Devil Survivor 2 Episode 8

What They Say:
“Wednesday of Transformations – II”

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With a bit of downtime creeping into the previous episode that helped to reaffirm the friendship between Hibiki and Daichi while drawing in Io as well, there was also the undercurrent of disconcerting material filtering in as well. We’ve seen the way the various sides are coming together in order to deal with the very powerful enemy and that has them also divvying up the country a bit in order to defend the key points. But there’s still that sense of distrust to be had which is perfectly natural considering the personalities involved. With only a few days having passed since the world went to hell in a hand basket, you have to admit that everyone is handling it fairly well, even more so with the kinds of brutal losses some of them have seen right in front of them from the start. But you can’t help but to wait for someone to just snap with all that they’ve seen.

The latest enemy that they have to face is one that seemingly has the ability to self heal quickly, which is problematic in general but even more so with this particular guy. With the way it just rolls over the landscape and destroys so many things under its weight and presence, it’s crushing everything in its path and making for a difficult thing to fight. The first round of Summoers that go at don’t have much look with it, but it turns to a different group that can summon a type that will do what’s needed, but it may come at the cost of their own lives based on the death video clip that they get on their devices. That sets them to doing everything they can to survive in order to stop it the enemy from rolling into Nagoya TV tower, which is a power based for the JPs at this point. There’s a lot riding on defending the installation since there’s still so much more to come in the battle to save the world in the next few days.

That encounter is a whole lot of fun to watch as they deal with the enemy and manage to survive for the most part, but it’s the kind of thing that just sets the stage for more dangerous things to start rolling out. The show has such a dark and gloomy atmosphere that at times it’s hard to tell what’s taking place above ground or below ground, but in each are there are some dark and dangerous plans afoot that we get just the edges of sometimes. Hibiki’s central focus is strained a bit in this episode because of the action, but we see some decent things with him as he struggles with the way the world has turn, what reality has become, and it makes for some curious discussions with those that know more of what’s going on but are unwilling to help for their own reasons. Making it clear that this whole experience is just a test, a trial of sorts, for humanity says a lot about the larger events that take place here. A small conversation, held off to the side, proves the most revelatory overall and definitely reengages the viewer with the bigger story at hand here.

In Summary:
Devil Survivor 2 has done well when it comes to showing the battles with the Septentrion enemy and what it entails with the weirdness of it all and the things that the Summoners brings forth. But the show also has some really good dialogue sessions at times where you really need to pay attention to what’s said and the nuance of it all. This time around, we get some surprisingly clearly things exposed to Hibiki that makes it clearer to him the stakes, especially when he sees an instance of the Void coming into play and just how screwed humanity may be if things can’t be salvaged. The seven days of trial are moving right along and the scope and scale of it is becoming more apparent and more dire, which in this already atmospheric series is pretty dire indeed.

Grade: B

Streamed By: Crunchyroll

Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.

My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU Episode 7

What They Say:
So exactly what’s going to happen when Hachiman Hikigaya, an isolated high school student with no friends, no interest in making any and a belief that everyone else’s supposedly great high school experiences are either delusions or outright lies, is coerced by a well meaning faculty member into joining the one member “Services Club” run by Yukino Yukinoshita, who’s smart, attractive and generally considers everyone in her school to be her complete inferior?

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With summer vacation coming up, Yukino is trying to get in touch with Hachiman about setting things up for the club and its activities. But Hachiman is the kind of person who, while at home, wants little to do with anyone else. His time is his own and his general distaste for others at this point is pretty well earned, so he just wants to play his games and do his thing. Hence trying to ignore Yukino’s repeated attempts at getting in touch with him, which leads to some comical messages from her about what she thinks he’s up to and really doing. There’s a good and natural kind of flow to what she says but also how he reads and interprets things that does give it something of a realistic feeling to it. So many shows have such plastic or hard to believe aspects of its dialogue that you just write them off easily. But they do a good job here once again.

While Hachiman would prefer a summer break that involves him just doing his thing, it’s the last thing he’ll get as Yukino has set a trip for everyone, which brings in several other characters as well, including his younger sister. There’s something scary about a trip with all of these people together, which initially is just Hachiman as the only go, but it slowly adds in other guys as well, such as Hayato and Saika. Of course, the real trick here is that while everyone thinks they’re going on a trip of some sort that involves Chiba, it’s really to a countryside community center of sorts with young kids where their teacher has volunteered all of them for some good educational experiences. They get to mentor and work with young kids to help them do all sorts of fun and neat things in the outdoors, which isn’t exactly what some of them are looking for, be it the teenagers or the grade school kids.

The show works through a fair bit of material early on as it has them dealing with the younger kids, many of which are just excited to be where they are and experiencing the things they are. But there are always those that are less interested in it and it’s not a surprise that the Service Club ends up finding one of them and doing what they can to make her feel like she belongs a bit, which fits with this club since none of them feel like they belong in general. The show deals with this nicely enough and lets the core trio work together, which is always fun when they just talk and connect with people. But it also just goes and has some fun along the way elsewhere with the high school students in general since there are those that really don’t like the Service Club – such as Yumiko – and that provides for some tension that should be light in some ways but gets more serious as it goes on. Which is welcome to see as well since these are teenagers with all sorts of points of views that need to get expressed.

In Summary:
My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU has another decent episode that once more shows us characters that often don’t act like your usual leads. The off nature of the show in a lot of ways is what does draw me to it, even if they don’t seem to be able to really move forward in significant ways with the story. But it’s seeing the way these characters cope with themselves and what they’re facing that makes it engaging for me since they’re not the norm and they’re all difficult personalities because of their beliefs and how they view themselves. I continue to particularly like the way we get Hachiman’s internal dialogue which is pretty self deprecating as that makes his outward personality all the more realistic. The bonding of the group works a bit better here, piecemeal as it is, and that’s definitely fun to see as is the way all the kids handle this new experience. Good fun, but still falling short of its potential.

Grade: B-

Streamed By: Crunchyroll

Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.

Rose of Versaiiles

Acclaimed as one of the greatest shoujo stories to be exported in any format from Japan, the essential anime known as The Rose of Versailles has finally come to the United States on R1 DVD.

What They Say:
General Jarjayes – so desperate for a son to preserve the family name and noble standing – names his newborn daughter “Oscar” and chooses to raise her as a boy.

Fourteen years later, Oscar is a masterful duelist, marksman, and the newly appointed Commander of the French Royal Guards. Her first task: to protect Marie Antoinette, who is engaged to the French prince and future king, Louis-Auguste.

But even though the planned marriage should provide both countries with some much needed peace and prosperity, the French court is a dangerous place – and Marie’s youthful naïveté makes her an easy target for those who wish to see the monarchy overthrown. Oscar soon finds herself both defending Marie’s reputation from those that seek to discredit her and protecting her life from those that wish to kill her.

The Review:
Audio:
The only track available here is the Japanese 2.0 Dolby stereo which sounded clear with no distortions of any kind.

Video:
Beautiful picture optional yellow subtitles with black edges for definition. Easy reading on these.

Packaging:
The cardboard container box presents beautiful paintings from the series with each separate disc in its own plastic case alongside even more paintings. There are 4 DVDs, each containing five episodes.

Menu:
The menus are pretty as each individual episode has its own page containing separate artwork, as well as options for prologue, opening sequence, 2 parts and the closing, while a portion of the opening theme plays in the background. Nice work here.

Extras:
Not much here besides textless opening and closing sequences, as well as some trailers.

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
For the better part of three decades, anime fans in the underground scene as well as the current mainstream scene have wondered one thing: will The Rose of Versailles ever be available legally in the United States.

It’s easy to understand why people became drawn to this series after watching it. From the time when Oscar is born, we come to understand the struggles she comes to have as a young woman groomed to be a military heir in a male-dominated society. Her father treats her completely as a young man in both praise and punishment, giving no quarter due to her gender. (He’d tried 5 times beforehand to have a male heir with no success, so his frustration comes through at times). The first episode exemplifies this when General Jarjayes puts Oscar into a duel against another officer’s son to see who will earn a prominent position as a junior commander. However, Oscar privately challenges this young man outside the event (which was to have been viewed by other officers and soldiers) and the General is furious with her, almost wanting to withdraw her from the selection. The news she defeated her opponent handily however spares her and propels her into a fortunate, yet life-altering situation.

Oscar winds up becoming protector to Lady Marie Antoinette, who is on her way to meet her fiancée, future-King Louis XVI. However, a secret group looking to take down the monarchy and end the tenuous peace France has developed with other European countries at this time tries to ingratiate an impostor and kidnap Lady Antoinette. Oscar prevents this and exposes the infiltrator, becoming quite the hero to Lady Antoinette in the process.

The future Queen is depicted as being a generally nice person but rather naïve in many respects, never wanting to marry or handle royal duties. When she greets Louis XVI, she feels absolutely nothing for him, even though he himself is a kind and gentle sort (and a bit heavy as well). The Lady’s attentions are often focused on Count Axel Von Fersen, a dashing soldier who is rising through the ranks, while hiding his own romantic feelings for her. All the while though, she keeps focusing on her admiration and affection for Oscar (as does every other female in the royal court, it seems).

Oscar meanwhile, simply wants to do right as a loyal friend to Antoinette and Louis XVI, by preventing schemes against the couple. Many manipulators appear along the way and become entwined in the royal court conspiracies, though the story skillfully takes time to develop their involvement. A pair of women named Jeanne and Rosalie are prime examples of this coming from opposite ends. Jeanne recruits a lovestruck accomplice into helping her into the favor of the royals by any underhanded means necessary. Rosalie, on the other hand, is a poor girl who comes to seek vengeance within the court after a tragedy befalls her family.

Like I said, the story by Riyoko Ikeda expands into several lives but it never loses its focus. Oscar’s belief in loyalty, friendship and justice remain a constant throughout the story, and these principles are tested quite often. Alongside her lifelong friend and servant Andre, Oscar’s skills as a soldier are also developed through the series even as she deals with more betrayals than Downtown Abbey and Dangerous Liaisons combined. It’s really interesting to see an outside author’s perspective on French history (and some of America’s) played out here after what’s apparently been some extensive research. Ikeda’s original 10-volume manga was focused on Lady Antoinette’s rise but the Oscar character became more popular as the reader’s view into the past history, so she was made the main focus.

