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

Angel Tales

Anime: Angel Tales

View Status: Completed

Number of Episodes: 13

Main Character: Goro Mutsumi

The Story: I seem to keep attracting these weird animes. I mean I kind of guessed that it would be a weird one but… I should probably explain. Mutsumi Goro is really unlucky. You know the guy that gets splashed with water when a car drives by the sidewalk? Well that would be him. Anyway back to the story. He meets a fortune teller on the street who predicts that his luck will change. She leaves him with this statement, and he walks home takes a bath and when he comes out, there are three girls sitting in his living room. Slightly freaked out by all of this, obviously, and not quite understanding what’s going on, who would right? As it turns out these three are his guardian angels and former pets. Every episode more are added on until episode five when the final four are summoned by the previous eight. Yes all of them are girls, ranging from I assume ages 5 to 18, actually the snake seems a bit older now that I think about it, although I can’t really be sure. In the first few episodes some strange people try to kill him, you later find out who these ‘people’ are and why they are trying to kill him.

The Review: Not entirely sure what audience they were aiming this anime at. There are several parts of this anime I would consider to be good, but the story is just too strange, and I am not exactly sure what the moral or message were supposed to be… Actually, I think it’s, ‘be kind to animals’. The drawings are nothing extraordinary, but they are not bad, quite ‘standard’ I guess. For me the weirdest part of all was hearing them call him ‘Master’ the entire time, one more word of Japanese that I will never forget. There is always a half romance going on which is slightly weird, like the cross between how you love and want to protect your siblings and well ‘true love’. This combination confuses the hell out of me, both in anime and in real life. The main story ends at about episode 11 so I assume they only made the final few episodes to make it into a proper half season. The problem with reviewing this anime is that I have no idea what it was trying to achieve, I’m not even sure if the creators themselves knew what they were doing. In any case this anime is not what I can consider bad, seeing as I was able to watch it without injuring myself, yet the terms good or at least interesting cannot be used either. It was mediocre at best, due mostly to the confusing storyline and the incredibly large number of main characters, of which, yes, only one has been listed. The one thing this has affected is my rating system as I am forced to add a new rating which I am calling ‘Meh’.

Side Note: Greetings new rating, you were unexpected, yet you are refreshingly welcome.

Lex Out

Rockman.EXE

Anime: Rockman.EXE (aka Megaman NT Warrior without the censorship)
View Status: Complete
Number of Episodes: 56
Main Character: Netto Hikari, Meiru Sakurai, Enzan Ijuin
Net Navi: Rockman Roll Blues

The Story: Netto is a good net battler, he has the skills but his Net Navi lacks the power of a customized Navi. He receives a letter from his father containing a disk which he loads into his PET (Personal Terminal, formerly Personal Exploration Terminal), and after a good night’s sleep he finds Rockman has appeared on his PET. Slightly disappointed, for his new Navi’s lack in size and warriorness(not a word I know), but still happy Netto makes his way to school, challenging his friend Dekao to a battle after school. During this fight Netto realizes that Rockman is a lot more than he seems as he doesn’t even break a sweat while fighting Gutsman. After all of this the real story emerges as the enemy WWW, World Three, appears. The second enemy that appears in the second half is Gospel, which is an organization much more dangerous than World Three. As Rockman and Netto fight their enemies they make new friends and allies, and learn important skills such as the Program Advance and Style Change. These abilities and the strong bond they have with one another and their friends allow them to master event the greatest of challenges.

The Review: The reason this took so long is that I wasn’t sure whether or not I should include Rockman.EXE Axess as part of the same show. I decided not to do so as the storyline and events differ far too much to consider them the same anime.
I know this seems like a kids show, and it is, the English version more so then the Japanese. For me though, it contains one of the coolest concepts ever thought up. Advanced artificial intelligence and graphical interfaces in every electronic device on the planet. In addition to this your own personal handheld device with A.I. character customized to your needs and imagination. Ever since I saw this I have wanted one. Aside for this the anime is pretty standard though, a main character that learns with every fight, friends he gathers on his ‘journey’, a romance that is always there but never truly develops, am I missing anything? Oh right! The rival that becomes a friend of the main character. The drawings do get better with each season, and new abilities are discovered so the show doesn’t get too old too fast. For showing me a world where my dreams are reality I would give this anime Higher Plane but as this would be the only reason I am going to have to settle with Fun to Watch.

The Style: I am dropping the style section, not fully though, if a really interesting style comes up I will, of course, mention it.

Side Note: Who would I take? I would have to say a cross between Rockman and Blues.

