Category: Anime Reviews

Oh my god… this one’s a real tear-jerker. Anga was the one, who recommended this movie to me, more than a year ago, and I finally had the chance to watch it, and I’m SO glad that I gave this one a chance. This movie is THE proof that the Koreans can do more than just produce pretty graphics á la Wonderful Days. Basically, any slice-of-life fan will enjoy this. It tells the story of two orphans: a blind girl and her younger brother. There are other characters as well, like a couple of monks, who end up taking care of the pair of them, but they’re nowhere as interesting as the two main characters. The boy was only one year old when their mother died in a fire, and they’ve been taking care of each other ever since. And boy, does it end up awesome. The creators were really successful in creating a sad story which left me crying for many times in a row. The two main characters are fleshed out into really likable characters, and you’ll really end up feeling sorry for the things both of them had to endure, and the beauty of all is that it manages to stay realistic while doing so. I’ve got only two complaints for this movie. The two children may be fleshed out, and they’ve got background, but I would have liked to see a bit more of it, like how the girl was able to take care of her brother after becoming blind, and how the two of them managed to survive until they reached the Buddhist Monastery. The second point of critique is the ending: it’s an anticlimax. The mood is built up perfectly, and the boy reaches a really pitiful state, and then the suddenly introduces supernatural elements from out of nowhere. It’s here where the religious undertones of the movie went completely out of control. Still, don’t let that flaw ruin this excellent production. It’s obviously not for those who need action, but this is a great example of a successful slice-of-life movie. Be warned, though: the boy might be a bit annoying with his antics in the beginning, but he quickly becomes too adorable for this to really matter. If you’re looking for something to make you cry, this is a pretty good suggestion. P.S. For those who are interested: Guriguri has translated an interview with the movie’s director into English. Quite insightful.]]>

Ah, I’ve been anticipating this one. It’s a TV-special, but it could as well be considered a movie, with a length of one hour and forty minutes. The storyline is nothing special. Evil construction-workers are planning to destroy a forest, somewhere in the Japanese mountains by building a dam, and the forest and the local children fight back to stop them. It was quickly clear that the success of this anime would depend on its characters. Luckily, Miyori proved to be more than able to carry this TV-special. She’s a great example of a well-developed tomboy, and she easily goes beyond this stereotype. Throughout the airtime, it was awesome to see her get used to her new surroundings, including the highly imaginative creatures of the forest. Her voice-actress also shines, giving off an excellent performance. The only downside to this is that there are quite a few side-characters who do lack development, especially the bad guys are a bunch of stereotypes; they just bleak when compared to Miyori herself. Another major plus in this production is the graphics-department. While the animation is plain and simple, the art itself is incredibly detailed, both for the character-designs and the background art. Especially Miyori’s got some excellent character-designs, while she still looks like an ordinary girl. The forest itself is brightly coloured, and a real feast for the senses. While the soundtrack isn’t among the best, it definitely contributes to the overall scenes. Especially the tune that was played during the climax was excellent. Despite the flaws, I’d recommend this series to any slice-of-life fan, just because of Miyori. She’s a great character, who totally made this TV-special worth the watch.]]>

The Diary of Tortov Roddle is another one of those travelling anime. It’s an OVA, consisting out of six episodes of about two to three minutes. Each of them shows a thing happening to Tortov, as he travels with his strange, long-legged pig. There are no voices at all. All dialogue we see is in the form of Tortov’s diary, which appears at the beginning and end of each “episode”. The major plus about this OVA is that it’s so incredibly close to Tortov himself, since everything is seen through his diary. Take this in contrast with Kino’s Journey, for example. Kino always maintains a distance from both the viewer and the places she visits, in order to protect herself from not getting too attached to her surroundings. Still, don’t go out of your way to watch this movie. It’s a nice idea, I admit, but it’s just too short to really make an impact. Tortov also majorly lacks in background. We never even know why Tortov travels. One of the episodes also has a romantic subplot, but with only 2 minutes, that one went nowhere. The production-values also won’t save this one. The music, albeit nothing special, is nice enough to create a fairy-tale-like mood, the character-designs are unique, but the animation is as simple as possible and rather unimpressive. I know that the creators wanted to create a certain mood, but they could have tried better for this one. Travelling is a great subject for anime, and they just didn’t use it well enough.]]>

I’m not sure whether I should publish this review, simply because I have no idea what to think of this movie. It’s more unique and absurd than any other movie I’ve seen up till now. Even Cat Soup was easier to describe: that one was just weird. Tamala 2010, however, is beyond weird. It starts out fair enough: there’s a world in which cats live, and we focus on one of these cats: Tamala. She looks cute, but that’s the only cute thing about her. The movie is full of foul language, blood-references in the form of tomato-soup and other red liquids, and many taboos get broken, for example gay people being open about their sexuality, rape (that poor mouse), tattoos and cute girls smoking. If 4kids got their hands on this movie, the end result would only be about 30 seconds long. The thing is, though, that unlike anime as Dai Mahou Touge and Bokusatsu Techi Dokuro-chan, the purpose of this movie is more than just gore, destruction and foul language. The first half is basically about Tamala doing random, hateful and nonchalant things as she runs away from her mother, whom she hates. Then a very strange twist comes, and suddenly turns this into a mystery-movie. You’ll be surprised at the huge amount of attention the setting suddenly gets, and this really is the part that’s hard to describe, as I know that I didn’t do it justice. But I also have no idea how to really describe it clearly. If you want a strange movie, though, this should be a good pick, as few movies can claim to be as strange as this one. There’s lots of symbolism in it, and I could recognize strong messages against big companies and commercialism. It’s definitely not for everyone, though. I’m also not going to rate this one, as I’ve got no idea how to really judge it. It was enjoyable, though. ^^;]]>

