Aion
Time-Traveller
After deciding Seto No Mermaid (w/e) wasn't going to be my cup of tea, I watched the first 5 episodes of Seirei no Moribito last night. I felt fairly positive that a series with swords/spears and an ancient setting (as opposed to a futuristic one) would appeal to me, or at least be more appealing than Seto.
I do like the series. It gets major plus points for having a female lead who isn't a ditz, she instead coming across as an actual person instead of yet another big-breasted cardboard cutout. She's also 30 years old instead of 13-15, which is another big plus point when anime in general so rarely features adult main characters. Of course, her assets aren't exactly small and her face isn't ugly - it'd be going too far to expect an anime to have a 100% realistic looking female warrior - but she doesn't wear revealing clothes and her big, Blood: The Last Vampire (Production IG like their ladies with juicy lips, clearly) lips make her look somehow more human than most other female characters.
Talking of Production IG, they clearly had a large budget. The series almost looks like I'd expect an animated movie to look like. The 3D computer graphics are sometimes a little clunky, stuttering instead of moving fluid, but everything else is great. The fight sequences move at a so-fast-you-can't-see pace, which is always a good indication of quality, just like slow and repetitive Naruto style fights show money was an issue when creating the sequence.
So far my only issues are with the sluggish story. Even after 5 episodes I get the feeling the story is being dragged out because it wasn't originally long enough to fit into 26 episodes. There's lots of talking, often about the same subjects, and very few answers are given in order to preserve the mystery. I really, really hate it when, even though there's a lot of dialogue, it never seems to lead to anywhere. I often complain about animated films being too rushed but the opposite is true of many 26 episode TV series -- they could and should end far quicker, but they can't because, if 12-14 episodes aren't enough, the studio needs to make the series fit into 24-26 episodes. It's a lose-lose situation where films often include too little and TV series too much.
I'm going to watch another 5 episodes later tonight. Since watching 26 episodes in one sitting is a bit too much for me these days, I prefer to break series down and watch them over a set number of days, watching 5-6 episodes per day. So, if all goes to plan, I'll finish the series on Monday.
I do like the series. It gets major plus points for having a female lead who isn't a ditz, she instead coming across as an actual person instead of yet another big-breasted cardboard cutout. She's also 30 years old instead of 13-15, which is another big plus point when anime in general so rarely features adult main characters. Of course, her assets aren't exactly small and her face isn't ugly - it'd be going too far to expect an anime to have a 100% realistic looking female warrior - but she doesn't wear revealing clothes and her big, Blood: The Last Vampire (Production IG like their ladies with juicy lips, clearly) lips make her look somehow more human than most other female characters.
Talking of Production IG, they clearly had a large budget. The series almost looks like I'd expect an animated movie to look like. The 3D computer graphics are sometimes a little clunky, stuttering instead of moving fluid, but everything else is great. The fight sequences move at a so-fast-you-can't-see pace, which is always a good indication of quality, just like slow and repetitive Naruto style fights show money was an issue when creating the sequence.
So far my only issues are with the sluggish story. Even after 5 episodes I get the feeling the story is being dragged out because it wasn't originally long enough to fit into 26 episodes. There's lots of talking, often about the same subjects, and very few answers are given in order to preserve the mystery. I really, really hate it when, even though there's a lot of dialogue, it never seems to lead to anywhere. I often complain about animated films being too rushed but the opposite is true of many 26 episode TV series -- they could and should end far quicker, but they can't because, if 12-14 episodes aren't enough, the studio needs to make the series fit into 24-26 episodes. It's a lose-lose situation where films often include too little and TV series too much.
I'm going to watch another 5 episodes later tonight. Since watching 26 episodes in one sitting is a bit too much for me these days, I prefer to break series down and watch them over a set number of days, watching 5-6 episodes per day. So, if all goes to plan, I'll finish the series on Monday.
