BLOOD LAD: Meh ... and yet ...
Staz has never been all that interested in being a vampire. The capes, the drinking blood, the ruling over the denizens of the underworld ... he'd really rather just be playing video games, watching anime or reading manga. In fact, he'd give up being a vampire in half a second or less if it meant he could leave hell and move to Japan. But when a human girl shows up in his territory he's suddenly got this burning desire to do the whole ... vampire thing. Pity Fuyumi's accidental death and subsequent turning into a ghost makes that impossible. Guess he'll just have to keep her around until he can bring her back to life.
I've never had a deep fried twinkie. But I can imagine that while eating one, you're thinking to yourself, "I really should not be eating this." And yet it's so ... so deep fried, and twinkie-like, you can't stop yourself. Blood Lad is one of those deep fried twinkie shows. It's just ... so ... dumb. It's so incredibly dumb it almost circles back around to brilliant. Almost. And it knows it. "You think that was ridiculous?" Blood Lad asks you. "Wait till you see what comes next!"
BLUE EXORCIST: Good
Rin has it rough. His adoptive dad's a priest. His twin brother is Mr. Perfect. But Rin can't even seem to hold down a job. Why can't anybody see past his super strength and hot temper and realize that deep down he's really a good guy? He lost his job on the first day; could it get any worse? Of course it could, this is episode one of an anime! Because Rin and his twin brother's birth father is about to pay a visit, and in the worst "surprise, you're adopted!" twist ever ... yeah, his dad is Satan. It's gonna get a lot worse. See, Rin's half demon (and not in an Inuyasha kind of way) and that side of him is no longer going to be able to stay dormant. And the Exorcists aren't sure whether they should use him ... or kill him.
I really liked Blue Exorcist, but at the same time I had some theological ... difficulties with it. I don't mean inaccuracy; I can handle inaccuracy. But I have a problem with even a fictional world where Satan runs amok but there is apparently no God and humans are on their own. That's just so theologically ... wrong. But if you don't have a problem with that, then you're probably okay with Blue Exorcist. The anime goes in a slightly different direction than the manga, probably due to the desire to avoid filler while waiting for the manga to catch up. I liked the manga better overall, although the anime does expand on some things which are rushed in the manga. The characters and their motivations and emotions are well developed - Rin might appear to be the stereotypical hot-tempered, not-too-bright shonen protagonist at first, but there's a lot more to him than that. And he's trying so darned hard, you've got to root for the kid!
BODACIOUS SPACE PIRATES: Meh
Marika lives with her single mom, works part time at a cafe, and is a member of her school's space yacht club. In other words, she's a pretty normal teenage girl in a world where space travel is used as a casual pastime. Until she finds out that her deceased father was a privateer - a space pirate, in other words. And she has just inherited his pirate ship and crew. Will she take up her father's legacy and become a pirate?
Bodacious Space Pirates had a lot going for it, and I don't mean that sarcastically. Pirates ... space ... sounds pretty good so far. The characters were decent - not the most well developed, but better than many. The animation wasn't bad. But the pace ... the pace was so slow. I really did not anticipate the downfall of a show called Bodacious Space Pirates to be tedious plot pacing. If the characters and/or animation had been awesome I would have worked past it, but there just wasn't enough there for me to stay the course. Once again, the light novels might be better.
BROTHERS CONFLICT: No
Ema's dad has just remarried. While he's off honeymooning, Ema will be moving in with her thirteen new stepbrothers - all of whom, one by one, fall in love with her to a greater or lesser extent.
I knew absolutely nothing about this show when I started watching it except for the fact that Yuki Kaji does one of the voices. And since I do love his voicework, and I didn't have anything else I wanted to watch, I figured, why not. Here's the thing. This show has no plot. Ema meets thirteen hot guys and they all fall for her; who will she pick? That's it. Ema herself has about as much personality as a bowl of instant mashed potatoes. (This is a deliberate thing, I hear - the girl is kept bland so that the girls watching can fantasize themselves into her place. Believe me, if I were fantasizing myself into this show, it would be so I could move out and get a life.) And her obnoxiously cute animal sidekick is one of the most annoying animal sidekicks I have ever seen in anything. The truly amazing thing about Brothers Conflict is that apparently it was a novel before it was a dating sim.
BUNNY DROP: Good
Daikichi is a single 30-something, focused on his career and his own life. Sure, he'll probably have kids some day; just not right now. But when he goes home to attend his grandfather's funeral, he and his family are shocked to learn that grandpa has a six-year-old daughter he never told anyone about. The little girl's mom isn't in the picture. The family is horrified - humiliated. Little Rin is nothing more than an embarrassment to be dealt with and forgotten as soon as possible. And Daikichi is furious. It's not the kid's fault! She just lost her dad, for pete's sake! And she is not getting dumped in some orphanage. Since nobody else is willing to step up and do the right thing, he will! But wait ... he doesn't know the first thing about raising a little girl. Can he handle loose teeth, daycare, bad dreams, clothes shopping ... can he be a dad?
It's not often that I like a realistic show. My rule of thumb is, if there are no dragons and nothing blows up, what's the point? But Bunny Drop is good enough that I don't care. The characters are all excellent, and Daikichi's struggles are relateable even if you don't have kids. How do you balance what you want to do and what you need to do? How do you choose which important thing is more important?
I have heard that many people do not like where the manga went. I haven't read it yet, so I can't give my opinion.
