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motionmind's Anime

Seen all▲▼ Rating▲▼ Comment▲▼
A.D. Police (TV) Weak Tried watching with English dub first, but the voice acting was horrific. I suppose the dub was perfect for the anime itself, since both the animation and the story are really clumsy.
Akira (movie) Good Excellent production quality and the usual barely-explained story combined with the 80's style of character design that makes me throw up a little every time I see it. Overall a good animation if you can get past the style and the horribly lacking backstory.
Alien Nine (special) Worst ever This has got to be one of the worst things I have ever watched. I'm going to assume this is one of those animes that was meant as a gift to fans of the manga, otherwise it makes no sense whatsoever. There is no real story, there is no character development of any kind and, in fact, the main character actually whimpers, whines and cries throughout the entire series. I'm not kidding. I wanted so badly to be able to reach through the screen and strangle her to death it's ridiculous. And the ending of the series...there isn't one unless you're thinking in a quite literal manner as the series does just end. I don't think words are enough to convey my disgust at this putrid bowl of rotting entrails of an anime.
Aquarion (TV) Decent Not a bad series considering it hits all the anime cliches. I found myself skipping ahead in a few episodes trying find the point, but some eps just didn't really have one. Some of the side stories are really unrelated and unnecessary to the whole as well. Still, not a bad anime as there is character development and a sense that things are actually going to come together in the end.
Armitage III (OAV) Good Great overall OAV. The animation was really good and the story itself, while a little hurried, found time to explain itself thoroughly while doing an excellent job at developing the characters.
Armitage III: Poly-Matrix (movie) Decent Not nearly as much interesting going on as the original Armitage III OAV, But a pretty decent story for fans of the series.
Baccano! (TV) Excellent Excellent mix of characters and stories covering the gamut of emotions and varied levels of seriousness. The storytelling is wonderful as they jump back and forth in time quite a bit (some 400 or so years if I remember right) while introducing the characters at a pace that can be difficult to keep up with. The reward for hanging in there through the initial hard-to-understand episodes is a rewarding story and beautifully unique set of characters that often grow and shift as rapidly as the story jumps from arc to arc. Everything arc here is connected, however, and is brought together artfully in the end.
Berserk (TV 1997) Good Starts off interesting and quickly vaults you into the backstory that supposedly leads to the first episode. It never does unfortunately as it ends very abruptly, making it feel like the studio got the axe before they could finish. Overall a pretty good series though, with good characters and an entertaining, if shallow, plotline. The dubs are decent, but most of the time the quality is low.
Black Blood Brothers (TV) Good Not a hell of a lot of story explanation with this one, but that's not exactly uncommon for anime. Overall, a decent story and good animation with vampires. It's a win in my book.
Black Lagoon (TV) Very good Good animation and excellent storylines (a couple that carry over for more than one episode) make this a strong series to watch. The dubbing was excellent considering I had never heard of the series until recently, and I'm pretty good at finding anything with a good voice cast. This portion of the series is a bit on the light-hearted side, or at least as much as it can be when dealing with killers and crooks.
Black Lagoon: The Second Barrage (TV) Excellent As with the first part of the series, good animation, excellent storylines and wonderful dubbing. These episodes begin to lean much more heavily toward the serious and there are more stories that span several episodes. Also, the characters that were jovially evil in the first half of the series really show their darknesses and things really start to crash down around the main character and how he looks at his situation. A truly remarkable second half to bring the series to the usual (for anime) open-ended conclusion.
Blame! (ONA) Decent This is what happens when anime creators watch a David Lynch movie marathon. There isn't a lot of actual animation in this, most of it is simply creative panning of intricate backgrounds. The story, if you can call it a story, is an indecipherable acid trip that only has brief moments of lucidity. Thankfully, all 6 episodes are around 30 minutes so there's really not much excuse not to go ahead and give it a watch if you have the time.
Bleach the Movie: Memories of Nobody Good
Blood: The Last Vampire (movie) Good The English dub isn't the best, but it's pretty good. I have always loved the animation in this one as it's really smooth and a more "realistic" style (no flailing chibis here.) Considering how short this anime is, they do an excellent job at explaining the story making it interesting.
Boogiepop Phantom (TV) Decent This is a strange series. I just wanted to get that statement out of the way first since I still enjoyed watching it. It's a short one, just 12 episodes, and most of them take place within the same 5 year period aside from the last one or two. The retelling of a story as separate related events is nothing new, but I can't think of any anime series I've seen that's used the gimmick. The overall effect starts slow but things tie in more as the story progresses, although the original event that starts everything is never well explained. Overall a nice series at just the right length; I think if they had tried to spread the story out with the writing they had it would have gotten a lower review from me, but it was just about right. Nothing amazing about it, and the animation isn't the best, but overall well done.
Brave Story (movie) Good Well animated and a compelling story, I really enjoyed this one despite shying away from any anime with a cat-girl in it.
