Crunchyroll review - A headless fairy and Japanese gang wars

"Durarara!!" is a new masterpiece which combines a motley of unusual characters with a story rich with scientific experiments and controversy.

Produced by the same studio behind "Baccano!", this series has garnered plenty of attention for its fantasy characters. Some possess superhuman strength. Others are involved with genetic mutation experiments. One of them has no head. All of them live in the eclectic Tokyo neighborhood of Ikebukuro, where gang violence runs rampant.

This review covers episodes one through eight. Each episode is narrated by a different character in the series, with each person bringing their own unique characteristics and powers to the story. The series begins behind the perspective of an incoming high school student named Mikado Ryuugamine.

Although he comes from a rural neighborhood, he grows ever intrigued by the fascinating urban legends of Ikebukuro. Certainly the area is a dangerous hot spot for the Japanese color gangs, including an obscure group known as the Dollars.

But the area is also the home of a headless motorcyclist, known simply as Celty. Her background is based on a Medieval legend of the fairy named Dullahan, who carries her head under her arm and rides a headless horse. However, Celty isn't carrying her head anymore, because someone stole it. She's now a mere transporter who rescues innocent people. She's still hoping to find what she lost.

As far-fetched as the entire story is, the pacing of the series is excellent. There isn't any single time where you feel as if the characters are spending too much time in boring conversations. Something suspicious always runs amok in Ikebukuro. Gang members kidnap innocent people. Superhuman characters are battling hordes of gangsters. A sleazy gang boss calls his minions to kill off students.

And even if most of the story involves a bunch of high-intensity encounters with extraordinary fighters, a headless motorcyclist and a Russian wrestler, nothing ever feels wasted. Every event somehow progresses the plot in subtle ways.

This is a unique tale surrounding many people who are trying to discover something they loved which was lost. All the characters are caught in a swirling cloud of mystery, in a neighborhood where anything and everything is possible.

Image courtesy of photobucket.com

Click here to watch the series on crunchyroll.com

Re-release madness: Paradise Kiss

One of the series I really missed out on reviewing last year was "Paradise Kiss." The series was picked up and re-released by Funimation.

"Paradise Kiss" portrays the excitement and danger of the fashion industry in Japan with striking, and sometimes depressing, realism.

It begins with a spiky-haired rock band guy catching a glimpse of Yukari, a beautiful high school girl. Scared off by his "pick-up lines," the girl runs into a transvestite and faints. Next thing she knows, she wakes up to find herself in Paradise Kiss, the bar turned into a fashion studio. The employees include the transvestite, the punk rocker, a cute pink-haired girl and a tall, gray-haired man named George.

They are all interested in keeping Yukari around to model their new clothing brand, ParaKiss. However, Yukari is more interested in George, the elusive ladie's man who wants to keep Yukari around for more than just modeling. Her best friend in school, Hiroyuki Tokumori, soon worries about her absence from school. Only time will tell when Yukari truly finds her own sense of happiness.

This romance story is clearly intended for more mature audiences. Right from the bat in episode two, viewers will catch a glimpse of a hot make-out session between two employees at the fashion studio. This is just a foreshadowing of some of the steamier moments to come in the series.

"Paradise Kiss" isn't just about sex. It encompasses a tedious romantic entanglement in Yukari's life, in probably one of her most stressful moments in the school year. George is clearly using the schoolgirl, but at the same time, he opens up a new world of possibilities for Yukari. Although the manga tends to portray him more as a jerk, the anime is more even-handed in its portrayal of this handsome prince with an obsession for young romance.

The complexity of romance in "Paradise Kiss" is what makes it unforgettable. Sure, there are moments when the characters are obnoxious. However, all these unique voice actors give complicated performances, making "Paradise Kiss" one of the best anime I've ever seen. The two lead characters especially expose the unnerving possessiveness of rich men in Japan, while at the same time revealing the seductiveness of the Japanese fashion world.

Some critics are bound to disagree with me. Yet, the unsettling drama portrayed in "Paradise Kiss" is a powerful glimpse of all the problems and new possibilities of a post-modern Japan.

Image courtesy of funimation.com

DVD Review: More relaxing in Neo-Venezia

It's especially hard to keep up the momentum for "Aria," an incredibly relaxing series with serene imagery and comforting character.

However, even "Aria" has some really unusual characters in Neo-Venezia to add some variety in season two.

The first part of season two brings back all the classic characters of "Aria" for a reunion at the Carnivale. All Akari's buddies from season one, including little Ai, return to Aria to see the mysterious Casanova.

This sets up Akari and Ai's new Totoro impersonation. The humongous, masked Casanova invites Akari and Ai to join in his dance. There's nothing cuter than watching Akari and Ai sing "Zutto, zutto, zutton, pon!" while they are following the Casanova, who may be related to Cait Sith, king of the cats.

