Rosario+Vampire Review

Rosario+Vampire Review


When I first picked up the manga Rosario+Vampire, I was immediately drawn to the story. It opened up a supernatural world that was different from what I've seen in other books and movies. After seeing adult monsters, what were their teenage years like? Akihisa Ikeda's manga helped with that answer.

Rosario+Vampire is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Akihisa Ikeda that tells the story of Tsukune Aono, a human high school student who is accidently sent to Yokai Academy. He quickly finds out that it's a school for monsters! Worse yet, any human who sees it is killed on sight. One his first day there, Tsukune has a run in with Moka Akashiya, a beautiful vampire who quickly befriends him after sucking his blood. As the story goes on Tsukune meets other supernatural creatures including a succubus, a snow fairy, witches and a werewolf. Being the only human in a school full of monsters makes it hard for Tsukune to fit in, but with the help of his friends, he doesn't have to worry about being alone.

I've watched the anime in Japanese and enjoyed it just as much as the manga. The characters in the anime matched the personalities that Akihisa Ikeda wrote in his books for them. I couldn't wait for it to be dubbed in English. The aforementioned company is well-known for releasing anime favorites such as Soul Eater, One Piece, Sekirei, Hell Girl, Fullmetal Alchemist, and the Dragon Ball sagas. When it comes to picking the right actors for dubbing, Funimation doesn't disappoint.
Alexis Tipton voices Moka Akashiya, the beautiful vampire who befriends Tsukune Aono on their first day at Yokai Academy. She does a wonderful job of bringing out Moka's kind-hearted nature with a soft spoken voice similar to Orihime from Bleach. Reading the manga, this was the voice that makes sense to read her lines: a warm kind personality such as hers deserved an actress to match. Alexis' best known roles include Mizuki Himeji in Baka and Test, Emi Kizaki in Linebarrels of Iron, Musubi in Sekirei, Black Butler's Queen Victoria (Young), Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos- Julia Crichton.

Moka's vampire or "Inner" self is voiced by Colleen Smith Clinkenbeard. She has provided voices for a number of English language versions of Japanese anime films and series, most notably, Monkey D. Luffy in One Piece. Most of the characters Colleen voiced are usually high voiced and excited characters like Luffy or Matsu, so it was interesting to hear her express the darker demeanor of Moka's prideful vampire self.

In the Japanese version of the anime, Moka's voice actress is Nana Mizuki, who is also responsible for performing the theme songs for both anime seasons.
Todd Michael Haberkorn voices Yokai Academy's lone human Tsukune Aono. I imagined Tsukune awkward and nervous in this unique twist on the classic high school coming-of-age story. Not only does he have to keep his grades up but he also has to contend with keeping the fact that he is human secret from the monstrous students of Yokai Academy. However Tsukune's biggest problem is keeping the cute girls who have taken a liking to him from killing each other.
Todd's voice acting with Tsukune is very entertaining especially with the situations that the character is thrust into. His other roles include Hell Girl - Ren Ichimoku, Sekirei - Hayato Mikogami, Soul Eater - Death the Kid, and Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition - Yun.

Moka isn't the only girl infatuated with Tsukune, however. Our hapless human soon has a run-in with Kurumu Kurono, a cute and busty succubus who seduces Tsukune to get back at Moka for ruining her plan to turn all the male students into her personal harem. At first, Kurumu is spiteful and conceded but soon changes her ways when Tsukune saves her from Inner Moka. Since then she has chosen Tsukune as her "mate of fate."
Brina Michelle Palencia is the voice behind Yokai’s seductive succubus. Given her other roles (Dragon Ball Z Kai - Chiaotzu, Puar Hell Girl - Ai Enma, Sekirei - Yukari Sahashi) it was no surprise that she would bring out the arrogant, spiteful personality edge in Moka, as well as her ability to be gentle and caring.

Yukari Sendo is a young witch who was skipped a couple grades because of her high intellect. She tormented and played pranks on Tsukune and other students using her magic. It wasn’t until Tsukune came to understand her loneliness that Yukari atoned for her pranks and joins the group.
The young impetuous witch is voiced by Monica Jean Rial (Dragon Ball Z Kai - Bulma, Sekirei - Miya Asama, Soul Eater - Tsubaki Nakatsukasa). Some of the characters Monica plays are just excitable as Yukari so her performance works well.

