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Synopsis
Was it all just a dream or a vision? No, it was real all right. It all began on the day Kanzaki Hitomi asked the tarot cards if she’d find true love. She made a promise that if she could run 100 meters in under 13 seconds, then Amano-sempai was to give Hitomi her first kiss. As Hitomi sprints, the Earth and the world of Gaea overlap momentarily creating a portal. From the gateway proceed forth Van, heir to the throne of Fanelia, and a fire-breathing land dragon.

Review
Escaflowne or Vision of Escaflowne is a 26 episode anime television series produced by Sunrise Studio. It first aired in Japan from April 2 to September 24, 1996. It then was broadcasted BRIEFLY in edited form on FOX Kids between August and October 2000 episodes 2-10 (episode 1 was cut) and a butchered half of episode 11. It was canceled officially during early plot development and replaced with Nascar Racers due to ratings. The shows before and after it both received higher ratings than Escaflowne. Word on the internet says that the FOX network originally acquired Escaflowne in order to compete with Gundam. The edits in background music and a focus more heavily on Van as the main character instead of Hitomi clashed with the animation and story. As latter episodes revealed that Vision of Escaflowne was more of a dramatic love story than action series it was yanked off the air. Another reason is that the series was too episodic, that missing an episode meant missing a vital part of the storyline (I myself did not know Escaflowne was on tv until I accidentally stumbled upon it while flipping through channels. Already it was in the middle of episode 4 and I had no idea what the story was like in the previous episodes). The show did appear on YTV in Canada for some time after it was cancelled in America, much like how the English Yugioh episodes on YTV are already past the final rounds of Battle City while KidsWB is painstakingly behind.

The Breakdown
Escaflowne has everything one can ask for in an anime. You see battling with the sword and in their guymelefs, floating ships and castles, cat girls to princesses to a doppelganger, love triangles and affairs, prophesying, fortune telling, and luck amplification. The ending is moving and picture perfect.

Synopsis
Was it all just a dream or a vision? Kanzaki Hitomi is an unfortunate girl. She is without a boyfriend, doesn’t belong in any clubs, and has just quit the athletics squad. Everyone is energetic except for her. Hitomi is tired of it all. She sleeps all day long to disappear from a world that takes no notice of her. Suddenly, a shrouded man calls out to her: Let this sad world and everything in it just vanish. You who share the same dreams as I come to my far away homeland. You the chosen one, the Goddess of Wings, shall fulfill your destiny.

Review
Escaflowne the Movie A Girl in Gaea appeared in select theaters January 25, 2002. It was advertised as A Place You’ve Never Seen and A Story You’ll Never Forget. For an already perfect series, there was great expectation for the movie to either be as astounding and on equal footing as the originals or even surpass them on a whole new scale. However, it was that expectation that lead the movie to its downfall. The movie was not meant to be a sequel or prequel but was to be appreciated standing alone as a retelling of the story from a totally different viewpoint. The plot itself has little resemblance to the series storyline. Those turn of events that were similar and the choice of characters to include in the movie were forced.

The Breakdown
Escaflowne the Movie proved impossible to stand up against the anime series.

Synopsis
The beginning of each episode starts with the following monologue: Where monsters rampage, I’m there to take them down. Where treasure glitters, I’m there to claim it. Where an enemy rises to face me, victory will be mine! If you add to that the line Where there is the sweet aroma of food, I’m there to eat to my heart’s content, then you’ll have a basic overview of the life of Lina Inverse, the sorcery genius.

Review
Hailed as the best of the fantasy genre, Slayers is the story of the heroine Lina Inverse who one night storms into an evil bandit hideout and robs them of their treasure all in the name of vanquishing tyranny. That simple task from episode 1 soon rebounds into dire consequences all because of what she stole. Men shrouded in mystery - Rezo, one of the five wise men of the age, and Zelgadis, a chimera - pursue her. Endless streams of monsters ranging from a flying dragon and a sea dragon, trolls, skeletons, mantis warriors, golems, berserkers, a wolfman, a fish creature, and a five-eyed demon await Lina on every step of her adventure. No woman should stand alone against the forces of evil for she is joined by Gouury, a blond haired master swordsman a wielder of the legendary sword of light. Keep fighting, Lina! Never say die, Lina!

The Breakdown
One of the best anime series ever. Slayers has a solid storyline, hilarious dialogue, memorable characters, and all the fantasy elements to make this a smash hit.

