Anime reviews

I think this thread should have a little uniformity to it so that it will be easy to reference for people unfamiliar to what you are reviewing. Start by picking a film, show or manga you know a lot about. Describe the story and main characters (avoiding spoilers, naturally), then talk about the technical elements; animation, music, character design, cast and crew, etc. I think it would also be good to include the effect it had on you personally, as well as a grade (shall we say, 1-5?), or even multiple grades for each element.

I'll start by expanding on the one I've said the least about.

3x3 Eyes
Sazan Aizu

type: animation
genre: adventure/fantasy/horror
length: 2 OAVs; 7 episodes in all
released: the first OAV in 1991, the second in 1995
studio: Kodansha/Starchild
creator: Yuzo Takada (Blue Seed, Nukunuku)


Story
Yakumo Fujii felt like he had a pretty normal life. He was forced to work a less-than-orthodox job after his globe-trotting father left on another archeological trek to Tibet. To Yakumo, his famous father was nothing but a dreamer, too obsessed with ancient "demons" to provide for what was left of his family. But he would soon find himself closer to his father's dreams than he ever imagined.

He meets a young girl named Pai, who tells him that she has brought a letter all the way to Tokyo from Yakumo's father in Tibet, who is now dead. In the letter his father pleads with him to help Pai "become human", claiming that she is the last surviving member of an ancient race of three-eyed demons, the Sanjian Unkara, who were blessed with long lives and unsurpassed beauty. Pai tells him that she is over 700 years old. Needless to say, Yakumo finds this hard to believe.

But when his life is threatened in a fatal accident, Pai uses her powers to absorb his soul into hers. As long as she lives, so shall he. He would be her protector, her undying warrior, her Wu. Thus they are bonded, and Yakumo's adventure to uncover the mystery of Pai's past and the keys to her humanity begins. Yakumo learns that legions of demons are hunting Pai in order to obtain her power for a mysterious dark master, and as they get closer to the truth, they learn that unthinkable sacrifices may have to be made.

Main Characters


Yakumo Fujii: He's immortal, but that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt. When he begins his journey, he has very little fighting ability. Since the demons looking for Pai are powerful and ruthless, a lot of Yakumo's "skill" in the early parts involves him being a shield. He endures some pretty significant punishment and sheds a lot of blood. Gradually he builds himself up and prepares himself for the task ahead; to seek out and overcome forces that are legendary, dark and immensely powerful.


Pai/ Sanjian: Pai is innocent and sweet. Sanjian is serious and cold. Pai's journey is an enthusiastic search for humanity, to find the happiness she has come to envy, and to learn what makes living so precious. Sanjian is Pai's demon side, her inner personality that reveals her third eye. Sanjian is powerful and determined to silence the evil that lurks, serving in the modern day her ancient foe.


Li Ling Ling: An antiquities dealer and occult magazine producer. She discovers the Ningen no Zou, or Statue of Humanity, that is believed to have the power to turn Pai into a human. When Yakumo gets hit by a bus in front of her shop, pursuing dark-clad men stealing the Statue, she agrees to help them get it back. She's brazen and loud, but a loyal friend and skilled fighter.


Meixing Long: The sister of an occult journalist who goes missing along with the Statue of Humanity. Naturally, when Yakumo and Pai find leads that take them to the Long house, Meixing assumes they are the culprits and kicks Yakumo's ass for a while. But, soon they realize that they have a common foe; a cult in league with the demons.


Benares: An incredibly powerful being. At first it is unclear whether he is human or demon, but as their paths cross repeatedly it is discovered that Benares not only wants to stop them, but also that he bears the mark of the Wu. But if Pai is the last surviving Sanjian Unkara, how could it be that there is another Wu? Benares holds the answers to all of Yakumo's questions, as well as the secret of the master commanding the dark forces that stand in their way.

Technical Elements
Takada-san just recently stopped writing the 3x3 Eyes manga after a 15 year run. The story that is told in the OAV is faithful to his overall vision, but of course there is no way to take into account everything that's happened since its release. It's my hope that there will be a full-length tv series to do 15 years of manga justice. But, we're not talking about that...

