When it comes to anime, Nippon Television have a reputation for being classy, second only to NHK. Daytime shows they air at the present include Detective Conan, Yumeiro Pâtissière and Anpanman. All very pleasant and family friendly.

While not necessarily family friendly, they’ve similarly brought a touch of class and quality to their late night programming. For much of the last 13 years they’ve had just one, sometimes two, late night anime series airing at a time. And what they’ve lacked in quantity they’ve more than made up for in quality.

If I was to pinpoint what ties most of them together, it’s that while they are aimed at much the same demographics as much of the late night shows (initially men in their late teens and early twenties, but eventually women too), they aren’t the part of that demographic who then spends loads of money on associated character goods. No Herr Docter Tenma hugging pillows for this audience. These are shows that are more likely to drive sales of the source material, rather than merchandise.

So why don’t these shows get the attention from some of the people who decry the rise of otaku-pandering shows? Well a lot of those people came into anime through sci-fi, and what they are actually complaining about is that they themselves aren’t being pandered to any longer. What they want are sci-fi shows, and for the most part the series NTV broadcast aren’t sci-fi. Why would they be? Sci-fi as a whole has been in a downturn in the last decade or so, so why should anime have been any different?

Secondly, a lot of these shows aren’t that easy to lay your hands on. Of the ones that came to the USA, a number are out of print and some had poor original releases. Of the ones that remain unlicensed, they haven’t necessarily been the favourites of the fansub community. Even if they have been fansubbed, they don’t necessarily have the vocal fanbase to evangelise about them to the extent that other titles do. At the bottom of the post I’ve provided a summary of the status of the titles that did get US releases.

The following list is how the Japanese wikipedia entries described the flow of the core post-midnight titles on NTV. As the title of the post hints, the majority come from Madhouse Studios and given that a number of their directors make their debuts directing an entire show, I wonder if they use this to nuture and develop talent. On the flipside of that though is the fact that Masayuki Kojima and Yuzo Sato have directed multiple shows in this slot.

Berserk (1997)
Studio: OLM
Director: Naohito Takahashi (Agatha Christie’s Great Detectives Poirot & Marple, Steel Angel Kurumi)

In retrospect, this adaptation of Kentaro Miura’s long running manga is somewhat anaemic. Certainly Takahashi and OLM would not be my first choice to be the creative forces behind adapting it. At the time though, it definitely felt like a breath of fresh air from the roleplaying tropes that your average fantasy anime regurgitated.

Master Keaton (1998)
Studio: Madhouse Studios
Director: Masayuki Kojima

This episodic adaptation of Naoki Urasawa’s manga about an archaeologist and insurance investigator ran on Monday as opposed to Tuesday, but maintained and arguably raised the quality set by Berserk. Madhouse, Urasawa and Kojima would return to late night NTV to even greater success in the next decade.

Hidamari no Ki (2000)
Studio: Madhouse Studios
Director: Gisaburo Sugii

This Tezuka adaptation, while making sense for slot and the channel, seems to have slipped down the back of the sofa of history. Even the scans of DVD covers on Amazon were all blurry and full of artefacts. However someone in Japan has uploaded it all to Youtube, so maybe those few who do like it, love it, but not enough to take clear screenshots. Gisaburo Sugii tends to be hit and miss, so I’m not sure if this is worth your time.

Hajime no Ippo (2000)
Studio: Madhouse Studios
Director: Satoshi Nishimura

A prime example of a long running show scuppered in the US by its release format. 15 volumes at $29.98, you’d have dropped around $450 on this buying it as it came out. With Geneon now gone from the US market and no-one in a hurry to re-license it, the volumes are very varied in prices, some under the original price, others rising in price. Looking at Amazon UK, I can see the first box set (volumes 1-8) is now going for £190.85, as opposed to the original price of $79.99.

Tenchi Muyo GXP (2002)
Studio: AIC
Director: Shinichi Watanabe

Now this one seems a little odd compared to what we’ve had so far. A pseudo-sequel to AIC’s 90s phenomenon, directed by one of anime’s more satiric minds. There’s another AIC title further down the list that’s even more out of place, and what I’ve seen of GXP was certainly fun.

