Ponyo

Summary: The newest movie from Hiyao Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli, Ponyo centers around a goldfish named Ponyo (who has a face like a human) and a five-year-old boy named Sōsuke. Curious by nature, Ponyo ends up stranded on the shore where Sōsuke rescues her. The two immediately like each other, and Sōsuke names the goldfish Ponyo, and promises to protect her forever. Unfortunately, Ponyo's father is temperamental and magical (though apparently he used to be a human?) He orders wave spirits to return her to him (he refers to her as "Brunhilde"), and tries to convince her to stay with him where it's safe. Sōsuke is super sad that Ponyo has left, and worries about whether she's okay.

In order to be with Sōsuke, Ponyo uses her magic to transform into a human, but this causes an imbalance in the world. Now Ponyo and Sōsuke have to go on an adventure to restore balance, and save the world.

I think we can all agree that Miyazaki films are ridiculously cute. For example, Ponyo is obsessed with ham. Adorable. If you don't like cute stories that are magical, and appropriate for children then you shouldn't see Ponyo. Also, I'm pretty sure you don't have a soul. You might want to have that looked at.

Seriously though, the plot of Ponyo is a bit strange, but the characters are wonderful and immediately lovable. It's like "The Little Mermaid" with 5-year-old kids and a nursing home for of sweet old grandmas. If you like Miyazaki films like "My Neighbor Totoro" or "Kiki's Delivery Service" then run super fast to the movie theater to see "Ponyo". It's not Miyazaki's best film, but it's still fantastic (in multiple senses of the word). After you catch your breath, buy a ticket, and then enjoy!

Ninja Nonsense: The Legend of Shinobu

Overall Rating: C-
Summary: An anime series by Ryoichi Koga, Ninja Nonsense follows Shinobu a kind, hardworking, dedicated, but naive and somewhat clumsy ninja apprentice. The anime is reminiscent of Excel Saga or Nerima Daikon Brothers, and similarly does not have much of a story-arc, or even much plot in a single episode.

In the first episode Shinobu is attempting to pass her ninja exams which include staking panties from specific high school girls. One of these girls is Kaede, who is studying for her own completely normal school exams. Shinobu performs her invisibility spell, and sneaks into Kaede's room to steal her panties. Only one problem, Shinobu isn't a very good ninja, her spell doesn't work, and Kaede can see her while she "sneaks" in. Of course, things don't go as planned, and Shinobu ends up explaining the whole thing. Despite the fact that Shinobu is trying to steal her panties, Kaede takes pity on Shinobu, and the two become close friends for little to no reason.

Yeeeaahhhhh...this was a really weird one. Something I didn't cover in the summary is Shinobu's instructor, Onsokumaru. This thing is freaky. It's a shape-changing creature usually portrayed as a large yellow ball with a face, arms, and a loud deep voice. He's also extremely perverted (he's the one who wanted the panties). He took this from being a weird, over-the-top anime, and took it to another level. An extremely weird level. If you're into absurdist comedies, you may like this one, but otherwise I can't recommend it.

Nerima Daikon Brothers

Overall Rating: C-
Summary: A musical comedy series that follows the adventures of Hideki (who has an unhealthy crush on his cousin Mako), Ichiro (Hideki's brother, a host, and the bishi of the show), and Mako (their cousin and self-proclaimed former idol) who form the band, "Nerima Daikon Brothers." The characters have a habit of breaking out in song every few minutes to describe what's going on. The core of the plot is that the Nerima Daikon Brothers live on a small stage in Hideko's daikon patch in Nerima (a ward of Tokyo). Their dream is to build a huge stadium and to perform in front of sold out crowds, but they're always broke.

Each episode involves a new way for them to make money (usually by foiling some plot to take money from others), succeeding, but then losing all the money. All with the help of Pandaikon, a panda who showed up in the daikon patch one day, eats a lot of daikon, has daikon leaves sprouting from his head, and whom Ichiro has an unhealthy relationship with.

This show was pretty funny the first episode or two, but it is incredibly formulaic, so by the fourth episode I was pretty much done with it. If you like anime like Excel Saga (both are directed by Shinichi Watanabe), you'll probably enjoy this one as well as they share a similar craziness. Otherwise I recommend checking out an episode or two for a few laughs and then moving on.

