Galaxy Angel 7/10

This show is more of a multimedia franchise with anime, PC games, manga, and any manner of other crap available with the various Angel's faces slapped all over them. Luckily for us the anime is pretty funny without having to deal with all the other stuff.

This, the original Galaxy Angel series, runs for 26 15 minute episodes and aired back in 2001. This is a comedy show with a bunch of pretty girls as the main characters so the character designs are very good so they can flog all the crap with the girl's images on it. The backgrounds and music are also surprisingly good and the VA's are, of course, going to be good since they're going to be performing in drama CD's and videogames as well as the anime. I really like the OP for the first series since it's pretty catchy. Bravo! Show I had little hope for.

Not much plot going on here. The Galaxy Angels are a group of girls who work for the military of some planet and have their base in an orbiting space station. Their job is to recover and deal with "lost technology" and do anything else they're ordered to do. I'll give a brief description of each of the 5 girls right.......now!

Milfeulle is the pink haired one. She's uber-cheerful and likes cute things and baking sweets. She's also a little dim and has amazing good luck.

Ranpha is the blonde one. She's a kung-fu girl in a Chinese dress who gets boy-crazy at times and likes spicy food.

Forte is the redhead. She's the oldest and has a rather large rack. She's more tomboyish than the others and enjoys firing and collecting guns. Especially firing them.

Mint is the blue haired one. She's from a rich family and has funny rabbit ears that bob up and down and make a funny noise when she gets emotional. She also loves cosplay but does it on the sly to keep the other girls from laughing at her.

Vanilla is the light green haired one. She's quiet and religious and doesn't say much. She takes care of Normad who's a supercomputer inside a stuffed animal.

Most of the shows have a little setup and then the nuttiness starts. There's no running story, just silliness. From the character descriptions you can imagine how most of the episodes play out. Kung-Fu, shooting, costumes and so-on though there are a couple of serious episodes that are good as well. This show is pretty funny and it's a good one to show without marathoning it. Recommended.

Planetes 10/10

To celebrate my rewriting of history by changing all my old scores let's celebrate with the addition of a show to the now exclusive 10/10 club. This the first TV series I've given a 10/10 but it's well deserved.

These 26 episodes were released between 2003 and 2004. Very rarely does a TV series look as good as this one. The show's locations range from Earth, to Earth orbit, to the surface of the moon, to various spaceships and space stations and they all have an incredible level of detail and realism. This isn't some fanciful view of a future in space with giant robots and planet death rays, it's a very well thought out and designed future that's very believable. The character designs are somewhat simple and more realistic than the majority of anime but I feel this adds to the appeal of the series. The animation is extremely smooth throughout and every episode looks as good as the one previous. The characters hail from various countries around the world and this is well portrayed by the excellent VA's. The music in this series is also fantastic with the OP being a stand out and the final ED theme making me want the O.S.T.

It's 2075 and mankind has taken up permanent residence in space. There are manned bases and even a city of over 100,000 people on the moon, large space stations orbit the Earth, and man has sent manned missions to Mars. One of the growing problems with all this space activity is the proliferation of debris in the space surrounding the Earth and Planetes focuses on the lives of a crew of debris collectors that work for a private company and live and work on an orbiting space station.

The first half of Planetes introduces us to the various characters using the addition of a new crew member, Ai Tanabe. She's young and idealistic and drives the main character, Hachirota "Hachimaki" Hoshino, nuts as he teaches her the ins and outs of recovering space debris. The office contains some real characters with the 2 department managers being hilariously eccentric, the female ship captain being a rabid smoker (in space! nice career choice), the other recovery guy having a tragic past, and the stoic temp worker who is more than she appears. Along with a bevy of supporting characters we really get to know these people against the backdrop of their space missions. This show is a perfect blend of comedy, drama, excitement, and even romance as Ai and Hachimaki start to fall for one another.

As the second half of the series starts Hachimaki quits the debris section to try out as a crew member on an upcoming manned mission to Jupiter. The show takes a dramatic turn as terrorist activity against this mission starts up and Hachimaki begins to isolate himself from everyone, even Ai who he ended up going out with not long before he quit. Some new characters are introduced and the show shifts more towards Ai as a second main character so we maintain alot of scenes with the debris section along with Hachimaki's going's on. Hachimaki has to dig deep to succeed and Ai is deeply affected by his new attitude and it's great TV.

The show ends with a climactic terrorist attack against the new ship for the Jupiter mission and the largest city on the moon. As the last 3-4 episodes play out the creators do a fantastic job keeping the viewers on the edge of their seats and the cliffhangers come fast and furious. As the series ended I found myself wondering how it could be any better. It's that good.

Rarely does a space show come along that doesn't involve the word Gundam or a bunch of teenage girls. I loved this show and I really can't think of a single thing wrong with it other than it felt so short. Go watch this NOW!

Ratings change!

After about 8 months of looking at it I've decided to change that stupid 100/10 score and bump most of the scores down by 1 with a few exceptions. I'll list the reviews getting changed here for reference but it might take me awhile to update all the posts with the updated scores. I didn't want to do this but that 100/10 bugs me.

As an apology I have an actual 10/10 to add to the exclusive group so that will show up in a bit.

