Well dear readers, it’s yet again time to say goodbye to another year! Whether you like to sit at home and ignore the fact that we have an arbitrary celebration based around our planet’s orbital period, or going out to pain the town in a blur of drunken rage we would like to say the same thing to you.

Have a good year!

Seriously, it might be the last one you had! And if not, then you’ll get to say that you lived through the apocalypse! All joking aside, we are really happy to have you as one of our very shy, yet especial readers. It’s thanks to you and the help of our sponsors that this little site can stay afloat and deliver late news, irrelevant reviews and the thoughts of a weird and angry man who happens to be its sole writer.

We owe it all to you, so try and have a good time because you deserve it! People the world over will be celebrating this great holiday at their respective hours and a very small, yet especial, group of them will be able to look forward to one more year of good stuff from this little site!

Thank you

Now go on and have a great time! Our new year’s resolution will be to bring more timely updates (JA!) and classic reviews, but don’t feel shy to throw a few suggestions our way. We really appreciate the feedback you guys bring.

Happy New Year fellow otakus!

And by that I mean “Let’s talk about dating!” At this point you might very well be asking yourself “what the hell does this have to do with anime?” and I understand that. At this point the site has been more about the general bits and pieces that surround anime than anime itself. But trust me when I say there’s a reason for this.

How would you like to get a fellow otaku as a partner?

Pretty much any sane person would agree that sharing common interests with your significant other can be a big boom for your relationship. Every good couple has something in common that goes beyond “I like that too,” it could be that they like gaming or working out together but the point is that doing stuff with each other makes a couple grow fonder. So why not add “watching anime” or “reading manga “ to that list?

The fact is that anime and manga are now pretty much mainstream, like we have said before, so it’s pretty reasonable and common to stumble upon a member of the opposite gender who is into one of these hobbies. But let’s say you haven’t and that you are now looking to find said person, what could you do?

It depends on your age

It might very well be a stereotype, but most otakus are naturally shy. Many are afraid of showing off their true colors as it might make them look “childish” or “nerdy” (even though that last word doesn’t really apply). But the truth is that anime has become so wide-spread that you would be hard pressed to find someone who hasn’t watched a single show. It’s at this point that your age becomes important.

Being in high school means that there are plenty of clubs for you to join that might share common interests. Sure, some high schools can be hell-holes rid with social inadequacy, but if you look hard enough you are bound to find someone to break the ice with. It’s never bad to try, as long as you set your aim on a realistic target.

Now let’s say you are in college. You would think that college is filled with stuck up people (and it is), but the truth is that being a geek is easier here than it ever has been before. You can try the clubs or just show up to a party wearing a shirt from a classic anime you enjoyed, this could be a simple way to get a conversation started. (WARNING: A shirt is no substitute for charm and it might get you a few weird looks if it happens to be tacky or bad, so choose wisely).

But what about cons?

Cons seem like a great place to meet up with fellow otakus, but there are a few ground rules to consider as far as girls go:
1. If you are going for an attractive girl cosplaying chances are that she is so used to people trying for her at cons that she has developed a technique to turn down suitors.

2. If you see a girl cosplaying in a somewhat skimpy outfit then avoid it at all costs. She might very well be there with her ever watchful partner or might be there to boost her ego. This is ultimately your call.

3. Girls in cosplay are not pieces of meat! So be a gentleman and don’t ogle them too much, try to start a conversation and see where it goes. Remember to keep in mind the other two points.

If you are a girl looking for a guy then it’s even easier, there are barely any rules for that kind of interaction. Simply be nice, charming and try to pick out something that shows what the target of your affections likes; cons are the best place for that as costumes, badges and shirts bearing the image of a given anime are a common occurrence and take a lot of guessing out of the equation.

Another thing to consider is to try and go to small local cons. There’s a big chance that you might find people from your area there, making it so that dating is not an issue if you two hit it off. Besides, it’s always good to get acquainted with your local anime scene.

Didn’t get any luck at the convention floor? Well then talk to the vendors, if they are your age and seem nice you can get a great friendship started and who knows what could happen afterwards? Besides, it’s a way to secure a steady source for anime goodies.

Be nice

Being yourself pays off so try and keep that in mind when you head out, sometimes trying to hard will only serve to set you up towards a big failure so try and always be courteous, keep the charm flowing and don’t be a phony jackass.

Who knows? Maybe things will go well and you’ll find yourself kissing on next year’s New Year’s Eve with a fellow otaku! Good luck and happy hunting.

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We ran a similar article a while ago, but keep in mind it was more about the teaser and the reactions it gathered as opposed to an actual piece on the trailer itself. Well, the actual honest to God trailer is finally out and fans have made themselves heard!

I take everything back

I think that I was optimistic at one point during the last article on Dragon Age’s “Dawn of the Seeker” anime; boy has that changed or what? This new trailer did a number on my expectations, and by that I mean that it serves less like a trailer and more as a “how not to do this kind of thing” visual guide.

We have the sped up editing switching wildly from partial fight scene to angry close-ups, the angry shouting that I’m pretty sure at this point looks bad in any anime other than Gurren Lagann, the heroic leaps, gratuitous blood and so many other cliches that we could name the trailer “Anime from the late 90’s in a nutshell.” My only source of solace comes from the fact that it looks nice, yes it might be crazy but I believe it looks good.

It dares to look different…

Cell-shading is a tricky thing, most people either love it or hate it without any middle-ground, but here it looks damn nice. Whoever says it looks like a crappy PS1 cut-scene clearly doesn’t remember the PS1 all that well, and to be honest some of the characters are more akin to what a western audience might like, rather than say, spiky haired teen in belt buckles # 152.

But it still looks bad

Either Ferelden has been flooded by molasses or the animation is painfully slow. It’s hard to tell when it’s made in “Slow-mo” and when it’s just the animation being clunky, not to mention that it’s packed with really poor looking blood and is so over the top that we can only hope it’s cheesy enough to be fun.

Seriously, hoping that this thing turns out to be super cheesy in an “80’s movie kinda way” is its best shot at being anything more than a failed experiment.

Click here to discuss this article on our Facebook page and take a look at the video!

We know that this isn’t strictly anime-related (hell, is it even related in a tangible manner?) but gaming and anime overlap so well that it’s not unusual to see the two go hand in hand to make a perfect match, so here it is.

Drink up

Earlier this week (or late last week depending on when this goes up) it was announced that the Osaka-based videogame publisher Capcom would be opening a bar in Shinjuku. The bar will be open to the public around January 25th and will serve beverages and food items styled after many of Capcom’s various properties, which means that we have a very real possibility of seeing a “Jill Sandwich” and more likely than not a few Monster Hunter themed items (if they do the later they would be shovelling money for years).

The concept for the bar itself seems to be aimed at serving as a nice PR front for the company, as it will host public events and serve as a nice gathering place for fans of fine food, drink and games that are looking for a comfy place to find it all under a single roof.

The live-action adaptation of this classic known to many as “Samurai X” has been doing the rounds online. From mere cast and script description to actual photos and even a teases trailer to go with it all, but how is it coming up?

Well, the cast seems fine

This is due to the fact that they picked what seems to be the right guy for Kenshin, a man named Takeru Sato. Sure, he’s 22 and looks like a regular pretty boy, but then you have to consider the fact that he has done a good job of playing the part of a samurai in NHK’s historic film “Ryoma den.” Plus we have to take into account that he is a fan of the original manga, at least going by his original account, so can we rest at ease and give this thing a pass?

No, not yet

Kenshin looks as good as any human being will look playing the role in a serious fashion, but the other characters leave A LOOOOT to wish for, particularly Aoki who will be playing Sanosuke Sagara. We’ll give the guy credit for his acting chops (The Last Message Umizaru, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time) but the fact is that when he shows up in the trailer he looks less like Sanosuke, and more like a guy who threw on a robe before the big Halloween party and decided to call it a “Kung fu costume.”

Megumi is being played by Aoi who has shown her worth in Hana & Alice, Honey and Clover and she happens to pull off a very decent looking Megumi if truth be told, which makes it all the more depressing to see that Kaoru is being played by a not-so-similar Emi Takei. But enough of all this, there is one question that needs answering.

How does the teaser look?

Not bad, really. At first it seems like a really crappy cash-in on a beloved franchise that compromises on the violence more than the anime ever did (seriously, the sword play looks bad and Kenshi’s look doesn’t hold up too well) but then we see Kenshin jumping off a wall and everything is okay in the world!

Honestly, I see no real reason not to be excited about this even if it might turn to be a crappy movie.

Go check out the trailer on our FB wall if you wanna see for yourself.

Click here to do so!

Here at AnimeMB we would like to thank you for your continued (if not scarce) support and attention, so on these great and joyful holidays we have come up to say that it’s all thanks to you that we can say “Merry Christmas!” for yet another year!

Spice up the holidays

We have been writing for you for a while, so we can safely say that your Christmas present to us happens to be the great and loving care you put into reading these articles and keeping us out of the poor house! So let us return that joy with a little series of suggestions for you.

For those real late on gifts

You can jump in to sites such as Play Asia and get yourself some great goodies, such as a spankin’ new Playstation Vita (for a fresh 600 bucks) or jump into their weekly videogame specials if you have an important someone who happens to be a gamer. Hell, you can even give yourself a treat and get some nice and fresh games right out of the oven such as Final Fantasy XIII-2, because who could ever have enough of FF XXIII?!

Now, all jokes aside we’ll assume you are not a horrible person and that you bought your significant other/loved ones a present in time (seriously, order now and say it was delayed to New Year’s eve, they’ll believe you). So we’ll go ahead and say that aside from getting a bunch of figurines or calendars from sites such as J-list there is no better thing to do for an Anime fan than watching the best holiday specials out there!

Something to keep you warm

Not to mention it will also give you the perfect excuse to cuddle! You can sit down and enjoy the onslaught of Christmas/winter themed OVAs of titles that range from Clannad and Haruhi to classics such as Pia Carrot and Love Hina. It’s all up to you, so enjoy going through your DVD collection and just browsing for the right one.

Pro-tip: If it has any romance, fan-service, comes from the fall season or happens to be a long running show THERE WILL BE A WINTER/CHRISTMAS EPISODE. We mean it, even the last bit of School days happened around winter time (warning: this one might not lead to cuddling).

At the end of the day what matters is that you have a good time and enjoy yourself, whether you like to sit at home and watch a ton of anime or just hang out with the family, Christmas will always be better when you are doing what you love and enjoying it.

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You can view the original teaser on our facebook page here. The new trailer has been out for a couple of days and it already seems to be getting some hate on youtube, but does it really deserve it?

It’s an incarnation of the capital sins of anime

Said sins being the adaptation of a western source, one that’s so western it basically has every fantasy trope in it, followed by the use of CGI instead of the usual animation techniques, the fact that it’s geared towards Western audiences and finally, the inclusion of a setting that won’t suit itself well to cheap fan-service. Sure, there can be fan-service involved but I doubt we’ll see a damned beach episode…so, it’s like an anime made to be some sort of un-anime, right?

Count me in to love it as crappy or campy as it might turn out. I mean it. Why? Because I love the look and feel the few frames present in the trailer have, sure they look like cheap cell-shaded graphics for a budget game, but they still look crisp and fresh, not to mention that it brings me back to some of my favourite shows from the 90’s. Besides, it would be good to see a modern anime that didn’t spend half an episode focusing on panty-shots.

I’ll give this a chance

And so should you. Some western sources haven’t meshed with anime, but others have been a lot of fun; an example of this is the Halo-based anime titles, which were all good and fun (save for the crappy samurai themed one). So why shouldn’t this be more of that? Go to our FB site and hit the youtube link so you can voice your opinion on whether or not you like it!

