Reviews - Anime Vice

Hopefully the Last Airbender Movie

snowymountain — Wed, 15 May 2013 02:04:22 -0700

0.0 out of 5

I have absolutely no idea what the Hell M. Night Shyamalan was thinking when he put this movie together. How to best butcher and ruin a genuinely spectacular series? Because that’s what it felt like.

Before anyone claims that I am biased by the original series though, I have to say that I was vaguely aware of the Avatar: The Last Airbender series but I had never seen it so I honestly went into this movie with no preconceptions. Even so, I felt disappointed at what I was forced to endure. The movie is in fact, a string of clips that feature the best scenes of the first season of the Avatar cartoon series that is strung together in a vague attempt to tell a hugely complex plot and story in a disjointed and compressed format. It is essentially 100 minutes of crap in my opinion. I simply could not follow what was going on, it was so rushed, characters are rapidly introduced and then were practically shoved off the screen so that they could introduce more characters and more and more. And it was like that for the entire movie. There is no time for emotional development and no time for us to understand what is going on as we fast-forward from scene to scene at a hectic pace.

In all honesty, I sincerely feel that there is simply no way that Shyamalan or anyone for that matter could have told an entire season in a movie format. It was an ambitious and lofty idea, but not at all realistic. He should have considered making a live action television series if he really wanted to adapt it in this manner.

Other than that, the rest of the film was tremendously disappointing as well. I found the actors to lack any great charisma and depth. I simply could not establish an emotional connection to them and they seemed to simply expound themes and concepts in a bland tone of voice. I simply felt no drama and the climax felt forced.

The special effects varied in quality. On the one hand, a great many of the marital arts sequences looked stiff and faked and the CGI elements of the various animals simply didn’t look very real at all and the vast majority of the sets were poorly constructed in my opinion.

The one bright spot was Noah Ringer (Aang) whose martial arts performances were very nicely done and looked very well executed instead of the flailing arms that so many of the other benders did. I also did think that the elemental manipulations weren’t bad either, particularly the air and water sequences. I do think that the earth ones could have been a bit more impressive and the fire effects could have been improved as well in certain sequences. Ringer and those water and air special effects are primarily the sole reasons why I gave it such an impressive score. But they simply can’t carry the rest of the movie alone.

If you really want to see a series that exemplifies spiritual and philosophical issues and grapples with issues of power, greed, love and loss, and is funny to watch; then I suggest that you consider watching the animated cartoon, Avatar: The Last Airbender over this. It may be a lot longer than this movie, but you won’t be disappointed. There’s a good reason why they tried to make a live action big budget movie to try and cash in on this series.

Tolerably Amusing

snowymountain — Wed, 15 May 2013 02:02:38 -0700

0.0 out of 5

Before there was the Power Rangers … there was The Guyver. Made before CGI was viable, this live action adaptation of the Japanese manga was actually a fairly accurate on the basic story where an ordinary young man is thrust into the extraordinary when he runs across a strange alien artifact that transforms him into the ultimate fighting machine known as the Guyver. He further discovers that those who wish to acquire the Guyver aren’t quite human but a race of murderous creatures known as Zoanoids who are probably the inspiration for monsters throughout human history.

There will be those who will probably argue that this film was not faithful to the original, but I thought it wasn’t that bad as it was an adaptation for American audiences. The plot was fairly simple and easy to understand and there wasn’t any glaring holes that I noticed. However, this movie never bothered to take itself too seriously, unlike the original. The Guyver is more comedy than horror, often breaking up the action sequences with goofy gags that were actually rather funny and on occasion had me groaning such as the rapping Zoanoid which I couldn’t believe that they stuck in there.

As far as the actors go, I did find the bait and switch of Mark Hamil being given the starring role in the credits but actually being only a supporting character to be rather annoying. It gave you the impression that HAMIL was going to be the Guyver. To his credit, Hamil was probably the best actor in the movie. I didn’t think too much of leading man Jack Armstrong (Sean Barker/Guyver) as being a bit mediocre with the others giving decent to fair performances with Vivian Wu (Mizky Segawa) simply screamed a lot and David Gale (Fulton Bacus) was a stereotypical mad villain.

It was probably the fighting sequences that made such an impression on me. They were fairly good and brought to mind those old fashioned kung fu movies that I used to watch as a kid only jazzed up because it was monsters who were doing the fighting. I have to say that the costumes were fairly good and rather articulated. They were definitely a cut above in functionality and grotesqueness with a bit of weirdness thrown in. I did think that some of the special effects could have been improved upon; the electricity raging around the Guyver when it first bonded to Sean looked a trifle bit fake as did the Guyver melting.

Overall, this movie played more like a live-action cartoon than a science fiction/horror movie and it seems like it was mainly intended for young children. Sadly, I think they cut out most of the best gory scenes in order to make it suitable for younger audiences, while the older sect miss out on. Still, I liked it as a kid and it’s still tolerably amusing now that I’m older.

