Wonderduck's Pond

October 25, 2014

Gripes and Grumps: Arpeggio of Blue Steel

Arpeggio of Blue Steel: Ars Nova is a series that ran at the end of 2013. Produced by Studio Sanzigen, it was that company's first full series after having done 3-D work on a couple of others previously. I watched the first couple of episodes when it was airing, but let it go at the time as it never grabbed me. On the surface, this is ridiculous... the show may as well have been designed for me. I mean, here's the plot:

In the near future, fleets of sentient warships that model themselves after WWII-era ships appear out of nowhere. Armed with technologically advanced weaponry and defenses, they sweep the seas of terrestrial vessels. The Fleet of Fog (FoF), as it's known, goes on and blockades all nations and shuts down communications between them. Humanity has one trump card: the I-401, a FoF submarine that is commanded by Chihaya Gunzo, a JMSDF student who wants to change the world.

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Posted by: Wonderduck at 10:12 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 The kind of show you need to watch on a full stomach, so you can avoid the trip to the Refrigerator for some Logic....

Posted by: Mauser at October 25, 2014 10:46 PM (TJ7ih)

I don't see the resemblance, m'self.

Well, maybe if the girl was immersed in water, or if the ship were lying on a really, really large mattress...

Posted by: Siergen at October 26, 2014 12:33 PM (r3+4f)

3 I gave up on the manga (which I started so that I could try to glean some freakin' backstory for this mess) once I realized it was going to just keep throwing wacky new ship-avatars at us every time the writer(s) ran out of ideas. The impression I got was that it was going to build to some sort of confrontation/reunion between Gunzo Jr and his papa.

Shrug.

I'd forgotten about the fully-CG aspect. It took some getting used to but... not as much as I thought it would. The story and characterization may have been crappy but the show certainly LOOKED good.

Posted by: GreyDuck at October 26, 2014 04:56 PM (CUkqs)

4 Complete agreement on the crew being completely superfluous. I also mentally earmarked one or two episodes for flashbacks, though I was pleasantly surprised when that didn't transpire (since I actually enjoyed the show, and was engaged in the current events.)

Otherwise, I mostly disagree. It's been a while since I watched the show, but here's my impression of the frame of the story:

Gunzo's father pulls some kind of Mazer Rackham/Pickard/fabulous maneuver against the FoF at the tail end of the war, and the FoF becomes aware that there is something that they don't understand that, optimally, they should. Learn from your mistakes and all that.

Seeking this understanding, the FoF undertakes to simulate humanity, which turns out to be a humongous mistake for a reason they were unable to foresee. Namely, that any amount of emotion is enough to override something that you're doing 'just because'. That's the crux of the story, and everything that happens follows.

The reason for the interiors of the ships is the same as for the exteriors of the ships: A mystery. Though it's easy to assume it's the same kind of reason why Ford Prefect is called Ford Prefect... and was at any rate to me a cool gimmick that made them more eerie and interesting than if they had just been a generic Advanced Tech Menace. The functional part of the tech was all force fields anyway, the rest is probably superfluous as long as it's aquadynamic.

As for J Random Bad Guy, this seems to be a Japanese thing that surfaces with authority figures in shounen anime. Captain Earth would be a recent example that was absolutely miserable with it, though I can't in good conscience recommend watching it to see what I mean. At any rate, considering the target demographic and everything, it's not unusual for the Old Guys to be somewhat cartoonishly ridiculous... though in this particular instance, maybe the reason they didn't feel comfortable entrusting the future of humanity to Gunzo is that he's apparently the kind of guy who'd take four of his closest friends along for no particular reason when all they do is make the ship run less well.

What I would have liked from the show but didn't get was some kind of emotional payoff for Iona. I also remember thinking that there was something silly about the last fight, and the ending was indeed rushed... but that's the only big thing for me. I feel like if they'd taken more rope, they probably would have ended up hanging themselves with it, but as it stands it was a really interesting experience and unusual anime.

It's possible that your viewing experience would actually have been improved had you watched it when it was airing. I did, and I certainly seem to have gotten the better deal!

Posted by: Passerby at October 27, 2014 09:55 AM (1ETPk)

5 It's possible that your viewing experience would actually have been improved had you watched it when it was airing.

I tried. The show couldn't hold my interest. It was only because I could marathon it that I was able to get through it.

Much of what you're saying about Gunzo's father makes sense, and indeed is confirmed in the manga... but we don't know that, and the series doesn't tell us anything to infer it from.

Handwaving the details and interals of the ships by saying "it's mysterious" is exactly what the production staff would do. This is not a good thing.

As for J Random Bad Guy, this seems to be a Japanese thing that surfaces with authority figures...

That's swell, I've seen enough anime to know that, but they did a particularly poor job of it in Arpeggio, bad enough that I had to comment on it. Oh, and as far as "making the ship run less well" goes? We don't know that... we don't know ANYthing when it comes to the crew.

Clearly we disagree on Arpeggio. Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't think so.

Posted by: Wonderduck at October 27, 2014 11:00 AM (jGQR+)

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October 08, 2014

Ben-To! Ep09

I should be asleep. I should be cleaning Pond Central, which looks like a tornado went through it... a solid year of 12+ hour days will do that. I should be doing laundry. There are a hundred things I should be doing right now, but instead I'm doing the writeup for Ben-To! Ep09. The long awaited sequel to the writeup for Ben-To! Ep08, it is hoped that many questions will be answered. For example, what is Left's real name? Why is it called "Ralph Store"? Just why did the twin sisters think that the Ice Witch was in the hospital? And why can't the production staff just give us a good episode?

I already know the answer to that last one, by the way.

Morning, and Ms Fortune is looking... well, cute. Too bad she's a walking disaster area, causing death and destruction where ever she goes. Without knowing it, even. If the people of the East high school ever figured out what was going on, they'd have to find a way to end her. But how do you dispose of someone who causes horrible things to occur around her? You're just as likely to end up being turned into a turnip than succeed in your mission. Besides, she's cute.

Being cute (and oblivious), she's got a cute idea... she's going to make a bento for Our Hero! Shaga wonders what the protocol is for burying a cousin, because dear god, he's gonna die. That's the only result possible. If he's lucky, the end will come quickly... though with his uncommonly quick healing factor, he's likely to live through the entire thing. Ms Fortune skips away to prepare the Death Lunch, and...

...passes the Student Council President from the West high school. Well. That's odd... one might even suggest it's totally unprecedented in the world Ben-To! inhabits.. Shaga spies on her as she walks by, as the horrible sounds of a car accident pierce the air. Later that day...

...Shiraume Ume, the previously mentioned Prez, decks Our Hero and walks away, without even asking permission the way she normally does. Ooh, someone's pissed. He gets up and makes it to the Half-Price Association's clubroom...

...oh hell. The bento is there, waiting, and there's no way he can dodge it. Still, it looks really good...

Oh the humanity.

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