(Broccoli / Bandai) (Broccoli / Bandai) (Xebec /
Funimation)Japanese title: Mahou Sensei Negima!
Negi Springfield is a 10 years old wizard in training. After graduating from a school in Wales, he ends up becoming an English homeroom teacher for an all-girls middle school. But can he handle the outragious 2-A? These unique girls are basically screaming for him to teach one of them. Well... Around 85% of them: A few of them already hates his guts. One of them's a vampire that wants revenge. And one of them is a ghost.Severly bad animation and coloring, the hopping around between parts
of the manga, and the rumor that too much money had been spent on VA
instead of everything else besides;
Negima is the perfect show to watch if you want something to
enjoy. The fanservice that was found in Ken Akamatsu's manga has
been removed and the story has been dumbed down so kids in Japan can
watch it. (Said bad animation and coloring gets fixed for DVD
release, by the way.)
The reason I gave Eva the lowest possible score was to counterattack
many of the high scores that the series had been receiving everywhere
else. But the real reasons for my score hadn't been given clearly.
First off, we all know that it was made by Gainax; a company that's
been known at the time to break all the rules. It's not a bad
thing, but they went past their limit. Secondly, it's more of a
psychological thriller than a giant robot show. Third and more
imporantly is character interaction: They treat each other like
crap, setting the atmosphere of teen angst that adds to the darkness
and gloom of the series.
Getting to the mechanics of the series. Eva's plot is shoddy;
being made as the show went along. It's like a machine that's
been slapped together in the last minute. And it's on the verge
of breaking down into pieces. The last two episodes were director
Hideaki Anno's "delaying tactic" so he can fund his movie later
on. So when he stripped the show of the "giant robot" cliche and
such, all that was left was discussion about the "Complimentation
Project" and how psychologically messed up the characters (mainly
Shinji) are.
I hated it because the show's "cup runneth over" with angst. It
was too dark, gloomy, and angsty for me. I didn't reach this
"state of enlightenment" like every other anime fan who saw it. I
was merely on the "Eva bandwagon" for the sake of seeing something
different and exotic... Until I saw it for what it truly was and
hopped off.
And THIS is the area where said machine breaks down.
Director Hideaki Anno, as well as Gainax, wanted to end this world of
Eva so they can move on to make other shows. The end product can
basically be compared to hip-hop artist Eminem's second album "Marshall
Matters." As the movie marks the "grand finale" of Eva, it gives
the audience as much action and industrial magic to keep them glued to
the screen. However, the teen angst that was the main focus of
Eva prevails as the line about "pleasing oneself with inanimate
objects" gets used.
I also like to note the use of live-action clips within the
movie. Gainax is crowned king, "Otaking" mind you, when it comes
to creative filming. Never mind that it's part of Mr. Anno's
creativity extending its middle finger back at fans who demanded more.
I neither find angst nor general meanness entertaining. I don't
like the idea of entertainment being reduced to a person, or a group of
people, running around with anger and embitterness that hadn't been
dealt with. And I'm in vehement disagreement with this movie, the
series before it, and the fandom that surrounds it.
Following along the heals of the arthouse outhouse known as "The
Soul Taker," the cute pink-haired Komugi gets her own show and becomes
a cosplay idol who moonlights as a magical girl. And everyone
from the old show is along for the ride.
Kyosuke, the angsting monster-boy, becomes a fellow idol and Komugi's
crush. Shiro, an acid-mouth punk trying to get revenge, becomes
Komugi's acidic manager. Yui, president of that evil HMO, becomes
the sobbing short-tempered president of "Kiri-Pro." And the
former "flickers" Megumi, Asuka, Runa, Koyori, and Mayu respectively
become Komugi's rival idol, rival child idol, fellow idol, fellow idol
slash evil magical maid, and magical princess. Enter Mugimaru the
random perverted, supposedly cute thing; and you have an instant party.
Now, because of the studio that's releasing this series, it has free
reign over parodizing the older anime like Gatchaman and Speed
Racer. It has no control over itself as it has fun while it
features Komugi fighting poor Koyomi's alter ego, the Magical
Maid. I'm amazed at the way ADV pulls it off, using some of the
characters Pioneer used for the Soul-Taker series. Kudoes to
everyone involved.
