Gantz

Anime: Gantz

View Status: Complete

Number of Episodes: 26

Main Character: Kei Kurono

The Story: Kei Kurono, how to describe him before anything happens. He doesn’t much care for other people, even though, as a kid, he used to, and he didn’t fear anything. So one day he is standing in a subway station minding his own business when someone from his past appears next to him. When a homeless man falls onto the tracks of the subway, his old friend decides to try and save him. So it is no surprise when Masaru sees Kei standing on the platform, that he asks him to help him. Reluctantly Kei jumps down to help his childhood friend and the homeless man. As soon as they heave the man out of danger the train is seen emerging from the tunnel. Running for their lives they both get hit by the train. It gets pretty gruesome, from here on in. Suddenly reappearing in a room with several other people that all think they are dead. Everyone is sitting or standing around a black sphere. If this is not crazy enough for you the sphere begins to sing and weapon compartments open. After this lettering appears on the sphere that tells the people to hunt the alien whose picture is displayed on screen. Kill them or send them to the skies above, those are the choices one has.

The Review: This was one violent show. Every time someone dies my head was screaming ‘what the f***?!’. Gruesome is probably the best description of what happens. Even with all of the violence and death this anime is quite ‘deep’. The characters all carry an inner conflict, this conflict involves either death, violence or intimacy, and they try to overcome it. Early on this anime brings up some very good points on how we see other people’s lives, and their values. If you do not like blood and guts in your animes then this is not an anime for you. That is the main reason for the fact that the highest rating I can give this anime is Watch if you like the Genre. For the type of anime it was it was quite well made. If I was the one writing this anime I would have altered the story somewhat and explained more about what is going on and why. The sound track of the show was quite nice to listen to, and I am currently trying to find the opening and ending themes as I listened to them every time.

On a somewhat more personal note, I must express that I did not like this anime. I am fine with blood in animes, I am fine with nudity( Yes there is nudity. Uncensored nudity.), but what I am not fin with is people’s heads flying off or them being ripped apart, and I don’t like seeing their guts. I think it is only fair that I warn you that all of these are contained in this anime. So if you do watch it. You have been warned.

Side Note: Remember this. Put on the suit.

Lex Out

Samurai Champloo

Anime: Samurai Champloo

View Status: Complete

Number of Episodes: 26

Main Character: Fuu, Mugen, Jin

The Story: The first episode begins rather strangely, an execution is underway and right before the swords make contact, we see modern day Japan, then time is rewound to the Edo era. This Is where the story truly begins, in a Teahouse, where Fuu is working as a waitress. The other main characters are presented to us right after this and placed in different situations that allow them to show their skills. We are switched back and forth between Mugen and Fuu, and Jin. No, the other episodes are not like this they remain constant most of the time. Jin finishes his fight and comes to the Teahouse were Mugen is waiting for some skilled samurai to arrive. A fight between Mugen and Jin erupts because Mugen want to face someone skilled. While they are busy fighting a man burns down the Teahouse with Mugen and Jin still inside. They are consequently captured. In light of her place of employment burning down Fuu decides to find “The samurai that smells of sunflowers,” but she cannot do this alone and her flying squirrel Momo wouldn’t be of much use either. So in exchange for her helping free Mugen and Jin, they will help her find the samurai that smells of sunflowers. This is the deal. During their travels they are confronted with both Mugen’s and Jin’s past. There are also a few crazy episodes which contain no relevance to the main story but are quite amusing.

The Review: Yes I know this anime is from a while back, so I would like you to know that this is not the first time I watch this. I saw this a few years back, while I was still new to anime, or at least watching it in Japanese. Now the review.