At the time the OAVs were produced, computer generated effects were saved for only the largest of budgets. The result is hand-drawn animation, but it will surprise you with its quality. Even compared to other shows of the time, it's apparent that extra attention was paid to 3x3 Eyes.

The music is broad and orchestrated, further adding to the epic storytelling and beautiful animation. The songs that play during the various battles and other scenes with demons have a markedly sinister feel.

The voice acting, both the original Japanese and English dub, are very good. In particular, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the way the show felt in English. It isn't the same stable of voice actors that you've come to recognize, and that does feel refreshing.

Something important to mention, and the reason why I classified this show partly as "horror", is that it is more violent and bloody than mainstream animé. Yakumo, as previously mentioned, spills rivers of blood throughout the journey. The demonic element is rooted in Japanese and Tibetan folklore, but only to a certain extent. There are some mature situations in addition to the high gore factor. So, for these reasons it's not for the young or the faint of heart.

Personal
It was my first semester in college back in 2001. I was six hours away from all my family and friends in a really unfamiliar place. I had the spent the summer spending all of my money building an anime collection, so I started to look around local video stores. This OAV was on vhs, and the coverart caught my eye right away. I later got the two-disc complete dvd, but I think seeing it for the first time on vhs somehow made it more personal for me. Back then, the only friends within my reach were the members of my message board and, even though it sounds odd to some, all the characters I'd gotten to know from anime and games. Sazan Aizu is really close to my heart.

Rating
This is a classic and powerful animé, one for anyone who has their own dark side. This show would recieve a 5 on my scale if it weren't for the short length that OVA format allows. There are plot holes here and there that the manga expands greatly upon, but it isn't anything so drastic as to take away from the overall enjoyment.

4/5

EDIT: Yay my first sticky thread!!!

.:Naruto:.
An actual comprihensive outlook on this series.
By: Luke Groundwalker.

Type: Animation/comic
Genre: Shonen/Adventure/Drama (eh, not really)/Action
Length: Anime - 200+; Manga - 300+
Released: Anime - October 2002; Manga - November 1999
Creator: Masashi Kishimoto

Story

Naruto is about the regular, loud, shonen-arcytype child named Naruto Uzumaki. He was raised without the love of parents, and always did crazy and idiotic things that he caused on himself to get some attention. He was, however, born with the nine-tailed fox spirit inside him when the Fourth Hokage sacrificed his life to seal the fox spirit into the boy and save his whole ninja village. The series often deals with the growth of Naruto's character along with Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, Kakashi Hatake, and many many other characters as they face complicated tasks in which they have to put their whole self into.

(Luke's note: This story is why I'm about to explain how horrible an anime Naruto is, with some lulz I hope.)

Main Characters

Naruto Uzumaki:



This is the amazing, touching, very original main character. He enjoys such things like ramen, yelling constantly, shouting random things, trying to do his best to reach his childish goal, and getting mad at people who are telling him to stop being stupid when he's being stupid. Naruto is a character, and I can assure you of this, ALL Naruto fans can relate to. This video, that I posted on ZU before, is proof. Because of this, fans are touched by Naruto's struggle to obtain ultimate ninja skills and become the best and strongest person ever (although Kenshiro from Fist of the North Star and Goku from Dragon Ball have pretty much beat him to the race). Naruto's character and whole goal was, in fact, tooken from Dragon Ball and Akira. Kishimoto said that they were influences in his work, but he blantly ripped them both off due to Naruto having the same goals as Goku and the whole theme of loneliness in his story is a big theme - and done better - in Akira. However, since Kishimoto doesn't want to admit it, he makes the excuse that such things were influences on his work. Naruto also enjoys using the demon inside everytime so he can win battles to prove that he's made of suck.

