Rate the last anime you watched out of 10

"We have never met an elf that we couldn't strip. Did you hear me? Not one. We will not rest until you're naked!"

Those Who Hunt Elves - 7/10

Three people from modern day Japan are summoned by a high elf priestess named Celcia to your standard fantasy world. Airi is a graceful Hollywood actress; Junpei is a dumb but powerful martial artist; and Ritsuko is a schoolgirl... with a tank. Celcia attempts to send them back but is distracted by Junpei's chatter, which interrupts the spell she was chanting and causes it to split into five fragments, which fly off in all directions and imprint themselves onto the bodies of random elves.

And that's all the excuse needed to have this band of unlikely companions to travel around, accost elves (always female, of couse), and strip them naked. Celcia joins them, not only because she feels responsible, but because she initially transformed into a dog to hide her identity (it's not good form for an elf to be helping humans sexually assault other elves), and finds herself unable to transform back until the spell is complete. Some of the most amusing scenes are after she transposes a fragment from an elf's body to her own; they're comically imprinted onto her face, making her even more self-conscious about her already undignified appearance.

The first couple of episodes weren't very funny, but I started to enjoy the series more as it progressed. Each plays out in a similar fashion: the hunters find an elf and spend the rest of the episode trying to disrobe her. The humour is mostly of the dumb variety, with slapstick aplenty, constant bickering between Junpei and Celcia, and some fourth wall breaking. My favourite episode is the one from which the above quote is taken. An elf girl is trapped inside a magical armour and, much to their astonishment, pleads with the hunters to strip her naked. Cue several amusing attempts at removing said armour before a much simpler solution is found.

Occasionally the show strays into drama and mawkishness, but it's never long before a character, usually Junpei, does or says something utterly ridiculous. It's not great--I still prefer Rune Soldier--but it's fun to watch and I look forward to the second season.
 
Firstly, Shuffle Abridged was great. :D

Devil May Cry
8/10
Pretty good for what there was, although I feel it needed to be a full length series rather than just 12 eps to get a better main story going. As expected, nice fancy action sequences and the such. Tis DMC, it's about what you would expect.


Bludgeoning Angel 2
7/10
Not quite as good as the first series, but pretty good. I DEMANDS ME A DUB!!!!!!!!!


Mouse
7/10
Meh, twas a'ight I guess. Vaguely amusing with some interesting heists, although I don't really get the whole 12eps at 15mins business. Should have been 6 at 25mins, especially as most of the episodes were 2-parters.


Gunsmith Cats
6/10
Not really my kinda show I don't think, also I kept being distracted whilst watching the last episode. Although it seemed to have a reasonable storyline and animation. Like I say, not really up my alley.


Voogie's Angel
7/10
First 2 episodes were pretty rubbish, but the third seemed very redeeming, whith seemingly very good action sequences and drama. Unfortunately, this may have been due to the same reason that I shall give for Mai-Otome below.

Mai Otome/DVD specials/Zwei
8/10, 9/10, 9/10
Firstly, this series was DEFINITELY better than Mai-HIME. HIME was really very generic being in the same sort of field as Buso Renkin and the such like, in my opinion. Otome on the other hand, up to episode 20, had so many interesting elements, comedy and really very very good action that I found it quite appealing. It is one of those condensed DBZ style shows, but with a predominantly female cast. Now, onto the awquard part. I watched the last 6 episodes yesterday and, at the time, they nearly caused me to give the series a 9. The main reason that I did not do this was due to the fact that I had had such a boring and null day that I think anything would have seemed like the greatest thing ever created.

The DVD specials were a funny side-amusement, unfortunately I watched one of them too early and spoiled something that hadn't happened yet in the series. :(

Zwei was also very good, skipped all of the crying and misery and that from the main series (which notably there wasn't much of) and was really quite excellent.
 
Eureka Seven - 7/10

Damn it, Japan, why are so many of your endings ****? Just when I thought I'd finally started to understand everything the writers pull another nonsense twist out of thin air, the upshot being that I have no idea what the hell happened during the final episode, nor at the end. You think this is funny? Making me watch 50 episodes, at least a third of which were awful, and have to endure those bastard, bastard, bastard kids and all that fecking crying, and that's all I get? Well, f'ck you, Japan, and especially you Dai Sato.

