What to say about this lame, boring junk? Night Head Genesis is a psychological thriller mystery thing. The 24-episode series is based on a 1992 drama series. The anime aired in 2006 and was picked up by 2008 by Media Blasters. It is only available in Japanese with English subtitles.
Naoto and Naoya are brothers with special powers. The older brother, Naoto, is a powerful psychokinetic. Naoya, six years younger, is a clairvoyant and telepath, with some form of healing ability as well. In the world they live in, most normal humans only use 30% of their brain capacity. The unused portion is called "Night Head," and a few rare and special people are able to use that extra 70%, like Naoto and Naoya. Unable to control the dangerous and short-tempered Naoto (who is fiercely protective of his younger brother), or to help Naoya (who can see horrifying images from a person's deep consciousness with the slightest contact with someone) function in the world around him, their parents allow them to be taken by a research center, where they are held without possibility of escape. Until, 15 years later, the old man who founded the research center dies, and the strange barrier that held them inside the compound falls, allowing them to escape. Back out in the world, they soon learn that they are part of an upcoming disaster which may destroy the entire world.
That sounds way more exciting than it is. The show is slow, confusing, and boring. And there's no real solid resolution regarding the upheaval, remaking, destroying of the world that is supposed to occur. There's a faction of mentally powerful people like themselves who are working to bring about a rebirth or something, and Naoto and Naoya end up opposing them. And then it kind of ends...with nothing really happening. Then there are a couple episodes at the end, that feel rather tacked on, describing some seemingly unrelated events about a year after the previously resolved events. They don't feel necessary at all.
I felt like they were trying too hard somehow. It seemed to want to emulate the feeling of shows like Witch Hunter Robin, but it really wasn't doing anything for me. As for the main characters.... Half of Naoto's lines are variations on "Keep it together, Naoya!" or "What's wrong, Naoya?" And Naoya himself barely has any lines at all, other than yelling "Nii-san!" over and over again. The plot is kind of nonsensical. The art is decent enough, and so is the music, though it's nothing outstanding.
Er, it's been a while since I watched this, so my synopsis might be a tad off (in regards to the motivations for the "bad guys"), but...well I gotta tell ya, it's not worth watching anyway. There's a manga adaptation too, from Del Rey, drawn by You Higuri (Gakuen Heaven, Ludwig II).
I'll try to write up Paranoia Agent next, which was much better than this..... Clannad After Story is the most recent series I've finished. I started up D.Gray-Man this morning but I'm not really into it, so I'm not sure I'll finish. Ug, sorry, this was kind of half-assed. I really didn't like it.
16 comments:
Considering I only watched the first 3 or 4 episodes of Night Head Genesis before I got bored...
Which is saying something, considering the setup and the powers that the characters have (and the potential of the brothers' background, if used right), the execution was just not there.
I don't blame you for half-assing it from the bit I seen.
I think they could have hacked off half the episodes and still been fine. It just drags on a lot....
There's a new show running now in Japan, with a similar premise (and almost the same exact character designs for the main characters too); I forget the name.... I wonder if that's any better?
@Kris-chan: Heyyy, what's up? I haven't been watching much anime lately. "Girls Bravo - S2" is only my 12th title this year, dohhh. But have you finally caught the Eng-subbed version of "Gokusen - The Movie" yet? Brought back so many memories, awww. ^_^
Crap. No. I know it's out, but I haven't grabbed it yet. Will get to that.... Should be a Nodame film coming out soon, too.
I'm also slow with my anime as well. I'm working my way through Rouroni Kenshin right now, which is probably going to take me months to get through. That's going to be a sizable chunk of my anime watching this year, I think. I won't get through many this year.
Reading TONS of manga, though. Viz Media sends me 6 books a month or so now, to review. Found some amazing stuff that way. I have a new favorite manga title: Ooku: The Inner Chambers by Fumi Yoshinaga. But I'm really reading a ridiculous amount of manga now, which makes up for all the anime I'm not watching. :)
Saw a couple of interesting Asian films recently. A double feature called The Bride with White Hair. Have you seen it? They're pretty good, though they do have some problems. I like the story; it's based on a novel, which I'd be interested to see.
@Kris-chan: Hmm, I've never heard of "ROURONI Kenshin" but I've seen all 3 seasons of "Rurouni Kenshin". Kinda like misspelling "Wanderer" as "Wonder" and hoping nobody will notice, hehe. Yeah, 90+ episodes should take a few months. Personally, I think it's worth it. But beyond that, 70 episodes of the Korean live-action "Dae Jang Geum" is worth even more...
But manga? Who has time for manga? ^o^
Haven't seen that film, but I've heard of a "White Haired" female character recurring quite a few times in Asian cinema (plus recently in Jackie Chan's and Jet Li's "Forbidden Kingdom"). So I might have to check that one out... Meanwhile, still watching the animated "Jackie Chan Adventures"; halfway through Season 3 of 5. Plus I'm halfway through Jet Li's film "Tai Chi Master". Yup, I know, my Jet Li live-action phase.
Ug, did I spell it wrong again? I always do that. I don't know why I can't manage to get it right. There's 22 discs, and I'm watching them in groups of 4, with a random movie in between. Disc 6 should arrive from Netflix today. There's a delay on disc 7 though, so it sent me my next movie. :( That sort of thing is going to make it take longer. But I do like it. I caught some of it years ago, when Cartoon Network was still showing anime during the day. I liked it then, but never saw it all.
I have time for manga! I know you're not much of a manga reader, though. But I love it; I like to lay in bed at night and read it before I go to sleep. Or during commercial breaks while I'm watching TV (like the Daily Show).
