Anime Review

[Psyquis52]

Bokusatsu Tenshi Dokuro-chan

Sakura, upon returning from school, bids his friends goodbye as he enters the gate to his house. Heading to his room for an evening's worth of studying, he enters only to find Dokuro-chan in there changing clothes. Naturally, she's quite irate about the whole deal, and heads straight over to Sakura. Upon coming within arms reach, she produces what looks like a steel baseball bat with spikes and hooks, and commences to smash half his head off, splattering blood all over the walls, the door, the ROOF, not to mention Dokuro-chan herself. However, since she's an angel, she resurrects him. But for him -- and moreso us -- the pain has just started.
Get it? Do ya? She’s sent back in time to keep him from being killed but kills him constantly but its okay because she can bring him back to life anytime she wants. Make sense? Yeah…I didn’t think so. It’s funny…it’s random…it’s uh…something. I can’t really understand what made me watch it in the first place. Not that I’m complaining. It was fun…it was just kind of…odd.

3/5 – You should enjoy it but I’m still not giving it a higher rating.

[Psyquis52]

And as requested...

[Psyquis52]

Fatal Fury Legend of the Hungry Wolf

Two brothers, Terry and Andy Bogard, witness the brutal murder of their own father, killed by a crime boss for the scrolls that hold the secrets to his family's martial arts abilities. The boys are told by their mentor to travel the world and hone their skills, preparing for the day when they will be taught the ultimate technique, one so secret it was never written down. Ten years later, Terry has returned to Japan, where he befriends Joe Higashi, an old brawling companion of Andy. He also becomes involved with Lily, a beautiful woman taken in by the man responsible for the murder of the brothers' father ten years back. As it turns out, the aging crime lord now controls a corrupt martial arts tournament from behind the scenes. Both brothers and Joe join the tournament as a way to get to the man at the top, but the tournament is less than honest. And even if they can find the man responsible for the destruction of their family, will they be able to beat him?

I’m a fan of Fatal Fury. That being said….I didn’t like this. It stunk. Most of the voice acting was terrible…Billy Kane was alright though. It was too short so it felt like they were trying to accomplish too much in a very short amount of time. It was okay for laying the groundwork for other films though.

2/5 – The action didn’t save this film. It was about on par with Samurai Showdown…which is funny since the games were made by the same people.

[Psyquis52]

Fatal Fury 2 The New Battle

Terry Bogard, world famous martial artist, is taking it easy (sorta) after defeating Geese Howard, the man who brutally murdered his father. But one night, he is challenged by the sinister German nobleman Wolfgang Krauser, and barely escapes with his life. Terry goes completely to pieces over the loss, convinced that he'll never be able to be the best again. Can his brother Andy, friend Joe, and a young fan named Tony help Terry recover his skill to and challenge Krauser to recover his honour?

Much better than the first movie. You get a good collection of action and nice fight scenes. The voice acting was much better. I wouldn’t say the plot was better but the movie was a good length for what plot they had. Still a weak anime but an improvement none the less. Animation could still be better and the musical scores are still very weak.

3/5 – Here’s to hoping the third movie is even better.

[Psyquis52]

Fatal Fury The Motion Picture

An ancient legend tells of a suit of armor that gave the wearer the power of Mars, the god of War himself. The previous wearer was defeated and pieces of the armor scattered to the ends of the earth, but it seems that now someone is gathering those pieces with the intent of conquering the world for himself. Terry, Andy, and Joe all get sucked into this plot when a beautiful girl named Sulia comes to them for help in stopping this menace to humanity. But their opponent already has several pieces of the armor, and if he completes the suit before they can stop him, what can even the best street fighters in the world do to stop a god?

Much, much better! The animation improved the music was better and the plot was pretty darn good too. The action is far better than in previous films. A vast upgrade from either of the movies.

4/5 – Worth your time but if you aren’t familiar with the characters then perhaps you should stay away.

[Psyquis52]

I hope that satisfies you for a while.

[The Big Daddy C-Master]

psyquis52 said:

I hope that satisfies you for a while.

Maybe... #jumpy7ay#

[Psyquis52]

Cat Soup

When little kitten Nyaako’s soul is stolen by Death, she and her brother Nyatta embark on a bizarre journey to get it back. In the surreal dreamscape of the Other Side, they encounter many fantastic characters and remarkable, often disturbing adventures.

Disturbing doesn’t even begin to describe this. I think the best word to describe it is:

There’s no better way to put it except maybe:


The whole thing is kind of disturbing and unsettling. Entertaining though it may be, that entertainment comes at the price of your own sanity and natural perceptions of the real world. Not sure if you should take the risk.

3 out of 5 – It can be fun but….what?

