Joenen Jump #3: Monster
Starring 90s Trent Reznor
Monster started off as a
manga in the early 2000s and later turned into a series in 2004-2005. I
could type more logistical information, but what I found important is
that this is a type of anime called seinen, which literally translates
to "young man". I personally haven't heard of this title before; I only
know the basic anime labels that mean things are adult material.
However, seinen animes are aimed at young men/men who are grown up/ men
who like good anime. I say this because according to Wikipedia, other
seinen titles include: Hellsing, Berserk, Battle Royale, Ghost in the
Shell, and Elfen Lied. Because of these titles, I expected lots of
blood, gore, fan service, and everything that anime is stereotyped.
However...I was deceived. Instead of watching "Generic Guy Anime
Episode I: Boobs" I found an enticing, alluring thriller that kept me
hooked and wanting more. I wish people would just say that this show
just has a feel of its own and try not to put labels on it. There were
many things that make this series gripping for people that are looking
for serious anime. Maybe it was the female characters that you can
actually relate to and aren't as interesting as watching your
fingernails grow. Maybe it's the fact that you can see every one of
these things happen in real life. I feel that this series broke from the
"seinen" brand that people have put on it because although it is
entertainment, it is the kind of entertainment of watching multiple
perspectives on an issue and how natural and forced events can effect
the outcome rather than watching hulking male leads kill things because
your animation studio is great and your plot writers are a bunch of
canines who forgot how to dog.
for those who like pretty pictures and have no imagination.
The Plot
It starts off with Dr. Kenzo Tenma, a top of the line neurosurgeon in
Dusseldorf, Germany in the 80s. Dr. Tenma has a lot of things going for
him, but after a series of events in which his fiancee/daughter of the
chief of staff/bitch says that human lives aren't equal and his soon to
be father-in-law determines who Dr. Tenma works on, he realizes that he
needs to make his own decisions and operate on the next person coming
in: a little boy with a bullet wound in his head named Johan Liebert.
Tenma saves the boy, and not only is Tenma in hot water, but three other
doctors, one of them including the chief of staff, all wind up dead.
Fast-forward nine years, and Tenma is doing well at the hospital when
all of a sudden one of his patients start muddering about a monster who
is going to take over the city. When that patient escapes to a
construction site, Tenma chases the patient down and watches the patient
get killed by the "monster" he was talking about, which turns out to be
Johan Liebert, the boy he saved nine years prior. Because of Tenma
giving him life before, he now goes on a journey to stop Johan from
killing.
That being said, it has a relatively simple plot in the beginning: doctor saves kid, kid becomes serial killer. Over time, the plot becomes more developed and there are many events that contribute towards the development of the characters. Something else I really liked about this series is that there weren't plot twists in every episode, but rather a few large twists that change the focus entirely. Every episode adds little pieces to the overall atmosphere and come into play at a later point in time. However, I will say that there are a lot of little pieces: 74 to be exact. This is a lengthy anime, but they covered every single one of their points and left no stone unturned. Honestly, I've watched anime twice as long as this and walked away from them feeling unfulfilled *coughdragonballeverythingcough*
oh! is this the episode where Trunks is a little bitch?! I've seen this one!
The Characters
Oh my gosh, I can't rant about these characters enough. Every single
character is fleshed out, realistic, and dynamic to the point that you
can relate to them and know people that are like them. What I liked is
that every character is justified for their actions. There is no," I did
this because... reasons". Not only is there justification, but there is
build up in episodes prior to those actions happening. I feel that that
is something anime commonly misses; the idea of letting an idea fester
for a few episodes rather than just trying to find quick execution.
Something else that is here that isn't in a lot of anime? good female
characters. Although there is only one female character that is fairly
present (and really only one other one that pops in every now and
again), the other female characters are well developed (MENTALLY) and
honestly show more growth than the male characters. That is big to say,
especially what happens through the series. I'll put the characters to
you like this: in the end of the series, I liked every single character.
With that being said, there are a lot of characters. I mean a lot.