Next time: Case Closed: One Truth Prevails, Daily Lives of High School Boys, Durarara!!, The Eccentric Family, Eden of the East
Staz has never been all that interested in being a vampire. The capes, the drinking blood, the ruling over the denizens of the underworld ... he'd really rather just be playing video games, watching anime or reading manga. In fact, he'd give up being a vampire in half a second or less if it meant he could leave hell and move to Japan. But when a human girl shows up in his territory he's suddenly got this burning desire to do the whole ... vampire thing. Pity Fuyumi's accidental death and subsequent turning into a ghost makes that impossible. Guess he'll just have to keep her around until he can bring her back to life.
I've never had a deep fried twinkie. But I can imagine that while eating one, you're thinking to yourself, "I really should not be eating this." And yet it's so ... so deep fried, and twinkie-like, you can't stop yourself. Blood Lad is one of those deep fried twinkie shows. It's just ... so ... dumb. It's so incredibly dumb it almost circles back around to brilliant. Almost. And it knows it. "You think that was ridiculous?" Blood Lad asks you. "Wait till you see what comes next!"
BLUE EXORCIST: Good
Rin has it rough. His adoptive dad's a priest. His twin brother is Mr. Perfect. But Rin can't even seem to hold down a job. Why can't anybody see past his super strength and hot temper and realize that deep down he's really a good guy? He lost his job on the first day; could it get any worse? Of course it could, this is episode one of an anime! Because Rin and his twin brother's birth father is about to pay a visit, and in the worst "surprise, you're adopted!" twist ever ... yeah, his dad is Satan. It's gonna get a lot worse. See, Rin's half demon (and not in an Inuyasha kind of way) and that side of him is no longer going to be able to stay dormant. And the Exorcists aren't sure whether they should use him ... or kill him.
I really liked Blue Exorcist, but at the same time I had some theological ... difficulties with it. I don't mean inaccuracy; I can handle inaccuracy. But I have a problem with even a fictional world where Satan runs amok but there is apparently no God and humans are on their own. That's just so theologically ... wrong. But if you don't have a problem with that, then you're probably okay with Blue Exorcist. The anime goes in a slightly different direction than the manga, probably due to the desire to avoid filler while waiting for the manga to catch up. I liked the manga better overall, although the anime does expand on some things which are rushed in the manga. The characters and their motivations and emotions are well developed - Rin might appear to be the stereotypical hot-tempered, not-too-bright shonen protagonist at first, but there's a lot more to him than that. And he's trying so darned hard, you've got to root for the kid!
BODACIOUS SPACE PIRATES: Meh
Marika lives with her single mom, works part time at a cafe, and is a member of her school's space yacht club. In other words, she's a pretty normal teenage girl in a world where space travel is used as a casual pastime. Until she finds out that her deceased father was a privateer - a space pirate, in other words. And she has just inherited his pirate ship and crew. Will she take up her father's legacy and become a pirate?
Bodacious Space Pirates had a lot going for it, and I don't mean that sarcastically. Pirates ... space ... sounds pretty good so far. The characters were decent - not the most well developed, but better than many. The animation wasn't bad. But the pace ... the pace was so slow. I really did not anticipate the downfall of a show called Bodacious Space Pirates to be tedious plot pacing. If the characters and/or animation had been awesome I would have worked past it, but there just wasn't enough there for me to stay the course. Once again, the light novels might be better.
BROTHERS CONFLICT: No
Ema's dad has just remarried. While he's off honeymooning, Ema will be moving in with her thirteen new stepbrothers - all of whom, one by one, fall in love with her to a greater or lesser extent.
I knew absolutely nothing about this show when I started watching it except for the fact that Yuki Kaji does one of the voices. And since I do love his voicework, and I didn't have anything else I wanted to watch, I figured, why not. Here's the thing. This show has no plot. Ema meets thirteen hot guys and they all fall for her; who will she pick? That's it. Ema herself has about as much personality as a bowl of instant mashed potatoes. (This is a deliberate thing, I hear - the girl is kept bland so that the girls watching can fantasize themselves into her place. Believe me, if I were fantasizing myself into this show, it would be so I could move out and get a life.) And her obnoxiously cute animal sidekick is one of the most annoying animal sidekicks I have ever seen in anything. The truly amazing thing about Brothers Conflict is that apparently it was a novel before it was a dating sim.
BUNNY DROP: Good
Daikichi is a single 30-something, focused on his career and his own life. Sure, he'll probably have kids some day; just not right now. But when he goes home to attend his grandfather's funeral, he and his family are shocked to learn that grandpa has a six-year-old daughter he never told anyone about. The little girl's mom isn't in the picture. The family is horrified - humiliated. Little Rin is nothing more than an embarrassment to be dealt with and forgotten as soon as possible. And Daikichi is furious. It's not the kid's fault! She just lost her dad, for pete's sake! And she is not getting dumped in some orphanage. Since nobody else is willing to step up and do the right thing, he will! But wait ... he doesn't know the first thing about raising a little girl. Can he handle loose teeth, daycare, bad dreams, clothes shopping ... can he be a dad?
It's not often that I like a realistic show. My rule of thumb is, if there are no dragons and nothing blows up, what's the point? But Bunny Drop is good enough that I don't care. The characters are all excellent, and Daikichi's struggles are relateable even if you don't have kids. How do you balance what you want to do and what you need to do? How do you choose which important thing is more important?
I have heard that many people do not like where the manga went. I haven't read it yet, so I can't give my opinion.
Next time: Case Closed: One Truth Prevails, Daily Lives of High School Boys, Durarara!!, The Eccentric Family, Eden of the East
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