Anime-shi

Oreimo

2011-01-19T18:04:00.000-08:00

If you’re like me you might have problems with trying to keep up with all of the latest anime that’s coming out. This year in particular, has been a difficult one simply because there hasn’t actually been too much to really grab my attention. And then most of the cool anime that I do want to see don’t get a legal streaming service here in the states. But since October I have been eagerly watching every episode of the new otaku comedy Oreimo. Thanks to ANN I have been able to keep up with this fun and eventful show, all without having to pay a cent.

The story of Oreimo at first sounds pretty generic and disappointing. It’s about a high school boy named Kyosuke Kosaka who lives in the shadow of his over achieving little sister named Kirino; who has seemed to avoid him for the past couple of years. Unlike him, she is athletic, intelligent, attractive, and popular. By contrast he is a completely average guy with nothing special really going for him. And although she seems happy and cheerful in front of everyone else, she constantly treats him like an unwanted puppy. So needless to say there is tension between the two. But this changes when one day he finds anime dvd case in the middle of the hallway, and when he opens it up he finds that it actually contains an adult ero game. After some quick detective work it is revealed that both the dvd and the game belong to Kirino. When he confronts her about the dvd she confesses that she is shamefully a closet otaku and that she needs his help keeping her hobby a secret. This starts off a series of events which revolve around Kyosuke helping his little sister discover her true self, and teaches her not to be ashamed of her hobby. It might also help to mention that Kirino has a particular obsession with magical girl anime and little sister ero games which both combined to make the situation very awkward for Kyosuke.

Now I wouldn’t blame you if you read the full title of this anime and then pass it off, the full title is Ore no Imōto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai (My Little Sister Can't Be This Cute). Believe me, I know the title brings to mind images of a generic moe/incest/harem which would offer little to no entertainment value beyond fantasy material for otaku, but this show is actually nothing like that. Sure there is some moe aspect to it, but the majority of the anime focuses of otaku related comedy and delightful characters. And best of all; there’s actually no incest involved.

I’d say that the strongest point of the anime is the comedy aspect which is build to entertain otaku. It’s best to describe it as a more recent Genshiken. Much like Genshiken, it’s filled with jokes that really only fellow Otaku would be able to fallow. Also, like Genshiken, it involves many different types of Otaku and showing how they interact in a modern fandom. But unlike Genshiken, it has a look which blends in perfectly with all of the other anime which have been made in the later half of the decade. Many of the jokes and plot points revolve around new and old issues of the otaku fandom in Japan and the different types of Otaku which exist. Also keep in mind that the story is shown through the eyes of a non-otaku (Kyosuke) so it will often show the culture shock that many average Japanese citizens face when interacting with otaku.

Honestly the main characters of the series are nothing special. Kyosuke is your typical teenager with nothing special about him and who is absolutely normal in every way. And Kirino is your classic case tsundere which makes me question just how much of her character is just completely based off Haruhi. But what actually makes the series good is the colorful cast of secondary characters. It’s largely Kirino’s friends that make the show so enjoyable. They breathe much needed life into this otherwise iffy series. Unlike the 2 main characters, the side characters are quite unique and acted as fun and relatable parodies of people from the real world, while at the same time developing into full characters of their own. My 2 favorite characters of the series would have to be Kirino’s otaku friends Kuroneko and Saori. Kuroneko acts mainly as a stereotypical parody of a specific type of otaku. This kind of otaku is mainly obsessed with drama anime aimed at older teens (like Code Geass, Darker Than Black, ext.). She is also a loli cosplayer, and not just you occasional type, she cosplays everyday. Early in the series she is defined, by Kirino, as “post-evangelion bitter”, which I feel reflects a lot of anime fans today (including me). Saori is the leader of a girl otaku organization and is seen by her friends as being an old school otaku that dresses and acts as stereotypical as you can find. She’s an entertaining version of the otaku from the 90s and further back who still obsess over Gundam and were flannel shirts year round. In many ways she’s like a character pulled from Genshiken and thrown into this new series. There are some other fun characters that come up throughout the series, but non quite as entertaining or as relevant as these two. In the end, the only character I truly hated was Manami, who was Kyosuke childhood friend. She is the most generic, moe, fanservice character I have ever seen. Every part with her in it made me want to stop watching the anime. But luckily I toughed it out and made it to the end, and I’m quite happy I didn’t let her ruin the series for me.

The staff was made up, of people who were well trained in the ways of anime. The director Hiroyuki Kanbe, is notable as an animator involved in Flame of Recca, Yu Yu Hakusho, Rurouni Kenshin, Evangelion, Cowboy Bebeop (movie), ext. and finally as a director in Viper’s Creed. The animation directors, Kana Ishida and Tetsuya Kawakami, are quite well seasoned. They’ve worked on enough big hits to make your head spin. For all of these staff members, Oreimo seems like a step out of the ordinary for them. Nothing these guys have worked on have been quite this comedy driven. And in the end the series felt like it should have been a Kyoto Animation project rather than AIC. But the most out there staff member for this anime has to be Hideyuki Kurata. For those of you not familiar with him, he is a very well established anime writer. He is famous for writing shows like Now and Then Here and There, R.O.D (OVA and series), Cloth Road, Hellsing Unlimited, ext. he even dates back to doing old school sci-fi anime like Android Ana Maico 2010. But he now does a series like Oreimo, it’s kind of shocking to see him adapting to each generation of anime fandom so well over the course of his career.

Oreimo is based on a light novel series written by Tsukasa Fushimi which, from what I’ve heard, has been very successful over in Japan. The light novel series started in 2008 and in 2010 has already released it’s 7^th volume. It’s also adapted into a manga series in 2009 and has character design work by Hiro Kanzaki. Neither series has been licensed in North America as of yet, but if this anime series does well enough here we might see some volumes of the manga or novel make their U.S. debut soon.

