OVA REVIEWS: Gyo, Hotarubi no Mori E

Gyo

Something stinks in Okinawa where Kaori and her friends, Erika and Aki, are vacationing pre-college graduation. Before long, the ladies find themselves attacked by walking fish -- that is, fish with mechanical legs! Say what?! It's straight out of science fiction, yo! The first half of this OVA is pretty heady stuff. And by heady, I mean sick, delirious and revolting. The walking fish come marching out of the sea like some really psychotic version of a zombie apocalypse and start attacking humans. Erika, the character who fit the sexy-bitch-who's-so-gonna-die trope, gets infected and turns into this bulbous green...thing that passes gas like no tomorrow. By this time, however, Kaori is off on a plane bound for Tokyo after getting an interrupted call from her fiance, Tadayashi. Fearing for his life, Kaori goes on some half-assed attempt to save him. On her way there, she teams up with Shirakawa, a freelance photographer, who is on the trail of the scoop of his life. What follows next is horror and mayhem in the city with walking sharks and walking squids overwhelming Japan's population.

I had some misapprehensions when I downloaded this anime. I knew it's going to be weird and probably disgusting. That's the consensus I got from people who've seen it. Yet, you're reading the blog of a person who watched The Human Centipede perfectly knowing what she was in for. So yeah, I watched this anime with expectations about the sick factor. And my opinion? I wish the producers had more sense of humor. The material is pretty sick stuff, no doubt, but it's also the sort of thing that could translate well into tongue-in-cheek humor. The potential for black comedy is exponential: there's the girl whose clothes get torn off by a zombie shark, all the fart and halitosis jokes that could go into this, the tentacles, and circus freak show. My god, this is expensive! But what did they give us instead? Some idiotic attempt to turn this into a romantic drama. The art style is okay. I like this sort of style, actually. But the animation is not that good. When I saw the more gory scenes, I found myself wishing the animation was better. The voice acting is bad. Kaori's voice actress especially is not convincing. I just don't believe her. When she's trying to sound scared or devastated, she just comes out flat. By contrast, the side characters do a decent job with what little they have to work with. The characters aren't developed but that's understandable in this genre. They're all victims so they don't have much of a personality -- more cardboard figures. The music fits the themes of this anime but doesn't really stand out. There's no opening theme but there's an ending one and it's a bland opera-inspired tune. The plot is actually one of the stronger showings in Gyo but since it's pointless, it leaves you with no feelings towards the end.

All in all, this is a somewhat entertaining 70-minute OVA -- entertaining in the way maggots consuming something dead and rotten may be entertaining to a select few with iron stomachs. After you get over the stink and all the disgusting factors, it holds a certain fascination. But if you're one of those people with delicate sensibilities, STRONG CAUTION: might cause you to lose your stomach contents earlier than scheduled.

Hotarubi no Mori E

This is the story of Hotaru, a kid who gets lost in an enchanted forest one day and meets Gin, a young man who wears a mask. Gin was a human baby abadoned in the forest a long time ago. The spirits of the forest decide to let him live and in exchange, Gin can never touch another human being or he will disappear. Hotaru befriends Gin and, despite being unable to touch each other, the two of them spend entire summers together. However, as Hotaru grows older, her feelings for Gin likewise grows and evolves into something more than friendship. During Hotaru's last summer before high school, Gin invites her to a summer festival held by the spirits. He reveals that during such festivals, humans sometimes get accidentally mixed up with the spirits. The two have fun together at the fair and afterwards as they are walking away from the revelry, Gin puts his mask over Hotaru's face and kisses it. Just then, a couple of kids run by and one of them slips and almost falls down but for Gin grabbing his arm in the nick of time. The kids soon leave but Hotaru realizes that Gin is glowing. It turns out that the kid is human and Gin having touched him means his enchantment has been broken and he is going to disappear. Instead of being saddened by this, Gin smiles and Hotaru runs into his arms, laughing and crying as Gin disappears.

I read the manga version of this some time ago.  I think the manga is better, although I can't really put a finger on why it's better. It just is. Not that the anime deviates from the manga either. In fact, the anime is pretty faithful to the manga from what I can remember, and maybe that's the reason why the anime falls a little flat for me. This production is by Brains Base, the same guys who brought us Natsume Yuujin-chou and you can tell where the series inspired some of the animation for Hotarubi no Mori E. I think the manga is also done by the same author. The best thing about this anime is the music. This you don't have in the manga and Brains Base made a perfect choice with the arrangements and even the opening and ending themes.

All in all, Hotarubi no Mori E is a quiet anime with an emphasis on subtle drama. I recommend it to people who loved the Natsumi Yuujin-chou series as well as Mushishi. This is not as good as those two but it's short enough and would provide a good introduction to this particular brand of slice of life quiet anime.

