Forum - View topicCX's Anime Reviews (can be spoiler-ific). Latest: Shimoneta: A Boring World Where the Concept of Dir
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Captain X
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About Me:
I can honestly say that my first experience with anime was Sailor Moon, back when it aired just before school when I was in something like 6th or 7th grade or so. Since I've pretty much always been a bit of a perv, even at this relatively young age I was pretty much only into this series for the fan service, even if I didn't know that was what it was called. Plus it came on right before Highlander: The Animated Series. Needless to say, my tastes have changed, and I'm, well, more grown up now than I was at the time, so I doubt I'd ever watch Sailor Moon again. Mostly I just like to make fun of it now. The first anime I really got into as an adult was Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, and it's a testament to its quality that I was hooked despite not having any clue as to what the hell was going on plot-wise. This was as it was aired on Adult Swim, so thankfully they repeated the show and I was able to watch the whole thing from start to finish. Also airing on Adult Swim was Cowboy Bebop, and while I wasn't as hooked as GitS, I usually watched if it was on. A couple summers ago I actually bought the series and finally watched all of it, and it remains one of my favorites. Anyway, long story short, I have some friends here at college who introduced me to the local anime club and also to some anime they figured I might like. I've also looked around online and put together a list of anime I decided I wanted to watch, and that's pretty much what all these reviews are going to be. Keep in mind, though, that I haven't started writing reviews until this summer. They tend to vary in length, and there are some good shows I'd like to go back and do a bit more justice to, but that's pretty much a project for the future (like so many others I'd like to do). I'd also like to do some things with screencaps, but same story. Same thing with some of the series I've watched and are actually on my recommendations list: I just don't feel I have the time right now. Actually the reviews I'm posting are a bit old, so while it might seem like I'm being really prolific, I'm just going through a long list I already have, sorry. My Recommendations: These are shows I especially liked for whatever reason. Some are good sci-fis, some are funny, some are over-the-top action "man-ime", or well, whatever. The only bad thing is that I haven't written reviews for all of these yet, so you won't be able to see why I liked them so much for a while, I can only say that they were good and that I would recommend them. I can also say that I will update this list as I see something that I think deserves to go on it.
I will post links to the reviews I do have as I actually manage to write and post them. The Index As for the reviews themselves, here are the reviews I've written so far in the order I intend to post them in:
I'll be posting direct links to each review as I post them. Oh, and as a warning, some of my reviews can get a bit spoiler heavy. Not all of them are, but either way, read at your own risk. Last edited by Captain X on Sun Dec 18, 2016 7:21 pm; edited 187 times in total |
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Captain X
Posts: 253 |
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009-1
(13 episode series) As you might guess from the title, this is basically the Japanese version of James Bond, naturally featuring mostly female spies. Set in a fictional future where the Cold War never ended, countries have single letter names, and the cybernetic implantation of firearms into one's body isn't all that uncommon, really all this anime has going for it is the amusement factor. Heavy on fan service without any real actual nudity, this show manages to give new meaning to the phrase "killer set of tits", as the main character isn't the only woman who has either machine guns or lasers for nipples, which apparently come standard issue for female spies in the future. The male agents apparently pack, too, though in a different part of their anatomy. The series itself is very episodic in nature, with the only real character development being the title character moving away from being an unquestioning spy into being more of an independent operator. The series does play a bit with morality as far as the main character's role in this cold war, as well as some romance with a character who's a spy for the other side, but in my opinion it never was very serious. Basically it's about a chick with guns in her tits having action-filled adventure in each episode and that's about it, which earns it a 4/10. |
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Tony K.
 SubscriberModerator  Posts: 11293 Location: Frisco, TX |
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Great effort. I've added your thread to the Recommendation Thread's list of users in the third post. Good luck with the rest.
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Captain X
Posts: 253 |
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Shiny. I hope people actually like them. The first ones aren't the best, but they've gotten better as I've gained experience.
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Captain X
Posts: 253 |
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This one seems to be the anime of now, so I figured I'd jump ahead and post my review of it. I may do this from time to time for the hell of it, or if someone requests that I do so.