Over all it’s a fun and entertaining series, if you don’t mind a few annoyances. Anyone who is looking for a new otaku comedy should give it a shot. And what’s the harm in giving it a go? It’s free streaming thanks to the folks over at ANN. So don’t let the name fool you, just dive right in and try to enjoy what the show has to offer.

Me and the Devil Blues

2010-09-06T18:18:00.000-07:00

Robert Johnson is a name instantly recognizable to any music fan, he is known world wide as the greatest blues man ever. But what is possibly even more iconic than his music is the legend about how he became so good. In many ways the story has out grown the man himself. The legend is so popular in fact that it has spawned a great manga titled Me and the Devil Blues. Named after Robert Johnson’s famous song this fallows the fictional tale of Robert Johnson after he has sold his soul to the devil.

As the manga begins Robert Johnson (a.k.a RJ) is a young, soon to be father, who works on a farm in the dirty south. But at night he and his friends like to unwind from a hard day’s work by heading down to the local bar and listening to the blues. But just listening to it isn’t enough for RJ he wants to play it. The problem is he sucks no matter how hard he tries. He is often laughed off stage every time he tries to pick up a guitar. One night though he hears the legend of the cross roads which claims that all you have to do is go down to the cross roads, play a song, and then the devil will appear. He’ll take your guitar, tune it, and play a few chords then from that day on you’ll be the greatest blues man around but you’ll have lost your soul. After hearing this story RJ ends up trying this out while a bit drunk and lost. But sure enough from that day on he could play the blues, and strange things happen to him. When he comes too he learns that he’d been away longer than he imagined, and life changing events occurred in his absence which sends him on the road, with no other companion other than the devil. The rest of the story consists of him running into one painful situation after another and letting the reader explore the early 1900’s south. The dark and gritty story breaths new life into the infamous myth and creates a compelling plot which will keep you at the edge of your seat.

Easily one of the strongest aspect of this title is the amazing art work through out the manga. The mangaka, Akira Hiramoto, is a rookie on the scene but with is first release has created quite a buzz about him. Anyone who picks up this manga will instantly notice the breath taking art work, dark shades and all. Now held up by many fans as a prime example of mangaka not complying to the typical “manga style” is uses incredibly detailed art unlike anything else on the scene. His style is truly his own and when you see his work there is no mistaking that Hiramoto had drawn that. It is so refreshing to see such a wonderfully crafted series being released. I truly can not even begin to explain just how well done the art work is. And reading the manga you get the feeling that every line and shade had a thoughtful purpose for being there. The art serves as a way to create mood, tone, and atmosphere is a brilliant way. And the moments when music is being played the style really shows how hard hitting the blues can be and it makes an attempt to capture that feeling on paper.

The story of this manga is extremely compelling and will definitely keep you on the edge of your seat as you patiently wait to see what comes next. I’m not sure if there’s any manga out there that I can really compare this work to. It’s a very unique story with a powerful movement about it that lets you linger in each scene just long enough to get the mood but not long enough to get bored. Another great thing about the writing is that Akira Hiramoto was able to paint the picture of depression era south in a brilliant way. The facts of it all is obviously not 100% accurate but he does have a way of making you feel like this is all actually taking place in that time period. He made sure to keep the time frame in mind while writing the story and drawing the pictures. On top of that throughout the story RJ runs into icons of the time like Clyde Barrow, one half of the most famous outlaw duo in history; Bonnie and Clyde. This appearance of such an iconic figure of that time further immerses you in the idea and feel of this time. And yes, seeing as the story’s main character is a young black man in the deep south, early 1900s America the issue of racism comes up quite often. But Hiramoto is able to illustrate this issue with great subtly and maturity making this a very compelling aspect of the plot.

Over all this is an amazing, yet not very popular, manga series that I think anyone who likes a good drama will enjoy. Currently Del Ray is releasing the first 4 volumes of this manga. But they are selling it buy combining two volumes into one so it appears that there is only 2 volumes in the U.S. (but don’t be fooled this is all 4 volumes). Unfortunately the mangaka has put this series on hiatuses and know one is quite sure why. So until he decides to finally start the series back up we just have to be content with the amazing work that we have available to us now. If you are fan of manga, drama, Robert Johnson, or even just a fan of good stories you will not be disappointed in checking this series out. So to end it of I’ll conclude with a quote from the song Me and the Devil Blues (the song which inspired the title of the manga) “Early this morning, when you knocked upon my door. And I said hello Satan I believe it’s time to go.”

I'm back

2010-09-06T14:26:00.000-07:00

After dealing with one problem ofter another (mainly techincal issues) I have finally gotten to the point where I can start the blog back up. So now that I have this all fixed I should be able to post a new review soon.

Kaikisen

2010-03-22T17:01:00.000-07:00

When you hear the name Satoshi Kon you usually think of his extremely successful anime film career, but he wasn’t always the super director that we see today. Just like any other anime creator he had to get his start some where. For Kon, his earliest work can be traced back to the forgotten and left behind manga that is Kaikisen. Not much is known about this manga besides that it was a one tankoubon manga released in 1990, other than that there’s not much more to go one. And this manga is quite hard to find, it’s only be released in Japan and France and I’m sure aren’t very popular in either country. On top of that it’s a long forgotten seinen series so there aren’t many scan groups that would be willing to invest time into something like this. But, never the less, I was able to find a few chapters scaned with minimal effort. But sadly this has prevented me from completing the whole series. But what I have read truly impressed me.

Kaikisen tells the story of Yosuke, a member of the Yashiro family, whose father is the priest of a local shrine. But this family has a secret which they have been protecting for generations; they possess a mermaid’s egg. As legend has it Yosuke’s ancestors once made a pact with a mermaid. The deal was that they would protect this egg and, in exchange, the mermaid would insure the town had good fishing seasons. But now Yosuke’s father sees no point in keeping the egg a secret and decides to reveal the egg to in front of the media to try and attract people to the shrine. This sets in motion a strange set of events which Yosuke can not even begin to imagine.

