Let me start off by saying that I’m not the kind of guy who goes for historical/period pieces. I don’t actively hate them; they’re just not my first choice when I find myself in need of entertainment, anime or otherwise. So, when my friend raved about Le Chevalier d’Eon (which from now on I will abbreviate as LCdE to ease the burden on my poor fingers) I took one look at it, went “Eh, that’s nice, I’ll have to check that out,” then promptly moved on to whatever was next in my queue. Fast-forward to the 2011 Anime Secret Santa contest, wherein one of the three series picked for me was LCdE. Something made me think “aw, what the heck?” and watch it. And I’m glad that I did.

LCdE tells the tale of Eon d’Beaumont, a knight in the service of King Louis XV of France, who discovers, to his horror, that his beloved sister Lia was murdered in the line of duty. Determined to find her killers and bring them to justice, he journeys into a shadow world of shifting alliances and strange and powerful spiritual energies.

Story:

The story of LCdE is based on a historical figure. That is to say, there were actual people that existed named Eon de Beaumont, King Louis XV, etc. And that’s about it. However, the story portrays the milieu of pre-Revolution France rather well, at least to a layperson like myself. (Disclaimer: I am not a history major. I’m not even close to a history major. In fact, I could be way off.)

There is a fairly balanced mix of action, political intrigue and the supernatural, although it perhaps leans a bit more towards the political intrigue side of things. There’s a lot of intrigue, backstabbing, maneuvering and general skullduggery going on, and sometimes it’s a bit hard to keep track of it all. This is one that will probably require more than one viewing before you “get it.” However there was still enough action to break things up and keep them interesting. The pacing felt, for the post part, adequate; however it did seem to drag in places, especially toward the middle of the series.

Characters:

The characters were, for the most part, believable, in that their reasonings and motivations actually made sense. When D’Eon was made aware of his “special power,” he obviously struggled to come to terms with it, rather than accepting his situation straight away as happens so often in situations like this. There were no incongruously “cutesy” characters: even the plucky sidekick Robin was depicted in a realistic manner. The core characters of D’Eon, Durand, Robin and Teillagory have a good camaraderie about them, a sort of Three Musketeers vibe. (The anime in fact acknowledges this, with one episode titled “The Four Musketeers.”) Unfortunately, with the exception of D’Eon himself, there isn’t as much character development as I would have liked to see. There are also an awful lot of side characters, and keeping track of Lord So-and-so and Duke Such-and-such, and what their various machinations are, can be challenging. It might take you more than one watching to finally get things straight. I would’ve liked to have seen some backstory for some of these as well.

Animation:

The artwork and animation of this series really stands out, although it is not without its faults. The opulence of aristocratic life is captured well in the palace interiors and exteriors; however the level of detail is somewhat inconsistent.

It is obvious that the animators gave extra attention to the action/fight scenes. Not only are they well-animated, they are also well-choreographed. We even see characters using some fancy footwork, which is very important in fencing.

The clothing and costumes really stand out and are very well done. Perhaps too well done, in fact – so much detail was focused on the characters’ costumes that their faces were somewhat neglected, resulting in sort of flat, bland countenances.

Sound/Music:

Note: I watched this series dubbed, so my script/VA related comments apply to the English dub. I will update this review once I’ve had a chance to listen to the Japanese audio.

The dub was, on the whole, adequate. Definitely not one of the better dubs I’ve listened to, but neither was it the worst. I did rather like the voice of the older D’Eon, who narrates the story; it has a haggard, world-weary quality that’s appropriate to the character.

I did have a slight beef with the language. For the most part they spoke in formal language that felt appropriate to the situation (“thees and thous”); however they often broke into slang and colloquialisms (usually when the main characters are talking amongst themselves). But maybe this is the way they really talked, or it could be a case of something getting lost in translation, so I could be completely off base here.

Music, on the other hand, was well done. The grand operatic pieces appropriate for the ballrooms and palaces of aristocracy, and the fight scene scores had an appropriate level of tension to them. Sound effects were also appropriate to the situation depicted and well done.