Burst Angel (TV) Weak So far it's not a bad series despite the constant fan service. The dubbed voices aren't bad, although the young chef's voice does grate on my nerves. I've heard that voice actor somewhere before and I wanted to really kill him then, so either he's improving or I've built up a tolerance. *Up to episode 11 and I really have to say that these are the worst dubs ever. Seriously, what's with all the terrible southern accents in the middle of Japan, coming from the mouths of Japanese-looking characters? Ugh. **Got to 15, the vacation episode. Cameltoe for everybody! This series really is just one wardrobe malfunction away from becoming hentai and yet I'm still watching (or perhaps that's why I'm still watching.) ***Finally finished. This series has the feel of cancellation all over it as the last 4 episode kick into high gear trying to explain everything and get all the loose ends and the series itself tied up neatly. It' didn't work. The ending also leaves you with a couple of characters that were just left to oblivion as they didn't have enough time to work them in. Not a terrible series, but not a good one either. It's probably best if you're a lonely teenage boy and can't get any real hentai.
Castle in the Sky (movie) Very good While leaning more toward the cutesy style of animation, this is a good story with some interesting characters. You can tell this comes from the 80's school of anime from the animation style, but it doesn't detract from an overall good film.
Claymore (TV) Good Fairly high quality production values and an interesting, if not very original, theme and story. The momentum builds steadily as the series progresses and then backhands you for watching with the final episode as nothing set in motion is really concluded. Nothing. They leave it as wide open as when the series began, so here's hoping there's another series that actually ties up some loose ends.
Corpse Princess: Aka (TV) Good So the main character died in a school girl uniform and just decided to keep the look, no huge shock there. Not the best series but I think it should be on anyone's list when they're not sure what to watch next. Without giving anything away; I have had friends that complained about the ending, personally I liked it...just giving fair warning.
Corpse Princess: Kuro (TV) Good So the main character died in a school girl uniform and just decided to keep the look, no huge shock there. Not the best series but I think it should be on anyone's list when they're not sure what to watch next. Without giving anything away; I have had friends that complained about the ending, personally I liked it...just giving fair warning.
Cowboy Bebop (TV) Very good It isn't perfect, but really one of my favorite series. The English dubbed version has excellent voice acting that really suits the characters.
Cowboy Bebop: The Movie Very good An excellent compliment to the series, though I'm not sure exactly when in the timeline this lies thanks to the matured character development in this as apposed to the series.
Darker than Black (TV) Very good Really good overall anime, both in episode layout and quality of story and characters. The only real detractor is that a few of the main themes that hold the story together are never fully explained. There were a few comedic episodes thrown in here and there with the private investigator character (and his assistant) to break up the sometimes bleak and usually serious storyline, but they were well-handled and not out of place.
Darkside Blues (movie) Weak This is like watching a hollow 80's sitcom version of an obtuse and overwrought David Lynch/Jim Jarmusch film. No attempt is made to explain what the hell is going on and, while the mystery may be interesting at times, mostly it just breeds a detachment from everything going on in the film. I had seen a couple of positive reviews of this so I thought I'd give it a chance, therefor I send this warning out to anyone reading this tiny review: you should be seriously suspect of the tastes of anyone who says this was a good anime.
Dead Leaves (OAV) Good An insane and frantic animation style coupled with a story that has to fit within an hour. A very cool and crazy short that suffers a bit with the story, but completely makes up for it with the eye candy.
Death Note (TV) Good Pretty original anime and it's always interesting to see such a terrible person as the main character (light). The problem is, it really started to drag out with the last 2 seasons since I REALLY hated Light. The balancing act of having a main character as someone so loathsome and still make you care what happens to them is just not there and I just kept hoping they'd kill him and get it over with. The originality and the mental fights between character kept me watching, but I don't think it's a series I'll rewatch.
Desert Punk (TV) Good This is one of those rare anime that get it right when making the main character an unappealing scumbag that you actually do like and root for. He's a short, somewhat unattractive and usually impulsive mercenary, but he's really good at the latter (when he can catch a break.) As the story unfolds they tease you with moments that you think he might suddenly become a good guy and then slap you in the face as he does something self-serving and despicable. The series kept me interested and the animation was pretty good quality with enough of a mix of action and comedy with a pinch of seriousness.
Eden of the East (TV) Excellent What an amazing piece of animation, The story is exquisitely detailed and complex and kept me on the edge of my seat in anticipation of the next revelation. The basic idea is that a secret organization of 12 has been tasked with saving all of Japan in any way they see fit after being given a set of rules, a special cell phone and 10 billion yen. The dynamic here is that none of them are cooperating in any way and the central character, being one of these chosen few, has lost his memory partway through. With only 11 episodes there is no filler and every last frame is used to progress the story and develop the characters. The animation itself is clean and keeps the characters serious even in the humorous moments (no chibi here.) The characters all have distinct looks and personalities that keep them from blending together because of similarities to one another or even other animes as some series are prone to do when trying to fill out the rosters. Last but not least, the open and end credit animations are even above and beyond most any I've seen from other anime series and even blockbuster Hollywood films. Top notch from beginning to end I suppose. I think this one is borderline for the top rating, but the fact that they couldn't squeeze a tiny bit more production quality out of the animation keeps it from happening for me. Still, I am truly amazed that I haven't had someone recommend this to me sooner.
