Too Much Anime to Review!

Kanon is fininshed update

2008-10-08T22:12:00.000-07:00

Funimation finally allowed me to see the end of Kanon so here are some reviews.

Simoun 9/10
Whoa! This show was really quite good considering it came out with no dub and all the episodes jammed onto 5 DVDs. The creators did a fantastic job of being really vague about the details of the world and the flying machines that are so prevalent in this series but keeping me interested in a story about young girls being forced to go to war and how they deal with it. All the characters were great and I never once felt the show had too-many-characteritis. Bravo! The end was a little disappointing.

Aquarion 2/10
The other end of the "kids go to war" scale. This show was a mess. The backgrounds and CG were fine but the writing was a car wreck. First, there is a definite case of too-many characteritis here. There's one mech, 3 MAIN characters, 4 extra characters that are pretty important, then 3 or so others that exist solely to provide people for the extra 4 to talk too while the 3 leads fight with each other. Second, the episodes are extremely monster-of-the-week and finally, the boss of the team is very annoying. How does he have a lesson to teach the team each week that is EXACTLY tailored to the monster attacking? It also doesn't help that almost nothing is properly explained and I hated the lead so didn't care if he won or lost. Blech! P.S. TOO MANY INSERT SONGS!

Otoboku 7/10
Boy with long hair and a girly voice gets sent to an all girls school to fulfill his mother's sick fantasy of having a daughter. Charges of indecent exposure and sexual misconduct? NO! Comedy abounds, HAHAHA He saw you naked! He has a penis! This show keeps things pretty clean but is more geared towards guys than Strawberry Panic and Maria Watches Over Us. It's more sweet than funny. I loved the Tsunderella bonus episode at the end.

Argentosoma 5/10
Another show with a monster-of-the-week slant. How come every show I watch lately has the same rich blond asshole with the same VA? I liked the lead for this series less than the guy in Aquarion. He's an ass and it drags the whole show down. Luckily his teammates are interesting and the overall plot turns out OK, if a bit boring.

Silent Mobius Movie 1 8/10
Not long enough! I've always liked Silent Mobius and I'm so glad the movies got licenced. As cool as I expected and it covered the origins of the main character really well. Watch this (and maybe the second movie I haven't seen yet) before the TV series.

Negima!? OVAs 7/10
Looked great though I really like the new look Negima anyways. Quite funny but the show jumps around a bit. The whole format of little skits as borrowed from stuff like Azumanga Daioh and PaniPoni Dash is well used here. Nice service but aren't those girls a little young? Ah you crazy Japanese.

Gurren Lagann 8/10
Kept me interested but suffers from monster-of-the-week in the first half and too-many-characteritis in the second. It's pretty ridiculous how the Gurren Lagann keeps powering up again and again but it's more meant to be funny than serious I suppose. Ending was better than most but the very end was lame. Only Mad Max can do that, or maybe Bruce Banner. Music was fantastic as was Yoko. HEY AQUARION! This is how you do a giant robot show.

Buso Renkin 10/10
This show came out of left field and blew me away. Much like the great S-Cry-Ed, guy gets a super weapon and ends up fighting other people with super weapons. I didn't expect the grim tone of the show which reminded me a little of Fullmetal Alchemist (all the alchemy aside) and I loved the mix of plot driven episodes and character development episodes. Hell, this show has the coolest guy in all anime, Captain Bravo is awesome. The ending of this series was also fantastic and that's a rare thing these days. I'll remember the last 3 episodes for a long time.

Shuffle 8/10
Should have gotten a 9 but animation quality problems at times force my hand. Some of the VAs were annoying as well. A good plot considering there are so many girls to deal with. The ending was really good for a harem anime since the main character almost never actually CHOSES anyone. The drama at the end was quite good as well. Fanservice abounds which was a nice change from current trends.

Kanon 9/10
The only reasons this show doesn't get a higher score are that I didn't like how the stories for each girl were so disconnected (Shuffle didn't have this problem) and I thought the ending was a little TOO happy. Where's the raccoon girl's happy ending? HUH!? The art and music were top notch and I really, really liked the OP for some reason.

Summer Update

2008-08-19T23:05:00.000-07:00

Are my updates so infrequent that I only get off one per season now? So sad.

COMPLETED SERIES THOUGHTS:

Agent Aika R16 8/10
Looks good and delivers the goods. Girls showing off their white cotton panties whaling on each other. I wonder if they'll make more of this?
"Successful sales of an OAV rely on one or more of the following gimmicks" rules.
1) Naked girls (CHECK!)
2) Big explosions
3) Horrible graphic deaths
4) Hot lesbian action (CHECK!)

Black Blood Brothers 7/10
Nice show, good look. Doesn't really go anywhere. A second season would be most welcome. I've been getting sick of anime based on manga that don't have a proper ending.

Black Lagoon Season 1 8/10
Really liked this but again, no ending. I bet the second season doesn't really have anything either since I hear a 3rd season has been announced.

Flag 3/10
Bah. The "gimmick" of this show being shown through a camera lens gets old fast. Surprise, surprise that the director of this crap is the same idiot behind the mess that is Gasaraki. The ending was HORRIBLE. Fuck this show. It has so little animation and what they have looks terrible most of the time. The main girl looks OK, everyone looks lie crap. WAY overhyped.

Galaxy Angel S 7/10
What was this? 1 episode? Same score as AA since it's pretty much an episode from that season. For one episode it was better than average for this franchise. I hope X is good.

Kashimashi 8/10
I really liked this one. I had a really nice, original look to the character designs. The story was pretty good as well. I haven't seen a Yuri-Fan show yet that sucked. Bravo Media-Blasters.

My-Otome 9/10
I liked My-Hime which I never reviewed here and this newer series is a great follow-up. Same characters, different universe. A little less tragic than the previous series and I missed Mai during the bulk of the series. I'm keen to see My-Otome Zwei now.

Project Blue Earth SOS 6/10
It didn't really play out well as an OVA series. Again, another OVA series without any of my "Successful sales of an OAV rely on one or more of the following gimmicks" rules.
1) Naked girls
2) Big explosions
3) Horrible graphic deaths
4) Hot lesbian action
There were big explosions but not Big explosions.

School Rumble 10/10
I loved this show. I looks fantastic. Has awesome OP and EDs I never skipped once. It also has a great mix of comedy and kind of realistic drama I really enjoyed. I hope Yakumo is in the second season lots. Fuck her sister, she's an idiot.

The Third - The Girl With the Blue Eye 5/10
When the art is good it's great. When it's bad it's some of the worst since the crappy episodes of Ranma 1/2. What the hell was going on? The story kinda never really went anywhere either. Desert Punk was a better show with pretty much the same premise.

Witchblade 9/10
So good. The idea of having the main character have a little daughter to protect really saved this show from being crap. If you also liked Witchblade so see Devil Lady. A little older but pretty much the same idea and also very good.

Zegapain 9/10
Wow, another great show. Kinda like the Matrix with more mechs and good. A little too vague ending for my liking but excellent. I prefer my End of The World anime to have a happy ending and this show delivers pretty well.

Currently watching: Shuffle, Digi Charat Nyo!, Simoun, Buso Renkin, Galaxy Angel Rune, Death Note, Strawberry Panic, Otoboku, Emma, Sasami, Black Lagoon 2 (FINALLY)

Currently in DVD release: Kanon, Devil May Cry, Pumpkin Scissors, The Wallflower, Shattered Angels

I'm SOOOO busy

2008-05-18T23:44:00.000-07:00

BUT! I have 2 days off so I figured "What the hell, lets post some thoughts on some shows I've seen lately."

COMPLETED SERIES THOUGHTS:

Baldr Force Exe: 7/10
Based on an H game I found out about a week or so after I watched it. A 4 episode OAV that doesn't really have much in the way of my "Successful sales of an OAV rely on one or more of the following gimmicks" rules.
1) Naked girls
2) Big explosions
3) Horrible graphic deaths
4) Hot lesbian action
It looks nice but disappoints.

Galaxy Angel AA: 7/10
Same old, same old but it makes me laugh at times so I don't mind. Liked the episode where Normad tries to destroy the world, the end was surprisingly thoughtful.

Ragnarok: 6/10
Not a bad story once things get moving at about episode 12. Looks HORRIBLE. Gonzo used to have just the A animation team (Last Exile). Then they got a B team (Kiddy Grade). Welcome to the C team. Yikes.

Eureka Seven: 9/10
A little longer than it should have been and the ending was kinda disappointing. Best episode was Paradise Lost.

Mushi-Shi: 8/10
Looked great and had a lot of interesting episodes but loses a point for not having a real storyline.

Tsubasa Chronicle: 6/10
Doesn't really go anywhere in the first season. I don't really like the freaky tall character designs. CLAMP cross-over stuff is cool. Needs more main character cross-over though. Where are the Magic Knight Rayearth leads?

Glass Fleet: 5/10
Gonzo C team is at it again. Not a very good story, it felt like a re-hash of Last Exile but not as good. Kinda cool spaceship battles.

Ramen Fighter Miki: 7/10
Pretty funny, not what I expected at all. Looked nice as well. I almost wished it went for more than 12 episodes. It reminded me a lot of Ranma 1/2.

Magikano: 8/10
I always like these romantic comedies. Had a nice look even though it looked a little cheaply made. The ending was more unsatisfying than these shows usually end up.

Fate Stay/Night: 9/10
I really liked this show. I researched some of the backstory not in the anime and found I liked it even more. The end was quite sad but great. The different arcs were a little too independent of one another.

Fantastic Children: 10/10
Extremely good. Loved the story and the look. A diamond in the rough.

Currently watching: The Third, Kanon, Shuffle, Devil May Cry, Digi Charat Nyo!, Simoun, Pumpkin Scissors, The Wallflower, Galaxy Angel Rune, Death Note, Strawberry Panic, My-Otome, Shattered Angels.

Appleseed: Ex Machina 7/10

2008-03-19T00:09:00.000-07:00

There's supposed to be a TV series after this. I'm sure lower production values are pending and that's really all that saves this movie. I dread the not so distant future of the franchise.

Character Designs 10/10: Great. The president lady seems to have had a face lift which is good for her. Deunan is a pretty cute looking character, much nicer bum that Beowulf.

Art consistency 10/10: Much nicer than the first movie, the shading is more consistent and the faces never have that odd "AutoShade with shadows turned off" look (if you know what AutoShade is you've just given your decrepit age away).

OP Theme N/A: N/A

ED Theme 6/10: Nothing special.

Voice Acting (Japanese) 8/10: Pretty good. No zany characters or anything so just standard voices.

Story 3/10: Sigh. How many times must I tell people: WEARING HEADPHONES IN PUBLIC WILL KILL US ALL! The whole idea of the villain taking over the general populace for no good reason is overdone, but then to use something I already find annoying as the means bugs the hell out of me. Maybe I'm just comparing it too harshly with the original movie.

In the end this is a pretty good action movie. Lots of guns and explosions and it looks pretty cool. Other than some main plot problems I haven't much to complain about. I liked the romantic sub-plot between Deunan and Brearios though the whole love triangle thing never really takes off since any woman willing to stick with her man after he's been turned into a cyborg isn't likely to dump him for his clone. (How many times will I have to write THAT sentence in the coming years.)

LONG TIME NO POST

2008-03-17T20:28:00.000-07:00

I work too much....

COMPLETED SERIES THOUGHTS:

009-1: 7/10
Better than average. The OP was kinda catchy and I like the rather old-school character designs. The show didn't really have an overall plot which was OK but I tire of seeing too many shows with what I consider "plotless" writing. I'd likely have given this show a 5 or 6 if I'd recently watched a similar "plotless" show.

Ah! My Goddess TV Season 2: 9/10
Another show without a real overall plot but I can forgive that in a comedy. This season looks as good as the previous one and gets into more uncharted territory since all the main characters have been introduced. I really like the introduction of villains like Marller and Hild. They're evil without being unlikeable. The OP was great with all the bagpipes.

Comic Party Revolution: 7/10
Not a bad harem anime. The previous season spent too much time going on about publishing manga and I got bored. This one is more about the relationships between the main character and each of the girls. Good for a few laughs.

.Hack//Roots: 3/10
Ugh. Looks great but MY GOD HOW DULL! It doesn't even have an ending! It's like the show is supposed to lead into a game I don't care to play since it would be the most boring game ever. They even managed to screw up the great music from the last show.

Fate Stay/Night: 9/10
Looked and sounded amazing and I really liked the story. The only real problem was how the different arcs were so separate. They didn't really overlap and it felt a bit forced. The ending was particularly memorable.

Girl's High: 8/10
Funny, funny stuff. One of the few anime where girls act more like normal girls and not like male fantasy girls. It helps that the show looked good as well.

Innocent Venus: 4/10
Looked OK but the story sucked. The surprise villain sucked. The mech's sucked. The action was OK. The submarine ship with the weird captain was just retarded.

Itsudatte My Santa: 6/10
Looked a little worse than it should for an OAV. Had some fan-service which was OK. Should have been longer.

Kurau Phantom Memory: 7/10
I didn't like the voice of Christmas, very annoying. The story was OK but lacked something. Maybe it was because Kurau was constantly hurt but quickly healed. Perhaps it was Christmas constantly shouting "Kurau! Kurau!"

That's enough for now.

EVEN MORE THOUGHTS

2007-12-04T23:36:00.000-08:00

COMPLETED SERIES THOUGHTS:

Ergo Proxy: 8/10
I'll be kind to this show since I REALLY like the OP. I never skipped it once. The ending was a bit vague and the idea of the Proxies building cities and technology on their own is a bit unbelieveable since Ergo Proxy is such a dumbass. I liked the majority of the characters though and the story WAS interesting.

Le Chevalier D'Eon: 6/10
Don't get me wrong. I liked the permise, the art was great, the music was fine, but... What I don't understand is how they can take a bunch of characters and spend so much time with them manage to make me not care about them at all. There was one character who died that I gave a damn about. Everyone else was kind of annoying. Maybe the French revolution was a good thing after all.

INCOMPLETE SERIES THOUGHTS:

The Wallflower: 8/10
The art is a little crappy at times and the main 4 guys are kinda creepy looking but this show made me laugh out loud a few times during the first 5 episodes. The main character girl is very amusing.

Suzuka: 6/10
I'm at episode 22 and loosing patience. The art is horrible at times, the music is fantastic, and I'm getting a might sick of the stupid main characters. I do like the other track and field girl but she'll never get any love this close to the end of the series. Less irritating than Peach Girl but not by much.

Rozen Maiden: 8/10
It looks great and I like the music. I guess the first 4 episdoes of the second season is pretty much all I'm gonna see until Geneon gets their shit together. At least I got to see Suiseseki enter a contract. She cracks me up where Shinku is kind of annoying.

COMING UP:

The Third DVD 3
009-1 Complete series (at some point)
Mushishi DVD 1-4 (Whenever vol 4 comes my way)

MORE THOUGHTS

2007-11-25T20:07:00.000-08:00

COMPLETED SERIES THOUGHTS:

Air Gear: 8/10
Not bad. The animation had a consistent quazi-crappy quality to it but the show kept me interested. I really liked the music and the fan service, though oddly placed, was welcome. The ending was OK though they never really resolved the whole Sleeping Forest thing.

Blade of the Phantom Master: 9/10
I really liked this movie although it kinda felt like 2 OVA's back to back. The action scenes were well done and I liked the two main characters. The design for the kickass girl was really good and her long hair was well animated where if she was in a TV series they'd either cheap out and not animate it or give her a bob cut.

INCOMPLETE SERIES THOUGHTS:

Hellsing Ultimate Vol. 3: 8/10
All good again. A lot more Alucard than the TV series and not enough Seras. Quite a bot of splatter. Oh who will release the further adventures of our heroes not that Geneon is kaputsky?

Step Up Love Story: 7/10
Looks OK after the first 2 episodes, if a little dated. Odd subject matter with all the cock sucking lessons and cunnilingus. This isn't X rated but it's pretty R rated. Funny at times. I hope the final two volumes don't get too freaky.

The Story of Saiunkoku: 8/10
I really liked the first 10 episodes of this show. It's a little like Fushigi Yugi but it looks better and the main character girl is worth rooting for in her battle against chauvinism. Another good series perhaps taken from us too soon after the departure of Geneon.

Fate Stay/Night: 10/10
I just finished episode 16 and I must say, Archer's final battle was pretty cool as was the battle between Saber and Berzerker right afterwards. I'll watch the rest this week.

More Random Thoughts

2007-11-14T22:46:00.000-08:00

COMPLETED SERIES THOUGHTS:

Peach Girl: 5/10
This show looked like hell most of the time and was like a bad season of 90210. How the main characters can be so stupid I'll never understand. The ending was irritating because the main characters were as stupid as they were in the first episode right up until the end. BAH!

Karas: 9/10
6 part OVA with some pretty amazing visuals. Explosions, violent deaths, and a robo-ninja that not only kicks ass but TRANSFORMS INTO A CAR AND A JET! It's pretty cool. It's as good an OVA I've seen in the past few years.

Tide-Line Blue: 6/10
Nice art but irritating characters and a poorly executed story sink this submarine adventure. AHAHAHAHAHAHA! Seriously, when the U.N. fleet is looking for the sub and it's like 5km away in a floating dock with no cover and they don't see it I have a hard time taking this show seriously. The ending was also kinda dumb. None of the main characters get together and the sub just disappears into the sea for new adventures with no explanation. BAH AGAIN! Hell, they never explain who got the pregnant girl pregnant! It's like they get her to have a baby just so it can be in constant danger. BAAAAAH!

INCOMPLETE SERIES THOUGHTS:

Ah! My Goddess: 8/10
Watched up to episode 16 or so. A couple of Skuld and Urd episodes are a good change but I'm not seeing a story arc developing for the final batch of episodes.

Witchblade: 8/10
Cool fights between busty ladies with almost no clothes. Can this show go wrong? I've only seen up to episode 8 so it's a little early to tell.

Xenosaga: 7/10
I really like this show, more because I've finished Xenosaga (people who know me know this is a rare event, finishing ANY game) so I can forgive the odd pacing and crappy art in the first 8 episodes. There's a nice looking show here but it seems to suffer from a small budget.

My Otome: 9/10
I'm scoring this show a little high since I really liked My Hime. Not that this show isn't really good. Nice art, good music, and lots of comedy and drama in a good mix. My only real complaint is that we still haven't seen Mai from the first series and I'm at episode 12.

Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle: 5/10
Why does everyone have such long arms? Why does the show seem to lack focus? It's like watching Quantum Leap but boring. At least by episode 22 Sakura isn't the invalid she's been throughout most of the series.

Random thoughts

2007-11-04T22:27:00.000-08:00

I'm just too busy to watch much anime let alone write reviews but here are a few things I've been watching and some thoughts.

COMPLETED SERIES THOUGHTS:

Noein: 10/10
Holy crap! This was sitting on my shelf for quite awhile and I only just got to it. Great show with only a few odd character design choices. Reminded me a little of Shingu - The Secret of the Stellar Wars which I would give a 9/10. Had a REALLY cool final couple of episodes. Nothing is better than a bunch of characters fighting in different dimensions and timelines trying to save the world from disaster.

Space Pirate Mito Season 2: 8/10
Read a lot of negative reviews but I liked the first series and the second was a lot better so it gets a good score. If you can look past the cheap character designs and animation there's a pretty good story here about saving the world.

Air: 9/10
A little convoluted but it looks nice and is one of the saddest shows I've ever seen. *sniff*. I felt so bad for the aunt, first you think she's a bitch, then you learn she's really nice, and she doesn't deserve to ending she gets.

Gankutsuou: 9/10
Really cool look and a very engaging story. It takes awhile to really get going but well worth the time. No wonder it won awards.

Burst Angel OVA: 4/10
Looks good but for a show with more nipple prints than in any other in recent memory WHERE'S THE FAN SERVICE!? This was a waste of an OVA. Ask the creators of Ikki Tousen. THEY know how to create an OVA the fans want.

Coyote Ragtime Show: 6/10
Looks great but that's it. Kind of a poor man's Cowboy Bebop. The characters are uninteresting and the show spends so much time in action sequences that you never really get to know any of them. The whole bank robbery thing was kinda cool but not well implemented. This show felt rushed, it should have had another 5-6 episodes.

Black Cat: 7/10
I liked this show though the whole final arc felt tacked on. It was like the final batch of Macross episodes. Good but why? The ending felt a little dumb too. I hate it when the hero fucks off at the end and doesn't tell anyone.

Best Student Council: 8/10
I enjoyed this one. It looked OK and all the characters were pretty funny and different enough from one another so I didn't get confused. A pretty unexpected ending with a bit of an odd twist but it wasn't bad at all.

INCOMPLETE SERIES THOUGHTS:

Le Chevalier d'Eon: 6/10
Looks great but the story seems to be drifting all over. A little like how Trinity Blood constantly moved around and never let you really get to know the characters. The only problem is that d'Eon doesn't have a cute red-haired nun girl. I've seen up to episode 20 so I'm not likely to change my score unless something really interesting happens in the final 4 episodes. Gankutsuou, while not quite the same type of show, is FAR superior.

Fate/Stay Night: 9/10
I'm only halfway through (I'm waiting for the final DVD due in the mail any day to watch the remainder) and I LOVE the look of the show. The story details aren't really explained well but it's likely the creators assume you've played the game and once I researched more on what the game explains I found I liked the story a lot more.

Eureka Seven: 7/10
I'm nearing the end (8 episodes left?) and the only reason the score is as low as it is is that the show took WAY too long to get into the actual plot. You could reorganize the episodes and spread the main plot out over more episodes and the show would be a lot more watchable in the beginning. The score should go up before the end of the series.

Black Lagoon: 6/10
Watched the first 4 episodes and this show REALLY feels like it's going down the same road as Coyote Ragtime Show. A bunch of unlikable leads in a series of ever more spectacular action sequences.

Air Gear: 8/10
Fan service, comedy, some over the top action. It's all good. I've got the final 5 episodes to see and I'm anxious to see them so that has to be a good sign.

Ah! My Goddess Season 2: 8/10
I'm halfway through and since I've always liked AMG I've got a bit of a bias but it's all good so far. I hope there's somewhat of an arc in the final few episodes.

Pumpkin Scissors: 7/10
Watched first 4 episodes. The main dude uses his powers too often.

The Third: 9/10
Looks good and it's interesting but let the main plot begin! It's been 8 episodes already!

Xenosaga: 7/10
Played the game? First 4 episodes are pretty close.

More in my next post.

Cyberteam in Akihabara 2/10

2007-10-07T22:17:00.000-07:00

It took me a few years to get through this and I want that time back!

Character designs 2/10: That ugly "Saber Marionette J" style isn't tolerated when the show is crap. At least the villain girls had big racks.

Art consistency 7/10: It's crap but doesn't get any worse at any particular point.

OP theme 1 5/10: Forgettable

ED theme 1, 2 & 3(?) 5/10: Meh. All about the same. I watched each once and they didn't really make me want to watch them again.

Voice acting (Japanese) 5/10: Bah! I get so sick of having characters with annoying little things they say at the end of sentences unless they're a frog or something. In some shows it's "cute", in this show it's annoying.

Story 1/10: Little girls get little Furby's or something that turn into big breasted women and fight other big breasted women to save the world from a bunch of madmen. It's been done better. New girls are introduced and the "surprise" villain at the end is too predictable.

Verdict 2/10: This show doesn't know what it wants to be. First it's a kind of magical girl show. Then it turns into the lonely office girl story. Then it's a history lesson about immortals trying to change the world. Sadly, I found the best parts were about the office girl villains but their episodes are over all too quickly. Not a great show by any means.

Arjuna 0/10

2007-07-19T19:41:00.000-07:00

Arjuna: Completed after 4 years of trying. Verdict: Why bother.

Character Designs 2/10: Didn't like 'em. Juna, the main character, has hideous hair.

Art consistency 9/10: The art is pretty consistent and I'm gonna forgive the sometimes crappy CG since this is a reasonably early attempt at it. The backgrounds are terrific and the character designs, while crappy, remain equally crappy throughout.

OP Theme 4/10: The OP changes I think and isn't in every episode as I recall. A forgettable song I skipped many times.

ED Theme 6/10: There are multiple themes and I'm too lazy to check how ofter they're repeated. I don't remember any of them being anything special.

Voice Acting (Japanese) 3/10: The main characters have Kansai accents and I didn't mind but they also sounded like amateurs. Not great. The little fire girl had a really annoying voice as well.

Story 0/10: Girl gets powers to save the world from itself. Barely uses the powers and keeps getting ragged on for using them when she does. Even the Booster Gold gets more love from his own team. There's a romantic sub-plot between Juna and her boyfriend and it's interesting but there's no payoff at the end.

I hate the preachy condescending tone of this show. All the supposed "good guys" other than Arjuna and her boy toy are holier-than-thou jerks. This show has an annoying stance on everything from pesticides to nuclear power to even ABORTION! The story feels like it was written by the types of people who would have us all living off of berries and seeds in the woods while wearing nothing but cedar bark clothes. Fuck you Arjuna 0/10.

Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid 10/10

2007-05-19T19:10:00.000-07:00

The FMP franchise goes back to it's dramatic roots in fine fashion.

Character designs: 10/10

Same as the first two series so points for not messing with a good thing. The villains look particularly good in FMP.

Art consistency: 10/10

Very consistent, no complaints.

OP theme 1: 7/10

It's OK but the show is so good I skipped it most of the time. A little too happy for the dramatic subject matter.

ED theme 1: 7/10

OK as well but skipped for the same reason.

Voice acting (Japanese): 10/10

Great, great, great. All the new characters were excellent. I love the voice of Kaname's friend on the alarm clock.

Story: 10/10

I'm going to skip the back story here but you HAVE to watch the first 2 seasons to really follow what's going on. My FMP: Fumoffu? review has a basic outline so go read that if you want.

Sousuke is not yet capable of operating the Lambda driver on a consistent basis so he is removed from protecting Kaname and has to return to base. Meanwhile, the bad guys, in the form of 2 teenage sisters with a penchant for nude embraces, are out to not capture Kaname this time but to kill her. Also, more of the Lambda driver equipped mechs have been showing up and are killing members of Mithril during their missions. What will HAPPEN!?

Verdict: 10/10

Some funny bits. Some violent bits. Some nipplage. The series takes a dark turn and gets a lot more violent. During Fumoffu? the danger Kaname has been in was somewhat forgotten, well not here. She has to come to grips with Sousuke being gone and has to fend for herself and there's a real reinforcement of that earlier danger here. We also see Sousuke and Kaname react very emotionally to their separation. With a great Sousuke/Tessa confrontation over Sousuke's new orders, the character development so lacking earlier comes along nicely. This is a great, great show. I hope there's more someday.

Godannar 8/10

2007-04-16T00:08:00.001-07:00

The jiggliest mech show ever. Giggady, giggady, giggady

Character designs: 10/10
Some of the best designs ever. Every female has a huge bust and there are butts and busts jiggling all over. The female mech pilots wear VERY revealing outfits and even a bunch of the mechs have jiggle. The overall mech designs are great too I suppose.

Art consistency: 9/10
Very consistent, no complaints.

OP theme 1: 3/10
I've never been a fan of old-school mech themes.

OP theme 2: 3/10
I've never been a fan of old-school mech themes.

ED theme 1: 5/10
Skipped it most of the time but the naked girlies were a nice touch.

ED theme 1: 3/10
Skipped it most of the time.

Musical score: 7/10
Music to have a mech battle to.

Voice acting (Japanese): 8/10
All good, Goh, the main male lead, had a particularly good voice.

Story: 6/10
A girl named Aoi was rescued by Goh and his mech when she was 11 or so. Fast forward 5 years and she's about to marry him. The world is under siege by Mimetic Beasts and they can only be defeated by giant mechs (of course). Goh is struggling to get over the loss of his girlfriend several years earlier while Aoi is trying to become a mech pilot so she can support her man. It eventually turns out that male mech pilots are turning into monsters from a combination of aggression and a virus so Goh has to deal with that while Aoi has to fight without him. It also doesn't help that the Mimetic Beasts are getting stronger all the time.

Verdict: 8/10
Not a horrible plot but it was a bit on the predictable side. The real twist was that Goh and Aoi were married but their marriage doesn't seem to mean much after the first couple of episodes. They live together and it's pretty funny in the beginning but the show eventually becomes rather serious and consists mainly of mech battles in episode after episode. The best part of this show has to be the fan-service. All the females in the show (minus one and even she gets pantie shots) have rather large breasts and junk in the trunk. Any mech battle has to have copious boob jiggle, camel toes, and nipple prints that could cut glass. It's actually a pretty great mech show beyond that.

Jinki: Extend 7/10

2007-04-15T23:37:00.000-07:00

A great 24-26 episode mech show crammed into 13 episodes.

Character designs: 7/10
OK but pretty generic. Everyone has freaky eyes, me no likey.

Backgrounds: 8/10
A lot of this show takes place in Tokyo so there are a lot of better looking Tokyo backgrounds out there. These ones look OK though. The part of the show set in Venezuela looks really great.

Art consistency: 6/10
No problems with the mechs but there are a few scenes where the characters look pretty crappy. Only a few though.

OP theme: 3/10
Not bad but i skipped it most of the time.

ED theme 1: 4/10
Skipped it most of the time.

Musical score: 7/10
A couple of cues stood out and none of them bugged me.

Voice acting (Japanese): 7/10
Good but not hard to cast since most of the characters are normal people. No one had a really memorable voice.

Story: 7/10
A girl named Aoba, who lives with her grandmother, is brought to Venezuela to live with her estranged mother after the grandmother dies. It turns out the mother works on a secret mech project whose mission is to battle mysterious mechs known as Jinki with Jinkis of their own. The mother is a bit of a bitch and the girl ends up as a pilot with "special" powers. The mom, it turns out, is a traitor and takes off with the bad guys.

Jump ahead 3 years and the Jinki have now arrived in Japan the threaten the general populace and a whole team of Jinkis piloted by young girls now battle it out over the skies and in the streets of Tokyo. It turns out there's a second girl with "special" powers, named Akao, is discovered and she and Aoba and up battling it out in the finale.

Verdict: 7/10
The worst thing about this show is the disjointed nature of the plot, crammed into too few episodes. The backstory of Akao is revealed as flashbacks during the first 5-6 episodes or so where Aoba is in the 1989 timeline. The flashbacks then stop as Aoba joins the the 1991 timeline. The flashbacks are uneven and sometimes confusing, it's almost jarring losing that plot device so abruptly. Then what's worse is that some things are never even explained. Why did the old man have Akao in his care in one of the flashbacks? When was Unit 1 hidden and why? Where did the Jinki REALLY come from? Why is the main villain so small and how did he create clones? What was Shiva exactly? Why was Akao's mom in Venezuela in the first place as a young girl? Why does the blond girl not button her top? There's a good story buried in there somewhere but it's tough to see through all the flashbacks.

Speed Grapher 7/10

2007-03-07T18:31:00.000-08:00

Such horrible art but a good plot saves it from complete mediocrity.

Character designs: 2/10
Blech. Pretty bland for this day and age.

Backgrounds: 7/10
Nothing really great. Better than the animation, that's for sure.

Art consistency: 3/10
Bleah again! Crappy designs get crappier. Sometimes cars and such look deformed. Such a lazy production.

OP theme (for DVD): 3/10
Not bad but dull.

OP theme (in JP): 10/10
Ooooo. Duran Duran! Coolness. Prefect fit for the show as well.

ED theme 1: 7/10
Kind of interesting but I skipped it more often than not.

ED theme 2: 4/10
Meh. Listened to it twice, maybe.

Musical score: 7/10
Pretty good. Some neat synth bits but a little repetitive at times.

Voice acting (Japanese): 8/10
Good but not hard to cast since most of the characters are normal people. The teen female lead a slightly high voice but it's somewhat explained in the show so I didn't mind.

Story: 8/10
A photographer goes to a secret club underneath Tokyo to investigate a secret club where the famous fulfull their every desire. He sneaks into the VIP section where the kiss from a teen girl gives him the power to cause explosions with his camera. He escapes with the girl and the series continues as they try to escape the group that runs the club. He must battle people sent to retrieve the girl who have also received amazing powers. After he loses and rescues her a couple of times he must ultimately stop a powerful man from deastroying Japan's economy.