Hanada Shonen-shi (2002)
Studio: Madhouse Studios
Director: Masayuki Kojima

Masayuki Kojima is back, with this adaptation of Makoto Isshiki’s supernatural comedy about a boy who can see the dead. Another show I’ve not see much of, but certainly wouldn’t mind catching more of it. In terms of production it’s a step up again from Master Keaton, might be my favourite of Kojima’s shows based on my small sampling.

Air Master (2003)
Studio: Toei Animation
Director: Daisuke Nishio

Sitting between Hanada and Harlock, this seems a little trashy, but it’s fantastic trash. And as this whole thread started with Berserk, it kind of made sense they’d look to Young Animal again for more material. In terms of choreography, this is the stepping stone for Nishio between the shonen action shows he’s famous for and the physicality of the first Pretty Cure show.

Space Pirate Captain Harlock The Endless Odyssey (2003)
Studio: Madhouse Studios
Director: Rintaro

TV broadcast of the OAV series that was originally meant to be a TV show in the first place. When we get to the second programming stream they started, we’ll see they used other material that wasn’t first run then to begin with.

The Gokusen (2004)
Studio: Madhouse Studios
Director: Yuzo Sato

Despite what Anime News Network’s site and the English wiki page claim, I believe this is a Yuzo Sato directed show, which makes sense as there’ll be three more to come. Kozueko Morimoto’s manga about teacher/yakuza heir Kumiko Yamaguchi attempts to balance her two lives was a bigger success in its various live action incarnations, but this anime version was fun too. Though what was up with that dog?

MONSTER (2004)
Studio: Madhouse Studios
Director: Masayuki Kojima

Masayuki Kojima returns to Urasawa with this lengthy, overly faithful adaptation of the Fugitive-inspired thriller. If you don’t like reading, then check it out. Otherwise, the manga is a much more enjoyable option.

Akagi (2005)
Studio: Madhouse Studios
Director: Yuzo Sato

As good as Gokusen was, this was the show that made people notice Yuzo Sato. The first of two Nobuyuki Fukumoto adaptations that Sato’s been responsible for, and a great example of the gambling genre.

Ouran High School Host Club (2006)
Studio: BONES
Director: Takuya Igarashi

I’ll hazard a guess that this shojo manga adaptation got made due to the success of Honey & Clover on Fuji TV and NANA on NTV itself (see below). It’s a good choice, much like those two hits, it has an appeal that crosses gender boundaries to a degree, and a lot of that can be attributed to Igarashi’s direction and Norifumi Nakamura’s art design. It’s one of those anime that look far better than the manga they came from.

Death Note (2006)
Studio: Madhouse Studios
Director: Tetsuro Araki

Obviously this show was going to be made. I’m not convinced the material works in animated form, but Araki does about as well as you can with it and the pre-made fanbase seemed to love it.

Buzzer Beater II (2007)
Studio: TMS Entertainment
Director: Shigeyuki Miya

Odd one this, the original Buzzer Beater series had aired in 2005 on satellite channel WOWOW, but this sequel aired on NTV. Liked what I saw of the first series, loved original the web manga, but haven’t seen this sequel. Same production studio and director, so possibly more of the same.

Kaiji (2007)
Studio: Madhouse Studios
Director: Yuzo Sato

This second Fukumoto adaptation from Sato is probably a career best so far, and reportedly due for a sequel in the future.

Real Drive (2008)
Studio: Production IG
Director: Kazuhiro Furuhashi

A rare foray into science fiction for this timeslot. Yet another Production IG/Shirow collaboration, and as such I totally ignored it.

One Outs (2008)
Studio: Madhouse Studios
Director: Yuzo Sato

Taking a break from Fukumoto, but not gambling, Sato returns with this adaptation of Shinobu Kaitani’s tale of baseball and unfair wagers. The actual wagers are actually a smokescreen for what the story is actually about – sportsmanship. It’s much more about manipulating the rules of a sport to your advantage than the gambling itself.

