NGE1113's Anime

The latest offering in his line of work, and Makoto Shinkai has done it again. Even given the film's deliberate pacing, it had a lot to say about the power of endurance that love has against the passage of time, along with the unfortunate luck that often accompanies it. While it didn't make me cry, it did make me sit back and think for a bit after its conclusion. Compared to Shinkai's earlier efforts (Voices of a Distant Star, The Place Promised in Our Early Days), it doesn't overpower them, but does complement them nicely.

The second installment in the Stars franchise, and it's just as good as the first. The "sticky situation" scenario is played once more, now with Jinto and Lafiel as officers in the Abh Star Forces. An interesting continuation, with a bit more growth, as well as the resolvement of a some plot threads from Crest (i.e. most notably dealing with the aftermath of the death of Baron Febdash).

What I found most appealing was the inclusion of a larger cast, and the humorous idiosyncrasies of the characters within, especially between Admiral Spoor and her chief-of-staff, not to mention the "spectacular insanity" of the Bebaus brothers.

Thankfully the animation had a jump in quality this time around. It holds up despite the years, which I can't say for Crest. The dub retains its problems (first and foremost delivery), but it's serviceable, and the fast-and-loose dub script that plagued Crest has been considerably reined in.

Also see comments for Crest of the Stars (TV); Banner of the Stars II (TV); Lost Chapter of the Stars (special).

Unfortunately, this is a case where the third time's not the charm. Recycling the plot device from Crest and Banner, Jinto and Lafiel find themselves in danger one more time, with the focus being on how they work it out. This time, though, Banner II really has nothing new to add to keep it fresh. It was entertaining, but the little tingling of déjà vu as I watched it cost it a grade.

No major complaints with the animation this time either; it's on par with Banner. Sadly, there are no major improvements to the dub either, which remains on par with Banner as well.

Also see comments for Crest of the Stars (TV); Banner of the Stars (TV); Lost Chapter of the Stars (special).

I've seen too many movie adaptations that've tried to cram an entire series into a two hour chunk, with predictably disatrous results in most cases. Thus, it's nice to see a TV series derived from a prior movie or OVA series, which allows the needed time to delve into the characters, their motivations, and the plot in general. In that regard, Battle Athletes Victory pretty much delivered what I expected from it, while holding onto the things that endeared the Battle Athletes OVA to me.

Make no mistake, if it's cut down to the core, BAV is nothing new or mindbending; it's just another standard action-comedy that the late '90s seemed to be full of (in the R1 market, anyway). However, it takes that theme, adds an unique (if absurd) plot to it, and runs very well with it; there were very few times where I was bored. The dub, given the time it was produced, is pretty good, with the exception of a major blunder, which I'll get into greater detail later.

Also, any show that uses the Konami code as a punchline is an automatic winner in my book. That, and the introduction of Tomoe Midoh in the last story arc as a complete brat; way to shatter the students' perceptions of her :)

There were a few nitpicks in my book, though: duplicity in the dub cast (Anna and Ling-Pha share a VA); no great detail into the backstory of Grant Oldman (and possibly the faculty), given an offhand comment by a spot character that he is at least 400 years old, and probably older; and the grand reveal as to what the whole Cosmo Beauty competition was for in the first place. I've mentioned earlier about the competition being an absurd (yet fun) plot device, but the last arc of episodes tries to take it too far beyond disbelief.

As for the blunder in the dub... just wow. Way to create chaos by confusing the past with the present (Miracle's deal with Lahrri, which also explains why Mylandah resented Lahrri so much). Either someone wanted some unnecessary drama, or they just didn't bother to watch the episode beforehand before writing the ADR script.

Yet another show about high school hijinks. Azumanga Daioh was one of the first of this genre that I'd ever watched, and remains the high watermark. Best Student Council... Well, it did come in ahead of Doki Doki School Hours in my book. Besides Puuchan, there really wasn't anything unique that BSC could claim as its own.

Like AzuDai, BSC's greatest strength is the interplay between its characters. It gets silly at times (huzzah for sentient puppets), they do things that I didn't expect, and the storyline ultimately is driven by the results of the characters' actions. For the first 23 episodes, it works. The last three episodes....

By the 24th episode, the powers that be felt that a three-part finale was necessary to conclude the series. Bad mistake. Despite it's carbon copy status of other madcap school comedies, I found it enjoyable because it was a lighthearted series to that point. The finale ended the series on a down note; by introducing a serious, multi-episode plot so late in the show's run, I felt that the last three episodes really clashed with the 23 that preceded it.

