DVD Classic: First Fullmetal Value

I decided to finish watching "Fullmetal Alchemist," because the two season box sets are each available for $30 on amazon.com.

The end of the original "Fullmetal Alchemist" is a thrilling series of episodes packed with high-adrenaline action and engaging discussions about the meaning of alchemy.

There were points in the last five episodes, where I honestly thought the series would never give a proper explanation of the major law of alchemy, equivalent exchange. Fortunately, the show settles with an insight into what really happens when a person performs alchemy to repair something.

Although the series was a whirlwind journey through numerous locales, the series manages to cover plenty of ground. Ed and Al were already an inseparable duo, but the emotional tensions especially rise in the final battles of this television series. The best battles take place when Ed and Al finally face the dreaded homunculus they thought they left behind years ago.

It's hard to close the lid on this series, but "Fullmetal Alchemist" manages to pull off the hefty task of explaining what actually happens in an "equivalent exchange." The characters tend to rush the dialogue in the last few episodes, but the pace actually helps to raise the adrenaline in the battles afterward. The fights make for some intense, but insightful looks into what it really means to be human.

The ending of "Fullmetal Alchemist" features some of the goriest scenes in the series. However, the wonderful conclusion provides the main characters with the possibility to create an ending above and beyond the boundaries of the medium of animation. Although "Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood" may have served as a more truthful retelling of the original manga, this anime serves as a simple, fitting conclusion to this saga about magicians and metamorphosis.

Seasons 1 and 2 are each available for $30 at amazon.com.

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Streaming video review: Sexy bishonen saviors of the incoming apocalypse

Beautiful bishonen action returns to its pre-eminent level of excellence with Kadokawa Pictures' newest action show, "Uragiri wa boku no namae wo shitteiru." This review covers the first four episodes.

Although we've seen the same visual images of sexy guys with big eyes in series such as "Angel Sanctuary" and "Ayashi no Ceres," this is actually one of the best bishonen action series I've seen in a long time. For once in anime history, the pacing of the bishonen (beautiful boys) show isn't sped up to a frightening pace. The Christian symbolism isn't set up in a horrific manner. And the characters develop like a touching romantic couple in a badass, post-apocalyptic world.

The only thing that may bother first-time watchers is the Japanese name, which was shortened to "Uraboku" in the crunchyroll.com library. The English translation of the full name literally means, "Betrayal Know My Name." I really think Crunchyroll could have translated the entire name of the series. They could have drawn in a horde of new fans with a more westernized name.

The first episodes beautifully set the stage for this unusual fantasy action show. The main character, Yuki Giou, is a high school boy with no relatives, who lives in an orphanage. He is a top student in his class, aiming to head to college. However, he keeps receiving strange death threats in the mail.

For quite some time, Yuki's best friend has been plotting to kill him. Yuki nearly gets murdered one day, when his feet freeze up in the middle of an intersection. Fortunately, a handsome, bare-chested stranger in a black trenchcoat saves his life. The man's name is Zess. Oddly enough, Yuki keeps dreaming that he once was the girlfriend of that man long ago.

Then his long-lost relatives visit him at the orphanage. They present him with an invitation to head to Tokyo to use his superpowers to fight dark monsters, known as Duras. At first, Yuki thinks that he would rather live a normal high school life. However, he has a change of heart on one especially fatal night, on the night of the full red moon.


This anime's visuals are incredible. The post-apocalyptic action sequences look top-notch for a bishonen fantasy series. The story of the series involves the frightening apocalypse in the future. So the dark, blackened imagery and the Christian symbolism in the battles look especially poignant in these fight sequences.

Beyond all the doom and gloom though, it's hard not to love the sexy characters of this series, whether you're a girl or a guy. Sure, there's plenty of romantic tension between Yuki and Zess. However, I especially love the beautiful figures of Yuki in the past as a woman. Toko Murasame is even more adorable, whether she's fighting or acting cute for Yuki.