Down-to-Earth and Realistic

snowymountain — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 22:26:15 -0700

0.0 out of 5

I stumbled across this series several years ago but it’s been a difficult task getting ahold of all of the volumes. It’s rather surprising to me that it doesn’t appear to be all that popular as it is as other titles such as Bleach, One Piece, or Naruto. This series tells the story of a rather ordinary young man known as Daigo Asahina who is a rookie firefighter. Even though he lacks superpowers, Daigo’s adventures would otherwise qualify him as one in my opinion even though he’s probably one the most down-to-earth and realistic that I have ever read before.

The plot is on the simple side, but thoroughly understandable. Daigo has a mission; to protect and save lives. Everything else; the rules, the regulations, protocol, and even common sense means absolutely nothing to him. He will do whatever it takes to save a life. And while it may seem that he’s reckless and absolutely fearless, Daigo is all too often plagued by doubts and fears. Afterwards, he questions himself and even his sanity as to why he does such outrageous and hairbrained stunts. He knows he shouldn’t, he tells himself to stay in control, but in the heat of battle, when lives are on the line—he will rush in, headstrong and headlong into danger. But I don’t think I’ve ever seen any other manga or anime character constantly self-examines himself like that and does so in such a manner that makes him appear as a complex and very real individual and not at all comedic.

Daigo’s adventures are thrilling pieces of superb action and high drama. In retrospect, it’s sometimes hard to believe that such situations might occur, but Soda is such a great storyteller and a master of suspense that a little hint of doubt creeps into your mind and says, “Maybe, just maybe…”

You find yourself believing it and you’re flipping the pages frantically, devouring each climatic scene and seeing Daigo save the day and afterwards, you think it’s not impossible just highly improbable. This is what great storytelling is about; suspending the audience’s disbelief.

I also found that the character development to be extremely well handled. The main characters get the chance to evolve and little bits of their history are unfolded and revealed to give greater insight to their personalities and what drives them and what haunts them as well.

The art is without a doubt, first rate. The characters are wonderfully and realistically drawn, the backgrounds are intricate and meticulous, and even minor items are surprisingly and sophisticatedly detailed. And it is like that in practically every single page and scene; the artist doesn’t skimp, doesn’t get lazy by giving it some sort of wacky or crude or simple lines. Soda is telling a story and it’s like he’s telling it by showing every single scene in glorious shots like from a camera or a video tape. There is no goofy hair-dos or clothing for the characters, Soda relies instead on making each person a unique individual with their own distinct face and you can tell who each one of these individuals are at a glance.

One of the only weaknesses to this series was the limited adaptation of the series. While the speech was translated into English, just about all of the sound effects were left in Japanese with pages of footnotes in the back of the book that you had to flip back and forth to understand sometimes what all of these characters were reacting to and the reference notes are minimalistic, using scene numbers instead of page numbers which increases the difficulty in keeping track.

Another tragedy to this series was the fact that was over so relatively quickly when I thought that there a lot more stories to be told in Daigo’s evolution as a firefighter. It feels a bit unfinished in my opinion.

Overall however, I found this to be one of the very best manga series in terms of action and drama and is not to be missed.

KATANAGATARI ANIME REVIEW: A UNIQUE PIECE

katmic — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 09:33:33 -0700

0.0 out of 5

I love stories like this, that try to do something different while still staying the same; adding a little bit of creativity to an over used plot. I didn’t think it would work for my tastes but by the end of 12 episodes, i was hooked. And while i doubt there will be another season, i will hold onto hope.

THE PLOT:>

Yasuri Shichika is the seventh head of the Kyotoryuu school of fighting, a sword less but powerful sword style. Having lived peacefully on an isolated island all his life with his sister Nanami (crazy as hell), Yasuri’s peaceful life is shattered by the arrival of Togame, the self titled strategist of the shogunate. Togame is in search of the 12 deviant swords, distinct weapons crafted by Kiki Shikizaki ages ago. Wile Kiki’s blade work were widely popular during the last war, the 12 out of all that he had crafted before were rumored to have been especially created with the use of alchemy, the occult and other magical methodology. The weapons, which are supposed to be katana but have been known to take other shapes, are said to possess great power along with a poisonous essence that has and will corrupt any and all that might seek to wield them and loose there power, hence the ‘deviant’ title.

Togame has trusted before several other partners to aid her in pursuing and acquiring all 12 of the deviant blades in service of the shogunate but each time she

has been betrayed, with her former partners lusting after and losing themselves to the greed and lust for the deviant’s power.

This time she adopts a different strategy, she will get Yasuri to ‘fall for her’ and in turn gain his aid in pursuing the blades, believing that love will surpass all other temptations that might befall Yasuri. But her quest might not be as easy as she hoped. For one thing, Togame is actually princess Yosha, daughter to Takahito Hida, a former feudal lord that led the last rebellion against the shogunate and whom Mutsue Yasuri, Yasuri’s father andwielder of the monstrous Kyotoryuu style killed in service of the shogunate, an act that had him hailed hero of the land as well as exiled. As such her hair turned white on witnessing the death of her father, and the eye that witnessed the incident will take on a snake like form when she is scheming and plotting. Even if the pair were to forge past this bit of history, Yasuri is far from capable when it comes to dealing with humanity and the world. Having been raised on the island and having only known his father and sister, Yasuri is beyond backward and rustic. Beyond incapability to understand common customs and behaviors, Yasuri can’t even recognize or distinguish between faces, having known no other but his sister.

