The gifts just keep on giving from the fine folks over at Funimation who were kind enough to send me a selection of their Winter 2018 anime offerings. If you’re curious about anime but haven’t watched any yet, or you’ve been a fan for decades, Funimation definitely has something for you to enjoy. And this round-up of selections has one of the best titles from a world-famous and fan-favorite Gundam franchise, if that does anything for ya!
For the uninitiated, Funimation is a U.S. company known for their dubs and domestic distribution of Japanese anime. So all of the reviews you’re about to check out are for the dub version of each anime, though some Blu-rays/DVDs have a Japanese audio option as there are some exceptions to the rule. Below, you’ll find the official synopsis for each movie and series, along with a link to pick up your own copy at Funimation’s online store, should my review convince you. [Feel free to bookmark some of these for your own holiday wish lists or as gifts for the anime fan in your life!] Sometimes, it’ll be an easy thing to suggest you buy it, other times, it’ll be just as easy to go in the other direction.
Check out my rundown of Funimation’s home video selections from this winter season, and be sure to take a look at their summer selections and fall favorites as well. You might just find a favorite you overlooked or a new addition to your catalog you might have missed.
The following titles from Funimation's winter catalog are presented by audience age, youngest first:
Aokana: Four Rhythms Across the Blue
Aokana: Four Rhythms Across the Blue
The invention of anti-gravity footwear has opened an innovative world of sports for students across the globe. Dreaming of flight since childhood, Asuka can’t resist the action-packed competitions of Flying Circus. But with her head in the clouds and a clumsy disposition, she’s got a lot to learn before she can go toe to toe with the toughest challengers at other schools.
Sometimes a little background beyond the synopsis helps when wading into a new series. For this one in particular, it makes things a lot easier when you realize that Aokana started its life as an interactive game or "visual novel." Its success led to multiple adaptations in a somewhat non-traditional direction, launching a manga series, multiple ports of the game to different platforms, and an anime series produced by Gonzo, directed by Fumitoshi Oizaki (Romeo x Juliet) and written by Reiko Yoshida (A Silent Voice). And while the original game centered on a romance narrative with some adult themes and portrayals of sexual situations, the anime skews younger with the exception of a few fan-servicey moments.
In the series, newcomer and highschooler Asuka Kurashina makes friends with the "real flying girls" of the local school where students use anti-gravity shoes to fly and participate in high-flying, fast-paced sports competitions known as Flying Circus. It takes the series a little while to get going, but soon the protagonist is zooming along and zip-zapping with her new cohorts under the tutelage of former player Masaya Hinata, himself the playable character in the original game. Her awkwardness is overcome by her endlessly buoyant optimism and can-do attitude, which sees her progress to some tough stages of the Flying Circus competition.
It's an entertaining enough watch to stick through to the end of the season and see how things play out for Askuka Kurashina and her newfound friends!
7/10
New Game!!
Aoba Suzukaze starts another year designing characters at Eagle Jump, and she can’t wait to meet the newbie recruits…if any are hired. But before she can even unlock her senpai status, she finds herself in a lead designer position for the company’s newest game! Following in her manager’s footsteps, Aoba’s gotta get good if she wants her skills to compete with Ko Yagami’s.
Even safer than Aokana for younger audiences is New Game!!, a series about a group of gamer girls who are developing new video games while navigating difficult personal and professional relationships. The content may be less mature than any of the other offerings in this list, but it's also relatively dry and slow-paced. If you're looking for a slice-of-life drama series or a workplace story, New Game!! should be a perfect fit for you.
This particular Blu-ray is for Season 2, so I'd advise checking out the first season if you're interested but the story is pretty simple to pick up. The first episode of the season actually even recaps the premise of the entire series for you: Aoba Suzukaze, having recently graduated from high school, has joined the game-development company Eagle Jump as a character creator. This season picks up a year after the first and sees the team working together to develop a fresh new game rather than churn out another franchise installment. And while the pressure to get the game right is on senior and junior employees (and interns) alike, it's the social pressure that's really at the heart of this series.
