More from Commarine:
Red Garden: New York City, a young girl is found dead in the city outskirts. Her mysterious death prompts four of her school friends from different social circles to start an investigation. But as they delve deeper into the mystery, they meet up with Lula , a mysterious woman with a terrible truth: all four girls are dead. Now locked in a war they never knew, the girls must now balance a regular life in the morning and fight humanoid monsters at night for a second chance at real life. But as the battles become ever more dangerous, will the four different girls be able to work together or will the pressures of a dual life and their social differences cause the group to fall apart?
Main Characters
Lise Harriet Meyer: The girl discovered dead by the police. Her disappearance prompted all the girls to search for her resulting in their deaths. Though now gone, her mystery of her death is still very prevalent in the story and may be integral to the story further on.
Kate Ashley: A child from a prominent family, she is a member of 'Grace' a student police force that enforces the rules and regulations at her prestigious school. Closest to Lise, she felt the most pain for her loss. Her recent affiliation with the other friends of Lise has caused a strain with her and the other members of 'Grace'.
Rachel Benning: Quintessential club girl, she used to hit the young social scene with her friends and boyfriend on a nightly basis. After the given the truth by Lula, her new darker tasks has affected her mentally and affected the relationships with her friends. Of all the girls, she is the most affected by their new tasks.
Claire Forrest: The most independent of the girls. She lives by herself in a run-down apartment and tends take part-time jobs instead of going to class. Being raised on the streets, she is able to handle the situation better than the other girls and she is often relied upon by the other girls for strength.
Rose Sheedy: Shyest of the girls, she takes care of her younger siblings while her mother is in the hospital. This often causes her to be late to class which puts her at odds with Grace. She is the weakest fighter of the group do to her lack of courage.
Lula and LC: A brother a sister duo whole were the morticians at Lise's funeral. However the girls best know them as the people who resurrected them and tasked them to fight monsters. Though, they told the girls that they will eventually get back their lives if they fight, they still seem to hold some secrets from the girls. Lula calls the girls into battle by sending them butterflies which they can only see.
Why I like it: At first glance you would assume this anime is like any regular shoujo. Four fashionable girls go to school in the morning and fight monsters at night, a very 'magical girl' theme. The anime even has a light and happy intro easily interchangeable with other shoujos. However, as soon as the first episode starts, you realize Red Garden is far different from what is regularly seen. First thing you notice is the anime's location. The anime is located in America, more specifically, New York City. Most manga/anime writers tend to write where they know. This usually means placing their story in their home city in Japan. It is often a gamble to try and place their story outside their region of comfort, let alone their home nation. This is due to how they portray the landscape and culture of their chosen region. It is always a risk of them injecting their homelands' mannerisms and building design despite them being out of place.
In Red Garden, a couple 'Japanesisms' can be noticed through out the anime. For example, a few signs and products have very noticeable Engrish words and phrases. Also, at the school, students use Japanese style lockers, are seen eating Japanese style hot dogs, and converse at the school rooftop with the Japanese style fence barrier. Despite these flubs, the overall background and cultural style of the characters is very faithful to present day New York which allows the watchers to ignore the small mistakes. In shoujo, girl teams have tend to have battles that include wands, costume changes, and magical spells with fifteen minute choreography and sentence long phrases. The enemies the girls encounter are similar in this fashion by usually being ornate-looking monsters or androgynous humanoids. Red Garden distinguishes itself from most shoujo by having far more threatening looking monsters and the use of pure blunt force trauma. At first sight, the monsters tend to look human, but when in battle, the humans mutate into a feral, almost werewolf like monster with a need to destroy and a taste for human blood. Instead of using a form of magic to vanquish their opponents, the girls utilize weapons of opportunity (heels, bats, 2X4s, phones) to bludgeon the monsters to death. This usually results in bloody battles with the monsters dying in the worse ways possible. As you can tell, somewhat different from the Sailor Moon fights we all know and love.
Red Garden also diverges from shoujo by the condition the girls end up after battle. In reality, real fights usually incur injuries to both the victor and the loser. Injuries such as scrapes, cuts, blisters, bruises and broken bones (resulting from punching or kicking) tend to be neglected on the winner in most anime and American cartoons. This is usually to give the victors a more valiant look (hero) or a more ominous visage (villain). Red Garden aims to be more realistic by giving the girls injuries relevant to the battles they participate. By showing the viewer their mortality, the show represents just how normal girls really are and makes the battles all the more suspenseful. Even though they write off their more serious injuries by suggesting that the girls heal overnight while they sleep, I still like how the writer included this aspect of a fight in the story.
