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branchandroot) wrote2005-10-27 01:34 pm
branchandroot) wrote2005-10-27 01:34 pm
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Whistle!
So I just finished watching Whistle! (schoolboys sport anime, soccer in this case)
I liked it. And it left a bad aftertaste.
The heart of what most annoyed me was that this was a very plot-driven story, and I'm a character fan. So, for one, none of the Evil characters are properly redeemed--they just start mysteriously acting nice instead of like utter and complete assholes.
This also means that their behavior is never punished in any way, which I do not find satisfying in any story that goes to the trouble of having Evil characters in the first place.
For another thing, the plot around which the story revolves so strongly has a bunch of annoyingly unresolved parts. I mean, beyond the par for Japanese stories. Shou's father is brought up and then dropped totally. Shige takes off to find himself, appears for the last episode and... then it ends. Kojima is changing her view of Shou, but we never quite find out how. There is forward momentum that is just left hanging, everywhere.
This could well be because the anime overshot the manga in midstream, and just ended rather than force it out of step. And, while I do like that option considerably better than the "my ending iz pastede on, yey!" effort that many anime choose *coughtenipuricough* it does not make the dangling plot dangle any less.
There was a great deal of tension and suspense racked up by the fact that we're never sure whether Shou et al will win or not. Leaving that largely unresolved was very uncool.
And, bottom line, the characters themselves were a bit too flat to appeal to me. Only Shige had any kind of depth and we never find out /what/ kind. Details of characters histories are never given, there are no introspective moments or flashbacks, outside of a very few small ones for Shou early on.
It was a good show. And it didn't satisfy me at all.
I liked it. And it left a bad aftertaste.
The heart of what most annoyed me was that this was a very plot-driven story, and I'm a character fan. So, for one, none of the Evil characters are properly redeemed--they just start mysteriously acting nice instead of like utter and complete assholes.
This also means that their behavior is never punished in any way, which I do not find satisfying in any story that goes to the trouble of having Evil characters in the first place.
For another thing, the plot around which the story revolves so strongly has a bunch of annoyingly unresolved parts. I mean, beyond the par for Japanese stories. Shou's father is brought up and then dropped totally. Shige takes off to find himself, appears for the last episode and... then it ends. Kojima is changing her view of Shou, but we never quite find out how. There is forward momentum that is just left hanging, everywhere.
This could well be because the anime overshot the manga in midstream, and just ended rather than force it out of step. And, while I do like that option considerably better than the "my ending iz pastede on, yey!" effort that many anime choose *coughtenipuricough* it does not make the dangling plot dangle any less.
There was a great deal of tension and suspense racked up by the fact that we're never sure whether Shou et al will win or not. Leaving that largely unresolved was very uncool.
And, bottom line, the characters themselves were a bit too flat to appeal to me. Only Shige had any kind of depth and we never find out /what/ kind. Details of characters histories are never given, there are no introspective moments or flashbacks, outside of a very few small ones for Shou early on.
It was a good show. And it didn't satisfy me at all.
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