Review -- Princess Tutu

Princess Tutu is the most surprising series I've seen all year--or it would have been if every single person I know who's seen it hadn't told me how awesome it is. Shakugan no Shana appealed because I was in the mood for some typical shonen, Durarara!! was by the folks that made Baccano!, so I had high expectations, 5D's is both the best and worst show I've ever seen, and Trigun's overrated. But how can you help but expect anything but ridiculous, cutesy, over-the-top shojo from a show called Princess Tutu?

There is a fairly accurate fandom nickname of "Guitar Ninjas" for this show. I don't like the name, now that I've seen PT, because it threw off my expections wildly. I expected Code Geass or Evaneglion, and instead, I got the best fairy tale anyone's ever told. It's not Guitar Ninjas. Nothing comes out and punches you in the face. Rather it sneaks up on you, and before you know it, it's got hold of your heart and you're crying right along with Duck, Rue, Fakir, and Mytho.

The basic plot is simple enough. A duck wants to dance with the princely young man. A young teenage girl wants to be a ballerina. A magical girl wants to restore the broken pieces of the prince's heart. They all just happen to be the same person. Duck is literally a duck, but with the help of a mysterious man named Drosselmeyer, she becomes a human girl. The pendant that allows her to be a girl also has the power to transform her into Princess Tutu, legendary minor character in the fictional fairy tale, "The Prince and the Raven". In the story, Princess Tutu does something small, confesses her love to the prince, and turns into a speck of light because of it. That's it. Duck does not realize her character's part in the old story till a few episodes in, nor Tutu's tragic destiny. Because how can she be the very same character? She's herself, not part of the story written a thousand years ago. Stories within stories within stories that crossover with other stories and reference other stories doesn't even cover how complicated Princess Tutu gets. And yet, the most essential parts of the plot are quite straightforward. The audience's confusion typically mirrors the characters' own confusion, and by the end of the series, everything wraps up nicely.

Speaking of characters, they're all quite well-written. I must admit that I don't like all of the designs (see: Fakir's hair) but Tutu and Krahe's costumes make up for any other shortcomings. Mytho is the weakest character, since the plot point is that he has no emotions whatsoever. But even emotionless Mytho develops over time (well, the other plot point is that he is slowly regaining his emotions...) and Duck, Fakir, and Rue develop three times more than your average anime, movie, book, or any fictional story with character development, and that is the series strongest point. With only 4 main characters, it better be a strong character series. Even the rest of the supporting cast only consists of Drosslemeyer, Edel, Mr. Cat, [insert spoiler here] villain of season 2, and Duck's useless friends. There's a couple more, but for the most part, episodes focus on characters that appear for only their episode. Despite this episodic plot, each episode is carefully written to further the story, and no episode is extraneous. Princess Tutu is truly an achievement in storytelling.

The art's not too bad, either. The animation uses all of the usual anime shortcuts--long shots with no more movement than blinking, but besides these occasional static shots, the animation is quite good, especially in regards to expressions and ballet movements. The design is where the art really shines. Gold Crown Town is straight out of a Grimm Brothers story. I really wish there were more town scenes just so we could see it. The magical Princess Tutu dancing backgrounds are interesting and all, but usually not that detailed. The streets or buildings are usually far more interesting than the empty landscapes that magically appear every now and then during a climatic dance. For Princess Tutu doesn't exactly fight, she dances with people and this lets them realize their true feelings. Since the battle is to regain a piece of a heart shard that has latched onto an unsuspecting victim, this method isn't as stupid as it sounds. The fact that the show is steeped in ballet, ballet, and more ballet makes it all the more believable.

The ballet references are most obvious in the score, almost all of which is taken straight from classical ballet. The rest is just classical ballet music in new arrangements. For example, the series uses many variations on the prologue to The Nutcracker, Duck's theme. Tchaikovsky is the dominant composer, and The Nutcracker and Swan Lake are the two most referenced ballets, so even those of us with little ballet knowledge (see: me) can understand and appreciate the series. And boy, do I appreciate it. It is one of my top five favorite series of all time, and probably the best thing I've seen since Cowboy Bebop. I watched Trigun the week after Princess Tutu and I was bored. Vash is great and all, but he can't hold a candle to Duck, Fakir, Rue, or even Mytho. Poor, emotionless Mytho. (pronoucned "Miu-toh", not "myth-o")

The English dub is very good, and I agree with ADV's decision to translate Ahiru's name into English. Duck is Duck, and she wouldn't be Duck without her silly name. Jessica Boone is my favorite, but that's probably because Rue is my favorite. If I attempted to be unbiased, then Luci Christian as Duck is probably the most solid performance, and with a look at her resume, it's no wonder why. She makes Duck likable and sympathetic, and keeps her from devolving into just annoying, which could easily have happened. Oh, and I should cover the opening theme, though there's not much more to say than it exists, it introduces the characters, and it's cute. The quiet waltzing 3-count is quite appropriate for the series, but not all that memorable. Solid, but not special for the opening theme. The ending theme is so average, I probably only ever watched it once all the way through. Don't even bother with that one.

Overall, a fantastic series, and one I recommend to any fans of entertainment, but especially to anime fans and anyone with any knowledge of ballet. The series is currently available on youtube, but when I went to link to the page for the entire series, it told me "show is not available". Here's episode 1, but watch it now--it might go away. Or you could just buy the whole thing for only $25! Believe me, that's a steal, and well worth the money. You will want to rewatch it and share it.

- Pacing can be a little slow at first before you realize it's all necessary. Character designs get to be a little silly. Talking animals?? Mr. Cat is creepy. Pique and Lillie exist only for stupid comic relief and occasional exposition, and in the second season, Lillie is just downright creepy.

+ Character development is phenomenal. Art is appealing, colorful, and great ballet animation. Tutu and Krahe costumes (and anything to do with the Raven) are all very well designed. Plot is interesting and complicated, but resolves. Music is all taken from ballets. Ending is heartwarming and surprising, and a little hit-or-miss, but I love it all the same.

Rating: A

First Impressions -- Darker Than Black

I REALLY hate the New York Film Academy commercials on youtube.

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I wanted to re-watch some Romeo x Juliet, but the only legal site I know is Toonzaki, and Hulu doesn't like my internet. So I scrolled through FUNi's youtube and decided to give Darker Than Black a try.

Tokyo is surrounded by a huge wall, nicknamed "Hell's Gate". It keeps in all the Contractors, human-like creatures with supernatural powers. Our main character seems to be such a being, though episode 2 will tell for sure. His name is Li something I couldn't catch. There is something mysterious about him. His new neighbor is a woman who stole some classified information. Li killed some guy that was friends with her, but now is helping her, and we're not supposed to understand yet. The romance part of the preview doesn't look that interesting, but the action does.

Animation's nice. Character designs are simple, but not too special. Yoko Kanno does the music, so I'm psyched to watch more. Concept is interesting. Hopefully it won't get too cheesy.

On first impression, I want to watch more.

Review -- Durarara!!

I need a new title for this blog. Any suggestions?

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Brain's Base, Takahiro Omori, and Ryohgo Narita, you have done it again. I adored Baccano!. It's one of my new favorite series of all time. Jacuzzi and Nice are one of my favorite pairings. Right now, I'm tempted to say Durarara!! is one of my favorites, but only a few weeks and a new series will test that. While DRRR doesn't have any new favorite pairings--something very odd for any "favorite" series of mine--it has one of my new favorite characters, Celty Sturlson.

My first impression was that Mikado and Kida were not the main characters, merely a way to introduce the series. They are the main characters, especially in the second half of the series. They aren't the strongest main characters at first because they have no apparent skills. Mikado never left his hometown before the start of the series. Kida spends the first episode showing Mikado around Ikebukuro and introducing him to all the characters. Durarara!! is very character-driven, moreseo than Baccano! DRRR is also chronological. It's less straightforward plot and more just people interacting with each other. Mikado, Kida, and Anri are seemingly ordinary high school students. Kadota, Walker, Erika, and Togusa can basically just be lumped into "those people with Kadota", because they always appear together. Shizuo Heiwajima is a bartender with super-human strength who really hates Izaya Orihara, a twisted information broker. Izaya is behind most events in the series. Our "main" character is Celty Sturlson, a dullahan. There's another bunch of people, Simon, Seiji, Harima, Namie, Shinra, but you'll meet them in the theme song.

Animation is superb, with extreme detail to the setting as far as I can tell, but I've never been to Ikebukuro. Character designs are distinctive, and I had no trouble telling people apart like I did in Baccano!. Celty's effects get a special mention. She has the power to manipulate a smoke-shadow-like substance at will, and black smoke stuff constantly comes out of her neck, all of which is animated well. She cannot speak, having no head, so communicates with a PDA. I am super excited to see Kari Walhgren play her in the dub, because Celty is just about the coolest character ever, and not just because she's a motorcycling headless Irish god of death. She lives with Shinra, a mildly eccentric underground doctor. They met when he was 4. Celty doesn't age. She's 200ish, and immortal-ish. Her wounds heal, and as we've established, she has no head. It is in Ikebukuro somewhere, and she's trying to find it. That's about all the plot we get. Mikado's just living in Ikebukuro. Izaya is up to something undefined until late in the series. He is also one of the most infuriating villains I've seen--infuriating in a good way. He's twisted, all-powerful, and has no redeeming qualities at all. He's nothing but villain.