Although some people will obviously object to the potentially homosexual relationship between Yuki and Zess, it's fairly obvious that Yuki was once a woman in an earlier time, long ago. And certainly the series will fill viewers in on how Yuki changed his form years ago. So the series is probably not going to turn out as borderline offensive as it may seem.

Bishonen fans will get more than their fill of boy's love with this awesome action series. With guns, swords, Christian overtones and beautiful characters, this series looks like it has everything that the bishonen fan will ever want and need.

Watch the series for free at crunchyroll.com.

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Streaming video review: Secret agents plot to kill the alien catgirl

Fans of harem comedies should check out "Asobi ni Ikuyo: Bombshells from the Sky" a deadly comedy about the female spies who want to kill the catgirl living with a high school boy.

The story in the first episode is a simple set-up for a romantic comedy. A high school boy's uncle holds a party and invites an unusual guest--a catgirl. The uncle tells the boy, Kio, that he should have sex and drink some beer while he is still young. Although Kio resists at first, he unconsciously lets the catgirl pass him a sip of beer.

Kio wakes up with the catgirl, Eris, sleeping in his bed wearing only a button-down shirt and no pants. Apparently his uncle told the girl that she could sleep wherever she wanted. This new development surprises her female neighbor, Maki Itokazu, and his high school teacher, Manami Kinjou.

However, the women aren't ordinary people. They are secret agents, hell-bent on investigating the origins of the alien girl in the hopes of exterminating her. Even Kio's love interest, a high school girl named Manami, is an assassin who is ready to kill people at any time.

Certainly the show follows the typical formula for a harem romance series. A group of girls want to fight against the perverted catgirl, who wants to play with Kio. Although the series follows the formula, it still packs plenty of humorous looks into the life of a spy. The show literally opens an all-out action sequence in the first few minutes, with a secret agent raiding a ship loaded with illegal drugs and weapons.

"Asobi ni Ikuyo" (literally "Let's play" in English) is a completely predictable comedy. However, fans will still want to watch this to see girls acting secretly to try and kill the catgirl with big breasts.

Watch the series at crunchyroll.com.

Streaming video review: The "Durarara!!" Gang Wars

"Durarara!!" leads anime fans into an entertaining world with one of the deadliest political dramas between high school kids.

You heard me right. High school kids involved in a frightening battle of wits and violence.

The first 12 episodes were a simple introduction to the different gangs of Ikebukuro. The series starts as an unusual story about a Celtic fairy known as a Dullahan. The fairy is searching for her head, which was shipped into Japan in Ikebukuro. Although many of the characters tried to hunt for the head, most attempts have failed.

The head was traded amongst many hands, including a pharmaceutical company. However, the head has now reached the hands of Izaya Orihara, a shrewd entrepreneur. Orihara heard that the only way to awaken the Dullahan's head to its full potential is if he starts a violent battle. His vague plan is to start a big gang war in Ikebukuro between three gang leaders.

However, these gang leaders are not people you'd expect to rule the underground world of Ikebukuro. No, these leaders are simple kids, each of which have different philosophical views of their typical lives.

There are a few spotty moments, especially during episodes 16 and 17. The director has a difficult time explaining the entire origin of the slashers that are appearing in Ikebukuro. Celty and her friends learn that the slasher's code name on the Dollars chat website is Saika. At this point, the show takes a complete turn from a mystery show to a horror series, involving an army of zombie-like people invading Ikebukuro with knives and swords. Fortunately, the zombie invasion ends once the leader awakens to her powers. And yes, the leader is a high school girl.

Certainly the story will not make very much sense at first. When the pieces come together though, you'll find that this is a dark piece that depicts the social war between three gangs. The leaders are caught in a desperate struggle to stop the onslaught of brutal attacks and murders in the city. The war is ironically created by a shrewd trickster, whose intentions don't clear up until the very last episodes.

This is possibly one of the greatest shonen anime shows ever made, for its depiction of how political leaders are nearly unable the power to stop the incoming contagion of violent warfare. The anime studio, Brains Base, deserves high praise for using its incredible animators to create a world that completely redefines how we depict reality with two-dimensional drawings.

