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.

Supernatural Anime Review

Supernatural is a television series that debuted on the WB network in October 2005 and currently runs weekly on the CW. The series follows the tale of Sam and Dean Winchester as they travel across the country hunting various supernatural creatures such as werewolves, vampires and demons. Years ago, when Sam and Dean were young, their mother was killed by a yellow-eyed demon. Since then, Sam and Dean have been on the hunt for the yellow-eyed demon, dealing with "odd" jobs along the way. The show gathered a large following over the seasons, making it one of the CW's most popular shows. During those years, the Winchester brothers have fought against demons, angels, evil spirits, and even each other. Supernatural's fan base has grown worldwide and is currently airing in various countries. Warner Bros. Japan wanted to take the show somewhere that it's never been before.

Japanese animation studio Madhouse Inc. was assigned to produce the anime version of Supernatural. Madhouse has produced other anime including Ninja Scroll, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, Trigun, Di Gi Charat and Death Note. With help from series creator Eric Kripke, Madhouse was able to gather all kinds of resources for the anime including comics and sidestories, as well as the series itself. The anime series covers the first two seasons of Supernatural with some episodes taken from the comics and even a few anime-only originals. Select episodes from the live action series have been retold with new vision while still retaining the suspense and humor that made Supernatural popular. The action in the anime Supernatural is taken to a level that can't be done in the original series.

One instance is an episode that flashbacks on Sam and Dean's childhood when they were hunting with their father. A spirit had taken possession of junked cars and formed them into a giant robot type beast; something that couldn't be achieved in the live series. Another is the reimagined episode with a creature known as a Shapeshifter. Its metamorphic ability was upgraded to something more dynamic than when Eric Kripke introduced it in the first season; this scene alone was really cool. The Shapeshifter first puffs its body up, then it spreads the skin apart and emereges in a new form like a butterfly from a cocoon. The appearance and metamorphic sequence of the Shapeshifter in the anime were above the live series' budget, where it simply removed its skin off like wet clothing.

Supernatural is also known for the development of its characters. The anime does not disappoint. The chemestry between Sam and Dean plays out much the same way as the series. Dean is the older brother, always willing to do anything to protect his younger brother. Sam has always looked up to Dean and continues to do so. John Winchester is still the tough-as-nails hardened hunter that Kripke made him out to be. Sam and Dean's father is hard on his boys but deep down he loves them. I like how Madhouse made John into a bad-to-the-bone loner type of guy who drives around in a hearse, a great re-imagining for his wheels. This John Winchester is an awesome character and is just as gritty, if not more gritty, than his television counterpart.

Being a fan of Supernatural, I didn't know what to expect from the Japanese versions of Sam and Dean. However, I keep my mind open and I have to say I'm impressed with Yuya Uchida, who voices Sam Winchester in the Japanese dub of the series, and Hiroko Touchi, who voices Dean. Madhouse's Naoya Takayama, who supervised the scripts, truly brought the same suspense and mystery to the anime that it had in its live action counterpart. Takahiro Yoshimatsu's character design is truly impressive. He captured the essence of the Winchesters; they resemble the actors that portray them in Kripke's series; they also bring the same charm that actors Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles do in the series.

Yuya Uchida has voice acted in Eyeshield 21 (Shien Mushanokoji aka: "The Kid"), Naruto Shippuden (Rinji), Soul Eater (Franken Stein), and Black Butler (Ash).

Hiroko Touchi has several popular anime series under his belt with Bleach as Kūgo Ginjō, Trinity Blood as Abel Nightroad, and Mobile Suit Gundam MS IGLOO as Major Michael Colmatta. He has also voiced for several games including Uncharted, Final Fantasy XIII, and Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Touchi has also dubbed for Will Smith and Christian Bale.

Andrew Farrar does a good job filling in for Jenson Ackles, who couldn't appear until the final two episodes because of scheduling issues, voicing Dean Winchester for the English dub. Jared Padalecki voices Sam throughout the anime series.

