Joel McDonald, script writer, voice actor and ADR director at Funimation joins the hosts of the Anime Addicts Anonymous Podcast to give an interview and discuss his experiences as a member of the anime industry and what it’s like to work at Funimation.
Reviews: Fruit’s Basket and Heroic Age
Hello, faithful addicts of anime! I’m very pleased to meet you all, and super psyched be a part of the AAA blog. I’d like to kick back with you guys each week with a few reviews of my personal favorites, new and old classics-and even the stuff that should be labeled DO NOT TOUCH-in the world of anime and manga. As I continue to blog, I hope you’ll check some of the titles that may be a little less familiar to you. In any case, I hope you guys all dig the reviews! Here we go:
Manga Review: Fairy Cube by Kaori Yuki
Ian is not quite like the rest of his classmates. He’s always been gifted with the power to see spirits and fairies that are roaming around in our world. However, nobody but his old childhood friend Rin believes in “Ian the Liar”. After a series of tragic events, Ian is dead and his “Other Self”, the lizard spirit Tokage, has taken over his body and stolen Rin for himself. Ian burns with revenge, risking everything for vengeance, even that which isn’t his to sacrifice.
Overall, this is a good manga, albeit a bit confusing at times. This 3-volume miniseries by the artist of Godchild and Angel Sanctuary is elaborately drawn and paced like a mystery slasher film. The character designs are nice to look at, the scenery is positively beautiful, and the characters themselves are generally very complex and lovely.
Now for the drawbacks. It took me until my third read-through to fully understand the antagonist’s motivations, and even then the conflicts weren’t fully explained. And while I do enjoy the manga”s pacing, the panels are a bit too small at times, which makes the action read faster and it becomes more confusing if you don’t take the time to stare at all the details. And who wants to do that?
Overall, it’s a decent series, and even if you don’t get it at first, it’s a short enough series so that you can just re-read it if you didn’t quite get it. It’s a nice series, it covers a lot of faerie culture, so I recommend giving it a shot if you’re a fantasy fan.
Anime Review: D Gray Man, manga by Katsura Hoshino, anime by TMS, dub by FUNimation Entertainment
Allen Walker is a guileless fifteen year old with a depressing past: his adopted father, fresh from the grave, scarred his left eye, which sealed Allen’s fate as an Exorcist. Allen joins the Black Order, a gathering of Exorcists from around the world, who are trying to rid the world of Akume, a weaponlike demon creature that is born from the grief of a loved one. Allen, the angst-ridden Yuu Kanda, cheerful Lavi, caring Lenalee, and the eccentric Komui Lee, to name a few, are hell-bound on a mission to destroy the Akuma and collect a mysterious substance known as Innocence, which gives the Exorcists their incredible fighting powers. To make matters more complicated, fighting the Black Order every step of the way are the mysterious Millennium Earl and Noah family.
As confusing this premise seems, this is an unusual anime with a lot of great aspects. There is drama, humor, and each character had their own unique desires and ambitions and aren’t afraid to step out and fight for what they want. A lot of characters have some interesting and even funny quirks, such as Allen’s penchant for gambling (and cheating), Kanda eating only soba and calling Allen “bean sprout” (“short stack” in the dub) because he’s short. The show is never predictable, full of unusual plot twists and arcs that involve some pretty weird stuff, such as a town that lives in a never ending time loop when only one townsperson notices(think Groundhog Day). The battles are intense, the antagonists alternating from just plain weird to being completely scary, and the whole anime is wrapped up in a bow with gorgeous, smooth animation and character design and a killer soundtrack. Seriously folks, if you haven’t heard your fill of this title by now, it’s a must-see, and if you’re a music addict (like me) in addition to being an anime addict, a must-add to your MP3 player. (Here’s the Season One opening theme: Innocent Sorrow)
Well, thanks for reading, fellow Addicts, and I’ll see you next week for more anime and manga to recommend (or just remind you to steer clear of)!!
This is DJ, signing off! Have a nice one! Ja-ne!!~