Tag: Anime

Thursday Media Review: BNA: Brand New Animal

Review written by TheChoujinVirus
Note: The following review contains spoilers to to the anime. If you don’t want to be spoiled, do not read the review.

Happy Thursday, everyone, it’s ya boy Choujin here.

Netflix has been a good day for new shows to take a peek. I recalled during the start of this pandemic I watched and reviewed Cells at Work!, the anime that was infotainment. However, I heard of two animes that perked my interest that got me watching: Beastars and BNA. Beastars is a fun anime, as seen as an adult version of Zootopia. Still, we got something that everyone’s been talking about and is pretty recent. Created by Studio Trigger and released on Netflix Japan on March 21st of 2020, then worldwide two months later, BNA: Brand New Animal is a pretty exciting anime that became a talk of the town. Does this series have a good point? Let’s find out with my review of BNA.

Story

BNA takes place in a world where humans live alongside a group of humanoid animals called beastmen. Such hostilities between the two eventually led to the founding of a sanctuary city for the beastmen called Anima-City. Our main focus and protagonist, Michiru Kagemori, flees to Anima-City after she transforms into a tanuki beastmen. Once she makes it to Anima-City, she meets  Shirou Ogami, a wolf beastkin and private investigator that works directly for the mayor of Anima-City, Barnaby Rose. She reveals that she was human and not beastkin, which confused Shirou and Mayor Rose as they wonder how a human can become a beastkin. Our tanuki girl has the unique power to alter parts of her body, Such as longer arms, using her tail as a protective cushion, and turning her arms into birdwings for flight. All while she sees the problems and plight going on in Anima-City. They are showing her that the Garden of Eden is not as glorious as its put due to hatred. Things start to change by the sixth episode when we are introduced to Michiru’s friend, Nazuna Hiwatashi. She was a close friend and schoolmate of Michiru, who transformed into a beastkin as well (a fox beastkin). Now under the name Déesse Louve, a guru of the Church of the Silver Wolf. Michiru is glad about seeing her old friend after all these years but is shocked to see her manipulating the beastmen (and Michiru herself.) While this is going on, a medical company is known as Sylvasta Pharmaceutics. Their president, Alan Sylvasta, shows interest in the two girls for their unique traits of transforming their bodies.

During one incident where Michiru and Shirou stop a rampaging beastkin, Shirou is revealed to be the real silver wolf, leading Baraby Rose to explain the story to Michiru. She reveals that Shirou’s real name is Ginrou and that he was the survivor of the mass genocide of 1,000 years ago in the village of Nirvasyl. His powers were given to him when he absorbed the blood of 2,000 wolfkin corpses slaughtered. Also, while attempting to rescue her friend Nazuna but learning she wasn’t in danger, Michiru learns directly from Alan that the condition that affected the two girls resulted from them getting beastkin blood during their recovery from an accident years ago. He also reveals more about the incident leading to Shirou’s village and what happened. It wasn’t wonton slaughter, but the result of beastmen in-fighting and slaughtering each other brought on when beastkin of different species are pushed together into one area. This disorder is called Nirvasyl Syndrome. What’s worse is that Alan is covertly using the research data from Michiru and Nazuna to create a solution to the Beastkin problem. However, it’s revealed by Shirou that his plan involves turning beastmen into humans through genetic alterations and that Alan is using the Church of the White Wolf and Nazuna. Michiru learns that Nazuna will reveal that she is human. She reassures Michiru that it’ll help calm the beastmen; however, it’s learned that it will end up enraging the beastmen further. Michiru was able to convince Nazuna (though a subtle concert that would claim to “Help the beastkin”) not reveal the truth about her. This works (but is thwarted when another beastkin ousts her).

