Category — Anime

Have you seen the new look animeondvd.com? Earlier in the year, Chris Beveridge sold his site to this rather generic entertainment brand called “Mania.com” and just last night, their engagement was finally ‘consummated’ with… less than satisfactory results. Basically, the site looks abysmal.

When I started reading anime websites around 2002, mostly for reviews (and explanations!) of hard to fathom series like Neon Genesis Evangelion, AnimeOnDVD was the first website I really liked. Their style was never flashy or loaded with PR-speak, it was down to Earth and easy to digest. All that, and with their constant stream of updates, they were a pillar of the anime community, but looking at the site now, one feels that this “sell-out” might be the beginning of the end. I don’t blame Chris Beveridge for taking the money, we’d all love to write about anime for a living (and in relative comfort too, not out of a cardboard box on a street corner), but I wish he had been a little bit more discerning before deciding to cash-in.

Batman: Gotham Knight will be released on Tuesday, though naturally, a DVD-rip has already hit the internet. I’m one of those guys that loved the Animatrix (after the first Matrix movie, it’s the best thing contributed to that franchise) and Gotham Knight is looking like more of the same. If you need a deal clincher, just know that Studio 4°C has animated one of the segments (”Have I Got A Story For You”). Their Beyond short for the Animatrix was wonderful and ended up becoming my favourite segment (along with “Kid’s Story“) before I even knew the name Studio 4°C. Artsy pretence aside, with this we’ll no doubt be getting Japanese animation that’s fluid, action-packed and stylish, could be hit or miss but an exhilarating showcase for our beloved Annie-May none the less. Soon to be seen on MTV, I bet.

It’s great news about Geneon hooking up with Funimation, but my first thought? Gankutsuou isn’t on their list. I hope this deal isn’t limited to just Geneon’s current and future releases.

I hope you’re looking forward to The Sky Crawlers, the latest movie from Mamoru Oshii.

An extended trailer for the film has been released online (video above) and I have to say, the more teasing glimpses I get, the more I’m desperate to get a hold of the whole thing. Also, Kenji Kawai’s soundtrack is shaping up beautifully well.

In addition to this, Japanese blogger bangin recently posted an explanation of the film’s keyword ‘kirudore’. Essentially, it’s defined as “children who stopped growing up at the puberty and have an (almost) eternal life”. This isn’t Peter Pan though, The Sky Crawlers is a movie about forever-young aircraft pilots fighting an eternal war for entertainment. Comparisons to Battle Royale seem apt, though I’m sure director Oshii won’t shy away from his trademark use of philosophy, even if I hope it’s not quite as dense as Innocence. Anyway, I don’t think it will be, as it seems Oshii is trying to capture a more romantic direction this time around. He said the following at a press conference for The Sky Crawlers in 2007:

“All I want to say is that simply living life has worth to it. In reality, I think we get few choices as to how we live our lives. Life is tough, but if we prepare for the unhappy moments, that preparation becomes our reason for living. I think experiencing hardships is one of the points of life and living.“

The film is out in Japan in August. It’s the anime I’m most anticipating in 2008.

Every now and then, I’ll come across a clip that reminds me just how good Monster was and suddenly, I can’t help but say something about it. Last time was April. Anyway, at some point last week I found myself looking for a decent Monster AMV on YouTube and the best example I found is a video called “A Nameless Surrender“. Though some of the footage quality is a tad bit dodgy, the choice of song and editing itself is top notch. In particular, it really captures the melancholy and ambiguity of Johan’s character. It’s a spine-tingling moment when the vocalist utters “Are you an angel” as the video plays through Tenma’s confrontation with Johan in the flaming library. The latter points to his forehead, suggesting Tenma should murder him there and then, but Tenma can’t do it. He has gone through hell and back to put an end to Johan and yet, in that vital moment, he still can’t pull the trigger.

Dattebayo recently started fansubbing Denno Coil. The same 26-episode Denno Coil from 2007 that has already been completely subtitled to a high-standard by Ureshii. Don’t get me wrong, with their massive popularity amongst the shonen lovers, anything Dattebayo decide to subtitle will benefit from a higher profile than usual, and the thoroughly excellent Denno Coil certainly deserves that attention, but even still, I find their decision to work on it a bit puzzling. Aren’t they just seriously wasting effort, especially when there is still so much anime out there that remains completely untouched? As for myself, I wouldn’t mind seeing something like Genius Party fansubbed at some point.

