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Links & Reviews For Other
Anime
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Anime News Network-
A good place to keep up-to-date about what has gone commercial,
quality of releases, etc.
These are in no way all the anime I've viewed... but it's a nice
start, ne?
Ah! Megami-Sama/Ah! My Goddess
Bakuretsu Hunters/ Soreceror
Hunters
Viewed subbed. Definitely amusing, especially if you're in a
quirky mood... sometimes you feel sorry for poor Carrot (but that
never lasts too long! Usually, you feel sorry for the poor girls he
chases after!). He, his little brother Marron, Chocolate, her sister
Tira, and Gateau have been told by the goddess Big Momma to hunt down
Sorcerors who oppress the citizens in the pseudo-medieval world of
the Spooner Continent. Gateau has his strength... Marron has his
wards. Chocolate and Tira can transform into two dominatrixes
(dominatrices?). Carrot doesn't have any powers himself, but turns
into a giant beast when zapped with magic (via zooanthropy). It's up
to Chocolate and Tira to capture him and subdue him when this
happens. My favorite character has to be Marron.
Bastard!
Viewed subbed. I only saw the first bit, but it looks like it'll
be a fun show to continue. Dark Schneider, an evil wizard (called an
exploder wizard... guess why), is sealed into the body of a little
boy, Luche, by Geo. When The Bad Guys (one named Bon Jovina or
somesuch! ^_^) start storming the castle where Geo is, he
decides to release Dark Schneider in the hopes that he'll use his
immense powers to keep the castle from falling. His daughter, Tia,
has to break the spell-- with a "pure virgin's kiss". Little Luche
undergoes a transformation, Dark Schneider emerges, more intent on
killing Geo than on protecting the castle. But when one Baddie
manages to interrupt their fight with his pet Hydra, and cuts D.S.'s
face, his wrath is redirected. One, the unfortunate Baddie interfered
with his fight with Geo; two, the unfortunate Baddie made his face
bleed; and three, the unfortunate Baddie was scaring Tia. (Yes,
there's still a certain degree of little Luche in D.S.'s body.)
Needless to say, Dark Schneider makes short work of the unfortunate
Baddie and turns back to Geo. Tia tries to intervene, and ends up
giving D.S. a kiss... which retransforms him back into Luche.
Berserk
Viewed subbed. Let's see.... blood, blood, gore, blood, more gore.
And did I mention blood? You have a guy (whose name means "Guts" in
English) who runs around with a sword bigger than he is, killing
sundry and various people. Oh, yes, and he has a curse on him. I
think I saw this one for maybe 3 or 4 episodes, and didn't care to
continue. Rather on the dark and gory side for me. Not that I'm a
fluff-only kind of person; but there just wasn't enough character
development or humor to offset it.
CardCaptor Sakura
Viewed subbed. This is one of CLAMP's projects, about a little
girl who accidentally let loose a stack of cards from a book.
Cereberus, who was supposed to look after the cards (yet was
sleeping) helps Sakura- or makes her? -collect them back again.
Kero-chan (the Cereberus) is a cute little guy, kind of like a
skinny yellow teddy bear with wings. Tomoyo is Sakura's best friend,
who insists on video-taping her fights, along with providing
costumes. (After all, as Tomoyo points out, you can't be a magical
girl without a costume!) My favorite parts were the pokes at magical
girl anime. (ie, references to the costumes; Tomoyo telling Sakura
they'll have to figure out a pose for her; etc) It's cute fluff, but
more likeable than CLAMP School Detectives.
City Hunter
Viewed subbed. Ryo is the "City Hunter"--- your anime guy who
works outside the law, and has a libido the size of a small planet.
The series is all right for slapstick comedy, and there's some
character development, but I found it difficult to really become
absorbed in this series. Based on Tsukasa Hojo's manga.
CLAMP School Detectives
Viewed subbed. It's happened... I found an anime which is even a
little too sweet for me! *sigh* The concept behind the idea is good.
