Anime New World: Anime Grand Prix

Although the quick association with Anime, you may not recognize what is this after all. Animage is a Japanese anime and entertainment magazine which Tokuma Shoten began publishing in July 1978. Quite a few manga was serialized in this magazine, such the renowned Nausiccä of the Valley of the Wind from 1982 through 1994. In spite of this, you may be thinking what’s so big about it… well I just considered that Animage and one of its relevant creations (the Anime Grand Prix) would fit as an interesting and appropriate subject to open the first article in our blog.

What is the Anime Grand Prix? It’s an annual prize, determined by the Animage readers’ votes to the anime of the year, counting with several secondary awards, such for the characters, songs or even the selection for the best episode of the year. This event started right a few after the unleashing of the magazine, in 1979, and the first prize was announced at the issue 1980 January (frequently announced at the next year’s June issue every year). And this turned the Anime Grand Prix as one remarkable pillar in the story of the Japanese animation – it’s probably the oldest one with such a height and likely, the royal link between the fans and their celebration of the work from many directors and authors until the half of the 90’s. This method to recognize the best works annually, will find some rivals at the second half of the 90’s and at the beginnings of the new century, such as the Animation Kobe Event and the Tokyo International Anime Fair.

Is this a threat to the rule of Animage main event?

Well, both Animation Kobe and the Tokyo International Anime Fair work in a different way and have their own selection processes. In my opinion this fact, and besides the query that I lifted, just have to be excellent for us, as it gives another views and break with the honorable (and yet) monopoly, of the fans. Having this said, it’s fair to say that after Animage, I will also approach the other main events and establishing here their results, as I still consider, that this brings interest and deserves to come out more often than it already seems to be.

Yōkoso, Anime lovers.

As my first review, I'll shed some critique upon Soul Eater, a series which is airing in MTV Portugal since Feb 1, 2010 (yes, who'd think MTV PT aired more than cheesy reality shows and hip-hop?! It's crazy, I tell you!)

So, the question at hand is... What can we expect from Soul Eater?

As an Anime based in mental disorders... I'd say PRETTY DAMN MUCH! We can see characters with all kinds of behaviors, from wild ego trips, obsessive-compulsive attacks and the all-time classic phobia. The story is quite simple, really. Shinigami (i.e. Death God, Grim Reaper, and so on...) has a strange school where kids are instructed to hunt down evil souls and witches. Some of them are called Meisters, the others are Weapons (and yes, they DO turn into weapons).

Now, I know what you're thinking, "This sounds like a Bleach rip off", right?

WRONG!

Apart from being a somewhat short Anime, it digs out aesthetic components that would remind every soul of Punk or Goth with a light, almost childish feel to it. The characters aren't very elaborate visually, but are amazingly charming and well designed, making you fall in love or hate them instantly! From heroes to villains, there's a quite varied array of looks and styles, which keeps monotony levels quite low. And the witches are just freakishly adorable!

You could say, however, it's has s subtle western feel, which may pose as a discomforting element to some "traditionalists". My advice is: bear with it, you might be quite surprised when the action packed scenes start... After about 5 minutes from the start of the first episode! Yes, that's right, it's action packed to boot and it looks, if you don't mind me saying, breathtaking! As said, the simplicity makes you actually understand what's happening, instead of having a bunch of scribbles dancing around your screen, while you're desperately trying to make out if that red twisted dot in the corner is that awesome power he'll never use again... EVER! So no frustrations there either.

Sounds too good to be true, eh?

And you're actually right. It does have some lows. The main character can actually seem quite dull or irritating, sometimes portraying that aggravating, geeky book-work who always scored A+ in every test and still whined about it. It's more noticeable toward the end, chewing out some of the series' charm. The plot twists and turns to a strange/bizarre outcome which almost leaves you with an exclamation mark over your head, while, in my opinion, they discretely remove in your face one of the best and most amusing characters. You can actually tell when they are following the plot or just gliding through the mayonnaise, giving you the eerie feel that it's all going nowhere. But worry not. It does go somewhere. It's just not according to the expectations they build throughout 50 episodes... Sure, you get what they wanted to do, but it still doesn't work all that well. A lot is left untold, too, so you end up repeating "wtf" over and over again. They don't even give us a post-ending credits scene after the last episode! Now that's just cruel, isn't it? Shame, I tell you! Shame!

The soundtrack's kind of ubiquitous. It's there, you hardly notice it, it's not bad, you just don't go out whistling any particular track.

A very unique point (which you might like or dislike, depending if you're a healthy dirty minded young man or a sensitive conservative girl holding onto her cherries) is that there's a sexual joke in almost every episode. Some of them are quite explicit, actually, providing lots of those dirty comedy reliefs we hentais love so much.

This peculiar 51 episode Anime started it's airing in April 7, 2008 in Japan, animated and produced by Bones, Aniplex, Dentsu, Media Factory, and TV Tokyo. As we'd all expect, the manga, by Atsushi Okubo, is yet far from le grand finale... Which could mean:

a) a sequel *yay*
b) a rushed ending to the Anime...Tsc tsc...

So putting it simple:

High points

More action packed than Tarantino's Kill Bill;
Original, clean and fun illustration;
Delightful psychologically strange characters.

Down points

Somewhat incoherent plot with a sudden ending;
Hypothetically irritating main character;
Not so catchy soundtrack.

As final rating I'll give it 7 cookies and a glass of milk. It's still a kick ass series worth watching and I'm sure it can be amusing to almost every Anime lover!

Don't refrain from giving your personal opinion on all this. After all, that's what we just did, so feel free to participate!

Until our next critique,
sayōnara