boku satchii!
Categories: anime, general review, youtube
Tagged: dennou coil
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I’m going through my pile of abandoned anime, and I’m up to Dennou Coil (Cyber Coil / 電脳コイル).
(Maybe in a few months, I’ll hit StrikerS… nah…)
I originally abandoned Dennou Coil about halfway through. It was at an agonizing point in the show where the narrative slows down dramatically, and the plot dissolved into elementary school children running. And running. And running. And more running. And #$@!&* stop running! I don’t remember watching another anime with so much running. It all boils down to that this anime is about children running from computer viruses and Norton Antivirus.
That is Dennou Coil‘s simplest core, but it doesn’t do the show justice. What I failed to see the first time around was that the story was one big enveloping canopy, and that even the throwaway storylines have a meaning or connection to the very end. In that sense, it’s a true mystery story where the unknown fog is slowly eaten through by the characters. It’s also a very well done mystery story where the pieces are revealed slowly by the characters, but there’s bits and pieces that can advance the viewer’s knowledge if they looked hard enough (my favorite: how they hid the holes… *smacks heads*).
But let’s not forget the topical point and make no mistake about it: Dennou Coil is about elementary school children running from computer viruses and ClamAV. The backdrop is a slightly more modern Area 11 where the internet has evolved to where people wear glasses that function pretty much as a mobile holodeck, exchanging real data for virtual data. With this ability, people can send e-mail, make phone calls, browse YouTube for caramelldansen, and hack each other’s glasses. Basically, it’s an iPhone that requires sweeping real life movements instead of tiny touches.
So the interesting thing about this series is that the cyberworld is superimposed as a layer on the real world, and everything you see has a cyberworld equivalent. By looking through these glasses, you can access everything: the door, a wall, a poster, etc. There are also cyberworld-specific denizens like cyberpets and antivirus programs (which are comically portrayed as the lovable Satchii). By having this layer on top of the real world layer, it opens up a lot wonderful imagery, metaphors, and possibilities for hacking. Instead of hacking by flying down a rainbow tunnel in the movie Hackers, hacking here is done with weaponry and more familiar itemizations.
So the main characters of Dennou Coil are elementary school students (and one bad-ass, well-melonpanned seventeen year old who wears skintight leather… I feel you should know these things) who are of different abilities of hacking. A few are excellent and the rest are script kiddies. So these characters all get embroiled in the mystery of why is the cyberworld of this particular town unstable, and the final answer links the backgrounds of multiple characters and why does this town need so many Satchiis. Because the real world and the cyberworld are connected, in order for these kids to access a certain part of the cyberworld, they have to physically move there. Hence all the running. It becomes even more apparent why they need to run after it’s revealed that route is just as important as position when it comes to hacking.
Then there’s Satchii. The initial consequence of being in the cyberworld is that if you do something wrong or possess illegal code, Satchii will hunt you down and nuke your cyberbody thus formatting your glasses, which takes money to repair. So, at first, that’s why the kids run from Satchii and its kin… thus leading to more running. Later on, it’s revealed that there’s other consequences to having one’s cyberbody damaged, so more running ensues. Since the kids are almost always outclassed by their nemesis, they are always running. At times, it’s actually quite enjoyable since it does build nice tension. Will she make it out okay? It’s very basic, but it works.
What doesn’t work is that eventually it does eventually get frustrating with all the running. (But at least these internet-addicted kids are healthier from all the running than today’s internet-addicted kids. ) For the most part, because the kids are outclassed, they can only run and hope that some deus ex machina will save them. It’s a minor quibble; you won’t notice when you’re watching and caught up in the moment.
Nonetheless, there are times when you won’t be caught up in the moment. Dennou Coil starts off really strong with one of the l33t hacker characters imposing her will on those around her. Then for like six or seven episodes, she disappears so the story could focus on more slice-of-life tales adventures. It was computer virus of the week. Unfortunately, Dennou Coil is at its best when its fast-paced and trying to peel back the overall mystery. It’s not at its best when it’s embarking on cute stories about girls growing beards (it was a decent episode, but really took the flow out of the main storyline since it was so random). So if you start feeling the urge to check e-mail, hop on Nico^2, or browse through the moe:symmetrical docking tag during an episode, resist it. I didn’t, and the show regrettably fell out of favor. Plow through it, and you’ll eventually get to the good stuff.
