Reviews - by Ian - April 4, 2009 - 10:39 Europe/London - 1 Comment
Somewhere in the future, the world has almost come to an abrupt end. Civilisation as it’s now known has collapsed and the world has become something of a desert; with groups of the remaining human racing trying to scrape together something that resembles a life in small towns and villages. This fallout of an implied nuclear war is the basic way of life for the human race now, and some people are just better at adapting than others. Naturally debt is just one of those real world things that manage to make the leap over to a world in devastation, and in the Great Kanto Desert region, mercenaries take all sorts of jobs from recovering debts to just finding things for people.
Kanta Mizuno is one of those mercenaries, taking on jobs that will allow him to lead the life that he’s always planned. Yet, Kanta doesn’t just take on any old job – such as finding a lost dog – oh no. Kanta Mizuno is otherwise known as the Desert Punk or the “Demon of the Desert” and for the right price will take on any job. His reputation precedes him to the point where he can nearly ask for any price for any job he wants. Unfortunately this reputation gets a beating in the first few episodes of the show due to Kanta’s love for big boobs and he’s now burdened with a huge debt.
These boobs are attached to the woman known as Junko. She’s no dumb blonde, much to the contrary, she knows she’s got sex appeal and she knows her assets are likely to cinch the deal as much as her CV is. Unfortunately for her Kanta’s hell-bent on revenge as she’s the woman who’s caused the dent in his once perfect reputation. After run-ins with people like the Rain Spider and Shimmer Spider he’s got very little to loose – if he can get over his love of big boobs.
Then there are the various enemies that Kanta has created over the years. There are those he’s simply walked over to get what he wants, and there are those who just want a jab at him because his reputation is worth trying to attack. Throughout Desert Punk Kanta’s dealing with his love of boobs, taking on jobs to clear his debt and dealing with the enemies who are constantly trying to get a piece of him.
Fortunately Kanta has a screw a little loose, as he seems to relish challenging people who vastly outnumber him, or simply out-class him in terms of weaponry. Fortunately for the viewer, this “sandwich short of a picnic” look is depicted very clearly on his face and rather than being spooky or horrifying it’s simply funny to see. Humour is used in a highly stylised way throughout the show and during moments of intense emotion and undeniably important battle scenes – a flash of a chibi Kanta will appear, or a set of boobs. This crude and somewhat adult humour is what makes Desert Punk stand out from the crowd.
Rather than opting to tell the story of Desert Punk in the dramatic, and somewhat overused style of someone in a post-apocalyptic world overcoming the odds by becoming the best person that he can be. The central character isn’t giving, isn’t thoughtful and is very simply selfish. This slightly left of centre storytelling is really what sets Desert Punk away from many of the other series available at the moment. If Kanta as a character wasn’t so flawed, revered and selfish the comedic values of the show simply wouldn’t work and it would all feel false. Fortunately due to the careful characterisations of all of the characters, somewhat serious matters are dealt with brilliantly.
The animation is great as well, although at some points the colours may seem a little washed out, the majority of the time the animation is very detailed and everyone and everything is distinct. Which is a mean feat considering the buildings are made of sand and the background is a desert. The English and Japanese voice acting is all brilliantly done as well, the only character that is slightly grating is the little girl who idolises the Desert Punk as she’s very squeaky and trying too hard to be a little girl.
» Final Score
8/10
Overall Desert Punk Volume 1 is a great way to start a series. Introducing characters quickly, with some backstory and then getting rid of them entirely for a while so that the viewer is able to fully acclimatise themselves to this new show. With carefully stylised characters and great comic timing, Desert Punk is a must-have for any Sci-Fi fan.
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Reviews - by Ian - March 9, 2009 - 11:00 Europe/London - 1 Comment
When one thinks of professionals in the anime and manga industry, instantly artists, production teams, translators and voice actors come to mind. Very rarely would thoughts drift to the front-end of anime and manga in the UK, the press representation, the reviewers and the journalists. Naturally there are hundreds of people who would happily review anime and manga for free, and then there are those who run their entire career on this niche market. Jonathan Clements is one of those people who’ve managed to not only write about anime and manga for nearly 20 years, but he’s managed to survive being at both the front and back end of the anime and manga world.
Many moons ago, whilst working in various professions at once, Jonathan decided to avoid the savage litigation of anime companies a pseudonym was created. Unusually though, this pseudonym was not for Jonathan, but for the title he was discussing at any one time. After a few attempts Schoolgirl Milky Crisis was decided, and it is used to describe some of the very best, and very worst shows in the history of anime. Of course people knew what anime he was talking about – but that was the entire point.
Many moons ago, whilst working as a journalist and consultant to production companies worldwide Jonathan picked three words out of no-where to create a fake name. The purpose? To protect himself from the evil savagery known as: litigation. Over time various names were used, Warriors of the Test Card, Geek Gets Girls, Devil Devil Beast Beast and Schoolgirl Milky Crisis. The latter sparked the imagination of anime readers of the time and the term became a regular feature in many of Jonathan’s columns.
Anyone who knows British anime will now know what Schoolgirl Milky Crisis is, it’s a term coined for an awful or brilliant show where information is being divulged but without actually letting the audience know about what. Fortunately Jonathan’s literary ability is strong enough for the reader to know what title’s being written about without ever mentioning the name.
This new term, Schoolgirl Milky Crisis was used in a number of his works, and as a writer to many it’s defined his writing style and the fact that Jonathan is happy to write about insider information in his various columns. Therefore the title of his latest book, Schoolgirl Milky Crisis is an apt title as it is an anthology of almost all of his articles in the past twenty or so years.
However, it’s not just like a load of newspaper and magazine cuttings organised into some form of portfolio, it’s much more. Divided into sections, the reader is able to read about translation of Japanese to English, and a time when Jonathan got a call in Cardiff from the director of Doctor Who right through to DVD extras and key note speeches at various anime conventions through modern history.
» Final Score
9
For many the idea of buying a book that’s much like a magazine back-catalogue seems foolhardy; however, even the most dedicated anime fan will have missed some items from Jonathan in the past two decades and some of the articles only appeared in American magazines or during conventions. With a level of detail and insight that is unmatched in book form, Schoolgirl Milky Crisis is a definite must have item.
Reviews - by Ian - March 3, 2009 - 19:28 Europe/London - Be first to Comment!
Long into the future, the world is covered in the melted polar icecaps and the remaining humans are living on floating cities and the tops of the largest mountains trying to carve out a beautiful new world. Where humans are is crime, and owing to the overwhelmed police force there are various agencies that help to battle crime. One of these agencies is Nereids, and the past three volumes of Daphne in the Brilliant Blue have documented their adventures.
