Sayonara Blogger...Konnichiwa Wordpress!

I had a lot of fun here but after a lengthy and thorough consideration, I decide to move my blog to WordPress. All my older reviews will be accessible from both this blog and the new one but all the new reviews will be post at my new address. So, if you find this blog appealing, please follow the address below to my new blog. There is much more to enjoy there, I promise!

My new blog is called Canne's anime review blog. The address is...

http://canime.wordpress.com

p.s. yes, I change my pen name to Canne

Thanks!

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His and Her Circumstances: anime review

Title: His and Her Circumstances (Kare Kano)
Genre: romance, comedy, drama
Released date: October 2, 1998 – March 23, 1999
Episode: 26
Director: Hideaki Anno, Kazuya Tsurumaki
Animated by: Studio Gainax
Comment: The most distinguished feature of Kare Kano is its revolutionary, at least at the time of its release, visual technique. The surreal cartoon, chibi drawings and on-screen texts are constantly used to emphasize the feelings and thoughts and also to display the multiple layers of the characters simultaneously. Sometimes, the anime uses color and lines to focus on certain things such as filling one person with colors and leaving the surrounding people with no color or facial expression. The various surreal sound effects are also used. This technique makes the anime incredibly fun to watch even in the scene involving lengthy exploration of the characters’ minds which is usually quite boring. The anime also adopts another way to tell the story by making the characters talk to themselves or sometimes talk to the viewers directly as if they are writing a diary or chatting with the viewers. With this technique, the bonds are cleverly created between the characters and the viewers.

The story of Kare Kano may seem pretty complex because so many things happen and so many people are involved in the series but it can easily be summarized into a single phrase; Kare Kano is about the high school life of Miyazawa Yukino and the people around her. This is the anime that the characters drive the series, not the other way around. There are plenty of character developments. Everyone in Kare Kano rapidly and constantly changes and grows up all the time. Their experiences are thoroughly detailed and all of them are very familiar things that every body must have been through at some point in their lives such as falling in love, meeting new friends or quarrelling with them, problems in families or with the teachers. As a result, the viewers will find themselves knowing and understanding the characters so well as if they are families.

Being extremely optimistic, Kare Kano, at some point, can be a little unrealistic since every problem in the anime finally resolves in a good way while, as we all know, things are not that easy in real life. We don’t always meet good and open-minded people and there are countless other factors and limitations in real life. But don’t get me wrong. Being optimistic is not the weakness but the best part of the Kare Kano. The anime gives the viewers strength, hope and encouragement to overcome the obstacles in lives. It taught me the value of the things I always took for granted such as family and to cherish what I usually overlook such as friendship and, above all else, Kare Kano gave me what every body needs the most in their darkest hours; laughter.

Despite all its merits, the ending of the series is quite a let down because it does not end there. The anime comes to closure right before the cultural festival and there is still Arima’s complex that is left unsolved. The animation technique in the last two episodes, using manga style images, is different from the others which I think is not suitable for an ending. The story continues in the manga which I haven’t read. Conclusion: Trust me, even without the proper ending, Kare Kano still securely remains in my highly recommended anime list. Actually, my frustration about Kare Kano’s ending comes from the fact that I like it so much and I want more!
Rating: B+

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Ergo Proxy: anime review

Title: Ergo Proxy
Genre: sci-fi, cyberpunk, supernatural, action
Released date: 25 February 2006 – 12 August 2006
Episode: 23
Director: Shuko Murase
Animated by: Studio Manglobe
Comment: Ergo Proxy takes place in the futuristic world destroyed by the ecological disaster. In the domed city of Romdo, Re-l is investigating a murder when she encounters a Proxy, a mysterious deadly monster, and Vincent Law, an immigrant with no memory of his own past. After the incident, her utopia was shattered and she sets out to explore the world out side the dome and learn the truth about Proxy and her own destiny. There are 23 episodes; approximately half of them tell what really happen, the rest tell what happen in the minds of the characters including their conflicts, their desires, their secret identities and their mental developments using abstract images and surreal situations. What I’m trying to say is that half of what you see in the anime isn’t real. It is full of strange twists, turns, illusions and sometimes deceptions. This feature of Ergo Proxy can be very interesting to many viewers especially those who are familiar with cyberpunk or hard sci-fi anime but it can also proves to be really painful and exhaustive for many others. What’s more, unlike other science fictions which usually raise one main idea, Ergo Proxy tries to lay its hands on multiple popular themes in one single show. These themes include the existence of God, human cloning, utopia or artificial intelligence. For me, I find the anime quite hard to follow at times but I certainly have great admiration for the anime’s creators for their bold and reckless effort to experiment all these strange ways of storytelling and expressing their ideas.

