Irresponsible Captain Tylor Review

Irresponsible Captain Tylor

    Anime in the 90’s is an odd time. Animation was still mostly hand drawn. Voice acting  in American was a laughable career choice. It was impossible for American anime fans to get the newest stuff without having to wait for the badly done, incredibly expensive, poorly fan subbed, VHS tapes. But it was also the time were incredible anime were released. Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon, Slayers, and tons of other classics came out during this time. You could see the heart in every show, the time and effort put into its creation. It was a time when classics were being invented with every turn. And today’s fair is no exception. With its classic art style, great voice acting, and its uncanny ability to draw you in, bur I might be getting a bit ahead of myself. This is Irresponsible Captain Tylor.

   
       Irresponsible Captain Tylor follows the titular character, Justy Ueki Tylor (age 20), or just Tylor for short. Tylor has a plan, a grand plan, a plan to live an easy life the way he wants to live. He joins the military to get a job, any job, serve his time, and then retire on a nice fat military pension. Instead, he becomes captain of an old star cruiser called the Soyokaze. The Soyokaze is a dumping ground of the worse members of the military, filled with trigger happy marines, antisocial pilots, and a doctor who can only operate when drunk, among others. But Tylor takes it all in stride, living his life the way he wants to, being relaxed, flying through space, and treating his crew like actual people.
  

      Irresponsible Captain Tylor visually is very reminiscent of older space opera anime, like Space Battleship Yamato and Captain Harlock. But that is only to create a wider disperse between the traditional seriousness of a space opera anime like this one is thematically, and the comedy that this show really is. And it really works. If you have seen any of those old, classic space opera anime, you expect the characters to act a certain way, and instead of fighting to the death like in every other show, Tylor will just look up, and recommend complete and unceremonious surrender. And it is great every time.
    What makes the show interesting is partly the space opera comedy mishmash that works perfectly. But the other half of the equation is the characters. Every character, from the smart and sassy Yuiko Star, to the stoic and cool pilot Harold Katori, to the random minor character marine Jason(reminiscent of the ax murderer variety), are all more then just characters. Sometimes when watching something, even if it is something that is incredibly well done, you can tell that the characters are fake, they are just actors playing parts. Irresponsible Captain Tylor is different. Every character just has so much personality and hear that I can really see them just being real people. That added edge completely changes the immersion factor. I remember that I had to stop watching this show for a couple of weeks because of finals and school and other stuff. I finally had a chance to sat down and I started the show up again, and in less then an episode I was completely immersed again. This is just one of those shows that can just draw you in and completely hold you.

    The music to this show is another plus. The music is perfect for every scene, but that is only part of it. It is best when it goes classical. Irresponsible Captain Tylor uses classical music perfectly, enhancing every scene it takes part in. There is this one hugely climatic scene towards the end of the series which I don’t want to spoil for you, where if any other music was playing it would completely detract form the scene, and make it just so much less.  A bit of a negative though is the editing. There just seems to be scenes missing once in a while. It usually doesn’t cause too many problems, but at times it can be jarring. It is like it needed a better transitional vehicle. But this is a small detraction from a great anime on the whole.

Holiday Party Time!

    This show is fantastic, and I highly recommend it to anyone. If you just can’t stand older anime, anime from the 90’s, and anything sci-fi, then this is not the show for you, and that is really too bad because this is just such a fun anime. It is a fun show, a smart show, and you can really sink your teeth into it. Also, Captain Tylor wore Gurren Lagann glasses before it was cool. So, until next time, happy holidays, and have fun watching. 

My space battleship is the space battleship that pierces the heavens!

Kamen Rider Ryuki Review

Kamen Rider Ryuki

Kamen Rider is an odd beast. It started in 1971 as an odd but completely enjoyable show. It followed the adventures of a motor biker who was turned into a cyborg for an evil organization bent on destroying the world. He broke out before they could finish the brain washing and decided to fight against the evil origination, known as Shocker, and their legion of monsters. This was the basic consensus for about every rider until 1989, where every rider was mechanically changed somehow, ever villain was part of some sort of organization (mostly), and all the riders existed within the same continuity. Then Kamen Rider went into a type of hiatus, where they stopped making new Kamen Rider series until 1999, not counting the three movies they made in the 90’s. The new series was Kuuga, a new take on the age old battles as it were. Kuuga wasn’t some half-robot freak, he was all human, with a strange and ancient belt that allowed him to transform and fight monsters. From Kuuga on we were given a new Kamen Rider series every year, making this years entry the 13th Kamen Rider series of the new age. One of those series is the topic of today’s talk, a strange and surprisingly dark series that deconstructs the rider genre, and really takes you for a twist with every episode. But I might be getting a bit ahead of myself. This is Kamen Rider Ryuki.

Say Cheese!

 Kamen Rider Ryuki, shortened to Ryuki for obvious purposes, is the third entry of the Heisei era of Kamen Rider. (Heisei era is every series post Kamen Rider Black RX, and Showa era is every series pre Black RX.) Ryuki follows the story of Kido Shinji, also known as Kamen Rider Ryuki,  a reporter for a small time paper that is investigating a string of disappearances when he stumbles his way into the Rider War. All of a sudden Shinji is fighting monsters, and other Riders, inside of a strange parallel universe called Mirror World, where he must fight to survive. Shinji wants to stop the fighting between the riders, and defend the unknowing populace from the growing monster threat. But that’s not completely right. Ryuki is really about a dark and serious badass who is called Ren Akiyama, also known as Kamen Rider Knight. He fights the monsters, but he wants to be the winner of the Rider War. You see, the winner gets a special prize, one wish. By defeating all the other Riders, the winner will be able to get his hearts desire. And Ren wants that prize. He has some to save. But that’s not the right answer either. Ryuki is REALLY about a lawyer named Kitaoka Shuichi, a man who calls himself super lawyer. He fights to win the prize also, wishing for immortality to enjoy all the delights in the world. But even that’s not fully right.