It’s equally interesting to see the shoujo-ai themes play out where Oscar is concerned as she’s been made one of the icons of gender role reversal in anime, much like Princess Knight before her as well as Revolutionary Girl Utena would be many years later. The sentiments are handled naturally as she embodies freedom from social graces her gender would’ve imposed, thus Oscar’s gaining so many admirers and detractors over time. Naturally a ton of melodrama is displayed throughout, as are the blonde hairstyles. (Really, every other female here has so much blonde to them, it can be trying to tell them apart some times.) The lavish lifestyles of the court are prominent throughout this half of the show (and are a stark contrast when the lives of average French citizens are shown in later episodes).

Directors Tadao Nagahama (Star of the Giants) and Osamu Dezaki (Space Adventure Cobra) amped up the melodrama and feminine aesthetics, while adapting the manga, though with somewhat different techniques. Nagahama’s style was minimalist, often doing stilted characters being slid around at times with accompanying voiceovers to help simulate implied movement except at key points of action where there was full animation. In addition, there were interesting color and background manipulations for emotional effect. Although Dezaki didn’t take over directing duties until close to midway through the show, this style seems to emulate his work on the shoujo sports drama Aim For The Ace.

However, Dezaki eventually did take over eventually and the animation improved dramatically, with some of his trademark cinematic techniques and patented “postcard method,” where all action would stop on a still painting or sketch to simulate dramatic effects. (His film “The Professional: Golgo 13” remains the greatest example of this technique available to American audiences.) Much of this was enhanced greatly with animation work and character designs by Shingo Araki (Saint Seiya), Akio Sugino (Black Jack OAV series) and Michi Himeno (Gegege No Kitaro). They worked together to emulate Ikeda’s designs which look like they’re straight out of a French history museum. A lot of the artwork is reminiscent of Le Chevalier D’eon, or perhaps Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo (minus the computer models that is) with every aspect being so regal, colorful and exaggerated.

It’s a testament to Ikeda’s writing strength that a show geared for young females utilizing these elements can command attention of an older male such as myself and many other fans outside the target audience long after its initial broadcast. The intensity can be a bit thick at times with the music and metaphorical imagery, but the story is very solid and compelling. At the very least it can inspire one to study up on history in various aspects, as well as other parts of human existence.

In Summary
It’s honestly been a pleasure to have an opportunity to review one of the longest standing treasures of anime fandom in a legal and well-produced format. Until now, it was exported to many other countries in Latin America as well as R1 DVD in France under the title ‘Lady Oscar.’ As it has finally come to the United States, I’m very much looking forward to set 2 with the conclusion of the Rose of Versailles series.

Features:
Japanese Language 2.0 Dolby, Optional English subtitles, Textless Opening and Closing sequences, Trailers for other Nozomi Entertainment titles

Content Grade: A
Audio Grade: A
Video Grade: A
Packaging Grade: A+
Menu Grade: A
Extras Grade: B

Released By: Right Stuf / Nozomi Entertainment
Release Date: May 2013
MSRP: $49.99
Running Time: 480 Minutes
Video Encoding: 480i/p MPEG-2
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1

Review Equipment:
Panasonic 1080P HDTV, Sony PlayStation3 Blu-ray player via HDMI set to 1080p, Marantz stereo receiver

Sword Art Online

Please note: This page originally was posted early on Thursday morning but was removed. We’ve reposted it and will update with further information from the convention about the release over the weekend.

It showed up briefly this morning online before becoming inaccessible, but the first blush information for what Aniplex USA will be doing with Sword Art Online appears to have been revealed, with confirmations likely this weekend at Anime Boston. The series, which was simulcast on Crunchyroll and also shows on the Aniplex Channel and Hulu, looks like it’s getting a four part release. The Blu-ray editions will run for $112.98 each and the DVDs will run for $49.98 each. The releases will be bilingual and it appears to have a one release a month plan with : 8/13, 9/17,1 0/15 and 11/19.

Sword Art Online BD LEs (4 parts @ $112.98 ea), DVDs (4 parts @ $49.98 ea). 8/13,9/17,10/15,11/19. JP/EngDubs, EngSub swordart-onlineusa.com/package/index.…

— WTK (@WTK) May 23, 2013

Sword Art Online Blu-ray Box Set I: Aincrad Part 1 (http://www.swordart-onlineusa.com/package/bluray01.html)

Sword Art Online Blu-ray Box Set II: Aincrad Part 2 (http://www.swordart-onlineusa.com/package/bluray02.html)

Sword Art Online Blu-ray Box III: Fairy Dance Part 1 (http://www.swordart-onlineusa.com/package/bluray03.html)

Sword Art Online Blu-ray Set IV: Fairy Dance 2 (http://www.swordart-onlineusa.com/package/bluray04.html)

Sword Art Online DVD Volume 1: Aincrad Part 1 (http://www.swordart-onlineusa.com/package/index.html)

Sword Art Online DVD Volume 2: Aincrad Part 2 (http://www.swordart-onlineusa.com/package/index02.html)

Sword Art Online DVD Volume 3: Fairy Dance Part 1 (http://www.swordart-onlineusa.com/package/index03.html)

Sword Art Online DVD Volume 4: Fairy Dance 2 (http://www.swordart-onlineusa.com/package/index04.html)

Series concept: In the near future, a Virtual Reality Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (VRMMORPG) called Sword Art Online has been released where players control their avatars with their bodies using a piece of technology called: Nerve Gear. One day, players discover they cannot log out, as the game creator is holding them captive unless they reach the 100th floor of the game’s tower and defeat the final boss. However, if they die in the game, they die in real life. Their struggle for survival starts now…

Fate – Kaleid Liner

One of the potentially interesting series to hit this summer is the alternate universe series Fate/kaleid liner, which takes us into the Fate/Stay Night realm and just has a whole lot of fun with it. The official site has updated this weekend with a look at the summer series by providing some clean shots of the character designs and the costumes for them as well as a few artifacts, which definitely makes this look like it could be an absolute blast.

Plot Concept: Illyaviel von Einzbern is an ordinary middle school student who becomes a magical girl when the magical Kaleidostick Ruby deems her a more suitable master than the sorceress, Rin Tosaka. Rin, who had been tasked by the wizard Zelretch to collect the seven Class Cards containing the spirits of Heroic Spirits from legend, finds that she is unable to change Ruby’s mind and must supervise Illya in completing the task of collecting the Class Cards. During Illya’s adventures, she receives a friend and rival in a girl named Miyu, the contracted master of the Kaleidostick Sapphire, which similarly abandoned its original master and Rin’s rival, Luvia Edelfelt.

[Source: Crunchyroll]

Plot Concept: The Fujisaki Girls Academy is known for their school body being composed of very proper students. The most prominent one of them is Maki, the student president who is admired by her classmates for her calm and polite demeanor. On the other hand, Kurahashi Riko is also admired but for having a very forward and boyish personality. Riko accidentally walks into Maki while she’s practicing kissing with a pillow and learns that she isn’t what everyone thinks she is. Riko is forced into keeping Maki’s secret and join her in practicing all aspects of romance like holding hands and more.

[Source: Crunchyroll]

Gurren Lagann

What They Say:
In the distant future, mankind has lived quietly and restlessly underground for hundreds of years, subject to earthquakes and cave-ins. Living in one such village are two young men: one named Simon who is shy and naive, and the other named Kamina who believes in the existence of a “surface” world above their heads. The destiny of these two starts moving drastically when the ceiling of their village falls in, and a gigantic “Gunmen” and a beautiful girl named Yoko, wielding a superconductive rifle, come from the surface. Together, Kamina, Simon, and Yoko ride the mecha “Lagann” that Simon digs out of the ground, and fly up to the surface!

The Review:
Audio:
The audio presentation for this release is presented in its original Japanese language and the English dub, both of which are in stereo and encoded at 224kbps. The series is one that really works the soundstage well across the whole program as there’s a great mix of quiet dialogue pieces, standard interactions and some epic swells of music and action that deals with great placement and depths. The big moments obviously draw more attention and the larger the scale of the show the more it shows off, but I really appreciated the quieter moments with the incidental sounds and ambient music that didn’t distract as it unfolded. We didn’t have any dropouts or distortions during regular playback of this single language track release either.

Video:
Originally airing in 2007, the transfer for this series is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and is enhanced for anamorphic playback. The show is spread across six discs which looks to be the same materials used for the Bandai Entertainment release, though these are authored without any playback or comparability problems. The twenty-seven episodes are spread across six discs in a five/four/five/four/five/four format. While the show when I first saw it on the subtitled-only sets wasn’t one that looked all that strong, the authoring looks a bit better here with more solid colors and more vibrant areas throughout. There’s a more muted tone to much of this release because of the design of the show and its very earthy nature, but there’s a lot of areas where it stands out well, especially with the blue skies and some of the really vibrant areas like the combination/transformation sequence with all of its rainbow colors. The show does suffer from some line noise in a few scenes, and it is noticeable, but it’s a tiny amount over the whole seven hundred minutes of the set.

Packaging:
The packaging for this release is a big part of the draw for it and Aniplex doesn’t disappoint with what they do when it comes to limited editions. The heavy chipboard box has a great wrap around it, one that definitely feels different with the texture of it, and it has a detailed and gorgeous illustration where one side features the Team Gurren Lagann on the front while facing off against the Beastmen that make up the artwork on the back panel. The side panel is a bit bigger than some other sets we’ve seen lately and that just fleshes out the space between the two in a light and good way. Inside the box we get four clear DVD cases where a lot of the original artwork of the character pairings and solo shots stand out well. They’re full wraparound pieces with mostly blank backgrounds but it all has a great look to it. And they all have artwork on the reverse side so we get plenty of pieces of detailed and colorful characters. The discs are also nicely done as they’re silkscreened in white while having the Team Gurren Lagann logo in vibrant colors across all six of them.

