Uncurrency Anime(s) – Dantalian no Shoka, UN-GO, BLOOD-C

Dantalian no Shoka

The thing that I like about this show is the individual little stories that it tells. Its fun figuring out the mystery in each episode and the episodic nature of the series really get into you. I mean, even the episodic characters get a lot of development in what little time they aired in. The downside to that is that Huey and Dalian ar as developed as paper. The whiny brat who insults everyone she sees in Episode 1 is still the same brat by the end of the series; same goes for Huey. But still I’m quite favorable to this series since the little stories it does tell are REALLY good. To bad it never overarchs and we probably will never see a sequel for this one. Still, it’s eons better than the likes of GOSICK and Memochou.

Execution: 35/40 (While it never really ties up together, the individual stories are quite a treat.)

Engagement:25/30 (I guess there’s minus points that I finished this so late.)

Characters: 17/20 (Main characters are as thin as paper but episodeic characters are unbelievable well fleshed out. Sometimes even better than Huey and Dalian themselves.)

Production:10/10 (GAINAX nailed it.)

Overall: 87/100

UN-GO

The thing that I like about this show is how witty it is. All the details for the mystery are there and all you need is to pick up on it. Unlike GOSICK in which Victorique has a script, UN-GO’s mystery-solving is more believable. You get really into it when everyone starts pointing fingers making you go “who the hell is the culprit?”. I would say the last arc has the best mystery I’ve seen for a long time with how layered yet conneced it is. Also the theme of War and Nationalism is strong in this series and it’s quite nice to actually see different views of it (especially in an anime). I would say one of the things to look out for is Kaishou Rinroku’s opinions which was subtley shown in the last episode (very creepy).

The downside of this series is that the characters are underdeveloped. With a series this thick, 11 episodes are totally not enough. We don’t even now any of the main’s cast actions or motivations since there’s too little time and everything’s all compact to gether.

At least in UN-GO, they manage to somehow conclude it and all the different mysteries actually come together.

Execcution:36/40 (Nicely-paced though it does cause problems in another department)

Engagement:27/30 (Those mysteries really hook you on, but its too short)

Characters: 16/20 (Very likable but the tight pacing doesn’t give them as enough characterization as you want.)

Production:9/10 (Its nicely made though the series doesn’t exacly require that much movement since everyone is just pointing fingers. Great OST though)

Overall: 88/100

BLOOD-C

The disappointment of the year, I’m still quite torn on how much CLAMP screwed up with this anime. On paper the story of Saya sounds extremely delicous but WHY OH WHY did it take so much time to reveal that ONE PLOT DEVICE which wasn’t exactly the most mindblowing thing ever. Adding insult to injury are the characters (except Saya) who were already terrible in the beginning and when their true identities came, it was as if CLAMP spit on me sayin “HAHAHA WE CAN DO WHATEVER WE WANT WE DON’T CARE IF YOU’RE LIKING IT OR NOT!”. To be fair, the last episode was well into my liking, and actually got me excited for the movie. I just wanna see Saya kick the hell out of those bitches for making her sing like a retard every single day.

If one thing, CLAMP should get advice from Urobuchi Gen on how to make engaging horror stories.

Execution: 20/40 (sigh.)

Engagement:21/30 (I actually had a fun time laughing at how bad it is in the second half.)

Characters: 13/20 (Saya was okay.)

Production: 9/10 (Admittedly good.)

Overall: 63/100