Saturday, May 18, 2013

Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge and Greetings!

Scene from: Episode 6
Last seen: Episode 7

I'm gonna start out by saying this: If you read a description anywhere, here or otherwise, of Crime Edge, and didn't think it was weird, then you yourself are weird, and should be a little worried about how much your love of anime has affected your standards. A little anyway.

Originally this was a low priority for me, it just sounded too weird, I couldn't envision scissors as being that amazing, and the description I read on another website made the main characters seem awfully flat. Now, however, this is one of the releases I look forward to every week.
The setting is decidedly odd in summary...and though the summary isn't wrong, you shouldn't let that dominate your decision to watch it or not. In case your impression of the majority of the first episode is that the anime is going to be very light-hearted and comedic, (and what doesn't have some comedy in it these days), I'm going to go out on a limb here and say you are very very wrong. See this scene here? This isn't a bluff. This action receives follow through. Whether or not the anime itself will be to your tastes depends on if it fits into your genre preferences, and my feel of it so far puts it somewhere around Action to Light-drama. I only say light, because it's not quite yet up to the standards some quality anime have set for me in that genre. That, and the main protagonists weapon is a pair of Scissors. Not any kind of special transforming scissors either, just your average salon scissors. Having said that, they wring some very nice action scenes like you wouldn't believe possible with that kind of 'weapon'.
Oh, and in-case you think to look down on the Syringe as a weapon that makes a fast appearance in the series, you obviously don't have the right kind of lesser-trauma. Let me give you a proper taste from my own experience pool:
Envision sitting in the doctors office, and after the accustom 'blah blah blah' takes place you're told to roll up both of your sleeves,
the doctor and nurse take up position opposite each other, one on each side of you,

And then both stick a needle in your arms.
At the exact same time.
Double Injection.




That should help



-INTRODUCTION-

Greetings! Fans of Evil Cat, I'm Zetro, and I'll be one of the substitutes while your favorite reviewer/blogger/what-have-you is on break. This first post I'm just gonna...experiment with a few things I hope to use in the future (like not being able to Center that bold title, which is really bugging me right now), and primarily use it as a self-introduction. Let'cha know what to expect from me whenever ya see muh name on a post. Just in case you hate my guts.
-Me-
If you've ever jumped into the comments sections of any of Evil Cats posts, then you may have noticed comments from Zetro, Zetro200, the like, on comments sections that got past 3-4 comments. If the URL goes to my Zetro200 youtube, you've got the right person. I've loved Evil Cats blog since the first time I bumped into it, for pretty well the same reason he now needs to take a break. Efficient use of time. Cats opinion was always spot on for what I'd think of animes, so it quickly came to the point that anytime I was considering an anime to put into my tracking list to watch as the episodes came out subbed, I always first ran it by a search on Evil Cats blog to see if, and what, he had to say about it. I can not begin to count the number of times I've saved myself time I would have later considered wasted by skipping animes on his recommendations, based on his descriptions of them throughout his highlights of episodes. Or saved myself from bad decisions:
Like considering picking Sekirei back up after I dropped it a handful of episodes in. Sometime around when I got the distinct vibe his freshly recruited plant girl was quickly to become a new part of what I suddenly recognized to be a harem. (You can mock me for only realizing it then, but the idea of Harem as both concept, and anime genre, was still new to me and not sitting well back then). It kind of sank in the idea that the theme was going to repeat. I was, and honestly, still am, interested in the plot of the anime, it had the potential to be good. But I'm not wading through a sea of pointless and excessive over-sexualized fan-service to get it.
-What I think-
That right there is also a good point for you to key in on. I'm a guy, but I neither like nor endorse Fan Service, and take offense to any suggestion of the idea that it's inherent I should. In the beginning of it, I was all for the 'moe' thing in it's fledgling state, it was neat, adorable, and it made for some colorful characters. By now though, the very fact that the pattern/trend has a name, 'moe', is an indication that it's an over used Stamp with which the industry can quickly clone out cheap flat characters, by ticking off boxes on a checklist, to improve ratings.
[Incoming Disclaimer]
I neither think it possible, nor a good idea, to remove Fan Service from the industry. While it's not to my taste, I'm not about to go beat down everyone that likes it, just because I don't like it. It is a colorful part of our favored industries history, and it is a crucial part for some genres of anime that are very entertaining for having it, even if  you yourself are not using it as a sexual invigoration. What I find disheartening is it's viral infection of just about everything that comes out these days in the industry, and the unbelievably borderline pornographic extend some of it goes to. To the point that it's actually a legitimate part of reviews elsewhere to make note of whether or not the anime has excessive fan service or not.
[End Disclaimer]
The point I've just brow-beat over the head with a paragraph is, I dislike that it's showing up in anime that has characters and plots that are in and of themselves, already vastly excellent and interesting. I find it insulting, because this action on the industries part gives the impression that their impression of us is that we can't enjoy the stories and characters that are of good quality by themselves, that the industry big-wigs and shot-callers are afraid that if they don't include the fan-service, they will alienate us. Hey, maybe that's how it is in Japan. Maybe that's how it is in general. They say sex sells, and they haven't stopped saying it. I'm a hermit, what the hell do I know, but I'm still gonna stand up and say 'it offends me' to anyone that will listen.
-What I Like-
As a point of reference,
(and a cheap bid of advertising, who am I kidding, everyone recognizes a fan trying to push their favorites)
These are some of my top loved animes, in no particular order, because I've found it quite impossible to rank them against each other, for a reason that should be apparent shortly.
  • Clannad, and Clannad After Story
  • Sola
  • C: The Money of Soul and Possibility Control
  • Code Geass
  • S-cry-ed
  • Angel Beat
  • Spice and Wolf
  • Baccano (a shout out to youtuber Gigguks AZ rant for pointing me at this gem)
  • Another
  • Sword Art Online
  • Usagi Drop
  • Steins;Gate
  • Gurren Lagann
  • Utawarerumono (skip Ep.1, it's pointless, worthless, and irrelevant to the rest of the show
    [read as: Fan service overload])
  • Kotoura-san
  • Kaichou wa Maid-sama
Yes, that's right, you are seeing a wide diversity of genre there. I like many flavors. I noticed a few gems that I haven't taken off of my 'I hope there's another season' section in the word doc I use to keep tabs on my current episodes, but the list is already long enough in what is going to be a monolithic post already. Posts after this are going to be the length of the first part of this one, before the Introduction splitter, rest assured. It's The Evil Cat's blog, not mine.
Over all though, the core I love in all of my anime is a theme of Human Interest, or in the word's of The Evil Cat when it becomes its most refined form, 'An emotional rollercoaster' (see Usagi Drop posts). If I speak highly or poorly of an anime, color it and take it with a bit of salt, in perspective of what I like.
For instance, you have every right to completely ignore anything I say about Mech animes. I just don't have a taste for the genres core.

And a big Double thumbs up to The Evil Cat for sharing the emotes he uses all the time with me, I love them:

2 comments:

javier said...

Thank you both, for your time.

Reik said...

Oh great! i had a sketch... it threw it away haha ... it sucked compared to that big review / introduction you did thanks zetro >_> lol im kidding it was a nice post i'll have to work more on mine i guess...