Click here to discuss this article on our Facebook page and take a look at the video!

Well, it’s time to round up this pet-project trilogy and there is no better way to do so other than with a simple and short article that goes straight to the matter at hand, that being “which one is better?”

It’s a matter of personal preference

Ja, like we would really give the two people reading the site so far a crappy answer like that! See, the point to make here is that it depends on quality. So you can’t really say which one is the over-all best until you take everything into account, which is why I would like to give a final answer now, seeing how watching anime for years has given me a taste of both the worst and best of subs and dubs.

Subs will more often than not triumph over dubs, almost every day! Not only are they cheaper and faster to make, but if they are properly applied it adds a sense of elegance to the whole thing. Sure, some jokes are lost in translation, but you can always add a segment at the end explaining them in text if someone cares to know them, or hell, add a “Translator’s notes” function to the menu.

I love both subs and dubs, so seeing both being a choice on a DVD or BR menu makes my day, but when it comes to watching the actual show with one of them then you can count of me to choose that. Hell, I beat the Assassin’s Creed arch for Ezio (save for Revelations, which is still in the mail) by playing in Italian with subtitles, just so it would feel more authentic.

So, pat yourself in the back

If it so happens that you chose subs over dubs, but remember that both of them are great in their own merits and it’s good to give them a chance every now and then to broaden your horizons.´

Stay tune for some actually relevant content some time soon, or late!

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Well, we already dealt with one part of the equation and we are gonna give the same treatment to this next bit. Hope you are ready to read and dive into a new opinion article on our new series! Keep in mind that the conclusion is soon to come.

GOD DAMN THESE BLEEPING LIPS!!

We already talked about subs and now we deal with their opposite, the more often than not infamous and reviled dubs. Dubbing is a process that can (and NEEDS to) be made into a fine art, because doing a half-assed dub will leave you at a situation where studios lose money. Well, technically the studios get money because it comes down to the ones in charge of localization to pay the God-awful voice actors and deal with distribution, but in the long run it does cost them money.

Why? Because a bad dub might turn off new viewers of alienate fans, making it so that any penetration they could get on a new market goes down the toilet. Not all dubs are bad, though, it’s just that when they are they do far more damage than any sub project could ever do.

They are big investments and they are more obviously prone to disaster if they are done wrong, but they certainly have some virtues right?

My…voice…is coming…out delayed

If there are awful dubs there also awesome ones! Some of them add a great deal of flavour to the anime title, as they work around the rare and awkward idioms or puns by making their own ones as they go. A good localization team with great voice talent can turn a show around into a different experience that can be enjoyed alongside the original, as it adds new jokes and dialogs that might get the anime out of a joke that can’t be translated in the proper context.

Some good dubs include gems like Azumanga Daioh and Cromartie Highschool (the last being extremely awesome) but for a classic that many might not know, for alas our readership is young, I have to point out Samurai Pizza Cats. This show ran into a massive problem from the get-go, the localization team didn’t get the Japanese scripts to dub, so they were pretty much dead on the water unless they did something awesome. And they did just that.

They made their own scripts and jokes out of the episodes, turning Japanese signs into “This weird language” that they never bother to translate or read, and it was actually funny and worked well. Truth be told this was an adaptation more than an outright translation, which leads us to our final point of the day.

TO FILL YOUR DARK SOUL WITH LIIIIIIGHT!!!

As a Venezuelan I had the good fortune of being in a country with some kick ass dubbers that made great adaptations, which is cool since they took jokes out of context and gave them a meaning that stuck as close to the original one as possible. But this is onto itself a new problem.

A pure translation might end up with awkward lines that can very well make no sense, but an adaptation done wrong can end up taking away some aspects of the original or adding unnecessary ones. Case in point would be anything from 4kids, or the treatment Dragon Ball got in the USA…Not even sweet guitar rifts could save it man.

Here’s a funny bit for any latinos that might bitch at dubs in Spanish being awful; they are in occasion, such as the dub for Fate/Stay Night…A dub that if I’m right (It’s bad enough for me not to bother to double check) was made in my country. Saber ended up sounding like a constipated female truck driver and Shiro’s accent flailed from “regular dude” to “Venezuelan ghetto.”

So, what’s better?

We’ll hold onto the final judgement for a last piece, but you are free to discuss it in the forums and our Facebook page! Just hold on tight and take bets if you want to, in the mean time visit our FB page for a few examples of good and bad dubs.

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We hinted at this article on the Facebook page a while ago, but it seems no one cares or that our fans are a bit to shy. But here you go, oh loyal readers, it’s now time to decide which one is the better choice. Today we take a swing at subs.

They are a personal preference

But that still doesn’t mean that you can’t judge them for their individual faculties as one being better than the other, which is precisely what we are going to do here!

We decided to start with subs, as it seems that these are the most common candidate to be chosen as a winner, which is perfectly understandable since it’s the way most anime are distributed around the web. It could be said that subs have a bigger fan base due to the level of exposure they have, but we also have to take into account the fact that many manage to keep the “essence” of anime.

That being the actual Japanese language. Plus, they also tend to be able to translate jokes and puns properly with the aid of some “translator’s notes,” which gives the anime an extra flavor that makes it into a fun way for people to get used to the spoken Japanese language.

So, to sum up the pros we have the versatility of being able to release new episodes in an expedient manner (piracy discussions be damned), and the extra flavor that comes from having notes that can be added to enhance the overall experience, not to mention a pretty big fan base!

So, it’s a pretty clear cut win for subs right? Not so fast there, Tex. Subs have some pretty huge drawbacks too, and we are not exaggerating when we say that. Some of these problems are so big that they might turn people off from subs in their entirety
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The saddest part is that most of these issues are also their greatest strengths. So hold on to your butts, because here we go.

This is why you fail

If it’s true that dubs vary wildly in quality this goes double for subs, because they aren’t supported by paid professionals; they are the indie and sometimes outright ghetto solution to watching anime. Some are excellent and are released on a schedule that is simply fantastic, but for every good sub team you get at least 10 more who can’t stick to a release format, change fonts constantly and always modify the intros with annoying texts, messages, and ads.

Some are legit while others simply suck, and nothing is worse than having an anime whose subtitles are ridden with typos or has an intro and outtro that gets a huge splash of the sub group begging for donations. I understand that they need money to keep things going, but Jesus, some of these guys seem like a bunch of assholes at times.

Besides, there is the problem that comes with having so many translator’s notes that your anime ends up looking like a flowchart. Good luck ripping that for an AMV. And just to round up the bit about sub groups, there is one huge problem for many here. It’s the fact that some groups switch grammatical stylings half-way through a show. Now bear with me for a second, I don’t necessarily mind the Japanese suffixes but if you need to type a translator’s note explaining what “Chan” and “Kun” are (amongst other things) then for God’s sake, don’t stop using them all of sudden!

And for the last big drawback, it seems that subs tend to attract more weebos than dubs (keep in mind we explained a while back how this word is not meant for all anime fans) and not just weebos, but also elitist ones. If I had a penny for every Naruto headband-clad asshole who said “I watch anime in Japanese to help me learn it” only to then turn to his friends and start using a crude mix of pseudo Japanese to address each other, I wouldn’t need to freelance for a living.

Hell, the fans tend to hurt the subs community more often with their annoying habits than most lawsuits could hope to manage.

And that’s a wrap

Next time we will deal with dubs, so keep your eyes peeled for more. Who will win? In all honesty I don’t know, but you’ll have to read on.

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Greetings, folks! We are just dropping by today to let you know that the English dub trailer for “The secret world of Arrietty” made its way onto Youtube a while ago. The American release is nigh, people!

A little note here

Today’s article was supposed to be about “Dubs vs Subs” but seeing this trailer (on which we planned to make an article way earlier) made me think that it was best to bring it up now, why? Because the trailer itself is a great example of a dubbing job done properly and it serves to point out that many times the difference between languages can be ironed out with good work. And besides, we better do it now before it gets too old.

Now that I said that, let’s get on with the article shall we?

The borrowers

Released in Japan back in July 17, 2010 under the name of “The Borrower Arrietty,” the film deals with a family of “borrowers” (those little fairy like people who steal stuff from you to survive and live inside your walls, etc) and the way they interact with the human world. To be more specific it follows a little borrower by the name of Arrietty who is spotted by a human and finds that she is as fascinated by us as we are by them.

The premise itself is rather original and the movie seems to be fantastic, as it broke the audience record set by Ponyo (another amazing Ghibli film) and also managed to get many great reviews, but could we expect less from something with such a great pedigree?

The actual release

Here is the sad bit, the movie has seen the light of day in Europe (France and the United Kingdom, respectively) but it’s only making the jump across the pond next year on February 17, 2012, so do your best not to spoil it if you feel like enjoying a nice dub for once. Or hey, watch it twice and compare for yourself!

If you want to find out more just head over to our Facebook fan page and check out the spoilerific trailer!

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This is the one show that people always bring up when someone speaks about Pokemon, so why don’t we make a piece on it for nostalgia’s sake? Today won’t be much different from the article we had yesterday. The only major difference is perhaps the show we speak of and the way we do it.

This show was great

Sure, at first glance it appears to be a simple Pokemon rip off with the whole monsters part of the title and the fact that the premise sounded the same. But the fact is that this show was better than Pokemon in several ways (not to mention that it came out at about the same time, so not a rip off, I guess). The biggest one of them being the fact that it was bit more mature and included several topics on Pokemon’s “No no” list such as death and the frailty of life. Not to mention enough angst to fuel all of its future incarnations.

Other things that made it different were pretty apparent from the get go, such as the character design, the way the story played out (so the premise sounding the same is actually bull) and one big thing….

It actually grew with us!

Or it at least tried to. See the first two incarnations of Digimon were probably the best due to the fact that it dealt with the same groups of kids and the way their adventures within the digital world affected them. It had an overarching plot that was better and way more clever than what a “kid’s show” had any right to be.

The overall plot of the first season was that a group of kids in Japan found themselves dragged into a new weird world, a world that seems to have a certain degree of connection to their own and yet is completely alien and populated with creatures known as Digimons. And here is where it became awesome. At first it was “Yay, adventure with cool new pets that we found!” and then their anxiety starts to prey on them. Things like being away from home and their parents’ support, care and love. These were kids and as much as they tried to keep calm at times they found themselves scared and alone in a weird new world where they had to face new challenges and come out as unlikely heroes.

All the main leads were well rounded characters and behaved accordingly, even their Digimon were great. See, they worked differently than Pokemon as they pretty much were sentient beings being raised and cared for by their “tamers” and they each had different set of traits that made them stand out, even though most of the time they were mere projections of the human character they followed.

So, we had a smart show that dared to be different and present a more adult world filled with fantastic creatures and it even had a Matrix-like twist, granted it could be seen from the first episode, but the characters still had to figure it out and it was awesome. So what went wrong?

They tried to go Pokemon on us

The show added so many Digivolving forms to the characters that even the big baddies started to seem substantially more insignificant. The last good season was the third one, where they took the idea of Digimons and humans coming together into a single being and turned it into an interesting premise. One that got subsequently shot to hell by Season 4, the one which counts a butterfly-based Digimon in lingerie as its only highlight (a fact made kinda disturbing by the thought of it being a 14 year old girl).

The show simply started to die after this, as they focused more about sending the new characters on a somewhat generic journey to meet new Digimons, fight them, maybe even acquire new powers and undermine the mythology of the older show rather than expanding it.

Digimon was always about exploring a new world and the way it linked to our own, but then it sold out and changed. The show distorted its formula so badly that it simply became little less than a brand name with new iterations, one more disjointed from the original as the last.

Should I watch it?

