Yes, it’s another bingedump Netflix original anime I don’t have time to watch, never mind blog (as it happens I have something rather big brewing that I’ll talk about soon, so have even less time than usual). I still plan to get Devilman Crybaby finished one of these days (someday) but checking out at least the first couple of episodes of a new Netflix series takes precedence over that.
The short summary is that based on two episodes, I think B: The Beginning is good – not great, but (as with Devilman) a well-produced and interesting series. But what occurred to me while watching it was that it was, like Devilman Crybaby, quite graphically violent and conspicuously “stylish”.  And that there’s more to anime than this image that Netflix is showing the world – it’s no more representative than idol anime, or isekai, or cute girls doing cute things. Maybe there’s a kind of reflexive pushback against those genres at work in Netlfix’ choices, or perhaps they’ve simply decided that this is the sort of anime American fans want to see. Whatever the case, Netflix has pledged an aggressive production schedule in anime for the next year – I hope we see some stylistic diversity as it expands.
Setting that aside and taking it in a vacuum, B is fairly intriguing – a supernatural crime drama set in Cremona, in northern Italy, sometime in the near-future. We have a lot of pretty standard crime anime elements here – the crusty old cop with his kawaii female partner, the anti-social genius crime-solver with a tragic past, a full range of 2.5D characters scattered throughout the police force (the hottie tech whiz, the genki kid, the sardonic forensics doc etc.). There’s also a little family element with the heroine, Lily (who’s almost but not quite named after a famous BL mangaka), whose family is in the violin business (and employs the young man who’s at the heart of the supernatural side of the story, Koku).
As for a premise, there’s someone named “B” (not much mystery who it is) going around engaging in what appear to be vigilante justice killings, and the genius character, Keith Flick, has returned to the force to try and catch him. But that’s only the surface – there’s a larger story surrounding a group of esper types who seem to have friends in high places and are using the serial killer cover story to facilitate their own anarchistic activities. There’s some cool true crime stuff here (like the software that tracks party guests for suspicious mingling) and the abandoned railroad, and as you’d expect from Production I.G., a generally lavish and handsome production level and art.
Still, though, so far I find B: The Beginning a bit, I don’t know… Antispetic? There’s a mannered quality to it, too much slick and not enough grit for a show like this to be really shocking or unsettling. The staff here is good – old-timer Nakazawa Kazuto is the main guy, with fellow veteran Yamakawa Yoshiki co-directing (not to mention an ED from Marty Friedman, the ex-Megadeath guitarist who lives in Japan and has become a player in the Japanese music scene). The cast is pretty much a who’s who of established seiyuu names (among them the great Hirata Hiroaki as Keith). There’s nothing wrong with this series at all, really – everything about it is competent and professional. I’m just not finding any soul to it yet, though two episodes is probably not enough to reach a verdict on whether it actually has one.
bnn
March 7, 2018 at 8:57 pmJust finished the series yesterday and i have to say it was quite good. A bit pretentious sometime but still entertaining and there’s some nice humour as well. Honestly hope they will make a second season since IMO, there’s a lot more that can be done with the characters and the in-series mythology. I have to agree though, I hope netflix will be more diverse when it comes to their original series, so far it’s been grimdark, edgy series. Which is not bad of course, but more diversity is always good
DauntingOverlord
March 7, 2018 at 9:11 pmYou do tend to prefer the more subtle/calm series don’t you? Too be fair, there were two mega cute shows coming out this season, there had to be some sort’ve equalization, I kid, I kid. I guess the grim dark stuff is easier to advertise for especially right now, as it’s tonally different from anything else on the market at the moment. I mean, Attack on Titan (though not really a good show) made huge waves here in the west that no other anime had recently that comes to mind, so I guess grimdark just gets more attention and Netflix knows it. Going to have to sleep on this. But yeah, I really want more diverse tones of anime from Netflix, I can’t get enough of things like Mushishi and the like. 🙂
Guardian Enzo
March 7, 2018 at 9:19 pmI mean, I have nothing against this sort of series – I’ve given high marks to similar shows in the past. I certainly prefer it to the aforementioned isekai, CGDCT and idol shows. But I don’t want it to be all Netflix does, especially since that will convince some people for whom Netflix is their only exposure that it’s all anime does.