Also inside the box we get a good additional limited edition extras. One is a beautiful if seemingly odd sized character poster where one side shows off a full length shot of Yoko while the other does Kamina. We also get an enclosed packet that has a series of high quality postcards, mostly using artwork from the covers, as well as a great little pairing of stickers that are quite attractive. The collection also comes with a thirty-six page full color booklet that has a slew of great pieces of artwork, again showing some of the postcards but also a lot more, and a look at the CDs and some production information in general towards the end. This release has a lot of great pieces of artwork material to it that you really find yourself wanting to frame.

Menu:
One of the things I absolutely loved with the previous DVD editions were the menus designed by Nightjar. Thankfully, those are kept here and we get something that looks great and still stands out today compared to what most companies do. The menu design uses their love of rotation to get you to submenus as it takes the basic imagery from some of the interior Gunmen screen designs and brings in the navigation elements as well as the basic text you’d expect such as the logo. With a good bit of thrumming music to it, these are fun menus to whip around in and go place to place, which again makes me really want to see what Nightjar will do someday on a Blu-ray release. Submenus load pretty quickly considering the extra animation and everything is laid out in a very smooth and easy to utilize form.

Extras:
The show has a lot of extras spread across the six discs which seem to mirror what was in the previous release. The first disc has a good look at what went into the production as the voice actress for Yoko does some behind the scenes stuff as well as some other key production moments. We also get a preview of the sixth episode of the series in its TV version. That gets followed up on the second disc as it provides the TV version of episode six, which received some editing due to content, but it’s something that I didn’t watch since I prefer the unedited version, though it makes sense to go with the cleaner one with younger children or for broadcast. We also get the clean opening and closing sequences and a few trailers.

The third and fourth discs are a bit simpler as we get the clean versions of the opening and closing sequences here as well. The fifth and sixth discs also do this but they also provide a bit more material that’s really great to see again. One is a look at the 3D modeling for the Anti-Spiral Mugann piece that runs nearly thirty minuets and goes into things in good detail. This disc also gets a seven minute extras that interviews Shoko Nakagawa, who did one of the songs for the series.

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Gurren Lagann is one of those anime series that has such an interesting history to it just in how it’s been released that I can’t help but to be fascinated by it. Originally set to be released by ADV Films, and I believe some dubbing was done, the title was shifted to Bandai Entertainment during ADV’s waning days before they went under. Bandai Entertainment went to get the series out as quickly as possible so we ended up with a subtitled-only release at first for a low price to make the fans happy, and then a dubbed release came. Unfortunately, so many of the discs across both editions were flawed because of bad authoring/replication issues that it was a hugely problematic show for fans. But now, several years later, we get the whole thing in one gorgeous collection with what seems like no real problems at all, giving Gurren Lagann the release it has long deserved. Because of the scale of the show and what it does, we’ll revisit it in the way it was originallly released, in the three sets of nine episodes since there’s so much to talk about with each segment of the series.

Discs 1 & 2:

Directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi, which explains quite a bit of the style as he was one of the principle forces behind Dead Leaves, and with a script by Kazuki Nakashima, Gurren Lagann feels like it’s revisiting a lot of older Gainax material and reshaping it once again. The series takes place in some undetermined post-apocalyptic future where mankind has been driven underground and into small enclaves that aren’t connected with each other. In the darkness, they either fear the light above or they don’t believe that it really exists. Some villages even believe that whatever is above is a heaven of sorts where the gods live and they dare not tread. Years of belief have changed into numerous small religions or working theories that help to keep people controlled and in the end safe from exposure to the outside world.

Not all people want to live like this though and one of this is a very outgoing and energetic young man named Kamina. Often the source of trouble in his village, everything changes when his young friend Simon discovers a pint sized drill that activates a robotic head. A robotic head that is really just a version of science-magic as the technology behind it is so incomprehensible that it cannot be described as anything else but magic. This head, which Kamina decides to call Lagann, is where everything starts as a massive mecha suddenly drops into the village and causes all sorts of trouble. The mecha, known as a Gunmen, is being dealt with by a very attractive and fiery redhead named Yoko who gets caught up in what these two guys are going through. Before you know it, the Gunmen is defeated and the trio are heading out of the village and onto the surface to discover what awaits there.

Like most shows of this nature, the planet is pretty much barren and lifeless. The surface world that Simon and Kamina find themselves in is one that fits the bill of needing to fight to survive because the Gunmen seem to come out constantly during the day and retreat at night. The village that the duo stays with at first with Yoko allows them to get a feel for the world but also lets Kamina really put his stamp on things. While it’s holding pattern in all the fights so far between the humans and the Gunmen, piloted by Beastmen, Kamina’s arrival heralds something new as during one fight he essentially steals the Gunmen from the Beastman and turns it into his own, naming it the Gurren. When things later take a weird turn during a fight and Kamina spouts off about how combining things are cool, the Lagann is essentially drilled into the top of the Gurren and they combine which gives them even more power and ability.

Once that happens, everything becomes even more footloose as the two decide that this is their fate and want to head off into the world to track down the Beastman’s base so they can destroy it. Kamina’s singular focus allows everything to be driven by his willpower and desire to do things. As they progress, with Yoko coming along as she’s developed feelings for Kamina, the meet up with other humans that are either actively fighting against the Gunmen or are in hiding underground like they once were. Through these generally shorter stories, the cast expands nicely and we get a better feeling for what the storyline is shaping up to, particularly when the “big boss” is revealed in the form of the Spiral King that is the heart of all matters.

Gurren Lagann’s approach is relatively straightforward and it works well enough to keep things flowing. I had originally sat down to watch just the first episode but suddenly found myself on the fourth episode because it was simply addictive. That addictive nature is somewhat familiar though as much of the energy can be traced back to the director’s involvement in Dead Leaves but also in that it feels like portions of FLCL are strewn throughout here, especially when it comes to the Gunmen. The Gunmen are that kind of science that cannot be described because things simply happen when needed with them, such s the combination effect or the way the characters can talk through them. Once you treat it as a pseudo-science or magic, it’s very easy to get into the “classic” nature of it all and just let it wash over you. When you have the mecha self-repairing during a combination scene with junk laying around or watching them move in ways that are impossible, you just have to give yourself over to it.

What’s also very appealing about the show is the character designs used for it. While Simon has the problem of being the young kid of the group, the rest of the cast gets some fairly dynamic designs that are really appealing. Kamina in particular is a real rarity in that he’s shirtless most of the time and he stands out because of his tattoos and the way he carries himself as if he’s living some sort of anime/comic book dream. He’s full of Hollywood poses that set him apart from everyone else and he’s simply living in each and every moment. Also quite appealing is Yoko who is reminiscent of a particular character from Gunbuster 2. With her ample cleavage on display and her outgoing nature, she complements Kamina nicely while also having fun with it. Yoko certainly properly represents the “Gainax Bounce” in each and every episode it seems.

Discs 3 & 4:

With another set of nine episodes, the second collection of Gurren Lagann has one hell of a job ahead of it. The first collection of nine episodes is incredibly engaging and fun to watch and the second set has some large shoes to fill. With an array of interesting characters and a sense of having fun with giant robots while imbuing it with a sense of the epic and dramatic, Gurren Lagann appealed on nearly every level. What made this collection an incredibly hard follow-up was the death in the first collection of the character that really made the show for me. With that coming towards the end of the first set of episodes, it left this one in doubt.

That doubt does take a little bit of time to be taken care of with this collection. Much of what slows down the show at first is that it has to deal with Simon being completely out of sorts because of Kamina’s death. With his Bro having been such a big part of his life for so long and being the only one who really believed in him for so long, losing him is a crushing moment in his life. Even with Nia now there, a cute young girl who exudes nothing but positive vibes, he’s sullen and uncommunicative with most people. When he does communicate, he’s angry and brash which leads to a number of conflicts, conflicts that makes it easier for Kittan to take on the role as the leader of Team Gurren.

This goes on for a little bit, but not enough to really crush the spirit of the series. There are enough moments during all of this where the supporting cast gets to find its legs in the post-Kamina world and that helps a lot since they’re all fun to watch, even as they’re coping with the loss. Once Simon gets his rear in gear though, Gurren Lagann works hard to recapture a lot of that magic. Simon isn’t Kamina, nor should he be, but he brings a lot of his optimism to his new outlook on things and attempts to look at the world through a similar lens, one that allows him to be unpredictable and to never give up. This is certainly important considering the kinds of Gunmen and General’s he’s coming across, particularly once they divine the location of the Spiral King and begin their trek towards him.

With most series, that trek would take up the bulk of the series and lead to an epic conflict. Gainax, however, working with an original series and their own skewed sense of how things should work, really brings that climax point up to episode fifteen. Gurren Lagann runs through so many small revelations and key moments as it revels in epic nature that it’s almost too much to handle. The Spiral King and his goals turn out to be completely unexpected and his reasons for doing so even more fascinating. With his relationship to Nia, the way he tweaks and manipulates Viral and how he handles his encounter with Simon, the Spiral King is a character that is far more engaging than most villains are. And the main reason for it is that he isn’t a villain but rather someone with a very specific plan for doing what they believe is right. And those kinds of characters are always a lot more fun to watch in the long run.

Gurren Lagann has a lot of familiar themes to past Gainax shows which isn’t a surprise. A lot of what the company has done since it attempted to revitalize itself back at the turn of the century has been with a kind of smile and wink about what made it so popular way back in the day. Gurren Lagann has plenty of things that are owed towards Gunbuster and FLCL as well as the big robot series of the 70’s. One thing that continues to hit me with it at times is some of the things it does that are similar to Macross. There are certain music cues that are very reminiscent of it and there are a number of action sequences with missiles that look like they came right out of the Macross movie.

The similarity that made me the happiest however is that after a positively lackluster compilation piece done for episode sixteen, the show leaps ahead by seven years and tells the next phase of the story, the one that was hinted at during the opening of the series with Simon as something of a space captain. This shift brings Simon into a far more interesting realm as he’s older and in a very different position than he was as just the pilot of the Lagann. Everyone who is still around is different to some extent, but it’s the younger characters who are more noticeable with it. Yoko is unfortunately mostly absent from it for obvious reasons, but watching how the others have adapted to this new life is a whole lot of fun. It’s almost like a really lengthy epilogue story at first that then dovetails into the next big storyline.

