Anime – Page 2 – We Are Movie Geeks

AniMania: Evangelion 1.01 You Are (Not) Alone

This week, one of the greatest anime series of all time will be revisited. On Tuesday, November 17th, Funimation is scheduled to release Evangelion 1.01. Subtitled “You Are (Not) Alone”, this new chapter marks a major reversioning for the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise.

Eva has been getting reworked from the beginning. The ending for the original series drew a firestorm of controversy, with its lackluster production and anti-climactic conclusion. “Death and Rebirth” and “End of Evangelion”, two feature length films meant to provide a more satisfying resolution, did more to fan the flames than to quench them.

In the meantime, there have been no end of spin offs — some official, some totally fan based — which involve everything from Angelic Days’ retelling of the series from the dream world point of view Shinji imagined in the conclusion to the original series to weird little productions like the “Ayanami Raising Simulator”, a dating sim where the player must successfully bring up one of those many Rei clones. Strange, but come on, who doesn’t want their own Rei clone?

But Eva 1.01 is no mere clone. Described by its creators as a “rebuild”, this is a true reversioning of NGE. Chief Director Hideaki Anno departed from GAINAX to create a new production company for the project. In a stunning blend of old and new, the studio revisited key animations and other material from the original series, reworking them into a genuinely “new” version that still retains the unmistakable feel of its source. The result is breathtaking: You Are (Not) Alone looks and FEELS like the original, only BETTER.

If you’re not familiar with the plot of Evangelion, I’d really like to know: 1) what rock you’ve been hiding under; 2) do you have wi-fi there; and 3) is there plane or ferry service? It might be a nice place to visit. Eva has provided the basis for so many other works that even if you haven’t seen it, you probably more or less know the storyline, but just in case, NGE revolves around a global crisis which threatens to wipe out mankind’s very existence. Mysterious, otherworldly beings known only as “angels” have visited the earth, nearly causing human extinction. The only thing capable of stopping the angels is NOT armor clad babes with swords (that was last week), but rather, the EVAs: giant, biomechanical robots, which for some strange reason can only be piloted by teenagers. Must be the hormones.

Joking aside, Evangelion isn’t just another giant robot show — a strong case could be made that it is THE giant robot show. But even if you don’t like mecha series, it deserves to be watched. The real appeal of NGE is it’s unbelievably deep character development. A lot of mech series have just enough plot to justify the giant robot battles; with Eva, it’s the other way around. The series is very much character driven, and in that context, the battles, though frequent, don’t seem silly or contrived. There’s plenty for the technophile, too. The nuts and bolts of the EVA’s workings, though not fully explained, are shown in enough detail to give the impression that these are truly functional machines, and not just fantasy with a thin sci-fi coating. And if that wasn’t enough, the series is steeped in religious symbolism and philosophy. All of this combines to make Evangelion 1.01 live up to its claim to be an “experience not to be missed.”

The release takes the form of a feature length film, with a running time of 98 minutes, in which it retells the first six episodes of the old NGE series. With so many great scenes, any cuts were liable to come at the expense of some truly great material, but the editing was judicious. The resulting product feels more like one episode than the better part of two hours. Future releases will take the same format, with Evangelion 2.0 subtitled “You Can (Not) Advance”. And not to worry — Misato promises there will be even more fanservice.

The new Eva comes with a new voice cast, and as an A-list title, it’s no surprise that 1.01 sports a whole galaxy of stars, with Spike Spencer reprising his role as NGE’s reluctant, self loathing hero, Shinji Ikari. Allison Keith returns as Misato Katsuragi, and John Swasey, who voiced Shinji’s father, Gendo, in the director’s cut of the original series, is as heartless as ever.

All of these performances are solid, but one of the biggest surprises comes from hearing Brina Palencia as the voice of the enigmatic Rei Ayanami! Palencia’s cool, understated demeanor, which felt so out of place for Juliet in RomeoxJuliet, is perfect for Rei, and even more impressive in light of the sound bytes from her upcoming role in Spice and Wolf, where she manages to make Horo (I just CAN’T say “Holo”) one spicy wolf, indeed. Colleen Clinkenbeard leaves the supernatural world of XXXHOLiC to don the lab coat of the exceedingly scientific Ritsuko. Notably missing is Miss Asuka Langley-Soryu. The feisty redhead won’t be appearing until Eva 2.0. As you read this, Asuka is probably busy giving someone an earful about her lack of screen time in the current release.

Along with the reworked animation and some new additions to the voice cast, the “rebuild”, as the studio has dubbed the project in the mission statement included with the DVD (which, incidentally, reads like it was written by Rei Ayanami) features a totally new ending theme. “Fly Me To The Moon” was getting a little old after so many episodes. As the credits roll, we are treated to the unearthly sounds of “Beautiful World” by none other than Hikaru Utada. You may recognize Utada’s voice from “Sanctuary”, which featured prominently in the soundtrack of Square Enix’s Kingdom Hearts series. Utada, who is coming to the States for a limited tour early next year, also provided a remix of her cover of “Fly Me To The Moon” for an Eva 1.01 trailer. A remix of “Beautiful World” will be part of the soundtrack for 2.0.

If you’d like to see more about Evangelion 1.01, check out Funimation’s web site for the show at http://funimation.com/evangelion/ for trailers, character bios, downloads, and other cool stuff.

That’s all for this week. Next week will be decidedly more low tech, with a review of the kendo drama, Bamboo Blade. What happens when an all girls kendo team must fight for honor, justice, and their sensei’s shot at a year’s worth of free sushi? You’ll just have to tune in to find out.

(Since last time, E. Douglas has acquired not one, but TWO more Rei figures. Classic Plug Suit Rei and Sexy Santa Rei are adjusting well to their new home, and should be ready to pilot soon. But even your humble columnist does not own one of those weird Rei mermaid figures. At least, not yet . . .)

Review: ‘Halo Legends: The Babysitter’

At E3 this past year Microsoft announced that they’d be making an anthology anime series much like ‘The Animatrix’ but based around the ever popular Halo franchise. The first part of the series is titled ‘The Babysitter’. It’s a cool look into the war on the Covenant from a different perspective than we’re used to as players of the games.

