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WHITE BASE WIRES
12.05.02
by
Matt McConnel with Troy Brownfield
Featuring
reviews of Love Hina and Strange Dawn (by Matt) and
G-Gundam
(Troy)
LOVE
HINA
Rating:  
More Info: Bandai
It could
be said that Love Hina is the next Ranma, but this statement
is misleading. For one thing the art is superior, and there
is less in the way of pig headed obstinacy on the part of
the protagonists. The characters are more rounded, if positively
deranged, and the result is a light hearted romp with hopelessly
Romantic appeal.
Our hero,
Keitaro, has tried to get into university for three years
running now. Long ago he made a promise to a playground playmate
that he would meet her at Tokyo University in 15 years. Obviously
these two statements are conflicting, as it seems that Keitaro
isn't going much of anywhere, much less to Tokyo University.
Instead, he is given a job managing a boarding house by his
aunt. What his aunt does not tell him is that the house is
for women only. Under normal circumstances this might be difficult,
but this is a comedy, so absolute insanity follows. The house
is in habited by a rather eclectic group of women ranging
from the samurai wannabe, the Indian exchange student, the
quintessential twenty something (you would swear the gal is
an American), a junior high school student, and someone studying
for the Tokyo University entrance exams…
Misinformation
and the battle of the sexes is on. While Naru and Keitaro
are practically made for each other, they constantly bicker.
The high school student has THE biggest crush on Keitaro,
and who knows what's going through some of the other heads.
The plots are amusing, but often suffer from the fact that
this is, unlike Ranma and Tenchi, all comedy and romance.
There is little else to break up the melodrama of Naru and
Keitaro's dance o' luv. There are flashes of complete abandon
to insanity, and random acts of comedy, but these seem to
be more like Excel Saga than some of the other shows of this
ilk.
The writing
and translation are good, if a bit straightforward. There
is very little in the way of twisting and turning, and all
the character development is directly related to the romances
and relationships that are woven. Granted, this is perfectly
appropriate, but the problem is that the protagonists do not
seem to learn from the situations they are put in. While there
are aspects that change, the bulk of the characters facets
remain static, even though they do change in brief moments
throughout the series. Nevertheless, the characterization
is relatively strong beyond this, and the overall storyline
is well tied together. Each episode leads into the next in
a logical progression.
One more
thing to note: There is a sense of magic that pervades the
series. No, not rabbits out of hats or anything, but the omnipresent
magic of life. Yea sounds cheesy, but there are little bits
here and there that are indicative of Shinto. That is spirits
and otherworldly powers pervading the normal world. Magic
turtles, three old guys that always seem to be walking by
the house and other little bits are just sort of… There. No
fuss is made, they are just accepted, and the story continues.
This is one of the more enjoyable aspects of Love Hina; you
never know quite when these things will crop up, and it is
usually enjoyable when they do.
Love Hina
is not an award winning masterpiece, even if the art is good,
the animation smooth, the characterization alright, and the
plot strong. It is however, a very enjoyable series to just
pick up and watch. I especially recommend this one to fans
of Kimange Orange Road, and certain more romantic aspects
of Ranma.
STRANGE
DAWN
Rating: (really,
a painful two-and-three-quarters out of five)
More Info: Urban
Vision
Strange
Dawn is not like anything you may have seen before that did
not have the names of Jim Henson or Hayo Miazakyi attached
to them. The storyline is, while not original initially, complex
and holds the viewer with enough patience to watch it unfold.
The detriment of the series is that the voice acting and dubbing
is positively atrocious while despite the uncut and rather
mature subject matter of some of the scenes, the marketing
seems to be for children.
Imagine
walking home from school, stopping at a strange stone, continuing
on only to find that the world has changed. Well, perhaps
changed is misleading; transported is perhaps better because
that is exactly what happened to Emi and Yuko. Suddenly, they
find themselves in the middle of a war over the village of
Bellzable. The combatants are half sized creatures that call
themselves human, but are very different in many other regards.
On the other hand, they fight, lust, and act just as stupid
as humans on this world, so it seems they really are not that
different after all. The people of the village call the two
girl their 'Great Protectors' and things pretty much snowball
from there.
While
the story may sound less than creative, the twists and turns
that are injected into it give Strange Dawn originality to
mach its stunning artwork. The drawback is that the dubbing
and voice acting is so poor, and so out of synch, even in
the original Japanese, that one is inclined to turn the show
off after the first episode. The English is even worse than
the original Japanese; the two girls seem to have Australian
dialect, while most of the villagers have stock American,
then there is one gal who sounds like a cross between Sophie
Marceau and Rosie Perez.