Souten Kouro (2009)
Studio: Madhouse Studios
Director: Tsuneo Tominaga

A Three Kingdoms period manga adaptation notable for mainly using historical records rather than the Romance of The Three Kingdoms as a source and portraying Cao Cao more favourably. Despite that it still manages to be ludicrously over the top. How over the top? People are throwing horses around in the first episode. I’m not pointing fingers, but let’s note that Fist of The North Star director Toyoo Ashida was in the “Chief Director” chair.

Kimi ni Todoke (2009)
Studio: Production IG
Director: Hiro Kaburaki

The current series in the slot is this well received adaptation of Karuho Shiina’s shojo romance manga.

—

There was a secondary anime stream that started in 2004, to begin with it mainly contained syndicated series rather than first run series.

Ghost In The Shell SAC (Aired 2004)
Otogi Zoshi (2004)
Studio: Production IG
Director: Mizuho Nishikubo

First original show for this slot.

Ghost In The Shell SAC 2nd Gig (Aired 2005)
Angel Heart (Aired 2005)
Sasami Club (Aired 2006)
WAIT… WHAT?

Claymore (2007)
Studio: Madhouse Studios
Director: Hiroyuki Tanaka

Norihiro Yagi’s fantasy manga got a brief run on TV. Not a big fan, as it definitely suffers from some of the flaws of the shows that NTV air. For a show about swordswomen there’s an awful lot of walking and talking, rather than fighting.

Neuro -Supernatural Detective- (2007)
Studio: Madhouse Studios
Director: Hiroshi Koujina

Suffers similar problems to the Shonen Jump manga it’s based on, namely poor design on the human characters and lame mysteries. Koujina will be directing 50’s reform school drama Rainbow for NTV in April.

Top Secret – The Revelation (2008)
Studio: Madhouse Studios
Director: Hiroshi Aoyama

Sci-fi detective show involving reading people’s memories.

Moryo no Hako (2008)
Studio: Madhouse Studios
Director: Ryosuke Nakamura

Over-rated adaptation of a Natsuhiko Kyogoku mystery novel. Notable for having CLAMP character designs.

Hajime no Ippo New Challenger (2009)
Studio: Madhouse Studios
Director: Jun Shishido

Continuation of Hajime no Ippo.

It then went into repeats of Kaiji

—

There were also a couple of other titles that fell on different days and times on the schedule:

Kaze no Yojimbo (2001)
Studio: Studio Pierrot
Director: Hayato Date

Misjudged cartoon based on Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo. In a round about way.

NANA (2006)
Studio: Madhouse Studios
Director: Morio Asaka

Like Death Note, this is one of those shows that was always going to happen. The manga is one of the monster successes of the last decade, and the anime was a huge success too. Arguably I shouldn’t include it as it technically started before midnight (23:55) but it’s worth making note of it.

—

Success in the US?

Its hard to say if this really reflects the strength of titles or the strength of DVD distributors and how they package their releases. But here’s the status of the titles that made it onto DVD in the USA.

Berserk - released by Media Blasters. In Print. Complete collections released 3 times.
Master Keaton - released by Geneon. Out of Print. Never collected.
Hajime no Ippo – released by Geneon. Out of Print. Two boxsets.
Tenchi GXP – released by Funimation. In Print. Complete collections released twice.
Air Master – released by Toei. Out of Print. Never completed.
Gokusen - released by Media Blasters. In Print. Complete collections released 3 times.
Monster - currently airing on Sy-Fy.
Ouran Host Club - released by Funimation. In Print. Complete collection and Blu-Ray due out end of March.
Death Note – released by Viz Media. In Print. Two boxsets.
Otogi Zoshi - released by AnimeWorks. In Print. Complete Collection.
Claymore – released by Funimation. In Print. Complete collection and Blu-Ray.
Kaze no Yojimbo - released by Bandai Entertainment. Available. Never collected.
Space Pirate Captain Harlock The Endless Odyssey - released by Geneon. Out of Print. Collected.

