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Sakugan (TV).




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Stark700



Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Posts: 11762
Location: Earth
PostPosted: Thu Oct 07, 2021 9:07 am Reply with quote


Sakugan (TV)

Genre: science fiction
Theme: mecha

Plot Summary: In distant future, long after the Western calendar is no longer used, humans live shoulder-to-shoulder, cramped in the "Labyrinth," an underground world deep below the surface. The place is known for extreme high temperatures, but also for lodes of gold, silver, and other riches. In one of the colonies named Pin-in, a curious nine-year-old girl named Memempu and her father Gagumber board a two-person work robot and mine for ore.

They eke a living as the lowest of lowest "Worker" occupations. One day, Memempu begs her father to set out as Markers — those who chart the innards of the Labyrinth as a spelunker — to search for her mother who left their home. A Marker is the most dangerous, but also the most lucrative, job. Gagumber decides he cannot hold back the ever-curious Memempu from going off on her own countless times, and finally gives in. The two embark on a journey together in the work robot.

Oct. 7, 2021 (Thursdays; Crunchyroll)
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15580
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Fri Dec 24, 2021 3:40 am Reply with quote
Episode 12 (season finale)

It is leaving itself open enough that it seems pretty strong that they want to do more. This series was rather curious to me, in how I think that its largest strength was its charm. The charm included a slightly more western feel, with a father daughter story, and a whole bunch of conflicting aesthetics that I think actually work well in a cobbled together sense. It does feel like the sort of stuff that could have earned a cult following at something that had the confidence to be a bit different to other anime. The ED was also my favourite of the season, and te opening is not bad either.

And then feels kind of sad in the face of all those things, something about the execution in any particular episode, just doesn't pull all of those things together quite right. The charm is there, along with the technicalities like world building, but there is just something missing that would demand my attention and maybe make me laugh with its jokes. Maybe some way to go that I don't think the show really made me laugh at all, and that seems like a traversty when I think that is what it was trying to do.

Things I really like in this show, would probably be the dynamic of the main characters, I love that they fight with each, but also still care. But perhaps could have done a bit more to not just have it mostly at Gagumber's expense, with Memempu mostly being perfect, which I know by the end they want to have Memempu be some special perfect being, I just think they could have made her a tad more fallible in their relationship, such as more arrogant. A part I was especially not fond of was how it portrayed Gagumber with sexuality, as seed and or sleazy. But I did find it kind of nice when they were fulfilling all the wishes of the woman last episode, which apparently included going to an adult show establishment, if only to not have it just a gross man thing.

The best character in the show was also totally Meroro, the good looking guy. I like how he was set up as the sort of person that is probably too good to be true, a likely schemer out for his own interests, and then he turns out more to be a bureaucratic dork that is actually very passionate about his interests, and also still nice. Totally in character when he gave them the certificate award, before trying to arrest them, because that is the rules. I also think that his episode in trying to fix the wind farm was probably the best episode, and him showing up was usually fun, such as in rescuing them from the island.

My rating is going to be Very Good (8/10), the charming parts push it up a bit more for me, but I just wished that the rest of the show was as good. At the very least it didn't fall as much from grace as Takt Destiny, in something starting fantastic and getting more meh in losing its charm. But it does make me think that perhaps we are just spoiled now days, and in the past something like this might have had more staying power in getting attention, and a cult following.
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