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You hear a lot of things about Narutaru. It’s supposed to be sick, disgusting and disturbing. I decided to check this out for myself, and I actually found that these supposedly “horrific scenes” were pretty awesome. I can really say that I enjoyed this anime. It’s not perfect though, but I’ll get to that later.

The story: while on holiday at her grandparents’, Shiina runs into a strange star-shaped animal, with some very strange powers. When she returns, it becomes clear that there’ve been more children who ran into similar creatures. A majority of these children are alienated from society. When the anime progresses, it becomes clear that some of these children use their creature in order to kill others.

The story starts out very light-hearted, and turns darker as the episodes progress, and so does the level of disturbing material. At episode eight, the first major climax of the anime arrives. Afterwards, the story suddenly takes a huge leap towards a totally different focus. This continues up to the thirteenth episode, which finishes the series with a great ending.

The thing I love about this anime is the huge number of disturbing footage which is shown. And especially the reaction this has on the different characters. Seeing that most of the characters are just young kids, the shock of experiencing those kinds of things becomes huge, and Narutaru does a very fine job in portraying this. Whether the characters get angry, sad, or scared, all of this was portrayed in a really awesome way. I can really say that I had a great time watching this anime. Especially the episodes with lots of pain and suffering were awesome.

Still, the fact remains that Narutaru is an anime which could easily have been expanded to 24 or 26 episodes. It definitely has enough material for this, and it would have made this series a lot better. That’s because right now, the creators had to stuff this series into only 13 episodes. Some anime try this by having a huge pacing. Narutaru tried this by just omitting a lot of scenes. The result is that it introduces lots of questions, but only focuses at a select few of them, ignoring all of the others, leaving them entirely unanswered. For example, we see one of the bad guys preparing for some kind of plan, but then he suddenly entirely disappears from the screen. We never see any trace of him. And there are many more examples like these. Still, the points at which Narutaru did decide to focus on worked out great. ^^

Overall, it’s a very nice anime. If you like disturbing anime, you seriously should consider to check this one out. I had a great time watching this. It’s just that I wish there was more of it.

After Mind Game, it seemed a good opportunity to check out another infamously absurd movie: Dead Leaves. It’s interesting to compare the two of them. Both movies are as far away from normal as possible, both are just crazy, both have their own good points, and both have their own bad points.

Let me issue a warning before I continue: Dead Leaves is absolutely not meant for little children. It can and will have a bad influence on them. The entire movie basically is a senseless violence-fest, with lots of maniacal gunfights and explosions whose purpose seems only to entertain the viewer. There’s also a huge dose of foul language in this, so keep this away from your little brother and sister.

One of the most notable differences between Mind Game and Dead Leaves was the fact that while Mind Game had its moment in which the pacing was very slow, Dead Leaves absolutely does NOT have these. The pacing is huge from beginning to end. Especially if you combine this with a couple of hyperactive characters, you’re in for a huge roller-coaster ride.

The story’s like this. A man and women wake up somewhere, unable to remember anything. They’re naked and decide to rob a store, with lots of violence and gunfights. After a huge car chase, they get caught by the police and end up in a mutant prison on the moon. In there, they discover that in this prison, pretty gruesome things happen. Over the course of the anime, some pretty interesting plot twists occur. Overall, it’s a pretty creative story. The main characters are an interesting bunch. We have a hyperactive man with a television as head and a very tough, sarcastic woman. They really are very funny at times. There wasn’t really any point at which I found them annoying.

Still, Dead Leaves does have its bad points. Unlike Mind Game it has some predictable points. Okay, some events are impossible to predict, but during some scenes, you only have to wait for the inevitable to happen. The character art also differs from normal anime. It’s a bit messy. It looks interesting at times, some characters have really creative designs (the television guy, some of the goons. These really looked evil when they wanted to). Other characters, however, look just plain. Another strange thing I noticed was that near the end, the overall animation quality suddenly got bogged down.