The usual activity continues with Volume 4 as we are treated to a blast from the recent past with a few enemies who manage to break out of jail – the ones who took Mia hostage in the first volume. This is with the help of their smart and evil sister, along with the submarine that she stole. In an attempt to get revenge on the Nereids team who manage to imprison the three male criminals they kidnap Maia. Naturally she is rescued and all is well and with that they steal the submarine.
To keep up with the maintenance of the submarine the agency have to take on more jobs and they manage to secure a contract helping out an old deep-sea fisherman. This job requires the group to deceive him and them try and keep his grandson happy with the results. Following this vain, children play a crucial part in the next two parts of the show.
The team are enlisted to try and save a rich child who has run away from home after being rejected by a girl that he likes. The wealthy child manages to escape to Siberia City, and naturally the team go to find him. Whilst there Maia bumps into one of Rena’s old flames who is still feeling very vengeful for what’s happened to their relationship. He too works at Nereids and does his very best to sabotage Maia’s efforts to find the young child as a form of revenge.
Unfortunately for him everything goes fairly smoothly and Maia’s soon aboard the airship taking the child home. However, terrorists have managed to sabotage a rich, evil man’s private jet and he has to take the standard plane along with the others. This terrorist group also take control of the Ocean Agency’s wave machine, which controls the ocean and is hell bent on destroying the world unless their demands are met.
Clichéd and a standard plot are made even more clichéd by the use of Maia being entasked to fly the plane after an accident occurs in the cockpit. Although this spoof from the Die Hard films will tickle some people’s interest, it did feel a little over done. Especially considering the amazing end to the episode and how everything, as always, was happily ever after.
A lot of the plot on this disc feels forced, and although the voice actors are really getting into their stride it would appear that a large part of these episodes were nothing but fillers. Fortunately this would not be the case on the most part as later Volumes will reveal how intricately made this show is. Although prior knowledge to this does not make the feeling of “filler” pass.
Visually speaking these episodes are easily some of the cheapest and best quality animation yet. With a lot of undersea action the colours are just as vibrant, but a little lazy when it comes to the deep sea; however, Daphne is no Ghibli film so a little laziness can be tolerated from time to time.
As mentioned, the voice acting work is great for the entire main cast – unfortunately the introduction of a new, “bad guy” female character isn’t great. She is typical along with the rest of the family of villains.
» Final Score
6/10
This Volume was good, but felt ultimately lazy and could have been improved upon. Even though the plot is intricate, some of the episodes could have been shrunk and made room for more action and character development.
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Reviews - by Ian - March 3, 2009 - 19:14 Europe/London - 2 Comments
Worldwide the manga industry seems to be in some form of decline – this is due to the recession worldwide. Some of the biggest publishers in the market such as Tokyopop are scaling back their number of releases per month and this trend doesn’t seem to be shrinking in the professional market. Fortunately the UK has a thriving manga underbelly where professional and semi-professional artists are getting together and releasing their work to the Indie scene.
ITCH publishing are one of those independent publishers who have enough pulling power that they are able to collate most of the runner ups of the Manga Jiman competition that was held by the Japanese Embassy in the UK to celebrate the diplomatic ties between our two countries. Due to the nature of the artists who entered this competition, ITCH was able to collate their work and create an anthology out of it.
Many anthologies manage to destroy the intention of the original author and artisit’s work due the very nature of an anthology. With Leek & Sushi’s Manga Show 150 Years of Friendship the nature of all of the work is the same, it’s centred around 150, as that’s how many years the Anglo-Japanese relations have existed. However, just as with all artists, the manga strips that have been collated together are as different the very cultures between the UK and Japan.
Due to the skill of Willie and the team, the transition between sketches have been made very smooth by the insertion of Leek & Sushi, who are easily the highlights of the anthology. The pair interjects a unique brand of humour between sketches and manages to open up the anthology in an interesting and different fashion without appearing boring – a huge feat in itself given the topic.
Between each strip Leek and Sushi introduces what’s coming up in the next strip and will often have a conversation with a caricature of the author. Although that’s not always the case as occasionally they’ll do nothing but talk over the character and sometimes Death will appear and, well, naturally Leek and Sushi are a little concerned.
Leek and Sushi are simply drawn characters that each have a lot of personality and are able to convey messages by joking around with one another. At all times it feels like the reader is in the centre of an “in-joke” but knows what the “in” bit is, which is a rare accomplishment in any visual form. As they are very basically drawn, they take nothing away from the other artist’s strips in the anthology.
The stories themselves are too numerous to name but manage to range from being incredibly serious to as light-hearted in nature as Leek and Sushi. Although one poignant moment in the manga is towards the end where the artist is showing how grief can be coped with, and how little mementos can make a huge difference in how one can grieve.
The quality of illustration and style vary greatly from author to author, from the fairly grungey style of Samuel Barker to the super detailed Karen Yumi Lusted and back to the more cartoony style of Sammy Barras and Laura McNulty. This means that there’s something for everyone. Almost all of the characters feel very real and given the fact that the storylines all have to feature around the 150 theme, the character are easy to connect with.
However, the highlight of the entire anthology have to be Sushi and Leek; who have a distinct and simple drawing style and a humour that is entirely their own. They manage to make a great set of stories something that bit better with their edge and wit.
» Final Score
9/10
Leek & Sushi’s 150 Years of Friendship is a huge accomplishment out of a small and independent manga studio in the UK and is a necessary buy for all manga fans. With 250 pages of individual and unique manga goodness it’s a worthy investment.
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Reviews - by Ian - January 31, 2009 - 13:02 Europe/London - Be first to Comment!
Daphne in the Brilliant Blue is set long into the future of Earth’s history when the world has suffered incredibly. Global Warming has caused the entire planet to be covered in the melted polar icecaps. The remaining people left on Earth live on floating cities and the rich live on the very peaks of the mountains that are tall enough to exist above the sea.
Even though there is little land left, and people live in strange new worlds the basic staples of humanity still exist, compassion, relationships and crime. Fortunately for the girls at Nereids, this means that they won’t be going out of business any time soon. However, to make sure that they are all fit for service all Nereid’s staff have to go through an annual health check. This is where Volume 3 of Daphne in the Brilliant Blue starts, and as always there is a misunderstanding that leads Gloria to believe she’s got a limited time left on this earth. As she believes she’s due to die, Gloria’s character becomes a lot more human and she opens up to Mia about her desires and wishes in life. The team try and fulfil some of these desires, but it ends up with a girl in drag on a date with Gloria.