Very early
on, there is a battle sequence where blood is drawn. This
is a bit out of place, but then again, it is only a slash
on the leg or arm. Then there is a bigger battle. More blood,
and one begins to wonder if the 'suitable for most audiences'
label on the case is correct. Later on, there is a brief conversation
about the importance of a lady to leave her shoes on, then
the scene cuts back to the village where one of the characters
is almost raped by having her shoes taken off. This is not
a case of third graders stealing shoes from each other, this
was a rape scene, and this is intended for an audience under
the age of eight?
Urban
Vision usually produces good quality, even if their selection
of material is second string. Here, they got a hold of a good
potential United States release. Everything about this series
bodes well, but then the characters start to speak, and the
synchronization goes off, and the whole thing is blown. Most
of the intended audience won't understand, or will have the
television switched off by outraged parents, and the unintended
audience will never even give the box a second glance. The
show over reaches itself: On the one hand there is some great
design, terrific story, haunting music, and some great animation,
but then, the script and bad voice acting just kills the piece.
It does however, bear watching for those willing to overlook
its faults.
MOBILE
FIGHTER G GUNDAM (DVD Box Set 1: Episodes 1-12)
Rating:
More Info: Bandai
If you
don't know what Gundam is, why are you reading an anime column?
All right, all right. Brief explanation: The original Gundam
series, Mobile Suit Gundam, debuted in 1979. In reruns, the
show became a bona fide classic, spurring an avalanche of
sequel series, original video animation, films, models, video
games, and kick-ass toys. Most Gundam takes place in one timeline,
the Universal Century. The very first Gundam series to exist
in an alternate timeline was Mobile Fighter G Gundam; its
49 episodes aired from 1994 to 1995 in Japan. It's currently
airing in America on Cartoon Network during Toonami's Midnight
Run block, and the first twelve episodes are out on three
DVDs.
Three
things make G Gundam great: premise, Gundam design, and characterization.
In G Gundam, the upper classes have abandoned Earth in favor
of floating space colonies. Each colony surrounding the planet
represents a country (Neo-America, Neo-Japan, etc.). The Earth
is still inhabited by the masses, but it's a big freaking
mess. Still, it serves a purpose to the colonies: every four
years, each colony (64 in all, I believe) dispatches a Gundam
to Earth. The pilots fight in single combat in various places
until only one Gundam is left. The winner of the Gundam Fight
earns the right of their sponsor nation to rule the Earth
sphere and colonies for the next four years. Honestly, it's
just an election cycle, only with giant, ass-kicking robots.
HOWEVER,
in this year of the 13th Gundam fight, other things are brewing
beneath the surface. A malevolent evolving Gundam has been
stolen and taken to Earth. Domon Kasshu, pilot of Neo-Japan's
Shining Gundam, is on a clandestine mission to find the rogue
pilot and the Dark Gundam. Along with his childhood friend,
mechanic, and potential love interest Rain, Domon hits Earth
hard, picking as many fights as he can in an effort to smoke
out the perpetrator. And it's personal.
In terms
of design, G Gundam is just insane. Working off of the country
theme, every one of the competing Gundams has a theme patterned
after its sponsor nation. This makes for designs that are
alternately cool-as-hell, fun, or outright hilarious. Shining
Gundam has a predictable but cool Samurai motif, while France's
Gundam Rose goes with a swell Muskateer look. China uses a
Dragon theme, Italy employs the gladiator look, and so on.
However, some of the ideas are just nuts. India's Cobra Gundam
has a lower body like a snake, giving it a really unique look.
The two wackiest are the Mexican Tequila Gundam (festooned
with a sombrero and cactus-like shoulder pads) and Denmark's
Mermaid Gundam (which looks like a Gundam in a fish suit).
As far
as the characters go, this is where G Gundam really excels.
There are powerful motivations at work among the various pilots.
Neo-Russia's Argo Gulskii is a convicted former space pirate;
outfitted with a bomb on his chest by his captors to keep
him in line, he fights only to earn freedom for his men. Neo
China's Sai Sici functions as comic relief; the rambunctuous
teen is the youngest pilot and constantly gives headaches
to his two Shaolin escorts. Each of the featured pilots are
very believable, and you can feel the inevitable plot threads
pointing toward an eventual alliance of America, Japan, France,
Russia and China to take on the Dark Gundam.
Overall,
the animation is great, the characters and mecha are superb,
and the whole thing is great fun. Plus, Domon has a great
catch-phrase regarding the Shining Finger, Shining Gundam's
ultimate weapon ("This hand of mine glows with an awesome
power! Its burning grip compels me to defeat you!").
Righteous, epic stuff.
Matt
is our anime guru. Email him here.
Troy runs the show. Email him here.
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