Category: Anime Reviews

I currently have reviewed almost 700 series (this is my 692th review, to be exact), and yet I haven’t quite seen anything like The Big O here. The way in which it somehow manages to combine film noir with giant robots fighting each other is really commendable. On top of that, the soundtrack is completely unique as well, it has a unique main character for an anime, and even the entire premise that this series is based on is just… unlike anything I’ve seen. Sunrise, I applaud you for creating such an interesting series!

First things first, though, because this series does like to toy with your suspense of disbelief a lot. You see, the protagonist, Roger Smith has the profession of “Negotiator”: he mediates between fair deals in order to solve conflicts. And seriously, you’d be surprised at how this show time and time again makes these negotiation jobs boil down to giant robot fights. Some villains have some of the most bizarre reasons to suddenly grab a giant robot in order to attempt to accomplish their goals.

I also hope that you like series that don’t bother to answer all of the questions they ask, because this show loves to pretend that it doesn’t make any sense. Instead, it leaves things up to the viewer to interpret, and fill in the blanks. And that’s the beauty of this series: none of the characters really has any idea what’s going on. What we see here is 26 episodes of characters struggling against the unknown, everyone doing this with a different interpretation. This show doesn’t just have an original setting, it also manages to make it very deep by consistently looking at it through different eyes and trying to analyze it.

It also helps that it’s wonderfully told. The entire series has this great mysterious atmosphere, and the stories it presents work really well with the lead couple, Roger Smith and Dorothy. The two of them also play off each other extremely well and are both very well written. Roger Smith is a great lead character because he constantly thinks and never takes anything for granted, while Dorothy’s deadpan portrayal of an android is consistently haunting. The dialogue is also really well written, and the scriptwriters time and time again manage to accurately portray all of the different characters end up in this series.

The Big O is mostly episodic, but it’s the kind where everything comes together at the end. When I watched some of the episodes, they seemed pretty pointless at first, but now that I just finished the final episodes, I’m surprised at how each of the episodes had its purpose, either by adding to one of the characters, giving the setting more depth, or the storyline itself.

My one complaint is that the action scenes, while wonderfully combined with the dialogue, do feel a bit formulaic after a while. This also has to do with the fact that the battles are often held held for… strange reasons. As the show goes on, the stakes that are put on the battles actually increase, though, which takes the monotony away again.

This show also has its share of mindscrew moments. If you’re looking for a confusing series to watch, then this definitely is a recommendation, because when you look beyond the unanswered questions you can see that this show has a story that the creators put a lot of thought and effort into.

Storytelling:	9/10 – Excellent atmosphere and good build-up. The script is great and everything nicely comes together after a while. Just don’t start nit-picking every tiny detail.
Characters:	9/10 – Diverse, no teenagers, and the characters fit the setting exactly and make excellent use of this.
Production-Values:	8/10 – Unique look, and during the money shots the inbetween animation really is impressive.
Setting:	9/10 – Imaginative, unique and thought-provoking. It doesn’t answer a majority of the questions it asks, but knows it and uses it to its full advantage.

Suggestions:
– Argento Soma
– Bokura no
– Gasaraki

I think it’s no surprise that my favourite director of all time is Kazuki Akane. If you look at my Top 10 favourite anime, this guy directed three of those spots, and even his flawed series of Geneshaft was fascinating science fiction. Now, I’m not going to compare Heat Guy J to his other series, though. The entire review would then pretty much look like “Yeah, the [insert element here] is very good, but not as good as Escaflowne, Noein and Birdy” over and over again, because as a standalone series, Heat Guy J has a lot to like.

Starting off, the action in this series is really good and also surprisingly varied. The animators here ended up experimenting with a ton of different styles for animating their action scenes, you have clean brawl-fests, there are fights with messy yet very expressive animation, there are gunfights, car chases, sword battles. This wide array of different styles makes every action scene here worth watching. If anything, just watch the first episode for some superbly directed and animated action. The soundtrack too is very excellent and varied as well. The character designs will probably take a while to (this and Escaflowne have the same character designs ;)), but once you do they too look great, diverse and imaginative.