Verdict: 7/10
This show suffers mostly from very poor art. I don't feel the show has enough action to justify cutting corners in this department, especially considering the overall quality of other shows of the same vintage. This is about as low as it's gotten for Studio Gonzo.

The great story really is what saves this show from a really poor score. The pacing is great and the writers manage to keep a good level of suspense throughout the series. I really liked how the show skirts around the idea of the photographer (33) and the girl (15) having a relationship even though as a viewer you are constantly expecting one of them to fall for the other. Then all of a sudden one of the minor characters gives a little speech to the photographer that lets the viewer know that the writers expect the relationship to end in the same way we are most likely to be thinking if this was a real life story. Very interesing insight for an anime.

Very much for adults with a pretty mature storyline. Lots of action and suspense with crappy art which is a shame.

Ah! My Goddess TV (Season 1) 7/10

2007-03-07T18:02:00.001-08:00

You either like AMG or hate it. I like it OK.

Character designs: 9/10
I really liked these designs. The best anime AMG designs yet.

Backgrounds: 8/10
Good but easy to draw locations so 8 is the best I can do.

Art consistency: 8/10
If I don't really notice it the show did a good job. Not too much action though so it's not all that.

OP theme: 8/10
This song is really great, I never skipped it.

ED theme 1: 9/10
Pretty catchy, I found myself humming this the next day.

ED theme 2: 3/10
They replaced the great first ED with this crap. BAH! SPIN ON!

Musical score: 8/10
Orchestral scores always do well with me. I bought the OST so it HAD to be good.

Voice acting (Japanese): 9/10
Belldandy's voice is so soothing. I had to give it a high score.

Story: 4/10
Loser guy ends up living with a goddess and her goddess sisters after getting a wish granted. The stories are pretty tame and any conflict here is pretty minimal. Mostly a comedy but the lack of progress in the main relationship gets OLD. They barely hold hands by the end of the series. Overall better than the older OAV since more characters are included in the various story arcs. I liked the bonus episodes featuring the sisters since they don't get enough screen time are are the most interesting characters.

Verdict: 7/10
There's a second season of this so there are lots of fans but if you're hoping for a realistic relationship between the leads, you won't find it here. It's light comedy that never gets too risque but not super funny either.

New reviews you SLACKER!

2007-03-07T18:02:00.000-08:00

Since I've not had time to review anything in the last couple of months I'll attempt a shorter style review in order to increase the throughput.

Ninja Nonsense 9/10

2007-01-01T21:03:00.000-08:00

Take one ninja girl named Shinobu, one schoolgirl named Kaede, a strange flying and talking yellow ball named Onsokumaru, and a bunch of faceless loser ninjas and what do you get? A pretty damn hilarious show, that's what.

Ninja Nonsense (or the punerrific JP version "2x2=Shinobuden") runs 12 episodes and aired back in 2004. Each episode is actually 2 separate 15 min. stories which is always a good sign in a comedy series since some of the funniest gags just don't carry a half hour. Right off the start let me say that I love both the OP and ED. The ED is particularly good since it's all stop motion ninjas running around chasing Onsokumaru around a house. Ninja cabaret is all good as well. The art for this show is really great with a pretty consistent look over the course of the series (the ninjas actually complain about the crappy artwork consistency of current anime). The music is pretty good but the OP and ED really stand out. The VAs are also excellent, I got a little sick of Shinobu's little sister, Miyabi, but the voice of Onsokumaru more than makes up for it. Norio Wakamoto did this voice in Azumanga Daioh and has done it in several shows since. The particular nasal voice he uses sometimes doesn't work but it's perfect for the lecherous yellow ninja master. Bravo.

Shinobu is a young kunoichi (female ninja) who's in training at Onsokumaru's ninja school. She meets up with Kaede while on a mission to steal underwear and they become fast friends. The rest of the series is pretty much just little adventures the two girls have with Onsokumaru and the ninjas at their ninja compound.

Onsokumaru is mainly in floating ball form and can grow arms, legs, and wings as the circumstances require. He also occasionally transforms into a human form but the real comedy is when "ball" Onsokumaru is attacked by his ninja pupils in response to his various perverted fantasies or selfish desires. Of course the ninjas are sometimes no match for him and he can hand them their asses in equally hilarious fashion. What's also really funny is that since the ninja team seem to have little or no experience in the outside world, Kaede shows up to celebrate Christmas or something they jump to wild conclusions and it's funny as hell.

This show had me laughing out loud throughout and that's a rare thing for me. It's a little crude at times but the fart jokes are at a minimum. You might enjoy the show a little more if you're familiar with anime stereotypes but it's hilarious nevertheless. Highly recommended.

Tenjho Tenge 8/10

2006-11-12T22:42:00.000-08:00

The Japanese sure like the idea of a high school filled with martial artists constantly beating the crap out of each other. The more busty girls involved the better. I bet Tenjho Tenge was pretty popular in those circles in Japan. (I'm including the 2 OAV episodes in this review since they're nothing special)

The technical aspects of this show are pretty good overall. I like the art since it's pretty well done and rather detailed, of course the series mainly takes place in a high school so it's not hard to make a classroom look good. The character designs are above average but of course I'm going to have a better opinion of a show if every female has enormous mammaries. The animation is nice and smooth and the fight scenes and special move effects are all really great. If this wasn't the case this show would get a terrible score since if the fights don't look good in a show like this you've got nothing. The VAs were OK and there were a good number of tough male voices that were different enough to keep me from recognizing them from one character to the next. I liked the OP all right and the ED was skipped many a time. The in show score was OK as well.

Tenjho Tenge starts out as a pretty standard high school fighting show (yes, there is a standard high school fighting show). A couple of new guys, Souichirou and Bob, show up to attend their new high school which just so happens to be one of those oh so common high schools where everyone is always kicking everyone else's asses. They're tough and cocky and end up in the Juken Club led by a little purple haired girl, Maya, who is really a high school senior and her younger sister, Aya, who is also just starting at the school. Of the two new students, Souichirou is the guy who ends up with super powers and kicks everyone's ass. He also ends up with Aya after him since he sees her naked and she declares him her fiance.

Of course most of these characters end up on the back burner as nearly the entire series focuses on the events of 2 years prior. It seems Maya's older brother (the now deceased Shin) is the head of the Juken club along with his buddies. He's a psycho with a murderous superpower and previously killed his parents and seems to have unhealthy feelings towards his little sister Maya (Maya only looks little in the present since she's got some super move that makes her look little). Maya secretly kicks the crap out of the other members of the Juken Club and ends up as a member along with the newbie Mitsuomi. The rest of the show is a series of flashbacks showing the relationship that develops between Maya and Mitsuomi, Shin's mental breakdown, and how Mitsuomi is destined to battle Shin to the death.

This is a great show but it's annoying how they introduce a bunch of pretty interesting characters then basically dump them in favor of a bunch of other ones. The only saving grace for something that annoying is that the flashback story is pretty great. Everyone is sympathetic, the insane Shin, the bitchy Maya, and the rest. The characters actually change quite a bit over the course of the show and it's surprising that the writers managed to keep things interesting even though we know the ultimate outcome of the battle the whole series builds up to. If I have one other major complaint it's the lack of nudity. If you're going to have all these girls with big racks and skimpy outfits you HAVE to have some topless action in at least ONE episode. For shame. Recommended for style and substance.

Fullmetal Alchemist: The Movie 5/10

2006-10-18T22:11:00.000-07:00

All the hype comes to a head with the big budget movie to finish the FMA story and with the big jack comes big expectations. Better luck next time guys.

The FMA movie was released in July of 2005 and runs about 100 minutes or so. As with all theatrical anime the frame rate increases and overall animation quality goes up compared to the TV series. Thankfully the character designs remain roughly the same, this is a crime MANY anime movies based on an existing series are guilty of (I'm looking at you Inu Yasha). The music isn't anything better than the TV series which is OK and all the VAs are the same so that's all good too. The one technical problem I found annoying was the overall brownness of the whole thing. The movie felt darker and dirtier than the TV series, after watching a TV series filled with blue skies and green trees I kind of missed them.

The plot of the movie picks up 2 years after the end of the TV series and Al is now traveling around in Ed's red jacket doing various alchemy type things. Ed on the other hand is trapped in pre-WWII London and is helping a young man who looks like Al to develop rockets since he has no alchemy in the "real" world.

Things move along ridiculously fast as the others trapped in the "real" world (Envy and Ed's father) are quickly dispatched in order to open a gate to the usual FMA world and the "real" world's Al plans to give his rockets to some Nazis to make the trip through the new gate.

A bunch of convenient gate trips result in a big battle in the FMA world between a bunch of armoured Nazi's and the State Alchemists and the whole thing ends pretty abruptly with an overall crappy ending.

I won't spoil the ending but I didn't like it and I really felt the humour from the series was sorely missed. Add to that the poorly thought out premise behind the movie and I can't give this a really good grade. I didn't hate it but.... Of course if you've watched the TV series by all means watch the movie, just don't expect much.

2 jobs + XBOX360 = No anime reviews

2006-09-27T22:34:00.000-07:00

I've been working 50h weeks oe so and with a new XBOX360 I've been otherwise occupied.

Upcomming reviews.

Desert Punk
Strawberry Marshmallow

And more.....

Fullmetal Alchemist TV 9/10

2006-09-02T02:35:00.000-07:00

I don't know much but I know what I hate...and I don't hate this. This series has very few problems and minus a boring arc in the middle of the series it would get a 10.

Fullmetal Alchemist (or Hagane no Renkinjutsushi in Japanese, which sounds WAY cooler) aired in Japan in 2003-2004 and ran 51 episodes. At the time of this review it's also airing on YTV in the Great White North. There isn't anything wrong with this show on the technical side. The art and backgrounds are bright, colourful, and detailed. The character designs are great and remain consistent throughout the series. The music is top-notch with some really catchy OPs and good EDs if somewhat not to my tastes. The VAs are great as well. Not a problem to be seen.

"Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return.
To obtain, something of equal value must be lost.
That is alchemy's first law of Equivalent Exchange.
In those days, we really believed that to be the world's one, and only, truth."

Edward and Alphonse Elric are two young brothers who live in a world where Alchemists can convert one thing into another with alchemy. They study the alchemy books left by their absent father and when their mother dies they attempt the most taboo of all alchemy techniques, Human Transmutation, to return her to life. Of course, a person is not the sum of the elements of the body and the experiment creates a hideous deformed monster, Edward loses a leg and an arm, and Alphonse is lost into the light of the transmutation circle. When they awaken, Al's body is gone and his soul is bound to a giant suit of armor.

With an Automail arm and leg provided by their childhood friend Winry, the brothers go to the capital so Ed can become a State Alchemist and gain access to the state's resources in an attempt to restore himself and his brother. Their ultimate goal is a Philosopher's Stone, a legendary stone that allows an alchemist to ignore the first Law of Transmutation.

At first, the show is about how Ed joins the military and he and Al are sent on investigative missions where in most cases they learn more and more about the Philosopher's Stone and that there are mysterious forces at work all around them, trying to create a Philosopher's Stone as well. They also meet the Homunculi, named after the 7 deadly sins, they are what are created as the result of failed human transmutation. It turns out that they cannot use alchemy so they are trying to get a human to create a Philosopher's Stone (and I assume use it on them) to make them human.

As the show goes on everyone learns that the influence of the Homunculi reaches to the highest levels of government and that the Philosopher's Stone is only created by sacrificing the lives of thousands. Ed and Al are forced to stop their plans if only to prevent more deaths.

This show has some very interesting examples of alchemy gone wrong. With the power to combine and disassemble things there are some alchemists doing some pretty bad stuff. One that is trying to create chimera's out of people, one who can cause the human body to turn into a bomb, and one who has a grudge against alchemists and makes their heads go BOOM. Of course the Homunculi are the worst of the lot since they are somewhat without souls so the kill thousands without a second thought and are jerks in general.

The show focuses mostly on the relationship between the two brothers when it isn't turning little girls into half-dog chimeras or raping nice village girls. Someone who wrote this story must be a guy with a slightly younger brother because I see a lot of little things in this show that are extremely familiar to me. If you were ever wishing you had a little brother, this show has that relationship pretty much dead on (right little brother?).

This show is funny and tragic, violent and kind. Other than a stretch of 5-7 episodes in the middle about a trip to the island of ZZZZZZZ I really liked this show. For those of you who LOVE the manga, keep in mind that the show apparently differs greatly after a point, so prepare for a somewhat different ending than you've been expecting. I liked the ending though one NEEDS to see the follow-up movie for the REAL ending. Anyways, highly recommended.

Boys Be... 5/10

2006-08-28T18:57:00.000-07:00

One of those "multiple leads search for romance" shows but these multiple leads are guys for a change. How did it turn out?

Boys Be... ran for 13 episodes back in 2000 and is loosely based on the manga of the same name. I didn't mind the style of this show but it looks pretty cheap overall with somewhat dated computer scanned and coloured animation. I didn't like the character designs because they simply look sloppy compared to the original manga art which I really like. At times the characters look worse than usual and I found it hard to root for the current lead since the girl he's after looks like hell. The music wasn't anything special and same with the VA's. Everything about the technical side of this show was mediocre.

Where most shows of this nature feature a new female lead every 1-2 episodes in a different situation Boys Be... has 3 leads and the show switches back and forth between them since they're friends and go to the same high school. There are also 3 female leads who get varying amounts of screen time, the sporty tomboy Chiharu, the goofy and practical Yumi, and the other girl Aki who has the least impact in the show.

Kyoichi is the "main" lead who's a painter and is childhood friends with Chiharu. His story follows how he asks her out, she kisses some college guy while she's away at a track training camp, he sees and dumps her ass, and how he drifts from girl to girl while carrying a torch for Chiharu.

The next guy is Yoshihiko who's clueless about women even though he's a star baseball player and they're falling all over him. He ends up with the female manager of the baseball team who basically chases him long enough for him to realize she likes him.

Makoto is the most interesting of the three. He's desperate for a girl and resorts to computer analysis and dating books to find one. He gets turned down again and again until he gets some advice from Yumi about a girl he likes and she's friend's with. This is the best of the stories since Yumi falls for the doofus when they're out on a practice date. Later, when Makoto is out with the girl on the REAL date, she realizes what's going on and dumps him so Yumi can have him.

I found myself rooting for Yumi more than the other characters since she'e the least retarded. Kyoichi's adventures with older women kinda suck and this show really doesn't portray guys very well. Where's the talk about tapping these chicks? Where's the "I totally saw her nipples in that T-shirt!" conversation? Not really recommended.

Shingu: Secret of the Stellar Wars 9/10

2006-08-25T18:41:00.000-07:00

A show that's been around for awhile that I've always meant to see and it turned out pretty good. Hooray!

This show is called Gakuen Senki Muryo in Japan which translates to Record of the School Wars: Muryo. I have no idea why they changed it so much for North America (maybe it's that OTHER Record of the School Wars: Muryo show) but regardless of that it runs 26 episodes and aired in 2001. This series uses the old-school hand drawn animation and it's all old-school colouring and lighting effects. I LOVE the look of this show and I have no complaints since I enjoy the character designs as well. The music is pretty good, though I'm not a big fan of the OP or ED. Well done but not my style. I'm also a big fan of the VA's. This show has a large cast and they manage to keep the voices unique and well suited to the characters.

Shingu takes place in 2070 in a relatively small town in Japan and the main character, Hajime Murata, is a pretty average eighth grader. He's only lived in the town for four years or so and being one of the "new" kids he befriends a new transfer student, Muryou Subaru. Muryou is a little odd, he wears an old school uniform (uniforms haven't been the norm since the previous century), he's a rather bland kid though he's friendly enough, and he gets in some sort of super powered duel with Moriguchi Kyoichi, a rather excitable member of the student council.

It turns out that the student council is made up of 4 students who summon the creature Shingu to protect the town from invading aliens. Nayuta Moriyama is the angry tomboy type who actually transforms into the Shingu and is the main foil for Hajime and Muryou. She's pissed at Muryou for using his powers to save her on a couple of occasions and she's pissed at Hajime for the best reason of all, she likes him. This is doubly hilarious since Hajime and Muryou are somewhat clueless to the whole thing and can't understand why she gets so mad but they don't really react to her so it makes her more angry.

The student council members are descended from those who've summoned the Shingu for centuries, as are all the older famlies in the town. It turns out that this town has had diplomatic relations with aliens for centuries and there are several alien diplomats living in the town. There are a lot of mysterious goings on with the leaders of the town, the leaders of the U.N., and the leaders of the main alien factions. It's kinda like Star Trek where Earth is a planet not deemed advanced enough to join the Federation.

Most of the story revolves around various unknown aliens attacking the town in an effort to capture the Shingu, the advancement of the relations between Earth and the aliens, and the school life of the main characters. The kids aren't really involved in the diplomatic side of things so it's interesting how those who control this super weapon are pretty much out of the loop most of the time.

A lot of the story is told from Hajime's perspective and since he's the most normal of all the characters (no super powers or anything). It's a pretty interesting and unusual perspective for an anime of this type. It's also rather funny most of the time and reminded me of any number of good high school comedies at times. There are TONS of great characters and they all get a lot of screen time and character development and there are enough mysteries in this show to keep anyone watching until the end.

And what an end it is. There's something about how they did all the revelations and the final battle that I really loved in this show. The only reason it doesn't get a 10 is that the main characters don't really get together and I was a little disappointed. Watch this show for Muryou's atmospheric re-entries alone. Highly recommended.

Fafner 8/10

2006-08-18T21:11:00.000-07:00

This show really took a long time for me to get into it but after 10 or so episodes it gets moving.

Fafner ran for 26 episodes back in 2004. The character designs are all to familiar since they were done by the same guy who did Gundam Seed, Gundam Seed Destiny, Infinite Ryvius and S-Cry-Ed. ENOUGH! I really started to get confused because all the characters look like characters from other shows and none of them are really distinctive. They all get pretty generic names to I had to make a list to keep track (of course that's only until a bunch of people get killed). This show really looks great though and it's funny to see mechs and mech battles that look better than those in the almighty Gundam series'. The music was OK but the OP bugged me. I really didn't like the style and the ED wasn't much better.

It's the future. Aliens have invaded Earth AGAIN. The only way to battle them is with mechs piloted by teenagers AGAIN! They have "issues" with piloting and of course they have to survive being killed by the aliens, being absorbed by them, and being genetically mutated and killed by the mechs they pilot. Seen Evangelion? Of course you have. This show is a lot like that but a little better in my opinion.

It starts off on an island in some tropical location. A big gold whozit shows up and the island must defend itself. The pilot girl gets killed on her way to her mech and so the main character, Kazuki, gets sent out to kill it instead. It turns out the people of the island all work for the organization that runs it and builds the mechs in secret from what's left of humanity in the rest of the world. The kids on the island are genetically modified in order to pilot the mechs and this has been going on for some time. The secret nature of the island is revealed to the kids selected to be the next batch of pilots and here come the aliens.

This was the hardest part of the show to get through. The first 10 or so episodes are all about aliens attacking one after another and various characters you barely know being killed. There is no comic releif here and all you hear is the bitching and moaning by all the characters about the lack of fulfillment in a career as a mech piloting and the futility of existence. Also, the writers don't really reveal anything about the reason for the island, the mechs, the secrecy, or the aliens. Frankly, it's unpleasant to watch.

THEN things get better. The death toll levels off for awhile, there's a LITTLE comedy and you get to see how the kids behave and interact outside of a mech battle. This makes them MUCH more likeable and I lost my indifference towards them and their situation that had built up over the first part of the series.

The show moves on with the usual amount of carnage and the climactic battle against the aliens is pretty good if a bit hokey with all the "we all go home or nobody goes home" spiel. Sgt. Slaughter did it better in the G.I.Joe movie. I'll easily recommend this but isn't as good the show I was watching at the same time as this that did a MUCH better job telling a story about aliens coming to Earth.

Inuyasha The Movie 4: Fire On the Mystic Island 3/10

2006-08-06T14:41:00.000-07:00

The fourth and final (so far) Inuyasha feature film. It was produced after the TV series finale I bet it finishes the story. Right?

Bzzzzzzt! WRONG! This is Inuyasha, where there's one formula and this movie is certainly created with it.

This is the first feature with the TV series character designs, much to my relief, and it was in theatres in late 2004. I hated the changes the animators made to them in the previous movies so that makes me happy. I was also impressed with the overall quality of this movie but after some truly impressive animation, backgrounds, and effects in the first 2/3 of the show, things take a real dive during the final battle. Maybe they had to rush to finish the movie before Xmas or something. The music feels like the stuff in the TV series, meaning I'm sick of it, and the ED theme wasn't anything special. The VA's are OK I suppose but once you've heard one demon you've heard them all. All the original cast are here as well by the way.

If you've seen 4 episodes of the Inuyasha TV series in sequence you've pretty much seen this movie. This review will assume you're familiar with the main characters.

We meet some little kids that are being harassed by four very human-looking demons (the monster-looking ones are never the powerful ones). One of them (the smallest and cutest one natch) escapes the island they're on and surprise, surprise, she's rescued by Inuyasha and Co. It turns out Inuyasha and Kikyo had been to the island 50 years earlier and it's back from disappearland or wherever the hell all the powerful guys go before Inuyasha stumbles upon them. They were attacked and then the island disappeared. Of course Inuyasha wants instant revenge (JUST remembering how much he hates these particular demons) and they all set off to save the rest of the children (except for Inuyasha who just wants revenge, natch again).

They go to the island, meet the rest of the kids, learn that the oldest is keen to sacrifice herself to save the others, she and Inuyasha are sucked into the sacrifice door or whatever, they escape, the demons get back the power sealed behind the sacrifice door, each of the main characters kills one of the four demons, Inuyasha and Kagome defeat the uber-demon with the help of the children, I puke, the end.

For being the final movie this sucked hard. All it was missing was to have the children singing to give Inuyasha the power to beat the uber-demon. There's a bit where the kids go fetch a bow and arrow for Kagome and it made me want to retch. Add to that some awkward cameos by Sesshomaru and undead Kikyo and I'm ready to scream. How many damn times does a fake Kikyo have to show up to screw with Inuyasha? At least Naraku and undead Kikyo KNOW he's got a thing for her. The demons create a Kikyo clone BY COINCIDENCE! FUCK ME!

Give me some character development for Christ's sakes! Other than some nice visuals this movie blows. Not-recommended.

The Best Anime Ever Made

2006-08-05T03:11:00.000-07:00

It doesn't have epic mech battles.

It doesn't have copious numbers of large breasted girls.

It doesn't span 100+ episodes.

It doesn't have samurai sword battles.

It doesn't have fan service.

It's just a quiet little show, well made, well scored, well acted, and on a creative level so high above anything I could ever manage that I can only watch in awe.

I have, as of this date, watched about 300 complete anime TV series, 220 complete anime OAV series, and 70 anime movies. This show stands above them all. Of all 100 scores I've given, this was the easiest. I've been planning this review since this whole blog thing started a year ago.

Haibane Renmei 10/10

"At the beginning of the world, there was nothing but a dark mist called the Nothingness.
God appeared.
By merely being there he brought light to the Nothingness.
When God took into his hand the halo glowing over his head and held it high, it became the sun.
God waved his staff, and the nothingness was ripped into two, one forming the sky and the other the land.
However, the line was skewed, thus creating mountains and valleys.
"It was a mistake, but it is just as well" said God.
When God drew pictures on the land, grass and trees grew, and birds and animals came to life.
God then envisioned creatures that looked like himself.
But these creatures were too similar to himself and were a failing.
So he coloured their wings charcoal, made holes in their halos, named them Haibane, and tucked them away in the back of his head.
After that God created human beings that did not have wings or halos.
This time, it was a satisfactory creation.
Completely content, God, despite himself, fell asleep.
The Haibane, destined to be erased, were hence able to escape from his head.
When God awoke the Haibane were already floating in the sky.
However, ever tolerant of mistakes, God decided to let the Haibane and their tiny world be.
This is why the town of Glie is still floating somewhere today, where it is neither on land nor sea."

- The Beginning of the World
by Nemu and Rakka

Haibane Renmei runs 13 episodes and aired back in 2002. It's not the most beautiful show but the art is good and the character designs are simple yet effective. There are a couple of crappy scenes in episdoes 3-4 but after that the show maintains a pretty high level of quality for the duration. The score is simple and filled with quiet pieces that lend to the general peaceful nature of the land of the Haibane. The OP is an excellent instrumental with a focus on violin with some piano (the full version has some flute in there and more piano) and I have to say it's my favorite OP in all anime. The ED is a somewhat haunting song called Blue Flow by Heart of Air that's featured in the series proper and is a great contrast to the somewhat optimistic tone of the OP. This show uses it's score and sound effects to great effect. Watch it in complete silence if you can to get the full effect. The VA's in this show are perfect, Rakka, Reki, and the Communicator are particularly good.

Haibane Renmei begins with a young girl, about 14, asleep, falling through a dark sky, a crow flies with her. She awakens, unafraid of her situation though she's aware of it. The crow tries to stop her fall but she tells it, in a timid, kind voice, that it is a wasted effort but thanks the bird for it's efforts. The crow is blown away, the sky brightens to a pale green, and the girl is suddenly falling towards a green land below with fields and trees. She becomes frightened and is blown back up into the air.

Cut to a large old building, inside it is old and worn, and we see a girl, about 17 with long black hair, a golden halo above her head, small charcoal grey wings sprouting from her back...and a cigarette in her mouth. She passes a closed door, opens it, and discovers a 6ft tall white glowing egg attached to the ceiling and floor. After a shocked look she dashes off (returning briefly to put out her dropped cigarette).

We now see that the older girl is not alone, two more arrive at the old building on a bike, and arrive at the egg room with it cordonned off with police tape and the dark haired girl scolding a gaggle of little kids for whom the tape is intended. We must note that all the characters so far have the same halos and wings.

These are the Haibane. Children born from mysterious eggs that appear in the old buildings in which they live, Old Home. Reki is the oldest and the smoker, Nemu about the same age, bespeckled Hikari and tomboyish Kana are a little younger, and Kuu is the youngest of the older girls, a little younger still. The birth of the newest Haibane introduces us to their mysterious birth and nature when the egg cracks open and out spills the girl who was falling through the sky earlier.

She remembers nothing of where she came from, or who she once was, other than small parts of the dream of falling. She is given the name Rakka, which means "falling", since each of the Haibane are named after what their dream was about. For example, Reki dreamed she was walking a path of small stones so her name means "small stone" from "gareki" (in Japanese). Hikari places a glowing halo above Rakka's head (which they have to tie on with wire until it sticks), and all the girls but Reki rush off to return to their jobs. Reki stays with Rakka through the night while she recovers from the growth of her wings, cleans them of blood, and cares for her during the resulting fever.

The show now moves into explanation mode since the land in which the Haibane live is rather odd and the girls go to town to show Rakka around. Their world is called Glie and no-one is allowed outside the imposing walls that surround the town and adjacent countryside. The land of Glie has 3 groups of people. The Haibane who live in Old Home and in an old factory at the edge of town, the humans who populate the town, and the Haibane Renmei, a group of silent monks who live in a small temple away from everyone else.

The Haibane work jobs in the town but are only permitted to work for the oldest of any type of business. They are also not paid but are given books by the Haibane Renmei where they enter the work they do then use that to buy things like food but only used goods such as clothes. It is not explained why this is, everyone simply accepts this as how things must be. The people don't involve themselves very much with the Haibane and it's never explained how the people came to be in the town though it's shown that they have kids and grow old and such.

Their world has somewhat advanced technology such as electricity, gasoline, and flashlights and they have books that depict the Earth but the only people allowed in or out of the town are the silent traders known as the Toga. Only the leader of the Haibane Renmei is permitted to communicate with the Toga and then only by a mysterious sign language. It can be assumed that anything not produced in Glie is brought by the Toga from parts unknown. The profits from the trading the Haibane Renmei do supplements the income of the Haibane, particularily for the little children that can't work.

Rakka now goes with Hikari to meet the Haibane Renmei who all look like adults, wear masks and fake wings on their backs. Only the Communicator speaks and the girls are only permitted to speak when the Communicator says it's OK to do so. Rakka is introduced, accepted as a Haibane, gets her book, and they head home.

Now she goes to see each of the girls at work to see if there's anything she'd like to do. Reki helps an old woman care for the children at Old Home, Nemu works at the town library, Hikari works at a bakery, Kana works for a watchmaker, and Kuu does odd jobs for the owner of a cafe. One thing to note at this point in the story, as Rakka and Kana bicycle home one evening, Rakka remarks that she thinks she used to sing when she feels as happy as she does and wistfully wishes she could remember a song. It's an unimportant thing but I thought it was a little sad.

During a talk with Nemu we learn that Reki has had a tough time as a Haibane. She once ran away from Old Home after a fight with Nemu and went with a boy from the factory to climb the wall. Even touching the wall is forbidden and the boy was hurt in a fall from his ladder and he and Reki were punished. We also learn that others such as Nemu have had the same questions about their world as Rakka does but the answers are denied them by whatever controls it.

At this point in the story Kuu is acting a little odd. She has a distant look at times and says some odd goodbyes to her boss and others. Then, the next day, Rakka sees a bright beam of light shine from the western woods, and Kuu is gone. The others search for her to be sure but only find some feathers and a now-dark halo at some mysterious stairs in a clearing in the forest. It is her Day of Flight, when a Haibane goes beyond the walls to somewhere unknown, never to return.

Kind-hearted Rakka takes Kuu's departure very hard and heart-brokenly cleans Kuu's room every day for the next month hoping for her return and retreating from the others. During this time her feathers begin to turn black, much to her horror and she starts cutting the dark parts off. Reki catches her and explains that she is sin-bound, as Reki herself is. She gives Rakka a medicine she used on her own black feathers that hides the colour. It turns out that Reki was shunned by all but one Haibane named Kuramori when she was born because of her black feathers and it was the departure of Kuramori that caused Reki to run away and try to scale the wall. Reki assures Rakka that she's done nothing wrong and that it'll clear up in time.

Rakka is still depressed and during a trip to the thrift store with the children she runs off after someone approaches her, happy to have run into a Haibane. She goes into the fields surrounding the town and encounters a crow. Up until now, Rakka has had a feeling that the crows in the town have watching her and she feels an odd affinity for them. She follows the crow into the western woods where they lead her to an old empty well she promptly falls into.

At the bottom of the well she finds the skeleton of a dead crow and has a revelation. She recognizes this crow as the one who had attempted to save her from falling in her dream, and she had been falling because she had been killing herself out lonliness, and the crow was someone she loved very much in her previous life. She buries the crows body in a small grave at the bottom of the well, asks it's forgiveness, and thanks it for it's kindness.

The Haibane Renmei discover Rakka at the bottom of the well, get her out, and on her way home she hears Kuu's voice from the wall and touches it. Then the Communicator appears, and Rakka speaks with him about Kuu, her dream, her experience in the well, and her sin. This is Rakka's catharsis, it's explained in a riddle that one who recognizes their own sin, has no sin. She is left at the edge of the woods where she's found by the others but she must be rushed home becuse she's going numb from having touched the wall.

When caring for her, Reki discovers that Rakka's wings have returned to their proper charcoal grey colour and is dismayed that Rakka has managed to discover the path to redemption that she herself has been searching for for seven long years. Reki begins to lose hope and returns to her mysterious painting room with an air of bitterness.

We now get a flashback of Reki's past. Hatched alone and not found by Kuramori until after her wings had sprouted, feared and avoided by Nemu and the other Haibane because of her black stained wings, and given fearful looks by the townspeople. Her only friend is Kuramori who takes care of her and tries to protect her from the stares of the people. We see her meeting with the Communicator who gives her her name and the medicine for her wings. We see her caught by Kuramori, cutting her feathers, and how she befriends Nemu as they care for the older Haibane when she gets sick finding the herbs for the medicine.

Upon awakening from her reminiscence, Reki rushes off to the Haibane Renmei to demand answers. Why is Rakka being punished? Why is Rakka no longer sin-bound while she herself remains so? The Communicator explains that Rakka had the help of a bird and Reki is surprised to hear that Rakka was given the same riddle Reki herself was given and has yet to solve. Also, the Communicator tells Reki that her time as a Haibane is nearly up and that Nemu hasn't had her Day of Flight either since she's waiting for her friend. Reki returns to Old Home with a lot to think about.

