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In Japan, animation is treated not as strictly a "children's genre", but as an art form. As a result, anime is of every genre imaginable: comedy, drama, action/adventure, romance, etc. There is also variation in quality similar to that of live-action TV in America. Some shows are wonderfully animated, beautifully written, and have great art direction. Others are just run-of-the-mill fodder meant for people with short attention spans, and it shows in the overall low quality of the production.
For those new to anime, the sheer number and variety of shows to choose from can be a bit intimidating. Not many websites have series reviews, so I took it upon myself to provide some. All these reviews and the ratings for each series (based off the system they use for movies and TV) are my own personal opinion, so please take that into account when deciding which anime to view or buy. Also keep in mind that I'm an artist and aspiring animator, and I tend to judge series on their visual quality as well as their story.
Also for these reviews I give my opinion on the English (dub) vs. the original Japanese (sub) version of a series. It's always best to watch a show in its original language, but there are plenty of people who either find subtitles annoying, or who actually can't read them fast enough to keep up with the story. Some companies do a better job than others at creating an English version of a Japanese show, and I try to give an indication of which ones are worth watching. Click on the links below to read the reviews. Updated July 2007
This is one of my all-time favorite anime ^_^ Ranma 1/2 is a romantic martial arts comedy based off the hugely popular manga by Rumiko Takahashi, who is widely considered to be the most successful female manga artist of all time.
The show stars one Ranma Saotome, a 16-year-old martial artist whose father takes him on a training mission to China, where they find the cursed springs of Jusenkyo. Why are they cursed? Because there are over 100 springs in Jusenkyo and each has its own tragic legend attached to it. If you fall into one of the springs you'll turn into whoever, or whatever, drowned in it last. Ranma kicks his dad, Genma, into the Spring of Drowned Panda, while Ranma falls into the Spring of Drowned Girl (how's that for lousy luck?) Now, when splashed with cold water he turnes into a buxom redheaded girl; luckily, hot water will change him back into a boy.
Upon returning to Japan he's put into an arranged engagement to Akane Tendo, the daughter of Genma's friend Soan, and neither teenager is happy about it...especially when Akane finds out that her new fiance turns into a girl! Ranma 1/2 (you get the meaning of the 1/2 now, right?) is a hilarious series with great writing and very memorable characters. One must wonder whether these two kids will ever be able to admit that they might actually like each other, especially since Ranma has a talent for attracting girls who either want to steal him from Akane...or kill him. Or both ^^;;
This is a very long series (which is to be expected since the manga is 38 volumes!), and the first two seasons are the strongest in terms of art and story. After that unfortunately the quality of series tends to fall in both writing and animation. Luckily, a fantastic 12-episode OVA series, two theatrical movies and a short series of music videos were produced which more than make up for the uneven quality of the TV show.
Dubbed vs. Subtitled: Both versions are excellent, I highly recommend them both for their voice casts and for the wonderfully funny scripts :)
Rating: PG-13 (for some mature situations and nudity)
Note to parents: Japan is a different culture than the US and they are not obsessive over the nudity issue like we are; nudity is not a big deal for the Japanese, which is why it is so common in anime. The nudity in Ranma is not sexual in nature, is done for laughs, and is for the most part tasteful. Use your own judgement in showing this series to your kids.
Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon (the full Japanese title), based on the manga by by Naoko Takeuchi, is officially classified as a shoujo (girl's) anime. The original manga series has beautiful artwork and a pretty decent storyline. The anime starts close to the manga but quickly deviates in terms of story, with mixed results. The quality of the show's storyline varies according to which of its five "seasons" (separate series really) you're watching. Most of the episodes unfortunately follow the tedious monster-of-the-week format; the best parts of each series are really the beginnings and endings, where the plot lies. This show's real strong point is its artwork and character designs; I've always liked the artwork better than the series itself.
The basic premise of the show is that a millenium ago, there were civilizations on every planet in the solar system. They were overseen by the Silver Moon Kingdom ruled by Queen Serenity, a kind, wise, and benevolant ruler. Her daughter, Princess Serenity (known as Serena in the English dub, though her real Japanese first name is Usagi, "rabbit") is in love with the Prince of Earth, Endymion (Darien in English, Mamoru, "protector" in Japanese). In the manga, this is forbidden love and is partially responsible for starting a war between Earth and the Moon Kingdom which basically destroys everything; the same happens in the anime, though the causes are somewhat different. Everyone is killed and are reborn a thousand years later in present-day Japan. Usagi and the other reincarnated princesses are the Sailor Scouts (Pretty Sailor Soldiers in Japanese) who defend Earth against the forces of evil, most of which are tied up somehow with the ancient Moon Kingdom.
The best season by far is the fifth and final one. This series of episodes has the strongest storyline, the best and most consistent animation of the series, and some very memorable music. The first four seasons of Sailor Moon have been released in the US. The fifth however has not, probably because of certain "transvestite" characters (they aren't, it just looks that way) and extensive nudity in the final episode (not of a sexual nature). Sadly, the only way to see this season is by finding a fansub or bootleg Hong Kong copy of it.
Dub vs. Sub: Subtitled always for this show! The English version of Sailormoon is horrible, more for the ridiculously inaccurate scripts--which honestly make you wonder if they even bothered translating from the Japanese at all, or just made the dialog up--than the acting. In my opinion, the actors were doing their very best with what they were given.
Rating: PG
Note to parents: In the uncut version of Sailor Moon there is a small amount of nudity, which is fairly normal for anime. Nudity is not a big deal to the Japanese, and I honestly don't believe the tiny amount there is warrants a higher rating for this show (in Japan this show is aimed at young girls). The final episode, 200 (which right now you can only get through fansubs) has an extended period of nudity, but it's not sexual in nature and is pretty tastefully done. Use your own judgement in showing the uncut version of Sailor Moon to your kids.
Rurouni Kenshin (based off the manga by Nobuhiro Watsuki) is an interesting series to say the least. It's set in Japan's Meiji Era (1868-1912), ten years after the end of a civil war known as the Bakumatsu no Doran. The Meiji era was a Japan undergoing great change, in particular Westernization of its government and cities. The series tells the story of a former assassin, Himura Kenshin, who during the Bakumatsu was known as the Hitokiri Battousai. After being instrumental in helping his side to win the war, he vanished among the people for ten years only to turn up in Tokyo in 1878, where our story begins. The series centers around the Rurouni (wanderer) Kenshin, the people he meets, and his struggle to deal with his bloody past, eventually learning to put it behind him and move on with his life. If that sounds a bit angsty, it is, but you enjoy it because Kenshin is such a cool character :) The TV series (which ran for 95 episodes and a movie in Japan) is best described as a shonen (boy's) anime with a particular dramady flair to it. It's kind of a strange series because while it is based around serious subject matter and political drama, it's also full of a light moments and even slapstick humor. Kenshin himself is a complicated and fascinating man, with what seems to be almost a split personality. His "normal" silly self, the Rurouni, seems in sharp contrast to the persona he adopts when fighting his enemies, that of the ruthless Battousai. At heart though, these two personalities are really two sides of the same man, whose name in written Japanese translates to "Soul of Sword". Interested yet? Good :)
Two OAV series (marketed in the US under the completely inappropriate name Samurai X) were produced after the end of the TV series, one in 1999 and the other in 2001-2002. The first four-episode OAV series, titled Tsuioku hen (Recollection) reveals Kenshin's mysterious past as an assassin. In the first episode of the TV series we learn of Kenshin's vow to never kill again, a promise he made after the war ended. However, we never learn how such a famously ruthless assassin could have had such a drastic change of heart. That question is answered in this fascinating and heartbreaking story. The OVA's tone is very different from the TV series: it's dark, serious, and bloody, with none of the humor that defines the TV series. This change works perfectly for the content of the story. Of any anime I've seen, this would make the best live-action film.
The second OAV, titled Seishou hen (Time) is two episodes long and was concieved as an attempt to bring some closure to the TV series, which was cancelled after an entire season of filler episodes (i.e. plots not based on the original manga). The first episode basically recaps the anime series, while also setting in motion an incredibly depressing storyline set fifteen years after the end of the manga. The second episode, set mostly in the present, brings this alternate future storyline to its conclusion. The animation, produced by studio DEEN (the same creative team who put together the first OAV series) is beautifully done. However, the quality of the animation can't distract from the sub-standard plot, which takes elements from the manga and twists the story into something completely unbelievable to anyone familiar with the characters. The ending most definitely goes against what the original creator of Kenshin intended for his character, and as a result many fans have rejected this OAV as official series continuity. Sadly, if you forget that you're supposed to be watching a Rurouni Kenshin story and take the story at face value, then this OAV is actually very good.
The theatrical movie Ishin Shishi no Requiem (Requiem for the Ishin Patriots) uses the art style and plot continuity of the TV series. Unfortunately, while the film has some nice moments and the animation is generally pleasing, as a story it just doesn't quite hold together. The plotline is almost achingly slow, and one of the original characters is an incredibly weepy woman that you strongly wish would disappear from the story as quickly as possible. The best scene is the opening action shot of the film, a night raid of Shinsengumi on a secret rebel meeting in the middle of a spooky bamboo forest. It's a great sequence, and really illustrates just how scary Kenshin was in his Battousai days. The scene becomes ruined however through repetition; it's flashbacked to no less than six times over the course of the film, until you're sick of looking at it. In general the movie is a disappointment, and does nothing to further the storyline of the series.
Dub vs. Sub: The dub for the TV series is passable, though certainly far from great. The OAV and movie dubs however are awful, both in cast and script. I would definitely recommend the subtitled version of any of the Kenshin series.
TV Series and movie rating: PG-13 (for violence)
OAV series rating: R (extreme violence)
OAV II series rating: PG-13 (moderate violence)
Coming out of Studio Ghibli (the creators of Kiki's Delivery Service, My Neighbor Totoro and many others) and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, this is probably one of the most beautiful films you'll ever see. The animation is very fluid, the landscapes epic, and the music is very powerful. The story itself is a fantastical period piece, set in Japan's ancient fuedal past. In this world animal gods roam the forests and mountains, ruled by the Great Forest Spirit, a deer-shaped god with the ultimate power over life and death. At one time, humans recognized and respected the power of the gods, but times have changed. A group of humans living on a fortified island called Iron Town are encroaching on the realm of the Forest Spirit, killing the gods with their newly acquired guns and threatening the future of the forest itself.
Two characters are the center of this film: San is a girl raised in the forest by a wolf goddess, and Ashitaka is a young prince from a forgotten tribe. After being cursed by a demon god, Ashitaka is forced to leave his home to find a cure before he dies or worse, becomes a demon himself. His search brings him to Iron Town, the original home of the god who wounded him. This brings him into direct conflict with San, who is fighting on the side of the gods against the humans. The major theme of the movie is man vs. nature, but the film is more complex than that. Humans are neither villians nor heroes; like the gods, they are only trying to survive. It's a tale about love, survival, betrayal, greed, and the effort to understand the sources of conflict and war.
Dub vs. Sub: thumbs up to both versions. Disney/Miramx did an excellent job in scripting and casting the English version of the film.
Rating: PG-13 (for violence and some losses of heads and limbs -_-;;)
The Japanese love vampire stories, and Vampire Princess Miyu is one of the best I've seen. The series begins with a four-episode OAV, which features gorgeous animation and a fascinating (if slow-paced) storyline. Miyu is a very unusual sort of vampire in that she doesn't hold with the standard conventions; not only can she move in daylight, holy water has no effect on her and she appears human most of the time. This is because vampires, in this universe, are a kind of "Shinma", which is Japanese for "Gods + Demons". She actually is human, and has a mortal lifespan. The role of her tribe is to use her powers to keep watch over the other Shinma and prevent them from preying on humans.
Miyu is a very tragic character, and the series makes it clear that she's in no way a villian or a monster, and is worthy of respect and happiness. We learn her story through the eyes of the spirtualist Himiko, who believes that vampires are monsters. Her growing understanding of Miyu has an interesting twist, which isn't revealed until the end of the final episode, ending the series on a bit of a cliffhanger.
A television series was produced after the OVA, however the storylines are separate. Himiko apparently doesn't exist in the TV series, which is a real shame since the ending of the OAV makes you want to know more about her character. In any case the animation of the TV series, while good, isn't the quality of the OAV and the stories aren't nearly as strong. To be fair though, I've only seen four episodes of the TV series so it's possible the storyline improves with time.
Dub vs. Sub: I can't comment on the dub since I haven't seen the English version of either series. Since I'm a purist though, I'll always recommend the subtitled version :)
Rating for both TV and OAV series: PG-13
Ruin Explorers
A fanciful comedy, Ruin Explorers (also sometimes referred to as simply "Fam & Ihrie") is a four-episode OAV series about two best friends: Ihrie, a headstrong sorceress, and Fam, a Wiggan (a zany elf-like critter with a tail who is just adorable ^_^). Their main goal in life is to get rich by finding treasure in ancient ruins (hence the title), though nothing ever seems to go right for these two! Ever since Ihrie was cursed by her master to become a mouse whenever she uses magic (this is a problem because Fam's magic is really only good for predicting the weather...), she's been after a legendary object called "The Ultimate Power" which would hopefully allow her to lift the curse, as well as get very very rich. In their latest (and mostly disastrous) attempt to find enough treasure to get something to eat, Fam and Ihrie stumble on their first clue that The Ultimate Power might actually exist, and so begins their highly entertaining quest. I highly recommend this show; it's short, affordable, wonderfully animated, very fun, and will quickly become a favorite title in your anime library.