I have yet to find an anime that was as well executed as Samurai Champloo. This anime is different to others, the drawings fit perfectly to the story, as does the music. The only negative thing I can say about Samurai Champloo is that occasionally it all gets a bit too random. Seriously, people zombies are overkill in the random department when it comes to a samurai anime. The personalities of Jin and Mugen Balance each other out so perfectly throughout the anime. Fuu keeps everyone focused on their one true goal, because until then, Mugen and Jin are not allowed to see which of them is stronger. The story is told in separate segments but with each episode it seems they come a little closer to finding the Fuu’s samurai. The fights are amazing and the exchanges between Mugen and Jin a nothing less than hilarious. Their styles although completely different sync up perfectly when fighting a common enemy. All in all this anime can be given only one rating, as it is the closest thing to perfect I have seen, and for this Higher Plane is the least I can give.

Side Note: M:“What’s going on here?” J:”Don’t you remember?”

M:”Wasn’t that a dream? All of a sudden, the place started burning, and…”

J:”No it wasn’t.” M:”Oh yeah, you were in a tub butt-naked.”

J:”That was a dream”

Lex Out

Heat Guy J

Anime: Heat Guy J

View Status: Complete

Number of Episodes: 26

Main Character: Daisuke Aurora, J

The Story: The story follows, Daisuke an officer of the Special Services Division, or Special Unit, and his partner, only referred to as ‘J’. Most of the events take place in the oceanic City-Nation of Judoh, where Daisuke and J fight to prevent crimes before they happen. This is the job of the Special Unit. The Unit although underfunded and understaffed works very well to prevent, large amounts of destruction and loss of life, although some damage seems to be inevitable. One of the more amusing bits of the show is that he must ask for a gun and bullets every time he goes on a mission that requires him to do so, but I won’t go into further details as it is best to find out. Then there is J, who always has a statement on what a ‘real man’ is or would do. The main plot although mentioned right at the beginning only actually makes a fully fledged appearance around half way through the series. This plot has to do with events surrounding Daisuke’s father’s death and event s that took place four years prior to the events in the series.

The Review: I really liked this anime. It might have been my obsession for oceanic cities, androids or just my general love for sci-fi in animes. Not mechas though… I don’t like mechas, I don’t know why either. Anyway, I don’t think it was just the above mentioned bits that made me enjoy the show as much as I did. The story was quite well thought out I found, and almost all loose ends were tied up in the end. This anime never got boring, and even when it was slightly confusing, the confusion only added to the story and excitement. This anime had everything from plasma swords to semi-supreme beings, and therefore I think it was good enough to be Higher Plane. I suppose watching this on a large screened TV did increase the viewing experience somewhat.

The Style: The best way I can think of to describe the style is smooth. These drawings were so smooth that it looks like CG images at certain points in the anime. The futuristic images were drawn with much attention to detail. The best example of this is probably the vehicle, I guess you could call it a motorcycle, that Daisuke drives, or the high level system that keeps the city running. The fight scenes were quite nice as well. The color schemes varied by location instead of mood, but for the most part the colors that were appropriate for the location fit the mood as well.

Side Note: All you need are blue tabs, and red tabs for when things get rough.

Thank you Bernd and Chris for this great gift.

Lex Out

N.H.K ni Youkoso

Anime: N.H.K ni Youkoso (Welcome to the N.H.K.)
View Status: Complete
Number of Episodes: 24
Main Character: Satou Tachihiro

The Story: Satou Tachihiro is a Hikikomori, a person who spends the entire time in their own house because they are afraid of human contact. He has been living in his apartment for four years when music starts playing from the apartment next to his. It is the same song 24/7, the main theme to a popular anime, as a result of all of the above he begins to go slightly, well quite, crazy. I will leave out exactly how this manifests as this is one of the funny parts of the anime.

He meets someone that is willing to try and help him overcome his ways to improve his quality of life. There are also some encounters with people from his past and you see the demons they are currently fighting. With some he becomes close with others distant, it all depends on the effect they have on his situation.

