Piano 6/10

I know alot of people who took piano lessons as kids and now I know what they went through. Of course they were mostly guys so I doubt they treated it as seriously as Piano does.

A newer show, the character designs and backgrounds are great though the main character has crazy hair considering how true to life this show tends to be. And odd design choice. The music here, including the OP and ED themes, is really quite nice as most of it is quiet piano pieces. This of course comes as no surprise considering the title.

The story is about a grade 8 girl named Miu and her everyday life as she approaches a big piano recital right before she starts grade 9. Miu lives at home with her parents and attends piano lessons after school at a piano school where she is taught by a moody, distant young man named Mr. Shirakawa. Since he offers little feedback or praise, Miu is losing interest in the piano and at times even skips her lessons to avoid having to face her teacher after having made no progress since the previous lesson.

Miu also attends school of course and has a best friend named Yuuki who is the standard track team, tomboy type, and who has a proper hairstyle. The two girls also have crushes on a couple of boys and Miu's pretty shy so this adds to her daily crushing depression. As the show moves along, Yuuki gets her man and Miu is selected to play an original piece in the next piano school recital. This sends Miu into a spiral of depression and she ultimately kills herself with a sherry enema.

Not really, I'm kidding.

Miu spends the series worrying about her current situation but it's not the whiny annoying complaining that could terminally cripple this show. Alot of this show is about a teenage girls insecurities and how her friends and family support her through her tough times. (Having spent my adolescence as a teenage boy I cannot confirm nor dispute the accuracy of the portrayals in this series. I can however confirm that teenage boys can be as clueless regarding teenage girls as the boys in this series are.)

This show is a quiet progression through everyday life with alot of everyday events here between the main plot advancement and I found myself enjoying those parts more than the whole piano playing plotline. I found the ending somewhat unsatisfactory as little is ultimately resolved by the end of things so I can't give this show a better score. Recommended if you like slice-of-life shows.

Elfen Lied 9/10

There have been alot of comedy anime series lately where the main character is a cute girl with pink hair. Girls Bravo, Galaxy Angel, Mao-Chan, and Maburaho come immediately to mind. In Elfen Lied, the pinker your hair, the more people you horribly kill. I mean REALLY horribly. In the words of Rainier Wolfcastle "It's not a comedy."

I like just about everything on the technical side of this show. The character designs are among my all time favourites and the VAs are really, really good in their roles. The art throughout is excellent and the backgrounds are incredible. Most of all the music for this show is amazingly good. From the hauntingly beautiful opening theme, throughout the episodes and the catchy and somewhat creepy end theme the music is top-notch. I'll note here that the 13 episodes were released in 2004.

Let me warn you, this show is kind of messed up. These two young college students, cousins actually, start living together (not in that way you sick bastards) in a house the female cousin Yuka's parents own. They meet a girl on a nearby beach with dark pink hair (danger level 1) and she seems to have amnesia. Since all she can say is Nyu, and since this is a standard rule of anime (Chi in Chobits, Mone in Yumeria), this now becomes her name and she starts living with Yuka and her male cousin Kouta.

The part I forgot to mention is that Nyu is really named Lucy and has recently broken out of some scientific facility on a nearby island. By broke out I mean killed her way out. You see Lucy/Nyu can control 4 invisible arms some considerable distance and when a guard drops something he is promptly killed with it. Lucy doesn't just kill, she dismembers, impales, decapitates and overall slaughters everyone on her way out the door. The guards, the soldiers, the scientists, the cute ditz girl who spills coffee. Lucy also punches a soldier's heart through the back of his chest, it's not important to the plot but be on the look out, it's kinda cool.

One of the main scientists at the facility , Dr. Kakuzawa, recruits another of Lucy's contemporaries to go hunt her down. Here we meet the pink haired (danger level 2) Nana as in subject #7 (7 is nana in JP) who calls the good Dr. papa and is uber cute.

She fights Lucy (who is now somewhat schitzo) and has her arms and legs ripped off.

Ow. Poor Nana.

The head of the facility orders what's left of Nana to be put to death but the somewhat kindhearted Dr. can't do it so he fashions her with artificial limbs and sends her out into the world.

