Holidays again

As you may have noticed, we haven't posted a lot recently. The main cause of it may be the fact that I, AnimeNerdz, am now on vacation in Hyperion's (that's the second dude) home city. So we are kind of going in this beer-hangover-beer period. But we are not dead. More reviews to come in the next couple of days, like, D.Gray-Man, Blassreiter, Ergo Proxy, GetBackers. And, of course we have the third reviewer kluxorious, but we never know when or what she will review, as she is free to do whatever she wants.

ps: if you want us to review an anime, please let us know...we will review anything (except Hentai...you will have to watch it yourself, I won't even bother)

pps: if you want to join us, and start writing reviews or have any questions about this blog, you contact us at animenerdz@rocketmail.com

Soul Eater

When I first heard of the Soul Eater phenomenon on the internet I thought it was another pathetic excuse of using shinigamis in order to attract the viewers. It did prove me wrong but didn’t impress. Let’s start talking about the good parts of Soul Eater. We have some breathtaking action scenes filled with unbelievable camera angles that transfer the viewer into the action. The comedy moments are hilarious but sometimes not as suitable at the moment. The cast is compelling with some minor side plots filling for the almost inexistent main plot. Talking about a main plot in Soul Eater is like punching a baby with a baseball bat: quick and painless. No continuance and also no consistency in what it delivered. The pilot episode presents the 2 main heroes and some of the world they live in. It doesn’t make any sense showing us that there is this school filled with gifted children that fight in the name of a Death God but then to totally ignore their school activities and purpose by the end of the season. Some of the worse shit that is going on in Soul Eater is the fillers. You know what I’m talking about. Those retarded Excalibur moments that keep popping around the Soul Eater universe whenever Excalibur feels like it and you least expect it.

The drama fillers are also boring and predictable, and they mainly consist of Maka, the main hero, considering the world and its purpose and weighting different choices she has to do in order to do that or the other thing. Bitch, make up your mind. We have 7 heroes. There are 3 Masters and 4 Weapons. So that leaves a lot of room by the end of the season to choose a savior from. Although we fucking have a character called SOUL EATER, which should leave no frigging doubt in whether he is the one to save us all, the creators just keep gang raping your ideas and expectations and just use the boring tit-less Maka. The sound is awesome, with the battle themes fluently changing in adventure and comedy sequences. If you didn’t see Soul Eater I should probably not ruin the ending for you, but it is too retarded not to complain about it.

So the whole story revolves around this Kishin dude, the all mighty motherfucker, and the main nemesis in the perfect world created by Shinigami. He escapes and then by the end of the series you see him again but this time more powerful and scary. He is STOPPED by a fist full of shit called courage. You probably don’t know what the fuck I’m talking about. We have Maka, killing the biggest antagonist of the whole season with a fucking punch. HE DEFEATED SHINIGAMI 2 episodes earlier, so what the fuck is going on. The ending just ruined a piece of awesomeness. And you definitely see it coming. By the end of the second season bad shit is as common as flies on a dead animal. Overall Soul Eater was an excellent series with one of the worse endings ever, and a stupid choice for a savior.




Graphics 9/10
Sound 9.5/10
Storyline 8.5/10
Characters 9.5/10
Overall 9/10

Ghost Stories

I remember the first time I saw Ghost Stories was on TV on a channel called Animax. It was a long time ago, but I still remember that I enjoyed it. And now I wanted to see it again. I saw a dub version and I thought ,,Ok, I’m taking it”. But what I got is something totally different. So frankly this is a double review, or something. Basically I’m gonna say something about the original (that is no dub and only sub) but for most part I will talk about the English dub from ADV. They rewrote the script basically and made… well first let’s talk about the good parts.

In terms of scary atmosphere, Ghost Stories is as I remember it: dark and tense. Of course seeing it now is a bit different since I grew up a bit and some things don’t terrify me, but I still find it scary at times. The plot is about a girl who moves in her dead mother’s home town with her father and little brother. The day she moves in she meets her neighbor and 2 other kids and they go into an old abandoned school where her mother studied. There they find out that the place is haunted and they find an old diary written by her mother in which she tells how to seal away ghosts. Later they find out that due to a nearby construction, many objects used to seal away ghosts were destroyed and now they have to seal them again. So basically the plot is about these kids sealing ghosts each episode. So yeah, you can tell there are a lot of ghosts. Some are original, yet some are inspired, but in the end they are always something new and different. 