I have watched Supernatural since the beginning partly because of my interest in the unknown, but also it's a fun and entertaining show full of suspense, mystery, action, and humor. There are twists and turns that'll keep you wondering as to what's gonna happen next, and you'll have to keep watching to find out. Though the anime is a retelling of those episodes, I still had the same feeling that I had and still have for the live show. Supernatural: The Animation is sure to entertain fans of the original series as well as invite new fans of both series. I recommend this for anyone who's a fan of the show or looking for a cool new anime to watch.

Supernatural: The Animation gets 4.5 out of 5.

J1 An-Ex 4 Review

So what do we know November for? We know it as the month that holds Thanksgiving and as the second to last month of the whole year. But on Friday the 18th, anime fans throughout Philly knew it as the fourth installment of the J1 Anime Experience (J1 An-Ex 4). Returning to the Hawthorne Center in South Philly, hundreds of anime fans gathered to celebrate and enjoy the monthly mini-con once more.





For starters, the game room was (as always) a room packed with contenders ready to duel on the sticks. This time, with the premiere of Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3, the chaos was taken up a notch than before. From over-the-top combos to amazing come-backs and even a lawyer shouting "Objection!!!", things got a bit crazy in there. And for the non-fighting game fans, the card game room was packed with players ready to duel in Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokemon and more. Virtual Tournament Fighters (VTF for short) made its return to the An-Ex, letting players experience the fighting game based dueling that the president of J1 Studios created.



Cosplayers lined up for a photoshoot!



But nothing was more entertaining than the Cosplay Competition. We were greeted with some creative costumes from a Catwoman cosplayer, a Ms. Kreuger cosplayer and a Dr. Stien cosplayer for all the Soul Eater fans. Even though there were no panda sightings this time around, we still had an enjoyable competition.

Finally, possibly the more noteworthy event of the night was the discussion of Anime, from past to present. Held by the president of J1 Studios, he broke down what anime is now in comparison to how it was in its Golden age. From the funny comments - "How many ninjas do you know wear orange jumpsuits" - to the more informative parts, he taught the crowd a thing or two about anime. Overall, it was a great discussion.



The president of J1 Studios schooling fans on anime in the discussion panel.

  For a small convention, the J1 An-Ex brings out a great crowd. From returning fans to the newcomers, the An-Ex continually expands each and every month. And there's always something new that happens each and every month so you don't want to miss one.

J1 An-Ex 1 Review

The Birth of a Convention.

Who can remember being apart of a convention since before it was incepted? Over two hundred people from the Greater Philadelphia Area can make that claim now, as they were the ones to come out on Friday, August 12th, for the opening of the first J1 Studios Anime Experience. Sadly, there are millions of future fans who missed out on this opportunity, but they will be able to reap the benefits of the growth next time and beyond.

Small photoshoot of the contestants in the Cosplay Contest.

In previous instances, the gatherings were known as the J1 Anime Event. A slightly-more-formal-than-someone's-garage setting where members of J1 Studios gathered people who were as into Japanese media as they were, and entertain them with the same. As the popularity of these Events grew, so too did the scope of which the J1 Staff took to expand and further entertain their growing circle of fans.

Cue the Anime Experience. With the inclusion of full blown Vendors, Professional artist guests, seperate rooms, and a small entrance fee, the small gatherings of like-minded fans evolved into a fully recognized Anime Convention.

J1 Staff member Ben manning the J1 Table.

Hundreds of people lined up outside the doors to the Hawthorn Recreation Center in order to partake of the experience. Once inside, they encountered tables selling everything from Onigiri (Japanese rice balls) to action figures to comic books. Artists spread their wares and opened for commission. Dozens of wallscrolls lined the walls, sometimes mirroring the dozens of cosplayers who wandered around. Some anime was playing on a big screen in one room, while several video game tournaments broke out in the next. Many gathered in the main room for the Cosplay walkoff, others stepped outside to listen to the Korean rock band, and everyone had a good time. Not bad for a couple of hours on a Friday.



2nd shot of the cosplay entries for the Cosplay Contest.



