Review on Pacific Rim (2013). Spoilers AHOY!

Okay this is it. SPOILERS warning for Pacific Rim (2013).

Pac Rim (2013) delivers on gigantic scale in terms of action and sheer size, especially Battle of Hong Kong which going non stop for 30-40 mins straight of pure mecha vs monster action. I mean old timer mecha/kaiju fans will immediately spot few homages such as Serizawa Scale (a direct nod to Japanese scientist who killed Godzilla in 1950s movie) and the striking resemblance of Striker Eureka to VF-1 Valkyrie Battriod Armored/ Armoured from Macross , complete with missile barrage system. Needless to say, the old Mazinger Z and Tetsujin 28 Rocket Punch which is used by Gipsy Danger in smacking Leatherback for good old fashioned American punch make me guffaw and giggle with unrestrained joy.

The monsters themselves are nod to Japanese famous monsters such as Rodan (Otani) or even Baltan (Onibaba), the nemesis of Ultraman. Heck few battles are settled with good old fashioned sword finisher, a homage to Japanese superhero mecha signature finisher. The last boss, Slattern, a category 5 on Serizawa Scale is quite scary and imposing - a worthy opponent of tried and tested Gipsy Danger in the last brawl underwater.

The mecha/monster did not disappoint at all, as I said earlier, I was crying with joy at the sights - cheering and hollering like a kid, complete with punching in the air as the Jaeger and Kaiju going for smackdown.

Yes, the glorious scene of Gipsy Danger slapping Otani silly with a ship is a sight to behold too. 

Aesthetic wise, Gipsy Danger reminds me of US industrial war machine image like B-17 or M4 Sherman - tough, reliable and industrial funk feel. Striker Eureka is the most modern, sleek looking - you can feel it has iPhone inside it as one of the instruments. Very Gundam feel, as if it is designed by Katoki Hajime. The Russian's Cherno Alpha is the personification of Soviet style brutal, simple engineering like T-34 merged with RBMK nuclear reactor. The Chinese Jaeger is very agile and practical but a bit bare on its range. So is Cherno Alpha which leads to their destruction as the Kaiju actually evolved and learning on how to fight them. Unpredictable and well equipped Gipsy and Striker managed to survive because it did not rely on one sole technique to destroy the Kaijus.



Personally I would love if there is more scenes of absolute destruction like Man of Steel but at this point, I can't complain too much.

The composer of HBO Game of Thrones, Djawadi is delivering a catchy soundtrack for the movie - each Jaeger have their own signature leitmotif, Cherno Alpha with vocal male orchestra singing in gloomy Gregorian, Crimson Typhoon resounding big drum music and the cowboy like swag theme for Gipsy Danger.

Character wise....okay....the hero guy is kinda meh to me. When I look at him, I am just not convinced that he is a badass mecha pilot. He looks more like office worker than a Jaeger pilot. His partner, Mako have problems to give full emotion to her lines, she is trying her best to enunciate her lines which is not bad but at the cost of emotional range that she could have deliver. The little girl in her memories is more convincing than the adult version. Idris Alba as Marshall simply rocks, he is the backbone of human side in the narrative. This man commands respect and presence in all of the scenes that he is in. The crew of Striker Eureka have an interesting Aussie accent, I think some of my Aussie friends will cringe hearing them speak. Their presence is okay, serves as a foil to returning Jaeger pilot hero in the movie.

The scientist duo is the comic relief, they adequate enough for what they supposed to be. Other Jaeger crews of Cherno Alpha and Crimson Typhoon is not given enough time, I wish they have some human scenes in the flick. I believe it will make their deaths more poetic and human.

Ron is Ron, he exudes cool charisma all the time. His role is pretty small but still important, I believe he might be key character in the sequel. A big maybe. I chuckled at most of his lines, he is funnier than the scientist duo IMHO.

I just don't get why some people trying so hard to compare this film to Evangelion, it is totally different like comparing a durian to fried chicken. Pac Rim story is about desperate humanity in face of relentless Kaiju attack, battling it out in giant mechas whereas Evangelion is a psychological drama with broken people insulate themselves in giant titans, cutting themselves off from humanity and slowly weans into connection or rejects it thru EVA. Different feel, different beast altogether.

