Archive for the 'Action' Category

Devil Hunter Yohko Collection 1

Saturday, January 21st, 2006

Synopsis
In fifteen hours and ten minutes of this world’s time, the moons of earth and the demon plane will align. A hole will be torn in the fabric between both worlds, bringing forth a time of endless night. It’s up to Yohko to stop the demons from shrouding the world in darkness and stop the black queen from holding dominion over all. She just doesn’t know it yet. Will the 108th Devil Hunter have what it takes to prevail against the demons? Find out in the next exciting episode!!!

Review
It’s me again, Stikz, with yet another old school review. ADV, celebrate their ten year anniversary (1992-2002) with the DVD release of their first localized anime, Devil Hunter Yohko.

This two disc set features vol.’s 1, 2, & 3 of the devil hunter saga and an extended version of episode 1. There’s a very insightful commentary about the beginning of AD Vision and their aquisition of Devil Hunter Yohko. I don’t know if this will catch on with those new to the anime scene, but if you were a fan from way back, you’ll find this enjoyable. While the first episode is substantially better than both 2 and 3, that ep. and the historical commentary alone are worth the purchase. A great DVD upgrade for those of us old enough to enjoy the VHS release and who have seen AD Vision grow from it’s infancy to where ADV Films stands now.

The Breakdown
Another reason for old school anime fans to rejoice. Pick it up if you want to reminisce or if your a new fan who wants to see some of the roots of titles done today. This is what it used to be like.

Burn-Up Excess Vol. 2: Crimes and Missed Demeanors

Saturday, January 21st, 2006

Synopsis
Polish your badge and grab your nightstick! It’s time for more curious cases with your favorite babes in blue –Team Warrior!
When a famous pop star is being stalked, racy cop-for-hire Rio is ordered to protect her. But when the singer comes into possession of a mysterious DNA pen, they find a stalker is nothing compared to the pen’s dangerous owner! Later, Maki remembers how she first came to meet the craziest cop on the Team. And when Maki takes a vacation, it’s up to the Team to solve a series of strange crimes on their own. But can they manage without their fearless leader?

Review
In Burn Up eXcess V.2 things start to get funny and finally the Team gets a glimpse of that lady with the grayish hair. The story progresses slowly as there are side stories. We get a clue that the secret organization that the lady works for is planning to smuggle arms into or out of Neo Tokyo. First episode of volume two, which is episode five, Rio, becomes the bodyguard of a pop star, who was a victim of a stalker. Through Rio and Anna’s discussions, Anna finally finds herself, what she wanted to sing and what she wanted to do without anybody telling her.

In episode six, Maki takes a vacation to Neo Hong Kong for personal reasons; the gang is put up with a lot of crimes to solve. First there’s the brutal “murder” case in the bathroom, then there’s the “who messed up the systems case,” and last but not least there’s a lost “child” case. Rio takes the lead, because of her greed, and after some of the funniest scenes out of Burn Up eXcess that I’ve seen so far. Team W solves all the case, by just solving one of them, which one do you think is the cause of the entire ruckus?

Episode seven, gives some background on Rio, what she was, how she became a WARRIOR and it’s all about the money of course. Rio’s closes friend just happens to be writing up parking violation tickets and all of a sudden, we got a robbery and she becomes their hostage. Rio finds out and at the same time Team W is on the case also, so… after some action scenes Rio joins Team W.

The Breakdown
Certainly, Burn Up eXcess is getting better by the volume. Followers of the series keep following, because it’s getting interesting.

Gate Keepers Vol. 8: For Tomorrow!

Saturday, January 21st, 2006

Synopsis
THE BLACK GATE
The Shadow commandeers the Tokyo Tower and broadcast paranormal frequencies at 10,000 times the normal strength! The AEGIS commander scrambles the Gate Keepers to deal with the threat but Ruriko and Megumi remain missing. Unfortunately, the Gate Keepers are unable to stop the awakening of sleeper Invaders from all over Japan and the Shadow seizes control of the government! The fate of Japan rests on the shoulders of AEGIS, but even the HQ has been compromised. Only surprising revelations can provide the glimmer of hope necessary for survival!

Review
Gate Keepers, 24 episodes, spanning through 8 DVDs has finally come to an end. Pioneer Animation sure made us pay a lot for Gate Keepers, but I’d say it was worth it. Anyways, Ruriko was captured since last volume, but in this finale, Megumi uses her Gate powers to alter Ruriko’s Gate of Life into the Gate of Massacre! Shadow on the other hand is in complete control of the Invaders; even those 2 leader types that lost their body earlier in the series as a result from a fight with Ukiya and the Gate Robot.

