DVD Review: A Complicated Bundle of Love

If anyone is struggling to find a decent romance anime, there's one show that they absolutely have to watch.

Season one of "Honey and Clover" is a powerful love story that is guaranteed to keep everyone emotionally attached until the very end.

It starts off as a simple slice-of-life about a group of art college friends: three guys and two girls. The guys consist of a first-year student named Takemoto, a sixth-year slacker named Morita and a fourth-year senior named Mayama. The girls consist of a young prodigy named Hagumi and a beautiful third-year pottery student named Ayumi Yamada.

At first, the story becomes a simple snapshot of daily life for these college students. As they grow older, they become more and more romantically attached. Yet, they all have a tough time confessing their feelings for each other, because they don't want their group of friends to break apart.

Although the plot is as simple as a light romance could get, the dialogue is remarkably rich with pent-up emotion. Viewers will immediately get hooked into heartbreaking relationship between Yamada and Mayama. Yamada can't help falling in love with Mayama, even when he starts to live in the apartment of another close friend named Rika.

The dialogue may seem innocent in the first few episodes. By episode 18, though, Yamada's emotions get the best of her when she runs away in tears. The entire series is filled with many difficult situations of unrequited love. These characters must wallow through these flooding emotions, struggling to find a new meaning to their lives.

To tell the truth, I can't believe this group of buddies could ever manage to stay together for two seasons. Thankfully, they never don't really take these pressing relationships too seriously. The director, Kenichi Kasai, has an incredible knack for making every comedy sequence as epic as possible.


For example, episode eight includes an especially agonizing Twister game. It starts out as an easy game. Near the end, though, all the characters are goofily breaking their bones from playing the game. The animators execute everything in this sequence with quick slapstick timing. They manage to make everything as ridiculously painful as possible, without ever crossing the line of extreme violence.

It's a bizarre series of wacky humor with unbearable waves of moving emotion. "Honey and Clover" is probably one of the best and most realistic anime love stories ever made. The protagonists are charming. The warm visuals are soothing. The dialogue hits people where it hurts.

As painful as it is to watch, this show is more about the characters' journeys rather than their relationships. "Honey and Clover" proves that sometimes it takes a little tough love for people to grow into mature adults.

Watch the series at hulu.com.

Images courtesy of photobucket.com

Code Geass season two: The sacrifices for an ideal world

To tell the honest truth, I didn't expect much from "Code Geass" when I first started. There's no way anyone can ever believe a story about a teenage brat who wanted to destroy the fictional country of Brittannia.

I was dead wrong. Code Geass is a virulent vision of destruction and mayhem, all for a much greater good. As illogical as the show turns out, no one can deny its brilliance.

The second season, R2, begins as an awkward slice-of-life story with the main character, Lelouche Lamperouge. He apparently lost all his memory of everything that happened in season one. He doesn't remember his rebel army, the Black Knights. He doesn't remember C.C. or anything about his Code Geass. And for some reason, he has a little brother following him around, named Rolo.

Although the environment drastically changed, the Black Knights still manage to remind Lelouch of his original mission. With the help of the immortal girl named C.C., Lelouch regains his memory and his ability to use the power of Geass. He has the ability to command people to do whatever he wants, by using the Geass power in his eye.

I had a couple gripes about the story as it meandered through a cast of new characters. For instance, the show almost spent too much time at a boring party with Brittannian nobles and a frightened Chinese princess.

Thankfully, the director has a keen way of keeping people interested, even when the anime plods through dull side stories. By the time people reach episode 14, they'll understand that this piece of animation is a frightening masterpiece.

We weren't meant to really hate Lelouch. No one can deny that he's an egocentric villain, but even when he kills all his best friends, he never does it intentionally. He always tried his best to keep them away from his megalomaniac complex.

I admit that the last few episodes are almost bombastic to the point of disbelief. No one would really wish to reduce the world into an intercontinental war of improbable proportions. Still, this show wasn't meant to turn into a satirical comedy. It was meant to reveal all the hypocritical qualities of the shonen anime in its rawest form. Although it plays out like a big, delusional fantasy devised by some otaku nut, it truly defies the philosophical boundaries of anime.

The intellectual battles in season two take on a much shrewder persona than in the previous season. Lelouch battles against selfish, obstinate dictators who wish to keep the people of the world stuck in the past or the present. For some reason, they all intend to create a worldwide apocalypse as part of their master plan.

Thankfully, Lelouch has better plans. He wants to turn the world into a safe place for everyone to live. He lives up to this promise, even to the very end.

Unfortunately, I can't tell anyone whether he's really honest about his intentions. I will say that this anime will always keep people on their toes. No one could ever anticipate this show's crafty ending. I'm still amazed that the director, Goro Taniguchi, had the brains and the drive to create such a wonderful cast of characters.

It's an understatement to say that this is one of the most important anime shows of our time. "Code Geass" is an epic that we deserve to revile and rejoice in. It's possibly the most volatile thing I've ever seen and it's a fantastic piece of art.

Director Goro Taniguchi will probably never create a better anime than this one, but I don't mind. This show is nearly impossible to top, in its scope of haywire chaos and demolition. If you've got the guts, watch every episode of this anime. You absolutely won't regret any second of it.

You'll probably cringe a lot though. This show has tons of explosions.

