Forum - View topicRednal's Reviews (NEW: Our Home's Fox Deity Part 1 PE)
|
|
| Author | Message | ||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Rednal
Posts: 132 |
|
||
|
Rednal's Reviews: Our Home's Fox Deity Volume 1 PE
This review does not necessarily represent the views of Anime News Network or any of its staff, nor is it sponsored or endorsed by any group. All Rights Reserved. Beware of spoilers; this is your only warning. 
Don't let the image fool you. Seriously. Only the one in the upper right thinks she's in a harem show, and she's wrong. Our Home's Fox Deity (Volume 1 of 2, Premium Edition) Reviewed: 11/29/10 Publisher: NIS America Released: 2010 Number of Episodes: 13 Number of Discs: 2 Time: 310 Minutes Format: 16:9 Audio: Japanese Subtitles: English Rating: Teen Extras: -Official Artbook (Hardcover) -Commercials 1-4 -World Setting -Tenko Kugen -Ko -The Fox and Friends Normal Price: 47.99$US ((NISA Official Store)) Brief Summary: Magic foxgirls, clumsy shrine maidens, obsessive classmates, it's... NOT a harem comedy! Yeah, I was surprised, too... Still a comedy, though. Back: N/A Rednal's Review: Taking place in Modern-day Japan, apparently, Our Home's Fox Deity follows the story of two boys (one who's inherited the position of head of a household while the other, his little brother, is a magnet for spirits) who essentially get dropped into the world of spirits when, through some interesting means, they acquire a personal deity that watches over them. Unlike shows such as Nura: Rise of the Youkai Clan, which are dedicated to the darker and weirder side of spirits (i.e. Youkai in all their spooky, and sometimes cute, glory), OHFD focuses more on the various deities of Japan, with a lot of local tradition thrown in. Most of the deities, for example, tend to show up as humans even when they're capable of shapeshifting, which can lead to some interesting moments. You'd think that with with the number of moe archetypes thrown in there'd be a lot of the usual fan-pandering (like in Omamori Himari, Tayutama, etc.), but surprisingly, there isn't actually all that much of that. The title's fox deity, for example, is such an old deity that it doesn't even remember what gender it is, so while it often transforms into a pretty foxgirl, it's just as likely to turn into a handsome foxguy if it thinks that will get its way. The shrine maiden's clumsiness (highly prevalent except when she's fighting) is portrayed as more of an irritation than mystically 'cute', especially with how she's making a budget already in the red sink deeper and deeper. And the obsessive classmate only thinks she's in a harem show, frequently running away with delusions about situations that are, for once, completely inaccurate compared to what's going on. And THAT'S not even covering the whole mess with Mubyo, the events of which are a pretty major portion of this release... OHFD, however, is definitely not a show that should be used to introduce people to anime. For one thing, it's highly cultural in many of its portrayals, and a lot of this is assumed to already be known; fair, considering the target audience is Japan, and other regions are kind of a sideline. For example, there's a complex system of five elements that spirits can use, and they react with each other in different ways. It's a little hidden, but NIS' artbook (which is, in fact, mostly art, with a few translation notes and a bit of character introduction thrown in) conveniently provides an explanation towards the back of how these elements go together, and it isn't a bad idea to get familiar with that before watching the show. It makes comments to the effect of "You cannot defeat me, because Earth absorbs Water!" have a lot more sense to them. They're not pulling this stuff out of nowhere, there's an actual system for it based on some real-life stuff, and things tend to abide by these limitations fairly strictly. In the same way, Japan has a great number of deities, and ones besides the title character show up. Some as fairly random entities, but others are deities worshipped by locals, and for the most part, they're selfish and petty. Not that the Tenko Kugen (the fox deity itself) is any better; it's quite possibly the worst offender of the lot. It isn't terribly cute in combat, either. Were you expecting bouncing and jiggling and moe-moe? Nope, not this time; Ku often transforms back a bit when angry, getting a snout that will appeal to the furry fandom but probably not too many other people, and its smiles are more predatory than alluring. All this helps reinforce some of the text of the show; the deities of this world might be generally nice and friendly if you behave the way they want you to, but annoy basically any of them and they don't have any problem with hurting or killing you. Except, perhaps, if they've reason to be with you. Ku, for example, doesn't hesitate to pound anyone that's threatening the members of the family it's working for. The title of the show implies a sort of guardian deity, and Ku takes this job fairly seriously (a stark contract with its behavior otherwise; it's a noted trickster). It's an interestingly mundane world for being mired so far in the fantastic, and with such regular combat. It isn't a Shounen series, not like Naruto or Bleach, but things get broken and/or blown up fairly regularly. Which mostly pisses off the local deity. He's the sort of spirit that likes ripping limbs off as payment for infractions, by the way, despite the smile. The show simply doesn't have the premise to be truly impressive, but it does surpass the usual, and for anyone who's looking for a comfortable sort of series as a break from the general monotony of fanservice, Our Home's Fox Deity is a respectable offering. If you can fit it on your shelf, of course. Like all NISA Premium Editions, the box is pretty big, but I suppose that does make it good for display somewhere... Alternatively, you could just take the thinpacks out and put the box and the artbook in storage somewhere. Final Grade: B. Gosh, I love shows that do things differently. When to Watch: When you want a relaxed change of pace. Particularly good for those who are interested in the spiritual aspects of Japanese culture, since this show is heavily and fairly blatantly inspired by that stuff, and it can be interesting to look at how Japanese media interprets such things. But get familiar with the five elemental relationships first, okay? Last edited by Rednal on Mon Nov 29, 2010 5:04 pm; edited 16 times in total |
|||
|
|||
|
Rednal
Posts: 132 |
|
||
|
Index:
Gravion + Gravion Zwei (Page 1) Jinki:Extend (Page 1) Magic Knight Rayearth Season 1 (Page 1) Neo Ranga (Page 1) Pandora Hearts [Part 1, PE] (Page 1) Persona-trinity soul- [Part 1, PE] (Page 1) Polyphonica (Page 1) Tayutama: Kiss on my Deity (Page 1) Tears to Tiara (Page 1) Toradora [Part 2, PE] (Page 1) About: Welcome to Rednal's Reviews, your regularly-updated source for a little bit of this, a little bit of that, and some commentary on stuff that may not have been lucky enough to get into one of ANN's columns. Every series reviewed here is one from my personal collection (either that or available streaming from ANN or another official source), so I've gone through watching all of it in order to form my opinions. Nothing here is sponsored or endorsed; it’s all my opinions. So, what can you actually expect to find in this thread? -Variety: I actually watch a number of different genres; Boys Love is about the only thing I won’t watch, as a matter of personal taste, so you can expect to see everything from “fluffy romantic comedy” to “mind-twisting what the heck?” show up here as time goes on. -Popularity: Don't expect to see Naruto Box Sets being reviewed here; I generally prefer to review some slightly less common shows, ones you may not have heard of or considered buying before, to help you find new shows instead of telling you about stuff you already know. -Timeline: A show reviewed might've been out for many years, or maybe it came out last week! - Length: Reviews will generally be done for series of 1 or 2 seasons (12-26 episodes). On rare occasions, reviews may be done for OVA series (about the only things shorter than a normal season anyway) or noticeably longer series, but these are the exceptions instead of the rule. Almost always, it is only the whole show being done. -Availability: All shows reviewed are available, legally, in Region 1. Average prices are included, and are true for the time they were written. The 'low' price is usually available from Buy.com. Some shows are available streaming or through a service like Netflix, which will naturally be a lower cost than buying the DVD set. -Suggestions: Have something you want me to review? Post here! I won’t guarantee that I’ll be able to buy it, but I do promise to seriously consider any request for a review you make. After all, you took the time to suggest it to me. -Handy Index: For ease of searching! Done alphabetically by title. The newest review is not in the index, since it's right at the first post and therefore basically impossible to miss. Rating System: A: It is my solemn belief that regardless of your interests, this is a show that is extremely notable and absolutely worthy of being purchased and added to your collection. In fact, there’s a good chance you already own it if you’re serious about collecting anime. B: A show that goes beyond the usual, with particularly good art and/or storytelling, or is unusually creative, making it an example of high-quality anime that’s probably worth purchasing. C: A good, solid series. Nothing truly special, but if you can find it at a good price, it’s still worth getting. This is not a bad grade. It’s a designation for shows that are still good, just not outstanding. D: Not creative, written poorly, and/or not animated very well. If you can find it at a clearance sale 60% off or more, you can go for it, but otherwise it’s probably best if you avoid wasting your money. F: Trash with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Don’t buy it. I tend to avoid buying stuff I expect will be this to start with, so don’t expect to see it as a rating very often. + or - : Modifiers to help specify a little better. Of course, the main grade matters more; naturally, B- is better than C+. Last edited by Rednal on Mon Nov 29, 2010 5:03 pm; edited 12 times in total |
|||
|
|||
|
Rednal
Posts: 132 |
|
||
|
Rednal's Reviews: Polyphonica
This review does not necessarily represent the views of Anime News Network or any of its staff, nor is it sponsored or endorsed by any individual or group. All Rights Reserved. Beware of spoilers; this is your only warning. 