Oh well, the overall story is good enough to carry viewers who aren’t easily derailed through. What’s really impressive is that the story and concept came from Mitsuo Iso (also the director), who previously had no real significant writing experience let alone directing. I think it just shows that there are bright minds out in the anime industry who can properly think out 26 episodes, but it’s just that Sunrise doesn’t employ any of them.
The music is excellent, and I really enjoyed the BGM that kicks in during a very dramatic running sequence. None of the seiyuu really made an impression on me. Their VORS (value over replacement seiyuu) isn’t very high, though I was glad none of the girls were voiced by the wrathful loli. That would have just broken the mood. The animation and CG effects are strong from Madhouse, and it makes me angry seeing the significantly less awesome animation they are doing for Kamen no Maid Guy. Come on, Kogarashi is more awesome than Satchii. It’s not even close. Anyway, one complaint I do have for the animation is that sometimes it falls into Charlie Brown mode. Everything becomes a bit too round and reminiscent of the old Peanuts holiday specials that they used to run on CBS. If you were growing up in the 80s in America, you know what I mean.
One final note, Dennou Coil is really an appointment series where you should set aside some time in the evening with bonus points if its dark and stormy outside. Then sit down and watch a batch of episodes. It’s really not in the same kind of “Hey, I think I’ll watch the latest Special A episode!” kind of show. Because there’s the mystery and slight creepy elements to the show, I found it a lot more enjoyable when I could plow through 5-6 episodes on a dark and stormy night. Just remember to run when you hear a, “Boku Satchii!”
32 Responses to “boku satchii!”
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Yet another show to add to my “to watch” list.
I absolutely loved Denno Coil. I enjoyed the funny episodes as well as the dramatic-mystery ones. There is just so much creativity and imagination in this series, it never got boring. The characters are well developed and the animation with the changes between the real world and cyper space looks awesome.
The series has claimed a place between the best sci-fi animes I know, and it’ll probably stay there for a while.
and that life action trailer is lol xD
PS: Madhouse doesn’t only do slightly less good animation for Kogarashi, Allison & Lillia looks ridiculous and Himitsu isn’t quite high budget either. Maybe they’re just doing too many series at the same time.
Kaiba is the madhouse series that looks best this season ^^
I really dug this show. There was a point where some of the episodes became a little dull, but the overall execution and quality of story make it awesome to watch.
Hmm. Interesting concept, I may check that out.
Oh, and Caramelldansen? Speaking of Caramelldansen…
…I don’t care anymore. Just shoot me. No way there’s a Caramelldansen of this character. None. I won’t accept it.
Yeah, that bit in the middle where it became virus of the week was, well, weak. It really felt like that should have either come earlier in the series, been spread out rather than bunched together, or nixed.
Well, except the beard episode. “An interplanetary war!” had me laughing my ass off.
Aww, lay off the Maid Guy animation. It’s like the black faces on ~Okawari~; it’s intentional, and the style fits.
Speaking of Maid Guy, when will you be posting your thoughts on the glorious display of Engrish that is episode 8? While watching the RAW, and actually following it pretty well, I think, despite the language barrier (the show’s not exactly all that complex, after all), every time “onii-sama” said something I was like “Man, I’ll bet Jason’s getting a kick out of this”…
I couldn’t stand the first episode of Dennou Coil …
How can I watch 5 episodes of this series on a dark and rainy night when it never rains here in Arizona, did you think of us water deprived people?
But it’s ok I followed this series as it was coming out and although there was that long and painful run of boring shit in the middle of the series it really did pick up and was totally worth my time in the end.
Engrish in ep 8 of Maid guy? It just gets more tempting to watch every time I hear about it.
I must admit, I never really caught onto Dennou Coil. Then I was responsible for burning the DVD’s for an Anime screening. I watched the first two episodes one night while bored…. And it caught on REALLY fast. Within the next 2-3 weeks I downloaded and enjoyed the entire story.
