2018 Winter Anime First Impressions: Ito Junjo Collection, Devilman Crybaby, Katana Maidens
Thoughts/Ratings Below
Ito Junjo: Collection
I have not familiarized myself with the work this series is based on, but I know how highly it’s revered in certain circles. I know enough from other people’s expectations to be intrigued by this series. So I went into this series expecting style over story but hoping that the Ito Junio Collection would make the best out of the standalone/short format. What I found was a something that kind of hovered….and flopped.
The biggest problem with doing a compilation is that you have to start with a bang. You don’t have the same luxury as a narrative story that a viewer comes in realizing it might take a while to warm up. You need to get to the heart of the matter. For a series from an author known first for his horror stories, the first bit should be…well… at least creepy. Instead we’re given an over-the-top highly disturbed high school student who pretty much fails in all regards in story and as a character.
Now had this been further in, the mood shift might feel like a parody of the genre. I suspect that was the type of commentary and humor that was intended. Here it just feels flat and, if I’m being honest, entirely irritating. It’s not too frequent that a single character and not the overall presentation irritate me to the point where I just want to stop. I came very close.
To its strength, I’m not sure how it is as an adaptation, but I adore the way this series looks. That alone is enough to give this a few episodes to find its footing. Maybe it’s spiteful, or hard headed, but I refuse to let an idiot like Souichi make me give up on something this artful. He is enough, however, to sink the rating for a first impression Rating: 2.25 of 5
Devilman: Crybaby
Wow. Okay. Did I pick a night for the oddballs?
Straight up disclaimer: This is NOT a series for the young ones. There’re some very graphic sexual and violent (separate and at the same time) in the later part of the first episode that would be hard pressed to get an R rating here.
This may make me a horrible anime fan, but I’m not familiar with this director’s work even though apparently I’m supposed to be. So I didn’t exactly know what I was getting into. It’s clear from pretty early on that this is a highly stylistic story. It follows the story of a very emotional Akira and his polar opposite disconnected friend of old Akira as the later sweeps his friend into a world of danger from both the drug and mob laced world of our own and the demonic layers of another. The result is something I just don’t know how to feel about.
It feels like something that could be masterful, but it takes an adjustment period. It feels like there are two types of stories here that are colliding together like knot in your hair. You know the pieces all go together, but somehow they’ve jumbled. What Devilman could easily cater to a more generic shonen audience or it could have gone all-out artsy. Somehow it tries to do both and the exaggerated elements of the later some times feel less forgivable when you tie in the calmer moments.
Overall I’m intrigued but highly cautious.
Rating: 3.5 of 5
Katana Maidens
Katana Maidens follows the journey of a group of girls from various schools, as they become part of an elite protection group of transforming blade-wielding warriors. It’s easy to brush off this generic premise, but I will admit I quite enjoyed this introduction. It helps if your expectations are that this is just going to be a genre-cliché dump. It’s not devoid of the familiar.
However, I love the motion and depth of colors. I like that it starts with a working team instead of the school aspects of this series. That being said, the fact that the premise is so basic means that this series is either going to soar to become an unexpected darling within a particular type of fan base or sink to the depths of ‘meh’. It doesn’t help that there seems to be a lot to this world and system that can only be brushed over given the run time. At it’s best it has potential for good character dynamics and politics. I’m going to hope it focuses in on these elements instead of letting itself go.
Rating: 2.5 of 5