Archive for May 2012
Shaman King - Review
The first time I watched Shaman King was because I was really bored and my Anikki (Leo)recommended it to me. After watching just a few episodes I got more and more into it. And after a while I was a huge fan!
The plot is great with many twists surrounding the past of Yoh and his companions while continuing their quest towards becoming the shaman king. The battles are also good with cool moves and good music in the background.
The powers of the different characters are actually pretty decent. Although they tend to do what I call bleaching (suddenly gain tremendous powers out of nowhere because they can) you get to see them train and develop their powers so when it comes to that the show is really good.
The animation technique is good from the start, the character development is actually good and not just parts you yawn your way true saying yes, yes, your mother and father was killed by your brother. Your life is filled with hate, we get it (recognize this from somewhere anyone? :D)
There isnt many fillers, right now I am not sure if there anyone to be true. The pace of the anime is good and it keeps you interested throughout the series, but the show had to be canceled due to lack of popularity. I was horrified when I discovered that the anime was done without actually finishing the story, but I would still recommend watching this anime because I started to read the manga after wards and I am not finished with the manga yet, but as far I can see the plot of the anime sticks to the original manga plot.
I rated it a 4 because any anime show can be better, but the only thing I would alter with this anime is a better start and that they actually finished it. I recommend this to anyone who would like to watch a show that really grows on you, but I would not recommend it to people who have to watch one episode and then be fangirls/boys for the rest of their life. Some animes take a few episodes, but those that do are usually worth it.
Twelve games based on the Shaman King series have been released to date, the first being Shaman King Tyoh Senji Ryakketu Funbari Hen on December 21, 2001. No games that were developed in Japan have been released outside of that region, however Konami and 4kids Entertainment developed a series of games that were only released in North America and Europe.
Tatakau Shisho: The Book of Bantorra -Review
Tatakau Shisho: The Book of Bantorra
First off, I will begin by saying that this in not an anime everyone will find enjoyable. It is very similar to a long winded Baccano!, following many different stories, making it very hard to identify with a single character that has a lot of depth. Next, the way the story is presented, it makes the series seem episodic, following a new or at least a relatively unknown set of characters from one arc to the next, almost giving it the feel of a set of sequels from one arc to the next, often ending with a character being put aside and seemingly disregarded in term of the plot. This, however, is not the case. Each arc is actually quite important to the final ending, making the "side-stories" actually being integral facts and the disregarded characters being picked back up. This is not a series for people with short attention spans, people that don't pay close attention, or that need a single uniting thread to keep their attention throughout a long (27 episode) series. This being said, I'll attempt to review the series from here on out without any spoilers (which may be quite difficult for this series).
Story:
For this series, as briefly mentioned above, there are a lot of subplots taking place throughout the first 20+ episodes of the series, taking up only a few episodes per subplot. This gives the series a feeling of just being a lot of filler when, in reality, very little of these stories are actually filler. It is most like each of these subplots are but a thread that, when put together, make a full rope of a plot, escalating at a rather well presented (albeit, cliche'd) end message and a finale that takes several unexpected turns. This being said, if you can get to the end of the series, the story is actually quite exceptional.
The presentation of the story itself is rather reminiscent of Baccano! or, in a more recent and slightly more accurate example, Durarara!, following different characters almost exclusively for a single arc, then putting them aside for a little, sometimes as long at 15 episodes or so. This makes the story seem more like a branch, spreading off into different directions, instead of a standard linear one. All the while, there are rather interesting and intricate subtleties being set into place in the background for the engrossed viewer. All these things, when culminated, add up to a good story that can't be appreciated until viewed in hind site.
Animation:
The animation of this series is fairly strong, having only weaknesses in the slight failures at CG near the start of the series (which, to my recollection, only happen in the first few episodes) and the fact that a few of the characters have similar designs, making them easy to mistake for one another, even though all the other designs are rather impressive and easy to differentiate. Other than that, there are nice sceneries and backdrops and relatively few complaints to be made about the animation quality.
Sound:
The OPs and EDs are fairly catchy, and the backdrop sounds were appropriate and occasionally impressive. Being a former jazz artist in high school, I really appreciated the jazz they threw in here and there, keeping the OST fairly balanced with different sounds.