The major bad part of Dead Leaves was its infinite amount of action. Gunfights can be very entertaining at times, though a series has to know its limits. Dead Leaves doesn’t. Most of the times, we see people shooting as much bullets at each other until one of them dies. After the twentieth time, this gets rather annoying. The mindless killing also really got on my nerves at times, as they didn’t really add anything new.

Overall, like Mind Game, dead leaves was a very nice watch at times. Some scenes were very creative and amusing to see. Other scenes, however, ruined the movie a bit. Still, if you’re some kind of action or foul language junk, you’ll probably love this.

Mind Game has been on my to-watch list for quite some time now, as it was both produced by Studio 4C and I heard good recommendations about it. Well, now that I’ve seen it, what do I get? Well… good question!

I’m not sure how to describe Mind Game. The closest I can think of is Robinson Crusoë who’s been smoking dangerous stuff. This really is one of the more absurd movies I’ve seen. Even Eikyuu Kazoku seems like an ordinary walk in terms of strangeness. We’ve got a guy, who’s much like a loser. He’s got a girl he likes, he confessed to her, though he keeps getting too scared to take initiative. Until she gets a new boyfriend. So far it’s normal, though this is where every possible connection with the word “normal” ends. The main character, the girl and her new boyfriend sit the restaurant of the girl’s family. A very dangerous guy comes in and starts causing trouble. He then sees our main character, who can’t move out of fear, and he kills him.

Our main character then has a talk with god, after which he starts to freak out because of his own foolish mistakes. He runs away from god and turns back to life. In there, he kills the guy who killed him and runs away with the girl and her sister. In the end, they end up in the belly of a huge whale, along with a strange old man. That’s where most of the story takes place, believe it or not.

I’ve got a hate/love relationship with this absurdness. On one side, there are times at which it really works. We get to see a very creative car chase, and the characters work good with all of the chaos which bursts out of nowhere. At other times, however, the show gets a bit annoying. We often get to see useless fanservice, and some chaotic scenes drag on for a bit too long. I believe that this movie could’ve been more successful if it had been trimmed down to the length of one hour, instead of the 1 hour and 40 minutes it has now.

The graphics are again drawn in the typical style of Studio 4C. Still, for some reason, it didn’t really appeal to me in the way Mahou Shoujotai, Eikyuu Kazoku, Beyond and Comedy did. The animation, then again, shows that this is a big budgeted movie. Overall, it looks pretty creative and fluid. Something you can expect of a normal movie. The background art, however, is where this movie does excel. Things look as creative as ever, though Studio 4C has always been excellent in this department.

Overall, it was a nice watch, but it was definitely not Studio 4C’s best work. I’m suggesting you to check out Mahou Shoujotai, Eikyuu Kazoku and Comedy if you are trying to see some of their stuff. Still, I have to admit. The beginning of the movie, aka before they got into the whale’s belly was worth the watch.

Interlude is a dating-sim mystery anime. It’s an OVA, containing three episodes. It’s really one of these anime you need to think about in order to fully understand it. We’ve got our main character, living his everyday life. Until he meets a strange girl, alone at the station. Starting from that moment, he’ll learn that something huge went on in the past. Especially the first half is covered with small flashes in which our main character, along with his girlfriend lie mortally wounded next to each other, which is enough to keep you excited.

The mystery-part definitely was worth it. Especially in the first episode, when nothing is revealed yet. The background story slowly gets unravelled, and it’s full of creativity. In just three episodes, the storyline gets told, revealing a bit more every time. I have to say, though, regarding the flashes mentioned above. When their meaning gets revealed, it sortof lacks impact. It’s the case with most other revelations as well. Together, these revelations form a great concept, but individually, they aren’t really that exciting.

When the anime turns to the dating-sim-part, however, it goes nowhere fast. In a bad way. A large part of the second episode just consists out of our main character, trying to hit on a girl, and the first and third episode also contain rather boring romance scenes which didn’t really move me in any way. The creators also somehow found it a nice idea to throw in lots of useless fanservice, which didn’t really do this anime any good.

