Category: Anime Reviews

Mamoru Oshii has become famous for his typical style of very convoluted dialogue. For the Sky Crawlers though, he went into a completely different direction from all of his other works. There are no endless dialogues here, the storyline isn’t really that complex, the action scenes don’t last forever: they’re short and to the point, the character-designs are very simple and down to earth and the pacing throughout the entire movie is very quiet. And yet it works like hell.

Basically, the Sky Crawlers tells the story of a bunch of people who are stationed at a small airbase somewhere in Europe in the middle of some war. The movie’s biggest focus is on its storytelling, because my god, the realism! Amidst the dogfights, there is a huge amount of attention to detail spent on how the characters interact with each other. The characters here really feel much more like regular people than in most other anime. Most of the drama in the movie is kept very subtle and meaningful. And that really is the biggest strength of this movie: it’s two hours long, with a story that could also be done in 20 minutes, but because of the incredibly slow pacing it really was able to show off its characters, their strengths and weaknesses in a very quiet and subtle way.

So yeah, obviously you don’t want to watch The Sky Crawlers if you’re looking for an energetic action-flick, although the action scenes that take place whenever the characters fly their planes definitely look beautiful. The CG is really well done, and integrates really well with the 2D art so that it hardly ever feels out of place.

If I had to mention down-sides of the movie, then there are two things that spring to my mind: first of all, there hardly is any background on the characters. Only the lead characters have some (very good, by the way), but the rest of the characters are all just a bunch of random pilots who happen to be in the same airbase. This of course can also be seen as a good thing: you get to know exactly as much about them if you were to meet them in real life. Of course they have their secrets, but they sure as hell aren’t going to blurt them out to any Tom, Dick or Harry.

The other flaw is most of a personal disappointment of me: there really isn’t that much innovation in this movie. It’s probably something really new for Mamoru himself, but I’ve seen the subtle storytelling done before and better. It’s of course really good for this movie to chose this approach, but I felt I saw nearly every aspect in this movie in another anime already before. Kenji Kawai’s soundtrack also pretty much sounded like all of his other soundtracks, and it didn’t really stand out as anything fresh or new from him.

Still, that definitely doesn’t take away that this is a very solid movie. It’s not Mamoru’s best work, but nevertheless consistently good and enjoyable if you like your drama to be subtle.

Storytelling:	9/10
Characters:	8/10
Production-Values:	9/10
Setting:	8/10

I originally dropped Kyoani’s version of Kanon after about ten episodes because the characters got on my nerves way too much. Still, after having been completely surprised at how good Air and Clannad’s After Story turned out, so I just had to finish Kanon at one point. This review is going to contain a few spoilers here and there, but in any case, the thing that immediately struck my mind when I picked it back up: those eyes! It feels like they watch right through you!

In all seriousness, though. The reason that Air and Clannad made such a big impression on me was that they started with the biggest heap of cliches imaginable, played a bit with them, and then went into a totally unique and original direction which blew me away in the end. For Kanon I was anticipating something similar. And it indeed started out with a huge amount of cliches: sick girl, tomboy, silent samurai girl, nice girl, energetic male, cute mother, et cetera. However, at the end of the series, I was still waiting for it to turn into something special.

I think that in the end, this series was trying too hard and ended up forced for me. It tries very hard to be cute: there is Ayu with her Uguu~, Makoto with her Au~, Nayuki with her Unyuu~, Mai with her delayed reactions, but all of this feels forced, and even though there’s more comedy in it than any other key adaptation, none of the jokes really live up to the few scenes that Air devoted to it (all the Uguu~s in the world couldn’t even come close to the awesomeness of the Stegosaurus t-shirt). The same goes with the drama: this series aims to be a huge tear-jerker, though I never cried once. It felt like the series kept clinging too much to its harem roots, which resulted in a few very strange plot twists. Twice, we have Yuuichi come very close to a girl, only to dump her in a hospital and move on to the next one.

Parents have always played a very big role in Key adaptations, but the extremely forceful way that Nayuki’s mother inserts herself into the drama didn’t sit well with me either. It felt like the creators were going “we need more drama! Let’s insert a random car crash!”. And there are a few more of these contrived plot twists that only serve to keep the story on the right track, rather than to get the best out of the characters (for example, it was quite convenient for Mai to suddenly lose her powers, otherwise she would have instantly solved nearly all of the problems in this series). The final episodes also included some deus ex machina that didn’t also sit too right with me.

