Anime: Shikabane Hime: Aka

Notice: This review covers both seasons of the franchise; the second is a direct sequel to the first and equal in lameness… I mean quality … or the lack of it.

Two minutes in the first show and I could already see this as a Bleach wannabe that had chicks with guns flavor. Ok, I could dig the premise, despite the silliness. Two episodes later I was more than sure it would be what I call a Swiss Cheese anime, that is a typical story with lots of plot holes. Being the average series it is, following the tired formula to the later it didn’t manage to change my impression to the end … or the lack of it.

This show is a fine collection of “what can go wrong in a story”. I will not praise any of its pluses because frankly it doesn’t excel somewhere that any other similar anime hasn’t already implemented many times before and most of the times in a more interesting or enjoyable way. So I will start by the things that ruined the show’s attempt at being more than average at times.

1) Premise. It can more than easily be compared with Bleach, Noir, or any show that has ghost busters or chicks with guns. It is not original, nor does it manage to be any different or special in its implementation.

The story is as I said Swiss Cheese; written with the mentality of a ten year old who thinks it is cool to have ugly monsters and pretty chicks doing mambo jumbo for 90% of the time before getting serious in final showdowns. It’s just shadow organizations fighting monsters or trying to take over the world, and some chicks who must kill zombies in order to avenge their deaths and go to heaven. Sounds like a lot but it is really just this one-line of text and nothing more to make it look any smarter or interesting.

2) Animation. Sometimes tries to be horror, sometimes comedy, sometimes it is just a bunch of blobby cartoons doing nothing. It has no overall consistency or specific atmosphere, thus it fails to be scary or funny or … something specific.

Since it is animated by a minor studio such as Gansis, there is very little to expect in terms of quality. The animation is hit or miss most of times; at some points it looks great and at some others it is plain sloppy. The contrast between scenes with dark colors and mutated freaks next to silly scenes with slice-of-life comedy is just huuuuge and doesn’t seem to have uniformity. What is even worse is how they throw in lots of indirect fan service; just check out how all the monster slayers in this show look. Yeah, cosplaying chicks with school uniforms and eroge personalities. There is even a nekomimi thrown in there just for lulz. The entire horror aspect is lost right there. As for the action scenes, they are at least very dynamic, with lost of moving around, shooting, blowing up, bleeding, dissecting… Too bad it’s all random mambo-jumbo without any real choreography or even power level balance. If the plot asks for it, the monsters are unbeatable; if not, they are easy picking. Plus all the mince-meating is done to the monsters; never the heroines so there is no justice or equal footing at hand here. Add a lot of badly drawn scenes and lots of frozen panels and you got nothing impressive in overall.

3) Dialogues. They are stupid. Plus they keep force-feeding us what the characters are doing during every battle, because they treat us as brain dead idiots who can’t figure out anything without it being spelled at us as it happens.

The sound part is good only in the opening and ending themes; all the rest are retarded shounen dialogues that constantly describe even the most obvious, or use tired jokes you can easily find in any run of the mill show.

4) Fan service. Any attempt at plot, depth, or seriousness is completely ruined by the fact you are watching this to masturbate with zombie girls that seem to better fit in hentai. For all I care, all women in this show are just prostitutes and all other males are dumbasses you will hate right away.

The characters are cop-outs, 2 dimensional archetypes you can find in any shounen these days. I will give some credit to the main male character Ouri for slowly becoming more than a typical high school boy (cue for useless wimpy irritating idiot), the main girl Makina for being given lots of depth to her character and not only her curves, as well as the lead priest (whose name I have forgotten) for becoming a lot more than a ero-senin comic relief dumbass. The problem here is that they are just three characters out of dozens, and whose development is all done in the first season.

5) Dead time. Most of the duration of both seasons is a waste of time as there is no real progress, or further character immersion offered, or great brain dead action to consider it worthwhile.

The second has nothing of interest anymore, other than some generic villains who are doing generic stuff, with generic methods.

6) Ending. It does not exist. No further explaining needed.

Here you go; a perfect formula to succeed at making a failed series. You can watch a hundred other similar anime with far more enjoyable plots, battles, characters, artwork, pacing, transforming swords and shitz. This is practically a waste of time if you are well versed in such shows.

Rate me! This review is based on the Teki H.264 HD fansubs (and raws for the last episode), and may be revised when the DVDs are out. I'm aware this review is more positive than the average score here, but I think those numbers will come up as people watch the full series, as it gets better as it goes along.

Quick Take: Shikabane Hime: Aka (Corpse Princess: Red) is a GAINAX great short horror-action series based on several of the 8 volumes of Shikabane Hime manga by Yoshiichi Akahito (serialized in Square Enix's Shonen Gangan 2003-2008); its 13 episodes is followed by Shikabane Hime: Kuro (black) to be aired in 2009 by the same creative team. The creative team responsible for Gurren Lagann is in evidence on this series. It's an action-packed plotted series that also has good character development, good storylines and excellent animation, but there is enough violence, blood and fanservice to warrant an age advisory of over 13.

The "corpse princess" is Makina Hoshimura, the victim of a gang of Shikabane (in Japanese, a "dead body" but used here to refer to the walking dead) that killed her whole family 5 years prior to the events of the series. She is cared for by a priest and works along with other Shikabane Hime to eliminate an apparent infestation of walking corpses. In the mythology of this series, a corpse becomes a Shikabane when there is a strong emotional attachment to a person, place or event. However, if caught early enough, a female Shikabane can become a Shikabane Hime if she accepts a priest supervisor; she makes a contract, and she must kill 108 (9X12) Shikabane before she earns heaven. It is interesting to note that this mythology has some interesting effects (some of which develop during the 1st season series).