Synopsis
Of all the books of sorcery without exception the most famous one is the Claire Bible. It in itself is a legend imparted to the world. Supposedly, inscribed is the remaining knowledge of the Water Dragon King after he exhausted all of his strength in the battle with the Demon Lord Shabranigdo 1000 years ago. It is a mysterious book, which faithfully records the deepest secrets of sorcery unknown to the dark lords and demons of the netherworld. Those who have been touched by this knowledge wrote it down in various forms. Those different versions are known as Claire Bible manuscripts.

Review
By popular opinion, Slayers Next is the best out of the three series, Season 1 and Try. Next is a continuation of the storyline from Season 1 setting several months after Amelia, Lina and Gouury, and Zelgadis have parted ways. They reunite in the distant kingdom of Xoana and from there travel the ends of world in search of manuscripts of the Claire Bible. From Season 1, Zelgadis risks everything to reverse Rezo’s spell and turn himself from a chimera back to a normal human being. Two new characters join the adventure. Martina the Princess of Xoana, who once lived a life of luxury, vengefully stalks Lina. The second is Beast Master Xellos, the mysterious and powerful priest, who has his own agenda. The closing of the series, episode 23, marks the return of Sylphiel and the swordsman Zangulus. With all these characters you can be assured of one thing: Lina Inverse will never stop, and she will let no one stand in her way!

The Breakdown
No doubt one of the best anime series of all time.

Synopsis
Daisuke Aurora and Android ‘J’ are partners who work together as part of a special division ‘pre-crime’ police force. Together, they are a great team, taking down crime anywhere in the oceanic-cityscape of Judoh. But with a mob family vying for power against all others, with the head only known as ‘VAMPIRE’; and another man, with a hidden past, with the head of a werewolf, Daisuke and J have a lot to handle.

Review
I’d heard good things about Heat Guy J for a year or so now. I anticipated its release stateside, hoping it would live up to the hype. I was not let down in any way. As of late, I had been getting into many shoujo anime series, this show brought me back into the shounen fold, where I belong. This is male drama and action at its core. I enjoyed this volume a great deal, and cannot wait for the next. There’s almost nothing I did not like with this show.

The show oozes cool much like famed series Cowboy Bebop and has action to spare much like Trigun or Hellsing. It’s most definitely the sum of it’s parts with beautiful animation, excellent music, and a top-notch enjoyable detective story.

The Breakdown
It has great action. Beautiful animation. Awesome music. A great story. There’s really not much not to like in this. Buy the first volume, and give it a try.

Synopsis
Show Zama, an up and coming motocross racer in Japan, is warped through a ‘trans-dimensional aura highway’ one night while driving away from a bunch of motocross thugs. From there, things begin to become extremely odd. Show Zama, along with a few others (a Russian and an American) have been transported to a world known only as Byston Well. Apparently, all the people of Byston Well know of our world (Earth), which they refer to as Up World, and they have now, along with the help of an American from California, created mechs known as Aura Battlers. Unfortunately, this technology has been obtained by only one nation of Byston Well so far, the House of Drake Luft. They have started to conquer the rest of Byston Well, and now Show has been forced to pilot an Aura Battler for the wrong side…

Review
I’ve only heard great things of Aura Battler. Having been created through the excellent mind of Yoshiyuki Tomino (creator of Gundam) there were high expectations from me. All my expectations were filled and then some. Being an early 1980’s TV series, the animation is very poor, which could put some people off entirely. Once I got past that though, the story was all that mattered. Being the predecessor of such great and similar shows like Escaflowne, which borrows heavily from this, there are only great things to say about Aura Battler. The story is very inspired, with themes such as love, trust, betrayal, and whatnot. Tomino knows that all great war stories are told on the human level, and this one exemplifies those ideas ten-fold.

The Breakdown
Tomino did it again here, and you can see he’s  at the top of his game with Aura Battler Dunbine. Do not miss this chance to pick up an old classic onto DVD. This is a great release.

Synopsis
A thousand years have passed since the battle with the Demon Lord Shabranigdo. At his final moments, Shabranigdo, using the powers of darkness, erected a magical barrier to curse the inhabitants, entrapping them. Thus, it was made impossible for anyone to get into and out of the country. That was until a very beautiful, powerful sorcerer genius otherwise known as Lina Inverse defeated both the Dragon King Gaav and Hellmaster Phibrizzo, retainers to Shabranigdo. A pillar of light shines from a distant land beckoning them…

Review
The final installment of the Slayers series, this three-letter word Try is the third season of quite possibly the greatest of all fantasy anime. There are three races: the gods, demons, and human beings that serve as a catalyst combining the powers of the other two. The final line of Season 1’s opening Get along, Try again! represents Lina’s determination never to give up against the forces of evil, even one as great as the prince of darkness Dark Star - a creature as powerful as Shabranigdo. Try extends the storyline from Slayers Next setting months after Amelia, Lina and Gouury, and Zelgadis have separated. Zelgadis still hopes to find a spell to reverse the chimera process by journeying to the unknown lands beyond the barrier. Xellos and Amelia are there for official business. Two new characters are introduced. In place of Sylphiel is Filia, the strong yet easily tempered shrine maiden from the Golden Dragon clan who solicits the help of Lina. The second is Valgaav, belonging to the black Ancient Dragons reborn as a demon through the powers of Gaav. He seeks to avenge Gaav’s death by disposing of Lina permanently.