Discs 5 & 6:

Revisiting Gurren Lagann has been a fascinating experience, which isn’t a surprise as very few Gainax original series have been uninteresting. The second set of nine episodes was the weakest of the series for a point simply because it wallowed a bit too much in despair, which was rather necessary when looking at the bigger picture of the story. Once it got going however, it led into an area that turned the whole series in a fascinating new direction, one which is capitalized on beautifully in this final installment of nine episodes. Gainax rarely goes beyond the standard episode counts, so seeing them hit twenty-seven episodes here does feel unusual but it all works out perfectly.

The arrival of the Anti-Spirals on Earth brings everything to what seems to be the big new arena. While the fight against Lordgenome was certainly a huge event, it was more of a mid-series epic moment that must be topped for the finale. Every time things get to a new level that you think is as far as it can go, they come out with something even more. The shift to seven years in the future has shown us humanity moving forward with extreme speed and ending up in extreme comfort over what they now have. When that’s threatened, they instinctively look to place blame and Simon’s poor actions in defending everyone combined with the way Nia has manipulated things makes it easy for him to receive a sham trial. Before he knows it, he’s sharing a cell with Viral which is simply amusing just for the visuals of it all.

Seemingly unable to defeat the Anti-Spirals, though at least able to fend them off to some degree, everything has gone epic in scale as the bad guys are now threatening the planet by tossing the moon at it. The resulting destruction will cause untold despair on the million plus inhabitants, which is exactly what the Anti-Spirals want. Rossiu at least has plans to try and save more than half of them, but events never go as the earnest young man plans. When there is such a dominating force looking over everything and with the Lordgenome head coming up with all sorts of new information, it only gets more and more grim. But that’s a huge part of the appeal as everyone moves between despair and hope as they can’t give up.

Eventually, everyone is brought back into play as a means to fight the Anti-Spirals is discovered. It’s one that has the core cast of characters having to look at everything in a new way, but a familiar way as well. With the moon above now acting like a new ceiling, those who spent so much time underground before now realize that it’s just another thing they have to climb, crawl, dig and drill through in order to reach the “surface.” The series keeps a very warm and personal touch as it moves onto a universal size scale in order to deal with the Anti-Spirals by taking the battle to their home world or wherever they actually operate out of. The Anti-Spirals themselves are highly fascinating in their design but also in how they’re portrayed since it reveals a lot about their past in a very brief manner that makes a whole lot of sense. The galactic scale of it all is something that a lot of Gainax shows work with so it was little surprise to see it go there, but we’re reminded once again of why Gainax excels at this and few others do. They simple make it engaging and fun while also giving it that immense sense of scale.

This is both the boon and the bane of this series however. The bane of it is that on some level, so much of this intimately familiar, just with different characters. There aren’t shades of Gunbuster, Evangelion and FLCL here, there are plenty of direct adjustments and swipes of their own material. That sense of the familiar can be off-putting after awhile, especially if you’ve been watching Gainax shows since 1989 and have seen everything they’ve done. At the same time, it’s their boon as they have such a unique wealth of material to work with that watching them take it, rework it and refine it is extremely engaging. Familiar costumes, robot designs, settings and even font types are all tweaked and prodded over the years and this is the most current result of it. The way it works from such a small personal relationship between characters and the universe that they know which then grows into a massive sprawling piece where so much is at stake at a much larger level is highly satisfying.

In Summary:
With many anime series, I always come back to the idea that it’s the journey that’s the most fun. Often the openings are slow and the endings meager or weak at best. With Gainax however, with their work through original properties rather than manga based ones, they’re able to be more expressive and take more chances. Gurren Lagann represents another one of those moments where not only is the journey highly enjoyable – and it is! – but the conclusion is just as satisfying, if not more so. Everything here is in that realm of science=magic for the viewer, but it’s handled so expertly, with such passion and charm, that as it all rolls across the screen it’s very easy to get swallowed up in and almost feel like an active participant. While a show like Neon Genesis Evangelion will get the most praise, it’s shows like this that I tend to find the most engaging from this studio. Gurren Lagann joins a very strong field of properties that Gainax has created and is in my opinion one more of their “must watch” properties for any anime fan. Whatever form you want to own it in, it is one that definitely needs to be on most any fans shelf.

Features:
Japanese Language, English Language, English Subtitles, Yoko Goes to Gainax – Study Animation at Gainax, Sazigen 3DCG Test Animation Footage, Creative Staff Interview, Shokotan Interview, Textless Openings and Endings

Content Grade: A
Audio Grade: A-
Video Grade: A-
Packaging Grade: A
Menu Grade: A
Extras Grade: A

Released By: Aniplex USA
Release Date: May 14th, 2013
MSRP: $174.98
Running Time: 700 Minutes
Video Encoding: 480i/p MPEG-2
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen

Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Sony PlayStation3 Blu-ray player via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.

Unbreakable Machine Doll

Things continue to move forward for the 2013 series Unbreakable Machine Doll, which adapts the five volume and ongoing manga series by Reiji Kaitou. The second trailer has arrived for the series and it provides a new look at some of the animation and brings about the full staff listing towards the end as well as the cast.

• Director: Kinji Yoshimoto
• Series Composition: Yuuko Kakihara
• Character Design: Atsuko Watanabe
• Production: GENCO
• Production: Lerce

Main Cast:

• Shimono Hiro
• Harada Hitomi
• Takamoto Megumi
• Kana Asumi
• Nobuhiko Okamoto
• Joji Nakata

Plot Concept: During the early 20th century, along with technological advancements, scientists were able to develop sophisticated magic. The combination of science and sorcery was Makinot, circuits made from spells that were put into objects to bring them to life and even gain a personality. It was developed as a military weapon and has now spread throughout the world.

Akabane Raishin is now attending the Royal Academy to become the best in the world. Accompanied by the lovely teenage girl Yaya, who is actually Raishin’s puppet weapon, he plans on rocketing to the top of the class. However, his test scores come nearly dead last although his combat skills and determination are second to none. Raishin has to compete with the deadliest of classmates if he wants to come out as the king.

Justice League – The Flashpoint Paradox

Due out on July 30th, the next DC Universe animated movie arrives with Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox. This feature adapts the comic event of the same name, with some expected differences of course, and brings in a good deal of talent from the many DC animated properties to take on the varying roles. The first trailer has debuted and it certainly sets the stage for a whole lot of fun.

Plot Concept: The world is turned upside down as one of earth’s greatest super heroes – Flash – wakes up devoid of his super powers in the all-new Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox. When time travelallows a past wrong to be righted for Flash and his family, the event’s temporal ripples prove disastrous, creating a fractured, alternate reality where the Justice League never formed, and even Superman is nowhere to be found. Amidst a new world being ravaged by a fierce war between Wonder Woman’s Amazons and Aquaman’s Atlanteans, Flash must team with a grittier, more violent Batman and government agent Cyborg to restore the continuity of Flash’s original timeline.

Primetime television stars Justin Chambers (“Grey’s Anatomy”) and Kevin McKidd (“Grey’s Anatomy”), the voices of Barry Allen/Flash and Thomas Wayne/Batman, respectively, unite with numerous greats of television and film to fashion the famed animated roles. Adding to the celebrity-laden voice cast and providing thrilling additions to the Justice League series are Michael B. Jordan as Cyborg, C. Thomas Howell as Thawne/Professor Zoom, Nathan Fillion as Hal Jordan/Green Lantern, Ron Perlman as Slade and Deathstroke, Dana Delany as Lois Lane, Cary Elwes as Aquaman, Danny Huston as General Lane, Sam Daly as Superman, and Kevin Conroy as Batman.

For every $10 of “Uta no Prince-sama” merchandise purchased, customers will receive as a present 1 of 8 special Label Stickers featuring one of the main characters. Supplies are limited, so collect all 8 while you can!

* Stickers will be chosen at random

* Offer applies at the time of shipping

* Offer valid only while supplies last

More information is available at USA Animate Online Shop’s special webpage: http://en.animate-onlineshop.jp/special/fair/utapri/

Orion Heart

MangaGamer has announced their newest release today with the title Orion Heart, an 18+ adventure game created by Portion in the home Japanese market.

Plot concept: After defeating the demons, Orion Sun thought she could finally live in peace, enjoying her everyday life and love for Osamu, but she was wrong! The demons were still alive, and worse, their leader, Gildart, has now possessed the boy she loves, using his body to have their way with her! Who else will suffer as the demons run amok while she tries to save her beloved?!
Orion Heart

A demon whom the two girls thought they had defeated returns to hunt them down!
Currently, Orion Suns lives in peace, letting the soft flames of love stir in her heart.
But soon, her nemesis Gildart returns to trample all over her innocent soul.
The boy she has feelings for becomes possessed by the demon, and he uses the body of the boy Orion Suns loves to crush her.

And so, in order to save the boy, two girls offer up their pure, innocent bodies to the demon…

Orion Heart
Manufacturer: Portion
Genre: Adventure
Price: $24.95
OS: Windows 98(32bit), Windows Me, Windows 2000(32bit), Windows XP(32bit), Windows Vista(32bit), Windows 7(32bit)
Text Language: English
Voice Language: Japanese
Age Rating: 18 and over

Flowers Of Evil episode 7

What They Say
FLOWERS OF EVIL revolves around Takao Kasuga, who is caught stealing Nanako Saeki’s gym clothes by Sawa Nakamura whose cold attitude makes her generally disliked by everyone. In exchange for her silence, he makes a “contract” with her, in which he must abide by all of her unreasonable demands. Initially torturous, Kasuga wants out until one day when things start to change between them…

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
I’m always somewhat hesitant about handing out A+’s for grades, as nothing is truly perfect. But then again, if I don’t use one for an episode like this, with an ending like this, I might as well never use them at all.