Ga-Rei: Zero (12 episode series) This was an okay-ish series. If I had to describe it, it's kind of like Ghostbusters, but with a Japanese twist. It's actually pretty much what you would expect from an action anime, and they even have it revolve around a couple of school-girls just for fun and fan service. So it isn't really bad, but it doesn't do a whole lot to impress me either. Then there's also the fact that this is apparently a prequel story to a manga rather than an adaptation or a story which would otherwise stand on its own. The frustrating part about that is that the anime then makes the assumption that you know who people are and what's going on. Since I didn't, the first episode almost turned me off entirely. This series really got off to a bad start with me, because it did two things that really annoy me. The first thing it did was to start off at what is basically the end of the story, and this is made all the more clumsy by the fact that this flash-forward isn't even entirely contained in one episode. The other thing it did, which actually was a lot worse in my opinion, was to kick everything off with a set of characters in order to fake those of us who haven't read the manga into believing these are the main characters. While their introductions are rushed in order to keep up the absurd pacing a lot of action anime like this tends to take, everything still seemed to be revolving around this group of characters. And then they all die at the end of the first episode. The second episode continues on from this point, introducing us to the real main characters of the story while still showing us about the 3/4 point of the story. Meanwhile, I still had no idea what was going on, and while it was apparent that the main characters knew who the big bad with the sword and the giant lion monster was, I still had no freakin' clue. If not for the fact that this series was only 12 episodes long, I honestly probably would have given up at this point, but I decided to give it another episode before I passed judgment. Fortunately, the story goes back to the beginning of itself and properly introduces us to the characters and the setting. Basically, the world is under threat from paranormal threats that range from headcrab zombies (not kidding), to ghosts, to ghost monsters, to seemingly demon possessed humans who can transform into blue butterflies. There is apparently a rich history of exorcist families fighting these things, and they still do it in modern times, though there are also two secretive government-based organizations which are competing with each other to do the same. One is military based and relies on technology, while the other is civilian based and uses people from these old exorcist families who can actually see the supernatural beasties. The really fun part is how despite all the massive damage occurring to the city and all the people who end up victims, everything is supposedly kept secret. Now, I could rant about how this doesn't make any sense, and how both "secret" organizations seem to do everything they can to not go unnoticed, but whatever. Why did I want to watch this again? 
Oh yeah, lesbians (supposedly). The two main characters are both school girls, though Yomi Isayama is older than Kagura Tsuchimiya, the real protagonist of the series. Yomi has lost both of her parents, but was adopted by the head of another exorcist family and has become his heir apparent. The actual story starts with Kagura's mother having died in action during a demon attack. Since Kagura's father is super into his exorcist job, he decides he can't be arsed to raise his own daughter and instead asks Yomi's adoptive father to do it for him, who in turn asks Yomi to look after her. This proves difficult as right away, Yomi is repeatedly called away by the secretive civilian organization I mentioned earlier to fight the supernatural with her sword and magic lion beast who lives in the sword's scabbard. Since Kagura is kind of hurt by being repeatedly left to fend for herself by the otherwise kind Yomi, Yomi brings her with on one of the jobs. She gets chewed out for doing so, but not long afterwards Kagura becomes part of the team anyway. The two become very closely bonded and really it's more of a sisterly thing, but that doesn't stop the series from teasing us with some lesbian fan service. It actually might've been more interesting if they'd really been lovers, but that would have given it something of an incestuous overtone unless they'd had a different backstory. Of course they were both still in school and therefore jailbait anyway, so if you liked the fan service from them you should feel bad (I mostly do). Damn it, Japan! Give me some grown-up lesbians to drool over! Anyway, something good the story does is to carefully set up the characters relationships with each other, so we actually kind of feel something when a lot of them wind up dead. We're introduced to a number of them, and there's even some humor to be had from some of their antics. Like the guy who makes their weapons going around in nothing but a loincloth, and his introduction being that he gets sprayed in the face by Kagura because she thinks he's some pervert who's snuck into the place. I wasn't really taken in all that much, but it was still fairly good. It also helped to understand Yomi's eventual betrayal that we already saw before being properly introduced to her to even know she had become a turncoat. The drama resulting from that kind of even works a little, though a lot of it is lost in the hyper action of the series. Still, the fact that Yomi kills basically all of her friends, coworkers, and even Kagura's doche father and still comes off as somewhat sympathetic is something. This isn't what I'd consider a favorite by far, but this series does have some good-ish qualities to it once the major hurdles it trips the audience up with in the beginning are past. If you like hack n' slash action with secretive organizations fighting for the good of humanity, this would probably be worth seeing. Other than that, all I can really say is that while interesting at times, I did have some trouble getting into it. 6/10. |