Score "adjustment":

10/10: Place Promised..., R.O.D. (this belongs here, but this isn't the new one)

10/10 to 9/10: Appleseed, Elfen Lied, FMP? Fumoffu, Gunslinger Girl, Jubei-chan 2, KOR Movie, KOR TV, Madlax, Midori Days, Orphen, Patlabor TV, Patlabor: TNF OAV, R.O.D The TV, Scrapped Princess, Stellvia, Tenchi Movie 1, Urusei Yatsura TV

9/10 to 8/10: Aquarian Age TV, Betterman, Blue Seed TV, Bubblegun Crisis, Chrono Crusade, Daphne in the Brilliant Blue, Divergence Eve, Ghost Talker's Daydream, Legend of Black Heaven, Master Keaton, Millennium Actress, Ninja Scroll, Rune Soldier, Samurai Champloo

8/10 to 7/10: Angel Tales, Avenger, Blue Seed OAV, D.N.Angel, Fatal Fury Movie, Fight! Iczer-One, Genshiken, GitS:Stand Alone Complex, Gungrave, Howl's Moving Castle, Inu Yasha Movie 3, Marmalade Boy, Mermaid Forest

7/10 to 6/10: Aquarian Age Movie, Burst Angel, Cutey Honey, DearS, Eiken, Gantz, Grenaider, Piano, Spiral, Yumeria

6/10 to 5/10: Bottle Fairy, KOR OAV, Koi Kaze, Sakura Taisen: Ecole de Paris, Sentimental Journey, Tokyo Underground

5/10 to 4/10: Arcade Gamer Fubuki, Battle Athletes, Psychic Academy

Overman King Gainer stays at 4/10

4/10 to 3/10: Iczer Reborn, Magical Meow Meow Taruto, Maps, Mask of Zeguy

3/10 to 2/10 Star Ocean EX

Sister Princess stays at 1/10

Shuten Doji stays at 0/10

Betterman 8/10

There's not alot of horror anime out there. Boogiepop Phantom, Devil Lady, Hellsing, Shuten Doji (more for how BAD it is), and others. I usually like horror anime without demons since it's usually of the weird, trippy kinda horror and Betterman falls squarely into this group.

This show aired in 1999 and is in a strange space as far a production quality goes. Its 26 episodes are widescreen which is odd for a show of it's age but it's mostly hand drawn and coloured which I would expect for 1999. I can only surmise the letterboxing was a deliberate technique by the creators to limit the audience's field of view in order to make the show scarier. The computer coloured stuff REALLY stands out since it's used very rarely and doesn't have the whole foggy look of the rest of the series. I liked the foggy filter they slapped on this series since it makes the whole thing alot creepier. The character designs were good with lots of oversized breasts but about a 50/50 split between male and female characters so it's not too distracting. I liked the spooky music and didn't mind the OP and ED. The special ED for the final episode was a little shrill for me but I really liked the intro to it so I'm kinda torn. I liked the VA's and Kaede had a really interesting voice and funny way of speaking that was amusing.

Betterman starts out introducing us to high school student Keita Aono who's kinda short and geeky. That day his childhood friend Hinoki Sai transfers to his school along with her tri-coloured hair and large rack. Her hair is brown but she has one big green bang and a red one on each side of it. This is important later so bear with me. She ignores Keita and later on his way home he ends up stuck in a new underground amusement park where people are investigating the mysterious deaths of a bunch of workers. Keita ends up running around in the dark being freaked out by various creepy things and ends up in a big robot with Hinoki. It turns out Keita has the ability to operate the mech, known as a NeuroNoid so he gets roped into joining Akamatsu Industries. They consist of Keita, Hinoki, another pair of pilots, a scientist girl, a frail psychic girl, the middle-aged mechanic that runs Akamatsu Industries, and a couple of mechanics that don't get killed with the rest every time something attacks.

There are a few strange goings on in Japan. People have been coming down with a disease named Algernon that makes them kill people and ends up making them crazy-go-nuts, then they die. There are also some strange goings on monster-wise. A couple of giant beasties and swarms of bugs and such show up during the series to attack the team at home and while they're investigating. A strange dude known as Betterman shows up to rescue them almost every time. He looks ALOT like Hinoki since his hair has the same coloured bangs (I told you it was important) and he fights by eating one of 3 seeds he carries around and transforms into a beastie with powers to save the day.

The story moves along as the team investigates the source of Algernon and the beasties. It turns out people killed by Algernon have been getting stolen by someone and their faces end up growing flowers that bear the seeds that Betterman eats. It looks as creepy as it sounds. Everything relates to when Hinoki's parents and brother died a few years earlier during some creepy experiment that was an attempt to create a new type of human.

I really liked the creepy tone of most of the episodes and the secrets surrounding Algernon and the Betterman are slowly revealed at a good pace. I realy enjoyed the ending for this series which was better than I expected and the action sequences involving the robots were really great. Also during the series, Hinoki warms up to Keita so there's a little romance thrown in amongst the unrelenting terror in dark corners. While everything isn't quite explained at the end I was very satisfied with what I could understand and I'm gonna recommend this since it's really entertaining.

Be sure to watch the messed up previews narrated by the frail psychic girl Sakura.

Shuten Doji 0/10

Sweet merciful crap is this show ever bad! My first 0/10 and justly deserved! This isn't the worst anime I've ever seen but it's damn close.

Fuck!

I feel dumber for having seen this.