What I'm saying is that there are a lot of characters.

Ryuki is the one Rider series that has the most individual riders in it, not counting Kamen Rider Decade, because Decade only has more on account of it crossing over with all the previous series.  Counting the movies, because they are continuity in the oddest way possible, there are a total of 15 individual riders going around and kicking things in the face.  Each of these riders have their own story and are characterized very well, though there were a few hit or miss ones in the mess.  Because of all these riders and all of the non transforming characters that Ryuki has, it is won of the more story oriented rider series. Now this isn’t saying all the other rider series are lacking in plot. Quite the contrary, each series has its own story with its own nuances and intricacies, Ryuki just has more. And this is actually one of the faults of this series.

So. Many. Riders.

Ryuki has too much story. Each character is going on a personal journey, and having to fight for what they believe in. and when I say every character, I mean every single character has some sort of character growth, or a story involving solely them, or something. It makes the series feel cramped, and actually detracts form the shows main hero. Shinji, the titular rider, is never really given the spotlight I feel he deserves. I think Shinji should have gotten more growth as a character. This isn’t saying he became a stagnated character who didn’t learn anything through his own personal journey, but I feel if the show focused more on him, and less on the 14 other riders populating the show, the character would have turned out better. Really, when I was saying how the story is really about X character, I was being completely honest.

The show is also old. When watching older Kamen Rider series, you really get a sense of how far technology has advanced, especially in filming. While I think the series looks perfectly fine, it does look just a bit dated, if only because of film quality. I don’t think they perfected how to film people in vehicles until Kamen Rider Kabuto, and that was at least 4 years later. While someone like me thinks it looks fine, I can understand others not liking  the series based solely on the film quality. What is done very well are the fight scenes. Kamen Rider’s specialty is fight scenes, and Ryuki does not disappoint. Every rider is given an individual fighting style, individual weapons and original special abilities. The fght scenes are interesting and very fluid. And it has something everyone should love. Rider on rider battle action. A six person rider on rider brawl is something that should put a smile on anyone’s face. And I would be remised if I did not mention this, Ryuki is the first rider season with both an evil rider, and technically the first female rider. I say technically because the first female rider to me will always be Tackle from Kamen Rider Stronger, but it really is a matter of opinion.

Epic pose time.

Kamen rider Ryuki is a good series all in all. It is much darker then other rider series, but that is one of the reasons I like it so much. I would recommend it for anyone who likes involving story lines, interesting characters, and really good fighting. If it is too old for you, that’s cool, you may still like some of the other rider series out there. Ryuki is not my favorite Kamen Rider series, that honor goes to Kamen Rider Faiz currently, but Ryuki is very good, and I hope you like it too. So, until next time, have fun watching.

Tokusatsu and Other Stuff

Tokusatsu and stuff

I’ve decided to expand what I review to include Tokusatsu. Tokusatsu is Japanese live action special effects stuff. Different series like Kamen Rider, Super Sentai, Ultraman, and movies like anything from the Godzilla franchise and any other type of big monster film are considered tokusatsu.  Tokusatsu is usually characterized by men in rubber suits that look like monsters, and big explosions. Almost all of the special effects are done live, as in there is no computer generated effects… at least that was the case years ago. As technology advances and all that tokusatsu series have been able to make more realistic, or in the very least better done, special effects then their classic counterparts. But most of what they had in older series is still true today, men in costumes, stuntmen fighting each other, and explosions whenever anyone poses.

I got into tokusatsu recently, actually. A good friend of mine introduced me to Kamen Rider just last year, and since then I have been eating this stuff up. I’ve watched mostly Kamen Rider and Super Sentai, but I plan on broadening my horizons to other series. In truth, many of us have been watching tokusatsu for years without even realizing it. Other then classic monster movies form the past, there has been one series that has been running close to 20 years now. Power Rangers, the American series that uses footage from Super Sentai, is a classic series that is quintessential American tokusatsu.

That is a lot of rangers. We're boned.

I plan on doing some Kamen Rider reviews in the future, and look forward to my Kamen Rider Ryuki review, coming soon.

Fall 2011 Anime Season: First Impressions.

Fall 2011 Anime Season First Impressions

New anime!! Woohoo!! Alright everybody, its that time for all the new stuff to be talked about. This is my first impressions of all the new first episodes this season. I admit though, I have seen the second episode of a few because one particular show took forever to come out. But I might be getting a bit ahead of myself. Lets look at the new stuff!

Hunter X Hunter: I love the manga to Hunter X Hunter. It is funny, tragic, dark and light, and just creates a world that seems to real, yet so fictional at the same time. It might be one of my favorite manga of all time. The anime, so far, seems to be sticking incredibly close to the manga, and that looks like it will be a good thing. I have high hopes for Hunter X Hunter, and I think that it will be at least as good as Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood was. Though it will most likely never end.

Chihayafuru: This looks like it will be interesting. It is actually using a traditional game for its card game, instead of making a whole new game to profit on. The characters look interesting, and the story itself looks promising. My only complaint is that the first episode was mostly flashback. It makes me worry that half this story is going to be told in flashback, and even then, if it is done right, then there is no problem. I look forward to more episodes of this show.

Kyoukai Senjou  no Horizon: Dear lord, this series. I have no clue what happened in the first episode. This show is a combination of everything otaku and nerds love. It has mecha, random bits of religious randomness, huge ass weapons wielded by people who shouldn’t be able to wield them, a system of magic and fighting completely non-explained in the first episode, and fan service. Dear lord the fan service. At least half the women look like they have bowling balls taped to their chests, and would eventually have severe back problems later on in life. This looked like what someone’s idea of a table top RPG would be, if they haven’t balanced one yet. Everything thrown in to some random fantasy world. This show is insane. I plan on watching at least the first few episodes, but god is this show crazy, I might just have to drop it.