Lucky Star

Overall Rating: A
Summary: an anime series based on the manga series of the same name by Kagami Yoshimizu. Lucky Star follows the lives of four high school girls (they look really young, but they're supposed to be in their second year) who have a very...interesting sense of humor. The main character is Konata Izumi, who is athletic, but doesn't belong to a sports team because it would interfere with her primetime anime shows. She does poorly in school, because she only cares about watching anime, reading manga and playing video games.

Lucky Star is very meta, and references a lot of popular manga and anime. For example, in one scene, the characters are playing a beat matching game in an arcade (using drums) and the song they are playing is "Hare Hare Yukai" from "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya", and apparently at some point they actually perform the dance from that song. They also have a segment at the end of each episode called Lucky Channel. The segment is co-hosted by an "idol" named Akira Kogami, and her assistant Minoru Shiraishi. Akira spends about half the segment in her idol personality (cute, bubbly, etc.) and half being cynical and mature. Supposedly, the segment is to give more information on Lucky Star, but it skims over the characters in the anime and focuses on the increasingly abusive work-relationship between Akira and Minoru.

I love this show so far. It's humor is weird and geeky like mine, and it's a lot of fun to watch. Especially if you're a big geek/otaku. There were a bunch of references I didn't quite catch, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it. If you like geeky humor, cute animation, and slice-of-life stories, then I highly recommend it.

Mushishi Anime Volume 1

Overall Rating: B+
Synopsis: A historical fantasy/psychological seinen series directed by Hiroshi Nagahama and animated by Artland. The story follows Ginko, a mushishi master, who travels the land finding and studying mushi, and helping those affected by them.

In the series, mushi are described as the purest form of life, an as being in touch with the essence of life. Mushi have many different qualities and are neither good nor evil. Because of their nature, only some people can see the mushi. As a result, many of the legends of ghosts and other supernatural occurrences are humans trying to interpret the actions of the mushi. Depending on the type of mushi, they may either help or harm humans they interact with, and we see many varieties during the course of the show.

Ginko has lost the use of one eye, had his hair turned white and his other eye turned green as the result of a run-in with a mushi, but we don't learn much more about him in the first four episodes. The few things we do learn are that he constantly smokes to keep away the mushi that are always drawn to him, and that he carries a box on his back that contains medicines to help deal with the mushi.

I really enjoyed Mushishi. The series is a little slow in it's pacing, and the episodic nature of it means the only consistent character is Ginko, but it's an incredibly interesting world. I'm looking forward to watching more of the series and learning more about Ginko and the mushi.

Princess Princess Anime Disc 1 - Boys Will Be Girls

Overall Rating: A
Synopsis: Princess Princess is a Shōjo series based on the manga of the same name. The anime follows Toru Kouno on his first day at a new all-boys school, Fujimori, the most elite school in the area. Things are a bit strange at the school, and Toru immediately notices all the other boys looking at him, and obviously happy to see him. To make things even weirder, his homeroom teacher (who is also male) comments on how attractive Toru is.

As it turns out, the school has a very interesting tradition. Each year they select the most attractive boys to become Hime, or princesses in order to add some excitement for the other boys. The princesses dress up as girls and attend school functions and act as fake idols.

When Toru arrives, there are already two other Princesses, Yujiro and Mikoto, who treat the job very differently. Yujiro seems to enjoy it, while Mikoto obviously hates the job (it turns out that he has a girlfriend and is worried about what she will think). We also find out that while becoming a Princess is, in theory, optional, if someone refuses or quits, they are usually expelled from the school.

It's not all bad though, if Toru agrees, all of his meals, clothes, and other expenses are paid for, and he gets to be late or absent from class with no repercussions.

At first, Toru seemed upset by the idea of becoming a Princess, but after hearing about the benefits, he immediately agrees and becomes the third Princess.

I love this anime. It's hilarious, and has some very interesting gender play going on. For example, there is a scene where the Princesses need to change into the outfits the Home Economics club made for them. The start to change in front of the club, but the members stop them. Confused the Princesses ask "But aren't we all boys?" To which the members say, "We know that, but please don't ruin our dreams." If you like your Shōjo to have comedy and boys dressing as girls, this is the one for you.