The 105th (which I have to assume is a reference to the 501st from Star Wars) is one of the best tactical strike groups in the human forces. Their ODST, or Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, and they’re insanely well trained. When we meet the team, their sniper is awfully upset because the team has been relegated to back up. A strange place for some of the best of the best to be placed. Worried that they’re going to be babysitters for some other new shooter, the sniper is getting out all his frustrations, making quite the racket. Turns out they’re backing up some one even better than them. it’s a Spartan.

Spartans are genetically enhanced super soldiers who have had a rather heated relationship with other soldiers. The teams mission is to take out a high ranking official in the enemy army known as a Prophet. Upon entry it’s very obvious that the Spartan is going to be the baby sitter of the bunch and that the ODST are in way over their head.

As a short story this works pretty well. It’s paced well, the voice acting is good, and the stoic Spartan is as powerful as you’d expect him to be. What really makes this whole thing special is the last few moments which really hit a chord with me. I didn’t see something coming and WHAM, I was taken aback. This is a very well written look into the Halo universe and puts a spin on what we think about the Halo characters. My only gripe would be that some of the characters seem to shift proportions a little too much. Normally anime, especially feature film anime, has this thing about body shapes and how they’re supposed to be exact through an entire feature. Here it’s kind of hit or miss. But that’s a SMALL gripe for such a good short.

AniMania: CLAYMORE

I had seen Claymore on the shelf at my local entertainment store for a while, but I had avoided watching it until now, mostly because I feared it was going to fall into that whole “girl with sword” stereotype. Not that I have anything AGAINST girls with swords; I am a HUGE Motoko fanboy, so that should tell you where I stand on the matter. For me, it’s a question of sincerity.

There is a huge glut of shows out there that feature girls with big swords, girls with big guns, but really, these shows are more about girls with big — well, you can guess where I’m going with this. Not that Motoko isn’t sufficiently well endowed — dodges sword attack — but so many of these would-be “tough chick” heroines couldn’t fight their way out of a wet paper bag. They aren’t convincing. Having big boobies is NOT a magical ability, and the fact that your top somehow keeps coming off doesn’t mean you have superpowers. So when I saw Claymore on the shelf, I passed it over, thinking it was just another entry in the long line of boobs ‘n blades. Man, was I wrong.

My first clue that there might be more going on here came when I opened the packaging of the complete box set. Along with the three thin pack volumes, I found not one, but TWO books of art and character descriptions. It would be hard to describe my excitement. In these tough economic times, such extras have almost become a thing of the past. The anime industry was feeling the sting of a major contraction long before the rest of the economy tanked, and one of the sad realities of this was that certain painful cuts had to be made. It used to be that even shows which were only mildly popular came with a whole boatload of stuff. Now, about all you get is the disc and some trailers, and maybe some textless openings and endings. Getting two art books was really something. I popped in the disc, and sure enough, the extra features section was LOADED. In addition to the requisite trailers and opening and ending animation, the first disc also sports an Episode 01 commentary and cast auditions. The other discs include more commentary and staff interviews.

All this boded well. I hadn’t been so excited about a series that I wasn’t already a fan of for quite a while. If this much trouble had been taken in the packaging and bonuses for the show, then something must be up. I watched, and was hooked.

Claymore is set in a medieval fantasy world that is plagued by horrible demons called “Yoma.” The Yoma go on murderous rampages, killing and eating for human flesh. The only ones capable of fighting these monsters are the super human warriors known as Claymores. Giving their name to the title of the show, the Claymore are both respected and feared, because while they are the only thing strong enough to challenge the Yoma menace, their strength comes at a terrible price. A Claymore gets her power from being part Yoma.

Of course, it doesn’t hurt that the Claymores are all beautiful women. Our heroine, Clare, is quite the bombshell. But here again, this show defies the stereotype. The female cast is not at all warm or jiggley. Instead they are cold and remote, wrapped in layers of steel armor that give them a hardened, inhuman appearance, with personalities to match. The art for the series is exquisite, rich in detail that makes the characters and their world look and feel real. It embodies everything that’s good about the comic book aesthetic, where just about every shot could be framed and stand on its own.

The show shares Clare’s philosophy on violence. The action starts early, and never stops. Thankfully, the same is true of the plot as well. The story opens with a scene reminiscent of Kurosawa, with the villagers desperately trying to decide what to do about the demon which is terrorizing them. The headman announces he has sent for a Claymore, a prospect which is almost as frightening as the Yoma itself. Clare arrives; bad-assery ensues. In the process of killing the monster, she inadvertently takes on the young boy Raki as her charge. Just when things are threatening to get warm and fuzzy, we learn another horrible truth about life as a Claymore.

Because they draw their powers from being part Yoma, all Claymore are doomed to one day transform into Yoma themselves, at which time they must be killed. The usual practice when a Claymore feels she is losing the ability to control the beast within is to send for an executioner to dispatch her before she transforms, so that she can die as a human, without becoming the thing that she hates. The grim task is usually carried out by a close friend. This gives the show a very dark, desperate feeling. Between the action and the drama, the show keeps up a brisk pace. The plot branches out, introducing other elements, and, of course, other Claymores.

If the series has a weakness — and even steely Claymores have a couple of chinks in their armor — it would be its willingness to occasionally indulge in large binges of talkiness, and some really melodramatic dialogue. The early episodes are fraught with long expositions which do an effective but sometimes tedious job of explaining the world of the show. Some of the phrases wear thin from overuse, like the townspeople’s habit of calling Claymores “silver-eyed witches.” Such problems, however, can be overlooked. Language often suffers in translation, and the world of Claymore is filled with moments of such rigid stillness and brooding silence, punctuated at frequent intervals with sudden violence, that any spoken words might feel out of place here.

The casting, however, is dead on. Stephanie Young does an excellent job of making Clare suitably chilly while maintaining hints of warmth. And if you like femme fatales who know how to use their weapons, you might also like her performance as Mana in Negima. Swords, guns, whatever, as long as you know how to kick ass. Todd Haberkorn, the voice of Allen in D. Gray Man and Death the Kid in the upcoming Soul Eater release, plays as Raki, the young man whom Clare befriends. The rest of the cast contains many talented and suitably deadly ladies, with various other Claymores being voiced by Brina Palencia (RomeoxJuliet, Spice and Wolf), Caitlin Glass (Fullmetal Alchemist, Negima), Christine Auten (Air, Tokyo Majin), and Monica Rial (Azumanga Daioh, Witchblade). If you have the chance, check out the new Soul Eater clips of Monica as Tsubaki opposite Brittney Kabowski as Black Star!