On the plus side, this show looks great. When I watch a Gonzo or Madhouse show I just know that I'm going to be distracted by the variable art and animation quality. Not so with Bones, whose work is amazingly consistent. The characters are never off-model, and while the truly stunning scenes are infrequent, the quality remains at a good level throughout. Great music as well.
 
I accidentally read some Eureka Seven spoilers myself. Comparisons made between it and Evangelion have given me second thoughts about watching it- I remain undecided as to whether the devices reportedly used would be beneficial to a romance story.
 
Mushishi - 9/10

Loved most of the stories, the 'rainbow chasing', 'artist', rebirth' and 'bamboo maze' episodes being my favourites. There were a couple of not so-great-episodes, though, the worst offender being the last episode, which resolved nothing and added nothing new - a boring end to a great series. If it had had an ending and more Ginko development, I'd probably be giving it a ten. A series has to be pretty damn good to keep me interested when it's totally episodic, not including much characterization or a flowing, episode-to-episode story.

I did struggle with the Japanese names for Mushi, which weren't translated in either the subtitles or the dub. They were hard to remember, often leaving me confused during the more supernatural episodes. (I think of the 'rouko' or w/e as the lifestream because of FFVII. Go me!)

Only Yesterday - 8/10

While I did enjoy the film a lot, and plan on buying it soon(ish), I feel the flashbacks didn't connect very well with the present of story. I wasn't surprised to read on Wiki that the whole 'one with nature' side was added by Ghibli. Some of the flashbacks did sort of connect with what was going on in the present, like the bullying one, but others, such as the PMS one, didn't link-up at all. If the childish memories had connected better, I'd more than likely be giving it a nine.

On a randon note, the dad was a serious dick.

"You walk out of the house... WITHOUT YOUR SHOES!? EAT MY PALM, YOU DAUGHTER OF MY BITCH!"

"You want to act? No daughter of mine will act. Now, woman, get in the kitchen and get me my food. You're all bitches and need to obey me."

I'd love to watch a feminst watch the father scenes, I really would.

The younger sister seriously was a bitch, btw.

"ZOMG, how can you not do fractions? Mom, she's, like, retarded!!! O-M-G!!!!"

.....Anyway, it was a very good, though very slow-paced film. Any anime that's realistic and not mind-numblingly dull is perfectly fine with me.

Whisper of the Heart - 8/10

The film was aimless for the first 40 minutes or so. I had no idea where it was going, my only hint being the title. I was thinking of giving it 7/10 when the female lead spent ten minutes chasing a random (and very fat) cat.

But then it got better. Romance came into it, resulting in the female lead trying to better herself by setting herself a goal so she wouldn't be left behind by her love interest; a guy who knew what he wanted to do with his life already. For some reason, it put a smile on my face when she started singing and her very own band formed around her.

The ending was a bit odd - it ended right when it was getting good. I wanted to see what became of the two. If I had my way, there would've been a jump into the future instead of the credits rolling whilst random people walked along a bridge. It was still a very good film, despite its flaws, though.
 
Glad you liked those Ghibli films Aion, they're two of my favourites. I would have thought you'd probably enjoy Whisper but I'd have expected you to have been bored to tears by Only Yesterday.

As for 'dad the dick', it was the 1960s. And Japan. Besides, Taeko turned into a decent young woman. It might have been that slap that did it like with Captain Bright and Amuro in Gundam.

The song sequence in Whisper made me lol. It was nice but it seemed a little contrived. I love the Japanese version of Country Roads though. Miles better than the original. I still think the death of director Yoshifumi Kondō was probably one of the biggest losses to the anime world - he would likely have gone on to direct more films for Ghibli, and his films could perhaps have given the studio a little more diversity in their output.
 
Aion said:
On a randon note, the dad was a serious dick.
...
"You want to act? No daughter of mine will act. Now, woman, get in the kitchen and get me my food. You're all bitches and need to obey me."
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ayase said:
As for 'dad the dick', it was the 1960s. And Japan. Besides, Taeko turned into a decent young woman.
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Well, my dad had a "no son of mine is a musician" attitude and it was the 90's.
I'm pretty sure it's very japanese to try to direct your kids in a certain direction, just look at the pressure they put their kids on academic results.
 