There's plenty of new characters who arrive. Probably the best new addition, however, is the gnome Edward, who is also Aika's love interest. Their new romance is one of the most touching parts of season two. There's something charming when Aika says that Edward is so unfairly nice. She tries to look away, but the chemistry they have together is irresistable. Aika even comes up with a line to say to him whenever he gives weird elderly statements to Aika aloud.

The characters also take up more difficult changes to their attitudes in this series. Alice has a dramatic episode in which she turns down a warm invitation to have dinner with the other Pairs (gondola navigators) in her company, Orange Planet. She has a nervous fear that her coworkers are jealous of her and hate her. Thankfully, her teacher, Athena, is willing to help her open up.

Admittedly, the series makes me fall asleep, but not because it is boring. In fact, the beautiful images of water and the complex characters are just captivating. However, I often wondered just how long the anime director could keep this series of pure bliss intact. "Aria" ran for 39 episodes. It's difficult to keep the tone consistent, yet allow room for the characters to evolve.

However, there's plenty of things for the characters to say, because they always discover new things that are unique in Neo-Venezia. Whether they encounter the ruins of a neverending cat city, a bakery which serves bread made from buckwheat noodles, or a children's puppeteer, there's always something new in the city to find.

Most of all, Akari is friendlier than ever. The bubbly characters never lose their charm. I'm already itching to watch the second part of season two.

Image courtesy of aria.rightstuf.com

Re-release madness - Rumbling Hearts

I noticed that I still didn't finish "Rumbling Hearts," so I figured I'd watch all the episodes.

"Rumbling Hearts" is a lousy, sexist romance anime, with women who are so dependent on their men and sex that it's just disgusting.

The plot revolves around Takayuki Narumi, some bumbling teenage guy who is a friend of Mitsuki Hayase, the top swimmer at the high school. One of Mitsuki's girl friends, Haruka Suzumiya, has a crush on Narumi, so Mitsuki hooks the two together. They become close friends, and they even have sex together. However, the love story ends tragically with a fatal car crash putting Haruka in a coma.

The second half of the story takes place three years later. Within this time period, Narumi has a romance with Mitsuki, who is now part of an insurance company. However, everything seems to change when Haruka finally wakes up from her coma.

Overall, the storyline is passable. However, "Rumbling Hearts" suffers from overplaying the drama. Mitsuki is a jerk, who really doesn't care much for her former friend who almost died in a car accident. In fact, Mitsuki spends half of the series worrying that Narumi will not love her anymore. She's so obsessed that she tries her best to keep Narumi's attention off of Haruka.

This story boils down to the voice actors and the story, which is extremely overrated on the Anime News Network and animenfo.com Web sites. Eventually, this anime revolves completely around Narumi's love relationships will all three girls in the story: even Haruka's sister. With so many girlfriends around, people will wonder why on Earth Narumi would want to focus on the selfish Mitsuki, who obsesses all the time about whether Narumi loves her.

Narumi claims that he doesn't want anyone to get hurt, but what he's really saying is that he wants to make sure Mitsuki doesn't kill herself looking for someone else to love her. The screenwriter is so self-centered in restraining Mitsuki to an overdependent relationship with Narumi. Honestly, women in Japan will never want to be this constrained to the servitude of other men.

In fact, the only likable character in this series is Haruka. Yet, even she keeps longing for a sexual relationship with Narumi after she awakens from her coma. Haruka is supposed to be the strong, independent girl who learns to fight to recover, but even she is restricted to relying on Narumi for all her support. Narumi is not trustable either: he always seems to be lying about his own relationship status constantly.

There's very little to appreciate about "Rumbling Hearts," which is based on an equally disgusting dating game. In fact, there should be no reason for it to gain so much popularity in America. However, the male audience of anime fans undoubtedly love this infantile orgy of adolescent sex and romantic overdependence. Honestly, they should know better than to watch this series, which is filled with a bunch of jerks fighting for selfish romance.

Image courtesy of funimation.com

Film Review - Ponyo is one of Miyazaki's best

"Ponyo" is by far the best anime film of 2009, with incredibly creative hand-drawn animation and visuals.

The latest anime film from Hayao Miyazaki focuses on a little goldfish with a human face, named Ponyo. It begins with Ponyo sneaking her way through a submarine window. A boy named Sosuke finds the little fish and decides to keep it as a pet.

Sosuke has no idea that Ponyo is more than just an ordinary goldfish. She has a human face, and she even speaks Sosuke's named aloud. Ponyo is the daughter of an underwater magician named Fujimoto, who says that the natural order of the ocean will become out of balance if Ponyo lives in the human world.