Is this digital soft focus effect on anime a recent-ish thing? And is it just a Madhouse thing? Tokyo Tribe 2 was full of it, along with the oversaturated colours that Casshern Sins is rocking. Am I right in thinking Death Note had a touch of the soft focus to it too? Tetsuo Araki’s follow up Kurozuka is certainly full of it. Not to mention excessively dark. The hugely overrated Mouryou no Hako is another culprit.

I really don’t know why this is being used this way, it’s not like any of these shows are particularly poorly animated and so they are using it cover faults. One Outs, another Madhouse show, is distinctly less well animated in terms of movement, but actually uses focus effects to move things in and out of focus, rather than make it look like the cinematographer got mayonaisse on the lens.

Am I missing something or is this just unnecessary? Is it a cheap way of creating a sense of visual unity between production staff? Why is this being done? I think Madhouse are generally great, but frankly this is driving me crazy.

Which is why Michiko to Hatchin and One Outs are the main shows I’m following at the moment, lovely crisp, clean lines and focus effects used correctly. Yay.

My first thought after watching this was “Why am I even bothering watching any of the other new anime?”.

There’s two reasons for this. Firstly, and most obviously, it’s better animated than anything else right now. There are two wonderful set pieces in this first episode. The opening where Kaiba/Warp is chased by “Skronks” through the alien looking architecture, and a more slapstick section where Cloak is running trying to board a spaceship. One thing that Yuasa doesn’t get complimented enough on is his ability to direct physical comedy in animation. The scene with Cloak and Vanilla is a fantastic combination of the sort of desperation, pain and sadism that great slapstick comedy is born from. Also there’s moments of subtle beauty, such as when a child flies her toy bird through the hole in Kaiba/Warp’s chest.

Secondly, and to an extent it can be seen as an explanation of the first reason, it’s not an adaptation.

Now, part of me likes adaptations, it can be fun to see your favourite thing from one medium in another medium and I’m like an eager little puppy with anticipation for the Iron Man film. Some things do transfer to film wonderfully with little effort, some require panel beating until they are unrecognisable.

But there’s things that bother me about adaptations. One is that they are done often for the wrong reasons, film wants the respectability of literature so it adapts novels to film. Comics wants the respectability of film, so you get comic companies setting up movie studios. Manga wants to sell more copies, so it makes anime to advertise it.

However the main one is that even if you willfully ignore the source material, you are still a slave to it. The very act of denying the source is influenced by that source’s existence. And I think that, in general, gives you less worthwhile results than if you build something from scratch just for the medium it’s made in.

As good as the animation and design is on something like Soul Eater, it still has things that would work far better on the printed page than in animation dragging it down (I’m actually hoping that Square-Enix and Bones pull what they did on FMA and create new stories halfway through).

Whereas, what Kaiba has, and Kemonozune before it, is a sense that every creative decision made was to the benefit of making a cartoon. For instance, I’ve seen people complain that there’s too little talking, which is slightly bewildering to me. You’re watching a cartoon, surely you’d prefer storytelling to be told via animated drawings rather than static talking heads. But when so much anime comes from manga, and increasingly novels, people are more accustomed to anime ruled by writers, rather than animators. Plus talking heads are often cheaper to animate…

It’d be nice to see more original shows from animators with a particular voice, but I’m not sure how many have the cachet to be allowed to do so or how many outlets there are for this sort of work. So let’s be thankful we get things like Kaiba, Mononoke, Denno Coil and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.

That all being said, this didn’t grip me quite the way Kemonozume did. I’m not overly keen on science fiction and this story, with it’s own strange world and rules of physics, wasn’t as immediately relatable as Kemonozume’s setting and characters were. So I’ve only watched it twice so far, rather than the three times in a row I did with Kemonozume’s first episode.

Boy meets girl. Boy builds giant firework to get girl to the moon.

This ridiculously multi-layered 2007 series from Madhouse based on the 2001 (?) play by playwright (and Gurren Lagann screenwriter) Kazuki Nakashima has been overlooked somewhat in English speaking anime coverage.