The whole town goes into a frenzied spree, and even Shirou succumbs to the syndrome. Though when he bites into Michiru, he suddenly is calmed down. They discover that Michiru and Nazuna, being human turned Beastkin, have an antibody in their blood that can cure Nirvasyl Syndrome. Shirou, now cured, heads out to stop the rampaging beastkin. At the same time, Michiru and Nazuna try to stop Alan’s plan of using his machines to use the anti-beastmen formula. During the fight,  Alan is revealed to be a beastman (a pureblood one) and declares that he was purging the “halfbreed beastmen.” To make things worse, he’s got the same regenerative powers that Shirou has as well. Two immortal beastmen fight while Michiru and her friends fight to stop and save the beastkin from extermination. Michiru finds where Alan and Shirou are fighting, and during the fight, Alan starts to show symptoms of Nirvasyl Syndrome. Shirou mocks him for saying that purebloods were immune to the disease. Though in a twist, instead of killing Alan, Shirou lets Alan bite him. Shirou explains that because he bit Michiru, he’s produced antibodies that allowed him to cure Nirvasyl Syndrome. Alan feels confused at why Shirou spared him after all he did to him and his kin. Before the fight, Michiru discovered that Shirou’s howl could calm down the beastkin and, with Shirou’s help, calmed the rampaging beastkin and thus prevented the beastmen extermination.

In the aftermath, the city was now remending. Rampaging beastmen are being treated of Nirvasyl Syndrome, the Church of the Silver Wolf is dismantled, Alain has gone into hiding after resigning the CEO position of Sylvasta Pharmaceuticals. Best of all, Michiru and Nazuna have returned their friendship and now enjoying their new lives in Anma-City, all friendships mended and everything fixed.

Howling Good: What made the anime great

BNA has some wonderful art style for its animation, which reminds me of FLCL or Gurren Lagan. This is no surprise as Trigger made Gurren Lagaan and Kill la Kill, which makes it a pretty good series and stylish. Another that makes the series great is the characters themselves. The supporting cast and the stars are likable in their ways. The protagonist Michiru is a likable character and isn’t falling into any open clichés that plague anime in general. Not only that, but her relation to Shirou is less romance and more of a mentor idea (something that again, doesn’t feel cliché’d) and keeps the focus on the world without plaguing the many problems some go through. The episodes are entertaining as they do have a mix of action and suspense that does their best to explain the world of BNA. Finally, the music, oh how that soundtrack is great! Going To and Night Running are songs one would say, “yup, that’s BNA.” The music does fit the setting of the whole series and doesn’t feel out of place.


Raging Beasts: What the series lacks.

Though the series is good and does its best to tell a story, some of the plotlines and story do feel a bit off. The first part, up until Episode 6, felt like random stories loosely collected. This makes the story feel lost until the arrival of the Church of the Silver Wolf. The sad part is the entire season only consists of 12 episodes, which makes the series pretty short and finishes up with already one villain. Sure, the story mentions crime within the Beastkin world (such as the Family). Still, it feels that it is pushed aside or the “anti-beastmen coalitions” mentioned in the story. Sadly, they’re all ignored and pushed aside. However, knowing the season, the whole thing maybe glanced in a future season if it is done. Lastly, though there are characters that are the main focus, such as Michiru or Shirou, there are some characters that feel a bit glanced or not much action.  Some characters are only given one episode, and that’s it with maybe a few cameos sprinkled in. One character I’ve seen more was Marie the Mink (NOT A  Weasel) and how she’s got more screen appearance than let’s say the don of the Family (a Beluga Whale Beastmen). Heck, I would also like to see more of the side characters and know more about them. For starters, we get a lot of backstory about Barbary Rose and how she and Shirou once traveled the world together, but we don’t know any of the backstories of Gem and Melissa Horner, the married couples who helped Michiru and Shirou with a home of their own? We don’t get to know their backstory? It can become a bit frustrating, but otherwise, it has its charm.

Conclusion

Though the series has its pratfalls; it has its great moments in the series. The story and world building the series has to offer something that makes it stand on its own. Studio Trigger knows how to make more anime. For those interested, BNA: Brand New Animal is on Netflix, so I suggest you take a look and see how you like this anime.

References

Thursday Media Review: Cells at Work!

written by TheChoujinVirus

Note: This review may contain spoilers to the series, do not read if you don’t want to be spoiled. Also sorry for the late release of this review
Introduction of Cells At Work! (English Dub)

Happy Thursday, it’s ya boy, Choujin here.