With a love sick succubus, a wily witch and the school’s hottest vampire hooked on his blood, what else could happen in Tsukune’s school life. How about that chilling feeling of constantly being watched? Mizore Shirayukiis a snow fairy who has developed a crush on Tsukune through the articles he writes for the school paper. After a fashion, Tsukune befriends the shy snow fairy.
Tia Lynn Ballard puts the icy chill in Mizore’s soft spoken voice. Other roles include Sekirei – Kusano and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood - Xiao Mei. Mizore’s quiet cool demeanor is brought out nicely by Tia.

Since attending Yokai Academy, Tsukune has longed for the chance to return to the human world. His chance comes during spring break when the Newspaper Club gets an assignment to write about the human world. There, he and his friends meet a witch named Ruby Tojo. After a confrontation, she makes a return appearance to help the Newspaper Club when they get in trouble.
The eccentric Ruby is voiced wonderfully by Leah Clark who has also voiced Sekirei - Homura, Soul Eater - Blair, and One Piece - Coby, Paula, Pukau (young), and Wyper (young).
Ginei Morioka is a second year student at Yokai Academy and Chief Editor of the Newspaper Club. He is a shameless peeping tom. Though his affections lie with Moka, he has no second thoughts about trying to impress other girls.

Ian Sinclair is a joy providing Gin’s smooth-talking, womanizing personality. He has also voiced for Bamboo Blade - Toraji Ishida, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood - Liam, and One Piece - Ian.
Akihisa Ikeda has created some interestingly entertaining characters in Rosario+Vampire as well as a fascinating storyline. The English Dub anime is just as humorous and charming as the manga and Japanese anime. Tsukune reminds us of that awkward first day at a new school some of us can relate to. Moka and the other girls just may have been the friends we had in school. And the outrageous situations Yokai’s lone human is thrust into—other monsters threatening to kill him or getting him to join a gang (in the manga)—might’ve been similar to an awkward moment we’ve all had…minus the teeth and claws of course. Rosario+Vampire English Dub DVD gets 4 out of 5.
Brian M.

J1 An-Ex 3 breakdown.

J1 An-Ex 3, the J1 Studios Anime Experience

It's October now, the month for putting on costumes and running around like children. There is a culture out there that supports this activity, and an event that panders to that culture, but it isn't All Hallows Eve (Halloween) that I'm talking about. It's the J1 Studios Anime Experience! In it's third iteration as an official anime convention, the An-Ex was fantastic and the fans couldn't be happier with the growth! The Hawthorne Recreation Center was filled with tons of anime fans and nerds of all kinds on the eve of Friday the 7th. 

The Main Event hall was as always a major attraction for the evenings. All available tables were filled with vendors selling everything from original art to costume accessories to baked goods and even some BBQ ribs for whoever got hungry (they were good). The head table was there as well, with an energetic Mario acting the host and chatting up anime with everyone that passed. A crowd of cosplayers passed through during the traditional Cosplay Competition, and their custom threads were fantastic!

It's-a me, Mario!

The Game room was another recurring location with the usual free-play of various games and this time an unusual twist. An official Mortal Kombat 9 tournament was held! Many people participated, but only one was the ultimate winner, though 3 of the participants were able to walk away with a fabulous victory prize for their fighting prowess, and everyone had a good time. Adjacent to the Game room was another familiar sight, the Card room, where the room was packed wall to wall with card game enthusiasts, playing impromptu matches of Magic and YuGiOh, and even a showcasing of J1 Studios own fighting-game-style trading card game VTF, the Virtual Tornament Fighter! 

Winner of the Mortal Kombat Tournament

An-Ex also had a Video Room with back to back Anime for the growing audience, including a showing of the new Bleach movie 4: Hell Chapter!

All in all, there was quite a lot to do in the few hours of the Friday evening at a certain Rec Center in South Philadelphia (1200 Carpenter Street). Many people had a good time and many more have promised to return, which they should, because the An-Ex is a growing convention that you know will only get better!