However, do note that this is all compared to Air and Clannad (a very high standard). For me it feels like if you’ve seen both of those, then Kanon doesn’t have anything new or additional to add. However, when you look at the series as a standalone production, then it definitely has some good points. The air of mystery is very good throughout the series, the slice of life moments are also pretty well done, and Yuuichi is actually a pretty good lead for a harem series like this. Not because he’s a continuous sarcastic wise-cracker (that actually was annoying most of the time), but because he’s a seriously flawed character who already made a lot of mistakes in his life. One of the nice things about this series is seeing him realize what an incredible idiot he has been, and learning from his mistakes.

And yeah, this is a Kyoto Animation series, so the animation is very detailed if you can ignore the often very weird eyes. The character-designs definitely aren’t the most appealing ones out there, but the way they are animated makes up for it. There’s one particular aspect of the designs that I did appreciate, though: the architecture of the school that the characters go to. You can see that either the creators spent some time on designing it, or the creators thoroughly searched for some of the best school architecture out there and made an anime version of it.

Overall, Kanon isn’t bad by far. I liked watching it, but it’s just not that good. There’s nothing outstanding, ground-breaking or awesome about it, but it is definitely a good dark mystery romance series. If you like these sorts of very sad romances, then you’ll like this one, but it’s not going to make you see the light if you hate the genre.

Storytelling:	8/10
Characters:	8/10
Production-Values:	9/10
Setting:	7/10

I remember when Zegapain first started, I was really turned off by its first episode, so I dropped it without giving it much of a second chance. In the end, though, this series turned out to be pretty capable. While it starts out like any other series does, with a typical teenager who just lives a normal life and gets to meet a cute girl and pilot a big mecha (like an expert as well), it gradually evolves into a fascinating post-apocalyptic series, successfully degrading human beings in a bunch of computer bits.

This definitely is one of those series that doesn’t play all of its trumps right in the first turn. The whole mecha-fighting indeed does feel like a mere game to the lead character in the beginning, but gradually more and more about the setting of this series gets revealed. It’s basically the Matrix meets anime, though with differences I’m not going to spoil here.

The cast is likable, no character really feels wasted in the end, and overall it’s a pretty solid series, although it doesn’t hit any heights. My only gripe with the series is that the final bad guy hardly has any attention or development at all, and feels a bit shallow because of it. The action-scenes are also very prevalent throughout the series, but they hardly ever form any highlight. This is going to be a short review, because there’s not a lot that you can say about this series. Basically, there are some very nice ideas put into this series, and that’s the biggest reason why you should watch this.

Storytelling:	8/10
Characters:	8/10
Production-Values:	8/10
Setting:	9/10

One of the things I like about Gonzo: they take risks. That’s really where the best ideas come from. Sure, they definitely have their screw-ups; but then again: who doesn’t? In any case, another product of Good Gonzo is Saishuu Heiki Kanojo, or Saikano or She: The Ultimate Weapon as it’s known as as well. However, this isn’t just going to be the case where I simply list everything that it does right and just get things over with: like a lot of Gonzo’s series, it has a lot to like, but also a lot to hate about it.

Ultimately, whether or not you’re going to be able to enjoy this series is how much you can stomach teenaged angst, because BOY, do these characters WHINE in this series. On top of that, it loves to pull those plot twists that add extra drama: death, destruction, extravagant love triangles, for this series it can’t get sad enough for the lead couple, and the result is that the characters hardly every stop crying an whining.

I really was expecting a huge tear-jerker when I started watching this series, and I believe that the creators also intended this series to squeeze as many tears out of the viewer as possible, and yet I didn’t cry once, nor felt the inclination to. As a tear-jerker this show lacks subtlety. There’s just too much angst and sadness. This series just keeps bouncing back and forth between love triangles here and war is bad there, and I guess that this format failed to impress me.

Instead, I was sold on this series through completely different things. The characters just feel incredibly genuine. No matter what kind of overly sad plot twists the creators pull, the characters act believable and charming. The dialogue is consistently of a very high quality, and especially the voice acting made a lot of impact on me.

In fact, this series would have worked for me even if the lead female character, who is an ultimate destructive weapon that can wipe out entire cities at once, had been completely removed. What this series excels at is portraying how a huge war affects ordinary people, and how their lives are majorly impacted by it. The quiet moments in this series are so much more memorable than the obvious sad tear-jerker moments when the umpth character kicks the bucket.

In the end though, I can’t call anything about this series truly bad or flawed. Sure, the romance had its annoying moments, but for each annoying point it also had more than enough charming ones. Sure, the setting is overly sad, but I’m not going to deny that it made impact. In the end, the creators managed to create a provocative and hard-hitting series, that may not be perfect, nor hits any heights, but has enough that makes it worth watching.

