Soul Eater/Code Geass

So, I wasn’t planning on watching any new shows this spring, but I wound up with 3, possibly more.

Code Geass was the first one that I decided to pick up as I had watched the first season as it aired in the Fall of 2006. After seeing so many good things about the second season (even some reviews (wtf)) I couldn’t resist the temptation of watching it now as opposed to half a year from now. I was quite disappointed that this season doesn’t follow directly after the giant cliffhanger at the end of the last season. Instead we find Lelouche back in school with an obviously homosexual younger brother a year after the events of last season. Luckily the episode didn’t take too long to get going and basically wound up being almost identical, as far as I can remember, to the starting of the last season. With Lelouche meeting C.C. again and getting his Geass power back. Then he takes command of the Black Nights once again and we are essentially where we were in the middle of last season. There are however a few twists that I won’t go into detail on here. I was quite satisfied with the story after the first two episodes.

Soul eater is another new show that I decided to pick up based on what I’ve heard from other people. First of all the series is done by BONES and I loved what they did on Darker than Black. The animation they produced is quite fantastic and I hope they can maintain this level of quality over the course of all fifty or so episodes. That is the other reason that I picked it up. I don’t really want to go and watch fifty episodes all at once when it is completed. I tend to bore quickly of shows that are well… boring. The first two episodes though were pretty good and it appears that to start off the series they will be spending an episode on each of the main character groups. I won’t go into details about the story because I could likely write a small essay on it and still not cover everything. You’d be better off just downloading the first episode for yourself and watching it. One thing I wasn’t a fan of though was the voice acting. For most of the characters so far their voices just don’t really seem to apply to their appearances and personalities. I don’t think it will pose too much of a problem though as I can usually get used to voices.

The last show that I will be picking up, and has been on my radar for quite some time, is Real Drive. Shinsen-Subs has just released the first episode and while I haven’t watched it yet, I’ll probably do so in the next 10-15 minutes. It is from the same people that did Ghost in the Shell so how bad could it be. I can’t wait.

That’s all for me tonight so have a good one.

Shows and Shiz

Well, I created this blog last week and promptly forgot about it again after just a couple of days. I have been extremely busy of late and haven’t had a lot of time to do all of the things I want to do. I finally got around to watching Samurai Champloo and I must say I thoroughly enjoyed it. I’ll probably write a review sometime in the near future. I had been intending to watch it forever and finally got around to watching it.

A couple days ago I picked up RahXephon on a recommendation and so far I’ve been really loving it. I’ve watched the first six episodes so far and I like the direction it is going in. Post-Apocalyptic things always intrigue me.

I was considering watching Code Geass R2 as it aired, but I’ve gotten so accustomed to watching anime at my own discretion that I don’t think I would last a week between episodes. I’d like to watch the first season again before I start it anyway.

I’ll use this opportunity to say a little bit about myself as well. My real name is Matt and I am 21 years of age. I’ve enjoyed anime for roughly 2 years now and can’t see myself stopping anytime soon. I work full time as a manager at a grocery store. Kind of lame I know, but the pay is really good. I am also a college student and am currently in the middle of finals. I have two done at this point and two more left. So beyond work and school I currently have no life whatsoever.

Enough boring stuff about myself though. I’ve seen that a few people have visited my page. Feel free to comment and if you have a blog of your own feel free to post a link to it and I’ll add it to my Blogroll and comment on your blog on a regular basis as well.

That’s all for me at this point. 3 am and I’m kind of tired.

Welcome to my Blog.

You’ve stumbled upon my blog and now you’re wondering where the hell you are. This blog right now is mostly an archive for reviews I’ve written, but I will also update it with various looks into my life, the anime industry, or whatever I think is awesome at that exact moment. I’ll likely update this daily, or more often if I am in the mood. I work a lot and have final exams coming up, but that shouldn’t hold me back much. I’ve already posted the reviews I’ve written in the past, but I might do something with them at a later date. Until then, there they are. Feel free to leave a comment on any of them. I’m currently considering  a career in Web Publishing, so this is kind of like practise for the future… or something. As I learn more of what I am doing with Word Press, I’ll probably add some features, I guess.

I’m currently in the middle of two series (Samurai Champloo, and Yu Yu Hakusho) so I’m going to watch some of one or the other. Haven’t made up my mind yet. I start my new job tomorrow as well, so I guess I can look forward to that as well.

Mobile Suit Gundam MS IGLOO: Apocalypse 0079

The sequel to MS IGLOO: The One Year War, MS IGLOO: Apocalypse 0079, continues the adventures of the 603rd Technical Division as the One Year War comes to a close. The sequel follows the same formula with a new weapon being introduced in each episode and a pilot to fly it. The final two episodes are strung one after another and don’t have the time gap that is evident in the other episodes. The final two episodes are very action oriented and, in my opinion, don’t do as a good a job in respects to storytelling.