You’ll have to wait until next year for the release of Soul Eater, but you’ll only have to wait until the next column for more AniMania, so be sure to check back soon.

Discuss: Who Should Direct the Live Action GHOST IN THE SHELL?

Recently Variety reported that Laeta Kalogridis was hired to adapt the famous manga/anime GHOST IN THE SHELL (GITS) for DreamWorks Pictures. Kalogridis certainly understands the idea of a mechanically altered agent, since she was one of the producers and writers on the short lived remake of THE BIONIC WOMAN for Universal/NBC. Her grasp of female heroines is strong as seen with her writing for The WB’s BIRDS OF PREY. Her biggest job to date was the upcoming SHUTTER ISLAND. She’s taking over the job of writer on this project from Jamie Moss, who originally was pulled on to write.

The live action feature is going to be produced by Avi Arad and shot in 3D. No director has been hired yet, but in a back and forth twitter conversation with Duncan Jones, I discovered he has a love for the characters and material. Jones stated “If I was ever going to act, I would want to play Batou (One of the characters from the series)… lol,” He continued with “(GHOST IN THE SHELL) is one of the few sci-fi things I haven’t written myself that I would love to do.” Personally after seeing MOON I think he’s the right man for the job.

GHOST IN THE SHELL is the extremely popular series from Japan which tells the story of special police agent Motoko Kusanagi. Kusanagi was hurt very badly as a little girl and had to have her body replaced with a completely synthetic one. She later became a member of an elite squad of special agents called Section 9. By her side at all times is Batou, another synthetic cop who got his own film in GHOST IN THE SHELL 2: INNOCENCE.

GHOST IN THE SHELL’ was created by Masamune Shirow, in 1989 and still holds up today. It’s first anime film hit theaters in 1995 in Japan and later that year in America. It’s spawned multiple games and another anime TV series that broke away from the regular story line to tell a new one about cyber terrorism. GITS is almost directly responsible for influencing a lot of cyber-punk media including THE MATRIX.

I personally can’t wait for this film to hit, but some of Kalogridis’ work is a little shaky and corny. I’d like a more established set of hands on the project, otherwise we may end up with another DRAGON BALL: EVOLUTION.

AniMania: THE WALLFLOWER

A couple of weeks ago, AniMania ran a spotlight on Welcome To The NHK. While NHK is a great series, admittedly, it is aimed mostly at a male audience, what with all the jokes about internet porn and dating sims. In light of this, I thought it would be nice to give the girls a treat (more of a trick or treat, actually) and highlight a series that caters to the ladies.

The Wallflower is a harem show — for girls. The first clue to this is the cover, which features four naked boys, covered only by rose petals. If that didn’t tip you off, the opening animation features the same four boys, still naked, lying in a circle around our female star (also naked). Nudity aside — and there isn’t much of it in the actual show — The Wallflower tells the tale of four young bishounen (impossibly handsome men) who live in a mansion, courtesy of the extremely wealthy and eccentric Auntie. Life is idyllic, and consists mostly of picking roses from the garden and complaining about being swooned over by too many fangirls, until one day their rich hostess announces that she has a challenge for them.

The wealthy widow has a niece, whom she wants to see turned into a perfect lady. If the boys succeed, they can live in the mansion rent free, with all expenses paid, but if they fail, their rent will triple. Being bold of heart, and impossibly good looking, they accept, and wait in the garden to meet their new subject. Enter Sunako.

And Sunako doesn’t just make an entrance — she rises up from the ground like something out of The Ring, terrifying the boys with her appearance, her surly attitude, and her total lack of fashion sense. After freaking out at their radiant beauty, she rudely dismisses them, and shuts herself inside her room. It’s at this point that the fearless foursome realize their little bet might be more of a challenge than they had bargained for.

On one level, The Wallflower is clearly a harem show. Ladies, take your pick. Kyohei is the resident bad boy, as foul tempered as he is handsome, and always fighting or complaining about something, usually food. Takenaga is Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome. He’s also the intellectual sophisticate of the bunch. Ranmaru is the resident playboy of the group, known for his wild outfits and raging innuendo, while Yuki is something of the group pet, a kind of boyish, gothic shota counterpart to the whole goth lolita trend.

The series comes to us from Nabeshin, creator of the legendary Excel Saga, and Wallflower has all of the wackyness you’d expect from that lineage. The show leans heavily on various conventions and stock elements. Every episode, Sunako gets lessons on the so-called “Road To Womanhood”, which is introduced by tribal screams from dancing natives in loincloths beside a giant gong. Episode introductions and previews are given by Hiroshi, who is Sunako’s beloved anatomical mannequin, and quite possibly one of the strangest mascots of all time. Another regular appearance comes from the Goth Loli girls, who look about forty years too old to be considered anything approaching Loli, and lampoon the whole gothic subculture.

But when it comes to being goth, Sunako is the real deal. She makes Winona Ryder look bright and perky (or should I say Helena Bonham Carter, who seems to have become the favored darkling these days?) Sunako’s room is littered with horror movies, skeletons, books on torture and death, and anatomical specimens. Early on, we learn that Sunako turned to the dark side after being utterly rejected by the object of her freshman year crush. Retreating inward, she decided that the best way to insulate herself from more pain was to accept that she was hopelessly ugly and unlovable. Thus excused from any attempts at wordly beauty, she was free to pursue her own macabre interests. But Sunako has a secret. Unknown to everyone, including Sunako herself, she is actually very beautiful . . .

The premise for the show is surprisingly touching, dealing with issues like rejection, self esteem, and questions about the nature of true beauty, as opposed to the purely superficial. Like so many really great shows, The Wallflower somehow manages to reach beyond its initial silliness to strike some really deep chords. But some of the conventions wear a bit thin after a while.