In the meantime a young girl named Mayu befriends Nana and they all end up living with Kouta and Yuka. Nana it turns out doesn't hurt people like the other test subjects and only dreams of living happily and making friends and since she's a bit of a klutz and not very threatening at the best of times she quickly becomes my favourite character.

Of course now the head scientist is pissed and brings out the big guns. A third girl, #35 or something who has pale pink hair (danger level EXTREME) to kill damn near everything she can get her hands on.

This show has alot of flashbacks about everyone's past and there's a constant suspense about every scene. You see you're constantly waiting for someone to die abruptly and horribly, and it happens ALOT.

This show was funny at times , very tragic and ruthlessly violent. No one is safe from a horrible demise, soldiers, little girls, puppies. On top of that the story was great. Highly Recommended.

Did I mention it seems clothes are somewhat optional for all these female characters? It's kind of fan-service but kind of disturbing seeing naked pink haired girls covered in the blood of their victims. Whatever turns your crank I suppose.

Fight! Iczer-One 7/10

Successful sales of an OAV rely on one or more of the following gimmicks.
1) Naked girls
2) Big explosions
3) Horrible graphic deaths
4) Hot lesbian action

Fight! Iczer-One has all four! Whoo hoo!

In the realm of anime I'm a big fan of the old school OAV's and Fight! Iczer-One is one of the better ones.

On the technical side this show has a great amount of detail for an anime that pre-dates the modern PC. The character designs are borrowed from shows such as Macross and Megazone 23 and look really great. The music here is really excellent with some nice 80's end themes on blue backgrounds. Pan over a picture of a scantly clad chick or something, anything is better than a plain background. The voice acting was great and I have no real complaints other than the end credits' backgrounds. I hate them sooooooo much. There are 3 episodes here released from 1985 through 1987.

The story is a pretty standard one. Some lesbian aliens show up in Earth's neighbourhood and decide to set up shop. This of course involves stamping out the pesky humans that seem to have an unreasonable attachment to living. These aliens don't just zap the humans with a laser or stomp 'em with a giant robot, they send some alien parasite to infect them then the alien bursts out in a shower of blood and gore. It's pretty cool.

Meanwhile a cyborg alien named Iczer-1 is on earth and needs to team up with a local schoolgirl named Nagisa to help power her robot to fight the lesbian aliens. The girl's friend, parents and neighbour get exploded and she reluctantly signs on. The girls defeat the first of the earlier lesbians then the aliens get serious. Iczer-2 is created and she along with the other lesbian team up in another robot to kick a little ass. The other lesbian bites it and our heroes engage in a final battle with the head alien which I won't spoil here.

A great comic relief bit is the earth's 3 pathetic attempts to fight the alien robots. After a great launch sequence and big battle music the Earth's weapon in each episode is quickly dispatched by the aliens. It's so pathetic it's funny. Never send the military to do a teenage schoolgirl's job.

This anime was really good and has a pretty decent ending for an OAV. The hot lesbian action is a little on the short side in the first couple of minutes but I thought it was a nice addition. Recommended.

Ghost Talker's Daydream 8/10

The DVD cover has a girl in a leather bustier in full S&M mode. How could I NOT pick this up?

A recent OAV release that bucks the recent trend of the industry to shy away from such things. Luckily it's better then most.

On the technical side this OAV is of excellent quality. Detailed backgrounds and well animated, consistent animation throughout as is to be expected from an OAV. The character designs are a little gritty looking, keeping in tune with the more mature content of the stories here and while I'm more a fan of brighter coloured, cuter designs I can appreciate the reasons for not going that way with this show. The music was nothing memorable and the VA's were great as always. This show had the ED credits rolling over a black background and I never like that. Pan over a lewd picture of the female lead characters or something. These 4 episodes came out in 2004.

The story here is about a 20 odd year old young lady named Misaki Saiki who is able to see and communicate with the lingering spirits of those who are trapped in the mortal realm. AKA: She talks to ghosts, think The Sixth Sense kid. She works as a consultant to help stop hauntings and such. Since she doesn't make enough to live on doing this she works a second job...as a dominatrix at an S&M club. I love manga authors, they always keep things interesting. She works with a fellow who hires her for the jobs and is stalked by a high school guy who also helps her at times with information. We also meet a high school girl named Ai in the first episode who can also see spirits and ends up filling in for Misaki when she's on vacation.