This OAV series was released from the sphincter of hell's grim tyrant back in 1989. How they managed ONE 45 minute episode is baffling but FOUR!? This show has all the hallmarks of a crappy anime in one package and this is bad for a TV series. The backgrounds are poorly drawn for an OAV and about a quarter of the show takes place in Dementia 5 but less colourful. The character designs are really bad with wildly different styles at times with some slightly less hideous ones in the third episode. The animation is horrible almost all the time with even all the grisly deaths being uninspired. If you're going to cleave 400+ Oni demons in half put in some effort! They just cut the cell in half and add some red splotches. The music is terrible with the exception of the end theme which is over a black background and I HATE THAT! The VA's are also pretty bad and the main character who's supposed to be this Oni super-dude sounds like a pretty boy. It's like watching Richard Simmons battle the forces of evil.

This story must have been crafted by a disturbed mind or a bastard who likes to punish anime fans. This guy named Jiro Shutendo was given to his parents as a baby by a 50ft hideous blue monster known as an Oni. He tells the couple to care for the boy and he'll be back in 15 years to get him. Fast forward 15 years and the boy is being attacked by some mysterious group trying to kill him. This girl he's sweet on, Miyuki, gets kidnapped and the bad guy's use her doppelganger to trick Jiro into falling into their trap. They try to kill him but he releases some super power and kills all but the Oni leader of the group who sends Miyuki into some dream dimension or something. Jiro follows, rescues her and the first episode ends without me needing a stiff drink.

In the second episode Jiro gets attacked at some temple and a bunch of new characters show up to help him. This new team escapes and returns to Jiro's house for introductions, not that this matters since his mom and Miyuki get kidnapped and they have to rush to the rescue. The new team ends up getting killed and after beating the bad guys Jiro, Miyuki, the blue guy, and another human sized Oni named Goki fly off into the sky to wherever it is they're supposed to go. Keep in mind at this point that the reason for leaving and the destination is not explained. I'm getting concerned at this point that the show seems to be giving me a bad vibe.

The third episode starts on a bad foot. Jiro's mom has gone cuckoo bananas over the loss of her boy and is sent to a mental institution. Jiro and the rest are in some dimension being attacked by Oni of all colours and Jiro ends up in space while the rest end up in ancient Japan. Here things go nuts as some spaceship runs into a 200ft glowing yellow Jiro and invites him aboard. Here I need to pause while I laugh myself sick. Once on the ship the crew want to analyze Jiro so they put him in some dream watching machine. Jiro obviously is a little odd since he dreams about his mom and a bunch of fleshy things from the end of Akira swallowing her. Suddenly the machine goes nuts and the cyborg Iron Kaiser shows up to battle Jiro. Of course Iron Kaiser was introduced right before Jiro makes his giant space appearance and it turns out he's a survivor of the last episode who's been waiting 100 years to get revenge. Why the fuck he expected Jiro to show up in the middle of space let alone at all is not revealed. I assume this requires some crazy juice or something. The ship ALSO happens to be carrying a time teleporter so Jiro and Iron Kaiser get sent to ancient Japan, Jiro kills Iron Kaiser, and the reunited team heads off once more. I've lost all hope for this show at this point.

The final episode explains how none of the characters understands anything and most of it is spent showing Jiro and his team hacking up Oni by the busload. We also get to see how mommy dearest has been painting Oni paintings on the walls of her room and they are of the insane variety. The dad decides the paintings are bad and smashes the walls of the hospital down with a sledgehammer. As he smashes them the world the Jiro team are in starts to collapse and everything blows up real good. This is apparently because mom managed to create all the Oni and their planet with her mind or something. Absolute madness. In the end Jiro and Miyuki are going back home, Goki is going back to ancient Japan, and the giant blue dude and Jiro have this following exchange that stands tall as some of the most retarded dialogue ever:

Senki (big blue Oni): Master Doji, I must go now.

Jiro: Senki, where will you go?

Senki: I cannot enter the human world like Goki. I'm just too monstrous. I'm going to take the rest of the Oni survivors and find another planet.

Zenith27: Way to be honest.

Senki: Because of our ugly appearance, we may all die someday.

Zenith27: PARDON!? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Jiro: Senki...

Senki: However, I hold no grudges against her for my appearance. She is the mother of the Oni clan.

(Closeup of Senki's eye)

Zenith27: Don't tell me...

Senki: We are neither pretty, nor kind, nor loved...

Senki: But we still love her.

(Sheds a single tear)

Zenith27: BWAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

(Senki strikes a pose and flies off)

The mother and son reunite. THE END.

This show sucked HARD. NOT RECOMMENDED!

Bubblegum Crisis 8/10

OAV's with original stories are a dying breed but we'll always have the classics. Megazone 23, Devil Hunter Yohko, and the greatest of them all...Bubblegum Crisis. Coolest anime name EVER.

Released from1987 to 1991 these 8 episodes of varying length are among the first anime licensed for North American anime fans and it's not surprising. Regardless of their age some of these episodes look terrific even by today's standards. The first four are slightly less polished than the final four but the detail on the backgrounds and animation is amazing throughout. The shows are full of great 80's style insert songs with about 2 per episode, sometimes more. Some of the character designs have dated hairstyles (Priss) but you have to look past that. All the VA's here are great and I've always been disappointed that the TV series didn't use the same ones.

The stars of the show are the Knight Sabers, 4 young armoured female mercenaries who battle rogue boomers. The boomers are big, mean looking robots that occasionally go crazy and have to be stopped. The A.D. (Advanced) Police usually can't handle the job so the Knight Sabers step in (welcome or not) and destroy them. This usually is much to the dismay of the Genom corporation who build the boomers and don't care for super suit girls wrecking their products even though they're letting them loose on purpose to test them against the A.D. Police.

