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Synopsis
In the year 2167, Mankind suffered from a cataclysmic disaster as a massive wave of electromagnetic radiation from a nearby supernova washed over the Earth. Yet, Mankind was able to survive by pulling together to support each other in this time of crisis.

The year is now 2326 and the new generation of people are preparing for the second wave to hit. A young girl named Shima Katase is going off to the Space Station Stellvia, a space pilot academy, where she will meet new friends, fulfill her dream of seeing space up close and fighting for what the people of the past tried so bravely to survive through.

Review
Stellvia of the Universe starts off with a scenario showing Shima Katase’s family. Almost instantly, you can tell that Shima and her mother don’t exactly agree on things. The focus isn’t put on this much, seeing as how Shima has little contact with her family in the first episode. On her way to the Space Station Stellvia, she sees a brilliant light show made by the current student base in an attempt to encourage the students to do their best. I wish all schools were like this. Shima’s best friend and roommate is then revealed. The ever hyper Arisa Gennorth and her wild hair meets Shima on the shuttle to Stellvia and out of the blue asks Shima to become her best friend. This is my favorite scene in episode 1; Shima and Arisa shake hands while the brilliant light show outside of the shuttle is taking place. Later on, Arisa introduces Shima to two new friends, Akira Kayama, a tall, quiet girl and Yayoi Fujisawa, a girl who seems to have a past that’s more than meets the eye.

I noticed the plot doesn’t really grace the first DVD much other than the Great Mission, mankind’s plan to save the earth from the second wave. Shima is the main focus here, and she displays the ever familiar start of school. Starting off with school, there’s the fuss of getting new classes, meeting new friends, and occasionally and inevitably walking into trouble. I’m sure we all had our share of trouble on the first week or so of school, but Shima takes this to a new extent. Her best friend Arisa even mocks her and gives her the nickname ‘Shipon’ during pilot training, because her ship was bouncing around with a ‘pon pon’ sound. I can’t help but cheer Shima on to do her best, though.

What volume one does show of the plot hints at future events. At the end of the volume, Shima does make a hint that Stellvia is a coming-of-age story when she has a revelation during a crisis in class. The Big Four, the four highest ranking students in Stellvia, are also introduced. Obviously they will make a bigger role, especially the leader, Machida Ayaka. Ayaka meets up with Shipon and friends. Yayoi greets her with a simple hello, unlike the high respect that Arisa and Shipon show her. Also, a boy from Shima’s and Arisa’s class, Otoyama Kouta, joins Shima and the gang along with three other boys in a study session Shima is holding. From that scene, you can tell Kouta is more interested in something else other than in his studies, but I will leave that for you to figure out.

One thing that kept me hooked to watching this show was the music. Stellvia’s OST is my favorite OST by far, even if it’s not the best. An opening and ending sung by Angela also proves to be good. The opening is especially good, since it is one of if not the best anime opening song I’ve ever heard.

The Breakdown
Stellvia of the Universe is an excellent show. With good animation, excellent music, colorful and fun characters and a dramatic story to boot, I can say Stellvia is one of my favorite series.

Synopsis
Loki is a powerful Norse god banished by the Allfather, Odin, from Asgard, the land of the gods. For some unknown reason, Loki is forced to live in the world of mortal men as a child! With limited powers of a god, he tries to uncover the truth about his banishment and how he can return home by running a detective agency with his trusted assistant, Yamino and a teenage school-girl with an addiction for anything mysterious, Mayura. Meanwhile, Odin sends god after god to destroy him. Whether these gods come as other children, beautiful maidens or vicious giant creatures, the cunning Loki will have to summon all of his powers to be victorious.

Review
Mythical Detective Loki: Ragnarok is one of those anime that builds itself. The first impression might not be strong, but by episode two, you will find yourself liking the show more and more. The story commences with almost no character introductions, it gives off the feeling that they expected you to know who everyone was. And I have to agree with them, because unless you are really slow, you would have picked up the characters’ names and a sense of themselves without any introductions.

Now I did say almost no introductions, not none at all. What I have acknowledged is that Mayura is a mystery freak. Her curiousity carries the show as she runs into trouble every time. She is a very likable character as she is way too jolly for her own good. Loki on the other hand is a banished Norse god (although not looking like one). He runs a detective agency, much like Ginji and Ban of Get Backers (Yeah, I know, they run a retrieving business) in that they rarely got any business at all. Then on one faithful day, Mayura’s curiousity for mysteries leads her into an abandoned clock tower, where she finds one of those freaky scary dolls with the beady eyes giggling. With fame on her mind, she takes the doll home only to be dragged away by a black cat. As Mayura tries to find the whereabouts of the doll, she stumbles in front of a detective agency, and from here is where the story commences.

Mythical Detective Loki: Ragnarok is a highly entertaining piece. The interactions between the characters are delightful. The plot thus far is as amazing as an anime can get. The dub was adequate and there was nothing much I could say other than I prefer the Japanese audio any day. As for the show as a whole, I have no better way to put it other than I had a big smile on my face and an urge to crave for more after the volume came to an end. Man, it was fun.