While it does have some slow bits/filler, those slow bits/filler are funny (previously mentioned leather-clad melonpan’d seventeen year old standing in virtual water garbled-shouting at those outside comes to mind, as well as inter-beard nuke wars). I am definetly glad that I saw those first two episodes.
hmm, never watched it, don’t think i’ll be watching it anytime in the near future. there’s just too much for me to catch up…
Dennou Coil was great – glad you’re giving it another chance. I made a couple of attempts at making a physical mojo – I should really try again, it would be very cool to go to a con with a mojo on my shoulder.
What I remember from Dennou Coil was a cute Ghibli-like anime with technological undertones that managed to soften the heart of my inner nerd.
That and how it sent me into giggles at the thought of beardageddon.
I rather liked Dennou Coil myself, and yes, marathonning it is indeed the way to go. I grabbed and watched it alongside Code-E a while back.
You might want to know, by the way, that the reason the animation for Dennou Coil is so good, is because it took two years and a rather massive amount of money to make.
I really liked how they portrayed the schoolkids…*as* schoolkids, y’know? For the most part, there weren’t any Nanoha’s, wise and responsible beyond their years.
Incidentally, I described Dennou Coil to my friends as ‘.Hack without all the pretentiousness.’ I stand by my statement.
I feel I must admit this, however..the only reason I started watching it in the first place? Was because it had cute young girls in it. Rather a lot of ’em, actually. The hot leather-clad biker Oneechan helped of course.
This series was buried on my hard drive for a long time, finally got around to watching it about a month ago. I agree, it really is a hidden gem of a series. It has slow points, but the story is really well done.
Reminds me a lot of Zettai Shounen.
The middle part of any 26 episode series is really hard to make pleasing. I almost gave up on Gurren Lagann between ep 9 and 14. Dennou Coil really delivered, and it’s one of the few anime that has a satisfying ending, at least I thought.
I’m also seconding the awesomeness of the beard episode.
>> How can I watch 5 episodes of this series on a dark and rainy night when it never rains here in Arizona, did you think of us water deprived people?
Move. You’re in frickin’ Arizona! There’s nothing but old people and illegal immigrants there.
>> The middle part of any 26 episode series is really hard to make pleasing. I almost gave up on Gurren Lagann between ep 9 and 14.
Only the most gar stretch of anime in the past five years. Gee, Simon’s rise to tier one gar? With DFC Nia tossed in? That’s boring? At some point, you may be better off getting rid of your TV and computer and live in a cold, dark room and only read old Russian novels.
>> Well, except the beard episode. “An interplanetary war!†had me laughing my ass off.
It was really a combo breaker. (Plus, it was almost a direct ripoff of a Simpson’s episode.) It was like someone setting up for a big combo but instead just tossing out a cheap gun flame. I don’t mind comedy or cute episodes, but to right in the middle of a very serious arc. And not for 5-6 episodes during a very serious arc that made me wonder, “Hey, did they forget about the main story… ?” Never a good sign. I felt like if they spent those episodes going into Megabaa’s or jyuunana-sai’s or another major character’s backstory, it would have been much better spent. Hell, I would have even settled for Satchii to Isshyo!
>> Dennou Coil is so good, is because it took two years and a rather massive amount of money to make.
I should have mentioned that Mitsuo’s animation style is to use less frames but no in-betweeners, so the key framers draw everything (“full limited”). So it’ll look nicer in general because of that. But 2-3 years is pretty standard for a 26 episode series. Gurren Lagann took 5:
http://derailedbydarry.com/arc.....5/26/1416/
For some reason, Satchi used to scare the shit out of me…I dunno why.
I’ve only got 2 more episodes left… I should probably watch those some time soon. Then again, it’s been 5 months since I last watched it now so I’ll probably have to rewatch it all -_-
And damn you for posting that second video. There’s nothing I find more scary than children, except dolls. brr. :(
Actually Jason, they played those damn Peanuts holiday specials right up to the 2000’s. I pretty much have the damn things memorized and if I watch them again I feel my head will exploded and out will come sawdust and politicians. Oh yeah, The show looks interesting. WACCHI!
Har, har, har. Children running, and running, and running… WTF!!!?!
/me gets serious.
