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Synopsis
In a digital realm between life and the hereafter, there lies an empty room, a black sphere, and the trapped souls of the unfortunate. Here, the only meaning left is in the brutal game. Welcome to GANTZ, the next level of action, horror, and science fiction. Inspired from nightmares, Gantz brings forth a shocking vision produced in precise 2D/3D animation to showcase a slick and bizarre tale.

Review
In volume two, the episodes three and four are displayed. While episode three is not new to me due to the advance screener I had received a while ago, it was a nice refreshment. The show continues off with Onion Boy’s father, pissed as hell after the gamers gangbanged his son to death in other words, killed him. No, no, let us put it in better terms; slaughtered. And from volume one we all know what happens to the scrubs of the show, so let us continue on and discuss what is about to happen to the four left over gamers.

So Kei, Kato, Ms. Melons and the mysterious dude is still alive in the world of Gantz. After having to exert a tremendous amount of effort to run away from Onion Man, they finally get backed into a position of no escape. With Onion Man mad and the there newbies scared how will it turn out? Are you intrigued yet? If your answer is no, this volume finally explains quite a bit of what Gantz really is. It is certainly very interesting to know briefly what it is all about.

The action so far is just magnificent. I cannot find a better way to word it. All that blood and gore flying all over the place will make you even more excited for what will come next. The story is ichiban. Everything in this show accompanies each other so well. Gantz has become one of my favorites in such a short time. The replay value of Gantz is like none other. Sometimes I think I am sadistic for liking what I am seeing. Maybe I am a bit crazy… x_O.

While I dislike the way this series is released, at least the dates are closer together, which makes the wait time for the next volume shorter. I am more for the three to four episodes for $29.99 rather than the two for $19.99 format. It seems, no wait, it is that ADV Films has found a special cow and they are milking it for all that it is worth, down to the last drop. Hey, there is nothing wrong with that, unless you have an unlimited amount of resources in your hands’ reach. Which I can assure you, no one has :).

The Breakdown
With the action so fluid and the storyline so addictive. Who can possibly resist the lust for Gantz?

Synopsis
When a mysterious woman gives Palme (an apathetic robot made from the sacred kuroop tree) The Egg of Touto and charges him with a crusade which has put the fate of the world into his hands. A journey of rebirth and discovery unfolds. Chased by a mysterious group of mercenaries, Palme teams up with a band of misfits only to discover the complexity of the human condition and what it truly means “to be alive.”

Review
You know, as I was watching A Tree of Palme, I was wondering where have I seen something like this before? It seemed to me like another one of those “robot wants to be human” kind of anime. The story of this OAV is extremely deep. You would not even comprehend it if you take quick look away from it. Everything moves so fast, yet it does not feel that way. I could have sworn I was sitting in front of the television for like three hours, but of course, that was an exaggeration. The film runs for 136 minutes which is the same as saying, two hours and sixteen minutes. During the run time you get to see how an innocent little puppet, Palme, becomes infected with the selfish idea of becoming human with his current form by finishing his journey of delivering the Egg of Touto to Soma, the ancient Kuroop tree who controls life.

In this adventure Palme has to discover a purpose to his life. Throughout the story he is joined up with abandoned kids with the exception of Popo, whom has a mother, but by the way she treats her… you might as well consider her abandoned as well. In life, most people want to fit in and most people want to have power. I know “fit in” and “power” are very general words, but for Palme, those are the exact words that fit him. He wants to be human, which is fitting in. He wants to be human, which to him equals to power. All he wanted to be was human, is that selfish? I mean, everyone wants to be someone and sometimes at the expense of others, but with Palme, he becomes blinded by the urge of being human. He becomes addicted to the idea and until the end he finally finds out that it does not matter, whether he is human or puppet for as long as he knows his identity it is all that counted.

