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

Read more...

Doraemon: Nobita's New Great Adventure into the Underworld - The Seven Magic Users : anime review

Title:Doraemon: Nobita's New Great Adventure into the Underworld - The Seven Magic Users
Genre: Fantasy, Sci-fi
Released date: March 10, 2007
Running Time: 112 minutes
Director: Yukiyo Teramoto

Comment: Doraemon the movie 2007 is a remake of 1984 movie. Similar to the 2006 movie remake, it tells the exact same story of the original with some additional minor details. That is the right thing to do. This time the adventure begins in the world in which magic is commonly used but science is just myth. Nobita, Doraemon and friends join force with Miyoko and doctor Mangetsu to prevent the invasion of the demons.

Many scenes from the original movie are cut. The most significant is the adventure on the dark planet before Doraemon and friends reach the demon’s castle. But, fortunately, their absence does not have negative effect to the movie because they are replaced by new, although small, scenes which subtly add depths, humor, excitement and even new twist to the story. I especially like two newly added details; the story of Miyoko’s mother which successfully adds depth to Miyoko’s character and also leads to a totally unexpected revelation at the end and the scene in which Doraemon returns to the future that helps explain the miraculous appearance of Doraemi later in the story (in the original movie, Doraemi simply shows up out of the blue).

The animation is a feast to the eyes. It looks mostly the same but it is more fluid and refreshing. Before I saw this movie, I never thought that a remake could be better than the original (unless the original was a disaster). This movie changed my thought. I am a long time fan of Doraemon and this movie left me in a brief euphoric state after it ended.

Rating: A

Read more...

Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea: anime review

Title: Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea
Genre: fantasy, adventure
Released date: July 19, 2008
Running Time: 101 minutes
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Animated by: Studio Ghibli
Comment: To me, Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea is another proof that Hayao Miyazaki, the director, is a magician in the world of anime. I belief most people, especially who live in Asia could recall the Tsunami tragedy that killed many hundred thousands people in South East Asia in 2004. If there were anyone who can retell the story of such disaster in a heart warming and dreamy way, Miyazaki would probably be the only name that came up in my mind.

The main idea of the anime is, like other Ghibli movies, about self-discovery and environmentalism. The story is told through the perspective of a young boy, Sosuke, and his goldfish, Ponyo, which happens to be a runaway goldfish princess. They are very fond of each other but Ponyo’s escape brings many magical things from the sea including the wizard, the goddess and the great waves that flood the whole town. The anime shows the worst situation imaginable in an extremely positive way. The town which is now underwater is like an aquatic heaven; beautiful and exotic fishes and marine life swim along the road, the water is crystal clear, the houses aren’t damaged by the giant waves and the people don’t look troubled despite the fact that they are trapped in boats (or in a magically conjured submarine dome). It may sound absurd but it actually works. The anime draws out the child hidden inside me and the world is full of fun and wonder and there is magic in every rocks and stones.

The animation of Ponyo is also unique because the entire movie is hand drawn and no CGI is applied. I was mesmerized by the details of this animation; every little movement and behavior of the children were paid attention to, making them very realistic and lovely. The background is fluid and beautiful. The music by Joe Hisaishi is fantastic. Conclusion: Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea is the anime made with great love and effort. It makes me think and it makes me dream. I absolutely love it.

Rating: A

Read more...

Otomo Katsuhiro's Memories: anime review

Title: Otomo Katsuhiro's Memories
Genre: action, sci-fi, drama, horror, comedy
Released date: December 23, 1995
Running Time: 113 min
Director: Koji Morimoto, Tensai Okamura, Katsuhiro Otomo
Comment: Memories consists of three short stories directed by three well known directors. Magnetic Rose, directed by Koji Morimoto and written by Satoshi Kon, is a typical ghost ship tale in space and also pays homage to other classic sci-fi films such as 2001: Space Odyssey. It is the most conventional but, arguably, considered the best of the three because it provides good combination of science, suspense, horror and drama. The scene in which the pilot faces the dead opera singer is immensely haunting and sad and cleverly reveals the tragic past of both characters. It is amazing that in merely 40 minutes, Magnetic Rose is able to create a world so vivid and characters so complex and realistic. The opera theme from Madam Butterfly and the original score by Yoko Kanno is simply perfect for the anime’s atmosphere.

