Saturday, August 1, 2009

Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahou - First Impressions



This has not being the best of seasons for me. Aside from the 26 episoders such as Mazinger Z, Shangri-La and Saki, none of this season's showings have really attracted my attention. That show about girls playing baseball in the 1920s was alright, and I might blog about it later, but aside from that, I've kinda been in a dirge about what to watch.


Real men walk away from explosions.

Then, someone recommended me Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahou, saying it was rather similar to Nanoha. Tragically, I misunderstood him in thinking that YWGH would be featuring a cast of teenage girls who thought they were GaoGaiGar, when what he actually meant was that it had lolis, and uh...magic or something.


GarGarGarGar GaoGaiGar! GarGa-huh? What do you mean it's the wrong show??

Story

...oh god, where the hell do I start?

Ok, um...apparently Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahou is about...uh...some girl called Koyomi, who is shitty at magic and whose only spell is the ability to make bins appear out of thin air (I'm not joking). Anyway, Koyomi meets some woman named Misa, who is apparently a super badass mage and will presumably train Koyomi to not be completely useless. Also included are a loli who doesn't wear panties and an evil pimp in a white suit.


Koyomi's token guy friend. He is as boring as he looks.

Or that's what it's meant to be anyway. To be completely honest, I had no idea what the hell was going on in this episode, it would have been more accurately described as a strangely disjointed sequence of events with naked butt shots thrown in every now and then.


Truly this is a masterpiece of storytelling!

Characters

Koyomi Morishita
Apparently she's the main character; which was a surprising revelation given the fact she's got like 5 minutes of total screen time in the whole of the pilot episode. Anyway, she's your typical anime clumsy, not too bright high school girl. Also, she can use magic, but as mentioned before, she sucks and can thus only make bins appear on top of people.


Um, I was told I was supposed to be the main character...

Yumiko Cristina Ichinose
Apparently she's not the main character despite taking up a large majority of this episodes focus. Anyway, she's the token loli and grade schooler who has recently realized she's the descendant of some famous magician. She's constantly harassed by her classmates because of her funky hair colour and her bitchy attitude. Also, a pimp in a white suit wants to kill her, presumably because she owes him money. Has the attention span of a goldfish.


Hmm, I probably should call the cops given how a guy wants to kill me, but I don't want them to think I'm crazy! (I'm not joking, she actually thinks this in the show)

Misa Anehara
Apparently she's the greatest magician in the world, or something. Which is why she has a job as a salesperson who magically enchants her goods to make people want to buy them; work that is truly worthy of her talent. Anyway, she saves Koyomi and Yumiko from the evil pimp in the white suit at the end of the episode and will presumably train Koyomi later on in the series.


This is my computer; where all the magic happens! Also, this is where I run my kiddy snuff porn site.

Pimp in a White Suit
Presumably the main antagonist of the series, he wants to kill Yumiko to steal her grandfather's magic walking stick. His magic powers include the ability to summon magical swords, control demonic beasts and walk around in public in a shiny white suit.


My characterization is as featureless as my suit!


Halt bitch! Gaze into my shiny white suit and DESPAIR!

Animation
Oh sweet jesus, what the hell happened here??? Animation wise, the characters move fluidly enough, but seriously, what the hell happened to the colouring department??? The colours look horrible and everything is goddamn blurry.


Fear me! For my shiny suit shall burn holes into thine retinas!

On the plus side, the techno-magic of the series looks cool.


Nanoha, eat your heart out.

Overall
Oh my god, I have no idea what to say. YKGM appears to have a pretty standard storyline, but the problem is it can't even tell that story straight! The first episode wasn't so much of a story, but an experience as otherworldly as any of the trippiest art movies out in the market.


Having narrowly escaped a crazed killer who can shoot fireballs and teleport, Yumiko stops to pet a cat.

