Princess Mononoke
Alternate Title: Mononoke Hime
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P
Phantom Memory Kurau
Alternative title:
Kurau: Phantom Memory
クラウ ファントムメモリー (Japanese)
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Pretear
Alternative title:
Pretear – The New Legend of Snow White
Shin Shirayuki Hime Densetsu Pretear (Japanese)
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Piano no Mori
Alternative titles:
The Piano Forest
The Perfect World of Kai
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Psychic Detective Yakumo
Alternate Titles: Shinrei Tantei Yakumo
Original Japanese Release Date: October 3rd, 2010
Episode Length/Run-time: 13
Summary:
A high school student Yakumo has one special skill. He has the ability to see the spirits of the dead. Yakumo works with a female companion Haruka and police detective Gotou to solve crimes that are influenced by the supernatural. Little does Yakumo know that a certain case will force him to confont his past.
Review:
Psychic Detective Yakumo suffers from the same syndrome that many newer anime have. It takes too damn long to get started. This series actually has a reasonably good story but many probably won’t get to see it. Many viewers will give up on the series before the 8th episode. That’s right, it takes about 7 or 8 episodes to really get around to what this series it about. Oh, and by the way, the show is only 13 episodes long. The first set of episodes are spent on one or two shot story arcs that really have no baring on the overall story.
The characters in the show are pretty much unenjoyable. The only player that gets any kind of focus is Yakumo, which is generally fine because the show revolves around him, but it would have been nice to learn a bit more about the rest of the cast. The show itself only has a handful of characters so there would have been enough time to flesh out the backstories a little better. Gotou gets literaly no backstory to speak of and Haruka’s is minimal as well.
The storyline of the series overall is good ones it gets going. It moves fast and is engaging. It’s a supernatural crime drama that has a good balance of suspense and action. I would also suggest that viewers skip halfway through the show to make their viewing experience a little better. However, you’ll need those first few episodes to get familiarized with the characters and the to learn about Yakumo’s powers, etc… Still, even so, the this series doesn’t even do a very good job of doing that.
All in all, you can probably skip this one if there are other anime available for you to watch. If you crave supernatural stories, go watch Ghost Hunt or something.
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Ponyo
Alternate Titles: Ponyo: On a Cliff by the Sea, Gake no Ue no Ponyo (崖の上のポニョ)
Original Japanese Release Date: 2008
Episode Length/Run-time: 101 minutes
Summary:
Brunhilda is the eldest daughter of Fujimoto, the caretaker of the seas, and is in the form of a goldfish. One day she leaves home and is discovered in the tidal pools near his house by Sousuke. Sousuke names her Ponyo and they quickly fall in love and Ponyo decides she wants to live with him in the human world. However, this decision does not come without a price. As the world is thrown into magical chaos Ponyo and Sousuke must set it right.
Review:
Ponyo is a fantastic movie. From the mind of Hayao Miyazaki it is his own retelling of the story of the Little Mermaid.
The animation is obviously in Miyazaki’s standard style, but the rendering is fantastic. Despite being done a lot by computers it looks like it is nothing but hand-drawn. It has a watercolor and pastel-esque style which looks fantastic for the series.
The story is simplistic, and one of the pure love that can be shared only among the innocence of children. Miyazaki’s take on the Little Mermaid is interesting, and can be seen as a loose interpretation but all the important points are there making the story recognizable. In fact, one could argue that it’s closer in a number of ways than the Disney classic.
The English voice cast is overall fantastic, since it was Disney that handled the dubbing and was released in feature film theaters. The only voice that bugged me was Ponyo’s (bad when it’s the main character) which was voiced by the younger sister of Miley Cyrus. Everyone else is a star cast, such as Iam Nealson, and does a fantastic job.
It’s a 4.5/5 on a Miyazaki scale, just because it’s always better when Miyazaki really makes his own stories rather than copying them or spinning off other existing stories. But compared to any other anime it’s like a 6/5.
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Please Teacher!
Alternate Titles: Onegai Teacher, Onetei
Original Japanese Release Date: 2001
Episode Length/Run-time: 12 ( 22 mins ea. )
Summary:
Kusanagi Kei, a highschool student, has an encounter with an alien who is a teacher at his new school. He is later forced to marry her in order to keep her secrets. From this, various romantic problems occur multiple times throughout the story.
Review:
One would think that this is your typical run of the mill love triangle anime, but its not. The development of the characters and their true-to-life problems are one of the things that sets this anime apart. Between the comic relief of Mizuho fiddling with her personal computer and the bickering that occurs between her and Kei, you can really see how the two exhibit real life problems that couples often have. Although the two get together due to the unusual circumstances, they actually have a lot of chemistry and the relationship feels like it could be real. This is what makes this anime so good! It feels real ( besides the fact that Mizuho is an alien). It even feels real when Kei is hanging out with his buddies.
However, the plot suffers from relying on all-to-familiar circumstances and cliches which get old as the series drags on. The creators also had to make Kei’s female friends adequate love rivals, as if the marrying-a-space-alien thing didnt already top it off. The side characters, even though they are also given time to develop in the story, get super old when they randomly pop in to interfere with whats going on between Kei and Mizuho. Its also annoying when the characters, which are given such development, have to jump through hoops and barrels to get to where their going with the plot. This is unusual for TV animes, as usually its the characters that ruin it and not the plot. At least there is some originality in the problems that occur as the plot progresses, which leaves the characters just as annoyed as you.
For the animation side of it, its very well done. It has nice cinematic scenes, detailed backgrounds that are beautiful, and the character animation is up to standards with what you would expect for a TV anime. The music is nothing special and easily forgettable however.
What makes Please Teacher! interesting and enjoyable to watch is the diversity and development of the characters, not the plot. Its worth checking out if your into this kind of anime.
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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.
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Phoenix 2772 – Space Firebird
Alternate Titles: Hi no Tori 2772: Ai no Cosmozone (火の鳥2772 愛のコスモゾーン)
Original Japanese Release Date: 1980
Episode Length/Run-time: 122 minutes
Summary:
Godo is born from a test-tube and raised by robots in a world far in the future. Olga, his automated caretaker, oversees his well-being and raises him to be a great space pilot. When he is of age he leaves his pod and goes out into the real world to furfil his duties of how he was raised. But he finds the world to be a cruel place, biased against robots, and heartless to those who stand in the way of what is deemed the well-being of the majority. Godo works to find his place in this unexpected world while living up to his ideals.
Review:
A bit of background is needed to really appreciate this space-epic anime.
Phoenix the series was created by Tezuka Osamu, creator of Astro Boy and really the “God” of anime as we know it today. He began it early in his career and had the series progress from the stone age to far in the future with a reoccurring theme of rebirth and progression in time. This move is another cycle of his grand story and can be appreciated on it’s own or in conjuncture with the series.
This movie by itself is, in a word, epic. It follows Godo from his birth to his death (which shouldn’t be a surprise given the nature of the Phoenix series). Godo ages throughout the series in realistic way, going from a sheltered innocent man-child to a strong and driven warrior. Other characters come and go throughout the series and in the normal Tezuka fashion you will see resemblances to his other characters from previous works.
Sometimes the movie seems to drag but this is because they’re trying to fill a relatively small amount of time with a colossal amount of information.
This movie is a great watch, if for nothing more than it’s classic importance and well-done execution. I highly recommend it for any anime fan.
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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.
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