Let’s just say that I wasn’t the biggest fan of Gundam 00 when I watched the first episode. I thought that it was rather slow and too melodramatic. It resembled Gundam Wing in such a big way, with Gundams coming to Earth to fight. Another thing that is a parallel is the idealism of ending warfare. It looked to be a train wreck bound to happen.

It wasn’t until half way through the season that the pace of the show started to speed up. A deeper story of Alejandro Corner trying to take control of the world came into play, and the introduction of fake GN solar furnaces to the three large nations brought an enormous amount of pressure on the four Gundam “Meisters” (I still cannot get use to that name). The deepening plot line gave a weak framework a new foundation and seem to give the show a fresh start. I believe that the show should have started from the middle.

Towards the end multiple main character deaths occurred. Was it excessive? The point of the deaths was essential. Without the main character deaths, I would begin to feel like the Gundam pilots were invincible (i.e. Gundam Wing pilots). I felt the appropriate characters were killed off to give the other characters personal vendettas and more reasons they should be around for the rest of the show. What would Graham be without the deaths of Harold and what-his-face? He wouldn’t be the same and he wouldn’t have become a Char-like character. Setsuna wouldn’t have become a deeper character without Lockon’s death, he’d just be a bullet without a set direction or target.

In all, there was definitely improvements done to the show and I can’t wait for Season Two in October 2008! (My birthday month! How did they know?)

This is the second season of Ikki Tousen. Being a 12 episode long anime, this packs a large amount of story from the manga into short series. Most of it does feel a bit rushed. You can expect many action sequences, lots of pantyshots, and many more visuals of the female anatomy hardly being covered at all. It’s amazing that the male characters manage to be fully clothed after battles, but the female characters’ clothing ends up in tattered, torn shreds. Am I complaining, not a slight bit.

This season focuses more around the Seito high school and its leader Gentoku Ryuubi. Although most of the scenes feature Kanu Unchou, a very beautiful and hardly clothed follower of Gentoku, the importance of Gentoku realizing her true power is made clear. Most of the series is centered around them, and Sonsaku Hakufu is hardly in the show, but she will play a more important part later on in the show. Since Dragon Destiny is a little fast, you may be confused if you don’t follow along with the dialog. Both sides use deception to play each other in their plan for “world” domination. Sousou is controlled by the devil king who is bent on controlling the world, will he realize is goal, or meet his fate?

One noticeable thing about this time around is that there are more killings involved. Compared to the first season, I would have to say that there are 3 times as many deaths in this show as there are in the first one. But, since there are more deaths, it makes the show much better, although I don’t know where the police are during the whole time this is going on.

Then the other very noticeable thing is the wide array of fanservice. It is as close to hentai as you can get. As much fanservice as they offer in this show, I’m surprised that they didn’t just go as far as they did in the manga as showing them fully undressed. But, then again, we wouldn’t have a mature rated anime but an adults only rated anime. I can’t see how much worse it can get compared to what GANTZ shows. There’s full-on contact and rumping going on in that anime.

Thirdly, we see a dramatic shift in how the story is presented. There is more of it. The developers had truly thought this one out and went with the best way of making an anime. Why try to cut things out when you can just use the manga as the true base model? It is comparably better and more complex. The emotions of the characters are more visible. There was actually quite a bit of effort put forth this time rather than last time when the main focus was just fanservice. (watch behind the scenes footage on DVD, you’ll get the point)

The character designs have been redefined and cleaned up. They are tons closer to the actual character designs in the manga. They are much sexier and better looking this time around. Quality control went up through the roof, too. Most of the frames don’t show any goof ups in the character drawings or in cell shading and what not. As a result, we get a better looking anime that is more upbeat with the current style.

Bottom line, try this one out. You might need to watch the first season to get what the characters are like.

Ratings:
Story: 7.6
Character designs: 8.0
Visuals: 7.5
Music: 6.6
Voice Acting: 9.0
Overall: 7.74 (this is an average of all the scores)

And we’re back with the second season of Ikki Tousen. This one is subtitled appropriately with “Dragon Destiny” but it still is quite a bit different from the manga. I honestly didn’t imagine them making a second season but they did. There are noticeable improvements made to the overall use of story and tweaks to the original story from the manga to anime adaption, but will it honestly save this title?

Again, this is a fanservice anime full of camel toe and revealing and compromising panty shots of the girls. Is this anything new? No, it’s always been a staple of the anime industry to take advantage of the opportunity, but Ikki Tousen is known to overdo this little trick. Honestly, it gets old and you end up thinking, ‘Get on with the show and show me some bare b00b13s!’ Seriously though, I’d take this anime a little more seriously if it wasn’t entirely focused on the fanservice and rather improve the story and dialog.

Don’t think I’m shooting this anime title down now. Ikki Tousen: Dragon Destiny does have potential. The noticeable drive towards a storyline is visible and it looks pretty good from episode one. I suggest giving it a little try. (So far, I’ve only found fansubs and no DVD release is apparent.) It’s good for the major fanservice and a few little laughs. Also, I think some sort of game could be made out of the number of times a panty shot shows up in the show.

Tentative Rating: 6.0-6.5

EDIT:
Okay after watching more episodes, I have to say that this season is pretty close to the manga unlike the first season. Also, the character designs have been given a brush up and pampering. The result, a better character design per each one. Overall quality of the animation and such has also been improved whereas the quality control in the first season was lacking and the characters’ figure and looks varied from frame to frame.

The story is definitely improved and is deeper and complex. In essence, it almost is a completely different show aside from the fact that fanservice is the main focus.

Rating boost may be in order. Check back for the full review and rating soon!

