wildwood's Anime
take a look at wildwood's MangaThese comments are for me really, so I can remember what I thought of each one, and so I can compare if and when I re-watch. If they are of interest to you, then that's great, and if not, then stop reading...for fun I've done them in a very headline critical style, but I have few critical pretensions so don't take them too seriously!
| Seen all▲▼ | Rating▲▼ | Comment▲▼ |
| 5 Centimeters Per Second (movie) | Masterpiece | More lyrical romantic mood setting from Shinkai, with the directors usual themes and tone - deeply nostalgic and longing with an emphasis on separation/distance and speed. This is wonderful to look at, and involving to watch, with a heartrending aspect to it that is deeply felt and deeply moving. Masterful storytelling that captures a particular mood superbly! |
| Ah! My Goddess (TV) | Excellent | Yes, lovely characters in sweet relationships...good fun situations and a warm-hearted tone to the whole piece. What's not to like? Well....Keichi is pretty gormless for most of the first half (just kiss the girl!), which is a bit annoying, but this pales into insignificance when Skuld arrives and the annoying character meter goes off the scale! She could be the most irritating character in anime...gets my vote anyway. Rescued by the charm of the whole, the beauty of Belldandy, and the delight that is Urd. Lots of innocent fun really...enjoy! |
| Ah! My Goddess: The Movie | Very good | Lovely artwork on display here...goes for the characters too. The story is pretty good, and Skuld is hardly annoying at all, which makes it a very sweet and romantic way to pass an hour and forty minutes. |
| Ai Yori Aoshi (TV) | Excellent | Lovely. Very sweet, good characters, and generally a heartwarming experience. The premise is far-fetched of course, and the less said about Aoi's slavish tendencies the better, but if you want the occasional injection of quality fuzziness, I don't think it comes much better than this. |
| Akira (movie) | Excellent | Classic film, with a wildness and ambition that is still impressive today. I saw the blu-ray re-mastered version, and it fills the screen. Incredibly powerful. |
| Alien from the Darkness (OAV) | Decent | OK, another guilty pleasure! |
| (The) Ambition of Oda Nobuna (TV) | Very good | A fun almost-historical ride around the Sengoku period, with a likeable cast and a very sweet romance. |
| Angel Beats! (TV) | Excellent | Beautifully drawn, quite funny at times and moving at others...this is a pretty high class anime. The music is another quality act. Nothing here I didn't like...excellent stuff! |
| (The) Animatrix (OAV) | Good | 9 short films, some of them pretty good, some, inevitably, less so. I liked "Second Renaissance", "Beyond" and "Detective Story" particularly. Not much to say about the others really. |
| Another (TV) | Very good | Spooky and atmospheric, and pretty entertaining. Suspend your disbelief, as the plot has lots of holes in it, but I don't think that's really the point...it's really about the creepy feeling of the whole show. If you are in the mood for some not too heavy horror, give this a try! |
| Appleseed (OAV) | Good | Enjoyable, but not as good as I'd hoped, for such a well discussed anime...looks a bit dated now, which is not itself a problem, but also found it to be rather detached and uninvolving. The ending seemed perfunctory. So, worth watching, but I can't really rave about this one. |
| Appleseed (movie) | Good | Enjoyable, and obviously cutting edge motion capture/animation for its time. However, again I found this incarnation as detached as the original OAV...it just didn't seem to go deep enough when it had the chance. So, great to watch, but it doesn't make you think as hard as the premise seems to promise...and thereby misses out on being great. |
| Appleseed Alpha (movie) | So-so | This was pretty poor in terms of plot, characterisation and especially, dialogue. So stilted, with everyone talking in "macho-speak"...very much B action movie dialogue. The CGI was very good (though skin tones and texture looked like sandpaper), but I just don't like the whole movie done like this, and it still lacks a soul. I've only stuck with this franchise because I've picked up copies very cheaply....but it's not really worth the bother. |
| Appleseed: Ex Machina (movie) | Good | Same as previous films really, despite the cgi being improved and enhanced. Felt I was watching a video game rather than an anime...and I think I just find it not as interesting as traditional animation, which is what really draws me to anime anyway. |
| Arakawa Under the Bridge (TV) | Excellent | I liked the whole concept, and the visual style. The humour was also pretty entertaining. I didn't really warm to the main female protagonist as much as I hoped/expected to, though, which held it back a bit for me. The second series is meant to be better, and I will try to take a view of that if at all possible. |
| Arakawa under the Bridge × Bridge (TV) | Excellent | My view of this is very similar to the first season. Again, it's funny and entertaining, but Nino is really just a cipher, and I like a bit of warmth in my romantic couples. Still an excellent watch though. |
| Azumanga Daioh (TV) | Excellent | Great stuff...very watchable, with great good humour and sweet characters. Sakaki is just plain adorable...felt so good when she finally managed to pick up a cat...even if it was a wild one! Lovely! |
| B Gata H Kei - Yamada’s First Time (TV) | Excellent | This is funny, sexy and surprisingly serious....as long as you are not easily offended, then there's a lot of fun to be had here. |
| Baccano! (TV) | Masterpiece | Utterly brilliant! This is so clever, involving and just sheer fun...with great character design, fluid animation, and complex storytelling. I can't think of anything about this I didn't like. Highlights of course were Isaac and Miria - demented and totally charming. A real blast from beginning to end. Very highly recommended! |
| Baka and Test - Summon the Beasts (TV) | Very good | This was...hilarious! Nothing quite so delightful as seeing true idiots at work and play...I laughed out loud a lot. Recommended! |
| Bakemonogatari (TV) | Masterpiece | Never seen anything quite like this before...it took me 2-3 episodes to really get on the right wavelength, but when I did I really loved it. I wasn't really getting the humour to start with, and although I obviously missed a lot of the Japanese word play, I still found the way the characters interacted to be hilarious. The art style is also distinctive, and I found myself really appreciating the use of colour and music in the scenes too...brilliant stuff, and I'll be getting more in the monogatari series. |
| Bamboo Blade (TV) | Excellent | A lovely series, about working as a team and pulling through together. Really nice atmosphere, with well drawn and interesting characters ... you've got to love Kirino, the Team Captain, and Miya-Miya is a delight, especially in her "dark" mode! It held the attention of my three young sons, which is no mean feat for a series featuring mainly girls... |
| Banner of the Stars (TV) | Masterpiece | A really great pick-up from Crest of the Stars...more battles this time, but it still very clearly focusses on Jinto and Lafiel, and tracks their increasing closeness beautifully. Great minor characters too, who all feel well developed. One of my top 5 favourite series of all time...beautiful! |
| Banner of the Stars II (TV) | Masterpiece | Part 2 of Banner goes up a level in terms of animation production, but also in terms of pushing Jinto and Lafiel onto another relationship level. Towards the end, this becomes heart wrenching and swooningly romantic! Absolutely lovely! |
| Barakamon (TV) | Excellent | Really lovely story, well paced, funny and not too sentimental. The characters are engaging and fun, and there is lots of character development for the protagonist. All in all, a real joy! |
| Birdy the Mighty Decode: The Cipher (OAV) | Very good | Nice visuals, good story....not top drawer, but still an enjoyable watch. |
| Birdy the Mighty Decode:02 (TV) | Very good | More of the same, but getting more serious now and more of the Birdy back story. Enjoyable, though perhaps straying into "average" more than you'd like... |
| Birdy the Mighty: Decode (TV) | Very good | Nice visuals, good story....not top drawer, but still an enjoyable watch. |
| Black Butler (TV) | Good | Interesting and amusing at times, but a little bit all over the place at others. Enjoyable, but sensed that some of the situations and opportunities were a little bit wasted...it built up the atmosphere, and then the actual plot didn't really match the build up. Easy to watch and enjoy, but not as great as the premise suggested it could be. |
| Black Lagoon (TV) | Excellent | Brilliant! Had high expectations after reading reviews and wasn't disappointed. Full-on action series, great characters ... Revy is just a great badass surrounded by equally powerful other characters, even the more minor ones. It just went by so quickly. I'll watch it next in the English dub as that is also highly rated..and will certainly get the second season too. Go for it... Highly recommended! |
| Black Lagoon: The Second Barrage (TV) | Excellent | Yep, keeps up the high standard of the first series and then some. More of Balalaika in this one...scary lady! Action-packed, and lots of shooting and general mayhem...and of course the developing relationship between Revy and Rock is great to watch. Highly recommended! |
| Black Rock Shooter (TV) | Good | Visuals were impressive but lent a confused quality to watching this anime - not always clear what was going on. I appreciated it on one level, but it was emotionally uninvolving and rather histrionic and overwrought. Don't think I'll watch again. |
| Blade & Soul (TV) | Very good | Enjoyable, but not too much more than that. The female character designs are of the hugely endowed, minimally clothed variety, but there is a story under there worth saying. It's episodic, and the relationship of the story to any sort of reality is tenuous in the extreme...but still an easy and fun watch. The final episode is typical OVA type material. I've ranked it "very good", rather than just "good" because I love the closing animation…a really lovely piece of work. |
| Blade of the Immortal (TV) | Good | I think it rates better than a "good", but despite the great drawing, slimy villains and dubious character of the main protagonist, it feels unfinished and undeveloped...and I left it feeling rather unfulfilled. |
| Blood-C: The Last Dark (movie) | Decent | This was OK, but didn't really grab me. The animation was fine, but the characters were not well developed and little more than ciphers. Saw this without having seen the Blood-C series first, so that may have had an effect...but it was pretty ordinary, and not as good as the original Blood: the Last Vampire. Bit disappointed really... |
| Blood: The Last Vampire (movie) | Excellent | Beautifully animated creating real atmosphere; menacing and stylish. Technically impressive, but exciting and involving too...a small gem! |
| Bodacious Space Pirates (TV) | Very good | Great fun! Very lively, with bright characters and good humour...an entertaining series that may not stretch your critical faculties too much, but is still provides a very watchable treat. |
| Boogiepop Phantom (TV) | Excellent | Gripping and atmospheric....but quite confusing and hard to follow exactly what is going on. I'll have to watch it again, but the fact I want to do that shows its quality. Not an easy watch, but well worth it. |
| Boys Be... (TV) | Excellent | Romantic, serious and engaging, with realistic characters facing a variety of emotional challenges. There is humour here as well, but it's not as foregrounded as the relationship building and character growth that's going on. I really like this series, and came quickly to care for the characters. Quite different in tone to a lot of other anime I've seen. I wouldn't mind some more of this! |
| Brave Story (movie) | Very good | A really enjoyable family film. Beautifully drawn, with some great animation. Perhaps not the most original story, or the deepest concepts but great fun for all that. Some of the characterisation for the minor characters could have done with some beefing up, but a great way to pass an hour or two. |
| Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040 (TV) | Excellent | Great stuff; really enjoyed this series. Exciting with good characterisations, cool music, and distinct atmosphere...highly recommended! |
