(All Sisters of Wellber II episode 1 screenshots here, because I’m too lazy to search for more.)

I don’t know, do you get any yuri vibes from Rita and Tina gazing into each other’s eyes, or am I thinking too much?

Watching Sisters of Wellber II has been mildly interesting, but not much more than that. The last season started with a bang, but ended in a rushed sort of flop (which is somewhat of an accomplishment). This season promises an equal amount of clichés and fan gratifications, if the first episode is any kind of measuring stick.

And so you may ask, what is the point of watching Sisters of Wellber II, then?

There is no denying that it has an archetypal (or should I say stereotypical?) plot, one that has been rinsed and reused through years of anime history and millenniums of literary history. Replace Tina and Rita with Frodo and Sam, or with Dorothy and her little dog; replace the goal of stopping a war with winning one, or simply wanting to go home; you will get Sisters of Wellber. There is very little originality in terms of plot in the story. It’s like a melting pot of various ideas, none of which is terribly original.

But the question I have is this: Does it matter?

A Brief Intro to the Sisters of Wellber I + II Episode 1

Our heroine, Rita-hime, who is pretty and pretty handy with a sword.

1) Princess Rita stabs her fiancé, Prince Gernia Han, to protect herself, but created a potential situation of war between her country and Gernia’s country.
2) She flees with the help of Tina, a thief who accidentally saw the whole thing.
3) They had many adventures while making their way to the Kingdom of Greedom, the subject of their quest, which is apparently able to negotiate peace between their two countries.
4) In the last couple of episodes, they blow up Gernia’s Weapon of Mass Destruction (it’s a battleship… I think) and caused the death of Prince Gernia, with the help of the latter’s once faithful companion, Galahad.
5) Peace returns through Gernia’s death, and Rita and Tina arrive in Greedom in style before separating to continue their respective businesses.

And if I recap episode 1 of season 2, this is what happened:

1) Tina gets clues about who is her family’s killer, the Shinigami Bee.
2) Tina kidnaps a willing Rita from the palace of Greedom to go on a journey with her to chase after said killer, along with the companions of the road (can you say Fellowship of the Ring?).
3) …

So essentially, episode 1 reunites Tina and Rita (insert innuendo as desired) with their other friends, introduces the object of their new quest (Tina’s family’s killer), and describes the start of the journey.

Fellowship of the Bee

Two of the Fellowship, Tina and her beau Jin. Rita, the machine, the fairy and Galahad the ikemen are the rest of the Fellowship.

It reminds me very much of Lord of the Rings… except with a heavier dose of cliché and femininity, and a lighter dose of complexities or light-vs.-darkness dichotomy. And I don’t really mean that the storyline is the same; I meant the plot. Or rather, the essential bones of the story. They are both stories of quests; they both have a pair of steadfast friends (again, insert innuendo as desired, strangely appropriate considering the rumors regarding Frodo and Sam) as the main characters; and both sets of the main characters are surrounded by their Fellowship.

Of course, there isn’t an archenemy in Sisters of Wellber. But there is an ultimate goal; in Season II, that goal is apparently the Shinigami Bee.

But enough of the comparisons. Sisters of Wellber takes its story from a lot of different sources. Suffice to say that it is hardly original.

So Why am I Watching it Again?

Galahad. This is part of the reason I’m watching it.

Personally, my attraction to it is pretty shallow. Firstly, it has a beautiful OP. I’m partial to instrumental, and for that season, Sisters of Wellber had the best OP (Uninstall of Bokurano wins the second place). Piano, bells, and a soothing female voice. Bliss.

And then there were the main characters. Good character design, and hey, here are two kick-ass heroines who retained their femininity without resorting to tasteless fan service. What’s not to like?

And then the key ingredient, Galahad, the good looking guy. And yes, I like animes with good looking guys. So sue me.

These are the three things that got me to watch the first and second episode. After that, it was mostly because of the characters.

I do not like the moe fairy, but I do like the three main characters (Rita, Tina and Galahad, although Galahad is not strictly a main character), and even with the illogical plot, it’s enough to get me going.

And I like the way the producers end each episode with a recap of the episode and the strangely lyrical countdown.

Presentation, not Plot

An obligatory suspicious looking man who will never appear again. Nope, not new. But hey, I kind of like that shifty look.

I admit, I don’t place a lot of emphasis on plot. Consider, there are only so many new ideas in the world. And unless it’s a masterpiece of its time (preferably an earlier time), there are very little works that are truly original.

