All reviews - Movies (5) - TV Shows (6) - DVDs (3) - Books (7) - Games (1)

shoujo anime on crack

Posted : 2 years, 6 months ago on 10 July 2009 12:16 (A review of Revolutionary Girl Utena)

My first exposure to this series was actually it's music. Before I had ever seen one episode of it I already had all of the OST's. So how did that happen? Beats me. It's fairly simplistic. As far as a choral rock orchestra goes. I love the music. Then again my taste in music skews from the norm. It is anime music for starters.

Revolutionary Girl Utena falls squarely into the shoujo category. Bishie's everywhere, big eyed girls, flowers everywhere. so, hey, I watched the whole thing. Normally, I would stay away from this kind of shoujo. I tend to lean more towards the comedic type: Skip Beat, Lovely Complex, etc. But the powers that be told me to watch this. I was pretty much blown away. And if you think Evangelion had a lot of symbolism, I laugh at your ineptittude. HAHAHAHAHA. Seriously, though, everything is a symbol in this show. Everything. Except for maybe the shirt flying open thing. Whcih sadly, only happens to the guys. We do get a few naked girls here and there, but it only ends in rage. Well, it's not really even the point of the show, just an aside really. This is shoujo afterall.

Despite all the twists and fighting, and overall non-crappy drama. It still has many other standard cliches that plague shoujo and all anime really. Repetition. Fight, win, get the girl. Literally in this case. As she is the prize and is necesarry to open the gates to the end of the world. And reused scenes, in particular this one:

and this one:

Notice how it was the same music but a different animation. When you hear that song start, you know it's time for a fight. Utena's wasn't that bad but it was almost evey episode. As epic as the music was even that gets stale after 34 episodes. There's also an annoying little pet. It does however beak away from many other shoujo in that the girls aren't shrinking violets nor are they the chick. They are all incredibly competent and will beat your ass in a fight. Contrast this with the standard anime chick/doormat/useless moeblob. You'd think there'd be more of this, especially in shoujo, anime aimed specifically at girls, but there isn't. One more thing about this show. It subcribes to the all men are bastards ideal. In this case I'll letit slide cause damn, the guys on this show are bastards.

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and my backlog gets one shorter

Posted : 2 years, 9 months ago on 22 April 2009 08:14 (A review of Infinite Ryvius)

So. I finally finally saw Infinite Ryvius about 8 years after it was released stateside. to think I wanted to watch this when I first got into anime. If I watched this after watching Evangelion my mind would have bee utterly blown. The nightmare fuel in this show is enough to last for years. From homicidal religious zealot schoolgirls to gangrape (it's implied in one of the episodes, atleast), and megalomaniacal teenage boys in big robots. As well as a huge military conspiracy intent on covering up your survival and trying to blow you up. All of that and I'm sure some people would call this a teen drama about growing up and learning to cope. I would, but this is anime, so its okay to call it a teen drama. I wouldn't have it any other way and it's why I watch it.

Onto the characters. Without getting into too much detail, because I don't feel like it, I don't think any boring characters exist in this show, save for Neya, and the Aiba brothers. Even then they weren't too bad, just not as interesting as everyone else. Everyone changed a little, even the side characters and the joke characters that had little to do with the main story, went through changes. the clearest examples would probably be the girl in the dinosaur suit who as the show went on, started losing parts of her costume until she was down too just a sleeve by midway through the series. The second half was her recovering each part until she was whole again by the end. And then there's the naked guy. He started the show naked with nothing but a throw pillow to cover his manhood, Eventually he moved onto a lion-cloth fashioned from a towel, then he even got a name and a shirt, but still no pants.

What really surprised me about this show is it actually had a decent, thought out ending unlike many anime where it just ends because they caught up to the book or the studio ran out of money to write a proper end for a show. It's not a great ending, just a well thought out one that has a definite conclusion.

