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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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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Samurai Champloo: anime review

Title: Samurai Champloo
Genre: action, comedy, historical
Released date: May 20, 2004 – March 19, 2005
Episode: 26
Director: Shinichiro Watanabe
Animated by: Manglobe Studio
Comment: Samurai Champloo follows the journey of Fuu, a young woman seeking “the samurai who smelled of sunflower”, and her two recruited companion; Mugen the wandering outlaw and Jin, the quiet and mild mannered ronin. Each episode involved the separate events the group has gone through during their journey but new bits of details concerning the whereabouts and identity of the mysterious samurai and the backgrounds of each characters are gradually and subtly revealed to provide the sense of continuation. Personally, I think Fuu who is the center of the entire series has the weakest storyline. The mystery about the samurai who smells of sunflower is initially very interesting but in the end when the truth is revealed, it is so predictable that I am surprised and in the middle section of the series, this story is barely touched. On the other hand, the story of Mugen and Jin are absolutely intriguing and thoroughly detailed.

The setting of Samurai Champloo is in Edo era of Japan with unique mixture of modern style, most prominently hip-hop and rap music. This blending of the old and new style helps lift the anime’s conventional story into something extraordinary. This technique is previously used in Cowboy Bebop (also directed by Watanabe) which is now considered a classic anime. The animation quality is superb and the action sequences are masterfully crafted. Certain action scenes actually send a chill running through my spine. Despite all these favorable qualities, I find a number of episodes quite problematic and sometimes even disturbing or silly. I believe it is because I do not understand the historical or cultural reference behind them or is it because I don’t get the joke? (obviously, I’m not Japanese)

Conclusion: Although Samurai Champloo is already worth a try just for its style, it is also entertaining and technically amazing. But it does suffer from few episodes that cannot live up to the others and an arguably unsatisfied ending.

Rating: B

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Spirit of Wonder: anime review

Title: Spirit of Wonder
Genre: fantasy, sci-fi, historical, drama, comedy
Released date: January 25, 2001
Runtime: appx 90 min.
Director: Mitsuru Hongo, Takashi Anno
Animated by: Ajia-do Animation Works, Bandai Visual
Comment: Spirit of Wonder is a four episode OVA; The Shrinking of miss China, Scientific Boys Club part I, II and China-san: Short Stories. The Shrinking of miss China is only 15 minutes long but it is funny and smart that it easily puts a smile on my face. The next 2 episodes, Scientific Boys Club part I and II, are quite the opposite. They are about a few old men who try to fulfill their dreams of going to Mars and in the process manage to bring a young married couple along with them. These two episodes are utterly dull. The drama in the first episode is boring and the journey to Mars in the second episode is slow and uneventful that it fails to capture the viewers’ interest. The dullness probably results from the shallow and poorly detailed characters. I don’t care whether they reach the red planet or get sucked into some wormhole. I also have problems with the space ship in this anime because it is not credible from the beginning. How the ship is built is shown only briefly then it suddenly floats into space. I do not mind that it looks like anything but a space ship but it should at least be realistic. In the last episode, Miss China returns. This is a nice episode with interesting sci-fi theme but it isn’t enough to improve the overall rating. Conclusion: The anime has some good moments but after the show ends, one question springs into my mind; ‘so what?’
Rating: C

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Basilisk: Koga Ninpo Cho: anime review

Title: Basilisk: Koga Ninpo Cho
Genre: action, histerical, fantasy
Released date: April 2005 – September 2005
Episode: 24
Director: Fumitomo Kizaki
Animated by: GONZO studio
Comment: Two ninja clans with 400 years of hatred, the Iga and Kouga, battle each other to determine which grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu will become the next shogun. Although many ninjas of both clan were happy about the battle, the two young heir of Kouga and Iga, Gennosuke and Oboro respectively, were in love and were about to get married. The story was simple, straight forward and very Romeo-and-Juliet-like. But the real charm of this anime lied in the characters. Each character had good and bad sides. They were kind and loving among their allies but were cold-blooded and merciless to their foes. They are very human and it broke my heart every time a character suffered a miserable end. The anime effectively expressed the monsters the war brought out of men. The political issue was interesting and helped make the story more complicated and more exciting. The action scenes were swift, often shocking and always masterfully done. Conclusion: This character-driven anime series was a nonstop fun ride with great production, great characters and serious messages for viewers to think about. It was a very emotional experience for me watching this anime. I love it. Caution: the anime contained adult themes, violence and nudity.
Rating: A

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