Elemental Gelade (TV) Good Pretty formulaic, but that can be said of most anime. Overall I think there's a nice mix of comedy and action in this one. It does have its serious moments too, but don't they all? Nice story with some decently fleshed-out characters. Overall a good watch.
Elfen Lied (TV) Good A powerful drama that's dragged down slightly by the occasionally weak plot, Elfen Lied is nonetheless a strong series filled with blood, disturbing scenes of people treating others unspeakably bad and a lot of female nudity. Before you get all excited about the nudity (yes, much of it is fan service) but some of it is extremely disturbing when it involves underage girls in the aforementioned terrible situations. The graphic way violence and nudity is used really does effectively grab your attention and keep you focused on just how raw some of the story is, although there are more comedic moments interspersed in the beginning that slowly give way to the turmoil going on around the characters as the story progresses and things become more dire. I feel like they left things a little too open in the end, but it's still wrapped up better than some series. The English dubs were well-voiced, but the translations from the original Japanese got a little sloppy at times when they were trying to match mouth movements. There were a couple of episodes that dragged a bit, but overall I was riveted to the screen both for the over-the-top violence and the strong inter-character drama.
Ergo Proxy (TV) Good This is one of those rare series that grab me from the first episode and keep me interested. Things do start to git a bit ethereal halfway through, but some of the twists help pull everything together pretty well and link back to the beginning of the story.
Eureka Seven (TV) Very good So far it has the right balance of animation quality, plot movement, character development, humor and story teasers to really keep me watching. * I'm about 3/4 done with the series and it's still going strong with the story arc development while keeping a large number of secrets under wraps. The important characters all seem to be progressing well and the story is still keeping me interested in what happens next as well as awaiting the final resolution to unanswered questions. **Finally finished and all I have to say is "wow." That was one of the better series that i've seen, especially considering the longer series tend to fall apart well before the end. This was strong from beginning to end and continued surprising me with story twists up until the very last episode. All of the large array of characters are interesting and contribute something meaningful to the story. I was a little put off by the idea of the surfing mechs that got dug out of the ground when i started watching, but I was so drawn into what was happening that i accepted it as an integral part of the story with just the first episode. There were the usual number of anime cliches like the central 14-year-olds' love story; but the excellent story arc, connected side stories, clean animation, well-placed comedy and complete range of emotion elicited make for one hell of a ride. ***I do have a couple of unanswered questions, like why the mechs were buried, but the most nagging is the title...why was this called "Eureka Seven?" The main character Eureka is the no-brainer, but Seven? Ah well.
Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone (movie) Bad I hadn't seen anything Evangelion related until this movie, so I'm really hoping it's not all this bad. The movie gives you almost no backstory aside from the fact that the world is in trouble because something bad happened at some point. The main character is pissed and scared because he's been manipulated into piloting a robot in order to save the world by a father that left him long ago and won't even speak to him now. And this is the best part, everyone makes him feel like he's wrong to believe that he's been forced into a position that he has, in fact, been forced into. I understand this is supposed to be somthing like part 1 of a 4 part reimagining of the series, but I'm having a hard time wanting to see more after this first installment.
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (movie) Weak Shitastic. Pure and simple. The only reason I can think of that this got such good reviews from others on this site is that it's mostly just the Final Fantasy fanboys that watch it. Unless you've paid attention to every bit of Final Fantasy that's ever been released, most of this story makes no sense and no real attempt is made to fill you in. The fight scenes go on forever and aren't that interesting to begin with, not to mention that the creators managed to take some excellent mo-cap martial arts moves and make them look mechanical. It's nowhere near the worst thing I've seen, but it's definitely nowhere near the best either.
Fire Tripper (OAV) Decent Animation quality is about as good as it gets considering the age of the anime: fairly sloppy and jerky. The story , however, is an interesting one that does have a decent twist to it. Not bad considering the technical flaws overall.
FLCL (OAV) Excellent This is one of the rare animes that takes a crazy idea with a short amount of time to tell a story and really gets everything right. The animation is technically exquisite without trying to be perfect and in many cases they really push some abstract effects with entertaining results. The story itself is one that begins to slowly be pieced together about halfway through the 6 episode series and is mostly clear by the finale, though they do leave some for you to figure out. All the while, the creators are hinting at and making fun of every anime stereotype and style they can fit in, right down to the scenes that are done in a barely-animated manga style (which still manages to keep a frenetic pace.) The story varies between moments of slow contemplation and explosive "what-the-hell-just-happened?!?" with both being equally important to the storytelling and the development of the characters. The characters themselves are layered and thoroughly intriguing, especially considering the length of time we have to get to know them, but you really do feel a deep pity and concern for the disconnected main character and his homeless, amorous, almost sister-in-law friend. A beautiful OAV that I can't recommend enough for anime vets, I don't think this would be the place to start for someone that hasn't seen enough anime to know what you can expect from Japanese animation.
