Animesou.com

Synopsis
Kujaku, the young martial arts mystic-in-training, must rescue his supernaturally powered sister from an evil sorcerer. The warlock plans to use her abilities to unleash eternal darkness upon the Earth. But Kujaku shares a psychic link to his sister, and nothing, not even evil hordes of warrior minions, will stand in his way!

Review
Spirit Warrior is one of those typical light versus darkness, good versus evil anime, but what anime today is not about good versus evil? The idea is overdone; newer and fresher ideas must be developed! And what better to do than to add history into the mix? I am talking about adding the Nazis. So now we have characters with mystical powers and at the same time around the period where the Nazis still existed. Is not that cool? Where are the story planners? They really got away with this one. The story is lacking; it moves with quick speed and pretty much lacks depth also.

Check out the flow of the story. Introduce main characters, one main character (the good character) goes to try and save the other main character (the soon to be evil character). Things happen and the soon to be evil character becomes the evil character. When the good character first fights with the evil character, he fails, builds up, fights again and wins… simple? Not really, throw in the fact that the evil character is the good character’s older sister; also throw in another fact that both these characters are fighting the same way their guardians were fighting many years ago, so it was kind of like fate or destiny.

What did not appeal to me was how the fantasy theme was mixed with present time theme and was mixed with a little bit of futuristic theme. Fantasy theme, with all the mystical powers, present time theme, with the Nazis (not really present time 2004, but bear with me please :P), and futuristic theme, with cyborg (the Nazi soldiers are cyborgs in this movie).

By the time you are reading this paragraph, I am assuming you are saying in your head, “Gee dude, your writing tone, sounds quick and lacks depth.” If you say that in your head, then I have accomplished what I wanted, which is to show you how it feels when watching Spirit Warrior. I will not bash Spirit Warrior any further, but as an honest reviewer, skip this title for your sake.

The Breakdown
This review was suppose to be up somewhere at the end of December, but due to my trip to Hong Kong it was postponed. Spirit Warrior: Regent of Darkness, should only be a rent title in my view. Making a purchase means either you have a lot of money to waste or you are in love with the title, both are cool with me, but for us who are poor, we shall resort to renting :P.

Synopsis
Utena has it all. Beauty. Passion. Faith. A sense of justice. She is the idol of her classmates at the exclusive Ohtori Academy. And yet, she is driven by a childhood memory of a prince on a white horse who comforted her when she was grieving over her parents’ death. He gave her an enigmatic signet ring emblazoned with a rose crest, and this memory drives Utena to do the impossible: To become a prince, herself, as she duels the members of the Student Council to protect the mysterious ‘Rose Bride.’

Review
A princess who wants to become a prince, that is Tenjou Utena. When the show began, it caught my eye how most of the girls in Ohtori Academy admired Utena. They blush when they see her, yell out her name, and some even fall in love with her. The show also started out uninteresting, but it gradually attracted me into the story. There is a lot of fun stuff in the story, like the way Chu Chu acts, but when there is a good, there is always a bad. The bad is why does the Rose Bride, Himemiya Anthy always gets smacked around? Her life is of a servant. Who ever duels and wins is engaged to her, and she must do whatever that person wants. What kind of life is that? Not a very happy one that is.

Anyways, the action of Revolutionary Girl: Utena are exciting. The duels are quite interesting, as the main rule of the duel is that if the rose in the duelists’ chest pocket falls or is destroyed, the duelist loses and if you win, you are then engaged to Himemiya Anthy, which then allows the person to control the Sword of Dios which appears from Anthy’s body when she summons it. To wield the Sword of Dios is to gain the power to revolutionize the world, hence the reason for why the student council duel each other for the power. The right to duel however is only reserved to those who are of the student council, but Utena is able to avoid that rule, as she has the rose crest ring that the prince gave her when she was a child.

Overall, Revolutionary Girl: Utena is a very fun shoujo series. There is comedy, a beautiful soundtrack, an entertaining story and a crew of great voice actors/actresses, what is not to like about Utena? When I started the series with the Finale, I was not sure of what Utena was all about, who the characters were and what was their history in the story. Now that I am starting from the beginning, it certainly has been a real treat. This series that I once thought sucked, actually captivated me and now I can say that I am a fan of Revolutionary Girl: Utena.

The Breakdown
Revolutionary Girl Utena possesses all the essential elements necessary to create a great anime.