In this anime, everyone tries to find who they are or tries to solve their conflicts. Vincent tries to understand the mysterious monster within him and tries to find the place he belongs. Re-l struggles to explore to world she never knew existed and the reason behind her feeling towards Vincent. Pino who is an infected AutoRiev gains her soul and feeling and little by little she gets closer to becoming real human girl. Iggy follows Re-l trying to hold on to his only “reason of living”. Even other minor characters such as Daedalus, Raul, Cristeva or Donov Mayer display intriguing complexities and development. The sound and animation of Ergo Proxy are amazing, outdoing most of the series I’ve watched recently. The characters and the background are full of details and the movements are fluid. The mixture of CGI and 2D animation is just perfect.

I’m giving this anime an A rating because of its brilliant characterization, groundbreaking story telling, thought provoking and innovative ideas, magnificent animation and its lack of any major flaws but that does not necessarily means that Ergo Proxy will always be entertaining or is made for everyone. It requires certain level of concentration and patience to really take in all that the anime offers.
Rating: A

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Mai Hime (aka My Hime): anime review

Title: Mai Hime aka My Hime
Genre: action, fantasy, comedy, romance
Released date: September 30, 2004 – March 31, 2005
Episode: 26
Director: Masakazu Obara
Animated by: Studio Sunrise
Comment: Mai Hime is generally another ‘magical girls’ anime that combines fantasy, comedy, drama and mecha subgenres. It is an exceptionally strong proof of how scary teenage girls can be when they are in love and wield deadly weapons. HIMEs are girls who are gifted with superpowers. They can materialize their personal weapons called ‘element’ and they can summon powerful biomechanical creatures, the Child. Tokiha Mai, along with other several girls who are also Hime, is recruited to Fuka Academy which will serve as the background of the series. Early in the series, Mai and her friends use their powers to defeat Orphans, the monsters terrorizing the school. Later, they learn about their true missions and destinies that can decide the fate of the Earth.

Although the fate of the world is at stake, Mai Hime mostly focused on more personal stories regularly seen in high school animes. The anime’s pace relies heavily on the characters. Mai Hime cleverly creates interesting conditions and conflicts for the characters to struggle through. For example, the ones dearest to the Himes will die if the Hime’s Child are defeated. This condition leads to a great deal of conflicts among the characters both Himes and regular students because many people can do anything when love is involved. Another great technique that makes the story even more compelling is how the anime keeps the true identities of the twelve Himes and the natures of their Childs secret and reveals them slowly, one by one, as the series progress so the viewers will be constantly surprised. The action sequences in Mai Hime are really fun and not too long. The comedy and drama parts also work really well thanks to the deftly crafted relationships between the characters.

There are two significant flaws I notice in the anime. The first is that Mai Hime fools around too much. It wastes too much time making jokes. There is one whole episode about an orphan that steals girl’s underwear. I wondered who came up with this idea. The second flaw is its background story about the very meaning of the Himes and their importance. The viewers are told that every 300 hundred years the Hime Star will approach the Earth and the battle between the twelve Himes will determine the future of the world. But all the viewers see is what happens in Fuka Academy and few brief news reports about the disasters occurring around the world. There are no credible explanation linking together the Himes, The Hime Star, The Obsidian Prince and the fact that the world is coming to an end. To me, it seems like this background story is just an excuse to give the Himes some reasons to fight. Fortunately, this flaw can hardly be noticed during the show because Mai Hime always and successfully keeps the viewers entertained using interesting characters, touching drama, imaginative action sequences and the main theme of the anime that is not saving the world but is simply about the beauty of love. Conclusion: not everything makes sense in Mai Hime. Nevertheless, I find it quite adorable and fun.
Rating: B

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Moribito: Guardian of the Sacred Spirit: anime review

Title: Moribito: Guardian of the Sacred Spirit (Seirei no Moribito)
Genre: action, fantasy, drama
Released date: April 7, 2007 – September 29, 2007
Episode: 26
Director: Kenji Kamiyama
Animated by: Production I.G.
Comment: Seirei no Moribito follows Balsa the spear woman who is entrusted with the duty to protect Prince Chagum from being assassinated by the emperor without knowing that the prince carries the magical egg that will blessed the land with water. Their journey involves many battles, hardship and the magic which exists only in myth. The sound and animation of the anime is very good, colorful and energetic.

