CX anime reviews

[Distracted]

Yessir. Right away, sir. *salutes*

[CX]

Eiken
(2 episode OVA)

I wasn't even sure if I should have bothered with this one, and I could see within about a minute or so that I'd made the wrong choice. Being the glutton for punishment I sometimes am, I decided to finish watching the hour long OVA all the way through, mostly out of morbid curiosity. I'd heard that this OVA was bad, and now I've seen for myself that it is.

I've read that this anime and the manga it's based on are fairly popular in Japan, which makes me giggle a little on the inside. I also read that this was horribly panned in the US. At first I was thinking that it might just be an overreaction to the obviously large amount of fan service. Being a pervert, I thought maybe at the very least I'd get some laughs out of it. I didn't. About the only way this show is even remotely funny would be to take clips of it out of context and add some humorous music, you know, just like AMV Hell, where I first saw clips of this show.

This OVA tried really hard to be funny and sexy, but it failed at both. The entire premise is built around boob jokes and panty shots, and while I know this is supposed to be a parody of fan service, it still manages to not be funny. Hell, normally I might just say something along the lines of how a joke done constantly over and again becomes unfunny, but in this case all the boob jokes and innuendo were never even funny to begin with. As for sexy, same thing. I'll admit right up front to actually liking most fan service, so theoretically I should like something full of it. Of course, it might help if the women being flaunted were even remotely attractive. In fact, I usually found myself grossed out a little. There's not only the impossibly huge breast thing going on, there's also how most of the fan (dis)service also tended to pour out of their stockings and other clothing, rather like a marshmallow being squeezed out of the end of a smore. You're welcome for that image, by the way. Disturbingly, I've seen this kind of thing at anime conventions before, when overweight women have cosplayed in costumes not unlike what were in this show. And just to add to the grossness, the chick that wants the main character, Densuke Mifune, so bad that she literally throws herself at him and practically rapes him is his step-sister, which while technically not incest is still close enough, especially since she constantly refers to him as "brother".

Amazingly enough, there actually was a plot, only it was the stereotypical "guy must win competition to win girl" plot. And the contest was just another excuse for even more fan service. That was about the extent of the plot, though. Pretty much this was just an hour's worth of seeing how many ways Densuke could feel up extremely busty school girls (and his teacher) and how embarrassing all that was supposed to be. Basically situational comedy for pervs.

Needless to say, I recommend that you stay the hell away from this OVA. Even if all you're looking for is fan service, you'd probably be better off just watching some porn. If you think there might be some actual comedy to be had from this, there really isn't. If you decide to watch this anyway, well, I warned you. 0/10.

[Cogito]

Really? I don't think you've ever given 0 out of 10 before. I'll have to watch it now just to see how bad it has to be to earn that.

[CX]

Here you go. I saved you the trouble of actually having to watch it, because that trailer has everything you'll ever need to know about that OVA. Oh, and just remember, the one chick that keeps crotch attacking the generic male protagonist is his step sister. Oh, and in case you're under the impression that whoever made that trailer was just making fun, here's an actual clip from the beginning of the OVA. Enjoy.

[CX]

Elfen Lied
(14 episode series)

This is both a stunning and a disturbing series. Right away audiences should be clued in to the adult nature of the series by the beautiful opening theme that features quite a bit of female nudity, but if it didn't, the opening scenes of Lucy's escape should do the trick. So right up front, let's just make clear that this is a graphically violent show that features a lot of blood and guts thanks to some invisible hands literally ripping people apart. Confused? So is this series.

Honestly one of the oddest parts of this series is how it can jump back and forth quite suddenly between what could be a more typical anime along the lines of Cobits, and something that could give you nightmares. This owes in large part to the split personalities of the main focus of the series, Lucy. I'm not sure if she can be considered an out an out antagonist or a protagonist, all I can say is that Lucy is pretty much just a heartless killer. It's true, as the series goes on and we learn about her past, she actually becomes somewhat sympathetic. Of course that doesn't change the fact that she will kill anyone who happens to get within two meters of her simply for being human. In the first episode, there's actually something of a prolonged set-up just to illustrate this by introducing us to a clumsy assistant who can't even manage to keep a cup of coffee balanced on a tray as she walks down the hall. Unfortunately for her, she happens to literally stumble right into Lucy's path as she makes her bloody escape from the secret installation she's been held prisoner at since she was a child. Lucy doesn't even hesitate to kill the bumbling assistant and then use her headless body as a shield right afterwards. But just as Lucy manages to get out of there, she catches a .50 caliber anti-tank round in the side of the metal helmet that had been on her head and Nyu is born.