I’d hazard a guess it’s down to the somewhat era-specific references it partly leans on to make it’s points. It takes place in Edo in 1842, when the city was under the strict frugality reforms introduced by Mizuno Tadakuni. Mizuno appears as a character, as does Toyama Kinshiro, a character from the historical detective drama Toyama no Kinsan (not sure of his historical existance) and Torii Yozo, another real government figure who also features in the anime Ayakashi Ayashi.

Also the main character and an “anime exclusive” supporting cast member are named after the rival guilds of firework makers that took part in the Sumidagawa Fireworks Festival.

But that density of historical reference shouldn’t put you off. The series is well aware of just how dense and Japan-specific a lot of their references are. They joke at one point that certain gags won’t go over with international audiences. And more importantly, it’s not all about history.

For as well as being dense with cultural references of the era it’s set, the show is accutely aware of both it’s existence as an anime and as an adaptation of a play. It periodically makes reference to it’s own production, breaks the fourth wall to address the audience and has characters interact with the animation in a way to break the fragile illusion of reality it creates.

And it throws gag after gag of varying levels of obscurity, making pop culture references, poking fun at itself, and the anime industry in general (Production IG and Mamoru Oshii in particular get a rather cruel barb thrust their way). Lots of visual, script and audio cues come from who is playing a particular character, there’s FMA, Cowboy Bebop and Gurren Lagann gags that all come up in this way.

But don’t think it’s just an Excel Saga-esque array of obscure references and satire.

There’s a strong story at the core, that takes some surprisingly dark turns early on, and has a great conclusion that has it’s cake AND eats it. However even the story isn’t the point of the show.

The story, the historical references and the pop culture gags and satire are all in service of an overall theme, which is looking at the role of populist entertainment. It draws a comparison between how entertainment, art and craft still flourished under the frugality of Edo at the time and how the frugality of limited budgets effect the way anime is made. And it looks at what cheap, populist entertainment means to the common man, and the motives behind the people who make it.

Assuming this is a relatively fair adaptation of Nakashima’s play (and beyond expansion of the plot, there’s no reason not to – Nakashima shows up to write an episode later on) then the themes of the story closely mirror the intention of Nakashima and Hidenori Inoue’s Gekidan Shinkansen troupe – the creation of a modern equivalent of kabuki, telling lively, relevant and populist stories.

There’s still much of the theatrical origins about the anime – the credits are written using theatrical terms, background paintings are treated occasionally as physical set dressings, one character is played by the actor who played him in the original play, and in one great episode, the characters put on a play recreating the events of previous episodes.

Now I know some people balk at this level of folding in on itself in a cartoon, prefering a straight narrative. I say these people are wrong. Almost straight out the box, animation has been experimenting with it’s own form, with the best of that experimentation being done in popular vehicles. Max Fleishcer’s Out of the Inkwell series from the 20’s had drawn characters, exist as drawn characters within the “real” world rather than characters in their own drawn world. Tex Avery had characters played with what you could do once you acknowledge the cartoon as frames on film. Bugs Bunny would address the audience directly, providing his own commentary on his actions. Breaking the fourth wall and acknowledging your existance as a fictional creation trapped in film is at the heart of animation innovation, and when a cartoon finds a new twist on that, to actually examine it’s own role in culture it should be embraced.

Oh and in the last 3 episodes it even finds room to take a pop at nationalism (Japanese nationalism in particular, but a lot of the points clearly apply to all nationalists).

Mononoke might have been more visually innovative, Denno Coil might have been more nuanced, Tenga Toppa Gurren Lagann might have more thrills per minute, but Oh! Edo Rocket is a little gem that deserves your attention.

2007 was a great year for TV anime, I’ve still got more series I need to talk about (To Terra, Shigurui, Kaiji, Moyashimon).

Iwa ni Hana brings the knowledge on Yuasa Masaaki’s new TV show.