| Bunny Drop (TV) | Excellent | This was really lovely. Heart-warming without being overly sentimental or mawkish...and as a parent I recognised a lot of the "a-ha" moments, which rang very true. Only complaint...at 11 episodes and a few shorts, it was over far too soon. Quite delightful! |
| Burn Up Excess (TV) | Decent | Bit dated now, and really not that involving....it has its moments, but too few and far between to make this anything more than just a way to pass the time easily enough. |
| Burst Angel (TV) | Decent | Promises much, but fails to deliver on practically every level. Characters are unoriginal and unengaging, plot is not really there, and the whole thing just fails to register. By the numbers stuff! It's really a problem when the extras (the radio shows) are actually better than the series. Disappointing! |
| CANAAN (TV) | Good | This was a mixed bag really - pretty good for most of the run, but it fell apart a bit in the last few episodes. It reached a climax at the end of episode 11, and rather lost it's way after that. I must admit I didn't understand a lot of what happened in the final episodes, with Canaan having some heavy hallucinations, it was hard to tell what was real and what wasn't. I also wince when characters go off on extended soliloquys in the middle of a fight! Pretty exciting in parts, the action scenes were pretty good. The characterisation was a bit hit and miss though, with some stock characters, and motivations hard to really latch on to. So, if you like girls with guns, then go for it...just don't expect it all to make much sense! |
| (The) Case of Hana & Alice (movie) | Very good | I was a little disappointed in this....the script was very good and the dialogue was really pretty funny, and the story was fun and not too serious...but I didn't really like the art style. Some of the movement was OK, and some wasn't, but it was really the faces (when they could be viewed clearly) that took most getting used to. I found it pretty distracting, and it spoiled my enjoyment of the film's other very good points. Still, I'd watch again, as the two leads worked very well together, and it had a lot of good humour. |
| Casshan: Robot Hunter Casshern (OAV) | So-so | Very dated...to modern eyes it seems like a bit of a joke I suspect. A "classic" whose time is beginning to pass I think. Unless you like this era of anime, you may want to give this one a miss. |
| Castle in the Sky (movie) | Masterpiece | Classic Ghibli brilliance...great characters, drawing, background, story, music and pretty much everything. Really interesting atmosphere with this one, and the pirates are just great! Loved it to bits!! |
| Cat Planet Cuties (TV) | Excellent | Absolutely loved this...a guilty pleasure, but very funny. |
| (The) Cat Returns (movie) | Excellent | Sweet and lovely, without being cloying. It's not a long film, and certainly doesn't outstay its welcome. Haru is delightful...and the Baron is as dashing as ever. Great family film! |
| A Certain Magical Index (TV) | Good | Well, must admit to being disappointed with this. Lots of loose ends, you feel as though only part of the story has been told…got the same feeling with "Scientific Railgun" series too (though I think that series is better generally). A second series has now come out, so maybe that resolves things. However, one of the biggest problems is the character of Index herself, who I'm afraid I just find annoying, and for most of the series, fairly redundant. Nowhere near enough is made of her grimoires, and I sometimes struggle with what seems an anime obsession with the "little sister" character. There are too many characters as well, many of whom get mostly dropped in later arcs, though they often make a guest appearance. The story arcs also get a little similar, with Toma's magic right hand solving all problems in the end. Pretty to look at, but not the classic it could have been. |
| A Certain Scientific Railgun (TV) | Very good | A fun series...not deep, and pretty formulaic at times, but the characters charm despite their rather stereotypical depiction. It's the Railgun herself who really makes the series, as she is the pivotal character around whom the rest of the gang revolve. Some of the deeper aspects of the world they inhabit remain resolutely unexplored, but it's still a lot of fun! |
| Children Who Chase Lost Voices (movie) | Very good | Very Ghibl-like to look at...beautifully drawn, the backgrounds are stunning! The tone is quite a bit darker though as you might expect from Shinkai. I felt it lacked that distinctive sense of longing that is so wonderfully done in his other works, though the theme itself is definitely there. A bit of a step down in impact to his other films, though I might reconsider on repeat viewing. It's still a stunning work to watch though... |
| Chobits (TV) | Very good | Well drawn and animated, but I found it a bit too sweet for my particular taste. It's also a bit repetitive, and for me it dragged at times. It tries to get at a more serious side, but somehow it doesn't quite make it...and I felt it got a bit creepy at times. I guess many will adore it, and I can see why, but it just missed the mark for me. |
| Claymore (TV) | Excellent | Now this, I loved! Great atmosphere, unique character style, fantastic colour palette appropriate for the story, gripping narrative that reveals its mysteries relatively slowly (some may say it has pacing issues), appropriate music, and lots of fun. Yes, it does tend to pause in the middle of battles for a speech or two, but if you can live with that style, then I think you'll love it. One of those fairly rare anime that I didn't actually want to end...I quite surprised myself by how much I liked this one. |
| Colorful (TV) | Decent | Crazy, sexy, funny...and completely bonkers! The ladies are very well drawn, the gents less so. Best to see in short bursts I think, as the joke palls fairly rapidly. |
| Cosplay Complex (OAV) | Good | Actually thought this was pretty funny...much better than some po-faced reviews suggest. Love the marching closer number! |
| Cowboy Bebop (TV) | Masterpiece | I was a little intimidated about watching this, as I'd heard and read so much about how wonderful it was....and I didn't want to be disappointed. I needn't have worried though, this series is absolutely superb, from the writing to the animation to the music, to the themes and overall tone....they all work together just beautifully. I love the way it takes on different styles and genres but still is very much its own self. The truly great aspect though, is the characters...you really get to know and love them. I just wish there was more opportunity to hang out with them. Truly superb...a masterpiece. |
| Cowboy Bebop: The Movie | Excellent | Loved it, can't wait to see the TV series now. |
| Crest of the Stars (TV) | Masterpiece | I really loved this, and really wanted it to be twice as long! Great characters, and a beautiful developing relationship between the leads...mixed with thoughtful sci-fi, and an engaging tone and atmosphere. It feels dated, but in a good way, if that makes any sense at all. More please! Just wish Banner of the Stars was easy to get hold of at a reasonable price... |
| Dance in the Vampire Bund (TV) | Very good | Well drawn and very atmospheric, this draws you in and absorbs you in it's world. I like the way that our vampire Princess is not simplistic in her motives...sometimes she is just not an attractive character...but it's very clear that she can't afford to be, and has to do some stuff that is morally pretty ambiguous in human terms anyway. I had a bit of a problem with the sexualised depiction of her...she has a child's body after all, even if it is inhabited by a much older personality. Her transformed state was pretty gorgeous, and if that had happened more then maybe I'd have been more convinced about how old she really is and less bothered by the child stuff. Quite a dark anime...it takes its vampires seriously! |
| Darker than Black (TV) | Very good | Interesting concept, which takes it's time to reveal where it is going…I found it quite compulsive viewing. The characters are not always as well developed as you might hope, and some are gone as soon as they arrive, but this was a very enjoyable watch. |
| Dead Leaves (OAV) | Good | Colourful...frenetic...a very wild ride! Enjoyable, but didn't really grab me. If you are in the right mood though, this is a fun way to kick back and have a laugh! |
| Desert Punk (TV) | Good | Well, it was OK, but I found it hard to care at all about the titular "hero", and at a length of 24 episodes, that does tend to make a difference. If it had been shorter, then I might have got less bored. Kosuna was great though...and that definitely started to carry the series for me, as her character did develop, which was certainly not true for Kanta. |
| (The) Devil Is a Part-Timer! (TV) | Excellent | Excellent fun! Most of the humour is in the basic premise, but I loved the character relationships and the way it just took away most of your assumptions. A totally enjoyable experience, with a good sense of parody, but plenty of characters you can invest in. Recommended! |
| Devil May Cry (TV) | Good | Episodic, devil-of-the-week approach, with little characterisation, and precious little viewer engagement. The animation was pretty static (surprising for a Madhouse production), and the fight scenes not very involving. OK to watch, but definitely not one of the classics. |
| (The) Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya (movie) | Excellent | An excellently animated conclusion (?) to the Haruhi Suzumiya story, though given the time travel nature of the plot, it can be pretty confusing at times. The focus on Yuki works well, especially for those of us who like Haruhi, but sometimes find her overbearing and fatiguing. Kyon is his deadpan self, this time in spades, and the film, though overlong, is a real treat for fans of the series. |
| Divergence Eve (TV) | Good | Yes, the "bounciness" of the characters is really distracting, but I still enjoyed the show. The plot is actually quite intriguing. Well drawn too! |
| Dominion Tank Police (OAV) | Not really good | The dub ruined it for me...I usually prefer watching in Japanese with subs; the over the top aspect of the dub made it sound crass, and the humour was less than subtle. Genuinely disappointed in this....it really hasn't aged well at all. |
| Dragon Half (OAV) | Good (dub & sub) | Sweet and funny...and at only an hour long, doesn't fall into the trap of becoming tedious (which it could easily have done). Important, as it definitely needs a re-watch to get all the jokes. Great fun! |
| Dusk maiden of Amnesia (TV) | Excellent | This series is highly recommended. Art and character work are super, relationships are sweet, and the ghostly heroine very alluring...but it's the plot and story that keep you coming back for more. Creepy and atmospheric horror with real heart...if that is your thing, then don't hesitate, go watch it. |
| (The) Eccentric Family (TV) | Excellent | This was nicely done, with a range of appealing and attractive characters, and a warm-hearted family unit at the centre. Not sure I fully "got" Benten, and I think her mystery essentially remains, perhaps to be explored in further seasons. She's rather gorgeous too. Well drawn, with lovely colour palette, and fantastic Kyoto scenes and backgrounds. Altogether a fun ride, and a world I very much want to come back to. More please! |
| Eden of the East (TV) | Excellent | Totally different atmosphere to any other anime I've seen....it really sucks you in! Characters are cool, and well differentiated....and very likeable. Really enjoyable, I'll probably end up getting the movies that finish off the story. Highly recommended! |
| Eden of the East: Paradise Lost (movie) | Excellent | Great ending to the story...well up to the usual standard. It's engrossing, intriguing, quirky, charming and very entertaining....also very cool. Very pleased the standard was so consistently high across the series and both movies...this is a super series and well worth watching. |
| Eden of the East: The King of Eden (movie) | Excellent | Super continuation of the TV series. It has to start again with the relationships, which holds it back a bit, but it's still got a very special atmosphere, and is part of one of my favourite series. |