Images courtesy of photobucket.com

DVD Classic: Never-ending Adventures in J-pop worlds

"Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi" will astound anime fans with a journey that literally takes two young kids on a never-ending trip through the Japanese pop culture universe.

This series has had an awkward release history in America. Although it first aired in 2003, it took two years until Geneon released this series in the U.S. Even then, I don't think this show received the attention that it truly deserves.

Thankfully, ADV Films re-released this series last year. I had the fortunate thrill of seeing it on The Anime Network's website. To say the least, this is one of the most creative anime shows I've ever seen.

The show begins in the Abenobashi shopping district in Osaka. Two teenagers, Satoshi "Sashi" Imamiya and Arumi Asahina, are spending their last summer playing in the empty streets. Their parents' businesses were forced to close, as part of the redevelopment of the Abenobashi shopping arcade. Unfortunately, Arumi's family is also planning on moving to Hokkaido, as soon as her grandfather closes his shop.

Their summer of fun takes a tragic turn, when Asahina's grandfather almost dies after slipping on his rooftop. Asahina's entire family is planning on moving to Hokkaido as soon as he recovers. This could be the last day that Sashi and Asahina can play together.

On that day, though, the town completely turns upside down. The group of elderly people exercising in the park transforms into mushrooms. The buildings fall apart like cardboard cutouts, revealing a magical role-playing video game world in some European pasture.

Thus, the two children begin their treacherous journey through the magical other-dimensions of Abenobashi.

This series is amazing for its immensely inventive visuals. The show jams in an astonishing load of parodies on video games, robot television shows and martial arts series. Anime fans are bound to laugh at anything and everything.

They'll especially enjoy the insane antics in the third episode, where Asahina loses her panties to a goblin creature. Near the end of the episode, the goblin somehow turns into the mask for some gigantic robot ship with a demon head. And for some reason, that head still has Asahina's panties on it.

"Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi" is literally as unpredictable as episode five in FLCL. It is riotously funny, like a hyper episode of Shin-Chan. Yet, there's also a subversive tone of despair throughout the journey. As much as Sashi enjoys the Abenobashi worlds, the two kids are still trapped inside these wacky J-pop dream worlds with little hope of reaching their home.

I have yet to reach the ending, but this series is truly buried treasure. Unfortunately, I've heard that most of the special DVD features are only in the individual volume boxes from ADV. Regardless of which set you buy, you have to see this series. It's one of the few shows that will make anyone laugh.

Even if the English dubs put in some awkward Western cowboy accent for the main characters, this is series is golden. Check it out at least once, because you won't regret it.

Image courtesy of photobucket.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.

Image courtesy of photobucket.com

DVD Review: "Soul Eater" ends on positive note

The final part of "Soul Eater" rehashes the anime theme of courage repetitiously, but the fights are unusually fun to watch.

While this finale tends to follow the conventional formula for a successful action series to the very end, the images and voice acting performances are more surprising than you'd expect. Sure, the protagonists mature like ordinary teenage superheroes. However, the last fights are worth watching for the visual symbolism.

If anyone hadn't seen the previous box set, the good guys' organization, the Death Weapon Meisters Academy, has been looking for the all-powerful device known as The Brew. The members are also trying to defeat Arachnophobia and kill off the elusive villain, Medusa. Most of all, they want to vanquish Asura, the demon god who wants to consume the world with his madness.

Admittedly, this is almost too much ground to cover in one box set. And by the final three episodes, it looks like the animators ran out of time to develop an epic ending to close out the series. Our main hero, Maka Albarn, literally fights the final battle in the simplest manner possible.

Considering that Maka is the ultimate witch hunter, you'd expect that she would use her super-powerful slash technique with her scythe. But without giving anything away, let's say that the final battle turned out even more silly than I expected.

While some people may find themselves disappointed that ending isn't as thrilling as "Gurren Lagann," I'm sure that enough fans will enjoy the final battles. The battle with Medusa was quite possibly the one of the best fights I've ever seen in a shonen series. Crona and Marie finally get the chance to give Medusa the punishment that she deserves.

Best of all, the story reached a satisfying ending that was better than many other shows can own up to.

Let's not forget that Maka takes center stage throughout most of the series. She manages to take many challenging roles throughout the story. She protects her friends like a caring mother. She carefully discerns whether villains are trying to deceive her. She lives up to the legacy of her mother as a witch hunter.

Most of all, she acknowledges even though she is afraid much of the time, she takes matters head-on, no matter how many times her friends are dying. "Soul Eater" is literally one of the most empowering series, with intentions that stay clear throughout its run.

Even if it is completely predictable as a shonen (guy's) action series, "Soul Eater" is an effective series with some of the best acrobatic fights. The battles symbolize the self-conscious anxiety within everyone, which people can overcome with courage. While the show feels like it was geared more for kids, it still packs quite a punch. Literally.

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Movie review: Eureka Seven movie soars to imaginative heights

The new "Eureka Seven" movie is filled with baffling transformations and provocative twists, but the ending is breathtaking.

For anyone who hasn't seen the series, the plot of "Eureka Seven" centers around two teenagers, Renton and Eureka, who team up with the rebel group Gekkostate to save the world from being destroyed. The movie, however, places these characters in an alternate universe, with most of them having completely different attitudes.