The show is pretty episodic, and the ratio of random to plot related episodes is about 30 to 70, and even episodes that might seem random at first turn out to have some significance as the story goes on. Heat Guy J’s story is very much dependant on its cast of characters, which really is excellent. The acting is perhaps a bit stiff at times, but the entire cast grows into something lovable by the end of the series. All of the major side characters either get some significant development or an interesting back-story, and I especially loved how the final fight with the major villain at the end ties everything together, wrapping this series up very nicely without leaving any bad aftertaste whatsoever.

The series takes place in another one of those post-apocalyptic futures, but what’s interesting is that while most shows of this kind tend to have a very bleak and depressing outlook, Heat Guy J balances this out with also a lot of positive energy. On one hand, it delves into corruption and crime, but on the other it’s having fun and celebrating humanity’s collective ability to survive a harsh environment and making the best of what they have. This balance they create is great and definitely gives this show an interesting setting to work with.

So yeah, to get back to the first paragraph: this show has a lot of good stuff in it, though I also admit that it did not reach the heights of Birdy, Noein and Escaflowne. Most of the difference lies in the details, though: the latter ones were much better fleshed out and the only real flaw of Heat Guy J is its stiff acting at times, Still, it’s hard not to love the titular J and his constant one liners about what a real man should be, or any of the other characters for that matter.

Storytelling:	8/10 – Nice pacing, interesting stories.
Characters:	9/10 – Great and lovable characters with diverse backgrounds. Nice depth and development to them as well.
Production-Values:	9/10 – Excellent animation, especially during the action scenes. Awesome soundtrack.
Setting:	8/10 – Simple but effective. It’s well fleshed out at the end.

Suggestions:
– Noein
– DT Eightron
– Turn A Gundam

It’s amazing to think that even in the early days of Bones, they already managed to gather a ridiculous amount of talent. I mean, they immediately showed how good they are with animating down to earth fight scenes with Angelic Layer, they got to do the Escaflowne movie, which had some fantastic animation, and not to mention Cowboy Bebop’s movie (of which I’ve heard many good movies). Then they came with RahXephon and really cemented themselves as a unique production company.

First and foremost, RahXephon is an example of the heights that anime can attain when they make full use of of their creative liberties. For something that aired nine years ago, it just has absolutely fantastic ideas within its graphics. The mecha design is exquisite, and unlike any other series I’ve seen. The use of CG is brilliant, especially for its time. The cleanup animation may leave a lot to be desired, but this show more than makes up for it with its gorgeous artwork and animation. The scenes in this series are also really well directed: this show is full of ideas, from the small details to large plot twist.

Now, as for the story itself though, you’re definitely going to like a bit of a mind-screw once in a while if you want to be able to enjoy this series. In particular, this is in no way a series that tries to explain everything that’s going on through it’s airtime: it leaves a lot unmentioned, and it especially refrains from mentioning exactly why everything is happening in this series. Instead, it just leaves this up to the viewers to make their own interpretations. I personally really like these kinds of series, but if you don’t then prepare to go “wtf” quite a few times throughout the series’ airtime because even for my standards this show ended up leaving a bunch of crucial unanswered questions behind.

Now, one thing that annoyed me a bit is that the cast of characters in this series is a bit of a mixed bag. It can be very good, and the acting is mostly rock solid, and the backgrounds of the characters are overall pretty interesting, but at the same time this show also spends quite a bit of its time on teenaged angst, unfortunately to the point where it takes up too much of the storyline and just goes on for too long. Characters refuse to talk to each other for strange reasons, and various romantic relationships take ages to get from A to B due to superficial padding.

Overall though, while this isn’t a show to watch for its cast, it still has a lot to like here, and I’m impressed what the people from Bones pulled off here. And to be honest, I had a really difficult time deciding whether to give it a rating of 85 or of 87,5, because even nine years after it aired it still is unique. Unfortunately, I do have to admit that it had some parts that were annoying. Nevertheless, it did have got the kind of mindset that I really like, where it put more focus on being interesting than on being flawless.