The film gradually grows more wildly creative. Miyazaki's use of hand-drawn animation is perfect for the character of Ponyo, whose actual body undertakes some magnificent metamorphosis from a simple red goldfish.

The true spotlight of the film is on director Hayao Miyazaki's visuals. Miyazaki has always been known for creating a wonderful variety of characters, from the chaotic demons in "Princess Mononoke" to the cute creatures of "My Neighbor Totoro." However, Ponyo may trump them all as being the cutest, but possibly the most powerful of all the characters. Ponyo has the ability to shift the oceans and cause floods and tsunamis.

In fact, her loving relationship with Sosuke is the only thing that keeps her powers in check. Although the romance between the two is kept to a minimum, Ponyo's voice is adorably cute. To the very end of the film, the beauty of "Ponyo" lies in the power of love to withhold the Earth's obliteration.

Director Miyazaki has created another masterpiece which ranks among his best. His palette of colors is filled with beautiful blues, greens and purples. His drawings are pushed to the limit, with smoothly animated creatures and humans. He even squeezed in a lovable song at the end all about Ponyo.

The English voice actors also hold the film together marvelously. There are a few lines that don't translate too well, some of which involve an innocent conversation about a mother's milk in the second half of the film. But for most of the film, the voice actors' lines don't sound awkward at all. Even Frankie Jonas is believable as the simple boy, Sosuke.

Hands down, "Ponyo" is one of Miyazaki's best films ever made. Don't be surprised if "Ponyo" wins an Academy Award for best animated film.

Images courtesy of wdsfilmpr.com

DVD Review: The Claymore Battle Royale

From the first volume, "Claymore" hit the ground running with intense monster battles. Volume two heats up with flashy superhuman Dragonball Z-style sword battles.

Episode 6 opens with Claire actually speaking out her heart to Teresa, pleading to stay with her. There's even a scene where Claire strips off her clothes to show that Teresa means everything as her only mother. It's a saddening sight to watch Teresa leave Claire for her Claymore duties. However, when a band of thieves burns the town down, Teresa has no choice but to kill them.

A Claymore isn't allowed to kill humans, though. However, Teresa refuses to die this easily, slaying the Claymores who planned to execute her. But her Claymore buddies don't plan on letting her leave. The organization sends four of the top-ranked Claymores to fight her, leading to some ferocious, incredibly fast battles.

It's an understatement to say that "Claymore" is one of the craziest action anime series ever made. Each of the Claymores has a unique special power, and some of the Claymore powers are visual astounding. For example, Irene's quick sword technique cuts so quickly that no one can even see her arms. She can move her arms faster than the speed of light. This leads to an amazing sequence in which Teresa arm is speedily blocking Irene's sword slashes at the speed of a Dragonball Z fight.

The fight turns to a fatal end in episode 8, with one of the Claymores, Priscilla, growing amazingly powerful as she slowly uses more and more of her Yoma powers. Many Claymores die in this volume, leaving the remaining survivor devastated. This tearjerking episode will tear viewers' hearts out with emotion.

Volume two sets the tone for Claymore as a godlike superhuman action anime. Although it is limited in its rather formulaic Dragonball Z-style plot, the true draw of the series is the visuals. The dark colors and fierce fighting make for one of the most sinister, violent anime ever seen. However, this is a wonderful anime for its expression of raw female power.

To say the least, the battles are stunning. There's nothing more astounding than watching Claymore jump to incredible heights, swinging their swords in a rapid-fire machine gun fashion and healing their wounds extremely quickly. Like any typical action series, it tends to rely too much on the same formulaic tearjerking action sequence, with one character dying off and another seeking revenge.

However, this series is even more earth-shattering for its horrific displays of violence, with characters getting their limbs and their heads chopped off. This series is definitely not for kids--the violence is very intense. However, it's a beautiful series which shows the power of women, even when one of them is getting attacked by disturbing tentacle monsters in episode 10.

Although I had my misgivings for the series when it began, "Claymore" is a definite keeper for anime fans. However, be prepared to get shocked with this second DVD.

Image courtesy of amazon.com and their wallpaper downloads.

DVD Review: Lucky Star Comes to an End

After the disappointing fifth volume in "Lucky Star," I really hoped for a good wrap-up for this series. After all, "Lucky Star" is one of the most educational series about Japan for Americans.

And thankfully, "Lucky Star" wraps up with far more exciting end-of-high school activities in episodes 21-23 and a stylish cheerleading routine in episode 24.

Considering that "Lucky Star" was more of a mix-up of jokes compared to Azumanga Daioh, volume six is much more neatly organized from episode 21 to 24. There's still the same mixed bag of anime jokes with some dramatic side stories, but each episode has a unique theme to it in volume six.