The episodes here don't really get into the whole back story, it's just 3 cases with the final 2 episodes covering the 3rd one. In the first episode, Misaki and co. meet Ai and help her uncover the truth behind her older sister's apparent murder of her baby and subsequent suicide. In the second episode, Ai gets involved with a ghost she meets on a railway bridge and Misaki must rush to her rescue. The third and best story is over the final 2 episodes. Misaki goes on vacation and gets involved in a 12 year old serial killer case when the bodies of the missing children are unearthed at a construction site. The whole team ends up showing up and helping her out, with an ample amount of hot springs fan-service.

This show really follows the recent trend on U.S. TV with criminal investigators using the spirits of the dead to help solve crimes. (Medium being the current cream of that crop.) This show has quite a bit of adult themed comedy and nudity in it to make it feel alot different than those U.S. TV shows and I found myself feeling a little disappointed that there were only 4 episodes. This show is also not dependant on the whole Japanese spiritual side of things, it really feels more western in it's take on ghosts and such. More like The Sixth Sense, I wonder if there was any influence there.

This OAV looked great and was very entertaining. More would be welcome. Highly recommended.

Mask of Zeguy 3/10

Long ago two schoolgirls in sailor uniforms were transported to another world...IT BEGINS AGAIN!!!!!!!

Mask of Zeguy is a title I picked up because a poster for it appears on the wall of the cosplay cafe in Comic Party. Crazy eh? This is an old style OAV from about 1993 that runs a paltry 2 episodes but seems to have been planned for that from the beginning to it's credit.

Technically this show is nothing to scream about. Pre-CG which I can always appreciate but not particularly impressive for an OAV in any area. The backgrounds are bland and the character designs are pretty run on the mill. The music is forgettable and the end credits song is your standard J-pop whatever.

The plot here is pretty re-hashed. Two schoolgirls get transported to this other world where this evil woman, Yumiko or something, is trying to open the Wind Gate or something to get a bunch of power to do something. She's being thwarted by a couple of Japanese guys from the past, one a samurai and the other a gadget, flying machine old guy. One of the girls gets kidnapped by Yumiko and the other girl, who, OH MY GOD, turns out to be some priestess or something has to rescue her with the help of the good guys and her priestess powers.

The plot has one very non-OAV thing about it. It actually ends after the second episode unlike most OAVs that just stop dead in mid-plot. For that the show gets one bonus point, keeping it from being a complete embarrassment. Non-recommended.

Appleseed (2004) 9/10

What happens when some Japanese filmmakers without the brain damage make a fully CG movie? You get Appleseed, what Advent Children SHOULD have been. Damn you SquareEnix.

Riding high on the recent popularity of Masamune Shirow's various Ghost in the Shell incarnations somebody felt that the less than impressive Appleseed OAV (1988) was worth re-visiting. Of course instead of just re-hashing the same old crap this version is condensed into an impressive 100 odd minute movie with a tighter, more interesting storyline packaged in the coolest CG since...well....ever.

This movie gets HUGE marks on the technical side. The backgrounds here are nothing new but great nevertheless, the futuristic city of Olympus is rendered here in exquisite detail as is to be expected in this modern CG age. The mechs and action sequences here are top notch with shit realistically blowing up left and right and giant walking fortresses fucking over the city like nobody's business. The music is great though I'm not a huge personal fan of the techno songs here and the voice acting is great as always with anime. The REAL great stuff here is the animation of the main characters. Instead of the hideous "attempt at reality" that many recent CG efforts have inflicted on us *cough* Advent Children *cough* we get a really great set of cell shaded CG characters in an anime style, big eyes and all. Since I'm an anime fan first and foremost I have been impressed with this style before in Tales of Symphonia. Why this hasn't been done before I don't know. To explain, cell shading is where the 3D model is only rendered using 2-3 colours, this makes the characters look like traditional animation on a very impressive fully rendered background. The main character Deunan Knute, the blonde, green-eyed heroine is the hottest CG animated babe I've seen so far. VERY impressive.

