Sakugan

In order to understand what Sakugan: Labyrinth Marker a.k.a Sacks&Guns!! is all about, we need to know the origin story of how it's all conceived: Project ANIMA. This is a large-scale project in which DeNA's MangaBox, Nippon Cultural Broadcasting, Sotsu Co. Ltd., and MBS (Mainichi Broadcasting System) jointly produce 3 original TV anime series made respectively by studios Satelight, J.C.Staff and Doga Kobo, written by the general public in 3 categories: Science-Fiction/Robot, Alternate World/Fantasy and Kids/Game (you can see the respective studio-genre correlation) that's judged by the various Project ANIMA teams, to help discover hidden talent and help propel the anime industry forward. This is thefirst of 3 Project ANIMA works, and is an adaptation of Nekotarou Inui's Sakugan Labyrinth Marker novel which clinched the runner-up in the "Science-Fiction/Robot" category. Please note that this novel didn't win a grand prize, and in there so, the anime itself, if I was a judge on the team itself, I would have also given this work a runner-up position, because it had a very good concept but the execution is just so-so. Sakugan's story and plot would be best if you read the extensive synopsis done by the brillant folks of the MAL Rewrite team, but the takeaway is this: it's a father and daughter's journey through an uncharted and hostile underground labyrinth, combining a gritty science-fiction setting, utilitarian yet charming mech designs, and a deeply human tale of love, loss, and family. And that's the case of father-and-daughter protagonist duo Gagamber and Memenpu crossing distant land as "Markers" to explore the deep regions of the Labyrinth, and avoiding the Kaiju creatures which are big enough to put entire colonies on a high alert level because of their destructive capabilities. The case of the 9-year-old daughter Memempu that's a college graduate and a smart aleck all in one, a dream of a place that's unexplored fuels the desire to become a "Marker" to go down to the Labyrinth's vast places and colonies yet discovered to reach to that dream place, that despite her father Gagumber's constant disagreements, starts the journey of a lifetime that will chart new territory and an adventure that will change the course of humanity forever. And no doubt, when you see Sakugan and the environment that it encases, it gives a very similar vibe to both Made In Abyss (for the adventure and emotions) and Deca-Dence (for everything else from world-bulding to characters). I was stoked because I loved both Made In Abyss and even more so highly for Deca-Dence (because it's been only a year since it ended), and Sakugan got the concept right from the get-go. The characters, as much as the original novel is trying to be ambitious, is the only sin of the entire series of just trying to give some appeal to us the audience to enjoy, but coming up a bit short. Starting off with the father-daugher duo, I have no qualms with trying to make the 9-year-old Memempu sound like she's earned a PhD in every single thing that their underground home colony of Pinyin has to offer. But I'd at least like to expect that Memempu would at the very least present a humble heart like Deca-Dence's Natsume, that despite all the bickering back and forth, she would be able to suck up her ego and not be complacent, even if it feels like she needs to rebel against an adult when it feels right that's depending on the situation at hand. But this kinda obnoxious character is heavily implied because of her tulminous relationship with her father Gagumber. Gagumber is no doubt being very protective of Memempu, seeing that her expanding knowledge will fill her head to more dangerous territory, much more so when it comes time to fill in the position of the "Marker" that unlike Deca-Dence's Kaburagi whom is able to discern what's appropriate and not, Gagumber just is hard-headed and untrusting of his own daughter if it came to the crunch and concern about life and death issues. Talk about a bickering family relationship that had the unintended effect of crossing the threshold of tolerance and being bearable, that sometimes can come off as being toxic. Also, Gagumber being known as "Gale-Force Gagumber" because he has a chip implanted in him with the illegal "Gale" function that acts as a speed boost at the cost of his nerve damage, that section I feel would've best be left out because it wasn't really chimed in much except when there's trouble and action looming. The other characters are all walking plot devices and nothing more, which when I look back at Gagumber and Memempu's erratic family relationship, are only