I went into this manga thinking that Satoshi Kon’s brilliance wouldn’t transfer well into a manga format, but I was mistaken. This manga is truly a strange and unique manga which fits Kon’s style perfectly. As the writer and artist for this manga we get to see a side of Satoshi that is rarely seen today. In his recent works he doesn’t really deal much in the way of the actual animation process anymore. He started off as a man who would work on the art of the movies he worked on like in Roujin Z in which he was involved in Key Animation. But as the years went on he became more and more focused on directing and screenplay writing that, now at the most he’ll work on character design. But this manga gives us a pure and clean look at Satoshi’s art style that we’ll most likely never see the likes of again. But his animation style is quite high quality. In fact if even half of the manga I read had this good of animation I would be a very happy otaku. And many of the elements in the art seem to foreshadow the style which his films would take on down the road.

But animation isn’t the only thing he did well on with this manga, the story was also quite wonderful. The story had a edgy blend of fantasy and drama which is quite easy to read and fallow while at the same time it excites you with the mystery of what’s to come. And what’s truly fun about reading this is seeing all the story elements which become quite common in Satoshi Kon’s work down the road. One element which you can often see is the clash of traditions and the old ways of Japanese culture clashing with the new age of modernization. In Kaikisen this is shown through Yosuke’s grandfather conflicting with yosuke’s father. We soon learn that the grandfather is a strong believer in the legend and is extremely upset with yosuke’s father. But the other characters often over look him and see him as nothing more than an old man who is stuck in his ignorant ways and should just stay in the hospital. Another common theme in Satoshi’s work is the idea of fame which can be seen in his flims like Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress, and Paranoia Agent. In the manga Yosuke’s family quickly becomes an overnight sensation as word spreads about the mysterious mermaid’s egg in their shrine. In this story the power of fame tends to get into Yosuke’s father’s head and blur his judgment. It his work in this manga gives us a good look at where Satoshi has been, and where he may be going.

In the end this manga is high on my list of recommendations. Not just because of the compelling story line and very well done art, but also because of the relevance that this manga now carries. If you are a fan of Satoshi Kon’s work, like me, I highly recommend you check this manga out.

R.I.P. Nujabes

2010-03-20T13:39:00.000-07:00

In case you you haven't heard the sad news yet; Nujabes, hip-hop artist and music composer, died in a tragic car accident February 26 in Tokyo. At the time he was only 36 years old. I think I speak for everyone when I say that he will be deeply missed. He was best known in the U.S. for his work on composing the music for Samurai Champloo.

Like many others I first hear Nujabes' work when watching Samurai Champloo, but this would not be the last time I listened to his wonderful music. After becoming obsessed with the music from the Samurai Champloo OST I decided to find what else this underground producer/DJ could do. Soon I found all of his other works and fell in love with his music and won the position of best hip-hip artist in my opinion. When i learned about his death I was crushed to hear that such a talented artist had passed on.

If you'd like to hear more of his music I'd suggest checking out his critically acclaimed album Metaphorical Music.

Top 3 manga of the Year

2010-01-07T20:11:00.000-08:00

1. 20th Century Boys:
This is hands down one of the best manga I have ever read and finally it received it’s American release this year. The story and art was masterly crafted to complete the feel of suspense and drama. While at the same time the story some how seemed to stay grounded to earth and made the characters seem extremely life like. I never thought that these characters were “anime characters” it seemed more like they were people somehow taken right off the streets and thrown onto the page. It’s a plot of peaceful reflecting, crazy cults, and world conspiracies. If you haven’t had the chance to read this manga do it now!

2. Pluto
And yet another Urasawa manga makes the top of my list. This brilliant and darker adaptation of the Astro Boy chapter “The World’s Strongest Robot” has blown me away. All though this is shorter than his other works it lacks absolutely nothing in comparison. It’s in stores now so go out there and by this amazing series.

3. Soul Eater
I started as a fan of the anime series and after that, quickly began the manga. The twisted animation that we grew so fond of in the anime can still be found in this manga, and in fact its even more twisted. It starts as basically the exact same thing that you would have seen in the series but down the road it starts to differ so don’t just write this manga off. It’s a winner.

Best Anime of the Decade

2009-12-29T12:27:00.000-08:00

Best Sci-fi: Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

You just cant get any better than this masterpiece. It was a perfection of it’s era, painting a vivid and multi-layered world while juggling a complex array of stories and characters that came together to form a wonderful series. Everything from the writing, which was by Dai Sato, to the directing, provided by Kenji Kamiyama, was perfectly formed. The series was able to portray a whole new world to the viewer without being to blunt or apparent. It seemed to just instantly throw you into this complex new setting, but somehow, instead of turning away it encouraged people to keep watching. Some how the mystery of how this futuristic society worked seemed to make the viewer even more engrossed in the story. And when you finally get a grasp on the concept of this world you didn’t feel like you were watching a stereotypical futuristic world of plain robots and spaceships. Some how this world seemed like a real possibility of what could be to come; which made the stories that much more relevant and powerful. The characters in the series were masterly crafted as well. Not only showing depth and the ability to make fleshed out characters, they were even able to make icons. The Laughing Man has become an enduring figure to anyone who has watched the show and even became a bit of an internet icon. On top of all of this GITS also possessed the dub which many claim to be the best to date. Casting a long list of famous and highly skilled voice actors they were able to make a dub that even non-dub-fans had to enjoy.

Best Drama: Cowboy Bebop

This is an instant classic in my book. From start to finish this series created classic characters and stories that went on to become some of the best known and highly acclaimed of the decade. The characters and so fleshed out and likeable that while watching the series you find yourself becoming attached to them, which makes the emotional aspect of the stories that much more effective. From episode one it hits you with a power house collaboration of the all star staff which makes a notable impact on the psyche. And on top of the flawless action sense and powerful emotional aspects, it also has some of the best music ever used in an anime. This series mastered the art of using music to set the mood of the story in a way that few series have been able to match.