The other protagonist of the story is Ouri Kagami, an orphan that had been found by Makina's priest and raised until age 16, when he moves out of the orphanage and goes on his own. He keeps meeting (or attracting) Shikabane Hime, and the season's story arc is about his involvement in their work.

The series is well done, and at times moving, so it becomes a good GAINAX series, worthy of your time and viewing. Though it starts slowly, the series become even more interesting and moving in the latter episodes. The series grows on you.

Animation: Directed by Masahiko Murata ( Gilgamesh, MazinKaiser) this series has some excellent animation, even if you include the pervasive heterochromia (orange skies, green clouds, you get the picture). Backgrounds by Studio Easter (SaiKano, Blood+ ) are superior to many series from 2008. Inbetweens are occasionally eye-popping, though the series does have its share of static cels. Action sequences are exciting and fully-realized. The director makes use of both long shots and zooms, and there is liberal usage of cinematics also. I wish I could give the technicals a higher score than a 9, but there was no "wow" moment in the first season for me, though it could have been the fansub transfer. Still, it's an excellent technical outing.

Character design is very good and by the same person who gave us the characters in The Girl Who Leapt Thru Time (Chikashi Kubota). The main characters are quite attractive, with the possible exception of the priests. It's interesting that some priests are bald, and others have hair, but the character design is such that you identify with the main characters from the start. The wardrobe designs are few but effective. Even the shikabane are great character designs. So, I'd give the character design side an 8+.

There is enough good animation in this series to get an 8.5 for the series, which is a 9 for rating purposes.

Sound: Excellent soundboard technicals by Masafumi Mima are present in the fansub. Foley is fully realized, sound effects are awesome. There is occasional directionality in the fansubs, and the soundstage is active (no real usage of rear speakers, however this might be corrected in the DVD). I'd rate the technicals as an 8, in that there is no real "wow" in the technicals, and there is not enough directionality; overall, the sfx, Foley and sound design is otherwise excellent. Gun blasts by Makina's MAC 11's and fighting sounds can be deafening!

Seiyuu are new professionals, but highly competent. Relative newcomer Nana Akiyama voices Makina Hoshimura with world-weary drive and makes her character sound older than the apparent age. In spite of her inexperience, she makes Makina sound both appealing and cynical, an "Indiana Jones" complexity that has to be heard to be believed. I think I may become a fan of hers! Tatsuya Hosome voices Ouri Kagami, the hero of our story, and though it's his first resume listing, he's quite convincing in the role of a young, compassionate orphan. I'll be looking for more from him in the future.

Background music by Starchild Records (Fafner, Kaleido Star, Neon Genesis Evangelion) is flat-out excellent. The OP is "Beautiful fighter" by angela and the ED (with episode changes) are: #1"My story" by angela, #2: "The Pale Sands of the Sleeping Star (眠れる星の蒼い砂)" by Mayumi Iizuka (Ep 4) and #3: "Beginning" by angela (ep 13). Each of the songs are haunting and worthy of replay.

The combination of excellent technicals, good (if new) seiyuu and great background music nets a 9 for sound, just missing top marks for lack of wow in sound.

Story and Character: After being murdered, Makina Hoshimura turns into a "living corpse". Armed with dual submachine guns, she must kill 108 other corpses in order to gain entry into heaven. She is assisted in this task by Keisei Tagami, a Buddhist priest with links to an anti-corpse group known as the Kougun Cult, and Ouri Kagami, an orphan that had been raised from age 10 to 16 by Keisei, whom he calls "brother."

As recapped above, the story is plotted and non-episodic. Missing one episode usually leaves a hole in your understanding of the story development. Much attention is paid to slowly playing out the relationship between Makina and Ouri, as well as the side-characters and their respective backstories. Each of the side-characters has a distinctive mannerism or character highlight, making them fun characters to watch. Side-stories and side-characters are developed nicely. I'd rate the story a 9 for setup, progression and pacing, and an 10 for ending and setup for the next season. It really has a great middle, and the ending is one of the best in anime. It's fascinating to watch the inhuman Shikabane Hime develop in their humanity.

Downside? It starts somewhat slowly, and thus can lose an audience (or be poorly rated) in the first 3 chapters. Also, the story is both complex in mythology and full of unintended plot holes. If each Shikabane Hime needs 108 corpse "kills" to make it to heaven, and there are 10 or more of them, there must be thousands of walking Shikabane corpses. Additionally, it's never explained how the walking corpses can escape notice, or how the Kougun Cult members recover from their wounds so quickly. But these plot holes aside, it's a good story which focuses on the human aspects of the inhuman characters.

The combination of pluses and minuses results in a 8 rating for story, and a 9 for character.

Value and Enjoyment: I think your enjoyment of this series will depend on your ability to enjoy excellent animation with a slow starting story. Also, the slowly-paced beginning (eps 1-3) has unique if not odd characters, and their backstory is slow in coming. Lastly, you almost have to watch them in order, or you'll feel you've missed something. However, once you have watched through episode 8, I predict you'll be hooked.

Value is excellent, as it's a well-funded, superior anime with a good amount of manga storyline as source material, and a second season planned. It misses top enjoyment marks by having a slow start but a furious finish almost makes up for it.

I'd rate value a 8 and enjoyment a 9 on my scales, but your numbers may vary depending on your enjoyment of the horror-supernatural genre.

Conclusion: Watch this one. Cute gals in a short series with short sailorsuits and short fully automatic guns. What more could you ask for?