Ghost in the Shell (movie) Masterpiece This movie is what got me seriously interested in anime. I had seen a few other movies that friends had and they never kept my interest, but this has the right combination of action, intelligence, story and yes, fan service. The animation itself is beautiful and the music is appropriately haunting and powerful.
Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (movie) So-so After the original GITS, this is a serious letdown. In itself, it's a decent movie, but it has none of the power of the original.
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (TV) Good This series was a savior of the GITS franchise for me after seeing the second movie. It really is excellent as a homage to the original film and as well as a standalone series. This is a collective opinion of both SAC and 2nd Gig as it's been a little while since I watched it and didn't feel like I could review them separately.
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Individual Eleven (OAV)
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - The Laughing Man (OAV)
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG (TV) Good This series was a savior of the GITS franchise for me after seeing the second movie. It really is excellent as a homage to the original film and as well as a standalone series. This is a collective opinion of both SAC and 2nd Gig as it's been a little while since I watched it and didn't feel like I could review them separately.
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: Solid State Society (movie)
Gilgamesh (TV) Good A much better series than I ever would have guessed. What really got me was that there is really no line drawn between "good guys" and "bad guys" in the traditional sense. There are characters that seem to be leaning one way or the other, but it's clear from a very early point in the series that three factions are fighting for their causes, but all of them could be considered valid. The end leaves things with a somewhat clear victor, but I didn't fully understand it, though it seems to heavily rely on the symbolism of the "Gilgamesh" myth that the series is built on. Overall, I really enjoyed it, but the the often choppy animation from low framerates and the horrible English audio kept me from rating it higher.
Gunbuster (OAV) Decent This one was definitely full of ups and downs...where do I begin? There were times when I was completely absorbed in the animation and others when I wanted to punch myself in the face for watching such a fan-service & lame-ass-robot filled bowl of rotting tripe. Firstly, the fan-service; naked breasts apparently help to power the spaceships of the future because they kept popping out here and there with no real reason (but that's the definition of fan-service isn't it.) The story itself was a generally good one, albeit a bit sloppy in the whole "I've never seen you do much right, but I just know we can trust you to save humanity" area involving the main character. Thankfully the teenage-high-school-girl drama was over about halfway through as the characters all finally grew up a bit. There was an obvious hint of inspiration drawn from both Star Wars and Star Trek here in some of the ship designs and the weapons, but none of it was really a detractor for me. The musical score was right up there with the story ranging from crappy 1980's porno soundtrack to powerful classical scores. They really took some liberties with the ideas Einstein put forward about what happens to time as you approach the speed of light, which wouldn't be an issue if they hadn't made it into such a huge deal. The final episode was my favorite both in story and style: the animation in that one looks like they ran out of time/money so there was a great deal of creative use of storyboard drawings coupled with some nice score work to really make some of the most powerful imagery of the series. I think the good parts of the series outweigh the bad, but I still wanted to hurt myself during some of the crappy moments.
Gungrave (TV) Bad At times, I wanted to poke my damned eyes out rather than watch another second of this series. It takes an entire season to try and develop the backstory and characters a bit with limited success. Had I not had the entire series in front of me, I probably would have stopped watching, but I wanted to hope that it would get better. It never really did.
Gunslinger Girl (TV) Good This one really surprised me with how much I enjoyed it, because I really did think this was going to be horrible. They always talk about how the girls are cybernetically enhanced, but they never show you any of the clockworks, so to speak. That, in itself, allows for the story and actions of the girls to show you what their capabilities are while using it as a device to grow the characters and even elicit more sympathy from the viewer for what they're going through in dealing with their artificial bodies and their often romantic feelings toward their handlers. That last bit was what I thought would ruin this anime for me as I was afraid it would be a pointless romantic drama, but it really did go well with the story and enhance it. There isn't much story arc with this on as each episode until the last 4 or so tell individual stories, usually trying to give each of the girls and their handlers some fleshing out.
Heat Guy J (TV) Good I thought this was gonna be a pretty shallow series, but it did a pretty good job keeping me interested while having a few unexpected story developments. It's still not the most layered story and it does seem a little repetitive at times, but they usually throw some action in right when things are slowing down to help keep the anime moving along. The dubbing was pretty good overall and I actually liked the sound of the voice of "J" better in English. I find it funny that the android is constantly spouting cliched phrases about how a "real man" should behave considering most of the male characters are the usual girly boys, especially the main character's brother and chief of police who could be the long lost twin of the female that leads the Hellsing group in the anime of the same name. Overall I think this series saved itself by having a good balance of action, story, character variety and interesting visuals.
Hell Girl (TV) Weak The feel of this series is creepy-cool and makes for a really interesting viewer experience, until it all just starts to feel a little too familiar from one episode to the next. Things get repetetive really quickly, a sensation not helped by the fact that they reuse animation and audio a bit. I enjoyed the series originally, bu they dragged the season out too long and the disgust they instill in you from the horrible actions of the characters becomes general disgust for the series for how quickly the "edginess" becomes insipid.