One of the major cinematic techniques that pops up throughout the entire series is that for the VAST majority of the time, Sunako appears in chibi, as a super-deformed little blob. The technique is used to emphasize Sunako’s own sense of inhumanity, especially alongside the boys, who are always impossibly handsome. Only occasionally do we get to see Sunako in her true, full sized form. This technique is taken from the original manga, and while it works, it also gets a little annoying. I would have liked to see a progression where Sunako appears more and more in her true form over the course of the show, until at the very end, she is “human” the entire time. This would have greatly increased the dramatic effect — and been a bonus for male viewers. I know I said the show was mostly for the ladies, but Sunako is HOT. When she’s not a little blob. Which is most of the time. But those rare moments when we do get to see what she actually looks like, however few and far between, are worth hitting the pause button for.

The series’ other weak point is that it suffers from that same second half slump that troubles so many anime titles. The first season is perfect: the jokes are funny; the content is edgy, rife with risque humor that regularly goes over the top. The opening and ending themes, “slow” and “Carnation”, both by Kiyoharu, are suitably brooding and moody, with an authentic gothic rock feel. Unfortunately, things taper off for the second half of the series. While we do get some really nice scenes, like the introduction of Sunako’s parents, or the real explanation of why Auntie is so eccentric, and why she travels so much, the second half just doesn’t have many moments that are laugh out loud funny. The ending is sweet, but hurried, and obviously leaves the door open for the rest of the story, either in the ongoing manga, or for a possible second season. And the beautiful, haunting guitar of “Carnation” is replaced by the sounds of BON-BON BLANCO’s “Changing”, which is a good tune, but feels out of place for this series.

The acting, however, is top notch all the way through, with relative new comer Heather Alacorn (Marin from Magikano) turning in a great performance as Sunako. Josh Grelle (Kaze no Stigma, Venus Vs. Virus) does a perfect job of making Kyohei brooding and ill tempered yet still sympathetic. Vic Mignogna (do we really have to TELL you he was the voice of Edward Elric?) gives a solid performance as Takenaga, and Chris Patton (FMA, NHK) seems made for a role like Ranmaru. And as for Greg Ayers, in addition to teaching magic to school girls in Negima and programming dating sims in Welcome to the NHK, he also voices Yuki. I’m still waiting for the Hellsing remake where they have Greg do the voice of Alucard — I know he could do it! But for now, he’s staying in his usual character.

Wallflower is a lot of crazy fun with the occasional detour into some pretty serious territory, and its just in time for Halloween, so even with a less than stellar ending, I still give it the thumbs up. Be sure to stay tuned for the upcoming Claymore review. Funimation has really pulled out all the stops for this one, including a return of those dearly beloved extra features, so watch for it, coming soon to a column near you.

AniMania – INUYASHA: THE FINAL ACT

Last week, North American anime distributor Viz Media began airing the first episode of the long awaited conclusion to Rumiko Takahashi’s hit series, Inuyasha. Appropriately titled “Inuyasha: The Final Act”, the series will run for 26 episodes, and finally bring the animated version of Takahashi’s beloved feudal fairy tale to a close. The first episode, “Naraku’s Heart”, aired Saturday in Japan and was streamed on Hulu with English subtitles, making this a near simultaneous release. Upcoming episodes will be released the same way, with new installments airing each Saturday.

Loyal fans won’t be disappointed. Right from the start, this looks and feels like vintage Inuyasha, with beautiful opening animation set to the sounds of Do As Infinity’s “Kimi ga Inai Mirai.” DAI are no strangers to Inuyasha soundtracks, having also done the second and fifth ending themes for the show, “Fukai Mori” and “Shinjitsu no Uta” respectively. The opening animation features all of the major players fans know and love: Inuyasha, Kagome, Sango, and Miroku, along with your favorite villains and antiheroes, including Naraku, Kagura, Kikyo, Kouga, and Sesshomaru.

The rest of the episode makes good on the opening’s promise. This first episode is action packed. Wasting no time, it quickly picks up where the earlier installments of the series left off. We learn that Hakudoshi has hatched an evil plan to challenge Naraku and take the shards of the Shikon Jewel for himself. This leaves Kagura with a fateful choice — does she stay loyal to Naraku, or join forces with the traitor in an effort to escape her hated master?

Hakudoshi’s plan to collect the remaining jewel shards leads him to confront Kagome and company, and also causes Kouga and Kohaku to be drawn in. Kikyo does her part in the battle, but her powers are waning, leaving her to question whether or not she will survive long enough to confront Naraku. Sesshomaru is, well, Sesshomaru, and is busy wandering around looking menacing doing whatever it is Sesshomaru does when he’s off by himself. And in case you’re wondering, Kagome is STILL failing her classes. Whatever she did in the off season, apparently it wasn’t studying.

If the opening was beautiful, the ending is exquisite. Inuyasha is well known for having amazing ending themes and animation, and The Final Act is no exception. As we listen to the soft sounds of AAA’s “With You”, we are treated to a shot of Inuyasha and Kagome lying next to each other in the grass, with a red string of fate binding them together. The preview for next week’s episode casts an ominous light on Kagura’s struggle, leaving one to wonder if the wind sorceress can ever truly be free.

A few years ago, such a development would have been almost unimaginable. At that time, Takahashi’s epic seemed destined to go on forever, at least in its manga form. The anime had been left to languish with a non-ending that did little to satisfy fans or bring any sense of conclusion to the series. And that’s part of why this news is so important, not just for Inuyasha fans, but for the anime community at large.

For a long time, it was just accepted that many anime and manga either had really bad endings, or else didn’t end at all. A title might be canceled mid story, leaving fans in the lurch, or put on hold, sometimes indefinitely. A series in translation would often have agonizing gaps in between releases, and it was not at all unusual for part of a show or book to be partly translated, and never finished, leaving the rest of the plot line orphaned on the other side of the ocean. In such cases, a fan’s only hope was to either find a translation online (and that’s in the days since the invention of the internet!) or try to befriend someone who spoke Japanese, and persuade them to translate for them. More than one otaku ended up learning Japanese in order to finally be able to read his or her favorite works in their native language. And even when we did get a full release, it was just accepted, even expected, that we would have to wait several years before the English version made it to our shores.

