Neo Ranga - Lost in the Spectacle (Vol. 2)

Rating:
Summary: Lost in the Episodes
Review: For some reason, the fifteen-minute episode format of this series seems to make is hard for me to grasp the overall intent plot. Not the intent of each episode, but long thematic arcs that usually define the reason for the existence of a series. I can make out glimmers - the issue of being responsible for a god, fighting political corruption, etc. - but they are often fragmentary hints, not broad development. Nor does it help that there is a cast of thousands to sort out. 'Lost in the Spectacle' is a very good title for this DVD. Certainly, Ranga, a god, has all the status of an oversized house pet. Perhaps this is the real theme of the story, but it has yet to materialize.

Ostensibly, this is a story about three sisters who inherit a god and their struggles as they try to do the right thing. All very well, but their version of the right thing is often different from mine. Minami is perfectly willing to try to use Ranga in a bank robbery, Ushio is only too willing to interfere in the lives of others, and Yuuhi has a tendency to be an avenging angel. Often Ranga's powers are used trivially. In one episode, he is used to fine Ushio's missing bathing suit. There are moments when I wonder if the National Interest Party might be right in trying to do away with the whole mess.

Not badly written, but often silly - it can be difficult to follow the mood swings of the story line. It reminds me of Blue Seed, which also had difficulty settling into what eventually became a mature and interesting plot. It will be interesting to see what happens to this series as it's more serious elements develop, but for right now it is still more confection and innuendo than anything else. Of course, this is a matter of taste, but for a viewer trying to decide where to invest in DVDs that refuse to get any cheaper, I would make this series a low priority.

Rating:
Summary: Lost in the Episodes
Review: For some reason, the fifteen-minute episode format of this series seems to make is hard for me to grasp the overall intent plot. Not the intent of each episode, but long thematic arcs that usually define the reason for the existence of a series. I can make out glimmers - the issue of being responsible for a god, fighting political corruption, etc. - but they are often fragmentary hints, not broad development. Nor does it help that there is a cast of thousands to sort out. 'Lost in the Spectacle' is a very good title for this DVD. Certainly, Ranga, a god, has all the status of an oversized house pet. Perhaps this is the real theme of the story, but it has yet to materialize.

Ostensibly, this is a story about three sisters who inherit a god and their struggles as they try to do the right thing. All very well, but their version of the right thing is often different from mine. Minami is perfectly willing to try to use Ranga in a bank robbery, Ushio is only too willing to interfere in the lives of others, and Yuuhi has a tendency to be an avenging angel. Often Ranga's powers are used trivially. In one episode, he is used to fine Ushio's missing bathing suit. There are moments when I wonder if the National Interest Party might be right in trying to do away with the whole mess.

Not badly written, but often silly - it can be difficult to follow the mood swings of the story line. It reminds me of Blue Seed, which also had difficulty settling into what eventually became a mature and interesting plot. It will be interesting to see what happens to this series as it's more serious elements develop, but for right now it is still more confection and innuendo than anything else. Of course, this is a matter of taste, but for a viewer trying to decide where to invest in DVDs that refuse to get any cheaper, I would make this series a low priority.

Rating:
Summary: I HAVE TO ADMIT IT'S GETTING BETTER
Review: Man, the first few episodes, and by that I mean almost 3/4 of the first Volume was awful. I had to really force myself to get through it. But, the light at the end of Volume 1 was that the last episodes were good. So I bought Volume 2 and am glad I did. This dvd was excellent.

What we see in Volume 2 is some deeper ponderings on the nature of the media and celebrity, right and wrong, corruption, and other Shakespearean questions, along with slapstick comedy. Coming into the fore here is Ushio as she gets a job at a store and the owners use her fame to get more business and work her to the bone. The daughter of the owners, Hiromi, used to be her best friend, but the two have drifted away in recent years. Hiromi has fallen in with a yakuza gang leader and runs away. Meanwhile, Minami has gotten a job dancing with lonely men in order to support her two sisters to the consternation of Ushio, who sees it as one step removed from prostitution. Later, while she is at the bank, Minami becomes a hostage of a bank robber, and is tempted to do a bad thing. And of course there's Neo Ranga, enigmatic as ever, who will have to face an ASE robot designed to defeat him. The last episodes see the 3 sisters travelling to their mother's home island and the awful crime mystery of Ushio's stolen bikini.

There was so much in this dvd. It really deals with adult issues of temptation, lost children, people searching for hope and maybe bending the law to do it. You had some really dramatic moments with the bank robber and the runaway Hiromi and really hilarious ones with the vacation episodes. I look forward to Volume 3.

If you didn't like Volume 1, at least give 2 a chance before you pass judgement.