Space Dandy Spazz

Original Article: Anime News Network

Wait..wait..WAIT..before I can collect my thoughts, allow me the freedom to celebrate like a madman, for I cannot verbally describe just how excited I am for this piece of confirmation (KYYYAAAA!!!). Bones (or Watanabe rather) finally drops the bomb after remaining disconcertingly silent for almost a year, which mind you, is nerve-grating on those of us eagerly waiting for the official announcement since its first mention last October. If these is such thing as starvation strategy, Bones sure as hell applied it to max effects. What initially revealed to be a Fall series is postponed to the Winter season – kind of what I've been expecting after hearing no wisp of anything throughout the past few months. But FINALLY, it's here, with its glorious staff in tow (oh so glorious I can overlook the super late release). 

Bones is founded by the very people who gave birth to Bebop, arguably one of the most innovative anime I've seen to date, and I can't think of anything more gratifying than seeing the team reunited after 15 or so years. Frankly, I would jump to anything with Watanabe or Dai Sato's name attached, but this brings another level of anticipation when the great minds are joined. Now, I believe there is one more name we should be seeing on there and that's Yoko Kanno – it would be quite odd and hugely upsetting if she's not part of the all-star cast. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. In terms of plot, from what I can gather, it rings with as much flamboyance as Star Driver – almost teetering on the verge of being ridiculous – and I suspect no speculation at this point will do the eventual release justice. Though one thing to be said, comedy is not the easiest element to manipulate and using it as a selling point is a risky move, in spite of Bones' unabashed daringness. Good news for me is I've always liked Watanabe's unpredictable sense of humour and it's one of the few times comedy clicked with me as far as anime is concerned. No question about it, Space Dandy, with its pompous name and even more pompous art design, stems from the very spirit of Bones, a studio who doesn't have "low-key" in its creative vocabulary. The show feels retro, very retro, and Americanized like Bebop, so I think I have already succumbed to the nostalgia assault. 

To be honest, this whole shebang almost seems too perfect to flop – I just don't see any room for it to go down that path with regards to the staff. Neither Dai Sato nor Watanabe has ever dished out half-hearted work in their respective career and they have every motivation to pull off something spectacular here. One thing we have to take note is Space Dandy is not Cowboy Bebop, while it's inevitable to draw comparisons, at the end of the day it's a different adventure altogether and one that demands to be viewed through fresh lenses. If it does fail to live up to expectation, I have a feeling Watanabe's "not an anime to be taken seriously" remark will be liable on one level or another. I, myself, is a little wary of Bones going unrestrained like they did with Star Driver. Yeah, it was a fun show (and utterly ridiculous), but definitely not my favourite offering from Bones. Any concerns aside, I haven't felt this excited for an anime in a long time; a large part of it has to do with the old team steering the ship and it's a ship I don't intend to miss. 

KyoAni going Bishie, Say What?!

Original Article Kyoto Animation's Free! Swim Team Anime Promo Streamed

Well, shit just hit the fan. It's hilarious, but I don't personally find it entirely out of character for KyoAni to swing from one end of the extreme to the other end of the extreme. It's KyoAni's job to generate talks. "Cute girls doing cute things" has been a staple of the studio for as long as we can remember, and regardless what critics may say, we can't deny no one in the industry has quite mastered the art of pandering as well as KyoAni has. Even when they've been so reliant on their tried and true formula, they usually manage to inject some intelligence into the narrative, and underpinned with an interesting directory style and monstrous production value, things usually work out pretty well on the commercial front. No question about it, moe is largely marketed for the male demographic, and though the diversity of the actual audience is hard to say, I do find moe irksome when it's over exploited, which is often the case with KyoAni series (Haruhi and Hyoka are debatable). So...here we have this, KyoAni attempting to expand its female fanbase using pretty boys flaunting prettiness, and opening a can of worms while they are at it. 

To be honest, I'm pretty immune to blatant pandering in general and I don't find it particularly appealing either way, but the industry double-standard needs some readdressing. The bottom line is you don't often find comments like "Eww...Pedophiles" whenever moe infested shows come along, but the moment KyoAni caters to female fanservice, forums are rampant with homophobic remarks. And yes, apparently Fujoshi is representative of all girls who find pretty boys attractive. I'm not bashing on moe-fans here and it's perfectly fine to enjoy the stuff (even if I don't myself), but acting like a narrow-minded hypocritical individual is a different story altogether. Watching some fans rage is amusing and grating at the same time, but at least this provided a rare opportunity for people to talk about the lopsided state of fanservice in the open. So I say bring it on KyoAni, let's rock some boat. 

"Cowboy Bebop Helmer Shinichiro Watanabe, BONES Plan New TV Anime"

For full article, link here --> Anime News Network

We got some great news today! The legendary director Shinichiro Watanabe (Director of Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, Kids on the Slope) is going to be working with Bones on a new original series. I should point out that Watanabe was part of Studio 2 at Sunrise, which split from the company after completing Cowboy Bebop in order to establish BONES. So considering the numerous connections he has with the personnel at BONES, having him back with the studio is really something to look forward to. Put the two together, I think we should expect something stylish, innovative, and lushly animated. Now I'm actually wondering if this new series is related to CB in any way, because Bones announced a couple of month ago that they were working on a new version of a "familiar" title. It's really hard not to draw parallels with Watanabe on board. But either way, I'm just happy we have the talents reunited. I can't wait for more updates!

On a second note, Watanabe is also working with MAPPA on a new series. Kids on the Slope, also directed by Watanabe, was MAPPA's first project after the studio was established by the co-founder of Madhouse. My initial surprise at how well Kids on the Slope was produced subsided when I found out MAPPA's origin. I want to talk a little about the parent company Madhouse. Madhouse hasn't been doing all that well financially, probably as an impact of taking on less mainstream projects that are well praised but not popular within the general market, and this led to the loss of its independence last year when NTV became its biggest stockholder. While being under another company buffers the financial situation and ensures that the studio receives enough budget to carry on, it also raises a lot issues. As we saw with the case of Studio 2 splitting from Sunrise as a response to the increasing pressure from Bandai, Madhouse also risked losing a lot of creative freedom by being under NTV. Let's face it, an artist's unique vision might not give rise to works that actually sell, and the boss company probably sees making a profit as the more important objective. When there is a conflict of interest, guess who wins? So MAPPA was established as an effort to preserve the creative freedom. Works that can't be produced at Madhouse will be produced at MAPPA. Well, that sounds better than nothing, and I hope with the help of many talents, such as Watanabe, the studio will continue to shine.