Emma: A Victorian Flop

The anime "Emma: A Victorian Romance" is a real-life maid series, that counteracts the current trend in Japan of the oversexualized maid cafes. However, from what I saw in the first DVD, the series just isn't exciting enough to catch my interest.

The plot is very simple. Set in 19th century England, Emma is a maid for her mistress, Kelly Stowner. Kelly used to be a governess to William Jones, a gentleman who works with his father to trade with India. William falls in love with Emma and buys her flowers and lace gloves.

However, at a ball, a 19-year-old named Elanor Campbell falls in love with William in episode 2. Although there's some confusion when Emma spots him shopping for a gift with Elanor nearby, William showed up at Emma's house later to give her the gift, a lace umbrella.

The story throws a curve ball in the third episode when William's friend in India, Hakim, arrives with his lady friends and his elephants. And William rides with Hakim on an elephant to Emma's, Hakim falls in love too. Hakim immediately tells her that he loves her, and buys her an expensive gift. However, Emma is not really fond of expensive attire.

While all this Japanese gift-giving etiquette in 19th century England is fine for a few episodes, it almost consumes what could have been a great Jane Austen-style romance. The characters spend so much time thinking about what gifts are best that they forget to develop strong, emotional relationships. The anime integrates visuals very well, with crazy elephant rides and beautiful outfits. However, Emma lacks the memorable dialogue to back it up. Supposedly, there's a conflict in which Emma cannot marry William because she's a common maid, but I haven't seen it yet.

See Anime News Network's review of the "Emma" box set.

Image courtesy of anime.mikomi.org and batrock.net

Let's Get English

Next blog, I'll review "Emma: A Victorian Romance." Yes, this is an anime series set in Victorian England. The box set came out this month, so stay tuned for a review on it.

Time sure slows down a lot during the summer, but I'm still reviewing.

DVD Review - Vexille brings technological apocalypse to Japan

Although one computer-generated robot film was already released this year, "Vexille" is more thoughtful and exciting than "Appleseed: Ex Machina." Despite the slow pace of the film, I loved watching this new prediction of an apocalyptic future of Japan.

At first, the film seems to go in the same direction as "Appleseed: Ex Machina," with intense robot battles and fast action. However, this movie decides to take a much different approach--this time, the robot force is investigating the use of cyborg technology in Japan.

According to the film, Japan isolated itself from the world in the year 2067. The entire island was secluded, and no foreigners could come in or out of the area. In fact, the movie shows that there is a flashing electronic security network called R.A.C.E. between Japan and the rest of the world.

The film centers around Vexille, a member of S.W.O.R.D., which is a military group that specializes in fighting in robot suits. Ten years later, her husband, Leon, found a messenger in San Pedro, California, who said that Maria needed him, and that Daiwa Industries is meeting at Mt. Fila on Christmas Day to discuss admission of their cyborg technology. Saito of Daiwa Industries escaped on an airplane. Although Vexille hung on to his leg, Saito chopped the leg off!

Later, some scientists explained that this was actually a cyborg leg, which is illegal under the United Nations restrictions. Eventually, the head of S.W.O.R.D. operations decides to act without United States authorization to investigate the nation of Japan.

Unfortunately, the mission doesn't go well. Leon's robot suit gets hit by a rocket, and Vexille's other members are killed. Vexille wakes up in a shocking new world of Japan. Tokyo has turned into a shantytown.

Vexille also meets Maria, who was Leon's ex-girlfriend in Japan. Maria was a U.N. investigator in Japan, but after regulations by Daiwa, Maria could not move out of Japan. Leon left for the United States, but Maria explains that Daiwa also did something else to Japan--they turned all the people into cyborgs.

According to Maria, after Daiwa Industries took governmental control over Japan, they gave all the people vaccinations. Unfortunately, these vaccinations were special chemicals that turned all their genes into robotic parts. While they are all human, when their eyes turn black, they will all turn into empty cyborgs who are forced to work for Daiwa.

And Japan is a wasteland. That's right, after Daiwa took over, they used up its natural resources. Now it has no mountains or rivers or greenery--it is all flat. This is sure one heck of a message to convert to environment-friendly energy sources, but it works very well. The depiction is incredible--I really loved the desolate world of Japan, with desert expanses and huge robotic worms made of scrap metal.

Vexille is a brilliant film from start to finish. The Japanese voices are incredibly compelling, and the computer-generated graphics are just as awesome. I saw many complaints that the graphics are not as good as, say, "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within." However, the director chose a style that used more cell-shaded graphics, to make it somewhat more cartoony. The images were probably rendered in this way to offer a sense of comic relief from the dark apocalyptic story.

But it's clear that "Vexille" offers excellent images and a brilliant story that paints a desolate future for Japan. Let's just hope that Japan doesn't get this messed up 60 or 70 years from now.

Images courtesy of seaslugteam.com

DVD Review - Pumpkin Scissors continues investigating conspiracies

Pumpkin Scissors is a very good anime series, even if the story spends too much time away from the main storyline. The characters' dialogue is fantastic, raising the tension through episodes five to 12.

As mentioned previously, Pumpkin Scissors, the third section of the Imperial Army State of the Royal Empire, is devoted to war relief. The first volume focused on Pumpkin Scissors' new recruit, the tall, unstoppable Randel Oland. While the Pumpkin Scissors is investigating the Invisible 9, the anti-tank regiment which Oland fought in, they are also fighting in side missions. The second and third volumes of the series follow these side stories.

After Oland recovered in the hospital, he found a baby dropped off by the Imperial Army's headquarters. Oland brings the baby to Pumpkin Scissors' office, and they spent the episode searching for the mother. The group also searched for missing supplies while Alice went out with her fiancee. Warrant Officer Oreldo also helped a prostitute who is still longing for her husband, who died in battle.

The last two episodes of volume three were devoted to Pumpkin Scissors continuing investigation into the Invisible 9. The Pumpkin Scissors leader, Second Lieutenant Alice, was kidnapped by a woman, who claimed that her brother was killed for writing a report revealing that the army was experimenting on the Invisible 9 soldiers, who destroyed her hometown. Unfortunately, her two comrades knocked her out to sell her report to a journalist. Assassins soon shot the journalist and the woman's two comrades, and the newspaper publishers lost the report. Oddly enough, the man who invented tanks was also killed. The episode ends with Alice's fiancee, Lionel Taylor, secretly talking with a stranger in a dark room about the recent events, as if they were plotting something.

Although the series spent lots of time with side stories, the dialogue is very good in this series. Unlike the war anime series "Fullmetal Alchemist," this series is heavily reliant on dialogue and hilarious mishaps. For example, in episode eight, the regiment was stuck in an abandoned lodge after their truck was attacked by snowboarding bandits. In a freezing lodge in the winter, a fire in the lodge would attract the bandits' attention, so Oreldo made the embarassing suggestion to Oland that one of them could sleep in the same blanket as Alice to stay warm.

However, the last two episodes revealed that the military is really doing a lot to hide their secrets. In the middle of searching for the report on Invisible 9, Alice and Oland are attacked by an assassin with two swords. Although it's really weird to have an assassin dressed like an Englishman who fights like a ninja, it really proves how much the Imperial State Army wants to hide their scientific experimentation on soldiers.

"Pumpkin Scissors" has a very good story going for it right now. Although the series gets a little sidetracked from the main story, the dialogue for the series is excellent. Hopefully, the series will continue with more revelations to come.

Image courtesy of randomc.animeblogger.net