Kimi to Boku: Every anime season it seems I find a show that I shouldn’t like at all, and end up adoring. It is usually a moe-moe fest type of show, but this season, it is Kimi to Boku. This show looks like it is the male version of shows like Yuru Yuri and K-ON!. It is just four dudes, soon to be five, hanging out and doing nothing. And I just know I will watch every one of these episodes. If it gets too boring, I will drop it, but as of right now, I will be sticking to this show.

Maken-Ki!: This show is a combination of Mai-Hime and Ikki Tousen. And I hate it. Ok, that is unfair. I don’t completely hate it, but I am not going to be a fan of this show. It is a fan service fest, with disproportioned women fighting each other, most likely for the affection of one male character. I will not be watching this show. I think this show has had more panty shots in it then the entirety of this season combined. Just so much gratuitous fan service. It has been dropped.

Phi Brain: Kami no Puzzle: Of all things, I actually got a weird Yugioh GX vibe from this show. But not in a bad way, oddly enough. This show looks like it will be, at the very least, interesting. But the episode itself had no staying power in my mind. It became part of the background of my mind. I can’t tell if this show will the insane genius puzzle solving show I hope it will be, or a show that replaces card games with puzzles. I will keep watching it for a bit, I have no plans on dropping it yet.

C3: Oh C3. This is one of the shows that I saw the second episode to, and I admit, it changed my opinion of the show. From the first episode, I thought it was going to be a generic harem show with a mystical subtext about inanimate objects becoming sentient because of various reasons. Comedy would ensue. The second episode changed that initial idea. Now I think that it is a rip off of Toaru Majutsu no Index. Now, I love index, I think it is a cool story with an awesome religious versus science subtext. C3 seems to be all the action of Index, but none of the heart or story. I just doesn’t look good. I think I will stick to this show for a few more episodes, but I might ultimately drop it.

Ben-To: Ben-To  looks like it will be my anime of the season. It sounds like my anime of the season. It is about people beating the crap out of each other for cheap, half price food. And I pray that it doesn’t get any deeper then that. I don’t want them to start talking about some spiritual powers, or having to save the world, or anything like that. I want this show to be only about people beating the crap out of each other for half price bento boxes. I think I love this show. It is so over the top, and so cool, that it will be just a fun ride from start to finish.

Maji de Watashi ni Koi Shinasai!: I couldn’t even make it past the first episode. It bored me. About half way through I just couldn’t watch it. This might be a good series for some, but for me, it was just nothing.

Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai: A show about people who do not have friends. This show is a quintessential harem anime. This show literally has one of every type of harem fetish you could ask for. It has the maid, the loli, the nun, the tsundere, possibly the older sister type, the teacher/scientist type, and possibly more. I shouldn’t like this show. But I honestly think that this show is honest about what it is trying to portray. It is a show about a group of people who have trouble making friends in some shape or form. It is the classic rag tag group and how they will over come their problems and find friends. And I like it. I will be keeping with this show for a while, I don’t plan on dropping it in the very least.

So those are my thought about the new season. It looks like it is going to be a good season, with a good list of very different shows. I hope you enjoy. Until next time, have fun watching

Final Thoughts: Summer 2011

Final Thoughts: 2011 Summer Anime Season

Hey peoples! Well, it is that time again. A new anime season has started, and with that, the old one has finished. So I want to give some quick thoughts on what I watched last season. I’ll have the list of what I’m watching for the Fall 2011 anime season up soon, but for now, enjoy what has come to pass.

Double-J: Double-J was…weird. But an enjoyable weird. The art style was different, the jokes were hit or miss, but over all I enjoyed it. But I can defiantly see why others would not. I am someone who loves to see the more experimental stuff, the show that might not fit into what everyone was expecting, but is still enjoyable. Whether or not the experiment was a success is up to you, but I think I wouldn’t mind seeing more of that frog manga that Ichirou was drawing.

Yuru Yuri: This was the random moe-moe anime they show just about every season. But you know what? I liked it, and I really shouldn’t. It was pandering to an otaku audience. It was jokes about girls likening girls, and cute moe-moe blobs of characters I have seen done better in K-ON!. But for some reason I loved this show. It always made me laugh, the characters were bright, colorful, and most importantly, fun to watch, and it was just a nice show. I dislike the concept of moe, but god damn it, I keep falling for shows that are nothing but moe. *sigh* Next anime please,

Kamisama Dolls: When I first saw this show, my first thought was that it was a darker spiritual successor of Shingu Secret of the Stellar Wars. And I can still see that comparison, but it is, at least, different from that. This show had a lot of great characters, and an interesting concept, but I felt that it was still lacking something. The pacing was a bit off, the fan service was awkward and random, and timing of the comedy or dramatic bits could give a person whip lash. But it was solid, and I think it will become a better show in its second season, whenever that will be.

Morita-san wa Mukuchi: This show was three minute ray of sunlight once a week. It is a small simple show that is just nice to watch. The key is that it doesn’t overstay its welcome. A show like this would become annoying and dull if it was the length of a regular show. But because it is only three minutes, it is able to keep me interested, yet still wanting more. There is now a second season of this show, and I am incredibly happy because of that.

