Author Archives: nachtmerrieschultz

Review: Pandora Hearts

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Convoluted story plots? Lots of crying? Well, that sounds like a regular trip down anime lane. This time around we’re talking about Pandora Hearts by Jun Mochizuki which was publish by Square Enix. In 2009 it was made into an anime by Xebec, which is perhaps best known for Love Hina and D.N. Angel. The manga recently ended in March while the anime only ran 25 episodes, like many anime of the 2009 era did. However that doesn’t take away that this series had a lot of good and bad going for it.

There will be light spoilers as a lot does happen with in the first 10 chapters of the manga that don’t even begin to scratch the surface of the actual storyline.

Oz Vessalius is about to undergo his coming-of-age ceremony, which happens to all rich people at age 15. Except that doesn’t quite happen, instead Oz is cast into a place only known as the Abyss, with the words that his sin is his very existence. From there he meets a girl named Alice, other was known as the B-Rabbit, or the Bloodstained Black Rabbit. She is a chain, which is an existence from the abyss that cannot leave without contracting with a human, and she wants to find her memories. They make a contract and escape the Abyss only to find that it is in fact ten years later and that they only have so long before their contract is up and the two of them are dragged back to the Abyss.

The main character is Oz Vessalius, the heir to the Vessalius dukedom. He’s a spoiled brat, but incredibly considerate in not letting people know he is sad, most likely due to the absence and rejection of his father. However this also creates a creepy vibe surrounding him. He’s a bit of a sadist, knowing exactly what to say to get what he wants. Oz never seems to worry about the dangers that are all around him, instead he faces them rather bravely. He almost seems to accept dangers upon himself, as though he had a death wish.

Alice the B-Rabbit is our main heroine, a chain who feels compelled by Oz’s presence. She is as equally a brat as he is. Once in the world she finds that there is a lot she doesn’t know or understand and tries to find out what she is missing. Her goal is to find all of her memories as she only knows her name and what she is, but can’t help feeling that there’s more to it. She is a flurry of emotions that never seemed to be fully realized within her, as she barely understands herself at times.

Gilbert Nightray is Oz’s right hand man, or rather servant. He was there when the ceremony went south, having been possessed by an evil chain and later nearly killed by a sword wound, and he was adopted into the House of Nightray. He like Alice’s has no memories of before he began serving the Vessalius household when he was 8. He is 24 when Oz returns and worries that he has changed too much in the ten years that his master has been away. Gilbert is very self-conscious and aware of his short comings that he often doesn’t see the good things he can do. He possesses the chain known as Raven.

Xerxes Break is an envoy of the Rainsworth house as well as a member of the group Pandora. He is a mysterious character who we slowly but surely get the pieces to over time within the series. Through laughter he hides a more serious side to himself, often pretending that his cruelty is in fact kindness. Altogether though he is a pretty straight forward character who is a lot of fun to read. He is also the only one who questions Oz and who he is. He possesses a chain as well, though I’ll leave the readers to find out what his chain is.

There is a whole bunch of other characters to talk about, but that would also include a lot of spoilers.

The art in this series is a journey to watch, it was already pretty good at the beginning of the series, but as the story progressed the art improved tenfold. Mochizuki’s line work became much softer and the emphasis on eyes became more and more apparent. Each character is unique and you never have to flounder to try and distinguish which character is which, except for specific times when Mochizuki wants you to be confused. It has both harshness and well placed softness. Now, if only the anime had done the same. Like many 25 episode animes, Pandora Hearts had pretty shotty production and a lot of cringe worthy scenes in terms of animation. It’s not a very pretty anime, but that’s why I suggest the manga if you’re going for more impressive art. However, this anime did have a splendid use of background animation, each setting being really well detailed in its environment. That is quite a plus and the anime never tries to be something it isn’t. Which, at least it knows it isn’t good?

Sound wise, well the anime did have a pretty generic opening with Parallel Hearts by FictionJunction. The first ending was Maze. Honestly none of the music really stands out, it doesn’t have a strong sense of what the anime is, and instead it falls flat in trying to convey something that we as viewers can’t grasp. In terms of voice acting we do have Kosuke Toriumi as Gilbert, known for his past roles as Kiba from Naruto or Ishimaru from Dangan Ronpa. Or Akira Ishida as Break, better known Naruto’s Gaara or Neon Genesis Evangelion’s Kaworu.  However, this doesn’t distract from the fact that this anime isn’t ultimately interesting in comparison to the manga. There isn’t an English dub, so if you plan on seeking out the anime, get ready for subtitles. This isn’t a gripe, but the anime is just not as good in comparison to the manga, and it may just be that it didn’t get the chance to be as good.

Ultimately I find Pandora Hearts to be a bit contrived in all it does, but it is ultimately enjoyable. However, I personally would go in favor of the manga, as it is a fully complete product that leaves nothing to be desired. It doesn’t ask much from the viewer, whereas the anime seems to struggle to keep up. With the manga finished however, you can fully get the feel of what Pandora Hearts is truly about! It isn’t a disappointment, the manga is incredibly fun to go through, and the anime just has a lot that could have been better.

Pandora Hearts: 7/10

Review: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 3: Stardust Crusaders

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maxresdefaultDo you like 80’s music? 80’s American Music? Well Hirohiko Araki sure does! And that’s what helped inspire his manga that started in 1982 and is still ongoing. Now, as the title suggests, we’re talking about part 3, ignoring Part 1: Phantom Blood and Part 2: Battle Tendency, and this is merely because the recently released David’s Production of Part 3 is ending soon. It also, at times, appears to be the most popular arc, or at least the most well-known. This part consists of volumes 12 to 28.

So the plot of Jojo’s all happens around the Joestar family, part three centers around Jotaro Kujo, lovingly called Jojo by those around him, grandson to part 2 Joseph Joestar. He’s a delinquent in high school whose story opens with him in jail, saying that his is possessed by an evil spirit. Holly Kujo, his mother, calls for her father, Joseph, to come and help get Jotaro to his senses. Through the altercation, with the help of Joseph’s friend Abdul and his STAND, they are able to make Jotaro understand there is something bigger going on. The evil spirit is actually Jotaro’s stand Star Platinum and it is best known for its screams of ORA! When tragedy hits, he and his crew must travel to Egypt to find and stop the evil Dio! On the way they must fight other stand users hired by Dio to stop them and this leads to both wacky and sad adventures.

The characters, minus a select few, all have Stands.

Jotaro Kujo as stated above is a delinquent who all the girls love. He has a bad attitude, but really he cares a lot. His stand is Star Platinum, named after the Star taro card. Jotaro is a hulking 17 year old who looks like he’s 30. Still he is a pretty stoic great guy, who is crazy strong. Underneath his touch demeanor he really loves his friends and really grows into himself through the journey.