[The Big Daddy C-Master]

psyquis52 said:

Cat Soup

When little kitten Nyaako’s soul is stolen by Death, she and her brother Nyatta embark on a bizarre journey to get it back. In the surreal dreamscape of the Other Side, they encounter many fantastic characters and remarkable, often disturbing adventures.

Disturbing doesn’t even begin to describe this. I think the best word to describe it is:

There’s no better way to put it except maybe:


The whole thing is kind of disturbing and unsettling. Entertaining though it may be, that entertainment comes at the price of your own sanity and natural perceptions of the real world. Not sure if you should take the risk.

3 out of 5 – It can be fun but….what?

I am goign to do Green Green.

Is this wierder than FLCL?

[KD]

psyquis52 said:

Sheesh. I must have been the only person who liked those movies. I'm half tempted to take them down from my Anime Review as is. Of course if I remove them then I'm removing Appleseed. That's not a problem for me. ;D

You're not alone in liking the FF movies. Then again, I am a bit of a FF-junkie, so that may have influenced my opinions of them...

I really liked Spirits Within, despite all my friends telling me how much it "sucks". I haven't seen it in a while, so I can't say much about it, but what I remember was great. The only link to the FF games I can see is when they call the life-force of the world "Gaia" (FF7, anyone?). I personally think that some people said it sucked because it had little to nothing to do with the game series, so they subconsciously declared it trash.

I had been looking forward to Advent Children since news of it first came out, and I agree that it was awesome, deserving of that 5/5. The only thing I didn't like that much was the short screen time of the all the game's protagonists save Cloud, Tifa, and Vincent (and Vincent's part was extremely short as well); of course, I may think that just because my two favorites are Cid and Red XIII, who had maybe two lines each. *shrug*

[The Big Daddy C-Master]

kingdubya said:

psyquis52 said:

Sheesh. I must have been the only person who liked those movies. I'm half tempted to take them down from my Anime Review as is. Of course if I remove them then I'm removing Appleseed. That's not a problem for me. ;D

You're not alone in liking the FF movies. Then again, I am a bit of a FF-junkie, so that may have influenced my opinions of them...

I really liked Spirits Within, despite all my friends telling me how much it "sucks". I haven't seen it in a while, so I can't say much about it, but what I remember was great. The only link to the FF games I can see is when they call the life-force of the world "Gaia" (FF7, anyone?). I personally think that some people said it sucked because it had little to nothing to do with the game series, so they subconsciously declared it trash.

I had been looking forward to Advent Children since news of it first came out, and I agree that it was awesome, deserving of that 5/5. The only thing I didn't like that much was the short screen time of the all the game's protagonists save Cloud, Tifa, and Vincent (and Vincent's part was extremely short as well); of course, I may think that just because my two favorites are Cid and Red XIII, who had maybe two lines each. *shrug*

I hate it when they do that to advance other characters alone. #disgust#

[warmunger]

Review Gad Guard!

[Psyquis52]

I'm working on reviving this but it will take a while.

[Dja Majista]

Have you watched Death Note?

[Sinistrous]

Just some thoughts, I'd like to see more elaboration in your reviews; they're very bare-bones. That's not to say you should write a bunch of huge paragraphs on it, I just think you should be more specific. After all, watching an entire anime series or movie takes a fair amount of time and I'm sure you could say a bit more on them.
I'll use a passage or two from your reviews as an example:

The animation improved

-How so? Is the artwork more professional, clear, colorful, vivid? Is the pacing of the frames more stable or more varied?
-And then, why is this an improvement? Does it make the show more visually pleasing or coherent?

Then another, expanding a little more:

Disturbing doesn’t even begin to describe this. I think the best word to describe it is:
[image]
There’s no better way to put it except maybe:
[image]

The whole thing is kind of disturbing and unsettling. Entertaining though it may be, that entertainment comes at the price of your own sanity and natural perceptions of the real world. Not sure if you should take the risk.

This is a bit better, I think, as it's got me interested in the series (I like strange and disturbing stuff). Now, while the plot summary (which is fine by the way) does give me a slight idea of why it might be disturbing, it really doesn't give me that much. Again with those two sets of questions:
-How is it disturbing? Is it the plot, the imagery, a combination of the two, or something else? Examples are good here, though you don't necessarily need to spoil anything.
-And then, why did you like or dislike that? You seem to start on it ("it's entertaining but it comes at the price of your sanity and natural perception") and then just cuts off without much of a conclusion - I honestly can't tell if you liked it, disliked it, or if you're undecided on it.

As a general note:
The first questions don't need to be answered in particularly technical terms, just broad descriptors are fine. And of course, those don't have to be the only questions you answer.
The last question is the most important though because it leaves things on a more personal note.
-----

On a different note, I noticed your Gundam Wing review; very good. I like that whole passage on how the show has this totally confused philosophy on war/peace/etc that completely drags the show down. It's a good call; I'm in definite agreement with you on it!