Nyanpire the Animation: Nyanpire got annoying. It was another short anime series, episodes only lasting a few minutes, but after a while it became grating. It wasn’t anything bad, it just lost what made it good.
I would recommend watching the first few episodes of the series, but it might get annoying after a while. But there was one thing that always made me happy, the ending theme. Dear god that ending theme was amazing in its insanity. Also, Double-J’s ending was good too. Just thought I would bring that up,

Usagi Drop: This might be a bit of a spoiler, so go ahead with caution. While watching Usagi Drop, I had heard a spoiler that the show would have an incredibly depressing and just cruel ending. I heard that the manga ended that way, and that this was staying awfully close to the manga. (I have yet to read the manga, so I have no clue if that has an incredibly depressing and cruel ending.) So when I watched the last episode, all I could do was try and figure out how they were going to hurt the small family that I had been watching grow and change over the past three or so months. And you know what? It didn’t happen. It had a sweet ending, the ending I was expecting. A happy ending. And I felt trolled. But I loved this show. It was nice, and normal. I felt as if these characters could really exist. The stress of that ending did not detract from  the show at all, I completely recommend this show.

Dantalian no Shoka: If this show had come out a season or two later, I would have called it a clone of Kami-sama no Memo-chou, just with more magic stuff. But it isn’t, so I can’t. what I can say is that this show was not fun to watch. It wasn’t bad by any stretch of the imagination, but it was dull and the main characters were just annoying. Ok, I admit that Huey was a good nice guy character, but he had no personality, he was just there to do pull out the books. But god I hated Dalian. She was annoying and greedy and was the type of tsundere I just end up hating in a show. And the ending, dear lord the ending. One of the shows saving graces was its supporting cast. They were at least interesting. If they were to make a second season of this show, I would hope that they would follow the other people with book princesses, like the book police, or the mad scientist. At least then they might be able to make a lick of sense of that ending. Dear god that ending.


Kami-Sama no Memo-chou: This was a good detective show. It was the complete opposite of Dantalian. The characters were interesting, the stories were deep and realistic, and you really felt for the characters. This is one of the few series that made me tear up at the ending in a long time. I think it was one of the best series of the season. This was a show about broken and hurting people coming together to try and do something, anything good, even if it is only a little. It is a show about people, not characters. I loved this show.


Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu Ni!: The first season of this show was great. And the second season was able to keep up with it. I liked the advancement of the relationships, the lessened focus on Akihisa’s sister, and the bits of back story they put in. This is one of the few shows that can make me cheer and root for the main characters doing something horrible, like peeping on the girls in the hot springs. They made it seem like some deep battle for justice against an immovable enemy, and it made you cheer. I am looking forward to  the next season.

Ikoku Meiro no Croisee: This was another simple series. It was very slice of life, with interesting characters and just nice stories. But it didn’t seem to have any staying power. Towards the end I just got bored with the series. I still liked it, I just wasn’t into it anymore. Which is really unfortunate, because I genuinely  liked it. It was just boring.

So that was the 2011 summer anime season. Had some good and some bad. Look forward to my fall 2011 season first impressions coming soon. Maybe even later today. Until next time, have fun watching.

Cromartie High SChool Review

Wow, two posts so close to one another? It must be the end of the world! Or boredom!Or.. something else! I don;t know, just read the review.

Cromartie High School

In life, I have a few rules. One is that you should always take time to relax, no matter how busy are. Another is you should always have a flash drive on you, just in case. And my biggest rule? No matter what it is, nothing that has Queen’s Freddie Mercury in it is bad, and is usually something amazing. This show sees that rule, and proves it 100 fold. But I might be getting a head of myself. This is Cromartie High School.

What is Freddie Mercury doing here?

 Cromartie High School is about a school for delinquents, all bad-asses who smoke, fight at the drop of a hat, and have no concept of simple mathematics. They have more teeth then brain cells, as it were. All except for the main character that is. The main is a “normal” guy, by the name of Takashi Kamiyama. I put quotation marks because even though he might be one of the smarter members of the school, he is still dumber then a brick, and twice as gullible. Also in the cast is Hayashida, a pink mohawk individual with a strange leader streak, who is dumber then the rest of the school. Then there is Maeda, a strong punk, who isn’t completely dumb as he has to play the straight man to the others funny man. He has little presence and is captured a lot by other delinquents schools. Then there is Mechazawa. He is a robot, no one but the main cast seems to notice, and no one in the whole show cares. There is a gorilla, who is just there, and Hokuto and his lacky, who are trying to take over Cromartie High School. And finally, there is Freddie. Freddie Mercury. There is not much to say other the that an anime has FREDDIE MERCURY in it. It creates win all around itself.

Bad-ass line up. Except they are all idiots.

 The show itself is animated very limitedly, with many still images and reused images over the course of the series. But the cheap quality works with the show. The images look like they were taken right out of the manga, but again, this works. The ascetic makes it look individual and easily recognizable. The show is pure comedy, no real over driving plot, no dramatic moment, no real character development, just pure comedy. It does reuse many skits though, so if you didn’t like, say, the joke that Yutaka Takenouchi, the strongest guy at Cromartie High School, is incredibly susceptible to motion sickness, well then you are out of luck, because that will show up again at least 20 more times. But the show has no specific order to it, so you never know what you are getting next. If you don’t like the skit, wait 2-3 minutes, its going to change.

As I was watching the show, I got a distinct feeling I had seen this before. It was a scene where the characters were having a discussion about the mundanely of everyday life, and how it was the norm around the world, intercut with random scenes where Freddie is riding a horse dramatically and awesomely. And then it struck me. This was a Calvin and Hobbes comic. Not literally, but the comparison was just, right there. And the whole show feels like that.  It has the whimsical world that only a child could imagine, except real, the at times deep conversations that might even seem unimportant to the outsider, and the characters all thinking that this is normal, instead of fracking weird. And I like that part of Cromartie. It is funny, enjoyable, but just plain weird.  It is a show I fully recommend if you want a good laugh. If you don’t like lolrandom humor, or you want something with more of a plot, then this is not for you. But for everyone else, enjoy. Also it has Freddie Mercury in it. You are obligated to watch for his awesomeness alone.