Hell Girl Volume 1

Overall Rating: B+
Synopsis: Hell Girl is a series of short stories that detail the suffering of different people. Typically, there is an antagonist who causes them to suffer, making the individual's life miserable. Fortunately, there is hope for these unfortunate souls (OOoooo dramatic!). Heard about through whispers and rumors, there is a website that can only be accessed at midnight. Known as Jigoku Tsūshin (Hell Correspondence), should someone submit the name of their persecutor (or really just anyone you hate), the Jigoku Shōjo (Hell Girl) will visit them. She has a creepy voice and red eyes, and will offer you a straw doll with a red string wound about its neck. If the string is pulled, she will send your persecutor to Hell by way of trippy hallucinations. However, if you condemn your persecutor to Hell, your soul will also be sent to Hell when you die.

I really like Hell Girl so far. The only reason I didn't rate it higher is there is a lot of repetition of the way the Hell Correspondence works, and the fact that each episode is an unrelated short story. However, they seem to be setting up the series to follow Ai (Hell Girl) and give her more of a background. That holds a lot of promise, so hopefully as the series progresses, it will get even better.

Tekkonkinkreet

Overall Rating: B
Synopsis: Originally titled Tekkon Kinkreet in the Japanese release, the title is a play on "Tekkin Concrete" the Japanese term for reinforced concrete. The movie was directed by Michael Arias, animated by Studio 4°C, and adapted from "Black and White", a one-volume seinen manga series by Taiyō Matsumoto. Set in the fictional Treasure Town, the movie centers around a pair of orphan kids who live on the city's streets, Black and White. Black is older and tougher (some say he's the toughest kid in the city), and protects the child-like (and perpetually snot-nosed) White). Together they make up the gang known as Neko (or Cats).

Black & White seem to have some special abilities, such as the ability to fly (or at least jump and glide further than a normal person could), and being pretty fucking bad-ass for a couple of kids. The first part of the movie focuses on the duo as they confront rival orphan gangs and even the local yakuza.

Things are going well for Black & White until a mysterious snake-faced entrepreneur with blue-skinned giant assassins show up. He begins working with the some of the local yakuza to tear down Treasure Town and replace it with an amusement park. Since Black and White are against the idea, he sends his assassins to kill them.

The most interesting (and confusing) part of the movie comes when White is seriously hurt and then separated from Black. Without White's influence, Black goes insane and even more violent than he already was. Can Treasure Town, and Black, be saved?

When I rented Tekkonkinkreet I was expecting a fun movie about orphan kid gangs with cute animal names "fighting" each other over territory. What I got was a very strange, pretty messed up, and pretty awesome movie. It's not what I expected, and it felt really slow in parts, but I definitely recommend it. Especially if, like me, you're into philosophy.

Red Garden Anime Review of Disc 1

Overall Rating: B+
Synopsis: Red Garden is a supernatural/horror/drama/mystery anime by Gonzo studio. The plot follows Kate, Rachel, Rose, and Claire, who all go to the same private school in New York. All four wake up one morning with no memory of the last night. The following night, they are all visited by red butterflies that lead them to a woman named Lula who tells them they are dead. For obvious reasons, this only confuses them more. She also reveals that the four girls must fight strange creatures for them to stay alive. However, they soon realize she's telling the truth, as one of the creatures attacks them.

I'll be the first to admit I have a soft spot for supernatural manga and anime. So, when I heard about Red Garden I knew I had to check it out. I haven't gotten that far into it yet, but I'm already glad I got the first disc from Netflix. The plot shows a lot of promise, and I want to know the whole story behind the four girls and how they're alive.

I will say there are a couple of scenes where Rose cries a lot. Based on her crying alone, Rose is my least favorite character. Seriously, if you heard it, you'd probably agree. Ouch. I would have rated Red Garden higher if it weren't for that, and the pretty bad musical montage in one of the episodes.

Aside from those pretty minor aspects, I'm looking forward to where the series is going. I recommend checking this one out if you like supernatural plots.

Tokyo Godfathers - Anime Review

Rating: A

Synopsis: Three homeless people, Miyuki (the runaway girl), Hana (the ex drag queen) and Gin (the drunk) discover a baby abandoned in the trash on Christmas Eve. They baby becomes a catalyst for a journey that time after time serves up some crazy coincidences.

Tokyo Godfathers is a ridiculously heartwarming and wacky movie, while simultaneously having a lot of serious content - the main characters are homeless, people get beat up, etc..

