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Synopsis
One day at a restaurant with his two best friends, Suguru decides to hire a maid, which is no surprise since his home looks like a garbage heap. ‘Well, it’s not easy living alone as a junior high student.’ Suguru is only 14 after all. What he gets is more than anyone can bargain for: a cute maid who happens to be Vespar’s strongest battle type android.

Review
Pioneer’s latest breakthrough at a robot maid anime so far appears to be the greatest in this category. Unlike Hand Maid May, there is only a single maid, Mahoro, who is warmly received by the supporting characters, Suguru’s classmates, who always seem to find a reason to spend after school hours at his house. Chizu is especially delighted to sample her freshly made dishes. However, there is someone who we should say is not so enthused about Suguru’s maid. This person is Suguru’s perverted homeroom teacher, Shikijou-sensei, who develops a rivalry with Mahoro. So as not to be explicitly a school anime is the battle with a giant mecha crab at the beach in episode 4, various flashbacks to Mahoro’s soldier days, and midway through the series in episode 7, the antagonist Ryuuga, Saint’s strongest battle type android, presents himself as a quite formidable opponent. Overall, the cast is solid and entertaining.

The Breakdown
12 episodes plus a New Year’s Special (summary of the series similar to the Vandread OVAs). Both amusing and dramatic at the same time. On sale for $26.98 at RightStuf International, Inc.

Synopsis
‘The color of battle, the creaking wing is the sound of the beginning.’ Amidst the battered pavement of what was once the capital, there is a sanctuary, unscathed, that becomes the nucleus for the grand awakening. Sing, RahXephon, your song, your forbidden song in order for everything to become one someday.

Review
Directed by Yutaka Izubuchi (Gasaraki) and produced by Bones, Mediafactory, Inc (Cowboy Bebop: Knocking on Heaven’s door) is the well-anticipated RahXephon. Its title is one letter short from Escaflowne and like it refers to a legendary mecha. Like Hitomi, Ayato travels to a world unlike from his own, not medieval in time but rather a parallel world outside of his own sphere known as Tokyo Jupiter. From here it deviates resembling Evangelion more. Ayato lends his services to the Earth Alliance’s counter-MU strategy research agency, known as TERRA, analogous to NERV. In order to protect the island of Nirai Kanai from enemy dolems, comparable to Eva’s Angels, Ayato pilots RahXephon. Characterwise, he himself is both older than his Eva counterpart Shinji and mature although he too shares in a mental quest for identity and overall place in life.

The Breakdown
Every fan of Evangelion and every dissatisfied fan that didn’t like Evangelion because of the ending should add RahXephon to their collection. Look forward to the movie, which will be in theaters, Japan this April.

Synopsis
Her special power kept Yuzuhriha apart and lonely - until she met the Dragons of Heaven. Now, she begins to fall for Kusanagi - one of the Dragons of Earth! As Kotori faces her tragic destiny, and the second divine Shinken sword appears from an unexpected quarter, Kamui is forced closer to deciding his path. And his decision will whet the gears of destiny for the entire world!

Review
To wish for the present or to wish for a revolution… Those are the choices in which Kamui has to choose from in X: Four. In this volume, he is no longer the emotionless guy we have seen from the earlier volumes. Kamui who hid his feelings throughout could no longer bear any more of the load; he then proceeds to tells Fuma about everything. Through the discussion he has with Fuma, we find out more of Kamui’s childhood. The way he was perceived by other children, because of his extraordinary powers and the way he uses those given powers to fight for justice.

That is just the exciting part though. In the earlier episodes before this, we get a run down on Yuzuhriha’s background. We know she has a guardian spirit dog named Inuki, but what we do not really know is the pain she has suffered from her friends who thought of her as a liar when she tells them about Inuki (invisible to normal people). After an incident, she no longer cares if anybody sees Inuki, she does not even talk about him anymore. As you have read in the synopsis, Yuzuhriha begins to fall for Kusanagi a Dragon of Earth, and what I find amusing was that Kusanagi does not even seem as if he was a Dragon of Earth as he was chit chatting with Yuzuhriha as she tells him her story.

The story finally begins. Will Earth be destroyed or not will be determined by both of these clans. I am definitely looking into getting the next volumes of X.

The Breakdown
So here I am, anxiously waiting for X: [FIVE].

Synopsis
Takuto Kaneshiro is a gifted young man. A student in metallurgy, he’s something of a genius. He’s got a sweet, lovable girlfriend. And he’s got a lot of dreams for his future. But one day, all his dreams shatter in a freak accident involving a secret experiment. Everything he knows, including his beloved girlfriend, die. And from there, things really go downhill…

Review
Not knowing any of the people who worked on this one, I didn’t know what to expect. From people who imported the show from Japan, I was told the series didn’t hold their interest, or simply was not their type of thing. I won’t lie, this show isn’t for everybody. Then again, I don’t quite follow the norm.