The film opens with the military capturing Eureka, an innocent alien girl and childhood friend of Renton. Fortunately, the military left Renton's cute larvae animal, Nirvash. The animal grows into a humongous robot, which Renton uses to fight as a corporal in the military. However, when Renton discovers Eureka in a gigantic alien Eizo, he discovers a boatload of military conspiracies.

Although it's a little difficult to follow all the plotlines in the film, "Eureka Seven: Good Night, Sleep Tight, Young Lovers" will definitely confound longtime fans of the original series. All the characters from the original series are so different in the film, thanks to some particularly shocking plot twists. For starters, all the old members of Gekkostate are actually 17-year-olds in the bodies of rapidly aging adults.

This is the most stunning transformation in the movie, turning the laidback Gekkostate members from laid-back surfers in the TV series to angry adults who want to stop all time permanantly with the help of Renton and Eureka.

People may have a tough time imagining the Gekkostate leader, Holland, as a snotty, bratty villain. However, considering how often he beat up Renton in the TV series, this change is completely understandable.

There are plenty of awkward dubs. Some parents may cringe when the teenage Eureka asks Renton if they could sleep together, just as they did when they were kids. Some of the script lines are just as strange. No one would even expect the world of Neverland to get mentioned in a film that has more to do with flashy visuals and science mumbo-jumbo.

Despite the oddity of the entire film, it all makes sense somehow. Renton and Eureka learn to love each other, no matter who tries to join them in their sadistic, violent plots. Best of all, Eureka learns to let go of her selfish attitude in order to help Renton live. "Eureka Seven" is a masterpiece in demonstrating how cooperative love can look so damned beautiful on the big screen.

Best of all, Johnny Yong Bosch gives possibly his best voice acting performance as Renton. Fans have sometimes cringed during the first few episodes of the English dub of "Eureka Seven," when he spoke in a horrible, over-feminine voice with no aggression. In "Good Night, Sleep Tight, Young Lovers," Bosch projects all his dramatic lines with breathtaking power and emotion.

The ending, to say the least, is a visual feast for the eyes. It's a heartwarming love tale, about a renewal of love over the reign of destruction and chaos. True, "Ponyo" was more refined than "Eureka Seven." However, no relationship is more compassionate than the one between Renton and Eureka.

Image courtesy of eurekasevenmovie.bandai-ent.com

DVD Review: Geass and the apocalypse

"Code Geass: Part Three" is a brutally violent masterpiece, examining the brutality of Lelouch's demonic powers.

In episodes 18-21, the series turns into a strange beast in a league of its own--a harem romance anime.

That's right. Just when "Code Geass" couldn't get even more zany, director Goro Taniguchi decided to add in situations in which all of the Brittanians and (Japanese) Eleven soldiers came together for the student festival.

Admittedly, the series almost gets too carried away with all the relationships between characters. For starters, Lelouch had a deeply romantic relationship with his sister Princess Euphemia of the Brittanians in episode 19. One of the Black Knights, Ohgi, has a relationship with a Brittanian soldier, Villeta Nu. Suzaku also has some feelings for the female hotshot of the Black Knights, Kallen Kouzaki. Lastly, Shirley's regaining her memory of her previous crush on LeLouch.

Without revealing too much about the ending, Euphemia first declares that Brittanians shall treat the Japanese as equals. LeLouch in his Zero costume meets with Euphemia and gets very close to using his Geass power, until Milly reveals that she is resigning from her position as princess. She wants to live with LeLouch and his little sister, Nunnally, again. But LeLouch's Geass power is much stronger than even he realizes, and the massacre after he takes control is the final straw, leading to a murderous scene.

It's fitting that C.C. is the angel of death, to say the least. C.C.'s bond with LeLouch is a proper one, because of the pain she felt as a witch in the past. And the final battles in Code Geass are stunningly beautiful and epic. Even though the animators tend to repeat the same animation, the drama plays out marvelously. "Code Geass" is a guilty pleasure anime, fulfilling every anime fans' desire for the destruction of a country symbolizing Western European culture.

"Code Geass" is probably one of the most emotional breathtaking series, throwing violent and romance together in some hodgepodge mix that is surprisingly incredible. It shouldn't work this well, but the voice actors pull off stunning performances and the visuals are amazing. Any anime fan should look into watching this series as an alternative to Fullmetal Alchemist.

This is only season one. Be sure to catch Code Geass: R2 (season two) on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block at 2 a.m., starting on November 8.

Image courtesy of bandai-ent.com

The most depressingly beautiful airplane anime

Director Mamoru Oshii has pushed the envelope once again with his newest film, "The Sky Crawlers."

The movie is a complex, but stunning film about teenagers trapped in a world of aerial combat.

The movie opens up at a snail's pace, with isolated, depressed male pilots known as Kildren, with no other amusement other than eating at the meat pie diner and having sex in the mansion with other women.

In their planes, they fight enemy planes from a country known only as the Loutan. However, most of their existence is a boring world, in which they never grow old. All they know is that they are children, who could never possibly gain access into the adult world. The only threat to their existence is the unknown airplane above the clouds, known only as “The Teacher.”

Perhaps it’s a somewhat excessive visual representation of the life of Japanese otaku, young men who trap themselves in their home, fearful of the criticism from the adults in the faceless corporate world. The characters have the most depressing and nonchalant dialogue ever heard in an anime. However, director Mamoru Oshii makes it all work.