Nyu is like a child. Actually she reminded me a lot of Chi from Chobits in that she can basically only say one word over and over and it becomes her name. That and her "innocence" means she doesn't understand the concept of modesty and tends to wander around naked at first. Actually I probably would have been annoyed and just stopped watching if not for the fact that Nyu was for all intents and purposes a blood-thirsty killer.

Kohta and Yuka are the first ones to see Nyu/Lucy as she wanders naked up onto the beach. Kohta is pretty much the obvious protagonist of the series opposite Lucy/Nyu. He and Yuka have a history going back to their childhood, and it seems the two of them (especially Yuka towards Kohta) have a thing going for each other. They also happen to be cousins. Yay.

Anyway, Kohta also happens to have a connection to Lucy going back to their childhood, and it has something to do with a day that Kohta has repressed from his memory. Naturally there is a lot of mystery surrounding this and Lucy's origins, which is a big part of the appeal of this series.

The characters are all fairly interesting, and I have to say that most of them are pretty messed up, too. The series does so a pretty good job of making the majority of them actually somewhat sympathetic, though, while it plays with a lot of themes involving prejudice, abuse, revenge, regret, and human emotions.

For instance, Lucy belongs to a new species called Diclonius, which is made up mostly of females with pink hair and two horns protruding from their temples that have something to do with their other feature – invisible arms that can rip through pretty much anything quicker than a human can blink. All the women also seem to be infertile yet there are constantly new births happening, almost as if a virus is spreading and creating them. This is eventually explained, but I'm getting off track here. The thing about these girls is that soon after they get the use of their invisible arms, they start killing people, usually starting with their parents. However, there is a lot of question there as to whether the Diclonius are simply born horrible killers, or if they are driven to this by how they were treated up until they discovered their abilities. Thanks to the horns, most of them are shown to be mistreated by pretty much everyone they meet. Lucy wound up at an orphanage and was bullied mercilessly, at one point being forced to watch as her bullies beat a puppy she had recently found and started caring for to death with a flower vase.

I really can't say enough about this series. It has an interesting and engaging story, the characters actually have some depth to them, the music did a good job of setting the mood, and the animation is very well done. That's not to say that there aren't some plot holes (most of which get lamp-shaded) and that the series isn't at times seriously messed up. I will say this, though, of the graphic nature of the violence – it's not really much different than what one would find in a Hollywood slasher film. My only real disappointment with this series is that it ended the way it did. It's pretty obvious that there was supposed to be a continuing storyline, and a look through the Wiki article confirms this. There are a lot of plot threads left hanging, and while Lucy's fate was left ambiguous, it wasn't that hard to guess who was standing on the other side of the door at the end of the series.

Edit: I've since changed my mind about this series. Please look for the second review of this series to see the new score.

Here's the opening titles, BTW (NSFW).

[CX]

Ergo Proxy
(23 episode series)

This is an amazingly well done series. The artwork and soundtrack are beautiful, the story is intriguing, and the characters actually have some depth to them.

Technology as presented here is pretty interesting. Everything is obviously pretty high tech, and yet it all has a kind of art deco look to it that seems to hearken back to the 1920s view of the future, actually kind of mixing modern and past visions of the future. For instance, while there are androids (referred to as AutoReivs), they look nothing like the tin can versions or ridiculously human versions seen in other sci fi. Instead, they manage to look both interesting and creepy, looking more or less human in shape, but with faces that look more like porcelain masks and bodies that seem to resemble canvas. About the only exception to this are AutoReivs that resemble children, like Pino.

Taking place in a post-apocalyptic future, it seems that earth's environment has been devastated, ironically in an attempt to create a clean energy alternative. Most of the story is focused around a domed city called Romdo, which could almost be a city from the TV movie adaptation of Brave New World. People are grown in artificial wombs and programmed to serve a particular function within this artificial, dystopic city. They're also constantly encouraged to spend and buy new things, while throwing out all things. Outside the dome, people eek out an existence off of Romdo's scraps in the desolate landscape while dodging Romdo's many robotic patrols. There were also obviously other domed cities at one point, but they are either empty of human inhabitants or destroyed.