I didn't like Only Yesterday's flashback sequences (perhaps because I've supressed my own childhood memories; nothing idyllic there) and I agree that there seems to be a kind of disconnect between them and the "present day". In the end I got bored and never finished it. Also, the female protagonist's hamster cheeks when she smiled were incredibly annoying. Whose crazy idea was that?
 
Ocean Waves - 9/10 - Reviewed it.

Kiki's Delivery Service - 7/10

Another Miyazaki film. Another film aimed only at children. I stand by my assessment of him; that he can only handle kiddy material and stories with environmental messages. Ignoring Princess Mononoke, there are/were far better directors at Ghibli... or, at least, there are/were directors who could handle films aimed at adults and do a good job.

It wasn't a bad film, but it had no meaning. Kiki didn't come of age, her losing her magic towards the end seeming more random than anything; put in to interest the viewer. Beyond Kiki going to a town and doing delivery work, there wasn't a plot, and that's why the airship drama at the end wasn't tied to a flowing story.

Even Harry Potter had the magic world hidden. It being normal for witches to fly on brooms in the Kiki world irked me for some reason...

It's something kids would appreciate. However, it has no appeal to me; an adult. Maybe others get lost in nostalgia when watching it, but I never watched it as a brat. If I wanted to watch a kids' film, I'd go with The Lion King (the circle of life, death, coming of age), The Beauty and the Beast (love, a curse and a lovely story) or Fox and the Hound (friendship, betrayal) - films aimed at kids with enough for adults to like.

Tales from Earthsea: 7.5/10

For the first half of the film, I thought I was watching another under-rated Ghibli title. An intriguing sword and magic fantasy world, complete with a darker side involving murder and slavery, and wonderful visuals. Not a lot was explained during the first half as an on-the-run prince was saved in cliche manner by a wandering wizard and traveled together with him, learning of the world and even farming, but watching it made for excellent viewing.

...And then the second half came, complete with simplistic explanations (or a lack of any explanation), unintentionally comical villain transformations and dragon love. A world which seemed so epic at first and a plot that seemed to be grand left me feeling cold. I guess what happened to Earthsea is just what happens when novels are butchered...

I'd like to see more of Goro's work. It's unfair to judge him based on this when it failed because of its story. A director can only work with what he's given.

Ponyo: 7/10

The excellent visuals covered over everything else. Once again, a Miyazaki film aimed only at brats. (I'd probably love it if I was younger, but I'm not.)

It was impossible to relate to the characters when the lead was only five years old and his 'girlfriend' acted the same age. No moving romance here. And the plot made little sense, with Fujimoto - a sort of human God of sea creatures - going from "All humans must be killed! They damage the sea!!" to "Ah, nevermind, as long as my 'daughter' is happy, who cares?", without any development. Also, what was with the sea Goddess? How did she even meet Fujimoto and have lots of sea babies with him!?

A decent watch and no more. If you go into it with a critical eye, your enjoyment will be limited. I was entertaining but, at the same time, I was glad when it finished.

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ayase said:
but I'd have expected you to have been bored to tears by Only Yesterday
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I'm only bored by Oshii's films. If a film is slow but understandable, without being heavy on philosophical rambling, I'm good. Realism is generally my thing, so it goes without saying that I like coming of age slice of life.

Ayase said:
It might have been that slap that did it like with Captain Bright and Amuro in Gundam.
Click to expand...

He didn't slap her because she was being a brat. He slapped her because she broke an unbreakable rule in his mind; running outside without her shoes on. Talk about an overreaction...

He wasn't a dick because he was strict. He was a dick because he didn't care, thinking of his words as equivalent to the word of God in his house, knowing the women would obey. He stopped his daughter from acting because of his backward, outdated thinking - not out of caring for his daughters future. As far as caring goes, going on his personality, turning her into the perfect housewife was probably all he cared about because, as we all know, the kitchen and bedroom is all women are good for.