Dub vs. Sub: haven't seen the subtitled version of this, but the dub is excellent for its great cast and script.
Rating: PG-13
Dragon Half
This is another fun show that seems to be almost unknown in the anime world ; It's older, from the 80's, and is generally hard to find information on. It has become easier to find though since they recently produced a dubbed version of the show. This is a good thing, because it's a great series. Dragon Half is a fantasy anime parody about Mink, the witty, beautiful daughter of a red dragon (the mom) and a dragonslayer (the dad; how's that for ironic?). There are only two episodes, and they consist of Mink's escapades in her very midievil fantasy village where dragons, slimes (with eyes and lipstick), rockstars and weirdos live side by side. It's an adorably cute and funny show.
Dub vs. Sub: I haven't seen the dub so I can't comment; by default I recommend the show's original language.
Rating: PG-13 (some brief nudity)
*Ahem* All right I have to be honest here...this anime is really stupid. I'll provide a summary anyway though. The basic premise is that there are 150+ of these semi-sentient critters called pokemon ("pocket monsters" in the original Japanese). They're classified into various groups based on ability (electric pokemon, water pokemon, etc.), come in all sort of fun shapes and sizes, and evolve when they gain enough experience fighting other pokemon.
Did you guess that this show is based off a video game? Gee, how did you know? Anyway, there are these three kids (I'm using the English names here, which are completely different from the Japanese) who are our main characters: Ash (our boy hero), Misty (his maybe girlfriend) and Brock (whose ambition is to be a pokemon breeder--oh, and he can't stop oogling girls either. Hmm...) The idea is when you turn 11 you can get a pokemon trainer's license and start your glorious career traveling around the country with your pokemon (swiped from the wild where they were happy and free to be imprisoned in these awful little "poke-balls". Someone call the SPCA!). As you travel, you challenge other pokemon traines to fights where you pit your creatures against each other in what is essentially glorified cockfighting.
Unforunately, this is the whole point of the show. Ash wants to be the world's best pokemon trainer (of course) and so with his faithful companions and chief pokemon Pikachu (the only one who refuses to be kept in a poke-ball. Good for him.) he challenges every other pokemon trainer and gym he comes across to win badges so he can compete in the big pokemon tournament at the end of the series. There are several series of Pokemon, and all follow the same sort of "let's win the big tourney" storyline. I suppose there are some morals of responsiblity and friendship hidden in there somewhere, but forcing two animals to fight until they're beaten and bloody (okay, that's a slight exaggeration, but you get my point, right?) can't possibilty be the best way of going about learning the lessons of life. Honestly, only two things attract me at all to this show: the pokemon's character designs, which are actually quite cute and creative, and the chief villians, Team Rocket, who are just hilarious in the English version (and I imagine in Japanese too). They're villians because they're always wanting to steal Pikachu for their boss; who knows why, it really isn't important. What makes it funny is that they're really bad at their job...but they always smile through their failure. This is the sort of show that is only truly enjoyed by first graders and below, and for good reason.
Dub vs. Sub: A subtitled version for Pokemon? There's a laughable thought. I'd be suprised if any of the kids watching this show realize it's from Japan (in the show they cut scenes showing Japanese cultural events and turned rice balls into "jelly doughnuts"). In all fairness though, the dub cast for Pokemon is really good, and I commend their acting job. Makes it slightly more tolerable as a series -_-;;
Rating: G
Gundam Wing is one of the latest installments in an anime saga that has a more than 20-year history in Japan. It's a space opera/mecha show with a long and complicated plot, stretched over 49 TV episodes and the 90-minute Endless Waltz OAV series.
Gundam as a genera is a complicated mess of more than a dozen shows, but fortunately Gundam Wing's storyline stands separate so that Gundam newbies (such as myself) won't be lost. It follows the story, set a couple centuries in the future, of five young Gundam pilots (Gundams are special mobile suits made of the fictional Gundamium alloy). These pilots are residents of the five largest space colonies, all of which are ruled by the tyrannical Earth Sphere Alliance goverment. They've been trained from a very young age to be the saviors of their respective colonies, with the ultimate mission of freeing them from the Earth's rule.
The story starts simply enough, but be prepared to get really confused as the series progresses, since the Earth-Colony political situation gets more and more fragmented and complex as time goes on. To really appreciate this show, which was definitely intended for the teenage crowd (the young kids obviously go for the mecha suits, not the characters or plot of this show), it's best to watch the episodes in order. I personally required multiple viewings of all the episodes to get a grasp of what was going on. This is not to say that Gundam Wing is a bad show; I quite enjoy it, it's just not as fast-paced or clear-cut as some of the other series I've seen. The characters are also some of the weirdest you'll find; these aren't exactly normal kids piloting these suits, and some are downright masochistic, but they're interesting nonetheless. I haven't seen the other shows in the Gundam saga, but I intend to. Gundam Wing gave me a pretty good introduction.
Dub vs. Sub: Both casts are great and the scripts for each version are nearly identical, so you don't even lose content switching between them (this is pretty rare for anime released in America, btw; the English script usually has different dialogue, even if the content is the same). I recommend both :)
Rating: PG-13 (for general violence)
Card Captor Sakura, based on the manga created by the all-female artist group CLAMP, is an adorable and beautifully animated shoujo (girl's) anime. It originally aired in the US on the WB Kids network so I first saw the heavily cut and rearranged dubbed version first. This confusing version wasn't the best introduction to the show, but the artwork and basic story was good enough to hold my attention. I started collecting the uncut subtitled DVDs, and found that I was much happier with the original version of the series.
Sakura Kinomoto is a ten-year-old girl living in Tokyo who discovers a magical book, The Clow, in her father's basement. Being the curious kid that she is, she opens the book and accidently releases all the enchanted Clow Cards contained within, which also awakens the Seal Beast of the Clow Cards, Keroberos (a.k.a Kero-chan). He appears as a very cute, toylike winged animal. This is his powered-down form and, as we soon find out, he's not like that by choice; it's because two of the cards he needs to be in his true form are missing. Somewhat miffed about Sakura releasing the Clow Cards all over Tokyo, Kero charges her with the task of retrieving and learning to use them, dubbing her a "Card Captor".
Although from the premise you might think this series is just another cookie-cutter kid's show about collecting things, that couldn't be farther from the truth. This show has a tremendous amount of heart and depth, and continues long after Sakura has collected all the cards. In fact the plot grows only more interesting and complex with time. Another of this series' strengths is its diverse and likable cast of characters. Sakura's a wonderful character, and it's fun to watch her grow as a person as the series progresses. The show follows the original manga quite closely, lasting for 70 episodes. The series is actually finished with the second theatrical movie. The first theatrical movie is also worth a look, with a separate storyline that gives more background on another of the main characters. In general, this is a beautifully produced series with amazing artwork, a great story, and memorable characters. It's also very kid-friendly. Definitely a series worth watching ^_^
Dub vs. Sub: *sigh* the dub for this is so-so; the acting is pretty good (especially the actress for Sakura) but the dialogue is kinda nerdy and definitely loses substance from the original script. They also changed serveral character's names for no particular reason; Sakura, Kero and Li are among the few who get to keep their real names. I highly recommend the show's original language. Note that the uncut DVDs are Japanese-only. The dub was only produced for the short-lived and heavily edited TV run.
Rating: PG
Inuyasha is another Rumiko Takahashi (Ranma 1/2) creation and is just as entertaining and well-written as her other series. The story centers around Kagome, a middle school girl who falls through a magical well in the basement of her family's shrine and ends up in the past, specifically Japan's Warring States period. There she meets the half-human, half-dog-demon Inuyasha, whom she unintentionally releases from a binding spell placed on him by Kagome's ancestor, a village priestess named Kikyo. It turns out Inuyasha was sealed because he was after a powerful magical item called the Jewel of the Four Souls ("Shikon no Tama" in Japanese) which gives demons great power and has the potential to turn Inuyasha into a full "youkai" (demon) from his current "hanyou" (half-demon) state.
A series of misadventures leads to Kagome accidently shattering the jewel into hundreds of shards, which scatter themselves across Japan. While she is able to return home anytime to Tokyo though the Bone-Eater's Well (the well she fell through), she is now fated to join hands with Inuyasha to find the shards and restore the jewel. Of course a story like this is nothing without obstacles, and the show's villians are many and varied, though all share a connection with the jewel and Inuyasha's tragic past. One of the primary focuses of the series is the growing, uncertain love between Inuyasha and Kagome, complicated by Inuyasha's past relationship with the priestess Kikyo. No character in this series is uninteresting or cliched, and the world of fuedal Japan has an amazing richness to it, which makes this a great show to watch. The animation, music, and art direction are also of top quality, working together to make this a truly great and epic series.
Dub vs. Sub: Actually, the dub for this show isn't too bad, although the woman who plays Kagome can't act her way out of a paper bag, and the dub script contains many unecessary and ridiculous references to The Wizard of Oz (I guess because Kagome's a girl "not in Tokyo anymore"; as if that wasn't already obvious!) which were definitely not in the original script. Ugh. Anyway, the dub is tolerable but I would would point you to the excellently written and acted subtitled version of this show.
Rating: PG-13 (the US TV version has been edited down to PG level)
Ah yes, Hideaki Anno's Evangelion, Gainax studio's landmark anime series. This show broke a lot of standards and barriers when it was released, especially in the mecha genera it technically belongs to. This is one of the best animated series I've seen, and also one of the most bizarre. Evangelion is part sci-fi epic, part psychological therapy session. Set in the near future, 2015 A.D., the first of 26 episodes and a theatrical movie introduces Ikari Shinji, a troubled 14-year-old boy who has been summoned mysteriously to Tokyo 3 by his father Ikari Gendo. The general backstory is that in the year 2000 A.D. a huge metorite impact in Antarctica plunged the Earth into chaos and wiped out half the human population. In reality though, we discover that the explosion was not a meteor, but a mysterious being called Adam (a.k.a. the First Angel). These "Angels" have now reappeared (with malicious intent) fifteen years later, and it is for this reason that Shinji has been summoned to NERV, a goverment organization run by his father. He is basically ordered to go out and fight these Angels using the weapons created to destroy them: the biogenic robots known as Evangelions (EVA's for short). This basic introduction to the series only begins to scratch the surface of the true nature of the Evangelions and the Angels. Anything specific I tell you beyond this will give away major pieces of the plot.
One thing to remember about this series is that the psychology is actually more important than the sci-fi elements used to express it. In other words, everything in the show is actually a metaphor for something else. As such, the later episodes of the series become progressively more abstract and bizarre, cumilating in the final two episodes, 25 and 26, which for many fans were obtuse disappointments. To me, the end of 26 was the perfect end to an artistic, pyschological story...but I guess that was a little much for most people to grasp. The Japanese fans clamored for an ending that made sense, and so the theatrical movie End of Evangelion was made. To be honest, this movie will mess with your head even more than the TV show, and not only is it excessively violent and over the top, it doesn't have any heart either. It's like any other emotionally empty action movie, and I personally don't think of it as a true part of the series. But it's up to you to decide. Suffice it to say that this series is well worth watching, not only for the animation but also for the concept of the Angels and the complex character interrelationships that are built throughout the show.
Dub vs. Sub: AAAAH the dub cast should be shot it's so bad! It's not even that the script is bad, because it's pretty accurate, it's that the cast absolutely cannot act to save their lives *shudder*. Oh please please watch the subtitled version!
Rating for the TV and movie: R (violence and some mature situations)
The Vision of Escaflowne is a 26-episode fantasy epic. Its basic premise isn't all that original as far as anime goes: a Japanese high school girl gets transported to another magical world, meets some cute guys, falls in love, has her heart broken, finds her true love, and ends up saving the world. But hey, it's all in the execution, right? :) Seriously though, this really is a well-written and engaging show. Hitomi is a talented high school athlete with a hobby of reading Tarot-cards. When the series begins she's secretly pining after her track coach, Amano, and finally works up the courage to tell him how she feels about him (after all, he's leaving to study abroad and this is probably her last chance). In the middle of this romantic moment a beam of light comes from the sky depositing a young man (Van) and a huge land dragon (with a really aweseome design) onto the school's running track. A dramatic battle ensues, where Van slays the dragon and he and Hitomi are transported to Gaia, a mysterious world where the Earth and Moon hang in the sky (they are collectively known to the residents as the Mystic Moon). Van, it turns out, is a king, but on Hitomi's second day in Gaia Van's city is attacked by an army piloting this show's version of mecha (yes, mecha in a fantasy series--I thought it was strange too). Van and Hitomi flee the chaos in a mecha known as Escaflowne, which is so powerful only the royalty of Van's nation are allowed to use it. The plot gets fairly complicated from here on out, but the ending and final development of the characters are pretty satisfying--even if Hitomi's love life never really goes anywhere.