This misunderstanding is the start of a Volume that opens up a lot of new background to Mia’s life and divulges a lot of the backstory that has previously been left unanswered. With the misunderstanding around Gloria, the team manage to secure tickets to Siberia City – where the majority of this volume takes place. Siberia City is as the name suggests where Siberia currently exists; however, as the world suffers from Global Warming the city is a tropical get-away.
In Siberia City the team all go their separate ways to enjoy themselves the best way that they know how. Mia isn’t confident on her own, so she goes on Shizuka’s dream holiday: eating local cuisine. As the pair are often in restaurants some locals approach them for a date; however, Shizuka’s drink is spiked and she is kidnapped. Date rape is usually a very serious subject in most countries and in media that deals with this, there’s normally a very solemn tone taken to it. Daphne is a not a serious anime, and this is dealt with in the standard fare.
Although during this, Mia discovers she knows her way around Siberia City very well, and she just doesn’t know why. She then unveils to the Nereid’s team that she has amnesia and has done for many years. Whilst the team try to help her, they are also celebrating the anniversary of the world they currently know. It’s been 100 years since the cities formed under the open sky and the story is given a lot of depth during this volume.
Previously Daphne in the Brilliant Blue has been easy watching. With characters who are just different enough not to be cookie-cutter standard and with fair animation quality, the series was nothing but enjoyable. With Volume 3, all of these elements remain but a possibly serious world has started to develop. Dealing with amnesia, death and the creation of worlds the characters take everything so lightly that until one stops to think about the show it’s easy to dismiss all of these crucial plot thickening and character developing occurrences.
Throughout Volume 3 the majority of the only two characters that really develop at all are Gloria and Mia. A lot of history is opened up about their lives and their attitudes to life are slightly altered after each revelation is made – this is clear by the way they start to deal with other people in the show. Unfortunately Shizuka still seems to be nothing more than a method to appease the otaku male audience, as she’s still a geeky, food-loving girl with no opinion on anything.
As has always been the case, the animation quality is a fair standard and it’s still the backdrops that really make the show stand out. With glimmering oceans and interesting foreign lands the show is really made distinct by its locations. The actors are also starting to sound more confident in their work. There’s a lot less forced voice work, and this goes for both the Japanese and the English cast.
One annoyance is the lack of translation of the majority of the writing on the show. There’s some hardsubbed subtitles in Siberia City in Japanese and there’s no attempt to show this in the English version of the show. The other to some fans may be the lack of any extras on this DVD at all. Not even the standard trailer fare.
» Final Score
8/10
Easily the best set of episodes to date. With the usual easy watching factor sprinkled liberally over a developing plotline Daphne and the Brilliant Blue Volume 3 is either going to steer the show in a new direction of more complex and interesting plotlines, or will leave fans annoyed at the lack of conclusion of possible plotlines.
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Reviews - by Ian - January 25, 2009 - 15:54 Europe/London - 2 Comments
“It’s FLIctonic KLIpple Waver Syndrome. An adolescent psychological skin-hardening syndrome. A common affliction where children grow horns from trying too hard. Okay, I lied.”
FLCL is set in a simple Japanese town where nothing interesting happens, and nothing remarkable ever occurs. However, it does have a Scientific Laboratory in the shape of an Iron looming over the entire town, the Laboratory lets of a gush of steam once a day at the same time. Aside from this, the inhabitants of the small, unnamed town are bored of the town they live in.
The protagonist, a young boy named Naota is a withdrawn, frustrated junior-high student who has a strong relationship with his older brother’s ex-girlfriend Mamimi who’s not only flirty but somewhat vacant as well. Along with Naota’s friend, the world they inhabit couldn’t be any less interesting. That is until rumours of the Vesper start circulating at school, and Naota falls fowl of this rumour. Haruhara Haruko appears from nowhere on her yellow vesper and literally hits Naota with a bass guitar.
This causes Naota to have an unusual bump to his head; it’s as big and in the shape of a horn. Yet, it will go away when pressure is applied. With this in mind Naota goes to get it checked at the hospital, before he knows it Haruhara is attacking him and she is employed as the family housekeeper. Not forgetting the family robot that escapes from the horn on Naota’s head.
If not strange enough, they are the bits that are easily explained. Defining FLCL is next to impossible, it spits on genres and ignores all staple conventions of anime, takes itself very seriously and not seriously at all. Flicks between being an anime and being a manga and at all points defies logic. By the end of the first episode Naota has grown an robot from his head, fended of his brother’s ex, been attacked by a guitar wielding alien on a vesper and dealt with his zine loving father. Not forgetting his adolescent thoughts and problems.
FLCL is incredibly fast paced, and holds back no punches when it comes to divulging plotlines. However, whilst it moves incredibly fast, it can sometimes feel very slow. In a similar way that Serial Experiments Lain feels very slow per episode, an incredible amount of information is discovered. Unlike Lain, FLCL is a 6 episode series and the slow parts feel slow, but more information is uncovered throughout those periods than during any of the action packed parts of the show. This is due to the very nature of Haruhara Haruko, who reveals no information about herself or her mission, but simply speaks her mind, but actually says very little.
For those who like closure, FLCL is certainly not a show for them. It’s far too punk rock and rebellious to give closure to the lead characters. It doesn’t even reveal much about anything, it just happens and that’s accepted by the characters and he viewers.
One recurrent theme throughout all episodes is the transition that the main cast are going through in their lives. These junior-high schoolers are all adolescent and trying to comprehend and understand new feelings. This isn’t just restricted to discovering sexuality – which is a huge theme; but also in trying to become an adult whilst remaining a child. Characters who fail to understand this will end up becoming more confused by the situation and Haruhara only attempts to further confuse the situation.
Music plays a huge part in FLCL, as it does in many people’s lives. Throughout there are cultural references to Paul McCartney, The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Rage Against the Machine, Filler, Van Halen, Anna Nichole Smith, Evils, Jimi Hendrix, and plenty of references to Japanese music. Throughout the soundtrack is performed by The Pillows, whose logo appears on the vesper that Haruhara drives. There are also plenty of cultural references to Hamtaro, Tom & Jerry and in the English version of the show MTV.
To understand some of the puns, a basic knowledge of the Japanese language is useful. Throughout the term mouth to mouth is applied for kissing amongst other things, in Japanese the “th” sound doesn’t exist, so it would sound like mouse to mouse. This is used in a few episodes where mouse outfits will be seen.
The translation from the Japanese show has been fairly faithful but some elements have been changed for localisation purposes. This has been widely discussed in the past and for better or worse it’s in this version of the show. Due to the pace of the show, unless a real fan of the Japanese show is watching, this localisation doesn’t detract from the quality at all.