This total and utter innocence/stupidity on Yasuri’s part is more than a stumbling block to Togame’s plans. None the less she chooses to forge ahead in pursuit of her dreams, which it turns out are beyond mere service to the very monarch that led her father down a path of death. Even as she struggles to understand him, Yasuri is usually in awe of just how brutal and maniacal the child like woman’s schemes can be, usually in contrast to her girly cheerful attitude (most times) and her insistence on acting as and being handled like the royalty she isn’t.

ON their backs and equally motivated are the Maniwa corps, the 12 elite guards of a remote village, once members of the shogunate but who chose to rebel, and whose dangerous ninja skills are the very reason the helpless and physically useless Togame sought out the services of one such as Yasuri.

But even beyond the maniwa corps, Togame’s schemes and plans for the deviant blades as well as her fear that Yasuri might succumb to their poison even as she schools him in the ways of the world as one would a child, are the stories and lives of those that wield the deviant blades.

MY REVIEW:>

I have come across some surprising criticism for this series with regards to the graphics, which in my opinion are one of its strong points. katanagatara has always looked more like a play on screen to me than an actual anime, but maybe its my mind playing tricks on me. I like how they will play with the graphics depending on the scene at hand. You might come across a beautifully animated scene in a quite forest, during which time the characters are participating in a fast paced shinobi battle, with every blow, kunai thrown and special moved unleashed perfectly animated. The you might come across another scene, minutes later showing the protagonists moving across the sea in a boat. And this time the water is nothing more than the jagged

card board you would see on stage mimicking water. You might think to impute this to a low budget or laziness but i don’t blame either. I would call this an impressive attempt by the director to display the emotion of a scene through animation.

I remember a scene when an especially powerful character storms a castle manned by hundreds of well trained and well armed monks, ready to fight to the death to defend their master and his weapon. You would have anticipated one epic battle with this new protagonist/antagonist displaying an amazing show of power against overwhelming odds. However the series chose to treat this like an old videogame, with the camera shifting to the sky as the dot like figures of men and weapon ducked, flipped and strayed left and right while firing off red and blue curved lasers. This scene was done complete with those funny noises and beeps you would expect from a video game, and again this might seem like a cop out from showing an incredible battle; but if you really take the time to watch and think about this scene, you will understand the idea that the director was trying to convey, that this one opponent was so overwhelming that the combatant took about the same amount of energy you would use to tap a few buttons to take mow down a hundred foes.

Most anime relies on music and lighting to convey the emotion of a scene; i liked how katanagatara would vary its animation graphics completely to convey the same meanings. When it had to be serious, then the battles were animated beautifully, and when it wasn’t, the director added some creativity to the episode. In short, Katanagatari is simply good to look at, at least for me. As such i would rate it a4/5 in terms of art and animation.

But besides the art, this was a fun show to watch primarily because of the characters and their interactions. This i love, an anime with characters that can literally carry the entire show by simply being themselves, and with katanagari, the existence of a pretty decent story only added to its brilliance. Yasuri is fun as a clueless idiot, and having watched shonen anime for a while now, i usually hate such protagonists. He literally doesn’t know anything, not even how to spell his own name. I loved Yasuri having to remind Togame how they all, as human beings, looked the same each time

he couldn’t find her. It was an insult she couldn’t even voice because no insult she hurled at him would register. There was a point in time where it seemed like Togame had made it a game to try and seduce Yasuri. This happened after she came into the room their first night as partners at an inn naked and not only didn’t he butt an eye but after a prolonged stare between them, he took her silence as a command to help her get dressed. You would have to hear their conversations to understand just why all the hidden sexual hints veiled within so many of Togame’s words were so hilarious. It as almost like she was spending so much time during their missions just trying to find out what made him tick. And while you might assume that this has all been done before, Katanagatari manages to approach it with a fresh prespective.

This does play a pivotal role in their relationship as Togame comes to realize that not only does she not understand him but he probably doesn’t even understand himself either. She then can’t help but wonder why he chose to become her sword, because clearly he doesn’t understand what she meant by having him fall for her, or what he meant when he said he had done so. Besides mere relations, there is the problem of controlling Yasuri’s actions, especially in the area of death. Yasuri quickly shows, time and time again, how much little regard he has for life, with the way he will take it with no remorse whatsoever. Be it man, woman or child, to yasuri a fight must end in death. The problem that Togame has stems from Yasuri’s upbringing. She isn’t dealing with some crazy psycho who must be reminded about the beauty of life and vileness of his blood lust. To Yasuri, killing is no different from taking out the laundry or throwing a stone. It is simply an act that must be carried out once in a while, there is no moral argument involved. It is not different to an infant sticking a dagger in you and not feeling anything, because he doesn't or can’t understand the logic or moral element barring him from carrying out such an action.