The J1 An-Ex may be small, but it's local. Fans who come by get the full experience of the big conventions, but without the full brunt of their big price. The best thing of all is, instead of waiting an entire year for a repeat or spending entire life savings to travel across the country, the An-Ex operates monthly, giving everyone plenty of opportunities to experience the Anime Experience for themselves.



'Ben M.

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.

----

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

Katanagatari.... reviewed.

Katanagatari

Writer:                     Nisio Isin

Director:                   Keitaro Motonaga

Production:               White Fox

Original run:             January 25, 2010 - December, 2010

Episodes:                 12.

Yasuri Shichika is the 7th generation heir to the Kyoutouryu sword less, sword fighting style, who spent 20 years isolated on an island in exile with his family. 20 years after the war, a girl named Togame beseeching his help approaches him. Togame is a stratagem for the Shogunate (Japanese Empire) who was tasked with finding and collecting all 12 of the perfected deviant blades created by the ancient legendary sword smith Kiki Shikizaki. She needs Shichika's help because his sword less sword fighting style would allow him to collect the various swords without succumbing to the poison that the blades inflict on whoever wields them.

The first thing to notice about this show, which makes it so alike to it's artful sister series "Bakemonogatari", is that it is Dialogue-centric. The majority of every episode is spent in conversation. Unlike other shows which claim vastly more dialogue than anything else, Katanagatari doesn't limit it's banter to "I'm strongest more than you! No you're not! Yes I am! Are not! Am to! Are not! AM TO!!". Every conversation in this show is masterfully done, and deserving of the best in the oxford debate club. Characters intelligently pose their opinions, support it with short but detailed elaborations, listen to each other, ask questions for clarification, and post insights and arguments and counter opinions. Also, like the conversation over tea about the taste of the cookies that could sway the difference between life and death in the next upcoming war, the conversations are loaded down with many subtle layers of deeper vocal conflict and double, triple, and quadruple entendre. We foreigners tend to miss most of those layers, because we don't speak the language and most of it is lost in translation, but mostly because we be too stupid to see anything but the most clear-to-face and obvious meanings to everything, and therefore require long, lengthy paragraphs of constantly repeating words that describe what we are already looking at before we can get it. What I'm saying is, this show isn't a Tits and Explosions kind of action. It is a show for intelligent people to listen to the words and try to understand the various meanings behind them. If you're not that kind of viewer, then the anime is pointlessly long and frustratingly boring. If you are one of those intelligent types, then the show is a never-ending crux of engaging conversations and inspiring concepts.

As a compliment to the dialogue, is the length. Unlike a 23 minute per episode show released every week for exactly 1/4 of a year (13 weeks), This show is OVA style, each episode being 45 minutes long and released only once a month for an entire year. 12 months, 12 swords, you can see the pattern. This isn't an OVA (that is a really one long movie broken into 3 or so smaller parts). Each episode is an independent episode, and the end product is such that it is unimaginable to try and picture a compressed version for the usual half an hour lengths. None of it gives off the impressions of being too jammed packed, or even delay tactic filler material. The pacing is perfectly gentle, allowing for proper dramatic buildup.

And what a dramatic buildup it has. Not only does each episode work its way slowly from a calm beginning to a catastrophic crescendo, but each episode builds upon each other in a symphony of intertwined plots to make for a reverberating tension you just can't rush into. The individual sword plots are somewhat predictable in the results, but as the sword capturing comes closer towards the end, we all sit there waiting for the other shoe to drop, with a big difficulty in imagining just what that other shoe is going to be. I personally couldn't predict what could possibly be more exciting than episode 4, what could be more different than episode 5, what could be more absurd than episode 6, what could be more dangerous than episode 7... and yet it did get more exciting, more different, more absurd, more dangerous, and continues to do so, right up to the end.

The action is severely lacking at the best of times. For a 45-minute episode of a show about a legendary swordsman fighting off the worlds best swordsmen in order to collect the most exotic swords, quite frankly the action sucks. The real fight scenes are limited to maybe some quick buildup followed by the climactic moment. Heck, the only fight worth its weight in time was the only one that didn't actually involve any swords. That's not to say that the show is in any way slow(er than previously mentioned), but the whole project could have served just as well as an elaborate graphic novel for all the motion that was involved.

