Casshan (or Casshern): Robot Hunter
(4 episode OVA)
Another post-apocalyptic story, this time brought on by robot overlords that humans created themselves, lead by an android whose designation BK-1 coincidentally works out as initials for his later name "Black King". That still sort of sounds like it could be awesome, even if there's an annoying message of hubris to sit through along with it, but really it wasn't all that good. Battlestar Galactica or Terminator this ain't, because while both of those franchises feature somewhat thoughtful takes on the whole "robots bent on destroying humanity" angle, in this case the robots ...excuse me "neo-roids" were created to help preserve and protect the environment or some shit like that. So, kind of like the movie I, Robot, BK-1 comes to the conclusion that the best way to do this is to take over things and to kill the majority of humanity, since humanity is a threat to the environment and all that. I found the environmental bit funny, seeing as the "Robo-Zone" the OVA begins in is a desolate wasteland that obviously once flourished with life.
The robots themselves are a big chunk of why I don't much care for this OVA, mostly just because the way they were written, they could have just as well been aliens or even an elitist group of humans. After all, they really pushed the whole Nazi angle with the neo-roid symbol and the stiff-armed salute (not to mention the speeches with flags in the background), so humans or space Nazis would have fit the bill a lot better than robots, especially since they acted so human. They weren't cold and calculating like the terminators or the Cylons, they piloted aircraft and other vehicles with normal instrumentation and controls, rather than the vehicles being neo-roids themselves, stuff like that. Kind of nitpicky, but I just wasn't sold on the robot angle. That and I had a really hard time believing all the major world powers' militaries could have been defeated by Black King and his robot armies because of how inefficient and ineffective they were.
Casshan himself was kind of a cool concept, but there was also the same problem with just being unable to suspend disbelief. He has this cool armor, and at some points he demonstrates the ability to deal out significant damage from a distance, but for the most part he just karate chops and kicks robots to death, one at a time, usually to save his girlfriend Luna, who is usually in some form of peril. Oh, speaking of, they did try some drama, including romantic drama between Luna and Casshan, but usually the action got in the way of that, though to be honest what drama there was wasn't terribly compelling or interesting.
While easier to follow than the live-action Casshern and considerably less boring, it still just isn't all that good, at least for anything other than some amusement. Fortunately this is only a 4 episode OVA, and each episode is only a bit over 20 minutes long. I'd give it a 2/10, because while a little interesting (oh, and animated tits), it just really wasn't all that good.
CX anime reviews
Moderators: justTripn, Elessar, dark_rain
Re: CX anime reviews
Casshern Sins
(24 episode series)
Wow, what a depressing show. Another take on the original Casshern story, naturally this is a post-apocalyptic story, but that isn't what makes this show depressing. Rather, we meet a lot of characters and get to know them just well enough for it to tug at our heart strings when they die. And pretty much everyone Casshern meets does just that, either by his hand, those of other robots, or from the super-rust that is slowly killing all robots.
In this take on the Casshern story, Casshern actually started out as a killing machine under the command of Braiking Boss (the BK-1 character), and killed Luna, who was his girlfriend on both of the other versions of Casshern I've seen. Thankfully there was never (and is never) any romance between them, because this version of her looks like a creepy 10 year old. Anyway, somehow through killing her, Casshern becomes immortal, and the great robot plague called "the ruin" is created and starts to spread.
Different robot characters lamented the super-rust, which prevents them from accepting new replacement parts or from creating new robots as well as slowly killing them, but I kind of thought of it as karma coming back to even the score after Braiking Boss and his army wiped out most of humanity, which had somehow managed to achieve immortality by then. And not just the robots are affected, but the planet itself seems to be turning into a lifeless ball of sand, with few remaining areas of plant life, and every structure a crumbling ruin.
Overall this was a fairly interesting series, but I have to say that it did get rather tiresome at times. Every version of Casshern I've seen has lamented his creation and what he is, but this version of him was practically emo. He not only wanted to die, but there were a few times he actually let an enemy try to kill him, and at one point he even tried to rip his own heart out. And while the somewhat limited soundtrack could at times effectively add to scenes and help to tug at the heart strings, there was this one pop song with English lyrics that got old fast and at times didn't even really fit what was going on in the scene it was being used for. And while he was busy being depressed, Casshern basically just wandered around aimlessly, somehow still managing to come across random characters, which basically gave us each episode's story for about the first 2/3's of the series. I guess I can't complain too much though, as some of those episodes were actually somewhat decent. Still, it got somewhat tiresome, along with everyone hating him after they found out his name, even if he'd just saved their lives.
The character design was somewhat different than what I was used to, just to throw that out there. Some characters reminded me a lot of the anime movie Metropolis, especially Ringo, who was either some weird kind of robot or maybe a human/robot hybrid of some kind. Anyway, when she smiled and laughed, it was hard not to do the same. Casshern and a lot of the others were way more ... artistic. At times it was impressionist, and at others, it almost reminded me of a more American style of animation. Casshern and the others like him also all sported the ultimate popped collars.
I think I'll give this one a 7/10, which isn't bad considering that it started out so generically that I almost didn't bother watching past the first episode.
(24 episode series)
Wow, what a depressing show. Another take on the original Casshern story, naturally this is a post-apocalyptic story, but that isn't what makes this show depressing. Rather, we meet a lot of characters and get to know them just well enough for it to tug at our heart strings when they die. And pretty much everyone Casshern meets does just that, either by his hand, those of other robots, or from the super-rust that is slowly killing all robots.
In this take on the Casshern story, Casshern actually started out as a killing machine under the command of Braiking Boss (the BK-1 character), and killed Luna, who was his girlfriend on both of the other versions of Casshern I've seen. Thankfully there was never (and is never) any romance between them, because this version of her looks like a creepy 10 year old. Anyway, somehow through killing her, Casshern becomes immortal, and the great robot plague called "the ruin" is created and starts to spread.
Different robot characters lamented the super-rust, which prevents them from accepting new replacement parts or from creating new robots as well as slowly killing them, but I kind of thought of it as karma coming back to even the score after Braiking Boss and his army wiped out most of humanity, which had somehow managed to achieve immortality by then. And not just the robots are affected, but the planet itself seems to be turning into a lifeless ball of sand, with few remaining areas of plant life, and every structure a crumbling ruin.
Overall this was a fairly interesting series, but I have to say that it did get rather tiresome at times. Every version of Casshern I've seen has lamented his creation and what he is, but this version of him was practically emo. He not only wanted to die, but there were a few times he actually let an enemy try to kill him, and at one point he even tried to rip his own heart out. And while the somewhat limited soundtrack could at times effectively add to scenes and help to tug at the heart strings, there was this one pop song with English lyrics that got old fast and at times didn't even really fit what was going on in the scene it was being used for. And while he was busy being depressed, Casshern basically just wandered around aimlessly, somehow still managing to come across random characters, which basically gave us each episode's story for about the first 2/3's of the series. I guess I can't complain too much though, as some of those episodes were actually somewhat decent. Still, it got somewhat tiresome, along with everyone hating him after they found out his name, even if he'd just saved their lives.
The character design was somewhat different than what I was used to, just to throw that out there. Some characters reminded me a lot of the anime movie Metropolis, especially Ringo, who was either some weird kind of robot or maybe a human/robot hybrid of some kind. Anyway, when she smiled and laughed, it was hard not to do the same. Casshern and a lot of the others were way more ... artistic. At times it was impressionist, and at others, it almost reminded me of a more American style of animation. Casshern and the others like him also all sported the ultimate popped collars.
I think I'll give this one a 7/10, which isn't bad considering that it started out so generically that I almost didn't bother watching past the first episode.
Re: CX anime reviews
Castle in the Sky
(1986 movie)
You know, I wasn't expecting a whole lot from a 1986 anime movie about a floating castle, but this actually wasn't that bad. Sure, it was kind of cutesy at times, and while the animation style kind of dates, the story still holds up pretty well.
The story itself is set in a kind of generic European country about 1900 or so. It's steampunk, though, so dates don't mean much. Cars and airplanes seem to be that very early vintage, along with artillery and small arms, but there are flying battleships and dirigibles that make it pretty steampunk. Actually in some ways this reminds me of Nadia, as far as everything revolving around a young girl with a special blue necklace who turns out to be a princess of a lost city. It's just that in this case the city is floating in the air rather than the water.
There's some standard boy-meets-girl along the way, with some air pirates who aren't so bad thrown in for fun. The story is paced fairly well, not moving very fast, but not dragging things out unnecessarily, either. Naturally a movie like this has a message, which seems to be very strongly environmental. Not so much "save the planet" so much as over-emphasizing the importance of trees and wild animals. It also has something of a generic anti-military message, but then that tends to go hand in hand with the kind of friendly, romantic view of pirates this movie ended up having.
There really isn't all that much else to say about this movie, other than that it's worth a watch. 7/10.
(1986 movie)
You know, I wasn't expecting a whole lot from a 1986 anime movie about a floating castle, but this actually wasn't that bad. Sure, it was kind of cutesy at times, and while the animation style kind of dates, the story still holds up pretty well.
The story itself is set in a kind of generic European country about 1900 or so. It's steampunk, though, so dates don't mean much. Cars and airplanes seem to be that very early vintage, along with artillery and small arms, but there are flying battleships and dirigibles that make it pretty steampunk. Actually in some ways this reminds me of Nadia, as far as everything revolving around a young girl with a special blue necklace who turns out to be a princess of a lost city. It's just that in this case the city is floating in the air rather than the water.
There's some standard boy-meets-girl along the way, with some air pirates who aren't so bad thrown in for fun. The story is paced fairly well, not moving very fast, but not dragging things out unnecessarily, either. Naturally a movie like this has a message, which seems to be very strongly environmental. Not so much "save the planet" so much as over-emphasizing the importance of trees and wild animals. It also has something of a generic anti-military message, but then that tends to go hand in hand with the kind of friendly, romantic view of pirates this movie ended up having.
There really isn't all that much else to say about this movie, other than that it's worth a watch. 7/10.
Re: CX anime reviews
Charger Girl Juden-chan
(12 episode series)
This series ... wow, I don't know how I made it as far into the second episode as I did or why I even chose to put it on my list of anime to watch. Oh, wait, I'm pretty sure the reason why was the fan service, and by fan service in this case I mean practically porn (the term is hentai, you uncultured swine! ). And by porn, I mean something for people even more perverted than I am. As for what I mean by that, well, it's a big part of why I just couldn't keep watching.
Believe it or not, at first I found it kind of funny, in a "let's make fun of weird hentai" kinda way; I mean, they even showed bits of a stereotypical tentacle hentai that the main character, Plug, would catch at random points on TV in a manner that pretty much had me convinced they were making fun of this kind of thing, along with the "magical girl" genre. Instead, it turned out worse.
I know Japan is somewhat disturbingly misogynistic, and this has shown itself in some of the stuff I've already watched, but this was just way over the top. Basically, while normal humans can't see or touch the magical girls who fly around and cure people of depression by electrocuting them (yeah, that's really the premise of the series), the male lead can, and he usually reacts to them by getting pissed off and hitting them in the head with a baseball bat, the usual result being that they would then literally piss themselves. This was played for laughs, and at the point I just had to turn it off, one of the invisible women he was doing this to was somehow developing an attraction to this man and actually stated that being beamed in the head by him actually felt good.
Now, a lot of people tend to confuse the fact that I like to drool over naked women means I'm some kind of troglodyte, but really I just love how great women tend to look nekkid. That doesn't mean I don't respect women, and in fact that's why I just couldn't take this series anymore – because a man beating women until they pissed themselves was played as funny and sexy.