| ef: a tale of memories (TV) | Very good | Melodramatic tales of teenage love and angst, focussing on memory and the fear of "disappearing". Not my usual type of show, but it's Shaft, so it's chock full of quirky and innovative artwork and style. The animation itself is fairly static, but again, that's Shaft for you...it more than makes up for that in the drawing and inventiveness on show. Quite compulsive viewing, even if a little overwrought. Well worth watching, as are all from this studio! |
| Elfen Lied (TV) | Masterpiece | This is a really tough and challenging watch. The sense of dread is palpable in all episodes, and the scenes of general human nastiness are almost overwhelming. It is bloody, violent, and intensely moving. The opener and closer are both brilliant, and the artwork is absolutely gorgeous. You have to see the Klimt homage in the opener and closer to believe it...fantastic animation. Several times during the course of this, I really hesitated about going on, but it sinks it's teeth into you and doesn't really let go. It's not pleasant or easy....but it is a masterpiece. |
| Ergo Proxy (TV) | Very good | Very interesting anime...dystopian future using a brown and grey palette of colours that is appropriate and effective. It's pretty gloomy stuff for the most part, then a few episodes are actually quite funny, and take you completely by surprise. It's not afraid to switch tone and mood, not to mention genre, and although it doesn't always work, it's always interesting and thought provoking. The characters are perhaps not as easy to engage with as they might be, and although this may be a dramatic comment on the world they inhabit, it does put a bit too much distance into our relationship with them. Pino is totally adorable though and brings some warmth into this cold and bleak future world. It doesn't always work as a whole, and bits get pretty messy and obscure, but it's always something you want to watch. |
| Escaflowne: The Movie | Very good | Darker than the TV series, and worth the watch. |
| Excel Saga (TV) | Excellent | Great fun...pretty wild, quite hard to get everything that is being sent up at first viewing. Even loved the last episode! |
| Expelled from Paradise (movie) | Very good | Excellent CGI, but with a hand drawn look to it. Not the greatest story maybe, but lots of fun and visually very spectacular. Characters are good and warm-hearted, so all in all, it's a lot of fun. |
| FLCL (OAV) | Excellent | Totally wild...fast, funny and furiously animated. A strange little story, but absolutely had me by two minutes into the series. Has some similarities to "Dead Leaves", but this is a much superior effort imho. The animation is fantastic and the characters are great fun. There are deeper levels of meaning in there as well, which repay repeat viewing. Superb stuff!! |
| Fractale (TV) | Very good | Very well drawn...maybe tries to cram too much in to 11 episodes, but this is both fun and covers some interesting concepts. Recommended! |
| Freezing (TV) | Good | Nicely drawn characters, and it looked very good on Blu-ray ....but I think I'm getting a little tired of the "fighting school" genre generally, especially when combined with genetically engineered superpowers and over-endowed heroines (in fact almost every character) who lose a lot of clothing in every encounter. Nothing new here really...move along! |
| From Up On Poppy Hill (movie) | Excellent | Nostalgic, beautifully drawn, and absolutely lovely! |
| Fruits Basket (TV 1/2001) | Excellent | Lovely! Tohru can be a little too sweet at times, but nonetheless a beautiful, romantic anime. |
| Full Metal Panic! (TV) | Excellent | Really excellent...loved the characters, relationships, action and pace. The action and comedy worked well together, and the whole was wonderfully animated. I watched the last nine episodes in one go - couldn't wait to see how it panned out! Highly recommended! |
| Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid (TV) | Excellent | Fantastic! Great climax to one of my favourite series. Really, it's the characters, and the main couple who are so clearly meant for each other. This appeals to the softy in me, and it hits big time. What can I say...I love it! |
| Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid (OAV) | Excellent | Hanging out with Tessa...what's not to like? OK it's slighter than the series, but if you love the series as much as I do, then any opportunity to spend time with the characters is worthwhile. Just go watch it! |
| Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu (TV) | Excellent | Very funny! I really care about these characters, and I'm not quite sure why...maybe the sheer chemistry between Kaname and Sosuke, but I really want them to get together. Could watch this forever...really delightful! |
| Fullmetal Alchemist (TV) | Excellent | This is quality through and through. Art, music, characters, story, humour, drama, serious themes...it's got the lot. However, although I can see all of that, it didn't resonate as much with me as I expected it too...I'm not saying it left me cold (it didn't), it just didn't make we want to rate it a masterpiece. Maybe I need to see it again. The ending is anticlimactic too. Great stuff, and I can see why people love it...but I feel just a little reserved about it. |
| Fullmetal Alchemist: The Movie - Conqueror of Shamballa | Very good | Again great artwork, good story and atmosphere...hampered by another ending like the series. What is wrong with Edward? Felt really sorry for Winry...she deserves better. If you've seen the series, then you should watch this too...just be prepared to get annoyed with Ed! |
| Fusé: Memoirs of a Huntress (movie) | Very good | This is a beautifully drawn, colourful, and interesting movie, with some fun characters and a fair bit of excitement. It's also inconsistent, obscure, and feels inconclusive. Some of the character drawing is odd, though the backgrounds are great. Edo is beautifully drawn, with masses of detail...you really get a feel for the place. It feels warm hearted at times, but can be brutal on occasion too. So, a weird mix of elements that don't quite gel together, but is still a very good watch, and I'll want to see it again. |
| Ga-Rei-Zero (TV) | Very good | Well drawn, good premise and plot, and thoughtful characters. Quite a tragic tone to some of it...and certainly more than you might expect from a brief description of this series. It's different, and well worth the time. |
| Gantz (TV) | Very good | Bought this, then hesitated to watch it! It is violent, which is not really my thing, but it's also strangely addictive, and I really sped through it. Anime equivalent of a real "page turner"! |
| (The) Garden of Words (movie) | Masterpiece | Wow! The animation on this rather strange love story is absolutely stunning...on Blu-ray this is around the best I've ever seen. The story draws you in, and gives you space to contemplate not just the developing relationship between the two characters, and their needs, but also the atmosphere and nature of what romance in this context really means. Both characters are wounded to a degree, but both learn to walk again through each other. Mesmerising and all-consuming. |
| Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet (TV) | Excellent | Really liked this one…the animation was great, the characters interesting, and the premise gave plenty of opportunity for thoughtful matters to be raised about society, and what it means to be human. I liked the last third less, as it was more directly action based, but on the whole this was excellent and engaging. Recommended! |
| Gasaraki (TV) | Good | Excellent opener and closer, but the gobbledygook quotient was pretty much off the scale, and the character designs pretty uninspired. If you really like mecha, then go for it...otherwise perhaps give it a miss. |
| Gestalt (OAV) | Good | Fun but way too short. Attractive and sexy character designs, humour, good magical fight scenes...but no plot resolution at all. Has one of my votes for series that should get a remake..and this time with plenty of episodes to tell the story. |
| Ghost in the Shell (movie) | Masterpiece | Quite simply stunning! |
| Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (movie) | Masterpiece | Visually even more stunning than the original GITS movie. More talky as well, but this didn't weigh down on me as I feared it might. The famous carnival scene, which took a year to animate, just took my breath away! Full of interesting philosophical questions, this is a difficult film to get out of one's head! Fantastic stuff! |
| Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (TV) | Excellent | Wasn't sure this was going to live up to the billing for the first few episodes, then I really found myself getting into it. You soon start to bond with the characters. I liked the mix of standalone and arc-based episodes, and the laughing man story is very intriguing. I started slowly but soon found myself binging the episodes. More action than the films, but still some deep questions being asked...which I actually like! Highly recommended! |
| Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG (TV) | Excellent | Just as good as the first series; amazingly consistent. Enjoy! |
| Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: Solid State Society (movie) | Excellent | Brilliant continuation of the TV series. A little obscure in places, but I can live with that. Top quality anime, with pretty much everything spot on. This is the type of thing that can be watched over and over again, and new joys will be found each time. Tremendous stuff! |
| (The) Girl Who Leapt Through Time (movie) | Excellent | Fantastic...really enjoyable. Animation is great, and the characters distinctive and well drawn. The relationships between them are interesting and realistic. I felt the ending was not as conclusive as I'd have liked, but I could well change my mind on this with another viewing. I can see why this was as popular and critically acclaimed as it was. |
| Girls und Panzer (TV) | Excellent | Wonderful fun! Girls and tanks...what's not to love? Great characters and warm relationships, masses of tank details, good action scenes, but doesn't take itself overly seriously. I just love that in this world, tanks are for girls...and the idea of boys on tanks is just preposterous! The OVAs are fun too, though not quite as great as the series. |
| Good Luck Girl! (TV) | Very good | This is a very funny series...the interplay between Ichiko and Momiji is hilarious, and the action and dialogue is rapid and high energy. Love the closing song especially. |
| GTO: Great Teacher Onizuka (TV) | Excellent | Great fun! Onizuka is a total blast...and all the sub-characters are well developed and interesting. I thought it would be repetitive, and to a degree it is, but at 43 episodes, it kept me watching, amused and entertained...didn't drag for me at all. Interesting style of animation too...which took a bit of getting used to, but all adds up to a distinct and highly entertaining anime. Go watch it! |
| Gunslinger Girl (TV) | Very good | A very melancholic series, which has as much to do with the emotions of the girls as it does with the gun action. The attention to detail is great...guns, artwork and backgrounds...though the character animation is quite static. It's episodic in nature, but not every anime needs big story arcs. Sad, but I really enjoyed it...though it wasn't exactly what I was expecting. Sometimes, it's good to have your expectations and assumptions overturned... |
| Gunslinger Girl: Il Teatrino (TV) | Very good | Involving and exciting. Good action sequences, and heartfelt story going on underneath, with tragic backstories invading the present all the time. The artwork not as good as the first series, but still a very enjoyable watch. |
| Gunsmith Cats (OAV) | Good | Good fun, and the characters are fun too...the plot is a little so-so, really worth watching for the characters and their banter. Pity they didn't get more space (i.e. a series), so that they could have developed further. |
| Haibane Renmei (TV) | Masterpiece | Well, this certainly lived up to the hype. A gentle, mysterious and moving experience, that somehow gets you into a state that I haven't experienced with other anime. This is flat-out a wonderful series, the joy of which is hard to describe. Makes the heart soar, which only the very best anime achieve. Masterpiece. |
| Hakkenden: Eight Dogs of the East (TV) | Very good | Fun series…not too deep, and it is rather episodic. The animation is not brilliant, especially when characters walk or run. It is fairly involving though, and you want to know the bigger story behind it….cue series 2. Lots of bishie boys too. |
