Sailor Moon Stars
[starrater]
Magical Girl
Pretear
Alternative title:
Pretear – The New Legend of Snow White
Shin Shirayuki Hime Densetsu Pretear (Japanese)
[starrater]
Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A’s
Alternate Titles: Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A’s
Original Japanese Release Date: October 1st, 2005
Episode Length/Run-time: 13
Summary:
Nanoha and Fate must battle against a group of Velka Knights, who seek to fill the pages of the Book of Darkness, a Lost Logia, with stolen magic powers. The story begins when the Velka Knights attempt to steal Nanoha’s power to write the pages of the Book of Darkness.
Review:
Nanoha A’s takes place a few months after the events of the original Nanoha series. I wouldn’t say that you cannot watch Nanoha A’s without seeing the first season, because other than the characters, they are barely connected, but you might enjoy it more. Fate Festarossa, a magical girl, once foe, turned friend of Nanoha’s is being put up for trial by the Space/Time Administration for the crimes she committed in the first series. Fate sought to collect the Lost Logia, which are lost artifacts of horrible power that are very dangerous.
She is reunited with Nanoha after she is locked in battle against a group of “Velka-Type Knights”. Fate and Yuuno, and others rush to Nanoha’s side just as she is about to get killed by Vita, one of the Knights. In the end a giant battle royale occurs which makes the first two episodes of this series rather epic.
The knights seek to capture the power of Nanoha in their “Book of Darkness”, another Lost Logia. This book has the power to steal magical essence and the knights want to fill it’s pages with magic. Because Nanoha is so powerful, they seek her specifically becasue they feel she will feel a lot of pages. Of course, the Space/Time Bureau knows about the book as well and they want to seal it away.
This is kind of the DBZ of Magical girl anime. A lot of magical girl anime has romance and drama spilled in there (sailor moon) but this series is more about badass shounen style fight scenes, only with magical girls. For example, Nanoha’s Divine Buster is more like a massive KameHameHa than anything else. The battles are so much better. Those of you that have seen the first series will recall that the final battle between Nanoha and Fate is the best battle from the first series. Most of the battles from A’s are better than that one. The Vita-Knights all have a unique fighting style and it makes for incredible action. Some of the best or maybe THE best from the magical girl genre.
All of the magical characters, have weapons that are somewhat sentient. they can, to a limited extent be talked to and typically announce their attacks when they use them. When Nanoha uses her Divine Buster, or when Vita loads a “Cartridge” it’s typically announced by the weapon.
Aesthetically, the battles are better. The animation and colors appear more appealing and crisp. The soundtrack is still filled with amazing songs by Mizuki Nana, you’ve been hearing the music all throughout this review.
As is the case with many magical girl anime, there is a bit of a lolicon aspect to the show. Nanoha is only around nine years old in this series and in her magical girl transformation, she does get kinda naked, however there is no real explicit nudity. The same is true for Fate, however these are the only two magical transformations you see in the series and you only see them once each, unlike other series such as Star Driver, which make you watch the same boring transformation, four minutes an episode, you see a total of 3 minutes of transformations for the entire series.
[starrater]
Magic Knight Rayearth
Alternate Titles: Rayearth
Original Japanese Release Date: 1994
Episode Length/Run-time: 20 Episodes
Summary:
Three junior high girls: Shidou Hikaru, Ryuuzaki Umi, and Hououji Fuu, meet at a school trip to Tokyo Tower. Suddenly, a bright light envelops them and they find themselves transported to the fantasy land of Cephiro. Princess Emeraude brought them there to save the land from the evil High Priest Zagato. With the guidance of Guru Clef, and the help of their new mascot the bouncy, rabbit-like, uber-cute Mokona, they are sent on a journey to become the Magic Knights in order to save the princess, and the land.
Review:
Alright, as always it’s time to get the specifics out of the way. Magic Knight Rayearth is a 20 episode series which came out in Fall of 1994 and ran through to 1995. It was produced by Tokyo Movie Shinsha based off an original manga by CLAMP which was three volumes running from 1993-1995. There IS a follow-up manga and series to Magic Knight Rayearth, aptly titled Magic Knight Rayearth 2, but I am not reviewing that because I have not seen it. Makes sense, right? Both the manga and the series have been licensed in America, so if you want to get your hands on it, it should be pretty easy.