Yes, watch up to the third season and enjoy what could very well have been one of the best titles of its time simply due to the fact that it could handle tone, phasing and atmosphere well. Plus, there are some interesting characters and a plot that’s equal parts cheesy and fun.

Just remember NOTHING and I MEAN NOTHING ever happens after the third season. It simply didn’t continue afterwards and all those other seasons are parallel universes, or bad acid trips.

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Do you really REMEMBER Pokemon? I certainly do, and not just because it’s still going strong. No, I remember it because it captivated me as a young teen and gave me some of the best games of my youth. But above all else, I remember the anime.

When I was your age…

There were only 151 Pokemon and I caught ‘em all! It was also the time when the show begun to run its course and became an immediate media phenomenon. It was a great anime with a likable cast of characters, a nice and creative setting, and an art style that was easy enough to draw for its fans (we all at one point or another drew custom Pokemon!)

And that’s what really makes me sad. See, even as a kid I could tell there was something odd with the show. I watched it daily, played Red and Blue, eventually moving to Yellow, Green, Silver and Gold (yes, all my characters were named Ash and my rival was Gary). Yet, being such a sucker for its merchandise and the games that bore its logos I still knew the show was going nowhere.

I woke up to a series of facts, the most annoying one being that Ash could defeat the Elite 8, and their equivalents in other regions, and get no more acknowledgement for his feats that a very rare and occasional “Hey, it’s that guy!” The second one was also a realization that nagged me, he would never grow up nor have kids with Misty.

Yes, this is corny as hell but my friends and I loved the theory of Ash and Misty getting together and then have the following seasons deal with their child growing as a Pokemon master. We all hoped for something that never quite happened.

The show wouldn’t grow with us

We were slowly drifting away from the Pokemania phase, either because of Digimon or other shows. The local channels still showed the new episodes and we watched them, but the games felt old hat and repetitive, not to mention that pretty much everyone I knew had realized the hardest truth about the show.

Ash was a mere vehicle to justify the introduction of new Pokemon, and we would never get to be him. All the games introduced us to areas that were presented to us at roughly the same time as the show, plus all the Pokemon found within. But we were never Ash, and he now had this annoying habit of letting go of old Pokemon and companions in order to trade them off for new ones.

He never caught them all, and our suspension of disbelief was strained by the fact that Professor Oak would constantly forget about the existence of the Pokemon presented in other seasons. Not to mention that everyone would act as if the new regions that they seemingly pulled out the show’s continuity’s ass were known to them.

So where are you going with this?

I guess it’s nothing but a simple retrospective of an old fan. I followed the show until the Jotto Journey and realized that the games and other media would always be there. A part of me felt as if they weren’t meant for me now, though.

A new generation of Pokemon masters would take the torch and find their own Legendary Pokemon but Missign0, Mew, Mewtwo and Lugia would always be the best for me… Well, maybe not Missign0, he was a massive game breaking douche.

I know that the games are still fun and numerous, but I feel that the sense of wonder I got from them is gone and that the new characters Pokemon now had their turn to shine and I hope that a game with such a deceptively simple formula is still around for years to come.

And to close let me say this: the original episodes are some of the best care free and fun moments to be found in anime, even if they haven’t aged all that well.

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We’ll start off today with a review of Claymore, a title that I could have sworn to have reviewed already but that seems to be missing from the site entirely. What better way to fix that than making a shiny new review cycle for both the anime and manga?

Big swords all around

Claymore is the brain child of Norihiro Yagi and it might just be his best work to date. The manga premiered in 2001 and moved around several manga publications which kinda makes it a pain in the ass if you wish to compile the original prints, but other than that it serves as a testament to a quality of its work to see it survive three different publications. Not to mention that it also got an anime adaptation, which is what we are reviewing right now!

The nuts and bolts of the story are rather simple; it stars a female lead by the name of Clare who works as a Claymore, a special agent of a shadowy organization with the task of exterminating monsters known as Yoma who infest villages and take on the shape on men to feed on the unsuspecting villagers. This may sound a bit clichéd to some, but the story manages to twist it around by doing something that seems impossible. It makes the “child character” likeable.

You read that right. Clare stumbles upon the survivor of Yoma attack by the name of Raki, who has been driving off from his village and has no other choice but to follow Clare. At first this is no different than the usual “little kid acts like a pet” interaction, but he eventually becomes a vehicle for Clare to start regaining her humanity and is actually helpful when it comes to a couple of battles.

The plot is nice

It’s more than just a road trip too, see the main point is that Claymores operate on a jurisdiction and are sent to exterminate Yomas in their areas, but the story does a great job of mixing flashbacks and the occasional narrative to build up a good set of characters and give them an excuse to travel around a mildly generic high-fantasy world.

There are a couple of twists in the story that get revealed casually by the emotionless Clare, which is fine since her companion reacts to it and compliments it nicely. But overall it’s a story about Clare and her life as a Claymore, plus the one she lost.

The only downside to the story is that it gets a bit cluttered at the end and it seems to lose some steam, perhaps as a consequence of trying to catch up with the manga’s twists and turns and still manage to give us some form of closure.

It looks pretty

Some scenes are a bit too heavy on the dark tones, to the point where you may feel that you need to adjust your screen’s contrast. Other than that the show has a pleasing aesthetic that serves to give it an appealing look that makes it stand out.

Watch it

It may not be as deep and developed as the manga, but it has some really nice things going on for it. It’s far from perfect but it’s a solid enough title to carry itself in a simple, yet intriguing premise that could give fans a taste of what the whole manga experience offers.

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Howdy folks, today I would like to take a chance to run something by you in a quick and rather simple article. An article which will be rather short and to the point, one that will summarize everything you could need to know about the way we like to work around here.

We just pick stuff

That’s pretty much it; I just look around the forums or find something in my backlog in case I can’t get invested on something new. I select things you might find interesting, whether I like them or not, and I do this in order to get people into new things and to think a bit about what makes a good story or a bad one.

It’s all basically part of trying to piece together what makes Anime and Manga so unique, while also building up a catalogue of different things that may drive you towards new genres and shows. Perhaps even give you some respite from the samey-ness of the current market. In a way I guess each article is a public invitation for you to join, share and comment on them and help them grow by the virtue of adding your own opinion to mine and the others in the forum.

So let us know what you think! Comment below with something you would like to see (or show us your love!) or join our forums and let your voice be heard.

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We reviewed the anime so let’s hop onto the manga now, shall we? This article will also serve to point out some of the key differences between the two mediums on which the story has been represented. Think of this second and last article as a way to give you a more rounded choice on what to do if you decide to follow up on Claymore.

This is long

I’ll get my biggest nitpick out of the way right at the start. The manga is so freaking long that the entirety of the anime can be taken as a small, almost insignificant set of chapters that served to establish the world and characters more than anything else. Here’s the thing though, the first few villains and plot lines are well written and take a long time to get through, but they eventually get swept under a change of focus that’s big enough to make them look like plot devices.

Nothing escalates so far out of reach as anime and manga, but Claymore takes it to a whole new level. It starts off slowly, revealing aspects of the plot through Clare’s travels and her life within the organization, and then it slowly becomes a different story. One that may very well be high up there on the mind-fu..eh you know, scale as there are some revelations that serve to throw everything up to that point into disarray.

EVERYTHING HERE IS A SPOILER

You still have time to scroll down and get away from it, so ready? The organization, the world where they live in, the warriors and the Yoma are all basically irrelevant. The land they live in is basically an island that has been kept away from the rest of the world to serve as a testing facility to develop bio weapons; all because the actual organization is entangled in a battle with creatures that can be summed up as dragons, but what about the Yoma?

They are failed experiments that are simply being disposed off in the most useful manner. That’s right, the warriors and their Yoma hunting way of life is nothing but a result from the needs of a much more advanced society, so their battles and every single bit of tragedy in their lives can simply be blamed on the organization’s greed.

The story is great and richly developed in the manga, but that right there is a great twist that adds a lot to it and sets off some of the most interesting battles in the series so far.

NO MORE SPOILERS!

So the story is longer, the characters are fleshed out and given better development, but is it any good? It is! Even though it suffers from some shonen clichés like “This is the most powerful creature we have faced!” being used on a villain that amounts to nothing but a wimpy grunt by the next volume, or the classic new super ability being effective with one villain but doing nothing to another.

Overall the plot is great, it’s filled with huge swords…And what surprises me the most, it has amazon-like warrior women and it doesn’t delve into the usual and rather clichéd fanservice scenarios. I guess I would compare it to Berserk more than anything else, even though saying that might very well be a cardinal sin.

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Let’s hop on to a manga that I came across with during a lazy browsing session, shall we? This title has an anime adaptation on its way this month, one that I won’t be bothering much with because of a simple reason.

It’s lame

It had a very interesting plot, one that was even “mildly relevant” as it dealt with a natural disaster causing a nuclear plant in Tokyo to malfunction, which I guess led people to googling it because “Hey, this thing totally predicted it man.” In a way it shares some similarities with the disaster, but that’s not really important, what matters is that it’s filled with enough hot air to carry you around the world in eighty days.

The manga follows the titular “Coppelion” a group of genetically engineered girls made to resist radiation and to showcase some Deus Ex Machina (not Human Revolution, unfortunately) abilities whenever the plot calls for it to be convenient to reveal that one of the girls just happens to be able to deal with something. Maybe this one nitpick is a bit unfair since I only saw it happen with the animal girl, so I could be very well be talking out of my ass here.

So anyways, they are sent in to the heavily irradiated area to search for survivors, survey the ruins and…some other stuff. It’s just so painfully dull I couldn’t bother with reading the whole thing.

Suspension of disbelief be damned

The manga has this habit of stopping the plot (if it can be called that) to give way to some heavy exposition; characters will begin explaining how their suits or other pieces of technology function, or how the survivors have been trapped in a radioactive waste for 20 years without dying, etc. And that sucks, sure the last item was worthy of explaining, but they stop to explain everything which is made worse by the fact that these moments are the only breaks in flow we have, either that or the three girls deciding to go for a damn picnic and act cute when that makes no sense.

See, I would rather let some magical device that cures radiation slide without explanation than having to endure some sort of “Radioactive warrior rescue unit” going for a picnic, and being all bubbly. The characters just feel so out of place that it really makes little to no sense to have them at the center of the story when the tragedy and backdrop are so exploitable.

Some necessary info

The manga came to the world by the hand of Tomonori Inoue, who isn’t necessarily psychic even though he came up with this idea in 2008 for Weekly Young Magazine.

I might be missing the point of the story, maybe something great happens later that makes it all make sense or be suddenly awesome but I can only give it merits for its art direction. I guess there’s no more left to say other than it “looks pretty” I guess that isn’t much of a compliment….Hell, I would give it a pass if I were you.

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Tonight we would like to post a fun little blurb. Sure, there are some news worth reporting but our site hits took a mighty dive when we begun dedicating ourselves to news and that’s something we would rather avoid for the time being. So let’s go and talk about videogames for a bit shall we?

Game on

We have a dedicated gaming forum within our categories, but it could sure use some new blood. I’m taking this chance to write to you all, as it’s no secret that most anime fans tend to be gamers as well, so what do you play?

Do you fancy Japanese games such as the Persona series, Valkyria Chronicles or Disagea? This could be a given as most of these tend to blend the animation and style of anime in most of the frames, or it could be the other kind of JRPG’s or even fancy and weird games such as Catherine. I fancy myself more of a western gamer, and this generation has been a blessing.

I used to be a Nintendo kid and still keep a Wii for the few titles that catch my attention, such as the first party titles. It all changed with the first Playstation and Sony has been my dark master ever since; especially now, with the PSN providing many a good deal and nice titles. But I ain’t no fanboy, and as a matter of fact most of my friends rely on the Xbox 360 to be our party console since most of them have it.