Polyphonica (Complete Collection) Reviewed: 6/27/10 Publisher: Sentai Filmworks Released: 2009 Number of Episodes: 12 Number of Discs: 2 Time: Approx. 300 minutes Format: 16:9 Anamorphic Widescreen Audio: Japanese 2.0 only Subtitles: English Rating: TV-14 (V) Extras: -Clean Opening and Closing -Trailers (Blue Drop, Clannad After Story, Ghost Hound, Tears to Tiara, To loveru, You're Under Arrest: Fast & Furious) Normal Price: Around US$35 (About $27-40, depending on where you buy) Brief Summary: Music-addicted immortals blow stuff up and talk about racial tolerance. Back: They're Not Just Musical Partners... They're Professional Troubleshooters Who provide their own theme music! Phoron Tatara's no ordinary musician... as one of the rare Dantists who can summon elder spirits using magic called Commandia, his gift is so strong that his spirit partner is none other than the infamous Corticarte Apa Lagranges. Sure, she may LOOK like a young girl in her human form, but you don't get nicknames like "the Crimson Annihilator" and "the Bloody Duchess" for sitting back and watching the daisies grow. Now, at the behest of the Tsuge Divine Music Player Office, this dynamic duet travels the continent of Polyphonica on Phoron's combination motorcycle/organ, following the song of the open road, orchestrating rescues and generally fixing whatever's baroque! Some musicians wait for a muse to hit them, but Phoron makes his work for scale in POLYPHONICA! Rednal's Review: I feel obligated to point out that the back of this DVD is absolutely full of lies. Seriously. It's still a decent series, but a little more honesty would be nice. First off, I never heard Coatie called "the Bloody Duchess", nor do the main characters really travel outside the city much... and unless I remember wrong, Polyphonica is a country in this series, not a continent. Though I submit to the argument that it could be like Australia, and happen to be both. All this "song of the open road" stuff is a lot of nonsense. Oh, and Phoron seems pretty normal for somebody with his job, rather than being some sort of genius. Okay, griping over with. Polyphonica is a moderately relaxed sort of series that avoids some of the trouble of other series that have a cute tsundere as the female lead. Number one, there isn't all that much fanservice, and the small amount of romance actually present is just that... small. It only comes up every now and then, so those of us who are quite bored of seeing mini catfights over the male lead don't have to get turned off by all of this. Hooray! Although a little more relationship-building would be pretty nice. Polyphonica is decent, but you can tell that it's targeted for a certain audience, because there is almost no change in the character relationships throughout the series; the closest we get is a guy asking out one of the Bridge Bunnies. This being a series where the status quo rules, nothing permanent comes of it. Raise your hands if you're surprised. ... Nobody? Ah, well. Thought not. Interspersed with moments of problem-solving and other advice-giving is the other half of this series; the combat. It's a bit heavy in the first half of the series, but unfortunately, tapers off towards the end, without even a massive climactic fight to rub in that the 'Crimson Annihilator' does indeed kick a massive amount of butt. This is something of a shame, actually; the series' real focus is on the relationships between groups that are "different", and if Coatie went nuts and destroyed a lot of stuff before they got to the touchy-feely bits of the power of friendship (okay, so it's not THAT bad in the series, actually, but it's there), that would probably help to explain the point a little bit better. Drama's good for that, but since the entire big crisis happens over the space of the last episode, they just didn't have the ability to really build things up, and the series suffers because of that. Even the rival just went Terminator and was all "I'll be back" and then just sort of vanished except for a small clip near the end; it feels like that story was left hanging. The art's slightly wonky, too; sometimes the proportions seem just a wee bit off, though the girls are cute enough. However, Polyphonica does have its good points, so don't get me wrong. First of all, Phoron (the male lead) really isn't a loser. Which is a nice change. He's decently competent (claims to be kind of sucky in the flashback episode, but the fact is, he usually gets his jobs done and has a strong partner, which is all the definition of 'competent' I need), mostly avoids the mushy romance that would make him rather boring (he doesn't even seem interested in having Coatie as a girlfriend, believe it or not...), and though he's actually still a bit boring with his relaxed personality, it's made up for by Coatie, his spirit partner. Tsundere usually do liven things up, and she's rather more Tsun than Dere. Anybody who blows stuff up and then has to pretend it was all according to plan instead of just because they were pissed off is a character I can enjoy. The other characters include various minor extras, a giant policeman and his pet loli (well, partner loli...), the chief of the office Phoron works at (and her fight-happy spirit partner), the senior, the other-love-interest and her half-spirit sister... and that's about it for the heroes that matter. For the antagonists, there's really only two; a grumpy human who hates spirits and his partner, who's treated as a slave and puts up with it for all the wrong reasons. Well, at least she isn't wearing a collar with a leash... and she blows stuff up, too, though never as much as she really should have. But it redeems her towards being a marginally decent character. Music, of course, plays a major role in the series. Characters use "One-man Orchestra" tools to play "Divine Songs" that give their spirit partners power. I actually really like this facet of the series, because it's explained later on in the show that the songs are basically drugs for the spirits. If given, they get power and can blow stuff up. If not given, they can go insane and blow more stuff up. It's win-win no matter what happens, and having an entire race of powerful beings addicted to the unstable emotions and musical ability of humans is surprisingly dark for this sort of show. I like it. They could have played it up some more with Coatie, but it's something that, as is, works to make things more interesting. The opening and ending are both nice, and the ending in particular has a selection of nice artwork, with one alternate ending for the giant policeman and his loli partner. I kinda get the feeling she's a spirit herself, but it's never explicitly stated or anything. Oh, and Episode 4 was particularly good, in my mind. Final Grade: B-. It's far from being a must-have or anything truly noteworthy, but Polyphonica is a solid series with enough redeeming features to make up for what it doesn't do enough of. When to Watch: When you want to watch something casual with some respectably cute girls, and not too emotional or complex, with just enough twists to avoid being stale. It's a relaxed sort of series, really, even with the action scenes. Good for a rainy day when you have nothing else to do, perhaps. |
|||
|
|||
|
Rednal
Posts: 132 |
|
||
|
Rednal's Reviews: Tayutama
This review does not necessarily represent the views of Anime News Network or any of its staff, nor is it sponsored or endorsed by any individual or group. All Rights Reserved. Beware of spoilers; this is your only warning. 