Storytelling:	9/10 – A lot of subtle details in the storytelling, the pacing is slow, the story is vague on purpose and yet packs some great and interesting scenarios.
Characters:	8/10 – Too much teenaged angst and characters who make strange actions, but the rest of the cast is solid enough to make up for it.
Production-Values:	9/10 – Unique graphics for a TV-series. Brilliant use of CG, especially for its time.
Setting:	8/10 – Inspired by Evangelion, but packs more than enough great ideas and details of its own. Could have been more solid, though.

Suggestions:
– Neon Genesis Evangelion
– Argento Soma
– Darker than Black

Here is one for the category “series with very misleading titles”. This one has two titles: Gakuen Senki Muryou and Shingu – Secret of the Stellar Wars. And yeah, I guess that they make sense when you’ve seen the entire series, but with such titles I expected an epic show about galactic warfare and strategic battles and the role of a random school in them. I was expecting a fully blown action adventure here. Madhouse had different plans, though.

First of all, Gakuen Senki Muryou isn’t about war at all. Sure, there is a war going on and all and there are a few battles here and there, but it’s actually focused much more on diplomacy than actual warfare. Throughout the entire series we get to see all kinds of diplomats, trying to get all kinds of alien relationships to flow smoothly, and trying to take care of the oddball aliens that try to invade the earth. It’s actually quite an interesting concept that the creators got here, unlike any other show I’ve seen here.

Second of all, I did not expect this series to have as much slice of life as it did. It’s even a bigger focus of this show than the diplomacy: this series really shines in the way that it depicts its characters when nothing is going on and they’re just living their daily lives, and it really took its time to portray all of its characters as ordinary humans who have enough things to do on their own when they’re not saving the world. It’s all wonderfully down to earth: often you just randomly see people having dinner, attending classes or trying to get an interesting school project off the ground.

It all meshes surprisingly well with each other and often times the line between slice of life and diplomacy gets pretty blurry, with some wonderful results. It also really helps that this show is really good at fleshing out its characters: the dialogue is often quite witty, the lead characters, especially Nayuta, receive quite a bit of depth throughout the series, and even the smallest side characters here feel like actual people that have their own lives. This show also likes to sometimes focus on random discussions from people that just happened to be in the neighbourhood, and this show actually succeeded really well in making its setting come alive.

This show also subverts a ton of stereotypes: one thing that I especially loved about the first half of this series is that nobody really turns out like what he appears to be at first sight. The show comes with a ton of surprises because of that, which made it very fun to watch, even during the slow pacing of the plot and the childish (but hardly ever annoying!) characters.

Now, first and foremost this is a series about middle schoolers, but it’s also one of those shows whose target audience is pretty vague: there is also quite a bit of attention to the large cast of adults that roam this series, there are no high schoolers whatsoever and the elementary school kids that pass by are also wonderfully characterized (I especially loved Hajime’s sister). On the other hand, all of the scientific theories, diplomatic discussions and the entire backstory will probably fly over the heads of most kids (because really, there is a ton of depth behind the world that this show attempted to create).

It’s pretty much a series for many different ages, especially if you like middle school adventures and the combination of slice of life with something else (in this case science fiction and diplomacy). Just don’t watch this for the action alone: the battles are few and far inbetween, and it’s about the only part of this show that isn’t creatively portrayed. Shingu is a very obscure series, but it really doesn’t deserve that: it’s got more than enough to like.

It’s definitely not the most exciting series: it always favours its laid-back style and pacing, even at the darker parts in the series, but at the same time I can hardly see anything that this show does wrong. Yeah, perhaps it has one tsundere and perhaps the ending could have been less rushed, but that’s just nitpicking here.

Storytelling:	9/10 – Slow paced, but great slice of life, creative depictions of the characters and great combination with diplomacy.
Characters:	9/10 – Greatly written characters, both the main ones, the side ones and the very small side ones: everyone feels important in this series. There’s also virtually no cheese in the drama here.
Production-Values:	8/10 – The animation itself is nothing special, but the art is quite consistent and creative.
Setting:	9/10 – A unique setting thanks to the unusual different focuses of this series. It’s very well detailed and explored throughout the series.