I can’t really compare this show to anything else. It’s got awesome hints of things to come (that guy who repeatedly spouts Shakespeare on occasion who only Ryu Soma can see is very interesting.) The animation is good, as is everything else. It’s a very well rounded show, that has me to intrigued that now I have to see this show through to it’s end. And I’ve only seen the first five episodes.

The Breakdown
Buy the first volume, and give it a try. Very interesting to say the least, and has some very cool characters in it. Defintely good that it has the main character giving an evil-esque view of the story. The show is just a great breath of fresh air.

Synopsis
At the dawn of the new millenium, mankind has awakened a threat unlike any faced before: the Angels. Conventional weapons are useless against them. They can only be stopped by means of the Evangelions - bio-engineered vessels born from the Angel’s own technology mixed with human science. But the knowledge brought by the Angels is also the key to bringing about a startling new genesis for the human race. Placed in the hands of three young pilots, the final fate of humanity resting upon their shoulders, the Eva’s are the world’s last hope…

Review
Hoo boy, a review of Evangelion. Not the easiest of  anime’s to review. This ‘movie’ is really two things. There is the ‘Death’ part of this disc, which is a recap of the first 24 episodes with new footage strewn about made especially for this recap. Then there is the ‘Rebirth’ part, and this is where Manga Entertainment  once again falls flat on it’s face. In Japan, Rebirth was the first 30 minutes of End of Evangelion, but there were parts missing since technically, the End of Eva wasn’t finished yet. On this release, Manga just saw fit to shove the first 30 minutes of actual footage from the End of Eva on the disc. I really wanted to see the differences between Rebirth and End of Eva, but I guess I don’t get to (at least with the US DVD release).

Aside from that, how’s the actual content? Good…and bad. I will say right now that unless you’re a hardcore fan, do not buy this disc. There is nothing really new in it aside from some special footage for Death, which doesn’t make it that worthwhile to the normal fan. However, to the hardcore (like me), you will eat this stuff up. Rebirth is most defintely pointless, because if your buying this at all you already have or are planning to buy End of Evangelion anyway…which Rebirth is the first 30 minutes of. Buy this disc for its extras and for the cool new footage  in Death. Also, do not plan to watch this recap if you haven’t seen the show. The recap cannot help you understand anything. It was originally made in Japan to remind everyone what is going on in Evangelion, since the movie was coming out soon but it had been quite awhile since the series came. Death is good though if you’ve seen the series (as a recap).

The Breakdown
Has some very good extras (who knew Manga was smart enough to pretty much translate and put the Red Cross book on the DVD?) And I must reiterate, I thoroughly enjoyed Death and it’s new footage (while there isn’t to much, it’s still good.) Rebirth is End of Eva’s first 30 minutes, making it useless, because once you buy End of Eva, you have Rebirth anyway. Also, for some, the Mokuji special featureon the DVD  won’t work for them, and it’s a really great feature to. I, however, did not run into any problems with it on my DVD player.

Synopsis
In this disc Spike, the suave jazz loving bounty hunter, meets up with an old friend, Vicious, who, if you couldn’t tell by the name, turns out not to be so friendly. Various adventures insue. Also a new (and much hated by me) character is added to the series.

Review
The main session on this disc is the two-part adventure ‘Jupiter Jazz,’ which offers hints about the mostly unknown past of hero Spike Spiegel. Spike returns to his old haunts on Callisto in search of a mysterious woman, and comes into conflict with his former underworld associates: the icy Vicious, apprentice mobster Lin, and transgender barroom musician Gren. It all makes for good stuff.

However, the other two sessions on this disc (’Toys in the Attic’ and ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’) are really disappointing.

‘Toys’ is a rather dismal attempt at a mystery, and it is the first clue that Ed should have never been added to the series.

In ‘Bohemian Rhapsody,’ the crew of the Bebop find themselves pitted against a programming genius who designed a high-tech transportation system-and hid a flaw in the software. But he also concealed clues in chess pieces, setting up a (semi-boring) battle of wits.

The Breakdown
I reccomend getting this DVD just for ‘Jupiter Jazz’
Contains nudity, violence, and adult situations

Synopsis
Minawa (aka Android 370), ‘The feeling of loving someone…’Android 369, ‘I wished for my heart to beat just once. To be able to laugh because I was so happy. I wanted to have a heart. That’s why you have to stay alive…One of these days please get a heart…promise me…’

Review
Pioneer continues Mahoromatic with another season, something more beautiful and indeed it is much so. Here we are introduced to another female fighting robot, Minawa, who becomes the adopted sister of Mahoro and once again accepted into Suguru’s inner circle of friends of which Hamaji-san takes a particular interest to. Although shy, quiet, and a bit clumsy, Minawa learns what it is to live life as a human.

The anime still centers about the relationship between Suguru and Mahoro. The anime answers more of the questions that arose in Season 1, what will happen to Mahoro as the days approach zero, how will Mahoro tell Suguru the truth about his father’s death, and we see at least some glimpse of Matthew. Of course there are the same gags such as Mahoro’s ‘Ecchi is wrong!’ line, Chizu bursting at the taste of Mahoro’s dishes, and Shikijou-sensei still fantasizing of having Suguru in bed with her.

