Wednesday, December 8, 2004

Avenger
So, who had fun watching Avenger?

I did!

I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. It's got the whole 'post apocolyptic' feel to it, and even at the end of the series there's still a feeling of impending DOOM. But I enjoyed it, and I absolutely love Layla. She's so bad-ass. And, I don't think she ever speaks more than fifty words an episode. No long-winded speeches about justice, morality, or vengence from her, no-sir-ee!

Can't say the same for some of the other characters. >.<

Anyway, the anime is gorgeous. It's definitely going on my "to buy" list, because imagining it on a big-screen television with surround sound and the lights off... *purrs* (Someday, I will own my OWN MPS, and it will kick so much ass...) The music is gorgeous, but that can be attributed to the wonderful Ali Project, who definitely took some cues from Yuki Kajiura.

The tracks are so vibrant at first I mistook the music as Yuki Kajiura, but to my surprise she's not credited at all, it's all Ali Project. They definitely did a good job with the music, although a certain track seems lifted from the score to The Rock (one of my favorite scores to write by). Only a handful of notes are different, and that raises my hackles. It could be completely unintentional, or it could be a complete rip. No way to know for sure.

The opening and the ending are gloriously catchy, they'll be stuck in my head for days.

The story... is interesting, but I am majorly confused about several things still. I like my series with a bit of mystery, but Bee Train? Lay off the crack, please.

The animation is gorgeous to behold, vibrant colors and strong character designs. Layla Ashley, the main character ... looks like a Kenshin rip-off. I shit thee not, if you take her profile shot and compare it side-by-side with either Kenshin or Fujiyama Aya, you'll get so confused so quickly it isn't even funny. Personally, the more I watched her the more she got firmly associated with Aya in my mind.

Aside from that, the character designs are bold, but from their design you can immeaditely tell what purpose they'll surve. Nei? Little child-like figure always in danger. Speedy? Handyman. Westa? Goddess-figure. And they don't ever break those molds, which is disappointing. In my mind, the best character designs are the ones that lead you to believe one thing, and then they grow out of that mold and mature into something else. With the exception of Nei, none of the characters really change at all.

There were so many subplots that could have been explored but weren't, and that makes me sad.

Back to the animation -- there are sooooo mannnnny panning shots, and 'the camera holding on so-and-so's face' that you can tell where they cut corners to save on the animation budget. However, in their series and their series alone, this works. So much about characters is communicated in this series by their eyes, their expressions, and their pauses in the conversation that to just hear them explain everything seems wrong. Yes, it's an animation-shortcut, but used in the proper context and it works fine. They overdid it just a tad in this series but honestly it doesn't bother me, because I can oogle the backgrounds and the pretty, pretty colors. Also, they didn't skimp out in the animation department for each and every battle scene, they are all beautifully animated and don't reuse the exact same footage every time. That's quality.

Overall, I enjoyed Avenger. It's been licensed by Bandai, so I hope to own the DVDs soon. There's only a handful of series that I want to own on DVD that haven't been released yet and this... this is definitely one of them.

((Incidently, I KNEW I recognized your voice, Garcia! ONIMENO KYO! And Amidamaru, too, but ONIMENO KYO!!! *points*))
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