| Hal (movie) | Very good | Well drawn, lovely backgrounds and good character design. Must admit, the twist took me completely by surprise, and I had to "rewind" to make sure I really got it...well worth the limited run time. |
| Happy Lesson (TV) | Good | It's fun...no-one is going to write a PhD on it, but good to kick back and enjoy. The characters are pretty much formulaic, but it has some good humorous touches that make this an enjoyable if unchallenging experience. |
| Happy Lesson (OAV) | Good | Pretty much the same as above... |
| Heaven's Memo Pad (TV) | Excellent | This is a really solid series. Not all of it makes sense of course, but it's entertaining, tackles serious themes in a thoughtful way, and the characters are engaging and interesting. I blasted through this pretty quickly and found it very enjoyable - a good mix of dark and light. Recommended! |
| Hellsing (TV) | Very good | Saw this after "Ultimate" so it didn't surprise me as much as it may have otherwise done. This is very similar to the former, except less gory and demented...but still tons of over the top fun! |
| Hellsing Ultimate (OAV) | Very good | Vampires, demented zombie Nazis, London destroyed, dirigibles, cackling mad villains...WHAT? If you are in the right mood (some beers help) then this is gory fun in the most over the top way imaginable. Woo Hoo!! |
| Hidamari Sketch (TV) | Masterpiece | Really lovely....quiet, gentle and amusing. The characters are great, the timing is superb, and it's got many of the typical Shaft elements I love so much. Surreal in places, but not over the top, this is wonderful anime. Straight into my favourites. |
| High School DxD (TV) | Excellent | Great fun series. I'm giving lots of "excellents" at the moment, but I really think this deserves it. Yes, there's lots of fan service, but also great characters, super animation, humour and it's just a little bit more grown-up than many of this kind. Rias of course, is absolutely gorgeous, which also helps. I really thought this was a cut above what I was expecting...and it handles the clichés with humour and aplomb. Recommended! |
| High School DxD New (TV) | Excellent | More of the same as the first series, with perhaps even more fan service...wish that they would turn that down a few notches, as it started to get in the way. However, the characters are still great fun, as is the premise, and it really is a cut above the usual fan service heavy series. If you enjoyed the first series, I can't see why you wouldn't want to feast on this as well. Pretty raunchy in places...sexy and good fun if you don't take it too seriously. |
| High School of the Dead (TV) | Good | Well drawn, looks fab on blu-ray, with sexy characters (I've discovered a weakness for sword wielding second leads!). The plot is OK, though it ends with things rather unresolved...and the OVA that comes with my edition, though it's great fun, adds nothing to plot development or resolution. The OVA is very funny though! |
| His and Her Circumstances (TV) | Excellent | The first 18 episodes are some of the best I've seen in any anime...I really fell for the characters, loved the developing relationship, supporting characters were great, and a great mix of romance and humour. It went to pieces from episode 19 onwards, but I was still gripped and wanted to see how it all panned out. I know the director left over creative differences with the mangaka, which was such a pity! Too much SD in the later episodes for my taste as well. If it had finished the way it carried on for 3/4 of it's running time, I would have marked it "masterpiece" without question. Still got to be in my personal top 10 anyway. |
| Honey and Clover (TV) | Excellent | Very involving slice of life anime, with interesting characters. I couldn't quite "get" Hagu, so the attraction was a bit lost on me, and as a character she just didn't develop in any real sense of the word, other than coming out of her shell a bit. Otherwise, the rest of the characters seemed trapped in their various emotions, and although this was at times frustrating to watch, you really got involved and emotionally invested in their lives. High quality, immersive anime! |
| Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere (TV) | Very good | This is a total mess, almost incomprehensible for most of its run-time, masses of gratuitous fan-service, far too many unnecessary characters, and is pretty much completely insane...and yet...and yet...it has a strange charm about it that makes you want to keep watching, and even root for the goofy characters. I found myself cheering for virtually no reason for most of the episodes. It's beautifully animated, by the way. Season 1 and Season 2 are very similar in tone and style. So, as long as you don't expect any sense from this, it's a whole load of fun! |
| House of Five Leaves (TV) | Excellent | Visually arresting, languidly paced, atmospherically emotive ... this is a stunning depiction of Edo underworld and the cynicism and despair that seeps out of it. It really is all about the characters...finding out what makes Ichi the man he is forms the real plot point, but the different character story arcs build up that picture piece by piece. It's slow and dark at times, but there is also a dark humour that runs through it too. Not to everyone's taste I suspect, but I thought it a very involving anime to watch, and I can't think of anything else quite like it. Highly recommended. |
| Howl's Moving Castle (movie) | Excellent | Wonderfully drawn...from that point of view, this could be Miyazaki's best...and entirely charming. I love the book even more, but that doesn't take away from how fabulous this film is. Another one of my real favourites! |
| Humanity Has Declined (TV) | Excellent | This was great! "Watashi" is a tremendous amount of deadpan fun, with a snarky attitude underneath her sweetness. The bright colouring of the series is lovely, and an unexpected contrast with what shows about declining humanity usually come up with. I found it a lot of fun, and will definitely re-watch. Not a masterpiece - some of it dragged (the BL episodes particularly) - but I loved it, and it's straight into my favourites. Recommended! |
| Idol of Darkness (OAV) | So-so | OK, but not as good as Alien of Darkness. |
| In This Corner of the World (movie) | Excellent | Heartfelt and heart breaking...but the sheer warmth of the characters, and their quiet bravery in the face of everything from personal challenges to full-on war, wins you over and never lets it get too heavy for too long. A very moving and touching film, made special by the protagonist and by the inventive use of animation to show us the world through her very special eyes. |
| Is This a Zombie? (TV) | Excellent | This is pretty amusing, and quite ecchi too. Our zombie hero is great, with a neat line in deadpan humour that mocks quite a few of the conventions used in a self-referential way....and despite some of the other characters being a bit stereotypical, you do get to like and engage with them. Altogether, quite a lot of fun! |
| Itsudatte My Santa! (OAV) | Not really good | Hmm...quite nicely drawn, but the plot, so to speak, is pretty weak, and it doesn't really go anywhere. Sudden leaps and character reversals suggest too much is crammed into too short a run time, and yet the content itself doesn't really merit the time it actually has. It has charm, but otherwise it's pretty weak... |
| Jin-Roh - The Wolf Brigade (movie) | Excellent | Very dark and quite violent, but extremely watchable. Gloomy colour scheme, and evocative music add to the atmosphere...this is thought provoking stuff, and not for those easily depressed! I wasn't looking forward to it, to be honest, but once I started, I got absolutely hooked! The Red Riding Hood framework added an interesting, but perhaps not entirely convincing level...I still haven't made up my mind about that. Suggest you go watch it and make up your own minds! For adults...not the young! |
| Jormungand (TV) | Excellent | A strange series...not quite as much fun as Black Lagoon, but pretty much in the same vein. Distinctive character designs, Koko especially...I need to get the second series to really see where this is going, but I like what I see so far! |
| K-ON! (movie) | Excellent | The sweetest of sweet stuff…cute girls doing cute things, but still a real delight. The music helps, but it's the character animation that makes it so good…the way the body language is animated is subtle and spot on. This was a blast of real innocent fun. |
| Kai Doh Maru (OAV) | Excellent | Wow! The watercolour effect on this subtly drawn mood piece is just stunning. The story loses coherence due to it's brief running time, but this is an absolute visual treat, and should not be missed. I found the use of some CGI for the buildings spoilt it a bit for me, but I'm being picky there really. Don't miss this one. |
| Kamichu! (TV) | Masterpiece | Totally loved it! Gentle tone, beautifully drawn and animated, just a perfectly dreamy way to spend some hours. A real dose of sunshine, this one, and straight into my favourites. Alright, Yurie's general wussiness can be a bit wearing, but she's still very sweet...and gods need a little leeway I suppose! A perfect treat! |
| Kamisama Kiss (TV) | Excellent | Sweet and lots of fun... some excitement too, and lovely developing relationship between the two leads. No surprise it's by the same director as Fruits Basket. I'll try to get the second season as this was really very enjoyable. |
| Kamisama Kiss 2 (TV) | Excellent | More of the same delightfulness as the first series...very shoujo, but really very enjoyable. Nanami shows that she can stand on her own two feet, though Tomoe still does a lot of rescuing. Favourite moment: when Nanami finishes casting her barrier around the Tengu Great Hall..."Yoss!" Lovely stuff. |
| Karas (OAV) | Very good | Visually pretty stunning, with exciting CGI. Pretty gripping, and doesn't overstay it's welcome. It has a quite distinctive atmosphere too. Not one of my top titles, but if you like the emphasis on action, give this a spin. |
| Kekko Kamen (OAV) | Good | Well, I laughed out loud a few times...it skewers amusingly the superhero genre, and is generally a good time if you are in the right mood. Subtle, it ain't....but I don't need subtle all the time... |
| Kiddy Grade (TV) | Very good | Great fun, and you have to love Eclaire! A bit of a blast from beginning to end...hugely enjoyable. |
| Kiki's Delivery Service (movie) | Excellent | Rather abrupt ending, but otherwise entirely delightful! |
| Kill Me Baby (TV) | Good | Quite funny, with some good deadpan moments. The OP is pretty rubbish, but the ending song is good, and amusing. It's pretty much a single joke, and a minor triumph that they managed to keep it amusing all through the series. Not bad, not great either. |
| King of Thorn (movie) | Excellent | Exciting and involving, with a nice twist. Characters are not particularly deep, but the focus is clearly on one character, and she does get some development. Worth repeated watching. |
| Kino's Journey (TV) | Excellent | This was really great. There is a tone of quiet melancholy running through the stories that is quite distinctive, and very effective. The atmosphere is very much its own, and I wanted to immerse myself in it almost addictively. I'm going to have to add this to my favourites...and I will certainly be watching it again. Very highly recommended. |
| A Letter to Momo (movie) | Excellent | Saw this at the cinema...and it's a beautifully drawn, atmospheric and amusing film. Perhaps just a little too long at around the 2 hour mark, but genuinely a lovely experience. |
| Little Witch Academia (movie) | Good | Slight but fun. Doesn't really break any new ground, but it's a short, enjoyable ride with some sweet characters. A bit retro in feel...which is quite nice really. |
| Love Hina (TV) | Very good | Fun, fizzy and frenetic. The characters follow the usual stereotypical formulae, but this series was one of the ones that created the formulae to start with, so maybe can't be blamed too much for that. It has some fun surreal moments, and is very self aware. Good parodies going on too. The village elders are an absolute hoot..worth the price of admission alone! On the downside, I get really irritated by the tsundere aspect, especially everyone finding it funny when the insipid male lead gets punched or beaten up all the time...that really started to spoil it for me. That aside, the characters are a great group to hang out with...you really feel the warmth of the familial group they become, and a lot of Love Hina's appeal lies there. The opener is great..really gets the tone of the series. After 25 episodes, it's still all a bit unresolved...suspect the specials will tie up the loose ends. Worth seeing, for sure. |