The plot here isn't bad for your average anime movie. Deunan Knute (pronounced Deunan Knute) is a pretty hot looking soldier girl who's been fighting in WWIII and gets scooped up by some commandos from Olympus and whisked off to the new, non-WWII Warsaw looking, CITY OF TOMORROW. Here she meets up with her former boyfriend Briareos (pronounced Briareos) who has been turned into a cyborg after being seriously injured in a battle elsewhere. It turns out Deunan is a popular person as her father was once a great soldier and her mother was pretty much the scientific architect behind Olympus's fancy new idea of society. You see about half the people in Olympus are Bioroids, genetically altered people who have their emotions repressed in order to act as buffers between all those hot-headed, warmongering, diva-ish normal humans. Of course as with all genetically engineered peoples they have a limited life span, are sterile, and must undergo routine "stop from pulling a guy at the end of Last Crusade" treatments. The city is run by a Bioroid president but the military is run by a bunch of humans who take to Bioroids like Republicans take to gay marriage. This brilliant setup can't go wrong can it? The city is also controlled (there's alot of chefs in the kitchen by this point) by a massive supercomputer (isn't there always a massive supercomputer) that discusses it's logical decision making with 7 human elders to provide a human perspective. It seems this final group wields the true power in Olympus but usually don't meddle too much in the affairs of the other 2 groups. At least until this movie gets started.

The movie's story revolves around how each faction wants to run the new society. The Bioroids are under constant threat by not only the dependency on the anti-horrible-death treatments but a horrible-instant-death virus kept by Gaia and the elders to snuff the Bioroids en masse should things require some snuffing. The military figures they can run things better (as the military always seems to think) and is keen to encourage the pre-mature mass snuffing to get the ball rolling. The elders have their own agenda but this is revealed later in the film.

I liked the plot here and the sections of explanation are well split up by some pretty frequent action scenes. This movie doesn't dwell as much on the incessant yammering of the main characters as the 2 Ghost in the Shell movies do so don't be alarmed by the fact the original mangas were both written by the same guy.

Other than a couple of less than perfectly rendered scenes I can't find anything wrong with this movie. Sooooo. Recommended.

Final Fantasy: Advent Children Rant

The current "big thing" in anime fandom is the recent Japanese release of FFVII Advent Children. While the NA release is still a month or so off, any anime fan worth their salt has downloaded it already in order to gaze upon this alleged "triumphant return to the world of FFVII".

Let me preface this commentary with a bit of backrground. I've played every NA FF release starting with FF on the NES. I have finished FF, FFII (SNES), FFIII (SNES), FFVII (PS), FFVIII (PS), FFIX (PS), FFX (PS2), and FFX-2 (PS2). While I have not finished FFV (PS) I have played it through about 12h. I've seen the FF: Unlimited anime and wasted good money seeing FF: The Spirits Within on opening day.

I have played dozens of other "traditional" RPG's. Dragon Warrior I,II,III (NES), Chrono Trigger (SNES), Chrono Cross (PS), Secret of Mana (SNES), Legend of Mana (PS), Tales of Destiny II (PS), Tales of Symphonia (GC), Lunar I & II (PS), SaGa Frontier I & II (PS), Valkryie Profile (PS), Rhapsody (PS), Arc the Lad I, II, III (PS), Star Ocean II (PS), Star Ocean III (PS2), Legend of Legia (PS), Persona II (PS), Thousand Arms (PS), Threads of Fate (PS), Grandia I (PS), Grandia II (DC), Skies of Arcadia (DC & GC), Vagrant Story (PS), Xenogears (PS), Xenosaga I & II (PS2), Quest 64 (N64), Wild Arms 3 (PS2). I figure I have a pretty good idea of where FFVII sits in the overall scheme of things and how important that game is in the history of RPGs.

I recently watched Advent Children and that extra show Last Order and I was appalled.

Starting with the shorter traditionally animated Last Order I was not wholly disappointed. I don't remember the specific events in the game that this show recreates but I'm assured it's reasonably close to the original game. As far a a regular anime goes it looks alright but it's a little dark as in not very colourful. Being it's only about 25 min. you really have to know the characters to consider it anything other than a mediocre action title. Verdict: Package this it with something else as a bonus.

On to Advent Children.

This show is animated in the CG style of FF: The Spirits Within. AKA Not very great looking. Remember the really great, simple look of the animated scenes in the original game? Not present here, anywhere. This show suffers from a case of failing to make CG characters look human, thus they have this creepy waxy skin look. As well, the dark feel present in Last Order is here as well. It's like watching everything through a smoky filter. SquareEnix can do better than this. We've seen it in the beautiful CG scenes from FFX and FFX-2. What happened?

