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Kanon (2006) Review

Kanon is the story of Yuuichi Aizawa, who comes to live with his Aunt and Cousin. He has visited this town before when he was young, but for some reason cannot remember any of the details of his previous visits. During his stay he meets quite a few young women and explores his connection to each of them. Sounds like your typical harem show. In fact, this is a remake of a rather average 13 episode series aired in 2002. The new series is much better. Even though the storyline is the same, this series is 24 episodes long, so there is much more detail in the story this time. Unfortunately, the ending is the same.

There are two stars of this series. One is Tomokazu Sugita who does an excellent job as Yuuichi. The other is the studio, Kyoto Animation. Everything from the art, to the new story details is extremely well done. If you liked the older series, I would highly recommend the new one. You will enjoy the improvements greatly. However, as I said above, the overall story and ending are the same.

The story itself is fairly typical of a harem show. Yuuichi spends a couple episodes exploring his relationship with each girl. At the end he makes a choice between the girls. One of the best things about this show, is that there is practically no infighting between the girls. For the most part, the show is broken up so that there is not much overlap between the girls. In fact, they mostly tend to disappear once their story is told. While I appreciate the lack of angst due to infighting, I was disappointed with the disappearing act. I would like to have seen more of the other girls throughout the rest of the show. While there is little angst bewteen the girls, there is quite a bit of sadness in each of the girls' stories. This show is known for "sad girls in snow" for a reason. Be prepared for lots of tears. Some might even be your own.

I really like what Kyoto Animation has done with this show, but it is still a remake of a story that was rather average to begin with. I like the characters, but wish there were more of each of the girls throughout the rest of the show. The small patches of humor were well done. There is a lot of sadness, but mostly happiness in the end. I rated the original 2 stars. With the added detail and much, much better art, I was happier with the remake. If you have to choose between the two, definately go with the newer version.

Final rating: 3 stars.

Shuffle Memories

Shuffle Memories is a concept I have never seen before. It is a 12 episode series that is a recap of a previous 24 episode series. I'm not sure how this actually made it on the air. Maybe it had something to do with the animation budget being practically non-existent. The only new content in the series is the final episode and a new Opening and Ending for each of the five main female characters. The first episode is an introduction episode. Then each of the girls gets an episode that begins their story. Then a second episode that completes their story. The final episode is completely new content. I started watching this, but only made it through the first 4 episodes. I decided that I would rather watch the original series again rather than sit through another 6 recap episodes. However, I did watch the final episode. It was excellent. It was really funny, and it was nice to see all the characters again. (I was, however, very disappointed that Nadeshiko-sensei was left out.) The fanservice was superb. I would rather this had been an OVA with more than one episode of new content. I'd definately buy the final episode, but probably not the entire series. I really loved the original Shuffle, but I can't image the need for an 11 episode recap series. I honestly don't know how to rate a show that consists of recap episodes of another show, so I'll just rate the new content.

Final rating: 5 stars for the new content.

Final Fantasy V First Impression

After finishing FFIII, this is the only Final Fantasy game I haven't played. FFIII was played mostly for completionist purposes. However, this game I believe will be thouroughly enjoyable. This is the second game of the series to feature the job system. I am a sucker for the job system. I have been since Final Fantasy Tactics ate my soul. The job system in Tactics was perfect. It is the reason I've logged more hours into Tactics than all other Final Fantasy games combined. I am a whore for the job system.

The job system featured in FFIII was barely a shadow of what was to come. The job system in FFV is obviously the next step. It is pretty much the halfway point between FFIII and Tactics. In FFIII you could choose a specific job that had abilities that differentiated it from the others. That was pretty much the extent of the system. Changing to another job, you would lose all the abilities of the previous job, and gain the abilities of the new one. In FFV when you choose a job, you gain a special "job ability" that you can use until you switch jobs. In addition, you have an extra ability slot that you can equip another ability to. As you level up in your job, you learn other abilities specific to that job. These can be equipped (only one at a time) to the extra ability slot. This is where it gets good. Once you change jobs, any of the abilities that you have learned from your previous jobs, can still be equipped to the extra ability slot.

