Tag: Current viewing

I’m tempted to say that Oh! Edo Rocket is an anime unlike other anime, but in fact I am reminded of several other shows. Like Jubei-Chan I, it oscillates between farce and drama; like Excel Saga, it’s wildly off-the-wall; like Noir, there’s potentially a complex story behind the story (as of episode ten — there are sixteen more to go, plenty of time for the writers to make a hash of things). Nevertheless, there really is nothing quite like Oh! Edo Rocket‘s combination of broad comedy, science fiction, history, horror, romance, parody and nonsense.

The premise is that in early 1840’s Edo, where all “luxuries” are outlawed, the strange girl Sora asks the fireworks maker Seikichi to make her fireworks that will reach the moon. By a curious coincidence, the residents of the row house where Seikichi lives include an expert carpenter, a tile-maker, the best mechanic in Edo and two mathematicians, among other eccentrics, all of whom are fascinated by the idea of a rocket to the moon. Meanwhile, “sky beasts” appear in the area, some of which have a taste for the blood of young women.

Overall, silliness dominates, from the character designs to the blatant anachronisms. The writers will do anything for a laugh. ((They do draw the line at offensive and gross-out humor.)) Ginjiro the locksmith goes fishing and catches a teevee set. Shunpei the proto-nerd keeps a pocket calculator in his room. There’s a henshin sequence involving a sort of sentai team; however, instead of cute magical girls, the transformees are homely adult men. At one point four of the characters are turned into cats, who perform a jazzy musical number. And then there is the crazed fireworks maker Tetsuju the Fuse, who drinks at a bar staffed by tanuki. And a flaky magistrate. And a girl with Tenchi Muyo-esque hair. And so on. (I’ve uploaded clips of Tetsuju’s first appearance and the singing cats to the video weblog.)

Despite all the absurdities, the story moves steadily forward. It’s not all foolishness. Some parts of Oh! Edo Rocket are nightmarish. Although the opening animation focuses on Seikichi and Sora, the central character is actually Ginjiro, who early on declares that he only does what is fun. As his past is revealed, it becomes clear that his attitude is inspired by bitterness, not frivolity. He is involved in nearly all the sub-plots, and he will likely face the most complex decisions of any of the characters as the series reaches its climax.

The art and the music deserve mention. The backgrounds (and occasionally foregrounds) look like paintings and contrast with the crisp lines of the character art. The effect is that Ginjiro et al seem like actors on a stage. The opening and closing themes may be listenable J-pop, but the background music is mostly big-band jazz.

In Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, or So Long, Mr. Despair, the pessimistic teacher Nozomu Itoshiki, who begins each episode with a suicide attempt, discovers the implacably optimistic girl Fuura Kafuka (does that name sound familiar?) in his class. Her classmates through the second episode include a hikikomori, an obsessive-compulsive perfectionist, a girl who communicates only through text messaging, and a stalker; undoubtedly there will be many other healthy-minded young people to meet in the remaining ten episodes of this grim farce.

The opening is the cheapest I’ve seen, just text with do-it-yourself music. Overall, I would describe the production as economical, if occasionally elegant in its low-budget way. It suits the one-dimensional characters and absurd stories well. The show is noteworthy for its graffiti: the chalkboard features comments and wisecracks from Koji Kumeta, the artist responsible for the manga on which the anime is based. There are also jokes for otaku, though the show doesn’t depend on them the way Lucky Star and Hayate do.

Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei is obviously not for everyone. I’ve uploaded the first eight seconds of the first episode to my video weblog. If you find it amusing, you might want to check out the series.

Update: Astro is also watching Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, and he has many more screen captures. (I would guess that the guy whose face turns up in all the odd places is Kumeta.)

Update II: It occurs to me that SZS is anime as Edward Gorey would have done it.

*****

This is likely my last substantive post for a while. I picked up Harry Potter #7 yesterday (I want to see for myself what happens before anyone spoils it for me), which will probably take care of the rest of today. Tomorrow my New Toy is scheduled to arrive, and that will occupy all my free time for a week or two or three. I’ll be back eventually, and perhaps by then there will be fresh episodes of Denno Coil, Oh! Edo Rocket and maybe even Master of Epic waiting for me.

In the summer of 1842, anything that’s fun is illegal in Edo. This includes all forms of entertainment, technological innovations and, in particular, fireworks. The policeman Akai assiduously enforces the law with a particular emphasis on the Furai terrace house, whose inhabitants include the fireworks artisan Seikichi and his mathematician brother Shunpei. One day, after an unpleasant encounter with Akai, Seikichi returns to his room to find a strange, pretty young woman with stars in her eyes (literally) and blue hair who tells him to call her “Sora.” She has a modest request for him: can he make a rocket that will go to the moon?

Oh! Edo Rocket is a collection of disparate elements, starting with the character art. There are at least three distinct styles represented. Seikichi, Shunpei and Sora have classic anime big eyes and small (but definite) noses. (Their mouths are larger than is standard nowadays, though. Seikichi’s is downright big.) Akai, the locksmith Ginjiro and other older characters have normal-sized eyes and relatively realistic faces, and they are considerably taller than Seikichi. Finally, there’s a collection of cartoony grotesques who could have stepped out of a Jay Ward production. These all are as short as Boris Badenov, barely reaching Ginjiro’s knee, with oversized heads. (I posted a portrait gallery earlier.)

In addition to these, there are strange creatures lurking about. One of these is a pale “sky beast,” apparently intelligent, and capable of zapping its enemies with electrical discharges. The magistrate Torii and his secret police pursue the creature, but as of episode two they have yet to capture it.

Other elements include a jazz soundtrack, frequent anachronisms and breaks in the fourth wall. There’s a self-pitying effeminate bishounen whom nobody notices. There aren’t any meganekko or nekomimi so far, but there is Onui, the “watchdog for public morality,” who is distinctly puppyish. There are giant rabbits on the moon.

Oh! Edo Rocket is mostly farce, but there’s menace under the comedy. The inventor Shinsa is hauled off to jail at the end of the first episode. He returns in the second, covered from head to toe with bandages because he refused to inform on Seikichi. The heavily armored secret police are absurd — one travels by turning cartwheels so quickly that he is a blur — but they are also scary. The regular police seem as competent as the Keystone Cops, but Akai is observant enough to be dangerous.

Whether the show’s creators can pull all these heterogenous elements into a unified whole remains to be seen. A stage play, a novel and an earlier television series preceeded the anime, so presumably the writers have some idea of where they’re going with the story. There’s nothing else much like it, so I’ll probably continue to follow it.