A lot of shows this decade have made with the self-referential humour about anime and anime fandom. The most popular is probably student film episode of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzimiya, which seemed almost sharp in the first episode, but was undermined by the rest of the show. Ultimately, like so many of these shows, it was proved to be toothless. Scared of offending the audience it’s mocking, because they are also the audience for the show.
It’s basically the Japanese cartoon equivalent of something like a Dork Tower. It’s all “Ho! Ho! We are like that” humour – designed to comfort, rather than confront, through the identification.
So thank fuck for Shinichi Watanabe, the man they call Nabeshin, and his 2001 OAV series Puni Puni Poemy.
Outside of his later Nerima Daikon Brothers, a musical satire, it’s the purest illustration of his worldview available. Compared to the sort of shows I mentioned above, this is far more abrasive, akin to Evan Dorkin’s Eltingville Club in its brutal satire of excess. Or possibly Johnny Ryan’s Comic Book Holocaust is a better comparison, as Watanabe’s trick here, like in the non-TV broadcast Excel Saga episode, is take anime industry standards and turn them into grotesque exaggerations.
Episode one lures you somewhat into a false sense of security, even with trouserless aliens with pendulous giant testicles, a magical girl who is so stupid she refers to herself by her voice actress’ name and a family of sisters, each of whom fulfils some fetish in the most extreme way possible, it’s fairly subdued stuff compared to the second and final episode.
There the show goes full bore in grotesquely parodying pornographic anime and videogame material. We discover that Poemy’s crush and classmate is actually an alien, who believes that Japanese Culture is all rape, maids, tentacles and bondage. And that like him, THIS IS WHAT YOU WANT!
Except in New Zealand of course, where the show is banned.
Of course, it’s kind of bothersome that everything Puni Puni Poemi goes after, just got more pervasive in the 8 years that followed, but never as truly self aware. Now we can look at it as a warning from history, that no one listened to.
Originally published at AWESOME ENGINE. You can comment here or there.
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If the 00s was the era of visual and light novel adaptations, then the 10s looks like it could be the era of the webcomic adaptation. Buzzer Beater (2005 & 2007), Hyakko (2008), Hetalia: Axis Powers (2008 & 2009) Uchi no 3 Shimai (2008), Nyan Koi! (2009) all started life on the web and Kuruneko marks a significant advance in the production of such material.
Yamato Kuruneko’s cat manga blog is a huge success both online and in printed collections, and her use of the web means she breaks out of the restrictions of the traditional 4 panel gag manga, using as many panels as she feels necessary while maintaining that down the page rhythm. And she doesn’t shy away from some of the more unsavoury aspects of cat ownership (illnesses, vet visits, odd unwanted gifts).
So it’s great that the anime version is overseen by someone who knows how to adapt that sort of material well. Namely, Akitaro Daichi. Is there anyone who knows how to adapt gag manga better?
The animation is handled by Rie Ooshima, who works with Daichi on the long running Ojarumaru. Combined with actress Satomi Kobayashi performing all the roles AND the sound effects, it lends the animation the same handmade feel that Kuruneko’s comic panels have. It’s incredibly refreshing to have a simple little cartoon that doesn’t feel like you’re watching something assembled on a production line.
Disappointingly this didn’t get streamed anywhere this year, despite the similar Chi’s New Address and Kaasan – Mom’s Life getting the streaming treatment. It’s a shame, Kuruneko’s dose of feline ownership reality would go well with Chi’s cat’s eye view of the world.
Originally published at AWESOME ENGINE. You can comment here or there.
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For a show that is essentially a series based on the opening credits of the live action film based on the anime, Re: Cutie Honey is surprisingly strong.
Well, two episodes of it are.
Ostensibly directed by Hideaki Anno, Tadashi Hiramatsu is the actually the force binding the project together and luckily for us he gives the individual episode directors free reign. That pays off big time with the first and third episodes, though it leads to a merely adequate middle episode.
The first episode comes from Hiroyuki Imaishi (Gurren Lagann), teaming with playwright Kazuki Nakashima (Gurren Lagann) for the first time. The end result is a cartoon that feels like it has been transported from an alternate reality where Yoshinori Kanada had worked at Hanna Barbera making Go Nagai shows. Or that the otaku boom caused by Yamato and Gundam never happened and anime had proceeded along some alternate route. Great comedic animation abounds throughout the episode, and Imaishi proves a master at turning limited animation into greatness through timing and rhythm.
The third episode from Masayuki (Evangelion 1.0, 2.0) is a tour de force of action animation as Natchan and Seiji attempt to rescue Cutie Honey from Sister Jill. As great as Imaishi is at comedy, Masayuki kills at directing straight ahead action and the sequence where the pair fly a jet to attack Sister Jill is one of my favourites of the last 10 years.