Sasuke Uchiha:



Here's a fact: If a Naruto fan hates Naruto even though he can relate to him, he likes Sasuke. Why? Because Sasuke is the badass emo kid of the story who enjoys such thing as nothing, whining about how he needs to get revenge on his dumbass brother, and being a guy all the chicks love due to being quiet. Sasuke is a tragic hero who lost his whole clan to his emotionalless brother, Itachi, because Itachi wanted to test his powers. Sasuke dedicates his life to getting his ultimate vengeance on his brother by getting more and more powerful, even if he has to join up with sexual offenders like Orochimaru. Sasuke grew up in a happy family, and got revenge ideas from countless Greek tragedies, Fist of the North Star, and Berserk. These things were a great influence - actually, no, he basically took the idea of revenge in his life by these things. After that, he waited for the tragic moment to happen in his life so he can be the revenge badass arcytype. One day, however, his brother Itachi realized he has special ninja powers in his blood, and decided to test it to get more powerful by killing his whole clan - Itachi has also took this idea from a variety of resources. Because of Itachi's actions, Sasuke dedicates his life to be exactly like a cliche revenge tragedy.

Sakura Haruno:



Sakura is that type of character that sits there being defenseless, doing nothing to actually help out in the story. She also has no childhood life possible due to lack of flashbacks. Sakura enjoys such things as b-tching at Naruto for being an idiot when she's just being an annoying idiot herself, going ga-ga over Sasuke because of his emoness, and being useless. Like Tien and Yamcha from Dragon Ball, she doesn't really have a main point in the series, at all. This is enough to explain about her character.

Summary of my thoughts:

Naruto basically lacks any good storyline, the characters are lame, plot is very weak, fights aren't entertaining. Fact: The whole show is full of cliche arcytypes from many other anime and manga out there. The only merit this show has is the fact that it was actually able to interest little kids, getting great money from it. Hell, that sounds like a plan when you're getting the money, but such things don't really matter in my point of view. What matters to me is actually how good quality everything is in the show I'm watching, and from the so many episodes of the anime and all the manga chapters I've read, Naruto lacks everything that is required to be a good anime/manga/show/story: Originality, gripping characters, good dialogue, a well-thought-out story, interesting plots. I've read hundreds of manga series out there, and Naruto just doesn't tick for me as a shonen anime/manga series.

Score: 0/10

Astro Boy
The first anime I ever saw, the 1980's was a great time

Type: Animation
Genre: Science Fiction/ Action/Drama/Essentail/Retro
Length: 51 half hour episodes
Released:1980-1981
Creator: Osamu Tezuka (if you don't know this name look it up immediately)

Story
You've probably heard it once or twice before but here it is again. The brilllant scientist Dr. Boynton spends all his time at work negeclting his son Toby. Whishing to win his father affections Toby makes plans for Fathers day but once again his father is busy building a new super robot. Distraught toby steals his fathers hover car from the ministy of science and is immediately invovled in a tragic acciedent. Distraught over the lose of his son changes the designs of his robot so that it can replace his dead son. But he soon released the robot boy would never grow up and abondoned him and dissapppeared. Months later Dr Elefun the new head of the ministry of science finds the young robot at a circus which treats their robotic performers very badly. Saving the boy robot he renamed the mechanical child Astro Boy and builds him a family. Astro embarks on many adventures in which he learns about peace, love, comprimise and death all the while bridging the gap between humans and robots.

Main Characters

Astro: The worlds favourite boy robot. With the power of 10 000 horses, finger laser, rocket boots and what Australians refer to as the arse cannon/laser/gun he travels the world as a representative of robot human co-operation, goes to school like and ordinary ten year old and tries to keep his little sister out of trouble. A quite boy who never the less makes friends easily with a determination to overcome people preconcieved prejedeces against robots after alll just like every one else he just wants to be loved.


Uran: Astro little sister, half the size, half the power 10 000 time the trouble. Typical five year old you likes to play and cause mischeif and ask questions that are immpossible to explain. For example she once asked who god was. Leading to a misadventure with a malfunctioning super computer.


Dr. Elfun: Large nosed scientist who saved Astro from the circus and created Uran along with many other wonders of metro city. Serves as a mentor and advisor to astro in all thing scientificOften flustured by both those unwilling to accept scientific progress and those misusing that progress (e.g. making super weapons)


Daddy Walrus: Magnificent mustached school teacher who never the less seems to also be a private eye and a renowned international adventurer. Often accompanies Astro on his adventures and explains the complexities of human emotions to the young robot.


Atlas: The series' main recurring villian. Built with the capicity to cause harm he was always mistreated by the man who created him using stolen plans for Astro. It comes to ahead when the only entity that showed him any kindness is dismantled. He builds her, a robot maid called Livian, a new build and rebuilds his own body and begins his quest to turn humanity into his slave larbour force or destroy it. A lot less emo than the atlas in the new version.