Joseph Joestar is Jotaro’s grandfather and actually the main character of Part 2. His stand is called Hermit Purple which allows him to create vines that he can use to create phantom photos through cameras and also swing from building to building. He is easy going and just a general blast. He has a robot hand and also has the power of Hamon, which is controlled through breathing, it’s also called a Ripple. Altogether though, Joseph is a personal favorite of mine.

Mohammed Avodol, referred to as Abdul, is our calm and centered character from Cairo. His stand is called Magician’s Red. He is also the first character we meet who was born with his stand. He’s pretty cool, though he probably stands out much more later on the more he interacts with characters like Polnareff.

Noriaki Kakyoin is, probably, the character people have seen before. If anyone here has heard of this specific anime, they definitely know of the scene of this guy rolling a cherry in his mouth, rerorerorero echoing in your ears. Besides that he is the same age as Jotaro and actually a schoolmate of his. He is the second person we meet born with a stand, his being Hierophant Green. Kakyoin is also best known for being a bit of a know it all. He joins the group with no real intention, but perhaps to get back at Dio.

Jean Pierre Polnareff is also a familiar character, with his straight pole of a hair style he hails from France. His stand is called Silver Chariot, which fights with a rapier. Polnareff though is serious comic relief, like toilet jokes and ‘I’m better than all of you’ jokes. He joins the team to search for the man who killed his sister, a man with two right hands who may be employed by Dio.

There is one more character but we don’t really meet him till later in the series.

In terms of art style, Hirohiko Araki is very well known for his exaggerated art style and ridiculous ‘Jojo’ poses, however this creates a very nice staple for each new installment. Currently in part three you can already see a dramatic change in art style that continues to adapt with each new Jojo. However in terms of anime animation we have two different sources to look at both a 1993 OVA and the current 2014-2015 David’s Production two season anime. I would say, considering both have drastically different animation styles, that both are good. While the OVA sometimes leaves something to be desired, its monotone colors really speak to me for some reason. It also over exaggerates in a way that isn’t as jarring as the David’s Production. However the new anime has everything in terms of better color and just really works well with Araki’s own style.

So in terms of sound I’m going to mainly focus on the new anime, as there isn’t a whole lot that shines in terms of the OVA. Daiskue Ono voices Jotaro and if you don’t know who that is well, Erwin Smith in Shingeki no Kyojin. We also have Daisuke Hirakawa as Kakyoin, currently known for his role as Rei in Free! We also have Walk Like an Egyptian by The Bangles as the ending theme, which really enforced the importance as well as the fun for this anime. The opening theme is Stand Proud by Jin Hasimoto. Later on in the second season things do change, but the only music that really stands out is Last Train Home by Pat Metheny Group for the ending theme. For the English dub, which is currently in the works from what I’ve seen last, I would say go to the subtitles. This anime, at least personally, only seems to work in its native language. A lot of the dialogue becomes stunted in English that really flows in the Japanese.

This anime is very popular and continues to be one of the most popular ongoing mangas to date. It is violent and has some childish humor, but doesn’t lose its overall story. While completely silly at times, when taking into account Araki’s inspiration, I can’t help but say that this series is a lot of fun. And that’s what it needs to be, fun. Without that this series would be too serious and hard to get through, but it has the right amount of light and dark moments that we as viewers don’t lose track of the meaning. I hope that with the success of Part Three that we will get anime adaptations of the next few parts, as we do have 26 episodes dedicated to the first two parts of the series. This doesn’t mean it doesn’t have problems, there are art issues as well as just general things that weren’t needed in a series like this, and however it doesn’t fully detract from an overall enjoyment level.

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 3: Stardust Crusaders: 8.5/10

Review: Dangan Ronpa the Animation

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Kids killing kids? A crazy talking bear that wants you to feel… Disbear? Well count me in. Now if you didn’t know, a game series called Dangan Ronpa (Trigger Happy Havoc, Goodbye Despair, etc.), that soon got a first game anime adaptation. Trigger Happy Havoc was turned into an animated series that took what was probably 30 hours of gameplay into 12 episode of very sort of cardboard cutout characters. The anime was produced by Lerche and directed by Seiji Kishi, who is perhaps best known for his other game to anime adaptation Persona 4.

So the basic story plot is that Naegi Makoto has been accepted to Hope’s Peak Academy, where only those of Super Duper High school Level citizens may go, and he has been accepted under Super Duper High school Level Luckster. There you can truly succeed, but only if you’re a SDHL When he goes to the school entrance he enters and then promptly passes out. When he awakens he is within a classroom and told to go to the school auditorium where he is greeted with the irritated and equally confused faces of his classmates. They are then confronted by a talking stuffed bear, Monokuma, who wants them to proceed into a life of mutual killing and despair. At first all the students disagree and refuse to partake, but slowly murder begins to stain the halls of Hope’s Peak.

The characters we meet are all with a Super Duper title that makes them different from the others, from Super Duper High school Heir to S.D.H.L. Oracle. This makes for an interesting dynamic because all have vastly different backgrounds that sort of all get left out in the anime comparatively to the game. So I’m only going to focus on three of the characters, two protagonists, a jerk, and our antagonist.

First of is Naegi Makoto, SDHL Lucky student. He describes himself as pretty average and he pretty much is. He has a good heart and wants to get to know the people he’s stuck with, as well as conquer over despair. Thought the show he remains a vigilant reminder that there is still good within the ruined world. Nagei also serves to solve a majority of the cases as he’s the only one who ‘connects’ with everyone and is able to see all sides of things.

Kyoko Kirigiri is our SDHL ????. Yes, I know, what does that mean? Well, it’s a wait and find out tactic that the writers used for us to care for our calm collected character. She is mysterious and doesn’t even recall what her talent is, but she knows she has one. Kirigiri trusts Naegi to make the right choice, often realizing that he is solving the cases. She also is attempting to unravel the mystery behind Hope’s Peak and why they’ve all been trapped there.

Next is Byakuya Togami, SDHL Heir, who will take over the Togami business and essentially run the world. He literally is a huge jerk to everyone because they’re like peasants to him. He’s sort of just there to be a douche and being a minor support for Naegi, who he thinks will be of use to him later on. I’m only including him because… Well every anime needs a sort of mean and pointless character. He derails a lot to be like ‘look at me and my money’ but also helps in the possible future for the rest of the cast.