Everything looks in place for awesome to abound. Yay.
カイバ｜WOWOW ONLINE

While the autumnal anime season hasn’t offered the massive dose of animation loveliness that the summer gave us, it has given me an anime about microbiology and this, an anime about game mechanics and probabilities. So it’s not all bad.

After 2005’s Akagi, Madhouse have assembled pretty much the same team to create an anime of Akagi creator Nobuyuki Fukumoto’s gambling manga Kaiji. Whereas Akagi’s title character was a cold fish, a man who could calmly bluff and cheat in the face of death, a genius at the game of mahjong, Kaiji’s title character is an emotional loser who finds himself thrust into a gambling tournament aimed the most desperate of competitors.

Kaiji, you see, foolishly co-signed a loan made to a former co-worker. This loan was made by the yakuza, and now they want their money back and can’t find the co-worker. Kaiji is given the option of paying it back over 10 years at a rate he can’t afford, or go on the ship Espoir and take part in the gambling tournament that takes place on there. If he wins, he clears the debt and gets to keep whatever else he wins. If he loses, he’ll be taken to parts unknown and made to work hard labour for a year. Or at least that’s what he’s told.

As a series about a man paying back a loan over 10 years would not be that exciting, Kaiji chooses Espoir, and finds himself taking part in a game of Restricted Rock, Paper, Scissors.

Restricted Rock, Paper, Scissors. This is now my dream anime.

Kaiji (manga) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

The game featured in the gambling tournament the first night Kaiji spends on Espoir, with an average survival rate of 50%. The rules were outlined after the issuing of war funds, which were done in 2,000,000¥ and 10,000,000¥ increments referred to as the “lower” and “upper” bound, respectively. The money was in effect a loan, equalling the debt of the contestant and compounded at 1.5% every ten minutes for the four hour voyage; contestants who hold onto their funds for the length of the trip would have to pay 140% of what they invested, thus putting an incentive to finish games early. Money that exceeded the amount needed to repay the loan to the Espoir hosts would be pocketed by the contestant. This gamble is similar to the original game but with a twist – the hand gestures are represented by cards, and contestants are given four cards each with the same gesture for a total of twelve. Contestants are also given three plastic stars as collateral to bet on each round of play – whenever one loses a round, the winner gets a star from the loser. To survive the night, contestants must maintain their three star pendants and lose all of their gesture cards, while earning enough money to repay the interest owed to the Espoir hosts. Cards cannot be destroyed or thrown away, to do so is subject to instant disqualification. Unofficially, however, the star pendants can be traded using the war funds for around one or two million yen each, and they are typically how contestants manage to meet the interest demands of the Espoir hosts.

What makes this series great is how Kaiji’s mind works to find the way through the rules of the game, to find the best chance of surviving. At first glance the rules seem very constraining, but as desperation rises, Kaiji starts to see loopholes in the rules, and the clues in the game that will allow him to determine the best odds. As someone who can spend hours getting lost in the mechanics, logic and probability of games, I loved this. It will be interesting to see if Fukumoto’s story keeps this theme up throughout the series.

The animation improves on the standard set by Akagi. While it’s probably not everyone’s cup of tea, particularly those who only want the big eyes/small mouth look of “typical” anime, Yuzo Sato brings Fukumoto’s unique look to screen with aplomb. I hope that this and Akagi will be big enough successes that people will follow the lead of their characters and gamble on adapting other seinen series with unique visual styles, rather than the seinen moe series adaptations that seem to be the norm nowadays.

Finally finished this bad boy.

GO WATCH IT.

Here's something I noticed on ANN's credits. Episodes 1, 2, 3, 10, & 11 were scripted by people who actually storyboarded the episode. Which makes me wonder if they scripted from storyboards or vice versa. I also wonder what the scriptwriters Kuboshichi Ogi and Ryou Ono's backgrounds are, as they seem to be the only names credited with script who don't have actual animation credits to their name. Compare this to most other TV animation where it seems actual animators are kept at arms length from actual scripting.

GO WATCH IT.