The episode begins with Kasuga visiting Saeki in bed, since she spent the day home from school. He finds her in bed reading the Flowers of Evil book Kasuga had bought for her, although she quickly tries to hide it under her blanket. Kasuga asks her what’s wrong. Saeki asks him to sit on her bed beside her, and places her hand on his. She asks him if he is keeping any secrets from her. Kasuga lies, saying there’s nothing he’s hiding, thinking only of the gym uniform. But Saeki doesn’t know anything about that, and is instead thinking of the conversation she thought she heard between Nakamura and Kasuga, where it appeared Nakamura wanted to have sex with Kasuga. Saeki accepts his answer, but the guilt of keeping the secret starts gnawing at Kasuga’s conscience.

Nakamura shows up for her daily haunting, and Kasuga ends up begging Nakamura to tell Saeki about the uniform for him, so he won’t have to. She laughs, but she doesn’t exactly say no, either. She decides she will help him find a way to confess, at midnight, at the back entrance to the school. He’s instructed to bring Saeki’s gym uniform with him. And in a perfect, ominous touch, just then, a black helicopter flies over him in the sky.

As might be expected, Nakamura isn’t going to simply tell Saeki. She leads Kasuga to the classroom where she instructs him to write a confession on the board and sign it with his name. He refuses, and when he does, Nakamura acts disappointed, and says their contract is dissolved. Kasuga, for whatever reason, finds losing Nakamura unacceptable, and relents to her demands.

What follows is surely one of the most memorable sequences of the season, and likely the year. An escalating dance of destruction takes place, with Kasuga laying waste to the classroom with chalk and ink, and Nakamura dancing rapturously in the center of the class. The detail and perspective is astounding, and the way the camera spins around is something you would need a million-yen budget to be able to capture in traditional animation. Perhaps the entire decision to rotoscope was based off of this single scene. It is not to be missed, and cannot get a stronger possible recommendation from me.

In Summary
Flowers of Evil may never be this strong again. With it only having six episodes remaining, I’m unsure where the series can get to in the manga, or whether it plans on having an anime-only ending. Regardless, if this is the highest note the show can reach, it is a high one indeed. The show is criminally underrated and is due to sell horribly due to its controversial visual style. But if you miss this, you are only robbing yourself.

Grade: A+

Streamed By: Crunchyroll

Review Equipment:
Sony VAIO 17″ HD screen

• BD Limited edition: 9,240 yen
• DVD Limited Edition: 8,190 yen
• Blu-ray Regular Edition: 5,040 yen
• DVD Regular Edition: 3,990 yen

Plot Concept: The film is set between the 517th and 518th installments of Akira Toriyama’s original manga. Specifically, it is set during the “lost decade” of story time after the end of the battle with Majin Buu. Kuririn, Piccolo, Vegeta, and other familar characters will appear in the film. The film is not a spinoff, but a story in the official history of Dragon Ball.

[Source: Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods]

Plot Concept: Kaze Tachinu focuses on Jirou Horikoshi, the designer of Japan’s famed Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter plane of World War II. It also adapts Tatsuo Hori’s 1936–37 novelette of the same name, which follows the tentative relationship with a male narrator and Setsuko who suffers from encroaching tuberculosis.

The Wind Rises

What They Say:
Many years ago, the last remnants of humanity were forced to retreat behind the towering walls of a fortified city to escape the massive, man-eating Titans that roamed the land outside their fortress. Only the heroic members of the Scouting Legion dared to stray beyond the safety of the walls – but even those brave warriors seldom returned alive. Those within the city clung to the illusion of a peaceful existence until the day that dream was shattered, and their slim chance at survival was reduced to one horrifying choice: kill – or be devoured!

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Episode 7 highlights how good this show is at conveying a sense of scale. Attack on Titan has lots of zoomed-out shots of cities and rooftops as well as frantic scenes where characters zoom past the same buildings on maneuver gear. It also takes care to show us the Titans from many different angles. One second you’ll have an eagle’s-eye view of humanoid shapes clambering over buildings, the next you’ll be sitting indoors and watching as a Titan’s eye covers an entire window. The variance in these perspectives makes the show a lot more immersive than it would have been otherwise. It’s easy to sympathize with the cowering humans when we’re so familiar with their location and the size of their predators.

After heroically felling a Titan in the last episode, Mikasa heads back to help the others finish up their retreat. Unfortunately, they’re all running low on fuel for their maneuver gears, and no one has enough left to scale the wall. There’s a place with extra “gas” nearby, but the refueling team is trapped inside the building by several Titans.

Worse still, Mikasa finally hears the news when she talks to Armin. She takes it surprisingly well, and her determination doesn’t waver as she leads the dejected troops into battle. She uses reverse psychology to pump them up, claiming that she’s going to kill all of the remaining Titans by herself and that the others are weak and cowardly for giving up hope so easily. They all realize that they’re pretty much screwed either way and charge ahead with her.

However, Mikasa isn’t as emotionally in control as she seems. Her eagerness to fight turns out to be her own way of mourning. She uses up her minimal fuel reserves and falls down between the buildings, where a Titan quickly finds her. Mikasa sits down, closes her eyes and accepts death, but her body disagrees. Just before the Titan can grab her, she jumps up and slashes its hand away with her broken sword. She apologizes to Eren for “giving up,” and reflects on her own carelessness at leading her friends into battle. Her life isn’t pointless; she needs to stay alive for his sake.

Just as Mikasa is getting all fired up to fight the creature, another Titan appears behind her. Curiously, this muscular, long-haired Titan ignores her and starts to attack the other one. Actually, “attack” is an understatement. It completely destroys its opponent, repeatedly stomping on its head even after it has died. The new Titan tramples through the city, roaring and slaughtering as it goes. At one point it adopts a boxer’s stance, then uses a left hook to knock another Titan’s head clean off its body. Its hand is basically dissolved with the force of the hit, but it regenerates immediately, showing that the muscular Titan’s healing powers surpass even those of its kin. Mikasa and the other knights notice that it also seems to have a basic understanding of combat and knows to aim for the back of a Titan’s neck.

In Summary:
Mikasa finds out about the events of Episode 6, but rather than breaking down, she leads the rest of the fleet into battle. The plan backfires when Mikasa overzealously uses up all of her gear’s fuel, apparently not feeling as level-headed as she seemed. A Titan approaches the fallen Mikasa, but just before it corners her, another one appears and beats the crap out of the first one. The new, muscular Titan ignores all humans and seems hell-bent on destroying its brethren. What is the deal with this strange new saviour? Mikasa says that the muscular Titan seems to “embody the rage of humanity.” In any case, it looks like the good guys have finally caught a break. Hopefully the truth behind this unexpected ally will be revealed soon (although I think they’ve already left enough hints to be able to figure it out).

Grade: A-

Streamed By: Crunchyroll

Review Equipment:
Insignia 1080p TV, PS3 with Crunchyroll App; Occasionally 17” Toshiba Satellite Laptop, 2.13 GHz Core i3, 4GB RAM, Windows 7

This year, it falls on the Memorial Day weekend here in the US so things work out well for it. We’ve got out panel set for Saturday morning at 10am for 90 minutes and we’re going to give away a bunch of prizes for good questions that are asked during the largely Q&A quasi-industry style panel. We’ve also got some penalty prizes for some awful questions.

Because we’re bringing a bunch of prizes, and just staying for one night, we’re traveling light with no gear so we won’t be doing updates during the con as we have a lot going on, but will be catching up on everything when we get back. This year is especially difficult as there are THREE conventions going on this weekend. So we highly recommend following this new discussion thread to keep up on it all in one place.

Anime Boston / Anime North / FanimeCon 2013 Discussion Thread

We’ll be posting picture updates and more on our Facebook page though, so keep in the loop there too!

Library Wars Volume 9

Creative Staff
Story/Art: Kiiro Yumi
Translation: Kinami Watabe
Adaptation: Sean McCoy

What They Say:
There’s a groper in the library and Library Force members Iku and Shibazaki are sent in as bait! Iku’s undercover outfit makes her vulnerable… will she be able to defend herself if the pervert targets her? Later, Library Force members are required to take a test that involves reading stories to a group of rambunctious schoolkids. Coming from a big, unruly family, Iku definitely has the upper hand!

Content:
Their preparations complete, the gang leaps into action in order to catch the pervert. Iku is determined that she be the one to be caught due to her combat training, but when she gets her wish the unfamiliar clothes trip her up, putting her in quite the dangerous situation. Fortunately, her knight in shining armor is there to lay the smack down on the molester. Apparently, the reason he chose Iku was that Komaki planted a hearing aid on her, proving in the process that the pervert was intentionally aiming for an “easy victim.” Marie gets a rape whistle and feels safe in the library once more, and Iku tells Dojo that she is “growing out of her prince,” attempting to assert that she wants to see him for who he is more than who he was.

Next up, the time comes for the promotion exams. Iku is forced to study hard for the writing portion, but the one with the real problem is Hikaru. Apparently the skill test for this year’s exam is to read a story to children, and Hikaru happens to be bad with kids. Through perseverance and a good bit of preparation, the two are able to pull through, with Iku in particular showing off her fantastic creativity.

The last arc of the book centers around a famous young actor named Daichi Kosaka who wishes to tell the story of his grandfather, a barber, during an interview. Apparently the word “barber” is on the MBC’s list of censored words (for some reason that’s never explained in the volume), but Daichi insists that the article be published with the proper word for his grandfather’s profession. With the help of our heroes, a plan is decided upon in which Daichi sues the publication, forcing a scandal over the word’s censorship. With a little luck, perhaps this scandal will finally provide a way to legally strike at the MBC’s oppressive policies.

In the bonus chapter, Iku tries to deal with her inability to look Dojo in the eyes.

In Summary:
Overall, this volume feels like another decent entry in the series, but it doesn’t really have all that much of an edge to it. Outside of the story that starts at the end, there aren’t any real serious problems or tough issues for the heroes to deal with. On the plus side, Hikaru does get a little development around the middle, and Iku and Dojo’s relationship continues to shift throughout. Hopefully the next volume will really follow through, as the last story here definitely shows some potential. For now, this remains a solid read, but isn’t anything too terribly exciting.