There is also a theatrical movie version of Escaflowne. I say "version" because it's not a supplement or side-story to the series. It's actually a modified retelling of the entire show, condensed into a movie that runs just under two hours. The tone of the film is quite dark, and many of the characters have been rewritten to be very different from their original TV presentations. Hitomi, always pretty cheery in the series, is very depressed here, almost suicidal. Van's character is even darker than normal, and he appears to be an assassin as well as a king. This movie is just...weird. It's good, I like it, but it's obvious that its creators had their own ideas about the Escaflowne characters and who they should be.
A special note for Escaflowne in general: the music by Yoko Kanno (Composer of Cowboy Bebop and Macross Plus, among others) is outstanding. It's a blend of classical and vocal music, with heavy Arabian and Indian influences. I heartily recommend any of her scores ^_^
Dub vs. Sub: Subtitled. Definitely the subtitled; the dub cast is tolerable, but only just.
TV series rating: PG-13
Movie rating: R (graphic violence)
You know, my sister and I got this show because we'd heard good things about it and it apparently won some Japanese media arts award, so we figured it would be really good, or even if the plot sucked the art would still be worth it.
In short, I have never seen a more bizarre show than this one, seriously. As the title suggests, it's about a young girl named Lain who lives in a very urbanized portrayl of modern-day Tokyo that is seemingly obsessed with computers (called "Navis") and electricity. She's a very withdrawn girl (if I had a family as dysfunctional as hers I would be too) and talks very little. She seems to be just drifting through life...until a classmate of hers commits suicide, and then somehow sends email messages to everyone in the school from beyond the grave. According to the girl though, she hasn't really died...her mind has instead moved into a cyber plane, vaguely referred to as "The Wired". This begins Lain's developing obsession with computers and her effort to understand the mystery of The Wired (hmmm smacks of The Matrix, doesn't it?). To be honest, I didn't understand a lot of this show; it felt like one of those series (much like Evangelion, actually) where you need to see the whole thing, then go back and rewatch it to understand all the stuff that confused you the first time. The art style of the series is very disjointed with a strange blend of text, CGI, cel animation and live action. I myself am an artist, but I found that I just couldn't get myself to like the style of this show. The plot intrigued me, but the art is kinda bleah in my humble opinon :P Oh well. I doubt I'll see more of this show, I didn't like it all that much, but I thought I'd give my opinion anyway for those curious to know what it was about.
Dub vs. Sub: haven't seen the dub, so again I recommend subtitled by default.
Rating: PG-13 (some violence, discussion of suicide and drugs)
Battle Athletes is a wonderful six-episode OAV series about Akari Kanzaki, a sixteen-year-old girl from an Earth far in the future (in the year 4999). The show opens during our time, where humanity is engaged in a devastating world war. A natural disaster then befalls the Earth and puts a halt to the fighting. Humanity recovers under a united front and devlops advanced space technology. They then are drawn into a war with an alien race which lasts many centuries; near the end of the conflict the two sides are reduced to sending armies of unmanned machines at each other, serving no real purpose. To bring an end to the war each race sends its best athlete to compete in an Olympics-style event. Humanity wins, peace is restored, and athleticism becomes the new creed of the human species. All this is told in flashback form at the start of episode 1, setting the stage for the construction of the University Satellite, a massive orbiting structure where the best women athletes train to win the coveted title of Cosmic Beauty. Akari is the daughter of one such winner, and the series focuses on her growth as a character from a fairly insecure girl trying to live up to her mother's legend to a young woman who is able to succeed for her own happiness and pride, freeing herself from others' expectations of her. Well-written, beautifully animated and with great drama and humor (especially the English dub, which is hilarious), I highly recommend this show.
There is also a TV series that was made after the OAV (called Battle Athletes Victory) that takes place before Akari travels to the University Satellite. She's in high school and even worse off than when we meet her in the OAV. She's haunted by her mother's memory (her mother died in her early teens) and her own feelings of inadequacy, since everyone expects her to live up to her mother's legend and become the next Cosmic Beauty. This series is presumably meant to explain why and how Akari makes it to the University, though since I've only seen the first few episodes of it I can't say much more about its direction. It's not as well-animated as the OAV, but is still very well-written. Go out and see this show, you won't regret it ;)
Dub vs. Sub: Both versions are great, watch them both for double the fun!
Rating for both TV and OAV: PG-13 (there are brief scenes of nudity in the OAV)
This is one of the first anime series I ever watched, and it is still one of my favorites :) There are six episodes of this series of varying length (they range from 30 to 50 minutes) and, while the animation is kinda so-so, it has great writing and costume designs (I love Yokho's battle outfit; can we say "cosplay"?). Yokho is a fairly normal highschool student...err, well unless you count her mother and grandmother duking it out over breakfast every morning (they hate each other, but the way it's presented it's pretty funny), Yokho getting ambushed by her grandmother every day to test her martial arts skills, and open discussions of Yohko's sex life (or lack thereof) over breakfast -_-;; This is a show that couldn't really decide whether or not it was going to be a hentai (i.e. pornographic) and it comes really close in some spots to being in the NC-17 category. That aside though, it turns out Yokho is the latest in a long line of demon hunters and the first episode covers her becoming a demon hunter (which she thinks is pretty cool) and saving the world from demonic possession. The other episodes continue Yohko's adventures as a demon hunter, including her acquiring of an adorable sidekick, going back in time to fall in love with a truly bishonen man, and fighting a fellow demon hunter. This is a fun and very enjoyable series and I recommend it, though it's defintely not one for the kids...
Dub vs. Sub: Haven't seen the subtitled version of this show, but the English dub is wonderful--the acting is good and the script is hilarious, with some of the best one-liners I've ever heard ;)
Rating: R (nudity, sexual situations and language)
Record of Lodoss War
This 13-episode fantasy epic OAV is considered one of the classics of anime, and for good reason. The animation is stunning and the storyline is every roleplayer's dream come true. This series has all the D&D elements you could ever ask for from dragons to elves to megalomaniac villans and epic battles. The main cast of characters (the boy warrior Parn, elf Deedlit, dwarf Ghim, mage Slayn, thief Woodchuck and priest Etoh) follow your usual D&D party mold, but are fully fleshed out characters with their own interesting stories and motivations for their involvement in the frequent wars that wrack Lodoss (also referred to as "the accursed island"). The plot is, of course, your usual story of the boy warrior that grows up to become a man and, with the help of his friends, saves the world from destruction. Much like The Vision of Escaflowne though, it's the execution that matters here. Lodoss is a beautiful, complex world filled with varied peoples, kings and villans you actually care about, and amazing depth of story. There is also a TV series that takes place after the OAV timeline. I've only seen four episodes of it and, while it wasn't terrible (the animation and script are pretty decent, not to mention the adorably cute Omake Theatres at the end of each episode ;) I wasn't compelled to go out and buy more of it. Needless to say, I can't comment much on a series I've only seen a few episodes of. However, the OAV is an animation experience you won't soon forget :)
Dub vs. Sub: Well, the dub isn't great folks. The good news is that the two scripts are identical, so you don't lose content. Where voice actors are concerned, I find the subtitled version a lot more enjoyable.
Rating for both the OAV and TV series: PG-13
Detective Conan (called "Case Closed" in the US, and sometimes on the internet by its Japanese title "Meintante Conan") is what you might call the ultimate mystery show. It's a cleverly written series that resembles a giant cross-over between Scooby Doo, the X-files, James Bond, Sherlock Holmes, and those Two-Minute Mystery books everyone read when they were kids. Kudo Shinichi is a 17-year-old detective genius who divides his time between high school, his unofficial girlfriend Ran, and solving murder cases. One night when he and Ran are at an amusement park he spots some suspicious characters and--because he just can't resist a mystery--he takes off after them. It turns out they are members of a dangerous group of criminals called the Black Organization. They catch Shinichi spying on them, force him to take a poison, and leave him for dead. The "poison" has an unforseen result though: instead of dying, Shinichi is shrunk to the age of seven, much to his horror and disbelief. Terrified, he runs home and bumps into his next door neighbor and wacky scientist mentor, Dr. Agasa. He finally convinces Agasa that he is in fact Shinichi, and demands that the doctor find a way to cure him. Ran chooses that exact moment to show up looking for Shinichi. In a moment of panic, the transformed detective becomes Conan Edogawa, a young relative of Shinichi, and goes to stay with Ran. As if this awkward situation wasn't bad enough, Shinichi realizes that he can never tell Ran the truth, because it's likely that if the Black Organization realizes he's alive, they'll come to kill him and everyone he cares about. Fortunately for Shinichi, Ran's father is a private investigator, albeit a really lousy one. Still, it provides a home base from which to search for the men who did this to him, and a cure.
At first, this show seems very formulaic and simple. Every episode there's some murder mystery which Conan ingeniously solves (I swear this kid has watched every McGuyver and Murder She Wrote episode there is) and the villian emotionally confesses his whole plan to everyone once he's found out (a la Scooby Doo). When you watch a few episodes, though, you start to realize that there's actually a lot more going on under the surface, especially between Ran, who is sick with worry over Shinichi's disappearance and confused by his rare, vague phone calls, and Conan, who is frustrated with having to hide himself from Ran, because he loves her, but knows he has remain silent to protect her life. This series is hugely popular in Japan; the original manga series is still being written and the anime has now passed the four hundred espisode mark, along with several theatrical movies. This series has some awesome villians (my favorite of which is the magician thief Kaitou Kid), great plot arcs, memorable characters, and a good core story. Although the length is daunting, I still do my best to keep up with it. Does Conan ever become Shinichi again? I have to find out! ;)
Dub vs. Sub: The dub version of this series is for the most part passable; what irritates me about it is that they changed almost everyone's name for the US release (Shinichi is now Jimmy, Ran is Rachel, etc.). Why they felt compelled to do this I have no idea, but they also did it in the English version of the manga, which to me is inexcusable. As far as the anime's concerned, you won't disappointed with the original, fantastic and very talented Japanese voice cast.
Rating: There is no rating system in Japan as we think of it, and so many shows don't fall neatly into our age categories. This is one of them. It hovers somewhere between PG and PG-13; the show is intended for kids, and most episodes are quite tame, but others show murder, blood and wounds quite frankly. It is never graphic though, especially by Hollywood standards, so it's up to your own judgement here.
Fushigi Yuugi
Fushigi Yuugi (which literally means "The Mysterious Play") is a fantasy-romance shoujo series based off the beautifully drawn manga by Yu Watase. Miaka is a girl in her last year of middle school (she's fifteen) who, with her best friend Yui, dreams of going to a great high school where she can eat a lot and meet boys. She hates studying and is very stressed over having to pass the exams to get into high school. It's with great reluctance that Yui, who is an excellent student, drags her to the Tokyo public library to study. Miaka gets bored and goes wandering around in the rare book section. There she finds a strange book written in Chinese. Yui catches up to her, sees the book, and says that she can read ancient Chinese (um, how convienient). The girls start reading and are suddenly enveloped in a red light. They are transported to The Universe of the Four Gods, a world contained within the magical library book. Confused and frightened, the girls are attacked by bandits and saved by a handsome young man named Tamahome. Yui is then unexpectedly sent back to the real world where, at a loss of what to else do, she keeps reading the book. She realizes that the main character seems to be a young priestess that resembles Miaka, and that the first chapters perfectly match what just happened to them with the bandits and the rescue by the young man.
So begins the tale of Miaka, Yui, and world of the book, which to anyone trapped in it is completely real. Miaka is declared the Priestess of Suzaku, a phoenix-like goddess, and that's when the story really begins. The whole series, which becomes very focused around the developing romance between Miaka and Tamahome, has a very Never-Ending Story feel to it. It's an entertaining show and I enjoy the characters and the premise of the series quite a bit; the world of the book is very detailed, based loosely on ancient China, and both Miaka and Yui have pivotal roles to play in it. To be honest, though, the constant rockiness of Miaka and Tamahome's relationship (they are always doing the "does he hate me?", "doesn't she love me?", "am I worthy of him?" thing) gets a little old after a while. Their love never seems to move forward and they feel (at least to me) to be the most stagnant of the show's characters in terms of their growth and development. Still, this show is worth watching for the great artwork, animation, and engaging story.
Dub vs. Sub: Again, whoever was in charge of the English dub apparently didn't care about script accuracy or actor quality. I really can't stand the dub for this show; please please watch the sub!
Rating: PG-13
Grave of the Fireflies
This is another Studio Ghibli film, written and directed by Isao Takahata. Originally double-billed with My Neighbor Totoro (meaning that, amazingly enough, the studio produced both films at the same time), it maintains the high quality of animation and storytelling I've come to expect from Ghibli films. I must put a warning here though...while this movie is extremely good, it's also really depressing, as in almost suicidally depressing. Prepare to have a box of tissues on hand when you watch this film; you'll need it. It takes place just before the end of WWII in Japan, and is about two children orphaned by a bombing raid. Their mother is killed and the children must set off alone to find their distant aunt, who will hopefully take care of them. And she does...for a little while, but then the realities of war and food rations drive the siblings back out into the world where they must try and survive on their own.
