BNA

Studio Trigger präsentiert einen X-Men Anime? Oder eher Beastmens? Gut, benennen wir es zum Beispiel Brand New Animal! Willkommen in Zootropolis, der Stadt der Tiere... nö, noch mal! Willkommen in Anima City, der Stadt der Tiere, die nicht wirklich tierisch sind... Es hängt sehr davon ab, wie sehr man das Animationsstudio Trigger mag, denn auch hier sind all die bekannten Markenzeichen präsent. Michiru ist eine weitere klassische Trigger-Protagonistin, die ich in Kill la Kill, Luluco oder LWA sah. Die Animation ist wieder mal bunt, dynamisch und einfallsreich. Die Handlung ist durchdacht, unterhaltsam und mit einem sehr intensiven, fast übertriebenen Schluss, der mir auch diesmal sehr gut gefällt. Ist hier aber ein Beigeschmack, der es für mich zu einem so deutlich überdurchschnittlichen Spektakel macht und es höher schießt, als ich es von diesem Studio erwarten würde? Nicht wirklich... Ich mag die Arbeit des Trigger-Studios, ich mag auch was ich von ihnen bekomme und wie dynamisch und visuell interessant sie mit allem arbeiten. Verglichen mit vielen anderen Anime-Serien hat auch BNA eine gute Idee, ordentliche Performance und einen gelungenen Abschluss. Dank der Tatsache, dass mir der Trigger-Animationsstil gefällt, lässt es sich gut anschauen. Die Musik ist auch schön. Aber fangen nicht alle Werke dieses Studios an sich zu ähneln? Zum ersten Mal komme ich in eine Situation, wo ich mich das wirklich frage, und allein dass gefällt mir nicht... Aber gut, es hat mir sonst Spaß gemacht, auch wenn ich diesmal zur Hauptprotagonistin und anderen Charakteren eine positive Beziehung länger als sonst suchte, und für die letzten beiden Folgen die großartig waren und eine unerwartete Überraschung für mich brachten (auch wenn es ein klischeehafter Plotwist wie Sau ist, oder besser gesagt wie ein dreiköpfiger Wolf...) vergebe ich zusätzliche Punkte. 7/10 P.S. Wisst ihr, wie man rausfindet dass man wahrscheinlich wirklich komisch ist? Wenn man während der letzten Folge Lauthals "Shiro zavyj!" schreien möchte und dabei an diese Szene denkt... (08.05.2020)

When talking about music, people use the term “one-hit-wonder”, which makes me recall a whole host of artists, however, when this connection is used with anime, Trigger is the first studio that comes to mind. They peaked with Gurren Lagann, which was a creative marriage between the people behind Trigger under the banner of yet another studio, and since then, I have been witnessing their decline as they have attempted better that work by simply constantly churning out the same old animation and narrative techniques because they are still under the shadow of Gurren Lagann. The productions creeping out from the studio that is to blame are either purely average (Little Witch Academia), or clearly below average works (Kill la Kill, When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace, Kiznaiver). Attempting to create and maintain your own style may be nice in itself, but at the same time, it also needs to be capable of being updated, breaking new ground, moving forward, and experimenting, and not just with its animations and narrative techniques. As Trigger presents itself on Kickstarter or Patreon as an innovative studio, and a prime mover in the field of anime with creative freedom, their next work, BNA: Brand New Animal, is the first obliquely artificial, atrociously tedious - although otherwise garishly Trigger, with the typical Trigger wildness and dynamic Trigger scenes. Everything else, however, is the same old average stuff seen many times, which is absolutely nothing new, and just makes me indifferent to all the characters and events on screen like a cat to a newly bought cat bed. If you like the kitsch of Trigger’s style, then you too might want to create a story that shows the fight against racism, coming out and living within the LGBTQ community, or who-knows-what-else (to me, it does not seem like an accident that it was produced by Netflix). It will end up like this, an incredibly superficial and predictable affair, which is just another of the many reactionary animes of 2020. Attempting to watch twelve episodes, I was done after five. I give this a definite 1 star. (07.04.2021)

I’m actually watching something from Trigger? An exceptional event, remember it well! And from the first few seconds, everything points to Trigger’s work as if it was made to order: round outlines with faded colors and a main character identical to all the previous ones from this studio. Michiru is exactly the same (only thankfully with less yelling) as Akko from LWA, i.e. a jigsaw puzzle put together from radioactively naive good-heartedness, incorrigible repetition of mistakes, and when you've got friends coming out of your ears it really takes more than one Tom to fail. BNA is a passable whodunit, wrapped in a very animalistic outfit with anti-racist undertones, tactfully pointing out that the physical exterior (as is characteristic of animal stories) is just a shell. The plot and script don't mess around: it's clear very early on who's on what side (slight doubts with the mayor; the "Croix-esque" minor villain is as subtle as a lighthouse), and this is where the strong two-dimensional treatment of almost all the characters hurts, throwing any attempt at a more complex story into the trash. I was bothered by the mithril-powered fence armor several of them had and the crutch of overcoming any obstacles is already more of a tank than a wheelchair in terms of imagery. This is by no means an exception with Trigger, though, because after all they specialize in straightforward anime with explosively over-the-top finales. By the time we get down to it, Michiru has to annoyingly hit his nose about 6 times and go through an unnecessary baseball digression that somehow didn't amuse me much. The final resolution in the last episodes is worth it though, and action buffs will enjoy the elaborate Trigger eradication craft, except that the punchline remained sort of lifeless. Why would anyone go back halfway when they currently have all the options? Artistically it's beautiful, the quality of the animation is almost always guaranteed with this studio, and I wouldn't have minded the more modern street-tuned soundtrack if the ED hadn't kept repeating in the middle of the episode. 3 stars (24.07.2020)