The Fall 2012 animé season is
drawing to a close. I, along with my better half, have embarked on a 20-title
viewing challenge. With the shows having hit their midway or gone past the
midway point, I can finally offer insights into each show – and I will try to
avoid spoiling things, if I can.
Feel free to use my opinions and
observations to determine whether you’ll pick up each series or not.
Aikatsu – This is a show based off a game that involves
coordinating an aspiring idol’s clothing by collecting cards, and winning style
contests on the way to becoming the top dog of the idol world. Once you get
past the bright colors and cuteness, it’s got surprising depth for what is
ostensibly a “little girl’s show.” The show stars two girls – one is the
daughter of a bento shop owner, while her best friend is an idol geek – who
both take the test to enter an exclusive idol school and pass. The second
episode and beyond shows the challenges they encounter, and with each episode
our young heroines learn more of what it means to be an idol, and so do we.
Title trivia – it’s a portmanteau of “aidoru
katsudo” which means “idol activities.”
BTOOOM! – The odd spelling of title is due to the fact that
it’s an onomatopoeia for an explosion, and there are a lot of them in this
show. In a world similar to today’s world, there’s massive multiplayer online
game called Btooom! where teams
engage in a deathmatch using solely grenades and bombs – no guns, knives, or
vehicular carnage. Somebody decides to recreate the bombs in real life, abducts
random people and puts them on a Komodo dragon-infested island, and informs
them that the only way to go home is to kill seven other people, using the
bombs or any other means at their disposal. To kill or not to kill, to work as
a lone wolf or cooperate with the other reluctant contestants, to betray others
for survival or not – the show focuses on these and several other issues. It’s
not just fun and games anymore.
Busou Shinki - Cute, 15-centimeter robot girls who can do
your housework, and can be equipped for a virtual combat sport that has a
worldwide tournament and following – what’s not to like? I must point out,
these aren’t emotionless fembots – these girls squabble over things like their
chest sizes to whether their owner and master is actually in love with a flesh
and blood girl. Those viewers looking for a cute four temperament girl ensemble
show need to look no further. On the other hand, those who prefer high-speed,
gun-and-sword aerial battles between cute girls in powered armor will get their
fill as well. It’s best described as a slice of life show with the occasional
burst of action. The title can be interpreted as “Armored Goddess.”
Chou Soku Henkei Gyrozetter – Roughly, “High-Speed
Transformation Gyrozetter.” This is a gloriously unabashed kids’ show, with the
source material being another card-based game, this time revolving around cars
that transform into robots. No, it’s not that
franchise. The key difference here is that the car robots require drivers, child drivers to be exact, chosen by
prophecy to drive the robots into battle against a shadowy organization who has
access to the same transforming car-robot technology. With things like a secret
base under the school, the faculty being the command structure of the heroic organization,
and five kids needing to learn the value of friendship, the show does not break
any new ground, but it’s entertaining nonetheless, and manages to throw in the
occasional moral as well. Also, CGI robots dancing to J-pop music at the end – now
that’s new!
I'll be posting the rest of the shows we watched over the next few days - just for those of you who might be doubting my ability to count.
Image credits: http://anime-ae.blogspot.com
for the Aikatsu and Btooom! images, http://www.sutoraikuanime.com
for the Busou Shinki image, and animecrazy.net for the Chou Soku Henkei
Gyrozetter image.
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