A couple series I've watched/been watching lately. There will be spoilers, in particular with Utawaremono, but I'm sure everyone already knows that if they're reading my blog. :p
Utawaremono: I know I should say a lot about this series, but honestly for me there isn't too much I can say about it. It's a good series, and its rightful that it's popular; nevertheless, there some major flaws which I cannot overlook. One of the biggest problems I have with the series is its thematic concepts (and with it, again the whole "look at the evil scientist!" scenario) and I truly don't think that the quest for "power" as they put it will bring all of mankind to doom. In many cases science and discovery is both good and bad, but they seem to enjoy portraying the evils that come with knowledge without giving deserving credit to science and technology as a good thing (granted Utawaremono IS set up so that technology is minimal and people are living in a sort of medieval type of civilization). Hence, I don't think Utawaremono is fair in that respect, and their main theme of "technology is wrong, we should all live in simple bliss in a little village on top of a mountain" is incorrect and wrongly portrayed.
Aside from the thematic problems, there were many logical problems with Utawaremono as well. Again, some of this is associated with the "science" they portrayed, like somehow humans evolved from monkeys via a giant doglike demon (o_O) or that the monster can turn people into this weird "immortal" jello thing which I have been trying to think how in the world could that be logical (Yes, I know, I shouldn't think about the logic in an anime that has humans with animal ears and a tail, but it comes to me naturally :( ). Other logical problems reside in plot, but I can actually forgive this. This is because Utawaremono was originally a game (and, I presume, a very long game) so its impossible to get all the stories of the characters flushed out and properly arranged the way they should be. Nevertheless, many questions remain, including the history and deeper storyline of pretty much all the characters besides Hokoro's (sp?) life story. In particular, I thought the one character, the one with cat ears and weilding a rediculously huge sword, had a very unclear story in the anime; they left the audience with very little detail about the "evilness" of the emperor, why the character wanted to leave, and nothing about the whole "flowers on dead bodies" thing. That was the only time where I felt there was something lacking in that sub-story.
Overall, though, Utawaremono is a good anime. It has really good organization and flow when it comes to moving one story into another; there actually seemed to be a transition and slow progression into each story rather than suddenly, in a new episode, popping in something completely new and unexpected. The character designs are spectacular, the music is unique sounding with it's chinese-folk-put-to-techno style, and the character personalities are both relatable and admirable. I have to say, Benawi is an awesome guy, personality wise :D too bad I'm not a fan of spear weilders and I didn't care much about his fighting style; the two twins and their archer techniques, however, were freaking awesome. But I can't admire them too much due to the girliness they displayed throughout the entire anime, which made me sad... :( yes so sad...
In terms of the other characters. Kamyu by far is my favorite female character, you could say, mainly because of her youth state and she has wings (Her sister, I forgot her name, has wings too but she's the onee-chan type and I'm not fond of onee-chan types :( ). Anyway Kamyu has a nice upbeat "happy" personality, which is probably the only reason I find her different from Mikuru in "The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi"... certainly, the two characters' designs were designed for the same purpose :p. Erurruu actually has a very kind and attractive personality. I think she best resembles a mother-type character though she is supposed to be young. But this is appropriate since the main character (Hokoro? I forget their names) is supposed to be the "father" according to Arurruu. Arurruu, to me, isn't anything really special (Kamyu is better) EXCEPT for this one part where Kamyu gives her a present (some little sculpture of a tiger cat) and Arurruu just keeps on going "Oooooooooooooooooooohhhhhh" and I thought that was just awesome :D :D :D The blind girl... she's nice but admittedly, not the most original of characters, though I think her situation is rather sad :( That "holy warrior" girl is funny because she reminds me of people who continously think their way is "right" and they could never go wrong... oh well its a good thing they made her skills really good :) And all other chars are cool but I don't feel like analyzing any more. :(
Crescent Love: Is a really bad anime, but not as bad as Mamoru-kun (or whatever that was, that was horrendous). The art work is REALLY REALLY nice and honestly, that was the only thing that kept me watching this series. Even their "chibi moments" and humor was really.... bad.
Gargoyle of the Yoshinagas: I hvaen't finished this series but I have to tell you, I really like it for whatever reason. It seems like a kids' show, but it also seems to have some sort of depth to it... something that I think makes it really good, similar to Stellvia in a way... I think. Regardless, I really like this series.
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