Suggestions:
– Level E
– Maria-Sama ga Miteru-franchise
– Tytania

… this was made in 1977. It’s amazing to think that even at a time when anime was only fifteen years old, and mostly consisted out of cheesy and episodic kiddie shows, some people were already making these highly detailed, imaginative and well told storylines.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Ie Naki Ko’s graphics were the best out of any TV-series at its time: Osamu Dezaki as a director was consistently experimenting with new animation techniques in order to simulate movement. The backgrounds also give a wonderfully detailed and realistic depiction of the french landscapes of 140 years ago.And I mean, the show is old, so the graphics obviously look dated, but there still is enough great art and eye candy for today’s standards. I especially liked the technique where layers of background art moving on top of each other. The things that worked least were probably the “shocking moments”. Those were probably a bit too dramatically drawn.

This series tells the story of the travels of a young abandoned child. Unlike most of the World Masterpiece Theatre Series that first take about twelve episodes of build-up, it immediately starts off as an engaging series. The show is 51 episodes long, but it has plenty of material to fill it up with, perhaps with only the episodes between 15 and 25 dragging on a bit. The show goes through some huge changes in both mood and storyline, and there’s an array of very different and interesting goals and trials that the creators throw at the poor young Remi.

Because of this, his growth throughout the series is a really memorable one, but the side characters are also wonderfully portrayed. The major side characters all receive their own share of development, and the minor ones all feel wonderfully down to earth and realistic. Even all of the animals in this series have their own personalities, flaws and strengths.

Now, comparing Remi to other World Masterpiece Theatre series, there are two areas at which it is unfortunately notably weaker than some of the best ones. The first is the acting, which sometimes gets a bit too dramatic and not as realistic as the best WMT series out there (emphasis on “best”; with that I mean series as Perrine Monogatari and Les Miserables, not the Trapp Family Story or even Romeo’s Blue Skies). The show really tries to be out there and catch your attention, and with that come these sacrifices as the almost theatrical type of acting, plus a rather worrying amount of disasters that seem to cling to Remi. Seriously, the amount of coincidences that hit this kid may be a bit worrying here…

Overall though, this is a wonderful series for both kids and adults. It’s just one of those examples that show that the gems of anime can be found in any decade; it leaves many series behind it, both modern and old. If you like the World Masterpiece Theatre type of series but would like to see a different twist on them, then by all means give this one a chance.

Storytelling:	8/10 – The acting is a bit too theatrical at times, but it’s an excellent take on a classic story with a diverse plot that keeps moving forward.
Characters:	9/10 – Great character development, themes and just about every character has something to like.
Production-Values:	9/10 – For its time: just fantastic. For today’s standards it does look a tad dated but there is still a lot of neat stuff to look at if you don’t mind the vastly different art style.
Setting:	9/10 – Very realistic, well detailed believable. An excellent backdrop for this series.

Suggestions:
– Ashita no Nadja
– Perrine Monogatari
– Porfy no Nagai Tabi

The more I watch from Sunrise, the more I’m impressed at their pre-Mai Otome and Gundam Seed Destiny works. Seriously, Witch Hunter Robin shows that even without mecha, they just kept going for mature and imaginative premises with a surprisingly good amount of characterization.

Witch Hunter Robin is for the people who like the maturely told anime: aside from Robin herself, every character in this show is an adult, and even Robin herself feels unlike your average squeaky teenager due to her professionalism. The characters in this series all have jobs, and this actually feels like it, rather than focusing on a group of people that just lives for the plot. It’s very down to earth and the acting is subtle and restrained. There are some problems with a lack of characterization on some of the bad guys, but overall this show has a very good cast here.

The series follows the “first half random episodes, second half plot”-format, and it’s pretty good at both. The random episodes are especially recommended if you like morals in your anime: the cases that Robin and the other lead characters run into continually question what’s right and wrong. Characters keep hopping back and forth over the moral scale and it really tries to be thought-provoking. The second half meanwhile successfully creates a multi layered plot. The focus on morals gets a bit simplified, but the way in which the plot grows definitely makes up for it: the series just changes constantly with a very interesting intrigue plot.