Overall, maybe biased but I would consider this movie as the best in 2013 summer blockbuster. This is the only movie that make me go nuts and cheering in the cinema since long, long time. Anime mecha otakus must watch this, this is the movie for us as Hideo Kojima asserted. This movie worth multiple rewatch because it is just so awesome.

Just go and watch this already!



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魔法少女まどか★マギカ / Madoka ends...

And what a fantastic series. This is what a well fleshed out characters and good storytelling can do. Easily one of the best series in 2011 and I foresee a legendary cult status it will attain amongst anime fans around the world. Never once I regretted watching the series, for me the highlight is paradigm shifting episode 3. I never watch this for the moe factor, I was more interested in plot, character and story. From then on, it is a wild, wild and dark ride into despair, suffering etc. Power comes with such heavy cost, for each Puella is basically a lich when they made the contract with QB/Kyubey. Yeap, pretty much glorified zombie magical girls.


Great music BGM helps especially at the scene of despairing Homura in episode 11, as her Soul Gem is getting tainted close to become a Witch after her attempts to stop Walpurgis falters. My emotions and feelings, already stung by Homura's cry of despair was enhanced by Kaijura's touch. This is what a good BGM can do.



This for example. Theme of Tomoe Mami, heard in episode 3.

No doubt the ending is deus ex-machina but there is considerable price to pay. Madoka for her existence as human is no longer tenable for her request to end the vicious cycle of Puella and Witches. She ascended into higher plane of existence and becomes a guardian angel to fight against despair and pain forever all alone. However as long as someone dear to her (Homura) remembers her, she felt it is enough that she is not truly alone. In the end, Madoka did express hope that one day they will meet again. Truly bittersweet ending, Urobochi style.



Personally I think Homura as one of interesting tragic heroine, she has to bear lots of awful truth thanks to her time travelling skills. Yet, she fought as much as she could despite knowing so much pain and suffering from alternate timelines. That to me, it is awesome since a heroism tampered with suffering make the character more human. Ironically Homura is the one with least expression in the series. Madoka is just a background on where Homura's reason to be painted on with 3 other girls act as a foil. Basically it is story of close friendship (some fans prefer to think of it as lesbian love) between Madoka and Homura, Sayaka and Sakura. Mami is a lonely Puella who looks for friendship and finds it with gushing Madoka before her horrific demise.

And hey, a chick who uses modern firepower always get top kudos from me. Homura is not shy using military firepower to fight enemies which I find it refreshing. Urobochi is known gun nut and it shows here. Homura is easily my favourite in this series.



For me, Kyubey or QB is ambivalent sentient beings, they might appear to work against human interests but without them, humanity will not have capability to fight the supernatural powers encountered in the series. It is easy to hate this unfeeling, alien beings though. Without these beings however, there will be no progress for humanity. QB/Kyubey has around since the dawn of mankind. However I find the argument and justification of entropy and energy transfer is a bit iffy though. For more discussions of Kyubey/OB's monologue in episode 9 about energy transfer and entropy, refer to this site.



It is rumored that Shinbo musing he might direct second season with slice of life genre instead of presence of plot. I don't know if this is true or not. Anyway, thank you Shinbo san for a fantastic series. This is perhaps one and only magical girls anime series that I bothered to watch. LOL.



You are welcome.

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Analysis on Fractale / フラクタル, what works and what is not. Part 1.

I heard Yamamoto Yutaka is retreating from anime directing for a time being after he admits that Fractale failed his expectations. He was reportedly perplexed at "failure" of Fractale and why it did not become breakthrough anime that he hoped for. He also said he could not understand other anime shows ( I wonder if he talks about Infinite Stratos which managed to sell 22,000 BDs for 1st volume or Madoka in this aspect). The clincher is he wondered whether he has gone insane or the world has gone crazy instead. Sourced from Otona Anime here. Personally I think if he really did retire, it will be quite a loss to anime scene. Despite his bombastic boast that he will single handedly turn back anime from moe pandering to real plot and real story before the airing of Fractale, I still thinks he is talented, slick director.

This will be quite long article, so bear with me as I go through slowly as to what I like and what I don't dig about this series. Beware though beyond this point, it is spoilerific territory. Part 1 deals with what I like with this series, part 2 is what I do not like about Fractale.