This series has two protagonists who share the focus fairly evenly. The first is a man named Vincent Law. An immigrant from another failed city, he works as an AutoReiv disposal worker. AutoReivs have started getting a computer virus that makes them become self-aware, and the disposal unit basically hunts these down and kills them. Romdo is a very structured place, so people and Auto Reivs that don't fit into their pre-determined place in that society are basically just hunted down and killed. Vincent, though, has something of a mystery surrounding him, and soon after we meet him he ends up being whisked away outside.

The other protagonist is Re-l Mayer, a police officer as best I can tell. In some ways she reminds me a little of Ricker Deckard, at least in some aspects. She's investigating a series of murders perpetuated by infected AutoReivs when we meet her, along with her AutoReiv partner, Iggy. She actually hates Romdo and its structured society, though this at least in part seems to be out of resentment for her grandfather, who runs the city. Naturally life gets complicated for her soon after we meet her and she meets Vincent. She develops a strange kind of obsession with him, especially after she first encounters what will come to be known as a Proxy.

While there is some sporadic action, if you’re looking for some kind of sci fi action piece here, you'll be disappointed. Instead, the series focuses a lot more on the frame of mind of the protagonists as they are taken through the story. Vincent has a mysterious past that he's determined to remember, and to do this he goes on a long journey into the devastated landscape he finds himself in. Re-l catches up with him and ends up going with him on his journey, along with Pino, who is the only one to be there with him the whole way.

Neither Vincent nor Re-l are perfect, either. Thankfully the series doesn't go too over the top with their flaws, making them feel a bit more real. For instance, Vincent is kind of a wuss, and he also is more than a little into Re-l, to the point he comes off as somewhat creepy. Re-l, on the other hand, is pretty much a selfish bitch who at times can be very difficult to sympathize with. But, like I said, at least they aren't too over the top.

The story could at times get a bit boring, but for the most part it was intriguing, and left me wanting to find out more. The first few episodes in particular drew me in as everything was set up, and they tended to end as cliffhangers. It's say Ergo Proxy's biggest faults lie with what were basically just filler episodes. Basically Vincent, Re-l, and Pino would come across another dome or habitation of some kind and one or two of them would have some kind of strange adventure. These were somewhat mitigated by what self-discovery was made by the characters involved, and what little additional information we learned about Vincent and his past, as well as about the Proxies (incidentally related, to spoil you a little). The worst offenders though were the episodes that broke the fourth wall just to give us some exposition. The book store episode and the game show episode were especially bad that way. And then there was the Disneyland episode, which was more about having Pino have something to do than anything that actually contributed to the story. Basically, when the story was good, things were interesting and occasionally would tug at my heart strings, but when it was bad it was pretty much just boring and seemed more diversionary than anything.

I'm going to do something odd for me and not actually reveal all that much about the story. Instead, I'm just going to encourage you to watch this series. Some may not find it interesting, but if you're into more cerebral sci fi, you just might like this series. 9/10.

Opening titles FTW

[Cogito]

Here you go. I saved you the trouble of actually having to watch it, because that trailer has everything you'll ever need to know about that OVA. Oh, and just remember, the one chick that keeps crotch attacking the generic male protagonist is his step sister. Oh, and in case you're under the impression that whoever made that trailer was just making fun, here's an actual clip from the beginning of the OVA. Enjoy.

How peculiar. I can only suppose it's written for, and perhaps by, prepubescent boys. I can't imagine why you sat through it, but it's a testament to your perseverance that you managed to.

[CX]

:shrug: It was only an hour long and I was curious.

[Distracted]

Those poor deformed little girls. There's a name for their medical condition. It's called gigantomastia. Surgery can help.

How could anyone possibly think that's even remotely attractive?

[CX]

No idea. I'm under the impression though that the average Japanese otaku is somewhat obsessed with breast size, though, as the majority of fan service in anime consists of large breasted women. Take the Major, for example.

[CX]

Excel Saga
(26 episode series)

This series is very safely in the refuge of absurdity. In fact its entire purpose is to make fun of as much as it possibly can. Every episode tackles a genre and mercilessly parodies it. For the most part, it tends to focus on anime, though it expands itself somewhat to include American animation for one episode. There have been a lot of shows that have done the whole "make fun of anime" thing, but this one is definitely one of the better ones I've seen.