Satoshi Kon directed/wrote/lots of stuff for this movie, and his ability to combine wackiness and true human feelings in an animated setting really shows. One of the elements of his style that show up a lot are ridiculously detailed and realistic backdrops, with slightly overly-cartoony characters set against them.

I don't want to give away any of the major plot points of the movie, it has a lot of twists and turns, and despite the darker components of the plot, it is lighthearted overall. Many elements of the Christian Christmas story come up, as well as the importance of family, giving the movie a good chance of becoming a Christmas tradition in any house - I highly suggest watching it in December!

Hobotaku Dictionary - Terminology in Manga/Anime

Sometimes, as State-side Hobotaku, we all have some trouble figuring out the different ratings and designations for manga and anime - that's where this handy Hobotaku Dictionary can help. Now you'll know what it means when a manga said to be Shonen Yuri or a character typically Moe.

Kodomo (Target Audience: All kids)
Distinguishing Features: Child-friendly plots that may be moralistic, and marked lack of fan service.
Examples: Hamtaro, Doraemon

Shōnen (Target Audience: Males under 18)
Distinguishing Features: High action and humor
Examples: Bleach, Naruto

Shōjo (Target Audience: Females 13 - 18)
Distinguishing Features: Character development through realistic human relationships
(Note: Viz Media is re-defining Shōjo for their line of manga to mean having a male and female teenagers target audience)
Examples: Lala, Hana no Yume

Seinen (Target Audience: Males 18 - 30)
Distinguishing Features: Encompasses a variety of styles - can be strange, avant-garde and/or pornographic
Examples: Ai Yori Aoshi, Maison Ikkoku, Akira)

Josei (Target Audience: Females 18 - 30)
Distinguishing Features: Realistic characters who grow through realistic romance, sometimes with older characters and adult situations
Examples: Paradise Kiss, Nana, Gokusen

Shonen ai
Distinguishing Features: Never sexually explicit, focuses on homosexual relationships between male characters
Examples: Eerie Queerie, Little Butterfly, I Shall Never Return

Yaoi
Distinguishing Features: Sexually explicit, focuses on homosexual relationships between male characters
Examples: Bonds of Love, Lies & Kisses

Shoujo ai
Distinguishing Features: Not sexually explicit, focuses on homosexual relationships between female characters
Examples: .hack, Kashimashi

Yuri (technically, at this point, Shoujo ai and Yuri are interchangeable)
Distinguishing Features: Can be sexually explicit, focuses on homosexual relationships between female characters
Examples: Strawberry Panic, Burst Angel

Hentai (Target Audience: Over 18)
Distinguishing Features: Extreme sexual activity, including bondage, creatures with tentacles, or other fetishes
Examples: Cream Lemon, Bastard!!

Other Terms

Moe (pronounced "mo-eh")
A character with personality or appearance designed to elicit a protective or loving response from the audience.
Example: Tohru in Fruits Basket, Suiseiseki in Rozen Maiden

Bishonen (Sometimes called "Bishi")
Literally "beautiful youth" - a young male whose youth and sexual appear transcend the boundaries of gender
Example: Yuki Sohma in Fruits Basket, D'Eon in Chevalier D'Eon

Dojinshi
Self-published comics, largely they are of licensed works and feature sexually explicit material.

Lolicon
Japanese term for "Lolita complex" - term for sexual attraction of either gender to girls below the age of consent - childlike female characters are over-sexualized.

Shotacon
Japanese term for sexual complex where in an adult of either sex is attracted to an underage boy (to some extent FLCL and Negima have shotacon elements where older women press themselves on younger boys)

Naruto Manga Volumes 1-4

Overall Rating: B
Synopsis: I suspect that if you're reading this blog, you have some idea of who the fuck Naruto is, but in case you don't, here's a brief synopsis. Naruto is a 12 year old boy, who is the reincarnation of the nine-tailed fox that nearly destroyed the Leaf village, where Naruto lives. All of the adults fear him, and so they scorn him, and their children, not knowing the truth, scorn him and make fun of him. He has therefore become the equivalent of a ninja class clown. In short, he is annoying. He manages to pass his ninja training though, and along with his rival Sasuke and his dream girl Sakura, joins a ninja team. Both hate him. Hijinks and adventure ensue.