Content Grade: B
Art Grade: A-
Package Rating: A-
Text/Translation Rating: B+

Age Rating: 16+
Released by: Viz Media
Release Date: April 2nd, 2013
MSRP: $9.99

Majestic Prince Episode 8

What They Say:
The Wulgaru army is striking Earth’s GDF in a massive collaborative attack. In the midst of battle, Jiart attacks Red 5. Now Izuru must face his toughest opponent ever or die on the battlefield! Can he master the JURIA-SYSTEM in time?

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
One of my frustrations with the show has been the way that the enemy, the Wulgaru, have been essentially kept from the show until the seventh episode. It was at that point that we spent some time with them – not quality time – and got to see how they operate and the kind of structure to them, never mind what they actually look like. It helped, but was a case of too little, too late in order to make them a workable enemy since we’d been kept at a distance for so long. What hurts the show even more for me is that here in the eighth episode, we have main characters that seemingly aren’t clear on who the Wulgaru are and barely seem capable of knowing that they’re the alien invading race. It just leaves you wondering how they survived this long.

That doesn’t stop the various teams from actually doing their job in dealing with enemy attacks, which is what a good chunk of the first half of the episode here as we see Team Doberman head out to deal with the brightly lit enemy vessels that have entered GDF space. With a large number of ships on hand, it stokes my science fiction side well in seeing a large scale battle since I grew up on Legend of Galactic Heroes and epic space battles. It’s all kept pretty tight with lots of flashes to various actions both with the larger ships and small ships but also the interiors as we see pilots and bridge personnel work the battle well. It’s got the right scale to it and it knows that this is a real strength – how many series do things like this these days – but it’s missed out for so long on making the characters accessible that it’s just a technical beauty to watch.

The show is technically strong here as it rolls on and we see so many skirmishes along the way and the general fluidity and strength of the animation itself. It’s definitely impressive as it goes on and you can see a real labor of love in a lot of ways with how detailed it is and the fluid nature of the animation, and a lot of the CG at times, to make something that feels rich and lived in. As it progresses, it builds up in scale well to deal with the Wulgaru and the kinds of tactics that can be used, but I appreciate that even as big as they go, things just get bigger and more difficult as it goes along and the GDF forces are nicely challenged with what they have to do. It’s not a surprise that it comes down to a few individuals of course, but the show as a whole doesn’t really play to the individuals but rather the larger scope of things.

In Summary:
Majestic Prince gives us one episode that’s essentially all about the action here as it deals with a massive battle now that the Wulgaru has attacked. Which confuses some of the pilots as they have no idea who the enemy is or what their name is. The show really does exceed expectations when it comes to the space battles and the complexity and engagement value of it all, but it’s fallen so far so consistently with making the characters interesting that it all just becomes a thing of technical interest rather than story. This has unfortunately been a problem from the start and really isn’t doing much to make it better. While there’s a minor moment for Izuru towards the end, everyone is essentially interchangeable to the point where you don’t need to know or remember names because nobody does anything memorable or noteworthy.

Grade: C

Streamed By: Crunchyroll

Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.

Naruto Shippuden Episode 314

What They Say:
The weather-controlling enemy is revealed to be Yota, a boy who came to the Leaf Village years ago and befriended the local kids, including Naruto.

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
What’s worse than the last episode? Making it a two part story. Such is the case with this episode as we follow up more of the events involving Yota, the childling that was able to control weather that was causing a huge amount of problems in the present for a small group of the Allied Shinobi Forces. But like any story that introduces someone new and powerful for the war effort to deal with, it also has to go back and introduce him in the past because these things can’t just stand alone in the present. Everyone has to have a connection to someone else and that means its time to give us more of the young Naruto cast. Which also allows Sasuke to have some small role in it as well, giving his voice actor a chance to remember his character just a little bit.

Not surprisingly, the episode spends time in past and present to go through more of the tale, which is almost like a Huckleberry Finn kind of story with how we see the kids when they were very young playing and doing things with Yota and being generally happy with him. There’s a lesson to be learned in the middle of it as well with how Naruto treats Yota badly and Sakura and Ino get to call him out for the way he treated Yota like the villagers treated him. Which is what makes things in the present so hard as Naruto has to face Yota again, who is raging pretty well while Naruto is all literally fired up on his long, long journey to the real battle itself. He’s sidetracked so often with things like this that you just want to bang your head on each and every tree in the forest.

The episode spends a lot of time, and a montage sequence, showing how Naruto and Yota got along after Naruto sought him out and tried to do what he could to connect with him in a positive way. It’s bright, colorful and completely devoid of anything useful since we’ve seen a dozen times or more different ways that Naruto has grown at this age through interactions with all sorts of people. This is just one more tiny, tiny piece of a far too elaborate puzzle. Things are fun and light for a lot of it, especially when the others get involved, but we also see where things start to go wrong for Yota and the others in the past. And it’s all just prelude for… you got it, another episode of this.

In Summary:
Honestly, while I can deal with a lot of filler stories set in the present, the one thing I really can’t take much of is the Young Naruto stories. I hated them when Naruto was young, which is why the first series didn’t do much for me and it was the Shippuden series that got me more on track with the property. This episode spends so much time with young, innocent and misunderstood Naruto along with uninteresting Yota that it just rolls right over you and it makes zero impact. There’s only so many busy stories of Naruto’s past you can tell before it gets to be so much that it’s impossible to have really happened. And sadly, this series passed that stage ages ago and everything else is just adding insult to injury.

Grade: D

Streamed By: Crunchyroll

Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.

The Emerald City Of Oz

Aunt Em and Uncle Henry finally move to Oz, and Dorothy treats them to a series of adventures.

Creative Staff
Author: L. Frank Baum

What They Say:
Dorothy has decided to take Uncle Henry and Aunt Em to the Land of Oz, with the help of Princess Ozma. As they embark together on a tour of the land, Dorothy is unaware that the Nome King, squatting in his underground Kingdom, is plotting to seize the Land of Oz. He sets out to recruit new allies to help the Nome army and burrows his way to the centre of the Emerald City. Can his diabolical army be defeated by Dorothy, Princess Ozma of Oz and their friends? In this captivating installment in the Oz series, as well as being reacquainted with favourite characters from previous books such as the Cowardly Lion, Billina the yellow hen and the Wooden Sawhorse, we are introduced to many weird and wonderful new ones such as Miss Cuttenclip, the paranoid Flutterbudgets and the living kitchen utensils of Utensia.

The Review:
Technical:
Hesperus took a lot of care in their release of the Oz books. Despite being a paperback, the binding is thick and sturdy, not even cracking when I open the book all the way, and the paper is high quality. The covers, comprised of three colors, are simple and stunning, even if this particular book only depicts a chicken on the front. The only thing I miss from this edition are the illustrations which, if nothing else, have always been fun to look at.

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Having only read the original book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, before, I was happy to find that despite being the sixth book in the series, The Emerald City of Oz was fairly easy to jump into. This is partly because Baum explains the pertinent things that have already happened, though not in away that the book becomes cluttered with recap. He even goes as far as to reintroduce some of the characters, ostensibly for the benefit of Aunt Em and Uncle Henry, so that we understand the past significance of most of the characters.

There are two important plots in this book: first, that Aunt Em and Uncle Henry, on the verge of being kicked out of their home, come to live in Oz with Dorothy forever. The second is that the Nome King, furious over his defeat by Dorothy and Princess Ozma, plans to dig a tunnel to the Emerald City and there, with a host of evil allies, destroy Oz and enslave the people. The big finale is when the Nome King’s tunnel finally breaks through, but on our way there Baum takes us on quite a few side trips. Most of these are pretty amusing, like when Dorothy winds up in the kingdom Utensia and Baum practically assaults us with puns (“Why is the colander the High Priest?” “He’s the holiest thing we have in the kingdom”). But unlike the little side trips from the original Oz book, none of these really build towards the climax. Instead, they feel like a bunch of bonus short stories. While fun, these tangents really clog up the flow of the book and delay the main plot, which probably could have been written in just a few chapters.

Even after the story gets on track and Dorothy and the others learn of the Nome King’s invasion, there’s still not a lot of drama associated with it. Granted, most of them are very worried — though not so worried that they don’t take a tour of the Scarecrow’s house — but when we see how calm and collected Ozma is, despite having been aware of the invasion, we calm down, knowing that things are going to turn out all right. And they do, a little too easily, as the Nome King and his frightening friends are taken care of in an almost anti-climactic way, fizzling out the extensive build up of these dangerous enemies in just a page.

In Summary
Thanks to the multiple side-trips and constant derailing of the plot, The Emerald City of Oz was much more difficult than the original novel to get really wrapped up in; the story couldn’t seem to focus, and, as a reader, neither could I. Of course, the book is still highly enjoyable, with Baum showing his extensive imagination with each new land and people Dorothy and the others visited. The lack of real drama and fear for our heroes keeps it from being as memorable an adventure story as The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was, but it’s still a pretty fun return.

Content Grade: B+

Published By: Hesperus Press (The Emerald City of Oz)
Release Date: April 1, 2013
MSRP: $12.95

Colorful

What They Say:
There is a train station on the other side of death, yet not all who arrive on the platform will be judged ready for passage onwards. For one unready soul, there will be both a test and a second chance. Rather than be reborn, this soul will awake in the body of 14-year-old suicide Makoto Kobayashi, where it must not only find a way to fit into Makoto’s existence, but also unravel two mysteries. What is the secret of the great sin it committed in its own previous life, and what were the reasons that led to Makoto’s suicide?

While some may believe the truth to be as plain to see as black and white, “Makoto” soon finds that the real world is overlaid with so many shades of grey and rainbows of colors that even the most obvious of “facts” are not what they seem. With the soul’s time in Makoto’s body quickly running out, the answers to all life’s mysteries await discovery.

The Review:
Audio:
The audio presentation for this release is pretty solid as we get the original Japanese language and the new English language dub in 5.1 using the DTS-HD MA codec. The film isn’t one that uses a lot of material in the rear channels, but it has a few scenes where things pick up a bit and the use of music throughout all the channels definitely helps to heighten the mood. The film is primarily dialogue based and that’s where it shines as there’s some good placement and depth throughout the presentation and the film as a whole. The characters vary a lot in how they talk to others and that brings a good level of life to the film as it progresses. Some of the incidental sounds are quite good too, especially when the rain hits, and it all adds up to a good and immersive mix. Dialogue is clean and clear throughout and we didn’t have any problems with dropouts or distortions during regular playbacl.

