Higurashi Rei, Karas, and the Gintama Benizakura arc kick my ass and take my name
Tagged: otaku . impressions . mid-season . Hiruashi . Karas . Gintama
Source: unknown
I've been lucky enough to get into some really good anime as of late. The Higurashi Rei OVA is still firing on all cylinders. Karas has me even more stoked for Tatsunoko vs. Capcom. And Gintama hits a pinnacle I'm guessing it probably won't match again for quite a while. All three are excellent, so allow me to heap some praise onto them.
Higurashi Rei 3
I'm blown away. This isn't main storyline material. It's an extra side story. How the hell is the OVA this good!? Three episodes (two real ones) in, and Rei may end up among my favorite arcs from the entire series. I tripped over myself praising ep#2 previously. Now here we go again for ep#3.
With no threat of violent danger against our heroine Rika, the series comes off darker and tenser than ever before. Does she stay in this world with her alternate reality "friends," foregoing her hard-fought-for happy life with the "real" versions of them? Or does she do the near-unthinkable and kill her own mother to return "home," leaving behind a loving family?
When the thought of her never returning and learning to live in this new world creeped into Rika's head, shivers ran down my spine. I'm not sure why, but the "alternate reality" wigged me out. The whole thing is just too weird for me. But then to have to kill you own loving mother who you could for once actually live a good life with... oh man. The whole setup is too brutal.
Now this is drama! This is tension! There doesn't look to be a clean, happy ending for Rika here. Can she pull it off? Or will this get really bad really fast? I'm waiting on baited breath for episode 4.
Karas
Execution (and a short episode count) triumph over mediocre substance. There isn't anything too remarkable about Karas' story or characters. But the OVA has style baby! And it sure is pretty. 3D in anime rarely works this well. Seeing as this is Tatsunoko's 40th anniversary project, it really shows in the production value.
The action is plentiful and well choreographed. The music accentuates each scene very well. The character design (read: art) is top notch. And the main "karas" himself is quite badass. I can't wait to pick him up in TvC when it gets released stateside.
As a quick watch it in one sitting and be done with it OVA, Karas gets my full recommendation. The anime isn't particularly deep or brilliant, but it is a load of fun to watch.
Gintama
Gintama can be laugh out loud hilarious. There's Gintama waxing philosophic about strawberry milk. A "recap episode" quickly turns into a hilarious Death Note spoof. But even when the show is at its most ridiculous, the cast never lets you down.
The main characters are all lazy. They're screwball idiots. But when shit gets serious, the characters all step up. The men act like real men of character. The women kick ass too. Their lackadaisical lifestyle matched with their sense of honor when it counts truly makes them a lovable bunch.
And boy does this all shine during the Benizakura arc.
You might forget for a moment that Gintama is by Sunrise. And we all know Sunrise can make some damn good anime. The production rises to the occasion of this arc, and the results are some really well animated fights. The story balances beautifully between its normal hilarity and a new found (temporary) seriousness. It works. It works so damn well.
The show then goes back to its normal silly antics. The seriousness has come to pass with no spill over whatsoever. That's fine. Gintama is perfectly fine as just a pointless comedy. But you can bet I am eagerly awaiting the next serious arc, as I know how good the show can be when it steps up its game.
June 2nd, 2009 at 1:40 AM ET
Comments
1) fangzhao
Though HiguRei 03 certainly was a few steps up from the previous episode, I still love the first and second arcs of Higurashi (S1) a lot more. Those brought paranoia to the audience in a way that left bags under my eyes and my pants yellow.
Re) Michael is LoHP
@ fangzhao
I obviously can't say Rei is my favorite arc... yet. But it is in contention so far. My other favorite arc candidates are the first one (Spirited Away by a Demon) and its respective answer arc (Atonement). That first arc blew me away with its creepiness and set the tone for the series, which I didn't have any faith in when I started. I love being wrong when being wrong turns out like that. With the other favorite, I really enjoyed how Atonement took a clever route at showing what went wrong in the original question arc.
2) Glo the Legend
I refuse to watch the Higurashi Rei OVAs until I know I can watch all of them in one sitting, because I know that there's no way in hell I'm going to be able to wait any longer than one minute for the next episode. I am a heavy Higurashi fan.
Karas kicked serious tail. Not much more to say there.
I'm still only on episode 21 of Gintama (talk about being far behind), but that strawberry milk scene pretty much sums up the awesomeness of the show, and how the humor is stupid (in the best way possible). Gintama rules.
This made me very excited for the Higurashi OVA. I hope I can keep waiting (I did watch the first episode, because it wasn't related. It turned out to be really funny.
3) Kairu Ishimaru
I recently watched Karas. I gotta say it has the best animation. At first, I liked it because of the action. But in the middle and in the end, it became fucked up for some reason. And I ended up not liking it. Damn. I suck.
4) Omisyth
I'll agree that there is drama and tension in the arc, but it seems to slowly dissipate since things seem dragged out at times. So I guess the main problem I have with the arc is the pacing.
Karas is just nonsensical insane GLORIOUS action, which is always a plus.
Re) Michael is LoHP
@ Glo the Legend
The roughest thing about HiguRei is that the wait between episodes can exceed a month. So, it may be worth it -- more than usual -- to wait for the final episode to be released before beginning the OVA.
Karas is just that type of anime: kickass... and that's about it.
I'm only on episode 63 of Gintama, so I'm far behind too. But that's fine, because it means I have plenty of Gintama to watch whenever I feel like it. I don't want to catch up too fast! And I was hoping that strawberry milk scene would be a good barometer for that show to lure people in.
@ Kairu Ishimaru
Karas held together better than I thought it would towards the end. It did that goofy anime thing where the scale at the end is far too grand for the writer's ability and stuff gets nonsensical and predictable. But the 'pretty' powered me through, not to mention that it's only 6 episodes long, which makes it a quick and overall fun watch.
@ Omisyth
And here I am wanting the Benizakura arc to go longer so we can have more time with those villains and get to see them more fleshed out! But similar to what I said to Kairu Ishimaru about Karas, the end of the arc runs into similar issues with its major villain and his "power." The Benizakura arc is best when it is more personal with the main characters and a simpler story of fighting. That's my take on things.
And that's a good way you have of summing up Karas. Pretty much to the point.
5) Omisyth
Sorry, I was talking about HiguRei. I don't watch Ginatama (unfortunately).
Re) Michael is LoHP
@ Omisyth
lol...
Let me try this again. I think the pacing in Rei is there to draw out the tension. If the OVA moved faster, I think a lot of the built up tension would be lost. And it's not like we have a ton of meaningless downtime. They seem to be occupying the space (time) with either new information, new theory, or new interpretation of the situation Rika is in.