The first half of the series (episodes 1-12) spends a lot of time developing characters and setting up for the second half, since there's no real plot right away. The first 7 or 8 episodes can drag because of that. While Celty's backstory is fascinating and unique, it's backstory. The second half of the series (episodes 13-24) hits you with all the things it hinted at in the first 12 episodes.

I watched DRRR subbed because that's all we've got so far.The dub will be released by Aniplex America around January 2011. Here's the English site, where you can check for more casting announcements. Mikado, Celty, and Shizuo are up, and respectively are Darrel Guibeau, Kari Wahlgren, and the very appropriately cast Crispin Freeman. Masaomi, Izaya, and Anri will be announced tomorrow. The entire series is subbed and legal on Crunchyroll, free in 360p. If you sign up for a paid account, you can watch in HD (720p).

Opening and ending themes beat Baccano! because "Trust Me" is my new favorite ending theme. I never even got through Baccano!'s ending theme. Second DRRR ending theme isn't as strong, but both opening themes really hit on the mood of the series, and have the familiar helpful character reminders. The first opening, "Uragiri no Yuuyake", is a little more classic rock and orients the series more towards the action side, while still staying a little mysterious--basically, Mikado's view of Ikebukuro. A fun, action-packed city that he knows nothing about. "Complication", the second theme, has a slightly melancholy feel to it, and is a little more mellow but driving pop-rock. The second half of the series matches that melancholy, as it strips our main trio of their innocence while the city wages war on itself. I didn't like "Complication" at first, but now that I do, I'm crazy about it.

Durarara!! is a fascinating series. I've never heard of a dullahan outside of anything but the headless horseman myth, let alone in modern Tokyo on a motorcycle. The early episodes of character development really drag the series down, and it took me a while to get through them, where it took me about a week to finish the last 10 episodes. Also, since there's so much time spent developing characters, it takes a while to like characters. Mikado seems pretty useless until about episode 10. Kida gets more points for knowing a lot of people, and for having Mamoru Miyano as a voice actor, but he takes a while, too. Celty and Shizuo are the only really strong main characters early on.

Rating: A

+ Unique! Celty is an awesome character. Animation, voice acting, opening and ending themes are all good. Everything ties together by the end of the series. Second half plot is awesome. All the characters turn out to be really cool. Did I mention it's unique?

-Character development takes a while. Early part of the series drags. Ending doesn't tie up all the loose ends. I hope there's some OVAs.

Review -- Fruits Basket (manga)

Fruits Basket the anime is one of the most boring things I have ever watched. Ranks right up there with "Plan 9 From Outer Space", which had me dozing in 15 minutes. The slow, relationship-driven romantic comedy of Furuba is not meant for the screen. On the page, however, it manages to charm a reader expecting a Mary-Sue in a reverse harem. Tohru Honda should be the epitome of a "Mary Sue", a very badly written female main character, but somehow she is not.

She exhibits many Mary Sue traits including, and not limited to:

-Everyone loves her

-She lives in a house full of pretty boys

-The boys all love her

-She's super nice

-She's clumsy

-Her parents are dead

-The boys are also magic

Her redeeming qualities overcome this seemingly indefeatable list of stupid, boring, badly-written character traits. These are: that she is great at housework, but awful at schoolwork. Being awful at schoolwork is never ever ever a major plot point. (just a very tiny one) She never tries to decide which boy she loves best. She never even thinks about the boys directly. All her thoughts about feelings for the boy are indirect, only shown to the reader when another character specifically asks. While the boys are magic, Tohru is not. Most of all, while everyone likes her, they like her for perfectly believable reasons. She's not super-powered-princess-magic-rainbow-ninja shojo!heroine, she's an empathetic every(wo)man.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. We need a plot summary before I gush about Tohru. Tohru Honda is a perfectly normal high school girl. Through circumstances that involve her parents being dead and all her relatives being jerks, she starts the series living in a tent. Shigure Sohma, a thirty-something writer, and Yuki Sohma, Tohru's classmate, find her tenting on their property, and invite her to live in their house. Tohru then discovers their secret! When hugged by someone of the opposite gender, certain members of the Sohma family turn into the animals of the Chinese Zodiac, plus the cat. Said cat, Kyo Sohma, soon joins them in the house.

Yes. They turn into animals. Fruits Basket is one of those "pfffft, WHAT did you say it's about? XD" series. After a few volumes of Tohru falling into the boys every other page, things get more serious. The cast expands. Besides our core cast of Yuki, Kyo, and Shigure--the rat, cat, and dog, respectively--Kagura, Momiji, Hatori, Hatsuharu, and half a dozen others fill the menagerie. Besides the possessed Sohmas, there's all their relatives, high school classmates, adoptive parents, and significant others to keep track of. Everyone has their own distinct personality, though their designs can blur together. Art improves as the series goes on, and becomes very clear and sharp. While the series seems to have the same number of backgrounds as a below-average shojo series, one every three or four pages, this is usually because a character is having an internal monologue, or another situation where backgrounds are not needed. Takaya does a very good job with backgrounds.

Relationships are what drive this series. Each volume is a little collection of short stories about various characters. They just happen to play out chronologically in 23 volumes. Kagura and Kyo, Yuki and Akito, Kyo and his parents, Momiji and his sister, Hatori and Kaya, Hiro and Kisa, and so on, and so forth. The series has long storylines that keep everything tied together, but each volume usually has some story that could stand alone, and this keep things moving even when yes, Tohru still hasn't confessed her love, and no, they're not out of high school yet. The relationships are all different, and not as cliched as they sound. No one spends too much time angsting, even poor excluded Kyo. Everything remains pretty realistic, save one gaping hole in volume 21.

I'm happy with the pacing throughout the series, but your mileage may vary. Like I said, the little stories that get resolved every so often keep things moving, even though the main action is taking a while. Volume 23 is almost entirely unnecessary, and feels like a drawn-out epilogue just to squeeze one last volume out of the series. I have mixed feelings about that--it's unnecessary, but I'm glad Kakeru, Machi, and Ren all got their own covers. Volume 21 doesn't screw up the pacing, but it tests suspension of disbelief too much. Even more than people transforming into animals.

Overall, a surprisingly good series. Realistic, interesting relationships that keep the story fresh even when the main storyline isn't clear and drags. Tohru is a perfect main character to tie everyone together. This review is only for the manga. The anime is boring and a bad medium for this story. Stick with the manga on this one.

Rating: B+

- No plot for the early part of the series, plot drags on when it does show up, some confusing character designs, cliched dialouge, stretches suspension of disbelief, everyone cries entirely too easily.

+ Interesting relationships, short stories help with the pacing, clear background artwork, believable main character, well-measured angst. Emotion trumps believability in this one.

Review -- Shakugan no Shana

For a show that started out so abysmally, I sure do love it. There's nothing all that special about Shakugan no Shana, but it's a nice kind of ordinary show. I like to think of it as comfort food.

My first impression of Shakugan no Shana was that it was another run-of-the-mill shonen series. The only reason I watched episode 2 was because of a plot point thrown out at the end of the episode--Yuji is actually dead. This intrigued me, and I watched again. Episode 2 was too much high school for my taste, but also caught my interest at the very end of the episode. Plus, if he's dead and going to disappear soon, how does this show keep going?

I continued to watch, and while it didn't pack a punch, it did pay off. Shakugan no Shana fit into most shonen tropes, but had little variations here and there that were enough to make for a good watch. Cool Big Sis antagonist showed up right on schedule in episode 4, but her partner was a very unique character, and in the form of a book, of all things. Cool Big Sis, Margery, has a decidedly stereotypical past, but has a unique relationship with a couple of Yuji's classmates, earning the "Big Sis" part of her TV trope. Yuji wants to learn how to fight partway through the series, but he never gets good enough to come close to being as useful as Shana or any other Flame Haze. The show stays decidedly in the genre mold, but there's a reason that mold exists. It works. The most unique concept is the nature of people in the series. Yuji himself is a "torch", a replacement for a person who's been killed. Allowing the person to disappear would upset the balance of the world, so whenever a denizen or rinne kills a person, a torch replaces them and it gradually disappears. Torches are not human. They are only things, a fact that Yuji, Shana, and most characters in the show struggle with. These struggles are not enough to overpower the standard fighting-comedy-romance-drama of the series, but add a nice flavor.