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Captain X
Posts: 253 |
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A Wind Named Amnesia
(1990 movie) Of the post-apocalyptic variety, this movie tries to ask questions, but in the end only rhetorically. Basically humanity has reverted to something like cavemen, having lost its civilization along with its memories, which all disappeared on day thanks to a mysterious wind that swept over the entire planet. Fortunately, all the neat toys the military had been playing around with were left behind, one of which was a convenient teaching tool that allowed the main character to relearn how to be human, if not his own actual past. He's taken on the impossible task of restoring humanity to its former self, but really all he can do is drive around in a jeep and help a few people as he comes across them. Along the way he meets a strange woman who also seems to be a normal, civilized human, except for the fact that she seems to know an awful lot about what's going on in any given situation. In a way this almost would have done better as a series, but it probably wouldn't have been a very good series either. I found it just interesting enough to keep watching, though amusement with the Japanese interpretation of the United States (the movie took place entirely there) helped keep me watching, too. In the end it really didn't pay off. As I'd suspected early on due to some really obvious foreshadowing, the mysterious woman was in fact an alien, and the wind was caused by these aliens, who took it upon themselves to punish humanity or something like that. I never really understood the reasons, but the message in the end was the standard issue "humanity is growing too fast and too out of harmony with Earth" variety. So really there was nothing special about this movie. The main character didn't even act upset at all at this revelation, and instead had some good-bye sex with the alien chick before she left him in the ruins of his civilization, neither of them really having accomplished anything toward the goal stated in the beginning of the movie, which earns it a 2/10. |
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Captain X
Posts: 253 |
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Ah! (or Oh) My Goddess!
(50 episode series) Yeah, I know there are movies and other versions to go along with this series, but really I'm a little embarrassed that I watched this series in full as it is. It was actually one of the first when I started watching everything basically alphabetically on my huge "to watch" list, and for some reason, I actually did watch this angst-fest beginning to end. On the other hand, if I hadn't, I actually would have missed a few interesting stories. What I'm referring to has more to do with stories involving the Motor Club within the series that the main character, Keiichi, was involved in. One of them was actually a ghost story, and it's actually my favorite of the stories I found somewhat interesting. It actually managed to tug on what's left of my heart strings a little, mainly because it involved a sick young woman who died before someone could fulfill a promise to her, which in this case was just something as simple as a motorcycle ride. So basically she ended up haunting the property she died at until someone else could come along, fix the now classic motorcycle and give her a ride around the nearby lake. I also have to admit that I liked how the writers pointed out that love comes in many forms, even in the form of someone taking care of their old cars/electronics/etc. Belldandy, the title goddess, really was too sweet that way. And really she was just too impossibly sweet. A "harem" anime, we got to meet her sisters too, but while they were anything but sweet, I wouldn't call them all that interesting either. That could be because I found most of this series either boring or really frustrating. The two main characters are basically living together as a couple from the very beginning, but the male lead was horribly immature and the female lead wasn't much better. It was completely obvious that the two of them cared a great deal for each other, and yet the vast majority of what happened revolved around the other one trying to show their love to the other or still trying to determine if the other loves them, no matter how many times they show or outright say that they do to each other. No, really, right up to the last episode. I guess if you like angst (I'm looking at you TnT 'shippers – you know who you are), this might actually be the thing for you. Otherwise, not much to see here, and if you were only interested in the stories I was talking about being interested in, I'd be happy to look up the episodes for you and list them. It's for those that I'm even bothering to throw this series any kind of a bone, scoring it 1/10. |
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Captain X
Posts: 253 |
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Akira
(1988 movie, new dub) So this is the famous movie that is credited with making anime cool here in the US? Well, it's not bad, but it's not really as awesome as I was hoping it would be. I'm not even sure what the point was supposed to be, aside from the standard "science gone wrong". The movie itself is set in the future, after a nuclear WWIII that apparently started with an explosion going off in Tokyo. Well Neo-Tokyo has been built in the crater, with the old part of the city surrounding it pretty much in ruins. It's easy to see why this movie is classed as cyber-punk, which can pretty much be summed up as "high tech, low life". The main characters themselves aren't exactly good guys, most of them belonging to a motorcycle gang which regularly goes out and battles another motorcycle gang called The Clowns. That is, all until a fateful meeting with a little kid that looks like he has that freakish rapid-aging disease. Turns out the kid is special, and not in a back of the short bus way, as he uses some kind of a mind force-field to keep from getting run over by Tetsuo, basically the secondary main character of the film. Why the freakishly old kid didn't use his mind force field earlier to protect