Well, with all this talk about Covid-19 and how everyone’s worried has gotten me watching an anime-themed around the human body. I’m sure everyone’s heard of shows, TVs, movies that tell this story in animated form. Though we’re not talking about Osmosis Jones (or its Tv spin-off Ozzy and Drix), we’re talking about a series that started out as a manga in 2015 and was made into an anime on July 2018 (and released on Netflix and Crunchyroll by Animeplex) known as Hataraku Saibō or by its English translation Cells at Work! So what is this anime about? Let’s dive into this exciting piece of infotainment.

Characters+Story

Cells at Work! It takes place inside an unnamed human body and that every cell in the human body has a job to do in it. The entire focus of the series focuses on two characters: A Red Blood cell named AE3803 and a White Blood cell named U-1146 as they do their everyday job. AE3803’s job as a red blood cell is to deliver nutrients and oxygen to cells while moving Carbon Dioxide out of it. U-1146’s job is simply killing filthy germs and viruses that threaten the body. Throughout the episodes, these two run into each other during some moments, such as when bacteria invade through a scrape wound, the body suffering dehydration and sometimes random occurrences. Throughout the story, they are greeted by a cast of various other cells such as the Gung-Ho and militaristic T Cells, the maternal maid Macrophage, and the oh so adorable hard-working Platelets. Though as the cells work each other, they have to deal with dangerous invading bacteria such as the evil Staphylococcus, Pneumococcus, and sometimes the harmless Cedar Pollen Allergens. However, they may have to deal with something far worse than those such as a dreaded Cancer Cell. Sounds pretty dangerous, but it’s more or less the everyday life of Cells at Work and that they’re only doing their job by working hard to keeping you healthy from filthy germs and viruses all while ensuring every cell inside gets their fresh supply of oxygen.

Cellular Greatness: What made the Anime good?

One thing I liked about the anime is how the show is more than just an anime, but what some call “infotainment,” which means the show entertains and informs. Though you do get to see the misadventures of cells, there are parts of the anime to explain certain things. In one example, the 2nd episode titled “Scrape Wound,” we are introduced to the Platelets and explained (in a humorous way) in how they help mend wounds (while also being briefed by the villains) or having brief explanations of the cells that make up the Human body. I never knew that Macrophages are cleaner cells or that there’s a cell known as a Mast Cell that produces histamine or that there is a white blood cell that specialized in killing parasites called an Eosinophil. Another thing that makes the series likable is how the anime portrays cells with specific jobs and appearances. Red Blood Cells are portrayed as delivery people who carry boxes of O2 or nutrients ala house delivery to cells. White Blood Cells like the T Cell division are militaristic police who go in and fight cells or bacteria. The Macrophages (and their monocyte counterparts) are viewed as the cleanup crew (Monocytes viewed as hazmat cleaners and Macrophages as maids with huge weapons), the platelets are viewed as children with a knack for repair and construction while regular cells are viewed as just normal people. Bacteria and viruses are also portrayed in this series as invasive viral monsters that don’t look human. Some like Pneumococcus and Staphylococcus are human enough but alien enough to be viewed as your typical anime villains, and others like Bacteria are viewed as monstrous abominations. Interestingly, the only ones not portrayed as anime villains would-be parasites, as they’re true to their real-world counterpart. Lastly, some of the stories are pretty heartwarming, and some occurrences can be dark. Two examples of this are episodes 6 and 7, which introduce us to our main villain, the Cancer Cell. Usually, we all know cancer is bad, but in this two-part episode, he is portrayed as a victim of being a “copy error” while angered that he knows his fate is to die or kill the body. Very unusual to portray a dangerous issue as a sympathetic villain. The next one is the final episode, “Hemorrhagic Shock.” Just as our main rookie blood cell is now a veteran teaching a new red blood cell, the body suffers a fatal head injury. Both cells try their best as more of their brethren disappear as the body starts to die out. The new rookie blood cell starts to break down as they feel that it’s impossible, to which our now veteran cell tries to deliver all by herself and nearly fails until the body gets a blood transfusion and is able to recover. The anime has some impressive details, but we’ll get to some issues.

Cystic Failure: What the series falters in.