Hell Girl: Three Vessels (TV) Weak The arc has been shaken up a little bit, but the grudges in this one are as petty and annoying as before. This season was more painful than ever once you got over the freshness of the changes. I recommend watching the first 4 or 5 episodes and then skipping directly to the last 4. Seriously, those 4 alone were better than most of the rest of the series. If you've watched the first two seasons like I did, then there's really nothing you've missed that will keep you from understanding the last 4 episodes and enjoying the loose ends being tied up. Overall I have to say that I could have skipped this anime series and been better off, but you never know that until it's too late.
Hell Girl: Two Mirrors (TV) Weak The edge of all the terrible things being done to decent people in this series dulls quickly and degenerates into mostly high and middle-schoolers sending other generally decent people to hell because of their raging hormones and stunted sense of morality. Most of the story arc is muddled together with increasingly uninteresting stories of petty people being given the power to make innocent people suffer with a few exceptions. This seems to be purposefully pushing the viewer toward some final moral decision in the 3rd season. The problem is that I'm so sick of the journey at this point that I've found myself skipping ahead in the episodes to skip the individual stories and focus on the arc. I'm really reminded of Death Note while watching this and have to wonder if this was an inspiration for DN since they both overload you with dark themes until you become numb and the effect is lost.
Hellsing (TV) Not really good Blah story that doesn't really go anywhere or feel the need to bother with much character development. The animation is good quality and it's nowhere near the worst you could do if you're hard-up for a vampire series.
Hellsing Ultimate (OAV) Good MUCH better than the original series, this one briefly follows the same story but quickly breaks off into something much more powerful with infinitely better animation quality. I've been told that this one follows the manga much more closely, it's just to bad they didn't get a chance to finish the series as the project was cancelled just as this anime was really heating up.
Heroic Age (TV) Very good This series shares a lot in common with Aquarion, though this has a much better developed story and character set. Heroic Age also manages to take itself much more seriously without losing the fun.
Howl's Moving Castle (movie) Very good
Iria - Zeiram the Animation (OAV) Decent Not the most solid of stories in this one, but at least they realized that and only made it into 6 episodes instead of trying to draw it out for a couple of seasons. As it is, it's not bad with some decent animation and a few fun characters.
(The) Irresponsible Captain Tylor (TV) Excellent This is the most I've enjoyed watching a series in a long time. Hilarious overall, but throwing in some serious moments without ever taking itself too serious. I could see this as the inspiration for One Piece except that this series gets to the point, although I think they could have pulled another season or two off since they had a few side stories that would have been easy to go into greater detail on without losing interest.
Jin-Roh - The Wolf Brigade (movie) Excellent A truly beautiful and well executed story framed by solid animation and complex characters. The cinematography of every scene is well thought out and powerful. While the dialog obviously plays an important role in the story, some of the most striking moments are the ones filled with silence that rely instead on the nuanced actions and expression of the characters. There are enough plot twists here to keep you guessing about the outcome right up until the end, and maybe even beyond. A truly wonderful movie that just so happens to be anime.
Jyu-Oh-Sei (TV) Good
Kai Doh Maru (OAV) Not really good This is one of those instances where 45 minutes simply wasn't enough to adequately explain what was going on in the story. I could understand the general idea, but there were many aspects which an attempt to further explain was simply never made. The 3D backgrounds in this short feel more like the creators were getting to play with a new toy than anything that contributed positively to the visuals and obviously did not belong when used. The opening scene has the best visual style of the entire anime for me, done in a black-and-white sketch style that truly suited the feel and movements of the characters. The rest of the animation was unfortunately done more like a faded print, with clean lines and pale, pastel washes (with the wonderful and probably intentional exceptions of blood and fire) which only served to stiffen the characters even in the throes of battle. Most of the characters served no purpose whatsoever and I'm still at a loss as to why they were even named as they would have been better as recognizable faces behind the 3 or 4 characters that actually matter to the story. Kai Doh Maru is beautiful in its own way, but mostly due to its slightly experimental animation, and holds no real draw in either the characters or the execution of the anemic story and feels like they skipped a few important details of the story to get the project done.
Kakurenbo - Hide & Seek (movie) Very good A very nicely animated short scary story akin to something you might see on Tales From the Crypt minus the cheesiness. I could see this as being part of a much larger story or even a series if they had wanted to do so as the characters were fleshed out more through their actions than speech and backstory and everything was fresh and interesting.
KenIchi the Mightiest Disciple (TV) Good I wasn't expecting this series to be as strong and funny as it was; what a pleasant surprise. The characters are varied and interesting and each of the many get their own time in the limelight to mature a bit, if only in depth. There are a few exceptions to this, with characters that seemed to be slowly growing in importance that suddenly vanish from the series for all intents and purposes, including a couple that are noticeably missing from the last few episodes. For the most part, all the female leads are big-breasted pinup queens and this becomes a running gag involving the main female character. The basic theme is an extremely overused one involving trying to make everyone your friend and protecting them at all costs, although there is a side of highschool drama and a budding love interest to round out the cliches. Unoriginal plotlines aside, I enjoyed the fact that they didn't unnecessarily draw out the battles, instead opting to give you brief encounters with the next level of enemy and then moving on to a sometimes slapstick filled episode of training before the actual enemy encounter (this seems to be the setup that they tried to follow with One Piece, except OP uses filler episodes like mad). This formula was changed a little bit as the series began to pick up speed leading to the conclusion, but not detrimentally as they did a good job at breaking the larger final battles up into well-timed segments. Overall, I think the "final battle" episodes were well done and tied up the main story arc nicely, but it left a lot of side arcs dangling in the wind. The animation style was nothing special with a few exceptions, but it was relatively smooth and clean. A good series that did a really great job at filling all 50 of the episodes with something to keep you attention while making you want to keep watching to the next ep and beyond.