The characters are almost all likable, and that helps a lot. Yuji defines himself in episode 2 when he insists that both he and the Flaming Haired, Blazing Eyed hunter are not "only" a torch and a flame haze. Shana is a good fighter and witty right off the bat, and develops a more human side as the series wears on. Yuji, in turn, makes himself more useful, but is always in the realm of everyman that can be related to. Together, they make a good main character duo.

The supporting cast is fairly good. Margery and Marco, Eita and Keisaku, and Ogata are the best. Kazumi is just to make the love triangle, and Ike, though seeming to be important, eventually only exists to make it a love square. The aforementioned five make up for those two, but it would still be nice to have a less annoying love triangle.

The blond denizen siblings whose names I forget are some of the creepiest villains I've seen in a long while. Their distinctiveness is good for making the series stand out, but man, were they weird. Names are the most unique part of characters. All Flame Hazes and Crimson Denizens and Lords have unique names like "Flaming Haired, Blazing Eyed Hunter"; "Chanter of Elegies"; "Thousand Changes"; "Judge of Paradoxes". Those were pretty darned cool.

Animation is standard, except for the cool cinders effect on Shana's hair. That's a nice touch. Voice acting was fine in English. Wilhelmina's "indeed"s are not at all the meaning of her Japanese speech pattern, "de arimasu" (the full form of "desu", "to be"), but the only other way to translate it would to have her never speak in contractions, which wouldn't have the same effect because Japanese Wilhelmina uses "de arimasu" at the end of every sentence. I'm fine with the overused "indeed" translation. It's her name that I'm more annoyed by, the same way I dislike "Kallen" in Code Geass. There is an actual name "Wilhelmina", with an L, but it's translated as Wirhelmina, with an R. I also am not very fond of her voice, but I don't like her character AT ALL, so that's probably why. I can't entirely explain why I dislike her, but I do. The rest of the voice acting is good. Tabitha St. Germian nails Shana's "shut up, shut up, shut up!".

There's really not much else to say about Shakugan no Shana. Overall, a very average series, but in a good way. Not a show I would normally like, but since it followed bizarre shows like Durarara, Baccano!, and especially Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds, anything looks good after season 3 of THAT, it was a nice change, and exactly what I wanted to watch. It may not be outstanding, but it's entertaining if you've got the time.

Rating: C+/B-

+ Good example of a shonen. Uses standard character tropes and plot devices, but does all the right things with them. Shana and Yuji make a good pair.

- Standard shonen-high-school-fighting-drama-romance-comedy. Doesn't really break the mold. Final villains need more introduction. Shana's backstory arc was obtrusive, too long, and left more questions than it answered. I hate Wilhelmina, Kazumi, and Ike.

Opinion/Anime #38 - Dub vs. Sub

I have this argument all the time, and an incident just now on MyAnimeList.net incited me to write about it.

The "dub vs. sub" debate stretches far and wide. It's a topic everyone is aware of, and probably one everyone talks about, but I hear very little of it. It's more an unspoken rule in the anime community that the sub is better than the dub. My impression is, if you watch the dub, you're just a fair-weather mainstream/Adult Swim anime fan, not a "true" anime fan. Only real fans go and illegally download fansubs.

While I love my anime community, we can be elitist pricks sometimes. This goes double for myself, for I have no right to judge those who like to watch subs. I do it all the time. But I get defensive about my uncommon love for dubs. I'll try to refrain from lashing out at fans who have every right to prefer the original Japanese to localized languages.

I am a filmmaker. One of the principles of filmmaking is mise-en-scene, which has many definitions, but basically refers to everything that appears before the camera. Other definitions are worked out by academics, and people who want to sound smart. Anyway, everything you see on the screen. While the audio is what was originally intended by the creators, the subtitles are not. Subtitles distract from what else is on the screen. I prefer to see the visuals as the creator intended, as opposed to listing to the audio as the creator intended.

But isn't the audio just as important? Sure, it is! But I don't know Japanese. I prefer to listen to English speakers. Differences in Japanese and English voice acting have very little bearing on most shows that have been dubbed within the past 10 years. I hate to pick on 4kids, but well, just about everything not dubbed by 4kids isn't that bad. There are exceptions, but English does not equal bad voice acting. Nor does it equal bad translation. Another complaint of dubs is that they don't accurately translate shows. One of the reasons for this is because fansubs (and scanlations) love to throw in stronger curse words than are actually being used. Hiruma in Eyeshield 21 isn't really saying "f***ing pipqueaks!" He actually does say "damn". The stronger word makes it look like they're translating more "accurately".

Finally, watching dubs supports the anime industry in America. There are companies out there that are busting their butts so we can watch this stuff, and hopefully so they can turn a profit. Instead of helping them to earn that profit, and in turn, help them acquire more shows, subs thumb their noses at the system and people who watch them just steal what they want.

Now, I watch fansubs. I'm a big fat hypocrite. I also watch dubs illegally online. Who am I to lecture you? No one. I'm awful. I get DVDs from the library, and I watch things on FUNi's youtube channel when I can, but in the end, if I want it, I'll stream it (preferably dubbed) from Animefreak.tv or the like. But I'll lecture anyway. Whether you give me any credit or not is up to you. I guess my real point here is, should you be one of those people who refuses to watch dubs, try to see it from the other point of view. I'm tired of getting so defensive about my dubs. There's merit to both subs and dubs. That's why we have these debates.

Opinions -- OneManga Closing

I'll be sorting my posts more and more, instead of just labeling everything "anime" like I used to. This "opinion" label will be just that, opinions on things going on in the anime world. I thought of having a "news" label, but a dedicated news site like ANN would be a much better place for you to get your anime news. I'll just offer my opinion when I have one.

Popular scanlation website OneManga announced last Thursday that it will close this week. For once, I think the fan reaction means nothing. Whether fans like it or not, OneManga is over. The importance of this is in the industry. I admit, I read Naruto, Fullmetal Alchemist, and Eyeshield 21 all on OneManga. I also buy all of those titles, which doesn't make what I did any less wrong, but it makes me feel better. Now, I will still finish buying those titles.

What does this mean to all the people who only read things online and did not pay? Theoretically, it will help the manga industry. There are other manga scan websites, though. Mangafox, for one, which has no notice of closing. Some people will shift to other websites, and some people will try to buy. There will always be somewhere online to find these things. But it's possible that OneManga closing might trigger some peoples' consciences, and they'll feel bad about not paying for the manga. I certainly do. I don't have the money to spend more than I already do, so I'll order more manga from the public library.

The industry's response should be to put manga online, but I don't know if it will happen as readily as it did for streaming anime. People are used to getting manga online, and they will want to continue. I hope some will be free, and some will be paid-only. For example, 3 chapters free, pay to download the rest of the volume or series.

This shakes up the industry all the way to Japan, though. Manga is printed. It's always been printed. Putting it online takes away the point of printing it. It hurts the printers, too. Anime has TV, DVD, and internet, but manga has only printing and internet. People like to own hard copies, but print is not as suited to download-to-own as video. It will be interesting to see if the manga companies offer download-to-own or not, and how well it does. Ad-based revenue might start to crop up to allow people to read manga online.

It's good of OneManga to step down. Now we wait and see what Viz, Tokyopop, Del Rey, and the like do with their new opportunity to reach the internet manga readers. I'm not too optimistic. Images are harder to control than video. More sites will pop up. Manga is harder to stick ad-based revenue on. I think that someone else will replace OneManga, and publishers will only have single chapters or the like available to read on their sites. I want to be optimistic because of how great FUNi has been about posting shows for free on youtube and its website, but I just don't see online manga taking off right now. A lot of people, myself included, like having a book in their hands. I'm glad their closing, and I hope this means that more titles get printed, not that another website takes over.

First Impressions -- Ultimate Venus

Ultimate Venus is one of the worst messes of a shojo I've ever seen. Yuzu's mom is dead, she's about to become heir to an extremely wealthy family, and there's at least 3 cute boys fighting for her right now. Not to mention she likes to wear glasses but looks much prettier without them, the main boy wants to protect her and has some mysterious connection to her past, she gets into ridiculous situations that the boys have to save her from, and she just started attending high school. There's so many cliches, I wouldn't be surprised if someone turned into an animal when hugged. I won't be reading this series any longer. I grabbed it from the library just because I wanted something to read, and it was awful. I could barely finish the first volume. The only positive thing I have to say is that the artwork is clear and easy to understand, even if it looks like every other shojo artist under the sun.

First and Last impressions rating: D

Review -- Eureka Seven: Good Night, Sleep Tight, Young Lovers

Fun fact! The original title of this movie was Eureka Seven: Pocketful of Rainbow. I have no idea why they changed the title. If anyone knows, can they let me know?

I actually went to see the movie in theaters. It was a supreme disappointment. I had just finished about the last 30 episodes of the series in just a few weeks, and I was psyched for the movie. Ew.