Synopsis
Everyone has a purpose… Once upon a time, a little doggy poo lived on the side of road. He felt all alone in the world. He believed that nobody needed him for anything, and that he had no purpose in life. If only Doggy Poo had a reason for being, then he wouldn’t give up on his dream to be useful to the world. One day, Doggy Poo meets a lovely dandelion sprout. Will she explain his purpose in life? Will she help him make his dream come true?

Review
Wow. This one word can sum up Doggy Poo, which is a very good thing. Doggy Poo is aimed towards children, but the values in it certainly are not solely for kids. What do you think of when you hear Doggy Poo? A nasty piece of doo doo on the ground from a dog of course. This show is impressive, I love the way how the message they are sending is that everyone exists for a reason, even though if there are people who say otherwise. I know it is hard to fall in love with poo, but this poo is so cute!

In order to create Doggy Poo, a lot of hours of constructing the atmosphere were used. Using clay, plastic, and etc. to build models of what is to be the show. Although the show is not drawn, it moves fluid with the positioning of the clay in every synch. The lip movements are also matching to the words, so no dialogue would be spoken when the model’s lips are closed; this goes for both English and Korean dialogues. The new technology is amazing and, damn does Doggy Poo look beautiful. This is not some Teletubbies atmosphere we are talking about. The atmosphere of this show is astonishing to what a viewer would normally expect out of a clay modeled show.

Children are sure to love Doggy Poo, because it is cute. Parents should allow their children to watch this show, solely because of the ultimate message it delivers, some adults can use that message too. I am sure there are people who question their existence at times of their life, and Doggy Poo provides a positive look of the meaning of life; claiming that anything or anyone is meant for something no matter what. At the end when Poo becomes a flower, it shows that, even what is said to be ugly and dirty, can be beautiful in the end once they have achieve their seemingly uncertain goal as long as they do not give up on themselves. That, my friends, is a great positive message that creators should strive to acknowledge in their works. Not all anime has to be about killing, fighting or getting with a harem of hot girls. As long as something positive is delivered to the viewers through this medium we call anime, it will all be good. Of course, not only for anime fanatics, but also for various people of the globe, who are in need of something to guide them through their hard times.

The Breakdown
I got emotional… sigh…

Synopsis
Goggles is a convict turned cop working off several terms of lifetime imprisonment. Obedience is ensured by the time bomb collared around his neck, but no one is sure of his loyalties. When an investigation of stolen body parts leads him to his ex-partner in crime, Goggles is faced with some stark choices. Will he risk death to return to the ruthless criminal life? Or will redemption finally catch up with him in a deathmatch with the military’s ultimate killing machine?

Review
Cyber City: The Decoy is a strange anime; of course it is expected due to the fact that it was directed by one of my favorite directors, Yoshiaki Kawajiri. If you do not know who that is, he is the dude that brought you Ninja Scroll, and X: TV. Now that we got that straighten out, this is definitely not one of Kawakiri-san’s best works. The show is fast paced and continues to zip by until the credits roll.

Even though this show is running two hundred miles per hour, it still is able to leave you a good impression, now that is the crazy part. I mean, I was watching this show and did not even know what was going on for a good starting half of it. The only time I picked up Cyber City was when some guy’s fingers were sliced off by those metal strings that the woman in Audition (a Takashi Miike work) used to saw off the man’s foot (Ouch!), while he was unloading his sub machine gun.

Anyways the quick action was what really kept me in my seat. The story of the government using human body parts to construct powerful cyborgs to whack every criminal out there in the city is just wrong. In Cyber City criminals were used to hunt down criminals. That might sound weird, but if you were a criminal and you were caught, you either were in prison and who know what happens there or you join up with the Cyber Police force to stop crime. These criminal-cops were collared so they cannot run away or else they will end up with no head, which adds more to the fun right? Not. These cops were also timed by their group leader, if the elapsed time limit was over, boom, brains are splattered everywhere.

Cyber City is very interesting. Even though there seems to be no point, and no goal that the show is heading to, it still manages to pull you into continuing to watch it, which is what it all needs, because this show utilizes action more than story. This is a rare case, due to the fact that usually when a show has no attractive story, it does not grasp the fans’ minds, but because of the action that Cyber City possesses it wounds up being an impressive show.

The Breakdown
Fast paced, little story development and lots’ of body parts from dead bodies. Is not that cool?

Synopsis
In a world where the grim reaper can strike at any time, a renegade surgeon known only as Black Jack operates outside the law. For the rich and dying, he performs miracles of a macabre medical nature. Unafraid of mysteries that verge on the paranormal, Black Jack is the one man with the power to cheat death… for a terrible price!