himself and the communist revolutionary who rescued him from the secret military lab he was being kept at is never really made clear, or addressed even. Oh, yeah, Japan is apparently in the throes of a recession which has resulted in massive civil unrest and a practically fascist police state to deal with it. Naturally where there are fascists, there are communists to fight them ... well, they never really identify as communists, but let's just say I had the feeling. In any case, the movie never really delves into any of this all that deeply, instead focusing on the main storyline of Kaneda, the film's main character, and his exploits in trying to find and rescue his friend Tetsuo from the military (with a little commie tail-chasing on the side). It seems Tetsuo is suffering some rather odd side-effects from the mind force field, which is why the military and its scientists have taken an interest in him. It seems he remind them of another really powerful psychic kid they experimented on named Akira, who has become a messianic figure to a large portion of the anarchist types who make up most of the mobs seen in the movie being oppressed by the police. This brings up one of the secondary characters, a JSDF Lieutenant Colonel. He's hard to put a finger on, mostly because at times he's a complete bastard, and at other times the movie basically makes him out to be justified for being a complete bastard, who occasionally has a heart. He's the one in charge of the military's research into these telekinetic kids, and it's more than hinted at that Akira caused what appeared to be a nuclear detonation at the beginning of the film. Naturally, the colonel doesn't want this to happen again, and he's determined to kill Tetsuo should he get out of hand, which is naturally exactly what happens. Akira is an okay film, and is kind of cool. There is a lot of awesomeness, especially as Tetsuo grows out of control, but it isn't really an awesome movie. The storyline is at times hard to follow, and there's a connection between some government officials and the communist revolutionaries that is never really explained, and really has nothing at all to do with the main plot as far as I could tell. That being said, this movie is still worth a watch, and scores a 7/10. |
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Captain X
Posts: 253 |
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Area 88
(12 episode series) I tried to get into this series, but there really wasn't much there for me aside from cool warplanes and cool air-to-air combat. It takes place in a generic middle-east country which is undergoing a civil war, with the government having hired on a mercenary force of combat pilots to aid their side against the rebels. The concept of mercenary jet fighter pilots never really makes much sense to me, and what makes even less sense is that the mercenary force itself is like the French Foreign Legion of old, which kidnapped people and pressed them into service. Well, technically everyone signs up for a stint of service, but they're still treated like slaves in the sense that they can't leave the super-secret base they are stationed at unless they serve their full contractual stint, or they buy their way out of it with the money they earn from their kills. While the series' main character is in fact a reporter who is there for reasons not made entirely clear until later, the character being focused on is a blonde-haired Japanese pilot who flies an F-5. He's your basic moody type yearning for home and the one he left behind. Considering he got screwed over by his friend and shanghaied into service that would normally make him pretty sympathetic as a character, but unfortunately this is ruined by the aforementioned moodiness, which fails completely at making him mysterious or even really interesting for that matter. Ironically the reporter/photographer is more interesting as he develops from the typical snooty press type into someone who's sympathetic towards the pilots at this base. He ends up having second thoughts about his job, and actually ends up quitting it, which makes it that much worse that he gets the tar beat out of him by the pilots and is almost killed by them when they find out what he was originally sent there to do in typical kill the messenger style. Well, fear not, all turns out "right" in the end as far as the main pilot's girl deciding to not marry the douche that betrayed him and had him shanghaied, and the fact he's completely forgiven for trying to run, but he still has to serve out his time and do exactly what he's been lamenting he hates doing by shooting down and killing other human beings, which is what's made him such a moody bastard. I guess if you like the eye candy, this series might be worth the time to watch, but there isn't much of a story that's worth watching. 4/10. |
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Captain X
Posts: 253 |
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Argento Soma
(25 episode series) This is a classic example of an anime that takes too long to get to the point. While I understand and like the idea of meeting characters and getting to know them as they develop, there's something to be said for keeping the plot moving at a steady pace, which this series doesn't until the last few episodes. What's worse is that from the beginning of the series, you're teased by an image in the end credits that doesn't become significant until the last half of the series when the big mystery is finally solved and the series finally gets to the point. Superficially this series reminds me of what I've read about Neon Genesis Evangelion, at least in the sense that giant alien robots dubbed "angels" have been randomly descending from the heavens and wreaking havoc on humanity. In fact, New York City, the place they first landed, had been completely destroyed and left abandoned. Giant mechas also seem to be humanity's only hope, but that seems to be where the similarities end. There are no children piloting these things, the aliens all seem to be setting down in North America and heading towards a "pilgrimage point" which is just north of the North Dakota border in