Livian: She loves Atlas with all her being that is why she stops him from carrying out his plans on occasion. A calming influence to all who associate with her. Makes Atlas less emo than he could be. She makes it the strongest relationship in the series.

Astro's Class: Need some one to place in Danger, these kids are it, often crushing Alvin's false bravado.


Astro's Mum and Dad: its not easy being a parent especially when you are younger than your eldest child and have to accelerate your education so you over take him. Father does it tough to the point where he often still holds the paper upside down. Mother's more on the ball researching holidays to celebrate them properly and of course moving the paper the right way up for father.

Techincal Aspects
Limited animation abounds in this classic from the 1980s. And like most shows from this era you have repeating musical cues re-used several times an episode. It doesn't matter as the music is always a great match, especially the cue for impeding danger. I have only ever seen this as a dubbed verison and it fairly well done dialogue lining up well. For thus of you that immediately dicount dubs you must understand the eighties was a different time and as such the DVDs released will be faithful to what people remember from back then.

Personal Thoughts
I first saw this when I was three, four, five years old. And it has affected the rest of my life in regards to anime I watch and my outlook on life. I will also admit to uran being my first crush on a fictional character (Urans Twin is the episode I remember most from the first time because of this and the freaky splitting in half panther robot). Going back to it recently after purchasing the box set I was delighted to find it both as good as I remember and better. I was able to apperricate its mature and sometimes dark themes more than I would of as a child when my focus would have been on Astro's Mighty Robot powers. How mature, in the final episode Astro falls in love, sadly his little girlfriend has to be dismantled to disarm the atomic device within her. He holds her hand until her electronic brain can function no more. So affected by the loss was he he replaced his own legs with hers. Also some one dies in about every third episode.

Rating
Essental veiwing from the godfather of anime and manga that will also satisfy the desire for something retro. Add into that brillant episodes such as Uran falls in love, the robots nobody wanted and the time machine (which guest stars both Princess Knight Sapphire and Blackjack) and there no way this isn't getting a...

5/5

Flying Hiigh in the Sky, he may be smalll, but only in...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astro_B...0_TV_series%29


One additional thought any verison with the arse laser is superior

Chrno Crusade

Type: Animation
Genre: Action/Adventure/Thriller/Drama/Fantasy/Romance
Length: 24 episodes half-hour episodes
Released: Manga (1998)/ Anime (2003)
Creator: Daisuke Morimaya

.:: Story ::.

The order of Magdalene exists to fight of demonic beings that threaten the world.
Sister Rosette, and her soul-bounded companion, Chrno, are a part of this religious order.
Both, Rosette and Chrno, have their own history behind the person we can see, revealing pain, suffering, some happy memories, but there's a cloud of dark thoughts that covers Rosette's real intentions on being in the order, and that's to find her lost brother Joshua, who is said to be captured by the sinner Aion.
Aion's intentions are to overthorw Heaven ad Earth, and nothing will stop him from achieving his goal, while Rosette finds that her destiny is a lot more to be shooting down demons...

.:: Main Characters ::.

Rosette Christopher:

She's the main character from this series. Her brash and determined attitude makes her a very popular member within the Order and comes in handy while on missions. While with the Order as an exorcist, Rosette’s ultimate goal is to be reunited with her brother with the help of her friends and Chrono (her contractor) and to bring to justice the demon that took him in the first place, Aion.

Chrno:

He was used to be a high ranked devil in the demon society, Pandemonium, but due to losing the source of his energy after an unfortunate event, he changed into what appears to be a mere boy to store power in order to remain alive, and to not hurt his contractor, Rosette Christopher

Azmaria Hendric:

She is known as the apostle of charity and has a great singing voice. Her past is a very sad story, which later on it's revealed. She meets Chrno and Rosette after she was recued from her former "caretaker" who turned out to be a demon. Azmaria follows Rosette and Chrno everywhere they go, and she cosiders Rosette as a big sister.

Joshua Christopher:

Rosette's younger brother and apostle of hope. He made allegiance with Aion after he promised Joshua he'd recover from his lifetime sickness.


