Mekakucity Actors
If seeing red-eyed children in Black Bullet didn’t satisfy your red eye cravings.. then behold the red glowing eyes of the people in this next show! Mekakucity Actors, on the surface, looked like a slice-of-life anime with a sci-fi twist. It’s about a group of teens who have these bizarre abilities when their eyes turn red. For instance, Kido can make herself completely disappear… Momo has the opposite where she can draw crowds that even pop idols wish they could have. Shuuya can transform himself to look like others and so forth.
At first, the anime takes the route, almost like Pulp Fiction. They skip around and introduce some characters and after a couple of episodes, they have their individual stories cross. Whenever they discover someone with red eyes, they take them into their “club” which they call the Mekaku-den. There, they try to become friends and support each other as they try to unravel the mystery of their powers. Once they establish that, they do some pretty nifty artwork in the form of dream worlds. At first, they seem to cause a bit of confusion, but as you continue to watch through the episodes, you realize that they are related to their powers as well as their past. This becomes even more evident when they dedicate a few episodes to Marry.
It is discovered that Marry is the “queen” and that all those with red eyes are the “snakes” that will, one day, gather around the queen. They take a mythological approach to the anime by revolving all of this around Madusa and how she exists because a wish keeps being made and that everyone is stuck in a time loop until the wish is fully granted. It really does get confusing, but it remains interesting at the same time.
If you want an anime that keeps you guessing as well as provide a mythological twist, then this show is for you. However, this show is not a standalone series. More of this story is told through a collection of songs by Hatsune Miku as well. So you may want to invest some time looking up the source material as it provides some more background to this show.
Zankyou no Terror
And finally we have Zankyou no Terror (Terror of Resonance). This show had amazing animation and a pretty sensitive plot that most people wouldn’t have the balls to try and pull off in today’s society… especially after 9-11 and the Boston Marathon… but then again, this happened in the United States and we’re talking about Japan.. a whole other country.
We are introduced to Touji and Arata. Touji (Codename: Twelve), who described as fun-loving and has a smile like the sun.. and Arata (Codename: Nine).. who has a flat personality with eyes of ice, break into a scientific research facility and steal some sort of object. We fast forward six months when they are in a skyscraper shopping center. The two of them talk about “the plan” and then initiate a series of explosions that brings the building to the ground.
In other words, the two of them pull of a terrorist attack.
Caught in the middle of this is a girl named Lisa who just wants to escape her mother who, for the lack of a better term, is batshit crazy and doesn’t want her daughter to abandon her when, in fact, that’s what Lisa is trying to do because of the way her mother acts.
This show really tries to be Death Note… right down to a detective who has to deal with Twelve and Nine’s riddles in order to try and stay one step ahead of them. When Twelve and Nine discover that there is someone among the detectives that are on to their riddles, they turn it into a game.. just like Light and L did in Death Note… except it doesn’t have the depth it did. Death Note had 37 episodes to work with while Zankyou no Terror only had 11. I felt that if they spent some time fleshing this show out some more, it could have had a bigger impact. Things felt rushed as they always do with shows that are given half a season to try and accomplish telling a full story.
There were, of course, other shows that came out that I watched, such as Sword Art Online II, but I recently just did a review of that which you can check out by clicking here. I also “watched” Break Blade… and by watched, I mean I downloaded it and stored it on an external hard drive since this was just a re-telling of the six movies that came out in a television anime format. If you’ve seen the movies, then you’re not missing much. If you haven’t seen the movies, then I HIGHLY recommend you watch that series as Break Blade is just too amazing to pass up!
Speaking of remakes, another big remake this year was Fate/Stay Night Unlimited Blade Works. This is nothing more than the original Fate/Stay Night updated so it looks as good as the prequel, Fate/Zero did… or in other words… ufotable’s excuse for selling more $500 limited edition Blu-Rays. So far this anime is everything that I remember it being and a second season is slated for April where they will finish off the re-telling of the series and yes… if you’re wondering… Emiya is still as dumb and clueless as ever. They didn’t fix him one bit.
So for those who want a nice little TL:DR list of the Good and the Bad (that I watched) from 2014… here you go.
The Good
Samurai Flamenco
Kill la Kill
Hajime no Ippo Rising
Mekakucity Actors
Black Bullet
Zankyou no Terror
Akame ga Kill
Sword Art Online II
Fate/Stay Night Unlimited Blade Works
The Bad
D-Frag
Pupa
Sailor Moon Crystal
Tokyo Ghoul
The Pilot’s Love Song
I know there were a lot of other shows out there in 2014 and I didn’t get the chance to watch them all, but all in all, for me, I thought that this was a pretty uneventful year. Sure, there were some big hits, but most of the seasons, I found myself only picking up three or four shows when I would normally pick up double than that. It seems this year, there were a lot of sequels and new seasons to shows I wasn’t interested in to begin with so I’m sure that played a huge factor into my lower viewing numbers.
Was there anything in 2014 that you watched that was a highlight or a low for you that I didn’t cover in my column? Was there anything that you agree or disagreed with in my column? I’d like to know! Send your feedback over to JoshPiedra@theouterhaven.net and I’ll be sure to include your thoughts in a future edition of The Anime Pulse.
Also, if you feel inclined to do so, go ahead and follow me on Twitter @PulseIn.
Until next time,
Ja ne!