The Breakdown
Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok is astonishing. This show just leaves a great impression on the viewer.

Synopsis
Twelve powerful corporations run the entire planet. And the most powerful company – Ashurum – will do anything they can to maintain control. To subject the renegade city of Gald, they will infiltrate a cadre of enemy guerillas. When one of their prized psychic agents goes missing, no cost is too high to return him to their dark fold – whether that means sending in a cyborg assassin, reprogramming one of his friends, or enlisting two newer, even more powerful psychics into company. Enter a world where every though wields terrifying energy – and where any life can be viciously wasted in the pursuit of power.

Review
In this volume of E’s Otherwise I sense that the story has really gone down in pace. Volume two contained mostly of side episodes and took its focus away from the main theme. While it was alright that E’s Otherwise did that, but it should somehow give a little bit of the main stuff to the viewers to keep them up to date. I would rather it give me a small dose of information towards the true story rather than tossing me a load to learn later on in an episode or two.

Okay, let us take our vision away from what I have stated above and look at this volume by itself and not collectively. Volume two does not show E’s Otherwise’s best, but it manages to stay entertaining; Kind of like just grinding it out for the viewers. If you have not seen volume one, you probably would not have even known that it was a more serious anime than it displays. What we have here is like a regular drama anime. It is up until the last episode of this volume that the outlook begins to change.

The anticipation built up for the next volume is crazy high as Shin Lu has finally awoken from her little coma in this volume. I hope she meets Kai again and beat some sense into him. His optimistic ways of looking at situations regarding to Ashurum annoys me like crazy. Argh.

The Breakdown
I have this special fondness towards E’s Otherwise, so no matter what I will be looking forward to volume three!

Synopsis
In the 21st century, the evil organization Galactor has its sights set on global conquest. Their use of tyrannical terrorism and high-tech mayhem has the world in the clutches of fear! The only thing standing in the way of complete global dominance is the International Science Organization (ISO) and its chief scientist, Professor Kozaburou Nambu. Dr. Nambu’s primary weapon in the fight for freedom is his top secret experiment: the five kids who make up the Science Ninja Team. Bird, go!

Review
Let us go back, back, waaaay back to a time period in which the anime titled Gatchaman was the best thing to happen in anime. This show somehow delivers an old school feeling that refreshes your mind. And guess what? The English track is not bad at all! It is probably the best that I have heard in a while. I guess English dubs always work for old anime, because they do not look much different from American cartoons.

The animation of Gatchaman compared to the anime today is like night and day, but that is of course, expected due to the time period in which it was created. ADV Films does a nice job in getting Alex Ross (known for his works on DC and Marvel Comics) to do the DVD covers for this release. Man it is awesome how they look, I’m salivating over it. Even though Gatchaman might be old, but it is an anime that deserves respect for its accomplishments built up over the years. Everyone has seen or heard it; hence it was a piece that helped get anime out there.

This series is very cool. I loved the fact that each episode connects to each other like the next link on a chain. It creates an atmosphere so that you do not get lost out in La La land or whatever. The action of Gatchaman can be funny at times, because of the strange things they do, but hey, if that is what people digged back in the day, then it is fine with me; I certainly got a few good chuckles over it.

Gatchaman is a classic no matter how you look at it. It was nice to have an opportunity to appreciate this uncut version of this anime. For the Gatchaman fans, this is a must have. For the casual fans, this is a you should check it out title, not a you shall check it out title.

The Breakdown
Gatchaman is a nice break from all the typical modern day anime. As I have mentioned earlier. Gatchaman is a great refreshing experience and a great show overall.

Synopsis
Second sight is a curse for Yumemi, a psychic schoolgirl who just wants to be normal. But she’s about to discover the true value of her gift, when Magical King Munto arrives in her world, with enemies in hot pursuit! Munto’s realm is linked to ours by magic, but that power is fading, and his world is on the brink of death. Yumemi is the only Earthling with the power save his people… if she can only find the courage to use it!

Review
Munto is a strange anime. The DVD cover shows some SD characters, which led me to think that this title was going to contain some fun segments in it, but of course it did not happen. The show is about a deteriorating world parallel to the Earth. In this world, the life source, Akuto is soon to be used up and in order to slow down the process, the magical kingdom must be taken down from the skies. The plan to tear down the pillars that support the floating island has already been carried out. Now it is up to the Magical King Munto to prevent everything from happening. That is, the full consumption of Akuto and the wrecking of the magical kingdom.

On the other end of the spectrum, Earth, Yumemi our main focus in this title is a human with some sort of innate special power that will be able to rescue Munto and his situation. The thing I did not like about Munto is that there is rarely a point in the story that is appealing. There are several things that just happen for the hell of it. It seemed to me that no effort was put into the planning of Munto. It was like a puzzle being put together randomly. I cannot comprehend it, heck; there was nothing to comprehend about.

When there are titles created without any focus in it, it makes it a very difficult task for the viewer to fall in love with it. The fifty minutes of run time that Munto took from me was like hours waiting at the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles). Yeah, it was not only boring, but also long for a show that did not make much sense for a good portion of it.