But all that has changed. Inuyasha isn’t the first epic story to finally reach a conclusion. Natsuki Takaya’s long running shoujo manga, Fruits Basket, ended with its 23rd volume back in 2007. Amid a ground swell of fan support, the quirky retro sci-fi drama, Big O, was finally given a second season that told the other half of its story, though given the plot line of Big O, it might be a mistake to call the last episode an “ending.” Even Inuyasha’s creator, Takahashi, the queen of cliff hangers herself, has shown that there can be light at the end of the tunnel. Her romantic comedy, Maison Ikkoku, comes to a tightly crafted close.

Even so, the fact that Inuyasha is finally getting its long hoped for animated conclusion is a treat for fans, and suggests tantalizing possibilities for other series that were left in anime limbo. The crew for the animated version of Fruits Basket commented on how magical the experience of working on that show was, and expressed doubt that such a dream team could ever be assembled again — but if it could be done with Inuyasha, then maybe Fruiba could also be revisited.

The anime for Fruits Basket was remarkably well done in almost every aspect, even down to such fine details as the background noises in the audio and the nuances of the characters’ different costumes, but it suffered from a very unsatisfying ending that leaves many questions unanswered and large portions of Fruiba’s very deep plot unexplored. If Inuyasha: The Final Act is a success (and given the show’s perennial popularity, I’ll dare to say it will be), maybe it will inspire Fruiba to be revisited.

Or maybe we could see a new version of Ken Akamatsu’s romantic comedy, Love Hina. It seems like a long shot to think that Akamatsu would ever go back to the Hinata Sou after such a long hiatus, but with his latest work, Negima, being almost immediately reversioned, maybe we haven’t seen the last of Keitaro and the girls after all.

The simultaneous release also puts to rest another long standing gripe of the English speaking anime community. For years, U.S. fans felt like they were relegated to a “second class” status, having to wait years for an English language release. That time has been getting shorter and shorter, from years to months to days, and now, with a subbed version of the new Inuyasha episode being made available the same day it aired in Japan, there can be no doubt that the North American audience is taken seriously. This, along side other developments, like Kodansha’s Japanese release of American manga-ka Fred Gallagher’s MegaTokyo, shows that the climate has genuinely become more multicultural, a positive development for more than just anime fans.

All that with one swipe of the Tetsuaiga? Not bad, but it still won’t save Inuyasha when Kagome tells him to “Sit!” The next episode, “Kagura’s Wind”, will be available this Saturday. You can access it from Viz’s website at www.viz.com. And for more on series creator Takahashi, check out Rumiko’s site at www.therumicworld.com.

Ani-Mania: Reviews ‘Welcome to the NHK’

I’ve been promising this NHK review for a long time. While I COULD blame the delay on a massive, world wide conspiracy (which in light of the show’s premise would be completely appropriate), the truth is, its hard for me to write about a show that I *really* like. Sounds counter-intuitive, I know. You’d think the more I like something, the easier it would be to gush about it, but for me, it doesn’t work that way. If I think something is pretty good or just “okay”, its easy to talk about it. But if I really think its great, my opinion comes out something like, “NHK: watch it.” — which would be a great review coming from Yuki Nagato, but it doesn’t really work here.

Welcome to the NHK is special to me for several reasons. For one thing, it was among the last shows I watched at our local anime club before a long series of scheduling conflicts and life changes made it increasingly harder for me to find the time to drop in and visit. Until recently, I never did get the chance to finish it, so it was out there, this big, waiting block of unfinished business. The other reason is perhaps even more personal. If you’ve ever been a nerd, geek, or outcast of any stripe, NHK is going to strike a chord with you.

Our hero, or anti-hero, rather, is Sato Tatsuhiro. Sato has been living for several years now as a hikikomori — a recluse, or shut in — when he suddenly one day comes to the conclusion that all his troubles can be blamed on a mysterious organization, the NHK, or Nihon Hikikomori Kyokai, which has been broadcasting anime with seductive female characters as part of a far reaching plot to brainwash unsuspecting young men to the point that they can no longer leave the house, and remain locked away inside forever.

Then, there is a knock at the door. Fearing it might be a creditor who will interrupt his solitary lifestyle if he doesn’t do something to pacify them, Sato answers, and instead finds himself in a different kind of debt, when he meets the young Misaki, who promises she can cure him of his hikikomori disease if he will only sign a contract and agree to follow her program. If he completes the program, Misaki assures him he will no longer be a hikikomori, but if he defaults, he must pay a fine of one million yen.

Her “contract” is handwritten, and the “notes” for her program are scrawled in a spiral notebook, but something about Misaki intrigues him, and Sato agrees. Then, through another mishap, he learns that the person blaring the annoying anime theme music next door is his old classmate, Yamazaki. The two have been living next to each other unawares for some time now, and while they weren’t very close in school, they now strike up a friendship. Yamazaki has been going to school to become a game designer, and when Misaki pressures Sato about being a hikikomori, he lies, and tells her he is actually working on a video game himself. Desperate for some way out of the web he has created, Sato turns to his friend for help. The solution, to Yamazaki at least, seems obvious. Sato can help him with the game project he’s always wanted to work on. Then his lie to Misaki will become the truth. There’s just one — okay, a LOT of problems, but the biggest one is that Yamazaki wants to create a certain KIND of game. Namely, a risque hentai dating sim!

Thus we have our plot, and once the ball gets rolling, it more or less stays on course, with various developments along the way. But this doesn’t even BEGIN to do this show justice. The great thing about Welcome to the NHK is its brutal honesty. We are spared next to nothing as the opening episodes of the show paint a very ugly picture of Sato’s life. The Hikikomori problem, and the associated NEET phenomenon — individuals who are Not Employed, in Education, or Training — has plagued Japan for years now. While these kinds of social problems can be found in other countries, too, the Japanese do an interesting and particularly thorough job of categorizing their problems, and in much the same way that Victorian England dealt with various “Questions” about social issues, the Japanese view their contemporary social ills under very defined headings. NHK, then, could be said to address “The Hikikomori/NEET Problem”, and it does a very good job, but because it’s so honest, large parts of the series are awkward, uneasy, and downright painful to watch.