Jane Austen isn’t the first person who wrote about vastly different sisters dealing with their first taste of love (Sense and Sensibility was a drag to read, by the way); Shakespeare certainly wasn’t the first to write about star-crossed lovers or tragic deaths (both the Chinese legend of the Butterfly Lovers and the Greek tragedies dated earlier). What made them a success then?

I don’t know about Jane Austen, because to this day I’m still extremely unimpressed with her offerings (no offense to her or her fans; this is strictly my opinion… or my lack, if you prefer). But I’ve been told that her dry sarcasm and stinging wit is the winning formula.

And as for Shakespeare… I certainly don’t read him because of his plot originality. For heaven’s sake, he used existing legends, folklore and stories for his plays! I read his works because of the way he plays with languages, and the way he can make me burst out in laughter despite the fact that it was written in a form of English that I’m not terribly familiar with.

There is only a finite amount of ingredients in this world. So the way these ingredients are put together is the essential key.

Most storytellers or writers aren’t the grower of fruits and vegetables, or the rearer of cows and pigs. They are mostly chefs and cooks. They choose the ingredients according to their budget, and they cook what they can.

A bad cook can kill a dish with the best fois gras and cavier (Le Chevalier d’Eon); a good cook can produce a tasty feast with simple carrots and low grade minced beef (Claymore).

Presentation. With enough determination, awareness of what the audience likes, and the willingness to work for it, a simple hamburger can be made wonderful.

Characters, not just Presentation

Hey, how many times do you see a machine blushes? Does that count for originality?

But even with the best of presentation, sometimes the show would still fall flat. Appleseed has awesome CGI, lush background, and cool action sequences. But it’s the kind of film that I can turn away from right in the middle of an action sequence, without even a second thought.

Why?

Because the heroine doesn’t interest me. In fact, none of the characters interests me enough to make me want to continue watching. (again, no offense, blah blah blah)

On the other hand, an anime with less stellar animation can glue me to my computer every week. It can even make me go out and buy the DVD, if it ever lowers itself to come to my shores.

For example, an anime like Kaze no Stigma.

There are specific bones that I can grind with the producers for this particular anime; the bath scenes in the awful hot spring episode are images that I desperately want to scrap away from my mind’s eyes. But despite everything, I want to continue watching it, because I love Kazuma (not just because he is a good looking bad ass), and I enjoy watching Ayano grow up.

So Where am I Going with All This?

I like the composition of this picture, even if the resolution leaves a lot to desire. In case you’re wondering, the three figures in the middle are the shinigami bees. Yes, there are three of them.

Coming back to Sisters of Wellber, I wouldn’t say that it was brilliant presentation. I wouldn’t even say that it has great characters. What I can say is that it has good enough presentation and interesting enough characters to make it worth watching.

And stereotypical or not, what does it matter if I like that particular stereotype?

Ass-kicking girls. Suki!
Good-looking guys. Suki!
Ass-kicking girls and good-looking guys going on quests to save the(ir) world. Dai suki!

Hey, do you have any idea how many fantasies go on the Lord of the Ring route? And do you have any idea how many of those fantasies I’ve read and liked?

Seriously. Plot originality is overrated. I’ll go for interesting characters and fresh presentation everyday.

Afterword

PS: Apologies for my absence from blogsphere. In November, it was mostly due to Nano; my absence in December can only be attributed to sheer laziness and/or work (the former more than the latter).

Also, last season was Boring with a capital B. As a result, I’ve become entranced with Japanese dorama (drama), mostly because of Yamashita Tomohisa and Toma Ikuta, the latter of which has also created a love for the term ikemens that has hencefore replaced most of my love for the term bishies.

By the way, I don’t know if I’ll be reviewing Sisters of Wellber II. It has been a pretty ordinary and logic-bending (as per normal) anime so far, so I’ll probably just watch, enjoy, and forget. Don’t know how much I’ve got to say, but in the end, I’m looking for entertainment, not the next Nobel Prize winner.

Still, episode 2 is a lot more interesting than episode 1, and episode 3 promises a lot more depth and emotion than I’ve seen previously. I’m waiting with bated breath.

Browse Timeline

• « Upgrades to the site: New banners, author differentiation
• » If you ever see the OP in the FLC Saiunkoku Monogatari subs…

Comments (10)

Add a Comment