Video:
Originally in theaters in 2010, the transfer for this film is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.78:1 in 1080p using the AVC codec. Animated by Sunrise, the film has a really strong look to it in terms of its visuals and the amount of detail to it. With it being largely a real world piece, the backgrounds are expansive and engaging with what they offer and the character designs have a good bit to them as well, even as they have a certain simplicity. The fluidity of the character animation is what works well as they move throughout their lives and some of the background bits from trains to more gives a great flow to it. It’s all very lived in and the transfer captures it well with strong colors, a vibrant feel to it where needed and clean details to it.

Packaging:
The packaging for this release uses a familiar but striking piece of artwork with the main character in the center surrounded by a lust array of flowers in a very soothing and calming style. The cover is very simple with what it does, a basic logo and an array of its awards and nominations along the top, but it’s just so captivating with how it portrays itself that I can’t help but to be drawn into it no matter how many times I see it. The back cover goes for a similar simplicity with an off white background that allows for the extended premise to be laid out along the top while the middle has a look at several shots from the show that aren’t as tiny as we usually get. The production credits are laid out clearly and the technical grid covers the makeup of the disc in a clean and clear manner making for an easy determination of how it’s put together. No show related inserts are included nor is there a reversible cover.

Menu:
The menu design for Colorful is one that works really well even if it is, again, simple, as it uses the core piece of artwork from the front cover. With the logo off to the side and the navigation along the bottom, it’s full of color and detail that takes the great looking artwork and provides even more vibrancy and detail to it. The navigation strip along the bottom is simple and clean with a small dose of color to it give it a bit of life. With little on the disc outside of the show itself and the language navigation, it’s easy to move around in and the menu doubles well as the pop-up menu without any issues.

Extras:
None.

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Based on the novel of the same name by Eto Mori, Colorful is a full length two hour movie produced by Sunrise and animation studio Ascension. The film provide to be an interesting departure for director Keiichi Hara as prior to this he’d spent over the previous twenty years or so working primarily on Doraemon or Crayon Shin-chan features. Colorful goes in a whole other direction compared to those works and while I certainly wouldn’t diminish any of those features as they provide quiet a lot of entertainment, there’s just a feeling that Colorful is the kind of work that certainly has more meaning and possibly some real personal aspects as well for Hara. Luckily, he got to work with a fantastic production team and the feature is just beautiful through and through.

Colorful is a difficult film to watch for a number of reasons, as its the kind of work that really does want to focus on the truth of people and what they are. What makes it particularly difficult, at least for some like myself, is that it opens with a purgatory where the souls of the dead are moving on to their next journey. The one we get tied to doesn’t know who he was or what happened to him, but he’s just moving through inertia to getting his ticket and moving on to it. What alters his course is the arrival of a young boy named Purapura who informs him that he’s won a lottery of sorts that allows him to return to the mortal world once again. For this person, he’s going back into the body of fourteen year old Makoto Kobayashi, a boy who recently committed suicide but is getting a brief second chance in order for this soul to go through a reformation. He’ll have just six months or so to do it before everything comes to a close.

With no memories of what he was before, Makoto has a difficult time adjusting to this new life, though Purapura does help out on occasion early on with a few nods towards who Makoto was, where he went to school and a few other little quirks. But mostly it’s all about letting Makoto discover the boys life, which leads him on a discovery of the problems that exist in his own family, from an adulterous mother to a problematic older brother and a father who was always away, making for a a very disconnected group. More difficult for Makoto was the girl that he was interested in it being involved in compensated dating with older men. All of this combined with the way that Makoto himself was mostly a quiet introvert that had no real friends, it just built up into a powerful and oppressive feeling in his life that the new soul is trying to grapple with.

Colorful explores some good themes here that as a parent myself of someone close to that age can definitely understand. Never mind my own past and youth, which colors things here a good deal as well. As we get to know who Makoto was before his suicide attempt, we get a look at a confused teenager whose life was just a mess, one that he had a hard time grappling with when it comes to what others are doing and going through. With so many confusing emotions of his own that comes with the age, there’s also seeing his mother involved with a flamenco dancer that made no sense, a brother that he had issues with and the serious confusion over a girl he idolized who sells herself for goods that she wants right now. With his age and inability to process this, it certainly doesn’t excuse suicide, but you can see how it and so many other factors pushed him in this direction and lead him to this. As we see more and more, it’s easier and easier to sympathize and empathize with Makoto and what happened to him, and therefor this other soul that is trying to figure out how to resolve it all before his time runs out.

What really helps this film a lot is that it does treat the material seriously with what it wants to do and it does shy from some of the more difficult issues that it does cover. While there’s the supernatural aspect of things here with the souls coming back and Purapura himself, it really does want to confront the world through the eyes of a fourteen year old and the disconnect from it through the third party that happens here. That disconnect is a bit hard to work with early on because of how the soul gets thrust into Makoto’s body with a sense of awareness but lack of understanding, but it also works to show something of the age as well with the way fourteen year olds have such a hard time really grappling with so many varied situations.

In Summary:
Colorful is the kind of film that definitely steps out of the norm for many anime films since it’s not a big action piece or connected to some ongoing franchise. While it has some larger aspects to it and a not altogether unexpected twist along the way, the film focuses strongly on the life of a fourteen year old and the complications that come from it with all the external sources and the difficulty in working through it all. With some really beautiful animation and the right kind of pacing to bring it all together, there’s a lot of emotion tied to this work and it flows through beautifully from start to finish. I had no idea what to expect going into the film, but coming out of it you can feel very different about life and what you want to do with it and those that you’re connected to.

Features:
Japanese DTS-HD MA 5.1 Language, English DTS-HD MA 5.1 Language, English Subtitles

Content Grade: B+
Audio Grade: B+
Video Grade: A-
Packaging Grade: A-
Menu Grade: B
Extras Grade: N/A

Released By: Sentai Filmworks
Release Date: May 14th, 2013
MSRP: $39.98
Running Time: 126 Minutes
Video Encoding: 1080p AVC
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen

Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Sony PlayStation3 Blu-ray player via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.

Sweet Blue Flowers

Media Factory has pulled together a new Blu-ray box set that will tantalize some fans for this fall with the release of Aoi Hana. The eleven episode series has seen release in the US from Lucky Penny Entertainment which got a subtitled only release, but now fans can get in on the Blu-ray goodness – sans subtitles of course – when it comes out in Japan on September 6th  for 23,100 yen.  The set will come with a brand new illustration for the box and will include the extras as seen on the previous DVD release, such as the clean opening and closing sequences, a new booklet and a promotoinal video that was released prior to the series broadcast.

Plot concept: “What if the one I love is a girl…?”

Tears have always come easily to Fumi, but as a child she could always count on her best friend, Akira, to cheer her up. After a decade apart, Fumi and Akira find themselves reunited by chance. But even as the two girls rediscover their friendship, with the start of the new school year Fumi becomes romantically involved with a tall, charismatic girl named Sugimoto. Fumi soon finds herself playing a balancing act between friendship and love.

[Source: Aoi Hana BD-Box]

Panty & Stocking With Garterbelt

Leave it to Japan to bring out a version of Panty & Stocking With Garterbelt that’s appropriately named. Set for release on October 25th in Japan, this new edition of the series will be one that will appeal to English language fans who may not have been enthralled with the video quality of the US release. The Japanese edition will contain the English language dub and subtitles for the low, low price of 27300 yen. The Blu-ray box set will come with a 30 minute special CD such “Fly Away” remix and “Mini DJ Mix” by Taku Takahashi and much more such as a documentary, short video collection, and more to be listed.

Plot Concept: Panty and Stocking – the Anarchy Sisters – are two nasty ass angels who got booted from the pearly gates for being foul-mouthed bitches! Now they spend their days blowing up ghosts in the lecherous abyss between Heaven and Earth. Panty likes sex, Stocking likes sweets, their afro-sporting main man Garter Belt has a fetish we can’t mention. Together, they’re keeping the streets free of bodily fluids. Ghosts don’t have a prayer against their panty pistols and stocking swords, and if this debaucherous duo can collect enough Heaven Coins, they just might get their halos back. They’ve got a slim chance in hell, but rolling commando is the best way to get lucky – especially with Panty and Stocking!

[Source: Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt BD-Box [EngSub] [EngDub]]

Queen’s Blade Rebellion

Sentai Filmworks has let it be known that their planned release date of July 9th for Queen’s Blade Rebellion on DVD and Blu-ray is being delayed until September 24th, which marks the first time they’ve delayed a title since starting production as a company. No reasons were given for the delay but the release is one that could be a bit complicated by all that’s being done with it, especially in terms of approvals. While we’re getting the main show itself, we’re also getting all the special shorts dubbed and it’s all being done by NYAV Post, rather than where Sentai usually does their releases. There’s also the fact that they’re including two CD releases with the show, which brings in its own host of potential problems for any number of reasons.

Plot concept: Power corrupts, and it when it appears that the once noble Queen Claudette’s ways have turned to oppression and heretical persecution, it’s up to a new generation of warriors to step up to the plate armor to bear arms and bare their naked fury in open rebellion! The odds may seem unfairly stacked in favor of the Amazonian ranks of the queen, doubly supported by her power of writ and assassins. But the incredible wits and assets of the dazzling array of daring damsels willing to risk their gorgeous skins and put their lithesome bodies on line against her, might just expose a few unexpected weaknesses in the queen’s support! It’s the wildest fantasy ever as an unprecedented force of fabulous female fighters… from elven alchemist to half-demon berserker, from undead pirate captain to dragon maid… all come together with the goal of stripping the queen from her throne in QUEEN’S BLADE: REBELLION!

Plot concept: Kuroki Tomoko is a super popular, high school girl who has had 50 years of dating experience and 100 boys… in the Otome game world. In the real world, she is a 15-year-old shut in who has all of the qualities of a “mojo” (a gloomy or unpopular woman).