The film is a deadpan “Catch-22”-styled story, in which the main character, Yuichi, is trying to figure out exactly who he is. He's only heard rumors that his love interest, Suito Kusanagi, shot her previous boyfriend in the head. Although Yuichi has hardly any memory of his past, he offers his girlfriend a new hope for change in their depressing life as Kildren.

Admittedly, the aerial dogfight in the end of the film is an impossibly excessive and violent end. However, given that the concept of the film is out of this world in the first place, it all works beautifully. Although some anime fans might find the film boring at first, “The Sky Crawlers” has plenty of earth-shaking emotional sequences, in which Kusanagi desperately plays with a gun in her hand on a particularly depressing night out.

This is one of the best anime films I have ever seen, filled with some spectacular dogfights with surreal imagery. But although there is plenty of action, the dogfights pale in comparison to the heartbreaking emotions throughout the film. While American audiences may be easily turned off, this is a true masterpiece by Mamoru Oshii.

Image courtesy of larcho.files.wordpress.com

DVD Classics: Packed with Fullmetal Goodness

One might wonder why I haven't seen all of "Fullmetal Alchemist" yet, since it's the number one anime on almost every fanatic's list. Well, it is long, and I had a really tough time trying to follow the series on television.

But I can safely say that "Fullmetal Alchemist" is one of the best anime series ever made, with adrenaline-packed war and grotesque alchemist conspiracies.

This isn't just any war anime though. This series packs in compelling moments of friendship and heartbreak. To give an example, the first few scenes of "Fullmetal Alchemist" literally show two brothers attempting to reincarnate their only parent, their mother, with alchemy. In the process, Ed's arm and leg gets reduced into a bloody stump. As for Al, his body disappears, leaving a bloody pair of clothes. And their mom now looks just plain gross.

Although this series is not for the faint of heart, there is a heartwarming tale in all this gory madness. The Ed and Al Elric brothers are seeking to gain their bodies back through alchemy, hoping to repent for their sins in defying the laws of alchemy to revive their mother. In particular, they seek to find the Philosopher's Stone to revive themselves.

Throughout their journey, they discover much more dark, confounding truths about the origins of the Philosopher's Stone. They also discover homunculi, dark spiritual figures who are also seeking to manipulate Ed and Al for their own purposes. They also discover the true injustices of genocide, especially the nearly complete eradication of the fiction Middle Eastern country of Ishbal.

And honestly, it's too hard to summarize this entire series in one review. However, this is a crucial series which exemplifies all the worst aspects of war through the escalation of heavy-duty weaponry. With the massive numbers of people sacrificed in this series, it's hard to even find a definite truth to war.

And the female characters really take center stage in offering relief, no matter how difficult the cost. Winry Rockbell and Sheska are some of the most bubbly characters, but they are also the forlorn victims of war. Their friends are caught in violent warfare, and they are some of the only people who can offer shelter for them.

It's a delicate balancing act, with moments of humor, action, heartbreak, tragedy and love. And somehow, this series handles it all masterfully. There's no other series like "Fullmetal Alchemist."

Image courtesy of sake0winter.blogspot.com

DVD Classics: Ghost in the Shell boots up for a 2nd Gig

"Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex: 2nd Gig" is long overdue for a re-release, but thankfully Bandai has set up an Anime Classics release of the entire box set in September.

GitS: SAC 2nd Gig is the excellent second season of the GitS: SAC, with a compelling political plot on terrorism and the oppression of refugees.

Although GitS: SAC has always been known for complicated dialogue and complex idological conversation, 2nd Gig makes for a far more dramatic season. The new enemy faction in this season, the Individual Eleven, attacks the Japanese embassy in the first episode of 2nd Gig and holds the emissaries there hostage. Although Section 9 returns to save the day, the Prime Minister reinstates them in a haphazard fashion, ordering them to save the hostages in only 15 minutes.

This is a much more violent and intense season, focusing more on the plight of Japanese refugees, impoverished in the aftermath of two more World Wars. The devastation of these military attacks has left some cities of Kyushu nearly devastated.

Out of these attacks, an independent militarist group of terrorists, named the Individual Eleven, have manipulated information networks within the government. They have managed to use Section 9 as a tool for their own purposes, even going so far as to transport illegal weaponry, such as nuclear fuel rods. They've already attempted to assassinate the new Prime Minister. At this rate, terrorism in Japan can only get worse.

Although GitS 2nd Gig almost gets a little too wrapped up in conspiracies and meandering plotlines, the second season is far better than the first. Certainly, we're not used to seeing Section 9 fail in their missions. As saddening and infuriating as it gets, anime fans will deeply sympathize more with this group as they try desperately to do the right thing, while the Individual Eleven finds more and more ways to cover their tracks. Despite what other people might think, there's nothing more beautiful than watching Section 9 fight military battles in an already devastated landscape, with sunken buildings and crumbling freeways. The music is incredibly chaotic, with fantastically dissonant string sections, all arranged by the female superstar composer Yoko Kanno.