Best Fantasy: Mushi-shi

No matter how many times I watch this series it never fails to move me. The stories are so unique and powerful and the directing doesn't try to push action or anything. The series is a one of a kind that can never be replicated quite as good as it was. It puts you into this strange new world but you don’t feel lost in it, in fact you accept it. Each episode gives you an in depth look into the world in which mushi exist and the characters surrounding them. And the stories are quite modest but at the same time seem to hit you the hardest. The creatures that are called mushi throughout the series are some of the most imaginative and unique things I’ve ever heard of. Just the thought of them gives you the feeling of something magical that is unreal and yet surreal at the same time. It wins best fantasy hands down.

Best Mecha: Gurren Laggan

Its not just your run of the mill mecha series. There is always more to it beyond the jokingly stereotypical super robot story they hide a message of hope and encouragement. I think it's this message which gave the series life and made it such a big success. When you were done watching the series you were left with a feeling that if you try hard enough you can reach the starts. I think this spoke to allot of people and that’s why the catch phrases of the anime can all to often be heard shouted throughout the halls of any given anime con.

Best Comedy: Lucky Star

Sometimes this anime is seen as the bastard child of Kyoto Animation in between the two Haruhi seasons but in many ways I find Lucky Star to be better. The style of comedy is one that had never been seen in anime before and, I think, really broke the mold of your typical comedy anime. It's style of showing life-like events in a comedicly clumsy light makes it the type of comedy that makes you think "it's funny because it's true." And the use of everyday conversations gives it it's unique Seinfeld-esk feel. When your asking for best comedy there is really no other option, its Lucky Star hands down.

Best Adventure: Darker Than Black

Personally I found this series to be far superior to his companion Full Metal Alchemist for the main reason that it didn’t cheapen the drama or suspense. Darker Than Black was just an amazing show, period. I can think of few others that are able to balance drama, action, and a few cases of comedy in same way this adventure does. Sure they aren’t looking for treasure or something cliché like that but that doesn’t make this series any less of an adventure. The action scenes were very well done and the animation was a testament to how great Bones studio is. From start to finish this series kept me interested and watching as the plot thickened and the story unfolded. And you can bet that I have a back log of the new season just waiting to be watched. This series actually went above my expectations and blew its competitors out of the water.

Best Action: Samurai Champloo

Is it really that much of a surprise? When I first saw this series aired on Adult Swim I was blown away by the intensity and precision the action sequences were done. This anime mastered the genre in a way to no other has before, leaving the critics breathless. I find it hard to even fathom a discussion of anime action without Samurai Champloo quickly becoming a point of conversation. No other series can and, most likely, will be able to match the amazing fight scenes that were shown in this series. And on top of that it had some amazing music. Fallowing in the shoes of Watanaba’s previous works, this series incorporated music as a key aspect of the series. This was the first time most Americans had ever heard of the artist Nujabes and it definitely wouldn’t be the last.

Best Mystery: Ergo Proxy

Sure I would have liked to say Monster but I haven’t finished it yet so I don’t find that fair. And sure most people would say Death Note but I think I speak for everyone that half way through the series it has a major drop in quality of story. So there is only one real choice here today and that would be Ergo Proxy. This series was able to present a mystery that I think few can match. There are so many mysteries to solve in this series it’s enough to make your head spin. You basically start off completely in the dark about nearly everything, but as the story goes on you learn new things that make you see this world in a new light and bring you one step closer to solving everything. It’s the type of series that pulls you along taunting you to try and solve the riddle. And the setting is very interesting, a cyber punk/post-apocalyptic world that has a strong undertone of darkness.

Best Shonen: Soul Eater

Few shonen anime manage to entertain me but this one just blew me way. It had everything perfectly done great music, imaginative plot, unique setting, and some mind blowing action scenes. I honestly cant find anything to complain about with this series. Only a hand full of shonen series has managed to impress me but this one goes above and beyond and stole a special place in my heart. This is not only my favorite of the decade but my favorite shonen of all time. If you haven’t seen this series yet you should asap.

Best OVA: Now and Then, Here and There

This was a tough call for me to make, I love FLCL and Now and Then equally but I had to make a choice and it went to Now and Then. I figured enough people were already going to praise FLCL as it was and Now and Then need some love. This series is one of the best and most depressing things I have ever seen. In as few as 12 episodes it puts you through a whole story that is often enough to make you cry. It doesn’t let up from being depressing and power at the same time. It makes you get attached to the characters and you hate to see all the bad things they go through over the course of the series but some how that’s what is so great about it. It’s a beautiful masterpiece that everyone must watch.

Best Movie: Undecided

This was a category that I just couldn’t deice on. I was able to narrow it down to 5 choices though. I’d have to say that the 5 best movies this decade were Spirited Away, The Girl Who Lept Through Time, 5cm Per Second, Millennium Actress, and Paprika. These movies set the bar up higher than most creators can ever hope to reach and they’ve set the standard for excellence for years to come. I think few could argue with a list like this. Each of these movies mastered their craft and put forth their best effort in animation, story, characters, and entertainment. These will be the legends of this decade that future anime creators will strive to succeed.

Best of manga list still to come!

The Place Promised in our Early Days

2009-06-23T23:47:00.001-07:00

Sorry for taking so long for the next on but I’ve been distracted by catching up with my summer reading and watching. I’ve knocked out quite a bit, but I still got allot to go. But I’ve finally decided to take the time to concentrate on doing this review.

As promised in my last post I’ll be reviewing the Makoto Shinkai classic, The Place Promised in Our Early Days. I’ve been looking forward to doing this review ever since I saw the movie. This was actually my first Shinkai experience and it is what got me hooked on his works. The reason why this movie caught my attention so much is because it’s such a unique anime. And the reason why it’s so unique is because of Shinkai’s unique directing, writing, and animation.