Those movies are just: The Bride with White Hair and The Bride with White Hair 2. They're both on Netflix (but only for rent). It's sort of an action, romance, horror, drama thing. The main guy belongs to some sort of kung fu clan, and the girl to some sort of magic clan, but they meet and fall in love even though they're enemies. But he accidentally betrays her, and she goes psycho and starts killing everyone. He disappears and waits for the time when he can come back and save her. It's sad. :(
Mmm...I think Jet Li is kind of sexy. I should have a Jet Li live action phase, too.
@Kris-chan: I'm telling ya, BitTorrent is so much easier, haha. But the Wiki for "Bride" revealed something interesting to me. Brigitte Lin also starred in the classic wild off-beat "Chungking Express". Hmm, I probably should check "Bride" then...
Haha. The first post I see on my first visit here in months is a 'do not watch' warning, eh?
The picture you used kinda reminds me of Fushigi Yuugi, though I guess that one would be more interesting. Paranoia Agent? Now there's one fantastic show I forgot to review. I wonder where I put it now...
Haha, sad huh? I need to write my Paranoia Agent review, though I'm not sure I remember enough about it. Should have written that one immediately. I can still write about Clannad though.
Also watched D.Gray-Man recently (the first season), but I basically hated it.
Heh, I'm not surprised that you don't like DGM. From what little I've heard of it, it sounds like just another never-ending shounen series, like Bleach or Naruto.
You're getting free books in exchange for reviews? That's sweet. Publishers here are tight with their wallets to even think of that. Then again they don't really have many titles that I want, and the cursed censorship... ah well.
p.s. Previous comment was by me, by the way. Clicked on "Publish" too fast:P
Yeah, but I like Bleach....
It wasn't its never-ending-ness (though that didn't help, because I found the pacing slow). I had zero interest in the characters, and found the story boring.
And yeah, I receive books from Viz Media (probably the top publisher in the US; they've got Bleach, Naruto, Dragon Ball, One Piece...well, anything that comes out in Shonen Weekly/Monthly/Sunday...they're owned by Shogakukan and Shueisha...and shojo from all over as well), and Digital Manga (which publishes a lot of yaoi titles, but also the Vampire Hunter D books, Itazura na Kiss, and various things). The manga industry is struggling a bit in the US, so I'm a bit surprised as well, but on the other side of that, they probably need all the publicity they can get as well.
With DMP I get to choose, but Viz sends me standard things. Viz has sent me amazing things. They have a seinen/josei line that they're pushing, with beautifully bound books like Fumi Yoshinaga's Ooku The Inner Chambers (which has quickly become one of my favorite books), and Saturn Apartments (a delightful, bitter sweet sci-fi story about humans living in a ring in the upper atmosphere of the Earth while the planet heals).
Oh, I thought that might have been you! I don't have many readers/commenters, so narrowing it down wasn't difficult.
I heard about Ooku's live action film, too! But it's only going to cover the story in the first manga volume. Still, I'd like to see it.
Yoshinaga (the mangaka) has had at least one of her other manga animated - Antique Bakery, which is getting a US release soon. So I'm also hoping Ooku will get one...though a full on live action drama would be cool, too.
Viz is owned by one of the biggest publishing houses in Japan (they're a branch of the Hitotsubashi Group), so you'll have to bring it up with them. :)
Ooo...Ken Watanabe...yum.....
Yeah...I mean, Viz is still an American company, but they're backed by a Japanese publisher. I'm not sure how it works business-wise. They license a lot of titles that company publishes, so I don't know if they're just sort of a translation/distribution company to them, or if they pay license fees as a separate company, or what. I'm not sure I know anybody who works for Viz who could answer that for me.... I'll have to ask around.
US manga, by the way, runs, on average, 9.99USD (that's Viz's average price for their main line; Signature/IKKI titles are oversize with nicer covers and cost 12.99USD). Digital Manga's average price is 12.95USD. Tokyopop's average price is 10.99USD. [Viz used to be 8.99 and TP 9.99, but they both went up a dollar a couple years ago.] Dark Horse is pretty varied, depending on the title, but doesn't go much higher than the others. Vertical INC's books are pricier (they're larger and have more pages), running an average 14.95USD (some are more, some are less, depending on the title and page count). Yen Press's average price is 10.99USD.
If I understand correctly, we pay double what the Japanese pay, which sucks. But we save on anime (Japan gets gouged on anime big time), so I guess it balances out. We can get half a series (13 episodes) here for about 45-60USD (FUNimation's average 1/2 series price). 45 is OK, 60 is pushing it. It's still not perfect (you still end up paying 100 or more for the whole series, which is too much; though it's cheaper to wait until they release the two sets into one box, which is usually only 10-20 dollars more than each individual set).
@Kris-chan: Hmm, not sure if the US saves on anime DVDs if folks in Japan can watch or record the original broadcasts for free...
Oh. 10USD, huh. Yeah, you're paying double- the average manga costs some 390 Yen. The problem with English manga over here, though, is the exchange rate- it ends up costing some RM40. Some people still buy them by the armload, though.
I don't know about anime in Japan... I think they have to pay for cable, though, but that's probably the same anywhere.
@Jay: Hehe. I think you probably meant to continue with '...and upload them to the net for subbers to translate', no? ;)
@A20-man: Shhh, don't say that in front of Kris-chan. But if I did say that, then some in the US would actually "save cash" from free anime downloads, wouldn't they? Shhh.
P.S. Oh, finally got around to replying to your Toybox comment. Thx for being patient, dude.
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