So to sum things up, I really wasn't expecting more than some animated nudity and some sex jokes, but even those low expectation managed to leave me coming away offended and feeling a little dirty for having watched as much as I did. 0/10.
(12 episode series)
This series ... wow, I don't know how I made it as far into the second episode as I did or why I even chose to put it on my list of anime to watch. Oh, wait, I'm pretty sure the reason why was the fan service, and by fan service in this case I mean practically porn (the term is hentai, you uncultured swine!
). And by porn, I mean something for people even more perverted than I am. As for what I mean by that, well, it's a big part of why I just couldn't keep watching.Believe it or not, at first I found it kind of funny, in a "let's make fun of weird hentai" kinda way; I mean, they even showed bits of a stereotypical tentacle hentai that the main character, Plug, would catch at random points on TV in a manner that pretty much had me convinced they were making fun of this kind of thing, along with the "magical girl" genre. Instead, it turned out worse.
I know Japan is somewhat disturbingly misogynistic, and this has shown itself in some of the stuff I've already watched, but this was just way over the top. Basically, while normal humans can't see or touch the magical girls who fly around and cure people of depression by electrocuting them (yeah, that's really the premise of the series), the male lead can, and he usually reacts to them by getting pissed off and hitting them in the head with a baseball bat, the usual result being that they would then literally piss themselves. This was played for laughs, and at the point I just had to turn it off, one of the invisible women he was doing this to was somehow developing an attraction to this man and actually stated that being beamed in the head by him actually felt good.
Now, a lot of people tend to confuse the fact that I like to drool over naked women means I'm some kind of troglodyte, but really I just love how great women tend to look nekkid. That doesn't mean I don't respect women, and in fact that's why I just couldn't take this series anymore – because a man beating women until they pissed themselves was played as funny and sexy.
So to sum things up, I really wasn't expecting more than some animated nudity and some sex jokes, but even those low expectation managed to leave me coming away offended and feeling a little dirty for having watched as much as I did. 0/10.
Re: CX anime reviews
Chiko, Heiress of the Phantom Thief
(22 episode series)
This was actually a pretty good series. It wasn't quite what I initially thought it was going to be, and I have to say, I think it actually worked out better that way.
This series does have some of the standard clichés: a mysterious rogue, a young apprentice becoming a master, an evil plan being carried out by a mad scientist, etc, but it also tends to mix things up a bit.
At first, the series seemed to be a lot more about the Phantom Thief, who is a bit of a Robin Hood figure – stealing famous treasures and returning them to their rightful owners. It's in doing this that he comes across Chiko, a young heiress whose aunt is plotting to kill her for her inheritance. The Phantom Thief stealing her along with a famous ruby she happens to have just seems to be part of what the Phantom Thief is all about. But he is a mysterious character, and really he's pretty much impossible to figure out. We do learn bits about his past, which has something to do with the recently ended Second World War. Some of his jobs have also involved the destruction of things he was apparently involved in developing, like an impossibly huge airplane found sunken at the bottom of the ocean.
So basically, it seems like this series is going to be about Chiko traveling along with and becoming a part of the Phantom Thief's gang, which is naturally more like a family than an actual gang. The Phantom Thief even seemed to be setting her up to someday take his place. That's just when the series changes things up and kills almost every single member of the Phantom Thief's gang. There's a bit of a depressing transitional period, and then the real story starts to reveal itself, the pieces falling into place with each episode.
The pacing is fairly good, but I have to admit to a little disappointment with the large periods of time that are being skipped. I do understand though that it might drag things out unnecessarily otherwise. It's just that in the beginning, the series skips almost three years' worth of time Chiko spends with the Phantom Thief and the gang, effectively turning it into a montage of what will become the teenaged girl's memories when she returns to a more normal life. Then, at the end of the series, it skips three years again. Really the last episode is more of an epilogue than anything else. I guess that means it was an okay last episode, but it was a little anti-climatic given what had just happened with the mad scientist's evil plan ripping a huge hole in Tokyo and all.
Which leads me to a few asides. I have to admit, that I thought this series was going more of the alternate history route, even though it was obvious that the war that everyone was talking about having recently ended was WWII. Thing is, there were a few airships that showed up, along with that impossibly huge tank and that impossibly huge airplane. It all seemed so steampunk-ish, or maybe dieselpunk. The technology associated with the mad scientist's plan seemed that way, too, and given the aforementioned hole being ripped into Tokyo, well everything seemed to be pointing toward an alternate history story set in something like the early 1950s. Well, wrong again, they filled in the hole, built Tokyo Tower, and apparently forgot everything about what happened, along with the supposedly world famous Phantom Thief. Then there was Chiko's role in the gang, which along with becoming an awesome buttkicker, she was also relegated to being the cook, maid, and seamstress of the gang by virtue of being female. That's actually somewhat amusing considering that Chiko is a rich girl who has always had servants to do those kinds of things for her, yet she is somehow supposedly good at doing all of them and is happy to do them. Oh, Japan...
I would definitely recommend this series to anyone who might be interested in a kind of mystery/adventure story. There's some comedy relief, too, but thankfully they didn't go over the top with it. Over all this series was very well done, despite a few flaws as I noted, and a few nitpickier ones I didn't bother to bring up. I hope that an English dub will be made for this series someday. 9/10.
(22 episode series)
This was actually a pretty good series. It wasn't quite what I initially thought it was going to be, and I have to say, I think it actually worked out better that way.
This series does have some of the standard clichés: a mysterious rogue, a young apprentice becoming a master, an evil plan being carried out by a mad scientist, etc, but it also tends to mix things up a bit.
At first, the series seemed to be a lot more about the Phantom Thief, who is a bit of a Robin Hood figure – stealing famous treasures and returning them to their rightful owners. It's in doing this that he comes across Chiko, a young heiress whose aunt is plotting to kill her for her inheritance. The Phantom Thief stealing her along with a famous ruby she happens to have just seems to be part of what the Phantom Thief is all about. But he is a mysterious character, and really he's pretty much impossible to figure out. We do learn bits about his past, which has something to do with the recently ended Second World War. Some of his jobs have also involved the destruction of things he was apparently involved in developing, like an impossibly huge airplane found sunken at the bottom of the ocean.
So basically, it seems like this series is going to be about Chiko traveling along with and becoming a part of the Phantom Thief's gang, which is naturally more like a family than an actual gang. The Phantom Thief even seemed to be setting her up to someday take his place. That's just when the series changes things up and kills almost every single member of the Phantom Thief's gang. There's a bit of a depressing transitional period, and then the real story starts to reveal itself, the pieces falling into place with each episode.
The pacing is fairly good, but I have to admit to a little disappointment with the large periods of time that are being skipped. I do understand though that it might drag things out unnecessarily otherwise. It's just that in the beginning, the series skips almost three years' worth of time Chiko spends with the Phantom Thief and the gang, effectively turning it into a montage of what will become the teenaged girl's memories when she returns to a more normal life. Then, at the end of the series, it skips three years again. Really the last episode is more of an epilogue than anything else. I guess that means it was an okay last episode, but it was a little anti-climatic given what had just happened with the mad scientist's evil plan ripping a huge hole in Tokyo and all.
Which leads me to a few asides. I have to admit, that I thought this series was going more of the alternate history route, even though it was obvious that the war that everyone was talking about having recently ended was WWII. Thing is, there were a few airships that showed up, along with that impossibly huge tank and that impossibly huge airplane. It all seemed so steampunk-ish, or maybe dieselpunk. The technology associated with the mad scientist's plan seemed that way, too, and given the aforementioned hole being ripped into Tokyo, well everything seemed to be pointing toward an alternate history story set in something like the early 1950s. Well, wrong again, they filled in the hole, built Tokyo Tower, and apparently forgot everything about what happened, along with the supposedly world famous Phantom Thief. Then there was Chiko's role in the gang, which along with becoming an awesome buttkicker, she was also relegated to being the cook, maid, and seamstress of the gang by virtue of being female. That's actually somewhat amusing considering that Chiko is a rich girl who has always had servants to do those kinds of things for her, yet she is somehow supposedly good at doing all of them and is happy to do them. Oh, Japan...
I would definitely recommend this series to anyone who might be interested in a kind of mystery/adventure story. There's some comedy relief, too, but thankfully they didn't go over the top with it. Over all this series was very well done, despite a few flaws as I noted, and a few nitpickier ones I didn't bother to bring up. I hope that an English dub will be made for this series someday. 9/10.
Re: CX anime reviews
Chobits
(26 episode series)
This series is every bit as stupid and pointless as one of my friends warned me it would be. I have to admit though that I only even gave this one a chance because it looked like it could be funny and have some nice fan service, but the attempts at comedy just completely fell flat, or were done so much that it completely lost any comedy value something might have initially had.
Jokes about internet porn and a retarded computer shaped like a teenaged girl imitating everything the main character does might be funny the first time (not that they really were), but when it's constantly done it becomes grating. Probably the most amusement I garnered from this complete waste of time was that the main character was being voiced by the same actor who did Captain Tyler, in the same type of voice (the actor actually does have a bit of a range). That's probably because the main character was supposed to be a simpleton, what with coming from the farm and all.
I could tell that this was supposed to be one of those cutesy romantic comedy (aka chick flick) type shows, but frankly the idea of romance with a computer is pervy, especially given that Chi (the computer) looked like jailbait. Oh, Japan... And just think, there were apparently 26 episodes of this crap, and from what I read they actually left it open for even more. I could barely sit through 2. I admit that I probably gave Ah! My Goddess! more of a chance despite kind of being along the same vein, and maybe Chobits might have proven to have a few interesting mini-stories like Goddess did, but I just didn't see anything even remotely worth keeping me watching. At least Goddess had a few moments and characters like the Motor Club to keep me amused, but Chobits had nothing, nothing. 0/10.
(26 episode series)
This series is every bit as stupid and pointless as one of my friends warned me it would be. I have to admit though that I only even gave this one a chance because it looked like it could be funny and have some nice fan service, but the attempts at comedy just completely fell flat, or were done so much that it completely lost any comedy value something might have initially had.
Jokes about internet porn and a retarded computer shaped like a teenaged girl imitating everything the main character does might be funny the first time (not that they really were), but when it's constantly done it becomes grating. Probably the most amusement I garnered from this complete waste of time was that the main character was being voiced by the same actor who did Captain Tyler, in the same type of voice (the actor actually does have a bit of a range). That's probably because the main character was supposed to be a simpleton, what with coming from the farm and all.
I could tell that this was supposed to be one of those cutesy romantic comedy (aka chick flick) type shows, but frankly the idea of romance with a computer is pervy, especially given that Chi (the computer) looked like jailbait. Oh, Japan... And just think, there were apparently 26 episodes of this crap, and from what I read they actually left it open for even more. I could barely sit through 2. I admit that I probably gave Ah! My Goddess! more of a chance despite kind of being along the same vein, and maybe Chobits might have proven to have a few interesting mini-stories like Goddess did, but I just didn't see anything even remotely worth keeping me watching. At least Goddess had a few moments and characters like the Motor Club to keep me amused, but Chobits had nothing, nothing. 0/10.
Re: CX anime reviews
Chrome Shelled Regios
(24 episode series)
Yet another post-apocalyptic series with an environmental message. There are even giant bugs in this one, too. In fact, if there had been giant mecha, well let's just say I would have been a little more amused. Really though, I was pretty much just bored out of my mind with what I watched out of this series. It was very stereotypical in the kind of characters there were and the kind of fighting there was.
