Review FOLLOW UP: Oreimo and Fractale revisited

Okay, I am starting to get sick of writing about anime. This is not because I am sick of anime itself, but I am primarily a manga fan, so it can grow tiresome chatting about a secondary interest, even it is one I could rant about for hours. So, aside from my ongoing review/analysis of Evangelion, this will be my penultimate post on anime for a while, with the final being some thoughts on the winter streaming season later this month.
Oreimo

She sure looks happy about something.

Once upon a time there was a little otaku. This otaku was also a blogger, and was really bored. He was on vacation in New Jersey, of all places, where the gods of destiny had dumped a ton of snow outside, leaving the poor little otaku with nothing to do but fart around Anime News Network, looking for something, no, anything to do. Then he noticed something in the videos section with the little "new" logo on it. And that was how he found Oreimo.

He loved it. It was funny, the characters were cool, and it reminded him of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, a really fun show. Minutes after finishing the twelfth and final (for now) episode, the little otaku rushed to his blog to write a detailed and glowing review of whatever that show's name was again, never looking back in the month's that followed except for one update saying that he may have exaggerated a bit. Then, bored again, the little otaku decided to watch the show again. Oops.

Not only was Oreimo, a horrible, disgusting show, it was also stupid. The main character, after all, is a little sister who plays sister complex ero-games (self-explanatory, I think). EEEEEWWWWWWWWWW! However, it was entertaining, so the little otaku placed it under his mental file of brain-melters. Here is another example of a brain-melter:

The little otaku thinks you get the idea.

Fractale Episodes 2 and 3

Flying machines? In anime? That is soooooo new!


After a brief fansubber scare, Fractale is back, and better than ever. In my previous review, I was mainly positive, but noted the criminal robbery of Castle in the Sky and other classic Miyazaki films. This has yet to change, but it should be noted that it now reminds me of another show, and in this case, it's a good sign.

The show in question would be Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water, a show that Hideaki "Evangelion" Anno made before he got depressed and stuff. At the beginning Nadia is a straight forward and fun tribute to Miyazaki (There are aero-planes! AERO-PLANES.), who Anno once worked with, but as the show progresses, Anno begins to flex his creative muscles and show of his unique directorial skills. More on this show another time.

Anyway, the same happens with Fractale. Not only does the show begin to display director Yamakan's unique love of eye-catching bizarre antics, but something deeper, within the Fractale system, a communist technology religion, to put it bluntly. It seems that ripping of The Master made Yamakan feel quite self-important, and through that began to tell a really cool story, and then killed everyone. I mean, the mysterious girl may be the villain! This has a lot of potential, and I can't wait to see where it goes.

Review: Fractale Episode 1

    
Thank god for streaming. Without it, I would not get the immense joy of watching Fractale, a new show directed by Yutaka "Yamakan" Yamamoto (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya) and from a concept by famous otaku  scholar Hiroki Azuma, ONE HOUR after it aired in Japan. I've became curious about the show after reading this article in witch the director spoke out against the moe symptom that has infected all otaku products lately. It shocked me that the director of Haruhi would be the one to be saying these things about moe, seeing as Haruhi was basically the moe show that worked. Needless to say, I was intrigued by the idea of a show that "will target non-anime fans and one-time fans who have shifted away from the genre," and I was not disappointed. This is good, nostalgic fun with a nice hint of the demented bent I can expect from a Yamakan production.


 This show does absolutely nothing new. Not an ounce of originality. It is a rehash of many things we have seen before. But these things are things that have not been seen for a very long time, so I welcome this show like a friend who has been on vacation for months. This show contains no moe, no pushy-in-more-ways-than-one breast shots, no "sexy" helium voices. Here's what the show does contain: A youthful, wide eyed hero. A mysterious heroine. A unique setting. A leisurely storytelling pace. Incompetent, bumbling, but still plenty dangerous initial villains. Miyazaki-inspired (okay, rip-off) aircrafts. And a hint of that WTF that only Japan is capable of crafting. Now if this is not enough to make you immensely curious, then there is nothing I can do to make you watch this show. However, unless your heart broke the moment I said no moe, then you are probably immensely curious about this show. However, this show needs more than that. Only moe gets produced with a list of guidelines and nothing more. And sadly, this show may be like that. Because what I just described basically IS the plot at this point. And really, why watch this when I could just watch Castle in the Sky, which this show dubiously resembles. There are two reasons.

First of all, the fanservice in the first episode was handled carefully and tastefully. At this point, fanservice (which, if you don't know what this means by now, I will just say that it fairly obvious when most of the fans to service are male) is a necessary evil of anime (and manga), and it was refreshing to see one that left things to the imagination, something that I think/hope otaku still have, and did not shove panties at the screen every ten seconds. After all, when you are creating something that fans can probably already find mountains of doujin based on the minute it is publicly available, is stuff like fanservice that needed?

Secondly, the weird sci fi setting. The world of Fractale at first looks like the bajillionth calm countryside to  grace an anime like this, but in reality, it is much more sinister. Other than the protagonist and a handful of other charaters, everyone is hooked to the Fractale system, the "twenty second century god", which makes life more convenient, and allows everyday life to be handled by bizarre avatars called "Doppels". It's like if The Matrix was also based on Castle in the Sky as well as Ghost in the Shell.

Anyway, the first episode was actually kinda light, so I can't say the quality will hold up, but as you can see by my feverish praise, I'm happy with what I see. And I haven't even mentioned the rad opener.


UPDATE: The Fractale simulcast has been shockingly put on hold by Funimation after a bunch of illegal torrents and streams of the first episode were put out by some @$$#*!#$.

Fractale is currently streaming via Funimation