Death Note - Episode 1

I've been avoiding Death Note for quite some time. It was originally released back when I was in my first or second year of High School, and I was just then getting into the "deep end" of anime. Before I entered High School, I was like most anime fans, watching only the mainstream stuff that showed up on adult swim and what-not. Honestly, I always like the premise of Death Note and I event got up to fifteen or so episodes before I quit. So you're probably wondering why I ended up stopping, right?

Well, to put it bluntly, it was because everyone else was watching it. At the time, anyone who said they liked anime was obsessed with Death Note. Heck, I imagine any sort of anime convention had a thousand L's and Light's swarming around. But to be clear, it's not the fact that so many people liked it that I ended up quitting. No... it was because everyone who talked about it acted like they were doing me a favor by introducing it to me, or did their best to show they were a bigger fan, or other crap like that. I just got sick of it before I could really get into it due to the culture (at least in NA) that formed around it.

A small sample from Google.

So, what was my reason for starting again? I was looking through Netflix and saw it. Simple as that. I was bored and needed something to pass the time (I could have decided to play Dragon's Prophet but I figured it'd be better to wait til tomorrow - pace myself, y'know). Anyways, on to my thoughts about the episode itself.

The Atmosphere

Immediately after the opening sequence my first thought was, "Oh no..." Simply because of the music. Not particularly because it was bad (It isn't, I guess), but because I knew that music would be setting the ton for the rest of the anime. Gloomy, yet with religious/utopian undertones. Through the artwork, music, and dialogue, the anime presents a gloomy and horrible world (I guess much like our own) that focuses in on the bad. Yes, I know what the anime is about and I knew it wouldn't be a happy thing, but it still felt a bit oppressive. 

The Story

The protagonist is Light, a super-student who gets perfect grades and always comes in first place at whatever he does. Or that's how he's introduced, anyways. We haven't met Lights father yet in episode 1, but from what I remember he was a detective. Anyways, Light happens across the Death Note and he initially reacts like any serious and intelligent person would - he shrugs it off as some sort of hoax or chain letter prank.

Yet, he can't help but go back and pick it up. And then once home, he decides to try it out. Just to put his mind at ease. Light later describes this as a super-natural power that the Note has, but I would say it's just the mind of a teenager. No matter how intelligent or diligent Light is, he's still a teen and teens are the type of people to come up with a Death Note chain letter. I mean, what teen wouldn't like a notebook that could kill anyone they didn't like with no consequence? I honestly just feel like that bit of the plot was a bit weak. Perhaps the manga portrays it better, but it felt like the writers just wanted a quick and easy way to get into the good part of the story. But forget that, I'm getting off topic.

After a few initial tests, Light becomes a killing addict and begins causing a mass-extension of "evil people" before the Shinigami Ryuk shows up. Much to Light's surprise (though he covers it up quite well), the Shinigami had purposely "lost" the Death Note in the human world and Light wasn't really the "Chosen One" he apparently hoped he would be. That doesn't stop Light, however. He lays down his Big Plan for Ryuk and, with a bit of an insane look in his eyes, proclaims he will become the new god of the world he is creating - one without evil people. 

With the introduction of Ryuk, I've actually come to be quite interested in the supernatural world behind the "real world" in Death Note. It seems like there are a pretty large number of Shinigami besides Ryuk and a Heaven and Hell are mentioned. So I'm wondering how all that works out. Apparently it's possible for a Shinigami to have more than one Death Note, too. And we already know it's possible for a human to become in possession of a Death Note (either by purpose or accident). So that's some pretty obvious foreshadowing that Light will run into someone else with a Death Note later on (at least I think).

The episode ended after that. I can definitely tell I'll enjoy the series (at least for a while). The art work is nice (if gloomy and dark), the story is interesting, and the voice acting is superb. My only real complaint at this point is a couple of weak plot points (nothing major or annoying) and I feel the artwork could have been a bit better. I feel it's a bit on the simple side, even if it is nice. Thanks for reading and I'll probably post the second episode here in an hour or so.

