TV show review: "Game of Thrones", second season

I didn't mention it before, at least I think, but I have been watching the second season of "Game of Thrones" as episodes were coming out, so I wanted to make a few short notes about it.

This season was adapted from "A Clash of Kings", a second book in "A Song of Ice and Fire" series by George R. R. Martin. But contrary to the first season, which followed "A Game of Thrones" book quite faithfully (with reduction necessary to transform 800+ pages book to 10 hours show), this wasn't true for the new season. Yes, in general it is the same content, but plot, structure and characters have been changed - the degree is of this change is negotiable. To me, who have read aCoK half a dozen times and consider myself a fan of ASoIaF, this change was too large. I presume for a causal read, someone that read it once and had no big interest in the series, this was not so important. But I spent most of my time bitching how they changed this thing or that...

On the other hand, although I can't be a real objective observer, for a TV show, it is a good stuff. A large cast backed up with good acting, interesting and complex plot, unique setting (for a TV)... I think that everyone how doesn't have anything particular against fantasy can enjoy this show. Most of the people who I talked to about "Game of Thrones" liked it, except for those few who didn't like it because it was fantasy. But these same people didn't like "Lord of the Rings" or "Star Wars"...

I didn't like how Tyrion was softened, but they made it up for him with last episodes - and that explosion was really something! On the other hand, they made a success with making Joffrey look as the ultimate prick. Arya's plot was OK, but it was a bit over-the-top mixing it with Tywin's. Daenery's parts were a complete disaster, in my opinion. Jon's part was good, although it lacked complexity it has in book. They destroyed Bran's part, but I think they did it OK with Theon's. Although I am not sure what to think about him, after "A Dance with Dragons".

I am curious what will they do with the third book, which is quite longer that first two - split it into two season, rise the number of episodes or reduce the book content...

For conclusion, although I can't say I really liked this show, I think that second season of "Game of Thrones" is a good and enjoyable show. I am planning on watching the third season - and probably complaining all the way..

Anime review: "Nisemonogatari"

Huh, I just checked, it was more than two years since I have watched "Bakemonogatari". I thought I was last year... Anyway, "Bakemonogatari" - one of my favorite anime. I was, of course, thrilled when I read that a sequel, "Nisemonogatari", is coming out. But, recently, just few weeks ago, I read a discussion on AniDB where people compared BMG and NMG, and many complained that the latter was too much ecchi?!?! I didn't like this, but I hoped for the best.

Now, after finally watching "Nisemonogatari", I must say I that this is one strange anime, even stranger that "Bakemonogatari", and I am not sure I can express my opinion of it coherently. Actually, I am not really sure even what my full opinion is. But on the other hand, let it be noted that I enjoyed it very much and I gave it 9 out of 10 on AniDB.

Anyway, in topic there are no much differences between BMG and NMG. We still follow Araragi Koyomi helping different people (well, girls), overcome their problems connected to supernatural creatures from Japanese and other mythology. As before, this anime consist 95% of talking, whether in dialog or monolog. It is like BMG just took a hiatus from airing and now continued. It has two cases/stories, both involving Koyomi's sisters, Karen and Tsukihi. And this time, difference between real and fake makes a large deal. Thus the name: Bakemonogatari = Ghost Story; Nisemonogatari = Story about pretending (or something close).

As with BMG, where we were plunged into setting without much explanation who is who and what happened previously (and some things obviously did happen before), some events have happened between BMG and NBM that are often referenced but not really explained. Oshino is gone somewhere and Shinobu plays a much, much larger role (and a great one). From one side, I hate not knowing what is going on here, but on the other hand, I really like this way of delivering information - here are the references and you pick what you can. It really entices me to watch new sequels just to find more references, although I will probably end up with more questions than answers (kind of like "Malazan Book of the Fallen"). What I should have done was to watch BMG again before I started watching this sequel, although this is not guarantee that my sense of confusion would me weaker.

So, you are now probably wondering where the strange part is. Well, I am pretty much sure that "Bakemonogatari" didn't revolve around sex as much as "Nisemonogatari". And while my memory regarding this can be somewhat faulty, I am positive that it didn't include any incest. Well, this is not hentai and there is no real incest, but innuendo is quite strong. And not only incest, anime plays with other fetishes like lolicon and harem. There is also lots of fanservice. But all this doesn't feel like ecchi anime, but more like the anime mock it. I am not really sure how to explain this. Also, I presume that this all would sound strange to someone not into anime, so don't even try to tackle this anime if you are a beginner.

There are few things I would like to highlight. First, I would like to see more of Senjougahara. I found her character fascinating in first season - this time she felt much subdued. On the other hand, Shinobu, who played a marginal role in BMG, was the top character for me this time. And I especially liked the ending...