Sylia is the leader and brains of the team, she runs their operations with a lingerie shop as cover. She's always calm and dressed like the rich business woman she is. Her father left her the technology of the hardsuits after he was killed in an accident at Genom. Priss is the main fighter of the group who's day job has her as a singer in a band named Priss and the Replicants. She's the tomboy of the team and loves to ride motorcycles over the speed limit. Leon, the main A.D. Police detective in the show, has his eye on her. Linna is the third member and the least interesting of the 4 girls. She works as an aerobics instructor and that's about it. Nene works for the A.D. Police so her duties as a Knight Saber sometimes conflict with her public job. She's a computer expert and not much of a fighter but is the funniest of the characters.

Here are quick summaries of each of the 8 episodes.

Tinsel City - The first episode has the introductions then the Knight Sabers are hired to recover a young girl who has been kidnapped from the military. They rescue her but it turns out she's a boomer who can control a satellite space laser. When the island they're on starts turning into a giant boomer the Knight Sabers have to abandon her and the island and girl are destroyed.

Born to Kill - A new boomer is developed by Genom and the satellite space laser control system from the previous episode is installed in it. After Linna's friend and her fiancée are murdered by Genom to protect the secret the Knight Sabers head out and destroy the new weapon.

Blow Up - Priss has a friend with a son who is fighting to prevent Genom from demolishing their apartment. Once she is killed Priss and the Knight Sabers attack the Genom tower looking for some payback and kill the Genom executive responsible when he attacks them in a power suit.

Revenge Road - A man is out for revenge against a biker gang that traumatized his girlfriend by attacking them on the freeway a few years earlier. He soups up his Griffon car and nearly kills Priss while chasing the bikers. Later, his car goes out of control and the Knight Sabers save him and his girlfriend before the A.D. Police destroy them and the car.

Moonlight Rambler - A group of girls escape a space station and one of the two survivors befriends Priss. It turns out they're trying to get a program from Genom in order to change their bodies so they no longer need special maintenance since they're a type of boomer. Priss's friend has been killing people to get blood for the other and she's got a super mech to fight Genom. Priss has to kill her when her mech goes berserk and threatens to nuke the city.

Red Eyes - A new uber-boomer named Largo frames the Knight Sabers for some crimes in an order to draw them out so he can destroy them. He also wants to acquire an item called the OMS (Overmind Control System) from the head of Genom and kidnaps the Defence Minister in order to blackmail Genom into giving it to him. It turns out Largo is keen to free boomers from bondage and be their leader but the Knight Sabers show up and destroy him.

Double Vision - Vision, the older sister of Linna's dead friend from Born to Kill is out for revenge against the company that killed her parents and Genom for killing her sister. The Knight Sabers are hired to protect the scientist who developed a new boomer but he's kidnapped as bait to draw out the head of Genom. Vision and the Knight Sabers join forces to defeat the new super-boomer.

Scoop Chase - Nene is roped into looking after the chief's niece Lisa who's an aspiring reporter. She starts investigating the Knight Sabers and after Priss destroys her camera she ends up getting a picture of Nene in her power suit. Before Nene is exposed a scientist attacks the A.D.Police tower with a group of boomers designed to destroy the Knight Sabers. Nene has to save the day and Lisa ends up returning the picture to her new friend and saviour.

The first four episodes don't look as good at the rest and they also have the weaker stories but they're still great. I liked the last 2 episodes most since we get to see the girls in their regular lives and episode 8 has some really funny parts with Nene. This show is really amazing, big fights, big explosions, and some great music. Highly Recommended.

Madlax 9/10

Read the following lines out loud.

Elda Taluta.

Sarks Sark.

Ark Arks.

Have you gone crazy? If not, you could have the power to carry a 26 episode anime TV series BUT if you aren't a teenage girl you'll get killed before the end. Them's the breaks.

Dating back to 2004 the 26 episodes of Madlax look really great. The vast assortment of backgrounds from European cities to jungles and trippy yellow Dementia 5 type locales were all very detailed and unique. I also really liked the lighting effects that were really put to good use during all the moonlit battles Madlax has. The animation was nice and consistent throughout and I really liked the character designs. I particularly liked the somewhat bemused smile Madlax has all the time. This show has some of the best music I've heard in a series in awhile. I went so far as to buy both the O.S.T.'s and I highly recommend them. Some tracks of note are the terrific OP and ED and the insert song "nowhere" that is one of Madlax's battle themes. Such great music can really add to a show and this one has a fantastic score. Also try "Calm Days" and "Margaret". The VA's were all great and I really enjoyed the VA for Madlax. She's been in alot of shows but this was the role that I really noticed.

Margaret Burton is a high school girl who's a little odd. She disappeared as a child when on a trip to a country called Gazth-Sonika with her mom and when she shows up at her home in Nafrece sometime later she can't remember what happened to her except one word: Madlax. Madlax is a teenage girl living as a mercenary and assassin in Gazth-Sonika who's feared as one of the best at her trade.

Margaret is somewhat odd because she's very spacey. She's not stupid but seems to have an almost dreamy air about her all the time. She lives with her maid Elenore in her parent's house and they have an almost sisterly relationship since they're about the same age. Margaret also owns a mysterious book she claims was given to her by her father. She also has an older friend named Vanessa who works for a company that does buisness in Gazth-Sonika.