I didn't think I would be rating Naruto as highly as I did. I watched a couple of episodes of the anime on Cartoon Network (which I understand is censored), and didn't like it. Mostly because Naruto has a horrible tendency to say "Believe it!" in a really annoying voice all the fucking time. Seriously. Every couple of minutes he says "Believe it!" I'm getting pissed just thinking about it.

However, in the manga, Naruto, while still being somewhat annoying, is also more sympathetic. They spend a little more time focusing on how shunned he's been and how that led to his behavior. He still bugs me, but at least the manga doesn't throw the annoying catch phrase in every chance they get (he hasn't said it yet!) Instead, I find myself draw in by the secondary characters. Sasuke and Sakura are actually interesting and the world itself is pretty cool. Sasuke has a mysterious past (ooo...no wonder the fangirls love him) and Sakura provides some of the only actually funny moments in the book. The world revolves around the ninja villages (Leaf, Rain, Sand, Grass, Waterfall, and Sound) and their differences (each village teaches different techniques. All-in-all, the series is shaping up to be more interesting than I thought it would.

Azumanga Daioh - Anime Review

Rating: A+++

Synopsis: Six girls attend high school together in this hilarious and cute slice-of-life anime. The plots are all character-driven, maintaining a balance of mundane and wacky, despite the low-key ambitions of the series. We begin the series with the first day of High School and follow the girls through to their graduation.

Words fail me in describing Kiyohiko Azuma's Azumanga Daioh, but I will do my darndest. Even though this is a slice-of-life style anime, there's plenty to watch and like as we follow these six girls through sports days, culture fests, and summer vacations. The characters grow on you within the first couple of episodes, and from there you're hooked.

There is dramatic tension in the show, but it's caused by things like "Will Sakaki be able to pet the kitty?" Osaka's tendency to daydream or say strange non-sequitirs provides a great deal of surrealistic entertainment. Chiyo-chan's dilemma as a ten year-old high schooler gives the show tons of great scenes (such as the first time she ventures out at night to buy a new eraser, and runs from streetlight to streetlight in terror).

There is an entire episode dedicated to fan service, and instead of some sort of racy panty-shot laden episode, we get spoonfuls of cuteness as the class runs their Cute Cafe. With Chiyo-chan in her penguin suit, this episode will about kill you, as all you can manage to do is whisper "kawaii!"

Main Character Guide (from left to right in image above):

• (Yomi) Koyomi Mizuhara - Yomi is the voice of reason and most normal girl in the group. She wears glasses, is very athletic and smart, but is always concerned about her weight. She acts as the main restrainer on Tomo's schemes.


• (Osaka) Ayumu Kasuga - A girl transferred to the high school from Osaka. She is given the nickname "Osaka" despite the fact that her dreamy, barely lucid style of thinking is very different from the stereotypical Osakan. A lot her daydreams and thoughts give the series its surrealness.


• (Chiyo-chan) Chiyo Mihama - Chiyo's a prodigy advanced five grades to high school at 10. Ridiculously cute, Chiyo-chan attempts to fit in with her new older friends.


• (Sakaki) Sakaki - Sakaki is a tall quiet girl who is good at school and sports without trying. Unfortunately, the one thing she desires most, a pet cat, is the one thing she can't seem to make happen (cats hate her, her mother is allergic). Her tallness and quietness give her a reputation for being "cool".


• (Kagura) Kagura - Kagura is a very hard-working athlete who joins the girls in their second year. She spends a lot of time training, and though she sees Sakaki's innate athletic talent as competition, she usually ends up competing with Tomo.


• (Tomo) Tomo Takono - Tomo is the school's self-proclaimed "wildcat", competitive and energetic. Tomo is incredibly impulsive and can be obnoxious at times, but her actions tend to be a catalyst for the show.

This is my favorite anime right now, and that is the highest recommendation I can possibly give. As soon as I sent back the Netflix discs, I made plans to buy my own. If you haven't seen any Azumanga Daioh, then get to it!