Moribito also has strong environmentalism implicated in the story. The Water Spirit will lay an egg every hundred years and dies bringing drought to the land until the egg hatches in spring with the help of La Lunga the monster then the egg is carried to the sea by Nahji bird. This cycle remained intact until the Yogo, the current rulers, conquered the land and with them came technology; iron and steel. The cycle is interrupted. People’s ancient wisdom and respect to the Mother Nature is erased. The history is rewritten to stabilize and justify the new empire. This is exactly what’s happening nowadays, is it not? I also like the reverse of male and female’s role between the two protagonists. In most stories, men are always the one who fight the enemies and women always wait at home and heal the wounds but in Moribito, Balsa is the warrior who wanders around and fights the foes while Tanda, who has no combat skill, is always waiting and gives Balsa support when she is in trouble.

My complaint about this anime is its uneven mood and pace. As the series progresses, Seirei no Moribito gradually transforms itself from a fast-paced, action-packed anime into a slow, drama anime in the middle and finally ends as folklore inspired, fantasy anime. It is really fun and exciting at first when Balsa and Chagum tries to escape from their pursuers, there are great spear and sword fight scenes to behold but around episode 7 through 12 the anime literally comes to a halt. These unnecessary episodes are about trivial things which are not related to the main theme such as the episodes about gambling or the farmers’ festival. And when the viewers reach the final part of the series, the anime turns into a folklore fantasy involving parallel worlds, supernatural creatures and a lot of magic. When considered separately, the first part is a good action anime and the second part is a good fantasy anime. But considering the whole series, it isn’t as satisfying as it should be. Imagine yourself having a really beautiful shirt and really nice pants but when you put them on, instead of looking good, you look strange. I think this is the situation here. Nevertheless, these flaws are only minor and I’m sure many people will not see this as a flaw at all. Conclusion: Seirei no Moribito is without any doubt a good anime but it doesn’t excel because it cannot not decide whether it wants to be an action, drama or fantasy anime.
Rating: B

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Cowboy Bebop: anime review

Title: Cowboy Bebop
Genre: Space western, crime drama, action, comedy, sci-fi
Released date: April 3, 1998 – April 23, 1999
Episode: 26
Director: Shinichiro Watanabe
Animated by: Studio Sunrise
Comment: In the near future which men spread throughout the solar system, a group of bounty hunters aboard the ship ‘Bebop’ roams the space and cities. The crew consists of five members; Spike Spiegel, Jet Black, Faye Valentine, Ed and Ein. Spike is a former member of a crime syndicate. He is an excellent martial artist, pilot, spy or even thief but he fails when it comes to life and love. He is constantly haunted by the memory of Julia, the woman he loves and he has problems expressing his feelings and tend to react opposite to his feelings or avoid them entirely except when Julia is involved. In which case, he usually loose control. He is pretty lazy and often sarcastic. Jet is former police who also suffers from lost love. He is the oldest of the team and the most rational. Faye has just woken from 54 years of cryogenic sleep to find herself deceived and lonely, although she hides her pain well beneath those smiles. Ed is a genius computer hacker and an orphanage. Each episode of Cowboy Bebop mostly depicts different bounty hunting. They have unique style and tone ranging from comedy, crime drama, hard science fiction, horror and combination of these genres. Believe it or not, despite the difference in genre, every episode is exceptionally great and at the same time, subtly reveals new details of the past, personalities and development of the characters. Some episodes are dedicated to Spike, some to Jet, Faye and Ed and the rest are stand alone stories. This quality of Cowboy Bebop puts most of the TV series to shame.

The animation is not as flashy as today’s standard but it is definitely done with great efforts. The movement is fluid and the background is alive. The spaceships and vehicles design, surprisingly, doesn’t look out of date. The original soundtrack, composed by Yoko Kanno, is mostly jazz and blue music which fits perfectly to the anime and is beautiful when listened separately. The ending of the series generates significant amount of controversy. For me, it is heart-breaking but undeniably perfect and unforgettable.

