Anime Studio Evaluation #4: Bones

Bones is all about good animation and bad storytelling. You could excuse them at first for making films out of pre-existing series and didn’t have much time or liberty with them, such as the pointless retelling of Escaflowne (2000), or yet another stand alone side story of Cowboy Bebop (2001). You can also give them a pass for the couple of kidstuff they made, since their hands were tied at what they could show, or how much they could work with the script (Clockwork Fighters, Angelic Layer).

The first show with complete artistic freedom, was Rahxephon in 2002. The anime fans back then considered it to be the most mature mecha of all times for dealing with lots of deep themes because it was dark and depressing. It was promoted as the spiritual successor to Neon Genesis, and for many it was even better than it. From a critical standpoint, it’s a mess. The battles are boring so it’s not good as action, the robot designs are ridiculous so it’s not good as a mecha, the characters are boring copies of the Neon Genesis cast so it’s not good as drama, the plot is slow and confusing so it’s not even enjoyable if you just want to watch it, and the ending is a big fuck you because it’s a global reset. That’s how you see right away why Bones is no Gainax.

Similar things can be said about Wolf’s Rain in 2003. I can deal with the dark colors and the depressing atmosphere, since it was made in the early 00’s, most were still a bit afraid of technology, and being emo was in fashion. I liked its themes of death and rebirth, the dynamics amongst the characters were wonderful, music and visuals were fine. But the script is again bullshit. Very slow, very confusing, ends in a convoluted way. It’s just two dozen episodes of some handsome wolf boys being hunted, and the world coming to an end. Slowly. The rest of it is melodramatic bullshit, which makes little sense and doesn’t matter because the ending is, again, a big fuck you, global reset.

Wanna talk about their most beloved title, Eureka Seven (2005)? The one so many loved for its romantic aspect, even though it isn’t about romance because that happens only in the finale, with the rest of it being a beta male trying to say I love you for 50 episodes. There is also something about surfing mechas and some weird coral creatures. None of which deserved 50 episodes, or could excuse the aimless slice of live in-between. At least there was no global reset this time. That would be found in sequel (2012), which was so bad everybody pretends it doesn’t exist. It proved they never had any idea of what they were doing with the plot and everybody was watching the original for Renton to kiss Eureka after 50 episodes.

Wanna talk about their other beloved title, Darker Than Black (2007)? Oh, woah, look at all the fancy action scenes. Hei is so cool, he wears a mask, kills people with superpowers, and has no emotions. This is amazing! Forget about the mystery of how they got powers since the whole show is just stand alone missions about characters with no emotions whom we will never see for more than 2 episodes. But who cares, Hei is cool and there was no global reset. And then the sequel (2009) happens, which has an on-going plot, gives Hei emotions, and explains the mystery in a convoluted way, which includes a global reset. Do you see a pattern forming somewhere in here?

If you do, you now know exactly what to expect from most of their shows. Cool visuals, characters with dramatic pasts and lots of potential, premises that can expand to a thousand interesting topics, not a damn attempt to make any sense out of the story, and often time reset everything at the end. I mean, yeah, you can find a meaning if you overthink the whole thing, but if you have to resort to theory-crafting or external information to make sense of something, the show is not well written.
2003: Scrapped Princess
2004: Mars Daybreak, Kurau Phantom Memory
2006: Planet of the Beast King, Ghost Slayers Ayashi
2007: Scull Man
2008: Daughter of Twenty Faces, Xam’d Lost Memories

And now for when they did things right. Sword of the Stranger (2007) has a very simplistic plot, it is not pretending to be anything more than that, and has excellent action scenes. This is after all why the Cowboy Bebob movie is also amongst their best titles.

They also do a fine job when they are given a prepared script instead of writing one themselves. Such is the case with Full Metal Alchemist (2009). They didn’t follow the manga in the first version, and it became bullshit. They followed it in the Brotherhood version and it was amazing.

Same case with Soul Eater (2008). It was amazing while they were following the manga, and became boring when they wrote their own story. But just to make this clear, the manga lost a lot of its magic after awhile, so it wouldn’t make much difference even if they had followed it. What’s unforgivable is how instead of making a proper version like they did with FMA, they instead adapted the terrible moe spin-off, which nobody liked and killed all interest in a reboot.

Ouran High School Host Club (2006) is revered as the only worthy reverse harem in existence for being a subversion of stereotypes, despite not having much plot. Although the term deconstruction has lost its meaning nowadays, since anything can be called that if you overthink it enough, it still stands out by being the only one in its genre to this day.

I can barely accept Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 (2009) amongst their good titles, since it focuses on a rather plausible plot of people trying to recover from a major earthquake. If it didn’t have ghosts appearing “just because” it could have been more psychological and less misery porn but even as such it’s ok.

And that’s it with the good stuff. Everything they made after 2009 is just sakuga with not much plot, and there are thousands of viewers who are content with pretty colors and no actual substance. Their two recent series have gotten a ridiculous amount of praise, and they call them masterpieces with deep themes or whatever, when they are just painfully average in theme exploration and characterization, and are also stuffed with pedantic messages that are presented as if they are thought provoking, when they are not.

Bones has 6 titles in its roster that I approve of, and does pass the Sturgeon test. It is not a complete mess but it could have been the best studio if its staff gave a damn about the script.