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Synopsis
Hideki, or Motosuwa-kun, is a 18 year old farmer who decides one day to become a Tokyo University student. He moves to Japan’s capital in order to attend a preparatory class for the entrance exam. Upon arrival almost like a tourist, he is awed by the fact that everyone has their own Persocon: a robot, no more like an android since they resemble the human anatomy, that acts as their personal servant helping out in daily chores form carrying groceries to home cleaning. They are more like computers since each persocon has it’s own built in hard drive, and they can instantly send and receive e-mail to one another. Hideki stumbles upon what appears to be a discarded persocon lying near a dumpster and decides to bring it home. After turning it on, the first word she says is ‘Chii.’

Review
Although it’s from a different anime series, I’d like to quote from Episode 11 of To Heart because I believe it captures the philosophical questions prevalent in Chobits perfectly: Man: ‘What’s the difference between a machine and a human? Machines are made by humans, but that’s not the case with humans. But, come to think of it, living creatures are in fact creations. Coincidence, environment, and nature…What’s your opinion? About the differences between humans and machines? For one thing a machine is incapable of thinking. It can only act out the program it has been given. No matter how successful a machine is, it can never become human.

‘Hiroyuki-san: ‘Whether we are talking about pigeons or robots, if it can laugh or cry or just enjoy being with you…If it’s something like that, that’s good enough for me.’

The Breakdown
Chi is adorable. When Hideki found her she was not pre-programmed with an OS. So raising Chi correlates to raising any human child. It is cute watching Chi’s reactions to Hideki explaining the meaning of certain phrases and places. When we first meet her, she mimics Hideki’s movements. But as she becomes proficient in her vocabulary and understanding, we see her steadily become more and more human.

Synopsis
Now this one is an oldie (but it’s good). Made in 1982, Otaku no Video (Fan’s Video) is a ‘mockumentary’ of sorts, and also a thinly veiled history of Gainex. It mocks those crazy fools who love anime. It stars a college student named Kubo who HATES those damn anime geeks. But then he runs into his old high-school friend Tanaka, who is a big GEEK. So, he’s gets led into the world of anime, SF, and even cosplay (yay!). After facing rejection from the rest of the world because of his love for anime, Kubo decides that he must fosake the world and live soley on anime. He will become an ‘Otaking’!

Review
Actually, this is two movies in one, the orginal ‘Otaku no Video 1982 and the sequel ‘More Otaku no Video 1985. These movies are great for any true anime fan, the literal meaning of the title being ‘Your Video’. Although it starts out a bit critical of otaku, which is shown through the ultimate ‘loser-ness’ of Tanaka’s anime group and Kubo losing his girlfriend because of anime in ‘1982, it changes mindsets in ‘1985 when Kubo decides to become the ‘Otaking’.

Also, there are a huge amount of in-jokes for old-school anime fans, so many in fact that AnimEigo included six pages of linear notes describing them and an address to which you can send any more that you see in the movie.

There are also interviews with ‘real otaku’ (I haven’t yet figured out whether they are real or not) about the how they are/were otaku, and how being an otaku has affected their life.

However, near the end of the anime, things become very silly and segue into a strange Sci-Fi adventure

Overall, these movies are the ultimate combination of all that is ‘Otaku’, from the many, many reference to old anime and Japanese culture, to the crazy storyline and slightly frightening interviews. It’s even more fun to watch it with friends and see who ‘gets’ the most in-jokes.

The Breakdown
This is a amazingly fun old-school trip. Heck, it’s even a history lesson of sorts. Go and get this ASAP!

Synopsis
Hi there! I’m Honda Tohru. In May of this year, I lost my mother who raised me all by herself in a traffic accident. After that incident I’ve come to live secretly in a tent. It’s definitely not too comfortable, but that’s alright! Since one of my mottos is ‘Never quit under any circumstances!’

Review
‘Long, long ago, Kami-sama [God] told all the animals, ‘I invite all of you to a party tomorrow. And on no account be late.’ When the mischievous mouse heard that, he told a lie to his neighbor, the cat, that the meeting was to take place the day after tomorrow. The next day, the mouse rode on the ox’s back and arrived in front of the meeting place. After that the ox, the tiger, and so forth had a fun time there until morning except for the cat that was fooled.’

‘Why are you crying Tohru?’

‘That’s so sad! I feel so sorry for the cat! I know what I want to do, instead of a dog I want to be a cat!’