Anyway, what I was aiming for was that in your review of NGE (a show I've avoided for years, only having seen one episode) you make a similar point about the ending, something I've heard in a lot of other discussions on the show as well. However, I've also heard that this sort of thing is spread out all over the series as well with attempts to reference and make tie-ins to different aspects of Judeo-Christian ideology along with a lot of other pseudo-philosophical nonsense. Do you have any thoughts on that, having seen the show?

This question is open to anyone's response, by the way.
-----

Anyway, hope to see more of your reviews soon dude!

[Dja Majista]

NGE's last episode... If it was an attempt at real philosophy it was an utter failure. You mention some kind of Judeo-Christian reference, but I don't remember noticing anything like that, and I usually do pick those things up. Obviously that's not to say it's not there; I just can't testify. As for the psuedo-philosophy, I really just need to see it again. I remember some of the stuff they said but all in all, all I can really recollect is one big blur. Granted, I may have just been tired since this was after an all-nighter, but I do remember being pretty pissed off at how sloppily they were trying to convey messages. The whole thing seemed arbitrary, and it was in a sort of dream format; no sensible structure or anything. It may have made sense to the writer, but IMO, no amount of interpretation could bring the overall message to consensus.

I also, agree with psyquis's review. It would have gotten a 5/5 if it ended ANY differently.

[Sinistrous]

Are you strictly talking about the last episode here or the series as a whole? I have to say it's a bit strange that you think it deserves a 5/5 (ending aside) even though you can only recollect the series as a big blur.

Anyway, I wish I remembered more specifics on those religious references and pseudo-philosophical blah blah, but no luck. Oh wait, there's actually a wikipedia on it: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neon_Genesis_Evangelion_%28TV_series%29#Inspiration_and_symbolism

I can't believe I actually looked that up. I'm disappointed in myself.

[Sinistrous]

Oh my. I didn't even have to read that far.

Evangelion is dense with allusions to biological, military, religious, and psychological concepts, as well as numerous references or homages to older anime series (for example, the basic plot is seen in earlier anime like Space Battleship Yamato[38]) – a tendency which inspired the nickname for the series, the "remixed anime"[39] Anno's use of Freudian jargon and psychoanalytical theory as well as his allusions to religion and biology are often idiosyncratically used and redefined to carry his message. This tendency of Anno's has been criticized as "Total plagiarism!" and "just more mindgames from the animation crew".[40] However, Anno has defended himself by denying the possibility of really original work without borrowing in anime:

"There is no longer room for absolute originality in the field of anime, especially given that our generation was brought up on mass-produced anime. All stories and techniques inevitably bring with them a sense of déjà vu. The only avenue of expression left open to us is to produce a collage-like effect based on a sampling of existing works."[41]

"The people who make anime and the people who watch it always want the same things. The creators have been making the same story for about 10 years; the viewers seem to be satisfied and there's no sense of urgency. There's no future in that."[42]

Uh huh. Sorry guys, I think I'm gonna sit this particular trip out.

[The Big Daddy C-Master]

I didn't know Joe was into anime.

[Dja Majista]

Nah man I was definitely talking about the last episode when I said "big blur." Remember I said it was in a dream format? That's part of the reason I don't remember much, because the whole episode seemed to lull my brain into a state of half-consciousness.
I'll look at the wiki article later. I need to go do my community service hours.

[The Big Daddy C-Master]

Apr 18, 2008 6:35:58 GMT -5 Dja Majista said:

Nah man I was definitely talking about the last episode when I said "big blur." Remember I said it was in a dream format? That's part of the reason I don't remember much, because the whole episode seemed to lull my brain into a state of half-consciousness.
I'll look at the wiki article later. I need to go do my community service hours.

Hmmm, sounds like a girl to me....

[Sinistrous]

Apr 18, 2008 2:11:12 GMT -5 The Big Daddy C-Master said:

I didn't know Joe was into anime.

Hey, what a coincidence, I didn't know you were until I read this topic (you nerd!) Actually though, I only like Cowboy Bebop... though there's a few others I've seen that are okay.

Apr 18, 2008 6:35:58 GMT -5 Dja Majista said:

Nah man I was definitely talking about the last episode when I said "big blur." Remember I said it was in a dream format? That's part of the reason I don't remember much, because the whole episode seemed to lull my brain into a state of half-consciousness.
I'll look at the wiki article later. I need to go do my community service hours.

Well, I was mostly addressing the entire series. Have you even seen the whole series at least?

Apr 18, 2008 9:48:10 GMT -5 The Big Daddy C-Master said:

Hmmm, sounds like a girl to me....

Nah, you know David. He keeps getting arrested because the cops think he's black.

[Dja Majista]

Well, I was mostly addressing the entire series. Have you even seen the whole series at least?

Of course! Hence the all-nighter. Hey, is Gurren Lagann on your list of 'OK' animes?

