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Synopsis
Excel Saga is quite possibly one of the most bizzare creations in the history of anime. There have been many strange animes over the years (FLCL, Jungle wa Itsumo Hare nochi Guu), but Excel Saga manages to stand out as something truly unique.

Review
The story centers around Excel, a highly excitable girl who is completely loyal to the mysterious organization Across and her commander, Lord Llpalazzo. Throughout the course of the series she receives and obeys her orders to the best of her ability. Across’ goal is to take over F City as a ‘realistic’ first step towards world domination. …not that any of that matters though, since at its heart, Excel Saga is a completely random comedy which varies so greatly from episode to episode that the overall storyline is quite secondary.

Excel Saga has a tremendous sense of humor that never lets up. The jokes are endless. Each episode begins with Koshi Rikdo (Creator) giving his approval to change Excel Saga’s genre. Through this plot mechanic, Excel Saga covers almost every common anime genre in existance today. After the ending credits, Excel previews the next episode while speaking at lightning fast speeds. These previews rarely describe the next episode in detail, but are always humourous and entertaining and should not be skipped. The end credits feature a dog named Menchi singing about her lot in life while a woman in the background translates. As simple as that sounds, after having watched those credits roll 26 times, I never got sick of it, and always laughed as I watched it. That is a rarity in and of itself. Also, Excel Saga frequently parodies other anime including Fist of the North Star, Di Gi Charot, Great Teacher Onizuka and Galaxy Express 999-just to name a few. Fans of any of the parodied anime will find that much more to enjoy about Excel Saga.

Excel Saga manages to stay funny from start to finish. You will laugh, you might cry, and you will definitely be scratching your head, but above all, you will enjoy Excel Saga.

The Breakdown
Bottom line, if you like to laugh, watch Excel Saga.

Synopsis
A boy sacrifices himself before what seems to be an unbeatable monster, many levels ahead of his own. All becomes dim and gray. A sudden fear comes over him as he realizes he can no longer move his body. He cries for help. A mysterious girl in white raiment says these words: ‘You must not die.’ She revives him and bestows a powerful bracelet on his wrist. ‘If you use Data Drain you can defeat him. The only one who can save The World is you - the one to continue the legend of the dot hackers.’

Review
Hack//Dusk or officially titled Hack//Legend of Twilight’s Bracelet is a 12-episode sequel to the Dot Hack video games and the first anime series Hack//Sign. The anime is about a junior high school student, Shugo, and his younger twin sister Rena who have both won a Limited Character Campaign to play as the legendary heroes Kite and Black Rose respectively. Because their parents are divorced, they use this opportunity to spend time with each other, even if it is in a fake virtual environment.

The Breakdown
Few sequels have ever surpassed their originals. However, Hack//Legend of Twilight’s Bracelet does just that.

Synopsis
Ground Defense Force Mao-chan is set in modern Japan during a time of alien invasion. The three Japanese military forces, the Ground Force, the Air Force and the Sea Force are responsible for protecting Japan from these invaders, but there is a problem. They cannot fight back with their existing forces because the aliens are… too cute. Public support for their defensive actions would plummet if the citizens saw a bunch of heavily armed soldiers attacking the cute aliens, and that’s where the main characters come into play.

What better way to attack cute aliens than with cute soldiers? Certainly seeing an eight year old girl hitting a stuffed animal with a baton is not nearly as offensive as a soldier with a pistol. Mao-chan is the granddaughter of the general of the Defense Force. The general eagerly outfits her with the latest defensive technology, and happily shows off his cute granddaughter for all the world to see. Soon, the generals of the Air Force and Sea Force also employ their granddaughters, and so the team of Japan’s defenders has been formed. Three grade-schoolers.

Review
Ground Defense Force Mao-Chan is a very cute series with a youthful sense of humor. The main characters are as cute as can be, as are the aliens they must defend against. The episodes are quite short, only twelve minutes long, and each contain one alien falling to earth in a parachuting toy capsule only to be confronted and defeated by the three girls.

The animation is very good, as it would be expected from the makers of Love Hina, and the characters are well drawn and memorable. Their voice actors are also quite talented, though I found the three main character’s voices a bit too similar, and when they were off screen, it was hard to tell which one was talking. The piano music was also quite nice, but used way too often. Especially during the rediculously long transformation sequences in which the girls basically change their outfits. After a few episodes, that particular piano piece becomes quite annoying, not to mention the tranformation sequence itself.