Then finally there’s Monokuma! Our antagonist who wants to bring despair to every living creature and also bring about the tragedy or The Worst, Most Despair-Inducing Incident in the History of Mankind. It’s insinuated that this incident would cause despair to ravage the land. He acts as the principle of Hope’s Peak and hopes to bring the students mutual life of killings to a start. He makes sure that all the students follow the rules as well as sets up bribes to get what he wants started.

The animation in comparison to the game is, well I suppose, and upgrade? There isn’t any actual animation as they only have sort of cardboard cut outs of the characters, so it was nice to see them move fluidly in the anime. While it does lose a lot of the harsher lines that the game had in terms of design for each individual character it isn’t that bothersome either? Honestly, it’s a clean animation that doesn’t really amaze or detract from the source material. There is also the still strange choice to this day from both game and animation, which is making all of the blood a very annoying pink, which in terms of like censorship it’d make some sense, but it just felt hokey and out of place to me as a viewer.

Sound wise considering there is no current dub of the animation the sub is actually quite good. All the Japanese voice actors returned for the animation and that includes Megumi Ogata, best known for her role as Shinji Ikari in Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Akira Ishida, best known for Kaworu Nagisa from NGE as well. The music was composed by Masafumi Takada, best known for his work in the video game No More Heroes. The opening theme is called Never Say Never by TKDzZb and is a pretty alright track but not really outstanding. There are currently dubs of the first two games released for the PS Vita, if you’d prefer to go to the source game material, and it’s alright. The dubbed games has mostly newcomers with far and few veterans. Still the dub is possibly a good place to start if the game is more what you’d want to try.

While this anime was a pretty popular subject little less than a year ago, it’s a pretty okay show. It’s not outstanding and doesn’t really breakdown a lot of barriers or do anything necessarily new in terms of storytelling or animation, but it doesn’t go overboard and alienate the viewers. I found it to be a pretty fun anime to pass the time with, but overall still preferred the games in term of overall content. It’s worth a watch if you’re just looking to have a pretty easy going time. I may have a different reaction to some of the topics within the anime, so it may not be for everyone, but I found it to be pretty approachable. We are also still receiving sequels to the game which currently means there will be more content out, as well as possibly more anime adaptions.

Dangan Ronpa: 6.5/10

Review: Naruto

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Naruto-Shippuden-Ninja-Storm-RevolutionIn honor of its recent final chapter we’re going to be looking at Naruto. Yes, the ninja who never shuts up and sounds like someone who smoked for a majority of their life, that’s who we’re going to be looking at today. Naruto was created by writer and artist Masashi Kishimoto, who originally made a one shot of the character, who was changed only slightly into the hyper active character we know today. It has recently finished with a total of 700 chapters and the anime is still ongoing currently with a “final” movie having just recently premiered.

Alright story for those who don’t know:

Twelve years prior to the original start of the story the village of Konoha was attacked by a nine tailed fox, who was then trapped into a new born baby by the village leader, the fourth Hokage. This child’s name was Naruto and Christ did he get the short end of the stick. Made into the town pariah he is forced to grow up not only as an orphan but also the most hated member of the town for mistakes he didn’t make. The children his age even dislike him, just based upon how their parents acted to him, and that made for a very difficult and lonely childhood. But fear not because Naruto doesn’t care, well he does, but he would never show it. He wants to be hokage and prove to the village he can be more than some hated reject. So he decides to become a ninja despite having failed as a student so many times before. Finally achieving his goal, he strives to become the strongest ninja in all of Konoha and prove to everyone that he isn’t a waste of space!

There’s a lot more that I won’t exactly bring up, just in case there are people who are interested in reading the manga or watching the show still. But basically its Naruto’s quest to acceptance and the friends he makes because of that. It’s cheesy but hey the kids love it for some reason. I know I did when I was young and watching it.

Naruto is our lead, obviously, and he is… Endearing? Really he’s a fine character with a lot of enthusiasm but there’s just a lot of energy that you have to match up with. He basically raised himself, never knew his parents, and doesn’t understand why everyone in the village hates him. Well he finds out, but even then he has a hard time understanding. He’s a bit thickheaded like that. He wants to be hokage and shouts it to the world with a, “Dattebayo!” (Believe it). We want him to succeed because he grows up so well over time that you can’t help but want him to wear the stupid hat of power, because you grew up with him.

Sasuke is the second main character I suppose in that he is sort of a driving force behind a lot of Naruto’s actions. Loved by everyone in the village Sasuke is a bit jaded on the whole people thing, often seeing them as similar because none of them try to get to know the real him. All the girls his age adore him to the point of stalking and it’s a wonder no one’s ended up with a restraining order. He and Naruto start off hating each other, seeing each other as annoying, but eventually they learn to trust each other. I don’t really care about him, he’s kind of a huge jerkwad, and that’s all he ever amounts to being.

Sakura is our leading lady and probably the character with the most growth, minus the last few chapters, but yeah. She’s hotheaded and intelligent but is scared of showing people what she’s really like out of fear of rejection. Starting off she just sort of comes off as a girl desperately in love with Sasuke and someone who has literally no motivation for anything really. That does change quite a lot that she’s strong and independent. She uses her strength and intelligence to become a strong female medical ninja who still holds onto what she loves.

There are a series of like a hundred plus other characters, which yes they are important, but that would take a whole lot of time.

The animation is… Well it’s shonen jump alright! That’s not saying Masato Kishimoto isn’t a good artist, but at times it is very wonky, but only in earlier chapters. Now for those who may not know, shonen is a ‘boy’s’ oriented genre of manga, which includes titles like Bleach or One Piece, and typically is showcased in the magazine Shonen Jump. For the most part the manga is a lot more detailed than that of the anime, merely because the animation crew likes to make everyone appear as bland as possible. Though the fight scenes are really good in both series, though once again lose a lot because of the more defined sketchy art style of Kishimoto. Now that isn’t to say that there are sometimes that I wish there had been a cleanup crew, because dear lord if I could count the number of times I’ve seen extremely sloppy execution done during the Chunin Exam arc. Ultimately though it was a very unique style that I don’t think will ever been done quite the same.

The sound is, not the best in either English or Japanese really, but if I had to choose I’d rather listen to five hundred episodes with subtitles. That isn’t me saying the dub isn’t good either, though I would never… It’s not good. Watch it in Japanese, preferably, also because they don’t butcher the opening theme like a lot of Dubbing companies did in the early 2000s. Now Viz Media did the dub, but once again, all it really did was launch Yuri Lewonthal’s career along with a few choice others who were already in the dub scene. This includes Kyle Hebert, Steve Blum, and Crispin Freeman. Also Liam O’Brian! These are the only people I think are of note, but hey, everybody likes different other voice actors. Any who, the music is also pretty good, sad flute instrumentals abound though. Because it is a longer anime it has multiple openings and endings. I would say there are a few that are really stellar, but there is a lot to go through. I personally really liked a lot of the Shippuden themes.