On rewatch, though, it was much better. My expectations were much lower, and I knew how it was going to differ from the series. As a stand-alone movie, it's not too bad. As a representation of the series, it's awful. Characterizations for the crew of the Gekko are way off. Dialogue's not so great. Animation is good, but could use a more oomph for a movie. Missed all the great music from the series. Fight scenes could have been better. Confusing as heck. Ending is weird. About the only really good thing is the romance.

Renton, son of scientists, and Eureka, a girl who can't live under the sun, are raised together when very young and become very attached to each other. One day, Eureka is taken away. Powerless at the time, Renton vows to rescue her. He enters the military and is soon assigned to the Independent Youths Unit 303 of the First Mobile Forces thanks to his exceptional performance alongside his Nirvash, a bio-mechanical armor/control system. Unknown to Renton, lies a plot to extinguish the alien invasion that is currently happening. It involves not only him, but Eureka too.

Eureka and Renton grew up together in the town of Warsawa. One day, army men took Eureka to experiment on her because when she is exposed to sunlight, her skin burns. Many years later, Renton is a military pilot and part of a mercenary regiment made up of members of the Gekko. Their mission is to capture Eureka, who has some connection to the EIZO, Corallian-like aliens. Renton brings Eureka back to the Gekko, overjoyed to be reunited, only to discover that the Gekko are a crew of rebels and are going to use Eureka for a mysterious, dark purpose.

Meanwhile, Coda Lovell is sent to investigate the murder of Dewey Sorenstram. Braya Mattingly is in charge of the Hammer of God, which will destroy the EIZO, but also most of the world and humanity.

Fans of the series will recognize that this is a complete reimagining of the series. Basic relationships are the same, characterizations are... sort of the same, but everything else is turned upside-down. It's a nice way to do a movie, instead of the typical side-story or summary of the series. I like the concept. A side-story wouldn't work so well in E7 because of the meticulously planned character development throughout the series. Straightforward fighting shonen series like Bleach, Naruto, Inuyasha, etc. have no problem cranking out as many movies as they can because of the nature of their shows. It was a good move for E7 to re-do the series.

The execution, though, was not as smooth as fans would like. The movie spends far too much time on exposition, and in the end, things still don't make sense. The crew of the Gekko are rough and unlikable. They need to use Eureka as they did in the original, but to different ends. Their reasons aren't that great, and I don't really care about any of them, not even with the plot twist that fans of the series can see coming.

I did like the shift from Dewy to Coda and Braya. Coda was a pretty cool character, and it's too bad that she's stuck discover so much exposition and can't do more cool things. I also liked the idea of reusing shots from the series, but in different ways. Usually shout-outs are in the form of cameos. This way still called out to fans of the series, but it didn't make non-fans feel like they were missing something. Cameos were still there, though, such as Dewey, Dr. Bear, Maria, and I believe William B. Baxter. Ray and Charles are notably missing, but I think their mechas make an appearance.

The best thing about re-doing E7 in 2 hours is that we get to skip straight to Eureka and Renton being a couple. If you cut the movie down to just cute moments between Eureka and Renton, it's worth just as much to the fans, and possibly less confusing. My favorite line of the movie is, without a doubt, "We're going on a date." Their back-and-forth "I'm going to die so you can live", "no I'M going to die so YOU can live!" gets old, but at least it's straightforward, unlike the rest of the plot.

Animation is good, but not movie-quality. The fight scenes are better than in the show, but few and far between, and still not as nice as they should be. Poor Holland spends all of his fight scenes dramatically shouting a line while the camera zooms in on his face. Every single fight scene.

Voice acting is superb. Crispin Freeman puts on a much more gravelly voice for villainous!Holland, Stephanie Sheh has a much more outgoing Eureka, and Johnny Bosch is much more comfortable with his Renton than he was in early episodes of the show. Kari Walhgren voices young and extremely old Anemone, with a completely different personality, and nails it. I have no complaints about any of the voice acting in the dub. I didn't get around to the sub yet.

Eureka Seven: Good Night, Sleep Tight, Young Lovers, is an interesting alternate take on the events in Eureka Seven, but falls short of its series. Too much exposition, stilted dialogue, bad characterization of everyone on board the Gekko, and a confusing ending are too much for a good romance and an interesting concept to overcome. Not even mascot!Nirvash is cute enough to redeem this movie. It's not so bad if you go into with with abysmal exceptions, which is what I did the second time around. It's still enjoyable, and I think fans should give it a look. It's only 2 hours. If it was between watching this movie and reading the graphic novels, I'd watch the movie because it's a different take on the series.

Rating: C+

+Focuses on interesting lesser characters like Coda and Braya. Renton and Eureka get to skip development and jump right into the relationship. Voice acting is really good

-Confusing plot, confusing ending, bad characterization for the Gekko crew

First Impressions -- Durarara!!

Durarara!! comes from the same light novelist, director, and studio that brought you Baccano!, and as such, I've been meaning to watch it for a long time now. The first episode focuses on a couple of kids, but like Carol and the Vice President, I don't think they're the real "main" characters. Episode 2 switched over to a minor character from the first episode, and the motorcycle rider that seems the most likely candidate for main character.
Animation is good, especially the few fight scenes that I've seen so far. At the same time, they have simple sequences of internet chat rooms that must save them so much money. Opening theme is amazing animation, but I'm not as sold on the music as I was for Baccano! Story is beyond interesting. It's addicting. I really want to see more.
But is it good? For anime can certainly keep you watching without being good. It's hard to say at this point. Characters are pretty cool so far, and the animation is good... but it's confusing as heck, and I feel like I'm biased because I love Baccano! so much.
Biased or not, my impression is that it will be a very good series. Better than my impression of Shakugan no Shanna, at least, and I've heard good things about both series.
First Impression Rating: A

Review -- Chrono Crusade

I'm going to try to review more often, to catch up with the amount of anime and manga I've actually seen and read.

To go with Baccano!, here's another Prohibition-era piece, and one of my old favorites. Chrono Crusade is the story of Rosette Christopher, an exorcist in the Magdalene Order, and her demon partner, Chrono. In 1920s New York, they fight demons and search for Rosette's long-lost brother Joshua. Chrono's former demon comrade Aion becomes part of the picture, and Chrono has to settle his old score while Rosette tries to save Joshua.

The longer one watches Chrono Crusade, the worse it gets, mostly because it deviates from the manga and gets very confusing. Early Chrono Crusade is some pretty darn good anime, though, and is the perfect example of "don't just a book by its cover". Rosette is part of a religious order... sort of, because Japan doesn't fully understand western religion, and so while the order uses Protestant terms, the exorcists' outfits are more like Catholic sisters and nuns... and she fights with guns. Nuns-with-guns, right? But the point isn't to exploit girls in nun costumes, it's all about Rosette and her quest to find her brother, and her relationship with Chrono.

Rosette, to quote the review on ANN, is a "female Ed Elric". Brash, stubborn, hot-headed, and loud, Rosette charges into fights, gets into tight spots, miraculously gets out of them, then has to face the wrath of Sister Kate for destroying yet another car. Chrono is sensitive, composed, and thinks things through. When Rosette runs in, Chrono calls for backup, sets a barrier to trap whatever they're hunting, and gets the weapons from the car. They compliment each other perfectly. The only catch is that Chrono is a demon. He and Rosette have a contract. She gives him power, and he serves her. The two aren't master-and-servant, though, but best friends, and more if you feel like shipping it. Demons normally take their power through their horns, but Chrono's horns are gone, so he can only live by contracting with a human and feeding off its life energy. The pocket watch Rosette wears around her neck allows Chrono to do just that. Rosette is more than willing to let Chrono shorten her lifespan, though, both to find her brother and keep Chrono alive.

I've both seen the anime and read the manga, and for the most part, I prefer the manga. The anime actually runs around in circles a little bit at the end because it breaks off and doesn't know where to go. The manga plotline makes more sense overall, so I recommend that one over the anime.

Because of the awkward ending to the series, the strongest parts of the anime--as a whole--are the characters and the setting. About the fist half of the series, the story is still really good. Rosette is stubborn and loud-mouthed, but she's compassionate and loving. Even if you can't stand the way she jumps in without thinking, you can't help liking her for trying to find Joshua and being a big sister figure for Azmaria. Chrono has a huge guilty burden which isn't fully revealed until late in the series, but instead of radiating angst, he's a pretty cheerful guy. He cracks jokes and tries to keep everyone in good spirits. Rosette doesn't let him get away with trying to act cheerful when he's not. Azmaria is adorable and awesome all at the same time, because she beats demons and heals people by singing at them. Satella is awesome because she's the Cool Big Sis and I generally love that character type. (...I also just spent half an hour poking around TV Tropes after finding that link.)

Fight scenes are another plus. There's plenty of them, and the main character's a girl, so we're spared from the usual shonen tropes. Animation is very good, and the combination of setting and characters designs make for a very distinctive look. There's no problems confusing Rosette or Chrono for any character in any other anime. The rest of the cast isn't always so lucky, but are decent. Music is not bad, but not distinctive. The opening theme is a nice song, and well-done, but it doesn't really stand out. The ending theme is the more distinctive of the two.