At first I wasn't entirely sold on it, because it seemed like just another anime in the same vein as FLCL and Dead Leaves. That isn't to say that it was bad, or that those shows were bad, but I was a bit bored for the first few episodes. The three episode rule definitely applies here, though, as the series seems to pick up after that. It helps to have watched a fair amount of anime to recognize all the references in this series, though. Actually it wouldn't surprise me if I missed a lot more than I caught. Probably the most obvious ones for me were the references to the Captain Herlock franchise. But really if you're familiar with any of the genres Excel Saga parodies in any of its 26 episodes, you'll probably get at least some enjoyment out of it. But that's just because the people who made this did such a good job, that they managed to make an episode that had no gags into one big gag itself, mostly because all the clichés being played straight on purpose ended up being just as funny as the usual treatment they got in the rest of the series.

I'm not really sure what else to say about this series, other than that it's worth a watch, of course. There is literally so much that it's a bit overwhelming, and I feel like I'd either have to go into detail about everything, or just not bother getting into it. So I'm just not going to bother getting into it.

This is definitely a weird show, but it's very enjoyable to watch. If you can laugh at yourself about being a fan of anime, or already like to make fun of the many clichés that tend to show up in anime, you'll probably like this series. If you like to take anime seriously, you probably won't. It's pretty much that simple. Either way, I'm giving this an 8/10, which isn't bad for a parody series.

[CX]

Puni Puni Poemy
(2 episode OVA)

It showed up toward the end of Excel Saga as a show within a show, as a gag to make fun of the magical girl anime, so it shouldn't be all that surprising that this gag would have been followed up on. Actually this OVA is pretty much just episodes 27 and 28 of Excel Saga, parodying magical girl anime, yuri (lesbian) relationships in anime, and of course fan service. Yes, I imagine they had a lot of fun making fun of fan service. The anime anatomy and other self censorship kind of ruined that a little for me, but all the cracks about it made up for it, a little.

The major running gag of this OVA is the constant breaking of the fourth wall. I didn't really find it all that funny, but then I didn't find it unfunny either. Basically Poemy constantly refers to herself as the name of the Japanese voice actress who plays her, and just to rub it in, said voice actress actually shows up in the opening theme as she sings it, and at the very end of the OVA after the credits. It loses a little of its effect that she's dubbed over, you know, in the dub, but I have to admit that it was still a little amusing, especially since she was cosplaying as the character.

There actually is a plot about aliens trying to take over the world, but it's actually pretty pointless and pretty much just serves as a means to set up the jokes.

You're welcome.

In any case, if you liked Excel Saga, there's a pretty good chance that you'll like this, too. I mostly did, though I have to admit that I didn't really enjoy it as much as Excel Saga. To be fair, that might just be from overexposure, but either way I'm giving this a 7/10.

[CX]

So Dis, did you ever finish Gankutsuou?

[CX]

Fist of the North Star
(1986 movie)

Ah yes, another anime "classic." Well, I can't say this was really to my liking either. In pretty much every way, this anime is the stereotype that everyone and his uncle loves to make fun of, and that's pretty much where I derived my enjoyment from.

It has a pretty basic story. A nuclear war has happened, and it pretty much leaves the landscape and people looking like something you'd expect to find in a Mad Max movie. Actually pretty much all the guys look like some variation of Lord Humungus, the only real variations being the outlandish armor and hair style they happen to have, and how big in relation to one another they are. Apparently the nuclear war has caused men to grow into giants even though there's a distinct lack of food and water. Of course they can also glow and pull off impossible fighting moves that can bring down skyscrapers on their own heads that won't even make them flinch. On the other hand, most people seem to be made of pudding, and certain "skilled" warriors can just stab them or cut them to shreds using nothing but their fingers, or better yet, they can use some made-up martial art fighting move to touch all the right pressure points to just make people spontaneously explode. So really the only way to enjoy this movie is just to turn your brain off and accept it as the over-the-top kung-fu action flick that it is. Otherwise you're bound to notice things like how characters who are strong enough to shred all their clothing by just flexing will suddenly have them back again, and how the bloody mess of the person they just made explode is suddenly not there anymore. I'm actually reminded of Sengoku Basara in just how over-the-top and manly this show is, or at least tries to be, except that Sengoku Basara is completely tongue-in-cheek and this movie isn't.