Madlax on the other hand is rather normal but for her choice of occupation. She lives alone and gets her jobs over cell from a mysterious man named 3-speed. Madlax ALSO has the missing page of Margaret's mysterious book on her wall. Madlax gets alot of business since Gazth-Sonika is in the midst of a civil war that started around the time of Margaret's plane crash.

The story jumps back and forth between Margaret searching for the history of her book and Madlax performing her assignments while we're educated about the history and current situation in Gazth-Sonika. It turns out that Vanessa's company is involved in the war so she goes to Gazth-Sonika to investigate where she gets Madlax as a bodyguard. She discovers the existence of a secret organization named Enfant that seems to be controlling the civil war from both sides AND is trying to take Margaret's book.

Since Vanessa ends up in fear of her life she goes into hiding with Madlax. Margaret and Elenore head to Gazth-Sonika to find her and get more information about the book. They eventually meet up and we get the only fan-service in the show as the girls go swimming. It turns out that 12 years before a man named Monday Friday, who is the head of Enfant, used the books to open the door to some crazy other dimension and is keen to do so again but it turns out he needs Margaret to do so. This leads to Margaret getting kidnapped, the other girls rushing off to save her, and some of them getting killed in the process. Things rush towards the finale as the secrets behind Margaret and Madlax are revealed and things come to a conclusion.

There's alot more to the story than I can relate here. I thought the power the books have was pretty cool and it reminded me of something from something more fantasy based. I really liked how the show is almost 2 shows for the first part and the ending wasn't the cop-out it could have been. I was impressed how none of the episodes felt like filler and that the series was so well paced I didn't get bored. Overall a much better outing than Noir and it's highly recommended.

Blue Seed Beyond OAV 7/10

After the great 26 episode Blue Seed TV series these OAV's are for the fans. Those who haven't seen the series need not apply.

Dating back to 1996 we get some pretty good OAV animation with character designs that are pretty similar to the TV series. I consider this to be a major problem sometimes when the higher quality productions feel the need to change the designs and they screw them up. Examples of this are something like the Inu Yasha movies. The OP here is actually pretty catchy and I don't hate it at all unlike the theme to the TV series. The rest of the music is OK and the one new character has a pretty good voice.

Since this show is more for the fans of the TV series I didn't expect much from the story but I was pleasantly surprised. The new story takes place 2 years after the events of the TV series and the T.A.C. has been disbanded with the chief left to keep and eye on things. Momiji is getting ready to take her university entrance exams and is studying her powers at a lab with the scientist lady. The T.A.C. headquarters is promptly destroyed by a new Aragami with an orange seed and the chief is hospitalized.

Why this OAV isn't now called "Orange Seed" I'll never know.

The whole gang gets together again along with a new American girl named Valencia who has an orange seed in her chest like Momiji's blue one from the TV series except her power is to rip off her clothes and give her powers like Kusanagi's. This is a MUCH better power than Momiji's boring Aragami detector but sadly she only uses it once. They manage to defeat the Aragami then the second episode has them dashing off to San Francisco to defeat the Aragamis there and the scientist that created them. This turns out to be Valencia's dad and she loses her seed at the end of the show robbing the world of yet another naked woman.

During these 2 episodes Momiji has to deal with Kusanagi distancing himself from her lately. This is because he's concerned about harming her if he gets too excited while boning her and this all resolved by the end of the show with no nookie. Oh well. One part I liked about this series was the little side story about how the military girl and the computer geek have split up because she's nervous about commitment. He sees her again during these shows after losing track of her in the previous 2 years and it's a little surprising since he was introducing her to his mom during the end credits of the final TV episode. Of course they get together at the end and it's good to see some character development from the supporting characters.

The last episode is a bit of fluff about the girls heading to a hot spring and having to deal with a bomb set up to kill them. There's no real nudity but all the girls stroll around in their ginch for a bit. I felt kinda ripped off.

Don't watch this unless you've seen the TV series. If you have, then this is very recommended as one last kick at the can for Blue Seed.

Iczer Reborn 3/10

This is the sequel to Fight! Iczer-One. In that review I explained that 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 had all four, Iczer Reborn only has big explosions which is the least appealing of the four gimmicks. What happened?

Dating back to 1991-1992 these are 6 half-hour episodes of old-school OAV technical goodness. The animation and backgrounds are very similar to Fight! Iczer-One which means they are very good though it seems the character designs got a little young looking. The music is OK and I liked the 80's style pop end credit themes but why the same black backgrounds for the end credits I so hated in the original series? I don't care to sit through a long-ass song for 2:30 if I don't have something to look at. I didn't mind the VA's since they were mostly the same from Fight! Iczer-One but I really didn't care for Iczer-3's VA, frankly it sucked. She sounded like some amateur or something.

Things start off many years after the events of Fight! Iczer-One and earth is under attack again. Iczer-1 has been injured battling the evil Neos Gold and is standing up in a tank of liquid with a bunch of tubes connected to her, getting healing as only standing up in a tank of liquid with a bunch of tubes connected can provide. Neos Gold has arrived on Earth again with a bunch of new female minions and started trashing up the joint in an effort to draw out Iczer-1 so they can battle once more. This part is the best of the series as her troops slash and hack through the Earth soldiers with blades, claws, and a complete disregard for modern weaponry.

