Sword of the Stranger
Alternative title:
Mukō Hadan (Japanese)
Stranger – Mukō Hadan (Japanese)
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Drama
School Days
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Mushi-Shi
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Piano no Mori
Alternative titles:
The Piano Forest
The Perfect World of Kai
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Kuragehime
Alternate Titles: Jellyfish Princess, Princess Jellyfish
Original Japanese Release Date: Oct 2010
Episode Length/Run-time: 11 Episodes
Summary:
Tsukimi is a geeky girl who lives in Amizukan, an apartment complex that no men are allowed to enter, with other otaku, hikkimori, and NEETs. She has a deep love for jellyfish due to a memory of her late mother. One evening, when trying to save a jellyfish she recieves help from a beautiful girl, but this girl is a trap!
Review:
This is an anime that I was earnestly surprised at how much I enjoyed. The premise seemed a little cliché, nerdy people afraid of popular beautiful people. But the execution was awesome. I loved how the “ugly” people were, well, actually ugly. It wasn’t like a lot of series where the “ugly” ones were actually really beautiful all things considered, they were pretty homely in this one. But it worked with creating the realism of the seires.
There are two main points of conflict in the show. One with Tsukimi and her relationship not only with a boy but a cross-dressing, popular, beautiful, rich boy, and how she overcomes this within. The other conflict is the risk of the Amizukan being torn down to make room for new building projects in the city and the geeky girls loosing their home and safe-haven.
The pacing of this show is also really great, it moves well and progresses in a speedy but not hasty manner. Things seem realistic in how the emotions change from encounter to encounter.
At its core I’d say Kuragehime is a feel-good show which anyone who has ever felt slightly socially outcaste can enjoy. It was a show I enjoyed a large amount and really recommend as a worth-while watch.
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Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos
Alternate Titles: Fullmetal Alchemist: Milos no Sei-Naru Hoshi
Original Japanese Release Date: Jul 2011
Episode Length/Run-time: 110 Minutes
Summary:
The Elric brothers are back and they are sent out to a boarder city known as tower city persuing a fugitive who escaped from prison with only a few months left on his sentence using strange alchemy. When they arrive they learn there’s more going on that meets the eye as they learn of the people who have been stripped of their ancestral lands and now live in the valley floor at the boarder of the two cities, struggling to regain their homeland by any means.
Review:
I think Kimiko said it best when she said movies like this are basically official fanfiction. This movie has no real place in the FMA saga and it is basically a mini vignette where everything returns to how it was when its done. But, that doesn’t mean it was a bad movie. The movie had excellent pacing, between the engaging characters, interesting story, and top-notch fight scenes you will not be bored. Fans of the series will be pleased in how all the fan favorites have been placed in the movie, sometimes a little forced – Winry did not need to be in there – but not bad. The original characters for the movie are also surprisingly deep and loveable for only knowing them a short time,you quickly find yourself invested in their plight and cheering for them in their struggles. One of the main criticisms is the animation in some of the fight scenes seems a little rough for an anime movie, normally the budget is so high everything is flawless. Its not bad though, just not as good as one would expect. But it is overall a very enjoyable watch no matter if you are an FMA fan or total noob.
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Yumekui Merry
Alternate Titles: Dream Eater Merry
Original Japanese Release Date: 2011
Episode Length/Run-time: 13 Episodes
Summary:
Fujiwara, a stereotypical good-hearted yet slightly oblivious high school boy, possesses the ability to see people’s “Dream-auras,” a colored haze surrounding a person which indicates the type of dream which they will have. One day he meets Merry, a dream demon who is looking for a way to get home. They end up teaming up as Merry enters his daydream and saves him from his own dream demon who was seeking to possess his body and enter into the human world. The effort to return Merry home soon becomes locked in struggle against the dream demon Engi, who seeks to destroy others.
Review:
Dream Eater Merry is based off a manga which began back in 2008. It currently has 6 volumes and is still ongoing. As a result the series suffers heavily from two main things. One, operating from a story that has yet to reach a conclusion and likely won’t for some time (like a FMA versus Brotherhood situation). And Two, as a byproduct of one, being far too short.
This anime is one that could have easily been great.