The Breakdown
26 episodes full of the ideal mix of humor and drama.

Synopsis
Anime show ‘Onegai Teacher’ started airing on January 10, 2002 on WOWOW. The show’s heroine Kazami Mizuho - an alien observation specialist - is played by the voice of hugely popular voice actress Kikuko Inoue. -CDJapan

Review
Onegai Teacher will always be one of my favorite titles. This is one of those OAV’s, where the director just wants to give what the fans want. The 7th Mail does a fine job bringing what the fans want, by displaying relationships that are in the TV series and extend upon it. Of course this final episode to the first series is not only about that. Our buddy Kei seems to have problems with our lovely teacher Kazami Mizuho. Well, both Kei and Mizuho are kind of shy and they still have not done what married couples do. What is better than having his mother in law, Hatsuho, stepping in, and give a little hand to the two?

The whole episode was all fun as it displays Kei being spotted by all of his best friends with a girl (something he did not want). One of his friends, Matagu made a big deal out of it, because he still does not have a girlfriend. That is when he gets teleported to the storage room by Hatsuho. Mizuho was everything but happy when she found out about her mother holding Kei’s hand and taking him into a hotel. Even Maho was going out with Kei until Matagu came in and confronted the two.

I did mention this OAV is all about fun right? As episode thirteen comes to a close, we get a little surprise from Hatsuho. Although the real ending comes after the end credits roll. I hope One * 2 will be as good as Onegai Teacher.

The Breakdown
Bandai Entertainment has licensed this series and scheduled a release date of somewhere around April. Keep those pennies saved, as this is a series you don’t want to miss if you are a fan of shounen type anime.

Synopsis
Powerful Demons and beautiful, noble Guardians have battled for Earth since the dawn of time. Ages ago, the arrogant Demons enslaved humans, while the Guardians fought for human freedom. A deep hatred burns between Demon and Guardian; the Guardians know the Demons thirst for blood and power would destroy humanity and the world itself.

Neo-Shinjuku, 2089 - few Demons or Guardians remain to continue their epic war. Humans rule the Earth, with no real memory of the Demons or Guardians. Yet, deep within the dark underworld of the city, the supreme Demon is still alive and plotting, once again, to overtake mankind. Only one Guardian is left to do battle, and the fate of the human race hangs in the balance.

Review
Wow, this is a short one. It’s another one from Director Hisahi Abe (Vampire Hunter D), which means lots a pale people, black backrounds, nudity, and very bloody fights.

Although the opening narration tells of the Great Mother creating demons and guardians, humans are transformed into demons through bioengineering. As he’s celebrating his engagement, Eiji, a pharmaceutical researcher, suddenly changes into a disgustingly nasty monster, but is caught by the nastily incestious brother/sister team of Chen and Huang Long, who take him to a sex club and feed him prostitutes (how nice!).

Eiji is part of an experiment conducted by Mr. Takamiya, the master demon. Enter Tsunami Shijyo, Guardian, demon hunter, and ‘fire manipulator’. He’s hired by Eiji’s fiacee, Shizuka, to find him as she goes out to find (and kill) him herself.

I don’t want to tell anymore…but only because it’s just not worth it. The story has so much potential, but isn’t allowed to develop. No backround story is given for any of the characters, they just kind of…exist. In this aspect it reminds me of X/1999. But overall, this was a horrid, sub-par flick. I actually enjoyed watching the trailers more than the anime. However this may just be because I am not a huge fan of this genre. I would say only get this if you are a either a die-hard genre fan, or a die-hard Hisashi Abe fan.

The Breakdown
If you are truely desperate for a man vs. demon anime/manga, I’d recommend Ogre Slayer

Synopsis
Junta has a problem: he’s deathly allergic to girls! All this changes when a beautiful woman arrives from the future and transforms him into the super-suave Mega-Playboy. But the transformation is unstable, and if Junta can’t unravel the time traveler’s mystery, he (and the fate of the world) will never be the same!

Review
As it was said in the synopsis, Junta Momonari has a serious issue when it comes to girls. He stutters, and pukes, making him not an idealistic partner that any girl would love. Junta’s life of puking and stuttering are kind of over as Karin Aoi travels back in time from the future to prevent the mega playboy from awakening and create the over population problem that the future is currently experiencing by shooting him with a DCM (DNA Control Medicine) bullet. Things seem to go right, until she finds out that she used the wrong DCM bullet and actually helped in awakening the mega playboy than preventing it.