Tayutama: Kiss on my Deity (Complete Collection) Reviewed: 6/30/10 Publisher: Sentai Filmworks Released: 2010 Number of Episodes: 12 Number of Discs: 2 Time: Approx. 300 minutes Format: 16:9 Anamorphic Widescreen Audio: Japanese 2.0 only Subtitles: English Rating: TV-14 (S) Extras: -Clean Opening -Clean Closing -Japanese Promo -Trailers -Tayutama - Pure My Heart (something of an Omake collection, about 18 minutes or so total) Normal Price: 32$US (About $23-40, depending on where you buy) Brief Summary: Age-shifting, color-changing, and occasionally gender-bending harem-ette's fight spirits and aim for coexistence. My voice gives me super strength! Back: Rule Number One of Japanese Exorcisms: DON'T!!!! Yuri Mito is a typical, normal Japanese teenager. He goes to school, works on people's motorcycles and performs exorcisms. Okay, that last part's a little unusual, but his family lives in a shrine and they do that sort of thing. Still, you would think he'd know enough to be careful with an ancient relic he finds in the woods, especially when a mysterious goddess appears and tells him to leave it alone. Unfortunately, despite Mito's best efforts, the seal gets broken anyway and a number of dangerous "tayuti" that it held in stasis get loose. This is bad. Mito also ends up with a beautiful goddess who decides that she's going to marry him. This might not be so bad if he wasn't already caught up in the middle of a war between the entities he's released. The flesh may be weak but the spirit's more than willing to compensate in TAYUTAMA: KISS ON MY DEITY THE COMPLETE COLLECTION! Rednal's Review: Sentai Filmworks enjoys lying to people on the backs of their boxes. It's spelled "tayutai", not "tayuti", even in the show, and he didn't find a relic in the woods so much as somebody else dug it up and asked him to come take a look. Sigh. Anyway... If you couldn't figure out what sort of show this is from the name, it is my unprofessional opinion that you need to watch more anime. Tayutama is an example of a show that's been somewhat common recently; a harem series coupled with a bit of supernatural combat to make things more exciting, perhaps based on the well-established theory that "Boobs + Explosions = $$$". Not that this is a hugely fanservice-y show most of the time, but it does have its moments. The series opens with talented-son-of-the-local-shrine finding out about an old monument that was dug up by a construction company... and it doesn't take too long for him to realize that it's not just a monument dedicated to a deity, but specifically to his deity, the one his family's shrine was built for. And like most fantasy stories, old legends turn out to be real. Stuff like this and that happens, and a whole bunch of spirits get released alongside Kikuramikami no Hime (try saying that name three times fast), who works things up to have a little avatar of sorts... a partial incarnation, I believe it is. Who starts as a loli white-haired wolf-girl, then gets bigger later and changes her hair. And so, through the first episode alone, we have three ages and two hair colors just for one of the main characters. Well, I suppose variety is good in a relationship. Mashiro, Kikurami-sama's incarnation, holds firm to the idea that humans and those released spirits (including the Big Three) ought to all live in harmony. Because being a hypocrite is bad, she doesn't just talk the talk, she walks the walk, and promptly decides to be the male lead's wife. ... Hey, I didn't write the script, and this is a harem show. There's always one who declares herself the designated wife right away. Were you seriously expecting something else? However, the second episode promptly redeems the series from the overly normal surprise wife bit of the first episode, and goes for opening with Mashiro beginning her fairly brutal training regime for the husband. Including having small spirits blast him with fire when he isn't running fast enough. Mashiro also has other moments of dark laughter, coupled with an apparent willingness to exploit her divine power, that make her a more fun character than the usual. She's not afraid to put the fear of the gods into people, either. And she occasionally sneaks in an insult, too. For all that this is basically a harem comedy, the evil wife moments are something of a decisive factor, though there's not nearly enough of them. As for Nue, another character, she's totally a brat, and that's also pretty fun to watch. If you're going to watch a harem show at all, Tayutama's worth watching instead of similar series. Especially for the commercial break scene, which has Mashiro twitching her ears in an outrageously adorable manner. For other main characters, Yumina (Yuri's sister-in-law, I believe it is) is the sort of girl who desperately wants to help out and be supportive... very wife-like, in other words, and while normally this would elict a bit of a groan from me (it's kind of a bland personality), the spirit king-bird that keeps sitting on her tends to promptly punish her whenever she's too much like that, which is loads of fun. When other characters recognize that they need to stomp out such boring personalities, you know things are on the right track. The most major sub-character, however, is Ameri, the almost-but-not-quite-love-interest, who does something that's actually respectably unusual for a harem series. A little in-fighting in the harem isn't terribly odd, but the way she goes demon (with wings!) and such shows more friction than usual... so the squabbling is actually a fair bit on the dark side, especially since she's like that for most of the second half of the show, and it ties in well with the big question of coexistence between humans and spirits. Mifuyu is a little less important; she's a big shot at the 'Flawless' part of the school, which is some sort of girls-only high-class educational boarding facility (I'm going out on a limb here and figuring that it's actually the main draw of the town, and everybody else is basically just catering to the rich families who live there; it's the only thing I can come up with that makes any sense at all for this), and in one episode, she (gasp!) does a lot of thinking about the main character towards the end. Nothing really comes of it. Which actually kind of surprised me; this IS a harem show, so mostly, I expect any girl cute enough to have a name to at least make one serious attempt on the main character, but it seems she decided that she didn't really want to go after him after all. Weird. Of course, the male lead's name is "Yuri", and there's all sorts of fun jokes to be made about that. Especially because he's the one doing the gender-bending. Because I try to be polite, however, I'll avoid making those jokes. Inbetween bouts of relationship-building are the combat bits, where Yuri builds up his exorcism powers to awesome levels (by SHOUTING A LOT!) and beats the crap out of a variety of tough spirits. Nue and Houou are something of a joke, but Ouryu is actually a marginally impressive villain, not buckling under the first time he's beaten and in fact causing more trouble for everyone as he opposes all that coexistence crap. And manipulates important characters to cause trouble. Big-time. And that's good, because we need villains who can actually cause a lot of problems. It doesn't hurt the story, certainly. The high point of the series, however, is definitely Mashiro putting the fear of the gods into people, which takes place with the screenshots above. She almost looks like a different character there (feels like a noticeable increase in quality for that scene!), and it rubs in the fact that she is not just a cute wolf-girl who wants into some guy's pants, but has her own goals in life and is generally awesome. When she feels like it. I always prefer it when the female leads stand up for themselves and their own desires instead of meekly submitting, so that's a plus. Final Grade: C+. It's not hugely different from the billion other harem series, but it does have some strong points. Like Mashiro's evil wife moments. If you can find it at a good price and can enjoy series that aren't ultra-progressive and faaaaaaaabulous, stuff rated A in this thread, this is a good casual watch. When to Watch: When you want to see the world's cutest ear twitch. Or a wife that changes age and hair color regularly. |
|||
|
|||
|
PetrifiedJello
Posts: 3782 |
|
||
|
Nice reviews. Needs polishing in a few areas, but otherwise enjoyable and to the point.
Regarding Magic Knight Rayearth: Hikaru is freakin' hot. This series has its charms, that's for sure. We'll see what you say regarding the second season. Polyphonica has one major fault and that's having Sentai Filmworks outsource the subtitling. This is a huge issue and there is more missing than "Bloody Duchess" (though I do believe it is used once). For starters, her name certainly isn't "Coatie" and even listening to the VAs we can definitely hear her called "Corti", especially since it's a nickname for Corticarte. Damn them, but what can we do? I know. Let's wait for a dub and see if they bone it there too. As for the last review, the images sold me. C+ or not, it's going into my collection. 
|
|||
|
|||
|
Rednal
Posts: 132 |
|
||
|
If my reviews have encouraged you to purchase or not purchase something, then I am satisfied that they have done their job. ^^ Check back regularly, and let me know if you have requests, because I do intend to get quite a number of series reviewed here.
|
|||
|
|||
|
Rednal
Posts: 132 |
|
||
|
Rednal's Reviews: Magic Knight Rayearth
This review does not necessarily represent the views of Anime News Network or any of its staff, nor is it sponsored or endorsed by any individual or group. All Rights Reserved. Beware of spoilers; this is your only warning. 