Kiki's Delivery Service (movie) Good It may be overly cutesy for my tastes, but a good movie with an entertaining story.
Kurokami The Animation (TV) Decent This one definitely follows the usual formulas. Boy meets girl with strange powers? Check! Boy gets irreversibly involved in girl's battle involving mechs/magic/superscience? Check (magic)! Lots and lots of battles ensue that seem to all be the same battle over and over again with a hint of character development? Check! Personally I think that Elemental Gelade and Eureka 7 (among others) had more going for them than this series, but I applaud any animation that can wrap up a story in 24 episodes or less as so many of them drag on forever. Overall, I did enjoy the series and the dubs were surprisingly well done with a few popular dub actors throwing their hats in.
Last Exile (TV) Very good
Memories (movie) Good I really enjoyed the individual stories in this small collection. Each one successfully tells its own interesting tale and the animation is top-notch.
Metropolis (movie) Very good
Mezzo Forte (OAV) Good A really interesting story for only being 2 episodes and the animation is pretty realistic and very smooth, though the physics are definitely straight out of a more goofy cartoon. The hentai scenes in the uncut version are completely unnecessary and only serve to weaken the story. You get all the backstory you need to understand what's going on although there were a couple of points that were left wide open.
Moribito - Guardian of the Spirit (TV) Excellent Absolutely beautiful in both story and animation. Even the slower paced parts showing some of the daily tedium of the common people and the quiet moments of thought of the aristocracy is done so artfully that I stay riveted to the screen as much as during the wonderfully choreographed fight and chase scenes. The fight scenes aren't typical anime fights either; each battle generally begins without discussion or hesitation and each one has a clear purpose. The drive behind the fights are based on and help progress the storyline and character developments while lasting remarkably brief periods of time compare to the plethora of story-less series out there that stretch what amount to meaningless, ill-animated fight scenes into multiple episodes. Fans of real martial arts movements will really be able to see the research that went into the animation and the attempt to be mindful of real-world physics. I can't recommend this one enough really, and I'm still trying to decide if I should up my rating of this to the highest level on ANN.
Moyashimon (TV) Good I was worried this would be too cutesy for my taste, but I really did enjoy it. There's not a huge amount of story here, but it's only 11 episodes. This one really is about a personal journey for the main character at the start of his college career and, while he does affect those around him (for the better usually) the story doesn't stray too far from that main goal. The animation is good and the idea of someone seeing and interacting with microbes really is somewhat unique and brings a very interesting twist to what would have been a fairly "me-too" anime otherwise.
Murder Princess (OAV) Good There's nothing particularly ground-breaking about this short series, but the characters and story were strong enough for 6 episodes worth of entertainment I think. The dubs were higher quality than some better series even.
Mushi-Shi (TV) Good I really like this series. It doesn't really have an arcing storyline like most people expect from every tv show these days, but I was interested in every individual episode to see how it would unfold. Really a refreshing series after so many "save the world" animes, since this series is more about saving one person at a time.
Nabari no Ou (TV) Weak A very slow paced and repetitive anime, even considering it's only 26 episodes. I think the biggest problem is the main story arc really doesn't have that much interesting going on compared to some of the smaller stories and it tends to make the small arcs feel disconnected while keeping them from contributing much to the whole. Almost the entire anime is spent around the main character in a heavily cliched fashion...this is yet another painfully detached and disfunctional kid that seems to have no real development taking place until the last few episodes. It wouldn't be an issue if the supporting characters weren't growing well beyond him in scope before the first half of the series, making me care very little about him and even getting completely fed up with the same routine.
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (movie) Very good
Ninja Scroll (movie) Very good
Pale Cocoon (OAV) Excellent This truly is one of the most powerful animes I've seen for being so brief. They don't give you many details about what's actually going on around the characters, just basic info and a general idea about their jobs. The anime opens by letting you know that something terrible happened to the earth and then you're given the briefest glimpse of the bleak existence of the characters both with their surroundings and the crushing loneliness due to their jobs. The only work we see is the act of reconstructing found digital records to give them some idea of what happened to put the human race where it is now, though the sentiment that nothing good can come from knowing the past is given great weight. The story can be a little hard to follow at moments, but only a little when you consider how much information you're given in such a brief time. In the end, everything makes sense, at least as much as the viewer needs it to.
Paprika (movie) Very good Really cool visuals and an excellent soundtrack and story. The only real fault I have with it is that it throws you into the story a little clumsily, but once you're there, you hang on tight to try and piece together the puzzle that's presented. The animation itself is high quality and can be downright amazing when they get into some of the dream scenes.