Voice acting is good. Rosette's dub voice actress is hit-or-miss, but I like her. Some people complain that she grates at times, but that's the character. Chrono sounds young, but as Greg Ayres himself commented on my livejournal when I first saw the show, that's because he has a full-demon form with a deeper voice. And besides the timbre, there's no fault to be found with Ayres' Chrono. Tiffany Grant does an excellent job with Satella, and I am very glad I went to get her autograph even though at the time I had no idea who she was. Azmaria, Sister Kate, and Father/Minister Remington are all solid as well, in both languages.

Overall, a nice series. It offers a variety of genres, and so can appeal to a wide audience. The manga makes much more sense, but the anime isn't bad either.

Rating: B

+ Likable characters, unique setting, wide variety of genres, solid animation

- Anime ending just doesn't do it for me. Manga ending is better, but the series is better suited to animation. The two balance each other out and have the same score.

First Impressions -- Shakugan no Shanna

I'm starting a new set of reviews called "first impressions". There's a bunch of series I've been meaning to start, so I'm going to go through and watch 1 or 2 episodes of each of them, and pick what I want to watch from there. Those 1 or 2 episodes, I'll post a short review on.

Shakugan no Shanna started off like any ordinary high-school-plus-magical-powers-shonen series. It cut in with a really interesting monster attack, then cut back to boring high school. If it had started straight in with the fighting and skipped the pointless "I was just entering high school. I'm going to say general things about myself that really don't define my character at all. It was a nice day outside. Don't you wish this was more interesting?" It's not necessary. The monster design was cool enough that the contrast between the two worked, but I still would prefer less pointless high school.

The fight was also pretty ordinary. Time stops, mysterious girl fights giant monster, boy asks questions and nearly gets killed. The flames made me think of Soul Eater, the monsters and girl with a sword made me think of Bleach, and the monster reporting to its master made me think of Sailor Moon.

The most interesting premise was saved until the very end, and for that I will watch another episode, but my first impression is a solid standard-shonen C.

Check it out at FUNi's youtube channel!

Review -- Baccano!

I spent the entire day thinking "I wanted to do some writing on my day off. What was it I wanted to write?" Oh, yeah.

Baccano! is one of the best anime series I have ever seen. It's one of my new favorites, jostling with Fullmetal Alchemist for the coveted title of my favorite anime, and with Eureka/Renton and Ed/Winry for second-favorite anime pairing.

Baccano! is very hard to describe, not only because it is so wild, convoluted, confusing, entertaining, and well-done, but because most descriptions spoil things that are better left unspoiled. The back of the DVD case tells you exactly how things came to be. I was much happier not knowing and waiting until episode 7. I recommend you do just that.

What I can tell you is that it takes place in Prohibition-era New York and Chicago. There's a whopping main cast of almost 20 characters, not counting all the minor players. The main two are Isaac and Miria, eccentric yet kind-hearted thieves. Their antics tie everyone together, "everyone" including at least 4 New York gangs, 2 Chicago gangs, a newspaper reporter, an assassin, a scarily mature child, and a crazy old man and his assistant. In 1930, in New York, under Maiza's tutelage, Firo is trying to join the Martillo gang. Luck, Keith, and Berga Gandor have a conflict with Dallas Geonard, whom Eve Geonard and the Runorata family, want to find. Aboard the Flying Pussyfoot, Jacuzzi, Nice, and their gang just want to go to New York, while Ladd Russo wants to have some fun. Chane LaForet has some unknown purpose with the men in the black suits, and Rachel, who saves half the train, doesn't even get to be in the theme song. Issac and Miria pop up in every timeline and with every character. That only glosses over the many timelines, plots, and characters that Baccano! covers in just 13 short episodes. (plus 3 OVA episodes)

While it jumps between multiple timelines in 3 different years, nothing is ever so confusing that you can't enjoy yourself. The show gives enough answers to keep everything straight, but doesn't explain it all until they very end. The non-linear timeline is masterfully done, unmatched by any other non-linear anime I've ever seen. Something's always going on to keep the audience interested, jumping from comic relief to graphic violence in a matter of seconds.

Boy, is it violent. Rated MA, youtube verifies a user is over 18 before allowing that user to watch. Violence isn't the norm, but you better be able to handle it before you start this show. Someone loses fingers, someone's forearm is no more than a bloody bone. Bullets, beatings, torture, blood, and more are seen in most episodes. The show is about gangsters, after all. If you can stand the violence, it's a heck of a show to see.

Character designs were a little confusing for me at first, but are spot-on for the time period. After time, I was able to distinguish characters without any trouble at all. The designs are all different in noticeable ways, but the shifting timeline and similarly colored suits threw me off. The rest of the artwork is great, too. The Flying Pussyfoot, the train coming into New York, is both the most impressive and weakest part of the animation. The sets are gorgeous, but there's a few instances of obvious, bad CG. These are excusable due to the quality of the rest of the show. The whole feel of the show is not of anime, probably due to the controlled colors, instead of the typical over-the-top anime coloring. Even slice-of-life shows feel brighter than Baccano!, and that's not a bad thing. It's stylish in its own... mostly... realistic way.

The music is yet another high point of Baccano!. "Guns and Roses", which I mentioned in my theme song post, is destined to become a classic anime theme song. The catchiest jazz theme song since Tank!, it also is a handy character guide. The music for the rest of the show keeps the jazz going.

The dub is excellent, and I prefer it to the Japanese if only because my favorite character is Jacuzzi, and the Japanese don't have a sound for "zi". His name comes out "Ja-cu-ji". After watching the whole series in English, I couldn't bear to hear poor Jacuzzi's name mispronounced like that. A few characters have questionable accents, but for the most part, everyone's great, and they add authenticity that Japanese voice actors cannot match. I recommend the dub, even if it means reading the back of the DVD box and spoiling episode 7.

Overall: A+

+ Fun, story, characters and character designs, juggling timelines, animation

- Confusing, lots of violence

Check out 2 dub and all 16 sub episodes on FUNimation's youtube channel!

Reviews--+Anima

This review has been sitting in my list of blogs for a couple years now. I realized that my Soul Eater. Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, and Romeo x Juliet entries were massive, so here's a nice short review for you.

+Anima was a fun little series I picked up because my local library owned it. The series revolves around a group of children who all are "anima", people with animal powers. Their situation is much like that of Marvel Comics' X-Men. Cooro, the main character, is a crow anima, and pretty straight-forward happy-go-lucky-doesn't-care-what-happens-to-him-values-friendship-above-all-else character. See also, Vash the Stampede, Yoh Asakura... and more I can't think of at the moment. He helps everyone he can, and winds up traveling with three other Anima. These children--and one quiet teenager--travel, learning the truth about what anima are, how they came to be, and what the various governments of the world plan to do with them.

+Anima doesn't win any points for plot originality, but that's okay. It's your typical there's-a-main-character-who-gathers-others-to-him that is typical of the character type. Husky, Nana, and Senri all have interesting stories, though no one's is incredibly surprising. The world is well-developed, and is the best part of the series. The social structure with the anima, the different regions, and the different anima themselves are all well done. The characterizations are tried-and-true tactics, so even though they're all characters we've seen before, they are developed well enough. It gets the point across, even if it would be more interesting to have more original back stories to read about.

That being said, the setting isn't even that great. The military and governments are confusing, as are their goals, and the scientists. The ending isn't really hinted at past "nasty scientists doing experiments on children!" The individual story arcs were pretty cool, but the overall plot wasn't that clear, nor did it conclude the series. The last chapter of the series was about Cooro. His story was very interesting, and explained the character very well, but it was revealed too late. The story could have benefited from more goverment-military-world plot line, and moving Cooro's backstory to the 8th or 9th volume instead of the last.

Overall, fun, well-illustrated series. I enjoyed reading it, but I don't plan on buying it or even rereading it any time soon.

Rating: C+

+ Anima powers, illustrations and character designs, the setting, some good characterizations

- Stereotypical characters make for boring back stories, confusing and not satisfying "main" plot, too long to get Cooro's back story when he's the main character

Review -- Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds

The way I've been picking series to review is to put my anime playlist on shuffle and review whatever show's theme song plays. The winner tonight is "Freedom" by Ozone, the 3rd opening theme for Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds.