'Ben

PS:
Pictures can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/j1studios

Otakon 2011 review

Otakon 2011
It is one thing to talk about a convention, or to talk it up like it's the second coming of sliced bread, but quite another thing altogether to experience that truth for yourself. This years' Otakon was no exception. Understand that I have been on the convention scene almost every year since 2000, and have since learned how to look at it all without the veil of awe coloring my perception.
Otakon may not be the best (arguable) or largest (only the second largest) Anime convention in the country, but it is one that I have attended almost religiously since I was first introduced more than 11 years ago. This year was no different, resulting in Baltimore's Inner Harbor being graced with my presence once more. So how is this year different from all others? It is because for the first time, I am attending as Industry instead of a fan.
Otakon, the Otaku (obsessed fan) Convention, was started in the early 90's as a gathering of fans of this strange medium called 'japanimation' in State College, PA. Because of the success of the gathering, the organizers of the gathering decided to do it again the next year, and their fan base grew. In 1994, the crew opened their event as an official Convention and the first official use of the term "Otakon", with an attendance of around 350 people with all of 2 rooms and 4 dealers to its cause. Because of its nearly exponential growth, Otakon moved to the Inner Harbor of Baltimore, Maryland in the summer of 1999, where it has occupied the entirety of the Baltimore Convention Center, turnout growing to an unthinkable 100,000 estimated turnstile attendance and some 170 dealers by 2011.
That's alot of people.
With a gathering of fans of any scale, some of them are invariably going to Cosplay, or dress up in a costume resembling their favorite characters. When it comes to large scale conventions, there is an unspoken rule that one is practically required to Cosplay, which turns into mind-boggling 35% cosplayer percentage. 35% may not sound like much, but if you walked down a line of random Convention attendee's, every 3rd person will be in costume! Even moreso for the big cons, there simply aren't any slipshod or patched-together costumes. The effort that goes into the dressing steals as quality. The dedication of the fans to continue to wear said costume, no matter how thick, layered, or heavy it may be, throughout the entire day of 100 degree sunny summer weather! The kind of cosplayers encountered in a con is extremely varied, too. From as obscure and missable as Kintaro Oe (Golden Boy) or Shiina Mayuri (Steins:Gate) to the insanely complicated like Angewoman (Digimon) or Saber (Fate/Stay Night), to the outright functional like Ravage (Transformers) or Angeal (Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII)

As much as a person can spend people watching (I've devoted an entire con or two to doing just that), there was so much more to do or see than one's fellows. On Thursday the 28th, while a large chunk of people (about 8,000) were there a day early to pick up their pre-registered badges, there was a Japanese style Matsuri (festival) on the street outside the convention center. Included in this early arrival activity was a live concert by Eyeshine, a rock band out of California. Regular hours events worth seeing, above the rest of the event which is just as worthy, include an AMV (Anime Music Video) contest-where people splice scenes from their favorite anime to music-: Several Video game tournaments- including Halo Reach, Street Fighter 4, and the American premier of King of Fighters XIII-; The Masquerade -where the best cosplayers perform extremely well choreographed and prepared skits-; not to mention signings from important people in the industry, including the legendary Nobuo Uematsu- the musical composer for the Final Fantasy series!
Let us not forget the Bane of many a Con'ers Wallet, the Dealers Room and Artists Alley. The Dealers room is a warehouse larger than the total square footage of 3 entire football fields, lined wall to wall with booths and tables selling everything a fan could ever hope to see and stuff they would never think of (but desperately want). Scale replica weapons, Resin Statues, Art Books, DVD's and Manga (graphic novels) galore, costumes, wigs, clothing lines, T-shirts, coffee mugs, and even replica Soul Gems from Madoka Magica. Even if one didn't want to spend money they didn't have, there were also large sections devoted to Bandai, Media Blasters, and other less liked licensing corporations who took the opportunity to announce new title acquisitions and other related news!
The other side of the industry room, the Artists Alley, was another humongous room roughly 2/3rds the size of the Dealers Room (more than 2 football fields large!) filled wall to wall with 5' long tables occupied by amateur artists of every kind of ability. From crayon monstrosities to they-make-the-professionals-look-bad to clay sculpting to hand-made plushies of a higher quality than China ever managed to produce. If you even looked hard enough, mainly by walking in with your eyes open because they were that close to the entrance, you could see a table devoted to our own J1 Studios, who had such a successful run spreading the joy that they completely sold out of every single thing they brought!
Several of the downsides to the convention was written off as being "just par for the course", or "you're not a fan if you don't suffer though it", or "it's all part of the convention fun!", even though they really are inconveniences at best and could probably be done better. This includes the reeeeeeealy long lines, such as the 2 hour long line of people trying to even get into the convention center on Friday, the one for people who already picked up their entry badges the day before, because the line to pick up one's badge or even to buy one there is even longer, typically wrapping around the convention center twice. Also, the lines to important events, like Signings or Concerts are just as bad, as one has to get in that line at least 2 hours ahead of time in order to avoid the 2 hour wait for admittance otherwise. Also, sleep deprivation ran rampant, with fans getting an average of 2-3 hours of rest a night, if even that. BO was another factor, as there were a hundred thousand people who were too busy to shower running through those hallways, and it was really really hot that weekend, too.