However, when school isn’t going as she expected, and she isn’t as popular as she had thought she was, she takes a look at herself in the mirror for the first time in a few years, and has some shocking revelations…

[Source: Crunchyroll]

Comic concept: The original story involves the main character catching an illegal time traveler robbing a South African mine of a huge diamond in the 1930s. After his capture and return, however, Walker is soon made aware that the criminal’s personal robotic bodyguard is still operational in the past and wreaking havoc on the time line. To restore order, Walker must return to the mine and stop the machine’s malfunctioning rampage.

Previous Movie concept: The movie tie-in story is about a “time enforcement” officer who attempts to bring a rogue policitican to justice who is using time travel to fund his presidential campaign. During the course of the film the officer discovers that the politician is also responsible for the earlier death of his wife, and numerous other previously unconnected crimes.

Evangelion 3.33

Madman Entertainment is lining up some solid films for the fall when it comes to their REEL ANIME 2013 run. One of the films that will do big business for them down there, even just in mindshare valine, comes with Evangelion 3.0: You Can (Not) Redo, which returns to the big screen this September / October across Australia and New Zealand.

Plot concept: 14 years after third impact, Ikari Shinji awakens to a world he does not remember. He hasn’t aged. Much of Earth is laid in ruins, Nerv has been dismantled, and people who he once protected have turned against him. Befriending the enigmatic Nagisa Kaworu, Shinji continues the fight against the angels and realizes the fighting is far from over, even when it could be against his former allies. The characters’ struggles continue amidst the battles against the angels and each other, spiraling down to what could inevitably be the end of the world.

While I doubt any of them have crafted a lightsaber as a final demonstration of their skill (though that would be a geeky triumph they could take with them to college and career), many Jedi lessons could serve as the backbone for a successful life. To those students, eagerly stepping forth into a new day, I give these words of wisdom.

The core of the Jedi philosophy rests upon just a handful of phrases.

“Emotion, yet peace.
Ignorance, yet knowledge.
Passion, yet serenity.
Chaos, yet harmony.
Death, yet the Force.”
(Original Jedi mantra via http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Jedi_Code)

While each statement appears to pair two opposing concepts, taken together they provide a roadmap for a life of honor, growth, and balance.

“Emotion, yet peace.”
As young people, I know you feel the churning of emotions on a daily basis. Emotions create the bedrock of our relationships, and help us navigate the complicated road toward moral choices. Yet they can easily overwhelm your more rational side, if you let them. Instead, allow yourself to feel, then seek the balance of peace and calm before you make any decisions. In this way you’ll avoid the consequences of making a choice in the heat of emotion, while still letting those emotions guide your heart.

“Ignorance, yet knowledge.”
No matter how old you are as you leave here today, remember that you are NEVER “too old to begin the training”. The only way to truly learn is to face your ignorance. Let go of what you think you know, because overconfidence in your knowledge means that others will leap ahead of you. Admit when you don’t know and seek out a mentor to help you continue on the path. True wisdom comes from constantly trying to fill the ignorance within you.

“Passion, yet serenity.”
Your passion can be a blessing or a curse. Passion for your chosen field can motivate you to learn and create each day. It can keep you going in the face of setback and failure. Don’t forget to seek the balance of serenity, though. It will see you through the times when those around you don’t share your vision for the future. Serenity is also the balance that will allow you to pull back when your passion could cause harm. Anakin was passionate, but lacked the balance to see his true self clearly. Mind what you can learn from him, and avoid his dark fate you shall.

“Chaos, yet harmony.”
The universe boils with chaos. Battling energies, stormy skies, and even just the enormous diversity of the human race all seem determined to tear us apart at the seams. It is from that boundless energy of chaos, though, that life springs forth. Celebrate the differences you find around you. Not everyone in your circle of friends and colleagues should look or sound like you. Seek out voices that do not echo your own deeply held beliefs. Seek to be provoked, questioned, challenged. Seek the chaos, and let it lead you to lift your voice to join the harmony of the universe.

“Death, yet the Force.”
It seems like a serious bummer to end on this note, doesn’t it? Yet we must live our lives with the knowledge that each day is a miracle. Your life is beautiful, and meaningful, in part because it is finite. Just like the Jedi know that they will end their days united with the Force, you can live your life with simple goals. Create beauty. Touch lives. Make discoveries. Change the universe in big or small ways, but be sure that you leave your world a better place than you found it.

As you step into your future, remember that you are also stepping into THE future. Your choices will shape it. Your passions will build it. Your alliances will help to speed humanity along a path. Balance emotion with peace. Find knowledge through ignorance. Seek serenity in the midst of passion. Create harmony in chaos. Leave an enduring mark on the world. May the Force be with you, always.

Flowers Of Evil Volume 4

Give into your strange side.

Creative Staff
Story/Art: Shuzo Oshimi
Translation: Paul Starr

What They Say:
Takao makes his decision. He will try to win the affection of one his muses. This will be no simple task, as the teens in this manga drama are all now damaged and warped. Growing up without a mother has twisted their hearts. Helping people like that open up may be impossible, but Takao has thrown away his own humanity as well. Furthermore, Takao is now in search now a utopia. One that can only be shared with his best and only friend, that will sit, even if briefly, among the rice paddies and in the mountains of his rural hometown. Most importantly, it will be a place that pokes fun and undermines every little thin ideal that holds this town together. There is no way this new society will be accepted, but that is exactly what these two wanted in the first place.

Content:
Though a month has passed since Takao and Nakamura tried to run away, tensions still run high between our protagonist and the female leads. When Nanako’s friend confronts Takao on how distant he’s been, the two decide to break up officially. Disgusted with himself, Takao finally realizes that Nakamura was hurt, and begins frantically writing the essay she once wanted from him. He tries to give it to her after school, but she simply runs away, refusing to listen to him. Unwilling to give up, Takao looks up where she lives and hurries off to catch her in order to finally deliver his feelings.

Upon arriving at Nakamura’s house, Takao is invited in, and learns from her father that her parents have been divorced since she was five. He excuses himself and ends up finding her diary, which he then reads. Nakamura finds him and straight up snaps, letting loose an impressive display of anger. Takao unrelentingly persists, and tells Nakamura that he’ll be the one initiating the contract this time. Though Nakamura is still sick of him she’s clearly somewhat intrigued, and tells him to do his worst.

Reinvigorated, Takao casts away his books and focuses on becoming the pervert that Nakamura desired. He finds a small cave by the river and decorates it with the panties of all the girls in the class, even Nakamura’s. However, he leaves Nanako’s, declaring that it was “the worst thing he could do,” effectively leaving a calling card to his former crush. As the volume comes to a close, Nakamura accepts Takao’s terms, and Nanako begins to break down.

In Summary:
If the last volume was Takao breaking down, then this volume is him rebuilding himself into something new. Considering how much of a whiner Takao has been in the past, it really is great to see him dive into something with passion. While it’s hard to say he’s becoming a better person by the normal standards of society, he’s certainly growing and developing. While it’s immensely satisfying to finally see Takao take action and drive the plot, we also get to see Nakamura’s character fleshed, getting a hint of her back story and upbringing for the first time. And like the last volume, the author does a great job of making emotion simply erupt from the page. Hopefully the series is able to keep this up, because with this volume and the previous it has at last managed to turn the page from good to exceptional.

Content Grade: A-
Art Grade: B+
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Rating: B+

Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Vertical
Release Date: January 15th, 2013
MSRP: $10.95

Uta No Prince-Sama 2 Episode 8

What They Say:
The six members of ST☆RISH, who have made their shocking idol debut, and Nanami Haruka, who has just begun her career as a composer, have advanced to Saotome Academy’s master course. As they continue their lessons in earnest to learn how to be top idols and composers, they join Shining Agency and begin to work as entertainers. But before that, some senpai idols and strange foreign idols with a few odd habits stand before them, and they end up getting dragged into the race for a mysterious “Newcomer Award.”

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With a lot of focus on the individual characters so far into the season, with at least some help from others along the way to keep it an ensemble show, things take a little but of a turn this time around. In order to get some additional training, they all head out to an out of the way posh hotel in the countryside so they can work together more as a group while also getting some individual time as well. And that means a slew of guys and one girl together with no hint of anything bad going to happen. Not here, no how. Of course, we get a few other chaperones along the way that will help with that, though they see it more as a vacation than anything else, so it’s just a giant mess of characters in a welcome change of surroundings.

Not surprisingly, we get a lot of very basic bits of amusement at the start here as everyone settles into the locale and there’s even some fun with fishing and the like, which results in some very fun shots of young men in their prime showing off their bodies. But the show wants to play a little deeper as well, and up the atmosphere a bit which it can do easily with this style of animation, as we get Cecil revealing that he has a song from Haruka that she gave to him special. And that’s got the others jealous, but it also has him feeling a fair bit of pressure as well with what’s going on. Cecil is obviously struggling with a lot of things and after all this time, it’s no surprise that the episode turns on him a bit more, especially as he makes a very strong pass at Haruka, making it clear that he’s only here for her.

The show spends some good time giving us more of the relationship that exists between Haruka and Cecil as she deals with what he says, but we also get some good quality time with all of them together as well, which paints them as a group in a pretty positive light. Haruka is definitely a bond for all of them, but they do all exist outside of her as well and that’s one of the shows general strengths in that they don’t need her there to actually get involved in things. But when everyone is together, and we get something magical like the song that gets done on the bridge, it’s a lot of fun since it creates something a little otherworldly for a brief time for everyone to come together with. The idea of muses has figured into the show before in some ways, but this take sit up a level as we see Cecil get involved with everyone as a whole and it may be just what’s needed to change things.

In Summary:
Uta no Prince Sama has a pretty good episode here overall as the gang gets out of familiar surroundings and situations and head for the hills. Though we don’t get much in the way of some of what you’d expect from a hotel facility kind of visit, there are some fun moments that allow the gang to act out in cute ways that makes you like them all the more in these montage scenes. We also get an advance on the larger story with what Cecil may really be a part of here as he expresses his intentions to Haruka, but there are hints of his past coming into play even more towards the end as it looks like some family issues may be the real problem for him, which you can pretty much figure out easily enough with just a little inference.

Grade: B-

Streamed By: Crunchyroll

Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.