The cast is just some kids going to school, yet everyone has a distinct personality: one is a nerd, one is pervert, one is a psychic, one is a cry baby and one is… the main hero. So while the good guys cast is nothing truly great, the villain cast is what makes you watch this. 

The graphics are old, but appropriate, and most importantly is that they make sense. Character models are well done, and the ghost models are particularly disturbing. Music is great, always puts you in the right mood, and the sound effects of a spook creeping behind you has  a good impact on you.

What ruined it for me was the FUCKING ADV DUB. They basically rewrote the ENTIRE SCRIPT! The only thing they left is the basic plot structure and storyline. Everything else was rewritten. Why? To make it into a fucking comedy. Only they didn’t make it into a comedy, they made it a fucking joke. First, they changed character background like having our main hero’s mother being a lesbian, or the vocation of Momoko was changed from a psychic to that of an evangelical, Pentecostal Christian. I don’t even know what Pentecostal means, yet we have such a character. Why? Do you think such a character is funny? I don’t. At one point I thought she will start a crusade against… everything in existence. Also they made the nerd to be a Jew and they make fun of him a lot. Yeah, these guys from ADV are racists. To give an example ,,He’ll probably go to Hell anyway cause he’s Jewish” or ,,Run as if a big black guy is chasing you”. I arrest my case. Also, even if this is an English dub, sometimes they don’t make sense. Instead of words you hear some weird animal raping noise. I think it for comic relief, like there is one little kid they want to make him look retarded, he goes like this sometimes ,,Whew ha waw bjele hewlef hawawdaw… bwhahahaha”. I’m like ,,WHAT THE FUCK?”. Is this funny? Hearing a kid act like a moron? Of course this is the same kid that says ,,Oh where is the secret room with the bitches to fuck, I want to get laid” The kid is an 8 year old for Christ sake. Also they have them say thing like ,,Did you smoke it all, you son of a bitch” or ,,Where is the booze”. What am I watching, Ghost Stories or South Park? Also they make a lot of references to modern pop culture and television shows. But the most weird and awkward moments were these… I can’t believe I heard them… so they discover that the true ghost was a portrait of some guy that look like Beethoven and Mozart, but the main hero says… I still can’t believe she said it… ,,A portrait of Antonio Banderas?” What? Are you saying that fuck-face looks like Antonio Banderas? He doesn’t even come close to Antonio. In fact Banderas is the last thing which crossed my mind when I looked at that picture. But what steals the cake is this: a teacher telling a story with a life lesson in it. Want to hear it? I bet you do, so here it is ,,After the guy got married, when he fucked his wife he released only inside”. That’s the story. It doesn’t get more retarded than this.

To be fair, there are some good jokes which brought a smile and occasionally laughter to my face, but overall this dub ruins the mood. It’s like they would make a dub of Death Note where all they say are fart jokes. If you want an anime with an eerie atmosphere and some good ghost stories, then check this one out, but in original. But if you want some retarded humor that may give you a few laughs, then try the ADV dub, cause I promise you this… you haven’t seen nothing like it.  

UFO Ultramaiden Valkyrie

OOOOOk… time to finish up with the Shit Marathon. I know I dragged it for a long time, but I had a bit of setbacks. At least I didn’t post anything else or watch anything else, so… you could still say I did a Marathon. Soon I will put these dreaded memories behind me, but now I think it’s time to dig in a big pile of shit. And I can say we certainly saved the worst for the last. What can I briefly say about it? Well let’s put it this way… if there would be a town called Retard-town, then UFO Ultramaiden would be the mayor, and FLCL and s-CRY-ed would be on the city council (more like the shitty council). 