All in all, Otakon in 2011 was fantastic, as far as Previous Otakon's go. It may be a little too big for first-timers but that never stopped anyone before. Anime Expo, the single largest Anime Convention in the US, tends to hands some of the little things better, like the issue with excessive lines, though Otakon was much more inexpensive to attend. The masquerade was of higher quality than previous years. The dealers room somehow manages to stuff more and more dealers into the same massive crawlspace, and Cosplayers seem to be on a running competition to out-do themselves and each other year after year. If you've ever thought about attending a convention for yourself one of these days, I recommend Otakon, though try to go with a group if it's your first time, lest you be overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of nerdiness around you.

J1 Culture Force Anime Event in detail...

J1 Culture Force Anime Event!! A first time spectacle for J1 Studios’ fans that love anime and manga. It was held at the Hawthorne Cultural Center: on 12^th and Carpenter in South Philadelphia. Mrs. Theresa Williams, the Director of the facility and Mr. Windle, one of the supervisors were delighted to have such a multi-faceted, cultural event held at a center that thrives off diversity. The event was broken into segments for trivia, musical performances, and home movie premier of “Sword of the Stranger.” All the while artists were seated at their commission table; gamers had their fill of Marvel vs. Capcom 3 via Playstation 3, and a space for Yu-G-Oh fans to dual each other. The event was graciously catered by Maru Global with an assortment of their famous pancake balls known as “takoyaki.”

            For the trivia, participators were placed into groups of five that numbered in Japanese. Example: Group one was “ichi” and group two was “ni.” This portion of the event started off a little disjointed but became quite rush once the questions were being asked. The trivia proved to be a challenge only after eight or so questions though, the age of contestants ranged from 13-26 years old. Ultimately, group “San” became victorious after they trudged through an array of tie-breaker questions. The group members of team “San” are part of the Community College of Philadelphia’s Anime Club. They won the first three manga volumes of Samurai Deeper Kyo and Wayne P. Lammers Japanese-English Translation Book.            

            Agumon Scarf was the musical talent for the evening with rousing support from family and friends. The band consists of five young men that are all still in high school. Even their manager, Basheer, known as Bazie, still attends high school. They showed no fear, as they were pumped full of energy during their performances. The band played the second season opening of Narurto, “Haruka Kanata”, as well, as originals songs like “Kenturo” and “Zach Fair.”

            The artists at the commission table were busy interacting with each other and who ever stopped by to see their creative talent in action. Their skill leveled ranged from silly cartoon characters to very detailed drawings that you commonly see in American and Japanese comics. For some if not most, it was the first time they have exposed their talent to the public. The gamers showed off their flare for card games with a few matches of Yu-Gi-Oh or their skill with a PS3 game controller when dueling on MVC 3. Others displayed their liking for Japanese pop fashion and anime with their cosplay outfits or usual clothing attire.