Basically, the world is a desert wasteland, and humans are getting by living in giant domed cities that can actually slowly cruise around in order to avoid the giant bugs, and so they can fight one another over dwindling resources. Oh, and there are special academic cities, since apparently none of the other normal cities are big enough to just have a university in them. One of the special rules of the cities fighting is that the university cities can only attack one another since they have so many military arts students, and the fights themselves are more like games of capture the flag, but with real weapons and real casualties. And while there are some guns, mostly they fight with weird weapons that morph from just a handle into a sword, whip, staff, or some other kind of weapon. Plus there's magic they can use to fight and do the physically impossible with. It comes off like a fighting game, really.
So while some people might be into the kind of stuff this series has to offer, I really wasn't. About the only thing I might have found interesting would be character drama, but there just wasn't enough in the first couple of episodes to make me even want to start watching the third episode. There was a little potential there, but mostly it was focused on setting the male lead character up with about 3-4 female characters, including the captain of his platoon. 0/10.
(24 episode series)
Yet another post-apocalyptic series with an environmental message. There are even giant bugs in this one, too. In fact, if there had been giant mecha, well let's just say I would have been a little more amused. Really though, I was pretty much just bored out of my mind with what I watched out of this series. It was very stereotypical in the kind of characters there were and the kind of fighting there was.
Basically, the world is a desert wasteland, and humans are getting by living in giant domed cities that can actually slowly cruise around in order to avoid the giant bugs, and so they can fight one another over dwindling resources. Oh, and there are special academic cities, since apparently none of the other normal cities are big enough to just have a university in them. One of the special rules of the cities fighting is that the university cities can only attack one another since they have so many military arts students, and the fights themselves are more like games of capture the flag, but with real weapons and real casualties. And while there are some guns, mostly they fight with weird weapons that morph from just a handle into a sword, whip, staff, or some other kind of weapon. Plus there's magic they can use to fight and do the physically impossible with. It comes off like a fighting game, really.
So while some people might be into the kind of stuff this series has to offer, I really wasn't. About the only thing I might have found interesting would be character drama, but there just wasn't enough in the first couple of episodes to make me even want to start watching the third episode. There was a little potential there, but mostly it was focused on setting the male lead character up with about 3-4 female characters, including the captain of his platoon. 0/10.
Re: CX anime reviews
Claymore
(26 episode series)
So, we have a show set in a medieval fantasy world, following a beautiful female knight wielding a giant sword that she uses to kill demons. Sounds kind of awesome, right? Well, that's what I thought, but really it wasn't quite what I was hoping. It really came off as basically any other anime involving a sword wielder, though usually the sword is a katana. In other words, this series was nothing really new or special. It wasn't really bad, but it wasn't that good, either.
As far as the story went, most of it has to do with these demon creatures, yoma, which have a craving for human innards. They are pretty nasty creatures, often hiding out by eating the brain of a victim for their knowledge and memories (not sure how that works, exactly) and then shape-shifting into that victim's appearance in order to imitate them. They're basically impossible for normal humans to beat. The answer seems to be from a mysterious organization with no name: create human/yoma hybrids by implanting the flesh and blood from yoma corpses into a human's body. Oh, by the way, they only use women because men don't last as long. Seems the long term result of this is that the new warriors will eventually lose their human side over to their yoma side, and as it turns out having your body morph into a monster feels like having an orgasm, or something, so men don't last as long. Hah, long elaborate sex joke.
I was sort of hoping the show would do something interesting with the yoma, but aside from a little bit in the very beginning of the series, they were pretty stereotypical enemies. While mysterious origins can be interesting, the show never really even went there, and while it might have added some depth to them by having the victims who the yoma are imitating survive and come through some times, like I said, that only ever turned up briefly in the first episode. A little more interesting were the "awakened beings", which were really just Claymores who have lost control to their yoma halves. Mostly, though, the yoma simply served as something for Clare, the title Claymore whose adventures we follow, and her other fellow Claymores to hack apart.
What the story ended up being, though, was a pretty basic story of revenge. Clare had a pretty messed up childhood, which we did get to see part of, and someone important to her was killed. Naturally the shadowy organization isn't exactly made up of "good guys", and it's made clear that they didn't create Claymore warriors to wipe out the yoma and in doing so preserving humanity, but rather for profit. And while it is very difficult to produce warriors like Clare, the organization is perfectly fine using them as expendable assets.
The show also dabbles a bit in romance and romantic drama, or rather tries to. Raki is a teenaged boy who is exiled from his village because of some suspicion that he might become a yoma because his entire family was killed by one, which then imitated Raki's older brother until Clare killed it. He's also a whiny loser, who constantly cries like a little kid. And, despite being a little weakling even by human standards, he has it in his head that he can somehow protect Clare in return for her saving his life (which at the time was only incidental to her job at his village). Still, somehow we are to believe that Clare develops romantic feelings for Raki. I just never really got into it, despite part of me kind of wanting to. I know it was probably an attempt at reversing gender roles, because Clare was strong, able, and relatively stoic, while Raki was weak, practically useless (though a good cook, apparently), and constantly cried and whined. I've seen other attempts at doing this kind of thing that actually mostly pulled it off, primarily because they didn't turn the guy into a pathetic whiny loser and weakling in the process.
Anyway, I wouldn't say that this series is completely uninteresting – I did watch all of it, after all – but there really isn't anything particularly interesting that might help this series stand out or make it different from any other hack and slash anime. 7/10.
(26 episode series)
So, we have a show set in a medieval fantasy world, following a beautiful female knight wielding a giant sword that she uses to kill demons. Sounds kind of awesome, right? Well, that's what I thought, but really it wasn't quite what I was hoping. It really came off as basically any other anime involving a sword wielder, though usually the sword is a katana. In other words, this series was nothing really new or special. It wasn't really bad, but it wasn't that good, either.
As far as the story went, most of it has to do with these demon creatures, yoma, which have a craving for human innards. They are pretty nasty creatures, often hiding out by eating the brain of a victim for their knowledge and memories (not sure how that works, exactly) and then shape-shifting into that victim's appearance in order to imitate them. They're basically impossible for normal humans to beat. The answer seems to be from a mysterious organization with no name: create human/yoma hybrids by implanting the flesh and blood from yoma corpses into a human's body. Oh, by the way, they only use women because men don't last as long. Seems the long term result of this is that the new warriors will eventually lose their human side over to their yoma side, and as it turns out having your body morph into a monster feels like having an orgasm, or something, so men don't last as long. Hah, long elaborate sex joke.
I was sort of hoping the show would do something interesting with the yoma, but aside from a little bit in the very beginning of the series, they were pretty stereotypical enemies. While mysterious origins can be interesting, the show never really even went there, and while it might have added some depth to them by having the victims who the yoma are imitating survive and come through some times, like I said, that only ever turned up briefly in the first episode. A little more interesting were the "awakened beings", which were really just Claymores who have lost control to their yoma halves. Mostly, though, the yoma simply served as something for Clare, the title Claymore whose adventures we follow, and her other fellow Claymores to hack apart.
What the story ended up being, though, was a pretty basic story of revenge. Clare had a pretty messed up childhood, which we did get to see part of, and someone important to her was killed. Naturally the shadowy organization isn't exactly made up of "good guys", and it's made clear that they didn't create Claymore warriors to wipe out the yoma and in doing so preserving humanity, but rather for profit. And while it is very difficult to produce warriors like Clare, the organization is perfectly fine using them as expendable assets.
The show also dabbles a bit in romance and romantic drama, or rather tries to. Raki is a teenaged boy who is exiled from his village because of some suspicion that he might become a yoma because his entire family was killed by one, which then imitated Raki's older brother until Clare killed it. He's also a whiny loser, who constantly cries like a little kid. And, despite being a little weakling even by human standards, he has it in his head that he can somehow protect Clare in return for her saving his life (which at the time was only incidental to her job at his village). Still, somehow we are to believe that Clare develops romantic feelings for Raki. I just never really got into it, despite part of me kind of wanting to. I know it was probably an attempt at reversing gender roles, because Clare was strong, able, and relatively stoic, while Raki was weak, practically useless (though a good cook, apparently), and constantly cried and whined. I've seen other attempts at doing this kind of thing that actually mostly pulled it off, primarily because they didn't turn the guy into a pathetic whiny loser and weakling in the process.
Anyway, I wouldn't say that this series is completely uninteresting – I did watch all of it, after all – but there really isn't anything particularly interesting that might help this series stand out or make it different from any other hack and slash anime. 7/10.
Re: CX anime reviews
Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt
(13 episode series)
Ah yes, the show that has apparently been the cause of so much butthurt from certain parts of the anime fandom. And personally, I think I enjoy that fact as much as I enjoy the show itself, which is hilarious. The key thing to enjoying this show is having a really great sense of humor when it comes to anime. I, for example, love to make fun of anime as much as I love to watch it, because for every good anime, there're probably about ten bad ones. Gainax seems to have a similar view on anime, which is why basically everything it makes seems to be making fun of anime as much as it celebrates it. Of course this also seems like something that alcohol was probably involved in the creation of. Apparently Drawn Together was a heavy inspiration as well, which is why having a warped and dirty sense of humor is also required to enjoy this show, because it tries to gross you out as much as it tries to make you laugh.
Since this show is more about having fun and trolling the average anime fan that anything else, there really isn't much of a plot to speak of. The basic set-up, for lack of better description, is that the Anarchy sisters, Panty and Stocking, are angels who have been kicked out of heaven for being bad, and need to earn their way back by collecting enough Heaven tokens. They collect these tokens by killing the ghosts that are constantly troubling Daten City, which is an Earthly city that is on the border between heaven and hell. Garterbelt is an afro'd priest who keeps and eye on the sisters and hands out the marching orders they get from Heaven. So basically every episode, which is itself split up into two episodes, involves Panty and Stocking fighting one or more ghosts with their magically transforming undergarments.. There is no real overall continuity or purpose, though, except for a few where this is done just to throw the audience off. On the opposite side of the spectrum, there are actually episodes where nothing is resolved, like say the episode where everyone actually becomes a zombie. Then the next episode everyone and everything is back to normal. So basically it's a lot like Star Trek: Voyager.
It's really obvious though that the main purpose of this show is just to troll as much as possible, and by troll I mean everyone, but especially the otaku fandom that has been responsible for so much of the demand for the cutesy moe shit that has been so damn common since 2000. Apparently it's really important for these nerds that the show's fan service be "pure", in other words a virgin, on top of being clumsy and not terribly bright. Which is why Panty is a slut who loves sex and actually has made it a goal to have sex with 1000 men before she returns to heaven. Then there's the animation style, which I can only really describe as something along the lines of the Powerpuff Girls or Space Invader Zim. I'm not real familiar with the anime fandom myself, but apparently this animation style is another thing that makes a lot of otaku butthurt about this show. And just to drive this point home, there are often segments of the show that are really well-drawn just to show they could do it if they really wanted to. Mostly these segments coincide with the angels' transformation sequence, which itself is a shot at magical girls shows thanks to it being an out and out strip show.
While I'm sure a lot of anime fans would prefer the entire series to look like that above there, that isn't the point of the show, and if you ask why the entire show can't look like that, you have been successfully trolled. Instead, what you can expect a lot more of from the show is this:
And I don't just mean the animation style, because the humor of the above picture is pretty much what you can come to expect from this series, too.
Another thing this show loves to do is to cram as many references to other movies and TV shows into each episode as possible, whether it's the title, dialog, action sequences, or even the character of Chuck, who is a pretty obvious call-out to Gir from Space Invader Zim. This is also an aspect of the series I like, because, well, it's damn funny, like pretty much everything else about this show.
This isn't a show that's going to make my favorites list exactly, but it's still a pretty good show if all you want to do is watch something that's mindlessly funny. So while I'm not going to give it an especially high score, I still like this show, and I would still recommend it to anyone looking for some good over-the-top humor. I hope this review has at least prepared you a little for what you're in for, because this show isn't going to be for everyone. Actually, even if you're the kind of fan this show is trolling, I would still recommend that you watch this series, because the thought of you getting offended by this show gives me an erection.