The animation is the same CG as the first OVA, but it seems a little better. This is probably due to the explosions — they look extremely realistic. The characters and ships see no improvement, but the animation is still very good overall. Not spectacular, but still very good.

The sound is fairly well done. The opening song is nice, and does a good job of setting the mood for the rest of the show. The voice acting is still very good and emotions are very accurately displayed by the actors. The background music is nice and often creates an ominous setting while adding scale to the enormous space battles. Sound is nothing particularly special, but there isn’t anything bad about it either.

The characters are mostly the same as in the first OVA, but the newly introduced characters, especially the Seaman, add great depth to the story and are very enjoyable. All of the voice actors from the original returned and did an excellent job again.

In my opinion, I found this OVA to be better that the previous one, and this is mostly due to the added battle scenes, and the main characters getting a piece of the action. With this the emotions are also a lot higher and since we’ve become accustomed to watching these characters over six episodes now there is a certain emotional attachment to each one. The ending is very nice as well. Being the only Gundam series without any actual “Gundam Units” this series does a fantastic job of giving the story from the prospective of Zeon.

MS IGLOO: The Hidden One Year War

Taking place before the original Mobile Suit Gundam, MS IGLOO: The Hidden One Year War, is told from the prospective of Zeon, more specifically Oliver May. He is a member of the 603rd Technical Evaluation Unit and stationed on the Jotunheim. Over the course of the three part OVA, Oliver and the rest of the main crew of the Jotunheim are joined by one new character each episode and a new weapon to accompany them. Each weapon is tested and evaluated by the crew of the Jotunheim with often tragic endings.

The CG animation is fairly good, but when compared to recent animated features it doesn’t shine as much as it could have. It was released as a part of the Gundam 25th anniversary. The characters look fairly realistic, but this certainly isn’t the cream of the crop in regards to CG animation. Overall it is fairly well done.

The Opening song is decent, nothing spectacular, but you can hardly judge a show on it’s opening song. The rest of the music is produced by an orchestra, and does a decent job of heightening the mood or tension of the moment. Some of the music is repeated over the course of the OVA, but as it is short there is no cause for concern. The voice acting is generally well done with the exception of one character. The only Asian character on the show, his crying scene is painful and he fails to show any emotion realistically.

The characters of the show are very nicely fleshed out over the course of the show. Although short, this OVA does a very nice job of developing the characters and nobody comes off as particularly flat. The character models are fairly realistic and their motions are very realistic. No complaints about the characters.

I enjoyed this OVA and as the first Gundam that I have completed I was pleasantly surprised by the direction the story took. It was nice to see the story told from Zeon’s side and I look forward to the sequel: Apocalypse 0079. As a prequel to the original Gundam it does a nice job of introducing the development of the Mobile Suits, as well as the propaganda, and conflicts that will be featured in the Universal Century storyline.

Voices of a Distant Star

Voices of a Distant Star, short… but sweet. As a one off OVA by acclaimed director Shinkai Makoto it comes with a rather impressive pedigree, but I feel like it never really got moving. The story tells of a young boy and girl who are separated by an intergalactic war. Sounds excellent, but it never really gives you a sense of why they are fighting or even who they are fighting. If the story was more fleshed out and placed in a movie format I feel that this would have been a real winner. It isn’t bad as it is, but it could have been a lot more.

The animation and art direction are where Voices of a Distant Star really stand apart. In every scene the smallest details are animated perfectly and realistically. The CG mechs are very well done, especially considering this was produced six years ago. The backdrops and the sky in particular are always top notch and very well drawn. Top marks all round. The character models were a little goofy looking, but it wasn’t enough to bother me to any extent.

The music and sounds really give a sense of distance. It’s an odd way of describing it, but the music really gives scale to the battles and makes you feel like something epic is taking place. If I had a complaint about the sounds it would be the voice acting. It wasn’t poorly done, but it could have been better. When the girl was getting emotional and crying, I just wasn’t feeling it.

The characters, Mikato and Noboru, are the only characters in the story. As it is only a one episode OVA there isn’t a chance to see any back story or flesh out the story any way. In the time provided it was mostly focused on their desire to be together and how much they loved each other. They have no personality at all and are very one dimensional. Get over it.

I was expecting a lot better out of this OVA, but it is a nice quick watch none the less. As a movie I think this would have been much better and would be placed up with other top notch movies. As it is though there isn’t enough time to get a sense of what is going on or even care. Still worth watching though.