Aion:

Head of the group of demons known as "sinners" He's the series main antagonist.
Aion started a revolution between demons, resulting in the robbery of the Pandemonium's head. He's the one who kidnapped Joshua and Fiore, with intentions to use them together with the other apostles and bring end to earth.

Father Ewan Remington:

The minister of the Magadalene order. He also serves as a field agent and second in command to Sister Kate.

Satella Harvenheit:

A jewel summoner and an exterminator of demons, she holds a strong grudge against all demons. She searches for the remaining members of her family as well as a hornless demon who had killed her family.

Sister Kate Valentine:

Head of the New York Branch of the Magdalene Order. She is a strong willed woman who often seems out of place fighting demons and devils. She leads the order with an iron resolve, making sure the New York Branch Office runs as smooth as clockwork.

.:: Technical Aspects ::.

Daisuke Morimaya released Chrno Crusade's manga in November, 1998. The manga consits on 8 volumes and was finished in 2004, when the anime was already transmiting.

The anime was directed by Yuu Kou, transmited by GONZO studio on Fuji TV.
The original run was since November 2003 until June 2004.

.:: Personal opinion ::.

The first time I saw Chrno Crusade i didn't know what to expect. At first I didn't like the series, I though it was a bit hard to understand, but when the action started I couldn't stop watching it.

It combines a lot of aspects and ir is really easy to identify with the characters, in the end you laugh with them, and even cry when they do.
A masterpiece I dare say, great drawing style, great story and really great characters. I fell in love with the story and even cried when I saw the end of it.

A beautiful story, I highly recomend it =)

.:: Review ::.

5/5

Suzuka
Made by Count Cutflaik

Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance, Slice of Life, Sports

Age rating: Older Children. May contain mild bad language, no bloodless violence either.

Length: 26 episodes.

Opening Theme: #1: "Start Line" by COACH

Ending Theme:
#1: "Aoi FIELD" by COACH (Eps 1-14)
#2: "Kimi no Koto" by COACH (Eps 15-26)


Plot Summary: The plot is based on a young man, Yamato Akitsuki, who moves from his rural home in Hiroshima Prefecture to live at his aunt's apartment building and indoor bath complex in Tokyo and attend the local athletics-oriented high school. Before arriving at his new home, he walks past his new school and sees a young girl practicing high jump at the track field.

He falls in love with her at first sight but does not expect to see her again. He soon discovers that the girl, Suzuka Asahina, is one of the occupants of his aunt's apartment and that they happen to live next door to each other. To pursue Suzuka, Yamato joins the track and field team in hopes of impressing her. After joining the team, he discovers that he has the potential to become a top hundred-meter sprinter. The story intertwines his pursuit of love and athletics.

Suzuka's character-driven plot predominantly makes use of dramatic structure to facilitate character development. Characterization is further achieved through the use of character back-story. The story in general employs a realistic tone, but will occasionally use surreal humour. Some events covered in the story are: track competitions, vacations, culture festivals, and outings to a Karaoke Box and a theme park. The manga and anime follow the same storyline, though there are minor differences. One of these changes is that the nude scenes are less graphic in the anime than the manga. Another disparity is the hair color of some of the characters such as the character Miki, who is depicted as having bright red hair on the covers of the manga, but is portrayed with brown hair in the anime.


Main Characters:



Akitsuki Yamato: Protagonist of the anime, even though it's called Suzuka. Anyway, he's a fast sprinter. He joined the track team to get closer to Asahina, but later remained on the team after realizing his potential. He's dense like a rock. Clueless about girls and says unnecessary things towards girls.



Asahina Suzuka: She is an excelent high jumping athlete that trains hard. Asahina is a mysterious character who has some secrets and tries to hide them as well as her feelings. As a result she is cold to the most of her friends, especially to Yamato who lives next door.



Sakurai Honoka: Honoka is a girl from the Yamato's class who falls in love with him. She is very shy therefore she cannot confess her feelings, however she joins the track and field team as a manager just to be closer to Yamato. Also, she's the same age as Yamato. Due to an incident that occurred during their childhood, Honoka has a crush on Yamato. However, she has difficulties trying to convey her feelings to him. Quiet and shy, Yamato is the only guy she can speak more casually to.