MMOS are also some of my favourite things to play, and for a while World of Warcraft was my poison, to the point where I could navigate zones blindfolded and even tell the class and level of characters by the sound they made fighting, to the point of knowing zones! But it all changed with Cataclysm’s redesigned terrain. Nowadays I stick to free to play titles and go back to WoW when I can’t scratch my itch off.

Those of you who wish to talk about games are more than welcomed to do so, be it Call of Duty, Assassin’s Creed, Red Dead Redemption or even indie gems like From Dust, you are welcomed to do so in our forum. Hell you are even welcomed to help me boost my damn “Abstergo Employee of the Month” Trophy!

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Hey there folks, there are some good things coming our way in the next few months (like a whole new year of anime and manga) but I would love to take this chance and do a quick review of a title I followed closely for a while. I say for a while because I pretty much forgot it existed until today.

Wait, what?

I know that ain’t a stellar way to start a review, but bear with me for a second. I am one of the many anime fans who depend of fansubs and translations. I know, shame on me, etc. So I have to sit idly by while some other guy does a lot of non-profitable work and uploads a scansub, or fansub of my current title of choice to one of the many places to watch anime online or to read manga online.

The title’s volumes come by sporadically at times and then take a bit to be subbed, so sometimes it was like jumping into a new story mid way going over the characters and setting until something clicked. I read up to its latest chapter and called it a day for a while, at least until I decided to browse the PSN and saw the huge add for Call of Duty’s Rezurrection Map Pack, which made me go “Ah, zombies again” then it hit me….

And here we are

I once made a brief summary of this title for an article about a manga and DVD/Blu-ray bundle I wrote. I never made a review, though, so it’s about time we get that done and add it to our humble, yet reliable review database.

The title can be summed up briefly, it’s got zombies, gratuitous fan service, bad ass teenagers with guns and so many clichés that it at sometimes feels like it embodies everything the zombie genre was about near the 80’s. At least until it starts trying to take itself seriously and give off a mysterious and heavy atmosphere, and that’s when it kind of sucks.

Cutting to the chase

I don’t really feel like getting technical with character names, not because I am too lazy for that, but simply because I feel that the characters are a perfect mix of card-board cuttery and clichés. They are the typical ensemble of anime and manga tropes you’ll get to recognize almost immediately.

There’s the unresolved romantic interest. The buxom airhead that never dies even though she’s the only adult and their only help in case of injury (which comes to little to no use as a zombie bite means you are gone). The buxom know it all nerd with a crush on the main lead and mixed feelings towards the otaku gun-nut, said gun nut being the fat geeky guy who cries in stupid situations. The buxom romantic interest that happens to be a childhood friend and barely ever dares to express herself. The buxom samurai girl who crushes on the main character and has the “edgy personality.” The little girl that chases them around like a pet and gravitates towards the one guy who doesn’t have much of an active romance plot going. The actual pet. And finally, the average Joe lead everyone loves and tends to follow unquestionably. Notice a trend so far?

The setting is kinda cheesy too, an average day and then bam, zombies. But they are the good kind of zombie, the Romero kind, shambling undead horrors that feast on flesh and aren’t particularly smart. The title actually does some references to George Romero’s work and that truly is when it’s at its best.

The over the top and ridiculous nature of some of the action sequences would feel at home at any action movie, which would make this a pretty straight shooter for anyone interested in a down to earth action manga with zombies and flailing breasts. If it could only stay that way rather than suddenly switch to the emotional issues, unresolved romantic plots and fairly chatty and dull chapters we would have a winner here folks.

And no, I’m not a brainless moron who can’t take the depth of the story. It’s just that when you have a bunch of highschoolers gunning down zombies by the dozen or fighting with skills that would shame Bruce Lee himself, I just don’t expect the story to suddenly try to be touchy feely or have some sort of ham-fisted romance jammed into it.

My suggestion?

Go read it, there are worse things out there and it’s pretty solid for the most part save for the times when they suddenly settle down and get chatty. And as always, you are more than welcomed to our forums, you might like to have a chat with us or tell us why we suck.

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No, not the craptastic movie by Daniel Sadek released in 2007. We are here to tell you about the anime, or have you forgotten that we are an anime site? This film is going to be hitting theatres in the US and neighbouring Canada pretty soon, so you ought to keep an eye out if you are interested in high production values, fast cars and stylish adrenaline-pumping anime!

Get your engines ready

There is a bit of history behind this title. It began as a project by anime powerhouse Madhouse, which in my personal opinion happens to be one of the better studios out there; a studio with such a great deal of dedication towards quality that they spent around seven years on this film, from the development of the concept to the actual production.

Redline is an interesting concept, not only because it has a rather unique art style, a style that might remind some of you of the game No More Heroes, mixed in with some Gurren Lagann and Speed Racer for good measure. It’s extremely unique, though, and that’s saying a lot for any anime that has come out in the past two years. Not to mention it was mostly done by hand, but what is it all about?

Redline follows a street racer known as JP, who owns a juiced up car and has a flashy retro styling as he enters the “Redline” race. A dangerous and wild event that takes place every five years, and here is the kicker, it’s in SPACE! Well, sort of….The movie is set in the distant future, so the cars and races play like a Hot Wheels fan’s greatest dream. It has explosions, conspiracies, romance and fast cars. What else could you ask for?

How about a release date?

The anime was released in Japan during the Locarno International Film Festival, and will be hitting US shores in Blu-ray and DVD by Anchor Bay around November 14th of this year, but there is more. Those of you lucky enough to be able to head over to the New York Comic Con taking place this October 13 to 16 will be able to find out a more specific and possibly final date.

And those who can’t wait to see an “official” subbed release of this title can assist the Toronto After Dark film festival, where the title will be screened as the only anime amongst eight films. This screening will take place between October 20-27 at the Toronto Underground Cinema, so now you know and are ready to go for next month!

You can look forward to a review of this title to grace our front page soon!

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Well folks, I’m going to admit that I haven’t been in touch with anime as of late, at least not to the extent I used to be. It probably has to do with the long list of complaints I’ve built against the medium (anime), a list that I can promise you will only grow in size as time goes by.

This is not exactly an apology

Sure, there have been some really good shows as of late that beat the stigma that I put on modern anime; a stigma that’s caused by the tide of Moe Anime and titles that have trivialized nudity and fanservice to the point where it feels old. I guess it’s kind of like having the same meal served across several restaurants with only a slight variation in spice. But the truth is that many titles mean many fans, both old and young.

I have found it easier to find people out in the streets that have a passion for this. People with whom you may argue about the merits of one show over another or about the characters and merchandise you both like. I made an article like this several months ago, where I explained why Anime has gone mainstream and why it’s good it did. This is not about that.

This is about the merits that come with the wave of titles and the modernization of the media. The new fanservicey and pervy titles are great fodder for relaxed conversations and even stupid animes can be good for a laugh or to turn off your brain.

Sure, there are titles like Seikon no Qwaser that sound like a bad joke, almost as if the creative team behind the original manga had said “Let’s make a story that has boobs as its center piece and let’s throw in some Anime styled Catholicism to be edgy,” only to be interrupted by someone saying “Oh, don’t forget the androgynous lead female character with latent lesbian tendencies and the unresolving love interest plot that we’ll drag on forever!” Some of these new shows really seem to have been made with an anime plot generator, but hey, people like them.

Saying that anime has gotten mainstream and better known is a wonderful thing for me. Brainless and derivative shows serve to fill in the gaps left by the better ones, even making it so that they seem better!

We can read manga online, watch anime online, find great fansubs, and have whatever sweet anime merchandise we want at our fingertips! So let’s enjoy it for all it’s worth and remember that for all we know a down-on-its-luck studio may end up making a killing with fanservice based shows, only to blow us away with a great title.

In closing…

We already got videogames as art to be taken as a serious phrase, let’s make it so people see anime as more than “strange cartoons.” Even the fanservice has a place in that, get a friend hooked and show him or her how anime is not all about giant robots, moody and angsty teenagers or gratuitous cleavage. It’s about all that and much more.

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We would like to remind our readers that the clock is ticking before Fate/Zero’s arrival in Japanese airwaves, which means that we can begin enjoying it by next year once it has been localized. Although, those of you who are impatient can get it just as easily as soon as a subbing team gets to work on it.

Fate/Zero’s ads are running

And that’s why we feel the need to inform you that time is running short before this new anime comes out. The title will be an adaptation of the short novels based on the time period of the 4th Holy Grail war, which means you get to see some “new” servants (keep in mid that this is a prequel). Plus you will be able to experience the birth of the feud between Kotomine Kirei and the Kiritsugu family; a rivalry that extends to their servants, who are now operating in full force and ready to wreak some havoc.

This anime is still cooking, but the teaser trailers have begun rolling and you can go check them out at the official site. Each one of these trailers features a master and their servant, so make sure to watch them all to get up to speed.

There’s not that long to wait

The anime will be amongst us in October, so there’s still time to prepare by going over the light novels and getting to know the story before hand. The volumes are already translated in PDF format and make for a fun read for fans of the show, as it adds a new level of flavour and content. Although, it’s more suited for those who played the original visual novel since it deals with characters and story arcs which were barely touched upon during the anime’s original run.

Here is to hoping that it makes up for the travesty that UBW turned out to be. I am a fan of the universe made by Type-moon, so I’ll give them credit on this one and promise you guys a review as soon as I get my hands on an episode.

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Anime relationships, that is. So we are sorry to disappoint those who thought we had gotten desperate enough to become a romance blog, but know that in a way we are going to delve into the subject of romance, relationships and the fact that many (to the point where we dare say most) titles seem to never bother to have any sort of resolution to romantic relationships.

There are notable exceptions, though

There are many shows that break away from this unusual and annoying trend, so it’s best to get them out of the way to avoid dealing with them later when I babble on about the subject at hand. These shows are usually fantastic and go beyond the norm by providing us with anything from a simplistic and safe approach to how relationships work, to an upstanding show of fantasy with character development at its core.

Keep in mind however, that these shows aren’t the golden standard to measure up all the others and are instead rare gems. They are usually self-contained stories that go from A to B and give us a conclusion, which more often than not goes along nicely with the centrepiece of a relationship between two leads. Here’s the thing, though; most of the animes where romances are resolved have the relationship bit as a center piece.

And that’s what gets annoying about the other ones. See, if you are going to bother to include romantic elements into an anime that has a backstory filled with action, adventure, horror, etc. THEN DON’T MAKE THE VIEWER SIT THROUGH IT WITHOUT RESOLUTION.

Here come the rest

If I had a penny for every anime that had an episode or tow where everything came to a halt for a couple of characters to face off due to romantic issues I would be rich. Hell, it’s not that side stories are bad, I love ‘em, it’s just that they have no place to be within a story if they lead nowhere other than some stupid kiss or fanservice related situation. I understand that a good story has to have several elements working for it; from romance, to comedy and even drama, but here are times when several animes just drop the ball and seem to ad an scene for the “just because.”

I have avoided naming specific animes so far to save myself from fanboyism, so I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and leave it up for discussion in our forums or a later article.

The bottom line

Romance is sometimes a great element that adds a lot of flavor to a story, but it can go awry if you don’t handle it well. It simply can’t be a mere plot device, it has to be an integral core of the character’s personality or add something more than a scene where sad music plays during a conversation. Romance has room to grow in a story, but I rather see it shine due to its absence than have to endure shoehorned dialog between “lovers.”

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Greetings fellow readers and welcome to the newest cycle of news and reviews for AnimeMB! We are happy to say that we are going to be resuming our weekly article schedule for your reading pleasure. Now that the introduction has been put aside, we would like to present today’s article; a perfect representation of our columnist’s opinions and a way for you to catch up with the way things go around here.