So, I dropped GaoGaiGar. Though I’d been warned that the first half of the series falls into mecha-of-the-week territory, I wanted to try to tough it out. Clearly, that didn’t work. Near the end, certain things were really irritating me, not least of all the same damn 2-minute transformation sequence that was being pasted into every singe episode. Eventually, I took to literally closing my eyes every time this scene appeared. It nearly broke my brain. Anyway, I know it’s supposed to get a lot better in its second half, and I really tried to persevere, but ultimately, I’d rather use my time to finish up with Legend of the Galactic Heroes instead.

I’ve been kicked back into action by the recent news of Tytania’s (or is it Titania? Sources are conflicting) impending debut. In short, it’s looking fantastic. My only worry is the animation budget, with this being the enigmatic studio Artland and all. Will we get the award-winning animation of Mushishi, or the visual catastrophe that was Gunslinger Girl -Il Teatrino-? Then again, it’s a good sign that Artland founder and anime legend Noboru Ishiguro seems to be directing; considering he’ll be 70 years-old by the time Tytania premieres, it might well be the swan song of his illustrious career. We can only hope, as it looks promising, to say the least.

Having been caught up in the euphoria of the spring season, I tried a lot of new anime, probably too much. None of it was abject, but a lot was mediocre and dull, and having since procrastinated over them for a number weeks, I’ve decided to cut my losses and dropped seven that I can no longer even bring myself to download.

Allison & Lillia and Amatsuki are prime examples of what I’m talking about above, as both were about as exciting as staring at a brick-wall for 20 minutes. The first episode of Golgo 13 may as well have been its fiftieth, because I can’t imagine its formulaic plot will end with anything but a poorly animated head-shot. ‘Serious crime drama’ Himitsu - Top Secret lost all its allure when the two male leads were introduced to each other like it was some cheesy yaoi romance, and talking about anime with homosexual subtext, Nabari no Ou didn’t fare much better, yet most frustrating of all was its incoherent (more like schizophrenic) stabs at characterisation. To be honest, I feel like I should be willing to give a bit more time to anime with the pedigree of Real Drive, but for all its big-name recognition, such a boring aesthetic style and some surprisingly high levels of fan-service put me off in a big way. That leaves just Itazura na Kiss, which was probably the one series I’m most loathe to quit and most likely to try again, but, at least for now, its generic premise, archetypal characters and repellent male lead managed to kill my enthusiasm for its latter episodes.

All that and even Toshokan Sensou is hanging by a thread, but something about it (probably just Jen’s enthusiasm) is urging me to continue.

Things just got real. 5 episodes in and I’m loving it already… Struggling to satisfy my inner fan-boy with these few words alone; expect a (hopefully coherent) post on GaoGaiGar at the weekend. It’s amazing just how much it reminds me of Gurren Lagann. So much so, even the lead character in this series (Guy) is voiced by a certain Nobuyuki Hiyama - also the voice of Viral; that’s no coincidence - as far as I can tell, GaoGaiGar is basically the precursor to Gurren Lagann. As if wasn’t obvious enough already, I’m extremely pleased to have found this show.

While the bond shared by Patches and Quilt was lovably quaint, this episode, in an allegorical sense, was hard to follow. It didn’t feel as coherent or as meaningful as the previous couple, but seemed half intent on satirising the fashion industry. It was fun, easy to watch and, for once, finished off with a hint of optimism. Of particular note is that the visuals were probably the most surreal yet, with scene after scene cutting from brilliant yellows to depressed greys and thick, scratchy outlines containing some truly odd shapes. From start to finish, it was pure imagination, so creative, and just a joy to watch. Korean Choi Eunyoung was the co-writer, storyboarder, director and animation director for this episode. Eunyoung is female too. There are so few women working within the anime industry that she merits special attention. This could be something that many of the anime fans following Kaiba might have overlooked; though Masaaki Yuasa sits as the “Chief Director” of the series, many of the episodes are being handed off to some of the brightest up-and-coming talents of the anime industry. This is why the style will often shift from one episode to the next, as each artist is given free reign to inject their own creative styles. I would even go so far as to say that this whole planet-of-the-week premise exists merely to offer up the likes of Eunyoung as much artistic freedom as possible. On a related note, the next episode will be handled by an American called Jamie Vickers. Obviously, both Eunyoung and Vickers are foreigners, a fact that not only blurs the very meaning of “Japanese animation”, but suggests that as the global popularity of anime develops, more and more talented artists from outside of Japan are working their way into the industry.