Michael is Low on Hit Points

Is Gainax fading back into obscurity with Shikabane Hime?

Posted January 19th, 2009 at 3:27 AM ET
Subjects Shikabane Hime, Gurren Lagann
Tags impressions, final look
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1- Shikabane Hime [unknown]
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After Hideaki Anno decided to leave anime for the world of live action film, Gainax entered a state of near irrelevance. Not complete irrelevance, as Tsurumaki Kazuya managed to pump out both FLCL and DieBuster between then and now, but the majority of Gainax's output was poorly regarded and largely ignored.

Out of the blue, Gurren Lagann was the studio's bombastic and fantastical high-speed rocket back into the limelight. Gainax was back, or so they said. Anticipation road high for whatever would come next, and thus Shikabane Hime. Season one recently concluded, and while the series certainly isn't bad, it also isn't all that great either.

The following content contains spoilers for the first season of Shikabane Hime, along with marked spoilers for Gurren Lagann.

The cast is solid, but no one really stands out. Ouri never falls too far into the weak and pathetic lead hole, but he doesn't make a name for himself either. I liked Keisei better when he was called Kamina. Makina certainly has potential, but I feel it hasn't been reached yet, and may never be reached too.

The rest of the cast reads kind of typical. The shikabane themselves are hot fighting chicks... I'm not complaining here, but depth so far only comes to Minai. Unfortunately that character development comes with death attached to it. I will say, the way her monk dies by the hands of street thugs and Ouri's connection with her leads to the best segment of the show.

Other than that, we have a cute female classmate who's underdeveloped and pointless so far, as she leads "those two guys" around. Is it one male buddy or two? I can't even remember. Even less memorable are the villains -- Shichisei -- who seem to be generic monster bad guys. Once again, the traitor monk Akasha has potential undeveloped so far.

The plot is thin through 13 episodes, with only your average revenge plot to drive the story forward. There's the mysterious and potentially ill intentioned Kougon Cult, but there's hardly any focus thrown on that yet. Finally, the recycled plot point from Gurren Lagann carried no emotional impact for me.

Shikabane Hime: Aka is forgettable, but not a show I regret watching either. A fine show in and of itself, the series has the misfortune of being Gainax's first work after Gurren Lagann. And thus it is met with some unrealistic expectations, as if it had any chance to match Lagann's hyperactive kinetic gar.

So I ask you the viewer, how does Shikabane Hime shape your further expectations from Gainax? Was the series a small bump in the road back to being a premiere studio? Or do you fear they may be sinking back into the doldrums they just climbed back out of?

Comments

1 IcyStorm

Considering the only GAINAX shows I've watched are Eva, FLCL, and Lagann, I don't think I could say much on the matter.

The most I could say is that Shikabane Hime failed to hold my interest (I'll finish it someday). It's not so much disappointment (I do not care much about a studio's past work with the exceptions of Asread and J.C. Staff), but it's more the fact that it's not really exciting or refreshing.

I'll watch GAINAX's future shows if they seem interesting or I hear good things about it. This show doesn't affect my judgment of GAINAX nor will it deter me from watching any GAINAX productions in the future.

2 omo

The Shikabane Hime anime is a coproduction with Feel, who's more known for their porn (eg., kissxsis; eg. low quality stuff). So I think what we have here is well above average given the combination.

I think the important thing to note is that by the time Gurren Lagann rolled around, the guys who are working on it are mostly new people who didn't really have a hand in their older works like FLCL. It was in many ways a passing of batons.

That said, Anno is still milking the cow at Gainax with the Renewal films...much delayed there already.

Shikabane Hime: Aka is just the first 13 episodes of the series, by the way. Not sure why it's marketed as separate series. It wouldn't be fair to judge it just like that.

3 Kabitzin

I also saw the Kamina and Keisei connection, but I thought Keisei was a big improvement over Kamina. I know everyone thinks Kamina is so great and manly, but when you think about it, Kamina is kind of a dumbass. Keisei acts silly at times, but is actually a great deal more thoughtful and purposeful.

I like Shikabane Hime so far, but I do agree about some of the characters, such as the Shichisei. Can you really say that you cared that much about the side characters and villains in TTGL though? Like Omo says, I think the two SH seasons should have just be marketed as one 2-cour season, as the split does not make much sense.

Re Michael is LoHP

@ IcyStorm

I'm with you on only having seen the best of Gainax (also GunBuster, DieBuster, Kare Kano, etc.), but one of these days I'll sit down and try to check out some of the oft-called "bad" ones (Mahoromatic, He Is My Master, etc).

I guess I should have stated that, of course it won't affect my judgement of future shows, but rather it will temper my anticipation for them by a bit. That's stating it a bit better than I did in my post and poll, I think.

@ omo

Hahaha, nice one on Feel. A quick check on MyAnimeList shows me (as of Jan. 27, 2009) that Feel's highest rated show of all time is Shikabane Hime: Kuro!

Good point on the staff changes over the year. I should have mentioned that in my post. What a passing of batons it's been over the years! First Anno, then Tsurumaki, and now Imaishi. Too bad the trend has been great Gainax directors actually directing only a couple of shows before disappearing into...?

And while "season 2" is really "season 1: second half," it is a nice little stopping point to take a break. I'll eventually pick up Kuro, but I feel like letting some episodes build up so I can marathon them later. For the time being, I just thought I'd do my "final take" on "season 1". Though truth be told, that is kind of silly of me to do.

@ Kabitzin

I have a much, much younger brother, and I swear the stupider and more ridiculous I act, the more he wants to follow in my footsteps! So I can relate to Kamina just a bit. And while I didn't care emotionally about TTGL's side characters, they were at least cool and a bit "showy," keeping my interest whenever they had screen time.

And damn, looking back at my post, I should have at least worked in something about season 2 in there. I'll have to log that one in my blogger's notebook.