And as such it is quite interesting to watch Togame work through this obstacle and try to figure out a way to get some of these basic concepts about life and death into Yasuri. It isn’t a matter of simply stopping him from killing when she orders it so, because he pretty much does as she asks, it is a matter of Yasuri himself learning to make the distinction between when and when it isn’t necessary to take a life. Togame only understands just how much of an obstacle this is when Yasuri doesn’t show the slightest sign of remorse when he mentions killing is father, the sixth head of the school.

Besides the shenanigans of these two, there are the blades them selves to consider with regards to Kyotoryuu and how Yasuri as a sword less master uses it to defeat their distinct abilities. But usually their is more drama with relation to their owners than simply acquiring the swords from. While usually enemies of the shogunate and worth the distaste of Togame, enough that she would seek to destroy them for seeking the blades, not all of them can be categorized so easily as vile. There is Koumori, member of the maniwa corps and wielder of Kanna, the hardest blade that can neither bend nor break: kaoumori, completely overtaken by the poison seeks only power and darkness in the other deviant blades.

Then there is Meisai, wielder of Tsurugi, a blade that is actually one thousand swords, who, as priestess of the temple, has taken in lost and demented souls in the women that survived the last war; it is clear to Togame what Meisai’s intentions are in gifting each woman with a Tsurugi; it is the poison of the blades that comforts them and attempts to cure the demons of the war. Then there is Hakuhei, wielder of needle, a delicate sword, brittle as glass, but with which Hakuhei has achieved the title of strongest swordsman.

While all swords are poisonous, it is default to gauge the consequences of the infection and whether the result is always negative. It is impossible to allow these blades to continue their stay in the hands of human beings and allow their poisoning to continue, but because no wielder can ever willful give up his sword due to its curse, the act of causing them to relinquish control is usually easier said than done. That said, the unveiling of each sword reminds me of bleach where i would shift to the edge of my seat in anticipation of a newly revealed bankai and shikai.

The deviant abilities themselves are usually unique and impressive and usually only augmented by their wielders natural abilities. This is proven by Hakuhei who was already a powerful swordsman and only in whose hands could needle achieve such power, but which could be easily shattered if and when swung by unskilled hands. Then there is Namakura, the sharpest sword in existence, made for quick unsheathing; and its owner Ginkaku who guards a single room in a long abandoned castle from which none that enter can ever leave due to the near demonic swiftness of each attack. Most of these powers are actually cool to view. My favorite would undoubtedly be Ju, a pair of pistols, one a blue six chambered revolver and the other a red semi automatic that holds eleven bullets.

The mainwa corps provide entertainment in their search for the blades and pursuit of Togame; unfortunately they don’t reveal nearly as much as they should have about who the 12 are, the history of their village or even the danger they speak of, for which they seek the 12 deviant blades. Most are disappointments in that they held so much potential for great story and drama but had less screen time than should have been assigned to them.

Even the most mysterious of them, the phoenix like maniwa Houou doesn’t get the kind of exposition he should have, only a few words and hints with Emonzaemon, Princess Hitei’s retainer and Togame’s arch enemy. Maybe they didn’t want to stretch the story but it is a shame none the less; they could have done so much with these intriguing figures. Oh well.

Katanagatari is about a 24 year old man that must aid a young woman in her quest for revenge. On the way they encounter several mysterious and intriguing figures that have an impact on each of their lives. They must consider their pasts and the actions each of them was forced into executing if they wish to achieve the destinies they have set out for their individual lives. On this journey, they learn about and come to respect each other for who they are and could become and

hope that they can decipher and understand KIki Shichizaki’s messages and codes before the end of their mission. At at the end, what secrets will the 12 deviant blades reveal once collected? For what purpose did Kiki create the 12 cursed weapons and how are they connected to the Shichika line and the reason they are completely unable to use or even handle swords. All is revealed as they come into and gain control of each blade that comes their way, on the way to acquiring all the power that the blades have contained within. I give this story a 4/5. For all this basic premise ‘mission to find 12 items’, it manages to deliver more that it promises.

I have to say that my favorite members of the quirky maniwa corps were the insect squad.

Music: This is worth mentioning, because while i really liked it, i didn’t get it. I kind of sounded like rap, but i can’t be sure. Either way i give it a 4/5

Each episode of Katanagatari runs for about an hour, so there is no to be continued at anyone point in time. Each episode begins with a new weapon, new characters and new mysteries and by the end of the hour all has been solved, which i think is great; it is kind of like you are watching a mini movie with each episode and it allows the story all the time in the world to delve into each character in detail and explore everything the plot for that episode has to offer. It is a perfect bargain for the fact that each episode came out once a month, which means that if you watched this when it was released, you watched it over the course of one year.

OVERALL RATING:> 5/5 I definitely recommend this. And don’t let the graphics put you off. It is a great story

Death Note: Amazing Anime!

xBlazingStar94x — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 08:44:38 -0700

0.0 out of 5

I am going to start off by rating the art and story line separately. I never usually give anything full stars because 9 times out of 10 there is always some room for improvement in my personal opinion.

Art: 4/5

Story line: 4.5/5

The basic outline of Death Note is pretty clever if I am honest. In the first episode it is generally showing you how one of the main characters, Light Yagami, comes across a notebook lying on the ground. The notebook is dropped by a bored Shinigami, A god of death, named Ryuk, whilst he is looking for a little bit of fun.