HoTaRu
March 7, 2018 at 9:35 pmI’m halfway through this series right now and I’m personally enjoying it quite a bit. There are a lot of elements that remind me of other series without this seeming to be a rip-off of any one of them. I do enjoy the concept of it being like a police procedural on the BBC mixed with all of the strangeness that is this show. I am entertained by it all to say the least. While I would say that I agree with you about how there is much more to anime than what is being presented in both this project and in Devilman Crybaby, I don’t necessarily mind that we are getting these stylistic and violent shows at the beginning of Netflix’s foray into the anime business, since a streaming service is actually the perfect place for shows such as this to exist. They don’t have to hold back on what content is created to make it fit for television, and there is something really exciting about that. I do hope that they diversify their content in the future so that there is a broader spectrum of shows available, but even if they don’t, there really isn’t any shortage of different genres available on other streaming services, so I won’t be too disappointed.
sonicsenryaku
March 8, 2018 at 1:28 amDamn….feels like it’s been some time since i’ve stopped by the site to post a comment; the hustle and bustle of life can be a bitch sometimes. Anyway here’s my “quick” thoughts on the series since i have seen all the episodes. The show’s a mix bag: there is much to like with this series, but it equally stumbles just as much. It has a hard time balancing it’s supernatural and police procedural plot lines, and when it tries to interweave them both, the results are questionably and messy. The disconnect becomes so stark that it almost feels as if this series was originally supposed to only be a gritty cop procedural before someone on the staff started to have fears that that alone would not sustain the attention of the audience or have mass appeal. Thing is, i don’t necessary mind the chimeric nature of the show’s genres; i just wish the show did a better job of mingling the two into something more perspicacious.
On another note, if there’s one thing i dislike when it comes to those writing crime/investigative drama series, it’s shows that don’t know how to organically integrate its mystery/investigative/deductive elements appropriately A really good mystery drama makes the viewer feel like there are plenty of context clues and details sprinkled throughout the show to pick up on so when the characters do solve the mysteries, 1. you feel like they earned it and 2. Pivotal moments during the mystery get recontextualized. A mediocre mystery drama makes the viewer feel that they are being told things they had no way of figuring out on their own. It’s a cheap way to make the characters of the show feel super smart and competent, creating this sense of inauthenticity to the work. It’s blatant exposition, which strangles much of the intrigue the show was potentially building up on as it doesn’t feel like these guys are earnestly figuring things out with ingenuity and effort; rather, it feels like they just got access to the script. Any mystery writer will tell you that that’s the biggest mistake you can make when writing such stories.
Now granted this is more of a cop procedural, which means it’s more about watching the technical thought processes characters use to figure things out, but stories of these genres are usually accompanied with a grander mystery and those elements as well as the procedure still need to feel plausible and accessible to the viewer.
Lastly, the characters in this series are a bit underwritten (not terribly written; there’s a difference). Devilman crybaby assuaged this problem a bit because Yuasa is very skilled with character acting (there are plenty of examples littered through that show of how Yuasa stages genuine human interactions and emotional climaxes) but this show just forgets that the characters should be more than just their assigned skill sets. If there were more moments of interaction and character exploration like ep 4 interwoven through the whole series, moments for each of the main cast, i may have cared more. There’s a moment in ep 8 that falls a bit flat because the character drama itself was underdeveloped by the time we reached that moment and the directing wasn’t strong enough to salvage the scene. Despite how down i seem to be on the series, I want this to get a second season, because there’s a lot of cool stuff here and i want to see this show get a chance to do it right.
