Animesou.com

Synopsis
A branch of the Juuouchou government, the Hades Agency is the caretaker of souls who wander lost in the afterlife, helping to guide them safely to the underworld. It is a detective network where the executives themselves, called Shinigami, are neither dead nor alive but can travel about the earth with supernatural abilities. The series begins with Tsuzuki and his new partner Hisoka investigating a serial killer whose victims have sharp fang marks and are drained of their blood…

Review
The Breakdown
Not as lengthy as many others but the weakness balance out the strengths. Not bad.

Synopsis
When she was little, Utena was very sad for her mother and father had passed away. A traveling prince wrapped her in a rose scented embrace and gently wiped her tears saying ‘never to lose that strength or nobility…’ He gave her a signet ring saying it would one day lead Utena to him. So impressed was she by him that she vowed to become a prince herself. Now a student of Ohtori Academy, Utena finds herself enveloped in the true meaning of the rose signet, the symbol of a duelist fighting for the power to revolutionize the world.

Review
v

The Breakdown
If you want true sword duels get Kenshin. Otherwise this is a good variation combining elements of a love story, fairy tale, and action sequences.

Synopsis
Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 is bubblelicious! I love this series. It’s a remake of the very successful classic… guess what it’s named? Bubblegum Crisis, silly! It’s about this underground group of girls know as the Knight Sabers, who fight these robots called ‘Boomers’ when they malfunction and go on a rampage like Godzilla looking for his next movie sequel. The Knight Sabers do this incognito, so they try and get things done before the police get there.

Review
The ‘Boomers’ have taken the place of the workers who do routine jobs and are basically everywhere in Tokyo. Priss (the main character) has heard about this underground organization on the web and will do anything to find out how to join them. I couldn’t believe that this series is so entertaining. Everything about it is great. The music (Neo Techno stuff) is excellent and fits the scenes perfectly. The voice acting is superb (except for Leon’s, It’s a little to gruff for me). The character design is great (but you can definitely see El- Hazard inspired designs in this series too. Boy, I didn’t think that series had such an impact on characters. It’s everywhere now).
The new designs for the exo-suits the Knight Sabers wear are extremely cool too. The effects used in BC 2040 are revolutionary. It’s one of the first times I’ve seen computer graphics seamlessly integrated into hand-drawn animation done right (the other time is in Serial Experiment’s Lain). On a down note, the series really losses it’s budget near the final chapters and the animation drops dramatically. What happened? The story started losing steam in the latter half of the series also. Even though BGC 2040’s bubble popped near it’s finale, I still recommend it.

The Breakdown
If you’ve seen the original BGC or not, this updated version is worth a viewing. One question though…Why is it called Bubblegum Crisis? Is it because they are in a sticky situation?

Synopsis
Team Warrior is Back! Ready, aim, and fire up for animated adventure with Team Warrior! Join rowdy Rio and her friends – the machine-gun maniac Maya, the lovely Lilica, tech talent Nanvel, guy Friday Yuji, and their boss Maki – as they take on four of their hottest cases ever!
Mechanical insects, firefighting jewel robbers, panty thieves, sexy shieks, and fawning fathers – there’s never a dull moment when the babes of Burn-Up Excess are on the job!

Review
After all that waiting ADV made us do. Finally the sequel to Burn-Up W is released. Boasting the one and only ADV jiggle counter for the perverts out there :P.

Burn-Up eXcess, takes off right where the OVA left off, after the hotel incident in the OVA, Team Warrior is back to deal with a tower incident in episode one. A terrorist group has taken control of the Neo Tokyo tower and demands their requests be made or else their little insect friends wouldn’t be too happy.

Now, who else to turn to other than Team W? Not much has yet to be revealed about the bad lady who’s in three episodes causing havoc out of four. Only that she is working for a group of unknowns.

Anyways, I liked Burn-Up from the first day so I enjoyed the ecchi humor and crazy action scenes that are really just crazy. Rio and the gang are back and are going to be waiting your local video store.