5Ds is an odd series for me to review. Well, not so odd if you know me. But an odd series to get any serious attention. "Card games on motorcycles", right? Yes and no. The concept of the show is ridiculous. Somehow, they pull it off. I think it has to do a lot with just how much of the world relates to Duel Monsters. It's silly when the world is exactly as we know it, only children's card games are as popular as the World Cup. It's much less silly when the card games have more to do with everyday life--the security guards use the cards, for example, to catch criminals on D-Wheels, (Duel Runners in the dub) which are the motorcycles capable of playing Duel Monsters. (There's an auto-pilot for all of you out there who can't suspend disbelief quite that much)

5Ds is the most serious of all the Yu-Gi-Oh! series. Our protagonist, Yusei Fudo, lives in a ghetto called Satellite. The upper class lives on the mainland in Neo Domino City, but the lower class is stuck on the island that processes Domino's trash. Eventually it turns out that Yusei is a city-born, while the King of Duelists, Jack Atlas, is native to Satellite. Yusei and Jack once were good friends, but then Jack betrayed Yusei, stole his D-Wheel and Stardust Dragon, and escaped to the city, where he became the King of Duelists. Now, Yusei has built himself a new D-Wheel and goes to the city to confront Jack. He out-duels familiar-looking Security guards, and faces off against Jack. Their duel causes a gigantic crimson dragon to appear. Security finds them and arrests Yusei.

In jail, Yusei learns that he is one of 5 legendary "Signers"--guardians and servants of the Crimson Dragon, reincarnated from ancient Peruvians. Jack, too, is a Signer. Yusei gets out of jail, and finds two more Signers: Ruka, (Luna in the dub) an adorable 11-year old girl with a hyperactive and equally adorable twin brother Rua (Leo in the dub); and Aki Izayoi, (Akiza Izinski in the dub) known as the "Black Rose Witch". Aki is a psychic duelist, which means the cards she plays become real, and people hate her for the destruction she wreaks. Divine (Sayer in the dub) protects Aki, but feeds her lies about the world hating her so that she will fight for him and the Arcadia Movement, a group of Psychic Duelists. Yusei has a mysterious charming way about him that bonds everyone together. Which is a pun, of course, because his name has something to do with "bonds", and the first opening theme is "Kizuna", literally, "bonds". He will eventually wins Aki over with these bonds, as he wins over everyone in the series.

Rex Goodwin, Director of the Public Security Maintenance Bureau (Sector Security in the dub) organizes the Fortune Cup to gather all the Signers together and gauge their power. The Fortune Cup ties together the 1st season, and takes place in episodes 15-26. No duel in the first season takes more than 2 episodes, not even the long-anticipated showdown between Yusei and Jack. The 2nd season breaks this rule, but only a couple times, so it's forgivable. Because of the length of duels, the Fortune Cup is enjoyable. Not all duels are on motorcycle, as 11-year olds (and girls, until season 3) obviously can't ride D-Wheels. Don't feel too bad for Aki or the twins, though--they're awesome enough without motorcycles.

Season 2 is my favorite, the Dark Signer arc. If you've seen the original Yu-Gi-Oh!, (from hereon referred to as "DM") it's basically a better version of the Doma/Doom/Orichalcos/Waking the Dragons story arc. The Dark Signers are set up to fight all the Signers. Alliances change, awesome new characters--Carly and Crow!!!--emerge, romances bloom, people actually literally die, in both languages! Or at least they almost die in the dub. Everyone gets wonderful lovely character development, the twins get a 4-part duel, someone says "I love you". Though it's "daisuki", which can also be translated as a really strong like (see, original series, episode 78: "Attack Me! The Fatal Last Turn") and not "aishiteru" or another word for love.

Animation on this series is better than DM so far. From what I've seen of GX, it appears to be the best animated. Poor Yu-Gi-Oh always suffers from noticeably different animation directors. Kenichi Hara is the best, and is recognized for the close-up of a pointing finger that originated in Yu-Gi-Oh! His episodes are always shiny and fluid and actually proportional. I could pull up examples of the poorly animated episodes, but I will refrain. You will discover them as the series wears on. DM had disgusting episodes in the late 3rd, 4th, and 5th seasons. They are the worst animated professional things I have ever seen. 5Ds even gets some obvious!CG, which becomes less obvious as time goes on. It is also used only when needed to create really cool angles of Riding Duels, so it's forgivable that it's obvious. Romeo x Juliet used CG just for some waving flags. I thought that was kind of lazy.

Voice acting isn't too bad in the dub. Frank Frankson, who voices Tristan in DM takes the lead role of Yusei, and handles it very well. Everyone is over-the-top, but that's the way they're forced to act. Jack is... very odd, but stuck-up as he should be. I like his deep Japanese voice better, but his British-Australian-foreign mix is less annoying than I thought it could be, because Ted Lewis is one of the better VAs on the 4kids payroll. Bella Hudson, replacement for Megan Hollingshead's wonderful Mai in DM, voices Akiza. I am prejudiced against her for being the second voice of Mai, but Akiza's not too bad. The voice does fit Aki, which is more than I can say for Hudson's Mai. The twins are my biggest complaint. Their voices are grating, especially Leo's. Their scripts are annoying and a little offensive. The twins are basically the target audience of the show. Let's not put the kids down by throwing in "like" every other word. Dan Green, both Yugis in DM, reprises his role as Trudge (Ushio), and has one of the best performances. His is about the only voice anywhere close to its original timbre. Whoops, it's Trudge's love interest Mina that is my biggest complaint. She has a completely different personality than Mikage. The acting isn't bad, but the new character is unlikable. I wish Sayer really would kill her. Sayer! He's a gravelly Marc Thompson, also DM veteran of FOUR roles--Duke, Rafael, Valon, and Jean-Claude Magnum. It's a stretch, but Thompson pulls it off. He also voices Lazar, and nails everything except the laugh. Goodwin, Crow, and the rest of the main cast are pretty well cast. Crow's is actually spot-on with the way his Japanese voice sounded.

The biggest name in the voice acting is Veronica Taylor. I did a double-take the first time I read the credit. She is famously known for the original Ash Ketchum, as well as a host of other, much more respectable roles. (no offense, Ash, but... 4kids) She comes back to 4kids to play Carly, a reporter who winds up housing Jack Atlas after helping him duel and then escape from a hospital. She gets a little too involved with the Dark Signers, despite Jack's best efforts, and things play out from there. Carly is a very emotional character, and Taylor handles the range very well. That's saying something, because Carly's one of my favorite characters on this show, with Aki, the twins, and Crow.

A special mention to the theme songs, all of which I like. Even the ending themes are good, and I hate ending themes. Kizuna is better than LAST TRAIN because it gives more information about the series. The first 30 seconds with the bike, the main characters, Yusei on the junk, and Yusei walking through Satellite, the city, and Tops give you the entire premise of the series. Despite this superior storytelling, LAST TRAIN is my favorite. I don't think too much about Freedom or Believe in Nexus, but they're both good. As I said in my Theme Song post, "Close to You" is just about my favorite ending theme ever. Even better than the Japanese theme songs being good, the English theme song is good. 4kids had a contest to pick a theme song, and being a dork, I participated. To my surprise, my favorite theme, Hyper Drive, won! It's catchy, and doesn't lend itself to jokes as much as stuttering D-d-d-d-d-duel! Linked above is the second version, because the first version doesn't have Aki(za).

So, overall? This is very hard to be to objectively review. As I type this, I wait for subbed episode 115 to show up on youtube. Original Yu-Gi-Oh wins the honor of getting me into anime, and will always hold a special place in my heart. (Fullmetal Alchemist is still my favorite, based on quality, though) 5Ds was a bunch of things I liked about the original series thrown together with motorcycles and more interesting card games. I skipped reviewing season 3 both because it's not out in America, and because it's been mostly pretty awful. (as awful as you probably expect any Yu-Gi-Oh! spinoff to be)

But, to make this easy, let's go by only up to episode 64, the end of the Dark Signer arc. First, watch it in Japanese. The dub is better than it was for late DM, but you still get "don't worry, that boy isn't being tortured, he's actually producing the painful electric field", purple-fog-of-falling-off-a-building-doom, and more awful one-liners than you thought could exist. Voice acting is good, characters are likable, villains are freaking sweet. Divine is the coolest duelist to ever rock a white tie. The writing staff went to much effort to tie Divine and Aki into some sort of alchemical mythos about the Green Dragon and the Lady of Roses. Everyone gets great character development. However, they're playing children's card games. It can get old. Characters get dropped when they're cumbersome to the plot, even if they're cool characters. Animation suffers when the budget doesn't permit a good director or it's not a plot-important episode. Plot is great, however, and effort was put into researching Peruvian mythology for the Dark Signer arc.

Overall: Ah, a C- for the whole thing because season 3 plot really is that bad, but a B up to season 2 because it's pretty unique.

(Dub, however, is a solid D-. It's only good for lolz)

+Great characters, lots of effort put into some of the things characters are based on, sociological commentary, interesting plot, good opening and ending themes, card games on motorcycles are actually kind of cool. You've definitely never watched an anime like this before.

-Too long, focuses on card games, so very hit-or-miss. Drops the characters that aren't great so you don't notice how boring they are. Stretches suspension of disbelief. Animation is inconsistent. Season 3 plots are really awful. Characterizations are worse.