The animation quality is brilliant as well. Considering this show isn’t far from hitting its tenth birthday, the show hasn’t aged much at all. The characters are all well designed, distinct and it’s impossible to confuse the characters on appearance, as they all look so different – even the supporting cast. The backgrounds are well drawn and brilliantly presented and the transition between the town and the mecha robots is smooth and natural. At no point is it obvious that the animation style has entirely changed – which it does. The CG robots look like they are in the same style as the rest of the show, which is unusual these days.
The extras are plentiful, with audio commentary, textless opening and endings, trailers, and interviews just to name a few. It’s well worth the £30 price tag.
» Final Score
9/10
FLCL, otherwise known as Fooly Cooly, evades genre, defies convention and has such little logic that understanding the show is simply intrinsic. It’s an experience that’s next to impossible to describe.
Reviews - by Ian - January 24, 2009 - 17:44 Europe/London - 1 Comment
In Norse mythology Baldr is a god associated with light and beauty, who’s death is a great tragedy to Æsir and a harbringer of Ragnarok. The very story of Baldr in mythology is that of grief and death and is argued to be the beginning of the chain of events that will ultimately lead to the destruction of the gods at Ragnarock. When Baldr passes, he will be reborn anew according to Völuspá the seeress. So it’s a fitting title for an anime that has exploding heads just minutes into the first episode.
Baldr Force EXE is set in a futuristic world where the Internet has become so over developed that rather than connecting to the Wired through a computer, it’s directly connected into the brain. This means that people are able to live out fantasy lives in real time, actually feeling and eating whilst in the Wired. However, this connectivity to the Wired means that when things go wrong in the Wired, they go wrong for the body.
Within minutes of watching the opening show the consequences of being in the Wired when things start to falter becomes apparent. A server has been compromised and an unknown virus has wiped out the entire population of the server. A futuristic anti-terrorist squad block the server from access and try to assess the situation. Within minutes the officers are dead, this is due to the virus actually attacking them and their bodies each react in a different way. Some may go into cardiac arrest, some may just shutdown from the inside and others, well, their heads explode sending blood and scattered pieces of skull across the room. Unfortunately, the user has to opt to logout from the Wired, as a forced disconnect will kill the user as well.
Of course, like any cyber-punk anime, the real world is always raining, is gloomy and is just a place people want to be away from. Whereas the Wired is an entirely adaptable place, where people with knowledge can create their own worlds, and where normal people are able to escape the realities of life for a limited period of time per day. Unfortunately the virus that killed the anti-terrorist squad keeps on spreading and rumours of a Wired Ghost scare those in the know.
As the premise for Baldr Force EXE is derived from a Dreamcast game, some of the elements are a little tired now. Fortunately most of this is recovered by the dramatic irony throughout, as the first episode itself is riddled with spoilers for the keen eyed viewer. This foreshadowing is an effective method of drawing the viewer in and creating the tension required to make this show effective. The lead protagonist’s personal quest for revenge against a fallen comrade of an old hacking group is an effective subplot that is entwined with the main plot of the show brilliantly.
Without Souma’s grief of his dead friend the rest of the show would not have been possible, and the climax to the show certainly would have been impossible without the amount of personal sacrifice and grief he has gone through. He’s very much the anti-hero, with just enough attitude and hate to want to see him in danger, but with enough human compassion and backstory to want to find out more about his character and history.
The character design is fairly well done. They are certainly not breathtaking, but neither are they completely average and uninteresting. The characters are all clear and distinct, with some great CG work when the battles are occurring. This is let down by the standard 2D work of when the characters are visiting institutions and are outside of the Wired as the world is dull. Fortunately the fan-service doesn’t last longer than a few seconds and does not detract from the actual quality of the show.
The voice acting is average in both the Japanese and the English soundtracks. No one character stands out as bad, but in contrast no character stands out as great either. This is first noticeable in the Japanese cast, and then in the English cast as well. This would indicate the casting process was spot on to the original. The opening and ending credits are catchy and these are textless as part of the meagre bonus features on the DVD.
The most endearing part of Baldr Force EXE is that it’s fast. This four episode series is lightening fast and this keeps the viewer interested. This show would easily fail if it were a 13 part series as there’s simply not enough life in it to draw it out that far. Fortunately the speed of the show leaves a few questions left to be answered, and that’s what will keep viewers coming back to the show. Especially fans of the game.
» Final Score
7/10
With the conventions of cute girls, mecha, the internet and excessive violence Baldr Force EXE follows every major cliché in the anime world. Fortunately the storyline and the speed of the show make this show stand out from the glut of similar shows in the market.
Reviews - by Ian - January 10, 2009 - 19:43 Europe/London - 2 Comments
Along with Naruto, another Shoen Jump series has gained notoriety for becoming ridiculously popular. As well as being incredibly popular, it’s also one of the longer anime series at the moment. That series is known as Bleach, and it has continued to capture the imaginations of slightly older viewers than Naruto, this has meant that some of the merchandising hasn’t be quite the same as Naruto; however this hasn’t lessened the popularity of the show in the UK.
Bleach has been so popular that there are now two versions floating around the world, the cut version removes some of the violence and the blood from the show, and the uncut version, that as the name suggest, maintains the shows original content. There have been two releases of the first series of Bleach, the cut and uncut version and Manga Entertainment have now released the second uncut series.
The protagonist: Ichigo Kurosaki is not a normal child. He does the normal things that children do, go to school, helps out where he can with his parents; however, Ichigo “can see dead people”. This isn’t something that scares him, as he’s learnt to deal with it. In the first series he spots a girl called Rukia Kuchiki and assumes that she is a ghost. This assumption turns out to be incorrect and Rukia is actually a Soul Reaper – someone who helps people pass onto the other side.
They’re also duty bound to battle against the Hollows, who are spirits that have been unable to pass on and have become monsters that feed on the souls of people. Whilst the pair are talking Rukia is attacked by a Hollow and is badly injured. The Hollow then turns on Ichigo, fortunately Rukia transfers some of her powers to Ichigo to fight the Hollow off; however, this goes wrong and for some reason he takes all of her power. He easily fights off the Hollow but is unable to return Rukia’s powers to her.
A variety of characters appear in the first series and many of them will have their own special abilities like summoning six small spirits that live in hairpins and power channelling. He also encounters enemies such as Ishidia, who unbeknown to the team is actually a Quincy, which is a race of priest who has a deep hatred of Soul Reapers.
The opening to series two shows Rukia being arrested and taken back to the Soul Society, as it’s illegal to give a human Soul Reaper powers. This would be fine, but the sentence for this crime is execution, and although she warns Ichigo not to try and get her, he along with the team try their best at getting her released.