The next day, Rakka is summoned to the temple of the Haibane Renmei to receive punishment for having touched the wall. She is brought by the Communictor into the wall in a special suit and given the task of collecting gold from the walls for the making of halos and cleaning the rusted tags. This is also made her job since she's yet to find one.

Rakka has found her absolution and decides to help her friend find the same. She asks the Communicator for advice and he explains that Reki must face her demons alone. He tells her that Reki has little time left and in not so many words, says she will become one of the silent Haibane Renmei after losing her wings and halo. Rakka goes home and notices that Reki's halo is starting to fade.

Reki prepares herself for the end. She says an unheard goodbye to Nemu, sends a farewell gift to the boy who was hurt climbing the wall for her, and on New Years's Eve, while the others are all sleeping, goes into her painting room for the final time.

Rakka follows her. The room is revealed to be painted in the image of Reki's dream and that dream quickly becomes understood. A barren landscape under a full moon, Reki walks a path of small stones, with an iron rail on each side. Reki's sin becomes all too clear, and as the train bears down on her once again...well, I can't give away everything.

About a year ago, when I started this blog, I planned for this review to be the 100th and I've been anxiously waiting to post the final picture for this review since it's my favorite scene from my favorite show. I'm not just entertained by this show, but inspired. Sometimes, as I watch TV and movies I get discouraged at the attitudes and behaviour of the characters portrayed. Everyone has an attitude, everyone is selfish, no one gets along for the sake of getting along, people betray each other without a second thought. Anything that tries to be kind and generous feels patronizing and manufactured, fake.

Haibane Renmei is different to me. It's about fundamentally decent people being friendly and kind to one another for no better reason than that's how they are. They have problems and hurt but don't take it out on others. Maybe they're a little unrealistic but I don't care. I'll always love this show.

One final thought.

What are the Haibane? I like to think they are children that die before their time and are given a chance to earn their way into heaven or reincarnation or whatever after atoning for any sins they had. This is why their feathers are charcoal grey rather than white. I also like to think that they'll all meet again somewhere, someday, beyond the wall. Wishful thinking? Perhaps, but the Haibane seem to think they'll meet again and who am I to argue with them?

Sins of the Sisters 0/10

2006-07-30T22:30:00.000-07:00

Worst anime ever. Period.

This 2 episode OAV was released back in 1994 and I can't imagine too many people bought it. It's really a borderline porno with a lot of nudity and violence but since it wasn't released as porn it goes into my "suitable for review on this blog" category (though that's about all it's suitable for other than a coaster). Considering this is an OAV it doesn't look very good but as it has XXX roots this isn't surprising since adult titles usually look like crap. The designs are OK but not consistent throughout the show and the whole thing looks like an anime TV episode. There are a couple of decent songs in this but the music is otherwise unremarkable and the VA's are passable.

It's the year 1212 AD and a group of kids were sent by the Pope on a ship to Jerusalem to fight in the Crusades. The truth of the matter is that the Pope sold the kids into slavery and so they all committed suicide at sea. The main character Hans vows revenge, gets turned into a girl (minus sexual organs) and ends up in the future at some private school for girls. Now, part of this ACTUALLY has some historical basis so check out the Children's Crusade article on Wikipedia for more info.

The school is supposed to train the female students to be actresses but Hans, now Aiko, learns that this is a lie. The school is actually to train the girls to be sex slaves for soldiers at the front (isn't this always the way with anime). The girls rebel and after killing the people running the school use it's BASEMENT TIME MACHINE to go to feudal Japan, take over, and end up living in Edo castle in preparation for their battle to rid the world of organized religion. Rika, the first girl "recruited" by Aiko is killed in the battle and her spirit is enthralled by some evil lady spirit that takes advantage of her feelings for Aiko. (By "recruited" I mean molested in a lesbian sex scene)

There's a side story in all this about a lady named Yuki who lives with her husband and gets a visit from her doctor since she's been sick. She's being contacted by Rika's spirit and during an argument over the pros and cons of letting Rika have her soul she kills the doctor and his assistant and teams up with Rika who wants to see Aiko again. There are hints that their world is an alternate reality where Yuki doesn't get to meet her husband and she's the evil lady who wants revenge on Aiko for changing history.

One group of the girls goes back to ancient Rome in order to save the crusaders, Rika and Yuki show up to kill the girls and ensure the future is changed by killing Hans (Rika isn't aware of this), and Aiko rushes off to save her schoolmates and ensure history continues as before.

Up until the end of the first episode things really aren't too bad. The show is rather confusing and things aren't well explained but my explanation is pretty good.

At the start of episode 2 we learn that the girls are originally from the WWII era and Yuki was the nun at the school. After the girls rebelled, Yuki's husband (who was the guy at the school who told Aiko what was up) went off to be a Kamikaze pilot and was killed. In Rome, Yuki disguises herself and kills one of the girls of the first group since she's pissed at the lot of them. Rika goes to convince Hans to not go on the crusade by stripping for him in the church and in response Hans takes off the next morning with the crusaders leaving the school girls behind.

The crusaders are quickly set upon by bandits. Francoise, the girl of group, gets raped and a bunch of kids get killed. It's about here where I start not liking this show. The school girls rush to the rescue and drive off the bandits but the next day Francoise hangs herself. Hans refuses to bury her since suicide is a sin and I dub this show the worst anime ever.

To summarize to the end. Yuki parts the sea to trick the kids and they march out across the Mediterranean to Jerusalem. Yuki stays behind and kills the 3 remaining school girls, the OTHER group of girls show up and Yuki promptly kills all but Aiko with zombies of the previous 3 girls. The kids come back during the fight and Aiko is killed by Yuki.

Whoops! It turns out that this doesn't stop the revolution at all, it causes the kids to march on Rome and attack the Pope whom Aiko kills when accused of being a traitor. Everyone gets resurrected, the doctor tells Yuki she's an idiot and she dies, Rika dies again and the world goes on as a paradise without countries and organized religion, run by about 20 Japanese high school girls.

I can tolerate some things but the idea that 25 or so high school girls with swords and a time machine run the world is beyond even my low plot credibility standards. Add to that the whole rape/suicide thing that's in there for no reason and I end up really hating this show. Shuten Doji gives this show a run for it's money but Sins of the Sisters claims the title. Don't ever watch this.

Kannazuki No Miko 7/10

2006-07-30T00:21:00.000-07:00

This show has big mechs, pretty girls, and hot lesbian action. What's not to like? Right?

Kannazuki No Miko aired back in 2004 and runs a rushed 12 episodes. While the character designs are good there are some definite lapses in quality and being as this series only runs 12 episodes, that's pretty much inexcusable in this day and age. All the girls are usually well animated but the many mechs in this show really look like hell at times along with some poor backgrounds. The music was OK but I didn't like the OP or ED though that could be more a case of KOTOKO burnout (Now I have Shana to look forward to). The VA's were fine and the leads were well cast though some of the villans really don't get a lot of lines.

Kurusegawa Himeko is a shy, pretty, and very clumsy girl who goes to a ritzy school for somewhat wealthy kids. One day she meets Himemiya Chikane, the most popular girl in school who's rich and pretty, cool and sophisticated. They become friends and start to spend time together, mostly in secret since there's quite a difference in their social status. On their 16th birthday (on the same day as I recall) it turns out that they're both priestesses destined to battle the evil Orochi which consists of 7 bad guys with mechs that show up to kill the two girls.

Himeko is the priestess of the sun and Chikane is the priestess of the moon and they must go to a nearby temple to try summon their mech to battle the Orochi. Himeko starts living at Chikane's mansion, since the summoning is taking days and days, and it quickly becomes apparent to everyone other than Himeko that Chikane has the serious hots for her. Of course Chikane has a rival for Himeko's affections in Souma Oogami, a male childhood friend of Himeko's who is also an Orochi but fights to protect her rather than kill her. Add to the plot Chikane's maid that has the hots for her mistress, the two guys at the shrine, one Orochi who is the brother of Oogami, Himeko's dorm roommate and all the villains that have their stories and the cast gets pretty busy pretty fast.

Chikane ends up betraying Himeko and switches sides, Himeko summons their mech, then the two friends end up battling to the death with tearful confessions all around at the end with some passionate kissing and snuggling.

This show has good plot elements and bad ones. My biggest problem is that there are too many villains. Why bother having so many villans with their own backstories if most of them are only going to get a couple minutes screen time? I also don't think the guys at the shrine need to be as detailed characters as they were. They have too many appearances reacting to the goings on when the mechs are fighting. I ALSO don't think Oogami's brother was a necessary character since he really doesn't accomplish much. I understand that this show is based on a manga that may have had more time to deal with all the characters but they should have either been removed from the anime or the series should have been extended over 24-26 episodes which I think would have worked since the underlying story is quite well thought out.

What I do like is the relationship between Himeko and Chikane. Himeko is the oblivious cute girl and Chikane has some serious feelings for her. She pines over her friend but doesn't act on her feelings because of Himeko's relationship with Oogami. Chikane betrays Himeko partially because of this unrequited love and also because she murdered Himeko as part of the ceremony in an earlier life. While the sun priestess doesn't remember any of it the moon priestess does and is terrified at the prospect of history repeating itself. The end of the series has a really long confession by Chikane and it turns out Himeko feels the same way. This show treats their relationship a lot more seriously than most heterosexual romances in anime and it's a nice change. Their relationship isn't oversexualized as is typically done and the creators don't make their sexual orientation somewhat vague. They're gay. Period.

I like the two leads as characters and other than some plot and quality problems it's a really good show. They could pull it off even without the mechs and priestess angle. Recommended for serious romance fans and guys who like the pic in this post. =D

Maison Ikkoku 9/10

2006-07-26T01:31:00.000-07:00

Romantic anime has had many variations: girl loves boy, boy loves girl, boy loves robot/alien/elf girl. All of these shows should get down on their knees and bow down to the masterpiece.

Maison Ikkoku aired way back in 1986 through 1988 and ran for 96 episodes. Being an older show I really like the character designs and they stay really consistent throughout the series even if the OP designs get a little nutty. The show has a lot of detail throughout and the backgrounds all look really great. This show had a pretty big budget for it's time and represents a style of anime I mourn the passing of to this day. While most shows from that era DIDN'T look as good, we no longer get the shows that looked amazing compared to the others. The music in this show isn't anything awesome but it does the job and I liked the OPs and EDs OK. The VA's for this show are classic even though they are mostly recycled from Urusei Yatsura they're perfect and you NEED to watch this show subbed.

Yusaku Godai is a ronin. He failed his college entrance exams so he has to spend a year studying at a cram school in Tokyo in preparation for taking his exams again the following year. Life for Godai isn't ever easy though. He lives in a room in a boarding house named Maison Ikkoku and has a bunch of insane roommates. Yotsuya, the mysterious man who makes a hole in Godai's wall so he has easy access to harass him. Akemi, the sexy girl who strolls around barely clothed and loves to tease. And Ichinose, the short fat housewife who drinks like a fish. Actually all Godai's roommates tease him, drink like fish, and party nearly every night in his room since he hasn't the backbone to throw them out.

This is where our story starts off. Godai is too nice, too indecisive and too unlucky and so he lives with constant harassment, constant failure, and no romantic prospects. Then, enter the woman of Godai's dreams.

Kyoko Otonashi is the new manager of Maison Ikkoku. She's the daughter-in-law of the building's owner and he's set her up as the manager because her husband has died and she's having a hard time getting her life back on track. You see, Kyoko married one of her much older high school teachers right out of high school and is now widowed at 23 (approx). Godai is instantly enraptured with the new manager regardless that she's 2 years older and out of his league in the looks department. The next 2 years of the series is basically the story of Godai's attempts to win the woman of his dreams.

As Godai tries to get into school, graduate, and get a job over the course of the series he has so many problems that you find yourself wondering if a higher power has it in for him. He fails exams, gets roped into all sorts of situations that piss off Kyoko and gets a rival who's older, richer and more handsome. As time goes on Godai DOES manage to solve some of his problems, he graduates, gets a job, manages to dump a clingy high school girl, AND outlasts his rival. FINALLY, he does manage to propose to his dream girl and she says yes. The proposal in Maison Ikkoku is one of the most touching moments in anime history and you all owe it to yourselves to watch all the episodes up to #94 so you can see it.

I've always really liked this series since it stays funny throughout and doesn't get TOO repetitive. My only complaint is that Godai has a few too many "misunderstandings" but it's forgiveable. If you have a heart of stone or you're a sociopath you won't like this series or feel empty inside but otherwise you'll love it. Recommended.

Princess Tutu 9/10

2006-07-14T00:40:00.000-07:00

I've always had a problem with the portrayal of faerie tales in North America. Most of these adaptations are done by Disney and something never felt quite right about them. As I got older I realized that what was wrong was that Disney had changed a lot of these stories to make them kinder and gentler. This means the happy ending becomes a given and the movie has to rely on song and dance numbers to keep the audience entertained. The uncertainty of the ending is what makes the ending worth waiting for. Princess Tutu is a faerie tale done right.

Princess Tutu aired back in 2002-2003 and ran 26 episodes though episodes 14-24 were aired as separate 15 minute episodes rather than full half-hour ones so there are really 38. First off, this show has the best soundtrack ever. Of course this is because the score consists of bits and pieces from symphonies, ballets, and operas. These selections are made on a per episode basis and are somewhat related to the plot (or so the commentaries tell me). Along with a great OP and ED this score is terrific. The character designs are of a style I really like and the backgrounds and animation are top notch throughout with a lot of care taken to depict the fluid movement of the ballet dancing. I also liked the JP VAs and there must be special mention made for the JP VA for the main lead, Duck. Being as she's a duck turned into a girl her VA does an amazing job with a very "ducky" voice. To be honest the English VA also does an admirable job.

Once upon a time a man died. This man was writing a story about a prince who fought a great raven. With the man's death, the prince and the raven escaped the story.
This is where Princess Tutu picks up and we're introduced to Duck. A little yellow duck who has fallen in love with the prince, who dances sadly at the pond that she calls home. She is approached by Drosselmeyer, the dead author of the story, who explains to her that the prince shattered his heart in order to seal away the raven and offers to make Duck human so that she can help the prince regain it. Of course there is one condition, should Duck confess her love to the prince she will turn into a speck of light and vanish.

Duck starts attending the local art school in a small European style walled town were she takes ballet along with the prince Mythos, his guardian/knight Fakir, and the girl who also loves Mythos, Rue. Duck finds heart shards inside people who are affected by the emotion the shard represents and transforms into Princess Tutu who, with her dancing, has the power to help. The prince falls for his beautiful saviour, much to Rue's annoyance, but Duck herself is clumsy and awkward and has to keep her secret.

This show starts off as an "enemy of the week" type but as more and more is revealed about the nature of the world in which the characters live and more about the past of the characters is explained the show changes into something truly exceptional. Rue is really Kraehe, the daughter of the raven and is trying to seduce the prince and Fakir is destined to die to protect Mythos.

The show becomes less about heart shards and more about the characters trying to break the ties of fate laid out by Drosselmeyer in his writing of the story. It's very funny at times but has a dramatic element that's very impressive considering where it started from.

The only thing I didn't like about this show was how the epilogue felt a little rushed though I really liked the ending overall. Very highly recommended.

Brain Powered 2/10

2006-06-24T15:21:00.000-07:00

This show is like watching a car accident involving two Ferraris. Big money going kablooie. The dismal quality of this show should be an embarrassment to the creators.

The 26 (26! Why not stop at 24?!) episodes of Brain Powered shuffled, not unlike the toxic waste guy from Robocop, onto Japanese TV in 1998. Directed, scripted, and created by Yoshiyuki Tomino, the legendary creator of Gundam and Dunbine, I bet this show had a lot of people's hopes up. Those poor bastards.

I liked two things about this show. Firstly the music was great overall. There were some repetitive tracks but I didn't find anything bad (If it's Yoko Kanno it CAN'T be terrible). I even liked the OP and ED, those songs were pretty good. The other thing I liked was the opening sequence. It's basically all the main female characters flying around naked. Since there's almost no nudity in the show itself I'm not sure why they did this but me likey. It makes what follows somewhat less painful.

So what's wrong with this show? First off it doesn't look very good. At times it looks rushed and the characters don't look consistent throughout the series. The backgrounds are also only passable. I can forgive some bad animation in older series but the backgrounds should look great in a sci-fi mech series with the budget these types of shows usually have. I'm also disgusted with the mechs here. First off they all look about the same, this becomes a problem in identifying who is who. You can't even tell the good guys from the bad guys sometimes. Secondly they hardly move. When they fly the animators just move the cell across the screen. They don't even chage the cell between standing and flying, they just draw some glowiness under them. They also have the wimpiest weapons ever, some light glowy dealies and hardly anyone takes any damage since they couldn't re-use the cell they use for everything else.

I ALSO hated the editing in this series. The direction is way too abrupt. The show does things like jump from one closeup in one location to another closeup in a completely different, unrelated place with no break in the dialogue. The director doesn't bother to give the viewer a shot in between to establish the new location. This makes things VERY confusing, especially when all the look-alike mechs are flying in the same blue sky and the characters are just yelling inside their mechs and not at anyone else with them or through a communicator.

The dialogue is ALSO a source of pain and confusion, characters talk so much that sometimes you can't tell if they're adressing someone within earshot, someone outside earshot, their mech, or themselves. This isn't helped by the crappy editing. Oh and I also hated most of the VA's. The main character girl was HORRIBLE! I could read the lines off a card better. IN JAPANESE! WITH A MAN'S VOICE!

So what's this mess about? Scientists have discovered a big thingy under the ocean called Orphan. It spawns these glowy discs that get found all over the place. Sometimes when someone stumbles upon one of these things a big mech is born and the lucky person has a shiny new mech to fly around in. There are 2 types of mechs, the Grand Chars that are piloted by the people that now live in and study Orphan and the Brain Powereds that are piloted by the people who don't like Orphan since it's planning to suck the life from the Earth.

The main male lead once lived in Orphan but escaped and fights on the good guy side on a ship called the Novis Noah where after the captain dies THE SHIP'S DOCTOR IS MADE THE CAPTAIN. The main female lead is a girl that happened to find a Brain Powered and acts annoying. There are oodles of characters in this show, a bunch of good guys and a bunch of bad guys and the whole thing is pretty confusing. People switch sides, motivations change, mechs go figure skating, people go insane, I go insane.

The deal is that Orphan is a spaceship that sucks life for energy. When it takes off it's likely to wipe out all life on Earth. This whole deal gets pushed more and more to the back burner with all the going insane and figure skating. I'm still not quite sure what happened at the end and I frankly stopped caring.

Don't watch this show. It's terrible. I feel dumber for having seen it.

Melody of Oblivion, The 8/10

2006-06-15T18:33:00.000-07:00

I had to watch this series twice in order to settle on the score. It was as low as 4 at one point and as high as 9. Let's get to it then.

The Melody of Oblivion is by Gainax, famous for somewhat odd anime and these 24 episodes are certainly odd. Airing back in 2004, I have no real problems with anything technical in this show. The art is terrific and the backgrounds have a cool surreal look to them with odd red shadows and strange lighting. I also really like the character designs (rather busty I must say) and the whole thing is animated really nicely. The OP and ED are both great and I didn't skip them once either time through the series and the score is really good if a little trippy with all the odd violin parts. The VA's were all great as well but that's never a problem in anime.

During the 20th Century, there was a large scale war.
It was a full-force battle between humans and monsters.
After bloodshed so violent no words could ever explain...
it was the monsters who won.
Time went by, and and a new century began.
And then, people started to forget that melody.

This is the current world in which the hero, Bokka, lives. He's a normal high school student and is dissatisfied with his life for some reason, he feels something is wrong with his world. It turns out that every once in awhile one of his fellow students is being sacrificed to the local monster and no one speaks of it though all the adults seem aware it's going on. Bokka meets a Warrior of Melos who is one of the soldiers who battle the secret rule of the monsters against the wishes of the human governments that prefer to live with the monster threat. He decides to become one of them, gets some help starting out, and leaves home.

This is the start of a journey that takes Bokka and his new companion, Sayoko, to several different towns where they battle the resident humans that collaborate with the monsters, the Monster Union. Bokka has the power to fire powerful arrows and has an Aibar machine to help him fight though Sayoko is just along for the ride. They are searching for the Warrior Bokka met earlier since Sayoko is in love with him.

This world is messed up. The members of the Monster Union have crazy set-ups in each town to provide sacrifices to the monsters and they all pilot animal themed mechs to battle the Warriors of Melos. The Melody of Oblivion is a ghostly girl that only the Warriors can see and she seems to be the key to freeing the humans from the oppression of the monsters. Bokka eventually ends up in space with some other Warriors of Melos to thwart a plan to disable all the Aibar machines on Earth and ends up battling the Monster King in the final episode.

I really liked this show at first. The trippy animation and direction reminded me of Utena and I was hoping for another great ending. However the closer I got to the final episode the lower the score got. It's like the creators forgot about the Melody of Oblivion and the monsters and wanted to spend the whole series fighting the Monster Union. I felt obligated to watch the series again to give it another chance and I like it a lot more now that I have a better idea of what the creators were getting at. It's not so much about the defeat of the monsters but about what makes the monsters different from the humans and how the humans who do nothing are no better than the monsters. That and the fan service. Recommended.

P.S. This show DOES contain one of the most disturbing scenes in any non X-rated anime. Let's just say there's this interesting farm near the end of the series. Yikes!

Mars Daybreak 9/10

2006-06-14T02:13:00.000-07:00

Ahhh. Swashbuckling adventure under the high seas of Mars. I always enjoy a good pirate adventure.

Mars Daybreak aired in 2004 and spanned 26 episodes. This show has some really great visuals. The backgrounds, CG effects, and mechs all look very cool and are extremely well done. The character designs are also terrific and everything is well animated and consistent throughout the series. While I wasn't a huge fan of the OP or ED the in-show score was well above average. Finishing off with the VA's, considering the huge cast, Mars Daybreak does an excellent job providing unique voices for all the characters and they were all great.

It's the future and Mars is populated, has an atmosphere, and huge oceans. Having no military of it's own it's "occupied" in a sense by the Earth military and pirates sail in submarines across Mars raiding the various floating cities. Enter the Ship of Aurora, the most wanted priate vessel on Mars and famous for it's Robin Hood-like behaviour. Our main character is Gram River, a laid back hero who's a great mech pilot, great chef, and takes care of 2 little kids while working odd jobs. He gets picked up by the Ship of Aurora during a raid and decides to join the crew so he can earn some cash.

Now meet Vestemona "Vess" Lauren, a new navy recruit who's been assigned to a unit on Mars whose orders are to capture the Ship of Aurora and put an end to the series. Vess is a hot-headed mech pilot from a rich family on Earth who is disgusted by the situation she's in since the Mars branch of the Earth forces aren't the most "professional".

After a few episodes of introductions and various run-ins with the Earth forces the crew of the Ship of Aurora begin to search for an ancient Martian treasure that they find out about from Gram's pendant. The rest of the series has the Ship of Aurora dodging the Earth forces and other pirates while they search for the treasure. What it is isn't quite clear.

While the whole treasure hunt is great the part I liked the best about this show is the relationship between Gram and Vess. It seems that they grew up together on Mars as orphans and one day Vess was adopted by a rich family on Earth and was taken away. When she sees how Gram has become a pirate she freaks and goes crazy trying to catch him. She gets arrested by the military for disobeying orders multiple times and even ends up joining another pirate all in an attempt to catch him. She gets SO mad it's hilarious and Gram is somewhat indifferent to the whole thing EXCEPT for that when he first meets Vess again early in the series, and she has him at gunpoint, he gets away by giving her a huge kiss and shocking her into inaction. It's always a nice change to see the female lead all flustered and hiding her feelings behind a mask of anger rather than the guy. When she gets mad she gets MAD and it's pretty funny, she really gets homicidal.

With the great look of this show and the story I liked I have to strongly recommend it. It misses out on a 10 because the VERY end was missing something though 95% of it was great.

UFO Ultramaiden Valkyrie 6/10

2006-06-13T00:32:00.000-07:00

Does everyone in this show have nipple prints?

The 12 episodes of UFO Ultramaiden Valkyrie aired back in 2002 under the name UFO Princess Valkyrie. I suspect ADV changed the name because they already have so many shows with the word "princess" in the title (Princess Nine, Princess Tutu, Petite Princess Yucie, Sister Princess). I liked a lot about this show, namely the extremely bouncy transformation sequences for the various princesses. This series does have nice overall character designs and while the animation is usually pretty good I was bothered at times by the poor backgrounds. The music is very good and the ED is OK but the OP disturbed me. While I like the song there's this odd panting at the beginning that makes it sound very perverted. I liked the VA's but old Valkyrie's voice was too quiet, of course she never say much so it's OK.

Somewhere in space there's a kingdom named Valhalla where 8 princesses reign. The blondest and jiggliest one, Valkyrie (Val-Q), crash lands on Earth onto a bathhouse and severely injures the proprietor, Kazuto. In order to save his life she gives him half of her soul which has the hilarious side-effect of turning Val-Q into a little girl in mind and body.

There's another princess, Hydra, that shows up and after wreaking some havoc is turned into a little girl by Kazuto's childhood friend, Akina, who has a crush on him. Hyrda still has the mind of an adult however. Val-Q also has a cat girl maid named Sanada who packs a cat-girl maid gun to shoot unsuspecting Earth girls, turning THEM into cat-girl maids as well to serve her precious Val-Q's every need.

The majority of the show revolves around little Val-Q and Kazuto. Kazuto fell in love with his saviour but doesn't quite know what to do with little Val-Q. She's all over him much to Akina's ire and it turns out she can turn back into jiggly Valkyrie when she kisses him. She battles various enemies that show up, nipple prints and all.

I like this show for the comedy but the plot is pretty stagnant until the last 2 episodes when Val-Q and Hydra are returned home for Val-Q's wedding. The series has a pretty good ending and since it continues I'm hoping for a better story in the future shows.

Image foolishness

2006-06-05T06:07:00.000-07:00

It's much to my chagrin that I have decided to cease the inclusion of screen captures in my reviews. This is a direct result of the retarded amount of time it was taking me to decide which images to include, capture them, upload them, and add them to the HTML of the reviews. This was increasing the time from 1h per review to about 3. I'm also concerned about the available amount of space provided by blogger.com for those images. (I can't find that info anywhere on their site). Better no images than no reviews.

This change will hopefully allow me to generate more reviews per hour spent in front of my PC. Your comments on this development are, as always, most welcome.

-The Management

Diamond Daydreams 7/10

2006-05-24T20:12:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure if this show is meant for guys or girls. The game on which DDD is based is meant for guys but the show doesn't seem not to be. Whatever.

Diamond Daydreams aired in 2004 and ran 12 episodes though there is a 13th episode that should have aired as episode 8 but wasn't. This is probably because the 7-8 arc for Suomi isn't much of a romantic story considering the feel of the rest of the series. This show had really nice animation and character designs and the whole thing is very well animated. I liked the OP though the 2 ED's didn't really jump out at me. I also liked the score but some of the pieces were WAY over used. The pan flute sad song was used in episode 12 about 10 times. Mix it up a little, this ain't Babel II! Considering that this show has 6 leads and an all unique cast every 2 episodes the VA's were great. Why ADV changed the title to Diamond Daydreams I don't know, it was a dumb move unless there's some REALLY good reason.

In the vein of Sentimental Journey and Seraphim Call, Diamond Daydreams cranks up the overall quality and boosts the episode count from 1 to 2 for each mini arc. Every 2 episodes we're introduced to a new girl who's got some romantic dilemma and things are dealt with by the end of the 2nd episode. There's no real finality to any of the stories, each girl simply makes a life decision and no real new romance really starts though a few times a romance ends.

The diamond dust drops from the title refer to the sparkling frozen water in the air when it gets really cold in the north of Japan (where all these stories take place). The idea is that the diamond dust drops have some magic power to grant true love to those who see it or other such nonsense. I don't but the girls in the show get off on it.

Our cast of leads are as follows:

Atsuko - Lives and works at a fish shop with her mom. In order to escape bankruptcy she's agreed to marry a local rich boy but falls in love with another older guy. She of course ends up dumping the rich boy's ass for the quiet artiste.

Karin - A sickly girl too frightened to get an operation to save her life. She can't stand her new doctor at first but falls for him after thinking he's secretly posting comments on her blog (I won't fall for anyone who posts comments here, you can rest assured). It turns out not only it isn't the doctor but it's his nurse girlfriend that Karin considers a rival. She gets the operation and lives rather than dying a scared coward (Thank you Mike Tyson).

Kyoko - A college student in the film club who after winning a national prize has become too obsessed with winning the next one. With the other film club members starting to resent her perfectionist and bossy ways it's not long before her relationship with her boyfriend she lives with starts to suffer. She learns the hard way that a man will only take so much abuse.

Suomi - A Finnish figure skater who always considered the fun of skating with her friend Hanna more important than personal success until she was hurt when Hanna crashes into her before a competition. After quitting skating, Suomi meets a boy who inspires her to get back into skating and make up with her friend.

Shoko - The host of a write-in romance advice radio show who's having an affair with a married man. She's upset because he won't see her often enough or take her calls and a concerned listener gives her the confidence to dump his ass.

Akari - A high school girl who's father spends more time drunk and panning for gold than working. When he's diagnosed with terminal brain cancer she must resolve her feelings towards her father before he dies.

I liked this show more than Sentimental Journey and Seraphim Call since it gives each arc 2 episodes to flesh out the story and characters rather than the one the other shows do. I also liked the fact that the creators decided to include a couple of older than average characters in a show like this. It's a nice change to see a mature character once in awhile as opposed to the constant barrage of high school girls. This also allows some more mature relationships rather than the "I can't even hold your hand" type in most shows. I'll recommend this show.

Angelic Layer 7/10

2006-05-15T22:13:00.000-07:00

In most anime the parents of the typically young characters are nowhere to be seen. In Angelic Layer the main character has a mother I wish HAD died of whatever it is most anime parents die of. TB or mech attack or whatever.

Angelic Layer ran 26 episodes way back in 2001. Being a CLAMP show, it obviously had a huge budget (why CLAMP gets so much money to make anime I'll never know) and it shines in all the usual technical areas. The character designs and backgrounds are great and well animated throughout the series. The music is orchestral and very good and I even consider the OP better than average. The VA's are also well cast and while I hated Misaki's voice at first it grew on me. She has the funny way of yelling in surprise that cracks me up.

Misaki Suzuhara has just moved to Tokyo to attend middle school and is going to live with her aunt. Her mother, who she hasn't seen in 7 years, is in Tokyo as well but Misaki has had no contact with her since the day she left and for some unknown reason they aren't even capable of picking up a damn phone. This is the stupidest part of this series. How on EARTH do you live with your grandparents and have NO contact with your mom. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Misaki is also a rather small girl who has issues with her diminutive stature and is somewhat timid.

When she arrives in Tokyo she sees an Angelic Layer match on a big screen outside the station and meets Icchan, the crazy scientist who takes Misaki to buy her own angel and is actually the one who invented the toy, unbeknownst to Misaki of course. Misaki then begins a meteoric rise through the ranks of Angelic Layer as she makes friends at school and among her opponents including all the characters in the opening credits. How odd. One little girl named Hatoko, who kicks ass at Angelic Layer even though she's in kindergarten, becomes Misaki's good friend and features at first as a rival, then as her one-girl support team as Misaki battles through to the national finals.

It turns out that Misaki's mom, Shuko, has been helping Icchan with his Angelic Layer research in order to develop some artificial legs. Shuko is sick and has been confined to a wheelchair so she's too embarrassed to tell Misaki the truth. The show has many near misses but they don't meet until Misaki ends up battling her mom in the championship. Shuko's been the champion for the past 2 years and this is GROSSLY unfair having one of the developers dominate the Angelic Layer league. How retarded. Of course the tearful reunion is pretty good but doesn't quite make up for how a 30 year old woman is dominating a sport played by young girls.

I liked this show since it really deals with the insecurities Misaki feels. She has a tough time being a girl in a boys world, being small, not having a mom, and falling for her first guy. Rather than make excuses she overcomes her problems with some pretty good story telling. Even her opponents have problems that are well presented and we even get to see the other side of the "being small" issue when Misaki battles a girl unpopular with boys because she's tall.

The Angel battles are also quite good though you KNOW Misaki isn't going to lose and there isn't too much crying for a show where the cast is mainly female. Recommended.