            Though the night was winding down, those who were able to stay watched “Sword of the Stranger.” Directed by Masahiro Ando, the featured filmed surrounded a swordsman with no name and a golden-haired assassin as circumstances draw them toward a mysterious young boy. If you happen to be a fan of Samurai X/Rurouni Kenshin then, this movie is a must-see. Others who managed to stay longer and did not watch the movie, conversed with members and guests of the event.

            Mrs. Williams was so taken by the festivities that she was inspired to design a bread bowl that represented the crazy excitement the event brought to the center. Also, she and Mr. Windle were honored to allow J1 Studios use the recreational center as its permanent home to host further anime events and the like. All members and fans are allowed to use the facilities of the center during hours of operations after first, consulting a time frame with either Mrs. Williams or Mr. Windle.

            Interesting enough, guests were still arriving even up to the very end. The all around support from members, fans, and guests encourage more fun-filled times to arise. Overall, the event was a success for its first running but there is always room for improvement.

To see more photos click HERE.

Spring Anime Review (Part 1)

There is 4 times a year that the Japanese release new Anime, correlating with the seasons. Of the 4 seasons, Summer and Winter are typically filled with filler anime, titles that are cheep, easy, and not very important, in order to fill the timeslots with so-called "new material", until the important big-named titles can be released in the Spring and Fall seasons. Within that pretext, the Winter season (released in January), the season of Transition where kids graduate school and people get new jobs, is the season that collects some of the worst Anime's of the year. Not counting a few gems that persisted, this last winter season managed to live up to that image with overused concepts and poorly executed ideas and terrible production budgets.

On the other side of that coin is the Spring season. Spring, the season of new beginnings (April, when the School year starts) is typically the season that gets the very best titles to be expected throughout the year. With that in mind, it is with high hopes that I dive into the budding premier season of new Anime.  In the previews, there were quite a number of big titles to look forward to, and the others had interesting premises, but a preview never does the title justice one way or another.

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Battle Girls - Time Paradox

2 out of 5

Gurk! It's bad! That has to be some kind of a fluke! Well, it's not the worst anime I've seen yet, but so far I can only hope that this one was made intentionally bad to help prop up the majesty of the titles to follow.

A high school girl named Hideyoshi (after the famous general from the warring states period of 16th century Japan) accidentally gets sucked back in time to the very same period by her Teacher, who in turn tried to go back in order to change history in another warlords favor. While in the past, Hideyoshi meets and teams up with all the famous lords of the period (who are all sexy young women) and ends up changing history anyway as she is swept along by the creation of it.

The purpose of this anime seems to be to teach Japanese History to its' viewers, and in that regard it is a success. Names, dates, places, and events are all kept historically accurate, except where the anime deviates, however they take the time to properly explain what "really" happened in order to add to the tension of that event having been changed. The characters, too, are all very colorful and memorable and pleasing to the eye.

This is where the show falls apart. The modern girl falling into the past idea has been used too many times before (Inuyasha, Escaflowne, Magic Knight Rayearth to name a few), and Hideyoshi is the worst of the bunch in how she seems to not even notice. You'd think that the lack of electricity, paved roads, cars, or buildings made of anything but rice would tip her off, or that maybe she'd be a little understanding when everyone around is wearing armor and wielding swords and killing each other but doesn't seem to understand what a "cell phone" is. The historical badasses being represented by sexy ladies thing was done before, too (Ikkitousen in this case), but the presentation is another failure. All the characters are sexy women, but their looks are never exploited. Not a single panty shot, no attention given to busts, no bath scenes, but plenty of bulky armor and baggy clothing around to protect their modesty.

The action scenes were almost nonexistent, consisting of an old movie trick to make a character look badass (appearing through a fire) and nothing else. The rest of the time was spent in dialogue or an expose about how terrible Hideyoshi thinks her life is. Katanagatari proved that Dialogue can be the winning formula of a ragingly successful title, but Battle Girls proved that it can be quite the opposite, too. Dialogue was simple, repetitive, poorly acted, and many times so out of character that I began to wonder if this wasn't in fact written by a lousy fanfic author?

The character designs are appealing enough, and I like the history lesson involved, so I can only hope that the rest of it can catch up. 2 out of 5.

