Sunday, October 2, 2011

short reviews: No. 6, Tiger & Bunny and Loveless

No. 6
I really liked the artwork I saw of No. 6 and many people liked it, so I decided to check it out.
The setting is really interesting. No. 6 is a city in the future. It seems like a perfect place, but there's a tight reign from the government who secretly disposes of "inconvenient" people. All this is only revealed throughout the story though. There is an increase in unexplained deaths that seem to be caused by a kind of wasp that nests inside the people's body.
The innocent and naive boy Sion starts his life as a good citizen, but by helping the wounded fugitive Nezumi loses his status and is gradually revealed to the truth. He is sent to a "correctional facility" but with the help of Nezumi is able to flee and lives with him outside of the city's walls, where a huge "outlaw ghetto" built up.
The overall theme of No. 6 is technology against nature, I guess. There's a hint of shonen ai, but not too much (in my opinion). There's 11 episodes. Although the drawings are sweet, the story isn't, and you have to be ready for quite some gore and blood and generally lots of horror. I got through it though (I'm a bit of a sissy when it comes to those things); now I'm even more afraid of wasps than before.

TV Tropes
Wikipedia



Tiger & Bunny
When I first heard the title "Tiger & Bunny" I totally didn't expect this. "Tiger & Bunny" doesn't feature cute tigers or bunnies. It's about super heroes, very similar to X-Men. but these heroes have sponsors and there's a TV show about them. Actually I get the feeling that the sponsors are just an excuse to put lots and lots of advertising in the anime. But - as long as the story is good, I don't care too much. I wasn't too thrilled after the first few episodes, but I went on watching and I'm glad that I did - it definitely gets better.
Pillar of the anime is main character Kotetsu alias 'Wild Tiger'. I don't think that the anime would have any appeal without him. He's an unusual anime hero, too: an "old man" (it's never really mentioned how old he is) and a widower with a 10-year-old daughter. He's rather clumsy sometimes, but he has his heart in the right place - TV Tropes calls this "adorkable". He's not quite as stupid as he seems though, he sometimes has great insight into people's motives and feelings and his experience as a hero helps his intuition.
There's other heroes, too, of course and the story is mainly driven by Kotetsu's partner Barnaby alias 'Bunny' and his determination to find the murderers of his parents. There's good points about the plot the villains - and the heroes - aren't painted in black-and-white, but still... without Kotetsu I don't think it'd be very interesting.
So far there are 25 episodes. I don't know whether there'll be another season.

TV Tropes
Wikipedia



Loveless
Someone on Twitter recommended this to me. He said the manga was better, but I decided to watch the anime, as it's only 12 episodes.
I have to say that sometimes I had to fight and force myself to go on watching, I thought it would get better, it would make sense soon. I was disappointed.
The women in this are again stupid weak characters. All of them, more or less. The main female character is a moron, starts crying easily, is oblivious to the feelings of people around her (except of her love interest, Ritsuka, the main character) and generally acts like a spoiled child. Their teacher isn't much behaving like an adult either. Ritsuka's mother is... not sure, probably having mental problems and frequently abusive. And whoever that other woman is, the main character's therapist or so, she seems to be in love with Ritsuka - despite the large age gap and him being only twelve. And the evil woman not only looks, but also acts like a child, too.
Soubi is arrogant, obsessed, a liar and creepy borderline child molester (and masochistic, but that would make for an interesting character if not for the rest).
Ritsuka is twelve for Pete's sake! Twelve!
Even after watching the complete anime, I still don't know exactly what is going on and why or how people are fighting. Actually it feels like the plot was just abandoned in the middle - I guess there was a second season planned, but never made. There's lots of fighting, suffering and a lack of sympathetic characters. But the ears are really cute.

TV Tropes
Wikipedia

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