On the miscellaneous front, I wasn't expecting the word Nafrece to ever be mentioned outside of Madlax. What, someone couldn't think of a new faux country to name a group after? :)

2/9/09 EDIT

Two more things came to mind after my initial comments. They are:

1) The Jinguji power: nothing's ever really explained about it. The only thing that is was ever shown to do was to enable mass telepathy. There was talk about how the Jingugi's stayed in power due to it. What could have been an interesting plot point was sadly never developed.

2) VA duplicity: I'm a really big stickler for this one. Minor characters, I can understand, as there's only so many voice actors to draw from. But two major characters? Can't say I like that. Because of this, I knew well in advance of what was supposed to be an important reveal about the background of another character. That's just not right.

There's not much to say about this anime and its premise of life and (much repeated) death. It's been a few years since I stumbled across a fansub for this show, and time's generally been good to it. Sometimes I don't feel like watching anything deep; I just want a good laugh. Dokuro-chan fits the bill nicely, even if it is at poor Sakura's expense.

One minor quibble: the subtitles Media Blasters provided were clunky in places, and it would've been beneficial if they included a way to distinguish different lines of dialogue that are spoken at the same time.

See comments for Bludgeoning Angel Dokuro-chan (TV).

Yet another installment of the AQUAPLUS franchise. Compared to the first Comic Party, this really didn't focus on the doujinshi aspects so much as much as being a episodic sitcom. As a whole, it was a funny show, but I wish there was some other underlying theme other than "Kazuki and company arrive into a crazy setup. Watch them resolve this!"

As far as the dub went, I was right on one count: I knew I would miss Liam O'Brien as Taishi. Josh Grelle, I feel, got the spirit of the character right, but got too caught up in trying to mimic his predecessor. In a related vein, I also missed Jessica Calvello as Eimi. Not surprisingly, ADV cast Larissa Wolcott for Eimi's role in CPR; her take was on the right mark, but still wasn't up to the performance of the original VA. In the end, my line of thought on the dub extends from these two examples to nearly all the reoccurring roles from the first TV series. There was an exception to this: Kim Prause's take on Aya, which I thought was better than Carol Jacobanis' version.

In terms of its release, CPR was initially released as a four episode OVA, with the four OVA episodes being reformatted for television broadcast later on. Part of me wonders why ADV didn't (couldn't?) pick up these four episodes. The cuts on the edited-for-TV episodes aren't that noticeable, but I wish the original material could have been included.

And to close, it was great to see Doug Smith voice a role again, even if for one episode. Safe to say, Lt. Kintaroneggar (I do believe that's how he was credited) bumped this show up a tiny bit for me.

Stray comments that I've heard over the years instilled a compulsion to buy this show. The fact that the first sequel was on the out-of-print list made it mandatory. All-in-all, this was an example of a space action-opera series done very well. I came into it blind, and by the end of the franchise, it left a good impression on me.

The whole boy-meets-girl-then-both-get-in-danger setup is so old as to become time honored tradition, but Crest takes an intriguing spin on that concept, and then throws in main characters that undergo a decent amount of development, which proved to be a winning formula. The fact that Crest really was just an arc from a much larger story works in its favor; the close focus on Jinto and Lafiel is what spurs their growth.

The animation quality disappointed me. It was produced back in 1999, and the visuals have not fared well at all. The same goes for the dub; it was wooden in places (notably Lafiel), and the dub script played with a fast-and-loose translation of the Japanese script. But to close on a brighter note, I must mention the OP and it's well-arranged opening theme. Coupled with the visuals, it was an attractive little piece of work.

Also see comments for Banner of the Stars (TV); Banner of the Stars II (TV); Lost Chapter of the Stars (special).

I've heard, more or less, that Dual was a less confusing version of NGE. Well, I didn't hear that the producers tried to mix a harem into it as well. The mix... not so good. When the show was in harem sitcom mode, it wasn't that bad. When it tried to get serious, sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. However, unlike other anime I've seen *coughNazcacough* it never tried to take itself too seriously. Saving grace with that move, which prevented any further drop in the grade I gave it.

See comments for Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventures (TV).