In this volume, we see Shadow’s background. He’s had some rough times when he was a kid. Because of his Gate ability, he was able to predict the future. After his father died for not listening to him, he became an orphan, a homeless kid running around being harassed by adults; saying he was a jinx and kids didn’t want to play with him because they didn’t want him to read their minds. Things like this can really mess up a kids mind so parents please be aware! :P

Everything is revealed, the real reason why Ukiya’s father died and who’s love feelings to who. It’s all-cool in the mix, oh and how can we forget Bancho. He has some Gate power that’s similar to another Gate Keeper. Can you guess who? Finally, Gate Keepers did came to a good end and next up is Gate Keepers 21 OVA. It is completely different from the series.

The Breakdown
Great ending, I’m really looking forward to the OVA. Gate Keepers 21, based on a more modern time period (2000’s) and a whole new story, but Yukino is still there……..

Hellsing Vol. 3: Search and Destroy

Saturday, January 21st, 2006

Synopsis
The Hellsing Organization’s war against the undead intensifies! The organization suffers major losses in battle and Arucard must confront the deadly Paladin Alexander from Iscariot again! Then, the stakes are raised as the prepares to face one of the original undead - and Integra fights for her life against her own sister?!

Review
Hellsing keeps surprising me with more action, excitement and story development. In this installment of Hellsing, volume 3, a cool fighting scene occurs between Arucard and the Vatican father guy (sorry didn’t catch his name). After all the action, we find out more about the chips that created ‘freaks’ or artificial vampires. A person from the MI-5 by the name of Harry Anders finds Seras, and talks her into going with him to visit Helena’s house.

Helena is a young vampire girl, but don’t let the looks fool you, because she’s been living for quite some time. Helena tells Seras and Harry that, without an original there can’t be replicas or artificials. What Helena said led up to episode 9 where we meet the original vampire, Incognito. Arucard battles with Incognito as Integra’s little sister does the freaky on her. Before the volume comes to a close, Integra suicides and is on the floor ‘dead’ I put quotes, because who knows if she’s really dead.

The Breakdown
In my opinion nothing can compare to Hellsing right now in the vampire genre. And just 4 DVDs. Hey, that’s a pretty good deal!

Vandread: The 2nd Stage-Vol. 2: Sacrifice

Saturday, January 21st, 2006

Synopsis
The shocking appearance of an alien version of the Nirvana crushes the Nirvana’s attack on an alien mother ship! As the battle continues, severe injuries to key personnel cause tempers to flare as the humans become more desperate. Then a valiant sacrifice inspires the crew’s resolve to challenge the aliens and leads to a new Vandread evolution! Meanwhile, the male-female tension continues to provide distractions and entertainment that helps the crew cope with their stressful situation.

Review
In volume two, Sacrifice, we get a lot of action from the Vandread crew. Episode five and six gives the background of Gascogne, a character that is sometimes neglected. As the crew was going through their normal routines, suddenly the enemy attacks and the fighters dispatch. After being dominated, they retreat back to the Nirvana for some talks. With Jura hurt, and everyone sad, Barnette questions Gascogne, then blames Hibiki, and Meia comes in and gives her mind to Hibiki.

Finally the enemy catches up with the Nirvana and attacks, with the crew sulking, they decide that they are going to fight back. With some success they continue, but Barnette gets into a little trouble, Gascogne, the stagehand saves her and then tries to take out the Vandread-Dita replica. Sacrificing herself, she takes it to the enemy’s mother ship. AHH!!! So many climatic moments, the crew, back in the Nirvana desperately tries to find Gascogne’s signal, but they could not detect anything.

The crew finally plans something out and uses Pyoro to do the job. After a few more scenes, we are introduced to Super Vandread or all the dreads combined with the vanguard. Overall volume two is good, it gives background of Gascogne and spices it up with action and dramatic moments. And when you are getting tired of all the action, we get a dose of a fun episode where Misty chases Hibiki around and Dita showing her emotions to Hibiki, but also at the same time the last episode of this volume shows why Misty do things she do and Hibiki’s feelings towards Dita! WoooHooo!

The Breakdown
Vandread: Turbulence is out now in Japan, check it out at CD Japan! I heard it was limited!