Now, the biggest fault with this show is that it probably could have used more variety. It’s a consistently bleak show, and the slow pacing at times will take some time to get used to if you don’t like the characters. The ending is also neither particularly disappointing, but neither very interesting or well done either (again: bad guy, plus a number of strange plotholes in an otherwise quite solid series).

Witch Hunter Robin has character designs in a style that was unfortunately abandoned in the past six years, in favour of the moe and bishies of today. It’s a shame though, because they look gorgeous and unique, putting aesthetics before pandering. The animation itself ranges from unrefined to decent, but this show was always great to look at.

Storytelling:	8/10 – Mature and very nicely atmospheric. A bit one-sided at times, though.
Characters:	9/10 – Great and solid characterization. Characters are mature yet likable.
Production-Values:	8/10 – Certainly not the best that Sunrise has done, but still it’s a great series to look at with very nice music.
Setting:	9/10 – Thrives on being thought-provoking, and puts a lot of symbolism in its back-story, remaining morally vague on purpose.

Suggestions:
– Argento Soma
– Himitsu – The Revelation
– Ergo Proxy

Eheh. Okay. I now understand why Cowboy Bebop is held with such a high regard. I’m really impressed with what a ridiculously solid series it turned out to be. This show has a rock solid direction that makes the most out of its very impressive budget. This series is another major example of how a good episodic series can be.

Cowboy Bebop feels like a journey you go through, along with the characters. Throughout the series, the characters run into many different situations and get to know new characters, and because of the episodic nature of this series, every episode is also different: some episodes are tense thrillers, others are action-packed, others go into mystery, others are comedies, then others delve into the pasts of the different characters: it’s all wonderfully balanced, especially in the second half. Even the finale just takes up two episodes, and yet it delivers a short, but incredibly sweet and memorable ending.

What really sets this show apart is the acting, however. It completely subverts anime’s tradition of overacting: every single performance with one notable exception (Ed) is filled with subtlety, and yet the creators are able to convey a roller coaster of emotions. If you really need overacting in your anime, you won’t like this, because the characters constantly play off of each other’s subtlety, even during the silly and action-packed parts. The relative coldness between the characters may seem a bit off-putting during the first ten episodes and this may be a bit hard to really get into the series at first, but in the end this makes them even more memorable than usual because of how down to earth and believable the characters are. And as for Ed… she indeed has the worst voice actress of the entire series, but even her character ends up memorable in a way.

The characters in this series feel alive: they’re completely dynamic, and you feel that there is much more to their pasts than they tell you throughout the series. In fact, none of the lead characters are related at all: they’re just a bunch of people who wind together as bounty-hunters on the same ship. Only when it comes up, they talk about their pasts and there are many notable details about their characters and pasts that never get revealed. You could call that a flaw, but I consider it an excellent way to flesh them out, especially in the way that the series keeps reminding us that these people have had their own lives before the start of the series.

With this series I also understand why Youko Kanno became famous. There actually hardly is any soundtrack in Cowboy Bebop, and when it plays it mostly stays in the background. But the individual tracks are incredibly good and varied, and sound unlike any other soundtrack I’ve heard. Vocals that are used are in fluent English and sung by some great vocalists.

To close off, this show also had truly excellent visuals. Especially the art direction and the designs of this series are very likely to be the best of its time: every single frame is filled with all kinds of imaginative stuff and junk in the background. The architecture is exquisite and every single design just blooms with ideas and creativity. I can point out quite a number series that may have had better action than this series, or less still frames. I can however think of only a few other series that had more visual ideas than this one.

Storytelling:	9/10 – Top notch direction and storytelling, every episode is diverse and well paced. One flaw would be that characters like coincidences a bit too much and that characters sometimes just “happen” to know where to go in order to prevent the story from dragging.
Characters:	10/10 – Some of the best acting you can get: subtle, yet incredibly expressive. Great chemistry, the cast really feels alive as the series goes along.
Production-Values:	9/10 – Great and fluent animation. Some of the most consistently good designs you can get.
Setting:	8/10 – Pretty much the only part of this series that got aged during the past thirteen years, in the way that it inspired many other interesting science fiction premises. It still has many interesting ideas, though.

Suggestions:
– Michiko e Hatchin
– Mushishi
– RD Sennou Chousashitsu