It’s a new year and I keep adding new anime series to watch.
Some of it isn’t technically “anime.” As in, I’ve found another Chinese series to watch.
This is the Chinese animated series or donghua called Bureau of Paranormal Investigation, not to be confused with Muhyo and Roji’s Bureau of Supernatural Investigation which I’ve discussed before.
This donghua... is kind of a mixed bag. I haven’t researched donghua and how long the Chinese have been doing animated series, but this one feels like it’s going for a Ghost in the Shell look, which it succeeds at... sort of.
The story appears to be set in contemporary mainland China. Shen La is a special forces operative. During a mission to capture a drug lord, the special forces team enters a cave of ancient spirits. The spirits attack and Shen La has a phantom-like spirit invade his body through his eye. Only Shen La and Sun Desheng, the mission’s undercover agent, survive the attack with the aid of a tall, mysterious white-haired man.
Both men are initiated into a secret paranormal investigation bureau and, as it turns out, the white-haired man Wu Mian is one of the bureau’s directors.
Shen La develops paranormal powers after the spirit enters his eye. Most of the bureau’s agents also have paranormal abilities, in particular Wu Mian who is actually over 2,000 years old.
Here’s the official trailer, courtesy of Crunchyroll Collections.
While watching this trailer you may have noticed that the art style is kind of... well, strange. Sometimes it looks awesome, and other times it has the appearance of having been hastily thrown together at 2 a.m. under a tight deadline.
Crunchyroll viewers definitely noticed. Here are a few of their comments:
-- When the animation is both incredible and shit at the same time.
-- 2D or 3D. Pick one!
The character designs are well-rendered and the background art is often intricately detailed, but the CGI is sometimes off to the point that you’re not sure what they intended.
For example, these yellow fields of grass, which have the look of crafting felt:
The style is inconsistent in other ways, too. The bureau’s main female agent is Bai Lu. Her design looks like a hot Japanese anime girl, which is jarringly unlike the look of the other characters.
A more pressing problem is the distasteful treatment of the overweight character Sun Desheng. He’s called “Fatty” by the others and is made to serve as both comic relief and object of derision. He’s originally an undercover police officer so he’s not without skills, but he’s always the one who acts cowardly and stupid in dangerous situations, including pushing that mysterious button on the wall just as someone screams not to push it.
Despite its issues, Bureau of Paranormal Investigation has kept me hooked so far. There are twelve episodes in the first season. I don’t think there’s a second season forthcoming as of yet.
The real surprise since the turn of the new year is Boruto.
Sasuke Uchiha is the second most important character in the Naruto universe. Simply put, he’s Vegeta to Naruto’s Goku, but his rivalry with Naruto is more intense and germane to the overall story.
The Naruto anime story universe consists of three series: Naruto, Naruto Shippuuden, and Boruto: Naruto Next Generations. Naruto covers Naruto and his friends when they were kids, Naruto Shippuuden when they were teenagers, and Boruto is about the children of Naruto and his friends - i.e., the “next generation.”
It all began with Team 7.
In the first series, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura are the members of Team 7 at Konoha’s ninja academy.
Naruto and Sasuke are rivals from the beginning.
Later, Sasuke leaves the village on a mission of revenge related to his clan. Sakura begs Naruto to stop him. The two boys fight nearly to the death, but in the end Sasuke prevails and walks away.
In Naruto and its sequel series Naruto Shippuuden, Sasuke disappears for huge swaths of time but his absence is always felt by Naruto and Sakura, and by the audience. He winds up on a path of darkness seeking power over others, while back home in Konoha, Naruto gains power and abilities in order to help others and to defend Konoha and the entire ninja world.
In the story’s climax, Sasuke returns to help Naruto save the ninja world from destruction. However, following the successful outcome of the battle, he challenges Naruto for leadership of what’s left of the world. Sasuke is still coming from darkness and his final fight with Naruto - which mirrors their earlier fight when Sasuke left the village years before - is one of anime’s most memorable fight scenes. It culminates in a shocking conclusion:
Sasuke finally recognizes that his path was wrong and reforms. Naruto, due to his lineage from the First Hokage, is able to have a new arm constructed. The Uchiha lineage is also special, but like the irritating little cuss that he is, Sasuke leaves the village on a journey of atonement and redemption before the possibility of a new arm for him can be researched.
Throughout the three series - Naruto, Naruto Shippuuden, and now Boruto - we’ve followed Sasuke’s journey as much as we have Naruto’s journey. He began as a simple shonen rival, a foil for the main character, but the story wouldn’t have worked without him since Naruto wouldn’t have grown as much without Sasuke challenging him as his dark counterpart. In a story universe with literally hundreds of distinct characters, Sasuke Uchiha is unquestionably the second lead as well as a fan favorite.
The big news is that a new manga story featuring Sasuke is being animated as part of the Boruto series, and in fact, the episodes are airing right now.
The story is called Sasuke Retsuden (English title: The Uchiha Descendants and the Heavenly Stardust). It’s set four years after the events in Naruto Shippuuden.
Sasuke goes on an undercover mission to track down a cure for Naruto’s sudden illness. To his surprise, Sakura later joins him on the mission. The two are already married at this point. What’s fun and new about this is that we have never seen what led up to their marrying each other. They were in Team 7 together as children, and Sakura - along with Naruto - hunted Sasuke when he was a rogue ninja. They were teenagers then, as they were when the main Naruto story ended.
Then there was a huge time skip. When the Boruto series began, Sasuke and Sakura’s daughter Sarada was a pre-teen already.
The Sasuke Retsuden arc is our first glimpse of the early days of Sasuke and Sakura’s marriage and longtime Naruto fans are losing their minds over it. The manga debuted in Japan last October and was immediately greenlit to be animated.
For the first time in ages I’m excited to watch Boruto every Sunday. The now “older” generation of Naruto and his friends are still my favorite characters and to watch an arc that is centered on the adult Sasuke and Sakura is simply a joy.
Another year around the anime sun has passed, and even a series I've been watching forever can still surprise me. I'd say this bodes well for the coming year. ;-)
