BNA Review - Barely, Not really, Acceptable
2 years ago
Ok, so allow me to preface this journal for today with this: no new chapter for today. The week has been crazy, nasty thing happening one after another. First, my computer rebooted and lost files, so I had to restart what I've written from scratch; the internet went down in my place, and I had to deal with the whole shebang; and lastly, had to help my folks at home, and GAWD, we only ended up at around 5 in the MORNING. Lets just say, I'm a currently mess, and decided to postpone it till next week. Just for that I give you this review about BNA, or Brand New Animal, by Studio Trigger.
Studio Trigger is, pretty much, a well known figure in anime community, especially in the west, thanks to their high-octane action and stylized animation, these guys have a cult following like no other. From Gurren Lagann to Kill la Kill, they made numerous works that people love to this day...and Darling in the Franxxx. Yeah, I think you know where I am going with this, so let's get to the point.
Synopsis: The story follows Michiru, a young tanuki girl who ran away into the Animus City, a city populated by those who have an ability to switch between normal humans forms and their animal anthro ones. Michiru came there to find peace thanks to her current condition, and ends up finding friendship with a few denizens, including Shiro Ogami, a self-appointed protector of Animus City (who happens to be a wolf-man, if the name gave it away), who also happens to despise humans. Michiru, on the other hand, isn't interested in staying in Animus City for long, cause you see, she doesn't consider herself and Animal Person, but a human instead!
So yeah, pretty standard stuff, and not that far from the forte that Trigger dabbles in. But does it do well? Eh...
Characters: Pretty memorable, not gonna lie, which seems to be their strength. While nowhere near explosive as something like Kill la Kill, the characters have defined and honest personalities, which makes them likeable. Michiru's need to go back to human society after transforming into an animal person is definitely an interesting angle, and her chemistry with Shiro is undeniably the main part of the series. Other characters are also fairly versatile and fun, and overall, help to create an interesting and lively atmosphere that is the world of Animus City.
That said, few faults do come form few places. Michiru, being the main character, falls frequently to pinballing against one thing after another, to the point that she ended up both the main conflict and the main resolution of the series by literally, just, being pinballed by an outside force. She does in fact a strong personality, don't get me wrong, but her development is kinda meh. The rest of the cast have the problem of either being too pigeonholed, or sidelined by the main plot to be given good amount of time to flesh out and have more dimensions. The villain is in fact, pretty underwhelming, even if thematically makes sense and has cool design.
Plot: Man, let's just say the first half and the latter half are two completely separate entities. Like, the elements that they introduce later in the series really come out of nowhere, and the ultimate twist felt like they failed to live up to their needed potential. It tried to give all character their due, after setting them all up from the beginning of the series, but it felt like just a season one finale.
And funny enough, I don't mind the majority of plot elements they've introduced. Many of them felt like they could've fitted, which if you've seen the series, you know which ones I mean. The problem was that it required a far more subtle, nuanced and "quieter" type of writing, which BNA couldn't necessarily pull off, cause Trigger is, well, very high-octane. The handled themes with a bludgeon, which while worked in Kill la Kill, made BNA and incomplete failure when it came to the plot.
Action, Animation, Presentation: Which of course, comes down to this. If their unique animation could've carried the simple plot like it did in KlK, they could've come out with dumb fun. Unfortunately, they never went beyond, because of the material they were given. They did tried their best, not gonna lie, and when it went out, it went ALL OUT. But it barely covered the weaknesses of the above two points.
Overall: BNA was a fun one time watch. It had great ideas, interesting characters and an atmosphere that only Studio Trigger could provide, and I love them for it. Sadly, it couldn't bring in the same hype, so the whole series ended with a bit of meh. A 6/10, if you will.
Watch if you're interested, happen to be a fan of ST or just think that having animal people is enough to give the media a personality. But don't expect anything their previous work managed to do for you, cause while its fine, it's also "fine".
PS, I'm in the middle of finishing two other works. Will publish them soon enough!
Studio Trigger is, pretty much, a well known figure in anime community, especially in the west, thanks to their high-octane action and stylized animation, these guys have a cult following like no other. From Gurren Lagann to Kill la Kill, they made numerous works that people love to this day...and Darling in the Franxxx. Yeah, I think you know where I am going with this, so let's get to the point.
Synopsis: The story follows Michiru, a young tanuki girl who ran away into the Animus City, a city populated by those who have an ability to switch between normal humans forms and their animal anthro ones. Michiru came there to find peace thanks to her current condition, and ends up finding friendship with a few denizens, including Shiro Ogami, a self-appointed protector of Animus City (who happens to be a wolf-man, if the name gave it away), who also happens to despise humans. Michiru, on the other hand, isn't interested in staying in Animus City for long, cause you see, she doesn't consider herself and Animal Person, but a human instead!
So yeah, pretty standard stuff, and not that far from the forte that Trigger dabbles in. But does it do well? Eh...
Characters: Pretty memorable, not gonna lie, which seems to be their strength. While nowhere near explosive as something like Kill la Kill, the characters have defined and honest personalities, which makes them likeable. Michiru's need to go back to human society after transforming into an animal person is definitely an interesting angle, and her chemistry with Shiro is undeniably the main part of the series. Other characters are also fairly versatile and fun, and overall, help to create an interesting and lively atmosphere that is the world of Animus City.
That said, few faults do come form few places. Michiru, being the main character, falls frequently to pinballing against one thing after another, to the point that she ended up both the main conflict and the main resolution of the series by literally, just, being pinballed by an outside force. She does in fact a strong personality, don't get me wrong, but her development is kinda meh. The rest of the cast have the problem of either being too pigeonholed, or sidelined by the main plot to be given good amount of time to flesh out and have more dimensions. The villain is in fact, pretty underwhelming, even if thematically makes sense and has cool design.
Plot: Man, let's just say the first half and the latter half are two completely separate entities. Like, the elements that they introduce later in the series really come out of nowhere, and the ultimate twist felt like they failed to live up to their needed potential. It tried to give all character their due, after setting them all up from the beginning of the series, but it felt like just a season one finale.
And funny enough, I don't mind the majority of plot elements they've introduced. Many of them felt like they could've fitted, which if you've seen the series, you know which ones I mean. The problem was that it required a far more subtle, nuanced and "quieter" type of writing, which BNA couldn't necessarily pull off, cause Trigger is, well, very high-octane. The handled themes with a bludgeon, which while worked in Kill la Kill, made BNA and incomplete failure when it came to the plot.
Action, Animation, Presentation: Which of course, comes down to this. If their unique animation could've carried the simple plot like it did in KlK, they could've come out with dumb fun. Unfortunately, they never went beyond, because of the material they were given. They did tried their best, not gonna lie, and when it went out, it went ALL OUT. But it barely covered the weaknesses of the above two points.
Overall: BNA was a fun one time watch. It had great ideas, interesting characters and an atmosphere that only Studio Trigger could provide, and I love them for it. Sadly, it couldn't bring in the same hype, so the whole series ended with a bit of meh. A 6/10, if you will.
Watch if you're interested, happen to be a fan of ST or just think that having animal people is enough to give the media a personality. But don't expect anything their previous work managed to do for you, cause while its fine, it's also "fine".
PS, I'm in the middle of finishing two other works. Will publish them soon enough!