If you’ve ever been a geek of any persuasion, you’ll find something to recognize in Welcome to the NHK’s portrait of the dark side of fandom. It’s filled with black humor that somehow remains surprisingly light most of the time, though it does periodically dive into some very deep, very dark places. This depth gives the early parts of the series a slow, ponderous pace, but it also sets up some extremely vivid characterization. There aren’t many side characters in NHK — apart from Sato, Misaki, and Yamazaki, the only other character who plays a major role would be Hitomi, Sato’s old sempai, or senior classmate, with whom he shares a still lingering crush left over from their high school days. But Misaki will not be deterred. She will pursue Sato to the ends of the earth, even going to such lengths as dressing up as a cat girl and studying cosplay magazines to find new ways to entice Sato back to her.

The first half of the series is gold, but unfortunately, it falls into the same second season slump that plagues so many of Gonzo’s shows, albeit to a lesser degree. The third disc of this four volume set contains some great lines, like Misaki saying “I’ll just have to lure him back with SEX appeal!” or “There’s more to this moe thing than I thought!” My personal favorite is her simple overture to Sato while in catgirl attire: “Meow.” Unfortunately, these gems are orphaned in some largely empty side plots about Sato falling for a pyramid scheme and getting wrapped up in a gold farming expedition in an online rpg.

The ending — the show does HAVE an ending, something sadly not always mandatory for anime — packs considerable punch, but the writing never quite recovers to the very high bar that the stellar first season set for it. Still, NHK is a phenomenon, and very well worth watching. The acting is superb throughout the entire series. Chris Patton is in rare form as Sato. The role seems made for him, allowing him to be at times vulgar, over the top, self deprecating, but always unswervingly honest, whether that honesty is noble, or painful. Patton is probably best known for his roles as Greed in Fullmetal Alchemist and Sousuke in Full Metal Panic, but in my opinion, NHK ranks among his best work.

Sato’s friend, Yamazaki, is played by the equally prolific Greg Ayers. For a while, Ayers seemed destined to be forever type cast as a shy juvenile boy — witness his work as Negi Springfield in Negima, Pope Alessandro in Trinity Blood, and Yuki in The Wallflower. Seeing him as the brooding, dictatorial Yamazaki is refreshing, and hearing Negi’s voice shout and curse about finishing a dating sim is hilarious.

Stephanie Wittels does an admirable job as the enigmatic Misaki, bent on Sato’s salvation from hikikomori doom. She also voiced Kano in Air and Aoi in Tokyo Majin. Sato’s other potential love interest, the equally sour and smoldering Hitomi, gets her voice from none other than Luci Christian, who appeared as Lenalee in the recent hit D. Gray Man, Wrath in FMA, and opposite Patton as Full Metal Panic’s Miss Chidori. She also played in Negima as the lead heroine, Asuna.

Welcome to the NHK has already taken its place alongside Genshiken and the classic mockumentary, Otaku no Video, as a seminal work on the quirks of anime fandom, but it goes well beyond being a humorous commentary on a particular subculture, or even a social expose on a strange cultural phenomenon. If you have ever been a dork about ANYthing, or had even the smallest feelings of being estranged from society, NHK is bound to hit a nerve. It may be awkward and uncomfortable, but its raw humanity, made bearable by a large amount of truly genius comedy, make it one of the best shows around. If NHK was the only anime you watched this year, you probably wouldn’t know what the latest hit was, or what all of the buzz was about, but your time would have been well spent.

(In the course of writing this review, E. Douglas spent a lot of time playing the Love Hina dating sim, or gal game, as Yamazaki would affectionately call it. While this was a very difficult, time consuming undertaking, he did eventually date all of the girls, something he felt was important for him to be able to write from an authentic perspective, and so no effort was spared to give you the best review possible.)

Ani-Mania: ‘Jinki: Extend’

It’s good to see that they’re still making robot shows. No, really, I mean it. I grew up on Voltron — it was the first anime I ever watched, even though I didn’t know it was anime at the time — and while mecha isn’t my personal favorite, I still have a fondness for the genre. I suppose it would be easy to argue that with so many giant robot series already out there, do we REALLY need another one? We have the classics, like Macross/Robotech, the prolific Gundam universe (which incidentally gave their name to a late publication that was highly respected in the anime industry — we still miss you, Newtype) and the quintessential Neon Genesis Evangelion, a serious contender for the title of best animated series of all time. With names like these already established as the cornerstones of the giant robot genre, what more could any new series possibly hope to accomplish?

While I firmly believe that there is still room for the emergence of another ground breaking mecha series, Jinki: Extend probably won’t be it. Instead, it finds its niche by satisfying the seemingly inexhaustible appetite for giant robot fare with a few twists of its own.

Jinki tells the story of Aoba Tsuzaki, a seemingly normal girl with the odd hobby of building plastic robot models. We learn that she’s lost most of the people close to her, which makes her come off as something like Tohru Honda with a mecha fetish. And then, one day, she’s kidnapped by a strange man in drag, who takes her to a secret base (no, he isn’t Yuki), where we learn her mother (yes, her mother is still alive — the Tohru comparison only goes so far) has plans for her (and YES, this is very much like NGE).

Aoba, a hopeless mecha otaku, can’t resist stowing aboard one of the giant Jinki, as we learn the robots are called, as it goes off to battle. After a harrowing ordeal in which she loses her pants but manages to successfully contribute to defeating the enemy, we learn that Aoba and the Jinki are somehow connected, and it is heavily foreshadowed that she will go on to be a Jinki pilot.

Admittedly, this is something of a softball show. The opening scene of the first episode, with its beautiful rendering of the rain as a giant robot crashes into the city, quickly gives way to some sketchier animation. The colors are off in some of the early scenes, and Aoba’s hair looks like a sheet of paper as it flaps in the wind. The series is rife with cliches, from the standard, white haired frost maiden to angsty teenage emo-ness, which seems to be the only fuel capable of powering giant robots. Large sections of plot and devices are borrowed from Evangelion, complete with a shadowy board of world leaders — only in this case, for some strange reason, they’re all animals.

There’s so much weirdness, but somehow, the show comes out better than you might expect — perhaps better than it has any right to be. And predictability goes with the turf in such an established genre. I had a conversation with a woman in the manga section of a local bookstore who told me that she’d always known what time to leave to take her kids to school in the morning because the lions would always form Voltron at the same time in EVERY episode!