Storytelling:	9/10
Characters:	9/10
Production-Values:	8/10
Setting:	7/10

One of the things I like about Clamp is that not only do they have a lot of imagination and a great sense of style, but they always try to go for something in a new genre, as opposed just doing the same genre over and over in order to milking their same old cash cows that brought them success (after all, they use their infamous cameos for that ^^;). Angelic Layer is their shounen fighting series: it’s about a nationwide tournament where people battle against each other with children’s toys brought to life. So yeah, it’s a notorious genre if anything, but along the way this series made me drop my scepsis and doubts completely.

It’s hard to see this from a distance, though. Nearly every single battle follows the same formula: Misaki (the lead character) enters battle, Misaki has trouble defeating her opponent, Misaki wins battle. As this series deals with a tournament, the opponents and outcomes for each battle is very heavily influenced by the writers in order to keep the plot on the correct path (after all, you wouldn’t have much of a series if Misaki lost and got kicked out of the tournament halfway through). But it all just doesn’t matter in the end, because Misaki is SO DANM adorable.

In fact, aside from the above mentioned predictability issues, I don’t have any problems with this series at all. This is simply a series that’s fun to watch, and throughout the series it never forgets that it’s supposed to have a consistently fun and fast-paced atmosphere. Even though you know that Misaki is going to win, you just can’t help but root for her, and during the fights it’s always fun to see what’s happening behind the scenes. Most of the characters are fleshed out and developed really well, and this prevents all of the battles from getting boring, and they continue to deliver.

In terms of eye candy, this series also delivers. Bones may not be the perfect studio, but these guys do know their animation. The character-designs look simple, yet very appealing (as expected from Clamp), and they’re brought alive really well in animation. The fights also consist out of mostly hand-to-hand combat, and while the action doesn’t look flashy at all, it is full of life and emotion. When the characters are fighting, there are hardly any close-ups or other cheap animation tricks used. Instead, we get real nicely animated fights that remain fun to watch.

What also sets this series apart from all other shounen fighting series is the lack of a villain, or for that matter any character who even bears a resemblance to one. In this series there is no “I’m going to use the powers of a bunch of child’s toys in order to somehow destroy the world. Mua ha ha ha”. There is an overarching storyline, but for once this is aimed at the characters, instead of the plot. Because of this, this series may abuse the “parents gone”-trope a bit at times, but the results make up for it.

To close off, even though we have a manga adaptation here, it is one of those few manga adaptations which fits perfectly into the time frame of 26 episodes. It’s especially surprising since quite a few of Bones’ series have their pacing issues, but Angelic Layer never feels too slow or too fast. No episode feels wasted or useless and the creators did a really good job in planning this series correctly. Obviously you don’t want to watch this series for a complicated plot, or heart-wrenching drama, but for those who are looking for a fun fighting series with adorable characters that may sacrifice its plot at times, then this series isn’t going to disappoint.

Storytelling:	7/10
Characters:	9/10
Production-Values:	9/10
Setting:	8/10

What is there to say about Great Teacher Onizuka that hasn’t been said yet already? In terms of theoretical education, the guy sucks: as a former gang member, he hardly knows anything about the subjects he teaches. He’s a huge pervert and hothead and often acts before he thinks. Still, when it comes to understanding his students, he definitely is the greatest.

Basically, GTO is a social commentary aimed towards the hypocrisy of the modern education system: teachers that only care about their own position, students with excellent grades are overly protected, while the rest is ignored, putting the focus away from the well-being of the students. Onizuka is hired in one particular school and he tries to get rid of these problems in his own unique way: by putting himself on the same level as the students, and healing the different students one at a time. And I must say that the result is a wonderful series.

It’s a really well written series. The situations that Onizuka has to deal with are imaginative and varied, and the cast of characters is downright excellent. The different characters are endearing, and yet nearly all of them are flawed in some way. The fun in this series comes to seeing how each of them are dealing with these flaws.

The visuals in this series also look really good. This series aired when the distinctive anime art style of the second half of the nineties was about to be taken over by the modern CG art style, but it makes optimal use of its style to make the characters look normal and down to earth, yet very distinctive and unique. Especially Onizuka’s facial expressions are one of a kind.

The problems with this series are mostly small and insignificant. At times, it has some continuity issues: one episode a school building gets destroyed, in the next it magically healed itself, or at the end of one episode, a character tanned her skin way too much, while the next episode completely ignored it, and one particular character (the stalker one) gets written out of the show completely without any possible reason. Still, these are ere details over a show of 43 episodes.

In the end, my only real beef with this series is how its definite best parts are at the beginning of the series, rather than the end. The first twelve episodes are without a doubt the highlight of this series, when the classroom that Onizuka was in charge of was still unknown, and there was this whole air of mystery about what drove everyone to their actions. They’re incredibly addictive and I myself couldn’t stop watching because I just had to know what was going to happen next. Along the way, this effect is lost a bit when you get to know the cast a bit more, so that’s a bit of a pity.