So, the second episode from Toei’s Naoyuki Itou (Toei’s Kanon, Digimon Data Squad) is a little disappointing. There’s nothing terrible about it, but on the other hand there’s nothing there that makes you want to see more from Itou. And in contrast with the other two episodes it looks even worse. Nevermind, as the strength of the other two episodes still make it one of the best shows of the ‘oughts.
Oddly this hasn’t been released in English, despite rumours of it being licensed. Given the Gainax involvement, the involvement of Imaishi, the involvement of Anno, the success of the live-action film (MVM say it does great for them), and for years the old Cutie Honey OAVs being a mainstay of the market, I am curious why it’s gone unreleased this long.
Too expensive? The people who’d buy (well made) Go Nagai material aren’t buying anime any longer? The shift from OAV to TV in the market? I can’t believe it’s this one, as for much of the last 10 years they’ve been trying to sell us TV animation as if it were OAV animation.
Whatever. If someone wanted to release this in English, I’d buy it.
Originally published at AWESOME ENGINE. You can comment here or there.
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You know you’re on to something special when people leave a screening midway through the first episode because it was weirding them out.
Hare+Guu director Tsutomu Mizushima loves Sam Raimi. LOVES HIM. What was weirding people out was that a fair portion of the first episode is a homage to Raimi’s Evil Dead. Which, given the look of the show and the fact it’s a comedy, was probably not what people were expecting. And maybe the bizarre fruit/animals called Pokutes didn’t help matters either. They are kind of weird and unnatural looking.
In that first episode, Hale goes into the jungle to fetch his mother some bananas, when he’s pursued by something of PURE EVIL. Something that appears to swallow him whole and spit him out. What’s worse, when he gets home, the EVIL is already there.
Namely, a little girl called Guu.
Guu is Mizushima’s instrument of torture, and Mizushima proceeds to torture Hale psychologically and physically for the 26 episodes of the TV show plus two 6 episodes OAV series. Mizushima tortures his leads very well, another Raimi trait, doing it in xxxHoilc, Bludgeoning Angel Dokuro-chan, and to great effect in episode 9 of Genshiken. His best work comes from when he’s working with Michiko Yokote, as he is here. When he’s left to his own devices he does have tendency to hammer home the same gag too often (we start to see this a little with the final OAV series).
Like Raimi, like the League of Gentlemen, he knows there’s a thin line between horror and comedy and Hare+Guu walks that line better than any anime show in the last 10 years.
Adding a great deal to the show’s success are the performances of Naoko Watanabe as Guu and Rikkao Aikawa as Hale. Watanabe has this wonderful sardonic, deadpan delivery, which combined with the sly expressions that Guu is given in animation is marvellous. On the other hand, Aikawa’s often machine gun delivery matches the highs and lows of Hale’s hysterias to great effect.
The TV series and first OAV series is available on DVD in English, but it’s hard to find them at a substantial discount to make them more sensible priced in the DVD market as a whole. If you do see them cheap, pick them up. You’ll love it or be weirded out. No middle ground.
Originally published at AWESOME ENGINE. You can comment here or there.
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Super-powered clones of history’s greatest men hunt for rare German books, in their way stand the agents of the British Library – The Paper, Miss Deep, Joker and Drake Anderson (American mercenaries don’t get cool codenames).
Hideyuki Kurata’s multimedia project spans anime, manga and light novels, with fairly loose continuity between them all. It posits a secret, eternal struggle between an immortal couple, Mr Gentleman & Grandmother, each in control of the knowledge bases of the United Kingdom and China respectively. That back story is all heavily buried in this OAV series, which plays out like a 1960’s British telefantasy that never was, with plenty of nods to the likes of James Bond, The Avengers, Thunderbirds and The Saint.
The only thing that brings it down a couple of notches is that the animation is occasionally too ambitious for some of the animators. The problem stems from the character design, which to start with is very complicated, and further exacerbated by the decision to frequently animate the movement of each character’s hair and clothing.
Anime heroines are often scantily clad, not just titillate, but because it’s easier to animate naked people than clothed people. Catching the movement of clothing is a tricky thing to do well. So when you’ve got a lead character like Yomiko Readman who’s wearing at least three layers of clothing and has long untidy hair, then you’ve got to raise your game somewhat. Taking that into account it does an admirable job in keeping the number of clumsy looking scenes to a minimum and excelling when it comes to the action set pieces.
Dirt cheap at the moment in the UK, despite a few translation errors on Manga Video’s part (unseen character Nenene gets her name translated when it appears on post-it notes in Yomiko’s flat), it’s definitely worth purchasing.
Originally published at AWESOME ENGINE. You can comment here or there.
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