Though the anime does have some good portrayals of characters, some characters seem to be pushed on the wayside and not mentioned much. Though we get to see the Killer T Cells (alongside Helper T and Regulatory T), we rarely get to see the NK Cell (Natural Killer Cell), who only appeared in 2 episodes involving cancer, and that’s it. No mention of her or anything. Others like Basilophil are seen once and never mentioned while Eosinophil is mentioned a few times and never seen at work. There are also some cells in the body that I feel are ignored (like nerve cells, brain cells, and even fat cells) as well as other things in the body that happen. Some are mentioned in the manga, but in the anime not mentioned at all. Another gripe is that the season is pretty short, only up to 13 episodes. That’s pretty short for some seasons of anime and, to me, makes the series pretty short with only a few threatening episodes (Dehydration, Cancer, and Hemorrhagic Shock). Otherwise, most of it involves either just bacterial invasions or just a routine day. I mean, the stuff our bodies go through, I’m surprised they don’t mention other problems. One annoyance I also find is that with the English Dub of the series (not knocking on the voice talent thank you very much) but on how most of the series doesn’t bother translating the information boxes (small segments that explain either what causes the cell or describes the cell) while relying on solely on just the person telling you instead of telling and describing. It just feels a bit lazy if you still have Japanese words or no English subs for some segments.

Conclusion

In an age of cell themed cartoons, Cells at Work entertains while informs people with tidbits of facts. It may take liberty on how they portray cells and how the body works, but that’s what makes the series pretty impressive. Though I did criticize the series of being short with only 13 episodes, it’s been confirmed that the anime is getting renewed for a 2nd season coming this summer. If this is the case, I can’t wait to see more of what will happen to our body and other things. If you’re locked in due to Covid-19 and want to watch or imagine what your body does during this thing. Cells At Work is something that helps you pass the time. So look on Netflix or Crunchyroll if you’re interested for watching the series, and keep an eye out in the summer for that 2nd season.

References

Thursday Media Review: Monster Rancher Anime Part 2 (Ep. 16-30)

Review by TheChoujinVirus
Note: This is part 2 of a review on the Monster Rancher anime, to see part 1, please click here. As before, there are spoilers, so you’ve been warned

Hello, it’s ya boy Choujin

Welcome to part two of my review of the Monster Rancher anime. This time we’ll be focusing on episodes 16-30. If you want a recap of the last events and a brief explanation of the Monster Rancher series, I would suggest you click on the link here to catch up. Other than that, let’s continue our adventure.

To recap from the last episode, our heroes have enlisted the help of Captain Horn and his crew of Rockies to help them cross the sea in order to find the Phoenix before Moo can find his body. Suezo complains about why the group has to do work as passengers on Horn’s ship. Horn reassures them that he’s an honorable pirate (despite Suezo’s hatred for the pirate captain.) Meanwhile, below the sea, Gali orders his troop of whale monsters called Zillas and their leader Gooji. The blue whale monster is ecstatic to fight his old foe, Captain Horn, again.Back on Horn’s ship, Horn finds that Golem is shirking his work, despite Golem’s pleas that he hates the water. The pirate crew decides that in order to “face his fears,” they throw him overboard. However, they realize that Golem is afraid of water not because he’s afraid of water, but because he’s a giant rock monster and thus cannot swim. With Genki’s help, they get Golem back aboard Horn’s ship. During Dinner, Holly visits Golem and discusses how much has changed since they all started their adventure. Holly doubts herself in thinking they may never be able to find the Phoenix as the land they’re visiting is entirely new to her and that there are rumors that Moo’s influence is greater there. Golem reassures Holly that as long as they work as a team, they’ll be able to find the Phoenix. However, just as the peaceful night was going so smoothly, the group is ambushed by Gooji and his Zilla troops. The group managed to repel Gooji’s Zillas, which angers the monstrous Gooji as he decides to take care of our heroes himself.  Gooji captures Holly and threatens the rest of them, which causes Golem to snap out of his fear of water in order to repel the giant whale. Horn orders his Rockies to tie up Gooji and dispose of him in a giant whirlpool for good. Gooji tries to take our heroes down with him, but again, Golem intervenes and knocks the whale into the depths once and for all (Though not without Golem returning back to his post upon realizing he’s still near open water).  Horn delivers our group of heroes to the new land. The Group thanks Horn for helping, and Horn returns the thanks by giving them a map of the new land.