Cromartie High School Manga and Anime Review

Overall Rating: Manga - B? / Anime - A-
Synopsis: Cromartie High School by Eiji Nonaka, is a comedy manga centered around High School first year Kamiyama who begins attending Cromartie High to stay with his delinquent friend after junior high. Unfortunately, his friend isn't even able to make it into Cromartie, despite frequent references to how easy it is to get in. The school is populated almost entirely with delinquents, including a robot named Mechazawa (though most students treat him like he's human), a gorilla, and Freddie, a mute (who looks uncannily similar to Freddie Mercury.

This manga, and the anime based on it, is insane. Most of the time, that makes it fucking brilliant, and makes me laugh my ass off, but sometimes it's too bizarre. Part of the problem is that there is no real plot to the series, which makes some of the scenes disorienting and hard to follow.

That being said, both versions of the series are hilarious. Cromartie High is the school that the dumbest and toughest youths in the area go to, and they spend most of their days worrying about status, and who has the coolest nickname. Along with the thugs and gang members, Cromartie is also home to some stranger students. This includes a technophobic robot named Mechazawa, who most students are too dumb to figure out is a robot, a gorilla that's smarter than the rest of the students combined, and a mute that has an uncanny resembelence to Freddie Mercury that rides around on a giant horse named Kokuryu.

If you're looking for plot, skip this one, but if you just want a good laugh, Cromartie High School kicks ass.

Anime Review - The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

Overall Rating: A++
Synopsis: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya follows Haruhi, as she searches for aliens, time travelers, and espers. Kyon - the narrator of the series - is an ordinary high school boy who she manages to rope into her schemes. Wacky times are ahead.

Haruhi soon forms the SOS Brigade, a club at their high school to get things started. She then bullies Yuki, the quiet one, Mikaru, the shy but attractive junior, and Itsuki, the mysterious transfer student to join, and the club's anime stereotypes are complete. Soon after, Kyon learns that Yuki is an alien, Mikaru is a time traveler, and Itsuki is an esper. What the fuck is going on?!? Apparently, Haruhi is God?!? It sounds like insanity, but it's a great show. Check it out, now!


The first episode of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is a little disorienting. After watching the end of the episode, and the second one, it becomes obvious that the first episode is a movie made for a high school project. Some people I've talked to don't like the first episode, but I think it's hilarious. The plot is narrated by Kyon, and reminds me of how I would describe what's happening in the episode to one of my friends. Plus, the "special effects" are hilarious.

The series really gets started with the second episode on the disk (the first episode is number 0). We first meet the narrator, Kyon, who is jaded, sarcastic, and completely normal. In contrast, we then meet Haruhi, who announces during her introduction to her high school class that she has "no interest in ordinary humans", and only wants to meet time travelers, aliens, and espers. Kyon gets roped into her antics when he casually asks her about the fact that she constantly changes her hair. It turns out she thinks that each day has an associated color and number to it, and so changes the color of ribbon and number of ties in her hair accordingly. This, is the least of her eccentricities.

On the first disc, we are also introduced to Yuki, a quiet bibliophile, who turns out to be an alien super-intelligence; Mikuru, a shy but buxom moe-type junior, who turns out to be a time traveler; and Itsuki, a charismatic bishounen, who turns out to be an esper. The hijinks are wacky, the characters are fantastic, and I can't wait for the second disc! Oh, did I mention the awesome dance routine during the end credits? There's an awesome dance routine during the end credits. Be sure to watch them at least once. Seriously.

Paradise Kiss Anime Review

Overall Rating: A
Synopsis: Yukari is an attractive high schooler, but her life consists of traveling from high school to cram school to home, and back again. Her monotonous life gets upturned when she meets a group of fashion design students. They want her to be their model, and after some hesitation, she agrees. Mostly, because she meets their leader, George, who is ridiculously attractive. They give her a makeover that involves cutting her bangs and giving her sexier clothes to wear, and the show is underway.

I had heard good things about Paradise Kiss before I got a chance to watch it, but once I sat down (actually laid down in my bed) and started watching it, I quickly fell in love with the series. Of course, I'm predisposed to liking a series about fashion with attractive, androgynous men (One of the main characters, George, who has greyish/green hair, is definitely a bishonen), and adorable Japanese women with pink hair (Miwako is dating Arashi, the blonde punk, and dresses in frilly clothes, squeals a lot, and runs around doing adorable things) in it. As most of my friends know, I'm a vain motherfucker, and I like to dress nicely. So, it would be difficult for me to not love an anime that seems to pander directly to that.