Bottom Line:

LCdE was definitely enjoyable, and I am glad that I decided to watch it for Anime Secret Santa. The stunning visuals were a feast for the senses, and the interesting, if somewhat confusing story held my attention enough to keep on watching. As other reviews have pointed out, if you enjoyed LCdE, there are other, perhaps better executed period pieces that you might also enjoy, two often-cited examples being Rose of Versailles and Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo (both of which have also been recommended to me in the past; I’ll have to put them on my list as well). But I’m glad that I watched LCdE and consider it time well spent.

Characters:  ★★★½☆ 

Story:  ★★★★☆ 

Animation:  ★★★★½ 

Sound:  ★★★★☆ 

Overall:  ★★★★☆ 

Le Chevalier D’Eon

Funimation Prod 2010, DVD, $17.37

J-List is a peaceful island of Japanese pop culture for you

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For the last few years I have been on a quest — a quest to free my anime from the confines of my computer screen.

Many others out there have shared this quest, I’m sure. After all, although watching anime on your computer is nice (especially with the mega-HD resolution monitors of today), it’s still nice to get away from the computer every now and then. Maybe we want to consume our anime while out and about; fortunately there are devices and software that make it relatively easy to do so, such as iPods, iPhones, iPads, Android smartphones/tablets and the Archos 5, and software such as Meridian, Air Video, and Crunchyroll for iPhone or Android.

But what if we want to enjoy anime on the big screen, using your home theater system?

 This is particularly desirable nowadays, when more and more anime are being made in HD quality with multi-channel surround sound. The problem however is getting your anime to the big screen. You could hook your computer up to your home theater system, but that’s a rather clumsy and complicated solution, and most computer interfaces aren’t well suited to the “lean back experience” you get in a home theater setting. With some special software, you can use most current-gen game consoles as media streaming devices. However I’ve found that setting up this software can be tricky at best, and downright impossible at worst. Or you could get one of a variety of media center set-top boxes. Unfortunately picking the right set-top box is challenging, mostly due to the wide variety of formats that downloaded anime comes in these days. Add to that the complexity of multiple audio tracks and subtitles, and you’ve got yourself a recipe for pain and disappointment.

Well, I have tried just about every set top out there and have found one that is just about perfect — the Western Digital WD TV Live.

It’s a pretty small thing, about the size and weight of a small paperback book, and will easily fit in even the most crowded A/V shelf. It doesn’t give off a lot of heat either. With connections for component and composite video, digital optical audio and HDMI, the WD TV Live will easily hook in to your other devices. It also has a USB port, which is used for expansion (more on that later) as well as storage — the idea being that you can plug in a USB hard drive full of media and play that. But that’s not what we’re really interested in: we want to be able to stream our media off of our home network. For that, the WD TV Live has a built-in Ethernet port. The WD TV Live is also capable of accessing WiFi, but that requires a USB WiFi adapter, sold separately. You can access your files off of your network using the Windows file sharing protocol, which fortunately pretty much every other OS speaks.

The user interface is functional, but a bit on the klunky side. Accessing some functions requires you to scroll through several levels of menu items. But it’s not too bad. It doesn’t have the elegant simplicity of an Apple product, but it isn’t the worst I’ve seen either. You’ll get used to it in no time.

Now here’s the good news: the WD TV Live plays just about every video format under the sun. H.264, XviD, DivX, MPEG 1/2/4, WMV… it plays ‘em all. I threw every oddball file I had at it and it played them beautifully. The only file it was unable to play was one particularly large (over 8 GB) MPEG-4; but that could have been because it was a bad file (I have problems playing that file on my computer too). And, best of all, it supports those pesky Matroska (MKV) files! Files with multiple audio tracks are supported. And subtitles are supported as well, in all the common formats (SSA, ASS, SRT, SUB, and SMI), both in “sidecar” files (subtitles in their own file) as well as embedded as part of the MKV file. Unfortunately some more advanced subtitle functions don’t appear to be supported (different fonts, colors, on-screen positioning, etc.) but the subtitle support is good enough to where I’m happy. (A press of a button during playback will bring up a menu where you can easily switch between audio and subtitle tracks.)