6/10.
(13 episode series)
Ah yes, the show that has apparently been the cause of so much butthurt from certain parts of the anime fandom. And personally, I think I enjoy that fact as much as I enjoy the show itself, which is hilarious. The key thing to enjoying this show is having a really great sense of humor when it comes to anime. I, for example, love to make fun of anime as much as I love to watch it, because for every good anime, there're probably about ten bad ones. Gainax seems to have a similar view on anime, which is why basically everything it makes seems to be making fun of anime as much as it celebrates it. Of course this also seems like something that alcohol was probably involved in the creation of. Apparently Drawn Together was a heavy inspiration as well, which is why having a warped and dirty sense of humor is also required to enjoy this show, because it tries to gross you out as much as it tries to make you laugh.
Since this show is more about having fun and trolling the average anime fan that anything else, there really isn't much of a plot to speak of. The basic set-up, for lack of better description, is that the Anarchy sisters, Panty and Stocking, are angels who have been kicked out of heaven for being bad, and need to earn their way back by collecting enough Heaven tokens. They collect these tokens by killing the ghosts that are constantly troubling Daten City, which is an Earthly city that is on the border between heaven and hell. Garterbelt is an afro'd priest who keeps and eye on the sisters and hands out the marching orders they get from Heaven. So basically every episode, which is itself split up into two episodes, involves Panty and Stocking fighting one or more ghosts with their magically transforming undergarments.. There is no real overall continuity or purpose, though, except for a few where this is done just to throw the audience off. On the opposite side of the spectrum, there are actually episodes where nothing is resolved, like say the episode where everyone actually becomes a zombie. Then the next episode everyone and everything is back to normal. So basically it's a lot like Star Trek: Voyager.
It's really obvious though that the main purpose of this show is just to troll as much as possible, and by troll I mean everyone, but especially the otaku fandom that has been responsible for so much of the demand for the cutesy moe shit that has been so damn common since 2000. Apparently it's really important for these nerds that the show's fan service be "pure", in other words a virgin, on top of being clumsy and not terribly bright. Which is why Panty is a slut who loves sex and actually has made it a goal to have sex with 1000 men before she returns to heaven. Then there's the animation style, which I can only really describe as something along the lines of the Powerpuff Girls or Space Invader Zim. I'm not real familiar with the anime fandom myself, but apparently this animation style is another thing that makes a lot of otaku butthurt about this show. And just to drive this point home, there are often segments of the show that are really well-drawn just to show they could do it if they really wanted to. Mostly these segments coincide with the angels' transformation sequence, which itself is a shot at magical girls shows thanks to it being an out and out strip show.
While I'm sure a lot of anime fans would prefer the entire series to look like that above there, that isn't the point of the show, and if you ask why the entire show can't look like that, you have been successfully trolled. Instead, what you can expect a lot more of from the show is this:
And I don't just mean the animation style, because the humor of the above picture is pretty much what you can come to expect from this series, too.
Another thing this show loves to do is to cram as many references to other movies and TV shows into each episode as possible, whether it's the title, dialog, action sequences, or even the character of Chuck, who is a pretty obvious call-out to Gir from Space Invader Zim. This is also an aspect of the series I like, because, well, it's damn funny, like pretty much everything else about this show.
This isn't a show that's going to make my favorites list exactly, but it's still a pretty good show if all you want to do is watch something that's mindlessly funny. So while I'm not going to give it an especially high score, I still like this show, and I would still recommend it to anyone looking for some good over-the-top humor. I hope this review has at least prepared you a little for what you're in for, because this show isn't going to be for everyone. Actually, even if you're the kind of fan this show is trolling, I would still recommend that you watch this series, because the thought of you getting offended by this show gives me an erection.
6/10.
Re: CX anime reviews
FLCL
(6 episode OVA)
So apparently this is the show Gainax did to get away from the depression that was Neon Genesis Evangelion. A lot of the elements are still there, though, like the whole older women wanting to have sex with a middle-school-aged boy, and a somewhat whiny male protagonist who does nothing but bitch about his lot in life. At least in this case he isn't nearly as useless.
I'm convinced that there's a plot in this OVA somewhere, but it's really hard to make heads or tales of it. Whatever it is exactly that happens, it follows protagonist Naota Nandaba, a twelve-year-old boy living in the completely ordinary and boring suburb of Mabase as he goes on the weirdest coming-of-age adventure anime has bothered to come up with. And really I'm convinced that this is the entire point of the series, because thankfully, unlike Shinji, Naota actually manages to mature a little and comes out of the story a little better for it.
Basically the reason he's such a whiny little bastard for the majority of the show is that his older brother has moved to America to go to school, leaving him alone with his father and grandfather in the bakery/home they have together. His father and grandfather are actually kind of cool, but Naota naturally feels differently. He also has to deal with his brother's ex-girlfriend, who is a high school student and has apparently latched on to this much younger version of her old boyfriend. She's also not terribly bright, but whatever. That's pretty much the running theme, because in this show, all the ladies seem to love Naota.
The ladies love a guy with a nice big guitar.
There's also a girl who's much closer to his age who obviously likes him, but naturally he doesn't notice and actually doesn't want the attention that he is getting. The attention that he likes the least is from Haruko Haruhara, the odd, pink-haired woman who he first meets when her classic Vespa Scooter runs him down and kills him, shortly before being brought back to life by a blow to the head with her pull-start blue Rickenbacker 4001 guitar and a little mouth-to-mouth. This seems to have created some kind of odd portal in his head that generates various monsters and robots from the mysterious Medical Mechanica corporation, which has a large, iron-shaped "factory" in Mabase. If that seems like a lot to take in, well, tough, because the OVA doesn't really care.
Haruko constantly follows Naota around, waiting for the stuff to come out of his head so she can fight it. She does this by becoming basically whatever she needs to be, like say a nurse, or his father's live-in maid. She also seems to delight in sexually teasing him, and trying to make him jealous by doing the same kind of things with his father. Oh, and they constantly refer to "Fooly Cooly," which I'm convinced means the form of pedophilia when the grown-up is a woman and the kid is a boy.
All of this innuendo revolving around sex, especially as it relates to Naota is pretty much where the vast majority of the "coming of age" comes from. Not that I'm complaining, because this is actually a big part of what makes the show so damn entertaining.
Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) this is yet another example of something Gainax has made that is mindlessly entertaining without making a whole lot of sense. But then what else do you expect from the same people who would go on to give us Gurren Lagann and Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt? From what I've heard, the reasl reason behind this show was to try out a new animation technique, and that the story was something of an afterthought. This actually seems to fit, because at one point there's another rather strange character who actually explains everything that's going on not unlike Mulder from The X-Files. At first I thought this character might have only gotten things partially right, like Mulder tended to do, but after repeat viewings of the show, I'm convinced that he actually had everything completely right, like Gainax felt sorry for us and threw us a bone.
The "story" and the point of what Haruko is doing to Naota's head seems to have something to do with Haruko wanting some alien's powers to the point that she's in love with him, and she's actually trying to get him to come through the portal in Naota's head. Everything else that comes out of there is from the apparently evil Medical Mechanica corporation, which is actually an alien invasion force bent on ironing the entire surface of the planet with giant irons pushed by giant hands. Really. The character, Amarao, exposits it in quite a bit of detail, actually. He also wears the biggest eyebrows this side of the Monarch which are made out of seaweed and apparently prevent Hanuko from using his head as a portal, something he seems to have some previous experience with.
I honestly don’t know how else to describe this OVA or why it's actually a pretty good show and you should watch it. The characters aren't really anything special, though some of them do have their moments. Some of the fun is definitely had from trying to make some sense of the show, though to be honest I don’t really think there is much sense to be had from it. It is a load of fun to watch, though. 7/10.
(6 episode OVA)
So apparently this is the show Gainax did to get away from the depression that was Neon Genesis Evangelion. A lot of the elements are still there, though, like the whole older women wanting to have sex with a middle-school-aged boy, and a somewhat whiny male protagonist who does nothing but bitch about his lot in life. At least in this case he isn't nearly as useless.
I'm convinced that there's a plot in this OVA somewhere, but it's really hard to make heads or tales of it. Whatever it is exactly that happens, it follows protagonist Naota Nandaba, a twelve-year-old boy living in the completely ordinary and boring suburb of Mabase as he goes on the weirdest coming-of-age adventure anime has bothered to come up with. And really I'm convinced that this is the entire point of the series, because thankfully, unlike Shinji, Naota actually manages to mature a little and comes out of the story a little better for it.
Basically the reason he's such a whiny little bastard for the majority of the show is that his older brother has moved to America to go to school, leaving him alone with his father and grandfather in the bakery/home they have together. His father and grandfather are actually kind of cool, but Naota naturally feels differently. He also has to deal with his brother's ex-girlfriend, who is a high school student and has apparently latched on to this much younger version of her old boyfriend. She's also not terribly bright, but whatever. That's pretty much the running theme, because in this show, all the ladies seem to love Naota.
The ladies love a guy with a nice big guitar.
There's also a girl who's much closer to his age who obviously likes him, but naturally he doesn't notice and actually doesn't want the attention that he is getting. The attention that he likes the least is from Haruko Haruhara, the odd, pink-haired woman who he first meets when her classic Vespa Scooter runs him down and kills him, shortly before being brought back to life by a blow to the head with her pull-start blue Rickenbacker 4001 guitar and a little mouth-to-mouth. This seems to have created some kind of odd portal in his head that generates various monsters and robots from the mysterious Medical Mechanica corporation, which has a large, iron-shaped "factory" in Mabase. If that seems like a lot to take in, well, tough, because the OVA doesn't really care.
Haruko constantly follows Naota around, waiting for the stuff to come out of his head so she can fight it. She does this by becoming basically whatever she needs to be, like say a nurse, or his father's live-in maid. She also seems to delight in sexually teasing him, and trying to make him jealous by doing the same kind of things with his father. Oh, and they constantly refer to "Fooly Cooly," which I'm convinced means the form of pedophilia when the grown-up is a woman and the kid is a boy.
All of this innuendo revolving around sex, especially as it relates to Naota is pretty much where the vast majority of the "coming of age" comes from. Not that I'm complaining, because this is actually a big part of what makes the show so damn entertaining.
Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) this is yet another example of something Gainax has made that is mindlessly entertaining without making a whole lot of sense. But then what else do you expect from the same people who would go on to give us Gurren Lagann and Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt? From what I've heard, the reasl reason behind this show was to try out a new animation technique, and that the story was something of an afterthought. This actually seems to fit, because at one point there's another rather strange character who actually explains everything that's going on not unlike Mulder from The X-Files. At first I thought this character might have only gotten things partially right, like Mulder tended to do, but after repeat viewings of the show, I'm convinced that he actually had everything completely right, like Gainax felt sorry for us and threw us a bone.
The "story" and the point of what Haruko is doing to Naota's head seems to have something to do with Haruko wanting some alien's powers to the point that she's in love with him, and she's actually trying to get him to come through the portal in Naota's head. Everything else that comes out of there is from the apparently evil Medical Mechanica corporation, which is actually an alien invasion force bent on ironing the entire surface of the planet with giant irons pushed by giant hands. Really. The character, Amarao, exposits it in quite a bit of detail, actually. He also wears the biggest eyebrows this side of the Monarch which are made out of seaweed and apparently prevent Hanuko from using his head as a portal, something he seems to have some previous experience with.