__________________________________________________


Personal Opinion: Quite frankly, I found Suzuka a very entertaining anime/manga, the manga actually beats the Anime to peanuts, either way, but fine. Also, as I expected of the series initially, it was directed towards -the adult-crowd, obviously. Mainly because it contains a slight amount of ecchi and a few faked sex scene, as where the girl tends to blow it off at the end. Overall, seeing every aspect of the animé/manga. Suzuka has a good plot, well developed characters and a few plot twists, which is quite interesting as well.


8.3/10

[SIZE="6"]WOLF'S RAIN![/SIZE]

Main Characters.

Kiba: The white wolf who was chosen to open rakuen (paradise).
He's quiet but can really assertive at times and he deffinitly
has the most pride. He has the strongest bond with Cheza and would do
anything, even die, to protect her. He's quiet, headstrong and a little bit
emo. He may act like a bit of a know-it-all at times but he's really sweet.


Tsume: A grey wolf who has slight trust issues. He has a x-shaped
scar on his chest which is a riminder of his past.
He seems really cold and heartless at first but he's a really nice guy.
He seems to be more of an "older brother" figure in the pack even though
He doesn't act like he cares about the others. Toboe sees him as a role model
and constently riminds him that they're great friends.


Hige: A brown wolf. He's funny, furry and let's not forget frisky! He's
the joker of the pack who always manages to lift their spirits
when things go wrong. He's seen as a bit of a womanizer and never passes up the
chance for a date or a free meal.
He seems to have the best sense of smell and in episode 1, he says that his nose
can tell when a dog's taking a dump 10 killometers away. Isn't he charming?
He gets really close to Blue throughout the series.


Toboe: A red wolf and the youngest in the pack. Being a pup, Toboe is
naive, optemistic and playful. He lived with an old lady whom he
accidently killed in an act of playfulness. He seems weak but
given the chance, he can fight well.
He idolizes Tsume whom he sees as an older brother and always enjoys his company.
Toboe really enjoys being with all of his friends and would always defend them if
he needed to.
And he's also my favorite character in the whole series as well as being my favorite anime character of all time.


Blue: A black wolfdog hybrid. Like Toboe, she too lived with humans. She was trained to hunt wolves but after meeting Cheza, she realized that there was more to life than being a pet dog so she joined Kiba and the pack. She also gets VERY close to Hige.
Even though leaving Quent was her own choice, she stays fully devoted to him just like a faithful friend should.


Cheza: A girl that was born from a "lunar flower". This flower maiden is the last of her kind and the very reason she was born was to lead the chosen wolf to paradise.
She often talks in third person and often uses the phrase "This one" instead of "I" or "Me". The reason for this is unknown.
She has dark red eyes and a lot of people believe she's blind. I'm not so sure really.


Minor Characters.

Hubb Labowski: A detective from Freeze City. He doesn't believe in wolves and has STRONG alergies. He was previously married to Cher Degre.


Cher Degre: A doctor/scientist from Freeze City. She was the one who was the most facinated with Cheza. Previously married to Hubb Labowski.


Quent Yaiden: A grumpy old hunter and Blue's former owner. He was convinced that wolves burned down his village of Kurious and murdered his wife and son so he makes it his life's goal to kill every one of them.


Enimies.

Darcia: A noble. He attemps to resurect his wife Hamona who had suffered from something called Paradise Disease.


Jagara: Another noble and Hamona's older sister. She is infactuated with Darcia and is jelous that he loves Hamona and not her. She kills Hamona and attempts to seduce Darcia.


Story.

It's 200 years into the future and the world is almost at it's end.
A lone, white wolf follows his nose and a flowery scent. The scent of the flower maiden.
Along the way he meets Hige and together they hurry to find the flower maiden.
Once they find her they also find Lord Darcia who steals the flower girl.
After that, Kiba and Hige befriend Tsume, a wolf with trust issues and Toboe, a wolf full of childish innocence.
Together they set off to rescue Cheza, the flower girl who will lead them to rakuen (paradise), a world where wolves reign supreem.

Im not gonna say anymore. I don't want to spoil it for any wolf's rain lovers who want to watch the whole series.