Nah… I’m glad you liked this anime. It’s fucking good and promises 26*24 minutes of sweet entertainment.
>> Only the most gar stretch of anime in the past five years. Gee, Simon’s rise to tier one gar? With DFC Nia tossed in? That’s boring?
Sorry for not being a fan of the DFC stuff and Simon pouting for 3 episodes. 13 and 14 were okay, but Simon only really became GAR in my eyes when he fought Lord Genome.
I loved this series right until the FISH episode as amusing as watching that twerp religiously feeding a virus fish and that one kid’s awesome aunt in the leather with jealousy issues being all wet and hawt was it killed it the awesome character with the same name the other one disappeared the “satchiis” are controlled by the post office and then the running…and the final straw was the lack of any awesome hacking since episode 4 seriously how awesome was that scene!
Dennou Coil was one of my favorite animes of 2007. I think it’s a very different kind of show than most shows which we get subbed in English. At it’s core, Dennou Coil is a story about kids being kids, having the kind of fun that everyone wishes they had when they were kids. I’m sure all of us at some point played some kind of make believe, and some probably even took it further than others. We had some awesome times in grade 4 with our team games of tag, reach for the top (a rather violent game involving pushing eachother off a large playground structure) and my favorite, our team snowball fights, along with the ability to capture the other team’s players and put them in ‘jail’ and so on.
It’s the type of story which in many ways mimics the appeal of such things as Ender’s Game or dare I say Harry Potter. The only real difference is that Dennou Coil doesn’t create some fantastical reality with wizards for aliens, but in fact uses a plausible near-future. The other difference is that like real children’s play which is usually make believe, the adults of the Dennou Coil world generally do not care, nor do they understand what the kids are all so excited about. There are no real higher stakes to what they are doing (until the story gets serious), and really that’s the magic of it all.
The fact that it was able to so wonderfully portray such fun times along with an extremely well written mystery and dramatic/scary elements just adds to the story.
I agree though that the middle filler episodes were kind of dumb, esp the Simpson’s Halloween special rip off.
Actually, it looks like I got the timeline wrong. It wasn’t being drawn for two years…it was in production for over TEN years.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennou_Coil
It also had a high-profile timeslot, and was on NHK Educational. I take that to mean it was rather a special event…sort of like those Discovery Channel specials like ‘Walking with Dinosaurs’, or ‘Journey to Mars’ or whatever it’s called.
>>I loved this series right until the FISH episode as amusing as watching that twerp religiously feeding a virus fish and that one kid’s awesome aunt in the leather with jealousy issues being all wet and hawt was it killed it the awesome character with the same name the other one disappeared the “satchiis†are controlled by the post office and then the running…and the final straw was the lack of any awesome hacking since episode 4 seriously how awesome was that scene!
….I’m sorry, but….what? Can I buy a vowel? Do I need some sort of Secret Decoder Ring?
>>The fact that it was able to so wonderfully portray such fun times along with an extremely well written mystery and dramatic/scary elements just adds to the story.
Well, it was by no means ALL fun…but when they were having fun, yes, they definitely did it wonderfully.
The series is, in a way, several different stories…but it’s all viewed through the eyes of the children. The kids have to hide from Satchii because the adults wanted to protect the kids…and made Satchii too stupid and strict. The kids of course, see this as getting in the way of their fun…and expensive, because if they DON’T run, their glasses will end up formatted and they’ll have to pay to get all of their things back. One has to wonder why nobody but the kids sees this as bad. It’s like somebody randomly going around and reformatting your computer, then charging you to restore from the backup they made. And Satchii sees dennou pets as being illegal programs? And TOYS as being illegal programs? Christ.
….The adults don’t come out looking too well in Dennou Coil, and probably rightly so. The only good/somewhat ‘with it’ adults seems to be Megabaa and her (dead) husband….which is odd, considering these are the parents who grew up during the explosion of the Internet, personal computers, and high-quality video games. You’d think that, if anybody, THEY would have some insight into how important things like the dennou glasses and the interconnectivity they provide are.
Son of a bitch, I had a nice, long, analytical post here, and the damn thing timed out or something and ate it. Lets see if I can reconstruct it.
