I watched a lot of anime this past year, in 2014! When I take a look back, they kind of run together in my head. I think it went something like this...
Welcome, one and all, to third annual installment of Pachi's Anime Retrospective! If you're new to my blog, this is when I take a look back at anime series of the year I didn't dedicate a review to already, good or bad, and give them their due. These might be series I purposefully saved for the end because they were highly representative of the year as a whole. They might be series that I forgot about or said I'd review later and never got to them. Whatever the case, now is the time to close off the year and give these shows the swift kick to the butt or sincere pat on the back they deserve.
For this year's retrospective I've got 5 series lined up. They are, in the order I will release them: The World is Still Beautiful, Captain Earth, Rage of Bahamut: Genesis, The Irregular at Magic High School, and Space Dandy. I originally did not think I'd have a Bahamut review ready since the show only finished airing the day of this post, but I have proven myself wrong and gotten one prepared. Since I did not plan the release schedule properly to account for that, two reviews will go up on the 31st; the rest will go up one at a time each day from now 'til the 1st of the new year, starting tonight, with The World is Still Beautiful! I hope you enjoy! ^_^
Much like last year's Attack on Titan collage, I knew without a doubt that this year's art would have to be Space Dandy themed. I always loved the image from the show's pre-opening titles sequence deceptively picturing the hapless trio as daring, fearless bounty hunters, so I went for a mystery-adventure-serial feel with this piece - kinda Scooby-Doo-ish. Like, there's mystery out there, gang, and we're gonna find it! And surrounding them are the various aliens they may yet encounter, here depicted through the other shows featured in the Retrospective. Turning Captain Earth's Earth Engine into Admiral Perry was a last minute decision. Originally he was in that spot in his full, untouched Impacter glory; but drawing mecha is not a strong suit of mine, and he was the last character I drew for the piece, so he wasn't scaled well. It was a great big mess, but thanks to my Wacom tablet I was able to completely re-do his portion in post and focus on the most recognizable feature of the mech - its captain's hat helmet. God bless technology.
Livius I, the
infamous Sun King who conquered the known world only three years after his
enthronement, calls upon the far-off Principality of Rain for a wife. Her
conceited older sisters have no desire to wed a rich tyrant, so the fourth,
youngest princess of Rain, Nike, travels against her will to the Sun Kingdom, a
land with no rain, to marry the despot. Upon her arrival, Nike discovers that
the great and terrible king is only a precocious child who wants to exploit her
ability to summon the rain when she sings. Tensions flare between the unlikely
couple before a beautiful relationship begins to blossom.
I love a good romance, but they are hard to come by, especially in anime. Some readers may recall how scorned I was by the scintillating adult love story Natsuyuki Rendezvous, which began boasting mature, tempered machinations of love but devolved entirely into empty symbolism and sophomoric vilification. It was the pits of romantic drama and turned me off to romance for a good while, but there have been distractions in the meantime. My Little Monster was an enjoyable teenage romance with likable characters and wit which unfortunately didn't garner enough sales for a second season. Inu/Boku SS was a juvenile, weird, yet charming romance which stood out as one of the few cases where a character embracing the term 'tsundere' is believably developed. Kunihiko Ikuhara anime say fascinating things about romance, but that's not entirely what I tune into them for. Those are all well and good, but no, I want a straight-up mature romance to wash away the taste of Natsuyuki, something bold yet sweet, simple yet meaningful. And I found one, with non-adults as the lovers and one of them is still a kid, and I'd hesitate to call this series 'bold' as it is significantly mellow and low-key, but I found one close! It is called The World is Still Beautiful, and I shall proceed to tell you all about it.
Still Beautiful was
a bit of a bait and switch affair for me. I knew little about the premise other
than the name and that the main character was off to a faraway land to marry a
king. Cool. In the first episode we are introduced to our protagonist, Nike
Lemercier, 4th princess of the Principality of Rain. Like the rest of her
bloodline, the power of her singing voice can call upon the rain. She's also
brash, no-nonsense, a little clumsy, cheeky, sweet, and all -around a top grade
appealing main character. No trembling virginal flowers in this romance, Nike
is an active presence. The first episode endears us to this woman as she
stumbles through the new sights and smells of the Sun Kingdom, getting into a
little trouble with local thugs, making friends, and using her attunement to
nature to save the day. My first impression was that of a light-hearted,
Ghibli-paced Kino's Journey - on her way to the Sun King, Nike would travel
from village to village, solving problems and reflecting on her own, revealing
the beauty of the new world she has entered with the boldness of her spirit.
The actual identity of the Sun King didn't seem to matter. What was important
was the road Nike took to get there!
And then the episode ended, with Nike already arriving at
the Sun King's doorstep. Huh? Yeah, I was fooled - the story got down to brass
tacks way sooner than I expected. It is here that we meet the second participant
of this romance: Sun King Livius Orvinus Ifrikia I (who I shall refer to as
Livi from this point on, as Nike does), who as it so happens, is just a child
and doesn't match the rumors of his monstrous tyranny in appearance. But to
underestimate Livi is a grave mistake. Though a stuck-up child with a short
temper, Livi's anger is one of cold, calculating conviction which gives
credence to his infamy. Though a child, his experiences and hardships in
upholding his kingship is equal to that of an adult, as evidenced by his
ability to single-handedly build prosperity in the Sun Kingdom and summarily
usurp all known nations on the planet. Livi is an immense intellectual giant
enclosed in a hardened cicada shell which renders him a socially-awkward
literalist - a fascinating character who gives chutzpah to the 'short, bratty
kid' trope.