My Thoughts.
Personaly, I believe Wolf's Rain is a beautiful, touching and powerful anime with stunnig visual effects, beautiful music and down-right loveable characters and that anyone who has a passion for wolves, flowers and dreams must give it a try.

Rating.

10/10!

Opening Song:
"Stray" sung by Steve Conte.

Ending Song(s)
"Gravity" sung by Maaya Sakamoto
"Tell me what the rain knows" sung by Maaya Sakamoto

Length:
30 Episodes.

So, since I'm lazy and actually kinda like people with dial-up connections, there's no pictures in this review.

In addition, I tend to write my reviews in a very stream-of-consciousness style, so no heading.

Finally, I don't like numerical grades, so I'm just listing my likes and dislikes of the show, you can decide if it sounds good or not.


So, if I'm not going to use the standard format, why post this here? Because people keep bugging me to collect my reviews of stuff in one place, and this seems like a good one. In a later post (or perhaps I'll edit this one) I'll try to find and repost all of my other anime-related reviews so people who actually care about my ramblings can find them.


And so, without further ado, my review of:

Gurren Lagann


Gurren Lagann is a Gaint Mecha show, one that TV Tropes would say is in the "Super Robot" genre. Everything is about passion and willpower, the robots literally run on it, so that the more passionate you are the better you will be at fighting and the more powerful your robot will become. It's set in a dystopian future where humanity has been forced to live underground by creatures called "Beastmen" that pilot giant robots and kill any humans who come to the surface.

Our protagonist, Simon, is a driller in an underground city that has forgotten about the surface entirely, and he finds his life adequate, if lonely. Then, one day, he finds a tiny little drill and a small (desk-sized, really) robot that reacts to it. Shortly after a Beastman robot and a girl with a gun bigger than she is fall through the roof of the underground city. Simon is forced to get into the tiny robot and use it to fight off the Beastman. Things develop from there.

So, right, when I started watching the show I didn't really know what to think. It seemed like pretty standard kid's action-show fare, ala Dragonball Z or, perhaps more closely, Digimon. It also suffered from inconsistent animation quality; One episode has a very different art style from the rest, and it really stands out as not feeling right. In addition, characters (especially Yoko (The girl with the gun from above)) are frequently off-model, and the overall art direction is very simple and plain, which makes the inconsistency even odder.

In addition, the story is pretty standard stuff, enemies are attacking: fight them off! Nothing really amazing, or even engaging as, with one exception, the enemies are defeated in short order. (There's also episode 6, which I count as a black mark against the series. I really don't need an entire episode devoted to nothing but ridiculous amounts of fan service (It's set in a Hot Spring, that's about all other anime fans will need to know). It makes it really awkward to watch with anyone else.)

The saving grace is Kamina. He's the protagonists adoptive older-brother and the personification of "hot bloodedness", when he thinks of a goal he sets his heart to it and doesn't ever back down. What's more, he expects everyone else to do the same. It sounds cliche and silly, but it works incredibly well, since his character gets more depth than those types usually do in anime and he's show to be far from infallible.

After episode 8 the story starts shifting a bit. No longer are the heroes mostly reactionary, they now have a real goal and a way to get to it. The foes stop being random enemies of the week, and the series starts going a bit darker. The animation quality also settles down a bit, though it still fluctuates on occasion.

Then comes the mid-season time-skip, and things get interesting. The art quality settles down to average or slightly above, the story decides to flesh itself out, the characters gain a fair amount of depth, and the show manages to get darker while still keeping it's optimism and passion intact.

At that point I fell completely and totally in love with it. It stopped feeling like a kid's show and started really coming into it's own.



So, if you feel like giving this show a try, watch the first eight/nine episodes, at least. (Feel free to skip 6. ) If you rent the subtitled discs then it'll only set you back one rental to get that many, and the last two episodes will set much of the tone for what follows. (It's unfair to ask you to watch up until the 17th episode to get a feel for the final half, but it does get a mood shift then.)



Right, so, what else to say about it? As I've mentioned above, the show is all about being as awesome as you can, going beyond the impossible, doing things when there is, literally, a 0% chance of success...and winning. I think I can establish just how far it goes when I mention that the final fight involves galaxies being used as shuriken. Now, Galaxies don't work that way, but it's still amazing and fun. (Actually, I should note, any time anyone tries to be even slightly scientific brace yourself for a metric tonne of technobabble that would make the writers for Star Trek hang their heads in shame.)

