|
Slash, no Slice▲▼
|
Rating▲▼
|
Comment▲▼
|
| Basilisk (TV) |
Decent |
|
| Berserk (TV 1997) |
Excellent |
The hero-and-villain-as-best-friends is a time-honored cliche. This tale makes it plausible, by going ad ovum to the origin of both friendship and nemesiship. It pulls it off thanks to its glorious characterizations and a gripping plot. The ending is one of the best ever, if you enjoy interruptuses (interrupti?) of any kind. |
| Bleach (TV) |
Good |
Pleasant enough fight series. It barely gives itself time to actually develop characters or relationships all that deeply, but it does just enough to make you kinda care. Winner of the Jerry Springer Special Award for Largest Amount of Yadda Yadda in the Middle of a Fight, While the Enemy Patiently Waits. |
| Hijikata Toshizo: Shiro no Kiseki (OAV) |
Very good |
Yet another take on the Shinsengumi tale, but this time it gets the full 4°C treatment. Without going into another boring paean to those guys, this is beautiful animation, people, enjoy. Most interesting is 4°C’s portrayal of Hijikata’s joyful brutality not so much as ruthless Samurai idealism, or cynical fin-de-Empire thuggery, but as the single-minded embrace of dreams fulfilled. |
| Inuyasha (TV) |
Decent |
Sure, it's exactly the same episode repeated 200 times, but ain't Sesshoumaru-sama damn sexy? |
| Kai Doh Maru (OAV) |
Good |
The washed-out watercolor effect, and the emaki feel are great. It would have made a good first part of an OAV series, but as a standalone it's a frustrating pain. |
| (The) Legend of the Dog Warriors: The Hakkenden (OAV) |
So-so |
A different animation style per episode probably sounded like a good idea at the time. |
| Ninja Scroll (movie) |
Good |
Ah, ultraviolence with lots of nagoy devotchkas. Again, easy to dismiss now how much of an impact this had back when. It is still a nice bloodbath in the best Asian action flick tradition, and what's best, Tarantino had nothing to do with it. |
| Ninja Scroll (TV) |
Good |
It is not going to win any original script oscars, but it *is* visually rich and spankin' fun. Great character design, nice Ninjas of the Week, and isn't Hikari no Miko ever so pretty? |
| Otogi Zoshi (TV) |
Good |
Ah. so this explains Kaidomaru: that was a dry run for this samurais-in-drag series, merely with a different jururi hero doing a Mulan. Production IG presumably figured out that giving Robin a sex change made more sense than doing it to Little John. The first arc is an enjoyable chambara saga, the second arc feels like a worthy-and-dull special issue of "Time Out Tokyo: Kwaidan" How the two parts actually complement each other is anyone's guess. |
| Puppet Princess (OAV) |
Good |
This OVA is not going to win prices for originality, either. But it *is* a near-perfect example of well-crafted, workmanlike, *compact* storytelling. Should be used to teach Scriptwriting 101. |
| Rurouni Kenshin (TV 1996) |
So-so |
The unevenness of tone and quality of the episodes gets irritating after a while, and I don't mean the canonical Da Arc Vs Da Rest distinction. |
| Rurouni Kenshin: Reflection (OAV) |
Decent |
It's over, very over, and I'm thankful they made this OVA to close it but good. |
| Rurouni Kenshin: The Motion Picture |
So-so |
A very boring extended episode. There is only so much "ideals of the revolution betrayed" angst that one can swallow. |
| Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal (OAV) |
Very good |
Old-fashioned tragedy, and that's a compliment. Classically drafted, satisfactorily complete and seamlessly coherent with its parent series, remarkable given the large differences in tone between the both of them. |
| Samurai 7 (TV) |
Very good |
Mata ikinokotta na. Gonzo goes all heretical on us. The sheer chutzpah of taking on one of the best films of all time is a jaw-dropper, and inevitably it makes you wait in trepidation to see the degree of the desecration. Surprise surprise, it ain't that bad, even if they do waste a potentially great baddie. Coming attractions from Gonzo: a light shoujo romantic comedy based on "Woman in the Dunes," and a remake of "Tokyo Story" as a harem farce. |