I almost forgot to mention one more thing about this series. The music: Both the opening and the ending gave me somewhat of an oldschool anime feel, which I tend to like. That's just me I think. I just happen to like old anime music better. it doesn't give off that same melt your teeth, moe moe feel. In other words, the music doesn't sound overproduced or run through a a synth to make up for the singer's talent or lack thereof. I'm not saying that didn't happen either way, but it doesn't sound like it. A couple other tracks you hear have a definite hip-hop feel to it. the eycatch atleast, it has what most assuredly sounds like a loop from Biggie Smalls.

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better than I thought it'd be

Posted : 2 years, 11 months ago on 19 February 2009 10:23 (A review of Push)

Okay, so most of last year and entering this year we have seen lots of comic books, and even games get turned into movies. Most sucked ass. This one, to my chagrin didn't. Now I haven't read the comic book, so excuse my ignorance if this thing was butchered, but it was good action movie. Nearly two hours I sat there and enjoyed it. Most of it anyway. The shaky camera was jarring and felt really unneccesary.

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finally saw this movie

Posted : 2 years, 11 months ago on 15 February 2009 01:52 (A review of Sex Drive)

I always wanted to see this movie in the theatres, but like a week after it debuted, it was nowhere to be found in my area. What the hell happened? Hell if I know, but now that I saw it I'm not dissappointed. If you want something that's deep and makes you care for a character, this movie is probably not for you. Unless of course you were Ian back in high school. Well, in any case, you will laugh at it. There is no doubt in that. If you want to watch an hilarious road trip movie and kick back, then please, by all means search this movie out. It is well worth it.

One more thing for those that like to compare movies. I'll save you the trouble. The best comparison I can think of for Sex Drive would be if someone took American Pie and Road Trip and combined them. It sounds like a bad idea, but I think it works.

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Last Exit

Posted : 3 years, 2 months ago on 23 November 2008 09:49 (A review of Last Exile)

One of my favorite anime of all time. Almost perfect save for one glaring mistake. The ending. Everything up to that point is awesome. The characters the vehicles, just about everything are based on Range Murata designs are clean. I for one am a big fan of his so maybe that's just me. I'd give this one a nine. If it weren't for that one thing. Dead characters should stay dead. Speaking of dead characters, this one has probab;y one of the most satisfying villian death scenes. The bitch gets her neck snapped, and it makes this sweet little crack. Then she just crumples to floor like a rag doll before her ship gets blown away by a huge cannon.

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Its a ten, but its still only a light novel

Posted : 3 years, 5 months ago on 21 August 2008 07:09 (A review of Boogiepop at Dawn (Boogiepop))

The third in a series of light novels translated from its original Japanese language; Boogiepop at dawn doesn't disappoint it's fans. The book brings us the origins of some of the series main characters, shedding some light on why thy are the way they are. It also adds some depth to them. In particular Kirima Nagi. Some of what was missing from the previous books was just what was motivating these characters to risk their lives fighting these monsters. Who would do such a thing and why? So yes, finally some light is shed. But not too much and only ends with more questions.

Saying that, if you decided you wanted to get into the series now, You'd be confused beyond belief. Maybe they add a list of chronoogical events as they happened. As it happens, the ending sets up the story for the fifth book. Seeing as how this is the third book, I wonder what happens in the fourth?

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Its been about three months since I got this game.

Posted : 3 years, 6 months ago on 28 July 2008 05:41 (A review of World Ends With You, The)

The important thing is I'm still playing it. I'll be honest. I'm not as avid a gmaer as I used to be. Some games I'll lose interest in them about halfway through, and not play them again. The World Ends With You, I've put it down for a few weeks in the time I've had it, then I come back to it, and I'm tearing through it like I just bought it all over again. Its just that fun.

Its got a very unique fighting system that utilizes both screens at once quite nicely. The bottom screen is for most purposes of this game your main screen and the top screen is where your partner fights. In a battle you can either have them go full auto or control the top screen by way of the D-pad, and at the same time control your main character, Neku, with the stylus on the botom screen. You share a life bar and enemies, so if one monster gets erased on either screen, that's it for them.