Galaxy Railways, The 3/10

2006-05-04T22:40:00.000-07:00

I really tried to like this show. I overlooked the freaky old lady and cat character designs. I tolerated retarded time travel. I forgave a sub-plot about not carrying a sidearm that only lasted a handful of episodes. I put up with a mysterious woman who ran the Galaxy Railways but never DID anything. I rolled my eyes at the idea of trains that fly through space. But I CANNOT FORGIVE EPISODE 13. I just couldn't get past that one.

OK. The 26 episodes of The Galaxy Railways aired between 2003 and 2004. I liked the music but HATED the OP and ED. It's like they're sung by the Japanese Pat Boone or something. I liked the backgrounds, CG and animation and I really liked most of the character designs but I HATED the freaky ones that don't match the rest of the show.

Why must Matsumoto insist on having a couple of freaky looking characters in every series? What have we done to deserve it? To wrap the technical side up, I liked the VA's. Any small quibbles I have with the technical aspects of this show are VASTLY outweighed by the HORRIFIC plot problems.

This series starts out introducing Manabu Yuuki, the son of a famous Galaxy Railways (GR) captain who dies ramming his space train into an invading spaceship from another dimension. Fast forward ten years or so and Manabu is off to join the Galaxy Railways to make a name for himself. He gets assigned to Sirius platoon and they operate the same space train his father once captained, the Big One.

Manabu starts off as a whiner that won't carry a gun and he manages to piss me off very quickly along with most of his teammates. The show pretty much meanders along giving each of the crew members an episode in which to get to know them and dedicating the others to Manabu's various issues with gunplay, his dead brother, and other annoying character traits.

The series only hints at the overall plot of the aliens from another dimension until about episode 18 or so and in the meantime we're forced to endure Manabu discovering his inner strength and overcoming obstacles. Again and again. Some of the dialogue in these episodes made me want to scream. If fact episode 13 DID make me scream. YOU CAN'T HAVE AN EPISODE THAT BAD SO FAR INTO THE SERIES. AIEEEEEEEEEEEE!

As the show gets past episode 18 the ending starts up and it's actually pretty good though they practically kill all the guys but Manabu (whom I wish they HAD killed) and not a single girl dies. It's a little odd.

This show has so many stupid little things about it that really bugged me. An example is the head of the Galaxy Railways (I can't remember her name). All they do is show her in the same pose and shedding a single tear while she laments the fates of the people in the current episode. We get no explanation as to who she is or what freaky powers she has. THEN right near the end of the series she falls over. It's pretty dumb.

I can't recommend this. It's just got too many dumb parts and Manabu is way too annoying a main character. Make a girl the lead next time maybe. Like Yuki.

Did I mention 2 people in the Sirius platoon are addressed as Yuki? Manabu Yuuki and Yuki the nurse girl. WHAT THE HELL!? MINUS ONE MORE POINT YOU STUPID SHOW!!! NOT RECOMMENDED!!!!!

Starship Operators 6/10

2006-05-02T20:47:00.000-07:00

Y'know, I figure this show has about the dumbest name ever. Starship Operators. Thanks for nothing guys.

Starship Operators aired in 2005 and runs 13 episodes. This series looks amazing most of the time, the CG spaceships and computer screens are great. It seems everything has a computer screen and they're all so detailed I wonder how the hell anyone managed to survive what must have been months of screen designing.

I also didn't mind the music, it's rather good but the OP and ED sucked royally. I've hated that particular brand of caterwauling since Please! Teacher. Blech! The animation is good but I really don't care for the odd look of the eyes in some of the the character designs. There are no reflections most of the time and some characters look different than others in the same shot. Teenage girls shouldn't look like androids.

The good ship Amaterasu is out for a three hour tour when it's home planet gets it's ass conquered by the Kingdom of Henrietta. The crew is ordered to abandon ship and surrender but after all the real crew leave the cadets that remain buy the ship from the company that built it, cut a deal with a TV network to fund them, and set off to free their home world. While this ill-advised move is pretty unbelievable even for an anime, the story quickly moves into some pretty entertaining ship battles.

We get to meet a bunch of the main crew and the story focuses on Shinon, the first officer and budding master tactician who's the reason the Amaterasu wins battle after battle. During the story the crew are attacked again and again and we get to see the political motivations behind the various nations and that's only mildly interesting until the final couple of episodes. A big part of the show was supposed to be the fact that the TV network is airing their battles but it doesn't really amount to much.

Other than the ship battles, some of the crew have little stories, some of the crew are killed, and poor Shinon falls in love, only to have her new beau blown up by a missile in the proceeding episode.

While I liked this show, the crew got pushed to the back burner after episode 8 or so and that's a shame as they were pretty entertaining. Also, Shinon falls in love and loses her new man in one and a half episodes and it feels a little rushed so it loses a lot of it's impact. The last couple of episodes are good but it's almost like the first 11 episodes didn't really matter. Kinda recommended.

Munto 7/10

2006-05-01T18:56:00.000-07:00

A rarity these days in the anime world is an original OAV offering. Munto isn't based on anything as far as I know, I miss these.

Munto was released in 2003 and runs a brisk 50 minutes or so. First off, this show has some really nice backgrounds and lighting effects. The animation is really good but the designs are a little simplistic for an OAV even though I liked them. There are also some brutal CG models in here. Watch for the yellow car Yumemi's mom drives near the end. It's pretty bad. The music for this little OAV is fantastic throughout with some nice guitar pieces. If I notice the music 4-5 times over 50 minutes someone is doing something right. The major problem with this show is the voice acting. While I like the VA's, some of them really sound like amateurs. Yumemi's friend Ichiko sounds terrible, I could do a better job.

Yumemi is 13 and unhappy. She can see islands floating in the sky that no one else can and has been given a hard time about it over the years. She's friends with the childish Suzume and the mature and serious Ichiko who believe her and have stuck by her since kindergarten. She's recently been seeing a change in the sky and it's got her unsettled.

In the sky, is the home of Munto, the king of the Magical Kingdom. His kingdom is under attack by the other peoples of the heavens because the Akuto, the energy source of the heavens, is running out and they blame Munto and his people for using it recklessly and wasting it.

Munto travels to Earth as his kingdom is being attacked and starts accosting Yumemi with strange visions and a lot of attitude, demanding that she give him her power of which she knows nothing. Meanwhile her little friend Suzume, who's kinda dim, says she's getting married to her delinquent boyfriend and they end up swimming across a river (while everyone else thinks they're committing suicide).

Their bravery gives Yumemi the courage to help Munto and in a crackle of lightning the world is saved. Whoopee!

I liked this show alright and it's a pretty good effort for a one shot 50 minute OAV. I'll recommend it. Wait! Isn't there a sequel...?

Girls Bravo 8/10

2006-04-28T22:38:00.000-07:00

Since Girls Bravo is essentially a fan-service anime this is going to be a fan-service kind of review BUT to prevent unwanted nudity from blemishing your reputations, the GOOD pictures can only be seen by clicking the BORING pictures.

Girls Bravo ran for 24 episodes during 2004 and 2005. There are some good visuals here with pretty nice backgrounds and a lot of nice animation. The amount of jiggle in this show is impressive and luckily the character designs are really great. This is of course a must for a show that's pretty much wall to wall fan-service. The music is very good with some nice guitar, piano, and harp pieces and not much synth. The OP and ED change after episode 11 and while the first two don't really stand out I really like the second OP but the second ED isn't a real improvement. The VAs are very good and Miharu and Koyomi are stand outs.

Yukinari Sasaki is a shrimpy little high school student who's been picked on by girls so much that he's developed an allergic reaction to them. Enter Miharu, she's a cheery, ditzy, pink haired girl from the planet Seiren which is near Earth but unseen, though the residents of Seiren can see the Earth in their sky. She's been watching Yukinari her whole life through the water of her bathtub and one day he gets warped through his tub and into hers. It turns out that Miharu is the one girl Yukinari isn't allergic to and she likes him from the start so things begin looking up for him. Unfortunately he must quickly return home since he's being pursued by hoards of women (since there are few men on Seiren). He gets home but accidentally brings Miharu with him and the fan-service gets into high gear.

The various other girls are:

Kirie Kojima - Yukinari's childhood friend and of the busty, violent, tomboy variety. She REALLY likes Yukinari but can never admit it. She's usually on the receiving end of Kazuharu Fukuyama's sexual harassment and fantasies. He's the local perverted rich boy.

Koyomi Nanaka - She and a little girl named Tomoka come from Seiren to get Miharu. She's terrified of boys and cries a lot.

Lisa Fukuyama - She's Kazuharu's younger sister and studies black magic. She's a lonely girl who sets her eyes on Yukinari after he matches her dream man shown in her fortune telling.

Most of the episodes are just silliness with some excuse to strip the girls, have them jiggle around or both. There are some somewhat quiet episodes, each of the girls has one, so you get to know the characters a little more but who cares!? The series has an ending where Miharu gets abducted by the leaders of Seiren and it's pretty good but this show is about the comedy and the fan-service. Every episode starts with a shower/bath scene! The heroic amount of service really sells this show and the sexual humour is very good. Highly recommended if you like naked anime girls! Here are some more pictures!

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8

Love Hina Again 7/10

2006-04-23T16:17:00.000-07:00

Love Hina finally comes to an end with more closure than your average anime romance series. Now does the final OAV stack up to previous efforts?

Love Hina Again consists of 3 OAV episodes released in 2002 to satisfy all those rabid Love Hina fans. This show obviously had a bigger budget than the TV series, the Christmas Special, and the Spring Special but more money doesn't necessarily equal higher quality. Almost everything technical about this show kinda bugged me. While the art is better and more consistent, and the character designs are closer to the manga, I didn't care for the somewhat pointier hair used in the updated character designs. Everyone looks like they haven't washed their hair in a week or two. I also didn't like the new OP or ED. What's up with the creators' fascination with out of tune music? The score isn't as good as that of the TV series latter half either. All the old VA's are back and the new girl, Kanako, has a pretty good one so I suppose I wasn't entirely disappointed. This series also has MUCH more fan-service than anything preceding it so that's a good thing.

It's everyone's first day at Tokyo U and things are looking up. No wait, Keitaro breaks his leg and can't attend. Oops. Once he gets better he goes off with Seta on an archaeological dig leaving Naru alone and lonelier than she'd like to admit. After a couple of months the Hinata apartments get a new, strict landlord, Kanako, Keitaro's younger step sister and she's in love with Keitaro as well (no surprise in this show) and a master of disguise. After having Kanako make everyone's lives miserable for awhile, Keitaro finally returns and the real fun starts in episode two.

Of course Keitaro doesn't remember Kanako and Naru is in a tizzy because Kanako says she's the girl Keitaro promised to go to Tokyo U with. We now also meet a changed Keitaro. He's confident, less clumsy, can cook, and holds his own against Motoko in a swordfight. You can feel the girls liking him more and more. The second episode is spent with Kanako trying to get Keitaro into compromising situations and Naru doing her best to prevent it. At the end of the episode we find out Keitaro has bought a ring for Naru but he ends up accidentally confessing to Kanako in an abandoned hotel that magically makes couples fall in love. What's a violent girl who's too shy to tell the object of her affections how she feels to do? On to episode three.

Now, at last, Naru gets her comeuppance. The spell on Keitaro keeps Naru from him and she ends up flying through the air and crashing into the ground much as Keitaro used to courtesy of Naru. After much running away from the inevitable confession it finally comes out and Love Hina ends with Keitaro and Naru together at long last.

I didn't like the weird magic hotel thing and the technical problems mentioned above. Other than that, Love Hina ends better then expected and I'm glad it ended the way it did. As a whole, Love Hina is a pretty good romance story if you can tolerate the slapstick side of it.

NOTE: According to the manga, Keitaro and Naru were married on April 3rd, 2005 and all the girls but Kitsune (who didn't apply) ended up getting into Tokyo U.

Love Hina: Spring Special 5/10

2006-04-20T20:34:00.000-07:00

Ugh. I didn't like this story in the manga and I dislike the anime. Also, what happened to the seriousness and high quality of the Christmas Special?

This, the 2nd Love Hina special, aired in 2001 and ran as an hour special. This show is almost as good as the Christmas Special as far as the technical side of things go but there are some scenes near the end where it's almost as bad as some of the worst the TV series has to offer.

The music is only average in this special and the insert song near the end is pointless and not very good. I also hate the parts where Nyamo, the little island girl, sings. Her lips don't come close to syncing but it's like the animators were TRYING to do it and failed miserably. These little things really bothered me considering how they are are all in the last half of the show.

Things start out with Keitaro, Naru, and Mitsumi writing their Tokyo U entrance exams. Naru for the second time and the third time for the other two. While writing the exam Keitaro goes off into lala land wakes up with only 5 minutes left. He fills in the answers, leaves a note telling the others not to follow him, and runs off to sea after getting a job on some Pacific island. Naru, pissed, decides to head off alone to get Keitaro back. Of course the other girls follow suit a little later since they find out Naru and Mutsumi have passed and everyone ends up on the island looking for our doofus hero. Of course they know Keitaro's fate but we don't find out until later.

The rest of the show is about Keitaro, Naru, and Nyamo (who's a tanned Shinobu) discovering some turtle civilization and a bunch of crap about following your dreams or whatever. Everyone then meets up and goes home. While the whole turtle civilization thing is funny in the TV series since it's a reason for some wackiness I'm offended that the creators are still writing that crap into the story right when Keitaro and Naru are really clicking. It isn't even that funny, a waste of time. BAH! There is some Shinobu goodness here and a couple of near kisses but it's not enough to improve my score.

Three OAV's to go, will ANYTHING be resolved?

Love Hina: Christmas Special 9/10

2006-04-19T19:10:00.000-07:00

Love Hina comes back for more after the TV series with it's best effort. Any romantic show HAS to have a Christmas episode.

The Love Hina Christmas special aired in 2000 on Christmas Eve as a one hour show. The animation here is a little better than the best the TV series has to offer with no real changes in overall style. The ED for this show is new and I liked it, especially since the gang have a chase around a temple at new years during the credits.

The show starts off a little before Christmas with the Funkies studying for yet another Tokyo U practice/assessment exam. Since Christmas is for couples in Japan, Keitaro is having a difficult time concentrating since he's keen to get Naru a gift and properly confess his feelings to her, hopefully with her reciprocating.

Of course it's never that easy. Naru is acting rather aloof towards Keitaro and he's getting nervous. Su discovers a present in Naru's closet with some letter about being in love or something and Shinobu spills the beans to Keitaro because she's upset that he's upset. The revelation of the gift sends Keitaro into a tizzy and he ends up twisting his ankle. Naru comes to chastise him for fooling around and he blurts out his confession as she leaves. Right after this Naru returns home to her parents without saying a word and everyone is left to wonder what's going through her mind.

After writing the exam Naru takes off and the gang follows her to a hotel in Tokyo. The girls think she's off to meet Keitaro but little to they know that Keitaro and Mutsumi are following Naru as well. It turns out that Naru is meeting Seta, her old crush and tutor, and the gift is for him. The girls are shocked and Keitaro simply drops his gift for Naru and leaves. In the lobby he asks Shinobu to spend Christmas Eve with him and Naru storms off. Misunderstandings abound.

After Motoko delivers Keitaro's gift and Keitaro reads Naru's letter to Seta in which she says her crush is over, the two plan to meet for Christmas Eve. Of course things never turn out smoothly as Naru loses her gift and keeps having to change the meeting place. Of course in the end all is well as the gang meet up and Naru confesses to Keitaro on TV BUT doesn't say she likes or loves him, just that she wants to stay with him and go to Tokyo U with him. More Love Hina to come.

I like this little show better then the other Love Hina efforts. At last all the girls are helping Keitaro and Naru get together and are feeling the frustration we all are in watching these idiots. While the misunderstandings get old after awhile in Love Hina the gift one is the most important in the series so I can tolerate it. Insecurity makes people believe the worst and we have two very insecure protagonists here. I like how Naru's violent side is in remission and we see much more of her kind side. Shinobu also gets some screen time here as she's torn between her crush on Keitaro and her desire to see him happy. She's the only character that hasn't been a jerk in this series and deserves a break. Keep watching the remaining shows though this one ends pretty well. Very recommended.

Love Hina TV 7/10

2006-04-19T09:28:00.000-07:00

Love Hina got a lot of hype before it was released in NA and it's somewhat understandable why. This isn't your average harem anime filled with fan-service aimed at horny young men, it's a romantic comedy with a habit of over-exaggerated violence towards the main male lead (Keitaro) and a problematic relationship that's more the main female lead's (Naru's) fault. For once the girl is more at fault than the guy. It's a nice change.

Love Hina aired in 2000 and ran for 24 episodes, there is also a bonus 25th episode I will cover in this review. Love Hina suffers from a couple of technical problems but is pretty good overall. The backgrounds are consistent and well drawn but the character animation suffers at times. Some of the scenes in episode 22 are really bad and I can only assume this is so they could spend more time on the final two.

The character designs are pretty good but not as close to the manga as I'd like (this is one of the few manga I've bothered to read). The score is a mixed bag, the first half of the series is largely synth and while not unpleasant it isn't very memorable. The second half is more orchestral and is a great improvement. I actually consider the music of the closing 5 episodes almost worth buying the O.S.T. for. A lot of people like the OP but I've soured on it over time, it's just got too much distortion. I didn't mind the ED though, even if I never listen to it. The insert songs are pretty good since they're sung by Naru's VA (I think). I like all the VA's but Motoko's is worth a mention. She has the best scream in anime. It changes to a higher register halfway in. It's great, very girly and cute considering she's supposed to be the toughest of the girls.

Keitaro is a 20 year old failure. He's failed his university entrance exams twice and doesn't have a girlfriend. Of course he's trying for the toughest university in Japan, Tokyo U, in order to keep a promise he made to a little girl 15 years before who's face he doesn't remember. He gets roped into managing his grandmother's all-girls dorm with several tenants of the female persuasion. Kitsune is the oldest of the girls at 20, a bit of a drinker, a bit of a gambler, she doesn't HATE Keitaro but doesn't think much of him and she doesn't do much but sit around. Motoko is in high school and a master swordswoman. After having her sister leave her to get married she's got a hate on for men in general and Keitaro in particular. Su is the youngest girl, in Jr. High and comes from some mysterious foreign country. She's a mechanical genius and very hyper, she likes Keitaro from the start but perhaps more as a playmate. Shinobu is another Jr. High student who joins the cast in the 2nd episode. She's quiet and shy and has a huge crush on Keitaro. Naru is the girl Keitaro falls for, she's grumpy and violent, loud and quick to anger. She's also trying to get into Tokyo U but for other reasons. She can't stand Keitaro and punches or kicks him into the sky for any transgressions, real or perceived.

At first only some of Keitaro's problems are of his own making. He crashes into the girl's bath multiple times, lies about having passed his exams and clumsily falls on top or ends up groping various tenants. He's a nice guy but prone to accidents and since he gets so frantic the girls always think the worst of him and it doesn't help that Kitsune sabotages him at times. As the show progresses he starts to get his act together and the girls slowly start to come around. Of course Naru and Motoko still think the least of him and attack him mercilessly when he steps out of line. He likes Naru from the start but has such a low opinion of himself can't believe she'd like him back. Throughout the series, just as he thinks there might be some hope for a relationship with Naru his hopes are dashed. This is usually caused by some misunderstanding on his part or Naru getting angry with him over her misunderstanding.

After the first 7 or so episodes there are quite a number of non-plot episodes but these are all pretty funny and let us learn more about the various characters. They're all really entertaining so the lack of plot advancement doesn't annoy me too much. We do meet Mutsumi, a girl the same age as Keitaro who is so much like him she's almost too perfect. The show really gets back on track in episode 21 when Naru's little step-sister, Mei, comes to the dorm to bring Naru back home. This leads to a plan to get Keitaro together with Mutsumi and forces Naru to decide whether to fight to keep him or simply let him go. In these episodes the focus shifts as much to Naru as Keitaro and we learn that she does like him and her pride is getting in the way of telling him how she feels. It's like a saying I once heard: "It's easy to say "I love you" until you don't say it. Then it's the hardest thing in the world to say." It's only at this part of the series we really start to feel sorry for Naru since Keitaro now has Mutsumi who likes him without all the drama and violence. How dangerous Mutsumi is is shown in episode 23. In episode 21, for the first time someone asks Keitaro on a date, someone comes to his aid after being punched by Naru, and the old men who represent the dreams of the tenants throughout the series cannot bar Mutsumi from passing.

Of course Naru wins the day but escapes from really confessing to Keitaro. The ending resolves little but since there is more Love Hina to come I can forgive that as the remaining animes can do the big resolutions. I liked this show a lot better once Naru got a rival and I suppose the price I have to pay for good character development is an unpleasant Naru for the majority of the series. Motoko is also a character that gets some good development but her moment is in the bonus episode 25 where not only does she start to care for Keitaro but starts to realize how unfair Naru is to him. Now the only character I dislike is Kitsune.

I recommend this series with the condition you watch the Christmas and Spring specials and the Love Hina Again OAV. Without those the TV series ends somewhat poorly.

Brigadoon 10/10

2006-04-10T21:06:00.000-07:00

This is the best show nobody bothered to see. I suppose it's cutesy main character and comedic first episode might be the reason but past that is an excellent story and currently my second favourite anime ever. Lofty praise indeed.

Brigadoon aired in 2000-2001 and consists of 26 episodes. One thing that's always stood out about this show above all others are the episode titles. While this is a minor thing it's worth a mention that this show had some of my favourite titles of all time such as: "Under the Soda-Coloured Sky", "A Broken Umbrella and the Dark Rain", and "In the Light of Snow". The backgrounds and character designs were somewhat simple but I really liked them anyway and the backgrounds are only sub-par a couple of times. The score was amazing with a lot of Lord of the Rings style flute, some music box tracks, and quite a few choral pieces. The OP was another really great choral piece and the ED was good as well. The VA's are terrific with Melan Blue having an absolutely perfect voice for his part.

The year is 1969 and Marin Asagi is a 7th grader who was left at an old apartment building as a baby. The people of the apartment took her in and she's being cared for by an adoptive grandmother (the grandfather died a year ago). She's poor but happy, cheerful, and prone to bouts of over-imagination. She has a friend named Moe who is weak, soft-spoken, wealthy, and has an overprotective mother who doesn't approve of her daughter's friend. One day, Marin is attacked by a large flying machine that starts blasting lasers at her that arrived from a strange mirage of another world that has recently appeared overhead. She runs to the local temple and stumbles upon a small blue ampoule (bulb thingy) that contains the gun-swordsman Melan Blue.

His mission is to protect Marin from the Monomakia sent to kill her from the land of Brigadoon, the world visible above and Melan Blue's home. His reasons are not revealed at first though it is clear that he is at odds with even his own kind. As the attacks progress Marin meets a little green fellow named Lolo that appears from time to time to help her out. The worlds also seem to be interacting in a bad way since pieces of Earth seem to be "falling" into Brigadoon and vice-versa. Since Melan and his battles have caused so much damage and loss of life, Marin is ostracised and bullied at school then arrested for interrogation. Her problems get worse when she wins a trip to the World's Fair she couldn't ever afford on her own and goes with her grandmother. After a battle where many people are killed but Marin and he grandmother survive her grandmother passes away in the hotel room while Marin is having a bath. Faced with the prospect of moving into an orphanage and having just nearly being killed by an angry mother who's lost her daughter she is offered money from Moe to help her get by. Marin accuses Moe of treating her as a pet and runs off. She ends up going to Brigadoon at the request of the U.S. government on Apollo 11 in an attempt to stop the Mutual Collapse.

After fighting to the centre of Brigadoon it turns out the Marin isn't the one to stop the Mutual Collapse, Creis Marine. Melan is nearly killed by Pyon Silver (whom he's fought before) and Erin Garnet (a female gun-swordsman) and our heroes escape and eventually end up back on Earth where Melan has to leave Marin to look for the real Creis. After a sad parting Marin gets home to discover it burned down and the residents missing. She goes to her school which has become a shelter for the large numbers of people injured and rendered homeless by the Mutual Collapse but is sent away as her former classmates blame her for the world's problems. Even Moe is absent as her family has left town so at this point Marin is alone, freezing and starving. She goes to steal bread and is stopped by Makoto, an older girl who helped her get out of jail earlier. About here things take a turn for the worse.

Marin goes blind after falling out of the bath and leaves Makoto's house in search of Melan with only a new change of clothes. As she stumbles though the city she accepts some help finding a pedestrian bridge but her helper turns out to be one of the mean girls from her school and Marin is led off the edge of the bridge. Finally something goes right as a necklace she acquired in Brigadoon saves her and gives her the ability to see and transform herself into things (Such as a mouse, a moth, Melan, Erin and so on). She now rushes off to save Melan and the fight is on. After a quick victory they are attacked by Erin Garnet and battle to a draw.

Marin is now reunited with her family and friends but there is only a brief interlude before Erin attacks again. We also now start to get some action in Brigadoon where Lolo and some of his friends are attempting to prevent their world from being destroyed by a traitor in their midst. On Earth, Melan is victorious over Erin Garnet but is then smashed by the new, most powerful gun-swordsman, Kuston Brown. Melan, Erin, Pyon, and the now found Creis, Marine are taken to Brigadoon and Marin must follow to save them and the two worlds. Of course she must now face her toughest enemy yet...

I'll stop here at the end of episode 24. Why do I like this show so much? It's the music, the battles, the character designs, the premise, the story. I've always loved "end of the world" shows and this one does it better than any story I've ever seen or read with the exception of one which isn't anime. With the exception of some backgrounds I can't really point out any other flaws in this show.

Why such an exhaustive review? When it's #2 it gets the royal treatment I suppose. The plan is to review #1 as the 100th review. How many more 10/10's are in the pipe at this point since I seem to spit them out like Pez? Maybe 3 more, there's a lot of crap to review folks. As of the date of this post I have seen over 277 complete anime TV series, over 217 anime OAV series, and over 60 anime movies for a rough total of 122 days of anime. This show is my second favourite. I know my shit. Go get this show and watch it NOW!

UltraManiac 3/10

2006-04-09T13:20:00.000-07:00

The manga on which this show is based was written by the same guy who wrote the Marmalade Boy manga. I liked the anime version of that so what the hell happened to the anime version of UltraManiac. I'll never read either manga but I suspect it was the creators of the anime screwed up this mess.

These 26 episodes aired back in 2003 and I'm surprised a show so new had so many problems. The backgrounds lacked a lot of detail at times and some of the angles on things didn't look quite right. They also decided to make the show look like it took place on the set of the My Little Pony movie. Everything not natural is either purple, pink, yellow or orange. Blue, grey, black, and brown are nowhere to be seen unless it's night-time.

I was also disappointed in the poor animation of some really nice character designs. The animators seemed to spend 3/4 of their time drawing the eyes and deciding on new outfits for the lead girls in each episode. I appreciate the expansive wardrobes but when the eye's look so much better than the rest of the animation and when any movement seems clunky I get pissed.

There's also a lack of lighting effects on non-magic scenes and the CG looks really dated at times. The score was OK but didn't impress, I really liked the OP, and the ED was OK as well. I HATED the insert song in the final scenes which was a slow version of the OP. Didn't Marmalade Boy do this? (checks old review) AND THAT'S TWICE!!! The VA's were OK and I liked Nina's childish voice better then I expected as I started watching. She sound's great when she gets flustered (which happens often).

Nina Sakura is a grade 8 witch girl that has been sent to Earth from the Magic Kingdom to search for 5 Holy Stones and attend high school. She accidentally reveals her magic to Ayu Tateishi and they become friends. The episodes all start with either someone visiting from the Magic Kingdom and wreaking havoc, Mina going after a Holy Stone at the prompting of her grandfather and her rival Maya wreaking havoc, or Nina coming up with a scheme to get Ayu and Kaji, the boy Ayu likes, together and wreaking havoc. Since Nina's magic isn't very good things usually go wrong and hilarity ensues.

The show really meanders through the first 23 episodes with very little emphasis put on the search for the Holy Stones and a lot of mindless filler. In the last 3 episodes they cobble together a rushed ending and I was not impressed. Because the Holy Stones are such a low priority for Nina I couldn't help but give a damn about them either. Maya is very important in the finale but since she's so unlikable and rarely in the show her part also falls flat.

I really can't forgive this show for screwing up a simple premise and looking like crap. I suppose little girls might like this but I can't even see girls the same age of the female leads tolerating the plot problems. I can't recommend UltraManiac at all.

Maburaho 10/10

2006-04-08T23:10:00.000-07:00

I've seen alot of harem anime and Maburaho stands above all others. Hell, this show has more going for it than most shows period. This is not a frivolous 10/10, this show earned it.

The 24 episodes of Maburaho aired back in 2003-2004 and the technical side of this show was extremely good. The backgrounds were very nice and looked like outlined watercolour paintings with alot of soft colours. The character designs were extremely well done and the girls are all well animated and attractive (this is of course a must in a harem anime). One thing that struck me as impressive was how much design work went into all the extra characters where your average show would just draw a bunch of generic people. The quality of this series also manages to maintain a very high quality throughout all the episodes. The music is excellent and stands as one of my favourite scores of all time (maybe my favourite). The OP is especially good and the ED isn't too shabby either. All the VA's are excellent as is standard in most anime with only Elizabeth bugging me a little.

This the story of Kazuki Shikimori. He's been accepted into the prestigious Aoi Academy, a special school for those particularly gifted in magic in a world where everyone has some magical ability. The problem is that Kazuki can only use his magic eight times then his body will turn to ash and he'll die. On top of that in this world the amount of magic you possess somewhat determines your social status so Kazuki comes in somewhere near the bottom.

One day he arrives home to his dorm room to find a girl in her underwear getting changed. After some screaming we find out she's Yuna Miyami who's there to become Kazuki's wife. At the same time two other girls, the blonde and buxom Kuriko Kazetsubaki, and the small samurai girl Rin Kamishiro, are being ordered by their families to marry Kazuki as well and bear his children. It turns out that Kazuki has a large number of impressive wizards in his family tree and since no-one in his family has exhibited any special magical power his children stand a very good chance of becoming amazingly powerful. Yuna doesn't really care about this and neither does Kazuki's childhood friend Chihaya Yamase who moves away without ever telling him how she feels.

It's quickly revealed that not only does Kazuki likely have impressive genes but his few spells, if cast, could be some of the most powerful ever. As the first half of the series moves forward, Kuriko and Rin, who started out not thinking too highly of Kazuki, start to fall for him as he uses his magic to help them and others. In episode 12 his final two spells are used to cure Yuna of a virus that was robbing her of her magical power and she's saved in the nick of time. Kazuki is not as lucky and turns to ash.

Of course things can't end like this and Kazuki ends up as a ghost. The remaining episodes introduce the sister of the school doctor who is keen to capture Kazuki for her ghost collection and prevent the girls from discovering how to return Kazuki to life. It turns out that his ashes are with each of the girls he has feelings for and should they be returned he'll return to life but lose his memories. The remaining episodes deal with the girls admitting to themselves how much they care for him and their decision as to whether or not to go through with reviving him.

This series had a very original premise and the characters were very interesting for a harem anime. The episodes never dragged and I also thought the mix of comedy and drama throughout the series was extremely well balanced. Many people don't care for the harem premise in general and the wishy-washy or clueless main leads they usually have but in this case he actually has realistic cultural reasons to feel inferior to his peers and his insecurities are more believable than in most shows. With the great visuals, music, and an original and well executed story I grant this show my highest honour.

Buttobi CPU (I Dream of Mimi) 7/10

2006-04-06T18:53:00.000-07:00

This is the closest thing to an X-rated show I've ever reviewed on this site but it's low on the usual Japanese perversions and pretty funny so it gets a review.

Buttobi CPU has been released in NA under it's original name and the title "I Dream of Mimi", the latter is a better DVD so get the "I Dream of Mimi" one if you're looking for this particular title. These 3 episodes were released in 1997 and are of a better quality than almost all adult titles I've seen from that time (or any time for that matter). The animation and backgrounds are great but the score didn't really strike me as anything special. I really liked the kinda happy groovy OP though. The character designs are a little unique but pretty good and the girls weren't designed with over exaggerated busts which is good for a show such as this which is more a comedy than anything.