Characters:
How you view the characters is very important for this story, but also it is very easy to dislike them. A great many of the characters have their own arcs, giving many of them characterization. However, they are then pushed aside or killed in some cases, kind of making you hate whomever wrote the story while you are watching it. However, there are so many interesting characters with some depth that I think it prevents your anger after the first few arcs. Another complaint is that there are a lot of cool characters that have no depth whatsoever, or that you don't even learn what their power is. This, however, is unavoidable because there are simply too many characters to do so, and can be forgiven.
Overall:
About 20 episodes into this series I wasn't expecting anything I could give above a 6/10 or so. A few fun characters, a few good action scenes, and not much else. However, after seeing it all come together, I have another opinion of this series. Although a few of the twists that happened about 3/4 of the way through the series were kind of foreseen, the last few episodes kept me guessing, not knowing what to expect and not expecting things to crop back up again that already seemed to be put to rest. If I had to compare this series to others, I would have to say it is like a 26 episode Baccano! or the first half of Durarara!, with Lelouch and Suzaku from Code Geass, Yukito from Air, and a climax similar to Shakugan no Shana. The first portion of this series is kind of hard to sit through because it seems like a hero of the week theme, but it ends up working in the end.
First off, I will begin by saying that this in not an anime everyone will find enjoyable. It is very similar to a long winded Baccano!, following many different stories, making it very hard to identify with a single character that has a lot of depth. Next, the way the story is presented, it makes the series seem episodic, following a new or at least a relatively unknown set of characters from one arc to the next, almost giving it the feel of a set of sequels from one arc to the next, often ending with a character being put aside and seemingly disregarded in term of the plot. This, however, is not the case. Each arc is actually quite important to the final ending, making the "side-stories" actually being integral facts and the disregarded characters being picked back up. This is not a series for people with short attention spans, people that don't pay close attention, or that need a single uniting thread to keep their attention throughout a long (27 episode) series. This being said, I'll attempt to review the series from here on out without any spoilers (which may be quite difficult for this series).
Story:
For this series, as briefly mentioned above, there are a lot of subplots taking place throughout the first 20+ episodes of the series, taking up only a few episodes per subplot. This gives the series a feeling of just being a lot of filler when, in reality, very little of these stories are actually filler. It is most like each of these subplots are but a thread that, when put together, make a full rope of a plot, escalating at a rather well presented (albeit, cliche'd) end message and a finale that takes several unexpected turns. This being said, if you can get to the end of the series, the story is actually quite exceptional.
The presentation of the story itself is rather reminiscent of Baccano! or, in a more recent and slightly more accurate example, Durarara!, following different characters almost exclusively for a single arc, then putting them aside for a little, sometimes as long at 15 episodes or so. This makes the story seem more like a branch, spreading off into different directions, instead of a standard linear one. All the while, there are rather interesting and intricate subtleties being set into place in the background for the engrossed viewer. All these things, when culminated, add up to a good story that can't be appreciated until viewed in hind site.
Animation:
The animation of this series is fairly strong, having only weaknesses in the slight failures at CG near the start of the series (which, to my recollection, only happen in the first few episodes) and the fact that a few of the characters have similar designs, making them easy to mistake for one another, even though all the other designs are rather impressive and easy to differentiate. Other than that, there are nice sceneries and backdrops and relatively few complaints to be made about the animation quality.
Sound:
The OPs and EDs are fairly catchy, and the backdrop sounds were appropriate and occasionally impressive. Being a former jazz artist in high school, I really appreciated the jazz they threw in here and there, keeping the OST fairly balanced with different sounds.
Characters:
How you view the characters is very important for this story, but also it is very easy to dislike them. A great many of the characters have their own arcs, giving many of them characterization. However, they are then pushed aside or killed in some cases, kind of making you hate whomever wrote the story while you are watching it. However, there are so many interesting characters with some depth that I think it prevents your anger after the first few arcs. Another complaint is that there are a lot of cool characters that have no depth whatsoever, or that you don't even learn what their power is. This, however, is unavoidable because there are simply too many characters to do so, and can be forgiven.
Overall:
About 20 episodes into this series I wasn't expecting anything I could give above a 6/10 or so. A few fun characters, a few good action scenes, and not much else. However, after seeing it all come together, I have another opinion of this series. Although a few of the twists that happened about 3/4 of the way through the series were kind of foreseen, the last few episodes kept me guessing, not knowing what to expect and not expecting things to crop back up again that already seemed to be put to rest. If I had to compare this series to others, I would have to say it is like a 26 episode Baccano! or the first half of Durarara!, with Lelouch and Suzaku from Code Geass, Yukito from Air, and a climax similar to Shakugan no Shana. The first portion of this series is kind of hard to sit through because it seems like a hero of the week theme, but it ends up working in the end.