The story is told with exacting historical accuracy and detailed character development of the children, and you really feel for these kids' plight. This is a story about the horror and tragedy of war, and the suffering of those with the least power in times of crisis: children. The things these kids have to go through to survive with no family and no resources...I can't even imagine going through that myself. This story does not have a happy ending (and I do mean that), but it's a wonderful movie and one I highly recommend. It's a little like Shindler's List; as awful as it is to see such suffering, it's nevertheless a movie you should watch. Grave of the Fireflies has won a number of awards, including one from the Chicago International Children's Film Festival. To be honest though, I'd have a very hard time showing this movie to a child. It's just too...sad. I don't know, maybe it'd be good for the kid's character, but I'd use your own judgement on when it's the right time to expose your child to the darker sides of life, especially war. When and if you decide to teach this particular lesson though, you couldn't pick a better movie for it.
Dub vs. Sub: I didn't watch the dubbed version for this, but the sub was very poignant and really this is a story by the Japanese for the Japanese, so I would opt for the original language anyway.
Rating: PG-13
This is another wonderful Studio Ghibli film, written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. The story is a coming-of-age tale about Kiki, a young witch. In Kiki's world, when young witches turn thirteen they must move away from home for a year to gain experience in whatever profession they plan to use magic in, such as fortune-telling or potion-making. This sounds like a pretty scary thing for anyone to go through, but for young Kiki it's a cause for great excitement. Her only real skill (but one she's far from mastered) is flying, so she decides to make that her career. She's accompanied on her journey by her talking black cat Jiji, and together they set out on Kiki's broom to find somewhere to live. She winds up in an adorable little seaside town, where she befriends a bakery owner and starts her own flying broom delivery service. This movie is about Kiki's growth as a person, from a naive child to a more mature young woman. This is a wonderfully animated and written flim, and one that I think adults will enjoy as much as their children. All Miyazaki films are time well-spent in front of the TV, and this film is no exception :)
Dub vs. Sub: Both versions are outstanding; the dub in particular is wonderful, with an all-star cast and a great script ^_^
Rating: PG
Cowboy Bebop is simply an amazing series. I saw two episodes on TV in the middle of the series, and liked it so much I immediately went out and bought the first DVD :) This show is probably best described as a "space western", though really it stands by itself. It's about a trio of bounty hunters and their lives in the solar system of 2071, where humans travel easily between the planets and lawlessness is rampant. Bounty hunting has become its own industry; TV shows profile the latest wanted criminals, and major spaceports have stations set up so you can collect your bounty by credit card. Spike is the focus of the series along with his partners Jet Black and Faye Valentine. Each one of these characters is fully three-dimensional, with unique character quirks and fascinating pasts. The show is a perfect balance between humor, drama, and action, and is a joy to watch. This is another anime that could easily be done as a live-action sci-fi series, and would probably have a similar feel to the Josh Whedon series Firefly. The animation (produced by Sunrise), and especially the detail put into the spaceships and planetary worlds, is breathtaking. I won't detail the specifics of the plot too much, because it's much more fun to discover it for yourself. There are 26 episodes and a full-length stand-alone movie.
Dub vs. Sub: The dub for Cowboy Bebop is one of the best that exists, not only for script accuracy but for the outstanding quality of the vocal cast. I actually prefer the dub to the sub, which is a rare thing for me.
Rating: This is another of those series that doesn't fall neatly into a particular rating; some episodes are PG-13 and others R. A rating that's been used for manga recently is "mature teen 16+" and that seems to fit this series well.
The Macross saga in Japan is similar to Gundam in its longevity and popularity. The heavily edited and horribly dubbed version of the original Macross--called "Robotech" in the US--was a series beloved by children of the 80's. I myself have only seen a few episodes of it, so I can't comment on its storyline. What I have seen though is the most recent Macross installment, the combination OAV series/theatrical movie Macross Plus. This is an excellent film (I've only seen the movie version, which is somewhat different from the OAV presentation of it), set in the far future where humankind lives alongside aliens known as the Zentradi. The movie is about three childhood friends and how they've changed in relation to each other as they've lived their lives. Two of the friends (Isamu, a human, and Guld, a human/Zentradi cross) are pilots who are competing to test pilot a new experimental ship controlled through a direct link to the pilot's brain. The third friend, Myung, is the source of a long-running love triangle between the three. She always dreamed of being a singer but could never make a living at it. Instead she became the producer for an artificially intelligent idol singer named Sharon Apple. Sharon unexpectedly achieves full autonomy and goes wild, becoming the quite powerful and terrifying villianess of the movie. The friends must now find a way to overcome their past conflicts with each other to defeat this threat; but can they? This movie has a wondful plot, great characters, a gorgeous musical score, and some of the best animation I've ever seen; in short, I can't say anything bad about it. It's important to keep in mind though that this film is NOT intended for children; it contains some very adult scenes and extreme violence.
Dub vs. Sub: I haven't seen the dub for this, but I enjoy the subtitled cast quite a bit.
Rating: R (violence and some sexual situations)
Yu Yu Hakusho (which roughly translates as "Spirit Detective") is a series produced by the same animation studio that made Dragonball Z. It's about a middle school student, Yusuke Urameshi, a bully and a thug who doesn't really get along with anybody. Everyone, including his own mother, thinks he's a no-good lowlife, and he rather enjoys his reputation as such. On his way home from school one day though, he saves a kid from getting hit by a car and is killed himself. Waking up as a ghost, he runs into a cute, cheerful blue-haired girl in a pink kimono riding on a boat paddle. She introduces herself as the Grim Reaper (yeah, as in the skeleton with the scythe). Yuske is understandably a bit taken aback by this whole death thing, and is completely disbelieving that this cute girl could possibly be who she says she is. As she explains though, his heroic saving of the boy completely surprised everyone in the afterlife, and so Yusuke is to be given a second chance at life. If he agrees to work for Death and help hunt down criminals in the world of the dead, his life will be restored. From this oddball beginning Yusuke goes on to become a demon detective, and eventually recruits some rather interesting friends to help him in his job. I like the premise and Yusuke's character, but honestly the show itself is a little lacking. It's very much like Dragonball Z, where there is more fighting than plot or character development. The art and animation is also just generally bleah. However, I enjoy the original manga series quite a bit.
Dub vs Sub: I haven't seen the sub, but I'll bet it's more enjoyable than the weakly acted dubbed version. Still, I've heard worse. It's watchable.
Rating: PG-13
The Dragonball series (three shows following the original manga: Dragonball, Dragonball Z and Dragonball GT) is an incredibly long anime, numbering over 400 episodes and a handful of movies. It is also immenseley popular, with millions of fans worldwide. If you look around the internet you'll find dozens of fansites dedicated to the series and hear all kinds of wonderful things from its devoted fans; I just don't share their opinion. This has to be one of the most poorly written, animated, and acted shows I've ever seen. It's about these incredibly powerful aliens called Saiyans who have monkey tails and who turn into big hairy rampaging apes once a month. This destructive phenomen has led most of the Saiyan characters to have their tails chopped off, which keeps them from changing form. The title of the show comes from its general premise, which is that these Saiyan characters (Goku and his son Gohan are the primary ones) have to go around collecting "dragon balls" (which look like small beach balls) so they can summon an incredibly powerful spirit dragon and have him grant their wishes, up to and including restoring the life of any friends who've been killed throughout the course of their misadventures. There is a lot of badly animated martial arts fighting--in fact this is the central plot of almost every episode--and very little in the way of real substance or character development. I honestly don't understand why this show is so popular; but then, WWF wrestling has millions of fans too, and that actually has more plot to it than DBZ -_-;; So how exactly do you stretch a storyline (following Goku from childhood to adulthood and beyond) over 400 half-hour episodes? Simple: you recycle every plotline dozens of times, constantly bring dead people back to life to the point where a character losing his life has no emotional impact whatsoever, and you take fifteen stagnant episodes to start and finish a supposedly climatic battle with the main villain. Sorry folks, but I can't stand this show. I may be in the minority on this, but that's my honest opinion.
Dub vs. Sub: I haven't seen the sub; the dub is...well it's just awful, in every respect. The fight scenes are like a long exercise in constipation. Watch the show, and you'll see what I mean >_<;;
Rating: PG (PG-13 for the even more violent uncut version)
Tenchi Muyo is another one of those space opera-type shows with aliens and ships and the whole nine yards. Not that there's anything wrong with that genera, it's just that it's hard to find one that's actually good. Tenchi Muyo is somewhere in the middle in terms of quality. Tenchi is a young shrine kid who lives with his father and grandfather at their family's temple, and he doesn't do a whole lot that's useful with his life. Meanwhile, out in space, a fugitive named Ryoko is heading towards Earth in her living spaceship. She crash lands on Earth and runs into Tenchi, whom she promptly falls in love with. Tenchi it turns out is part alien, and is a member of a royal house on some distant planet. The princess of said planet soon shows up looking for Ryoko (who committed some sort of crime on her world). She also falls in love with Tenchi. As time goes on, Tenchi collects a whole bunch of young unattached women who for some reason are attracted to his geekiness, and who constantly fight over his (mostly imagined) affections for them. It's like Ranma 1/2 without the martial arts and nifty animal curses, and I just don't find it all that enjoyable as a series. Tenchi's not a very cool character, and in fact Ryoko is probably the best character of the lot (along with her nifty ship, which changes into an adorable cabbit named Ryoohki when it's not being flown ^_^) and she's not even the focus of the series! The good news is the animation's pretty good, so you can at least enjoy the eye candy.
Now what's really confusing about this series is that each season of Tenchi restarts the plot with the same characters, but completely different versions of how they met each other. The American release has different names for each series, but in Japan they were all called "Tenchi Muyo". Even with aid of different titles though, after a while it becomes very hard to keep all the many plots straight, and you wonder why the heck the show's creators couldn't have just picked one and have done with it. Each series varies widely in animation quality too, ranging from nice to cruddy, so you can almost remember which plotline you're following based on the animation. A strange show indeed...
Dub vs Sub: I haven't seen the sub, but the dub is okay; it's pretty watchable.
Rating: PG-13
Prepare to enter true weirdness, folks. This anime (actually a 50-minute movie) is part of a larger multimedia presentation, and to understand the series you have to both see the anime and read the longer manga series. I haven't read the manga, so I only have the movie to go on. The plot glosses over what seems to be some very interesting vampire backstory (because they want you to go buy the manga) and leaves you hanging at the end. It takes place at the American airbase in Okinawa in I think the Vietnam era, so the dialogue is half in Japanese and half in English, which is pretty odd. Apparently in the story there was a military experiment where they created these vampire man-bat creatures that can take on human form, and then experiment got loose. Our main character is one of these creatures, except that she can't turn full bat (I think it's because she's half-vampire, but I can't be sure). We learn little about her in the movie save for the fact that she kicks major butt with her weapon of choice, a katana. It's a very bloody anime with a high death toll, and they skim over many things that really should have been explained for the benefit of the audience. Still, it's an interesting film, with nice art direction and incredible animation. Someday I'll have to pick up the manga and learn more about these bat creatures, 'cause they were pretty cool :)
Dub vs. Sub: I watched the subtitled version for this one, but since it's half in English anyway I'm not sure what difference the dub would make -_-;;
Rating: R (extreme gore and violence)
Rayearth is another series based on the manga by the art group CLAMP; actually this was their first original series, and it shows their inexperience as storytellers. Like all their series, this is a shoujo. Three young girls from different schools meet at Tokyo tower on a field trip and are transported to a mystical world where they become Magic Knights. They have to save a princess whose prayers are the only thing holding the world together. They meet a lot of strange mage-types and have many colorful and entertaining adventures. There's nothing terribly unique or special about this show's plot or its characters (well, except for their magical pet Mokona, an adorable cross between a rabbit and a basketball ^_^;;). I mostly enjoy the pretty animation and nifty character designs. The original manga art is also quite beautiful.
Dub vs. Sub: I've only seen the sub for this series, so I can't comment on the dub.
Rating: PG
Another space opera! This series gives the impression of a less serious and more colorful Cowboy Bebop. However, the two stories couldn't be more different. Gene Starwind is a bounty hunter outlaw with a sad Tragic Past, and he has a kid partner named Jim. They spend most of their time earning money doing small jobs around various spaceports. One day they run into a group of dangerous villain types, and they wind up involved in a galaxy-wide search for this mysterious "galactic power", which has something to do with a girl they rescue in the first episode named Melfina. Melfina, it turns out, is actually an android, and her main function is to pilot the ship Gene and Jim quickly aquire, the Outlaw Star. I never did finish watching this series so I don't know what happens, but really within a few episodes I found myself not caring all that much. The show isn't bad at all; it's pretty well written, with decent characters and very nice animation. It just didn't do it for me, and I'm not even sure why. Too slow? Too predictable? I honestly can't say.
Dub vs. Sub: I've only seen the dub of this show, but it's very well-done, with a nice cast and script.