Episode 1:
Lured to a cursed island, Black Jack is curious to see what sort of disease is worth a three million dollar fee. When he gets there, however, he discovers a century-old virus that causes the victim to suffer painful spasms as all the water drains from his body - leaving the victim dead from dehydration. But when a frightened mob decides to take matters into their own hands, it’ll take all of Black Jack’s skill to keep his patient alive.

Episode 2:
Fate brought Black Jack into the lives of four teenage girls when they most needed his help. Now, six months later, fate has reunited them. But this time, the prognosis is not good. Two of the girls have already died. One of the girls is alive, but mentally unstable. The last girl is lying on a hospital bed, but her chances are slim. Her only hope is immediate brain surgery. Black Jack must perform the complicated surgical procedure and discover what happened in his absence…

Review
Black Jack is one of the surprise series of the year for me. Do not be fooled by the title, just because it sounds corny, Black Jack is nothing of that caliber. Although it sounds like and looks like another typical action flick, Black Jack is actually a series about the medical field. Now those of us who are not fans of doctors would not appreciate this as those who are. But I guarantee you will have a different outlook at doctors after you finish watching just volume one. I definitely had fun watching this show. Black Jack just has something about it that attracts the viewer. Maybe it is because I hardly see anything that relates to doctors, but that just adds originality to this great series.

One thing that I find strange is that Black Jack (the character) has the ability to fix up other people’s bodies, but not his own. He stitched up some girl’s face without a scar, but his own face looks so patched up. What is going on there dude? Each volume contains two episodes, which to me is not enough. Black Jack is like that drug addiction that the character in episode two had. When you are watching it your mind is unconscious of your surroundings and when you are not watching it you want to go back for extras.

Anyways, this title is a, what I would call a sleeper hit. There is not much hype about it, but damn it, this show is one of a kind and a good one at that. Black Jack is a strange anime. The little girl you see that is with Black Jack is not as little as her appearance hints, I find her being a character that lightens the show up at certain periods of times. Anime fans, go check this gem out now!

The Breakdown
Never have I been so interested in the medical field than after watching this show. I am looking forward to how the story will break out (get it? Infection hehe).

Synopsis
Episode 3:
Two victims thrash in agony, scarred by the war of nations. Once again, renegade doctor Black Jack is caught in the crossfire. With Death breathing down his neck, he braves bullets and deadly biohazards to save the afflicted. Will the detective doctor prevail once more? Or will he pay the ultimate price for his mercenary ways?

Episode 4:
An infamous actress is suddenly stricken gravely ill. While she’s visibly undernourished and weak, she doesn’t seem to be able to eat. He has run every conceivable test, yet nothing appears to be wrong with her. Unable to hold her food down, the young star has become desperate. Considering suicide to end her torment, she has found a special doctor to help her die. Black Jack must race against time to save her - his only lead: the girl’s past and a deadly secret from World War I. It is a perplexing question of faith when Black Jack is hired to keep her from dying.

Review
In this volume of Black Jack, we are the spectators of a war that for some odd reason resembles what is going on in Iraq. In the show the United States is referred to as Federal Unites and Iraq is the Ortega Republic. Anyways, politics is not my specialty and certainly is not the goal of this episode, so here we go, let us start the review.

The show starts off with a beautiful woman seeking medical help from Black Jack for another person. This person later on turns out to be her father and the ruler that the Federal Unites imprisoned (sound familiar?). The situation turns bad as the army of the Ortega Republic ambushes the prisoner transport and retrieves their leader back. It is a full proof plan until, his health catches up to him. I know Black Jack is not real, but it is real enough that he cannot cure everyone, of course this was displayed in the first volume already too. The episode soon turns into a battle field rather than settling for the emergency room atmosphere that we all expected. From needles and scalpers we go to guns and bullets. It no longer is about the health of a man, rather it becomes the strength of a dying person trying to deliver a last sense of morale for his citizens to build upon. This is some top notch stuff, I surely enjoyed it tremendously.

In the next episode, a lot of males might like it. It is about a female actress, who simply wanted to act. But when financial problems strikes her, she is forced to model for a porn magazine. Then it began… one porn movie after another. It was the only movies she was getting cast in. Until she becomes ill with an unknown sickness that causes her to throw up everything she eats. With a noticeable frail body, she requests our good doctor, Black Jack to help. I will stop here with the spoilers; it gets good throughout the show, so you might want to tune in yourself.