Best of all, there's far more momentum in this second season. The first season had more of a fake egotistical coolness in all of Section 9's operations, especially in the stand-alone episodes. However, this season is filled with some of the most creative plotlines and twists. Episode two literally takes place in the mind of a military veteran, who confuses the audience with his own bizarre fantasies of killing his employers. Episode seven and eight are mind-bending episodes of Section 9's attempt to capture Kazundo Gouda, the shrewd head of the Cabinet Intelligence Service who always manages to stay one step ahead of them by dispersing misleading information to cover up his tracks.

Anyone who ever doubted that "Stand Alone Complex" would end up too complicated for its own good will be proved wrong with "GitS SAC: 2nd Gig." This is another must-have series, available in September.

Image courtesy of espvisuals.blogspot.com

DVD Review - Bloody murder in Baccano!

When I started "Baccano!", I said it was very confusing for an anime. However, as each consecutive DVD reveals the plot, I can't help but think that this series is amazing.

Though it's one of the goriest anime I've ever seen, volume two of "Baccano!" is a brilliant time warp, filled with brutal mob wars linked to a scientific experiment gone mad.

By time warp, I mean that "Baccano!" has jumped around in time in the 1930s setting. Some parts take place on a train, some parts take place in New York and some parts take place in the 1770s.

You heard me--episode seven takes place where the story began, in 1771, on an old European ship. With the help of the alchemist Maiza Aviro, a group of people attains immortality through a special elixir.

With these powers are many life-threatening risks. Each new immortal person has the ability to suck out a person's body and knowledge into his/her body by placing a hand on the person's forehead.

These are shocking new revelations that put the entire storyline of "Baccano!" into perspective. Thus, many of the main characters have the ability of rebuilding their body parts even if they die. We already know that Maiza Aviro in the 1930s is now a member of the Camorra mafia. And Firo somehow attains the same abilities as Maiza. Oh, and Szilard is an old evil crony who just sucks in all the people into his body for himself. And he wants to sell elixirs for immortality. What a punk.

It's almost too difficult to figure out which character is most significant, since each one has different philosophical standards in their use of immortality. However, probably the most significant ones are Firo, Szilard and Maiza. However, this series, like the American TV series "Lost," features s so many excellent side characters as well.

One of these characters, Jacuzzi Splot (how the hell did he ever get that name?), is a crybaby who has probably killed too many people in his lifetime. Fortunately, he still manages to muster up the courage in the train to confront Ladd Russo, the grade A sadist who killed some of his gang members.

Oddly enough, though, Russo is more interested in the conductor who was savagely murdered, so Russo and Splot's fight will have to wait. Meanwhile, some creepy monster, called the Rail Tracer, is absorbing countless immortal people inside the train.

As one can see, each episode is a tough-to-follow string of situations. While this is confusing, the anime still holds down the fort with some of the most unforgettable characters. Comedians, such as Isaac Dian and Miria Harvent, pop in and out dressing up as zany Indians and cowboys. They may have a grudge against the mafia--they've already stolen most of the Gandor inheritance. Then again, they're too happy-go-lucky to really care about who they steal from.

And it's hard not to love them--they just want to perform good deeds to make up for their sins. They cheer up young Eve Geonard in 1931, who misses her swindling big brother, Dallas. Isaac and Miria also crack some funny jokes to cheer up Jacuzzi on the train in 1932, before they get ready to bust the heads of the train murderers.

At the same time, the immortal characters make for brutal mafia members. They're not just powerful--they just cannot believe in any religion at all. Dallas shouts at his poor, innocent sister whenever she prays to God. Perhaps they're really afraid that God won't forgive them for their mischievous life throughout 200 or so years of living.

This is a multi-faceted storyline with so much sheer complexity that it's brilliant. It's a must-have anime for any action fan. Although the scene where a demon chops Szilard's head in half is brutal, the regeneration scenes immediately after the murder makes for fascinating eye candy. Who ever knew that chopping off a limb and regenerating it would be so damn cool?

Image of Jacuzzi and Nice courtesy of funimation.com

DVD: Violent assassins, mafias and some serious goofballs

Admittedly, I have no idea what to make of this next series, "Baccano!", which is a fun and exciting mix of Italian mafia wars, psychotic assassins and some funny guys.

While anime fans will love all the exciting characters and indelible genre hopping, they may still wonder what the main plot is.

Well, the story takes place in 19th century America. Certain characters have the ability to regenerate their bodies, even if their fingers have been cut off. And the cast is a humongous group of varied characters.

The first part of the story covers a bloody incident on a train. There are plenty of unique characters on board. First, Isaac Dian and Miria Harvent are professional thieves who goof off too much to pay attention to everything else that's going on. Second, a group of thieves are hell bent on killing everyone in the train. Third, a group of assassins led by Ladd Russo, is hell bent on killing people for the hell of it. And Russo is interested in taking the wife and daughter of Mayor Belino hostage.

The second part is set in New York City, involving a mogul named Szilard Quates. Szilard has developed an elixir which will make people immortal. He sends his servant, Ennis, to find the professor who cooked the elixir up. However, when Ennis arrives, the laboratory is in flames. She meets Firo Pirochainezo, a member of the Camorra mafia, and a skilled fighter. Ennis drops one of her cuff links on her suit jacket, and Firo chases after her, so that he can return the cuff link.

Meanwhile, a young girl named Eve Geonard is searching for her older brother, who possibly may have died in the city.