I have a lot of issues revolving around this show because of fans and the ultimate final few chapters of the manga. I grew up with Naruto, so I do end up having a lot of embarrassed nostalgia about it, I was as we used to call them a Narutard. I will defend that this is a good show with a lot of really good heartfelt moments, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that there is problems. Ultimately it comes down to the final arc and plot thread that just felt like it was ham-fisted into the reader’s faces. It felt almost like an insult to us as readers. I can’t be too angry though, it isn’t my work, its Kishimoto’s, but I can’t help but be a bit angry.

Still as a fan and a reader I have to thank Kishimoto for the last 15 years and congratulate him on completing Naruto. After such a long time it’s time to say goodbye even if it feels like letting go of an important friend. It’s an endearing show that if you have the time, read or watch it, it’s heartfelt where it needs to be and silly in the same way.

Narurto: 7/10

Review: Space Dandy

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11721369493_f26faa7b11_oIf you like anime you’re going to like this anime. If you don’t like anime you’re going to like this one. From Studio Bones and director Shinichiro Watanabe we have been given the goldmine that is Space Dandy. The series began in 2014, surprisingly in America before Japan, and was an instant hit. It’s a bit crude in places but also has the same deep sentiments that we gain from works like Cowboy Bebop or Samurai Champloo. With an omnipresent voice that narrates all of the happenings with and around Dandy we are immediately kicked in the face with these storylines and plot that would probably never work in a different anime.

The story is literally about a Space Dandy, who, and I quote, is a dandy guy in space. What more could you want? It’s also basically an episodic anime with an overarching story line that we, as the audience, always are wondering where it is going to take us. But ultimately each episode is pretty fun and a standalone reason to try and sit down and watch this show. Also we have restaurants in this show called Breasturants, otherwise known as BooBies, which dear lord is probably a play on Hooters, or something. But anyway we have our three characters we are most faced with and then the other plot which an empire is trying to get their hands own our hero, because he may be the key to winning a galactic war.

So as said above we have Space Dandy, our dandy guy, and man is he just that. He is the best character to take away from probably this entire last new anime season. He’s on the hunt for new aliens to try and make a living off of, but ends up in high stakes shenanigans all the time. Dandy loves women and the booty, which he proclaims quite often. If he could live off the food at BooBies he would, but that’s just unrealistic. Still he has a sense of what is wrong and right while keeping a light sense of attitude towards most situations. While he can be entirely selfish he also usually ends up doing the right thing because deep down he is just a good guy. The big secret around him is also very cool and well done, which is another reason to sit down and try this out.

QT is Dandy’s second in command, an older model robot, and probably the most intelligent of the three mains we have. Shown to be older in model he is otherwise shown to be able to feel and process emotions like a human would. This makes it interesting as we have a robot who can love and be annoyed by things around him, and it makes for good storytelling as well as character development.

Meow is the unfortunate Betelgeusian that meets our heroes in the very first episode through a series of events. A bit of a pervert he is our otaku-esque character with very little want or care of pleasing his captain. Also he’s basically a cat. So he acts like one in certain situations despite a hatred of being called one. Everyone wonders why he left his home planet when he is such a homebody, basically, already, and it’s found that he didn’t want to end up in a mundane never ending life of boredom, which makes him quite endearing. He loves traveling with Dandy and QT, finding the excitement he couldn’t at home.

Then we have a whole slew of other characters that are technically side characters but are still important to the story plot overall and how it progress our main characters and forces them into situations. I won’t go into them because there are a lot of them, but I mean if you sit and decide you’re interested in the show you’ll get to meet them anyway.

The animation in this is… Just splendid. Every now and then it changes to a different style that is just as equally interesting as the plot. Each character is unique and independent, from Dandy’s pompadour to Dr. Gel’s gorilla like body. Also in the same style as Gurren Lagann it is big and encompassing to the point of being ridiculous. Yet we love it, we can’t help but want Dandy to go through another monologue where he just goes on about surfing and how life is just like that. Also it’s bright and shows exactly what we would want space to be like in that situation, people with hair that sparkles like the stars themselves or spaceships painted with Hawaiian shirt patterns. I cannot help but feel that this animation is the beginning much more top notch animation we’ll see in the future, especially from Studio Bones.

I want to talk about the dub before I go into the soundtrack. There is rarely a time that I will say watch the dub, but watch the dub dear lord it is golden. And in all technicality the dub for once is the original due to it airing in America before it did in Japan. For one Ian Sinclair is a perfect Dandy, hitting just that right amount of humor when it’s needed that you can’t help but want him to keep going. Colleen Clinkenbeard is also in the series which also ups how good this dub is to the point I want to call it pure perfection and put it on a shelf next to Cowboy Bebop forever. I have heard excerpts of the Japanese cast and I just prefer the English this time. It just feels far superior by simple matters of casting and the performance. But seriously just do it for Sinclair’s Dandy, it’s so worth it, just like you’d watch Bebop for Steve Blum. I cannot stress enough how rare it is that I will recommend a dub over the Japanese, so please if you take anything away from this and decide you want to check it out go and watch this version.

Now we can talk about the soundtrack. It’s so nice and uppity that you can’t help but feel good when the opening theme Viva Namida by Yasuyuki Okamura, which has its swoon worthy vocals that you can’t help but feel like yes this is worth my next twenty-four hours instead of sleeping before class. Also to give you an even bigger reason to watch the dub, we have episodes where the characters sing, and Sinclair as well as the rest of the cast actually sang the songs. They actually took the time to record these songs and make it fit the characters they were portraying. They don’t have Dandy sing in a perfect coo, rather his voice cracks when he sings higher notes, it fluxgates between octaves when he struggles to get that lyric out. It’s glorious. The mixture of music and dialogue was done very well that I didn’t struggle to hear or interpret what was going on.

I do have issues with this show. It isn’t the pure perfection I have built it up to be so far. Actually there is that issue of it being an episodic show. A lot of the episodes are throwaway ones that honestly you could skip a lot of. We have an interesting overarching plot that barely gets touched on because of hijinks that could be left to the side instead. That isn’t overtly bad as we’ve seen it well executed in Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo, but we also want to just get to the point of what is going on. And we do get to it… Eventually. No spoilers of course, but still it just feels like it takes a while to really get to what we wanted. While each episode is unique and good I don’t feel that it works well to the degree it wants to.