The notebook is known as a ‘Death Note’ that is owned by every Shinigami. When you write a name in the Death Note, whilst imagining the persons face, the person will die of a heart attack soon after. I will list the first basic rules you are given within the first episode:

1. The human whose name is written in this note shall die.

2. This note will not take effect unless the writer has the person’s face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected.

3. If the cause of death is written within the next 40 seconds of writing the person’s name, it will happen.

4. If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack.

5. After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds.

As the anime continues, you find out more rules and twists with the notebook. However, I’ll let you watch the anime yourself to find out anymore.You could research some more if you wanted. However, I would recommend watching it to find out because I find it much more interesting when I find them out as the anime continues.

Moving on to the art work. When I am looking at the artwork of an animation, I like to look at the differences in the characters, the detail and depending on the type of animation, then how realistic the graphics are. In Death Note’s case, I looked at the way they have represented the Shinigami’s and what they look like and then also the characters looks to match their personality.

This is what I think personally:

Each of the main characters have a distinct personality and therefore, you grow opinions and feelings towards your thoughts on each of them. The characters do generally look as if to match their personality and that is what I like about the artwork itself personally.

A lot of natural colours have being used in the art. In a lot of anime’s I have seen their is always one human character who has bright pink or green hair. However, in Death Note it was different and I liked it. Even though when I design a character, I like to make them stand out with colour to a certain extent.

Overall, I enjoyed the anime. There was a few things that I wasn’t that keen on about the story and if you look through my blog’s, you will find out what I mean. However, it does contain a huge spoiler and if you haven’t seen it, watch it first before reading because it will ruin the anime.

The thing that I like the most about the anime is how Light and another main character, L, are against each other but have a hint of a bond of friendship and work together but against each other at the same time. It is very clever the way each of them work things out and piece things together but the find out more, it is a ‘must watch’ or read if you prefer the manga.

My overall rating will be out of 10. I will rate it a 9/10. Fantasic and I love it.

BTW L is amazing xD

Best Damn Anime Series

snowymountain — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 02:50:32 -0700

0.0 out of 5

Ever since I was a kid I was fascinated with superheroes and I genuinely enjoyed this series as rarely do superheroes get explored in Japanese anime. What I truly liked was the freshness and originality of this series as it takes a look at just how would superheroes be treated like if they really did exist in the real world. They would be like media superstars, pop idols, and sports megastars combined. There would a whole industry based upon them. And with the pervasiveness of reality TV, rampant commercialism, and corporate sponsorship trends, it takes a logical step in that these heroes would become the same. It’s jarring at first to see all of these logos plastered over the superheroes’ uniforms until one realizes that NASCAR racers go around as walking billboards in their racing uniforms—why wouldn’t superheroes do the same as corporate mascots? It’s a brilliant concept.

Unlike a lot of other anime series, this one had a truly exceptional plotline with a definite beginning, middle, and ending. It also had two truly engaging characters of Kotetsu T. Kaburagi (Wild Tiger) and Barnaby Brooks Jr. (Bunny) who are both compelling for their own separate reasons.

But I have to admit that Kotetsu is my own personal favorite. Considered a washed up superhero notorious for his destructive rampages and tendency to disobey orders out in the field where he prioritizes saving lives over looking good on camera. When his corporate sponsors are bought out, he finds himself forced to team up with Barnaby against his will. And since Barnaby is much more successful and popular, Kotetsu has been reduced to a “sidekick” role and Barnaby’s foil to boost his popularity. He’s so unpopular that he can’t even give away his trading cards to little kids.

But as the series progresses, we get to see that despite through all of the glitz and glamor, attention seeking, and corruption inside their "industry"; these heroes still cling to their values and ideals.

The animation is superb with tremendously detailed and amazingly lifelike CGI for the various super-suits worn by the heroes and certain suits have incredibly good effects such as Fire Emblem’s cape which always has a crackling flame image.

Personally, I prefer the Japanese voice actors over the dubbed English voice actors as being better in their performances even though you have to read the subtitles. The music is also well done, switching from lighter background music to more dramatic opera singing for the darker scenes which contributes to the feel of the series.

This series is one of the very best damn anime that I have seen recently and my only real complaint I had was that it ended far too soon! I hope that they make a sequel and hopefully they do it right too. It has real potential to be continued.

Titan Fans GO! And Watch This Movie!

snowymountain — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 17:40:27 -0700

0.0 out of 5

Based on the recent anime-inspired Teen Titans series, this movie was a suitable grand finale for the Titans as I felt that the final season didn’t really focus on the five core Titans as much as it was a guest star Titan-poolza where they tried to stick in every single character that made even a minor appearance in the television series. While it was a decent end to the series, I felt they had overdone it and left the original five Titans as though they were guest starring in their own series plus they failed to stick in the sinister Slade (Deathstroke the Terminator).