In episode 21, Kuroi-sensei announces that her senior class will be taking a field trip to Kyoto. The episode opens with a fascinating look at the Buddhist temples. In the middle of the trip, Kagami receives a letter from a boy to meet at a bus stop in the middle of the night. It's an emotional, but surprisingly realistic side story for the series. And thankfully, Konata makes sure to cheer up Kagami from her melancholy mood.

However, the series also features a touching spiritual reunion with Konata's mother. Or rather, the ghost of Konata's mother. Konata (with an "o") actually spends some special time talking with her father about her mother, who died a few years after Konata was born. And then the ghost of Konata's mother appears in the room. Even though Konata cannot see her, this is a very heartwarming episode where her mother checks up on how her daughter is doing.

Some of the best jokes of "Lucky Star" take place in episode 23. Konata, the most observant high schooler, actually catches on to the secrets of her little cousin's friends. It's a little too embarassing for the cute cousin, Yutaka, to read the explicit manga drawn by her friends, or to hear from Konata that Minami secretly hopes to grow bigger breasts. But thankfully, Yutaka doesn't seem to mind, and they actually become far better friends thanks to Konata.

The humorous "Lucky Channel" segment of the series also takes a dark turn when Minoru Shiraishi arrives on the set with his body scratched up and his clothes tattered. Turns out he was getting water from Mount Fuji for the selfish host Akira Kogami. From then on, Minoru Shiraishi yells that he's so tired of working with Akira, picks a violent fight with her and rips apart the "Lucky Channel" set in his rage.

Now that's edgy stuff that we will never see in the "Animaniacs" show. But it's probably the funniest turn for "Lucky Channel," in which the audience is left wondering whether Minoru and Akira will even have a job when the series is over.

However, probably the best episode is episode 24, also known as the infamous episode with the full cheerleading routine of the "Lucky Star" girls. Sure, it's really just an excuse for cosplay fangirls to perform the same dance routine at anime conventions. But it looks great, and it sounds oh so irresistably nonsensical. And surprisingly, the serious, studious Kagami is really hyped about the cheerleading dance.

It's a tearful but wonderful farewell to one of the best slice-of-life anime series I have ever seen. Certainly it's a little more based on down-to-earth everyday life than most anime, but this is exactly what makes "Lucky Star" so special. It's a simple anime about schoolgirls who love talking about anime and manga, without magical powers or flashy special effects.

It still doesn't beat out the cute everyday humor of "Azumanga Daioh," but volume six of "Lucky Star" is a definite must-buy, with some of the most heartfelt moments of the series.

Image courtesy of kurogane.animeblogger.net

Anime at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

In case anyone hasn't heard, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is showing off an art exhibition called "ANIME! High Art - Pop Culture."

This is one of the big exhibits to check out in Beverly Hills. It features plenty of the original frames of cel animation from some of the best anime, from Studio Ghibli films to "Sailor Moon" to "Akira" to "Ghost in the Shell." And there's also some saucy erotic anime in a special area closed off with a pink curtain for anyone who loves fan service.

Unfortunately, I can't show very many pictures from the exhibition, because the museum doesn't allow anyone to take them. However, these cel frames are truly a sight to see.

DVD Review - The City Gets Darker

Volume three of "Darker Than Black" provides two fascinating episodes taking a look inside the gigantic wall and two exciting and dramatic episodes about Yin's past.

The first two episodes cover parts one and two of "Within the Wall, When You Recover Something Lost...", in which Li Shengshun (a.k.a. Hei) undertakes an investigation inside the Pandora agency, which is scientifically studying the phenomena of Hell's Gate, whatever that is. He's searching for the Meteor fragment, a large lens with mysterious power. He befriends Nick Hillman, a scientist who has a telescope which could see the stars through the fake night sky. But he also has other secrets.

The other two episodes cover both parts of "On a Silver Night, the Heart Does Not Sway On the Water's Surface." In these episodes, someone from a rival syndicate steals the observer spirit of Yin, the silver haired girl who has the power to spy on people wherever there is water. We learn that she is actually a lifeless doll who was once a pianist in Finland. Her piano instructor visits her, ready to take her back.

This anime has a great storyline which looks further and further into the disaster which led to the creation of Hell's Gate and the Contractors. Hei's infiltration into Pandora as a janitor is one of the more perplexing stories, involving Nick and his mysterious sister, who is a spy for Hei's syndicate. Certainly the Meteor fragment had made Nick's own wish come true, as shown at the end of episode 12, but at the expense of his life in the real world.

More fascinating, though, are Hei's memories of the aftermath of the creation of Hell's Gate, which obliterated the entire city within the wall. Scientific examinations in Hei's mind also introduces a mysterious girl with green hair in a flashback. Could this girl be Hei's sister, the girl shown briefly in the introduction of episode 12?

