On Being An Action Whore

I love action shows. Everytime I see a well choreographed action scene, it takes me back to the time when I was reenacting Kamehameha’s in my garden or shooting friends with water pistols. There’s just something about the flow of a well-animated (or in the case of manga, well-drawn)action scene that seems amazing to me.  Though I do appreciate slice-of-life, romance and drama, the genre that holds the most appeal for me at the moment is shounen, since most anime and manga in that genre have great action sequences.

For instance, I’m reading Bleach, One Piece, Naruto, Katekyo Hitman Reborn,  Fairy Tail, Full Metal Alchemist, Mixim, Deadman Wonderland, Claymore etc – all of which have beings with superpowers able to pull off devastating special moves. And for all their flaws (outside of One Piece which HAS NO FLAWS. AT ALL) I still enjoy them due to badassery and climactic double-page attacks. Another example is Shin Angyo Onshi, my favourite manga, which contains some of the best action scenes I’ve ever seen, complete with climactic finishes and all.

Whenever I come across a series with a lack of action, it has to prove itself in other ways to be interesting enough for me. Actually, it’s more that that series is at a slight disadvantage in my mind. For example, when I look at a preview for the upcoming season, shows like Kurokami and World Destruction get me the most excited since I always need my crazy fight fix each season. It’s a shame when shows such as those fail to live up to expectations, especially in the case of Kurokami. It’s like being given the most delicious form of your favourite food and then getting something half the quality given to you each week afterwards. However, most of the time, series rise up and above this since I’m interested in most aspects of anime and manga. Kaiba has its eccentric art and surrealness and Natsume Yuujinchou has its excellent music and heartwarming characters – and they’re another two of my favourite series. But nevertheless, HIGH SPEED ACTION is King. I think this lies mostly in my appreciation for anime as a visual medium. The better it looks, moves and flows, the more it appeals to me. With shows such as Kaiba or Natsume, there are beautiful moments, but they pale in comparison to something as stunning as the fight in Kurokami’s first episode.

Xam’d contained a smattering of great scenes from start to finish, but that was one of my problems with it – there was only a smattering. I’m kind of ADD about this: when things don’t move I start to lose interest unless the show is engaging enough. Xam’d was a great show, no doubt, but occasionally the pacing was so slow  I was bored by what was going on. From the outset, I was expecting there to be scenes like the fights in the first and last episode every 3 episodes or so, so when that didn’t happen I was kind of disappointed. But when it was done well, it was done well and quality > quantity when it comes to this type of thing.

Bad/boring/confusing fights are just a pain to watch. Without proper direction, action scenes just won’t work and that can really detract form my enjoyment of the series. I managed to get through 4 episodes of Soul Taker before giving up on it completely since  it was extremely boring and I could barely understand what was going on when the time for a battle rolled around. When I looked up the director, it turned out to be Wackiyuki Shinbo . On this occasion, Shinbo’s style just didn’t meld well with the sequences (though to be honest, I’m not sure how large a part he had in the grand scheme of things – who plays a larger role in directing the action scenes, the director or the animation director?). In fact, I think the only reason I stuck with it for 4 episodes is because I was waiting to see a really cool fight, but in the end it was just a waste of time. Converselym hust as bad action can detract from a good show (though I wouldn’t really call Soul Taker “good”) great action can make a bad series even more enjoyable. The show may be completely ridiculous, but if things are moving fast and there are objects blowing up and lasers firing everywhere, it’ll still be fun to watch (*cough*Code geass R2 *cough*).

I hereby dub thee: Full Metal GARchemist

Though action for the sake of action isn’t unwelcome, what’s an improvement is when the scenes are backed up by other positive aspects of the show. When you’ve got a protagonist you want to root for nothing gets the blood pumping like seeing a climactic battle to determine the fates of two opposing sides. The more there is at risk and the more invested you are in the character/plot, the more tension and excitement there is in the fight. For instance, the  climax  of episode 19 of Full Metal Alchemist was even more kick ass to me since everything leading up to it was so well-paced and emotional. Seeing Roy come back at just the right time heightened my enjoyment of the finish/ With that having been said, here’s One Piece!

My love of action scenes, as well as my expectations, has grown with the more anime I watch. Whereas in my early days I thought Dragonball Z was THE BES THING OF ALL TIME, now I see it as simply a gateway series for other great action series, such as Bleach (in it’s prime) and Bleach in turn led me to FMA and so on. I’m not sure if this is a good or a bad thing. The higher my expectations, the more I alienate shows because they’re just not up to a certain standard. But hey, the eyes want what they wants.

And so we meander to the end of this aimless post with a question: which provides the better action scene, manga or anime? I personally prefer manga, since the art of some mangaka are just amazing to look at: visceral and violent but always detailed and exciting. A lot of the time, the detail which makes the art so amazing is lost in the transition to anime, but this is replaced with sound and, you know, moving pictures. I return again to episode 19 of Full Metal Alchemist, which managed to make the battle look even more amazing than it did in the manga.

I don’t have much of a conclusion to this except I think I’ll always love action scenes just like I’ll always hold a place in my heart for Sonic the Hedgehog. No matter how far he’s fallen. And continues to fall. And will fall.