I was wrong about the timeline, Jason…it didn’t take two years. It was in production for over TEN.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennou_Coil
Dennou Coil is actually several stories, if you look closely..all viewed through the eyes of the children.
What I don’t understand, is why Satchii is so stupid and strict. Toys and Cyber Pets are illegal programs to be erased and reformatted? That’s just dumb. I wonder why nobody but the kids sees anything wrong with a program that goes around and erases everything, causing them to have to pay to restore everything? It’s like if somebody just went around reformatting your computer, then charging you to restore from the backup he made beforehand.
Satchii was implemented by the adults, who wanted to protect the kids…and they were rather strict about it all. Which is really weird, considering these are the adults who are of the age that they grew up during the explosion of PCs, video games, and the Internet, so they, if anybody, should have an insight about how the glasses provide the kids with interconnectivity and FUN. Instead, Megabaa seems to be the only one who understands this, and she had to have been born in the 50’s!
The adults don’t come out of Dennou Coil looking very good…If anything like that actually ends up happening, I hope to God I’m one of the ‘good’ adults, and not one of the ones who want to stomp out the fun and wonder they have.
…Duplicate comment? …..is this being moderated or something? I’ve reloaded, and I’m still getting the same comments…not the new stuff. (testestest)
Well that went through…here’s hoping it’s being moderated or something. maybe it’s ’cause I linked to the Dennou Coil wiki article.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennou_Coil
Well, I’ll skip the analysis for now, and just say that I was wrong, it didn’t take 2 years, it was in production for over TEN, AND it got a high-profile timeslot on NHK Educational.
Son of a bitch, I had a nice, long, analytical post here, and the damn thing timed out or something and ate it. Lets see if I can reconstruct it.
Okay, I think I get it now. It doesn’t like me posting a link.
I was wrong about the timeline, Jason…it didn’t take two years. It was in production for over TEN.
(Search for Dennou Coil on Wiki)
Dennou Coil is actually several stories, if you look closely..all viewed through the eyes of the children.
What I don’t understand, is why Satchii is so stupid and strict. Toys and Cyber Pets are illegal programs to be erased and reformatted? That’s just dumb. I wonder why nobody but the kids sees anything wrong with a program that goes around and erases everything, causing them to have to pay to restore everything? It’s like if somebody just went around reformatting your computer, then charging you to restore from the backup he made beforehand.
Satchii was implemented by the adults, who wanted to protect the kids…and they were rather strict about it all. Which is really weird, considering these are the adults who are of the age that they grew up during the explosion of PCs, video games, and the Internet, so they, if anybody, should have an insight about how the glasses provide the kids with interconnectivity and FUN. Instead, Megabaa seems to be the only one who understands this, and she had to have been born in the 50’s!
The adults don’t come out of Dennou Coil looking very good…If anything like that actually ends up happening, I hope to God I’m one of the ‘good’ adults, and not one of the ones who want to stomp out the fun and wonder they have.
…wonderful, they ALL went through. Sorry for the spammage, folks.
Kendra, I think you’re looking at the show a bit too seriously. You are completely right when you say it was seen through the kid’s eyes. Because well… that’s what it is.
Honestly some pets are illegal programs because they were either Densuke (which without spoilers is not your normal dog) or are hacked pets. They ‘pay’ when they get reformatted by metabugs, which really are things that only kids care about, and not real money. They also just lose their little hacked programs, which only really matter in their world.
Parents don’t care because well because in real life, who really cares if the kids lose their data? I remember that day years ago when I was playing Tiberian sun for 2 hours, finally finished this impossible mission and my dad shuts off the power to fix something in the house. I lost everything and I was so mad, and then I got yelled at for playing computer games. It’s this sort of thing that you have to keep in mind… what’s important to the kids, isn’t important to anyone else.
As for megabaa ‘understanding’, that is akin to say the kind old toy store owner who winks at the kids in those Christmas movies.
So no, the adults don’t come out looking all that good, but you must see it in it’s context. Just as the adults in Harry Potter generally look like nitwits, and adults in any children’s stories do as well, this is no different.
In case you didn’t notice, the show is sort of MEANT to be taken seriously…
Also, I was under the impression that they actually had to pay *money* for their restorations.