Lex Out

Midori no Hibi

Anime: Midori no Hibi

View Status: Complete

Number of Episodes: 13

Main Character: Seiji Sawamura, Midori Kasugano

The Story: Seiji Sawamura is a ‘delinquent’, their word not mine, he gets into fights on a regular basis and his classmates fear him because of this. As a result of everyone fearing him, getting a girlfriend has not been easy, or rather impossible. He, as he says, has been rejected 20 times. He has one follower who seems to be quite weak and constantly spouts off how great Seiji is at fighting. One morning Seiji wakes up and finds that a girl has become his right hand… Yes the body part.

This is where the real adventure begins. The girl’s name is Midori and she has had a crush on Seiji for quite some time. Both of them have no idea why they have become this way or how they will become separate again. The story continues that Seiji and Midori have to find a way to live together as they are until they find a way to get everything back to normal. In the mean time Midori tries the fend off the advances of one of Seiji’s classmates.

The Review: I didn’t know what I was watching until about three episodes in. The main reason for this was probably the partial nudity, as soon as I saw I thought I had started watching an ‘H’ series. When the story continued without getting more intense in that department I figured I was in the clear. I thought that the love story of N.H.K ni Youkoso was the strangest ever. I don’t think that I actually wrote it but I was thinking it at the time. Well story leaves N.H.K ni Youkoso in the dust, it is by far the weirdest love story that I have ever seen. I did like this better than N.H.K though. Yes, it brings a whole different category of weird to the table but I liked at least the kitchen appliances didn’t talk and the world wasn’t shroud in a fake conspiracy constantly. They also managed to get quite a bit of fighting into the story which looked cool. Even though, as I have stated, romance animes aren’t my favorite, I didn’t mind watching this one to the end. I wanted to know how it was going to turn out, how she returns to her own body, what happens next? I wanted these questions answered and therefore I could continue watching. As a result of this being the reason I cannot give it a higher than, watch if you like the genre.

The Style: Happy all the way with a bit of evil coming in occasionally. The sister seemed to bring the mood down most of the time, real evil that one.

Side Note: If a girl appears as your right hand… She is probably your soul mate.

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

Naruto

Anime: Naruto

View Status: Complete

Number of Episodes: 220

Main Character: Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi

The Story: 12 years before the story begins, the nine tailed fox demon or Kyubi was sealed inside the newborn child Naruto by the Forth Hokage(Leader of the Village), during this deed he gave up his own life. His hope was that Naruto would be seen as the child who saved the village from further Kyubi destruction. Instead he was treated as an outcast.

Naruto wants to become the Hokage so that he is finally acknowledged by everyone in the village, as they see him not as their savior but as their possible destroyer. The Third Hokage sought to rectify this in making it forbidden to even mention the demon fox. This however did not stop the parents from treating him like an outcast and the children picked up on this and did the same.

The first person that truly acknowledges him is his teacher when Naruto saves his life. In doing this he graduates from the academy and becomes a Genin(lowest rank ninja). The new Genin in the village are split up into teams and placed with a Jonin(high rank ninja) as their new teacher and leader.

During every mission and story arc Naruto gains the acknowledgement and friendship of more of his fellow Genin, and occasionally his enemies. It follows the character and skill development of all the members of team seven in Naruto’s quest to become Hokage and Sasuke’s quest to kill his brother and also it seems Sakura’s quest to be loved by Sasuke.

The Review: Now, I really liked this anime as it brought a whole new view into what I viewed as ninjas. Yes, it is a kids show and at times is therefore quite childish, but this anime is all about trust in your friends and receiving the acknowledgement of others. Also some pretty good ideas on how not to act in from of your crush. Back to why you should watch it though. This is like a prequel to a good story, the story being Naruto Shippuuden, which is now out. About 210 episodes, I am not counting fillers because they are useless, which give one a better idea of what is going on in Shippuuden. This may seem excessive and it probably, but the show itself, the fight scenes, the different techniques, it all comes together to bring you an anime that is truly addictive. Once you have seen the first 10 episodes you will not want to stop until you have seen them all. I like to compare this show to Dragonball Z, not because they are similar in story, but because you can’t stop wanting to know what happens next, and occasionally there are the long staring contest like scenes, oh and of course the calling out your attack before you do it. In my eyes it is the better, drawn, storyline and plot having, plot-twisting, version of Dragonball Z. Fun to watch is the verdict.