Though their new journey is not without new perils besides Gooji and his Zilla troops, Gali dispatches his deadly illusionist Joker to ambush the heroes. Our heroes now have to find a way to get over a massive cliff, which leads to Tiger and Hare arguing. Moochi discovers a cave buried behind rubble, and our group now has a practical way through the cave. However, the darkness also hides Gali’s Joker. A cave in and some bats later cause them to return back to their new area. However, they discover some new paths that the cave in created. Tiger takes this chance to accuse Hare of trying to find a quick lazy fix that hurts everyone and outright accuses him of caring more about money than friendships. Hare snaps and accuses Tiger of being a hypocrite (as he brings up Tiger’s past about being a Bandit). The group then falls into Joker’s trap as they’re now searching for Hare, who promptly ran into the caves after his fight. Joker makes his move and gives Genki and his friends a run for their money with his ability to create illusions. This causes them to succumb to illusions like fighting Moo, peaceful fields, open water, falling daggers, and chains. Though just before Joker can deliver the killing blow, Hare returns and saves the group from Joker. During the fight, Hare learns a new move known as Dragon Kick. With that, he dispatches Joker, and the group escapes the cave.

Along the journey, they managed to run into a new face as they explore the ruins of an abandoned city. This guy’s name is Hengar and was one of the monsters referenced in Monol’s story. He aids them from other Hengars that viewed the heroes as a threat to the ancient city that they maintained for so long. It’s humorous as the group (save for Genki and Hare) is puzzled over some of the technology used (such as a vending machine). Though with Hengar’s help, they managed to not only survive the ordeal but managed to reacquire the Magic Stone that was dropped when they fled the other Hengar. It’s a pretty sad ordeal as Hengar learned that the Ancient’s war was over, and as he tried to explain to his other brethren, they replied by blasting him to pieces. They also learn of the Hengar’s boss known as Techno Dragon and how he controls all the Hengars (save for our companion’s Hengar).

  After leaving the city and saying good-bye to Hengar, the group finds themselves pursued by Gali’s Dokoos. Throughout this battle, Hare calls out that Suezo has no actual talents of combat (despite Suezo’s protest that he can fight.) The group has to deal with not just the rubbery monsters, but Suezo’s existential crisis on how he couldn’t defeat them. Genki tries to help Suezo discover this journey, but it takes one major crisis for Suezo to discover his Teleport ability.
Along their journey, Genki and company run into Pixie and Big Blue again, this time now an enemy of Moo and fighting on the side of good. When she and Genki are separated from the group, they are able to work together and defeat the Scaled Jells attacking them, all while learning that Moo has started an excavation in the north of the continent, hinting that he found his old body.

With Gali defeated, Moo’s Big Bad Four is now down to only two: Grey Wolf and Naga. Grey Wolf gets news of Gali’s defeat from a Cabalos. Grey Wolf views this as a worthy hunt, as he gives orders to his Black Worm troops to attack the group. The group gets ambushed by one of them, and by capturing one of them, they learn that Grey Wolf is one of the remaining Big Bad Four (which shocks Tiger). Though in the ambush, Holly is poisoned by one of the Black Worms. Tiger goes and finds the antidote while defeating the Black Worm’s Captain. They are able to save Holly and continue on.
The group later runs into Mocks and their leader Ebony as they are captured. Though Mocchi escapes and runs into a strange monster named Ducken, who guides Mocchi out of his home as he’s afraid they’ll find him. Mocchi, with some pressuring on Ducken, heads to the Mock’s camp to rescue his friends as he disguises himself as a Mock. Though the operation is a bust, Mocchi runs back to Ducken and finds a bright idea of using Ducken’s tunnels to fight. It’s in this argument that Ducken was too scared to fight against the Mocks and Ebony. Mocchi reassures him, and Ducken agrees to let Mocchi use the tunnels, and with his help, Mocchi is able to defeat the Mocks and rescue his friends. Also, Ducken learns the importance of friendship.

Later on, they learn that some monsters aren’t naturally evil and either learned the error of their ways. Such monsters such as Undine, a mermaid monster Golem, falls in love and, in her chaos, kills herself when she realized that Golem believes that she’s still good regardless of her affinity.  The others happen to be three monsters Centaur, Celios, and Dragoon. Three Monsters who work for Grey Wolf but have a code of honor who at first want to capture the group and later aid them when a group of Salamanders tries to steal their thunder. Lastly, they run into an abandoned factory where they must deal with a robotic insect called Melcarba, who, just like Hengar was created long ago and created with a purpose that was wasted.