The main character is Kasumi Nagisa, the granddaughter of the main character from the first series. She and 4 others are the sole survivors at the moon base and are in desperate straights but Iczer-3 arrives to save the day. Since Iczer-1 is currently enjoying the worst hospital care in the galaxy her little sister is sent to Earth in her stead. They escape the moon and get to the Earth on the new ship the Miss Fuji and plan their next move.

After the first battle against Neos Gold's minions Iczer-3 gets the power dealy that allows her to summon the Iczer Robo stolen so no more giant robot until the end of the series. Neos Gold uses the power dealy to create a copy of Iczer-3 named Atros who becomes her rival and doesn't get along with the remaining 3 minions. The show now starts to suck as each of the next 3 episodes involve the next minion showing up to defeat Iczer-3, them losing, then being obliterated by Neos Gold so she doesn't have to pay them severance. The 5th episode has Iczer-3 fighting Atros and bringing her over to the good side, then Iczer-2 shows up from the previous series and beats Iczer-3 like a rug. Things are getting REALLY boring at this point so in the last episode Izcer-1 finally makes an appearance, beats Iczer-2 again then they all team up and kill Neos Gold.

The last series was MUCH more adult oriented and interesting with a high level of violence and nudity. This series is more like a short, crappy version of Sailor Moon with each villain getting their turn at Iczer-3, getting killed, then the final battle. It looks great but it's not really recommended except if you want to see the whole Iczer series.

Daphne in the Brilliant Blue 8/10

This show has the second best title in all of anime as far as I'm concerned. How could you not want to see a show called Daphne in the Brilliant Blue?

Dating back to 2004 the 24 episodes of Daphne look really great. There are also 2 OAV episodes but I'm going to lump them in with the rest since they are of the same quality. The animation and backgrounds are pretty good though there are some poor sections here and there. I really liked all the water, oceans, and sky backgrounds, there's alot of blue and I've always been partial to ocean levels. The character designs are certainly an acquired taste. Frankly when I first started watching this show I thought the faces of the girls were downright horrible. The somewhat skimpy outfits the girls wear when on missions are OK but with their hideous faces I was torn. I eventually came around at about episode 8 or so, I suppose I prefer something original looking once in awhile rather than the 12th show that looks like Gundam Seed. I liked all the music in this series and I really liked the OP. The music has a somewhat ethereal feel at times, a very oceany quality which I quite enjoyed. The VAs are also really good and Maia's screaming and crying are well done, whiny but not annoying.

Maia Mizuki has a pretty tough time in this series. She starts off living with her grandfather and preparing to take the entrance exams for the Ocean Agency, the largest government agency in the city. Her grandpa dies and since she's planning to live in the dorms at the Ocean Agency she gives up her right to live in her grandfather's house. Of course she then proceeds to fail her exams so she can't get into the dorms, with no home or money she's out on the street looking for work and a place to live.

She loses her home because this is the future and the world's oceans have risen and covered the land. The only places left are several floating cities and since living space is so limited once she gives up her home she can't get it back. Desperate for work she ends up at Neres, a private investigation and security agency. Neres takes on jobs such as traffic control, rent collection, hostage rescue, and many other dangerous jobs that Maia really isn't suited for. Neres consists of several members. Rena is the sexy, no nonsense leader, Gloria is the gun toting psycho, Shizuka is the resident gear head with an enormous appetite, and Yuu is the quiet martial arts queen.

Most of the early episodes are one off missions with a healthy dose of comedy and action. While the action sequences are nothing earth shattering it's the comedy of this series that really makes it worth watching. I laughed alot watching this show with Yuu constantly clobbering Gloria, Gloria constantly shooting everything in sight, and Maia bemoaning her fate. This is funny stuff. Later in the series it's explained that Maia had lost her memory a few years before and can't remember her childhood. On a mission to another city her memories begin returning to her and this leads to the main plot where Maia attempts to discover the secret of her past and why some people are desperate she not remember. These episodes are still between various mission episodes but the main plot ones actually have a more somber tone at times.

I don't want to give the ending away but the final revelation actually surprised me and the ending is actually really good. The only problem I had with this show were the character face designs but if you can get past them this show is definitely recommended.

Howl's Moving Castle 7/10

Hayao Miyazaki rises from the grave, or returns from retirement, to churn out another film for the whole family assuming that family is into drug induced hallucinations or have been declared legally insane.

Dating back to 2004 this film has all the polish expected from an animated feature. Lots of great backgrounds and detailed animation along with tons of cels demonstrates Studio Ghibli's skills haven't diminished since Spirited Away. It's not all smiles and chocolate though. I didn't care for the style of animation used for Howl's castle as it moves around but I believe this was a deliberate style choice and I thought a couple of the moving CG backgrounds really stood out as sparse compared to the super-detailed backgrounds of the rest of the film. I really liked the music and the end theme was OK. I liked all the VAs except for the main character Sophie. The JP dub used the same VA for both the 19 year old and 90 year old versions of Sophie and while I appreciate the effort I can't say I liked the 19 year old version at all. I have to say this is the reason this film gets a 8 and not a 9. The english version is much better since they use 2 VAs but I grade the JP versions so it's too bad this detracted from an otherwise great movie.