The overall art of Red Garden is in the style of shoujo. The girls are tall, skinny, with full lips and large eyes. The guys also have the androgynous look synonymous to most shoujo style males. The day is often very bright with full of color creating a cheery atmosphere. However, when day becomes night and it is time to fight, the texture and coloring of the anime changes to fit the new, ominous scenarios. At night, the texture changes into a handicam style similar certain episodes of X-Files or the nightmare world of Silent Hill. The color of their clothing and scenery also transitions from bright and vibrant to darker and far more subtle tones which increase the suspense factor all the more. This day/night switch helps show the disparity of their lives as normal school girls and their lives as killers which gives credence to the trouble they have trying fit back into their normal lives.
My Verdict: Overall, this anime was a good surprise for me. My original idea of this Red Garden completely changed after the first episode. Though not for everyone, I recommend this anime for its dual personality of shoujo and horror and its weird Seinfeld references.
Flag: The nation of Uddiyana, a few years from now...... Saeko Shirasu, a young Japanese photo journalist gained world prominence when she took a picture a war torn UN flag being raised by the local resistance. The picture became a symbol of hope for Uddiyana and a sign of peace for the rest of the world. But when the Flag is stolen by religious fanatics, the UN tasks a SDC (Special Development Command) unit to retrieve the flag with Saeko attached to record the mission via pictures and video. But as she sees the covert mission take shape and experiences the awesome power of the HAVWC (the first mission operational mecha in history), will the mission be her greatest adventure or will it be the end of her?
Main Characters
Saeko Shirasu: 25 year old war journalist with the world famous 'Flag' picture. Now attached to the mission to retrieve stolen flag, she archives the mission and interviews the members of the SDC unit. She also experiences everything the unit does all the while slowly and unwittingly making her more connected to them than her professional and unbiased stance allows.
Keiichi Akagi: Saeko's friend and former instructor. He is a veteran camera man and is investigating the political climate of Uddiyana for his agency Horizon.
Cpt. Chris Eversalt: Commanding officer of SDC and HAVWC pilot. She is an American and an officer in the UN Military.
Lt. J. G. Haken Aqbal: One of SDC's helicopter pilots. She is an Uddiyanan national enlisted in the UN military.
Lt. J.G. Nadi Olowokandi: Scout and helicopter pilot. A large and positive man from South Africa.
Lt. Rowell Su-ming: Intelligence officer for the SDC. She is of Chinese descent.
Lt. Jan Nikkanen: Back-up pilot for the HAVWC and intel support. He hails from Germany.
Lt. Christian Beroki: Engineer and technical support. He shares Cpt. Eversalt's nationality.
Lt. Shin Ichiyanagi: Primary HAVWC pilot. He is Japanese grown.
Why I like it: This is the most unique and innovative anime I have seen in a long time. Flag is so different, it is hard to find a starting point to describe it. So I'll start by what I first noticed. The first thing I saw that makes Flag different from other anime is its storytelling format. Most anime (like most shows foreign and domestic) progress the story in the form of a fluid linear line of scenes and events. Simply put, like a story. Flag however does it different. It portrays the story more like a narrative documentary. The anime uses Keiichi (the veteran photojournalist) as the overall narrator as he recounts the events of the first HAVWC mission. Though he is telling it from his point of view, Keiichi is recounting the story on the behalf of his protégé Saeko who was part of the mission. Though we see Saeko's experience and emotions, Keiichi's narration and how Saeko's scene are portrayed gives a sense of detachment between the two which adds the sensation that we are watching a documentary. This surprisingly gives it a greater feel of realism not known in most anime I have watched.
Possibly the most innovative thing of Flag is the point of view of the watcher. The majority of other anime give the watcher an omniscient eye that can be positioned any where in a scene. Flag does things different by making the viewer watch the scenes through the lens of a view finder. In almost every scene, the action is shown through the lens of a camera that a one of the characters is holding. Whether it's Keiichi's camera as he interviews people in Uddiyana, or Saeko's camera as she records the events of the mission, all the scenes are shown in a focused, first person view style. Once again, this helps in the realism of the anime by not giving the viewer the omnipresent eye. Instead the viewer relies one tunnel view of a hand held camera to show events of the story. This compliments the documentary style by showing the scenes in the only way possible in real life.
The innovation of Flag doesn't stop there. Probably the biggest surprise of this anime is its style of animation. Flag uses a more toned down, more anatomically and scientifically correct style of animation more in tune with America's current cartoons. This means no garish uniforms or very improbable tech. They instead utilize more military feasible uniforms for the soldiers and display technology (albeit slightly futuristic) that is susceptible to the laws of physics and environmental conditions . Though I don't think the creators of Flag wanted to cater to the American audience by using this animation, I do believe they wanted to emphasize the realism by having an art style more in tune with real life. As mentioned before, the story is set in a documentary style. As such, the story moves along in sections instead of the more commonly used linear style. This enables Flag to add a lot of background information about the mission and the events that lead to the mission's creation. As a person who devours info with enthusiasm, Flag keeps me satisfied by explaining how the events occurring in present time have evolved from events occurring in the past. Though this may not interest many people, I can't help having my eyes glued to the screen.
