Anime: "Baukra no" - series completion
Dec. 26th, 2007 03:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
timepiececlockOverall: C+
Unspoilery
This was, from the beginning, an ambitious series with an interesting premise. Unfortunately, it never fully lived up to the promise of the first two or three episodes. The paths it chose to take were sometimes interesting, but mostly I found myself wishing they'd taken the time to develop different subplots than the ones they settled on (family drama of the children, military-economic politics.) It's like watching a fantastic sports game, but you're in the wrong seats so you're constantly forced to watch all the players you don't care about instead of the ones you do, and you know, you just know, that there's far more interesting stuff going on over there than over here.
I read several reviews and short blurbs about this series before watching it, and I knew going in that it was meant to be "shocking" and "disturbing". It was never really the latter for me (the macabre or unsavory actions of the characters were usually so drawn out and over the top that they didn't have real emtional impact), and it was only "shocking" once, in the second episode, with one character's surprise departure. That scene surprised me for its heavy mood and delivery, but the subsequent plot points never did more than cause me to raise my eyebrows, and I frequently predicted them several episodes beforehand.
I think that if you've never seen children die in anime, you might find this shocking and disturbing. But frankly, as much as I rail on Evangelion, that series STILL holds rank as the only mecha anime to genuinely disturb me as a viewer, for one particular scene late in the series, that ended with the main character screaming incoherently when he found out the truth of his actions. Nothing in Bakura no ever came close to affecting me like that as a viewer; because we were forced to spend so little time with each of the 15+ characters, it was difficult to really feel for any of them. (other shows that disturbed me, not mecha: Fullmetal Alchemist, Perfect Blue)
I feel about this anime the way I feel about a lot of series with good stories but mediocre execution: if they'd been written better, they could have been amazing. They could have taken my breath away and lingered in my conscience. Instead, I'll just move onto the next show and forget about this one.
Should you watch it? Depends. If you like action and mecha, then definitely. If you like shows that attempt to be subversive and anti-typical, then go for it. If you like a high body count and people from messed up home lives eventually breaking down, then this is the show for you. If you want warm and fuzzy feelings, this show is NOT for you. Which, unfortunately, brings me to my main complaint about the show: not enough at the end. It plays chicken with the audience, and loses. I was moderately disappointed but the triteness and the oversimplifications of what would normally get treated as a significant ethical and philosophical problems.
But seriously, if you want to see something weird and disturbing, watch Paranoia Agent instead. That show, although riddled with problems, was easily smarter, slicker, and more entertaining than this luke-warm anime.
Spoilery:
I guessed that Machi, the bob-cut girl, was the one not contracted, though for different reasons than those the series gives; I guessed that from as soon as they found out someone wasn't listed. I predicted there were people in all the mecha suits since the third or fourth episode. Stuff like this made the show predictable, and made it difficult for me to feel swept up in drama.
I liked it when Dung Beetle got shot-- that little thing was annoying as hell. I'm still not clear on the count of how many battles fought-- I couldn't even keep it stratight when they were talking about it in the most recent episodes.
I felt the ending was trite. Sure, everyone who was predicted to die in the beginning did die, but it still felt like settling to me. The way they showed the little girl Kana livingin the end, the "lessons" the minor supporting characters spouted... all of it sounded trite, half-hearted. Like the show had been made just to show young kids dying, and then it tried to stand for something moral or compelling at the last minute.
Unspoilery
This was, from the beginning, an ambitious series with an interesting premise. Unfortunately, it never fully lived up to the promise of the first two or three episodes. The paths it chose to take were sometimes interesting, but mostly I found myself wishing they'd taken the time to develop different subplots than the ones they settled on (family drama of the children, military-economic politics.) It's like watching a fantastic sports game, but you're in the wrong seats so you're constantly forced to watch all the players you don't care about instead of the ones you do, and you know, you just know, that there's far more interesting stuff going on over there than over here.
I read several reviews and short blurbs about this series before watching it, and I knew going in that it was meant to be "shocking" and "disturbing". It was never really the latter for me (the macabre or unsavory actions of the characters were usually so drawn out and over the top that they didn't have real emtional impact), and it was only "shocking" once, in the second episode, with one character's surprise departure. That scene surprised me for its heavy mood and delivery, but the subsequent plot points never did more than cause me to raise my eyebrows, and I frequently predicted them several episodes beforehand.
I think that if you've never seen children die in anime, you might find this shocking and disturbing. But frankly, as much as I rail on Evangelion, that series STILL holds rank as the only mecha anime to genuinely disturb me as a viewer, for one particular scene late in the series, that ended with the main character screaming incoherently when he found out the truth of his actions. Nothing in Bakura no ever came close to affecting me like that as a viewer; because we were forced to spend so little time with each of the 15+ characters, it was difficult to really feel for any of them. (other shows that disturbed me, not mecha: Fullmetal Alchemist, Perfect Blue)
I feel about this anime the way I feel about a lot of series with good stories but mediocre execution: if they'd been written better, they could have been amazing. They could have taken my breath away and lingered in my conscience. Instead, I'll just move onto the next show and forget about this one.
Should you watch it? Depends. If you like action and mecha, then definitely. If you like shows that attempt to be subversive and anti-typical, then go for it. If you like a high body count and people from messed up home lives eventually breaking down, then this is the show for you. If you want warm and fuzzy feelings, this show is NOT for you. Which, unfortunately, brings me to my main complaint about the show: not enough at the end. It plays chicken with the audience, and loses. I was moderately disappointed but the triteness and the oversimplifications of what would normally get treated as a significant ethical and philosophical problems.
But seriously, if you want to see something weird and disturbing, watch Paranoia Agent instead. That show, although riddled with problems, was easily smarter, slicker, and more entertaining than this luke-warm anime.
Spoilery:
I guessed that Machi, the bob-cut girl, was the one not contracted, though for different reasons than those the series gives; I guessed that from as soon as they found out someone wasn't listed. I predicted there were people in all the mecha suits since the third or fourth episode. Stuff like this made the show predictable, and made it difficult for me to feel swept up in drama.
I liked it when Dung Beetle got shot-- that little thing was annoying as hell. I'm still not clear on the count of how many battles fought-- I couldn't even keep it stratight when they were talking about it in the most recent episodes.
I felt the ending was trite. Sure, everyone who was predicted to die in the beginning did die, but it still felt like settling to me. The way they showed the little girl Kana livingin the end, the "lessons" the minor supporting characters spouted... all of it sounded trite, half-hearted. Like the show had been made just to show young kids dying, and then it tried to stand for something moral or compelling at the last minute.