This is a must-see series. Even though you'll never know why all these superheros are all living in Ikebukuro, you will have to see this series, because it will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Watch the show for free at crunchyroll.com.

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Streaming video review: Prepare for the zombie apocalypse

It starts off as the dumbest excuse to show tons of fan service and violence. However, it is one of the hottest anime series this year.

The "High School of the Dead" show turns horror into a gut-busting comedy, with over-dramatic romance and the most illogical storyline ever written.

The anime starts off a bad day for high school student Takashi Komuro. His childhood friend, Rei Miyamoto, rejected him, so he ditches class. Matters suddenly turn from bad to worse as a zombie invades the school gates to spread the disease to the high school administrators. Takashi Komuro grabs Miyamoto and convinces her and her boyfriend to prepare for the eventual zombie apocalypse.

The simple story is an lame excuse for random violence and female fan service, but the show is very entertaining. You can think of it as a guilty pleasure for fans of survival horror flicks. The series gets even funnier in episode two, when the genius, Saya Takagi, hooks up Kohta Hirano because he looks like a weapons specialist from a horror movie. Sure enough, once Saya finds a nail gun for Kohta, he instantly builds a gun sight for him to hold his refurbished weapon.

"High School of the Dead" takes pride in its goofy panty shots and nonsensical bloodbaths. Since the zombies are practically taking over all of Japan, the students will definitely have plenty more zombies to kill. It's brazenly masochistic, but the entire experience is an excellent fetish for mature anime fans.

Watch the series online at the Anime Network website.

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DVD Review: Gurren Lagann - Drilling to a new tomorrow

Part three of "Gurren Lagann" ends with a spectacular battle that trumps all others as the most visually explosive two hours of destruction, sacrifices and joy.

Considering how simple the story has progressed, there isn't too much to explain about this robot show that hasn't been explain in previous posts. After Gurren Lagann literally stopped the moon from colliding into the Earth with a drill, the spaceship is now headed deep into space to defeat the Anti-Spirals. The leader of the Earth-bound Spiral army, Simon, is hell-bent on saving the world from destruction and saving his girlfriend from the opposing army.

Of course, an epic anime battle takes place with people sacrificing their lives. Like "Wolf's Rain" and many other shonen anime shows, this robot series ends with plenty of people dying to help the heroes in their journey. As sad as I was to see these guys out of commission, they didn't go without a good fight.

The storyline for the last two episodes takes a complete twist into the alternate dimension realm. The characters literally get sucked in alternate realities, where they are living completely different lifestyles. When all is said and done though, this is a distraction that is blocking the heroes path of ultimate destiny.

To say the least, the last episode is a surreal, otherworldly battle. The unnamed Anti-Spiral demi-god literally throws the Gurren Lagann through galaxies and supernovas. After a certain point, I thought this cosmic battle of gigantic proportions would never end. Honestly, it was almost too much adrenaline for me to handle.

When all is said and done though, the series is a worthwhile journey. The animation studio, Gainax, managed to cram in a dense amount of abstract visual symbolism. It is a bizarre, symbolic battle against the self-enclosed alternate worlds that we immerse ourselves in. It looks very much like an epic battle against our universe of worlds within the television.

Most importantly, this series is all about the difficulties of adolescence. Simon has to make one especially big sacrifice in the last episode before growing up into an adult. For a series about the excitement of childhood and growing up, "Gurren Lagann" has some of the most touching, tear-jerking moments. As much as I loved the violent orgy of battles, this show is most memorable for its courageous characters, who worked hard to find some inner peace within themselves.

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Classic video game review - Persona 3

"Persona 3" introduces gamers to an fascinating fantasy world, where players must undertake an epic journey to save Japan from evil shadow monsters.

The game may be three years old, but "Persona 3" is still one of the most creative RPGs of the 2000s era. It is one of the only games on the Playstation 2 to introduce a miniature life simulation, where your main character must juggle his time between socializing at school and fighting in dungeons.