Other characters include the Gandor mafia, which consists of Keith, Berga and Lucky Gandor. They appear in the middle of episode one, and we don't get to see too many scenes with them.

And there's also Nice (pronounced Neesu) Holystone and Jacuzzi Splot, who had their faces burned. Oh yeah, for some reason, they're in the train story.

As anyone can see, I was very, very confused by the story. The series jumps around between the train story and the city story in 1930 and in 1931, making for tons of confusion. Sadly, I could hardly keep track of all the characters to really care.

The series is visually astounding. There's nothing more gory and shocking than watching Firo get his fingers chopped off, only to see the fingers and blood move back into his hand. And the action is brutal and masochistic. To say the least, Ladd Russo is a mean beast, who takes more joy in beating other people to death and slitting their throats. But since I couldn't understand the plot, I really didn't know what to make of this series.

Overall, "Baccano!" is okay. However, anime fans should be prepared to be confused. There's hardly any grounding plot to keep all the characters together. And ultimately, it all just feels like a bizarre and perplexing mix of violence, comedy and drama.

Image from absolutvanny.googlepages.com

DVD Review: Let's do the Time Warp again

This is one of the best anime films I've ever seen, if not the best.

"The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" is an incredible high school romance film, with time travel and emotional drama as well.

The main character, Makoto Konno is a clumsy high school girl who doesn't do so well in class. She plays baseball with her two friends: Chiaki Mamiya, an shaggy, orange-haired boy, and Kousuke Tsuda, a tall smart guy.

One day, Makoto hears something in a chemistry lab room. She sneaks in and stumbles upon a tiny nut. Then, on her bicycle ride home, her brakes go out and she almost runs into an incoming train. Instead, she stumbles into the past, at the top of the hill, before she rode down the hill.

How did she do it? Makoto's mysterious aunt suggest that Makoto may have experienced a time delay, where she leapt through time. Of course, Makoto doesn't believe it, until she tries jumping at a river, to the past. Makoto has quite a blast playing with her time leaping ability, until Chiaki asks Makoto out. Although Makoto avoids him at first, she cannot help but grow attached to Chiaki as she travels through time to change the past.

This is a touching romance about young love. "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" really excels with heart-wrenching performances from their voice actors, who really capture the full range of Makoto's anxiety and her relationship with her friend, Chiaki.

The science fiction elements in "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" are also trippy. Whenever Makoto leaps through time, she enters a stunning interdimensional portal, with computer-generated images of timers circling around her while she falls.

And believe it or not, Makoto discovers that she is not the only one who can leap through time. In fact, near the end Makoto is almost left alone, hoping that her friend could stay with her. Thankfully, the ending edges away from this depressing climax, and her best friend promises to meet her again someday.

This is an incredible film. The Japanese voice actors give the best performances. Unforunately, the English dub is mediocre at best. Thankfully, it features plenty of awesome special features, such as an audio commentary with the director and some of the voice actors. There is also a lovely music video of the ending song and a video of the opening night of the film in theaters.

This is a must-see film. Get it while you still can. There's no telling when the publishing company, Bandai, might go bankrupt in this economic crisis.

Image courtesy of animeafterglow.wordpress.com

DVD Review: The Virgin Mary's Girls

It's been awhile since I first reviewed "Maria Watches Over Us." The second DVD of the first season is a little disappointing, but the storyline on the Gigantea family is very intriguing.

As shown in the first DVD, Yumi Fukuzawa became Sachiko Ogasawara's petite seour, or little sister. The student council, also known as the Yamayuri Council, is ogling over this new induction. However, they are especially interested in Noriko Nijo and Shimako Toudo, who were declared the best seour pair by the student newspaper.

But in a little twist, Shimako and Noriko engaged in a verbal argument, in which Noriko gave Shimako back the rosary necklace. Thus, Noriko stopped living as Shimako's petite seour. But Noriko has her own reasons for leaving. Her heart surgery is coming up.

The last episode in this DVD involves the mysterious Rosa Canina, also known as Kanina Shizuka. Shizuka is a junior in high school, who is in the running to be elected as one of the Yamayuri Council officers. However, she's also interested in Sei Suto, one of the members of the Gigantea family. Why is Rosa Canina running in the election when no one in the Yamayuri council knows who she is.

Compared to the first DVD, these episodes are rather tame, in terms of romance and drama. The episodes on Shimako and Noriko are especially intriguing, because I never expected Noriko as a person who has heart problems. But Shimako and Noriko have a very moving moment together in the end. As for Rosa Canina, she shared a short romantic kiss with Sei Sato.

True, this wasn't the best set of yuri romance stories in the series, but it provides a more in-depth look at the seour system in the Yamayuri Council.

Image courtesy of insideanime.wordpress.com

Anime Classics: Vision of Escaflowne

Escaflowne is certainly one of the most memorable anime around, for its emotional characters and its epic story with robots and warfare.

While the TV series, "Vision of Escaflowne," can tend to go overboard with emotional angst, there's a pretty good reason for this. The main character, Hitomi, is a girl with a pendant that can change the fate of an entire world, depending on her mood.

Of course, we can't possibly know how this pendant could work from the beginning. After all, in the beginning Hitomi is an ordinary high school girl who runs on the track team, likes to use tarot cards and has a crush on some guy named Amano.

