Ask John: What are the Fall Season’s Most Striking Premiers?

Question:
Which anime series premiering in the current fall season have made the best impressions on you so far?

Answer:
I’ve so far had the fortunate opportunity to sample episodes of 33 of the 45 new anime television series that have premiered during the Japanese fall 2008 broadcast season. While I hope to sample all of them, availability, and constraints on my time will probably prevent me from doing so. My personal tastes in anime are a bit unique, and seem to not always adhere closely to the reactions of the majority of American anime viewers. So I don’t mind sharing my perspective, and I hope that my observations may encourage other viewers to consider or reconsider particular programs. But my reactions may not reflect the average American anime fan’s expectations.

Prior to its premiere, I didn’t expect Macademy Washoi to appeal to any particularly large number of American viewers, and time seems to have bourne out that expectation. However, unlike a majority of American anime fans that dislike “moe” anime and especially cute or pandering titles, I am a fan of adorable characters and maniac comedy. Since I’ve been a fan of character designer Blade for several years, I’m precisely the target audience that Macademy Washoi was designed for. While it’s absolutely reasonable for individual viewers to dislike the show, any objective viewer has to admit that the first episode exhibits some of the most detailed, most fluid animation on display among this season’s premieres. The massive collateral damage illustrated in the second half of the premiere episode recalls the obsessively detailed destruction animation typical of golden era 80s, anime which has been almost entirely abandoned in contemporary productions. Viewers with little affection for “nekomimi” and cute fan service comedy aren’t likely to enjoy Macademy Washoi. But the series seems to perfectly suit my tastes.

Expecting every anime to be strikingly original and uniquely creative is an unreasonable demand that limits one’s ability to enjoy anime. Conventional, mainstream anime is a popular culture entertainment art that only needs to be enjoyable to successfully fulfill its purpose. The first episode of Garei Zero excelled in accomplishing that goal. I think it’s literally been several years since I watched a single anime episode that filled me with such giddy excitement and awe. The bulk of the first episode doesn’t present anything that veteran anime viewers haven’t seen before, but it presents its content with an assured style and an impressive degree of creative consideration. Magical inscriptions on a bullet, we’ve seen before. But who would have though of adding them too… The concept of invisible, spiritual creatures causing appreciable physical damage isn’t a new concept, but illustrating it from the perspective of an unrelated observer is a compelling, creative approach. Depicting a traditional duel in a very modern, un-traditional way is appealing. And the episode’s jaw-dropping climax simply left me speechless.

The first episode of Kurozuka exhibited an even greater degree of striking visual creativity. While the first episode of Garei Zero was chic, the first episode of Kurozuka reminded me of the too-rarely exerted ability that anime has to show viewers something totally fantastic and strikingly creative. The first episode of Kurozuka is an outstanding example of an anime that makes full use of its capacity to be visually arresting, atmospheric, uncompromising cinematic entertainment for intelligent, adult viewers.

Madhouse impressed me with Kurozuka, then did it again with the first episode of Moryou no Hako, a smart, subtle, chilling production with impressive obvious and subtle strengths. The CLAMP created character designs are praiseworthy because they compliment the visual design of the series effectively. The characters look believable and adult, which adds a degree of weight to the program. The premiere episode’s tone is further supplemented by its subtle delivery of characterization and theme through the use of expressions and non-verbal dialogue. The turn of a head, a meaningful glance, the deliberateness of movement all convey emotion and intent without words. The premiere episode is also impressive due to its exceptional amount of animation. The animation quality is merely average – characters still move with the slightly stilted motion typical of television anime. But countless scenes throughout the premiere episode that would be motionless in lesser programs include slight variations and movement in this episode, including waving hair, the movement of a character’s chin when speaking, wrinkles in clothing, and so forth. The astute viewer will notice that the Madhouse animators clearly drew more movement into this first episode than was necessary, and that extra effort is commendable. And it subtly influences the viewer’s immersion into the reality of the events onscreen.

Children’s anime is often overlooked by the majority of the American fan community, and video game adaptations are frequently, and justifiably, dismissed. It’s because of these facts that I was taken by surprise by the first episode of Inazuma Eleven. I expected an uninspired, conventional show but instead found a very fun first episode that seems heavily influenced by the style of Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama and the content of acclaimed soccer comedy film Shaolin Soccer. Not only does the character design recall Toriyama’s distinctive style, the world design similarly feels familiar yet still slightly alien and futuristic. The show is charged with a positive, assertive, energetic optomism characteristic of shonen adventure anime like Dragon Ball and One Piece. That feel makes the show engaging. Unlike conventional shonen anime that gradually develop exaggerated abilities and visual effects, Inazuma Eleven begins to introduce these elements directly from the first episode. To put it simply, the first episode of Inazuma Eleven was unexpectedly highly involving and entertaining.