Rating: PG-13 (mostly for gun violence and Melfina's nudity when she pilots the ship)
Ever wonder if the Japanese ever pay attention to American cinema? They do, and this is a fine example of the Japanese being influenced by signifigant American directors. Perfect Blue is a feature-length psychological suspense thriller done in the style of Alfred Hitchcock, only in this film they've managed to make a much better movie than Psycho! I've personally never been much of a fan of Hitchcock, but I really enjoyed this film. It centers around a young idol singer who dreams of being an actress, and the movie at first glance seems to be about the price of fame and ambition as she seemingly spirals into madness. As you slowly realize by the end of the film, though, you've actually been misled; nearly every scene of madness is in fact the mind of another character, but the film is so well orchestrated it comes as a complete surprise and you immediately want to rewatch it to get all the hidden clues you missed or misunderstood the first time around. I love good mysteries ^_^ This is a beautifully animated, well-crafted supense film that will keep you guessing and entertained, while still managing to deliever a message about the human psyche.
Dub vs. Sub: I've only seen the dub for this, but it was very well-acted and well-written.
Rating: R (lots of nudity, murder, and a rather disturbing rape scene...it's all part of the story, but it gets intense)
The Irresponsible Captain Tylor
This is comedic space opera at its finest. Justy Ueki Tylor (Read: Just-Awake Tylor ^_^;;) is pretty much a laid-back street bum when he decides to join the space military...and through what appears to be sheer dumb luck (and lots of hilarious misadventures) he's promoted to be the captain of his own ship! The "Soyokaze" or "Gentle Wind" is pretty much a floating junkheap and its crew is arerough-and-tumble lot, but Tylor's rather...uh...casual style of command seems to work out pretty well, and that's just the start of the story. There's an intergalactic war going on, and everyone seems to be after Tylor, including his own superiors, but he's just a bumbling idiot with a lot of good luck...right? This show is hilarious and never once gets boring. Tylor's an endlessly entertaining character, especially since he keeps you guessing as to his true nature...idiot or genius? Actually, I think Spike of Cowboy Bebop said it best: "You have to be like water", in other words go with the flow. Que Sera Sera. That's Tylor's motto all right ^_^ The other main characters are as different as they are interesting, and add a lot of content to the show. This is one of my favorite series.
Dub vs. Sub: The sub is funny funny funny!! ^_^ The dub...err, well, it's okay. The actors' performances just lack the subtlety and timing to give the English script the same level of humor as the original Japanese.
Rating: PG-13
This 26-episode anime is based on the manga by Natsuki Takaya. Fruits Basket is a wonderful show based around relationships and how they affect the life of Tohru Honda, a young girl in her first year of high school. Tohru is a sweet, cheerful, shy girl who a few months into high school loses her mother in a car accident. She winds up temporarily homeless, but continues to attend school while secretly living in a tent in the woods. She also works a part-time janitor job to pay her tuition.
One morning, she comes across a traditional Japanese house near her tent and meets a man named Shigure. It turns out a boy from her school, Shigure's cousin Yuki Sohma, lives here as well. They soon discover that she's been living on their land and they insist on taking her in as a boarder, in exchange for her cleaning their horribly messy bachelor's house. Of course, that's just the start of the tale. The show is also based around the Japanese zodiac (referred to as Juunishi) which consists of your usual 12 zodiac animals plus a thirteenth animal, the cat. It turns out the Sohma family was cursed hundreds of years ago so that thirteen of their members are always born possessed by these animal spirits. Whenever these people are either a) weakened physically or emotionally, or b) are hugged by a member of the opposite sex, they transform temporarily into their animal forms. This results in a lot of great humor among the show's many and varied characters, but Fruits Basket's silliness is effectively balanced by a healthy amount of serious drama. The Sohma family's curse is just that--a curse--and the Sohma clan head, Akito, seems determined in his own demented and psychotic fashion to ensure that no one under his leadership is ever happy. So why is the show called "fruits basket"? Well, you have to watch episode 5 for a better explanation, but the title is taken from a Japanese children's game that serves as a metaphor for the characters and their experiences. It's cool, trust me ;) This is a great show with a fascinating story, pleasing artwork and memorable characters. The manga series extends well past what the anime covered, and is a great read.
Dub vs. Sub: Both versions are excellent; watch both for twice the fun ^_^
Rating: PG-13
Based off the long-running manga by Kenichi Sonoda, Gunsmith Cats is a nifty chicks-with-guns OAV ( it's three episodes long) that is pure enjoyable entertainment. It's about two lovely young women, Minnie May Hopkins and Rally Vincent, who own a Chicago gun shop (yes, the series takes place in America, gasp!). They do bounty-hunting on the side, and during one of their hunts they get involved in an underground plot to assassinate Chicago's mayor. They have to contend with a ruthless Russian woman assassin, a grungy detective, pissed off police, and lots of other fun people. The art team did a really excellent job of researching and depicting Chicago, and the animation is beautiful. That along with lots of explosions, guns, beautifully choreographed car chases (Rally drives an ultra-cool GT-500 muscle car) and a great story makes this another one of my favorite series :)
Dub vs. Sub: I've only watched a little bit of the subtitled version, because the dub is wonderful! The dub script is also very accurate, so I recommend either language for this show.
Rating: PG-13 (for gun violence and partial nudity in some scenes)
Spirited Away is one of the latest films from Studio Ghibili, directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It has won many international awards, including best animated film at the 2002 Academy Awards.
Spirited Away is the story of a young girl, Chihiro, who is moving to a new home with her parents. She's pretty depressed over having to leave all her friends, despite her parents' efforts to cheer her up. On the way to their new house, her father takes a wrong turn and ends up driving them at breakneck speed (this guy's nuts!) up a weedy mountain road lined with creepy spirit statues. They are stopped at the top of the hill by a large red building, whose tunnel-like entrance is guarded by a mossy statue. Chihiro (rather wisely, it turns out) begs her parents to turn around and go back, but they ignore her. Curious about this strange building in the middle of the woods, they drag their reluctant daughter down the tunnel with them. The other side reveals a strange, grassy plain dotted with run-down buildings and a small town that resembles an abandoned version of Disney World. Chihiro's father is convinced that it is one of the many failed theme parks built in the past decade and that they should look around, because their new house is supposed to be somewhere on top of this hill.
They wander into an abandoned restaurant piled high with steaming food. Seeing as they haven't had lunch yet, Chihiro's foolish parents start eating. Refusing the food (hehe, wise girl) Chihiro explores furthur and finds what appears to be a giant onsen (a Japanese bathhouse) at the end of the village. There, as the sun sets, she encounters a strange young boy named Haku, who warns her to get out before dark. Frightened, Chihiro runs back to the restaurant to get her parents...and finds two huge pigs dressed in her mother and father's clothes, eating everything in sight. The town is also no longer abandoned: it is filled with strange shadowy beings. In a panic, Chihiro tries to run back to the grassy field and finds that it has been replaced by a huge lake. Trapped and alone, Chihiro is saved by Haku, who becomes her new ally in this strange new world. Chihiro has wandered into the land of the spirits, and the onsen she saw earlier is where they come from the mortal world to replenish themselves. Since humans are forbidden in this realm, she must stay hidden by working for the greedy witch who owns the onsen, Yubaaba. It is the only way to save her parents, and in order to do that she must grow as a person and find the courage and spirit within herself to survive. This is a wonderful film, I can't say enough that's good about it. The animation is outstanding, as is always the case with Ghibli's productions, and the story is excellent. The movie itself is also wonderfully creative in an artistic sense. The spirits, all from Japanese mythology, are of a bewildering variety and buffs of Japanese culture will love the onsen, which is animated in breathtaking detail. This film is wonderful for all ages, and the symphonic soundtrack by Joe Hisashi (the composer for many of Studio Ghibli's films) is simply awesome.
Dub vs. Sub: I highly enjoy both casts and scripts :)
Rating: PG (there's a fair amount of vomiting in this movie by one creature--it's meant to symbolize purification--and I'm not sure how that rates. There's also quite a bit of bleeding on the part of one of the main characters, who's badly hurt by Yubaaba's sister, but that's about it.)
This movie is considered one of the "classics" of anime; I'm honestly not certain why, but it's not a bad film. Jubei is a wandering sarcastic bad-ass samurai, and he gets involved in a plot to take over feudal Japan. A mysterious man has enlisted the help of eight truly freakish demon warriors to help in this takeover. Jubei, with the help of a weird Yoda-like old man and a woman warrior, kicks the demons' butts and saves Japan. The plot isn't exactly deep, but the animation and samurai fighting is incredible, the demons truly give you creeps, and Jubei is a great character. The only other thing I have to say is that this movie is in no way appropriate for children. For the amount of rather gratuitous sexual activity taking place in it, it really should be NC-17...
Dub vs. Sub: I've only seen the subtitled version. It was pretty entertaining.
Rating: R (and I do mean that)
Another Hayao Miyazaki film, Laputa is truly a marvelous piece of work. The movie takes place in an alternate, Gulliver's Travels-inspired world where great airships once ruled the skies. Those times have passed, however, and now only the military goverment has the money and power to use airship technology. 700 years in the past there was a great floating island, Laputa, which was said to have the power to destroy the world. A man named Muske has enlisted the help of the military to find this lost city in order to plunder its power and treasures. He kidnaps a young girl named Sheeta, who posseses a strange pendant, a pure levistone crystal, that has been passed down in her family for generations. This crystal seems to be connected to Laputa, and Muske believes that it is the key to finding the city. Soon after her capture, pirates raid the airship where Sheeta's being held and she escapes, falling from the ship. She faints from fear, but luckily for her the crystal allows her to float through the air, and she drifts safely to the ground. She is rescued by a kind young boy, Patsu, who becomes her ally in the search to find Laputa and save it from Muske's evil plans. A classic adventure story full of action, danger, laughs, and fun, this is simply a beautiful movie.
Dub vs. Sub: Both versions are fantastic. Disney has been doing a great job dubbing Studio Ghibli's work so far, and I hope they continue to do so :)
Rating: G
Yu-Gi-OH! in the past few years has become the new Pokemon it seems, and is hugely popular with elementary school-aged children in the US. The story centers on a young boy Yugi, who is very shy and often gets picked on by the tougher boys at his school. His grandfather owns a game shop, and so Yugi has a real obsession with puzzles and games. One night he solves one of his grandfather's strangest puzzles, a Millenium Puzzle from Egypt. It turns out this is no ordinary puzzle; it contains a powerful spirit that takes hold of Yugi when he or those he cares about is in danger and gives him strange, and at times frightening powers. In the manga series this transformed (and rather sinister-looking) version of Yugi challenges bullies and other unsavory people to rigged games where they generally end up with their minds trapped in nightmarish fantasy worlds to punish them for their bad acts (if that isn't a bit extreme and creepy, I don't know what is). Soon after this, Yugi acquires a deck of cards called Duel Monsters (similar to the game Magic: The Gathering). He and his friends are fascinated with the game, but apparently there is more to it than they first thought. The creator of the game kidnaps Yugi's grandfather and Yugi and his friends are drawn into the mystical world of the "Shadow Game" (the original version of Duel Monsters played in ancient Egypt), where the card creatures are real. Yugi and his friends must now duel with a series of powerful opponents to rescue Yugi's grandfather. While this series definitely has more of a plot than Pokemon, and has a very promising beginning, the episodes quickly descend into an endless and repetitive series of card duels with a bunch of monsters beating the snot out of each other (very much like Pokemon). The animation is also abysmal; although the character designs are bold and colorful, the animation is minimal and very boring to watch. Every child I've met who is a fan of this series loves the creatures and stats on the cards, not the story or its characters. I will admit that I have not seen all of this show, but that is because I very quickly lost interest in both the animated and manga versions. It's unfortunate really; this show has a good premise, but the execution is poor. In different hands, I think this could have been a much better series.
Dub vs. Sub: Only a dub is available for this series, and it is pretty bad. A number of the voices do not fit their characters (especially Yugi, whose voice is way too deep) and the general quality of the acting is low. It makes the show rather painful to watch; that along with the corny dialogue does not help my opinion of this show. However, based on reading the more accurately-translated manga, I have doubts that the Japanese version is much better.
Rating: G
Ah! My Goddess! is a fantasy/romance series based off the beautifully drawn manga by Fujishima Kosuke. The anime series features some of the nicest animation and character designs I've seen in anime, and its entertaining story makes this is a show well worth looking into. Keiichi is a guy just starting in college. He's broke (of course) and stuck living with a bunch of roomates who show no respect for him whatsoever. Left alone one evening, a hungry Keiichi decides to order up some takeout. He dials the wrong number though, instead connecting with the Relief Goddess Office. Confused, he hangs up but is shocked a minute later when a beautiful young woman pops out of his mirror and announces that she is Belldandy, a Goddess, and that she has come to grant him one wish. Thinking it's a joke, Keiichi wishes that a girl like her could stay with him forever. Heh, be careful what you wish for foolish mortal...