Happy Freddie is Happy

Oh, by the way, there is alive action movie of Cromartie. It is even more insane then the anime, if you can believe it. but it is just an average day for the students at that school

Until next time, have fun watching.

Super Gals Review

Super Gals Review

I first watched Super Gals way back when I was in high school still, and all my anime viewing came from Anime On-Demand. From first look, I remember thinking that this was going to be a random high school girl comedy/drama. And I was right, it had all those elements. But as I watched the show became something much more, especially for me. As I watched it, I realized that the characters grew as the show went on. And I realized that I was growing with them. You see, this show is 52 episodes long. 52, that magical number, the number of universe in the DCU, the number of weeks in a year, the number that Super Gals ended on. On-Demand only showed one episode a week. So it took me a complete year to finish watching this show. I remember, coming home from school, working on my homework, and then, tuning to On-Demand, finding what was new, and the first thing I watched was Super Gals. This show is my go to good anime, but I might be getting ahead of myself. Lets start.

Super Gals is the story of ran Kotobuki the number one gal in all of Shibuya. She is hot headed, always hungry, always out of cash, a bit shallow, and a bit of an idiot. But she also ahs a strong sense of justice and fair play, and lives by the code she sets out for herself, her “Iron Clad Rules for Gals.” Now when I say that the story is about Ran, that isn’t exactly true. It is more of a slice of life, and we follow all of Ran’s friends, all the drama and fun they have, and the life of ran herself. There is no central plot, no over arching goal, and no real central conflict. There are a myriad of subplots though, and it is through those that the “story” moves, you could say.

So many characters, but where Second Place?

Most of the “plots” seem to focus on the people that surround Ran. There are stories about the budding relationship drama that Ran’s friends Aya and Otohata go through. There is the comedic stories about Yuya, the man in love with Ran, yet destined to never be with her, until someone better finds him that is. There are the stories about Ran’s best friend Miyu, and how she has to deal with her dark past. There are stories about Ran’s idiot boyfriend, her detective obsessed little sister, her arch enemies, and even a TV detective, The Odaiba Shark.

The Odaiba Shark never sleeps!

The show has a huge cast, it seems ever expanding usually. But it works for the show. It is not uncommon to know a large amount of people. Through friends, friends of friends, and just the random guy you meet on the bus, just by living a normal life you know a ton of people. Super Gals mixes realism and complete fantasy for comedic effect quite well in my opinion. The problems of the world just seem like real problems, from the subsidized dating, AKA prostitution, to seeing how rumors get quickly out of hand. But then it has just stuff that is over the top, like Ran’s signature attack the “Double Platform Boomerang”, which is her kicking her shoes at someone, and having them return to, catching them by putting them on again. It gets pretty intense.

There is Second Place! Poor poor lucky Second Place.

The art style of the show is very…noodle like. The tall skinny characters all look like they could be from a CLAMP story, or even an old style American cartoon. But it is a plus. There is no moe-moe pandering, and very little fan service, which is impressive for a show that has a beach episode or a beach episode equivalent every ten episodes. The music is very pop-ish and light, but always managed to change to fit the scene. There is a good amount of repeated music though, you will hear the same music that they use for the para-para dancing about a million times before the show is over. Also there is an intense genre shift from the opening and closing music. The opening is light and happy, and is fun to listen to. The opening is one of the most depressing things I have ever heard, and I skipped it nine times out of ten.

Dramatic look! What's going on over there?

Super Gals has incredible character growth through out the series. You get the feeling that the characters grew up by the time the series ended. When I said earlier that the characters grew with me, I meant that literally. This show is great. If you want some good comedy and drama, mostly comedy, find this show. Warning though, the first half has been dubbed into English, but the later half is only in sub form, so that might be a little jaring if you are not ready for it. Until next time, have fun watching.

"Lets get together again someday!!" 

Zoids: New Century Zero Review

Zoids: New Century Zero

As I’ve said before, one of the main ways I got into anime in my youth was Cartoon Network’s Toonami. It had everything, from action to romance, from magical girls to guys who would yell for half an hour each day. And one thing it majorly had was mechas. Various Gundam Series, Macross, even Big O; Mecha was a big part of what made Toonami what it was. Mecha anime has been around for ever, but in all honesty it has never been a genre of anime I had been completely into. Giant robots are awesome, I am the first to admit it, but most mecha shows just don’t strike a cord with me. But some do, and when they do, it becomes a show for the ages, for me at least. And today’s anime just so happens to be one of those mecha shows that hit me close to my heart as a young one. Zoids.

To be more specific, Zoids: New Century Zero. I need to be more specific because it is actually the second series in the Zoids franchise as a whole, but it was the first one to be brought over to the states. When that happened, they just called it Zoids and forgot about the subtitle. Later on they did bring the first series of Zoids to the states, but that is such a completely different show from today’s topic, I think I will save it for another day. For this review, I will simplify things and call the show Zoids, and if I ever do a review of the first series or any others, I will use its full name, or come up with something clever, who knows.

Lets start with the premise and all that good stuff. Zoids are animal themed weaponized mechas used for a global competition. Teams of these mechas fight each other in strictly ruled Zoid battles for prize money, points, ranking, and most importantly, glory. These fights are presided over by an official judge, launched from orbit, who designates the battle ground and the rules for the battle. And once the judge says go, the zoids fight until all the zoids on one side are shut down and are unable to continue to fight.