Although Cowboy Bebop has no deep or thought provoking main theme but there are always hidden messages in each episode and the anime excellently explores the nature and complexity of human through the lives of the characters. The biggest achievement of Cowboy Bebop is in its direction, screenplay, characterization, action, animation, music and the miraculous ability to combine all those things in one anime series. Despite its age, I can hardly name any newer anime that is able to best Cowboy Bebop. It is a milestone in the world of anime. It is not only flawless but it impresses me immensely. Conclusion: Cowboy Bebop drives me crazy! It’s the kind of anime I’ve always dreamed of but never think it really exists.
Rating: A+

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Sword of the Stranger: anime review

Title: Sword of the Stranger
Genre: action, adventure, historical
Released date: September 29, 2007
Running Time: 102 minutes
Director: Masahiro Ando
Animated by: Studio BONES
Comment: Sword of the Stranger appeared in many film festivals and it was highly praised from most of the places it showed. I am convinced that the anime must be good but I have never thought that it would be this fun. A boy named Kotaro is hunted by Chinese Ming dynasty but his luck has not run out because he meets a ronin with no name (Nanashi) who becomes his bodyguard. The situation gets even more complicated when the Japanese lord also wants to capture the boy for his own advantage over the Ming. Nanashi and Kotaro must find a way to survive through endless bloody war against both highly skillful Chinese assassins and the warriors sent by the Japanese lord.

The story is as simple and innovative as it sounds but, surprisingly, it works very well. The story is compelling and effectively ties all the characters and action sequences together making a perfect combination of action and drama. The real charm of the anime lies in the heart-stopping action scenes which are violent, fast, fluid and skillfully directed. The drama portion, although small, is also carried out well; the bonds between Nanashi and Kotaro is well established using only few scenes and dialogue. The animation and art direction are excellent and the soundtrack is really haunting. Sword of the Stranger never tries to be anything but action anime. It knows exactly what it wants to give to the viewers and it succeeds beautifully. Although it lasts only hundred minutes on screen, it will last much longer in the viewers’ memories.
Rating: A

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Elfen Lied: anime review

Title: Elfen Lied
Genre: sci-fi, horror, drama
Released date: July 25, 2004 – October 17, 2004
Episode: 13
Director: Mamoru Kanbe
Animated by: Studio ARMS
Comment: Elfen Lied starts when a mysterious girl with horns escapes from a research facility, leaving a big pile of dead body behind. She is found by Kohta and Yuka at the beach and is taken to their home. I’ve seen countless of violent films and anime and I didn’t mind since they were the stories of adult but in Elfen Lied the violence is done on children. The anime also contains explicit nudity. The character design and atmosphere of the anime is colorful and bright but the bloody scenes (like heads and body parts torn off) often occurs so sudden that I felt as if I was punched hard in the face. Some scenes involve torture and even rape done to girls. These violence and nudity will surely turn a good number of viewers away. I don’t blame them since I was disturbed as well (at least initially).

But beneath the blood and gore, there is one good anime which is definitely worth watching. The drama is intense and the characterization is complex; each character had their problems to solve. Lucy, the mutant girl, had been mistreated since childhood for having strange horns and inhuman power. She later becomes a merciless killer but also had hidden alternative personally as Nyu who is innocent and harmless. Kohta experienced terrible loss in his childhood and he has been running away ever since by unconsciously forgetting and denying the very existence of the events and his meeting with Nyu eventually forces him to confront his past. Mayu is a runaway because she was repeatedly raped by her own stepfather. Other supporting characters like Nana, Yuka also have depth and developments. The script contains many interesting concepts such as the discrimination of the people by their difference and its terrible consequences, the purification of human race, the extreme contrast between human’s compassion and hatred. The anime also discusses about domestic violence. The strong graphic violence and nudity are probably put into the anime to reflect these concepts.

The animation is a technical achievement and the music is really beautiful especially the opening theme, Lilium. The ending is a bit unsatisfactory because some loose ends are left unsolved. Conclusion: the explicit content of Elfen Lied helps make the anime standout but it may also turn many people away. In which case, it is such a shame because Elfen Lied is anything but disappointment (for adults only, of course).

Rating: B

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Le Chevalier D'Eon: anime review

Title: Le Chevalier D'Eon
Genre: action, horror, supernatural, historical
Released date: August 19, 2006 – February 24, 2007
Episode: 24
Director: Kazuhiro Furuhashi
Animated by: Production I.G
Comment: Le Chevalier D’Eon begins when Lia, D’Eon’s sister, is found dead in the river with the word ‘psalms’ on her body. D’Eon, driven by sorrow, anger and Lia’s spirit, sets out to investigate his sister’s death without knowing that the path he has chosen will lead to the darkest and deadliest secret of all.