Probably the most emotional episodes were 13 and 14, which circle around Yin, the silver haired girl in Hei's syndicate. As the syndicate's field supervisor, Hei keeps Yin merely as a doll with an observer spirit, to spy on the city. However, when a Russian Intelligence contractor steals Yin's spirit, Yin wanders aimlessly around the city, recalling her life as a piano player and her dark memories of her parents.

Although this part of the series almost too much storyline in two episodes, it still manages to remain surprisingly emotional. Huang is all too eager to kill Yin for exposing herself to other syndicates, until he discovers that Yin has emotions.

However, we still don't know exactly what PANDORA is, or what the hell Hell's gate is. Hopefully the series ties up these mysteries soon.

Image courtesy of bj0rn.animeblogger.net

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: Get a Piece of this

One Piece is heating up with the second voyage, which includes episodes 14-26. In fact, more than ever, "One Piece: Second Voyage" proves that One Piece is one of the best shonen anime for both male and female anime nuts alike.

The story continues Usopp's romance with Kaya, a sick girl who lives in a mansion on an island. Usopp was obviously modeled after Pinnochio, because he has a long nose and lies a lot. He and Luffy discover that Kaya's caretaker, Kurahadol, is actually the evil Captain Kuro (or Black in English). Kuro is known for his crafty plans, and in this case, Kuro wants to assassinate Kaya in order to earn her family's inheritance.

Meanwhile, Zolo dreams about his past. He once fought with his best friend and rival, Kuina, to become the best swordfighter in the world. However, Kuina suffered a fatal tragedy, leaving Zolo to fight for her, to become the best.

The last few episodes cover Luffy's adventure at the Baratie, the best sea restaurant in the world. To make a long story short, Luffy accidentally bounces an incoming cannonball into the restaurant. Thus, Luffy has to pay it off with one year of kitchen work.

Luffy then meets the quiet but tempermental Sanji, who works as the souz chef for Zeff, the head chef. Sanji is an expert breakdancer fighter who will serve anyone who lives his food. However, he causes quite a stir by serving a starving pirate from Don Krieg's ship. Then Don Krieg arrives demanding food for his entire crew. And he wears a metallic body suit with guns.

Admittedly, "One Piece" is somewhat repetitive with the characters and the big battles. However, it is very entertaining. Sanji is undoubtedly the coolest breakdancing chef in anime history (actually, the only one). And Sanji also has a crush on Nami, leading him to offer her free food, while all the other guys have to pay. Usopp offers plenty of funny emotional outbursts as well.

Zoro's brave story of fighting for his deceased girlfriend is also admirable. It's pretty fun to watch Zoro fight the greatest swordmaster, Dracule Mihawk, even though he gets whipped pretty badly. And there's also slight hints of romance between Luffy and Nami, especially when Nami runs off with the Going Merry ship in the Don Krief story arc. Luffy's really intent on getting his navigator back, although one could easily suspect he likes Nami as well.

Image from onepiece.wikia.org

DVD Review: Maria Watches Over Us Season One

"Maria Watches Over Us" is quite an impressive series. Season one is filled with plenty of juicy romance stories of girls dating girls. This review covers discs 3 and 4 of the series.

While we've all seen the "schoolgirls all caught up love triangles" story before, "Maria Watches Over Us" featured plenty of engaging surprises. Right from the get-go, a student makes one heck of a proposal at the Yamayuri council. She wants to hold a Valentine's Day scavenger hunt, in which the person who finds a card wins a date with one of the grande soeurs.

Yumi Fukuzawa has worried about what to give her "big sister," Sachiko Ogasawara, for Valentine's Day. However, Yumi hasn't talked to Sachiko for a long time now. Yumi's crossing her fingers that she can find the card and give Sachiko a great Valentine's Day present.

In the meantime, Rei Hasekura of the Foetida family has been worrying about her petite soeur, Yoshino Shimazu. After all, someone else found Yoshino's card. Hopefully Yoshino doesn't get too worried about Rei's date with someone else.

Meanwhile, Sei Sato of the Gigantea family stayed out of the spotlight until episodes 10 and 11, when a mystery person named Sei Suga wrote a romance book. There's rumors floating around that Sei Suga is just a pen name for Sei Sato. Even though the rumor is false, the story reveals Sei Sato's dark past, when she was in love with Kubo Shiori.

Overall, the last set of episodes really wrapped up "Maria Watches Over Us" nicely. Although most of the best episodes are covered at the beginning and the end of the series, the stories are fantasic. Probably the best storyline featured Sei Sato's past romance with Kuro Shiori, a girl who works at a church. Perhaps it was a romance that could never come true, but Sei Sato's voice actor goes through a complete sea change from cheerful to completely depressed. And Sei is surprisingly genuine in her emotions.