I like the idea of a self-contained school which is basically a city
in and of itself. That could be an interesting theme to develop.
However, the characters-- three little boys (6th, 5th, and 4th
graders)-- were just a little too sweet and a little
too perfect. (I kind of thought the President boy was a girl,
the first time I saw him! It was probably that fan of his... not to
mention the "CLAMP" eyes. *^_^*) Now, if the characters had a bit
more "edge" to them, it could be a great series. Let's see... I could
replace them with Yahiko (from Kenshin), and Hayama (Kodomo no
Omocha), and Kaoru (Flame of Recca)...now that would be a good
show!
DNA2
Viewed subbed. Junta is different from most anime guys. Whereas
The Norm is to go into Nosebleed Mode whenever you see anything
vaguely (or heavily) suggestive coming from your Standard Attractive
Anime Girl, Junta only goes into Puke Mode. However, when his genes
were manipulated, he can become the Mega-Playboy, where he has the
capability of seducing just about any woman on the planet. A girl
from the future comes back to try and stop him, because he has
singlehandedly led to the world's overpopulation. This means that he
is to father about 1000 children, and each of those has the
Mega-Playboy gene in them, which allows them to father about
1000 children... and you can see where this is going. It's a cute
series, although you get a bit tired of Puke Mode after a while.
Fairy Princess Ren
Viewed subbed. From the director of Kodomo no Omocha, this
is the story of Go (obsessed with treasure hunting); Fairy Princess
Ren (whose language comes across as nonsensical Japanese-- which Go
hilariously misinterprets as providing clues for his quest); Mari,
the daughter of a reeeeally rich man who's interested in Go; and
another fairy hunting down Ren. Go also happens to have something
along the lines of 80 identical sisters running around. Not to
mention "Gatchaba Goose!" seems to be the favored code word.... and I
love whatsisface with the blue hair! ^_^ A fabulous spoof on anime in
general, but not something that you'd treat a newbie to.
Unfortunately, this anime ceased after 4 episodes... *sigh* It had
such promise!
Flame of Recca (Recca no Honou)
Viewed subbed. Recca, a baby Hokage ninja, is sent 400 years into
the future by his mother, and his half-brother enemy, Kurei, escapes
into the future with him. Both are Flame Masters. Recca vows to
protect his Hime, Sakoshita Yanagi. Kurei wants to kill Recca for
merely existing; he wishes to capture Yanagi for her healing powers,
to try and obtain immortality for his adoptive future. Kage Houshi,
Recca's mother, has been cursed herself with immortality for having
used her powers over time, and makes it her business to strengthen
Recca and his friends, giving them elemental weapons which the Hokage
were famous for. Kirisawa Fuuko is given the "Fuujin", giving her
power over wind. Ishijima Domon is given a nose-ring to increase his
strength, but he is much better with a sort of claw-and-chain weapon.
Mikagami Tokiya already possesses the Ensui, a sword with a blade of
water, and is helping the others not out of friendship, but rather,
out of revenge. Kurei, in his attempt to obtain the Ensui, had his
sister murdered in the past, and Mikagami has sworn revenge. This is
a fabulous series, with horribly cliff-hanging endings. *g* I watched
ep. 1-16, went crazy until I could obtain 17-20, and now am going
crazy once more. Definitely addictive, and for good reason. If my
friends and I decided to do a "Flame of Recca Marathon" and watch all
42 episodes in a row, I'd definitely show up.
Castle
Triton's Mini- Flame of Recca Shrine- The first extensive madogou
encyclopedia, along with great image archive and information!