Howl's Moving Castle starts out as we meet Sophie Hatter, a young woman who seems unhappy in her life working in her family's hat shop. One night she gets a spell cast on her by the Witch of the Waste after being rescued by a mysterious young man earlier in the day. She is transformed into a 90 year old woman and is forbidden by the spell from telling anyone about it. Oddly she rushes off without even ATTEMPTING to tell anyone and goes off into the hills for no apparent reason. She promptly discovers a scarecrow that gets her into Howl's castle and to shelter from the storm that's raging.

I really felt that this rushed opening was a serious flaw in the movie. Howl is mentioned by some of the townspeople but we never get a real explanation of who or what he is or what Sophie is supposed to know about him. Sophie's abrupt departure is also somewhat retarded since she dashes off into the mountains with no shelter, little food, and no plan.

Once in the castle Sophie meets Markl, a little boy who lives with Howl and disguises himself as an old man to run a magic shop and Calcifer the fire demon who lives in the fireplace and powers the castle. The castle has one door but it can lead to 4 places. One leads to the outside of the moving castle, 2 lead to magic shops in different towns where Markl sells his wares, and one leads somewhere unknown. This final location is perhaps explained near the end of the film but it's not really clear. Sophie sets to work as a cleaning lady since the house is a wreck and befriends everyone there so she ends up staying.

It turns out that Howl has been getting involved in a war that's currently being waged between 2 countries but this is never really explained, Howl's involvement or the nature of the conflict. At first Howl is being pursued by the Witch of the Waste who seems to have some romantic agenda, this is why he's in a moving castle, so he can hide. Howl is later summoned by the king to help(?) in the war effort and sends Sophie as his mom to make excuses for him. There she meets the Witch again and has an audience with the court mage Suliman who turns out to be Howls magic teacher. The Witch is robbed of her powers by Suliman, Howl shows up, Suliman tells Sophie that Howl's a monster, and they all escape. Now Suliman is after them and carpet bombs a city looking for them. This is all very insane as far as I'm concerned. The film never really explains WHY Suliman gives a damn what Howl does but she really goes over the top trying to catch him.

In the end a Sophie saves Howl's soul, though this isn't really something they make out to be very important earlier, and everyone gets a happy ending. The movie's main point is how Sophie's outward appearance is related to her love for Howl but noone EVER mentions it after the initial spell. You just have to pay attention to her switches from old to young and back again.

This movie is great but it's more a collection of small good bits with the overall story being somewhat hodge-podge. Recommended but not the best Miyazaki film out there.

Tenchi Muyo The Movie 1: Tenchi Muyo In Love 9/10

After the original OAV series and TV series the Tenchi universe hits it's peak with it's first theatrical release. I've always liked the Tenchi shows and this movie demonstrates how good harem anime can be.

Released back in 1996 this is one of the few Pioneer LDC theatrical films and since I'm very familiar with their OAVs I had high expectations (back in about 1997). This film doesn't disappoint in any area. Old school hand-drawn and coloured goodness, high cel count, and detailed backgrounds combine into a fantastic looking movie. Very limited use of CG doesn't jar the viewer as it blends very well with the rest of the animation. The creators decided to stick with the character designs from the earlier works and it's odd seeing OAV type character designs in a theatrical film but I prefer the originals over the later ones. The music is amazing, some may complain that this film moved away from the traditional Tenchi "sound" but I feel if you're going to play it on the big screen you have to go with a fully orchestrated score. I highly recommend picking up the OST for this as it's that good. The VAs remain the same from the earlier efforts and I can't complain there and the new voices for Kain and Achika were great.

This movie assumes you're familiar with the cast of the earlier works. I'll do a quick recap here. The main male is Tenchi. He's a high school student who lives with his father and grandfather. Their house is out in the boonies near a shrine the grandfather tends. His grandfather is actually a member of the Jurai royal family, another planet whose royal family wields immense power both politically and as a kind of magic and Tenchi has inherited this power. Alot of girls have taken up residence in the household or nearby and they mostly have fallen for Tenchi though some less than others. The main rivals for his affections are Ryoko, a space pirate, and Ayeka, a princess of the Jurai royal family. Ayeka has a younger sister Sasami and she cares for Ryo-Ohki who is a little cat-rabbit that gets WAY too much airtime in the other series. There are two Galaxy Police detectives, Mihoshi the uber-ditz and Kiyone her long suffering partner. The last of the crew is Washu, super-genius and though she looks and acts about 12 she's actually much older. Keep in mind that in each incarnation of Tenchi the characters and relationships change slightly and I've already written enough.

In the first few minutes we see the Class A criminal Kain escape the GP headquarters and destroy it. After this the movie cuts to 1970 where the gang seems to be at a high school watching a girl with long hair. I have to note here that the music in this montage is incredible and sets the tone for the rest of the show.

Now back to the present where we're told that the girl being watched is Tenchi's dead mother when she was in school. After she disappears from the home movie the gang is watching and Tenchi nearly disappears himself Washu explains that something has happened to Achika in the past and they must protect her. Off to 1970 they go and the story picks up where the opening montage left off. There's alot of the gang living the high school life and getting to know Achika and they ultimately figure out who Kain is and develop a plan to stop him. It's interesting to note that the title for this movie stems from how Tenchi can't meet his mom for fear of causing a time paradox but as he watches her he kinda falls for her.

Tenchi ends up fighting Kain alone to protect his mother and at the last moment Achika and Tenchi's father are sucked into an alternate dimension with Kain. Tenchi, Ryoko, and Ayeka rush to the rescue and the trick they use to find the missing couple allows Achika to discover her future involving her son and early death. Achika ultimately ends up using her Jurai power to help defeat Kain and everyone makes it back to 1970.