From the start, I wasn’t expecting much, cause just by looking at the genre you can already guess that this is not my thing. But I could put up with this kind of stuff if it would make some sense. And… yes, it makes sense. If you would discard the freaks walking around, the stupid and cheesy explanations and the overall retarded and caveman-simple plot, then it would make sense why you are watching it. The setting is some kind of futuristic era, when humankind developed space-travel and interacts with a shit-load of many intergalactic fucker-nauts and astro-bastards. That would explain all the freaks walking around. But the plot (if you can call it that) revolves around Kazuto and Valkyrie. Val is the one you see on the image. Both of them. Confused? Well apparently when Val crashed into Kazuto’s bath-house, which he runs, Val killed him. So since she cares so much for total strangers (maybe some kind of fetish, I don’t know) she gives half her soul to Kazuto so he could live. Hmmm… ok, but does it heal injuries? If a giant ship crashed into my house and killed me, I would be more worried with the heavy injuries sustained, NOT ABOUT A HALF OF A SOUL WHICH DOESN’T DO JACK SHIT! But anyway, since she did that, now she has a connection with Kazuto. The only problem is that she turned into an 8 year old. So in order to change back to the way she was, she has to kiss Kazuto, and then she can also unleash her ridiculous amount of power. So now they both try to run the bath-house, and as the series progresses, more and more characters come along to join in. But the plot has NO consistency. It’s just a bunch of random stuff mashed together to form this anime. There is nothing linear, and there is nothing to keep you going really, cause frankly… nothing changes. Each episode is the same: no matter what happens during the episode, the ending is always the same. It’s like no matter what happens, nothing seems to influence any of the characters and any of the ,,story”. In conclusion, instead of a good plot they just have a bunch of shitty sub-plots. 

As I said before, this is the mayor of Retard-town. Everything makes no sense, and it’s so cheesy you’re wondering ,,Did those who made this ACTUALLY intended to release it?”. Seriously, I’m like ,,What were they thinking?”. How can one come up with this, it’s bad. Everything that happens, I presume it’s to be for comic relief, but the jokes are on you if you watch this piece of shit for comedy. Since they placed the setting in an intergalactic era and introduced a bunch of ridiculous aliens, then why not just put the shit-cherry on top. Everyone is over-reacting (if you could believe something like this in an anime), and doing ridiculously insane things. For example, a maid of Val thinks Kazuto is Val’s fiancé so she zaps every girl he interacts with. With what does she zap? A gun that transforms every human into a cat-like person. That is, the person who was zapped grows cat ears and a tail. Yeah, I’m stunned at the amount of originality. So this new breed must serve Val and Kazuto under the direct orders of the crazy maid. And crazy is really an understatement, she looks like she belongs in the Looney-bin (that is a place for people that think monsters live in their ass and that Mickey Mouse is actually real). So I can give hundreds of examples, but my point is the same. One recurring moment will be the moment they transform from child state into adult state. It takes for like 1 minute, and I understand showing it once, BUT WHY THE WHOLE FUCKING TIME. It’s not like something changes, it’s always THE SAME.

The cast is pretty standard, just one guy and a bunch of girls (some of which are aliens). Their personalities are simple and cliché. The guy is dense and can see that there are certain people who love him, there is a big-breasted girl which is Val’s sister and acts like an antagonist at first, but befriends everyone at the end, and the are enough girls to form love-triangles, but ,,unfortunately” one can’t express her feelings (obviously) and there is another who wants to express her feelings, but isn’t given the opportunity (or something like that). So these 2 act as rivals for Val, but all she cares about is being together with Kazuto and enjoy a care-free life full of love. How sweet. But even more ridiculous are the alien characters. If our galaxy really had such races living in it, then it’s one fucked-up galaxy. The male aliens look like they were drawn by a kinder-gardener. Some look like pink blobs, others are small white sackless balls, and… A GIANT BANANA WITH LEGS? Ok, but why do the female aliens look so sexy. You constantly get a nude view of them with their giant breasts, and the only difference between human females and alien females, is that the alien ones have only one animal feature like a dog tail, or cat ears or horns. What is this, the anime version of Doctor Munroe’s Island? 