There's a very limited amount of fan service here concerning the character of Ko Yagami, but it's pretty tame. Unfortunately it's also very slow and, if you're not looking for a workplace drama, doesn't offer much else. (I also oddly had some audio balancing issues, so bear that in mind.) It's serviceable for a story about a team of disparate gamers coming together to reach their goals.
6/10
WorldEnd: What Are You Doing at the End of the World? Are You Busy? Will You Save Us?
WorldEnd: What Are You Doing at the End of the World? Are You Busy? Will You Save Us?
Five hundred years have passed since humanity went extinct at the hands of the seventeen beasts. Now, the only ones left fighting are the Leprechauns—a group of fairy warriors with the power to wield holy swords. Enduring a life of uncertainty, these girls know only danger. But everything changes when the last human suddenly awakens and takes them in. Can Willem help these girls trapped by war?
This mouthful of a title, normally just shortened to WorldEnd or SukaSuka, began as a series of light novels written by Akira Kareno with illustrations by Ue back in 2014. A manga series followed, and the anime series adaptation came soon after that. It's part cutesy/harem tale, part future fantasy story, and part romantic drama, but there is some more adult material here. (There's a number of "massages" that are used as a sort of cure for a specific kind of poisoning, because anime's gonna anime."
The story takes place half a millennium after the near extinction of the human race by entities known as "Beasts." However, other races managed to survive and now live high above the ground, where the Beasts dwell, in floating islands. Some of the monsters still manage to invade these hard-to-reach places, so a team of creatures known as Leprechauns have been tasked with mastering ancient weapons in order to stave off the threat.
Enter Willem, a mysterious and curious character who joins the lives of the Leprechauns (who are basically young women and girls with powers) and acts as caretaker for most, and a romantic interest for some. Despite the awkward massage scenes, which opt to strip down the teenage characters, there's some good, slow, character-focused and relationship building stories throughout the season. The origins of both Willem and the Leprechauns are slowly revealed and a true romance evolves out of awkward flirtation. (It also features the hilarious line of dialogue, “Right now, your body is not, scientifically, a leprechaun’s.”) Things really pick up about three-quarters of the way through, and the final episode brings about a heroic sacrifice, a healing of old wounds, and a tease for the next generation.
7/10
Bungo Stray Dogs
A darker chapter of Dazai’s past reveals his ties to the Port Mafia. Now, four years later, a gifted group of Americans known as the Guild have challenged the mafia’s power. Atsushi has his work cut out for him while Akutagawa grows more resentful by the day. But when the Guild becomes a threat to all of Yokohama, a united front between bitter enemies may be the only way to save the city.
Every once in a while, you hear a title pop up so often that you think to yourself, "I really should check that out." Such is the case with Bungo Stray Dogs, a strangely titled series that translates to "Literary Stray Dogs", which clears things up a bit. Starting as a manga series series written by Kafka Asagiri and illustrated by Sango Harukawa, the anime adaptation was handled by accomplished studio, Bones.
The supposed hook of the series is that the characters are named after, or inspired by, literary greats and their works. Agatha Christie, Fyodr Dostoyevsky, Mark Twain, Edgar Allan Poe, and Ryūnosuke Akutagawa are among those referenced. These folks sport supernatural abilities, powers which they either use on behalf of the mafia to pull of crimes or as members of the Armed Detective Agency to close cases and solve said crimes. The second season focuses more on the members of the mafia, as opposed to the first season's focus on the detectives themselves.
There's a lot going for this title in theory, but for me, it's lacking in execution. Now to be fair, I did jump into this story in Season 2, which is something I don't often recommend. The storytelling style is heavy on dialogue, especially in static scenes or in the rare examples of case-breaking and crime-solving where the characters almost literally spell out their thought process of just what exactly transpired. Even the action-packed moments are talked over and talked-out, in my opinion. (Though it does give us the line, “Why are you acting like a damsel in distress? You’re a were-tiger; grow some were-balls!”, one of the greatest lines ever uttered in anime.
I might change my mind on this one if I get a chance to check out the first season, but for me, there's just too much talking and philosophizing, and the action is too disconnected to make up for it. Your mileage may vary, because I know this one has a lot of fans.
