animu blip

So last week I experienced something of an anime blip, in that I actually watched some.

I wasn't entirely sure why. I think part of it is that all the sorting out is kinda done and my room redecoration is kinda done, so two things that were absorbing a lot of my time are now not taking up any time. Also, dinner is now a meal that requires no preparation, so that's freed up some time.

But I think a bigger part of it is a degree of guilt and a smidgen of worry.

I mean, I've still got a massive pile of unwatched anime DVDs. I've also now got nearly a years worth of unscanned anime magazines. And what's more I've got this Crunchyroll subscription that I'm paying for and not really suing.

And what makes the last of those worse is that some of the shows on Crunchyroll are subject to time limits. In other words, after a while they're no longer on there to watch. That's okay if it's a series I think I'll like and it's been licensed, so I can buy it on DVD, but if it's a more average show that I wouldn't want to buy or isn't licensed anyway, then I'm loosing the chance to watch it. And paying for the privilege.

So, and despite the amount of stuff to watch on telly surging upwards, last week I started watching some anime stuff. Unfortunately I then seemed to get scuppered by other stuff I had to do, so it stopped, but I thought I'd dust off the old anime mini reviews thing.

Except, the first thing I'm going to talk about I watched ages ago.


Blessing of the Campanella

Blessings of Campanella pretty much managed to combine several things I really don't like into a whole that did nothing for me.

The things I didn't like included a derivative fantasy setting, a quest theme, cookie-cutter characters, generic character designs and a non-descript hero. If I had to guess, my guess would be that the whole thing was based on some Japanese RPG game.

It's probably a hallmark of how uninterested I was in the show that I don't even have the energy to go and find out.


Giant Killing

This was the show that I started properly watching via Crunchyroll.

I'd already sampled it back when it came out. It's basically a football (soccer, rather than American) anime and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it.

My surprise continued while I was watching it, but it did become increasingly apparent that while it's about football, it's not really football. It's much more like chess than it is proper football. Well, I say that, I'm not exactly a football fan, so maybe there is more of a similarity between the two than I'd realised.

If I'm honest I think I binged on the show a bit too heavily. I think I watched about 15 episodes across just a couple of days and I that's a bit much - I got a bit fatigued by the end. Also, the earlier episodes happen across only a few days, but then it switches to more of a 'sampling' method.

By that I mean that it'll skip ahead a few days until the next match and only show you about 15 minutes worth of the actual game, where in the earlier episodes things were more real time. I think this, combined with binging, disorientated me a bit.

But I did enjoy it, although it confirmed to me it wasn't a show I would ever buy on DVD, which makes it the perfect thing for watching on Crunchyroll.


Claymore

I didn't watch claymore on Crunchyroll, as I think I actually watched and bought it a good while before I even knew there was a Crunchyroll. No, this is a DVD release from Funimation. Indeed, it's actually a DVD release that came out in old-skool format - released as six single episodic disks, rather than one or two half/full season sets, although it was one of the last shows ever to come out like that.

I initially saw Claymore on fansub and decided to buy it. I bought the DVDs, but in the meantime I've bought and read the manga version, which is now up to volume 17 (I think). One thing I've been struck by is how similar the anime is to the manga.

I know later on the story diverges, but they've stuck pretty close in the 6 or so episodes I've watched so far. However, they've not really stuck closely to the style.

Well, they've maintained the bean-pole character designs, but there's a definite stylistic shift. And to be frank, it's a good one. The manga is relatively simply presented, but the anime is much more of a visual treat, with interesting camera angles and stylisation of movement.

The most effective thing is probably the use of colour, which obviously wouldn't be possible in black-and-white manga, but here they've not simply coloured things in. Instead, we get scenes painted in vivid colour palettes that really use colour in an interesting and dynamic way.

I'm sure I'll be doing a full review at some point, but I've been quite impressed by this show - more so than I remembered.