I honestly don’t know how else to describe this OVA or why it's actually a pretty good show and you should watch it. The characters aren't really anything special, though some of them do have their moments. Some of the fun is definitely had from trying to make some sense of the show, though to be honest I don’t really think there is much sense to be had from it. It is a load of fun to watch, though. 7/10.
Re: CX anime reviews
Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion
(25 episode series)
When I caught my first glimpse of this series when it aired on Adult Swim, I have to admit that I wasn't really impressed. It looked like just another mecha anime to me, and to be frank I really don’t care for shows like that, partly due to the large number of them. They just tend to all be the same and even kind of run together. This one involved a character with a weird eye who liked to dress up in a weird costume, and I really didn't care for the visual design at all. But, just as I'd been talked into watching Gurren Lagann in large part because of the alleged fan service, I'd read quite a bit about how naughty Code Geass was supposed to be, in particular the first season before the executive meddling took place and ruined everything, or so I'd read. Something about a female character using a table to masturbate? At the same time there was supposed to be a great deal of awesome going on due to this series being on real late and largely ignored by the censors and the like. So I decided to give this series a chance, and I have to say that I'm glad that I did.
The series follows a somewhat spoiled, smarmy, arrogant high school student named Lelouch Lamperouge, who apparently likes to skip out on class to gamble with rich aristocrats on the outcome of chess games. This all takes place in a rather interesting alternate Japan, which has been conquered by the Holy Britannian Empire, and of which Lelouch is actually a member of. In fact, he's even royalty, albeit disowned by his own choice due to an assassination-induced grudge. Actually the world this story takes place in is kind of interesting by itself as an alternate history, in which a branch of the British monarchy escaped to North America and founded yet another empire ruled by a hereditary monarchy. At the time the series takes place, the Britannian Empire controls a third of the world, and has a rather nasty tendency of erasing the national identity of any country it conquers (usually over resources), reducing them and their occupants to numbers as one of the many ways they continue to treat conquered peoples like crap long after the conquest has taken place. Personally I find the idea of Japan being conquered by an empire over resources kind of funny in an ironic kind of way, considering that whole world war thing back here in the real world. I also found it a little amusing that for all the ways the world developed differently in this alternate history, Japan was basically the same, except that they were already a more or less democratic nation led by a prime minister rather than a militaristic empire themselves. But that's just me.
Lelouch is far from a sympathetic character, but the series does a good job of explaining just what lead him down the path to becoming Zero, the mysterious masked leader of the rebellion against Britannia who vows to destroy the Empire, starting in Japan. He does this for rather selfish reasons, mainly out of revenge for the assassination for his mother and the way his father treated him and his now crippled daughter like crap afterwards. Of course he's always had dreams of bringing down the Empire, but as fate would have it he'd be given a unique power called "geass", which would enable him to essentially brainwash people into doing whatever he wanted. Of course one of the first things he does when he realizes his power is to meticulously and mercilessly test it out on his classmates. But then that's just him.
I actually like that he's far from the typical flawless hero. The show manages to keep him just sympathetic enough while he plays chess with peoples' lives and very pragmatically tests out exactly what he can do with his power on his classmates, among other things. Actually at one point he even kills would-be allies of his in order to take out some Britannians along with them. And yet his character managed to evolve along the way, keeping just on the sympathetic side of crazy for me to actually feel a little excitement when he was under the threat of being exposed and his double life catching up with him. Part of that was actually kind of funny, as some of the members of the Japanese resistance were students at his school, among other unlikely connections. Plus his name kind of lends itself to a pun on the true nature of his character.
The series also has an interesting number of layers to it. For instance, pretty much all of the royals Lelouch ends up fighting and either trying or succeeding at killing are actually members of his own family, even if they are only half-siblings. He also ends up fighting a childhood friend who he actually helped to save back when Japan was first conquered seven years before, though at first he doesn't realize this. It makes it that much more interesting when he finally does find out, though.
Actually all these connections culminate until he finally reaches the point that he can no longer lead his double life. He can no longer control his power, which leads to a rather sad, if completely outlandish, incident where he almost achieves a kind of peace with a member of the royal family who still loves him from their childhood days. She actually sets up a little slice of land where Japan exists again, and Zero/Lelouch is basically explaining what has led him to this point in the story, only to lose control of his power just as he's all like "if, for example, I told you to kill all the Japanese, you wouldn't be able to resist that command." So of course she ends up doing her best to do just that and he ends up having to kill her and using the incident as a way to drive the rebellion to its strongest point. But still, who would use something horrible like that as a hypothetical? Why not give a hypothetical about her giving him a blowjob instead? I mean, I know there's that whole incest thing there, but between that and a massacre? But I'm getting off track here. The point is that not only could he never look anyone in the eye again without his mask, but at the very end of the series he's finally unmasked, too, and exposed to two of his former friends.
The series ends on a kind of Blake's 7 note, with characters dying or looking like they might die, the battle suddenly going south because Lelouch has to leave to go rescue his kidnapped sister, and Lelouch himself looking like he might buy it from one or both of his former friends who are present as he is unmasked. It doesn't make the most sense, but it's still a pretty good sequel hook, which makes it that much more frustrating to know that this ending is never really followed through on. It kind of makes me wish that the series had ended with Japan gaining its independence, with the sequel hook being that Lelouch is unmasked pretty much the way he was, and Britannia set to retake Japan.
Anywho, addressing the reason I had originally decided to watch this anime, I was somewhat surprised at the lack of naughtiness. Sure there was a bit of nudity, though most of it missing certain features, the way a lot of anime tries to be discrete. Nipples do show up very briefly at one point, but other than that this series isn't really any worse in way of fan service from most every other anime I've seen. Even the infamous table scene was somewhat underwhelming, as nothing was really seen or even heard for that matter, taking place in the dark for all of about two or three seconds while said lesbian character got off silently. I'm not exactly disappointed, but if the series had actually sucked I might have been, partly because most every character in this anime is so androgynous anyway. So I'm not really seeing what people were talking about. Yes, there are the bits I talked about, plus some light and not so light bits dealing with homosexuality thrown in the mix, but it nothing that other series I've seen haven't done.
Actually, if anything, the biggest weakness of this series is that it's somewhat generic. Granted, it’s a much better take on the whole mecha theme, as the mechas themselves aren't really the focus of the story so much as a rather convenient plot device, but it is still very generic in nature. We have a seemingly average high school student with power and/or leadership thrust unwittingly upon them and they go on to fight against overwhelming odds. The sad fact is, that last sentence describes a disturbingly large number of animes. Then there are all the logical brain farts and conveniences in the plot itself, one of the last ones being how the rebel army is suddenly unable to operate or function despite having already basically won simply because Lelouch had to take off to deal with something else, even though he hadn't been actively participating in the battle for some time prior to that.
Still, it isn't really a bad series, and I'd even call it more than just okay. I'd say watch it, but keep in mind that the ending leaves a lot unresolved, and the continuation doesn't really logically follow either. 7/10.
(25 episode series)
When I caught my first glimpse of this series when it aired on Adult Swim, I have to admit that I wasn't really impressed. It looked like just another mecha anime to me, and to be frank I really don’t care for shows like that, partly due to the large number of them. They just tend to all be the same and even kind of run together. This one involved a character with a weird eye who liked to dress up in a weird costume, and I really didn't care for the visual design at all. But, just as I'd been talked into watching Gurren Lagann in large part because of the alleged fan service, I'd read quite a bit about how naughty Code Geass was supposed to be, in particular the first season before the executive meddling took place and ruined everything, or so I'd read. Something about a female character using a table to masturbate?
At the same time there was supposed to be a great deal of awesome going on due to this series being on real late and largely ignored by the censors and the like. So I decided to give this series a chance, and I have to say that I'm glad that I did.The series follows a somewhat spoiled, smarmy, arrogant high school student named Lelouch Lamperouge, who apparently likes to skip out on class to gamble with rich aristocrats on the outcome of chess games. This all takes place in a rather interesting alternate Japan, which has been conquered by the Holy Britannian Empire, and of which Lelouch is actually a member of. In fact, he's even royalty, albeit disowned by his own choice due to an assassination-induced grudge. Actually the world this story takes place in is kind of interesting by itself as an alternate history, in which a branch of the British monarchy escaped to North America and founded yet another empire ruled by a hereditary monarchy. At the time the series takes place, the Britannian Empire controls a third of the world, and has a rather nasty tendency of erasing the national identity of any country it conquers (usually over resources), reducing them and their occupants to numbers as one of the many ways they continue to treat conquered peoples like crap long after the conquest has taken place. Personally I find the idea of Japan being conquered by an empire over resources kind of funny in an ironic kind of way, considering that whole world war thing back here in the real world. I also found it a little amusing that for all the ways the world developed differently in this alternate history, Japan was basically the same, except that they were already a more or less democratic nation led by a prime minister rather than a militaristic empire themselves. But that's just me.
Lelouch is far from a sympathetic character, but the series does a good job of explaining just what lead him down the path to becoming Zero, the mysterious masked leader of the rebellion against Britannia who vows to destroy the Empire, starting in Japan. He does this for rather selfish reasons, mainly out of revenge for the assassination for his mother and the way his father treated him and his now crippled daughter like crap afterwards. Of course he's always had dreams of bringing down the Empire, but as fate would have it he'd be given a unique power called "geass", which would enable him to essentially brainwash people into doing whatever he wanted. Of course one of the first things he does when he realizes his power is to meticulously and mercilessly test it out on his classmates. But then that's just him.
I actually like that he's far from the typical flawless hero. The show manages to keep him just sympathetic enough while he plays chess with peoples' lives and very pragmatically tests out exactly what he can do with his power on his classmates, among other things. Actually at one point he even kills would-be allies of his in order to take out some Britannians along with them. And yet his character managed to evolve along the way, keeping just on the sympathetic side of crazy for me to actually feel a little excitement when he was under the threat of being exposed and his double life catching up with him. Part of that was actually kind of funny, as some of the members of the Japanese resistance were students at his school, among other unlikely connections. Plus his name kind of lends itself to a pun on the true nature of his character.
The series also has an interesting number of layers to it. For instance, pretty much all of the royals Lelouch ends up fighting and either trying or succeeding at killing are actually members of his own family, even if they are only half-siblings. He also ends up fighting a childhood friend who he actually helped to save back when Japan was first conquered seven years before, though at first he doesn't realize this. It makes it that much more interesting when he finally does find out, though.
Actually all these connections culminate until he finally reaches the point that he can no longer lead his double life. He can no longer control his power, which leads to a rather sad, if completely outlandish, incident where he almost achieves a kind of peace with a member of the royal family who still loves him from their childhood days. She actually sets up a little slice of land where Japan exists again, and Zero/Lelouch is basically explaining what has led him to this point in the story, only to lose control of his power just as he's all like "if, for example, I told you to kill all the Japanese, you wouldn't be able to resist that command." So of course she ends up doing her best to do just that and he ends up having to kill her and using the incident as a way to drive the rebellion to its strongest point. But still, who would use something horrible like that as a hypothetical? Why not give a hypothetical about her giving him a blowjob instead? I mean, I know there's that whole incest thing there, but between that and a massacre? But I'm getting off track here. The point is that not only could he never look anyone in the eye again without his mask, but at the very end of the series he's finally unmasked, too, and exposed to two of his former friends.
The series ends on a kind of Blake's 7 note, with characters dying or looking like they might die, the battle suddenly going south because Lelouch has to leave to go rescue his kidnapped sister, and Lelouch himself looking like he might buy it from one or both of his former friends who are present as he is unmasked. It doesn't make the most sense, but it's still a pretty good sequel hook, which makes it that much more frustrating to know that this ending is never really followed through on. It kind of makes me wish that the series had ended with Japan gaining its independence, with the sequel hook being that Lelouch is unmasked pretty much the way he was, and Britannia set to retake Japan.