The WD TV Live also supports playback of audio and photos, but I don’t really see that as this device’s real strength. (I suppose you could use it to show off your latest anime con pics, or listen to your favorite anime OST’s or whatever.) However it also supports streaming content from several online sources, including Blockbuster, Netflix, Pandora, Flickr, YouTube and several others. Netflix, in particular, is of interest to us anime fans, as they now have a rather impressive collection of anime available for online streaming, and that collection is growing every day.

Finally, let’s talk price. At $80, I think this is a really good deal for what you get.

Overall I am quite happy with the WD TV Live. My quest to unleash my anime from the confines of my computer, and bring it to the big screen, is now complete.

Pros:

• Supports just about every video format under the sun (including MKV containers)
• Supports subtitles, both as separate “sidecar” files (SSA/ASS/SRT) as well as embedded in MKV’s
• Supports most of the popular Internet streaming video sources.

Cons:

• User interface is a bit clunky, not as elegant as an Apple product
• WiFi support only with purchase of a separate WiFi adapter
• only supports Windows networking (SMB)
• does not support some advanced subtitle attributes (fonts, color, etc.)

Overall Rating:

Rating:  ★★★★½ 

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PC dating-sim games @ J-List

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When Narutaki and Hisui of the Reverse Thieves announced the return of the Anime Secret Santa project, I was elated.  When I participated in last year’s event, I had a great deal of fun, watched a pretty decent series I had never heard of before, and “met” a whole bunch of cool bloggers.  I was so excited that I would be participating this year as well.

Unfortunately, this year, things didn’t exactly go as I had hoped…

My three Secret Santa picks were Ah! My Goddess, Saki, and Special A.  Oddly enough I had just finished watching Goddess, and since I felt that it would be kind of “cheating” to review a series I had already watched anyway, eliminated it as a possibility.  Saki I could easily watch online thanks to my Crunchyroll membership (best deal in town if you want to watch anime legally and help the production companies, in my book).  It was also one that I had wanted to watch, so it wasn’t my first choice either (my feeling is that the spirit of Anime Secret Santa is to watch something I haven’t heard of or intended to watch).  That left Special A, which was available on DVD and could also be streamed online at Amazon‘s video on demand service.  Unfortunately I can’t afford any DVDs (or Amazon’s $1.99 per episode streaming service) at the moment, so that was out.  (thanks to some slowdowns at work and needing to save up for next year’s cons, I am back in “broke otaku” mode.)  So I was all set to watch and review Saki., but as the fates would have it, I have had an extremely busy and stressful end of year, and just could not get to it. And now here we are on Christmas Day, and I had a choice: marathon Saki and bang out a halfhearted review (which still probably wouldn’t be done until the middle of next week), or sit down and bang out a quick but heartfelt (is that the opposite of halfhearted?) review of Ah! My Goddess (which I at least watched already).  I figured that doing a writeup on Goddess would be the less lame of the choices (but not by much).  And here we are.

So, with all that out of the way, click on through the cut for my review of Ah! My Goddess.

Summary: Keiichi Morisato is your typical college student and all-around everyman… except he has quite possibly the worst luck in the universe.  That is, until one night, when he accidentally dials the Goddess Help Line and summons the beautiful Belldandy, Goddess First Class, Second Category, Unlimited License, to grant him one wish.  Thinking that someone is playing an elaborate practical joke on him (of course!) Keiichi asks for Belldandy to stay with him forever… and is surprised when the wish is granted.  Add two other mischievous goddesses, evil spirits, demons, a caring but somewhat nosy sister, and jealous campus hotties, and poor Keiichi is in for one heck of a ride.

Story: Bring me a more stereotypical anime plotline, and I’ll sell you a nice red bridge in San Francisco.  For cheap.  A big ol’ helping of magical girl with a side of romantic comedy, with a dash of slice-of-life thrown in.  Still, I as a romantic am a sucker for these type of stories.  And there was quite a bit of pretty good comedy in there.  There are quite a few fairly cliched romantic comedy moments which make you want to facepalm, but they played up the comedy so it’s not very irritating.  A good mix between comedy, romance, and even a little action thrown in to the mix.  All these elements were mixed up in just the right proportions I think.  While the story did get a bit slow at times, it kept me watching.  There’s something here even if you’re not the biggest romance story fan.