6/10
Saga of Tanya the Evil
A little girl with blonde hair, blue eyes, and porcelain skin fights on the front lines of a brutal war set in a fantasy world. What others don’t know is that she’s a reincarnated Japanese office worker who, in his former life, had a ruthless desire to climb the corporate ladder in hopes of retiring to a cushy corner office.
Once you've watched your fair share of anime, you'll notice a few common tropes pop up again and again (and again and again): High school students as the main characters, pervy fan service, kawaii moments accented by emojis, etc, etc. Saga of Tanya the Evil avoids just about all of them. Originally a light novel series written by Carlo Zen and illustrated by Shinobu Shinotsuki, the alt-history story was adapted in anime form by NUTand will continue in an upcoming feature film. That's some good news considering that the 12 available episodes of this unique series were just enough to get us hooked.
On the surface, the story follows a young, blonde, blue-eyed girl named Tanya von Degurechaff who possesses powerful magical abilities and leads an elite team of mages. The catch here is that Tanya is actually the reincarnation of a deceased Japanese white-collar worker, a cold, social Darwinist in life whose atheistic beliefs were put to the ultimate test when he was murdered. He was visited by a mysterious entity known as Being X at the moment of his death, only to awake and find himself reborn as a baby girl.
Okay so this all sounds insane, and it kind of is, but the fun of Saga of Tanya the Evil is in watching this little girl wield incredible powers, use his/her knowledge of World War history to strategic benefit, and execute tactics that make even her superior officers skin crawl. There's a lot of trench warfare and air-vs-ground domination shown early on in this tale, so it's definitely not for kids. There are some gnarly and intense character designs and action sequences throughout, especially when Tanya goes full-tilt against inferior forces. As one of her officers describes her, "The major is more than a monster in the form of a little girl ... she is a devil."
Saga of Tanya the Evil ends with a nice teaser, one which will hopefully be explored further in the upcoming movie.
8/10
Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans
Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans
After the escort of Kudelia Aina Bernstein led to deadly battles, the Tekkadan organization began to rise, with Mikazuki Augus taking part. While many lives were lost, the conflict exposed the corruption of Gjallarhorn, helping the world slowly change. But as Tekkadan gained the rights to halfmetal, they began to attract attention from a new enemy—one they’ll face with the Gundam Barbatos Lupus!
The Mobile Suit Gundam franchise has long been a bastion of mecha anime, specifically its "real robot" subgenre. But beyond the obvious appeal of watching your favorite heroes and villains battle it out by piloting massive, incredibly powerful robotic weapons of war, Gundam has always been about something else beneath its Gundanium surface.
The original series, way back in 1979, centered on a war of independence between a rebellious principality and the otherwise united Earth Federation. The story of the warring factions and all of the soldiers and civilians caught up within the conflict is at the heart of just about every Gundam story ever told. Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans carries on this proud tradition. Not only does it introduce some truly badass Gundam models and interesting leaps in technology (in this standalone series that detaches itself somewhat from the normal continuity), it also continues the threat of rebellion and fighting for independence. This time, however, the story focuses less on the scale of galactic war and more on a group of ragtag freedom fighters.
After an ancient war between Earth and the Outer Colonies, Mars has become a successfully terraformed and colonized planet. But where there are humans, there is also oppression, slavery, and violence. Rising out of the chaos of a new civilization in the works is the need for both local civilian security forces alongside broader oversight by an Earth-based military. The conflict in Iron-Blooded Orphans arises when the soldiers of the security force, all of whom are children and teenagers, rebel, taking over control of the organization itself. One talented pilot will push himself and his team to the edge, thanks to the legendary Gundam Barbatos, to secure their independence and even take on the elite of the Earth's military, Gjallarhorn.
Like any story of rebellion, Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans takes time to build, time to set all the pieces in motion, and time to build momentum. But once this thing gets moving, it's unstoppable. It really is one of my favorite installments in the Gundam series, but even for newcomers to the genre, it's well worth checking out.
Oh, and there's also this awesome Limited Edition for my fellow Gunpla folks out there, which includes:
- HG 1/144 GUNDAM BAEL Metallic Gloss Injection Ver., an exclusive metallic finish version of the Gunpla mobile suit model kit that you won't find anywhere else!
- Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans Season Two Parts One and Two
- 24-page artbook
10/10