The Breakdown
14 episodes plus a New Year’s Special (summary of the series similar to the Vandread OVAs).

Synopsis
At the dawn of the new millenium, mankind has awakened a threat unlike any faced before: the Angels. Conventional weapons are useless against them. They can only be stopped by means of the Evangelions - bio-engineered vessels born from the Angel’s own technology mixed with human science. But the knowledge brought by the Angels is also the key to bringing about a startling new genesis for the human race. Placed in the hands of three young pilots, the final fate of humanity resting upon their shoulders, the Eva’s are the world’s last hope…

Review
The one that ends the epic. This is the true ending to the Neon Genesis Evangelion TV series. But before you go all crazy, I want to say that episodes 25 and 26 go with this ending movie, as Ganiax and Director Hideaki Anno confirmed long ago. (Episodes 25 and 26 of the TV series are what goes on in Shinji’s head, this movie is what goes on outside of him, also confirmed by Gainax). I can’t really say much about the actual movie, because it would give away too much even talking about its beginning. (It is the end, after all.)

I’ll give a brief synopsis: Kaworu, the last angel, is dead. All the events of episode 24 have taken place and the movie begins where that episode left off. It’s the next day, the night before Shinji having been forced to kill Kaworu, and he looks on into one of the great Tokyo-3 craters as the sun heats the Earth. He then heads to Asuka’s hospital bed to ask her for help, but she doesn’t respond. (Being comatose and all, that happens from being mind raped by an angel.) He is very frustrated geting no response from her, and starts shaking her wildly. She flips over, and her shirt opens, revealing you know what. Shinji sees this, and reacts like you would expect an extremely messed up, frustrated, abandoned child to act. And thus the movie begins to end all movies.

The Breakdown
Simply has one of the most breathtaking stories of the modern era. While pointlessly ambiguous in some cases, in the end it is all worth it. Has some excellent action to, so for those action nuts out there there is something for you guys to. Simply put, buy this disc.

Synopsis
What if you moved to a new place to live and all of a sudden you wanted to change your whole image? How would you go about doing it? In Kyou Kara Ore Wa, Mitsuhashi Takashi (main character), starts off first by dyeing his hair gold and Itou Shinji (another main character), starts by spiking up his hair. Both characters, who were enemies at first are now best buds, this OVA is about their life, and their life is very very amusing.

Review
Kyou Kara Ore Wa or can be roughly translated to ‘From This Day On I’ is one of my all time favorite Anime series. It was also one of the first series that sparked my interest in Anime. Anybody that has seen Kyou Kara Ore Wa will definitely notice its’ comedy.

Whether it is Mitsuhashi’s secret spring pow pow puncher located hidden in his self made metal book bag that he uses as weapons or Imai Katsutoshi (a sub character) making a fool out of himself in every episode. The laughter that this series contain are endless, there is a laugh for everyone. I always ask myself, ‘what if an American company licenses this series; it will be awesome.’ Unfortunately, KKO is not very popular. I have only seen one web site dedicated to KKO. Pay a visit here. And I thank that person that putted up the site, because that is where I got the spelling for the character’s names. I watched KKO in Cantonese so the names are difficult to translate for me ^_^;;

The whole OVA is made up of ten episodes and are based on the life of two high school students. There are gang fights, usually two against a whole crew with pipes and blades or just raw humor. Nishimori Hiroyuki’s (creator of KKO) Kyou Kara Ore Wa is definitely a hit that not much people have come to realize yet, when it is recognized… it will be scary.

The Breakdown
Kyou Kara Ore Wa is a hit that fans are waiting for! I hope it will see a U.S. release in the years to come.

Synopsis
This has got to be one of the most complete T.V. series I’ve seen so far. Up to action, drama, love and comedy. SMJ captures all the aspects that are needed in an Anime. Characters are lighten up by the voices of famous voice actors such as Megumi Hayashibara (Lime). No one can hate Lime, Megumi-san has did such a good job with the kawaii (cute) voice of Lime. Well let’s get to the story shall we?

Review
In the near future, human kind has settled out to outer space in search of livable land and which they stumbled upon Terra II. An accident occurred and the space ship has to make an emergency landing on the planet. Problem is the 6 survivors of the crash are all males. Which means reproduction is not possible. After all that, they found out about cloning themselves and making marionettes representing the females. After a few generations passed, a young teenaged boy name Otaru Mamiya (our main character) has some fight with Hanagata Mitsurugi (the clown in SMJ) and then Otaru falls down the river and floats to the run down Japoness Pioneer Museum. In there he finds his first marionette Lime and adventure starts from there. You will be introduced to new marionettes as you go on in SMJ.

The Breakdown
SMJ is just so complete, even the ending is. Not saying other anime have bad endings but by far SMJ is the best I’ve seen. You must go out and buy it. *Hey* What are you still waiting for!!!!!!!