| Love Hina Again (OAV) | Good | The animation is good, but the plot is hopeless and the frustration/irritation factor has finally tipped into the red zone. I always liked Naru, but there were multiple occasions in this when I wanted to wring her neck! Keitaro appears to have grown up a bit (but only a bit)...and Motoko, who is one of my favourites doesn't really figure much. I stuck with it, 'coz I'm a sucker for romance and I wanted to see how it ended, but I think they went to the well once too many times with this one...it's OK for the fans, but disappointing for most others. |
| Love Hina Spring Special - I Wish Your Dream | Very good | Less dramatic tension than the Xmas Special, this is more just out to have some fun. Naru finally gets to admit her feelings, so we have some sort of resolution at last. Fun stuff for Love Hina fans! |
| Love Hina X'mas Special - Silent Eve | Very good | Good stuff, with a nice climax and the animation quality is good too. This sort of comedy can sometimes be an exercise in frustration...why don't the characters actually communicate properly? Then, of course, there would be no comedy...but there is a fine line walked in such shows, and I was starting to get a bit annoyed with Naru as well as Kentaro. That said, I enjoyed this quite a bit, and Naru has never been lovelier. |
| Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions! (TV) | Excellent | Funny and charming, with a very likeable set of characters...this is really very enjoyable indeed. Recommended! |
| Lucky Star (TV) | Excellent | This was great fun, with appealing characters, especially Kagami, a rather tender-hearted tsundere! Lots of anime references that went over my head, but this is a nice world to hang out in. |
| Lunar Legend Tsukihime (TV) | Very good | Fantastic atmosphere, great music, beautiful heroine, and an intriguing mystery...but a completely gormless male lead that actually had me rooting for the bad guys on occasion! How many times can you just respond "wha.." Or "huh"? Why didn't he ask Arcuied about her life? Why didn't he press his sister for explanations earlier? What on Earth did Arcuied see in him? Harrumph! Rant over...still very enjoyable despite the limp hero! |
| Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro (movie) | Excellent | Excellent - a really great time that just doesn't let up! |
| Lupin the 3rd: The Mystery of Mamo (movie) | Good | Entertaining, though not massively rewarding....it's a bit aged, but if you want to switch off your brain and pass some time, this is OK. Not a lot more to say really... |
| Madlax (TV) | Good | Not as good as Noir, but has many similar elements. My enjoyment was hampered by some terrible subtitles on my edition, but there was no mistaking the ramping up of the mumbo-jumbo aspects - and most of it simply didn't make sense. The music too, was overdone - what worked well for its predecessor was over the top in this series. However, the one thing this and Noir don't lack is style....and that pretty much got me through. |
| Magic User's Club! (TV) | Good | A step down from the OVAs, but still a charming and fun series. Without the aliens to bother with, the series falls back on some fairly stock situations, and Sae can get a little frustrating at times. Still a very light hearted and fun way to pass the time, though. |
| Magic User's Club! (OAV) | Very good | Delightful! The characters are just so much fun...and they work together so well. Quite ecchi too. Great way to pass a few hours. |
| Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi (TV) | Masterpiece | Anarchic, wild, inventive, funny, moving and beautifully animated - this is brilliant. Lots of parodies but with underlying story and character development that make this a quality experience. Bonkers, but in the most intelligent way. Watch it! |
| Mahoromatic - Automatic Maiden (TV) | Good | Enjoyable, but the two aspects of the series really didn't mesh for me, making it an uneasy watch. Wish it had made up its mind whether to be a simple maid comedy, or a darker more tragic tale. Throw in a sexy teacher with a fixation on the young boy hero, and you have a fairly confused and disturbing tale. Well drawn though, with attractive character designs, which helps considerably! |
| Mardock Scramble: The First Compression (movie) | Very good | Interesting, with a cool visual style when you get used to it. The action scenes towards the end are first class. Rune's character is interesting too...strong but fragile, needy but empowered. I enjoyed this, but it didn't grab me by the throat exactly. Have to see how the other two entries in the series pan out... |
| Mardock Scramble: The Second Combustion (movie) | Very good | Starting to grow on me now, partly because the action is cerebral rather than just fighting and shooting...but mainly because of Rune. She is really starting to come over as a complicated and interesting character...not a superwoman, but an intriguing mix of vulnerable and strong. Looking forward to the third movie... |
| Mardock Scramble: The Third Exhaust (movie) | Very good | Although this has elements of a re-tread of the second movie, it provides a fitting conclusion to the series. The encounter with Ashleigh is great, and the final confrontation with Boiled is all you'd want it to be. Good stuff...especially so because of a first class heroine. |
| Martian Successor Nadesico (TV) | Very good | Enjoyable if a little strange...it veers between serious and funny, particularly in its characters, but somehow seems to bring it off. You do wonder how the Captain ever achieved her rank, unless ditziness was the main criteria for promotion, but such things aside, this is fun and entertaining. |
| Martian Successor Nadesico: The Motion Picture - Prince of Darkness | Decent | Watched it for completeness sake...but it is very different from the TV series in tone and content. Much of the humour has disappeared, many of the main characters are missing in action for much of the time, and it just generally loses its way. Such a shame really. |
| Master of Martial Hearts (OAV) | Weak | This was pretty bad...and I tend to err on the positive side with reviews. On the good side, it looked pretty nice on occasion...but on the bad: poorly animated movement, inconsistent looks to the characters, unpleasant feel to the whole thing, ludicrous plot, and more plot holes than you can count. The denouement was laughable, except I couldn't quite believe it could be so weak. Fan service really, but without any redeeming humour or lightness of touch that can make fan service fun! Avoid! |
| Mayo Chiki! (TV) | Very good | Pretty funny, this made me laugh out loud on more than one occasion. Also pretty ecchi too. The whole set-up is bonkers of course, but it does a good job of keeping up a high amusement level across the season. Kanade is amusing, and fairly inscrutable, Konoe is very cute in girly mode, and Jiros reactions are good value. Altogether much better than I expected - a nice surprise! |
| (The) Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (TV) | Masterpiece | Totally enjoyable! The characters are infectiously engaging and great fun, the writing is terrific, the animation fluid, the songs are fantastic, and it's all just a blast! Over-hyped maybe, but a great pleasure nonetheless. |
| (The) Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (TV 2009 renewal) | Very good | Fun continuation of the brilliant first series, just not quite at the same consistent high level. The "Endless Eight" cycle was overdone, but I didn't find it as tedious as I thought I might. The characters are still great fun…and Kyon is still his deadpan self, so there is still a lot to enjoy. |
| (The) Melancholy of Haruhi-chan Suzumiya (ONA) | Good | Chibi or super-deformed is not my favourite anime style, but actually this is pretty funny and well worth a watch. |
| Memories (movie) | Very good | Interestingly varied animation styles for the three films, all of them pretty good. "Stink Bomb" perhaps my favourite, "Magnetic Rose" the most gripping, and "Cannon Fodder" the most thought provoking and visually arresting. Well worth a view and adding to your collection. |
| Metropolis (movie) | Very good | Visually very impressive, with stunning use of colour and great CGI. The characters were generally less engaging, with an old-fashioned feel to them that somehow grated against the modernity of the visuals. The central relationship also didn't feel genuinely developed. It could have been a masterpiece, but somehow seemed to miss the trick. |
| Millennium Actress (movie) | Masterpiece | Perfect! Hard to see how this could have been better done. The visual imagery and metaphors really added layers to the meaning. This is a wonderfully involving and deeply satisfying cinematic experience. This is my second Satoshi Kon, and I'm not sure how he can top this. I'll watch them all in the order he made them...and I'm spacing them out like the real treats they are. |
| Miss Hokusai (movie) | Excellent | A beautifully drawn depiction of the Edo period and the lives of the famous painter and his not so famous daughter. She is a thoroughly modern woman in a not so modern age, and it makes for a very entertaining and at times very funny film. It's not so much a drama...nothing very dramatic happens...more a collection of scenes, some of which convey much of the spirit of the age, and others lightly supernatural by nature. A lovely film, and if it lacks narrative drive sometimes, you become so involved in the lives of the father and daughter that it doesn't seem to matter at all. Recommended for it's artistry, sense of period, and its sheer difference to most anime out there! |
| Mission of Darkness (OAV) | So-so | Bought it just to complete the loose trilogy really...it has its moments, but I wouldn't go out of your way to buy or see this one. |
| Monogatari Series Second Season (TV) | Masterpiece | Absolutely brilliant! This is clever and very watchable...with an atmosphere very much its own. Another fantastic entry in the Monogatari series....one of my very favourite series. |
| Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun (TV) | Excellent | Well, that was a delightful surprise! Funny, charming, and quite captivating....really fell for this one. Sakura is a delight...and Nozaki is so dead-pan and oblivious he is really hilarious. The rest of the gang all add to the fun as well. A really sweet treat! |
| Moribito - Guardian of the Spirit (TV) | Masterpiece | Probably the best series I've seen in ages...intelligent, beautifully drawn, tremendous characters, brilliant story and fantastic atmosphere. It just pressed all my buttons! Balsa is a great character, and the others are not far behind. Anime for grown-ups...quite superb. |
| My Little Monster (TV) | Very good | Oh, this was great! Quite derivative, reminding me greatly of a less good Kare Kano...but still extremely good. Quite my cup of tea! |
| My Neighbor Totoro (movie) | Masterpiece | Simple, nostalgic and beautiful. One of my favourite films of any type. |
| My Neighbors the Yamadas (movie) | Very good | Episodic, brief sketches of amusing family life. Quite funny, and they're a lovable family. Interestingly similar scenes with Tale of Princess Kaguya strangely enough....by the same director of course, but having seen "Tale..." first, I was a bit surprised to see a more cartoony version of the heavenly host scene in this one, as well as the bamboo cutter scene when the kids are born. A different sort of Ghibli film, but none the worse for that. |
| Mysterious Girlfriend X (TV) | Excellent | I gobbled this up...and it's certainly in my top 20 anime. Strange, quirky but involving, entertaining and in a strange way rather believable! Just how I like it. I love the main characters and the way they act together...wonder if they'll make another series? If they do, I'm definitely on it... |
| Nabari no Ou (TV) | Good | Interesting, but I found it a bit slow, and the characters a bit hard to empathise with....hard to really like someone who doesn't care about much! Still, it was a good watch, and I never thought to stop watching it before the end. |
| Najica Blitz Tactics (TV) | Good | Panties! More panties! Constant panties! It's all a bit overwhelming after a while...though I did think there was some good points to spot once you got over the underwear avalanche. There is a joined-up story going on; the relationship between Najica and Lila is strong, shows development and is convincing; it's funny, in a James Bond spoofy kind of way; and it can be strangely serious for such a panty-fest. So, better than you'd expect ....but you have to like panties really! :) |
| Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (movie) | Masterpiece | All the Miyazaki elements are there in this very early outing. The classic environmental-focussed anime, utterly engaging, great characterisation and beautifully drawn. My kids loved it too, and it still sticks in my mind very clearly. A masterpiece! |
| Nekomonogatari (Black) (TV) | Excellent | More tremendous anime from the Monogatari franchise..I love this stuff! |
| New Kimagure Orange Road: Summer's Beginning (movie) | Good | I've not seen, and been involved with the characters from the TV series, but I still found this enjoyable and involving. It all looks very '90s of course, but still a worthy watch. |
| Night Raid 1931 (TV) | Very good | Lovely period atmosphere, and an interesting take on Japanese pre-WW2 history…more open than perhaps expected. Characters are more towards the cipher end of the spectrum, but are interesting and fun to watch. Enjoyed it! |
| Nisemonogatari (TV) | Excellent | Oooh, love it! It takes its time quite a bit, but if you loved Bakemonogatari as much as I did, you're also going to love this. It's pretty sexy too! There is something strangely addictive about this series, that makes you want to forgive its faults and just go with it...either that, or you'll hate it! Cards on the table....I'm getting to be a real fan of this show, so highly recommended!! |
| Noein - to your other self (TV) | Excellent | Very different in animation and character style from most anime I've seen, but very effective none the less. Complicated at times, but involving and exciting. Probably not for all, but well worth acquiring the taste. |
| Noir (TV) | Excellent | Soooo stylish! Slow moving, and a fair bit of mumbo jumbo towards the end, but really gripping, highly atmospheric, superb music, and really just great. Did I mention how stylish it is? |
| Noragami (TV) | Very good | Good fun, with a bit of darkness going on amidst the general goofiness...charming characters and visually quite a treat. |
| Now and Then, Here and There (TV) | Excellent | Phew... I found this a very tough watch...it's grim and unrelenting, and although there is always hope expressed via Shu, most of the anime shows humanity in a very poor light. It's great because it is very much an anime for grown-ups, dealing with very mature themes (child soldiers, war, rape, torture etc.) in a dramatic way....but I, at least, found it hard to watch. I'm glad I did, but to be honest, I don't want to watch it again, anytime soon at least. There should be anime like this...and it deserves the "excellent" rating for a mature themed story, well animated and paced, with very interesting characters. Hamdo is an amazing and chilling study in madness and egomania - and the question asked about whether it is right to try to assassinate him is not fully answered (and to my mind unanswerable), which I think shows the grown-up approach of this very interesting and profound anime. |
| Nurse Witch Komugi (OAV) | Very good | I actually found myself enjoying this much more than I expected. Good parody, doesn't take itself too seriously and has a great sense of the ridiculous. Just enjoyable, no brain entertainment...and all the better for that! |
| Ocean Waves (movie) | Very good | I enjoyed this, but my enjoyment was limited by just not liking the female lead well enough to tolerate her behaviours. The final sense of awareness of how foolish they were doesn't really make up for her being a totally unsympathetic character for most of the film. Typically Ghibli though, in that it's beautifully done, and lovely to look at. |
| Oh My Goddess! (OAV) | Very good | Very sweet romance, and Skuld less annoying than in the later series....the animation shows its age a bit, but the artwork is still very beautiful and it remains a very likeable series, even if not quite as good as the later TV series. |
| Ōkami-san & Her Seven Companions (TV) | Very good | Very likeable...the characters are funny and interesting, and the whole piece is pretty good fun. I didn't like the way such a strong female lead still had to be rescued quite a lot by her would-be boyfriend, but this didn't get in the way of this being a lot better than it looked at first sight. Recommended! |
| Only Yesterday (movie) | Excellent | Gentle, funny and moving...beautifully done. |
| Origin ~Spirits of the Past~ (movie) | Good | Beautifully drawn, the backgrounds are incredible, but this fails to engage...the characters are just not that interesting, and you don't really buy into them. Our hero suddenly becomes extremely powerful, almost out of the blue...and things get a bit formulaic. It is a treat for the eye, but it seems to lack a real heart. |
| Ouran High School Host Club (TV) | Excellent | A total delight...the most fun I've had with an anime for some time! Haruhi is so delightfully deadpan....her put-downs are hilarious...and the eccentricities of the other characters are hugely entertaining. This is a lot of fun...don't miss it! |
| Outlaw Star (TV) | Excellent | Loved it! Total blast from beginning to end!! Great characters you really get to love, cool villains, great sense of humour, exciting stories...what's not to love? Really sorry when this ended. Treat yourself and watch this one..."you better get ready"! |
| Panda! Go, Panda! (movie) | Good | Early Miyazaki and Takahata anime for children...very sweet, with a sprightly heroine very much in the Ghibli mould. It really does pre-figure elements of Miyazaki's later work. An interesting and fun watch. |
| Panda! Go, Panda!: Rainy Day Circus (movie) | Good | As above, this sequel is lots of innocent fun, and again some of the underwater/flood scenes are very reminiscent of Ponyo. Interesting in terms of the later films. |
| Pani Poni Dash! (TV) | Excellent | Total madness, and great fun, with lots of energy. Took me a few episodes to get into it, but when it all started to click, it was a blast. You have to let yourself go with it…then you'll enjoy the whole ride. Maho! |
| Paprika (movie) | Masterpiece | Visually stunning, with a fascinating premise and massive invention on display. I really enjoyed this..and I suspect it will withstand repeat watching very well. My last Satoshi Kon...which is so sad; his passing was a huge artistic loss. It's fitting he should sign out with yet another masterpiece. |
| Paranoia Agent (TV) | Masterpiece | Brilliant! A first class piece of work by one of my very favourite anime directors. Gripping, intelligent, even very funny at times...it has suspense, psychological insight, cultural commentary and a sympathy for the characters that take this way beyond usual anime fare. The animation is varied and inventive, but always fit for what it wants to say...and the way it travels across a variety of genres to get its message over is completely appropriate, and adds to the compelling nature of the whole story. Outstanding! |
| Parasite Dolls (OAV) | Good | A good noir-ish feeling to this set of 3 linked stories. Although you never really get to know the characters, the atmosphere was involving and the stories interesting and quite gripping. Set in the same world as Bubblegum Crisis, but with quite a different mood; if you enjoyed that title, this is well worth your time. |
| Patema Inverted (movie) | Excellent | A lovely film, not quite top drawer but very close. It very much has it's own atmosphere; an involving treat! |
| Penguindrum (TV) | Masterpiece | A mass of dense symbolism makes this a complex, though immensely rewarding experience. It takes very mature themes, and treats them in a serious but strangely light-hearted manner, making this series always fun to watch, despite its philosophical and abstract nature. Beautifully animated, brightly coloured, great characterisation, and tightly structured thematically...this is a totally compelling work of art. Will no doubt watch repeatedly...a masterpiece! |
| Perfect Blue (movie) | Excellent | Superbly animated, twisty storyline, tense and imaginative...only complaint was the short running time, as it seemed a bit rushed towards the end. Directorially, this was really gripping and exciting...my first Satoshi Kon, and I will definitely be watching more of his work. |
| Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~ (TV) | Very good | Good stuff, but not too easy to really care about the characters as much as I'd hoped. Don't think Bee Train have ever really topped Noir, but this is a worthy attempt. |
| (The) Place Promised in Our Early Days (movie) | Masterpiece | Fantastic. Visually superb, a resonant story heavy with nostalgic longing, without being soppy or treacly in any way....this is a great anime. Character development might have been a bit fuller, but this is magnificent stuff and I don't feel at all inclined to be picky! |
| Planetes (TV) | Masterpiece | Perfect! Real characters you want to meet and hang out with, combined with one of the most authentic and well thought out depictions of space I've ever seen in anime. It all hangs together beautifully, small moments early in the series linking forward to later events. Nothing wasted, everything has a point, and the ending is just about perfect! Real competition for my top 5. Loved it to bits! |
| Please Teacher! (TV) | Excellent | Oh, I just loved this! Characters are so sweet and yet not sickly....beautiful character designs...humour...sadness....some sex...you just root for these guys from the off! Hugely enjoyable! |
| Please Twins! (TV) | Excellent | More fun set in the same world and location as "Please Teacher"...and nearly as much fun. Great characters, and surprisingly dark at times, this is very enjoyable stuff. |
| Pom Poko (movie) | Very good | Quite a different feel to this compared to most of the Ghibli canon, but funny, charming and with a serious message. |
| Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (movie) | Excellent | Delightful! Particularly lovely artistry evident on blu-ray. Great for young and old alike...my 6year old was enraptured, and I loved it too. Sosuke's Mum is a typical Miyazaki female...a strong, capable and funny character, who doesn't doubt her son for a moment. A lovely family film! |
| Porco Rosso (movie) | Excellent | Great atmosphere, and stunning use of colour. Not in the highest Miyazaki echelon, but damn close. The "photo" scene caused an explosion of mirth in my household! It's a lovely film to lose oneself in for 90 minutes. |
| Princess Mononoke (movie) | Masterpiece | It's all been said...an epic! You have to see this film. |
| Puella Magi Madoka Magica (TV) | Excellent | A dark affair, I can see why this has grabbed so much attention. It confounds expectations at nearly every turn, and certainly re-invents the magical girl genre. Very creative visuals too...it's a treat in Blu-ray. It really drags out when or whether Madoka will accept the contract or not, then it really takes off in the last couple of episodes...quite a series all told! |
| Pumpkin Scissors (TV) | Good | This is a strange one…quite enjoyed it, though some of it is ridiculous, and there are far too many grand speeches from Alice. It is also rather inconclusive in that not all the story is resolved. On the plus side, Alice's design is good (particularly like her sharp hairstyle and military uniform), and the story is quite involving, even though I kept feeling there was something missing. Watchable, but not one to hit the heights. |
| R.O.D -The TV- | Excellent | Wonderful fun! Entertaining, with a great atmosphere and lightness of touch...and the sisters are a genuine delight. Highly recommended! |
| Read or Die (OAV) | Very good | Excellent fun OAV, very well animated, and with a really nice feel to it. Not intellectually challenging, but very entertaining. Now onto the TV series....! |
| Red Data Girl (TV) | Excellent | This is beautifully drawn, with some lovely visuals. The story is great too, and the characters are interesting and varied. A strangely "quiet" series....with a distinct atmosphere. I enjoyed this a lot - though others might not think so highly of it. |
| RIN - Daughters of Mnemosyne (TV) | Good | I've really mixed feelings about this one. It's beautifully drawn, which makes a big difference to me, good characterisation, and has an interesting plot. On the negative side, I'm really uncomfortable with the very graphic torture scenes...torture porn is not really my thing, and this comes perilously close to that. So I'm just giving it a "good" grading, though if it had toned down the gleeful torture, it would have scored much higher for me. |