The graphics, too, are another point that might be taken against the overall quality of the show. Like any good 4-letter comedy or a quack experimental anime, the art style itself tends to change rapidly. From photo realistic to stereophonic to shoujou pretty-boy to video game sprites, there just doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason behind anything visual. If anything, I might have to say that the purpose of the visual shift is as a shortcut. The few action scenes are all broken up or hidden by odd angles, styles, or after effects. Even setup scenes that require the visual aid to support the plan or reason is left to the simplest or most repetitive style available. That's not to say the art is bad, it's just wildly different and expertly used to hide the purpose (animation shortcut). It could even be surprised that what action we do get is a bonus, because the art is nothing more than a means of keeping our eyes from getting bored while we concentrate on the dialogue.

The characters are colorful, and all of them original. From the animal themed Maniwa Ninja, to the Kaleidoscopic princesses to the sharp sword owners, to even Shichika's changing Oak patterned life, there is not a single named character whom you could look at and say "he/she looks like a rip-off of _____". Instead, all of them would each make for an instantly recognizable cosplay at any convention, one flooded with awes on the difficulty it must have been to tailor the costume.

Due to the existence of the Howard Stern Syndrome (you either love it or you hate it, but there's no in-between), I find it difficult to properly rate this show. It all really comes down to the dialogue. If you are the kind of person who can follow and appreciate it, then Katanagatari rates a whopping 9 out of 10, held back only by the annoying shifts in art and the existence of a better precedent (Bakemonogatari had, mysteriously enough, much better dialogue and much more appropriate radical art shift). If you need more explosions and cleavage in your sword-fighting, then the show drops to a miserable 2 out of 5 for hiding all the good stuff and boring us all with big words, saved only by the originality of the characters and the concepts of persona la badass. Penalty points taken for replacing the episode shaping up to be one of the most epic swordfights in the history of ever with a side story, bonus points given right back for that same side story being totally worth it!

-Ben

Heroman reviewed!

HEROMAN

Originally Written by:  Stan Lee (Shock!)

Anime Written by:      Akatsuki Yamatoya

Director:                   Hitoshi Nanba

Production:               Studio BONES

Original run:             April 1 2010 - September 23 2010

Episodes:                 26

On request, I was asked to watch and review Heroman, a half-year anime series from this last spring. The watching part was easy. I'd been following it since it started after all. It's the reviewing part that has my mecha in a twist. There is so much that is both good and bad about this series that I barely know how to start, and even worse is that I'm not too confident enough in my literary finesse to describe the goods and bads without directly spoiling things for those who haven't yet watched the show. So I decided to simply start from the inception and not bother with parsing my words at all.

SPOILER ALERT - This review will contain spoilers, so skip to the last paragraph if you don't want that. - SPOILER ALERT

Orphaned American boy Joey lives with his grandmother, working at a restaurant in the west coast city of Center City, while going to school. Upon hearing of a new toy robot called the Heybo, Joey believes that getting one will make his life better, turning him into a hero to protect his friends and family. However, he cannot afford to buy it on his meager salary. His luck changes when he picks up a broken down Heybo abandoned by a school bully. He tries to fix it, naming it Heroman, but does not have any luck in getting it to work. However, when a bolt of lightning strikes it, it transforms into a giant robot, just in time to save his friend Lina from impending danger. Now, Joey and Heroman are Earth's only defense against the evil insectoid Skrugg aliens, unknowingly summoned to Earth by Joey's science teacher.

That's the official overview of the story. Here is mine;

The Skrugg, an intergalactic race of technologically superior cockroaches, have set their eyes on the destruction of earth. Joey, an average kid from California, comes upon a toy robot that can transform into a super powered giant mech, Giant mechs and alien cockroaches collide and a fight for the survival of the world commences.

No less accurate, but gives off a completely different feel. Right?