A Tree of Palme resembles a person who wants to change himself and be in another league without considering the consequences or the people that would be sacrificed along the way. The comparison with Pinocchio gets brought up with this OAV, and I have to say, they are quite similar in ways. The differences might be the violent scenes and a little more emphasis on how Palme is brought up. That is about it. If I were to pick between the two, I would go with the more appropriate for adults animation; A Tree of Palme.

The Breakdown
Maybe it is I, who is not getting the whole idea, but I consider myself a casual fan, and like stuff to get spoon fed to me. A Tree of Palme is an animation with all the right concepts, but has a difficulty in bringing it all out to entertain fans, such as, myself. I would investigate the OAV again… but the problem is, the replay value is not high due to the long run time :).

Synopsis
Dragon Drive is the story of a young man who gets addicted to a virtual reality videogame about battling dragons. One day there is a glitch in the game and our hero, Reiji, finds himself in a real world with real dragons! Since he is there, he might as well save the world, right?

Review
This series started off really well. The first set of episodes show how Reiji gets into the game Dragon Drive and how he eventually becomes very good at it. These episodes are fun, exciting and interesting because the game itself is interesting to learn about. But after 6 or so episodes when Reiji shows up in that alternate world the anime progresses into its true self, which is nothing more than the same cliche anime I’ve seen a million times before. Essentially the first episodes are just a really cool intro to a really bad anime.

Even cliche anime can be good though if the characters are great. While the good guys in Dragon Drive were likable enough, they were also a bunch of idiots who each repeated their mistakes over and over again throughout the whole series. The bad guys were even worse. The main villian is obsessed with the idea that life is a game that he has to win, so he keeps doing all these terrible things to get his best ending. Everytime the good guys get into a fight with the bad guys, the bad guys overwhelm the good guys and then let them go for some reason. Every… time…

Beyond that, several characters have horrible voices. One particular character who keeps shouting, ‘My sweet honey!’ to a girl he likes has the most annoying voice I have ever heard in an anime. Even the music was generic and uninspiring with the exception of perhaps the ending theme. Add to that animation sequences that get repeated over and over again, dragons that look like mechs and dragged out combat with little or no story progression and there you have it… Dragon Drive!!

The Breakdown
I suffered through 38 episodes of this crap so that you don’t have to.

Synopsis
Spike and Jet are back, along with Faye, Ed, and Ein, in this movie comeback that takes place between episodes 22 and 23 of the TV series. A new foe has risen in the form of a mysterious man in a black trenchcoat who is using chemical warfare in a metropolis on Mars. A bounty has been put on his head, and so the Bebop team heads out to get him. The strange thing is, he’s already dead.

Review
Sweet, more Bebop! That’s never a bad thing, especially if you’re a fan of the franchise (like me). If you don’t know what Bebop is, I recommend you watch the TV series first, so go read my review of the TV series first. If you’ve already seen the TV series, then by all means, keep reading. After the end of Bebop in 1998, a lot of fans were hungry for much much more. What we got  was a  full-length film, while  not as good as getting another whole TV series, really helps to flesh out the Bebop universe and Spike’s character, which is a huge plus and tells us why he made some of the decisions he made at the end of the TV series. The rest of the cast aren’t there for much other than to be there, though Faye and Ed help out in weird and interesting ways.

Two things should be lauded for before anything else about the movie: the music and animation. While the music isn’t as strong as in the TV series,  composer Yoko Kanno  tries a lot of new thing (like pop and soft rock instead of jazz) and it works well. The animation, one of Bones Studios’ (RahXephon, Scrapped Princess) first projects, is downright amazing. The two major hand-to-hand fight scenes in the film are good enough to watch over and over again, and we’re talking about animation. The style and flair with which they are directed is remniscent of Bruce Lee and John Woo mixed as one. It’s quite a sight. Other than the fight scenes, everything else still looks great, from ships to backgrounds to characters.

One minor annoyance in the end is the length. Since the film is really just one long filler episode of the TV series, there’s a lot of downtime with no action or tension, leaving us bored and looking at our watches. I don’t see how this can be rectified, which proves why the 30 minute per episode time frame of the TV series worked so well.