This is something new. One of those old "spy" thrillers that uses the most unlikeliest of protagonists. Yomiko Readman is a dopey "book otaku" whose use of paper products as weapons and shields earns her the title "Paper." She's part of British Library and her job is to retrieve rare books, at any cost, from an assortment of cloned historical world figures known as "I-Jin."
Her team includes Ms. Deep (with her ability to pass through solid objects), an exasperated mercenary Drake Anderson, clumsy Wendy Earheart, their boss Joker (Excluding every reference of Batman, people!), and the head old-guy in charge Gentleman.
I enjoyed ROD for its plot twists and the complexities of each of the main characters. Even if some of them look boring, they really didn't bore me and adds to the spice of mixed characters. It's like a "James Bond 007" parody using mostly normal people, but done right. An added note that Ms. Deep had been selected by the "Being Upfront" webpage; with Yomiko as part of the "Honorable Mention" site.
Special nods go to the infamous Manga Entertainment for their
dubbing of the series and their decision not to make ROD an all-out
movie. The British characters _actually_ sound British. And my favorite
dubbing was for Otto Lilienthal; Da Glider King.
(Starchild
Records / Media Blasters)Finally! Anime that treats their characters more like real human beings instead of studio props!
Here we have Tadahiro Amatsu, aka Hiro. His left eye is red and has the historic ability to call forth demons. Ayatachi Mishimune wants that power so he can bring back Yagarina. But Yuzu, Hiro's childhood friend, isn't gonna have it. She's a shrine priestess along with her big sister Kurako and little sister Tama.Yuzu also manages to recruit four more girls from her school: The hot-headed Seiko, the underdeveloped yet snappy Chika, the UFO-loving square-peg Izumi, and the graceful Shizuka. But what's up with Kusugi, the resident lady-killer? And the three new girls; Kukuri, Yukie, and Mizuho? Why did these lovely girls become the Twilight Priestesses for Yagarina? Oh, and we musn't forget Koma the catwoman demon...
This is pure anime silver. These fans of certain anime titles nowadays, smoking the T&A/MOE pipes; they don't know what they're missing. At any rate; this show gets a top recommendation from me. Anybody who knows that anime is entertainment and not just fantasies to pleasure yourself over should watch this. And I haven't even told you about Japan's aging, yet skilled, Megumi Hayashibara and America's own sweetheart Rachael Lillis (Pokemon's Misty / Jessie).
If I wanted to see bulging musclemen duke it out; I'd watch the
live-action movie version of Street Fighter. Sure I won't get to
see Fei-Long and Thunder Hawk, but atleast I'll be one more Jean-Claude
Van-whats-his-name and ten times less use of steroids.
Then again it's probably because I'm a fan of SNK "King of Fighters"
video game series. They didn't have so many Ryu-clones,
head-swaps, name-swaps, and copy-cats. And if they do; then
they're cooler (as per SNK's unwritten law). They also have
Koreans! And a fighting stage in the Middle East...
But enough about the King of Fighters. This review is about the
Street Fighter II movie. It's horrible! These guys stooped
to having Chun Li fight Vega in her shirt and undies (after the
infamous shower scene); then one would know where this is going.
Highly commercialized marketing crap created to dazzle the kids and
make money from their parents. But this is more than just another
hop onto the Pokemon bandwagon. The show had less "looks like
Team Rocket's blasting off again" and more of what the original Pocket
Monsters had been lacking all this time: SKILL.
Brought to the US with guns edited from out of the hands and
seizure-causing special effects toned down; "Yugioh / King of Games" is
about the young Yugi Moto and the "millenium item" which transforms him
into a hard-edged card commando. He and his friends go through
their adventures, straighten out their rivals, and defeat the bad guys
by playing a card game with is now just as popular as Pokemom.
It's brainless... But at least it doesn't send people flying to
the sky every episode.
Sprites for Genjuro Kibagami are from ActJapan / Mugen Sharp. Samurai Shodown / Spirits is copyrighted to SNK and its affiliates. Everything else is copywrited to their respective, and respected, owners. Beware of dogs with large, bloodied swords.