To do this they have to get to the Soul Society, which means crossing dimensions and passing through huge walls and gates that are each protected by various guards. Of course they go for this option and an onslaught of fighting scenes occur keeping Bleach fans happy. There’s not a great deal of filler episodes, although some of the battle scenes are a little on the lengthy side. There are a few episodes that don’t follow the usual formula, and these are a welcome addition as they explain a little more of the story and allow the fight scenes to gather momentum.
Unlike a lot of Manga releases recently this had stereo audio in both the English and the Japanese soundtracks. The voice cast is the standard fare for this sort of show, and it’s of a decent quality in both the English and the Japanese language. The subtitles are also well presented; although signs and Japanese text isn’t translated which may irritate some fans.
The animation quality is pretty solid. The colours are defined and strong and at all times the characters are distinct from the background. There’s not a great deal of effects used, and the background scenes are good but not great. There’s a clean opening and closing as well as a few other extras, which make the DVD, go that bit further.
» Final Score
7
There are more battle scenes than in the first series; however, this series does push the storyline along and is a must for fans of Bleach. With good animation and good extras this is definitely worth a look at.
Reviews - by Ian - January 1, 2009 - 17:44 Europe/London - Be first to Comment!
The second of the various Naruto films, the franchise is loosing no pace when it comes to pumping out episodes, films and various other merchandise to keep Naruto fans happy. Naruto The Movie 2: Legend of the Stone of Gelel was originally released in Japan in 2005, and was directed by Hirotsugu Kawasaki and co-written by Kawasaki and Yuka Miyata, the movie takes place directly after episode 160 from the first Naruto series.
Opening with a battle between Sand Ninja and mysterious warriors wearing suits of armour, the Sand Ninja are slowly overwhelmed with the strength of their unknown opponents. At the crucial moment, Kankuro and Gaara turn up and manage to destroy the opponents of the Sand Ninja en masse. When Gaara orders a flare to be shot, a large warship appears and opens fire – Gaara manages to protect everyone with his Sand Armour, but only just.
Whilst these events unfold, Naruto, Sakura and Shikamaru realise their relatively normal mission is going to turn very sour when the group is attacked by a number of strange opponents, dressed in armour with their blonde leader having strange powers that stump the trio. During the fight Naruto and the blond foe fall into the river below them and awake in a caravan full of travellers. Whilst in the caravan the leader explains his motives to Naruto, which is standard when two enemies are locked in the same room together.
The group are after the Stone of Gelel, this stone possess extraordinary power and the group hope that once they have managed to obtain these stones they will set up a utopia and there will be no further wars in the world. The leader of Temujin, the blonde foe, Master Haido tells his group that sacrifices are for the greater good, and many sacrifices will be made to find the Stone of Gelel. It becomes apparent the leader of the caravan group knows where the Stone is and Haido goes to find it.
After a very long and drawn out scene, Temujun learns that Haido is not all he appears to be and is actually a murderer and Naruto attacks Haido with the help of Temujun to help save the world from Haido. After saving the war, Temujin leaves with some other children stating that he alone will end all war in the world.
Clichéd as always, but most standard sagas of Naruto follow this similar plotline, and unfortunately this movie follows that standard as well. The film feels old and it is, taking three years to secure an English release is far too long for such a popular franchise. Owing to this, the film pales in comparison to many other stronger releases in the market at the moment. Throughout there are few surprises as the viewer will see glimpses of everything to come earlier on in the story telling process.
The character development is forced, and although the rest of the trio manage to get some action scenes, their input feels very much forced and what development occurs feels flawed. Fortunately Naruto, Temujin and Haido control much of the story, and although a little stretched, the plot works for these characters. Although it would appear that there was no continuity editor, as the plot does have many holes and leaves most questions unanswered.
Fortunately the animation quality does not suffer from age, and throughout the film maintains the solid, vibrant and fluid Naruto animation quality. The character designs themselves may leave much to be desired, the quality of the area where the characters are fighting make up for this. With well-drawn and creative scenery, the film feels very natural – even if the characters do have super powers half the time.
The same voice actors are used in the film as the anime in both the English and the Japanese versions of the track, and the music composed throughout is of a passable quality. One big plus is the use of Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound, which has been missing on a lot of recent Manga releases.
Aside from that, the extras on the DVD are woeful – just a selection of other manga trailers.
» Final Score
6/10
Naruto fans will definitely want to pick this film up, as it explains a few things for other parts of the series. However, for most viewers it’s predictable in most points and doesn’t really warrant the hype. Not poor, but certainly not great.
Reviews - by Ian - December 16, 2008 - 11:15 Europe/London - 3 Comments
Since the dawn of time, Shoen Jump mangas and their subsequent anime series have always been popular. This can be seen historically by the various anime shows to hit the west in the past twenty or so years, Dragoball, Dragonball Z, Dragonball GT, Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh, Yu-Gi-Oh GX, Bleach and Naruto. The appeal of Naruto hasn’t slowed at all, and is one of the strongest sellers in the UK, as such, Manga Entertainment have acquired the rights to release the follow up series of the franchise: Naruto Shippuuden.
Produced by Studio Pierrot and TV Toyko, Naruto premiered in Japan on the 3rd October 2002 and ran for 220 episodes. Directed throughout by Hayato Date, the first 135 episodes are adaptations of the 27 volumes of manga, whilst the remaining 80 episodes are mostly filler episodes. These fillers are either entirely new elements to the show, or huge offshoots of a slight theme developed from the original material.
The debut of the fifth series and the first volume commences with the final two episodes of the new Tea Country arc. For many who watched the last volume, the Tea Country arc is the beginning of the infamous filler episodes that Naruto has become well known for. Fortunately this arc does actually push the show forward somewhat, and there’s a degree of character development. Unfortunately, it’s not really at any of the main characters in the show.
Itachi, the person running the race across the Tea Country manages to hurt his leg, and whilst he is recovering Naruto is carrying the boy across the country. Although this may seem like the right thing for Naruto to do, Itachi’s resentment at Naruto is growing and a meeting with his brother comes to mind. This only leads Itachi to resent Naruto even more. Whilst his resentment is growing the trained ninja: Jonin appears to cause more trouble for the cast.
Jonin, aside from being very self-inflated, attacks Naruto and Itachi whilst Naruto is trying to carry Itachi across a bridge so that he can win the race across Tea Country. However, Jonin attacks the pair with a deadly sword that cannot be destroyed or broken. Naruto attacks Jonin with everything that he has many times, and still hasn’t even made Jonin really move much. Then out of no-where Naruto’s friends turn up and battle Jonin. Unfortunately they don’t do much better; however, they do make a crack in the sword. Naruto who attacks Jonin and wins, whilst doing this Itachi realises a few home truths and they win the race notices this.