But's not all just great animation. There's also some great voice acting from Kenji Utsumi (he of Alexander Armstrong from FMA fame). It's a tour de force, and gives a lie to those twits who claim that just because something is in a language you don't understand you have no idea if someone is acting well or not.

GO WATCH IT.

Next thing of interest is Tokyo Tribe 2, apparantly this is the next Madhouse-produced, auteur anime for WOWOW. This time it's Tatsuo Sato (Nadesico, Stellvia, Cat Soup OAV) in the driving seat.

More on Kemonozume.

Toshihiko is training in a dynamically animated sequence where he dodges tennis balls fired at him by his compatriots. One of which gets over excited and so Toshihiko takes him outside to remind him of what the Kifuuken's goal is – “to contain the evil in your own heart”.

But now Kazuma wants to inherit the Kifuuken, and challenges Toshihiko to a fight to prove he is more worthy. However, The Monkey wants a peach. And subsequently disarms and debags Kazuma in his attempt to get a peach.

Toshihiko chases The Monkey onto the beach and almost has a parachutist land on him. He lays eyes on the woman (Yuka) and is instantly smitten. Here is the genius bit of animation from this episode. Once he lays on eyes on her the “camera” stays fixed on her face. It's clear from the movement that she's picking up her parachute and getting in a car, but you only see her face. It's like they are animating something you aren't actually seeing. Fantastic stuff that totally conveys the love at first sight emotions Toshihiko is feeling at that moment.

Toshihiko then can't sleep and sees her face everywhere, on The Monkey, on Kazuma, on the all the other hunters. He runs to the beach were he meets Yuka, and to the sound of a thunderstorm we get a segue of them making love. However, Toshihiko fails to notice that as she climaxes she starts to shapechange into a flesh eating monster of seemingly of the kind we met at the start of the episode…

Excellent 1st episode, looking to be the best show so far this year. I've now watched it 4 times after doing this write up. Get the fansub here.

MINOR RANT TIME:

While the show's gotten good feedback on the whole (and what I considered a surprising number of downloads), I had to laugh at this idiot proclaiming it as cheap porn. I'm guessing the porn thing is down to the sex scene. The eyes roll. It does seriously weird me out how some anime fans seem to instantly equate sex with porn, act all squeamish about it and then merrily watch some simpering otaku pandering show that was made by watering down some pornographic PC game. Whether it's a reaction against other elements of anime fandom parading their weird fetishes as a badge of honour, or something else, I don't know. But it weirds me out. Happy mediums folks, happy mediums.

I think I've watched Kemonozume episode 1 three times in total.

The prelude to the credits describes and event that took place in the ancient history of the show's world. An event that directly leads to the situation the characters find themselves in. Simple small shadows form the characters here, reminding me of the interstitial segments linking scenes in Jim Henson's Storyteller.

After the credits we find ourselves in a club where 2 men are talking surrounded by aquariums. The fish in the aquariums look like digitally treated live footage. While this scene betrays the cheapness TV animation tends to possess, the dialogue and acting here are great. And the body language is well portrayed. One man (or monster) is revelling in his murder and eating of young women, the other is restrained, seemingly happy to live a hidden existance. The flesh eating monster chides his companion for not giving into these urges. However it turns out he has been set up.

The Kifuuken, a group of monster hunters attack the creature with swords and missiles. And the male lead Toshihiko shits himself when confronted by the creature…

There then follows a lengthy talking heads scene that acts as both detail of the world the show takes place in and the relationships between Toshihiko, his father and adopted brother Kazuma. Here we seem to have themes of tradition vs. ambition introduced as Kazuma wishes to use high-tech means to eliminate all the Kemonozume (the monsters we met at the start), whereas his father seems to have other intentions in the fight with them other than to kill them (once an arm was removed he allowed the creature in the opening scene to flee).

We then get a scene between Toshihiko and Rie walking on the beach. Old friends, a subtle scene where Rie tries holding his hand shows you all you need to know about their relationship. This is followed with a short montage showing various Kifuuken at work. Also a Monkey!

Sheesh, that's only about half way through the episode. I shall rave on more about it tomorrow I think.