Dragon Collection - Season 1 Episode 1

Earlier I was browsing through anime as I felt like watching something but wasn't sure what. I had seen Dragon Collection on various lists a few times, but always passed it over for obvious reasons (like it being a children's show). However, this time I decided "what the hell" and decide to start watching. I figured that, at a minimum, it would be interesting to see how it compared to Pokemon and Digimon of my childhood. So here we are.

 Oh, I forgot to mention. This series is also based on a manga series which is quite a bit different than this anime. The biggest difference being that the protagonist from the manga is a high schooler and the themes are a bit more mature compared to the anime. Both the anime and the manga protagonist share the same name (Arata) and they both have the same redeeming quality - being lucky. I'm honestly not sure if they're supposed to be the same person (probably not, as from what I remember of the manga, that Arata was just being introduced to the game and it didn't mention anything about him playing as a child).

The other major difference is that, at least for the first fifteen or so chapter, the manga focuses on the story happening in a "Real life" setting, rather than in an alternate world. Later on, the manga does transition to taking place in an alternate world, though. However, Arata in the anime is thrown into this alternate world immediately (which is where the shortness of the episode is kind of annoying - there is next to no build-up to Arata being thrown into the alternate world and it seems very rushed).

The first thing that stuck out to me was the relatively short episode length. At this point I'm not sure if it'll continue like this, but the episode lasted just eleven minutes. This is half of the average twenty-four minutes that most anime episodes last. I've been noticing stuff like this a lot in anime the past couple of years - series being released with relatively short episodes varying from three minutes to ten minutes. I personally dislike this a great deal - it just feels like I'm getting short-changed on content. However, I can understand the appeal of shorter episodes, especially in a show meant for children.

Yep, that is our Protagonist, smashing his chin into a grown mans balls.

The artwork is typical of this type of anime. Simple colors with simple shading/lighting. Not to complex, yet it still looks good. It actually reminds me a lot of the various Digimon TV series. Not just in art style, but in design, too. I wont do a side-by-side comparison, but with a simple google search you can see how they're alike. 

Our Protagonist, Arata the elementary schooler, is your typical shonen protagonist. He has wild hair, a cool outfit, and is energetic and up-beat. He also has typical leader qualities found in these types of stories. His companion is also typical - starts of cute, has a dragon-shape, is infinitely strong (as in, he's always strong enough to get the job done, no matter what). Like I said, typical protagonist.

And this is where the similarities with Digimon really start to show for me. Arata looks like he could be one of the protagonist from the Digimon series. He looks about the same (just needs goggles), his companion has the dinosaur/dragon looks. He's even been thrown into an alternate world (although not the "digital" world). Heck, the whole show and game seem kind of like rip-offs of Digimon so far. But I admit I've only seen one episode and it's still to early to tell.

The episode itself
The show starts off with Arata being introduced. Then, in the rushed fashion that the whole episode has, Arata rushes off to participate in Dragon Collection, or "DraColle" has he calls it. He was supposed to go to the arcade with his dad, but he's impatient and goes ahead. He is then sucked into the world of Dragon Collection, right in the middle of the store. His dad appears right after, just in time to notice the "Arata" card in the Dragon Collection machines card slot.

Right away we're introduced to some villains. It's your typical to-dumb-to-realize-how-bad-they-really-are bad guy group, the Green Pepper Gang (which consists of two young kids and an old dude). The screencap earlier in the article is of Arata smashing his chin into the leaders nuts. This is because Arata happens to land on the fire drake pup that the Gang was trying to capture, accidentally helping them capture it. Arata feels bad about this, and so he helps it escape.

During the last three minutes of the episode, the real meat of the series comes out. The monster battling featuring the game system that the series is based on. Basically, Arata notices a book that contains his monster cards thanks to the help of the fire drake pup he helps at the start of the episode. The pup enters the book and is transformed into a card that Arata can then summon, which he does, and thus a massive and powerful fire drake that can save the day. But only after he shouts, "guts!" and helps the drake along with his own resolve. Simple, easy, and the good guys come out on top.

That's where the episode ended and I probably wont watch the next episode until tomorrow. It's getting late (almost 2am).