| Rosario + Vampire (TV) | Good | Nicely drawn characters, but the plot, such as it is, pretty formulaic, and the fan service a bit over the top. Pretty to look at but generally underwhelming in most other aspects. |
| Rosario + Vampire Capu2 (TV) | Good | Yep, more of what the first series provided...almost bumped it up a grade for the girls doing the disco closer, which I found a hoot! That could just be me though... |
| (The) Sacred Blacksmith (TV) | Very good | Very nice series...well drawn and executed, with appealing characters (maybe except the Blacksmith himself, who is a bit grumpy to say the least)...this is a nice world and group to hang out with for a while. My one criticism is that it all seems to wrap up a bit suddenly, and it is a bit unsatisfying...but still recommended. |
| Samurai Champloo (TV) | Excellent | Top quality stuff....dynamic animation, superb characters, atmospheric and involving. A great mash-up of periods and styles, but it all hangs together well. The characters are engaging and develop over the course of their adventures...and Fuu is just lovely! Not everyone's cup of tea, no doubt, but if you roll with it, you'll enjoy a great time with this trio of characters on their journey around a not quite historical Japan. |
| Sankarea: Undying Love (TV) | Very good | Really enjoyed the first two thirds of this, then it seemed to lose it's way and nothing much really happens after that. It's still fun and enjoyable, and Rea's father is still as creepy and disturbing as ever, but it dropped it down a level. Pity as I like the drawing style, and the characters are fun, and there are lots of fun zombie references going on all the time...but it either needs more plot resolution, or it needs a second series. Still recommended though... |
| Sasami-san@Ganbaranai (TV) | Very good | Yep, no mistaking this for anything but a Shaft production! Lovely artwork, fairly static animation, meandering conversations, that way the characters tilt their heads, and general weirdness all round. Isn't as good as the Monogatari series...but that is brilliant, so not a great criticism. It took a few episodes to find itself...or for me to find it...and it doesn't quite have the coherence it needs, but good fun nevertheless. |
| Scrapped Princess (TV) | Excellent | Wonderful series...beautifully drawn, excellent characterisation and wonderfully realised world. Music is good too...certainly one to watch if you come across a copy, I found it an enchanting series. Highly recommended! |
| Sekirei (TV) | Very good | After "Freezing" I was going to give up on the girly fighting school type of anime...then I found myself watching (and enjoying) this one. More heart-warming and humorous than many titles of this type, it had strong, interesting characters that made you care about them and what happens to them. I just love the Landlady of the boarding house they stay at too! A lot of fan-service, which gets in the way a bit, and would make you careful about who you watch this with...but actually a very good series. Recommended! |
| Sekirei: Pure Engagement (TV) | Very good | As with the first series, this is surprisingly good. Lots of fan service (gravity defying breasts mainly), but this series has a warm heart...except for the nature of the game itself. Why would anyone participate in it at all? The series begins to address this aspect, but it looks like this might be the last series produced, and we are nowhere near the end yet. If you can live with that, then you will probably enjoy this series like I did. |
| Serial Experiments Lain (TV) | Very good | Interesting both in its topic and its artistic style. Quite cerebral in its approach, it draws you in though emotionally it left me a bit cold. Well worth seeing, but not engaging enough to make it a real favourite. |
| Shakugan no Shana (TV) | Good | Pretty good, nicely animated, and with some fun characters...but also with a fairly formulaic plot and awful amount of filler, especially in the final episodes. At one point in the final episode itself, I was shouting "just get on with it" at the screen! Not good when it should be delivering on the climax. However, you've got to love Margery Daw, who lights up every episode she is in... |
| Shakugan no Shana Second (TV) | Good | Pretty much as above. More of Margery, which is great, and also more of Wilhelmina, which is brilliant! One of the problems is really with Shana, who is just not that much of a sympathetic character…just too tsundere, and her more emotional moments are not that convincing. I'll watch the third season probably, but not too desperate about it. |
| Shangri-La (TV) | Good | Disappointing...I'm starting to dislike Gonzo productions, or at least the ones from 2006-2009 or thereabouts. This is very derivative of Origins - Spirits of the past, another Gonzo production that seems to me to lack a soul. Characters are formulaic and crude, and our heroine is a round eyed blank slate really. Being perky and "can-do" doth not a rounded character make! Also, huge info dumps in some episodes e.g. Eps 20 and 21, which were just blatant, with no attempt to tell the history of Atlas in any integrated or even entertaining way. The casual disregard for human life shown by Granny and her fellow Atlas co-founder are just ignored at the end. Despite the stereotypical rendition of the two transvestite characters, I still found Momo the most fun character in the series. Generally pretty weak, crude, and leaves a bit of a sour taste in the mouth. |
| Shiki (TV) | Very good | Slow building horror anime, that successfully shifts perspective two-thirds of the way through. Quite bloody and violent, and not for the faint-hearted....but this is a very atmospheric and gripping series that literally sinks its teeth into you. The music is particularly effective, and although none of the characters are particularly likeable, it is still very compulsive watching. |
| SHIMONETA: A Boring World Where the Concept of Dirty Jokes Doesn’t Exist (TV) | Good | I was looking forward to this, as the premise sounded a lot of fun. It provided quite a lot of shock value, but for me, seemed to lack much in the way of character development or engagement, the jokes were more to do with the shock value than actually being funny, and I left feeling a bit unsatisfied. It could have done with more "heart". This could have been so much better. |
| A Silent Voice (movie) | Excellent | Really lovely to watch this...dramatic, sweet, and approachable on several levels. Recommended! |
| (The) Slayers (TV) | Very good | This screams 1990s...but if you can live with that, it's a lot of fun! Lina is a legend (she thinks so too) and rightly so. A good antidote to so much of the overly serious fantasy out there. |
| (The) Slayers Evolution-R (TV) | Very good | The comedy is broader than in most of the previous series, but any Slayers fan will want to see this. Excellently handled "appearance" from Naga, and good to see the Red Priest Rezo make a return. A very entertaining culmination to the whole Slayers series. I'm going to miss these guys! |
| Slayers Excellent (OAV) | Good | Good Slayers fun...enough said! |
| (The) Slayers Next (TV) | Very good | More fun from Lina, Gourry and the gang...was a bit worried I'd tire of it, but certainly not yet. Even some romance blossoming here to enrich the mix. Lina is just a mischievous joy...rather wish I was in her gang too! |
| Slayers Premium (movie) | Decent | Not the finest outing for the gang...for the fans only. As I'm a fan, I enjoyed it, but nowhere near as much as the various series. |
| (The) Slayers Revolution (TV) | Very good | Gets back in the Slayers groove pretty quickly after nearly a decade..though it feels a bit strange to see them rendered more smoothly than in the '90s originals. Personally, I can do without Pokota, but that may just be me. Fans will lap it up! |
| (The) Slayers Try (TV) | Very good | Still great fun, and a strong plot. An extra character join the group, and although she can be a bit wussy, she's still fun and generally fits in very well. This is classic stuff, and in my view, not to be missed. I'll miss seeing Lina lose it, and unleash her Dragon Slave, which always tends to improve her mood... |
| Snow White with the Red Hair (TV) | Excellent | This was entirely delightful. The lead characters are great, their relationship mutually supportive and equal, the supporting characters are fun, and the artwork is lovely. A really lovely romance, not too dramatic, but not too facile either. Quite "slice of life" in many ways. I really enjoyed this, and it's into my favourites without a doubt. Quite lovely! |
| So I Can't Play H (TV) | Good | An ecchi series, that is quite good fun but not particularly original. Character designs are attractive, but hardly unique. Fan service, but there is a plot there and the central romance is fun. |
| Solty Rei (TV) | Very good | Not a standout, but has some good twists, strong characters, and is surprisingly touching at times too. Well worth a watch. |
| Sound of the Sky (TV) | Excellent | Lovely slice of life anime, with a rather melancholic atmosphere, lightened by the likeable characters. I really enjoyed this one, just such a gentle tone to it. Highly recommended! |
| Spice and Wolf (TV) | Masterpiece | Ooh! Could be my new favourite series!! Unusual topic, beautifully developing relationship, and wonderfully paced, I just adored it! I could just be falling for Holo.... ;-D |
| Spice and Wolf II (TV) | Masterpiece | Great follow up to the first season...tracks beautifully the increasingly deep development of Holo's and Lawrence's relationship. Can a mortal and a Goddess really have a real romance? I, for one, really hope so. Beautifully done and very rewarding to watch...a very special couple of anime series. |
| Spiral (TV) | Good | Intriguing at times, and quite clever, but never really goes anywhere. Who are the Blade Children really? Frustratingly, looks like we'll never actually get to find out. A pity, because there is some good stuff going on here. It needed another series to resolve the major mystery... |
| Spirited Away (movie) | Masterpiece | Chihiro has quite a journey, finding unexpected resources within herself. A very special film. |
| Spriggan (movie) | Decent | Hmm...didn't think too much of this. Not really my type of thing, animation pretty unimpressive, story uninvolving and the characters ciphers. Main character pretty much a thug...not much in the way of thought going on. It passes an hour and a half but generally disappointing. |
| Squid Girl (TV) | Very good | Silly fun...and quite delightful! If you want a little daftness in your life, you now know where to go... |
| Starship Operators (TV) | Very good | This comes squarely into "strange but good" territory. The immediate impression is that of a very retro series in style, characters and animation...all of which seem very 1990s. The animation is not very fluid, and the first few episodes had me wondering whether I would stay the course. However, the series starts to get much darker, with significant characters getting killed off, and surprisingly serious themes emerge. I found myself really enjoying the second half of the series particularly. It's very much space opera, but characters develop, strong personal, military and political themes emerge, and the series becomes thought provoking as well as entertaining. A word too about the music - the opener is energetic and sets the tone well, and the closer is one of the loveliest songs I've encountered in anime. A surprise, and well worth watching. |
| Steamboy (movie) | So-so | Disappointing...beautiful animation, but too long, some annoying characters, and generally muddled. |
| Steins;Gate (TV) | Masterpiece | Fantastic series! It's got it all...action, drama, humour, brilliant engaging characters, and a great romance! Seriously great stuff. |
| Strawberry Eggs (TV) | Very good | Loved it. Probably not the best of its type ever made, but it's charming, funny and emotionally involving. Bit of a creepy sub-text going on, but it's easy to ignore that and just enjoy this for the charmer it is. |
| Strike Witches (TV) | Very good | This is lots of fun; cute girls, nice animation, not too serious (but more than the blurb on the packaging might suggest), and some interesting relatedness to actual WW2 realities and atmosphere. Kick back, don't over-analyse, and enjoy! |