Seriously, NOTHING. MAKES. SENSE! I felt like I was just watching a pastiche of unrelated events acted out by the same characters! After the first episode, I felt as if the very fabric of reality had torn itself apart, leaving me shivering, in dark, featureless despair.


A bin has appeared over my head! I AM BESTED!

Goddammit, even Evangelion made more sense then this! To illustrate my point, I'm going to show you a particular sequence of events in YWGM, and compare it to an iconic scene from Eva.

Ok, here we have a bunch of boys sneaking up on poor Yumiko...


When suddenly, the treacherous villains reach under her skirt!



Only to find the horrible truth that Yumiko is in fact Mio!!!



Their objective accomplished, the boys proceed to do a stupid dance, presumably to appease whatever dark god it is that haunts this place.



In rage, Yumiko then takes her panties off in front of the boys and throws it at their leader, thereby teaching the rogues a lesson they won't soon forget!



The boys then learn a far more horrible truth; Yumiko isn't potty trained. This discovery causes the boys' leader to break down in tears as he tries to scratch off his irreversibly tainted face.



Finally, the drama ends with the teacher reprimanding Yumiko, saying she, "went too far".



...uh, what?? Yumiko is the constant victim of sexual harassment by the boys, and ostracising by the girls, and SHE went too far!?!? Where the hell did you get your education degree from you stupid bitch!?

So yeah...did that make sense to you? No? Join the club. In contrast, here's an iconic picture from the End of Evangelion;



Unlike YWGM, the message of this image is painfully clear; Kowaru makes a shitty garden gnome. Seriously, why can't all shows be as straightforward as this?

Also, another problem prevalent in this episode is that everyone is stupid. Particularly Yumiko. Early in the episode, she meets the Pimp in a White Suit, who makes it painfully clear he wants to kill the shit out of her. And yet despite his threats, or the fact he threw a fireball at her, she seems to constantly forget she's on the run from a crazed killer and makes frequent stops to pet cats, read books and talk to random people!


You fool! Instead of calling the police, you decided to run to a deserted road instead! Now prepare yourself, for I shall kill you until you are dead!


What the!? Who the hell is this and why is she hugging you!? Hello???


Um, guys? I'm here to butcher all of you! Could you please stop ignoring me!?


Seriously, why are you giving me a, "I won't run away" speech? I just want to kill that girl behind you; I don't even know you! (This actually happens by the way)

Either Yumiko has balls of steel, or the evil Pimp in a White Suit is the most nonthretening villain in the history of everything.


This show makes my head hurt...

About the only thing I liked in this whole episode was the spunky magic. Called, "Code", magic in YWGM appears to be of a technological nature, with characters actually programming spells into their computers. Sadly however, aside from the spifftastic magic, YWGM is a horrible train wreck of an anime. I'll probably watch episode 2 since I downloaded it at the same time as ep 1, but don't expect me to continue further then that unless ep 2 throws out some truly magical shit.


22 comments:

  1. I F*cking want to be that "Pimp in the white suit", except I wont be throwing swords and fireballs, Id be using a BMFG and possibly a huge chainsaw

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  2. Holy shit, that is the shiniest, manliest, least pedophilic white suit I've seen in ages. Come to think of it, I haven't seen a good white suit (and pimp therein) in quite a while. Glad to see they're making a comeback.

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  3. These screenshots are really appealing to my taste. No harm in giving it a go right? xD

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  4. I accidentally downloaded ep 3 of this show, not knowing what it was. Now I know :P

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  5. The 'bin' looks like a pan =o There's an item in the game Snowboard Kids which drops pans on the other character's heads, seems to be a lost japanese gag as I haven't seen any use of it recently.
    So random xD;; not really my type of series [fanservice is a no no for me in general as they lose points in the storyline]. Seems like a waste as the characters look pretty interesting otherwise.

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  6. Ah yeah I was starting to watch this recently... Kinda meh, but I usually try to judge a series if it's watchable by the second episode. The older magician might be interesting to watch though. The puppet show at the end was ... weird...