Working my way through the backlog, I recently finished up Yuna and its sequel. The sequel was okay, but the first... not good at all. Due to the limited run time, there is no character development, a tried-and-true tired-and-overused plot, and a storyline that tries to cram in far too much. This complaint can, of course, be lodged against a whole host of OVA's, but it's the fact that Yuna also falls short as a comedy and action piece that magnifies the problems listed above.

The arsenic-laced icing on the cake is the dub, directed by Tristan MacAvery. Justin Sevakis commented on the futility of MacAvery-directed dubs in a Buried Garbage column, and I clearly see where he's coming from. As a whole, the dub cast is miscast, and any semblance of acting is replaced by screaming, more screaming, and even louder screaming. It's a shame, since I've always found that ADV-dubbed comedies are among the best out there. This time, though... strikeout.

Despite the disappointment I felt after watching Yuna, I found Yuna Returns to be a few notches better. For once, I actually took an interest in the characters this time around. Why the change of heart? For starters, this OVA had three episodes compared to two for Yuna, and as a result of that, the storyline didn't feel as rushed as before. There's still nothing positive to be said for character development and the plot, but the introduction of Ayako and her tragic relationship with Yuna managed to move me a bit. More importantly, the attempts at action and comedy were satisfactorily done; not great, but serviceable.

The last bit of improvement came from the dub itself. Matt Greenfield was in the ADR director's chair this time around, and, in general, I've never had a problem with any of his dubbing efforts. The cast still suffers from being mismatched, but Greenfield managed to pull out a serviceable effort from them. That nasty problem with screaming as a substitute for acting was curtailed, also a plus.

It's been a long while since I watched a show from the horror / supernatural genre of anime. After watching it, Hell Girl came off as an extended, modern-day version of Requiem From the Darkness. I wouldn't recommend it as highly as I would Boogiepop Phantom, but like Requiem, I will admit that it's a good show in small doses. I could only take one disc at a time, otherwise the episodic (and formulaic) plots would start to mix together.

Revenge is an age-old concept in fiction, and I've found that when it's used correctly, it can prove fascinating as a plot device. In this regard, Hell Girl does pretty well; it all adds up to a 26-episode morality tale. (At what cost does vengeance prove too much, or is inaction worse?) Though much of the series consisted of a paint-by-numbers plot, there were a few episodes that broke from the mold. These were a nice change of pace, infrequent as they were. The last story arc was the most interesting, as characters changed due to being unsure about the actions of themselves and others, along with the reasoning for Ai's actions.

Decent animation; nothing too spectacular, but not much to complain about either. The work done on Ai's kimono was a nice touch, but other than that, there's nothing remarkable that I can recall of the top of my head. Good dub on this, even though I didn't recognize two-thirds of the cast. Brina Palencia did well in her role, catching both the cold aloofness of and the scorned girl that is Ai Enma.

It is a shame that with two more seasons out there, I'm not expecting anyone to bring it over for an R1 release. As I said before, if taken in small doses, I'd likely enjoy those two seasons as well.

There are anime that play around too much, until the writers realize that nothing of significance has gone on, so they try to cram a plot into what little time is left (re: Nanako). Then there are the shows that try to do too much, resulting in an incomprehensible mish-mash. J:E came close to stepping over this particular line quite a few times.

The premise of the story isn't quite original (Jilted lover wants revenge...), but the way it's presented is certainly so, if not a little confusing at times (...so he clones the mother of one the main characters in order to force that person to wreak havoc upon the world.) Yeah. The way the plot was structured (dual timeline) didn't quite help matters either, but at least the transitions were easy to figure out. (I will give credit for the unseen-yet-obvious-upon-being-pointed-out foreshadowing during the transitions.)

The biggest thing that irked me about this show was the (lack of) explanation behind the Jinki battles, which had no real resolution; or better yet, why that part of the story was set in Venezuela. I'm left to guess that it just looked a good setting. In short, the action aspects of this show were okay, but the story behind the action left me with a few "Huh?" moments. The comedy bits, sparse as they were, were well placed. (The episode centered around Aoba's training was hilarious.)

I haven't heard Brittney Karbowski in many roles (in fact, the only role I can recall her from is a bridge bunny in Godannar), but I must say, I liked her take on Aoba. The same goes to Jessica Boone for her performance as Akao (minus the never-really-heard-her before sentiment). In a similar vein, it seems like I'm running across John Swasey in, oh, every third show I've seen. (Yeah, I'm exaggerating that a bit). To expand a bit, I can't pick out any really weak points from the dub, except maybe for Satsuki (Allison Sumrall).