Now what? Junta now has two different personalities, since his mega playboy genes still is not in full swing. When he sees a girl’s tears or situations where he feels a sense of sadness from the girl, the mega playboy comes out, then, after a while it vanishes. I did say that his puking and stuttering days were kind of over, because after his mega playboy mode goes off, he returns to the original Junta who stutters and pukes when he sees things that excite him (pornography, etc.). Karin of course tries to correct her mistake, but she also almost falls for the mega playboy Junta.

This first volume is not what I had expected. There were not much comedy or it was that I just do not have a good sense of humor. The only reason why I stayed through the seventy five minutes was, because I am a fan of series in this genre (shounen).

The Breakdown
This title certainly was not what I had expected. I thought it was going to be better. However the future to past romance theme of DNA2 is quite interesting. Let us just hope that the next volume will be better than the first.

Synopsis
Set in medieval Japan, Miyazaki’s original story envisions a struggle between nature and man. The march of technology, embodied in the dark iron forges of the ambitious Tatara clan, threatens the natural forces explicit in the benevolent Great God of the Forest and the wide-eyed, spectral spirits he protects. When Ashitaka, a young warrior from a remote, and endangered, village clan, kills a ravenous, boar-like monster, he discovers the beast is in fact an infectious ‘demon god,’ transformed by human anger. Ashitaka’s quest to solve the beast’s fatal curse brings him into the midst of human political intrigues as well as the more crucial battle between man and nature.

Review
This epic, animated 1997 fantasy has already made history as the top-grossing domestic feature ever released in Japan, where its combination of mythic themes, mystical forces, and picturesqe visuals tapped deeply into cultural identity and contemporary, ecological anxieties.

Miyazaki’s slightly twisted fable is clearly not the stuff of kiddie flicks, nor is the often graphic violence depicted during the battles that ensue. If some younger viewers (or less attentive older ones) will wish for a diagram to sort out the players, Miyazaki’s amazing world and its lush visual design are reasons enough to watch.

I find the characters to be the most intriguing part of this expansive feature however. None of them are perfectly black and white. Ashitake may be seem to be a standard ‘good guy’, but he does have a demon living within him; Lady Eboshi is destroying the enviroment and killing off the forest gods, but she is suprisingly kind to the prostitutes and lepers that she has rescued from other cites, and they love her for that.

Princess Mononoke is not your standard ’style over substance’ anime. It not only looks magnificent, but has an intriguing story as well. A definate ‘must see’!

The Breakdown
Great movie, although I’d recommend it for kids 12 and up.

Synopsis
Yes, the producers of the most demented anime ever produced are getting desperate, so in order to keep up the ratings, Excel and Hyatt find themselves facing new, Highly Merchandisable Characters, gimmick episodes are even SEXUAL JEOPARDY (I’ll take ‘lesbian android overtures’ for $100, Alex!) It’s all in the service of Llpalazzo and ACROSS as our favorite set of social misfits once again plunges into the breach as the plot sickens… er, thickens… in the fourth incredibly bizarre volume of Excel Saga!

Review
I cannot even count the times I have laughed in this volume of Excel Saga. In volume four, we are introduced to two… one… no two new characters; hot/mature Ropponmatsu and energetic/young Ropponmatsu. The show suddenly becomes amusing as both Ropponmatsus come back after being blown up quite a few times and of course especially hilarious when Llpalazzo sends Excel and Hyatt to America (New York City - Holla!). Whew, the English that Excel used were things that would pretty much get yourself killed in the city F.

Story… ACROSS causes some panic in City F, and that was it. Pedro on the other hand gets revived and takes ‘revenge,’ notice I quoted revenge, because it sure was some revenge he took on Gomez. I feel for the city workers. In the last episode of this volume they did not have any scene, except a scene to show that they are angry for not being in an episode again (hey its normal hehe).

Excel Saga: Doing Whatever It takes, is exactly doing whatever it takes to get me to enjoy this series even more than before. The new characters did their job and the story of Pedro continues. Actually I think Pedro’s story kind of takes over Excel Saga’s story at times.

The Breakdown
Anybody know where I can get one of those hot/mature Ropponmatsu statues? :P

Synopsis
Just when you thought it couldn’t get any stranger, Excel Excel and her associates encounter the most horrifying of all plot devices… a sub-plot! You won’t believe who’s been plotting against whom as the writers double cross the author, the director takes a new direction and the supporting cast comes back with a vengeance but absolutely no clue whatsoever! There’s Menchi-mania and Pedro-philia galore as everybody involved takes the fifth in Excel Saga Volume 5!