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Chihaya Furu 25 [Finale]: Second Season, now!

And so here comes the last episode of this wonderful series. It's the Master match and the reigning Master, of course, successfully defends his title. His challenger was no challenge. Sou's game sense is so fantastic, the challenger could barely make a dent in his play. After it's all over, the club members could only sit in front of the TV, depressed. So when Taichi's mother pokes her head in to remind them, not too subtly, to leave, they do as told. Chihaya is depressed but her mood is slightly lifted when Tsutomu-kun tells her that based on his analysis, Chihaya has 20 one-syllable cards. Meanwhile, Taichi remains in his room. After a while, he places a call to Arata, who has been watching the match as well. Their conversation is cut short when Arata receives an unexpected visitor, his friend the former Master challenger. In class the next day, Tsutomu-kun explains it to Chihaya farther and adds that most Class A players have strong game sense, meaning Chihaya shouldn't rest on her laurels and instead try to master those 20 cards. Kana sees her doing just that and out of impulse, Kana announces her intention to become a reader and her dream of reading for Chihaya's Queen Match. Her hopes are dashed, however, when Chihaya thoughtlessly tells her that she would have to be a Class A player in order to be a reader at a queen's match. Heh. At club practice later that day, Taichi shows new determination by doing some fierce practice swings, which Chihaya notices. Meanwhile, the empress is busy jostling with other club coaches for the karuta club's club room, insisting that they need a sound-proof room. In the end, one old-timer professor gives her the said room with the condition that the karuta club must be able to recruit five more members come next school opening. The empress also manages to increase the club's budget by 30,000 yen, which thrills Kana to no end. The series ends with Chihaya putting up more posters of the club, inviting members to join them.

FINAL THOUGHTS:Well, that was a lackluster ending, but better than nothing. I hope to god we get a second season because this anime is too good and ended without really resolving anything not to have a second season, or a third and so on. The manga is still ongoing so there's at least that. But I love what Madhouse did to the series. I love the animation and the music and the seiyuu and the treatment done to the story. And I don't even like sports anime, mind you. I had a wonderful six months with Chihaya Furu. I laughed and cried and felt like I've grown with the characters. Even the side characters were nicely developed. Harada-sensei is memorable. Yumi, too. Shinobu is a scene stealer. And dammit, what about the triangle between Taichi and Arata and Chihaya? Need resolution. Second season, now!

more screencaps from episode 25:

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Chihaya Furu 24: The Queen Match

It's the Master and Queen matches and Chihaya decides that the best place to watch the most important game for her future career is Taichi's place which has a 60-inch television. Unfortunately for Chihaya, the play that Taichi's mom is supposed to watch gets canceled so the crone has to come home early and catch Chihaya hanging out with Taichi. Feeling sorry for her, Taichi invites her to watch the match instead up his room, away from his mother's prying eyes. The suggestion reminds Chihaya of that time Taichi stopped her from going into his room, making her aware for the first time how this might be awkward. And it is almost awkward but the two are soon joined by their fellow club members.

As for the match, Shinobu has changed a lot since last we saw her. She's grown super plump, apparently from eating too much ice cream so she could an exclusive "snowman" collectible item. Her new body gives her some difficulty with Yumi, who is at the top of her game. Still, Shinobu takes away the first win by five cards and wins the second by a devastating 13 cards. A destroyed Yumi nearly collapses into a crying heap in her dressing room but is interrupted by her coach and friends from her karuta society. Realizing that they are all there to support her to no matter what, Yumi bows before her coach and asks for his guidance once more. Meanwhile, the Master match is still ongoing and the Nishida tells Chihaya to watch the match more closely since she plays a lot like the Master.

COMMENTS:

I actually enjoyed this episode, despite this being not really about the protagonists. I've grown to care about these side characters, too, and actually felt sorry for Yumi. But Shinobu is a monster when it comes to karuta, and for the first time, the show reveals why: Shinobu loves the cards themselves, not necessarily the game nor the poems. This type of connection Chihaya cannot ever hope to have. But there is someone who may be much faster and stronger than Shinobu and that person is the 3-year reigning Master, Sou Hisashi. And Nishida has stated that Chihaya's playing style is similar to his. I guess he means that both of them rely on their their talent to hear things normal people wouldn't pick up. 

 In other news, it looks like Taichi is giving up his role as Chihaya's lap dog. He's going to pay more attention to karuta now. Good for him. I think the only reason Chihaya even likes Arata so much is because of his karuta and his dedication to it. Whereas, Taichi never cared much for the game and only got into it because of Chihaya. But if he's going to focus more on himself and the game, then he'll get better and then he'll have a better chance of attracting Chihaya's attention. 

more screencaps from episode 24:

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