The show begins with young "college student” Akira (in Japan college students DO NOT wear uniforms so read into that what you will) looking to buy a new PC with his savings. He misses out on a cheap deal at a local computer store but on his way home is approached by a man in an alley who has the same PC he was looking for and offers Akira the same deal he just missed out on. Akira rushes home with his purchase and lo and behold it's actually a naked girl (haven't we all had this happen?). While he's deciding what to do she wakes up and informs him that she's a new type of bio-mechanical computer. The next thing Akira knows she's got his pants down around his ankles and is "reading his personal data" if you know what I mean. They don't SHOW anything but the implication is there and his reaction is really funny.

They get attacked by another robo-girl and this is when Akira learns the "deal" with Mimi (as he names her). It turns out that Mimi can run applications that are on disks inserted into her "drive" (*wink* *wink*) but requires active molecules from her master in order to increase her RAM to run the programs (*nudge* *nudge*). This is all highly amusing since she moans when he inserts the disks and throughout the series she's rather keen to have her memory upgraded but Akira is pretty shy about it.

In the next episodes they go into the Internet and end up fighting some other girls that represent American Macs a couple of times and Akira also brings Mimi to school and has to hide her true nature from his friends. This is all highly amusing I assure you and there's a little nudity but nothing worse than American Pie or other teen movies so I'm going to recommend this series.

Galaxy Angel A 8/10

2006-04-05T21:18:00.000-07:00

The Galaxy Angel franchise does what all long-running shows do when they start running out of ideas. Add more characters. It worked with Happy Days so why not here?

Read my review of Galaxy Angel for my thoughts on the technical side and the preceding series was Galaxy Angel Z. The only differences between GA A and GA Z are that A aired in 2002-2003 as 13 30 min. episodes with 2 15 min. parts and the OP and ED are different. I liked the new OP since it's a new version of the original one that I liked alot and I consider this to be the best effort yet. I also really liked the ED since it's the same kind of energetic song as the opening and was catchier than previous efforts. They also added actual previews for this series with previews of the next episode and this is a must have in every show as far as I'm concerned.

With the coming of a new season the creators added a rival team to compete with the Angel Brigade. The Twin Star Brigade consists of two 10 year olds, Malibu and Cocomo, and their commander Mary. Malibu is the hot-headed type and Cocomo is the cool intelligent type with Mary acting somewhat like a exasperated mother for them. They really don't add much to the show and aren't in it all that much so I'm baffled as to why anyone even bothered to include them.

Other than a couple new characters, the episodes are still very funny and a lack of overall plot allows the writers to concentrate on the comedy. I found these episodes made me laugh more than the previous seasons to I'm bumping up the score for GA A. Recommended.

Galaxy Angel Z 7/10

2006-04-03T00:05:00.000-07:00

The Galaxy Angel team comes back for more without really messing with the formula that earned it a 7/10 from me for the first season.

Read my review of Galaxy Angel for my thoughts on the technical side. The only differences between GA Z and the original series are that Z aired in 2002 as 9 30 min. episodes with 2 15 min. parts, the OP and ED are different and the more revealing outfits of Ranpha and Forte were changed. I didn't like the new songs as much as the previous season and I never like less skimpy outfits. Forte's cleavage is now covered by white fabric and Ranpha's cleavage and navel are covered with the same. Too bad.

These episodes are about the same as the last so if you didn't read the original Galaxy Angel review earlier in this post read it now. Same comedy, still pretty funny. The episode with the new combining robot had me in stitches though, extremely amusing. Recommended.

Galaxy Angel 7/10

2006-03-29T18:09:00.000-08:00

This show is more of a multimedia franchise with anime, PC games, manga, and any manner of other crap available with the various Angel's faces slapped all over them. Luckily for us the anime is pretty funny without having to deal with all the other stuff.

This, the original Galaxy Angel series, runs for 26 15 minute episodes and aired back in 2001. This is a comedy show with a bunch of pretty girls as the main characters so the character designs are very good so they can flog all the crap with the girl's images on it. The backgrounds and music are also surprisingly good and the VA's are, of course, going to be good since they're going to be performing in drama CD's and videogames as well as the anime. I really like the OP for the first series since it's pretty catchy. Bravo! Show I had little hope for.

Not much plot going on here. The Galaxy Angels are a group of girls who work for the military of some planet and have their base in an orbiting space station. Their job is to recover and deal with "lost technology" and do anything else they're ordered to do. I'll give a brief description of each of the 5 girls right.......now!

Milfeulle is the pink haired one. She's uber-cheerful and likes cute things and baking sweets. She's also a little dim and has amazing good luck.

Ranpha is the blonde one. She's a kung-fu girl in a Chinese dress who gets boy-crazy at times and likes spicy food.

Forte is the redhead. She's the oldest and has a rather large rack. She's more tomboyish than the others and enjoys firing and collecting guns. Especially firing them.

Mint is the blue haired one. She's from a rich family and has funny rabbit ears that bob up and down and make a funny noise when she gets emotional. She also loves cosplay but does it on the sly to keep the other girls from laughing at her.

Vanilla is the light green haired one. She's quiet and religious and doesn't say much. She takes care of Normad who's a supercomputer inside a stuffed animal.

Most of the shows have a little setup and then the nuttiness starts. There's no running story, just silliness. From the character descriptions you can imagine how most of the episodes play out. Kung-Fu, shooting, costumes and so-on though there are a couple of serious episodes that are good as well. This show is pretty funny and it's a good one to show without marathoning it. Recommended.

Planetes 10/10

2006-03-24T00:50:00.000-08:00

To celebrate my rewriting of history by changing all my old scores let's celebrate with the addition of a show to the now exclusive 10/10 club. This the first TV series I've given a 10/10 but it's well deserved.

These 26 episodes were released between 2003 and 2004. Very rarely does a TV series look as good as this one. The show's locations range from Earth, to Earth orbit, to the surface of the moon, to various spaceships and space stations and they all have an incredible level of detail and realism. This isn't some fanciful view of a future in space with giant robots and planet death rays, it's a very well thought out and designed future that's very believable. The character designs are somewhat simple and more realistic than the majority of anime but I feel this adds to the appeal of the series. The animation is extremely smooth throughout and every episode looks as good as the one previous. The characters hail from various countries around the world and this is well portrayed by the excellent VA's. The music in this series is also fantastic with the OP being a stand out and the final ED theme making me want the O.S.T.

It's 2075 and mankind has taken up permanent residence in space. There are manned bases and even a city of over 100,000 people on the moon, large space stations orbit the Earth, and man has sent manned missions to Mars. One of the growing problems with all this space activity is the proliferation of debris in the space surrounding the Earth and Planetes focuses on the lives of a crew of debris collectors that work for a private company and live and work on an orbiting space station.

The first half of Planetes introduces us to the various characters using the addition of a new crew member, Ai Tanabe. She's young and idealistic and drives the main character, Hachirota "Hachimaki" Hoshino, nuts as he teaches her the ins and outs of recovering space debris. The office contains some real characters with the 2 department managers being hilariously eccentric, the female ship captain being a rabid smoker (in space! nice career choice), the other recovery guy having a tragic past, and the stoic temp worker who is more than she appears. Along with a bevy of supporting characters we really get to know these people against the backdrop of their space missions. This show is a perfect blend of comedy, drama, excitement, and even romance as Ai and Hachimaki start to fall for one another.

As the second half of the series starts Hachimaki quits the debris section to try out as a crew member on an upcoming manned mission to Jupiter. The show takes a dramatic turn as terrorist activity against this mission starts up and Hachimaki begins to isolate himself from everyone, even Ai who he ended up going out with not long before he quit. Some new characters are introduced and the show shifts more towards Ai as a second main character so we maintain alot of scenes with the debris section along with Hachimaki's going's on. Hachimaki has to dig deep to succeed and Ai is deeply affected by his new attitude and it's great TV.

The show ends with a climactic terrorist attack against the new ship for the Jupiter mission and the largest city on the moon. As the last 3-4 episodes play out the creators do a fantastic job keeping the viewers on the edge of their seats and the cliffhangers come fast and furious. As the series ended I found myself wondering how it could be any better. It's that good.

Rarely does a space show come along that doesn't involve the word Gundam or a bunch of teenage girls. I loved this show and I really can't think of a single thing wrong with it other than it felt so short. Go watch this NOW!

Ratings change!

2006-03-22T21:12:00.000-08:00

After about 8 months of looking at it I've decided to change that stupid 100/10 score and bump most of the scores down by 1 with a few exceptions. I'll list the reviews getting changed here for reference but it might take me awhile to update all the posts with the updated scores. I didn't want to do this but that 100/10 bugs me.

As an apology I have an actual 10/10 to add to the exclusive group so that will show up in a bit.

Score "adjustment":

10/10: Place Promised..., R.O.D. (this belongs here, but this isn't the new one)

10/10 to 9/10: Appleseed, Elfen Lied, FMP? Fumoffu, Gunslinger Girl, Jubei-chan 2, KOR Movie, KOR TV, Madlax, Midori Days, Orphen, Patlabor TV, Patlabor: TNF OAV, R.O.D The TV, Scrapped Princess, Stellvia, Tenchi Movie 1, Urusei Yatsura TV

9/10 to 8/10: Aquarian Age TV, Betterman, Blue Seed TV, Bubblegun Crisis, Chrono Crusade, Daphne in the Brilliant Blue, Divergence Eve, Ghost Talker's Daydream, Legend of Black Heaven, Master Keaton, Millennium Actress, Ninja Scroll, Rune Soldier, Samurai Champloo

8/10 to 7/10: Angel Tales, Avenger, Blue Seed OAV, D.N.Angel, Fatal Fury Movie, Fight! Iczer-One, Genshiken, GitS:Stand Alone Complex, Gungrave, Howl's Moving Castle, Inu Yasha Movie 3, Marmalade Boy, Mermaid Forest

7/10 to 6/10: Aquarian Age Movie, Burst Angel, Cutey Honey, DearS, Eiken, Gantz, Grenaider, Piano, Spiral, Yumeria

6/10 to 5/10: Bottle Fairy, KOR OAV, Koi Kaze, Sakura Taisen: Ecole de Paris, Sentimental Journey, Tokyo Underground

5/10 to 4/10: Arcade Gamer Fubuki, Battle Athletes, Psychic Academy

Overman King Gainer stays at 4/10

4/10 to 3/10: Iczer Reborn, Magical Meow Meow Taruto, Maps, Mask of Zeguy

3/10 to 2/10 Star Ocean EX

Sister Princess stays at 1/10

Shuten Doji stays at 0/10

Betterman 8/10

2006-03-21T20:18:00.000-08:00

There's not alot of horror anime out there. Boogiepop Phantom, Devil Lady, Hellsing, Shuten Doji (more for how BAD it is), and others. I usually like horror anime without demons since it's usually of the weird, trippy kinda horror and Betterman falls squarely into this group.

This show aired in 1999 and is in a strange space as far a production quality goes. Its 26 episodes are widescreen which is odd for a show of it's age but it's mostly hand drawn and coloured which I would expect for 1999. I can only surmise the letterboxing was a deliberate technique by the creators to limit the audience's field of view in order to make the show scarier. The computer coloured stuff REALLY stands out since it's used very rarely and doesn't have the whole foggy look of the rest of the series. I liked the foggy filter they slapped on this series since it makes the whole thing alot creepier. The character designs were good with lots of oversized breasts but about a 50/50 split between male and female characters so it's not too distracting. I liked the spooky music and didn't mind the OP and ED. The special ED for the final episode was a little shrill for me but I really liked the intro to it so I'm kinda torn. I liked the VA's and Kaede had a really interesting voice and funny way of speaking that was amusing.

Betterman starts out introducing us to high school student Keita Aono who's kinda short and geeky. That day his childhood friend Hinoki Sai transfers to his school along with her tri-coloured hair and large rack. Her hair is brown but she has one big green bang and a red one on each side of it. This is important later so bear with me. She ignores Keita and later on his way home he ends up stuck in a new underground amusement park where people are investigating the mysterious deaths of a bunch of workers. Keita ends up running around in the dark being freaked out by various creepy things and ends up in a big robot with Hinoki. It turns out Keita has the ability to operate the mech, known as a NeuroNoid so he gets roped into joining Akamatsu Industries. They consist of Keita, Hinoki, another pair of pilots, a scientist girl, a frail psychic girl, the middle-aged mechanic that runs Akamatsu Industries, and a couple of mechanics that don't get killed with the rest every time something attacks.

There are a few strange goings on in Japan. People have been coming down with a disease named Algernon that makes them kill people and ends up making them crazy-go-nuts, then they die. There are also some strange goings on monster-wise. A couple of giant beasties and swarms of bugs and such show up during the series to attack the team at home and while they're investigating. A strange dude known as Betterman shows up to rescue them almost every time. He looks ALOT like Hinoki since his hair has the same coloured bangs (I told you it was important) and he fights by eating one of 3 seeds he carries around and transforms into a beastie with powers to save the day.

The story moves along as the team investigates the source of Algernon and the beasties. It turns out people killed by Algernon have been getting stolen by someone and their faces end up growing flowers that bear the seeds that Betterman eats. It looks as creepy as it sounds. Everything relates to when Hinoki's parents and brother died a few years earlier during some creepy experiment that was an attempt to create a new type of human.

I really liked the creepy tone of most of the episodes and the secrets surrounding Algernon and the Betterman are slowly revealed at a good pace. I realy enjoyed the ending for this series which was better than I expected and the action sequences involving the robots were really great. Also during the series, Hinoki warms up to Keita so there's a little romance thrown in amongst the unrelenting terror in dark corners. While everything isn't quite explained at the end I was very satisfied with what I could understand and I'm gonna recommend this since it's really entertaining.

Be sure to watch the messed up previews narrated by the frail psychic girl Sakura.

Shuten Doji 0/10

2006-03-19T23:52:00.000-08:00

Sweet merciful crap is this show ever bad! My first 0/10 and justly deserved! This isn't the worst anime I've ever seen but it's damn close.

Fuck!

I feel dumber for having seen this.

This OAV series was released from the sphincter of hell's grim tyrant back in 1989. How they managed ONE 45 minute episode is baffling but FOUR!? This show has all the hallmarks of a crappy anime in one package and this is bad for a TV series. The backgrounds are poorly drawn for an OAV and about a quarter of the show takes place in Dementia 5 but less colourful. The character designs are really bad with wildly different styles at times with some slightly less hideous ones in the third episode. The animation is horrible almost all the time with even all the grisly deaths being uninspired. If you're going to cleave 400+ Oni demons in half put in some effort! They just cut the cell in half and add some red splotches. The music is terrible with the exception of the end theme which is over a black background and I HATE THAT! The VA's are also pretty bad and the main character who's supposed to be this Oni super-dude sounds like a pretty boy. It's like watching Richard Simmons battle the forces of evil.

This story must have been crafted by a disturbed mind or a bastard who likes to punish anime fans. This guy named Jiro Shutendo was given to his parents as a baby by a 50ft hideous blue monster known as an Oni. He tells the couple to care for the boy and he'll be back in 15 years to get him. Fast forward 15 years and the boy is being attacked by some mysterious group trying to kill him. This girl he's sweet on, Miyuki, gets kidnapped and the bad guy's use her doppelganger to trick Jiro into falling into their trap. They try to kill him but he releases some super power and kills all but the Oni leader of the group who sends Miyuki into some dream dimension or something. Jiro follows, rescues her and the first episode ends without me needing a stiff drink.

In the second episode Jiro gets attacked at some temple and a bunch of new characters show up to help him. This new team escapes and returns to Jiro's house for introductions, not that this matters since his mom and Miyuki get kidnapped and they have to rush to the rescue. The new team ends up getting killed and after beating the bad guys Jiro, Miyuki, the blue guy, and another human sized Oni named Goki fly off into the sky to wherever it is they're supposed to go. Keep in mind at this point that the reason for leaving and the destination is not explained. I'm getting concerned at this point that the show seems to be giving me a bad vibe.

The third episode starts on a bad foot. Jiro's mom has gone cuckoo bananas over the loss of her boy and is sent to a mental institution. Jiro and the rest are in some dimension being attacked by Oni of all colours and Jiro ends up in space while the rest end up in ancient Japan. Here things go nuts as some spaceship runs into a 200ft glowing yellow Jiro and invites him aboard. Here I need to pause while I laugh myself sick. Once on the ship the crew want to analyze Jiro so they put him in some dream watching machine. Jiro obviously is a little odd since he dreams about his mom and a bunch of fleshy things from the end of Akira swallowing her. Suddenly the machine goes nuts and the cyborg Iron Kaiser shows up to battle Jiro. Of course Iron Kaiser was introduced right before Jiro makes his giant space appearance and it turns out he's a survivor of the last episode who's been waiting 100 years to get revenge. Why the fuck he expected Jiro to show up in the middle of space let alone at all is not revealed. I assume this requires some crazy juice or something. The ship ALSO happens to be carrying a time teleporter so Jiro and Iron Kaiser get sent to ancient Japan, Jiro kills Iron Kaiser, and the reunited team heads off once more. I've lost all hope for this show at this point.

The final episode explains how none of the characters understands anything and most of it is spent showing Jiro and his team hacking up Oni by the busload. We also get to see how mommy dearest has been painting Oni paintings on the walls of her room and they are of the insane variety. The dad decides the paintings are bad and smashes the walls of the hospital down with a sledgehammer. As he smashes them the world the Jiro team are in starts to collapse and everything blows up real good. This is apparently because mom managed to create all the Oni and their planet with her mind or something. Absolute madness. In the end Jiro and Miyuki are going back home, Goki is going back to ancient Japan, and the giant blue dude and Jiro have this following exchange that stands tall as some of the most retarded dialogue ever:

Senki (big blue Oni): Master Doji, I must go now.

Jiro: Senki, where will you go?

Senki: I cannot enter the human world like Goki. I'm just too monstrous. I'm going to take the rest of the Oni survivors and find another planet.

Zenith27: Way to be honest.

Senki: Because of our ugly appearance, we may all die someday.

Zenith27: PARDON!? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Jiro: Senki...

Senki: However, I hold no grudges against her for my appearance. She is the mother of the Oni clan.

(Closeup of Senki's eye)

Zenith27: Don't tell me...

Senki: We are neither pretty, nor kind, nor loved...

Senki: But we still love her.

(Sheds a single tear)

Zenith27: BWAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

(Senki strikes a pose and flies off)

The mother and son reunite. THE END.

This show sucked HARD. NOT RECOMMENDED!

Bubblegum Crisis 8/10

2006-03-18T23:32:00.000-08:00

OAV's with original stories are a dying breed but we'll always have the classics. Megazone 23, Devil Hunter Yohko, and the greatest of them all...Bubblegum Crisis. Coolest anime name EVER.

Released from1987 to 1991 these 8 episodes of varying length are among the first anime licensed for North American anime fans and it's not surprising. Regardless of their age some of these episodes look terrific even by today's standards. The first four are slightly less polished than the final four but the detail on the backgrounds and animation is amazing throughout. The shows are full of great 80's style insert songs with about 2 per episode, sometimes more. Some of the character designs have dated hairstyles (Priss) but you have to look past that. All the VA's here are great and I've always been disappointed that the TV series didn't use the same ones.

The stars of the show are the Knight Sabers, 4 young armoured female mercenaries who battle rogue boomers. The boomers are big, mean looking robots that occasionally go crazy and have to be stopped. The A.D. (Advanced) Police usually can't handle the job so the Knight Sabers step in (welcome or not) and destroy them. This usually is much to the dismay of the Genom corporation who build the boomers and don't care for super suit girls wrecking their products even though they're letting them loose on purpose to test them against the A.D. Police.

Sylia is the leader and brains of the team, she runs their operations with a lingerie shop as cover. She's always calm and dressed like the rich business woman she is. Her father left her the technology of the hardsuits after he was killed in an accident at Genom. Priss is the main fighter of the group who's day job has her as a singer in a band named Priss and the Replicants. She's the tomboy of the team and loves to ride motorcycles over the speed limit. Leon, the main A.D. Police detective in the show, has his eye on her. Linna is the third member and the least interesting of the 4 girls. She works as an aerobics instructor and that's about it. Nene works for the A.D. Police so her duties as a Knight Saber sometimes conflict with her public job. She's a computer expert and not much of a fighter but is the funniest of the characters.

Here are quick summaries of each of the 8 episodes.

Tinsel City - The first episode has the introductions then the Knight Sabers are hired to recover a young girl who has been kidnapped from the military. They rescue her but it turns out she's a boomer who can control a satellite space laser. When the island they're on starts turning into a giant boomer the Knight Sabers have to abandon her and the island and girl are destroyed.

Born to Kill - A new boomer is developed by Genom and the satellite space laser control system from the previous episode is installed in it. After Linna's friend and her fiancée are murdered by Genom to protect the secret the Knight Sabers head out and destroy the new weapon.

Blow Up - Priss has a friend with a son who is fighting to prevent Genom from demolishing their apartment. Once she is killed Priss and the Knight Sabers attack the Genom tower looking for some payback and kill the Genom executive responsible when he attacks them in a power suit.

Revenge Road - A man is out for revenge against a biker gang that traumatized his girlfriend by attacking them on the freeway a few years earlier. He soups up his Griffon car and nearly kills Priss while chasing the bikers. Later, his car goes out of control and the Knight Sabers save him and his girlfriend before the A.D. Police destroy them and the car.

Moonlight Rambler - A group of girls escape a space station and one of the two survivors befriends Priss. It turns out they're trying to get a program from Genom in order to change their bodies so they no longer need special maintenance since they're a type of boomer. Priss's friend has been killing people to get blood for the other and she's got a super mech to fight Genom. Priss has to kill her when her mech goes berserk and threatens to nuke the city.

Red Eyes - A new uber-boomer named Largo frames the Knight Sabers for some crimes in an order to draw them out so he can destroy them. He also wants to acquire an item called the OMS (Overmind Control System) from the head of Genom and kidnaps the Defence Minister in order to blackmail Genom into giving it to him. It turns out Largo is keen to free boomers from bondage and be their leader but the Knight Sabers show up and destroy him.

Double Vision - Vision, the older sister of Linna's dead friend from Born to Kill is out for revenge against the company that killed her parents and Genom for killing her sister. The Knight Sabers are hired to protect the scientist who developed a new boomer but he's kidnapped as bait to draw out the head of Genom. Vision and the Knight Sabers join forces to defeat the new super-boomer.

Scoop Chase - Nene is roped into looking after the chief's niece Lisa who's an aspiring reporter. She starts investigating the Knight Sabers and after Priss destroys her camera she ends up getting a picture of Nene in her power suit. Before Nene is exposed a scientist attacks the A.D.Police tower with a group of boomers designed to destroy the Knight Sabers. Nene has to save the day and Lisa ends up returning the picture to her new friend and saviour.

The first four episodes don't look as good at the rest and they also have the weaker stories but they're still great. I liked the last 2 episodes most since we get to see the girls in their regular lives and episode 8 has some really funny parts with Nene. This show is really amazing, big fights, big explosions, and some great music. Highly Recommended.

Madlax 9/10

2006-03-16T00:30:00.000-08:00

Read the following lines out loud.

Elda Taluta.

Sarks Sark.

Ark Arks.

Have you gone crazy? If not, you could have the power to carry a 26 episode anime TV series BUT if you aren't a teenage girl you'll get killed before the end. Them's the breaks.

Dating back to 2004 the 26 episodes of Madlax look really great. The vast assortment of backgrounds from European cities to jungles and trippy yellow Dementia 5 type locales were all very detailed and unique. I also really liked the lighting effects that were really put to good use during all the moonlit battles Madlax has. The animation was nice and consistent throughout and I really liked the character designs. I particularly liked the somewhat bemused smile Madlax has all the time. This show has some of the best music I've heard in a series in awhile. I went so far as to buy both the O.S.T.'s and I highly recommend them. Some tracks of note are the terrific OP and ED and the insert song "nowhere" that is one of Madlax's battle themes. Such great music can really add to a show and this one has a fantastic score. Also try "Calm Days" and "Margaret". The VA's were all great and I really enjoyed the VA for Madlax. She's been in alot of shows but this was the role that I really noticed.

Margaret Burton is a high school girl who's a little odd. She disappeared as a child when on a trip to a country called Gazth-Sonika with her mom and when she shows up at her home in Nafrece sometime later she can't remember what happened to her except one word: Madlax. Madlax is a teenage girl living as a mercenary and assassin in Gazth-Sonika who's feared as one of the best at her trade.

Margaret is somewhat odd because she's very spacey. She's not stupid but seems to have an almost dreamy air about her all the time. She lives with her maid Elenore in her parent's house and they have an almost sisterly relationship since they're about the same age. Margaret also owns a mysterious book she claims was given to her by her father. She also has an older friend named Vanessa who works for a company that does buisness in Gazth-Sonika.

Madlax on the other hand is rather normal but for her choice of occupation. She lives alone and gets her jobs over cell from a mysterious man named 3-speed. Madlax ALSO has the missing page of Margaret's mysterious book on her wall. Madlax gets alot of business since Gazth-Sonika is in the midst of a civil war that started around the time of Margaret's plane crash.

The story jumps back and forth between Margaret searching for the history of her book and Madlax performing her assignments while we're educated about the history and current situation in Gazth-Sonika. It turns out that Vanessa's company is involved in the war so she goes to Gazth-Sonika to investigate where she gets Madlax as a bodyguard. She discovers the existence of a secret organization named Enfant that seems to be controlling the civil war from both sides AND is trying to take Margaret's book.

Since Vanessa ends up in fear of her life she goes into hiding with Madlax. Margaret and Elenore head to Gazth-Sonika to find her and get more information about the book. They eventually meet up and we get the only fan-service in the show as the girls go swimming. It turns out that 12 years before a man named Monday Friday, who is the head of Enfant, used the books to open the door to some crazy other dimension and is keen to do so again but it turns out he needs Margaret to do so. This leads to Margaret getting kidnapped, the other girls rushing off to save her, and some of them getting killed in the process. Things rush towards the finale as the secrets behind Margaret and Madlax are revealed and things come to a conclusion.

There's alot more to the story than I can relate here. I thought the power the books have was pretty cool and it reminded me of something from something more fantasy based. I really liked how the show is almost 2 shows for the first part and the ending wasn't the cop-out it could have been. I was impressed how none of the episodes felt like filler and that the series was so well paced I didn't get bored. Overall a much better outing than Noir and it's highly recommended.

Blue Seed Beyond OAV 7/10

2006-03-13T19:02:00.000-08:00

After the great 26 episode Blue Seed TV series these OAV's are for the fans. Those who haven't seen the series need not apply.

Dating back to 1996 we get some pretty good OAV animation with character designs that are pretty similar to the TV series. I consider this to be a major problem sometimes when the higher quality productions feel the need to change the designs and they screw them up. Examples of this are something like the Inu Yasha movies. The OP here is actually pretty catchy and I don't hate it at all unlike the theme to the TV series. The rest of the music is OK and the one new character has a pretty good voice.

Since this show is more for the fans of the TV series I didn't expect much from the story but I was pleasantly surprised. The new story takes place 2 years after the events of the TV series and the T.A.C. has been disbanded with the chief left to keep and eye on things. Momiji is getting ready to take her university entrance exams and is studying her powers at a lab with the scientist lady. The T.A.C. headquarters is promptly destroyed by a new Aragami with an orange seed and the chief is hospitalized.

Why this OAV isn't now called "Orange Seed" I'll never know.

The whole gang gets together again along with a new American girl named Valencia who has an orange seed in her chest like Momiji's blue one from the TV series except her power is to rip off her clothes and give her powers like Kusanagi's. This is a MUCH better power than Momiji's boring Aragami detector but sadly she only uses it once. They manage to defeat the Aragami then the second episode has them dashing off to San Francisco to defeat the Aragamis there and the scientist that created them. This turns out to be Valencia's dad and she loses her seed at the end of the show robbing the world of yet another naked woman.

During these 2 episodes Momiji has to deal with Kusanagi distancing himself from her lately. This is because he's concerned about harming her if he gets too excited while boning her and this all resolved by the end of the show with no nookie. Oh well. One part I liked about this series was the little side story about how the military girl and the computer geek have split up because she's nervous about commitment. He sees her again during these shows after losing track of her in the previous 2 years and it's a little surprising since he was introducing her to his mom during the end credits of the final TV episode. Of course they get together at the end and it's good to see some character development from the supporting characters.

The last episode is a bit of fluff about the girls heading to a hot spring and having to deal with a bomb set up to kill them. There's no real nudity but all the girls stroll around in their ginch for a bit. I felt kinda ripped off.

Don't watch this unless you've seen the TV series. If you have, then this is very recommended as one last kick at the can for Blue Seed.

Iczer Reborn 3/10

2006-03-12T21:12:00.000-08:00

This is the sequel to Fight! Iczer-One. In that review I explained that successful sales of an OAV rely on one or more of the following gimmicks.
1) Naked girls
2) Big explosions
3) Horrible graphic deaths
4) Hot lesbian action

Fight! Iczer-One had all four, Iczer Reborn only has big explosions which is the least appealing of the four gimmicks. What happened?

Dating back to 1991-1992 these are 6 half-hour episodes of old-school OAV technical goodness. The animation and backgrounds are very similar to Fight! Iczer-One which means they are very good though it seems the character designs got a little young looking. The music is OK and I liked the 80's style pop end credit themes but why the same black backgrounds for the end credits I so hated in the original series? I don't care to sit through a long-ass song for 2:30 if I don't have something to look at. I didn't mind the VA's since they were mostly the same from Fight! Iczer-One but I really didn't care for Iczer-3's VA, frankly it sucked. She sounded like some amateur or something.

Things start off many years after the events of Fight! Iczer-One and earth is under attack again. Iczer-1 has been injured battling the evil Neos Gold and is standing up in a tank of liquid with a bunch of tubes connected to her, getting healing as only standing up in a tank of liquid with a bunch of tubes connected can provide. Neos Gold has arrived on Earth again with a bunch of new female minions and started trashing up the joint in an effort to draw out Iczer-1 so they can battle once more. This part is the best of the series as her troops slash and hack through the Earth soldiers with blades, claws, and a complete disregard for modern weaponry.

The main character is Kasumi Nagisa, the granddaughter of the main character from the first series. She and 4 others are the sole survivors at the moon base and are in desperate straights but Iczer-3 arrives to save the day. Since Iczer-1 is currently enjoying the worst hospital care in the galaxy her little sister is sent to Earth in her stead. They escape the moon and get to the Earth on the new ship the Miss Fuji and plan their next move.

After the first battle against Neos Gold's minions Iczer-3 gets the power dealy that allows her to summon the Iczer Robo stolen so no more giant robot until the end of the series. Neos Gold uses the power dealy to create a copy of Iczer-3 named Atros who becomes her rival and doesn't get along with the remaining 3 minions. The show now starts to suck as each of the next 3 episodes involve the next minion showing up to defeat Iczer-3, them losing, then being obliterated by Neos Gold so she doesn't have to pay them severance. The 5th episode has Iczer-3 fighting Atros and bringing her over to the good side, then Iczer-2 shows up from the previous series and beats Iczer-3 like a rug. Things are getting REALLY boring at this point so in the last episode Izcer-1 finally makes an appearance, beats Iczer-2 again then they all team up and kill Neos Gold.

The last series was MUCH more adult oriented and interesting with a high level of violence and nudity. This series is more like a short, crappy version of Sailor Moon with each villain getting their turn at Iczer-3, getting killed, then the final battle. It looks great but it's not really recommended except if you want to see the whole Iczer series.

Daphne in the Brilliant Blue 8/10

2006-03-09T22:27:00.000-08:00

This show has the second best title in all of anime as far as I'm concerned. How could you not want to see a show called Daphne in the Brilliant Blue?

Dating back to 2004 the 24 episodes of Daphne look really great. There are also 2 OAV episodes but I'm going to lump them in with the rest since they are of the same quality. The animation and backgrounds are pretty good though there are some poor sections here and there. I really liked all the water, oceans, and sky backgrounds, there's alot of blue and I've always been partial to ocean levels. The character designs are certainly an acquired taste. Frankly when I first started watching this show I thought the faces of the girls were downright horrible. The somewhat skimpy outfits the girls wear when on missions are OK but with their hideous faces I was torn. I eventually came around at about episode 8 or so, I suppose I prefer something original looking once in awhile rather than the 12th show that looks like Gundam Seed. I liked all the music in this series and I really liked the OP. The music has a somewhat ethereal feel at times, a very oceany quality which I quite enjoyed. The VAs are also really good and Maia's screaming and crying are well done, whiny but not annoying.

