Oh, I see it's been a while since my last anime update. What I've been watching lately:
Stellvia - The main character, Shima's, design reminded me a little of Azumanga Daioh's Osaka at first. They're from different character designers though, so it's probably coincidence. Funnily enough, Shima is an actual space-cadet, in contrast with Osaka, who just had a space-cadet personality.
Shima's clumsiness only lasted the first few episodes though. After that she was a fairly normal above average student doubting herself.
Not much to say about this anime otherwise except that it's very good and very optimistic (there are no bad guys).
Hell Girl is an episodic anime. Each episode has its own story, and there is little ongoing plot. At least at first. Later episodes start to have a bit of a connecting plot, and only the final few episodes focus only on that. The individual stories are well-made though.
The ending is relatively happy, but it leaves some things unfinished, to be continued in the second season. The separate episodes' stories are often very unhappy though, with only a little bit of light at the end.
The art is very pretty, with only a few minor flaws (reused animation, 2D characters in otherwise 3D scenes). I especially liked the use of color, not too bright and colorful, but also not as drab as some other recent anime.
Another thing that impressed me is how this anime doesn't have a good versus evil theme. It shows some very messed up everyday villains get punished, but left me questioning the rightness of all three parties, much as the main characters do. That's something not many anime do, even though anime in general is much more balanced in that respect than western animation.
Jigoku Shoujo Futakomori (aka Hell Girl season two) - Hmm. The animation/art quality is a little lower this season it seems.
There is even less of an ongoing plot between episodes in this season, except for the last several episodes when some earlier occurrences are pulled together for a grander finale. The only thing new is that there is an additional recurring character, Kikuri, an annoying little girl with bug eyes.
Other than that we also get the background stories of the other main characters, Ichimoku Ren, Hone-Onna and Wan'yuudou. The episodes themselves are the same, mostly sad stories as the first season. The ending/finale is very sad as well, with only a small spark of optimism in the very last minute or so.
There is a third season of Hell Girl (Jigoku Shoujo Mitsuganae) that hasn't finished airing/subbing yet).
And then there's the Pretty Cure franchise. So far I've seen:
Futari Wa Pretty Cure - Oy. If someone were to make a parody of the magical girl genre, it'd probably look a lot like this. All the tropes of the genre are there (vague quest, transformations, cute mascots, gratuitous English, etc.) in excess, and it all looks made for merchandising too.
Watching this reminded me of those cartoons we used to watch on Saturday mornings on some English TV channel while our parents slept in. Care Bears, Inspector Gadget, Popples, Transformers, etc. It was fun
If TV is chewing gum for the eyes, anime like this are sweet, fruity flavored, and good for blowing colorful bubbles.
One thing that disappointed me about this anime though is the pure good vs. pure evil theme. The good folks never do anything wrong and must lead rather boring lives, the bad folks have some redeeming qualities and experiences, but get defeated all the same, just for threatening the good folks. Okay, it's an anime aimed at kids, so deep reflection and struggle might be over their heads, but I'd still have liked more nuance.
Despite good opportunity (two best friend heroines), there's no shoujo-ai at all. I can see why they're so popular for slash fiction though.
Futari Wa Pretty Cure Max Heart - Yay, it's Purikyua again, and with Makkusu Haato too this time!
This is just unabashed fun for the little teen girl in all of us
I felt that this second season focused a little more on the girls' lives, and the battles against the dark power were more of a distraction. With Hikari getting her own transformation sequence and an additional power-up sequence they are a large distraction though.
The art/animation quality showed some bad lapses now and then. Maybe the budget wasn't quite enough? Overall Max Heart was just as much fun as the first season though.
The first Futari Wa Pretty Cure Max Heart movie takes place sometime during the second quarter of the Max Heart season I'd say. Both Porun and Hikari are present, but Lurun isn't. Otherwise it's pretty much unrelated to the rest of Max Heart. The girls visit the Garden of Hope, a small world much like the Garden of Light, but with diamonds instead of flowers, and fight together with some frog warriors against a dark servant out to steal their queen's jewelry. The plot isn't very deep, and sometimes even a bit clumsy (like when Nagisa gets upset at Square and runs off to sulk, only to have to run all the way back when she's needed as part of Pretty Cure, which is what she came for in the first place; the argument wasn't very convincing as a reason for Nagisa to be absent).
All in all it's not really anything great. Just a little side story about Pretty Cure.
Futari wa Precure Max Heart 2: Yukizora no Tomodachi was better than the first Max Heart movie I think. The art looked a little sharper, and the plot was a little better. It had its slightly forced moments though, like when Rina suddenly became uncharacteristically philosophical about friendship when Nagisa and Honoka were upset at each other.
Next, I have what little I could find subbed of the other Pretty Cure series, Futari Wa Pretty Cure Splash Star (eps. 1-23 and the movie), and only the movie of Yes! Precure 5. I'll keep looking for more of them.
For the main course I have Speed Grapher, SaiKano, and Aria. I recall that Speed Grapher was said to be a little depressing at times, and SaiKano is apparently pretty sad, so Aria, which was recently reviewed as very happy but light on excitement seemed a good balance to that.