The Breakdown
It’s nice to see Team Warrior back for action, I’m surely glad they did!

Synopsis
If you were an anime fan in 1999 or 2000 then you’ve had to have heard of Cowboy Bebop. To some, this is considered to be the best animated series ever….Who am I to argue. I have to admit though, the first time I saw the main character, Spike, I though he was pretty goofy looking. But after a few minutes of viewing he was the coolest character I’ve ever seen. Enough about that. On to the DVD. For $29.99 (or maybe less in some places) you get five crystal clear episodes. What a deal! The VHS tapes only had two episodes apiece at $24.99.

Review
Session #1, ‘Asteroid Blues’, is a good introduction to Spike and his partner, Jet. They’re bounty hunters in the year 2071, where humans have moved to other planets and venture though space often. The ship they reside on is called Bebop. They deal with a drug called Red Eye. It’s pretty action packed and there’s a scene with a slow-mo effect that has to be seen to be believed.

Session #2, ‘Stray Dog Strut’, is a fun chase, after a dog!? What could they possibility want with a tiny little canine. It’s a much lighter story than the first but manages to how us how these characters interact with humorous stories and more serious tales.

Session #3, ‘Honky Tonk Women’, introduces us to ultra vixen, Faye Valentine. The only chick that can be cool and hot at the same time.

Session #4, ‘Gateway Shuffle’ We get more of Ms. Valentine and a family who’s value are…well, turning people into monkeys.

Session #5, ‘Ballard of Angels’ We meet Spikes rival, arch villain, Vicious. And that he is. But although he is Mr. Bad guy, he’s still soooo cool. As the conclusion of this disk, it couldn’t end better. All in all, the first disk is truly enjoyable viewing.

The Breakdown
If you haven’t seen Cowboy Bebop yet, what are you waiting for? It’s like taking a vacation…much needed.

Synopsis
The year is 2071 AD. That future is now. Driven out of their terrestrial eden, humanity chose the stars as the final frontier. With the section-by-section collapse of the former nations a mixed jumble of races and people came. They spread to the stars, taking with them the now confused concepts of freedom, violence, illegality and love, where new rules and new generation of outlaws came into being. People referred to them as Cowboy Bebops…

Review
The continuation of the series, episodes 6-10, which can be purchased for $29.99 on DVD (Ouch), is a great addition to any anime fans collection. The 2nd Session DVD follows the bebop crew on more crazy and insane chases and thrills and opens up more information about the bebop members. A musical prodigy, a space trucker, an energetic young crook, a hacker from Earth, and a mysterious woman from Jets past, this is not one to miss. 2nd Session, taking place directly after the confrontation between Spike and Vicious, with more mayhem and excitement as you follow the crew on further bounty hunting adventures. The story really starts to progress with each episode and slowly pull back the blinds on some mysteries that surround the characters, which draws the viewer in and engrosses them into the story. Volume 2 introduces of a new member to the Bebop crew, which unquestionably adds large amounts of craziness and comedy to the story, and adds some new flavor to the mix. I enjoyed these episodes as much as I did watching the first.

The Breakdown
Definitely one of my favorite anime series that I have ever seen and I really suggest checking it out.

Synopsis
“Excel Saga” contains the chronically over-challenged and understaffed secret ideological organization of ‘Across’ (total membership: 2), whose goal is to conquer the city of F. It contains your complete daily requirements of Martian princesses, afro-wearing action heroes, authors, androgynous prisoners in iron masks, annoying roommates, removable moustaches and a generous supply of adorably cute aliens bent on galactic domination. “Excel Saga” contains on emergency food supply/singing dog and one Excel, the most certifiably insane teenage girl to ever walk the face of the planet.

Review
v

The Breakdown
I truly thank ADV for bring this series over to the U.S. Excel Saga will provide a lot of laughs (just what I’ve been looking for since Onegai Teacher.)