The presentation is lame, but I didn’t expect much. They feel appropriate for 2002, so that’s kind of a compliment. Character models are simple for some and ridiculously colored and over-complex for others. Music is… shit. And the English dub, like for many (if not all) anime from this genre simply sucks. It’s like they didn’t even try, they just picked some amateurs of the street and said ,,Hey, want to do the voice work for a piece of crap” and the amateurs were like ,,Sure, yeah, have nothing better to do to waste my time”. 

In the end I was thinking for who it was intended. Little kids is out of the question, cause there is a fair amount of nudity. And a more mature audience is out of the question, cause it’s to retarded. It’s stupid, it’s so cute that it’s making me sick, and presentation sucks Pikachu’s anal fur. Overall, it’s a piece of shit, end of story.  

Le Chevalier D'Eon

When I first saw this anime on Animex, I was sceptical. I didn't follow it through. The second time they showed it, I thought, why the hell not since there are no other anime worth watching on that channel anyway since I've seen most of it.

Oh boy I was in for a surprised. It turned out to be quite a saga for me.

The creator, Tow Ubakata took the concept of the real Chevalier D'Eon who was discovered to be a man upon his death and turned it into a fantasy action novel that involved 'poet' and spells. Ubakata managed to retain the facts of the actual person history in the midst of supernatural flick that he created. I was impressed.

The story is about D'Eon de Beaumont who was set out to find the truth behind his sister's death/murder, Lia de Beaumont. The restless soul of her sister used his body as a vessel to seek revenge. He with three other friends become spies for French King, Louis IV. His majesty order is to regain the Royal Psalm and bring it back to Versailles. Along the way, he learned the truth about everything that makes him question his loyalty to the country.

In order to fully understand what is going on, you need to pay attention to the heavy dialogue, especially when it comes to the psalm which wasn't fully explained till the end. It was rather slow-paced in the beginning since it takes a while to get going but kicked ass when it does. The story is full of unexpected twists that will keep you on the edge till the end. Just brace yourself for the climax. There are some heartfelt moments in it too that makes watching this oh so worth it.

It took me a while to get fully acquianted with the characters because there are many with complicated names to boot. But I get the hang of it soon enough. Durand, Robin and Teillagory are the three friends that accompany D'Eon on his mission. The viewers will soon introduced to other characters like Maximilien Robespierre, an acquaintance of Lia and King Louis IV. I am rather fond of the sub-characters if compared to D'Eon. Apart from his love to his country and the people around him, D'Eon is pretty blah. Durand, Robin and Maximilien are my favorites due to their interesting characters. They gave out a sense complexity and mysteriousness.

I didn't know this series was produced by Production I.G, the same production studio that produced Ghost In The Shell until the third episodes when I did some research on the real D'Eon. So obviously, there are little faults to be found in the animation. They have done their research for the building, setting and characters designs which turned out to be very detailed, and managed to capture the feeling of monarchy. The swordfights are clean, swift and brutal, as expected of the knights in that era.

I like the OP and ED but I won't say that they are my favorites. I should say that the rich orchestral background music plays a role in this anime too. It further enhanced the atmosphere and added the element of suspense and drama. It was to be expected since it is from Michiru Ooshima, the same man that is responsible for Fullmetal Alchemist. I couldn't find any flaws with the voice acting either so they must have done a good job. Surprisingly, even the dubbed version is not that bad.

I really enjoyed watching this series and have no qualm what so ever to rewatch it. If you like to watch something with unique plot, this is definitely the one you should put on the list. However if you are those people who watch anime for the action or moe-ness, forget it. You'll be thoroughly disappointed.

Graphics 8/10
Sound 8/10
Storyline 8/10
Characters 9/10
Enjoyment 9/10
Overall 8.5/10

Ragnarok The Animation

Ohhh… it’s been a while since I wrote my last review. Yeah, I kind of had to interrupt my Shit Marathon due to some annoying distant relatives coming over (you probably know how that’s like) but now I’m ready and willing, and what better way to celebrate their leave than with a review of a good steaming pile of astronomical shit. Now from the start know that I didn’t watch this completely. Like I watched it for 4 episodes, understood it was no point, got annoyed, saw it for the retarded rat crap it was, just skipped a whole lot of episodes, saw some more useless stuff, then went into a 2 day meditation to cleanse myself. Of course that didn’t work so all I had left to do was… yeah you guessed it… a review. 