Fushigi Yuugi
Viewed subbed. When I saw the first two tapes, my friends and I
decided it was Neverending Story-meets-Marmalade Boy-meets-Sailor
Moon. You have two girls falling into another world via a book... you
have Yui and Miaka love Tamahome; Tamahome and Hotohori love Miaka,
Suboshi & random other seishi love Yui; Nuriko loves Hotohori....
you have protectors named after constellations with signs which
appear and glow whenever they use their seishi powers... However, FY
is a really good show that is quickly addictive. My favorites...
h'mm... have to be Tomahome (you might recognize his voice as that of
Mikagami [FoR] and Zelgardis [Slayers]), Tasuki, and
Hotohori. It starts out as a comedy, but it is very good at being
funny one moment, and tragic the next, once you get past ep. 25 or
so. There has been some controversy
over the way Pioneer has handled FY...
Grave of the Fireflies
Viewed subbed. *sniffle* *sniffle* Absolutely amazing animation
from Studio Ghibli. If you didn't know better, you'd swear so much of
it had been done on a computer. But no, it's all a hand-done story of
two children in WWII Japan. Seita (a fourteen-year-old boy) and his
little sister Setsuka's (whose movement is exactly like that
of a small child) mother dies in a bombing raid, and they move in
with a nagging, wretchedly unsympathetic aunt (who you'd like to
throw something at). They then move out, and try existing outside the
system... but no luck. It's sad and deep and realistic and
thought-provoking... *reaches for Kleenex again* I don't think I've
ever seen another anime that has struck those chords so well....
Hana Yori Dango
Viewed subbed. The title comes from a saying which means
"Dumplings (Food) before Flowers", which implies that you need to
have useful things before you get ornamental ones. But the kanji for
"Boy" can be pronounced "Dango"-- and here, in the titles, this is
the one which is used. Hence you get "Boys Before Flowers". :o)
Tsukushi is a poor girl who gets into Eitoku Gakuen, an exclusive
high school, which seems to be populated by snobs. There is a group
of boys, called the F4 (can we say bishonen? ^_^), who basically rule
over the students. They're probably four of the richest high school
boys in Japan, but Tsukushi stands up to them-- especially regarding
their ringleader, Doumyouji. She reminds him of his sister, who
recently got married and moved off to Beverly Hills. He wishes to
have Tsukushi fill the void his sister's absence has left-- but
Tsukushi isn't interested in being bought. She has a crush on Rui,
who plays a great violin and who comes to her aid when the other
students cause problems. But he tells her not to think anything of
it. You're never very sure if he likes Tsukushi, or if she's just
someone who he finds amusing to be around. After the first episode, I
was somewhat cold to this series, but by the middle of the second
one, you really warm up to it. At times, you wish Tsukushi would be
with Rui... others you think she'd be better off with Doumyouji....
others, you think she's way too good for either of them.
Haunted Junction
LOL. It's a high school populated by Haruto, a reluctant
minister's son; Asahina, a pedophiliac miko (the daughter of a Shinto
priest); and Kazumi, the hormonal son of a Buddhist monk who
constantly gets possessed (whose seiyuu also lent his voice to such
characters as Carrot [Bakuretsu Hunters]). Oh, yes, and many,
many, many school spirits. Do I have to mention Miss Hanako, the
object of Kazumi's affections, who haunts the local restroom? Or the
Red Mask, who makes women swoon at the mere sight of him? (Assuming
they're not pedophiles, anyways.) Or the Giant Foot? Or the Seven
Wonders of the Pool? Or, my favorites, Haruo and Bones-- you know,
those big 3-D dioramas of the human organs you used in 5th grade
biology class? That's Haruo. Bones is one of those skeletons you
always had set up in junior-high science class. They have a strong
affinity for Cossack Dancing. LOL! While all of the episodes we've
tried so far have amused us, Anime Club watched Episode 3 (where the
girl wants to see her boyfriend one last time, and needs to possess
Kazumi to do so) and was in stitches half the time.
Aiiiii! *wiping tears away* Poor Kazumi-chan! Episode 5-- with
the Cartoonist spirit-- was also roaringly funny. It had a cute
little poke at SailorMoon in it. *L*
Idol Project- Viewed subbed. I found it difficult to pay
attention to this one. Perhaps it was because it was late at night,
perhaps because I tried watching it after Kenshin OAV #4, and
precious little can stand up to follow that show.