The animation alone is a notch above the rest, even among modern animation standards. Everything flows smoothly and fight sequences are animated flawlessly. But high-gloss colors and quality movement is a dime-a-dozen now a days. What really takes Yumekui Merry above and beyond is the camera angels. Shot like a high-quality cinematic film the angle for the images is used in both artistic and creative ways. The style of art is a cross between dream-like and surreal. Painting an astounding picture of each original dreamscape.
What further improves the atmosphere is the music. Dreamlike, whimsical, and sometimes haunting the music of this show is fantastic. A perfect example of how you don’t need a full blasting orchestra to create fitting and evoking music.
So right now, this anime is at a 5/5. Unfortunately, it was doomed to failure from the beginning.
The anime, as mentioned before, is only 13 episodes long. This is not nearly long enough for this series. The first arc focuses on establishing Merry and Fujiwara’s relationship and overcoming his demons. Now about one third of the way through the series the focus shifts to returning Merry back to the dreamland. In comes a slew of interesting characters and dream demons, a number of battles, and a thickening plot. Each character begins to get fleshed out with decent back story and elaboration on the important parts. Some more would’ve been nice and had it been longer we would’ve had the chance, but we didn’t. Then around episodes 9 and 10 the creators went “oh shit, we have to finish this” and employed an arc that wasn’t even in the original manga. As a result the story seems to jump from this careful development phase to a thrown together ending which feels forced and awkward, despite answering the necessary questions.
The premise of the story is cool, really cool, this connection between dreams and reality. But the fact is they execute it poorly. They don’t have nearly enough time to both set up this elaborate world, flush out the characters, and unravel the plot before the ending is upon the series. As a result, it’s just about average.
Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust
Alternate Titles: None
Original Japanese Release Date: 2000
Episode Length/Run-time: 102 Minutes
Summary:
The Half-Human Half-Vampire Vampire Hunter who goes simply by ‘D’ is continuing his quest to fight against the vampire nobility that rules over a far-future post-apocalyptic world. Because of his reputation he is called upon by the Elbourne family to rescue their daughter, Charlotte, from the clutches of Meier Link. But D is not the only one on the hunt, and seperating Charlotte from her new love may prove more difficult than D originally expected.
Review:
A long awaited follow-up to the classic movie Vampire Hunter D, Bloodlust is a worthwhile addition to the family.
The Vampire Hunter D series is based on a series of novels by Hideyuki Kikuchi, this particular movie is based off the third book. Acclaimed artist Yoshitaka Amano’s wisdom is drawn from yet again to bring the pages of the novel to life on the screen and his dark style creates artistic poetry on the screen. Angular features, dark odd creatures, and towering spires adorn the movie in a distinct style that one has to see to believe.
Unlike the first movie the storytelling in Bloodlust does become slightly muddled. Which is not helped by the somewhat confusing and uncertain dialogue. The finale of the movie is also somewhat of a letdown, ruining the otherwise perfect pacing the film had all the way through.
Despite that the film has all the surprises, twists, action and pleasant oddities as the first film. It remains a worthwhile watch to be enjoyed more by adults than kids. This film, while not perfect, stands as a strong follow-up to a classic and should be on any anime fan’s must-watch list.
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Code Geass
Alternate Titles: Code Geass – Hangyaku no Lelouch, Code Geass – Lelouch of the Rebellion
Original Japanese Release Date: 2006
Episode Length/Run-time: 25 Episodes
Summary:
With the aid of gigantic robotic robots known as Knightmare Frames colonialism has taken new meaning and the Empire of Britannia has invaded Japan and placed it under colonial rule. Lelouch a Britannian living in Area 11 (Japan’s new name) vows to free Japan and overthrow the Empire. One day after school he stumbles upon a military secret which happens to be a young girl named C.C. She gives him the power of Geass which can be used on any person only once to make them obey any order. With this weapon Lelouch’s rebellion begins.
Review:
Code Geass, reviewed here in full (both first and second season) is a very well done anime. While plots of overthrowing governments, coup de etats and war is nothing new to anime Code Geass brings lively characters and it’s own interesting spins to the rehashed themes in such a way that it feels fresh and new. One of the fantastic things about this anime is the pacing. It moves at near breakneck speed wasting no time to get to the meat of the show. From there on they don’t dally with stupid antics (okay, they do very rarely) and focus on progressing what they set out.