From that point on Keiichi is thrown out of his dorm, and he is stuck taking care of Belldandy at an abandoned temple, which becomes their new home. Soon other Goddesses start showing up, and Keiichi's comedic (and romantic) adventures are only just beginning. There are a number of series, this first is a short 5-episode OAV episodes that cover the basic story. This story is retold and expanded in a 26-episode TV series. Alongside this is a strange little side series called Mini-Goddesses that features completely chibi-fied versions of the show's characters in purely comedic situations. Then there's one theatrical movie, which has probably the most gorgeous animation and character designs I've ever seen in a film, anywhere. All of them are definitely worth checking out!
Dub vs. Sub: I have only seen the sub for this series, and it's delightful :)
Rating: PG-13
Chobits is yet another series by the prolific all-female artist group CLAMP. It takes place in the near future where society has become obsessed with Persocoms, humanoid personal computers who are nearly indistinguishable in appearance and behavior from real human beings. Hideki Motsuwa is a 19-year-old guy struggling to pass the entrance exams into college. One night on his way home from work he passes an alley and finds a Persocom abandoned and apparently non-functioning in a trash bin. It has always been his dream to have a Persocom of his very own, and he rescues the machine, which is in the form of a beautiful young girl, and takes her home with him. When he figures out how to wake her up she seems to have had her programming erased. She can only say "chi" and this becomes her name. It soon becomes clear though that Chi is no ordinary cyborg, and after some research Hideki discovers that she is possibly a Chobits, an experimental Persocom that doesn't require a conventional operating system. In other words, an artificially intelligent being. So begins the mystery of Chi, who is far more than she first appears to be...
I have actually read much more of the manga than I've seen of the anime. The anime is beautifully produced, but its big weakness (at least to me) is the very slow plot pace. Each episode just feels like it's plodding along, and I find myself turning back to the manga every time. My recommendation is to give both forms a try, and decide for yourself which one you like better.
Dub vs. Sub: So far I have only seen the subtitled version of this series, so I can't comment on the dub.
Rating: There is a fair amount of nudity and sexual references (though no actual sex) in this series, and so it hovers somewhere between PG-13 and R. The manga is rated Ages 16+
Trigun is an entertaining series that takes place on a distant desert world (with two suns and three moons, and no there's no particular reason for it). Two young women from the Bernadelli Insurance Company are seeking one Vash the Stampede, a legendary gunslinger with a huge bounty on his head. Their job is to find out who he is and to keep him from doing any more major property damage in his quest to protect the innocent. The man they find is not who they expect; could this goofy, peace-loving guy with the spiky blonde hair, trendy sunglasses and long red trenchcoat really be the Vash the Stampede? So begins the mystery, at times lighthearted and playful, and at others moments dark and dramatic, of Vash. Who is he really, and how has he survived so many battles without being killed when he himself refuses to take life? Why does he have this belief, and what is the real reason the Insurance Company wants him watched? This series has plenty of action and mystery to go around, and Vash is simply an awesome character. His personality seems to be an interesting blend of traits I've seen in characters from other series, including Kenshin from Rurouni Kenshin and Spike from Cowboy Bebop. At the same time though, he has his own unique traits that make him an endlessly fascinating and entertaining hero ;)
Dub vs. Sub: The dub for this series is passable, mainly because the actor for Vash is very good. The subtitled is, of course, excellent, and I recommend it over the dub.
Rating: PG-13
It figures that I would have to move to Japan to finally get around to seeing this show. I love this movie, and I can now see why it's Studio Ghibli's logo, and why it's so beloved by the Japanese. This is a simple and heartfelt children's story, written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. There are no bad guys, no worldwide peril, just a small family and a magical king of the forest. The story focuses on two young sisters, Mei and Satsuki, who move to the countryside with their father. Their old Japanese house has all kinds of interesting little forest spirits hanging around it, and the two girls delight in exploring the magical world around their new house. In the forest little Mei encounters the king of the forest, Totoro (who looks like a big fat...uh...rabbit/raccoon-like thing), who is just adorable. Totoro travels around in one of this movie's coolest characters, the CatBus. Hmm, is it a cat that looks like a bus or a bus that looks like a cat? Ah heck, it doesn't matter, he's cool! Anyway, the girls' mother is in the hospital and the Totoro plotline is woven in subtley with the family's increasing concern for her welfare.
One day the girls get a call from the hospital while their father is at work saying their mother has gotten worse. Mei panics and runs off, determined to go find her mother right now rather than wait for her father to get home (well, she is five. They do silly things like that). Satsuki goes running after her and hours later, desperate and exhausted, with Mei still missing, she calls on Totoro for help. The Catbus appears and takes Satsuki to her sister; the two are reunited and the Catbus then takes them to see their mother, who it turns out is just fine. The hospital overreacted to a small cold she'd caught. And that's the end of the movie; the climax is more one of the heart than of any big action moments or amazing rescues. This story is so cute and sweet; it actually seems a little pointless when you first watch it, but it really is meant for small children so it doesn't try to be more complicated than it needs to be. The nature message--strong but not preachy--in this movie is also quite nice. All around, an excellent film.
Dub vs. Sub: As has been the case with all the Disney dubs of Studio Ghibli's films, the English version is excellent, as is the original subtitled version.
Rating: G
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
This movie was released in America ages ago, and I never saw it. I'm told though that it was a horrible version, cut down to only 95 minutes (leaving out large portions of the story) and poorly dubbed into English. I'm so glad I got to see the original version in Japan, and now it's also been re-released in the US by Disney. This is easily the best of the Studio Ghibli films I've seen to date; even better than Princess Mononoke or Spirited Away. Amazingly, it was also Hayao Miyazaki's first original film, based off his popular manga series of the same name.
Nausicaa is the princess of a small group of people living in a mountain valley. Strong winds gust through, and one of their chief sources of energy is windmills, which also draw pure water from deep in the earth. These winds are strong enough to allow the use of windgliders for transport, and Nausicaa is one of the most skilled windriders in the valley.
Her people live in a world devastated over a millenia earlier, first by mankind and then by mysterious beings called "Giant Warriors" who literally set the world ablaze (an event known as the "Seven Days of Fire"). Afterward the Giants all turned to stone, littering the earth with their massive skeletal remains. After the destruction of the world, a swampy forest known as the Sea of Decay began to spread across the Earth. In Nausicaa's time it is spreading relentlessly, engulfing whole cities and towns. The forest, full of giant insects and fungi, is toxic to humans. The Sea is guarded by massive building-sized insects called Ohm. They are fearsome beasts, but Nausicaa is very wise for her age and she sees that the Ohm are not evil; during the course of the movie she discovers that the Sea of Decay is actually purifying the Earth, and that the Ohms are protecting the future of mankind, because without the purified soil and water flowing from the Sea of Decay humans would not be able to survive.
Unfortunately, Nausicaa is one of the only people who understands this. A warlike nation bent on the destruction of the Sea of the Decay comes and takes over the Valley of the Wind, which lies at the edge of the Sea. They have brought with them a weapon unearthed from beneath the city of Pajite, the capital of a rival nation: a sleeping Giant Warrior embryo, which is growing rapidly. It is now up to Nausicaa to prevent the birth of the Warrior and make the invaders understand the fatal mistake they are making by destroying the Sea. She succeeds through unparalled heroism and self-sacrifice, making for a very powerful conclusion to this fascinating and masterfully-made film.
Dub vs. Sub: The new English dub for Nausicaa is excellent, though I find the actress for Nausicaa a little lacking. Her voice is right for the character, but to me her performance just doesn't carry the power and weight that her character calls for. Nevertheless, it's another excellent dub. The subtitled, of course, is also amazing.
Rating: PG
Full Metal Alchemist
Based on the manga by Hiromu Arakawa, Full Metal Alchemist is one of the most amazing, and possibly the most perfect anime series I've seen. The show is set in an alternate version of 1920-1930's Europe. Virtually everything in it is identical to our world, except for an extra kind of science, Alchemy. With this, alchemists can transmute something (such as lead) into something else (such as gold) provided the exchange is equal. Equivalent exchange is the primary law of alchemy, and it is constantly called into question throughout the series, both as a principle and as a metaphor for human life. Edward and Alphonse Elric (they're usually called Ed and Al for short) are two young brothers, the sons of a famously talented alchemist. Their father vanished when they were very young, leaving them alone with their mother. When the boys are only 9 and 10, their mother dies. Consumed with grief, the brothers decide they are going to take the alchemy they've learned and use it to bring their mother back from the dead. While technically possible within laws of alchemy, a successful human transmutation has never been done. Tragically, their attempt goes horribly wrong. Through equivalent exchange, Ed loses one of his legs, and Al loses his entire body. In an act of love and desperation, Ed sacrifices one of his arms to tie his brother's soul to a suit of armor in their father's workshop. Through this Al escapes death, but whether he is still human is a matter of philosophy, and that doubt is a source of great emotional stress on the brothers. The boys have paid a severe price for trespassing on the territory of God, and now they will do anything to restore their bodies to normal. Their talent as alchemists attracts the attention of the military government, which employs State Alchemists to serve as powerful soldiers. These privledged alchemists also have access to advanced research and classified information, and Ed and Al decide that they will join the military in order to find the one object that might be able to restore their bodies: the legendary Philosopher's Stone.
This is a powerful story of brotherly love, the meaning of family, and the cost of sin. The anime departs from the manga's storyline around episode 20 to go in its own direction (it should be noted that while the anime, at 51 episodes, is finished, the manga is still on-going in Japan). This decision could have been a disaster, but the creators of the anime obviously knew what they were doing, and they created a wonderfully detailed interpretation of Hiromu Arakawa's universe, taking the story in a logical direction. This show is completely captivating; the animation and artwork are wonderful, as is the musical score. Everything serves to draw you completely into the story, to the point where it's almost impossible to stop watching it until the series is finished ^^;; The ending is poignant and also very open-ended; some fans were disappointed by the ending, perhaps because not all of the loose ends were tied up, but personally I thought it worked well for the characters, and for the story the creators were trying to tell.
There is also a theatrical movie, Conqueror of Shamballa, which picks up where the TV series left off and attempts to bring the story to a more final conclusion. The movie is quite dark in its tone, and I feel it is only partially successful in its original goal, though to go into more detail would spoil the end of the TV series for those who haven't seen it. However, it's well worth checking out.
Dub vs. Sub: The English dub is excellent; I have few if any complaints over the voice casting, and the script is well done. Even so, I love the subtitled version. Ed's voice actress (yes, actress; it's common for young and/or gentle male characters to be played by women in anime) is incredibly talented and really brings the character to life. Both versions are well worth listening to.
Rating: PG-13 (for blood and violence)
Porco Rosso
This is another Miyazaki film, and is a little bit of a departure from his other movies. Unlike most of his other films, the main character is neither young nor a girl; instead he's a middle-aged Italian WWI military pilot turned bounty hunter, who has been transformed by a spell to resemble a humanoid pig. Miyazaki has a peculiar obsession with pigs, and in fact he often draws himself as one. It's possible then that the character of Porco Rosso (Crimson Pig) is actually autobiographical, but that's up to debate. In any case, the story is a wonderfully intricate portrait of man trying to deal with own humanity--or lack therof, in his cynical world-view. Porco, who is renowned throughout the Adriatic for his piloting skill, has always has feelings for a woman, Gina, who runs and sings at a local seaside bar. They've known each other since the days when Porco was still the human Marco. She has always wanted his affection, but though he is very protective of her, he never lets her get to close emotionally.
Meanwhile the local air pirates, furious at always being bested by a pig, have hired a cocky pilot from America named Curtis to "get rid" of Porco. Curtis' inital attempt to ambush and take down Porco in his plane is only partially successful; Porco's beloved red plane is heavily damanged, and he takes it to Milan, Italy to be repaired. He takes it to his old friend and trusted mechanic Piccolo. To his dismay, Piccolo sets his young granddaughter Fio the task of rebuilding Porco's plane from scratch. Porco balks at the notion of a woman reparing his plane, but through sheer force of personality, and obvious mechanical talent, Fio wins Porco's grudging respect. Porco, always on the run from the Italian authorities for being a rebel and enemy of Facisism, has to leave Milan before his plane is quite ready. Fio insists on going back with him, and the resulting aerial chase is one of the most amazing and beautiful I've seen in any film.
Porco and Fio return to Porco's hideaway island, only to find that it's been invaded by the pirates, led by Curtis. Curtis takes an immediate interest in Fio. Porco, who's been developing a sort of fatherly affection for her despite himself, flatly refuses to let Curtis have her. The two men decide the only way to settle this is through a one-on-one test of their piloting skills.
What makes this film truly special is Miyazaki's trademark gorgeous flying sequences, and the rich historical accuracy with which post-World War I Italy is depicted. The story at its essense is really not one for children; the movie instead seems to be aimed at adults, unusual for Miyazaki. The movie is about growing old, and about about the dangers of allowing bitterness to strip of you of your humanity (hence the symbolic tranformation of Marco into Porco). An interesting, enjoyable, and very well-crafted film.