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  7. This series is just a little too silly and nonsensical for me. I love your captions and descriptions to the screen caps though. Made me chuckle.

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  8. Holy shit, literally for the panty part, LOL. Good gawd.

    About the teacher going "you went to far" on the girl, it reminds me of one local school girl incident as well. She was harrassed/molested by a gang of boys after class ended and NOBODY helped regardlessly. The father had to report about it to the headmaster/mistress/whichever, and their only reply was "who asked your daughter to be pretty". like yeaaaaaaaa. retard mentality do exist in some parts of the worlds, sheesh.

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  9. isn't this a hentai anime? Good loli and camera angles.

    naked butt FTW. maybe some additional scene will make it complete.

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  10. @ Gunstray
    It doesn't matter what weapons you wield, all that matters is that you're a pimp in a white suit >;)

    @ Baka-Raptor
    Pimps in White Suits are that rarest of breeds in anime; men so unapologetically manly, that they can only exist in small quantities lest Akihabara be burned to the ground by rioting otaku, angered at the unwavering assault on their pedo-moe shit.

    @ Optic
    You'd better be talking about the screenshots with the pimp in a white suit!

    @ Acesan
    Now you know; don't watch it!

    @ Koshiko
    Whilst I do actually like fanservice, I'd rather it be coming from a source whose actually of legal age -_-

    Nonetheless, YWGM is still a horrible, horrible piece of trash

    @ Lightning Sabre
    I've actually seen the second episode, and it's just as horrible as the first. In fact, it's worse, in addition to being mind numbingly bad, it's also devoid of the pimp in the white suit!

    @ Guy
    We all are. We all are.

    @ Yi
    lol, making fun of shows is the only way I can get through them -_-

    @ Anna
    Please, please, PLEASE tell me the father then punched the teacher in the face!

    @ Willie
    No, a Pimp in a White Suit show

    @ B-Mecha
    lol, no it's not a hentai anime XD

    And as much as I like naked ass, I rather it not be the ass of a 12 year old -_-

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  11. Lol.. I've watched episode 0. Not sure if it's OVA or not. And I enjoyed it.

    But now you got me all curious as to whether it will maintain the silly comedy in episode 1 and onwards.

    *puts on flame suit. Just in case! :p*

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  12. Shows with girlies taking off their panties surely has adepts.

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  13. "Halt bitch! Gaze into my shiny white suit and DESPAIR!"

    Officially most awesome character since Date "R U READI GAIIZ?" Masamune from waay back.

    So why does this Anehara Misa totally remind me of Senimaru Akari from Bureido Shikake no Hanayome?

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  14. Victim blaming is not rare.

    But, on the other hand, her taking her panties off is going, not just too far, but in the wrong direction?

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  15. BTW, I've just reviewed Element Hunters' first two episodes. Though with no screenshots, and much less blow by blow.

    Because it blowed so hard... sometimes I kill myself :)

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  16. I'm not sure what to make of this series either. I watched the first 2 or 3 episodes on Crunchyroll when I was bored and desperate for something to watch. It kind of hurt my brain.

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  17. faintly reminiscent of this guy:
    http://are-are.net/wp-content/gallery/shakugan-no-shana-6/snapshot20080118211231.jpg

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  18. Koyomi has Nonoka Ai as a seiyuu, only reason I watched the first ep. But its so nonsensical I didn't bother with anymore. Certainly cute though.

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  19. Lolz, I planned to watch this since it was featured in Crunchyroll. I thought I seriously needed an anime with a combi of good plots. Fortunately, I came across this blog--I can almost taste your vehemence! Haha. I get your point, and I am quite convinced. I think you just saved me from 20-25 minutes of misery. :P

    ~BleuLagoon

    PS. I enjoyed the captions, and the crazy comments by the way. Well, if the show is really as nasty as you described it, I think I'd border craziness as well.

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  20. For those who fight for it, life has a flavor the sheltered will never know.
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