Magic Knight Rayearth (Season 1) Reviewed: 7/09/10 Publisher: Anime Works Released: 2005 (Re-release) Number of Episodes: 20 Number of Discs: 6 Time: Approx. 500 minutes Format: 1:33:1 (Full Screen) Audio: English 2.0 / Japanese 2.0 Subtitles: English Rating: 13 and older Extras: -MKR Art Gallery -Alternative Auditions -Outtakes -Character Profiles -Roll Call -Cast List -Interviews with the cast -Creators -Magical Spell Index -Alternative Openings -Endings (w/ Omake endings) -Alternative Song Versions Normal Price: 42$US (Including all of Season 2 in the double set) Brief Summary: Sorcery and robots and drama, oh my! Back: These three girls shall become the Magic Knights of legend... Three junior high school girls are brought together by fate when they hear a voice asking them to save the world. The land that calls to them is named Cephiro and the voice belongs to Princess Emeraude. She stands as the Pillar whose will maintains the peace of this magical world where belief is power. But the peace in Cephiro is now threatened as Princess Emeraude is imprisoned and monsters begin to invade. With her last bit of strength, the princess summons forth the three girls who must fulfull their destiny to become the Magic Knights in the hopes of saving her world. Rednal's Review: You know, that list of extra's would be a lot nicer if they were put in with menu's that didn't totally suck. But then, this series was originally released on DVD awhile ago, and on VHS even before that, making this officially rather old as far as the huge majority of the fandom cares. Sure, some of you are picky and don't think it's old unless it's from the 60's, but that's staying way behind the times. But you know, there's a fair bit that's notable about this series all the same. Take a look at the episode count; that's a non-standard number there, from way back when in the times where creators weren't religiously dedicated to fitting things within a certain time-frame. And the sequel to this series has 29 episodes, another unusual number. Magic Knight Rayearth is the anime version of a series by CLAMP, a group also known for (among other series) Cardcaptor Sakura, Chobits, Tsubasa, and XXX Holic. If you haven't at least heard of them, get out of your room and at least go to the bookstore in person. The manga version of Rayearth is a three-volume story with a lot of good development, some nice art, and a little something for everybody, whether it be naked transformations, giant robots, or enough twists and turns to delight a soap opera. The anime, unfortunately, doesn't *quite* live up to the manga version... see, it's kind of on the cheesy side. Not, like, massively so, but if you've seen it before, it's not the sort of series you're likely to watch or discuss with your friends. Manga, yes. Anime, no. Hikaru is a spunky, energetic girl. She bounces around a lot, despite being short, and goes full-tilt into beating the crap out of monsters while her two companions (rather tsundere Umi and polite Fuu) lag behind a little, and there's little doubt that Hikaru is the star of the show. She kicks the most butt, after all, and after trials and tribulations manages to always make things work out. Which makes a disturbing amount of sense, because Cephiro is a world where belief is power. If you wish for something hard enough, it's implied that what you wished for is going to end up happening. This is basically the root of the whole mess all the characters are in to start with. There's not too much to say about Umi and Fuu, really; they're supporting characters, and they have their moments (shining both solo and as part of the group), but they're a little lackluster at times. Their guide along the way is Mokona (the older Mokona, which may or may not be related to the ones from Tsubasa and XXX Holic... and knowing the original status of Mokona makes both of the later series make, at the same time, both more and less sense...), who's basically a white puffball that runs and hides whenever there's danger and otherwise delights in cheerfully annoying Umi. For the villains, we have the rather powerful Zagato (who actually lives up to his status for the most part, considering the whole Create A New Mashin thing he's got going), and an assortment of basically unimportant mooks. I mean, they play their roles, and once they're done with that, they're really not necessary to the story, or even a terribly good accessory. And, of course, we have Princess Emeraude. Ah, what a tragic character, somebody who never mustered up the courage to take a third option like Hikaru did in the sequel. But she has an amazing characteristic that totally redeems everything boring about her, and it happens at the end of the show. If you already know, good, and if not, I won't spoil you. Now, from what I've already written, you might think that this show isn't that great. And, in fact, it ISN'T great. But it is decently good. The opening is fantastic, and this is a rare case where I prefer an English opening over the Japanese one. Not common; they don't usually put them in English except for subtitles to start with, and it's pretty hit-or-miss when they do. But Unyielding Wish is a great song, and I never get tired of it. Also, the girls aren't fussy about their magic. It reminds me a bit of Slayers like that; a lot of the time, when characters have both magic and weaponry, they stick to the weaponry. The magic's cool, but kind of sidelined. Not so in MKR; they happily fling spells at enemies all the time, mixing things up properly, and it's pretty fun to watch when they do. And hey, there's giant robots, too. Magic Knight Rayearth has something to appeal to just about everybody, and while this anime will never be outstanding, the history involved is pretty interesting, and watching it will give you a sense of how completely anime has changed over the years. That alone makes it worth watching at least once. Final Grade: B. It is, in fact, kind of cheesy sometimes, but there’s a lot about this series that’s worth paying attention to, and any serious fan of anime in general should watch it at least once. When to Watch: When you’re alone and interested in being a fan who goes beyond the absolute latest and greatest show… and actually *gasp* watches something that wasn’t made in the last two years. |
|||
|
|||
|
Rednal
Posts: 132 |
|
||
|
Rednal's Reviews: Gravion + Gravion Zwei
This review does not necessarily represent the views of Anime News Network or any of its staff, nor is it sponsored or endorsed by any group. All Rights Reserved. Beware of spoilers; this is your only warning. THIS: 
ALSO THIS: 
Gravion (Complete Collection) and Gravion Zwei (Complete Collection) Reviewed: 7/17/10 Publisher: ADV Films Released: 2006 (Re-released since then) Number of Episodes: 25 (13 in the First Season, 12 in the Second Season) Number of Discs: 6 (In both sets; this may vary in re-released versions that have both) Time: Approx. 625 minutes (Both seasons) Format: 4:3 Audio: English 5.1 / Japanese 2.0 Subtitles: English Rating: 14 and older Extras: -Previews (Various) -This may vary by release Normal Price: 54.98$US (As of posting this, RightStuf has it available for $30, which is barely over $1 an episode… an excellent price) Brief Summary: Autobots, transform and- wait, wrong series. Rocket Punch, go! Back: (Specifically, of the first disk from my set's Season 1) A GOD FOR THE MODERN AGE! When mankind faces an alien force with technology light years ahead of its own, it may take a man obsessed with the past to save the Earth. The fate of humanity rests on whether the eccentric billionaire Sandman can build a machine as great as the myths of old. His creation is a god for the modern age, a deity forged of circuits and steel - it is Gravion! Only a young band of orphaned misfits are born with the ability to pilot this top secret weapon. All life on the planet depends on how well they can fight the Zeravire - if they can only stop fighting amongst themselves! Rednal's Review: Do you think ADV knows that a 'light year' is a measure of distance, not time, and so adding comments about men obsessed with the past kind of throws off the whole summary? Ah, well. I love this show regardless of little errors like that. I bought Gravion because I felt I needed to round out my viewing experience with a genre I hadn't seen too much of... Super Robots. Not the 'Giant Robots' of Gundam, but Super Robots, who combine to get bigger and use Rocket Punches to slug the enemy from halfway across a city. And Gravion was a pretty good choice for this, making me glad I bought it. The show is a bit like what you'd expect to see on Saturday Morning (except for the fairly prevalent fanservice), though with a plot that sticks through the episodes... regardless of that, however, it does focus on one massive machine, the titular Gravion, which as you'd expect from any good Super Robot happens to have a metric ton of awesome weapons... most of which work properly about once before the enemy adapts, which is a great way to produce different figures of the robot showing different attacks and get more money from the buyers who are OCD about getting everything. Hey, that's Japan for ya. But at least it's a whole lot of fun to watch, and witnessing the cast of the series freak out about their weapons not working anymore actually ties in well to the drama of the show, so it's not necessarily a bad thing. Surprisingly, this is a very cast-oriented show, but I suppose it's important to work on the characters when you're not planning to have 95% Robot scenes and 5% Human ones. At first glance, the characters seem to fit into the assigned roles for this sort of show rather easily. We have Eiji, the hot-tempered rookie of a main character, as well as the apparently emotionless and socially inept Toga as his rival slash boss; Eiji isn't so lucky that he gets to pilot the main body of the giant robot, but instead, he's relegated to the foot. Hah. Sucker. Luna, the Toga Fangirl slash Main Rocket Fist (There HAS to be a Rocket Punch in this sort of series... No Exceptions), provides the "slap" part of "slapstick comedy", while busty and fanservice-y Mizuki provides the Big Sister role. Eina (rhymes with 'Hey-na') is the massively clumsy, glasses wearing maid that for some reason serves everybody else despite being a pilot herself (you'd think she would be promoted), and, of course, as the Sixth Ranger we have the quiet, mysterious waif (and possible love interest) Leele. Ruling them all is the enigmatic Sandman, who is so rich that some characters get seriously weirded out just on seeing how many zeroes are on the credit cards used by the massive maid squad for shopping (there are a lot of zeroes; this actually implies that running everything for Gravion is outrageously expensive, which is a nice touch), and it's pretty difficult to get into Sandman's head most of the time. He has his quirky moments of humor that round him out as a character, but it's the pilots of the robot that really shine. Despite the nice levels of fanservice. Eiji, for example, finds himself surrounded by pretty maids, most of whom love messing with him. So what does he do? He plays a game of strip poker with the loli's who trouble him the most. As this was played for laughs, he loses, but the fact that he's doing it at all says a lot of good things about his personality and helps prevent him from being boring. The maids' habit of stripping him for examinations is tons of fun as well, since he resists so much, and Sandman just smirking at him makes it all the more fun. Eiji's main motivation, however, is finding his sister, whose MIA status he strongly suspects is all Sandman's fault. And Toga, it's eventually revealed, isn't just socially inept, he's socially