Review -- Soul Eater

People had been telling me to watch this series ever since it came out in Japan. I finally got around to it in February, and I watched the entire 51-episode series in about 3 weeks. That's how much I liked it. Granted, Soul Eater starts off much stronger than it finishes. If you stop after the Kishin arc, you'd be just fine. The end of the series isn't bad, exactly, but it's not the same as the beginning, and it's a rushed ending because the manga is still going.

The first thing you notice when watching Soul Eater is it's absolutely stunning art. Tim Burton is the usual comparison, which shows you that we need to get more filmmakers out there with something remotely Burton-esque, or else he'll dominate the genre forever. I'm not quite sure what that genre is, but there's other people out there with similar visions. Atushi Okubo (author) and Takuya Igarashi (director) appear to be some of them. The first opening theme, which I just included in my list of favorite opening themes, will give you a perfect idea of what the rest of the series looks like. The art is incredibly unique. You'll never confuse Soul Eater for anything else. The cities are all deliciously old-fashioned, with cobblestone streets, candle lanterns, bricks, clock towers, Gothic churches, and more. The first scene of episode one makes for a perfect example. The character designs are my favorite part of this show. Everyone is distinct, without being over-the-top, or having to resort to stupid accessories. Their costumes all are uniquely their personality, and are also clothes that people would actually wear. Series like Bleach and Fullmetal Alchemist are praised for character design, and rightly so. They struggle with half of their characters having the exact same costume, however. Everyone from Maka down to Ox Ford, Free, Sid, all get main-character worthy character designs.

The story, for the first 26 episodes, is pretty solid. The manga was originally 3 one-shots that turned into a full story, so the first 3 episodes are stand-alone stories about the 3 main groups of protagonists: Maka and Soul Eater; Black☆Star and Tsubaki; and Death the Kid, Patty, and Liz. Maka, Black Star, and Death the Kid are Meisters, while Soul, Tsubaki, Liz, and Patty are weapons. The latter transform into, well, weapons, and the meisters use them to fight people with souls that have become "kishin eggs". These eggs have the chance to turn into a full-fledged kishin, a big giant demon thingy. The meisters are also trying to feed their weapons 99 kishin egg souls and 1 witch soul, which will turn the weapon into a Death Scythe. (the name applies no matter what kind of weapon it is) These particular meisters and weapons, by episode 5, are all students at the Death Weapon Meister Academy, or DWMA for short.

Maka and Soul are the main characters. Maka is a bookworm, a serious student, and level-headed, though known to angry outbusts. Soul, instead of being the hotheaded partner he might sterotypically be, is instead very "cool". He transforms into a red-and-black scythe. Hothead goes instead to Black Star... though hothead is less apt than "complete idiot". Black Star is a ninja, but doesn't understand the ninja art of shutting up. He constantly proclaims his own greatness, even while sneaking up on enemies. Tsubaki, who can change into a number of ninja weapons, is quiet, humble, caring--the complete opposite of Black Star. Death the Kid is the most unique of the whole cast, suffering from OCD. Literally. He is obsessed with symmetry, which is why he has two weapons, twin guns. While they are identical in weapon form, he constantly laments that they are different heights, hair colors, and bra sizes. Kid commenting on the last one usually earns him a punch from Liz, the elder sister. Neither Liz or Patty is very bright, both having grown up on the streets... of New York, I think, though that makes me wonder about the cowboy hats.

After introducing the characters, the main plot appears: the witch Medusa has some sort of dastardly plot involving a young person named Crona, and experiments with black blood. She is joined by a really awesome, handsome werewolf named Free, and a few other witches. A kishin is thrown in the mix, and our heroes are charged with protecting the entirety of their school.

Besides our students, there's also:

Lord Death, headmaster of the school and protector of Death City. He's an even more-groovy Dumbledore. Death Scythe, whose name is Spirit, is Lord Death's weapon of choice, and Maka's father. She despises him, and he is very depressed by this. Vic Mignoga voices him, which surprises no one who knows he played Tamaki in Ouran High School Host Club. Dr. Franken Stein, Spirit's crazy ex-partner, and the greatest meister to graduate the DWMA. He is quite crazy, and constantly wants to experiment on people.

Medusa is one of my favorite anime villains of all-time. She's got an amazing, unique character design, which also carries over to her attacks. She is also crazy-powerful, wreaking unbelievable havoc with just herself, the werewolf Free, and a couple other witches. After Medusa and her small band of cronies, Arachne and her entire evil organization is a let-down, which is why I dislike the second half of the series.

Medusa also controls one of the most interesting characters I've ever seen: Crona. Crona is so unique because no one knows what gender Crona is, and it doesn't affect the plot one bit. Crona's so messed up from Medusa, the audience doesn't need to know Crona's gender. It's just useless information. It amuses me to see people giving Crona a specific gender in fics so they can pair Crona with Maka or Death the Kid. If Crona likes Maka or Kid, does it really matter what gender Crona is? Crona's character development is what kept me watching at the reckless pace I did. I got through 7 episodes in a night (a school night) so that I could end on a good Crona episode. (boy, howdy, did I ever. Episode 45. I can only imagine what my roommate would have thought if she could have seen my expressions)

Since Crona's the most interesting character, though, it's not always fun watching Maka, Soul, Black Star, and the rest. Maka can grate on the nerves with her mood swings and stubborn ways. Soul doesn't get enough backstory. In fact, no one gets enough backstory except Crona. That, and the letdown when Arachne becomes the main villain, are the main faults of the series.

The voice acting is good in both languages. I watched the series on FUNimation's youtube channel, so I watched the first four episodes in English, and the rest in Japanese. Black Star is a little too feminine in the dub, but appropriately over-the-top. The rest are pretty spot-on, though I haven't had the chance to hear Medusa or Crona. I have my doubts about Medusa. Laura Bailey makes an excellent Maka, but I'm not in a position to judge both languages. From what I've heard, I'll take her either way, but the emotional stuff comes much later in the series. Soul is equally good, that I know for sure. Also, his voice actor is Micah Solusod, not Johnny Bosch. I believed it was Bosch for a very long time.

In summary: ARTWORK! Animation, fight scenes, character designs, background designs, everything that is visual is gorgeous and unique. Medusa is a really cool villain. Stein is a really cool anti-hero. Crona is a really cool... whatever archetype Crona is. Other than that, the characters are pretty good, but need more development. The story takes a turn for the worse in the second half. I never really understood the black blood stuff. And the ending is hit-or-miss.

Overall: B+

+ Anything visual: characters, backgrounds, fight scenes, opening and ending themes. Female main character in a shonen series.

-The story is just another shonen fighting series, and lags in the second half. Main characters aren't likable enough.

Once again, watch it free and legally on FUNimation's youtube channel!

Anime #37--Theme Songs

Since I've started writing this blog, I've seen quite a few anime series. I think I've seen enough now to make a list of my favorite themes and have it be somewhat credible.

Let's kick things off with one of my earliest favorite anime series: Digimon Adventure. In the Digimon vs. Pokemon debate, I always sided with Digimon. The story is better. The characters are more interesting. The animation was better. It came

first--or so I thought. (In truth, Pokemon really did come before Digimon, which I discovered about 10 seconds ago) It always held a very special place in my heart. As such, it is fitting that I be so attached to Butterfly, the Japanese opening. The animation isn't spectacular, but it's a cut above other shows that came out at the time. It's the music that really gets me on this one. It's also considered to be a good theme song by the general anime fandom. Not only is it a fun, catchy song, it fits the show perfectly.

Butterfly - Digimon Adventure

Any theme song from Fullmetal Alchemist, really. "Ready Steady Go" is my favorite, but they're all quite good. Brotherhood themes actually don't appeal to me that much. They're fine, but I don't especially remember any of them. "Ready Steady Go" is my favorite song, but Rewrite's probably my favorite animation, for the cool camera moves at the beginning.

Ready Steady Go - Fullmetal Alchemist

Fullmetal Alchemist openings

Now to what is considered one of the best anime theme songs of all time: Cowboy Bebop's "Tank". It's one of the most unique openings ever, both musically and visually. Jazz and anime theme song don't often go together, but I can't imagine Bebop opening with anything else. Yoko Kanno is a famous anime composer, and it shows. Her soundtrack for the entire show, let alone the opening theme, is fabulous. Bebop is a must-see for any good anime fan, though it's a bit adult. I first saw it when I was 15, and waited a year before finishing it. Once you get to it, though, you'll never forget "Tank". 3, 2, 1, let's go.

Tank - Cowboy Bebop

To follow up Bebop, the closest thing you'll ever hear to "Tank" is "Gun's and Roses" from Baccano!. Baccano! is one of my new all-time favorite anime series, and I will review it soon. The jazzy opening theme actually fits the time period, unlike Bebop; Baccano! is set in America in the 1920s. The reason the two are compared is not only the fact that they're both jazz, but because they share the same exact bass line for the first 4 measures. I realized this when I would break into "Tank" every time I tried to hum "Gun's and Roses". Excellent music, great animation, and a handy character guide, all in one theme song!