The end of this movie is truly sad as Achika asks the girls to take care of her son since she won't be there when he needs her most. Achika and Tenchi's dad have their memories erased and the gang returns to their own time. In the final narration Tenchi explains that his mother's use of her power to save him caused her to die prematurely but without regrets.

After this film the Tenchi franchise has been going downhill and I'm hoping the new OAV series gets it right as this film did. Highly recommended.

Battle Athletes OAV 4/10

Pioneer used to be famous for it's OAVs featuring lots of girls and onsens in order to sell expensive LaserDiscs and players to horny young men. This show is part of that once proud tradition.

Dating back to 1997-98 these 6 OAVs aren't of the quality I'd expect from that time but it's not a complete train wreck, it's just a little below average. The animation is alright but not super detailed, same goes for the backgrounds. The animation is consistent however and I like the character designs though some of the girls have enormous eyes at times that frightened me. I've never been a fan of the OP and ED for this series and the score isn't anything to wrote home about either. The VAs are OK but Akari the main character could shatter glass at times if I turned the sound up enough.

This story takes place in the far distant future after the Earth has won a war against aliens using an athletic competition since the battles were deadlocked. There are now 2 orbiting schools where boys and girls attend high school with an emphasis on athletics. This story focuses on the girl's school (natch) where each year there is a competition for the title of Cosmo Beauty.

Akari Kanzaki is the main character and the daughter of a former famous Cosmo Beauty. She's pretty whiny and clumsy in the beginning (they always are) and gets teamed up with a couple of other girls, Kris and Anna. Kris is a tall, athletic, and religious girl from the moon who's as good as the best athletes at the school and Anna is a little like Akari but shy and quiet.

The first couple of stories are about Akari gaining confidence with help from her friends and overcoming the somewhat baffling homicidal tricks by Mylandah the 2 time Cosmo Beauty runner-up. In the 3rd episode, after surviving a space station plummet into the atmosphere courtesy of Mylandah it's discovered that Anna is actually a boy during the Pioneer standard onsen scene. Hilarity ensues.

The next episode is the best of the lot, the 2 schools dock together so the boys can compete against the girls. The somewhat perverted headmaster of the girls school decides to dress Akari, Mylandah and Akari's friend Tanya in provocative outfits so they'll have a psychological advantage over the boys. Of course the headmaster of the boys team is smarter than this and gets two gay guys and Anna to compete on their team. Hilarity ensues.

The final 2 episodes are the competition for Cosmo Beauty with Akari and Kris in the finals with the 2 time champ Lahrri. These couple of shows have some pretty funny stuff but I think it wasn't intentional. In a couple of running events Mylandah and Kris get into accidents. Where in real life a runner who trips just falls over, Mylandah and Kris have crashes that would make Richard Petty proud. They leave huge trenches in the track, crash into the edge and smash the cement and they generate huge clouds of smoke. All that's missing is an explosion. It's pretty ridiculous.

This show has it's moments but it's not really great in any one area. I prefer the Battle Athletes Victory TV series so this is good if you've seen that and are interested in another take on it.

Aquarian Age - The Movie 6/10

This OAV isn't really connected to the TV series (review) but does take place in the same universe. I'll let you all read the TV series review for background if you need it.

From 2003 this show is actually an OAV but the powers that be preferred to LIE to us. It's a very nice looking show with good art and consistent animation throughout it's hour running time. The character designs are a little different from the TV series but are still good, just a different type of good. There's some REALLY crappy CG in this show, the castle at the end is particularly horrible looking and I was surprised that a show this new had such shoddy work. I suppose Gonzo has spoiled me. I had no complaints about the music or VAs but I will mention that the DVD comes with some music videos with some good insert songs not in the main show.

Taking place a few years after the TV series the war between the factions has now been revealed to the general public since the various groups are somewhat united to battle a new enemy. The Polestar Empire has invaded earth from another dimension and blown alot of stuff up real good. They consist of zombies and ghosts and such and have quite a few dudes on their team unlike the other factions that are all girls.

The story starts as a little boy recruits a girl from each faction to team up to defeat the emperor of the Polestar Empire. These new girls aren't related to anyone from the TV series. Mayumi is a young psychic from E.G.O. whose mother is their leader and she's not developed her full potential. Miharu is a young leader of Arayashiki who's sister is killed in their battle against Guan Yu. (If you're a Dynasty Warriors fan you know who I'm talking about.) Stella is an older Wiz-Dom member who's very powerful and battles Lancelot. Finally Yoko is a young vampire girl who battles Hannibal along side the vampire king Alucard. These battles are quite violent and I especially liked the vampire battle with a bunches of animal girls getting squished by elephants. (Don't ask me why Yoko's Darklore team is lead by a man.)

Each girl is introduced as she battles her respective resurrected ancient warrior and after winning she gets recruited and the story moves on to the next girl. Once assembled the girls and the little boy go to the Polestar Empire's hovering castle to battle the emperor and it turns out HE'S THE LITTLE BOY! I could see this coming from about 500 miles away. The final battle is pretty disappointing because there aren't alot of foot soldiers to get splattered and the whole thing ends pretty unsatisfactorily.

I liked this show OK but it's really only eye-candy if you like the girls and the violence. Kinda recommended.