The movie shows the Titans moving out of their comfort zone of Jump City to investigate a mysterious villain known as Brushogun who was behind an attack on their Tower HQ, leading them to Japan. It’s a good move as the Titans find themselves lost in this new and unfamiliar setting and that they might very well be totally superfluous as Tokyo has it’s own group of stalwart protectors and guardians and that Brushogun is a mere myth. Beast Boy and Cyborg decides they should take a well deserved vacation, Raven wanders off, and Robin and Starfire are struggling to evolve as a couple.

The story picks up as the Titans begin to realize that Brushogun is no mere myth after Robin is framed for murder and arrested, reuniting the Titans who were drifting apart. There is a good plot twist at the end where it is discovered that Brushogun is not exactly the mysterious villain behind the scenes but has been reduced to a victim seeking help.

Aside from a well moving plot with excellent sub-plots including some nice romance between the eternal couple of Robin and Starfire but some nice comedic interludes with Beast Boy and Cyborg; the various voice actors are at the top of their game, particularly the new characters of Brushogun as portrayed by Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa and Commander Daizo as played by Keone Young.

The animation style of the movie is based upon the same unique, anime style from the series that I found as lively and humorous before along with it’s stellar quality in the action sequences. I also have to admit that I also enjoyed the appearance of so many anime-based characters from Kikaider, Godzilla, and Astro Boy who masqueraded as Brushogun’s minions.

Overall, the movie was a wonderful final show as it contained everything that made the Teen Titans television series such a solid hit for me and fans. If you loved the series, then you’ll love this the Titans’ last hurrah. Titan Fans, GO! And watch this movie!

Titans are Terrific!

snowymountain — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 15:54:37 -0700

0.0 out of 5

The Teen Titans weren’t the first group of superheroes but they were the youngest and consisted of the sidekicks to the older, more established heroes. Originally stylized as a Junior Justice League and each sidekick in many ways were simply a carbon copy of their mentor but they evolved and grew into their own distinct voice. Happily, this cartoon series captures that voice by focusing on a eclectic cast of characters of Cyborg, Beast Boy, Raven, Starfire, and Robin; aping the glory days of Marv Wolfman and George Perez.

With that broad range of characters of a high-tech hero, a mystic, an alien, a street vigilante, and the adopted child of a family of superheroes; you have a very broad range of stories that you can get into and the guys behind this series weren’t afraid to tap into all of those ideas and the storylines were truly great, involving, and distinct. The five main characters were all great as well; each of them has their own distinct personality and often times, the comedy comes from the interactions between the group. Animation wise, the Titans were a very unique and distinctively anime-inspired which I thought was a very nice change in direction from the Bruce Timm-style of all of the men having huge upper bodies with teeny slender legs.

What I think hurt the Titans was that they were limited to the various villains and foes of the Titans had faced; they never battled say the Joker from Batman or ran into one of Lex Luthor’s schemes or Gorilla Grodd’s nefarious plots.

Nevertheless they did do something right with their version of Deathstroke the Terminator as Slade. He was a great horrific villain but in some ways, I found him a bit lacking as he was never really given an origin, a back story, or an explanation as to why he was a villain or constantly tormenting the Titans after Robin rejected being his apprentice. I also thought that his name to be lacking as well. I mean Slade is a perfectly decent name but it just can't quite equal Deathstroke or the Terminator.

I will give them credit that they revamped and updated dozen of old, musty villains from Trident to Mad Mod but the Titans were left in their own distinct and limited corner of the DC-verse. As the later seasons rolled around, they seemed to be getting goofier and goofier in terms of villains and certain joke episodes were getting more tiresome than a nice change—the characters of the Ding Dong Daddy and Control Freak being some of the dumber ones.

They never even encountered Batman for that matter, which I thought was a disappointment as an episode with him and Robin would have been a very compelling one I think. Even the creators realized that and tried to broaden their base by reintroducing the Doom Patrol, but I have to admit that I wasn’t that disappointed when they retired the franchise rather than letting them linger with horrible storylines.

The voice actors were brilliant in their roles and I thought that Scott Menville (Robin) and Tara Strong (Raven) were truly outstanding. Greg Cipes (Beast Boy) was one of the more funny voices that I can ever remember hearing; having a bit of high-pitched with a bit of lisp that made him very distinctive. But one of the truly awesome voice actors didn't even belong to a regular cast member but Ron Perlman (Slade). Perlman had a great vocal range; coming off as low, melodious and almost seductive voice when talking and doing his "I'm so smart speeches" and then suddenly shifting to an animalistic growling and screaming during his fighting sequences.

Nevertheless, the Teen Titans were a terrific show with a broad range of stories from the fantastical, to the mystical, and to dark criminal noir. It was a very enjoyable show and a very different take on superhero cartoons that I think both children and adults would enjoy.

