Shelf Life

Space Invaders

Making anime based on video games strikes me as a pretty thankless task. The finished product almost always ends up as a compromise between pandering to fans of the game and trying to bring new people into the franchise. There's no reliable way to capture the spirit of the source material without making the audience feel like they're watching someone else play the game. The potential pitfalls go on and on, which is why Devil Survivor 2 The Animation comes as a pleasant surprise. It's one of the few game adaptations I'd actually recommend watching.

The show certainly doesn't waste any time bringing the world the brink of destruction. A group of mysterious invaders called Septentriones have laid siege to humanity, with a more powerful baddie coming to wreak havoc every day. There's a shadowy organization in place to fight them off, and our defense is led by a handful of chosen people who can summon demons with their cell phones. Parts of the premise and some of the Septentrion abilities feel like they were ripped right out of Neon Genesis Evangelion, but at least the writers picked a good series to borrow from. Humanity is backed pretty far into a corner here, but anyone who can survive will have a chance to reshape the world however they see fit. Looks like it's time for some desperate last stands and lofty speeches about human potential.

Make no mistake: this is a dark series in several ways. The overall tone of the show is filled with gloom and doom, with major characters dropping dead on a regular basis. It's not the sort of thing you'd want to watch after a rough day at the office, but all the misery does at least have a purpose. As long as you're prepared to have your heart broken a few times, the story does a good job of taking the end of the world seriously. Even the animation is dark, though not always in a good way. The subdued color palette helps set the mood, but the screen can sometimes get so dark that it's hard to tell what's happening. Someone seriously needs to lend these poor people a flashlight or two.

Devil Survivor's biggest strength is its ensemble cast. With a few notable exceptions, I found myself liking just about everyone more than I expected to. The characters have enough depth to be memorable, and they all react to their circumstances in their own way. We're meant to relate to these people and feel the weight of the world pressing down on them, and that connection makes a character's loss more keenly felt. The only weak points are Yamato and Fumi, both of whom come across as impossibly cold-blooded and insufferable. In a cast that numbers over a dozen, however, a couple of bad apples aren't enough to spoil the bunch.

I don't typically have much to say about opening and ending themes, but Devil Survivor does something really clever with its end credits. It seems pretty innocuous at first: a moody song plays as the camera moves down a lineup of the main characters. The catch is that characters disappear from the sequence once they die in the show, and their spot is left empty. By the last few episodes, there are huge gaps where likable characters used to be. It's a neat trick that goes a long way toward reinforcing the sense of loss whenever someone bites the bullet. I'm usually the kind of person who skips the opening and ending credits after a few episodes, but I absolutely recommending letting them run for this series.

I'm also impressed by Devil Survivor's ability to stand on its own merit. I haven't played the game, but I never found myself struggling to keep up. The show explains things as they come up without ever piling on too much exposition in a single sitting. The demon summoning app probably works better as a game mechanic than it does as a plot device, but I rarely felt like I was watching someone else play a video game. If it weren't for the title, it wouldn't take much to convince me that this was an original story instead of an adaptation.

This isn't a particularly upbeat show, nor is it flawless. It is, however, far better than I expected it to be. It tells a complete and emotionally potent story without a single filler episode to be found. Even if you're not familiar with the source material, it's worth checking out just to see concrete proof that anime based on video games can turn out all right from time to time.
- Paul[TOP]

Space Brothers has always been one of my favorite "anytime, anywhere" shows to watch. Unlike some other series, I never have to be in the "right" mood to watch Space Brothers—it just always works for me. I think a lot of that has to do with its perfect blend of humor, tension, drama, and inspiration. Everything is dispersed evenly and done just right, so no matter what kind of day I've just had, this show has something that pushes all the right buttons. The only downside is that once I start watching, it's difficult to stop, so I find myself incredibly unproductive on any of the days that I decide to sit down for "just one episode."

This set of episodes takes place in two main locations—it finishes the astronaut selection exam component that required the characters to live together in closed modules, and then takes the finalists to Houston, where they'll be put through another round of interviews and more tasks. It shouldn't be a spoiler for me to say that Mutta of course makes it through, since it'd otherwise be a very short series. As for the others, I'll keep my mouth zipped. One thing that I really like about Space Brothers is that even though Mutta (and to some degree, Hibito) is clearly the main character, the series does a good job of making sure that we get to know the other characters. These flashbacks and side stories are scattered amongst the episodes, which is frustrating for those who just want the resolution for any given cliffhanger, but it helps a lot to flesh out those who would otherwise just be background placeholders. And unlike American competition reality shows, where it's fairly easy to figure out who stays or goes based on the kind of edits they get in an episode, Space Brothers makes a concerted effort to even out the coverage.

There are two main things that have always jumped out at me about this show, and it's the humor and technical know-how. I've talked about the latter a lot in my various reviews over the years, and it remains one of the best things about this meticulously researched series. From its accurate portrayals of JAXA testing procedures, to its precise location scouting (the Texas Roadhouse in the last episode looks exactly like every Texas Roadhouse I've ever set foot in, although the food looks more palatable in the anime than it is in real life), Space Brothers is a true must-see for space geeks and space agency geeks alike.

It's the humor, though, that makes this show so effortlessly fun. The writers get a lot of mileage out of visual gags, especially those centered around Mutta, whose facial expressions, pliable hairdo, and wacky mannerisms keep the show light-hearted. The faces he makes when he's thinking about Serika, for instance, are goofy without being lecherous, and his cheesy grins make him near impossible to dislike. There's a fun episode near the tail-end of the collection where he takes on a temp job as a mall Santa, and his hair conforms to the shape of the hat, shortly before sagging into place on its own. There's another great scene where he's psyching himself up to go for a run, using "shooooooweeerrr!" and "milk milk milk" as onomatopoeias to describe his actions. They're all small, insignificant things, but combined with Mutta's affable nature and his lovable underdog charm, they always make me laugh out loud.

At the same time, Space Brothers has what every solid, character-driven story needs—compelling characters and enough gravitas to prevent it from sagging into a heap of reaction shot jokes. The JAXA module test is a perfect example of this, in the way that it uses side stories to introduce us to most of the main players. Each of the characters has a reason for taking the exam, some more heartbreaking than others. Serika is doing it out of love and reverence for her deceased father, while Fukuda is chasing a life-long dream. His story sent pangs through my heart, even though the theme of absentee fathers is a well-worn path in storytelling. All of these combine well with the inherent suspense of the exam, and help a lot in giving viewers a break from seeing the same three rooms over and over again.

Of all the shows that I've seen over the past several years, Space Brothers is probably in my top three most-recommended. I think the subject matter might bore some viewers, but I think the jokes help make the series a more universally enjoyable experience. I really can't emphasize enough what a terrific show this is, not only for the way it crafts an engaging story out of a remarkably well-researched topic, but also for the way it makes each disc so hard to put down. If you haven't watched it yet, you're missing out on one of the best shows of the last five years.
- Bamboo[TOP]