Just some thoughts on animated stuff I've watched recently, for other cartoon-o-philes like myself who might be interested in what to or what not to watch
FRUITS BASKET 2019
I just finished watching the first episode of this as of this writing. This is a reboot of an early-2000s anime, considered very much a classic fantasy romcom of the medium, and am quite impressed so far. I don't know how it stacks up to the original show, as I only knew it by reputation, but this first episode was funny and interesting and filled with good characters, as well as having some beautiful looking animation and designs.
The story follows a hard-working, semi-homeless highschool girl Toru who gets taken in by a cursed family in a secluded manor house. Their 'dark' secret? They're all possessed by the animal spirits of the eastern Zodiac and, oh yeah, they transform into their animal forms when hugged by the opposite sex. And of course the ones Toru most closely interacts with are all handsome young guys, so I assume various goofy romantic hijinks will ensue in subsequent episodes a la Ranma 1/2. Definitely one I plan to keep watching.
NETFLIX ULTRAMAN
And kind of on the opposite end of the spectrum is Netflix's new Ultraman anime. Unfortunately, while this one looks like it had potential, it's a mess so far. It's based on the old Kaiju-fighting japanese superhero that dates all the way back to the late 60s, and has had a lot of various incarnations since. I do not like the cel-shaded computer animation here--it too often edges into the uncanny valley for the human characters, and the aliens and ultramen look stiff and unnatural when moving. The characters are bland, especially the Main Character who's a generic well-meaning doofus like a thousand other anime protagonists, and the villains are one-note and underdeveloped. But some of the action and fights are good, as are some alien and monster designs. I also have to give them props for trying and mostly succeeding in keep the aesthetic from the old show while updating enough so that it looks somewhat believable for 2019.
Plus in the original, Ultraman grew to 150' tall and fought rubbery kaiju, which when I watched the original as a kid was easily the coolest part of the show. Why is there none of that here? Might as well be watching japanese Iron Man where they replaced Tony Stark with the world's most boring teen-ager.
I believe this show is supposed to get at least three season. Maybe it will improve as it goes on, but for right now I'd say skip it.
LOVE, DEATH, & ROBOTS
This new animated anthology series on Netflix actually grew out of the creators' long-standing efforts to revive the Heavy Metal movies. But I guess there were various rights issues, so they ended up saying screw it and just created their own thing. There are 18 shorts in the series, many very reminiscent of Twilight Zone stories, and they vary wildly in quality and cleverness. Some were dumb and pointless (the god-awful 'Witness,' the werewolf soldier one, and the one non-animated one with the fridge.) But some are definitely worth a watch. The best, imho: Three Robots, The Secret War, Suits, Good Hunting, Zima Blue, and Lucky 13.
GATE
I'm late to the party on this one, as it first came out in 2015. but I just started watching this last week, and am a few episodes into season 2. It's about an interdimensional gate opening up in downtown Tokyo that leads to an honest-to-goodness D&D-esque fantasy world. A fantasy world army tries to invade and is beaten back, prompting Japan to send its own military through the Gate. From then on its modern soldiers vs medieval armies, dragons, wizards, and so on.
A neat premise with some equally neat and engaging characters, and so far it's been pretty fun. They concentrate mostly on a small cadre of soldiers and the various allies and struggles they have rather than on any of the big-picture stuff, which I think was the smart move. I do have some quibbles so far. I dislike that it's so Japanese Flag-Wavy (but then, being an American, I guess I shouldn't complain, given how dumbly over-patriotic some of our movies can get), that too many of the natives are depicted as dumb cannonfoddder, and that the modern military tech is too OP vs the fantasy armies (ie, it's boring if the good guys don't have real challenges). But so far it's been fun when it focuses on teh main characters, so I'll definitely keep watching.
MAGICAL ANGEL CREAMY MAMI
This may sound like a porno title, but it's actually one of the original magical girl anime series from the early 80s. I was re-watching some Urusei Yatsura (perhaps THE all-time classic anime romcom) on youtube when I noticed the user had also uploaded some episodes of this old series, so I started watching some. Basically a twelve-year old girl named Yuu helps out some magic aliens, and as a reward they give her a magic wand that can transform her back and forth into an adult version of herself. Through coincidence and vaguely-defined magic powers in her new form, she becomes an overnight pop idol singer called Creamy Mami. Most of the episodes I've seen so far are Yuu trying to lead her double life and keeping it all secret from everyone except her two mouthy magic kittens.
So yeah, this is basically a young-girl wish-fulfillment version of Shazam, only instead of becoming a superhero, she becomes a popstar, though she still uses her powers to occasionally help people out and combat various supernatural menaces like ghosts. This also has to be one of the most 80s shows I've ever seen. Just google some images from the show and you'll see instantly what I mean.
It's mostly okay. Not great, but not awful either, and is definitely more sophisticated than any American TV cartoon that was produced in the same era. It's hokey and goofy at times, but occasionally they do squeeze some interesting stories and character moments out of the premise, so it's just fun and entertaining enough to make me watch more, though at a pace of only one episode or two a week..
So that's about it for now. More to come sometime soon!
