So, what is the best thing to do to chase away the Winter Blahs? Well, watch anime, of course. Especially fun anime. I do not know about you, but personally, at times like these when the weather is somewhat frightful outside, and the central heating is quite delightful, I like to kick back and watch some comedy. I know, I know, anime comedy can be very hit or miss. But here are three shows that should be able to lighten just about anyone's mood.
School Rumble 2nd Semester Part 2
FUNimation Productions, Flower Mound, TX.
A-/A
So, we come to the final episodes of the second season of School Rumble, one of the best comedy dubs to hit the scene in recent memory. In these final episodes, the focus shifts a bit. While in the first half of the "second semester," I would say that Eri Sawachika (Leah Clark) was the dominant lady in Kenji Harima's (Brandon Potter) life, in this section, Yakumo Tsukamoto (Cailin Glass) comes to the fore. And Ms. Glass does a very good job of playing the sweet, shy Yakumo, whose only wish is to see her sister, the scatter-brained and clueless Tenma (Luci Christian), be happy. This entire dub has been a clean, well-oiled comedy machine since the beginning, and it does not let up in this final set of episodes. While Mr. Potter's Harima seems to have grown quite a bit, from thuggish punk to sensitive artist, many of the other characters have not transformed too much, but their actors still have managed to add something to their characters' personalities through their voices. Brina Palencia's Mikoto Suo can be both caring and devilishly mean, while Ms. Clark's Eri has developed a more prominent softer side, which lurks underneath the stuck up rich girl stereotype that is her facade. While at times the character seems to recede from the center of attention a touch, Ms. Christian continues to provide the ditsy target of Harima's misplaced affections with a sweet, winning performance. Even if just about anyone who watches this show by now almost wishes that Harima would wake up and choose one of the eminently more suitably women standing right next to him.
The build up to the final denouement is something that has to be seen for those who appreciate parody of action anime. In all, School Rumble has been a fun series, and it is a pity that all that there is left is a final OVA (at the moment unlicensed) which animates the very end of the manga, but does not give us the full run up to the conclusion of the Harima-Tenma Saga. Regardless of that, I still happily recommend this show to all.
Lucky Star vol.5
BangZoom! Entertainment, Burbank, CA.
A-
The silly adventures of Konata, Kagami, Tsukasa, and Miyuki continue as Lucky Star reaches its penultimate volume. Filled with more otaku jokes and references than you can shake a stick at (but why would you want to shake a stick at jokes?), this show is probably best when watched by an experienced anime viewer. The main girls do continue to be ably voiced by Wendee Lee, Kari Wahlgren, Michelle Ruff and Karen Strassman. With this volume, some of the characters that we had only seen in the OP animation now make their presence felt more. I particularly like the work being done by Hynden Walch as Konata's even smaller (if you can believe it) cousin Yutaka Kobayakawa. She has just the right measure of cuteness that you would expect from a character whose sole purpose seems to be to bring out the "awww" reaction from the audience. Michelle Ruff does double duty now, voicing Kobayakawa's polar opposite close friend Minami Iwasaki. While Ms. Ruff has a pretty recognizable voice, I will give her credit for managing to differentiate Minami from Tsukasa fairly well. As characters, it is easy to distinguish between the two, as Tsukasa is the cheerful space cadet while Minami is a taciturn, "cool"-type girl. I was also favorably impressed by Philece Sampler's Hiyori in these episodes. The only drawback in these episodes was Patricia Ja Lee's Patricia Martin. While I know that the vocal register used is an attempt to match the original performance, I think this is one of those situations where too much fidelity can be more of a fault than an asset. The helium-high delivery was a bit off-putting. This is likely a directorial decision (I have seen Ms. Lee in the Haruhi extras, so I am familiar with what her more normal vocal range is), but one which does not enhance the dub experience, in my opinion. Still, overall, Lucky Star continues to be a rather enjoyable show and a well executed dub.
Ouran High School Host Club Part 2
FUNimation Productions, Flower Mound, TX.
A-
I have already given my fuller thoughts in a long review column on the first half of this. To follow up, let us now turn our attention to the second half of the show. Seeing it through to the end, I have to say that some of the issues I had with the first half, the repetitiveness of certain performances and the lack of excitement in some of the roles, dissipated to some degree with the second half. While the recording was done non-stop, it would seem that as the show progressed, some of the actors who seemed a little too tight with their performances managed to loosen up a bit and get more into the swing of things. While I was somewhat critical of Vic Mignogna in the first half, feeling that this was a performance I had heard before, I think that in the second half, at times it seemed to me that he began to have a bit more fun with the role, which is reflected in how he performed it. There was a touch more liveliness to the delivery, a greater sense that he was really getting into the utter silliness of the character. I enjoyed the parts where as a character Tamaki was driven to the edge, and reacted with either blithe denial or shrank into that childish shell that he often escaped into when confronted with unpleasant truths. The internal dialogues he had about his "fatherly relationship" with Haruhi were quite amusing. I also liked J Michael Tatum's much looser and more open performance in the episode where we learn more of Kyoya's backstory and how he got involved in the crazy mess that is the Host Club. There was a greater depth of feeling in the character, something I have not had the chance to hear from Mr. Tatum so far in other roles from other shows. Finally, there is a scene-stealing guest appearance by Christopher Sabat for two episodes, which I will not give away too many details about, but where it is clear that Mr. Sabat is playing off of many a "tough" character that he has had to voice before.
In general, everyone in the cast seems to be having a lot more fun in these episodes, which leads to a more open and relaxed feel to the whole dub. There was quite a bit of hype about Ouran before it was released, and having now seen it all, I can say that while in general I never agree with hype, I was very entertained by this show and do recommend this dub for those who want to hear a very solid effort from one of the more reliable dubbing studios in North America today.
…
That is all for this week. In two weeks time, expect another full length review of one or perhaps two different current releases. Until then, keep listening to dubs!
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