Review
More Excel than ever, I think I have had too much Excel in one day, but hey was entertaining so it is cool. In this volume of Excel Saga we get a summary of Pedro’s story, as we count all the NOs! and afros we also get a pretty fun episode. This episode has made me more interested in the character of Pedro. I want to watch more of Pedro’s story has he battles ‘That Man.’ Yes the dude’s name is ‘That Man,’ *laughs* the production cast must have ran out of names or something.

As things cannot get any wackier, we receive an episode of ‘Daitenzin.’ An episode that featured the city workers (Yay! They finally have more scenes.) as Power Ranger look-alikes. Their orders were strictly just to keep the city peaceful and obtain ten good deeds. I do not know if the police would like to thank them or not, because they were making their jobs more difficult.

The staff forces Koshi Rikdo to give permission for Excel Saga to be an animal anime once again. In the second animal episode of Excel Saga, there were moments that brought back an honorable friend of Menchi’s who sacrified himself and helped her in the first animal episode. On another note let us just say Excel Saga breaks all boundaries. It was awkward in the rockers episode when Key was playing a guitar in the shadow next to Excel and Hyatt’s futon between a blanket and it looked as if he was masturbating. It was just hilarious how Key was playing it. Seeing Excel’s reaction to Key’s action was also amusing. Sigh… an Excel a day makes some people’s stress go away.

The Breakdown
Reviewing Excel Saga is a hard task as there is no stable story and many things happen episode to episode. Sorry if I become repetitive.

Synopsis
Rurouni Kenshin is a wanderer, a lost soul, cursed to seek atonement for his life in the bloody trade of the samurai. During the long war to overthrow the corrupt government, he was known throughout all Japan as the Hitokiri Battousai (’sword-bearing master assassin’). But the end of the war has brought no peace to Kenshin, despite a vow to draw his sword only for the protection of those in need. Now his wife Kaoru steadfastly awaits his return, mourning his absence as well as that of their son, Kenji. Will Kenshin return before she dies of grief? The past meets the present fifteen years after Kenshin first left.

Review
This is the last of Kenshin, what a ride it has been. From manga to TV series to movie, OAV then finally this OAV, Reflection (Seisouhen). One thing you will notice when you watch Reflection is that the character animation has changed for the better. Everyone has aged, Kaoru and Kenshin is now married and has a child by the name of Kenji. Let us back up for a moment and start off from the beginning.

Kenshin was on a ship back to Japan after he had finished his task helping the needy without the use of his sword. It was because of his continuance to strive to help people he has contracted a disease that in that time was incurable. Kaoru knowing that still wants to stay as close to Kenshin as possible and wanted him to share the pain with her. There were quite a few moments where it became very emotional. Kenji who hardly sees his father thought that he mistreated his mom and him. As he is still a kid, he does not understand and learns the hard way from Yahiko. That was a great fight scene and Hiko Sejuro surely does not look like he has aged much from the last time we have seen him. He is still kicking back drinking his sake as he teaches Kenji some sword technique that is not Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu.

With the first part being more of a recap of the whole Kenshin series, we move on to the real story, part two a flashback of what has happened after the movie. In part two we get introduced to an old character… a character who was in the first OAV. Tomoe’s little brother, Enishi Yukishiro. This time he is not going to stand there and watch. He kidnaps Kaoru and demands a duel with Kenshin to avenge for his sister. Enishi does not follow any style of fighting; he created his own fighting technique, a powerful one too. The action of Reflection was exciting and you can almost feel the blades of the swords collide as characters fight. My favorite fight scene by far is Yahiko against Kenji.

The voice acting of the Japanese and English cast were good, music score was wonderful and the music cast surely deserves a lot of credit for bringing life to the animated pictures. The animation also deserves much praise as they put out such aesthetic work. It is a hard task to see a great series end, and I am sure you would appreciate the way Rurouni Kenshin ends. Although I have battles with people I know about the ending, I see it as a very deep and emotional ending. When you put together all the pieces of what Kenshin really lived for after his Hitokiri days, the ending will start to make sense in a very great way.

The Breakdown
Tough to see Rurouni Kenshin end. This whole series has been around me for about four to five years. Rurouni Kenshin to me is irreplaceable. Kenji can start his own show, but would probably not have the same effect as Kenshin did.