Where was I? Oh yeah, the story, I kind of got of track there. Like I said, the story is extremely basic. The protagonist, Kenshiro, loses the love of his life (who was actually just betrothed to him by his would-be father-in-law) to his former best friend. Apparently humanity is divided into sects of North and South, and the two sides have slowly been moving toward peaceful coexistence. Ken is from the North, and his old buddy who backstabs him, Shin, is from the South. The chick he was supposed to marry, Yuria, is also from the South. So Shin kicks his ass and takes Yuria for himself. Ken also has a couple of evil brothers who basically want to be the special successor of the martial art style they've all been learning from a master of the art, and one of them set up the whole thing while the other just decided he wanted to take over the heavens, starting with the planet. So that one kills their master while the other dumps the mostly already dead Ken off a cliff so he can take his place as successor to this martial art style. Some time later, Ken appears out of no where to save some innocent kiddies and goes on a roaring rampage of revenge. And that's pretty much all there is to it. And Ken manages to not even really win in the end. He doesn't kill his asshat older brother Raoh, and Yuria just kind of disappears, like she found hammer space or something. Ken just ends up wandering everywhere to try to find her again, but in the end he doesn't. Logic would've suggested she ended up somewhere in the rubble of all those skyscrapers Ken and Raoh knocked over during their fight, but this movie is the opposite of logic.

Reading about this movie prior to watching it, I actually elected to watch the Japanese version first because of all the flack the English dub was getting. Having seen them both, I can't see I noted a lot of difference there. The English dub changed the story a bit, unless the subtitled version I watched was wrong in its translation, but as far as quality, well, it sounds like a cartoon from the '70s. It isn't the most horrible dub I've heard, but I can sort of see where people were coming from. But honestly the Japanese dub wasn't any better.

As far as suggesting this as something to watch or not, I'd say it's only something to watch just to see and make fun of yourself. There isn't much point to the actual movie itself since nothing of the story-line is really resolved, and there wasn't a whole lot to the story to begin with. I will throw it a bone for the unintentional entertainment value, though. 1/10.

[CX]

New Fist of the North Star
(3 episode OVA)

A reboot rather than a sequel to the 1986 movie, this OVA manages to change a lot of the details without really changing the story. Mostly what's different are the characters and the roles they play. We no longer see Kenshiro's origin, and he's no longer been betrayed by his best friend or his brothers from as much as I could tell. But there's still a big bad that has to be fought and a kidnapped woman who has to be rescued, even if it isn't his girlfriend.

To its credit, this OVA does try to improve on the old movie, and to an extent it does. The artwork is a lot better even if the animation really isn't and the use of CGI can be somewhat distracting. We're introduced to a sympathetic set of characters before Kenshiro is introduced rather than showing his origins, and the OVA even plays a bit with drama. Some of it even works a little, but then it's easy to tug at heart strings by killing a child, especially a sickly one. The story also tries to be a bit more expansive, introducing a city called "Last Land" where most of the story takes place as well as a group of fighters which has sworn itself to seal away the weapons and the secrets of the nuclear war that devastated the planet. This OVA has also practically made Kenshiro into Superman. For all the fights he's in, he's never actually hurt and he tends to just devastatingly defeat any enemy that fights him, no matter how many people that might be. He also seems to have about the same sense of justice, only killing people who really seem to deserve it and committing selfless acts to help others despite having no real connection to them.

But in the end, this OVA is still just a bunch of impossibly well-muscled dudes fighting each other. There are still two big bads Kenshiro has to fight and defeat, with the last fight stopping short of actually killing the other combatant. There's still a busty blonde woman who is kidnapped and must be rescued, and there is still some random kid who Kenshiro feels the need to defend against anything for. Then there's the typical over-emphasis on fighting style, with each pressure point that's touched being loudly called out with an accompanying expository description of what exactly it does. The only difference there is that these pressure points can also be used for insta-healing instead of just making peoples' heads explode.

The characters themselves are rather bland, and the mediocre dub doesn't really help anything. Kwnshiro himself is the stereotypical mysterious short-spoken hero type, Sara is the hot chick whose purpose in life is to heal and who hates seeing violence, and the other characters are pretty much just defined by their role. Then there's Toby, who started out somewhat sympathetic, but ended up suddenly turning into a giant douche and locking Kenshiro up, and then attempting to become sympathetic again in time for him to die.

So really if you liked the first movie, this is pretty much the same as it, just longer. It has the same kind of fighting, more or less the same style of character design, and the same story, with just a bit of fan service and nudity thrown in for fun. That may appeal to some people, but it doesn't really appeal to me. It's about as enjoyable I guess, because while it lacks the corny charm of the first movie, it is just a little entertaining on its own. 1/10.