Characters: At first I thought Keiichi was a spineless wimp (sorry, Shinji Ikari has scarred me for life), but as the series progressed parts of his character began to show through, and we find a genuinely caring soul who would go out of his way to help his fellow human.  Ultimately he’s an everyman, just like you and me, and in that way I really empathize with him.  Belldandy on the other hand, while sweet and kind, struck me as too much so, sort of too good to be true.  Apparently they did change her character somewhat for the anime: I was discussing this with a friend who is familiar with the manga, and according to him, Belldandy had a bit of a vengeful and jealous streak in her manga incarnation.  The supporting cast fills out the show very nicely – the auto club members are hilarious, and Belldandy’s sisters Urd and Skuld serve as excellent foils for her straight-arrow character.  However Skuld was a bit too bratty for my taste, but that may have been due to the way her American voice actress played her (more on that below).  I’m definitely going to rewatch this with subtitles and the original Japanese audio.

Animation: In a word, nothing to write home about.  (Okay, I guess that was four words.)  Though I do like the way they animated the effect whenever somebody used their magical powers, and Belldandy’s angel Holy Bell is positively gorgeous.  Other than that, the animation was reasonably smooth; there is a good level of detail in the characters, costumes and scenes; and the color palette was bright and vibrant.  I don’t have anything exceptional to say about it, nor do I have anything really bad to say about it either.  I will say that this show is neither overly violent nor overly ecchi, so it’s pretty suitable for all ages I would say.

Sound: Again, nothing to write home about.  The opening theme was pretty catchy (It had a sort of Celtic motif to it, which I’m a sucker for), but other than that, the rest of the music was fairly low key, light melodies.  It fit the laid back mood of the series.  However I will say that the English dub is not one of my favorites; definitely less than average, but not absolutely horrid.  Skuld’s voice actress in particular really got on my nerves.  However I felt that Urd’s VA hit it spot on.  Anyway I definitely recommend watching this one subbed.

Bottom line: whether you’re a romantic at heart or just like a few laughs, Ah! My Goddess has something in it for you.  As long as you’re willing to check your brain at the door and accept probably one of the most cliched story archetypes in anime, you will be entertained and amused.

Characters:  ★★★★☆ 

Story:  ★★★★☆ 

Animation:  ★★★½☆ 

Sound:  ★★★½☆ 

Overall:  ★★★★☆ 

PC dating-sim games @ J-List

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I couldn’t help but think of this tragic event as I watched the opening moments of Twin Spica, an anime based on the seinen manga written and illustrated by Kou Yaginuma. It tells the story of a near-future Japan entering the space race with its first manned mission, Shishigou (Lion), which ends in disaster when the rocket’s booster catches fire shortly after launch.

In addition to the loss of the astronauts, the accident caused a great many civilian casualties, as the debris from the destroyed rocket crashed into the town of Yuigahama, causing much devastation and loss of life among the townsfolk. The effects of this are still being felt even five years after the disaster, where our story begins, as the city is still undergoing reconstruction, the townsfolk are still dealing with the loss of friends and loved ones, and the space program has undergone many public inquiries and setbacks.

The story focuses on young Asumi Kamogawa, whose mother received grave injuries during the Shishigou accident, causing her to fall into a coma and eventually die. One day she meets a strange man wearing a lion mask, who soon reveals himself to be a ghost and calls himself Lion-san. They strike up a friendship, and he comforts Asumi during these troubled times. We learn soon that he is the spirit of one of the Shishigou astronauts, and as their friendship deepens, he begins to tell her stories of space. It is these stories combined with a desire to revisit her mother’s spirit, which Asumi believes has turned into a star in space, that make Asumi decide she wants to become an astronaut. Flash forward several years. Asumi has graduated middle school and is preparing to take high school entrance exams. Meanwhile, the Japanese government, continuing their recovery from the disaster, forms the Tokyo Space Academy, a vocational school dedicated to training a new generation of students in the space sciences. The anime follows Asumi and the new friends she makes at the academy as they struggle towards their goal of graduating from the space academy. The series takes its name from the binary star Spica, Asumi’s favorite star.

