RD Sennou Chosashitsu: (Ended) Best Scifi of 2008

It is always amazing how an anime that I thought would not last more than 4 episodes for me ends up earning a best of the year award from me. In this case, not only it came up earning the award, it also knocked out a very tough opponent, Macross Frontier, which at one point I thought no other anime this year could have surpass it. On top of that, RD Sennou Chosashitsu is now one of the candidates to receive my Best Anime of 2008 award.

Early on, I couldn't stand its art style at all. So many times I was considering dropping it because of that. But the story was so good that not only I kept watching, I ended up somewhat liking it towards the end.

This, in my opinion is one of the MUST WATCH anime in 2008 for almost everyone who likes anime, except those who are not interested in highly philosophical topics. I said it before, but I'll say it again: Masamune Shirow (士郎 正宗) is truly a master of using carefully crafted Scifi story as medium to discuss highly philosophical topics.

Final scoreboard (out of 5):

Drama: 5 (One of the best)

Comedy: 4 (For the little it had, it's not bad)

Action: 4 (Not its focus, but still good)

Art/Animation: 4 (I did not like it, but learned to accept it)

Sound/Music: 5 (Love the music)

Character: 5 (Best part of the series)

Plot: 5 (Couldn't ask for anything better)

Ending: 5 (Resolved and reasonable)

Re-watch value: 4 (Many valuable stories worth re-watching)

Overall (not average): 4.95 ~ Best Scifi of the year

Award: Best Scifi Anime of 2008

Recommendation: Even though it earned a best of 2008 award, recommending to others isn't that easy because I know there are many people out there prefer story that is not so deep into philosophical discussion. Simply put, if you don't like too much thinking, then this is not for you. For everybody else that watches anime, this is another MUST WATCH anime in 2008. And please give it a chance even if you hate the art work, you are missing out a lot if you don't.

RD Sennou Chosashitsu: Masterpiece!!!

Currently finished: Episode 23

It's been quite a while since last time I commented on this anime. What I though is something that is not going last more than 4 episodes for me turn out to be one of the best of 2008 in my book. This is truly a masterpiece. It took a bit to work into me, mostly I think because I hated the art style. By now, I still can't say that I like its art work, I just learned to accept it.

As I mentioned last time, Masamune Shirow (士郎 正宗), the creator of highly acclaimed the Ghost In the Shell and Appleseed series, is responsible for the concepts of this anime. All have been highly philosophical suspense thrillers with scifi as background. RD is a bit less action oriented than his previous work. That might be another reason that it took longer to work into me, because fast paced action like Ghost In the Shell tends to pull me in a lot quicker.

There are three more episodes to go. As it stands right now, this is one of the anime series in 2008 would earn a spot on my "MUST WATCH" recommendation list. So, if you haven't started watching it, go get it now! As for award goes, it's not really fair for it to compete in drama category head-to-head against Macross Frontier, they're just a bit too different. I'll have to think up some special category for it, because it IS GOING TO EARN an award from me.

New rating (out of 5): 4.75 (net gain: +0.75) ~ Too Good

Ah, This Time of the Year Again...

First it's Himitsu Top Secret, then it's RD Sennou Chosashitsu. I think there are more series end in September than any other month of the year. That makes September, especially the middle two weeks so unbareble because everything that is going to end this month would come to the biggest cliffhanger in these two weeks.

RD Sennou Chosashitsu: So Damn Interesting

Currently finished: Episode 9

I couldn't say enough about how much I totally hate its art style. At the same time, though, it's just so damn interesting. I literally couldn't pull myself away from it despite how much I hate it's art style. It's not that I get used to its style and starting to like it (Mononoke is an example of that type). I still hate it everytime I watch it.

That, to me, proves that Masamune Shirow (士郎 正宗) is a true master of this kind of stories.

New Rating: 4 (Net gain: +0.5) ~ I hate the art, but can't stop watchin...

RD Sennou Chosashitsu: Something Weird

Currently finished: Episode 7

I just notice that this anime is based of original works by Masamune Shirow (士郎 正宗), who is the creator of Ghost in the Shell. That really explains a lot about this series: the weird concepts, the focus on human consciousness, etc.

I hate the art style; the plot is too strange to fully understand at the beginning; story development is very slow; but interestingly enough, some mysterious force from this anime had drawn me into it much like Mokke did. Even though there is almost nothing I like about this anime, I just can't stop watching it.

On a separate note, I've rolled past the ending credit and saw some ads for RD manga, the character in the manga doesn't appear nearly as chubby as they do in the anime.

New Rating (of 5): 3.5 (Net gain: +0.7)~ Mysteriously Interesting

RD Sennou Chosashitsu: Um...

Currently finished: Episode 4

The first episode of this series didn't make much sense what so ever. The next couple didn't do much better either. The story itself, I think is being explained pretty well at the moment. But, the background is still a big mystery. The worst part is once a while it still "teases" the audience by making some insertion that references the background story.

As I said in previous post, I don't mind slow stories as long as they jump into the main plot quick enough. This one, well, it jumped in half-way, and quietly using the other half to test my patience.

However, there are some mystious force in play here again: there is almost not a single thing I like about this anime -- I hate the art style and the plot is slow. But deep down, I have no urge to throw it away as I did to many other animes.

April 2008 New Anime: RD Sennou Chosashitsu

Info/download: http://www.animesuki.com/series.php/1223.html

Genres: SciFi / ???

I've watched: 1 Episode

Art style: Realistic of some type

Summary: ...Not sure yet...

Rating (of 5) - first impression: 2.8 - Something strange...

Personal comment: This seems to be one of those weird scifi animes. It's weird, but not bizarre. Mononoke is weird and bizarre, this one is just weird. Make sure you understand the concept... I have a feeling this one is not going to last for me...