Patlabor Movie 3: WXIII

Saturday, January 21st, 2006

Synopsis
The latest Patlabor installment is the third theatrical feature in the extremely popular animated movie series. The movie was directed by Fumihiko Takayama (Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket). Screenplay by Tori-Miki, the cult Manga artist, and the animation part was produced by studio Madhouse, with Yu Debuchi overseeing the whole production. Set in Tokyo in the year 2000, the sci-fi show centers on a human drama against the backdrop of the worst Labor-related crime in history. -CDJapan

Review
Patlabor, Patlabor, Patlabor, it certainly has been a while, has it not? Ever since 1993, when the theatrical release of Patlabor 2: The Movie. Now you come back with WX III: Patlabor The Movie 3. Anyways, the story behind this movie is, a new terror is in town, and it was the work of a human. This monster (WX III - Wasted thirteen) is made up of cancer cells and a substance called ‘Nishiwakitrophin.’ The creator used cancer cells, because they grow rapidly, why the NishiwakitrophinEno idea, did not catch it when they mentioned it or something.

Now that the monster has run loose (as always). It is destroying property, eating people and sea creatures. Who does everyone turn to? Not to the labors. The labors played a small roll, but still they looked amazing. The Ingram was there!!! I love the Ingram. Moving right along, we have a lot of dialogues, enough to put you to sleep (Putting me to sleep is pretty difficult, I got what they call ‘Animensomia.’ The animation was very impressive; at one scene of the movie there was a landscape that looked photo realistic! There were some 3D CGs used, and it made the movie more interesting, but still WX III lacked action, which in my opinion ‘killed’ it. The story was definitely there, after all, there was dialogues after another, which helped the viewers, understand the movie.

WX III is not something that you would want to watch out of the blue. It certainly will be a must for Patlabor fans. There are few action scenes in between dialogues, but the main focused action scene was the last one where, the labors were brought into the show for the first time in the movie! Now, why name it Patlabor The Movie 3 if the labors are going to star for the final 10 minutes? ^_^;;

The Breakdown
Whoa! A R2 DVD from Japan has English subtitles? That is a first for me. The price is pretty high. 7800 Yen (US$ 63.49) for the Regular edition and 12800 Yen (US$ 104.19) for the Special edition.
WX III is licensed by Pioneer Animation in the U.S. and will be hitting streets in R1 format on April 8, 2003 in both Regular and Special editions.

X [ONE] + Special Collector’s Box

Saturday, January 21st, 2006

Synopsis
Two groups of supernaturally powered warriors begin a prophetic battle to shape the future- a clash that will rock the foundations of the planet! The Dragons of Earth swear to purge humanity from the world, while the Dragons of Heaven are the last hope of all mankind. One young man holds the key to Earth’s destiny.

Review
I give all the credit I can to the all female group, CLAMP, their works are some of the most impressive. The anime titled X has always been a mystery to me, ever since the earlier release of X the movie. I had doubts on X the TV series, because of X the movie. That was a while ago. And the title X has once again appeared, this time a TV series that’d surely rock your telebi (television).

The moment you put this DVD on your disc tray and in the DVD player. Prepare yourself for one hell of a ride. Episode 0: An Omen is an introduction to what’s about to happen in the future of X. After seeing just volume one, I began to finally acknowledge the world of X. The characters’ background are revealed, which definitely helped me in understanding the story and Episode 0 kind of explained the situation so it’s hard to not understand X anymore :P. Anyways, in volume one we have the main character Kamui who hasn’t been awaken yet. Although he has the powers he doesn’t know what his destiny is. Then we have his other self, which will be Fuma Monou, an old friend of Kamui’s. He of course will be his nemesis later on the show.

The Dragons of Heaven and the Dragons of Earth fight for what they believe in. The Dragons of Heaven believe in that the world they live in now shouldn’t be altered in anyway, because it’s the world where the inhabitants and their loved ones live. The Dragons of Earth however believe the complete opposite, which is the world isn’t ideal. In order to make an ideal world, they will destroy the current and start a new one. I don’t think I was paying much attention when I was watching X the movie. How can I not catch the two clan’s intentions! And that must have lead to my dislike of X the movie.

So far X TV is pretty interesting. The characters, the story and the action were all very well done. CLAMP CLAMP CLAMP, looks like CLAMP has done it again!