SKET Dance

1 out of 5

FOWL!! I Cry FOWL!  SKET Dance is such a blatant and unrepentant rip-off of PCP (Perfect Crime Party) From the manga Bakuman. If you haven't read that far into Bakuman, first of all: Shame on you. Second: let me break it down.  PCP is about these three kids (two guys and a girl, one of the guys wears glasses and has cell-phone accessories) who perform amateur crimes (and gets away with it). SKET Dance is about these three kids (two guys and a girl, one of the guys wears glasses and has a computer) who perform amateur anti-crimes (helping people...and gets away with it).

A major difference is the protagonist of SKET dance, who is this plain, ordinary, shy, and nerdy Transfer student who get's sucked into the SKET clubs antics.  This guy is so plain and ordinary that I nearly blanched the very first moment I saw him, and did blanch on the second and subsequent moments. It's like they took the nerdiest dweebs to ever be bullied and blended them into a nearsighted twerp so pathetic that *I* want to bully him, and I abhor bullying.

The first episode consists of this one expose into the thoughts of the protagonist: "I'm a nervous shy kid who transferred into a new school and doesn't know anyone. On the first day however, the cool kids came up to me and invited me to be cool with them in the volunteer club! :-)" Need I say more? I shall. The art is ordinary and plain. The acting is half-assed like the Seiyu (voice actors) just didn't give a damn and weren't being paid enough. The character designs are overused and blend into the background (not to mention the sheer blaspheme of copying PCP so directly). The girl was rather pretty I'll admit, and she talked so openly and invitingly with the nerd (Shock!) but everything else just falls into the pits of failed plagiarism.

I rarely give a title 1 out of 5, but this one really deserves it, even if you discount the "ripoffness". The only reason I didn't give it a 0 out of 5 is because the characters spend a lot of time doing random acts of insanity out of boredom, which I wholeheartedly approve of.

Nichijou (My Ordinary Life)

5 out of 5

My Ordinary Life is exactly what the title says. The daily ordinary common occurrences around the life of some high school students, and some people in the neighborhood. Kinda like Lucky☆Star, Azumanga Daioh, and Minami-ke.  That is to say, if accidently bumping into someone on the street causes 25 megaton nuclear explosions and Marching on Washington in violent protest because someone voiced disapproval at riding a goat to school is normal.

Nichijou could very well be a skit from Who's Line is it Anyway brought to anime life. Certain every day logics like Going to School Every Morning and Eating a Variety of Foods to be Healthy are maintained, but everything else is taken to the very extremes of exaggeration, and then treated seriously. The aforementioned nuclear explosion literally threw the two bumpers to the other sides of the city, and debris managed to land in a suitably comical way on the head of yet someone else.

The art style is simple, which sometimes slips into grainy as the tension of the moment calls for it. For a comical title, the art is perfect. Breezy enough that nothing absurd would necessarily be considered out of place, but solid enough that the absurdities in the art itself can be treated as intentional, such as the wooden blocks used to tie up that one girls hair. The voice acting as well lends itself to the casual air of the style. Most characters sound like the extremes of the "moe" archetype, but pull off real emotion and shock as the scene calls for it. The Background music is probably one of the best features. Light and flimsy, like the comical orchestration behind a Loony Toons cartoon, but performed with the sheer quality of a Disney product. It does wonders to noticeably enhance the mood without synching up to the action like a musical.

The only problem I've had with this anime so far is the pacing of the gags. The gags are great and somewhat unexpected, but they concentrate on only one gag at a time. The show has the potential to literally flood us with absurdities, but they seem to want to pace themselves, and that lends to the feeling of the episode being somewhat short and unfulfilling.

All in all, considering the amount of real effort and time that went into the production, as well as the exploitation of what is such an open potential for any kind of gag, I give Nichijou a 5 out of 5. Seriously, I haven't laughed that hard since Family Guy.

Doronron Enma-kun Meramera

6.5 out of 5

 

Go Nagai! Go Nagai! Go Nagai! From the mind of Go Nagai, the man responsible for such cult classics as Devil Man, Cutey Honey, and Mazinger.