The Place Promised in our Early Days tells the story of a young group of friends who are captivated by a strange tower that dominates the sky line. The three friends (Hiroki Fujisawa, Takuya Shirakawa, and Sayuri Sawatari) share the same dream of one day flying to that tower. But this dream seems impossible because the world is split by countries preparing for war, and the tower lies on the other side of the battle lines. But this doesn’t stop them; they begin construction on an air plain that will take them to their promised place. But when Sayuri goes missing with out a word they lose focus and hope. Now 3 years later war is soon to begin and the secret of what happened to Sayuri is revealed. It’s truly an emotional story that pulls on the heart strings again and again. One of the interesting things about the story line is the pace at which it occurs. The story seems to just gradually progress with one event after another piling on top of each other. But then out of no where the story hits the climax like a brick wall and suddenly seems to validate all of those events at once. The suddenness of the climax seems to make the emotional aspect of the story that much more powerful.

Through out the cores of the movie we see stunning animation that seems to leave you breathless. Every piece of animation seems to flow together seamlessly and isn’t forced at all. The movements are so fluid and life like that it’s hard to not just lose your self staring at it. But of course this is to be expected from Shinkai. In the interview with Shinkai on the DVD he mentions that it’s because he was able to work with Ushio Tazawa, and Takumi Tanji that he was able to pull more out of his work. He also said that when Ushio Tazawa was working on character design he said that his job was to re-create the “Shinkai Style”. Ushio ended up using the basics of the character designs from Voices of a Distant Star to create the main characters for this movie.

Another interesting fact revealed in the interview with Shinkai is that he used the actor Hidetaka Yoshioka as a base inspiration for the character Hiroki. The ironic thing is that Hidetaka later ended up being the voice actor of Hiroki. The voice actor who played Takuya (Masato Hagiwara) also seems to be mainly a live action actor. The English cast is mostly made up of voice actors who don’t have allot of lead rolls under their belt, but they put out a quality dub non the less.

In the end I have to say that this is a very powerful and entertaining movie that can be appreciated by all anime fans. Makoto Shinkai has a way of making powerful movies that can manage to touch the hearts of even the most seasoned otakus. I highly recommend this movie to anyone and every one. Currently this movie is available at rightstuf.com for $22.49. This is a must see movie for all anime fans so I suggest that you go out and buy it now. But if you don’t feel like buying something you haven’t seen yet I would point out that it is available through many other legal sources such as Netflix, The Anime Network online, and Crunshyroll. So go out there and watch it already!

Next time I will not be continuing my Makoto Shinkai reviews. As a personal rule I try to only review things that I have a hard copy of (besides MxO). Unfortunately I don’t own 5 Cm Per Second or Voices of a Distant Star yet. So this means I’ll have to postpone those reviews for now. But in it’s place I’ll be talking about my favorite manga series ever, 20th Century Boys. So look forward to that.

Makoto Shinkai

2009-05-11T19:01:00.000-07:00

I’m going to kick off May with a marathon of Makoto Shinkai reviews. I see the most reasonable way to start this marathon is by looking at the Director himself. In this article I’ll be looking at what makes this young director so great and promising. But let’s first take a look at his background.

Makoto Shinkai was born February 9th, 1973 in the Nagano Prefecture. He spent his child hood here and graduated from in 1991. After that he went to Chuo University where he majored in Japanese Literature. He then took a job at Falcom for 5 years before quitting so that he could work on anime full time.

The first thing that he actually worked on (from what I can gather) is a short called “Other Worlds”. But his first recognizable success would be She And Her Cat which was released in 1999. This was what first started to get him attention. After this he worked on the movie he’s most known for, Voices of a Distant Star. From there he went on to make his other noted movies such as The Place Promised In Our Early Days and 5 cm per second.

Now that we got that out of the way let’s move on to looking at his actual directing. It’s no secret that Makoto Shinkai’s signature, if you will, is touching love stories. When looking at movies like Voices of a Distant Star and 5cm Per Second we see that his stories often involve young love standing against all obstacles. Some would argue that the type of love that he presents in his stories are idealistic and foolish, but when you see his movies all you can do is think “that is love”.

With this much passion being put into his movies you’d think that he was pulling these ideas from the raw experiences of his love life. But in the director’s interview on 5cm Per Second’s dvd, he reveals that this is not true. He said that people often ask him if his stories are based off events in his real life. He said no, that he hasn’t even had a long distance relationship (like the one from 5cm Per Second) except for one which only lasted a few months. I actually found this to be a bit funny. People often say that you should write about what you know, and yet he’s writing amazing scripts out of just plain imagination.

Aside from his unique sours of inspiration, Makoto Shinkai has become known as an unorthodox director from many other reasons. One of which is that fact that he is so involved in the making of his movies. When looking at the credits for his more popular movies we see the name Makoto Shinkai pop up countless times listed under many different jobs. Doing everything from Directing, to Story Board, to even Theme Song Lyrics he’s like a one stop movie man. It’s hard to believe that one person could do so much work. This ‘do it your self’ mentality is epitomized in the movie Voices of a Distant Star in which Makoto did nearly everything on his own over the course of 2 years. While making this he even tried his hand at voice acting for the original director’s version.

I think I should end it here for now, other wise I won’t have much to talk about when reviewing his actual works. Next time I’ll be reviewing the astounding Makoto Shinkai movie, The Place Promised in Our Early Days.

P.S.: If you don’t feel like reading my reviews on Shinkai I would suggest his fan site to gather info on him. They have a large amount of information on him that helped me write this.

Mobile Suite Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket

2009-04-04T20:08:00.000-07:00

As I said last week, I’ll be reviewing Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket. Some of you Toonami fans might remember this being aired a few years back (2001). From the first time that I saw it on Toonami (midnight run I believe) I was amazed by it. At the time the only other anime that I had seen were things like Dragon Ball Z, Tenchi Muyo, and Gundam Wing. I might have seen some of 08th MS team and some other things that they had started up that year, but I can’t be sure. I can’t remember which of them came first. But the point that I’m getting at is that this was an anime that really shocked me at that time. I had never seen anything quite like it. Now I’m not saying Gundam Wing had a bad story or anything, but the story in 0080 is on a whole other level.