When I think about Ragnarok I think that there is no better description than the tag. Just look at it. RPG? What the fuck? So that would make Ghost in the Shell a 3rd person tactical shooter? And does that mean Code Geass is an RTS? Well as it turns out Ragnarok is based on an online game. Well, now the title makes sense, I know why it is ,,The animation”, but… why? With all the shitty video-game based anime, why in the name of fuck would you bother with this one? One might say that since it is online it can do its own story, own characters… and yeah, they could and they did, but… to bad it all reeks of SKUNK ASS. Yeah, is it a surprise?

I can’t say much about the plot cause I didn’t see much like any normal reviewer should do, but with what I saw I can already predict everything: someone want to unleash evil, there is a brother who was supposed to be dead, but he isn’t so he sided with the evil, his ex-best friend will fight him and kill each other, and the 2 main heroes will kill the main antagonist, happy-ending, whoop-de-fucking-doo. I know that maybe for some the plot is what it killed this one, and my complaints would be considered knit-picking, but I think it’s shit-picking. 

What ruined it for me is this… at first I didn’t know it was based on an online game, but by the end of episode 4 I started seeing red life bars and blue magic power bars over the characters. And after some research my theory proved correct. There IS an online game. WOW… this sucks… At first it seemed like small stuff, but as it progressed it got more and more retarded. So, you wanna hear it? I bet you do. So at first what struck me as weird is that many said the word ,,party”. Not party in a ,,Hey where’s the booze” way. Like ,,wanna join our adventure party” kind of way. Who says that? Doesn’t it sound weird? They should say ,,group” or like ,,want to tag along”. Also you can expel members from your party. Guess you might as well delete the facebook contact. Well anyway, the second thing was when someone mentioned ,,adventurers rules”. Ok… so are there rules? I guess the administrator keeps everything in check, so no cheating on the server. But what was even weirder was when one guy said ,,I’m adventurer level 1”. Ok… like who knows that? Is there a magical number over your head which indicates that? And why say this… ,,What skill are you” ,,I’m support”. Ok… so you have stuff like that?  No one (no sane person that is), says ,,I’m support skill, I can heal you and power you up”. Yeah, cause that’s what you hear from healers (who by the way evolve into the priestess class). All the time they say ,,Heal” and ,,Blessing” (to increase luck) and ,,Increase agility” (self explanatory). Did you ever see stuff like that before? Also they have potions. Yeah, to restore hit point or magic point. And guess what they’re called… Seriously, I want you to take a wild fucking guess… Red potion and Blue potion. And I guess I don’t need to explain what does what. Also there are characters with ,,item bags” which have an unlimited amount of storage capacity. Also you see the main character going through town, searching for quests and getting ,,permission”, so in episode 2 they have the quest to kill a golden roach, and there are other online character walking around, but it’s the main heroes that kill it, gain a level up, and all the other characters are praising them. So as the main guy grasps the fact that he actually killed that bastard a card with the roach appears in his hand. That’s it, it appears there, nobody came and gave it to him like ,,Congratulations, here’s your fucking card. Go choke on it”. No, it just appears. And all the other characters start throwing shit at them. At first I though they were angry, but then I realized that they are actually giving them loot, like a reward. And guess what they do? Yeah like in any other MMORPG, they sell the loot. And they say that. They say ,,We sold the loot, let’s go after more on our next adventure”. So there are other things, but you get the idea.

The characters are dumb and uninspiring. The cast is big, but the fact that most of them, by skill are warriors, support or magician, you can probably guess many look the same and, well… are the same. Both the heroes and the villains suck. But it’s the main antagonist that pops up in my mind. His name is The Dark Lord. Uuuuuu… so is Sauron in this anime? What about Frodo and the One Ring? I mean come on… the fact that Dark Lord is cliché enough doesn’t cut, noooo, why not give him a name at all. Even Bambi would be good, like ,,Dark Lord Bambi”, but no… it’s Dark Lord. It’s like his parents fucked in a car and had him, and they never gave a shit about him for the rest of their lives. If you have such an uncreative antagonist, then you might as well blow the DVD you made up in your ass, and not sale it to the unsuspecting public who might actually like the game or the concept. And if you dream about comedy here, then you might as well dream of a giant ant snorting cocaine of an elephant’s snout.