The Review: I have to say, I’m not all that big a fan of pure romance animes or of weirdness in animes, and this was… well, it had the weirdness. I’m not exactly sure what this anime was supposed to be about. I’m guessing either, the Hikikomori and Otaku conditions, being needed in this world, making a point about conspiracies or semi-platonic love. I really can’t tell which of these it was meant to be, meh. All in all this anime was alright and I guess if you like a bit of romance and a lot of confusion and weirdness then this is an anime for you, therefore the verdict is: Watch if you like the genre.

The Style: Hahaha… Oh crap. The best I can do for this section is say that the tone of the episode and the situation determines the color scheme. The drawing style stays the same throughout, although it goes crazy when he does, but I assume that is to be expected. I guess you could consider the style average, as there is nothing that really sticks out except when the main character is going crazy(having an episode).

Side Note: The little green men are little blue men in this. Ponder on that.

Lex Out

Air Master

Anime: Air Master

View Status: Incomplete

Number of Episodes: 27

Main Character: Maki “Air Master” Aikawa

The Story: I am not all that sure, all I could gather is that the main character is a street fighter that uses gymnastics in combination with wrestling moves to defeat her opponents.

The Review: I usually wont write a review of an anime unless I have watched every episode. In the case of Air Master I will make an exception as the first episode was so painful to watch that I just couldn’t continue. The only good thing to say about this anime was that the fight scene was quite cool. I could not determine a plot within the first episode, a reason for the fight or any grounds to continue watching, even if the reason would be only out of curiosity, but I was not the least bit curious as to the reason for the fight, the main character’s size, her fighting style. None of those things interested me as this anime seemed to have no firm ground to exist upon. Therefore, Stay away is my tip.

The Style: This is the reason I am disappointed the most. The style looked quite promising, besides the immediately obvious proportionally issues, and if I thought that that I would even remotely like the rest of the show I would have continued watching for solely that reason, but I fear I would have hurt myself down the line.

Side Note: Panty shots seem to be included on a regular basis, although not as much as in some other animes, eg. Agent Aika.

Lex Out

Air Gear

Anime: Air Gear

View Status: Completed

Number of Episodes: 25

Main Character: Itsuki “Ikki” Minami

The Story: The main character angry with the girls he is living with breaks into one of their rooms and steals a pair of ATs (Air Trecks). Air Trecks are like roller-blades except that they only have two wheels and contain a small but very powerful motor. The motor is controlled by shifting one’s own weight onto different sections of the Air Trecks.

The main plot is that Itsuki “Ikki” Minami is apparently supposed to become the next sky king, and thus revolves around his journey in getting to that position.

The Review: I liked the story, the characters and even the rather strange premise. I loved the idea of the Air Trecks, the teams and the battle to reach the top. One of my disagreements with this anime or rather with the story was that the battles revolved too much around fighting instead of racing or doing tricks. I found this to be disappointing as the episodes where the idea was present were my favorites. I believe that a mistake was made when it was decided to end the show when they did. Although the ending was a good one it was not one that I particularly appreciated as there was just too much left open. There were too many questions unanswered. Many people may call me out on this and say, “Well just read the manga then.” The fact of the matter is that if I wanted to read the manga I could and would have. The manga always explains more, contains more detail, but I chose to watch the anime because I wanted to watch an anime not read a manga.

Overall I am not disappointed in this anime, far from it in fact. I was very amused while watching this show and very pleased with the story. Yes it is quite childish, but any teen or adult should be able to find some humor hidden from the eyes of children using tricks. This anime is a definite watch.

The Style: The word ‘haste’ springs to mind. The anime is quite fast paced for the most part, except when it comes to the relationship between characters, and therefore the colors and style are quite vibrant and fast. The drawings are quite beautiful and my favorite part, the Air Treck, had nice detail. Another thing that sprang forth was the schematic diagrams in the show looked amazing, but that is just another one of my obsessions.

Side Note: Privates are covered using a Crow. There is some sexual content in this show.

Lex Out