The second episode, Stink Bomb, is a sudden change of mood. This black comedy is about a not-so-bright bioresearch facility employee whose body releases smelly, deadly gas after he accidentally ate an under experimental pill. What’s funniest is that even after every people in the city died and the army started shooting at him, he still doesn’t know what is the cause of this catastrophe. There are strong comment on politics, the army and the Unitied states. I admire the creativity and humor of this episode and the credit goes to the script by Otomo Katsuhiro.

The final episode, Cannon Fodder, Otomo Katsuhiro takes the viewers into the world infested with war that it becomes part of daily life. Every building has cannons that shoot out across the city wall to the unseen enemy and they teach children how to operate the cannons in schools. This episode is a technical marvel; the entire episode looks like it consists of one long shot and the animation detail is a state of the art. But the problem is that Cannon Fodder has the weakest screenplay compared to Rose or Bomb. It just shows us the daily activity of one family without any significant events or developments and, as a result, doesn’t deliver a satisfying closure to this great collection of short stories. Conclusion: The first episode sets the bar really high and overshadows the last. Nevertheless, Memories is a great anime that should not be missed.
Rating: B+

Read more...

Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa: anime review

Title: Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa
Genre: action, fantasy, sci-fi, historical
Released date: July 23, 2005
Run time: 105 minutes
Director: Seiji Mizushima
Animated by: Studio Bones
Comment: Conqueror of Shamballa picks the story up almost right after the end of the TV series which is already quite conclusive. So, in order to continue, new characters including the new villain and new plot must be created for this movie. Dietlinde Eckhart, Member of Thule Society, appears as new main antagonist. She tries to open the door between two parallel universes and gain the power from the world of alchemy. This evil agenda brings back all the familiar faces because only an alchemist can open this portal. The best thing about Shamballa and what it heavily relies on is the fan’s feeling of nostalgia as all the important characters from the TV series have made it back to the screen for at least a few seconds. The animation quality is on par with its TV predecessor. Despite many brilliant action scenes, Shamballa has no real new story to introduce like other individual movies and the new characters are there only to bring the Elric brothers back to action. So, I won’t recommend this anime to anyone not familiar with Fullmetal Alchemist. Conclusion: Shamballa is not solid enough to stand on its own but it is still a good and welcoming addition to the FMA saga.
Rating: C+

Read more...

Howl's Moving Castle: anime review

Title: Howl's Moving Castle
Genre: fantasy, drama
Released date: November 20, 2004
Running Time: 118 minutes
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Animated by: Studio Ghibli
Comment: Howl's Moving Castle was loosely based on fantasy novel of the same name by Diana Wynne Jones. I’ve read the book and in my opinion the anime adaptation felt more like Miyazaki’s work that Jones’. Howl's Moving Castle followed Sophie Hatter who ran her own hat shop. Her life changed when she accidentally met the wizard Howl and was turn into a 90 year old woman by the Witch of the Waste. Like most of Miyazaki’s film, the characters were neither good nor evil. They had flaws, weaknesses and their own motivations. In other words, they were very human. The daily activities of the characters such as eating, house keeping, cooking, bathing was greatly detailed. This helped bring the characters to life and create intimacy with the viewers. The animation was, as always, spectacular and the original score by Joe Hisaishi was beautiful. The climax when Sophie rescued Howl by undoing and making new contract with Calcifer the fire demon could be a little hard to follow at first because the viewers must interpret the event purely from Sophie’s action with no conversation at all. Conclusion: There was magic at work in this anime. Maybe Miyazaki was a wizard himself.
Rating: A

Read more...

Doraemon: Nobita's Dinosaur 2006: anime review

Title: Doraemon: Nobita's Dinosaur 2006
Genre: sci-fi, fantasy, drama
Released date: March 4, 2006
Running Time: 120 minutes
Director:Ayumu Watanabe
Comment: I’d known Doraemon for as long as I could remember. He was big part of my childhood as a friend, escape and inspiration. The Doraemon movies were made every year since 1980 and I loved them all. Doraemon: Nobita's Dinosaur 2006 was actually a remake of the first movie. It follwed Nobita, Doraemon and friends on their quest to bring Pesuke the dinosaur home and save it from the hunters. What I like most about this movie was that the director knew that he was remaking one of the most loved Doraemon films. This version followed the original very closely and was able to preserved the magic of the Doraemon franchise. There were some good changes made in this remake. The most obvious was the animation which was lively, colorful and, thankfully, was in beautiful 2D not in lifeless 3D. The scene in which Nobita and friends flew across great ancient landscape was simply breathtaking. I felt like I’d just walked out from some dark basement into the open field with cool breeze and sunny sky. The houses and the neighborhood in the movie had more modern looks. Environmentalism was also added to the movie in the scene showing the villain’s ship left its waste and fuel on the ground causing contamination. There were also a few things I didn’t like about this movie. The joke about Giant’s singing that attracted the T-Rex was missing. The ending sequence, though visually stunning, was somewhat incoherent and confusing.

