Ghost Hound, episode 9

A subdued, subtle show that seems into your mind through your ears, Ghost Hound is as much a soundscape as it is piece of animation. The sound design is nothing short of brilliant, accomplishing more with a few moments of audio than most anime can with hours of dialogue. And it has a lot to say, too. It's Production I.G's 20th anniversary project and boasts a pedigree that includes Serial Experiments Lain, Texhnolyze, Ghost in the Shell, Jin-Roh, Kino's Journey, and Hell Girl - there is certainly no shortage of stunning style mixed with philosophical pondering that is always just beyond reach.

Sitting squarely in the realm of mind-fuck anime, Ghost Hound clearly has a lot going on behind the scenes and dribbles the hints out slowly. It succeeds where earlier shows such as Lain may have lost some viewers by constantly evolving, expanding or event changing the mystery as it progresses. The viewer isn't left out the dark, the questions just keep leading to more, deeper issues. What starts as 3 boys who all have some connection to death in their childhood leads to out-of-body experiences and creepy visions of insect-like spirits covering everything. That soon veers off back towards the mental trauma you would expect these kids to be carrying around - and that leads to ruminations on memory and the dead, tying back into the spirit world the kids stumbled into. It's a coil that takes you deeper and deeper without really realzing what's going on, but its kept grounded by realistic characters with a plethora of real-world problems and flaws - and that most un-anime of character traits: a willingness to actually talk to those around them about what is happening.

Even with all that, however, it would just be good anime. What takes it beyond that and into the realm of truly great is the execution. The visuals are top-notch. This is a Production I.G show, after all, so the animation and art-direction is unmatched. The character designs might strike some as plain or blandly generic, but just like the show itself, quickly reveal themselves as intricate, subtle and remarkably expressive without relying on the usual flashy tricks. The supernatural bits are handled with a flair that becomes increasingly disturbing and ominous, building the sense of tension. But again, it's the sound design that really steps up as remarkable. There is very little music in the show, the creepy atmosphere is wrapped around the viewer using ambient noise and effects. Sounds fade into each other and are distorted so masterfully that they quickly serve as storytelling tools as deft as direct dialogue or full animation.

Ghost Hound has a lot it wants to get off its chest and manages to do most of it with a glance and the sound of a heartbeat fading into footsteps in gravel. When it does talk, it answers your questions by revealing that you were only seeing the tip of the iceberg before and now you have to re-evaluate everything.

Highly recommended to anyone who wants more than a robot and a cute girl in their anime.

based on 9 episodes : ANN : Wikipedia

Mnemosyne, episode 1

The premise of a private investigator with some kind of mysterious past stumbling into some big conspiracy why trying to save a stranger from some evil thugs certainly isn't anything new, but with slick character designs and a bad-ass hot chick (Rin Asogi) as the PI the whole things comes across as more old-skool fun than tritely unoriginal. The hook is that Rin's apparently immortal, opening up the door for incredibly bloody scenes. Unfortunately, that might also be the show's downfall as it skirts a close edge with near-fetishisation of pain.


While I'm all for brutal combat and I loved the tempura-frying scene in Ichi the Killer, torture for torture's sake gets old real fast. Add in a dominating lesbian with a piercing fetish and it gets mildly uncomfortable as well. It's not particularly explicit or disturbing, but it feels like the pain is being showcased as fanservice, and that's very disconcerting.

The plot's also rather weak as well: something about clones and implanted memories that somehow ends up resulting in an army of attack zombies. This is only the first episode of an OVA, though, so it can very easily develop into something better. I'm willing to give it a chance to develop so long as it doesn't dip into Saw/Hostel pain-porn.

based on episode 1 : ANN : Wikipedia

True Tears, episode 6

It's amazing how mediocrity can ruin an entire genre. True Tears is an almost archetypal harem show: an average kid is surrounded by beautiful girls who all desperately want him but he really just doesn't notice. Wackiness ensues - or at least it would if they hadn't put the effort into giving all the characters actual traits and writing them like real characters. A slight dose of melodrama and top-notch art direction clinches the deal, making this a solid anime soap opera/guilty pleasure. An obsession with chickens helps too.


The first surprise was to find Shinichiro, the hapless object of just about every woman's desire, actually had real character traits - and a spine. This gives the women a reason to be interested in him: they're impressed with his art, he stood up for them (instead of the traditional Japanese habit of standing nearby and watching), or he's just a genuinely nice guy that they've seen try to help people. It really is shocking to find that you can actually root for (or even like) the kid. Actually having definably traits shouldn't prevent nerds from associating with him, though - we've all done the "I like the girl, but she likes this other guy, so I'll help them get together" thing.

The girls have actual personalities of their own as well, from the Ideal Girl to the Long-time Friend to the Weird One, they all actually manage to transcend their obvious stereotypes to one degree or another. Further, the art direction and animation is stunning (aside from the unnerving CG crowds in distant shots) and as things seem to warm up, the show injects a bit more melodrama, adding some more tension beyond simply "Will he get the girl? Which girl?!"

Highly recommended for anyone who can stomach anime romance, or teen romance in general. If you're willing to try, give it a chance. I was expecting to completely dismiss it after an episode and I've been unable to quit it since.

based on 6 episodes : ANN : Wikipedia

Spice and Wolf, episode 6

It may be moving a bit slowly and I might just be wanting to like it more than it really deserves (as a friend of mine thinks with this latest episode), but I'm still very much enjoying Spice and Wolf.

The premise is unique: Horo, a wolf-god of prosperity, enters into an agreement with Lawrence, a medieval merchant, to travel north to her ancient homeland. Things get complicated when a young merchant who clearly has complicated feelings for Lawrence shows up hunting Horo to turn over to the church and usher in a new era so her village no longer needs to rely on the god's whims for prosperity. The glue that holds the show together, though, is the interaction between Lawrence and Horo - it's surprisingly compelling and sublte for an anime.


Things have progressed rather slowly so far, though, and I suspect that's part of general sense of dissatisfaction. Most of the "action" has involved economics and manipulative trading and it's taken six episodes to resolve what seemed like a minor story about currency devaluation with a climactic revelation of Horo's "true" form - and for the leads to finally commit to each other. It's the team-building scene when constantly bickering travelers can finally admit that they really do want to travel with each other, no matter what pretense they insist on.

The animation isn't particularly impressive either. Horo's giant wolf form ripping through the catacombs was pretty nice, but mainly due to subtle touches like the wind of her passing or her wantonly tossing bodies around. With a better budget or tighter direction, that scene could have been positively bone-chilling.

Spice and Wolf remains a solid, well-written and original anime, however. At worst, it can feel like it's not living up to all it could be, but I think it's really still just trying to find it's feet. It's taken a bit, but I suspect it'll be worth it in the end.

Even if she looks more like a Firefox-tan cosplayer than a big, bad wolf.

ANN : Wikipedia