Anime is F’ed

That’s right! It’s not for the usual reasons most companies shield themselves behind when it comes to making excuses; it’s not the government or its draconian regulations, nor the “rampant” piracy. Not even the current socio-economical situation of Japan that’s slowly draining the industry of life. They all amount to a small chunk of the real problem.

There is a big elephant dressed as a wide eyed schoolgirl standing in the middle of the room, people! It’s time for me to be Captain Obvious and say something I have made clear several times throughout my many articles: Fanservice is doing more harm than good to the industry at this point.

Sure, it’s fun and nice from time to time, and it’s been around forever, but just take a look at the past five years of anime! The spectrum of anime has been moving towards the fan service end of the deal rather heavily, which is a trend that should worry even the biggest fans of ecchi out there.

Why? Because of the simple fact that fanservice sells well domestically, so the industry churns out title after title in the same light and too much of something good can still be too damn much. The blood of the industry comes from “nickeling” and “dimeing” their fans, and the main source of revenue has shifted significantly. Back in the day it used to be about video sales, but now the market has grown thanks to the inclusion of figurines, dakimakuras, and all sorts of memorabilia that used to be far and in-between.

It used to be the case that figurines displayed mechs, the cast and crew, and the occasional (but not common) bathing suit-clad female from a popular show. Nowadays, figurines and other assorted merchandise are flooding the market and the driving force behind them is usually an anime or dating sim.
The thing is that this has gotten to the point where most titles seem to be rushed forward with excessive fanservice in hopes of having a broad audience to sell their licensed wares to. This wouldn’t be a problem if it wasn’t such a mainstream tendency.

Animes featuring air headed, clumsy and cute female characters bumbling about an idiotic male lead meant to serve as a blank slate for the audience to project on are too common now. It’s rare to see a new and fairly original title coming out without a tried and true production cast behind it, which means that any new projects will either be overlooked because of their lack of market appeal or because the people behind it are a bit too green.

The industry is running to the ground and it will find itself stagnating pretty soon as more studios jump on the ecchi bandwagon. It’s not even that the number of fanservice-based animes which is at an all time high, it’s the fact that the industry is shamelessly exploiting it to the point where it could very well take away from the plot or overall experience.

Fanservice is a way to whore anime out for money at the cost of its better qualities, and the anime industry ain’t no gentle pimp.

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Fate/Stay Night is kind of a big deal around here and most of the internet. It’s one of those licenses that stand out with original characters, plots and ideas that are wild enough to workm and show the world that anime goes a step beyond. This movie was a part of that, and yet…

And yet what?!

Let me give you a bit of a background here, also note that I’m writing this differently than my other articles. I guess you could say that’s how you can tell whether or not I cared for the source material, so here we go!

This movie came out last year one day before my (that’s Samshel, as in the guy who writes these) birthday. It should have been a gift from God seeing how I have a burning passion for all things Fate/Stay Night. I had to hunt down a copy online and wait a bit for a properly ripped and subbed one, yeah I know, can’t speak Japanese and an import would bankrupt my broken ass at the time so sue me (don’t).

I waited this long to review it simply because this was how long it took me to get around to watch it in all its glory. That being with a buddy who also loved FSN in an obsessive manner, that way we had two different opinions on the matter and we could work around a general idea.

At least we could have, if his time watching the movie wouldn’t have been spent going “Huh? Who…why….WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!?”

This is for fans only

My buddy watched the anime so much of the stuff on the movie was completely new to him. I had the benefit of playing with the Visual Novel (which is also available in a kid-friendly version if the sight of mild hentai disgusts you) so I was familiar with all the scenarios, characters and plot twists. Yet the movie was still a mess.

Unlimited Blade Works deserved a show of its own, hell the franchise should reboot the anime and dedicate each season to events in the three arcs (And that’s how you milk a show, folks!). Why did it deserve a fully fledged anime of its own? Because it had some great twists that were amazing once you got to them, not to mention that the extremely awesome story made sense.

Saying that the movie was short would be cutting it too short. Characters and plot elements drop in and out through the entire thing, the third act is a mess that’s barely held together if you knew the story beforehand and the main twist of the story is painfully shoed in.

It fails as a movie

I am well aware that this film was for fans, but there’s a problem. It was for fans of the game and extended works, not just the anime. God help you if you only ever saw the anime (and I bet that’s the case for most western fans) because characters and their motivations are as alien to the viewer as it gets.

Having a, “You must be this well versed to enjoy this,” requirement ruins this. You can’t walk up to a friend who’s into Anime but not into FSN and hope he enjoys it, this is a shitty movie. The plot goes back and forth and ends so abruptly that there’s no time to build a link with characters, or even create a foreboding atmosphere that transmits the same vibe as the original material.

That’s why it ultimately fails, not only is it terrible at being a good way to introduce newcomers to the FSN mythos, but it also fails to please the fans! It says a lot about an action packed movie when reading a bunch of letters on a screen with soft music and a still frame of artwork is more thrilling.

It also fails for fans

Some frames and scenes are reconstructions of what was present in the visual novel, but they fail to impress you since at times the characters’ reactions, lines and even the way the scene plays out were different enough from the original to bother you and take away from the film.

It goes by too fast for its own good and requires that you call back to the novel to fill in the MASSIVE gaps it leaves. I could only make the experience better by thinking, “These are animated cutscenes from the game that some strung together on youtube,” and that ain’t right.
Another thing that bothered me greatly was that they spent little energy in the story itself, it was as if they broke down the bits and pieces from the game that were awesome and strung them together without the in-between.

Also (SPOILER WARNING) they included the sex scene between Tohsaka and Shirou, yet it wasn’t a sex scene or behaved in any way similar to it…it kinda just looked like it, and as much as I thought the sex scenes kind of ruined the game, this struck me as “Why bother with reconstructing this scene without at least going the whole way’”

TL;DR

Watch it if you like FSN, have low standards and lots of time to spare. It wasn’t a horrible movie, but it was bad enough to kinda bum a fan out. It was still fun, though…I guess.

Join me in the forum if you feel like ranting on this for a bit, whether you are a fellow fan who was underwhelmed by it or you disagreed with me.

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Greetings folks, we hope you’ve been having a good couple of weeks so far. Today we are going to bring your attention to a topic that we may have seemingly avoided: earthquake relief. Being an anime site means we should have reported on this one way or another, whether it was because of its impact on the industry or out of solidarity to Japan. So today we do our part.

It’s about time

Let’s us get this out of the way, we are aware that we have a small (but dedicated readership) and we know we couldn’t have covered the Japanese Earthquake disaster as anything but a footnote. We really don’t have the resources of other bigger sites, so why would we bombard our few loyal readers with repetitive news about Japan’s tragic earthquake?

We are well aware that it was a horrible tragedy, as were our forumites, so we kept going with the regular schedule out of respect rather than out of indifference. We couldn’t have provided adept coverage without looking like we were going for your attention or putting on some SEO on our site. It was all about keeping the status quo and bringing you a bit of anime-related goodness to fill your days, because at the end of the day most of our love for Japan stems from that.

And the fact of the matter is that they still need help.

Isn’t it a little too late for this?

Most sites are pretty much long done with coverage for relief efforts, considering how Japan picked itself up rather fast and was showered with aid within the month. However, they still need a hand. There are people who haven’t been able to return to their home or whose lives were completely devastated by the tragedy.

Relief efforts aren’t like putting on a band-aid and hoping the wounds heal. They are more like intense surgery that takes gradual approaches to fixing the damage. Such work requires extensive funding and supplies.

It may seem too late for some and Japan may have return to a relative state of normality, but it’s never too late to aid those in need.

What if I’m stingy and want something out of it?

Well, other than some positive karma you could go for some of the products that give away profits for relief funds, such as a nice calendar filled with Cosplay! The people at CosplayForACause.com have such an offer going. They put out a very well made calendar, not for profit or to boast, but to serve as an incentive towards donations.

Those of you with a purer heart who don’t care to get swag out of this may simply go ahead and cut out the middle man. The Japanese Red Cross Society is still taking in donations and they could still use your help.

jrc.or.jp

Go ahead and help

There are many organizations out there that claim to be helping the relief effort, but you gotta check them out and make sure that they are either in association with the Red Cross or approved by them.

And as we said before, some swag is being offered as part of the relief effort so even the money-grubbing bastards out there can lend a hand by giving a cut of their money.

Don’t forget that the disaster isn’t over after the earth’s done shaking and the news stops rolling. There’s people in need who could use a hand!

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First off, being an otaku and claiming to be so doesn’t make people turn and say, “Is that a medical condition?” Nowadays, it comes down to either two responses: A) “Me too, which shows do you like?!” and B) “Oh, you like those perverted Chinese cartoons, huh?”

The second kind of response still surfaces nowadays (and it could be justified as far as the perverted part goes) but it’s more likely to see the first. Some people may even say, “Oh you watch anime, right?” which in some cases leads to a conversation about an anime they watch(ed). The latter bit is subjective to age groups, but it’s not uncommon to hear names like Dragonball, Bleach, Naruto (it’s not even that uncommon to meet Mazinger Z and Voltron fans), it basically comes down to any anime that airs in the big networks as part of a popular line-up.

Otakus have grown and spread to the point where every country has a community of them, each one having an identity of sorts. It no longer feels weird to say, “I’m an anime fan,” or to hear “Otaku”. This is because, and get your hipster glasses ready, anime is now…

Mainstream

Sure, there are hardcore Otakus out there, from the creepy and massively perverted ones everyone pictures in stereotypes (that are later shown to be painfully true by the way new titles cater to them) to the hipster types, the ones that walk a fine line between, “someone with great taste and knowledge,” and, “obnoxious jerk.” But today things are different. Anime is way more accessible thanks to the internet and TV. You can find fans of several titles walking down the street with assorted merchandise, or even see clubs and it all plays out wonderfully.

Otakus have gone from being a minority that was rather secluded in its origins, to big thriving community, almost as if anime had created a new social group separated not by race or beliefs but only by personal taste and knowledge of certain titles. Then again, everything that is good has to have a downside and anime fans sure do. You know what it is….

Enter the weaboo

The word has an extremely innocuous origin in the extremely awesome Perry Bible Fellowship, from where it was picked up and transformed by the internet at large into an insult for anime fans. Why use it then? Because it’s sadly the best word we have to describe the worse kind of fan, you know the one (and if you don’t then you are one).

They are the ones that continue to type in pseudo Japanese. Not because the character’s names or certain words lack a translation, but because it sounds cooler that way or because, “it’s more authentic.”

They are the ones that pelt every website they go to with emoticons and descriptive actions. Sure it looks cute at first if the speaker is a girl but Jesus, does it get annoying to see almost every conversation typed out that way.

They are the ones that use pseudo Japanese and claim to be learning it, when in reality they are well aware that their comprehension level of the language falls alongside that of a parrot. It’s not that they can’t learn it (I myself know nothing of it), It’s the fact that they can’t admit not knowing it and act as if they did, often being jerks to other fans who call them on it.

They are the ones that worship individual characters from a given story and treat them as if they were flesh and bone, going to the point of calling dibs on them.

They are the obnoxiously loud convention goers who squeal and speak in high pitched voices, while copying the mannerism of a given character. Not for the sake of cosplay, but just because they can.

And lastly, they are the denizens of forums and the rest of the internet that act like 15 year olds that discovered their first adult movie. Drooling like simpletons over thigh exposure and centering the extent of their anime watch lists to the perviest titles.

They are the anti-otaku

I know what the word otaku means, and how tagging those fans with it is extremely appropriate. But the fact of the matter rests on the simple fact that if anything they make the rest of us look weird, they are fans and yet follow a set of niche shows and act in such a way that they make other fans look bad in the eyes of the general public.