A lot can be forgiven if you take the TV PG rating as a clue that the series might have originally been aimed at kids. If nothing else, the incredibly fast pace means that while the details might not be well developed, the sheer volume of all that happens in a given episode distracts the viewer from the show’s other short comings.

So who exactly IS the target audience for Jinki? The blurb on the back cover exclaims, “Raging robots! Twisted sub-plots! And a bevy of battling babes!” That seems obvious enough, but upon actually WATCHING the series, I’m not so sure. It would be easy to cast model building Aoba as little more than a wish fulfilling, female version of your average giant robot geek, but like so many other things about this show, that label just doesn’t quite fit. Aoba is too much her own character — she’s too independent, and dare I say, spunky, to neatly fit into a defined category.

While there is some fanservice, it’s very mild, and instances of it are few and far between. The “bevy of battling babes” stay in the background for much of the show, while the real focus is on Aoba’s struggles, friendships, and (le gasp!) relationships, all of which seems to suggest a genuine attempt to court a female audience. Maybe Jinki will end up in the anime canon after all, as a series that helped blaze the way for a new era of shoujo mecha. Only time will tell. But for now, Jinki should appeal to fans of the giant robot genre who are looking for something new to watch and don’t mind that a lot of this is a rehash of something they’ve already seen before. Heck, for diehard fans, that predictability might be an asset. The series need only make a few well placed nods to established mecha franchises, and fans will know where they are.

Also, the TV PG rating makes this one a good choice for the kids, and remember parents, only pre-teens and young adolescents are capable of properly piloting the giant robots that must save the world from imminent alien invasion. Children are the future.

The cast definitely has some highlights worth mentioning. Aoba gets her voice from Brittney Karbowski, who has appeared in Kanon and Godannar, and will be voicing Black Star in next year’s Soul Eater. Ryohei, Aoba’s friend/kidnapper/potential love interest is voiced by Jason Douglas, who has made appearances in some classic properties like Area 88 and Chrono Crusade. Genta, Aoba’s older, non-cross dressing mentor is voiced by John Swasey, who was the voice of Mister in Coyote Ragtime Show, and appropriately enough, the voice of Gendo Ikari in the director’s cut of NGE. Rui, Aoba’s white haired friend/nemesis, is played by Luci Christian, who counts among her MANY credits the voice of Asuna in Negima, Chidori in Full Metal Panic, and Hitomi in Welcome to the NHK.

Speaking of the NHK, that will be next week’s review. I’ve been wanting to do a spotlight on this bizarre little show for quite a while, but until now, a massive secret conspiracy has been working to thwart my efforts. But, no more! Soon you will know the truth!

Ani-Mania: ‘Ghost Hunt’

The supernatural mystery genre is a hot topic right now, with titles like xxxHOLiC and Higurashi setting the scene, but there’s always room for one more, and Funimation’s Ghost Hunt weighs in with an all star cast to bring us more spooky fun.

The dead have something to say, and supernatural researcher Kazuya Shibuya is ready to listen. He won’t be listening alone, however. As cold and aloof as Kazuya is (his haughty demeanor causes our heroine, Mai Taniyama to give him another name: Naru, as in Narcissist), he isn’t above working with a team, and in short order he assembles a cast of motley ghost hunters to help him in his work, including a priestess, a monk, an exorcist from the Catholic Church, a celebrity medium, a kooky would-be psychic, who unbeknownst even to herself actually DOES have mysterious powers, and our heroine, Mai, who’s chief ability seems to be knocking a bookshelf over onto Naru’s regular assistant, thereby netting her a part-time job as his replacement, until he can recover.

The bookshelf incident, and much of the first arc, feels a little contrived, serving mainly as an introduction to the show’s large and star studded cast. From there it breaks down nicely into several case files, or arcs of varying length, and while they do build on one another, watching them in order isn’t a necessity. The result is a highly watchable series that viewers can take in one episode or one storyline at a time. The cases vary widely in mood from laughable to downright bone chilling. “The Bloodstained Labyrinth” falls into the latter category, and is, in my humble opinion, some of the best material in the entire series.

While some of the cases are very intriguing, it’s the characters who keep things interesting. Young Mai is equal parts hard working and rambuctious. She gripes about how cold Kazuya is, and calls him Naru, but she is also fiercely loyal, and willing to defend him, even when he’s made a mistake. We quickly learn that she harbors feelings for him, which may or may not be requited (with the frosty Naru, it’s hard to tell), but she would never admit it. Mai gets her voice from veteran VA Cherami Leigh, who’s no stranger to the supernatural, having voiced Himawari in xxxHOLiC. Leigh has also done the voice of Naomi in Witchblade, a whole gaggle of Negima girls, and will be the voice of Patty in the upcoming Soul Eater.

Naru, the object of her affection/aggravation, is voiced by Todd Haberkorn, who played opposite Leigh in a very opposite role as the lovestruck Watanuki in the aforementioned xxxHOLiC. Haberkorn is showing some impressive range. He got the star role of Allen Walker in D. Gray Man, and he will appear with Leigh again when he too appears in Soul Eater as the wildly OCD Death the Kid.

Mai’s interests don’t go unchallenged, however. Celebrity medium Masako Hara has also set her sights on being the one to melt the frosty Naru’s heart, and she greatly resents the attention Mai gets as his new assistant. Elegant and demure, and always in a traditional kimono, Masako steals the show with some really stinging zingers — but will she be able to steal Naru’s heart? Masako gets her voice and feisty temperment from Jad Saxton, the voice of Eve in Baccano!.

We can’t print the nickname Mai would like to give Masako, but she dubs Houshou Takigawa “Monk”, appropriately enough, since he is from a Bhuddist order. Houshou is anything but traditional, but he is very capable, and gives weight to the group, just as his voice actor, Travis Willingham, provides considerable weight to an already impressive cast. Travis is probably best known for his work as Roy Mustang in Fullmetal Alchemist, and he made fangirls swoon as the voice of Kanda in D. Gray Man, but I think he deserves more recognition for his role as Ginko in Mushishi, an excellent title that will hopefully get it’s own column in the future.