DragonBallZ Kai
DragonballZ Kai in with the old out with the new :( Has to be a long one)
I am writing this review with mostly one intent in mind: to get across the point of how much is being cut. I know that we were all excited to have the story condensed, but I think that this has gone a bit further than anyone expected. That does not make me upset, as we can all go back and watch the original again if the original is what we want, but I think that it should be addressed fairly openly. I will also address art, since that is the other big change.
I hope no one minds the spoilers, as I am assuming that most people have seen Dragon Ball Z that are watching this series, and anyone who is not cannot be spoiled very much about what is not there.
Story:
First of all, some extraordinarily gratuitous events that needed to be cut, such as Krillin gathering up the gang again to train, have been left out and improved the series. Some cuts, however, have changed the story in an irrevocable manner. None of these are exactly necessary to the plot's core, which is fighting anyway, but they are all central to the development of the story and how the characters call out to us.
- Vegeta and Nappa's apparent saving of and then ruthless destruction of Arlia is left out entirely.
- Goku being captured by and tormented by Princess Snake is entirely left out (a hilarious episode before, I think).
- Goku battling the red and blue demons and taking their fruit, gaining massive strength, are completely left out, so Goku has no apparent power jump just from reaching Kai's planet, changing how important Kai is to him.
Again, none of these episodes being cut is necessarily awful nor great, but they all matter to how we felt about the characters and the story in the original, I think.
Furthermore, I think that what we have seen from the Nappa versus everyone fighting so far shows us that the fighting will feel enjoyable, and probably not be condensed quite as much (although I could be wrong). The pacing of that felt really proper to me, so I think we can really look forward to future fights being fleshed out better than in the original.
Art:
In talking about the art, there is not that much that needs to be pointed out, but there are definitely a few big problems. I think that they have done a great job of making it into a widescreen series from what was not widescreen. There are three big types of errors that I have noticed, sadly.
1) There are moment's like Nappa after he stopped flying above Piccolo in episode 10 (19:53 for me) where he looks incredibly blurred for a few seconds. This is not a one time occurrence, and it is really ugly when it happens. Sometimes this is due to original art, but this instance did not seem to be there in the original DVD to me (maybe the bold lines sometimes make it happen). Sometimes blurriness from the old version is cut out though, so this is not always badly done!
2) They somehow really ramped up the brightness for this show, but occasionally something comes out darker than it should be and jars the senses when it switches back to brightness.
3) The bold border lines of each character gets really thick then bulges to being thinner rather at random. This is the one that actually constantly bothers me and merited a 6 for an art rating. I almost hesitate to point this out because it seems to be one of those trends one cannot unnotice after noticing.
All in all, the devotion built up for the characters (or dislike of characters like Chi Chi) is still rather consistent with the original, and many of us watched Dragon Ball or the original Dragon Ball Z and already have our feelings set about each character anyway. Whatever may be, this is a good effort, and will make it at least slightly easier to share this show with casual fans, which is a major win for the franchise.
If anyone wants a final ruling or something, then I guess that my feeling is this: I would honestly prefer the original by a bit to this point because the original plot never particularly loses steam until the Ginyu Force saga is wrapping up. I am very excited to have Goku versus Freiza and beyond condensed, as there was so much unnecessary (Trunks powering up for a full episode, as good of a joke as it may have provided). I also think that the original art (or previous digitally remastered, less bright, less bold version) is fun in its own right, and probably actually more fun than this to look at when one considers it enough.
If I got anything drastically wrong, then please let me know and I will attempt to deal with it.
Canaan - Review
Canaan - Review
I absolutely love this anime so far; the music is awesome, the whole atmosphere of the anime is awesome, the characters are actually pretty human, not those typical anime stereotypes.
I don't really get the story yet, but I don't really care, because it's one of those animes where you get truly captivated by what's happening right then and there.
This anime is not made by amateurs, that's for sure; anyone can see that, judging by the high-quality art, sound, characters and the matureness of the whole thing.
It's a pretty realistic anime, a modern-time gun-fight sort of anime, so people who are content with those rosy red mahou shoujo escape-from-reality things should stay away (though I personally love those too).
The main character is an assassin, so this is basically that sort of thing. Female assassins, terrorists - that sort of thing, mostly, yes.
Oh, and she's is so adorable, Canaan!