Black Jack is just great. It is not one dimensional. It is not solely about patching up people. There are small messages generated through it that if given the enough thought to it, it might latch on to you. Since minds are different, what I make out from what I saw, is sure to be different from yours so see what you come up with and make sense out of it. It is actually quite fun to put your mind to work after watching an anime, you not only understand better, but will like it better too.

The Breakdown
Addictive and fun! What more do you need?

Synopsis
Life is but a dream?

- or so the story goes.

But is it? As you read these, are you wake or dreaming? A silly question perhaps, but if you’re a high school student, and your classmates include Lum, a beautiful alien princess, Ataru, the lecherous and luckless lad she loves, and Mendou, the scion of the richest family on the planet, you quickly learn not to take anything, even reality, for granted.

So when the gang at Tomobiki High find themselves endlessly repeating the day before the School Festival, they may be confused, but they aren’t surprised!

Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer is writer-director Oshii Mamoru’s magnum opus, combining the insanely funny comedy that made Urusei Yatsura a huge hit in Japan with a deeply philosophical tale of time and space, reality and fantasy. Yes, life is but a dream, but who is the Beautiful Dreamer?

Review
My first experience with Urusei Yatsura was a vague one. I remembered Lum by her dressing style when I was around eight or nine years old. That was it. Now I guess it was fate that I finally found out what it was about. Urusei Yatsura: Beautiful Dreamer is truly beautiful. There is a joy to watching something this well done considering when it first started. Newer anime these days have the same formula, comedies are not funny and actions do not contain much action. That is why old school anime like Urusei Yatsura is so great. It is enjoyable and hilarious. Let me tell you this too, another good old series you should look out for is Ghost Sweeper Mikami… that is if it ever gets licensed in the United States. I will take Ghost Sweeper Mikami over Excel Saga or Puni Puni Poemy any day. Okay, back to Urusei Yatsura.

The story of this movie focuses between reality and dreams. What is considered reality and what are considered dreams? What makes you so sure that your dream is not reality and your reality is not a dream? All these questions are brought up and broken down in a very fun adventure. Imagine a world with no one but yourself and your friends. You can do whatever you want, whenever you want and live happily ever after in this non-aging world. Quite cool is it not? That is until you start realizing that you are living the same day over and over again. As Onsen and Sakura start realizing what was happening in the world, Lum and friends also begin to feel that things were acting strange. There was not a soul to be seen on the streets or anywhere for a matter of fact. So the investigation begins and the fun as well.

I loved how this movie was funny throughout. With every scene there is bound for something good to happen and surprisingly it does not lose its edge. Everything is well scripted, compliments of Mamoru Oshii and of course Rumiko Takahashi, the creator of Urusei Yatsura. Finding a boring moment in this movie is like trying to find your keys in an ocean… it just is not going to happen :P. That really explicates a lot about how fond I am with this title. Urusei Yatsura is truly a classic and an example of high quality entertainment at its best.

The Breakdown
I am really looking forward to seeing more of Urusei Yatsura. I definitely recommend this title with five stars, two thumbs up or whatever you like to use to judge a great anime.

Synopsis
Ever wonder what it would be like to work for an animation studio? Kuromi just landed her dream job at the famous Studio Petit, and boy is she in for a rude awakening! The boss is hospitalized moments after she arrives (he gave his life to anime), and suddenly Kuromi is the new head of the ultimate team of slackers! It’s up to her to finish “Time Journeys Episode 2,” or fans everywhere will be let down. Will Kuromi’s love of cartoons clean up this horrible mess… or make an even bigger one?

Review
As an anime fan, we all dream of working in the anime field one day. Some fans are lucky enough to live that dream, and some fans can only dream. In this animation comedy, Mikiko Oguro was an anime fanatic since she was young. Her most memorable work that sparked her interest was titled Louis Monde III. I am sure we all have an anime that left us with the same effect as Kuromi’s. Mine being Love Hina.

In Animation Runner Kuromi, we are shown a group of animators whom lack the much needed self motivation for the job. It is funny how I can relate to some of the animator’s personality. I am smooth like Tanonaka, distracted by toys like Haryu, and sound uninterested like Shihonmatsu. That does not mean I am an animator, it just means I am human. And that is where Kuromi strives. It is life like. The depiction of the whole animation process was quite accurate according to Matt Sheridan in an interview included in the special features. The director Akitaroh Daichi also stated that the characters in Kuromi are actually three to four actual people combined into one. He also announced that Kuromi 2 is also in the works, but would not over extend the title, because after all it is only interesting because Kuromi is a rookie at what she is doing.