The story is an immense adventure, set in March 2009 in the fictional Port Island, which is a few miles off of the coast of Japan. Your main character transfers to the school there, Gekkoukan High School. One night, he is forced to defend himself and a dorm roommate from monsters known as shadows. After the roommate gets wounded, he picks up her weapon and shoots it through his head to summon a spirit.

After the deadly night of battling, his dorm roommates inform him that they are part of a special school organization that is protecting the city from the shadows. Their mission is to explore a mysterious tower known as Tartarus. The organization thinks that the shadows are hiding out in the tower, waiting for their chance to invade the city.

The story may sound like a bad set-up for an anime series. The game even features anime-style cutscenes to make you think that this is the lighter version of some of those other post-apocalyptic shows. Yet, the game holds a surprising amount of depth, especially in the second half of the game. Although there are plenty of details left unexplained about how these shadows were created, the game's story holds up as an epic journey against the face of death.

This isn't all that "Persona 3" has to offer. The game includes a miniature simulation game, where the main character has to socialize with other people in order to build his social links. These connections will build up his power to fuse personas, monsters which you can summon to cast spells and perform special attacks. Once you get the hang of it, you'll be spending much of your free time talking with your friends in high school to build up your fusion power.

Yes, it is a silly game mechanic which adds a comedic touch to the entire "save the world" story. However, the system is well worth playing through. Your efforts will especially pay off at the very end, when your social link friends tell you about how you changed their lives.

Oddly enough, the game even has certain parts that turn the RPG into a dating simulation. Your main character can date almost all the most interesting girls at Gekkoukan. Like any dating game, though, you have to make sure that you don't go out with another girl when your relationship gets deep.

This is a complex masterpiece of a video game, with more and more layers of unique gameplay and social interactivity. As chiched as this may sound, this is one of the best games ever made. If you missed it, be sure to at least play through it at least once. It is one of the most satisfying journeys I have ever experienced in a Japanese RPG.

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Anime Expo cosplay photos

The biggest highlights of the Anime Expo are the people who cosplay as anime and video game characters. There were many memorable cosplayers posing for photos. Sadly, I missed taking a picture of the four or five people dressed as the Final Fantasy black mages. However, here are some of the other favorites that I'll definitely keep around on my computer.

By the way, I love this Yomiko Readman costume.

Anime Expo - My version of heaven

The Anime Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center is the place for anime lovers to find every anime-related item they'll ever need.

If anyone has at least enjoyed Pokemon or any anime show at all, then they are bound to love the Anime Expo. The show has all the Japanese animation-related gear that anyone will ever want. If you always wanted a hat, a messenger bag or an import anime soundtrack CD, Anime Expo has it. I bought plenty of hot anime-related gear, such as a "Soul Eater" wallet and T-shirt.

The $35 entrance fee this year was a tad pricey, but it was well worth it. I found great deals on manga and anime DVDs. The best values involved grab bags, where collectors grab manga to throw into a small paper bag for a low price.

Some exhibit hall vendors also sell the rare anime-related products. People will find yaoi (male gay) and yuri (female gay) anime and manga. Cosplayers will find everything from swords to wigs.

Even dating game fans will find booths that sell the infamous dating simulation games in Japan. Although I've usually steered away from these games because of some of their naughty, titillating content, it is a fascinating genre. There's no other game that lets you engage in a deep romantic conversation with an anime character.

If anime fanatics run out of money, then they can spend their time watching the educational panels, or watching anime in the six or seven screening rooms around the convention center. The center even premieres popular anime shows and series. My favorite this year was the screening of the first episodes of Black Lagoon, season three. The show had all the action I ever wanted, with snappy dialogue, gun-toting maids and lots of explosions.

The Anime Expo is also one of the best places for anime geeks to catch up with all the shows they missed in the last five or six years. I caught the first few episodes of "Murder Princess" and "Fate/Stay Night." My favorite new series is "Rental Magica," a fast-paced action series involving teenagers who are saving other people from spiritual evil.

I still haven't seen everything that I could possibly see at this anime convention. I wasn't able to catch workshops or the anime studio panels this year. However, next year I will definitely try to catch more of the events at the Anime Expo.