It's all about finding your dream and not stopping until you have it, no matter the odds. If things look bad, then just try harder. The only way to truly realize your fate is to rage against the heavens, and if you yell loud enough then the stars themselves will move to your will.

It's ridiculously optimistic, but that's it's charm. It's infectious, really, after watching it you'll have an urge to get out there and fight for what you believe in, opposition be damned, which is a sentiment that cynics like me perhaps need more of, if nothing else you can't win if you don't try, and if you're going to try you should give it your all.

Now, I'll spare a little bit here to talk about the ending. I'll do my best to spoil nothing, but you're going to get an idea of what happens, so skip this paragraph if you don't want to know. Those of you who have seen it will know that one particular scene in the ending seems to be there just to make their victory bittersweet. I agree that it was completely unneeded, but I do appreciate that they didn't play it as depressing at all, really, so it isn't too much of a downer. I also think that the epilogue was actually pretty good, but I realize I'm in a minority with that view.

So yeah, all in all an above-average show, I'd rank it even higher if the first few episodes weren't so poorly done, but if you can get past those then it's well-worth watching.



Edit: Realized I forgot to talk about the music. Mostly it's your standard background stuff, not really good or bad. But the main theme song is very energetic, and works quite well. It's clear that the director knew this, since it's what plays whenever someone gets a big powerup, and it fits very nicely, working pretty much perfectly when Simon gets his "He's back" scene part-way through. That said, the music as a whole definitely isn't anything to write home about. It does it's job and then leaves, which is a shame, stuff like Cowboy Bebop and Ghost in the Shell: SAC have spoilt me on Mrs. Kanno's intricate and appropriate orchestrations.

A double-post, I know, but this is a stickied thread and it's been months, so hopefully no one will mind overmuch.


So, I just finished watching Tokyo Godfathers and am pretty impressed.

For those who don't know, Tokyo Godfathers is a film by Satoshi Kon, one of the most revolutionary (and, in my opinion, skilled) directors of anime around. His other works include: Perfect Blue, Paprika, Millennium Actress and Paranoia Agent.

However, unlike everything else Mr. Kon has done, Tokyo Godfathers is quite straight-forward. There's almost not blending of reality and fantasy, almost no flashbacks, and almost no moments that make you go "Wait, what?" It's a pretty straightforward story. Some people may like this, others may be disappointed, but I welcomed the change. It's nice to have a movie that doesn't make you think too much, but that's still lots of fun to watch.

So, the plot: Three homeless people (Gin, a middle-aged man; Hana, a middle-aged transvestite; and Miyuki, a 16-year-old runaway) are out scavenging on Christmas Eve when they find a baby abandoned in a garbage dump with a note asking for whoever finds it to take care of it.

Along with the note they find some inadvertently-left clues to the identity of the parents, and they decide to return the baby to them themselves.

The plot takes off from there and, while it's initially pretty straight forward, a twist or two does get thrown into the works towards the end. Nothing major, but enough to stop the film from being completely predictable.

However, despite that, the plot is rather weak; relying very heavily on quite a few highly unlikely coincidences (things that would raise eyebrows in a village of 100, never mind Tokyo) but it's hard to penalize the film for these, since it's very up front about just how unlikely these things are. It seems to be saying: "In this film unlikely things happen all the time. That's just how things work." and since it doesn't detract from anything, it's actually kinda fun to see all the connections come together.

In addition, the weak plot is made up for by the wonderful characters. Satoshi Kon has a gift at writing believable, but unique, people into his movies, and the acting (done largely by unknowns) is quite good.

The animation is very good, with several scenes looking like they were from a photograph. It's not Paprika, but it's close. However, as with most of Kon's work, the characters are a bit too cartoony, especially Hana, which can be distracting at times. It's not a deal-breaker, but it would've been nice if they'd been more real.


All in all this is a very good film which, while not one of Mr. Kon's greatest, is still definitely worth a rent (I'd put it as a must-buy, myself, but I know my taste's don't line up with many).