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Synopsis
Among the five star systems known as the Joker Systems, there are many kingdoms, each under the protection of valiant knights that control massive robots called Headliners. Bound to the knights are fatimas. Human in appearance and mind, the fatimas possess expanded physical capabilities and make it possible to control a Headliner. The  Five Star Stories follows the ascension of two such fatimas - Clotho and Lachesis, the latest and greatest creations of famous fatima designer, Dr. Ballache - each on the verge of their ceremonial unveiling to the world of the God of Light, Amaterasu, and his Mirage Knights.

Review
Well, this is an interesting little nugget of a film. An anime adaptation of a very very long running manga series by Mamoru Nagano (currently unavailable in the US), The Five Star Stories is a 70 minute long adaption of the first volume (or volumes, I’m not sure how much has been covered in these 70 minutes, though I’m told it adapts the manga to a tee, so I imagine they didn’t animate too much of the manga). What’s presented here is a small tidbit of what one could expect from a much larger story. It’s a very cohesive tale, but doesn’t go anywhere. When it wraps up, the board has been set for, say, a long TV series or something similar. But instead, it just ends, and there’s no animated sequel of any kind. Think of this as a pilot to a television series, or a long commercial to goad us into buying the manga (it worked, I want it). Unfortunately, this was made back in 1989, so I think it’s doubtful to expect some sort of continuation of the story.

Which is a real shame, since what’s presented here is really interesting. It introduces us into this whole new world (the Joker Galaxy), which has it’s own rules, solar systems, machines, politics, etc etc. They properly and slowly introduce all of this, and I liked what I saw. The only problem is, it ends too quickly, as I said earlier. This could have been really great, and it’s no wonder the manga is so popular.

There’s not much more I can elaborate on. The story (even in this short OVA), is very detailed, and to try and explain it would only confuse you. I do recommend people check it out, only if to see a nice, old-school anime done right, at the peak of the 80’s anime industry before the anime bubble burst.

The Breakdown
I’m really glad I was able to see this after all the controversy of it having been lost from existence. I had heard the premise of the manga story and ever since couldn’t wait to see the short anime adaptation (since the manga isn’t available here). I was lucky enough that ADV did license and release it, and I’m pleased to say I wasn’t dissapointed. I only wish someone would license the manga and bring that over to the US as well, because I want to know where this story heads. I hope people give this a shot, more of this needs to come over here and be licensed, but that’ll only happen if releases such as this sell well.

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
As Kato struggles to maintain control, Kishimoto realizes that with her new body comes a new hope. Unfortunately, before she can act on those options, the second game begins! As a new group of players is initiated into the world of the sphere, the survivors of the first game are confronted with an entirely different breed of opponent… one that’s smarter, more aggressive and more organized… and that’s before the real game even starts! The series that shocked Japan continues in the fourth electrifying volume of GANTZ.

Review
Man, like Magic Johnson’s promo for TNT, I miss the dead bodies, and in these two episodes (seven and eight)… they do not help to satisfy that desire. We continue off discovering what Kishimoto will do now that she cannot go home, not to mention, we also find out her reason behind her attempt at suicide. Kato’s life is revealed a bit more and he sure does have it tough. An abusive aunt heh, that just makes you want to punch her in the face! Kato, of course, cannot do much about it as he is living dependently under his aunt’s roof. But what he could do is heheh, take the anger out on somebody else…

This volume is similar to volume three, where it is mostly story development, which is cool, because it is still early in the series. But I will not forgive this series if I have to go cold turkey any further! :). As this volume builds up for volume five, the players for the next game are beginning to gather, and, that means finally dead bodies will fly! Yeah baby!

The Breakdown
Gantz progress is slow, due to the fact that it is being release two episodes per volume. This discussion would not have been brought up if it was released differently. At any rate, Gantz is still entertaining and I will always pick to buy it, before buying food for myself :P.

Synopsis
No, that’s not a skin-tight pink costume — it’s her skin! She’s Kekko Kamen, the dynamic denuded damsel who fights injustice in the altogether. Her mission? To expose rampant classroom corruption at the Big Toenail of Satan’s Spartan Institute of Higher Education — all while repeatedly rescuing everyone’s favorite victim, the beautiful (and often naked) Mayumi Takahashi, from the Institute’s terrifying torture chamber!
Will our skin-clad crusader be able to straddle the line between indecent exposure and her desire to win decent treatment for the school’s succulent student bodies?

Review
Kekko Kamen is such an absurd anime, but it manages to stay fun with all the weirdness that it contains. A heroine who wears nothing but a mask, a pair of boots and gloves, and does strange maneuvers to defeat her opponents… you just cannot beat that. Go Nagai (creator of Cutey Honey) has a rather unique mind to have thought of doing something like this. I do not know how many times I chuckled through this anime. It was certainly a good strange anime.

Mayumi Takahashi is a regular high school student, but her luck really is not all that great. The school is constantly finding ways to torture her whether it is a Nazi S & M queen, a Hercules look-a-like dude, a beautiful punishment android or a perverted photographing samurai. But through all her hardships, Kekko Kamen always comes and saves the day. Although the principal and the teacher does not know whether to categorize Kekko Kamen’s beatings, pain or pleasure :/.