The way the attacks are carried out are through the use of pins, that are classified from A-D. You can have a total of six pins for Neku. They all have their own stats, that can be altered through fighting or also through items you equip your characters with and what area of the gae you're in. So one item may make them stronger in one area but in another it may weaken them considerably. I'm aware this stuff isn't new. But the way they implement it offers players a chance to customize their fighting style whether it be melee or long range in a very fun way.

part of the replayability of the game is the amount o customization it offers players. That and the music. You don't get tired of it. It's something like a mix between techno and pop. Its very inline with the feel of the game.

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"the disappearing pencil trick"

Posted : 3 years, 6 months ago on 19 July 2008 12:56 (A review of The Dark Knight)

Honestly, I tried to stay away from the hype of The Dark KNight as much as possible. So basically all I knew about it was there was a bank robbery and The Joker was played by Heath Ledger. Oh, and Batman had a motorcycle. That was it, and I went to see it based solely on that. Good thing it kicked ass then, huh.

Yes, Heath Ledger rocked the shit out of The Joker. Yeah, he's getting a lot of buzz because this was, effectively, his last film ever. Gary Oldman as Commissioner Gordon was just as good. Hell, everyone in the film was golden. But, yes there's a but, there's a very good reason I and many others are comparing everyone else to him in this movie and that's because he, The Joker, brought this movie, this world, full circle. A world without Joker, but Batman is not a world I would choose to watch. Heath Ledger brought out the magnificent bastard in Joker and I think everyone will remember him for it.

Now, lets get to the actual movie, hmm. I was never bored once through this ordeal of a movie. That's saying something as it was two and a half hours. Some things happened that I was totally not expecting to happen. I don't just mean some of the larger plot twists, but it was some of te small things. If anything those little moments that don't seem to add up to much, kinda see m to fill you up as to what exactly Batman is fighting for, and why he does the things he does. You get it.
Then ofcourse, there's the flipside, where normally you think you would be disgusted or that you would never laugh at; you find yourself cracking a smile and laughing along with The Joker, and you don't feel bad about it. I don't even remember how many movies have made me do that, if any.

This movie was off the hook, and I think I'll go see it again.

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best adaption of an anime ever? Probably

Posted : 3 years, 8 months ago on 18 May 2008 11:30 (A review of Speed Racer)

I was expecting cheese out the ass, and I got it. I just didn't expect to enjoy it so much. this movie was two hours long, but it sure didn't feel like it. Somehow it just kinda went in a blur...
As far cgi goes atleast I knew what I was walking into and there were no misleading trailers to tell me otherwise(Beowulf). The race segments were a blast to watch. The weapons some of them had. A beehive. How does that even work. It's so goddamn hilarious. The bad thing is they tried to throw in some plot about racing and politics that just didn't fit. First half was fairly bunk. Second half all the way to the end was off the hook. Physics were completely torn asunder. So if that bothers you in a summer movie, then go read a book. If all else fails, think of it as a very well crafted live action anime adaptation.7/10

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six years

Posted : 3 years, 9 months ago on 27 April 2008 06:58 (A review of Perfect Blue)

The last time I watched this movie and the only thing I forgot about it are the names of the characters. Some people are going to say "Why are you giving it 10/10 then?" Its quite simple really, I'm terrible with names and remembering anybody's name is a nice bonus for me.

Six years and some of the scenery still makes me cringe. I mean, hell, what would you think if you were being targeted by a psychotic ex-idol, multiple personality having serial killer. What if you were the killer? You'd have to make that stuff up, right? people being pushed past their breaking point into a murderous rage almost never happens.

Incredibly violent at times and other times it just drives you right to edge of your seat. What's reality, what's a show, or a dream? The pacing is good and keeps you watching all the way to the end. All the questions get answered and like most if not all Satoshi Kon movies it has a bittersweet ending, but still satisfying.

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