What works



Music is stupendous, very sweeping in orchestration and feel. Many times I have chill listening to the BGM while it accompanying the scene. The OP/ED is quite decent combo, however I love the ED more as the image meshed with the song perfectly. Peaceful, quiet yet endearing feel fueled by Irish poem inspired song. This is where Yutaka Yamamoto really shines: making slick OP/ED montage. Many will still remember the legendary Haruhi S1 ED.



Now, next on the list, art. Many controversy generated when fans are not too keen with the anime style, they wondering why the promo arts (done by Hidari) is so different from finished product. For me, it did not really bother me as the animation is smooth and pleasing, just not as distinctive as the illustration art. Some pundits hammer this is one of the reason why the anime failed to be big since they don't employ the promotional art all the way.



Hidari's art.



Anime's art.

Frankly, I disagree with those pundits since it did not really jar me anyway. Fractale's anime art is lush and beautiful, very high production value for TV series in honesty.

Storywise?

I quite like the general outline of the story, it has the sweeping epicness behind it and general interesting ideas. What happened to the world after Fractale was activated? Why humanity at large become glorified sloths in global Holodeck? Why Lost Millennium rebel against this "religion"? Is Fractale too happy for humanity to live? I have to pay tribute to the writer who came up with this good ideas, a great potential for a great series. What screw it up though is some plot holes and execution.

And the ending. Ah, it is one of the most beautiful and heart tugging ending ever in anime. I still feel the bittersweet sensation, weeks after I watch the finale. It wrapped up the story nicely, giving it a solid closure. Nice writing for the scene.

Stay tune for Part 2.

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Hidan no Aria / 緋弾のアリア is meh for me.

Came across this series, intrigued that this is the most "anticipated anime of the new season" as voted in a recent poll. So I decided to read the light novel and boy, am I not impressed. The story is basically students at one school in Tokyo are authorized to be part time law enforcement personnel due to increasing crime in Japan.

Some dude called Kinji who has this split personality or bipolar wanted a normal life, refusing to join the SWAT version of the school "Butei" called Assault team despite having an excellent aptitude for it. One fateful day he met this twin tailed, red hair, hot-headed chick called Aria and mayhem ensues due to the meeting. His enhanced self will only manifest when he sees females in trouble. After she saw what Kinji can do, she wants him badly despite vehement protests from him. To pass his time in the school before he will be transferred out, he join the detective division and score as lowly as possible in order not to stand out.

The setting is completely unconvincing and Aria is suppose to be descended from famous English master, Sherlock Holmes who looking for someone to complete her so she can brought up her inner talents to the brim. Facing them is some French criminal mastermind descendant, Lupin who still hold a grudge against the Holmes lineage. Her goal is to free her wrongly accused mother from some crime in Japanese jail while Lupin is trying to take down scores on Aria.

This story is purely for people who wanted the next Zero no Tsukaima tsundere female lead, only this time the male lead for this series is slightly less dense than usual. Her character is utterly predictable with usual tropes attached. No suspense, no surprises. Action is too ridiculous, it pushes suspension of disbelief to the limit.

The plot gets very thin quickly as she keep abusing the male lead, it is annoying. Unlike Toradora's Taiga who actually develop during the narrative, Aria shown very little of development at snail's pace. Ironically, the leads of Toradora are back especially the tsundere queen, Rie Kugiyama. I can foresee this series will be big, just a question of how big it will be.

I will give it a pass, not really my kinda stuff.

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More on final scene of Phantom Requiem.

The theme of series is all about karma (The 1st OP is pretty big hint), you got what you deserve for what you have done is the crux of the story here. That what makes the ending so emotional and beautiful, it gives so much meaning to the conclusion. Just like Homer's Odyssey is awesome because the characters died a tragic poetry like Achilles for example. I would consider Reiji is like Achilles, a supreme warrior that inhuman in his rampage at first but ultimately humbled by his own flaws as a human and die for it, since he already found it in the end. A meaningful and powerful pathos. The writer(s) nail it perfectly, much to my satisfaction.

Elen/Ein has no reason to go rampage since she is satisfied with new found her identity and memories thanks to humane Reiji. She is content to live her life quietly or wait for retribution for her history as Phantom which shown in the end where she lie dead on the quiet plains of Mongolia, staring at sunset with small smile on her lips forever. She found her peace within herself and willing to face death for her past deeds. That is pretty brave of her, to be honest. Perhaps too, it would explain why she is giggling in the end.

What an awesome and emotional ending.