This series is hailed for following the first arc of the manga relatively closely. Which should be pleasing to many manga fans out there.
This anime feels like an RPG come to life on a screen. If Lodos war was D&D Rayearth is the spitting image of every JRPG fans game. Cephiro is a fantasy world full of large crystals, flying fish (literally, flying), gryphons, mages, and of course magical girls. The characters are as equally cliché as the world. Fuu is the quiet shy girl with glasses, Umi the entitled rich girl who seems to initially care only about getting home in time for her fencing tournament, and the spunky tomboy Hikaru.
So, yeah, the series starts out exactly as it looks. The girls learn of their powers, get into some battles, and fall into some clichés along the way. But it becomes significantly more than that. As is CLAMP’s style often times the series is full of forlorn love, taboo relationships and heartache. If you’re a girl, this addition really helps make the series IMHO.
The major con of this series is the animation. Where the character designs seem enchanting and different in the manga they just seem jarring and odd. Their faces are angular and odd looking and their eyes take the “big eyed anime character” to a whole new extreme. The animation is also poor, even by 1990s standards, the low frame rate makes the action sequences (something many Shojo series lack) clunky and odd. This is barely excusable just because these action series serve more to provide a catalyst for the emotional storm brewing in the series than a flashy soiree. Music is average, about what you’d expect.
What is best about this series is the ending. Magic Knight has a fantastic, unexpected, and emotional ending that you REALLY do not see coming. This series is the exact opposite of what we normally talk about, good series that end up bad. This series starts out with you expecting a little, and it ends up giving you a lot.
Overall, it’s a shojo magical girl anime, so there’s really so much you can expect . But generally people looking for the high-budget action sequences are going to stay away from this anyways. On a magical girl show scale, I’d give it a 4+. But this isn’t a magical girl only review site, so overall it gets a 3.5, slightly above average.
[starrater]
Revolutionary Girl Utena
Episode Reviewed In: EMAIL CHIAKI IF YOU KNOW THE EPISODE – use the contact form
Alternate Titles: Ursula’s Kiss, Utena, Girl Revolution Utena, Shoujo Kakumei Utena (少女革命ウテナ)
Original Japanese Release Date: 1997
Episode Length/Run-time: 39 Episodes
Summary:
When Utena Tenjou was a young girl her parents died and during her despair a prince on a white horse gave her a ring, telling her to never lose her nobility and strength. She was so impressed by him that she decided to become a prince herself and dresses as a boy at her school, Ohtori Academy. One day she observes what seems to be a lovers quarrel involving Anthe Himemiya and Saonji, a member of the student council. When she approaches Saonji she is swept into a world of duels because of her ring surrounding Anthe, the “rose bride” and the power to revolutionize the world. What these duels are, who the mysterious letter sender known as “End of the World” is, and Utena’s place in it all remains a mystery.
Review:
How to make this review not a small novel will be a mystery for me. It’s no secret that this is likely my personal favorite anime of all time. But, even if this wasn’t the case this anime is so full of symbolism, story, and general “WTF?” that it’ll be hard to keep this review short(er). But, here goes nothing…
The anime is, foremost, a Shoujo anime. Despite having its share of action in the duels and sometimes hostile relationships between the characters the anime is primarily relationship driven. Utena’s role is similar to what the main character of a Shounen anime would be. Strong, determined, kind-hearted, yet naïve in a way that often times will land her or those she cares about into trouble. Despite this she retains her femininity often times through the affections of other masculine characters. However, to say it is “relationship driven” is well, an understatement. The relationships in Utena are so jacked that it’s one of the hardest things to follow. To illustrate this or perhaps help some confusion I made a relationship map of the most basic of relationships, and even then there are some question marks.