The show itself follows the adventures of the Blitz team, a scrappy group of zoid pilots. Their manager is Steve Toros, a scientist with a shopping addiction and a penitent for screwing his team out of the money they one to buy cooler stuff. On the team is Toros’ daughter Leena, a gun crazy egotist, Brad Hunter, the lancer character who is always quick to remind the world of his undying love of money, Jaime Hemeros, the team strategist and aerial fighter, and Bit Cloud, the shows main protagonist and resident cocky idiot. Outside of these five there are a plethora of interesting  recurring characters, and the main characters are not as blandly as I am letting on. Each character brings a specific dynamic and are legitimately interesting to watch. Though Leena ca be as shallow as she sounds.

While the human characters have to be there so the audience have someone to relate to, the real characters are the mechanical animals, the Zoids. They are the interesting component to the show, and the reason everyone watched it. All the different types of zoids, the different weapons they can use, how they fight, all were the real draw of this show. The main zoid of the series was the Liger Zero, a white zoid apparently incredibly rare and versatile, and surprisingly sentient. At the beginning of the series the Liger Zero would not allow anyone to pilot it, until the main character Bit Cloud appeared of course. Unlike nearly every other zoid in the series, the Liger Zero started out with no weapons except for its laser claws, and its incredible speed. And unlike every zoid in the series the Liger Zero comes with three different armor systems, each allowing the Liger Zero different ways of fighting.

Liger Zero, in all his aweosmeness.

There is the blue armor, making the Liger Zero Jager. This armor added huge boosters to the Liger, making it incredibly fast.

Liger Zero Jager

Then there is the orange armor verson, the Liger Zero Schneider. This armor added seven swords that added to the combat abilites of the Liger.

Liger Zero Schneider

And then there is my favorite, the army green armor, the Liger Zero Panzer. This armor added a huge assortment of missiles to the Liger, and two huge hybrid cannons, along with other guns and cool stuff. This armor was used the least because it weighed the Liger down to a crawl, and caused the Liger to overheat.

Liger Zero Panzer. AKA badass on a stick.

The dubbing of the show does have some problems. It just feels clunky and dated. It feels like it was dubbed in the 90’s, instead of the early 2000’s. And with the animation, you can tell the studio making it didn’t exactly have a lot of money. Every so often you could tell they were using cheats, repeating animation form other episodes and not showing people moving or talking to save on the budget. But what they skimped in the regular animation they more then made up for in the computer graphics. The computer graphics for this show are excellent for the time. The zoids look fantastic and fluid, and while they are noticeably dated compared to today’s technology, it still looks very good. 

In terms of story, well, there is almost none. It’s very episodic, with very little plot to thread the episodes.  This isn’t exactly a bad thing though, it just means that if you are looking for something more story heavy then this is not the show for you. The main conflict for the heroes is with the illegal zoid fighting organization The Backdraft Group, which is pretty much just a fancy name for Team Rocket. While their main goal isn’t just to steal the Liger Zero, it is plot of many of the episodes, and every time they are foiled by the good guys. Then there is Doctor Layon, an old friend of Toros, who was in love with Leena’s mother and vowed to destroy Toros for stealing her away. He likes instant ramen a lot. And then there is Harry Champ, the man destined to be king! He is stalkerishly in love with Leena. Fun fact: the voice actor for Harry Champ went on to be Light Yagami from Death Note. He really was a man destined to be king, huh?

This is a good show. It is cheesy, nostalgic fun at its best. If you are a fan of shows like G Gundam, or other Toonami age shows, I highly recommend you check this one out. If you kind of remember it from you past, I say go looking for it right away and rewatch it. It is just a fun show.

What I am watching on the 2011 summer Season.

Summer Season!!

First impressions or something.

Here is all the anime for this season.

Hey everybody, the summer season of anime has just started and that means everyone is putting together lists of what they are watching and why. So I figured why not try it myself. Here is a list of the shows I have seen the first episode of from the 2011 summer season and my first thoughts of them. Once the season is over I will do a reflection of things and probably do a full on review of some of the shows. So here is what I saw!

Double-J. Double-J is a slice of life piece about two high school girls entering a strange club called The Cultural Activity Preservation Club. Basically it is a club filled with people who do strange and technically outdated forms of art. The first episode has to do with tooth pick carving. This is a strange show by any means, and with each episode only maybe four to five minutes long, it tries to cram as much of the crazy in as little a space as possible. The art and animation style admiringly looks like something you would find on the internet, as in one guy on You Tube who has an animation program. But I actually like the low budget look to it. It is different then the anything I have seen in quite a while, though I can see it grating on some people’s nerves. All in all, I plan on watching all of Double-J; it looks to be a fun time.

Yuru Yuri. Yuru Yuri is K-On! without the music. And I almost want to say without the charm. While I am not a huge fan of moe and will try not to watch a show that is only made up of moe themes, I will not completely avoid a show if it does have them. Yuru Yuri is pervy lesbian moe moe fun time. I can already see the attempted groping played for laughs. This show does have some creepy moments too. In the first episode we get to see into the room of the main character. It is filled with posters of her little sister, the main. It has the main’s panties on the floor. There is a love pillow with a picture of the main on it, with lipstick covering the mouth. It was a little creepy. And I assume will eventually be played for laughs. If you like moe and K-On! And all that stuff, you will enjoy this show. I plan on following it for a while, but it might be dropped pretty soon.

Kamisama Dolls. Kamisama Dolls is about a college student from a mysterious village where special people have robots and the village is a dictatorship. Or at least that is what I got out of it. The show actually reminds me of a much darker version of Shingu: Secret of the Stellar Wars, except Hajime has left the village. Even the style of the robots, from the one his sister uses to the one his old friend turned psychopath uses, all remind of this show. And I really like Shingu. I plan on watching this show, but a part of me feels it has some problem that will only show up later. I am not the biggest mecha fan, so that is where that might be coming from. I might drop it later, but I think I will be in for the long hall in this one.