The story is well written and very approachable. Even though it’s billed as a seinen (mainly targeted at a middle-aged male audience) I think it’s approachable from almost any age or gender. It’s deep and complex but not overly so. The characters are believable (with the possible exception of Lion-san, that is). Asumi, as the main heroine as it were, is neither one of those passive damsel-in-distress types, nor is she one of those superwomen who can take anything without so much as breaking a nail. She, like the rest of us, has her dreams, her worries, and her flaws. The same goes for the rest of the characters. There are no age-inappropriate moments either (no ecchi, etc.). It’s a very emotional, heartfelt story that will have you feeling every nuance of the characters’ lives, from the exhilaration of success to the terrible sadness and loss from the devastation caused by the Shishigou disaster. I really felt that I got to know the characters this way, even the ancillary ones. The story also gets high marks for technical accuracy. It contains quite a few references to actual events in space exploration history. For example, the harmonica that Lion-san is seen playing is a Hohner Little Lady, one of the first instruments to fly in space. Also, the nickname Asumi is given by one of her classmates, Seagull, is the callsign used by the first female astronaut, Valentina Tereshkova.

The artwork and animation is about average – nothing to write home about, but not too bad either. The characters and environments are drawn in rather muted colors and there is a general lack of detail in the scenes, their clothing, etc., which some might find appealing and others not. It’s rather reminiscent of a early to mid 90s Studio Ghibli release. One thing that did irritate me somewhat is the way Asumi was drawn, with rosy red cheeks. I’m not sure why it bugged me so; I just kept having this sensation of “that looks… wrong.” She is the only character drawn in this manner, and honestly she would’ve looked just fine without those rosy cheeks.

Music and sound is also “meh.” It mostly consists of slow lyrical guitar, piano, and/or harmonica pieces, and the occasional orchestral interlude when something particularly dramatic happens. In other words, it’s okay, but again nothing to write home about. I found the opening theme, “Venus Say” by the J-pop group Buzy, to be an odd choice however; this fast-paced poppy tune seemed rather out of place with the other slower paced music, and the general slow pace of the series as a whole. Voice acting is on the whole well done.

The show is, as I mentioned before, slowly paced. You won’t like this show if you’re an action junkie. There aren’t any explosions or giant space battles or giant robots either. (Well, aside from the explosion of the Shishigou rocket that is) Again, not for the action junkie. And if you’re expecting lots of cool space action — space stations, EVA walks, that sort of thing — you’ll be sorely disappointed. This ain’t no Planetes or Moonlight Mile. Although it’s much less gritty, and a great deal more optimistic than either of those series, which is a plus.

I also got rather irritated by the story recaps placed at the beginning of every episode. (“Hi! I’m Asumi Kamogawa, and I want to be a rocket driver when I grow up!”) These shorts were very cute but repetitive and annoying. I felt like I was being beaten over the head repeatedly with a steel bar wrapped in a layer of feather pillows.

Most of all, though, the series’ ending left me rather disappointed and wanting for more. When the series ended in 2004, only 30 chapters of the manga were written. As a result the ending was, in my opinion, rather weak and ambiguous, and left me generally unsatisfied. In particular, we learn very little of some of the characters’ back stories, especially the enigmatic and interesting Marika Ukita. (The manga ended just this year.)

Even with all of these deficiencies, Twin Spica is still a very well done series, with its main strength being the characters and how they interact with each other and work together. If this intrigues you, you can check it out yourself by downloading the fansubs. Vertical announced at their New York Anime Festival 2009 panel that it has licensed the Twin Spica manga for a “summer 2010″ release date (you can pre-order it now from Amazon.com; they are showing a release date of May 4, 2010). There is also a Japanese live action adaptation that was broadcast Summer 2009.

Story: ★★★★☆ 

Characters: ★★★★★ 

Animation/Artwork: ★★★½☆ 

Music ★★★½☆ 

Overall: ★★★★☆ 

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1. Secret Santa Project Review: Ah! My Goddess (TV)
2. Anime Secret Santa Review: Le Chevalier d’Eon
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