Okay, so this is a movie to avoid unless you’re really, really bored. I was lured in by the attractive character-designs and nice-sounding title, but what I got was a horrible mess. This is just one of those movies which are completely screwed up by the scriptwriters. For starters, the story plays in a world in which once an ancient civilization lived: the Wind People. Unfortunately, they died out at one point, when they were slaughtered by an evil empire. The main character just happened to be one of those Wind People, without any explanation whatsoever on how the heck he became someone of a race that was supposed to be extinct. If this was the only flaw, there wouldn’t be much of a problem. Unfortunately, this is only the tip of the iceberg. To sum up a few of the writers’ errors: they didn’t build up well enough, plot elements go unexplained, characters lack background, characters lack reason for their actions, entire scenes seem to be missing, characters act unnatural, there are continuity errors, the main character is a Gary Stu, there are heaps of Deus ex Machina throughout the movie, there’s a lack of realism, the entire setting isn’t developed well enough so it makes no sense, lady luck is in favour of our main character throughout the entire movie, the creators jump to the action way too quickly, and probably some more flaws I can’t remember. This should give you a fair impression of the overall quality. About the good things: they’re hardly there, but there are a handful standalone moments in the movie that were sort-of amusing, like the kids’ times in jail, or a baker, preparing for battle. The graphics and music also aren’t too bad. Okay, they’re still nothing special, but by the standards of this movie, it’s nothing to complain about. Overall, this movie is a bad one. It’s another one of those shounen-adventures gone wrong, and if you’re looking for one and a half hour to burn, then you should try a different movie. ^^; I hope the next movie will be a better one.]]>

This movie came to me, recommended by Wyrdwad. Its original story comes from the same writer of Night on the Galactic Railroad: Miyazawa Kenji. I’m glad I checked it out, as it’s one of the most unique music-anime I’ve seen. The story is about Gauche, a professional, though not very good cellist. While this premise sounds rather bland, there is one element in the story that totally gives this movie its own style and charm. I refrain from saying what it is, for the sake of spoilers, though. It’s best if you watch this movie without knowing anything. Because of that element, this movie turned into quite an adorable fable, that neither feels too long nor too short. I also admire the realism, Gauche (or “Goshu”, as his name is in the anime) acts surprisingly likable throughout the movie, as do the other side-characters. The story also isn’t afraid to go into a bit of the technical stuff, while still remaining easy to follow. Despite its age, Gauche the Cellist remains an enjoyable light watch for every age, apart from the people who need action, perhaps. While the movie didn’t reach any heights, it did what it set out to do, and a very good job as well. The art looks fairly unimpressive, though. But because of that, the characters end up looking like any other average Joes, making the mood of this movie even more down to earth. The animation is nothing impressive for a movie, but I must note that this is one of the few times where the animators actually bothered to try and synchronize their instruments with the background music. Most anime nowadays don’t even bother, and I remember how Nodame Cantabile’s attempt of using CG for this failed horribly.]]>

What movie would be a better a better choice after Unico than Vampire Hunter D – Bloodlust? ^^; Anyway, the sequel of the movie Vampire Hunter D, produced sixteen years after the original, is indeed much better than the first one. The graphics look a lot better, and especially the music took a turn for the better, delivering a soundtrack that may not contain some of the best tunes ever, but succeeds in producing an effective atmosphere to capture the viewer. But what about the story? Well, there’s one added element that convinced me that Bloodlust is superior to its predecessor: the romance. Not with D, but the affair the main antagonist has been having. The relationship between him and his loved one, combined with the fact that the vampires are a dying race definitely made the movie worth watching. I wish I could say the same about the action, though. It takes up most of the airtime, and even though the amount of blatant Deus ex Machina has been reduced to only one, it’s just too unimpressive. The fights suffer especially because of their predictability. You’ll be able to easily to predict who’ll survive in the end, after only one tenth of the airtime, and the action itself isn’t really that good for a movie. Especially the side-characters, Layla’s henchmen, are a major problem in this movie. They’re just there to fill time. We never get to see their intentions, background or anything. We never see how they got together, and they get killed as easily as two donuts in a police-station. The main characters may have been interesting to watch, all gets ruined when the movie starts focusing on the obnoxious side-characters again. The minor antagonists aren’t exactly gripping either. Still, this movie is a nice enough watch, though there are better choices. The first half disappointed a bit, though things got better in the second half, when the major characters got some development. The ending is a bit cheesy, though you wouldn’t expect anything else, considering the predictability. I found the last line of the movie to be really amusing, though. :P]]>