So, for instance, I can level up my Black Mage and learn "!Black Magic" Level 4. When I switch the character's job to White Mage, they get the default "White Magic" job ability, but I can also equip the "!Black Magic" ability to the extra ability slot. Now I can use both White and Black Magic. Most of the mage classes have a single ability that levels up with the job. So you'd have to level up your Black Magic ability to use higher level spells. The other classes have more interesting and varied abilities. Knights can learn Cover or Two Handed. Theives can learn Steal or Flee. All of these abilities can be learned from the different jobs by the same character. The amount of character customization available is amazing. Of course, I'll have to have my characters learn every skill available. I'm so screwed. I'll be playing this game for months.

So far, the story seems to be pretty decent as well. Based on the lengths of FFIV and FFVI, I'm barely beginning to scratch the surface of this game. I really can't imagine why this game wasn't regionalized the first time around. I can understand FFII and FFIII, since they were so different from the first game. But I think the job system is fleshed out enough in this one to have been successful.

Current party configuration:
Mystic Knight with the Two Handed ability from the Knight job.
Ninja with the First Strike ability.
White Mage with Level 5 Summoning Magic.
Time Mage with Level 4 Black Magic.

Ikki Tousen

It's got an interesting story, superpowered combat, epic fanservice, and even some sex. So why is this not the best show ever? It seems it was assembled by a team of mentally disabled 5th graders. I don't know how you screw up something like this. There was so much potential here, all of it squandered. It seemed like a lot of the story was just lost, most of the characters are barely introduced, and then discarded, and the fight scenes almost always seemed rushed. What I thought was the main theme of the story was never resolved. Can the fighters resist the fate of their namesakes, or not? Overall this was a terribly executed series. However, it does contain enough raw material to keep me interested. I will be watching the new series Dragon Destiny. Hopefully, it will be better.

Final rating: 2 stars.

Kashimashi

I'm really on the fence about this show right now. I'm up to episode 9 and I think the determination of whether I like the show or not will depend on the ending. I really like the characters, and even if the premise is really silly, I think the story being told is entertaining. The fan service, while fairly light, is passing, and the humor hits me just right. I'm really liking the scenes with Namiko and Asuta. The thing holding me back is that I'm expecting the show to turn on the angst. I fully expected it after episode 6 and still half-expect the end to be a tear-fest. But each episode since has teetered up to the line and then redeemed itself, mostly due to the characters involved. Yasuna and Tomari are both angels. I will hate this show if it turns them into bitches. Also, after episode 9 I'm beginning to wonder if the show will have the "Ultimate Ending''. I've never seen it happen, and while in most cases it wouldn't really work well, I think it might here. If there is a decent ending I may have to watch this show again. I think I'll enjoy it a great deal more if I'm not worried so much about the end.

Update:

I was right. They ramped into the drama right at the end. But luckily it was only the last few episodes and it resolved itself quickly. Not the "Ultimate Ending," but a happy ending nonetheless. There is a small bit of abiguity at the end of the final episode, but that is completely resolved in the OVA. This will probably be included with the R1 release as a 13th episode. As I said, everything is resolved, and everyone lives happily ever after. A beautiful ending. Made even moreso by the fact that it was my preferred ending. I won't spoil it here.

Initial rating: 3 stars.

I think I'll watch this again once it is released in R1. Without the fear of angst hanging over me, I may just bump this up to four stars. I think I'll enjoy it much more the second time.

Drive

Fox has been advertising a new show called Drive lately. Apparently it is about an illegal cross-country road race. It looks kind of interesting for a couple reasons. First, it stars Nathan Fillion, who I really enjoyed in Firefly. Secondly, it calls to mind some great road race movies of the past: Cannonball Run, It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, Rat Race, etc. Although this show seems to be more of a drama than a comedy, hopefully they will be able to work in some humor. Thirdly, it is co-created, written, and produced by Tim Minear. I really enjoy some of Tim's past works. I own the DVDs of Firefly and Wonderfalls and really love both shows. I started watching The Inside when it was on, but it was taken off so quickly that I couldn't tell if it would be any good. Hoepfully, Drive will be good, and FOX will be able to keep it on the air.