The Breakdown
Suzume is probably the only good part of Munto. I demand her to be the main character!!!

Synopsis
In a world laid waste by nuclear war, alone at the bottom of the ocean, fourteen year-old Amamiku holds the key to the planet’s salvation; special seeds that are able to restore the Earth back to its natural glory. But in her efforts to plant the seeds, she unleashes the wrath of the muderous Glyptofane, a primal being determined to wipe out the remnants of the human race.

Review
Blue Remains commenced with a played out plot. It was the typical, “humans going to war against each other and finally destroys the natural habitat for all living organisms.” The land is inhabitable, but the ocean was not affected as much, hence to the ocean blue we go with this show!

Blue Remains was not catchy for a quarter of its run time, but as the show progressed the animation and action grabs a hold of you. You become drawn in and will start to appreciate it more. The voice acting needs some work as Amamiku’s voice actress sounds horrible and non-compatible with the character at times. The mouth movements is noticibly not in sync with the voice, but that is just a small problem to deal with.

The largest problem Blue Remain has, was probably the lack of budget. Some scenes are ridiculously simple, such as, using less details for the environment by making it dark enough so that you cannot make out the details and spotlighting one of the three brain characters every time they spoke. An annoying sound also plays with the spotlight, so it was like playing a game of “guess who is talking.” When a “bling” sound plays, you go looking to see which brain is lit up. Even though the animation is not the highest quality possible, it works, and that is the most important part that needs to be considered.

The Breakdown
ArtsMagicDVD keeps releasing titles that are better than the other. At this rate, I am certain that they will have another title to top Blue Remains… I think they have already :) (The Bird People in China).

Synopsis
In the near future, the planet is run by a federation of twelve powerful corporations. Amid the general populous are psychics — metahumans capable of converting thought into energy. Known as “E’s”, these outcasts wield the power to control the world… or to save it! Kai awakens in Ashurum, a military contractor that has put together an elite special forces team of E’s called AESES to bring about law and order. But when Kai is sent to wipe out an anti-corporate guerilla outfit from the slum town Gald, he discovers not all is as it seems.

Review
Is it me or are some anime just created to be predictable? Once I got through half of the first episode, I already know the direction the show will go. I do not want to ruin it for you so I will keep my mouth shut about it. E’s Otherwise is a great title. Even though I say that it was predictable, it was only predictable to an extent. After the third episode my predictions were true and so from then on, I have no idea :P. We begin the story with Kai, who has been in the care of Ashurum since he was a little boy. His mother was involved with Ashurum, and since his sister has a health condition she needed their medical facilities. After Kai’s mother passes away, both he and his sister go into the guardianship of Ashurum. Due to the fact that he was basically raised by Ashurum and the help that they have provided to his sister for free. He joins and trains with AESES, the group of elite psychics that were compiled across the world of E’s Otherwise.

As you watch this show, you will ponder whether Ashurum is of the good or evil. There really is not a true statement of the side they are on. But one thing is for sure, E’s Otherwise is highly entertaining. The way psychic powers are displayed on the screen is astonishing. I like everything that this piece has shown me so far. The plot is not too complicated to comprehend; pretty straight forward if you ask me. The characters are not fully developed yet; hence, they are still mysterious. The sounds are amazing. The opening theme sounds like something Ayumi Hamasaki would sing, but it is by someone else.

E’s Otherwise is certainly an anime series that will leave a bang in the anime industry. This show is well planned out. There is no way you can get enough of it. This piece is certainly going into my DVD collection when it becomes available in stores. Make sure you jot this down in your to do list!

The Breakdown
E’s Otherwise is impressive all over. So far it is one of the titles that I can see having tremendous success. Watch for it!

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
Two worlds opposite one another, Inferia and Celestia, are slowly closing in on each other and will eventually collide in the near future. Four heroes, Rid, Farah, Keel, and Meredy, leave Inferia Castle on a quest to prevent a second war between the worlds and stop the Grand Fall by collecting the Crymels, summoning spirits. Their quest now brings them to the Island of Balcarnu, which is shrouded by many secrets…

Review
Tales of Eternia The Animation is based off of the Playstation 1 game called Tales of Destiny 2 (US). Tales of Destiny 2 is the third installment of the Tales of Phantasia series, released in March 11, 2000. The anime aired from January 1 to March 26, 2001. The game was developed by Wolf Team/Tri-Ace, the RPG subdivision of Namco. They later developed Valkyrie Profile and the Star Ocean series. The events in the anime do not take place in the video game. The Island of Balcarnu does not exist in the game. Rather it is a side quest that takes place in between obtaining Efreet and journeying to Mt. Farlos (My thanks to Cyllya at gamefaqs message boards for the information).

The Breakdown
Better than Sorcerer Hunters, but Tales of Eternia is not as groundbreaking as Slayers and Record of Lodoss War (as all the other anime review websites will tell you). It is not as funny as Rune Soldier but I enjoyed Eternia nevertheless.