Cowboy Bebop is great! One of my favorites. I like drama mixed with humor.
Another Review + Anime Update
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 On 04/22/2017 at 12:17 PM by daftman See More From This User » |
Another is a horror/suspense/mystery anime that has a little bit of trouble deciding what it wants to be but is quite good overall. The story focuses on Koichi Sakakibara, a 15-year-old boy who transfers to a new school in a rural Japanese town partway through the year and meets a mysterious girl whose classmates ignore her very existence. Why? And what does she have to do with the tragic death of a student 26 years prior, a death the class at the time refused to acknowledge? The story of Another is hard to tease because the less you know going in, the better. But it features an intriguing premise and likeable characters, so it’s easy to recommend in that sense. The problem, if you can call it that, is that the tone does not stay consistent throughout. The first five episodes skew strongly towards horror while the remainder is much more of a mystery. The problem with calling that a problem is that the tone changes organically as the story develops. It would have felt forced to maintain the horror vibe throughout, but it is certainly effective while it lasts! I should also mention that this is not shock-value horror but rather a creepy unease that settles under your skin. That feeling never truly goes away but it’s more compartmentalized in the second half. (By the way, if you’re scared of dolls, you might not make it through those first few episodes. They use brief flashes of creepy dolls between scenes almost as a subliminal message of terror that is quite effective.)
From an audio/visual standpoint, I have little to complain about. My one sticking point is that it is sometimes too dark, especially in the final two episodes. I always knew what happened but I wasn’t always sure how. It looks good otherwise and is animated well. The sound design deserves a shout out and I’d definitely recommend watching with headphones on if you can. The music and sound really add a lot to the atmosphere. I watched it in Japanese with English subtitles (because that’s what was available to me) and both the voice work and subtitles seemed really solid. I never had trouble following what anyone was saying. (Another side note: The introduction song is kind of hilarious. Basically, if you took an energetic Castlevania track and added macabre, kind of senseless lyrics to it. Definitely worth seeing at least once.)
I’d definitely recommend Another if any of this sounds intriguing to you. It’s a well-done show that strings you along with some good cliffhangers before coming to a very satisfying conclusion.
Verdict: 4/5
As for the anime update, my regular readers (haha, Philip, you silly goose) will remember that my excitement at all the anime on Hulu was let down by the realization that most of it was just subbed, not dubbed. Well, I was on there again last night trying to figure out what had dubs and what I wouldn't mind watching with subs and I discovered that some have both! Sub seems to be the default when looking at the big list. All of them don't have both, unfortunately—Dragon Ball is still just subbed—but Cowboy Bebop does and so my wife and I watched the first two episodes of that last night. I'm surprised how humorous the show is! Looking forward to diving in deeper to that. Looks like episode 3 is when they introduce the main girl.
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