This is one for the children out there. The Fantastic Adventures of Unico tells about a little unicorn with an amazing talent: to make everyone he runs into happy. Its storyline and themes (in this case, friendship) are simple and easy to understand, as the movie follows the adventures of the incredibly cute Unico and his friends. If you’ve got a little brother or sister, this would be the perfect thing to show them. Especially the kids in kindergarten will love it. But still, the question remains whether older viewers will enjoy it. If I were to judge the story in the way I do with other anime, this movie would fail horribly. Characters lack background, and Unico is surprisingly mature and brave for his age. The movie starts out nicely, though, when the gods try to get rid of Unico, but these gods play an unfortunate small role for the rest of the airtime. Halfway through the movie, a more clichéd villain gets introduced, who gets to be the big boss who needs to be defeated in the end. This end turns out to be a Disney-ending, so don’t expect much of it. Still, the characters are interesting to watch; if you like cute stuff, at least. I do admit that Unico gets more annoying as the movie goes on, but the other characters are definitely fun to watch. Everyone has a clear role to play in this movie, and a lot of symbolism is used to flesh them out. There are quite a few adorable moments throughout the movie, and despite the fact that the storyline doesn’t always work, the themes are always spot-on. This is one of these movies that you need to watch on a brain-dead afternoon, when you don’t want to think much. For me, this definitely wasn’t Osamu Tezuka’s best work. But then again, I’m not exactly part of the target audience. ^^;]]>

Recommended by Roastedpekingduck. Some of you may remember the first episode of the tv-series Giant Robo that was released at the beginning of the year. I have no idea what happened to the rest of the series (I’d love to see it though), but it’s based on the OVA of Giant Robo, that came out ten years ago. The OVA is sort-of like a prequel, as Daisaku is only twelve years old. The premise revolves all around the Shizuma drives: a miraculous new form of energy that has no effect on pollution whatsoever. The story starts ten years after they’ve been discovered, when they’ve become just as ordinary as air and water. This OVA is about two things: action and manliness. It’s one big spectacle, from beginning to end, and it’s of course full of grand action scenes. Thankfully, it’s got a good enough plot to back this up, as it tries to reach an as large spectacle as possible, combining plot twists and storytelling with its action. This turned into a mixed bag. Some parts are epic, and definitely worth the watch; others just didn’t get enough development, and feel like they were included just to make the scenes more spectacular. Overall, the plot works, but there are just a bit too many plot-holes left open. 50% of the characters that die turns out to be alive at one point (of course, all do this, just when they’re needed the most), and some vital parts about the things that happened in the past go unexplained. Especially Daisaku’s past is guilty of this. A few scenes also like to screw physics at times, performing feats that can’t even be explained if you take the superpowers of the characters (who are never really explained in the first place) into account. Also don’t expect the ending to wrap everything up. Despite this, though, the OVA turned out really nice to watch. Okay, it’s no masterpiece, but the better parts are definitely worth watching. A huge emphasis is also put on battle ethics, which work especially well with Daisaku, despite his brattiness. Everyone’s basically protecting him with their lives, simply because he’s the only one who can pilot Giant Robo. My favourite episodes were 1, 5 and 7. The graphics do look old-fashioned, since this OVA has been made more than ten years ago. The animation looks excellent, though, especially when lots of explosions are featured (which happens a lot). The graphics, however, bleak against the music, because the soundtrack for Giant Robo turned out truly epic. The operatic influences work perfectly.]]>

Kai Doh Maru is making me rather angry while writing this review. Not because it’s incredibly bad, but because it could have been incredibly good. It’s Production IG’s attempt at making a movie, and they went with another setting of Japan’s history. The interesting thing is that while most anime pick a period around the year 1800, with the samurai and shinsengumi and all, Kai Doh Maru goes further back: to the ninth century. Those who appreciated Sisters of Wellber know what to expect: really stylized art that fits perfectly, an excellent soundtrack (this one has been composed by Yoshihiro Ike, the same guy who did Ergo Proxy), and a nice amount of the screen-time is spent on fleshing out the characters, creating a great mood for this movie to work with. Only the humour is missing in this one. So why did it disappoint? Simply enough: it’s too short. If only it had gotten twenty, maybe ten more minutes, it could have been so much better, and it could have made a chance to be memorable. Unfortunately, Kai Doh Maru only has a length of 40 minutes, which may be enough to flesh out its characters, but not to flesh out their backgrounds. Right now, the movie was just way too confusing and failed to answer too many questions. What happened in Kai Doh Maru’s past? Why was he or she hunted, and why does she or he keep changing genders? These questions could have been perfectly answered if more time was given. Then there’s the issue of the ending: there is none. It just ends, and the bad guys still live. What happens next? We’ll never know. One thing I do know is that I really like Production IG’s style of storytelling; it’s just too bad that this movie screwed up. Nevertheless, despite my ranting, it’s quite an enjoyable movie though; you can give it a try if you’re a fan of their style like me. Just be sure for the rather large plotholes it leaves.]]>