Gun's and Roses - Baccano!

Eureka Seven is a great series, but the first two openings didn't do much for me. "Taiyou no Mannaka E" and "Sakura", however, make up for them. "Taiyou..." isn't as strong as other themes musically, but it's very unique. Instead of the usual shiny mishmash of characters cut to music, it's a single scene. I'm not sure I'm describing it very well, but when you see it, you'll get it. The animation also fits the music very well. "Sakura" is stunning and a joy to listen to, but there are parts that don't fit the pacing of the music. "Taiyou..." is catchy at first, but tires after a while. "Sakura" was a slow starter for me, but once I heard it a few times, I loved it. I still love it. Both do a beautiful job of depicting Eureka and Renton's relationship, especially when Renton tries to shield Eureka from The End in "Taiyou...". "Sakura" gets the pairing right at the beginning, when they're holding hands and look at Nirvash. But my favorite part of "Sakura" is actually Anemone and Dominic, and the split-second image of Renton reluctantly holding a gun, which captures his feelings so perfectly.

Taiyou no Mannaka E - Eureka Seven

Sakura - Eureka Seven

Speaking of animation matching with music, my favorite example of this is Gurren Lagann's "Sora Iro Days". The link below is to the second version, because I couldn't find a good 1st version. Either of the first 2 is good, because those are the ones with Simon breaking through the surface. That shot alone puts the theme into my favorites.

Also from Gurren Lagann is a rarity, a favorite ending theme. I don't like ending themes. They're usually really boring. "Minna no Peace" is one of my favorite themes of anything, opening or ending. The song is catchy and fun, and the animation is cool to watch. I can't find it on youtube anywhere on its own, though, so you'll have to check out a full episode to see it. Sorry about that.

Sora Iro Days (version 2) - Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann

Minna no Peace - Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: Last Episode and Some random other fandom version that at least gives you and idea of it

Soul Eater is known for its unique animation, and no part of the show is more unique than it's opening theme. "Resonance" is, without a doubt, my favorite opening theme animation. The camera moves over the city at night, and then around the street during the day are beautiful. It takes full advantage of what animation can do cinematically. No other opening theme does this so well. Not to mention the music is awesome.
"I Wanna Be" is an interesting ending theme. It's not the standard slow-boring-music ending theme fodder, and the animation isn't the standard spend-as-little-money-and-effort-as-possible. Both are far above the average ending theme, and even better than some opening themes I've seen. In fact, all the Soul Eater ending themes are very good, compared to the average, and are worth a look.
Resonance - Soul Eater (in HD!)

I Wanna Be - Soul Eater (sorry, spanish subs)

Now, I'm going to indulge myself a little. Here's a couple bonus themes that you may or may not want to check out because they come from Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds. The current season is pretty awful, but it's got a lovely ending theme that I'm very fond of. "Close to You" is an interesting mix of quiet ending theme and driving rock... well, pop-rock, but still rock-ish. The animation is solid, and gives us some cool stills as well as a really adorable group shot when they walk by the TV store.
"LAST TRAIN - Atarashii Asa" not only is a good theme, but the episodes it's paired with are good, too! Musically, it's currently my favorite opening theme. Animation's not bad, and it pairs up very well with the music. I love the shot of Carly in her car and Red Daemon's flies by. Mostly I just love singing it really loud. The heavy beat really pumps you up before the episode starts, and certainly fits a show about riding motorcycles.

Close to You - Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds (in 1080p AND with English subs!)
LAST TRAIN ~ Atarashii Asa - Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds


Other songs worth mentioning include: Sakura Kiss - Ouran High School Host Club, Bouken Desho Desho? - The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, and Obsession - .hack//sign. All of them very good themes, I just thought of them too late, and this post was long enough.

Review -- Romeo x Juliet

Hello, everyone! I'm back! To kick things off, I'm going to review a series I just finished this past April, Romeo x Juliet.

Not the usual subject matter for an anime series. The first thing I thought was Gonzo's Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo. I'll get around to reviewing that soon, so I can properly compare the two without boring you now. It makes sense that Romeo x Juliet--yes, the "x" is part of the title, much like Baz Luhrman's Romeo + Juliet--also comes from Gonzo.

From the very beginning, the series does a wonderful job of blending old and new, with my new favorite rendition of "You Raise Me Up" by Lena Park. The opening is in Japanese, but the series also uses the English version of the song as background music, most notably during one of the best anime kisses I've ever seen in episode 7. "Inori -You Raise Me Up" has solid animation, though a little less than one might expect from an opening theme. It seems to work well enough for this series, though, and I looked forward to watching it every episode.

The story itself varies greatly from the source material, as it does in The Count of Monte Cristo. Verona becomes "Neo Verona", animated beautifully as a 16th century Italian city, albeit one with flying horses. That, some floating islands in the sky, and a magical tree, are about as far as the sci-fi goes. The focus is squarely on the lovers' star-crossed romance and the fight against Montague. Juliet is the last living member of the Capulet family, and the tyrant Montague rules over Neo Verona with an iron fist. The people are oppressed, poor, and starving, while the nobles live in comfort, erecting a ridiculous golden statue for no reason whatsoever. As those loyal to Capulet are in hiding,Juliet's caretakers force her to dress as a man, which is how she is still alive at the age of 16. She uses this male identity to also become a vigilante, the Red Whirlwind, and win small justices for the citizens of Neo Verona.

While flying around the city on his dragonhorse, or pegasus, depending on your language, Romeo finds and rescues the Red Whirlwind. Juliet is not pleased with the noble boy at first, but then they meet again, when Juliet implausibly-but-we-believe-it-because-it's-anime winds up at the nobles' ball, dressed as a woman. They fall in love, and meet in various other places before the plot really gets going. Episode 7 cements the relationship. (as do episodes 10 and 11)

Meanwhile, Juliet turns 16 and Conrad, the former Capulet captain of the guard and her caretaker, reveals that she is in fact the Capulet heiress. All the living Capulet supporters swear loyalty to her. She becomes their banner, and with little choice, must fight. She does so, but it takes most of the series for her to figure out just how she wants to do it.

The series keeps a nice balance between romance and the fight for Neo Verona, but the two are almost completely separate. Juliet does inspire Romeo to stop being so useless, and Romeo leads Juliet to find a new way to fight, but most of the series' events would take place without the romance. The characters must stop their plot-significant actions to make time for romance. Even the ending would be the same if they were not lovers. Perhaps that is its point, that there is fate, and only a little room to work within that fate. After all, the lovers were starcross'd; fated to never be together. The events of the series would have little meaning to a viewer, or to the title characters, without the romance. But it could be tied together a little more tightly.

More interesting than the romance, is Juliet's struggle with her identity as a Capulet. Conrad and the Capulet supporters do wait for her to take up the mantle herself--Conrad rejoices when Juliet asks him for her father's sword--but when an entire house of wanted soldiers swears their loyalty to her, what choice does she have? All these people she has never met thrust their revenge onto her, and she's supposed to just go ahead and take down Montague. Her final decision is a beautiful one, though the awkward writing at the end of the series nulls it to some degree.

As in Shakespeare's original, Juliet is the most interesting part of this story. Romeo's story is of a rich brat trying to become someone who knows how to do something useful. While he does develop, it takes a while, and rich-brats-trying-to-not-be-brats is a difficult plot to work with because we generally don't like the rich brat. While it's noble of Romeo to save the Red Whirlwind on so many occasions, it's also a little insulting, because he has no idea what his father is doing. The Red Whirlwind could be a real villain for all he knows. It's like he's doing it for fun.

The animation is pretty even quality throughout. Character designs are excellent, especially our title characters. Montagues are in blue, Capulets in red, but the colors never feel like uniforms or shortcuts for the character designers. Each character is distinguishable without relying on their side's colors. As mentioned before, the city is gorgeous, as is the countryside, the church, and just about all the locations. The CG-flags are obviously CG, but anime is still working to integrate that in better. I've seen worse CG. (which I will get to in the next couple of reviews)

Japanese dub is what we watched in anime club and it's my favorite, but only because I happened to stumble across a scene in the dub where Romeo doesn't sound very good. I wasn't inclined to listen to more, though the script is very interesting, and is worth a listen just to hear it. They work in much more Shakespearean dialogue into the English than the Japanese. Here's a couple clips with excellent voice acting and script, courtesy of FUNimation.

I must conclude by mentioning William Shakespeare--not the author, but the character. Willy is a character himself, and a playwright. He hides the Capulets, is generally hilarious, and records the lovers' story. It was a wonderful way to work comedy into an otherwise very serious series.

Overall: B+

+Animation, opening theme, character designs, interesting story

-Balances romance and action, but doesn't tie them together as well as it could. Some characters ineffectual and not likable.

But, hey, don't just take my word for it! Watch the trailer, also courtesy of FUNimation!