Nevertheless, in the genre of high school-based series, this one still stands solid as one of the best ones of the genre. It really is the prime example of how such a series should be handled.

Storytelling:	9/10
Characters:	9/10
Production-Values:	9/10
Setting:	8/10

Whoa, whoa! What the heck!? I so expected to just watch this thing to get it over with. I so expected to just write a quick review, about yet another mildly entertaining action-flick which would just feature a bunch of bulked-up guys fighting each other until the hour of airtime was over. However, this is no action flick. This is Studio 4C!!

I’m still surprised at this thing. I almost don’t want to spoil its big strength, which I feel is something that’s best enjoyed when you simply shut up and watch it, but without mentioning I’m almost certain that my review is not going to make any sense at all, so if you like surprises, simply close this window and watch the OVA.

I was really surprised when I found out that Studio 4C was behind this, especially since the character-designs looked way too plain and average. But as the movie progressed, the experimental nature of this OVA became more than clear to me. It takes pure GUTS to pull such a stunt, and yet it’s so simple that any idiot could have thought of it.

With a title as Street Fighter, you indeed don’t have much choices on what to expect from such a thing: fighting, fighting, and more fighting. Well let me tell you: the length of this OVA is an hour. The first fight only takes place, 30 MINUTES after the start. That’s at the HALFWAY POINT. The first half is spent purely on character-building, building up, setting everything right for the storyline in order to make everything run smoothly for when the real meat of the storyline does begin.

I’m entirely new to the Street Fighter franchise, and yet because of this I had no trouble at all getting used to the characters. And even when the fighting does begin, this series always remains the focus on the characters, and never on the action (which mainly consists out of characters punching each other). With this, this show manages to entirely avoid every single pitfall of the game based anime genre, which is so notorious for its crappy adaptations. The characters are simply excellent and continue to captivate throughout the entire hour of airtime.

What also helps is the music, which is absolutely fantastic. It knows exactly when to remain in the background, or when step in the foreground again. It continuously helps to keep the atmosphere going. My only real complaint here is the animation. This is Studio 4C we’re talking about, and the art just looks way too plain for one of their works. The animation is also nothing special, which can be a bit disappointing. Especially certain characters’ haircuts take a bit of getting used to.

But yeah, so what if the story involves yet another bad guy who needs to be stopped? So what if the ending doesn’t conclude the storyline? This OVA is sickeningly simple, when you look at it from a distance it’s got quite a few cliches, but for me it simply continued to push the right buttons throughout its entire airtime. It’s touching, yet never cheesy. The storyline’s has its problems, but never do these problem get in the way of what’s really important. The animation is simple, and yet it never looks cheap. It’s nothing deep, yet it’s an hour of excellent entertainment. Here you have it, the proof that any crappy concept can be made awesome with the right people behind it.

Storytelling:	9/10
Characters:	9/10
Production-Values:	8/10
Setting:	8/10

So even though it seems that the new FMA-series to air this April is going to be a remake rather than a continuation (do correct me if I’m wrong; I’d hate to spread false rumours like this), I might as well watch the movie that concluded the original series. And really, I do hope that the new series is going to be better than this… thing.

God, the amount of plot-holes in this movie is nearly unbelievable. The original series may have had its share of eye-brow raising plot twists, but it was never as bad as here. Characters just happen to meet each other for the sake of the new plot, there’s hardly any time spent on explaining what the heck is going on, the creators pull random powers out of thin air, characters start acting either incredibly stupid or out of character in order to push the plot in the “right” direction, and this happens throughout the entire movie!

The new characters aren’t fleshed out at all. The old ones all have changed a bit from their characters in the TV-series, but instead of becoming more dynamic they’ve all turned into useless stereotypes. Especially Colonel Mustang has turned bad. But nearly every time a character experiences heavy emotions the drama just becomes emo and laughable.

All of it is filled with the most improbable physics ever. Ed can leap up hundreds of meters from a flying plane and just crawl up without a scratch. In a world where people have invented guns, rockets and even atom bombs, people still walk around in medieval armors (strangely enough, all of them seem to become zombies when they do so).

And then the graphics. They are serviceable for your average TV-Series, but this is a MOVIE we’re talking about. It’s a continuation of one of the biggest commercial successes in anime outside of Ghibli. You’d expect the creators to receive a huge budget for it, but I can’t remember any place where I was really impressed by the animation of this thing. Heck, the CG in this movie is downright crap at times , of the level of your average Trans-Arts CG-Horse.

This really is typical of Bad Bones. They come with premises that are destined for greatness, but along the way shoddy execution just turns them into lackluster caricatures that could have been so much better. The second season in April has a lot to make up for after this mess.

Storytelling:	4/10
Characters:	4/10
Production-Values:	7/10
Setting:	5/10