Continuing the list of celebs and xxxHOLiC alums is Colleen Clinkenbeard, the voice of Yuko Ichihara. Here she gives her talents to the role of Ayako Matsuzaki, a miko who seems to be a priestess in name only. Naru’s initial remark to her is something on the order of “Aren’t shrine maidens supposed to be CHASTE?”. Clinkenbeard must have used up most of her supernatural powers as Yuko; Ayako’s attempts to use her priestessly powers routinely fail, but her cynical wit seldom misses the mark.

Rounding out the cast, Jason Liebrecht may not have got to be an exorcist as Lavi in D. Gray Man, but he makes up for it with his role as John Brown, a priest who specializes in exorcisms. Liebrecht was also Syaoran in Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE.

The cast is obviously top of the line, and Funimation doesn’t stop there. The packaging for this box set is your standard thin pack, two volumes, two discs each, for a total of four discs, all in a nicely printed cardboard sleeve. More importantly, we get to see the return of some extra features. Bonuses have been a bit slim lately, but Ghost Hunt sports some manga pages, courtesy of Del Rey, along with character case files, a ghost sightings slide show of the various supernatural phenomenon encountered throughout the show, and, of course, the standard trailers and textless opening.

Don’t forget to check back next week. There’s a ton of new stuff to cover, including the second season of School Rumble, the box set for Wallflower, a long overdue spotlight on the quirky Welcome To the NHK, and maybe even a review of Gantz, since one of our posters brought it up. If there’s anything in particular you’d like to see reviewed, post a comment, and I’ll try to get to it.

Ani-Mania: ‘Pumpkin Scissors’

I’m always looking for the next big thing. This is different from my personal quest for the next series I’m going to watch — as mentioned last week, I have my own reasons why I like what I like, and that doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with best seller lists. But like it or not, certain titles come along that are so big, they define an era, or sometimes, redefine the whole industry.

Fullmetal Alchemist was a BIG deal. Ghost in the Shell was, and continues to be huge, and has helped bring mainstream attention to what was, at one time, a fringe hobby. Recently, Ouran High School Host Club has been a very big hit, with fans anticipating its release long before the show hit US shores. D. Gray Man seemed poised for similar success, what with the large numbers of black and white costumed exorcists showing up at cons everywhere, but so far, it doesn’t seem to have made quite as big an impression as the cosplay presence seemed to suggest.

If I had to guess, I’d say Soul Eater, when it comes out next summer, will probably be the next huge explosion, especially with the announcement that Laura Bailey will be voicing Maka. Spice & Wolf, due out the end of this year, is my own pet favorite (bad pun intended), but I don’t know how much buzz it will carry. It’s a very intellectual show, and I’m not sure how that will play with the fans.

But all of this aside — all the fame and buzz and hype and the it factor — lots of worthy shows go unnoticed. Not everything can be the “BEST SHOW EVER!!!”. And not everything has to be. Sometimes, while we’re watching out for greatness (and I’m all for greatness), something else that’s pretty darn good falls through the cracks. So today in AniMania we’re going to examine a series that’s something of a sleeper.

When I first picked up the box for Pumpkin Scissors, I was skeptical at best. Skeptical is putting it lightly — my reaction was more like “What kind of lame show is called ‘Pumpkin Scissors’?” I had no idea what the series was about. The name conjured up vague mental pictures of sword fighting in a pumpkin patch, like some sort of Charlie Brown Halloween episode gone horribly wrong. The little logo of a pair of scissors open around a Jack-O-Lantern didn’t help. I sat down to watch it, trying to be neutral, and not really wanting to. I got through the first episode. Then the second. And the next thing I knew, I was wanting to see more.

Pumpkin Scissors tells the story of Alice Malvin, an ambitious young lieutenant who’s Imperial Army graduation ceremony is interrupted by the news that the Great War is over. Peace has broken out. Brimming with all the enthusiasm and idealism of youth, Alice is eager for heroic adventures, and woefully unprepared for the sudden armistice. She winds up commanding the Army’s Intelligence Section III, a pencil pushing propaganda outfit who’s few members have no intentions of going anywhere near a battlefield. Everyone else would be content to sit back and relax, but not Alice. She approaches her new peace mission at full charge.

Then Alice and her fellow soldiers cross paths with Randel Oland. Randel is Alice’s opposite. A seasoned veteran from a feared anti-tank unit, he has seen the ugly side of war. Randel has no romantic illusions, but he’s intrigued by Alice’s idea of a war relief unit that helps people to rebuild their lives.

But as time wears on, Alice and her cohorts start to hear more and more rumors about a legendary program, “The Invisible Nine”, whose recruits turn into super human killers by the light of an eerie blue lantern. Randel is from the 901st — a unit that doesn’t exist. And he carries a mysterious blue light. Could their friend be harboring a dark secret?

Admittedly, in some respects, Pumpkin Scissors is a bit of a B-series. The idea behind the name — a unit whose purpose is “to cut through the thick skin of deception” is cheesy. The animation on Mercury, the show’s shaggy dog mascot, is sub par, and in some places, the time honored still shot — a staple feature of anime cost cutting — still gets brought out, even for key action scenes. The idea for zombie-like super soldiers sounds like something out of Wolfenstein 3D.

The characters are fairly cliche: Randel is a good natured tough guy with a mysterious past, Oreldo is your typical lech, and Martis is the standard bookworm. But cliches wouldn’t get to be cliches if they didn’t work, and while the quote on the box touting the series’ supposed similarities with FMA might be a little optimistic, Pumpkin Scissors uses good storytelling to present an interesting plot, and it makes you care about the characters. At the end of the day, what more can you want?

The cast turn in a solid performance. You might remember the voice of Alice Malvin, Kaytha Coker, from her work in Abenobashi and Pretear. Randel Oland gets his voice from the talents of Adam Dudley, who has also appeared in Getter Robo and Guyver. The womanizing Oreldo is played by Gary Haddock, who also played in Jing: King of Bandits, while the bookish Martis gets his voice from Blake Shepard, who also played in Air Gear and Blade of the Phantom Master. Mercury gets his voice, er woofs, from two sources: Smokey Delange for episodes 1-4, and George Manley for 7-24. Manley, when not barking into a microphone, was also writing the script.

If you only see one anime series this year, this might not be it, but if you’re looking for a well crafted tale a bit off the beaten path, consider giving Pumpkin Scissors a try.

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