Paranoia Agent (TV) Good Pretty nice animation quality and a series of stories tied together by an enigmatic little boy that's going around attacking people when they subconsciously wish to be removed from their lives. It wasn't so "David Lynch" that I walked away from it scratching my head and wanting to kill myself, but it definitely had it's surreal and demented moments.
Parasite Dolls (OAV) Good A good Film Noir style anime with some very tight animation, but some serious issues with the individual, vaguely connected chapters that make up the OAV. The individual story chapters feel incomplete from the lack of explanation of themselves and highlight just how unimportant their contribution to the whole was by what little they bothered to develop the main characters. The end result is disjointed , but since it's only a total of about 90 minutes you won't mind so much since there's plenty of eye candy to keep you drooling.
(The) Place Promised in Our Early Days (movie) Decent Something like a disjointed romance novel without the sex, since the characters are underage even by anime standards for a good portion of the story.
Planetes (TV) Excellent A really interesting series and a good space drama is always a nice change of pace from so many of the magic/robot/religious themed stories. This is space-based science fiction, but only barely as it takes place in a not too distant future that could easily be extrapolated from current events involving world conflict and the progression of space travel. You won't see any of the colonization fairy tales in most futuristic space anime; here we've made a few small, rough moon colonies and some space stations orbiting earth while we're still strugging to visit the other planets of the solar system. The first half of the series is spent getting to know the characters and to help develop each to a certain extent while keeping it generally lighthearted with some moments of seriousness. The second half is where the series really kicks things into high gear both for the breakneck pace of character development and the arc, which was pretty much non-existant in the first half. Almost any hints of humor start to fade fast as things start to go very wrong for the main characters including quite a bit of mental breakdown and self-loathing. It's always rare for an anime to start out a little weak and then tighten up, but it does happen as with Planetes. The animation itslef has a slightly dated style, but overall it's very well done and the costumes and scenery really help to bring it all together and make it believable. Friends become enemies, enemies become friends and the general interaction between all the characters is very realistic and, wel...human.
Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (movie) Good Another beauty from Gibli and Miyazaki, but not their best work. Has some serious story flow and animation framerate issues that keep Spirited Away at the top of my list.
Princess Mononoke (movie) Very good
RahXephon (TV) Very good
RIN - Daughters of Mnemosyne (TV) Very good
Roujin Z (movie) Excellent I came into this anime with no expectations either positive or negative as I really didn't know much about it. All I can say is that it was an excellent surprise. This movie has obvious visual links to Akira from sharing the director, but this is a much less ominous action/comedy. The animation, while carrying a slightly dated style, is clean and intricate. The characters are interesting and are fleshed out quickly without succumbing the sloppiness that that can sometimes entail. The story is fairly simple and straightforward so it can be started quickly and moved along without needing too much extra explanation. Overall, I'd say this may be one of my top favorite anime movies/oavs. Well done all around.
Royal Space Force - The Wings of Honnêamise (movie) Weak This is one of those movies where you really start to ask yourself, "what else is on tv?" It feels like they were really pushing for a more "art house" aesthetic with the story and either failed miserably or succeeded to the point of driving the core anime audience away. And they really should stay away from this one when you add the crappy 80's drawing style into it.
Samurai Champloo (TV) Very good A true classic with excellent animation quality and well-done over-the-top battle choreography. The English dubs are absolutely perfect. This anime is mostly a series of unconnected events that are held together by the travels and growing friendships of the 3 main characters as they travel Japan in search of a specific samurai. Wonderfully creative with it's pseudo-history and intertwined hip-hop references and music, this series may not be the strongest in terms of story or character development, but it's certainly one of the best ones out there.
Scrapped Princess (TV) Decent The story's not breaking any new ground, but it was a solidly enjoyable series from beginning to end and that's pretty rare for me.
Shangri-La (TV) Very good A really good series so far with a wide range of themes and characters that all seem to contribute directly to the main story. The main character is described as being 18, but she seems closer to 12 in both action and dress. Speaking of, the fan service is limited with the main character thankfully, but they try to make up for it with her guardian and surrogate parent who's a proud, flamboyant and apparently eternally youthful 43-year-old transvestite. *Just finished the series...the end felt a little rushed compared to the well-plotted lead-up, but everything about this series was excellent.
Sky Blue (Korean movie) Decent The whole "city that runs on pollution" idea is pretty nice, but the animation itself is a little rough at times and the story has nothing truly original going for it.
Solty Rei (TV) Very good Reminded me a little of a lighter Blade Runner. I've had people tell me that this series seemed like a mashup of several different animes and that's really what I like about it, it doesn't confine itself to just one genre (or one time period really.) There's some good character development, though it drags at first and seems to regress with a couple characters on occasion, but the genre mixing more than made up for it.
Speed Grapher (TV) Good An original twist to the whole "I was an average guy and now I have powers so I need to save the world, or the girl, or both" genre. There were some moments of slowdown in the series, but it kept my interest through to the end.