Ultimately though,

Space Dandy: 8/10

Movie Review: Wolf Children

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19fzrgtjpt7tcjpgDo you like stories that will make you cry? Well this full length feature anime film may just be for you! It isn’t often that we praise an anime film that isn’t a Miyazaki work, but hey the times called for a movie about growing up as a wolf and a human. Okami Kodomo no Ame to Yuki (Wolf Children) was released in 2012 by director Mamoru Hosoda. From Studio Chizu and Madhouse we were given a touching tale about a human woman and her attempt to raise her werewolf children.

The plot is pretty simple in the exact way that it is a mother, Hana, raising her werewolf children alone after the untimely death of her werewolf lover, duly named Okami or the Wolf-man. She struggles of course with the problems of where she should go if she’s having problems, how to hide the fact that her children are werewolves, and how it affects the way Ame and Yuki grow up.  She moves out of the city because of this and into the country-side where she is able to raise them in private and live a peaceful life. With these choices come both problems where the children have to choose if they want to be human or if they want to be wolves and how that changes their own perceptions of themselves.

Hana is the mother of the two children who struggles to raise her two children alone, while also sustaining a life for them via gardening, and how she deals with these problems. Intrigued by Okami from the moment he sat down in the same classroom as her, she made it her mission to find out both who he was and how she could become closer to him. Because of this she found out that he was what he assumed to be the last werewolf and was afraid of hurting her in any way because of what he was, but she still loves him despite those things. She is constantly a support for her children but also wishes to keep the reality of them a secret from the world out of fear of what would happen if anyone found out. Hana always tries to do best by her children but ultimately also stunts them from making choices of their own because of this.

Yuki is the eldest of Hana’s children and is a complicated young girl wolf. From the get go she is very pushy and bratty with her family, wanting to get out of the world she is locked away from, but she also realizes why her mother is keeping her hidden. The older she became the more she was faced with the choice of what it meant to be a normal girl and if she wanted to part of that world she had to choose between the wolf and the human inside of her. In school she is popular but also in constant fear of changing in front of her classmates by accident.

Ame is the youngest of Hana’s children and appears less complicated but then becomes the opposite of what he was set up to be. Easily startled and sick he was always babied by Hana and sought to stay in the human world as he hated how the other animals treated him and each other. However the older he got the more he became disillusioned and disgusted by humanity, and began to leave for the words more and more than his sister ever did. He no longer hides how he feels about people and never lets his sister shout him down.

Souhei is Yuki’s classmate and driving force in her need to become more human. Right off the bat he realizes something is off about her and constantly tries to talk with her or try and be friends with her. This however frightens Yuki, because he could easily find out her family’s secret because of his intuitions. Still he makes a friendship with her despite the hardships in the beginning between them.

Okami is the wolf man that Hana falls in love with, who he initially tells to leave him alone, but later also falls for. He fears what he could do to her, having chosen to live not only as a human but also as a wolf, which he tells her is why he was always pushing her back. Still with her acceptance of him he is able to grow and love her as well as have a family with her. Unfortunately he is sort of killed off early on in the movie to further progress Hana’s story, but hey it’s all for the sake of plot!

So animation wise this film is brilliant. It was developed to have the lightest of tones when it was just right. If you don’t want to watch this movie I implore you that there is one scene you have to watch, and it is the snow scene. The way the wolf children and their mother run through the snow and jump in piles is so beautiful and is only made better by the soundtrack. Also the characters could be more individualized but they weren’t terrible to the pint of disliking the movie, there are very clear ways of how to figure out which character is which. And that how subtle and beautiful this is because it doesn’t rely on the design of a character, they want you to know the character because of the story and what they’re going through. The animation of the wolves was also well done, not in the same sense as Wolf’s Rain, but in its own lighter style that was soothing comparatively to the big subjects it was dealing with. We also were given a beautiful array of nature that seem right out of a painting to give you that raw and artistic feel that is the forest or the countryside. If I could rate this film on just the animation style it would get a ten and I would have no regrets.

The music is literally on the same level as the animation style. The soundtrack was done by musician and filmmaker Tagaki Masakatsu, who brilliantly does his job. Each piece of music fits exactly where it needs to be, once again if there is one song to really take away from this film it is the piece played during the snow scene, which is so graceful and has the same excitement in it that the characters do for the snow. The other to take away is the song Okaa-san no Uta (Mother’s Song), which is literally Hana speaking to her children at the end of the movie and how no matter what she hopes she has done right by them and taught them to be strong. It the single most beautiful sense you can feel the love in that song and how it really is what this move is about, the love of the mother for her children. If a single song of the soundtrack can do that then you know that it is doing its job right. I would wholeheartedly say that you could just listen to this soundtrack and just relax and feel peace and calm with it. Light and lovely like it’s animation I wish I could rate this just on these two things.

Alright in terms of sub or dub I can’t really say much considering I have only seen the Funimation dub, which I thought was really well done. While some could argue that you could give or take certain voice actors I personally saw that the good outweighs the bad. We have veterans of the business like Colleen Clinkenbeard as Hana, which immediately should tell you that it is going to be a good piece of dub. While I suppose the children actors could be better they also could have been far worse, not everyone is going to have the same opportunity the Fullmetal Alchemist did. Still the dub could have been better but it also could have been a lot worse from what I’ve seen.

Now just to wrap up with the ideal amount on the buildup in story. It never feels rushed, instead it flows very beautifully in a way that shows growing up. It’s spaced out in a way that I always could feel like careful care and attention was taken into account. While I wish there had been more time take on Ame’s story and how he grew into the choices he then made I also didn’t feel like it took too much away either. I have no real complaints about this film really, I felt everything was done in the way that the writer intended, and it was beautifully done.

Overall Rating: 8.5/10

Review: DRAMAtical Murder

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dramatical_murder_3146So if there’s one thing that’s of common knowledge it’s that adaptations of video games are either fantastic or phenomenal. If you didn’t know DRAMAtical Murder, a recent 2014 summer release anime from Nitro+chiral, is on the weird middle cusp, where it can be good on some aspects while near awful on the other side. So for the low down Dmmd is an otome Japanese game, essentially a yaoi/bl dating game, for adults, which was later adapted into an all ages anime. This is one of the reasons this show doesn’t essentially work, as it struggles to make it accessible for an inclusive audience. It’s obviously for an 18 and older audience but it downplays a lot of important plot points because of that. But anyway, enough of that for now, and onto the plot.

The main character Aoba lives on an Island, Midorijima, where there is an old district and a new district, named Platinum Jail. He meets with old friends and new friends, all who have their own special issues, and then evil befalls upon them! Well not really but an evil plot of mind control is I guess? The plot was never really that good as in the game you only really play for the other characters backstories, but I suppose I have to cover it despite all of that. So… Anyway. Aoba and friends must rush to Platinum Jail and stop a dastardly plot as well as come to terms with their troubled pasts that hold them back from living full lives. There’s also this whole thing with games like Rhyme or Rib, and the war between the players. Yeah. That’s the plot.