Mobile Suit Gundam

Mobile Suit Gundam: the series that sparked a genre. Being a pioneer at something is a tough thing to do and while there are some flaws with the original mecha powerhouse that is Mobile Suit Gundam, I can’t help but love almost every minute of it.

Mobile Suit Gundam chronicles the adventures of the White Base crew and the enemies that are in a close proximity to them over the course of the series. The main crew consists of about ten characters with the famous Amuro Ray at the centre of it all. The story follows the White Base as it tries to evade the Zeon and complete its objectives. As a side plot to the main story of the White Base is the ongoing duel between Char Aznable and Amuro. As they both fight in the brave new world of Universal Century 0079/80. They have to deal with ever evolving mobile suits and the emergence of the Newtype.

As far as the art is concerned I went into the series with no expectations. This was made after all in 1979. I was pleasantly surprised to find fluid animations and a style that fit the series perfectly. While it is small potatoes compared to the crappiest animation by todays standards it was quite the achievement for animators back then. Being all hand drawn a series of this magnitude is quite the undertaking and it doesn’t disappoint. The story is just too good to worry about the quality of the animation.

From the corny opening I gathered that the music would be horrid, but It didn’t hold true to my prediction… luckily. Featuring various scores from an orchestra to a sort of 80’s techno/pop feeling the music is definitely dated, but that only adds to the charm of the series. The voice acting by the English cast is fairly well done. Nothing to call home about, but they get the job done. Char’s voice actor is definitely the standout for me from the series. The other characters fall into the mid-talent range.

The characters of Gundam are what make the show great. Gundam is predominantly a character driven drama and the characters are all given well written dialogue save for some of the minor characters. This only stands for the main characters though as the supporting cast is generally acknowledged as being there, but rarely gets any screen time or meaningful lines. Amuro is your typical mobile suit pilot, he is always miserable and has a very selfish “me first” attitude. He accepts his role better later in the series, but definitely makes himself unpopular with the rest of the crew. Char on the other hand is always charismatic and willing to do whatever it takes to fulfil his goals. On a side note the inclusion of the children was a horrible idea and they are always in the way and very annoying. They single handedly brought the character score down one point.

Overall Gundam was very entertaining, but it is not without its quirks. As I’ve already gone into what I liked about the series, I’ll now focus on what prevented this series from going down as truly great. First of all the Zeon are basically a hybrid version of the Nazis of WWII fame and the Empire from Star wars. The cross overs are all over the place. At one point a Zeon Admiral is described as Hitler-esque. Point is, the Zeon are not a very original enemy and steal a lot of their traits from other sources. Even their uniforms are definitely very Nazi. Another quirk,(I call them quirks because they are not really bad, but things I definitely noticed) the amount of time they spend on things related to food is just uncanny. Almost every episode has a segment where Amuro is being berated for not eating or being reminded to eat. It just comes off as an annoyance after 30 episodes. Finally, they call it a military and they are always trying to do military activities, yet they have children on the bridge, people are routinely stealing mobile suits and for anyone that knows anything about the military it will seem very fictional in regards to the military activities.

Throughout the series I only had a few major problems, but overall it is a must watch for anyone that considers themselves an Anime fan.

Dragonball Z

Dragonball Z, many, like me, grew up watching this dubbed on TV. At the time I though it was the coolest thing to ever grace the television and never missed an episode. I’ve probably seen most every episode 2-3 times. The story is all about how Goku and friends grow from relative weaklings to the most powerful beings in the Universe. As each new enemy is defeated, another appears, training ensues, baddie defeated. The story isn’t that deep, it is your typical good vs evil battle with the whole universe at stake. Much of the plot is focused on friendship and overcoming impossible odds to defeat the enemy that is currently threatening your life. Although the story is generally repeated, you can’t help but get into it each arc.

The artistic talent and quality of production definitely increases over the course of the show; however that is to be expected with a show nearly 300 episodes in length. The backdrops are usually pretty plain with the same hills or trees cropping up all over the place. The cities are often the same with no way of telling one from the other. The work on the characters themselves though is very well done and although a lot of frames are often repeated the fights are usually well done, for the time anyway. Let’s not forget that this series started airing in Japan in 1989. It was extremely good for its time and something very unique.

The opening track for the US adaptation of Dragonball Z will likely forever be etched in my mind. Probably the worst opening I have ever seen. Opening aside, the music for the show is reasonably well done and although it is often repeated it isn’t to the point of annoying and is alway used to help accent the mood of the current scene. The main reason for giving the Sound a score of 8 is the voice acting. The voice acting for the English dub of Dragonball Z is the best I have ever seen and will likely ever see. I tried re-watching it with a sub but couldn’t get past the first episode as soon as I heard the voice used for Goku. This is one of the few shows I will ever say has a better English voice cast than the Japanese. Goku is truly bad…

Most anyone who has ever seen an episode of anything anime related knows of and has seen Dragonball Z. I won’t go in depth on each characters, but they are all unique in their own way and usually have a funny side as well as a serious side. This is a side of the show you often don’t hear about: the comedy. Although it isn’t always prelevent, the comedy is always there to break up a situation. The inclusion of Mr Satan later is an effort to make the show more comedy oriented, but it will always be first and foremost an action adventure show.