Anywho, addressing the reason I had originally decided to watch this anime, I was somewhat surprised at the lack of naughtiness. Sure there was a bit of nudity, though most of it missing certain features, the way a lot of anime tries to be discrete. Nipples do show up very briefly at one point, but other than that this series isn't really any worse in way of fan service from most every other anime I've seen. Even the infamous table scene was somewhat underwhelming, as nothing was really seen or even heard for that matter, taking place in the dark for all of about two or three seconds while said lesbian character got off silently. I'm not exactly disappointed, but if the series had actually sucked I might have been, partly because most every character in this anime is so androgynous anyway. So I'm not really seeing what people were talking about. Yes, there are the bits I talked about, plus some light and not so light bits dealing with homosexuality thrown in the mix, but it nothing that other series I've seen haven't done.
Actually, if anything, the biggest weakness of this series is that it's somewhat generic. Granted, it’s a much better take on the whole mecha theme, as the mechas themselves aren't really the focus of the story so much as a rather convenient plot device, but it is still very generic in nature. We have a seemingly average high school student with power and/or leadership thrust unwittingly upon them and they go on to fight against overwhelming odds. The sad fact is, that last sentence describes a disturbingly large number of animes. Then there are all the logical brain farts and conveniences in the plot itself, one of the last ones being how the rebel army is suddenly unable to operate or function despite having already basically won simply because Lelouch had to take off to deal with something else, even though he hadn't been actively participating in the battle for some time prior to that.
Still, it isn't really a bad series, and I'd even call it more than just okay. I'd say watch it, but keep in mind that the ending leaves a lot unresolved, and the continuation doesn't really logically follow either. 7/10.
Re: CX anime reviews
Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2
(25 episode series)
Well, I can see why a lot of people like this series, and I can also see why a lot of people hate it. It's a mixed bag, really. I had a lot of the same things from the first season/series that made it good. But then it also had plenty that was bad. For me, the worst aspect wasn't anything in particular from the story, it was that everything was reset back to the status quo.
The last episode from the first season/series left things at a point that this should not have been possible. Great change was finally coming in that the Black Knights, the group Lelouch/Zero formed, were pretty going to win, despite the implication that they were somehow going to lose without Zero there to direct them in the closing stage of the battle. Lelouch had finally been unmasked, he'd finally really crossed a line by having a well-meaning would be ally order and participate in a massacre and then killed her, and either his friend Suzaku was finally going to kill him or his best soldier Kallen was because for some reason she felt betrayed as well. So how did that turn out? Well, they conveniently missed each other and Lelouch was captured and brainwashed instead. The first episode was actually a little insulting that way, because there were a lot of things about it that made no sense. One thing that still doesn't is how Lelouch's geass power was suddenly repressed when he was brainwashed by his father, the Emperor, who apparently had his own geass power all along. Then there was how one of the first people he ever used his power on and who had sworn to kill him was suddenly just a concerned teacher watching over him and trying to get him to go to class. And then Lelouch also suddenly had a brother and everyone at his school was playing along.
Of course, the first part of this sequel series was pretty much focused on explaining how pretty much all that came to be. It was all very elaborate, and I have to say pretty disappointing. Of course that still leaves the matter of Lelouch's permanent loss of control over his geass power, almost like they were hoping no one would notice, despite all the other acrobatic explanations they came up with for everything else. But really this was all so this series could be pretty much like the first one, with Lelouch leading a double life, hiding his identity and all that with the constant threat of being revealed all over again. And really that was the lamest part of it all. You can always tell when a studio interferes, because when they find they have something successful, they try to copy it in the hopes that it will keep being successful. But here they missed the point, because it wasn't Lelouch's double life or the high school aspect of his life that made the series good, it was the revolution and how Lelouch was evolving as a character.
In this series, he pretty much becomes a complete bastard, and it's difficult to much care what happens to him. In the end we find out he's a bastard on purpose, though that, along with so much else, just doesn't make all that much sense. Suzaku also changes radically, but then so do a lot of the characters, apparently out of convenience. Even the evil Emperor is suddenly made out to be more of a well-intentioned extremist than the big bad he was originally made out to be, and Lelouch's mother who everyone liked so much ended up being made out to be more of an uncaring bitch than the person whose death had driven Lelouch to become Zero.
This series also really went to town on the aspect of friends and allies fighting each other. It even has the Black Knights turn on Zero and try to kill him. Actually pretty much everyone turns on him, despite all the victories or other good things he's actually done while fighting against the Britannian Empire. Then when he finally wins and has taken over the Empire, Lelouch becomes the evil emperor in a really elaborate plan meant to finally unite the world by having them focus their hatred on him. The thing is, that really wasn't necessary, because he had gotten himself in a position to bring the peace through simply leading the Britannian Empire that way. After all, it seemed like he was headed down that path, and it would have been a way to prove himself to people who would have been his allies, as well as against his enemies.
But that was simply one of the many contrivances that was either unnecessary or simply came out of left field. Pretty much everything was some elaborate plan. While it's obvious that whoever wrote this actually put some thought into these elaborate schemes, I just wasn't impressed by their attempts at trying to convince me various characters were the absolute geniuses they would have to be to plan and execute these impossible plans, mostly because the plans were simply far too elaborate. Part of that was how the different fighters were able to figure out each others moves and know what the other was thinking. It was probably meant to make each of them a worthy foe to their counterpart(s), but in the end it got on my nerves a little when the show would constantly jump cut between multiple characters who were all saying essentially the same thing.
In the end, though, I didn't really hate this series, probably because I didn't really have much invested in it to begin with. After all, it was a fairly typical anime from the start, filled with a lot of clichés. The things that stood out a bit and made it kind of good were still present, to an extent in this continuation of the story, but I can definitely see what upset so many fans of the first series. But it did keep me interested enough to watch, mainly to find out how they would explain everything, and how it would all turn out in the end. It wasn't really all that satisfying, though, mainly because there wasn't much in way of actual resolution, and the series ends on an unrealistically optimistic note. Even with the big bad finally defeated after all the world's hate has been focused this object to hate, that wouldn't automatically mean the peace would be maintained, nor that no longer focusing on military conflict would mean that hunger and poverty and the like would just all magically be solved for lack of anything else to do. Humans are humans, after all, for better or worse, and I have no doubt that without some big bad for everyone to unite against, the world would simply go back to the same kind of petty squabbling that the real world has to deal with. 5/10.
(25 episode series)
Well, I can see why a lot of people like this series, and I can also see why a lot of people hate it. It's a mixed bag, really. I had a lot of the same things from the first season/series that made it good. But then it also had plenty that was bad. For me, the worst aspect wasn't anything in particular from the story, it was that everything was reset back to the status quo.
The last episode from the first season/series left things at a point that this should not have been possible. Great change was finally coming in that the Black Knights, the group Lelouch/Zero formed, were pretty going to win, despite the implication that they were somehow going to lose without Zero there to direct them in the closing stage of the battle. Lelouch had finally been unmasked, he'd finally really crossed a line by having a well-meaning would be ally order and participate in a massacre and then killed her, and either his friend Suzaku was finally going to kill him or his best soldier Kallen was because for some reason she felt betrayed as well. So how did that turn out? Well, they conveniently missed each other and Lelouch was captured and brainwashed instead. The first episode was actually a little insulting that way, because there were a lot of things about it that made no sense. One thing that still doesn't is how Lelouch's geass power was suddenly repressed when he was brainwashed by his father, the Emperor, who apparently had his own geass power all along. Then there was how one of the first people he ever used his power on and who had sworn to kill him was suddenly just a concerned teacher watching over him and trying to get him to go to class. And then Lelouch also suddenly had a brother and everyone at his school was playing along.
Of course, the first part of this sequel series was pretty much focused on explaining how pretty much all that came to be. It was all very elaborate, and I have to say pretty disappointing. Of course that still leaves the matter of Lelouch's permanent loss of control over his geass power, almost like they were hoping no one would notice, despite all the other acrobatic explanations they came up with for everything else. But really this was all so this series could be pretty much like the first one, with Lelouch leading a double life, hiding his identity and all that with the constant threat of being revealed all over again. And really that was the lamest part of it all. You can always tell when a studio interferes, because when they find they have something successful, they try to copy it in the hopes that it will keep being successful. But here they missed the point, because it wasn't Lelouch's double life or the high school aspect of his life that made the series good, it was the revolution and how Lelouch was evolving as a character.
In this series, he pretty much becomes a complete bastard, and it's difficult to much care what happens to him. In the end we find out he's a bastard on purpose, though that, along with so much else, just doesn't make all that much sense. Suzaku also changes radically, but then so do a lot of the characters, apparently out of convenience. Even the evil Emperor is suddenly made out to be more of a well-intentioned extremist than the big bad he was originally made out to be, and Lelouch's mother who everyone liked so much ended up being made out to be more of an uncaring bitch than the person whose death had driven Lelouch to become Zero.
This series also really went to town on the aspect of friends and allies fighting each other. It even has the Black Knights turn on Zero and try to kill him. Actually pretty much everyone turns on him, despite all the victories or other good things he's actually done while fighting against the Britannian Empire. Then when he finally wins and has taken over the Empire, Lelouch becomes the evil emperor in a really elaborate plan meant to finally unite the world by having them focus their hatred on him. The thing is, that really wasn't necessary, because he had gotten himself in a position to bring the peace through simply leading the Britannian Empire that way. After all, it seemed like he was headed down that path, and it would have been a way to prove himself to people who would have been his allies, as well as against his enemies.
But that was simply one of the many contrivances that was either unnecessary or simply came out of left field. Pretty much everything was some elaborate plan. While it's obvious that whoever wrote this actually put some thought into these elaborate schemes, I just wasn't impressed by their attempts at trying to convince me various characters were the absolute geniuses they would have to be to plan and execute these impossible plans, mostly because the plans were simply far too elaborate. Part of that was how the different fighters were able to figure out each others moves and know what the other was thinking. It was probably meant to make each of them a worthy foe to their counterpart(s), but in the end it got on my nerves a little when the show would constantly jump cut between multiple characters who were all saying essentially the same thing.
In the end, though, I didn't really hate this series, probably because I didn't really have much invested in it to begin with. After all, it was a fairly typical anime from the start, filled with a lot of clichés. The things that stood out a bit and made it kind of good were still present, to an extent in this continuation of the story, but I can definitely see what upset so many fans of the first series. But it did keep me interested enough to watch, mainly to find out how they would explain everything, and how it would all turn out in the end. It wasn't really all that satisfying, though, mainly because there wasn't much in way of actual resolution, and the series ends on an unrealistically optimistic note. Even with the big bad finally defeated after all the world's hate has been focused this object to hate, that wouldn't automatically mean the peace would be maintained, nor that no longer focusing on military conflict would mean that hunger and poverty and the like would just all magically be solved for lack of anything else to do. Humans are humans, after all, for better or worse, and I have no doubt that without some big bad for everyone to unite against, the world would simply go back to the same kind of petty squabbling that the real world has to deal with. 5/10.
Re: CX anime reviews
Space Pirate Captain Herlock: The Endless Odyssey
(13 episode OVA)
This is actually a fairly complex story, and it was worth the time to watch it. There was some oddball philosophy to go along with it, not to mention some serious male stereotyping and the usual romantic vision of pirates, but for the most part the story this OVA told was interesting.
The story starts on a trash heap planet, which people live on despite it being a trash heap. A scientist type has a rebelling son, Tadashi, who is heading down the path to his own destruction. Like father, like son, as it turned out. Naturally, Tadashi ends up joining the mysterious Captain Herlock after the death of his scientist father. He's basically the odd man out, as things aboard the ship, Arcadia, are not what he expects. Yet somehow through this, he becomes a man, or so everyone in the OVA insists.