As far as the story goes I won't comment on it other than to say that the original FFVII can be summed up ias two major parts.

1) Aeris dies

2) Everything else

Take out the dramatic death of Aeris halfway through FFVII and you have a VERY mediocre plot at best. The characters lack the humanity exhibited in other FF efforts such as FFVI, FFVIII and FFX/X-2, the overall plot is somewhat borrowed from FFIV and the overall story gets lost in a morass of annoying sub-characters and side-quests towards the end of the game.

The question I must ask is "Why make Advent Children in the first place?"

Money.

FFVII sold like gangbusters and a whole lot of people got their first taste of rendered CG and fancy rendered backgrounds with this game. Add onto that all the people who had their "first on-screen death" cherrys popped with this game makes for alot of sentimentalists out there more than willing to shell out a few bucks in a vain attempt to recapture the magic.

This is not a good movie. You deserve better for your dedication to this game. Remake the game with updated cut scenes. Even do the in-game graphics if you want. Make a CG movie about a game with a GOOD story such as Chrono Trigger or FFVIII. Hell, make a CG movie about the events surrounding death of Aeris. I'd pay for any of those.

Advent Children is a joke and I would like to see how many people are willing to watch it again 2-3 weeks after they've seen it the first time. Play the game again, it's better.

Orphen 9/10

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."

The Mourning Bride - William Congreve

Luckily your average woman doesn't have the ability to turn herself into a 50ft dragon at her disposal. Of course Orphen takes place in a world where this is possible, and hilarity ensues.

This show has always stood out to me as one of my top 5 best looking hand-drawn/coloured shows. The character designs in this show are truly my all time favourites. Such great character designs are complemented with excellent backgrounds that really show alot of detail. Now of course the series has 2 episodes where the animation takes a real nose-dive, luckily these are somewhat filler episodes and don't detract much from the overall enjoyment of the show. There are ALSO a couple of episodes where the animators tried out a computer scanned and coloured style. This is one of those early attempts and looks OK considering, but I could do without the jarring difference in the look between these episodes and the rest of the series. The opening themes are somewhat forgettable but I enjoyed the end themes, particularity the second one. The music in the episodes themselves is really great and the entire series starts with an excellent scene that is scored perfectly. The VAs are alright but Cleao's voice can get on my nerves and Leki makes the most annoying noise ever, I can't even describe it. Orphen ran for 24 episodes in 1998-1999.

The plot here is pretty basic but effective. A young sorcerer named Orphen has left the mage guild, the Tower of Fangs, to save his adopted older sister Azalie. Azalie was turned into the monstrous dragon, Bloody August, by a magical sword and the Elders of the tower are out to destroy her. On his quest Orphen is joined by Majic, his young apprentice picked up during his travels; Cleao, a young girl who now owns the magic sword and wants adventure, and Leki, a baby deep dragon that Cleao discovers and keeps as a kind of pet. There are also the comic pair of Volcan and Dortin, two diminutive troublemakers that are constantly running into the party during their travels, causing problems and providing comic relief. Orphen's main nemesis is Childman, his and Azalie's former master, sent by the Tower of Fangs to destroy her.

This series runs 24 episodes and only 4-5 of them do I consider filler. The race to save Azalie occupies the entire series and the plot here feels really well thought out and cohesive throughout. The quality of the writing is consistently good and there are even some well placed plot twists to keep you really interested in what's coming next. We also see some real character growth in this series as Orphen becomes less obsessive about his quest, Majic gains some confidence and Cleao gains some maturity from being a headstrong spoiled brat in the beginning.

I really liked the last 4-5 episodes of this series as the relationship between Cleao and Orphen is brought to the fore. Cleao realizes she's competing with the Azalie that Orphen remembers and is trying to save, this leads to a more thoughtful and introspective Cleao that I liked alot more than the shrill, bitchy Cleao. It's a pity this "better" Cleao is all but absent from the next series. I also reckon the ending of this series is one of my all-time favourites as well.

Fantasy setting, beautiful art, great story, interesting characters. Highly recommended.

Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu 9/10

I really like the original Full Metal Panic! and I especially enjoyed the episodes that focused on the introduction of a professional soldier into a regular Japanese high school. Amazingly enough so did someone else and POOF!, we get Full Metal Panic?. Yahoo!

On the technical side this show looks like any typical Gonzo show, amazing. Excellent production quality is brought to the table here and while the show has little in the way of the great CG mechs from the previous TV series the character designs are among my favorites, the lighting effects are amazing and the few CG effects that are present are really well blended with the rest of the animation. The music and themes are also quite good with special mention to the great OP theme and the military march that plays whenever Sousuke goes into full soldier mode. I'll note here that the 12 episodes were aired in 2003.

If you don't remember Full Metal Panic!, an international military organization has sent Sousuke, a high school aged professional soldier, undercover into a Japanese high school. His mission is to protect Kaname, a girl with a special power from being kidnapped by bad guys and used for evil purposes. Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu doesn't get into the overall plot of the original series but focuses on the day-to-day lives of Kaname, Sousuke and their friends. We get some cameos from characters in the previous series so those Tessa fans reading this don't worry, you'll get your love-triangle fix and some Tessa fan-service to boot. This show has some of the funniest anime episdoes I've ever seen. Sousuke being as socially inept as he is causes much hilarity, booby-trapping things, shooting stuff, and training the school rugby team. (This has to be seen to be believed.)

My one complaint is that there's little character development here. We've been through 2 series now and Kaname and Sousuke are still the exact people we met at the beginning of the first series. While they do have a couple of peaceful moments we can only hope that the upcoming 3rd series "2nd Raid" makes these characters more than what they currently are.

Any episode descriptions I give you here won't do the shows justice. See this show. It's awesome. The last episode alone is worth seeing the whole series. SEE THIS! SEE IT NOW!!!

Rune Soldier 8/10

Are you thinking "8/10! WTF zenith27? Have you lost your mind?" Well, it's the rare show that has no bad episodes and only 1 mediocre one over 24 episodes. Thus Rune Soldier is rewarded.

On the technical side I loved the look of this show. The character designs are great and the backgrounds are of a style I really enjoy. This show is reminiscent of the early attempts at computer scanned and coloured anime so we see some really bright colours but none of the added computer effects seen in later efforts. This doesn't detract from the show as most of the episodes are well drawn with only about 3 episodes looking under par. The VAs were great and the music and OP theme were about average but beware the ED theme. Frankly, it blows. By the way, this show aired in 2001.

Otherwise known as Louie the Rune Soldier, this is a fantasy show about a sorcerer in training named Louie who teams up with a group of three female adventurers who are looking for a sorcerer to round out their group of fighter (Genie), priestess (Melissa), and thief (Merrill). Other than the fact that Louie is a weed amongst roses he is also a sorcerer who seems to enjoy bashing in the heads of his enemies more that casting spells. This along with his over-enthusiasm and reckless behaviour makes him more trouble than help at times for the seasoned adventurers. It also turns out that Louie has been chosen by Melissa's god as the hero she is expected to serve, making it impossible for the girls to ditch him. This show has little in the way of running plot and is mostly a series of funny adventures had by the team. There is a 3 episode ending which is quite good and I left this show feeling satisfied and willing to watch it again soon as it was really funny.

I want to add a few thoughts on the main plot. I enjoyed the whole progression of Louie's relationship with his group as the show goes on. Particularly near the end the girls begin to realize that he may be a bit of the rush-in-where-angels-fear-to-tread type but he's a good guy at heart. Even Melissa, who constantly bemoans her fate to accompany Louie, comes around near the end of the series in probably the best episode of the bunch in terms of character development. (Her in that skimpy outfit helps as well. You know the one.)

I also liked the character of Ila, Louie's female schoolmate and friend. She's an odd character for a show such as this as she's known Louie for along time before the series starts and is almost his main love interest (more like he is hers) but it's in the background of the main story. She appears in many episodes and seems to be the only person in the show, at least at first, that sees Louie as more than just some goof. She almost behaves like his wife, being there for him and supporting his adventuring efforts. It's a nice change that the main goofy character has someone rooting for him throughout the series where as most shows would never give him a break.

This show loses only a single point for some less than perfect animation at times and the crappy end theme but I'd recommend this show to just about anyone. Recommended.