Hello again and welcome back to
President Dog Takes On... continuing my series on the anime of Summer
2013. Remember how in my introduction to this blog I stated 'be
prepared to disagree with me?' I've got a feeling this is where it's
all going to truly start, so I'm putting my flame shield up for this
review, but first a little discussion on a specific element of
creativity. Don't worry, I won't try to bore you to death, but I feel
it's important to explain myself.
I've talked a lot already about
potential in the first two shows I've reviewed, both good and bad and
feel that, especially when it comes to first impressions, shows
should always have that in mind. The amount of shows I've seen with
interesting premises, characterization, settings, plot twists, and
the like are more numerous to count, but only a fraction of them
truly turn out to be well-executed. Often, the people creating these
programs either forget to act upon good ideas when it can be
beneficial or play all their cards right from the start. Committing
either one of these errors makes the given show lose its impact,
makes the viewer's interest wane, and thus creative potential is
wasted. Granted, the possibilities of any creative piece are limited
to those in charge of creating it and no one person can think of
every single viable outcome the viewer could see. It's simply
unreasonable to the creators to expect a completely thorough
assessment of all aspects of a show's potential, though some are
better than others. A show with a premise as engaging as today's
subject, Sunday Without God, is another unfortunate victim of wasted
potential.
As before, we'll start with the
production side of things, and yet again, it's from another
production studio with a deep pedigree (I swear to you, I'm not
ordering these reviews like this on purpose). Madhouse is behind this
one and if you haven't heard of them specifically, if you're a fan of
the medium, you have certainly heard of their work. Having been
around since the 1980s, they began their work on films such as Ninja
Scroll and Demon City Shinjuku, but can be most attributed to a vast
array of shows that could be considered iconic of their genre.
Cardcaptor Sakura, Death Note, Highschool of the Dead, Magical
Shopping Arcade Abenobashi, the list goes on and on. They've also
contributed some of the most classic Studio Ghibli works and provided
the opening animation to my own beloved Otakon convention back in
2009, but there will be more time for me to gush over that convention
in about two weeks, so expect a special entry about this year's con
in the middle of August.
So what is this premise I was alluding
to just a few moments ago? It goes a little something like this: In your
typical fantasy styled world, God abandoned the entire world. Why is
this such a big deal, you may ask? Well, it means, for a reason not
completely explained, no one can give birth and no one can die, even
if their body is gravely wounded or injured. The only way the
supposed dead can rest is with the aid of someone known as a
gravekeeper, this world's version of a priest and
more prominently, a gravedigger, who uses a specially blessed shovel. Alright, outside of the
lack of explanation beyond 'God left, just up and left,' it sounds
pretty decent, but seriously, the Almighty didn't even call the pope and tell him He had ladies' polio or something? Anyway, I digress. That setup does seem
like we'd have some medieval shovel-on-zombie head action upcoming,
so let's jump into the first episode.
However, the
albino begs to differ saying all he did was get the villagers to stop
moving and that actually killing them is a gravekeeper's job. Now in
the context of the this show I guess that would make sense, but the
aspect of this that really begins to stick in my craw personally is
the conceit in his voice, which even Ai cannot accept and begins to
attack him with her shovel. And then this happens...
Not cool, man. Not cool.
Yes, the guy pretty much punts a 12
year old girl. Dude, you are not doing yourself any favors in
this review by any means. We then get some more explanation on how Ai
became a gravekeeper after her mother's death, taking up her mantle
and shovel at just the age of 7 and from them on watched over the
village and dug graves for each of the people to prepare for the day
she would have to lay them to rest. At least she seems to be handling
the responsibility positively, so that's a plus.
This face won't last long.
With that established we go on to the
opening sequence, which, outside of the opening cathedral choir
singing, is somewhat unremarkable. The song becomes a rather generic
rock song, not particularly hard, accompanying various characters
(some we still haven't met and won't for a while) looking depressed
or emo as scenery and set pieces pass by. Hardly anything really
stands out besides the initial choir at the beginning of the song...
Some of the few parts of this opening that aren't being generic or emo. Kind of hard to find.
...and
for some reason, the presence of what's basically a Volkswagen bus
with Ai inside riding past the viewer near the end. It amazing how
one small detail like that can throw off the time scale of an entire
show and feel completely out of place (We do eventually see where the bus
comes from by the time episode 4 comes, but it still throws off the
overall atmosphere of the fantasy setting of the series).
Seriously, there are fossil fuels in this fantasy world?!
Back with the story again, we get
another 'explanation' of the whole 'God created everything then
bailed' situation, which is to be pointed out as more efficient than
the tradition Bible version of the creation of the earth in the book
of Genesis by taking five days instead of six, resting on day six and
then, in the shows' terms, forsaking the world on the seventh.
Apparently one day a giant flash of light spoke to the whole world
saying that both Heaven and Hell were too full and soon the earth
would be as well.
Sounds like our divine creator wasn't a very good
long-term planner, and thus people stopped dying, giving birth and
basically turned into zombies when they were supposed to die
naturally. To be fair, it takes about as much faith as normal
religion to believe a story and setup such as this, but if this is
all the show establishes for how the world works, it's a bit hard to
swallow. At least we get a cute little scene with the villagers
welcoming Ai back into town and giving her tons of sweets.
From here we see that said village has
pretty much adopted her, giving her a place to stay and people to
look after her, since she's still a kid, even with all the pressure
and responsibility she has to burden. One day, Ai finishes digging
the last grave for her village and decides to go back and see if
anyone else needs her help but returns to find the village abandoned.