Although each character is weaved in and out of the story seamlessly,
there are many occurrences in which I said," hey it's that one guy from
that one episode!" Thankfully, each character creates enough of an
impact that he/she is hard to forget
The Presentation
At first, I thought there wasn't much to say about this aspect. However,
as I think about it more I realize that Monster has an amazing
presentation of realism and atmosphere. From an animation aspect, it
does really well in fulfilling the motions set out by the characters and
FINALLY attach realistic facial expressions and not the typical anime
faces. What impressed me was the atmosphere the Madhouse animation
studio was able to build. there is an ample amount of shading and
texture on the environment that everything looks sleek. The music tends
to be a little repetitive, but it is used effectively to supplement the
environment. The show's music is good... with the exception of the
ending themes.
For the first time, I think I heard music as aawkward as the composer looks...
The messages behind it all
Throughout the series, you see characters build friendships, become
bitter enemies, and grow through the choices they have made. The two
main messages behind it all (as it should be) is Tenma's downward
spiral/obsession to stop Johan, and Johan's reasoning and background for
the choices he made. There is a common theme of "What is a Monster?"
throughout the entire series and it begs questions all the way until the
very last scene. I wish I could rant about the messages more but I can
tell you... they embrace a lot of things. From race, upbringing, nature
vs. nuture, choices, frickin... everything. Hell, I was reflective when I
watched the series, which is hard to do in a media where they try too
hard to be philosophical.
Conclusion
This show is amazing. You should really invest the time to watch it, and
get your friends to watch it so you all become better people. However...
I think they should make a prequel to Monster. A show where Kenzo Tenma
is struggling through relationships with girls and his parents and have
some bubbly characters. and I think it should be called...
...
...
...
...
Monster High.
Thanks for reading!
Joey
Joey
P.S. Please subscribe, check out other stuff, and check out my friends stuff on geeksotroundtable.blogspot.com !
Today, we're going to take a trip back to 2003. There were many things that were different... the iPod was starting... we had a president that almost died by choking on a pretzel... most importantly, there was no youtube. "But, how would one watch video film on the internet without youtube!?" You may ask. Well, if it wasn't on Newgrounds or Ebaumsworld, then you'd have to go to the sketchiest places on the internet to find what you need. I say this because this is where I found this anime. I was in 8th grade in 2003 and I was watching anime openings when I clicked on... this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wGy_DVhwFU
Now,
before you," tch, typical 90s anime." Get into the 8th grade mentality.
Ripping intro? Kid around my age with a sweet sword beating up
alien/demons with an armored wolf, eagle AND gorilla!? I was instantly
hooked! I WANTED to watch this anime! but, I fell victim of the early
stages of the internet and no one heard of this... but now, after 10
years, I finally found the entire series online. After watching the
first episode... here is how I feel about the whole series.
This
show is so good!!! I really enjoyed the first episode. I know, I know
it's the first episode... but I enjoyed the light-hearted aspects of the
show. Not only that, but the biggest thing that stood out in my mind?
The main character... has parents. that are ALIVE! and on top of that,
they help the main character! I don't want to discuss too much about the
first episode, but I'll sum the plot like this (in the words of
geekasaurus mike) It's like Thundercats meets He-Man.
Now,
before you go and watch it and come back and be
like,"ISTOTULEENAHTLAIKDATATAL" let me explain something. This show was
made in the 90s. Not only that, but it was anime in the 90s. You miss
bare midriff shirts and mullets? They're back. Remember how people were
overly moody because there weren't any guitar solos on the radio in the
90s? Well... I was... anyways! This has a lot of the antics that were
popular in 90s anime. So, think about it like this: 80s set but with a
90s display. A lot like me!
So,
after having an anime release that was 10 years in the making, I
heavily encourage everyone to at least try this anime. Yeah, it doesn't
break any new ground in terms of plot, but it's a good old 90s anime
that reminds us of the golden age of anime and how it has progressed
since then. One last key note: watch out for fan art of this show. The
animals get really close...
Here's the first part of the first episode!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjzwu5sfuoQ&list=UU9iLuTAzLAYInIzzbKKRrnw&index=75
Thank you for reading!
Joey
Hello everyone! This is the first installment of a new series that I wanted to create in which I review anime. Now, before I get started, I know the cute name is called JOEnen jump, which is a blatant play on the popular manga magazine shonen jump. Even though its called joenen jump I'm covering all sorts of anime! The first anime we are going to cover is an anime that I've heard is good and was a nice show to get back into anime. I haven't a good anime in a few years, so I decided to try this.