broken, willing to attack and possibly kill even his own friends to get the job done... which doesn't make his teammates the slightest bit happy with him and gets a lot of good drama, which isn't actually too common in a genre whose main draw is rocket punches. While these two characters are the focus, Luna's occasional nice moments reveal a lot about her (she's basically tsundere, but in a good way), and it's pretty fun watching Eiji be interested in Leele. He has good taste, even when he's crossdressing. Of course, while the characters are a lot of fun (even most of the minor characters, Bridge Bunnies included), it wouldn't do to forget that this is a series about a giant robot that blows stuff up. The maid and Mizuki have their moments, too, but they don't drive the show as much as the other main characters do. Most of the time. And never as much as the Zeravire invasion does. The enemies are mostly aliens. Mysterious, constantly evolving aliens. That appear to have destroyed every human facility in the solar system past Earth. And the ultimate truth behind them would be a big spoiler, so I won't state it here. Suffice to say that it works well for the story, and allows for more Giant Robot awesomeness, which is basically the whole point. Massive weapons abound; energy beams, rifles, rocket punches, super-boomerangs, and pretty much everything you could want from an awesome machine. The government of Earth is, of course, trying to catch up to Gravion. There's a subplot in the second season about an elite team with their new robots, and an interesting new character there, but unfortunately, this doesn't really go anywhere. We're watching this show to see a giant, near-invincible robot break stuff (with the occasional fanservice scene for variety), not look at the agile-yet-small-and-breakable things the Earth is trying to use. That's probably the biggest flaw of the series; why bother with a subplot unless you work it properly? This aside, however, the story flows well and tidies itself up nicely by the end of the second season. Awesomeness happens, mysteries are solved (and if you don't figure them out on your own, you will hate yourself for the ones you missed), and with the information revealed later on, it's actually worth watching this series again to see things play out and how they fit together. You'll learn more watching the second time through. The characters may be slotted into types, but they don't fit them perfectly, and the action is just as it should be for a Super Robot show. Good theme song, too. All in all, a quality show whose minor flaws don't stop it from being loads of fun. Final Grade: B+. Almost good enough to make the A Team, and for any fan of anime who doesn't mind robots and fanservice, this is definitely something to put on your list. An excellent example of the genre, worth watching more than once. When to Watch: When you want to see a Rocket Punch. Or cute maids. Or both at the same time. It totally plays up its strengths that way. Note: I purchased this series as two separate box sets, one for each season, which gives some nice box art for my shelves. As I recall, however, the show has since been re-released with both seasons in the same set, and it's probably worth getting the newer edition, since the two seasons are the two halves of one story. There's no real point in getting one without the other. |
|||
|
|||
|
Rednal
Posts: 132 |
|
||
|
Rednal's Reviews: PERSONA-trinity soul- Part 1 (PE)
This review does not necessarily represent the views of Anime News Network or any of its staff, nor is it sponsored or endorsed by any group. All Rights Reserved. Beware of spoilers; this is your only warning. 
PERSONA-trinity soul- (Part 1 of 2, Premium Edition) Reviewed: 7/22/10 Publisher: NIS America Released: 2010 Number of Episodes: 13 Number of Discs: 2 Time: Approx. 307 minutes Format: 16:9 (Widescreen) Audio: Japanese 2.0 Subtitles: English Rating: Teen Extras: -Promotional Movie -TV Commercials Normal Price: 47.99$US (On store.nisamerica.com, the company’s official store) Brief Summary: Mystery, psyche, and summon-y. Premium Edition is Premium. Back: N/A Rednal's Review: First off, a few important notes regarding this release. PERSONA-trinity soul- (hereafter 'Persona') is part of the first anime release by NIS America, a company known mainly for niche JRPG's like the Disgaea and Atelier series, so this work represents part of their entry into the animation field. Disc issues (ghosting, mainly) have, unfortunately, been reported with this release, but NIS has signalled that it intends to replace such defective discs, and information on doing so is available through their website at http://www.nisamerica.com. Therefore, video issues of that type are not taken into account in this review. Additionally, my setup noticed no issues at all with Persona or Toradora (NIS' other release), so those who watch their DVD's on a computer (possibly other setups as well) may not even have trouble with the video to start with. Well, then. Premium Edition is Premium. That reported and non-universal graphics issue aside, NIS has made a very nice first release for this anime. To begin with, Persona's premium box is pretty big. This may sadden some people who want all of their anime to be exactly the same size so they can put it on their shelves and have it line up nice and neatly, but the cases can be removed from the box and lined up anyway. They're thinpacks, barely big enough to hold the discs, and fit in very well with the larger box, which comes with an artbook. Character interviews, a little information on the Personas the main characters summon, a few comic strips... I suggest holding off on reading that half of the book until after you've watched the first half of the show, due to spoilers. Now, why half the book? Simple. Flip the artbook over, and you have a children's book called "A Whale's Feather". This book is actually relevant to the plot, so it's not just that characters in the show will know about it, but you can actually read it yourself. It's fantastic. Hardcover, too, and fits in snug with the video discs. One disc will be hidden due to the organization of the box, but the size of the box is great, since they don't slide too easily but can still be removed without much trouble. For the setup here, there is really nothing to complain about; this premium edition is pretty much without question the best box I own in terms of case quality and extras. The DVD's themselves are pretty barren, with just some stuff basically ripped from Japanese TV to put in, but the book that comes with this series more than makes up for it, and it's actually worth the somewhat high price for only 13 episodes. Now, for the show itself. Persona is based upon one of Atlus' video games, Persona 3, which for those of you who don't know was a very well-received game balancing school life with supernatural combat in a way few RPG's have ever dared to do. As part of the 'Shin Megami Tensei' series, it's probably good that the mainstream media doesn't know about it (the characters call forth manifestations of their minds by pointing gun-shaped 'Evokers' to their heads and pulling the trigger, among other things...), and because of this, you might think that you need to play the game first to get what's going on. Actually, you don't. The anime is pretty much standalone, though it does help if you have a basic idea of what Persona are; the show makes somewhat more sense for all the little details that way. Things are centered around three brothers; Ryo, the oldest, is the Chief of Police, and he isn't very friendly at all. He'd rather have his two younger brothers leave the city entirely, though the reasons for this aren't quite apparent at first. Shin, the middle child, is the protagonist of the show, who starts finding out about strange things after encountering an odd man with a long nose... this is one of those times when playing the game (or any other in the series) helps, since the odd man's appearance makes several dozen times more sense when you know who he is. Really. Shin's kind of nervous at first, but he's very human. Care is taken to show that he has a lot of those little traits that make people, well, people. His younger brother, Jun, is on good terms with him, though he is a bit feminine at times... a detail which makes a faintly disturbing amount of sense once you've watched most of the way through this half of the show. The supporting characters aren't bad, either; Takuro, the guy with the afro, is basically the comic relief, but trains hard to control his Persona. And unlike the characters of many shows where people get awesome magical skills, he doesn't master it overnight. In fact, he doesn't even master it by the end of this set, though he's working at it. Megumi is cheerful, upbeat, and provides a good supporting role for the series, not coming on too strongly in her scenes and filling her role in the story quite well. The sixth ranger, as it were, is Kanaru, a girl who gets pretty darn weird on occasion and finds herself addicted to the highly dangerous 'Shadow Extraction' that people at school are doing. Seriously addicted. Takuro, at the beginning of the series, noted that it was like doing drugs, and Ho Yay aside (just that episode, really), the way this is worked in is both believable and interesting. And, yes, it's another point where knowing what "Shadows" are will help you understand the story rather better. The combat is interesting, but not the focus of the series; in true MegaTen style, it's the characters and their relationships that really drive things, with a chunk of philosophy set against a backdrop of a snowy town; the art quality is impressive, and leans more towards 'realistic' than 'fantastic'. This suits the mood of the story well, as the characters try to figure out what's going on and deal with the people who occasionally attack them. And losing one of these battles really isn't an option, because the enemies they're fighting are stealing Personas, and when that happens, people tend to turn inside-out. It's not pretty. Persona has a darker feel to it than a lot of fantasy series, but it never crosses the line into horror... despite the grim situation, this is definitely not a horror series, but more of a blend of shounen (supernatural action ftw) and shojo (relationships and talking). Though it's rated for teens, despite the presence of blood, the rare non-explicit nude scene (fanservice exists, but not often and not as a focus), and whatnot, I'd actually say that this series is more geared towards mature viewers who want a serious, well-made anime. Young adults (emphasis on adults) will probably get a lot more out of it than a younger person who just wants to see people get killed or whatever. The music flows well, and the story paces itself in a leisurely way that still manages to advance the plot, driving home the fact that these characters feel a lot more real than animated ones usually do. All in all, I have to say, this release really impressed me. It's worth buying. Final Grade: A-. It does have a few very slight flaws, as any series usually will, but this show is one of the best I've seen. My only real complaint is that it's a little on the expensive side, but this is a Premium Edition, and you know, that artbook makes it worth it. When to Watch: When you're tired of the same-old-same-old and want something that's different in a good way without being bizzare about it. |
|||
|
|||
|
Rednal
Posts: 132 |
|
||
|
Rednal's Reviews: Tears to Tiara (Complete Series)
This review does not necessarily represent the views of Anime News Network or any of its staff, nor is it sponsored or endorsed by any group. All Rights Reserved. Beware of spoilers; this is your only warning. 