Maia Mizuki has a pretty tough time in this series. She starts off living with her grandfather and preparing to take the entrance exams for the Ocean Agency, the largest government agency in the city. Her grandpa dies and since she's planning to live in the dorms at the Ocean Agency she gives up her right to live in her grandfather's house. Of course she then proceeds to fail her exams so she can't get into the dorms, with no home or money she's out on the street looking for work and a place to live.

She loses her home because this is the future and the world's oceans have risen and covered the land. The only places left are several floating cities and since living space is so limited once she gives up her home she can't get it back. Desperate for work she ends up at Neres, a private investigation and security agency. Neres takes on jobs such as traffic control, rent collection, hostage rescue, and many other dangerous jobs that Maia really isn't suited for. Neres consists of several members. Rena is the sexy, no nonsense leader, Gloria is the gun toting psycho, Shizuka is the resident gear head with an enormous appetite, and Yuu is the quiet martial arts queen.

Most of the early episodes are one off missions with a healthy dose of comedy and action. While the action sequences are nothing earth shattering it's the comedy of this series that really makes it worth watching. I laughed alot watching this show with Yuu constantly clobbering Gloria, Gloria constantly shooting everything in sight, and Maia bemoaning her fate. This is funny stuff. Later in the series it's explained that Maia had lost her memory a few years before and can't remember her childhood. On a mission to another city her memories begin returning to her and this leads to the main plot where Maia attempts to discover the secret of her past and why some people are desperate she not remember. These episodes are still between various mission episodes but the main plot ones actually have a more somber tone at times.

I don't want to give the ending away but the final revelation actually surprised me and the ending is actually really good. The only problem I had with this show were the character face designs but if you can get past them this show is definitely recommended.

Howl's Moving Castle 7/10

2006-03-08T23:07:00.000-08:00

Hayao Miyazaki rises from the grave, or returns from retirement, to churn out another film for the whole family assuming that family is into drug induced hallucinations or have been declared legally insane.

Dating back to 2004 this film has all the polish expected from an animated feature. Lots of great backgrounds and detailed animation along with tons of cels demonstrates Studio Ghibli's skills haven't diminished since Spirited Away. It's not all smiles and chocolate though. I didn't care for the style of animation used for Howl's castle as it moves around but I believe this was a deliberate style choice and I thought a couple of the moving CG backgrounds really stood out as sparse compared to the super-detailed backgrounds of the rest of the film. I really liked the music and the end theme was OK. I liked all the VAs except for the main character Sophie. The JP dub used the same VA for both the 19 year old and 90 year old versions of Sophie and while I appreciate the effort I can't say I liked the 19 year old version at all. I have to say this is the reason this film gets a 8 and not a 9. The english version is much better since they use 2 VAs but I grade the JP versions so it's too bad this detracted from an otherwise great movie.

Howl's Moving Castle starts out as we meet Sophie Hatter, a young woman who seems unhappy in her life working in her family's hat shop. One night she gets a spell cast on her by the Witch of the Waste after being rescued by a mysterious young man earlier in the day. She is transformed into a 90 year old woman and is forbidden by the spell from telling anyone about it. Oddly she rushes off without even ATTEMPTING to tell anyone and goes off into the hills for no apparent reason. She promptly discovers a scarecrow that gets her into Howl's castle and to shelter from the storm that's raging.

I really felt that this rushed opening was a serious flaw in the movie. Howl is mentioned by some of the townspeople but we never get a real explanation of who or what he is or what Sophie is supposed to know about him. Sophie's abrupt departure is also somewhat retarded since she dashes off into the mountains with no shelter, little food, and no plan.

Once in the castle Sophie meets Markl, a little boy who lives with Howl and disguises himself as an old man to run a magic shop and Calcifer the fire demon who lives in the fireplace and powers the castle. The castle has one door but it can lead to 4 places. One leads to the outside of the moving castle, 2 lead to magic shops in different towns where Markl sells his wares, and one leads somewhere unknown. This final location is perhaps explained near the end of the film but it's not really clear. Sophie sets to work as a cleaning lady since the house is a wreck and befriends everyone there so she ends up staying.

It turns out that Howl has been getting involved in a war that's currently being waged between 2 countries but this is never really explained, Howl's involvement or the nature of the conflict. At first Howl is being pursued by the Witch of the Waste who seems to have some romantic agenda, this is why he's in a moving castle, so he can hide. Howl is later summoned by the king to help(?) in the war effort and sends Sophie as his mom to make excuses for him. There she meets the Witch again and has an audience with the court mage Suliman who turns out to be Howls magic teacher. The Witch is robbed of her powers by Suliman, Howl shows up, Suliman tells Sophie that Howl's a monster, and they all escape. Now Suliman is after them and carpet bombs a city looking for them. This is all very insane as far as I'm concerned. The film never really explains WHY Suliman gives a damn what Howl does but she really goes over the top trying to catch him.

In the end a Sophie saves Howl's soul, though this isn't really something they make out to be very important earlier, and everyone gets a happy ending. The movie's main point is how Sophie's outward appearance is related to her love for Howl but noone EVER mentions it after the initial spell. You just have to pay attention to her switches from old to young and back again.

This movie is great but it's more a collection of small good bits with the overall story being somewhat hodge-podge. Recommended but not the best Miyazaki film out there.

Tenchi Muyo The Movie 1: Tenchi Muyo In Love 9/10

2006-03-07T18:19:00.000-08:00

After the original OAV series and TV series the Tenchi universe hits it's peak with it's first theatrical release. I've always liked the Tenchi shows and this movie demonstrates how good harem anime can be.

Released back in 1996 this is one of the few Pioneer LDC theatrical films and since I'm very familiar with their OAVs I had high expectations (back in about 1997). This film doesn't disappoint in any area. Old school hand-drawn and coloured goodness, high cel count, and detailed backgrounds combine into a fantastic looking movie. Very limited use of CG doesn't jar the viewer as it blends very well with the rest of the animation. The creators decided to stick with the character designs from the earlier works and it's odd seeing OAV type character designs in a theatrical film but I prefer the originals over the later ones. The music is amazing, some may complain that this film moved away from the traditional Tenchi "sound" but I feel if you're going to play it on the big screen you have to go with a fully orchestrated score. I highly recommend picking up the OST for this as it's that good. The VAs remain the same from the earlier efforts and I can't complain there and the new voices for Kain and Achika were great.

This movie assumes you're familiar with the cast of the earlier works. I'll do a quick recap here. The main male is Tenchi. He's a high school student who lives with his father and grandfather. Their house is out in the boonies near a shrine the grandfather tends. His grandfather is actually a member of the Jurai royal family, another planet whose royal family wields immense power both politically and as a kind of magic and Tenchi has inherited this power. Alot of girls have taken up residence in the household or nearby and they mostly have fallen for Tenchi though some less than others. The main rivals for his affections are Ryoko, a space pirate, and Ayeka, a princess of the Jurai royal family. Ayeka has a younger sister Sasami and she cares for Ryo-Ohki who is a little cat-rabbit that gets WAY too much airtime in the other series. There are two Galaxy Police detectives, Mihoshi the uber-ditz and Kiyone her long suffering partner. The last of the crew is Washu, super-genius and though she looks and acts about 12 she's actually much older. Keep in mind that in each incarnation of Tenchi the characters and relationships change slightly and I've already written enough.

In the first few minutes we see the Class A criminal Kain escape the GP headquarters and destroy it. After this the movie cuts to 1970 where the gang seems to be at a high school watching a girl with long hair. I have to note here that the music in this montage is incredible and sets the tone for the rest of the show.

Now back to the present where we're told that the girl being watched is Tenchi's dead mother when she was in school. After she disappears from the home movie the gang is watching and Tenchi nearly disappears himself Washu explains that something has happened to Achika in the past and they must protect her. Off to 1970 they go and the story picks up where the opening montage left off. There's alot of the gang living the high school life and getting to know Achika and they ultimately figure out who Kain is and develop a plan to stop him. It's interesting to note that the title for this movie stems from how Tenchi can't meet his mom for fear of causing a time paradox but as he watches her he kinda falls for her.

Tenchi ends up fighting Kain alone to protect his mother and at the last moment Achika and Tenchi's father are sucked into an alternate dimension with Kain. Tenchi, Ryoko, and Ayeka rush to the rescue and the trick they use to find the missing couple allows Achika to discover her future involving her son and early death. Achika ultimately ends up using her Jurai power to help defeat Kain and everyone makes it back to 1970.

The end of this movie is truly sad as Achika asks the girls to take care of her son since she won't be there when he needs her most. Achika and Tenchi's dad have their memories erased and the gang returns to their own time. In the final narration Tenchi explains that his mother's use of her power to save him caused her to die prematurely but without regrets.

After this film the Tenchi franchise has been going downhill and I'm hoping the new OAV series gets it right as this film did. Highly recommended.

Battle Athletes OAV 4/10

2006-03-05T15:14:00.000-08:00

Pioneer used to be famous for it's OAVs featuring lots of girls and onsens in order to sell expensive LaserDiscs and players to horny young men. This show is part of that once proud tradition.

Dating back to 1997-98 these 6 OAVs aren't of the quality I'd expect from that time but it's not a complete train wreck, it's just a little below average. The animation is alright but not super detailed, same goes for the backgrounds. The animation is consistent however and I like the character designs though some of the girls have enormous eyes at times that frightened me. I've never been a fan of the OP and ED for this series and the score isn't anything to wrote home about either. The VAs are OK but Akari the main character could shatter glass at times if I turned the sound up enough.

This story takes place in the far distant future after the Earth has won a war against aliens using an athletic competition since the battles were deadlocked. There are now 2 orbiting schools where boys and girls attend high school with an emphasis on athletics. This story focuses on the girl's school (natch) where each year there is a competition for the title of Cosmo Beauty.

Akari Kanzaki is the main character and the daughter of a former famous Cosmo Beauty. She's pretty whiny and clumsy in the beginning (they always are) and gets teamed up with a couple of other girls, Kris and Anna. Kris is a tall, athletic, and religious girl from the moon who's as good as the best athletes at the school and Anna is a little like Akari but shy and quiet.

The first couple of stories are about Akari gaining confidence with help from her friends and overcoming the somewhat baffling homicidal tricks by Mylandah the 2 time Cosmo Beauty runner-up. In the 3rd episode, after surviving a space station plummet into the atmosphere courtesy of Mylandah it's discovered that Anna is actually a boy during the Pioneer standard onsen scene. Hilarity ensues.

The next episode is the best of the lot, the 2 schools dock together so the boys can compete against the girls. The somewhat perverted headmaster of the girls school decides to dress Akari, Mylandah and Akari's friend Tanya in provocative outfits so they'll have a psychological advantage over the boys. Of course the headmaster of the boys team is smarter than this and gets two gay guys and Anna to compete on their team. Hilarity ensues.

The final 2 episodes are the competition for Cosmo Beauty with Akari and Kris in the finals with the 2 time champ Lahrri. These couple of shows have some pretty funny stuff but I think it wasn't intentional. In a couple of running events Mylandah and Kris get into accidents. Where in real life a runner who trips just falls over, Mylandah and Kris have crashes that would make Richard Petty proud. They leave huge trenches in the track, crash into the edge and smash the cement and they generate huge clouds of smoke. All that's missing is an explosion. It's pretty ridiculous.

This show has it's moments but it's not really great in any one area. I prefer the Battle Athletes Victory TV series so this is good if you've seen that and are interested in another take on it.

Aquarian Age - The Movie 6/10

2006-03-02T18:51:00.000-08:00

This OAV isn't really connected to the TV series (review) but does take place in the same universe. I'll let you all read the TV series review for background if you need it.

From 2003 this show is actually an OAV but the powers that be preferred to LIE to us. It's a very nice looking show with good art and consistent animation throughout it's hour running time. The character designs are a little different from the TV series but are still good, just a different type of good. There's some REALLY crappy CG in this show, the castle at the end is particularly horrible looking and I was surprised that a show this new had such shoddy work. I suppose Gonzo has spoiled me. I had no complaints about the music or VAs but I will mention that the DVD comes with some music videos with some good insert songs not in the main show.

Taking place a few years after the TV series the war between the factions has now been revealed to the general public since the various groups are somewhat united to battle a new enemy. The Polestar Empire has invaded earth from another dimension and blown alot of stuff up real good. They consist of zombies and ghosts and such and have quite a few dudes on their team unlike the other factions that are all girls.

The story starts as a little boy recruits a girl from each faction to team up to defeat the emperor of the Polestar Empire. These new girls aren't related to anyone from the TV series. Mayumi is a young psychic from E.G.O. whose mother is their leader and she's not developed her full potential. Miharu is a young leader of Arayashiki who's sister is killed in their battle against Guan Yu. (If you're a Dynasty Warriors fan you know who I'm talking about.) Stella is an older Wiz-Dom member who's very powerful and battles Lancelot. Finally Yoko is a young vampire girl who battles Hannibal along side the vampire king Alucard. These battles are quite violent and I especially liked the vampire battle with a bunches of animal girls getting squished by elephants. (Don't ask me why Yoko's Darklore team is lead by a man.)

Each girl is introduced as she battles her respective resurrected ancient warrior and after winning she gets recruited and the story moves on to the next girl. Once assembled the girls and the little boy go to the Polestar Empire's hovering castle to battle the emperor and it turns out HE'S THE LITTLE BOY! I could see this coming from about 500 miles away. The final battle is pretty disappointing because there aren't alot of foot soldiers to get splattered and the whole thing ends pretty unsatisfactorily.

I liked this show OK but it's really only eye-candy if you like the girls and the violence. Kinda recommended.

Best of 2005

2006-02-26T11:04:00.000-08:00

I'm limiting this to shows released on DVD that had their final initial release this year.

Best comedy series: Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu - Funny funny stuff. Most laughs per episode.

Honourable Mention: Midori Days, Galaxy Angel Z

Best romantic series: Boys Over Flowers - You can't beat shojo for good romance. This series was more realistic than most.

Honourable Mention: Koi Kaze, Please Twins

Best sci-fi/fantasy series: Twelve Kingdoms - If you havent seen this you should. Great setting, great characters, great animation, great story.

Honourable Mentions: Patlabor TV, Divergence Eve

Best action series: R.O.D. The T.V. - Even with a less than stellar ending. Great style, terrific music, lots of action.

Honourable Mentions: Jubei-chan 2, Samurai Champloo

Best drama series: Elfen Lied Behind the graphic voilence lies a bunch of really great characters with great stories.

Honourable Mentions: Gunslinger Girl, Wolf's Rain.

Best overall series: Elfen Lied

Honourable Mentions: Twelve Kingdoms, Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu, Gunslinger Girl.

Best OAV: Patlabor: The New Files - So very, very good.

Honourable Mentions: Wedding Peach DX, Ghost Talker's Daydream

Best movie: The Place Promised in Our Early Days - THIS is high grade shit this is!

Honourable Mentions: Appleseed, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.

Best song: Elfen Lied (Lilium - Kumiko Noma)

Honourable Mentions: Patlabor TV (Midnight Blue - Kiss Me Quick), Wedding Peach DX (Merry Angel - Furil), Gunslinger Girl (The Light Before We Land - The Delgados)

Best character: Yomiko Readman (R.O.D. The T.V.)

Honourable Mentions: Rushuna Tendo (Grenadier), Mugen (Samurai Champloo), Harry MacDowel (Gungrave)

BEST OVERALL: The Place Promised in Our Early Days

Gantz 6/10

2006-02-25T00:57:00.000-08:00

This show is the splatgloriest, character killingest, big brestesest, erection jokiest show I've ever seen. I was also going to give it a 5 but I'll explain that below.

Dating back to aught-four, Gantz is a Gonzo show so we see CG goodness splattered all over these 26 episodes. Most of the large areas are CG as are all the statue monsters in the 3rd arc and it all looks amazing. The rest of the show looks terrific with great character designs and good hand drawn backgrounds and such. I liked the score but the OP and ED didn't really catch my fancy. I really didn't like the OP. The VAs were about average.

This show is about a grade 10 student named Kei Kurono who dies after he gets hit by a subway train. His head comes flying off and everything. He was helping to get a homeless man off the tracks with a guy named Masaru Kato that he used to be friends with. Of course Kato bites it as well and they both wake up in a small apartment, alone with a large black sphere. Pretty soon other people start arriving by being "printed" with 3 light beams including the naked and very well-endowed Kei Kishimoto. Eventually everyone learns from the one person whose been there previously that the sphere is called Gantz, they're all dead, and have been brought back by Gantz to fight aliens.

Gantz offers cryptic messages displayed on the sphere instructing the people what alien to kill, how long they have, and provides weapons and a type of power suit to help even the odds since the aliens are crazy powerful. The players aren't given any information about how the weapons or suits operate and the guy who's been there before isn't forthcoming with any info though he does eventually cough up the details.

The suits grant super-human strength and protection from things like fire but aren't effective against blades, lasers, bullets, and the weapons they're given. They also run out of power after they've suffered enough damage. When fired the weapons simply flash a light then after a delay whatever they're pointed at explodes as if some type of explosive projectile hit it but there's no smoke or fire. They're given a time limit to defeat all the aliens and are not permitted outside a 1km radius from where they arrived or their heads will explode. Once the battle is over they're permitted to return to their normal lives but Gantz may teleport them back for another battle at any time.

The show basically covers the first 3 battles as according to the manga then has a final original battle for the TV series. Each battle consists of the new people having to be convinced that the whole thing is real. The new people who don't believe it being horribly killed. The people in suits with weapons being horribly killed with the alien dying at the end. Other rules of the game are that if you're dead you stay dead but if you survive any injuries you suffered are gone upon arrival back in the apartment. Some episodes deal with Kurono, Kato, and Kishimoto's lives outside the game and these are a nice respite from the splatfest of the battles. This allows Kishimoto to have a shower, have a bath, change her clothes, and be in Kurono's fantasies.

This show never really gets into the details of what Gantz is, why it does what it does, what happens if the aliens are killed within the time allotted, and what the real meaning of the scores Gantz gives at the end of the battles is. I WAS going to give this show a 5 since it's just a violent killing show with little redeeming value. Everyone but Kurono is killed in the 3rd mission and there seems to be no point to the whole thing.

Once I took a look at the manga's story things make alot more sense so I increased the score (+4) accordingly. Once you get 100 points you can either be set free from the game with your memories of Gantz wiped, bring someone from the game back to life, or get a super-weapon. If you don't kill the alien within the allotted time you just lose all your points. This makes all the killing of the main characters make more sense in the big picture. The last battle also really contradicts the spirit of the manga because it makes Gantz out to be something out to teach Kurono that you shouldn't kill just because you're ordered to. Gantz in fact couldn't give two shits about Kurono and because of the odd nature of these episodes I dropped the score back a bit (-2).

I really hate how they fucked up a cool concept with some dumbass morality in the last arc. This show would get a 10 if it continued along the lines of the manga. You may consider my score artificial because it relies on knowledge of the manga so this show gets a 5 as a standalone show but the concept is so good I have to give it a break. It's good if you like watching alot of people get spattered. This is easily the goriest anime I've ever seen. There's also some large breasteses along the way that are pretty good too.

Blue Seed TV 8/10

2006-02-22T22:37:00.000-08:00

I may not know much but I know what I hate, and I didn't hate this. In fact I quite liked it. Considering how much I usually hate "demon" anime this one stands as one of the precious few good ones.

Dating back to the year of our Lord 1994 this 26 episode series harkens back to the days of yore where well produced, adult themed anime TV series were few and far between. This show is chock-a-block full of hand drawn and coloured goodness and maintains a near OAV level of quality throughout the series. There are some less then stellar backgrounds at times but the character designs are reasonably complex and have all the old-school goodness I'm so fond of. The music in the series is OK and I liked all the VAs, especially the main character Momiji who turns out to be one of Megumi Hayashibara's best sounding roles. She actually manages to sound girly and not as shrill as she is in other shows. The thing I HATED about this show was the fucking OP. I've NEVER liked this song and I never will. It's a horrible blight on an otherwise stellar outing.

The show is about a 15(?) year old girl named Momiji who is the Kushinada. The Kushinada has the ability to put plant demons known as Aragami into a long sleep with her blood if she is used as a human sacrifice. Of course she knows nothing of this until the Aragami start trying to catch her so they can kill her in a ceramic field that will nullify that power. During the first attack she meets Kusanagi, a half-human half-Aragami who has sworn to protect the Kushinada. Before this he had been protecting Momiji's twin sister Kaede, another Kushinada who has disappeared. Of course Momiji also didn't know she had a sister and ends up going to Tokyo to live with the anti-Aragami team T.A.C. to be protected.

It turns out that Kaede has teamed up with the king of the Aragami to turn Japan back into a primordial plant-filled land devoid of humans since humans, in general, suck. Momiji spends the first part of the series helping the T.A.C. defeat various Aragami that cause havoc in various places in Japan. We get a bunch of episodes introducing us to the T.A.C. team members and giving them some character development and they're all pretty entertaining. Momiji also falls for Kusanagi so we get some romance there that progresses as well.

The second half of the series is when Kaede and her band of bad guys start their master plan and each episode advances the story towards the final showdown with a Japan covered in giant plants, the Aragami betrayed by Kaede, and Tokyo about to be bombed into the stone age by the Americans' nuclear deterrent. The progression of the story here is very good, all of the episodes are interesting and each adds to the plot so none of them seems like filler.

I liked the writing in this show and the interesting mix of characters in the T.A.C. makes the slower episodes in the beginning of the series entertaining. This show is really great overall and if the OP wasn't so GOD AWFUL I'd give it a 10.

Arcade Gamer Fubuki 4/10

2006-02-20T20:45:00.000-08:00

Oddly, this show is an OAV based on a show from 1982 called Game Centre Arashi that you nor I have ever or will ever see. This show takes loli fan-service up a notch. I suppose it's for the fans of the original show now old enough to be arrested for such fetishes.

Dating back to sometime in the 90's these 4 OAV episodes look pretty good. Consistent animation and lots of detail is once again the order of the day. I didn't harbour any particular hostility towards the music, OP, ED, or VAs. Nothing to really rave about either. I did like the character designs and they have a pretty unique look which I've not seen elsewhere that I can recall.

Fubuki is a grade 9(?) girl who gets roped into competing in an arcade tournament by her friend and wins by using the power of her Passion Panties. How, do you ask? Her friend blows her skirt up with a fan and she does a handstand on the arcade machine while using her super arcade game powers granted to her by the panties now clearly visible to the audience.

I am not making this up.

Seriously.

This show is really a 2 trick pony. The first is the sheer shocking amount of panty shots and how gratuitous the creators are about it. Fubuki battles a girl her age with black panties and the same move and she meets a large breasted American girl who plays DDR (You can imagine the jiggling). This would be OK if Fubuki wasn't supposed to be in grade 9. Yikes. I feel a little dirty after watching this. The second trick pony is the amount of retro arcade game footage the show has. If you grew up with the Sega arcade machines Fubuki plays it's pretty neat to see the various arcade games you played as a kid. Other than that the show really has just a bare plot to hold things together and some funny bits thrown in.

It's not a BAD show but it's kinda perverted with the whole panty thing. If Fubuki isn't showing them off someone is stealing them or taking her picture in them. At least she's embarrassed about it. I was.

Burst Angel 6/10

2006-02-19T08:58:00.000-08:00

Supposedly a cross between spaghetti western and Hong Kong action movie, I'm not sure what part of this show is western other than Jango has a cowboy hat and spurs and Meg wears chaps.

Airing in JP back in late 2004 this show contains all the modern anime goodness such as detailed backgrounds, great animation (when it's not crappy), and decent music. I was not impressed at all by the animation at times, it seems that almost every episode suffers from horrible looking scenes. At least 1-2 in EVERY EPISODE and a few where 3/4 are terrible. I was particularity appalled at the quality of the samurai village episodes. Since this show was produced by Gonzo, who's resume hasn't had a show this poor since the first episode of Vandread, I was NOT expecting this over the 24 episodes. Since Gonzo is involved there are alot of CG mech fight scenes and they are all great so someone was doing something right. I wasn't a huge fan of the OP and ED and the VAs were only average.

Set in a future Japan, Burst Angel is about a team of 4 girls who work as mercenaries in Tokyo using a big mech named Jango to perform various jobs. This usually involves some sort of fight against a monster or big mech and these are all eventually tied to the overall storyline.

The first team member is Jo, the quiet, albino, angry, mech pilot who's battle skills and mysterious past make her the main fighter of the team. The next is Meg, she's Jo's only real friend and is of the red-haired, blue-eyed, huge rack variety of character. She's whiny and not really useful in a fight compared to Jo and her uncanny ability to get captured by the bad guys ends up as an ongoing theme in the episodes. The remaining team members are Sei, the quiet leader with gang ties, the only Class 1 license, and another large rack and Amy the little computer genius girl. Sei's the oldest at 19, Jo is 18, Meg is 15, and Amy is 11.

Most of the show is made up of 2 episode arcs where the team is hired to investigate some monster sighting or fight a runaway mech. Nearer the end of the series it's revealed that all the incidents were caused by a company called RAPT that's experimenting with mutated humans and mechs with insane green glowing brains in order to use them as weapons and rule the world.

I really thought the execution of the overall plot of this show was pretty weak. While watching, the viewer figures out what's going on pretty early in the series but since the team his no interest in investigating the connection between the incidents THEY only find out about it in episode 22 or so. By then there isn't enough time to really get into the details of the bad guy's plan, it's just a matter of now identifying what building to assault and explode in the final episode. Since the episodes were all 2-parters I suspect this show was meant to be eye-candy only and I don't mind that but I prefer something with a little more forethought before episode 22.

One thing that was great about this show was Meg (Sei's no slouch either but she's no Meg). This show has the most jiggling breasts and nipple prints that I've seen since Divergence Eve. Meg's melons are constantly being squeezed into tight outfits (no bra EVER) or she's being tied up and things are bouncing around all over. Her swimsuit in the beach episode is particularly impressive. No full nudity though. How odd.

Ah anime.

I'll recommend this show but keep in mind there's no deep meaning here. It's all explosions and Meg's nipple prints and that's not all bad.

DearS 6/10

2006-02-15T18:02:00.000-08:00

An (unpopular/nerdy) (high school/college) student discovers a (naked/oddly dressed) girl (on his way home to/in) his one bedroom apartment. It turns out she's (an alien/a robot/a goddess/an angel/his fiancée) named (Chi/Ren/May/Aoi/Belldandy/Ran/Mahoro/Miharu/Yuna). Hilarity and fan-service ensues.

The 13 episodes of DearS aired back in 2004 so they look pretty good. The animation was pretty consistent but there were bits that were sub-par here and there. I liked the style and usage of the superdeformed scenes. The art and character designs were OK, the girls look pretty good but they should because of the type of show this is. The music was pretty forgettable and I was pretty indifferent to the OP and ED. I'll point out I didn't care for the "gnaw and taste" line in the OP, I gnaw and taste meat on the bone, it's not the most romantic lyric. The VAs were pretty standard but I REALLY liked the casting for the main girl Ren. Her voice was much more mature sounding than most female anime characters and I thought it was a nice change of pace.

So what's DearS about? An (unpopular/nerdy) (high school/college) student discovers a (naked/oddly dressed) girl (on his way home to/in) his one bedroom apartment. It turns out she's (an alien/a robot/a goddess/an angel/his fiancée) named (Chi/Ren/May/Aoi/Belldandy/Ran/Mahoro/Miharu/Yuna). Hilarity and fan-service ensues.

It turns out Ren is one of the DearS (pronounced DEERS) who are a group of aliens who've landed on Earth and taken up residence. A DearS arrival in a town to live is usually a much publicized event so it's odd that the main character, Takeya, finds one on the side of the road. He takes her home (of course) and quickly discovers she isn't like the DearS he's seen on TV. She can't speak (Japanese/English), doesn't understand clothing (of course), and other things. Meanwhile the DearS on TV are all very intelligent and friendly.

Ren IS friendly though. She refers to Takeya as "master" and makes it pretty clear she's now his slave since she kissed him when they first met. She also seems to be able to detect when he's sexually frustrated and offers to...well you know, interfere with him sexually.

The show carries on with the various misadventures of Takeya, Ran, his female childhood friend, another couple of DearS's as they attend school and such. The main plot thread of the show is about how Ren is some sort of special DearS and how the DearS community are deciding on how to deal with her. This results in the last couple of episodes where Ren is to be taken away and Takeya has to decide whether or not to keep her.

This show has some obvious plot holes, everyone seems blissfully unaware that Ren and the other DearS are SLAVES! They wear dog collars for fuck sakes! The show is pretty funny though and I wasn't expecting some award winning writing or anything. I was a little disappointed in the level of fan-service but what there was was OK.

Recommended if you liked (Chobits/Hand Maid May/Ai Yori Aoshi/Ah! My Goddess/Angel Tales/Mahoromatic/Girls Bravo/Maburaho).

Aquarian Age – Sign of Evolution 8/10

2006-02-13T19:18:00.000-08:00

Based on a card game this anime is, stunningly, not complete crap. In fact it's pretty good.

Airing in 2002 the 13 episodes of Aquarian Age look really good. Lots of detail and consistent quality throughout the series. I liked the OP and ED, and music during the show is pretty good but I found some of the singing by the main character sucked HARD! I really liked the character designs since they were a little unusual and you could really tell that the animators liked drawing as many female characters as possible. A labour of love I suspect.

The premise is a little reminiscent of X in my opinion. The world has been engaged in a secret war for centuries. Five opposing factions with super powers vie for control but the overall war isn't really explained. Of course it wouldn't be an anime if the groups weren't completely made up of young girls (Ah anime!). The players are:

Arayashiki: All those Japanese priestess girls you see in every other anime.
Wiz-Dom: All the magic girls from the western countries.
Darklore: Cat girls, vampires, fairies, various other animal-girls.
E.G.O.: The psychic girls straight from the set of X.
Polestar Empire: Bad girls from another dimension. (Like the Splugorth but cuter.)

There is another group but they are less a faction and more another class of people, these are the male Mindbreakers. They can call and control girls of any faction and can awaken dormant abilities in previously ordinary girls.

We learn at the start of the series that the main character Kyouta is a mindbreaker. He's unaware of this of course and is in a band with his friends. He's a senior in high school and is sweet on Yoriko, a childhood friend who is a year or two older than him. We also find out that Yoriko is one of the Arayashiki and not only that but their new leader.

She rebels at this and with that and thinking she and Kyouta are drifting apart she becomes vulnerable to the machinations of another mindbreaker who plans to turn her to evil. He accomplishes this and the rest of the series is about Kyouta learning about his power and trying to save Yoriko from herself.

There are some pretty good minor characters in this show like the two E.G.O. girls who become Kyouta's friends and his wacky bandmates. Yoriko is also quite interesting as Evil-Yoriko since she becomes the bitch from hell.

Since the show looks so good and is pretty interesting I'll recommend it as a light romantic show. It has a pretty good ending but the epilogue was kinda crappy.

Mermaid Forest 7/10

2006-02-11T19:30:00.000-08:00

Most would say at first thought that immortality would be a good thing. No one wants to die. But after a second thought problems appear. If you're the only one, everyone you've ever known will die. Everywhere you've ever been will change. You would have to move from place to place so no one discovers your secret as you'd be forever hounded by others seeking immortality. Any family you have would get old and die and you would only be able to watch helplessly.

Not all it's cracked up to be is it?

From 2003, Mermaid Forest runs 13 episodes. This show has some nice art and it's nice and colourful. The character designs are OK but a little angry looking considering the manga on which this is based it by Rumiko Takahashi. I was also a little disappointed at the somewhat dodgy animation quality at times. This is a Takahashi based anime! Where's the budget? The music was OK but I found the OP and ED pretty forgettable.

Say you're an immortal guy, aged about 22. Say only one immortal is created every several hundred years. Say you've lived 500 years alone and wandering from place to place searching for a cure. Meet Yuta who 500 years ago ate the flesh of a mermaid and it granted him immortality. Any small wounds heal immediately, larger wounds take a little longer, and even if he dies he comes back to life in about half a day. You'd think that with immortality being so easy to come by eveyone and their dog would be immortal but in reality the flesh is a deadly poison that usually turns those that eat it into big purple googly-eyed monsters.