Fabio said:
I didn't like Only Yesterday's flashback sequences (perhaps because I've supressed my own childhood memories; nothing idyllic there) and I agree that there seems to be a kind of disconnect between them and the "present day". In the end I got bored and never finished it. Also, the female protagonist's hamster cheeks when she smiled were incredibly annoying. Whose crazy idea was that?
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I, too, can remember little of my childhood. It isn't something I care to remember, in truth.

Asking my dad for a cup of tea and being rejected... (my only memory of him)... falling down a grave when walking with his dad... playing in junior school, with ice on the floor, and managing to skate (with shoes) across the length of the area, not falling over... having a wasp land on my coat in junior school and, due to an irrational fear of them, running around in front of the whole school like Tim Robinson in Nothing to Lose... pissing off an older kid in junior school off, getting my legs swept and ending up knocked out via the concrete...

...that's pretty much it. Not a lot of good stored away, and as a result watching Only Yesterday didn't make me lose myself in my memories, thinking back to times gone by. It's understandable why others different rate it highly, but I judged it based only on its merits - not on memories.

As for the faces, I also found them weird. The female lead often looked ugly; older than she was. Wiki informed me that Ghibli tried to copy muscle movements to add extra realism.
 
Aion said:
Ayase said:
It might have been that slap that did it like with Captain Bright and Amuro in Gundam.
Click to expand...

He didn't slap her because she was being a brat. He slapped her because she broke an unbreakable rule in his mind; running outside without her shoes on. Talk about an overreaction...

He wasn't a dick because he was strict. He was a dick because he didn't care,
thinking of his words as equivalent to the word of God in his house, knowing the
women would obey. He stopped his daughter from acting because of his backward,
outdated thinking - not out of caring for his daughters future. As far as caring
goes, going on his personality, turning her into the perfect housewife was
probably all he cared about because, as we all know, the kitchen and bedroom is
all women are good for.
Click to expand...
I blame cultural references here. In japanese cultures you don't argue with your parents. Even more so in the times depicted in that movie.
 
Eureka 7: 9/10
What else can I say? The show already beat Cowboy Bebop to my no.1 spot, before I was even half way through!
The show carries lots of messages, with the obvious two being an (ironic) environmental message As technically, they are helping to preserve the thing that wiped out most, if not all life on earth in the first place and the other being that love prevails through all. Daww.
The show uses it's washed out palette well, creating bleak, devoid landscapes, using bright colours to pick out any of the important bits. (You know what I am talking about.) Despite the hip-hop surfer attitude, the characters and story is believable and realistic, and the show never tries to bring that attitude into the show too much, giving it a purpose separate from the rest of the show.

As for bad points, the show moves really slowly to begin with, and never really picks up the pace until ~episode 15, which is when most shows would be halfway through things.
There is also one massive plothole. Why is there a shop on-board the Gekko? Isn't there only around a dozen members?
 
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Green Green OVA/Green Green/DVD Specials/Erolutions
7,6,7,7/10

Lets see now... The OVA version was actually not bad, no problems here. Quite an amusing story line which covered a suprisingly large amount for a single 20 odd minute OVA.

The main series on the other hand...hmmm...well... Lets just say it's not for people who are opposed to the viewing of the nudey parts on a regular basis. This was the second series that I have viewed in Japanese when English was also available, pretty damn bad dub, although the Jap track wasnt exactly great. It also included some of the most sick minded characters ever from whom I had the pleasure of being scarred for life not once, not twice, but 3 TIMES! Despite this, it was quite funny all the same... I....*remembers scarred for life moment #1* *Dies a little*.

*Recovers* The character DVD specials were quite entertaining, nothing special, but not quite as 'messed up' as the main series either.

Erolutions, like the DVD specials was also quite amusing whilst also going for a bit of plot development...kinda. It was also the first item that is classed as Hentai that I deliberately watched, although there was alot of heavy blurring in use. Meh... >.> Despite this, it was a reasonable summing up to the series.