Random thought: the best way to get the US interested in soccer might be to introduce mechas ;). (Sorry, I just really like that scene.)

A one-episode tale of origin about what drove Lafiel's parents to get together and have her. Simply put, it's complimentary material to the main storyline. On the plus side, it's fairly well done, plus more of the Stars franchise is a good thing to me.

Also see comments for Crest of the Stars (TV); Banner of the Stars (TV); Banner of the Stars II (TV).

Round two, except this time it's in the form of a TV series. I've always liked seeing TV adaptations of OVA's, since it allows the production staff to use the OVA for introductory purposes and the TV series to round out the characters some more and fill in more of the plot. With that in mind, Magic User's Club TV did a pretty good job of following on the heels of the OVA.

Along with the happy-go-lucky comedy, this incarnation also dabbles a bit in romantic comedy and a somewhat serious storyline. Fortunately the mish-mashing works, mainly due in part to the strong relationships between the characters. It was also amusing (and a bit irritating) to see that things remain unresolved between Sae and Takakura.

Like the OVA, the animation quality is very good despite the passage of time. Similarly, the OP remains catchy, but not much else of the music. The same holds true for the dub.

Also see comments for Magic User's Club (OAV).

Other than of a couple of comments about Magic User's Club, I knew little about this title or what to expect from it. The biggest reason I picked it up was a heavily discounted price online. For the record, I'm glad I did.

The concept that magic is alive and well in a world that has forgotten it is hardly fresh, but it worked well here, and I find this show to be an entertaining diversion. Not surprisingly, the pratfalls of inappropriately using magic is the main plot driver for MUC. Thankfully, this isn't what the show really is about. Instead, that falls to the interactions between the main cast, along with some of the secondary characters.

For a show of its age, the animation in Magic User's Club has held up really well, except for the CGI used to animate the Bell in the opening sequence. Instead, that looked more awkward than anything else. The OP is a bit catchy, but outside of that the music is both forgettable and serviceable. The dub is okay, as I found no real miscasting issues with it.

Also see comments for Magic User's Club (TV).

In the vein of Bludgeoning Angel Dokuro-chan, only trading "cheery" and "loving" for "cruel" and "sadistic," Punie-chan was a short but funny show about a magical girl's one-year trial on Earth against those who want her out of the way... and her submission holds of death. An interesting concept, but it was the other things that helped distinguish this show among other madcap gag shows. Payatan was key among these; the change between cute magical mascot to war-hardened veteran was a hoot. In addition, Punie's seiyuu played a major part for the ability to switch between "light" and "dark" Punie seamlessly. Being a gag show, the gags themselves are indispensable. Thanks to the non-stop pace of dense gags, there wasn't a dull moment, and the gags themselves had no chance of being overused. However, the two pants-wetting shots of Potaru and Pyun were unneccesary, and added nothing more than shock value. In short, minus this one complaint, it was a fun way to spend the time, on par with Dokuro-chan.

What to say, what to say...

Mushi-Shi is one of those rare shows where I could feel the love and dedication from every level, from its creation in Japan to English post-production. The animation was gorgeous, the music impeccably composed, and the stories presented interesting examples of how the human race handles the unknown, not to mention the motives in the human heart that drive our actions. (I'd recommend checking out Tony K.'s thread on this show, which I found was a well done in-depth look at such issues.) Add to that the fact that there were no elements that were either out of place or served no function (a personal irritant of mine), and I was left with a show that is easily the best I've seen this year. Like some of my past favorites (Eva, Utena), I know I'll find something new to chew on every time I watch through this.

If I had to quibble over something, it would be this: like most episodic series I've watched, I had difficulties with most episodes running together in my mind; they mesh into a tapestry of sorts. I know what it is about the show that I like as a whole, but as for each episode, it's tough to pin down what particular thread of the episode appealed to me. (Admittedly, part of it also has to deal with my terrifically bad short-term memory.) Still, it's only a minor thing to me, and certainly doesn't detract from the well-deserved Masterpiece rating I gave it.

Clearing out another part of the ADV sale backlog, it's yet another high school hijinx title. While I more or less bashed Best Student Council a couple of months back, I found this show to be very good in comparison. It's a rare occurrence, but Nanaka actually finds a good balance between the drama and comedy. I can't in all fairness place this show on Azumanga Daioh's level, but it definitely holds its own, especially when it counts.