Monsters are coming to the human world from the Hell in order to get human spirits. As people's minds are getting dirty, being attracted by the dirty spirits, the monsters break the rule to go to the human world. Tsutomu, a boy who goes to Yokai Elementary School, is suddenly assaulted by monsters. Those who save him from the monsters are Enma-kun, the son of Enma, Yukiko, a snow woman, and Kappaeru. They are members of Monster Patrol that are sent to the human world to arrest monsters.

It is hard to pin down the target demographic for this title, other than "fans of Go Nagai". The overall feel is "for kids", if you didn't mind your children watching a show with penis fencing and bared breasts being stretched across the room. The visual gags (risque stuff not withstanding) are too simple to target an adult audience, yet the jokes would fly over the heads of someone who hasn't graduated college yet. Ultimately, I may have to say that the show is designed to target specifically "Fans of Go Nagai", but fear not. It will make fans as surely as his other works did.

The animation quality is something astounding! We're talking about a high budget production movie level of graphics and quality! I have never seen anything longer than a 6 episode OVA boast of such quality of picture, and most of them tend to pale in comparison! The art style may take a little bit to get used to for the uninitiated, but everything from the motion of the characters to the shine emerging from the windows in the background screams *Expensive*! Much like Akira Toryama, Go Nagai is one who stubbornly sticks to his style like a belligerent child no matter how much it may detract from the story, but unlike Toryama his style manages to somehow fit the radical change in genre.

The story felt a little rushed. A cursory mention of a ghost in the school is given, a quick introduction of recurring extras going to the school, then BAM! Everyone has their face's stolen and the surviving girl begins the madness associated with meeting, being introduced to, then following along with the actions of the Monster Patrol. A little more time spent fleshing out the other extras might have been nice, but Go Nagai has never been one to take his time, no matter how much we might have sometimes wanted him to. That aside, the main characters had more than enough time to show off themselves and introduce their personalities and quirks.

For the guts to make a title however the hell he wanted to hell with the target audiences, and to fund the work himself (since there's no way any animation studio would devote that much capitol towards a single title) I give this show a 6.5 out of 5. They say that there is power in names, and Go Nagai proves this by having an entire 2 points added to the score on the power of his.

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4 titles so far. 2 of them really really bad, and 2 of them uncharacteristically good. It's hard to say how the rest of the season will pan out with such a radical shift in quality to be among the first seen, but if that's the trend then I give my stamp of approval! Admittedly, I can be biased when it comes to titles associated with certain famous members of the industry (Masami Obari, Go Nagai, Rumiko Takahashi, and CLAMP to name a few).

Stay tuned for introduction reviews to other spring titles.

'Ben

Heartcatch PreCure! Heartfelt Review!

Heartcatch PreCure!

Director:                   Tatsuya Nagamine
Production:               Toei Animation
Original run:             07 Ferbruary 2010 - 30 January 2010
Episodes:                 49

Tsubomi Hanasaki is a 2nd year middle school student who loves plants. One day, she dreams of a mysterious flowering tree that wilted, causing fairies to disappear. She also saw two mysterious people fighting, one wanting to destroy the tree and one protecting it. When she transfers to Myodo Academy, the fairies that she saw in her dream appear. They beg her to become a Pretty Cure to protect the Great Tree of Hearts, but she refuses. However, a mysterious enemy called the Desert Messengers came, and the Heart Flower of her new classmate, Erika Kurumi, is stolen. To save Erika, she has to become a Pretty Cure and fight.

It's hard to get more magical girly than the Pretty Cure franchise. All of the key elements set forth by such predecessors as Sailor Moon and Mermaid Melody are there. Cute little animal mascots? Check. They even have their own catchphrases. Inane transformation items? Check. A perfume bottle that's utterly useless except for the spraying on of a new outfit. Color coded hair and outfits? Check. Not necessarily the colors of the rainbow, and how pink was used twice, but the sentai is still there. Powerful evil bad guy dudes bent on destroying the world? Check. Though at least they have a reason why they need to only operate in the same city as those blasted meddling kids. Recycled final attack always used to hurt/destroy the monster of the week? Double check. Though, to their credit, they don't use big hearts or musical notes, instead being bent towards a more violent method of purifying the beasties. 