The Breakdown
I love CLAMP! ^_^;; Had nothing much more to type out after all that you’ve read hehe

Trigun

Saturday, January 21st, 2006

Synopsis
In the distant future… On a desert planet… There is a legendary gunman. His name is… Vash the Stampede. A gunslinger so dangerous, a $$60,000,000,000 reward has been placed on his head! Vash, also known as the Humanoid Typhoon, has been credited with the destruction of several towns, but miraculously, there is no record of him ever taking a life. However, only two things ever happen to those who catch up to Vash, they either crawl away wounded (mostly from self-inflicted damage), or they stagger away in disbelief that such a dork could possibly be the man they are looking for!

Review
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The Breakdown
Trigun is an 8 DVD series, which is very costly, if you plan on buying this series do so on www.dvdplanet.com or www.dvdpricesearch.com, find a good place to order from. My recommendation goes to DVDPlanet though.

Vandread

Saturday, January 21st, 2006

Synopsis
The first season is13 Episodes long. Battle of the sexes as I’ll call it. The beginning of the first episode already tells you what’s going on. Vandread is based in a universe where men and women are fighting against each other.

Review
Our main character Hibiki (Cosmoman) is a teenaged boy who has never seen a woman in his life, until the women attacked the men. He had an up close and personal look at a woman. And that’s where the story kicks off. Cosmoman and two other men were imprisoned, one is a doctor and one is the pilot of the battleship. Our Cosmoman of course is the robot pilot. The ladies pilots fighter planes, which are able to combine with Cosmoman’s robot one at a time. After the combination, the result is a super powerful piece of hardware. I think that sums up the series, you’ll probably hate me for cutting you off but go out and buy the series I recommend it to all anime fans that like shounen type series.

The Breakdown
The comedy and the girls kept me hooked, so I think if you are a guy, you’ll like it too. (I’m not saying that my anime sisters wouldn’t like Vandread though)

Vandread: The 2nd Stage-Vol. 1: Survival

Saturday, January 21st, 2006

Synopsis
The discovery of a drifting escape capsule leads to new threats to the survival of the Nirvana, two new crew members and the secret to the aliens’ origin! The aliens continue to adapt themselves and attack the Nirvana in new ways. As the crew struggles against these developments the Nirvana itself undergoes a transformation and a tragedy causes the unthinkable - Bart grows up.

Review
*Sigh….* Once again I’ve ordered something that’s from Pioneer Animation that came without the things that were advertised. It happened with The Soul Taker and now with Vandread 2nd Stage. They didn’t give me my collectible cards that the case of Volume one stated that they were included! I hope Pioneer Animation’s collectible department fixes this or else I’m going to be a really ticked off customer. I’ve sent them an email a few days ago, no reply yet so errrrr… I’m really going to go off soon. What? Why? Because Vandread is one of my favorites. Enough with my problem, here I present to you the review of Vandread 2nd Stage volume one without my collectible cards :(

Vandread 2nd Stage is the sequel to Vandread 1st Stage (duh!), what’s different is that, the story is really going to kick off and new characters are introduced. They are Misty Cornwell, and Pyoro-2 (Erza’s baby)!!! The Earth wanted to harvest the others, because they have lost the ability to reproduce. By thinking that harvesting the others’ body parts they can create something that’s perfect. Our Nirvana of course won’t let them have it their way. Hibiki has more problems to face now that Misty likes him too. Jura wants to have a baby, the ‘real’ way, not with an Ohma. Pyoro-kun names Erza’s baby Pyoro-2. All these fun stuff happens in volume one, aside from fun stuff though, there are also, moments of sadness and climatic moments.

In episode one, it shows what goes up must come down. Just when it went to the ‘to die by the harvesters or to live’ situation. The show, shows the determination of Hibiki and how he believes that people should pursue to live instead of waiting to die (So true, Hibiki my brother ^_^). That’s one of the climatic moments for you, now for a sad moment. I can’t say it without spoiling so I’ll just say that Bart became more mature, because of this.

Closing statement: Pyoro-kun says, ‘Vandread is back and defending at a video dealer nearest you!’

The Breakdown
Vandread was the first work I’ve seen that was done by the good people at GONZO, ever since, I’ve been impressed every time another work of theirs is released. Vandread 2nd Stage continues the story of 1st Stage. So in order to see the real ending you must see 2nd Stage. NOTE: October 25, 2002, Vandread Turbulence is released in R2 and can be ordered at CD Japan.