Fortunately, the series is a lot deeper than that. The characters are well-developed, and interesting, including a tranny named Isabella who has been dressing in women's clothes since she was little. She has been friends with George ever since he designed her first dress for her, and always supports him. She acts as the mother for the group, looking out for everyone.

The characters are passionate about their clothes and their relationships, which are complicated and realistic. For example, the main relationship in the series is between Yukari and George. Yukari spends the series trying to figure out what's important to her in life, and trying to balance her desire to be a successful model, trying to impress and please George, and to be respected by her mother. George, on the other hand, spends his time feeding his own ego, and treating women (including Yukari) like trophies, but you get to watch his relationship with Yukari change him subtly over the course of the series.

If you like your anime to involve action, panty-shots, and robots, then this one isn't for you. However, if you like interesting characters, involved story, hot androgynous men, and pink haired, adorable women, then this one is for you. The anime is based on the manga series of the same name, by Ai Yazawa and published in English by Tokyopop, but I haven't had a chance to read it...yet.

Voices of a Distant Star (Hoshi No Koe) - Anime Review

Rating: C- / D

Synopsis: In the future, Mikako and Noboru are middle-school sweethearts forced to separate when Mikako is accepted into the interstellar mecha program. Noboru, her boyfriend, is then left on earth to angstily await each message she can send him from space. The 30-minute anime follows their relationship primarily through text messages sent between them on their mobile phones from earth and space.

The impressive part of this OVA (original video animation, i.e. straight-to-DVD) is that the creator Makoto Shinkai wrote, directed, and produced the entire thing on his Macintosh (and did half of the original voice-over). The anime is only 30 minutes long, but I can't say I enjoyed that 30 minutes very much.

The background animation is beautiful and serene, full of open skies and empty rooms, which gives a bleak feeling to the film. The character design, on the other hand, seems a little half-hearted and sloppy. In its entirety, there are only three people shown at all.

The world is empty and sad Noboru, left on Earth, must wait the lengthening times it takes for Mikako to message him back from light years away (with the last messages taking eight years). And since the anime is mostly exposition, we hear every moping thought.

Yes, there are a few mech fights, but they are glossed over in favor of more internal dialogue about loneliness and longing. It seems strange that in the future, full of middle-school girls in interstellar mechs, the only way they can manage to communicate is via 20th century mobile phones (Mikako and Noboru even mention text messaging is "old tech").

If a friend has this, then I would suggest taking the 30 minutes to watch it (which is what I did) but I have no desire to watch it again, nor would I put it in my Netflix queue.

Or, here (and I apologize profusely)
My Horrible Pun Review: While the background imagery in Voices of a Distant Star is good, the rest of the anime is nothing to write home about.

Negima!

Overall Rating: ?
Synopsis: 10 year old child wizard/genius Negi Springfield has to teach English at an all-girls boarding school. Magic and fan-service ensue.

The reason I put a ? for Overall Rating is I have no idea what to think about this series. Both the manga and the anime seem to focus more on fan-service involving middle school girls than on plot or magic. I was tempted to rate it a D, but I have only seen the first disc of the anime, and read the first volume of manga, so maybe it gets better. I wouldn't count on it though.

Both seem to be closer to a male's first wet dream than anything resembling plot, with panty shots and barely clad schoolgirls thrown in at every opportunity. I originally picked up the series because I like magic, and I like manga, and I thought this might be along the lines of Harry Potter. It was closer to being along the lines of a bad romance novel. A bad romance novel that makes you feel like a dirty old man.

For example, one novel side-effect of Negi's magic is that it tends to eradicate clothing. When he tries to erase the memories of the female lead, Asuna, he instead erases her clothes...huh? To top it off, one can only assume Negi has a severe allergy problem, because he sneezes a lot. What relevance does that have, you might ask? Well, apparently, his sneezes cause skirts to fly up, resulting in much fan-service.

Fortunately, the manga is rated 18+, so people kind of know what they're in for, but be forewarned, do not read this in a store. The last thing most people want is to stumble over someone in a Dragonball Z shirt that's looking at middle school girls' underwear. Trust me, it's creepy, and you'll end up dying alone.