Kekko Kamen is a whack job of an anime and it flows quite well with anime fans these days. A suggestion I have for you though is… do not watch this when a child is around heh. It is rated mature after all. You also might not want to watch this when your parents are home too. Just a little tip.

The Breakdown
I guess you cannot get anymore extreme than a nude heroine right? Kekko Kamen is certainly an eye opener ;).

Synopsis
Welcome to the Wild Wild East. Ichimatsu hates his day job. He’s in love with a prostitute. He’s a trained killing machine. His life is a bloody mess. He is… Samurai Gun! It’s the beginning of the industrial revolution and feudal Japan is in turmoil. The ruling Shogun are wielding their abusive powers to instill fear and dominance over their oppressed subjects. A group of Samurai have banded together and with the development of new weapons and new technology, they have both the will and the hardware to stand up and fight.

Review
The heart of a samurai, the soul of a cowboy; that is what Samurai Gun is all about. It is violent, yet entertaining while achieving all the quick paced gun unloading action. Some of the violence in this anime disgusts me, but you can guarantee Ichimatsu will set the injustice straight. His knack for justice is the only reason why he does his side job, no matter how many times he says that he does not want to kill anymore, his past haunts him and the only way to relieve of the nightmare is to eliminate what is unjust.

The show is not rated mature for no reason. There are adult situations and people getting blasted away. Some funny, some not so funny, you will know what I am talking about when this series gets released on the streets. The story is attractive; I love when the villains get what they deserve. It is also amazing how the pace seems so fast, yet you feel like you have been sitting in your seat for a while after the volume finishes playing.

ADV Films co-produced this piece, and I have to say that this is an amazing series, a very interesting series in that it hits you head on like a bulldozer doing fifty miles per hour with messed up brakes. Yeah, just imagine that, a series that grabs your attention by the throat and shakes it up quite well. I am definitely looking forward to Samurai Gun. It is wicked nice!

The Breakdown
Samurai Gun hits streets on August 16th, 2005. Look forward to it!

Synopsis
Follow the story of Nam-woo, a boy whose fear of abandonment and life’s changes take him on a journey to a land of fantasy. There, in a spectacular place of magical creatures and tall luscious green plants he meets Mari, a delicate girl who will come to support him and give him the stability he needs through his hardest of times.

Review
In My Beautiful Girl Mari, we are put into the shoes of Nam-woo who reminisces about the days that he went through as a kid. The experiences of a child growing up and losing friends due to various circumstances, such as, moving onto schools and changing atmospheres are tough; we have all experienced something like this to an extent. But Nam-woo’s life as an adolescent is about to change as he finds a special marble, and that marble turns out to be Mari.

Before we even start, you must have the patience for a title like My Beautiful Girl Mari. You must also possess the ability to process deep dialogues and the knack of discovering and figuring out even the smallest of details… well I know that Adobe has something to do with this show as a building is branded by Adobe’s logo :). Anyways that is not important. What is important is how things just happen, like it was meant to happen. I still cannot figure out how in the world Nam-woo knew the name of Mari, when they have not even converse with each other. The other point I must point out is, what is the big idea? What is the big deal? I loved the animation details; it was mesmerizing. The snow effects even made me wish that New York City was snowing right now. But the show just does not seem to attract me like the other shows of this genre, such as, Bandai Entertainment’s Junkers Come Here or Central Park Media’s Doggy Poo.

What does Mari have to do with the show? She is almost nonexistent other than a few appearances in Nam-woo’s dream or in his life. Nothing much is detailed about Mari. Heck I cannot even figure out why the plot even needed her character. The story can most definitely survive without Mari; Jun-ho and Sogg-y could have easily replaced her role. Am I not getting something? Am I missing something? I really want to know more, but I am not presented with the opportunity to do that as the story races on about how Nam-woo’s life is changing slowly and his doubts began to worry him.

The thing that I was really surprised about My Beautiful Girl Mari is that as the animation was running towards its end, I began to feel this emotion, an emotion of satisfaction, it is like every bad thing I felt about the show was erased. It was replaced with a warm feeling as the ending makes me think of my own childhood. The way my life changed as time passed… it was lovely.

The Breakdown
A show that could be applied to almost everyone is great, but if only the presentation of this show had some sort of major attraction, which in my opinion, it lacked.

Synopsis
In the aftermath of Kenshiro’s attack on the citadel of Last Land, the boy known as Lord Doha falls deathly ill. Sara’s prognosis is dire. The serum to save his life is a two day drive each way. There is a shorter path… but it runs through Cliffland, a land haunted by demons that practice a mysterious killing technique.

Meanwhile, a new mysterious warrior arrives in Last Land, vowing to take all that Sanga has claimed. The balance of power is once again thrown into chaos as fist is pitted against fist in a struggle to see whose justice will prevail.