[Sinistrous]

Noooo, it's not

It's not terrible but it's still pretty stupid.

For reference, my list of the OK ones so far with some notes:
-Ghost in the Shell (interesting story, good characters, quality nerdy sci-fi)
-Paranoia Agent (nice and bizarre - very Twilight Zone)
-Samurai Champloo (look promising, only seen a few episodes though)

The rest of them are either crap that I hate (Gundam, Ergo Proxy, Berserk, list goes on almost forever), Cowboy Bebop (which rules), or something I haven't seen yet (Blue Lagoon, Bastard!, and something else)

[The Big Daddy C-Master]

Apr 18, 2008 11:26:15 GMT -5 Sinistrous said:

Apr 18, 2008 2:11:12 GMT -5 The Big Daddy C-Master said:

I didn't know Joe was into anime.

Hey, what a coincidence, I didn't know you were until I read this topic (you nerd!) Actually though, I only like Cowboy Bebop... though there's a few others I've seen that are okay.



Well, I was mostly addressing the entire series. Have you even seen the whole series at least?

Apr 18, 2008 9:48:10 GMT -5 The Big Daddy C-Master said:

Hmmm, sounds like a girl to me....

Nah, you know David. He keeps getting arrested because the cops think he's black.

Oh no I was saying it's an excuse to see a girl, not that he did anything with one.

[Psyquis52]

Okay.

To start... Yes, I am watching Death Note.

Sinistrous is absolutely right. My Reviews do require an upgrade so I have to go back and *shudder* rewrite all my reviews.

I know it's sick but I can't seem to find a way around it.

Tonight I'll post my premise for the new Anime Review section.
I may just end up deleting all this content.
I'm not sure how C-Master will like that but the old stuff is pretty weak and I have a lot more reviews to add to the shelf.

I'm still open to any and all suggestions and questions.

[Psyquis52]

Apr 17, 2008 20:17:28 GMT -5 Sinistrous said:

Just some thoughts, I'd like to see more elaboration in your reviews; they're very bare-bones.

You're right. I'll fix it within the next week.

-How so? Is the artwork more professional, clear, colorful, vivid? Is the pacing of the frames more stable or more varied?
-And then, why is this an improvement? Does it make the show more visually pleasing or coherent?
-How is it disturbing? Is it the plot, the imagery, a combination of the two, or something else? Examples are good here, though you don't necessarily need to spoil anything.
-And then, why did you like or dislike that? You seem to start on it ("it's entertaining but it comes at the price of your sanity and natural perception") and then just cuts off without much of a conclusion - I honestly can't tell if you liked it, disliked it, or if you're undecided on it.

Hopefully I'll answer all your questions in the new reviews but if I don't then I welcome you to ask for more info at any time. ;D

On a different note, I noticed your Gundam Wing review; very good. I like that whole passage on how the show has this totally confused philosophy on war/peace/etc that completely drags the show down. It's a good call; I'm in definite agreement with you on it!

Glad to hear it.

Anyway, what I was aiming for was that in your review of NGE (a show I've avoided for years, only having seen one episode) you make a similar point about the ending, something I've heard in a lot of other discussions on the show as well. However, I've also heard that this sort of thing is spread out all over the series as well with attempts to reference and make tie-ins to different aspects of Judeo-Christian ideology along with a lot of other pseudo-philosophical nonsense. Do you have any thoughts on that, having seen the show?

Yes actually. Frankly I thought their attempts at incorporating a Judeo-Christian ideology - or philosphy or whatever they were trying to do - was done a little too clumsily and broken.
It feels like they were a week from deadline and had to throw all the elements they wanted into one final kebob of thought provoking nonsense. I learned nothing, and generaly feel that episode was a waste of my life. As harsh as that sounds, I do mean it. The show was prime material, with a creepy vibe and outrageous battles; and how do they choose to end it?
By making a point. What an utter fail! They should have gone the cliche' route and given us a huge final battle where everyone dies. They nearly did give us that but they dropped the ball. Bad.

I could elaborate more but it would verge on the edge of pointless rant.

[Sinistrous]

Heh, I don't think it's really necessary to rewrite them all.

If you absolutely want to start by rewriting the old ones, I'd just do a few at a time - perhaps the ones you feel more strongly about (tackling favorites can be quite a task though). I really don't think you should delete the old ones just yet either, rather edit the original post with a rewrite when you get to it. It'll give you a good idea on how your reviews are improving as you go; I do that myself with my own reviews (my old ones aren't exactly a pretty sight either) and it's good motivation.

Anyway, good luck (and cheers for the commentary on NGE!)

[Dja Majista]

Joseph, I think you'd like Death Note. I've had a lot of fun watching that one.

[Sinistrous]

I've seen an episode before; it looked pretty solid. I just can't be arsed to download a whole series right now. Maybe next weekend I'll get a chance.