Canada. This is the big mystery of the series, as well as the origin and purpose of the very different looking giant robot dubbed "Frank" (short for Frankenstein). All is eventually answered late in the series, but the pace getting there is what makes it frustrating, because really the series probably could have gotten there in about half the time it did. I guess the main storyline itself revolves around the character whose false identity the series is named after and his struggle to find out what his girlfriend was doing experimenting with this mad scientist type on Frank, and what the military has to do with what happened. He's basically made a spy by a person whose identity we don't learn until almost the end of the series in order to infiltrate the FUNERAL organization, which is charged with the defense of Earth against the alien robots. Hilariously, it's headquartered in Minnesota on the edge of Lake Superior. In any case, the military is butthurt over what it sees as someone invading its turf, and there is a power struggle which results. Also hilarious is that while this is set in 21st century America, it's seen as somehow special that a woman is in charge of Funeral, despite female commanding officers being not all that uncommon even now. In fact the only thing women are restricted from doing is actively engaging in combat, which is something you see in a lot of anime. The misogyny is very open and frequent, and it all comes off as a hammer-to-the-head message against it. This is probably because it's from Japan, where misogyny is pretty common. I guess I found it interesting enough to keep watching, and I don't really regret watching it exactly, but it was very frustrating to have the story crawl along at a snail's pace for about the first half. The main character is also something of a whiny misogynistic bastard, which also affects the watchability of the series since it's hard to really sympathize with him. It might be worth a watch, but it's also a bit of a waste of time, earning it a 6/10. |
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Captain X
Posts: 253 |
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Armitage III
(4 episode OVA) This OVA is mostly good. It's hard to put it any other way, because while it has its interesting points, there are also a lot of clichés which tend to annoy me. Taking place on Mars, which has been terraformed successfully at some point in the future, the main plot focuses on the murder of several people who turn out to in fact be robots. While human-like robots are quite commonplace and actually the source of contention on Mars over labor rights, these robots are special because they are so human-like in personality as well as appearance, so much so that if they hadn't been killed, no one would have known any differently. In fact, it's at first expected that people have been replaced by the robots, since most of them have been famous musicians, artists, writers and the like. Of course the only one to care that robots are being killed is Officer Naomi Armitage, the fan servicy partner of the real main character, Ross Syllibus, who is actually a recent transfer. The somewhat annoying part is that she only feels that way because as it turns out, she's actually one of them. Like pretty much every sci-fi to feature androids, this OVA somewhat awkwardly deals with the question of if artificial life can really be considered that much different from humans themselves, especially since they look and act human (and most of them happen to be attractive women). That being said, Naomi herself is probably the most annoying aspect of the show, since in the beginning she tends to behave inappropriately, like gushing over how attractive her new male partner is while he's hunched over what they both initially think is a human murder victim, and later on she basically goes off on her own, abandoning her partner, even though it's clear by this point that Ross sympathizes and supports her. In fact they end up falling in love and going on the run together by the end of the show. I guess having her go off on her own was supposed to be dramatic, but it ended up just being annoying, at least to me. Overall this is a pretty good show, interesting to watch, and with some amusing reminders of when it was made. I would recommend this anime, though I don't think I can score it any higher than 7/10. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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Hey, these reviews are not bad. I am looking forward to the reviews of several titles on your list, but I won't mention what those are so you don't feel any pressure.
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Captain X
Posts: 253 |
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Cool. Glad to know someone's reading them at least.
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Captain X
Posts: 253 |
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Armitage III: Poly-Matrix
(2000 movie) This is a compilation movie made from the original OVA. Most of it is exactly the same, though some cuts were made to save time, and some bits were added to help make things make a little more sense, which it mostly succeeds at. It also features Kiefer "Jack Bower" Sutherland as the voice of the main character, Ross Syllibus, and Elizabeth Berkley as the voice of the title character, Naomi Armitage. While this isn't as bad as some other compilation movies I've seen, most of its strengths come from the additional scenes which would have actually added more to the OVA. That being said, I don't really feel they make up for the storylines that were cut, and I still prefer the original OVA. It's not horrible, but not really worth the watch unless you want to see the additional scenes I'm referring to, and only after you've seen the OVA. 5/10. |
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Megiddo
 Posts: 8360 Location: IL |
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I have no idea why you would watch 50 episodes of something that you rate as a whole 1/10.
You must be the biggest masochist in the world or something. |
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