I have no words for this.
Actually I do. I have plenty of words. 421 in fact, many of them being the word ‘fabulous’ and synonyms of said word.
First, since my blog is named after the anime, I’d just like to say that Star Driver is quite a distance away from Code Geass in the realm of the fabulous. Code Geass is in-world fabulous. When Zero swishes his cape about and prances around in front of television screens, he’s doing it on purpose. The legend of Zero is built on his fabulousness and it is acknowledged in world. They even devote an entire character to capturing his fabulousness on camera. In Star Driver, the villains cry out “GINGA BISHOUNEN!?!” completely seriously, unaware how utterly camp they are. They don’t see the humour in the masquerade masks and gaybar costumes they are wearing. It’s in world serious but the creators know what they are creating is the campest thing alive.
It’s a concept that doesn’t really exist in anime, as this post pointed out quite a long time before Star Driver. The show thriving on its own campiness but neither does it take itself seriously. For totally over the top anime, like the aforementioned Geass, they are playing it all with a straight face, so the same rule doesn’t apply there. Neither does it apply to anime people love for the ‘so bad it’s good’ reason, like Umineko. Umineko was hilarious, but was trying its damned hardest to put on a serious show with a real detective mystery. Umineko was total nonsense and shame on you if you tried to take that anime seriously, but that’s still not what Star Driver is aiming for here. It’s camp, fabulous fun. Judging by some of the forums I’ve read, people aren’t able to wrap their heads around that concept.
That’s not to say it did it particularly well. The first 3/4 of the episode were generic, magical high school anime. New transfer student, dorm mistress that thinks too much of herself, big bully older bloke. We’ve yet to see the big busted nurse or the sexy maths teacher who wears her glasses so low on her face that she’s looking through her nostrils rather than through her eyes, but it’s only a matter of time before they appear. There’s not much originality nor any intelligence put into the writing in those scenes. It’s only when it goes totally ridiculous with the GINGA BISHOUNEN and KIRABOSHI~♥ and wide-hipped mechas do we see the episode actually shine.
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I’m looking forward to seeing this one, now that I’ve read your impressions. I’d like to see a space opera that really dials the “opera” up to 11 for once.
It would not surprise me in the slightest if they started singing while piloting their mechas. Oh wait, that’s been done before. Hello Macross~!
It was pretty entertaining actually, even though I found myself saying “That’s so lame” or thinking “I don’t get what does that mean but looks important” I have to admit that did have fun watching it.
The ginga bishounen was a killer (facepalm)
I’m not sure if we were meant to understand what was going on. I certainly didn’t. The KIRABOSHI~♥ threw me totally
I had a lot of fun watching this. I think it was the completely serious ‘Ginga Bishounen~!’ bit that did me in; I was giggling for a good 30mins after the episode finished!
I think I need to watch it with someone else to truly laugh at it
OMG! “He’s the Galatic Bishounen!”
That was sooooooooooooooo Gay/funny/facepalmed
Yet, that anime is in my “maybe” list of what to see in the current season.
I prefer to call it ‘camp’ myself. You don’t get much more camp than the Galactic Pretty Boy
Well this certainly ticks all the boxes so far: pretty boys with pretty coloured hair and a love triangle for the fangirls; mecha mayhem galore for the fanboys; and (to use the F word again), fabulous fabulous fabulous costumes and music. Might even watch the second epi, as long as the mecha/ gar stuff doesn’t become too macho for my tastes…
I don’t think there’s any worry whatsoever about Star Driver being macho. Calling this macho is like calling Rocky Horror macho =/
It’s clear from the interview before the show aired the creators are just doing whatever the hell they want whether it works or not. It casts the future of the show in an interesting light.
http://www.ggkthx.org/2010/10/04/the-world-of-star-driver-interview/
I tl;dr-d parts of it, partly because of spoilers though. I do find it amusing that the writer is so unaware of robot series rules and yet it still conforms to a bunch of typical mecha tropes
Faboulastastic!
Let’s see where this goes, It was entertaining to watch, even with all those moves the guy does in his mech.
I might make fabulotastic a tag
I get the biggest e-boner when the main character shakes his hips/ass during his transformation sequence. Mmm, get it. XD
I suppose it’s the pole-dancing Panty Stocking transformation for women who like camp men
“I made it… to my new stage” is what the hero says at the beginning of the episode, and this says actually everything about the anime. It’s really just a big stage made for him. The chance encounter, the school, the evil organisation, are all preps to prepare the stage so that the hero can jump into his robot and dance around.
That’s why you probably didn’t like 3/4 of the episode; it has no value on its own after all. It is just as much requisite as necessary to set the grand finale up. Call them cardbox cutouts if you want.
(Seriously, Meganekko Neko/Usamimi Maids who aren’t moe?! This wouldn’t have happened if the creators would care anything about the stage)
That leaves me with 2 interesting questions:
1.) The stage – a southern island – is too small for 13 episodes
2.) What will happen to our hero if he suddenly is in a ‘real’ world, not on a stage
3.) Where is my Wa(n)ko p…^W^W^W^W^W^[dd
Actually I believe that Gurren Lagann was also taking campyness to the next level.