The Breakdown
Looking past the minor flaws, there is a lot to enjoy about Ground Defense Force Mao-Chan, especially if you are able to get past the fact that it is a kid’s show. Those looking for another Love Hina will be sorely disapointed. There is no violence, there is no ecchi content, and everything is so sugarcoated that certain audiences will not be able to take it. It was definitely designed for the kawaii at heart, and if that describes you, don’t miss out on Ground Defense Force Mao-Chan.

Synopsis
Claus’s father was a unique nobleman, coming down to the land of Norikia, longing for the free sky. Soon after Claus’s family moved next door, he became close friends with Lavi’s father. They soon formed a vanship team of pilot and navi. From age one, Claus and Lavi spent their childhood together learning from their fathers the trade of vanship flying. However, this story ends in tragedy. The last time Lavi and Claus saw of their fathers was departing through the Grand Stream delivering a treaty of peace. The document never reacted its destination, and the war between the country of Dusis and Anatore continues to this day…

Review
Directed by Chiaki Koichi (Magic Knight Rayearth), Last Exile first aired April 6, 2003 and ended with episode 26 on September 29, 2003. Do not let the title fool you. Last Exile is not tied to any religious movement and is not a banishment of any kind (unless you count the expelling of the Guild from the world of Prestale). The Exile, the final weapon, refers to an ancient migration ship hidden in the Grand Stream. It is said that it was used by the beings that created the world. Now it is the last hope the people of Prestale have to change the world.

The Breakdown
An all-star cast of characters: Claus, Lavi, Sophia, Tatiana, Alex, Moran, Al, Alistia, Dio, and the crazy crew of mechanics.

Synopsis
The year is 2046. A mysterious alien force has attacked a Mars base and is escaping from the solar system. Earth drastically sets up an attack mission to chase the aliens and a girl is chosen to be a part of the crew. She leaves to go fight the aliens, leaving her boyfriend Noboru alone. The only connection they have between each other is through cell-phone text messages, which first takes days, then months, and then years to reach each of them. Can their love survive the years of loneliness?

Review
Voices of a Distant Star is the hard laborious journey of it’s creator Makoto Shinkai. He, alone on one iMac, made this 30 minute anime film and is one of the most impressive works of an independent filmmaker I’ve ever seen. It’s powerful and sad, uplifting yet depressing, and in the small time of 30 minutes the film will draw upon every ounce of your emotions to send you through one of the most memorable animes ever. I kid you not. The two main characters are interesting, you feel for their plight, the action is actually fairly cool with these ethereal alien designs and very gundam-esque designs for the Earth’s mechs and the story is gut-wrenching. I haven’t felt so depressed in such a short amount of time.

Mikako’s journey through the stars is a long, arduos journey of longing for the one thing she really wants, but cannot have. It’s made all the worse when the ages between Noboru and Mikako start to spread out because of Mikako’s space travel outside of our solar system. At one point in the film, a text message is sent to Noboru from Mikako saying, ‘Happy 24th birthday from your 15 year old girlfriend.’ It was an emotional strain for me just to hear it, and that’s when you know you are watching something so powerful, so visceral that it might just be something stunning.

The Breakdown
I really have said everything I wanted to say. There are only so many ways one can say: ‘buy this good sh** [editted for the kiddies, just to show you we care] now.’

Synopsis
Twenty-two years ago, a cataclysmic earthquake destroyed the Kanegawa region of Japan and threw the country into choas. The damagaed region was abandoned and labeled the ‘Muraji Special Economic District,’ more commonly known as the Lost Ground. After the earthquake, the Lost Ground became home to a rising number of Alter Users, those with the psychic ability to change matter and create Alters (think summons, like from Final Fantasy) with unique powers. Two percent of anyone born on the Lost Ground obtain these powers for some unknown reason. To keep the Lost Ground under control, the special police force HOLD was created. Within it is an anti-Alter unit, HOLY, which was formed to combate the renegade Native Alters in the Lost Ground.

None of this really matters to Kazuma, a Native Alter who uses his powerful alter, Shell Bullet, in his search for money and thrills. But when Kazuma runs into the oppressive HOLY, he is forced into fighting for the freedom and safety of those he cares about. Unfortunately, a powerful Alter user in HOLY’s group, Ryuho, is just to much for Kazuma to handle…

Review
And with that very long synopsis, the review! Right. Anyway, I’d been anticipating this show for quite a long time, since it had finished airing in Japan, in fact. It sounded like a new era DBZ-style show but shortened with to 26 episodes and does not spend it’s time on useless power levels and long stares. And that does hold true. So far, the show has almost no filler and is filled with stylish fights aplenty including some interesting alter powers. Kazuma is an interesting hero, trying to act tough but merely coming off as a helpful guy. It’s Ryuho who is more interesting. He has a dark, messed up past, he’s changed in the 7 years he’s been seperated from his love interest (oh, who by the way, has come back to the Lost Ground), and doesn’t really want to do anything with anybody. He’s got a big chip on his shoulder. The characters, despite what other reviews may tell you, do in fact get a good bit of character development, in these 5 episodes anyway. You learn quite a bit about each characters past and idiosyncrasies, and I have to tell you, some of these Alter users are funny.