Key the forgotten classic

Kino88 — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 10:00:20 -0700

0.206549316544 out of 5

Here is a show that deserves every bit as much respect and remembrance as any other high concept anime from the 90's decade,such as Evangelion or Lain. Key is an unsung classic, somehow forgotten by the masses. what starts off feeling like a sci fi retelling of the classic fairy tale "Pinocchio" soon reveals itself to be a surreal journey about a young girl's suppressed humanity, an evil arms organization posing as a pop music studio, and a mysterious power hidden in the bloodline of an old rural village. yes believe it or not, all of these seemingly different elements of Key make up the same whole, and yes it all more or less makes sense in the end. It's a cock tale of anime genre flavors ranging from Moe, sci fi, and a bit of Akira madness for good measure. however I felt it falters a bit in it's 14th episode which is bogged down by too much long winded exposition, compounding this problem is the 90 minute running time of both episodes 14 and 15. much like lain I also suspect many people will find Key the Metal Idol to be too obtuse to see through to the end. but those with the right amount of patience and a taste for the psychological drama prevalent in the works of David Lynch will find that Key is a diamond in the rough, 30'000 thousand is a high number to reach but together we can all give this one the fame it deserves.

Disjointed and Uneven

snowymountain — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 00:38:29 -0700

0.0 out of 5

This is a collection of animated stories featuring Batman with a rather strong anime influence, which makes sense considering that each story segment was done by a separate Japanese anime production company. But there is an appalling lack of cohesion and we get so many different and disjointed interpretations of Batman himself.

The first (and in my opinion, the best) story segment was “Have I Got a Story For You” was an interesting look at how a group of kids saw Gotham City’s extraordinary and enigmatic protector and each got three very different viewpoints that they interpreted. One saw him as a strange creature of the night; another as a high-tech warrior; and the third as a supernatural shadowy demon. However, I also felt that the animation was one of the poorer and least well done of the sextet of animation shorts as well. This introduction basically felt like a summary of the whole movie; a bunch of writers have come and presented to each of us their own separate views of Batman and they don’t really fit with one another all too well.

I think that each story might stand better on its own because none of the stories seem to mesh too well with the others; even the basic visual medium and character designs are different from each story to each story. We are barraged with an anthology of stories that all seem to feature Batman and his adventures but it gets simply a bit too repetitive and confusing about halfway through this movie. Probably because we have a hard time believing that this is one separate character and not six separate ones as they seem so all over the map and so different at times.

Even though DC claimed that it was six interlocking stories, I didn’t get that impression. The connection between each story is so vague and so tenuous, that there didn’t seem to be any kind of connecting thread to them at all. Unlike the Green Lantern: Emerald Knights anthology, this movie lacked an interlocking theme and the different animation styles also didn’t help either. Or they should have broken it up with a more humorous or comedic piece in the middle.

Like in Emerald Knights, they should have had a few stories that didn’t deliberately focus solely on Batman but rather the world he inhabits or Gotham City itself. One of those short stories, “Cross Fire” did just that by focusing on a pair of Gotham City cops who discuss whether or not Batman really helps or hurts Gotham and he’s not present until the very end. But that’s the only one. I thought that they should have had something maybe one story segment about the Joker since he was going to be in the Dark Knight movie, maybe as simple foreshadowing at the very least.

Instead, we get story after story about Batman. We get one where he is field testing a high-tech magnetic shield and yet another which shows us his training to ignore pain; and in between he also fights a fear inducing psychopath and a master assassin. And the last two don’t really have any sort of drama or character development in my opinion and are simply there to make Batman look as sleek and badass as possible and they did have some of the better animation pieces compared to the rest.

Gotham Knight is a celebration of Batman but it’s simply too wildly interpretative in my opinion. As I mentioned before some of the stories are very good in quality while others are sadly lacking; some of them are wildly imaginative of Batman; others are exceptionally excellent in terms of animation and special effects. But none of them have all of those qualities all together. To me, I felt that I was left to decide how each segment was going to let me down.

One of the few unifying themes was that they actually decided to have the same voice actor, Kevin Conroy as Batman throughout the separate story segments. Thankfully because even they must have thought it would be just too confusing for the viewers; but also Conroy continues to be one of the best voices of Batman that I have heard and his portrayal continues to be excellent.

But I simply could not stand the shoddy unevenness of this film. It’s just too all over the map for my tastes, it just felt as though DC wasn’t really trying to make a good Batman feature but felt obligated to try and boost awareness of the forthcoming Dark Knight film.

Dark Vibe and Tragic Storyline

snowymountain — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 02:49:23 -0700

0.0 out of 5

I've only started reading this series and it already has got me rather hooked. There is a definite darkish vibe to it, but not so much that it totally grosses you out.

Taking place in an alternate world where female warriors who wield gigantic blades known as "Claymores" and hunt down fearsome beasts known as "yoma" who view humans as merely another food source. The tragedy behind these Claymores however is that a normal human is hopelessly physically outmatched by these yoma and in a desperate attempt to equalize themselves with these predators, the Claymores undergo horrific surgery to implant yoma organs within their bodies to grant them a measure of strength, speed, and other strange abilities. But it comes with a fearsome price as the more and more they use their powers to destroy these monsters, the stronger their own monstrous nature grows and one day, it will take them over.

Each Claymore lives with the knowledge that one day, their bodies will betray them and then, they too will have to be hunted down and destroyed for the good of humanity. Despite the tragic nature of these heroines, they continue to fight for the sake of the human race, struggling to maintain their humanity against the monsters within themselves.