The story is about a young boy named Al Izuruha. Al is, as many Gundam fans are, a war buff. His friends and him obsess over Gundams and other military related things. But they are in a colony with no military action, at least they think. Because of political situations, that are explained later in the story, the Federation forces have set up a base on Al’s colony. In this hidden base they are developing a Gundam called RX-78 (a.k.a Alex). Because of this base Zeon forces have been sent in to destroy it. This failed attack on the Federation base sets into a chain of events that affects Al’s life forever.

As the first seen battle between Zeon and Federation forces is in full action, Al is captivated by the sight of it. When he sees a Zeon fighter crash land into a forest he chases after it to see the Mobile Suit up close. When he arrives he finds him self facing a Zeon soldier pointing a gun at him. He quickly befriends the Zeon soldier who’s name is Bernie Wiseman. After Bernie leaves the colony Al runs into his old neighbor named Christina MacKenzie. She is returning home after being away for a long time. Little does Al know, but Christina is a Federation pilot. As the story progresses we see Al’s life being ripped in two by the war. He begins to learn what the true weight of war is, and the effects that it can have on the people involved.

I’m going to stop myself there so that there is actually something to watch that I haven’t already explained. Anyways, one of the reasons that I love this anime so much is because of how raw and powerful the story it has. The story really shows the affects that war has on everyone, and is very well done. I also enjoy how they show how many of the public are becoming desensitized towards war. One of my favorite sense in the anime is in the first episode. It shows Al running through the city to catch up with the crashing mobile suite. But as he’s running around with wonder in his eyes at the sight of a real mobile suit there is a battle going on around him. As he runs you can see and the death and destruction that this battle is having on these unsuspecting citizens. It was a very serial scene.

The director of 0080 is Fumihiko Takayama. Takayama’s work in this 80’s OVA is brilliant and really captures what the story is trying to portray. He’s a very serial director and it shows in this anime. Everything that happens in it seems very life like. It’s hard to explain with out watching. Nothing in it seems forced or tossed aside. Everything is presented and pulled off in a realistic fashion.

As for the screenplay, it was written by some one very different than you’d expect. A man by the name of Hiroyuki Yamaga. You might recognize him as the producer of FLCL, or as the animation producer for Neon Genesis Evangelion. He’s usually a producer or an episode director so it’s odd to see him take on the task of screenplay writer (aside from The Wings of Honneamise).
I’d like to finally mention Koji Sugiura. He was the art director in 0080, and he did a good job. He is quite a successful artist working on other Gundam series like 08th MS Team and 0083: Star Dust Memory. He has also worked on shows like Full Metal Alchemist, End of Evangelion, Eureka Seven, and more.
The English cast is also something worth mentioning with people like Beau Billingslea (who is best known for his work as Jet from Cowboy Bebop), Wendee Lee (with a list of works as long as the mind can imagine), and Brianne Siddall (who is know as Gimmy from Gurren Lagann, and Tsukasa from .Hack//SIGN). There are more great voice actors in this anime but those are just some people I decided to throw out there.
There has been a recent release of War in the Pocket in an Anime Legends box set. It’s quite cheap at only $18.74 at rightstuf.com. The set is well put together and I’d suggest picking it up if you like the show.
It’s time for my final focus. I really like this OVA, it’s probably my favorite Gundam. It is a classic and I’d encourage everyone to at least watch it once. It has a really powerful story good directing. There is no reason to not like it. Unless your one of those people who thinks that Grave of the Fireflies sucks because it’s sad. If so, GET OVER IT! IT’S SUPPOSES TO BE SAD! THAT’S AN AMAZING MOVIE! I’m better now. The point that I’m getting at is that this is a very good 6 episode OVA and I think anyone reading this should go out and watch it. It’s a sadly over looked part of Gundam history and I think it needs more praise than it gets.
Next time… I’m actually not sure what I’ll review. But it’ll be good. I might do my first product review. Probably involving the state side releases of 20th Century Boys or Pluto, But no promises.

MxO

2009-03-25T20:10:00.000-07:00

As I said in my review on They Were Eleven, I’ll be doing a manga this time. I decided to not only do my first Manga review but my first negative review as well. When I thought of this the first series that came to mind was the little known series called MxO.
MxO is a series about a young boy named Taiga Kuzumi who (after being denied acceptance) brakes into a school. But this is no ordinary school. It’s a magical school called Seinagi Private High School. Incase your wondering, your not the only one who thinks that this is Harry Potter. When he gets in there he finds that the people there can use magic and ends up getting into a fight with the whole school. After some how beating all the students off and then fighting and beating a teacher by using magic. He get’s taken into the school. After this he falls head over heels for a girl named Aika Hiiragi who loves to laugh at corny jokes. As it goes on you learn that the only way for the students and teachers to use magic is if they have special cards that represents their rank and that they are on the school premise. For a weird reason that is explained in the series, Kuzumi is given a fake card that is made to look like a gold card (the highest ranking car) and is suppose to some how trick everyone into thinking that he is a great magician. He has to depend on smarts, skill, and luck to trick the whole student body. Also, this magical card (known as the MO card) has the hidden ability to negate any magic that he wishes.
Although I’m going to be giving MxO an over all bad review I’d like to say that it’s not all bad. I was at first (after the first few chapters) really enjoying this series. It had some funny moments, a few good action parts, and some interesting characters and goals. The only problem is that the series is cancelled before these goals are met, or the character conflicts are resolved. So picture reading a 99 chapter series that keeps saying that they’re building up to these big goals and events and what not, and next thing you know it’s over. It doesn’t really go down with the sweetest taste in your mouth.
Another fault of the series is the fact that in the ending they go into this long arc of him trying to advance his MO card. This is accomplished by a ghost having him climb a wall or something and if he does than he advances his card. Unfortunately for the writer this arc happens just before the end of the series. So nothing really comes from it.
Another negative for the series was the over use of moe characters. The series is crawling with them. But I guess this is to be expected from a modern Shounen series. An example of this is the fact that Kuzumi is, eventually, fallowed around by a little naked woman who has undying love for him. It’s enough to make Daryl Surat go blind with fury and destroy Yasukiro Kano.
I guess I should just rap this up already. I would say that this is an ok series to read up until chapter 70ish I guess. I would advice no one to ever read this to the end. It is an awful ending that made me stressed and over all pissed off for the next week or so. I felt like Inuyasha even had a better ending than this. That’s my review of MxO. Once again, I wish I could have given this an ok review, but I can’t. It was a waste of time. If they ever get a new ending some how then I’ll enjoy it.
Next time I’ll be reviewing one of my favorite mecha anime of all time. It’s a little OVA by the name of Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket.