Predictable and contrived. However, the rest of the episodes are as if an entirely different production team and script team have made them, as they are vastly more interesting. Following from episode three on the first volume, otherwise known as episode 107, the show starts to follow the manga again and much of the second disc is taken up by Saskue’s emotional turmoil and his jealously of Naruto.
A lot of character development is spent in many of the episodes, and most of the main cast are fleshed out more. Neki, Shikamaru and Choji, who were once very much one-dimensional characters, actually have backstory and motives. This leads to more emotional conflict within the group and the volumes are at their peak when the battle between Rock Lee and Garra occurs during the Chuunin exam.
It’s clear that by now the voice-acting cast are very comfortable in their roles and their respective characters, and this is portrayed well. The English cast are now well put together; however, some voices still don’t really suit the characters in comparison to the Japanese cast. Fortunately though the actual quality of the voice cast is strong enough to put aside these reservations.
Throughout the animation is smooth and of a solid quality – which is rare for a show of this length. The characters remain distinct and at no point drab, the battle scenes are very well animated and there are not minutes of powering up either. Thankfully.
» Final Score
7
For Naruto fans this is a must as it’s really the climax of a lot of the show, as from this point onwards the filler episodes start to rear their ugly heads. The emotional attachment to the characters, and the newly fleshed out supporting cast make this an important volume in the series and it’s fortunately been done with a lot of attention.
Reviews - by Ian - December 8, 2008 - 15:40 Europe/London - 1 Comment
The market for big busty fan-service animes has really shrunk in recent years. However, Daphne in the Brilliant Blue should quench the thirst of many fans that adore that type of anime and as with Volume 1, it should also quench the thirst of those who want a storyline as well.
Picking up where Volume 1 left off, Volume 2 continues to show the journey of Maia Mizuki and her employment at the Nereids agency. Volume 1 introduced many characters into the fray, the Branch Manager, Rena, Shizuka and Gloria. Maia is only just starting to get used to fulfilling the demands of the customers who approach the Nereids agency, which vary from acting as rent collectors, cat rescuers to crime fighting units and bounty hunters.
Volume 2 starts by introducing a new character into the already expanded cast. A former convict, and a deadly marital arts expert attempt to try and rejoin the Nereids agency. Yu Park, however, has her license to rejoin Nereids declined by a somewhat annoyed Police Detective; Yu Park had to serve time for causing injuries to more than 20 people, and causing damage to the local area in the attempt to capture petty criminals.
To try and get back Yu’s license, Rena attempts to seduce the Detective and use her womanly ways on the poor man. However, terrorists storm the floating restaurant and attempt to use both the Detective and Rena as hostages. Unfortunately for the terrorist, Rena is able to contact the agency and get Yu to save everyone on the boat. This infuriates Gloria who wanted to shoot all of the criminals onboard the craft but arrives just a bit too late.
This Volume also reintroduces Maia’s friend, who managed to get employment at the prestigious Ocean Agency, as they are out for a meal together. Unfortunately, her hire car is stolen and whilst reporting the crime at the local station she bumps into her Nereids’ team members and is caused some embarrassment. Whilst Maia is telling Rena about the theft of the hire car, the Detective who had previously been saved by the group turns up and Rena manages to get a contract from him to get the cars back.
After a stake out the group are able to find the convicts, who use high-tech ways of stealing cars and threaten to kill Maia as they take her hostage. Fortunately for Maia they crash and she manages to secure her friend’s car and get the reward money. This is good as they then have to all pretend to really respect the Line Manager as his daughter is doing a school project on him.
To make things more interesting the group go to a deserted island, this is so he can “catch” a criminal, who turn out to be Gloria and Yu dressed up. His daughter is devastated and runs away, straight into a black market for penguins. Maia, the Branch Manager and his daughter are all captured and are used as hostages so the rest of the group can’t save them.
Whilst speeding off to kill the Branch Manager’s daughter, he manages to jump onto the back of the boat and knock the criminal into the ocean. This shows his daughter that he’s not entirely useless and this memory of the Branch Manager is destroyed in the next episode where he is removed from the room for commenting on someone’s cleavage on TV. The amazing Maia has to help a racing driver, who is an old friend of Shizuka.
Daphne in the Brilliant Blue Volume 2 is a lighthearted comedy show. The animation quality is just as good as the first volume, and the characters are really beginning to be fleshed out in this volume. Although some characters, such as Gloria really are two-dimensional. The skimpy costumes continue in this Volume, with Yu’s battle costume looking similar to a bondage outfit and nearly the ultimate fan-service for Rena.
As with the last Volume, the voice acting continues to be great on both sides of the language pool. Although Yu’s acting is a little distant and although she’s meant to be a distant character, it sounds more bored than anything else.
» Final Score
7
Volume 2 continues Daphne in the Brilliant Blue’s light-hearted comedic storyline. Taking jabs at itself and it’s own character design along the way, it’s an amusing and easy show to watch.
Reviews - by Ian - December 8, 2008 - 10:50 Europe/London - 4 Comments
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is the official international release title for the adaptation of the Japanese novel written by Yasutaka Tstusui in 1965. The novel is a classic youth story, and has been adapted various times over the years. This adaptation was produced by Madhouse, and with Saotoko Okudera as the screenplay producer. It’s taken more than two years for this title to come out in the UK, so long in fact that in July this year it was on television on one of the various anime channels in Japan whilst I was there!
The story follows a normal, but slightly tomboyish, schoolgirl called Makoto Konno who lives in central Tokyo. She has no sense of time keeping and is consistently only just on time for school, after having to rush to school almost every day. More often than not causing some form of commotion along the way. She has two good friends Chiaki Mamiya and Kosuke Tsuda, both of who are admired throughout the school by the girls – something that Makoto seems oblivious to.
Whilst running a little late, Makoto is reorganising the notebooks in a classroom on one of the upper floors, while she is doing this in a rush she falls over and lands on something that hurts her arm. She thinks nothing of it, as she is more concerned with wondering why she thought someone was in the room with her. She then ran off, as she was late for baseball with Chiaki and Kosuke.
She soon discovers that she is able to travel through time if she puts herself into a certain situation, and uses this ability so that she is able to avoid awkward confessions of love, stop being late, get perfect grades and to just generally enjoy herself. She also uses her ability to match make her friend and someone who fancies him. However, all of this time travel soon starts to show negative effects with a boy who ends up making the mistakes that Makoto makes due to different circumstance. This boy is under increasing stress and then attacks some of the other students at the school; this causes Makoto to revaluate what she is doing.
