Busou Renkin: Shonen Soap Opera

I had such high hopes for this, after watching the first few episodes. It looked to be an steampunk/horror mix, although not as interesting as D-Gray Man. By episode sixteen, I was through.

Although I was no fan of the increasing profanity, what killed the deal was the fact that the mangkata behind the series had not planned out what was going to happen next. You know the deal. Mystery characters start showing up, and this redefines everything you’ve seen and experienced up until this point, because the guy was too lazy to use any foreshadowing. As a result, the series took a dive into soap opera land, where main characters become bad guys because, because, well, I dunno. With the plot on ice and the characterization gone, I was gone.

Now this series was never really deep and it was at times a bit too over-the-top with all the speech-making, but the characters sucked me in. Toshiko-san is pretty much what every geek guy wants in a girl: someone into the same stuff, and thus someone that gets him, and can respect him. The opening theme song shows this well: the two of them together charging hard at some off-screen enemy.

Ah well, another case of anime` fail. Welcome to the graveyard, Busou Renkin.

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Goodbye, Tegami Bachi

Tegami Bachi (Letter Bee) is yet another example of an anime` that starts off well but can’t keep it going. Just when you think you can trust the show, perviness shows up and deflates your enthusiasm. And what’s worse is that the show has every ingredient to be great — emotions, a killer setting, a steampunk vibe, cool technology, and even a bit of Christian symbolism in the mix. I managed to hold out for eight episodes, mostly because I kept hoping that they’d pull it out of the gutter, but they never did.

1. Good. Starts series off well. Cool world. Somewhat emotional, but it looks like it will be a slow burn on the emotions instead of pyrotechnics.
2. Eh, sophomore slump. Maudlin and a few seconds of ribald mockery. It’s mostly a setup for the rest of the series. The ending theme is good though.
3. Geez, what is it with this series? It has all the facets necessary to be great but instead they introduce perviness to dilute what could be good into something lame. Seriously, a chick that never wears underwear?
4. It’s ok. The beginning theme is above average. Fairly predictable. The whole thing with the chick is cleared up — she’s a wild legendary creature that has been living as a creature.
5 A little better than 4.
6 Ok, but a bit maudlin.
* 7 Good. A diversity of emotions.
8 Trash. They can’t keep the pervy references out, and they deflate any unity between animation and emotion; you feel dirty. This is the end of the road for me.

Welcome to the graveyard, Tegami Bachi.

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