Then some teenage guy appears out of an interdimensional portal, swordfighting a dragon. After a short chase sequence, Hitomi discovers that her pendant allows her to read the future. Hitomi ends up saving the guy, whose name is Van.

They then transport from Earth to Gaea, Van's home planet. He's given a warm greeting, for Van is now the new king of Fanelia, Van's hometown. However, the visit is cut short when the evil Zaibach army of Guymelef robots destroys the city. Van vows for revenge against the Zaibach.

To say the least, Hitomi's powers are the key to the fate of Gaea. Her pendant allows her to read the future, but whenever Hitomi is afraid, something awful is bound to happen. Of course, with powers like that, Hitomi ends up expressing a high range of emotions, resulting for some chaotic changes in the storyline itself.

However, no matter what, I can always sympathize with Hitomi, who has trouble expressing all her emotions in the first place. She would like to figure out the future, but when the future is altered by all the emotions she conceals inside her, she has to confess her feelings. She wants to love someone, but she's so afraid that someone else is going to get hurt in the process.

And while no one can really know what happens in the future, they have to learn to express their feelings honestly and truthfully. Ironically, this makes Escaflowne one of the best romance shonen anime. If anyone thinks that a romance film and an action film cannot possibly mix together, Escaflowne easily proves them wrong.

Image courtesy of http://www.theroseking.net/

DVD Review: Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex

This is old news by now, but the complete collection of "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex Season One" was rereleased in a cheaper box set in October of last year. Unlike the previous DVD of merely the Laughing Man story arc, this set features all the complete episodes.

And if anyone hasn't seen "Ghost in the Shell" before, it's a dizzy spectacle of robot military action, deep philosophizing and complex dialogue.

The main character, Motoko Kusanagi, is the operations leader of the secret special ops group named Section 9. They specialize in policing all forms of heavy-duty cyber crime, such as drug and organ smuggling.

However, this is very dangerous work. Some of these groups deal in heavy-duty machine guns, and some of them possess cybernetic body parts. Thus, almost all the members of Section 9 have complete cyborg bodies. Well, all of them except for the former police investigator, Togusa. He's flesh and blood, but he possesses cybernetic gizmos in his body.

The cyborg bodies allow all the Section 9 members the ability to communicate wirelessly without moving their lips. Their eyes are equipped with night vision. And they all can read bar code data for information. They also have spider tanks called Tachikomas.

Although the machinery and cyber-punk technology alone makes this one of the coolest anime series, there is also a much more complex storyline which starts in episode four. Togusa gets a tip from a former coworker at the police department about Interceptors, optical implants which allow hackers to see video through other people's eyes. Togusa discovers his first shocking conspiracy--that police are illegally installing Interceptors in all their officers to find the Laughing Man, a professional hacker.

However, the hacker is also a professional muckraker. Although he doesn't show his face too often, the Laughing Man is also trying to lead Section 9 to uncover a hideous plot involving corporate blackmailing on the scale of billions of yen.

It's a complex anime to say the least. "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex" is an epic masterpiece, involving government conspiracies and military warfare. It almost suffers from too much fancy shmancy dialogue about hacking, Internet communications and existential conversations. However it all holds together to make an awesome first season that is hard to beat.

The series is now available for $40 in stores. If anyone hasn't seen any "Ghost in the Shell" anime, they have to check out the movie. "Ghost in the Shell" is deservedly one of the best action anime around, even if Motoko tends to show a little too much skin.

Images courtesy of grumpfactory.wordpress.com

DVD - "5 centimeters per second" shows heartwarming young love

The story begins with a 5-year-old girl named Akari talking to her best friend, a boy named Takaki. "Hey, did you know that cherry blossoms fall to the ground at a rate of five centimeters per second?" Akari says to Takaki. Then, unexpectedly, Akari runs off on the other side of the railroad tracks ahead. Takaki tries to follow, but the gates close down and Akari teases him, saying, "Goodbye, Takaki!"

Even though this is a joke at the beginning of the movie "5 Centimeters Per Second," that is exactly how suddenly Akari leaves Takaki, when her parents move away to Tochigi prefecture in northern Japan.

As director Makoto Shinkai says in an interview on the DVD, "5 Centimeters Per Second" is all about the pacing of relationships. The emotions, and the imagery reflecting the emotions, are priceless.

The film is set in three parts. The first one, "Cherry Blossoms" shows off Shinkai's storytelling at his best. When Takaki's parents move to the island of Kyushu, Takaki and Akari decide to meet for one last time in Iwafune in the winter, far up north. Although the blizzard was very inconvenient for Takaki's train trip, Akari still waits for him. Probably the most tender moment is Akari and Takaki's kiss underneath a cherry blossom tree.

The second part, "Cosmonaut," deals with Takaki's relationship with Kanae Sumita in a high school in Tageshima, Kyuushu. Kanae is clearly in love with Takaki, but Takaki's head is still in the stars. He wants to go to Tokyo University, which is the most prestigious school in Japan, but Kanae wants to confess her feelings to him. They strike up a great relationship, but no matter when opportunities arise, Kanae cannot pop the question.

As for the final part, "5 Centimeters Per Second," it actually feels more like a dizzying montage of events. Takaki is receiving messages on his cell phone. Could they be messages from Akari. He has no idea, and work is just draining the energy out of him. And as Takaki passes by a girl at the same railroad crossing, he is pretty sure that it could be Akari. Or is she just a mirage of the past?

