I have returned. Was good to see chaos again and Zin5ki certainly is a man you don't meet every day, both literately and figuratively speaking (unless you happen to live or work with him of course). My appraisal of the day's films:
Gintama was probably the nicest surprise of the day. I went into it with little knowledge of the franchise and no particular expectations. I really enjoyed it. It's sufficiently action packed, funny and character driven to make it a shōnen show I could really get behind. 8.5/10
One Piece: Strong World... I have to say wasn't really my thing. It had it's moments (for me, the comedy moments) and I can see why people are drawn to it's wacky world and characters, but it was entirely too predictable and riddled with clichés to hold my interest for long. 6/10
Mardock Scramble is a tough one to judge. I was intrigued by the world and the characters, but by the end it still didn't feel like much had been achieved other than setting the scene. When viewed as the 1/3 of a trilogy that it is, that's slightly disheartening (though the last ten minutes or so *was* the best part). 7/10
What is there to say about
Evangelion 2.0 which hasn't already been said? It's brilliant. I'm particularly pleased with the subtle, but definitely greater depth which is being given to Rei. I felt I understood Rei in the series, but I never particularly
liked her; 2.0 has really given me more empathy for her character. Asuka's still awesome (that phone call to Misato before piloting Unit 3... at least
you understand how I feel, Asuka). As for Mari... I'm not sure what she's there for or what her defining characteristics are, but hopefully she'll be fleshed out better in 3.0. Other than that, sky-high production values, great music, blah, blah... 10/10
Redline: "A film so fast my eyeballs could barely keep up" - ayase. The perfect finale to the day, even if the film itself has a somewhat
less than perfect finale. But I loved the style, the direction
and the story and have not felt
an adrenaline rush like that while watching an anime in a long time. 9/10