spoiler[The girls shown here, and several others, are all with the guy in black.] Tears to Tiara (In two 13-eisode sets) Reviewed: 7/31/10 Publisher: Sentai Filmworks Released: 2009 Number of Episodes: 26 Number of Discs: 4 Time: Approx. 650 minutes Format: 16:9 (Anamorphic Widescreen) Audio: Japanese 2.0 Subtitles: English Rating: TV-PG Extras: -Clean Intro/Closing -Trailers Normal Price: 48.26$US (Both Parts) Brief Summary: A demon lord is resurrected, just as planned... his reaction, not so much. Back: (First Set) Before you resurrect a Demon Lord... Make sure he's going to be on your side! In a strange dark age, the Divine Empire's path of conquest seems unstoppable, endlessly devouring its weaker neighbors in a brutal cycle of subjugation and pillage. But when a savage priest makes a critical mistake while attempting to resurrect a Demon Lord, the scales of fate begin to tip in the other irection! Choosing to side instead with the priest's intended sacrifice, the Gaelic Princess Riannon, the resurrected Lord Arawn joins with Riannon and her brother Arthur, as together they begin to assemble the force that will bring the Divine Empire to its knees! Wizards, archers, swordsmasters and even pixies take arms as the ancient Celtic, Gaelic, British, and Roman myths of Albion receive a spectacular new animated intrpretation in TEARS TO TIARA, COLLECTION 1! Rednal's Review: CAPITALIZE FOR EMPHASIS! Well, I guess it helps the name stick out on the back. Here's a little background on the show: Tears to Tiara is the animated adaption of (Surprise! Not...) a Japanese eroge. For those of you who don't know, that means it's a game for Adults Only, but unlike most of the genre (i.e. Dating Sims), Tears to Tiara is mostly an RPG that just happens to have romance elements in it. Mainly Arawn's multiple wives; yes, it's a game where having romance with many girls is actually part of the main story. The anime covers the same area, but with somewhat less exposition, so playing the game isn't actually necessary to understand the story. The anime tells most of the relevant bits quite well, and more importantly, it has better character designs. The originals were... kind of boring, actually. However, the anime uses the newer (and considerably nicer) designs, so we have Arthur looking the part of the warrior rather better, the various girls being cuter, and Arawn himself getting a much nicer 'noble dark lord' sort of image. The series opens with, as you may have guessed from the official summary, an attempted summoning of Arawn that's going on after a Priest comes in to get Riannon and use her as a sacrifice. At which point her hot-tempered warrior brother rouses up his people and goes charging in to save her, like any good main character. Except he's not. Not the main character, that is; the true protagonist of the series is the dark lord Arawn himself, and he's not quite what a lot of people in that world were expecting. Tall, dark, handsome, mysterious, and hiding a considerable amount of past that makes watching the series while knowing it rather fascinating. It's actually rather fun trying to figure out how much he had planned from what point, and though the series starts tame enough with the fantasy, it turns out that there's a lot more to the myths. What with the ancient elven capital (Arawn's base), the cute elf servants (pretty much idolize Arawn as a living legend, but they have plenty of characterization that makes them more fun and rounds them out), various monsters and other beasties, unkillable undead, and yes, there are always dragons. But rather than 'super-fantasy-world', Tears to Tiara has more of a mythological feel to it, at least for awhile. The elves and such are rarely a part of the human world, and when they actually do head in, it's often in disguise. Frankly, there's a lot of bits in this story that I wasn't particularly expecting, and that makes it a nice variant from the usual. I mean, having Arawn as the major lead for the story is different enough; you usually expect the story to follow the punk kid instead of somebody that the viewers can't relate to nearly as easily. It works, though. The animation itself is nice, typically clean and crisp, and certain fights are a bit brutal. You can tell the RPG overtones of the series remain, but they aren't as blatant as they are in other shows, at least when the creators are bothering to be sensible about it. There's really only a few ways to portray magic when you're using it in combat, after all. The amount of romance in the show is toned down as well, and it focuses more on the efforts of the tribesmen as they go against the Really Freaking Big Empire that tried to kill their beloved priestess. The character developments are interesting, and Arawn's past especially so; it's only when you get to know him that you can really understand him, as opposed to characters who are created mainly so people can relate to them right from the start. Tears to Tiara is not like a lot of shows that have come out lately. It's generally more somber (despite the humorous bits), and the story itself is a creative and interesting adaption of Western European mythology. So in that regard, at least, many of the myth-y elements are probably going to be familiar to western viewers, which means you don't even need to have a particular interest in Japanese lore or culture to "get" most of the ideas. Final Grade: B+. Far better than the usual fantasy series, with an interesting plot, some nice twists, and a variety of good comedy scenes that balance out the generally serious story. Might also be good as a foothold series to bring people into anime, since it doesn't feel particulary foreign. When to Watch: If you don't mind the whole Myths-and-Legends-era thing, basically anytime. Note: The version I have is the Japanese with English Subtitles version, but Sentai Filmworks did announce an English dub, and I've yet to hear of that being cancelled; if you're planning on showing this series to other people, you might want to look into getting that version instead once it's available. |
|||
|
|||
|
Rednal
Posts: 132 |
|
||
|
Rednal's Reviews: Jinki:Extend
This review does not necessarily represent the views of Anime News Network or any of its staff, nor is it sponsored or endorsed by any group. All Rights Reserved. Beware of spoilers; this is your only warning. 