The mech battles in this show are really well executed and Lelouch’s character as the ringleader is perfect. Possible best friend to Light Yagami Lelouch is calculating, careful, cunning, and slightly cocky in just the right ways. While we’re on the subject of characters they are just the right mix for everyone watching. Enough bishonen to go around, cute girls ranging from well endowed sexy to loli and your stereotypical characters thrown in there to round out the mix nicely. Sometimes the stereotyping is taken a little too far and the acting could be seen as borderline corny. But generally speaking it’s done at the right times and I feel it’s presented in such a way that works for the series overall.
The one thing that really docks this series overall is the fights in the second season. Throughout the whole series there is gray area moral dilemmas argued and a clever cat and mouse both on and off the battlefield between Lelouch and Suzaku. However, in the second season Suzaku, apparently, closes the mental gap rather quickly on Lelouch. All of a sudden he, quite annoyingly, shows up out of the blue at just the right moment to squah Lelouch’s plans and win or thwart the battle. As a viewer it not only screams unrealistic, but it screams annoying.
Despite this, the series is very well executed and has something for everyone. The animation is clean and crisp and the music does not disappoint either. With the characters and engaging plot I’d easily classify this anime as a gateway drug into the world of mecha for any fan or fan-to-be.
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.hack//Roots
Alternate Titles: None
Original Japanese Release Date: April 5th, 2006
Episode Length/Run-time: 26
Summary:
.hack//Roots is the prequel to the .hack//G.U. videogames. It follows the story of Haseo, a Multi-Weapon and member of the Twilight Brigade guild. In the year 2015, CC Corp. Building burnt down, and with it, most of its data for The World. By splicing data from what would have potentially been another game, CC Corp. created The World R:2 and released it in 2016.
Review:
Set six months before .hack//G.U., Haseo logs into The World R:2 for the first time and falls victim to the PKs that reside within The World R:2. Pking has apparently become a big problem. He is saved by Ovan and Shino, which prompts him to join the Twilight Brigade. The Twilight Brigade members are on a mission to find the Key of the Twilight, however, the TAN guild opposes this because they want Ovan’s character data due to the device in his left arm and will stop at nothing to keep the Twilight Brigade from their goal. The twist is when Tri-Edge shows up. Things briefly pick up in the series when he turns up, making for a short run of episodes that were actually fun to watch. Makes for some good drama and some action scenes.
If you plan to watch the series, without playing the game, don’t. You need to play the games to finish the story and let me tell you, the game suck. Badly. You may go insane playing them. But without playing the games:
- Many unexplainable events
- Characters aren’t fleshed out enough you miss out on a LOT of character background. things just happen without any reason for this being given
- The ending leaves SO many questions unanswered
This anime has extremely large periods of nothing happening. What the hell is the director thinking? Everything happens very slowly. Long periods of characters just starring off into space at the sky or at something in particular. Really weird. It’s a bit how you’ll notice in an anime how sometimes they will just be like a really long still image. Also it takes characters a long time to decide to do something and then an even longer time to execute. It makes things ever so boring.
The anime totally abandons the “MMO inside an anime” theme. .hack//Sign had scenes that would show the person using the computer or would have very video game like character traits for the in-game avatars. .hack//Roots totally dumps this trait. You never see the out of game players and the characters in the series are just way too emotion filled and “real” to be ingame avatars. As a result, it doesn’t really feel like you’re watching an MMO. Many of the characters are pretty unlikeable in the end as well. They don’t get background and they really don’t feel that vibrant. Even the main character Haseo is just a shitty emo character.
The visuals and music are very nice the animation and the overall art is very nice. The character designs for .hack are always very interesting, and the artwork in general is of an excellent standard. This is a good thing, because you are forced to stare at pretty visuals in which very little happens for a long, long time. The music is fantastic as well. The theme song and was played at the start of tonights podcast, “Silly Go Round” Is quite awesome and even the BGM features famous melodies such as the “Queen of the Knight” Aria from Mozart’s “Magic Flute”.
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