Too bad Sachiko and Yumi's romance never went through as many intense emotions as Sei Sato's romance. Then again, people would find it hard not to love Yumi, for doing everything she can for her big sister. They'll probably also love watching Sachiko wear jeans instead of fancy dresses for a change.

With such a colorful cast of female characters who love (ahem) female characters, no one can go wrong with "Maria Watches Over Us" season one. Although the price of the box rose to $44, it's still one hell of a bargain, for all the emotion conveyed in this series.

Image courtesy of 100yen.wordpress.com

My heart is in Pieces

Unfortunately, I need to change part of my review on the One Piece anime. The dub is average at best.

Believe me, Funimation really tried. However, their miserable dub over the original Japanese opening theme is awful.

Thankfully, the rest of the dub is pretty solid. There is the occasional awful dub, such as the part in the first episode when a guy is trying to retrieve a barrel in the ocean. When he misses, his mates says loudly, "Ha! Ha! You suck!"

Sometimes the characters say some stupid lines where there shouldn't be any talking. For example, Koby looks in the cabin and sees a bunch of barrels in one corner of the room. Then he just says, "Wow! That's one big barrel. I wonder what's inside of it?" I guess it's a very, very interesting barrel.

Despite these problems, the One Piece dub is still decent. And overall, I like the voice actor who plays Monkey D. Luffy. But if anyone is listening to the dub, they should do themselves a favor and skip the opening song. Really.

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

DVD Review: Piece out!

Like I said, I wish Netflix had the DVDs of the "First Voyage" of One Piece. Fortunately, through the power of the internet, I watched episodes 1-13 of One Piece.

I'll have to say that One Piece is one of the best shonen anime series out there, with plenty of unique twists to the typical formula.

First of all, the main character, Monkey D. Luffy, is a teenage guy with the power to stretch and bend his own body at will. He is literally a rubber man, who received his powers from eating the devil's Gum Gum fruit. However, as a consequence, he cannot swim.

He's also far more outspoken than most anime shonen. He literally speaks up whenever somebody is in trouble, sometimes completely blowing the element of surprise. Then again, he's such a versatile and powerful character that one could call him "flexible."

Luffy is planning a voyage on the Grand Line, to search for treasure and become the pirate king. Of course, we still have no idea how he's going to do that, until he knocks out other pirates to get their ships. He also befriends a number of friends to help him.

He first helps Koby, a purple-haired boy, escape from his slave work on the ship of the Pirate Queen, Lady Alvida. Then he starts looking for a crew. The first member he finds is Roronoa Zolo, a swordsman who handles three swords to kill his enemies. He wants to become the master of swordfighting.That's one big ambition.

After Luffy rescues Zolo from his execution, kills the evil Captain Morgan and saves the town, Luffy sails his ship to search for the map to the Grand Line. After launching himself in the air with his arms, Luffy runs into Nami, a pirate thief. She's very sneaky at stealing loot from pirates, and she tricked Luffy into getting captured by other pirates, so that she could get the map from Buggy the clown...er...clown pirate.

While the plot of this part of the series is certainly standard shonen action, in which Luffy kicks Buggy's butt, the characters are so multifaceted that one could hardly call it typical. Luffy is wearing the straw hat of his childhood friend, Captain Shanks, who saved him a long time ago. Luffy is hoping to return the hat. Zolo is getting better at swordfighting so that he can once again duel his childhood girlfriend.

Most of all, the female character, Nami, is one of the most complex characters. Nami hates pirates, especially after they killed one of her best friends. Although at first she despises Luffy's ambition to become the Pirate King, she become more and more impressed with Luffy's passion for fighting other pirates. To say the least, Nami identifies Luffy as an anti-pirate, who fights pirates who attack innocent villages.

While there are times when Nami gets hurt, she is far more independent than Kamiya Kaoru in Rurouni Kenshin. And Nami is very smart, and often identifies the pirates' special abilities sooner than Luffy or the other guys recognize them. This is one of the few anime series in which all the characters work as a team, each contributing their own talents.

Although this first DVD set consists of only the stories with villains Lady Alvida, Captain Morgan and Buggy the Clown, the story remains very solid. Most of all, the characters are very admirable. And while the fighting mostly consists of the villains pulling off special moves before Luffy and Zolo kill them, they are visually stunning fights with lion tamers, acrobats and a clown who can freely move his arms and legs off his body at will.