Chevalier D'eon - Anime Review

Overall Rating: B+

Synopsis: D'eon Beaumont is an attractive young nobleman whose normal days of hanging out at Versailles just ended - the story starts with his sister's body pumped full of mercury, floating in a coffin down the Seine River. D'eon falls into the dangers and intricacies of his sister's spy duties as her spirit inhabits his body and assists in searching for her killer.

Far superior to the American movie Marie Antoinette, this show immerses the viewer 18th century France Versailles, and keeps it interesting. D'eon's accomplices include Robin (gunslinging pageboy), Durand (seemingly shifty swordsman), and Teillagory (master swordsman). And, lest we forget, he is also accompanied by his sister's vengeful spirit, who occasionally takes over his body during crisis scenes and commits ultra-violence (it's a lot like he goes Saiyan - his voice gets high-pitched, glowing red text appears on his sword and he's suddenly a bad-ass).

Here are the reasons you should watch this animated series:
- Awesome animation
- Well-written
- Sword fights
- Mercury-filled zombie fights

I adore well-done mysteries, and this one involves zombies, possession and did I mention cross-dressing? There's cross-dressing.

Rating Reasoning: The show has some minor localization flaws. Some of the voice acting is sub-par (which I thought was a play on stuffy noblemen at first). One of the first mystery plot points involve the word "PSALMS" and the subsequent Bible verses. Devout upper-class Frenchmen were unfamiliar with popular biblical references and had to research to discover them. I imagine this was more for the Asian audiences.

Note: This story is also a manga. It is also loosely based on historical fact - Chevalier d'Eon was a French diplomat, spy, soldier and Freemason who lived the first half of his life as a man and the second half as a woman.

Hellsing - Anime/Manga/Anime

Overall Rating:
Manga - A+
Original anime series - B
New anime series - A+
Summary: Hellsing is a manga series by Kouta Hirano. Hellsing chronicles the efforts of the mysterious and secret Royal Order of Protestant Knights, Hellsing, as it combats vampires, ghouls, and other supernatural foes who threaten the kingdom of England. The main character, Alucard (Dracula cleverly spelled backwards), is used to kill other supernatural creatures, and makes Seras Victoria (a cop he shoots to kill another vampire) into a vampire early on in the series and we get to watch her deal with her new life as a blood drinker with some hilarious (and sometimes creepy results).

I love vampires, so it's not much of a surprise that I like Hellsing, a series based around vampires and supernatural organizations. So, why does the series get three separate ratings? It boils down to the fact that the first anime series is a lot different than the manga and the second series.

I was first introduced to Hellsing with the original anime series, which was based (loosely!) on the manga. At the time, roughly 2002 or 2003, I thought it was amazing. Unfortunately, the end of that series is extremely weak on plot, and feels rushed. It's like the people involved had a brain-storming session over a pile of coke, had a bunch of cool ideas, but couldn't figure out how to bring them together into a cool ending. Not to mention the fact that the concept for the final villain, Incognito, is kind of racist (from the "Dark Continent", ends up wearing little more than jewelry), and is pretty fucking lame when compared to some of the other villains introduced earlier in the series.

Later, I found out that only the first 6 episodes or so were based on the Manga, and the rest of the series was made up for the anime. That explains why it felt so rushed, because it was! So, I decided it was time to check out the manga, to see if the plot held up longer in it.

The manga blew away the anime, and now I have some trouble watching the old series. In the manga, you get more detail and more character development, and more characters. For example, Alexander Anderson is introduced in the the old anime series, but we don't meet the other members of Iscariot. Nor is there any hint of the Nazi organization, Millennium. I could go on, but the point is that the manga kicks the anime's ass. If you've seen the anime, do yourself a favor and check out the manga. If you haven't checked out either, then get your vampire loving ass out to your local comic book shop (or wherever you buy manga) and pick it up. If you don't love vampires, then I hate you. Ok, maybe not hate, but seriously what's up with that shit?

The new anime series on the other hand is completely faithful to the manga, and definitely worth watching. The production value is a lot higher, the creator is behind the series, and overall it's simply kick-ass. My suggestion is to read the manga (volumes 1-7 are out now, and volume 8 is scheduled to come out in early July), then watch the new OVA series, Hellsing Ultimate, and then watch the old anime. It's all good, but the manga and the Ultimate series are a lot better. It's like watching the season of Angel where he gets fat and then going back and watching season 2 or 3 of Buffy. No one likes a fat vampire.