Anime Review Roundup

If ever there was an argument against the ‘marks out of ten’ rating scheme, it would be My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU Too! and the original series it’s a sequel of. The ratings are wholly arbitrary to begin with, just random numbers pulled out of the air that ‘feel’ right. But the truth is that I like the 7/10 SNAFU Too! and 6/10 SNAFU more than some shows that I’ve given 8s or even 9s too. I mark shows for how well they succeed and what they fail at, and the SNAFU series have a whole load of flaws that hold them back. But what they get right is brilliantly done, and the characters are really well written. They are shows that aim high, mostly fall flat, but deliver moments of brilliance, which is actually more enjoyable for me than shows that aim low and hit the bull’s-eye. The best thing is that SNAFU Too! actually addresses a few of the issues I had with the first season, and makes the whole story better as a result.

I usually write these Review Roundups a week or so after I write the reviews, so I have something pertinent to say about the titles. Not for Miss Hokusai though, whose review I actually wrote back in March. The film got delayed for UK release because of an upgrade to Ultimate Edition format, which meant the review was delayed as well. You now get the discs in a wooden artbox, and you get a much thicker book to go with it. The film is a whimsical piece of historical fiction, looking at the life of the daughter of one of Japan’s most renowned artists. Click on the review to read more about the film. That’s what I’m going to do, I need the reminder.

The Slayers. This is where it all began, the adventures of Lina Inverse and her motley band, the moronic Gourry, the violently exuberant Amelia, and the eternally cynical straight-man Zelgadis. Of course this being the first series, we get to see their initial meetings. This is the fourth time I’m watching Slayers now, and it gets better with each viewing. It doesn’t hurt that as time has passed, I’ve discovered more and more of the Slayers franchise, most recently the OVAs and the movies, so I’ve come to appreciate the characters even more. I certainly had a tough time the first time watching it, and it wasn’t until the ‘Koala’ wisecrack in episode 5 that I started to get ‘it’. But Slayers is a great comedy adventure show, and puts all those online RPG anime of late like Sword Art Online to shame. If you want sword and sorcery fantasy anime, go for the original stuff, it’s a lot better.