He left his hometown once his then old wife died and has been travelling around Japan searching for a mermaid or anyone else that can return his mortality. He doesn't want to die as he could accomplish that by cutting off his head but just wants a normal life.

One day, following a lead from a local town he stumbles across a village filled with women that all look strangely similar and gets murdered by them. It turns out they're all a type of mermaid who kidnap little girls, raise them to about 15 or so, and feed them mermaid flesh in an attempt to make them immortal. Then they eat them.

Now meet Mana their most recent victim. She survives the mermaid poison and becomes an immortal like Yuta and he manages to rescue her before she gets feasted on. She's about 15 and spoiled but extremely naive since she's been a captive for so long. She decides to travel with Yuta and becomes his friend.

After the 2 episodes that introduce Yuta and Mana the rest of the series consists of 1-2 episode arcs that are either stories about Yuta's past life or adventures in the present with Mana. The shows all revolve around Yuta discovering some mermaid related nastiness in the town in which he's currently living (with Mana in the present). Each arc delves into a different price others had to pay in their attempts at immortality. Most of the arcs are really good and rather thought provoking.

I personally liked the developing relationship between Yuta and Mana best. Since Yuta has been alone for 500 years he's been desperately lonely and his discovery of Mana is like a miracle to him. Since she is so naive and he's a nice guy he's content to have her as a travelling companion but is extremely protective of her when she gets into trouble. Mana on the other hand doesn't seem to have any special feelings for Yuta at first but the final arc interestingly focuses a little more on her than Yuta for a change. When she discovers Yuta's life is in danger she gets truly scary mad at his attacker and defends him viciously.

At the end of the series after the fighting there's a scene where she sits by the sea with Yuta's dead head on her lap watching the sun rise. She has her hand on his chest and when it starts beating she starts to cry. I really liked that scene, softie that I am, and it made the series for me.

I recommend this series but I have to mention that there are some pretty bloody fights in this show. I guess since Yuta and Mana are immortal they figured it's OK to hack them up a bit. Mana dies like 3 times I think. Also, doesn't anyone have a gun to kill people with? What's with all the meat cleavers?

Angel Tales 7/10

2006-02-10T19:13:00.000-08:00

We've all read my Sister Princess review where I ranted and raved about how not to do a harem anime with 12 female characters right? Here's the show THAT GETS IT RIGHT!

These 12 episodes dating back to 2001 look pretty good. Lots of colour and pretty decent backgrounds. The music is alright in the series but I got a little tired of the million different versions if the harmonica song. I liked the OP and ED even if the ED is...a version of the damn harmonica song (with lyrics mind you). Where this show deserves some credit is in the 12 character designs and voices for the girls. Instead of dressing them in crazy outfits (like a certain show did) they simply have different coloured and styled hair to identify them. It helps that they range in age from little girls to fully grown women but they almost all wear school uniforms that are just different styles and colours. That wasn't so hard was it SISTER PRINCESS!?

I really have to appreciate the distinct VAs that each character has as I mentioned earlier. A few of the girls have accents but most of the actresses are good enough to make themselves distinctive without going nuts. They also almost all refer to the main character using the same term for "master" unlike the 13 versions of "brother" a certain dumbass show came up with.

This show has a pretty original premise to explain all these girls. The main character, Goro is a bit of a loser (as all harem anime male leads are). He doesn't have too much in the way of job prospects, he's got no girl, and no real direction in his life. He meets a fortune teller one day who tells him his luck is going to change and it does. He ends up with 3 new female roommates who turn out to be his guardian angels and reincarnations of his former pets who died under tragic circumstances. At first there's a goldfish, a hamster, and a parakeet. This is quickly followed by a cat, a dog, a frog, a raccoon, a fox, a snake, a monkey, a turtle, and a rabbit. Because he was so kind to all animals and never forgot any of them he gets granted all these angels as a form of blessing to help him out in his life.

The show starts out just introducing everyone and moves on to various episodes focusing on the various girls. There is a plot here about some animal guys that represent 4 gods who want their powers and are keen to steal away some of the girls. This feels tacked on at the end but does add some concern that at least some of the girls will be taken away.

The best part of this show is simply how the girls get along. They're all really nice but being as they were originally animals there tends to be some friction between the more traditional animal rivals. They are all also constantly fighting for Goro's attention which tends to get pretty funny since he's so clueless. I figure I liked the little dog girl the best since she behaves exactly like a little dog with the whole wanting to go for a walk and running around like an idiot.

This show isn't everyone's cup of tea. It's pretty tame as far as fan-service goes and there's no real conflict. It's more of a warm comedy and I suppose it all depends if you find the turtle girl fighting with the rabbit girl amusing. I recommend it and I'm usually right.

Urusei Yatsura TV 9/10

2006-02-06T20:19:00.000-08:00

The anime that preceded Maison Ikkoku, Ranma ½, and InuYasha. After having now seen the whole series I can safely say that Urusei Yatsura better than all of them.

Running a total of 195 episodes from 1981-1986 this is a pretty old show, from the days before the insanely high production values of current anime fare. Of course the quality is still not great on it's best day but there are some really crappy looking episodes. The look of the show also changes over time but for the better as the character designs evolve and look a lot better as the series goes on. The character designs are fantastic even if they're animated poorly, I mean a girl in a tiger fur bikini with long green hair, fangs, and horns? You've gotta love that. The music is quite good throughout the series with new background themes added over time. Since this show has 15 OP and EDs total there is a lot to choose from but there are only a couple of bad ones. My favourite of the lot would have to be the seventh ED “Open Invitation” which is really catchy with it's tropical feel.

The VA's for this show deserve special mention. There are so many classic voices here it's difficult to list what's so great about each of them. Ataru's lecherous laugh and ability to switch to his super serious voice in mid-sentence. Megane's ability to scream at the top of his lungs. Mendou's switches from cool rich boy to screaming maniac. Shinbou and Ran's quiet girly voices capable of changing to angry shouting in a flash. Onsen Mark's cries of frustration. And of course Lum's irreplaceable “DAAAAAALING!” as she administers her electroshock lynch hell to Ataru. This show has the best cast ever and I suppose that's one of the biggest parts of it's charm. Also once you learn some Japanese and are as familiar with it as I am the performances take on a whole new level of greatness.

UY doesn't really have a overall plot, it's mostly just a comedy with the occasional serious bit thrown in for good measure. The main male lead is Ataru Moroboshi, girl chaser extraordinaire who agrees to represent the human race against invading aliens in exchange for the chance to marry his classmate Shinobu. The battle is a game of tag against the flying princess of the aliens, our female lead Lum. Ataru wins and in a huge misunderstanding he ends up engaged to the electric shock administering alien girl who ends up living at his house.

The characters are what make the show and I'll list a few of them:

Mendou: Ataru's classmate and heir to the richest family in Japan. He's in love with Lum, handsome, rich, has a private army, and carries a sword to school.

Jariten (Ten): Lum's little flying cousin with fire breath, a quick temper, and a penchant for the ladies second only to Ataru and Mendou.

Shinobu: Ataru's classmate and a quiet kind girl, until she gets mad then she develops super strength and throws things.

Ran: Lum's childhood friend who lives in her pink spaceship and is all sugar and spice. Then she gets mad and attacks with alien robots and gadgets.

Sakura: The beautiful school nurse who's also a Shinto priestess. She's got a huge appetite and a quick temper.

Megane: Ataru's classmate and head of Lum's Stormtroopers, her fanclub. His soliloquies on his wasted youth and unrequited love are in dispersed between bouts of screaming madness.

Cherry: Sakura's uncle and a Buddhist monk with a huge appetite and a knack for always appearing out of nowhere.

The episodes usually involve some new alien, spirit, alien technology, or mysterious place the cast go to and hilarity ensues and when I say that I mean it. The majority of the episodes of UY are very funny and pretty original, you just have to see past the age of the show.

I can easily recommend this show but it's a lot to take in. So much of the show involves Japanese cultural themes it may be too much work for the average anime fan to bother even trying to understand it. I have to say this is one of my top ten shows of all time, every anime fan should at least know who Ataru and Lum are.

Scrapped Princess 9/10

2006-02-02T19:38:00.000-08:00

There aren't a lot of fantasy animes out these days but Scrapped Princess is an excellent example of how to entertain this codgy veteran of several hundred fantasy novels.

Dating back to 2003 this show has pretty standard music through it's 24 episodes. The OP and ED are OK but I feel they were a little too cheery for the somber tone of the latter episodes. The art is well done and the animation is consistent throughout the series. What I really like about this show from a technical point of view are the great character designs of which there wasn't one in the series I didn't like. The best of the bunch was Winia, the red-haired girl with the freckles. Anime girls never have freckles.

Pacifica is the scrapped princess, destined by prophecy to destroy the world on her 16th birthday. She was supposed to have been killed after bring born but due to a series of kind hearted people including her mother, the queen of Leinwan she is spared and raised in secret by her new family. By the time the story starts her adoptive parents are dead and she's on the run with her adopted older brother and sister, Shannon and Raquel as her 16th birthday approaches. Shannon is a swordsman of some skill and teases Pacifica as all good older brothers should. Raquel is a powerful sorceress and is kind but a little ditzy.

The world is controlled spiritually by the church of Mauser who handed down the prophecy and under it's orders Pacifica is hunted by the Leinwan Royal Forces and troops controlled by the church. The series starts with the trio running from town to town, dodging assassins and soldiers, and making friends only to have them turn into enemies once they find out who it is they're helping. Over the series a few people take pity on cheery, harmless looking Pacifica and she escapes again and again with their help.

Shannon also meets Zefiris, an ancient dragon weapon he can fight with (but he doesn't trust). She normally takes on the form of a little girl that hovers around and tends to be less forthright with information than Shannon would like. He needs some firepower because the Peacemakers get involved. The Peacemakers are supposed to be the angels of Mauser, thus they are also hunting Pacifica and are incredibly powerful with their ability to control human minds and turn into big floaty beam shooty deals. Pacifica's powers manifest once the Peacemakers get involved since she has the ability to ignore their mind control and provide this protection to others.

The trio, along with the knight Leopolde ultimately end up in another land and get involved in an attack with ancient super weapons against Leinwan. Once the attack spectacularly fails, Pacifica and her siblings and friends are separated and she gets amnesia. It's about this time this show gets 10/10 good.

Pacifica goes to live with a man named Furet and after her friends find her, refuses to leave him. Eventually they can hide no longer and Furet is killed in the escape and Pacifica is at last captured by the Royal Forces. Here there is a truly sad series of scenes where a Pacifica with still no memory meets her mother in the dungeon who is dying from the effects of the torture she's endured hiding her daughter's location.

Shannon is brought before the King and when he rushes to save Pacifica once more she finally remembers her past and they eventually escape and meet up with their friends and await her 16th birthday. At this point she receives a message from her twin brother the prince and goes to meet him for the first time.

This takes you up to near the end of the 23rd episode and I can assure you the rest of the series is awesome. What happens to the scrapped princess? What is the secret origin and purpose of the Peacemakers? You have to watch to find out. I will say a big part of the charm of this show is the relationship between Pacifica and Shannon. While their fights are funny the quiet moments they have near the end of the series make you wish more animes with these types of combustible relationships had quiet moments as well. Highly recommended.

Overman King Gainer 4/10

2006-02-01T18:25:00.000-08:00

How the hell can a show that looks so good have such crappy dialogue and disjointed plot? Tomino may be the godfather of Gundam (which is hit and miss anyway) but after seeing Brain Powered and now OKG I'm starting to wonder if he's a one trick pony. At least lately.

Airing back in 2002-2003 the 26 episodes here look amazingly good considering the story problems. I really love the character designs and the art and animation are really top notch throughout the series. The music and ED were standard and the OP is catchy but annoying. I really had problems with some of the VAs. According to the DVD extras there were some professional live actors in the cast and I bet I could point out who they were from the somewhat dodgy delivery by some of the characters.

The story is pretty straightforward but so poorly executed I had to watch the first 5 episodes twice just to figure out what the hell was going on. The story takes place in Siberia in the future(?). The human population has been relocated into domes located in remote, inhospitable locations on Earth since the good land is needed to grow food. The story starts with part of the population of one of the domes taking off with a bunch of dome parts they live in and dashing off to a place called Yapan where the land is arable. They never quite explain how the domes come apart like that and how they move but these questions are quickly lost under the massive onslaught of plot holes and unexplained events.

As the merry band travel east they're attacked again and again by the Siberian Railway who have alot to lose since they make their money delivering goods to the domes. If the domes have no people there's no one to sell to. The story drags on for the whole series with attack after attack with lots of boring mechs. The good guys have an Overman (a mech with fancy powers) piloted by the main character Gainer who fights the enemy Overmen. Once he beats one it's replaced in the next episode with a different one with increasingly ridiculous powers as the series goes on. An Overman that can shoot lightning or disappear I can understand, one that steals things or gives everyone telepathy is just retarded.

Other than the retarded Overmen what's the problem? The problem is that the show makes sense in the big picture but suffers from about a million little thing's that don't. So many things are never explained: The powers of the Overmen, where Gainer's one originally came from, why his parents were murdered, the significance of Meeya, the significance of her city, who the London guys are, why Cynthia's grandmother was frozen in ice, where the Overmen came from. These aren't nitpicky questions. For example, Meeya is in about every other episode travelling to Yapan but not with the main group. She's somehow related to an ancient girl named Meeya that has something to do with the Overmen but we get to the end of the series and she amounts to nothing as a character. Why have her in the show at all?

Another problem with the show is the dialogue. Characters are constantly shouting out the obvious. Two characters are walking in mechs. Blue lightning strikes a nearby tree. One of the characters inevitably shouts "Blue lightning just struck that tree!". This gets REALLY annoying. We're constantly being bombarded with lines that simply describe what we've just seen.

Another thing is that there are too many characters. So many in fact that some of them disappear from the story by the time we get to the end. An example is the blond girl Adette. She starts out as a main villain, defects to the good guys, ends up living in Gainer's room, ends up as a teacher at the school, starts her own team of mech pilots and falls in love with the ninja guy. These events all come out of the blue and are never fleshed out at all. It's like filler we don't need. Repeat this for about 10 other characters and you get why this is a problem.

I can't believe a show that looks so amazing is so difficult to sit through. This of course makes it twice as good as Brain Powered. Not recommended unless maybe you're blind and like having events shouted at you.

Legend of Black Heaven, The 8/10

2006-01-31T18:29:00.000-08:00

The universe is in danger from an alien armada. The defenders are unable to stem the tide. What can save us all? A giant robot? A magical girl and her magic friends? Two giant robots? Of course not. Only one thing can save us. Only one thing can EVER save us.

ROCK AND FUCKIN' ROLL BABY!

Dating back to 1999 the 13 episodes here are pretty good for one of those early computer scanned and coloured shows. There are some awkward pans (I hate them soooo much) and a general lack of lighting effects but the show looks good overall. The backgrounds and character designs are above average though a little uneven in quality through the series. The VAs are great as usual but the main character is totally perfect for the part and stands out. Of course where this show really shines is the soundtrack, lots and lots of guitar here and it's all good. The OP is great but since variations of the same song appear again and again during the show I get a little tired of it after awhile. I don't care for the weird end theme but I REALLY like the final song in the last episode and the variant right after it as the credits roll so it all balances out.

So how exactly does the universe get saved by ROCK AND FUCKIN' ROLL? Well it all starts with a blond haired, green eyed alien girl named Layla who shows up to recruit our hero to play guitar. Our hero is Oji Tanaka. He has a wife and pre-pre-school son at home and a boring job but unlike your average salaryman he was once the lead guitar player in a band named Black Heaven that was pretty successful. Lately he's been down, his wife just threw out his last electric guitar and his kid plays frisbee with his favorite albums that he can't even play since his wife got rid of the player. Life kinda sucks.

Layla takes him to a guitar, in what he believes is some sort of night club, that he can play, but only when she calls. He quickly discovers that he's not at a nightclub at all but on an interstellar battleship and he's not playing for a crowd of fans but the spaceship control room where his guitar solos mysteriously power a super weapon to fight the aliens. The good guys are so advanced they managed to build a super weapon they're incapable of powering themselves and have no idea how it actually works. Gotta love anime.

This is show less about fighting aliens and more about Oji's problems with his work and family who constantly want him to conform. The whole space business is a secret so his wife starts to believe he's having an affair with Layla. Beyond fighting with his wife he also eventually has a falling out with Layla when he discovers that no one is really listening to his music, they just want him to power their weapon (which is becoming increasingly less effective). This becomes especially apparent when he tries a new song and the commander of the ship demands he play the same song he's been playing the whole time.

Of course he eventually gets over it and gets his old band back together to increase the power of the weapon. Also, Layla replaces their missing keyboard player and she eventually learns about the nature of music which her culture doesn't comprehend. The show culminates in a musical duel versus the aliens who've resurrected the formerly deceased Black Heaven keyboardist.

The finale of this show is truly fantastic. After the final fight the last scene plays against the end credits where Oji and Layla say goodbye. So many anime series don't portray relationships in any realistic manner and since Black Heaven does, especially in this last scene, I have to give it due props.

Along with all the music there is alot of great comedy with the 3 retarded girls from the spaceship helping out with tasks such as babysitting Oji's son and distracting his wife and generally being retarded throughout the series. It's some really funny stuff.

For being a great show on all counts I have to highly recommend it.

Kimagure Orange Road Movie: I Want to Return to That Day 9/10

2006-01-26T03:21:00.000-08:00

Before reading this review please watch the TV series (review) as the movie won't make much sense if you haven't. This review will give away the ending of the series but if you've watched the TV series the movie doesn't really hold any surprises.

For my 50th review I present to you the KOR Movie: I Want to Return to That Day. A true classic.

In the annals of romantic and harem anime, few series have bothered to offer closure to the relationships in the series. KOR stands tall as one of the precious few to present and ending where few questions remain once the final credits roll.

This film takes the animation techniques refined in the OAV production and brings those skills fully to bear here. Beautifully drawn backgrounds and character designs complement the fantastic story with not a single complaint on my part. The music is fantastic with some great new insert songs and an end theme that tugs at the heartstrings if I may be so bold. This has to be one of the best looking theatrical releases based on an existing TV series ever produced.

It's the day Kyosuke and Madoka go to check their results for their university entrance exams. Hearing a girl who sounds very much like Hikaru the movie switches to a flashback to the previous summer about 5-6 months earlier.

Kyosuke and Madoka are feverishly studying for exams and Hikaru is auditioning for a play. Kyosuke and Madoka have been spending alot of time together and Hikaru is feeling left out since studying takes up so much of Kyosuke's time. She's been coming over to his house with snacks and one day kisses him which in the KOR world is a truly earth shattering event. Of course Madoka finds out, storms out of the cram school she and Kyosuke attend when she questions him about it and disappears.

After the kiss Kyosuke is pretty much more fucked than he's ever been. Madoka is uber-pissed and won't return his calls and Hikaru is getting alot more lovey dovey than usual. The delicate balance of their relationships is shattered and something must be done.

Kyosuke to his credit doesn't behave like the Kyosuke of old. He doesn't rush over to Madoka's house full of excuses, he doesn't make a ass of himself, and he surprisingly keeps seeing Hikaru. Madoka later has Hikaru over to help her out with a scarf she's knitting. Madoka finds out the scarf is for Kyosuke and this revelation is the last straw.

During the series we've seen Madoka mainly angry and aloof. She never displays or verbalizes her true feelings for Kyosuke, instead playing the saxophone whenever depressed or sad about their situation. At this point she finally breaks down and makes a tearful call to Kyosuke to get him back. This call confirms what we've always suspected, that Madoka isn't completely the tough girl we've known but is lonely, insecure, and much more in love with Kyosuke than she's let on. He rushes over to her house and he finally gets the OK from her to do what she's been somewhat preventing him from doing for so long. No not THAT you perverts! Dear Hikaru, welcome to Dumpville. Population YOU!

He calls her out to meet, breaks the news and she takes it pretty hard. An interesting relevation here is that Hikaru says that she's known all along Kyosuke loves Madoka but she's been trying to win him over. This is interesting and really makes her out to be more devious than she's been letting on. All those interruptions of moments between Kyosuke and Madoka can now be looked at in a new light. That BITCH!

The rest of the movie passes pretty quickly with Hikaru refusing to give up on Kyosuke and continuing to call and visit him. By the end he stops talking to her when she calls and in the final few scenes ignoring her as he walks past her.

The last few minutes of this movie are very sad with the end theme playing over the last few moments. Even if you hate Hikaru you have to feel sorry for her since she takes her dumping so hard. Madoka and Kyosuke loose a good friend and Hikaru is left on her own. Kyosuke, to his credit isn't a bastard in the finale here, but he finally has made his decision and he even has second thoughts right up to the end.

This movie is easy to recommend since it's so great but only for anime romance fans. The comedy of the series is here but only in the first half.

Kimagure Orange Road OAVs 5/10

2006-01-26T02:21:00.000-08:00

How do you follow up a successful TV series? (review here) With a batch of somewhat repetitive OAVs with no fanservice to speak of. No wait! That's not right...is it?

The 8 KOR OAVs released from 1989 to 1991 are a bit of a mixed bag. The first 2 (White Lovers & Hawaiian Suspense) look like episodes from the TV series. While Hawaiian Suspense has a bit better visuals neither is any different from a standard episode from the 3rd season. Same OP, same ED with a different font on the credits and no real new content to speak of. While I like the style as a TV series I can't help but feel sorry for Japanese fans that got fleeced. I'm almost tempted to think that these episodes were simply not aired for whatever reason.

The remaining episodes are MUCH better visually with slightly different character designs and alot more detail overall. The new OP and 2 new EDs are pretty good and fit with the rest of the main themes used throughout the TV series. These episodes also have quite a few new songs within them that are also OK but too many insert songs kinda make them loose their impact.

As far as the stories in the 8 episodes go they're difficult to really give great scores for since they don't have any fanservice, don't advance the story, and are difficult to place in the chronology of the series.

The first two seem to take place sometime in the 3rd season but before the last 2 episodes.

In "White Lovers" the gang goes to a ski resort where Kyosuke and Madoka get trapped by a ghost who hates couples because of a past betrayal. This episode comes too soon after the TV series episode where they get stuck in a gondola at a ski resort. I've also seen this episode done a million times.

In "Hawaiian Suspense" Kyosuke, Madoka, and Hikaru go to Hawaii for a little vacation and Hikaru gets kidnapped in a case of mistaken identity. Of course instead of calling the police, Kyosuke and Madoka rescue her on their own. I thought at least Madoka was smarter than that.

The remaining 6 episodes are a mix of good and awful. Of the good side we now no longer see Yuusaku in the KOR world. I like to think he committed suicide after one too many dumpings by Hikaru. Yay! These episodes also seem to take place in the Kyosuke's final summer vacation in high school, 2-1/2 years after the end of the TV series but Madoka seems to be unaware of Kyosuke's powers. This could be because the manga timeline differs from the anime, I don't know but it explains the scooter Kyosuke rides and all the drinking that goes on.

"I Was a Cat, I Was a Fish" is about how Kyosuke switches souls with a goldfish, then Jingoro the cat with a magic rope his Granpa brings over. He ends up at Madoka's house and saves her from a gas leak.

In "Hurricane! Akane the Shapechanging Girl" we meet Kyosuke's cousin Akane. She's his age and has the ability to make people see and hear her as someone else. She also quickly develops a thing for Madoka and hilarity ensues. This is one of the only 2 good episodes in the lot.

"Stage of Love = Heart on Fire! Spring is for Idols" is the first of a two parter where Kyosuke switches souls with a famous idol singer and meets his old girlfriend while the idol puts the moves on Madoka. While it has a nice ending the show is more insert song than plot which bugged me a bit.

"Stage of Love = Heart on Fire! Birth of a Star" is the second half where Madoka performs in the Battle of the Bands and Kyosuke worries about his powers being revealed by the idol singer. Again, more insert song than plot here.

"An Unexpected Situation" is the best of the bunch. Akane gets Kyosuke to pretend to be her boyfriend to impress a couple of her girlfriends who think she's a dyke. Done to death before but still funny in this incarnation.

Lastly in "Message In Rouge", Madoka thinks her dad is having an affair, runs away from home and ends up chez Kyosuke. This episode was OK, it was interesting seeing Madoka over at Kyosuke's house for once.

As I said earlier, these episodes are a mixed bag and not great overall. Only recommended if you've seen the TV series.

Kimagure Orange Road TV 9/10

2006-01-22T06:23:00.000-08:00

This is the best show you've never seen. If you've seen it then you agree with me. This is the best romantic anime ever and it's told from the guy's point of view no less.

Dating back to 1987, the 48 episodes of KOR are on par with Maison Ikkoku as anime TV series of that time that stand above all others. Hand drawn with great art the backgrounds of KOR are colourful and detailed. The character designs are among my all time favorites (being the old-school whore that I am) with the VAs being nothing short of spectacular. A wide range of characters portrayed by VAs that are absolutely perfect. This should explain why no english dub exists for this series, no-one could do it justice.

The most amazing technical part if this series is the music, from the background instrumentals, to Madoka's saxophone playing, to the staggering number of insert songs that capture the mood perfectly, to the OP and ED themes you can't skip while watching, this show has it all. For the record the first ED theme is my all time favorite from any anime and rest of the OPs and EDs are all in my top 30. Keep in mind that that's out of about 1000 songs. Not bad KOR.

Of course what good is technical excellence if the story blows goats? Luckily KOR has a story that's fine like cherry wine.

Enter Kasuga Kyosuke. He's just moved into town with his dad and two little sisters. Having to move again and again isn't unusual for him since his family has psychic powers and must re-locate once the locals start to suspect. He can teleport, can perform telekinesis, has dreams that foretell the future and can hypnotize himself. One day not long after moving he has an encounter with a red straw hat that changes his life.

Enter Madoka Ayukawa. Beautiful and mysterious, Kyosuke saves her hat and has an argument with her about the number of stairs near his house. 99 or 100? He says they should settle for 99.5 and she laughs. For him it's love at first sight but he doesn't catch her name as she disappears down the stairs.

Kyosuke begins school at his new junior high and meets his soon to be sidekicks Komatsu and Hatta, two perverts to the nth degree who appear throughout the series. Kyosuke and his 2 younger twin sisters, Kurumi and Manami, must now attend school and hide their powers or risk having to move again. He soon meets the 3rd and last main character in the story.

Enter Hikaru Hiyama. More cute than beautiful she accidentally kisses Kyosuke and becomes determined to make him hers with as much shrill, hyper activity as possible. Kyosuke's inability to tell her he's not interested begins the main plot thread of the series.

You see Hikaru is childhood friends with Madoka and while she's cheerful and friendly, Madoka is cold and withdrawn. Madoka, known more around school for her truancy and associating with delinquents, has few close friends and because of this has to outwardly support Hikaru. This leads to a love triangle that causes Kyosuke (and Madoka) nothing but problems.

Hikaru loves him, chases him, feeds him, jumps on him and shrieks in delight. Kyosuke LIKES her but loves Madoka. Of course he's VERY indecisive and isn't helped by Madoka's capricious nature. One minute she's all smiles and chocolate, the next she's goosestepping down his Champs Elysées. This brings us to Madoka. Beyond all reason she loves Kyosuke back as much,if not more than he loves her but she's torn between that and a) loyalty to her friend Hikaru b) general distrust of others.

Kyosuke's thoughts are conveyed to the viewer throughout the series with really great freeze frames where he explains things so there are no secrets there.

Hikaru isn't all that bright so we know what she's about (at least on the surface), behind her nauseating cuteness lies a badass that tries to be tough like Madoka.

Madoka on the other hand is more difficult to understand, I look at her this way. She was a tomboy most of her early girlhood, when she grew up she became a knockout but her tomboyishness has made her a fighter and she's gained a reputation as "Madoka the Pick". Being unusually good looking for a sukeban (delinquent schoolgirl) she doesn't deal with the attention well, distrusting most people since she thinks they only pay her any attention because of how she looks, so she treats most people coldly. This is exhibited by the types of friends she had in her life before meeting Kyosuke. She doesn't care what most people think of her because of this but when she finally encounters someone that she desperately wants to think well of her she has a very hard time getting past that.

Most of the episodes revolve around various characters having various misunderstandings about various other characters. Hilarity ensues. There are also alot of nice moments between Kyosuke and Madoka as he slowly learns more about her and she slowly changes from beautiful sukeban to regular girl (she still can kick ass but not as often).

This is a romance first and foremost with characters more realistic than in most other series. No one is perfect, the psychic powers Kyosuke and his family possess only add to the comedy and don't really detract from the main story, and we get more insight into the minds of the main characters that results in making them more human that is usually possible in anime. A great show and extremely highly recommended. SEE THIS SHOW!

I also must add that the ending of the series is one of the nicest ever and you'll have to look out for my KOR movie review as the story isn't complete without it.

Genshiken 7/10

2006-01-17T20:41:00.000-08:00

I watch alot of anime but the guys in this show really crank it up a notch. BLAM!

From 2004 this 12 episode TV series has all the current technical refinements. Detailed backgrounds that are reused since the cast doesn't go too far from their club room. Good character designs that suffer at times from inconsistent quality (which is funny because the guys in the show complain about this regarding anime they watch). Some good VAs and music and a pretty catchy opening theme.

The Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture. In Japanese it's shortened to Genshiken. Where your average Japanese university has a manga club and an anime club the particular school in this show has Genshiken as well. Basically it's a club where the members watch anime instead of making it, read manga instead of drawing it, play videogames, cosplay, attend comic shows and make models. All the otaku pastimes without any creativity.

The story starts as a new student discovers Genshiken and joins up. We quickly meet the various otaku members and the show basically follows their lives outside of class time. Since they are major otakus this means that they don't have much in the way of lives outside of going to class but the show is better than the premise indicates.

Enter Saki. She's no otaku but a sucker for a pretty face so she joins Genshiken in order to be close to Makoto the club pretty boy she's taken a fancy to. The show mainly focuses on her hilarious reactions to the various otaku activities and we're treated to some pretty funny attempts on her part to get Makoto to notice her more though she REFUSES to do cosplay (the one thing that WOULD get his attention).

The show is pretty entertaining overall. We learn a bit about each of the club members and their otaku areas of expertise but Saki is the only one who shows any type of character growth here. She doesn't suddenly become an otaku or anything but does eventually sotra become friends with the club members and begins to understand how their minds work. She's pretty nasty to most of them but shows flashes of kindness and tolerance nearer the end of the series. She ALSO gets roped into some otaku activities and it's pretty damned funny how mad she gets.

There's apparently a second season on the way with at least one new female character so I'm looking forward to more. Recommended if you like watching fish-out-of-water type shows or want to feel better about your own level of geekiness.

Ninja Scroll 8/10

2006-01-17T01:04:00.000-08:00

This movie has one of the coolest scenes ever. Giant stone guy is fighting this ninja. Picks him up and rips off both his arms. Proceeds to drink the blood from one of the arms while chuckling evilly. I love that part. +1 for that.

Theatrical anime is typically hit and miss story wise (more often miss) but always produced with high production standards. Ninja Scroll dates back to 1993 so no computer anything in this film. The art is fantastic with the backgrounds being full of detail and the characters being well animated with tons of frames. The music is old style Japanese which suits the movie's historical time frame and I've always liked the end theme. The one thing I DIDN'T like was how most of the characters have giant chins, especially the main kunoichi Kagero. On guys it looks OK but on the ladies....

Ninja Scroll is a story about Jubei, a wandering ninja who gets tricked by an old man into helping him investigate the circumstances behind the wiping out of a feudal Japanese village. The story is that it was plague but no no, it's the bad guys who poisoned the village well and are planning to take off with a bunch of gold to fund a revolution. A bunch of ninjas sent by a small clan also investigate but are wiped out so Jubei also acquires the only survivor as a traveling companion as well, a kunoichi named Kagero.

As our heroes get closer and closer to the evildoers and the gold they are stealing various freaky bad guys are sent to kill them. These fights are really the highlights of the movie. Each villain has some freaky power so the battles are varied and interesting, not to mention bloody. Blood showers all over and sprays the Japanese landscape so if that's what you like this movie has got it. The violence isn't very graphic though, a lot of blood but no intestines or eyeballs flying hither and yon which may disappoint some. There is also quite a bit of sexuality in this film with various naked women getting violated in various ways including with a snake. Keep an eye out for that scene. I figure this is mainly why this movie is as popular as it is as lots of movies have violence, so few have snake/woman coitus.