Even if this is a rather typical shonen, it is far more optimistic and epic than most shonen anime out there. In my opinion, it looks a lot cooler than Dragon Ball Z. It is an anime essential, especially for anyone who really hated the previous release of One Piece by the dreaded 4Kids company, with awful English dubs. The Funimation version features a decent dub and the original Japanese voice track as well (with optional subtitles). This is one set that I highly recommend.

Image courtesy of animecubed.com

DVD Review: When they cry vol. 3

At this point of "When They Cry," I'm a little tired of more kids going insane and killing people. Volume three adds a slight twist--Keiichi becomes the murderer.

In the Tatari Goroushi (Curse killing) chapter, Keiichi's friend, Satoko, was abused and beaten by her uncle. Keiichi finally had enough, and now he wants to save Satoko by killing her uncle.

I hope no college kid in their right mind decides out of the blue, "Hey, let's kill my uncle!" Anyhow, Satoko is sick, so Keiichi decides to attack her uncle, who is picking her up. After smacking him with a baseball bat (ow), he buries him.

But Satoko is still in shock. Her friends say that Satoko's uncle is still alive, and that Keiichi was at the cotton-drifting festival at the same time that he killed Satoko's uncle. To say the least, Keiichi gets very, very confused. And the tone of the plot goes from wicked to horrific.

This is a more disappointing volume of the series. I'm starting to get a little tired of hearing Keiichi go emo and scream out in confusion and terror. I wish he would express some different emotions for once.

Thankfully, the Himatsubushi (Time Wasting) chapter is a change of pace. This chapter follows Akasaka Mamoru, an investigator for the Tokyo police. He is looking to see how the mob families, the Sonozaki family and the Furude family, are connected with the kidnapping of the prime minister's son.

However, the priest's daughter, Rika Furude, is keeping an eye on him. In fact, she even gets possessed by a demon and tells him never to come back. Is this just a coincidence?

While volume three only covers the first chapter of this story arc, it is one of the more interesting storylines, covering the mystery of Hinamizawa from the policemen point of view. Unfortunately, Funimation couldn't separate each of the complete story arcs onto individual discs, because they still want to sell all the volumes of the series.

Still, this is a solid anime. Just don't expect anything to deviate at this point. At least not yet.

Image courtesy of yarukizero.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 - My-Hime offers compelling drama

Shojo anime doesn't usually hit American shores, and whenever it does, people don't usually buy them. However, "Mai-Hime" is a must-have series.

"Mai-Hime" may be the best new shojo action series, with intense fight sequences and some humorous jokes too.

It opens with a cruise trip gone totally wrong. Mai Tokiha and her brother, Takumi, are taking a boat ride to their school, Fuka Academy. They then discover a girl's body floating in the ocean. Mai resuscitates the girl.

Later at night, a person with a motorcycle helmet takes Mai hostage. Mai is forced to take the person to the room of the girl Mai saved. But when Natsuki enters the room and takes out her magical revolvers, the girl attacks with a giant sword. After an epic battle sequence, Mai saves the girl with the powers she didn't know she had.

Turns out that Mai is a HiME, a girl with the ability to summon Highly Advanced Materializing Equipment. In other words, she can summon fire rings around her hands and feet as weapons. Like other HiMEs, Mai also attains a Child, a robot animal with even more powerful weapons. And they were sent to destroy Orphans, monsters from outer space.

Yes, it sounds awfully typical for an anime series character to kill other monsters to save the world. However, the plot takes a complete U-turn when the girls learn what really happens when their Child dies--someone else dies.

Even though it's not an original series to say the least, "My-Hime" turns into a fatal tragedy. It resembles "Battle Royale," only the people closest to the HiMEs die in nerve-wracking succession. By the time one HiME is left, she is emotional scarred for life.

And even though the ending is almost way too optimistic for its own good, it is an excellent series with some of the best anime battles I've ever seen. Certainly My-HiME is not original, but it is entertaining and well-produced. Best of all, the entire series only costs $40 now.

Image courtesy of animewallpapers.net

DVD Review - License to kill

It's not really cool to kill people. However, if someone is a contractor, then they were made to kill.

"Darker Than Black" is a cool thriller about an independent band of psychic superheroes who are trying to save the world from corporate assassins.

At least that's what I've concluded. However, these superheroes are known as contractors. They obtained special psychic abilities from witnessing the mysterious appearance of Hell's Gate.

Some corporations hire these contractors to perform their own black market smuggling deals. However, another independent group of contractors is saving contractors. They take in contractors to prevent crime.

Their leader is the Black Reaper, also known as Liu Xiansheng. Although he acts like a college student, he's really a trained killer with electric wires as weapons. He's one of the fastest and toughest superheroes I've ever seen. He has three comrades. One is a human named Huang. Another is Yin, a girl with silver hair, who can track the movements of other contractors whenever her skin touches water.