The Style: The style is not entirely up to the standards of today’s animes but it is a lot better than the older of the pack. Most of the time the colors are bright and cheerful, but during the fights and more sad or dark scenes the color scheme changes to darker almost evil. There are a few moments in the show were the style goes into the ridiculous as it does with most children’s animes, but these are forgiven when the fight begins.

Side Note: Naruto Shippuuden is like an improved version of Naruto. The thing is that Shippuuden rest on the facts of Naruto and without the knowledge about the world, skills and ninjas gained from watching the original you won’t have a clue about what’s going on.

Lex Out

The Twelve Kingdoms

Anime: The Twelve Kingdoms

View Status: Complete

Number of Episodes: 45

Main Character: Youko Nakajima, Yuka Sugimoto, Shouryuu (Emperor of En), Rokuta (Enki), Taiki (Kaname Takasato/Kouri), Suzu, Shoukei

The Story: There are several storylines in this anime also known as ‘books’. For the most part it is the story of Youko Nakajima and her journey in the strange world of the twelve kingdoms. The starts out with two of her friends but they get separated early on, but are seen again later in the anime. Some of the books consist of a Sage or an Emperor telling a story of the past, sometimes not so distant other times very distant, to the new Empress of Kei. One story focused of the troubles in the kingdom of Kei as well as the journey of Suzu, Shoukei and Youko and their goals and development along the way, in which Ikuya Asano and Rakushun have important roles to play. Ikuya Asano is the missing one of the two friends of Youko. Rakushun is a half-beast that Youko met early in her travels.

The Review: I always thought that if you’re going to make a show, you have to make the characters likable. I disliked all of the characters in the first episodes, correction, I hated them, I hated the main characters so much I wanted them all to die. Now while this may seem harsh and maybe even disturbing please refrain from judging me until you have seen the first four episodes. The funny thing is that, for the most part, just when you start liking a character they do something that makes you dislike them again. I am not exactly sure on the intentions of the writers and I do not want to speculate over the possible reasons for this. The three characters that saved the entire show for me where Enki, Shouryuu (Emperor of En) and Rakushun. They are the only main characters that I liked throughout the entire anime. As for the storyline and the world, I found the whole thing to be a well thought out. The one point I would criticize the creators of the anime for is that the Taiki storyline was never truly completed and thus it made no sense to me to include it. Besides maybe making one understand where kirin come from and how they are raised. Making a two season anime good is quite hard as you either quickly run out of material or you start boring the audience. I liked this anime mainly because of the different stories it told in the format of ‘books’. I consider this a watch although it looked like a ‘run for the hills’

The Style: Style, well I truly have no idea what to write in this section for this anime. I guess it does have this dark drawing style, considering that some episodes are quite bloody and involve much suffering and death comes with no surprise. Most of the hair colors and clothing are pain with some exceptions including the main character Youko and the Emperors and Empresses and the kirin as well as the high officials and sages. There are some areas in this anime that seem to have brighter and happier seeming colors.

Side Note: I found the opening theme and ending song to be terrible. I did however seem to get used to the opening theme, or rather the first and last ten seconds as I skipped it every single time. I would guaranty that you will like the characters at the end of their journey but considering the world we currently live in I will not do so as I do not want to be sued.

Lex Out

Hellsing

Anime: Hellsing

View Status: Complete

Number of Episodes: 13

Main Character: Alucard and Seras Victoria

The Story: Alucard the secret weapon of the Hellsing organization is sent to ‘clean up’ a situation in a village where all the villagers have turned into ghouls(what happens when a vampire drinks all your blood). Previously a police force had been sent to investigate. All of the members were bitten by the ghouls except one, Seras Victoria. After being injured by Alucard, he proposes turning her into a vampire to save her life. She accepts not truly knowing the consequences of this action. The rest of the anime shows Seras Victoria trying to come to terms with what she now is and the struggles of the Hellsing organization in fighting against an unknown group of people turning people into artificial vampires, also known in the series as FREAKS, by implanting them with a vampire microchip. Somewhere along the lines the Vatican becomes involve as well.

The Review: I liked this anime, as I enjoy vampire stories when they are done well. It is explained how the vampires can be killed. The only thing I found was missing was an explanation for Alucard working for Hellsing beside him somehow being bound to serve them. I really wanted to know how and why it was done. The story was well thought and although the series was cut a little short I was sufficiently satisfied with the ending. As always reading the manga will tell you more. Still this anime is a watch, if you like the genre.

The Style: The drawing style really fit the story and theme of the anime well. The darkness and roughness give it a unique feeling. Everything about this anime screams evil when it comes to the fight scenes and therefore the colors chosen were well thought through and executed nearly perfectly.

Lex Out