My first problem with this series is Heroman himself. Itself. Heroman started out as a Heybo, a common off-the-shelf plastic toy robot, probably made in china. After being run over by a car, a wimpy boy who works part time at a cafe decides to try to fix it himself, since he could never afford one otherwise. The kid's shoddy repair job (including a generous amount of Scotch Tape and lots of left over pieces) combines with a bolt of lighting to somehow manage to turn this plastic toy into a giant robot (that isn't even really that big, maybe Shaq sized), complete with a controller gauntlet for the kid himself. Seriously? That's how Heroman came to be? They could have so easily gone the B-movie route by including some strange alien artifact, unknown chemical, or black box technology in the repair of the toy to provide the catalyst for the super transformation. There was even a bumbling mad scientist type included among the main character list to provide it. Instead they went with this, which is so arbitrary and illogical that I wonder why they even bothered? If they skipped the whole inception thing, played it off as 'he was always here', and used that time for some of the better things, the show would have stated off so much better. Also, right out of the box, so to speak, Heroman has a seemingly large amount of autonomy. How much? They never say. Enough however to be able to do exactly what his controller wants off of the basic command of "Heroman Go!” and the will to go berserk when his precious controller is knocked unconscious by the enemy (not to mention the intelligence needed to recognize the difference between that and say... going to sleep at night), but not enough to ever show a different facial expression, engage himself, anticipate even the most obvious of commands, or any decision making of it's own in general. Thirdly, Heroman is a plastic toy that was struck by lightning. Yet somehow, its standing regular punch seems to pack more concussive force than a 120mm high explosive shell fired from the main cannon of an American M1 Abrams tank. That's before it is empowered by any number of augmentative specials. Finally, I have absolutely no problems with its coloring scheme. Red-white-and-blue is very aesthetically pleasing and very appropriate for an American super hero. The problem I have is that Heroman started out textured after the American flag. I highly doubt that the bolt of lightning was too concerned about what people might think about the coloring of this new robo it's about to create, and I'm pretty darn sure that Joey wasn't thinking especially patriotic thoughts while watching his precious new toy get fried by an act of god, so why the flag?

I'm not entirely disenfranchised by the robot completely. Heroman, by its nature, is neutral. It is a really big toy under the command of its controller. Should someone with less of a moral fabric as Joey become it's controller, Heroman would have blithely followed his commands and been no less powerful for it. Autonomy aside, that makes it believable, but otherwise forgettable as we concentrate more on the moral and caricature development of its Controller. Also, Heroman has some really cool special movies, such as a Misaka Mikoto Mimicry, and a super devilman growth. I'm not sure how the feedback thing operates that gives Joey his superpowers, and I won't beat on a dead horse how illogical it was for him to even get superpowers, but they were really cool. In a contest between Joey and the Flash, Joey would win 25 times out of 10, simply because he is twice as cool at his worst than the Flash was during his prime. 

The next issue is the Skrugg. Those alien bug people thingies. As cliche as aliens might be, they do serve as a good antithesis to the newly minted superhero. Physically, technologically, and morally superior to humans, they also have a nice plot device in the form of the zerg-like ability to make any other creature into Skrugg-like versions, making them more powerful and blindly loyal. What I don't like, is that one skrugg learned the English language with little more difficulty than clearing it's throat, then instantly after every single one of them decided to adopt it as their language of choice, including a full set of cultural slang and human character traits, despite already having the much more efficient communications method of telepathy. Over time, it became really really hard to remember that these things were actually Aliens, because of how readily they fell into human mannerisms.

I have to get to the production itself. Heroman takes place in the suburbs of Los Angeles, California. Ok, they call it "Center City", but everything from the skyline of downtown to the location on the map to the weather and living conditions of the residents just SCREAM L.A. Other major cities of the country remain un-name-changed (possible exception of Washington D.C. being referred to as simply Washington), so who did they think they were fooling? Whatever. Aside from the name, the setting itself was perfectly portrayed. Now, I don't know weather to be impressed or shamed of this, but one thing the producers captured perfectly was the sheer level of American arrogance. This is an anime, made in japan, voiced in Japanese, and released (first) for a Japanese audience, but the monikers and overall dialogue lent itself to a decent dub of true American communication. The overall plot took place in America, and (despite being a world threat) was treated as an American problem for us Americans to contend with. The other continents of the world (didn't even bother to mention Country names) were given a bare cursory glance to enhance how American it was of us Americans to save the world from yet another American-only problem. Yaay! Go America!