The characters themselves, however, are a major plus in this OVA, though not in the way you’d expect it. I have to admit, while watching the third episode, they became a bit annoying at times. But when the episode was over, and I began to think about the characters a bit (especially the side-characters), only then I realized what they’ve gone through. Only then I realized the horrors they experienced. That’s the strength these characters have. Especially Tama got my respect at that point. Still, this effect could have been bigger if some unanswered questions were answered. Some things just are never explained, which sortof hurts this OVA.

The character art used in this anime is most of the times very high-quality. Most of the characters have interesting character designs. The creators also liked to play with lighting effects, which gives an interesting result. Still, I’ve got one complaint. The main character just looks ugly.

Overall, I’m glad I’ve seen Interlude. It was a very interesting watch, which really requires you to think in order to fully enjoy it. A good example of an anime which has more than just what we see on the surface. Still, it could have been much better executed at certain points.

Seriously. I’ve seen Comedy for ten times now already, and I’m still drooling. This ten-minute short by Studio 4C really is a piece of beautiful art. Not just the drawings and background, but the story and the characters themselves as well.

Just for the record, it may be named Comedy, but the short itself is everything but a comedy. It’s a story, set in Ireland in the middle ages. The English are about to invade a village, and one of the villagers, a five year old girl, searches for a black swordsman in order to defend the village. The movie is just ten minutes long, so you’d wonder how such a story would fit in such a short amount of time. Well, the creators knew exactly how to use the time given to them, and they somehow managed to do this.

To fully understand Comedy, you should actually watch it at least twice (you’ll understand when you do ;)). The little girl and the black swordsman are surprisingly likable. In only ten minutes, Comedy shows that the two of them have very versatile, strong and interesting personalities. Something most anime can’t even do in an entire season. The little girl, coming up with such an idea and having the bravery to actually execute it (remember, she’s five and the English are about to invade) was extremely cute to see. The black swordsman also was given a friendly side in his obsession with books. The combination of these two characters works surprisingly well.

The character art in this short is unique. Characters have extremely white faces, with black clothing. Their faces are drawn rather messy, though the style this gives off only contributes to the overall quality of the movie. The animation shows that a lot of effort has been put into it. You can especially see this in the action scene. It’s a short one, though it’s extremely creative coordinated. Throughout the entire movie, an operatic voice takes care of the background music. It greatly contributes to the scene, but it also doesn’t drive the attention away from the really important parts.

Still, the fact remains that this short film is short. There is a little bit of background info given about the swordsman, though it isn’t enough. I’d love to know more about him and the little girl. I’d love to see more of this. But unfortunately, that’s impossible. Overall, while there isn’t really any tension or angst in this short, it keeps fascinating me. I just have to see it over and over again.

The Place Promised in our Early Days is a 90-minute long drama/romance. It features three middle-school kids (two boys and a girl). The boys are building their own airplane, in order to fly to a huge tower. This tower raises from the earth, into the sky with no apparent end. They’re planning to take the girl, who they just met and got interested, along with them. One day, she disappears. The two boys then quit building the plane, go to different high schools and split apart. Three years later, the story continues.

The story has been well written. The key parts always return, keeping this anime on track. It could basically have been done in 30 minutes as well, though this anime chooses for a slow pacing, giving enough space to show characters interacting, and doing the things they usually do. Because the show takes its time, no really rushed scenes appear, and strangely enough, no scenes really drag on, as plenty enough happens on the screen.

The characters also are likable. They receive a healthy dose of character development during the progress of the movie, and the 3-year time-leap shows quite some changes in both of the boys. The approach of and climax itself felt very sincere, ending in a rather predictable, yet somewhat touching ending.