The Breakdown
Buy it, and try it out. If you’re already a fan of Bebop, this would be a great addition to your collection. Very fun and enjoyable to watch.

Synopsis
The Sanzo party-after rescuing a girl from a demon-are invited to stay at her master’s shrine, the House of Dougan. However the invitation turns out to be less friendly than anticipated and they find themselves desperate to escape from a trap!

Review
Saiyuki: Requiem is a very well animated story filled with action, suspence and horror. For those familiar with the characters from the series, this movie will feel like another-albeit extended-episode. For those unfamiliar with the series, the characters will mean little and the story will suffer because of it. Sadly, without the series, this movie is nothing more than a random series of events with no particular meaning. With the expection of the bad guy whose past is described in detail through the use of flashbacks, the characters are almost entirely undeveloped as almost all of the dialogue assumes that the viewer is already completely aware of the characters lives, relationships and personalities. There is little reason to care about what happens to this group of people. Honestly even to those who have seen the series, the story is just too confusing and random to be taken seriously.

What saves this movie from the bargain bin is its well animated and exciting action scenes which spice things up frequently throughout. The fights are easy to follow and fun, and action fans will enjoy them.

The Breakdown
As a standalone product it leaves a lot to be desired, but if looked at as another episode of the series I have no doubt that it can be enjoyed.

Synopsis
High school student Kazuki Shikimori comes from a line of powerful magicians with extraordinary DNA and he attends the most prestigious school for wizards in all of Japan. It would seem that life is good for Kazuki. Unfortunately, that couldn’t be further from the truth. He’s not the most smooth when it comes to the ladies, his grades are poor, his athletic skill is next to none, and to top it all off, he can only use his magic eight times before he turns into dust! However, three magical hotties have learned of his genetic secret and are all after him! Suddenly he has become the most “popular” kid in class. Are all these girls out to romance him, or are they only after his DNA?

Review
Kazuki Shikimori, an average high school kid with a not so average magical ability for Aoi Academy’s standards, is suddenly is approached by three hottest babes of the entire school. What can the biggest loser do, now that he is the biggest winner? Heck what can he do other than to dodge and hide? Anyways, this comedy has got to be one of the all time greats. From the start I liked the character interactions, the fluid animation and the music that this series boasts. The thing that was not so up to par was the English dub… it is just horrible how character names are pronounced, it seems so strange. It is enough to drive my head to the wall every time someone says a name. Other than that, the dub actually was good. I am no expert on dub since I usually do not watch anime with that feature, but I believe anyone would probably agree with me on that one :P.

The story commences with the girls all wanting Kazuki’s genes, so that their own family’s bloodline will become stronger with the child that will result. But Yuna on the other hand, has another motif, other than his genes. Kazuki and Yuna first met when they were children, during that meeting she made a promise to him that she will be her bride when the right time comes. And lucky her, when her family told her to go get Kazuki’s genes, she finds out that he was the boy that she had met and now for her, it is not about the genes, but rather the love for him.

I love shows like this. It gives me this weird sense of emotion that I cannot explain. Maybe I am just happy that I get to watch things like this (^_^). I have probably viewed Maburaho twenty to thirty times already since getting it in the mail from ADV Films. It is truly an amazing title that comedy goers should definitely look out for. Ecchi humor fans would also be grateful of Maburaho. And I know this might sound absurd to some of you, but I truly believe that this series definitely has the potential to top titles, such as, Ai Yori Aoshi and Love Hina, if it has not already in my heart.

The Breakdown
Maburaho is a series, such that, it brings a special warmth into your heart, a smile onto your face and a delightful experience for you to reminisce. All in all, you will fall in love.

Synopsis
Popotan is about a trio of sisters, Ai, Mai and Mii, who travel through time and space in search of the reason of their existence by following clues left only by the words of the Popotan (flowers) they encounter on their journey.