Gantz is a controversial show with large amounts of violence, death, gore, nudity, and profanity. But, just wait a minute before you turn yourself away from the symbolic powerhouse that is Gantz! The ripping animation and gore is coupled with a fantastic storyline that has the audience jumping off their couches for more. When it first aired in Japan, it was too violent for the regular TV and had to be edited, but now in the DVD releases, many of the cut scenes were added back in along with more. These scenes would have been utterly useless if Gantz didn’t have a good suspenseful plot after all. Gantz is an orb-like ball that makes its slaves kill aliens. But what really is Gantz? Is Gantz an alien itself, or just some conspiracy? Our main character, Kei Kurono, seeks to survive this vile game of death, but will he be able to survive with all of his friends? (continue reading…)

Set during the Edo Period of Japan, Kenshin Himura grows up from a young boy to a killing machine. When revolution is spurred and the tides of war began to come in, Kenshin feels that it is his duty to help the people in the name of liberty. Receiving the right to go from his master, Sejiro Hiko, Kenshin joins the revolutionaries as an assassin. However, he is soon turned into a heartless being from all of the missions given to him. The only person that kept him sane was a woman by the name of Tomoe. What events will happen to Kenshin to cause him to become a wandering samurai?

Samurai X essentially is made up from 3 OVAs. They are Truth, Betrayal, and Reflection. But, there is also a motion picture that is more based off the anime Rurouni Kenshin rather than the more meaningful OVAs. Truth and Betrayal accounts for Kenshin’s mysterious past and answers any questions that people have. But, Reflection is after Kenshin meets Kaoru. This OVA is more geared toward giving the audience the philosophical reasoning of why Kenshin is trying to atone for his sins.

I believe that this gives the series of Rurouni Kenshin a very different meaning and point of view. Samurai X is by far a very good OVA that is emotional and artistically done. There is violence and gore, but not as much as other anime in the same genre. The visuals are great and give a more realistic look to the characters. The colors used are very symbolic of the mood throughout the OVAs. Personally, Samurai X left me a little depressed, but none-the-less a great anime with a fitting ending.

I give this OVA a: 9.2 out of 10. Samurai X is licensed under ADV Films. Take caution, mature audiences suggested.

If one thing is for sure, it is not hard to find an anime with well endowed girls that fight in skimpy little clothes. And, it really isn’t hard to find an anime with a punk character that ends up being the hero of the story. In Tenjho Tenge, we have a plot line that revolves around being the strongest. The Executive Council is an organization in the high school the Soichiro ends up going to. He and his friend want to bring the Council down, but they first need to get help from Maya Natsume. The art of close combat isn’t always beautiful.

So we have the main characters. The character designs may be pretty, but other than that, Tenjho Tenge lacks in many areas. The plot line could have been good, but it is not well supported in the whole grand scheme of the series. We do get flashbacks and backgrounds, but it is often too overly done. In a way, it is overly emotional and melodramatic. The soundtrack is over-the-top as well. The English dubbing doesn’t improve the situation very much. Some of the voice actors are pretty good, but you can tell that there is false emotions. Aya’s voice actor has a sort of annoying high pitched tone that tries to imitate the Japanese counterpart with no avail.

Mainly, I would suggest this anime only for fan service. Plenty of action and nice animation styling. The plot is corny and dragged on.

I give this anime a 5.9 out of 10. Not the best, not the worse. Right on the border.

One simple concept can be thrown out about this anime… fan service. Lots and lots of fan service. But, the anime mainly revolves around the main character, Hakufu Sonsaku. These “fighters” go around and pick fights among themselves in order to gain control of the other schools. Ikki Tousen is a play on the original Romance of the Three Kingdoms story. A rather downplayed version to be exact.

The character designs resemble early 1996 to 1997 styling. It is retro, but a more artistic form of animation is preferred by the general otaku populace. Ikki Tousen has a plot line, but it isn’t a very good one and doesn’t improve the situation at all. To be honest, I enjoyed the manga much better than the anime series. The fan service runs ramped throughout the whole series. All in all, not a very good title from the beginning, just too overly gifted girls in tight clothing.

I give this anime 4.1 out of 10.

One of my personal favorites, FLCL, or Fooly Cooly, is a 6-episode anime laden with humor, emotions, and symbolism, not to mention the excellent musical talents of The Pillows, who performed all the music for the show.

The story and plot progression is blisteringly quick and some of the antics seem ridiculous and hyperactive. Because of this, some people take a very negative view to the show and don’t even catch a glimpse of the vast depth of parallels and psychological symbolisms. On top of the actual story, the
characters themselves are quite eccentric and wild.

Not only is the animation style done in a unique and beautiful way, but even the voice actors, both English and Japanese, seem to have just the right voice for their characters (I actually prefer the English voices, which is unusual for me, as most of what I watch is just subbed). Different animation styles are used throughout the series as well. For example, they do a slow-motion 3-D(ish) scene, a South Park-style scene, and even ‘manga style’ animation, in which it appears as if you were looking at a manga only each frame has its own animation. The amount of satirical content is heavy as well, which adds even more humor for those who recognize it.

As for a score, I feel that FLCL deserves a 10 out of 10, for excellent storyline, wonderful music, and the incorporation of many different styles and themes to make a beautiful, well-balanced anime with depth and feeling. Some people feel that it could have been made longer, and I agree, it COULD have. I’m kind of glad it wasn’t, however, because it leaves off with many things left to think about and a nice, satisfied and balanced feeling.

Rating 10 out of 10.

Chris’s thoughts: I believe that FLCL should get 8.9 out of 10. It was a good slap-stick humor anime, and had multiple things going for it, but I believe that it was not an epic. I choose to reserve the highest ranks to even greater series or films that may have come from the Japanese genre.