June 30, 2011

Dog Days -- end

Not bad at all! The pacing was, perhaps, a bit clumsy. I'm not sure it really required two episodes for the finale, but generally it worked pretty well.

The fight sequences in the second, fourth, and especially the ninth and tenth episodes were handled very well. The last combat of the last major battle was really scary.

Shinku is a good lead, nicely handled. He isn't angsty. He's brave, strong, capable, and in fact genuinely heroic. When people in that place call him "Hero", they aren't being ironic. And at the same time he's not pretentious. He's likeable and outgoing, and people there genuinely like him as a person, as well as respecting him as a warrior. They did a nice job conceiving him and presenting him as a character, without making him too good to be true. Someone like him could come across as insufferable, but he's just too nice a guy for that.

There's no deep message to this show. Watching it isn't any kind of life-changing experience. But it's fun, and a pleasant way to spend a few hours.

And I admit that when I finally got to this scene, I got tears in my eyes.

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"Yatta!", she's saying.

Yeah, the ending was a bit contrived, approaching deus ex machina level. And I don't care. It was what I wanted, and they knew it, and they gave it to me.

Recommended.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in General Anime at 03:39 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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1 Dammit. I finally broke down and watched this from start to finish in a marathon session yesterday. Helluva use of my day off, I'm sayin'.

Verdict? As long as you can ignore the Mary-Sue-ish levels of Gee Everybody Just Adores The Protagonist, Don't They in addition to the incredibly contrived Nobody Really Gets Hurt aspect, it's a remarkably fun and reasonably well-told story.

And yes, it had me in tears a few times. Nicely done, there. Triumph of storytelling & characterization over the elements of the setting which would usually have me in a permanent eyerolling state.

Posted by: GreyDuck at July 01, 2011 05:56 AM (7lMXI)

2

This director also directed Nanoha A's and Nanoha StrikerS, and he knows how to tell an action story about engaging characters.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at July 01, 2011 07:39 AM (+rSRq)

3 Gah. On the other hand, he has a little problem with job selection. He's directing the new series about the grade school girls' basketball team. Eew ick ick ick...

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at July 01, 2011 10:54 PM (+rSRq)

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