During this period she is visiting her aunt a lot more than usual, her aunt advises Makoto that she believes she is leaping through time. Although Makoto keeps on travelling back in time, she talks to her aunt whenever she is confused, who never questions what she’s doing and always continue to give solid advice. No one questions this; however, it does imply that she was the girl in the prequel to this story.
Eventually Makoto discovers a tattoo on her arm that never used to be there. She soon realises that this is the number of leaps that she’s got left, and in the attempt to save her friend Kosuke and his girlfriend from dying she uses her last leap; unfortunately she is not successful. However, time freezes and Chiaki tells her that he is from the future and he is searching for a painting, and is now stuck in this time because he’s used his last leap to save Kosuke.
Makoto is devastated by this and is also devastated because the boy she loves has just disappeared. This is because he explains everything about the future and time travel to her, which he is now allowed to do. Fortunately owing to Chiaki’s time travel Makoto has one left, which she uses to go all the way back to the start of this entire adventure and starts all over again. She confronts Chiaki early on and then tells him she knows everything, and that he has to go back to the future and she’ll secure what he came to the past for.
The animation is simple, but distinct and is visually a treat. The backgrounds are realistic, colourful and well planned. Although the character designs are a little on the basic side, this contributes to the overall feel of the film. The leaps through time are entirely different to everything else in the film. They show a strange world of digital clocks and are depicting time continuing to move forward while Makoto goes backwards. The qualities of these scenes are second to none and have clearly been well planned ahead.
The understated music score by Kiyoshi Yushida is perfectly suited to the bittersweet story. The music is at no point overused, and owing to it’s minimal usage it makes the touching moments that bit more poignant. It’s rare in motion picture for music to be used so well, and in this case less is certainly more.
The English cast is brilliant. The English cast all have passion and acting in their voices and at all points they are believable and not just “going through the motions”. Even minor character such as Makoto’s sister or the poor stressed out boy, they all sound real. The Japanese cast are equally brilliant, so fortunately there’s no reason to have to choose between either cast – it’s just personal preference this time.
» Final Score
10
This touching, bittersweet and understated film is a brilliant adaptation of the original novel. With a clever screenplay, brilliant animation and a great voice-acting cast this is a must for all anime lovers. Easily on par with many Studio Ghibli releases.
Reviews - by Ian - December 4, 2008 - 16:14 Europe/London - Be first to Comment!
Haibane Renmie, otherwise known as Charcoal Feather Federation, is the finalised product from an ill-fated dojinshi series entitled The Haibanes of Old Home. The legendary Yoshitoshi ABe, who also created the Serial Experiments Lain series, created this superseded manga and anime series. This ambitious series deals with various themes, and owing to its easily misinterpreted storyline, it’s been debated heavily since its release.
Based in a long forgotten area called Glie, the Haibane are a group of people, similar to angels, who have been mysteriously born into the town. Bound by the walls of the local area, and intricate traditions that occur on a day-to-day basis. A Haibane does not earn money; however, they work for very specific areas in the town in exchange for free residence at Old Home or the Abandoned Factory as well as being given a book – where they log their expenses. Any product that they do decide to buy has to be either second hand, or unwanted by standard humans. Along with many other rules, the Haibane Renmei strictly regulates this lifestyle, which is an organisation, which oversees the life of the Haibane and much of Glie.
No one from Glie is allowed to leave, and the only people who are able to enter and leave are traders called the Toga; the Toga are not allowed to speak when inside Glie, but speak with only one member of the Haibane Renmie in a form of complex sign language.
There are many characters throughout the show; however, the main two protagonists are Rakka and Reki. Rakka is part of the opening scenes to the show, which is a double scene as Rakka is inside the pod where the Haibane are born. The other side of the scene shows Reki and the other members of Old Home finding the pod and preparing the area for her eventual birth. All Haibane are born from a pod, and should have a distinct memory of the time that they spent in the pod, along with a sense that they used to live somewhere else and have family. The dream that they have in the pod becomes their name; however, whatever name they do have they later find has additional meanings.
The Haibane are not born with wings initially, or with halos either. The wings develop after the first day of their birth, this incredibly painful experience is made worse by the fact that a terrible fever develops at the same time, which miraculously disappears the night after the wings have developed. The Halo is made by the Haibane, using a special type of metal that’s developed from inside of the Walls of the town.
Rakka manages to build bonds very quickly with everyone, and particularly so with Reki and Kuu. Kuu is the youngest “adult” Haibane, and has always felt the need to prove to everyone that she’s an adult. She is the first Haibane in five years to take her Day of Flight. The Day of Flight is when a Haibane has reached a point in their life in the town when they are able to leave the town. To the Haibane in the town this is a sad event, as it’s likely that they will never see this person again.
Rakka has to overcome this sorrow, whilst trying to save Reki from herself and understand the world around her. Not to mention come to terms with loosing Kuu and then understand that things change all the time. She also discovers that not everything is as it seems in the area, and that although everyone looks angelic and happy people are harbouring deep secrets and sins. All of these realisations ultimately lead to a level of depression that has to shed aside so that she is able to aid a friend in need towards the end of the series.
This seemingly easy storyline becomes very complex when more of the details are unveiled and there’s a strong sense of history and character development from the main characters. There’s clearly much more to be told about the history between all of the characters, and the cast is vast. With a cast of this size, it’s easy to loose track of who is who, fortunately all of the characters are unique and it’s easy to distinguish them apart.
Fortunately the quality of the writing and the designs of the characters are also echoed in the animation quality, which is to a good standard, and the background and general design of the towns and scenes are stunning. With expansive and wide views, it’s clear that a lot of thought and effort has been put into making the town look as real as possible.
The accompanying soundtrack is really what sets Haibane Renmei apart from many others in its respective genres, as it’s emotive, vivid and pure. The music compliments all scenes of the series, and in fact the lack of music or sound effects at some points only heightens the interest in the show. Fortunately the quality of the Japanese and the English cast is matched, and works well with the original music for the show. It’s just a shame that it’s only in 2.0 surround sound and not 5.1.
There are plenty of extras in this box set, such as credit less opening titles, the original Japanese opening, art galleries, episodes previews, and trailers. All of these are worthwhile additions to the box set.
» Final Score
10
This beautifully crafted, emotive, insightful and touching anime is a necessary staple. Although it’s not perfect, its simplicity intertwined with complex storylines makes it a worthwhile show at all times.