Trying to find someone, she runs into the man in black from the
opening scene, quite literally, who whips out a pistol and points it
at her. Once again, such a charming and rational character we have
here, don't you agree?
Only place I've seen such a reaction to running into a stranger like that is in downtown Baltimore. And not the good parts.
After he backs off and Ai introduces herself
as the gravekeeper of the area, the albino man asks her, in a rather
odd robotic way, if she knows of a woman name Hana. Ai can't recall
anyone of that name or the type he describes, but before he leaves
she asks him his name, which he introduces himself as Humpnie
Humbert, the Man-Eating Toy, which happens to be the name she recalls
as her father's according to what her later mother told her. The man
in black denies being her father, saying he looks far too young and
doesn't fit what Ai imagined her father looking like either, but Ai
is still sure that the man is her father by intuition alone. However,
her joy quickly turns as Humbert asks her for a favor as a
gravekeeper and returns us to the opening scene, showing that
everyone in the village is dead from what appears to be numerous
rounds of gunfire including Ai's caretakers. The fight from said
opening scene ensues and we skip ahead to Ai using those conveniently
pre-dug graves she made for the villagers a bit earlier than she
expected, interspersed with her grief and rage at Humbert saying that
her father would never commit such a horrible act.
Of course it
doesn't help Humbert's case when he accuses Ai of not really being a
gravekeeper, calling her a 'weirdo' and God an 'asshole,' and
basically saying that everything Ai knew of her life was either a lie
or fabrication; even his name isn't really his, he stole it from a
toy. Our protagonist truly sums it up well with one short phrase...
My thoughts exactly.
Humbert then says that if Ai was
actually a gravekeeper she'd be unemotional, bear no ill will towards
others or desire to attack others, which she clearly is not, being on
the verge of both rage and tears. Honestly, you try keeping a
straight face after being told everything you know is wrong by the
guy who just killed everyone you held dear. Not exactly a walk in the park.
After the reveal of another gravekeeper
coming out of the shadows, that's the end of the episode. Needless to
say, not really the most riveting start to a new show. The ending
technically starts over the last minute of the show with the end
credits and music starting to roll just as Ai world begins to
crumble, which just feels distasteful and doesn't give the ending a
fair amount of respect, even with the state of confusion the show has
crafted. The song itself is a slow, melancholic piece that get paired
with another shot of the overall cast, just panning from top to
bottom, once again succeeding in being very generic.
Again, not cool. The scene's already screwed up emotionally, at least go with it without covering it up with the ending music.
As for the
characters, I think my attitude towards 'Humpnie Humbert' came
through over the course of explaining things, but let me sum it up:
he's a douche. Aloof, cruel, and clearly has no ounce of compassion,
especially towards Ai. The punt and the gun drawing moment speak
enough towards that. Ai, on the other hand, definitely gets some
sympathy for basically having her life and dreams crushed and being a
young, sweet looking girl with a ton of baggage on her shoulders.
More focus on her and much less involving the dick in the black jacket
would go a long way in making this show better. And just because I dislike this character this much, small spoiler incoming: Humbert really is Ai's father, was immortal up until the end where much to my delight, he finally gets killed at the end of the third episode. Good riddance to you for keeping the plot from getting started for three whole episodes. It's truly bad where in a scene when said character is captured by a marauding gang that I'm actually hoping that the gang finally puts and end to him and only gets worse when in the end they story wants us to sympathize with him and his plight of being immortal. Sorry, the only one I'm sympathizing with is the little girl you've threatened, traumatized and nearly killed, not to mention destroying her entire world and mindset. We do eventually meet a few more permanent characters by that third episode though: Yuri, a childhood
friend of Humbert who sought revenge on him for destroying his wife
after she had turned undead, and Scar, the silent, emotionless
gravekeeper we briefly saw at the end of the first episode.
After the events of episode 3 the show finally starts going as it
should and could possibly get back to that potential version of the
show, but at this point it's beginning to lose my personal interest.
Considering most brand new shows from Japan work on a 12 to 13
episodes run to start, this show basically wasted its first quarter
doing nothing but setting up a motive for Ai to begin her adventure,
something that could've been done much quicker, easier and without
the aggravation of such a terrible character fueling it.
One
other point I have to bring up is the art style of this show, one
aspect in particular. As you can see from the screen shots I've
scattered throughout this review, the show has an aesthetic where it
constantly appears to be either sunrise or sunset from the use of
light, colors and shadows. At first, it's a nice visual touch,
especially on the more expansive shots of scenery, but after a while
it begins to get grating. Even the scenes where it's night or when it
tries to be bright daylight, there's a constant annoying lens flare
coming from any possible reflective surface and it grows distracting
very quickly. It lessens how crisp the animation and art in general
should look, despite a high amount of ambition clearly put into the
art itself.
Overall,
Sunday Without God has a good idea and a good show buried in it
somewhere, but it appears to be trapped under a lack of motivation in
its pacing, stylish yet distracting artwork, an extremely crippling
main cast member and a plot and lore with far more questions than
answers. I can only give this show a 2.5 out of 5, the extra half a
point going toward holding out some semblance of hope that the show
can pull itself up to the lofty expectations something with such a
high-minded plot would set for itself. If you truly want to see what all my fussing is about, Sunday Without God is simulcast of Tuesday afternoons on Crunchyroll. Next time, we
take a look at a show that has, at least in my mind, revitalized a
classic anime genre from the depths of its attempts to be something
it's not. Suit up, shuffle up, and watch out for traps. President Dog
Takes On... Fantasista Doll.
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