There’s also this whole thing about robot companions, often looking like real pets, called All-Mates who are the coolest thing ever. They will search the internet for you as well as check for viruses, and much more. We see ones that are birds, rabbits, lions, snakes, and dogs. I want an all mate and so should you.

So then. Characters.

Aoba Seragaki is our main dude, a blue mullet wearing twenty-three year old, who apparently has mind powers. Yup, he can literally turn your mind into a bowl of noodles, well only if he really wanted to. He’s pretty much a big ol’ blue nerd, has a robot dog, lives with his grandmother, and works at a junk shop. Also he wears a stupid puffy jacket. He is able to pretty much date any of the following options of characters.

Kojaku is our samurai ladies’ man, who is a hairdresser when he’s not the man in charge what is basically a gang, Benishigure, but not yakuza. Really he’s just a huge nerd too, but has a tragic backstory. He’s also Aoba’s childhood friend, which if you didn’t know is always a choice in otome games, who just wants to protect said person. Kojaku is tough guy who doesn’t let harm come to civilians, especially the ladies. He’s also got a bit of temper issue when it comes to certain things, including his tattoos.

Noiz is our younger brat type, who is the head guy of a Rhyme team, Ruff Rabbit, as well as an information broke.  He’s also got a tragic backstory concerning how he was raised and how it turned him into who he is. Not very tact he literally is always pestering someone to fight him or pissing someone off because he can. He sees the world as a give and take system, everyone wants something from him, which is the only reason anyone would be kind to him. There’s something that he cannot feel that Aoba helps him understand.

Clear is our tragic white haired anime boy, except… Well spoilers on that one, anyway… He came into the story because he heard Aoba’s voice call out to him. That’s why he’s there, for his Master’s voice. He’s happy go lucky, if not a bit dense about things.  He doesn’t show his face to people out of certain reasons and everyone seems to love him in the fandom. Unfortunately he also has a tragic backstory. All of them do.

Mink is our cinnamon flavored thug, leader of the group Scratch, and man is he controversial in the game. Quiet and reserved, he’s only really interacting with the other’s to meet his own ends. There’s a reason he’s in Midorijima, and it’s not a good one. Still he’s the one least willing to let Aoba into his life and for good reasons. Everyone either loves or hates him, and it’s ridiculous because he is fictional.

Ren is Aoba’s All-mate, but also something deeper than that, his partner. Without any spoilers I’ll let you know that Ren is there to help Aoba no matter what happens. He will fight in Rhyme if need be, which gives him an alternate mode from his dog all mate form, as a beefcake. He’s also faced with many tough choices, mostly concerning how he feels, and if he is even justified in having emotions. At the end of the day he just wants to be by Aoba’s side. He’s also got a voice deeper than an abyss.

There’s also these two guys who say they aren’t twins but they are totally twins. They’re pretty…. Pretty messed up.  But also pretty. They are yakuza trash and seem to be pretty proud of it as well as unapologetic. The role they play is actually pretty important but far better explained in the game. In the anime they’re really only there to be ambiguous.

So the animation was definitely a downgrade, but that’s a bit hard to really talk about, as the game was not actually a moving animation. But still just the art of the anime was a bit on the dull side, as well as god damn atrocious in Episode 3 where apparently the animators sent the rough draft rather than the final product. The version that aired was clunky and horrible anatomy wise. And they later re-released the episode, but only in Japan, mostly due to the uproar of poor animation. It dulled out characters and made them blockier and less them. When the game that wasn’t animated but had literal stills of scenes is better than your animation that you definitely had more money to make… Well that’s just sad. Also while I’m not complaining, all the money had to have gone to that last episode. Sweet Jesus they made the Ren beach scene beautiful, I may have cried because of it.

This series had the unfortunate problem of having to deal with a multi-ending game, where were they going to take it? Which route? Well they decided to do all five routes in one go, which wasn’t the best idea on their part. It made the story telling as clunky as the animation, because Aoba was forced to fix a friend’s situation in basically ten minutes. It resolves things in a way that isn’t believable and I had a hard time really caring about the problems these characters were faced with. Nothing was fixed that fast in the game and I just had a hard time connecting to the characters like I did in the game. I know it’s not fair to constantly be comparing, but as a source material it is important.

Now the music was all pretty much done by the Japanese band GOATBED, which actually in canon is Aoba’s favorite band, and was not my favorite part of the show. I could give or take the opening and ending, but honestly it didn’t ruin the show either. Also pretty much everyone from the game returned to their roles in the animation, minus Mink’s original voice actor, and it was nice to hear some new line and bits from them. Still there was the whole issue of things being way too fast for me and that was mostly a story telling issue.

All together it wasn’t the worst thing I’ve watched, far from it actually. While it was a bit of a let-down compared to the game, which I’ve played, and found far superior, despite its own faults. I still found it entertaining and if I were just coming into it without any prior knowledge I might have liked it even more. Still overall it wasn’t the worst possible thing. And we’re still waiting for the two OVAs to be released that may or may not be the bad endings from the game but toned down. Now let’s also remember that, if you’re going for the source material after reading this, the game is for adults and features adult themes.

Overall rating: 6.5/10

Review: Interstella 5555

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Daft-Punk-daft-punk-10563101-1600-1200Did you know Daft Punk did an animated movie? Well they did. It’s called Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem and it’s basically an almost 2 hour music video dedicated to the French duo’s album Discovery, released in 2001. Now I will admit that this movie is not for everyone, considering there is no dialogue only music, and some people, who are wrong, don’t like the group of French robot DJs.

Anyway I digress, to the plot! So in another solar system, but maybe not, we have a society of Blue Alien people who are literally just enjoying the sounds of the planet’s greatest band. Many people may know this opening scene because it was the music video for the band’s single One More Time. Everyone’s having a good time, but terror strikes and the band is kidnapped by an evil corporate human with a plan to utilize their talent to his advantage.  So cues in the male lead, probably a self-proclaimed biggest fan of the group, who sets out to save them, with Digital Love playing smoothly in the background. It’s a familiar plot line in some ways, but is made into so much more, I personally feel, with the soundtrack.

