I am LOVING the direction this anime is going. In almost every other anime I’ve seen, whenever characters are put in front of unexpected danger, they’re surprisingly calm. They run away a bit, think quietly about the situation, drink a cup of tea, experiment a bit with their new-found powers and the enemy’s gone. Though in Red Garden, this is not the case. The girls really have to struggle for their lives, they’re scared, they shake. If this keeps up, Red Garden is going to be awesome. ^^

I love the diverse cast of characters. There’s only one girl who really has had experience in fights. The others clearly have never fought at all. Target tries to run away, though her courage fails her at times, especially when she’s the monster’s target, Kate tries to help others and ends up getting bitten and Rose is just plain hopeless with situations like these.

Another thing I really like was the singing scene. For what seems to be one of the first times ever, plain high school girls don’t suddenly have the same singing voice of a J-Pop idol. And their voices actually sound full of despair. It’s a great job done by the voice-actors. Still, a lot of people seem to be turned off by it. Is it that important to hear J-Pop idols sing all of the songs? Same with the graphics. The reason most people don’t check out this series is because the art is out of the ordinary. I find it beautiful, though I’ve read on a fair number of other blogs that the art was a major turnoff. Do characters really have to be the same style for every anime out there?

Especially the aftermath was great to see. Four normal girls are actually being forced to engage in life-threatening situations. They seem to have special powers, but they don’t have any experience at all. If they refuse, their lives get taken away for certain. The looks on their faces when they heard this was amazingly beautiful.

Still, I’m wondering how the series will be continuing. If I recall correctly, Red Garden will have 24 episodes. It’s clear that over time, the girls will get more and more experience, and learn to use their powers better. I’m wondering how the creators will manage to keep this anime interesting, as the girls will probably end up getting used to the fact that they’re being used.

(Edit: urgh… this will be another one of those horrible anime to screencap, as most of the interesting scenes seem to be playing at night… )

I don’t write that much articles, but I felt like I had to say something about this issue. Those who frequent my blog probably should know that I’ve been annoyed with this issue for a long time.

Yesterday, I saw the first episode of an anime called Rakugo Tennyo Oyui. Ever heard of it? Nope? That’s what I thought. I missed it as well. It’s a series which aired during this year’s winter season. I originally thought that the creators delayed it, and that it never aired in the first place. Guess what? It did air, it finished after 12 episodes and only one sub has come out so far. But as that one was entirely neglected, the fansubbers gave up after only one episode. Well then. Does Rakugo Tennyo Oyui deserve to be neglected so much? Is it really so bad that people don’t want to even touch it? Of course not. It’s a perfectly fine light-hearted mahou shoujo with comedy elements. There were only one or two annoying characters, apart from that, the rest of the characters were very interesting to see. Especially the way they interacted with each other.

Rakugo Tennyo Oyui isn’t the first anime to be so horribly neglected. I originally thought that Makai Senki Disgaea was ignored, but at least this series got all its episodes subbed. There are much worse cases of ignored anime. Sasami Mahou Shoujo Club, for example. It’s a truly excellent series, but almost nobody could find out, as only one episode has come out subbed. Himawari? An actually nice, inspiring slice-of-life series about a ninja academy. It’s few attempts at comedy also were very good and the series sparkles in character development.

Shoujo Yang Geum no Yume? great adventure series about a girl who loves cooking. This one also just got one sub. Kirarin Revolution? A semi-serious story about a girl chasing down her dreams to become a pop idol. Nothing wrong with that. Despite its annoying elements, I enjoyed watching the only two subs which came out. Hime-Sama Goyoujin? A perfectly fine comedy anime about idiots acting stupid. Great if you don’t want to think about anything. Yoshinaga-Chi no Gargoyle turned out to be hilarious, but because there were only two subs which came out, this series got horribly neglected as well.

My point is, that each of this series ranges from good to awesome. None of them deserves the treatment it’s got. Now, let’s take a look at the really bad series, shall we? Coyote Ragtime Show was fully subbed, almost right after it aired and id had three fansub groups working on it. It’s the same with Zero no Tsukaima. Yoake Mai Yori Ruri-Iro na got its first two episodes subbed right after they aired by two fansub groups. Mamoru-kun ni Megami no Shukifu wo also has two groups working on it. Shounen Onmyouji also got subbed in less than a week after it came out. Same with Tokimeki Memorial, Gift and Love Dol.

Now, let’s take a look at the popular series. Both Kanon and Death Note have a massive SIX fansub groups, working on them at the same time. It doesn’t matter whether they’re good shows or not good show, six fansub groups is way too much. Two would have been more than enough. And there are more series like this which get way more fansubbers working on them than is actually needed (Zero no Tsukaima, .Hack//Roots, Coyote Ragtime Show, etc).

Notice this trend? The popular shows get oversubbed and because of that, the ignored shows get no chance of being fully subbed, in order to get the attention they deserve. And the annoying thing is, that it’s very easy to actually solve this problem. Take Death Note, for example. Live-Evil and Toriyama World can just continue to bring out Death Note at a steady pace, so that C1 can tackle, for example, Himawari. Desuno can focus on Shoujo Yang Geum no Yume, SOY can work on Sasami Mahou Shoujo Club and Animanda can sub Kirarin Revolution. Same with Kanon. SS-Eclipse and Sprocket can continue with Kanon, so that Shinsen-Subs can work on a show like Jigoku Shoujo or Marginal Prince. A.F.K. can try to handle Rakugo Tennyo Oyui, AQS-Anime can try to sub Yoshinaga-chi no Gargoyle and AnimeU can give Hime-Sama Goyoujin a try. And voila, a lot of problems would be solved. This, of course, is just an example.

I’m not trying to attack, flame or troll the fansubbers in any way. You’re all great people, who bring anime to the non-Japanese community. But I felt that I just had to say something about this. It’s been a trend for a while, and I’ve been getting more and more annoyed at it. Especially when the solution is so simple.