Still, there are a couple of things wrong with this movie. In the end, this movie remains a damsel-in-distress, who has to be saved by the knight. While it has thrown in some creative events which give this concept a couple of twists, I couldn’t help but get annoyed at this fact. At some scenes, it features some annoying technobabble. We see a couple of screens and graphs, which don’t mean anything at all. Some events in the movie also don’t make any sense (why didn’t the tower explode when the girl was still awake?) and the movie leaves an awful lot of things behind unexplained.

The graphics are interesting. Despite being produced in 2005, the creators decided to keep the character art simple. If you combine this with fluid and natural animation, creative and stunning backgrounds and details, the result becomes quite interesting to watch. Overall, the graphics for this movie were very enjoyable to see. Except for one little detail. The creators liked to heavily abuse the lens flares. Every time when the sun goes down, one appears, asking way too much attention by being overly bright, big and centred. The musical score stays original, though consistent through the entire movie. You never really know it’s there, but it does give this movie something extra. When the music stops, it contributes surprisingly well to the scenes.

Overall, this was a good movie, with some flaws. Still, while it was a good watch, it’s nothing really special. Nothing really is outstanding in this movie. In the end, this movie kept me from getting bored, but it also kept me from getting excited.

This was probably one of the most neglected shows to air in the fall 2005-season. It’s imaginable why. After all, it’s a shounen-series featuring dogs battle each other. Most people wouldn’t even bother checking out such a stupid concept. Still, this anime definitely didn’t deserve this incredible lack of attention. Because yes, believe it or not, but it’s actually quite good. Some of the scenes it featured were amazing.

I have to admit, I laughed myself through the first couple of episodes. I just kept comparing it to Excel Saga, with hilarious results. The scenes were just too incredibly overdramatic to be taken seriously. We’ve got the son of the legendary leader of a pack of dogs, who’s been living with his mother ever since their homeplace was invaded by a huge bear. Now, one year later, Weed, our main character (appropriately named after a patch of weed), must go back to this homeplace, as another huge monster has invaded it. It indeed seemed like the standard pattern of a shounen-series, in which our main character would fight enemy by enemy.

But then I suddenly caught myself actually enjoying some of the scenes which were shown. The prediction at the previous paragraph was smattered as the series progressed. You see, this is an anime about fighting a war, with our main character as leader. Weed actually assembles an entire army of dogs, creating a huge cast of side-characters. All with their different story and motivation. We get to see some very interesting war tactics, which show that it isn’t that simple to just win a war. The creators also managed to create a number of very interesting bad guys. Who not only have interesting backgrounds, but also look scary at certain times.

There is one aspect in which Ginga Densetsu Weed really shines. Whenever a character dies, this anime is just incredible. The scenes are turned into an incredible spectacle, all dedicated to give the end of this protagonist or antagonist an as large impact as possible, and it works perfectly. At times, these really make you think about war ethics. If you combine this with the fact that this show’s got lots of characters, and lots of them die, then you’re in for something special.

Like I said, this anime has lots of characters. Surprisingly, most of them are just adults. Weed is one of the few kids among them. Another interesting fact it that the story likes to focus on characters other than Weed. There are plenty of chances in which he takes a step back, so that the story can focus at some of the interesting side-characters. Because of the huge quantity of diverse side-characters, this works great.

Still, this anime remains a shounen-series. Even though it breaks away from some clichés, it still follows others. We’ve got a young male in the lead. He’s got superpowers. He survives. Characters fight each other for too long. Weed’s whining and desire not to kill anyone can also get annoying at times, just like other parts of episodes, in which the characters are just having some fun.

The creators have tried an attempt to try and draw the dogs at a serious way, though it’s clear that they never tried to be realistic. After all, dogs would never do what was being shown in this anime. Dogs also don’t pant or do other things which is typical for dogs to do. When characters talk, their mouths don’t exactly move synchronic with the voices. Still, the background music does deliver. It contributes greatly to the overall mood.

Overall, the show’s got bad points, though the good and creative points totally make up for it. If you like anime centred around wars, you’ll probably like this, though you have to get used to the fact that the main characters are a bunch of dogs. ^^