Joenen Jump #1: Higurashi: When They Cry
When I was a kid, I started anime like most other anime fans my age by watching shows that I didn't know were from Japan. Pokemon, Dragonball Z, Speed Racer, and G Force/Battle of the Planets/Gatchaman were shows that I loved! Well, when I got into high school and college I didn't watch anime nearly as much. Not only that, but I realized that it was hard to watch a new anime. I realized that I only enjoyed anime for the nostalgic value. However, I wanted to try something new, whether it was shogo or shonen! and what better way to start a show by seeing this?
See? Happy, cute, shogo artwork. Everything's happy! Everyone's getting along. Now, this is how the show starts multiple times (I'll explain later), but almost every time the show ends it looks something like this (not really a spoiler, but still pretty gruesome)...
BWAH! what happened!? It looked so happy in the beginning! let me explain how this show goes, so when you watch it, you won't be lost like me.
Higurashi: When They Cry started off as a video game series that is set up like a visual novel. Although these games aren't very popular in the U.S. (besides 9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors, which is amazing!) they are very popular in Japan. These kinds of games are extremely text-heavy and are built around the decisions that you make. The pitfall of taking a decision-heavy, multiple-ending-having game series and turning it into a linear anime is that the freedom of choice is taken away. Thankfully, this show accommodated for this by taking each path and putting it into separate chapters. I didn't know this at first, so I was very confused when the new chapters would start, which was my bad! The plots range from curses, desperation, abuse, and redemption. There is always a theme of the supernatural through each story arc but it pertains more to some arcs than others.
What I liked about this show
The pacing-- I will say that the pacing of this show is very good. There are many times in anime where they have recap episodes or random fan service episodes. This kept the recap and fan service down to a minimum! Another thing I enjoyed about the pacing is the rate of the pacing. I was never bored with the story arcs. More importantly, I didn't feel that the story was rushed. There are six chapters in the first season, and each story has their own way of having a strong pace.
The atmosphere-- The atmosphere is set very well. The biggest thing that impressed me was the seamless transition from a happy shogo anime to a twisted, disjunct tale of struggle. I really like how they introduce the transitions to each arc, as it generally starts with one character and the mood slowly seers into the other characters.
What I didn't like about this show
The characters-- With each arc, there is generally three things: something evil, a designated "good guy" and a designated "bad guy". The evil is generally revolved this being called Oyashiro, who is the guardian of the city. There is a thing called "Oyashiro's Curse", in which someone either goes crazy and kills people, or kills his/herself. Because of the various arcs and choices characters switch roles fairly quickly. Because of this, it was hard for me to like a specific person, which is kinda frustrating for me because I'm a sucker for a good cast. Also, I felt like the characters didn't have a strong set of personality traits. Their emotions seem superficial and when things spiral out of control I didn't really care about the cast.
Intentional plot holes-- With each arc, there are questions left unanswered. Now, I understand that this is a good way to use other arcs as a different vantage point to the previous story line. However, at the end of the series ( NOT a spoiler alert) there is a narrator that explains that there are many other questions left unanswered in the town, which I know is an easy to raise demand for another season. To be honest, I really don't like it when a series or a movie leaves out enough information that it won't make complete sense until another part is made. The cliffhanger also didn't come off as suspenseful or intriguing. So, anime, remember, learn from horrible movies and realize that if you want a sequel you must make each part strong as a stand alone movie (I'm looking at you, I Am Number Four!)!
"but Michael Bay always makes a sequel!"
So, Now that I've ranted about the good and bad of this series, it's time to give my final words on it. Overall, the show was good. It had strong pacing, a decent story, and a pretty nice atmosphere. However, the characters are very flip-floppity and they always leave something out for the purpose of filling it in later. The real question is whether or not you are invested in it enough to watch until the plot holes are filled. The end of each arc is gruesome and climactic, which may make the beginning of the next arc feel out of place. Just remember that there are different arcs and it's a good show to watch if you want a nice blend of scariness, craziness, and cuteness
If you want a taste of an intense scene, this is what you'll be going into (one of many death scenes):
Thank you for reading!
Joey
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