sonicsenryaku
March 8, 2018 at 1:52 amOh and i’d just like to quickly add that I’m not so sure that i agree with the whole “Netflix is perpetuating a certain image about anime.” Those with netflix accounts watching anime have more to watch than just these two original series and anyone with a netflix account will immediately know that once they search “anime”. Taking into the account all the other anime they have licenses for, Netflix is also controversially grabbing currently airing anime of different types and adding that to their diverse growing list. Yes, their first two original series’ of the year have been grim dark television, but I hardly think anyone with netflix account wanting to get into anime is going to get the idea that that’s all anime has to over when there are 100’s of other anime selections in their catalog of varying tones and genre’s. I mean netflix users are currently being offered things like violet evergarden, little witch academia, seven deadly sins, fate/apocrypha, children of whales, etc. We have originals coming to netflix such as saint seiya and the likes. And then we literally have A.I.C.O incarnation coming tomorrow (you must love your job right now huh?) and that’s a sci-fi thriller that already looks and feels different from netflix’s first two original offers. And with netflix partnering with bones (and we know how diverse they are with anime entries) I wouldn’t be surprised if something mob psycho season 2 (whenever it gets annouced) ends up as a netflix original given the way things are going what with the live action show being scheduled to air on the platform. So yea, i don’t see how netflix would make someone who has the account associate anime with just one type of image when their entire catalog screams eclectic. What i want from netflix is to improve the anime space; as of now, their efforts have been drip on the industry rather than a wave let alone a splash but here’s hoping that in due time, something significant does occur. Apparently B: the beginning has been getting buzz despite mixed reviews, a testament i guess to what happens for being a piece of media attached to netflix these days.
クãƒãƒ
March 8, 2018 at 1:57 amI have to warn you. It’s a bad show, plain and simple. It’s a ‘2 in 1’ anime. It introduces two stories, which have little to do with each other and doesn’t develop either of them. (redacted).
sonicsenryaku
March 8, 2018 at 2:14 amBe careful with spoilers man, even if they are slight. One of the things i wished they delved into more was fleshing out Keith and Lily’s relationship as that was probably one of the more endearing parts of the show
Guardian Enzo
March 8, 2018 at 7:50 amToo specific.
Matti
March 8, 2018 at 7:43 amFinished it over the last 3 days. My impressions;
Pros:
– Somewhat interesting plot, in a so-bad-it’s-actually-mildly-entertaining sorta way
– Decent use of animation budget (creators of Vapid Everboredom should take notes)
– That computer-geek chick is kinda hot
Cons
– Tries to mesh 2 plots into 1, resulting in a shitstorm; it’s like a real life Reddit discussion
– The “supernatural” characters are like refugees from some bad emo-visual-kei band, both visually and audibly
– Dialogue is terrible; like some 12yr old put all the mythological words he just learned into a blender
– If you thought the dialogue was bad, the ending sing’s lyrics are worse (and the vocals are painful to hear)
– Seriously, what the fuck is up with a fully grown criminal masterminds referring to themselves with “boku” ???!!!!!
– Neither Hummers nor Cayennes are remotely cool, Ms. Computer-Geek (and rudder pedals for screen switching are equally lame)
– CGI cars, despite the Netflix money.
Bel
March 8, 2018 at 10:01 amIf we are talking about Netflix Original Anime that can only be watched on Netflix and nowhere else (not even airing on Japanese TV, so shows like Violet Evergarden and the upcoming Lost Song don’t count), then it does look like there is a pattern to the kind of anime that Netflix is making: action, sci-fi, thriller and so on. My feeling is that these are the kind of shows that encourage binge-watch, which is Netflix’s speciality, as opposed to slice-of-life or something like “Koi wa Ameagari no You ni”. At least for now Netflix is playing it very safe when it comes to producing original anime.
sonicsenryaku
March 8, 2018 at 12:46 pmOf course their business model is probably going to veer towards certain type of anime genres and storytelling styles; ones they think all audiences would be willing to watch. But 1. that doesn’t dismiss the fact those kind of anime aren’t the only thing that make up their catalog and 2. the anime they pick up diversifies their catalog and 3. they are also producing anime originals that aren’t action or sci-fi thrillers (like aggretsuko); one only needs to look at their list of anime originals coming in 2018 to see that; 4. netflix is not “making” these anime; for example B: the beginning was something that was already in pre-production with a general layout as to what the show was supposed to be before netflix stepped in and provided finances for the show. What this means is that the creators are being given the platform to release their content, not that netflix is demanding that these kind of anime be made. People who watch anime on netflix will always have a plethora of content to binge and i find it impossible for anybody using netflix to think anime is only one particular thing
Ronbb
March 11, 2018 at 6:11 pmJust finished binge watching it…I’d say I like this one better than Devilman Crybaby, and the music was good.
GC
March 14, 2018 at 8:11 pmI’m 2/3 of the way thru the series and I like it quite a bit.
Guardian Enzo
March 15, 2018 at 1:05 amI want to get back to it, believe me. Devilman too. Just a matter of having time…