I, as a child, spent many hours watching this show and loved it with all my heart. Looking back, after watching many better anime, I can see the many faults of the show, but that won’t make it any less memorable. Most definitely not up to the same standards of shows today, but Dragonball Z is a part of my childhood and I will always have fond memories of it.

Mononoke

My initial impression of Mononoke was literally, “…”. After giving it a chance I am glad that I wasn’t quick to judge and saw it through. Mononoke is a collection of short stories revolving around mysterious spirits/creatures known as, from the title, Mononoke. The writing and directing of the series are excellently done and really immerse you in the story itself. Each arc is a new story with new characters that are well fleshed out in the beginning of each segment. The Medicine Seller, Kusuriuri, is the only recurring character and is mysterious as always with each new arc.

The artistic styling of Mononoke is truly one of a kind, the colours are amazing and with HD encodes it truly shines. Each new environment is unique, colourful, and captivating. The colours and use of quick camera movements add to the suspense. The animations themselves are intentionally very stiff at times but as the action speeds up they become very fluid and top notch. The backgrounds are rarely stationary, but appear as though you are observing a painting at the same time. Often times the animations of common things such as snow or water are displayed in a very unique way that makes you simply want to get lost in it.

The sounds of Mononoke are fantastic. There is often times complete silence, but that only adds to the suspense. The OP and ED are very nice, nothing exceptional, but nice. The use of sounds, such as screams, thumps and other such frightening sounds are extremely realistic. I hate to admit it but I was genuinely frightened at certain points.

Apart from the Medicine Seller, each arc sees the introduction of new characters. Each character usually represents a different Japanese stereotype. Samurai, priests, monks, government types, children, and many others. Kusuriuri’s alternate self, I won’t give anything away, is almost worth watching the story for on its own. The Medicine Seller is a very sarcastic person and often times at a very serious moment he’ll crack a joke that is totally absurd and you can’t help but laugh.

At only twelve episodes Mononoke is well worth the time and although it is very, very Japanese in respects to content, it doesn’t take away from the enjoyment in the least. As I mentioned before, Mononoke is excellent at generating fear out of the simplest of situations with very little audio. The characters are all very genuine and are often times in tears and losing their minds in a very believable manner.

I’ve wasted enough of your time, now go watch this show. You definitely won’t regret it.

Kenko Zenrakei Suieibu Umisho

The story of Kenko Zenrakei Suieibu Umisho tells of the trials and tribulations of the Umisho Swim Team. The main plot focuses on Kaname Okiura. He is a member of the swim team, but he doesn’t partake in the actual swimming. As a child he got into a swimming accident and has feared it ever since. With the arrival of Ninagawa Amuro coupled together with all of the other members of the Umisho Swim team, everything descends to chaos with much fan service. Fan service is essentially the whole point of this show. Stay away if you are easily offended by frequent panty shots and the prospect of shaving each other.

The Art style of Umisho is fairly unique with a lot of washed colours and bright landscapes. Although the backdrop is usually a pool or pool area, most scenes are very colourful and easily convey the mood. No complaints from the art of the series, but it certainly isn’t special in any way.

The sounds of Umisho aren’t spectacular in any way but the background music is fine and the OP/ED are nice. The music is usually very cheery, but in the few “serious” parts the music heats up and helps you get into the action. I’m not a big fan of using the OP as an insert song and they do this one or two times. It makes it feel like they were just lazy more than anything. Voice acting was good, there weren’t any standouts as great voice actors but everyone fit their characters fairly well and did a nice job.

The characters of Umisho are all very diverse and each are funny in their own respects. The captain of the team is always off the wall and doing extremely weird stuff, always very funny. The main character, Kaname, is really the only letdown character wise, all of the other characters are funny in some respect or an other, but he is a fairly static character. The large breasted Shizuoka on the other hand is usually very shy, but she gets very excited when she thinks someone is watching her or the prospect of seeing a man naked. Overall the characters for the most part are all very nicely done with well written dialogue for each.

I enjoyed Umisho to the point that I looked forward to each episodes release, but I can’t say it is one of my favourites. Overall it is very nicely done and a good quick watch show. With a very open ending I think it is safe to say that we will see more Umisho in the future.