There is not really much I can say in conclusion. Even if you loved "Bakemonogatari", there is no guarantee that you will like "Nisemonogatari" (contrary is true - if you hated BMG, you will hate NMG, too). High quality is still here, just that it have taken some new, strange routes - only for those with acquired taste.

Some time later...

Well, it turns out I was wrong: there are people who hated BMG, and liked NMG. I just read the recommendations on AniDB page of "Nisemonogatari" and there are no two opinions alike. Some hate it because it's too much like BMG; others love it because of it. Some love it because it's not like BMG; others hate it because of it?! To some it's too ecchi, to other it's not enough... As I said, a strange anime.

Movie review: "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"

I have been quite busy for the last two weeks, so wasn't able to find a free afternoon to write this post, even though I watched "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" the weekend before last. I have seen the trailer for it when I went to movies to watch "Contagion" (I think), so I talked my girlfriend into watching it.

I knew few facts about the movie before watching it, and few of my friends watched the Swedish version of the movies and judged them good. Curiously, I have had a page-marker with praises for the Croatian translation of the "Millennium" trilogy by Stieg Larsson for couple of years now, but I didn't make the connection with the movie because they kept the original names in translation (the original name of the book is "Men who hate Women"). More so, the marker contained praises for the books, but they were written by one "famous" Croatian poet which I don't like (don't like his taste in books), so I stupidly dismissed the books. But now, after watching the movie, I think I will read them in future.

"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" is a thriller dealing with some old murders in Swedish aristocratic family. Plot is quite good. Movie lasts more than two and a half hours so they took their time and used it good - main action doesn't start immediately, but it takes some time to introduce characters. There are two main characters: Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander; their plots start separately and run in parallel, but are connected somewhere in the middle of the movie. Mikael is a middle-aged famous journalist in the magazine called "Millennium" who targets a rich industrialist and writes an article depicting him as a criminal - but after some of his claims are proved false, his whole article is the taken as nothing more than slander and he loses credibility. Since he wants to move from public eye for some time, he accepts an assignation by another rich old man, Henrig Vanger. He task up front is writing Henrik's biography, but in truth he is trying to solve the disappearance of his niece some forty years ago. Another complication is that someone from his family is probably to blame - even worse, Henrik's whole family lives on isolated island so Mikael is maybe living next door the possible murdered. On the other side of Sweden, Lisbeth, a 23 year old is trying to sort her life. She was a problematic child, always different from others - abused by her father and blessed/cursed with photographic memory. She is officially under care of decent social-worker who treats her well; without his knowledge she does some investigation work for highly-expensive detective company. But after her caretaker suffers a stroke, she is put under care of sadistic Bjurman...

As I said, plot is quite good and also done pretty well. Two independent plots are not very usual, but this worked very well because this was you never know what is coming up next. Another good point of the movie is that induces the audience to participate in the movie. Claim that the culprit is someone from Vanger family is given quite early in the movie, so you just have to try to guess who of them could be the one.

Characters are also interesting. Mikael is played by Daniel Craig, and he is very convincing in the role of intelligent journalist who is at first dismissive of this case, but later gets sucked in by its curiousness. Lisbeth is played by mostly unknown (at least to me) Rooney Mara, but she also does a great job with this demanding role.

Demanding, because without the character of Lisbeth, this movie would still be a very good thriller, but it would lose much of its impact. And this impact is acquired by unusual amount of brutality and violence, both physical and psychological. So, although "all the rape" is not strictly necessary for the plot, it is what separates this movie from others. So, be warned, this movie contains quite few shocking scenes, and they are done very visual and explicit. This is not your usual Hollywood movie, which probably didn't return much in money, but it paid off in respect.

"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" is one of the best movies I watched in last couple of years. It contains much violence, and its dark atmosphere will not be suitable for anyone; but if you like high-budget thrillers and don't have aversion to explicit scenes, this could be a movie for you.

Manga review: "Elfen Lied"

I liked "Elfen Lied" anime. It was the sixth anime I ever watched (not counting "Dragon Ball", "Sailor Moon" and "Digimon", which I watched on TV years before). Before it, I watched "Naruto", "Hellsing", "Claymore", "Ghost in The Shell", "Berserk" and "Basilisk". As you can see, it was first anime set in modern and normal Japan (well, except the diclonii) which featured teens as main characters. I was surprised with one boy living alone with several girls with no adults around (he he, naive me). I was drawn by interesting plot and suffering characters. I was also occasionally disturbed, but that only served to give "Elfen Lied" its unique sense. I was so delighted by this anime that I added it on my top-five list on AniDB.