And the leader of the band is Mao, who is, ahem, a black cat. He's a master strategist. However, don't ask me how a cat became the mastermind.

Liu probably works for a syndicate, but he's more interested in saving contractors from being taken in by the police. The first story arc, "The Star of Contract Flowed," involves Liu finding a mysterious girl named Chiaki Shinoda. For a while, Liu spends time as Shinoda's bodyguard, until Shinoda learns that Liu is actually a contractor who killed her boyfriend contractor.

In the second story arc, "A New Star Shines in the City of Dawn," Liu helps the daughter of a Tahara, a sole surviver of the Hell's Gate incident. The daughter, Chiaki, has the ability to shoot out fire. Her father tried to suppress her abilities by injecting the seeds of a plant from the Hell's Gate area into her wrist. However, he couldn't suppress her emotional angst and violent abilities too long, and now she's a crazy firebrand.

In the last story arc, "The Red Dreams of a Calamity Disappears to Eastern Europe," Liu captures a woman from MI6 and the Japanese police. The woman, named Havoc, has the ability to create interdimensional vacuums. However, Liu hinted at the end that Havoc knows the whereabouts of his sister.

This is sure a mysterious anime, where most of the details of the story don't rise up until the characters start fighting. However, Liu's has surprisingly conversations with women who were involved in the Hell's Gate incident. This anime is incredible for its deep dialogue involving scientific experiments gone wrong.

And the fighting is just so incredible. The characters wield unusual weapons. Liu is equipped with electric wires, which he shoots out at enemy contractors. His enemies also bear weapons, such as razor sharp whips. One of them has the ability to freeze anything he touches, and another has the ability to cause storms.

It looks like there is a much deeper plot behind this anime too. "Darker Than Black" is fast and mysterious, with all the energy of a spy thriller. Hopefully the plot will add up as well.

DVD Review - Twin sister goes on a killing spree

Mion adds spectacular excitement to the anime "When They Cry" with her maniacal killing spree in the second volume.

As we recall from previous episodes, "When They Cry" focuses on Keiichi, a new transfer student in Hinamizawa who likes to hang out with four girls, Rena, Satoko, Rika and Shion. Shion was the tall girl with the green hair.

But who is Mion? Well, Mion is actually Shion's twin sister. And to add confusion in the second story arc, she looks almost exactly like Shion.

Without giving too much away, Mion takes the male lead character, Keiichi, to an ancient shrine during the Watanagashi (Cotton-drifting) festival. They meet up with a photographer named Jiro Tomitake and a nurse named Miyo Takano, who break into the shrine to see the statue of Oyashiro. Oyashiro is the ogre god who could be spiritually killing off people each year after the Watanagashi festival.

In the second story arc, we are introduced to the photographer Tomitake, who also appeared int the previous story arc, before he stabbed his throat with his fingernails. In this story arc, Tomitake once again dies after the festival, and Miyo is missing. Soon Keiichi's elementary school friends wind up missing. After investigating the scene, Keiichi and his friend, Rena, suspect that Shion murdered them all.

Keiichi also discovers that Shion imprisoned her sister, Mion, in a dungeon and was ready to kill her with state-of-the-art torture tools. Shion almost kills Keiichi through a nasty execution procedure, but after some negotiation, Shion turns herself over to the police and Mion is saved. All is well, until the police officer says that Mion is the real killer.

This is a brilliant chapter with some of the most perplexing character twists. Now we know that Shion has an identical twin sister, and we may never know whether Shion is actually Mion, or Mion is actually Shion! This is one of the most shocking plot twists in the series.

And just when things couldn't get worse in Hinamizawa, the third story arc of "When They Cry" features child abuse. Satoko, the elementary school girl, comes with her friend, Rika, to cook for Keiichi. We learn that Satoko used to cook for her brother, Satoshi, who mysteriously disappeared.

But we also learn that Satoko suffers from child abuse. After her parents died, she and her brother lived with her evil uncle, Teppei Hojo. Teppei bosses Satoko around and beats her all the time. Keiichi hears from her doctor, Irie, that Satoko believes that her brother will come back if she goes through this suffering.

Poor Satoko. I wouldn't have even thought that she was as messed up in the head as Rena or Mion. At this point of the series, the blue-haired elementary school girl, Rika, might actually be the only sane character in this series.

Admittedly, this is a brutal anime to watch. However, it plays out like a strange soap opera. In every scenario, lots of people die. However, each story arc is even more fascinating, revealing the tortured past of the girls of Hinamizawa. And I never thought I would say this, but it's entertaining to see how insane all of the children get. This anime features the most unforgettable characters in anime history. Hopefully these kids get a hug after they're finished with this, because they could use some emotional relief.

Image courtesy of radda.wordpress.com