Just as planned. Jinki:Extend Reviewed: 8/09/10 Publisher: ADV Films Released: 2008 (I believe my set is a re-release, actually) Number of Episodes: 13 Number of Discs: 3 Time: About 325 minutes Format: 16:9 (Anamorphic Widescreen) Audio: English 5.1 / Japanese 2.0 Subtitles: English Rating: TV-PG Extras: -DISC 1 --Interview with Fumiko Orikasa (Aoba's VA) --Interview with Takuma Takewaka (Ryohei's VA) --Interview with Kazuhiro Wakabayashi (Sound Director) --Glossary of Terms --Venezuela Location Notes --Clean Opening and Closing --On Air Opening and Closing -DISC 2 --Interview with Yoshino Takamori (Minami's VA) --Interview with Yukari Tamura (Rui's VA) --Interview with Kazuhiro Wakabayashi (Again...) --Glossary of Terms --Moribito-2 Model Test --Japan 1988-1991 Location Notes --Clean Opening and Closing --On Air Opening 2 -DISC 3 --Jinki:Extend Special Night (Live-action show apparently done as a promotional event in Japan... 'bout 48 minutes long) --Character Art Gallery --Messages from the Seiyuu --Glossary of Terms --Japan 1991 Location Notes --Clean Opening and Closing --On Air Opening 3 Normal Price: 11.99$US ((See Note)) Brief Summary: A giant robot show that isn't actually for kids. Who'd've thought? Back: In Aoba Tsuzaki's world, everything seems normal. An over-the-top modeling fanatic, she spends her days locked in her room, happily building plastic robots. But there's rumbling beneath the surface: an evil enemy of mankind threatens to destroy the Earth. And when a cross-dressing kidnapper brings Aoba face-to-face with a real fighting machine, her robot dreams give way to frightening nightmares. She is unwittingly recruited into Angel, an elite fighting force which pits its giant robots not only against the ancient Jinki, but against an unseen evil that is working behind the scenes. Jinki:Extend is a world of explosive action, arresting intrigue, and battle-trained babes who are bent on revenge! Nothing is what it seems, and no one can be trusted. Only one thing is for sure - you're in for a seriously wild ride! Rednal's Review: That's a lot of extras, ADV. Seriously. Anyway... Jinki:Extend is a pretty odd show sometimes. It likes to mess with your head, but in a subtle manner, showing a lot of things that completely fail to make sense at the time. Being a Giant Robot show probably helps; there's something weird about the genre that allows for amazing variety in storytelling. I mean, you have your classics like Gundam, which is generally anti-war (sometimes via the use of force; think about that for awhile), and then your rather more modern super robot shows like Gurren Lagann (which is harder sci-fi than most people give it credit for... it's still not actually hard, but the physics-breaking is actually explained perfectly well and is entirely self-consistent, since as TV Tropes has pointed out, Spiral Energy simply breaks every single law of physics to tiny, unrecognizable pieces), and then you have the series like Magic Knight Rayearth which involve robots but don't totally feature them. For science fiction of a different flavor, Divergence Eve is so screwball that it's on my review list so I can go into it properly at a later time. But Jinki? It's not always so obvious. To start with, a significant portion of the show is centered on Aoba, the main character, a young girl who likes plastic models and winds up learning to pilot a giant robot. Her talent is considerable, but she definitely has to take the time to learn, and the show never hesitates to point out that she's not instantly an awesome pilot as soon as she gets into the cockpit. Which is all fine and good, except that a good portion of the episodes are taken up by scenes of the other main character. Whose exact relation to Aoba's plot is... not well-defined at the start. It's definitely unusual, and it's the sort of thing that may well throw a lot of people off, which is part of why I recommend watching this show in a marathon if you're going to watch it at all. It's easier to keep things straight when you do. And the story gets oddly dark at times, what with the way Aoba's mother acts, not to mention what amounts to near attempted-rape of an underage girl in the alternate-setting sequences... it doesn't actually show anything, and it's pretty apparent that nothing happened, but there was a character who wanted things to go differently. Plus a scene where it looks like a similar event really did happen. And later on, we have a miniature mind-rape of Akao by a villainess, complete with a hefty dose of "Blame the Victim" going on. Not the sort of material for Saturday Morning, so what we have here is a giant robot show that's best viewed by later teens and up. But I'd have to say that the weirdest bit is the way that the sections that Aoba stars in are mainly Giant Robot (which is pseudo-realistic), while Akao has full-on Super Robot material (robots sprouting flaming auras, anyone?), so it's really hard to figure out exactly where on the spectrum to place things. With the way the villains are in Akao's side of things, I was actually reminded a lot of Sakura Wars. When the two bits finally connect, it feels a little odd. Now, despite the presence of giant robots, the combat takes a bit of a backseat to the drama, though the setting is important. Aoba's story, at least, takes place primarily in Venezuela (points for variety!) of all places, where she's piloting the Moribito 2 against the Ancient Jinki, which are a vague menace to the world and a big problem in the first few episodes... then basically forgotten for awhile... and in the meantime Aoba has to deal with things like getting into shape (piloting the Moribito, aka the Jinki that isn't ancient, is physically demanding) and dealing with her snarky rival Rui, who's even flatter than Aoba. Well, she's about 11, but in true anime style looks somewhat older. Hooray for blatantly using Child Soldiers, although the show at least has the reasonably-plausible excuse that the older main pilot gets injured and can no longer pilot properly, requiring them to use a trainee. At least for Aoba, the whole child soldier thing wasn't something they did as a matter of policy. And on top of all that, Aoba has to deal with her manipulative mother, a woman she doesn't like all that much. The show is liberally peppered with character bits that remind us of who people are; Aoba, for example, doesn't get along very well with her co-pilot, a grumpy young guy who's very dissatisfied with her performance. And Aoba's development as a pilot is fairly slow, with a lot of fitness work and practice to build herself up, something that probably helps the pacing of the story. Seriously, this isn't a show that's all about the robot fights, despite their presence. It just isn't. It's about the characters, the emotions (boy I feel silly saying that), and towards the very end, it's a little about the fanservice. Interesting, and actually rather cheerful, way to finish things. Final Grade: B-. Though it has pacing problems, Jinki is better than some other shows of its type. When to Watch: Whenever you can marathon it; this series is probably best viewed straight, rather than broken up. Note: The price is actually for a different box set than the one I got; it looks like Funimation is re-releasing this show as part of their S.A.V.E. campaign in October, so you should be able to get it for a pretty good price then (listed is for Buy.com). For a decent show like this one, that’s an excellent deal at less than a dollar an episode. However, if you really care about the extras, you may want to look for a different release; I can’t guarantee that Funimation will keep them. |
|||
|
|||
|
Rednal
Posts: 132 |
|
||
|
Rednal's Reviews: Neo Ranga
This review does not necessarily represent the views of Anime News Network or any of its staff, nor is it sponsored or endorsed by any group. All Rights Reserved. Beware of spoilers; this is your only warning. 
Lie lie lie truth. [Note to Moderators: This was among the less racy images I could find that still showed off this part of the character design, but if the image is still considered objectionable, please let me know and I will promptly change it.] Neo Ranga Reviewed: 9/04/10 Publisher: ADV Films Released: 2003 Number of Episodes: 48 (Short-length; equals about 24 standard episodes) Number of Discs: 5 Time: 600 Minutes Format: 4:3 Audio: English 2.0 / Japanese 2.0 Subtitles: English Rating: TV-14 Extras: -Nothing of real interest Normal Price: 49.98$US (Low Price: $27.99) Brief Summary: A mysterious entity shows up and fights other mysterious entities in this oddly realistic series. Back: Across the ocean, on the tiny island kingdom of Barou, the ancient god Neo Ranga awakens from his slumber. He is mysteriously drawn to Tokyo, and the three beautiful sisters - Minami, Ushio, and Yuuhi - who are unwittingly linked to the monster. But instead of rolling out the red carpet, the military rolls out the weaponry, and things start to get nasty. The plot thickens: Why is Neo Ranga driven to Tokyo? Is he a messenger with a warning for humankind, or just a big boy out for a good time? And what's behind Ranga's mysterious eyes? Get ready, because Neo Ranga is about to rock Tokyo big-time! Rednal's Review: Don't let the erotic art fool you; they really don't have too much of that in this show. Unfortunately. The whole "mostly naked tribal tattoo" thing will get you enough funny looks at the store that they could've at least given you more of it in the show. This is still an interesting series, though. The premise of Neo Ranga is basically "Three Girls and their Giant Monster", but not in the sense of happy series where the Government just turns a blind eye and wacky humor ensues. The Government, rather, is extremely active in this series, mostly because they're quite worried about the impact of an apparently unkillable giant thing that just walked out of the ocean and seems to mostly obey a few young girls. A perfectly reasonable reaction, all things considered. It doesn't help that one of those girls happens to enjoy going 'Ranga Smash' on anything that gets in her way. Just when all the girls have started to try and settle down with everything dumped on them (threatening phone calls, paparazzi, local protests, and all sorts of fun goodies that come with being celebrities who have a monster everyone's scared of), things get worse when they find out that Ranga isn't the only deity-thing around. He's just the one on their side, and ends up having to eliminate more than a few opponents. Some of these opponents are dangerous, others... not so much. The enemy whose special skill is a traditional sort of fan spin just ends up making the girls laugh, because he's obviously no threat. But despite the occasional moments of humor, Neo Ranga is a generally serious series, and things happen to reflect this. It's fairly realistic (at least, as much as you can be when the title character is a three-story Mighty Morphin' Monster Man), with political issues that unfold rather believably, and, more obviously at any time, a subdued art style. Neo Ranga is not a show that's all bright colors and sparkles like most modern shows (name just about any show currently airing, and I'll bet it looks nothing like NR); it's generally dim, even on colors that would normally stand out, lending the show a mundane feeling that actually works well with the story. Despite all that happens, Neo Ranga isn't a fantastic story. It's not wild and crazy (well, not in the same way), and you aren't going to hear much talking on believing in people who believe in themselves. The fact that it was made in the previous century may have something to do with this. Still, the mundane feeling of the show actually manages to work for it, with the way the story unfolds and the characters wrestle with their issues. This is a show that I find hard to write about, to tell the truth. It's got a lot to it that defies easy description, and this definitely isn't a show for everyone. Personally, I'd say that this is really only for people who take their anime-watching fairly seriously; you're not just in it for the moe or bishounen, but actually interested in storytelling and more serious areas of animation. With each episode half-length, it's also pretty easy to find the time to squeeze in an episode or two even if your schedule is fairly tight, so that's a plus... and if the episodes were too much longer, the series would probably suffer for it. As it is now, though, it works pretty well. Final Grade: B. Very solid, and while it does look a little dated, that seems to be intentional. Of course, it's still dated anyway, but at least it's aged well. This is a series where the art style is actually important for the story they're telling. When to Watch: When you want something different, but not crazy-out-there like some shows. |
|||
|
|||
|
Rednal
Posts: 132 |
|
||
|
Rednal's Reviews: Toradora Part 2 (Premium Edition)
This review does not necessarily represent the views of Anime News Network or any of its staff, nor is it sponsored or endorsed by any group. All Rights Reserved. Beware of spoilers; this is your only warning. 