Reviews - by Ian - December 1, 2008 - 11:17 Europe/London - Be first to Comment!
To be a Goth is to be a member of a rich and substantial subculture that pulls on various influences from throughout history. A Goth cannot be categorised as someone who enjoys the dark side of life, someone who enjoys death or someone who is always miserable and depressed as they are merely a few areas of the wider subculture. As such, for this name to be used as a title of a novel, and subsequently a manga is ambitious.
Illustrated by Kenji Ooiwa from Otsuichi’s original Goth novel, the first thing that Itsuki Kamiyama noticed about Yoru Morino was her hands. The clear sign of scars across her wrists informed him immediately of what type of person she was, and her infinitely pale skin made them even more noticeable. Kamiyama wants those hands, but not the girl. This horrific thought is the start to a very strange friendship between the pair.
With a strong draw to one another, Kamiyama and Morino soon discover that they both have a fascination with death, torture and sick crimes; that make normal people turn away. These crimes touch the darkest parts of their souls and make them feel like they can truly experience life and live. Goth is made up of six stories, each one depicting a different type of death, and dealing with the fascination that the lead characters have with murder and suicide.
However, this fascination with death and suicide is never eluded to be wrong. Throughout the six stories the pair manage to find themselves dealing with people who all ultimately end up regretting their murders in some respect. The regret of being caught is naturally the first, and that is swiftly moved on from by the regret of killing a loved one and the regret and guilt of lying.
Throughout the manga, darkness is used as a theme to heighten the macabre feeling of the characters. Although there is some horrific violence in Goth, the violence is not overused at any point. In fact, the conservative use of illustrating the violent crimes heightens the sense of horror when the occasional images arise. The images themselves are normally against a black backdrop and have little shading, the type of murder is shown clearly and the wounds are detailed.
The two most haunting images are towards the beginning and the end of the novel respectively. The first is a woman, who has been entirely mutilated, with her head in another part of her anatomy, maimed breasts and eyes in her hands. Whilst the second is the other haunting image is that of asphyxiation by hanging, which is unusually against a clear backdrop.
At no point can this be defined as high art; however, the artwork is drawn to a strong standard and the artist knows when less is more. Unfortunately, the story itself is stripped bare from the original novel. Throughout the lead character Kamiyama seems to instinctively know who the murderers are, and where to go to catch them and to save Morino. Morino appears to always be at the centre of most murder and kidnap plots, and Kamiyama seems to have the best luck at catching criminals. As the storyline has been stripped back, sometimes the plot can feel a little contrived and convenient.
» Final Score
8
Goth is a frighteningly horrific owing to its almost real life events. Although it has been stripped down a lot from the original novel: “Goth A Novel of Horror” by Otsuichi, the manga manages to capture the essence of the book. At most points sympathy is felt towards the murderers, which in itself makes the manga more evil.
If this has tickled your interest in the manga, TOKYOPOP have got the first 20 pages available for you to read on their website, just click here.
Reviews - by Ian - November 28, 2008 - 16:37 Europe/London - 2 Comments
In 2005 a series based upon science fiction novels of Ryo Mizuno was created. The series was animated by J.C.Staff and aired on TV Tokyo in Japan. This anime had no manga to base its story around, and the sci-fi novels of Mizuno were just the basic concept for the plot. For this reason, Starship Operators at the time didn’t seem to have a lot of press or hype around it.
There is a long and extensive backstory involved with Starship Operators. As a sci-fi anime, the series takes place in space and is about the 73rd class of the Defence University of the Planet Kibi. After returning home from their maiden voyage on the Amaterasu, they find that their home planet has been invaded and is now being governed by the upper powers of the Henrietta Alliance of Planetary Nations. On the demands of the new rulers, the original crew of the ship disembark; however, the student cadets decide that they will battle against the tyranny of the Henrietta Alliance.
As such they immediately leave their home planet and declare the Amaterasu a self-governed nation in exile. To make sure that the entire universe is aware of what is happening, they allow the Galaxy Network to fund the operation and are filmed with their every move being broadcast universe wide. With the former Prime Minister of Kibi, Minister Tatsuma Marmiya on board the ship has to protect itself and the exiled leader of their former world.
Naturally Henrietta are not happy with this and automatically declare war on the Amaterasu, who are forced to warp to a neutral location outside of the control of the various Alliances and Federations of the universe. During their stay in the neutral area they are challenged to a battle, downgraded to a pirate ship, face civil wars on the planets they land on and have ever-longer battles with Henrietta and the Earth Alliance.
The volume starts off with our heroes just appearing after they warped away from their last battle to try and survive. At this point the Prime Minister is no longer on board and is using every trick in the book to make the universe aware that the various corrupt Alliances and Federations in the Universe are unfairly attacking them. Unfortunately when the Amaterasu warps away they take a ship with them and are forced to continue battling.
The finale is stung with elation and desperation from the crew as they try to unravel the complex political battles that make various battleships that appear to aid them turn up. There are a lot of emotions between the cast, and along with the rapport that’s built between the crew of the Amaterasu there’s also a lot of sorrow for the amount of deaths that occurred on the ship.
Strangely for a series of this type, it’s not particularly fast paced, which is a welcome change. Of course there are a lot of young, attractive people on board from both genders, although there are far more women around than men. Starship Operators has a lot of tactical and technical discussion throughout, and it attempts to try and make the viewer connect with the show. This has been done successfully and it’s easy to get sucked into the show and think along the same lines as the crew on board the ship.
Along with the strong and slightly unusual storyline, the animation quality is pretty good. At all times the characters are distinct, with decent tones and do not appear entirely out of proportion like many other shows in this genre. The animation is smooth, and is all in the same style as the rest of the show. There are no random CGI moments that look out of place from the rest of the animation, and this could easily have happened as it occurs on many sci-fi shows from anime to live action.
The voice-acting cast have done a solid job as well. A few questionable voice actors have been cast, such as the Prime Minister, who sounds not only forced, but also disinterested. Aside from the few odd choices, the English cast have done a stellar job. They emulate the Japanese voice cast in a similar style, and the emotions and names of the characters have all remained intact. Fortunately the subtitles appear to be of a decent quality. There are no dubtitles in this show, which could have happened owing to the age of the show now.
Disappointingly both the English and Japanese tracks are only in 2.0 Sound, not 5.1 that is commonplace along many shows of this type. However, the extras such as the opening and closing tracks with no text, music videos, trailers and a few other little things more than make up for this.
» Final Score
8
A strong conclusion to a well-written show, it leaves itself open for a sequel as very little is concluded. It’s an essential for any sci-fi lover, especially those who want a little depth with their space-fighter action.