The amnesia premise behind Nanaka 6 / 17 is a tiny bit strange (if not overused), but seeing how it's really not the driving force behind events at the end, it's all right with me. Instead, it becomes an opportunity for Nanaka to discover who she was as compared to who she is now, and a chance to reconcile the two; strange as it may sound, I found this part touching.

Beyond this, I found the interaction between Jinpachi and Satsuki to be highly amusing. It's not often that I see a high school bad ass play the straight man to his younger sister. Funny stuff. However, kindergarten-age Nanaka's rival, Kuriko... I found her addition to the cast to be an attempt to generate humor than actually being humorous.

The dub was mostly ADV vets, so no really big problems. Chris Patton as Nenji: no surprise there. Chris Ayres and Jessica Boone were great in their roles. Monica Rial's 6-year-old Nanaka on the other hand... Too much for me. It really started grating on me about halfway through the show.

AKA quantum physics meets deus ex machina.

In itself, the concept of Noein doesn't sound all that bad. Actually, I found the characters really enjoyable, and as important, believable. Relationship development was there, and it really drove the story. Even the conflict, which does sound kind of silly outside the sci-fi context, was intriguing. And yet, for those situations that arose which didn't have an easy way out, re-read the opening statement for what I believed was the series' major weak point.

Despite everything that I found enjoyable about the series, the tendency to explain that the unexplainable occurred was become of quantum physics stuck out like a cheap way of doing business. Or to be more precise, it felt that because Noein used quantum physics as a plot device, the writers had carte blanche to create situations, knowing full well that they had a way out if normal conventions couldn't resolve something in the storyline.

Even though I couldn't shake this nagging feeling, I really did enjoy this show in the end. This was complemented by a good dub, replete with Crispin Freeman as resident badass Karasu. It did bug me that Uchida's VA was inconsistent with her accent, but more importantly, there were issues with non-standardized name pronounciation. Outside that, no other major complaints.

See comments for Nurse Witch Komugi (OAV).

Take out the dark, supernatural elements of The SoulTaker, throw in a pinch of Excel Saga, and you arrive at this show.

Given that Komugi is a comedy, there's really nothing to this show other than its ability to make me laugh. In that department, it succeeded fairly well; the last episode was very chuckle-inducing. It was an experience, though, to see the principal cast of SoulTaker dropped into off-the-wall situations. Komugi's never-ending quest to be the number one idol in Japan reminded me quite a bit of Poemi Watanabe's VA aspirations in Puny Puny Poemi. I did feel that the staff should have used Date more than they did; that's my only real complaint about the show.

Given that this was an ADV release, the dub came off pretty smooth. What impressed me more was the dual-studio production effort; quite nice to hear Jocelyne Loewen and Brad Swaile reprise their respective roles, along with a couple of other characters. I don't expect dub continuity when different companies hold licenses to parts of an over-arching show, so it's a nice surprise when continuity (or some form of) is kept.

After picking up Peacemaker up for cheap in that ADV sale a few years back, I had no idea what to expect from it, much less the historical underpinnings of the show. I've always found the concept of twisting history to create history to be somewhat intriguing, and I have to say that Peacemaker spun it to its own advantage. In addition to that, Peacemaker was one of those rare breed of shows that grew stronger as the episode count got longer, culminating with the Shinsengumi raid at the end. As a historically-based show, it did all right; of course, Peacemaker's real strength is as an action-based show.

There were a few things that nettled me, though. There were a few instances of the plot drifting nowhere, with the biggest example involving Souji's lookalike, who was hyped as a major plot point, then sort of just fizzled out. For the most part, though, plot derailments were kept to a minimum, with some sort of advancement being made most episodes.

Dub-wise, it was a fairly good production. The voice actors were longstanding ADV veterans, which helps, but listening to too much of Luci Christian as Tetsunosuke proved grating at times. All-in-all, more good than bad.

I've heard a lot of praise for this show over the years, and as I watched Planetes through, I came to realize one thing: that praise was well deserved.

The premise of the show was really intriguing, both from a fictional and future perspective. On the fictional side, this was a story setup that I'd never thought of until I picked Planetes up. As for the future, if humanity ever were to expand their influence beyond Earth, there's a good chance that the problem of space debris would rear its head in reality. (One can only wonder how much junk is floating up there in orbit right now.)

