Shangri-LaIntroduction
With this review I`m going to try to give you an idea of this anime. I will try to either separate my own opinion from the facts or at least make it visible for you, so that you always know whether I`m suggesting something or whether it`s a matter of fact. I`m also trying to spoil as little as possible; however a review is almost always a bit of a spoiler and hence you should decide on your own whether to keep reading or not. If you are going to watch the anime anyway I`d suggest you don`t read this review.
I started to watch this anime, because I had an opportunity to get my hands on a 1080p HDTV (by O-L]) rip. At first I wasn`t even sure whether I`d drop this anime or not, but as the story and the characters developed, I decided to continue. I didn`t regret this, because it got better almost at the half of it (around episode 10).
Story and characters
As the short description on aniDB says, the story is set in a - arguably distant - future where Tokyo became a forest that absorbs carbon dioxide. There is a tower city called Atlas, which is considered a last resort for the Japanese people. Unfortunately there is trouble and hence it doesn`t seem that the politicans are interested in "rescuing" all the people from the poisoneus forest.
The story revolves around a group of people who call themselves "Metal-Age". This group helps the people, who are not in Atlas yet and thus suffer from diseases, starvation and other problems. You might compare that group to Robin Hood ("take from the rich ones and give it to the poor ones").
Kuniko Houjou is a skilled girl amongst that group. She`s very energetic, tries to think positive and of course a bit naive. At her side there are Momoko and Mi-ko, who are both transsexual. They often make jokes about it - which is one of the comedy aspects of the anime. Another one is Takehiko, who`s the tough guy in the group. He`s responsible for quite a few funny actions as well - yet the anime manages to not drift into "trash-comedy". Comedy, action and a bit of romance and horror are all neatly mixed and the series itself tries to keep the balance for as long as possible. This however doesn`t mean that there are no exceptions: there`s quite a bit of violence (not necessarily involving blood) which can seem disturbing at times, and yet funny at others.
The story seems to be standing still for about 10 episodes, while the viewer is getting to know the Metal Age and their problems as well as Atlas. The viewer also has a lot of time to understand Kuniko`s character. Near the middle of the series the anime starts out to uncover more and more secrets of Atlas while also revealing characters and their positions within the world (I can assure you that you might not expect the way things turn out). At the end - near the end - the viewer can almost feel Kunikos thoughts and feelings himself. Yet the end is another turn of events; I guess it`s better you find it out for yourself though.
Audio and visuals
While Range Muratas art is very impressive on paper, it`s somehow not that impressive in the anime itself. Especially the eyes of many characters seem to be very uncommon and sometimes even "out of place". This put aside the characters look pretty usual - except that there are no real schools where Kuniko comes from, yet she`s wearing a school uniform. The backgrounds - while staying often the same - are of high quality and level of detail. Overall it`s a mix of the streets you might already find nowadays with some futuristic thoughts (especially in Atlas). This is not a bad thing - just something you have to get used to (which you got plenty of time for).
All characters are easy to distinguish, because of their unique appearance and the way they behave.
Takahashi Mikako did a wonderful job on lending Kuniko her voice. I think the voice is very convincing at all situations. Same goes to all the other characters. At some of the characters you can`t really conclude what they think at some moments (Lady Mikuni for example) - it`s hard to tell whether she does things on purpose or not.
The music is also very good. It always matches the scenes and the current mood and atmosphere. The two soundtracks (you can find them both on cdjapan.co.jp) contain all the music from the anime as well as the opening and the ending. However there`s an opening single, which has the full version of the opening and the karaoke as well some other song and karaoke version.
You can`t really compare the soundtrack to other soundtracks, because some pieces are very unique (especially those with soft backing voices); there are happy and sad / melancholic tracks on it.
Note on the particular rip (by O-L)
The rip is done very well. There are (almost) no blocks whatsoever, the audio is clean and the subtitles are alright. The files are about 578mb each, the framerate seems variable - the opening seems to have a higher framerate and thus has some blocks.
The video stream is in full-HD (1920x1080, progressive) with an average of about 3Mbps, h264-coded.
The audio stream is 48kHz, MP4A at 128kbps. The quality is very good in my opinion.
Opinion
In contrast to many people I know, who think this anime "sucks", I think the anime is quite good. Even though the setting as well as the overall story is a bit predictable, it`s still a joy to sit and feel with the characters.
As to the characters: the most important thing about them is that they really don`t look like one another. They are different and you can see it with every word they speak and every movement they make.
While it took me 3 tries to finish the first 10 episodes, I "rushed" the rest of them within one day. This isn`t a lot, but considering the fact that I had to work and prepare stuff at home it`s quite a way.
If you`re looking for action and an interesting story with lots of different and small jokes, a show where you have really atmospheric moments you almost feel the wind on your face, and you don`t mind the slow development at the beginning - this is definitely an anime you should take a look at. It has a nice story, interesting and really different characters (even though they are made off some stereotypes), nice visuals and good animation as well as nice and matching music and convincing voices.
Hope this review helped. I am always open to any suggestions which could help to improve my reviews (this is my first one). Please excuse my English as it`s not my first language and therefore might lack some words or even some sense. I`d be happy to know if this helped you decide or not.
Take care and have fun ^_^;
Aoi.
P.s.: yes, it's a repost of the review I've written for anidb.net (I'm npsdivstar :P just for reference).
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