Less Than Divine: "God Eater" Review

Genre: Action, Futuristic

Lenka Utsugi - A New-Type God-Eater

Humanity On the Verge of Extinction. Monsters Infiltrating Their Last Bastions of Hope. Sound Familiar?

"God Eater" by Ufotable animation studio, probably best known for "Fate/Zero" and "Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works", has a titanic familiarity to it. Somewhere between "Attack on Titan" and "Neon Genesis Evangelion", "God Eater" was born.

And yet, thus far the new action-based anime has fallen short of those anime which it seems to mimic in many ways.

Lenka Utsugi is a survivor from the badlands, a world outside the protective walls of human strongholds. His motivation for living: to kill the Aragami, a race of bakemono evolved from powerful cells with the ability to adapt rapidly. The only way to fight the Aragami is with the help of weapons crafted from the very same Oracle Cells from which the beasts were derived.

After displaying great promise and prowess in battle against the Aragami, Lenka is adopted into the dwindling military force surviving in Japan. Other strongholds exist around the world, but travel and transport are dangerous and difficult.

Of course, Lenka's innate skills translate into the ability to use a highly sophisticated God Arc weapon known as a New-Type. His weapon is somewhat similar to a Final Fantasy VIII gunblade in that it can act as a sword and shoot, but the whole build-up to this revelation seems trite and forced, as does Lenka's fighting skill growth.

So much about this anime seems forced or rushed. And the characters themselves are ubiquitous tropes which we have seen time and again in anime throughout history. While the show itself seems to be somewhat like "Attack on Titan" on the outside, it lacks the gradual characterization and development that draws you into the bakemono bloodlust which Eren Jaeger develops. At the same time, there is a clear similarity in the upcoming relationship between Lenka Utsugi and another Russian, female New-Type user, Alisa Illinichina Amiella, to "Neon Genesis Evangelion".

What this anime lacks in smoothness, cohesion, characterization, storytelling, and fun, it tries to make up with clunky action, ominous flashbacks, and mimicry of the anime canon. Unfortunately, these steps were not enough to make the show any more interesting.

I will likely continue to waste my time on it, but I wouldn't recommend that anyone else does.

Rating: 0.5 out of 5

+ Lindow Amamiya, coolest of the cool

- Poor action sequences

- Forgettable protagonist

- Subpar animation

- Boring backstories and development

Spring '14 Anime List and My Hot Picks

Chart created by Zana at neregate.com

Spring 2014 is upon us, anime fans.

I am presenting a fairly recent anime chart describing some of the new and returning shows this season. I'm expecting a lot of enjoyable shows to come from this batch, so without further adieu, allow me to point out some shows which I am especially looking forward to.

"Mushishi: Zoku-Shou" from Artland studios is a sequel to "Mushishi". The story focuses on a mysterious, traveling protagonist whose lone driving force seems to be the classification and capture of various spirit-creatures called mushi. The first season was highly enjoyable and I would recommend it (Rating: 4/5) to anyone looking for a mellow, slightly spooky anime with good visuals and sound.

"Soul Eater Not!" from venerable producers Bones and SquareEnix is a prequel to the quirky, fun anime "Soul Eater" (Rating: 4/5). For those who do not know, "Soul Eater" is an anime which centers around a boarding-school type setting, but the school in question is a school for training wunderkind bad-asses to hunt down wayward souls while using unwieldy weaponry. With fast-paced action, smooth animation, and financial backing, this should be one of the season showstoppers.

"Monogatari Series Second Season: Hanamonogatari" is a sequel to the comic 'ghost' story/love story "Monogatari" (Rating 4/5). Season one has some of the most beautiful animation sequences I can recall and also has some very emotional moments. I must caveat that this is by no means a fast-paced, action-driven anime. Rather, it is artsy and breathtaking.

Lastly, we come to an OVA which I am really looking forward to. I do not typically get majorly excited for OVAs, but this season we will see a "Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic" (Rating 5/5) spinoff from A-1 Pictures which will follow the adventures of young Uncle Sinbad. If you have been living under a rock for the last few years, "Magi" is a highly popular running anime that is high fantasy, magical, and political.

As the season progresses I will do my best to bring you reviews of individual episodes. I can not be expected to follow every upcoming show, but rest assured that those mentioned above will be.

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Diamond No Ace: Episode 26 review

Cover of Ace of Diamond, published by Kodansha on September 15, 2006

 In Episode 26 of "Diamond No Ace", we find Seido's elite batting squad in a fight against Akikawa's 'clockwork' pitching.

Fast-pitching first-year Furuya must  face the pressure of Akikawa's methodical Taiwanese transfer student, a pitching ace with unshakable focus on the mound and deliberate at the plate. The Taiwanese pitcher, Yueng, also rocks the megane style, just like Miyuki.

This episode, like this show, works hard to both entertain and to realistically depict what is at the very heart of baseball drama. The tension built behind each of Furuya's full-force, fatiguing pitches and their juxtaposition with each of Yeung's simple, easy pitches really gives this episode a pulse.

Rating: 4/5

+ Good story
+ High drama
+ Realistic baseball references 
+ Megane (if you're into that)

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