Review
Popotan starts out seeming like little more than an average anime. It has a bunch of girls with mysterious powers, each of whom fulfill a role that has been seen a million times before. There is the older sister who acts like the kind mother, the middle sister who is of course the emotional teenager and the youngest sister who is cute, happy and energetic. Despite these cliches, by the end-through surprisingly deep character development that is slowly and with subtlety revealed over the twelve episodes-the story comes through in a way that is powerfully emotional and rewarding. The viewer becomes completely attached to the characters.

The Breakdown
Popotan succeeds in being an emotional and enjoyable drama.

Synopsis
Like all girls her age, Hibari Hanakoganei covets the latest fashion in mechanical pets – a PataPi to call her own! But when a strange White Prince provides one, she becomes the target of an equally mysterious Black Prince who plots to steal the prized pet. It’s PataPi Densuke to the rescue, however, transforming into a powerful Diva who bears a striking resemblance to Hibari herself! With astonishing battle agility, Densuke proves to be no ordinary child’s toy! Hibari’s not the only one with a PataPi of extraordinary powers, and despite an unlikely friendship, she joins forces with others to form the Cyber Team! Together they will solve the riddle of the Black Prince – or will his flock of nefarious cohorts put an end to the dynamic divas of Akihabara?

Review
Watching Cyber Team in Akihabara is like having a bunch of wild chickens running around with their heads chopped off; in other words, it does not know which direction it is heading. Is it a shounen title, a shoujo title or a mixture? The three female lead characters make it shoujo, the little bit of ecchi humor makes it shounen. Okay… maybe it is a mixture, but I seriously believe that if it was only one single category it would have been better, as the show is not entertaining. It lacks focus in various areas, such as, the story and the characters.

The show gets repetitive, which makes it distasteful. The way these girls transform their PataPi’s become so annoying over time. Especially Hibari, who just screams out “Noooooooo!!!” The worst part of Cyber Team in Akihabara is that it is listed as a comedy, but I did not find myself to even chuckle to the comedic segments of the show. Let us move onto the story. What is it? All I attained from watching it was there was this girl who dreamed of a prince and the prince gives her a PataPi and then things start to happen. Comon, give us something much more than that in five episodes. At least go into who that prince is or what is the purpose of the evil organization. I feel that I was being hung out dry on a clothesline and after episode three, continuing watching was just an obligation. It was not a fun experience at all.

On the back of the DVD cover states, “This isn’t child’s play!” But seriously, Cyber Team in Akihabara will only appeal to children. Every aspect of this show seems to be aimed towards children. Maybe this series will become better later on, but as of this instance, volume one, it is just not worth your time and money. Go move onto other better ADV Films titles, since they have a large selection of products anyways.

The Breakdown
If you want to see a series with an average story and three twelve year old girls, whom all battle evil with their fighting capable gadgets. Then this is the title for you, if not, stay away.

Synopsis
Thirteen years have passed since the One Year War of 0079 in the original Mobile Suit Gundam series (making it 0093). A lot has come to pass since then for the Earth Federation and the colonies, and now Char Aznable (with his Sazabi) has come back yet again, this time with a Neo Zeon Army backing him up. His plan is to drop colonies and asteroids on Earth until it creates a nuclear winter and every human will be forced into space and evolve into Newtypes. There to stop him are Amuro Ray (his arch-rival) and his army unit, the Londo Bell. Amuro has a new, all-powerful Gundam on his hands (the Nu Gundam) to stop Char and save the earth from a nuclear winter.

Review
Man oh man. A Gundam fan’s wet dream. Char’s Counterattack came out in 1988 to finally finish the Zeon/Federation and Amuro/Char rivalries once and for all. Everything comes to a head in this film, with people dying left and right and political betrayals up and down the ranks. Despite being the end film after the release of three major Gundam series (Mobile Suit Gundam, Zeta Gundam, and Gundam ZZ), the only returning characters are from Mobile Suit Gundam, which has already been released in the States. So my recommendation is you make sure to definily watch that, and then you can watch this with relatively free hassle.