Presentation – bad. Graphics look outdated, character models look like they were recycled from other anime, voice cast is annoying and the music is lame.

In conclusion, this is… the greatest offence to the world of online gaming, and if you think of watching it, then do yourself a favor and just don’t. I beg you. It will kill a lot of brain cells, I assure you. To put it differently... you might as well watch the actuall game and not play it, cause that's how this anime makes me feel.

Highlander The Search For Vengeance

"The Search for Vengeance" is made of equal parts: present-story and back-story, with sudden, unexpected transitions between the present and the past. The story is about Colin MacLeod, once a Scottish ruler, now a merciless immortal looking for vengeance. During a battle against the Roman Empire, he is left for dead by the emperor, Octavius, the man that killed his wife, but is given the power of immortality. The only bad thing is that although he is immortal, he can still feel the pain, and also, he will lose the immortality once his head is cut off.

Now in a post-apocalyptic New York City, our hero arrives on the scene and joins rebel Dahlia and an underground band of freedom fighters in a desperate battle against Octavius, who is now a dictator and rules the city with his army of robotic sentinels and scientists working on some top-secret project that are meant to wipe out the underground resistance once and for all. In these battles, we also get flashbacks to Colin's past, the battles he's fought with Octavius, and his undying love for his wife, Moya. The one thing I actually liked about this movie was the visual production. I rarely was pulled out of the visuals to question or second guess what was done.
The vocals and soundtrack were good, but not stunning. It was clear, and the emotions came through at the right times. Considering the great visuals, the sound was a crap in comparison.
The plot was decent. It started well. The potential for interesting characters was there at every turn. But they didn't integrate into the Highlander mythology well at all. We have Colin as the Protagonist, and Marcus as the Antagonist, are both just cardboard cutouts. Worse, Marcus is cut from better cardboard than Colin. He at least has a Darth Vader imperial feel that doesn't need much explaining. He is also this typical bad boy sexy dude that will have you falling for him, although he will be cutting kitties while punching babies in the face. Colin is a young goof at the beginning, and has grown into an old, angry, and bitter goof by the time the action of the film picks up. Even his guardian angel that gave him the immortality points this out. I just was not impressed by his story, or the general arc of this film.


Graphics 8.5/10
Sound 8/10
Storyline 7.5/10
Characters 8/10
Overall 8/10

Mononoke

I was first acquainted with Kusuriuri when I saw him in Bakeneko arc (eps. 9-11) in Ayakashi ~ Japanese Classic Horror. When I learned that it will get it own series as a sequel, I made sure that I get hold of it.

You cannot talk about Mononoke if you do not talk about the art. Just like its predecessor, the animators, Toei Animation do not afraid to experiment with the art. It has its own distinct style of animation. It was part of the reason that got me hooked right away. It is very different, in a very good bold and imaginative kinda way. Seriously, it was tantalizing and gorgeously unique! They compensate the two dimensional, almost paper-cut appearance with vibrant and captivating colorful backgrounds, textures and designs. In a sense, it makes you feel like you are part of a very beautiful painting. They definitely used the art to its full potential to present and distinguished the stories. It also used a lot of camera movements to add suspense and with a well control pace it has successfully exact the desired tension.

Mononoke is composed of 5 different stories which are only related to Kusuriuri, the medicine seller, our mysterious protagonist. Each story takes 2-3 episodes which features a different supernatural, more often than not, evil spirit or most commonly known as mononoke. It was up to Kusuriuri (who is a total bishie by the way) to vanquish or exorcise the mononoke. In order to do so, he needs to uncover the Katachi (shape/form), Makoto (truth), and Kotowari (reason) of the spirit. However it isn't always about the dead. Each story delved deep to the heart of everything and it is not surprising when everything that occurred is related to the living.