One thing I really liked here was the complexity of the characters. There were some definite stereotypes, but there was also at least one exception. There was one character who, for all intents looked to be the next Hitler, turning the "space sheriff's" department he is a high ranking officer in into the space Gestapo. Later this character seems to realize the error of his ways, and even comes to respect his enemy, Captain Herlock.
The subject matter was surprisingly serious considering the seemingly cartoonish nature of the visual design. Most of the characters looked kind of like monkeys, and then there were things like a prison satellite being connected by a chain to an artificial planet (the stereotypical ball at the end of a chain), or that the Arcadia had an old galleon style stern and wooden wheel, and sprouted a big knife in its bow for ramming attacks.
As for the story itself, well it's kind of reminiscent of Babylon 5's Shadow story arc – a scientific expedition is entirely wiped out save one person after coming in contact with a mysterious and ancient evil that has remained hidden for a long time. That's about where the similarities end. Basically it goes overboard on the whole demons and hell theme.
Actually, one of the things I really didn't care for was how invincible Herlock was. I know he's supposed to be the one we're all rooting for, but he literally was impossible to beat, which made him something of a Gary Stu in my opinion. I guess you could say the same about his ship, the Arcadia, which was also basically impossible to beat, and could even run without a crew. It wasn't enough to ruin the show, but it did kind of annoy me a little.
Anyway, I'd say this OVA is definitely worth a watch, and I'm actually interested in seeing the original version of this now, if nothing else to see if the same kooky philosophy of some ancient evil force being responsible for all the evil in the world and even for the spiral shape of galaxies (instead of gravity, and ignoring all the other types of galaxies) is also present in it. 7/10.
(13 episode OVA)
This is actually a fairly complex story, and it was worth the time to watch it. There was some oddball philosophy to go along with it, not to mention some serious male stereotyping and the usual romantic vision of pirates, but for the most part the story this OVA told was interesting.
The story starts on a trash heap planet, which people live on despite it being a trash heap. A scientist type has a rebelling son, Tadashi, who is heading down the path to his own destruction. Like father, like son, as it turned out. Naturally, Tadashi ends up joining the mysterious Captain Herlock after the death of his scientist father. He's basically the odd man out, as things aboard the ship, Arcadia, are not what he expects. Yet somehow through this, he becomes a man, or so everyone in the OVA insists.
One thing I really liked here was the complexity of the characters. There were some definite stereotypes, but there was also at least one exception. There was one character who, for all intents looked to be the next Hitler, turning the "space sheriff's" department he is a high ranking officer in into the space Gestapo. Later this character seems to realize the error of his ways, and even comes to respect his enemy, Captain Herlock.
The subject matter was surprisingly serious considering the seemingly cartoonish nature of the visual design. Most of the characters looked kind of like monkeys, and then there were things like a prison satellite being connected by a chain to an artificial planet (the stereotypical ball at the end of a chain), or that the Arcadia had an old galleon style stern and wooden wheel, and sprouted a big knife in its bow for ramming attacks.
As for the story itself, well it's kind of reminiscent of Babylon 5's Shadow story arc – a scientific expedition is entirely wiped out save one person after coming in contact with a mysterious and ancient evil that has remained hidden for a long time. That's about where the similarities end. Basically it goes overboard on the whole demons and hell theme.
Actually, one of the things I really didn't care for was how invincible Herlock was. I know he's supposed to be the one we're all rooting for, but he literally was impossible to beat, which made him something of a Gary Stu in my opinion. I guess you could say the same about his ship, the Arcadia, which was also basically impossible to beat, and could even run without a crew. It wasn't enough to ruin the show, but it did kind of annoy me a little.
Anyway, I'd say this OVA is definitely worth a watch, and I'm actually interested in seeing the original version of this now, if nothing else to see if the same kooky philosophy of some ancient evil force being responsible for all the evil in the world and even for the spiral shape of galaxies (instead of gravity, and ignoring all the other types of galaxies) is also present in it. 7/10.
Re: CX anime reviews
Cosmo Warrior Zero
(15 episode OVA)
In some ways I'm still trying to decide what to make of this OVA as I write this. It's mostly a fairly typical space opera, espousing the principles of getting along with one another despite differences, living by a code of strong principles, and so on – everything one would expect from something of this genre. It was also mostly fluff, with a lot of comedy relief; too much comedy relief to really be taken seriously. The thing is, the series tended to bounce back and forth between having a serious storyline with some actual drama and being a comedy that happily makes fun of space operas. So that's why I'm having some trouble making up my mind about this OVA.
It doesn't help things that Crispin Freeman is playing the lead role as Captain Warrius Zero, because for those who don't know, he also played the title character in The Irresponsible Captain Tyler, which pretty much was just entirely about making fun of space operas. It also took place on a crappy old space ship and was crewed by a bunch of misfits who had to learn how to work together as a team. Then again, Crispin Freeman wasn't using his buffoon voice for Captain Zero like he was for Captain Tyler, so there's yet another thing that only adds to the question of if this series was supposed to be taken all that seriously or not. I'm leaning toward "not", though.
That's actually a little disappointing, because there were some elements about this series that could have made for a pretty good, seriously played science fiction story. The background of this story is that cylo- I mean "machine men" have just gotten done kicking humanity's ass, but rather than wiping humanity out completely, they stopped and agreed to a tenuous peace treaty. This treaty is then put at risk when the pirate Captain Harlock (now called rather than Herlock) and his green ship Deathshadow (rather than Arcadia though it looks about the same) start attacking ships, stations and colonies of machine men. That could make for something pretty interesting, especially given how dedicated Captain Zero is to treating machine men as friends and equals worthy of his protection even though his entire family was killed by them during the war. And that doesn't even matter if the machine men were aliens, originally created by humans as a slave race, or as in this OVA, humans who have somehow become machines and given up their humanity for various reasons of their own. But, this show doesn't really go there, and what it basically amounts to is a grudge match between Zero and Harlock, though the two of them apparently decide that they respect one another. As an aside, I have to say that casting Steven Blum of Spike Spiegel fame as Captain Harlock was very fitting.
In any case, there is the typical big bad who is behind the scenes plotting some evil scheme, which as it turns out doesn't make much sense when he could have just used brute force all along, given his uber-ship's capabilities and how he just ends up doing that anyway. The show tries to change things up by adding a villain who is apparently supposed to be worse, but nothing ever comes of it.
And then there's the "special", which basically adds two more episodes to the OVA. Most of the characters from the rest of the series aren't present, and Harlock and Zero both insist on fighting despite Zero already learning that his assignment to hunt Harlock down was a sham and that Harlock had been in the right all along. It's like everything leading up to and culminating in the reveal of the evil secret plan at the end of the series proper never happened. It's mostly played for laughs, and the tone set in the special was definitely lighter than the rest of the OVA.
Oh, veering off the track for a bit, I have to say that I can't understand at all why so many shows like this insist on doing a romantic pairing with the captain and the first officer of a ship. Fraternization regulations aside, it just really irks me that there are rarely any shows that show a male and female in these roles simply being friends and maintaining their professional relationship. It's like there's this expectation that men and women can't be adults and work together like grown-ups, and I find that ludicrous.
Don't get me wrong, this was an okay show, maybe worth a watch if you aren't looking for anything that's really serious. It's definitely not the kind of show Endless Odyssey was, which was way more philosophical and serious. It definitely had its moments, both positive and negative. Trying to decide which it had more of is a little difficult, but I don't think I can really rank this higher than a 6/10.
(15 episode OVA)
In some ways I'm still trying to decide what to make of this OVA as I write this. It's mostly a fairly typical space opera, espousing the principles of getting along with one another despite differences, living by a code of strong principles, and so on – everything one would expect from something of this genre. It was also mostly fluff, with a lot of comedy relief; too much comedy relief to really be taken seriously. The thing is, the series tended to bounce back and forth between having a serious storyline with some actual drama and being a comedy that happily makes fun of space operas. So that's why I'm having some trouble making up my mind about this OVA.
It doesn't help things that Crispin Freeman is playing the lead role as Captain Warrius Zero, because for those who don't know, he also played the title character in The Irresponsible Captain Tyler, which pretty much was just entirely about making fun of space operas. It also took place on a crappy old space ship and was crewed by a bunch of misfits who had to learn how to work together as a team. Then again, Crispin Freeman wasn't using his buffoon voice for Captain Zero like he was for Captain Tyler, so there's yet another thing that only adds to the question of if this series was supposed to be taken all that seriously or not. I'm leaning toward "not", though.
That's actually a little disappointing, because there were some elements about this series that could have made for a pretty good, seriously played science fiction story. The background of this story is that cylo- I mean "machine men" have just gotten done kicking humanity's ass, but rather than wiping humanity out completely, they stopped and agreed to a tenuous peace treaty. This treaty is then put at risk when the pirate Captain Harlock (now called rather than Herlock) and his green ship Deathshadow (rather than Arcadia though it looks about the same) start attacking ships, stations and colonies of machine men. That could make for something pretty interesting, especially given how dedicated Captain Zero is to treating machine men as friends and equals worthy of his protection even though his entire family was killed by them during the war. And that doesn't even matter if the machine men were aliens, originally created by humans as a slave race, or as in this OVA, humans who have somehow become machines and given up their humanity for various reasons of their own. But, this show doesn't really go there, and what it basically amounts to is a grudge match between Zero and Harlock, though the two of them apparently decide that they respect one another. As an aside, I have to say that casting Steven Blum of Spike Spiegel fame as Captain Harlock was very fitting.
In any case, there is the typical big bad who is behind the scenes plotting some evil scheme, which as it turns out doesn't make much sense when he could have just used brute force all along, given his uber-ship's capabilities and how he just ends up doing that anyway. The show tries to change things up by adding a villain who is apparently supposed to be worse, but nothing ever comes of it.
And then there's the "special", which basically adds two more episodes to the OVA. Most of the characters from the rest of the series aren't present, and Harlock and Zero both insist on fighting despite Zero already learning that his assignment to hunt Harlock down was a sham and that Harlock had been in the right all along. It's like everything leading up to and culminating in the reveal of the evil secret plan at the end of the series proper never happened. It's mostly played for laughs, and the tone set in the special was definitely lighter than the rest of the OVA.
Oh, veering off the track for a bit, I have to say that I can't understand at all why so many shows like this insist on doing a romantic pairing with the captain and the first officer of a ship. Fraternization regulations aside, it just really irks me that there are rarely any shows that show a male and female in these roles simply being friends and maintaining their professional relationship. It's like there's this expectation that men and women can't be adults and work together like grown-ups, and I find that ludicrous.
Don't get me wrong, this was an okay show, maybe worth a watch if you aren't looking for anything that's really serious. It's definitely not the kind of show Endless Odyssey was, which was way more philosophical and serious. It definitely had its moments, both positive and negative. Trying to decide which it had more of is a little difficult, but I don't think I can really rank this higher than a 6/10.
Re: CX anime reviews
Cowboy Bebop
(26 episode series + 1 movie)
This is the kind of anime that even non-anime fans might get into, provided that they are either sci-fi fans, or could get into a show that could in some ways be considered a western. It is essentially a space western, and chances are if you like Firefly, you'll probably like this show, too. And as an added bonus, it lasted a lot longer and wasn't screwed by its network.