Toradora (Part 2 of 2, Premium Edition) Reviewed: 10/05/10 Publisher: NIS America Released: 2010 Number of Episodes: 12 Number of Discs: 2 Time: 295 Minutes Format: 16:9 Widescreen Audio: Japanese Subtitles: English Rating: Teen Extras: -Toradora! SOS! Hurray for Gourmands (#3 and #4) -Hardcover Artbook Normal Price: 47.99$US (From the NIS Official Store; Retail is $60) Brief Summary: Small tsundere and gangster-looking househusband deal with their relationship issues in this quality comedic romance. Back: N/A Rednal's Review: Yes, I know I didn't review Part 1. Oh well. Anyway, here it is, part of NIS America's second anime release (I'll review the other part in a few days, after I've actually seen it), and this time things went much smoother than their first release... which I don't think many of us are complaining about. As with their first release (and judging by the information for Pandora Hearts, probably future releases as well), Toradora Part 2 (PE) comes in an oversized box with two thin plastic disc cases held alongside a big artbook featuring interviews, character relationship maps, and general commentary. The anime is on the expensive side (about 4$US an episode) for only twelve episodes, but the sheer size of the box and the fact that the artbook's there at all do help to even things out. Still a little expensive, but you won't find some of this stuff with fansubs, and for those who are serious collectors of anime, this is excellent to put on display. A note on the artbook; if you care about spoilers, don't read it until you're finished watching the show. I found spoilers for the end of the series in an earlier section of the book (it's generally divided by episode chunks), so a fairly major moment didn't really come as a surprise to me. NIS would do well to look at a little more editing for further releases in order to help avoid that sort of thing in the future. Anyway, after the drama and comedy of the first season (Part 1), Toradora steams ahead into mostly romantic territory, though it's never particularly soppy about it. Indeed, far from being an ordinary harem where it's just a bunch of girls falling for one guy (though there are traces of that...), Toradora skews firmly into the realm of believable relationships, and four of the five major characters have to go through some pretty serious issues. The fifth has further problems of her own, but never receives quite the same development. And for those who care about such things, Toradora also breaks the mold of a lot of recent series featuring a lot of romance by firmly breaking the status quo. Well, kind of. The relationships at the end of the series bear only a passing resemblance to those at the beginning; many motivations are different, and as things hit their boiling point, we see sides of the characters that weren't shown before. The best part is, this actually works pretty well for the series. Little adds to drama the same way making a previously ultra-happy character totally flip out on her best friend does. Toradora isn't a particularly groundbreaking series. But when it does something, it definitely tries to do it well, and the quality comes through for an excellent show. If you're looking for something good to watch, rather than just another ecchi harem full of mindless fluff, you could do considerably worse than to pick up this series. A final note on purchasing: Retail price for each half of the set is $60, and that's for 12 or 13 episodes (depending on which half you get), so it is on the expensive side. Certain online retailers will get it to you for less; Right Stuf has it for $44, which is a little under what they want you to buy in order to get free Economy shipping. The NIS Official Store is slightly more expensive, at $48, and as I recall the cheapest shipping is about $5. It'll also net you points at their store, however; if you're going to buy a significant number of series released by NIS, every 500 points at their store will get you a code for $5 off of a purchase (more if you buy a lot), which will help with shipping costs and may be a pretty good deal in the long run. Final Grade: A-. It isn't perfect, but the release doesn't suffer from some of the problems with NIS' original release and the series itself is considerably better than most of its kind. When to Watch: When you want to see characters who actually have personalities. Dull they ain't. |
|||
|
|||
|
Rednal
Posts: 132 |
|
||
|
Rednal's Reviews: Pandora Hearts Volume 1 PE
This review does not necessarily represent the views of Anime News Network or any of its staff, nor is it sponsored or endorsed by any group. All Rights Reserved. Beware of spoilers; this is your only warning. 
Pandora Hearts (Volume 1 of 2, Premium Edition) Reviewed: 11/13/10 Publisher: NIS America Released: 2010 Number of Episodes: 13 Number of Discs: 2 Time: 330 Minutes Format: 16:9 Audio: Japanese Subtitles: English Rating: Teen Extras: -Official Artbook (Hardcover) -Detective Break! -Sharon's "Mission: Innocent Maiden!" -Heartthrob Pandora Academy! -Alice and Echo's Errand! -Heartthrob Pandora Academy! Part 2! -Clean Opening -Clean Ending Normal Price: 47.99$US ((NISA Official Store)) Brief Summary: Alternate dimensions, supernatural monster combat, and a Magical Girl who completely lacks a transformation sequence... Back: N/A Rednal's Review: The next release from new entry NIS America, Pandora Hearts is an offering that sort of straddles the line between the comedy and drama of Toradora and the supernatural combat of Persona-trinity soul-. As with their prior releases, this Premium Edition comes in a large, hardcover box that's very good for displaying, complete with some very nice artwork on the front cover of the three main characters. Don't let it fool you, though; the cute girl in the middle doesn't look like that most of the time. She's just dressed up for the image. Again (this seems to be NIS' chosen standard for releases), the case itself is arranged so that two thin covers for the discs sit one in front of the other, quite snug, next to the artbook. Unlike Toradora's artbooks, which was pretty much all commentary, or the storybook that made up half of Persona's first book, the one for Pandora Hearts is actually about half art. There's some fairly nice images in there, and as far as extras for anime go, you can do a lot worse than this. Good stuff. Certain orders also came with a poster, though that might not be available any longer; pretty much a blown up version of the front of the box. The show itself was actually something I enjoyed watching, since it didn't quite fit into a lot of the molds I've previously seen for storytelling. Ostensibly the main character, Oz Vessalius is a nobleman who's getting ready for his Coming-of-Age party, after which he will be considered part of 'adult' society... And as the heir apparent to one of the greatest families, one can expect a lot. Of course, something has to go wrong, and that something is his nervous wreck of a servant getting cut up and Oz himself being dropped into the prison dimension of Abyss by a mysterious organization. Where he proceeds to eat cookies. Like a gerbil. In front of what may be one of the most bloodthirsty killers in all of Abyss, the 'Bloody Black Rabbit'. One thing that generally stands out about Pandora Hearts is the personality given to the characters; most all of them have their moments, from the trollish antics of 'Break' to Alice clambering up something tall nearby just so she can look down on people and laugh at them. In a show where so many things are played for laughs, when the drama comes, it tends to hit a lot harder. And that isn't a bad thing, as we start to learn more about the characters from what the first episode or two showed us and find that there's more going on with their actions than we thought. Despite the shounen-y aspects of the show (Large monsters being summoned up and fighting with the main cast, a Cute Mute (well, very quiet girl, at any rate) who hides weapons under her too-long sleeves, mysterious organizations with even more mysterious goals), I wouldn't actually classify this series as a shounen show. It's certainly not like Bleach or some such, as quite a bit of time is spent on character interactions, rather than the Monster of the Week. It's the characters that drive this show, not the combat, and the emotions that really carry it along. To that end, Pandora Hearts probably isn't very suitable for the casual fan who just wants fanservice (basically nonexistent in Pandora Hearts) or generally mindless entertainment. I would say it's rather more appropriate for someone who's actually a fan of anime, and who searches for the good shows through all of the other offerings. Pandora Hearts isn't the greatest show ever, but it's better than most, and worth at least fair consideration from any serious collector. Final Grade: B+. It isn't quite good enough to make the A-List, but it's a very solid show. When to Watch: When you want a little variety from the usual run of shows, one that won't bore you. I suggest marathoning a few episodes at a time; a comedy you can start and stop fairly easily, but since the story is important to this show, getting it a chunk at a time is probably better. Note: As with the other shows released by NIS, the menu formatting is slightly... odd, in how it's set up. Accessing the 'Root Menu' should get you to the episode select screen, though. |
|||
|
|||
|
catstigereye
Posts: 341 |
|
||
|
very nice though some of those grades are off a little. that's just me though.
|
|||
|
|||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group