Although the ending feels less conclusive, and more like an artsy, abstract montage that moves too fast for me to follow, I think it worked perfectly for this movie. Japanese directors are never sticklers for happy endings, but realistic ones. And although Takaki might not find Akari ever again, the memories still remain with him. And these memories are the most priceless memories for him to keep.

I'm disappointed with Anime News Network's review of this masterpiece. Although the ending could disappoint some people who would rather watch a final kiss at the end, this story isn't about winning the girl. This story is about a young man who learns to stop pining away long hours at the office and find a girl he truly loves.

Based on an interview included on the DVD, at the time when director Makoto Shinkai named this movie "5 Centimeters Per Second," he stated that everything in this movie has to do with speed, even the imagery. And the lighting effects and the imagery in this film is incredible. His meeting with Akari is in a blue, snow-covered village to reflect how Takaki gets frozen in the rest of his life daydreaming about Akari. In Kanae's romance with Takaki, Kanae always notices how Takaki is always looking ahead to the future, speeding through the sky like the nearby rocket launching in the distance.

I'm sure this movie is one of the best anime films of all time. This is a gem of a movie. Watch it immediately, because no one will regret a second of the romance, the drama and the beauty of "5 Centimeters Per Second." Hopefully, after watching this film, your own relationships will not move at five centimeters per second.

Photos courtesy of animewriter.wordpress.com and sookinouta.blogspot.com

A look at the past - "Blood: The Last Vampire"

While "Blood+" is indeed one of the best anime series of recent years to be released, the series actually a sequel to a classic one-hour anime film, "Blood: The Last Vampire". It goes without saying that this is a beast of a film, one that demands even more attention than the sequel.

"Blood: The Last Vampire" stars Saya as a monster-hunter, one who appears to kill innocent human beings without a thought in the world. In a haunting first scene, Saya slashes someone in an empty subway car. One military witness wasn't happy about it afterwards, but Saya's military commander, David, tells the man that Saya is the only one able to find and kill humans who will turn into demons.

In another turn of events, Saya gets transferred to a local school in the area, where she kills one of the demons in the school nurse's office. The nurse tries to run away from Saya, but she keeps getting attacked by more and more of these demons. Saya takes her to a military base for safety, informing the nurse that anyone who sees a demon's dead body isn't supposed to live. Yet, Saya still takes pity on the Japanese nurse.

After a series of violent scenes, the nurse survives, but the military denies any existence of Saya or David. This is a haunting film about war brutality in Japan, in which anyone who sees this violence will turn into a monster. Yet, the military is hardly willing to talk about it, in reference to the U.S. censorship of all discussion about the bombing of Japan in World War II. And even as Japan headed off to fight with the U.S. in the Vietnam War, the nurse still wonders how long censorship will really last, if more and more people turn into monsters.

It's hard to imagine that such a great storyline can fit into one hour, but "Blood: the Last Vampire" does this effortlessly. Although "Blood+" seems to go into further detail about the origin of chiropterans, "Blood: The Last Vampire" is a straight-to-the-point look at the reasons why frightened people can turn into monsters in Japan.

If anything, anime fans should at least check out "Blood: The Last Vampire" before watching "Blood+". Both are great, but "Blood: The Last Vampire" is an anime legend that is like no other. Keep in mind that not all the voices are Japanese, either. This is an incredible film with both American and Japanese voices, with each representing the language of their respective country. This is one of the few films that is truly bilingual, and very thought-provoking at the same time. This is a classic anime horror film that no one can resist, as long as they are willing to stomach some gut-wrenching violence.

DVD box set - Bebop finally comes out in a box

Good news--Bandai Visual finally released a box set of "Cowboy Bebop!"

Although I loved watching Bebop five or six years ago on the Cartoon Network, I still can't figure out why Bandai took that long to release a box set of all the DVDs in the series. I understand that Bandai wanted to make viewers shell out all their cash to buy the DVDs individually. However, they didn't deserve to make me wait four or five years just for this series in an inexpensive box set! I'm a college student. Bandai deserves to send me, as well as other college students, an apology for forcing me to wait this long.

Still, anime fans have every reason to be fortunate that Bebop finally came out in one box set, because Bebop is one of the best, if not the best, anime series of all time. The series starts with two bounty hunters, Spike and Jet, searching for criminals to turn in to the police. Faye Valentine, Ed, and the Corgi dog Ein later join the group. Even though they struggle to earn enough money to buy food for everyone, they have plenty of fun just catching the criminals.

And each character has their own demons in the past. Jet quit the police force after he lost his arm to a killer who is still on the run. Faye almost died fifty years ago in an interplanetary space accident, and awoke from a cryogenic frozen slumber with no memory. Most of all, Spike was a former member of the Red Dragon syndicate, a crime gang which terrorizes high-ranking government officials. He had quit his job as an assassin, but his grudge with his former partner, Viscious, still continues to haunt him.

This series is an excellent mixture of drama, action, comedy and romance. Most of all, this series is about freedom from a past of violence and destruction. And all of this is finally in one compact DVD box. Any anime fan who hasn't seen this anime yet should get this box now. The person definitely won't regret it.