^_^ It's about a girl who wants to become an idol (a superstar)
and tries to go to a contest which makes people into idols overnight.
She eventually befriends all the current Idols by accident, and goes
off on a quest for the Golden Microphone.
Kareshi Kanojo No Jijou (Kare-Kano)/(His
& Her Circumstances)
Viewed subbed. Fabulous show! Judging from the first episode, it
seemed like it would be insanely bizzarre (is that redundant?). But
after watching it for two episodes, you get drawn into it. (Hey!
Arima can't blackmail her! He's the love interest, right?) It
has a good use of still shots, and incorporates a lot of manga-type
scenes into the anime. It often has an insane amount of captions to
read-- which means that you're constantly reading subtitles,
side-titles, up-titles, etc. ^_^ But the captions almost never fail
to provoke a laugh. Miyazawa has a priceless amount of expressions
she goes through in the first episode, and that doesn't stop, even
after you see there's a real plot going on, and not just a
free-for-all plunge into her head. I'd certainly recommend this show
to anyone.
Ko-Century Beast II
Viewed subbed. "Insane" is a good word for it... rather like a
spinoff of Voltron, almost. There are these were-people who turn into
different animals for whatever reason. One girl turns into a mermaid.
One guy (Bud) turns into a chicken when he's got goosebumps...
another guy (Wan) turns into a tiger. Humans dislike these
were-creatures, so they have these "mecha-Jinn" to defend themselves.
Bud (chicken-boy) has a habit of peppering his sentences with English
phrases which got a lot of laughs. There's a little pink-haired girl
who hangs out with them... little pink-haired girls seem to be pretty
hyper little creatures, don't they? This is no exception.
Kodoma no Omocha/ Child's Toy
Viewed subbed. The first time I saw "Child's Toy", I barely had
the stamina to survive Sana's energy in the first episode; then my
friends pulled the tape and we went on to something else. But later
on in the semester, I decided to give it another try (so I wouldn't
be tempted to waste too much time from studying), and to my
surprise, I found that it was actually a really decent show!
The Unofficial
Shrine to Kodoma no Omocha- Has synopses, music, voice
information, character information, and more. Terrific for getting to
know the basic show better!
Legend of the Galactic Heroes
Lupin III From Russia with Love
Viewed subbed. Whoooo! This one had me in stitches, and for a lot
of it, I'm not sure if it was on purpose or not. Let's see... right
off at the beginning, I found it somewhat humorous to see a
librarian and Lupin speaking Japanese together in the Library of
Congress, like it was no big deal. I guess that's how others must
feel, when they see American movies set in Japan, or France, or
Italy, and all the characters seem to speak fluent American and have
no communication problems. But later on, you get to see "San Antonio
City", which seems to exist happily in a time vacuum which has
neglected to pass the year 1860. (And for those of you who have never
been to San Antonio, no, it doesn't look like that
anymore. ^_^) All the policemen there have 6-shooters and 10-gallon
hats and a healthy number of them have those 19th-century mustaches
you find on a lot of Old West desperados. They also seem to be avid
believers in "Shoot first, ask questions later". And yes, it's funny
seeing Texan men in 10-gallon hats speaking fluent Japanese in a
standoff! They're driving along later in the movie, and come to a
road sign saying: "Grand Canyon" on one signpost, and "New York City"
on the post pointing the opposite direction. Yeah, I was driving a
little bit north of San Antonio one day, and believe I came
across the very same signpost! LOL. What else? They
eventually make it to Russia, and you get to see a peasant revolt.
Let's look at their weapons, shall we? A pitchfork... several lit
torches... various clubs made from branches... a bazooka... A
bazooka?! This is worth the watch, just for a laugh. Yeah, the
characters are great, the story's cute... but I love the
little (though sometimes glaring) incidental quirks!