Review
Continuing from where we left off in volume one, volume two exercises my theory about how Fist of the North Star resembles Dragon Ball Z in a way in that it makes you wait a while for something to finally happen. I say this because when Seiji (Gackt’s character) is introduced, he takes over all of Sanga’s possessions. Of course he did this when our hero Kenshiro was away looking for a serum to cure Bista’s medical condition. To our surprise, it just so happens that a variety of things happen when Kenshiro goes away; things that make your blood boil. So basically, in volume two you are seeing the take over of Seiji and the fighting for a path to locate the serum from Kenshiro. This whole process seems to take years. As I was watching it, I was shouting to the screen, “Comon dude, get back to Lost Land and kick Seiji’s cocky rear end already!” And that is how I arrived to my theory of resemblance that Fist of the North Star has towards Dragon Ball Z.

Anyhoo, aside from what I have just stated above, this series continues on with a bang. In this volume, you find out that there are other forms of martial arts in this world that was derived from Hokuto Shinken (Fist of the North Star). This is the case, because of the battle for the rights to be the heir of the Fist of the North Star. Those who lost were not allowed to practice Hokuto Shinken again. In the Clifflander’s case, they modified the style and called it Hokumon ken. This side story is quite fascinating. These Clifflanders were thought as the bad guys, because they killed anyone who ventures on to their mountain. Little did those people know, that the reason to why they kill is that they are protecting the world from another disaster to arise.

Volume two is still impressive, but a bit under par with volume one as volume two was mainly a side story with the Clifflanders. There were still movements along the main story, but barely. The story really cannot advance when your main character is busy doing a side show ^_^;;. Right? Let us look forward to volume three; it will surely be electrifying as Kenshiro finally meets Seiji! I want to see blood and lots’ of it!

The Breakdown
I really hate when an anime ends on a climatic note :(. This volume does just that as, Kenshiro finally is returning to Lost Land to destroy Seiji hhahahaaha.

Synopsis
Beauty is only skin deep, but when you can’t see beneath the skin, how can you know what you’re really dealing with?

In a world where perfect androids called Boomers have infiltrated every aspect of society, it’s the job of Branch to maintain peace between the people and the plastic. Unfortunately, not all boomers are created perfect, and when boomers go bad, people die…

The thin blue line that separates man from machine is about to meet its most horrifying test in Parasite Dolls.

Review
Set in the Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 world comes Parasite Dolls, an OAV about boomers gone wild. This show had the potential to be good right from the start, but never really achieves it from the get go. In this ninety five minutes, three chapters, action flick, we are shown a team of cops called “Branch.” They were a team derived from the A.D. Police specializing in boomer activities. Our main character Buzz who is of course the leader of the team is put into work as cases of boomers going crazy erupts within Genom City.

Parasite Dolls did not float my boat. The pacing was good, but the interest factor was just nonexistent. I mean, as the show starts to appeal to you, they slam the door shut in your face with the end of a chapter. How can it expect viewers to follow the show if they keep on ending it where it gets interesting? One year later? Five years later? Whatever years later? What the hell? Just give me a show that is stable. I do not care whether it is this or that amount of years later, because honestly, who cares how many years later it is in an anime? I certainly do not unless it makes a tremendous difference in how the show will play out.

Maybe Parasite Dolls was a wrong name for this title. There were little surrounding these prostitute boomers. It was only a small part of the show. I will say that this has been a disappointment considering that the Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 team was behind it.

The Breakdown
Another title with robotic prostitutes in it? Wow.

Synopsis
Meet Yucie. A girl under a spell. She wants to be a Platinum Princess, and the only way to do that is to attend the Princess Academy. Under the guidance of Queen Ercell and with the unwitting help of a schoolmate named Glenda, a princess from the Demon World, she will embark on her journey to obtain the Tiara of Eternity. As Yucie meets new friends and works odd jobs, she will discover that becoming a princess is more work than she thought.

Review
Petite Princess Yucie is an amazing piece of work. There is a great deal of fun involved in it. The story is touching at times and it blends together so well with the characters displayed. The animation seemed as if it was a reflection from water; it was so fluid and lucid that I was fascinated by its beauty. Well, you can say that all of this was expected from a title by Gainax. But let us put the producer part aside, Petite Princess itself is a very entertaining series that will certainly have your emotions running on its edge as it progresses.

So an anime about a girl with the situation Gary Coleman has, that is so boring right? Not! Petite Princess plays with your emotions throughout. You will feel anger, happiness, sadness and whatever else you can feel. Those three emotions are the ones I recall myself feeling as I was watching this show, but there is certainly more than what meets my eyes. The beautiful aspect of it; every episode has some sort of moral in it. At the beginning of Yucie’s day might be despair, but at the end, the show will work itself to something joyful.

What else can you expect from Petite Princess? A bunch of unusual characters that is what! The shy and quiet Cocoloo, the always energetic Yucie, the “what rhymes with witch, but starts with a B” Glenda and the list goes on. These characters make the show that much more interesting. I mean, sure, sometimes you might find the arguments that Yucie and Glenda have are annoying, but when you look at it lightly, it is quite hilarious the way that they get at each other’s throats. I am undoubtedly astonished by this title and I will be looking forward to the next installments.

The Breakdown
Petite Princess Yucie is awe-inspiring. The foundation of this piece of art is built strong by Gainax from top to bottom. I am certainly liking what this title is showing me.