They can liven up the place but are also the ones with the biggest penchant to cause drama, and whine and bicker over titles and characters or go around with an aura of elitist smugness that makes most hipster look humble and dignified.

But they are fans and as such we, their fellow Otakus, have to be a part of their world. A large, mildly obnoxious family, with the occasional pervert…but still a family at the end of the day, no matter what.

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[wordbay]Otaku[/wordbay]

Not really, but it’s surely getting there at a wondrous speed. See, the thing with anime is that it takes liberties most western shows wouldn’t dream of, and the few that do are remembered because they have an edge. There was a time where you could pick a set of random shows and find unique and endearing characters or plots that would blow your mind, to the point where you realize that anime could be classified as adult entertainment. Not because of the gore and partial nudity, but because of its complexity (plus the gore and occasional partial nudity, I guess).

Some titles gave the vibe of, “We don’t care about the dough, we are here to shine,” and fans chased after them in droves, giving their love back through loads of cash. The stories were wild and out there, but some still made sense and those that didn’t either packed enough action or goofiness to balance it out, making it a well rounded experience.

Sure, some shows dragged off beyond their potential and died horribly while others crashed and burned so badly that anything they did before ceased to be “good”, but others lived on as pinnacles of the genre. I’ll say that most of the anime from the 80’s and 90’s was enjoyable, each having enough to stand on its own and spark a nice conversation about it later. Some people could say the 90’s was the golden age of anime, but it was also when it began to decline.

You used to be cool, man

My main issue with anime nowadays is how it seems to be centered on fan service. Let’s make something clear first, though. I am aware that most (if not all) anime studios seem to be put under a clause that states, “You shall have at least one episode where they go to the beach for some arbitrary reason. You will also have a moment where a popular female lead takes a bath, be it at a bath house, a hot spring or a tub.” But it was alright, it’s not like the show was driven by the solitary moment when they said, “Here you go folks, this is for you.” We call it fan service for a reason, or at least most people do. I call it the main culprit behind the current state of affairs in the anime world.

I’ll admit that there are EXCELLENT (or at least good) titles out there from the last few years, but show any regular person a modern day anime and they’ll give you a weird look. Most anime seems to gravitate heavily towards fan service, and that’s a problem.

Why? Because we are forced to put our suspension of disbelief in overdrive to justify that a girl gets slimed, attacked by tentacles, has her clothes torn or an idiot she’s in love with pull her skirt down in some kind of a misunderstanding.

Why is it hard to justify? Because it happens every other episode across an entire week’s worth of shows, week after week. We are forced to see bits and pieces of a tattered plot that serves no other express purpose than to showcase as much innuendo and half-assed nudity as they can fit into the time slot.

I think you are an elitist jerk

Well, let’s say you get to eat chocolate every day of your life for years on an end. At first it’ll be wonderful, then it’ll start to get boring and then you’ll want to stop eating it all together. Anime is kind of like that. It was awesome to be in my teens and watch an episode where the entire cast of girls gets in a bath tub for no discernible reason, now it’s just kind of annoying since these episodes seem to come at arbitrary points in the plot…and at risk of losing half my readership (like two guys). But some of the animes that made the round nowadays just seem to glorify over-sexualized stereotypes, and this comes from a guy who genuinely enjoyed Strike Witches.

It’s not that I want to play the sexism card, but there’s something wrong with anime when many a show revolves around magical breasts. Hell, I could be a jerk and say how it’s not that sexist when you consider that most male characters of today are wimps, leaving most of the hard toil to the girls.

I can also be a huge jerk by saying that the censorship craze and bad rap given to anime is entirely the industry’s fault. They jammed the market so hard with fan service centric anime that they had to start one-upping each other. This in turn turned some heads, and before you know it the average anime line up looked to be three steps shy away from being full blown hentai. So the industry faces a dire situation, but it’s entirely their own fault.

Anime filled niches, but the, “let’s sell mildly perverted titles,” and the, “Sell the show re-mastered three different times,” camps were where the money was at. Now, the industry is stuck in a whirlpool of titles that make it seem bad, while the good ones wither away under the mantle of “Mainstream Titles” that all seem to depend on the same demographic.

And that’s my Two Cents

What is yours? Because in all honesty I got to the point where I find myself digging through time to find old shows to re-watch, or old ones I never got to see. Maybe I’m growing out of this, maybe it’s just that it ain’t what it used to be.

Maybe I can just blame the fan-base, which has become a parody of itself that sometimes makes it shameful to acknowledge myself as a part of it. Maybe I’m just a jerk, who knows?

Next, we shall discuss the current state of affairs for anime fans!

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Most people associate pirates with thieving good for nothings, people who cause direct harm to companies for no good reason other than to get stuff for free. Guess what? Pirating is by no means the same as stealing. Yes, that’s not what companies say, but the truth is that saying that pirating is equal to stealing is an exaggeration. You see, most of the time when someone pirates something, they had no intention to buy it in the first place. They simply got the “free” version since they wouldn’t or couldn’t get the other.

Everyone pirates something at a given time, it’s bound to happen. We don’t support piracy, but we don’t think it should be linked to theft in a direct way. People think you are stealing because you are technically taking something without paying, but in this day and age you are taking the idea of something. Most (if not all) of modern piracy comes by way of downloads. You are taking bits and pieces of emptiness, not the entirety of a physical product. People insist that it’s theft because “An illegal download equals a stolen sale!” but the truth is that taking a cracked copy of a game, or a fansubbed anime doesn’t mean that you are stealing a finished copy that a consumer won’t be able to buy.

A pirate is simply taking something that in most cases they can’t legally get, whether it is because they can’t afford it or it’s not available to them. However, this doesn’t mean that they will take away from the consumers. And that’s where it kicks off in relevance to Otakus.

What this has to do with anime

Do you buy the DVD’s or BR’s of every show you watch? How about movies? Well, there you go. Most of you would say “No” which means either one of two things: you pirate it or have a rich friend that lends you stuff. If you said yes, then you have a lot of disposable income or just don’t care to buy your shows.

Most Otakus are “forced” to pirate at any given point. Not because they are cheap or are trying to “stick it to the man, dude!” but because most anime shows either take forever to be localized (if they ever are), or are horribly watered down once localized. Say you want to catch up with your favorite manga or anime. Would you really wait months if not years between updates?

Sacanlantion, fansubbing and fandubbing are all piracy. But Otakus do not seem to worry about it much. The ones that love a given show will buy the official release due to the extra goodies that come with it, so there’s still a sale there. We are not trying to justify piracy, but there would be a hell of a lot less had the anime industry seen the potential in the international market….like they did back in the 90’s.

The proliferation of the internet has given pirates new powerful tools, but it has also given the industry new ways to distribute their goods. It’s rather sad to see the declining profit margin of your favorite studio pegged on pirates, rather than say the stale and bland new shows they crank out in droves that revolve around fanservice and especial edition sales (it’s uncensored now, so watch it again!).

Piracy isn’t that bad

What’s bad is that an entire industry seems inclined to closing itself off from the rest of the world, claiming that it’s protecting its interests and business. The reality is that they only manage to harm the fans, who are more than likely pirating stuff since they have no “legit” way of getting it.

Now you may say “Learn Japanese and buy the imported DVD’s then!” Oh, you…sitting there on your hypothetical high horse. But no, not everyone can learn a second language, and they shouldn’t have to. That’s what subtitles are for, and that’s what dubbing studios are in the business for! Saying that you can only enjoy it if you go through a gruesome process sure makes you smart; okay, you learned a new language and can now alienate others by holding it over their heads. Does it feel right? Art and entertainment should be accessible, that’s why you have hundreds of scanlators and fandubbers working to bring a title to the masses.

These people are pirates, but they are not charging anyone or causing direct harm to a company’s stock. If you downloaded a title and enjoyed it you are likely to tell your friends about it, maybe one of them will buy it as well as some of its merchandise.

It’s a necessary evil

Piracy within the anime world is something it needs to thrive; else it would simply stay in Japan growing more and more horribly inbred as they run out of audiences to cater to. Companies love pointing fingers, but piracy isn’t much of a shadowy side-business as it’s a simple outlet to allow fans to go without starving.

We don’t want to glorify piracy, we know that some pirates are massive assholes that can cause damage to companies, but for the most part they are pretty harmless and serve to fill in a gap left in the distribution of a given media. You can tell them apart as long as they don’t charge or are entitled to pretty much force “donations” to continue working; the good ones are dedicated fans just like you, not some super internet criminal.

Hope this gave you food for thought, tomorrow we talk about the decline of modern anime so stay tuned!

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[wordbay]Anime Boxset[/wordbay]

Some may take issue with the fact that we barely seem to stick to a theme, or even bother reviewing current titles. There’s a reason for that, namely that if we were to review the offerings to be had in the current selection of mainstream anime we would be forced to waddle through a swamp of fan service and disappointment, not to mention cliché.

That last bit may have made us sound like hipsters. Truth be told, what we want to give you is a catalog of good titles to pick up during a dry anime season or when you are bored. Sure, we have reviewed some big names and even gave a few bad reviews here and there, but we simply want you to get an opinion and maybe avoid wasting your time.

We are here to help, you can find many reviews that will allow you to experience different genres, stories and varying quality if you give those titles a chance.

If you want a change of style or see a couple of your favorites get reviewed just go ahead and hop into the comment section, or you know, the forum we have ‘round the back for this sort of thing. This site is a pop and mom operation, so your opinions will be heard and duly noted!

Speaking of Opinions

We like to write opinion articles, it’s been a while since we did one, though. See, the writing staff (our one writer) was told to go for news and so he did, now we are back on review cycles but we are itching to get our voice out there. So you’ll see a couple of articles talking about some stuff, or other kind of stuff and we could use your take on them.

Let us know what you thought was okay and what was lame, tell us a bit about why the article was a hit or a miss. But know that we are going to roll with those even if we get no responses, because….

We are here for you

We’ll keep bringing you reviews, opinions and the occasional news. Remember that we are an indy site and that means we care, we will respond to any comments or posts so up and at ‘em!

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The major differences become clear from the get-go on both works, since the protagonists have different traits and personalities:

The manga’s Kaneda is more of a selfish jerk, who’s driven by lust and vengeance rather than an honest desire to save his friend. He’s shown to be rather corrupt and amoral and only becomes a “better” person as the events in the story unfold. He starts off as a simple teen minding his own business, delving in drugs, having sex with his girlfriend and hitting the streets with his gang is what life is all about. The manga’s Kaneda is crude and spiteful but he grows into a more mature person with the death of his friends and the destruction of Tokyo, not to mention his growing concern for Kei.

Kaneda is a more stalwart and somewhat stable character in the anime. He still goofs around and loses his temper but he’s bit more centered. Whereas in the manga he still has a big mouth in spite of showing great character growth, but which one is the better Kaneda?

The manga one goes deeper into the character’s motifs, but it feels rather vague at points since the plot jumps back and forth with his goals and then takes him out completely out of the picture for a bit. The anime is a bit more focused on a single facet of his personality (due to its short length) but it still tries to jam in his quirky personality and heroic demeanor towards the end. The film’s Kaneda is a bland lifeless board next to his manga counterpart, and he’s an amazing character on his own right, which is to say the Manga takes it up to eleven.

As for Tetsuo, he shares similar traits in both works. And by that we mean that he’s a sociopath with an inferiority complex that lets loose once he gains an advantage. In the manga it’s clear that Tetsuo has always seen himself as weak and was willing to put others in his position to empower himself. He was a rotten person who was corrupted further by the power and drugs, the last of which becoming a basic form of sustenance for him once the pain from his power began to take a toll.

