Project Otaku Powerlevelling: Part 15

Part fifteen, coming your way.


Melty Lancer

Admittedly, when you talk to me sometimes, I can come off like a chauvinist. It's not *all* the time, but I'm willing to cop to it, primarily because it's mostly just jokes. When I feel like being funny, I do NOT pull punches, and sometimes people can mistake that for my being a sexist jerk.

But jokes are exactly that--jokes. I love strong women, both in real life and fiction, and some series succeed or fail based on whether I think they pass the test of them actually *being* strong. (Same with the guys. Weakness does not entertain me.)

This is how Melty Lancer made it on this list. I love shows set in space to begin with, but noticing the all-female cast of "special forces" police, I kinda figured there would be some badassery going on.

This, is what I get for thinking. Initially, this six episode OVA displayed a group of characters that were just awesome as I wanted them to be...for about five minutes, and then for the rest of the show, they found themselves immediately and repeatedly upstaged by...well...everyone. Bad guys. Good guys. Random characters.

It would not have been too terrible, had they not been described as an S-Class team capable of handling anything once united. My expectations were set high, only to have them crash around me in their first fight scene, in which the villain is defeated through unforeseen variables rather than the team's actual abilities.

The story's plot itself is rather empty--so much so that I barely remember what it was about, just that it wandered aimlessly for most of the series before finally tying things up in the final two episodes.

I was hoping for Gunsmith Cats in space, with this one. But what I got was Kiddy Girl-and with even more protagonists. Disappointing. I need to watch Nanoha (or Kiddy Grade) to remind myself of the bad-ass female heroes in anime.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sage Spoils The Plot: Kamen Rider Decade

Image
Starting a new section today, entitled Sage Spoils The Plot. I pondered over this name for quite a while, but as I thought about it, I realized calling it commentary or blogging or whatever is just bullshit. What you're REALLY doing is spoiling the plot and adding your own brand of shitty humor. So, why not be honest? Plus, Sage Spoils The Plot has kind of a ring to it. For the first section we're doing the new Kamen Rider series of 2009, Kamen Rider Decade. Kamen Rider checks a lot of "totally fucking awesome" boxes for me. A lot of people might call it, "Japanese Power Rangers" (which is untrue from the start since that already exists) due to the suits and the fight scenes. I accept this. That said, its proof that anything done right can be cool--so when you get rid of the over-acting, toss in a good plot (exceptionally good plots actually), add in some well done characterization, and tone down the stupid-level of the fight scenes and make them look less l
Read more

The New 52, Corrected: Justice Legion A

Image
What Happened: It’s another replacement book.  This time we’re getting rid of Legion Lost.  What I’d Change: Enjoy the adventures of the Justice League of the 853rd century.  Why: Put simply?  Legion Lost didn’t have enough legs to function as an ongoing series.  A group of the Legion’s best members go to the past to combat an alien virus...and then what.  They get stuck?  Meh.  The appeal of the Legion is they’re from the future.  This could have been a great MINI-series; something with a beginning, a middle, and an end.  As an ongoing I got bored, really fast.  So instead let’s replace them with a book about the Justice League of the far future. DC's got a terrible habit of making up awesome concepts and then leaving them by the wayside, this is one of DC’s greatest and its only been revisited like, twice.  (Once by Geoff Johns with Booster Gold 1,000,000 and once with Chris Roberson with some Superman/Batman comic.)   It helps lighten the hit that came with Flashpoint
Read more