Although magic plays vital role in the story, Le Chevalier D’Eon still manages to make numerous references to the real events and people. Actually, the supernatural part helps connect the anime to real events in several cases. This is the best part of the series and it would be much more entertaining if the viewers knew at least some part of French history. D’Eon’s gender in history is controversial because there are records of him as both male and female. In the anime, he is possessed by his sister’s spirit and he actually switches back and forth between both genders. During the end of the series, he even lives as a woman in order to avoid being recognized by the authorities. The fate of Maximilian, Robin and King Louis XV are also referred to the history which is amazing.

Despite these clever historical references, Le Chevalier D’Eon fails to capture the viewers’ interest in many parts especially in the middle of the series. The story drags, slows and the main characters, excluding D’Eon and Lia, are quite flat and not that interesting. Some events in the anime happen for apparently no reason or they are not well explained and left the viewer in puzzlement. For example, the reappearance of Count Saint-Germain as a monstrous undead in the last episode is totally out of place or the very existence of Belle, the talking skull, in Queen Marie’s possession is just irrelevant to the story. The long anticipated revelation comes late in the last few episodes with enormous intensity and shock. I must say it is worth the waiting but I doubt if anyone is patient enough to watch the series until one reach the anime finale. The animation is well done although the sword fight scenes are a little slow and choppy. Conclusion: I personally admire this anime for its wild imagination. It has more than enough good things to offer to the viewers but unfortunately the anime stumbles too often before reaching the sensational climax.

Rating: C+

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Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion (season 1): anime review

Title: Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion (season 1)
Genre: action, mecha, sci-fi, drama
Released date: October 5, 2006 – July 28, 2007
Episode: 25
Director: Goro Taniguchi
Animated by: Studio Sunrise
Comment: Code Geass sets in the alternate universe in which Japan was conquered by the Britannia Empire and was renamed ‘Area 11’. Lelouch, whose mother was murdered and who is the heir to Britannia Throne, accidentally runs into C.C. the mysterious woman who gives him ‘Geass’, the power to control other people’s minds. With this power, he starts the plan to destroy the empire and rebuild the world in which his beloved sister can live happily. Another leading character is Suzaku, Lelouch’s childhood friend, who disapproves of Lelouch’s idea and becomes his enemy. The two characters do everything according to their beliefs and the anime never says if any of them are good or evil. They are full of details. Lelouch is a realist, a murderer, the savior or just another greedy person trying to claim the throne. His action results in changes and hope for many and also suffering and loss for the rest including himself and his friends. While Suzaku is an idealist and sometimes pacifist but his action sometimes seems foolish. Code Geass has a very serious political issues and adult situations. I think the theme in the anime is too mature for high school children who form the main characters of Code Geass but after I let myself be carried away by the story, the feeling never bothers me again.




Code Geass keeps creating difficult situation for the characters to solve and endure. The anime introduces large group of characters who are closely connected by either blood or comradeship or friendship and they are divided into two opposite groups by different political idea. It tells the story from the point of view of both opposing factions. This division leads to endless series of tragic stories resulted from political conflicts and the war. The viewers will see friendships torn apart, families destroyed and alliances broken. While watching the series, I experienced various emotions all at once as if I were trapped in a box which was tossed around all the time. For example, I cheered for Lelouch when he won the first battle and felt sorry for his loss and then I hated him for his cruelty and for what he did to many innocent people. I ended up having mixed feeling towards him and, belief it or not, I felt like this toward almost everyone. Code Geass cleverly creates “gray characters”, who are neither good nor bad but they are very real. They all have their reasons for doing what they did. I saw them clashed and I saw them fell and I was devastated. There are many messages hidden in the story but the most prominent one is that war never leads to happy ending.

Aside from political themes, the anime is also a mind blowing military action anime. Drama and romance can also be seen hidden throughout the series. The animation of Code Geass is superb. The action scenes are plenty and masterfully executed. The first season ends in a cliffhanger and I feel like I would die of suffocation if I don’t start watching the second season soon. Conclusion: Code Geass is one of the most powerful anime in recent memory. It is serious, complex, thought-provoking and entertaining. Making an anime which has all these qualities is not an easy job at all.
Rating: A

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