meant to serve to the delicacy of repairing the strained relationship between father and daughter. The closest being the new-found outcasts of Zackletu and Yuri: the former is a thief whom has a ransom on her head, saves Gagumber from his usual debt problems, and is the younger sister of his now-deceased former partner, which the former abandoned and left him to die from the Kaiju attacks, hindering his behaviour and regressing into a reckless attitude that caused him to retire being a "Marker". The latter is a hacker with his group of orphans being shunned from the eyes of his own colony, whom Gagumber managed to sever their relations due to the amount of corruption that's rampant. The most obtuse character of them all belongs to Merooro: an agent of the Bureau of Regulation to maintain law and order, and someone whom is the equivalent of a preservationist to protect the "nature" of the underground Labyrinth. The best example of a plot device character would fall to Lynda, Memempu's friend and "partner" whom's a fellow Marker as well as an acting older sister, only to be killed in action for Memempu to prove her case why she should be a Marker. All in all, I believe that the character department could've been done better, instead of just using characters as just mere "anime feelings" to rouse some drama just for the sake of padding the source material, which referencing this back in the eyes of the general public work (as is with Nekotarou Inui), still has aways to go to properly understand how to write some good character development and establish the relative good relationship overall. In other cases, Satelight's visuals are rather fine for what it is, being one of the few studios capable of producing lots of sci-fi fantasy mecha shows, something that is which of the studio's bread-and-butter business. The only thing worth of note is some of the more notable staff team behind Sakugan: director Junichi Wada (which directed the incredible Spring 2017 show SukaSuka), mecha designer Stanislas Brunet, Kaiju designer Shoji Kawamori, producer Takayuki Funahashi. Going off by the excellent interview done with ANN with these people, it's clear that the staff team were very ambitious with this project, and tries to do something different with what we've come to expect of the usual studio production. And truth be told, Sakugan displays that exact difference with some creative flare, and throughout its production phases, it was a constant work-in-progress so I'd fathom that Junichi Wada and his Project ANIMA team were trying out different methodologies to shape the series as a whole, and I'd think that it worked out good. Music-wise, I have no complaints at all, but only if it felt like it sounded a bit too harsh sometimes with trying to juggle the always erratic changing atmosphere in the show. This is Kanon Amane (NOT the JAV actress, same name but different person)'s MC debut as the 9-year-old Memempu, and indeed it felt like the sound director Eriko Kimura just gave her the one sole mission: to act as a 2-in-1 child-cum-prodigy. Acting as a prodigy is easy for the highly intellectual girl, but when it comes to displaying her childlike affections, that in itself presents a challenge to portray those feelings when all is stripped away, and I think that for a first effort, the Aoi Yuuki and Rie Takahashi-admiring Kanon Amane did a pretty good and convicing job at playing as Memempu's character. The OST really though was kinda impressive as well, with the action scenes giving the Yuki Kajiura feel. Masaaki Endou of JAM Project fame helms the high-octane OP, and I didn't even realize that he was the face of the band until his voice just shoots the roof. MindaRyn though, really has made a name for herself from Kami-tachi Otoko and TenSura, and this is her 3rd theme song performance which is really the best out of the trio so far. Some pretty good work here, and probably the highlight of the show itself. If this was the adaptation of a manga like Made In Abyss, it would not have worked out at all. Same "what if" situation if this was an original like Deca-Dence that requires you to not have expectations, then it would've missed the mark too. Either way, Sakugan really has a lot to offer, but just at the behest of it being the work of the general public, that draws the line of profession between established authors and ordinary citizens whom had ideas but just didn't know how to pull them off. Worth a watch just for the beginning, but it made sure to drag on until it loses sight of its original goal, then pull off the rollercoaster plot twist. A decent show all things considered.