The original movie could not be outdone but this remake cleverly kept most of the good parts from the original and successfully breathed new life into the franchise with refreshing animation and many nice new additions. This new Doraemon was still the old friend I’d known and loved for so long and it was always good to see him again.
Rating: B+

Read more...

Blood: The Last Vampire: anime review

Title: Blood: The Last Vampire
Genre: action, horror, supernatural
Released date: November 18, 2000
Running Time: 48 minutes
Director: Hiroyuki Kitakubo
Animated by: Production I.G, Aniplex
Comment: In this very short film, Saya, the Katana wielding vampire, hunted down monsters hiding in the US Air Base. That was literally all the story of this anime. It was vaguely hinted that Saya was the last vampire and working for the US government but no further information was revealed and throughout the movie Saya appeared to be plainly cold blooded killer. Other characters simply showed up and then were gone (killed or survived). Although the anime successfully created the dark and scary atmosphere and the fights between Saya and the monsters were thrilling and fun but I felt like the movie was only the action part of another complete film and I was so frustrated when it ended so abruptly. Conclusion: This anime had good art direction and animation and had few good moments but it lacked everything else including what really mattered like a decent story and characterization.
Rating: D+

Read more...

Evangelion: Death and Rebirth and The End of Evangelion: anime review

Title: Evangelion: Death and Rebirth and The End of Evangelion

Genre: mecha, sci-fi, drama
Released date: March 15, 1997 and July 19, 1997 respectively
Running Time: 115 and 87 minutes respectively
Director: Hideaki Anno
Animated by: Gainax
Comment: Both titles were the movie spin-off of the successful NGE TV series. The first part named Death was the re-edit version of the TV series which focused on character exploration. The second part called Rebirth and The End of Evangelion was the continuation and more detailed ending of the TV series. The way Death repeated the story from the series was quite interesting for about 10 minutes but the remaining 50 minutes bored me immensely because it was mostly the same thing. Rebirth was actually the first half hour of The End of Evangelion so I’ll discuss the latter only. The first half of The End of Evangelion when SEELE attacked NERV was very disturbing with many civilians cruelly killed, gruesome EVA02 versus SEELE’s Evas action, Shinji breaking down, Asuka going berserk and many deaths of the familiar characters. Nevertheless this first half was so good, intense and thrilling that I almost forgot to breath. But the second haft was totally different because it was unnecessarily long and quite boring. It was like trying to explain what had already been explained so well. It was too much and the abrupt change of general mood and pace of the movie almost ruined the entire film. Conclusion: Despite the disappointing ending, the movie was well done in general and a must have for those who enjoy the TV series.
Rating: B

Read more...

The Place Promised in Our Early Days: anime review

Title: The Place Promised in Our Early Days
Genre: sci-fi, drama, romance
Released date: 20 November 2004
Running Time: 91 minutes
Director: Makoto Shinkai
Animated by: CoMix Wave Inc.
Comment: After Voices of a Distant Star, Makoto Shinkai’s The Place Promised in Our Early Days confirmed me that the director’s huge success from his previous film was not a fluke. Similar to his previous work, this anime was mainly a love story with science fiction as a background. It set in an alternate universe in which Japan was separated into Northern and Southern part. The northern Japan was controlled by the Union and, using advanced technology, the Union built the mysterious tower which could bridge this universe with other parallel ones. The story followed three teenagers, Hiroki, Takuya and Sayuri. Sayuri was granddaughter of the tower’s creator and she was somehow connected to the parallel universe. As a result, Sayuri fell into prolonged sleep. The two boys (Hiroki and Takuya) who had romantic feelings for Sayuki planned to save her by flying her to the tower. The anime was a feast to the eyes with richly illustrated background and characters. There were enough widescreen shots and landscapes to make an art gallery. The anime took long time to slowly establish the relationships between the three main characters which gradually changed and developed throughout the film. The pace, consequently, was slow but no scene or dialogue was without meaning. The climax in which Sayuri revealed her true feeling to Hiroki knowing that she would soon lost her memory was, at least for me , heart breaking. The music was sad and sweet. Conclusion: The Place Promised in Our Early Days was overwhelmingly beautiful both on the surface and from deep within.
Rating: A

Read more...