The Breakdown
Slightly behind Season 1 and Next, but the Slayers series is one of the best!

Synopsis
Ryu Soma continues to work for the people of FUNERAL. But he has not exacted his revenge yet on Frank, though he has already had two chances to do so. He begins to doubt himself and his reality, and soon enough he is taking blind action against Frank, going into rage and madness.

Meanwhile, the largest alien ever to approach Earth has come to head towards Pilgrimage Point, but right in it’s path lays FUNERAL’s home base of operations. It starts thrashing FUNERAL, and  when their last resort to defeat the alien, a particle cannon known as Fefnir, fails, all hope is lost…

Review
Halfway through the series now, I’m still enjoying it immensely, and love everything about Argentosoma. We have another 4 great episodes here. Especially interesting is Ryu doubting his path of revenge, and his very odd hallucinations of seeing Hattie as his lost love. The last episode gives us a lot of clues as to what has been going on, though it’s done in the tried but true ‘organization meeting.’ FUNERAL deals with some very interesting aliens on this disc, one that is extremely large for one, and the way FUNERAL defeats each still strikes me as ingenuitive and all out cool. Things are just getting better.

The Breakdown
Nothing not to like. Buy it now. Were you expecting me to say anything else?

Synopsis
A party of three, Merrill, Genie, and Melissa can defeat anything and everything on their adventures across the world. With Merill’s powers of thievery, Genie’s warrior abilities, and Melissa’s power of prayer, they are a triad of unstoppable force. Unfortunately enough, none of them know magic, and on their latest adventure, they happen to get stuck raiding an old ruin because of a magic seal. So they go to the local town and try to hire a woman magician. Even more unfortunately, all the women in the town who are aspiring magicians are more interested in studying than going out on adventures. So they decide  to hire a maverick magician, a male known as Louie, to help them out. Little did they know the stupidity that came with him…

Review
Funny is all I can say about this show. From the director of the serious-minded fantastical series known as Record of Lodoss War, I was expecting something just as serious and epic. In the first 5 minutes I was proven entirely wrong. Rune Soldier is all about stupidity and the reactions of said stupidity. If Louie isn’t doing one dumb thing, it’s another entirely. He’s so poor at magic that instead of actually using magic he’s more intent on using his fists to pummel his enemies into submission. Dumb enough is he that he uses his wand as a baseball bat, breaking it in the process, which causes a proverbial outcry from the women of his team. This of course causes another adventure to occur in which Louie has to go find some special wood in a deadly forest to restore his magic wand which he barely knows how to use. And of course, there’s always that part with him swinging the boar. Extremely funny stuff.

The Breakdown
It’s funny, it sounds great, it’s animated well, and the stories are great episodic pieces. There’s not much to not like. But, if your like some of my friends, you may not like this by default if your one for action-only anime and do not like Japanese-centric humor. If your not like that, buy now!

Synopsis
Makoto and Yura are both 25-years old and married as a couple. Pity for them because their marriage was arranged. However, they decided to repeat the platonic stage all over again, from going on an ordinary date to the ‘first night’ experience. But the problem remains, Yura is a ‘virgin’, and Makoto is a ‘cherry boy’ for twenty five years.. they both have no experience at all at ‘you know what’, so both Makoto and Yura decided to solve their problem at all costs

Review
Futari Ecchi (or as it is sometimes called, Step Up Love Story) means something close to ‘lewdness of a couple’. And pretty much…that is what it is about. Although it is ‘hentai-esque’ (is that a word?), it is very funny as well. The cluelessness of both Yura and Makoto is the perfect setup for this sex comedy. From Yura’s ‘discovery’ of Makoto’s rather large hentai collection to Yura’s younger ’sexpert’ sister giving her sage advice to the couple on a regular basis, this series is one laugh after another, with a few dirty scenes thrown in (it is a hentai after all). But they aren’t really offensive. Futari Ecchi is surprisingly story-centered, and is all the better for it.

The Breakdown
Fun, silly, creative…but not for kids. It can be found for relatively cheap online, and it’s well worth the buy.