The show started off strong with an interesting premise and fell completely flat once I realized the writers don’t know what the meaning of character development is. Memempu starts tolerable, quickly turns to unbearable and stays firmly planted in that region throughout the show. Gagumber is barely any better and his dynamic with Memempu is horrendously annoying. It gets no better throughout the season. I only gave it a five because other than hating how the two of them interact the show still had some promise and hopefully season 2 shows us some massive changes to the characters. The other side characters are aight, butnobody is fantastic.

Sakugan feels like you could watch the first and last episode and not miss a thing because the middle was so meaningless and terrible. It showed promise as being a great emotional journey through mysterious underworlds towards a strange land, and the fun and comedic dynamic of a father daughter duo. Instead, it's silly and bland adventures and a story with not just so many things left unexplained, but meaningless villains that make strange decision that take away any kind of stakes or risks. After a strong first episode it felt like the staff gave up and the series would consistently decline after that. The worldbuilding was there, you could say, but it wasn't explored or shown as good as in the first episode as the cast didn't do much wherever they went besides blowing things up and constantly running away from authorities. A shame because I enjoyed the jazzy soundtrack glossing over the rough looking cities, but the effort to show the world of Sakugan was just suddenly dropped early on. The animation was average, and the CGI ugly. Big Tony and the rest move in silly ways, and the kaiju's looked ugly and worse. The Lego looking CGI fights didn't help. Nearly the entire cast, the little there is, weren't enjoyable or memorable. Merooro is one of the few likeable ones, but gets reduced to a character who's appearance indicates there will be some plot this time. Constantly, the series decides to add seconds worth a plot at the end of some episodes. Once this made it clear it was going to be episodic, I knew it wasn't going to end well because episodic anime is mostly hit or miss with their episodes. Even Legends like Dirty Pair have this issue, but it doesn't stray from the fact Kei and Yuri are some of the best and well written characters in anime, and can even carry bad episodes with their hilarious actions. Sakugan took this role, but Gagumber and Memenpu were never near this type of level of greatness. A lot of what happens just doesn't make sense. One of the cast suddenly tries to kill another, fails, and everyone moves on like nothing happened. Someone might die and they build it up to be emotional, but it turns out everything's fine which takes the emotional meaning out of it. By the end of it, I just didn't find anything emotionally meaningful anymore. This is a series that desperately needs a season 2 because it failed to explain or conclude anything. That's not to say I'd like for one after the bad performance of the first season. There's nothing really known about the big bad guys and nothing is revealed about what they are trying to do besides acting like mindless terrorists and obsessing over special kids. Oddly enough, when they do try explaining things, it adds more mystery rather than clearing anything up. I really would not have minded if the episodes were at least done well since the plot mostly went out the window. The comedy, that gets worse as the series goes, was really all it had going for it.

I felt like writing a review because I was genuinely disappointed by an anime for the first time in a long while, and while I have a lot to say, I'll *try* to keep it short. I went in expecting something Made In Abyss esque, and the first episode did perpetuate that, a world wider than you can see with mysteries you will unturn. And then... well that was kinda it. As the show progressed, you barely learned about the world and its characters. Mainly just the characters, which I found either pointless or annoying with the only exception being Gagumber. He's a genuine dudetrying his best, he's seen the world and bases his decisions on experience. He's witty, charming, and enjoyable to see on screen. It's a shame that the focus is his daughter instead. Memenpu is a child genius... who acts like a moron. Oh, she foresaw this situation happening and did adjustments to a big mech beforehand? Pretty cool. Oh, she was incapable of putting 2 and 2 together to realize the outcomes of her actions? Real smart. She's supposed to be a child, so I guess this is excusable, but she doesn't give off the aura of a child, just a small adult who is horrible at understanding cause and effect. She's also just a huge dick to her dad for literally no reason. The most charming part of her character is when she has to repeat multiple times how smart she is to the audience. Do mal reviews do /s? I don't know, this is my first one. There are 2 side characters later on that join the gang, being Zackletu and Yuri. Zackletu is interesting until a twist happens, the twist being she just throws a tantrum for no real reason. She doesn't do much before the twist, and not a whole lot after, which leads me to wonder why there even had to be one. Yuri is... there? His small goals are accomplished in the episode he's introduced from what I remember, and he wants to continue them on a larger scale. So he joins the main crew and completely forgets his goals, as you do. However, he did have 1 honestly hilarious scene in the last episode, and I can forgive him for that. The main crew is between good and evil, having experiences with both sides. Let's talk about the good side first. We meet what is effectively the CIA of this world, and by the CIA, I mean one singular guy. He dumps some exposition on the characters in a board meeting, where I shit you not, Gagumber asks "why are you telling us this" and his reply is "because I want you to know what is going on in the world". Expert storytelling if I've ever seen it. Despite appearing very powerful, this CIA has no foreplanning at all. They just react to the villains. The villains of this world make no sense. They are extremely disorganized, and not in a comedic way, more of a "how did you not fall apart within 2 months of forming". They have clearly defined goals... except those goals have literally no purpose. They won't achieve anything and the only motivation seems to be that they want to do x because x is unnatural and the world needs to be cleared of it. That gets thrown out the window however when the main villain shows "mercy". What happened to "they must not exist in this world"? Mind you, the main villains only showed up in the last couple of episodes, so I was left thinking whether the main baddy even cared about the goal. Did he show said mercy to all of his other targets? We don't know, because the anime never mentioned it. Despite having 12 episodes, the meat and potatoes were on the first and last couple of episodes. Whatever I watched in between was a pointless slog of one-offs that led nowhere. The ending is also a cliff-hanger, implying a season 2. Do I want to watch another 12 episodes of a slice-of-life pretending to be action/adventure with 3 annoying characters and 1 good one? Not particularly. Maybe it was my fault for coming in with expectations of Made In Abyss, but the amount of squandered potential here is excruciating. I was basically writing my own story with this world in my head as just about nothing was happening on screen for half the run time. Oh uh music and visuals are aight. I can't really complain much about it. Though I was playing sudoku on my phone through a majority of the middle section of the anime, so maybe that was just out of sight-out of mind.

Merchandise

Links may contain affiliate references

Студия

Продюсеры

Темы