Being the end of an era, there’s a massive amount of action scenes, a lot of people dying, and a lot of philosophizing. If your a Gundam fan, you’ll love this. If you’re not, then you won’t like this. It basically comes down to that, since Counterattack is a Gundam show through and through. There’s lots of awesome Gundams in this one, a lot of Newtypes, and a lot of useless technical jargon. The music isn’t anything special, but the animation for a film from 1988 is wonderful. The mobile suit action sequences are done with a style and veritas I rarely see with giant robot anime, and I can see myself watching these again for fun many times over.

The Breakdown
As I keep saying, only the Gundam faithful should watch this, since otherwise you won’t really understand what’s going on. If you are a Gundam fan, this is exactly what you’re looking for. Tomino couldn’t have resolved everything any better.

Synopsis
Spike and Jet are two down-on-their luck bounty hunters (called cowboys) always looking for the next big score. Spike is brash, young, and tough. He practices Bruce Lee’s martial arts style, Jeet Kune Do, and treasures his little space fighter, the Swordfish II. Jet is the wiser, older of the two, knowing when to make a move and when to hold the cards. They move from plant to planet in their spaceship, the Bebop, and go from one bounty to the next, never staying in one place too long. Rarely ever making money or getting food, Cowboy Bebop is a set of tales  in the life of these two as they go about space, encountering the pasts they left behind along the way. Of course, during the course of their adventures, they obtain three new crewmates: a sultry woman that goes by the name Faye Valentine, a dog with a high IQ that goes by Ein, and a computer hacking wizard named Ed. Along with Spike and Jet, they travel the stars.

Review
I was browsing our reviews section for any big omission from our reviews archive, and as of this writing, no one had completely reviewed Cowboy Bebop. The first three volumes had been reviewed by three different people, but that was not a good enough indication of just how great this show is. Taking it upon myself to rectify such a huge problem, I am now here to review my favorite anime series, right next to Neon Genesis Evangelion and Trigun.

I won’t be one of those guys who likes to say that the first anime they got into is also their favorite one. ‘I got into anime through Bebop…and it still rocks!’ I’d seen plenty of anime before Bebop came around, and I wasn’t there to see it when it first came out in America either. I just happened to be flipping through the channels when I came upon Adult Swim and noticed they were airing the five ’story’ episodes of Cowboy Bebop. I tuned in right from the beginning to see what it was about, and didn’t stop till I saw the whole thing. What I saw was unlike any anime (or anything, for that matter) that I’d seen before. I hold very fond memories of that night and seeing this show.

The first thing to jump out to most people about Bebop is the absolutely-frickin’-tastic music. Yoko Kanno (also responsible for such great music in Escaflowne, Macross Plus, and Ghost in the Shell) created a mix of blues and jazz that resonates with the material like nothing else could have. The show fits the music more than the other way around for me. Another thing that pops right out about the show is its still wonderful animation, despite coming from 1998. Most shows from that time did not look this good, and a bunch still don’t. It’s a testament to Bebop’s wonderful production values.

Bebop is made up of a bunch of vignettes strung together by the main five characters. These guys go from one episode to the next, with rarely any connection from one to the other. Each episode delves into different themes and ideas, from the nature of man and God to blaxploitation. I love the episodic nature of this series, and despite that, you get a wonderful understanding of each character through their experiences, even though you don’t get much character background. There are episodes devoted to each character’s pasts, but they come few and far between. But I’ll bet you anything you’ll be hard pressed to not feel even a slight hint of sadness during the final episodes’s closing moments. Bebop is amazing.

The Breakdown
After all is said and done, is Cowboy Bebop really one of the best animes ever? Simply put: YES. I haven’t seen anything better, and only a couple of shows are equal in quality and enjoyability as to that of Bebop. I know there are Bebop-haters out there. To them, I say: you’re missing out. Bebop is overhyped, I agree. But take the hype away and you get one of the best animes of the last two decades.