Rather than a literal journey, Still Beautiful becomes a journey of the heart. Livi, a sheltered,
yet curious soul, wants to see what rain is like, hence why he summoned a Rain
princess to be his wife - for his amusement. Nike adamantly refuses for her
bloodline to be used for sport, and from there a tumultuous residency begins in
the walls of Livi's castle. You may find it proper at this point to make
allusions to that classic musical The
King and I; goodness knows I did. On the surface it is very similar - a
free-spirited young woman is brought into the company of a cruel, unfeeling
king and through time, her warmth melts his cold heart. Though I think it does Still Beautiful injustice to say that it
is merely "anime The King and I".
There are many narrative departures between the two and at best the connection
ends at plot synopsis.
If a narrative byline can be found in Still Beautiful, it would be Nike's ideals of transient beauty. Nike
learns firsthand the stubbornness of the Sun King by getting thrown in the
dungeon for disobeying his first order to summon the rain. In the beginning,
Livi treats Nike absolutely terribly, vocally abusing her and holding no
attachment with their betrothal other than her usefulness to affairs via her
rain summoning. Nike makes the opportunity to escape on multiple occasions, and
yet, ultimately she doesn't leave. She chooses to summon the rain and to be
Livi's bride. Why? Livi himself is surprised she returns after his treatment of
her, so clearly it wouldn't have been the greatest imperative to retrieve her. This
is why Nike is an admirable protagonist - she doesn't quit. Even when the
meaning for her journey turned out to be acting as a play-thing for a childish
brat, Nike's duty as an ambassador and symbol for her home country is strong -
to escape the Sun Kingdom would be to betray her duty to her family and the
world.
And why is Nike able to do this? Because her connection with
nature allows her to seek the beauty in all things, such as a drab, pouring
rain. As Nike's song tells, it is actually a tender rain that she brings as a
sign of her love to heal broken hearts. A key stipulation to Nike's rain
summoning is that she must believe, from the bottom of her heart, in the
feelings she is communicating through her song; else the rain will not come. Living
under his roof, Nike sees that Livi does not need to be changed, but rather
needs to be freed from his shell. Her desire to see the beauty in his heart and
to show him how beautiful the immaterial world can be - despite his tyranny,
despite his jealousy, despite his stifling nature - moves her to stay by his
side and sing for him. Initially this is only as a duty to her homeland and an
innate desire to reach out to who she sees as a broken, soulful child, but in
time that devotion blossoms into love, and it is sweet sweet sweet. I've only
covered the surface of the emotional trials these two face, and haven't really
touched on Livi's side of the equation at all - because this romance is more
rewarding if you watch it revealed for yourself.
Now before you go thinking that Still Beautiful is a chaste, sappy love affair, be aware this is
first and foremost a comedy, at times to the detriment of the content. Sparks
fly when Nike and Livi's wildly different personalities clash, which is where a
lot of the humor comes in, but the type of humor this show employs
is......tonally dissonant, you could say? I wouldn't even call it rote slapstick,
it tends to settle on 50's Honeymooners humor, which dates those portions of
the direction significantly. And that wouldn't be too bad on its own, but then
you've got occasional 4th-wall breaks, and one scene parodies the nico-nico
live stream commenting system which is just baffling. The story appears to take
place in a timeless land one would find in Disney movies, so it's already
difficult to place it in any particular time period; the varying brands of
humor don't help the issue. So this show doesn't seem to know how it wants to
deliver its humor and just tends to grab random techniques from a bag. That
would be fine for a true blue comedy, but Still
Beautiful's romance and characters are so independently strong that the
humor becomes a noose around the show's neck, killing the mood of many scenes
in the process. And humor is about 70% of its MO, so your mileage may vary if
you are of a more discerning taste in comedy (like me).
I
compared the first episode's pacing with that of a Ghibli movie, and I still
think that holds up for the remainder, low quality humor aside. Specifically,
its genuine moments play like an Isao Takahata direction; with an underlying richness
of life that creates a stark, emotionally taxing grandeur that you're either
going to love or feel overpowered by. As a comedy, I think it's a bit of a
wash, but as a romance, it's sublime; though you have to give it time, as after
the first episode the pacing drops and meanders about for awhile before finding
its reigns. The World is Still Beautiful is
a quaint little show offering solace to the emotionally burnt-out - a show of
healing. This is a perfect anime to watch when you're feeling depressed and
down on life and need some warm fuzzies. Even in the hardships of reality, even
in the pain of loss, there is an intrinsic beauty merely in being alive in this
strange, unpredictable, fascinating world. Even the most bitter, angry soul can
be shown that despite everything, the world is still beautiful.
You can currently find all subbed episodes of The World is Still Beautiful streaming online at Crunchyroll. The series has not been licensed for a Western release at this time.
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