Anyway, the story is interesting, the characters fun, and there are no useless filler episodes. Another plus is the rather nicely choreographed fights and the dialogue doesn’t grate on the nerves. Good stuff.

The Breakdown
Let’s see. The story, characters, animation, and so forth are in excellent shape. On the other hand, the music isn’t great, there are one to many characters (and some are rather bland and useless) and the story moves a bit to fast in this first volume. With that in mind, you make the choice. What do I recommend? If you have some spare cash lying around, use it to buy this and give it a try, but it’s not an absolute must-own.

Synopsis
Continuing the adventures of Daisuke Aurora and his android partner ‘J,’ volume 2 of the series has Daisuke and J fighting off Claire Leonelli’s continued attacks on their very lives as well as the duo having to go to the mysterious ‘underground’ to retrive a lost heirloom of Daisuke’s, and finally, to solve the very tragic past of a certain guitarist.

Review
The show is getting better and better. While I was enthralled with the first volume, this one is better because of the very fact that each self-contained story is more interesting and plot driven. While the show still has no overall story connecting each episode, much like the last volume, it’s much like Cowboy Bebop in its episodic style: each story isn’t really related, but each episode is so good you just want more. The same holds true for Heat Guy J. Each episode is a wonderfully visceral style of art, animation, music, and characters to create an overall package that really meshes well. At times, the show does walk a fine line of pretension, but it never falls off and stays steady to keep itself riveting and cool.

The Breakdown
Just about everything in this show is good. I’m having problems saying anything bad about this show, and I’m very jaded. Just buy this now already and stop wasting time.

Synopsis
Produced by GAINAX (Neon Genesis Evangelion) and animated by Production I.G. (Ghost in the Shell), FLCL takes animation to yet another level. Get ready for this shocking, funny, and right out freaky show about adolescence, expectations and alien intrigue. Naota wants to be normal. But with a talented brother leaving Japan for the US to play baseball, everyone now looks at him a bit differently. His brother’s girlfriend is acting strange and now there’s an even stranger girl hitting on him.
Literally.
With a bass guitar.
Oh, did I mention the robots that keep springing from his head?

Review
Let us take a moment and ask ourselves, “What in the hell is FLCL (Fooly Cooly, Furi Kuri)?” This zany yet hilarious Anime is by far a one of a kind. Just after watching the first episode got me attached to FLCL. Where could you find someone using seaweed as fake eyebrows? Where could you find a kid with strange stuff growing from his head? and where could you find a lady bashing things (preferably people) with her guitar as she is speeding on a moped? You sure as heck cannot find it anywhere else than in FLCL. When I first heard about the title I was curious of what GAINAX was going to put on the table. So I searched around the Internet and immediately found a picture of Haruhara Haruko within a picture, picking her nose as This has got to be on my all time favorites list. Short and sweet are two adjectives that could be used to describe FLCL.

Now, I know a lot of fans would disagree with me on the short part. I assume they would have liked more. But life is not perfect, so you really cannot expect Anime to be perfect. A good example of how FLCL is not perfect is how it is distributed in the United States. Check out the strategy that was used by Synch-Point into distributing FLCL. A six episodes series, divided into three DVDs, hence creating two episodes per DVD. As if that was not bad enough, each DVD has a MSRP (Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price) of $29.95. Still do not think it is bad enough? Check out the release dates: Volume 1 – August 25, 2002 | Volume 2 – February 25 2003 | Volume 3 – July 22, 2003. Oh wow, thank god I had other series to watch other than FLCL during its’ release period. Heck I did not even invest in FLCL until a few months ago, after everything came out. I understand that Synch-Point is an up and coming distributing company, but dang, those are some huge gaps between releases. Most I ever encountered was a two month gap and that was for GTO (Great Teacher Onizuka), which is a longer series, with more episodes in the DVD and for the most part, more entertaining than FLCL. But oh wells, good thing everything has past now, and fans could enjoy FLCL without experiencing the release gaps anymore.