Dub vs. Sub: As usual, Disney/Miramax has produced a fantastic dub. Both versions are great :D
Rating: PG
Naruto
Naruto is an awesome anime, based on the equally awesome manga by Masashi Kishimoto. Kishimoto in his manga took the ancient tradition of Japanese ninja and put a more modern spin on it, creating an endlessley fun and fascinating culture set in a strange modern-yet-fuedal version of Japan. The story features the Hidden Ninja Village of the Leaf, one of several secret ninja villages that act as the military force for their respective countries. There are five major nations with the strongest ninja villages. The Village of the Leaf (Kohona) belongs to the Fire Country, and the strongest ninja in Kohona is called the Hokage. 12 years prior to the start of the story, a huge nine-tailed monster fox, the Kyuubi, was laying waste to the Fire Country, killing thousands of innocent people and ninja. The Fourth Hokage, one the strongest ninja in history, sealed the demon fox within a newborn child at the cost of his own life. That child was Uzumaki Naruto, the star of our story.
Naruto is a prankster; the noisist, most obnoxious, and also the most untalented ninja in the whole village. Raised as an orphan, he's profoundly lonely (hence his rebellious attention-seeking behavior) and is also openly despised by all the adults in the village. They alone know his secret, that he carries the Kyuubi inside him; the village children, and even Naruto himself, are unaware of it. So Naruto has been hated by everyone his entire life, without even knowing why. Despite this, he's a strong and spirited person, and his dream is to have the whole village acknowledge him by becoming the Hokage one day.
This is a wondefully complex story, and we live the world of the ninja through Naruto's eyes. We cheer with him when he comes closer to realizing his dream, and mourn every setback. The series is full of interesting and memorable characters. Well-written and well-animated, you care about each and every one of their fates. The only con about this series is the fact that it follows its manga base so closely. This might seem like a good thing but actually it's not, and stagnation of the story is a common affliction suffered by manga-based anime; it actually spelled Rurouni Kenshin's doom as an animated series.
The deal is this: Naruto's manga is still being written, and inevitably the anime always catches up to it. There are several points in Nartuo where the series grinds to a halt; either there is a ridiculous filler arc, or a fight that lasted only a few pages in the manga is dragged out for several weeks' worth of episodes. There is also the rather annoying tendency for the fight scenes to be written so that the little kids in the audience can understand it (as well as eat up screen time); in other words, after every technique a character uses, the story has to stop so that some other character can explain and analyze in detail what we just saw. This is painfully unrealistic, and in parts where the anime drags its feet to keep from catching up with the manga, it's downright infuriating. Still, this series is well worth sticking through the slower parts. It's a wonderful character-based story, and some the fights are just really cool to watch. And of course, there's always the more concise manga to read when things get slow.
Dub vs. Sub: The dub for Naruto is quite passable, and the translators made some nice decisions, such as keeping certain difficult-to-translate words (such as "sensei") in their original Japanese. The original Japanese is of course great too, in particular the actress playing Naruto.
Rating: The Japanese are more accepting about showing blood and moderate violence to their children, so this show doesn't fit neatly into our ratings system. It's somewhere between PG and PG-13. There is a lot of fighting and a lot of blood, but nothing outstandingly graphic, and there is minimal nudity. The only sexual references are Nartuo's hilarious "sexy no jutsu" technique and a couple of closet-pervert ninja (nothing is ever shown). Please use your own judgement.
I My Me Strawberry Eggs
Sometimes you give a show a chance because the title is just weird enough to catch your attention. This unusual show is about a private girls' academy and the boarder house/school supply store at the bottom of the hill. The house is run by a terrifying old lady who's not above using violent means to get the rent money from her tenants. Some of the residents are decent enough, other are rent-evading lowlifes, and a few are just perverts ^^;; Into this situation comes a new tenant, Anawa Hibiki, a very handsome (one might even say pretty) young man who's looking for a job. It turns out the school up the hill needs a new gym teacher, but the principal hates men. Conveniently enough, Hibiki's training is as a gym teacher, and he decides he's going to get the job. And he does get hired...but only because he's very convincing when dressed as a woman. Most the series revolves around him trying to not be found out by either the students or his boss. This show doesn't have the best story out there, but it's funny and entertaining, and the animation's very pleasing. If you're looking for mindless entertainment (with lots of panty shots, for you guys out there), this show will deliver.
Dub vs. Sub: The dub for this series is pretty painful, and within a few minutes I switched over to the sub.
Rating: PG-13 (occasional nudity and lots of panty-shots)
Bleach
Bleach, based on the awesome manga by Kubo Taito, is interesting series about a high school student, Ichigo Kurosaki, who has always been able to see ghosts. It's a trait that runs in his family; only his father, a doctor who runs the local neighborhood clinic, can't see spirits. This ability normally has no signifigant impact on Ichigo's life. He's your typical 15-year-old tough guy. He has bright orange hair, and is constantly teased about it; his usual response is to kick those people's butts >_<;; However, inside Ichigo has a caring soul. He cares deeply for his family, and also for the ghosts that he inevitably must deal with on a daily basis. The first time we see Ichigo he's facing off with some jerks who defaced a small shrine left for a girl who died. Furious, Ichigo beats them up and chases them off. He then turns to the spirit of the girl, who's been watching the whole time, and promises he'll bring her new flowers tomorrow.
However, things are not destined to remain peaceful. On the way to school the next day, Ichigo walks into the middle of a battle between a monster and a small woman in samurai clothes, who defeats the monster with a sword. She then vanishes. The monster has left tremendous damage, which the surrounding people, who can't see ghosts, think is due to a mysterious explosion. Later that night, the woman shows up at Ichigo's house. After getting her attention and demanding who she is, the woman introduces herself to Ichigo as a "Shinigami", or Soul Reaper. Another monster then appears, and it seems to be after Ichigo's family. The Soul Reaper is wounded in the fight, and she orders Ichigo to finish the job. She transfers some of her power to him, transforming him temporarily into a Soul Reaper. Well, that was her intention anyway--it turns out, there's something special about Ichigo. He has incredibly strong spiritual powers for a human, and he absorbs all of the Soul Reaper's power. Once the monster is defeated, it turns out Ichigo can't just go back to being normal. Apparently the monster, actually a evil spirit called a Hollow, was after him, and there will be others. Because he's absorbed all of the Soul Reaper's powers, she can't do her job, which is hunting down and destroying the soul-eating Hollows. Ichigo now needs to take over the responsiblity, something he is NOT happy about.
There is a great deal of fighting in this anime, and to some people this might seem to be all there is to the show. However, each battle serves to drive the plot forward and also enforce the classic idea, to borrow from Spider Man, that with great power comes great responsiblitiy. The show features a rich and varied cast of characters and is a very enjoyable series to watch, with bold character designs, decent animatoin, and interesting music. The story itself is a great mix of drama, humor, and good old-fashioned samurai butt-kicking. Well worth checking out ^_^
Dub vs. Sub: The dub is pretty decent, I've noticed that many of these recently dubbed series are much higher in quality, since they are bring licensed for American TV. It's about time! The original Japanese is of course awesome ^_^
Rating: PG-13 (moderate violence)
Chrono Crusade
This show features a theme not often seen in anime: Christianity. It's set in an alternate version of 1920's New York City. For whatever reason there are demons from hell, called Sinners, rampant throughout the world. A special order of warrior nun, called the Magdalene Order, fights these demons with everything from bottles of holy water to guns equipped with silver or "spirit" bullets, depending on the type of monster. Sister Rosette Christopher is one of these nuns, specifically an exorcist. When she was a young girl, she lived with her younger brother Joshua in an orphanage. Her brother was sickly, and always felt guilty that his sister had to care for him. He wished for the power to live on his own, and that made him vulnerable to demons. A powerful devil called Aion took him away, and Rosette became an exterminator in order to find and rescue him. However, she isn't the best exorcist; she's really clumsy, and every one of her missions ends in massive unnecessary property damage that always lands her in hot water with her superiors. She also isn't popular at the Order's compound because her partner and companion (to whom she is bound through her own choice) is a sealed devil called Chronos. Of course, he's really cute and sweet in his powered-down human form, so no one ever gets mad at him...they just give Rosette a hard time ^^;; This is a fun and colorful series, and there's actually some very interesting subtext with all the demons, devils, and Apostles. The most interesting aspect of the show is the story of Rosette and Joshua, and how exactly they became involved with Chronos. Although the religious base of the show is flimsy, it is there, and give this anime a rather unique feel. That along with the excellent animation and character designs makes this a series worth checking out.
Dub vs. Sub: The dub for this series is so-so, in general later episodes are better as the English voice actors get more into their characters. I prefer Japanese for this show.
Rating: PG-13
Tsubasa Chronicle
Tsubasa Chronicle is based directly on CLAMP's newest manga Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle. This is an unusual series because for it CLAMP culled every one of their popular characters from their past manga and put them into one story. I suppose on one level that can be considered a sort of cheat or cop-out, but so far (both the manga and anime are quite new) the story is turning out to be fairly compelling and original. Syaoran and Sakura are childhood friends in a fantasy kingdom. Sakura is the princess and Syaoran is a commoner, an archeologist excavating the country's ancient ruins. They care deeply for each other, but their future is uncertain. The high priest Yuki knows that Sakura has a mysterious power, one that no one knows the nature of yet. One night she goes to visit the ruins while Syaoran is there working, and something mysterious happens. She touches a pattern on the floor and it begins to glow. She then sprouts wings of light and floats into the air. However, her face and eyes are blank and she seems to be unaware of what's happening. In a panic, Syaoran knocks her to the ground the the wings break apart into dozens of feathers, which vanish into the night. Sakura collapses unconcious, and at that moment the kingdom is attacked by a group of shadowy soldiers. In the chaos of the next several scenes, the high priest determines that the wings and feathers were Sakura's memory; her heart and soul. If Syaoran can't find the fragments of her memory, she will die. So the priest sends the boy to another world, where a woman called the Dimensional Witch lives. She presents Syaoran with a choice. He can either let Sakura die, or he can ask the witch for the power to travel between worlds to search for the feathers. However, that power comes with a price: Syaoran must give up his relationship with Sakura. Even when he collects all the feathers, her memories of him will not return. Syaoran, being the good-hearted selfless hero he is, agrees to the price. Her life is more important to him than his own happiness.
The manga version of this story is beautifully drawn and very detailed; it's an entertaining read. The anime so far is so-so. Although far from bad, it just doesn't match the quality of previous CLAMP-inspired anime (especially the gorgeous Card Captor Sakura). I've noticed a trend in the past few years that fewer and fewer studios are using physical painted cels. Everyone has gone to the more economical digital ink and paint, which if not done right ends up looking very dead and flat. I'm sorry to say that Tsubasa lacks the visual depth I'd hoped for from seeing the manga panels and color art. I'm also not impressed with the art direction; the shots deviate very little from the manga, which isn't always a good thing, and I find myself a little bit bored watching it. I'm hoping that as the series continues it will improve; we'll see.
Dub vs. Sub: The anime hasn't been licensed, so no dub exists yet. The Japanese voice-acting isn't anything special; I don't get very excited listening to them, not like when I watch Naruto or Full Metal Alchemist. Hopefully this too will improve with time.
Rating: PG
The Cat Returns
This is a very sweet and cute Studio Ghibli film, and is an unofficial sequel to Whisper of the Heart, another Ghibli film. Both are directed by Isao Takahata. It's light on story, but is beautifully animated and fairly short (only 75 minutes). It's a perfect length for young children. It's about a young middle school girl named Haru who rescues a cat from being run over by a car, breaking her lacross stick in the process. Safely back on the sidewalk, the cat surprises her by standing up on its hind legs and thanking her for her help. She blinks at the cat in disbelief, struck speechless. The cat then runs off, carrying a small gift-wrapped box in its mouth. Thinking that maybe she imaginied the whole thing, Haru goes one with her day. That evening though, a procession of cats, all walking on two legs, arrives at her house, bearing a huge (and very ugly) cat on a fancy hand-carried cart. He introduced himself as the King of Cats, and thanks her for saving his son, the Crown Prince of Cats, that morning. The cats then offer her gifts to make her happy. Unfortunately, these "gifts" are quite an inconvenience; the next day, she open her school locker and is nearly buried in lacross sticks, meant to replace the one she broke. She also starts finding things like boxes of catnip in her things. One of the King's cats comes to her house later to check to see how she liked her gifts. She tells him the truth, that she really has no use for things like catnip and piles of lacross sticks,and that she'd like them to stop giving her things. The cat is dumfounded by this, and offers what he thinks is a better gift: an offer of marraige to the Prince of Cats! Haru tries to refuse, but the cat won't listen.
Luckily for Haru, the Prince already has a fiancee, and she sends Haru a message to seek out the Cat Office, a sort of detective agency. There the peculiar resident cats offer to take her to the Cat Kingdom to resolve the matter. This turns out to be a dangerous move. Upon arrival, Haru starts to become a cat herself; can the marraige be canceled in time?
This is a very cute movie, and features some wonderful personality animation of the cats. However, it doesn't have the depth and sophistication of Studio Ghibli's other films. It is is no Nausicaa or Grave of the Fireflies. Still, I can't see a young child not enjoying this film.
Dub vs. Sub: As with the other US releases of Ghibli films, both version are excellent.