| Strike Witches 2 (TV) | Very good | More of the same as you got in series one...and as I liked the first go around, I'm not complaining. Really nice character designs too. |
| Summer Wars (movie) | Excellent | This was hugely enjoyable. Good to see a film where the family take centre stage. The virtual world of Oz was animated fantastically...great on blu-ray...it all looked incredible! The central romance could have done with a bit more development, but as I say, really about the family. The general atmosphere was great and I will certainly watch again. Great family film - highly recommended! |
| (The) Tale of the Princess Kaguya (movie) | Masterpiece | Beautiful....just beautiful! |
| Tales from Earthsea (movie) | Good | A step down from most Ghibli, but still better than the train wreck various reviews had led me to believe. More contemplative in style and tone and less dramatic than most of its stablemates, but if you treat it on that basis, then you'll get a lot more from it. |
| (The) Tatami Galaxy (TV) | Masterpiece | Brilliant! Clever, innovative, and visually always interesting, this is top notch anime. Thought I might be in for yet another "Endless Eight", but this is much more dynamic and light of touch. Everything links to something else, and it all works perfectly. Loved it! |
| Tekkonkinkreet (movie) | Very good | Really interesting design visually, looking very cool in Blu-ray. The tone is very distinct too, though probably not to everyone's taste. I enjoyed it pretty much, and would watch again, but I don't warm to it like I do to many other anime series or films. It always feels a bit distant, and a bit cold at heart, even though the central relationship between Black and White is obviously the centre of the film. Definitely one to watch though... |
| Tenchi Forever!: The Movie | Excellent | A real step up, even over the first film, both artistically, emotionally and narratively. Much more grown up, and the character designs prove it. Introspective and quite melancholy, I was really surprised at the depths of feeling this reached. A delightful surprise I wasn't expecting at all...don't hesitate to watch this one, as I don't think you'll regret it. |
| Tenchi the Movie - Tenchi Muyo in Love | Very good | My first Tenchi...dated character styles, but still good hearted and rather charming, I enjoyed this quite a bit. |
| Tenchi The Movie 2 - The Daughter of Darkness | Good | A step down from the first film....a short film, which doesn't really engage, so a pretty harmless watch. Don't go out of your way for this one. |
| Terror in Resonance (TV) | Very good | Intriguing and compelling thriller, which really hooks you in to its story. Characterisation is not too brilliant, but the issues considered are serious and thoughtful, and the pacing and direction are assured. I watched the whole series over two evenings...just wanted to find out what happened next. Pretty dark fare...recommended. |
| Those Who Hunt Elves (TV) | Good | More pure 1990s fun! The premise is terrific, if never quite fully exploited. Junpei is loud and boorish, but his interactions with Celcia in dog/panda form are good value. More amusing than hilarious, akin to Slayers. |
| Time of Eve (movie) | Excellent | Interesting and attractive tone to this movie...exploring the theme of human/android interaction, but not with an antagonistic or confrontational agenda...more like "we're similar, why not understand each other and get along?" Looks good and beautifully detailed on Blu-Ray. Worth a re-watch...didn't get it all first time through. Tip: have a coffee to hand while watching! |
| Tokyo Godfathers (movie) | Excellent | Another really excellent film by Satoshi Kon...quite different in tone to his earlier two films, but clearly with his stamp all over it. He really is one of my very favourite anime directors. |
| Tsukimonogatari (TV) | Excellent | More amazing anime from Shaft in the Monogatari series. Doesn't hit the heights of the Second Series, but introduces and builds up the final series. Yotsugi is a great creation, though her mistress is less so perhaps. Quite a dark vibe to this one, probably foreshadowing more trouble to come for Araragi. If you've watched them all up to now, you won't want to miss this one... |
| (The) Twelve Kingdoms (TV) | Masterpiece | Whoa...straight into my top 10 without a doubt. Engrossing fantasy world creation, with great characters that grow and develop throughout the course of the series as they face serious and mature issues and challenges. 45 episodes went by like a flash and I did not want this to end. The animation shows its age a little bit, but this is minor compared to how well the story sweeps you up into its incredible and fascinating world. I want more of this please! Fantastic!! |
| Un-Go (TV) | Good | Interesting atmosphere, and the stories/mysteries are fun, but it's all wrapped up too quickly and without all the character development necessary if this were to be a great series. It's an odd mix of the mundane with the supernatural, and there seems to be many unfollowed threads or missing bits of background. I like the OP and ED, the latter especially. A pleasant but not outstanding anime. |
| Vampire Hunter D (OAV) | Good | A classic! Rather dated now, but sets its tone very well, and I found it completely engrossing. |
| Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (movie) | Very good | Very good updating of the earlier classic. The style is similar, but updated to actually be quite distinct. Swooningly romantic in a gothic vein (pun intended!), and terrific fun. A must for vampire lovers! |
| Vampire Knight (TV) | Good | Too shojo for my own taste I'm afraid...lots of bishie boys lounging around looking sad and tortured, and our heroine's eyes are so vast you could drown in them...but I've always liked Studio Deen's animation style in general, so stayed with it until the end. I can recognise it's good stuff, just not for me... |
| Vampire Princess Miyu (TV) | Very good | Surprisingly dark series, with sadness around every corner…very few of the episodes end happily. It feels a bit dated, and there is a monster of the week approach, but particularly towards the end of the series there is more of a developing plotline and more background to the characters. Enjoyable, but not outstanding. |
| Vexille - 2077 Isolation of Japan (movie) | Good | A lot of people seem to knock this one, but I really enjoyed it. |
| (The) Vision of Escaflowne (TV) | Excellent | Very enjoyable fantasy. I'd actually read the manga series (a first for me) prior to seeing this, and it is pretty different, though big elements remain the same. Although it's very '90s in style, this isn't a problem. What spoilt the fun for me was the version I have seemed to run out of energy in the subtitles for the second half of the series...it's very annoying when characters talk at length and no subtitles (or very brief ones) appear...usually after a pause. That's my cheap version though...not applicable to all I assume. This is a classic fantasy, with a great opening song, and much more than just a mecha series (not my favourite genre). The characters are strong, and there's something for everyone here. |
| Voices of a Distant Star (OAV) | Very good | Not as polished or developed as later works, but contains much of the essence of the Director's work. A sombre meditation on separation, loneliness, and how to move on with life in the absence of the loved one. Short and bittersweet. |
| Waiting in the Summer (TV) | Good | Pleasant enough, but lacks the charm of its stablemate Please Teacher. The backgrounds are great though, and the characters sweet, though not particularly original or memorable. Not bad, but not great either. The MIB spoofing is fun though! |
| Welcome to the NHK (TV) | Masterpiece | I thought this was absolutely brilliant. Darkly funny, observant, sharp, quite romantic in a failed sort of way, and visually very pleasing. It took a very difficult subject, treated it seriously, but managed to entertain delightfully at the same time. Character designs were also great. Heartbreaking to see how this dysfunctional couple seemed incapable of communicating effectively with each other, but very life affirming as they gradually inched together. I swithered between "excellent" and "masterpiece", but eventually decided on the latter, really because of its honesty and bravery. Highly recommended. |
| When Marnie Was There (movie) | Excellent | Haunting, atmospheric and beautifully drawn...a lovely experience. |
| Whisper of the Heart (movie) | Excellent | Entirely delightful! Just when I fear I might tire of Ghibli, I am completely charmed all over again. From Up On Poppy Hill had exactly the same effect. Just a very happy way to spend nearly two hours...and that's not to say it hasn't got hidden depths. Such a shame the Director passed away so young...not least to see the direction his work would have taken. See this...you won't regret it if you like Ghibli films!. |
| (The) Wind Rises (movie) | Masterpiece | Loved it on many levels...raises complex issues...sad but ultimately uplifting. |
| Wish Upon the Pleiades (TV) | ||
| Witch Hunter Robin (TV) | Excellent | Highly atmospheric, gripping and involving, with a distinct visual style...this is yet another high quality production from Sunrise. Definitely re-watchable, I'm already looking forward to seeing this again. Pure quality! |
| Wolf Children (movie) | Masterpiece | Beautiful and very moving...a loving depiction of motherhood. Hana may be too good to be true, but this is a lovely film and choked me up in all the right places! |
| (The) World God Only Knows (TV) | Very good | Lives or dies by the quality of the main character...and luckily he is great! Excellent deadpan reactions keep this from being predictable, while effectively satirising gamers and gameplay generally. Lots of fun to be had here. |
| (The) World God Only Knows Season Two (TV) | Excellent | Actually builds and improves on the first series. The God of Conquest is on fine form once again, with an extra demon to get in the way of his game playing...surprisingly enjoyable, and shows real quality. |
| (The) World of Narue (TV) | Very good | Lots of fun...not deep, but doesn't pretend to be. Narue is very sweet, and how can you not love a series which has spacecraft taking human form (and falling in love with a beach shop owner)!! |
| xxxHOLiC (TV) | Excellent | Really great...character designs are different to say the least, and the stories are mysterious and entertaining. Enjoyed this more than Chobits, the other series from CLAMP that I've watched. Terrific atmosphere to this other world, and lots of fun. |
| You're Under Arrest (OAV) | Very good | This is a complete charmer! Funny and rather heartwarming, with a slew of engaging and very likeable characters, this brought out the softy in me... |
| You're Under Arrest Specials | Very good | Not as great as the OVAs, but still super characters, and a really nice atmosphere to this series. Too much emphasis on panty theft really, but it still charms. I seem to have a real weakness for "You're Under Arrest"; despite seeing the flaws, I still love it to bits!! |
| You're Under Arrest: The Motion Picture | Very good | If you've read my views on the other "You're under Arrest" entries above, you'll know pretty much what I'm going to say about this as well...yes, you're correct, I loved it!! Bit more serious and more action oriented for this outing, which gives my two favourite lady cops a good chance to show off their skills. The family atmosphere in the police station is always endearing, and I guess I'm just a bit in love with both of the main characters (especially Miyuki, but don't tell Natsume)! |
| your name. (movie) | Masterpiece | Fantastic...hugely enjoyable, and with Shinkai's signature themes, but also a good helping of humour to make this more generally appreciable. Loved it to bits! |
| Yowamushi Pedal (TV) | Good | This is good fun...and if you like cycling (I do) then there is lots of bike detail to feast on as well. It can be a bit annoying - characters spend a lot of time talking while cycling, even when sprinting for the finish line, appear to be able to read each others thoughts, and there are the usual Japanese mantras of doing ones best etc. - but it's good to look at, and you do end up rooting for the team. Not sure whether the exaggerated grotesquerie of the lead villain really fits in with the rest - it maybe just feels too bizarre. Also be warned - the series ends just before the finish line of day 2 of a 3 day event...so if you get sucked in, you really will have to watch the sequel. I'm not sure whether I will or not just yet... |