He’s more of a victim of circumstance in the manga than he is in the anime. Even after bringing about the full potential of his powers, he was corrupted beyond redemption. He ruled over an empire born of his lust for power and had every vice available to him, only after freeing his mind of the drugs he gains a bit of control but it’s too little too late. He turned down what little a chance for redemption he had and ended up messing himself up.

However, the Anime counterpart is a bit more simple and straight forward. He craves power and is more than ready to abuse it once he gets it. He plays the first stages of his awakening similarly but rather than taking out entire gangs he escapes to wreak havoc in the street and head towards Akira…for rather unclear reasons. His motivation to release Akira is never too clear, he simply feels called towards him and wishes to obtain some of his power. But we’ll have more on that later.

In the film, Tetsuo comes off as a petty ass. He simply wishes to be at the top and do better than the rest (especially Kaneda) so when he gets power he cherishes it and immediately abuses it. It becomes less of a clever and formulaic plot device and goes to be the essence of Tetsuo’s true personality. He comes off as a bit more evil in the manga due to the length and extension of his actions, but you can’t shake off the feeling that he’s just a victim. The film’s version is a bit better, he’s not as complex and his motivations are rather clear; he’s a petty man-child and an asshole.

The Plot

The Plot is vastly different. The manga version goes beyond the destruction brought by Akira’s release and includes him amongst the cast of characters. He becomes the Emperor of “The Great Tokyo Empire,” a group of survivors from the disaster that flocked towards Tetsuo and crew under promises of undeterred freedom and of course, power. Akira’s little more than a symbol for Tetsuo’s new kingdom, but the differences go beyond that simple fact.

The film tries to conclude in a similar note, but the last half hour is comprised by a series of messy sequences put together to close out the storyline while trying to keep some elements of the manga. In the end the anime leaves the viewer with a jumbled group comprised of symbolism and hastily finished plot. It’s still enjoyable but it suffers once you see all what the manga had in store.

Two entirely different beasts

The manga showcases many characters, some of which appear in the film under a different light, so the differences are not merely on the surface. Characters such as Chiyoko and Miyako who play a pivotal role in the events of the Manga are left out, or in the case of the later given a mere cameo appearance.

The list of missing characters could go on through a different article, as well as the different details between the plots. Hell, we could make an entire site out of it! But we won’t, so we have to wrap it up and leave you, our dear reader (our one and only), with the following:

Akira is such a rich and powerful work of fiction that you would miss out by not checking it out. It may have a rather messy plot from time to time, it may get a bit over its head with some ideas and plot lines but man, does it deliver or what? It’s a classic most deserving of being referred to as having epic proportions. Do yourself a favor and check it out in any of its forms.

I don’t have the time or motivation for both things!

Fine, then ask yourself “Do I like reading or watching stuff?” and pick one. If you don’t care about any in particular then I suggest the manga since its better when it comes to plot and characters.

It’s up to you, but whatever you do try and check it out.

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Akira started the same way many of the great ones do, with a manga. It was a title that had everything going for it. Great art (it has actual backgrounds!), an engaging plot and a very solid cast of characters being pretty much its greatest selling point. The characters actually feel real and relatable at parts where the story has gone insane.
And you better believe this manga needs something to hold you onto it, since reading it goes beyond a single lazy afternoon. The manga will take a chunk of your time away and you’ll love it, whether it is because you read slowly or you like to look at each frame.

You have good art, characters, pacing and a nice plot that’s pretty original even for today’s standards. That’s quite a feat seeing how it was Akira that set the bar for many a title to come after it.

I decided to read it, what should I expect?

If you were smart enough to pick it up then you can feel free to sit back and enjoy, I won’t spoil much of its greatness. The plot may seem clichéd but this was amongst the first of its kind, and even though many tried to emulate it over the years it still feels fresh. It’s so good in fact, that if you watched the anime and then wanted to pick it up you’ll still find plenty of surprises here.

Entire characters, plots and some amazing moments were cut out from the animated film, so you can come back to its roots and fill in the blanks. This, dear reader, is a completely different beast.

You’ll find pages that seem to go nowhere but then get built upon in a sudden twist, rewarding those attentive enough to catch on details. Sure, it occasionally likes to have a few characters pop in and out or a few plot lines to simply vanish halfway through, but it’s still really good.

There’s also something you should know, the manga is graphic to the point of making the anime pale in comparison. If it’s true that most audiences are jaded and stone-cold by the 80’s definition of graphic, but Akira was so far ahead of its time that it might still affect some readers.

This is kinda vague…

In a way it is, we simply want you to get a general feel of the manga and dive right in with what you can. Keep in mind that we are saving the plot-comparisons and such for the final piece. There’s one thing we will reveal, though, a small detail we mentioned right before this paragraph.

The manga has several sequences that were omitted from the anime and some of them were even based off a character trait or an important plot device. This was the case of the drugs and gangs.

What many would use as a simple means to glorify violence, Akira uses as a character development tool. The decaying state of society is far more obvious in the original manga as well as the main character’s motivations. This is due to the fact that the manga didn’t bother to shy away from the way of life for low class criminals, drugs and violent crimes are frequent and serve to paint the dismal reality lived by the Japan of Akira’s world.

Let’s get a bit deeper in detail

The plot of the manga includes several characters and events that were completely overlooked by the anime, and ergo it also has several underlying plot lines. It goes deeper into the relationship between the characters and shows the full consequences of Tetsuo’s awakening. Not to mention the fact that he doesn’t go from 0 to 11 in mere minutes like in the anime, but you actually experience his painful transition into the next step of evolution.

It could be argued that the plot is better in the manga; sure it can become a bit ham-fisted at times and go way over its head with symbolism but it still delivers. The manga will take you through Tetsuo’s rise to power and the growing conflict between the rebels and the Tokyo government, as well as show the devastation brought upon Tokyo by the forces at play during the story.

Hitting close to home

The manga’s packed with imagery that could be easily associated with the recent disaster, so keep in mind the fact that this was made in the 80’s and it was simply meant to be a representation of Japan’s vulnerability to disasters. Since at the end of the day, this is a pressing concern for many of its citizens and a theme that many an anime delves in to impact their audience and get a message across about civilization’s feeble nature, and that is something Akira excels at.

Stay tuned for the closing article on the cycle where we will go more in depth about the characters and some major differences pertaining the plot of both works!

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Let’s set something straight: Hollywood will do some damage to this title and there’s no way around that. People will associate the name Akira with what’s out to be a bland and spiritless cash-in. We are not here to discuss that, though. Other sites have already taken up arms to explain why it’ll suck to see it made into a live-action adaptation, but we won’t do that.

We simply want to tell you that you can’t go wrong with Akira as far as anime goes, and that’s basically it. Sure there are several opportunities to make a long winded article on how a live action adaptation of the film wouldn’t work, but you need to be familiar with the original in order to understand why.

Akira is a classic. It has aged very well and it boasts some amazing animation, character design and a trippy soundtrack. It has aged so well that you could dare say that it looks smoother than some recent titles. The styling and themes may seem clichéd and out of place to young Otaku, but there’s a reason for that….this was made in the 80’s baby!

The film was released mid-way through 1988 and it can still put some modern day films to shame. The plot is a bit messy (more on that later) but it’s still good enough to keep your ass on its seat. It also helps that the action is pretty sweet too; having an entire city vanish into oblivion is pretty rad, man.

TETSUUUUOOOO

The storyline followed by the film differs from the manga greatly and yet it manages to reach a similar conclusion. The setting is the same though, so let’s get that set in stone:

The world of Akira is set in alternate universe where a devastating explosion wipes out most of Tokyo on December 6, 1992 (July 16, 1988 for the film). The devastation is chalked up to a nuclear weapon and this in turn serves to kick-start World War III. The story itself takes place nearly 40 years later in Neo-Tokyo, an artificial island built away from the epicenter of destruction, where gang violence and terrorism wreak havoc upon the populace. The bustling metropolis is a crime ridden hell-hole ran by an oppressive and heavy militarized government that faces off against groups of insurgents fighting not only for freedom, but to reveal the truth behind Tokyo’s destruction.

It is here that a gang of teens led by Shotaro Kaneda live their lives, fighting rival gangs on their motorcycles and committing petty crimes for the hell of it. One fateful night, Tetsuo Shima, one of Kaneda’s gang members, and a close friend of his, run into a strange kid while riding the bridge that connects Neo-Tokyo to the old city. This kid displays the features of an old man and makes use of a strange power, causing Tetsuo to crash.
The incident awakens a latent power within him that sets forward the events of the story, as a simple teenager finds himself trusted beyond humanity and into a state of transcendence akin to Godhood.

KANEEEDAAAA

The protagonist of the animated film is Kaneda, who sets out on a quest to find Tetsuo after he’s taken away by the military. He meets up with Kei, a girl siding with the insurgents and one of the key players in the story. It’s through her contacts that Kaneda comes to learn that Tetsuo’s captors have a shady agenda that’s in his best interest to stop. Not only because of his friend, but because he might get a shot with Kei if he succeeds.

So in one hand you have Kaneda, who’s trapped within a conflict that he chose to make his own in order to save his friend, while in the other you find Tetsuo, who has let his newfound powers corrupt him and is using them to his own gain and pleasure. Going as far as to turn on his former friends and putting the whole world on the brink of disaster. For you see, the destruction of Tokyo was no mere accident, but the work of a very powerful child with psychic abilities, just like the one Tetsuo met.

It’s up to Kaneda and Kei to put an end to Tetsuo’s madness before he causes a new tragedy by awakening the dormant Akira, the most powerful of those with the gift and the one behind the incident that started it all.

Sounds nice!

The film gets a tad jumpy as it tries to fit the massive manga (Six volumes with an average of 300 pages each) into two hours, so it has to skip over some plot lines and even characters in its entirety. This is painfully obvious when it comes to the eponymous Akira, who only gets a passing glance in the film as plot device rather than becoming a central character of the story, as he did in the manga.

The story itself is really compressed to the point where after the first hour or so you are still wondering how it’ll end, then the insanity takes over. And you know what? It’s awesome, the climax of the film is a simplified version of the manga’s and yet it feels like it had a fair share of action and enough unique elements going for it as to make it a pleasant surprise for those who read the manga.

This film gets a good recommendation due to its animation, music (and general sound) as well as the character design; the only down-side is that it feels like an overly simplified version of the manga. Some scenes feel as if they had to be shoehorned in to satisfy readers, while others twist the characters around in a such a way that the manga’s followers might be turned off from it.

So, where’s the overall comparison?

This is the first article in a series three (a Trilogy if you will). We will review the manga next and then compare the differences between the two, which is not to say that you skip on one and favor the other. The Akira story is filled with enough elements to create a thought inducing action packed title. We plan to honor that before it’s obliterated in the realm of popular culture by the upcoming Hollywood adaptation.

Details as say, the differences in the plot (specially the ending) will be saved for the third article so hey, hope we write them in quick succession.

Stay tuned for more!

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Bokurano tells the story of a group of kids (too old to be called children for the most part) who go on a field trip to the beach for the summer. There they find a strange man by the name of Kokopelli who tells the group of kids that he’s a videogame designer and needs new volunteers to try out his game. Kokopelli enthralls them with promises of trying out a unique game in which they will become heroes, and all they have to do is enter a mysterious contract by touching a metallic plate and they’ll be allowed to pilot a gigantic mech to fight against Earth’s enemies.
They later wake up in the beach thinking it was all a weird collective dream…which is not a good thing after being approached in a secluded cave by a creepy man. Their doubts are cleared after two giant robots appear motionless by the coast later that evening, giving the children a glimpse of their future.

After a lot of hype and amazement, they find themselves inside their own robot which they promptly nickname “Zearth.” The battle begins as Kokopelli takes the reins and teaches children how to pilot the robot only to disappear moments later and leave them in the care of Dung Beetle (the Japanese character is Koyemshi), who then proceeds to teleport the kids away and explain to them what will happen next. They are required to board the robot and fight against the “invaders” in order to save the Earth.