Mahoromatic (S1)
8/10

This show actually suprised me in being considerably better than I thought it would be. A very funny show in fact, with some nice action scenes to boot. Interestingly, being made in 2001, it is presented in widescreen which took me by suprise, but even odder is the fact that the show itself looks considerably older. I blame SHAFT entirely of course, not that it is a bad thing, though. I have become quite a fan of shaft, they do some quite amusing animation. English dub is very good here.

Within the show itself, there are only 2 main gripes. Firstly there is the predictability of the end...lets just say I saw what Suguru did at the end comming as soon as I realised that there was gonna be fighting in the series. My other problem is with the teacher, she is in the series far too much and is rather overbearing, in fact she becomes quite simply annoying after a while.... Anyhow, good first series, shall be watching the second one soon.
 
Death Note Rewrite 2: L's Successors (Version 2)

Due to this being a review of the the second of two specials which condensed the entire 37 episode TV series into roughly four hours, I'm going to skip describing the story and covering what all semi-decent reviews of the TV series should by default, such as art/animation and sound. If I covered those aspects, I might as well be typing a review for the TV series instead. As I type this, I'm assuming the readers will already by familiar with Death Note, though I will hold back in order to avoid revealing all to those not in the know.

-----------

First of all, don't assume I hate Death Note because of my 5/10 score. The reverse is true - I love Death Note, it being one of very few titles to receive top marks from yours truly. Madhouse did a wonderful job of fitting 50+ chapters into 11.5 episodes with the last half of the story. The sappy 'original ending' marathon aside, it's the best manga adaptation I've seen to date, it actually improving on the manga by removing the content that slowed down the second half of the story needlessly. However, when they tried to fit the entire second half into 90 minutes - INCLUDING an introduction and two minutes of credits - the writing was already on the wall.

Right from the start, I had a feeling it wasn't going to be very good.. or, to be more precise, I had a feeling I'd be here, trying to express why I hated it. It started with L making a 'surprise' return, summarizing the first half, with new... animation. But there were only two shots of L - one with him standing at a distance and one from the side of his face - and only his lips moved. At that moment, I couldn't help but think of how little effort went into this special. And this turned out to true in the case of nearly all of the 'new' footage created in a failed attempt to connect a butchered version of the story, with a lot of awkward looking facial art and limited animation.

...Oh, yes, I mentioned 'sappy' above. If you happen to approve of the Madhouse ending and are in desperate need of something else to complain about, Madhouse delivered with one of the few truly new scenes added - one not added to simplify the story. The scene in question involves L, via a TV screen, explaining to the kids at Wammy's House how he's an idiot (I'm quoting him here) and, because he's an idiot, how he's afraid of being lied to. He rambles for awhile, pointing out how he loves the human race for their idiocy (the kids all pay attention because of this dramatic speech), and then it was over. I'm unsure if the Japanese > French > Engrish translation improved this scene or not, but it added nothing of value.

Anyway, moving away from sappy goings on and onto inconsistences. Because of the huge amount of content that was cut (removal > rewrite), there are numerous inconsistences present. The most bothersome inconsistency occurred towards the end, when Aizawa entered THE warehouse. In the full story, he goes in to confirm the identity of those inside, him having seen them all already beforehand... but the scene where he saw those people prior to that wasn't included in this special. How in the name of God could he have known if they were the real deal or not when he'd never seen them before? Was he upgraded to a psychic in order to further shorten the length? HOW!?

Maybe even worse yet, Near knew right from the start the identity of Kira. Death Note fans should be aware that Near, though suspicious, only became certain of the identity of Kira after interacting with him for awhile and nearly getting burned as a consequence. But in this woeful attempt at shortening the story, he just knew.

There are many other points I could mention, such as Light acquiring the services of Mikami and Takada before Near came into the picture - the special not even showing why Mikami or Takada were selected - but I won't to avoid going on forever. Just believe me when I say it's as much of a mess as you'd expect an attempt at condensing an already condensed last half of a story to be.

Fear not, though, as we aren't done yet. Not even close. I've saved the best for last.