Morita-san wa Mukuchi. This is another slice of life show with really short episodes, like Double-J. It is about a girl who thinks too much when talking to others. To everyone else, she is a silent, slightly weird girl who always staring directly into the eyes of who ever is talking to her. Everyone sees her as intimidating and silent, when really she is just following the rules her mother told her. She is silent because she is spending too much time thinking of the right thing to say in any situation. I actually like characters like this because I feel like I can relate to them. And because it is another really short episode series, I feel like I am not wasting my time by watching it. This is another show I plan on watching all the way through.

Nyanpire The Animation. Nyanpire might possibly be the cutest thing I have seen since Chi’s Sweet Home. And again, another short episode series. That makes three so far this season, which is impressive, if a bit telling about the budgets these studios’ have. Nyanpire is about a vampire kitty that lives with some non-faced woman. It is cute and is a good little distraction. Nyanpire himself is adorable and I really ant to watch the little adventures of this kitty of the undead. It is another show I plan on watching all the way through.

Usagi Drop. After the funeral of his grandfather, Daikichi finds out his grandfather had an illegitimate daughter who is only a little girl. No one in his family is willing to take care of the child, and no one expects Daikichi to take up the responsibility. But after seeing the girl, and seeing how much she truly loved her father, he is unable to except giving the child away and decided to take care of her. This anime is looking to be a good family drama, about a new inexperienced father and his strange at times adoptive daughter. The rest of his family seems interesting, if not completely annoying form the events of the first episode. The first episode actually reminded me of the movie Tokyo Story, by Ozu. The attitudes of the family and how the grandfather’s death is only seen as an inconvenience to the family. Another thing I liked from the first episode was how it showed how different Rin, the daughter of the grandfather, was from other children, by juxtaposing her with a bratty child of another family member. This anime looks great, and I plan on watching each episode with rapt attention.

Blood-C.  I’ll start by saying that Blood-C did not grasp out to me at all. Everything in the first episode felt forced to me. It was if they were consciously trying to create a dichotomy between the main characters everyday life and the deadly other worldly battle she has at the end of the episode. I mean, I know they were purposely doing such a thing, but it was done in such a way that it was too obvious. The entire first episode just felt cliché and like it had been done before. The art and animation is pretty ok though. CLAMP is usually pretty good; I like their art style once in a while. I feel like this will eventually become the new Code Geass, really popular, but not for me. I watched the first episode, but I am dropping it, it is just not for me.

Ro-Kyu-Bu!. It’s loli basketball. I am dropping it. I am staying far away from it. I am not going anywhere close to this anime. It is loli basketball. Enough. Said.

Kami-sama no Memo-chou. This is a NEET detective show. That alone is awesome enough for me to want to watch this show. Nerds solving mysteries has always been something I personally loved. But this show goes beyond just the initial theme and is actually good. The show is basically about a group of drop outs and weird-os, NEETS, who solve mysteries at the command of a young girl who almost never leaves her room. All the characters in this show are so individual, and so interesting, part of the reason I want to watch this show so much is just to find out more about these characters. Another reason though is the mysteries. If the first episode is anything to go by, the mysteries will be mature without going into the completely gore-tastic route that some other mystery shows will go. Also, the first episode is over 40 minuets long. This is just so different from what I usually see, and I hope it will keep up with that 40 minute run time. I believe that this will be one of the best shows this season, and I am completely looking forward to the rest of the series, and I highly recommend it.

Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu Ni!. This is the second season to last years Baka to Test, and I loved the first season. It seemed like a parody of all those harem, high school anime that are everywhere. And it does so brilliantly. I plan on doing a whole review of the first and now second season of the show in the future, so I will hold out giving a more detailed description here. If you are thinking of watching this show, but have yet to see the first season, I recommend you find season one. So far it seems season two is a direct continuation of the last season, which isn’t a bad thing, it just alienates some new views. I will defiantly be following this show.

Ikoku Meiro no Croisee. Ikoku Meiro no Croisee is about a young Japanese girl who is brought to France to live with a young shop owner and his Grandfather. It takes place in the late 19th century, during a time of great change going on in the world. This show is great. I love the style and feel of the late 19th century and this show brings it to life perfectly. It is a fish out of water story, which has been done a million times, but it is interesting to see how the main characters interact with each other and how they are both so accepting of each others cultures at times. I really like this show, and as long as it keeps up the quality it will be one of my favorite shows this season.

Kaitou Tenshi Twin Angel Kyun Kyun Tokimeki Paradise!!. This show is an anime from the 90’s. Or at least it should be. It has magical girls, long transformation scenes, cat girls, random enemy mecha, team rocket style villains, possibly lesbian protagonists, huge special energy beam type attacks, and some fan service thrown in to boot. I swear this anime is just made up of different anime from the past 20 or so years. If it stays what seems to be a parody of these over the top magical girl, action pieces, then I am really looking forward to watching this show. But I feel that it might go over a line at some point. Like it might become too fan service-y, or too ridicules with its villains, or just something that would make me not want to follow this series anymore. But until then I plan on watching this show, hopefully it will be enjoyable.

So, those are the shows I am watching this anime season. I plan on doing a final thoughts type thing when the season ends and to give some more comprehensive recommendations on what to watch. Enjoy the list and look forward to my next review.

First Review: Bartender

Ok, time for my first review. Lets see if I can do this right.

        Bartender is an episodic story of a bartender, short and sweet. It is the tale of Ryuu Sasakura, the young bartender of the bar Eden Hall. He is known for his ability to create the perfect drink, his "Glass of God". Each episode follows a different character who enters Eden Hall for whatever reason, hoping to have their problem fixed with Ryuu's legendary alcohol. None of the stories are told from the Ryuu's perspective though. All the stories are told second hand from the patrons of Eden Hall, reflecting on the events that brought them to this bar, and how one drink could change their life.
       