Kusuriuri is the only constant character in the series. His attraction is definitely lies in his demeanour, which is very unique whichever way you look at it, not to mention mysterious. Very mysterious. Some of his deadpan sarcastic comments will certainly makes you laugh at the oddest of time. He is a character that you could not help but like. In my case, fell in love with. He is one of the unforgettable characters out there.

The other characters vary with each stories but still get a decent development due to the nature of the story despite being 2-3 episodes in length. These characters are not the typical type characters (as in do not expect good looking characters). They were designed with the story in mind and the ingenuity of it in my opinion, worked wonders.

The appropriate sound effects (or lack of it) enhance the whole eerie atmosphere. The silence in most scenes does most of the work to creep you out. The voice actors did a job well done too, especially with those screeches and screams of horror. As for the OP and ED, I don't find it interesting but I guess it fits right in with the weird tune of the whole show.

This is one of the anime that I won't get tired of watching again and again. I give it a 10 for enjoyment.

The enticing, attention-grabbing, well written stories and the excellent directing and editing makes Mononoke a masterpiece. A must watch to all anime lovers/appreciators. If that is not good enough reason for you to pick up this series, maybe a threat to shove a foot up your ass can convince you otherwise?

Graphics 10/10
Sound 9.5/10
Storyline 10/10
Characters 10/10
Overall 10/10

Origin - Spirits of the Past

Another movie I watched during my movie marathon was Origin - Spirits of the Past. Well, the movie began with a great start. The art is just simply amazing! Absolutely breathtaking sequences. Only the opening sequence alone is worth seeing the movie for, and the music that plays over it is gorgeous. The movie presents us the classic struggle between man and nature, as it is displayed in some crumbling town, a militaristic city, and the dangerous forest. Modern humanity as we know it is represented in this movie by a man and a girl who have each reawakened in this distorted future where man is at war with nature. They both decide that nature should be the boss on this planet. However, the good stuff basically ends there. In short, this movie is great visually, but it doesn't have much of a plot.

The first half of the movie was actually great, but the second half is terrible. Basically, we have some guy chasing this girl for a while and screaming her name a few times. Then he realizes that, hey, everyone can be at peace by just changing their perspective and guess what? Fucking everyone else agrees with him and they all become better people. Even if the movie may not be the anime of the year nor even have the best story, nevertheless it's still something worth watching.

Graphics 9/10
Sound 8/10
Storyline 7.5/10
Characters 7.5/10
Overall 8/10

Great Teacher Onizuka

Couple of years ago, a friend of mine lent me his DVD when I told him I was yet to be acquainted with Onizuka. He could not believe it and literally forced me to watched it right away. Putting aside my studies (Yeah, I was in college back then), I dedicated my next couple of days to finish the anime.

It was time well spent.

After watching the first episode, I was totally enamoured by Onizuka Eikichi and his ridiculous crazy ways of handling matters in life. Here he was, an ex-biker gang leader, an emotionally fragile loser with no life, less social skills and a good heart whose aspiration is to be a great teacher. Mixed that all up and you get one character that fucked up a lot and get carried away from time to time with violence yet can't help being a good guy.

Onizuka was thrown into a class where the students have to deal with their own set of problems (a sad accurate reflection of modern Japan youth). Between skirt chasings and torturing the student, he managed to help them solved those problems, using his unconventional (read: retarded) methods which provide plenty of comedy and humorous situations. Onizuka was in the heart of it all. He, more than anything, what makes GTO as much fun as it is.

He is a one man hero.

The story is somewhat cliche and is considered episodic where several different story settings take place. However they are some very clever surprises and plot devices to keep the viewer poised for more.

The art and animation was adequate for its time but comes across as kinda outdated in this modern days. Nonetheless it fits right in with the mood the show aims to give you.

The voice acting from everybody fits well too with the characters (i'm not talking about the dubbed version). The variety amusing mood-enhancing tunes for background music will perk you up. As for the OP and ED songs, they were decent selections.

While there is a certain moral message to the anime, watch it for the sheer fun value. It will make you laugh, that's for certain, or perhaps it might even make you cry.




Graphics 8/10
Sound 8/10
Storyline 8/10
Characters 9/10
Overall 8.5/10