Anime: Neoranga

Series Synopsis:
The story concerns the Shimabara sisters, the resurrection of an ancient god-like being called Neo Ranga, and how the sisters' lives and world in general change as a result of Ranga's re-emergence. What are the ties between the Shimabara family, and the ancient gods, the Kyoshin? What does the existence of these Kyoshin mean for the future of human kind? Who stole Ushio's swimming suit? Neo Ranga attempts to pose and answer all these questions intelligently, and very nearly fails in all respects.

Animation:
Neo Ranga offers nothing new, or unique. The animation is pretty standard; nothing really terrible, nothing really outstanding. There are a couple episodes in the second half of the series where the animation style changes abruptly; almost as if a guest animator was brought in temporarily. Those episodes were interesting as a result of the change, if for no other reason than it gave the series a slightly different face.

Sound:
Again, nothing great. The seiyuu were cast well, I think - but the only one that turns out to matter is the seiyuu for Ushio (more on that in characters). The sound effects were taken straight from what must be a "japanese monster movie sound bank", and the music definitely takes a few hints from that genre as well (to be expected considering the type of story Neo Ranga is). The opening music to both seasons is nothing special. The ending song of the first season is truly awful, and is very out of place. However, the ending song of the second season is actually alright. It's catchy, upbeat, and although it doesn't really fit with the tone of the second season, it does stand on it's own as listenable.

Story:
Neo Ranga is essentially a "japanese giant monster" story, so fans of this genre will likely enjoy it more than I did. The show consists of 48, 15-minute episodes which serves to drag the story on and on. The same story could have been told more effectively, and likely more smoothly, in the 24-26 30-min. episode format. The first season serves to introduce the characters, and basic set-up for the shoe-string plot that then begins to finally unfold in the second season. Honestly, I had no clue where the story was going for the first 24 episodes, and by the time things started to come together I had lost interest. In fact seeing this series through to the end was very hard for me. The plot is so thin, the story-telling so jumpy, and the characters so poorly developed that it really isn't worth the enormous download, or the money for the DVD's.

Characters:
The only character of any depth is Ushio, and as a result the story is mostly centered around her - regardless of the fact that at every turn the link to understanding the Shimabara family seems to be either her older sister Minami, her younger sister Yuuhi, or her older brother Masaru. Therein lies the greatest flaw of Neo Ranga apart from the poorly formed plot line: the characters which should develop simply don't. One of the most confusing aspects of this show is it's tendency to introduce supporting characters once, and then forget about them until 20 episodes later.

Value/Enjoyment:
This series has absolutely no re-watch value for me. I really cannot recommend this series, except hesitantly to the biggest fans of the monster genre. I would venture to say that even those huge fans will give pause before going back to fight their way through the unrewarding 48-episode bore that is Neo Ranga.