Once the various pawn enemies are dealt with there's a final fight an the movie ends. It does have some emotion nearing the finale so the movie has a bit of a heart even though most of the time its hack this, disembowel that. It's easy to recommend this since I've never met anyone who didn't like it. That stone guy needs his own movie though. Here's hoping.

Bottle Fairy 5/10

2006-01-15T22:57:00.000-08:00

I can handle a series about the adventures of little fairy girls once every year. The last one was Risky Safety, the year before was Sugar, and the year before that was AMG Mini-Goddesses. Now this year's offering is Bottle Fairy. Does the saccharine sweetness of Bottle Fairy stand up to it's predecessors? Read on.

Being a new show (2003) it's got all the bells and whistles one has come to expect from anime these days. Scanned and computer coloured art, consistent animation, nice backgrounds, and pretty standard music throughout the 13, 15 min. episodes. The VA's are pretty much standard as well except for the the annoying girl next door who's voice makes my neighbours' dog howl. The only thing that really stands out in this show is the kinda catchy OP theme and the artwork during the end credits that changes with each episode. As for the style of the show I liked it OK but I'm not a fan of the eyes without pupils. Other shows usually reserve that look for characters that have died so I sometimes see one of the fairies and wonder if the creators wish their creations were dead. Probably not.

This series is about 4 little fairies that came from/live in bottles with this dude they call Senseisan (Mr. Teacher). The show doesn't really setup the situation much but the deal is that the fairies are there to learn about being human and living in the human world. This is unlike traditional European fairy stories where fairies capture humans that stumble into rings of toadstools and eat/have sex with them. Not necessarily in that order. The show is split into 13, 12 minute episodes, one for each month and a final episode where the story finishes up.

The episodes tend to follow roughly the same format; Senseisan goes off to do something human and appropriate for the month the episode is occurring in, the fairies misunderstand what it is he's doing or get an insane explanation from the little girl next store, they act out or do whatever Senseisan has gone off to do in their own way with mildly humorous results. The fairies are kinda dim with them following some standard stereotypes. There's an excitable one, a tomboy one, a stupid one, and a cultured one. They don't fight with each other but they each have a different take on whatever it is they're doing because of their differing personalities. It reminds me a little of Muppet Babies with their vivid imaginations.

I didn't mind this show but it's not as funny as I would normally like. However I DID like the final episode which has a bit of a twist and is funnier than the rest. This show IS rather informative though since it teaches the viewer about Japanese culture and annual traditions in a unique way. Recommended if you want somewhat a silly presentation of information about Japanese culture or like little fairies.

Samurai Champloo 8/10

2006-01-10T18:33:00.000-08:00

Since I'm not a fan of samurai anime, today I bring you a review of a samurai anime. Who'd have imagined? Well, with all the hype I HAD to see Samurai Champloo. Did it live up the hype? Is it as good as Cowboy Bebop? Will I bother to figure out what the hell Champloo means?

This show has a pretty great look as far as the backgrounds are concerned. Lots of detail and colour but I didn't like the character designs as much in these 26 episodes from 2004. I found the designs used for alot of the background characters to be borderline unpleasant to look at. Ugly faces, drab or insane outfits, strange movements. I did like the designs for the main characters, especially Jugen and Fuu which is a good thing. Jugen was well served with a rather stooped, scruffy, and scrawny look which matches his crazy fighting style quite well. Fuu is one of the few "cute" designs in the show which lends some credibility to her childish behaviour at times. The music had some real highlights with some of the end credit themes being very good and the music in the first half of episode 14 being especially great. I felt the show didn't need the weird hop-hop vibe it had at times since it really seemed like something thrown in after the fact.

So, who are these Jugen and Fuu people I spoke of earlier? Two of the three main characters of course! Fuu is an orphaned 15 year old girl who uses a coin toss to wrangle a couple of slacker but skilled bodyguards to accompany her in her quest to find the Samurai Who Smells Like Sunflowers. Jugen and Jin are extremely skilled with swords and have seen alot of battles in their day. Jin is the classic samurai, he's cool, collected, and honourable. Jugen on the other hand is prone to fits of rage, criminal behaviour, and fights with a crazy breakdancing style. The story mostly is about their journey across Japan, visiting various places and constantly either getting into, or out of trouble. They're always broke, the two guys take off on Fuu constantly much to her displeasure, and they seem to always get the short end of the stick.

The best part of this show is the comedy. With various gags about Fuu's lack of sexual appeal, various encounters with angry shopkeepers who want their money, the constant underlying hatred between Jin and Mugen, and Fuu's incredible ability to get kidnapped (which rivals Meg's in Burst Angel) there's alot to laugh at here.

This show also has a serious side that's hit and miss. The more serious episodes tend to be 2-3 episode arcs and really don't fit into any overall plot until the final one. The search for the elusive samurai tends to take a back seat and is only occasionally mentioned by Fuu. The ending is alright but the series didn't really build up to it thus robbing it of some of it's impact.

The point of the series is really to show how the three travellers become friends in the end but there's no real payoff. At least not a payoff I wanted to see. Only Fuu shows any emotion for the other two and it's a little bit too late in the series when it happens. I can easily recommend this show because it's very entertaining but I didn't think the ending was as good as it could have been so it doesn't get a 10. Recommended.

champloo: A word from Okinawa meaning "to blend".

Yumeria 6/10

2006-01-01T22:42:00.000-08:00

A show about dreams. Not mine. The dreams in this show are about a guy fighting flying buildings with a bunch of girls in skimpy outfits. My dreams are more like the game Shadowman or The Suffering. Dream THOSE dreams every night and you won't wonder why I watch fluff like Yumeria.

From 2004 this show looks pretty good with some really colourful character designs and bright backgrounds. The music is quite good with the opening theme being a standout in the 12 episodes. Being somewhat of a harem anime the choice of voices for the various girls was pretty good and none of the characters' voices bugged me, just what they said. Whoever decided to have one little girl say nothing but "Mone", one little girl put "nanoda" at the end of every sentence, and have the cat yell "Nono" instead of meowing should be drug out into the street and shot. I'm not kidding.

The plot for this show is actually a little deeper then some of the more recent harem shows and hearkens back to such fare as the El Hazard OAV (barely) where there's more of a point to the story than just meeting the girls and screwing around (not literally). Tomokazu has just turned 16 and he's started having strange dreams. He's in a rather barren landscape and meets a little girl who's beside him in bed when he wakes up. This girl only says "Mone" thus that's the name she's given. He meets various other girls, a classmate he's sweet on, a little girl with a cat who puts "nanoda" at the end of every sentence, a slightly younger girl that has just moved back from abroad that he knew as a kid, and a busty older girl that looks suspiciously like his ditzy adopted caretaker but wears a helmet that hides her face.

It turns out Tomokazu has the ability to grant the girls the power to fight the buildings in the dream world but he must touch them which leads to some limited comedy. Things get a little darker near the end of the series and the overall story behind the flying buildings is revealed and various revelations are made. This is hinted at throughout the series and gives you a pretty good reason to keep watching with the hints that are dropped.

The main focus of the show though is the fan service and comedy since this is a harem anime. The fan service is thankfully pretty limited since a couple of the girls are pretty young so most of the best bits in the series are more on the comedy side. There are a lot of instances where the girls misunderstand or jump to conclusions about things Tomokazu says or does that lead them to attack him and accuse him of being a pervert. Some may figure this gets old fast but I never got tired of it.

This series also has the definitely un-haremlike distinction of having the main character actually kinda choose one of the girls by the end of the series. It's not like they get married or anything but Yumeria avoids the harem ending where everything ends up the same at the end of the series as it was at the start and the main guy never comes close to picking one of the girls.

If you don't like harem anime you won't like this but it's different enough and looks good enough to recommend anyway. Try it, you might be surprised.

Patlabor: The New Files 9/10

2005-12-30T21:46:00.000-08:00

First thing's first. Read this review for Patlabor TV. Done? Good.

Patlabor: The New Files is simply a continuation of the same with better quality animation and a couple of new songs. If you thought the Ingrams looked cool in the TV series well think again. They look REALLY cool now. Also this set of OAVs breaks the all time TV Series follow up OAV record as far as I'm concerned. 16 episodes beats Ranma 1/2, Urusei Yatsura and Orange Road. These shows were released from 1990-1992.

There are really 3 groups of stories. The first is a 4 episode arc that deals with the final showdown with the black Griffin that smashes through the new Zeros pretty quickly. I thought the creators really did a great job saving the 3rd Ingram's battle appearance until these last few episodes though the NA DVDs put these in sequentially but they were originally episodes 1, 3, 5, and 7.

The second group is the funnier, average case episodes very much in the vein of the TV series. A man in a bear suit holds hostage the studio where his children's show is being cancelled. The men of SV2 have to find a criminal in a bathhouse by getting a peek at his armpit. The maintenance squad goes to war with each other after the chief bans all their extra curricular activities. The team goes back into the tunnels and face off again with the giant white crocodile. Finally a dream episode where Noa and the team is a parody of Ultraman.

The last set are the best episodes, the kinda serious, kinda funny episodes that deal with the characters outside of their jobs that the series was kinda missing. Noa gets a toothache and we learn that maybe Asuma is more concerned for her welfare than average co-workers. Kanuka and Takeo (the other lady) go with the gang to a hot spring hotel and don't get along. Ota gets amnesia and thinks he killed all the guys in SV2. Noa, Asuma, Hiromi, and Shige find a kitten and it wreaks havoc. Finally Goto and Shinobu get stranded and have to spend a night together in a themed love hotel.

Of course the last two episodes I haven't mentioned yet get special treatment.

The final episode wraps the show up with a whimper rather than a bang though in this case it was the right choice. It's a day off the the SV2 and we see how each of member of the team spends their day. They've changed since we first met them but not necessarily in really obvious ways. At the end of the episode the peaceful ambience is shattered with a dispatch and we're left with only our imaginations as to what happens to the cast after we take our leave from their world for the last time. (The follow-up movies don't exist in my mind.)

Episode 14, Snow Rondo stands as my favourite anime episode of all time out of the thousands I have seen even 10 years after having seen it for the first time. Asuma gets an invitation to his 10th(?) high school reunion. Once there he meets the Madonna (not the singer) of his high school class that he had/has a thing for. He goes on a couple of dates with her but she mysteriously disappears each time only to reappear unexpectedly days(?) later. A red umbrella, a red balloon, a snowscape painting, and a mysterious snow along with a hauntingly beautiful score create a sombre tone to a story we never have quite explained to us. Some of what Asuma experiences is real, some a dream, we are only sure something odd is happening. This picture I suppose sums it up for me.

Best episode ever. I can assure you.

By the way, the last episode is titled "All Quiet at the Second Unit". Super duper highly recommended.

Tokyo Underground 5/10

2005-12-27T14:19:00.000-08:00

What's with the Japanese and their fascination with underground cities? I liked Fraggle Rock as much as the next kid but c'mon. Tokyo Underground once again situates an adventure underground and I figure it's to save on background animation costs.

I like some technical parts of this show but not many. The character designs aren't among my favourites but they look OK and are pretty consistent throughout the 26 episode series from 2002. The backgrounds are pretty limited and not that impressive but then again caves are pretty boring. The music isn't anything special but I really like the end credits theme. The VAs are rather good and each character is quite distinct, I was surprised by this as the rest of the production seems a little on the non-distinct side.

The story here is pretty weak, a boy named Rumina meets a couple of girls running from someone who intends them harm. After being killed by the bad guys and resurrected by Ruri the Priestess of Life, Rumina gains wind powers. Whoo-hoo! The girls have escaped from The Underground, an old scientific research facility/ghetto for poor people. Ruri is recaptured after falling for Rumina and he, his geeky friend, and Ruri's bodyguard rush down into The Underground to save her. What follows is a rather uninspired trek through a series of dark and boring tunnels and towns and converting earlier enemies to the good team.

It's not entirely bad, between episodes 16 and 22 the story starts to get better and it raised my expectations for the ending. So much for those. The story ends with Ruri being rescued while all 12 or so main characters are facing certain doom and POOF! The 4 original members are in a field on the surface and WE NEVER FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENS TO THE REST OF THE CAST!!!! WTF!?

For a retarded ending you get dropped to 5/10 from 7/10 before the last 4 episodes. Not recommended if you want the ending to MAKE SENSE!!!

Patlabor TV 9/10

2005-12-20T19:03:00.000-08:00

“In the labor criminal justice system there are two separate yet equally important groups: the special vehicles section, who combat labor crime, and the mechanics who maintain the patrol labours . These are their stories.” DONG DONG!

In the near future giant robots named labors will be created to replace construction and farming equipment. As often as someone goes nuts with a grain thresher, people will go nuts with these labors and the police will need a labor team to stop them. By the way, support your local police anti-thresher team, you don't want that shit in your neighbourhood.

Patlabor is an older show from the early '90s (1990) that really had a large production budget behind it and it shows. The character designs are all quite distinctive while not having to make everyone have crazy coloured and styled hair. The animation also maintains a really high level of quality throughout the 45 episodes with only a couple of exceptions. The backgrounds and music are pretty good and the first end theme is one of the best ever. Where this show shines is with the Japanese VAs without whom the show would fail miserably (as evidenced by the English dub), Ota and Captain Goto are particularly effective as the psycho cop and catatonic Section Captain respectively. I also must mention here that the Patlabor Ingram 3rd MG AV-98 is the coolest mech EVER! (a little above the Veritech from Robotech)

This show revolves around the daily working lives of the Special Vehicles Division 2. They're based in the middle of nowhere, they have a bad reputation of destructiveness on missions, and their team is made up of somewhat odd characters. Of course they also have the most advanced Patlabor in the world at their disposal so it balances things out. Kinda.

Noa the Ingram crazy newbie is the central character and the series typically focuses a little more on her situation than that of the others. She's not good at much but she's an excellent labor pilot and tends to be the one to save the day while insane officer Ota empties rounds into nearby buildings at the drop of a hat. The other members of the cast are in the command cars that direct the labors, drive the carriers that carry the labors into action, and in other roles such the maintenance team and the captains of Divisions 1 & 2.

Each of the characters gets some backstory and most get screen time in each episode but never to the detriment of the plot. The show is really about the team effort in fighting crime and once you get to know them after about 10 episodes their quirks and personalities really make otherwise boring missions really, really interesting and entertaining to watch.

This show has drama, character growth, some great comedy, and an overall plot that stretches throughout the series yet there are a large number of great filler shows to add a real sense of time passing through the series. There isn't much romance here and we don't see much of the cast outside of work but it's not that kind of show.

This show's true finale is in the OAV series that follows it but I can only think of a couple episodes of the 45 that weren't better than the best episode of most other series. Highly, highly recommended.

Grenadier 6/10

2005-12-16T22:36:00.000-08:00

Dictionary.com defines "grenadier" as:

A member of the British Grenadier Guards, the first regiment of the royal household infantry.
A soldier who is a member of a special corps or regiment.
A soldier equipped with grenades.

If you equate "grenades" with "large breasts" that about sums up Grenadier. Of course grenadier is also French for pomegranate tree. Read into THAT what you will.

This show is relatively new so we get some very high quality animation and backgrounds throughout the 12 episodes. The music is pretty good at times but I didn't consider the opening or ending themes anything special. There's some cool western guitar music during the fight scenes that's worth listening for. I liked all of the character designs and appreciated the large breasts many of the female characters are endowed with. Yay boobies! Of course there's pretty limited fan-service here, it's more of the tease kind but whatever. The Japanese VAs were all good as always. This show aired in 2004-05.

The story revolves around Rushuna , the busty blonde heroine of the story and her new samurai friend Yajirou. She's got impressive "guns", she's got a cowboy hat, she's got a skimpy outfit, and she's armed with a gun she knows how to use. At first they just sort of meander around fighting the baddie of the week, of course the deal with Rushuna is that she's non-violent and doesn't kill her enemies but usually just breaks their weapons with her gunfire. At about episode 6 Rushuna gets a price put on her head by her queen, Tenchi. Yajirou has a previous beef with the queen, which is why he's been hanging around Rushuna, so they head out with a little girl they pick up and go to the capital to confront her. On the way they continue to fight the baddie of the week, arrive, find out there's a big conspiracy, then save the day. Pretty white bread eh?

Did I mention she Rushuna strips down and has a bath in EVERY episode? Did I mention she reloads her gun by flipping fresh rounds out from between her breasts? Did I mention she ends up wearing various skimpy outfits throughout the series? Did I mention she gets her clothes nearly ripped off in every fight? Well she does.

In this show the characters are great but the story isn't. Rushuna's a pacifist but she has the easiest time of it I've ever seen. She's also amazingly one-dimensional. We get some character development from Yajirou and the little girl but we never really get to know Rushuna and it leaves her as somewhat of a shallow ditz. I'm comparing the pacifism theme of this show to Trigun and I'm not impressed at all with Grenadier's inept handling of a plot device that Trigun handled so amazingly.

This show was OK as mindless eye candy but not much else. The jiggle and fan-service isn't even up to snuff as far as I'm concerned. I guess I'm kinda, sorta recommending this series but I feel Grenadier is a shadow of what it could be.

(Did I mention the final dual is between 2 big breasted gun-toting girls who flip bullets out from between their breasts? It's a sight to behold.)

NAME CHANGE!!!

2005-12-12T14:36:00.000-08:00

I changed my blog's name so the words "anime" and "review" would be more promiment when doing internet searches.

Type "advent children rant" into Google. I'm so proud!

Jubei-Chan 2 (J2) 9/10

2005-12-11T16:48:00.000-08:00

Back in the early days of the current anime boom a show was released about a young girl who was forced to transform into the reincarnation of a 300 year old samurai. It was goofy, it was silly, it was funny, it was sad at the end. Who knew they'd make a sequel?

These 13 episodes look great as most 2004 shows should. It's got great, colourful backgrounds and consistent animation throughout. The creators kept the same general character designs from the previous series which is good since they were really good and changing them would have amounted to blasphemy. (I'M LOOKING IN YOUR DIRECTION PATLABOR 2!) The music here borrows much from the previous series and maintains the continuity as well and I particularity liked the battle theme and the end credits theme. The VAs all come back from the previous series as far as I know and they're all great.

The story picks up a year(?) after the events of the previous series with Jubei living a normal life after discarding the lovely-eyepatch that turns her into Yagyu Jubei the Second, samurai kickbutt mistress. (For reference, her transformation turns Jubei into an adult version of herself dressed as a kunoichi with kick ass samurai skills.)

A new threat arrives on the scene as a group who split from the Yagyu clan and went to Siberia have returned for revenge. Also a little blonde girl Jubei's age, Freesia, shows up and starts living in her house and messing with Jubei's relationship with her father.

It turns out Freesia is the daughter of Yagyu Jubei and has come to claim the lovely-eyepatch for herself and defeat Jubei-chan. She has a blue spade eyepatch vs. Jubei's pink heart and transforms into an older version of herself as well to do battle.

The show deals mainly with Jubei's continued reluctance to fight, she wants a normal life and tries again and again to discard the eye-patch and abandon her super-powered alter-ego but keeps being put into situations where she can't help it.

I always felt sorry for Jubei, her mom died while her dad was away at work and it really messed her up. When she meets Freesia she seems to really open up for the first time only to be betrayed by her new defacto sister. This show has some really sad moments between Jubei and her dad, the lady ninja that looks like her deceased mom, and Freesia. Where the first series was more goofy this one is quite serious and it shows you more of Jubei's personality and delves a little deeper into her unhappiness. If you've seen the first series I highly recommend this second one. If you haven't I'd recommend watching both of them.

Dragon Quest VIII (GAME REVIEW) 9/10

2005-12-11T08:37:00.000-08:00

Why so few reviews lately? I was playing an RPG of course, the first to hold my attention until the end since Tales of Symphonia. I'm at 130 hours and have finished the game with both endings so here's a review since this game shares many elements of an anime series.

On the technical side this game looks really good. The overworld is large and colorful and well detailed. The land has topography so it's not just a flat plain with mountains and rivers blocking your progress. There are plenty of trees and plants so when you're supposed to be in a forest it LOOKS like a forest. Throughout the game you get a taste of various climates as well, from desert to winter landscape. The world has time that passes and throughout the game day turns to night and vice-versa, this looks OK but there are problems if you watch the sun and moon with them fading away in the sky during a transition rather than disappearing beyond the horizon, the starfield used in the night sky is also kinda ugly and there's no real weather to speak of. One other small complaint is that the mountains are not to scale. While they look great in the distance they're quite short close up, oh well.

The towns and castles in the game look OK but the towns only contain the minimum required buildings, INN, Weapons Shop, Armor Shop, Item Shop, Bar, Church, and a couple houses. I understand the system limitation but I really prefer when the town LOOKS like it can support a pretty good population.

The dungeons are pretty forgettable overall with the majority of them being of the boring brown cave variety. I wish there was a little MORE variety there, chanhe the colour of the walls or something.

The monsters look great with alot of different animations. The problem here is the massive number of monster designs reused again and again with nothing but a pallette change and a name switch. The monsters all have horrible puns for names and are pretty much all terrible. I give some love to the classic monsters from the original Dragon Warrior (I don't know if ALL the DQ games have these monsters but I suspect so.)

The main characters and NPCs were designed by the dude who did Dragonball and Chrono Trigger so they look pretty good mostly but there are only about 25 NPC deisgns and they're reused again and again WITHOUT A PALETTE CHANGE! This may have been cute on the NES or Gameboy but c'mon. Only the bunny girls are different colours and they're all still blonde. The main characters are quite good with the weapon and shield equipped visible on them and you can switch your party order to have different main characters to control in the overworld (though keep in mind the leader takes more damage in fights). Like most newer fully 3D rpgs there are some alternate costumes for the main characters but are limited to one for the main character after the end of the game and several provocative outfits for the busty jiggling female Jessica. Since I don't usually care for anything other than slinky outfits for my female character(s) this is OK as her outfits are actually benificial in battle and are a follows; Bunny Girl, Dancer, Bikini, Black Lingere, Sailor Moon. Yay!

The battles are remicent of the original Dragon Warrior as well. The turn based wait system harkens back to yesteryear when games couldn't handle multiple timers calculating everyone's attack frequency separately. While I like this, fans of the newer active battle systems in games such as the Final Fantasy series will go crazy with the whole, pick your moves and wait to see if the enemy kills you by the end of the turn. You also have precious few methods of increasing the number of actions you get in a turn while the enemies can get up to 3! The fights are in 3D with the same character models as the overworld and when selecting your turn actions the view is from the team's perspective facing the monsters as in the old Dragon Warrior. The fights have the standard attacks, special attacks and magic spells but the menus drove me nuts. There's no memory option that saves your last selection in battle so if you want to use Falcon Slash again and again you've got to move the cursor to "abilities" each turn then select Falson Slash. The "abilities" and "spells" menus save the last position but not the "items" menu which you use CONSTANTLY in the later stages of the game.

The story for Dragon Quest VIII is pretty standard. The hero is a knight at a castle and one day a magic staff kept there is stolen and the castle is placed under a curse. The hero and his king (turned into a monster) and the princess (turned into a horse) head off to find the culprit and lift the curse. The hero has a buddy named Yangus and along the way meets the redheaded, large breasted Jessica and the womanizing, gambling Templar knight Angelo. The story is quite linear with the party being hearded throughout the world a town at a time as the monsters get harder to kill. There's a little backtracking at times but the ability to warp between places you've been before reduces the annoyance factor. As the game progresses the mystery behind the curse is revealed and the world must be saved from the evil god dude. There are few boss fights in this game but HUNDREDS of overworld fights. Have fun with those.

I wish there had been more variety in the monsters, NPC's and dungeon designs and I would have liked more boss fights but I otherwise found this game really fun. I can see why the Japanese LOVE Dragon Quest so much since it doesn't add a fruity new battle system with every game and keeps the story simple and doesn't have crap like...well like the crap Final Fantasy seems to keep coming up with. Recommended

Stellvia 9/10

2005-12-05T12:15:00.000-08:00

I wonder at times why most space shows are populated with high school students. What was the last show that featured a predominantly adult cast? Macross? I suppose Galaxy Railways but it's still the exception rather than the rule.

Stellvia consists of 26 episodes from 2003 with the whole CG spaceships, scanned and computer coloured animation and high quality production values. Other than the OBVIOUS Star Trek Generations ripoff near the end of the series it all looks great. I really like the character designs in this show which is always a plus. The music was OK and I found the opening theme particularly catchy. The voice actors were good, as usual, and I really liked the main character Shima's VA.

This show is ALOT like Battle Athletes Victory in my opinion. (This is a good thing.) Shima Katase is a 15 year old who's just entered a school in the orbiting space station Stellvia where young people are trained in various technical fields in order to contribute to The Great Mission. This mission is to support a system of planetary barriers generated by the various space stations throughout the solar system in order to protect them from an incoming blast from a distant supernova. Shima starts out shy and nervous and has alot of problems in school but she makes a bunch of friends and begins to show some genius. The shockwave arrives halfway through the series, after that some aliens show up and alert humanity to a new threat. There's a Star Trek Generations style space pink thing a comin' and once again everybody's got to work together to save the day.

This show has some really great characters. The girls consist of: Shima, the spazzy girl, the quiet angry girl and the smart regal girl. The guys consist of the loud guy, the vain guy, the quiet guy, and the ... other guy. Since they're so different they get into some pretty funny situations and allow the show to be really hilarious at times, while being serious at other times. There are also tons of supporting characters and some of them even have sub-plots that add some nice depth to the series.

I reckon Shima is a little too whiny considering she's so great at everything later in the series but she doesn't cry all the time like the main character in Battle Athletes Victory so I can overlook alot of that.

This show has an overall nice feel to it. The universe is in danger but there's not much doubt as to the outcome, the story is more about Shima as she grows up and her relationships with her friends. Highly recommended, especially if you likes Battle Athletes Victory.

Psychic Academy 4/10

2005-11-28T18:18:00.000-08:00

A show that came free with the first volume of the manga. How could I go wrong? So very wrong.

This show follows the age old tradition of CG scanned and coloured shows with it's blinding array of clashing colours and unnatural pans over still shots. I hate this early CG stuff and it bugs the hell out of me. Trouble Chocolate, Lost Universe, and Saber Marionette J to X come to mind as other examples. The character designs are OK but inconsistent, I enjoy the large breasts and provocative outfits of the girls but not their hideous expressions when the quality takes a dive. I'm torn. The VA's were nothing special and the music was somewhat forgettable. These 24 episodes came out in 2002 but only run 9 minutes each.

The story here is actually a premise I usually enjoy. The world now is the home of certain people who have become psychics. The main character Shiomi has late blooming powers and has just been transferred to the Psychic Academy. Once there he reunites with his childhood friend Orina, a girl with a large rack and provocative wardrobe. He also meets a angry loner girl named Mew, also with a large rack and provocative wardrobe.

The series runs 24 15 min episodes and is mainly about Shiomi's life at school and ends before any real plot gets going. We do learn that while Shiomi is going out with Orina, he has a strange connection with Mew and we get a bit of a love triangle going.

The show isn't bad it just doesn't go anywhere. The manga (which I've mostly read a this point) actually goes somewhere and I suppose if you're a fan of the manga you'd like this show as an interesting perspective on the first few volumes if you can forgive the crappy quality. Recommended for big fans of the manga.

Avenger 7/10

2005-11-15T22:06:00.000-08:00

It's a grim future...again. Humanity has been relegated to a lonely outpost on a desolate planet...again. The populace has become sterile...again. From the ashes rises a hero...again.

Avenger is a newer show so on the technical side this series is of a higher quality , as it should be being as it aired in 2003. The character designs are really great and the backgrounds and character art are consistent throughout all 13 episodes. The music is OK overall and the VA's do the standard great job.

Earth was destroyed 10 or so years ago but not before Mars was colonized 40 years previous to that. Around that time the humans on Mars ceased having children due to some unknown reason. To replace the missing children people have created androids in their image for another unknown reason. I believe it's so the writers can have a convenient plot device.

The story starts with a young woman named Layla who travels with a little girl(?) android named Nei. Layla is a gladiator who is to compete in a tournament between the Mars city states in order to determine how the limited Martian resources are to be divided up. This tournament is again never really explained and is probably advertised as "The Ultimate Plot Advancement Tournament of Champions". Because of this Layla is a highly trained fighter who is very adept at dispatching the black cloaked little girl androids sent to kidnap Nei on a regular basis. (Once again the trauma of the destruction of Earth has cost humanity their ability to use projectile weapons.) Nei is seemingly a very advanced android and they meet up with an android repair guy named Speedy who joins them on their travels after meeting. He either comes along because..well..he just does, I suppose it's because Layla and Nei really don't talk much.

The plot kind of meanders around a bit to start. We learn early on that Nei isn't just an android but she's a little girl(?), how she ended up with Layla is never explained. The people running Mars want Nei in order to preform the standard tossing of the little girl(?) into a large glowing tank of green water and running tests. They first batch of shows involve the group running from the authorities after being forced into the cities in search of food.

We also learn some of the backstory about Mars. There are these immortals who run Mars who came from Earth back in the day. 10 years ago they shot down an escape ship from Earth when it showed up looking for help. It turns out Layla was the only survivor who was rescued by the immortal guy, Cross, who disagreed with the rest of the rulers and went out to live in the desert. Cross trained Layla to fight for revenge, then berates her later in the series for living for revenge. What a jerk!

Also, when the Earth was destroyed alot of people went into stasis on the moon. Then the moon went to Mars. When it arrived at Mars it caused havoc, kind of like when Megatron brought Cybertron to Earth. The people on Earth are waking up at the time the story takes place but we never see them, never find out why they slept, never find out what their plans are, never know why the immortals are so pissed at them and of course never find out HOW THEY MOVED THE MOON!

If you can get past the insane premise and HUGE plot holes this show is pretty great. It's basically about Layla trying to protect the one thing she cares about and making a choice to fight for that and not revenge. I also liked watching each show waiting for the revelation as to Nei's true nature because you never know what kind of weird twist they're going to put in. I recommend this show but it's not as well thought out as say Saber Marionette J even though it shares alot of the same ideas.

Star Ocean EX 2/10

2005-11-10T19:40:00.000-08:00

Oh man! This show really crashed and burned. It was like a train wreck. So sad.

Based on Star Ocean 2: Second Story for Playstation, I had such high hopes. The game was a little weak in the story department but the amazing music, visuals and interesting character designs made up for it. The music was especially memorable and I was looking forward to more of the same goodness in Star Ocean EX.

BZZZZT! WRONGO ZENITH27ERINO!

Dang.

Starting with the visuals, the small bright spot in this series is the retention of the basic character designs from the game and the nice colours. The problems start right away with the inconsistent animation quality and lack of any great effects in post-production. The backgrounds are sub-standard but since the story rarely goes anywhere interesting this isn't a real problem. The great symphonic music from the game is completely absent here and replaced with boring and uninspired generic synth crappiness. The OP theme is annoying but the ED theme isn't entirely a waste of time listening to. The VA's are average and I have no real complaints there. These 26 episodes aired back in 2001 and I'd like to go back to that time and slap the creators around a bit.

The plot goes something like this. Claude is a crewmember on a spaceship with his father as captain. They go down to a planet and Claude is accidentally teleported to a planet and marooned there. He meets Rena, a girl who believes Claude to be the legendary hero destined to save the world. The world is in trouble from the Sorcery Globe on the next continent over and it's creating monsters and wreaking havoc on the populace. Claude and Rena set out to save the world with and meet various characters on the way who join them on their journey. They ultimately get to the Sorcery Globe and..I won't spoil the ending.

This is a rather short plot summary but that's about all that happens. The other characters are thrown in and there are so many of them they don't get any real growth or plot involvement going. The game had all these characters but you were forced to choose 7 or so out of the 12 or so available. Star Ocean EX attempts to cram everyone in, to the detriment of the story. It's almost like the first and last couple episodes are simply framing for a bunch of filler. Also the ending of the series was atrocious. The game has multiple endings depending on the relationships between the characters established during play. The show's story ends before the game's story ends. What!? YOU HAD 30+ ENDINGS TO CHOOSE FROM AND PICKED NONE OF THEM!!!??? CRIPES!

With the somewhat crappy production quality, bad writing and retarded ending I can't recommend this show to anyone other then fans of the game. Not-recommended.