November 30, 2006

Soukou no Strain - 06 - Flashbacks and Parties

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This was a very fun episode. The major part just consists out of the characters having fun with each other, after which Sara seems to finally understand the meaning of teamwork after a small mission where it seems that some Tumors have remained after Ralph Werec’s attack. Still, not all events made as much sense as I hoped them to be.

You’d wonder what happened to the Gambits who survived the attack. Such a minor cleanup mission would have been a perfect mission for them, no need to call out the highly important Reasoners for such a small job, isn’t it? I’m also wondering a bit where on earth the pigeons came from. Though the most annoying one is during the fight scene. During its climax, we see Sara’s hair wave along with the wind… What wind? There’s no air in outer space, or there must be some kind of very, very strange cooling system inside a strain.

Okay, enough about the bad things. The episode was a really good one, in my opinion. It really was meant in order to flesh out the different protagonists a bit, and I have to say, that this succeeded. This episode contained some of the funniest moments in the entire series, for example when Lotti got angry at Sara for once AGAIN ignoring her strategies, or when Melchisidec started to chase Jessie.

Carris also is slowly turning better. Okay, he’s still the annoying standard main love interest, but he’s actually slowly getting a personality. Also, when he asked Sara from who she learned to dance that well, I felt that for the first time, he actually did something good for this anime, as it clearly reminded Sara back to her times with Cedric. I also really liked Lavinia this time, when she was ambushed by the Tumors. Great scenes. :)

November Summary

This one’s a bit smaller again, after last month’s huge list. It’s probably going to be the last summary of 2006, as I’ve got something special in mind for December. :)
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Brave Story Review - 68/100

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This movie aired about half a year ago. The promo-art looked interesting, so I was looking forward to seeing this. When I started playing this, I suddenly found out Gonzo was involved…. ouch.

Still, if you’re expecting the same crap that is Gin-Iro no Kami no Agito, you’ll be pleasantly surprised. This movie didn’t contain the flaws which plagued Gonzo’s previous attempt at a movie so much, and actually turned out into an enjoyable watch. This movie definitely was focused at a young audience, as it’s about a young boy who winds up in an adventure inside a fantasy world, in order to save his parents. The crappy teenage romance has luckily been left out.

Still, that doesn’t mean that this is something I’d recommend. It’s a decent movie, the story is nice, but it’s really nothing special. This movie really knows its audience, and therefore its cases and stories have been kept simple, and not too deep. There’s one clear theme: sacrificing others, and the major focus of this anime is aimed at this. The plot also contains a few rather clichéd elements (for example, a couple of characters end up joining our main characters journey for no good reason at all, and in order to save his parents, our main character has to collect the infamously overused five crystals. The last, of course, being the crystal of darkness).

Still, there’s one thing I can be really positive about: the graphics. As this is a movie, it’s gotten a big budget for the graphical department, and the results are clearly visible. The animation looks very good, the character design turned out very interesting, the CG looks gorgeous, and the background art really was beautiful. The only thing is that the fights could have been better, as they were rather standard.

I’d say that this is definitely not the best movie around, but if you’re bored and need a couple of hours to burn, you could want to try this one out.