Rating: G
Now and Then, Here and There
This is another series with a very unusual, yet very appropiate title. Shu is an optimistic young Japanese boy who's living an ordinary life. His biggest concern is his relative lack of kendo talent, which gets him made fun of a bit by his classmates. Walking home dejected at sunset, he passes by a pair of tall water towers. Looking up, he sees a young girl perched on the top of the tallest one. Curious, he climbs the ladder of the shorter tower and once up top, tries to get her attention. The girl, who is very strange-looking, with blue hair and watery, empty eyes, tells him through gesture to be quiet and look at the sunset. Confused, Shu does so. At that moment, a spaceship-like craft appears and captures both Shu and the girl. When he wakes up, he is in a prison. It turns out he has been pulled into the distant future, and that world could be reasonably described as Hell. This world is all desert, and water is a commodity more valuable that precious gems. It is also a world at war; Shu has been captured by the mad king of a desert fortress, who is ceaseslly waging war on the countryside in search of a girl called LaLa-Ru. The king's army consists almost entirely of children taken from conquered villages. These are children forever and tragically changed: they kill, give and take orders, and are basically insane without realizing they are. Shu meets another girl from his world in the prison, Sara, who was captured because she resembles LaLa-Ru. It turns out the blue-haird girl Shu met earlier is the girl everyone's looking for. She is, in fact, not human...and is the source of all water on Earth.
Shu's personal mission over the course of the 13 episodes is to rescue these two girls and get the hell out of the fortress. But that is not so easy. This is a shockingly dark adventure series, and is not the place to look for humor or hope; this beautifully artistic series is deadly serious. There is war, murder, rape, sexual exploitation, and a profound sense of unfairness. This content belies the almost cute character designs, and gives a sense of unearthly creepiness to the show that was probably intentional. The series is a lesson in survival, finding the will to live, and remembering what it means to be human. Overall, an excellent and thought-provoking anime.
Dub vs. Sub: The dub for this series isn't too bad, and I was able to comfortably watch the whole thing in English. Checking with the subtitled version, I found both scripts to be very close. Thumbs up to both versions :D
Rating: PG-13 (violence, discussion of rape)
Full Metal Panic!
Full Metal Panic! is an awesome science fiction mecha series based off the ongoing "light" novels by Shouji Gatou. There are currently three anime series: Full Metal Panic!, Full Metal Panic?: Fumoffu and Full Metal Panic!: The Second Raid. Sagara Sousuke, a young 17-year-old mercenary soldier who started his career as a fighter as the tender age of 8, is our main character. He works for a mysterious organization called Mithril (named after the indestructible metal from The Lord of the Rings) which is a large and very well-funded vigilante group. Their main goal is to break up unjust regimes and civil wars around the globe. The secret to their success is their battle technology, which is easily 10 years ahead of the rest of the world. Of particular use are their super-advanced mecha, called Arms Slaves (AS). This sort of technology, which was once confined to the pages of science fiction, is made possible through a small group of people known as "The Whispered". These men and women are born with expert knowledge in various areas of "Black" technology, which is the collective term used for the astonishing engineering concepts they generate without any prior training or experience. These people are of course extremely valuable, but since not all of them are aware of their nature and can't use their abilites conciously, they are vulnerable to kidnap, abuse and torture to access the technology hidden in their minds.
This is the fate awaiting Kaname Chidori, a Japanese high school girl, and Mithril makes it its mission to protect her. They send Sousuke to her school to pose as a normal high school student and act as her protector, without her knowledge. This is a good plan in theory, but poor Sousuke has no idea what is means to be a "normal" person and it isn't long before the pretense breaks down and Kaname finds out exactly who he is and the danger facing her as a Whispered.
The developing relationship between these two characters is wonderful to watch over the course of the three series, which expertly balances seriousness and humor for a truly delightful viewing experience. Sousuke in particular changes greatly, going from a withdrawn youth who can only follow orders, to a young man who for the first time is aware of himself and what he wants for his own future. I sincerely hope they continue the plot of the novels in a fourth anime soon, there's still so much that can be explored with these characters!
Dub vs. Sub: I am continuously impressed with the quality of this show's English dub. I watched the series first in Japanese, and I love the original cast, but I've fallen in love with the English voice actors as well, in particular Chris Patton who does an amazing job as Sagara Sousuke.
Rating: The three series vary somewhat in their content, but one rating can be applied to all. This series in Japan was actually rated TV 15 to keep younger viewers from seeing it, as there is a tremendous amount of war violence (of course) and some adult situations, particularly in The Second Raid series. As such this one is difficult to fit in our ratings system; some episodes are PG-13 and others R. In this instance I defer to the rating that's been used recently on manga: "mature teen 16 +" That seems to fit best.
Howl's Moving Castle
Hayao Miyazaki's newest film, Howl's Moving Castle, is based on the children's book by Diana Wynn Jones. Sophie is a shy, withdrawn 18-year old girl who works in her mother's hat shop. She has a routine, colorless life, as her flamboyant sister and mother are quick to point out. In the background of this there's a war going on over a kidnapped prince; the prince's country is attacking Sophie's country, believing them responsible. Sophie has no reason to be concerned with this though...not yet anyway. On the way to visit a friend, she encounters a handsome young man, the famous mysterious wizard Howl. Rescuing her from a pair of bullying soldiers, he flies her briefly around the city, something any young woman would be impressed with. Sophie returns breathless to the hat shop, the appointment with her friend forgotten. She closes up shop for the night; or tries to. A foul-tempered, obese woman enters and reveals herself to be the feared Witch of the Waste. However, Sophie isn't intimidated; she asks the witch to leave her shop. The witch does, but not without showing her capacity for vindictive spite. She curses Sophie, turning her instantly into a 90-year-old woman. Panic-stricken, Sophie flees to the only place she can think of, the vast Wastes outside her town where Howl is rumored to live in a magic castle. So begins Sophie's journey, in which she discovers for herself that age is only a state of mind. There is much more to this fantastic movie in both story and visuals; I highly recommend it.
Dub vs. Sub: Disney as usual has done an amazing job with the English version of this movie, I actually prefer it a bit over the original Japanese.
Rating: PG
Golden Boy
This unusual and very adult 6-episode OVA is based off the manga by Tatsuya Egawa. Kintaro Oe is a 25-year-old freewheeling "student of life"...which basically means he bikes around the country finding random temporary jobs and chasing after the women who work there. And oh the women he finds...built like no Japanese women alive (or Western women for that matter). It's a sort of interesting footnote to Japanese culture that large breasts in their stories are actually a joke. Very few Asian women have chests of any signifigant size, and so exaggerating them is seen as funny, rather than condescending. There's no doubt though that there's a major sexual attraction to them in this show; they turn Kintaro into a blithering breast and toilet-obsessed idiot (don't ask - you just have to watch the show). Since that's how everyone sees him they just assume he really is an idiot, but actually he's quite clever and resourceful, and he always manages to win out over the women who oppose him. This might seem to be a bad thing since he leaves semi-enemies behind him, but it all comes together to his advantage in the final episode, which has a plot that I as an animator particularly enjoyed ^_^ Since this show is so obviously geared toward the guys with its loads of fan-service (cue the panty shots!) I suppose I shouldn't like it...but for some reason I do. There's no doubt that it's funny as hell, and Kintaro isn't actually a bad guy, he's just...weird. This series definitely isn't for everyone, but if you're in a silly mood it may be just the thing ^^;;
Dub vs. Sub: This is another rare case where the dub is better than the sub, since the English actors have much more vocal expression, which increases the humor element quite a bit.
Rating: R (female nudity and adult situations)
Wolf's Rain
Wolf's Rain is an amazing 30-episode series by the studio which produced Cowboy Bebop. In a post-apocalyptic world where humans live crammed inside protective dome cities, wolves are believed to have been long since hunted to exinction. There is a legend that says only wolves, which are mystic beings, can find the "Flower Maiden" and return to Rakuen (paradise) but the legend can never come to pass since they are dead. A few humans though believe that wolves still exist, and for the most part they see them as a threat. Only one man, a member of the mysterious ruling class, sees the wolves as an advantage. By becoming a wolf himself, he believes he can enter Rakuen and escape this hellish world.
In the meantime though, we learn that wolves have in fact survived by appearing as humans. How exactly they do this is never really explained, its left for you to decide. The story follows a motely assortment of wolves from various places and backgrounds (from wild to street smart to nearly domesicated) who form a pack following the white wolf Kiba, who believes he can lead his kind to Rakuen.
Wolf's Rain is a tale of hope, loss, adventure and heartbreak that is incredibly powerful, and fairly unique in having animals as major characters. Like Evangelion it has a somewhat abstract and psychological ending that is certainly open to interpretation.
Dub vs. Sub: Many of the fantastic voice actors from Cowboy Bebop reappear here, making this a truly enjoyable dub to listen to. I generally prefer it over the subtitled version.
Rating: PG-13
Samurai Champloo
This unusual samurai show, set in Japan's Meiji era (1868-1912) follows the story of Fuu, a young girl who is searching for "the samurai who smells like sunflowers". Through an interesting set of circumstances (i.e. a couple of exciting barfights and a near-execution) she ends up recruiting two highly skilled swordsmen in her vague quest: scruffy wild Mugen and quiet, refined Jin. These two men are polar opposites in every way and interact about as well as oil and water, and it's everything Fuu can do to keep them from killing each other. The only reason they stay with her is a) money and b) their own stubborn code of honor. What makes this series really interesting is the modern flare that has been given to the animation and dialog, which is accented by the energetic music score, which contains elements of jazz, hip-hop and rap. It's a different way of telling a samurai story, and it's a lot of fun :)
Dub vs. Sub: Both versions of this show are excellent, give both a try!
Rating: PG-13 (sword violence and some implied adult situations)
Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto
Samurai meet demons and cursed objects in this beautifully crafted series, set during Japan's civil war, the Bakumastu no Douran. The Head of the Conqueror is an ancient cursed skull which is said to appear during times of rebellion and unrest, and the young swordsman Akizuki Yojiro, the "Eternal Assassin", is charged with its destruction. He's meant to do this with the Moontear Sword, a very cool katana which glows when demons are near and leads him to them. In the first episode the Head of the Conqueror appears at a shady military auction, but Akizuki's attempt to destroy it is ruined by the presence of a Kabuki theater troupe who are there for a very different reason, to seek revenge against the man who killed their group's leader ten years before. As the complex story unfolds, Akizuki's fate and that of the troupe become intertwined, and it becomes imperative to destroy the Head to bring peace to the country.
This show has a dark mood and tone which is quite compelling, and the show itself is flooded with historical details and references, to the point where it's almost a class in the gradual Westernization of Japan which began in the 1850's. Numerous historical figures, including Okita Souji of the Shinsengumi, make appearances both minor and major, and there a number of foreigners, which is unusual for anime. This a fascinating series, and I hope it gets licensed for a US release soon.
Dub vs. Sub: This series hasn't been licensed yet, so there is no English dub. At the moment the show can only viewed online as fansubs. Listening to the Japanese is interesting for the old-style Kabuki theater language which is used by many of the characters.
Rating: PG-13
Whisper of the Heart
This Studio Ghibli film, directed by Isao Takahata, is an elegantly simple story of young love. Shizuku Tsukishima is a 13-year old girl in junior high school, on the verge of taking her high school entrance exams. But she has little interest in her school work; what she really wants to do is be a writer, and she spends most of her time in the library where her father works reading every novel she can find. Things seem fine, but Shizuku's best friend is having love troubles and as they leave the school park Shiziku accidentally leaves one of her library books there. Remembering it, she runs back for it only to find a boy she doesn't know reading the book, or rather the slip of paper inside it, with song lyrics she wrote herself. Naturally she's mortified, and the boy teases her about her lyrics. She runs off declaring him a "jerk", but of course that won't be the last she sees of the boy, whom she soon learns is named Seiji Amasawa. It's his dream, strangely enough, to make violins in Italy. The question is whether either of them will be able to pursue their respective dreams, against the objections of their families and the doubts in their own hearts. This is a wonderful movie refreshingly devoid of world peril or manaical villians; it's just about people :)
Dub vs. Sub: Since this is another Disney release of a Ghibli film, the dub is excellent, I highly recommend both versions.
Rating: PG
Pom Pocco
This is another Isao Takahata film, produced by Studio Ghibli, and is probably his most unusual. The tanuki is a kind of canine native to Japan that strongly resembles the North American raccoon. In Japanese legend and lore it's known as a trickster and shapeshifter. The movie centers around a group of tanuki who are doing everything they can to defend their forest home from humans and their construction equipment. They try nearly everything they can think of, finally deciding to revive the art of shapeshifting, which has been almost forgotten among the tanuki. In a last-ditch effort at saving themselves, they put on a spectacular show of monsters and spirits to try and make the humans aware of the nature they're about to destroy. The question is...will it work? The man vs. nature theme is very obvious in this film, but it's not preachy. The message is delivered with wit, humor, and amazingly detailed animation.
Dub vs. Sub: At the risk of sounding repetitive, this is another excellent Disney dub. Enjoy both versions!
Rating: PG