The series is broken up into three arcs. The first arc is about 12 episodes and this is the “Rose Bride” arc. This sets up the characters, world and the duels. As this arc ends the world is thrown into chaos through the second arc the “Black Rose” arc, about another 12 episodes. This arc brings forward sub characters to duel Utena for Anthy’s hand. The final arc is the “Apocalypse Saga” where the conclusions of the series are drawn.
This series could’ve done fine without the Black Rose arc and duelists. They do bring out backstories for each of the characters, and provide some further detail on the story, but beyond that they’re next to filler, making the series even more episodic. And the series is pretty episodic to begin with. The other problem with this arc is things begin to get really cracked out and crazy (dueling on convertibles anyone?).
The ending is complex, and is something most people debate. That’s one thing I love, this series is steeped in symbolism and every person can have an equally valid interpretation of it.
It is mature content which I wouldn’t recommend for younger viewers. Otherwise, I personally recommend this series as a favorite that everyone checks out.
Princess Tutu
Alternate Titles: None
Original Japanese Release Date: 2002
Episode Length/Run-time: 38
Summary:
Long ago, a man named Drosselmayer began a storybook tale of a master Raven and a prince. The Prince and Raven became locked in an endless battle as Drosselmayer died before the story reached completion. Be it spirit or phantom Drosselmayer returns from the grave to turn a young duck into a girl studying at a ballet school with the power to transform into the Princess Tutu. But will this be enough to progress the story to a resolution? Or will the struggle go on forever?
Review:
Princess Tutu is a fantastic series, I think for all genders so long as the person has an open mind to the magical girl and ballet aspects.
One of the first immediate drawbacks is Ahiru’s voice. It is astoundingly annoying, squeaky, and high-pitched in both Japanese and English and I know more than one person it’s turned off. But that aside the world is painted in an enchanting matter which is both fitting of the story-book theme and engaging. Drosselmayer, the name should be familiar to any ballet enthusiasts as it is the name of the wizard in the nutcracker, remains a present and at times menacing force throughout the series.
The first 12 episodes are an inclusive arc, which could almost be viewed as a stand-alone. While all questions are not answered (because the series does continue) it would be a great way to see if you’re interested in continuing on. However after these first 12 episodes the series takes a darker turn and the relationships between the characters begins to run deeper and the menacing web which is being spun around them constricts down tighter.
Likely one of the best parts of this series is the ending. It is simply fantastic. Which is so hard to find these days. Not only does it answer all the questions without using cheap cop-outs and brings all the series together. But, it also does it in a way which I at least did not see coming.
The biggest drawback to this series is it does get formulaic for a bit as Ahiru is gathering the parts of the prince’s heart. But it still remains interesting and engaging, despite that.
[starrater]
Panty and Stocking
Alternate Titles: Panty and stocking with Garterbelt, Daten City
Original Japanese Release Date: 13
Episode Length/Run-time: 2010
Summary:
Panty and Stocking are two angels who “came down” from heaven to protect the earth. In reality they were kicked out of heaven for bad behavior and they have to slay the monsters wreaking havoc in Daten City. With Garterbelt looking after them they set out to do just that in their own, original, ways.
Review:
Oh, Panty and Stocking, where to start….?
I suppose with the obvious. the first thing you notice is the look of the show. Highly stylized and flopping between “traditional” anime and what you see in the picture during certain scenes it’s likely to turn more than one person off.
The story, wait, what story? It’s basically just Panty and Stocking running about killing monsters of the week (which are made of shit, yes shit, like pooh) while doing perverted things/eating sweets. At first the anime is fun and quirky and you go “oh this is cool!” Then it’s the same…. and the same… and the same… and you go “what are you doing series?!”
There is some sign of thought at the end, but the over-the-top perversion and sexualization of the show (definitely not one for kids) ruins any positive this would have.
This series would’ve done better as a four-episode OVA, because that’s basically all you need. Watch episodes 1 & 10-13, that’s all you need to get a feel for the show and see all the plot it has to offer.
Panty and Stocking tries to do something as a show and really fails. They rely too much on cheap perverted jokes that just get tired and old. The only reason why it’s better than a Hentai-score is that it does attempt something and well, it’s so close to a hentai anyways with the level of sexuality in the show.
[starrater]