        I'm am going to say this now, I really like this show. A show like this has all the elements that make a great show for me. It is a slice of life show in very specific circles. It is about an alternative career, one which I wouldn't mind falling ass backwards into one day. The subject matter, meaning the alcohol and the drinks, are presented in such a positive way, a great counter argument to the whole anti-alcoholic sentiments you sometimes hear. The art is great, it looks beautiful at times and it really makes the drinks come to life. The opening theme is incredible, and I could listen to it for days. The ending theme is different in each episode, showing a real bartender making one of the signature drinks of the episode. The characters are interesting and their personal stories resonate with the audience. And just as the icing on the cake, each episode starts with the history of a drink or some type of alcohol. Personally I love this type of world building, it just adds that little bit to any show.
      
        Bartender is not something complicated, nor is it anything revolutionary. It is a simple, relaxing ride which I can understand some people not wanting to sit through. It can even feel slow at times. For someone who prefers mecha action, over the top, explosion-fests, then this is not the show for you. It is a slow ride, but it is a smooth god ride. If you want something to relax to, just some show that you can watch and wind down to, with maybe a glass of wine in hand, I highly recommend this show. I hope you check it out and enjoy it.

So.... how was that for a first try? Yeah, yeah, I know, not the best on the web. I promise I will improve by next review. If you have any suggestions feel free to comment. Thank you for reading!

My History with Anime

        Everyone has that story of how they got into anime. Some are long and convoluted, some are simple and obvious. Mine is more long and convoluted. I am telling you this story so that you know where I am coming from when I talk about anime. A little bit of back story can go a long way in understanding a character, and I think it could a long way in helping you understand me.
        It started watching anime forever ago. Like many people my age my first experience was from Cartoon Network's Toonami. I remember watching Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon, G Gundam, and Zoids. But at the time I had no clue that it was anime. Hell, I had no clue what anime was, I just thought it was all cartoons. I was kind of an idiot back then. Eventually I did learn the difference between western animation and Japanese animation, but I had yet to consider myself a diehard fan of anime. That all changed with two things, my discovery of manga, and my discovery of On Demand entertainment.
        I discovered manga on my last day of sixth grade, during the height of the Yu-Gi-Oh craze. I was really into it, as were all my friends. One of my friends came in with something none of us had seen before. It looked like a comic book, but it was thicker, and everything was backwards. It was Shonen Jump.
 

        Not the right one, but close enough.

      
One of the first few to be exact, as this was the first year Shonen Jump was around. None of my friends were really interested, the one who bought it only wanted it for the Yu-Gi-Oh connection, but I was automatically interested. The stories inside fascinated me. I saw that this was where anime came from. There was even a Rurouni Kenshin manga, and I use to love that show! I will always say that discovering manga became that significant turning point in my life. But it wasn't the last turning point.
        Shonen Jump got me into manga, but what made me the anime fan I am today was anime On Demand. For those who don't know, On Demand is a cable television service which allows you to watch what they put on when you want to. It has a decent amount of programing on it, but what was important was that it had anime. I discovered it and binged on all the shows that they had. That was a mistake. You see, anime On Demand was like a coin toss for good anime. While sometimes they had incredible shows, like BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad, Baccano, Super Gals, Azumanga Daioh and Abenobashi Magical Shopping Arcade, it also had Magikano, Gundam Seed Destiny, My-Hime, Cutey Honey and Abenobashi Magical Shopping Arcade.

Still don't know how to feel about this series.

        On Demand anime shaped my tastes in anime. It showed me the weird, the great, the terrible, the scaring and Magikano, a show I will forever hate. On Demand anime was the only place for me to get anime back in the day. I had no fancy computer to get my anime from. I did not have the money to buy anime. I was limited to what would be On Demand. This has effected me in strange ways. Mainstream shows have become something difficult for me to get into. The stranger the show the better it can be. And I am much more forgiving of shows that have overt over the top fan-service. That is not to say that I love the stuff, but I am more forgiving and I know that fan-service does not necessarily a make a bad show. It just usually does.

        Since my harrowing days of On Demand, anime has become much more accessible for me. I am in my school's anime club. I have become a fan of tokusatsu, or live action special effects shows like Kamen Rider and Super Sentai. I watch a myriad of different series from across the spectrum of anime, from sports shows to harems, from deep philosophical pieces to mindless fighting. I like anime. And now I hope you know a little bit about what I like, and how I see anime. I encourage you leave a comment telling your own story of how you got into anime. I look forward to reading them! 

I own nothing of any of the copy-written materials mentioned above. Thank you.

First Post And Introduction

        Hey Internet world! This is a little experiment of mine. I love anime, manga, tokusatsu, and all things nerdy. And I want to through my hat into the reviewer ring. I know, I know, another reviewer on the Internet, just another random dude whose opinion you are not forced to prescribe to. But, as the mantra of the Internet goes, I've gots opinions. They may not be groundbreaking or anything, but their mine, and I want to try sharing them with the world. 
        Now obviously, this is a review site, an anime review site if the name of the blog is anything to go by. I plan of reviewing what I want. Old anime, new anime, popular or unpopular, I will review the things that I watch, and hopefully be able to say something smart about it.
        I truly love anime and tokusatsu and everything fun about Japan. And I just want to share it with you all. I just hope that what I say will give you ideas on what to watch and what to avoid. Even if this only reaches one or two people, I still plan on doing this little experiment. What's the experiment exactly? To see if I can actually write decent reviews of the anime I love. So have fun, enjoy the eventual content, and I hope we can all get along!