 
Almost every episode has a feel-good story. The main characters (the Precure) walk in on someone being depressed about something, find out what it is, then run around like it's their life's purpose to rid the person of their woes. Fashion club? Maybe they should rename it to the volunteer club! What a pity it is then that they are never able to actually resolve a single issue themselves. It always turns into the badguy's using the person's depression to create a rampaging monster, and the magical buttkicking layed upon the monster is what actually manages to cheer up the person, but the sentiment is still there. Girls find people who are upset, and at the end of the day that person is happy again. If you manage to ignore the violence, then Pretty Cure is sweet on an injecting frosting directly into your bloodstream proportions. 

Then again, the violence is still there, and redeems the show in the eyes of another target audience entirely. 



A concept employed but never detailed in previous magical girl series' is the empowerment of the magical girl transformation. When transformed, these otherwise innocent, frail, and entirely human children can suddenly jump across rooftops and be crashed through a building without being hurt. To them however, instead of reveling in these new abilites, they decide to only blast a single recycled magical attack to hurt or destroy the monsters every time. Not the Precure. The first thing the Pretty Cure notice when they first transform is that they are suddenly super strong and super fast. The second thing they notice is that there is a giant, rampaging monster over there tearing up the landscape. Therefore, they fall on the very human response to the situation of a nail needing hammering, and beat the monster up. Punches, kicks, throws, Who cares if they accidentally crush that apartment building with a monster shaped projectile? It's the monsters fault for existing! Then once it's weakened enough they can resort to the recycled magical attack sequence to finish it off.



Actually, the fight scenes that occur in every episode could be attributed to Street Fighter in content, where the recycled finishers are considered the super moves. One cannot win a fight with a single super move from the beginning of the match. The enemy has to be beaten up and weakened alot before that could happen. Therefore, while the super move finisher is visually the same every time, the entire fight leading up to it is unique. They even throw in random flashy special moves in a truly non-recycled fashion! 

The Character designer/art director is Ryuutarou Masuda, so the series shares the same style as works Ojamajo Doremi and Street Fighter Alpha. Namely, slightly more simplified, more cartoony than would otherwise be common among Anime. The rounder shapes and flat but more colorful images serve as a boost to the overall quality of the show. Scene continuity isn't as necessary, so character development occurs faster. This makes for improved sentimentality, one-shot characters who's plights we can better understand, while still allowing time for the other stuff. The fighting also improves because they can afford to be flashier without having to resort to rotoscoping (animation style where real life footage is traced onto an animation cell. Outlines are squiggily and the art looks terrible, but it allows to seamless fluent motion and is easier to animate). 


Recurring characterizations are a stark improvement over previous magical girl shows, especially with the bad guys. Instead of mindless manifestations of evilness, the bad guys are pretty much Human in personality. They are all of them fully aware of, and approve of, the methodology and expected result of their actions, so they cannot be dissuaded through words or exposure to love or some other thing (and with that level of action, who would want them to?), even though they are perfectly capable and willing to sit down and discuss their reasons. In addition, they show an ability to argue and hold conversations, and partake in things like hobbies and activities. At one point, a desert messenger said "I'm bored, so I think I'll try and beat up the Precure today!", which leads to a noteceable lack of urgency on their part. Because of that lack of urgency, it leads us as viewers to wonder why they even bother to begin with? The show needs not be a full year-long if so much of it feels like filler. 

Sweetness and Violence don't really go together. It's like oil and water. You cannot make soup with oil and you cannot deep fry with water, so it's difficult to make a singular dinner with both. The Sentimentality is sweet enough for the girls to put up with the violence, and the action is good enough for the boys to suffer through the sweetness, but both parties still encounter a full half of the show that they can't like, so I have to give it an even steven 2.5 out of 5. Bonus points for having an actual history and previous generations of magical girls, including a still-living grandmother who was the previous incarnation who herselfdefeated  the main bad guy some 50 years beforehand. 


*Note* - The video clip below shows off the typical quality of fight scenes, however it contains heavy spoilers.




- Ben M.