her memories of her friends every monday morning. Because of this she doesn’t see herself as being able to make friends. Hase works hard to become her friend and she begins keeping a diary so that each Monday she goes to school knowing who he is. As time goes on she makes more friends and the mysteries surrounding the source of her memory loss are slowly revealed.
Production and Technical Information:
Based on the manga by Matcha Hazuki published by Square Enix
The manga was published in January 2012 and is still ongoing with 6 volumes.
The television anime series is produced by Brains Base and originally ran from April-June 2014 with 12 episodes.
The director Iwasaki, Tarou was very involved in the project as Director, Episode Director, Storyboard, and Key Animation. He has worked as an Episode Director on a lot of projects but was director of Memories Off 5 and Yakushiji Ryouko no Kaki Jikenbo.
Suga, Shoutarou did the script and series composition. He has worked on scripts for Darker than Black, FMA Brotherhood, Ghost in the Shell: SAC, and a good number of other shows.
The anime is very simplistic with thin lines and a clean style. I wouldn’t call it a “traditional” anime style. Characters are more muted and the colors are natural. At some points they use picture montages to save some money, but being a slice of life anime it’s not jarring to action or flow of the series.
Music is done by Toda, Nobuko and this is her debut working on anime music. The music I would say is simple, but well done, just above average. It fits the feel of the anime but a few themes can be repetitive.
Review:
Isshuukan Friends, or One Week Friends, starts out really charming. Memory loss isn’t anything new but Hase-kun’s earnest feelings and clear romantic interest makes the viewer interested in going along for the ride. Over the first three episodes the pacing is near perfection. He makes reasonable progress with Kaori and you can see their relationship really beginning to blossom.
Shifting into episodes 4-6 Fujimiya begins making more friends and you see her growing. These are also strong and the viewer is satiated with a few hints and clues to whatever the reason may be behind Fujimiya’s memory loss. At this point in the anime it’s being painted as the ultimate crux and reveal with what may be the climax of the series.
This is when the anime began to drag for me. The reasons behind Fujimiya’s memory loss seem very superficial and thrown in almost as an afterthought. It ends up revolving around something that you end up thinking “really, this was the reason?” After having so many episodes where you feel such strong emotions for the characters and have it steeped in mystery to have it be revealed and it be trivial.
As a result, I began to feel distant from the characters. When one thing begins to feel superficial it all does, including the romance between Hase and Fujimiya, which ends up going nowhere.
In all this series had a lot of potential and I was really hopeful, but it ended up disappointing.
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Plot:
Tony Stark continues to be the self-declared world protector for criminals and evil-doers. To assist in this he is launching a surveillance satellite named “Howard” to help prevent crimes by finding them before they start. But the launch doesn’t go as smoothly as hoped when an unknown force lead by a boy in a suit attacks the compound. Iron Man and War Machine are quick to the scene but the boy is using a technology unlike anything Tony has ever encountered: the Technovore. Claiming it is the future Tony is left to learn the truth of the boy, the technology, and their motives.
Run Time: 88 minute OVA
Studio:
Like the Iron Man series before it this installation was produced by Studio Mad House.
Animation –
Mad House of course delivers on a good-looking show. While there are clear decisions that have been made to help cut costs (like avoiding showing Tony’s lip flaps in the suit by focusing on his eyes) the OAV overall has a nice glossy look. There is a clear application of CG, as is to be expected with robot shows these days. But it doesn’t seem out of place when it is used.
Director:
The director was not involved in any of the previous Iron Man, interestingly enough. But he did do some shows like Stein’s Gate, so he has been involved in something good.
Dubbing:
I actually watched this dubbed and it wasn’t so bad. As most of the characters are supposed to be American something about it actually “clicked” being dubbed and not having Tony Stark be Japanese.
That being said some of the writing was just a bit sad in how corny or mediocre it was. Some lines were particularly awful, but something about it did fit at times as an over the top super-hero movie.
Review:
So, think of Iron Man live action. What does it have?
This anime? Check, check, check and check. It is exactly what Iron Man reboots have always and should always be. There is light techno babel but the important part is Tony Stark being Tony Stark and unabashedly messing people’s days up as Iron Man.
Right from the start they get into the action and do pretty well at keeping the beat all the way through the movie.
Nick Fury, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Pepper Pots, even the Punisher all have moments in this adaptation and it’s kind of fun to see Marvel’s take on the other characters in the Marvel universe. However, while Tony seemed to be as on-point as is to be expected these other characters fell flat for me. I’m not sure if it was writing, acting, or just bad storytelling but most seemed awkward, especially when dealing with Tony. Key example was Pepper Pots. I admit to being a Tony/Pepper fangirl. But every time I saw them together I was left wanting to laugh, or just shake my head. Right up until the end their whole interaction, professional and romantic, seemed forced and awkward. It would’ve been far better if she had never been in there from the start.
The story was simple enough to understand, but maybe too simple in that I didn’t completely get some of the motives of the villain. Just a crazy kid I suppose. But sometimes they would throw in techno-babble or self-important book quoting that made you feel like you went from the kiddy pool to the deep end and back without ever having a chance to acclimate.
But these are things that are just normal problems that shows, and superhero shows, have. Iron Man Rise of the Technovore did have some cool moments and great lines. One such moment was when Tony jumped into his Iron Man suit, literally, and it was an awesome sequence to see the motion of it wrapping around him.
The best thing I can say for this movie is that it’s fun. This movie is 100% fun. Like a summer action flick you can turn your brain off and just enjoy what’s going on. Jump along for the ride and have fun. If that’s all you go into it with, well that and a healthy love of Iron Man, you will be able to enjoy this movie for what it is.
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Ishida & Asakura
Dax Production/Hotline
Dir. Pippuya (Kachou no Koi)
Wri. Kenichi Yamashita (Yu-Gi-Oh!, various)
SYNOPSIS
Ishida to Asakura focuses on the titular characters–the stoic Ishida and the lecherous Asakura–and the bizarre students and teachers that populate their high school. Asakura is obsessed with curvaceous women and dreams of becoming a teacher in order to be surrounded by attractive girls all day. Ishida dreams of running a flower shop together with Asakura after they finish high school, and appears to have strong homosexual feelings for his best friend, although this is always played for laughs.
REVIEW
+ Characters designs are appropriately ugly. Feels a bit like Cromartie High School, which I enjoy.
+ Music is fun and light.
+ Performances are good, particularly those for the titular characters. Very dry and quirky. Probably the best thing about the show.
+/- Animation is choppy and aesthetically unappealing, which kind of works with the overall style of the show.
– Not funny. I giggled maybe once. Admittedly the most subjective complaint, but my biggest one for something that is supposed to be a comedy.
– Thematically empty. Gags involving homosexuality, transgenderism, female body image issues, and bullying are all played for laughs and have nothing important to say. And they’re not even funny.
– There is no story. Things just happen. The premise is continually returned to with no perceivable progress toward any of the characters’ goals.
1.5 big breasted trannies out of 5
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