They Were Eleven

2009-03-11T17:55:00.001-07:00

This time I have decided to review the forgotten movie that is They Were Eleven. I have to say that this was a great movie. I’d like to say straight up that I would suggest this movie to anyone. But lets move on to the actual review.

They Were Eleven is a 1986 anime movie that was based on 1975 manga series. The story is about a group of 10… make that 11… people who have hopes of attending Cosmo Academy. This is known to be the hardest Academy to get accepted to, and for reason. They have to pass multiple tests and trials to get by. But the story focuses on the final test. In this exam the 11 people are sent out to an abandoned space craft and are told to survive there for 25 days with out help or contact from or to the outer world. Now the test was meant to be for 10 people, but when they arrive at the space craft they are shocked to find that there are 11 of them. Now that the suspicion has set in, the fun of the movie begins. From there it goes into allot of interesting plots. Showing how they become paranoid, delving into character development, and taking on social issues of the time.

The main character of the movie is a young man by the name of Tada. He was quite an interesting character. He at first seems like an average guy (aside from the fact that he’s a genius like all the others). But we soon learn that he’s even more unique then that. We, not so cleverly, learn that he was ESP. Also, we start to realize that he knows things about the ship that he shouldn’t. This of course makes his fellow crew members suspicious of him being the extra man (and there for a danger). Another key character of the movie is Frol. Frol is a woman (at least that’s what you can assume by the way she looks, even though she hates it) that has joined the test for personal reasons that are later brought up and discussed later in the movie. This is actually a very interesting part of the movie that I really don’t want to spoil. Another character is King Mayan Baceska. He is, as said in the name, a king of Aritosca Le. Unlike the others on the crew, he doesn’t have much of a reason for taking the test. He says that he has no intentions of going to the Academy and is merely taking this test to prove that he can. The reason that he is such an important character is because many people on the crew rally around him as a leader. This sometimes is problematic for Tada because King is very suspicious of him. He is quick to blame Tada and this causes a good amount of the conflicts of the movie. There are other characters that I’d like to get into like Ganga and Knu. But I’ll leave that to the movie. Over all this movie has some very interesting characters in it. The characters, in fact, are a big push of the movie. You really want to try and learn more about them and how they react in different situations.

Another interesting aspect, to say the least, of the movie is the dub. The reason it is so interesting is because Steven Jay Blum (he is listed under multiple names) is in it. And as if that wasn’t enough, he also plays about 4 or 5 characters. It’s actually entertaining to listen to the dub. You’ll hear Spike, Roger Smith, Kazuma, ext. They all pop up at some point in the movie. Another notable voice is that of Frol, who is played by Wendee Lee. Wendee Lee is probably best known for her work as Faye from Cowboy Bebop, but her list of rolls in anime and video games goes on and on and on. I really don’t want to try and make a list. Another person worth noting is Joe Romersa. Although he isn’t to often doing voices for big characters, he is going a lot of ADR and Digital Tracking work. He worked on such things as Ninja Scroll, 08th MS Team, Trigun, Black Jack, and Yu Yu Hakusho. He’s a man worth noting.

As for the staff, this is one of those situations were I wasn’t to into the majority of the staff. Most of the staff members haven’t really worked on any “notable” series or movies. Most of their other works are obscure and forgotten anime, lost to the pages of time. I’m not saying that they’re bad, I’m just saying that they aren’t any big hit staff members. The one really notable staff member is Junichi Higashi. He is a great art director and has worked on a lot of great stuff. Some of his works include Cowboy Bebop, Oh! Edo Rocket, Escaflowne (series and movie), G Gundam, and Speed Grapher. He’s a very accomplished person as you can tell.

Over all I really enjoyed this movie. It had an interesting story, it had good characters, and was directed well. I really don’t see why this is such an unknown movie. It seems like something the should get a lot more attention. But it seems to not be too big. I hope that this soon changes because it’s something that really deserves more notice and praise. I would suggest this to any anime fan or movie fan in general. It has a lot of aspects to it in terms of genres and subject matters. I really encourage more people to watch this one.
If you feel that this movie would interest you and would like to watch it or buy it then you’re in luck. The dvd is available on rightstuf for $7.49. Or you can always rent it from Netflix and see if you like it first. Well I hope you enjoy this movie and the review. Next time you can expect me to be reviewing a manga. I’m not sure which one yet but a manga none the less.

s-CRY-ed

2009-03-06T13:03:00.000-08:00

This week I’ve decided to do a review of s-CRY-ed. Many of you might know this from the Adult Swim air in 2005. This is actually were I first discovered the series, and it quickly grow on me. I recently bought the whole series in its full box set for about $30 on rightstuf.com. So after watching it again I thought that this would be the perfect series to do my first review on.

s-Cry-ed first aired in 2001 on TV Tokyo. After that it was picked up by Bandai in 2003. No that we got those things out of the way; it’s on to the interesting stuff.

s-CRY-ed is about the story of people who were effected by the “Grate Up Rising”. This was a mysteries event that happened prier to the series. After this event a large amount of land was thrown into chaos and became known as “the lost ground”. Since that event 5% of the people born in the lost ground, become what is known as “Alter Users”. “Alter” is the ability to brake down matter and reconstruct it into a new form. Because of this unique ability and the dismal situation, there is allot of fighting and war in the lost grounds. So the government created a police force known as HOLD to control the situations in the lost grounds. But this wasn’t enough to fix the problems; they also had to create a group made up of Alter Users to combat rouge Alter Users. This group is known as HOLY. This is just some of the background info that is important to the series.