But now, almost three years and 170 anime later, I don't have the same opinion. Either my tastes have changed (grew, if I'm optimist) or anime adaption is much better that the original manga, because I can't say I enjoyed reading it. I watched "Berserk" even earlier that "Elfen Lied", but I nevertheless liked the manga which I read at the end of the last year (I think it was just a bit before I started writing this blog). Same goes for "Gantz" and "Shigurui". I was surprised with the effort I had to put to complete it.

"Elfen Lied" revolves about interesting idea: what if evolution for humans has not stopped or slowed? What if there is an evolved version of humans already among us? Actually, I remember watching one season of TV series that was based on this same premise (it was 10 or so years ago, so I don't remember the name anymore). This is actually a great idea and it could develop to different directions. Focus could be put on science of it, or the social relationship between humans and their successors; it could become an action manga where they develop their powers... Unfortunately, the author focuses on emotional problem of a teenagers and preteens. Don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with that. There is a bunch of anime than feature teen angst but behind or parallel with it deal with something else (look at legendary "NGE"). But here, it is done just poor and repetitive.

As I said, the show includes some kind of evolved humans, which are called "diclonius" (plural "diclonii" - Latin, for those wondering why), for two horns on sides of their heads (it is actually named after a dinosaur). Except the horns, there are two main differences between them and humans: they have "vectors" (invisible ghost hands that vary in size, number, strength...) and an instinct to kill humans when they reach three or four years (starting with their parents - killing usually includes ripping their heads off). At the beginning of the series, we see a diclonius named Lucy (all diclonii are females, not one older than 18) escaping from some secret laboratory and finding herself on a beach with amnesia. There she will meet Kouta and Yuka. Kouta is young boy from country (well, although this describes at least 30% of male main characters, it doesn't have to be a bad thing by itself) who came to Kamakura for college. And Yuka is his cousin, secretly in love with him (out of all disturbing things, this is a least one). Being nice people, they will shelter Lucy (or Nyu, as they start calling her, because that is all she can say at first) and even hide her from police later. Of course, facility she escaped from won't be happy with the fact they she escaped, especially considering the fact that is the most important diclonius. Also, it will turn out that this is not the first encounter of Lucy and Kouta.

Well, not delving too deep into the plot, it is actually not so bad plot. It is not very intriguing nor does it surprise the viewer too much, but it's not boring or too predictive. In later stages you can notice that author didn't have some overall plan, since he randomly adds new elements. What I object to this series is not the plot, but almost everything else. Characters are total cliché: naive young boy, split-personality girl, crazy scientist(s)... Also, they are quite static and don't grow during the series. Nevertheless, they are not totally without charm. For example, however the character of Bandou is actually unimaginative, I liked the guy.

But there are two things that bothered me most. First, the level of violence and nudity goes to totally unnecessary levels. As I mentioned, all diclonii in anime are actually young girls. And I don't think there was one who wasn't shown completely naked. I mean, I don't mind violence and nudity anime or manga, even when it's exaggerated (I wouldn't like "Gantz" and "Shigurui" then), but scenes like tons of naked girls (with bags of their heads!!!) dismembering and decapitating bunch of soldiers are not my kind of thing. I got the feeling that both nudity and violence exist only for themselves. Even the ecchi parts don't look normal ecchi. Second, I refuse to believe that people are as bad as this series describes them. Oh, I believe that some of them (even a good portion of people) are bad (evil, selfish, insensitive... however you want to call it), open any history-book to prove it. But nevertheless, there were maybe three adult persons here that are not totally bad and even those three are not people you would be friendly with... I mean, I know there are disgusting people all around (concentration-camp-torturer type of disgusting), but I don't have to read about them torturing main characters and getting away without deserved punishment (accidental death is not deserved punishment in manga or anime - it has to have a meaning).

To technical side: this manga has 12 volumes, around 200 pages each, so it's not a long read. Art looks pretty nice, characters especially. I didn't like the ending, but graphically looked very good. Characters look unique and have distinct names, so you don't get lost who is who... Not that there is many named characters. Author is Okamoto Lynn and this was his first work. I don't know are his later works famous, but I didn't recognize any. Oh, I liked how visible was when Nyu switches with Lucy and vice versa.

While I was writing this, I kept asking myself why I did like the anime so much and not manga. Were the reasons I stated at beginning the only ones? Now, I think there is one more. Anime adapts only first half of manga and that is the good part. So it is concentrated on introducing original concepts and characters and the important part of the plot, and you don't see that there is not much behind them.

In the end, "Elfen Lied" is not a manga I can recommend to anybody. On the other hand, I can recommend the anime version. So, definitely watch the anime (be prepared for severe violence and nudity), and if you really like it and don't have anything else to do, read the manga. And feel free to quit it whenever you feel like to, because you will not miss anything valuable.