Shelf Life

Stratos Update

There's a running gag in this show wherein the male protagonist is continually asked to spoon feed the various female characters. I know having your crush feed you the bento they made is an anime standard (even in the classic Project A-Ko, which I love), but it started to creep me out in this show. I didn't find it funny or titillating, and I'm not sure which the creators were going for. My mind immediately went to John Waters' Pink Flamingos. Maybe it's supposed to be more wish-fulfillment than titillating (“Man, I wish three girls would sit in front of me at lunchtime with their mouths open like goldfish waiting to be fed!”).

Anyway, sometime in the future, a genius inventor has created an advanced powered armor called Infinite Stratos, or IS. There are two restrictions on IS use, first, the nations of the world have banned it from combat and only use it in kendo-like sports games, and second, for unknown reasons, only women can operate IS.

That is, until a young man named Ichika Orimura discovers he can operate the armor. Ichika is sent to an elite international IS training high school, where he is the only male student. At this point, the show already has two strikes against it. First, part of the fun of mech series (particularly Gundam) is the balance of world power set off by the creation of mechs. Stratos has neutered that aspect from the get-go. Granted, if the series was a future-kendo sports series with powered armor, I might like it more, but this isn't a sports show or even a robot show. No, this is a standard harem comedy (strike two).

Ichika is tremendously popular at school, and he has a talent for the IS that no one seems to share. Even the girls who pretend to hate him, such as obnoxious blonde Brit Cecilia Alcott, are secretly in love with him. At first his roommate in the dorms (why couldn't he get his own room? Geez...) is a childhood friend character. I'm starting to suspect there's a broadcast bylaw that 80% of all anime must include a childhood friend. All of Ichika's newfound friend-zoned girls are immediately (and creepily) territorial about his sister, who also teaches at the academy.

The show is extra disappointing in part because it's so good looking. The effects and animation are done well enough, as IS units fly across pretty painted skies. The occasional use of CG for the armor blends with the 2D elements in a way that it is noticeable without being hokey. I didn't spot many low-budget moments (save for an understandable montage of stills during a summer festival). The production values actually made me angrier; why not put this decent budget to use on something a little less mediocre?

I didn't care for the dub. The international cast winds up sounding a little too much like Hetalia, although in the Hetalia dub the accents are bad on purpose. Tiffany Grant affects a semi-comical German accent (I'm not sure it's supposed to be funny) as Laura Bodewig , a very violent German character/stereotype. I don't buy Shannon Emerick's French accent, although Dunois may be the only halfway interesting character in the show (for spoilery reasons).

Nevertheless, this is Rental Shelf instead of Perishable. Stratos comes with the show's soundtrack, which is a nice touch. Plus, the BD looks sharp and includes the Japanese extras, which is always a plus.

The premise might be original enough to keep some of you hooked, but I couldn't take the stereotypical characters and plotlines. Your mileage may vary.[TOP]

I could not get into this show until episode 13 (I'll get back to that). Certainly I have not played the game; perhaps that would help. Until episode 13, I didn't care about any of the characters, let alone the plot.

Luke fon Fabre has led a sheltered life as a noble of the Kimlasca Kingdom. When he was seven years old he was kidnapped and returned with for-reals amnesia (unlike anime amnesia, he had to re-learn to walk). Afterwards, his parents didn't let him leave the castle. Now a stereotypical hotheaded teen with appropriately stereotyped red hair, Luke's world is blown apart when he's transported to a far off place after a woman singing hypnotic hymns invades the palace.

To be clear, this is not a slow-paced show. The action cuts from one scene to the next fairly rapidly. It's not like the camera lingers on objects or the scenes are long and contemplative (think Andrei Tarkovsky). But then… why is this show so boring? Perhaps in the absence of an over-arching goal the series lacks the urgency of other serialized stories. Many of the missions and quests in Tales of the Abyss last for only one or two episodes at a stretch. As such, the mini-plots lacked gravitas or consequence. How is it that even the A and B plots of a single episode of Adventure Time seem to have more weight than this show?

Suddenly episode 13 is excellent, as if a new writer joined the staff. Episodes 11 and 12 establish a complicated geography of the fantasy world, wherein essentially entire towns can fall into giant sinkholes and melt in lava below. Meanwhile, large scale warfare has broken out. Our heroes rush back to the palace with news that could stop the fighting, only to find a villain plotting against the princess's claim to the throne.

For the first time in the series, I felt sympathy for Princess Natalia. Also by this time, Luke's personality has turned around after the revelation of his backstory (and a dramatic haircut, as pictured on the DVD cover).

Until episode 13, my primary source of enjoyment from the show was the pseudo-science lectures. I laughed every time the characters mentioned “Fonons” and espoused on the physics and science thereof.

Early on I struggled to come up with reasons why Tales of the Abyss isn't Perishable. The production values are decent; this certainly isn't a bad looking show, with its intricate fantasy backgrounds and baroque CG land-ship things. It doesn't look quite as well funded as Infinite Stratos, but the characters travel a lot, which is more expensive than something set in a school (traveling creates more backgrounds, props, and characters). The show isn't poorly animated by any stretch of the imagination, but episode 13 “turns it up to 11” with nice animation on the battle scenes (crowds are expensive to animate).

I was going to give up on this series, but if episode 13 represents such a huge turn in quality I just might check out the next two volumes.[TOP]