The main character of the series is a man named Kazuma the Shell Bullet (no real last name). He is a bad ass who doesn’t seem to care about anyone but himself. He is one of the rouge Alter Users that HOLY is so dedicated to fighting. But Kazuma seems to have no intentions of backing down to them, or anyone for that matter. His Alter power gives him the ability to turn his arm into a destruction machine that seems half magic and half robotic. Using his Alter power his friend, Kunihiko Kimishima, and him take dangerous jobs and missions to get money. Although Kimishima is simply trying to get enough money to live on, Kazuma seems to have a bit more of a sentimental reason to get money. He’s trying to get money to support him and a young girl by the name of Kanami Yuta. Their relationship is never really explained or talked about much. It’s done in such a way that you understand that they are very close, but your not a hundred percent sure why. Kanami has a habit of calling Kazuma “Kazu-kun”, and seems to be the only person that he’ll listen to. An interesting aspect about Kanami is the fact that she always seems to have dreams of Kazuma while he’s fighting. This creates an interesting dialog for the character development of Kazuma.

Another important character is a man by the name of Ryuhou. He is a Alter User who work for HOLY and quickly becomes Kazuma’s rival. Ryuhou’s Alter takes the form of Zetsuei. This is a being that is separate from him and has a some what Human form to it. Ryuhou’s alter is known as being one of the strongest in HOLY. After an encounter with Kazuma, their hatred for each other seems to grow throughout the series. It leads to an interesting rivalry that gives the show a strong driving force behind it. But Ryuhou isn’t just a HOLY member, he is also a ‘player’ if you will. He has the love of two young ladies. One by the name of Mimori Kiryu, and the other by the name of Scheris Adjani. Mimori Kiryu is a girl from the mainland that came to the lost grounds to find Ryuhou and study Alter Users. And Scheris Adjani is a young Alter User who’s powers remain a mystery for a large portion of the series. She seems to have an infinity for Ryuhou for some reason, this is also not explained until later on.

Another character that I just have to bring up is Straight Cougar. This is my favorite character of the series. He is an Alter User for HOLY who seems to know more than he should, and he’s cocky as hell. His Alter ability is known as “Radical Good Speed”. As the title of it says, it involves speed, lots and lots of speed. He is part romantic, part fighter, part preacher, and part jester. He is a great character.

Now if you’re watching the series and start thinking “for some reason this seems to remind me of Code Geass.” Well you’re not alone; when I first watched Code Geass all I could think was that something about it reminded me of s-CRY-ed. So I looked into it, and found allot of reasons for them to be similar. First up is the director of s-CRY-ed. His name is Goro Taniguchi, but he is better known for his work with Code Geass. He was the original creator of Code Geass and the director. Another important, and obvious, similarity is that Kotaro Nakagawa did the music for both series (although I like the s-CRY-ed music better). I was quite relieved to see that I wasn’t just being paranoid and that my suspicions were confirmed.

The great thing about this series is the action in it. Every episode it’s up to Kazuma to fight another Alter User and beat the crap out of them. As the series goes on the powers just get crazier and crazier. It seems like the writers were just trying to one up each other to see who could create the most bad ass Alter Power out there. Some of the powers can be simple, like a giant gun. While others are more unique, like the ability to turn things into water. This large rang of powers makes the series that more interesting. You never know what kind of crazy fight there’s going to be next.

Other thing that’s so great about this series is all of the anime clichés that they use. One that I really enjoyed was the episode that was made to be a tribute to old super robot series. In this episode (trying not to spoil anything) an Alter User has the power to create a giant robot that is complete with transforming abilities and crazy finishing moves. Another kind of “wink wink, nudge nudge” in this series is that of harem. In the series on Alter User’s ability allows him to create living puppets to his liking. He creates 3 ladies who serve him no matter what, he seems to do this because of his lack of success with real women and his over sized ego. It might not have been an intentional reference to harem series but I saw it. It also seems like Goro Taniguchi might have got his ideas of how to portray Ashferd Academy from this series. One episode of the series completely takes place in HOLY. It starts to be allot like the Ashferd Academy scenes from Code Geass. It’s complete with mellow drama and cheesy comedy moments. Of course this is all for a reason, but I don’t want to explain that because it would be a spoiler. You’ll just have to watch it.

Another thing that I’d like to talk about is the dub used in this series. This had an amazing cast for the English dub. For Kazuma we had my favorite voice actor of all time Steven Jay Blum (Spike from Cowboy Bebop, Roger Smith from Big O, Kyoshiro Tohdoh from Code Geass, Marj Gueldoa from Macross Plus, ext.). Then we had Crispin Freeman (Togusa from Ghost in the Shell, Jeremiah Gottwald from Code Geass, Tabool from Now and Then Here and There, Alan Gabriel from Big O, ext. He also did allot of ADR scripting and directing.) playing Straight Cougar. Those alone make it a great dub for me, but there are plenty of other great voice actors who worked on this series.

Over all I’d say that I really enjoyed this series. I wouldn’t put it on my top 10 list or anything like that, but it’s a very entertaining series. It’s got good character development, good directing, good action, and a good story. I don’t see any reason not to watch s-CRY-ed. I have to say that it’s well worth the money to buy it. Right now there is an Anime Legends box set that runs for about $50. But I would say that the better deal is in the s-CRY-ed complete collection, which is being sold for about $30 at rightstuf.com. Now sure, if they wanted me to pay $60+ then I wouldn’t have even bothered. But after seeing that it was so cheap, I couldn’t help myself. I would suggest this series for anyone who is looking for a good, cheap, action series.

So there is my first review. I would really like some feed back form who ever might be reading this. Also, if you have any question please feel free to ask. I’d like to thank you for reading my first review, and I hope you continue to come back.