My Verdict: It's a little slow paced with a lot of information, but it is nonetheless one of the best anime I have seen in a long time.
Beck: Koyuki is a normal, bored school kid with little to no aspirations. Life was drifting by him until he saved a weird-looking dog from some kids. Named Beck, the dog leads Koyuki to his owner, a young musician named Ryusuke Minami. Soon after their meeting, Koyuki is suddenly immersed in the world of underground music and encounters the pitfalls and fortunes of musician as he and Ryusuke try to create the ultimate band.
Main Characters
Yukio Koyuki Tanaka: A young kid who becomes part of Ryusuke's plan to create the ultimate band. Though very green at guitar, Koyuki as a talent unknown to him that will make him a vital member of the band.
Ryusuke Ray Minami: Japanese rocker who lived in America for a while. Having gained a lot of musical knowledge across the Pacific, he is attempting make it big in Japan by creating the ultimate band. He lives with his dog, Beck, in a shack in front of a pond.
Maho Minami: Sister of Ryusuke, she is a talented singer in her own right. She seems to have an off and on again relationship with Koyuki.
Kenichi Saitou: Koyuki's swim teacher, Kenichi was once a Olympic swimmer, but failed to win a medal. He later became Koyuki's guitar teacher when he showed his skills to Koyuki. He is a fan of 60's British rock and listens to a (fictional) band named the Rocket Boys.
Izumi Ishiguro: Koyuki's childhood friend and first crush. She becomes part of a love triangle with Koyuki and Maho.
Tsunemi Chiba: Beck's lead singer. His harsh, rocker voice fronts most of the band's songs. He named the band Beck after Ryusuke's weird dog.
Yoshiyuki Taira and Yuji Sakurai: Beck's bassist and drummer respectively. Taira is second only to Ryusuke in musical skill. Yuji is a school friend of Koyuki and become the band's drummer after their original drummer left the band.
Eiji Kimura: Once part of a band with Ryusuke, the band fell apart during their performance with a talent scout. He now rivals Ryusuke attempting to surpass Beck his new band, Bell Ame.
Why I like: To me, music is one of the most important things in life. From my humble beginnings listening to my Dad's rancheros, to the molding of my musical identity in the Gen X years, I paid great respect to virtually every form of music and the people who compose it. When I found an anime that used music as its foundation, I was elated. At first, I was somewhat skeptical about Beck. Most music based anime I've seen tended to have spoofish or unknown simplistic music that only plays a small part in the overall story. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Beck did not follow the same modus operandi. Though the music used in Beck is original works from fictional bands (Beck, Dying Breed, Belle Ame, Rocket Boys), the songs are outstanding and very relevant to real world music. The music also pays homage to some of the best musicians of the past and present by using riffs heavily influenced by their styles. People with good ears can actually hear the influence, but for those who can't, the show often uses the main characters or side characters to describe what they hear. I love this little part of the show because it helps people take notice on how different styles of music sounds and give you a reference band one can listen to. I've seen no other anime or show actively submerse the viewer in music relevant today.
The overall story of Beck is also very similar to life the in the music world. Most anime with singers or bands have them sky rocket to fame or famous from the beginning dealing with their life as superstars. Beck goes a different route by showing the trials and tribulations a burgeoning group has to deal with on the rise fame. Obstacles like unending practice, falling into debt, rival bands, and internal arguments give the viewer some insight in the long hard road a band usually takes before they make it big. Most real bands stay together for years and experience multiple transmutations before they gain recognition. It's great to watch an anime that emphasizes how much musicians have to go through in order just to make a band that sounds good together, let alone reaching stardom. Probably one of the best surprises I got from Beck was its dubbing. At first I believed that the directors will bring in voice actors for the speaking parts and leave the music in Japanese, or get a voice actor for the speaking roles and a singer for the songs. Instead, the American directors scouted around for voice actors who have great singing voices. This little bit of diligence works wonders keep the viewer in the story and not have them stuck on how the voice actor and singer sound too different from each other.The directors also translated the lyrics into music. Though at times, the songs don't rhyme, the absence of Engrish in the lyrics allows me get into the music without breaking concentration when a weird word comes along. In the past, bad dubbing was been a deal breaker when enjoying an anime. Beck as reaffirmed my faith in dubbing by showing that is possible for anime characters to speak English convincingly.
My Verdict: If you're into music, or want to hear what good English dubbing sounds like, check this anime out. It will totally make your month.