This of course paints the title as little nothing than a classic shonen; ‘bunch of kids meet mysterious stranger, get super powers, and save the world! That is until you learn the truth of Zearth’s nature, the one that Kokopelli kept from the children…It’s a robot that runs on life force. And as the first eager pilot finds out, each battle means one of them dies at the end whether they win or lose.

It’s not what it seems

The story is amazingly dark as it delves into the issues faced by these kids, each one knowing full well that one of them will die in order to preserve their planet until none of them are left. One of the best elements of this plot device shows itself greatly in the manga. Once a pilot dies, the next one hears a little ring and is given a few days to live the rest of his/her life on Earth. They can choose to keep it a secret or to let everyone know, but it comes to an end as soon as
Zearth shows up and the 24 hour counter for the battle begins.

The anime version is different. The pilots get a tattoo which represents their next enemy and the episodes are a bit rushed, so you never get the building tension between the cast of characters and the rest of their world. It’s an amazing story in the manga as they all know they will die no matter what, since not entering Zearth means their planet will be destroyed.

See, another catch of the game is that the pilots must win in order to save their planet as losing means that it will be destroyed, alongside every single living thing on it. The details behind the game are quickly explained in the anime, but the manga does a great work of delving deep into it and provides a series of twists as the true nature behind Zearth’s origin comes to light, which is something we don’t plan on spoiling for you. So go read or watch it, and for your sake avoid reading anything else on it as other reviews tend to jump straight into spoilers.

Anime or Manga?

The anime version is very fast paced when it comes down to the story, having a rather brief 24 episodes that do their best to convey the action, drama, and general plot. This comes with a problem for people who are making the jump from the manga into the anime, as some things just don’t fit quite as well as the characters’ reasons and past are very briefly glimpsed over in their respective episodes, creating a somewhat convulsed chain of events that seems to push everything in order to fit the most of the manga’s material into the anime. And you know what? It works. It really manages to make the best of the manga’s long story and misses out on the minor details, though these details become important when put together and that’s where the manga does it best.

When you go to read the manga you’ll find a rather bulky story that moves rather slow at points, but manages to convey all the dread that comes for the group of kids who know find themselves with the weight of their world resting on their shoulders. All of them being fully aware that they will fight to the dead not for themselves but for others, so you then indulge in their last moments with more depth and truly get to understand what they were all about, as their personalities were fleshed out better in the original incarnation.

Remember when we said there was something lost in translation? There certainly is, and it’s as simple as saying that the story is more of a parallel to the manga than a direct adaptation. Some elements that added grit and darkness to the general tone of the title were watered down; so many fans complain that the anime dropped some of the strongest parts of its predecessor. On top of that is the fact that the manga’s creator pretty much told his fans to avoid the Anime entirely.

It isn’t bad, just different to the point that at the end of its run it felt as if the characters were different people at parts, but you could still find much to enjoy and have some motivation to read the manga and fill in the blanks. It’s a good story that you’ll love in all of its presentations, but whether one is superior to the other is up to you.

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[wordbay]Bokurano[/wordbay]

Onani Master Kurosawa has a very self explanatory title, seeing how it deals with Kakeru Kurosawa, the master of masturbation! A very simple high school student who seems to be consumed by his small hobby, that being to sneak into a stall in a less frequented girls’ bathroom at his school and well, you know (look at his name). This makes the story seem like a simple and rather over sexualized fantasy, but it goes beyond that and becomes a very well written look into the day to day issues of a teenager.

Ehm, is it porn?

Not by a long shot. The story does have a few themes that may be more suited for young adults, but it’s all with the title’s intention of following the day to day life of the main character and the way that his little “hobby” pays off. See, he’s an awkward loner who enjoys shutting himself off from the real world and live a small control fantasy, during which the girls of his class are at his beck and call. At least until he’s caught by Aya Kitahara, an unseemly bespectacled girl who harbors a dark personality under her weak attitude. The two characters soon join forces in an uneasy alliance to bring peace to Kitahara’s problems with a pair of bullies, which ironically enough is only brought to be because of her threats towards Kurosawa.

In the end the manga moves from being a tongue-in-cheek parody of Death Note, in order to become a real slice of life psychological drama, showing readers the consequences of the characters’ individual actions and how they come to terms with them. It’s more about getting to know the true form of the cast than about the story itself, seeing how the characters ARE the story’s focus and lifeblood.

Life in high school is hell, especially for those who are left out (whether it was by their own admission or not) and this manga shows a very real interaction amongst classmates, one that despite being based around a silly sounding premise becomes a quality story that few would be able to pry themselves away from.

It’s a good read

This title earns its praise despite the fact that it begins as a parody of sorts, it follows a well paced story that centers itself around a seemingly implausible scenario and moves on to deal with real issues such as first love, bullying, fitting in and even the lack of control over one’s life.

This is one of those titles that seems rather crude on the surface but proves itself to go deeper than what any initial expectations may make you believe.

So give this one a go if you like some good story-telling and a more realistic setting for your slice of life titles, it’ll be a fun afternoon’s read.

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It’s been a while since we reviewed a manga (or anything for that matter), so we have a special review for you! This manga is rather famous around the internet, has an interesting premise, and it happens to be a mixed bag of both good and bad. So, let us spice things up and skip right into this review!

Dear Diary…

Mirai Nikki follows Yukiteru Amano, a shut in loner who lives his day to day life writing away at his cell phone while trying to be nothing but a by-stander. The only breaks in his routine come from his visits to a world he created in his mind, a world where a God and his assistant live as Yuki’s only friends. This all changes once the God in his mind, Deus, reveals that he is in fact real and has decided to give Yuki a special gift. This gift comes through Yuki’s phone, once a mere tool to store his diary and now a device that predicts the future.

It all comes at a cost, however. He is only the first of twelve others who have gotten this ability. It’s all part of game of survival that will decide who becomes the new God, giving them the ability to make any wish come true and to create a world to their own liking.

Yuki’s pitted against murderers, terrorists and people with a high influence over the world. But all is not hopeless as he is joined by Yuno Gasai, a lovely girl with a dark side to her bubbly personality. Their unlikely alliance could very well be each other’s undoing but they have no choice but to cooperate, especially since Yuno seems to be more than just a little infatuated by Yuki…

Quite a mixed experience

This manga title has a lot going on for it, quite literally too. At points it’s a well written plot with lots of potential and at other times it just fumbles around aimlessly, falling into so many clichés that it feel as if its author tried to do too much with too little.

The manga handles its main plot device rather well, that being that the cell phones have unique ways of predicting their bearer’s future. The one thing is does not accomplish well is, sadly, the cast. Some characters are rather memorable and well put together, but for the most part they all wander aimlessly over the plot.

Some characters will outright try to kill one another (sometimes killing many a by-stander in the process) and then a couple chapters later it seems to have been forgotten, no one really holds a grudge for too long it seems. It runs into usual anime/manga problem, where a group of teens suddenly become bad ass action heroes with little explanation or where some characters will act weirdly because…who knows really?

The plot had some promise but it suffers because of the awful main character, who goes from being a wimpy bastard to being heroic, then psychotic and back to wimpy. The support cast is okay for the most part; they do get in the way from time to time and stall plot. They’ll also seem to act randomly, talking friendly and nicely even when they were trying to murder each other a few pages ago.

Is it good?

Yes, for the most part. Many will hate this just because of that line, but it really isn’t THAT good. It had an interesting premise and lots of potential but it fell flat due to the characters, and the fact that plot twists around so much that it’s jumbled mess near the end. The fact that the “God” is named “Deus Ex Machina” and messes around with probability feels less of a clever hint by the author and more like a sign of how the plot goes. Characters will pop in an out to do something and be forgotten for a bit or performing actions that can really stretch your suspension of disbelief, which is really something considering the fantastic qualities of the setting.

The overall plot is ridden with holes that are patched out in a hurry near the end after a bunch of chapters that feel like glorified filler and awkward pacing, giving us the crappiest compromise ever. Some fans love the ending, but it’s not to be loved. It’s a simple compromise in which the story tries to have its cake and eat it.

My recommendation is to go read it, sure it’s got a lot of suck wrapped around what should be an otherwise perfect story. Sure, the major plot twists can be seen from space…But yet, it has enough clever moments and wit to blow your mind and keep you hooked, even if it’s just to see what happens at the end of the rocky road the story begins to take in its mid point.

Love it or hate

We could use some feedback on it, these title has a lot to be talked about and it would nice to know what some readers think.

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You probably heard of this one before, but have you seen it? If not, then shame on you! This is easily one of the greatest anime titles ever made, and we say that without much hype. See, this title wasn’t a “niche” kind of anime; it could be seen by anyone who had a taste for action, drama and the noir genre. It appealed to a great target audience that went beyond anime, so prepare to read a bit and watch much more, because you’ll HAVE to watch this someday.

Space Cowboy

Cowboy Bebop takes places in the year 2071 a time when humanity has colonized most of the solar system, linking planets through hyperspace gates that make it possible to travel from one planet to the next. Strangely enough, though, this is merely the backdrop for the show not its main premise.

Cowboy Bebop follows the day to day lives of a group of bounty hunters that live on the Bebop, a ship that travels the solar system tracking down several bounties. And this is where the word “cowboy” fits in; bounty hunters are known by this name and enact justice upon several criminals, as long as it pays well. The hunt for richest and escaping the past are some of the various elements that drive this unique plot onwards into being an amazing piece of work, one you’ll be hard pressed to dislike.

Sorta Fanboyish rant in…

This show is so hip that it can hardly see over its own pelvis! We’ve used the term “genre defying” to describe certain titles, but this one takes the cake. It goes from what some would call a space opera to an action packed thriller, having enough fancy gunplay and explosions to humble Michael Bay. It also goes without saying that it has a very nice plot.

The characters are all charismatic and have well developed personalities, adding to this is the fact they are very well designed. Each member of the cast stands out from the rest, from the main leads to the extras in the background, all look amazing and pop out as individuals. This makes for a really strong show, seeing how it has good characterization, good writing, good animation and an AMAZING soundtrack…Well, just replace “good” with great. We can’t understate how much there is to enjoy in this title.

As a matter of fact, this review feels somewhat insulting. The title is so rich and well put together that a short review like this won’t do, these is one of those titles you actually HAVE to watch. There are two outcomes, you either love it from the start or it slowly builds up until it blows your mind.

It can’t be that good

It really is. Some bits and pieces play out like some of the best action movies you have ever seen, while others manage to tug your heartstrings to a point where you could feel this is Clannad with guns IN SPACE. Which brings me to another point, the way they treat the entire “space opera” aspect of the show is executed nicely, due to how the characters treat all this amazing technology as a part of day to day life that they are used to.

In fact, you can venture that some aspects of Cowboy Bebop’s technology aren’t that far ahead from ours. Sure, they have some amazing things here and there but they feel real, almost feasible.

You like martial arts? Check, this title has them. It goes beyond the silly and unrealistic expectations most otaku have about hand to hand combat in anime, it all looks gritty and realistic, giving your suspension of disbelief some room to allow a few seemingly impossible moves or feat of strength.

I guess I should go check it out then…

Indeed you should! It has action, drama, occasional comedy relief and some very solid story telling. Few animes are seen as “good” by people who never bothered to watch “cartoons” especially the ones from that side of the world. Cowboy Bebop is an amazing title, earning the right to be known as an influential anime.

In closing, if you don’t check this anime out then it’s up to you to miss out on one of the greatest out there. But if you do check it out then watch out, the internet is FULL of spoilers for this one, better tread lightly.

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