Animation Runner Kuromi is not a laughathon type of anime. It is not funny as it looks like it would be. You would get a chuckle here and there, but not a rolling on the floor type of laughter. This OVA will appeal to fans who are interested in how anime is created. You can learn a few jargons animators use to call things, such as, cuts and in-betweens, other than that you just get an average anime. I would not say that Animation Runner Kuromi is a must have title, it actually is not a title that would most likely be rented or owned only if you are really interested in how anime gets created.

The Breakdown
I knew creating anime was a difficult and long process, but I did not imagine that animators will give a hard time to the producers. I look forward to Animation Runner Kuromi 2, hopefully it will be a tremendous upgrade over the first, not that Kuromi 1 is bad; it is just average.

Synopsis
Episode 5:
While on vactation, Black Jack comes across a young man haunted by the vision of a woman who beckons him to return to a town he’s never visited. He also has vision of being shot in a battle in which he was too young to have possibly fought! Bullet wounds mysteriously appear on his body, bleed, and disappear. Is the young man insane? Could it have anything to do with an operation performed on the young man many years before? Or are they other forces at work? It’s up to Black Jack to solve the mystery!

Episode 6:
In the middle of a strange blizzard, Black Jack finds himself trying to rescue a dying princess. Taking poison to avoid a loveless marriage, she would prefer death to a life where she was forever denied the arms of the man she truly loves. Now, Black Jack is forced to question what is real when he opens up the girl and finds a demon waiting inside…

Review
Black Jack is not failing to impress me with each volume. In volume three, Incubation, Black Jack is put up with a mysterious illness of a soldier. When his illness strikes, his back will sprout bullet hole wounds and blood will splatter all over. Coincidently, Black Jack and Pinoko was on the same vacation that the soldier was taking therefore, when his attack struck, Black Jack was there to investigate the cause of the illness and curing him in the process. What nobody expected was that the cause of his condition was not due to a disease or any sort of illness. You get hints, but you will never guess the cause of his condition. Because of this, Black Jack is unpredictable, unlike another anime I was watching recently where I can even predict what the character was going to exactly say in Japanese.

In the second episode of this volume, we go from present to past and back to present. Crazy? Unique? Whatever you call it, I just did not know how the plot of the episode was going to connect to the main plot of the entire series. Surprisingly, as you are watching it, it does not matter; you do not even think about it much. All you will be doing is trying to solve the mystery before Black Jack reveals it to you.

All in all, I am very happy with how this series is developing; great attractive and unpredictable plot. There is without a doubt in my mind that Black Jack has to be one of the best anime releases this year, hands down!

The Breakdown
This is really a great series!

Synopsis
Mad science runs in her family, but Hikaru has always been an ordinary girl. It’s a dream come true when she discovers that she’s really a super-powered alien! With her hyper-speed battle mecha, the Grandoll Armor, she is humanity’s last hope against a hideous alien invasion!

Review
Hyper Speed GranDoll is not an impressive series. It is very predictable in dialogue, the upcoming scenes and plot. As a matter of fact, it makes me sick to my stomach that the characters will say or do something so predictable that in your own mind you will say, “Oh my god! What the hell is this?” Also, just to set things straight, GranDoll is not a hentai, even though the DVD cover may say otherwise.

Hmm… where to start? The plot I guess. GranDoll is about a little girl who was from another planet, who landed on Earth as a couple was going about their business. Ever since they have discovered the girl, they took her in as their daughter. What seems to be a high school teenage love drama turns out to be a high school teenage love drama with some action; fighting action I mean heh. The story develops fast. In the first episode, the character, Hikaru already tells you everything. What she will do in the series and etc. Hence, the reason why I say this series is very predictable.

Now GranDoll is not filled with negatives only, there are some good about it. There were some scenes that were funny. Even though going through this series is like an obligation, but the viewer must keep in mind that this is a three episode, all in one volume series. Therefore, it is short, quick and the points might not have been as developed as it would have if the format was a bit longer. But oh wells, since the show is what it is, I reviewed it accordingly to my taste hehe; in other words it was bad.

The Breakdown
It seems to me that no time was put into Hyper Speed GranDoll, that is the feeling I get when I was viewing this piece.