Spirited Away (movie) Excellent One of the most creative and well-executed anime as far as interesting and original characters. Throw in a great story and excellent scenery and editing and you'll stay glued to the screen until the end.
Sword of the Stranger (movie) Good
Tales from Earthsea (movie) Very good Enjoyable movie with attention paid to the dub. Noticed a couple of big names in the credits (like Timothy Dalton if I'm thinking right.) The story itself has some interesting elements, but is generally just "good" as it never goes too far outside what you were expecting from it.
Tekkonkinkreet (movie) Excellent This is one of those movies that I couldn't figure out where it was leading me for a god chunk of the beginning. Unlike some other anime that has gorgeous animation and reminds you of nails on a chalkboard with the story or pacing, this work of art actually gets you interested in the life of these two kids quickly and thoroughly. Despite the story leaving you asking "what's going on" at times, it rewards you for sticking around and gives you an answer, though maybe not an immediate one. The dubbed version has absolutely flawless voice acting as each character feels to me like that's the voice they were born with. This may be up there for me with Ghost in the Shell for having to have in my collection and getting rewatched until I can repeat some parts to embarass my wife around her friends!
Time of Eve (ONA) Very good Short but sweet. This story has grand implications in it's underpinnings, but it focuses solely on the development of the two main characters and, to a lesser degree, their androids. An uplifting story that hints at what could be a very painful and difficult future beyond.
Tsubasa Tokyo Revelations (OAV) Very good This is how the series should have ended. This OAV is a lot more bleak and violent than the original series and actually picks up before the final few episodes of the original much like Hollywood's "alternate endings." There's still no resolution to the story here as they still have a journey ahead of them to find the feathers/memories, but these few episodes are some of the most enjoyable out of all from the series and introduces characters that were only talked about previously and gives a little more explanation of the Syaoran-in-a-water-tank that appeared but was never elaborated upon.
Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE (TV) Good A series in the vein of Pokemon and other money-makers where the whole point of the show is to go from place to place experiencing some light comedy and, at best, very mild hardships. The manga would probably help with this one as there's a lot of background info that never gets explained and the story ends with that cliched anime staple, "the journey's not over!" Not the best series but I enjoyed it anyway.
Tsubasa: Spring Thunder (OAV) Decent I watched this OAV hoping for more like Tokyo Revelations, but it only half delivered. The style and violence are here as with TR, but the storyline is heavily tied to a future instance in the manga and a couple of XXX Holic OAVs apparently and will make almost no sense without that backstory.
Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (movie) Good
Voices of a Distant Star (OAV) Good A somewhat cliched but ultimately timeless short story about two people in love that are separated by an alien war and vast distances of space. They explain only what they need to for the background war (which is almost nothing), focusing instead on the messages that the girl sends to her love (using an ancient monochrome nokia no less) with ever-increasing delays in his receiving them due to the growing light years between them. It has its problems to be sure, but 25 minutes is short enough to easily overlook them.
Wicked City (movie) Good Gritty, sexy and frightening with a good storythat helps make the demon aspect seem plausible.
Witch Hunter Robin (TV) Good Pretty good series. The story really picks up about halfway through but seems to peak before the end. Nothing really surprising about the storyline or character development, but still interesting enough to keep me entertained.
Witchblade (TV) Very good I need to preface this by saying that I don't really like fan service and this series is absolutely full of it. However, I think they did an excellent job of tying it in to the story making it a necessary aspect since the Witchblade and its various copies all seem to link power and sexuality (not unlike a lot of vampire fiction really.) I've never read any of the original Witchblade comics to know if this series plot follows anything similar, but the struggles of the main character and her daughter kept everything tied together and kept me watching from start to finish and enjoying it. I think that making the main character a struggling single mom whose daughter is more put together than she is really helps to immediately win sympathy and interest for her and the kid and it does work as a unifying theme to all of the struggles that they go through in the series. I saw a couple of the subbed eps and compared them to the dubbed and I think the dubbed version is much better (to my English ears) as they did an excellent job with the voice casting. Battle scenes all seemed to have good flow to them and weren't drawn out like some animes, while keeping the usually vapid battle-banter to a minimum. The characters were all pretty varied and, while not entirely original, they were all allowed to have some sort of meaningful importance to the main characters and the development of the story arc. There is a constant theme of "family" in various forms throughout the series and this helps to build the main story as well as the side stories. Give the series a chance if you're anti-fanservice like me, it's worth it...if you love fan service, then you have no excuse not to watch.
xxxHOLiC (TV) Very good Entertaining series despite the somewhat minimal character development. The characters got fleshed out more in the next season, but I don't believe that one was officially available in the US.
xxxHOLiC the Movie: A Midsummer Night's Dream Good I actually watched this one before the series so I was a little unprepared as it doesn't really explain too much of why Watanuke is in this situation, but the story does stand on its own to the point that I still enjoyed it.
xxxHOLiC: Kei (TV) Very good Better character development than the first season, but it feels rushed, like the series wasn't going to be renewed and they knew they had to hurry and tie up loose ends. Still well worth a watch.
xxxHOLiC: Shunmuki (OAV) Very good