Yakitori: Soldiers of Misfortune

Well, I officially have a new standard for "meh" anime. This is pretty much a middle-of-the-road anime; while the characters are pretty well differentiated both in terms of design and personality, the animation is smooth, and the world is definitely interesting; this is one of the few well-realized anthropomorphic worlds. It doesn't hold back on the violence, and the weapons and vehicles are well-designed. The continuity is actually pretty good and the world is well-realized.

However, it does suffer from the Navi problem and there is little tension. The administrative avatar, a cute bunny girl, can be all sorts of cloying and seems designed for younger audiences; its just too jarring for this and that it never speaks English doesn't help. That it's constantly dancing doesn't help much. There's also little tension; the cliches tend to rob the writing of tension because you know what's going to happen and it usually does.

However, at six episodes this is well worth the investment, and the show makes for a good couple hours of entertainment. Just don't watch the credits; no one needs that kind of torture. But do watch the show; it's definitely worth the time.

A lot of folks in the reviews here are complaining about poorly written dialogue and simplistic characterization. They're not wrong, but to be blunt, that's also not really the strength of the military science fiction genre this is aping.

The concept of humans escaping conditions on earth by serving as foot soldiers among the stars is one used by at least three different military sci fi novel series I can think of (Old Man's War is probably the best of them). It seems a little overdue for a visual treatment. That alone is the reason I've rated it as highly as I have.

But while these books can't normally be counted on to be works of literature, you can at least expect that they'll present interesting tactical situations and the threat of mortal danger. This story misses the mark on both counts. The characters repeatedly charge headlong into automatic weapons fire at close range without being hit. The tactical situations they are thrust into are practically nonsensical within the context of the setting. The less said about the "moral dilemma" at the end of the show and how badly that was handled, the better, but you can definitely see comments about it here.

So anyway, my point is, if the idea of Yakitori appealed to you because you liked the idea of an anime with an approach to action that's more grounded in contemporary military fiction, you'll see plenty of promise in Yakitori, and you'll see all of it squandered.

Yakitori is not for everyone. Based on a Japanese novel series, it is a military / sci-fi anime that is actually pretty good for what is it - a basic story about a young man looking for his place in the world, space dogs and cats and other species, and fluid combat that is not too outlandish if somewhat simplistic.

The Good: The animation is sufficiently detailed and crisp. There is good use of tracking shots, which in anime is not all too common. It's done skillfully and judiciously, thankfully. The story itself is also refreshingly interesting. And rare for Japanese anime, the English voice version is actually better than the Japanese once. Not that the voice actors are better - they're not really; it's that it fits better with the diverse human characters.

The Bad: The dialogue, as in many Japanese manga and anime, is terrible. Too much exposition and unrealistic ways of speaking. Good dialogue has a natural rhythm and recognizes that people talk differently, with each conversation propelling the narrative forward. Not so much here; it's serviceable though. Also there are some elements of the plot that is simply unbelievable, even for a sci-fi story.

The Verdict: Overall this is an enjoyable anime. Is it memorable or ground-breaking like "Akira"? Nope. There's nothing thought-provoking or philosophical like "Ghost in the Shell". But it is entertaining and at the very least not boring.

My overall impression with the intent of the show is that of a pro-military set of writers with a gleeful disregard for morals.

However, the intent of the author is always secondary at best, and the actual product can easily be enjoyed as an at times absurdist parody with some genuinely brilliant moments. Starship Troopers stuff.

Like how the dumbass protagonists go about mowing down waves of rebels even after their own planet has been taken over in the same manner they are now subjecting others to.

I'm completely obsessed with the bunny Hatsune Miku combat AI who steals the show by delivering notifications about death and war crimes with a pop idol dance.

Some of the action can be intense and grounded, with cool sci-fi weaponry and tactics. I recall an amazing shot where a spherical shield is hit by an impact, causing dust to swirl around inside the shield as well as outside. It was only there for a split second, but the effect was really neat and we'll thought out.

And don't get me started on the choice to give the humanoid zebra background character hoofs for fingernails.

The end fizzles out disappointingly, but the unexplored themes are a sight to behold.

It has space elevators and orbital drops, and the color and style of the animation is enjoyable.

I am quite comfortable with both the animation, and the voice acting. They are not perfect, perhaps not even good, but more than enough to tell a story on a budget tv show. Really, no complain there.

Sadly, the story itself is very lacking, as well as sloppy, dumb and incoherent, and the characters don't add much to any of it. It seems like in no moment they considered asking any normal adult opinion, something with which the could have easily pull this up, and make some sense. Really, I believe that with some minor changes on the script, which some simple effort, it could actually make a decent story, and it has a lot of potential, which could be even deepen, but it wasn't actually the case.

It does provide some entertainment still, although skipping the flashbacks would help.