It's a fascinating idea and a solid concept, even more so as several Claymores are beginning to question the very nature of the "Organization" that hunts down these yomas and directs them and they begin to realize a very dark and sinister plot lurking in the background. The art is excellent and while the storyline seems to falter here and there, it continues to fascinate the reader with new twists and turns. It is definitely worth a read.

Ben Terrible

snowymountain — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 02:30:53 -0700

0.0 out of 5

Like so many sequels, this one was definitely not in the same caliber of the original. I personally liked the first Ben 10 animated series the best while this one felt a bit uninspired and forced to me.

The main issue that I had was that Ben 10 was very much a kid in the first series; an immature arrogant brat but a likeable one who every now and then, showed his inner qualities as a true hero. He grew up and grew kinda boring in the sequels in my opinion.

Alien Force also suffers from the fact that the quality of the storylines and animation seem to definitely go downhill from the first series. As I mentioned earlier, Ben seemed to grow up in the later series—but he also became a bit boring, lacking the same enthusiasm and vigor that I so enjoyed seeing in him in the first series.

In addition, I didn’t like the group of aliens that he turned into as much as the first batch. I didn't think that they put as much thought or care into the creation of this grouping of aliens. In addition, the sudden revelation that Ben (and his cousin Gwen) were part-alien felt like a weird twist to me and one not that well thought out as well. The addition of the other Plumber kids were hybrids felt like a dumb and fairly odd direction in the storylines too. Ultimately, this series caused me to stop watching the show entirely.

Ten out of Ten

snowymountain — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 02:28:10 -0700

0.0 out of 5

Ben 10 was a great cartoon series that I think appeals to all ages. Even though it’s geared for children causing me to ignore it for most of it’s run, I found myself watching an episode on TV as I couldn’t find anything better on and then watching the next episode with some interest. The concept seems ridiculous, but it is a fresh and exciting retake on an old and proven concept. Much like Billy Batson of Captain Marvel and Shazam! fame, a young boy is granted incredible powers and abilities. But Ben transforms into a multitude of aliens with different bodies, powers, and attributes with super-alien science rather than magic.

What I truly enjoyed about the series was that Ben Tennyson is clearly a kid; he’s a cocky smart aleck whom ordinarily, would be the LAST person you would want to have given an item of incredible destructive power. And he proves it. Repeatedly. He shows abominable judgment, he abuses it for his own amusement, and shows very little control over it. And yet … Ben 10 is much more than that. Despite all of his failings, he demonstrates that he is honest and noble and kind and resourceful when the chips are down. Yeah, he’s a kid—but he’s also clearly a hero.

His supporting cast is no less stellar; the annoyingly bossy cousin and a kindly but eccentric grandfather. Even the villains that he faces are pretty good as well, having a certain level of menace and evilness to them. The voice actors are terrific in their roles; extremely believable, realistic, and personable. The animation is pretty good and the cast of aliens that Ben transforms into and faces are all extremely well-thought out and terrific. But what truly makes this cartoon series stand out is the storyline which has a beginning, a middle, and an ending. For me, I thought it was a Ten out of Ten.

WOW.

AnimePhiloshophe — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 22:34:58 -0700

0.0 out of 5

So I stumbled upon this short while perusing through miscellaneous anime listings. I would have never guessed this little short would outclass every other animated work I had seen this year. I investigated it's origin and I found out that the Japanese Agency of Cultural affairs distributed 2.65 million dollars among 4 independent studious to train young animators on the job. WOW. And kudos to the directors and producers obviously. I want more of this. For all you anime fans out there, if "psychological" is a personal favorite you need to watch this.

Ai Yori Are You Kidding Me?

snowymountain — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 19:04:11 -0700

0.0 out of 5

I have to admit that I am not a particular fan of romance anime or manga. I find them a bit overly gooey and emotional with too much females weeping or stoic guys who push away their loved ones because they somehow erroneously believe that they are unworthy of the love of the female lead or some crap. Personally, I think it’s more the fault of the writers than the genre though as I have read and liked several series that make romance a subplot rather than focusing completely on that to the exclusion of all else.

Ai Yori Aoshi however falls in the category of a romantic comedy that tries too hard with a fairly unbelievable plotline and a bunch of uninspiring characters in my opinion. It’s transparently one dimensional and personally, I was surprised that it was apparently popular enough to spawn a sequel (which I never bothered watching).

I know that Japanese girls are supposed to be meek and retiring, but I found Aoi Sakuraba to be horribly backwards. For a scion of a rich family, you’d think that they would have raised her a bit more modernly instead of someone who seems to be raised in a manner of a pre-Meiji Restoration noblewoman.

Plus, her “true love” Kaoru Hanabishi rarely gets any sort of character development as do most of the other characters in the series. Frankly, the plots are amateurish and reek of soap opera-level coincidences and the voice actors were competent but not enthralling. The artwork and animation were probably the one high point of the series; the girls are quite pretty and nice to look at. However don’t expect action sequences or martial arts battles because this series simply doesn’t have that sort of thing.

Overall, it’s overly cutesy and unrealistic which caused the entire series to suffer.