Synopsis
When the plan to conquer the city isn’t going well, Lord Ilpalazzo doesn’t get mad, he just gets ACROSS…his crack team of Excel and Hyatt, that is. Of course, maybe this is one crack team of special agents that might be doing better if they weren’t actually on crack. And now that there’s a rival secret organization whose goal is to protect the city, things are going to be tougher than ever. Especially since their opponents may actually have a competent agent on their side! There’s lots of totally pointless violence and senseless mayhem ahead as opposing forces collide in the second sense-numbing volume of Excel.

Review
Excel, Hyatt and the whole Excel Saga crew is back and this time; they’re loaded with even more fun and laughter.

In volume two, ACROSS is still trying to conquer city F, our heroines Excel and Hyatt of course carries out the missions that Lord Llpalazzo has ordered. From raging Snow Mountains to dirty sewers, this volume is packed with comedy. Menchi is still as kawaii has he’s been; having emotional moments as Excel and Hyatt threatens to eat him. This DVD is also very funny itself, just pop in the DVD and click around the menus. The Menchi advertisements have got to be the wackiest thing to happen in a DVD menu (Alpha - high fives ADV for doing a nice job on the menu and the overall product).

Also there is an episode where only females are allowed on screen (hehe, never saw that before in an Anime). Anyways, you must see how Hyatt swims, or does she? The story development is the same; just fun stuff thrown at you. Pedro on the other hand is heart broken, after he finally finds out the truth of his wife’s feelings. If you have the first volume, you might as well buy the second volume and keep continuing on. You might get the story at the end, who knows.

MATTE!!! I’m not done, not without introducing the new female character that works for the city. I’ll have to give her an appropriate introduction or wells something really bad can happen. I introduce to you anime fans the pretty Misaki Matsuya

Gender: Female Age: 22 Years old

Notes: She doesn’t like flattering and a quarter British

Hobbies: Traveling alone Family: Parents, younger brother

Uses “-kun” to scoundrels

Misaki: Alpha-kun?….

Alpha: Uh oh! I forgot something… NOOOOOOOOOO!

Note: Something has happened to Alpha, he won’t be back. Not anytime soon.

The Breakdown
Volume two wasn’t as confusing as volume one, more comedy, more Puchuus, and more Excel than you can ever handle. ^_^;;

Synopsis
Only one word can sum up this series…Astounding!
FMP isn’t named Anime of 2002 for nothing J. Sagara Sousuke (main character), along with a group of mercenaries named Mythril, are the protectors of people called Whispered. Whispered, has black technology information, which of course is something powerful. Then comes Kaname Chidori (female main and Whispered).

Review
I say this series is Amazing, because there’s action, comedy and story development per episode. Wait! I have to mention the important part… FMP is another GONZO work. Which means production values up the wazoo! (Oh boy, we all know how Alpha gets when he sees a GONZO production. How are we gonna get him away from the TV this time?

The Breakdown
The name Full Metal Panic might not sound so appealing, but believe me, be amazed at this baby, when ADV releases FMP, you better get your orders quick, because it’ll be sold out if you don’t.

Synopsis
Another GONZO work of art and Pioneer Animation has done it again. Pioneer Animation must like this company, seeing as how they have licensed two pieces of Anime from them this year. (Vandread and Gate Keepers).

Review
Now, where to start? Uh… Gate Keepers is based in the year 1969 (that’s a new twist) and there is an enemy alien group called INVADERS. They look like normal people going on with their lifestyles, but once they are summoned they turn into aliens with black suits on. The Earth already has built a defense against the Invaders by forming a group called A.E.G.I.S. (Alien Extermination Global Intercept System). Members of AEGIS contain GATE ability (Powers).
Gate Keepers attracted me with it’s cute, beautiful and high quality characters. I’m pretty much hooked onto Gate Keepers right now although I’ve only seen six episodes. Pioneer will release eight DVDs for Gate Keepers. Three episodes each.

The Breakdown
With superb animation, excellent sounds and a great original story. Gate Keepers is a must have for your anime collection!!!!