Now for a little background on the setting, humanity has developed something of a means for traveling faster than light using these large gates. This allows rapid travel throughout the system and makes the establishment of colonies on the various planets and large moons much more practical. Note that this is one of the similarities to Firefly in that there are so many terrestrial bodies within one system that have been terraformed and have colonies on them, even if technically this wouldn't be all that practical due to low gravity, low light from the sun, or various other reasons. The main point, though, is that an accident with this FTL system resulted in an explosion which took a good-sized chunk out of Earth's moon, pelting the surface with the debris and making it generally difficult to live there. As a result, most of humanity has spread throughout the system to these various colonies, with Mars essentially becoming the new home world.
The series follows a rag-tag group of bounty hunters, here called "cowboys," as they struggle to hunt down their next bounty so they can have a decent meal, keep the Bebop and their other smaller ships running, and in Faye's case so she can gamble it all away in an attempt to get rich quick. At first we are only introduced to the main characters Spike Spiegle, and his partner as well as owner of the Bebop, Jet Black. As the show progresses, we are introduced to more and more of the characters who will end up joining the crew. Ironically, one of the first of these is Ein (as in Einstein), a genetically engineered Corgi dog. Pretty much all of the characters have something special or otherwise unusual about them, which contrasts them with Spike and Jet, who are both pretty laid back guys. Fay Valentine is a victim of some past accident who was put into cryo-stasis and recently thawed out by a group of con artists, and "Radical" Edward Wong Hau Pepulu Tivruskii IV is a young girl with a horrible case of ADHD, who also happens to be a genius hacker. All of them bring something to the table, and by that I mean both to the ship and its band of bounty hunters as well as the show. Which is actually why I started out by introducing them rather than with the story like I usually do. Of course with Cowboy Bebop, it's somewhat difficult to describe what the story is other than an exploration of the characters, who are all very interesting and who all end up developing through the show and discovering something about who they are.
The series does have a main plotline, it's just that it doesn't make itself all that readily apparent, and very few of the series' episodes actually deal with it. Spike is really the main character of the series, simply by virtue of the main plot focusing on him and his story. He wasn't always the laid back bounty hunter that he is in the show, and it turns out that he was originally a hit-man for an organized crime syndicate called the Red Dragons. He fell in love with a woman named Julia and decided to leave the syndicate because of his love for her. In doing so, he became a hunted man and he lost Julia. So basically his cause in life other than putting food in his mouth is to find Julia again. This is an especially touching story, and I can't heap enough praise on it even if it is a bit clichéd. Maybe even more than a bit clichéd. Learning about Spike and his past is one of the main draws of the series, or at least it was for me.
This is also something that happens with pretty much all the characters except maybe for Ein, who is explained right off the bat as to what the deal was with him. Jet also has a lost love who he finds and has to deal with the reality that she has moved on even if he hasn't, and his reunion with her is also bittersweet. Faye, who suffers from amnesia for most of the series, finally discovers her identity and remembers her past, but she is also denied a happy ending. Not to mention that it's kind of obvious that she has feelings for Spike, and he can't reciprocate. I actually felt a lot of sympathy for her toward the end of the series, even if she generally is the kind of manipulative, selfish character that you just kind of love to hate. Even Ed has something of a bittersweet ending, having finally found her father and learned what her real name is, but ultimately decides not only not to rejoin her father, but to leave Bebop and strike it out on her own, with Ein tagging along to keep her company. So while technically the vast majority of the episodes are filler, they tend not to feel like it. Either they are fun adventures, or dramatic journeys into the lives of the characters. I can't really think of any particularly bad episodes. Some of them can be slow moving, but none of them are really boring in my opinion. Of course it has been a while since I watched the series, so I could just be forgetting something or otherwise missing something while viewing it through my nostalgia glasses. After all, this was one of my first animes, and is just as responsible for getting me into anime as the Ghost in the Shell series is.
The series goes through a number of shifts in mood, but the pacing is very good, and nothing ever really feels like an unnatural shift, or mood swing. It just kind of flows naturally as the show progresses, following the crew through good times and bad. The bad tends to accumulate towards the end of the series, especially as the crew breaks up and goes their separate ways again. This is also where the excellent soundtrack really shines, and when Ed leaves, the ship, the song playing in the background actually had me pretty misty-eyed.
Now, I'd be neglectful if I didn't also mention the movie, Knockin' on Heaven's Door. Normally I'd give it its own separate review, but as excellent as this movie is, it is essentially just a feature-length episode of the series, fitting in somewhere between some of the last episodes, before Ed and Ein leave the ship. It takes place on Mars and features a plot about a terrorist who is releasing a deadly virus and generally making a huge nuisance of himself. Naturally, he gets a bounty on his head, and this is where our crew comes in. It is a very good movie and addition to the series. In fact, it was so good that even my dad, who didn't really care for the series or anime in general, liked this movie. So while I can't really say much more about this movie than I already did about the series, I can't recommend that you see it more. It makes an excellent addition to the series, and even if you haven't seen the series yet, you could probably still get into it even if you won't know who the characters really are or why there's a colony on Mars.
I highly recommend this series and its movie. Cowboy Bebop is currently in my number 2 spot of my favorite animes, so that should tell you something even if my review doesn't convey just how awesome this series is. Seriously, just buy it if you get the chance, it is worth it. Is it perfect? You know what, it's pretty damn close. I'm not saying that it is completely without flaws, but it doesn't have any major ones I can think of. And while Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex is still my favorite, Cowboy Bebop completely avoids the face-palm worthy pitfalls that GitS:SAC had thanks to someone at Production I.G having an axe to grind. Cowboy Bebop has no axe to grind, it simply wants to introduce you to some interesting characters and tell you their stories. So based on merit alone, I actually rank Cowboy Bebop higher than my current personal favorite, giving it one of the few if not the only 10/10 rankings that I will ever give.
(26 episode series + 1 movie)
This is the kind of anime that even non-anime fans might get into, provided that they are either sci-fi fans, or could get into a show that could in some ways be considered a western. It is essentially a space western, and chances are if you like Firefly, you'll probably like this show, too. And as an added bonus, it lasted a lot longer and wasn't screwed by its network.
Now for a little background on the setting, humanity has developed something of a means for traveling faster than light using these large gates. This allows rapid travel throughout the system and makes the establishment of colonies on the various planets and large moons much more practical. Note that this is one of the similarities to Firefly in that there are so many terrestrial bodies within one system that have been terraformed and have colonies on them, even if technically this wouldn't be all that practical due to low gravity, low light from the sun, or various other reasons. The main point, though, is that an accident with this FTL system resulted in an explosion which took a good-sized chunk out of Earth's moon, pelting the surface with the debris and making it generally difficult to live there. As a result, most of humanity has spread throughout the system to these various colonies, with Mars essentially becoming the new home world.
The series follows a rag-tag group of bounty hunters, here called "cowboys," as they struggle to hunt down their next bounty so they can have a decent meal, keep the Bebop and their other smaller ships running, and in Faye's case so she can gamble it all away in an attempt to get rich quick. At first we are only introduced to the main characters Spike Spiegle, and his partner as well as owner of the Bebop, Jet Black. As the show progresses, we are introduced to more and more of the characters who will end up joining the crew. Ironically, one of the first of these is Ein (as in Einstein), a genetically engineered Corgi dog. Pretty much all of the characters have something special or otherwise unusual about them, which contrasts them with Spike and Jet, who are both pretty laid back guys. Fay Valentine is a victim of some past accident who was put into cryo-stasis and recently thawed out by a group of con artists, and "Radical" Edward Wong Hau Pepulu Tivruskii IV is a young girl with a horrible case of ADHD, who also happens to be a genius hacker. All of them bring something to the table, and by that I mean both to the ship and its band of bounty hunters as well as the show. Which is actually why I started out by introducing them rather than with the story like I usually do. Of course with Cowboy Bebop, it's somewhat difficult to describe what the story is other than an exploration of the characters, who are all very interesting and who all end up developing through the show and discovering something about who they are.
The series does have a main plotline, it's just that it doesn't make itself all that readily apparent, and very few of the series' episodes actually deal with it. Spike is really the main character of the series, simply by virtue of the main plot focusing on him and his story. He wasn't always the laid back bounty hunter that he is in the show, and it turns out that he was originally a hit-man for an organized crime syndicate called the Red Dragons. He fell in love with a woman named Julia and decided to leave the syndicate because of his love for her. In doing so, he became a hunted man and he lost Julia. So basically his cause in life other than putting food in his mouth is to find Julia again. This is an especially touching story, and I can't heap enough praise on it even if it is a bit clichéd. Maybe even more than a bit clichéd. Learning about Spike and his past is one of the main draws of the series, or at least it was for me.
This is also something that happens with pretty much all the characters except maybe for Ein, who is explained right off the bat as to what the deal was with him. Jet also has a lost love who he finds and has to deal with the reality that she has moved on even if he hasn't, and his reunion with her is also bittersweet. Faye, who suffers from amnesia for most of the series, finally discovers her identity and remembers her past, but she is also denied a happy ending. Not to mention that it's kind of obvious that she has feelings for Spike, and he can't reciprocate. I actually felt a lot of sympathy for her toward the end of the series, even if she generally is the kind of manipulative, selfish character that you just kind of love to hate. Even Ed has something of a bittersweet ending, having finally found her father and learned what her real name is, but ultimately decides not only not to rejoin her father, but to leave Bebop and strike it out on her own, with Ein tagging along to keep her company. So while technically the vast majority of the episodes are filler, they tend not to feel like it. Either they are fun adventures, or dramatic journeys into the lives of the characters. I can't really think of any particularly bad episodes. Some of them can be slow moving, but none of them are really boring in my opinion. Of course it has been a while since I watched the series, so I could just be forgetting something or otherwise missing something while viewing it through my nostalgia glasses. After all, this was one of my first animes, and is just as responsible for getting me into anime as the Ghost in the Shell series is.
The series goes through a number of shifts in mood, but the pacing is very good, and nothing ever really feels like an unnatural shift, or mood swing. It just kind of flows naturally as the show progresses, following the crew through good times and bad. The bad tends to accumulate towards the end of the series, especially as the crew breaks up and goes their separate ways again. This is also where the excellent soundtrack really shines, and when Ed leaves, the ship, the song playing in the background actually had me pretty misty-eyed.
Now, I'd be neglectful if I didn't also mention the movie, Knockin' on Heaven's Door. Normally I'd give it its own separate review, but as excellent as this movie is, it is essentially just a feature-length episode of the series, fitting in somewhere between some of the last episodes, before Ed and Ein leave the ship. It takes place on Mars and features a plot about a terrorist who is releasing a deadly virus and generally making a huge nuisance of himself. Naturally, he gets a bounty on his head, and this is where our crew comes in. It is a very good movie and addition to the series. In fact, it was so good that even my dad, who didn't really care for the series or anime in general, liked this movie. So while I can't really say much more about this movie than I already did about the series, I can't recommend that you see it more. It makes an excellent addition to the series, and even if you haven't seen the series yet, you could probably still get into it even if you won't know who the characters really are or why there's a colony on Mars.
I highly recommend this series and its movie. Cowboy Bebop is currently in my number 2 spot of my favorite animes, so that should tell you something even if my review doesn't convey just how awesome this series is. Seriously, just buy it if you get the chance, it is worth it. Is it perfect? You know what, it's pretty damn close. I'm not saying that it is completely without flaws, but it doesn't have any major ones I can think of. And while Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex is still my favorite, Cowboy Bebop completely avoids the face-palm worthy pitfalls that GitS:SAC had thanks to someone at Production I.G having an axe to grind. Cowboy Bebop has no axe to grind, it simply wants to introduce you to some interesting characters and tell you their stories. So based on merit alone, I actually rank Cowboy Bebop higher than my current personal favorite, giving it one of the few if not the only 10/10 rankings that I will ever give.
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