So our characters mostly consist of the band, named after the song Crescendolls named who consist of Stella the bassist, Arpegius the guitarist, Baryl the drummer, and Octave the vocalist and keyboardist. Our other characters are villain Earl de Darkwood, their producer, and our hero Shep. There’s no dialogue so really you have to get a feel for the characters through their actions. This makes it harder to know the band as they are brainwashed for a majority of the movie, which means their actions may not even be out of choice, so for a while during the story we don’t really know how to feel about our music leads. We do however somewhat see a need to just play the music in them, because it is something they love to do, even if they’re being forced to do so. Our hero is very much a hero? Willing to do whatever it takes to save the band his people love so much. The villain is doing what a villain does, which is do whatever he can for his own benefit. Then we have our producer who is just the cutest most excitable thing, who loves the Crescendolls music and is ecstatic when he is allowed to make them a number one hit on Earth. Each character is sort of an archetype is we count the band as one person. This isn’t bad, though some may disagree, because it’s sort of about the music when it comes down to it.

Now animation wise this anime is very clean and well done for its 2003 time, Leiji Matsumoto was the visual supervisor while Shinji Shimizu produced the animation and Kazuhisa Takenouchi directed it. Each character is actually very separate from the others, all having their own unique design that pertains to the type of character they are in a way. It’s sort of space age and it’s probably one of the most well animated movies I have seen. It’s also something I haven’t seen done since, something on that scale at least. In the film even the backgrounds were interesting, with Shep’s ship being one big giant guitar and the opening concert seen which shows everyone having a good time. Everything still holds up actually which is impressive considering the low animation quality of the time. The art only really helps accentuate the music really, which I feel is the most important role for this film.

As was stated earlier the only sound in this film is Discovery and that actually adds to the movie for fans of Daft Punk, because it properly conveys more than dialogue can. When we hit the song Digital Love we have Shep singing the song and expressing his own feelings in an innocent way with lines like, “Last night I had this dream about you, in this dream I’m dancing right beside you.” Which is vastly different to when he later is speaking to the band with Something About Us cooing in the background, “It might not be the right time. I might not be the right one.” Then we have the scenes where our music group is being brainwashed to the song Harder Better Faster Stronger, fitting the dark mechanical tone. Daft Punk and their team clearly know where to put music appropriately in film as seen in another film they did, Electroma, and they use that knowledge to their advantage. There is never a point in the film where I felt like something was out of place; everything flows very well, creating just a fresh welcoming to the show.

The only issue remains that there is no dialogue, which could make some people stay away from this work, while I think it adds to it. Not everyone is going to enjoy this film, but I definitely think it’s worth taking a look at. It holds up well to this day and it’s personally one of my favorites. This makes me a bit biased in my scoring but maybe someone will love it as much as I do.

Interstella 5555: 8/10

Review: Wolf’s Rain

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Wolf's_Rain_Region_2_Volume_1There is a trend I have found in the animations I watch, ranging from really happy to upsettingly tragic. Now if you don’t know Wolf’s Rain you should know that it falls on the latter. It’s one of the most upsetting things I have ever watched and continues to make me cry every time I watch it. And because of that I know it holds up very well to this day.

The storyline goes that humanity is on the edge, society barely holding on, and four wolves are looking for Paradise. Basically wolves have been considered extinct for years but in actuality it really hypothesized that they are able to shape shift and take on a human form. Or rather they are able to trick the human eye, but who knows? Anyway because of this wolves have been able to survive despite everything. But there is this compulsion on the wolves to find a place called Paradise, which many packs have died trying to find, and our four are willing to chance it all. So there’s also a flower maiden, a bad guy, and humans who are involved by mere coincidence. Also there are a lot of ideas and undertones that may be hard to catch during a first watch, like how in the show it may be possible that humans evolved from wolves rather than apes. But let’s get onto characters for now.

Kiba is our lead, an artic wolf, who is the most driven to find Paradise, so much so that he may be hindered by it. He’s difficult and moody, but also is compelled by the idea of fate and wolves. Pride is a major downfall for him, as he was almost too prideful that he wouldn’t change his form to survive, as it was giving up his pride as a wolf.

Tsume is our hot headed wolf, a grey wolf, who could really care less about the whole idea of Paradise. Honestly he just feels saddled with the others, even though he really cares very deeply for his friends. Somehow he always found himself in a pack, filled with wolves or humans, even though he feels like he could do it all alone.

Toboe is our young naïve wolf, a red wolf, who was raised by a human woman as a pet. He is extremely naïve to the cruelty of humans and doesn’t understand why they’re being hunted as he was shown nothing but love and warmth from his ‘grandmother.’ He really relies upon Tsume, despite the other’s rude words, and wants to find Paradise.

Hige is our carefree wolf, a Mexican Wolf, who’s always been okay with living a dual life. Well that is until he meets Kiba. He is a pig and talks about food a lot, yeah, he’s that character. But there is a twist in his character that I will leave out for spoiler’s sake. There’s a lot more going on, but we don’t learn that for a while.

Cheza is the Flower Maiden, a being created via alchemy, and is basically viewed as a possible way to get into Paradise. She loves the wolves, like a lot, they’re her family, and she is pained badly when they’re hurt.

There are a whole slew of others, but really we’re focused on those main five, who we start off with and end with. But each character is unique with clean animation. Created by Keiko Nobumoto and the characters were designed by Toshihiro Kawamoto While it does have a certain age feel about it that doesn’t hurt a lot, as like Cowboy Bebop or Trigun it holds up still to this day. It’s one of few that I haven’t cringed watching, I mean there are times, but it’s isn’t like watching xxxHolic. The only complain I have is that the colors aren’t as vibrant as I wish they could be, but hey that could just be a style choice. Also sometimes the eyes look weird, but like I said style choice. Also, there are really splendid animation scenes and unfortunately it always at a death scene. I suppose if you’re going to save your animation budget you might as well save it for the scenes that will rip your viewer’s hearts apart. That’s also where the colors really stand out, with the blood against the pure white snow, and it works perfectly. A lot of it comes down to it being unique in designs that I’ve never seen put together before, an ice age-esque world where almost everything is extinct, and it shows in its style and clean lines. Even choices down to what a character is wearing, like the wolves in their human forms, fits the characters perfectly. I can’t imagine a version of Hige that doesn’t wear a baggy sweatshirt or a version of Kiba without his stupid grunge look. And like it’s unique look it’s sounds is insanely different.

Now the sound is actually strange, the opening and ending are both English, even in the original Japanese. The opening, Stray, is a rock song, and it is awesome. High paced and sort of just fits that wolf tone of the show. Gravity, the ending theme, is slower, and shows the sadder side to the show. It’s not unpleasant actually and it fits the already weird style of the show. The English cast is actually very good for its time, though I have never been a fan of a female voice actress trying to do a male character voice, and that’s just a personal thing. Though really Crispin Freeman being in the show really shows the higher quality expected. I’ve never watched the original so I have no idea how to feel about the Japanese cast, but ultimately I’m very attached to English production. Also the sounds for the wolves were perfect, from growls to bites; it’s intense to listen to. It has a crisp sound that you don’t hear often in anime, at least not anymore, and it’s so perfect. So I fall towards the preference of the dub and that’s merely because I’ve only watched that version.