The Breakdown
So there you have it, FLCL is a great piece; that is the best I could conclude this review at 4:32 in the morning.

Synopsis
I’m dreaming a dream from long ago, the same days over and over again. Within this endless dream, I wished for a morning that wouldn’t come. It’s red, white, cold, warm, sad, and happy, and the same days are repeated. I knew from a long time ago, from years ago, wandering in this dream I wished for a dawn that wouldn’t come. I’m always in the same spot. A ruckus with no voices, and a faceless person walks before me. No one cares about just one little child. I’m waiting for a person, a person I know who won’t come, and someone I know I won’t meet again. For years and years…within this repeating dream, I was always waiting for a dawn that won’t come.

Review
Not to be mistaken as a misspelling of Conan (Detective Conan), Kanon is a 13 episode (14 if you include Kazahana) retelling of the same events that took place in the NON-hentai dating simulation game for the PC, which also won PC Game of the Year in 1999. The Kanon PC game was ported to the Dreamcast and Playstation 2. Similar to the series To Heart, the main character Yuuichi was given a voice in the anime but was silent in the game. The story begins with Yuuichi who after seven years returns to the town where he spent his childhood days. The reason being is his parents got posted overseas in Swahili due to work. Instead of being left alone in Japan, it was decided for him to live with his cousin Nayuki and aunt Akiko-san. They are both good people (It’s a wonder how Nayuki didn’t grow up spoiled by her mother. Can’t imagine Akiko-san being the strict disciplinarian, lol). Mysteriously, Yuuichi doesn’t remember anything from when he was there seven years ago. Now, the minute hand of memories starts to tick again…

The Breakdown
Kanon is the anime of dreams and miracles. You will begin saying uguu~ to all your friends and crave Taiyaki everyday as a result, lol.

Synopsis
The final, shocking conclusion! Utena is about to discover the truth behind the secrets, the duels, and her own forgotten past. To do this, she must confront the prince who once saved her life, and face her most terrifying nightmare. For the last time, Utena must draw her word and fight her own inner demons. Will there be a happy ending?

Review
As an anime viewer that is not an Utena fan and did not have any exposure to Utena until just recently, I will have to say that this show is certainly interesting, in that for some scenes there are songs in which it is describing the mood of the scene. I rarely see anime with songs that is solely for the anime at that specific scene. Those songs, although are weird, but was creative in a way, so I very much appreciate them rather than the standard stuff we are so used to being exposed to. First of all I would like to make this clear to you guys; I have never tried watching a series from only the end and writing a review about it so pardon me if I sound too vague. Now that that is off my chest, we can go through what this finale is about.

Revolutionary Girl Utena: Finale could be described with one word… wow. I say wow, because I was dragged into this compelling story right from the end of episode thirty seven. The climax of this finale achieves an even higher altitude than the summit of Mount Everest. Well… maybe not, but hey that was a good metaphor. Anyways, the more you think something is going to happen the more it does not. As I was viewing I said to myself, ‘Oh my god, this and that is going to happen, just like all them other series that I have watched throughout the years.’ But no no, none of what I thought happened. Just as when Utena was going to face her so called destiny, which is to meet the prince and live happily ever after… well that was the message I received, but good thing this series was not something like that. I was getting tired of anime without twists, and just as expected, a big twist comes and surprisingly it was quite adequate to satisfy my needs. Let me give you a hint for where I was startled. Pick up the Finale DVD and on the back take a look at the lowest screenshot, the one with Utena in front of Himemiya and Himemiya looks scared and innocent. Have an idea yet? No, oh wells, watch it and you will see what I am talking about.

Well the synopsis was a hundred percent correct on the shocking conclusion. That is what made this great, a person like me, who did not follow the entire show, watches the few final episodes and is suddenly attached to it emotionally with the emotional scenes. That gave me a sense that this show is a work of art. I mean, comon, I was not even familiar with the characters. Utena? The pink hair girl? Himemiya? The girl that looks like another character from another anime I cannot recall? I did not know the whole background of the characters, but still they were able to touch me. Especially at the end, where Utena opens the rose coffin; the whole process was great in every way possible to me, because it showed what friendship was about. I definitely recommend Revolutionary Girl Utena to all who enjoy anime, this coming from a developing Utena fan in the making!!!

The Breakdown
I am currently running late!!! Thanks to CPM for sending me this screener and uhh… for those who have anything against Utena without actually checking out what it is really about, shame on you! Ja ne.