The NIA (National Intelligence Agency, a sort of in-show combination of the CIA and NSA) were very well portrayed, in both their professionalism and abilities, a good dose a adult logic and mannerisms when everyone else is tripping like kids (for being kids, obviously). That other scientist in contrast was extremely cartoony, and so very difficult to take seriously.

Probably one of the very best features of Heroman was the destruction. Compliments to Madhouse for putting the effort to it. When things broke, they broke. Into pieces, the individual pieces falling this way and that to leave rubble splayed around the area that was broken. Even better was how the destruction persisted. If a house was crushed, and the action took the characters through that same area in a later episode, the same house would be seen in the same pattern of rubble, but from a different angle. This happened all across the city. There was no such thing as a background, either, apparently. Usually there is a noticeable shift in quality between static background images and moving debris, but not here. The destruction on even background scenes occurred seamlessly with the foreground animation, rendering it absolutely beautiful. Also, the background music was wonderfully composed and presented, lending such a heart-wrenching drama to the precisely placed destruction in such a way as to do a good disaster movie proud.

One more thing that did the show well was the addiction level. Mostly instigated by the wonderful destruction, but the first few episodes were extremely “meh” (especially after the first-episode hyper Stan Lee Made This-ness wore off), but 6-8 episodes in the dynamic changed to an "I've got to see more!" feeling during the episode’s cliffhanger scenes. That died off quickly later as the drama tapered off and new story arcs began, but the damage was done and the addiction set in. I was VERY annoyed during those mid-season 'anime' episodes, where they abandoned all pretenses of plot in order to pursue the more anime style cliche's of the misunderstanding laden date episode, and the obligatory trip to the beach.

As much quality as was thrown into the destruction, one might think that the producers could spare the time and expense to maybe vary the outfits a little sometimes. I mean, sure. Long multi-episode quests with the characters constantly fighting for their lives won't present an opportunity to readilly change clothing, but it was seriously disturbing to find out that the big-breasted homeroom teacher taught school in the same outfit that she jogged and swam in! The only time any character ever wore anything different, ever, was their swimsuits (which was their normal outfits sans some fabric). The rest of the time it was cheerleader outfits and yellow hoodies. Where do they get off presenting that kind of animation shortcut? Absolutely nothing else in the animation side of things was significantly skimped on budget or quality (Heroman command recycling being a notable but understandably exception).

(Sigh)... it's hard to structure so many pluses and minuses into a form that flows from one point to the next when they were so convoluted to each other originally. If I sounded bipolar in how I went from super amazed to super disgusted and back again through out all of this, keep in mind that it's exactly how I felt throughout each episode of the show, as they intermingled so many goods and bads together into a convoluted 23 minute package. I did manage to cover all the main points I feel, so I'll leave it to you to sort it all, as you feel fit.

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!
I like Stan Lee, but I am not the kind of person who sprays hot hug and experiences a manly joygasm over his name, so I am going to rate this show fairly, based on all the goods and bads combined and without a fandom bias. In my opinion, Heroman deserves a 3 out of 5. As a superhero show, it was plussed with mindless action but lacking in any real logic. As a romance show, it utterly failed for even trying. As a disaster show, it excelled further than any other anime I can name to date! A pity that this wasn't a true disaster show than (well) portrayed characterizations with really bad dialogue and cookie-cutter images. Major negative points for a major character who's major hangup is being stubbornly upset over the fact that her super popular super heroic father didn't come home to her one day because the selfish bastard stupidly sacrificed himself to pointlessly save the lives of a worthless couple hundred of his co-workers from a not-at-all dangerous being trapped alive in a cave-in at the mines. Some bonus points for the addiction factor. More bonus points for including real death of real human characters that had real important roles and lines and backstory.
END OF SPOILER!!!!!!!!!

-Ben M

Rating: 3 out of 5