Remember Light's dad? You know, that guy you never remember the name of and instead just refer as Light's dad? Yeah, him. Did you like the drama involving him in the TV series, where the climax of his story resulted in Light showing his true colours, and later played a key part in Matsuda's anger towards the end? Well, too bad - he isn't even mentioned in this... you know what, I'm tired of calling this a friggin' special. He isn't even a part of this ****. No shot of him, no explanation, no nothing. Madhouse remembered to get re-voiced Light dialogue to work around Matsuda's rage, but they couldn't be bothered to explain why Light's dad vanished into thin air. If it was me, and I wanted to butcher one my favourite things in existence, I'd at least have the decency to pull a sudden retirement out of my arse.

Linking into this wonderful omission is Mello, also known by the name of a certain Al Pacino movie in certain circles. But, clearly, Madhouse are not fond of his other name because, like with the poor old father of Light, they forgot to mention how he got his scar. He enters the picture without a scar, the ENTIRE mafia story is removed and then he re-emerges with a surprisingly more attractive face. Why even bother explaining such things? It isn't as if a Death Note newbie is going to be unlucky enough to watch only the... not-so-special-specials and wonder why such an illogical story is so loved. No siree bob!

...You know what, enough of this. All you really need to know is that this is garbage, with a high average rating only because of fanboyism beyond even my Death Note loving understanding. Even the music placement is off, Light's marathon being made worse as a result. If you like Death Note, stay the hell away or you'll more than likely end up imitating me, maybe with a slightly lower paragraph count. If you hate Death Note, by all means watch it - you'll find a lot to moan about and fulfillment. But, whatever you do, don't make the mistake of judging the manga and/or TV series based on this or its slightly less disappointing but by no means special prequel.

Rating: 5/10
 
The Diary of Tortov Roddle - 9/10

This series is a real piece of art. Six animated minitures glimpsing at brief happennings of Tortov Roddle on his travels through small towns and countrysides. The episodes are only around three minutes each, but each episode is a beautifully animated view into the surreal world that the animators have created.

The art is the first thing that really grabs your attention. The subtle colours used for the characters and the backgrounds really add to the surreality of the landscapes and when comparing it to most anime, it appears more like something you'd expect to see hanging, framed, on a wall somewhere. The six stories, that are contained in each episode, only add to this feeling. Watching them is almost like watching a moving painting with a musical accompaniment. There is a complete lack of speaking (though Tortov does interract with the viewer via the sparse use of intertitles), and it only helps make the music even more prominent, leading to the use of accordion and other such instruments giving the series a real eastern European folk feel.

It's something that's truly unique. The brief view you get of the things Tortov comes across on his travels is enchanting and the deep, nostalgic atmosphere that the events create, alongside the art, is really astounding, considering it's all done in under 5 minutes. The only reason I've knocked it down from a 10, is the fact that I was left wanting more. More episodes, or maybe even longer episodes. I'd like to see what the writers could manage in even just ten minutes, given what they've done in approximately three.

There is also an extra three episodes that are worth finding. The first is a five minute episode, where Tortov eats some fruit he finds on a plant and proceeds to have an, amazingly animated, psychedelic experience. The second episodes is a series of micro-animations, lasting only a few seconds each, but each display beautiful and bizarre event. The third is utterly brilliant. A dark and, quite frankly, unsettling miniture about a town where giant apples begin to fall from the sky.
 
CANAAN - 8/10

This is a wonderful series, fantastic action and animation, good cast of characters, both in terms of the leads and the bit part players (the cab driver, for instance). Some amazingly affecting scenes, going to places I didn't think it would go. Truly memorable at times.

If there was a slight let-down it was that the wider story didn't quite get fleshed out enough, as with a short show I guess once they decided to make it largely character focused they were never going to have time. Perhaps if I get round to playing the game it will be clearer, but the CIA's involvement and some of the bits and bobs to do with what actually happened in the backstory of the village that disappeared etc could have been examined a little more. It also felt that things sort of fell into place a little too easily during Mino's "investigation", and I do love a good slow-burn bit of detective work.

This meant that a couple of the middle episodes felt quite slow, despite almost paradoxically the story jumping forward quite quickly in the first few eps, and the overall scope of the series was reduced, but they kept something in hand (in terms of content and budget, importantly) for the last four eps and it's a series I could see myself rewatching and possibly rating higher later on.
 
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