While Kabitzin’s blogging is undergoing slight hiatus due to his newfound love for Kaleido Star, I’d like to bring some attention to the rather underappreciated goodness known as Melody of Oblivion (Boukyaku no Senritsu). Aside from Konomimi, this is the lesser known “other” recent Gainax show, and I’m pretty sure it’s initial weirdness (well, continuing weirdness too) turned most viewers away. Indeed, I was initially quite skeptical after watching a few eps, since the setting was rather acid-trippy and filled with funky pastel colors. However, I eventually found myself unwittingly drawn into its web of lame Engrishy musical references.
There’s so many nitpicky things about this series that could easily turn away the casual viewer; for instance, the hero Bocca bears a disturbing resemblance to Susie Derkins from Calvin and Hobbes. The level of detail seems too simple for the tone of the story, and the show is quite angsty and dark despite having such cutesy harem-anime-esque character designs.
Nevertheless, it’s surreal beyond belief, which really floats my boat. The OP is quite good in an old-school J-pop sort of way, but what really takes the cake is the ED. While others have described it as “dull” or “boring”, I for some reason find the ending song (Te no Hira no Hikari) to be quite beautiful and soothing, if a bit melancholy. Most agree, however, that the ending animation is quite lovely.
Mad props to Sugar for fighting the good fight and keeping up with this series. I think BluWacky was at one point also blogging it, but I’m not sure if he gave up on it.
Anyways, just my two cents on a lesser-known niche series. Now that Kabitzin has proclaimed that his new purpose in life is to spread word of Kaleido Star to the world, I thought it might be appropriate to shine some light on some other current underdogs. Speaking of which, does anyone else out there think Infinite Ryvius is one of the most underappreciated series ever? Now that Hisashi Hirai’s character designs have hit it big (Scryed, Gundam SEED, and the more recent Soukyu no Fafner), it’s interesting to see how his art has evolved. Personally, I like his old designs better (they weren’t as deformed!), but to each his own.
On the other hand, I’m glad that Twelve Kingdoms fever (a.k.a. 12 Kokuki/Juuni Kokki) has finally started spreading to the masses, currently among the top rankers at animenfo after wallowing in obscurity for too long. Hmmm, hopefully it won’t be long before PlanetES will gain a wider audience as well.
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6 Comments
Melody of Oblivion is one of the new series that I need to dl and watch (which is partially due to Sugar’s comments on it).
And I completely agree about Infinite Ryvius. It had some of the best plot and characterization I’ve seen in an anime. Unfortunately it (along with another of my favorites, Kaze no Yojimbo) seems to be usually passed over in favor of series such as Saikano and Kiddy Grade.
Right on for spreading the word about obscure and underappreciated series! I was skeptical about Melody of Oblivion, but it ended up to be pretty good. And Kaleido Star and PlanetES have come to be ranked in my top 10 faves. I agree, it’s pretty sad to look at the Animenfo rankings and see some wonderful series being rated low. Not that I follow those rankings, but… ^^ All I can say is, keep on fighting the fight for the underdog series.
I watched some of Kaze no Yojimbo a couple years back, but for some reason the subbing progress came to a screeching halt (dunno whether it was licensing or whatnot), so I ended up dropping it. It was quite intriguing in a deliberate, mysterious, and moody (but not quite Madlaxian) way. I’ll have to pick up on that again sometime!
Concerning those animenfo rankings; they certainly are a poor indication of a series’ quality, but as a popularity gauge it suffices. I like to root for my favorite underdog series in a strange fantasy baseball league-ish fashion
Policeman-san better move over, because now _I_ am Sora’s Numba Wan Fan!
And we here at Sea Slugs! are always committed to supporting the underdog.
I haven’t stopped watching Melody of Oblivion, I just haven’t been able to get any episodes - I have three sitting on a CD now waiting for me to watch…may do that now, actually. I still love the show, incidentally (Madlax and Melody of Oblivion are easily my favourite shows from the April season…)
For some reason, I’m dreading the inevitable moment when Bocca and Sayoko finally get together. She’s so annoying! And her outfit is so ridiculous. I really preferred the glasses-girl, but I’m wagering that if she ever shows up again in the series, she will be revealed as the mastermind of the Monsters or something equally terrible.