Throughout the ordeal, they eventually take the fight to Grey Wolf. For Tiger, this makes it extremely hard as this Baddie is his own brother. Before the battle, Tiger has a dream when he taught his brother how to be strong. By the next morning, after the Pendant is found, they are greeted by one of Grey Wolf’s Cabalos, declaring that his boss demands Tiger to fight him in a one and one fight. Tiger departs to fight his brother while Genki and the rest follow behind him, fearing that their friend may be walking into a trap. Tiger gets flashbacks of the event that led to Grey Wolf being captured by Moo until he arrives at the dueling ground. The two of them exchange quips as Grey Wolf calls Tiger a coward while Tiger tells his brother that he’s been lied to. They both fight as Grey Wolf gives Tiger an ultimatum: Join Moo’s forces. Tiger turns it down, which led Grey Wolf to cheat with his Cabalos soldiers. Genki and his friends intervene, leaving Tiger and Grey Wolf in a one and one battle. The two wolves equally matched until Grey Wolf uses his tail to blind Tiger (a trick Tiger taught his brother). However, Tiger managed to pull one last trick against Grey Wolf. He used his horns to gore his brother though his Crest. Grey Wolf learns that his brother Tiger still loved him. His last words were that he wished they could go back when they were little. Unfortunately, Grey Wolf dies of his injuries as Tiger howls in mourning. Though they defeated the third of Moo’s Big Bad Four, Tiger lost a brother.

While back at the excavation site, Moo’s forces have discovered their master’s original body.
 With news of Grey Wolf’s demise, Naga of the Big Bad Four remains, and our group must continue their travel to find the Phoenix. Throughout their journey they must deal with Naga’s forces. The first one being Stone Dragon. However, they managed to get help from the odd caterpillar named Color Pandora. It’s revealed that Stone Dragon’s been kidnapping the Color Pandora’s children, hence why they resorted to using traps. Another ally they meet is a Ferry Captain named Jim and his companion Eared Mew. They help him deal with Naga’s dangerous Arrowheads. Both of these allies help Genki and company defeat Naga’s threats.
Interestingly, they had one incident where they had to lend aid to two warring monsters. Two tribes of Ape and Rock Ape both started waging war when our heroes awaken a baby monster named Bossy. The group managed to find a solution to where both tribes work together and end their squabbling. Though, as the group is unaware, Moo is marveling over his newly discovered ancient body. Pixie finds this news and heads out to warn Genki and his friends.

The series is impressive and gets a bit dark, especially with the battle between Tiger and Grey Wolf. What I also like about it is that the series does reference past episodes and not forget certain things (Golem’s Aquaphobia and how some episodes have Suezo referencing his attempt at trying to master Teleport). Another thing that I like is how some episodes do hit hard in certain parts. Undine’s Lake actually made you feel sorry for the villainous Undine and how she commits suicide upon realizing Golem’s kindness regardless of if she was on the villain’s side. Another good episode was Tiger’s Battle with Destiny as we get to see a fight between brothers. Some characters also have unusual quirks that make them cute or interesting. Some of them being Hengar, Eared Mew, Captain Jim, and Ducken have some important reasons for their goals (good or bad).
 As mentioned in my last review, the Japanese version has some alterations and changes. Though some are an exciting twist (Ducken in the Japanese version is actually female while the dub made him a male.) while others are typical (Changing Gali’s attacks that reference God to his name such as Gali Finale) and some changes are just really odd (Removing a scene that had mud on Pixie’s face). One that gets me scratching my head is how the “Unlock Your Disk” segment refers to Gooji as Zilla Kong.
Another thing that changed was the aforementioned Tiger’s Battle With Destiny. The episode was not aired when the show was on FOX due to a scene involving Tiger impaling Grey Wolf. It’s odd as Undine’s Lake is broadcast as it involves the monster committing suicide. Then again, the episode is still aired, so at least it’s not like Pokemon where some episodes are outright ignored.

With that, that’s part two of my review of Monster Rancher. Wow, already 30 episodes, and we still got plenty of other episodes soon. So see you next time for the next installment.

References