I have the great fortune of working only 2 miles from where I live. This allows me to go home for lunch. It saves me money, and it allows me to break up my day with an anime episode. I’ve been able to work through a few series this way.
Recently, I’ve been trying out 07-Ghost, a fantasy anime based on the manga of the same name. I’m five episodes into it so far, and I just have to say, “WTF?” Perhaps I had high expectations of the anime because Dattebayo is subbing it, but I have to say, this is really becoming a waste of time for me.
Sure, it’s beautifully-drawn, as you can see in the clip below, but I find each episode less and less compelling. So far it seems all about eye-candy, not storytelling.
The Storyline
Magical military academy student, Teito Klein, is on the run from the authorities after trying to kill one of the top commanders of the Barsburg Empire’s military, who somehow manages to pull off (poorly, IMHBAO) wearing a uniform and cap with messy, long, blue hair. Go figure.
Teito takes refuge in a church, run by tall, lanky, feminine male bishops, who have a group of nuns who do all the heavy lifting and work. Meanwhile, the men walk around curing people who’ve sold their souls to Kor (demons) and doting on the juicy new boy staying with them. … Okay, that last part was made up, but that’s sure how it seems.
Analysis So Far
And that’s pretty much it. Five episodes into this anime, and I keep thinking it’s going to devolve into a yaoi hentai orgy. Seriously. The guys seem as catty as a group of teenage girls, and the main character, himself a teenage boy, has done nothing but obsess over his male best friend from the get-go. Women are relegated to a subservient class and are hardly even noticed by the male characters. … Sure they’re nuns, but if I was a teenage boy amongst nuns that attractive, I’d be too busy having impure thoughts about them to think about my best friend.
There are two other females in the cast line-up. One is a mermaid that can morph into a boy (perhaps a play to attract “new-half” fans or futanari fans), and the other is a sleeping girl that is always being carried around like a baby by one of the Barsburg military commanders. And that’s just creepy.
An Admission
Now, I realize that I’m still fairly new to the whole anime arena, and I may not have figured out all of the nuances. It’s very likely that this is an anime that appeals to a very specific group of people, but I’m just not one of them so far. Whether or not there are homosexual and/or misogynistic overtones or undertones doesn’t matter to me. I just can’t stand when an anime has all of the expected elements (i.e. the too-cool tough guy, the super-smart guy with glasses, petite and sweet girls, etc.) except a storyline.
I may give it one more episode before I give up on it entirely. After all, it did take roughly 3 episodes to get into Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, and that was a great anime.