Hmm.
Code Geass: I genuinely enjoyed the first season. Yes, it was ridiculous, but it was also awesome. I also appreciated that Lelouch was not a natural mech pilot, and only won via cheating wildly. However, haven't really liked what I've heard about Season 2, and the last double episode of Season 1 was... too much of a mess for my tastes. The first two episodes of the series was arguably three episodes crammed into one, but the last two were, like, six episodes crammed into two. I can hand-wave some of the parts they obviously skipped, but it degenerated into incoherence. Fail.
Baccano! : Just started & finished this recently. Quite solid; it's got a great opening and a great cast that has chemistry and charisma. Only complaints are some moral qualms and some loose ends. Generally a sucker for the "ensemble cast of intersecting stories" style anyway. Though the names... yeah, a friend of mine put it best when he said "It's like an Ian Fleming fever dream." Jacuzzi Splot? A train called the "Flying Pussyfoot?!" Notable loose ends left, or maybe things I just plain missed:
(Edit: [spoiler][/spoiler] tag isn't working? Eh, black text instead, I guess.)
So what was it Nice/Jacuzzi were trying to steal on the train? Just random luggage? I assumed it was something specific. And Senator Beriam implied that something incredibly important but dangerous was being transported on the train. What was it? I assumed that it was what they were trying to steal, but they never clarified that point... nor, for that matter, ever returned to the government responding to the Lemures' demands. I guess they ignored them. For that matter, they never really explained what Huey LaForte was up to, why he was in prison, if he actually had any secret to share (only Maiza knew the formula at first, right?), and so on. Less upset about that, because that's an acceptable mystery to leave open, I suppose. This also left out what exactly the demon's plan was - were they supposed to kill each other Highlander style? Huey apparently tried to carry out the demon's plan, I guess, which is why he was in jail is my best guess. I suppose finishing the demon's plot would have been too dark in tone for a mostly zany series. That or it really wasn't a bad demon after all, which would be just bizarre considering the fairly horrible temptation with the "eating" thing going on.
They also left Ladd at where he was in Episode I - threatening to kill Lua, about to be arrested.
They also missed out an action scene in which the remaining members of Ladd's gang / Lemures were cleaned up and killed/captured by Our Heroes. Eh, whatever, not a loose end, but still a bit surprising. Guess they ran out of time.
As for the moral qualms... the way they draw Eve's servant is Not Okay. Japan should know better by now that the "hugely inflated lips + puffy cheeks" style of drawing black women from the 50s is past its expiration date. An error of ignorance rather than malice, for sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if an American licenser would want the scenes she's in retouched. There's a certain amount of torture porn to the show as well, though I guess that's to be expected when the main characters are mobsters & thieves. Also, how they resolve a certain insane serial killer's plot strongly implies that the narrative voice of the show is more sympathetic to him than I was. Giving him a motive != killing everyone is fine.
I refer, of course, to Vino, who struck me as the "big boss" I was waiting for a confrontation with. I was assuming that Ladd/ Chane would kill or at least defeat him, but... he and Chane want to get married?! And Vino is on good terms with the mostly sympathetic Gandors? Charitably, I'm going to assume that the Gandors don't know about the STRING OF SERIAL KILLINGS in towns that he's visited (where he didn't have the "you killed my friend conductor" excuse). It's very bad if freaking' insane LADD RUSSO is more sympathetic than you are. Having an unspecified moral code in his killings and torture does not mean he's a good guy!
Daughter of Twenty Faces: I like the concept of the show, but the first three episodes totally didn't do it for me. Continued with the show on Cryo's recommendation, and... still very mixed feelings. The show has flashes of awesome, for sure, but I have a strong feeling that I'm not going to like where the show ends up going.
The first few episodes are meh. The plots are played for comic relief mostly... "haha I already knew what you were up to and pre-empted your inevitable betrayal" is pretty much it. I suppose they don't really have time to do these plots out in full, but only Chiko gets character development worth a damn in the intervening time (...okay, except for Angie in Episode 5.). As noted for Code Geass above, I don't mind a silly plot if that can be made up with awesome instead, but D20F doesn't really do so to my satisfaction. Acceptable for a silly show aimed at a young audience, but I'll pass myself. And Twenty Faces is one of those "I've already read the script" characters, who are normally bystanders or villains for a very good reason: they break the plot.
The show shifts tones without a clutch eventually, probably putting off people who liked the silliness of the show previously, but at least rescuing my interest (though it's aggravating when a comic relief villain who's ineffective magically becomes a credible threat who can cause real damage). And... some of the episodes since then have been interesting and good. However, I suspect this is one of those shows where I like the random episodes and dislike the main plot, because...
Twenty Faces really needs to be dead, for a whole variety of reasons. Sure, explore Twenty Faces' legacy, yes, learn his dark past and his research, have Chiko take it up herself, etc... but he needs to be freakin' dead. Odds of this happening, considering the irresistable temptation with him as a master of disguise to pop up towards the end and have been some character all along? Low, alas, but I do hope they do that.
1. He deserves to be dead. He was a moron and refused to finish Tiger off after Tiger had just killed his friends and associates, or at least disable Tiger and keep an eye on him. So yeah.
2. The train was not a good excuse for not immediately coming back into contact with Chiko & Tony. If he'd lived, all he had to do was jump off (he'd done plenty of ridiculous things), or at least slip back to Japan later. The fact he didn't presumably means he couldn't.
3. If he was horribly wounded and has been in a hospital this whole time, the main detective guy (from the books this was based on) would have found him instantly. Look for burn patient in town near where train incident happened.
4. Twenty Faces' general existence breaks plots everywhere, since they've built him up to be the ultimate supergenius. Best not to have him around. This is the big one, really.
So, yeah. If he's dead? Points for guts. If he's alive... but evil? That's acceptable, at least, since now he's a bad guy supergenius and has a solid excuse for abandoning Chiko & Tony. If "I'm sorry Chiko but you had to learn the rest on your own?!" Extreme fail.
And judging by the most recent episode, they're taking a break from slow-building random problems and switching into plot mode? I hope not. Also BLATANT MAGIC. Which I wish they'd keep to a minimum for a show that theoretically should have some detective work eventually, which magic complicates. Stick to the steampunk super-science.
As a random comment... is Shunka actually supposed to be white? The series has generally shown most Japanese as having black hair (correctly), and it's easy to assume that Chiko's uncle married a woman of European descent (an evil one, but details). Shunka stands out as one of the rare Japanese people with brown hair and blue eyes. Normally I'd just write that off as anime crazy hairstyles, but they're consistent enough elsewhere that I have to wonder if that was intentional. Not really a big deal, but a bit of an oddity.