And the characters... They remind me quite a bit of my own co-workers (perhaps a little too close). Anyways, none of the principal cast provided a dull moment, with Lavie being, far and away, my favorite of the bunch. Antics aside, the relationships between the characters were interesting, solid, and showed a healthy dose of development over the series' run.

As much as the above played into flavoring my opinion of the show, there was an X-factor as well. Much has been made about the fact that this is a "hard" sci-fi show, a claim that I won't dispute. I found that realism very refreshing, especially since I'd been coming off a steady diet of action and over-the-top comedies (mixed with the surrealism of Utena for good measure). Bluntly put, Planetes came along at the right time and was a very welcome change of pace.

On the miscellaneous front, the OP's focus on the development of space technology and exploration was fascinating for the history nut in me. It was something of a pain to read the tiny text, but I'm glad I did.

A baseball anime intertwined with shoujo and slice-of-life elements: not exactly a common combination, but it worked really well in Princess Nine.

After buying this a couple of years ago, I let it languish, and I'm sorry I did. I found this show to be a lot of fun, whether the focus was on a game being played, the team itself, or relationships between individual characters. The morals touched upon (believe in yourself, trust your friends) rang true, and nothing presented seemed contrived. Given that a lot of the VA's were ADV regulars, the dub itself wasn't that bad, either; I personally found Andy McAvin's Shinsaku Kido to be hilarious.

At the end of the day, good stuff.

Once upon a time, I managed to catch a few episodes of Utena while it was still airing on the FUNimation Channel. My first thought of it: this is a more surreal version of the "Fractured Fairytales" segment seen on the old Rocky & Bullwinkle show. This one thought, combined with what I've read about the show, convinced me to buy it. That first impression of mine was validated, but it turned out to be quite more surreal than I ever could have imagined.

The first story arc was a bit pedestrian, but served its purpose of building a foundation for the rest of the story to stand on. But as the story moved on to the Black Rose and Apocalypse arcs, I found it a lot more interesting, and started to steamroll through the episodes. The way it ended up caught me by complete surprise; I give the creators full credit for that.

The show's animation was nothing too special; it got the job done. The music was more impressive, with the song inserts during duels very relevant, as their surreal lyrics matched the show quite well. The characters were the main appeal, however. Each character had a their own unique goal that drove the plot effectively. In addition, the relationships between characters proved fascinating as they unfolded down the stretch.

The meaning behind it all in the end? There's a range of potential answers to that question. It could be argued that Utena did revolutionize the world--her world. She controls her own path, her own story if you will, not Akio. There's also the possibility that the Student Council mistakenly assumed Utena was the duelist they were looking for; End of the World mentioned the arrival of a new duelist, but never mentioned who; in essence, all that happened thereafter was a fluke, not fate. Finally, in a show where the swapping of gender roles (and the potential inappropriateness thereof) is a pivotal plot point (not only Utena, but also Souji Mikage's desire to replace Anthy with Mamiya Chida as the Rose Bride.

To put it bluntly, this is a show that I'm sure that I will spot new things in each time I watch it.

P.S. Oh, yes, and Nanami turning into a cow? Hilarious.

Yet another movie adaptation of an excellent TV series. The biggest problem I have with these sorts of movies is that the production staff is forced to boil down an entire 39 episodes into an 80 minute run time. Given that, it's no wonder that this movie zips to-and-fro from plot point to plot point. Unlike the Escaflowne movie, this film manages to retain some of the TV series' charm, along with presenting a semi-coherent storyline.

Some of the changes I did like (improved animation, sound, music), while most of them I can live with (character designs). Looking back, in comparison to the TV series, the biggest changes of all relate to the dynamics of the characters, and how they relate to each other. In this case, it's a mixed bag. Unlike the TV series, this movie gives more focus to Anthy; I'll admit it was nice to see Anthy with such an active role this time. Some of it bugs me (Shiori is now with Touga, and Utena used to have a thing for Touga... Okay...), but I'm more disappointed with how the Student Council members get brushed off, with the exception of Miki and Kozue's even more disturbing relationship.

And before I forget, Utena turns into a car? No matter how much of a point is being made with this surreal image, my first impression: "Yeah, right..."

In the end, before watching this, I highly recommend watching the TV series first if possible.