Otaku in Review

Picking up where the first film left off the angels are laying an aggressive offensive against the forces of Nerv. In order to make Nerv’s defenses more powerful the Japanese branch receives ace Pilot Asuka Langley Shikinami. But with each Angel attack draining the resources of the planet three Evangelions may not be enough to stop the angels from their ultimate goal, Earth’s total destruction.

Hideaki Anno’s Evangelion is an iconic anime series that shook the entire world when it was released back in 1995. Now, fifteen years later, Evangelion’s modern reboot has the potential of doing exactly the same thing. But can this condensed version of the classic series stand up to the hype?

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In Part 1 I went over the details of the content offerings that Crunchyroll provides and in Part 2 I evaluated the technical details of the Crunchyroll website. This part looks at Cruncyroll from the perspective of a service and how that service can be used when separated from a computer.

The problem with using the internet as a source of video content is that we lose the big screen experience we are used to in our living rooms. In some ways internet video is a regression because it involves smaller screens, uncomfortable chairs, and in most cases the impossibility to watch in large groups. So how can Crunchyroll be brought from the internet to a television? Read on!

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Tenchi Muyo! GXP follows the adventure of Seina Yamada who is the most unlucky boy in the universe. When visiting his friend Tenchi's house he runs into Amane Kaunaq who, mistaking him for a member of the Misaki household, recruits him for the Galaxy police. Seina decides to join and the GP command quickly recognizes that Seina's bad luck can be used to distract Pirates from valuable targets. He is helped though his training and duty by two beautiful women, a beautiful space pirate, and a young priestess. Yup, this is a Tenchi series.

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In this second part of my three part Crunchyroll review I’m going to discuss some of the technology behind the site, the video player, user interface, and site design. This is where Crunchyroll’s shine beings to tarnish and the real difficulties of the using the service come through. I really did sound like a champion for Crunchyroll in the last part because their content offerings and high definition option are extremely good. The site itself… is less than good. Read on.

If you haven’t please read Part one, where I review the premium content offerings Crunchyroll provides with a premium subscription.

Video Player

The only word I can think of to describe the player is “usable”. It works when watching a video straight through  from start to finish but once you try and do anything other than that the technology breaks down. The three resolution options are displayed below the video but when you switch between resolutions the video will always start from the beginning. This is a step backwards from most streaming players. The one interesting feature of the Crunchyroll player is that it scales to the correct native resolution (see the screenshots in Part one) while YouTube and Hulu players will remain the same size no matter what resolution the video is in. I enjoyed this feature but it makes less sense than the YouTube model because of the longer form content that dominates Crunchyroll most users will probably use the fullscreen option anyway.

Read on....

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I’ve been skeptical of streaming media in the past and notably declared it on the Podcast when this season’s Simulcasts were announced. Trusting a streaming service feels odd when I’m used to deal with disks and files. Disks and files I can convert, travel with, watch without an internet connection. With a streaming service you are limited to where, when, and how you can watch your content. So with a few exceptions, such as House of Five Leaves, I have avoided using streaming services.

When Crunchyroll approached me to write a review of their premium services the above belief was stuck in the back of my mind. But I agreed just to experience what, supposedly, was the best way to watch streaming Anime. I was skeptical, maybe even a little biased, walking into this review. However, after a month of using the service I’ve changed my attitude towards streaming.... slightly.

I also decided to write not only a review of their premium services but of the entire site. This feature is part one of three of a complete Crunchyroll site review.  Here I will discuss the features a premium subscriber receive and how it compares to other competing streaming services. Read on!

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The Sacred Blacksmith focuses on a young girl from a family that has a long tradition of knighthood. She joins the Town Guard in an attempt to equal the status held by her family but finds her growth as a knight slow and intolerable until she meets a young blacksmith who has the ability to forge a powerful and near indestructible sword, the Katana.

Sacred Blacksmith starts out strong with a cast of characters that the potential to grow and foster some interesting stories. At least, I want to like the characters. They do fall into some stereotypical anime patterns just tossed into a fantasy setting but the character relationships are written well and to see some of those arcs resolved were the only reason why I stuck around to see the show to its end. There are some tragic twists that if they had been in a more finely crafted show would have been soul crushing but wrapped in the world of The Sacred Blacksmith they ultimately fall flat because the action isn’t up to par, the music doesn’t stand out, and the animation slides as the series goes on. The entire show, from a technical view, is poor and forces me to believe the show was tossed together to take advantage of the success of the light novel. The above average character arcs aren’t enough to overlook all those other factors.

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