The only grip I have is that there is that episode 15 through 18 are recaps of what we’ve already seen. It’s completely unnecessary and does nothing but annoy the viewer the same way Endless Eight of the Haruhi Suzumiya series did. It pointless and you can honestly just skip over those episodes.

This anime is one of my favorites and continues to wreck me every time I watch it. While it’s on the mature side, definitely for a slightly older audience, it’s unique and continues to hold up to my expectations. It’s remains to be a bit clearer whenever I sit down and watch, while still being covered in hidden messages.

Wolf’s Rain: 8.5/10

Review: Fruits Basket

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Fruits.Basket.full.224169 Shojo anime has a bad habit of being either really well done or just… Sort of cheesy bad. Furuba (Fruits Basket) falls somewhere in-between that line and I’m not really sure if that’s good or bad. I mean I certainly enjoyed the show growing up and that hasn’t really changed since last I watched it, but I feel like I don’t enjoy it to the same extent. At the time it had a relatively refreshing plot line when it was released and I was new to the whole anime scene as well. I have fond memories of it but I also realize its faults as a story, though at the same time I’m amazed at how many tough topics it spoke on. From parent loss to child abuse it covered a lot of tentative subjects that many writers still have trouble bringing up. It also was subject to one of the better anime adaptions, though it did stray from the original manga, which was unfinished at that time.

So basic storyline our main heroine is Tohru Honda who recently lost her mother and has been residing in a tent in the woods, as to avoid inconveniencing anyone, and is soon found by two Shomas: Yuki and Shigure. She is invited to live with them if she agrees to be their housekeeper, which she accepts, though at this point she doesn’t know the curse placed upon the Shoma family. After an encounter with Kyo Shoma she finds out what that curse is. They are cursed by the Chinese Zodiac and turn into their respective zodiacs when hug by someone of the opposite gender. Note that it’s only a select 13 of the Shomas, including one for the cat from the legend. Basically it’s a story of Tohru finding her place and meeting all those affected by the curse, hoping to find friendship in all of them despite their pain. It remains to be a very endearing story about heart, love, and not giving into your own despair because someone out there cares about you.

Now for the characters: Tohru Honda is our main female lead and seen by a many few as the mary-sue, who doesn’t let her own problems get in the way of things, and always seems to say the right thing to the right person. She is our ongiri (Rice ball) and I always found her to sort of be the type of person I wished I personally was. Even with the loss of her mother she doesn’t let it get to her, well not too much anyway, and she loves with her entire heart. Though it is heavily implied she may have depression from the loss of both her parents, but not that she’d let that show. Yuki Shoma is Tohru’s classmate and roommate. He is one of the most popular boys in school, often referred to as a prince, and finds it very hard. Well it would be considering he is the rat from the Shoma curse and it’s hard to avoid females embracing you without coming off as rude. Now Yuki was always hard for me personally to like, as he was sort of standoffish, and there’s reasons for that. But anyway the more time he spends with Tohru the better and happier a person he becomes, which was something I liked as character growth. Mentally abused for years he wants to live free from the chains of the Shoma house. Kyo Shoma is the black sheep of his family, as he is the cat from the legend and curse, and therefor is seen as an abomination. He is basically mocked by his family and others, but is constantly trying to prove himself. Hot headed and a martial artist Kyo was easier for me to like because his issues were laid out bare the moment he stepped in. He had an inferiority complex and it shows in a lot of his actions, he also knows that he gets way too angry sometimes but he doesn’t always know how to stop it, and he obviously wishes to become an actual member of the zodiac despite it being impossible. He genuinely wants and needs someone to love him for who he is despite his faults. Then we have a whole slew of other characters that I can’t even begin to get into as that would take up a lot of time and probably would be extremely boring, despite the fact that I could carry on for probably hours about all the characters. So those were the far most important of the cast. So we actually meet all of the zodiac members in the manga whereas we only get almost all of them in the anime which ended far too soon in my opinion.

Anyway so it’s sort of a meet a character and help them with their problems sort of story but in the best sort of ways. It was always endearing to me and I suppose it still is. Anyhow there is that issue of there being a short anime. It had the same issues many did at the time it was made: The manga was nowhere near done. Fullmetal Alchemist, Soul Eater, and many other series I could name off the top of my head had fallen victim to this. But with the release of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood there’s hope for a new version that is pretty much faithful to the manga. Now the actual anime was never really bad… I mean it’s subpar to things now a day but still it was a good honest shojo when I was growing up.

The animation was… Not the best, but alas it was a part of its time, and was awkward. Not in an annoying sort of way more in the way that you know you’ve seen better animation. The art in then manga, drawn and written by Natsuki Takaya, started off very typical style of its given genre, and it looked to be very inspired by certain style choices seen in Sailor Moon. But over time it grew into an art of its own and much better in my opinion. It had a lot longer proportions than before, which may bother people, but hey if you can make it through xxxHolic without cringing then this manga is nothing. Honestly I enjoyed the growth of this artist, though it wasn’t quite the leap other mangaka had made, but it was great none the less. It has characters that you can distinguish from one another which is something that’s very important for artists.

I suppose next is sound, which oh… Okay so I’ve never seen the anime subbed, I grew up with the dub and just generally prefer to keep it that way. I mean it has great actors like Laura Bailey, Eric Vale, and Jerry Jewel, who all have outstanding records of roles, though this anime might not be the shining example of that. Though I do enjoy it as one of those animations that sort of helped these actors get out there, considering we now have all three of them as some of the most accomplished actors of animation… But I digress; the sound is nice and light overall, and boy does it work with the type of story it’s working with. Literally both the opening and ending are so nice and quiet that I could fall asleep to them if they were lullabies…  Though the dub did a big no-no in my book by doing a dubbed version of the opening, which has always been a bad move in my personal opinion, because then we end up with things like Sakura Kiss from Ouran… But it actually wasn’t that bad of a dubbed song; in fact it stayed pretty true to the original.

All in all this series remains good in my book and is worth a look. It has a lot of heart that many series don’t have, you feel for these characters and you want them to get those happy endings. I still enjoy this series and think it’s worth a look. “Because even the smallest of words can be the ones to hurt you, or save you.” This anime while short ended where it needed to and is sort of like Fullmetal Alchemist’s first anime ending where everything flowed well and as a story it worked.

Anime: 7
Manga: 8.5

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